Class Notes

July/August 2022

Note: Classmates' names in gold font are links to a pre-addressed email form (if your browser is properly configured). Other links (underlined) take you to more information about the topic. A shorter version of these Notes is published in the Yale Alumni Magazine. If you would like to write a guest column, please let me know. Do we have your current email address in our website directory?

As we head into summer, we’re celebrating more 80th birthdays and also returning to more in-person gatherings. One beneficial result of restrictions during the pandemic is Zoom events. These have enabled more classmates to get together more often for wide-ranging discussions. One case in point is our Zoom event on April 28, to discuss “China: Confrontation or Collaboration?” with Chas Freeman and Susan Thornton. Organized by Mac Deford and Ward Wickwire, it was attended by over 75 classmates and spouses. Joe Wishcamper emailed: Thank you, Ward and Mac for this timely program; it was a smashing success, beautifully executed.” There is a video recording of the event on our Class website. We will continue to schedule these theme events and 1964 Authors Book Clubs. On July 14, we will meet with Syd Lea to discuss his thirteenth book of poetry, titled Here.

Most regional classmate meetings have continued with the Zoom format, except in New Haven, where they are now meeting for lunches at Mory’s, organized by Chris Getman. Also, in New Haven, the Classmate golf outing will reconvene at The Yale Course on June 2. Ted Jones reports that eighteen classmates and four spouses have signed up for the outing, with dinner at Mory’s afterwards. On both coasts, Zooms are still the order of the day with mid-month events in Boston (organized by Jerry Flannelly) and in the Bay Area (organized by Owen O’Donnell). The Boston group will depart from their regular Zoom format with an in-person gathering at the Westwood MA home of Amy and Bob Rands on June 25. Nancy Upper (surviving spouse of Dennis Upper) is assisting with planning; word has it that there will be a giant 80th birthday cake and a montage of classmate 80th birthday photos!

In June, Jerry Flannelly (HBS ’66) and Edward Massey (HBS ’67) will be on the Harvard Business School campus. Both are co-chairs of their respective HBS classes which together include eleven 1964 classmates. Across the Atlantic, Ed Trippe, Blaine Krickl, and Jim Rogers gathered with other rowers to honor the memory of Bill Fink with the dedication of an Oxford shell in his name at the Henley Regatta in early April. Len Baker gave a eulogy at a Celebration of Life service for Honorary Classmate David Swensen on April 10. Neil Hoffmann expressed the feelings of many classmates when he said, “Anyone who loves Yale should take the time to watch this Celebration of Life video. Words cannot begin to convey the emotions of the people who loved Swensen and the incredible impact he had on Yale and on the lives of students at Yale.”

Looking further out, there will be another Zoom theme event, organized by Howard Gillette on December 1. Focusing on affirmative action in American higher education, the Zoom event will occur about the time that SCOTUS will be hearing the Harvard case. John Evans and Ted Wagner are co-chairs of our 60th class reunion in 2024. They are looking for volunteers to serve on the reunion planning committee. Dan Pollack has already signed on.

Since the previous issue of Class Notes in May, there have been 34 articles added to the Class website in Class News. Remember, these are longer articles or stories than we can include in Class Notes. Chas Freeman (China Zoom, Harvard China Forum, Ukraine Interview), Jon McBride (Mimi’s Watercolors), Jerry Flannelly (HBS reunion and Boston Zoom), Tony Lavely (Most Influential Professor, Class Secretary History, Atlanta Student Reception), Frank Franklin (Sex Among Aging Males), Tom Susman (Abu Dhabi), Edward Massey (HBS Reunion), Stan Thomas (Son’s UM Award), Len Baker (Swensen Eulogy), Bob Buchanan (DC Airport Award), Howard Gillette (Book Launch), Tony Lee (Let’s Talk Climate Series), Bill Fink (Henley Regatta), Terry Holcombe (Sunrise Café), Sam Francis (Library Archives), Dan Pollack (Lifetime of Service Award), Neil Hoffmann (Support for Ukraine), John Wylie (Russian Publication), Joe Wishcamper (Affordable Housing Podcast), Dan Berman (Gold Rush Backstory), Jim Rogers (Taiwan), Tony Reno (Spring Football), Owen O’Donnell (Bay Area Zoom), Stephen Greenblatt (Italian Opera), Sam Callaway (Yale Hockey), Al Rossiter (Boston Globe LTE), Bruce Driver (Senate Races). In other Yale news, many classmates were encouraged by the Podcast done by President Salovey and Dean Indy Burke (School of the Environment) on Earth Day. On the other hand, there was consternation expressed about the $40 million fraud perpetuated on Yale Medical School in March.

When we inadvertently said that Syd Lea was a resident of New Hampshire and that New Hampshire and Vermont were pretty much interchangeable, he replied gleefully: “All those honors you attribute to New Hampshire are in fact from VERMONT, where I have lived for almost four decades. New Hampshire has a former governor who became national director of the John Birch Society, and Vermont has the only socialist senator in the nation. Pretty much interchangeable. Also: Vermont has more poets with books in print per capita than any state in the union. New Hampshire about a tenth. Yup. Pretty much interchangeable like, oh, CA and AZ. You could start a fistfight in these parts with such a comment.”

