Tag Archives: Williston Northampton School

Carol A. Steinheimer ’75

With great sorrow, the family and friends of Carol Ann Steinheimer announce her peaceful passing on April 24, 2023 at her home in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 65.
She was born on December 5, 1957 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to David and Dorothy Steinheimer. Growing up in Dhahran and later Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia Carol lived life to the fullest and developed close ties with many friends. In 1975, she graduated from high school at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Mass. She kept many close relationships from Williston as well. Carol went on to receive her bachelors and MBA degrees from the University of Arizona in Tucson.
While advancing her successful career in software management, Carol moved to Denver for her dream job with EDS and lastly to Charlotte with Time Warner and Spectrum. In both places she enjoyed many of her friends from Saudi as well as making new ones. Carol always developed close ties with people and will be sorely missed by many.
Carol had enormous love for her mischievous huskies. Those huskies kept her busy on adventurous hikes in the mountains and chasing them down after their many escape antics.
Traveling was something that Carol enjoyed. She loved France and Italy particularly.
Ultimately, Carol found love in Denver when she met her boyfriend, Greg Bell. They eventually moved to Charlotte, NC and enjoyed the adventure of living in a new state. They decided to adopt a sweet greyhound, named Lucy resulting in no more running after huskies!
Carol is loved and remembered by her sister Jane, her brother Richard and her partner of 29 years, Greg.
Funeral service will not occur by request of the deceased.

Leon J. Pernice Jr. ’77

Leon J. Pernice Jr. passed away at his home in Fort Pierce, Florida on February 28, 2023 with his loving family at his side. Lee grew up in West Springfield Massachusetts and graduated High School from Williston Northampton School in Easthampton MA., where he played Football and Hockey. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida, studied at the University of Miami and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the Boston Architectural Center in Boston, MA. He was a licensed Architect in Massachusetts and Florida and worked for more than 40 years at the family-owned Architectural firm, Leon Pernice and Associates, Inc. At the time of his passing he was Vice-President of the firm. Lee was an avid golfer in his younger days. He competed at a high level in many local tournaments, charity events and qualified for the Massachusetts State Amateur Championship. He also loved mountain biking and spent many hours riding through numerous Western Massachusetts trails and Florida parks. Anyone who knew Lee knew his passion was being on his boat and on the water. Fishing was his favorite pastime which took him on adventures all the way up and down the East coast from Rockport, Maine to Islamorada, Florida Keys. He spent his final years living in Fort Pierce, Florida and fished offshore the Fort Pierce Treasure coast, the place he loved most. If he wasn’t offshore trolling blue water for Mahi, you could find him cruising the Intercoastal Waterways and the Fort Pierce Inlet, chasing down Snook, Grouper and Mangrove Snapper for a fresh fish dinner. He was always saying he needed warmer waters and his boat, the “SushiD’Lux” took him there. Lee was also a certified deep-water scuba diver. If he wasn’t fishing, he would spend his time diving and snorkeling reefs, mangrove flats and boat wrecks in and around Fort Pierce and the Florida Keys. Alligator Reef – “The Light House” off Islamorada Key was his favorite dive. Lee had an old saying – “Never leave fish to find fish” but he did it anyway. That’s just the kind of guy he was. He couldn’t stay in one spot for any length of time. There was always better fish to find and more live bait to catch – just over there by the shipping buoy or over the next reef. Lee leaves to cherish his memory his loving father, Leon J. Pernice, Sr., his brother and best friend, David, his sister, Lisa Pernice-Gomes (and husband, David), his sister, Nina Cunningham (and husband, Robert) of Bradenton, Florida, “Uncle Lee’s” nieces and nephews-Andrea, his godson-Greg, Mark, Allie, John, Anna and Sharlotte, several aunts and uncles, cousins and friends too numerous to count. He was pre-deceased by his beloved mother, Yolande Pernice. Lee lived his life on his terms and his sudden illness took him from us way too soon. He was a generous soul who loved God, his family and his friends and was always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need. He will be greatly missed. Calling hours for Leon will be held Thursday, March 23, 2023 from 4-7 pm at Toomey-O’Brien Funeral Home, 1043 Westfield Street, West Springfield, and a funeral Mass will be held on Friday, March 24, 2023, 10:00am at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 47 Pine Street, West Springfield. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at stjude.org or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600.

