1960

At the time of Hurricane Katrina, we had only two classmates living in New Orleans, both of whom were longtime residents. Clifford Anderson, a private criminal investigator who once had a senior position in the New Orleans office of the FBI, was one. Dr. Jim Houser, a semi-retired physician, was the other.

At this writing it seems most likely neither will be living there anymore Jim, who told me his house on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain was under three feet of water for two weeks and emerged "basically unlivable," has already moved 30 miles across Pontchartrain to a new home in Pearl River, Louisiana. And Cliff thinks it most likely he will move to San Antonio to be close to family. Both did evacuate New Orleans during the storm.

Cliff, whom I found at Christmas in his and his wife, Nancys, uptown New Orleans home, said that although it was not flooded, it is in danger of "becoming an island" in a mainly desolated city. "City Hall is not open," he said. "As homeowners, we don't know how we will even pay our property taxes."

Jim, who went to medical school at Tulane after graduating from Dartmouth and then stayed in New Orleans with his wife, Michen, a native of New Orleans, said he has become concerned at the prospect of more hurricanes in New Orleans' future. "We used to have to evacuate once every five years," he observed. "Now it seems to be about three times a year."

One of the major levee breaks that took place in New Orleans was within a block of his home, Jim said, and even if he were to rebuild, he fears he would be too isolated. He believes New Orleans will come back eventually, "but it's certainly not very organized yet."

I'm indebted to Jims freshman roommate, Hank Greer, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina, for putting me in touch with him. When the two were students in Hanover, they became stepbrothers, since Jims widowed father married Hank's divorced mother. In short, that was a roommate situation that really worked out.

The other big news in the class is that Hap Dunning and Jim Adler have both become grandparents for the first time. Haps daughter, Ashley Dunning-Sorey, gave birth to a son, Case, under unexpected and scary circumstances.The baby weighed just 2 pounds at birth, nearly three months premature, but paramedics arrived within minutes and the baby was helicoptered to a hospital. Case was expected to weigh 3 pounds by New Year's and to go home in late January. Ashley is in good health.

Jim and Brooke Adler, in a Christmas message, said their granddaughter, Ryan Isabel, according to their best guess, "is fated to become the first former Miss America, multiple Olympic gold medal winner, founding CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever to be elected president of the United States."

Being grandparents is quite common in our class. Walt Freedman has 16 grandchildren, in fact, and Bill Gundy, 13.

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