1961

The Philadelphia Daily News carried a wonderful story about how Bill Weintraub uses pet birds in his practice as chief of surgery at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.

Pistachio, an Amazon parrot, has been living in Weintraub's office for three years. He has a bagel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast, loves pizza, onions, lemons and chocolate, has a several-hundred-word vocabulary, and is almost toilet trained.

"He's a good way to break the ice with kids. Anytime a child sees me, they know something is going to hurt them. I make my living with sharp objects," Bill told the Daily News. Pistachio helps ease their fears. "I want them to feel comfortable here. I want to show them not everything I do hurts. Ninety percent of the kids love him."

Bill occasionally takes Pistachio on rounds so kids who are confined to bed can see him. He has another bird at home, a macaw, that is toilet trained—does his duty on a special T-bar and then says "good boy."

Meanwhile, other classmates were making news as well. John Zabriskie is becoming chief executive of Upjohn after an extended career at Merck and Cos. Inc., a move that was widely reported in the nation's business pages. Both companies are among the top American pharmaceutical firms.

The Wall Street Journal ran a long piece on November 30 about how Bob Naegele and Rollerblade are fending off increasing competition for in-line skates. One key ploy: Bob sold half the company to Nordica, the Italian ski-boots supplier, which now makes boots for Rollerblades. A second: Rollerblade petitioned the International Trade Commis- sion to force 33 competitors to pay royalties for copying its patented design. Rollerblade remains the industry leader.

John Beckert is on the verge of success in his year-long effort to save the 135-year-old Farmers & Mechanics Bank in Middletown, Conn., where he is president, CEO, and, in the bank's advertising, "the driving force behind a team of financial professionals whose goals are to return the bank to profitability and to position Farmers & Mechanics to continue as a successful community bank in the 19905." According to the Middletown Press, the bank went through a public stock offering— its first—to raise needed capital. We'll keep you posted.

Richard W. Bailey has won the 1993 University of Michigan Press Book Award for Images of English: A Cultural History of theLanguage, which is the first book to focus exclusively on opinions about the language as they have evolved through time. According to the University Record, Bailey's focus is on how ideas about language can both develop from and confirm social and political structures. For instance, in 1828, AnAmerican Dictionary of the English Language essentially declared linguistic independence, following the political freedom of the American Revolution.

We've written much about Therese andTony Field's bed & breakfast in Hartford near Hanover, the scene of the 1993 mini-reunion. The Freegrace Leavitt Tavern was featured on the front page of the Food and Garden section in the December 1 Valley News, taking almost the whole page, and a glowingaccount it was. Tony has extended an invitation to host class events on an ongoing basis.

Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston- Salem, NC 25157-1015

Pistachio, an Amazon parrot, lives in Bill Weintraub's pediatric office. He has a bagel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast. -BOB CONN '61