1953

It seems a little strange writing for the March issue in late November, with Thanksgiving and the holidays still in our future. So, if some of this is dated, you can understand the reason. In summarizing our fall mini-reunion season, it is not an overstatement to characterize it as a smashing success. Our hosts Mitzi and Fred Carleton, Nancy and Put Blodgett, Nancy and PhilBeekman, Ann and Harlan Fair, Cathy and Bob Callender and Nancy and Bill Johnson opened up their homes, warmly welcoming our classmates. And more than ISO classmates (including those who attended more than one event) took advantage of their hospitality. So, to our hosts, a huge thank you for all your efforts and generosity.

There was a wonderful article in the NewYork Law Journal profiling Supreme Court Justice William Leibovitz. In it, under Bill's likes and dislikes, Bill is quoted, "I enjoy lawyers gifted with an economy of language. Civility is essential. Talking down to jurors is a mistake. Their intelligence usually equals and often surpasses ours." The Journal offered a number of Bill's significant opinions, which, among others, included: People v. Barnwell, having to do with a jury viewing a crime scene; Opsunju v. Giuliani, having to do with a municipal statute indirectly affecting U.S. foreign affairs; and People v. Matul, which addressed the law governing consecutive versus concurrent sentences.

Bill Friedman sent me an article that appeared in The New York Times in which one Amelia Bloomer was pictured as an early women's suffragist who founded The Lily, a newspaper by women for women, the first in this country. With this in hand, I contacted Tom Bloomer, who was kind enough to share his knowledge of Amelia with me. He told me that Amelia was primarily involved with the temperance movement, and that she married Dexter Bloomer, a newspaper editor in Seneca Falls, N.Y., who preceded Tom by four generations. She was a school teacher who came in contact with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. In fact, Amelia introduced Susan to Elizabeth. While Amelia attended the Women's Rights Convention and gave speeches about women's rights, she did not sign the Declaration of Sentiments that came out of that convention. Tom says that she was not the first to wear "bloomers," but she did publicize them with drawings, encouraging women to adopt them. Moving west in 1854 to Ohio and then to lowa, she and Dexter continued to publish and support the temperance and women's suffrage movements. She died in 1894. Tom says that he and his family enjoy signing in at the Women's Rights Museum in Seneca Falls. He always gets a starded reception. Tom added that he had a ball playing golf with Wally Ashnault,Dick O'Connor and Jack Koerner in the annual Central N.Y. Open.

Sadly, I must close with a mention of the death of Dr. Meade Schaffier, who practiced dentistry in Lancaster, Pa., and of JimGoldstone, Emmy Award-winning film and television director. To Meade's nieces, Vicky and Becky, and to Jim's wife, Ruth, and their children Peter, Jeffrey and Barbara, we offer the sincere condolences of the class. Cheers, and please keep in touch.

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