Welcome to the third installment of the Alumni Newsletter. This edition, Alumni News and Notes, is focused on updates from members of our Alumni community. Feel free to write your own update in the comments section below! Stay tuned for the fourth and final segment of our newsletter series, which will highlight Alumni events from this winter. To see the upcoming schedule of Pemi Alumni events, visit the Alumni events section of the website.

Pemi Encounters

Ian Axness wrote in, “As it happens, I met up with Dwight Dunston, Jake & Cory Fauver in the hip northern neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn! We walked around a bit, caught up on life stuff, and then just happened to walk by the Brooklyn Brewery just in time for a tour. Cory and I both answered questions on the tour correctly and were rewarded with free tokens!

Across the pond in England, current Pemi camper Ian Hohman dressed like any other day for class at The American School in England. This particular day, his outfit included a Pemi blue t-shirt (smart kid!). Much to his surprise, one of his teachers, Matt Bagley, is a Pemi Alumnus, who was delighted to see the Pemi kid on Ian!

Mike Sasso ran into Hilary Bride at Camp Horizon in Luray, VA, where Hilary was working as a low/high ropes consultant. Mike brought a group of students from Browne Academy, where he serves as the Head of the Middle School. Hilary was thrilled, “I looked at my schedule for the week and he was listed as the contact person -it was awesome to catch up and his kids were a blast!” Hilary is living in NH for the winter, before she heads to Liberia in June to begin a stint with the Peace Corp. She will be teaching high school math and leading community programs for 27 months. “Let’s hope I still have some of those PEMI West skills and can still make a good lesson plan.” We’re confident you do, Hilary!

Congratulations

Peter and Tara Cowles opened their brewery, Aspetuck Brew Lab, in Black Rock, CT. All who have sampled Peter’s brews through the years at the Rittner Run banquets, know this is a dream come true. A few lucky Alumni were able to sample a few delicious libations back in December. Stay tuned for further information and stop by to say hi to Peter and Tara!

James Finley and wife, Kate, welcomed their son, Owen Gillen Finley (pictured left), on December 10, 2015.

Willy Friedman and his wife, Jess Smith, welcomed daughter, Ruby Max Friedman, on September 23, 2015.

Campbell Levy is engaged to Courtney Housam of Villanova, PA! The couple are new homeowners in Evergreen, Colorado.

Brian Mitchell and his wife, Alison, welcomed their second son, Rhett Patrick Mitchell, born on August 31, 2015.

In Memoriam

Frank Connor of Denton Texas informed us that his brother, Ron Connor died in December. Ron and Frank were both campers at Pemi in the early 1940’s. Their father, also named Ron Connor, attended Pemi around the middle to late teens.

Sports Round-up – News from the Gridiron

Zach Slafsky, a Senior linebacker for Dartmouth, earned second team All-Ivy League distinction. He netted 48 tackles, the fourth highest total for the Big Green Defense. Dartmouth finished the 2015 campaign with an overall record of 9-1, earning a three-way share of the Ivy League Title with Harvard and Penn.

Congratulations to J.J. Strnad, who was named to the MIAC football all-conference second team, after a stellar year rushing the ball for the Oles of St. Olaf College. In seven games, J.J. rushed for 729 yards and 10 touchdowns, including a memorable performance against arch rival Carleton; 226 yards and 4 touchdowns!

Updates

“As a Senior camper I (Bill Bradford) am well, active and still basking in the cordiality of our visit to Pemi two summers ago. The basics of character development with a great facility and staff are still present, although I note that there were no home practices scheduled for the 80 and under baseball team.  Duke Medical School has almost 8000 applications this year so I remain gainfully employed.”

Sandy Bryant is living in Sewanee, TN and working as the Assistant Director of Development at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School.

On a business trip to Seattle, Brad Saffer met up with Phil Burnett and the two had a wonderful time reconnecting after many years apart. Their friendship began over 25 years ago on the shores of Lower Baker. Phil moved to the United States in 2004 for a job with Microsoft and spent the following ten years working for various online teams including MSN, MSDN and Bing. He recently took on an exciting new role as a Group Manager at Nordstrom.com in Seattle, which he thoroughly enjoys.Phil and his wife Hilary live in Woodinville with his daughter Abi (16) and son Ethan (14). Abi loves art and Ethan is a keen left-handed pitcher for a local team, the Seattle Dodgers.

