Do you remember the UConn football game in 1960?
July 11, 2021
Most of us had just arrived on campus, and it was our first Yale football game. Along with the undefeated Yale swimmers, the Yale football team had never, repeat never lost to a football team from the state of Connecticut. With the score tied 8-8 late in the game, Coach Oliver sent in Wally Grant ’63 (who a year later would be my fraternity pledge father) to kick what proved to be the winning margin. Not only did Wally’s field goal preserve the Connecticut undefeated streak, it laid the first brick in an eventually undefeated season for that team.
Flash forward to 2021, and you’ll find UConn back on the Yale football schedule on September 16th to face the Ivy League champions (still) from the 2019 season.
This all-classmate email brings you the September-October 2021 Class Notes, which are now posted on the Class Website. There are many new names among the 109 classmates mentioned, plus 19 spouses. In-person group gatherings are returning, though we will still have plenty of Zoom events. In particular, I call your attention to the mini reunion on Saturday, October 9, that will focus on “The Yale Canon … then and now.” There will also be a second Yale 1964 Authors Book Club on Wednesday, January 12 featuring Tim Breen and his book, The Will of the People.
I hope to see you this fall at The Bowl and/or Mory’s. If and when you see other classmates, send me an item for Class Notes, ideally with a photo.
Cheers,
Tony Lavely
September/October Class Notes
With Yale sports (and other group events) returning to some degree of normalcy in the fall, it’s a good sign that people are getting back together. We’ll still be blending in some Zoom events to give classmates added opportunities to connect. The New Haven group, led by Chris Getman, had its first in-person luncheon in over a year at Mory’s in June and met again at The Lawn Club in July. The Boston Group, led by Jerry Flannelly, is using a hybrid model, by continuing with monthly Zoom events but adding an in-person gathering at Amy and Bob Rands’ home on September 22. At its June Zoom event, the Boston group experimented with a “theme” discission on the topic of “Green Burials,” suggested by Tony Lee. The Bay Area group, led by Owen O’Donnell, had Zoom events in May and June with plans to continue these for awhile. They also tried some prompted topical discussions, about Global Warming and the Yale Trustee election process. It seems that many in the New York group have fled permanently to the countryside, so Pete Putzel is organizing a Zoom for the end of July.
In addition to the regional gatherings, there are other Zoom events to report. Our Class launched the first-ever Yale 1964 Authors Book Club on May 27, featuring Edward Massey and his Western novel Fugitive Sheriff. Jan Truebner deftly moderated the event which was attended by thirty-one classmates and seven spouses. Joe Wishcamper commented, “Smooth launch, good attendance, good program.” Given this success, we have already lined up a second Book Club event featuring Tim Breen and his highly regarded book The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America. Buy Tim’s book on Amazon and save the date of January 12, 2022 for the Zoom event. The plan is to have two Book Clubs per year. Interspersed with the Book Clubs, we are planning other topical Zoom events. The first of these is a full-day mini-reunion via Zoom to focus on “The Yale Canon ... then and now.” Organized by Chris Getman and Robert Whitby, this event will take place on Saturday, October 9, 2021. Chris Getman described the program as “the transformation of higher education since we graduated. Participants will be Jock Reynolds (honorary classmate), former head of the Yale Art Gallery, and artist James Proseck; a session at noon about how music has evolved; and an afternoon session anchored by Dick Brodhead, former President of Duke and Dean of Yale College, and our classmate Stephen Greenblatt, professor of English at Harvard.” Check the Events page of the Class website for updates on these and other events. In June, Kai Lassen, Tony Lavely, and Ward Wickwire attended the final Yale Alumni Fund Board meeting of the year via Zoom. Joan O’Neill announced the launch on October 2 of a new Yale Campaign.
