Knight sends his best from Italy!

Travels

 Congrats to Rob McGill for his current travels in Thailand! (From FB)

Recent Lunches announce new photo policy

Two great classmate lunches happened recently and all participants "forgot" to include a photo with their information sharing.  This, sadly, includes your editor.  Hence the new policy of yearbook photos as stand ins.  Enjoy!

Will Piersol and Andy Stewart dined in the West...

While Knight and Wareck dined in the East!

Leap for Deerfield's Day of Giving!

One week away is Deerfield's biggest call for PARTICIPATION in supporting the school - the Day of Giving.  (Psst - you can give earlier than then, like now...)

By February 29th is the time to send a few bucks to Deerfield in support of a great education and to wave the BIG GREEN flag for the Class of '83.  Your choice!

deerfield.edu/dog2024

Reunion Patriot

 From Ben Patton:

Bob Keirstead and I reconnected at last year’s reunion and - as a career Air Force pilot - I got him to take part in a filmmaking workshop for vets in my NGO Patton Veterans Project held in WY in January.

A patriot and now budding filmmaker!

Episcopal Finance...

Congratulations to Geoff Bennett!!!

Deerfield Associates is very pleased to share the following announcement made this week by Charley Stillwell, Head of School, Episcopal High School, located in Alexandria, Virginia. “It is a pleasure to let everyone know that our search process to find our next Chief Financial Officer has been successfully completed. It is a tall order to find a wonderful individual ready to step into Boota deButt’s big shoes, but I am excited to announce that Geoffrey Bennett, the current CFO at Ransom Everglades School in Miami, has agreed to join our community during this coming summer. Geoff is especially excited to join our 100% residential boarding community having been a student at Deerfield Academy himself and a parent of four boarding school attendees.” Doug Cooney, principal of the Deerfield Associates, added, “It was a sincere pleasure working with Charley and the Episcopal High School community for the first time and on such an important search. EHS is our 158th client in the education sector. Everyone in ABOPS knows and has great respect for Boota. I have personally known Geoff for a decade and waited for the right opportunity to encourage Geoff to explore and ultimately match up with this high-profile position, which matches up nicely with his many talents and excellent work experiences. We wish Geoff, and his family, all the best in joining the Episcopal High School community”.

Robert Perkins Obituary (1939 - 2024)

Former Teacher Robert Perkins Obituary (1939 - 2024)

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/robert-perkins-obituary?id=54076862

Robert Perkins Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Jan. 11, 2024.

Robert Edward Perkins, 84, died January 11, 2024 after a brief illness. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, son of the late Montez (Rideout) and Alfred Perkins of Brooksville, Maine. He graduated from Deering High School and attended Harvard University on a ROTC scholarship. After graduating with a degree in romance languages, he served his stint in the Navy on the USS Forrestal as a communications officer. He began his teaching career at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where he taught French, chaired the language department and coached water polo for 25 years, and he continued at Flint Hill Day School in Virginia for another 10 years. Music was a constant in his life. He was organist and church choir director for some 40 years, pianist for decades of family singalongs, and most recently a tutor for Pinellas County music students. He was a proud member of the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Chorus and the Washington Gay Men's Chorus, as well as the Central Florida Theatre Organ Society and the American Guild of Organists. In retirement, he was delighted to be the organist at the historic Tampa Theater, playing oldies and showtunes before movies. In addition to his parents, Robert was predeceased by his wife Jane Dickey Perkins. He is survived by his husband, Rick Blouin, sister Ann Ellis, daughters Ann (Jackie) Kaplan-Perkins and Margaret (Scott) Tufts, grandchildren Alexandra (Matt) St. Peter, Aaron (Micaela) Osborn, Hope (Jakob Grindle) Osborn and David Kaplan-Perkins, great grandsons Benjamin and Spencer St. Peter and Jakob Grindle, Jr, as well as many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Equality Florida (www.eqfl.org).

Whit Sheppard has passed

 

Whitney Sheppard Obituary

Whitney Clark Sheppard

Whit Sheppard, 59, died peacefully on December 27, 2023, at Greenwich Hospital, after a bravely-fought battle with melanoma.

Born in New York City on December 8, 1964, Whit was the beloved son of Linda C. Waterman, the late Christopher R. Sheppard, and the late Mike Waterman.

