5 posts tagged “1969”
Our offices recently received this note from Jim Kelly, villa class of 1969, in response to a reminder that it's been 40 years this week since that group was graduated from Fribourg.
One of our editorial staff remembers the spring of 1969 was marked by earnest discussion about the relevance of our education, against the backdrop of the tulmult of political upheaval in the United States and elsewhere..
Mr. Kelly's reminisces are here:
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A special pause and quiet moment for those of us who didn't make it this far...
Tom Hanlon
Geoff Matre
Mike Leighton
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See you later dear friends. Amen.
Sounds like a Beatles song ... " It was forty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper told his band to play... "yea yea I know that just sounds..
Thanks to all of my classmates for helping get me through those two years at VSJ.
Thank you Steve Schoeppler for meeting me at the train station when I came to visit the Villa that first time.
Thanks to the men who were our educators. Where are these men now? : Mr. Donleavy, Brother Dobner, Father O'Shaughnessy, Mr. Storm, Brother Boschert. I think I am forgetting at least one. Hmmm Physics, Brother Droste, yes, for the example that I still use on "how to make water wetter".
A special thanks to Mr. Prozzi for all the leg lifts and sit ups that have help me walk and run the rest of my life. And thanks to Brother Fred Fuchs (and the rest of the team) for letting me play basketball even though I couldn't make a basket if my life had depended on it.
Bossuet:
Thanks for the third floor door rooms that helped give great distance to the bottle caps sailed from that high.
Stealth and midnight trips to the wine cellar. Whose idea was that?
Music to wake by. Whose idea was that?
John Akers and Willie Boom across the hall every morning for a whole school year.
John with a small squirrel cage fan, just enough to keep the air moving. Very important!
Vernon Miller -- great roommate -- he put up with me. Thanks for being a heavy sleeper.
Endless foosball ... How good was that!
Bob Armstrong for endless weekend movies. I still have an unusual appreciation for film.
Cardinal Beer, café cappuccino, pizza at that little place just down the street.
Herbie Schmidtlapp .. our four-legged friend.
Not all of us have extremely fond memories of the Villa, but we all have at least one good, favorite memory.
Best wishes to each of you,
--Jim
This update was adapted from a note Humberto sent to his fellow students from the Villa, class of 1969 and is reprinted with his permission.
-- the editors
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Lot's of water past the bridge since we last communicated...ehhh... let me give you a brief run down of the last some 40 years!
Yes married, but divorced on the 30th year...! Two children, girl now 28, with grandson Santiago lives in Pasadena, California. My son 24, with granddaughter Amaia lives in Barcelona, Spain.
I'm living in Merida Venezuela... After working as a potter for 18 years...
This October began a new adventure with a friend to promote alternative energies in Latin America.
It has been a very rich and varied life...
As for the rest of the 69'ers little is known... These are times to weigh why we are here, and what legacy we will leave to our grandchildren.. "de toute son ame" ideals are still alive and ever present to make a difference...
I don't even know who is still alive!!! 2009 marks a 40th anniversary and perhaps a good excuse to meet somewhere...
Updated: Details on funeral arrangements for David are here....
David Brown attended the villa as a freshman and sophomore, leaving in the spring of 1967. He attended a villa reunion with several of his (VSJ, '69) classmates in Orlando, Florida, in the spring of 2001.
David worked in hospital administration and for the past decade was the president and CEO of Beaufort Memorial Hospital in South Carolina. He told me he took the job for a less political position (earlier, he'd worked in the Washington, D.C., region) and to move to a more sunny area. He was an avid boater. He leaves two children, Caitlin Ryan Brown, 18, a freshman at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., and Ryan David Brown, a high school junior in Beaufort, who will turn 17 next month.
An obituary was published in the Beauford Gazette here.
As a few of us might remember, Dave was a sports enthusiast and he broke his arm (badly) in a fall in the ravine bordering the river behind the school at the very end of his 1966-67 year. And Bill Lang ('69) recalls that Dave was a fervent capture-the-flag player in the woods.
Dave's sister, Catherine Brown, sent us some details about his life, prepared for an obituary. An excerpt:
(Dave) was an avid skier, golfer, car enthusiast, and sports fan who rooted famously for the San Francisco 49ers, the Duke Blue Devils, and the Boston Red Sox, but he most loved the water. He lived on the water in Annapolis (Bay Ridge) and had waterfront homes in Beaufort and Harbor Island/St. Helena, South Carolina.
For many years he kept the sailboat "Moonshadow" at Solomon’s Island and then in Annapolis. He collected model sailboats, carved wooden ducks, and artwork related to the sea and sailing. He was also a dog-lover who owned a series of sable and white rough collies named Skylie, Spinnaker, and Skyler and, at the time of his death, a Yorkshire Terrier named Duke whose occupation he listed as “basketball player.”