Tony Lee circulated a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe that Margie wrote, titled “The denial of the truth about climate change.” Tony added: “Lavely, sorry I’ll miss you on your Boston visit in late June. We leave early that weekend for Kingdom Trails in East Burke VT for four days of mountain biking with a group of about twelve. It’s my favorite weekend of the year.” Earlier, in April, Margie and Tony were on the Outer Banks of NC visiting family. Tony was one of many classmates who used subscription sports channels to watch the men’s basketball team in the first round of “March Madness” and the women’s hockey team in the “Frozen Four.” Chip Levengood wrote with his Class dues remittance (thanks, Chip!), “We miss our flat in Madrid, as we have hunkered down in Philadelphia. I continue to serve as President of the Yale Club of Spain and Director of the Alumni Schools Committee. We had nearly 200 applications to the Class of 2026 from Portugal and Spain. I continue to be active with International NGOs, most recently as Chair of Relief International. Places like South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh are very challenging environments. Pre-pandemic, Katherine and I visited refugee camps in Darfur and Sudan, where my organization provides health care and sanitation to thousands of displaced Sudanese.” Tony Lavely wrote, “I was delighted to see that Enrique De La Cruz, Head of Branford College (where Tony is an Associate Fellow) was reappointed as Head for a second five-year term.” In March, Sam Low posted “Test MV to close. Bravo for your amazing work fighting COVID and for demonstrating what Islanders can do when we work together.” [Note: “Test MV” is the COVID Testing Center on Martha's Vineyard that was staffed by volunteers.] Later, Sam posted, “Hokule’a and Hikianalia safely departed for Hilo this morning! After clearing customs and provisioning canoes in Hilo, the crew hopes to depart for Tahiti by the end of the week.” The is the 8th anniversary of Sam’s book, Hawai’iki Rising winning the Book of the Year Award. Edward Massey emailed: One of my ’64 classmates who also went on to Harvard Business School with me is John Neill . He was from Enid, OK. I met him in Phelps Gate, first day of freshman year and took him home to Utah to ski (you know how flat Oklahoma is?). He went on to settle in Texas and create a very substantial extended-care/assisted-living facility operation.” In addition to his duties as co-chair of his HBS 55th reunion in June, Massey is also organizing the next 1964 Authors Book Club with Syd Lea on July 14.

In late April, Jon McBride emailed: “Mimi and I spent last week with Selina and Al Rossiter, Dottie and John Evans, and Charley Sawyer (’63 Whiffenpoof and honorary member of the '64 golf outings) in the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania and Delaware. We visited the Brandywine River Museum and N. C. Wyeth's studio, Winterthur, Longwood Gardens. Then, Mimi and I went to the Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware on our way home). BTW, Mimi was delighted that you posted her watercolors on the Class website.” Jon McBride also circulated a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe that Al Rossiter wrote, comparing the citizen-soldiers in Ukraine to the Lexington Minutemen. John Meigs corrected my inclusion of the photograph of Iwo Jima in my March blast email: “Just a little nit … your photo of the Marines raising the flag was taken on February 23, 1945, on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Coming from a long line of Navy (and Army) career officers, though not one of that august group, I would recommend for 1942 one of the iconic photos from the Battle of Midway June 4-7, 1942 (a huge win for the US in which luck reportedly played a part) or the photos of the B-25s being launched in the northwest Pacific from the USS Hornet, 18 April 1942, for their impossible and costly but inspiring raid on Japan.” [Lavely: I’d like to say I made the mistake on purpose, just as a readership check, but alas it was just a careless mistake!]

The invasion of Ukraine has been a major topic of conversation in regional Zoom meetings. In the Boston group, Neil Mitchell commented: “I listened a bit to John Meersheimer (Jerry Flannelly forwarded the links a day or so ago). In a nutshell, his thesis is that Putin has for years repeatedly warned us (the so-called ‘West’) that he couldn't tolerate a large-scale democracy (i.e., disregarding little Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) on Russia's borders, especially when a Ukrainian leader announces that they will apply for NATO membership as was done in 2008 or 2009. We have been stone deaf to Putin's repeated warnings, which gave him a binary choice: either (1) with the tacit acquiescence of the West restore a Russia sympathetic or at least ideologically neutral government in Ukraine as a ‘buffer’ or (2) put Ukraine back into the stone age by totally destroying its infrastructure, resources, and people. Since we wouldn't agree to (1), his only alternative was (2). Meersheimer does not think that Putin wants to bring back the USSR in all its glory (or should I say gory) but would have been satisfied with a non-threatening Ukraine at its doorstep. One reason is that Russia's DEW missile-alert system is archaic and cannot timely recognize a threat launched from a neighboring country. By encouraging the Ukrainians to stay aligned with the West — knowing we could not support them militarily — we signed their death warrant. Meersheimer does not apologize for Putin's paranoia but says that if we had been a little smarter, we could have prevented the sacking of the country without giving up very much. After all, the Monroe Doctrine was America's idea.” Replying to Lavely’s reference to “42” in his March all-classmate email as the “Ultimate Answer to the Question of Life,” John More emailed: “Perfect. Probably most of us know The Hitchhiker’s Guide.” Later, John posted, “I just watched the Ken Burn’s ‘Benjamin Franklin’ on PBS. It’s inspiring and moving.” Doane Perry commented, “We agree!” Sam Low added: “Damn right.”

Dick Niglio emailed: “Great to hear from you, Laves. Reading the Class Notes makes it feel like I'm hearing from you regularly. Everything on my end is going pretty smoothly. My son Britton has been living in Tahoe (working remotely) for the past year or so. He is planning to buy the house from me in the near future. I visited my daughter Tami in Punta Gorda FL a couple of weeks ago. She and her husband Roberto bought a new home there in a lovely rural setting. My other son Dustin’s son is turning out to be quite a football player. Saw a video of him making a 90-yard TD run. As you well know, turning 80 and being healthy is a gift we have to cherish above all. Hope the fates get us together sometime soon.” Also relishing the 80th birthday theme, Dan Northway emailed: “80 does sound like a lot, but you have put a nice perspective on it. I’ve still got six months to go until my birthday. I look forward to the other classmate photos of 80th-birthday celebrations. Don’t forget to include your own!” Rich Peck added: “Between 1942 and the Age of Aquarius (born in January), I’ve got it all!” Ron Parlato emailed: “I just got back from five weeks with my children and grandchildren, a rare occasion for me to spend time with them alone. A privilege.” In March, Dan Pollack emailed: “Yesterday we enjoyed our annual lunch with Susan and Bob Hannah in Scottsdale at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. They visit their son John and his family every year at this time from their home in Good Hart, MI. From Scottsdale they drive to Houston to spend time with their daughter Rachel and family before returning to Michigan. Bob had back surgery which greatly helped his problem. However, his foot problem remains considerable causing him to use a cane. It's very difficult for him to even walk with the cane. True to Bob, his attitude remains upbeat. He is and always will be a fighter. He calls Gary Hallenbeck, who lives in Chicago, every Sunday to smooze.” On seeing the Legacy Guest Book reminder of Bob Reum’s death in 2017, Dan Pollack emailed: “It’s hard to believe was it was five years ago that Bob passed away. His brother Jim and Jim’s wife Christel are sitting with Sherry, Bob’s wife, at our table April 30 for the JCYS Benefit we’re involved with. Their family made a wonderful donation to JCYS in Bob’s honor.” Later Dan wrote: “Our son-in-law Bradley Wasserman was promoted to Director of a key group of wines at Kendall-Jackson wines in Napa.” In April, Nancy Pollack posted a photo of their 54th wedding anniversary. Have any classmates had more anniversaries than the Pollacks? Pete Putzel, another classmate who followed the Bulldogs in March Madness and the Frozen Four, emailed: “I’ve become a major supporter of ESPN+ (which you watch on your computer). There’s an annual fee that is somewhat cheaper than the monthly fee. ESPN+ gives you access to virtually every Ivy League hockey and basketball game, presumably lacrosse and baseball in the spring. Very easy to subscribe.” Sadly, Pete emailed later, “Our beloved dog, Lily, is now making friends with Dakota.” [Lavely’s 12-year-old Labrador Dakota died in February].

