Class Notes November 2003

Upcoming events. Hockey Dinner at Mory’s followed by Bulldogs vs. Brown at the Rink on Saturday, February 7., organized by Tony Dunn and Jeff Miller. Details and reservation forms in the mail. Northwest mini reunion, September 17-19 in Oregon, in anticipation of the Lewis & Clark bicentennial, organized by Carl Farrington, Mal Harris, Ed Newbegin, Page Stockwell. If you’d like to join this list and help, please let Carl or me know. The pleasures of grandparenthood. Margot and Jim Butler’s sons, Michael and Jamie (and their daughters-in-law) have presented them with grandson Jackson and granddaughter Georgia respectively. Both families live in northern California, within visiting distance of each other. Margot’s and Jim’s daughter, Shelley, lives in New York City and is employed by Parenting magazine. Becci and Barry Preston are first time grandparents of Charles Whitman Preston, born to son Fraser ’93 and daughter-in-law Devon. “We are still trying to get used to the idea, but we’re too busy googling over the baby and fussing over D & F (diapers and food?) to ponder our new situation,” Barry wrote. Jennifer and John Shank spent a few days last summer with their children and two grandchildren in their cabin in Canada, where their three-year-old granddaughter caught her first fish, a five-inch perch, to great excitement, “with a little help from Poppy.” Herb Allison celebrated his sixtieth birthday in grand style with his wife, Simin, and the Desjardins (father and daughter), Dodd Fischers, Kneips, Otts, Paperniks, Wilmores, LaPrades, and others in July in New York City – a wonderful evening of reminiscences, friends and fun. Peter Cummings had an excellent adventure appearing as an extra in “Deadwood,” a 13 week HBO series with gold diggers, prostitutes, gunslingers and criminals, directed by David Milch ’66, beginning in March, 2004. You can see Peter in color in episodes #2 and 3 – but only “with a magnifying glass,” he says. We received a great note from Ann Tift: “…I was inspired this morning to send a little update about your deceased classmate, my husband Henry Tift. I’d like to thank the many Yalies who have written me in the six years since he died, and to tell them that after many honors and memorials, he recently got the one I’m sure he’d like best: a duplicate bridge center, built during this last year and named for him. Henry played in national tournaments, but he always reserved Wednesday nights for his local club. Yale classmates who played many hours of late-night bridge with him might enjoy hearing about this latest memorial. The four children and I are doing well – our surprise caboose, Hal (Henry V), will be a sophomore at Wesleyan this fall, and the three daughters are well placed to offer their mom a guest bedroom: Boston, San Francisco, and Atlanta. There’s one delightful bruiser of a grandchild, William Henry LaFarge in Boston. Meanwhile, I’m still busy teaching English and college counseling in Macon.” Thanks, Ann. Lanny Thorne writes semi-monthly op-ed pieces for the Daily Star, the Middle East’s most widely read English language newspaper. His thoughtful August 18 piece on the closing of the Peacekeeping Institute at the Army War College is well worth reading. (Unfortunately, I don’t have the website address.) Virginia and Randy Totten’s daughter, Caroline, married Brent Gary, the son of one of Randy’s law partners, in a glorious event in Richmond in August. Sixty-fivers Darcy and Treacy Beyer, Suzanne and Joe Pugliese, Mary and Saint Tucker, and Suzanne and I joined the celebration. Last August, Suzanne and I visited Ann and Tony Vanderwarker at their spectacular horse farm in Charlottesville. Ann is an artist and gardener and Tony, retired from the creative side of advertising, is a writer and active in environmental and planning issues in Albermarle County. Their youngest son, Vandy, a fine lacrosse player (like his dad), will be a senior at Franklin & Marshall.