Class Notes
November/December 2012
by Tony Lavely
As we begin the countdown to our 50th Reunion in the spring of 2014 (less than two years from now), I cite some class statistics. We have 839 "located" members (57 classmates are "lost" or have no contact information) and over 86% of you have registered emails with us. That could be a record for the Luddite era! Seriously, email addresses make it so much easier and less costly to communicate with classmates, especially about our upcoming reunion. One newest email address comes from Andy Combe who spent nine days in Ireland and Northern Ireland this summer. If you don't see your email address in the directory on our Class Website, please send it to me. It will only be used for Class communications.
Our 50th Reunion Steering Committee (chaired by Chris Getman, Pete Putzel, and Waldo Johnston) will meet in New Haven on September 27-28 and then attend the opening home football game. Tony Lee is leading a tireless effort to locate and invite every classmate. If you have ideas/suggestions for this milestone reunion, please send them to me and I will circulate to the committee. Bam Alling emailed about his concerns that our email directory might be a source for spammers. We welcome any feedback like this but have noted exceptionally few problems with this open resource. For a good laugh, use the Search button on our Class Website to find the September 2009 article about Bam Alling in the Trumbull Beer 'n Bike Races.
For those of you in the Northeast, Pete Putzel has announced the resumption of Class lunches at the Yale Club of NYC (3rd floor Tap Room) on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Pete added: "John Stacks was a regular participant in our monthly luncheons. I am sad to report that John died in August. We will miss him at our table and toast his memory when we meet in September."
Apologies to Tim Garton, for getting his first name wrong in the last issue! Ed Gaffney emailed: "Thanks for the shout-out in YAM. My line looked good, but Doug Lea is better known for his fantastic photos of his home island of Bequia and surrounding water than for photos of my island chain." Wayne Batcheler emailed: "I spoke with Frank Serratoni recently. He was an organ transplant pathologist, but retired to the California coast where he now does a lot of painting in acrylics." Bob Bulkeley spent a month in Europe this summer and is still working at his New Hampshire summer camp, Pasquaney, recently featured in Town & Country. Peaslee DuMont wrote from California: "I have closed my previous family practice and started a new practice of holistic counseling and coaching.
Tony Morris forwarded a citation from Congressional Fire Services Institute, naming Joe Lieberman as "CFSI's Legislator of the Year. In September, Joe Lieberman was the subject of an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, "Joe Lieberman, Party of One." It appears in News on our Class Website.
Pat Caviness reached out to me via LinkedIn: "Just one more way to stay connected and keep up with your fast-paced life from this small island (Koh Samui). I'm heading for San Francisco in August and from there to Little Rock and New Orleans." Jim Bowers added some photos to the Photo Gallery on our Class Website and emailed: "Lest they face their 50th without trout-fishing merit badges, this Montana native suggests an adventure to the Flathead River bounding Glacier National Park in pursuit of the wily cutthroat, to his Big Apple Area classmates Bob Jacobs, Eric Woglom, and Pete Hutchings. My wife Lucy has just become dean for a small new law, Appalachian School of Law, in Grundy, Virginia. I will start the school year next week as their senior professor." Pete Truebner was one of the sponsors of an ad in the September-October YAM, "Are Sports Important to the Yale Administration?" with a YouTube link to Chris Getman's November 2011 speech at the Blue Leadership Ball. Dick Berk (a well-published criminologist) emailed from UPenn, "Recruiting starts in grade school these days. My 14-year-old is a pretty good athlete and was at one of those elite basketball camps; the place was swarming with coaches."
Jim Rogers emailed from Singapore with this suggestion: "Can someone tell us what is going to happen to us now? How many will die of heart attacks, cancer, etc. How many will wind up in wheel chairs? Can we prevent it? There must be many statistics on what happens after a male reaches 72, or so. I see Nortin Hadler has a new book out that might address these questions." Gerald Shea wrote an as-yet unpublished Letter to the Editor of the New York Times about allegations of plagiarism against Fareed Zakaria. David Sherman commented with appreciation about the letter and noted that Zakaria has resigned from the Yale Corporation.
This summer, Sam Francis did his annual bareboat charter around southern New England — Newport, Nantucket, Block Island, Provincetown — but still found time to enhance our Class Website and email directory. On the news of President Levin's resignation, several classmates — Bob Hannah, Dan Pollack — commented with appreciation on his productive tenure. Jon McBride emailed: "I just came across a speech that Chas Freeman gave at the National Press Club in September, 'Nobody's Century: The American Prospect in Post-Imperial Times'." The speech is posted in News on our Class Website. Margie Lee forwarded an article (posted on our Class Website in News) from Grist.org that features Gus Speth, "Gus Speth: 'Ultimate Insider' Goes Radical." Howard Gillette emailed that he has ordered Gus Speth's new book, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy. Gus' book, like others by classmates, is listed in Publications on our Class Website. Gordon Davis has a new digital book, Everything Has a Life, a memoir that includes vignettes stretching from early childhood through his international work in China.
Karl Ziegler emailed from London about a gathering of classmates "on the occasion of their recent or impending 70th birthdays." It is reported, with photos, in News on our Class Website. Blaine Krickl added commentary, too.
It is always a sad duty to report the death of classmates. Robert Heeter died in Minneapolis in July. John Stacks died in New York in September. Obituaries and remembrances may be found at In Memoriam on our Class Website. Hank Satterthwaite offered a touching remembrance about John and Doug Lea noted John's passing on Facebook. Howard Gillette also added a remembrance for Bruce Shein. I also report with sadness that John Howell's wife, Pat, died from a fall in Atlanta. The recent deaths of two friends of our class should also be remembered: Bill Wallace '48, New York Times sports reporter, and Phil Moriarty, longtime Yale swimming coach, with whom Mike Austin is pictured in the New York Times obituary.
I wish all classmates a happy holiday season and renew my request for volunteers to guest-write this column in 2013.