50 | On February 18, 26 classmates and spouses gathered in the elegant Lincoln Room at the Union League of Philadelphia for our annual Class of 1950 dinner. You'll recall that our dinner has always been held in conjunction with the Mid-Winter Meeting of the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO), because a nucleus of class officers would be in town--and this year the CACO meeting was in Philadelphia.

Classmates came in from all over for our dinner: newlyweds Walt and Midge Downey Crone from Colorado; class president Dick Pogue from Cleveland; vice president Stan Rodwin and Joyce Wisbaum Underberg '53 from Rochester; John and Jane Haskins Marcham '51 from Ithaca, and Dave and Susan Dingle from eastern Long Island. Local attendees were chemical engineer Bruce Davis, MBA '52 (Coopersburg, PA); Phyllis and Alex Richardson (Livingston, NJ), the guy who helped bring you the New Jersey E-Z Pass system; Jo Kessel Buyske (Princeton, NJ); hotelman Bob Fite (Cape May, NJ); Jane and Bob Post (Mantaloking, NJ);Molly and John Gribb (Doylestown, PA), an ob/gyn; Germaine and Lee Maiorana (Wyomissing PA), another ob/gyn; and Libby SeveringhausWarner (Bryn Mawr, PA). From Philadelphia itself were Betty and Earle "Bud" Barber and, of course, yours truly and my husband Charles Joiner.

It was a splendid evening. Everyone enjoyed the gracious ambience of the Union League, and after dinner, class pianist Dave Dingle brought back memories of our days on the Hill, leading us in our old favorite college songs. CACO will meet in Philadelphia again next year, and we'll probably have a class dinner again (and probably at the Union League again), either on Friday, January 19, or Saturday, January 20, 2007. So mark those dates on your calendar, and do join all of us next year!

Earlier in the day, some of us had gathered for a class meeting. President Dick Pogue pointed out that at reunion last June, we set three Alumni Fund records for a 55th Reunion: the number of donors (497), the dollars raised ($9,603,675), and the number of Tower Club members (63). In other business,Midge Crone was named class secretary, and the Class Council was expanded with the appointment of six new members: Midge Crone, Roger Gibson (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL), Jim Hazzard (Ithaca), CharlesMackey Jr. (Berwyn, PA), Libby Warner, and Ralph "Cooly"Williams, MD '54 (Santa Fe, NM). If you are interested in serving on the Class Council, please contact Dick Pogue at rwpogue@jonesday.com.

Some other news: On a visit to Ithaca recently, Dick Loynd (Springfield, NJ)--a member, you may recall, of the football team that won Cornell the Ivy League championship our senior year--reviewed plans for Friends Hall, the Football Tradition Room, and the University Athletic Hall of Fame Room. Dick calls them an "outstanding presentation of Cornell's athletic history--nothing to match it in the Ivy League. It will be one of the top facilities of the type in the country. Friends Hall commemorates the fact that Cornell can mean much more than a fine education; it can be a lifetime of friendships."Dick is currently president of Loynd Capital Management in Short Hills. At reunion in June, Jean Thomas Herrington (Morongo Valley, CA) met, for the first time, a classmate connected with a bit of her past. Growing up in Hamburg, NY, Jean often visited Lockwood's Greenhouses and Farm to get fresh vegetables. At a Reunion dinner one night, she chose to sit with people she did not know--and there at the table she met Doug Lockwood. Jean, a math major at Cornell, became an engineer.

Naomi Knauss Drummond (Pilesgrove, NJ) has been widowed for the second time.Her husband Hall, whom she had known since junior high, died in the spring of 2005. Naomi was an administrative law judge in New Jersey. Glenn Ferguson, MBA '51, former university president and ambassador to Kenya, has written another book, Traveling the Exotic: Distinctive Experiences in Twelve Unique Countries (Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, NM). Lorraine Vogel Klerman (Waltham, MA) is a professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis U. in Waltham. "I teach, conduct research, and have a range of administrative responsibilities," Lorraine writes. Lorraine's latest publication is Another Chance: Preventing Additional Births to Teen Mothers, a monograph for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Previously Lorraine was chairman of the Dept. of Maternal and Child Health at the U. of Alabama, Birmingham.

A correction:When I wrote in a recent column about a book--Understanding Parliamentary Procedure: A Tutorial--that Alex Richardson has written, I made a mistake on his website. It is www.learnsystems.net.

Marjorie Leigh Hart has sent along a note from Ross Heald '49 telling us about the death of his wife Marianne (Nethercot) on May 2, 2005, in Jackson, NH."I lost Marianne after 56 wonderful years together," Ross writes. -- Marion Steinmann, 237 West Highland Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118-3819; tel. (215) 242-8443; email, cjoiner@ix.netcom.com; Paul H. Joslin, 6080 Terrace Dr., Johnston, IA 50151-1560; tel., (515) 278-0960; e-mail, phj4@cornell.edu.

51 | Oak Ridge, TN, proclaimed October 21, 2002 Victor Pare Day in appreciation of 14 years of volunteering social service for Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties.Vic, an Engineering Physics major at Cornell (BEP '50, PhD '58), retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1994.He worked there for three years after graduation and then went back to Cornell for a PhD. Since then he studied radiation damage to solids, important in reactor design, and development of energy from nuclear fusion. The problem with nuclear fusion, he says, is that it can't be contained in a vessel due to the high temperatures generated. Instead it must be controlled by magnetic fields--but it generates its own field, which adds to the difficulty. An international project is now under way in France with participation by Japan, Russia, and the US. Vic says electric power from nuclear fusion is a "long way off."Vic and wife Diantha (Francis) '50 have two children and one grandchild. Their daughter is a nurse practitioner in the Cleveland Clinic and their son a massage therapist in Houston.

