THE NEWSLETTER OF

THE NEWSLETTER OF — INSIDE — On Campus...........................1-4 Development...........................5 Alumni Special Section 1950s.................................6-7 1960s.................................8-9 1970s.............................10-11 1980s.............................12-13 1990s.............................14-15 2000s.............................16-17 Alumni Class Notes..........18-23 www.crms.org Vol 55 / Issue No. 2 The historic images in this issue are courtesy of the many photographers who have contributed to the CRMS archives over the decades. Thank you for preserving so many enduring memories of the CRMS experience. Colorado Rocky Mountain School — Spring 2009 — CELEBRATING 55 YEARS IN THE MAKING By Lisa Raleigh, Director of Communications (The following was excerpted from John Holden’s notes.) We made the big decision to start CRMS when Anne said to me in the spring of 1951, “We’re either going to do it now or stop talking about it. It is not fair to Putney for us to stay here with our hearts in the Rockies.” So we went to the Head of School and told her of our plans, that we wanted to leave in June 1952 to make our dreams come true. She looked up at us sadly for a moment then brightened up and said, “You pay me the highest compliment, but I hate to see you go. You know, don’t you, that you’ll be sticking your heads in a noose.” Philosophically a Putney in the West meant a school with very high academic goals that demanded of students, and faculty as well, a life full of hard intellectual, physical, artistic and creative endeavor. The summer of 1953 found the following announcement: CRMS is being established for collegebound boys and girls who are sound of body and mind and full of a spirit of adventure. It is a transition between home and college that provides them with some of the inner resources of which many people have been robbed by modern easy living. Fifty-five years later, CRMS remains true to its founding origins, which are as relevant as ever. Our commitment to meaningful work and sustainability are woven throughout our school’s programs. By combining our collegeprep academics, outdoor and work experiences, arts, emphasis on sustainability, community service, and campus life, we are preparing our students for extraordinary lives - continuing in the Holdens’ tradition. ON CAMPUS CONT.. On the following pages you will find campus and Development updates followed by a collection of alumni-submitted essays and class notes. Thanks to the great response, we are posting the complete collection of essay submissions and full class notes on our website at www.crms.org/alumni. We hope you enjoy this stroll through time as we reflect back on the five-and-a-half decades that have created CRMS as we know it today – a school full of students and teachers driven by passion, adventure, and dedication. INTERIM 2009 By Lisa Raleigh, Director of Communications The goal of Interim week is to immerse our students and faculty in experiences and pursuits that enable them to learn by doing. Interim exposes students to new ideas, experiences, and environments. This immersion allows for knowledge in a specific discipline beyond a normal academic schedule, thereby broadening the individual’s skills, appreciation for, and awareness of the world we live in. Interim succeeds by: (1) challenging students to learn and develop new ideas, awareness and skills, (2) helping students better understand the workings of communities and the value of service to others, (3) promoting active learning and experiential education, and (4) helping students develop sustainable life skills that will assist students in reaching their full potential and personal growth. These seven day projects take place on or off campus, and this year’s activities included (photos submitted by participating students & faculty): CD Recording & Production Archaeology & Geology Challenge Aspen Outdoor Leadership Adventures in Astro-Geology Silversmithing Blacksmithing Green Building & Design Ancient Mayan Culture Creative Writing Coastal Ecology Hot Glass Hopi Indian Culture ATTENDING CRMS  IT’S A FAMILY TRADITION Yolandra Gomez Toya ‘84 (aunt and Trustee), Trevor Gomez, ‘09 and Shade Gomez ‘12 (cousins) are one of our many legacy families. CRMS has a long-standing tradition of legacy families. From siblings, parents, cousins, aunts/uncles to grandparents, CRMS has enjoyed many multi-generational relationships over the years. But this year’s group alone has 38 students with legacy connections, symbolizing our families’ commitment to the CRMS experience. The Newsletter of Colorado Rocky Mountain School is published three times a year by Colorado Rocky Mountain School Spring 2009 (Vol 55 / Issue No. 2) DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS: Lisa Raleigh / lraleigh@crms.org DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI/ANNUAL FUND: Laura McCormick / lmccormick@crms.org DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT: Carolyn Hardin / chardin@crms.org DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION: Molly Dorais / mdorais@crms.org HEAD OF SCHOOL: Jeff Leahy / jleahy@crms.org 1493 County Road 106, Carbondale, CO 81623 www.crms.org 2 ON CAMPUS HEAD OF SCHOOL’S LETTER REFLECTING ON THE PAST 55 YEARS By Jeff Leahy and faculty with meaningful tasks as the school worked to shape its physical landscape and program through their own labor. Reflected in these memories is the courage of our school founders, faculty, and students. These stories are of people who took chances or the time to pay attention to something beautiful, whether in the form of an intellectual or social epiphany, the majesty of our mountains, or the delicacy of a flower. Since its founding, CRMS has benefited from being so compelling in its educational purpose that it has literally drawn adults and students into its fold. In many cases, the program has taught its community members to move beyond perceived limitations or provided them with a capacity to grow in a direction that they had not originally imagined. There is a spirit and tone to these memories that will either feel familiar or resonate with those who have answered a similar calling. Whether this call is an actual bucket brigade, a yodel on a mountain top, the feeling that this is the right place, or the generosity of one human to another goes unspoken but is clearly understood. In the end, it is far more than just the philosophy and a unique program that have led to the success of the school. It is the people, particularly the faculty and staff, who have brought this philosophy to life. There has always been meaningful work to do at CRMS, but it is the people who have given life to the actual work. It is through their passions and energy that the work teaches the meaningful lessons, stimulates the growth of the individuals, and inspires them to be better. Any school can take its students out of doors and teach the subjects that are taught at CRMS; the difference is the relationships that are formed through being a part of an experience that is so meaningful. In this edition, we have collected a series of stories that provide a window into each decade that CRMS has been in existence. I am confident that alumni and long-time members of our community will find something familiar in all of these reflections. The success that CRMS enjoys is a wonderful story in itself, and is the result of the compelling educational vision of so many people along the way. In each decade, we see the growth of a school as it builds upon previous achievements and the courage and hard work of all its community members. We also gain insight into the development of new programs that are now traditions, the arrival of faculty who had profound influences on future aspects of the school, and the impact mentors had on their mentees. While I am confident that much of what is included here will resonate with the well-connected CRMS reader, I am equally sure that these remembrances will both entertain and inform the person who has lived a life more distant from our school community. These stories capture fundamental elements of a school that seeks to be more than just college preparatory, where people experience powerful moments within the program, in the outdoors, or through generous spirits that have a profound impact on them well into their adult lives. We imagine that some of you have shared moments similar to those that have shaped the speakers into the people that they are today. When John and Anne Holden came out West, they arrived with an idea about education that would ultimately serve them well in starting a school. They believed that a student’s work should have meaning and contribute to the individual and community’s growth and development. In the early days, it wasn’t hard to provide the students 3 ON CAMPUS VISITING SCHOLAR: DUTTON FOSTER By Lisa Raleigh, Director of Communications CRMS enjoyed a multi-day visit from former faculty member Dutton Foster this past February. Dutton taught at CRMS from 1968 through 1985. He held many positions, including English teacher, Director and writer of plays, Director of Studies, and Assistant Headmaster. Our students, faculty/staff, parents and Board members alike enjoyed Dutton’s visit and his many tales from a past era. Following please find some excerpts from a speech he gave to the entire CRMS community during his visit. “Although my family and I left the school about eight years before many of you were born, we were here for seventeen years before that. My nocturnal dreams still often take place in and around this building. It’s more than a setting – it’s a character in the story of my life, and several thousand other lives. “My wife Caroline and my daughter Alison and I arrived at the school in 1968 and left in 1985. Alison was one year old when we came and ready for college when we left. She and our son H.D. grew up here. We were part of the middle third of the school’s history, in a time of tremendous creative energy, and also a time of rebellion against authority, rules, laws, and traditions. “When John and Anne Holden drove west, in 1950, in the legendary green truck full of mattresses, they drove through a quieter America. They brought with them their experience at the progressive Putney School in Vermont, a school they planned to replicate in the Colorado mountains. Their program would embody progressive ideas pioneered by the German educator Kurt Hahn, who in the 1920’s founded a school called Schloss Salem in Germany. Hahn felt that modern life was turning young people into unfit flabby spectators, lacking manual skills, lacking a sense of craftsmanship. “The most staggering changes I notice when I visit are not in the school so much as in the Valley itself. When the Holdens arrived, Carbondale was a very sleepy little mining and ranching town. It had one dusty drug store, one half-empty little grocery store, one run-down gas station. There was a bar and a closed movie theater and a Near New store staffed by volunteers. A tiny library. No restaurants. No trendy little shops. No arts center. Burly men walked around looking as if they were wearing mascara – these were the coal miners, who could never get all the coal dust out of their eyelids. “The school was in every way an island in a very rural area of ranchers and miners. Now, with half or more of you commuting to school here, with the huge growth of the valley and its recreational economy, the school is no longer an island. It’s connected and surrounded by the outside world and can’t pretend otherwise.” (For Dutton’s complete speech go to www.crms.org/alumni.) STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: HAYDEN KENNEDY CARRYING ON THE FAMILY BUSINESS By Lisa Raleigh, Director of Communications Hayden grew up rock climbing. After all, his dad is Michael Kennedy, former owner and Publisher of Climbing Magazine and a world renowned mountaineer and alpinist who climbed big peaks throughout Alaska and the Himalayas. So of course it comes as no surprise that Hayden has been climbing since he was six years old. But it wasn’t until he hit his early teens that he began climbing with serious interest. He and his father have spent the past several summers traveling to far-flung destinations like the crags in Thailand, the Italian Dolomites, big walls in Yosemite National Park, and throughout the US, including the Utah desert and sport climbing in his own backyard of Rifle, CO (a world-class destination for climbers). And if his gifted climbing skills weren’t enough, Hayden has also become a high-end competitive telemark skier while at CRMS. Arriving his freshman