29 years later

Dave Ziccardi says hi to Andy Harcourt on the steps of the Main School Building. Nice!

Shelter courtesy of '83

Summer project in front of the Boyden Library includes a new brick patio.  To shelter JJ and Jodi, our staff bricklaying specialists, from the elements, the Class of '83 tent is being put to good use.  Always nice to have '83 play a pivotal role in the improvement of our school!

Deerfield in the Olympics

 

When the Olympic triathletes line up to start their 1,500m swim, 40km bike ride, and 10km run this Saturday, August 4, Deerfield alumna Sarah Groff '99 will be among them. Ms. Groff, who finished the 2011 season ranked third overall in the World Championship series, qualified for the Games last August and has spent the last year training in Switzerland and Australia. Since triathlon made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Games, the US has only won a bronze medal, and Ms. Groff hopes to change that when she competes this weekend.

The women's triathlon will be aired on the NBC Sports Network and streaming live on Saturday, August 4, at 4:00 a.m.
For more background see this Reuters article.

Not finished...

Ben Patton's latest project, following up on his book: I Was There video projects with PTSD suffering soldiers. In one film, Ben Patton plays the role of foil as two veterans put it in perspective.

Thanks for your work, Ben...

Not for the faint hearted...

Adult League Soccer, that is.  Van Sullivan took an elbow and got the shiner for free!  Rest up Van so you're sharp for our 30th reunion, June 14016, 2013!

Stickin' With It...

Leigh Guyer shows the grit he has always been known for...

2012 Deschutes Dash TRI report. This was a beautiful event in downtown Bend, OR with a fairly relaxed, non-competitive vibe. The swim leg is down stream in a COLD Deschutes River. I wore a sleeveless 3/4 wetsuit, and my body was fine, but my head and face took about 5 minutes to acclimate. The bike leg was an out-and-back with a consistent moderate climb, which allowed for a speedy down hill return. The run was a pleasant course through some neighborhoods and around the river in the Mill District. I had a class 2 calf strain a week prior, so I planned on walking the run portion, but after the therapeutic effects of the cold river swim, I was able to gingerly run the course. This was a fun, relaxed event with some beautiful scenery. (copied from FB)

Darn it!

So sorry to miss the drive by visit of Taylor Watts and family.  Taylor flew in from Colorado, picked them up in Maine then hit the MA Turnpike to head toward his parents' house in Saratoga, NY.  At exit 4 for 91 north he inexplicably turned right and decided to go the extra miles and show Deerfield to his kids.  He was especially pleased to show them the dining hall because "kids these days can't even imagine it"...
and they got to see the Stanley Can in my office!

Remember: 30th reunion is June 14-16, 2013!

That's the spirit!

Charlie Gagne took time to meet up with Hardie Jackson on a recent business trip to Atlanta.  That qualifies as a mini reunion!  Would be fun to post pics of more of these types of "meetings" as a run up to our 30th reunion June 14-16, 2013.  Feel free to send them to jgknight83ATgmail.com...

Charlie works for FedEx out of Encinitas, California and Hardie is COO at EvoShield outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

At an undisclosed location...

Reunion planning for our 30th, June 14-16, 2013 was officially launched at a secret location.  $.83 to the classmate (not pictured) who can name this town...That's Knight, Wareck and Suher scheming...Eric owns a golf course don't forget...Anyone want to host our next "reunion planning" meeting?

Summer Slam

Schools that need to do renovations and other capital projects often use the summer months to begin fast or crank up the pace.  You've recently seen the Little Brown House work at Deerfield and even seen the scaffolding at Fairfield Country Day School pictured here before, which is led by our own John Munro. But sometimes you have to answer to the Headmaster, as John did last week during a visit from our former DA Headmaster, Robert Kaufmann.  Bob was the Interim Head of School at FCDS before John was hired and was probably checking out if John was getting a better office out of this construction project.  Nope, just a better middle school space and a needed facelift on the old estate!

Spoke too soon!

More (actually less) LBH....

Little Brown House lost the north roof today.  On purpose.  Looks like they will rebuild that roof around the new chimney.  Check out the second (larger) pic.  The rafters are actual trees with one side flattened so the roof boards could be nailed on!  That's old school baby!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Kevin Bresnahan and John Knight connected at Fenway Park last night, with 100 other DA alumni and friends, and had a great time even if the Red sox lost to the White sox 7-5.  Most importantly though, they took a moment to wish Brian Steward a happy birthday!  Don't forget 30th reunion June 14-16, 2013!  Then you can get all this quality info in person!!!

Double Trouble

Hannah Williams keeps the hijinx to a minimum with her presence because John Munro stopped by to see Brian after seeing yesterday's post. Cocktails at Knights house in hatfield.

Steward returns!

