AUGUST 2007

AUGUST 2007 - Greetings once again to all. We have news from a few classmates, and as has become sadly more common, a couple of deaths to report, and an update on opinions about the next reunion. As always, if you read this and want to make some inputs, like for instance telling us what's going on in your life these days, by all means send me something. I can put it in here quickly and easily, and will do so, happily. So, without further ado, we launch into another excursion into journalistic excellence, half my brain tied behind my back, just to make it fair... (just a little joke there....)

Frank Kieper - Most of us remember him as our shop teacher, and a darn good one. He passed on July 28th this year at the age of 89. Several folks sent me information about his obituary, and I got the "hard copy" of it from Eddie Reardon. Mr. Kieper had a very impressive resume to include distinguished service in WWII as a bomber pilot, serving in both Africa and the Pacific. He earned six Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross during his service. He started teaching at Greeley in 1940, and except for his military service time, continued until his retirement in 1978. He was a guidance counselor and Assistant Vice-Principal at the time of retirement. He is survived by his wife Margaret, whom many of us knew. Lots of folks had memories of him, and these, from Will Risley are really nice: I know that, at the very least, Jeff Henschel, Denny Joy, John Maloney and I all worked for him some summer or other, cleaning (and at the start of the summer, painting) swimming pools. He ran a good swimming pool business that had customers not only in Westchester but also in Putnam and maybe even Dutchess County, too (not sure; I know we took some long trips northward to paint pools). He was a heck of a pilot. Even in the 1960s he was still a "weekend warrior," flying Navy planes out of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. I regret never having known about all of his World War II action. Quite a man. I am glad Mrs. Kieper is still with us; she was a peach, very nice to us pool workers at their house on Quaker Road before and during our daily rounds, just a she was in school. Thanks for the good memories, Will. R.I.P.

Myron Trapani - Kind of a sadder story. Myron was with us through junior year, at which time he went off to private school, I believe. A good basketball player and track distance runner, and someone I always thought of a nice and gentle guy. He and Ben Lewis and I used to run on the golf course at Whippoorwill at night, getting ready for track. Then we could sneak into the pool there. As many of you may recall, he developed some psychological problems later on. His brother, Art (Buster) Trapani, Greeley '57, wrote me that Myron spent most of his adult life in a NY state mental institution, always gentle and never a danger to anyone. He passed away a couple of years ago. I still remember the first time he got on the floor in a JV basketball game and sank a couple of long jump shots -- the place went wild. Even though we lost the game, Myron was carried off the floor on the shoulders of his teammates (and his brother, Buster.) He left some nice memories. R.I.P.

Since he has already made an appearance, let's hear what Will Risley has to say about his daughter's recent marriage. "As far as any news here, our only two items are a wedding and a trip. Our older daughter Kristin was married on July 29, 2006 to a tall, dark (yes, there are some) and handsome Norwegian, and they spent their first year together on a Fulbright she won to teach at the University of Bergen. Bergen is the main city of western Norway, and gorgeous, although she and husband Frode Larsen had monsoon rains much of the year. Those rains ceased the moment that my wife Diane and I arrived to visit them on May 31. We spent eleven days in Bergen and five up in Tromso (WAY up), staying with Frode's parents, looking out over five miles of water and the city of Tromso from across the sound, and ringed by 3,000-foot mountain peaks, and enjoying the midnight sun (which never set). It was a great experience. And since the good weather coincided with our visit and then turned bad when we left, and since that is exactly what happened back in 1989 during our first visit to the Bergen area, next time I plan on demanding a free trip courtesy of the Norwegian government, in exchange for the perfect weather we shall undoubtedly bring to the desperate population." (The picture on the right is of the island where Tromso is located.)

Judy (Chatfield) Schwerin continues sharing her expertise on formal European gardens: "News - well....This past Spring I led a group of architects and interior designers through Sicily. This was followed by being "a Visiting Scholar" at the American Academy in Rome photographing Roman gardens, and drawing. It was a terrific experience. I am having a very quiet Summer trying to stay put in Sharon (CT) studying and resting up for September/October. September 1st with my brother Bill and his wife, I will be in Scotland on a "pilgrimage" trip led by an Episcopal bishop from Florida. Then Debbie Moslander and her sister Nancy will join me (and Debbie's husband George Baxter, and his sister) for a week in Florence. Afterwards we all meet up with a tour I am leading of the Northern Italian Lake Gardens sponsored by the Institute of Classical Architecture/Classical America. Web site is www.classicalexcursions.com I am especially thrilled to share some of my most favorite places with Debbie."

