50 | Please get out your new calendar for 2007 and mark in the following date: January 19. This is the date of our annual Class of 1950 dinner, which will again take place at 6:30 p.m. in the elegant Lincoln Room at the Union League of Philadelphia, 140 South Broad Street. Our annual dinner, you'll recall, 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 in 2007 CACO meets again in Philadelphia (as it also will in 2008). As an added attraction this time, we will be joined by members of other classes of the early 1950s. To make a reservation for the dinner, write a check for $75 each, made out to me, Marion Steinmann, and mail it to me at the address listed at the end of this column.

We will again be able to stay at the Union League itself. At our 2006 Class of 1950 dinner last February, a number of us stayed at the League, and we all enjoyed some good conversations over breakfast the next morning. To reserve a room, call the League at (215) 587-5570 and ask for the Cornell block.

Also, on Saturday night, January 20, ALL Cornellians--not just CACO members--are invited to a celebration of Ezra Cornell's 200th birthday at Citizens Bank Park (the home of the Phillies) in South Philadelphia. Transportation from the Marriott in Center City (where CACO is meeting) will be provided, and there is also ample parking. For more information, contact Carolyn DeWilde Casswell '90 in Cornell's Middle Atlantic Regional Office at (610) 458-1846.We hope to see you in Philadelphia!

James Layne, PhD '54 (jlayne@strato.net) has had a long career as a vertebrate zoologist. From 1963 to 1967, he was back at Cornell as an associate professor of biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Then for 26 years, from 1967 to 1993, Jim was on the staff of the Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid in southern Florida, where he became executive director. Over the years Jim has done field research and published books and articles about such varied backboned creatures as marine mammals, rodents, and Audubon's crested caracara. He is currently research biologist emeritus at the Station.

Michael Geduldig (geduldig@earthlink.net) earned his MD from NYU and became a gastroenterologist.He reminded me that in 1957 we ran into each other at a pension in Florence when he was a medical officer with the US Army stationed in Germany.Michael is now an emeritus professor of medicine at the Hershey Medical School in Hershey, PA. He grows orchids in his greenhouse and has also been taking history courses at Dickinson College.Michael keeps in touch with David Eisenberg, MD '54 (Rochester, NY), who has retired from internal medicine and gastroenterology, and Dick Willner (rwill71129@aol.com), who still practices cardiology in California. Civil engineer Charles Bauerlein (Philadelphia, PA; oldliberalcharlieb@verizon.net) was president of an engineering company that designed municipal recreation facilities such as pools, parks, and playgrounds. Charles is currently an associate in a small construction company specializing in residential swimming pools. "This is done part-time and is seasonal," he explains. He has also become interested in poetry and recently earned a master's degree from Villanova. Charles and his wife Agnes have 11 children, 27 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

EveWeinschenker Paul (New York City; evewpaul@aol.com) was recently widowed. After graduation Eve went directly to Columbia Law School and earned her JD in 1952. She raised a son and a daughter and became vice president and general counsel of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as well as a Cornell trustee. Edward Jedrzejek of Little Valley, near Salamanca, NY, taught agriculture at the Wilson, Little Valley, and Ellicottville central schools for 21 years. Then for seven years he was the principal of BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) in Cattaraugus, Erie, and Wyoming counties. Jules '45, DVM '46, and Mary Holcomb Haberman now live in Bethel, ME. "Our newly-completed house is lovely, comfortable, and minutes from the village and one child's family,"Mary writes. "Everyone here skis, kayaks, rock climbs, hikes, fishes." The Habermans previously lived in Hereford, AZ.

Dr. Bob Feller (Oxnard, CA; bobfeller107@earthlink.net) this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of his graduation from the School of Dental Medicine at the U. of Pennsylvania. Richard Hudes (Flushing, NY; heyrichard@aol.com) took a "wonderful movie course" at Cornell's Alumni University (CAU) this past summer. "Taking a course in such an informal manner with other CAU'ers is a sociable and rewarding experience," he writes. "And walking around campus always gives me a warm feeling." Richard is a retired CPA with an MBA from Pace U.

A healthy chunk of our classmates--95, to be exact, or eight percent of the class (according to Susan Doney, our class contact in the office of Alumni Affairs and Development)-- now live in the state of Florida, and Betsy AlexanderWeis (Osprey, FL; eaweis@comcast.net) has volunteered as this column's Florida Correspondent. Betsy, you may recall, is a lawyer who first raised eight children and then went to law school, finishing her JD in 1990. Betsy has gathered news about the following classmates.Miriam McCloskey Jaso (mcjaso@aol.com) is still a realtor in nearby Sarasota. Jo-An MinerWebb (Holmes Beach) was about to travel to Hawaii for a family reunion, then to Scotland with a grandson. Cornell football Hall-of-Famer Frank Bradley volunteers driving people to the hospital and to doctor's appointments. He lives four months of the year in Florida and the rest of the year in Brewster, MA, on Cape Cod. Frank Zurn, former head of Zurn Industries, told Betsy that he was about to move from Venice, FL, to Chickamauga in the mountains of northwest Georgia near Chattanooga, TN. Frank was looking forward to learning more about the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, which took place in September 1863 only six miles from his new home.

Betsy also contacted Bill Schickler (Sarasota), who was formerly assistant general manager and chief engineer of the Suffolk County Water Authority on Long Island, NY. Bill was recently installed as an officer in the Manasota Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners ofWar. An infantryman in WWII, Bill was captured near the French-German border in December 1944, a few days before the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, and spent four months in a POW camp--"Long enough," he says. "One of the worst things was that we didn't have enough to eat--the German soldiers didn't have enough to eat either--but I'm alive!"

