Our 60th Class Reunion set records!

June 4, 2024

Classmates and friends::

Those of you who were able to attend our 60th Class Reunion know what a splendid time it was. Given the packed schedule of activities — not the least of which was informal camaraderie under the TD tent — we will be reporting more in the months ahead. We want everyone to hear the highlights while the experience is still fresh.

For our 60th Reunion, all roads led to Timothy Dwight College. Attending were 163 classmates accompanied by 121 spouses and friends, 284 in all, traveling from 3 countries, 28 states, and the District of Columbia for four days of camaraderie and learning. Jim Rogers traveled the furthest, from Singapore. Butch Hetherington traveled the shortest, from Whitney Senior Center in Hamden. Russell Sunshine traveled the longest, by transcontinental railroad.

With the exception of the classes of 1954 and 1963 (both of whom have major benefactors who underwrite 100% of the reunion costs), our 60th Class Reunion set records for classmate attendance (163), surviving spouses attendance (11), and total attendance (284). We also presented President Salovey with our 60th Reunion Class Gift (>$10 million). You can see the list of classmates and guests who attended by clicking here. Unmeasurable and priceless were the feelings of friendship and camaraderie throughout the four days.

Sam Francis, our amazing webmaster, has already generated a map of the locations from which classmates traveled to attend. Click the image below to see an interactive version of this map.

There is a second map — we call it “Yale 1964 Campus Footprints” — that locates all the places on campus where the Class of 1964 and/or a member of the Class of 1964 is commemorated. These locations provide vivid indications of the impact our Class has had on Yale.

If you were able to attend the reunion, please send us feedback. If you took photos, we’d like to post them, too. Send JPGs or other graphic files to Sam Francis, and we’ll post a reunion album. Be sure to provide captions with names and relationships, so classmates know whom they’re seeing. Remember, there is a PDF of the complete 60th Reunion Book (produced by Bill Galvin) which can be downloaded here.

If you weren’t able to attend the reunion — regrettably, many of you were unable to attend due to health/mobility conditions of you or your spouse — please send me an update on your activities and sentiments, so we can include you in future Class Notes. Lastly, save the date in late May 2029 for our 65th Class Reunion.

Embedded below are my Class Notes which will be published in the July-August issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine, usually delivered around August 1. For this reunion issue, they gave us extra time to submit our Class Notes. Remember, we write two different issues of Class Notes. One is for publication in YAM. We are given strict word limits for this version. The YAM column is typically written three months before it appears in the magazine. The other issue is considerably longer to accommodate the input of classmates; it appears on the Class website mere days after being written. So, the two issues of the July-August 2024 column look very different. Even the verb tenses change with regard to the reunion; one was written before the reunion, and the other was written after the reunion.

Cheers,

July/August Class Notes (YAM version)

[To read these Notes in your browser in living color, click here.]

Note: A much longer version of this column was published earlier on our Class website (here).

This column of Class Notes closed days after our 60th Class Reunion, so we could publish a brief reunion report. A longer reunion report will be posted on our Class website in early July. There, you will be able to find photos from the reunion, too. If you attended, please send us photos you took (with captions) and your overall feedback on the reunion.

Our 60th Class Reunion was attended by 163 classmates and 121 guests (total: 284) with HQ in Timothy Dwight College. It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. Especially on this holiday, we remembered our three classmates — Charles Brown, Bruce Warner, and Phinney Works — who gave their lives in Vietnam. Chaired by John Evans, the Class programming was led by eighteen classmates on topics ranging from Evolution to Artificial Intelligence: Bob Archer, Len Baker, Tom Barnard, Steve Bingham, John Doane, Sam Francis, Howard Gillette, Jon Greene, Jim Hart, Tony Lee, Edward Massey, Jon McBride, John Meigs, Paul Steiger, Ward Wickwire, Joe Wishcamper, Bill Woodfin, and John Wylie.

Don Edwards and Steve Klingelhofer led a moving memorial service in Battell Chapel for the 90 classmates we lost since our 55th reunion. Tony Lavely emceed the Class Dinner during which Class Council and Class Officers were elected, followed by dancing to the fabulous Jay Gitlin Band. Bill Galvin and Sam Francis were gratefully acknowledged for creating a stunning 60th reunion book that contained over 300 essays by classmates. Ted Jones organized a golf outing at Tashua Knolls Golf Course in Trumbull, CT, for 21 classmates and friends. There were rave reviews for the refurbished Peabody Museum and expanded Schwarzman Center. Steve Norman and Tony Lavely, co-chairs of the 60th Reunion Gift Committee, presented outgoing President Peter Salovey with a check for over $10 million. Allison Cole ‘99, the new Executive Director of YAA also joined us. Special thanks to our YAA support team, especially Stephanie Hartnett, Janene Castaldi, and Alisa Masterson, and to Yale Hospitality for delicious food, refreshing beverages, and friendly service. Finally, we thank the eight classmates who made generous donations to the Class Treasury to underwrite a substantial portion of the reunion costs: Peter Bradford, Chip Brennan, Bob Buchanan, Will Elting, Dick Niglio, Jim Rogers, Ted Wagner, and Joe Wishcamper. If you were unable to attend our reunion, please send us an update about yourself, so we can include it in the next issue.

In the days leading up to our 60th reunion, we were saddened to learn about the deaths of six classmates. Brad Lane died on January 25, 2022, in Bedford, NY. Dan Northway died on August 3, 2023, in Topeka, KS. Hood Franks died on February 10, 2024, in Scottsdale, AZ. Terry Moulton died on February 19, 2024, in Blue Hill, ME. John Kissick died on February 29, 2024, in Pacific Palisades, CA. Joe Lieberman died on March 27, 2024, in Riverdale, NY. Obituaries and remembrances of these men are on our Class website/In Memoriam, along with information on how to donate a Mory’s Memorial Brick in their name. They were each remembered during the Memorial Service at our 60th reunion, along with 84 other classmates who died since our 55th reunion; the service was recorded and will be posted on our Class website. Matt Lieberman ‘89 (son of Joe Lieberman) read the Hebrew Kaddish. We were pleased to welcome and underwrite reunion costs for the surviving spouses of eleven classmates at our reunion. Mark your calendars now for our 65th class reunion in May 2029!