YAM Notes: September/October 2016

It is not often that a Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court will publish a novel featuring a fictional Justice of the same Court. A tour de force, Barry Schaller’s The Ramada Affair is based on a moral dilemma for the protagonist, David Lawson. Don’t get confused between our Barry Schaller and a very different character in David Lawson. This is not autobiographical. By the way, it is not a story without steamy passages. Barry’s new opus is published by QP Books and can be acquired through Amazon e-book.

During a single week of golf in Florida, Alan Gilison had his tenth hole-in-one and amazingly broke his age by five shots, scoring a par 72 at his home course of Rees Jones Breakers West. Alan notes that his wife Susan is on the cusp of achieving the Platinum Life Master level in bridge by reaching 5,000 tournament points. Although many of us stopped and dropped playing that card game decades ago, John Segal is also a tournament playing, often with Susan as his partner. The Segals divide their time between Wilton, Connecticut and Sarasota. A dealer and collector in the field of luxury and exotic automobiles, Alan’s collection includes 13 Bentleys.

Dave Sellers also has a collection of antique cars. But his gem is a ’34 Dodge stationed in the Madsonian Museum in Waitsfield, Vermont. Acquired from Dan Akroyd, I hear that once in a while Dave sneaks it out of the museum for a local spin.

With regard to the Yale faculty in our times, and as the one who may have had the greatest impact on each of us, Johnny Weiss appropriately and persuasively suggests Paul Weiss, a national scholar in the subject of metaphysics in the world of philosophy. Professor Weiss, with a doctorate from Harvard in 1929, taught for many years at Bryn Mawr. His academic career in New Haven spanned the years of 1946 to 1969, overlapping 25 of those years with Brand Blanshard, also a giant in the world of philosophy. Specially, Paul and Johnny Weiss collaborated on Right and Wrong: A Philosophical Dialogue between Father and Son. His great years teaching Yale students must have been a positive career for Professor Weiss, who lived 101 years. In addition to his dad, Johnny also praised Professor Henri Peyre who taught at Yale from 1938 to 1969 in the romance languages and literature. Coincidentally perhaps, Professor Peyre also taught at Bryn Mawr as a linguist, with a special interest in the French Novel.

Fans of Peter Green’s novels, including Crimes of Design and Fatal Designs, will be interested in knowing about Peter’s newsletter. He also has a new non-fiction manuscript on the subject of Radios’s Golden Age, 1920-1950. See additional news on Peter’s stories through www.peterhgreen.com

Fay Vincent has a very special relation with our class. Of first rank is the role that Fay played with Bart Giamatti during Bart’s reign as Commissioner of Baseball. After that fatal day on September 1, 1989 at Martha’s Vineyard, Fay took over as Commissioner, continuing with the wounds of the Game incurred by Pete Rose. Others of us joined with Fay in the Fall of 1960 as the new 170 cohort at the Yale Law School. Harry Mazadoorian was present earlier this year for the unveiling of Fay Vincent’s portrait at the Law School, for reasons of his professional contributions to the School and legal community.

Stayoung.