year an accomplished alpine skier, he became intrigued after meeting Kayo Ogilby (the CRMS telemark coach) and decided to give free-heeling a try. He adapted quickly and by the end of his junior year was competing in Big Mountain venues at the national level, including the 2008 US Extreme Freesking Telemark Championships in Crested Butte, CO. When asked what draws him to the extreme world of tele-skiing comps, Hayden replies, “I love skiing fast, but still under control. Big Mountain skiing is all about taking calculated risks that will depend on the line you take to drop down through the cliffs, the snow conditions, and the landing; all while earning the most points possible from the judges.” Hayden continues, “While climbing is now my number-one priority and it takes a significant amount of my time, I will always love tele-skiing and will continue to look for opportunities to pursue this passion.” If you are beginning to wonder if things have come too easily for this talented young athlete, know that he overcame a major physical challenge his sophomore year. During a routine indoor bouldering session (climbing on a low artificial wall without ropes), Hayden jumped off the wall and landed sideways, tearing his knee’s ACL, MCL and meniscus, resulting in a complicated surgery and a six-month recovery. During this time, Hayden came to realize how important it is to cherish the things you love to do and not to take them for granted. Today he is one-hundred percent recovered and climbing at his highest level yet. As Hayden approaches his high school graduation, he believes CRMS has been the perfect place to balance his academic obligations with his passion for climbing and skiing. And while the academic standards have been high and the amount of time spent studying significant, Hayden is confident it has been a great life lesson for him. After being accepted to Prescott College, Hayden is considering deferring college for one year in order to climb full time throughout the US and abroad as his finances permit. So keep an eye out for this incredibly talented young man who will undoubtedly leave his mark on the sport of climbing. 4 DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT UPDATE By Carolyn Hardin, Director of Development 200809 ANNUAL FUND CONCLUDES IN TWO MONTHS The Annual Fund drive for 200809 will close on June 30. Development is working hard to follow-up with donors to ensure that they make their contributions by that date. With your help, we can meet our goal of raising $420,000. These funds are critical, particularly this year, for ensuring that Colorado Rocky Mountain School has the funds needed to provide our extraordinary educational program to CRMS students. As of now, participation rates for faculty and staff, alumni and current parents are up over last year, but we still have a way to go to meet our participation goals. The next two months are the final months of the Board of Trustees Alumni Challenge, so it is a great time for alumni to increase their gifts or give for the first time. In this Challenge, the Board will match all increased gifts, up to $100. To all of you who have contributed to the Annual Fund this year, we offer our most heartfelt thanks. If you have not yet made your gift, please do so before June 30. Together we can make Colorado Rocky Mountain School be the best it can be! TELLURIDE MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR 2009 EXCITING AND THOUGHTPROVOKING FILMS HIGHLIGHT GREAT COMMUNITY EVENT The ninth annual Telluride MountainFilm on Tour festival was held on February 5-7 in the CRMS Barn. For the first time, the event was expanded to a third night, as there were so many fabulous films to show this year. The festival not only brought great adventure, environmental and education films to the valley, it was also a wonderful public relations and marketing opportunity, as well as a great community event. Michelle Williams, Special Events Coordinator, and Lisa Raleigh, Communications Director, were interviewed on four local radio stations and one local TV station, where they spoke about the event and about CRMS and what makes it so special. Sponsors and attendees of the event were very positive about the films and the evening. We’ll see you next year for the 10th annual! THE CORNERSTONE DEBUTS DO WE HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? The Colorado Rocky Mountain School Development Office has launched a new publication especially for our donors—The Cornerstone. The purpose of this e-newsletter is to let our donors know about all of the wonderful things that are made possible by their generosity. We plan to send The Cornerstone out four times per year (one issue will be the Annual Report). Do we have your email address? We want to make sure that all of our donors who would like to receive The Cornerstone do receive it. If you think we might not have your email address, or if you have opted out of CRMS Constant Contact e-communications and would like to opt back in to receive The Cornerstone, please email chardin@crms.org. CAPITAL PROJECT WISH LIST > Garden Expansion—($38,000 -- $20,000 still needed) > Music Building—($125,000) Unattached building near the Barn for music > Hood for kitchen in Bar Fork—($69,000) > Vehicles: Large SUVs (2)—Suburban, Excursion or Yukon XLT; with 50,000 miles or less Sedan or small SUV for faculty trips to Denver for professional development Minivan for the Nurse to transport students for appointments Electric truck > Active Center—($150,000) Straw bale on concrete pad, student labor > Jewelry Hogan—($10,000) Internal drywalling > Adobe—($20,000) Re-skin and insulate > Forge—($10,000) Pour concrete floor > Double-pane windows—($50,000) > Ranch fencing—($5,000) > Upgrade furniture in common areas of dorms—($10,000) > History Project—Archivist, exhibit area, storage, and oral or written history of CRMS. 5 ALUMNI CELEBRATING 55 YEARS OF HISTORY Introduction and compilation by Laura McCormick ’93, Director of Alumni Relations In CRMS’s 55th year, it’s important to pause and reflect on our school’s history and all the lives it has touched during its storied existence. When we think back to what made a tangible difference in those formative years, inevitably it’s the people we remember. Those who have chosen to tread this ranchland tend to see the world differently from those who have simply passed it by. In the following essays, you will find evidence of that “uniquely CRMS” perspective. Humor, optimism, and resourcefulness permeate these submissions. The community members of CRMS have participated in creating something beautifully challenging in its nontraditional nature, and outstanding in its ability to create independent thinkers, adventurers, and leaders for the road less traveled. Thank you to all who contributed essays. The complete collection of essays is available at www.crms.org/alumni. And please note this is an on-going effort, so we welcome any written reflections; simply send them to lmccormick@crms.org. Special thanks to the photographers responsible for the archival photos in this section, including: Steve Maxwell, Meredith Ogilby, the Berko family, Margaret Durrance, and other student and faculty photographers we might have overlooked in the above list. I hope you will enjoy reading the following essays honoring a piece of each era in our school’s story as much as I have. ing in an open truck, unseated and unbelted, we would have been remanded to foster care and John and Anne Holden locked up. It was a different time. John and Anne were the backbone and soul of the school. Money was tight, budgets got busted by the slightest malfunction of almost anything, and stuff malfunctioned. The faculty was new, and for the most part unknown to one another, and it took a while to sort out and explain progressive education to those from a more traditional background. I was oblivious to most of this as I had been given freedom. I had spent the previous two years at the Fountain Valley School outside of Colorado Springs where there was a dress code, the faculty were ‘Masters’ and called ‘Sir,’ there were no ‘Madams,’ and we played football, tennis, basketball, and hockey and we seldom went skiing. It was a perfectly good school; it had physics, biology and chemistry labs, a real library, an athletic and music director, live theater and traditions. CRMS, on the other hand, had no traditions, a library smaller than our family library at home, and no labs or theater of any sort. The dress code was anything that could pass for somewhat clean and protective, and everyone was on a first-name basis. All of this led to a new level of familiarity in my experience with most adults. If John Holden was suffering from some angst, we all knew it and felt free to ask about it. Sometimes we got a real answer and other times we got a gruff put-off which was fine; our friends were allowed to have their bad days. Anne was more calm and practical. She saw reality quickly and came to usable solutions. They were a good couple. We all learned something about human dynamics from watching that marriage stress and recover in ways that were previously unimaginable to many of us. CRMS was a great place to learn these lessons of life. THE FIFTIES THE HOLDENS AND THE TRUCK By Ford K. Sayre, CRMS ’54 Fifty-five years ago this winter, I was a senior at CRMS having a good time and skiing at Aspen for $.50 a day. Life was very good. Of course there was the worry of college hanging over my head, and Spring Trip was coming up and I had not yet completed the project of getting the steel storage boxes made and attached to the truck so we could carry our food and gear. The machine shop in Carbondale was fabricating these for the school, and I would drop in from time to time for test fittings and progress checks. That was my work assignment - driving the truck. I picked up coal from a mine in the hills above Glenwood Springs for the heating system of the main house and ran other errands, alone. I was not allowed to drive with another student and most of the faculty had no interest in going where I went. So I got good at driving the vehicle. The truck, which is still at the school, is a dark green, International, six-cylinder stake-bed with a four-speed transmission and a ‘split rear end.’ That means that there was another gear in the differential that was operated by a pull knob on the gear shift lever. It gave the truck eight speeds and I used them all regularly. We took our Spring Trip to southwestern Colorado and New Mexico and saw all of the sights. It was the school’s first trip and naturally we all rode in the back of the truck. Today, if any sheriff in any county saw us rid- 6 ALUMNI THE CRMS FACULTY & STAFF WHO SHAPED MY LIFE By Rob Sayre, CRMS ’54 There’s always a danger trying to remember one’s teachers from fifty-five years ago. I’m sure I’ll leave someone important out. They were such an interesting group of people, I can’t help myself. John Holden was the headmaster. And since he was the founding father and the school had no history, he set the tone. Certainly he and Anne defined the culture. He taught English and she taught math. She was an exceptionally good teacher and a level head; he was a visionary and a pioneer. Jack and Barbara Snobble lived in a house that preceded the Leahys’ current home. Jack taught geomorphology (some of which I actually still remember) and Barbara taught history. In retrospect, I think we teenagers just drove Jack right to the limit. Barbara stayed calm, and her ancient history course was really interesting. John Schmidt was an English teacher. I remember that he was very thin, wore LL Bean clothes, and drove the first Volkswagen I had ever seen. John led the madrigal group during evening activities. He was also an excellent teacher. It was in his class that I read “Crime and Punishment” and learned that there was more to a book than its plot. John was also really good at giving advice about everything from how to get along with others to personal hygiene. The next year, we had an additional English teacher named Louise Morley. The two of them were subsequently married. I don’t think one could invent John Holt. He was single and quite eccentric. For example, if we were in line behind him for lunch, we would have to wait while he compared each banana – the length and curve – to be sure he picked the largest. He could whistle every song, including solos, from Benny Goodman’s 1937 Carnegie Hall concert. He was a phenomenal teacher, particularly with respect to writing. He would draw pictures in the margins of our papers to remind us to write what we had to say in correct, straightforward English. He