1957

A series of random news notes crossed my desk this month concerning the changing life and times of our classmates...so here they are coming at you: Bob Lee and his wife, Page, have become very active in promoting the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Mont. Bob, who is native to the area, seems to have adopted what I claim as my favorite artist of the American West. Bob retired as chairman of First Interstate Bank of Denver in '89 and this has been his mission since then. I am looking forward to a visit to Great Falls, Mont., and a visit to the museum.

Joe Kyle had a terrific writeup in the Richmond (Va.) Free Press concerning his leadership of the Heritage Tourism Committee, which is working to increase awareness of St. John's Church and other areas in the East End of Richmond and to show where Patrick Henry galvanized eighteenth-century Virginians into the Revolution with his "give me liberty or give me death" speech. Joe says the Alamo draws 2 million people a year to San Antonio, Tex., to see where Daniel Boone and others died in battle. Fewer than 70,000 visit the Patrick Henry site. This sounds like a fascinating challenge.

I have received a note that Steven Volk, senior partner at the New York law firm Shearman and Sterling, has been named a director of Consolidated Edison Cos. of New York.

I must report the death of classmate Richard Severin Cox, who lived in Woodside, Calif., and was a distinguished nuclear physicist concentrating on radiation oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. After a degree in mathematics from Dartmouth, he went on to a Ph.D. at Northwestern and from the note I have received, he sounds like a classmate who continued to grow and learn through his entire life, the scholar-student.

Jack and Thelma Hewitt hosted a mid-summer garden gala buffet with proceeds going to the educational programming of the Vermont chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food. The honored guest was none other than Julia Child, matriarch of American cuisine. It sounds like quite a wonderful affair and it must have been fun for the Hewitts to put it on.

Brad Gorham got a great write-up in the Greenville (R.I.) Observer on the occasion of his decision to step down from the Rhode Island State Senate. Brad has been a staunch Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state and yet has won 12 or 14 elections in which he has participated. Maybe part of the reason he is stepping down at this point is that his son Nicholas, who also is a lawyer, will run for the post. When asked, Brad keeps the politician's reflexive vagueness about future plans, saying, "I am done with it for now. At least for two years." As we head toward the national election, it is interesting to note that Brad was a strong promoter of Lamar Alexander's doomed bid for the GOP presidential nomination. He now is a strong supporter of Bob Dole, who he thinks is a "wonderful American, a first-class individual who he would much rather hold up as a model for American youth than Bill Clinton."

That's it for now. Next month I'll include a report on the summer mini-reunion and a first report on planning for our upcoming 40th Reunion. Please send me your news!

Richard Perkins, 333 Red Acre Road, Stow, MA 01775; (508) 897-5297