Catherine McGraw, Former Faculty


A memorial service will be held on Monday, April 24th at 11:00 a.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst (14 Boltwood Avenue). All are welcome to attend a reception at the Inn on Boltwood immediately following.

Catherine Brooke McGraw, adored mother, educator, and mentor to countless students, died of cancer in Amherst, Massachusetts on March 2, 2023. She was 55 years old.

Until last year, Catherine was the Director of College Counseling at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where she had worked since 2015. Before that, she had worked at Mount Holyoke College from 2008, where she held positions including Associate Dean of Admissions. She was the Associate Dean of Students at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia from 1999-2004, and the coordinator of Student Development at Carnegie Mellon from 1996-1999. She spent two years at the Mayan School, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There, she taught 300 students in ten sections when she was just 23 years old.

Catherine had a passion for education and heartily committed herself to school communities. She valued working with international students and finding them a way forward that they might not have been able to imagine. She helped students understand they were not stuck, but could always make changes, adjust, and recalibrate. She saw working at a boarding school as a lifestyle choice, not merely a job.

Catherine enjoyed creating traditions and participating in established ones. She loved her garden and making her surroundings beautiful. Maryland remained home, even as she lived elsewhere. She loved spending time at Bethany Beach, and outdoor activities such as walking her dogs and hiking. (She drew the line at camping.) Catherine’s open manner and grace drew people to her. She liked to have fun and brought everyone around her along.

Above all, Catherine’s greatest love was her three children, who were the joy and light of her life. As she said, “The most important career of all my careers is being a mom.”

Catherine is survived by her children Jack ’19, George ’21, and Catie Spence ’24; her parents John and Barbara McGraw; and her brother Adam (Eliza) McGraw as well as a devoted extended family and many loving friends.

A celebration of life will be held in Amherst at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations in Catherine’s name can be made to the Catherine Brooke McGraw Scholarship Fund at the Williston Northampton School.

William L. Van Alen III ’78

William L. Van Alen III passed away Sunday, January 29, 2023. Will was born to Sydney Purviance Van Alen and William L. Van Alen, Jr. on October 22, 1959. He graduated from Montgomery Country Day School and the Williston Northampton School. Will was an excellent athlete; the captain and high scorer of his lacrosse team at Williston. During the summers of his college years at the University of Vermont, Will taught windsurfing at 3rd Beach in Middletown RI. He came in second place in the Worlds and was featured as the centerfold of Windsurfing Magazine. Early in his life Will’s sheer joy of doing things directly involved with nature and the great outdoors was well established. Lured by the compelling beauty of the lakes, Will moved to Minnesota in the early 1990s and never left. There he found a new extreme sport, namely Sky Skiing. Will loved it and through endless practice, attained a high degree of proficiency. Loving the mountains as well as the oceans and lakes, Will enjoyed going out with friends four-wheeling. He often came home covered in mud with a big smile on his face. In the winter months, Will loved snowmobiling and skiing. Going fast and facing somewhat risky challenges definitely appealed to Will. During those years, Will married, later divorced, and started and ran a successful roofing and siding business. He also loved spending time with his family in Northeast Harbor, ME. He is survived by his mother Sydney Blynn Toland, three siblings, Alexandra Van Alen Frazier, Dina Gibson, and Luke Van Alen, seven nieces and nephews, and two great nieces and one great nephew. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Wounded Warrior Project or Tee it up for the Troops. Services will be held at St. David’s Church on May 6th, 2023 at 11:00 A.M.

