Alumni/ae> Class Notes > Fall 2005
Class Notes (Please note: the most recent notes below were posted after January 3, 2005, when fall notes were purged after having been included in the Fall/Winter 2004 edition of the school magazine, Currents, and are indicated in blue. Those in black below were sent to us earlier this school year but did not make it into the Fall/Winter 2004 issue and so are posted here now. New notes are added in blue as they are received.
1950s
We were sorry to learn of the death on November 29, 2004 of Midge (Stone) Leavitt, who attended PDS from 1948-1959. Midge was the youngest daughter of psychologist L. Joseph Stone, professor of psychology at Vassar College, and Patrice Berlin Stone, who taught at PDS. Midge's sisters, who survive her, are Susannah "Sukey" (Stone) Eldridge '56 and Deborah "Debbie" Stone '55. Midge was a graduate of Radcliffe and became an innovative early childhood educator both in the United States and Canada, where she lived since 1983. Our sincere condolences to Sukey and Debbie and the rest of the Stone/Leavitt family. To read the full obituary from the December 3rd edition of The Poughkeepsie Journal, click here. (Note: You must click on "Obituary Archive" and then enter "Leavitt" to read the notice.)
1970s
We
received an "aloha" from Pamela Jane
(Leavitt) Kantarova '72,
who is "living
on a permaculture homestead and working on a watershed management plan of 100,000
acres for southwest Maui." She has three daughters, the youngest of whom
is a sophomore in high school. In her spare time Pamela dances hula and makes
baskets with local fiber. Want some guests, Pamela?? Write her: pjk@vibechild.com.
From Kamille (Brough) Smith '76: "After
leaving the Day School, I went to DCC for an AS in biology, then a BA in zoology
at U of Maine, back to SUNY New Paltz for the MA program in biology. Over the
course of the next 20 or so years I have had several career changes, including
lab technician, manager, casino dealer, bookkeeper and farmer. Right now I have
a hobby farm with a donkey, llama, goat and cow. I also raise Basset Hounds.
I have been a professional pet sitter for about five years and own several rental
properties. My life hasn’t turned out too glamorous by Day School standards,
but it sure is satisfying (and busy). I married my high school sweetie in 1988,
Alfred (Chris) Smith, and have a five-year-old boy, Elias, and a twelve-year-old
girl, Miranda. Both are wonderful kids, who luckily love animals too. I received
two masters degrees in metaphysics over the course of the years and teach adult
education classes at the local community college. I specialize in Tarot cards,
meditation techniques, inner healing and past life regression. I plan to proceed
toward a doctorate in metaphysics soon." Write her: kamille@dreamscape.com.
Mike Chapman '77 writes that he is now the applications/test manager for Facilis Technology in Hudson, MA. "We manufacture 'shared storage'solutions for digital video editing systems. It's a great fit for me, having been a professional video editor (Emmy award winner, 1991) for the last 20-odd years, a grizzled veteran of two networks and more war stories than I can count." (Webmistress note: Gee, Mike, I'd like to hear some of those stories when you have a moment to write!) Mike adds that he and Peter Brownstein '78 "are rekindling our mutual love of model trains, albeit at a distance! Would love to hear from other veterans of '39'"(and adds "Go, Patriots!) E-mail him: michael.b.chapman@verizon.net.
Salt Lake City resident Peter Brownstein '78 writes that he is has been married for eight years and has two children: Michael, five, and Sarah, three. Peter asks, "What happened to the time capsule in the old soccer field?" (What time capsule, Peter? We only know of the one underneath the foyer in "39" that was unearthed prior to Vassar reclaiming the building just before our 65th anniversary celebration in September of 1999? See photos in the winter edition of Currents. Is there really another one?). In any event , he would love to hear from classmates at pab@xmission.com.
1980s
Got a note from Vida (Refah) Kohanteb '81, who
says that after PDS she attended and graduated from Bentley College in Waltham,
MA. Then Vida worked in finance and real estate before getting married to Kourosh
Kohanteb. A resident of Singapore from 1996-99, she and her husband have two
boys Omead, age 13, and Ramin, 10, and now live in California. Write
her at findvida@aol.com.
Daniel Falk '84 tells us he is the director of Camp Huntington, a summer camp program for autistic and mentally retarded children and adults. E-mail: dfalk@hvc.rrr.com.
Caroline Evarts '86 writes, "I miss hearing from PDS folks- please call or e-mail! Life is good with Esai, my son, now 1 1/2 years old. New Mexico is still the greatest place. Come visit!” Write her at cooley@mail.cybermesa.com.
