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| JUL./AUG. 2005 VOLUME 108 NUMBER 1 | Class Notes |
30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39
31 | First, a few notes from classmates who responded on last fall's 2004-05 Class News Form. Jane Marshall Baird (Mrs. John C., 13801 York Rd., #Q-7, Cockeysville, MD 21030) reported "nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren," and that she is "happy at Broadmead, a long-term care place outside of Baltimore."Her favorite memory of Cornell will puzzle some of you present-day snowbirds who flee to Florida every winter--or have moved there permanently: "Walking on a very snowy day up the hill from my sorority (Alpha Phi) to campus." (N.B., written before the winter of 2004-05.)
Faithful correspondent Myrtle "Toots" Uetz Felton (Mrs.William M., 1024 Cushmore Rd., Southampton, PA 18966-4113) brings us up to last August with, "I've been enjoying family and friends, participating in church related activities, doing word puzzles, playing the ukulele, praying, reading, and talking on the phone. The other half of my time is spent in sleeping." On the negative side, Toots reports that her own most pressing problems were "osteoporosis and hearing" (welcome to the club!), that the world's most pressing problem is "ironing out the wrinkles of hatred and greed." (Isn't that a nice figure?) Her solution to the latter is typical of our always upbeat classmate: "LOVE."As to memories, she says, "My everlasting happy memories of Cornell include friendships, outstanding professors, fraternity dances and proms, concerts in Bailey Hall, the Glee Club, playing tennis before class, and hearing the chimes ringing out over a beautiful snow-covered campus." (Recruiters, please copy.)
Another faithful correspondent, Tom Kelley (Thomas D., 11770 Yeomalt Point Dr., Bainbridge Island,WA 98110) sent me a kind, personal note and added, "Things are going about the same on Bainbridge Island,"which I take to mean that, as previously reported, he is still getting around with a little help from his walker, and enjoying his magnificent view of Seattle across Puget Sound. I also find a sad note, not previously reported, from Joan Murrray, daughter of Alice MacNaught Murray Mauer, that her mother passed away June 2, 2004 at age 93.
Among the legacies who entered Cornell in the fall of 2003 that were listed in the July/Aug 2004 issue of this magazine, I was able to find only one '31der ancestor. Timothy Russell '07 is the great-grandson of our James A. Schulz, who died in 1995.
Unless you are a really avid reader of Cornell Alumni Magazine, you may have missed the Class of 2000 column in the Jan/Feb issue, and the nice "thank-you note" for our contribution to their first quinquennial reunion (announced in this column in the Mar/Apr issue--which suggests about how much your correspondent has slowed down: only two months! Andrea Chan '00, co-class correspondent, wrote:
"On behalf of the Class of '00 Class Council I would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to the Class of '31, their president Bill Vanneman, and the rest of the Class of '31 officers. Their class donated an extremely generous sum to our reunion and we would like to tell them how grateful and touched we are by their kindness. Thank you!"
Your president also received a very gracious note from Betsy Kelder '00, class president, and an exciting invitation from AndreaWasserman-Marbach '00 and Melissa Bersofsky '00, reunion co-chairs, to represent the Class of '31 at the Class of 2000's first reunion! (Remember our first reunion? Under the old Dix Plan, three years after our graduation, I think it was. Do you survivors think I can represent you properly now? Fortunately, I note that the younger generations now seem to favor fine wines over the hard stuff. I wonder what they would think of the Prohibition bootleg "rot-gut" and "home-brew" we had to imbibe in our day!) As I was planning to go back anyway to join my son Bill '65 at his 40th Reunion, I accepted--with every intention of representing you respectably.-- Bill Vanneman, 237 No.Main St., #250, So. Yarmouth,MA 02664-2088; tel., (508) 760-4250; e-mail, ggrampi@gis.net.
35 | When you read this column, our 70th Reunion will have passed into the historical records of the university. The next issue of Cornell Alumni Magazine will be filled with Reunion Reports of 1935 and other classes.
Frederick Miller of 242 Old Comers Rd., Chatham, MA 02633 reports,"No more Florida for the winter, but this winter has been a real old-fashioned one--snow, snow, snow. Can't wait to get back on the golf course. I still walk, but only five holes usually." Keep it up, Fred. Ward Luther (6404 21st Ave.W., Apt. H503, Bradenton, FL 34209) sent me a card that describes the celebration of his 90th birthday last July. He is shown in a red jersey on which is imprinted, "The older I get, the better I was." The party was given by his children and attended by 22 family members and an equal number of friends from his Freedom Village retirement home. The highlight of the affair was the delivery of the cake, with 90 blazing candles, by two uniformed members of the Bradenton Firefighters--a granddaughter and her husband. You look great in the picture,Ward.