Whit moved to Greenwich as a very young boy, and attended the Greenwich Country Day School and Brunswick. He graduated from Deerfield Academy, Southern Methodist University, and also earned an MBA from the University of Texas and a master's in journalism from the University of Oregon. With his brilliant mind and insatiable passion for travel and adventure, Whit wore many hats and enjoyed stints in New York, Dallas, Austin, Eugene, Taos, Paris, Melbourne, Richmond, Boston, and Greenwich.

French teacher, ESPN journalist, Morgan Stanley analyst, Boston College tennis coach, and independent school advisor were among Whit's many professional roles. Whit was also very involved in the recovery community and served as a sponsor and mentor in Alcoholics Anonymous for nearly forty years, lifting up those struggling with addiction and touching many lives.

All who knew Whit would agree that far and away his greatest and proudest role in life was being an incredibly devoted father to his amazing daughter, Emily Vaughan Sheppard. Whit and Molly Taylor Sheppard shared their daughter, Emily, with love and grace, even after divorcing many years ago. Nothing brought Whit more joy than spending time with Emily, whom he adored beyond measure. He especially loved sharing his passion for travel with her as they created incredible memories together, exploring Australia, South Africa, Mauritius, Anguilla, Mexico, the UK, and France, on their epic father-daughter adventures.

Whit was a bibliophile, rackets enthusiast, golfer, dog lover, foodie, linguist, and globetrotter. He had a great sense of humor and loved words, cultures, languages, animals, and babies and children of all ages. Whit was a gentleman, charming and kind, old-school. He loved a good meal, a great book, tide rides in Martha's Vineyard, a fresh croissant, chai tea lattes, and playing tennis, paddle, and squash. Ever handsome with a twinkle in his eye, Whit will be sorely missed.

In addition to his daughter, Emily Sheppard, mother, Linda Waterman, and ex-wife, Molly Sheppard, Whit is survived by his brother, Neil Waterman and sister-in-law, Jen Waterman, his sister, Brooke Stahl and brother-in-law, Ryder Stahl, and many adoring nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and his beloved rescue dog, Auggie.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Whit's memory to the Melanoma Research Foundation ( melanoma.org ) or to the ASPCA ( aspca.org ).

Ed. Note: So gratefeul that Whit (l) attended our 40th reunion...

Hank for the win...

Well, IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG!  Leave it to Hank to stroll to a neighborhood watering hole in Miami and sit down at the bar next to a gentleman in a green hat. Turns out it was his classmate Eric!

THANKS for taking and sending the photo!  Going to be a Happy '83 New Year...

Stick together in ‘24

Celebrate '24 by connecting with DA classmates just like Doug and JK did!  And remember to send the evidence to the blog, please.

New Year

Grateful for all the classmates who keep in touch.  Here's the latest from Chris Lotspeich with an intro by his wife Amy, all via Facebook. 

"Hi everyone! As this year comes to a close, I wanted to be sure to thank you all so much for your generous contributions of meals and financial support toward them. Chris wrote the note below to give everyone an update on how he's doing. As he says, these meals have provided an invaluable source of ease in an otherwise complicated balancing act. Thank you, and Happy New Year!! p.s. - Picture below is of Chris and his brother Matt who was here from Australia for the holidays. From Chris: I'd like to thank everyone who has joined Team Chris via Food Train. Life is getting more challenging. ALS has affected my hands and arms, gait, balance, speech and swallowing. I have lost ~75 lbs of muscle mass. I have regular fatigue and nap frequently. I drool, which is annoying. I have a feeding tube but I can eat and drink most things that others feed me. The whole thing remains a bit surreal. Yet I am very happy, my positive attitude is almost effortless and that can only help me in my predicament. I am highly fortunate to be progressing very slowly and I remain mostly independent eight years in from my earliest ALS symptoms. Half of the poor souls who get this terrible and capricious affliction don't live two years. My relatively slow progression puts me in the ~10% most favorable cohort of people with ALS (pALS). I have an embarrassment of riches in support from family and friends, foremost from my wonderful wife Amy Dunn. She is very busy with her successful independent consulting practice and holding the household together. I don't know how she does it. She is amazing yet her powers are not unlimited. This burden grows as my ability to pitch in and pull my weight diminishes. I am mindful that 80% of caregivers end up in the hospital before the person they are caring for, and I don't want that to happen to Amy. That is why Food Train is a perfect way to support our family. Amy runs hard all day and is tired come evening. Having a tasty nourishing meal delivered is a great help to the whole family, and especially to Amy who doesn't have to pull dinner together at the end of a long day. Your generosity has a direct beneficial impact on our family. Thank you!!"

