CLASS NOTES
Stanley H. Gotliffe
117 King George Rd.
Georgetown, SC 29440
cct@columbia.edu
This
year’s Homecoming game, on October 13 against Penn, was
attended by Mary Louise and Hugh Barber, Ted de Bary, Ann
and Jim Dick, Dick Kuh and Betty and Arthur
Weinstock. Unfortunately, that did not help the final
score.
The
56th edition of Who’s Who in America, to be published
in 2002, will contain a biographical sketch of Thomas Albert
Gilliam of Englewood, Colo.
Charles E. Newlon, of Knoxville, Tenn., a.k.a.
“Tuba Charley,” had been scheduled to attend our 60th
reunion and grace the proceedings with a performance of his musical
show (also starring his wife, “Miss Dottie Jean”).
Unfortunately, he became ill, and they were unable to attend. He
has sent a letter that he had been planning to read aloud at the
reunion, reminiscing about his early days at Columbia playing the
tuba. He recalls arriving on campus in September 1937 before the
dormitories were yet open and “finding a room in a small
hotel on 116th Street at $2/nite.” We hope that Charley is
now well.
At
the recent Hamilton Award Dinner, the class was represented by Mary
Louise and Hugh Barber, Ted de Bary and Arthur
Weinstock.
If,
as one or two of you have commented, “the names always seem
the same,” there are two reasons. These are the people most
active in class and/or Columbia affairs, and/or they are the ones
who write to me or are mentioned by those who do write. So if you
want to see other names, P-L-E-A-S-E W-R-I-T-E!
Herbert Mark
197 Hartsdale Ave.
White Plains, NY 10606
avherbmark@cyburban.com
Once
again, Homecoming was a great success for our class, thanks to the
skillful planning and coaxing of Vic Zaro. Twenty-one
classmates and 20 guests — wives, children and grandchildren
(two of whom are now at Columbia) — were on hand to start a
celebration that will climax next spring in our 60th reunion.
Present were Bob Wolf, John Rogge, Don Seligman, Art Albohn,
Manny Lichtenstein, Art Graham, Bob Kaufman, Jerry Klingon, Herb
Mark, Dave Harrison, Vic Zaro, Mel Hershkowitz, Len Garth, Seymour
Halpern, Nick Cicchetiti, Nick De Vito, Ed Kalaidjian, Clarence
Eich, George Hyman, Jim Sondheim and Bill Carey. The
chemistry was still great and the food and drink outstanding, as
always. We were easily distracted by all of this from a
disappointing football game.
Art Graham was chairman of the annual dinner of the
Society of Columbia Graduates, at which the great teacher awards
are made. Manny Lichtenstein, Ed Kalaidjian and I joined Art
at this affair, which was a good warm-up for Homecoming the same
week.
There were many answers to our most recent request for updated
personal information. Among those writing from distant points, all
promising to be on hand next spring, were Mark Kahn from his
retirement base in Michigan, Thornley Wood from Colorado and
Dave Gelbard from L.A.
Phil Hobel is still active as a film producer,
distributor and adviser and feels no need to retire. Another with
no thoughts of retirement is Seymour Halpern, whose medical
practice and related professional duties still keep him interested
and busy. Nick Cicchetti has been long retired from the New
York City public school system, where he achieved the level of
superintendent. He has been busy in village government and
community activities in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
My
wife and I had lunch with Ruth and Charles West in their new
retirement home in Princeton. Charlie was on the faculty of the
Princeton Theological Seminary for some 30 years before retiring 10
years ago.
I am
sorry to report the death of Francesco Cordasco, who was a
distinguished professor of education and social relations at
Montclair State College. Francesco was a prolific writer with a
special interest in the history of immigration.
Dr. Donald Henne McLean
Carmel Valley Manor
8545 Carmel Valley Rd.
Carmel, CA 93923
cct@columbia.edu
Now,
from Ray Menaker: “In line with the comments by Joe
Kelly in Class Notes in the
May 2001 issue, I figure I am
probably considered a non-respondent even though I attended the
55th reunion in 1998. Consequently, here is an update from one of
those members of the Class of ’43 who is nearing his 80th
year on the planet.
