Class Notes

May/June 2011

by Tony Lavely

Despite the harsh New Haven winter weather in early February, 15 Class Council members met in Kroon Hall for our annual meeting. The night before, we enjoyed dinner at the new Mory's (what a great look, especially the Temple Bar) and a 1-0 victory by the men's hockey team over Harvard. Much of the meeting agenda was devoted to initiating planning for our 50th reunion in May 2014. Announcements will be forthcoming on committee leadership positions and all classmates will be encouraged to get involved in some aspect of planning. The other meeting highlight was a presentation by our Urban Resources Initiative intern. Both her presentation and a recent New Haven Register editorial about URI are posted on our Website.

The Mory's Memorial Brick project continues to build in number of bricks donated in the names of departed classmates. A number of widows (Fred Hopf's widow, Sue, is the most recent) have made donations, too. If you would like to make a donation for a particular classmate or any departed classmate, please contact Chris Getman. Speaking of Getman, he emailed: "In January, Toddie and I travelled from Valparaiso, down the coast of Chile, through the Straits of Magellan, and around Cape Horn to Antarctica. There for 3 days, up to the Falklands, back to Montevideo, ending in Buenos Aires." Chris added: "Just saw the documentary, ‘Waiting for Superman.' Everyone should see it. The New Haven school system has engaged in a progressive contract with its teachers where merit matters."

Chas Freeman added some of his publications to the Class Website "Publications" section. He added: "Since withdrawing from chairmanship of the National Intelligence Council (a job I had not sought and did not want) under heavy fire from right-wing elements of the Israel Lobby early in 2009, I resumed my position as chairman of the international business development firm, Projects International."

In January, Patrick Caviness toured Northern Thailand from his home on Koh Samui. Pat also wrote a vivid recollection of his days boxing in Payne Whitney with Jack Cirie and George Humphrey: "Mention the reminisces if you like, but in an off-handed way. The comments weren't meant to be taken too seriously. More the thoughts of an old man looking back on his college days, sharing his boxing experience with good friends." Later, Pat wrote about catching up with Tom Barton: "Recently I exchanged emails with Tom Barton, who was my roommate along with Bert Cooper for the first 3 years at Yale. Tom had some very good news about his own family (his daughter was at Yale and is a fine physician in California) and much about his active singing life. But he passed on some sad news about Bert Cooper who is in failing health."

Stephen Greenblatt is John Cogan Professor of Humanities at Harvard and has just written another book, Shakespeare's Freedom. Ed Massey has proposed another mini-reunion in NYC, this time to focus on the theme of poetry (as we have done journalism and music before). Please let Ed or me know if you'd like to participate as a writer/poet (e.g., Syd Lea, a poet and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize). On a very different theme, Ed emailed his regrets to the Class Council meeting: "Sorry to miss your festive weekend. I write you from JFK about to fly to Salt Lake to ski all 18 ski areas in Utah, from Beaver Mountain near the Idaho border down to cross country in Bryce's Canyon and, of course all the four great Canyons in between (Ogden, Parley's, Big Cottonwood, and the glorious Little Cottonwood.). In fact, that is where I will be on February 5, one last day at Snowbird before returning that evening on the red eye."

Don Edwards emailed: "Our class was represented by four Glee Club alumni at the gala 150th Anniversary and concert last weekend in New Haven: Doug Griggs, John Hanold, John Henderson and myself. We sang in the 100th Anniversary Concert as members of the Freshman Glee Club. More than 750 singers crowded Woolsey Hall. And the very happy crowd filled Commons for dinner afterwards and danced to music of the 40s and 50s. I got a sense that Yale's women students and alumnae have made their peace with Yale's male heritage; when the male glee club alumni opened with ‘Mother of Men,' the audience went wild. Doug is preparing to retire from the faculty of Georgetown College in Kentucky, where he recently won a prestigious award for excellence in teaching. John Hanold is retired from a career at Honeywell but continuing accounting work part-time in Turners Falls, MA. John Henderson came down from Essex to sing and to watch two grandsons, ages 6 and almost 5, play hockey at Ingalls. I am four years into retirement from my careers at Rutgers and The American Boychoir School. Sally and I love going back to New Haven and staying in Hamden with our daughter Jenny ('89), her husband, Ricardo Chavira ('95 MA), and grandson, Alex ('25?)."

Bob Reum emailed: "I continue as Chairman and CEO of Amsted Industries, an industrial conglomerate. After a few years at Goldman Sachs in banking our two sons developed a new spirit which has been the leading independent vodka over the last two years. Recently they were sued for patent infringement after they used some animated figures in Internet advertising proposed by their ad agency. Naturally they called on the leading patent litigation lawyer in the US, John Nathan. John shocked the plaintiff by indicating that he and his firm Paul Weiss were acting in a pro bono capacity for this small company. Not only did John represent them skillfully, but he also got the case dismissed without the company paying a penny to the plaintiff."

Buck Wilson is being inducted into the Junior Achievement of Southern Connecticut Business Hall of Fame in April. Wick Corcoran weighed in supporting Chris Getman's January 2011 letter to the Yale Alumni Magazine: "When I read Chris Getman's comments pertaining to the inept [athlete] recruitment policy at Yale, I was not just troubled but angered." Joe Lieberman, who announced his plans to retire from the Senate in 2012, created the "Bucket List Caucus" with this comment: "It's not what we want to do before we expire, but before we retire." I just returned from 10 days on Curacao with my family and will be meeting Paul Balser at the Atlanta airport tonight for dinner. A number of classmates have reached out to find and support classmates in the Japan earthquake/tsunami tragedy, e.g., Tony Morris contacted Yuji Noga. The Class Website and Yale Directory are wonderful tools for finding and keeping in touch with classmates. Please email with news as you live it or hear it.