By John A. Wilkinson
After a 40-year hiatus, I am back as your scribe, aspiring to fill those huge deck shoes vacated by Rich Banbury after 18 years of exemplary service. To be successful, I need your help in the form of news of milestones, events, and happenings big and small. Space in this column is limited, but our website is infinite if you have a lot to report. Check out the website, now and often.
News: Congratulations to Mike Gold, who has received the annual Yale Science & Engineering Award for Distinguished Service in Industry, Commerce, or Education. Mike is president of Gold Metallurgical Services in Ohio.
Al and Catherine Puryear have sought a warmer clime, San Marco Island, Florida.
Bob Ackerman reports that class dues continue to come in, but he would welcome more to help finance our major ’60 activity, the funding of those travel, study, and work fellowships provided to undergraduates of Branford in memory of Al Pergam. We endowed the Aspen and Heinz fellowships, open to all undergraduates. Arvin Murch, who coordinates all three programs—when not singing with the New Haven Chorale—informs me that, over the years, 62 classmates have served on the three fellowship committees and have made awards to 233 students, including some of our own children, a total of $740,000. Not bad! We have cause to be proud. We have partnered with the Class of 1986 for the past five years and are transitioning to turn the programs completely over to them by 2020, the year of ’60’s 60th reunion. The committees are currently cochaired with ’86, with Peter Dickinson, Pete Knudsen, and Chuck Schmitz from ’60.
And, with the mention of reunions, mark your calendars now, May 21–24, 2020. Time to relax with roommates and friends, renew friendships, and, even at this late date, make new ones. If you have suggestions for the program, feel free to send them to our reunion chairman, John (Rusty) Wing. Think on it. Over 63 of our cohort have departed since our last reunion. The pace will only accelerate. It’s time to celebrate, renew, and reflect while we can.
Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of Jim Taylor, 38 of us (including partners) will be on a mini-reunion for a week in September in England at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. Highlights will include Bletchley Park, Ely Cathedral, the American Cemetery, Fitzhugh Museum, as well as tours of that exquisitely beautiful campus. A full report following the events will be posted on the class website. Again, Yale60.org.
While seeking the whereabouts of a freshman roommate who left Yale, I noted near the back of our last Class of 1960 Directory that there are 54 classmates whose address is unknown, that roommate among them. Donning my Sherlock Holmes hat, with Google searches, I successfully found 30 of the lost, 20 still alive. The ten departed will be reported to Alumni Records for verification. The 20 lost, but found, will remain lost as a matter of privacy unless they at some point indicate otherwise. A nudge from a friend or roommate might be an encouragement. It was interesting to note that many of the lost spent less than four years at Yale or were international students who presumably returned home. And writing about international alumni, did you know that we have 21 (known) classmates living outside the US in 14 different countries?
Terry Rothermel, chairman of class agents, welcomes your gifts, large and small, to help sustain a great university.
Spring will soon be upon us. Golf anyone? Contact Steve Lasewicz.
A good read: Cicero, “On Old Age.”
Otium cum dignitate.