Jim Rogers emailed from the Henley Regatta: “I was delighted to attend the race and see Oxford win in Bill Fink’s boat. My daughter Hilton is now in her first year at Columbia and loves it.” Paul Ruden emailed: “The nation has moved backward into a position with the gravest consequences. As Lincoln said in 1858, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ That is precisely where we are today.” Paul also posted this in his “Sea to Shining Sea” blog: “The most important book you’re not going to read this year: Can It Happen Here? Authoritarianism in America, edited by Cass Sunstein. The contributors of the essays in this stunning book are mostly distinguished law professors from Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, and Duke. These people know whereof they speak.” Russell Sunshine was one of many classmates who commented on the disruption by hecklers at Yale Law School (an article posted by Chip Nielsen): “Yale and other universities have a core moral duty to promote and protect free exchanges of open discussion, including on controversial topics, presenting wide-ranging viewpoints, no matter how unpopular or politically incorrect.” Russell continued: “I still insist that Yale management can do more to expose its students to diverse viewpoints, as part of their education in the broader sense, rather than laboring to create ‘safe spaces’ to spare sensitive, bright kids the discomfort of having to confront and analyze opinions seldom encountered in their sheltered circles.” Russell Sunshine also circulated an article in The Atlantic by Jonathan Haidt: “Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Russell opined: “Its core theme is the corroding influence of social media. Unfortunately, its diagnoses are more convincing than its prescriptions.” Russell missed the April Bay Area Zoom, which is probably a good thing based on his production here: “Sorry I can’t make this one, Owen. We'll be on the road back north from the high deserts. Ironically, in light of your earth-stewards question, we're experiencing our own melodramatic dose of extreme weather. Here in Julian, CA, 80 mph wind gusts, travelers’ advisories, and snow forecast for tonight! Can’t see the Joshua Trees!” Ron Sipherd replied “IMHO it is false to assume ‘the authorities’ at every institution can ensure uninterrupted free speech with some perfect response and are to be denounced whenever disorder occurs and is not instantly cured. There’s never a magic wand around when you need one. There is a wide gap, demonstrated over and over, between accepting a ‘moral duty’ to promote and protect free exchanges of open discussion and implementing it flawlessly. The administration may well have been at fault in this incident; but the exchange has become so partisan and heated that we may never know. And, you know, some extremists love to appear as victims.” Later, in a more relaxed mood, Ron Sipherd posted: “Though I am still a mere lad of 79, here is a photo of me with the Jonathan Edwards memoir book that I sent them last year (they have their own Facebook group), and the JE literary magazine published by David Libby at my shoulder. Other than this, I have no particular news to report, which at our age I think is a good thing.”

When he saw the tribute to Bill Fink at Henley, Tyler Smith emailed: “Even as one more engaged in land-based activities, it was nice to see and hear from a few of my ‘roomies’ about their tribute to Bill. I did know Bill at Yale and remember with fondness connecting with him at a couple of our reunions. On a sadder note, in these grim times tomorrow, April 11 marks the day another roomie and best pal, Bruce Warner, died in 1965 from sniper fire he sustained while serving in Vietnam.” Following the Boston Zoom call in April, Harvey Tananbaum emailed Tony Lee: “I think that you are being very generous, Tony, when you say, ‘I thought there was relatively good listening.’ On the other hand, we all learned some new things which does qualify the discussion as having been productive. I loved the explanation of why people choose to be scientists … ‘loved’ it so much that I forgot what was said when I tried to share that with my wife!” Earlier, Harvey Tananbaum added to the “42” theme in Lavely’s March email to all classmates: “42 is also famous as Jackie Robinson's number. It was retired by MLB in 1997. It is now worn by all MLB players and coaches (umpires too) for games played on each April 15.” When Lavely sent Charlie Thomson the classmate locator map (at his request) that showed he was the only one of our classmates who lives in Jackson Hole WY, he kindly replied, “Do you ever come west? We love to have guests. Summer is beautiful, and we’re next to the Tetons and only 2½ hours from Yellowstone. In the ‘80s I climbed the Grand Teton. My guide was even older than me and was the first person to ski down it. He still plays his mandolin on Sunday nights at an historic bar.” Charlie continued: “Three of my closest friends died last year; two of them were Yalies: Ben Moyer (my roommate in TD) and Andy Baxter ’65. Chilton “Tony” Thomson emailed: “Tony, thanks for including my idea for a sponsored charity parachute jump. So far, no Yalie takers. My Stanford Biz class was more responsive with most disliking the very idea of jumping. Oh well, we are all getting old; many have knee or hip issues or like you have jumped already. Eventually grasping that I was serious, my darling wife of over 50 years accused me of planning some irritating and idiotic form of suicide. I explained that we would not jump alone and that I enjoy breakfast, our dogs, gardening, and her company too much for such a perverse gesture.” When he saw Tony Thomson’s reference to his book about his experiences in Vietnam, Sam Francis emailed: “I have added Tony Thomson to our honored list of 56 Vietnam veterans.” Jan Truebner (surviving spouse of Pete Truebner) had lunch at Mory’s recently and emailed: “I was at Mory’s in December and asked to see Peter’s brick and the one a friend and I purchased for Hank Satterthwaite. They gave me the coordinates and I was successfully able to locate them. It might have helped that Chris and Toddie were with me! They had row numbers (down the right-hand side, near the building) and maybe another coordinate. They had a list of names/bricks and at least the row number for it. I had never seen Peter’s brick until December, and I bought it years ago!” Jan continues to maintain regular contact with 1964 surviving spouses for whom she has email addresses. If you are in touch with any who would like to get her mailings, please contact Jan.

