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John Markham Ferguson III (Mark), Class of 1965 age 74, passed away at home in Williamsburg, VA on December 17, 2021 following a long illness. He was born in Seoul, Korea while his father, the late Colonel John M. Ferguson, was stationed there. As an Army brat, Mark moved often, and remembered his stays in Albuquerque, NM and Paris with special affection. After graduating from Paris American High School, Mark attended Bucknell University and also served in the army during the Vietnam War. He later moved to Williamsburg, where his parents retired, and worked as a computer operator at the College of William and Mary, where his met his future wife Jane, who was a student there. Mark spent most of his work life at Colonial Williamsburg, where he started in Research and then moved to Information Technology. Following his retirement in 2008, he joined the crew at the new Trader Joe's store in Williamsburg, where he worked for 6 years and had many delightful times interacting with customers and coworkers. Mark participated in organizations dear to his heart with full commitment. He honored his Scottish heritage as a drum major and bass drummer for Strath James Pipes and Drums, and later as a bass drummer with Greater Richmond Pipes and Drums. His love of the mountains and nature was evident in his activities with the Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club, where he served on the board and organized work trips for trail maintenance. In recent years, he completed certification in Wilderness Medicine through the National Outdoor Leadership School as well as Citizens Emergency Response Training in James City County. Mark was a charter member of Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists. Mark is survived by his wife of 44 years, Jane Ferguson of Williamsburg, his two sons, Adam Ferguson of Williamsburg, and Ian Ferguson and wife Liz Kovacevic of Washington, D.C., his mother, Nancy Ruef Ferguson of Williamsburg, his sister, Lesley Ball and husband Chuck Ball of Wilmington, NC, and nephew Charlie Ball of Wilmington, NC. A celebration of life service will be held at a future date. Donations in Mark's memory may be made to the Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club at P.O. Box 8246, Norfolk VA 23503 or https://tidewateratc.com/Donations. These would be much appreciated, in order to help preserve the natural beauty of Virginia that so inspired him.
Published by Virginia Gazette on Dec. 22, 2021
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Forrest 'Glenn" Rhodes, class of 1956, passed away on Oct. 15, 2021, at the age of 83.
His obituary is here: https://www.codyenterprise.com/news/obituaries/article_dc76cfa6-31d5-11ec-b9b7-2b9be9ba0944.html
I've posted about visiting him in 2001 here: http://lettersfromalife.blogspot.com/2021/11/ring-of-bone.html
Mary Ritter Bast (class of 1956)
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Fellow PAHS Alums,
During its Saturday, April 24 Zoom meeting, your Reunion Committee reluctantly decided against holding a reunion in France this year.
The reasons for our decision centered on the continued problems France has in vaccinating enough of its population in sufficient time for a safe and enjoyable reunion. These are underscored by the State Department’s ongoing advisory against France travel and the decisions by major tour companies that have cancelled nearly all 2021 tours to continental Europe. The age group of our tour participants is at special risk and we did not feel we should expose our group under current and foreseeable conditions.
Your Committee is considering whether to roll our plans ahead one more year, to 2022. If we “kick the can down the road,” our initial thought is to replicate the same reunion configuration if possible: three nights in Paris followed by 5 nights in Avignon, with the same activities. We don’t yet know the precise costs for any of this just yet.
Also in our sights is scheduling our next stateside reunion. We don’t want to ignore those alums for whom a France reunion isn’t an option and realize that we should do something here before too much longer. We received great feedback from those of you who attended the 2018 Portland reunion and will “go to school” on what you said then about a future stateside reunion.
We will post more information on the PAHS web site (https://www.parisamericanhighschool.com/) during the coming months as we reassess the situation.
For the Committee,
Mike KANZE ‘65
Committee Members:
Bart BARTLETT ‘57
Dave BURLIN ‘65
Mike KANZE ‘65
Chris KELLEY Lowell ‘66
Bev TYLER '66
Barbara WALKER Bartlett ’69
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