Class Notes March/April 2002

Class Notes March/April 2002

Welcome back! Upcoming events. Washington, D.C., area gathering May 9-12. Next Class Dinner September 27 at the Yale Club of New York City. Chris Cooke has been on the move, fishing, camping, and hunting moose in his home state of Alaska, cruising in the Caribbean with Georgianna, touring London, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Wales with the Yale Alumni Chorus, visiting his brother in Holland and France, celebrating his dad’s ninety-third birthday in Cincinnati, skiing in New Mexico and hiking in Yosemite. Chris’ children and grandchildren continue to thrive in Bethel, AK. Ted Garrett ignited an animated discussion of rock ‘n roll trivia on Listserv, our Class email chatroom. For example, who gets credit for “Li’l Darling” – the Gladiolas or the Diamonds? Who knew that Jim Lowe and Marilyn Chambers should receive joint credit for “Green Door?” Mike Cole did. (Of course, it’s alleged that Mike won so many trivia contests conducted by a New Haven radio station that he was banned from further competition and had to call in using assumed names). A mini-reunion at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? Doug McPheters has received U.S. and U.K. patents on his holographic actuation device. It allows precision operation of electronic equipment by passing a finger through a holographic image suspended in the air, without touching anything, avoiding dirt, moisture, shock or wear. Doug is gearing up to commercialize his invention and is interested in introductions to manufacturers of electronic equipment and the devices people use to operate them, e.g., key pads, remote controls, keyboards, and switches. In mid-December, Joel (“One Shot, One Kill”) Papernik, Herb Kohler, and I went hunting with Dick Stasney and his son, Spencer, Cary Nieman ’68 and Jeff Walker’69, on Dick’s magnificent ranch in Albany, TX. This was one of those wonderful, never-to-be forgotten experiences for all of us. If he feels like it, Dick can saddle a horse and ride for 13 miles in a straight line without leaving his property. Imagine that. Besides raising cattle, pumping oil and gathering natural gas, Dick’s panoramic ranch has an abundance of deer, turkeys, wild pigs, and game birds. He and his outstanding staff are recognized for their sound wildlife management and conservation methods. If you’d like to learn more about this real-life (mostly non-reptilian) Jurassic Park, just check out www.stasney.com. Dick’s day job is otolaryngology in Houston, with internationally recognized expertise in treatment of injuries to and diseases of the vocal cords. Sadly, I report the death of Lamont Smith, from lung cancer. After Yale, Lamont worked in management of the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA, Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, and in development at the Boston Opera Company. He enjoyed gardening, crossword puzzles and his computer. Without a doubt, Lamont submitted the most imaginative and eye-catching contribution to our Twenty-fifth Reunion class book. So there you have it for this month: moose hunting, rock and roll scholarship, holograph actuation and vocal cord surgery. Send news, please.