Class Notes: November/December 2023

Class Notes: November/December 2023

Our ospreys never reconciled, leaving the nest empty and us unable to witness their departure—our traditional signal for autumn. An eagle came to the rescue and sat in the osprey nest, which is pretty solid evidence that the ospreys have headed south. I’m still waiting for one of you amateur ornithologists to step forward and help us better understand osprey behavior, but it can wait until next March when they (hopefully) return to our nest.

Dan Hogan was the speaker at the August Zoom program. Dan’s personal story of courage and hope in the face of his diagnosis of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease was deeply felt by all in the large audience of classmates and spouses. His commitment to sharing such personal feelings is an inspiration to all of us, and he achieved his purpose of helping to educate us about Alzheimer’s and to give hope to those who have been or may be diagnosed with it. Thank you, Dan, for your gift to us. As noted in the last edition, the Zoom program is booked through December with excellent speakers and topics. And remember, if you miss one, you can go to our website and watch the video.

Brief notes: Jay Lavely officiated at his granddaughter’s wedding at the Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge, in Park City, Utah, on September 2. His brother Tony ’64 also attended. Bob Baker notified me: “I have been elected as a director of the Yale Alumni Fund Board of Directors. For the last fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, 223 members of our class contributed $199,019 to the fund. If any members of our class have ideas, suggestions, or complaints about the Alumni Fund, they should contact me.” David Hawkins provided the ’65 discussion group with a thoughtful, factual, and balanced rebuttal to claims of negative environmental impacts from electric vehicles. And I need to apologize that you’ll have to wait for a recap of the Santa Fe minireunion because these notes have to be in ten days before the mini starts. 

Seth Hoyt sent a recently created account of classmate adventures dating back to 1963: “In the summer of 1963 intrepid adventurers Rod Drake and Mike Dominick drove the then-just-opened Inter-American Highway from the Mexican border to Bolivia. After two months-plus on the road—and experiences many could not imagine—Dominick and Drake made it back to Yale in time for junior year. Transportation? The guys managed to talk their way into a prototype International Harvester ‘Scout’ camper in return for doing market research. This was an adventure that many of us would have ached to be part of. Rod’s son Philip Drake has written a highly readable account of that ’63 summer: ‘The Drive.’ It’s been published in a magazine titled W. M. Brown. Philip thought that members of ’65 might love to read about this amazing road trip, all those years ago.” 

A heads-up for forthcoming works by our class authors. Kent Reinker posted a status report on his latest: “I have a new book coming out on September 4. It’s intended to complete a trilogy with my first two books, A Tale of Two Planets and Red Exodus. It’s called The Transition World, and it begins where A Tale of Two Planets left off, with four astronauts returning from a three-year travel to Mars only to find that in their absence, the population of Earth has been decimated by a pandemic that makes COVID look like a picnic. Check on Amazon or Book Doggie for details.” Karl Schonborn’s seventh book, Privileged Killers & the Psychopaths Among Us, is coming soon. “Privileged Killers is a true-crime book that tells the story about what happened when parts of my criminology class syllabus came shockingly alive.” And in the same spirit as Dan’s Zoom presentation, Peter Barnet has written a very personal account of his experience as caregiver for his wife, who suffered from Alzheimer’s: Losing Cissie, Saving Myself: The Perils of Caring for My Wife Through Her Memory Loss, which is available on Amazon. 

A final note on Dennis Cross from Ralph Protsik: “In early August two dozen Whiffs from 12 classes gathered on Nantucket to honor our fallen Whiffmate Dennis Cross, head of the Whiff Alumni Association for close to 20 years. Only one man could have drawn so many from so many classes. But that was Dennis—kind, funny, charming, great organizer (ran the Whiff Centennial Reunion in 2009), great father to Louisa and Liza, true friend to so many of us, mensch. Tributes at the memorial service were delivered by daughter Liza and classmates Bill Hart, pitchpipe of the ’65 Whiffs, and Jon Ingham. How we’ll miss him.” Bill Pinney was also in attendance, and Dave Hawkins had to cancel due to illness in his family.

I’m sorry to report that the YAA notified me of the death of Rob Fates: “Harold L. (Rob) Fates Jr. died peacefully at his home on June 16, 2023, after a brief illness. No funeral or memorial services are planned. If you would like to write a note, please send it to rjfates23@gmail.com and it will be forwarded to the family.”

I hope to see many of you at the class dinner. Offers to plan a minireunion in 2024 are welcome. Best wishes to all for the holidays.