also coached our baseball team. Although he had never played baseball, he had read a book about it. I was pretty intimidated by Charlotte Jossman, so my memory of her is not as clear. I had a habit of trying to memorize my Latin vocabulary right before class. This did not sit well with Jossy, who would reprimand me with her strong German accent. Paula Mechau was the Administrative Assistant to the Holdens and she taught folk singing. She was a strong, solid, caring, but formidable force at the school. We learned a lot from her in addition to folk songs. Frank Warhurst was our physics teacher and a folk singer. He tried in vain to teach me the guitar. He also gave me the scariest exam question I’ve ever gotten: “A pendulum swings.” I didn’t have a clue about what to do with that. I almost flunked the course. These personalities and so many others, like Mary our kind nurse, Dick and Jane Cobb who maintained the farm, and Steve Schanzer who taught silversmithing after escaping Germany and making it to the US shaped my education and experiences at CRMS. 7 ALUMNI THE SIXTIES A CLIMB UP MT. SOPRIS By Lynn Bradley Leopold, CRMS ’60 I was a junior and new to CRMS, when John Holden offered to lead a hike up Mt. Sopris on a clear, beautiful September Saturday. Several of us had piled into trucks with our brown-bag lunches stashed in our packs and headed for the trailhead. My mother had wisely outfitted me with a new pair of hiking boots in preparation for my arrival at school, and this was to be their first outing. Luckily, they fit well and caused no blisters over the course of the long day. As the day progressed, many of the hikers in our group moved ahead, leaving the slower of us to struggle along in the rear. At one point, John suggested to us that the best way to make the trek to the top was “simply to place one foot in front of the other.” Sure enough, slowly and steadily we all arrived at the top. It was an exhilarating day for me. I had grown up in Colorado and had camped all over the state with my family before, but I had never scaled a major Colorado peak. It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and the view in all directions was fabulous. I recall two people doing a little folk dance at the summit–could it have been Dale Lassater and Heddy (the folk and modern dance teacher)? I marveled at how they still had enough wind and energy to do a Hora at nearly 13,000 feet. And I will always remember that somewhere along our ascent I had stopped to eat lunch or to take a breather when I heard the most magical sound–someone’s clear, high voice, yodeling from the ridge near the top. It turned out to be Paula Mechau who had joined us on the climb, and that haunting call will always remain a lovely souvenir of my first month at CRMS. A SKI LIFT CHAT by John Holland, CRMS ’70 In February of 1969, Roger Paris and I were riding up the Bell Mountain Chairlift enjoying the view and the skiing. Our talk turned to kayaking, and Roger offhandedly asked if I would be interested in competing in the upcoming Whitewater World Championships in the downriver kayak event. I said “Of course” even before he finished his sentence and accepted without even consulting my parents, who would have to foot the bill. That off-hand question led to my competing in the first of several World Championships, and started me on a 10-year career in slalom kayak racing. It also helped me compete in the 1972 Munich Olympics, and had a big influence on who I married, both times. In the late 1960s, where but at CRMS could such a conversation have occurred and have had such an impact? 8 THE DAY THE PIGS ESCAPED FROM THE BARN As told to Laura McCormick ’93 by Pat and Bill Fender As a part of CRMS’s on-going effort to collect memories and historical tales of our school, in addition to asking alumni and former faculty to send in their recollections, we are meeting with those who would prefer to be interviewed. The following is an excerpt of a recent conversation with Pat and Bill Fender. I met Pat and Bill at their home in Carbondale. As I drove up to their ranch-style house which sits above the Crystal River, I noticed a sign on the garage door that read, “Forget the dog, beware of Bill.” This prompted the first of many smiles during my visit with the Fenders. Laura: I know you two have so many wonderful stories from over the years. I’ve recently received a couple of requests from alumni for the story about the pigs escaping the Barn in the early days. Will you tell me that one? Pat: Well, at that time we lived over on Rose Lane. We were renting a place down there, right by the river off of Catherine’s Store Road. Bill: There was a hell of a lot of snow that year and then it warmed up really late, so the Roaring Fork flooded, and our land was right on the river. We had to move some of our livestock to higher ground. We asked John [Holden] if we could keep our pigs in the CRMS Barn until the river went down, and he agreed. So, we had our pigs, including several piglets in some pens in the north side of the Barn [these days it is the north end of the CRMS library]. ALUMNI 9 One spring afternoon, there was a study hall full of students taking place on the south side of the Barn. Somehow, the piglets got out and were running around wildly, squealing outside. As soon as the students heard the commotion, they ran outside to try and help catch the piglets. The students and faculty did manage to get the piglets back in the pen, after quite a bit of scrambling after the little creatures! The students reluctantly and somewhat unsuccessfully returned to their study hall, feeling restless from the exciting episode. John was not at all impressed with the interruption, but seemed to dismiss it as a one-time event. A few days later, students in their afternoon study hall heard the familiar sound of squealing and little hooves scrambling out the Barn door. Another group chase ensued and study hall was again rendered useless for the day. Bill continues with a big grin: This time, John was really ticked off. He said, “Get them the hell out of here!...So, we did!” Note: Bill Fender leased some of the school’s land for a few years in the early 1950s, and Pat was the school’s registrar (after holding various roles like potato-peeler and horseback-riding instructor in the early days) from Fall of 1954 through 1993. Over those almost-forty years, the Fenders came to know many students well, and even housed some of those who were suspended up at their ranch in Old Snowmass, putting them to work for the duration of their suspension! THE SEVENTIES CRMS WILDERNESS SESSION: THE BEGINNING By Steve Bunnell, CRMS Faculty (1971-1979, 1983-1986) After working with Outward Bound throughout U.S. and Europe, I joined the Athenian School in 1969 as a teacher charged with creating an Outdoor Program. The Athenian program included a three-week wilderness session staffed by Outward Bound instructors. Subsequently, I sought a CRMS teaching position, and as my outdoor experience meshed with programs that Headmaster Ed Rubovits and the CRMS Board hoped to introduce, I joined the faculty. Then, with only a month of frantic preparation, we began what would become the inaugural and famous Wilderness session in late August of 1971. As I recall, it was a 14-day outing staffed with a mix of CRMS faculty and Outward Bound instructors. That first year, student groups were stationed throughout the Williams and West Elk mountains struggling to complete overly ambitious itineraries. Wilderness lacked the service aspect now so important; rather the intinerary reflected the Outward Bound philosophy with its emphasis on mountaineering, camp craft, navigation, and solo. That first course, unfortunately, coincided with what we later came to call “the Labor Day storm,” a weather pattern that dogged future Wilderness sessions every two to three years. My group had climbed high the first day into the north Williams Mountains, hiking through rain that turned to snow. So there we were at nearly 13,000 feet, camping in 8 inches of snow, sleeping under visqueen tarps, and cooking over wood fires. It was only day one. Students learned fast under such conditions and emerged from two tough weeks confident and skilled. From the beginning, CRMS conducted overnight mountain, river, and desert trips. In addition to the traditional Fall and Spring trips, there was briefly a Winter trip, known primarily for the chaos and snafus incurred when 100-plus students and faculty headed out on wooden skis to snowy huts, cabins, tents, and lodges. Prior to 1971, Fall Trip had introduced new students to outdoor adventure. Many were ill prepared mentally, physically, and psychologically for such activity. In addition, they often lacked the proper gear for comfortable outdoor living. Wilderness Session changed that. After two weeks in the mountains hiking long miles at high altitudes, cooking over wood fires, enduring 48-hour solos, and navigating through rugged terrain with paper maps, new students were able to handle Fall and Spring trips better than many of the older students. After Wilderness, students were outdoor veterans who had the experience (and gear) needed for further adventure. While the format and footprint have changed over the past 37 years, the Wilderness session remains a powerful first big step toward the self-confidence that CRMS strives to cultivate. It continues to be a central rite of passage and one of the school’s most distinguishing aspects. ALUMNI MAN VERSUS WIND Ken Hause, CRMS Faculty (1961 - 1980) I am not sure if the program exists anymore, but we had two project weeks every year. The point was that a faculty member, normally our Guiding Light, took on a totally new challenge so that he or she was required to become a co-learner with the students. I proposed a project where the goal was to build a tower out of bamboo poles and baling twine (the poles were actually for slalom racing and the twine for tying up hay bales) and raise a Tibetan prayer flag 120 feet above the valley floor. We couldn’t build it from the bottom up because that would necessitate sending the most disposable students clambering up the fragile structure. The school lawyer felt that was not defensible. So instead we built a structure, using a lot of platforms usually devoted to the dramatic arts, that allowed us to build our project from the top down. We built the pointy part with the flag first and put that section on top of our structure, stabilized it, and then built the next section. “Just do it over and over again and things will be just fine we kept telling ourselves.” Keep in mind this was all taking place in March, so we were working on soggy soil, in cold winds, and routinely being hit by blasts of grapple. Finally, we overcame the last of our challenges, and lifted the tower with its last base unit onto the supporting structure. Communicating via waving arms, we directed those pulling on the long lines to erect the structure vertical. We then staked everything in place and moved away quickly away to snap some photographs. Almost instantly, a cold blast of air off the mountains demolished the structure. Whether it was a judgment on our engineering skills or Tibetan Buddhism, to this day we are still not sure. We had little time to think through the dilemma, as we needed to sneak the salvageable ski racing poles back to the sheds and pick up the zillions of pieces of non-recyclable twine before they were all swept away in the wind. THE YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER By Cori Snobble, CRMS ‘70 Yellow Lady’s Slippers have been my favorite flower ever since I first discovered them in junior high. I lived in what is now the site of the Headmaster’s house at CRMS. I spent many hours walking along the river bank and the flooded meadows in the spring and summer. One day in early June, I found a delicate flower and ran home to identify it. When I told my father about the Lady’s Slippers, he didn’t believe me. “They don’t grow here,” he said. I took him to the spot where they were thriving nestled in the grass and partial shade. After we moved across the river, I found even more Lady’s Slippers. Their growing space became our special visiting area. If I was home in early June, I always made time to visit the Lady’s. One year I even found several stems with double blossoms. My father often mentioned the Lady’s to various conservation officials and showed them the clusters in the grass. Many did not believe him or me when we said Lady’s Slippers grew along the banks of the Crystal River until they saw the flowers for themselves. 