George Harrington Butts, a six year Pemi veteran camper and Assistant Counselor, is an actor in New York City. A lifelong performer, he cherishes his time acting in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at Pemi (his role as a sailor in HMS Pinafore remains his favorite role). After a couple of principal roles speaking Spanish in the 2014 telenovelas El Capo and La Gata, George starred with Game of Thrones’ actor Kristofer Hivju in the “Wyndham Rewards Wizard” national TV commercials last summer. “It definitely took a moment to adjust to the axe-bearing Tormund Giantsbane as a benevolent hotel wizard, but after that it was smooth sailing and an unforgettable gig!”  The Wyndham commercial and other television work can be seen on his page at the Internet Movie Database.

John Carman is still living in Little Rock, Arkansas and is serving as Director of the Boy Scout Council there. He and his wife of 37 years, Mary, became grandparents of a future Pemi Kid on January 6. Their two daughters and daughters’ families including grandson Harrison live in Louisville, Kentucky, where John and Mary will move upon retirement in 2018.

Chip Dayton wrote in, “It was because of Pemi that I always air out my wool blankets in the wind and sun. Simple, but I learned it at 10 years old and have kept the habit my whole life.” Chip was in Lower 2 and 6, and Upper 3 in the early sixties.

Bill Dougherty returned to Pemi this past fall for the Alumni Weekend. It was the first time since he visited since he last attended Camp in 1960; he reconnected with a number of folks and made several new friends. A highlight was the hike up Mt. Cube with his wife, Cynthia, under the guidance of TRJR, and a lovely evening dinner at the senior beach. He was disappointed at the absence of a dope stop on the way back from Cube, but intends to rally for next year with a remedy of his own. Bill’s younger son, Andrew, is awaiting the arrival of twin daughters any day, which will make 12 grandchildren for Bill.

Henry Eisenhart was thrilled to travel from Boston to Scotland this past November to see his cousins and their young children. In true form, it rained continuously from arrival to departure, but that didn’t deter him from getting in his first round of Scottish golf. More recently, Henry enjoyed catching up with familiar faces at the Fairfield Pemi Open House, hosted by Henry’s cousin Ted Orben and family.

Nick Gerard graduated from the University of Michigan in May, and spent the summer traveling. Nick traveled in Hong Kong and hiked throughout the New Territories. This past August, Nick moved to Seattle to work for Microsoft.

Former Associate Head of Nature, Paula Goldberg, provided the following update from the Goldberg family. “I am running a little non-profit called City Wildlife in the District. It is the first organization devoted to the care and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife in DC. Jeff is still working and playing tennis. Daniel is in his third year of a general surgery residency at Brown and Julia is at Superiority Burger in NYC. She had a recipe published in the New York Times last summer. Jonny is working for a non-profit in DC and has plans to climb Mount Rainier in May. Nate Erwin and I are planning to return to NH this summer for the annual NABA butterfly count and look forward to the participation of Pemi boys!”

Andy Judd still lives in Chester, NJ with wife Jennifer and his seven year old son, Robbie, and 3 year old daughter, Katie.  Following in Larry Davis’ geologic footsteps, Andy is celebrating his 20^th year as a geologist with CH2M HILL (environmental consulting) in Parsippany, NJ.

Jonathan Lesieur, wife Maud, and son Celian recently moved back to Toulouse, France after living in Virginia for 3 years. Jon works for Airbus in their sales and marketing department.

Charlie and Kim Malcolm visited with Sam Martin and his family in North Carolina, en route to a family vacation in Puerto Rico. Sam teaches Middle School Social Studies at Charlotte Country Day School.

Dave Nagle recently changed jobs, and now works at Constellation Technology Corporation, an independent test and research facility, in Largo Florida. Dave has two new grandchildren, a boy and girl, which brings the grandchildren count to four.

Walt Newcomb, middle member of a third generation Pemi family, now lives in Nashville, TN. Walt and his wife Bendy, will celebrate their 40th Anniversary in April. They feel settled in Nashville, after moving 12 times, including stops in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, New Orleans, and Idaho. Most of their travel was linked to Walt’s job as a geologist, which he credits to Pemi. “My Pemi years in the White Mountains directly contributed to my choice of profession. The assignment to the Philippines in 1975-1976 is the VERY BEST piece of good luck I’ve had, and I feel blessed by the experience in every way.” Walt and Bendy thoroughly enjoy the musical, dramatic, literary, and intellectual opportunities that their new home city, Nashville, provides.

Walt also provided an update for his son, Alumnus Charles (Chuck), who is an investment banker in Manhattan, and his daughter Virginia, who graduated from Kenyon College (one of our nation’s finest institutions) and practices law. Walt’s father attended Pemi in 1921.

Harry Norman, a member of the counseling staff in 2014, recently returned from Thailand where he completed his SSI diving training. He has started a job in banking and is working his way back to Australia.

