1969

While writing this column I am reading the latest ’69 Times newsletter and finding numerous articles from notes on a recent executive committee conference call discussing our combined 45th reunion next year with the class of ’68 to a reminder about this year’s Homecoming and a night game. Allen Denison has found a wealth of information and presents it in depth with great pictures to mark many of the happenings in our classmates’ lives and passing. Be sure to read this and keep the stories and anecdotes coming.

The class listserv has provided a lot of entertainment in recent months to those of us who participate or are merely lurkers. In April Nanalee Raphael asked the group if anyone had driven the fabled Route 66 from Chicago to its terminus at the Santa Monica pier. Many of us had experiences on at least part of that highway and the memories were diverse. John Segelbaum recalled a memorable trip with our late classmate John Verb following graduation. The two drove in John V.’s red, convertible GTO from Indianapolis, Indiana, to San Diego with the top down, a cooler of beer in the back seat and fireworks to set off in the desert. Both were headed to the U.S. Navy and John V. reported to his ship in San Diego while John S. went to flight school in Pensacola, Florida. Today John recommends a stop at the Hotel La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, for a truly fine meal. Dudley Kay recalled a trip during his eighth grade that also involved fireworks purchased along Route 66 and set off, unhappily, in the Sequoia National Forest, bringing on forest rangers and the wrath of the accompanying adults. Bruce Hamilton hitchhiked across the country after graduation, requiring four or five rides from the College to Newport Beach, California. The trip included Route 66 from Amarillo, Texas, west, and during the journey he ran into Bruce English and later encountered Dick Harwood ’68 along the way. Bruce said he had no idea at the time that this was a historic road since the entire trip seemed historic. He also says his hitching days are past. Arthur Fergenson recalled a soda fountain just off the highway, next to the pier at road’s end, which made the best ice cream sodas and egg creams you can find. Joseph Campbell’s question of the listserv“Who was your most outstanding Dartmouth professor and why?”—was another memorable topic given wide discussion.

Another note about the aforementioned John Segelbaum: He says he is about two years from retiring and leaving his Seattle practice for a home he and Judith have built north of Phoenix, Arizona.

Sadly we must report the loss of Ron Neal, who passed away March 8, in Phoenix.

Allen Denison and I greatly appreciate the stories and reports you are providing. Please keep them coming our way.

9101 W 146th St., Overland Park, KS 66221; (360) 770-4388; wheat69@ earthlink.net