• Home
  • Members
    • Log in
    • Join Today!
    • Manage Account
    • Directory
    • Home Exchange
    • Log out
  • Next Reunion
    • Reunion 2025 – Bahamas
  • Past Reunions
    • 2024 – St Moritz
    • 2023 – Stockholm
    • 2022 – Vancouver
    • 2020 – Cape Town
    • 2018 – Crans Montana
    • 2014 – San Francisco
    • 2013 – St Moritz
    • 2012 – Thailand
      • Photos
      • Attendees
    • 2009 – Crans Montana
    • 2007 – Banff
    • 2005 – Lake Como
    • 2004 – Crans Montana
    • 2003 – Woodstock
    • 1997 – Aspen
  • News
    • 1995
      • February 1995
      • May 1995
      • September 1995
      • December 1995
    • 1996
      • December 1996
    • 1998
      • October 1998
    • 2002
      • May 2002
    • 2003
      • April 2003
      • August 2003
    • 2004
      • February 2004
      • April 2004
      • May 2004
      • June 2004
      • August 2004
      • November 2004
    • 2005
      • February 2005
      • April 2005
      • June 2005
      • September 2005
    • 2006
      • February 2006
    • 2007
      • February 2007
      • May 2007
      • October 2007
    • Weekend at Pres Fleuris
    • Misc
  • Contact Us

NEWSLETTERS

  • February 1995
  • May 1995
  • September 1995
  • December 1995
  • December 1996
  • October 1998
  • May 2002
  • April 2003
  • August 2003
  • February 2004
  • April 2004
  • May 2004
  • June 2004
  • August 2004
  • November 2004
  • February 2005
  • April 2005
  • June 2005
  • September 2005
  • February 2006
  • February 2007
  • May 2007

Upcoming Events

No current events

February 2005

Notes from the Editor
Debra Minogue Duke, 1973-74
debramduke@comcast.net
If you have news that you’d like to share with your friends via the newsletter, please email us. We would love to hear from you. Our goal is to pass on news about as many people in the Les Roches/Pres Fleuris Alumni Community as possible. To achieve this goal we depend upon your news, articles, and letters. We also welcome your editorial pieces, as long as they are respectful of those who may hold differing views. Views expressed by individual authors published in FOBwatch do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff. In light of the monumental Tsunami news and the related stories offered by our alumni, a large portion of this newsletter is dedicated to the Tsunami. Another newsletter is being planned for March with more information and details about the Como Reunion, who’s attending, who’s not, activities, travel arrangements etc. Hopefully all is well with everyone, their families and loved ones. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jean-Paul Lewis – New FOB Co-Editor Named
The FOBwatch is excited to announce that Jean-Paul Lewis has agreed to be a co-editor. We are all very lucky and honored to work with him Jean-Paul Sinclair Lewis, fondly referred to as “JP”. He not only comes from an impressive pedigree of world renowned accomplished writers and actors, but is a published writer himself. Being a history scholar, it is fitting that his first book was about an escaped slave after the civil war who went on to become an African American Soldier by the name of Buffalo Gordon. The story is continued in a second book, already in print, and a trilogy is planned. If you haven’t read them, I strongly recommend these books as fun, informative historical novels. He is also working on a book about Napoleon’s Campaign in Egypt!! What an astonishing range of knowledge these projects must require. He must have been paying attention in Mr. Sherry’s history class!