Nancy Upper (surviving spouse of Dennis Upper) emailed: “My file of 1964 classmate photos of 80th-birthday celebrations continues to grow with their RSVPs to Amy and Bob Rands’ party on June 25.” Nancy also joined Tony Lee’s Zoom meeting, “Let’s Talk about Climate Change,” and observed ”I liked the protester’s sign in the video: ‘Don’t be a Fossil FOOL!’” Don Van Doren emailed: “Susan and Bob Hannah stopped by our home in New Mexico for a few days on their trip to visit sons and daughters across the country. Diane and I had a fine time with them, sharing some of the delights of our part of the world. You had asked for photos. Bob snapped one of me and sent it to you. Here’s one of Bob that I took in our dining room with one of our dogs sleeping in the background.” Later, Don circulated a letter about contributions to Ukraine. Don wrote, “Diane and I are interested in contributing to an organization that can help directly.” Don also commended Neil Hoffmann for his donation to UNICEF: “Neil, your donation to UNICEF is a perfect 80th-birthday present Thank you for doing this and suggesting it to the rest of us.” Gene Van Loan has stood up for Ukraine, too: “I live on a cul-de-sac. There are fourteen houses on my street. I bought enough Ukrainian flags for all my neighbors. Every house is now displaying one. What is going on in Ukraine is a stain on Western civilization. And it is occurring on our watch. If I could afford it, I would buy a flag for every family in America.” Gene added: “I will never forget my mother coming downstairs from her bedroom one morning and gathering the family. It was 1953 and I was only eleven years old. She had been listening to a radio report that Joseph Stalin had died. She told us all about it and then said something to the effect: ‘I know that this is contrary to my Christian faith, but I am glad.’ I confess that if another Russian dictator would leave this earth — by whatever means — I would be glad. We put a bounty on the head of Osama Bin Laden. Perhaps we should do it again with you-know-who.” [Editor’s Note: It was Gene who gave me the idea to ask the question in my email to all classmates this month.] Andy Villalon kindly wrote: “Tony, if any historian ever writes an in-depth history of the Class of 1964 (that is, after Howard Gillette’s book in 2015), your posts will contribute the principal footnotes.”

After organizing and co-hosting the Zoom event on China on April 28, Ward Wickwire emailed: “I’m heading to Virginia tomorrow to join a friend bringing his boat back to Maine for the season. So, I’ll be generally unavailable for the next week, but I will send some ancillary materials for the posting of the video in Class News.” Ward also had a perspective on the meltdown of the Yale men’s hockey team this year: “I’m not sure of the actual won/loss record of the men’s hockey team last season. But I thought ’64 Men’s Hockey team had the worst record of all time. I would be pleased if we were no longer the worst but sad for Yale hockey.” Joe Wishcamper, who spearheaded the concept of Zoom events on high-interest themes (like China), emailed: “The class notes this month were superb. A few more of similar length and you will have published a serialized book! Like my last report, I am sitting in an airport (Iquitos, Peru, rather than Boston) returning from the birdwatching trip mentioned in your current Notes. Once back in Maine, I will turn around in four days for a two-week ibex hunt in Spain. This is all part of my two-month ‘practice retirement.’ If it suits me, I will give up day-to-day responsibilities in my company at the end of the year to my successor. Carol is doubtful I can do it but I (mostly) believe I can. Time will tell.” After participating in one of Tony Lee’s “Let’s Talk Climate Change” series, Bill Woodfin emailed: “Thanks for this link, gentlemen. I looked at these matters at some length three and four years ago giving several presentations to physicians and naturalists regarding public-health consequences of global warming and accompanying environmental pollution. I subsequently succumbed to pessimism as to our citizens having the will to ameliorate the problems and put it all on the back burner. I think seeing all of the SUVs and pickup trucks that make up the greatest percentage of traffic here in Texas led me to consider it a hopeless cause. It’s now made all the more challenging by the Ukrainian war with the disruption in global oil and gas supply and with the current inadequacy of green energy to compensate. Perhaps these upcoming sessions can resurrect some of my lost enthusiasm and optimism.” Bill also was engaged in the Jonathan Haidt article about social media. David Wyles had the right idea in early April when he said: “I’m still celebrating my 80th birthday! Tomorrow is another celebration (my fourth in less than two weeks)! Decided to stretch this one out for another month! Got another one next week and then we’re headed down to the desert near Palm Springs for a final long weekend of celebration! Having too much fun to stop!”

