Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2019 March/April

Class Notes, 2019 March/April

March/April 2019

Classmate Joe Marraccino here. This time around let’s take a moment to remember and celebrate a classmate whose life was taken way too soon. Laura Williams, daughter of John ’65 and Andrea Shulman Williams ’65, passed away suddenly, doing what she loved to do.

Laura moved to Russia shortly after graduation in 1993 and started the first World Wildlife Federation office in Moscow. Later married, she and her husband, Igor Shpilenok, and two boys, Andrei and Makar, made a life together in Bryansk, Russia, near where Igor had established a nature reserve. For many years, the couple worked tirelessly together on environmental issues. Laura always had a love of horses, and several years ago she turned her passion into a mission. With her “Herd of Joy” of eight horses, Laura held horse-inspired work- shops and retreats in her hometown and locations all over the world. Her selfless goal: to help people connect to their creativity and intuition to live the lives they were meant to live. One workshop participant beamed, “Laura and her herd have a special magic. You come to meet the horses, but you leave having met yourself.” Another said gratefully, “Since we left you, we are always mindful of one another, like horses in a herd.”

A family friend reached out about her tragic death. “She was working with one of her horses at their farm when the horse spooked, threw Laura, and stepped on her chest. Igor was there and took her to the local hospital, where she died five hours later. At her request, she was buried in Chukhrai, the tiny village where they live.” Laura loved to write about her life in the countryside. Her most popular piece chronicled the adventures of her “super dog” dachshund, Chado, who rode horses bareback and loved to explore the world around him, often missing for months at a time and sometimes found miles and miles away. Laura boasted, “On legs only slightly longer than wine corks, Chado can keep up with—and even outrun— any horse. In fact, while my horse works up a foamy sweat at a fast gallop, tiny Chado is running circles around us and dashing out ahead.”

A young admirer of Chado hung a picture of the pooch in her room with this quote beneath it: “A man sets himself to the task of making a plan of the universe. After many years, he fills a whole space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and people. On the threshold of death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines has traced the likeness of his own face.” Thank you, Laura. Rest in peace.

Have news to share? Send in your info via the online news form or contact any one of us directly. Joe Marraccino, Joe.Marraccino@wfafinet.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com; J. Tim Vanini, lavanooche@icloud.com; Lori Woodring, lori.woodring@yahoo.com.