Charles Deakyne (Severna Park, MD; charles.deakyne@gte.net) telephoned to tell us about his friend Selleck "Jack" Carpenter, who died late last year. During WWII, Jack was a co-pilot and navigator in the Army Air Force, flying the India-Burma route--the Hump--into China. At Cornell, Jack earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and also a "C" playing football. Jack was president of Carpenter & Skaer, a general contracting firm, which did work on the Buffalo Convention Center and Buffalo's Roswell Park Cancer Inst., among many other projects. "Jack was very popular," says Charlie, "among the football players, the CE school students, and our fraternity brothers at Acacia." -- Marion Steinmann, 237 West Highland Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118-3819; tel., (215) 242-8443; e-mail, cjoiner@ix.netcom.com; Paul H. Joslin, 6080 Terrace Dr., Johnston, IA 50151-1560; tel., (515) 278-0960; e-mail, phj4@cornell.edu.

51 | Barbara Bell Jutila writes from Morristown, NJ, that she was so sorry to miss reunion! "I was hospitalized for two months (!) with a nasty infection, but I am back home now and doing well. I look forward to a visit tomorrow with Perry and Carolyn Thelander Gittelson (Short Hills, NJ) and Keith Seegmiller, who will catch me up on all the news." Thomas '52 and Julia Ann SchaenzerWhelan have enjoyed 21 years of retirement on Hilton Head Island, SC, with travel to 169 countries and all the continents. They celebrate 54 years of marriage with six children and 14 grandchildren. One daughter and son-in-law have triplets, plus twin boys adopted from the Ukraine.

If any of you have read Bill Bryson's account of walking (some of) the Appalachian Trail (AWalk in the Woods, 1998), you may recall Chicken John (pp. 205-8): "Chicken John was forever losing the trail and ending up in the most improbable places. I asked him what was the most lost he had ever been. ‘Thirty-seven miles,' he said almost proudly. ‘I got off the trail on Blood Mountain in Georgia--still don't know how exactly--and spent three days in the woods before I came to a highway. I thought I was a goner that time. I ended up in Tallulah Falls--even got my picture in the paper.' Is it true that you once walked three days in the wrong direction? ‘Two and a half days to be precise. Luckily, I came to a town on the third day, and I said to a feller, "Excuse me young feller, where is this?" and he said, "Why it's Damascus, Virginia, sir," and I thought, well, that's mighty strange because I was in a place with the very same name just three days ago.'"

Chicken John was our own John Carl "JC"Huttar, Gainesville, GA, who spent his entire work life in the chicken business.Macular degeneration explains losing his way. That hike was in 1996. In 1998 he canoed along the Erie Canal from Niagara Falls to the Hudson River, going through 38 locks in 28 days. Can't get lost there. In 1999 he did the entire Lewis & Clark trail from St. Louis to the Pacific, mostly by car, canoeing the 105 miles downstream of Great Falls, the wild and scenic stretch of the river. In 2004 he flew to Skagway with friends and climbed the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, "the most dangerous hike I have ever made. The third day requires a climb of 3,000 feet in 1.6 miles--crawling over rocks. It rained the whole day, and I have a fear of heights. So with my 45-pound pack I was worried about falling over backwards.My two companions (58 years old) were ready to kill me when I made it to the top of the pass (Canada) two and a half hours after they did. The rest of the hike was gently downhill to Bennett, where the Klondikers built boats and rafts to go down the Yukon River to Dawson City and the gold." JC took the train back to Skagway in 2-1/2 hours.

William Volk turned his architecture degree into managing construction observation for TAC and was Construction Resident Architect for a new university in Baghdad, Iraq, for two years before retirement. Although now a widower, he and his wife traveled to Europe, Thailand, Athens, and Japan while in the Mideast. Two daughters, graduates of Northern Colorado and Northern Florida universities, have traveled to South and Central America and Europe.William O'Hara, Pittsford, NY, reports recently adding a "beautiful new 92-seat dining room to our Williamsburg, NY, restaurant (Orbacker's)." Bill still works as president of the corporation, with his son as general manager. Doris and Bill have four grandchildren, ages 1, 2, 6, and 7. They just returned from a Caribbean cruise to six islands and still like St.Maarten's best, where they own three timeshares. Another island cruise is scheduled. Bill says that James Paul has moved to Mesa, AZ.

Jacqueline Goldberg Eisenberg,Windsor, ON, writes that her grandson Stephen is in his last year at Waterloo & Laurier Universities majoring in economics and math. Granddaughter Alexis graduated from Havergal College and continues studies at the U. of British Columbia this fall, and Emily is starting her academic career in Hamilton, ON, in JK (Junior Kindergarten) in September. Don and Ann McNamara regret that a family reunion with four children and six grands in Williamsburg,VA, took priority over the June reunion. Don chatted recently with Ed Coene, John Dyson, Don Auty, Jack Hollis '50, and Marty Horn '50, and also reports a visit with Fred and Marge Eydt '52 in Ponte Vedra Beach "for a few days of sunshine and golf."

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 | Here's a reminder that our 55th Reunion is scheduled for June 7-10, 2007. Alas, we still won't make it into Statler, but we will be there. You should be, too. Mark your calendar.Make plans. That said, it's on to the still very full mailbag from our retired, semi-retired, and not-retired-at-all classmates.Much of this mail dates back to fall '05.

William Schneider,Middle Island, NY, retired, spends his time with chess, family activities, and doctor visits. He claims to be supporting half the doctors in Suffolk County and would rather be vacationing in the Hawaiian Islands. Richard C. Smith,Moore, SC, is also retired. He works out at the YMCA, gardens, and is the family cook and shopper. He and his wife and daughter traveled to Ambergris Caye, Belize, and did a lot of snorkeling. He returned to Cornell for Seal & Serpent's 100th anniversary. Elaine Rose Ruderman, San Diego, CA, volunteers with public relations and publicity for local non-profits. She spends spare time with bridge, travel, and water aerobics. Of her trip with Elderhostel and friends to the national parks and monuments of Utah, she writes, "Challenging trails at high altitudes, but worth the effort. Awesome!"

