CURRENT ISSUE | SUBSCRIBE | ADVERTISE | WRITE TO US | CORNELL AUTHORS | PAST ISSUES

50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59

50 | If you hurry, you may still register to be with your classmates for our super 55th Reunion next month.You don't want to miss our wonderful program organized by Stan Rodwin and Jo Kessel Buyske. See our website for more details.

The class officers'Mid-Winter Meeting in New York City in January--headed by vice president Stan Rodwin--put the finishing touches on the reunion program as part of the agenda. A forum entitled "Class of '50--Rewired not Retired" and a dinner dance with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra to remind us of Big Band dances at Barton Hall are among the featured activities. Some real rugged folks, about 17 out of 34 who made reservations--it was an especially snowy evening--gathered for the class dinner at the Cornell Club following the officers' meeting. Bruce Davis,MBA '52 (Coopersburg, PA) was among those who attended both events. Bruce sold his 58-acre historic Bucks County farm two years ago, after his wife died. He says, "I moved to a modest ranch-style home that is not so lonely and spend time at my villa at Seabrook Island in Charleston, SC." In addition, Bruce gardens at his home, enjoys the arts in the Lehigh Valley and NYC, and traveled on the Cornell Alumni Association Caribbean Cruise last year.

Robert Plaisted (Ithaca, NY) was honored last summer as Researcher of the Year by Potato Grower magazine. He is Cornell University Professor Emeritus of Potato Breeding. In 1956 Robert was offered a position to develop an ornamentals breeding project in plant pathology and to continue the potato-breeding project that had already begun.His fascination with potatoes grew, and when he became chairman of the department in 1964 he spent the rest of his career in that field. To learn more about Robert and the Potato Association of America, go to www.potatogrower.com.

Jim Preston, EdD '68, and wife Gretta (Hector, NY) added to our 50th anniversary celebrants last June. Three daughters, including Cindy Preston Hagin '79, planned the celebration at the Wagner Vineyard Winery in Lodi, NY. Grandson Todd Denmark is now a member of the Class of '06. The Prestons travel to Oxshott, England, to visit their youngest daughter and family.

A few of us are still working at our career choices. Robert Grayson, MD '53 (Tenafly, NJ) is in private practice for psychiatry and psychoanalysis in NYC.He teaches medical students at Weill Cornell Medical College in interviewing techniques and serves as clinical professor of psychiatry. In addition, he teaches Ethics in Clinical Practice at the New York Psychoanalytic Inst. William Morris (Shaker Heights, OH) is self-employed as an architect. Arnold Nelson (Gardena, CA) liquidated his company and has joined Lennar Communities as Regional VP, Land Development.He tells us, "This change is most exciting and creating a new venture for me and my staff."

Others of us are out contributing and active in our communities. Richard Davis, new to Vero Beach, FL, plays tennis in his leisure time, but wants to get back to tutoring in chemistry and teaching ESOL adults. Fred Immen (Defiance, MO) serves as a zoo docent, volunteers with Wings of Hope as an engineer, acts as an experimental aircraft association activist, tutors in college math and engineering, and is writing a family history book, "A Tree Grows in Yonkers." Fred sadly lost his wife Margaret (Brown) '48 after 54 years of marriage.

Jim Hume (Batavia, NY) is a retired dairy farmer who now serves as a trustee for Genesee Community College in Batavia. Tom Bryant, JD '53 (Bend, OR) is a retired attorney, volunteers for the Interfaith Caregivers, and instructs for AARP 55 Alive driving classes. He and wife Dorothy have seven grandchildren, one of whom is finishing the freshman year at Cornell. The Bryants are history buffs and continue to study ancient civilizations as well as modern European and American history. They are looking forward to coming back to reunion after an absence of 45 years.

Philip Davis (Maryville, TN) has settled in at his daughter's house following the death of his wife and the sale of his dairy farm in New York. Last year he traveled 16,000 miles in four months visiting Cornell friends around the country. Among the friends are Wally McDougal (Celina, OH), Doug Lockwood (Albion, NY), Charlie Taft (Hamburg, NY), and Ben Williams (Ithaca, NY). He also saw Ed '49 and Edna Gillett Van Zandt in Princeton, NJ. He tells us that most of them are planning to be at reunion.

Charles "Chuck" Fiden (Cincinnati, OH) writes about what most of us would like to be able to say. "I do what most retirees do. I play golf and bridge, go to the theatre, travel overseas, and spend time with the grandchildren.At age 82, I am in good health." Allen "Al" Strack (Saratoga Springs, NY) says it another way. "I'm enjoying life! I'm staying two steps ahead of the medical profession that wants to ‘study'my body." Paul Brass, MBA '51, and his wife Margaret (Brackbill) '51 moved last year to The Highlands at Wyomissing, a continuing care retirement community in Wyomissing, PA. It is located just five minutes from where they formerly lived. They have their same activities and friends, just a change to a smaller space.

Jerry "Jay" Johnson wrote to tell us that his wife Anne (Schnee) died in mid-December. Anne and I (Midge) were very close, as were many of you beginning in Freshman Camp, the freshman year in Balch 4, and on through these many years.Walt Crone also wrote that he lost his dear wife "Pru" early last year. I also considered her a good friend, though she was not a Cornellian.We send our deepest sympathies to both families.

In closing this column, I am passing this baton on to a new correspondent following reunion. I wish to thank you all for sharing news with me over the past ten years. It has been my joy to become acquainted with classmates I did not know on campus and to enrich my friendship with those of you I already knew. I will eagerly look forward to reading about all of you in future columns. Frank Clifford (Ithaca, NY), who is active in local fundraising and community activities, has said this well: "As a former Cornell Alumni Director, I continue to be amazed, pleased, and proud of the warmth and strength of the ‘Cornell Connection.' It is a sustaining relationship that is a factor in the life of the university. Reunions enhance and fulfill the meaning of being a Cornellian."  -- Ruth"Midge"Downey Kreitz, 3811 Hunt Manor Dr., Fairfax,VA 22033; tel., (703) 860-2991; e-mail, rdk12@cornell.edu; Paul H. Joslin, 6080 Terrace Dr., Johnston, IA 50131; tel., (515) 278-0960; e-mail, phj4@cornell.edu.