Benjamin L. Liang ’05

Benjamin Lambert Liang, 36, of Salt Lake City, UT, beloved husband, son and brother, died unexpectedly on February 4th, 2023 due to complications from a skiing accident.

Benjamin, called Ben by everyone he ever met, was born at NYU Hospital in Manhattan to Paula and Jim Liang on May 23, 1986, and made his entire family laugh from that day until the day he died. Ben was an only child for three years until the birth of his younger sister Katherine (Kate), whom he strongly disapproved of at the time due to her lack of eyebrows, and Margaret (Maggie) two years later, whom he largely ignored at the time, since she was a baby and he was more into sharks and raccoons.

As a teenager, Ben developed an unquenchable love for the outdoors and adventure sports, which eventually brought him to Middlebury College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 2009. While at school, Ben met the woman of his dreams, Melina Ward, and, though there is some debate as to when they actually had their first date, the couple began dating in their sophomore year. Ben and Melina married in October 2015 at the groom’s family home in Londonderry, VT.

After college, Ben worked briefly in investment banking and then moved to advertising technology, for which he was featured on the cover of AdWeek magazine in 2013. He went on to found his own company, Cliques Ads, and served most recently as Group Product Manager at Klaviyo, a marketing automation platform based in Boston, where he and Melina lived from 2013 until relocating to Salt Lake City in April 2022.

Ben was intelligent, persistent and fearless, showing little self-doubt, even when perhaps he should have. Throughout his life these qualities would result in one broken femur, many apologies to then-Vice President Al Gore after slapping him (as a toddler), a grandmother with a broken arm, a flying squirrel thrown out his bedroom window, countless instances of road rash, an overflowing dishwasher full of dish soap, a misunderstanding at Chilean border control, and 15 tires acquired for one car. He was endlessly curious, had obsessive amounts of focus, and always gravitated towards any hobby or sport that would inevitably become quite expensive: fencing, skiing, cycling, fly fishing, etc. Ben had the biggest booming laugh you’ve ever heard, and we’ll miss hearing it dearly.

Ben is survived by his wife of seven years, Melina Ward, his parents Paula and Jim Liang (of Jacksonville, FL and Londonderry, VT), younger sisters Kate Liang and Maggie Liang Marbley, and brother-in-law Aaron Marbley (all of NYC), Finley, his very loyal mini Australian shepherd, and Charlie, a generally grumpy bird who really only loved Ben and blueberries.

A memorial service will be held on February 18th at 1:00 pm at First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138. Interment will take place in the Spring in a family ceremony in Manchester, VT.

Those who would like to honor Ben with a memorial contribution are requested to do so through either Community Servings at 179 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (617-522-7777) or the MSPCA-Angell, attn: Donations, 350 South Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02130 (617-541-5046).

Michela Woodbridge-LaMar ’96

The world has lost a shining light with the sudden passing of Michela Elizabeth Woodbridge-LaMar on Friday, January 13 , 2023 at the age of 44. Michela was born in January of 1978 in Bennington, Vermont to Dudley and MaryEllen Woodbridge.

Michela began her successful journey in academic and athletic achievement at Pine Cobble School. A natural athlete with a charismatic-yet-humble leadership style, Michela was elected team captain of the Williston Northampton School’s varsity ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey teams. Michela continued her academic and athletic achievements at Emory University playing varsity lacrosse and graduating with honors. Wanting to make a difference, she proceeded to get her Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA. Her fast-burning career culminated at Molina Healthcare as the Associate Vice President for Strategy and Transformation.

Michela’s bright, friendly eyes, sharp wit, and infectious, heartfelt laugh could quickly melt the hardest of hearts. You couldn’t be around her without smiling. She met her husband Blake in 2011, and they shared the greatest of life’s gifts: a marriage bound by mutual admiration, adoration, and deep loving respect. They shared a passion for skiing and snowboarding, including heliskiing in British Columbia, yet always called Mammoth Mountain their happy place. A testament to her effortless leadership and thoughtfulness, at Mammoth Michela could lead a group of six people whose skills ranged from beginner to expert across the mountain to runs that matched each of their abilities, yet also had natural rendezvous points, so it seemed the group was always “together.”