Rob Handel '86 is an established playwright (in case you didn't know!). His most recent work, Aphrodesiac, was produced by the theater company with which he is affiliated, called 13 P (Thirteen Playwrights, Inc.). It opened in January 2005 at the Performance Space in NYC. In an article in the December 30, 2004 edition of Pulse magazine, Rob was quoted as saying that the play is a '"fantasy version of Condit's children," a reference to the Gary Condit scandal of the summer of 2001, which inspired it. Other credits to Rob's name include The Exploding Hotel (the Royal Court Theatre "Hot from America" series, London); Millicent Scowlworthy (O'Neil Playwrights Conference), and Being Difficult (Soho Rep/Writer Lab). He was a theater major at Williams (Class of '90) , worked in the Iowa Playwright Workshop at the University of Iowa and earned his master's from Brown. Rob was interviewed for the Winter 2001Currents, which featured "theater" at PDS. Rob has recently become the director of development for St. Ann's Warehouse, a "most desirable" performance space in Brooklyn's hot DUMBO district, which has hosted hundreds of artists since the fall of 2001, including David Bowie, Al Pacino, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.
Lots of
news from Matt DeSilva '88: Matt got married to Gina Pedone on Nov. 20,
2004; she owns and runs Adrienne's, an NYC bridal gown and evening wear store
featuring some of her original designs (www.adriennesny.com). View the
happy couple's wedding pictures online by
going to www.pictage.com and entering "Gina and Mat" as the
event (and, yes, they are aware that his name is spelled wrong). PDS science
teacher Jonathan Heiles and his wife, Barbara Heiles, were among the wedding
guests.Matt's other big news is that he's left Manny's Music to open a guitar
store of his own called Guitar Man, located at 147 Orchard Street in NYC's Lower
East
Side. The store was expected to be operational at the end of January 2005; check
out the Web site: www.guitarmannyc.com. And, congrats to Matt and his bride!
1990s
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Top of the mornin' to ya...Jason Berry '93 (left) was visited by classmate Nat Antman '93 in Ireland (where Jason has been living for many years) last November. We recently received this photo: If me eyes be not deceivin' me, lads, me thinks ye may be standing at the Cliffs of Moher... |
From professional photographer Hillary Harvey ' 93: "If you haven't done so recently, check out the website, www.hillaryharvey.com for updated info and pictures as well as exciting new products on the Specials page!"
We hear that Joshua Rathbun '96 taught "Business English" in Prague last year and "traveled through the Czech Republic and Europe as much as possible in my free time." Where are you now, Josh? E-mail: joshuarathbun@hotmail.com.
Kara Tatelbaum '96 and her dance company, independentdancemaker, launched its 2005 season in NYC on April 22 -23 at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street, Manhattan). Kara is an acclaimed dancer and choreographer; she was profiled for the school magazine, Currents, shortly after her graduation from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2000. (Click here to read that profile). Sadly, Kara lost most of her belongings when her apartment was devastated by a fire. Out of that tragedy, however, has come her newest solo, "Inferno," which is based on this life-changing experience and, in fact, uses photos of the fire's damage in video projection. Dance Insider called Kara and her work "a unique combination of strength and delicacy that comes from the gut with exquisite detail." For more information about Kara and how you can also support her ongoing goal to build her acclaimed company, write her at independentdancemaker@yahoo.com.
Noah Lyon '97 continues to be a prolific and successful artist. Last summer, Noah had a solo show entitled Chopped-Off Heads of Dudes at the BLD in Columbus, OH. He also created installations in several group exhibitions, including: Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture in Cincinnati, OH; Death to The Fascist Insect that Preys on the Life of the People in Brooklyn, NY; The Skull Show in Tokyo; and the 45th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, PA. He also showed work in the Infinite Fill Show at Foxy Production in NYC and in Under the Sun at Greener Pastures Contemporary Art in Toronto, Canada. Most recently, last fall, he exhibited drawings at the Kabusa Konsthall in Malmoe, Sweden. Another late fall show at Three Rivers was Daydream Nation, which, according to its promotional materials, was a group show "inspired by the inundation of commercial imagery, overload of information and power of consumerism that arose in the grand decade of the 1980s. This new, distinctly American visual style, conceived by a generation of artists reflecting on the infatuations of their childhood, incorporates elements of pop psychedelia, street art, typography, comics and advertising in a variety of media." Noah is a graduate of Cooper Union, Class of 2002. For information on his upcoming shows and performances, visit www.retardriot.com.
After college,
Rebecca Mirsky '97 spent five months in Southeast Asia traveling and
photographing. Upon her return and for the next two and one-half years, she
worked in New York as a photography agent at Levine & Leavitt. Last year
found her volunteering in a South American orphanage (Peru, to be exact)) and
then co-producing a documentray film about it. In September of 2004, Becky began
grad school at NYU (a two-year masters program in visual arts administration).
She is also working at Clementine Gallery in the city while also attending classes.