Dick Dye, MPA '56, Pleasantville, NY, still works. He is an international educational development consultant and serves as chair of the Association for Int'l Practical Training. In January, he'd just returned from a month in Peru assisting the USAID mission with its basic education program. A similar assignment had taken him to Central Asia for six weeks in the spring. Helen PellmanMarsh still lives in Middlebury,VT. Hank Borys reports his present day job as "keeping up with the struggles and strife of the world." After hours he reads (mostly history) and writes (mostly e-mail and some autobiography). As of October he had been traveling (European river cruises and visiting relatives in Utica) and busy with family affairs.With ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, he reports "lots to celebrate."Bernie Schapiro, Flemington, NJ, works part-time as senior research analyst in his son's firm, Condor Capital Management, and is adjunct instructor in physical diagnosis at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers. He also plays bridge, golfs, skis, gardens, travels with Cornell's Adult University (CAU) and Elderhostel, and works out at the fitness center. As of October 2005, he was planning for the 2006 CAU trip to New Zealand and Namibia.

Joan Cruthers Flood, Raleigh, NC, whose husband Bud '49, PhD '54, died in 2003, writes, "You could say I'm retired, but as the owner of a large house with lawn and gardens, you never ‘retire.'" Joan is a member of NARFE, a federal employee's association that keeps seniors abreast of government activities that affect them. She also does flower arranging for the local classical music station,WCPE. John L. Brown, MD '55,Missoula, MT, is retired, but he is on the library board and the Board of Medicine and Humanities. He stays busy with church activities and had recently spent a week in the East seeing friends and museums. Clifford Eddy,Webster, NY, is retired from Xerox. He is active with the First Unitarian Church, plays tennis, and skis. He attends two Kilbourne chamber music series and also lists RPO and GEVA. I know not what they are, but he enjoys dinner with friends before GEVA.

BobMessner,Warren,VT, is retired, but does some flight instruction in gliders. After hours he flies, skis, hikes, gardens, and boats. Last November, he had recently met with Chem E classmate Martin Simon and his wife Gloria for "a delightful few hours in Los Angeles."Gerhard '49, PhD '55, and Ina Perlstein Loewenberg are still in Iowa City, IA. Ina teaches a class called 20th Century Short Stories by Women, leads a reading aloud group in poetry, is trying to learn to draw, and has given up photography after almost 20 years. She gets lots of exercise and was anticipating a partial knee replacement early in 2006. Edwin '50 and Carol Singer Greenhaus live in Mamaroneck, NY, and winter in Palm Beach, FL. Carol writes that she is "enjoying life." She reads, plays tennis, and walks. As of October '05, the couple was just back from a cruise.

Honey Moscowitz Kuhl,Merrick, NY, participates in international and Israeli folk dance classes three or four times a week. She also had been attending a history class as an auditor at a local college. Peter C. Shuster, Seneca Falls, NY, is a square dancer. He is back to full-time farming and is "raising a 4-year-old adopted great-grandson to be a ‘Future Farmer of America.'"At leisure, he enjoys photography and sailing.William '50, ME '54, and Gertrude Strong Neef, MS '54, Prescott, AZ, had been traveling: two weeks in North China, one week in California for a grandson's wedding, and one week in Ohio visiting relatives. As of October, she was beginning to think about having the whole clan to Arizona for Christmas.

That's it for now. I hope next time to get in the news from the rest of you from whom we hadn't heard since 2004. -- Joan Boffa Gaul, 7 Colonial Pl., Pittsburgh, PA 15232; e-mail, jgcomm@aol.com.

53 | "Never volunteer," we've all been told, but ChuckWest, MBA '56 (Carolina Beach, NC) isn't buying it. The gift of time to church, political, and social service causes helps prevent idle hands, says he. There's also that pull to faraway places. He tells of a trip to Israel not so long ago. "Fascinating," he says, particularly because his visit fell during elections. "Such intractable problems in the Middle East," he observes. "Getting through Sharon's wall into the Palestinian-controlled area was an experience! That is a WALL!"He answers a question with a question. The reporter asked: "What would you rather be doing?" The philosopher's reply: "In retirement, why do anything other than what you WANT to do?" Okay, good question. The most unforgettable character (or experience) at Cornell? "The WHOLE experience."And, he adds, "getting out from under Mom and Dad--an Army general" (who maybe occasionally appointed volunteers?).

Paul Makosky (St.Michaels, MD) follows many tracks in the arts and sciences and the scientific art of finance. He produces concert series at the county arts academy, revamped financial reporting and organizational structure of a regional chamber music festival, advises a county economic development commission, and provides hospice patient care. Paul and wife Linda follow the open road to satisfy curiosity about transportation, archeological, railway, and textile interests. There are five grandkids. "After 20 years of retirement, I've filtered out the things I didn't enjoy.What remains (above) is both enjoyable and satisfying." Favorite Fifties folk? "V. Nabokov--lectures in European literature. Fred H. ‘Dusty' Rhodes, PhD '14, of Chemical Engineering--unit operations."

Herb Neuman (NYC), a frequent traveler to Israel, is chairman of the Board of Regents of the International Center, under the umbrella of the Hebrew U., and as such presided at the annual Jerusalem meeting of the board. He recalls skiing on Libe Slope for physical education credits. You never know into whom you'll bump in places like that. Herb won't forget the time he sledded through the legs of a skier ascending the incline. How the other snowbird came out of it is not divulged.