We received word of the death of classmate Joan Circola Gasparello in August 2005. Joan and husband Ralph of Hingham and Nantucket Island,MA, raised five children. She helped found Hingham's Wilder Memorial Nursery School and the Hingham Public Library. As chairman of the board ofWilder she organized numerous "night out"musical galas to raise funds; one such gala featured the music of folksinger Joan Baez. In the 1960s, Joan raised money to relocate the Hingham Public Library, persuading Bonwit Teller to hold a fashion show at the library. But she took the most pride in chairing the lecture series, getting poet Anne Sexton and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov to speak at the library. Joan also served as president of the South Elementary School PTA, and as a leader in the Hingham chapter of the League ofWomen Voters. In the 1990s, Joan and Ralph co-founded the National Association of Senior Travel Planners, with Joan as executive director. In addition to her love of travel, she enjoyed antiquing, visiting art galleries, and gardening.

Mary Wagner Diegert, Vestal, NY, went on CAU's Landscapes of the Last Frontier: Alaska from Fairbanks to Glacier Bay, led by Verne Rockcastle, PhD '55, in June, and then attended a two-week session on Cayuga Lake Archaeology and Paleobiology with John Chiment and Life on a Silken Thread: An Introduction to Spider Biology and Behavior with Linda S. Rayor. Don Regula, MD '55, Schenectady, NY, and Elliott Siff,Westport, CT, did April in New York: A Spring Theatre Weekend last spring with Glenn Altschuler, PhD '76, and David Bathrick. Bob and Joanne Clark Nelson '57,Wilmington, DE, attended CAU for a one-week course titled Meritocracy in America with Robert H. Frank instructing.

Al and Vivian Ginty, Orange, CA, are thankful for great health and are enjoying retirement, which includes church activity, golf, travel to see three sons and their families (including five grandkids), "and lots of other stuff."Al's staying in touch with Theta Chi brothers and other friends in Lockport, NY, where he grew up. Marcus and Sondra Bressler are building a home in Broomfield, CO, to be closer to their daughter Lisa in Westminster, CO.Marcus is still active in ASME as a member of the Boiler & Pressure Vessel and Nuclear Code Standards committees.He sees Don Griffin at code meetings.He has taught courses recently in Krsko, Slovenia, and Pittsburgh, PA. He plans to attend reunion in June.

Reg Rice, MBA '52,Menlo Park, CA, says he's having too much fun to acquire a computer. Current obsessions include watercolors, duplicate bridge, travel, and local politics. In 2001, Joseph Bertino moved from Memorial Sloan-Kettering to the Cancer Inst. of New Jersey at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick as associate director of the cancer center. Betty Goldsmith Stacey,McLean, VA, says she's up to her ears in volunteering and yard work. She's trying to spend more time on the family genealogy before the infirmities of old age catch up with her. "If only those people had stayed put--and left better records!"

TheWashington Monthly College Guide claims, "Other guides ask what colleges can do for you.We ask what colleges are doing for America."An article in the September 2005 issue states, "While the private colleges of the Ivy League dominate most rankings of the nation's best colleges, they didn't dominate ours--only Cornell and the U. of Pennsylvania made our Top 10, and Princeton (tied with Harvard for the top slot on U.S. News' current list) was all the way down at number 44, a few slots behind South Carolina State U." Evan Hazard, Bemidji, MN, copied us on an e-mail to the WMCG, pointing out that Cornell is unusual in that four of its several colleges are state schools, parts of the State U. of New York, and thanked them for their "sensible alternative to U.S. News' ratings."

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 | Firsthand news first. Jean Thompson Cooper, she of the Long Island Rug School, invited five of us for a week at her place on St. Thomas. Jane McKim Ross,Wilkes Barre, PA, and Key West, FL, volunteer raiser of serious funds for cultural and social services; Judy Calhoun Schurman, New Canaan, CT, retired travel agent and businesswoman; Patricia Moore Sullivan, Chicago, family and churchperson extraordinary; Joan Nesmith Tillotson, MD '56, Fargo, ND, retired physician; and I all happily accepted.We are older, shaped differently, and may be wiser, but basically we are still us. The week was full of bright sun, blue skies and seas, and the laughter of women.

Now, your turn, with news from those previously unheard from.Marshall Lindheimer, Chicago, IL, is an emeritus professor at the U. of Chicago and chairs the general advisory committee of their Clinical Research Center. He is also consultant to the WHO's Dept. of Reproductive Health and Research. He and wife Jacqueline subscribe to the symphony and university quartet series. Active in community affairs, they were about to go on their fifth Cornell Alumni trip in February 2006. Alfred Pagano writes from Newark, DE, that though retired from E. I. DuPont, he consults part-time on the environment. After hours, he lists political party involvement, Christopher Columbus Monument Committee membership, and presidency of Italo-Americans United. He spends time at concerts and football games and had spent two weeks with two of his grandchildren in the Bahamas.

Sharon Follett Petrillose, Elmira, NY, is "keeping" house, books, husband, and healthy. She also keeps in touch with friends at home and in France. She's keeping up her French and gardens in season. A recent trip to donate food to the SPCA gave the Petrilloses two new kittens. She and Bob are parents, grandparents, and greatgrandparents. Stephen Prigozy, Averill Park, NY, has retired as professor of electrical engineering at the US Merchant Marine Academy. His current interest is the telegraph. Pointing out that "Ezra's money came from his early work on the telegraph," he has done research and collects old telegrams and telegraph ephemera. Apart from that, he's busy fixing up the mistakes done to his house.