The birth of Blake and Michela’s daughter, Ava, in July 2015, was a culmination of their joy. Michela was a loving and devoted mom who poured herself into helping Ava grow into a kind and resourceful person. Michela approached motherhood like all her other endeavors – with a gentle, fun spirit and steady gaze. She committed herself endlessly to sharing with Ava the wonders of the world. And, just like leading groups at Mammoth, Michela used her natural gifts to gently guide and help all family members navigate through the figurative ski runs of their lives, always coming together at the end of each day to rendezvous and share their experiences in the warmth of her presence.

Michela is survived by her husband, Blake LaMar, her daughter Ava, her mother, MaryEllen, her father, Dudley, her stepson Jackson LaMar, her stepdaughter, Tahna Sheek, Tahna’s husband Kyle, their children, Peyton and Parker, her father-in-law Blake LaMar, Sr., her sisters-in-law, Michelle and Yvette LaMar and the entire Woodbridge clan in Vermont.
Michela’s Celebration of Life will be at 2 PM on January 28, 2023 at Green Hills Memorial Park, 27501 S. Western Ave, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Viewing: From 1 to 5 PM on Friday, January 27th, 2023; Semi-private Celebration of Life: 2 to 3 PM on Saturday, January 28th, 2023, at the Historic Chapel; Committal: 3:30 to 4:30 PM, on Saturday, January 28th, 2023, at the graveside. An Afterparty will be held at the LaMar residence at 5 PM. All are welcome. Please wear blue, Michela’s favorite color, instead of black.

Charles E. Jabri ’83

Charles Enver Jabri, of Springfield, Massachusetts, passed away on December 15, 2022 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. Son of the late Marwan Jabri and Mary Lee (Sands) Jabri ’55, Charles was born April 10, 1965 on Staten Island, New York. Growing up in Longmeadow and East Longmeadow, he graduated, in 1983 from the Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, and attended the University of Massachusetts and the University of Minnesota. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Western New England College, Springfield. Charles was active in the alumni associations of WNEC and Williston Northampton School and gave of his time to the Boys and Girls Club and Shriners Hospital for Children, both in Springfield, and the Holyoke Soldiers Home. He was also a long-time supporter of the Springfield Library and Museums Association. He leaves a cousin, Walter Pinto, and his wife Pamela, of Cobalt Connecticut; cousins of the Jabri family in Aleppo, Syria, the Elchelebi family in Melbourne, Australia, and Cafazzo family in Maine and Connecticut; and dear friends the Joseph Dennis family of Enfield, Connecticut. Gracious thanks to the staff at Capuano Home Care, East Longmeadow, for their caring services the past many years and for the attentive and compassionate care of the Nurses and Doctors at Cooley Dickinson. A private burial will be held at the Founders Cemetery of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. There are no calling hours. Byron Keenan Funeral Home of Springfield is attending to arrangements. Memorial donations may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Springfield, 481 Carew St, Springfield, Ma 01104 or Shriners Hospital for Children, 561 Carew St, Springfield, MA 01104.

Austen Eadie-Friedmann ’02

Austen Eadie-Friedmann, beloved husband, brother, son, and friend, died at his home in Thompson, Connecticut on December 1, 2022 after a hard-fought three-year battle with ALS. He was 39. Autumn was his favorite season, and he was happily able to experience one last colorful changing of the leaves in the home that he loved so much before his passing.