Paul Bomze, MBA '54 (Haverford, PA) has been practicing law for 46 years and is a managing partner in his firm. He remains competitive on senior division tennis courts, too. Two Cornell professors live in his memory: Prof. Shannon, who taught accounting in the Business school (Paul earned an MBA from Cornell in finance and accounting in 1954), and government giant Clinton Rossiter '39.Mel Atwater (Olympia,WA) sees how elections work, first-hand, as a part-time county election department employee. He's been at it for 16 years, "making sure that every valid vote counts. It's been very satisfying and helps to keep this senior citizen's mind reasonably alert and productive."Mel has six kids and seven grandchildren "scattered around the country." That is conducive to travel and he'd rather be doing more of it. His best old day on the Hill was "seeing Cornell beat Michigan in that memorable football game."We may not experience that again right away.

Beatrice Furnas Thurston (Durango, CO) checks in, "self-employed with husband William, running a ma-and-pa gas company. (This is a full-time task.)" She reports on a trip from the southernmost point of Japan to the northernmost spit. The Thurstons visited national parks, wildlife preserves, and bird refuges."My husband was a naval aviator during World War II, flying torpedo bombers over Japan.When he came to Japan, two days after the peace was signed, everything was flattened," says Mickie. The Thurstons were hugely impressed by the new Japan that has arisen since.

You may recall Joan Kanel Slomanson's first big story. It was she, a Daily Sun freshperson, who revealed that Mater was photographing all freshperson women au naturel to help them straighten out their postures. Joan (NYC) says she's busy "publicizing my latest book, When Everybody Ate at Schrafft's," but she'd rather be working on her next book. Deborah Cornell Henderson (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) is writing, "mainly essays for local papers and Water's Edge magazine," besides frequent gym workouts and, oh yes, "general housekeeping." If she had the choice, she maintains, she'd be doing "exactly the same! Life is good." Sociology lectures are her favorite memories of school days among the Silent Generation. As for Helen Teschner Greene (Great Neck, NY), she, too, is happy doing "just what I'm doing," such as "lots of golf, bridge, Pilates, yoga, and aerobics, and a little painting and drawing."

An e-message from Isabel Huacuja '05, onetime Class of 1953 Cornell Tradition Fellow, reassures recipients that she wasn't harmed in the disastrous terrorist bombings of eight trains in Mumbai (Bombay) last July. She was in the city at the time, though, as part of an extended, thorough visit to northern India. Tourist buses she had been riding in Srinagar the previous week were the target of grenades during the attacks.

Our 55th Reunion is sooner than you think--just over a year and a half away. So it's not too soon to begin to taper on with friends who knew us when. Plans are afoot for a truly class mid-winter bash at the Union League Club in Philadelphia. JoyceWisbaum Underberg and counterparts from contemporary classes have negotiated a dinner date for Friday, January 19, 2007, the first day of Jane Little Hardy's Mid-Winter Meeting of the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO).We hope many who are not necessarily involved in the CACO business will join class officers to celebrate the pleasure of each other's company with fine dining in elegant surroundings. It's a good excuse to reach out to old buddies for a top-drawer night on the town. Stay tuned. -- Jim Hanchett, 300 1st Ave., Apt. 8B, NYC, NY 10009; e-mail, jch46@cornell.edu.

54 | Does any one else out there feel the weight of too much paper in their lives? For your correspondent, it is cause for a mea culpa a year overdue. Hidden in my zoo files between pandas and sloth bears were e-mails I received last August when I sent out a plea for news. I have been searching for them for a year knowing I would not have shredded them with old bills and checks, nor would I have deleted them without printing. No, I just misfiled the printed e-mails, and thus they spent the year in my computer (in good company, though) instead of in my column, which was their rightful locale.

Dana Dalrymple, MS '56, wrote in August 2005 that he was with the US Agency for Int'l Development, where he serves as senior research advisor and agricultural economist in the Office of Environment and Science Policy.Whew.When he wrote, he was writing a paper on the use of qinghao or sweet wormwood, a Chinese plant used for years in traditional medicine now being used to fight malaria. The plant is also known as artemisia. Dana referred me to a New York Times article on its economic impact in China, which was extremely interesting. Dana became a grandparent for the first time last year, which might have set a class record. James Symons, still happily retired in Florida, does a good bit of traveling and then uses his trusty Mac to pop the pictures onto the Internet or make DVDs to archive these adventures. Bruce Boselli, MD '57, continues working on various boards, including his favorite, the county Regional Arts Council, which we mentioned earlier in the year.

Emily and Charlie Bibbins, MBA '55, spent May enjoying their tour through Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Africa does continue to be an amazing adventure for most of us. Allan Griff's travels are always of note. Last year he took a working vacation to Bulgaria, where he helped plastics extrusion companies. He also spent some time at the Black Sea beaches and heard some great folk music at a once-every-five-years festival in Koprivshtitsa. He wrote me on a computer that kept jumping from Latin to Cyrillic letters. It was a strange and wonderful e-mail to decipher. Allan researches and writes on many popular issues such as nutrition, recycling, health, and the environment, endeavoring to present as factual a discussion as possible. Phyllis Hubbard Jore took up her career of teaching to coincide with her son's schedule and found she liked it--i.e., a captive audience for corny jokes and a bit of a power trip. She is now working part-time at the local community college teaching the math that should have been taught in high school. She plans on attending our next reunion, but as a Floridian of many years she would like Ithaca to provide warmer weather.