“I was in the uniform of a midshipman USNR when President
Nicholas Murray Butler welcomed all of us graduating ‘in the
class of 1843.’ (That’s no typo; he said it, remember?)
From midshipmen’s school, I went on to communications
postgraduate school at Annapolis, then to the Submarine Chaser
Training Center in Miami and finally to the U.S.S. DeLong
(DE 684), a training ship based in Miami. That’s where I
served the rest of World War II; never saw an enemy, never fired a
shot in anger. Then I toured the U.S. by car with a Navy buddy and
ended up teaching elementary school in California. I spent the
summer of 1947 back on Morningside Heights at Teachers College,
where I attended a lecture by Dr. John R. Dunning, who looked the
same as when he taught the one-semester freshman physics course I
took as a non-science major. In 1939, I recall Dunning holding his
hand out toward us over the workbench in the Pupin lecture hall and
telling us, ‘Someday, I’ll be able to hold in my hand
enough energy to drive a ship across the Atlantic Ocean and
back!’ At the lecture in 1947, he picked up a small black
box, held it out to the audience with the same gesture, and said,
‘I am holding in my hand enough energy to light the City of
New York for 24 hours!’
“So much for memories. I spent five more years in a
remarkable Bay Area elementary school (and married one of the
teachers). Then I took a year off for a master’s from
Stanford. I met a teacher from Alaska in one class and ended up
with an offer of a one-teacher school in Pelican, Alaska, on an
island off the panhandle about 70 miles west of Juneau. So, off we
went in a wooden station wagon crammed with two adults, an
11-year-old son, a 3-year-old-son, a 2-year-old daughter and a cat
with two new kittens. After a year in Pelican, my wife, Vivian, and
I were hired by the school district in Haines, which is on the
mainland, about 90 miles north of Juneau.
“I retired from the school system in 1973 to devote
myself full-time to a small weekly newspaper I started in 1966. I
turned it over to others in 1985, and it’s still going
strong. Our printer in 1966 was a high school senior who had his
own vintage (1913) linotype and press. We sent him back to New York
by train (he was a train buff) to the Columbia Scholastic Press
Association convention, where he chaired a section on small print
shops and was introduced on the floor to the delegates as the first
delegate from Alaska.
“For a New York City-ite, Haines has been terrific. We
have a wonderful performing arts theater whose acoustics are so
good that a French concert pianist donated a Steinway grand piano
to it because it was ‘one of the four best halls I’ve
ever played anywhere in the world.’ I helped start a
community theater group that has been going strong since its
creation in 1957 (thanks to Professor Milton Smith and the Brander
Matthews Theater for my drama experience at Columbia). We have a
multitude of artists, native and non-native, who paint, carve wood,
and work in silver and glass. We have a public radio station on
which I’ve been reading weekly short stories since 1986.
Thanks to Linc Diamant and Jimmy Sondheim ’42, who
introduced me to radio activity (not the cyclotron type but the
CURC type).
“I heartily suggest that the Class of ’43 organize
a visit to Haines before we’re in our 90s. Think about it.
You can reach me at P.O. Box 118, Haines, AK
99827.”
Your
class correspondent also found that his destiny lay in Alaska
— in 1952 as a “G.P.” in Fairbanks when it was
still a territory. An Inuit patient, Mr. Northern Lights, came to
me repeatedly for penicillin injections to treat what he called
“Love Sickness”! Returning there, almost 50 years
later, we found it had changed surprisingly little. The highlight
of the trip was a helicopter ride over the glaciers of Mount
McKinley (known to the local Indians as “Denali,” the
great one). In 1954, I led the first successful climbing expedition
to the North Peak via the “Cook Route” (NW Ridge),
previously attempted by Dr. Frederick Cook, a New York City
physician who later became president of The Explorers
Club.
