Page 42 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 94, No. 2 Winter 2014

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1971
Mark M. Wheeler
mwheeler14@nyc.rr.com
Scott Fossel writes: “Three
generations recently met in
front of the Chapel of the
Transfiguration inMoose, Wyo.,
the only Episcopal chapel in a
national park. I was joined by
Peter Stearns ’52 and Helen
van der Voort ’80 as we all
happened to be there for the
morning service. Despite being
in the mountains, I have had
visits from two formmates.
Dennis Dixon came through
and joined us for a dinner while
on his art tour of the country.
We left the next morning for
the East, but he stayed a few
nights, hiked, and explored
Jackson Hole. Then Tiff Wood
and his wife, Susan, came out
over Thanksgiving to visit their
daughter. Again, Petria and
I were heading east, but the
Woods came by for dinner and
left with snowshoes. We leave
next at the end of January, so
I suppose someone else will
come then. If we are here, we
are happy to put any of you up.”
Dennis Dixon writes: “While
wife Wendy and youngest
daughter were off in Spain hik-
ing the Camino de Santiago, I
took the opportunity to drive
10,500 miles in four weeks, see-
ing beautiful paintings in 31 art
museums (Hudson River School,
primarily), hiking in National
Parks (Glacier, Grand Teton)
and national forests, and staying
with Petria and Scott Fossel in
Wilson, Wyo. My blog is dixon-
headingwest.blogspot.com.”
A rare note fromour resident
musicologist, George Litterst:
“I am continuing to explore
the possibilities of new tech-
nologies in the field of music
education and performance.
I have recently been teaching
a student from my home in
Massachusetts. The student is a
registeredmusic major at a col-
lege in North Dakota, and, when
we connect, we actually connect
our keyboards over the Internet.
When she plays her Casio digital
piano, the keys on my Yamaha
Disklavier grand piano actually
move as though she were in my
studio playing my piano.”
And a very pleasant surprise
to hear from our old pal from
Tokyo, Kiyoshi Matsumi: “I’m
still at the same job, holding
the same position and the same
responsibility in charge of strat-
egies in oil and gas business.
Working at Mitsubishi Corpo-
ration after graduating from
Northwestern (M.B.A.) – it has
been 36 years. I find it very scary.
I still go abroad once in a while.
Wishing to come across SPS
formmates here or elsewhere.”
Mark Wheeler concludes
this report: “Lastly, from Go-
tham: Bram Lewis came up
with an original for a mid-
winter mini party – outside
– by the Sailors and Soldiers
Monument on the West Side.
Intrepid Paulies in attendance
included Bram, your editor, and
Woody Pier, who brought some
very fine sipping scotch, which
was probably lifesaving. When
the shivering got so intense we
could no longer understand
what anyone was saying, we
took refuge in Fred Stillman’s
lovely apartment to admire
his statuary and his scotch.
Howland Murphy showed
great common sense by hav-
ing arrived six hours early for
the reunion and spent a comfy
hour with Bram in the warmth
of his mews and was probably
snickering to himself as he
thought of us huddled outside
that evening.”
1972
John Henry Low
jhl@knick.com
John Henry Low files this form
report: “Our ongoing theme
of small get-togethers by two
formmates (ormore) continues.”
Bob Stockman reports on
his visit with Ian Laird: “We
were treated to a lovely surprise
when we visited Upper Saranac
Lake in the Adirondacks this
past summer to discover that
the Laird family anchors down
a corner of one of the prettiest
places on earth. Brother Philip
Laird ’74 was unfortunately not
present, but Ian’s progeny well
made up his absence. It was ob-
vious all are very accomplished
snow- and water-skiers, based
on the trophy case.”
Our indefatigable tropical
island paradise host Charlie
Bronson relayed news that
“GeorgeWilliams visited Kauai
for a couple of weeks, and I
managed to have a few visits
with him. First a ‘traditional’
visit, meeting George and his
lovely mate, CB, at my favorite
watering hole for happy hour.
Second visit was also ‘normal’
for George, a text message
invitation at 5:30 a.m. for a
morning swim before the tiger
sharks awaken. What a great
swim, enjoying the quiet, shel-
tered waters of Anini Beach
while watching a fantastic
sunrise’s early morning light
show. No lingering, however, as
George squeezed in a morning
swim and ran back to his main
squeeze, CB. Ah, George’s third
visit was epic. We continued
our 5:30 a.m. meeting theme
for the hike to Hanakapiai Falls.
But, being George’s last day on
Kauai, he had a brunch obli-
gation with CB. I invited two
friends to join us, Jennifer and
Robyn, gamers, to be sure. They
thought we were just hiking to
the beach, so when we turned
left for the lope up to the falls,
they just fell into place. Robyn is
one of my best friends (and wife
of one of my best friends in the
Bay Area), and Jennifer was her
fearless visitor. We scrambled
and scurried up the trail, up and
over rocks and river, reaching
the falls at about 9 a.m. The
accompanying photograph
says it all, a delicious swim in
a mountain-fed waterfall pool
400 feet of waterfall cascading
onto our heads. We raced back,
and George made it in time for
brunch, just a tad late. George is
amazing: he swam, hiked, biked,
scuba’ed, snorkeled, sunbathed,
hang-glided, cliff-jumped. I
recommend him as a guide
anytime!”
Bob Shepley of Low Hills
Farm’s St. Bernard Search and
Rescue Cask Training fame is on
themove again. Bob has forsak-
en the Berkshires and writes, “I
have recently moved to Bev-
erly Farms, Mass., with my
girlfriend, Julie Cluett, daughter
of Mark Cluett ’51 and sister of
Lisa Cluett Thors ’83. It is nice
to be back in the Boston area,
not least of which is following a
bit more closely the local sports
teams. I enjoyed the recent SPS
FORMNOTES
The Laird clan on Upper Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks (l. to r.):
Lindsay, Ian Laird ’72, Katy, and Kristen.