Class Notes

March/April 2004

by Tony Lee

Please note that we've acquired a new website name: www.yale64.org. We dumbed it down so everyone can remember it. You can visit our website for the latest developments in our 40th reunion program and agenda. There's also a link to the Yale AYA page for our class, which has updated registration information. If you're not listed, expect a phone call. If one of your best friends isn't on the list, visit our email addresses directory, click on your friend's name, and send him an email encouraging him to attend. And finally, scroll through the photo gallery to brush up on names and faces before the reunion.

Al Adams wrote: "Not sure when last I corresponded, but it was likely before I retired as Ambassador to Peru, with 29 years of career in the Foreign Service in 1996. It is nice to be a private citizen with no need for the 15 bodyguards which accompanied me most places during the time of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) terrorism. Prior to Lima, I served as Ambassador to Haiti with more than one coup, putsch, attempted coup, and illegal power grab to deal with in the course of three years. Never a dull moment. From Peru I went to New York City where I worked for two years plus as President/CEO of the United Nations Association of the United States with 25,000 members nationwide. Another tough assignment which convinced me more than ever of the need for allies and multi-lateralism in our foreign policy. I am now retired in Honolulu where I live near Waikiki and every day look out upon Diamond Head, the beach, and the surf. I am much engaged in community and volunteer work here, tutoring elementary school students, mediating neighborhood disputes, teaching part time at a Japanese university here, and serving as Senior Warden of an Episcopalian church nearby. Hawaii is a wonderfully diverse and warmhearted place, very American but very distinct."

I received an email from Dan Pollock: "After many years of reading, but not participating in the class notes, I decided it was time to reform and 'get with the program.' My wife Nancy and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary (same marriage, same spouse!) this year. My how time doth fly when you're having fun. I continue to work at a stockyards packing company as senior VP of sales, of what was, until four years ago, the family-owned business. We are now 110 years old and a part of US Foodservice. While there are no immediate plans to retire, I am thinking about the idea. Nancy continues to teach an art-enrichment course, based upon the master impressionist painters at Chicago's Art Institute, to kindergarten children in our community of Glencoe, Illinois. She has done this for 10 years. It is amazing how much information the little ones soak up, and very satisfying to see how well-respected Nancy is in the community. Our kids are 32, 30, and 28 years old. And we have an 18-month-old grandson Max who is just the best thing that ever happened to us. For 30 years Nancy and I have supported and participated in the Jewish Council for Youth Services in Chicago, a 95-year-old, non-profit organization serving 10,000 children each year. We are looking forward to seeing old friends at the 40th in June, although I will miss seeing my wonderful friend and roommate Jim Klint, who passed away last year."

Jeremy Scott Wood is an architect with Elkus/Manfredi in Boston and writes about two of his projects: "The renovation and restoration of John Galen Howard's 1903 Majestic Theatre received the 2003 Boston Preservation Alliance Award. The theatre is now owned by Emerson College and known as the Cutler Majestic Theatre and was reopened April 2003 on its centennial. In September 2003 the adjacent Tufte Performance Center opened. This 11-story center is the first entirely new building in the 123-year history of Emerson College. It provides new dressing rooms and green rooms for the Cutler Majestic Theatre and houses two teaching theatres, two television studios, an art gallery, digital media and design studios, costume and dressing rooms, faculty and staff offices."

Nick von Baillou's two daughters Victoria 14 and Alexandra 9 are becoming accomplished horsewomen. Victoria's godfather is Clancy Ridley. Nick set up an office for Guardian in Palm Beach to help the locals manage health, wealth, and life. He adds: "I miss my classmates and hope to see more of them the coming years as we all get more time to concentrate on personal matters."

Angus Gillespie took a break from teaching at Rutgers and accepted a Fulbright assignment in Norway. In addition to teaching an introductory American Studies course, he took a group of teacher trainees to York, England where he also connected with son Neil. Later he and his other son Tristan met in Stockholm and traveled north of the Arctic Circle where they stayed in the famous Icehotel.

Ellen and Bill Galvin's once-peaceful household has been energized by the addition of a new shepherd, a stray kitten, son, daughter-in-law, and their first grandson. Ellen has been teaching a course on "Cities and Sustainability in the Developing World" at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, relying on her 26 years of experience at the UN and years of working in developing cities.

Peter Hicks enjoys working as a park ranger and being a grandfather. He's retiring in June and will move to Nashville, TN to be with his love Mary.

I received a sad phone call from Ray Short informing me that his father, and our classmate, Bryan Short passed away over the Christmas holidays. Ray will gather some photos and prepare a tribute to Bryan for the In Memoriam section of our website.

Please sign up quickly for our fabulous 40th to minimize the amount of follow-up phone calls. Plan on arriving Thursday and leaving Sunday. I look forward to seeing 270 classmates plus spouses, friends, and children over the weekend.