Great news from Laura Cowan '99, a graduate of the University of Rochester, who tells us that she has moved to Alexandria, VA and is attending the George Washington University to get her master's degree in Early Childhood Special Education. Says Laura, "By next fall I will be a teacher! I certainly credit many of the teachers at PDS for my desire to educate children. I am also working part time at a preschool as a one-to-one aide for a little girl with special needs." Laura is also very excited to announce her recent engagement to Luke Osborne, her high school sweetheart (from Arlington High School?), with whom Laura has been together since 10th grade. Stay tuned for news about the actual wedding date, anticipated in late 2005. She adds, "I was sorry not to come to the reunion, but I had recently moved down to Virginia and had just started school and it was all a little busy! Say hi to everyone for me." Write Laura at lscowan@comcast.net.
2000s
Nick Buccelli '00 is spending the year in Korea teaching English. Tell us more, Nick!
Elann Danziger '01 wrote just as he was about to graduate from Ithaca College with a B.A. in writing and a theatre minor. Elann has been heavily involved for the past year with the campus radio station, WICB, performing duties as one of the station's urban music directors. You can listen to him online every Saturday night from 12-2 EST (9-11PST) at www.wicb.org. Since this is Elann's last semester, he is also spending his time working on a senior project, a script which will eventually see itself as a solo, semi-autobiographical performance (i.e., in the style of John Leguizamo, Julia Sweeney, et. al.) and will be performed at a yet-to-be-announced date in April. If you would like to contact Elann, you can reach him at edanzig1@ithaca.edu. (Editor's note: Three members of the Class of 2005 have been admitted to Ithaca next year.)
Jake Moore '04 loves MICA and Baltimore. He had no problem adjusting to the concept of "grades" as he made Dean's List each semester. Check out his web site:http://alldayidreamofdes.tk/.
Keep those cards and letters coming! E-mail Sandra Moore and we'll be sure to post your news. Photos are welcome, too!
Alumnus Gavrik Losey Talks History
| Poughkeepsie Day School was treated to a special visit by alumnus Gavrik Losey in January 2005, a resident of Somerset, England, who spent seven days in the States in order to research his family’s history for a book he is writing about their lives and times. | ||
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Gavrik spoke to seniors in Matthew Kenny’s American history class about his memories of the school and the area (and also met briefly with upper school science teacher Jonathan Heiles who, over the years, has recorded and written about PDS history). He fondly remembered the Smyths (Olga Smyth and her husband were among the earliest teachers at the Day School and also boarded young students, especially after purchasing their High Valley Farm in Salt Point) and also described how rural—and poor—the area beyond Poughkeepsie was then. He said that many roads in the City of Poughkeepsie were unpaved, the classroom located to one side of the stairs in Spaulding seemed “as big as a ballroom” and that students often would try to sneak across Hooker Avenue to the candy store (now Hooker Avenue Travel) when “no one was looking and the very few cars on the road were not in the way.” He also told of the moment he heard of FDR’s death: an unknown man driving by the school simply rolled down his car window and gave the young boy the historic news. When the Losey family moved to Hollywood as a result of Joe’s expanding career in film, Gavrik, who was seriously dyslexic—a condition, he said, that “no one, including teachers at the Day School, understood”*—was enrolled as a “guinea pig” in a special UCLA institute that was studying the condition. Gavrik’s mother, who had gone to Paris to learn about fashion after graduating from Vassar College in 1925 (his grandmother was in the Class of 1891), was very involved in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s China relief efforts. But after the war, Gavrik’s father was investigated—as so many in the entertainment industry were—by the House on Un-American Activities Committee, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, forcing him (Gavrik's father) to flee the country. After graduating from public high school in New Jersey, Gavrik was admitted to both Dartmouth and Harvard, as well as University College, London, where he enrolled and studied economics and anthropology. Since then he has lived in worked in eleven different countries. Following in his father’s footsteps, Gavrik has spent a good portion of his life as a filmmaker, first in the area of news and documentaries and subsequently in feature films, with more than 40 of the latter to his name. He also has worked as a writer and researcher and as a a part-time university lecturer on film production and theory at Bristol University and Exeter University, where he is currently an honorary fellow. His informal meeting with PDS students not only explored Day School history but also engaged them in a larger discussion on American and world politics as well as the responsibility of the media to “tell the truth” rather than simply to feature stories that garner high ratings. The father of two grown daughters, Gavrik said he truly enjoyed hearing the students’ perspectives on all that is happening today and seeing the Boardman Road campus. He added that he and his wife, a writer, live in a 1630 house, built just ten years before and ten miles from where his ancestors left England for America in pursuit of religious freedom. With all that he and his family have experienced since the 17th century, what a fascinating book his promises to be! *Editor’s Note: The Smyths’ High Valley Farm become High Valley School, founded to help students with special learning needs, and which, in splitting off from PDS, caused a major rift in the PDS community, according to Gavrik Losey. With the retirement of Olga Smyth, High Valley School closed. Today, PDS teachers are engaged in the ongoing study of how to individualize learning through their ongoing participation in Dr. Mel Levine’s Schools Attuned program, as described in the Winter 2004 edition of the school magazine, Currents. FORMER FACULTY AND STAFF
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