51 | Chuck Mund is the latest member of our class to receive the Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. He shares the 2005 award with his wife Carol (Winter) '52. Class president Sally Williamson Williams's sister ArlieWilliamson Anderson '47 has also won the award. Congratulations!

Jesse and Betsy Zobel Hannan alternate between Sarasota, FL, and Cayuga Lake. They enjoyed a family summer reunion on the lake last summer and a November vacation in Hawaii. The summer Cornell Adult University (CAU) brought Howard and Carrie Baigell Krasnow '50 to Cornell for the session called Immigration, Robert Lev for Dostoevsky, and Florence Colligan Mahoney for Father Knows Best.

Don and Margaret "Pepper" Dutcher Fluke celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Durham, NC (organized by their three children) and took a river cruise in Belgium and Holland. Pepper underwent successful surgery for an isolated melanoma on her arm in December and was supported by the children and nine dogs. "Somehow our canine friends helped to make a scary situation not quite so scary."Daughter Mary is a veterinarian and provided four. Pepper helped the Carolina Theatre celebrate its tenth anniversary by creating all the decorations for 30 tables and 300 persons. She burned out a kiln while firing 300 porcelain dogwoods and now has a new computer-operated kiln. Pepper's roommate and Delta Gamma sister Jean Hoffmire visited in June 2004.

Albert and Judith Glassenberg,New London,CT, report three grandchildren: Roxanne Victoria Glassenberg, born on the Ides of March, and Ellis and Jordan Hemmerdinger, born on the 6th of May. Al may have become the oldest new grandparent in our class. Al and Judi visited Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Tanzania in October. Al sees Bill Phillips occasionally, talks to Ken Jaffe regularly, and now and then Al Gleitsman.

John and Jean Roberts have downsized to a cottage in a gated community in Sedona, AZ. John and Jean report pleasant weeks in Cabo San Lucas,Mexico. John had two paintings accepted in the annual Arizona juried colored pencil artwork show held in 2002. Grandson Derek became an Eagle Scout and played defensive tackle on a team that made it to the state quarterfinals. Grandson John launched a wrestling career as a high school freshman. Says Granddad,"He had to wrestle a cute looking girl and had misgivings about several wrestling holds. He won, and I asked him if he got her phone number." One weekend the family earned seven gold medals and one silver in state meets for swimming and weightlifting.

Sabra Baker Staley let her annual "Staley Standard" go in 2002 due to her son, a roofer, falling and breaking both wrists. Two grandchildren got stung by scorpions: Jacob, stepping out of a tent in the Grand Canyon barefoot, and Toni pulling on her jeans in Marble Falls, TX. Grandma says, "Maybe you'll hang them up next time."The good news is that both recovered, and granddaughter Ashley was married in Virginia. Sabra is still working with high school kids in wheelchairs in Washington, DC, for a week studying the government hands-on. In 2004 she records a pilgrimage to Switzerland and the marriage of granddaughter Virginia Lee Miller to Reginald "Jay" Brown.

Stephen Cohen, PhD '56, Bronx, NY, retired from the NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities in 1995 and has pursued a second career writing classical music. A second concert devoted to his music last November is resulting in a third CD. Marion RobertsWoodhead, Lake Jackson, TX, has added work at the local food pantry to her tutoring and adult ESL classes. Bill Eustis recommends art as a stimulating endeavor in retirement. He enjoys docenting at the Bruce Museum in Riverside, CT.With Frank Robinson, Bill Phillips, and Pat Bowers '50, he toured New York's international art fair in May 2004. He also had a pleasant visit with Keith Seegmiller on his sweep through the East.

Bill Reynolds, MBA '55, Larchmont, NY, sings in a church choir and volunteers two days a week at a nursing home. Recently he and Lee spent five days in Puerto Rico with three generations of Reynolds, two weeks traveling through France, and four months on the St. Lawrence River at their summer home.He reports seeing Earl MacArthur '50, Ed D '71, frequently. Sue Pickwick Ray writes from La Canada, CA, that she feels very fortunate to be able to take the long trip to England where her daughter's family lives. They spent a week in Cornwall at an old manor with an indoor swimming pool and toured the countryside. Travel back home included a week in Sedona, AZ, a week in Mexico with bridge-playing friends, and a visit to the Isle of Palms near Charleston before returning to Clear Lake.

We've lost touch with 142 of our classmates. I've been listing these five at a time, hoping for an address, with only one response. This time I'll try 22: Stanley S. Clarke,David Wallis Deacon, Sally Dresser, Glenn Luce Fisher,Walter Christian Grantz,Marion Lucille Hartwig, Iris Ivers,Waldo James Kennedy Jr., Lisbeth L. Beach Lamb, Abraham Lipp, Ann McKeown Mattison, Robert Bly Moore,William A.Noble,Arnold David Pickar, Joseph William Reid, Carl Frederick Ruffrage, John Jay Sherinian,Herbert Joseph Sparber, Robert Wayne Van der Meid, Edmund Nelson Votry, Joan Wheeler, Donald Winfred Youmans.

Barry Nolin's Class of '51 Web page is http://classof51.alumni.cornell.edu. Please send your news to -- Brad Bond, 101 Hillside Way,Marietta, OH 45750; tel., (740) 374- 6715; e-mail, bbond@ee.net.

52 | I missed the January class meeting (part of CACO's Mid-Winter Meeting in New York City), as my husband ruptured an Achilles tendon. Jan Hofmann McCulloch reports that John Carpenter, Bob Chabon, M Ed '55, Tom Foulkes, Trudy Serby Gildea, George Goldman and his friend Helen Coppel, Sid, MD '56, and Phebe Vandervort Goldstein, Charles Rodin, Terry Warren, JD '56, Gordon and Shirley Williams, Sandy Malter '51, BArch '52, and she represented our class at the Friday night '52-53 dinner. Tom, Gordon, Terry, Phebe and Sid, Jack, Trudy, Bob, Gayle Raymond Kennedy, and Jan were at Saturday's class meeting, where it was decided to try to find missing classmates by including their names at the end of our column. You will find the first five below. If anyone knows their whereabouts, please let me know.