Here is the text of a release from Beauford Hospital on Dave:
David Emerson Brown, President & CEO of Beaufort Memorial Hospital since 1996, passed away this afternoon. He became seriously ill in February, and was being hospitalized closer to his sister in Washington, DC. In his absence, Jeffrey L. White, BMH Senior Vice President & CFO, has been serving as Interim CEO.
"We are all saddened to hear of David's death today," said BMH Board Chairman William Paddock. "We were all hoping he could overcome his illness and return to us. He did so many great things for our hospital over the years. Under his leadership, Beaufort Memorial has undergone unprecedented growth. One of the best things he did for us was develop the long-term affiliation we have with Duke University Health System in heart and cancer care," he said. "We will remember him for a long time."
An honors graduate of Boston University with a master's degree in business administration, Brown entered the healthcare field in 1976 as assistant executive director of Prince George's Foundation for Medical Care in Landover, MD. Within a year, he had moved into the position of executive director. He joined Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC in 1982 as vice president for professional services and, over the next 12 years, moved up the ranks to become President & CEO of Greater Southeast Community Hospital Foundation, Inc. The Foundation operated two hospitals, long term care facilities, home health agencies, pharmacies, and other health-related businesses.
"We were fortunate to attract a person of David's caliber," said H. Tim Pearce, MD, BMH Chief of Staff, who also was Chairman of the hospital Board at the time Brown was selected. "We knew our area was expanding, and that healthcare was becoming increasingly competitive. We needed a leader who would help us ensure Beaufort Memorial's independence as a true community hospital. David Brown did that.
As a result, our hospital is able to carry out its mission of delivering superior healthcare services to our patients, and to improve the health of our community. We have seen many great improvements to the services our hospital provides thanks to David's leadership."
Plans are being made for a memorial service to be held at the hospital in the near future. For information, contact the PR & Marketing department at (843) 522-5171.
And here's an excerpt from an obituary from David's sister:
David Emerson Brown, 55, of Beaufort, South Carolina, who also lived for many years in Annapolis, Greenbelt, and Bethesda, Maryland, died at Johns Hopkins University Hospital on March 19, 2007. He had been admitted there on February 12 for a severe internal hemorrhage and died from resulting complications.
.... He started his career at the Prince George's County Foundation for Medical Care (a professional standards review organization) where he worked from 1976 to 1988, after receiving an MBA in healthcare management with honors in 1976 from Boston University, from which he also received his B.A. in 1974.
Mr. Brown was born in 1951 in Germany and also lived overseas in India, the Netherlands, and Canada, where his father was assigned as a US Foreign Service Officer. He attended high school at the Villa St. Jean in Switzerland, the American International School of the Hague, and Kents Hill School in Maine.
Mr. Brown is survived by two children from his second marriage, Caitlin Ryan Brown, 18, a freshman at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, and Ryan David Brown, a high school junior in Beaufort who will turn 17 next month. He is also survived by his father, Emerson M. Brown, of Reed City, Michigan; his sister, Catherine W. Brown of Washington, DC; his brother, Christopher G. Brown of Columbus, Ohio; and many friends, including especially Lisa Gilligan Stewart of Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, to whom he was committed. His mother, Winifred Ryan Brown, died in 1990. His marriages to Terry Taylor and Rita Buesgens Brown ended in divorce.
Editor's note: This is our second "where-are-they-now" feature. The first, about Thomas Brew, Villa class '69, is at the bottom of this post. Send yours today to villastjean@gmail.com and include a picture.
Let your classmates know what you're up to...
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Dr. Jhon C. Akers, associate professor in foreign languages and associate director of the Success Initiative, came to Wofford in 1993 from North Carolina State University where he was the coordinator of the Spanish section in the department of foreign languages and literatures. He is a cum laude graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont, and earned a Ph.D. in Hispanic languages and literatures from UCLA.
The author of several articles on Spanish and Mexican American literature, he has presented research to the Modern Language Association, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, the Philological Association of the Carolinas, and the state language organization of North Carolina. He has also published articles on Carl Sandburg’s love of the classical guitar and has compiled a collection of all of Sandburg’s guitar-inspired writings.
Along with his work in the Success Initiative at Wofford, Prof. Akers teaches in the department of modern languages and has led January Interim groups to Cuernavaca, Mexico. He is the advisor to the Wofford chapter of Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society and was elected as the national organization's vice president for the Southeast. Recently, he began a chapter of Rotaract at Wofford, working as a Rotarian with the downtown Spartanburg Rotary to develop career and service opportunities for Wofford students.