JP’s family lineage includes his grandfather, Sinclair Lewis, the first American recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (before Hemmingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner). Author of Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922) and Arrowsmith (1925) among many other novels. Also, there was his grandmother Dorothy Thompson. Ms. Thompson was a journalist, political activist, and columnist syndicated in 170 newspapers during the 1930’s. I only recently learned about her while reading Philip Roth’s bestseller novel, “The Plot Against America”, which describes Ms. Thompson and her active voice against Nazism during the Second World War. Finally his father, Michael Lewis, was a famous Shakespearean Broadway actor. JP has been a frequent contributor to FOBwatch by writing stories, editing and of course translating French text into English for all of us to enjoy. It’s a labor of love putting these newsletters together, and his skill, insight and professional opinion add a level of fun and credibility to the finished product. Bring your copies of his books to Como and JP would be happy to sign them – as he did last summer in Crans.
Check it out at: www.aalbc.com/reviews/buffalogordon.htm
Jean Paul’s email: valker.jpsl@verizon.net

Hommage A Marcel Clivaz
We, the editorial staff of the Friends of Bluche Newsletter wish to congratulate M. Clivaz on the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of L’Ecole des Roches. For all the anciens, the great memories and strong friendships we have from our sejour as students in that marvelous village of Bluche-sur-Sierre will endure for the rest of our existence. Merci, M. Clivaz. We wish you a long life!

The Tsunami
Pichet Nithivasin
Written – January 6, 2005
natheen@hotmail.com
I got up late on the 26th of December because we had a family Christmas party with my friends the night before. I went to see my mother and sister who live in a condominium about half an hour by car from my house. My mother told me there was an earthquake in the morning, but I did not feel it, as I do not live in a high-rise. A little later, I met my sister who was watching television from a local station. They were broadcasting news about the flood in the south of the country caused by an earthquake.

That same evening at home, bad news started beaming on every television station, including CNN, BBC and seemed to get worse and worse as time went by. I then realized it was not the usual jitter being reported – and spent the rest of the evening glued to the news station. I tried to call some friends in the south but it was impossible to get through. From that evening onwards, for the next seven days, all we saw, heard and talked about was related to this tragedy. People in the south, along with thousands of tourists, were collecting bodies, searching for the missing, treating the injured and helping each other. The rest of Thailand became busy donating blood, clothes, food, water, medicine and coffins. Money also started to pour forth because cash was needed to pay for the rescue operations that involved hundreds of doctors, thousands of soldiers, volunteer students, workers and ordinary citizens that were mobilized to assist at either the relief centers in Bangkok or sent to the south to work in the fields.

Since this was our first national disaster on record, our country fell short in experience and equipment to handle anything of this magnitude. Fortunately, foreign aid started to pour-in from all over the world.

To sum-up the whole situation for me personally; none of my family, relatives, friends that I knew were injured or killed. Mike Johnson, who used to come to Phuket, was not there; Henri Noach left a week earlier, and Carl Michaelson, never made it to Thailand, thank God!

Since I speak French, English and Chinese, I went to help as a translator. My children also assisted as translators and helped the Red Cross in separating and delivering items. I am in the tourist industry, fortunately we don’t have any business interest in the south any longer, early last year our company sold its only piece of land in Phanga, which was situated between Phuket and Khao Luk, the worst hit area! The hotel donated money, clothes and sent personnel to the south as volunteers.

As for the country, there were more than five thousand killed and thousands are still missing. Damage to property, hotels and infrastructure are in the billions, and this does not include long term consequences. The damage caused by this disaster is so huge that it will take a long time before life can return to normal. On the brighter side, however, I discovered that the Thai people, to overcome this tragedy became united and contributed selflessly to aid everybody, including the tourists.

We still have a lot of hard work in front of us, but the show must go on. This is the first time I ever heard the word; TSUNAMI. I had never heard of this term and did not know what it meant. From now on, however, I will never forget its meaning and do not wish to see it again anywhere in the world! This article was written January 7- the numbers of casualties and injuries have since increased.

2005 has begun … with its good and bad sides….
Ottavia Monfort Giorgi
Written – January 16, 2005
ogiomo@vtx.ch
I find that Christmas has evolved into such a commercial enterprise that it has become customary these days to travel with my four children during the holidays. This also helps me to forget that I no longer have what is considered a “traditional” family. As can be expected in life, something unexpected happened to me this year. Last summer, I met an old friend, we started a relationship and suddenly life looked brighter than before. We began to discuss Christmas plans and planning a trip with both of our families (my children & his). My children and I were looking forward with optimism to a tree full of presents and the holidays filled with happiness. Kenya was the place! I started making plans almost to the last detail, when, suddenly to my surprise our relationship ended. Once again I found myself alone, disappointed and sad.

