Cass Squire

To the Great Class of 1969:

Cass contacted me in 2005 after I featured him in a class trivia quiz, and he stayed in touch periodically. I heard from Cass for the last time in January 2008, six months before his own death, when he learned of Mr. Lambert’s passing. At the time, Cass synthesized what a number thought when he wrote, “Bryce may have been one of the more eccentric teachers I ever had (remember his "very" cutter?). He was one of the toughest. He was absolutely the best. Despite all the schools I went to all over the world, and a marvelous college in NH, he is the one teacher who has popped into my head on numerous occasions over the years. I still can't bring myself to ever put the word "very" on paper. The world has lost a great educator.” One site on the internet I found described Cass as “a Distinguished Engineer in IBM's Global Business Services, specializing in BI and data integration architecture. He has more than 25 years of management and staff experience and has been involved in all facets of requirements analysis, data modeling, and database and applications systems design. A specialist in information systems architecture and all facets of data administration and metadata, Mr. Squire began using information engineering techniques for data-oriented design of large-scale systems in 1981.” When I located what I thought was an abstruse presentation he had made a few years earlier at a conference on information resource management, Cass downplayed it and told me he had made many others over the years that he thought were more significant. Who would have thought that Mr. Lambert’s influence would have extended to metadata management in the information age?

The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine reported that Cass was survived by his wife, a son and three daughters and that he died of melanoma. Although Cass lived in San Mateo, CA, his wife wrote that his ashes were spread on Mount Monadnock, NH. Mount Monadnock is about an hour and a half northeast of Deerfield and is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire.

Fall Term - 2008

To the Great Class of 1969:

School News

The fall term ends today, and the joy on Albany Road will be palpable. For a change, final exams were dispensed with this term. I'm not sure about the underlying logic, however, you need not be concerned that the Academy is letting the current generation wimp out. I have it on good authority that the teachers all tried outdoing themselves with their assignments, thereby making this term even more challenging than last year when there still were exams.

The current issue of The Scroll arrived this week and was dedicated to the election. While there was no mock election this year, there was much discussion about the election in classes, and The Scroll endorsed Obama. For a sense of how the mindset has changed since we roamed the campus our senior year, the results of a mock election in October 1968 were: Nixon 50%, Humphrey 38% and Wallace 12%.

For the sports-minded, varsity football improved its record to 6-2, losing only to Andover and to Hotchkiss. The team was more dominant than its record indicated since the average margin of victory was 28 points. The team managed to avenge last year’s loss to Choate with a convincing 31-7 win in the rain at Wallingford despite the fact that Choate had a member of the Deerfield Class of '08 as a PG. Boys Water Polo capped off an excellent season earlier this month by winning the New England Championship meet at Exeter.

Class News

Since I last wrote, Ed Grosvenor has joined Howie Carr and perhaps others in the Class who have earned recognition in Wikipedia. Earlier this month, Howie was one of eight broadcasters inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Chicago. You can catch Howie from 3:00-7:00 weekday afternoons on WRKO 680 in Boston. If you’re a little further south on I-95, you might tune in to WPKN 89.5 and see if you can pick up occasional host Steve Morley’s eclectic program.

Another change since I last wrote is that Todd Stone has updated his website where you can view his e-Gallery. Next month Todd will be displaying his work in an exhibition in Bucks County, PA where he and his family have had a weekend place for years.

When I last wrote, Rusty Young was in the midst of hosting a benefit concert by The Boss in advance of closing The Count Basie Theatre for the summer for renovations. The happy news is that the concert was a financial success and that the project was completed ahead of schedule and below budget. Rusty received recognition for his efforts in The New York Times earlier this month.

As I mentioned in my posting last June, Steve Esthimer released his CD When Cousins Marry several months ago, and it has received recognition in the UNC alumni magazine. Despite his newfound fame and fortune, Steve has advised me that he is not giving up his daytime job at Saint Mary’s where he has taught for more than 25 years. Another teacher in our class, Dave Suitor, was cited in the St. Mark’s School Newsletter this fall for his multi-media presentation to the school on the current global economic crisis, helping students understand what a Depression is and how such conditions develop.

On November 4th, Tom Merrigan was re-elected to the Governor’s Council for the 8th District of Massachusetts. Tom received 90,000 more votes than he did in 2006 and a greater percentage of the votes than the top of the Democratic ticket.

Sandy Weissent is in Ft. Myers, FL this week where he and the Windy City Fire baseball team are defending their national championship in the Roy Hobbs 55 and over tournament. Last month they finished second in the MSBL World Series in Phoenix. When not displaying his business turnaround skills or obvious baseball prowess, Sandy has led the Harvard Club’s Adopt-A-School effort and enlisted Harvard graduates and their friends to support the Walter Payton College Prep High School on the near north side of Chicago where one-third of the population lives at poverty level in its mission of “providing every student an educational experience that instills integrity and a lifelong love of learning” and the motto “We Nurture Leaders.” Good luck, Sandy, and remember to "Finish strong"!