Honors. In October 2004, Rick Clark and Carol Winter Mund--along with husband Charles '51--received the 2005 Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award for the length and quality of their contributions to the university. Warren and Sally Hotchkiss Rockwell, now of Binghamton, NY, have traveled extensively since their graduation. Their and their family's memories of 39 homes on five continents have been gathered into a book,Moments Foreign: A Memoir of an Expatriate Family.

Now to the mailbag--first from those who have long been silent. Constance Soelle Geerhart (Montgomery Village, MD) writes, "After 13 very happy years doing handson research (newspapers, business magazines) in a publishing house, Lexus-Nexus took over my job. It was a dream career, however short." Connie has two sons in law and banking, and a daughter who is a social worker. William Hubbard (Poughkeepsie, NY) retired as chief residential appraiser from Poughkeepsie Savings Bank.He works parttime for Business Systems Corp. The Hubbards enjoy traveling and volunteer work for their church and other charitable organizations. They have two married daughters, Linda, an engineer and mother, and Martha, rector of an Episcopal Church in Wiesbaden, Germany.

George,MBA '56, and Gayle Raymond Kennedy have moved from Ithaca to Green Valley, AZ. Gayle writes that they will miss their close friends and campus activities, but not lawn, leaves, snow, ice, and high property taxes. I can understand that. Lynn Heidelberger MacEwen (New Castle, DE) writes that she and Dean celebrated their 50th anniversary in August 2004 by taking their family--21 of them--to Germany and Scotland. Dean's family emigrated to Canada from Loch Tay in 1830. The MacEwans are in excellent health and enjoy travel, especially with a group of Cornell friends. Dean is still active in orthopedics and Lynn with church and garden club.

Robert Pinkley (Indianapolis, IN) writes that he and his wife are now legal guardians of Corey, the son of their daughter Diane, who died in June 2004. They plan to move to Haddonfield, NJ, this year to be near their youngest daughter Patricia. Robert writes,"Have not had much contact with other alumni, but would be pleased to hear from them at our new e-mail address: pinkley4525@earthlink.net." Alan Rose (Cayce, SC) writes that he retired from the hotel field and, in 1995, began a new career in residential real estate appraisal services. Al, who had five bypasses in 1996, is still working. The Roses have two girls, two boys, and four grands. All doing well. He still enjoys sports and is committed to church and some civic activities.His physical activity is limited, but Al hasn't missed a reunion since he graduated and expects to see us all at our 55th in 2007.

Samuel Schenk (Sumter, SC), who retired as a Lt. Colonel, USAF, presently operates a tax preparation business and a check cashing business. The Schenks have children Robin and Bonnie. William Schneider (Middle Island, NY) writes: "Life here at Birchwood is like the play Brigadoon. No one seems to get older. Although seniors prevail, school buses do come in. Golf is the number one sport, with bocci at number two.My game is chess.We have a group of Cornellians who are active and doing well." John Talmage (Riverhead, NY) continues his 58-year flying hobby from his farm airstrip on eastern Long Island.He restored and flies a Long Island-built 1931 BIRD biplane. John reports his first grandson is at Cornell, Class of '08.

Pat Stitt Truell (Williamsville, NY) writes, "I am nearly retired now. Traveling, playing golf, bridge, skiing--a good life. Even grandchildren (11) are beginning to leave the nest for college." Emmet and Marjorie Relyea Vanderburgh '51, MS '55 (Williamson, NY) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary August 7, 2004. Clint Ayres '53, an usher at their wedding, was present to help celebrate. Emmet writes that "in October 2002 a number ofWesley Foundation alums at Cornell during Rev."Rusty" Best's tenure met for a reunion." Peter Ward (Candor,NY) retired as Tioga County Legislator as of December 31, 2004.He had been a legislator since January 1, 1996, and was Town of Candor Supervisor from 1987 to 1993.

These are the first five classmates we'd like to find: Franz Affeld, Michael Akintomide, Gretchen Von Storch Allen, Robert Leon Altman, and Paul Joseph Andres. Can you help? -- Joan Boffa Gaul, 7 Colonial Pl., Pittsburgh, PA 15232; e-mail, jgcomm@aol.com.

53 | A breaking TV news report revealed that students at a small college outside Philadelphia had liberated trays from the cafeteria and taken them sliding. (What will them kids think of next?) That helped folks in the frozen core of the Big Apple realize what a serious blizzard was in progress as hundreds descended upon NYC for the centennial celebration of the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO), Jan. 21-22. Those who were hunkered down in CACO headquarters at the New York Hilton grasped the gravity of the snow. Some stayed snowbound in Bigtown for an extra night. Some fled the city early. A few scrubbed the event altogether. But many city residents managed to mush through Manhattan to the Mid-Winter Meeting.

Mort, JD '55, and Anita Brown Bunis, Grad,made their way home to New Jersey from Vermont, then crawled through congealed Friday rush hour traffic for dinner with '53 and '52 classmates at Kennedy's, a W. 57th St. boite with a friendly Hibernian accent.About 30 showed up, like Jane Little Hardy, Dick and Peg Jones Halberstadt '56, Jim and Sandy Blackwood, Bob '52,M Ed '55, and Judy Resnik Chabon, Shirley Sprague McClintock,Woody and Joan Kanel Slomanson, Bill Gratz,Harriett "Hat"Hanchett, and moi. Great ambience, great grub, great company.

Class Secretary Caroline Mulford Owens beat the snow to the city the next day. It began with a CACO business session and a view of 21st-century life at Cornell from Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy '73, PhD '94.We learned that Jane Little Hardy will be CACO VP in charge of the 2006 Mid-Winter Meeting. Senior University Advisor and First Lady Kathy A. Okun presented a lively look at our Cornell at lunch.Her husband, President Jeffrey S. Lehman '77, spoke on transnational Cornell at the Centennial Gala in the evening. He presented Bill Vanneman '31 (isn't that the year most of us were born?) with the first annual William "Bill"Vanneman Outstanding Cornell Class Officer Award. Bill has been a class officer throughout his alumhood. Earlier, '53 councillors met, examined the State of the Class, and agreed it was just fine, thanks. Former Prez Claire Moran Ford took an excused absence to go to Yale for a new hip. Early returns: all went well.