Born in New York, Austen spent his formative years in New Jersey, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, where he attended the Williston Northampton School. In 2006, he received a degree in history from Tufts University and worked for law firm Proskauer Rose before receiving a Master’s in Human Resource Management from Rutgers (2012). Most of his subsequent career was in human resources for the pharmaceutical industry, at Bristol Myers Squibb in New Jersey and London and Alexion in Boston, with a brief foray into luxury fashion at Chanel in New York.

It was at Tufts where he met and fell in love with his partner of 17 years, William (Billy) DeGregorio, 36, a fashion historian. The two formed a civil union in 2012, and married in 2017.

His peripatetic childhood laid the groundwork for a passion for travel and history that he would nurture for the rest of his life. As a teenager, he did charity work in Honduras and studied abroad in Spain (where he picked up a stomach flu and a lifelong antipathy for manchego). He saw all but two of the United States and 12 countries, including the UK, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Turkey, Egypt. Some of his happiest moments were vacations spent with Billy on Cape Cod.

Diagnosed with ALS two days before his 36th birthday, Austen’s ability to travel and ardent professional ambition came to a sudden end, as the disease quickly robbed him of mobility. The disease cheated him out of the long career he had envisioned, but he chose to transition to patient experience at Alexion, bringing the clarity and compassion defined his professional demeanor to patient and caregiver advocacy. Towards the end of his life, when daily remote work became impossible, he volunteered his expertise to nonprofits organizations like I Am ALS and EverythingALS, where he served as an industry consultant.

Austen was a man of contrasts: decorous but irreverent; haughty and formal, but with a dark and often dirty sense of humor that delighted his friends. Human resources executives are not often the most popular members of an organization, but Austen’s mixture of clarity, calm, and compassion made him so. He was often the go-to man for the dreaded task of firing, not because he enjoyed it, but because he communicated with kindness and honesty. Afterwards, those on the other side of the desk would often thank him. He deeply regretted that at precisely the moment where he was entering his stride professionally, he was obliged to shut down his hopes of a more illustrious career.

It was his prosaic determination in the face of ALS that disarmed those accustomed to a more Pollyannaish attitude towards terminal illness. He often said that he did not consider his life a tragedy, though his loved ones may have felt differently. While he knew that ALS was a cruel and unfair fate, his mantra was “It is what it is,” a characteristically matter-of-fact perspective that helped him navigate the emotional rollercoaster of the disease. He even asked that one of his favorite songs, drag queen Alaska’s “It Is What It Is,” be played at his memorial service to remind those in attendance that his life was neither a catastrophe nor a triumph; it simply was what it was: full of love, laughter, and a heaping dose of cynicism.

One of Austen’s most fervent personal dreams was to own a house. In 2020, after a long search, he and Billy purchased the historic Alpheus Russell house (built ca. 1795) in remote Thompson. In the following two and a half years, they enlarged their collection of art and antiques, of which Austen thoroughly enjoyed directing the arrangement, even as he lost bodily function. His eye for the placement of pictures and objects was always spot on, and it gave him enormous pleasure to create a home for Billy and the couple’s beloved cat, Lily, whom the two had adopted in 2008.

Never a religious man, Austen instead worshipped the pantheon of great divas of the twentieth century. He appreciated the melodrama of Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Diana Ross, and the sheer raunchiness of Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and drag queens like Alaska and Willam. (He and Billy never missed a season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.) Late in life he developed an abiding passion for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, much to his husband’s delight. He particularly enjoyed the latter’s “Someday” and “Prisoner,” while a video of Houston performing “How Will I Know” live in 1986 became a sort of mood enhancing drug, watched periodically in order to make him smile.

His love of strong female characters extended to films and television as well. Kirsten Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith in Gosford Park (his favorite film); Rosalind Russell and Coral Browne in Auntie Mame; Bette Davis in All About Eve, Anjelica Huston in The Witches: these performances were near and dear to him always. He loved quoting lines from Russell in particular: “Does this make me look like a Scarsdale midge?” “The problem of labor in India is gargantuan,” and “Agnes, I wonder…”

Austen loved the finer things in life, particularly fine dining and wine. While the pandemic put a sudden halt to the former, he could enjoy wine until quite recently. When he was no longer able to eat or drink, much of his will to live quietly dissipated.

