Class Notes
September/October 2013
by Tony Lavely
By now, I trust all classmates know that our 50th class reunion is May 29-June 1, 2014. If you are reading this in the Yale Alumni Magazine, it's still not too late to have your biographical profile and personal essay included in the Class Book (being edited by Larry Crutcher), but you must submit immediately. The link is on our Class Website Home Page (or call me at 407-770-8942). We want to make sure we have your current contact information, ideally email, for reunion updates. Your 50th Reunion Committee (chaired by Chris Getman, Waldo Johnston, and Pete Putzel) met on June 7 in New Haven and will meet again on September 27 (opening home football game versus Cornell) to finalize speakers and panels. The annual Class Council meeting will be in New York City on January 11 to nominate a slate of Officers and Council Members for voting by all classmates at the reunion. If you would like to nominate a classmate, or yourself, please contact Will Elting. The venue for the January meeting is due to the fortuitous scheduling of Yale men's hockey versus Harvard in Madison Square Garden on January 11. We are trying to procure a block of tickets to open this event up to all classmates in the Northeast. Stay tuned.
Under the leadership of Tony Lee and Bill Galvin, we are launching an exciting new feature on the Class Website, effective September 16, called "Sound Off!" It's an online forum for classmates to exchange points of view on a wide range of topics, sort of an op-ed concept. We hope it will generate some debates that can be continued live at our 50th reunion.
Your Class Council passed a resolution to recognize Pete Putzel's father, Henry Putzel, Jr. '35, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on October 8! The Class Council also voted Jock Reynolds, the Director of the Yale Art Museum, as an honorary Class member. Jock has led the recent expansion of the museum to world-class stature. Read about Jock in Class News and meet him at our 50th reunion. Speaking of visual arts, Sam Francis has added a new visual arts section to our Class website to highlight the art of Mike Mazer, Ed Ranney, and Per Wickstrom. If you know of other classmates doing distinguished visual art, including film, please let me know so we can add them.
The Spring Golf Outing took place on May 17 at the renowned Yale Golf Course. The ruthlessly candid notes penned by Chris Getman are posted in Class News with the headline, "Egregious Bill Galvin and John Evans errors prove costly." In June, I joined about 20 members of the Football Y Association in Atlanta at a dinner reception with Coach Tony Reno who updated us on the strong incoming class of recruits.
In April, Chris Getman walked at Mitchell College in New London to support multiple sclerosis research for the 27th time, and was recently awarded the National MS Hope Award for his longstanding support of this cause that inflicts our honorary classmate, Toddie Getman. Chris also forwarded a very informative video about Urban Resources Initiative (URI), for which we support a Yale summer intern; it is posted in News on our Class Website. Tony Morris reported on the early spring wildfires in California, a subject he researches tirelessly: "We need to connect climate change (cause) and fire-fighting (containment)!" Tony also wrote an interesting commemoration of Bastille Day in the Santa Monica Mirror. David Sherman forwarded a review in the Wall Street Journal of Bob Kaiser's new book, Act of Congress, now posted in News on our website with a New York Times review too. Dave also wants to enroll Ed Trippe in the fight to save the historic Pan Am World Port at JFK. Gerry Shea's book, Song Without Words, was reviewed in the New York Journal of Books and in New Statesman. You can listen to a CBC Radio interview in Class News, too.
Jim Rogers was featured on Yahoo! Finance in May; you can watch the video on our Class Website in News. In June, Ward Wickwire hiked Machu Picchu, while Sam Francis (who made that hike in 2000, including Huayna Picchu) reported: "I sailed the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean with John Evans on a bareboat cruise in June, then circumnavigated Iceland with Lindblad in July, then Bucharest to Budapest on the Danube (on a river boat) in September, and next January it's Tanzania and the Leakeys with National Geographic. Not to be outdone in adventuring, Tony Lee went mountain biking in Sedona and hiking in the Grand Canyon. Later, Tony toured the Vatican Museum, Constantine's Arch, and the Sistine Chapel, and also hiked the Apennines. Bill Galvin played the Doonbeg links course in County Clare, Ireland.
In May, Pat Caviness flew from Thailand to New Orleans for the funeral of his good friend, John Bowen '63, who sadly missed his 50th Reunion by less than a month. Jon McBride was one of the Whiffenpoofs asked to stand in for Bowen at the '63 reunion. Jon was also spotted on York Street in a red convertible with his flamboyant scarf trailing behind ... a real Gatsby scene! Mac Deford emailed: "Have been in Turkey and before that was in Beirut (which was remarkably calm) where I'm on the board of International College." Terry Holcombe emailed about Egypt: "My consulting for American University is over, but Peter Giblin is still on the board. You can see our former campus off Tahrir Square with TV backdrop of palm trees." Peter added: "Two of my board colleagues were almost Prime Minister in July." Terry also emailed that he saw Joe Wishcamper featured in Maine Magazine as one of "50 Mainers to Admire and Inspire." Joe is the recipient of the Spurwink Humanitarian of the Year Award. Jim Baxter is now Executive Chairman of New York Global Group, an expert on Asia. John Boardman emailed: "I plan to attend the reunion. I've been back to Yale for 'Yale in Life,' an amazing window into Yale now and in the past."
I'm now "friends" with two dozen classmates on Facebook, and it is a source of interesting and amusing items. Yale's Facebook page is spectacular! I keep hoping for a "slow news" column (due to word limit) to include some of these, but I may just have to do a special column on the website to capture them.
Three more classmates have published books, listed in Publications: James (J. D.) Landis, Daniel Harris, and Sam Low.
Lee Sigal reported the death of Lynn Peterson on April 22 in Minnesota. Lynn is remembered on our website In Memoriam. David Sherman added a nice remembrance for Jon Auerbach, and Tony Lee posted one for Roger Weil. David also emailed about a musical memorial for Bunt McKee by Syracuse Opera in July. In doing research for the 50th Reunion Class Book, Larry Crutcher has uncovered new information about a number of deceased classmates, and we are updating the website. Please consider donating a Mory's memorial brick in the name of any departed classmate, so all may be remembered by our 50th reunion.