1963

An exceptional program, planned by Dan Muchinsky and committee members from classes of 1959, 1960 and 1961, is scheduled Friday, September 30, to start our fall mini-reunion, which runs through October 2 in Hanover.

Professor Michael Gazzaniga '61, originator of cognitive neuroscience, and member of President Bush's committee on stem cells, is slated to talk at 1 p.m. followed at 3 by geology professor Richard Wright discussing Mountains BeyondMountains by Tracy Kidder, an allegorical account of a doctor battling disease in Haiti and required reading for entering freshmen.

Intellectually fatigued classmates can retire to the Top of the Hop for cocktails and to Jesses on Route 120 for dinner. Saturday, it's the class executive board meeting first, then the Penn game. More sumptuous dining Saturday night and a great brunch Sunday will keep you hopping. Contact mini chair Rick Hashhagen, (802) 254-9613, jdhashagen@aol.com. Class reserved rooms may still be available at Comfort Inn in White River, (802) 295-3051.

Catch up on our many projects at the class board meeting, including scholarships, athletic sponsorships and college fundraising. We are helping to fund Zach Mayer '08, nephew of Albert Mayer. Three previous '63 scholarship recipients have graduated. We also sponsor coaches' recruitment trips and pre-college visits for student-athletes, including Joshua Faiola '06, baseball; Audrey Knutson '07, field hockey; and Molly Jenkins '04, lacrosse.

John Kubacki, Marty Bowne and I dueled the class of 1964 in a three-hour New York fundraising phone-a-thon. John and Marty did most of the work, while I caught up with classmates such as Howard Culver, a lawyer who's retired to the desert in La Quinta, California; David Hobbs, an engineer also retired in South Windsor, Connecticut; and Bill Subin, New Jersey lawyer about to fly out to Ashville, North Carolina, for a few days.

When the ringing stopped, our class had netted 23 gifts versus 18 by 1964, though the '64s took in $10,500 compared with $9,100 for the '63s. It was still enough for John and Tanya Kubacki and Nicole and I to celebrate a few nights later over chianti and pasta at a mid-town Italian restaurant. A longtime top bond salesman in the Rockefeller Center office of Lazard Freres, John has been a leader of our class fundraising efforts for many years. He and Tanya, a pediatric anes the siologist, live in the Lincoln Center area and can be spotted evenings and weekends running in Central Park.

John Merrow, a 40th reunion Soaring Pine winner, lived up to his billing this year as "America's number one education journalist." John scored a cover story on student problems at big universities in The New York Times "Education Life" section, a PBS TV blockbuster titled Higher Education at Risk and a gala party celebrating the 10th anniversary of his Learning Matters production company

We're Moving to Alaska, a new book recounting Nick Carney's childhood move from Ohio, is available at www.lulu.com.

Our heartfelt condolences to Bill Wellstead, who's done so much for fellow classmates, on the loss of his son, Scott.

60 Madison Ave., Suite 910, NewYork, NY 10010; (212) 447-9292; harry@zlokower.com