Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: Slater Society–1950s

1941
John Manhold writes that he completed a commissioned sculpture for the Single Action Shooting Society. The bronze bust of the organization’s founder will be placed in the SASS’s new museum in Gatlinburg, Tenn. John writes, “At 85 years of age, I still participate most actively in SASS, where members competitively shoot weapons of the 1860–1900 period in action scenarios from western pictures and historical events. Admittedly, competing against younger individuals is difficult, but it still is possible to win occasionally—although, like Frank Butler and Annie Oakley, I am not in my wife’s class, which is Grand Dame World Champion.”

1948
Vern Thayer and his grandson, Shawn Welch, 12, formed an unusual partnership in the Webster (N.Y.) Tennis Club tournament last summer. The requirement for participating in the tournament as a doubles team was that the combined ages of the partners had to be at least 100. Vern and Shawn lost the first match but won both consolation matches.

1949
Hans Zweig is the author of Relativity Unraveled, a book offering counterexamples to the theories of special and general relativity. “The book examines the fallacies and contradictions in Einstein’s arguments,” Hans writes. His Web site is www.aquestionoftime.com.

1950
Kenneth Hubel, class correspondent, writes:

Glenn Berggren and his wife, Diane, moved last summer from Upland, Calif., to Sun Lakes, Ariz. (9745 East Tranquility Way, Sun Lakes, AZ 85248; (480) 883-6642.)

Shirley Jackson Spencer married Bob Spencer in 1952. They moved to Golden, Colo., where they had two sons. When the boys were out of the nest, Shirley earned her master’s degree in urban planning at the University of Colorado–Denver. For several years, she worked as an activities director at health centers in the Denver area, and she has been active in plans for her community of Fairmount. Bob, a printer, now retired, is an avid bird watcher. Both enjoy reading and lazy browsing through antique shops. They have three grandsons and a granddaughter and have been active for years in their local Baptist church. When I spoke with Shirley, she related enthusiastically that her 48-year-old son, a professor, had married the night before—a ray of hope for those classmates whose children have delayed tying the knot. (4430 Gladiola St., Golden, CO 80403-1856; (303) 279-4682.)

Barbara Sykes Walter married George Walter and taught in secondary schools and at the University of Wisconsin. She co-owned a tour guide business for four years and, with an interest in the nearby works of Frank Lloyd Wright, served on the heritage board. Her active life and accomplishments garnered a citation in Who’s Who of American Women. She continues to play golf and tennis and serves as a docent at two art museums in her southern Wisconsin community of Racine. Four grandsons help to compensate for the loss of her husband four years ago. (3726 North Bay Drive, Racine, WI 53402; (262) 639-5560.)

The colorful Clark Barrett died on May Day of this year. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1953, served in the Army Counterintelligence Corps during the Korean War, and settled in Millbrae, Calif., with his wife, young son, and infant daughter in 1956. He practiced law and estate planning from 1955 until he retired in 2003 and served people from all walks of life, regardless of their ability to pay. He served his city and church and was cofounder of Foster City Friends of the Library. A hiker and environmentalist, he was a dedicated Shakespeare scholar and loved the history and archaeology of England, the Greek Islands, the Bay Area, and upstate New York. He could recite most of the poems of Robert Service and seemed to have a limitless memory for literary references. Before succumbing to pancreatic cancer, he spent the last several years tracing and writing the history of the Barrett family back to the 1700s. (930 Lido Lane, Foster City, CA 94404.)

—Contact: Kenneth Hubel, 2562 Oak Circle N.E., North Liberty, IA 52317; (319) 626-6562; khubel (at) southslope (dot) net.

1951
Linda Fabry Farley ’55M (MD), ’70M (Res) (see ’54 School of Medicine and Dentistry).

1954
Dan Offer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, is coauthor, with Marjorie Kaiz Offer and Eric Ostrov, of Regular Guys: 34 Years Beyond Adolescence.

1957
Kenneth Guenther received the Homeownership Leadership award and one of eight Homeownership Hero awards from the Homeownership Alliance last June. He’s a former chairman of the organization. . . . Joan Coombs McKinley (see ’58).

