1960
About the time you get this, you should have a mailing giving more details about our 40 th Reunion, June 12-15. Co-chair Rick Roesch says the price for everything, exclusive of accommodations, which are handled by the College, will be $275 for each adult and $175 for each child ages 6 through 17. These prices include all meals and beverages, 10 events and even souvenirs. Payment date will be April 30. At this writing, cochair Spencer Morgan says 140 classmates have said "yes" to coming and 70, "maybe." Based on these figures, and the fact that past attendance indicates about 80 percent of those showing up will bring a spouse or significant other, Spencer is optimistic a goal of 300 participants will be reached.
Two classmates are among those fighting adversity in creative, admirable ways.
Mort Kondracke's wife, Milly, has been suffering from Parkinson's disease, which has now reached, for her, a critical stage. Mort has been a national spokesman for the Parkinson's Action Network, which has been pressing for more government aid for research into a cure for the ailment, which could be just five to 10 years away. Of all the neurological diseases, this one may be closest to a solution.
When the actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's, recently announced he was ending participation in his television series "Spin City," Mort appeared on the "Today" show to discuss the campaign a day before Fox himself appeared on the same show.
Bob Messner despite having suffered two serious heart attacks, continues to serve as general counsel of a Pittsburgh bank, and he has also become leader of an effort to create an historic tourism site in the nearby town of Braddock site of the 1755 Battle of the Monongahela during the French and Indian War. There, a young George Washington fought under the British general Edward Braddock Braddock was killed and the battle lost, but Washington led the survivors to safety. No signs mark the site today.
Bob successfully sought an $80,000 grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to conduct a feasibility study in the town, also the site of Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill and Carnegie's first library. The study complete, Bob is now seeking $2 to $3 million from foundations and corporations to establish the historic site. Braddock, now with about SO percent black residents, has been designated a depressed community, and Bob, who lives about five miles away, has told residents he believes they are "sitting on an historic gold mine."
"I enjoy every morning," Bob says. "As long as my eyes see the ceiling and my feet will hit the floor, I have no complaints."
Meanwhile, Rick tells me that Dr. SidGoldman is recovering from successful stomach surgery.
Joe Mandel has been elected president of the Western Justice Center Foundation, which is developing an alternative dispute resolution study campus adjacent to the Pasadena, Calif., courthouse housing the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
5522 Nagle Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401; (818) 994-9231 (phone), (213) 237-4712 (fax); ken.reich@latimes.com
Mort Kondracke is a national spokesmanfor the Parkinson'sAction Network.KEN REICH '60
'60 40th June 12-15