Bob Silman, Brimfield, IL, followed up his Cornell degree with one in chemical engineering from the U. of Texas in 1960. He does research at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria. Spare time? He gardens, and he and wife Anita are both past presidents of Illinois Valley Kennel Club. They have bred eight champion Doberman pinschers. Roger '49, ME '52, and Jane Hillis Thayer live in Edgartown, MA. Jane, a psychotherapist and mediator, has, with her daughter Peggy, written the book Elderescence: The Gift of Longevity. She is busy presenting it. John, DVM '52, and Mary Shear Brennan are in Schenectady, NY. Jack writes that he reads, golfs, and travels. He is a library trustee and recently has been attending Cornell Sprint football games to watch grandson Michael Brennan '09, a fourth-generation Cornellian, play.

Joan Aten Beach, Lantana, FL, is active at the Norton Museum of Art,Hypoluxo Island Association, and Atlantis Golf Club. She and Stafford '51 have taken some wonderful trips each summer. They had just returned from New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. Joan writes, "On to the next country! It's hot down here." Judith Kredel Brown, Rochester, MI, is still teaching. She is professor of anthropology at Oakland U. She writes, "I am now the oldest member of the faculty." She swims just about every day in the university pool and does some lifting. Joan Stamboolian Braner, Tenafly, NJ, is also still at it. She owns "Conversations by Candlelight,"which offers singles dinner parties in a private home. She is involved with several study groups and enjoys theater, movies, books, and, not surprisingly, dinner parties. Sarah E. Gifft lives in Milford, PA.

John Sanford's news from Pass Christian, MS, is not happy. His present day job is battling with FEMA and the insurance company. He has been busy "picking through the debris that was once our house on the beach."As to what he'd rather be doing: "Pick anything." Gerald Read, Prattsburgh, NY, has retired after teaching Vo-Ag for 31 years. He and wife Shirley have traveled every state except North Dakota and have visited 24 foreign countries. They are busy maintaining two homes and enjoying 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Three of the grands were wed in 2005.

Arnold Barron,Morristown, NJ, is senior VP at Weichert Commercial Brokerage real estate. He puts in time at the gym, but more with work and travel, both of which he loves.Meneleo Carlos Jr. wrote from Metro Manila, Philippines. President of RI Chemical Corporation,Meneleo is Chairman, Federation of Philippine Industries, and active with Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology and Rotary. He, like so many of you, lists a fond Cornell memory--meeting his wife, Filomena Reyes, MS '53--and an old friend he would like to hear from. That leads to a reminder that your thoughts and wishes in those categories will be on our class Web page, http://classof52.alumni.cornell.edu, as will news of our 55th Reunion, which comes up next year. -- Joan Boffa Gaul, 7 Colonial Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15232; e-mail, jgcomm@aol.com.

53 | During its first 100 years, the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) held an annual mid-winter Cornell-in-Manhattan extravaganza. It was a time for training, both basic and advanced, of class officers and for the pleasure of Big Red company. For its 101st convocation, CACO moved to Philadelphia last Presidents'Weekend. Hundreds came from near and far to jam the Downtown Marriott, bringing with them years of experience in helping Mater keep alums interested, and going home with new visions for the Cornell era to come. CACO Mid-Winter Chair Jane Little Hardy led the change of venue, but couldn't attend the meeting itself due to husband Ernie, PhD '69's severe medical condition. She was truly missed.

Fifty-three held an annual meeting of our own, about which you should have already received pertinent word. Besides the CACO activities, '53 joined '52 for dinner Friday at Philadelphia's McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, across the street from historic City Hall.Mark present Dick Halberstadt, Jim and Sandy Blackwood, Mort, JD '55, and Anita Brown Bunis, GR '53-54, Joyce Wisbaum Underberg, Stan Rodwin '50, Shirley Sprague McClintock,Mary-Elizabeth Crabtree Turnbull, and the Hanchetts, Hat, Susie '90, and moi. Caroline Mulford Owens came to the class meeting Saturday. It was a grand weekend. Hail, all hail, Jane Hardy.

Author Joan Kanel Slomanson tapped her memory bank and other sources to share nostalgia with those who can't really forget the cinnamon toast, or the ice cream sundaes, or even the dry martinis of those days of yesteryear, When Everybody Ate at Schrafft's. That's the name of her new book (subtitled Memories, Pictures, and Recipes from a Very Special Restaurant).Maybe you remember the Depression days New Yorker cartoon in which one of those lunching Helen Hokinson ladies is punishing herself "for being a naughty girl yesterday at Schrafft's." There were rafts of Schrafft's around the Northeast when we were very young. Joan does them proud.

Career diplomat Bill Marsh (Washington, DC) submits that "Dec. 23 was my last day of work--ever," after 45 circumglobular years in the Foreign Service. "Was in the chair in the General Assembly from 10 to 1, casting three dozen votes on resolutions," mostly negative, says he, doing his bit for peace on earth at the UN. "We now turn to house and home and to health as prime agendas. It has been a great run but I am slightly winded. Saigon (three years during the hostilities), the Middle East, and 15 years in Europe were exciting enough for several lifetimes. Glacially slow promotions, but ending up as Minister in Geneva and Chief of Mission in Rome, with the latest eight years on the US delegation to the UN. Name-dropping of past bosses would include Henrys (Cabot Lodge and Kissinger) and John Bolton (twice)."

Julian Aroesty (Lexington, MA): "Still working full-time, although only 40 percent of the time in the office seeing cardiac patients, the rest in a Harvard research institute. Still defending physicians, nurses, and hospitals in malpractice suits. Out of 25 court cases, the defense has lost only once. Very gratifying work."He's been cycling for exercise ("15-20 miles per session") and learning to fly to fulfill childhood wishes. Son Adam entered the U. of Michigan this year to study biomedical engineering and managed a perfect 4.0 GPA in the first term ("Better than my first term at Cornell," says Pop). Adam's thinking of an MD/PhD program after Michigan. At the U. of Wisconsin, John Webster continues teaching biomedical instrumentation and design, plus research on curing liver cancer by heating or freezing the tumors, finding out whether Tasers can electrocute the heart and measuring menopausal hot flashes. Spouse Nancy (Egan) is into wide-ranging volunteering. They celebrated their 50th anniversary with 14 descendants under a midnight sun near the Arctic Circle in Norway after a conference in Umea, way up in Sweden. Other conferences took them to Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and London (plus France and Belgium).