Since the previous issue of Class Notes, Sam Francis has posted seventeen News articles by or about classmates: Andy Burrows, David Elliott, Jerry Flannelly, Chris Getman, Angus Gillespie, Kai Lassen,Tony Lavely, Jethro Lieberman, Joe Lieberman, Sam Low, Edward Massey, Henry McCance, Owen O’Donnell, Jim Rogers, Russell Sunshine, Jan Truebner, Ward Wickwire, and John Wylie. These are longer articles than we can include in Class Notes; they can all be found on the Class website. Jim Rogers commented: “Tony, you always know more about me than I do!” Many classmates weighed in on the flurry of general media articles about the Yale trustee election in May and the change in voting procedures.
Beginning with the Dubyas in this issue, I start with John Witherspoon who emailed about his developing screenplay: “Work is in progress ... screenwriters helping ... issues are technical in nature but must be engaging for general audiences … especially during the first three minutes of the story.” Joe Wishcamper spent some time in June on a fishing boat off the coast of Cuba, but still had time to contribute this to the Bay Area luncheon group: “The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale is backed by prominent conservative alums and, as I understand it, stands for promoting the inclusion of conservative viewpoints in the university community, including faculty appointments, curricula, outside speakers, etc. Our class council received a presentation from the student members a year ago. I'm not conservative by any stretch, but I think it is healthy for such a program to exist.” Responding to the all-classmate email in May, Andy Villalon (Professor Emeritus at University of Cincinnati) emailed: “Once again, an astounding piece of work! When I first read the title [of your email], I knew that I knew the name Evelyn Wood from somewhere but couldn't remember where. Oh, well, that is perhaps why I am a relatively slow reader.” Nancy Upper emailed: “Good friends invited me to the Winchester Country Club’s annual July 4 cookout. They brought bottles of superb Sancerre and white Burgundy from their 1,000+ bottle collection. Glad you enjoyed a long 4th of July walk. For me, 3-to-6-mile walks, 5-to-6 days a week, are life essentials.” Nancy added: “I want my new piece to restart my ampersand work, so I can polish the piece and get it published. I had the good fortune to interview the Harvard classicist Gregory Nagy for the history chapter of my ampersand book.” I shared a birthday photo of Stan Thomas’s four children with teammates Rich Niglio and Dick Berk. Chip looks just like Stan, so it brought back many memories. When he saw the News article about the fifty-six Vietnam veterans in our Class, Robert Toumajian emailed: “In 1969, I spent twelve months doing orthopedic surgery at the 67th Evacuation Hospital in Quin Nhon, RVN. The following year, I did orthopedic surgery at the hospital on the base in Fort Huachuga, AZ.”
Rick Salomon commented on David Elliott’s memoirs: “I enjoyed Dave’s memoirs. Very different experiences from mine, but a similar life trajectory.” Rick added: “In my book, there’s a story about Bruce Warner. Such a tragic loss. I think a lot about him, Dick Derby, Bill Stage, Brian Rapp, and now Denny Lynch.” Responding to the Boston Zoom group’s discussion of “Green Burials,” Gerry Shea emailed: “We could hold our ultimate reunion in the dissection section while the Harvard Medical School students cut us apart, their crimson knives in triumph flashing, as the H folks sing. ‘Less work for the undertaker, one less job for the casket maker,’ as the Y song goes, but it’s us, not them! Talk about clouding the blue of sunny skies! I’m preoccupied with the happier question of what I’m going to do (with my body) tomorrow or Friday.” Dave Sherman (our original Class Secretary) emailed from his Castle Fine Art Gallery in London, “This is an exhibition that you might be interested in. [Bob] Dylan can paint as well as sing. Sherman cannot sing or paint.” Ron Sipherd, who dazzles Facebook friends with his daily photographs of nature (it’s also a blog), emailed the Bay Area group, “One or two people (well, nearly that many) have asked if I have an online ‘best of’ photos’ album for the year. The first half of the year is in the bag on my blog.” Ron added: “I look forward to our ‘unmasking’ also. But I want to put in a good word for the occasional Zoom. We are all of a certain age, and there is something to be said for avoiding the need to haul one’s mature carcass across the Bay. To my surprise, when I retired, I found myself busier than ever and a face-to-face gathering pretty much consumes the bulk of the day. I’m not suggesting