After graduating from St. Olaf College in 2008, Matt Norman, has been living in the Twin Cities, and working at U.S. Bank as a Card Sales Support Manager. In this role, he supports credit card sales in retail branches and districts on the Community Banking side of the bank. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Manager of a branch in St. Paul, MN for almost 4 years. Matt met my wife, Sarah, while attending St. Olaf, and got married in September 2012 in Minneapolis. They currently live in Inver Grove Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. “I came back to visit Pemi in June 2013, as Sarah and I were heading to a wedding on Lake Winnipesaukee. It was awesome to show her the camp that means so much to me. She really enjoyed her visit, and it was great to connect with so many familiar faces. I think of Pemi often, and I hope to visit again sometime soon!”

Dylan O’Keefe is a freshman at the University of Virginia along with former S-3 cabin-mate Jack Cathcart! Over winter break, Dylan decided to go backpacking in Asia, stopping in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and several parts of Thailand. He has connected with another Pemi Alumnus, Jack Hannah, who is spending a gap year in Asia, and the two have traveled together.

Stephen Funk Pearson – “My brother (another Pemi Alum), Timothy Funk Pearson, is the Finance Director for the town of Tilton, NH, and with his wife Maria (technology integration specialist for the Winnisquam School District) and their 3 kids. They recently moved into a new home in Tilton where we celebrated Thanksgiving. As for me, this unusual weather has facilitated tree/brush trail cutting and road maintenance preparing my Cabins on the Cove rental property in Belmont, NH for summer guests. I recently split 7 cords of wood for this and future winters. Otherwise, I’m writing songs and gigging with my rock band “Pretentious Fools,” and shooting a new music video.

“Some of my sailing students may remember Cap’n Bob (Reed) from the late 1980s. Or, fellow baseball and tennis players of the early 1920’s. Now I’m 97 and don’t move easily. Pemi is a great alma mater and I relish all memories.”

Sam Seymour is completing a Masters degree through the Translational Medicine program at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, and will graduate this coming June (just in time for Pemi 2016!). Starting this program prompted a move across the Bay, from San Francisco to Oakland and Sam loves the new neighborhood – especially the proximity to Pemi alums Cory Fauver (2 blocks away), Ryan Fauver, and Jake Kring!

From Head of Woodshop – “Papa Jerry (Jerry Slafsky) is alive and well, spending his winters fishing in Okeechobee, FL and his summers in Freedom, NH; still woodworking.”

Eli Stonberg, a ten year Pemi veteran, lives with his girlfriend, Leah, in Los Angeles.  Eli is part of an interactive filmmaking team called Fourclops.  The team recently joined the roster of directors at PRETTYBIRD, an industry leading commercial production company. Their latest project was a holographic music video for Dave Gahan, the frontman of Depeche Mode.  The hologram video was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Entertainment Weekly, Fast Company and more.  With Fourclops, Eli’s goal is to create new forms of entertainment by combining technology and video in unusual ways.

After attending Pemi in 1946 and 1948, John Trimble’s memories of Pemi are varied, some are snapshot sharp while others are faded like negatives. “We lived in Northern NJ, so we joined the mob scene at Grand Central Station. The first year I’m sure it was the longest train ride either of us had taken, up through New Haven to switch engines and then along the CT River through White River Junction to Fairlee, VT to debark. We’d never ridden in a truck before either, much less the open back on one (I’m sure verboten today!). We were introduced to the Reed and Fauver clans that summer, and I do remember the Oberlin connection. The vivid memories include, mounting butterflies and moths and learning the difference, up the hill at the owners’ house with its beautiful gardens and seeing a hummingbird for the first time, the Mess Hall, baseball, tennis, archery, shooting a 22 rifle, trips to Winnipesaukee, playing games there and at Camp Moosilauke, climbing Mt. Cube. And then there were the swimsuits we were forced to wear. What masochist created these awful itchy wool briefs that tortured our bodies as we attempted our mile swim and other fun things. But learning to canoe was worth the itch! I still manage to drive by at least once a year in the off-season and am always delighted to see the lake and then the cabins across the way, knowing that the camp remains.”

Erik Wiedenmann started working at an advertising agency in Berlin, Germany, after leading the Senior Division in 2015 as the Division Head. The agency is relatively small, focusing in corporate design and branding, which he finds quite fun and rewarding. Erik’s thirst for education remains, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him return to the teaching world in some capacity.

Zach Wolf recently edited a new horror film called “Condemned,” directed by Eli Morgan Gesner and starring Dylan Penn. It’s out on iTunes and VOD. He was also part of the editing team for “Sophie and the Rising Sun,” which is premiering at Sundance 2016, and “The Breaks,” which premiered on VH1 January 4. Stay tuned for the upcoming Zach Braff film, “Going in Style,” starring legends Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin, which Zach also had his hands on in the editing process.

Good luck, long life, and joy!

Kenny