I picked up the Washington Post Magazine this past May and was puzzled to see a bride and groom on the cover that looked very familiar. They were indeed. The happy couple was Beverly Billinger, MD '58, and Jim Deane, circa 1956. The inside story told of Beverly's marriage to Jim in 1956 and his subsequent disappearance when his US Navy plane was shot down off the coast of Shanghai during a Cold War spy mission that same year. Jim was presumed lost and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Beverly went back to finish the third year of her medical degree at Cornell and a few years later married Jim Shaver, a surgical resident she had met while a pediatric resident in New Orleans. It wasn't until she was scanning through a book in 1992 that doubts began to arise in her mind about what really happened when Jim's plane was shot down. Beverly has spent the years since trying to find answers. The story in the Post, written by Beverly's daughter Katherine, recounts the long and tortuous journey they both have taken to gather the facts. They have not only had to work with our own government departments, but those of China also. It is now 50 years later and the story is without an ending. If you would like to contact Beverly Billinger Shaver, her address can be found in the Alumni Directory; her e-mail is shaver@cox.net. You can also find the entire article by doing a search on Google (keywords: Deane Truth and Lies). -- Leslie Papenfus Reed, 500 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; e-mail, ljreed@speakeasy.net. Class website, http://classof54.alumni.cornell.edu/. Alumni Directory, https://directory.alumni.cornell.edu/.

55 | Hotelie Rick Hort of Sierra Vista, AZ, declares, "Retirement is great; I highly recommend it!" The Horts have been retired about 14 years. "Summer finds us traveling north in our motor home, and we usually head over to San Diego to enjoy the beach in January and February." Jay Hyman, DVM '57, reports, "It's time for a change"--which means Jay and Anita will be dividing their time between their new condo in Jersey City ("for the culture and energy of New York City") and Costa Rica's central Pacific coast, "to enjoy the climate and the beautiful mountains, ocean, and rain forest." Bill and Pat Doerler spent four months at their condo in Florida and while there, had lunch with Tom Fricke, who's promised to be at our next reunion. Several of the old AGR bunch get together in Lakeland, FL, for lunch; Hal Fountain and John Elderkin, M Ed '65, were among the attendees last time. Hal is chairman of the board of directors of Rhinebeck Savings Bank in Poughkeepsie. The Fountains also show draft horses and have had some thoroughbred racehorses.

Arthur Yelon writes that, with two colleagues, he published a paper in Reports on Progress in Physics. If you need some clarification on Art's subject matter (multi-excitation entropy) you'd better ask him and not me! Gerald Gordon reports that many of his former students are currently starring in TV shows and films in Hollywood. Jerry's short film Happily Ever After won Best Romantic Drama in the New York Independent Int'l Film Festival. Congratulations, Jerry. Also kudos to Jim Van Buren, MD '59, who's been named to Cornell's Athletic Hall of Fame.

John '54 and Laura "Lolly" Treman Almquist '56 of Tucson had a great time with Bob and Barbara Malatesta and C.Alan MacDonald recently. Alan has just joined a start-up private equity firm in New York City, the Dellacorte Group, and shares the good news that he's totally healed from back surgery--"and my golf is improving!" Ruth McDevitt Carrozza writes that she, too, has regained her health and is keeping busy as a board member of an abused women's haven and president of the local Camellia Garden Club, and continuing to travel. Also off the disabled list,Miles "Gene"Marsh says he's "fully recovered" from the leg surgery that unfortunately kept him from our 50th Reunion, and planning a return to his condo on Maui for another Mai Tai.

Barbara Burg Gilman missed reunion (enjoying their 50th anniversary party instead), but she and husband Mike, DVM '56, attended his 50th Reunion from the Vet college this past June. Successful knee replacement surgery for Barb has enabled her to keep dancing and riding their horses. Pat Hewson Mason sings the praises of her hometown, Ogunquit, ME--"a lovely seaside town"--where she serves on several town committees. She also writes a food column for the local paper, and her 1,000th column was the occasion for a full-page story. The Masons get together with Don '53 and Cindy McCormackWilliams each year when they vacation in Ogunquit. Rona Kass Schneider and her husband Martin took their grandsons to the Spy Museum in Washington, DC, "which we'd never heard of, but apparently every kid in America has!" Rona says grandchildren are really a reward--"all the fun and none of the work."

I particularly enjoyed Ron Ollstein, MD '58's thoughtful note. Now retired, he is chief emeritus of plastic surgery at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, and clinical professor of surgery at New York Medical College in Valhalla. His book,Mission,Matrix and Money: The Modern History of St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center, 1960- 1995, was published last June. Ron's advice is to "work as hard as you can to keep your old and true friends," and he cites Robert Frost, who said, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."And lucky for us it does. Hope the voyage is going well for you! -- Nancy Savage Petrie, 6 Inkberry St., East Hampton, NY 11937; e-mail, nancypetrie@juno.com. Class website, http://classof55.alumni.cornell.edu.

56 | As I am writing this column, it is some two months since our 50th Reunion and seeing all of you face-to-face. Such a fleeting few days to celebrate our class, ourselves, and our memories of Cornell. Class president Ernie Stern wanted me to tell you that any volunteers to upcoming and ongoing class activities can please contact him via e-mail at ELStern56@cs.com.

Sandra AlbertWittow, Englewood, CO, wanted all to know that her artwork is exhibited on her website, www.sandrawittow.com. She will have an exhibit in Denver in spring '07, which will then tour in Las Vegas, NV, later in the year. If any classmates know of curators in museums, she would like to gain more venues for her work. One of her subjects is our late professor Vladimir Nabokov. Roslyn Grinberg Aronson, Berkeley, CA, organized a mini-reunion at the Berkeley Marina Doubletree on July 30 for Northern California Cornellians. Celebrants were Cmdr. Rudolf Bredderman (Fremont, CA), Susanne "Sanne" Kalter DeWitt and husband Hugh, PhD '57 (Berkeley), Sharon and Foster Kinney (Redwood City),Michael Sack (San Francisco), Bob Schermer (San Francisco), and Gloria Greenberg Specter (Greenbrae, CA) and husband Peter Marks. Roz described the event this way: "Although most of the group did not know each other, it was a lively gathering with a mixture of sharing Cornell memories and sharing life experiences." For anyone interested in future Northern California events, please contact Roz at rosyfutur@yahoo.com, who would be pleased to organize.