we avoid F2F meetings, but I hope we can alternate them with Zooms in some reasonably comfortable ratio.” Francis Snyder emailed: "Anne-Lise Snyder and I survived the long French COVID lockdown (now nearly ended) thanks to Metropolitan Opera streaming, many books, and long walks in the Provence countryside. With about forty books and 250 articles, I also continue to write, now mainly about food safety and food quality and about 'soft law' in Europe and China." Russell Sunshine contributed this to the climate-change discussion in the Bay Area group: “Here's an articulate and insightful, if disheartening, summary of opportunities lost. Alice Bell, ‘Sixty years of climate change warnings: the signs that were missed (and ignored).’ In that same vein, I distinctly remember Gus Speth addressing our 50th Class Reunion with a mea culpa for having concentrated on intramural environmental-science communications, ignoring broader political and economic forces that were impeding environmental progress. Never too late to learn and act.” Russell Sunshine also added to an email thread started by Steve Bingham about Isabel Wilkerson’s books: “Always good to hear from you, Steve. Not surprised you've read both Wilkerson's books. What impressed me most about Caste was that she didn't take cheap shots at Whites for all being overt or covert racists. Instead, she drove deeper into structural discrimination and disparities and said we've all got a chronic societal problem, even without any of us being racist. A much more nuanced, less polemical, analysis.”
Karen Carmean posted a great photo of Doane Perry on his 79th birthday enjoying an ice-cream cone. John Podeschi, a collector of rare books and comics for many years, is working on a liquidation plan. John emailed: “Comic books can be a highly effective, non-intimidating, extracurricular way to get to hard-to-reach, learning-resistant young people. Sincere thanks for being the revivalist of class spirit through your magisterial class notes.” Like many other classmates, Dan Pollack celebrated Father’s Day and his birthday in recent months. Nancy Pollack posted: “Our six precious grandchildren helped Popsi celebrate his birthday. Family is everything to us.” Bob Rands, who took a brief trip to Cape Hatteras in May, has shared some of the amazing work he has done for Citizens Climate Lobby. Chip Nielsen, who is a regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls, sent some photos of a trip he and Arlene took in Cambria, CA: “We visited our son at his ranch. They have two darling young sons whom we had not seen for a long time. Their parents were preparing for the local farmers market and needed our babysitting.” Nathaniel Norton reacted to the whimsical reference to Evelyn Wood in the May all-classmate email: “I took the Evelyn Wood course years ago and still have the little article clipper they gave me.” One of Angus Macdonald’s daughters posted on his birthday: “To my dear ol’ dad, for being my premiere architect of doll houses, dog houses, sandcastles, and my life. And thank you for hours of story time and being the best travel partner.” Paul Manchester posted two terrific photos of antique vehicles on his farm in Maine, “the 14,999,621st Ford T and a vintage family tractor.” Paul followed up with a gala photo of “The Schooner Lewis R. French, built in South Bristol, ME, in 1871. Back for its 150th anniversary!” Paul also emailed: “Some nice words from Joe Lieberman about my current gig. I particularly like his line about ‘reminding anyone who doubts what our generation is still capable of doing.’ I am now in my fifth month as probably the oldest intern on Capitol Hill!” Edward Massey, recently of Book Club fame, missed the Boston Zoom call in May, as he was on a Board call for the Program for Academic Exchange. In June, Edward attended the Western Writers Convention in Loveland, CO. Jon McBride, our Class liaison to Squash Haven, reported: “Julie Greenwood has reported that the Class of 1964 individual contributions received by Squash Haven for 2021 surpassed $2,000 this morning (with an additional ~$1,500 in verbal pledges in the pipeline) so our second check for $2,000 is fully warranted and, as its generation has already been initiated, can be counted towards the Squash Showdown matching gift program.” On his birthday, Jon McBride emailed: “It started off just right with an hour and a half of rigorous pickleball followed by a surprise blueberry almond coffee cake showing up at my door at noon ... life is good!” In late May, as I was celebrating my daughter Vanessa’s wedding in Manhattan, Jon was across the East River in Brooklyn celebrating his granddaughter Rose’s baptism.