Here is the latest from Cindy Rose, who, like many of us is flirting with retirement, but she still continues her work with the impoverished population of Haiti.

"I'm telecommuting now from home, which eases a crunch for desk space in the office and will gradually ease me into retirement. I know I'm not alone in being amazed and aghast at how quickly it seems we have gotten old!! Sixty-five once seemed a lifetime away. My summer goals are modest: first is to figure out why I can't get reliable wireless internet service in my house (I have a Starbucks on my corner and hoped I could "borrow" their signal, but haven't had any luck so far. I think they're on to me). My second project is to work with some colleagues to set up a women's microcredit beading project in a remote village on Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic. I have the beading know-how but have to learn how to communicate this in Haitian Kreyol. And then there's the problem with ensuring that the materials for stringing the beads won't rot in the humid climate. Cotton and linen string deteriorate pretty quickly, so I will have to use wire, which has its own problems. I'm also used to using a hot glue gun here in the states to seal the ends of necklaces, but small as the guns are, they still require electricity, which is missing in the village. I'm not sure that charcoal fires (the local appropriate technology) will do the trick. Microcredit programs for women have really taken off in other parts of the world, and we hope we can replicate some of the successes in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and needs all the help it can get. "

Carlos Ballantyne continues his travels and adventures, it include leading tours in Nepal. Mostly what I get from him are wonderful photos of all sorts of scenic places. The one on the left is Peter Davidson, taken during a recent motorcycle trip he took in the west, and somehow Carlos came into possession of the pic. That's Crater Lake in the background. On the right is another pretty picture from the desert somewhere. If you are interested in traveling to Nepal, you can email Carlos and he will give you lots of information.

Peter's mom, Alice, passed away earlier this year, at 93. She was a great gal, and always so nice to all of us kids who hung out there at Peter's place on Brevoort Road.

Lynn Norton is also among the world travelers. "I am still traveling with at least one big trip a year. This spring I went to Tanzania , Africa. Had a fantastic time with game drives every day, staying in safari tent camps, visiting Massai villages, and having the time of my life. I have enjoyed all of my trips and it would be difficult to pick out the best but this was certainly worth the LONG flight over and back. So far, I am doing my best to age gracefully although it is getting to be more of a challenge. Hate it when I have trouble remembering some of those common nouns that leave me speechless sometimes. Hope all is well with everyone." (Ed. note: I certainly agree with Lynn that the "aging gracefully" thing is not all that easy to manage.)

"I finally feel more or less retired now, leaving Connecticut after 33 years and making a change that puts us into a new life. We are only 25 minutes from son Mark and his family, which makes it easier to see our 18 month old granddaughter. We've been here for a week or so now, still looking at lots of boxes and wondering where some of the things we need reside, even though I did a pretty good inventory. Time will fix this, but I bet there will be boxes that will not be opened for a long time! New address is 830 East Homestead Lane, Easton, PA 18042. E:mail is changing to j.duncan10@rcn.com." (Ed. note: Email addresses have all been updated on the email webpage, and an updated address list is at the end of this letter. That's a picture of Easton on the right.

Old guitar-playing buddy, Nick Bowen is retired and very active with his church, as you will see:

I just finished the web site I have been building for our Latino church. This has been like a part-time job during my retirement except I didn't get paid for it. The URL is www.ComunidadDeLasNaciones.org. (That's the name of the church and it means "Community of Nations. It's an awesome product with lots of functionality and is bilingual so English-speakers can participate in the blogs and message boards and subscribe to the e-newsletter. It's not limited to church members, and we hope to have world-wide participation. There's an English page that explains everything.

We're going to Paraguay with our church mission team again this year, leaving on July 17 and returning on the 26th. We go there in their winter season so we can escape the extreme heat, mosquitoes, and tarantulas. We'll be helping to build a church and working at a retreat center, and sharing the gospel in both locations. It's very hot down South here; I get my walking done in the early morning by 9:00, otherwise it's too hot (not hot enough for tarantulas, thank goodness). The lawn has died in the drought but I don't mind - that just means I don't have to mow it.

