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Finally received a note from one of our classmates. Harry Collins reports that he is “still on this side of the ground at 95.” Sadly, his wife, Peg, died eight years ago, after 66 wonderful years together. He and a friend started an astronomy club at Sun City 20 years ago, and it continues today, with two monthly meetings and telescopic viewings at Blue Canyon in California. He stays busy with bridge and sends his best wishes to old friends.
Sad news from Kristin Kellom Damon ’84, daughter of Richard “Dick” B. Kellom, that he passed away on February 4, 2026, at the age of 95. Dick was an avid skier well into his 80s, pursuing daily runs down the slopes of Mount Sunapee. He skied as a student in Middletown in an era when more snow fell than now. He retired in 1995 after 40 years of teaching chemistry and biology at Mount Hermon, while coaching the ski team. He was an officer in the U.S. Navy serving in Europe, when he got the offer from Mount Hermon and changed course to start what would be a long and successful career as a teacher and coach.
My wife, Barbara, and daughter, Ellen ’82, and I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful performance of Camp! at the Caveat, a cabaret-comedy theater, located deep under Clinton Street in NYC. Camp! is an original musical directed by my granddaughter, Eliza Bender ’25, and co-written with Sarah Linsly ’24. The show was originally presented at Wesleyan in April 2024 and many of the original cast members appeared in the New York production, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all attendees.
On a personal note, I had a pacemaker installed several months ago and pleased to be still working full time, walking to and from the office, ballroom dancing, and working with a trainer at the gym.
Barbara and I, together with Ellen, her husband, Sam Bender ’82, and Eliza, recently visited our granddaughter Maddie (Yale ’20) in Honolulu. Maddie is an executive producer of a daily show at Hawaii Public Radio, a member station of National Public Radio. Maddie is a science writer and lives in Honolulu with her fiancé, Teddy Brokaw, who is completing a second federal court clerkship, first with a district court and now an appellate court. They met at Yale while he was in law school and she was completing a master’s degree at the Yale School of Public Health. While flying on Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu to Maui, I was pleasantly surprised, while reading the airline magazine, Hana Hou!,to see an article, “The Grim Creeper,” written by Maddie! It was about a tiny caterpillar that adapts to life by camouflaging itself in fly legs, ant heads, and other grisly detritus from the spider’s graveyard.
PLEASE WRITE!
Joseph N. Friedman | jfriedman@regalnyc.com
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