With the children’s school holidays quickly approaching I couldn’t take the time to deal with my broken heart but had to come up with a contingency plan. Being the last minute, the prospects weren’t looking too good – everything was booked. Fortunately, at the last minute, December 19th, I heard from some dear old friends, who invited us down to their shining new bed & breakfast in Thailand. This was their “heaven” on earth on the shores of Phuket Island, and we were going to help them celebrate its inauguration on New Year’s Day. I can still hear my friend’s comforting voice saying “be brave and strong. I know a love that ends is very painful. But you have four wonderful children. We didn’t have the opportunity to be parents, but we’ve had the chance to give birth to this house. You will see, it’s a paradise, right on the edge of the water under dozens of palm trees; you will love it here and you will forget your unhappy love.” Things were looking really positive; I was able to book us on a flight for December 24th.

I called my Aunt Zia Stella in Rome (who many of you met in Bluche at the reunion) and told her that I was very sorry but my plans had changed and wasn’t going to spend Christmas Eve with her as usual – we’d be off to Thailand instead. Of course she was surprised and mystified by the sudden change in plans. She had already begun to prepare the meals. I tried to defend myself and recounted my sad story and that I wanted to get as far away as possible. Although sad and hurt, Aunt Zia Stella’s eighty-four years of wisdom helped her accept my selfish, painful decisions.

No sooner than I hung up the telephone I started examining my actions. The more I did the less comfortable I was. This didn’t seem right. Taking myself to a distant land to escape unhappiness was not going to solve my problem. All it would do is cause unhappiness to the one person in the world who means so much to me and my children and I couldn’t go through with it. With great difficulty, I rebooked us back onto flights to Kenya allowing us time to spend Christmas with Aunt Zia Stella and two weeks enjoying the beauties of Africa. Now I was back on track and everything began to make sense. Aunt Zia Stella was delighted. We were going to take her for Christmas Eve dinner in Rome and spend Christmas with her!

As I began to pack on the 26th to leave Rome, the news came on about the terrible tragedy in Thailand. As it turns out my dear friends were among the 260,000 people that will not wake up on Monday mornings or any mornings for that matter. There’s nothing left to complain about in life – it’s over. My two friends have disappeared, as well their bright new house. They were still sleeping when the Tsunami washed everything away. I take comfort in the thought that at least they went together, in their “paradise”, hopefully holding each other in their arms. The beach where they died doesn’t even exist any longer and the authorities say that a new map of the area will have to be drawn as soon as possible.

As I sit in the warmth of my comfortable home in Ibiza at my desk in front of the fireplace, with my children playing around me, I reflect on what might have happened had I gone through with my previous plan. At the same moment I flash back to the movie we viewed on the flight to Kenya – “Love Actually”, a wonderful masterpiece. Just the medicine I needed to cheer me up.

I wanted to share this story with you, my dear new and old friends, to help you remember as it’s helped me, not to focus on the bad side of life but consider the good things in your life. This is just my reminder that we are really lucky people. We are definitely privileged people – being part of the Bluche Family. Wishing you all the best for 2005!

An Ex-Pat’s SE Asian Experience Thirty-Something Years Ago and Reflections On Recent News
Robert Sturgis, Toronto, Ontario
Written – January 4, 2005
supernoodlemom@hotmail.com
Let me share with you some geographic and socio-economic impressions that Susan (Seipel Sturgis) and I captured while spending over six years in Sumatra (1976-1987 while on two separate three year work assignments). Most of you probably can’t imagine and I have difficulty conveying the vivid images of helicoptering through the aromatic smoke from a thousand tiny cooking fires of the rice farmers as the dawn breaks. Usual cruising altitude was 2-6 thousand feet, the air is cool, the thunderheads are mostly out at sea, the dawn reflects off of thousands of the tiny rice paddies, the women are cooking, the men are working with the caribou to plough the gumbo in the paddies, while in the towns, the army officers and the Indonesian national oil company staff are getting in their early hours 3 km jog. You can’t miss their white t-shirts, and the glow of their post jog kritek clove cigarettes.