Dave Kopko (Nantucket, MA) handed in a brief essay,"How I Spent My Christmas Vacation." It begins at 4 a.m. Dec. 20. "Awoke with minor discomfort in shoulder and rib cage. Couldn't get rid of it, couldn't get back to sleep. (Finessed a) planned trip to Boston, went down the road to hospital to see if they could give me anything for it. 6 a.m. Small staff at that hour . . . took several tests, including EKG. Doctor looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘We're airlifting you by Coast Guard helicopter to Mass General Hospital. You'll be there in about 40 minutes and they'll be ready for you.'Off we went on my first copter ride, which landed me on the lawn 25 feet from the Emergency Ward entrance. Cardiologists (said) I had had a heart attack and surgery was definitely indicated. Indeed, said surgery did take place the next morning--a quadruple bypass."He was back home "in a couple of weeks,"mending, but guesses he may have to give up flamenco dancing. "If one starts the year flat on one's back," says David, "things are looking up."

John Webster was still teaching biomedical instrumentation and design at the U. ofWisconsin when last heard from, continuing research into curing liver cancer by heating or freezing the tumors. Spouse Nancy (Egan) stays "more than busy"with volunteer work in the community, at the campus art museum, and at church. There are seven grandkids actively attending to academic interests. John and Nancy went to Vietnam in January '04. There John reviewed biomedical engineering programs. They saw Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the Gulf of Tonkin, and the Mekong Delta. John lectured at a Hong Kong university summer session in June. There was another conference in Malaysia in August, with stops at Kuala Lumpur and the resort island of Penang, "Pearl of the Orient." It was visited later by a cruel sea. (Shielded by Sumatra, the Pearl escaped the worst of the tsunami.)

Bill Ash, PhD '60 (New Bern, NC) writes for the Cape Lookout Sail and Power Squadron newsletter.He's a senior navigator with 44 years' service with US Power Squadrons. On shore, he enjoys the gemütlichkeit of Germanic friends in New Bern's Alpenverein. The city was founded 300 years ago by Germans and Swiss from old Bern.He says he has "generated courage" to sing in public, favoring tunes of Harry James and Claude Thornhill. He gardens, too, but is wary of local vipers. Retired from the construction game, Thad Collum (Fayetteville, NY) builds fishing flies these days.

It's Christmas all year for Charlie, PhD '60, and Roberta Manchester Frink (Branford, CT), creators of ornaments with a volunteer church crafts group. Nagahide Kuroda (Tokyo), 81, is still working. Penny Van Valkenburgh Goodrich and husband Jim (Livermore, CO) visited youngest son John in the Russian Far East, where he studies Siberian tigers. At home, they raise, train, and show herding dogs. At last count there were five.

Here's a good rousing health to Elliott Cattarulla, '53's eighth winner of the annual Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Service Award. That's the most for any class. He'll be honored Friday, Oct. 14 of Homecoming. Stay tuned for details of our traditional annual dinner with friends from other '50s classes, block seating for the gridiron classic with Georgetown, and whatever else will be up in Ithaca that weekend.-- Jim Hanchett, 300 1st Ave., Apt. 8B, New York, NY 10009; e-mail, jch46@cornell.edu.

54 | The flapping you hear overhead could be the ubiquitous Canada geese or it could be classmates settling into their summer locations. Anne Drotning Coors, who was in New York the weekend of CACO's 100th Anniversary Celebration and Blizzard, does a seasonal West Coast relocation.Anne winters in Rancho Mirage, CA, and will spend her summers at her new home in Seattle,WA. Anne still paints, has taken up golf, and serves as a trustee on the U. of California's Cardiovascular Board. Emily Bates Douglas moved north rather than south and is now residing in Amherst, MA, to be near her son Damon Douglas III and his family. P. Craig Bogley has moved northward from San Pedro to Santa Barbara, CA--not a great deal of climate change there.

Reporting in from Hurricane Alley are Lawrence Cohen, Jim Ritchey, and Lynn and Jane Gregory Wilson. Larry said they luckily ducked two major ones in their area of Jupiter, FL.Having had a few health events over the past couple of years with bits and pieces replaced and repaired, he is physically back in high gear, flying, golfing, and biking (both kinds--powered and un-powered). To keep the grey cells charged he teaches AARP Safe Driving and tutors fourth graders who are behind in reading. Jim Ritchey said his community of Davis, NC, badly hit by Isabel, celebrated their one-year anniversary with several homes still rebuilding. The Ritcheys' home and grounds are almost back to normal. Their travels post-reunion included a train trip west to east across Canada and a ten-day cruise. Since reunion Jane says their lives in Sun City Center, FL, have been ruled by storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, plus floods while camping in Pennsylvania. To avoid late hurricanes they chose November to head for Spain, with the return trip by sea. I just hope the crossing was a southerly one. The North Atlantic can be rough in the winter months.

Richard Schoeck lives on the north shore of Lake Oneida in Bernhards Bay, where he runs his own 100-acre forestry preserve.He loves living back in the woods with nature. I must ask him about his critter observations.He is a master forest owner through the Cornell Cooperative Extension, where he advises others on forestry matters. Joan Wulff presented Phil Chase with the Catskill Fly-Fishing Center Museum/Lee Wulff first Conservation Award. William Bates's Adam's Apple Too is gradually expanding. Bill's business plan is to upgrade all older Macintosh computers to at least a G3 to remove the frustrations that older equipment generates--and it's working. Our webmaster Jan Jakes Kunz is working at the Annapolis Maritime Museum when not expanding our site with more info and pictures of reunion. Robert M.Morrison enjoyed seeing old friends at reunion and making new ones 50 years after graduation. The Morrisons toured the Canadian Maritime Provinces before returning to Aloha Land.

