Class Notes
by David R. Lindskog, Corresponding Secretary22 Shore Acre Drive
Old Greenwich, CT 06870
David's e-mail
I report with sadness the death of Gayle Lee, widow of John Lee, and a great supporter of Yale and our class, due to lung cancer. Bob Cushman, Drew and Harry Harlow, Bill Stubenbord, and Joyce Wimer, widow of Frank Wimer, were in attendance at her funeral service last week. It is ironic that Gayle died from cancer after being so active for so many years through her charitable company in providing counselling to people who had cancer, not to mention her long career in nursing. She is survived by four children, three of whom are Yalies, and numerous grandchildren.
Kudos galore to Linus Travers, Jack Embersits and all the other members of our 50th Reunion Committee who planned and carried out the best 50th Reunion ever celebrated at Yale. Kudos also to our classmates who conceived of, edited, and carried out the production of the absolutely marvellous and highly readable Yale 1958 50th Reunion year book, in particular to the stroke of the crew, Harry Harlow. Kudos as well to the wizard who induced Dick Cavett to regale us (not just for 15 minutes as originally schedule but for more than one hour) with stories and jokes from his lengthy career. His hilarity (that word may not be politically correct now) kept us in stitches the whole time. Kudos also to Mark Feinkopf who played a big role at the Madison affair and our memorial service on Sunday. Mark has reported that his health is fine notwithstanding the two days he regretfully missed at the reunion due to a combination of factors. Although not official, I believe that as a result of flying in from Hong Kong, Randy Kwei won hands-down the award for travelling the longest distance to the reunion. Randy reported that last April he set up a new affiliate named JKC Advisors, LLC in New York. His plan is to extend the footprint of his investment business from Hong Kong into the U.S. Randy does not expect to retire before he turns eighty. Speaking of retirement, Dwight Underhill has retired from academia, during 10 years of which he held an endowed chair in Public Health. Dwight will continue serving as scientific director of a company in Cary, NC while spending most of his time in Highlands, NC. On May 5, 2008, Alvin Holm received the Arthur Ross Award for Excellence in the Classical Tradition from The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America at a ceremony at The University Club in New York City. The award was established in 1981 by Arthur Ross and Henry Hope Reed to celebrate excellence in the Classical Tradition. I have received word of a number of deaths of our classmates. Roger Zanes died last February of lung cancer in New London, NH. Roger interrupted his Yale career to spend four years in the Air Force as a Russian language specialist and cryptographic analyst. After Yale he had a 33 year career in international sales and marketing with Alcoa during the course of which he and his family lived in El Salvador, Great Britain and Switzerland. In the late 1970s Roger was involved in establishing Alcoa’s presence in China. He was an avid skier, fly fisherman and Alpine mountain hiker. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Nina Sue, two children and five grandchildren. James Van Alen died suddenly last March. After Yale, Jim got his MBA at Harvard and thereafter worked in investment securities in New York and Poughkeepsie. He also served in the Air Force from which he retired as a Lieutenant. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Maris, two children and four grandchildren. Phil Kramer died last March in Vestal, NY. After Yale Phil got his JD from Cornell and practiced law as a trial lawyer in Binghamton. He also served as a Justice of the NY State Supreme Court in up-state New York. Phil was an avid fisherman and golfer. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Barbara, six children and seven grandchildren. Leo Hauptman died in early April in New Haven. After getting a post-graduate degree from Southern CT State Leo worked in the Social Services Department at the Jewish Community Center and more recently served a Director of a Senior Center in New Haven. Kenneth Lein died in August 2003, but I have no details.
Bob Child wrote me to report that his wife, Joan, had died last March. Joan was a graduate of the Grace-New Haven School of Nursing Class of 1958, and worked at Yale-New Haven Hospital as a Registered Nurse for 40 years.
Our monthly lunches on the first Thursday of each month at the Yale Club in NYC continue to attract a crowd of enthusiastic classmates. Huddled around the tables on March 6, 2008, were Mike Cavallon (still covered with snow from New Hampshire’s worst winter since they started keeping records up there), Al Ferguson, Ben Gertz, Alex Gunn, host and great organizer Tim Hogen, Victor Kovner, Ron Lamey, Phil Maloney, Phil Ness who traditionally eats heartily from the sumptuous buffet and then plays tennis in the evening thereby theoretically burning off all the calories and remaining incredibly trim, Steve Riker, Pete Spelman and your humble scribe. Although the luncheon is billed to start at 12:30, the table was crowded by noon so be punctual.