We usually had a good view from the air during the 6:00 am chopper commutes Medan to Lhok Sukon or Lhok Seumawe. Dawn is near 7:00 am as Indonesia straddles the equator. So near the equator, dawn and dusk are very short, compared to Europe/NA, where it’s more drawn out. Indonesia is an archipelago, or series of volcanic islands that sweep over 3,000 miles from northwest (Aceh) down the straights of Molacca to Java, the Sunda Sea, Balil, and on to Irian Jaya (Borneo). The western and southern coast of the big islands of Java and Sumatra are generally very steep, with isolated coves giving limited access to the sea, but with little developed road infrastructure. The eastern and northern coasts are a very flat coastal plain covered with rice paddies. You might recall that the straight between Java and Sumatra was widened by a few miles at the end of the 1890’s when the volcano Krakatoa erupted — I think the geophysicists estimate that more than a cubic mile of material was ejected, then the sea flooded the remains.

History in some sense is geography. One of the reasons the west and south coasts of the islands are so steep is that the 100 inches of rain per year, earthquakes, landslides, monsoons, typhoons and tsunamis scour the unstable landscape. What’s left is rapidly re-inhabited by folks who have limited choices – although the archipelago is 4,000 miles wide, the flat land is on the order of 5%, with a population near 200 million. Population densities of this magnitude are difficult to comprehend as well the fatalistic attitude of “God’s Will” that makes social living possible in such dense conditions.
While there, we experienced a number of earthquakes, some as large as Richter 5 or so, one of which broke the underground portion of one of our natural gas wells. It took our company with a little consulting from the late Red Adair about 6 months to drill a relief well that intersected the rupture, a mile down, and flood it with thousands of gallons per minute of water and cement to plug it up.

Volcanoes, earthquakes, and extraordinary sea and tidal events are common there — surprising as it may seem to CNN employees who pose as “journalists” relaying naïve and ill-informed information.

I had two sorts of simultaneous jobs while I enjoyed my work in Sumatra. The first was to engineer and construct the multi-billion $ facilities to produce natural gas, process it to very cold liquid methane, or LNG, and ship it out to Asian buyers, in partnership with the host country national oil company, called PERTAMINA. The second job was to convey technology and our company’s work methods to the PERTAMINA staff assigned to us (aka Technology Transfer or Outsourcing). Needless to say, the economic gains from the huge project were concentrated at the high levels of the nation, and did not filter down to the needs. We often thought that 95% of the country’s GDP flowed thru the bank accounts of the top 2,000 families, while everyone else made $1/day. At least the country was self sufficient in food – thanks in part to the likes of the missionary who married us. The Reverend was in Sumatra to raise a Christian flock (Sumatra was then about 2/3 Muslim and 1/3 Christian), and also participated in Rockefeller Foundation Grants to import cubes of new born chickens, to distribute to the rice farmers and teach them how to pen them up to keep them healthy, and fatten them up for egg production. It was a long task for him. The results of additional protein were easily observed in the increased height of their children. This is similar to the Japanese experience with their first post-war generation kids who were 2-6 inches taller than their parents.

I heard today that the relief flights were delayed when a 737 hit a caribou on a runway. It’s lucky the plane was able to be moved. While we were running the quarry on the Piritu River, we trucked millions of cubic meters of gravel to build the well sites, 24 hours per day. The locals soon realized they could tether their water buffaloes in the road, so when the big Kenworth trucks ran into them after dark, they could claim compensation – if the truck driver survived. The water buffalo usually didn’t total the tractor-tandem belly dump trailer combo, unless the driver was moving over 60 clicks. I wouldn’t suggest that claims for compensation was the case in Banda Aceh this time, but I am fairly confident that airport security would not routinely exclude herded caribou from the excellent grazing along the runways — besides, caribou are cheaper than gas engines and lawn mowers, employ more herders, and the local pilots usually know enough not to hit them.