Col. Bill Barden of 7304 Venice St., Falls Church,VA 22043 was planning to attend the 70th Reunion with daughter Bette and Bill Jr., MBA '75.Wilfred Kelly (13 Boothwoods, Vergennes, VT 05491) phoned me recently to tell me of his hope to attend reunion and to row with the Alumni Crew.He was back in 2004 for a rowing reunion. Best of luck to you,Will. Ruth Harder Dugan of 3680 Hampton Brook Dr.,Hamburg, NY 14075 was planning to be at the 70th. Ruth may be able to help us with the group singing. She is fortunate to have family in Ithaca. Reeve W.Dean (221 Hillcrest Rd., East Aurora, NY 14052) also planned to attend.He retired 19 years ago from the Niagara Machine and Tool Works in Buffalo and from teaching.He plays golf at the East Aurora Country Club, where he is an honorary member as well as a past president.
I wish you all a pleasant summer and fall. Do not forget to send any News you may develop.-- Albert G. Preston Jr., 252 Overlook Dr., Greenwich, CT 06830; tel., (203) 869-8397; e-mail, davada35@aol.com.
36 | Your news continues to flow in, which is much appreciated. To start with, George Tooker has finally sent us some news about himself, and it's nice to hear from him.He says that he is now 92 and "beginning to slow down. I have had 26 years of retirement, during which I lost my wife of 62 years." For the past three years he has been in an assisted living home and was having some problems that a new pacemaker solved, so he is "now back in the running."He has moved to another similar home in Mansfield, MA, and hopes to continue with bridge, pool, and other activities, but isn't sure about golf.
Now this from Charlie Keller: "I celebrated my 90th birthday [it seems a lot of us are doing that about now] Oct. 4 with a crowd of more than 60 friends and relatives. On Saturday, Dec. 4, a reception celebrating the opening of an exhibition of my paintings, prints, and drawings took place at the Susan Teller Gallery in New York City. It featured selections of works I made during a stay on a co-op farm near Newburgh-on-Hudson, NY, during the '50s with my wife Judith and our children Martha, Dan, and Katy '79. During the '60s we lived in Rome, Italy, and returned to NYC in 1973. I still have my studio on the Lower East Side and am living at the Lott Senior Residence, 1261 Fifth Ave., NYC 10029-3684."You may remember that Charlie was asst. art editor of the Widow, so he showed his artistic abilities early on, and it's great to hear that he has continued to use them so successfully.
Carl Widger (P.O. Box 174,Munnsville, NY 13409), unlike most of us, has lived in the same place ever since 1936, and taught vocational agriculture there until July 1970. Quite a record! And this from Raymond Blumer (12818 Wedgewood Way, Apt B, Bayonet Point, FL 34667), who last August flew with wife Ellen to Syracuse for a family reunion at Weedsport, NY. They arrived back in Florida the night before the first of the four hurricanes hit, and for months were "busy trying to catch up with just about everything." Dave Amsler, ME '37 (8400 Vamo Rd.,Apt. 740, Sarasota, FL 34231) tells us that Dode and he continue to enjoy Sarasota, where they have recently moved to Bay Village High Rise, a "first-class retirement home." Enoch Bluestone (5773 Island Reach Lane, Boynton Beach, FL 33437) was honored on his 90th birthday by his wife Hilda and their family with a surprise rendition of "This is Your Life." Friends and relatives came from New York, New Jersey,Michigan, and New Zealand.
I had a very nice letter from Bill Bebbington, PhD '40 (Brandon Wilde, Apt. 2307, 4275 Owens Rd., Evans, GA 30809), who attended our 60th Reunion and is "rather surprised to find that I am at least tentatively planning to go to our 70th, and the reason is simply ‘why not?' "He also offered to help in drumming up the interest of others in attending. I don't know how those things work, Bill, but I sent your offer on to Dorothy Greey Van Bortel,MS '41 (2207 Theall Rd., Rye, NY 10580), our class president, and you may hear from her. Anyway, we hope we'll see you there. And speaking of Dorothy, she sends us the following news. "I am 90 years old now. I have traveled the world, but not anymore. I do see my life-long friends from time to time. Unfortunately, family members live in other states so we don't see each other, but we write often. I live in a beautiful retirement community, where the landscape is filled with lovely flowers of every kind and the grass is always well groomed. We have a movie theater, computer room, pool, restaurant, and so much more--you don't ever have to leave, and I love it. I miss Cornell very much--those were the years!"Yes, indeed.
