1960
I am sitting in my 55-degree living room wrapped in two sweaters and a blanket trying to write these notes by the light of three dim candles; the power has been out in our neighborhood for 18 hours after Massachusetts received 6-12 inches of snow on May 10, believe it or not, and the spring-blossomed trees, laden with snow, short-circuited power lines throughout the state. I hardly believe that I have just returned from Class Officers Weekend in Hanover where the temperature was 80. The weather wizards are predicting the rapid approach of a new Ice Age and tell us that we can expect all sorts of weird weather for the remainder of our lives. That should dovetail nicely with our dwindling fuel supplies.
Hanover was gorgeous, and the College was, as always, a most cordial host to its class officers. You will soon learn of a major fund raising campaign over the next five years to replenish the College's endowment.
Seth and Kathy Strickland and Gene and Judy Kohn were also in Hanover for the weekend to enjoy a film presentation of a typical trip to France under the foreign studies program and a most enjoyable performance of the male, female, and mixed glee clubs along with meetings of the various class officer associations. The secretaries have approved the reduction in the annual number of ALUMNI MAGAZINE issues by combining into one the January and February issues, thus avoiding a substantial increase in subscription rates. Also, the Magazine won't be printing any more wedding pictures.
Strickland has changed firms, moving to Smith, Barney, Harris, Upham from Wertheim & Co. while retaining the same position. He is now at 1345 Avenue of the Americas and handles the portfolios of a select group of the top institutional investors in the Big Apple. Seth mentioned that he had received an announcement of a new book of poetry by Jeff Moser which he retrieved from the circular file after Kathy told him she had placed it on his dresser as a surprise. The book. Love Dust:Translations of an Alchemist, was reviewed in the April issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. According to Richard Eberhart's review, Jeff "tries to 'translate' into language and poetic form something of the scientist's appreciation of molecular and chemical structures. He is a linguistic innovator; he experiments with words much as a chemist experiments with elements in his laboratory, combining and recombining them into startling new verbal compounds which are his poems." Jeff is a research biologist and lives in La Jolla, Calif., with Pam and family.
Mike and Linda McGinnis had a son born last December but have yet to pick a name. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Winners will be announced at the executive committee meeting next fall.
Tom Machura dropped a line to give me an update on some Chicago area alums, but forgot to mention anything about himself. He pointed out that by the time I got around to mentioning Mort Kondracke in my notes last March, Mort was no longer a White House correspondent for the Chicago Sun-Times, having accepted a position as executive editor of The New Republic two months earlier. A veteran investigative reporter and former Neiman Fellow, Mort is on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and is particularly interested in defense and national security issues. I'm always delighted to receive corrections, updates, or any news of classmates, for that matter. Some of my material gets pretty stale by the time it hits the press. Tom also mentioned that a law firm in Chicago's One IBM Plaza was the winner when Tom Huyck had to give up signal-calling for the now defunct Chicago-Fyre and start answering court calls instead.
Some quickies that Gene Kohn generously shared from his vast accumulation of tidbits: Ray Pong, M.D. and Ph.D., is returning to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after six years in Cleveland and will be living in Arlington. Tom Trimarco, no longer able to assist Volpe in Italy, is returning to law practice in Boston and buying a house in Beverly, Mass. Jerry Gurst will be back in Hanover for a fourth summer teaching organic chemistry to graduate student. During the rest of the year he works out of the chemistry department at the University of Western Florida in Pensacola. Jay Emery moved to Torrejon Air Force Base in Madrid and thinks skiing could be better in Spain. JimSniderman, M.D., urologist in Dayton, Ohio, and assistant clinical professor at Wright State University School of Medicine, recently became a fellow at the American College of Surgeons. Bob Fairbank, a director of Abbott Laboratories in Mexico City, and wife Jackie had a second daughter last September. All are doing fine. Bob suggests that this is a good time economically to visit Mexico. John Goyette has a great program of jazz, orchestras, seminars, etc. scheduled this summer at the White Mountain Festival of the Arts in Jefferson, N.H., where he is executive director.
My candles have almost burned out and it's getting colder, so 1 guess I'll wrap things up for the summer and hope that the power comes on by next fall. Until then, so long and have a good summer skiing or whatever you do in this type of climate.
Secretary, 21 Mt. Pleasant St. Winchester, Mass. 01890
Head Agent, 49 Meadowbrook Road Chatham, N.J. 07928 .
