Fortieth Reunion Notes 6/02/05

Blessed with perfect weather, about 200 classmates, along with about 100 guests, gathered for our Fortieth Reunion. It was particularly nice to have Ann Newhall, Bill’s widow, with us. We also appreciated having Jane and Rick Levin join us for our lobster dinner on Saturday. Thanks to Carl Farrington and Bob Leich for meticulously planning this event, to Jeff Brenzel, Alisa Masterson and their superb AYA crew for executing that plan, to John Schenck for overseeing the preparation of our Reunion classbook and to Joel Papernik for orchestrating the telephone tree. The weekend offered a groaning board of events. We were treated to sounds of our Whiffs, viewed improvements to the campus and attended faculty lectures on topics ranging from astrophysics to Alfred Hitchcock. In what has become a traditional event, Tim Merrill organized a panel of “Authors of the Class of 1965” consisting of John Schenck, John Shattuck, Dave Martin and Bob Leich and moderated by Dave Hawkins. Book signings followed. Cathy Kinney organized and moderated a timely and interesting panel entitled “Rewiring Retirement” consisting of Herb Allison, Dick Hoey, Dave Williams and Prof. Bob Schiller, author of Irrational Exuberance. (Is the real estate bubble about to burst?) Trevor Price presented an informative panel on “Health Issues” concerning dilemmas in modern American medicine and consisting of Charlie Beaumont, Al Converse, Bill Nelson and Tim Merrill. Ron Wilmore conducted our Class of 1965 Memorial Service, including the reading of the names of our deceased classmates. Thanks also to Fred Kneip and Dave Roscoe for staging our golf tournament. Saturday night’s festivities included a seafood feast in the HGS courtyard, followed by dancing to the music of the Bales-Gitlin band. It was apparent from the moves on the dance floor that there is still life in our old bones. Jon Ingham, Jay Lavely, Dave Roscoe, Warren Rothman and yours truly closed the evening’s festivities around 2:30 a.m. Attendees were unanimous in their praise for these events. Thanks to all who made them possible. Our Class of 1965 Reunion Gift was $17.6 million, raised by co-chairs Clint Kendrick and Stan Trotman, our Class Agent Burt Haimes and their committees. I think it’s safe to say that we had a great time. So, let’s do it again in five years. Be there. It’s also time to form a new Class Council for the next five years. If you’d like to be a member, just let me know. The only limitation is the length of the left margin on the Class letterhead. The only requirement is that you think of things that will make our Class more meaningful in the lives of our classmates. If you can attend meetings, please do so. If you can’t, for reasons of distance or the like, that’s o.k. too. Upcoming event: Class Dinner, Yale Club of New York City, Friday, October 28, chaired by Bob Leich with Steve Clark our speaker.