Nancy Hencle Abbott (Baldwinsville, NY) was a Home Ec teacher from 1957 to 1960 at Cato-Meridian Central School, then a stay-at-home mom, farm wife, and roadside market manager from the 1960s to the 1990s. Nancy now helps her son and his wife with greenhouse sales, apple grading, and grounds maintenance. She has volunteered her time as a 4-H leader, Farm Bureau press rep, Bible study leader, and church librarian. Nancy says she finds time to garden, read, collect cookbooks, do simple quilting, and entertain family and friends. News from Steve and Miriam Mattinen Shearing of Las Vegas:Miriam retired as Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court last year and is now serving as a senior judge in courts all over the state. Steve is busy with his real estate investments. Dr. Rose Goldman Mage (Bethesda, MD) is still at the NIH after 42 years, working on immunogenetics, boosting the Rabbit Genome Project, and developing a rabbit model of lupus. Rose adds that her hobby is "Middle Eastern belly dancing."

Classmate Shaun Seymour (New Holland, PA) is looking to locate classmate Dwight Rath, MBA '57. Shaun is working as a part-time building inspector and is also building a 22-foot boat. This from Marlene Grass Paikoff (Syracuse, NY, and Boca Raton, FL): "I still do taxes for H&R Block during the winter season in Florida." And from classmate Joe Fitzsimmons (Ann Arbor, MI), a very long list of distinguished awards from his community. From Carol Skidmore Cuddeback (Front Royal,VA): "We are retired on 350 acres in the Shenandoah Valley surrounded by family.What more could we ask? We feel blessed." As we reported, Lorna Jackson Salzman was a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination in 2004, and continues her work to warn us about the effects of global warming. RobertWinship (Topsfield, ME) retired in 1997 after 18 years working on the development of small hydropower projects.He is currently serving on the board of a land trust in Maine and has volunteered his time on the Town Finance Committee.

Lots of news from John "Pete"Haynes (Sarasota, FL): "We are enjoying life in sunny Sarasota. Great seafood restaurants, superb medical care, and lovely weather punctuated from time to time with a selection of nature's best hurricanes." Pete says he often sees Jack Miller '55, MBA '56, and Paul Johansen and their wives, and saw Dave Amsler '36, who is active in the local Cornell Club at age 92. From New York City, classmate Virginia Brooks Hochberg, MA '61, writes that she is a professor and head of production in the film department at Brooklyn College. She directed a feature-length documentary, The Nutcracker Family: Behind the Magic, that was screened at the Dance on Camera Festival this past January at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center. Information on her films is available at www.brooksdancefilms.com.

John, MCE '62, and Marilyn Steffen Merkle (Knoxville, TN) co-authored an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) manual explaining a new standard for measuring the fracture resistance of structural and pressure vessel steels (published in 2005).Marilyn is a retired registered dietician and is involved in church activities and Friends of the Knox County Library. Bob Howard is a real estate broker in Reston, VA, and active in the Reston Rotary Club and Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce. Bob and wife Mary are active bikers. Norman Some (Cherry Hill, NJ) is involved in business consulting, CAU, and many family events. Katherine Weigt Huberth (Auburn,WA) is a professional artist/teacher (water media) and had a painting included in the Northlight publication, Splash 9, this year. Norman Miller (Tiburon, CA) retired in January 1999 after 31 years of urology practice and as chief of staff at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco. Art Hershey continues his team-building sessions for Calabasas, CA.

Three AEPhi sorority sisters, Sonia Goldfarb, Anita Hurwitch Fishman, and Charlotte Edelstein Gross, live in the same garden apartment complex in South Orange, NJ! Steve Katz (Denver, CO) retired from the Colorado U. faculty and has a new novel out this year called Antonello's Lion, from Green Integer Press in L.A. There was plenty of enthusiastic news from Rabbi Howard '57 and Lenore "Lenny" Brotman Greenstein, who see many Cornellians at their residences in Naples, FL, in the winter, and in the Berkshires in the summer.Watch for Lenny's nutrition update in Naples in January. Larry Brown (Highwood, IL) retired in 1989 after a 31-year career with the Northern Trust Company. From Ridgefield,WA, classmate Anne Jackson writes that she is a retired immunologist with two dogs and two acres to tend!

Watch for Phyllis Miller Lee's (Dorset, VT) art exhibit currently at the Southern Vermont Art Center. Carol Criss Ramsey (Marion, NY) has been retired from teaching for ten years and is very involved in family genealogy, the Delta Kappa Gamma Society Int'l, volunteering in literacy events, and the Alpha Xi Delta society.Martha Bentel Lovell (Roseville, CA) tells us that she is retired from teaching and has a lot of interests.Martha is a volunteer for the Roseville Kaiser Hospital emergency room, and occasionally scores California state tests for teachers. News from Patricia Brodie (Concord, MA): "I am semi-retired as a clinical social worker with a small private practice. In the past few years, as I cut back on my practice, I've immersed myself in poetry classes, workshops, and readings. I have recently won a few poetry prizes and had over 70 poems published in literary magazines."

Correction: Please note that we printed the incorrect date of the passing of our classmate MartinWunderlicht Pel-Or.Martin passed away on November 20, 2005, not November 2000.We note with sadness the sudden passing of our classmate Dr. Peter Haritatos Jr. of Rome, NY, on April 24, 2006. Peter was a partner with the Internist Group of Rome and served on the medical staff at Rome Memorial Hospital. He retired from private practice in 1985 and became director of Court Street Clinic in Utica and medical director for the Oneida County Dept. of Social Services. Peter is survived by his wife Maris, a son, two daughters, five grandchildren, and a close extended family. -- Phyllis Bosworth, 8 East 83rd St., New York, NY 10028; e-mail, phylboz@aol.com.