Peter and Laurie Pietryka Plamondon '55 took a three-generational trip to Alaska last summer. All 21 of them had a fabulous adventure. Our constant "on the go" grandmother Sondra Dreier Kozinn has had another busy year. The Caribbean, London, and Israel were but a few of her ports of call. She always tarries in London for a few Sherlockian weekends. If any of you think you have to travel a bit to see your grandkidlets, think of Sondra; she heads for Israel where her nine reside. Diana Heywood Calby was missed at reunion, but she held her own mini ones with Marjory Whitehurst over lunch and Lili Bates Douglas via phone. During a trip to Hershey last summer Betty Wagler Striso's husband surprised her with a surprise visit from Elinor Schroeder Hueston, who lives in Gettysburg. Betty and Ellie are both from Hollis and have been lifelong friends.

Our 50th reunion year coincided with a few 50th wedding anniversaries. Dave, PhD '60, and Mary Gentry Call celebrated with a family gathering in the Adirondacks; then a fishing trip to Sitka, AK, for salmon; and on to Missoula, MT, for trout. Now you know what they do when not on the golf course. Len and Mimi Cohen Levine and family enjoyed their milestone at Historic Williamsburg, VA. David '52 and Phyllis Perl Stearns and their family toasted the occasion in Cabo San Lucas. In January of this year Phyllis had a show, "Reflections on Ancient Civilizations," at the Palm Avenue Gallery in Sarasota.

Also celebrating their Golden were Sy and Elinor Yavelow Yuter, he of the pushing-Elinor-around-the-world fame. The Yuters, with their sons and families, stayed closer to home for their festivities, having already circumnavigated the globe in honor of their life together. Jill Niederman Edelson is still at her post at SUNY College at Old Westbury while Bob is semi-retired but doing some consulting. Their daughter Lynne plays the viola with the National Symphony Orchestra. Each time I go, I sweep the section with my glasses, trying to figure which musician looks the most like Jill. Their son David's Health Bridge has been chosen one of the top 100 spas in the country. Hugh Schwarz, who commutes between Virginia and Uruguay regularly, gave talks at three Uruguayan universities and at the National Association of Industries.He will be visiting professor at the country's U. of the Republic in August and September of this year, teaching a course in Behavioral Economics.-- Leslie Papenfus Reed, 500 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; email, ljreed@speakeasy.net. Class website, http://classof54.alumni.cornell.edu. Cornell Directory, https://directory.alumni.cornell.edu.

55 | HEY, IT'S REUNION TIME! Now that June is nearly here, a big thank you goes out to all who volunteered to call their friends, classmates, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, teammates, and fellow club members to spread the good word about our fabulous 50th Reunion! From the excellent response we've gotten, it's apparent that we're looking at record numbers. Classmates from near and far will be with us, and many who haven't visited campus in years are looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. Check your calendars and be sure that June 9, 10, 11, and 12 have been blocked out for your trip to Ithaca.

Dick Schrader,MBA '58, had a note from Hans"Wolfi" Duerr, who reported that he's been in touch with nearly all of their pledge class at Delta Phi.Many have expressed interest in attending, including John Harreys, Alden Hathaway, Nelson Lee, Jock McClain, Bob Hale, and Tad Cameron. At last word, he was still trying to reach Seth Jagger, Gil Rodriguez-Galvis, Tibby Howard, Paul O'Connor, and Dick de la Chappelle to remind them not to miss out. Dan Krouner writes that Beta Sig has had regular reunions right along, thanks to the efforts of Eliot Minsker. The group is saddened that Dick Schaap and Henry Buncom won't be with us in June. The Beta Theta Pi contingent, including Denny Malone, have by now probably heard from Gil Schlerf, who was reminiscing about the summer of 1954 when he and Bob Belden were at ROTC camp in Aberdeen. In fact, many years later, Gil's son Rodd '86 and the Beldens' son Doug '84 overlapped at Phi Delt.

Gordon White says he's been in contact with Frank Hano and Phil Merrill, and also wants to get hold of David Coward '56 and John Blanchard '56. Thomas "Stacy" Wood explains that he and Joyce are celebrating their 50th anniversary with all their family that same weekend, so can't make reunion, but he's written to all his TKE brothers. Tom Stafford and his wife Jean are slated to attend Jean's reunion at DePauw, which means they won't be with us either, but Tom asks that we convey his best regards to all. Our other Stafford, Doug, lives in North Falmouth, MA, and has had a long career as an international career civil servant, affiliated with the United Nations and the State Dept. Doug looks forward to the annual reunion of his ship's officer group (1956-59). "The stories get better as the years go by," he notices. I'm contacting my fellow Tri Delts, and I'm thrilled that former sorority roommates of mine--Vera Steiner Simon, Pat Van Mater Wheeler, and Suzanne Spooner Olsen--have already said they'll be there.

Now for a quick look at the mailbag: Mable Lamb Haliburton reports that "all's well" in Nova Scotia, and passes on the message, "Cornell rocks!"When we heard from Hilly McCann Dearden, she had just returned from a wonderful trip to southern Spain, and reports that "bridge has replaced tennis." Still, she says, there's nowhere she'd rather be than "right where I am, enjoying my intercoastal views."Arizona residents Dick Hort and wife Virginia sold their home in Bisbee and moved to Sierra Vista last fall.

Esther Kresh Oriol and her husband started a film distribution company with a Bulgarian partner, and completed a documentary film dealing with how Bulgarian Jews were saved from the Nazi extermination camps. John Berkenfield's sons live in California and Idaho, so he and Barbara find their focus is toward the western US. Following John's 30 years with IBM, they moved to Santa Fe 15 years ago and are now very involved in the arts and cultural life there, as well as being "prodigious travelers," both in the US and abroad. Lorraine Silverman Abrash, PhD '66, had her second knee replacement--in time, we hope, for her to get to reunion, which she hopes to do.

Bob Sanders is still teaching math in Stamford, CT, and reports that two of his students headed for Cornell this fall. Like many our age, Bob says he does things "the old fashioned way" and that "cell phones give me trouble!" Congratulations to Mark Siegel, who got married last year; hope he's planning to bring his bride Palma to reunion so we can welcome her to Cornell.Mark is president of a promotional advertising business, and fishes and hunts in his off hours. "Going to Canada for caribou in December-- brrr!" he adds. Another classmate planning to be at reunion is Debbie Golub Leibowitz. In her spare time, Debbie dates, writes poetry, goes to the theater, plays bridge, and serves on numerous boards of directors and volunteer agencies.