1958
John Rathbone, class correspondent, writes:

Marg Taylor Adams wants to assure her friends that she survived Hurricane Charley, which did incredible damage about 45 minutes north. Her apartment complex suffered some tree damage, and one person lost a pool cage. She undertook a trip west to Utah to visit Bryce and Zion National Parks at the end of August.

Ben and Maureen McGuigan Baldwin ’60 write that they are “living life at an interesting pace,” remodeling a condo in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., that they have owned for almost 20 years but have never occupied. They hoped to have it completed some time in October so they could furnish it and have it ready for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas with the family. They took their oldest granddaughter to see some colleges in the Midwest on Labor Day weekend. They have nine grandkids ranging in age from 17 down to 3. Just keeping up with birthdays and anniversaries for the group fills the calendar fairly well. Ben keeps busy with his “have talk, will travel” activities. This, along with some “expert witness” work for lawyers in insurance cases is why Ben hasn’t written a new book in a couple of years, making life easier for Moe, the unofficial editor. They write, “We love to see friends, whether it be in Arlington Heights, Ill., Galway, N.Y., or Florida.”

Dick and Joyce Timmerman Gilbert were part of a chamber choir singing in Hungary and Transylvania (western Romania) in August and September. The 20 performers sang mostly eight-part music, so they really worked, believe it or not. It wasn’t all a delightful romp through history, legend, and the post-Communist world, although all that was there. The six performance sites included a fortified church, the Baradla Caves in Hungary’s Aggtelek National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site), and Béla Bartók’s home church, the First Unitarian in Budapest. They visited the Lippizaner stud farm in northeastern Hungary and— for those who just need to know—yes, they had lunch one day at the Vlad Dracul restaurant, near Dracula’s place.

In August, Susan Hook Heicklen went to her 50th high school reunion in Roslyn, N.Y., and adds that she is “sure that most of you are doing the same type of thing!” Following that, Sue and her husband, Ace, got together with all of their children and grandchildren in Teaneck, N.J., for “much fun.”

Ed and Irene Colle Kaplan completed a six-month sabbatical in Germany on September 1 and noted that it would be “difficult to get back to the ‘real world.’”

John Meyers wrote that he and Jim Alrutz, Dean Crebbin, Bob Folwell, Bill Miller, Fritz Parker, Jack Simmons, Dick Slocum, and Dick Wedemeyer enjoyed a Psi U “reunion weekend” on Nantucket Island at the end of July. John added, “It was great to see most of our group and spouses. Many, many memories were shared.”

Judy Frank Pierson writes that her only news is that the Clayton (N.Y.) Opera House featured the Summer Festival Orchestra conducted by Jeff Tyzik ’73E, ’77E (Mas) to rave reviews. They are proud of the Rochester influence on the musical groups appearing there. Judy added that during the last week of September, Sally Hawes Powell paid a visit on way to her high school reunion in Utica. She had also visited the Piersons in Naples for a weekend. Sally was one of the original eight dormmates in Cutler.

Joe Steinman has written to say that he and his transplanted Dutch wife are growing even fonder of living in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Joe just returned from a trip to Lake Winnepausakee, N.H., where he spent a long weekend with old friends. The Steinmans spent six weeks this summer at their place in Switzerland, and Joe reports that one needs to be part mountain goat to successfully negotiate the Swiss golf courses.

Dick Vidale and Harry McKinley both wrote that Bob and Betty Sue Reed, Harry and Joan Coombs McKinley (’57), and Dick and Margaret got together in Wickford, R.I., for lunch last July. Dick noted that the lunch featured lobster salad and clams on the half shell personally shucked by Bob. Bob showed his irrigated garden, which was judged an engineering marvel by Dick and Harry. Harry added that it was a “great reunion with many stories and lies told.” The McKinleys recently moved from western Massachusetts to South Dartmouth in the southeastern part of the state and are enjoying it very much. Harry says he is “sort of retired” but still does occasional lens design, “after being on my own in that field for 38 years.” They send regards to all and invite you to call if you are in their part of the country.

—Contact: John Rathbone, 2375 Brookview Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; jrathbon (at) dreamscape (dot) com.

1959
Judy Blanchard Avedisian (see ’93). . . . Juliet Sanson Bongfeldt (see ’93). . . . Barbara Hunt Homolka (see ’93).