10 I created a wall hanging in honor and memory of the yellow Lady’s Slipper. Every early June when I return to Carbondale, I always check in on the Lady’s. They remain a very special memory of CRMS, my childhood, and Carbondale. I was very pleased to read that CRMS has given the Lady’s Slippers official protection and recognition. In 1999, CRMS purchased the “Wilson Property” with a generous donation from the Pettit Foundation. In 2008, the land was placed in a permanent conservation easement with the Aspen Valley Land Trust, ensuring that the habitat of the parcel’s resident wildlife and plants is protected. A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE 70S By Sue Lavin, faculty from 1973-1989 “If you want to board a sinking ship, the job is yours,” telegrammed Ed Rubovits, to Rich Furze in 1973. Since we were then living in Dublin, Ireland, and the flight of 5,000 miles for three of us was almost a third of the offered salary ($7,000), I had my doubts. Rich’s enthusiasm outweighed my skepticism, and we climbed aboard. Soon on the path to the Bar Fork, I looked up at Mt. Sopris and knew we had made a good decision. However, the ’70s were not always an easy time to be at CRMS. The viability of the school was at risk, and the faculty did their part to keep CRMS afloat. This meant pitching in, cutting the whining, and basically doing without. For me, this ideal met its first test when mushrooms began to grow through our bedroom carpet. I watched them thrive in the warm sunlit room, sweat dripping from the windows. When they began to smell, I broke the unwritten rules and asked for help. Condensation and humidity had created an ideal environment for fungus, but when the March melt came, all the dorm rooms puddled with water. Over time, the windows were replaced with smaller double-paned windows and we began to better understand “solar energy.” (It took Ron Shore and the Solar Dorm to really show us how to harness Colorado’s tremendous solar capacity.) Soon a water pipe broke in the dorm, but no one knew where it was. John Arbaney showed up with his divining rod. I watched him hold the twig loosely in his hands, walk over the ground, see the twig point downward, and dig in that very spot, finding water. Although I had grown up Catholic, this was the first miracle I had ever witnessed. We were lucky then as now to have flourishing arts which gave perspective to any campus tensions. The late ’70s brought some extraordinary and daring drama classes. Inspired by the “radical” Saturday Night Live (begun in 1974), we created skits and plays throughout the year, like our “Dog Talk,” where each member of the class was interviewed as a campus dog. On the way home from Canyon Lands one Spring, Juliana Forbes ’78 and I wrote a play, “The Dragon and the Three Magic Stones,” which the drama class performed at Carbondale Middle School. In the play, two children (Chris Weeks ’78 and Laura McKinnon ’78) found their way home by harnessing great personal courage to overcome obstacles in their path. At one point, they faced a jungle dominated by a big, bad gorilla (Oliver Platt ’78) who barred their way. The lost children charmed the mean gorilla with flattery and one of their magic stones. When the show was over, the school children climbed all over him like bees at a hive. Though he was a big guy, he shot me a “Save me!” look, and I scattered the kids. From that incident, we all understood Oliver’s magnetism, particularly as a villain. Now this story comes full circle, because opening this March, Oliver Platt plays Nathan Detroit on Broadway in “Guys and Dolls.” A CRMS contingent of Nita Bunnell Pettigrew, Tom Bunnell, his wife, Annie Nash, Sharon and Jerry Wooding, Jack Real and I will see the show. Oliver has said that the CRMS community, particularly drama class and Dutton’s plays, contributed to his success. It’s a great example for me of CRMS at work. In my experience, CRMS has been a body with many cells, all functioning for the benefit of the school and for each individual. Each of us, in turn, has contributed in a powerful and mysterious way to the health of the organism that continues to nurture us and give us confidence to journey further, explore more. ALUMNI THE BUCKET BRIGADE By Stephen Kern, CRMS ‘77 The siren pierced the night, its message loud and clear: FIRE! I could hear it in the shower of the New Boys Dorm as clearly as if the alarm had been strapped to my forehead. I’d been on the work crew assigned to slathering creosote on the poles from which the loudspeaker hung, but this was the first I’d ever heard the ear-splitting horn. Without thinking, I leapt out of the shower, grabbed my jeans and t-shirt and, still soaking, ran outside into a frozen February night. The kind of night that’s so cold the snow squeaks with each step, and the buildings and railings all look as though they’ve been painted with ice. The New Girls Dorm was on fire and the bucket brigade was already forming. I slid into line, grabbed a bucket from my right and passed it to the left, and repeated this action again and again and again, hundreds of times probably, until the blaze was out. Exhausted but happy, I walked back to my dorm. Inside the dorm a group of boys took a look at me and burst out laughing: my wet hair (lots of it at the time) had frozen into a solid block of ice. I wonder now as I sit in my warm office and think back to that time, over thirty years ago – does the bucket brigade still exist? I would imagine a complex sprinkler system is in place now. If so, I wish I had one of those buckets here in my office to remind me of the strength I witnessed that night, strength born of pure determination and extraordinary teamwork. 11 THE EIGHTIES WHAT WAS I DOING HERE? By Yolandra Gomez Toya, CRMS ‘84 It was a cold, crisp winter afternoon in my first and only year at CRMS when Gene Hebert and the rest of the afternoon “cross-country skiing” activity group threw our skis and boots into the back of an old van and headed west for our first outing. I was nervous with anticipation and a little guilt; I had never skied before but had signed up anyway without telling anyone. Gene had quietly fit me with a pair of ski boots and attached bindings to my new skis the week before; I was too timid then to tell him my fears. I was a reservation kid where the usual sports played on the Native American reservation I was from included “rez ball” (basketball), volleyball, or softball, and to my dismay, the activity/sports list at CRMS did not include any of these. The sports I did see, for example skiing, kayaking, and cycling were what other kids did, kids who weren’t Native American, kids who came from an entirely different world than mine. “What was I doing here?” I asked myself, as we bounced along a snow-packed road into some nameless valley, the sun leaving long shadows across the snow as the afternoon waned. At the end of the road, after everyone piled out of the van, pulled on their gear and started skiing down a faint trail into a seemingly very dark valley, Gene finally noticed my hesitation. He also noticed I didn’t have gaiters or a hat. He dug around in the front seat and pulled out both, a little smelly and worn but thick and warm. He stood by patiently while I clumsily put on my gear, occasionally helping me with a few verbal directions, and then told me that he would meet us in an hour at the other end of the valley. I realized then that he wasn’t coming with us and suddenly panicked. Knowing that this was possibly my last chance to get out of this situation, I told him I had never skied before and didn’t know what to do. With that quiet half-smile I remember him for, he told me “It’s not hard, you put one foot in front of the other, you climb up the hills, you ski down the hills, and don’t get wet.” Having spent my Wilderness outing with Gene as our trip leader, I knew better than to argue with him and watched him get in the van and drive away. With no other choice as the last of my group disappeared into a grove of trees into the valley, I did what he told me and timidly put one foot in front of the other. The rhythm came slowly, I marveled at the feeling of skis gliding on the crisp snow, the stillness of the trees around me, the pounding of my heart, and the occasional shouts from my fellow students ahead. Within a half hour, I had caught up with the rest of the group, and found myself enjoying a cold, vigorous run down an incredibly beautiful valley– those initial fears now a distant memory. And like he promised, an hour later, Gene was waiting for us at the foot of the valley, watching us ski, fall, tumble and laugh down the last hill. We were cold and hungry (and unfortunately wet!) but didn’t care as we piled back into the van and headed home for dinner at the Bar Fork. Gene never asked me how that first day went; I think he could tell by the look on my face that afternoon. And I was pretty sure it was he that stuffed a new rag wool hat and canvas gaiters in my mailbox later that week. I was fortunate enough to take an English class with Gene in the spring semester, where we continued our friendship with a common interest in Latin American literature. He pushed me to the limits of analytical thinking and writing, lessons that I was able to take to Princeton University with me the next year. I never thanked him for his advice or his gifts that winter, something that I regret now, but some of the lessons he and other mentors from CRMS taught me have extended beyond the classroom and even the work place. I still have the skis and the worn but comfortable boots, but have long lost the hat and gaiters; thank you, Gene (who passed away February 23, 2005) the lessons you taught me are very much alive in me and in the CRMS community. These are the experiences that I hope all students, not just Native students, will experience during their stay at CRMS and take with them for the rest of their lives. ALUMNI 12 ALUMNI 13 THE NINETIES STILL WATERS RUN DEEP By Elizabeth G Withers, MD, CRMS ’92 Almost twenty years ago, I used to wake up an hour before most others in my dorm at CRMS. I waited to hear the sound of a horn followed by the Sidewinder driving up to the girl’s dorm. Outside I would find my classmate, Will Wheir. In contrast to my short and small build, Will was tall and always wore a cowboy hat. He usually had a chew in his mouth, and seemed incredibly wide awake. He would lift his chin in a jerky but affectionate nod and put his hand up for a high-five. Oftentimes we said little as we drove to the irrigation site on campus at CRMS. On those mornings, Will and I usually had to cross the bullpen, which provided some excitement. Once we were safely across, we walked the ditch line and looked at the field to determine where the next tarp was to be placed. We picked up the log with the orange tarp, made some braces for it, and then stood in the water. We then secured the tarp in place and leveled the area to the side of the tarp to make an outflow track, making sure there was good flow of water before we called it a morning. Then we would walk back to the truck with our shovels over our shoulders and look back to enjoy the morning’s accomplishment and watch as the field filled up with water. And that is how we started our day. I had a lot of things weighing on my mind at that time. My parents were getting divorced, I was sick and undiagnosed with Celiac Disease, and I was trying to figure out my life and future. But those mornings gave me a strange sense of peace and belonging and a time to think of something outside of myself. I don’t know exactly what it was about those mornings, but I still look for that sense of connection to land and nature and am grateful to Will for helping me to understand hardship through such a unique friendship. ALUMNI 14 SKIING BIATHLON WITH FRANZ FROELICHER By Matt Reed, CRMS ’96 I haven’t fired a gun since my junior year at CRMS. The last time I did, I skate skied into a biathlon shooting range, exhausted, waving Franz Froelicher’s biathlon rifle from side to side, as people ducked or stepped behind large bullet-proof objects each time the barrel came around. Then, only slightly aware that I had broken most of the rules of range etiquette, I dropped down onto my stomach in the prone position, struggling to slow my breathing, and watched the end of the barrel swing hopelessly back and forth in front of a tiny steel target 25 yards away. The night before, Franz had walked us through the basics of biathlon marksmanship in the living room of his cousin’s house in Granby, Colorado. We were a small contingent of the CRMS Nordic team, those not likely to qualify for Junior Olympics but who still wanted to compete regularly, and Franz had been tasked