57 | After returning from his 50th Reunion in June, Bob '56 and Susie Howe Hutchins got the golf clubs out for some rounds in Longmeadow, MA--when the July Northeastern heat wave didn't interfere. Since their kids have all settled in the area, they are able to see the grandchildren and attend lots of baseball games where the older two play. And this past year Susie has taken up playing the piano again. "I had forgotten how much I enjoy it," she writes. The Hutchinses plan to be at our 50th. August brought some cooler weather to New England, and Sally Ann Blake Lavery decided to make use of her screened porch in Amesbury, MA, instead of traveling this summer. Sally did go out west in February to visit relatives in Phoenix, Sedona, and the Gold Country. She is involved with historic and community organizations and ushers at the Firehouse Center for the Performing Arts in Newburyport. Sally also serves as a docent at the Historical Society of Old Newbury and the John Greenleaf Whittier Home in Amesbury. "Looking forward to seeing everybody at our 50th. It's coming too quickly!" comments Sally.

Updates came in via e-mail from Eleanor Meaker Kraft and Virginia "Jinny" Elder Flanagan. Ellie passed on her law genes to some of her children, with a daughter practicing law in Eureka, CA, and her oldest son, Rudy '78, a lawyer in San Luis Obispo, CA. Her other children are all on the West Coast making it possible for Ellie to see her seven grandchildren. She is still working in the area of criminal appeals and reports that there is no retirement in sight. But she does have her sights set on flying east for our 50th along with her sister Virginia Meaker Kleinhans. Jinny Flanagan also has seven grandchildren and just celebrated a super 70th birthday with good friends on an overnight in a cabin at Bear Mountain. She is practicing psychotherapy three times a week. "And yes, I will attend reunion."

Barbara Flynn Shively started her choral career at Cornell and is still going strong with the Morris Choral Society in Morristown, NJ. In June she participated in a Summer Sings program sponsored by the Masterworks Chorus with about 150 other singers from various choruses across the state of New Jersey. Barb describes one rehearsal: "The conductor was the eminent David Randolph, 92, who had the pianist play a few chords from the very beginning of the Brahms Requiem. The phrase sounded like, with a slight tuning, the beginning of ‘Far Above Cayuga's Waters.' Mr. Randolph stopped the pianist, looked up at the choristers, and said, ‘I think Brahms must have been a Cornellian.' There was a ripple of appreciative laughter. I think there are a lot of Cornellians in the choruses who ‘got it' as well. A wonderful moment!" Perhaps Barb will be joining Mary Hobbie Berkelman and Marj Nelson Smart, among others, at the reunion Chorus/Glee Club concert next June when we "tread the Hill once more." -- Judith Reusswig, 19 Seburn Dr., Bluffton, SC 29909; e-mail, JCReuss@aol.com.

58 | From the last News notes in hand and a few returned e-mails, we can update classmates on some recent happenings. Frank Russell,MBA '60, writes: "I retired as a federal administrative law judge on June 28, 2006, and my wife Cynthia retired as a school principal June 30. No, we do not plan any immediate world travel, but are watching Cornell alumni travel to such places as Alaska and Europe. I continue to work 50-plus hours a week as an ambulance medic and as a member of the Chimes Advisory Council since its inception (ca. 1990). I am the president of the ambulance company and of one of the local fire companies. Our daughter Kimberly is an assistant director of residential life at Colgate U., and our son Jeffery is in paramedic school in Jacksonville, NC. I have to say I am tempted to join him in paramedic school, but I must be more realistic!" Gail Glueck Bernstein (gailbernstein@att.net) and husband Ralph '57 still reside in San Francisco, where Gail spends three days a week in marketing for the Oakland Museum of California. But, she says, "her favorite day every week is Grandma's Day, when she takes her two local gkids on adventures." Gail and Ralph had "two wonderful weeks in Provence, where Ralph drove like a true Frenchman." They feel that life is good--there is nothing Gail would rather be doing now.

Philip Dattilo Jr. fly-fishes all over the world, his last experiences in N. Australia, then N. Quebec, a year ago. He and Linda spent two weeks in Tuscany on vacation from Phil's work as a court attorney referee in upstate New York. Cardiologist Howard Semer continues to practice full-time, specializing in cardiac ultrasound. He'd like to have more time for golf and digital photography, but does get free to enjoy Lincoln Center concerts with wife Shelley. Howard wants to hear from classmate Bob Evans, JD '60, who can reach him at hsemer@aol.com. A final News note from last year says that Betty Ann Fong Zuzolo continues her work in NYC as lab director of the Chambers Lab for cell micromanipulation and as visiting adjunct assoc. professor at the City College of New York. She and husband Ralph enjoy dinner dates with "old friends and relatives," she writes, "along with attending the Met and museums, etc., in NYC."

From recent e-mails we have a few updates. Larry Kaufman (known as "H" at Cornell because we had another Larry ("S") in our class) writes, "I'm approaching my 70th birthday in September and am still writing about transportation public policy issues for several publications. Had a history of BNSF Railway published last September ('05) and now am working on a history of Norfolk Southern. Any who are in the Denver area should feel free to get in touch with me in the foothills west of and 2,500 ft. above Denver. In recognition of advancing years, I am doing more traveling and returned in mid-July from a trip to New Zealand and Samoa." Larry's e-mail is LKauf81509@aol.com.

Irene Lazarus Soskin writes about some of her fond memories back in our days and since: "I continue to conduct our community chorus and sing in classical vocal groups, using some of the music that I still have from the Cornell Chorus. In our day, the newly formed chorus was made up of students, professors, and townspeople. I wonder if anyone else remembers our Sunday afternoon classical concerts at the Straight under the direction of Thomas Sokol. I remember auditioning for the Cornell Chorus as an alto and getting turned down because I couldn't sight-read well enough. I went right back and auditioned as a tenor and was accepted! Our first concert was in Bailey Hall, and Maestro Donald Grout arranged us by the height indicated on his roster, not by who we were. As a result, I ended up standing on stage right in the middle of the men's section. Lesson learned. I later joined the New York Choral Society as a tenor and married the guy singing next to me!"