In a recent article, George Cohen, LLB '57, was identified as one of the top labor and employment litigators in Washington,DC.According to the article,"He says he's finally close to retirement, but colleagues say they'll believe it when they see it."George received his law degree from Cornell in 1957, the same year his wife Phyllis (Goody) graduated. "By my reckoning,we're getting dangerously close to the Big 50th!" George concludes. Roy De Boer retired last fall after teaching landscape architecture at Rutgers U. for 49 years, and was awarded the Lifetime Distinguished Service Award by Cook College at Rutgers and the Hall of Fame Award given by the New Jersey Nurseryman and Landscape Association.

Another academic, Elwood Hacker, retired from Albany High School in 1990, but returned to the classroom as a substitute teacher last fall.He has also made 21 trips to ski the Alps.Woodie and his wife Marion had two reasons to celebrate at a recent party: their 50th wedding anniversary and the fact that both have survived cancer. Continuing good luck to you both! Out in Palo Alto, CA, Julie Scott Maser and her husband Dick have reduced their working hours and are enjoying the proximity of their three sons, who also live in California. Julie says they've reached "that stage in life where ‘till death do us part' seems do-able!"

We were saddened to learn from Otto Schneider that Greg Harrison died in November of last year, and we send our condolences to his widow, Sue (Epstein). Greg was a business consultant, actor, and sailor in his later years, and the Harrisons spent a year and a half cruising Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean aboard their ketch, Rayelle.

Dick Schrader summed it up well: "It is hard to believe that 50 years have sped by.When names are mentioned, I attach them to the 20-year-old faces--and remember what a great time we all had." We did indeed! Come back in June and let's celebrate together. -- Nancy Savage Petrie, e-mail: nancypetrie@juno.com. Class website, http://classof55.alumni.cornell.edu.

56 | Here's Class President Ernie Stern to bring us up to date on the planning that's been going on for our 50th Reunion. You might mark down the date, June 8- 11, 2006--practically around the corner!

Ernie writes: "First of all, we owe a round of applause to Percy Edwards Browning, who has been busy for months scheduling our celebration.We'll be housed in airconditioned comfort and have plenty to do that's fun, challenging, and mind-stretching. Reunions are much more than partying (although there's no shortage of good food and good drink). It's also a time to take advantage of the intellectual resources all around us. And, of course, seeing old friends is--as they say in the ads--priceless.

"We held a class officers meeting on January 21 at the Cornell Club in New York City. It was lively, to say the least. Twenty of our classmates participated and we began the fleshing out of details for Thursday through Sunday of Reunion Weekend.More meetings will be held, but it was the overwhelming consensus of the group that our key objective was to get as many classmates back as possible (this means you, too!).We're looking for some volunteers from across the country who are ready to call a few friends and encourage them to come to Ithaca. Joe Henninger, MBA '58, will be coordinating this effort.

"If you have ideas and suggestions about our reunion, or want to help out, I would be really happy to hear from you at (212) 348-0335 or by e-mail at elstern56@cs.com. I can put you in touch with Joe and other classmates who are already at work on this wonderful project. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and of course seeing you at what will be a fabulous 50th Reunion!"

My thanks to Ernie! Mike Fawer of Covington, LA, is still a practicing criminal lawyer as a defense attorney. He says he will never retire. He keeps in touch with Arthur Penn and travels a fair amount.Mike just got remarried and has four children, three stepchildren, and three grandchildren. He would like to see anyone who comes through New Orleans. Constance Clibbon Boll is the director of The Wellspring Trust Inc., a nonprofit agency working in Southeast Asia, Guatemala, Haiti, and Uganda. She is raising her 16-year-old granddaughter and lives in Rowayton, CT.

Richard L.Wing just wrote A Vine of God's Own Planting, a history of Houghton College from its beginnings through 1972.He also took an 8,300-mile cross-country car trip through 20 states, completing his goal of driving in all 50. That is really something! James, MD '60, and Jane Brayton Marshall are running a small conifer nursery on their 52-acre farm called Alpine Acres Nursery. Jane does tax preparing for a large Elmira law firm and some genealogy on the side. They are devoted to their children, who live all over the US and in England.

Edward Rosen of New York City is working full-time as an architect with Bovis Lend Lease, having just spent his 20th anniversary with them. They are managing restoration projects at Bailey Hall and Mann Library on our campus.He has had interesting travel, having been to Ithaca as part of a Tower Club trip with Janet Reno '60, and to the opening of the Clinton Library with daughter Sarah and family. Sarah was deputy director of the National Economic Council in the Clinton White House. Edward summers in East Hampton and tells us that his Cornell graduate daughter Hannah '85 is now a professor at the U. of Michigan.

Joel Hasen moved to Chapel Hill, NC, in October. He is semi-retired, but is involved with the Ackland Art Museum raising money. The museum is part of the U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His son David teaches taxation at Michigan Law, and his daughter is in a PhD program at the U. of Wisconsin. --Stephen Kittenplan, 1165 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; e-mail, catplan@aol.com.

57 | John Fisher had a 95th birthday party for his mother recently, and her 98-year-old sister attended. It made me forget that we are being accused in some quarters of being old. Ed Neuwirth puts that theory out to sea with his ascent to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro (over 19,000 ft.) last fall. He received a certificate from the Tanzanian government for his efforts. Roger Jones, MPA '60, reports his day job to be flying in a new high-performance Cessna, cruising his Nordic tug, serving on the board of the Navigation Foundation, performing volunteer legal duties for a number of organizations, composing jazz ballads, etc., on his organ, and trying to keep up with 12 grandchildren.He spent part of last summer in several European countries, fitting in a week on Ted Raab's vintage French canal barge.