Henry McCance is deeply involved in medical research on Alzheimer’s through his foundation, so I asked him about the recent approval the FDA gave a new drug: “The answer is a very complicated and nuanced one. Our researchers are delighted with this news, because it opens the door for FDA approval of better drugs than Biogen's.” Michelle Mead (surviving spouse of John Armor) posted: “Every once in a while I go online and read back issues of the Highlands (NC) Newspaper which John and I wrote for years.” John Meigs was the first to alert me to Jethro Lieberman’s new book (now posted in Publications): “Just wanted to make you aware, if you aren’t already, that Jethro has a detective-type novel coming to publication soon. My wife Carolyn and I have read it, and it’s very entertaining.” John More and Livy made their seasonal pilgrimage back to Cushing Island, Maine: “Arrived to mini chaos. Will be put in order soon. Our first project is tree planting with help from a backhoe. Livy is in charge of landscaping on the Island, including fighting invasive species and planting native species. I’ve been involved in the Island Association and in a conservation corporation we created to preserve two-thirds of the island since we bought our house in 1970.” John and Livy celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on Juneteeth: ”I think we will celebrate tonight by singing ‘Lift Every Voice’.” After the Yale Alumni Fund Board meeting in June, Kai Lassen emailed: “I still have two more years on the board this time around. Having served a previous six years, this may be my last three-year stint, in view of the push to bring younger members onto the board and in view of our class's historically strong representation on the board. Yale does such a great job in supporting its fund agents and keeping us up to date, that it’s a great privilege to participate.” Douglass Lea posted from Bequia: ”Please know that the Queets are completely safe from surveillance. Quitter, the start-up I created to host Queets, will not join the alliance forged between social media omnivores and military, intelligence, and security agencies. Queets, perforce, will always be limited to eleven characters.” In June, responding to my earlier request for a copy of our 25th Reunion Class Book, Jethro Lieberman kindly sent me a copy. Jethro was co-editor of that handsome volume. I had lost mine in Katrina. Joe Lieberman emailed: “Thanks for posting my interview with Pamela Brown on CNN. She is a rising star.” Joe added: “Your daughter’s wedding looked wonderful, and you look like a very happy and proud dad.”
Sam Low posted: “My great friend, Robert Kuehn, passed away on this day fifteen years ago. Bob and I owned two houses together, one in Vermont and one on Martha’s Vineyard. Bob devoted his life to creating affordable housing and is honored by the fact that one such development, ‘Kuehn’s Way,’ is named after him.” After hearing in President Salovey’s quarterly call that the recent summary of Yale facility projects did not include a new performance swimming pool in Payne Whitney, Ted Jones emailed a terse, “Not encouraging.” Candy and Waldo Johnston have been chronicling their cross-country trip in a Pathfinder RV. They’ve logged 10,000 miles at the halfway point in Oregon. Early in the trip, they had a ‘64 mini reunion with Will Elting and Bill Manuel in Houston. Driving further west, Candy wrote: “We continue to be amazed by the beauty and geology of our vast country. We awoke to 41 degrees this June morning and ended the afternoon in 95 degrees and a lovely clear sunset.” From the Badlands, Candy posted: “Happy 79th birthday to the best man of my life.” Waldo emailed me: “Actually, I was hoping that I would not turn 79 for at least another decade, but Fate has it otherwise. Candy and I have loved seeing your wonderful posts involving the wedding of your lovely daughter and especially all the culinary delights you have sampled pretty much every day.” Later, Candy posted: “Colorado College (ranked #25 of the best liberal arts colleges) will be our grandson’s home for the next four years.” Candy added: “I grew up at our summer home in Elbow Lake in Wausaukee WI where our daughter Cricket carries on the Dern legacy.”