A builder by training, career, and inclination, Ralph Brice (Charlotte, NC) built a woodworking shop when he retired from the practice of architecture and has turned his hands to furniture-making as a hobby.He tells of a mini-reunion with fellow Architecture '53 grads Holmes Stockly, Conrad Hamerman, and Shoji Sadao and spouses at a bed and breakfast in Kennett Square, PA, a while back. "Great to see them after some 50 years and to see them doing so well," says he.

Reverberations of reunions past provide a mellow hour of music from the magical keyboard of Tom Foulkes '52, backed by the clarinet of Louis Pradt, in their new DVD, "A Musical Toast." There's nothing much about those seven old ladies or the ship Titanic here, but there is a wonderful sound of jazz and pops, mostly of the '30s and '40s. For more information, reach Tom at keukalake@earthlink.net.

Thanks to the CACO Board and an astonishing--and very gratifying--number of friends who submitted kind words, your correspondent was honored with the second annual William Vanneman '31 Outstanding Class Leader Award at the Mid-Winter CACO lunch. It's a challenge to be worthy. Bill, winner of the first annual Bill Vanneman award last year, has been an outstanding class leader since before most of us '53 kids had begun to catch on to what was being explained to us in potty one-oh-one.He was at Mid-Winter Meeting to prepare for '31's 75th Reunion in June. -- Jim Hanchett, 300 1st Ave., Apt. 8B, New York, NY 10009; e-mail, jch46@cornell. edu.

54 | Donald McCobb, MBA '55, will soon be removed from Chick Trayford, MBA '60's lost list, as he is thriving in Naples, FL, with wife Jessie. They have recently been back to Italy, where Don lived for a number of years, and where we lost him, enjoying the marvelous wines, cheeses, and scenery of Tuscany. When not traveling or dodging hurricanes, Don is to be found on the golf course. Richard Schoeck of Bernhards Bay, NY, is a Master Forest Owner via Cornell Cooperative Extension and involved with the Shriners Child Identification Program or CHIP. Retired from teaching, Joan Shaw Taylor now volunteers at Samaritan Hospital, serves as president of her PEO chapter, and like the rest of us enjoys her grandchildren. Austin Edgar would rather be working, but is now retired from his wholesale florist business. Nowadays he spends his "after hours" attending Syracuse sporting events and singing barbershop both on the regional and national levels.

Patricia Vogt Robida's fondest memories of Cornell were friends, spring, and the gorges. Am sure she saw some spectacular gorges on her trip to Alaska. Being president of New Jersey West Hudson Valley Council, Union for Reform Judaism keeps Diana Skaletzky Herman very busy, and there is nothing she would rather be doing at the moment. Partly retired and busier than ever (heard that before), Robert Evans of Branchport, NY, works with the town planners, is town historian, has helped rebuild a WWII Memorial, and is writing a book on the area's WWII vets.

Last summer Bert Rosen was off to Ecuador. Bert always lives on the economy, so to speak; he rarely makes reservations ahead of time, learns to read foreign bus, boat, train, and plane schedules, explores the highways and byways like a local, and this past summer he also endeavored to avoid local disturbances or strikes throughout the country. Teaching part-time as an associate clinical professor of internal medicine doesn't take up all of David Morse's time; golf, tennis, walking, and travels fill in spare moments, although he would not mind spending more time on the course.

Val Leinieks, MA '56, now retired, spent 46 years teaching the classics at the U. of Nebraska.He says he feels as though he is on permanent summer vacation with all the time in the world to read the books he has written and lectured about for lo those many years. He plans to keep working on another book, but . . . only when he feels like it. John Eisele is now completely at leisure docenting on local wetlands, fly-fishing in the Sierra, and working with the Boy Scouts on their fly-fishing merit badge. In 2005 Pam and John took their second trip to Alaska, where they enjoyed the hiking, kayaking, and sightseeing in its southeast corner.Henry Renard, MBA '55, writes that he recently joined the Johnson School Advisory Council. He still manages other people's money and with his own enjoys good food and fine wine around the world.

Bill Peters is doing volunteer hospital work along with recording for the blind and dyslexic. Some of his fondest memories of life on the Hill were those involved with fraternity life. John Clarke has not moved south or taken up a leisurely life; he is still running his fruit farm in Milton, NY. Spero Davis remembers fondly the wonderful instructors at the Hotel school and friendships that have lasted a lifetime.He is presently general manager for American Siding and Window in Des Moines while on his day job, but in his spare time Spero has built a plane with Peter Paris's son.

Abdul Assifi would love to retire and travel with his wife to lovely places, but is instead working with the government of Afghanistan to rebuild much of their destroyed infrastructure. His concentration presently is the rebuilding of its water supply, especially to revitalize irrigated agriculture. Linda Stagg Long had moved into Carmel from Big Sur, I suspect to be closer to her grandchildren who she loves to chauffeur.What a nifty town to do it in.

The last question on the news form regarding old friends you would like to hear from has created a challenge for me, as I love puzzles; however, you can locate most people yourself (if they are classmates) via our class website, http://classof54.alumni.cornell.edu/, or if they are not classmates, through the online Alumni Directory, https://directory.alumni.cornell.edu. Chick does a very good job at keeping the class site updated. Hopefully many old friends can be located. It helps if you add an e-mail address on your news form so we can respond to your requests. -- Leslie Papenfus Reed, 500 Wolfe St., Alexandria,VA 22314; e-mail, ljreed@speakeasy.net.