Dick and Heidi Gross (Wells '61) are active in multicultural consulting, staying young with their three grandchildren, and traveling extensively in France and the US. Jerry Levey continues as dean of the School of Medicine at UCLA, while Barbara is involved with biomedical affairs, also at UCLA. Irwin Schlossberg grinds on full-time in radiology at Columbia Presbyterian; Todd Kennedy, president of a major landscape nursery, received the "Man of the Year" award from the National Landscape Association and celebrated by sailing to Maine from his home port of Greenwich; and Stu Fischman is active in retirement from SUNY Buffalo School of Dental Medicine by monitoring clinical trials of toothpastes, mouth rinses, and chewing gum.

David Nye has moved from Washington to a total care community in Tempe, AZ, with one of the perks that of being close to his daughter Jeanne, an elementary school principal finishing up her doctoral degree at ASU. Having lived all over the US and in Libya with Mobil and the Communications Satellite Corp., he is happy to unpack. Michael Daly, M Ed '59, reports that his new CD album, "Ireland from Glen to Glen," is doing well. It was recorded by RCA with the cooperation of the Cornell Glee Club. The mileage award goes to JimWright, who, along with Carol, drove 9,171.5 miles to and from his high school reunion in the State of Washington, including a delightful visit with Georgia Freeman in California, and also to John Brooke. John and Gigi didn't keep quite as accurate records, but reported 14,000 miles on a trip to Oregon and California. The AAA is investigating their claim.

I am saddened to report the death of Sam Bookbinder and Phil McIndoo's wife Erica. Our prayers go out to Phil and to Sam's family. -- John Seiler, 221 St.Matthews Ave., Louisville, KY 40207; e-mail, suitcase2@aol.com.

Do you have any contributions for the class historical album? Martha Ballard Lacy has put her talents to work and created a marvelous album, which she shared with class officers at our January meeting.Volume One is almost complete, but Martie would still like you to send any memorabilia to her at 4617 Grace Pl., Jamesville, NY 13078. As well as being a consultant with Creative Memories,Martie also enjoys dabbling in genealogy, so she and Dick connected with their roots on a visit to Ireland last fall. Ela Oudheusden Shacklett has been doing quite a bit of traveling since she retired in 2000. Japan, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, and Holland have been on the itinerary. She continues her volunteer work with visually impaired preschoolers in Shawnee Mission, KS.

Sue Davidson Braun is on several committees in San Diego that are working to get universal preschool in that area. In June she was able to travel with her husband to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, but dealing with a serious back problem and cataract surgery took a bit of the starch out of her in the fall. Sue is on her feet once again and even hit the ski slopes in Utah in February. Florence Bloch Farkas is retired and spent a long winter in Boynton Beach, FL, and Bob and Marcia Wishengrad Metzger, JD '60, enjoyed part of the winter at their new house on Hilton Head Island, SC. She still practices law in Rochester, but at a slower pace.

Sari Feldman Zukerman has just completed her first year of a three-year term on the Guttenberg (NJ) Board of Education. Rita Feldman Cohen is very involved in Cornell activities in the northern New Jersey area. She continues to run Education Associates, a tutoring service for all those exams--SAT, LSAT, GMAT, etc. To celebrate Harvey's 75th, the entire family took a trip to the Bahamas. And her most pressing problem? Becoming computer literate. Same for Judith Lund Biggs, who serves on five different boards including the Foreign Policy Association and is raising funds for a professorship in honor of Clinton Rossiter.

Beverly Robertson Murrell volunteers in a number of organizations in Columbia,MO. A second grandchild arrived in December, and the Murrells visited their youngest son in Japan at year's end. The Canadian Rockies, Alaska, and Sicily have been on Ellin Salit Rind's recent travel list. Ellin is an English professor at New York Inst. of Technology.

Karen Anderson Mahshi, an accomplished quilter, is the West Coast coordinator for the Rotary/Rotoplast quilt project. Guilds provide quilts for children who have had surgery to correct cleft lips and palates, mostly in Central and South America. These quilts accompany medical teams who donate a week of their services and operate on more than a hundred children during each mission. Karen received the bronze medal from the American Rose Society for her leadership role in the Contra Costa Rose Society. -- Judith Reusswig, 19 Seburn Dr., Bluffton, SC 29909; e-mail, JCReuss@aol.com.

58 | I must start this column on a very sad note. Our much loved and talented classmate Elsie Dinsmore Popkin passed away in January of complications from chemotherapy treatment for cancer. She was a much-admired pastel artist and a very active Cornell alumna. Her paintings can be seen all over campus, at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell, in the lobby of the Statler, and in the office of the dean at the Johnson School. It was a shock to all who knew her and she will be missed.

Dale Reis Johnson writes that she and Dick attended a politically inspired two-day event where Ted Lowi and Peter Katzenstein led discussions and lectured. They also heard President Jeffrey Lehman '77 speak and found everything to be enjoyable and enlightening. Dale's parents, L. Sanford '29 and Jo Mills Reis '29 received the Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award last year. A wonderful accomplishment! Roberta Arvine Fishman has been doing a lot of traveling. She toured St. Petersburg again, then through the Scandinavian countries, and ending in Iceland in the spring. She says, "The thermal baths were great fun, and for all you golfers, you can play for 24 hours in light in June and July!" By the time of this writing, she will have gone to Vietnam with Barbara Streicher Magid and husband. Bev Feuss Heineman had a busy weekend last October. She and Rob '56, MD '60,went to Bev's 50th high school reunion at Manhasset High School, along with yours truly, Carol Ostergren Orts, and Debbie Fanto Czegledy. She had to leave at 4 a.m. Sunday morning to get back to Albany, where she welcomed identical twin grandsons. Quite a weekend--and she is still working as the business half of Rob's orthopedic practice.

Bruce Hollman has served the Boy Scouts for 37 years and now he is attending some of their weddings. Jon Howell has finally welcomed his first grandchild and is now semi-retired. He is still enjoying estate and financial planning, but is working out of his home and can be choosy as to whom he works with.He had been busy climbing and skiing in the Bugaboos, but all was cut short when in 2004 he skied off a cliff and landed against some trees at the bottom, tearing and rupturing ligaments and cartilage in both knees.However, I think he is now back at it, skiing and mountaineering! Albert Caines studied mosquitoes and ticks with the New York State Health Dept. for 25 years.He gathered specific data on EEE, Lyme disease, and the West Nile virus.With his staff, he collected over 25,000,000 mosquitoes over a 25-year-period.He has now been retired for eight years.