Back in 1976 it was an odd/reminiscent situation, for those of us who’d served in Vietnam. We’d jumped into Vietnam era choppers with pilots out of the movies, (Belgians with Gauloise hanging, gaunt American Sky Cowboys, French and Dutch expats), drove past people washing, cooking, making ablutions in the same ditch alongside the road, traveled over some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, 10,000 shades of green and other pastels, built a modern technological masterpiece that enriched the local national oil company by the millions per day, and yet the local economy was barely better than when the Dutch colonized them in the 1600’s. We built roads, schools, modern housing communities with hospitals, ports for the many thousand of people who worked in the plants; most of them were Indonesians after the plants started up. We were not able to develop cross island roads, as the national oil company had a monopoly on asphalt production necessary for macadam surfaces, and was unwilling to share the material. Nor were we developing a middle class, as the incumbent shopkeepers were usually Chinese, and the Muslims periodically had purges, from boycotts to business fire bombings to running “amok”. “Amok” I think originated in the over crowded Indonesian central islands. Insh’allah.
As you can imagine, while birth rates were high, so was infant mortality due to the unsanitary conditions, tropical diseases and pollution in the towns and cities. One of the reasons we have a split family – while the older two kids survived our second assignment, we deferred the second half until we returned to the USA.

Back to resources – I have a biased view that the Indonesians certainly had the opportunity to save enough money in the 26 years they have been producing LNG in Sumatra to provide roads, tsunami warning systems and sanitary conditions for their people. That they plainly failed to care for their own is attributed to the unbounded avarice of their rulers. The army has the equipment, but they are mostly from Java, and have a Hindu/Islamic view that only their families are worthy of investments. I would think it only fair that the Suharto Family interests should donate 10 cents for each dollar of overseas aid that is given – or it should be extracted from them, as they extracted their nation’s wealth over the last 30 years. If only I were king…

I have heard the teeth gnashing from CNN that someone is to blame for the tragedy, with the usual prejudice that it is due to a criminal act of some corporation or other, and that the USA has to make it right. I would suggest that simplicity is not accuracy. For instance, the suggestion that better early warning systems could have saved countless lives, if only the previous USA administrations hadn’t been so…..etc…..etc.

Have you any idea how difficult evacuation of large numbers of people can become? The closest parallel I have is planning quarterly plant evacuations of 20,000 people used on my last big construction project in Qatar- we had a fleet of buses that could move 6,000 people. Using the same schedule and muster points as we used for the daily meal commutes to and from the camp to the plant, rehearsed every week, it still took us an hour.

Those in the isolated village Ashre, had no chance. When the tide rushes out to expose the reefs, the knowledgeable run the other way – not as the tourists who rush out to loot the coral. Do you think the people in Manhattan or Hong Kong would put up with evacuation training every month, when they firmly believe the volcano/quake/tsunami would “never get them”? Appropriate appreciation of risk and contingency planning for low frequency/high impact events would appear to be rare. Did you ever think why the palisades on the west bank of the Hudson are so steep? Hint – it wasn’t the last glacier that cut them that way, and left all the other hills rounded over. New York’s last big one was before the Dutch arrived. The next one is probably over due.

Anyway, we’ll be making donations to the relief organizations in due course, I just wish they had lower overheads and higher deliverability compared to the value actually delivered to those most in need. If most of the present USA charities had to survive on the low overheads of businesses, they would have gone bankrupt long ago–but thankfully they still survive to do some good.

