Received May 27, 2010

Husband – John Binder
Step-sons – Josh and John Henry (John’s two sons). Four Granddaughters.

Brother – Charles (Wisconsin High, 1964) lives In Shorewood with his wife Mary.  His son Alex lives with us in Los Angeles

I’m still working and have a company, Windfall Management, which represents writers, filmmakers, books, and journalists to the film and television business.  I’ve been doing this for 19 years following many years of film production work.  Both John and I spend time reading newspapers and political websites.  We are active in our community, a long canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains, which has quality of life issues such as over-development and city vs. wildlife. 

We are “stay-at-home” people, traveling some but not world-wide, although Mom and I went to Norway in 1999.  I tried to find our AFS student Elsa Michelet during the trip, but failed. We ski in the winter at June Lake, CA and still find our way to Aspen on occasion.  We hike with our dogs, garden, swim, and have friends up to the house for pool parties and bar-b-cues.  I discovered years ago that I love to cook and sew, housewifely duties that surprised me, so those are my hobbies.  I also take photographs.  I used to do a lot of actors’ headshots, but now concentrate on nature and travel, which is not as opinionated.

My memories of Wisconsin High: I liked the small classes and the attention they afforded.  My strongest classroom memory was of Ms. Arveson who began to teach a Russian History course and she showed us Eisenstein movies.  When I started working in the movie business I was amazed that we had seen some of these great films as high school students and it underlined how special our school was.  We had the space to be individualistic. You could explore the unfolding world without being labeled a “geek” or whatever judgment labels so many kids get.  I remember Barbara Lemon who we all know had the driest wit in the class. I loved hanging out with her because of the jokes she would come up with spontaneously. She was really quick and her delivery was droll.  My one big restaurant memory was going to Lombardino’s after a sophomore dance.  I’d never had pizza before (now there’s a sign of the times – what young kid today hasn’t had pizza by the time she’s 2 or 3??) and when it came I took a big slice, bit into it and burned my mouth so badly on the cheese that I could barely speak.  Another memory was going on the basketball team bus to a game in Monroe when the weather was so bad, Coach Metzen knew nobody would travel there.  I was the only cheerleader there and we got to the school early for the team warm up, so I went to visit my grandmother who lived in the town.  It was so cold out, she gave me  glass of sherry.  When I left her house to walk back to the school, I realized I was half-drunk. I never cheered so loud in my life.

I was in Chicago for a wedding about some years ago and saw Ann Haberman Armstrong.  John and I went out to Oak Park and visited their lovely home.  Ann and Gene are now our annual guests when they come to California to see their son Matt.  I was in Florida visiting my parents who were renting a condo down there and we drove over to Jupiter to visit Carolyn and George.  We left their wonderful canal-side home on their boat and traveled along the Intercoastal Waterway.

My brother, Charles, and his wife Mary still live in Shorewood Hills so I visit them each year.  They come here to see us and their son, Alex, a budding film producer, who currently lives with us in Los Angeles.

Wisconsin High School
55^th Reunion – July 24 – 25, 2015

BIO:        Jeanne Field
Received:  July 2, 2015

Husband – John Binder
Step-sons – Josh and John Henry (John’s two sons). Four Granddaughters.

Brother – Charles (Wisconsin High, 1964) lives In Shorewood with his wife Mary.  His son Alex lives in Los Angeles.

I’m still working and have a company, Windfall Management, which represents writers, filmmakers, books, and journalists to the film and television business.  I’ve been doing this for 25 years following many years of film production work.  Some of the films I worked on are “Woodstock”, “The Last Waltz”, films and videos with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and many independent films.  Currently, John and I made three short films which can be seen on a Direct TV channel.

John and I are active in our community, a long canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains, which has quality of life issues such as over-development and city vs. wildlife.  We hike with our dog, garden, swim, and have friends up to the house for pool parties and bar-b-cues.  I discovered years ago that I love to cook and sew, housewifely duties that surprised me, so those are my hobbies.  I also take photographs concentrating on nature, people and travel.

I’m continually thankful that I grew up in Madison.  It gave me a strong beginning which prepared me for all the changes we have seen in our lifetime, those that I’ve willing participated in, some which can still shock me and others that I begrudgingly accept.

Wisconsin High School
60th Reunion – September 17, 2020

BIO:       Jeanne Field
Received:  August 28, 2020

I’m happy to say that not much has changed since we posted life details five years ago.  I’m still healthy and love to garden, hike, swim, and boogie board in the ocean.  My company Windfall Management has some film deals developing from books or scripts I represent.  One movie with Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker got made then landed in bankruptcy court when the distributor folded.  Hopefully, that will be settled soon and all will be able to see “City of Lies”.   I’ve worked with my husband John Binder to publish two books, “Who Needs Heaven”, a collection of non-fiction stories, and “My Serious Thoughts and Ignorant Bliss”, a collection of philosophical sayings, both available on Amazon.  We stay busy keeping up with the political and social change news, watching good films or limited series, reading good books and staying active in our community.  One of our granddaughters chose to become a Badger and she loves the UW, Madison and is working in the Capitol for a state legislator.  I look forward to next year when we hopefully will all be able to meet again.

Wisconsin High School

65th Reunion  –  October 2, 2025

Bio – July 16, 2025

Here we are in our 80s and that in itself is amazing. Maybe we don’t have to do anything anymore – just exist. But, life requires us to keep ourselves in optimum working order, keep our home in good condition, keep the garden flourishing, keep the dog healthy, and most importantly keep our outlook positive. So far, so good.

Surprisingly, I still have a finger in the entertainment business and we’ll see. As I mentioned five years ago, a film was destined to be released, “City of Lies”, and it is available on Amazon Prime. I represent more books that are under option to viable producers and they seem to be optimistic about the chances films will be made in the near future. I’ve continued to publish books through F-Stop Books and they include plays written and produced by friends, a searing autobiography, and, just recently, “An Inward Journey”, a book of Rumi poems newly translated by an Iranian man who lives in Los Angeles. Here’s a link to my publishing website: https://windfall1.wixsite.com/f-stop-books

My husband, John, just stepped down from his work as head of our homeowners’ association which he did for 15 years, making important relationships with the Fire and Police departments and other City officials. In January, our neighborhood was threatened by the horrific fire that burned much of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu. Over 5,000 homes burned there as the fire department was overwhelmed by the windblown fire storms. They drew the line on our 5 mile long street, Mandeville Canyon Road. There were 3700 firefighters, hundreds of fire engines in driveways, 13 water-dropping helicopters and 2 DC10s which dropped Phos-Chek on our mountainsides. We, of course, had been evacuated days before so could only watch the fire burn all of the westside of the canyon on TV. One house was lost but we owe our luck to the people who worked for 48 hours saving our homes. Needless to say, this has affected our real estate values and eliminated many of the people who like living in the Los Angeles mountains. But, John and I still love our home and don’t plan to move.  He continues to write poetry every day and he, too, keeps our lifestyle simple and fun.

Our sons, Josh and John Henry and their families are thriving. Josh is a Battalion Chief for the L.A. County fire dept. which was traumatic for him in January as he was posted in Topanga/Malibu and could only watch as everything burned. They were able to save many houses though once the winds settled down. His kids are out of college, one working, the other about to take the Law exam for California. John Henry is an executive at a large liquor distribution company and he owns his own brewery. His girls are doing well in school, one at UCSB the other President of her High School class for the second year in a row.

I’m looking forward to my trip to Madison in September for our 65th reunion!  It’s a great reminder of the important years we all spent together at WHS which gave me and I hope others, a strong foundation for the years that followed.