55 | Our own Jay Hyman, DVM '57, has been named one of seven winners of the 2006 Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. This prestigious award is given each year by the Cornell Alumni Federation in recognition of extraordinary service to Cornell. Jay is the third member of our class to be honored: Ned Arps, MBA '57, received the Rhodes Award in 1997, and Bob Cowie, MBA '57, in 2003. This year's group of winners will be recognized at a banquet on Friday, October 13, in Ithaca during Homecoming Weekend. Congratulations to you, Jay!

Class co-president Barbara Loreto Peltz kept busy with Cornell functions last fall. She and co-president Fred Antil attended CACO's New Officer Leadership Training on campus in September. Eva Konig Ray and Ken Mason, JD '60, participated in the program, which is designed to help new officers get a handle on their leadership roles. The Peltzes also went down to Princeton for the football game and met up afterwards with the AGR contingent, who enjoy a long tradition of getting together at Bill Doerler's house every two years after the game. Barb especially liked learning the AGR motto, "No song unsung, no wine untasted, no brother unremembered."

The next day, the Peltzes took advantage of the glorious weather to attend the Princeton Invitational crew event. Twelve Cornell crews took part, Barb reports, "including our great women rowers." Fred e-mailed me that there was a great crowd for Homecoming, with a shower coming only at halftime. The Cornell team claimed a decisive victory over Georgetown,"which showed that the Cornell football program has really turned around," Fred added.He ran into Don Kennedy, Stan Goldberg, and George Pfann, LLB '59, at the game, and later that night met up with others from the classes of the '50s at the Ithaca Country Club party. After dinner, everyone gathered around the piano, including Bob Cowie who, according to Fred, was "singing up a storm. I had no idea he remembered all those old songs so well!"Also last fall, Fred and wife Ann attended the CAU trip to Gettysburg, which was led by History prof. Joel Silbey, his son David Silbey '90 (also a history teacher), and Interim President Hunter Rawlings. The lecturers "captivated us with the history of this momentous battle, and the impact it has had on our nation." Fred explains, "We had been to Gettysburg before, but now we can say we know Gettysburg." Fellow '55 participants were Al Blomquist, MBA '57, and John Riley.

Konrad Bald is a man who makes a difference. For the past three years, he has been the top money raiser for the Barrington, IL, CROP Walk, and in fact raised more than anyone else in the United States. He is also active in the local homeless shelter, and is the longest-serving volunteer (18 years) at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. To celebrate their 53rd anniversary, Konrad and Marjory (Tauscher) '52 cruised to Tahiti. Dave Sheffield, MRP '61, still practices architecture ("now on a smaller scale"), but finds time for travel. He and Allison (Hopkins) '56 enjoyed a vacation in Paris and Rome with Peter, MRP '57, and Mickey Symonds Eschweiler '53. The Sheffields also enjoy getting away from it all at their cottage on Lake Mooselookmeguntic in Maine, where they pursue their respective hobbies: Allison is a prolific quilter and Dave weaves Nantucket baskets.

Bill Boyle, MBA '56, writes that he recently visited Brazil to evaluate the booming agricultural economy there, and to explore investment opportunities. Joan Groskin Promin,my former freshman corridor-mate, lives in Ocala, FL. Joan has become an artist-in-residence at the U. of Florida's Shands Teaching Hospital, and also serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for the university's performing arts program. Out our way, Seymour Musiker writes that he's still working full-time, and is now chairman of pediatrics at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. His daughter Randy Musiker '85 was on campus for her 20th Reunion the same weekend as our 50th. Tad Slocum writes that after flying his own plane for 40 years, he finally had to sell it last year, but he's still working, racking up his 43rd year in the investment business. The Slocums celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Hawaii with the whole family.

Bob Leader has five children, among them his son Henry '84, who's a partner in Case & Leader LLP in Gouveneur, NY. Bob himself commutes between Gouveneur and Cocoa Beach, FL, each month. Beth Barstow Calhoon is an art associate at the Art Inst. of Chicago, and serves as a lay Eucharistic minister and member of the vestry at her church. She's also involved with Habitat for Humanity and PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). Last April, Beth visited South Africa and found it a "stunningly beautiful country. Everyone we met was so hospitable, and they've made remarkable progress in the decade since the end of apartheid."

Here's a belated news item that will be of interest to the fishermen among you: Dick Mathewson and his wife Jane spent most of the summer of 2004 at their lake home in Minnesota. They visited the northernmost piece of land in the lower 48 states, Lake of the Woods, MN, where they found 365,000 miles of shoreline and 17,000 islands to fish around for muskie and walleye! Dick adds, "This is what retirement is all about for us."Hope you're all spending these blessed years in whatever way makes you happiest. -- Nancy Savage Petrie, nancypetrie@juno.com. Class website, http://classof55.alumni.cornell.edu.

56 | We're getting closer to what I think will be one of our best reunions ever. Ernie Stern, our president, and Percy Edwards Browning, our reunion chairman, have worked tirelessly along with the "core group" to plan and review every aspect of the event to make sure we will all have a fun and meaningful time. As you know, our 50th Reunion will be from June 8-11. From all I hear from our classmates, there will be many of us who will be returning for the first time since graduation. Ernest Stent and Phil Karlin are two of those who have never been back and I'm sure there are many others. If you have any questions about reunion, please contact me and I will send your inquiry on to the proper party. Let's all have a great time!

One of the events during Reunion Weekend, in addition to some interesting talks and dinners, will be a documentary on one of our most distinguished classmates, architect Richard Meier.Many of us who knew him as a mere youth have been interviewed for this presentation. Don't miss it when you look at the program.