Reunion 2005 – Unforgettable!
If you’re just tuning in – newsflash – back by popular demand, THERE IS GOING TO BE A LES ROCHES REUNION THIS SUMMER IN LAKE COMO. Yes, Italia!
Last summer in Crans, Massimo Ciceri graciously offered to host this event. Although he has enjoyed past reunions, in the Bahamas and Suisse, he would like to show fellow Les Roches alumni friends’ real Italian hospitality! He has been formulating his plan ever since. All has been going smoothly in his planning, until he got somewhat sidetracked in December. His wife, Federica, delivered their fourth child two months early! As they were driving from Rome to Como, to their surprise, Federica went into labor in Bologna (half-way home) and delivered Martina. All is well, little Martina is home safely and growing rapidly. We are all expecting that she will be part of the welcome committee upon arrival in July, and the newest member of Les Roches’ “Next Generation”.

Of course, for a four year Les Roches veteran this was merely a small bump in the road. The foundation for the reunion is still well on its way. Here is what we have so far:
• Location: Small, quaint hotel in the town of Como, Italy (Sorry no website)
• Dates: Friday, July 1 – Tuesday, July 5
• Hotel Cost: 101 Euros – Single/Breakfast
149 Euros – Double/Breakfast
• How Do You Get There: Option 1: Arrival in Milan’s Malpensa Airport. A simple 50 Km between Como and Milan. A one hour train ride or drive. Option 2: Arrival in Geneva. Drive or train through the Simplon Pass (Sierre-Brig-Domodossola-Arona-Milan)
• Activities: Of course promenades both “a peid” and “a bateau” to the surrounding towns and in the mountains. Maybe some early morning jogging, dining, picnicking, wine tasting, and of course “soirees”!
• What will you need? A good attitude, a fun loving spirit, a bathing suit, a change of clothes, walking shoes, dancing shoes, any family member who wants to attend, old photos, old stories that we’ve all heard before, an Italian/English or Italian/French dictionary, a camera, an extra dose of your daily vitamins, Advil, Tylenol, – whatever it takes! Just be there.

Where in the World is Lake Como?
Set within Lombardy, 31 miles north of Milan, Lake Como, of all the Italian lakes, is considered the most beautiful, most famous and has the most variety. Pretty villages, tiny ports, villas in shady exotic gardens succeed one another along the bands of the Pre-Alpine lake. Its transparent blue waters are surrounded by steep mountain walls, increasing in height to 8,500 feet as you head north. Elegant holiday resorts dot its narrow shores, along with terraced subtropical gardens and isolated villas. These incursions by man however are dwarfed when viewed against the natural beauty of the setting. Shaped like an inverted “Y”, Lake Como is 31 miles long and 2.5 miles wide a one point. Trains depart Milan’s Centrale station several times daily. There is so much to say and so much written about the area and its splendor it’s best to get more information from the following websites:
www.comolake.com
www.larioonline.it
www.lakeofcomo.it
www.lakecomo.it

A Good Reason To Attend Reunions
Jean-Paul Lewis
Valker.jpsl@verizon
Recently, my wife and I had the pleasure to entertain Roman Sturgis, (Susan Seipel’s son), and his lovely girlfriend Amanda, at our home in Washington, D.C. They reinforced one of the many positive attributes in attending Les Roches’ reunions – it’s the opportunity to meet and get to know the next generation of the anciens. They offer a window into our own past because they are just like the way we were back then and give us hope that our off-spring will do great things in the future.

For myself, the children of my friends from Les Roches and Pres Fleuris that I have met over the years reassure me that our society is not doomed. So many times I have met members of the younger generation that I feel don’t know much nor care about the unbelievable problems that face humanity. This does not hold true, however, when I converse with the teenagers of my friends who were in Switzerland. Although our children are far more advanced in education, especially in applying technology to societal advancement, they share many of the passions, concerns and quest for perfection that we strove for over the past decades. They want to make a difference as we did. As a parent, I know how critical this attitude is, because life is so short.

It has also been a joy to watch our children form bonds among themselves so when after we are all gone, they will continue our struggle and lean on each other for emotional and professional support as we have done.