with finding us races. So in the middle of a leather living room set complete with a baby grand piano, he stood above us as we lay side by side on a thick blonde carpet taking beads on the several large oil paintings hanging on the wall. He told us to at aim one spot–in my case, the branch of an impressionist elm tree–and to notice what happened. The small sight at the end of the barrel dipped back and forth across the wavy paint strokes forming the tree. An experienced marksman, he said, would fall into a rhythm, and squeeze the trigger just as the barrel dipped to its lowest point. An amateur would try to steady it, holding it tighter and tighter the longer he aimed at the target. Amid the quiet clicking of empty rifles, we were as serious and determined as an army infantry unit. I had even convinced myself that I would be the first biathlete who didn’t have to time my shot at the dip. My hands would be that steady. Then the sliding doors leading to the dining room opened, and in stepped Franz’s cousin with five or six dinner guests, each of them holding a glass of wine and all of them silent, staring at what must have looked like a clinic for budding terrorists. We all looked up from our sights and Franz hopped over a couple of us to greet his cousin. There had been a mix-up on dates–Franz had said one weekend, and his cousin had heard another–and after a couple of laughs, they closed the sliding doors back up and each party went about its own business. For the rest of the night, as we finished up practice, packed up the rifles, and spread out our sleeping bags, we listened to the chatter of polite conversation and silverware clanking on plates. Though now I wonder if they might have been listening to us too–for the sound of a single errant gunshot. When you’ve just skate skied eight kilometers and your chest is heaving underneath you as you steady yourself on your elbows, hitting a five-inch-radius target can feel like a minor miracle. Of course, it doesn’t look like one. You fix the bolt, you squeeze the trigger, and you hear a little ping as a red disc falls 25 yards away. Of the six or so CRMS kids who competed that day, none of us hit more than one out of ten. By comparison, the old codgers whom we were skiing against (and who skied as if they practiced marksmanship almost to the exclusion of skiing) often hit five or more. I hit my single kill with my eyes squeezed closed, flinching from the report of the rifle. That day, I skied the penalty laps for the nine targets that I missed with pride. Since graduating from CRMS, I have followed skiing around the country, more than I’d like to admit. I worked full time as an alpine ski instructor in Lake Tahoe for four years and another two in Alaska, and I spent three years in a graduate creative writing program, writing short stories about ski instructors. At present, I teach English at a small ski academy just outside Truckee, California. The kids there, whom we call student-athletes, are some of the most highly competitive ski racers in the country. They spend most of their winters traveling to races and their summers training in South America and New Zealand. They are often so focused on their particular disciplines that when I tell them about my own modest racing experiences—specifically this story about taking target practice with people eating dinner in the next room—they give me puzzled looks, and usually ask, “This biathlon thing, is that for real?” I have to thank CRMS for that, for leading me off the beaten path. Skiing or anything else wouldn’t feel so whole if it weren’t for those quirky experiences, and CRMS seems to foster those more than most places. I mean, I haven’t even told them about work crews yet. ALUMNI 15 THE 2000S LEARNING TO FREE HEEL IN LIFE AND ON THE SLOPES By Lily Jeong, CRMS Class of ’07 One of the words I frequently heard while attending CRMS was compassion. When I first learned of the word, I did not know exactly what to make of it. English is not my first language, so it usually takes me several tries to grasp the meaning of a word. The word compassion took a particularly long time to understand; in fact it was not until I joined the CRMS telemark ski team my senior year that I fully understood the magnitude of that word. For my last ski season at CRMS, I wanted to try something different from the alpine skiing that I had been doing for the past two years. I had gone on a couple of fall/spring trips with Kayo Ogilby, the head coach of the CRMS telemark team, and he encouraged me to join the team. I hesitated not only because I am not the most athletic person but I also wanted to make sure I would actually have the opportunity to telemark if I joined the competitive team as a novice. After talking to Kayo several times, I decided to join and to make the most out of my last year at CRMS. Even though I was a solid alpine skier, learning how to telemark was very difficult for me. Kayo was incredibly patient throughout the entire process, giving me big and small tips whenever he could. I always felt bad because I thought my inability to master the tele-turn was dragging the team down, but I did my best because I did not want to disappoint Kayo. Then one weekend when I was skiing by myself, all of a sudden I executed a smooth turn without losing control and actually felt the right kind of burn in my thighs. I was ecstatic about my accomplishment and could not wait until the next training session where I could show my turns to Kayo and the team. When the whole team was cruising on the slope the following training day, I rushed down the hill to show off my skills, but I did not see a roller coming up in front of me. Without any time to even think about landing, I launched myself up into the air and faceplanted, bracing the fall with my hands. Kayo and the ski patrol rushed over to see if I was hurt. Looking at my rapidly swelling hands, I tried to be merry because I was afraid I might have disappointed the team once again. Although my face was bloody and I could not move my hands, I made jokes and laughed to cover my embarrassment. All I wanted to do was be an excelling teammate, but I ended up with two broken hands and a scarred face. It took me about two months to completely recover from my injuries. My doctor advised me not to ski until I was perfectly well, but I was eager to get back on my skis and be a part of the team again. When I did get back on the slopes, however, the fear factor quickly crept up on me. Every time the team was doing something slightly out of my comfort zone I became very scared, and I found myself not having fun anymore. I started to feel uncomfortable skiing with the team because I constantly pulled back from the challenges we faced and felt like I never met their expectations, in addition to my constant worry about being hurt again. Deciding to leave the team was not as hard as going up to Kayo and telling him that I was quitting. I caught Kayo in the science building after first period to talk about my withdrawal. When I knocked on his classroom door and said I needed to talk to him, it seemed like he already knew what I was going to say. I told him that I had to quit the team because after my injury I was not enjoying the physical challenges that the team was facing. I started to tear up because I could not believe that I was letting Kayo down after all of his support and advice. But Kayo was not disappointed in me. In fact, he said that he was very proud of me and that he completely understood my fears. He gave me a big, hearty hug and said that I could come ski with the team anytime I wanted to. The concept of compassion was something that I had a hard time grasping during my years at CRMS, but the way Kayo cared for and supported me gave me a firm notion of its true meaning. Kayo was consistent with his empathy and solicitude from the beginning to the end. His unconventional support and concern made me feel comfortable with who I am, and made me want to impact the others in such way as well. Kayo, I want to say “Thank you for taking me for exactly who I am and appreciating what I could offer.” Because of you I got the best out of my final year at CRMS, where I learned the true meaning and the value of compassion. ALUMNI MY LIFE CHANGING DECISION by Mo Osorio ’08 Since the time when I first asked myself, “Do I see myself at Colorado Rocky Mountain School?” and the answer was yes, I embarked on a long path that has taken me to where I am today. When I first contemplated attending CRMS, I was a 10th grade Latino public school student attending college-level classes on Monday nights, taught by a fantastic teacher who, of course, was a teacher at CRMS. I thought that if only half of the teachers at CRMS were as good as him, I could learn enough to truly be able to be proud of myself. After applying and touring the campus, I saw that CRMS was a magical place, where kids liked to learn just like me. I knew that I had to make it on to this mythical campus, for it would be the place where I would grow to become extraordinary. The last good byes to my friends before going into the wilderness for ten days, my formal introduction to CRMS, were very charged. My society, the working-class Latinos of the Roaring Fork Valley, encouraged me and gave me thumbs up, yet subtly and forcefully rejected my participation in their activities. I would never again be “their friend,” but instead, “their friend that went to private school.” When I arrived at CRMS, I fit right in, and I do not think I can express the value of the relationships I built there. The best days of my life so far have been on the CRMS campus, because I had friends that were incredible, caring, and just amazing people. I could talk to them on levels much deeper than I could ever have thought, and my personal growth during that time is definitely not quantifiable. CRMS was transformative. I learned faster than I ever could have dreamed. I was challenged to the point that I gasped for air. With this community of people, things were different. I completely discarded race as an issue and let people think whatever they wanted to think I was. My classmates loved me for me, and were frankly more interested in what we discussed 16 today in class than what my parents did for a living or what my race was. So here we are in 2009, and I now know that no previous decision I’ve made in my short life has had such expansive effects as my decision to attend CRMS. CRMS was an academic adventure as well as a personal one, all the while challenging my philosophies and expanding my knowledge; occasionally burning me with the truth. Today, I am a student at Mount Allison University. The University is ranked #1 in Canada for undergraduate studies by Maclean’s Magazine. I know what I want to do in life. I want to be a healthcare professional; specifically, a patient-centered practitioner. I want to prevent, diagnose, and treat illness. Why? Not only do I love working with people, but I personally believe that the best way for me to contribute to humanity is by helping individuals regain one of their most important possessions: good health. After all that humanity has given me, I would be a fool not to continue the giving. ALUMNI 17 ALUMNI ALUMNI CLASS NOTES NOVEMBERMARCH 09 Compiled by Laura McCormick ’93 and Diane Darrough As spring rolls into the valley with alternating snowstorms and bluebird skies, we emerge from under the consistent chill of winter months, seeking the warmth of connection with friends, old and new. We hope alumni notes included here and on the CRMS website will help you strengthen those ties that bind. Below, please find the first portion of alumni news. All 17 pages of news collected and submitted is available in one, comprehensive document on our website at crms.org/alumni. Why the change? In an effort to improve how we “walk our sustainability talk,” we aim to communicate increasingly through electronic and on-line means, via our website and e-mail communication, in concert with our printed publications. A new CRMS website to launch later this spring will help facilitate our vision for a more informative and interactive, user-friendly venue in which to gather and share information. We hope you will enjoy catching up on news from your own era as well as others in the pages to follow and on-line at www.crms.org/alumni. involved with painting and drawing on the ceramic surface. I often teach workshops about decorating ceramics. It’s a great way to travel. I am also starting to show my work on paper...prints & drawings. This is very exciting for me. In the spring I was invited to teach a workshop to group of adult students in Italy. It was a joy