1977

Our beautiful downtown dome has survived the summer - in other words, it has not collapsed in four consecutive months; three hardy classmates braved rumors of outpost conditions and visited the Twin Cities; and the mailbox has exuded quantities of fact, fiction, and letters from, among others, Edy Ullman. It has been a banner summer. . .

On the eve of their first anniversary, Schantz Basir, the former Deborah Schantz, and her husband, Nasser Basir, earned a championship award at the United States Parachute Association's National Championships in Muskogee, OK, last July. They were competing in the canopy relative work division, which involves formations which are made after the canopies are opened. Schantz currently lives north of Austin, TX, and just recently received her master's degree in third world rural planning from the University of Texas. The next few years could very well find the Basirs living and working in a third world country. By the way, Schantz and Nasser were married at an altitude somewhere between ground zero and 12,000 feet over Texas while traveling at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. A minister and two attendents were present. Formal attire for the affair included parachutes.

The year's first "Secretary's Best Friend" award goes to Evy Chan for a most impressive letter relating classmates' activities. Evy lives in Lawrenceville, NJ, with her husband Mark Nelson, Yale '76, a fellow in music composition at Princeton. Last year Evy received a master of music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston and now works officially as a professional singer. She and two friends formed a "chamber soloist group" (clarinet, voice, and piano) and are working through a booking agent in Philadelphia. As a soloist last winter, Evy sang in a special Christmas program at the Met. Before long her name should grace the pages of the New York Times arts section.

From Evy comes the following news. Nora Odendahl, formerly a "tyrannical" grader in Mayer's "History of Film" course, is working at Princeton on her dissertation for an English degree. Also at Princeton, Jon Bagger has completed his Ph.D. in physics. Jon plans to spend the next two years at Stanford in a postdoc position. Last April Jon published a book on particle physics which he co-authored with a German physicist. This summer he attended two physics institutes in Europe and vacationed in Greece before heading for Palo Alto.

In March in Hanover, Evy sang in Susan Van Wie's wedding to David Kastan. Susan and David are currently spending a year in England. Evy ran across Jim and Laurie Lloyd, who were vacationing at the Lyme Inn this past July, as well as Scott Farr and his wife Laurie and son, who were at the Street Fest in Hanover. The Farrs live in Canaan, NH.

Merrell Wiseman is in his third year of medical school at the University of Alabama. He attended Todd Horn's July wedding in Concord, MA. According to reliable sources, the bride and groom escaped from their reception in a canoe.

Dave Pierce is teaching international law at the University of Singapore. In his spare moments he chaperones month-long student trips into the mainland. According to Evy, Dave's knowledge of the Chinese language is very impressive. Dr. Marge Blaisdell has begun to work for the Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Tuba City, AZ, after working for two years in Middletown, CT.

Anne Wilder, formerly one of Woodward's most notorious pranksters, commutes'from the Big Apple to Morristown, NJ, to work for Exxon. This fall Anne will add night law school at Fordham to her workload. Craig Berry is practicing medicine at Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and is enjoying a bit of the social life that Beantown has to offer.

Finally, Treff LaFleche and his wife Melinda spent five weeks in Europe this past May. Treff is currently enjoying his second year of architectural school at UVA. That is the news from Evy. Thanks again.

From Stanford a rather buoyant note related the birth of Christopher Tugwell to Gina and Tom Russo last May. Torn, when not changing diapers, is battling his fourth year of the J.D./M.B.A. program, while Gina is on maternity leave from the Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. They spent this past summer in New York, where Tom was at the First Boston. Vicki Austin was fortunate to be visiting from San Diego during Chris's arrival.

From Austin, TX, comes word of further population gains. Karen Keegan and her husband, Guy Van Syckle 76, are the proud parents of Kathryn Victoria. This past year Karen was the book review editor on the Texas LawReview at the University of Texas Law School. Presently Guy is house-husbanding and writing his Ph.D. dissertation in psychology while Karen clerks for a judge on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Folks passing through Austin are encouraged to visit.

In an effort to get an upper hand on Mother Nature, the California Department of Forestry has "promoted" Edy Ullman to head mechanic at her region's headquarters. At the time of her letter, Edy had just returned from a "grueling two-week course in fire engine driving at 'the academy' training facility for all of California's fire personnel." Think back, Eeds, which is more difficult rowing a double with yours truly or driving one of those goliaths? Edy appears to have found her niche in the forestry department and consequently has shelved her law degree for a rainy day. Hello, Elmo.

That is the news from the Lake Nokomis region of Minneapolis. Keep in touch.

Chip Elliott '76, left, and Alex Colvin '77 were in the People's Republic of Mongolia familiarly known as Outer Mongolia in July, and had this picture taken as they perched "highatop a little peak in Central Gobi," according to Elliott.

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