Jan/Feb 2011

My online plea for classmate news brought forth much of my last column, and almost all of this one. To all those who read and never write: Do not let the music die. Time to check in with the Mother Ship! Here, now, the news.

From Scott Nelson (snelson.md.74@gmail.com): ’I’m in Boulder, Colorado, now, semi-retired, and doing some service medical work. I did join Macon Cowles and Allen Bolesand spouses for a dinner recently, and the talk was partly political. It was also about a little-known attic area of Silliman (no heat or electricity and off the map) where an underclassman friend of Macon who will be known here only as Phil lived for a year or two, unofficially, of course, while finishing up Yale. Better than under a bridge, for sure. I had heard of these rooms while at Silliman, but figured they were urban legend. Well, they are real. The talk was partly about a renewal of a franchise agreement with Xcel Energy, the owner of the nearby coal-fired electric plant, vs. municipal ownership. Having lived a lot of places with successful muni ownership, I favored the latter. Still, it’s a daunting task for Boulder to consider. Do classmates have wisdom on this issue?

’Our daughter Susan has just graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design and is now living in NYC looking for a job in interior design. Our son just moved into his own apartment in nearby Broomfield, Colorado. Both kids are semi-fledged now.

’I joined a group of ENT doctors for a short trip to Hanoi to transfer equipment and expertise to their ENT doctors. An interesting trip, for sure. They have mostly forgotten the war with us, much more than their occupation by the French and by the Japanese, memories that are more burned in. Hanoi looks pretty capitalistic, with lots of small shops and businesses on the street, except that on most blocks there is one billboard with a Communist picture and slogan. Never more than one. I’m volunteering as an ENT consultant locally with a low-income clinic, less glamorous than the V-N trip, but more useful to the patients. I’ve got a trip planned to Cameroon in September to help a young Cameroonian ENT get started in a remote area. This is stuff I’ve always wanted to do, but couldn’t mesh with career very well before moving here.”

Doug Connell (hdconnell@wbbinc.com) reports: ’I’m happy to report that my first month of second retirement has been smooth. Left an interesting Defense Department consulting gig 13 years after leaving the Navy. Kat and I are settled in on the Wintergreen resort southwest of Charlottesville, with a golf course in the back and trout streams all around. Career #3 will be teaching history, which no doubt would bring a smile to those who noted my indifference to most of the courses I took in that department while an undergraduate. Had the special pleasure of playing golf with our oldest grandson early this month, an event that I hope will become a frequent intersection over the years. Another pleasure has been reconnecting with Dick Corrigan, our lacrosse coach. A poignant event was the passing of my mother last week in Missoula, Montana, after a losing engagement with Alzheimer’s. I’m an orphan, but not alone. Our door is open to classmates who get down this way for golf, fishing, skiing, and yarn spinning.”

Len Hill checks in from Los Angeles, for the first time ever: ’We wrapped filming on an indie movie titled Dorfman (starring Sara Rue, Elliott Gould, and Haaz Sleiman). The movie was filmed in and around the loft projects that were developed by Linear City, the adaptive reuse development company I started in 2000. Richard A. Williams and family visited the company when they were filming on the roof of the Toy Factory Lofts.”

From Don Shaw (donshawaia@mac.com), also making his first contribution to the class notes, inspired in part by seeing Guy Cooper’s recent note: ’For the past 25 years, I’ve lived on Waimanalo Beach, which is located on Oahu’s Windward Coast, with my wife Jan (aka Janice Friend, MD). Our daughter, Amanda, is currently living in Buenos Aires, working for an international NGO. Amanda graduated from the London School of Economics, where her master’s thesis focused on economic development for women. She then worked for the British government’s department for international development, before moving to Argentina.

’My wife and I have adjoining offices in nearby Kailua, overlooking the beach where President Obama stays on vacations. We met in San Francisco, where she was doing her residency in psychiatry at UCSF and Stanford, and I had done my architectural internship. After our daughter was born we moved first to Palo Alto and then to Hawaii where we’ve been ever since.

’Although my wife has recently cut back her practice to half time, I’ll probably continue practicing architecture and planning as long as I’m able. I still enjoy my work, which over the years has included the design of airports, hotels, and houses in a wide variety of locations, in addition to teaching architecture. Recent projects have included studies for a new airport for Angkor Wat and the reconstruction of the Water Palace at Ujung, Bali. Currently, I’m concluding a consulting contract for a large firm in Asia, and working on a new beachfront residence for nearby Lanikai Beach.

’I heard from Bob Sussman not long ago and he appears to be enjoying life (and politics) in DC. And, last I heard, Doug Barzelay was dividing his time between Manhattan and Southampton, with occasional wine-smuggling trips to France.”

’Old age is not an illness, it is a timeless ascent. As power diminishes, we grow toward more light.”—May Sarton, the New York Times, 9/26/2010.