Class Notes

October 2001

by Tony Lee

Just when I started to doubt whether anyone reads these class notes, a letter from Bob Kuehn arrives: "Sorry to have missed the mini-reunion but have marked down Santa Fe in the Fall 2002 and London in the Spring 2003. I was also inspired by my good friend Joe Wishcamper's personal news in the latest YAM to share my own reflections of life since 1964.

"Joe and I have enjoyed remarkably parallel successes in real estate. We both develop affordable housing, he in Portland ME and me in Boston. We have done well by doing good, making for very satisfying professional careers. Joe and I have also been active in our respective civic cultures, having both served as chairs of our state agency's affordable housing advisory committee. He has been an active campaigner for land conservation while I focused on historic preservation.

"On a personal level, however, our paths have been very divergent. While Joe has boldly explored the frontiers of new age masculinity, I have proudly upheld the traditions of retro man. Joe exercises fanatically and abstains from alcohol and tobacco whereas I enjoy junk food, hard drink and an occasional cigar and abstain from formal exercise. The only men's group I belong to is a monthly poker game where we indulge our bad habits. Joe has mastered transformational breathing while I have trained myself to fall asleep whenever a meeting lasts longer than an hour. I have also adopted the refreshing routine of taking a week every month to pursue personal and philanthropic activities. When I turn 60, it'll be two weeks every month.

"So which approach to life will ultimately prevail — new age or retro? I hope we are both around for the 75th Reunion to continue the debate."

Robert Whitby writes: "I have been Board Chairman of The Mountain Institute in West Virginia for about a year now, and greatly enjoy this association. TMI is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing mountain cultures and preserving mountain environments in the Himalayas, Andes and Appalachians. Its activities have taken Kathleen and me to Peru, Nepal, Tibet, and Appalachia to visit our many mountain-conservation projects and to work with TMI staffers. Several of my long-suffering mountain climbing friends, as well as associates from The Explorers Club and the American Alpine Club, have recently become TMI supporters and TMI Board Members, making TMI activities all the more enjoyable for me. It's now been just one year since I retired from Arthur Andersen where I had worked for several years as a partner in their management consultant practice, focused on financial service industry clients. This past year of leisure has been busy with golf school (one week of Ben Sutton — badly needed), sailboat racing and cruising in Long Island Sound, hiking in the Adirondacks, skiing in Telluride, and general goofing off. Our younger daughter, Annabelle, was married last October and is a veterinarian in Everett, Washington. Our older daughter, Michelle, is in London in the advertising business and is marrying a Belgian banker later this year!"

From Stephen Greenblatt, perhaps our newest father: "I am thrilled to announce the birth of my son Harry on April 28th. My wife, Ramie Targoff (Yale '89), is flourishing. My older son, Josh, is just graduating from law school; my younger son, Aaron, graduated from Yale last year and is playing jazz in the Bay Area. I am happily teaching in the English Department at Harvard; Ramie, who has been an assistant professor of English for the past five years at Yale, will escape the commute by teaching at Brandeis starting in the fall."

Nick Danforth has been a visiting scholar in women's studies at Brandeis University this past year. Our Web site has an excellent article and stunning photo of the perfesser.

Bob Reum was appointed chairman, president and chief executive officer of Amsted Industries in Chicago. Bob and Sherry have 3 children and live in Wayne, IL.

Our June golf outing at the Yale Course was a tremendous success. Jim Thompson, Jim Baxter, Jim Heyworth, Tom Trowbridge, Peter Truebner, Sam Francis, Chris Getman, Don Crabtree, Butch Hetherington, Frank Basler, Martin Padley, Pete Putzel, and yours truly attended.

Chip Brennan, John Sawyer, and Tom Trowbridge had a spectacularly successful golf trip to Scotland, where they played Turnberry, Prestwick, Carnoustie, the Jubilee course and the Old Course at St. Andrews. The first four days were warm and sunny and on the last day at the Old Course, they played in driving rain and howling wind. Other groups were giving up after only a few holes issuing warnings: "Don't go out there. The rain feels like hail." But our lads from '64 persevered. They would have felt cheated if they hadn't had a chance to experience true Scottish weather — "full conditions" as it's called. Pete Putzel, Trowbridge, and I subsequently enjoyed a round together at the Sharon (CT) Country Club. Could it be that Pete was the inspiration for Tom's book Golf Made Difficult?

Len Baker wrote to say that he has been certified as a minister with the Universal Life Church in Montana. His life has been changed forever, and he expresses deep appreciation.

Our next class event will be our annual hockey game and dinner, preceded by a Class Council meeting and an informal session at the Forestry School to meet our summer fellow, Leah Zimmerman, and to hear about her trip to Lake Baikal. Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 2 against St. Lawrence.

On a sad note, Andy Guest died recently after a long battle with cancer. He had been a seven-term Republican state delegate in Virginia, having developed a reputation as a steward of the environment. Visit the In Memoriam section of our Web site to read his obituary.

Sandy McKleroy visited Burt Davis in a Marin County, CA nursing home where he is recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage.