1960
Hunter Brown
We three—my wife, myself, and our flat-coated retriever Tillie—are fine and staying as active as we can. We are fortunate to live here in the Litchfield Hills with miles of well-tended trails for walking and hiking. Kenzie, the dog, cannot get enough of it. She’s always eager to go and her enthusiasm is contagious. Apart from the bother of social distancing, face masks at the grocery store, and this general “apartness” we’re doing pretty well. We had to put off a trip to London and another to Australia, but they are not going anywhere. Had we made the trips as planned, we couldn’t have done much when we got there. For now, we are grateful for our good health.
1961
Chip Colton
Here is a link to my son accepting the 34th Rakow Commission honor at Corning Museum Of Glass: https://youtu.be/hgbPhtYm-N4.
Tom Walker
I recently met Debbie Boone, daughter of Pat Boone, at the grand opening of Boscov’s department store at the Providence Place Mall [Rhode Island]. Her most famous hit was “You light up my life” in 1971. She is still a great performer and fun person to talk with after her one-hour performance. I am still working part time for the new England Patriots in the VIP Services and Marketing division. This is the greatest job in the world! I get to meet all the VIPs, including former quarterback Tom Brady and Bob Kraft. Here’s hoping the upcoming season brings us another Super Bowl visit. All is well with the COVID-19 with us. Also, my brother Ron Walker ’60 and his family [who live in the neighborhood] are also doing well, although we are all a little bored and looking forward to a return to normal life. Please, all faculty, students, administrators and alumni at Suffield, STAY WELL!
1962
Paul Connor
Last May I retired after 43 years. We had sold our downtown Mystic properties. We also sold our powerboat and went back to a on such 33 sailboat. We have lived in oank for 33 years and have two married children and five wonderful grandchildren, four girls and a Connor boy. Luckily they live in Connecticut so we used to see them often but now only on Zoom. In February we visited friends in Vero Beach, Florida, where through mutual friends I met up with Paul Martin ’61 who I had not seen since 1961. He looked great, easily recognized. Notice we are dressed alike. My wife Carol and I stopped by campus in January and had a tour with Adam Pistel ’08, which was very impressive and followed that with lunch with Charlie Cahn and Adam.
John Cox
I am fully retired and engaged in local efforts to protect Litchfield as a member of both the Conservation Commission and elected to Planning and Zoning.
Ken Kirk
I am enjoying retirement in Santa Fe but am still involved in water issues for city and county. Congratulations again to Dave Holdridge for his very deserving Alumni Leadership award. I wish I could have been there. I hope to get back soon!
Alexander Lyall
I am retired off the North Atlantic and the Boeing 767 after a long run on the DC-9. No damage done. I more recently sold off unnecessary possessions: skis, sails, small plane, tennis shoes. I’ve reduced to high speed Pickleball. Living in a college town, we learn from young people. Meanwhile, my 1966 Commanding Officer slowly dies from Agent Orange and o one notices, which colors my view of things, as yet another casualty of white privilege, social injustice and the warped system under which we operate. Otherwise, retirement is relatively easy.
Andy Spector
All of my community volunteer activities—helping at a geriatric home, reading to preschool kid at a day care for underprivileged kids, delivering meals on wheels, and working at the Holocaust museum—have been put on hold. So, I am doing a lot of reading and watching television, which I said I would not do in retirement. The days are pretty boring, and I think it will last a long time. Stay safe.
1963
Norm Keeney
We have been busy with traveling and visiting our daughter and her family in England and our son and his family in Deerfield, Illinois. We have a folk group at church, which is a lot of fun with singing and playing guitar.
John Wire
All is as one would expect. Staying at home and minimizing interactions is a challenge but the weather is cooperating and we can be outside working on the gardens. We have done some social communication and will increase the Zoom activity. Luckily the West Coast has been serious about staying at home so we have not had the breakouts that other areas have. We have the same worries of how do we know we can go back to some former “normal” and worry about a second wave. We see too many closures and are hopeful the economy will restart in a way that can help the thousands of businesses back. We have a large restaurant sector that has been damaged. But there is economic damage all over and I ever understood the before upstream/downstream impacts that a closure has. Stay safe. I will look forward to the West Coast visit. There is some fun in this. The photo is of my son’s golden retriever and his girlfriend’s rabbit with a little enhancement.
1964
Peter Symasko
Hello to all. Sorry we missed you all at Suffield. I hope for a visit from Tijan Sallah while he is stateside. We do see Andy and Andrea Lowe who summer just down the road and along with their very generous hospitality, they keep us informed pertaining to the great things happening daily at Suffield.
1965
Tim Hemingway
On the last day of February, we [Tim and Anne] returned home from a wonderful trip in the Amazon. When we passed through the Miami International Airport we noticed people already taking precautions, wearing face masks and social distancing where possible. We are safe and healthy in our home in Holland, Michigan. We have established a routine of hiking or walking every day to keep some degree of fitness. I have served on the board of our local municipal utility for many years. Our challenge during this pandemic is to keep our team members safe while they provide critical infrastructure [electric, water waste water treatment and broadband]. All is working well but it is a definite challenge. I was looking forward to joining many other members of the Class of 1965 this coming October to celebrate our 55th Reunion. Hard to believe it has been that many years since we were students at Suffield. I hope you and all the Suffield team stay safe and healthy.
Larry Hyde
My wife Molly and I moved into a Continuing Care Retirement Community in mid-February; based on the current environment it was the right decision at the right time. In fact, our lunch was just delivered to our Garden Cottage. Our kids and families are safe and still employed. We stay in touch through FaceTime and Zoom. Not bad for a guy who just threw in the towel and purchased his first smart phone. Bear Hemingway and Bob McFadden also keep in touch and complain about the aging process. Be well all.
