News from Phillips Academy Andover - Class of 1959

Essay Section Posted

July, 2008

We have added a posted essay section where you will find the names of classmates who have posted their essay. Click on their names and you can read their contribution. If you have already sent in your essay to Bill Bell, and would like to see them posted here, contact Paul Neshamkin or David Othmer, and we will add them. If you have not submitted your essay, send them ASAP to Bill. The absolute deadline looms!

Winter Bulletin Class Notes Posted

January, 2008

We have added the Winter 2008 and Summer 2007 Class of 1959 Notes.

Summer Bulletin Class Notes Posted

September, 2006

We have added the latest published Class of 1959 Notes.

Map of PA Campus Added

August, 2006

We have added a map of the Andover campus. You can click on many of the buildings or other areas to find more detailed information. We are adding information all the time, so be sure to check back.

Class of 1959 Authors - Bibliography maintained by OWHL

July 26, 2006

The director of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Elisabeth Tully, was kind enough to point out that the Library maintains pages that honor Alumni Authors. You will find our class list here. I have also added a link from our Home page. Other classes can be looked up at http://www.andover.edu/library/BOOKLISTS/AA/grid.htm. Enjoy! (And let Andover know [owhlibrary@andover.edu] if your book is not there.)

Ex Libris Andover - New Andover Reference Library Added

July 18, 2006

As we build this web site for the Class of 1959, your web committee of Alan Albright, Paul Neshamkin, and David Othmer, have been amazed by the wealth of material that exists about old PA. We have created this library to share some of the books and articles that we come across. We will scan and add to this resource over the next few years, and welcome your suggestions and contributions. Our aim is to learn more about our time at Andover, and what came before and after us.

Old issues of The Phillipian now available online

June 29, 2006

We will be adding an archives of all issues of The Phillipian from the four years we were at Andover. Starting in the Fall, the issue from "50 Years Ago This Week" will be featured (we hope you will send in your comments and memories). To start things off as a sample, here is the very first issue that greeted us as Juniors in 1955.

South African Memoir by John F. Smith III added

June 28, 2006

We have just added a very interesting and moving memoir sent in by John Smith. John was seriously injured in a horseback riding accident in a remote part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province. John states, "This memoir describes the journey we made from the village where I was injured to a small hospital in the town of Empangeni, the experiences we had there, and my eventual medical repatriation back to the United States. It is an account of the remarkable people who helped us, the insights that arose out of this shattering – but ultimately transformative – event, and the common humanity that binds our troubled species together."

Pearson Hall to be Gutted

May 18, 2006

The trustees have recently approved dramatic renovations to Pearson Hall, Andover's classics building. It will be gutted, and all the 19th century classrooms, described as among the "handsomest" on PA's own web site, will be lost. An extra floor will be squeezed into this gracefully proportioned building, and it will be turned into a student activities center.

No longer will the classics be taught in a classical setting; no longer will Andover have this last, fine example of the old school.

What are your memories of Pearson Hall? Should its interior be saved? Let us know on the PA59ers Yahoo discussion list.

Welcome to PA59ers

April 4, 2006

Fellow 59ers:

OK--it's finally happened! With a lot of encouragement from many of you, and a huge commitment from Alan Albright and Paul Neshamkin, Andover’s class of ‘59 is at last a part of the digital world. Check us out at PA59ers.com It’s in its infancy (born on April 2, 2006) but with your help and input, it’ll be great!

And this e-mail is the first of an occasional series of notes from the group of us which is working to bring our class together before, during and for many years after our 50th reunion, in June of 2009.

The group--now seven and growing--includes Paul Neshamkin and Alan Albright who are working on the website; Hank Higdon who will coordinate the In Memoriam service at the Reunion; Tom Stirling, who is working on the military portraits you've read excerpts from in the class notes; and John Doherty, Artie Rogers and myself who are doing the overall coordinating of the reunion and the next 50 years' activities. We expect the group to grow much larger soon, as you respond to the ideas below, and, more important, come up with your own.

While the reason for this burst of activity is our upcoming 50th, the real goal goes far beyond the reunion--we want to create a virtual community of 59ers, “an electronic clubhouse” as Alan put it, that you can become heavily, occasionally or rarely involved with, but one that you will be able to count on being there, as we counted on each other 50 years ago--to share a good story, find a great place to eat or play golf in Buenos Aires or Kansas City, share personal joys and sorrows, seek advice from a group of classmates so diverse and talented that none of us--until soon--has a complete grasp on how valuable our knowledge and talents are, not to mention how wise, funny and downright enjoyable we have all become.

We need your help in a number of areas.

First, in telling us what you would find most valuable in a website. We'll have names, e-mails and addresses (password-protected so that only other classmates can access that information), bios, photos, essays, lists of accomplishments, links to your existing personal and professional websites, but we want to know what else you'd like to see--perhaps lists of what you want to accomplish in the next 25 years? Perhaps a place to exchange ideas? Perhaps an easy way to know our collective skills, talents and interests?

Second, we need some specific help for the reunion. It will start on Thursday evening June 11, 2009, with a PA59 dinner, go all day Friday with programs and activities for PA59 of our design, a huge dinner on Friday night for all the reunion classes, school activities Saturday morning, more PA59 activities of our own choosing Saturday afternoon, a PA59 dinner Saturday night, and end with the PA59 Memorial Service and brunch on Sunday. We need ideas for entertainment at the dinners (Geof Martin and Jay Nelson sang an Everly Brothers tune beautifully at our 45th), and for activities all day Friday and Saturday afternoon--seminars (we have some incredibly interesting and accomplished classmates in many fields), golf, tennis, squash, exhibits of our own intellectual or artistic work, entertainment (a quick look at some of the 8 'n 1 and Sour Grapes records (does any one have a record player?) reveals Keith Barbour, Bill Bevis, Bill Cruikshank, Mitch Gail, Skip Moseley, Ed Shapiro, and Charlie Sawyer, and of course there's Perry Miller, now Jesse Colin Young, of the Youngbloods) and casual gatherings.

Third, we need one or two of you to spearhead The Book--the compendium of photos, personal essays and more that paint a picture of the 10,000 years of collective experiences that we've had. Yup, ten thousand years.

Finally, we need someone to design and administer The Questionnaire--the document that will paint a serious and funny picture of who we are, and what we still aspire to be. We did it for the 25th, this one will be even better!

We’ll communicate through the website, e-mail, phone and occasional snail mail.

The website will have general information about us, and about the reunion, links to other sites, and, most important, will be active for eons after 2009. Send us your ideas about what else it should have. Second, if there is interest, we'll set up a blog/chat room where we can all keep in touch. Third, I'll use this e-mail list, sparingly, for three main purposes: first, timely news (births, deaths, Nobel Prizes); second, updates on the process described above--reunion and beyond; and third, occasional requests for specific help.

Finally, a note on the e-mail list itself. It has been compiled from Andover data (the school through Ann Harris and Pat Gerity have been incredibly supportive), and from e-mails that many of you have sent me over the years. There are about 100 names on the list (about half the class), but I know that many of the addresses are outdated. Once I compile the valid addresses, I will post those names on the website, so that you can provide addresses for some of those who are missing. The list will be used only for information gathering and sharing among us.

This note's too long already. Thanks for joining our second coming together!

David