Bob Hilgendorf emailed, “Thank you for the birthday wishes. I had a good day, and I’m enjoying the Santa Fe weather and all the outdoor activities that allows.” After reading the previous issue of Class Notes, Neil Hoffmann emailed Bob Hilgendorf: “I read with pleasure your orthopedic report in the notes from Tony. Sounds like you are very well. As a long-time knee sufferer and surgery resister, I’m amazed at your orthopedic success. I hope you will share your experience in more detail. I am told that I have bone-on-bone arthritis and probably ligament and tendon damage from 40 years ago. I get around. How long was the recovery? How did you get around and manage the toilet and shower? I don't think I have the strength, balance, or coordination to manage crutches. My right leg is the problem but my left leg, which is feeble from a birth injury, is not strong enough to get me up and around on its own. My balance is lousy. Am I kidding myself to even consider surgery?” Soon after Mory’s reopened, Marya and Terry Holcombe posted a photo of their lunch with Anne and Edward Massey out on the patio where all the 1964 Mory’s memorial bricks are placed. Later, Marya posted a photo at their grandson Angus’s graduation from Cheshire Academy. On July Fourth Marya posted: “Wonderful moving ceremony on Branford Green with the Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps and the traditional reading of the Gettysburg Address.” Rick Kroon, who has known my daughter Vanessa since her Deerfield days, emailed: “Congratulations to Vanessa and your whole family on her marriage. Isn’t it wonderful to be back to a nearly normal life and to be able to celebrate these special moments together!”
Neil Hoffmann, a regular on the Boston Zoom calls, emailed about the “Green Burial” discussion, “Has everyone but me figured out what to do with your body when you’re gone? What is the remaining spouse going to do after you’re gone? Where to live?” Later, Neil suggested a topic for future discussion: “’The Importance of Hearing Well.’ This is personal for me. I am rarely confidant that I have heard anything correctly. If you read Gerry Shea’s book and how he had to work hard to understand every word, you have an idea why some of us just want peace and quiet now. I’ve got the most expensive hearing aids I could find, and my hearing still sucks. How should we respond to an accelerating deterioration of being able to understand?” Later, Neil emailed: “It is surprising how many of our classmates are annoyed with Yale for one reason or another. Or are unmotivated to be involved. I have a sentimental attachment I can’t ignore even when I’m annoyed. My attachment goes back to my childhood and my father’s deep affection for Yale, which admitted a poor Hillhouse High School townie and then loaned him the money to live in the Harkness Quadrangle his senior year, Instead of at home. I can’t forget that.” On another topic, Neil Hoffmann proposed: “I realized yesterday as I participated in an MIT climate webinar on collaboration between industry and academics, followed by our Boston Class Zoom, how dependent I am on closed captioning. Like many, my hearing is compromised. Accents and quiet speakers are tough to understand. With Zoom, feedback noise is a nuisance, but more annoying is when people's volume is low or they lean away from the microphone. So, thinking about the Zoom mini reunions and Book Club Zooms and our increased reliance on this medium, I am wondering if we can add closed captioning?” [Editor’s Note: We are adding close captioning to as many Zoom video calls as possible.]. On another topic, Neil emailed: “I was interested in the update to our class list of Vietnam Veterans. I noticed that my roommate, Robert Toumajian, is not included, I know he served as an orthopedic surgeon. I hope he can be added to the list.” [Editor’s Note: Sam Francis has added Toumajian to the list, as well as several other classmates whose names were inadvertently omitted earlier. There are now fifty-six classmates on this honored list.]
