1956

Last fall Ann and Tag Chapman and Trish and Ed Ross provided the setting and overwhelming hospitality for a great 70th birth- day party in Santa Fe! Jack Crowley and Beth report it all started with a desert diesel train ride, a tour of Taos's pueblo, shops, galleries and lunch at Doc Martins. That was followed by margaritas and tapas on the Canyon Road.Tag had everyone up for 6:30 a.m. hikes to the Cross of the Martyrs, after which Carol and Tom Riker took everyone's money on that golf course. Helen and John Higgs made their first balloon ascent on a getaway day while Betsy and Ted Rowe carried away a $140,000 scrap iron horse from the GP Gallery. Mimi and Bob Long promoted politically incorrect buttons at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Awards Dinner. So great was the experience that plans have been laid for this fall "in Santa Babawawa!" It should be noted that Jack has since undergone angioplasty to open the right coronary artery that was 95 percent closed. So successful was the procedure that his doctor said he could now "run" the golf course. Praise be!

For those who want to travel a bit farther, there's the 15-day Athens-Istanbul cruise in late May and early June. It starts with three nights in Athens and an eight-day cruise, stopping at some Greek and Turkish islands, and concluding with three days in Istanbul. As always, Roger Schumacher got the ball rolling. Your task? Call Roger at (609) 291-8688 and learn all the particulars.

We've all received a card from the president and vice president of the class of'06 wishing us a great 2005. What you may not know is that our class has hooked up with them in the hopes of building some important relationships prior to the Commencement procession on June 10, 2006. We've had several of them as guests at last falls Homecoming banquet, provided some scholarship assistance for another replicating Che Guevara's road trip in anticipation of her senior thesis, and hope to enable some of our willing classmates to come to Hanover to share their vocational stories with interested members of that class. It's a way to,give back to a group eager to learn.

Emerson Houck raved about The Gooney Bird, a children's book about an old DC 3 by his former roommate, Duke Hust. It's a great gift for the grandchildren!

P.O. Box 968, Quechee, VT05059; (802) 295-8912; steuAvood@aol.com