On December 6, Charlie Olchowski has organized a home brewed beer competition in Old Deerfield. You can find the rules on the Valley Fermenters website. As you know from my prior postings, we also have a vintner in our class, Hank Wetzel, who runs family-owned Alexander Valley Vineyards. AVV produces 100,000 cases of varietal wines and proprietary blends annually. Seventy-five percent of AVV’s production is red wine. Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon constitute over one-third of total production.

The Reunion

In the event that you are in a state of denial that our 40th Reunion is on the horizon, you should know that since I last wrote Tom Ehrgood has agreed to serve as Program Chair. Mimi Morsman organized a conference call earlier this week to discuss the topic for the Saturday Class panel. John Lacey, as Attendance Chair, is developing a plan to ensure that we have a robust turnout. Please mark your calendars for June 12-14, and take advantage of the advance registration price break by clicking on the link to Deerfield Reunions beginning December 3.

Best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving. I look forward to seeing you next June at our 40th.

DWS

1969 - 40th Reunion

Classmates:

I hope this finds you well. Someone raised my hand to foster attendance at our 40th Reunion. And yes, the rationale is a mystery. I am committed nonetheless. Some of you may well have already decided to attend, and others will be there if other life commitments permit. This missive is intended for those with little interest yet in attending the reunion, and especially those who aren’t interested because they know for sure what Deerfield reunions are like. Even though they haven’t been to one. There is perspective for me to share.

By assembling a group of ten New York region 1969 alums for a dinner three years ago, we proved to ourselves, to our astonishment, that the bonding threads of long ago can oddly survive. Even with what may have been just a half-step above acquaintanceship then, there was some epoxy in the attachments, that continues. An almost immediate observation at the restaurant: “It looks like we will not eat, we will dine.”

Each time I’ve attended a reunion, I have found it well worth the trip, the time, and expense. It’s been fun and valuable seeing old friends – the several whom I’ve kept up with as well as the larger group where I’ve lost track over the years. The highest appreciation has been the opportunity to spend time with classmates whom I didn’t know particularly well, and to talk about life things: families, work, books, movies, travel, baseball, teens, music. As a group, our classmates are interesting, approachable and fun to be around. We generally don’t take ourselves too seriously. I even got a chance to be contrite and apologize to a friend in 1999 for something important, but small and ancient.

Some invariably remark that suffering was part of the experience. So be it. But just as we teach as parents, there is always a valid reference point in both good and bad examples, and we learn, and we value that. Where we once scoffed, we now have hoped to engrain some of the same values and attitudes in our children. Like being on time. Or competing proudly. Nobody exhibits zero benefit today. Nobody. I glance back at those days sometimes as four years of vitriol and vituperation intertwined with great education and memorable people, followed by years of increasing respect, and even warmth. Sort of the opposite of marriage, I would say. Some of you quite frankly intimidated me when we were in school. I find it’s a lot more facile to talk now than it was, say, to find words at Bryce’s or Sully’s table, or any other.

For me, Deerfield reunions have borne virtually no resemblance to college reunions as represented in popular culture. Even if someone wanted to, it’s logistically impossible to drive up in an impressive car, because the world has more than it used to, and few care. Mine has 172k miles on it right now, it will be more when I arrive next year. If it would fit, my vanity plate would read “TWO CUTE GIRLS IN COLLEGE AT THE SAME TIME.” If only that were about my social life, then or now. There’s little opportunity for anyone to talk about net worth. Few care either. There’s certainly a good bit of “Hey, remember the time we ……?”

Deerfield is not just one of the most beautiful schools on earth, it is still one of the most beautiful places on earth. In that, it is like Augusta National is to golf courses. Your wives are gonna love you, all the more. Try to forget any preconceived notions, and please think seriously about giving this one a try. Don’t be concerned about being unable to remember names. We’ve reached the point where that kind of recall may be a feat, and its absence no weakness. Being worthy of our heritage, there will of course be nametags. With large print. You may be checked-in. Just no “three meals as second-waiter” if you are late.

Since you may not get your 2009 Hooters calendars until Christmas, you will need to mark the weekend of June 12-14, 2009 in your cell phones (like I did with the assistance of a rented high school geek). Black Sharpie on the back of your hand will likely not last long enough. I confess freely I have a unique, and marginally self-centered mind set about this one: I will be marking (celebrate is not quite the right word) 43 years as a diabetic on June 12, 2009. I truly did not expect to be here. Maybe some of you are as lucky as I am. And so, there are fewer reunions left than there have been so far. It’s worthwhile. Let’s go. I look forward to seeing you.

Kind regards to all,

John Lacey