1974

At our last reunion I was pleased to catch up with an AXA fraternity brother of mine, John Cart, and his wife, Diane, and to meet their son, James. John came to the College as a freshman from the Buffalo area. He returned after dental school and lives there now with his family and practices dentistry. John sent me great news that James had been accepted early-decision at Dartmouth and will join the incoming class of 2010 this fall. (Get your mind around that number!) John and Diane also have a daughter Liz, who is a high school sophomore. John and James visited Hanover for Winter Carnival in February. There was no snow, but for a couple of fellows from Buffalo, I doubt that was a tragedy. John indicated that the general social scene Carnival weekend was relatively subdued, but he was happy to have crossed paths with Sheldon Prentice '72.

Bruce "Willie" Williamson has reported exciting changes on the professional front. Last fall he sold his interest in Kronos Products, an ethnic food company he had been running for the past eight years. Bruce had executed a management buyout in November 2004, but it quickly became apparent that he and his new financial partners did not share the same vision and values. Rather than grind on each other for the next three to five years, Bruce's partners bought him out. As a free agent Bruce is excited about the possibilities going forward, but he confessed that although retirement is great, unemployment is getting a litle old. He expects to stay in Chicago and either run another business or do executive coaching and consulting. In the meantime he has been taking advantage of the time off to play some serious golf. Last fall Bruce spent a week with Don Casey in South Carolina playing some top courses, before Don relocated to Morristown, New Jersey, to take a new job with a three-hospital operation there. Bruce also went to Florida in March with three fellow Kappa Sigs, Chris Pfaff, Mike Draznik and Peter Holden. While there they were able to grab Tom Eggleston for dinner one evening. The group had great fun and shared many fond memories.

Mike Klupchak '73 sent very sad news to me in April regarding his brother, Rick Klupchak. Ricks wife of 27 years, Cindy, died on April 4 of brain cancer. Rick and Cindy were living in Atlanta, where they had been for the last seven years after returning from assignments with Coca-Cola in Austria and Russia over the prior 10 years. In addition to Rick, Cindy is survived by their three children, Lexi, Max and Sasha. At a wake for Cindy in Chicago Heights, Illinois, many of Ricks Dartmouth friends came from far and wide to pay their respects, including Rick Gerardi, Mike Wargo, Mike Costello, Chuck Thomas '73, Tony Cort '78, Mike Brait '76, Mike Walsh '77, Dave Van Vliet '77, Shoun Kerbaugh '76 and Marty Milligen '77.Also present were Rick's brothers Mike, Bill '77 and Tom Klupchak '85. Mike asked me to share this news with you so that others who knew Rick at Dartmouth would be aware of Cindy's death and to thank these friends for the support and comfort they have given to Rick. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Rick and his family at this very difficult time.

Best wishes to all for the summer. Be safe and send me a postcard from the beach with news.

Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road,Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com