An avid classical guitarist, he has presented more than eighty programs at Wofford, The University of South Carolina School of Music, Furman, Notre Dame University, Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, the North Carolina School of the Arts, etc. He has been at Carl Sandburg Home as a featured performer of the annual Poetry Celebration and the Folk Festival in May—the only classical artist to bridge the two events, most recently in May 2006. He appeared in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as a guest of the Cultural Institute of the State of Morelos and has traveled to Winterthur, Switzerland, with a group of Spartanburg Philharmonic soloists, representing Spartanburg in a cultural exchange. He has taught courses at Wofford on the evolution of the classical guitar and its ties to the Spanish vihuela. Recently, his transcription of an original composition of Andrés Segovia composed for Carl Sandburg was published by the Columbia Music Company of Chapel Hill, NC, and with permission of Segovia’s widow. Spring 2005 he performed the opening event at Sandburg’s birth home for the annual Carl Sandburg Days festival in Galesburg, Illinois, sharing the stage with Illinois poet laureate Kevin Stein and releasing his collection of Sandburg’s guitar-inspired writings, A Small Friend—Carl Sandburg’s Guitar, published that spring as well.
Dr. Akers received recognition from the Wofford Campus Union in 1997 as “Faculty Member of the Year.” He is also twice recipient of a Western North Carolina Regional Artist grant to produce his CD on Sandburg and Segovia and publish his book.
He resides in Saluda, North Carolina, with his wife Karen Schinke of Berea, Ohio; their daughter Alessandra; son Isaías Emiliano; and twins Belén and Matías. Jhon is a member of the Unity Church of Arden, NC; he performs monthly at the Saluda Presbyterian Church.
Fellow Chamois:
When considering a V2 of the villa community for this century, I thought of my Bossuet years and that odd Material Support Committee. Even now, I don't think I could say what we accomplishing in those committee meetings. And I suspected, even then, that it was mostly an empty gesture, intended for the yearbook and college applications.
Now, in 2007, we're making amends.
In tandem with Steve MacIntyre (68) and Kevin DiPalma (67), I've pitched the Wikipedia and Vox blog projects as the resurrection of the Material Support Committee, this time, though, with purpose.
Every high school and college on the planet has an alumni group, many of them plotting reunion weekends and persistently soliciting donations. For good measure, our neighbors have Facebook, school alumni sites, football games, sweatshirts, caps and, of course, flashy school web sites.
And what we do have? The campus is gone, there's no alumni weekend, not even an official web site. There's nothing tangible of the Villa anymore, no there there.
We do -- thanks to Mr. DiPalma -- have a slew of black and white photographs and some wonderful correspondents.
To sustain a digital villa community in this century, we concluded that we needed a collaborative site. Kevin's site is a treasure of invaluable photographs, reminisces and chatter. However, it can only be sustained by Kevin, now (curiously) locked away in rural China.
With a new generation of Internet tools, we can all add contributions to this blog, making it (I hope) a living, breathing entity.
Further, I'm hoping the site will enable us to do more than recall distant days.
I'm hoping we can solicit short bios (200-300 words or so?) from villa graduates, a sort of "where-are-they-now" feature. In other words, what's happened to you since 1970? Tell.
Isn't this more ambitious that those Bossuet committee meetings?
Tom Brew ('66-'69)
A postscript: As an example, here's my brief bio....
After the villa, I attended Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland, another Catholic boys school, mostly lacking in any charm. Afterward, I attended graduate school (journalism) at the University of Florida, which was a dreamy 18 months of swimming pools, parties, girls and, yes, some classes. Also beer.
I graduated in '76 and married my wife, Dawn, in '77. (Here's a photo of us from two weeks ago -- 12/30/06.)
I worked in newspapers as a reporter and editor in Florida and in California, the last 12 at the San Jose Mercury News. (Our staff won a Pulitzer in '89).
I left the Mercury News and the print business in '95 for online journalism and have worked at msnbc.com for a decade now.
Dawn and I have two boys (Graham, 15, and Brad, 13) and live in the Pacific Northwest (specifically, Sammamish, Wa.) near the Microsoft campus, which houses MSNBC.
I'm 55 now and used to blame the tricky light in the Northwest for what appeared to be flecks of gray in my hair.
(As an aside, in a very curious way, it was the Villa and a friendship there in Sapinière that introduced me to my wife-to-be in northern Florida a decade later. That story is in the comment section here.)
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Send your bio to us at villastjean@gmail.com and I'll publish it. Embellishments, exaggerations and retouched photos are fine.