Walter Wager
200 West 79th St.
New York, NY 10024
Wpotogold2000@aol.com
Peter Kaskell — After a notable career as a
heavyweight (metaphorically speaking) corporate attorney, Peter has
ascended to non-litigating solution work at the prestigious
Institute for Dispute Resolution. Despite his youth, he recently
was named senior fellow at that NYC organization.
Robert E. Harris — A sage, witty and cheerful
retired VP of a noted oil equipment company, he moved 16 years ago
from Texas to California where he’s enjoying San Juan
Capistranos of L.A. with spouse Susan. Offspring: four.
Ralph Lane — Longtime resident of the Left Coast
where he educated for years as a professor of sociology at U. of
San Francisco; he crossed the aisle and now studies creative
writing at San Mateo College, where his poetry is winning
attention.
Gordon Cotler — The November issue of Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine carried what it proudly identified as
the first of several nifty Cotler short stories it has bought.
Production may go beyond that now that he’s finished his term
as a member of National Board of Mystery Writers of
America.
Francis Rigney — Wise and stylish retired
psychiatrist, investor, scholar and writer based in that great
Pacific city by the bay is making steady progress with his unique
critique and analysis designed to unify the language of artists,
philosophers and social scientists. It could be a landmark three
volumes.
Vance Weaver — The dynamic free thinker,
independent spirit and truth-seeker of Connecticut and Manhattan
will see his name up among the adventurous founders of radio
station CURC — now WKCR — on a plaque at the spiffy new
studio. Other ’44 pioneers reputed to be set to join him on
said brass hurrah include Leonard Koppett, Ira W. Gabrielson
M.D. and Walter Wager, who unite in sending 2002 greetings
to ’44 far and wide, near and narrow across the
galaxy.
Clarence W. Sickles
57 Barn Owl Dr.
Hackettstown, NJ 07840
cct@columbia.edu
Classmates, your correspondent is tempted to write: “No
news; no column,” and end with that. I can’t write what
I don’t get. I know you are out there doing interesting
things. You have to be; you are a Columbian! Share what is going on
in your life with us. I am counting on you.
Your
correspondent is doing some interesting things; at least he thinks
so. He was a poll worker for New Jersey’s gubernatorial
election, which received nationwide attention. Polls opened an hour
earlier this year at 6:00 a.m. for those who wanted to vote before
going to work. This meant the workers had to be at the polling
place by 5:15 a.m. and work until 8:00 p.m. with an hour off for
one meal. The pay was raised from $100 to $200 for the day because
of the extra time and to get more workers involved. But it is a
great experience to be part of the American voting process in a
special way. Are poll workers needed in your area?
Donna Satow, former CCT Class Notes editor, and her
husband, Phil ’63, have started a public foundation to reduce
suicide among college students. Donna says that suicide is the
second leading cause of death among young adults, with few
resources available to improve mental health services on college
campuses.
What
ideas would help the situation? Would extensive blood drives using
students as donors help to make them feel wanted? Would it help to
have a retired Columbia couple living in the dorm to provide mature
leadership and counseling? Sometimes, all one wants and needs is a
listening and sympathetic ear. A high school teacher told her class
that suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. A
month later, a student told her that those words saved his life.
Donna can be reached by e-mail at ds424@columbia.edu. Her Web site is
www.jedfoundation.org.
Our
honorees this time are: Dr. Herbert M. Hendin, 1045 Park
Ave., NYC, 10028. Coincidentally, Herb is listed as involved with
the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in NYC. Herb was
active on campus with the varsity tennis club, the Pre-Med Society,
Sawbones, Seixas Society and the Debate Council. And Dr. Ernest
Schwartz, 18 Sage Terr., Scarsdale, NY 10583. Ernest was
president of the debate team, captain of the chess team, and a
member of the Jester Review, Rifle Club, Arthur W. Riley
Society and the Philolexian Society. Any classmate share membership
with Herb and Ernest in any of these organizations? (Warning: not
sure I’ll be as informative about future honorees.) Would be
good to hear from or about our two honorees. By the way, what are
the Philolexian, Seixas and Arthur W. Riley Societies? Are they
still on campus?
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