John Wylie, a regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls, wrote: “Just a ‘thank you’ for lobbing that ‘cooperation/coordination’ question to me in the San Francisco meeting yesterday. Attending these meetings is good for me because I am very inept at verbal presentations, having been a bookworm all my life. I guess you're used to all this, but I am absolutely enchanted. Sandy McKleroy, for example, what a fabulous character! I feel privileged to know him. BTW, I’m doing the galley proofs for my essay, which I think has a message of evidence and logic for the Russians, who have a very strong intellectual tradition.” Bob Archer, another regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls, circulated an article titled, “A Yale Professor Shatters False Beliefs About Aging and Uncovers Four Truths to a Longer and Happier Life.” Len Baker, who has many business and family ties to China, was unable to attend the China Zoom event in April: “I’ll be at Yale attending the School of Management board meeting. Will there be a replay? [Yes] If so, I’ll be very interested in seeing it.” Tom Barton emailed: “Many thanks for sending the link to the keynote address at NVIDIA GPC, which represents the state-of-the-art in computing, software, and applications. The ideas are fantastic and yet backed up by facts. The rate of progress is stunning, inspiring, and scary. It’s a classic example of exponential growth — each increment in technology enables the more efficient development of subsequent increments. Coincidentally, recently I’ve been collecting information about the evolution of (digital) technology over the last 50+ years, possibly as the basis for a talk here in our home community. It's also a subject we might consider for a future Class of ’64 discussion.” Later Tom wrote: “How are you reacting to the atrocities in Ukraine? It's unbearable to watch the news. I am so angry at Putin and Russia and their bullying us and the world. I think the US and the West must stand up to them. If that leads to the unthinkable, then we should be sure to win. The MAD strategy was always bad and is certainly no longer appropriate. The autocracies with WMDs must be de-fanged. I never expected to think like such a hawk. Also, look at the frantic scramble for more fossil fuels, which is not consistent with the rhetoric and promises to deal with CO2. Hopefully, the Russian problem will motivate the development of alternatives.” When he heard about the loss of my dog, Dakota, in February, Tom wrote: “Sorry to hear about losing Dakota. I know the importance of the companionship of pets. As you say, life goes on and new connections form.”

After Pat Caviness posted a 1962 newspaper photo of Dick Berk, Tony Lavely, and Stan Thomas (“Eager Yale Football Candidates Report to Coach John Pont for Drills”), Dick Berk emailed: “Gosh, where do you get this stuff? I recall having a pretty good year until I got banged up in the Princeton game. But I was never a fan of John Pont. I got to know Chuck Mercein ‘65 a bit that year, and we worked out together after I graduated before his senior year. I remember him as a nice guy and very humble. I was training for rugby which I loved dearly and played for the next five years while in graduate school.” Following the Class Council meeting in February, Chip Brennan (Class Treasurer) emailed: “My real intent is to plug the Support Network especially after the lukewarm reception it got during Sam Francis’ review of our Class website. You might even ask other classmates to share their experiences with the Support Network.” After the China Zoom event, Timothy Breen (who himself headlined a Yale 1964 Authors Book Club in January) suggested a theme for the future. “Although the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is not until 2026, it might be interesting and instructive to begin a discussion of the document, especially since the assault on democracy throughout the world seems to be gaining momentum. Perhaps this is a suggestion for a general Yale series rather than for our class. It is just an idea that struck me this morning.” Joe Wishcamper commented: “I like Tim’s idea. It might make a good topic for a session during our 2024 Class Reunion.” Bam Alling called in April to express concern about the embezzlement incident at Yale Medical School. Phil Anderson wrote: “Pray for Ukraine, pray for Peace. We have a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter with extended family in Ukraine.” Bob Archer is a regular on the Bay Area Zoom calls and an expert on carbon dividends and border carbon adjustments. I asked him if he could give us a tutorial on the subject. He wrote: “I would like to do that but cannot give you a date right now. I'm playing in my first tournament in four years in Palm Desert on April 7-10, going to Washington to transition my house to another renter, followed by a reunion of my Peace Corps group in Asheville NC May 2-6. I will miss Ben Moyer, who passed away, as we were in the same group that went to Colombia in 1964.”

During the appearance of the Yale women’s hockey team in the Frozen Four, while some bemoaned the record of the Yale men’s hockey team, Sam Callaway set the record straight: “Ward Wickwire’s email pricked my curiosity. He is correct that our hockey team in 1963-64 was one of the poorest at 4-18-0. But the 1974-75 team had the worst record at 1-21-1 followed by the next year's team at 4-21-0. It is not a happy memory to have been so near the bottom, but nothing can erase the fun, excitement, and privilege of competing at that level.” Sam added: “I’ve watched the Yale women for six weeks now and am hooked by their skill, speed, and scrappy play. It is amazing to me how far the women's game has advanced. And hockey without all the unnecessary checking and boarding is a much more open and free-flowing game.” Earlier, Sam had written about a harrowing incident: “On the way home from Mory’s, I dropped Ed Shaw at his house and turned right onto Edgewood Avenue where it crosses the West River. As I approached the bridge a large black SUV came diagonally across the road at what seemed to me to be a high speed. I leaned on my horn and swerved to the right as far as I could without jumping the curb but could not avoid the front-end collision that followed. My seat belt held but the air bag did not deploy. After five hours in the Yale New Haven ER, I was released to come home, sore as hell through my chest area where I was restrained by the seat belt and with a number of small cuts on my hands and legs. The guy who hit me had fallen asleep at the wheel. It was about as close as I have ever come to meeting my maker. I am very lucky to be alive today.” Pat Caviness, a former denizen of New Orleans, commented on my Mardi Gras post: “Cool and personal coverage of Mardi Gras. Love seeing those beads. BTW, I got my DrPH at Tulane Medical Center. I got my Master's in Business at Wharton. Going to Tulane was my personal journey to fulfill a promise to myself to obtain my doctoral degree at some point in my life. And I wanted to reorient my career away from investment banking and my expertise in banking to the medical field. I was partially successful. I was hired by a Hong Kong venture-capital firm to serve on an acquisition team to acquire health-care companies. After three acquisitions I was asked to remain as one of the firm's Executive Directors, a position I readily accepted since I had fallen in love with the fast-moving exciting international city of Hong Kong.” In March, Frederique Delage and Patrick Caviness moved into their new home on Koh Samui, Thailand: “We're in a full-on moving mode right now. We've sold our home and signed a two-year lease on a lovely home that's very similar to the estate we just sold. We’ll probably move around the last week of March.” Later, Frederique posted a beautiful photo of their new home looking out over their pool with the ocean harbor in the distanced: “Good morning to all our friends. This is our first day in our new home, Shambala Estate Baan Makham, on Koh Samui.” In April, I introduced Patrick to a rising senior at Yale (my mentee from Atlanta) who is the newest member of Book & Snake. Patrick wrote Thomas Toney, “Tony Lavely, a close friend, classmate, and teammate of mine on the Yale football team, has been telling me about your career at Yale. I understand you have been a key contributor to Yale’s outstanding soccer championship team. We were both disappointed that you and your teammates had your season canceled last year, but good luck in your final season next fall.”