and an inspiration. I am hoping to bring another group to this marvelous studio in central Tuscany this fall. Interested? Contact me. After the workshop I traveled in Italy for five weeks, speaking my poor Italian. This was a delight. So much to be inspired by if you love art and food, gorgeous country and vibrant people. Each year I return to Carbondale to teach at the Carbondale Clay Center. I love doing this... seeing old friends & stomping around in the back country. Somehow, even tho I live one hour from the Cascades, I’ll never know those mountains as well as I know and love the Elk Range. Here in Oregon I tend to be pulled to the water. It seems that I have traded my backpack for a sea kayak. I am a lucky grandmother, with David & his three kids, Noa, Rio & Jessica close in Hood River. I’ll be visiting Terra (formerly Terry) in Santa Barbara soon. She’s become a wonderful Garden designer. Ron Matelich writes: Swithin and I moved to Bozeman this past August, after living in Whitefish MT for the past 15 years. We met in Bozeman nearly 29 years ago and have always loved Bozeman. It’s great to be living in a college town again. I am still working as a financial consultant with D.A.Davidson & Co. Swithin left the law profession a little over a year ago and now does community volunteer work. She is helping the Bridger Ski Foundation this winter as an administrator. Both our kids, Nick and Julia, are racing on the alpine ski team. Some things never change! Corinne Platte writes: My husband, Mark, and I live in Ophir, Colorado. We had a daughter, Sonja, last April. She’s almost a year now and is a very funny, energetic little girl. I see Morgan Metzger (’95) from time to time but we’re usually in too much of a hurry to talk for long. And Peter and Cindy Mueller when we can find time. Next fall, 2009, Meredith Ogilby and I are publishing a book, Voices of the American West, with Fulcrum Publishing. We traveled the West together for the past several years interviewing people who are working toward hopeful solutions on issues such as alternative energy, land conservation, alternative ranching, cultural preservation, degradation from oil and gas, etc...The book is a collection of inspiring individuals working hard to make the West a better place for all of us. Barbara (O’Neil) Ross writes: Just returned from a snowy week in Colorado, which included treasured moments with Pat and Bill Fender (beloved sister and wicked brother-in-law), their family and wonderful Carbondale friends. Back in California now. I’m exhibiting a pastel series of endangered fish paintings: “Fish out of Water.” Claire (Kerr) Zilm a former teacher of German at CRMS, is now living in Pueblo West, Colorado. I officially retired at the time my husband Gary sickened and died from brain cancer, but I’ve been FORMER FACULTY NEWS Lyman Allen has published a book, To Save the Love that Was Lost. Says Lyman, “It correlates channeled teachings of Jesus and Mother Mary with recorded sayings of Jesus not discovered until 1945. This may be a first: citing the historical record of many of Jesus’ lost teachings in support of a spiritual, channeled thesis-this “the original Christianity.” We (my guide Sofia and I) offer passages in Jesus’ words on how our world began; we advance a unique definition of God, and reveal how humankind got off track.” The book can be ordered through AuthorHouse.com. Caleb Bach wrote a novel that has recently been released via barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com called Shadowing Botticelli’s Beauty. He writes, “It deals with a search for a Renaissance masterpiece looted during World War II. A good chunk of the book is based on some real, pre-CRMS experiences while serving with the CIA (1965-75). One of the very first cases I handled in Montevideo, Uruguay involved ex-Nazi colonel whom the Allies had resettled under an assumed name, in exchange for evidence used during war crimes trials at Nuremburg and Venice. My story deals with a specific painting I came to suspect the colonel stole during the German retreat from Italy. The book is less a spy novel and more an art mystery or “intellectual thriller,” but nonetheless it shares with readers numerous Agency operations gleaned from our four tours in Latin America and Europe. Last summer, while stopping by CRMS, we had the pleasure of seeing Elliot Norquist and David Powers (’72) in action as they taught blacksmithing and glassblowing to students from Phillips Academy right here in Andover. That was quite a coincidence. The campus, too, looked great.” Janet Edwards writes: 2008 was a great year for me. I am teaching part time at a community college and working in my sweet passive solar studio. Sound familiar? More and more my claywork is 18 ALUMNI preaching (yes, I’m fully ordained, non-traditional in the United Methodist tradition) in Buena Vista twice a month ever since. Once beyond the tangles of grief, life is full of joy and challenge, family, and other connections. It astounds me how OLD everyone has grown! so still full-steam with research and teaching at Washington U. Some of the research entails coaxing the alga I’ve been working on all my life to make lipids for biodiesel; it’s a great feeling to finally be poised to perhaps do something for the planet after a career of strictly “basic” science, albeit it’s because of the basic science that we have the tools to tackle the biodiesel. Mary (Whitford) Graves writes: My own life and that of my kids, husband, and siblings are fine and connected thanks to modern technology. We will all gather together for a week in the high Sierra August 2009. Since several of my nieces and nephews have married and have kids, we have abandoned backpacking. We will base-camp and use a pack stations’ mules to carry our dunnage to a couple of campsites at about 10,000 ft. Between my brother and sister, there will be six grand kids under the age of five having their first experience in the high country. We are grateful to still be able to make this family ritual work for all of us as we age and multiply. I remain busy and active physically. Nick and I travel frequently both internationally as tourists and within the US and California. There is always somewhere interesting to go and see and do. We travel for cultural events, tourist site-seeing, family visiting, and to have fun. We stay try to visit family members, cousins mostly, especially those we don’t see frequently. When I’m home which is nice too, I fund raise for a couple of local non-profits, attend lectures, participate regularly in my book group, and generally have more projects on my list than time and energy permit. My life is full and with Nick’s mostly retired status we have great freedom to be with friends and stimulate ourselves at will. I find this lifestyle very agreeable for the most part. Nick and I were active in the Obama campaign and some local congressional contests. We stay politically informed. We look forward to several weeks this summer in Napa enjoying the new house we finished constructing. Andy Gould writes: I have continued exploring life with my partner Rita Bradley here in Flagstaff. In April we bought a Roadtrek camper van, which is our home away from home. It’s great for overnight getaways to the Verde Valley. Our longest trip so far has been two weeks in Colorado in July. We included CRMS (of course), visiting Adele, Ditty Perry and the school. We also had a wonderful visit with Pat Spitzmiller in Dillon. From December 11 to February 18 we will be in residence in our camper as volunteer teacher/naturalists at Sonoita Creek State Nature Area at Lake Patagonia in the far southern of Arizona (12 miles NE of Nogales). This is one of North America’s birding hotspots. Living in the camper for two months will be a bit like Thoreau’s Walden experiment in that we will be paring down what we take with us to what is really important. With no cell phone coverage and limited access to email it will be much quieter. Starr Lanphere writes: Last spring I was asked to be on the Honorary Council for Friends of the Dunes, in Arcata, California to providing leadership and the Lanphere name to their program. To quote my older daughter...”Your mom started it, NOW you are stuck with it” In 1973 our family donated our California property to Nature Conservancy as a coastal dune preserve. The Friends of the Dunes started in the early 80’s as a 501(c)3 non-profit dune NEWS FROM THE 1950S Nora Fisher (’58) writes: The last two years I have taken a break from my ongoing studies in digital imaging and traveled. I took one six week trip to Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Then I returned to India. I had a month in a wonderful village in the Himalayan Front Range: my own room and full support from a wonderful family. Last winter I took six weeks in South India in North Kamataka State, visiting with family I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. My book, “Mud, Mirror, and Thread: Folk Traditions of Rural India” was re-published in 2006. Catherine (Richards) Register-Murff (Cathy) (’59) writes: Still in Texas taking care of many four legged critters plus chickens and trying to paint. NEWS FROM 1960 James Amos (Jim) is still working and seems to enjoy what he does, says he really can’t retire just now anyway, given the economy. He plans to hang in there for the next couple of years. Life seems good. William Caldwell (Bill) reports that it’s been a tough several months because he is not getting cabinetry work. His sons are doing well, though one is going through treatment for cancer and seems too young for such things, but has come through it all very well. Another son is building bicycles in Harlem and still dancing. John Chase writes that he has relocated to Belfast, Maine, is enrolled in computer science at the University of ME at Orono, and is working on getting his Greenwich house ready to sell. He is also in a local choral group. Richard Durrance (Dick) writes: Retirement? Surely you jest. I am paddling furiously, launching a new career as a speaker. I just spoke to students at East High in Denver, the Basalt Middle School, and at a benefit for the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities (computer hard drive gave out so we had an improvised edition of the talk). Next week I will be the closing keynote speaker for the American Society of Media Photographers annual leadership conference in Detroit (with a new computer) and the week after that will be speaking to a gathering of Dartmouth alums in Vail, where I will be showing a picture our dad’s filming in Sun Valley. Anyone who is interested can learn more about the talk (and laugh at the 35 min. video clips from the talk) at www.dickdurrance.com . Ursula Goodenough writes: My fifth grandchild, fourth granddaughter, Zora Safia Morais, was born March 3; it’s just as exciting every time. Flirted for a while with retiring but it didn’t stick 19 ALUMNI education and restoration agency to augment TNC. The family property is now part of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Preserve. The Friends of the Dunes continues acting as stewards for coastal dunes and has consolidated over 1000 acres of dune properties adjacent to the Lanphere Unit of the Refuge. They are currently attempting to convert a historical house into the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center. The idea is to consolidate their ongoing dune restoration program, expanding educational and land stewardship into one public interpretive center. The center will provide easy public entry to the local coastal environment through a linked trail system connecting the 1,000 plus acres of coastal dune habitat. On the lighter side, I’m still fighting fires and vehicle mishaps on I-40 as a volunteer (no pay even at 1:30 am). I was voted off the board several years ago, which was a huge relief. Being the old grump on the department, I no longer rush into burning buildings. The younger testosterone set can do that. Only made 200+ responses last year. Also find time to be grandpa...or what ever a 1.5 year old thinks. Oldest daughter had a little girl critter 18 months ago. Plans are to introduce her to camping, kayaking, and fishing in the next year or so according to her mom. For some unknown reason my girls turned out to be, and still are, tomboys. I don’t know what else to call a girl who gets a PhD in nanotech analytical chemistry so she can play with fancy “toys”. Lynn (Bradley) Leopold writes: I continue to serve as a trustee on my Village Board and will be running for another 2-year term. Am now on the board of a new, local reuse center that takes everything from architectural