Steve Bank writes that he and wife Judith moved from Cary to Morrisville, NC, and he's still working part-time for the Cary Library.He says, "I'll work until they throw me out.We went to Wellington, FL, in June to celebrate my son Larry '88's 40th birthday. Can't believe I have a ‘child' of 40 and a ‘child' of 43." Larry's new e-mail address is spyder59@bellsouth.net. BarbaraWood Gray (bleewzg@cs.com) sends greetings and writes that her husband Bob (CSU '55) and she moved full-time from Jackson Hole, WY, to Tubac, AZ, in 2004. Barb says, "It's like going from Paradise North to Paradise South. Between us, we have 17 grandchildren now--from ages 23 to 9 months. They are scattered far and wide and for some reason, since most of them live in the North, we are seeing more of them in Arizona than we did before. It is terrific."

With these few notes maxing out our allotted space, we end this last column of the year with Holiday greetings to all, and best wishes for 2007. -- Dick Haggard, 1207 Nash Dr., Fort Washington, PA 19034; e-mail, dhaggard@voicenet.com; Jan Arps Jarvie, 6524 Valley Brook, Dallas, TX 75254; jjarvie@sbcglobal.net. Class website, http:// classof58.alumni.cornell.edu.

59 | Kudos to Doris Dickerson Coward, Austin, TX, who received the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cornell-New York Hospital School of Nursing in May. And to Nancy Green Dickenson, Santa Fe, NM, who has been busy as executive director of two documentaries. Her first project, Home of the Brave, was released in 2004 and has received numerous awards, including recognition by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as "one of the outstanding documentaries of 2004."Writes Nancy: "It is the story of Viola Liuzzo, a housewife and mother in Detroit, who in 1965 was so moved by the injustice she saw in the news reports, that she went to Selma, AL, to participate in the voting rights march. She was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and then vilified by J. Edgar Hoover and the mainstream press.Her story haunted me for many years and this film was my attempt to correct that injustice and honor her memory.With the help of a great film crew, especially Paola di Florio, director, writer, and producer, and Viola's children, I produced a film that accomplished my goals. The film is being used in schools and has received wide distribution. It has screened in theaters, appeared on Court TV, and is available in DVD or video format. Viola is now recognized as a true heroine."Nancy, who for many years has collected and promoted outsider art, is currently working on a documentary about a Cleveland folk artist.

To Mimi Petermann, our congratulations and best wishes! She and her companion of four years, David Tarr, a U. ofWisconsin professor of political science, were married on the beach in Sanibel Island, FL, on Valentine's Day. They are at home in Madison, WI. Charles and Christine Hengesch Popper have moved to Bonita Springs, FL, but continue to spend summers in beautiful Quechee, VT.

While in Italy to attend the Winter Olympics earlier this year, Carl Leubsdorf,Washington, DC, made a side trip to Florence to visit his Cornell Sun colleague and friend David Engel. "David, who retired from the Foreign Service, and his wife Alma, who retired from the Consular Service, decided to stay in Italy and live in a wonderful house that overlooks the city,"writes Carl. "We had a great time reminiscing about our Cornell days (and discussing the foibles of the Bush Administration).While I was there, we got a phone call from another close friend and former Sun colleague David Simpson '60, who was my successor as Sun associate editor but then went astray into the legal profession." Before heading to Italy, current and past colleagues joined Carl to mark his 25th anniversary as Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.

Also at the 2006 Winter Olympics was Hans Lawaetz, who attended as the Chief de Mission for the Virgin Islands Olympic team. "Volunteering for the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC) for the last 30 years certainly has its perks," he says. As the secretary general of VIOC for 20 years and its president for the past ten years, Hans has marched in the opening ceremonies of five Winter Olympics and seven Summer Olympics."My highlight was at the '85 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, marching behind my daughter, swimmer Jodie A. Lawaetz-Mays, who was carrying the Virgin Islands flag."

Volunteer activities command a significant part of classmates' lives. Joan Travis Pittel, Boynton Beach, FL, is a volunteer usher at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Similarly, Jean FinertyWandel, Falmouth, ME, ushers at the Portland Stage Co. and Maine State Music Theater. Joanne Mattson DeVoe,Warren, RI, is active in East Bay Citizens for Peace, a grassroots organization committed to peaceful solutions to conflict and to social and economic justice. She stands in peace vigils, chairs the steering committee's monthly meetings, and participates in forums and other programs.

Bartley Frueh, Ann Arbor, MI, is phasing into retirement. Professor of ophthalmology and director of eye plastic and orbital surgery at the U. of Michigan, he celebrated this milestone by going to eastern Turkey for three weeks in August, followed by a week of meetings in England, then a two-week narrow-boat trip on English rivers. Another recent traveler to Turkey was PearlWoody Karrer, Palo Alto, CA. In addition to working as a piano instructor, Pearl edited a recent California State Poetry Journal and had monotypes in several juried art shows. Anne Townsend Salisbury, Branchport, NY, traveled to five South American countries earlier in the year and "did the North American west coast from Vancouver to San Francisco."When not traveling, she handles public relations and advertising on ethnic programs, primarily in NYC, Philadelphia, and New Jersey cities--all via the Internet, phone, and fax.

Mary Gail Drake Korsmeyer continues to practice law as a partner in Peacock Keller in Washington, PA, doing mostly health law and trial work--defense of medical cases as well as defense of architects in asbestos cases. Her husband Jerry, brother of our deceased classmate Cecile Korsmeyer Cotten, retired from Westinghouse, where he was a nuclear physicist; he received his PhD in theology and now studies the interface of religion and science.With best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year! -- Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.