Finally, Fred Illston (7852 Skylake Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76179) says that he is sad to report that his wife Dorothy passed away last December, so he has been selling off real estate to prepare to retire for the third time--to which his kids say hooray. He now has 11 grandchildren and five and a half great-grandchildren and would welcome a call or a visit from old friends.-- Bill Hoyt, 8090 Oakmont Dr., Santa Rosa, CA 95409, subilhoyt@SBCglobal.net.
37 | Marion Bean Parnell keeps occupied by knitting and playing bridge and computer games. Her grandchildren are all busy; several are in graduate schools and earning their master's degree, law degree, or PhD. Last year,Marion traveled to Hawaii and Boston and cruised to Cozumel and Cancun with her daughters and their husbands. Elsie Koehler Fowler plays bridge and loves swimming. She spent the month of August 2004 at a ranch in Colorado. Elsie retired from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Welfare.
Jeanne Bredbenner Hull of Tucson, AZ, spent last summer in Ithaca with her family. She is retired from her positions as teacher, executive assistant, and aptitude test administrator. She has been a docent at the art museum for the past 30 years and a member of the Cornell Club of South Arizona. She enjoys seeing old friends when she visits Ithaca and eventually hopes to return to Ithaca permanently.
Elnor Sisson Furnival lives with a blind woman who is six years younger than she. Elnor writes that her own eyes are failing and doesn't know what the future will bring. They are going to try "Meals on Wheels." Mary Keane Brady is living a full retirement life on Cape Cod and is busy with family and friends. She is still in her own home close to Nantucket Sound.Mary enjoys meetings of the Cape Cod Cornell Alumni Club and hopes to be at the 2007 reunion. --Selma Block Green, 15 Weaver St., Scarsdale, NY 10583; tel., (914) 472-0535.
38 | Carol Young Whitehill (Fort Pierce, FL) starts us off: "Dick '39 has just passed his 90th birthday and I'll soon be 88. It's been an exciting 65 years and we are so grateful to have reached that long a marriage.We survived the hurricanes--a blessing--and the insurance took good care of the damage we did have. Our children are all well and busy.We have five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.What more could we ask?"After Cornell, Richard Williamson (Placerville, CA) earned a master's degree from Northwestern and then a doctorate from Indiana U. "We have three boys and a girl. Our oldest, Richard Jr., has a doctorate from Harvard Law School and teaches law at the U. of Florida.My wife is of Scottish background and flew solo to Scotland. Unfortunately, we haven't run into any Cornellians recently. I am a Rotarian, play piano, and am an officer in the county church."
Class treasurer PhilipWolff (Saranac Lake, NY, and San Diego, CA) sent good news and a good story: "Elsie (Hughes) '39 and I have wintered in San Diego for 16 years, enjoying beautiful weather, excellent golf, and many new friends. In 2004, we took a trip to Norway. Flying to Bergen and then boarding the Coastal Steamer, we traveled well above the Arctic Circle to Tromsö. Here we were greeted by our foreign exchange student of some 45 years ago. It was a magnificent sight to be greeted by Solvey and her husband, two daughters, and grandchildren.We have kept in touch with each other throughout the years. This was a family reunion in the Land of the Midnight Sun. A highlight of the trip was a picnic looking over a fjord at 12 midnight and taking pictures without a flash, it was so bright. Returning to the States, we had an enjoyable summer in our home on Lake Kiwassa. I managed some golf and a lot of work at the Olympic Museum at Lake Placid.As founder, it was ‘my baby'--full of many memories and loads of fun. In October, Elsie and I celebrated our 64th wedding anniversary before returning to San Diego and loads of new friends."
From Olof Dahlstrand (Carmel, CA): "I'm still painting and drawing. For the month of November 2004, I had an exhibit of watercolors and pencil drawings of the old narrow-gauge steam railroads in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico at the Carmel Art Association Galleries, the second oldest artist's co-op gallery in the US. In August 2004, Lucia and I went by train (the civilized way to travel) back to Wisconsin for a Dahlstrand family reunion. Health remains good, and we still camp for a week or so every summer in remote areas of the southwest deserts (sleeping bags on the ground, etc.)."
Edward Lanman III has retired from his position as manufacturing representative for Eyeball Marine Consultants and is now living with his wife Rosemarie at Elmwood Assisted Living, 1545 Fangboner Rd., Fremont, OH 43420. He continues to enjoy a life full of activities, dining out, and visits with family and friends. Edward welcomes cards and letters from past friends and colleagues. Horatio "Dick" Dickerson (Huntington, NY) is also retired. He has three sons, including William C. '66, an engineer, plus four grandsons and two granddaughters. His sons Thom and Richard graduated from Kent State U. in Ohio. "My hobby is my ham radio. I belong to the ‘Old Timers Club.' I talk to them on Thursdays, and ever since college to my friend and fellow Cornellian Dave Bechtold--we ‘talk' twice a week."