Brian Steward used the excuse of his wife's conference in Manchester, NH to fashion a 3 day return 

to western, MA.  Hannah had never been north of New York City and is eager to soak up some nostalgia from Brian's stellar high school career (that's what she's being told anyway...) They are keeping their plans flexible, but blueberry picking at Nourse Farm has been mentioned more than once!  Brian and Hannah live in San Antonio, TX and have a new dog (their third) named Cameron (see his FB page) after some building on the Duke campus...Great to see you two!

Little Brown...renovation

An alumnus recently fretted that the aging fieldstone foundation and moss laden shingles of the Little Brown House would eventually lead to the demise of the LBH, home of many english and math tutoring sessions.  So he did something about it and donated the funds to pour a foundation and rebuild the rotting roof. Just in time I think!

Deerfield Inn still undergoing repairs

Deerfield Inn still undergoing repairs

Flood damage from Tropical Storm Irene last year will keep most of the historic Deerfield Inn closed at least until the end of this year.

Read more: http://wwlp.m0bl.net/r/13f8fl

Sent from the WWLP.com<http://WWLP.com> iPhone App.

School Men

Helping the Class of 1983 gear up for its 30th Reunion (June 14-16, 2013) sometimes means taking the message on the road.  What better way to start than connecting with two great educators in our class who both lead schools.  Thanks again to Eric Peterson (8 years as Head at St. George's in Newport, RI) and John Munro (Head at Fairfield Country Day School the last 2 years) for welcoming me to your offices!

Both are in full command while also navigating necessary evolution in infrastructure and pedagogy.  Eric's school was built on an old sheep farm overlooking Newport in the late 1800s.  John's school moved to a former Fairfield CT estate in the 1940s.  Both have seen changes, but John is certainly in the thick of it!

Here's Eric and a picture of the SGS dining hall...

 and here's John holding the model of the new Middle School building going up right outside his window, and the scaffolded main building getting a much needed facelift.

End of an era...

The massive green and white tent used for commencement and reunions is down...and out.

Legend has it that then Prince Abdullah graduated under it when it was new in 1980, but the unofficially 32 year old canvas tent is now retired. This roughly 24" X 24" piece will be preserved in the Deerfield Academy archives.

A new, vinyl tent will begin its service next year and the color scheme is TBD!

Any suggestions?

Deerfield Rows to National Championship

Coached by Wayne Berger '84, four Deerfield rowers are now National Champions in the Men's Youth 4+ division of the US Youth Rowing Championships just completed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. GO BIG GREEN!!!

Speaking of Reunions

DA is gearing up to welcome the 2s and 7s this weekend.  OUR 30TH REUNION is June 14-16, 2013.  Put it on the calendar!!!

Want to help?  Email jgknight83@gmail.com...

25th Reunions...

I was able to say hello to 3 of the 4 classmates from Deerfield who went to Princeton the same year, just by attending my 25th reunion!  Bruce Gregory, Doug Cruikshank and I are pictured - sorry to miss Jeff Peters in his finery but did see him the night before this photo was taken.  Don't think Dave Madden made it from the West Coast but huge apologies to him if I just missed seeing him.

Any other 25th reunion photos to share?  send to jgknight83@gmail.com or post as comments!

Handling with care

Here's Spence Brown cradling the newly adopted daughter of Brian Tenenbaum - looks like it might be in a secret location to keep the paparazzi away...
Regardless, congratulations to Brian!!!

More than a book

I had the chance to hear the author of a debut novel, Beatriz Williams, while also seeing old friends Syd Williams '85 and George Knight '85 in Madison, CT.  Good people...and no doubt "Overseas" will be a good summer read.  How did those guys get taller than me?

Harris Family helps Deerfield Remember

At today's Memorial Day gathering in Old Deerfield, the three local schools participated in a moving ceremony of remembrance.  Thanks to Bement School and Eaglebrook School and Deerfield Academy students...here pictured leaving the cemetery.

It was heart wrenching to hear from a Gold Star Mother and Deerfield resident whose son was lost in Iraq in 2003.  Freedom is indeed not free...

What made it even more special was the Address by Commander Shane G. Harris, brother of our own classmate Chris, here pictured in the Caswell Library with their mom who is Deerfield Academy Class of 1941!

David Howell - Final Class after 43 years

Memorial Day Message - from a Patton

Ben shared his timely Op-Ed from the Huffington Post.  Our Deerfield Days weren't as traumatic, but we're still a band of brothers...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-patton/this-memorial-day-listen_b_1540745.html

Ziccardi looking out for Philly

From FB: Last night, while riding to dinner, I noticed a guy passed out in his car that he had started to pull out into traffic. I went back tried to wake, him, but couldn't, so I called 9-1-1. His head was back and he was having trouble breathing. Then I noticed needle marks on his arms. Sure enough, he had ODed. The medics gave him a shot of something up his nose and he finally woke up. The cops told me I likely saved his life and maybe others since the a-hole was going to hit the streets. 

