1961

Through some gentle persuasion by GerryKaminsky, you guys have got yourselves a professional writer and reporter as secretary for the next couple of years.

What this means is that I'll need facts and figures. But what I want is anecdotes, descriptions, accounts, too. Some items may well be better suited for our class newsletter, and I'll pass those along.

I've spent the afternoon on the telephone, calling Carolinas classmates to find out what they've been doing for work - and for fun.

Eric Larsen, a general and vascular surgeon practicing in Pinehurst, doesn't play much golf, despite the fact that the year-round resort community is known across the land as a golfing center. He prefers, instead, to use his free time "bass fishing, quail hunting, and woodworking - with some tennis."

The Larsens live in nearby Southern Pines in south-central North Carolina with Kris, 11, and Steven, nine. "It's a good place to live, it really is," said Eric. While on vacation at Kelleys Island, Ohio, he saw former roommate FrankCrouse, who now has three kids, is living in Michigan, and doing consulting.

Almost 250 miles west of Eric, Dave Lincoln is also doctoring (orthopedic surgery) in Asheville, the mountain resort city. He and Candy have two boys: Matt, four, and Christian, six months. He said it was Christian's arrival that cancelled plans to make it to reunion in Hanover. For fun, he says he's getting in a lot of golf and also sailing on a nearby lake where the Lincolns have a retreat.

Also in practice, though not as a doctor, is Dave Garratt, in Fayetteville, about 40 miles around Fort Bragg from Eric. Dave's working with psychiatrists, as a psychologist, doing therapy and testing, and he's about to get his Ph.D. in psychology. For fun, he enjoys pedal biking, his CB radio, and his family, including John, ten, and Jeff, eight.

If you go north out of Pinehurst about 75 miles, you'll get to Durham, where Don Wells was watching football (not surprising). He said that by the time you read this, he might be in jail (which he was).

Don's principal of the Friends School in Durham, an all-grades private school with some 400 students. It seems the State Board of Education has unilaterally extended some public-school standards into the private schools, and he's leading the fight against it.

But that still has let him get involved in some dance productions, which he calls "very challenging." He and wife Darlene run for exercise regularly, or at least they did until she started commuting to Chapel Hill where she's working toward a master's degree in social work at the University of North Carolina. But Dad's the chauffeur in the family, anyhow - both Jeffrey, seven, and Timothy, ten, go to Friends School.

The Wells family didn't get to reunion because they were backpacking in Pennsylvania and decided instead to swing by his 20th reunion at West Pittston (Pa.) High School.

Northeast out of Southern Pines, about 75 miles, is Raleigh, the state capital, where HankSchwarzell enjoys water skiing, biking, jogging, and traveling. He also travels to work, heading west out of Raleigh each day to the Research Traingle Park, where he's a senior engineer for IBM. Elizabeth's his wife, and there are two children.

Mailbag: Only one letter this month, an explanation from F. J. "Duck" Eicke on why he wasn't at reunion: "Could not afford the trip." Actually, he said, "I was thinking of you all and tipped a few in memory."

He said he's just been promoted, to associate professor in the Department of Guidance and Educational Psychology at the University of Mississippi, "but won't be here to enjoy the raise in rank or. salary."

He's taking a leave for an internship in counseling psychology at the New Orleans Veterans Administration Hospital "as an extension of my background beyond educational settings."

Announcements: R. Bruce Callahan is now vice president for life/health/pension distribution in the marketing department at CNA Insurance in Chicago. He went with CNA Insurance earlier this year after 12 years with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. ... RogerBaumberger is vice president in charge of regional securities offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, and New York for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. He, too, just switched corporations, after 16 years at Marine Midland Bank. He's living in Rockville Centre, Long Island, with wife Anne and children - Karen, George, and Alexander.

The final word: This month, about me. I've been at The Charlotte Observer for 15 years, in a bunch of different things, including as assistant city editor, national editor, and now medical editor. I've been active mostly in club affairs in Charlotte, having held every office in the club, currently enrollment officer. Y'all write, now.

3300 Windsor Dr. Charlotte, N.C. 28209