Classes of 1956 – 1960

Read submissions from the classes of 1956, 1957, 1959, and 1960

1956 HGS

Stephen Raffel

raffel@post.harvard.edu

Owen Cylke (Editor’s note: 1660 has a very special importance in Hopkins history): “I suggest three books centered around New Haven circa 1660. Dixwell’s Regicide in the Family, Buckley’s The Judge Hunter, and along the same line, Harris’s Act of Oblivion.” Peter Knudsen and his wife, Pidgie, this past March spent three and one-half weeks in Sicily and southern Italy. They found both interesting and great food, historical sights, and helpful, friendly people. One of the Sicilians that we rented from became our local tour guide in Taormina and told us that since it was likely the only time that we would visit there, he wanted us to leave with a great memory—radical hospitality. I am willing to supply his contact information to anyone interested. Commenting on Bill Branon’s ’55 HGS Class Notes entry, Peter writes, “I want to comment on Bill Branon’s Class note about his ‘an interesting 2023’. I have not ever seen such an openly honest, loving recounting of a spouse taking care of his ‘bride’. I remember Bill throwing a high hard one to opposing hitters and having it pop into Tom Young’s glove. A tip of the maroon and gray cap to Bill for his beautiful note to all of us aging folks.” Dick Walton reports that he is in his fourth month of recovery from having wrecked his left knee. What a pain in the butt. I must spend half the day doing exercises to fix my knee. Our primary means of contact is through email. If you do not get our Class emails, please email your address to raffel@post.harvard.edu so I can add you to the list. Steve Raffel, Class Secretary.

1957 HGS

Alan Cadan

alancadan@mac.com

Joe Schwartz (schwartzjoseph@hotmail.com): “In early spring, Marilyn and I had the delightful pleasure of getting together with Steve Ziff, who was treating his daughters to a ‘Big Apple’ experience. Steve travels with his gals each year to a major city around the world. What a great dad! Marilyn, fully recovered from two successful cataract surgeries, accompanied me (who else?) for our third trip to Spain, this time to Barcelona, Menorca and Marbella Islands in the Balearic Archipelago, followed by Valencia. Beautiful sights, sounds, fragrances, and flavors! The weather was perfect for touring, and we advanced our knowledge of Spanish history, from prehistoric times to the Moslem conquests to the Inquisition and Franco’s civil war. Happily, we continue to be blessed with good health and stamina. We have plans to continue traveling here and abroad as long as the spirit and body allow!” Ford Daley (forddaley@gmail.com): “Big news for me—I have resigned my position as cafeteria supervisor to become a sub and/or aide, so on to the next adventure!” Steve Ryter (stephenrr@me.com): “As far as I can tell, I’m still alive. We are in Bend, Oregon, and will be moving nearby since the owner of our current house is returning from another state. I guess life is dull without tornadoes or floods. I’m very fortunate to live with my wonderful German wife. Some days just staying alive seems to be enough.” John Lunt (j2lunt@gmail.com): “Well, Alan, to avoid the risk of your deciding that trying to coax info from classmates is finally too much, I will respond to your request. The one thing that has changed for Jane and me is that we have resumed traveling. Last fall, we were in England and Scotland. This spring, we spent some time on Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas, and in September, we are heading for France for a one-week barge cruise followed by a week in Aix-en-Provence. Plans are to be in St. John at the end of March next year. ‘Do it while we can’ is our belief at this time. On the home front, we both remain active in the community with commitments at our food pantry and at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. At home, the growing grass requires constant attention these days, as do Jane’s gardens. Fortunately, she handles the gardens! In all, we feel most fortunate and are enjoying our good fortune.” Alan Cadan (alancadan@mac.com): “Lynn has been campaigning to visit Easter Island for years, so in January we made the trip as an add-on to our Patagonia tour of Chile and Argentina. (Actually, Patagonia was the add-on to the main attraction for her.) After flying six hours and 2,200 miles into the Pacific Ocean from the coast of Chile, we finally got to see the larger-than-life memorial moai statues, some weighing up to 14 tons. While Easter Island had mostly tropical weather, Patagonia weather hit all seasons—in one day!—and we used everything we brought, from dry clothing to rain gear. The trip ended in a warm and dry Buenos Aires. Staying ‘closer’ to home, by the time you read this, we will have visited Scotland in June and then a Bordeaux barge trip in September and hopefully will have had the good fortune to return to our home in Milford that has not been wiped out by the Atlantic hurricane season projections!”