Bill Kelly
I am at home in West Hartford with my wife Susan and daughter Katie and her toddler son and infant daughter. It has been more than 35 years since we have had children that age living with us, and then I was working long hours thereby escaping most of the bedlam. We were fortunate enough to visit Egypt and return home before the pandemic picked up steam here in the US. The tour was basically a voyage along the Nile with stops at various sites along the way. The attached photo shows Susan and me at the Step Pyramid in Saqqara [called Memphis in ancient times] which is considerably older than the more famous pyramids at Giza which we toured a few days earlier. The high point of the tour for me was watching the sunrise as I floated over the Valley of the Kings in a hot air balloon. It was a great vacation. Best wishes to all. Stay well.
Jim Lo Dolce
Fortuitously, my wife and I had planned eight months ago for me to take six weeks off from my work as an urgent care physician in the Syracuse area to spend April at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida. We arrived at Fiddlesticks about a week before the lockdown began. Thankfully, all the appropriate social distancing rules were followed by the residents on the two golf courses, which kept everyone safe. My primary activity during the pandemic therefore was playing about 600 holes of golf... I can think of worse fates. We actually stayed one extra week because of the pandemic and drove back home in April. We followed the recommended 14-day home quarantine guidelines, having arrived home from out of state. I used the time to start my large vegetable garden. I enjoy part-time work in urgent care, golfing, and sailing on Lake Ontario in US and Canadian waters on our Freedom 40/40 sailboat. As you know, the Class of ’65 has always played a big role in supporting Suffield and has enjoyed great reunion turnouts. Many of us have returned every five years since graduation. It is hard to believe that it will have been 59 years since many of us first arrived on campus in 1961 as freshmen [Larry Hyde actually arrived in 1960], when Ap Seaverns greeted us a young man!
1966
Michael Braun
Delayed my retirement for another year at the request of my law firm. Nevertheless, I bought a Riad in Marrakech to restore and renovate so will be spending substantial time there. It’s been a tough year since my brother George ’68 died unexpectedly. I focus on the growth of my granddaughters, nine and seven, and spend as much time as I can with them and my daughter Keetch and son-in-law Adam. My son graces us with his visits from Nashville as much as he can.
Charlie Claggett
Social distancing is beginning to turn into social desperation. We’re enjoying lots of Zoom meetings with friends, children, and grandchildren, and trying to make the most of our time together at home. Here’s a photo of us on a rare shopping trip.
Bruce Cohen
As you o doubt know, the Wizard of Oz [me] came out from behind the curtain and revealed his identity as the sponsor of the Model UN program at Suffield. I am so very proud of the students’ accomplishment in winning a major award recognizing their leadership at the last NYC conference. It was just Suffield’s first participation in this huge conference of over 1,200 students from around the world with Suffield having a very small five-member team. They blew me away by their leadership in their individual committees. I had hopes of coming to Suffield this spring to meet the other members of the Model UN team, but that could not happen this scholastic year.
Bruce Fletcher
Our son Andrew ’96 and wife Marina delivered their third son. Our daughter Sarah ’98 has a son and a daughter. That totals five grandchildren all under six years old.
Andy Forrest
Here are a few words and a couple of images. First, a painting from 2017, though improved this year. It shows Walnut Hill Park in new Britain and is from photographs I took when staying at the home of classmate Bruce T. Fletcher during the time of the Class of ’66 50th Reunion. Secondly, a view of a Venetian canal at night. I’m working on a new suite of paintings of that seductive city. Warmest greetings from across the Pond. Despite or because of lockdown I’m making progress on my forthcoming book about the artist Harold Swanwick [1866-1929] on weekdays and painting on weekends, right now a suite of acrylics and watercolors of Venice. Here’s to the Spirit of Suffield, and sending all best wishes to the Suffield Academy community and to my contemporaries in the Class of ’66. Stay well and keep safe!
Perry Gleason
My class agent/roommate hasn’t called me this year! Other than that, I am just aging in place.
Jim Hochschwender
My family and I are doing fine staying at home and being safe and extra cautious and extra sanitary with washing our hands much more frequently than usual and sanitizing surfaces, mail, and our shoes every time we come inside, etc. But the biggest news is the following: My wife’s brother Ximena is a thoracic surgeon in Bolivia who was appointed Minister of Health April 7, and on April 13 presented the strategies that the country would follow to deal with and mitigate COVID-19. My wife and I were able to use our network to provide him with lessons learned from different strategies used globally to date to help contribute to those strategies. We are continuing to provide support to him and Bolivia in coming up with a combination of external and domestic alternatives to sourcing supplies of tests, PPEs, and equipment. We are proud of the work he is doing to save lives in Bolivia. Our best to my classmates of ’66! Keep safe and healthy!
1967
Tom Hart
As the oldest member of the embassy community, I was evacuated from Lagos, Nigeria at the end of March just as flights were shutting down due to COVID-19 and am now suffering in safe haven on the beach in Melbourne, Florida.
1968
Woody Deutsch
I am living in middle Tennessee on a working farm. I own and work at Woody’s Bicycles, a full-service bicycle shop in the small college town of Sewanee, Tennessee. I am in contact with Scott Chambers ’68 who lives in [not too far away] Nashville. Oh yes, I am married with seven children and two grandchildren.
Brian Hersey
I returned to Suffield at the beginning of November and enjoyed a wonderful drive around campus, tour of the facilities, and lunch with the head of school and group of students. Campus is spectacular and academic rigor is still the cornerstone of student life. It brought back wonderful memories of my years there.