An E-mail I received in May 2007 from Larry Bensky has languished hidden in my mail box lo these many months. Larry reported that after 38 years on the air he had retired as newscaster, reporter, commentator, activist and teacher. Since 1969 Larry has worked for KSAN, KPFA, KBLX, California Public Radio, NPR and Pacifica Radio. From 1987 to 1998 he was Pacifica Radio’s national affairs correspondent. Larry won a George Polk Award for his work on the Iran-Contra story. Myles Alderman e-mailed me that Don Crothers was awarded the William Clyde Devane Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching by the Yale Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa last February. Zach Hall reports that he and his wife sold their house in SF last fall and moved their primary residence to Wyoming, where the temperature was minus 15 degrees on the morning he wrote, cold and beautiful as he describes it. They have taken an apartment on the waterfront near the baseball stadium and will be in SF for about six weeks starting in mid-March. Zach sees Buzzy Dimond on the ski slopes and in the post office and also ran into John Pendexter last summer. Zach reports that he was glad to see John who survived a brutal bout with pancreatic cancer and came through with flying colors. The Very Rev. Dr. Peter Moore reports that he plans to retire as Dean and President of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in July. He then hopes to travel to the global South and write.
April may be the cruelest month but February is not far behind considering that I have received word of the death of five classmates. Dick Engel died this last February in Fayetteville, NY. Dick graduated from the Yale Law School in 1961 and began his legal career as a law clerk to the Justices of the New York appellate division, fourth department. Then after practicing in Rochester, Dick returned to Syracuse in 1966 after the death of his father where he practiced law for 41 years. He was an adjunct professor of law at Syracuse where he taught trial practice, law and medicine and equine law. Service to the community was a hallmark of Dick’s life. He founded with his wife a Fund at the Yale Law School to aid students with disabilities and also established two other Engel Family Funds in the Syracuse area. For 30 years Dick owned thoroughbred race horses which he initially ran at any track that would have them. He is survived by two sons and two grandchildren. Harold Bragen passed away last November in Secaucus, NJ after a short bout with cancer. After Yale he earned an MA in American lit at Berkeley. His teaching career began at Humboldt St. in California, and continued at Indiana St., Univ. of Colorado, and CCNY. He is survived by his wife, Tracy, and one son. Zach Hall reported that Dan Duff had died on May 1, 1997, in Richmond, TX, where he had lived and worked as a metallurgist for various companies. Dan is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth. Also, Bill Bullock sent me news that Al Blanchard died in Bangor after a brief illness. Al graduated from the Georgetown Law School in 1961 and then practiced law with his father for many years in Bangor. Al served as attorney for Penobscot County, General Counsel and Clerk of Bangor Hydro Electric and house counsel of Ocean Properties, Ltd. He was an avid golfer and skier. Al is survived by three children and three grand children. Also, Dave Waterbury reported that Robert Kalett passed away in December 2006.
On Monday evening, February 25, 2008, your stupendous reunion book committee, chaired by Harry Harlow, supped (in an up-stairs room) at the tables down at Mory’s. Attending were Myles Alderman, Richie Case, Al Davidson, Ed Etkind, Scott Gunn, Harry Harlow, Carl Lindskog, Ed Loughlin, Tom Schoenemann, and your humble scribe. Politics and religion, along with some reminiscences about stimulating professors as well as boring ones and a few off color jokes dominated the evening’s conversation. An unscientific poll instigated by Ed Etkind showed that more than 80% of the attendees either are or were Republicans. After we were ceremoniously serenaded by the Whiffs (all of whom looked very young and were dressed in coats and ties), the Chairman with great aplomb plopped the final proof of the first 420 pages of the reunion book onto the table to great applause. The Committee, and in particular its Chairman, has put a great deal of effort into this production. You can expect to receive your copy in the mail sometime before the reunion, perhaps even in early April. Don’t miss it!!
On December 6, 2007 (the first Thursday in December), 20 classmates, a record so far, Myles Alderman, Bob Ascheim, Art Bober, Jack Embersits, Al Ferguson, Tim Hogen, Mal Holderness, Ron Lamey, Carl Lindskog, Phil Ness, Norm Jacobs, Dave Richardson, Steve Riker, David Schiff, Sam Schoonmaker, Steve Seiden, Pete Spellman, Jon turner, and your humble scribe joined forces for a delightful lunch at the Yale Club in NYC. Bart Miller and Perry Welch made cameo appearances not having enough time due to the press of business no doubt to sit down and join the group. After lunch Thatcher Brown, Pete Spelman and your humble scribe found themselves attending an International Investment Symposium hosted annually by Bob Cushman’s Group at Smith Barney. One of the featured speakers was Jim Hoge who had just gotten off the plane from either China or Afghanistan. Jim gave a fascinating speech on Geo-political Forces Shaping the World Economy in 2008. It would be great if the powers that be who are organizing the reunion can impose on Jim to join a panel that would give us the benefit of his years in the international arena.