This is the Meal Train for The Lotspeich/Dunn Family:

https://mealtrain.com/41qq6m

NYC Rendez Vous

 

Doug Schmidt saw John Kikoski at a recent Deerfield event in NYC.  John had been in Taipei during the Covid pandemic and is happy to be back in New Jersey...

The Holdovers

In case you missed it, Deerfield student makes film debut in "The Holdovers".  Sadly he costars alongside Paul Giamatti...a Choatie!

https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/12/how-a-deerfield-academy-student-became-a-star-of-blockbuster-film-the-holdovers.html

DEERFIELD — Two years ago, Catriona Hynds, Deerfield Academy’s director of theater, got an email from a team casting a movie.

“I often wonder what would have happened if that email had gone to spam,” Hynds said. “Or I had thought, ‘This sounds a little dodgy,’ and ignored it.”

Director Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” was being filmed at several Massachusetts schools, including Deerfield Academy. In the comedy-drama set in the ‘70s at a fictional elite boarding school, “Barton Academy,” Paul Giamatti plays an ornery history teacher who has to supervise Angus Tully, an angsty teenage student, over Christmas break because Tully unexpectedly has no place to go.

Also spending the vacation at school is its head cook, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who recently lost her son in the Vietnam War. Inevitably, the three lonely people bond.

The casting team had already auditioned actors to play Tully, and decided to try looking for actors at the schools they were planning to film at, Hynds said. Some schools didn’t respond, Payne told Town & Country magazine.

They set up auditions for a group of about a dozen students at Deerfield Academy. Before Dominic Sessa auditioned, Hynds talked to the team.

“I actually went into the room and basically said, ‘You know, the kid that they’re looking for is just about to walk in,’” she said.

Sessa had much lower expectations. He thought maybe he could score a part as an extra. “I just thought, ‘Maybe if it goes well, I can sit at a desk or something,’” he told the Sioux City Journal.

Hynds was right. Though Sessa had never acted on screen before — his experience was only on stages — he got the part after several rounds of auditions, Hynds said.

“They could see immediately how fearless Dominic is — he just jumps right in and he’s courageous and creative. I was really happy that they chose him,” Hynds said. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more hard working and more professional kid.”

Hynds, also chair of Deerfield’s Visual and Performing Arts Department, remembered when she first saw Sessa audition as a sophomore for a role in “Antigone,” a Greek play.

“I knew immediately when he opened his mouth in his first audition that we were dealing with someone special,” she said. “He has just this incredible stage presence.”

“The Holdovers” casting team had seen 800 actors before Sessa auditioned, Payne recently told the Sioux City Journal. “When I was coming down to the final decision, (star Paul Giamatti) was generous enough to read with both of the (finalists) via Zoom. We agreed Dominic was the one,” he told the outlet.

Payne said Sessa was “just born to be a film actor.”

Sessa, now on leave from school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, hopes to next take on new roles next.

“Moving forward, I definitely want to be stretching my legs and playing things that are a little further from my own life experience,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That’s what makes acting fun.”

Bit players

Deerfield Academy students, faculty and staff are in the background of the film, and another student was cast in a small speaking role, Hynds said. Will Sussbauer, an Ashfield resident, was cast as a student who delivers a line about Cobb salad early in the film.

The movie was filmed in a number of locations across Massachusetts, from Boston to Deerfield. Several other western Massachusetts towns are depicted in the film, including Gill, Shelburne Falls and Buckland, according to the Massachusetts Film Office.

Hynds thinks that has encouraged western Massachusetts moviegoers to watch the film.

“I’ve seen it a couple of times and I was sitting behind a couple who really enjoyed pointing out .. ‘Oh, there’s the Main Street in Shelburne Falls and there’s that,’” she said. “I think it’s been great for the local community to see themselves up on the screen as well.”

Sessa sees “The Holdovers” as a movie with broad appeal.

“There’s nothing you need to understand beforehand going in, and you can just enjoy watching these characters live their lives and discover new things about each other,” Sessa told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Hopefully it inspires people to have that willingness to empathize with real people in their own lives.”