EileenMandl Goodwin (Laguna Woods, CA) does not seem to be slowing down: "Last year was a very busy year! I traveled to Italy and one of the Greek islands with my glass-blower daughter in March. Then to Connecticut in July for the wedding of my older grandson. Thanksgiving was in New Mexico, followed by the younger grandson's graduation from U. of Texas in December. In between all these junkets, I played chamber music with our quartet. Retirement?"-- Class of '38, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850.
39 | I can tell it's April in Ithaca because we have lots of daffodils, the sun is bright and hot, and the campus had its first student protest, this time about Cornell's plans to build a new parking lot on land below the new dorms.What is there about April that causes all this youthful energy, I wonder?
When you read this, a whole year will have passed since our 65th Reunion. It hardly seems possible that time can pass so quickly, I still have some news from 2004 that I would like to pass on, so here goes. Eleanor Culver Young wrote, "Thirty years retired, not a moment of regret. I can watch others tend my one acre of Vermont landscape. Fed a bear recently; waiting now for deer to come." Eleanor enjoys to the fullest the wildlife around her and writes beautifully about it.
Jean Linklater Payne and husband Douglas are enjoying their senior living community, Longview, in Ithaca. I saw them recently and they look great. Longview (so named because of the view all the way up Cayuga Lake) is an interesting place because it has a close association with Ithaca College's students and also Headstart, so it is truly intergenerational. And its residents can participate in many college activities, such as concerts and theater, and utilize recreational facilities. A number of former Cornellians live there, including Gertrude Pasto Bollinger and Claire Kelly Gilbert '37.
Priscilla Bucholz Frisbee, one of our most faithful correspondents, is still writing about our wonderful reunion. "I only hope more will be able to make it for the 70th." She's still living in the big house that has been in the family for 180 years and is facing the daunting task of overseeing and deciding the fate of "the accumulation of stuff "! She has kept a journal for the last 40 years and has published, for her family, her autobiography from birth to her marriage in 1941.Now she's about to tackle the second part: until her children left home. Has anyone else done that? My children keep asking me to write an autobiography, but so far I can't hear in that ear!
Mary Strong Irish was impressed with our Reunion Weekend, which she enjoyed with daughter Margaret, her "designated driver."Mary is busy traveling to see family in Tuscaloosa, AL, Reston, VA, Pennsylvania, and Texas. It's wonderful that she's able to get around like that. I ooze envy! Ethel Piness Abrams has moved to a retirement community and can be reached at Arbor Glen #428-C, 100 Monroe St., Bridgewater, NJ 08807. She hopes to hear from all her good friends.
Edna Schmidt Aakre was kind enough to let me know that Charlotte Lehr Solberg passed away in December.We send our deepest sympathy to her family. Be well, be happy, and if you're like me, practice standing tall. -- Ruth Gold Goodman, 103 White Park Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850; tel., (607) 257-6357; e-mail, BG11@cornell.edu.
Here's a request from a granddaughter of one of our classmates: William P. "Bill" Flanigan, who died in April 2003, was in the Engineering college and was president of Phi Beta Gamma fraternity.He also played lightweight (or sprint) football. Sharon White, Bill's granddaughter, is accumulating stories about his life at Cornell. If any of our readers have any to contribute, Sharon is asking that they be sent to her at her e-mail address: irisheyes80@yahoo.com. DonaldW. Hammond died Jan. 28, 2005 at a nursing home in Potomac,MD, after a short illness.According to his obituary, he was born in Marathon, NY, and worked as a county agricultural agent for 29 years.He specialized in the areas of farm management, agronomy, livestock, and public affairs and in 1970 received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of County Agents.
Chester Freeman,MS '45, lives in Ithaca and took a two-week Elderhostel trip to Switzerland. Harry Johns (Aspen, CO) is still employed by the Chalmers Technical Institute of Gotheburg U. Lawrence Young lives in Ithaca and says he is necessarily through with traveling.
We received an update on Lawrence Halprin of San Francisco, who is the recipient of the first Michelangelo Award, given by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). He was recognized on April 20 during the Opening General Session of the 49th Annual CSI Show and Convention in Chicago. From the press release: "Mr.Halprin has received much recognition for his work, which includes Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, the FDR Memorial in Washington, DC, and the rerouting of Lakeshore Drive and connection of Museum Campus in Chicago. He is currently designing the 52-acre approach to Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park, the new Letterman Digital Center in the Presidio in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, and the Stern Grove concert venue in San Francisco." --Phil Twitchell, 1963 Indian Valley Rd.,Novato, CA 94947; e-mail, philtwitchell@comcast.net.