Stephen Greenblatt emailed, “Ramie and I are off to Rome for six weeks (with a jaunt to Corfu). It will be interesting to see where things in Europe stand. My impression is that they are about two months behind us, in the long march toward reopening.” Stephen added: “Vanessa looks radiant, and even her proud father is showing signs of life.” Later, Stephen added to the email thread on “Green Burials” with this gem: “Yesterday in Rome — where we've long had a place and where we are living at the moment — I stopped in at the Church of San Pietro in Montorio and, no doubt because of these exchanges that you've all been having, my eye was caught by the attached inscription: ‘Bonis et Mors et Vita Dulcis est’ — ‘To the good, both death and life is sweet’ (Inscription on a tomb in the Church of San Pietro in Montorio).” Cathy and Len Gaffga celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with Len resplendent in his Navy summer whites. Ed Gaffney, a proud member of the Grammar Police, posted: “This split past perfect is miles worse than Roddenberry’s infamous split infinitive; twenty-one words of separation!” When Ed read that the pandemic restrictions in New Mexico had been lifted, he emailed Sam Deloria and Don Van Doren, “It’s time to fire up our lunch bunch meets again.” Chris Getman wrote: “It turned out that the MS Walk was virtual again this year. I was disappointed not to be able to interact with the scores of others who support this important cause. Toddie, who was diagnosed with MS in 1975, is able to lead a reasonably normal life thanks to the medical research that’s been done.” Howard Gillette and I had a Zoom call in June to talk about a future mini reunion on civil rights. It will not be earlier than 2023 with a format and location to be decided. If you would like to participate in the planning, please contact Howard or me. Celeste Finn (spouse of Eric Fossel) posted: “On our 15th wedding anniversary, Eric and I had a professional chef and dear friend come and make us a delicious meal on one of the nicest nights of this season. Getting rained out on our wedding day pays off in Karma, apparently. Being social with folks in person was beyond enriching after such a long time huddled indoors.” Jerry Flannelly, organizer of the Boston Zoom calls, emailed: “Thanks for the very interesting class notes. To continue the parachuting list, Larry Speidell and I jumped at Orange, MA in the fall of 1964 while at HBS. That was before the days of tandem jumping. Going out the door of the plane on your own was really something. I had a photo of us but cannot locate it now. I jumped again the following summer in NJ but not since. After more than twenty orthopedic surgeries (most recently a reverse shoulder replacement in April), I don’t think I am up for another jump but wish all the jumpers well.”
Frank Franklin, an expert in public health, posted: “Low trust in public-health agencies likely underlies some vaccine hesitancy and resistance. Building trust in these agencies requires better performance than their failures during the pandemic. Likely, the red-blue split in trust reflects motivated cognitions where our beliefs track with our ingroup.” On Father’s Day, Frank posted a Mark Twain gem: “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” On Frank and Cindy’s 54th wedding anniversary, Frank posted: “Cindy specified the gift she wanted for our anniversary. The dumpster is being delivered today. Worried I might go out with the outdated trash!” David Elliott, who recently shared one chapter of his private memoirs with us, is another Vietnam veteran whose name has been added to our Class list. David added this interesting postscript about his memoirs in an email: “When I was writing my book, I was strongly urged to include timelines of various historical events throughout in order to orient the grandchildren or future generations as to what was happening on the world stage at various times in my life (Pearl Harbor, the Cold War, JFK, 9/11, etc.). I thought it was a good idea but rejected it for no good reason other than it would have taken more time. I wish I had. Perhaps I will if I write my second volume.” Don Edwards was in Maine, and John Evans was in Chatham MA, so they missed the June Lawn Club luncheon. Nick Danforth contributed to the email thread about our eventual demise: “Gerry Shea is right: Those Whiffs really are off on a spree, afraid to face our ultimate reunion ... though damned from here to eternity.” Before he left for his Andover 60th reunion, Nick Danforth emailed me about an “open” project he’s working on: “Thanks to Howard Gillette’s book, several classmates have discovered the stories of my love life and sexual adventures (years ago, alas), and my long battle against governments forcing women to bear children. But few, other than you, have asked me about my adventures in the Russian Chorus.” In June, Pat Caviness left the solitude of his Koh Samui villa (“I do my ‘stretching’ exercises most mornings at the far corner of our garden veranda”) and posted “Samui still has a cute if mostly empty International airport. I’m Bangkok-bound for a medical checkup.” Once there he added: “The newest way to get around Bangkok is in a mini ‘Cabb;’ they may look a little clunky, but it’s easy-in-and-out and lots of head room.” Pat added: “Want to know what’s hot in Bangkok? Order-in food. These guys are ripping around on motorbikes delivering hot restaurant meals.” When Pat saw my Yale Authors FB post about John Wilbur’s 2004 book Split Vision, about his experiences in Vietnam, he commented: “John was a superhero as well as a great lifelong friend. He had a way of popping up and reappearing in my life when I least expected it.”
