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CLASS NOTES
Stanley
H. Gotliffe 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 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 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 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 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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