August 2003

For those of you who took pictures, please have them developed on a CD as well, and send me the CD by mail or email me the pictures so that I can include them on the website.

I would like to ask each of you to describe one or two events, places, people or feelings from this reunion in an email to me so that they can be posted on the website in the Reunion Yearbook for everyone else to see. This will encourage other alumni to attend the next reunion and will serve as a reminder of all the things we did and felt as our memories fade.

As we discussed at the reunion, I will be stepping down and Scott McCutcheon and friends will take over the running of the website and issuing newsletters from time to time. I will follow up with Scott, Sharon and Jit, with suggestions on how to keep things going until the next reunion.

Brendan, Pichet and Ottavia will each have a chance to promote their home cities for the next reunion on our website, and I hope that we have reunions at all three locations over the next several years.

On a personal note, this reunion has meant so much to me that as I sit here at my desk, I’m sad that it’s over. On behalf of Susan, Jessica and Elan, it was a pleasure getting to know you and sharing this special time. Our house is always open for the LR/PF family. Come visit us again!

Love,

Pradeep

Susan Seipel Sturgis stood up on the stage during the soiree in Woodstock and put everything in perspective. While we danced and reminisced downstairs, some 16 children, most of whom were our age when we attended LR/PF, were upstairs becoming friends, exchanging stories and bonding with each other. The thought that our children could develop into the friends that we parents have already become was heartwarming.

The slide show, put to old sentimental music brought tears and cheers (and some raised eyebrows) as we saw forgotten friends and remembered lost loves.

The soiree itself, like all soirees, was too short. However, slow dancers were not interrupted by Mr. Pellet and his ruler this time.

Jitendra Dave celebrated his 49th birthday during the reunion, and was presented with a huge banner created by the kids, and signed by all the alumni. Jit said that this was his best birthday ever.

The view from the dining room of the Hunter Mountain ski slopes, reminiscent of Montana Crans, the European dinners, and the cedar walls of the hotel were daily reminders of our days in Bluche.

Last minute no-shows Martin Moll and Martha Fouts were replaced by last minute shows Scott McCutcheon and Karina Landegger and her husband Francis. Coincidently, Karina, who attended PF in 1977, was born in 1961, the year Scott attended LR.

Scott McCutcheon, our elder statesman, took the floor and told of his 29 year-old daughter who, on a visit to Tuscany, insisted that her father take her to Bluche so that she could see the school that he talked about so much over the years. Scott brought two pictures, the earliest we have on record, of the entire school and staff in 1961. It has been posted on the website — see if you can recognize Clivaz, Driscoll and Pellet in the front row (they were younger in that picture than most of us are today!)

Donna Harms Henson and Sharon Taylor Baumann each brought their prized LR/PF windbreakers (and wore them with pride), and Jit brought copies of every yearbook from 1968 – 1974, courtesy of Brian Moore who could not attend.

Brendan Foulkes brought T-shirts and posters promoting the Bahamas and pictures of that first reunion in 1991. Pichet brought brochures of his hotel, the Narai, in Bangkok, a potential future reunion site.

The weather held up beautifully in Woodstock, with only a few periods of rain (what would three days at Woodstock be without a little rain to remind us of ’69?). Four days after the reunion ended in Woodstock, the area witnessed its first tornado in 25 years. Was it the ghost of LR/PF?

Ross Povenmire related a story of how he met yours truly in September, 1969, when I was a puny 4’6″ kid weighing 70 pounds, cussing out the biggest student in LR, Dick Curry, and getting away with it. “I must get to know this Pradeep”, Ross said. Ross drove up to the reunion in his pick-up truck sporting a bumper sticker announcing his bid for City Council Treasurer for the City of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Pichet and Brendan, those hospitality tycoons, offered him tips on how to get corrupted once elected. Remember, we knew Ross before he became a famous politician. Donna Harms Henson works in Haverhill, MA., and only recently found out that Ross lived there.

The promenade obligatoire up the mountain above North/South Lake was a success, although the chocolate and picnic afterwards were not quite stale enough to qualify as authentic.

The late nights drinking at the hotel bar loosened more than a few lips.

The early morning jogs by Andi Alexander, Ross Povenmire and myself continued a tradition we started at the Aspen reunion. One run brought us to Huckleberry Point, a cliff overlooking the Hudson river and a view of three states.

The hundreds of old pictures that we brought to share reminded us just how much we missed everyone who was not there, from teachers to Old Clivaz himself, and especially those of us, teachers and students, who have unfortunately passed away over the years.

The trip to the town of Woodstock helped the shoppers get their fix, as did the trip to the Woodbury Commons shopping mall on the way the NY City.

The kids enjoyed spending the day at the Zoom Flume water park in Cairo, NY under the watchful eyes of Jit, Susan Seipel, Ottavia Giorgi Monfort and Katy Jackson, while Susan Povenmire, Ruth Harms, Pichet, Sharon and Scott, seeking culture, toured the Olana Museum and the historic town of Hudson across the river.

We talked about what we were each doing when the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11, and when we visited the site a few days later, it was a powerful reminder of just how fragile life is. Ottavia Georgi Monfort’s children and Jana Moore Hanstedt‘s niece May Lynn were especially moved by the somber memorial and gaping hole at the site.

Betsy van den Berg took the mike and remembered her first night at PF, when she and Margaret Mallon were locked in her room and had to be set free by Susan Seipel.

Carolyn Gillespie Mayor and I went jogging in Central Park and decided on the spur of the moment to join 4,000 people running a 4 mile race marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of Central Park. We were given T-shirts to commemorate the event.

The visit to Chinatown in New York City was made special by Pichet who ordered all the food in fluent Mandarin (or was it Cantonese?).

Sitting on the 27th floor balcony of my guestroom at the Wellington Hotel looking down 7th Avenue towards Times Square and talking about our lives, our families, and our dreams while sipping wine and eating Swiss chocolate was a peak moment on the last night of the reunion.

Lizette Ottensten could not attend the reunion, but in a show of support, sent her teenage son instead. Lizette’s children, along with those of Katy Jackson Cantor and Marti Boone Mattia have become best friends like their parents, vacationing every year together. Marti Boone wrote a beautiful and compelling note crediting the first reunion in the Bahamas for starting the strong friendship with Katy and Lizette.

Susan Povenmire Weisman described her 20-year career with the US Government and her travels as Press Coordinator for the Administration during environmental summits.

The children enjoyed the Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast while the adults dined at an Indian restaurant near Times Square.

The farewell picnic at dusk in Central Park, NY was a quiet way to end the reunion for those of us who were left.