1959 HGS

William F. Dow III

wdow@jacobslaw.com

And so it came to pass that on the 31st day of May in the year of Our Lord 2024, there assembled in a nondescript room in a not quite exclusive restaurant in the City of New Haven, select members of the Class of ’59, gathered for the purpose of reviewing assorted recollections of events that transpired more than 65 years ago. Kudos to Bob Dickie for corralling the attendees. Those assembled were Charlie Adams, Truman Sherk, Jim Shanbrom, Bill Cullen, Peter Bunting, Bob Dickie, Steve McDonald, John Malone, Willie Dow, Joe Waronka, Al Rogol, Bill Hildebrand, and Steve Boies. They were accompanied by Diane Waronka, MaryLou Adams, Karen Bunting, Michael Shanbrom ’88, Jane Karman, and Crystal Boies. The required review was expansive, inclusive, and exhaustive. The entire evening was, to steal a synonymic triptych from Miss Carver, satisfying, rewarding, and enjoyable. Almost no teacher went unmentioned: Erich, Lencz, Luther, Raynor, Meinecke, Sherk, Brown, Rood, Bainton, Weber, Heath, Bluett(s), DeNoyen, the aforementioned Miss Carver and Miss Barton. Not forgotten were others equally important to our education: Charlie Nash, whose unique view of life was recalled with appreciation; Bill Corbett, whose enthusiasm for outdoor labor while accompanied by work scholars was thoroughly recounted; Charlie and Mrs. Billings and Freda, the memories of whose culinary skills were relished (I apologize; I couldn’t resist). Many other topics were covered. Examined and explored, but not satisfactorily explained was the phenomenon that all those educators listed above played a vital and significant role in the development of each one of us; and when they did so they were 40 years younger than we are now; and yet, in some way, they are retained in our memories as old and wise. We shared anecdotal memories of classmates not present: Stephen Sewall, Alan Schwartzman, Jonathan Finkle, John Pouzzner, Sandy Mack, Frank Fowlkes, Nate Milikowsky, Douglas Linsley, Michael Wilder, William Brucksch, Rob Haeseler, Peter Shull, Stuart Gollinger, and Walter Bloch, as well as Peter Mendelsohn, and Mack McLean, who, although not Hopkins alumni, were childhood friends we remember fondly. We discussed the logistics of getting to 986 Forest Road from various outlying communities: West Haven, Stony Creek, Hamden, Seymour, and Milford. Not forgotten were the disciplinary practices of our educators: thrown erasers; a vigorous tap to the cheek of a cheeky second former; a screeching of brakes by a faculty member responding to a perceived insult by a student; one or more visits to the Headmaster’s Office compelled by the need to discuss certain academic and behavioral misunderstandings. Also recalled were experiences when traveling to and from school, Glee Club endeavors and various athletic events. We also learned that Sandy Mack, though no longer at the University of Maryland, not surprisingly, still lectures on Shakespeare; that Cullen, with two knee replacements, continues to cut a swath through golf courses as well as the indecipherable world of communications, and that his granddaughter is captain of the San Diego State dance team; that Malone, now an owner of the Atlanta Braves, is getting into Formula One racing and continues to thrive on the results of his academic philanthropy, of which Hopkins is a significant beneficiary; that Stu Gollinger has written a book that relates his Hopkins experience; that Charlie and MaryLou Adams come back east to stay at a family cabin in Massachusetts; that, not surprisingly, Bill Hildebrand continues to be a one-man sales force; that Al Rogol, in addition to his medical exploits, is branching out into teaching us how to retire successfully and that Dickie travels so much that he is on a first-name basis with all the customs agents in Logan Airport. And, after talking to Truman Sherk about living in Branford, Connecticut, I have promised to obtain for him membership as a bass drummer in the Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps before our next reunion. Not all the information was uplifting. Three of our classmates—Stu Gollinger, Bill Cullen, and Bill Hildebrand—have sadly recently lost their spouses. It is safe to say that the result of our reunion experience was that a good time was had by all, especially at the Friday dinner; but that’s not really saying enough. This was, for us, a meaningful appreciation of what Hopkins has given us, whether a concept of time management, lessons on how to study and learn or, best of all, how the school was able to take a small group of boys from different backgrounds and put them together in a way that caused them to learn not just from our teachers but most important, from each other. We came away with a real sense that we have been very fortunate to have our Hopkins experience and, even more fortunate to be smart enough to know and appreciate it. Pax.

