Class Notes

March/April 2011

by Tony Lavely

Before this column appears in the Yale Alumni Magazine, we will be holding our annual Class Council meeting in New Haven at Kroon Hall on February 5th. Subsequent columns will report on Council decisions and other class matters. Council members will also be attending men's hockey games that weekend to support the #1 nationally-ranked Bulldogs! Tony Lee reported on a recent game: "Mike Price, Toby Hubbard, Jeremy Wood, Al Rossiter, and I saw Yale beat Harvard in Cambridge."

Last November, Henry McCance was profiled on NPR in connection with his support for Alzheimer's research. The link is posted under "Class News" on our Website. Will Elting, our Class AYA representative, attended Assembly LXX "Pathways to Health in the 21st Century: Medicine at Yale" and accepted the AYA Award for "Outstanding Class Volunteer Engagement," recognizing the longstanding and wide-ranging class support for environmental issues. The Award and Proposal are posted on our Class Website. Joining Will at the Princeton game Getman tailgate that weekend were Holcombe, Putzel, Kalayjian, Truebner, and Vivian Donnelley. Putzel "walked the dog" in the fourth quarter. A week later, Ed Massey paraded Handsome Dan at The Game.

Bill Taylor will be King of The Krewe of Carrollton at Mardi Gras 2011. His son, Brian, recently returned from service in Iraq as a naval aviator. Ed Gaffney wrote, "I'm enjoying my new home on the southwest shore of Oahu." Jim Kearney emailed to inform us that Chas Freeman will be the keynote speaker at the Camden Conference (Maine) in February. Bob Buchanan wrote: "Just returned from another exotic birding adventure in Indonesia … remote, enchanting, and culturally engaging." Carroll Cavanagh reported the birth of his first grandson, Jonny.

Pete Putzel reported that the class table (fourth Tuesdays) at the Yale Club of NYC was well-attended in November. But for a rash of orthopedic surgeries (Tom Trowbridge, Jethro Lieberman, Terry Holcombe, Jim Baxter), attendance would have been higher! The December lunch set an all-time attendance record with 13 classmates, including Mac Deford who made the trip from Maine. Mac celebrated Thanksgiving with children and grandchildren at Dairsie Castle, Scotland.

Tony Morris emailed "Senator Joe Lieberman has accepted the nomination to co-chair the bi-partisan, bicameral Congressional Fire Services Caucus." Tony is founder and director of Wildfire Research Network. Lieberman also hailed the Senate passage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Chris Getman forwarded an Investment News article featuring Jim Rogers. That article and an interview in South China Morning Post are posted on our Class Website. Jim Baxter emailed: "Your wonderful introduction to yoga at the 45th reunion has led to me to weekly classes."

Loring Knoblauch circulated a holiday newsletter. Highlights include: his recent investment (with classmate Bill Moeller) in National Food Laboratories in Livermore, CA; achieving Bronze Life Master Level in Duplicate Bridge and striving for Silver Life Master; a Trustee of Ravinia Summer Music Festival in Highland Park, IL. I urge you to email Loring if you'd like to read his holiday letter. Other holiday news: Dick Niglio reported the birth of grandson, Austin, in October; Tony Lee, together with Margie the peripatetic trekkers, reported on their hike of the 7-day Salkantay Trek and on to Machu Picchu in Peru; Bob Buchanan took his extended family (including 6 grandchildren) to St. John in the Virgin Islands; Dan Pollack shared family holiday pictures after returning from India.

Ed Massey will miss the Class Council meeting in his month-long quest to ski all 18 ski areas in Utah. Ed also reported a roommate reunion at Per Wickstrom's home on Lake Superior: "Peter Giblin could not make it [due to a knee replacement]; neither did Bill DuRoss. Pete Putzel, Charlie Warner, Jim Shanklin, and I all rappelled down (and up) a cliff for a refreshing dip in the coldest, deepest lake in North America!" Ed, like many of us, also reported on a most enjoyable 50th high school reunion. Joe Wishcamper will also miss the Council meeting as he will be fishing in Patagonia.

Sam Francis has added a "Site Search" feature (Home Page, bottom left) to our Class Website, making it easier to check on classmates or specific events.

No sooner did we receive the news about Ned Evans $50 million gift to Yale School of Management, than we were informed of his death in Manhattan on December 31st from acute myeloid leukemia. Details of his gift are posted on our Class Website in "Class News" and his obituary is posted at "In Memoriam."

Classmates have donated to the Mory's Memorial Brick Project to place named bricks for more than 80 departed classmates on the new Mory's patio. It you would like to join this effort, please contact Chris Getman to select a classmate for whom no donation has yet been made.

If you would like to guest-author a Class Notes column this year (as Bill Drennen did last year), please email me. At the very least, please send news about yourself or classmates that we can share in this column.