It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning and expectations for a Yale victory over Harvard and an undefeated season were high as more than 40 classmates and their assorted spouses, children and grandchildren gathered at the pregame tailgate party which Harriet and Richie Case have so graciously and expertly hosted for all but one of the last 50 years. It was a record turnout including Nancy and Art Bober, Rina and Bill Becklean, Edith and Bill Bullock, David Burke all the way from Paris, Mike Cavallon and son and grandson, Bob Cushman, Cinda and Jack Embersits, Drew and Harry Harlow and daughter Brooke ’96 and son-in-law Kevin, Annmarie and Carl Lindskog and son Dieter ’93, daughter-in-law Carrie, and twin granddaughters, Ed Loughlin, Martin Mayer and I believe two of his Trumbull College roommates, Susan and Phil Ness, Ed Norton, Sam Schoonmaker, Joel Schiavone and daughter, Linus Travers, Bill Upsahl, Ruth and David Waterbury, and your humble scribe with daughter Stefanie ‘00. Also at the game were Bill Seeley (a great supporter of the Yale hockey team) and Sarah and Bob Truslow (a fraternal twin). I hope I have not left out anyone. Dave Richardson was surely there but I did not run into him. Yale got outplayed and more ominously horribly outcoached by Harvard. Jack Embersits had some interesting things to say about Yale’s performance and the nature of The Game itself which he says is full of high tension and nervous players, the team’s previous record means nothing and bad breaks can easily occur. First of all, he feels that the Yale players have a sense of commitment and loyalty to the “program” and its leaders. However, lack of imagination on the coaching side plagues the Yale offense! Early in the season the team’s fundamental flaws were easily disguised by the running back McCloud and two strong lines, both offensive and defensive. As the season progressed Yale’s opponents became quite aware of Yale’s weaknesses. The last four games before The Game indicated that they were gradually but definitely finding solutions. Yale needed to give its players some new tricks, a new formation, traps at the line and short passes over the linebackers. The use of McCloud as a “decoy” would have been an obvious stroke of genius if only Yale had just come up with the idea! Yale let its young players down because the coaches were not wise enough to set a new, imaginative stylistic game plan! This year’s Yale players will be cursed for life having to remember a disheartening November Saturday afternoon in front of 60 thousand loyal fans many of whom had just crawled out of their cocoons to attend their first game of the year! In addition Yale was celebrating the New Bowl which has been rechristened and refurbished and is ready to start its second 100 year cycle. Yale’s senior administrators must now take action to insure that Yale’s commitment to God, to country, but most of all to Yale beating Harvard in football, is sustained and brings success. As for Harvard—wait till NEXT YEAR!!!!
I have received a copy of a letter to Jack Embersits and Dave Waterbury from Bill Bidwell ’63, the Recording Secretary of Yale, notifying us that the Class of 1958 Memorial Scholarship has been awarded for the second time to Axel Schmidt, class of 2009. The fiscal year end value of the Class of 1958 Memorial Scholarship Fund grew from $139,321 to $252,012 thanks to the generosity of members of our class as well as a 23.5% increase in the principal. Axel, who comes from Pittsburgh and has three relatives who graduated from Yale, has been awarded a Yale College Fellowship for International Research and won the Samantha Landau Beggs Award. He was also the recipient of a nuclear physics internship and studied at the Technical University of Munich last summer. He will be majoring in physics and intends to go to graduate school and become a research physicist. Inasmuch as room, board and tuition plus personal expenses are now running at over $47,000 per year, the $9,647 produced by our Fund helped relieve at least some of the financial pressure on Alex. Hats off to those who have helped make this possible.
The Whiffs have done it again, another superb performance. Last September they reassembled at the Von Trapp Lodge in Stowe VT to entertain themselves, other members of the Class and numerous hotel guests as well. The harmonizing Whiffs were Sandy and Pete Arnold, Becky and John Cassel, Keith Cullinan, Cinnie and Ben Eppes, Fritz Kinzel, Marnie and Bart Miller, Karen and Bill Opsahl, Debbie and Rusty Post, Drika and Alex Purves Margaret and Linus Travers, Sandy and Chris Smith, and Millie and Terry West. Todd Kendrick, ’57 Whiff’s, filled in for Sherm Durfee who was unable to attend. Among the fascinated and highly appreciative spectators were Tom Bauer, Edward Broenniman, Sally and Tim Brown, Robin and Mike Cavallon, Jim Clark, Wendy and Bob Cushman, Jim Darby, Cinda and Jack Embersits, Rhonda and Alex Gunn, Amy and Tom Kwei, John Murray, Mike Rafferty, Terry Rogers and Ruth and David Waterbury.
Thanks to a combination of Grant Hellar, Chris Smith and Linus Travers, I have news about the singers in our class who are still singing. Linus reports that the Yale Alumni Chorus’s summer ‘07 Power of Song Concert Tour to South Africa boasted a complete octet from 1958: Job Emerson, Rhonda and Alex (Canby) Gunn, Marnie and Bart Miller, Francisa and Terry Rogers, Chris Smith, Joyce and Jim Spencer, Solveig and John Stetson, and Margaret and Linus Travers. The tour featured formal concerts in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, as well as appearances in Soweto and several other townships. All the events served as fund raisers for local social-service organizations. Additionally, the group took with them $35,000 worth of musical instruments as gifts to a music program in Port Elizabeth. Linus sent me two priceless photos of the group. If you would like to see them, please E-mail me and I will be glad to send them to you. My grasp of modern technology is not sufficient at this point to enable me to post them on this site so that you can view them here.