Austen is survived by his husband Billy; father Craig Friedmann ’71 of Reston, VA, mother Alexandra Eadie-Friedmann of Waterford, CT; sister Anna Friedmann of New York; and kittens Mariah and Whitney. Lily predeceased him in May of 2022. A private memorial is planned for the spring. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the organizations Austen championed most: Compassionate Care ALS, Death with Dignity, and the Nature Conservancy.

It is what it is, but it will never be the same.

John J. Swierzewski ’92

John Joseph Swierzewski, D.P.M., died suddenly at the age of 49 in Beaufort, South Carolina. Born at Providence Hospital in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to Maureen and Stanley Swierzewski, M.D., John graduated from the Williston Northampton School, in Easthampton, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine, in Philadelphia. John specialized in podiatry and podiatric surgery in Holyoke, Massachusetts, at Comprehensive Foot Care Inc. and was affiliated with Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Noble Hospital, and Holyoke Medical Center. John invented an alkaloid-based foot- and skin-care treatment called All Natural pHeet Wipes to treat his life-long eczema condition, and was the founder and chief executive of pHeet Wipes seller PH Select. He was an avid golfer. John is predeceased by his mother, Maureen, and is survived by his four sons, Cian, Davin, Tagh, and Luke, his father, Stanley, his brothers Stanley ’76, Mark ’78, Paul, James and David, his sister Ann Corcoran, and numerous nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11:00am on Monday, September 26, 2022, at Blessed Sacrament Church, 1945 Northampton Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts, with a private service to follow.

Christopher S. Maller Jr. ’04


Christopher S. Maller Jr. (“Chris”) passed away unexpectedly while traveling, September 1, 2022, at the age of 37. Chris was born on Mount Desert Island, at MDI Hospital.
Chris graduated from schools that could not satisfy his restless curiosity and wanderlust, and worked 9-to-5s that suited him even less. What his resume lacked in gravitas, his passport made up for. It was an unapologetic testament to a life lived well and fully, without fear or hesitation.
While most of us say “someday” when it comes to traveling to an exotic location or ticking an item off our bucket list, Chris never let a day pass unfulfilled. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona. He drove ATVs in the desert in Morocco. He danced in the streets of Mexico City in celebration of Dia de los Muertos. He biked Mount Hood. He free-climbed the Flatiron in Boulder. He paraglided over the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
Chris’ favorite pose in travel photos was facing the camera, big grin on his face, his arms thrown wide open. Reveling in the chaos. And inviting everyone to join him.
That is Chris’ legacy: buy the ticket. take the ride. embrace the chaos. In that spirit, please submit your own photos posed like Chris to chrispics207@gmail.com, which will be compiled and shared at a later date.
Chris is survived by his beloved bull terrier Nova (a/k/a Super Nova); father Dr. Christopher S. Maller, Sr. and his partner, Sandra S. Henderson; his mother, Isabelle Birdsall Schweitzer and her husband Dr. Peter Schweitzer; his big sister Meredith M. Maller, her husband Sam Cocks, and their son–Chris’ nephew–Charlie Curran Cocks; Chris’ little sister Emily Schweitzer and her partner Blake Hagberg; his aunt Marie Birdsall Chaffee and husband Tom Chaffee; his uncle Paul Gorky and aunt Donna Gorky; and cousins Tyler Gorky and Kendyl Gorky. Chris was predeceased by his cousin Brett Gorky and grandparents Natalie and Gregg Birdsall.
Chris was the consummate wanderer, but his true north was Mount Desert Island, where his ashes will be scattered in the waters so dear to him:
“We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We’re all carried along
By the river of dreams.”
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to the Mile High Bull Terrier Club or Maine Coast Heritage Trust.