Class Secretary George Ebright has submitted these Class Notes to be published in January:

On September 9, classmates Michael Douglass, Russ Pulliam, and  Pat Stone hosted a one-hour Zoom webinar about the business of and life in  radio, newspaper reporting, and specialty publications during the pandemic. Michael (radio), Russ (regional newspaper reporting) and Pat (pro sports/entertainment) called on their different backgrounds to address what responsibility, if any does media owe its listeners/readers, what are differences in working for media conglomerate and working for yourself or small media company, which radio, TV stations, or print media do they watch, listen to or read and why.  Michael had a 37-year career in radio broadcasting including sales and sales management positions with Capital Cities Communications in LA, 13 years as VP/General Manager of WTOP News Radio and Wash-FM in Washington DC, President/CEO and minority partner of Clark Broadcasting in Bethesda, MD and President/Owner of Douglass Communications, LLC. Mike married his wife, Patricia, in 1986, and they are enjoying retirement in Eagle, Idaho.  Russ worked for the Associated Press, NYC, covering the city’s 1975 bankruptcy as well as a story that became the film, Dog Day Afternoon. He met Ruth in NYC, and they moved to Indianapolis, where Russ wrote editorials and columns for the family newspapers, now owned by Gannett.  He has continued to write commentary and work with younger journalists through internship efforts. He has sympathy for parents teaching children at home during the virus as he and Ruth homeschooled their 6 children through high school.  Pat somehow persuaded his remarkable urban, black, Vassar grad wife Becky to move with him to the mountains of Western North Carolina, where he fell into an editorial job at the original back-to-the-land magazine, Mother Earth News.  After a dozen years there the mag was sold, moved to NYC, and the staff let go. Not wanting to move, Pat started a different (i.e., not how-to) garden magazine, GreenPrints, “The Weeder’s Digest,” a heartwarming quarterly of personal garden stories. 31 years later, he and Becky are still creating it. (Becky is the famous one, doing historical reenactments of Rosa Parks, Harriett Tubman, Maya Angelou, and—a special prize if you know this one—Pauli Murray).

Participants in the webinar included John Ackroff, Colin Brown, Sue Brown, John Chambers, George Ebright, Bob Eyre, Jay Fahn, Rob Farnham, John Finnerty, Andy Fleming,  Hugh Hawkins, Dick Hemingway, Shaye Hester, Tom Jones, Rives Kistler, Rob Jones, Steve Latham, Jim Lavigne, Paul Lieberman, Paul Miller, Tim Murnane,  David Newton, Scott Nycum, Paul Oldshue, Dave Olson, Doug Pickard, Ken Richardson, Bill Rives, Mark Ruchman, Steve Saxby, Jeff Stein, Nick Tortorello, John Untereker, John Walcott, Mort Wasserman, and Judy and Paul Willis. – plus others.

Unfortunately, I have to report that Craig Lindeke passed on August 5, 2020.

In answer to how our pets have helped us survive the pandemic, Jay Fahn gave the best reply in an email to Steve Brown.  “You ask about our dog.  Luke is an 8 year old rescue. He is mostly Bluetick Coonhound with a blend of pointer, about 55 pounds and just starting to settle into middle age. He is our wonderful playful “keeper of humans.” His predecessor was truly the great love of my life, an English Bulldog named Sofia. Nina and I were her indentured servants for 12 wonderful years.  Since she departed, there hasn’t been a single day that i haven’t consciously missed her. To say that she had a large personality would be a gross understatement. I’ve been enslaved to other dogs but none quite like Sofia. (Think 45 lb. watermelon with short legs and incredibly strong jaws).  Nina and I actually met 15 years ago via our respective dogs and they completely controlled our lives-where we lived, what type of houses we had, when and where and if we took vacations, indoor temperature, types of furniture…everything is predicated on “ Will the dog like it? Is it safe for the dog? Will the dog be comfortable?”

I’ll admit Sofia was rather indifferent to being on the ranch and was pretty much focused full time on selecting one of her many beds upon which to nap. That is classic bulldog behavior. Luke however is a great ranch dog and takes advantage of the land and wildlife smells and engages in typical hound behavior, including wonderful howling or “baying” which is not so wonderful at 2 am when he is compelled to respond to the local coyote chorus.  Our friends think we overdo the “dog thing” but we don’t mind. 

On the Ebright home front, our two golden retrievers, Hunter (13) and Bene (12), have made sure we get outside and walk them daily.  Bene, suffering from a possible tumor, has caused us the greater concern, but he keeps on chugging and his big brown eyes keep me entranced.