Additional Comment: One passerby told the cops he had seen him 30 min. before in the same state. The lights were on, his feet were on the pedals and he had clearly tried to pull away from the curb, but the hood was cool, suggesting that it had stalled out (manual trans) some time ago. The cops found prescription painkillers in his car with his name on the bottles but no illegal drugs so they didn't arrest him. Medics were going to take him to the hospital. Eileen and I wondered why he had gone out in a t-shirt with all those needle marks. While we were waiting for the cops, his phone rang. It showed the name of Jess. We tried calling her back in case he had a true medical condition like epilepsy, but the phone was locked. In the car the cops found an envelope with the name Jessica on it. Probably his girlfriend. Wonder if he was on his way to pick her up from somewhere and didn't expect to be seen by many/anyone. Since he had apparently been passed out for some time she had probably called wondering where he was.

It seemed worthy to this editor...

DA Boys Track - First NE Championship!

Congrats to the 4th seeded track team for "finishing up strong" to defeat Loomis Chaffee by two points and taking the NE championship - our first in 73 years!

http://deerfield.edu/2012/05/deerfield-boys-track-new-england-champions/

Field Notes

It was raining on the way home today so I stopped by Nourse Farm to see how Nate was doing. He said business was good, having suffered none of the ill effects of the hurricane and flood waters last fall, the effects of the Halloween snow storm or any of the freezes of budding fruit plants of this spring.  The center of the country has not been so fortunate he says (pictured) and there will be a lack of local apples and peaches especially in the Great Lakes region.

From the Ministry of Silly Walks...

Hank LeMieux is a winner!

Click to see BloomReach's Hunger Games 

"Tortilla Head" Champion

in action on Facebook....

Helping '85 a little

Remember all those rugrat sophomores when we were seniors?  They were the Class of '85.  One of them, Syd Williams, was wise enough to marry a motivated and aspiring author who has just published her first book, Overseas.  The book tour starts May 10th in Greenwich and will often feature DA alumni as the "Charlie Rose type interviewer". Appearances in NYC, Madison, CT and Peterborough, NH follow in May and the rest of the schedule is here: http://www.beatrizwilliams.com/appearances.

Maybe not '83 news, but at least its another good book!

83 Works ADC in NYC

Thanks again to Flagg, Wolf, Schmidt and Wareck for making calls last week at the NYC phonathon.  We talked to a bunch of classmates, reminded them of our next reunion in June 2013 and had a lot of laughs.  We even raised some money for the Annual Fund during the April Donor Challenge (there's still time!).  Early in the evening, Chris Flagg called Wareck, and when Jim realized we were calling from 44th street, he delivered his donation in person (pictured).  Jim was 3 days from finishing shooting his second movie (this one not written by him).  Jim and Brad Weir are working on their next screenplay...

Will Wolf is at CSFB but travels so much we were thrilled to have him with us before he caught his train back to DC.  Flagg is in real estate in NYC and Schmidt is a self proclaimed "business maker", putting people with ideas in touch with people with money.

A better cast of characters you couldn't ask for!

A banker and a movie producer have lunch...

Cruikshank and Wareck.
It's not hard to see where this could lead!

Good on ya, Ben.

Maybe Ben is getting his 15 minutes, but good for him.  This link sent to me by JJ Briones '82.  Sorry for the ad at the start - its a fun 8 minutes or so with regular hosts on Morning Joe and added guest - Tom Brokaw.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp/46903683#46903683

Ben Patton interviewed on his new book

Ben Patton interviewed in the NYT - click for full story


Corey SipkinBenjamin with his mother, Joanne Patton, holding a photo of General George S. Patton Jr. with John J. Pershing and members of the Punitive Expedition to Mexico in 1916.


with thanks to Whit Sheppard for the heads up.  Whit is "putting the wraps on a 45,000 word history of the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, which I'm doing for Heritage Histories, the provenance of Tim Noonan, Deerfield class of 1970. Great guy and indulgent boss/editor."


Team Kudos '83 style...

Best Spring Break ever...

Saw FIVE Deerfield alumni in one week....

First, Jack Cooley '84 and his wife Jenny (both schoolteachers in NYC) turned up with their family at the same resort in FL...

then I zipped over to Nassau, Bahamas to take all four DA alums on the island to lunch!

L to R: Dave Morley '83, Sean Nottage '83, Jamie Nottage '87, Sean Farrington '87.

My kind of "vacation"!