Jim Currie asked about the aforementioned “42.” “I’m just catching up with many Yale messages: deep apologies! Your work is awesome and took quite a while to get through. By now Sam Francis may have figured out the question which drove Deep Mind to its ‘42’ response.” Always ready on scientific questions, Sam Francis answered: “The supercomputer’s name was Deep Thought, not Deep Mind, and the question of course was ‘The Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything,’ which is descriptive but not prescriptive because nobody knows what the question is. If forced to guess, I’d hazard that the question is ‘WTF?’ to which ‘42’ is as good an answer as any and better than most.” Later, Jim Currie sent in a photo entry for his 80th birthday, standing in front of a Pitts Special two-seater (Model S2-A) in his flying gear. Nick Danforth, who has spent most of his life advocating for women’s rights, is outraged by the prospect of SCOTUS reversing Roe v. Wade. Nick emailed: “As the director of the small foundation in New York from 1970-73, which took an unknown test case called Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court and won it fifty years ago — the case which will probably be reversed by the time of Amy and Bob Rands’ gathering — I also promise you again that I’ll write a note in July for the Class Notes about this terrible judicial setback, reinstating draconian and unconstitutional laws forcing countless American women back to the old days of forced, compulsory pregnancy.” Bruce Driver has transitioned his political blog into a newsletter. He emailed: “On Tuesday next week, Ohio holds its primaries, and there are three others (Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina) in May. I'll report on all of these as soon as the results are in. Georgia may already be settled (Walker and Warnock), but we better wait until results are in, as there appears to be some small chance that Herschel will lose. One challenge that I have is choosing the top twenty or so House races to report on. My work starts early next week. I think my reports get to 500-1000 people or more.” Dick duPont replied to my “Let’s Celebrate 80!” email with this: “I was born not long after Pearl Harbor on New Year’s Eve 1941. By an hour or so, I missed your 1942 Club, though not my Dad’s 1941 tax deduction. Of late, I find myself substituting ‘cerebral activities’ for athletic pursuits. Don't have much choice in the matter. Anyway, I've taken to messing around with images and text using Microsoft Office Publisher. The topics are naturally memory-based, looking back from whence we’ve come.” John Evans, who is co-chairing our 60th Class Reunion, also emailed about the classmate mini-reunion in April: “Another reunion bit: We were with the Rossiters, McBrides, and Charley Sawyer (‘63) last week, touring the fabulous gardens created by the duPonts: 250,000 tulips in bloom, at least that many daffodils, Virginia bluebells, and other early-spring flowers. Reunion gifts were discussed, and the request was for another round of vests, this time with a smaller class logo. We have all worn the original ones, but the huge Y64 logo can be a bit embarrassing in public, so I usually wear it around town turned inside out and wear it logo-side-out for Mory’s lunches or other trips to New Haven.”

Celeste Finn (spouse of Eric Fossel) wrote a nice review of Spielberg’s “West Side Story” film on Facebook: “Spielberg is famous for not knowing how to direct women very well, often choosing to work with them as support cast. With this reputation, he chose to highlight one of the most intriguing characters in WSS, the ‘tomboy’ Jet hanger-on. The character’s inclusion in WSS is, of course, a great reference to Shakespearean theater in general — with its tradition of britches roles. But…this character is uniquely IN Spielberg’s wheelhouse. Which of Spielberg’s female characters do you remember most?” Jerry Flannelly, who organizes the Boston Zoom group every month, posted an article sent in by Bill Woodfin: “Here is a summary of an article from The New England Journal of Medicine about getting a second booster shot: "Our results indicate that a fourth dose of BNT162b2 vaccine increases protection against PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19, COVID-19-related hospitalization, severe COVID-19, and COVID-19-related death as compared with a third (booster) dose given at least four months earlier among persons sixty years of age or older. Additional follow-up will allow further assessment of the protection provided by the fourth dose over time." Steve Floman emailed: “Thanks for all you’ve done for our class. I’m sure it’s a labor of love, but I also know it takes a lot of time and patience. Here’s something for the Class Notes: I’m proud of my roommate, Jeff Frant, who did something most people in our ‘age cohort’ can’t do and wouldn’t even try to do. As a partial celebration of his 79th birthday he hiked down (and back up) the south rim of the Grand Canyon with his son Nikolai, his daughter-in-law, and his twin 12-year-old granddaughters. Hiking and biking have been passions of Jeff’s. He’s traveled large parts of the Appalachian Trail. The only way I can claim partial credit for his exploits is that we diligently attended body-building classes at Payne Whitney given by Herb Hennessy and Delaney Kiphuth.” Sam Francis expanded on Tony Lee’s Arctic Webinar with this: “Bobbie alerted me to this story about sightings of hybrids of polar bears and grizzly bears (grolar bears or pizzly bears, take your pick). Here’s my take. As the climate warms, inhabitants of temperate zones (grizzlies) move north to escape the heat (see my story about northward migration), but the polar bears have nowhere northward to go. In fact, they are actually moving inland and farther south in search of prey (see this story). Thus, as the grizzlies move north and some of the polar bears trend south, their habitats start to overlap. The two variants can interbreed (they are not quite separate species, having separated quite recently in evolutionary time — they’re called “sister species”), hence the hybrids. This isn’t about survival of the fittest (evolution), because the time scales are too short. It’s about survival of the hybrids, as both variants search for a place to make a living, interbreeding with whatever sister species they encounter. The hybrids don’t survive by virtue of evolutionary adaptation, or even by virtue of hybridization. They survive (if they do) by virtue of finding a viable habitat with adequate prey. So, the adaptation is behavioral, not evolutionary. Of course, behavioral adaptation is born of desperation, which happens quickly. Evolutionary adaptation is born of random mutations and natural selection, which happen slowly. It’s a strange new world, and it’s just beginning.”