Life is good for Lael Jackson and Mary Fitzgerald Morton, who say they will be coming to reunion. They recently went on a cruise to Acapulco and ended up with a group of dolphins in Ixtapa.We can't wait to see them in June. Leland Mote of Big Bear Lake, CA, will be coming to reunion. He is still working as senior underwriter/auditor for the Clayton Group. Prior to reunion he plans to go to Alaska.

An interesting guy is Robert Taylor ofWest Lafayette, IN. He is still teaching farm management and economics at Purdue with 500 students in his class. In addition to also teaching Sunday school, Bob is taking a group of farm management students to Brazil to study soybean production.He has 11 grandchildren and is building a grandfather clock for each one. Vera JohnsonWinter Lee lives in San Francisco, CA, and is happily retired. She is involved in music for her church and is an usher for the San Francisco Opera and Ballet. Last spring she took a cruise through the Panama Canal.

It has come to our attention that over the past years, we may have omitted from this column the fact that Martin Wunderlicht Pel-Or passed away on November 20 in the year 2000. His wife Susan (Cohen) '59 still lives in Netanya, Israel. Another sad note is the passing of David Karl Orselet ofWest Chester, PA, who died on October 23.He was married to his high school sweetheart, Nancy Jane, for over 54 years. David was an executive of General Electric until 1990, the father of four, and the grandfather of five. Our condolences to his family.

Phyllis Mable of Washington, DC, has retired from Longwood U. as VP for student affairs. She is now executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. Her recent travel was to the south of France. Jim Yates is still practicing plastic surgery in central Pennsylvania. He is president of the American Assoc. for Accreditation, Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. Jim is also involved in many community activities and lives in Lemoyne, PA, with Debbie, his wife of 24 years.

Jim Plunkett,Milwaukee, WI, has been recognized by his architectural firm for 50 years of service.He still specializes in civic and governmental work. Bill Purdy attended sailing class at Cornell last summer. He also traveled to Tucson to participate in the USTA Senior Men's Doubles. Bill has seven children, 14 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild and makes his home in Scotia, NY.

It was nice hearing from Orlando Turco, our great wrestler, who is still living in Ithaca. He coached at Ithaca High School for 35 years and is now a realtor. He has six children and five grandchildren. Elliot Goldstein, MD '60, of Davis, CA, is an emeritus professor from UC Davis Medical School. He still teaches first- and second-year medical students.He recently went sport fishing for salmon on Craig Island, AK, with his sons, son-in-law, and grandson.What fun that must have been!

Lenore Palefski Shulman (Hillsdale, NJ) retired in June. Her first grandchild arrived just a short time ago and she could not be more thrilled. Donald Nadeau (Fairport, NY) retired in 1999 from Cadbury Schweppes as director of procurement for their North American region.He is also active in the US Power Squadron and spends time in Cancun and on the St. Lawrence River. Karl Fischer of Chatham, MA, has finally "packed in" the hotel business and is spending time with Nancy, his wife of 49 years, and their seven grandchildren. He will be attending reunion and is involved in the Cornell Club of Cape Cod.

It was nice hearing from Gail Rudin from her home in Manhasset, NY, that she and husband Steve are still very involved in the University Library and have sponsored a lecture series on American culture. They traveled on the Adriatic and went to Morocco. They have five grandchildren. I hope I will see E. George Pazianos, LLB '61, at reunion. Although retired, he is still living in Washington, DC, and also owns a farm in Virginia. He spent last October in Tuscany. Lorna Jackson Salzman of Brooklyn, NY, is an activist who writes about the environment with Climate Crisis Coalition. She is a member of the NYS Green Party and loves bird-watching, music, and keeping company with her 5-year-old granddaughter. Sonia Goldfarb Brody lives steps away from Anita Hurwitch Fishman and Charlotte Edelstein Gross in South Orange, NJ. She is involved with the Society for Racial Harmony and recently went to Egypt. She also has her five grandchildren nearby, which makes her life even better!

Baxter Webb of Palm Beach, FL, already has his flight and room reservation for reunion. He has been back to the Hotel school within the past year and got together with some of his Hotelie classmates at a party in San Antonio hosted by Dick Nelson '57. Among those in attendance, along with their wives, were Dean Bob Beck '42, PhD '54, Jamie Poteet, Joe Thomas '54, Archer des Cognets '57, MBA '60, and Bob Minium.We look forward to seeing Baxter.

I am just ending my 40th-plus year of writing this column, in recent years with my buddy Phyllis Bosworth. Although some think I am half crazy (and maybe I am), I am going to continue. Gail and I divide our time between New York, Palm Beach, and Martha's Vineyard, but our real joy is being with our three daughters and four granddaughters. Thank goodness for sons-in-law. Of course, I cannot end this column without telling you how wonderful it is hearing from everyone. I will apologize in person at reunion to all of you who failed to make this column.We will try to do better in the next 40 years. See you in Ithaca on June 8-11! P.S. For information regarding our upcoming 50th Reunion, please visit our website--created by classmate and reunion registrar Carol Rapp Thompson: http://classof56.alumni. cornell.edu. -- Stephen Kittenplan, 1165 Park Ave., New York, NY 10128; e-mail, catplan@aol.com.

57 | A large contingent of classmates attended the CACO Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia last February. Bert Grunert DeVries arranged a Friday night dinner at a local restaurant for the group that included Walter, PhD '62, and Dixie Davis Curtice '56, who made the short drive from Washington Crossing, PA. Locals Bill and Jan Charles Lutz, who had recently returned from a Caribbean cruise with the whole family, had a chance to compare travel notes with MarciaWishengrad Metzger, JD '60, who celebrated her 70th birthday with a trip to Costa Rica. Jan Nelson Cole was just back from skiing in Beaver Creek, CO, where she found that reaching a certain landmark age is beneficial when it comes to season passes. The class meeting on Saturday was largely devoted to plans for our 50th--just a year away--and Connie Santagato Hosterman is volunteering once again to help get things under way, joining co-chairs Paul Gladstone and Dori Goudsmit Albert.