Jim Currie emailed about a training session he recently did: “I recently went for some training in a classic acrobatic plane called the ‘Pitts Special.’ My Dad had one but never let me fly it as a young student pilot. ‘Goldie’ is the nickname of my new SkyReach BushCat, just purchased and still in production back east.” See a video on our website.
Hannah and Larry Crutcher have relocated to Tucson AZ. Len Baker, who is a regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls, had to miss the May call, but emailed: “I’m really sorry that I have to miss the call this week. I’m on the board of the Environmental Defense Fund. I’ve been spending the bulk of my charitable dollars and a large chunk of my time working on climate issues. In case anyone is interested, there is an early draft on the Class Website of an essay I wrote titled ‘Climate Strategy Pillars.’ I’ve become convinced that a lot of the popular climate debate is misguided, not because the problem isn’t serious but because oft-proposed solutions are not well matched to a real understanding of the problem.” With the recent news of gun violence in Savannah GA, I asked Tom Barnard if he was out of harm’s way: “The violence is heart-wrenching. We seldom go to downtown Savannah, but I happened to be there earlier that day. So many things in the country are so obviously wrong. Wish we could improve.” In his blog, Frank Basler described the recent gift of $1 million in medical supplies by the Westport (CT) Rotary Club to a hospital in Uganda. Frank emailed: “Rotary is quite an organization. Susie found out today that the Club is going to visit that Uganda hospital in July 2022. We’re excited about going.” In response to my inquiry, Dick Berk (a sociology professor at UPenn) shared some of his experiences with ethnic and racial discrimination. In turn, I shared them with Stan Thomas’ son, Chip, as Stan was our third roommate in Branford. Dick wrote: “You may recall my girlfriend in college was a Chinese-American. I was married for a decade to a wonderful African-American woman (and civil-rights lawyer). We remain good friends. And being a Jew in boarding school and at Yale was no walk in the park. I have experienced or witnessed a lot of ugly stuff over the years and have just reconciled myself to its being part of the human condition. But we do not have to sit by and let evil motives translate into acts of evil. But my sense is that the hostility has always been there. At least that is what history tells us. And my bet is that it will be there going forward. I remember what Stan told us. ‘I don’t care if white people like me or not. I just want to be treated fairly.’ Stan was very wise. Evil will always be there. But we are able to contain it if we really try.” Chip Thomas added: “Fascinating information and sentiments from Dick; thanks for sharing. I can only imagine the difficulties for people like Dick and my father in the 60s (and 70s, and 80s and 90s for that matter). I can say that I've experienced some form of racism, microaggression, or intolerance on more days than I could ever count. Dick is likely right. The evil was always there; just more hidden and less appropriate in our society.”