On Vietnam War Veterans Day (March 29), John Hunsaker sent an email to Vietnam veterans from the Class of 1964, saying “With admiration and respect for those having served in Vietnam on this day of honor. You are the best.” Sam Francis replied: “It’s kind of you to remember, John. My days in the Navy after preparing at Yale NROTC were some of the most rewarding of my professional career. The Navy is a proud and highly professional service, and I served aboard the proudest ship in the Navy, the first nuclear-powered destroyer, USS BAINBRIDGE (DLGN-25). After a round-the-world show-the-flag cruise with the other two surface nukes, we deployed to Vietnam for an eight-month deployment, spending much of that time in the Gulf of Tonkin escorting the carrier ENTERPRISE while she conducted flight ops over North Vietnam. FYI, there’s a web page (here) on our Class website, published on last year’s Vietnam War Veterans Day, which honors our classmates who served there. We may not have listed them all, since there’s no master list, but I think the list is pretty complete, thanks to Class Secretary Tony Lavely’s research.” Later, John Hunsaker added: “Drafting me in January 1968, Uncle Sugar sent me to Fort Leonard Wood, then Germany where I ended up doing non-JAG legal stuff, and where the most dangerous challenge was confronting German drivers on the Autobahn. My nauseous sea legs were sorta cultured on a transatlantic student ship to/from Europe in summer of ’62. I think often of my gung-ho baseball mate, Bruce Warner, who went to Vietnam early on and didn't make it back.”

Bill Galvin who has participated in a number of climate-change programs, emailed: “As a follow up to our ECA Climate Change discussions in the fall of 2020 (seems like a decade ago), I thought you might find of interest a series of lectures coming up at our local Episcopal church, Christ Church in Greenwich CT. The descriptions suggest less emphasis on the science related to climate change and far more focus on the thinking of ‘religious environmental activists’ (who would have thought those words would be strung together).” Bill missed the April classmate luncheon at Mory’s: “Sorry, I’ll miss this one; I’ll be in Europe.” Chris Getman, longtime organizer of the Mory’s luncheons, emailed after learning of Rick Kaminsky’s death: “I saw Rick, Dave Schumacher, and Bones Bryant at the Yale-Baylor March Madness game in Providence in 2016. Denny Lynch was unable to make it. Tough losses.” Chris also weighed in on the Ukraine war: “The conflict between increasing oil and gas production in order to isolate Russia is a tough one. While I’m an advocate of weaning ourselves from fossil fuels, the human suffering which Russia is inflicting on the citizens of Ukraine warrant a strong response against the aggressor. Very tough choice.” Chris also reported in April: “It looks like there will be an actual MS Walk this year. I’m looking forward to doing the walk along with our dog Edward, who really enjoys the experience.” Getman also commended Neil Hoffmann for his birthday gift to Ukraine relief: “I’m hoping that you’ll follow through with this proposal from my classmate Neil Hoffmann. The world is in chaos right now, and the prospect of an escalation, given Putin’s instability, is very real and frightening. Innocent children are being killed and disrupted, and this is a real opportunity for us to be of help through a reputable organization.” Earlier, Getman emailed: “We are in Thomasville GA with friends; the daughter of our friend was the class of ‘91 at Yale, and she had Dick Brodhead as a teacher. She’s very interested in seeing the discussion between him and Stephen Greenblatt, who she also knows. She’s very good friends with Greenblatt‘s wife, who is her age, and knows their dog, Marcus. How do I find the lecture? [Here] I know it’s probably very simple but I’m a dope when it comes to this stuff.”

Speaking of Stephen Greenblatt, he emailed this after he read the poem I posted in March, “After the rain, it’s time to walk the field again.” “Tony, your note made me think of a beautiful poem by the 17th Century poet George Hebert, “How fresh, oh Lord, how sweet and clean are thy returns!” Later, Stephen kindly wrote: “I am in awe of what you manage to put together as our Class Secretary. I cannot imagine how you do it — it is as if you somehow have made yourself the collective consciousness, the storehouse of memory, and the guide to the present of a little, well, not so little world. Ramie and I are still enjoying our sabbatical in Italy, though the events to our east are profoundly disquieting. Two weeks ago, we took the train down to Naples to see Aida at the opera there, and what we saw had a strange, unnerving bearing on what was going on. I wrote it up, thinking I might send it out somewhere, but the events were moving at such a crazy speed that I thought better of it. I send it along to you, just so you catch a glimpse of us.” [Stephen’s moving opera piece is posted here.] Stephen added: “My son Harry is a sophomore at Yale this year, and he has given me a few updates about the men’s basketball team. Great that they made it to March Madness.” Bob Hannah emailed, “I’m with Don Van Doren in New Mexico today. A beautiful spot!” When he saw the article about the Bill Fink shell dedication in London, Jay Hatch ’62 emailed: “As former rower (intramural both at Yale and at boarding school as I was both skinny as a rail and not strong enough), I greatly appreciated the article you posted and read every piece. Wonderful writing. I've sent it on to my brother who rowed for UC Berkeley and still rows in a four in Marin Co. on SF Bay, and to another brother and a daughter who took up sculling in their 40s. I'll also share it with cousin Sam Stokes '63 who was cox for Y Lightweights until he broke his leg skiing and was kicked off the crew.” Bob Hilgendorf emailed: “I found in my papers a copy of the Yale Daily News for June 15, 1964, reporting on our Class Commencement. I had not remembered that Martin Luther King, Jr. was bailed out of jail in St. Augustine to travel to New Haven to accept his honorary degree.” Later, with his Class Dues payment, Bob wrote, “I skied at Wolf Creek with 170 inches of snow on my new knees and hip.”