Ruby Tomberg Senie, BS Nurs '75, continues with her project in cancer research while teaching two classes at Columbia U. School of Public Health. Barbara Kaufman Smith has reunion on her calendar for 2007, along with plans to use this year to tackle some long-neglected projects. And now that the Smiths have sold their hardware store, Barbara has more time to spend with her 3-year-old granddaughter. Robert, JD '57, and Carol Elis Kurzman's oldest grandchild (and son of Marc Kurzman '80) started college last fall. There's a new granddaughter, their first, for Bob '55, MBA '57, and Vanne Shelley Cowie, who spent Christmas in Rhode Island before heading off for a much anticipated trip to Jumby Bay, Antigua.

Besides 50 being the number of years since we graduated (as of next June), news notes now include reports of 50th wedding anniversaries being celebrated. For M.O. "Bus" '54 and Carmen Lovre Ryan it was a trip to New Zealand and Australia in late January. This summer they'll get away from the heat of Atlanta and head to their place at Lake Toxaway, NC. Saranac Lake, NY, is where Dick '56 and Bobbie Redden Leamer will be spending their time from late May to early October. The Leamers undertook a major project last year when they "rebuilt" their old house at the lake. All of Dick and Bobbie's children and grandchildren visit for a good part of the summer, enjoying long days in and on the lake. -- Judith Reusswig, 19 Seburn Dr., Bluffton, SC 29909; e-mail, JCReuss@aol.com.

I received a "Happy New Year" call from SteveWeiss, in which we recalled having survived the rigors of Government 101 and Prof. Suchman's admonitions, delivered with a smile the width of which was limited only by his ears. I went on to write mediocre satire while Steve founded and managed a Wall St. firm and served the university in several capacities, including an outstanding tenure as chairman of the Board of Trustees. Sounds like a career standoff to me. Pete Blauvelt checks in from Fair Haven, NY, where he is still board chairman of Cayuga College and the presiding judge in the area east of Rochester. I sat in on one of his sessions a few years ago, and can vouch for both his humor and bench demeanor, giving the term "frontier justice" new meaning.

Our outstanding 1957 crew had a reunion in Washington recently, hosted by Carl and Daniele Schwarz. In attendance for the three days of merriment were Clayt and Kerstin Chapman, Bill and Amelia Schumacher, PhD '64, Phil and Shirley Gravink, Bob Staley, MBA '59, Brenda Davis, and Betty Eastham Simpson.

Mark Levy, full-time ophthalmologist and sometime cabaret performer, took his act to Mohonk Mountain House, where Pete Gogolak '64, sometime placekicker and full-time cabaret enthusiast, was in the audience. If you're near MMH at Thanksgiving, you'll be able to enjoy an encore performance. Roger Jones, MPA '60, and Peggy Haretos continue the pleasant life in the Spruce Creek fly-in community in Port Orange, FL, housing the airplane there and the boat at the nearby Halifax Harbor Marina. Roger has spent time with Ted Raab, Peter Wolf, ME '59, and Jay Schabacker in the last year, and recent travels have included Greece, Italy, Turkey, Slovenia, and France.

Eric Zitzmann, MD '61, has been practicing orthopedics in Westchester, NY, for 37 years and is currently president of the local White Plains Orthopedic Association. After skiing in Vermont to celebrate his 70th, he spent time cruising around Croatia and Greece.He plays tennis with Roy Glah when their schedules allow, and often sees DickWeiss, MD '61, respected internist at White Plains Hospital.

I'll bet no classmate with the exception of Bill Hoblock has had a horse race named after him. That happened at Saratoga last summer. Bill is of counsel to the New York State Legislative Bill Drafting Commission and active on the Town of Colonie Planning Board. Joe and Wilida Leinbach enjoyed a cruise up the Nile, and said that it seemed just like the National Geographic pictures indicated it would be.

ONE YEAR and counting to the BIG ONE. -- John Seiler, 221 St.Matthews Ave., Louisville, KY 40207; tel., (502) 895-1477; e-mail, suitcase2@aol.com.

58 | I had a wonderful letter and some newspaper clippings from Carolyn King Nytch. Seems her story was the inspiration for a documentary called "A Little Lower Than The Angels."Growing up in Owego, NY, Carolyn called two of her parents' closest friends by "Aunt" and "Uncle." They had a little girl, by the name of Marilyn, who was born with cerebral palsy and profound mental disabilities. She lived with her parents until 1944 and then they never spoke of her again. They died in the 1980s, and Marilyn and Carolyn were named in their wills. That meant Marilyn was still alive, and Carolyn felt compelled to look for her. She found her in one of the group homes of ENABLE in Syracuse.

Over the next two years, Carolyn came to know the woman she knew so little as a child. She realized Marilyn was a real person with a personality.Marilyn died in 2004 and Carolyn saw to it she was buried in her parents' plot. This documentary was aired in Syracuse last summer and Carolyn is hoping it will make the cut for the National PBS program "Point of View." The film is about much more than the personal story. It touches on developmental disabilities issues and on the horrible conditions that existed before group homes.

Hedy Cohen Rose was invited to give the convocation address at Utrecht U.'s international honors college, the Roosevelt Academy, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. Hedy, who spent four years hidden in a basement in Amsterdam, spoke of her wartime experiences and of those who rescued her and her sister. She has retired from academic life, but is still actively engaged as a consultant and with related activities. Some of the things she remembers most fondly from Cornell are the sparkling fall mornings on such a beautiful campus, the calm inspirational moods in Mike Abrams's classes, and the debates and challenges presented in Milton Konvitz's class that helped further her own thinking, although she didn't realize it at the time.Muriel King Taylor, MD '62, remembers the Art Quad dressed in fall, winter, and spring vestments! Muriel is retired but taking up painting. She took a watercolor workshop with her sister and is now taking sumie (Japanese ink) painting with a local artist.