elements, building materials, housewares, furniture, computers, etc. and sells them at very low prices. We hear that reuse and thrift centers are thriving right now, undoubtedly as a result of the lousy economy. I still sing in two groups-one a 5-voice early music group and the other a chamber group at Cornell-and am even working on a joint recital with a friend who is a soprano. We will do some solo works, as well as duets. I’m still involved in the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom and other watershed-related organizations. Skied in Colorado in January with my sons, grandchildren and daughter-in-law. We had a wonderful time. Carl and I are still involved in our Tropical Forestry Initiative project in Costa Rica, but are no longer traveling there. The going just gets too hard for Carl, now 89. Several of my classmates had nice memories of Hester Holbrook Abrams, who passed away in November 2008 [Full obituary in the Winter 2008 CRMS Newsletter]. Bill Caldwell recalled her fine singing. Michelle Lesser remember what a caring, helpful person she was, always there when you needed someone. John Chase remembered her verve and energy. And I (Lynn) remembered her awesome sports skills, wonderful husky laugh and great freckles. Michelle (Rosenbaum) Lesser is recovering from a mastectomy she had just before Christmas, but was in very good spirits and is extremely hopeful for a good outcome. She keeps very busy and is happily a brand new grandmother. Her granddaughter arrived about 8 weeks ago. William Moore (Bill) writes: Not much to report this year. Lorna and I are pretty well settled in to our new life in North Carolina. In retirement I’ve become a bit of a house-husband as Lorna is working full time (to say the least!) as Dean of the Wake Forest University Graduate School. I continue taking yoga classes, working out regularly, and have recently acted on a threat I’ve been making for years to take Spanish lessons. We both look forward to spending as much of the summer as possible in Colorado at a cabin we have near Gunnison. Suzanne Stanton is doing well in San Francisco, still doing artmostly monoprints, pursuing some spiritual healing activities, such as drumming and shamanic journeying, enjoying her cats, working with young horses to accustom them to people, and glad that Obama is President! MEMORIES OF HESTER HOLBROOK ABRAMS Tony Cherin (’58): I distinctly remember how Hester and her good friend, Pat White, lit up my life. Her laughter and indomitable optimism could brighten the grayest day. It’s funny that even though I haven’t seen her since school, she often came to mind as one of those I missed most from those days. Lynn (Bradley) Leopold (’60): I will always remember her wonderful, rather husky voice and marvelous laugh. She was, indeed, a singer and was in the madrigal group along with many of my classmates--Ursula, Robin Rymer, Pat Stein Spitzmiller, Vicky McClane, Bill Moore, Bill Caldwell, John Chase, Mary Whitford Graves, and others who are not coming to mind at the moment. We called Madrigals “Draggles” and totally loved Ted Rickard, the leader. Hester and the late Pat White were inseparable pals and went everywhere together. It’s hard to accept that they are both now gone. Hester and I were on the CRMS girls’ softball team the year we beat the Basalt high school girls and the Aspen high school girls, made up mostly of the high school alpine ski team. Hester was a formidable player, killer pitch and throw. She had a wonderful record (LP) collection and I remember listening to her Flanders and Swann Drop of a Hat comedy duo. She was way ahead of me in French, so I didn’t get to be in her class, but I know she was very good. Hester had a very difficult set of circumstances in her life, after one of her sons fell from a roof he was repairing and suffered brain damage. For the rest of her life, she was a powerful, motivated advocate for creating assisted living-type group homes for people like her son, who seemed to thrive in the company of others, but who could not live independently. This is very painful. She’s another of our wonderful class of 1960 to pass away and it makes me feel particularly mortal and fragile, no doubt as it will my fellow classmates. How fitting that her family requested donations to an endowment in her name to benefit the music program. I hope my classmates will honor her and make contributions. Mary Graves (’60): I was very saddened to learn of Hester’s passing–using the word “death” sounds harsh to me right now. I don’t want to recognize that I will not hear her husky voice again. I spoke with her not many years back, and listened to her talk of her partner Jack’s death. I know they took care of each other and heard in her 20 ALUMNI voice the loneliness in the pursuit of life without him. I remember her joy de vivre all the while we were kids at CRMS. She was always perky, enthusiastic, a good athlete, a fellow singer in the madrigal group. Hester fit into the group – not a clique apart from the rest, but the group that was all of us in school at that time. Our class was considered large and strong. We were 24 at graduation. Hester was a part of our strength. She was great friends with Pat White and other than Pat, she went along with whoever wanted to share in the fun she was having. Hester remained interested in CRMS throughout her life. She donated to the school’s Annual Fund consistently throughout the years. I always appreciated her generosity. We shared in our loyalty and appreciation of CRMS. Dale Lasater and family are living on his ranch east of Colorado Springs. He is raising cattle on grass and sells his beef to Whole Foods (see great article this month in the NRDC spring magazine on grass fed beef). He has two sons and last year his first grandson. Barry Schrumpf writes: After a long career in forestry and at Oregon State University, he is now semi-retired and working on seed certification for the State University. He has two sons, one in New York and the other assistant Attorney General in Boston. He has been a grandfather for 11 years! They live on 7 acres 100 miles south of Portland. I (Ted) will never forget his leadership in calming the occasional chaos in the Sleepy Hollow in the Old Boys Dorm. John Strance now lives outside of Las Vegas and is very active in photography. Recently he was busy photographing in the Nelson, Nevada area. He retired from teaching elementary school eight years ago. His wife, Carolyn is very active in beading and jewelry making. Judith (Beil) Vaughan (Judy) works as a neurologist in the Sacramento medical program. She has three children and one grandson. One daughter is on the University of California Davis faculty, the other is a psychologist at the University of Indiana. Her son is in premed at the University of Albuquerque. She spends time helping to train cats and riding cross-country in a carriage, something we did not learn at CRMS. NEWS FROM 1961 Joanna (Ganong) Beachy writes: I still live on Marrowstone Island, near Port Townsend, WA. My husband, Roger and I had the privilege of taking our 23’ sailboat “Chickadee” for a three month cruise this summer and we headed north between Vancouver Island and the mainland and made it to the Broughton Islands, quite an adventure. Now gardening like crazy. Katherine Gould-Martin (Kiki) still works at Bard College as the managing director of Bard in China, which by now should be called Bard in Asia, since she is working on exchanges with and organizing events about China, Japan, Korea, and several countries in South East Asia, especially Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. (She thinks Rolleen got her into this somehow.) She is still studying Chinese, though she has decided to focus on the reading, discussion, and film viewing of short stories, as her hope for becoming fluent or learned in this incarnation is in vain. In between, she swims, does yoga and weight training and walks an ever slower dog. Her children are all back in the US for now, from DC to San Francisco, and she has 4 grandchildren: Vincent, Edda, Felix, and Ruben. Her granddaughter is afflicted with Rett Syndrome. If any CRMSers are also touched by that tragedy, feel free to contact her. Her husband directs the Bard Conservatory of Music. If you know some terrific young musicians, especially playing cello, oboe, flute, or bass, let her know asap. They have gorgeous land in New Mexico but no time to build on it or even visit it, though she has been back to CRMS when they have been at the Aspen Festival. She stays in touch with Scott Stricker (’78) and Arthur Hughes (’62), and says hello to anyone else who remembers her. Ted Hepp writes: The last year has been a busy one and one in which we have accomplished a lot. My main activity was to support Obama’s election campaign since my main activity promoting renewable energy and conservation efforts would not have gone anywhere if he had not been elected. I believe, notwithstanding the economic disaster that with the new regime we will make quite a bit of progress in all areas of conservation and CO2 reduction. My video work continues with a documentary last year in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Galapagos islands, which was very exciting. In addition, of course, the pleasure of visiting CRMS for the Board of Trustees meeting. NEWS FROM 1962 Carol (Rymer) Davis writes: Not much has changed. I am still working two weeks per month. This allows for skiing in the winter and I am still racing in the Masters. In the summer, I have time for hiking and bicycle riding. John and I enjoy all the time that we can get at our ranch. Madge (Gordon) Gleeson is still teaching full-time at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She has two grandchildren who now live in Seattle which is an improvement over New York! Madge has made several trips to China as her other daughter lives in Shang Hai while working for Starbucks. Madge said that “everything in China is gigantic” but that there are still traditional neighborhoods remaining in Shang Hai. Arthur Hughes writes: Ingrid’s and my daughter has a year-old daughter, Iliana Melissis. Iliana also has two step grandparents, and two Greek grandparents in Athens. Stasha and her husband Sotiris live in the same East Village apartment where she grew up. Ingrid and her husband live on the top floor of the same building. My wife Lanie Fleischer and I visit twice a week, and will be going to Greece with Stasha and family this summer for the introduction of Iliana to the paternal family. I continue to paint and am in a Chelsea gallery, the Prince Street Gallery on West 25th Street. My work can be seen at arthurhughes.net. In December spent a delightful morning here in New York with Mike Flax (’63), who was visiting his daughter. These chats always reveal much about what one didn’t know during our 21 ALUMNI time at the school. (Arthur encourages class members to sign up on the CRMS alumni section of the website - crms.org) Carol (Sanderson) Hughes and Dick finally built their new house and moved in the day after Thanksgiving 2008. They’re now a maximum of 11 minutes away ( at legal speed limits Carol pointed out) from their children and grandchildren. Carol is greatly enjoying her newest - and last - grandchild, 16 month old Henry. Dick is still working at their Import Specialists in Boulder and when she’s not minding grandchildren Carol works 20 hours a week. Ingrid (Blaufarb) Hughes writes: The great pleasure of my life is having a granddaughter, now approaching her first birthday. She’s Iliana Melissis, who lives in the same building with me in NYC, so I see her often. Ingrid continues teaching but plans to retire at 66 and move out of NYC. She spends summers in Maine, and is working on a book about her late son. Christi (Mueller) McRoy writes: I am still enjoying living in this beautiful part of the state (South West Colorado). I am fortunate to be able to teach skiing/kids several days a week at Telluride, even as I close in on “Medicare”. This, especially Telluride, is really one of the most beautiful places in the US. We are still raising horses, and despite our increasing years, even competed in Team Penning and Sort and Order (horse and cattle events) in Cheyenne this July. One advantage of being in this climate was being able to grow a fabulous garden…a real treat after living at higher altitudes. It is great to eat our canned and frozen veggies all winter. I sadly spent many days in Denver last winter and spring, as my 90 year old mother ended a fabulous life. At the other end of the spectrum, I’m enjoying my five grandchildren and my husband’s grandchildren. Helen