Winter Term Report Card - 2020

To the Grand Class of 1969:

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 very little evidence of the disease other than a few masks and lots of hand sanitizer. Christopher said there was not one Chinese tourist around and that everyone had been especially happy to see them as many sites and hotels were only half full. Christopher estimated that there were only about 200 cases of the virus in an area with a population of 250 million and did not seem overly concerned.

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

The 50th Reunion

To the GRAND Class of 1969:

As I said in my comments before the Class Dinner in the new Athletics Complex, we have transitioned as a Class from being merely Great to being truly Grand. Nearly half the living alumni in the Class attended as did two erstwhile Classmates who left before graduation.

Those who were at the Reunion know that it was a magical weekend under perfect weather conditions. The anecdotal feedback has confirmed that the weekend exceeded the expectations of many who had returned in trepidation, which was particularly gratifying to those of us who had spent so much of the last two years cultivating attendance and planning events. In many ways we remained true to form as products of an iconoclastic era and chose the road not taken by our elders at previous 50th reunions:

• We chose as our Class Gift the restoration of the Soldier on the Civil War Memorial at the entrance to the Academy and had our Class photo taken there rather than on the steps of the Memorial Building. The unconventional gift served as an acknowledgment of the unique bond between the Academy and the Town after which it is named. A PowerPoint video documenting the restoration of the Soldier is accessible to members of the Class on our Google site Albany Road Redux;

• We honored the twenty members of the Class no longer with us in unprecedented detail at a Service of Remembrance in the Brick Church that made them a part of the weekend. The program as well as the complete collection of remembrances also have been posted on Albany Road Redux; 

• We heard presentations by nine Classmates - a new record since the format of the weekend was changed several years ago - on medicine, the arts, religion, law and volunteerism - that showcased their interests and considerable skills; and

• We rewrote history at the clambake on Saturday night by admitting Margarita Curtis - the retiring Head of School who also graduated from high school in 1969 - as an Honorary member of the Class, thereby achieving co-education ex post facto, something previously accomplished only by the Class of 1957. 

It was a grand time for a Grand Class. For those who did not attend, I hope you will take the opportunity to return for a future reunion or, if just passing through Deerfield, to admire the Soldier who will be gazing down on Old Main Street long after we are all gone thanks to the generosity of the Class of 1969.

DWS

Winter Term Report Card - 2019

To the Great Class of 1969:

The Academy let out for Spring Break on Saturday following some strange fluctuations in the normal weather for the time of year.

News of the Academy

Within months of the announcement that the Head of King's Academy would be decamping to Deerfield, King's Academy snared a Deerfield teacher while on sabbatical to be its new Head of School. In case it slipped your mind, Margarita Curtis's predecessor (and the Academy's ONLY alumnus since 1797 to serve as Headmaster), was also the first Head of School at King's Academy.

A cursory review of The Scroll revealed a surfeit of articles on the genders but no information for those who devoted the time to answer the endless questionnaire as to how, if at all, the dress code will change. In a throwback to the 60's, the former head of the Weather Underground (NOT to be confused with the weather service of the same name) was invited to speak on campus. A review of the Pocumtuck from the '40s through the '70s by The Scroll revealed compromising photos of students posing as racial caricatures.

A member of the Class of 1993 generously donated the hockey rink which replaced the Barn, and the results of the upgrade were gratifying. For the first time in recent memory, the Boys Hockey team compiled a winning record, finishing the season 15-9-3. In other sports, Boys Swimming had its best season since 2014-2015, going 9-2 with its only losses to Exeter and Andover. Girls Squash, a perennially strong program since the new squash courts were built in 2007, ended a 12-3 season with a second place finish in the New England Championships. Things look promising for Boys Squash next season on account of the JV's 16-0 record. Could any of this success have something to do with the fact that the position of "Captain Deerfield" is being shared with a girl for the first time this year?

News of the Class

Clough, Carter, Squires, Young, Louis, Berkowitz

A week ago Rusty Young provided the tickets and Richard Berkowitz supplied the spread for the motley group to the left at the fourth and final mini-reunion before the main event, June 6-9. The six of us were in Fort Lauderdale for a concert by the Fab Faux, the foremost Beatles tribute band for the past twenty years.

Our quinquennial Attendance Chair Lacey has put the finishing touches on a communique encouraging you to register which should go out this week. There's no good reason to procrastinate as the price only goes up as the date approaches. As of Friday, 33 Classmates had registered. The list of attendees is updated each Friday afternoon, and you can find it by going to Who's Coming.

In other news, Margarita Curtis has been making her final tour as Head of School before her formal retirement on June 30th. Doug Arnstein and Ben Walbridge were among the attendees at a Deerfield event in San Francisco last week which was billed as a celebration of her legacy, and I attended a similar gathering in Palm Beach the week before. John Mills recently attended a "DACONNECT" networking discussion in Washington, DC where he volunteered to provide career counseling to recent graduates. John is one of NINE Classmates who will be making presentations at the Reunion. A detailed invitation describing the program for the Reunion is scheduled to be sent at the end of the March.

Please mark you calendars for June 6-9 and register for the Reunion now. Lacey's feeling the pressure to deliver a record turnout which seems within reach.

Best wishes to all.

DWS