Here is a short note from Ascher Sellner. Short, but very informative. I am practicing part time in Machias and other places as a locum tenens doctor. I'm in great health since my liver transplant four years ago.. Life is good but less active than before.

Lots of good news from John Viscomi. We, Patty and I, are settled in real good now here in New Hampshire. It's been three years already. Wow, where did the time go??We bought a 5th wheel camper and spend the month of March down south. Patty's brother lives outside of Atlanta and my daughter Amy lives in North Carolina. We stop there for a couple weeks each. This year we are going to Fla with some friends from church, yup I said church! Patty and I have found the Lord and are born again Christians. Why it took 62 years I don't know, but we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and savior. Neat uh? We do some fishing camping, we both have ATV's. Patty is the treasurer and I am vice president of the local ATV club. We have and maintain for the State of New Hampshire, viscomi's car.JPG (37309 bytes)

25 miles of riding trails. A lot of fun! We do the same in the winter but with snowmobiles of course. So, between being very active at church and the camping and ATV's we manage to keep pretty busy. My son John and his wife Laurie have a new baby boy as of last December and still live in Suffield CT. We just went down to CT for his baptism last week. I don't miss CT at all. No moose, bear or turkeys there, not like up here. That's about it from here. Summer has just arrived and it is really short up here, like your area I suppose. Oh ya, I don't know if I told you but I sold my little Hot Rod. Yup, this is not the area for a car like that. We have frost heaves that don't go away until June up here, and the driving season is so short here wow. So we put it on Ebay and sold it within 2 days. It's in New York somewhere. It was tough watching it go down the road. We had put 75k miles on that car in the 17 years. What a lot of fun, things change though. (Ed. note -- for those of you who haven't already seen it, that's a picture on the right of the car John is talking about.)

Bud Ebert has lots going on. Roseann and I just welcomed twin grandsons into our lives. It's our first -- Parker and Alexander.

We're still in Sedona, AZ where I was recently named the Chair of the Community Foundation. It's lots of work but very rewarding. We have a fall event where we raised $730k last year and are going to $1million this year. If anyone is interested in winning a hybrid Toyota, our site is the place to do it www.SedonaMiracle.org. There are even some film clips of me at the "helicopter ball drop event" so tune it in. (Ed. note: I checked out the video and it is a lot of fun.)

We've closed on a condo in San Carlos, Mexico and will begin to spend our winters there.

Lynne (Denison) Fitzhugh and hubby Bill, also a Chappaqua guy, sent this update.

Okay, here's us: Bill and I still live on Capitol Hill in DC, though I spend half the year at our wild mountaintop home near his family in Vermont. Bill continues to dig up the world on behalf of the Smithsonian; currently in Mongolia poking around the deer stones looking for clues to the people who made them, then off to Rangel Is. lecturing for a Smithsonian cruise group, then to Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in search of old Basque whaling and southernmost Inuit sites. Son Ben (following in his footsteps but gaining on him) is tenured prof at U. Washington, Seattle and now off to run year two of a huge 3-year Russian/Japanese/American survey of the Kuril Islands (archaeology, volcanology, geology, ecology etc.). His wife is also tenured prof at U. Wash. in linguistic anthro. They have two gorgeous girls, Laska (10) and Larissa (2.5). Son Josh is on track to make partner at his law firm in DC and finding time to keep up his pilot's license and the gardens at their bungalow across the river in Arlington. His wife Naina does web programs for Discovery and other clients. Florrie Fitzhugh, Bill's mom, is the last surviving elder of the family and, at 91, still sharp and funny but not so well physically. All our siblings are fine, for those who remember my sister Kris and Bill's Bug (Priscilla), Portia, and Josh. I'm fine too, various joint issues notwithstanding. Working hard on my first attempt at fiction (novel), singing in a symphonic chorus, volunteer gardening at the National Arboretum, (that's a picture from the Arboretum on the right,) defending my Vermont gardens and buildings against the myriad wild critters who (not without reason) feel entitled to the shelter and nourishment they provide, and basically trying to keep creeping decrepitude at bay. (Ed. note: This will be Lynne's 2nd book. The first, a work of non-fiction, was featured in the newsletter about a couple of years ago.)

