1954

I spoke with Fred Alpert in July. Fred's health is excellent and he is back fulltime at the helm of his furniture empire. He told Jane that he will be eternally grateful to those many classmates who wrote, or stopped by to visit during his illness and recovery.

Sinclair Hitchings, Dick Page, and Roger Gilmore were commencement speakers this past spring. Sinclair delivered the convocation address at the Massachu- setts College of Art in May. As reported in an earlier column, Sinclair is keeper of prints at the Boston Public Library. Dick addressed the graduates at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, his alma mater, while Roger, who is president of the Portland (Maine) School of Art, spoke at graduation ceremonies at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass.

Thanks to Bemhard Bergesen '56, I am able to update everyone on the activities of George Fitzgerald. In May, George celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. From 1980-88, George served as pastor at the Holy Spirit/Newman Hall parish in Berkeley, Calif., which included the Catholic students at the university. The last two years he has been pastor of Old St. Mary's Church in downtown San Francisco. The respect and affection shown George were evidenced by the large turnout at the celebratory mass and the following festive dinner. It is reported that the only blemish on his record appears to be his absenteeism due to ski trips abroad.

Dick Barker, bless his frequent-contributor syndrome, sends word of Yngvar Hvistendahl. Yngvar relates: "I remarried in August (1989) to a lovely Swedish lady, Ebba, who is sister to the Swedish ambassador in Washington for the last 15 years. We continue to live in a small village in France, just 20 minutes from Geneva. I became a grandfather in January, saw my son Yngvar '89 graduate from Dartmouth in June, put stepson Henry in as a freshman in August, got married, turned 60, and retired properly in September."

In the Summer issue, we reported briefly on Dr. Arthur Geller being named president of the medical/dental staffs at Morristown (N.J.) Memorial Hospital. After graduating from Chicago Medical School, Art served his medical residency and fellowship training in cardiology at Mt. Sinai in New York, worked at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital, and spent two years with the U.S. Public Health Service on a Navajo reservation in Arizona. He has been at Morristown for 20 years and is very active in his profession. Art comments: "The president is the person who ensures the quality and workings of the hospital staff at every level. It's a job that requires a great commitment of time if it is to be done properly. It's a challenge and I look forward to it with great anticipation."

Edward "Skip" Abbey writes to bring us up to date as he begins his second retirement. Skip retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1975 and went to work for Hammermill Paper Co. in the Tampa, Fla., area for the next 15 years. At the end of April, he said goodbye again and he and his wife Lucienne ("LuLu") moved to Sapphire in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. They are settled into a three-bedroom condo on the 10th fairway of a mountain golf course. At the same time, they have just completed building a second retirement home at Rainbow Springs in Dennellon, Fla., 17 miles west of Ocala, also very near a golf course. As you might imagine, golfers are welcome visitors at all times. Skip and LuLu spent two weeks in July visiting family in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania and, right about now, are departing for a month in Holland (the old country for LuLu), Belgium, and England. Their current address is 1600 U.S. Hwy West #34, Sapphire, N.C. 28774 ca1l 704/966-9667.

309 Martling Avenue, Tarrytown, NY 10591