Reunion Tally
Sharon Taylor Baumann is busy compiling a tally of whose planning on attending the reunion. If you haven’t heard from Sharon, please send her an email and let her know your plans. “Yes”, “no” or “maybe”. Sharon’s email address is: baumapj@wam.co.za

Get the Recently Released DVD of LR/PF Yearbooks from 1968 to 1973!
Ross Povenmire:
ross@povenmire.com
Technology – gotta love it.  For the low, low cost of (what did we say? $25?) you can order your own copy of the Yearbook DVD that contains both jpeg and pdf files of all six yearbooks from 1968 to 1973.  The quality of the digital imaging is excellent.  You can summon up any page or an entire document, zoom in on a single photo, and send it in an email.  The possibilities are endless, and so is the serenity you will feel knowing you have a safe way of sharing those precious memories with friends and family (is this over the top, or what! I should sell knives on late night TV!).  Just mail your request to Ross Povenmire at 77 Blaisdell Street, Haverhill, MA  01832.  Please include your address and a check paid to Friends of Bluche.  I will arrange to have the copies made and will send the DVDs along.  Expect to receive your DVD within several weeks.

If any of you are interested in large volume scanning services, I can highly recommend Baystate Scanning, the firm that created the PF/LR Yearbook DVD.  You can find them on the web at www.baystatescanning.com.

“The Ruptured Bridge” Takes on a Life of Its Own

Mike Polhemus, 1968-69
polhemus@itexas.net
I was disappointed to see a political article in the FOB Newsletter. I hope this sort of thing doesn’t happen. We come from all over and hold wide-ranging views. The opening of this political door can only invite rancor and, therefore, should be closed immediately and forever.

Ross Povenmire
ross@povenmire.com
For what it’s worth, I thought JP’s article was terrific and thoughtful. I don’t see that it is a problem at all to have such articles in the newsletter. Maybe we should ask the question of our readership, but I welcome the extra energy and attention such an article brings to the newsletter. There are only so many articles about how great it is to get together before that topic seems pretty stale.

Debra Minogue Duke
debramduke@comcast.net
There is a small part of me that makes me happy that we got at least one response from the newsletter!  It certainly is a silent audience. Thanks Mike for sharing your thoughts!

Sue Ellen Lewis
swell.two@verizon.net
You are absolutely right that at least someone is reading the newsletter! Pulling the article, in my humble opinion, would be a mistake and I have no love for the politics of the Kennedy era or Pierre Salinger. I really believe that all opinions should be heard and invite Mike to write something to contribute to the next newsletter! My political beliefs are to the right of my husband’s, but his opinions are just that–opinions! There is no public policy being set. This just a newsletter, albeit a GREAT one!

Pradeep Kapedia
kapadiaenergy@sbcglobal.net
My 2 cents – JP is as much a European as he is a US citizen (as was his subject). I think that as an international school based on Europe, FOB owes it to all our readers to print European points of view. As it is, we as an alumni association are heavily tilted to the US side, regardless of whether we’re blue or red. I would encourage Mike to write an article, not rebutting JP, but expressing his US point of view.

Swagat Bam
swagatbam@hotmail.com
I think a certain degree of dissent and riposte will make the newsletter interesting. Otherwise it may turn out to be too conformist, too wholesome and too “cute” (LR/PF alumni in any case are mostly drawn from the same socio-economic bracket and despite the different countries we live in, we are all very similar).

Marti Boone Mattia
martimattia@comcast.net
Regarding the newsletter, the editors and contributors are doing an incredible job, and I stand in awe. I think it is so much more than an information sheet on old schoolmates. Really, in its own small way it is a tool to benefit international relations, with a ripple effect that continues long after the issue is released. United Nations on a micro scale without the taint of individual national interests and oil for food scandal!