Robert Mayer is a financial consultant with Wachovia Securities. He also does a lot of volunteer work at hospitals and senior citizens homes and with the Federation of Jewish Agencies.He remembers most fondly "getting through my freshman year!" ScottWetstone is a retired anesthesiologist.He keeps busy with travel, golf, dancing, entertaining, skiing, and the computer.His fondest memories of Cornell are the swim team, his fraternity (Phi Kappa Sigma), and the beautiful Ithaca scenery. Jack Dougherty is mostly retired but does consulting occasionally and teaches geotechnical engineering at the U. of Texas, San Antonio--also occasionally. Al Hershey also remembers fraternity life (Sigma Nu) very fondly--and all the great people that attended our great university. Don is owner and president of his own company, Hershey Enterprises, and has been in business for 35 years. -- Jan Arps Jarvie, 6524 Valley Brook, Dallas, TX 75254; e-mail, jjarvie@sbcglobal.net; Richard Haggard, 1207 Nash Dr., Ft.Washington, PA 19034; e-mail, dhaggard@voicenet.com.

59 | In February Alexia Pincus Lalli of New York City and Hillsdale, NY, returned from her 25th trip to Cuba in seven years, with other foreign travels during the past year including Argentina, Costa Rica, Botswana, South Africa, and Italy. She was busy writing a paper on recent preservation, planning, and architecture in Havana, to be published after a conference at City U. of New York in March. "Never a dull moment," she said, noting that in 2005 she worked for PEN as manager of their first international literature festival, "World Voices." She is on the board of the Preservation League of New York State; Art Omi, an artists' residence and sculpture park in Columbia County, NY; and Aston Magna, a Baroque music society in the Berkshires.

Karl Van Wirt informed me of the death on January 30 of Charlie Cook of Devon, PA. Karl,Wayne Scoville, Karl Thomas, George and Bobbi Greig Schneider, and Bob Shaw sorrowfully attended a memorial service held for Charlie in Wayne, PA, on February 18.

Doug Dedrick, DVM '61, of East Aurora, NY, is retired from veterinary medicine and for the past three years has been studying at Christ the King Seminary, planning to graduate in May 2007. Toby Friedman Gottfried of Orinda, CA, recently retired as chief science officer of Calypte Biomedical and is now a technology consultant for a couple of biotech companies. She and husband Bill were the Fan Guests of Honor at the Left Coast Crime Conference in Bristol, England, this March. They were recognized for their efforts in organizing international mystery conferences, where fans and authors meet for discussions . . . and buying books! Toby's latest publication, in the March issue of the journal Expert Review in Molecular Diagnostics, covered the use of rapid HIV tests in the developing world.

"Adjusting happily to downsizing": After more than 30 years, Jack and Adrienne Farber Hickey have moved from their house to a cooperative apartment in Scarsdale, NY. Adrienne continues her work as editor-in-chief at AMACOM Books, the book publishing division of the American Management Association. Recent travels have included Greece in 2005 and the Netherlands this March. Another classmate who "needed to downsize" and recently moved is Carolyn Hill Rogers, who is in Hebron, CT, in a home "on a hill with big sky all around and great sunrises and sunsets."

Dale, LLB '63, and Jane VanWynen Goodfriend '61 still live in Rochester, MN. Jane keeps busy with a variety of volunteer activities while Dale "mediates, peddles antiques, swims, exercises, walks dogs, and tries unsuccessfully to stay out of trouble." The couple has "four adult, gainfully employed children" and two grandchildren (three as you read this, with a fourth due in July). Judy Bookstaber Katz of Pittsfield, MA, is on her city's planning board, "dealing with some serious whatkind- of-city-do-we-want-to-be issues right now." She's also on the board of the regional Cornell Club and of an agency that operates battered women's shelters. Recent trips have included jaunts to Costa Rica, Panama, Israel, Ireland, and the American Southwest. A second hip replacement last October didn't stop AnneMarie Behling of Fairview, NC, from kayaking in Florida in December, snorkeling and sailing in Belize in January, or skiing in Idaho in February, while "anxiously awaiting spring so I can do more landscaping around my new home." ("Yipes!" thinks your computer-potato correspondent.)

"Life after 'retirement' ain't so bad," writes Renee Stern Vogel of Providence, RI. Renee has pretty much retired from the practice of medicine. She went to law school in the 1990s and currently takes pro bono cases through the volunteer lawyers program of the Rhode Island Bar Association. She also acts as a guardian ad litem appointed by the court to help resolve custody battles over a child. "It is very interesting, and my medical background does help me sort through a lot of issues." She and Ben have two granddaughters living in North Carolina, whom they visit as often as possible. Ben stopped delivering babies at around 7,000 deliveries and now concentrates on his gynecology practice . . . and has become a golf addict.

Peter Bowman of Kittery, ME, is running for state senator as a Democrat in District 1. "It's a lot of work, but I hope to make it fun!" he writes. Phil Kiviat, MS '61, of Potomac, MD, started his third government sales consulting business this year. He and his wife, married 40 years, have four grandchildren. "Life is good here in Napa Valley," says Sue Bates Cottrell. She invites all '59ers to stop by Freemark Abbey Winery, where she has worked since 1982 and today is hospitality director. Sue sings in the St. Helena Chamber Choir, is active in a local book group, and in March went to Israel on a pilgrimage with several others from her church.

"What fun to receive your note!" wrote Sue. I wish to thank everyone who responded to my first-ever mass e-mailing. It has been delightful to read, and be able to share, your news.Watch for more responses to the e-mailing in my next column and be sure to pay your class dues! -- Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.