1934
With our first real snowfall of the season, I may have to use the cross-country skis to get supplies. But at least I don't have to go far to watch the N.F.L. playoffs. What a take-forgranted marvel television is, and to think we even got through college without it. One team to watch is Green Bay, and this leads me to a story about one classmate who must have had more than the usual fan's frustration while the N F.L. season was in limbo. Not only was he missing a front-row seat on action he thrives on. but he had written a spectacular new-book about the Green Bay Packers entitled The Packer Legend— An Inside Look. Release date was fall 1982. The author is our John B. Torinus. It has over 200 photographs to accompany John's inside story about what has been one of the really special teams in sports.
John has been associated with the Packers since 1934. He was a volunteer assistant for publicity while starting to work for The GreenBay Press-Gazette. He was elected to the Packer board of directors in 1949 and is currently secretary. Here we thought he spent all his time as editor of The Appleton Post-Gazette when he wasn't busy with a multitude of community service activities or joining Louise in looking after six children and now double that many grandchildren. Congratulations, John, on your first book!
Speaking of cause for cheers, Ethelyn Hedges was happy to announce that Christmas this year took on a new glow there were two new grandsons. Will happily joined David and Kay Hedges, and Clinton added sparkle to the house of Dan and Adele Hedges. Best wishes to all.
And cheers to Ed and Babette Klee, who had a fascinating wine-tasting trip to Europe last fall. They reported to Art Leonard the joys of exploring the vignerons in Chablis and the tunnels of Burgundy, then barging down the Seine, cruising up the Rhine, and sunning on the Cote d'Azur. Art had thoughtfully provided them with a personal wine diary, so they filled him in on all the restaurants and wine stops, which Ed referred to "gustatory delights and vinous highlights." These included such treats as a 1976 Pommard, an Aloxe Corton, a Chablis Premier Crus, and a 1978 Mersault, all of which "had proper depth and character"! Evidently Ed has more time for traveling now that he has retired from social service consultant work; but when he's home it's in Los Gatos, Calif.
While on a quick visit with my brother Ed 31 in Chevy Chase, Md., after Thanksgiving, I checked out the '34s in nearby towns and was surprised to find a number had not yet flown to Florida. We knew Bernie Cushman as a Bay Stater (Maiden) back in college days, but since Harvard Law gave him his degree he has been practicing mostly in Washington, chiefly in the field of labor law and as a consultant to labor unions. He supposedly retired in 1977, but as wife Dorothy will confirm he merely shifted to full-time work as a neutral arbitrator for four years, with lots of travel, until cardiac problems, including a by-pass operation, convinced him to take it easier. He's now teaching law at George Washington and doing legal projects involving computerized operations and systems analysts. Easier?! Yes, he says, because there's no litigation pressure.
Luke Wilson came to Hanover from Bethesda, Md., as a graduate of the nearby Friends School. The Army got him to California for a while, and his interest in free-lance writing on economics and political science has taken him in a number of directions. But he still makes his permanent home in Bethesda when he's not at his favorite summer haunt on the Cape or checking out a son in N.Y.C.
Bob Burkart is one of the Washington natives (Central High) who returned for his career. At least that's where he joined the F.B.I., and he remained with them until 195 1 when he shifted to investments and to teaching law enforcement courses (for 12 years) at local universities. His wife Ellen passed away last July after a long illness, and Bob is mostly retired now but does have quite a family to keep tabs on. His son is a Kansas City banker, he has two daughters in California one a podiatric surgeon and one a business consultant, and there is a third daughter doing nursing work in Maryland near Bob.
To my surprise, Tom and Mary Beers were found at home in Potomac, Md. They were saving themselves for a year-end trip to San Diego, where their son Tom is a psychologist. Tom claims he is no longer working as a consultant for the Nature Conservancy. In just two years he trained someone to take over his job!
More on Washington area comrades next time.
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