Steve Bingham commented on, and added to, a list of recommended reading on the Bay Area Zoom calls: “Thanks, Russell Sunshine, for your recommendation of Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste. I’ve read Caste. It’s outstanding, as is Wilkerson’s other book, The Warmth of Other Suns, about the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities in search of a better life.” Dan Berman (who will join me at our 60th Newton (MA) High School reunion in October) emailed: “Basically zero response over the years from the Yale trustees on my campaign to revoke asbestos-cement billionaire Schmidheiny's 1996 Doctorate of Humane Letters from Yale. Yale could just do the right thing, but I’m not holding my breath. It won’t be the first micturition match I’ve lost in the sixty-one years since I entered Yale.” Mike Brodsky, who is a regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls, praised Ron Sipherd for his photographic work: “I really enjoyed your landscapes. The style is similar to what I like to shoot.” (See some of Mike's photos here.) Bob Buchanan emailed: “I recently read The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson. It was recommended to me. Now that I have read it, I wanted to share some thoughts. After our graduation, I went directly into the Navy and ended up speaking Chinese and doing special operations in SE Asia from 1967-70. Although I had little interaction with the Army, much less West Point, I was interested in reading The Long Gray Line to better understand those that lived with the war far longer than I did. And as one who believes our country has been divided ever since, I thought it might help me understand what has happened to the country that is so different today from what we imagined it to be in 1964. I am still reflecting on my own various experiences with the military, the amazing leadership training I received, yet the scorn I also was exposed to during the ‘70s to the point that I did not mention my service to anyone other than family and close friends. This may be a topic that others have raised with you in your many interactions with our Class. In any event, I do recommend the book as it covers an amazing time in our lives.” Andy Burrows emailed: “I must admit I do enjoy browsing the class notes. I particularly enjoyed watching Joe Lieberman’s interview. I do wish more of us were so sharp and well spoken. Thank you for all the work you do. I have not contributed news for years, but perhaps now is the time. I was recently interviewed on the local TV channel in Brattleboro VT where I have lived and worked in education and publishing since April of 1966. The interview touched on many of my activities, although not on my coming retirement this fall.”
We added a book by Don Rosenthal, The Photographs of Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo), to the Publications page. Andy Burrows also added a book to which he contributed: The ESL Miscellany. This brings the number of classmate authors who have published books since 2000 to eighty-four. All together, they have written 218 books. Not included in these totals from the Amazon listings, but still to be recognized, is David Elliott who published his memoirs privately in 2020 for his grandchildren. Interestingly, nineteen classmates have written personal memoirs. Nancy Upper, who is working on a book about the ampersand, emailed: “Did you see the mentions of Stephen Greenblatt and Yale poet/professor Howard Nemerov in Adam Gopnik’s April 5 New Yorker article about artist Helen Frankenthaler?” Neil Hoffmann wrote a letter to the editor in the May/June issue of Yale Alumni Magazine about the new Schwarzman Center and its accommodations for the physically impaired. Frank Basler wrote a moving essay on his blog, “Love is the Foundational Structure of the Universe.” Russell Sunshine added to his blog with recommendations for summer reading: “When the nightly news and partisan standoffs get too discouraging, I turn to light reading. But not only light. All play and no stretching make this senior a dull boy.” Ron Parlato added to his blog: “The suspense is over — aliens are here at last. What has changed government policy? Why has official Washington changed its tune and suggested that Roswell was not a unique event?”
Since the previous issue of Class Notes, we have received the news of the deaths of four classmates, all posted in In Memoriam. Paul Spiegel died in December. In lieu of an obituary, we have posted Paul’s essay from our 50th Reunion Class Book. Michael von Braun Nagel died in April in London. His brother, Stefan, sent a wonderful obituary, which is posted on our Class Website along with many photos. Jim Rogers added: “I wish I could have seen Michael at least one more time — as I wish the same for all of us.” Rich Donnelly died in April in Florida. His wife, Barb, emailed, “Rich was designing homes until the very end.” Gene Strassburger, an eminent judge, died in May in Pittsburgh. Gene began with us but affiliated with ’65; we mourn his passing nonetheless. Ann Marie Lynch wrote a lovely thank-you note to everyone who remembered her husband Denny Lynch; it is posted on our Class website. When news spread of the death of David Swensen (honorary classmate), Chris Getman emailed, “Bad day all around. My business partner John Bush died last night. Today would have been his 90th birthday.” Many classmates added Mory’s Memorial Bricks, made more meaningful now that Mory’s is open again. As is her custom, Jan Truebner (honorary classmate) sent our all-classmate emails to surviving partners, which keeps them connected to the Class.