Stefan Belman, DVM '61, of Columbia Falls, MT, has been retired from his veterinary practice for 11 years and has never looked back.He has lots of outdoor activities, as well as a new group of friends to share them with, and also travels. BruceMarshall and his wife took a Baltic Sea cruise last year and had some interesting comments."The classical capitals are beautiful, but the emerging nations are most interesting. In Russia, we saw the excess of the czars but also the wretched poverty of the pensioners and widows ruined by inflation on tiny fixed benefits. A Russian tour guide can't get a visa even for a few days if they are single (no brain or beauty drain permitted!)."

Ronni Schulbaum Strell is retired but doing some freelance editing (elder law books) for her former employer. She meets with her old roommates Dottie Berens Greenspan and Arlene Scharf Kelvin about every three months in NYC. Irene Lazarus Soskin finds retirement to be busy and satisfying. She's still the conductor/arranger of her 60-member community chorus, performing in their own theater and in neighboring communities. Once a year, she produces a classical concert featuring trained musicians who live in Palu Isles, her Florida residence. She also attended her 50th high school reunion with at least five classmates. 11 of the class of 150 attended Cornell.

We have just returned from a wonderful visit with Glenn and Maddi McAdams Dallas in their lovely new home in Sarasota. Jack,MBA '61, and Diane Baillet Meakem '61 joined us and much reminiscing was done by all. News is at a slow pace these days so keep the news coming in! -- Jan Arps Jarvie, 6524 Valley Brook, Dallas, TX 75254; e-mail, JJarvie386@aol.com.

59 | Sid Wolfe, director of Public Citizen Health Research Group,made headlines in January when he accused Pfizer of hiding results of a 1999 study in which patients who took the painkiller Celebrex had a significantly higher risk of stroke or other cardiovascular problems than people taking a placebo. According to a February 15 article in the New York Times ("Drug Industry's Longtime Critic Says ‘I Told You So' "), Sid had warned of the dangers of Celebrex and a second drug in the family of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors,Merck's Vioxx, as early as April 2001. Last September he issued a similar warning on Pfizer's Bextra, yet another COX-2 inhibitor. This January, Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to remove Celebrex and Bextra from the market (Vioxx was withdrawn in September). On its website, Legal News Watch quoted Sid as saying, "The Food and Drug Administration should immediately ban the sale of Celebrex and Bextra, which put millions of people, many of them elderly, at risk of heart attack. These drugs are not only more expensive and more dangerous than older, safer pain relievers, they are no better at protecting the gastrointestinal tract."

Early in 2005, after 16 months of construction, Barbara Hirsch Kaplan and her husband Les moved back into their home in Gladwyne, PA. "It's a 200-year-old stone barn that we made into a house 20 years ago . . . and I got the bug to re-do it,"writes Barbara. On May 4, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, was to give the Kaplan Family Distinguished Lecture in Public Service. The Kaplans and their two children donated $500,000 in late 2001 to establish the annual lecture and two annual faculty service awards at the university's Public Service Center.

Roslyn Bakst Goldman of Rochester, NY, has been a member of the Appraisers Association of America (the oldest personal property appraisers' organization in the US) since 1986 and on its board since 1999.Her appraisal work is in fine art only--prints (except Asian) from all centuries, as well as painting, drawing, and sculpture from the 19th and 20th centuries. She travels quite a bit, working across the country doing evaluations for private clients, corporations, educational institutions, and medical facilities.Among her coups: establishing the authenticity of a beautiful but unknown Corot painting. She discovered that an agent of Corot's brought the work to the US early in the artist's career. It was sold to a person whose lineage was traced to the present owner through records at the Boston Museum of Art, where it had been exhibited, and a Boston gallery that had once sold the painting. Roz has had numerous other fascinating experiences, including tales of fakes and forgeries, but many of these stories cannot be shared because of confidentiality issues.

"I have re-retired, this time from NASA,"writes Alan Newhouse."However, I intend to continue part-time consulting work for NASA and the space nuclear business if postemployment restrictions don't prevent this." The power supplies for the Cassini spacecraft and the heaters for the Huygens probe that landed on Titan in January were begun when Alan was in charge at the space nuclear group in the Dept. of Energy in 1992. "It takes a long time for things to happen in space, particularly at Saturn!" he comments. Alan continues to write music, mostly for his church choir, and he plays viola in COSMIC, a local orchestra near his home in Hollywood,MD. Best of all, he says, is enjoying his five grandchildren, all of whom live within two hours of his home.

On a snowy, stormy weekend in January, the Assn. of Class Officers (CACO) celebrated its 100th Anniversary during the annual Mid-Winter Meeting in New York City. Attending workshops, meetings, and other activities were Bill Day, Bill Kingston, Alan Rosenthal,Marian Fay Levitt, and our 50th Reunion chairs Dave Dunlop and Harry Petchesky. Dave chaired the class meeting, at which topics included reunion, class bylaws, and the class scholarship fund.Marian reminds us that we can continue to increase the amount in our class scholarship endowment, thereby increasing the amount awarded to future scholarship recipients. "When you make a contribution to the university, simply indicate that the money should go to the Class of '59 Scholarship fund," she explains.

The highlight of the CACO festivities was the Anniversary Gala on Saturday evening, held at the Hilton New York. President Jeffrey Lehman '77 was the guest speaker, and among the attendees were Bill and Sue Phelps Day '60,M Ed '62. Sue is a former president of CACO and a tireless worker for the Class of '60, this year coordinating their 45th Reunion. "We had intended to drive to a friend's home in Tarrytown after the lovely event. It was evident early on, however, that this would be at the height of the storm, so we stayed overnight at the Hilton," says Bill. "We finally left the hotel about noon on Sunday, just before the Cornell buses started their trip back to Ithaca.We made it home to Avon, CT, and began to deal with all the snow."

As you read this, those cold winter days are behind us folks in northern climes. Happy spring to all! -- Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.

Return to top of page