Muller writes: Love being retired! Been working on my beach property in Bahia de Kino, Mexico - four hours south of the border by car. Come visit. Playing music, kayaking, helping local families. My grandson is now two and happy. Jean (Alschuler) Reed is running the Ski School at Big Rock Ski Area in Maine. It’s a non-profit and Jean’s thoroughly enjoying herself! She has five grandchildren and this Spring, is publishing a new - and she says final - version of her Home Schooling book (www. brookfarmbooks.com) which will have less than the previous 480 pages. It will be augmented by the Internet. Last summer, her family had a reunion in Chicago which was a very good thing and included a tour of Chicago architecture by members of her family - who had a propensity for being architects. Catherine (Fanshawe) Rosenberg (Katie) writes: Life continues on it’s merry way - it’s all good. In the past few months, I have been developing a bookkeeping business which is allowing me to keep my skills up and be able to help a few small business owners. It works out well because I can call my own hours and don’t have to put in an 8 hour day. Katie writes: During Thanksgiving I met Nellie Bracker (’76) in Tubac, AZ. We visit friends at Thanksgiving who live next door to Nellie and she came by to say hello to everyone. She was looking into a boarding school for her son and happened to mention that she had gone to a school in Colorado and I asked where she had gone since I had also attended one in Colorado. We were shocked to learn that we had both attended CRMS. It was wonderful to reminisce about our time at the school although we attended at completely different eras. Joel still has his tutoring business and, as always, I find time to be with my children and their children. That’s about it….Hope all is well in your world. Alix (Mitchell) Sullivan writes: My husband still has severe wanderlust, so once again I’m writing from Sydney AU. Australia is wonderful, vastly better than the movie! And the Opera House alone is worth the trip. We saw Roberta Flack with the Sydney Symphony last week, and she was totally in charge, and 72! As always, if you’re coming down, (or to Glacier National Park) let me know - I’m always reachable by email: alixsullivan@hotmail.com NEWS FROM 1963 Bonnie (Baldridge) Coryell writes: We’re surrounded by gas drilling attempts. Semi drivers don’t care for slow moving cows or sheep. Someday they will move on - whew! Graham Lewis writes: This last year has borne much fruit. I was co-founder of the local ASSERT project; approved steps to suppliment emergency responder training where people in mental health crises are involved. It was precipitated by the “Death by Cop” of a 19-year-old bi-polar lad who went to my son’s school. Our coast vacation rental is doing well despite the economic crunch (SeaRoseGuestHouse.com). I’ll offer a CRMS discount of at least 20% for weeknights depending on availability. Also, great joy planting and tending our woodsy wonderland in Eugene, OR. NEWS FROM 1964 As this newsletter went to press, we received the very sad news that Tom Adams passed away on March 26, 2009. Look for an In Memoriam in the CRMS Summer Newsletter. Ellen (Clark) Anderson writes: I continue to live and work with my husband Paul in Riverside County in southern California. Run a non-profit. Website is CaringForOneAnother.com. Thomas Dehlinger enjoyed a recent winter vacation skiing with CRMS alum Pete Pitcher at Pete’s ski area in Montana (Discovery Ski Corp.). Christie (Huidekoper) Hakim continues to enjoy her work as an editor of educational books. Jane (Wright) Pasipoularides and her husband love walking near their Asheville area home. NEWS FROM 1965 Benjamin Barney (Ben) writes: I stopped teaching at Diné College May-July 2008. I started computerizing my journal, reading 22 books, visiting major Native festivals, and hosting friends and relatives. October to December spent most weekend nights at yeibicheii and fire dances throughout Navaho communities. Got to spend one night at the Zuni Shalako, a day at Jemez Pueblo Feast Day, a day at Jicarilla Apache Traditional Race, a day at Taos Traditional Race, and still find many common threads among the Native communities. The warmer weather of early spring will allow me to travel more; north New York, Rhode Island, New York City, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix , Tucson and Native communities. Beyond the warmer weather I am beginning to think of a new job in the health field. Barbara Buchanan writes: I had a wonderful trip back East in October and got together with a couple of people I had not seen in 40 years, including John Bainbridge. He and I spent about 4 hrs together talking our heads off. It was great. He looked healthy and has lived a full life, with four kids and interesting work. Was like old times, only better because we’re not quite as neurotic as we used to be. During this trip I also got to see Penny Muller (’66) and Susan Meiselas (’66). Penny and I are in regular contact, while I catch up with Susan every decade or so. I’m truly sorry to have missed her photo retrospective in New York. Penny said it was fabulous; unfortunately I found out about it too late. After not traveling overseas in 10 years, I decided last summer to join our community choir tour in Scotland and Ireland where we spent two weeks singing in old cathedrals. Being of Scottish-Irish descent, it was especially fun to learn more about my “family’s” history. Life at Aspen Acres (our 5 acres near Mt. Shasta) continues to be a blessing. Watching the seasons and wildlife flow in and out of our valley is our daily meditation. Vernon Eagle writes: It is cold and icy in Cambridge Mass, and more snow on the way. I am going back to Beijing, where it is also cold and icy. My wife, Xuemei, is preparing for her final Harvard exams, where she is in the first year of the PhD program in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, so she is too busy to go with me. I will represent her at her family’s gathering for the Lunar New Year in Shandong province, Laiyang, where she is from. We spent a week in New York after Christmas and during solar New Year visiting my mother and my son, who both live there, and seeing the Wang Hui exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Van Gogh exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, both really great. Once back in Beijing I intend to go every weekend to the used book market at Panjiayuan, which I do rain or shine, hot or cold. If anybody who reads this is in China, my cell phone there is 135220152494, by all means get in touch. PS - My daughter’s band (she is the lead singer), Stroamata, recently won the Harpoon Beer Boston best local band contest; and my son’s architecture firm (he is a distinctly junior architect there, i.e. working very hard for low pay) beat out Rem Koolhas and other firms of international fame for some big project in Boston, hence I feel vicarious victory–no personal victories to report, however. Deirdre (Dole) Golani writes: So, all is proceeding in a chaotic, yet exhilarating fashion. I continue to work in the Emergency Department and still find it interesting, challenging, and sometimes boring. My sons are all on their own elsewhere so I am truly independent now and feeling very spoiled by not having to support anyone else for the first time in 34 years (not that I minded). I went skiing in New Zealand last September (it was early spring down under); a ski run at Mt Hut was dedicated in memory of my brother, Jon Dole, who ran the race dept there for many years. I plan to go back next September and travel around the South Island for three weeks in a camper van. Next month I will be doing the Rome Marathon with Team in Training; raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I cannot think of a more perfect location for an endurance event. I know that I will feel the ghosts of the gladiators, the centurions, Julius Caesar and many other historical persons as I try to put one foot forward for one more step towards the finish line. Life is grand! There is so much that I want to do! After the marathon I am going to Israel to visit my youngest son, Joe who now lives there. I am in touch with Lolly Lewis (’69), Bretta Rambo (’67) and Dave Strouse from school and I am grateful for the connections. Judith Phibbs writes: This has been an up and down year for me. After four hard years, my daughter graduated from medical school and “matched” at her first choice of a surgery residency at the University of Chicago Hospital ( in Barack’s neighborhood.) My low-key son graduated with a degree in history. And so, everything looked bright and promising. Then my daughter started her residency, feels lonely and exhausted much of the time, and doesn’t know how she can keep up this pace for 5 years. My son found that a degree in history means nothing in this job market and is now rethinking his career options while taking odd jobs to pay the rent. (He is having a great time.) And my husband of 32 years left unexpectedly the end of August. I am now over my initial shock and trying to create a good life as a single woman. I have gotten together with John Bainbridge and Leighton Davenport (’69) which was great. So, if anyone is in the D.C. area, I would really love to hear from you. ALUMNI 23 (For the complete set of Class Notes please go to www.crms.org/alumni) REUNION 2009 IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! JUNE 1214 ON THE CRMS CAMPUS Please join alumni and former faculty from graduating classes 1989 through 1999 and 2004, to catch up with old friends on campus, eating, dancing and enjoying the beauty of our valley together! NEW IN 2010  ALUMNI WEEKEND/REUNION WILL TAKE PLACE IN FEBRUARY! Get ready for Alumni Weekend in the winter of 2010! Spawned by the success of the 50th Anniversary and further motivated by the plentiful outdoor winter opportunities in our valley, we will now offer Alumni Weekend and Reunion in February of 2010. Not only will there be opportunities for feasting and catching up, but alumni will also be able to attend classes, interact with current faculty and students, and enjoy skiing in the valley. For information on either event, contact Laura McCormick ’93 at lmccormick@crms.org or 970-963-2562 ext. 131 PARENTS OF ALUMNI: If this newsletter is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, e-mail ddarrough@crms.org with his/her new address. ALSO: if you have a recent alum in your family currently in college, send us that student’s new e-mail address. Thank you! Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 208 Denver, CO COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCHOOL 1493 County Road 106, Carbondale, CO 81623 COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCHOOL IN THE NEWS Our own Linda Halloran (cover photo) and Fiona Pax O’Donnell were recently featured in a new gardening magazine called Zone 4. The magazine is dedicated to gardeners who live in the high country west, and their debut issue included the CRMS organic garden and gourmet food feature that we ran in our previous newsletter. Spring 2009 No. 1 SPRING GARDENING TIP: USING FLOATING ROW COVERS By Linda Halloran Floating row covers have multiple uses in the garden. Usually made from polypropylene, they come in different levels of frost protection and light transmission and are sold under various brand names. Most folks are familiar with their use as a season extender—protecting young plants in the spring from late frosts and allowing fall crops additional time to mature. But row covers can serve many other purposes. Put on the garden early in the season, they can increase the soil temperature allowing for earlier and more consistent seed germination. As a physical barrier that still breathes and lets water through, row covers provide protection from garden pests: deer, birds and bugs. They also can provide protection from the drying effects of wind, conserve soil moisture and moderate temperatures. When cared for, they will last for multiple seasons. At the CRMS garden, they are an important part of our efforts to maximize the garden’s productivity. LIVING in the high country WEST Gardens • Landscapes • Local Foods • Outdoor Living BRAIN FOOD p58 Colorado school garden nets 6,000 lbs! HELP THE BEES HELP YOU p34 7 BACKYARD BEAUTIES p46 AMEND YOUR SOIL p52 MISSION STATEMENT: Colorado Rocky Mountain School cultivates a learning environment in which students discover their potential to excel as individuals, contribute to their communities, and participate thoughtfully in the world we share. U.S. $6.95 Display until April 30th, 2009 zone4magazine.com