1960 DAY & PHS —65th Reunion

Tricia Swift

TSwift@grubbco.com, tswift@lasell.edu

In June, when class notes were due, 1960 DAY and PHS grads were in the throes of 60th college reunions, plus grandchildren’s graduations from various institutions, and other festivities, so our column is relatively slender. Bonnie Loeser Corcoran sent a photo of her gorgeous pastoral view of Bantry Bay in Ireland. Bonnie spends half the year at her home there, and the other half at her home in Washington, D.C. From Ruth Osterweis Selig, who also lives in D.C.: “I attended my 60th Wellesley Reunion over Memorial Day weekend, staying with fellow Hopkins classmate Tricia Black Swift on Saturday night following the class dinner. Loved visiting over breakfast before the 10-minute drive to the Wellesley campus, where I attended the chapel service, a parade of 1,900 alums, and a picnic lunch for 88 members of our class (out of about 400 graduates). Other news: My partner of 22 years, Mark Matthews, and I spent two wonderful weeks in May in Prague and Vienna, exploring museums, castles, churches, and synagogues. We are looking forward to returning to the Tanglewood Music Center in July and August, where my daughter and her husband teach voice and where we live in neighboring condos. I pick up my two granddaughters at camp for afternoon swimming in the condo swimming pool, and attend lots of concerts.’’ Further from D.C. from Ursula Goodenough: “The second edition of my book, The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved (www.sacreddepthsofnature.com) was released a year ago, so much time since has been engaged in podcasts, webinars, and the like. I was also inducted as a member of the National Academy of Science in April in Washington D.C., a stupendous honor. Otherwise I am living the blissful life of a retired academic in the woods by the ocean (Martha’s Vineyard), with trips to Boston, Massachusetts, to attend Handel and Hayden concerts with Tricia Swift and much time with family.’’ Closer to my Boston suburban neighborhood, Bobbie Garson Leis writes that she is in the process of selling the beautiful vintage home where she has lived for 50 years, and where she hosted Mary-Ellen Effernen and me for a terrific lunch a few months ago. She will be downsizing, renovating and moving to a condo at The Hills at Mainestone in Wayland, Massachusetts—a challenging and creative project! Mary-Ellen Effernen, who also lives close by in Newton, Massachusetts, reports that she and her daughter traveled to Portugal for a great trip this spring. Further afield, Aurelia DeBenedetti in Milan, Italy, is very active on Facebook. She continues to teach yoga and Indian philosophy. Deirdre Hanssen, living the life in Southern California, decided in this, her ninth decade, to treat herself to a 20-year-old two-seater Mercedes Benz sports car among other indulgences. Go Deirdre! Also living in California—the Bay Area—Catherine Higgs Milton attended her 60th Mount Holyoke reunion. There she was given Mount Holyoke’s “Achievement Award—2024” recognizing her work “shaping the direction of national service in the U.S., inspiring and training new generations of volunteers and leaders for her work in creating Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service and leading the launch of AmeriCorps 30 years ago.” Catherine’s new book, Creating AmeriCorps: Bipartisanship in Action, tells the story of how social entrepreneurs, politicians from both parties worked together to create AmeriCorps and how in the past 30 years more than 1.2 million Americans have served for a year or more. Congratulations, Catherine! Mary Whitney Renz, in Connecticut, writes that she and her husband, Franklin, will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in October. Truly a record! Ann Hummel Hoag and her husband, Denny, continue to thrive in their Hilton Head, South Carolina, senior community. Both are well and enjoying life, and Ann continues to play tennis three times a week. Jane Preston Rose tells of anticipating a family reunion in Branford, Connecticut. No one in the family lives there any more, but they are looking forward to showing the next generation old haunts and their family roots. As for myself, while I had looked forward to my 60th Radcliffe/Harvard reunion, I completely missed it, having broken my wrist the week before, which required surgery to put it all back together. Recovery is in process and all is well. The grands are all getting launched and traveling hither and yon. Thanks for all your input!

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Classes of 1956 – 1960