Class Notes September/October 2001

Class Notes September/October 2001

Upcoming events. Class Dinner, Friday, October 26, at the Yale Club of New York City, with preceding Class Council meeting. Our Dinner Chair, Bob Leich, and Judi Raben, his secretary, have things all lined up for us, including Dave Martin, ABC Pentagon correspondent, as our speaker. (Attendees a few years ago will recall Dave’s surprising prediction of the political demise of then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin, which proved uncannily accurate only a few weeks later.) The first mailing with greater details should have reached you by the time you read this. Hockey Dinner, Winter, 2001-2002. Jeff Miller and Tony Dunn in charge. Spring gathering, May 9-12, 2002, Washington, D.C. Chair Tom Esslinger is forming his committee. Our Class Astronaut and Man in the Senate, Bill Nelson, has signed up. Would you like to help, too? Contact Tom at 202-342-3412 or jte@saslaw.com. So far, Tom has arranged for Ed Bearrs, historical director of the National Park Service, to guide us on a tour of either Antietam or Manassas. Mr. Bearrs was one of the spell-binding commentators on the PBS “Civil War” series about the War Between the States. Hugh Aiken married Nathalie Frot in the American Cathedral in Paris in March. Ken Bardach, Hugh’s roommate, attended. Nathalie is a Parisian and in the foundry business, as is Hugh. Congratulations and best wishes to Nathalie and Hugh. Terry Ellsworth has written and talked with me about his desire to share with us his life-long struggle with manic depression. Lithium has allowed Terry to lead a stable life for the past 20 years. Consequently, it distresses him to see manic depressives in denial, resorting to illusory self-medication with drugs and alcohol. Terry also notes that, “(m)anic depression is a seductive illness. Many people refuse to take medication because they ‘fall in love with’ their highs. Yet the lows are so low that they may end up below ground.” This disease is more prevalent than is commonly believed, and Terry has other examples in his life, including a classmate, to support this assertion. Terry believes that, in his own case, manic depression, even though properly treated, has caused him to be combative and obsessive, and he hopes that this frank discussion of his disease “adds perspective to the overall situation” for his classmates. Thanks, Terry. Dave Hawkins, director of the National Resources Defense Council’s Climate Center, was quoted in the July 22 New York Times Magazine, disputing the coal industry’s claim for credit for reducing sulfur-dioxide emissions. Alternating between government and the NRDC, Dave has probably had as much to do with improving the air we breathe as anyone around. John Pinney’s anti-smoking labors merit mention here as well. It was great to hear from John LaFond in June on the occasion of his making an entry in our Website guest book. John is contemplating retirement from teaching law at the University of Missouri School of Law in Kansas City in about three more years and reports that his roommates, Frank Tubridy and Charles Helming, both physicians in Seattle, have already retired. John also saw Joel Papernik, who was in Kansas City to see his daughter participate in a chess tournament. A column in the June 3 New York Times noted a philosophical difference between Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleague, Fed governor Larry Meyer, about whether the danger of inflation in an economy experiencing strong growth and low unemployment will continue to be mitigated by productivity increases. Bob Woodward’s Maestro: Greenspan’s Fed and the American Boom (mentioned previously here in March) gives greater detail on Larry’s debate with the Fed chairman and other adventures there. Danny Parker has been elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from the federal trial bench in New York City. Jay Rhodes appeared as a guest on National Public Radio in April, commenting and responding to questions about the incident that involved future-Senator Bob Kerrey in Thanh Phong in March, 1969. Darcy and Treacy Beyer, Barbara and Al Converse, Susanne and Jeff Miller, Suzanne and Joe Pugliese, Page Stockwell, Mary and Saint Tucker, Frank Ward, and Suzanne and I joined Virginia and Randy Totten in July on the grounds of the University of Richmond to celebrate their daughter Louise’s engagement to Fritz Knabe. Quite a turnout in a beautiful setting for a memorable event! Contest time. Who’s got the most grandchildren? Granddaughters? Grandsons? Don’t be modest. Prizes to the winners.