1942

A most welcome phone call from Dick King brought the news that he is now living in a retirement community of 900 people in Medford, Ore. He roomed with Chick Camp and Bob Carney and reports that their widows, Martha and Natalie, respectively, are doing fine. Dick retired as vice president of American Express Co. back in 1982. He and Winifred have since been doing volunteer work in the communities they have lived in, and he has also taken assignments from the International Executive Service Corps. During his business career, among other things, he started an air freight airline in Hawaii and raised six "very successful" children (with 10—or more by now) grandchildren.

Another call, this one from Ralph Falk in Salt Lake City, reports that he was married two years ago to Dana and wanted to check in on our study of the youngest classmates. His birth date was April 14, 1922, which places him next to the youngest '42—the Rev. Bill Bishop, who lists May 10, 1922, as his. Ralph says he has had eight knee surgeries with two replacements and still skis, though he regrets not being able to play singles tennis any more. He has also taken up golf, because his new bride is a wiz at the game. They moved west in 1997, and at the time of our phone call they were getting ready to move into a new home.

Bud Hummel writes from Orford, N.H., asking for his birthday to be entered "in your derby...for the youngest man in the great class of 1942." It is "June 27, 1921. Anyone younger than that must have been a baby," he says. Well, Bud, as you can see from the birth dates of Ralph Falk and Bill Bishop, you're almost a year older than the youngest. On the op-ed page of The New York Times was an article by Dr. Joe Wilder titled "Give Doctors Tough Rules," dealing with how to reduce the number of errors made by doctors and other medical professionals. Joe is emeritus professor of surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has worked in many military and civilian hospitals, and was director of surgery at the Hospital for Joint Diseases from 1959 to 1979.

-Milton L. Willians, P.O. Box 1302, Redding, CT 06875; (203) 938-8485