Class Notes

March/April 2026

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. These are the same class notes that are 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 I write this issue, we are only a few days into 2026 which I sincerely hope has brought a fresh breeze of optimism to all classmates and families. Except for four classmate obituaries reported over the holidays (the “cloudy skies”), my inbox and holiday cards contained a full measure of activities among our group. In the previous issue of Class Notes, November events were only being anticipated. They all turned out wonderfully. The Yale victory over Harvard in the Bowl was a beatdown from the very first play, as witnessed by Sam Francis, Tony Lavely, Pete Putzel, and Ward Wickwire. The victory qualified the Bulldogs for their first post-season game (FCS championship) since 1945. In the first game of the championship bracket, Yale mounted a ferocious comeback to beat favored Youngstown State. In the second round, Yale lost but held the eventual FCS Champion, Montana State, to their lowest output of the series. As our celebration of the season subsided, our thoughts and prayers turned to Head Coach (and Honorary 1964 Classmate) Tony Reno, who has gone on medical leave.

The night before the Harvard game, at the Blue Leadership Ball, a table of classmates applauded Wendell Mottley as he received the George H. W. Bush Lifetime Leadership Award in Schwarzman Center/Commons.

Joe Wishcamper announced a Zoom call on March 19, 2026, featuring Ralph DeFronzo and his groundbreaking work on diabetes. Ralph’s roommate, Frank Franklin, will moderate the session. Don Van Doren announced a Classmate Authors Zoom call on June 18, 2026, in which retired diplomat and author Chas Freeman will diagnose evermore complex foreign affairs. Ward Wickwire will moderate the session. Watch for details so you can register for these very informative events.

Our annual Class Council meeting will take place in New Haven on Saturday, February 14, 2026, during which we will plan Class programs and activities for 2026 and beyond. A detailed report will be posted on our Class website and included in upcoming issues.

Regional classmate luncheons continue monthly at Mory’s on first Wednesdays (Ralph Jones). Classmates gather via Zoom in the Bay area on second Wednesdays (Owen O’Donnell) and in the Boston area on third Wednesdays (Jerry Flannelly). Holidays sometimes cause the regular dates to be changed. Pete Putzel has volunteered to revive the monthly NYC cohort on Zoom calls beginning in January 2026, initially on the fourth Wednesday of the month, using the old Yale Club email list. Contact these classmates if you would like to be added to their email list.

In Class News, Ralph Jones, our Class YAA Delegate, wrote an excellent report about the November 2025 YAA Assembly. The Yale Alumni Association posted an interview with Robert Goodwin on their Facebook page, which we have posted. In it, they feature his 2025 book, Making God Laugh: A Memoir of Psychiatry, Dublin, and the Electric Chair.

In Publications (where we have posted over 69 classmate authors who have published over 200 books since 2000), we have added Morris Dean’s new books, Musings and Perusings: A Moristotle Reader and Goines On: A Self-Portrait in Fictional Vignettes. Waldo Johnston has privately published his memoirs, The Most Stories, in a handsome bound volume. We noted in Hunter Davidson’s obituary that he wrote a book about CAD software and created a YouTube channel, Workshop Engineering.

On our In Memoriam page, we regret to report the deaths of four classmates over the year-end holidays. David Sherman died on November 13, 2025, in London. His good friend Bob Kaiser forwarded an email from David’s son Jeff. Steve Clay died on November 21, 2025, in Atlanta after a long battle with Parkinson’s. Hunter Davidson died on November 23, 2025, in Annapolis MD. After service in the US Air Force, Hunter had a distinguished career as a mechanical engineer with Westinghouse. Dick Roskos died on November 27, 2025, in Dallas TX. Dick was a psychiatrist for over 50 years and left a lasting impact on his patients. It was wonderful to see him at our 60th Class Reunion in 2024 with members of his family. If you feel so moved, I encourage you to write a remembrance for these men or for any other departed classmate listed our Website/In Memoriam. Please consider donating a Mory’s memorial brick for any of these classmates as well as Gill Cochran and Jonathan Leader.