Neil Hoffmann emailed in March, “Thanks again for a great job of bringing classmates out of the woodwork. The connections are wonderful in these trying times. Strangely, I was thinking this morning, before I opened your email, about the similarities to 1942 and the stress and anxiety our parents must have been under as Europe collapsed and Japan was rampaging across Asia. It strikes me that without this threat many of us might not have been conceived in days before Pearl Harbor. It surely was an existential moment for them, as this should be for us. [See Lavely’s opening question in the cover email.] The scene last night on BBC of Ukrainians dumping the bodies of their neighbors into a common grave must underline for us that Putin and his thugs are murderers, guilty of crimes against humanity, not some trivial police action. They are lying Pariahs who can never again be accepted in the international community and must pay personally for their crimes. Anyone who ever shakes Putin’s hand again shares his guilt.” Putin is right. This is not a war. It is a criminal assault on a neighboring country and must be punished if we are to have any chance of world order. After reading the transcript of a discussion at the Jackson School of Global Affairs among Peter Salovey, Tom Snyder, and Jim Levinson that was circulated by Ward Wickwire, Neil Hoffmann wrote: “Thanks for sending this along, Ward. I was looking forward to gaining some real insights from three of Yale's top scholars. An understanding of how we got here and where should we go? Why did Putin choose this moment to assault Ukraine? Does he really think he can get away with murdering all these civilians? Shouldn't the West, including all countries who condemned this crime, completely shun Russia politically and economically, as long as Putin remains in power? Cut off trade, close embassies, restrict travel? Throw them out of international organizations? Treat Russia as the Pariah it has become? What is the ethical and moral course of action? I was disappointed that not much of this was addressed. As if it’s all some academic exercise with students taking a special hands-on sabbatical abroad while the faculty sits back in New Haven, feet up by the fire, ruminating on the educational opportunity. What’s the point of The Jackson School of Global Affairs if it can’t make a meaningful contribution to the public dialogue, and perhaps the arc of public policy, in a moment like this?”

Terry Holcombe circulated an article in the National Review Daily, ”The Most Dangerous Class.” In it, Joel Kotkin posits “This most dangerous class comes from the growing number of underemployed, overeducated people.” Harry Howell, who was unable to attend the Bill Fink dedication at Henley, emailed: “Ed Trippe did most of the work for this event. I couldn’t get to London but agree it was a fine tribute to Bill.” My “neighbor” across town in Atlanta, John Howells, has kindly treated me to lunch on several occasions at his Ansley Golf Club. John emailed: “I’m at the beach this week and just finished the Thomas Friedman book you gave me.” Stephan Klingelhofer, one of our class spiritual guides, emailed: “Like our other classmates, I really appreciate your keeping us informed and together. However, I want to note that as one of the class ‘babies,’ I plan to celebrate my 79th birthday in June. I’ve always lagged behind you guys, however hard I try to catch up.” Blaine Krickl, a transatlantic regular on the Boston Zoom calls, attended the Bill Fink dedication at Henley. Blaine emailed: “Looking at the magnums with which the winning men's and women's crews sprayed each other on Sunday, I reckon the bottle with which the “Bill Fink” was christened on Saturday was not champagne but sparkling English wine, made by the champagne method, at Chapel Down winery in Kent, the so-called Garden of England.” Blaine also has very fond memories of happier days with Maritza and Peter Giblin. Blaine emailed: “Over the past few years, there have been fewer and fewer occasions on which there has been a significant attendance by classmates in the area. People are travelling, pursuing other interests, or simply out of touch. Jane and I tend to do more once Jocelyn and Nick Baskey arrive from Florida for their summer séjour. What usually kicks off their ‘season’ is luncheon at the Queen's Tennis Club, courtesy of Jane and Karl Ziegler.”

In Classmate Publications, Howard Gillette launched his new book, The Paradox of Urban Revitalization: Progress and Poverty in America’s Postindustrial Era. Edward Massey released the third book in his High Mountain Sheriff Series, Forever Sheriff. In Classmate Blogs, Mo Dean won first place in a writing contest for a series of his “Goings On” vignettes. Mo Dean also welcomed Neil Hoffmann to the “Moristotle” staff and published Neil’s poem, “We Humans.” Another classmate columnist on “Moristotle” is Jim Carney who co-authored a series of posts while hiking in Malta. Syd Lea is writing more than poetry these days; you can find new short stories and essays on his SubStack.com newsletter. Ron Parlato keeps pumping iron at his ”Uncle Guido’s Facts” blog, “God’s Greatest Irony: Unremitting Sexual Longing Well Past a Man’s Pull-By Date.” Ron Sipherd updated his blog, “Ronksville,” with thirty-two of his first-quarter favorites. Jim Rogers pronounced, “War Has Never Been Good for Anything” on his “Jim Talks Markets” blog. Russell Sunshine blogged “Advancing seniority blends past and present into a single life journey” at “Agile Aging: A Work in Progress.” John Wylie added, “Rx for gloomy defeatism re climate, Ukraine, population, etc., etc.”

After a mercifully slow start in 2022, we were notified of the deaths of four classmates in 2022, one in 2021, and two much earlier. Peter A. D. Giblin died on April 11 in London after a long illness. Peter was eulogized by the American University in Cairo, on whose board he served for many years: “Peter’s longstanding commitment to AUC was seen in everything he did, applying his intelligence, skill, and diligence to projects both large and small.” The Giblin family obituary and remembrances from classmates will be posted soon. Robert “Rick” Kaminsky died on March 26 in Houston TX. An outstanding member of our Class, Rick was captain of the basketball team, three-time All-Ivy, and an All-American in his senior year. Following his service in the Army, Rick completed his residency in Urology at Baylor Medical School. He went on to have a successful urologic practice in Houston and became a pioneer in lithotripsy treatment. Allan Port attended Rick’s memorial service and other classmates watched the streamed video. Stephen “Steamer” Walke died on March 23 in Montpelier VT. Steamer was only with us for three years before enlisting in the Coast Guard. He later graduated from George Mason College and earned his J.D. at University of Virginia Law School. Russell Bennett “Ben” Day died on January 18 in Plymouth MA after a five-year battle with cancer. He was our classmate for only one year, but he still enjoyed keeping up with 1964. His father was on the Yale Corporation in the early 1960s and played an instrumental role in the honorary degree bestowed on Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964. Lanin A. Gyurko died in 2021 on June 6 in Tucson AZ. Lanin was a distinguished scholar of Spanish and Portuguese who published extensively. He taught Spanish at Yale in the late 1960s. Mogens Mervild died on March 20, 2012. He matriculated with our class and roomed in Bingham Hall. Mogens’ surviving freshman-year roommates Sed Browne and Larry Speidell posted a remembrance. Roger Kerley died on October 14, 2011. His lifelong friend Larry Speidell posted a remembrance. As we celebrate our 80th-cohort birthdays, let’s pause to remember the 268 classmates who didn’t reach this milestone.