Thanks to Amy Lovett, editor of the Williams Magazine, I can report about the Class of ’71 Performers Webinar that took place on October 20.  Class President Steve Brown organized different kinds of performances: actor Gordie Clapp shared humor and story-telling in his Emmy award-winning style, pianist Dr. Bob Eyre played Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata and dedicated to our classmates who have passed and a Rochmaninoff Prelude; architect and guitarist Bruce MacNelly performed his own style of improvisational guitar that he accompanies a dance company on Martha’s Vineyard; and composer/pianist Denman Maroney, who performed two Thelonious Monk compositions and joined the webinar from his home in St. Martin de Sossenac, France.

Gordie Clapp has no intention of retiring.  Actors never retire. Their parts just get smaller (their roles, Gordie would say).  After graduation, he joined a children’s theatre and summer-stock group for a short time and then wandered the continent for 40 years. He returned to New England in 2014 and lives in Vermont when he is not on Broadway or at one of several regional theaters he has been frequenting. Gordie is best known for his role as Detective Greg Medavoy for 12 seasons on NYPD Blue, winning an Emmy in 1998.

Bob Eyre retired in July 2019 after a 40-year career in urological surgery, both in academic and private settings.  Bob studied the piano (from age 3) and several other instruments until he entered Williams.  At Williams, he played tuba in the Berkshire Symphony, Vermont State Symphony, and Brass Ensemble (conductor during Irwin Shainman’s sabbatical) and was involved in AMT musicals (with Gordie Clapp). He played very rarely for the next 45 years but has now taken it up again in retirement. While teaching a Winter Study at Williams this past January, he presented an all-Debussy recital.

Bruce MacNelly is an architect on Martha’s Vineyard. He has been playing guitar, solo and in groups, since his time at Williams, and currently plays freely improvised music for a dance troupe on the Vineyard.

After Williams Denman Maroney completed his MFA at California Institute of the Arts and then taught in Michigan.  The lure of New York City brought him there.  While writing his own music, he supported himself by driving a cab and then working in advertising until 2005.  “The music of Thelonious Monk made me want to become a musician,” Denman said before playing Monk’s “Stuffy Turkey.”

Those who joined in the webinar included John Ackroff, Karen Ackroff, Dave Albert, Gene Bauer, John Barkan, Colin Brown, Sue and Steve Brown, Doug Bryant, John Canfield, John Chambers, John Conover, Pril Dorman, George Ebright, Mark Engasser, Geo Estes, Laura Estes, Rob Farnham, Andy Fleming, Mike Foley, Greg Griffin, Paul Hannan, Hugh Hawkins, Shaye Hester, John Hubbell, Tom Jones, Rob Jones, Roger Kaufman, Rives Kistler, Steve Latham, Jim Lavigne,  Paul Lieberman, Paul Miller, Jock MacKinnon, Denman Maroney, Paul Miller, Tim Murnane,  David Newton, Scott Nycum, Paul Oldshue, Dave Olson, Andrew Osman, Bonita Palmer, Greg Paxton  Doug Pickard, Irwin Rubin, Mark Ruchman, Jack Sands, Steve Saxby, Bruce Smith, Roy Simon, Dave Sobel, Jim Stearns, Jeff Stein, James Tam, Nick Torterello, John Untereker, Wally Schlech,  Jim Vipond,  John Walcott, Mort Wasserman, Ned Weihman and Judy and Paul Willis.

Steve Brown reports that Reunion Chair Rob Farnham and his wonderful team of volunteers are still at work planning for our Reunion in Williamstown next Jun 9-13 – meals, activities, seminars, and just good old, hanging-out time!! Steve and Rob are certainly aware of the uncertainty regarding whether we will actually go ahead next June, and plan to make a decision by late-Feb. – early March with about whether we are a “Go” for June, 2021. In the meantime, enjoy connecting with old friends and meeting new ones in our ’71 zooms or just reaching out to reconnect with roommates, teammates, lab partners and other classmates!! If you need info where to find them , just let Steve, Rob, John Chambers or John Ackroff know whom you would like to contact.

Visit our website at williams71.org.  John Ackroff and John Chambers keep adding more news, photos, and information than you could imagine.   Check them out and please add your own thoughts, memories of that very unique event and period.  Be sure to write your own Personal Statement so it can be included in the 50th Reunion book.  Just find a recent email from John Chambers (begging for your statement of up to 600 words), and use it to click right to your part of the book draft. Or email it to him at [email protected].