As the end of the term approached this week, I could not stop thinking of Al Pacino's words from Godfather III who famously said, "Just when I think I'm out, they keep pulling me back in!" That's a bit how I feel now about the blog which I thought I had unmoored from the academic calendar after the 50th until a few Classmates pulled me back in....for now at least.
News of the Academy
If you were to venture on campus this term, I suspect the most tangible change you would notice might be the implementation of the new casual dress code which was approved by the Trustees in the summer of 2019. Unlike the dress code in past years, new articles of clothing like t-shirts and jeans are now allowed, and students no longer have to wear a blazer or sportcoat over their clothing.
The building we knew as the Health Center (and subsequent generations of alumni as "Dewey House") will be torn down in June to make room for a two story dormitory in the same location now that a new medical facility has been placed in service. The new dorm will house 20 students and is expected to be ready for the 2021-2022 academic year. The Health Center was built in 1948 and modeled after a colonial home by William and Geoffrey Platt. Beginning in the 1930's, the New York-based Platt firm designed a total of thirteen buildings on the Deerfield campus including the Main School Building, the Gymnasium and the Dining Hall.
On the sports front, Boys Squash was the standout team this term, compiling an 18-5-0 record. Boys Hockey had a winning record for the second year in a row after five losing seasons. Boys Basketball continued to struggle, however, with the only wins in the Eight Schools Association being against St. Paul's and Choate.
News of the Class
As anyone who attended the Reunion can attest, Tim Truby has followed his passion for photography to some of the most spectacular places in the world. Tim's been busy since then upgrading his website so that it now has all the bells and whistles you would expect to find on an e-commerce site. Tim is in the process of putting together photos of an excursion he took to Iceland in May and soon will be turning his attention to his Scotland and Ireland portfolios which could turn into gallery shows.
I caught up with Christopher Beach in mid-February who, at the time, was aboard a steamer on the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar (f/k/a Burma). He and Wesley were bound for Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore in spite of the coronavirus news. They saw
In other news, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of a defendant for whom John Mills had co-authored an amicus curiae brief in December. Separately, John was recently registered as a patent barrister with the United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. With this license registration, John is entitled to represent clients in the UK, but primarily in London, on patent disputes as well as other intellectual property matters.
On a belated note, Rusty Young quietly tied the knot with Stacey Kasselman over Thanksgiving. Stacey jumped into the deep end when she visited Deerfield for the first time on the occasion of our 50th Reunion and then led a yoga class in the new Athletics Complex. Rusty's concert venture MusicWorks is experiencing another strong year catering to the appetite for classic rock and folk artists of the 60s and 70s by staging nearly 40 events in nine cities across Florida this season.
AC Starkey and I each attended alumni events in Florida at which the new Head of School spoke. It has not escaped my notice that February seems a popular time for Northeastern schools to visit alumni in Florida.
I was happy to confirm earlier this week that Casey Reed and his wife Debra were not in the path of the devastating tornado that caused such damage to parts of Nashville.
Lastly, Steve Esthimer generously sent me all but one of the Deerfield Scroll issues from our Junior and Senior years plus Deerfield Magazine issues from our era. I was glad to receive them since I had deep-sixed my copies while overzealously doing a spring cleaning. I'm hoping they will be a handy reference if I suffer a senior moment while trying to remember some essential bit of trivia.
Let the heart hold memory bright.
DWS