It's always sunny in...LA

Andrew Stewart (L) and Alex Kerr (R) attended the recent DA event in LA.  They were both lucky enough to sit next to Alex's lovely wife, Alexandra.  That said, they opposed the taking of this snapshot on the grounds that it would be used for this blog.  Oh well...

In other news, Paul Magee checked in from his home 2 hours NW of Mexico City and reported that his 16 year old daughter is getting her license and will be looking at colleges soon.  Pray for him!

Dr. Andrew Nash - Old School Doc using New School tools

I hope u can view this video of classmate Dr. Andrew Nash - if not, go to Square Inc.'s testimonials page at https://squareup.com/#!everyone
Drew points out that this video led him to be asked by Goldman Sachs to be in a video for their feature on SanDisk.  He's a movie star too (and a great musician don't forget).

Eddy D'Alessandro at Superbowl with huge grin...on his FB page

Couldn't figure out how to paste the FB picture but Eddy D of The Big Blue Bus fame, posted a picture of himself at the latest Giants Superbowl victory.  Congrats!

Suher goes country...

Country Club that is...Congrats to Eric on his pending purchase of Holyoke Country Club!  Seems like Friday morning of Reunion next year could get interesting!!!

Cost Award presentation

 

Ross '13, from San Francisco, presenting at school meeting today about his summer service project which was funded by the Charles Piper Cost '83 Award.  He spent a month in Dakar, Senegal and with his $2,500 stipend worked with two local schools (after winning over the imams and chiefs of those towns) and purchased for them each a laptop, a multi-function printing device and a case of paper.  He spent the rest of his time teaching computer skills and English.  Two of the educators from the towns will be visiting scholars at Deerfield this Spring - working with the Arabic and French classes.

A life changing experience delivered by the Cost family.  Thank you Charlie.

Growing Up Patton

Here's more info on Ben's forthcoming book.  NYC launch at the Armory is March 7th.  Be there if you can!



for more: http://www.growinguppatton.com/

That's all folks

Gretchen Miner retired as switchboard operator at Deerfield Academy today.  Forty-four years after she started!  One of Boyden's last hires - we wish her well in retirement!

from my iPhone

Good Times

So great to connect with Whit Armstrong, Doug Cruikshank, Doug Schmidt, Ben Patton and Will Wolf last night.  Did you remember all those names from the faces?

Will wins for best surprise guest - he lives in DC and runs Human Development for Credit Suisse First Boston, spending half the month in Switzerland, a week in DC and a week in NYC.  He was headed to the airport to fly home when he stopped by for a burger and some hearty laughs.

Whit continues to paint, Doug S. continues to deal and Doug. C continues to keep the banking industry on the straight and narrow.

Ben has written a book, due out in March.  Stay tuned for the NYC event announcement.

Jon Gottscho called in to lament his own absence at the soiree and others emailed their disappointment at not being available. 

When Will saw me raise my phone to take his picture he lamented, "Please - no pictures for the blog."  When I reminded him that is was BECAUSE of the blog that he even knew we were gathering he replied, "true enough John, fire away!"  Let that be a lesson to us all - that sharing a moment of ourselves makes our class community stronger.  Or just gets you a free burger and a beer!

Guess we'll just have to do it again...Feel free to host a gathering in your area, like Don Hindman did in Denver - i can get you some names and emails...

DA83 "Beers and Bravado" - Thursday @ PJ Clarke's

Join Schmidt, Knight and anyone else who can make it,

THIS Thursday night from 6-8 pm at

PJ Clarke's (915 Third Avenue, 55th St New York, NY 10022)

Pass it on and see you then!

JKnight cell is 413.522.2555...
--
John G. Knight

jgknight83@gmail.com

S&P affirms Deerfield's AAA bond rating

In case you missed it, on Janury 17, Standard & Poor's affirmed the AAA rating for Deerfield's $39MM in bonds.  Strength of fundraising, evidenced in part by strong alumni participation in the Annual Fund, was a factor in their decision.  Thanks to those of you who have participated this fiscal (ends June 30), and "join us" to the rest!

Van Dusen and Leland...

Charlie Van Dusen was on campus today, doing the prep school tour with his oldest daughter.  He was happy to see that the Stanley Can is safe and secure in my office.  Charlie and I were teammates on the 1983 Championship Maple Leafs squad.  His daughter wondered why we were talking slowly and had watery eyes...

Charlie sent his best to Jeff Leland when he heard that Jeff will have hip replacement surgery tomorrow.  Charlie had both hips done at the same time about five years ago.  Speedy recovery to you Jeff!

Nottage makes Super Bowl commercial

it's actually for the Doritos contest to be selected for showing at the SB, but fun nonetheless!

here's the Youtube link too: http://youtu.be/nw1sfjhJov4

Dave Madden is a WorldMaker at CES