Once more, Doug Weiss has all sorts of interesting things to tell us: Although we are now Sarasota Floridians, we have recently been commuting to Boston. Our son, Matthew, now 27, graduated from MIT Sloan business school and Marianne and I joined the festivities. We then flew home for a few days and flew back to Boston for his wedding the following weekend. Matt will be joining Vistaprint as a product manager when he returns from his three week honeymoon in Australia with his wife,
Meghan. (We have high hopes that the marriage will work..they have been dating for seven and 1/2 years.....it was about time :) Daughter Jen, now 31, has become the product manager for the home page of Earthlink in Atlanta....quite a change from her previous life as the editor of the Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew books. The best part

of this is that we can actually drive to Atlanta and one can buy live Dungeness crabs there, which are one of my favorite foods (cooked of course). We are looking forward to our labor day seafood feast. Marianne and I aborted our July trip to the upper Amazon when I found that I could not get a yellow fever shot due to a childhood medical
treatment. We are now going to India right after Thanksgiving for a few weeks. I suspect the food in India will be more interesting (and certainly more spicy)...probably the whole trip will be more interesting. We're trying Overseas Adventure Travel...heard good things about it....and this will be our trial trip.
Alas, am I entering the next phase of life...I start on Medicare August 1. This is a psychologically trying time...could I actually be getting OLD? Nah....it's just an insurance change...I'm really still 18 at heart...or is that an early Altzheimer's thought.....

Well, Doug alludes to some of the pitfalls of passing years. Here is one of the rewards - grandkids! Liz (Lewis) Usborne sends a short update and a picture of her granddaughter.

Hi Dave..we have exciting news...we just had a new granddaugher born on my husband's birthday a month ago..it is special as I have three sons and and a grandson so finally we can think PINK!!! Here she is a one hour old!!

We are still living in Bonita CA... Most of us are going back to Cooperstown next month to see the inductions...Tony Gwynn from the Padres is going in...

We have been enjoying retirement and doing lots of volunteer work and travel..fun!!

Speaking of grandchildren -- don't be shy -- I'll post any and all pictures of grandkids that you care to send. Also, beloved pets, dear friends, or anything else. Space is virtually (literally) unlimited here, it being the Internet.

Here is a nice note from Tony Kilburn, with a nice description of a snowy morning in Maine, as well as an update of what's happening in his life.

It is a beautiful morning here in Maine, with all the snow still in Buffalo NY, 22" I heard on the radio yesterday. Fun for all in the
Northeast. The color of the light this morning was just spectacular, and I woke Jan up at 7:00 with a "you gotta see this" comment, which was met with a groan and "Is there tea yet?" Yes, tea was ready and and she did appreciate the colors of early morn. Maine is such a beautiful place to
live, and in this area unspoiled by overpopulation so far.

I am recently working for a company that makes me look around the Pacific Northwest on Google Earth, and it is just as beautiful as I remember from my summer of 1960 when I worked for St. Regis Paper in Morton WA in a logging camp. It was a great experience, and got me in great shape for fall sports in college. (Ed. note: Morton is about 25 miles south of where I live in Washington.)

I am still happily living in NYC, multi-tasking on a 3/4 work schedule as 1) an executive coach, 2) head of the visibility project (working with companies and individuals on issues of sexual orientation) and 3)continuing to build a practice in corporate women's leadership issues that has me training and speaking and generally having fun. a flexible schedule helps! I spent six weeks in the Orient in the fall, including almost three weeks in Tibet and four nights in a sleeping bag at the Everest base camp: totally fabulous and completely off the charts in terms of magnificent.
I regularly send "our" news on to my siblings from the classes of 62 and 64; also this year to Bill Nye with whomI have an occasional dinner!

Doug Hoeft's widow, Libby, sent a picture from the recent dedication of the permanent place for Public Action to Delivery Shelter (PADS) which has been named in Doug's honor because of all the work he did to support the organization which provides overnight shelter and services to the homeless. Doug's influence lives on. Thanks to Libby for keeping us in touch with his legacy.

