Class Dinner, Oct 26, 2018
This was the third time Barb and I had the pleasure of making it to the class dinner. Once again, Bob Leich and Chris Kinney joined forces putting together their energies and expertise to create another memorable outstanding evening of warmth and congeniality that was thoroughly enjoyed by a crowd of over a hundred classmates, spouses, widows, partners, companions, and friends who attended the elegant annual event at the NYC Yale Club on Friday night, Oct 26. In the afternoon prior to joining the evening’s festivities seven members of 1965’s widows group, Simin Allison, Dorothy Armstrong, Gracia Berry, Nancy Fischer, Suzanne Haaland, Patricia Lothrop, and Lois Petty took the opportunity to gather in the grill room to renew their friendships and discuss plans to hopefully improve communications, increase recognition, and expand their outreach. The cocktail hour was abuzz with delighted greetings and animated conversations. The room was packed. I enjoyed talking with Connie and Bill Crosby, whom I had not met previously and Paula and Gerry Doyle who joined our conversation. Toby Frey brought me up to date with his daughter’s outstanding accomplishments as a pharmaceutical researcher. Chip Marshall was again joined by his son Gary, a trauma surgeon who has left NYU-Bellevue for a Level I trauma center in Plano, Texas. I caught up with good friend, class stalwart, and freshman roommate Carl Farrington, whose wife Christine, sadly, was occupied on the other side of the room. I never managed to get to the bar before the doors were opened into the dining room. The crowd overflowed the available seating and the gracious Yale Club wait staff efficiently set up an extra table in the rear doorway for our lively crew who had been too busy gabbing to grab seats. Our table included Patricia Lothrop, Ginny Deering and Doug McPheters, Helaine and Hugh Marshall, Dorothy Armstrong and Dave Ralph.
Master of Ceremonies Bob Leich introduced Dave Roscoe who shared with us his observations and fascinating vision for the future development of AI, its inevitable progress and the possible scenarios as it impacts mankind and life as we know it. Dave’s lecture sparked a probing, thoughtful Q & A session. Patricia asked me to take good notes because she had to leave before Dave finished, in order to catch the homeward bound LIRR from Penn Station.
Dave’s bio explaining his involvement with AI and a summary of his lecture with some of his “slides” are now displayed on our class website yale1965.org, along with a list of names of all those attending the dinner.
John Pinney, in his always eloquent closing remarks as class secretary, thanked Bob and Chris for making the evening happen and remarked that he was “just thrilled” and delighted by the pleasant surprise of seeing new faces “popping up” among the attendees. He urged everyone to encourage others to attend next year’s dinner. John ended by noting that several classmates who had hoped to attend the dinner had to bow out and spoke in particular about Ron and Sandy Wilmore who have been longtime regulars.
Exiting the dining room following the traditional waving of the napkins, I spoke with Dennis Mack, thanking him for a helpful financial insight he recently posted on the listserv.
Several members of our table joined Trudy and Gary Moore for a last round in the grill, and another hour of wide ranging conversation before calling it a night.
Looking forward to next year.
Bob Hammond