Susan Seipel Sturgis
supernoodlemom@hotmail.com
Hey, I emailed JP after rereading his article. I agree with him. I do believe there is a lot of truth in it. It is unfortunate that someone was offended. I do wish, as an American, I could go around holding my head up high as always, without someone shooting down Americans. Trevor gets disparaging comments sent his way in school here in Canada.

Birthday Greetings:
February 19th – Happy Birthday to Nicolette de Bona
Nicolette.debona@fao.org
We will all be thinking of you on your very special day. It was great meeting you in Crans last summer. I was glad to finally meet the “Goddess Legend” that all the guys had been talking about for years – thirty to be exact. We will have to celebrate your birthday with some fine Italian beverage in Como! Much love from Debra, Sharon, Jean-Paul and all your other Les Roches Amis!

Celebrating Their 50th Birthdays in February
Susan Povenmire & Denis Briere – Happy Birthday!

Heard on the Internet:
Aristidis Nicoloudis & the FOB DVD Project
arra@otenet.gr
The Olympics was a unique experience that also happily went very well! I was also involved in the Paralympics which in itself was a very special experience as well. Yes, I agree, its time for the FOB DVD to start percolating and taking form. Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to receive Dieter’s tape the first time he sent it I didn’t get it and now we are working on another trial. More photos, sure. The more one has the better it is. It was great seeing everyone after such a long time, will definitely see you all next time. (FYI – Nick is a film producer & was responsible for filming Olympic events mostly in the Olympic Stadium).
Send to:
Aristidis Nicoloudis
19 Irodou Atticou str.
Marousi 151 24
Athens Greece

More visitors to New Delhi:
Heard on the slopes of Vail last week that Lizette Ottenstien was on a journalism assignment in India and had dinner with Swagat. If Les Roches alumni continue to “drop-in” on Swagat in New Delhi, he’ll have to open up a Hostel. No wonder Swagat is saying he “might not” make it to the next reunion; I guess he’s had enough!

Congratulations to Marti Boone Mattia
……..for receiving a positive review in Publisher’s Weekly on her first published book! It’s a search for the essence of America through in-depth explorations of individual lives …rural and urban, gay and straight, black, white and Hispanic, men and women, atheist and evangelical. Marti traveled the country to interview and photograph ordinary citizens with one thing in common — they are all named George Bush. The book is called: “Conversations with George Bush: Beyond Polls and Partisanship, Real Life in the USA” Listen for interviews with Marti on National Public Radio, and look for the book in your bookstore, on Amazon.com, or on her website, www.conversationswithgeorgebush.com.
Bring it to Como and she promises to sign your copy!

Annette Muringer
annettefor@telus.net
Writes two years later …….
Sorry for the delay in writing, and I know I said I would send you some stories and memories from Bluche. I promise I will get around to it eventually. I just wanted to send you a quick note to say Happy New Year and tell you all is well, however I am very busy right now having staff problems and training a new employee. Everything else is well here in Campbell River (on Vancouver Island, British Columbia) and as soon as things get straightened out at work I will sit down and write some of my memories down and send them to you. Take care for now and as always I think of Bluche often but am extremely bad at keeping in touch!

PF Alumni in Vail, Colorado
What a great time, skiing with Katy Jackson Cantor, Marti Boone Mattia and Lisa Simpson in Vail last weekend. It was like old times at Les Violettes. Apres ski and dinner was just as much fun. Maybe next year more people will join in.

Paul Wirth writes ……..
I
‘m still alive. I’m really sorry not having answered earlier. I always wanted to do it, but………….
I really was terribly busy as well in my job as in private life.
I’ll try to write an article for the next newsletter!
Friendly greeting and big hugs from snowy Suisse.

More photos ……..
We have a newly found, enthusiastic alumni, Patrice Godefroy de Paris. His collection of photos, complete with names, memorializes Les Roches activities and students from 1965–1967. Check it out in our new gallery called “Les Roches De 1965 à 1967”. Merci, Patrice.

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Membership
  • Directory
  • Events
Membership website powered by MembershipWorks