Hope you had a good school year. This spring I had a wonderful opportunity which was such fun! Every month I went into each of the four second-grade classrooms at one of the elementary schools in Sequim and talked about the "Bird of the Month" - ducks, hummingbirds, birds of prey and woodpeckers. When I told my friends what I was doing, they said, "I didn't know you were a bird watcher." Although I've always enjoyed birds, I don't know much about them; but I did my homework each month. I read about the bird, gathered stuffed birds at the local science Center to take to show the children, and observed the bird in the wild. By the time I headed into the classroom, I did know a lot about that bird, and each month I was greeted enthusiastically by the second graders as they called out, "Here comes the bird lady!" (Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to earn this title!)

Bill and I spent 6 weeks in Australia and New Zealand last winter and loved every minute of our trip, our first time 'down under'. We saw an incredible array of animals, met loads of wonderful people, and were introduced to some delicious new foods. We met our son for a great week of fishing in New Zealand, traveled with our Sequim neighbors for a week in Tasmania, and got together with some Australian and New Zealand folks we had met at engineering conferences around the world these last few years.
We can't wait to go back! Attached is a photo taken hiking in Tasmania - or rather, resting, from a hike we're taking in Tasmania!

I try not to use this newsletter to talk about myself, but I can't resist passing on a report of the great vacation my wife and her brother and I took this July. We rented a canal boat on the Erie Canal for a week and puttered along at about 5 knots, enjoying the scenery, wildlife, peace and quiet, and the life of the little towns where we tied up each night. What a great trip! We got really good at going through the locks, too, which was a new experience for all of us. Elaine's brother had never been in New York before, and now he wants to do it again next year. That's a picture of the boat we had, and on your left, my smiling face as we were going through a lock.

A SHAMELESS PLEA:

Wouldn't you agree that all of the inputs above are pretty interesting? Glad to know what is happening in the lives of people your have known most of your life? I know I sure am. How about you? Probably the things in your life are pretty interesting too. You'd be amazed how many queries I get of the "What Ever Happened To...." variety, that I have to say, "Dunno -- we never hear from......" Classmates are in fact pretty interested in the stories you have to tell. The newsletters seem to have the same names every time; and that's fine, nothing wrong with that. But I guarantee you, classmates think about you now and then, or often, and would really like to know how you are doing. Take a moment, send me an email, and I'll post it -- it's easy for me to do, and I like it and people will be glad to hear from you. As you talk to other classmates, encourage them to do the same.

As you may recall, in the last newsletter, we talked about the options for another reunion. Perhaps one this year (which obviously isn't going to happen) or perhaps wait until 2010 and have a Fiftieth Reunion. The response actually was kind of underwhelming, which just seems to indicate that most people don't feel strongly one way or another. Lots of folks said, "Yes, let's have a reunion, but either option is OK." There were very few that lobbied for one option or another. Anyway, the year kind of slipped away, and despite some discussion among a few interested parties, about May we realized that it was really too late to put one together this year. So, it looks like 2010 and a 50 year reunion. That means it will be 10 years between reunions, but that's not so bad. 50 years is a nice round number and a significant milepost. So, watch this space.

In the meantime, Holly (Thomas) Keeble, who is a travel agent, as you may recall, says that if there is enough interest, she could put together a nice cruise package for next year. There are various possibilities, mostly in the Caribbean area, leaving from Florida or possibly Charleston, S.C. The actual schedule for next year, starting in say, May, is not quite available yet. But, if you think you would like to do a cruise with classmates -something for three or four days, let me know, and I'll pass it all on the Holly and Gay Mayer, who have been mulling over the possibilities. It sure could be fun and a chance to spend time together in a relaxed atmosphere.

Last, but by no means least, here is a link to the Greeley "Old Guard" web page which is just wonderful to behold. You can find links to the class of �41, some sports pictures from those days and yearbook photos from a couple of classes. Like me, you may recognize some of the names � it sure brought back memories to me. I have been communicating with Don Reynolds, Class of �41, and it turns out we know a lot of the same people � he knew them as classmates and young adults of course, and I recall them as adults around town to whom I looked up and respected. A very interesting comparison of perceptions indeed! Anyway, check it out if you are so inclined. http://www.casa-chia.org/Alumi-HGHS/ You can also find links there to other classes and overall I have found it a very nice resource and chance to renew some memories.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. Remember, this page is easy to update. Send me something, either electronically or by traditional mail and I will make it a priority to publish. Pictures, stories, comments, complaints, tales of anguish..... all are welcome here. And here is a blinking eye, looking at you, wanting to see your inputs. Just click on it and you can email me!