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CLASS NOTES
Henry S. Coleman Here it is deadline time again for Class Notes and I have not heard a word from my noble classmates. Even Howard Clifford, who has always been faithful, has left me high and dry. No news! Therefore, with reunion just around the corner, I would like to urge all classmates to join us on May 31-June 3, which promises to be a grand time. Let us all show up and see how much younger we look than the 50th class! At last report, over 20 '46ers had indicated that they would be there. Please come and join us.
George W. Cooper Once again, silence rules the day. Over recent months, there has not been a single call or letter passing along an item for these Class Notes. Surely, we should not have to wait until June of next year, when our 55th anniversary comes around, to learn of and report on the comings and goings, the hithers and yons of our class members. It is not "keep those letters coming in" but, rather, start sending those letters before another 16 months have passed. One minor correction to the December Class Notes, in the interest of clarification: The sentence reading, "This correspondent and his wife, Isolde, just returned from our second law office." omits a line in the original copy. Between "second" and "law office," this momentous item should have included: "trip to Germany in a month, where Isolde has established a second." And, in fact, the present note is written on the very day that we both embark on yet another trip to that country. Reports from our classmates on similar excursions to near or far will be much appreciated.
Theodore Melnechuk It recently struck me that my practice of discussing classmates in the alphabetical order of their surnames was unfair to those whose names begin with letters nearer to Z than to A, by dooming them never to have your attention while your mind was fresh. So, this time at least, I will write about classmates in anti-alphabetical order. Where is Bill Vessie? He is a physician who was a roommate of Marshall Mascott, and a high jumper. My wife, Anna, and I last saw him at the old Madison Square Garden half a century ago, competing in the Millrose Games. When I called his former number in Kalispell, Mont. to interview him for these notes, the number had been reassigned to a stranger, who said Bill had moved she knew not where. Speaking of Marshall Mascott, I haven't heard from him in a year or so, and hope that, like Bill Vessie, he will get in touch after reading this. Meanwhile, in case he didn't read page 70 of the Feb. 19 & 26, 2001 issue of The New Yorker, I quote the following claim about Scotty's hometown from James Surowiecki's article, "The Financial Page: Cloak-and-Dagger, Inc.": "Lowell, Massachusetts, was a monument to industrial espionage." Its founder, Francis Cabot Lowell, while visiting England's booming textile industry, memorized the secret design of the Cartwright loom - one of the first great inventions of the industrial revolution - and had a version built back home as the centerpiece of his own textile town. Johnson (Jack) Levering is one of the three members of our class who responded positively to my recent request to be sent a copy of any books you write and have published. His is an unusual book, called Into the Wind, which a literary agent quoted in its epilogue said was "between a scrapbook and a memoir." Indeed, Jack wrote a memoir of his first 78 years, divided it into five parts, called Seedling, Sapling, Extended Growth, Fruition, and Firewood (so that's what we've all become!), and then inserted a selection of his poems, papers written for Columbia classes, letters, articles, essays, and short stories. I liked his blunt humor and his matter-of-factness about being gay. In the conclusion of "About the Author," Jack describes himself thus: "Mr. Levering has never owned a credit card [or] attended a rock concert or a ball game. He has never been inside a McDonalds, owned a gun, or shot an animal. He does not smoke or use any form of drugs, including alcohol. He dislikes apple pie." However, he did land in Normandy on D-Day, and he then devoted his war-spared life to professional social work. Jack's unusual book, published in 1999, is distributed by Book Clearing House, Harrison, N.Y. He lives at Apt. 1203, Holley Court Terrace, 1111 Ontario St., Oak Park, IL 60302-1985. Daniel N. Hoffman recently retired at the age of 74 after more than 40 years as an attorney, mostly in California. He assured me that he is not the poet Daniel G. Hoffman, with whom he was a fellow student in a class at the College, with consequent attendance-taking confusion. This Dan Hoffman remains active in the Million Mothers' March (for sensible gun control) and in Californians of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty. He also continues as a board member of the Martin Luther King Association of Santa Clara Valley and of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith's Central Pacific office. Dan's elder daughter, Sharon, will receive her Ph.D. in psychology this year from the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. His younger daughter, Carolyn, is a practicing sports psychologist who recently married P. J. Carlesimo, a basketball coach and analyst on CBS television. His son, Jeremy, will be 36 on March 15. Dan lives at 19403 Vineyard Lane, Saratoga, CA 95070. His telephone number there is (408) 253-1912. Robert DeMaria sent me a copy of his latest book, his 15th novel, The White Road. Called "a Gatsbyesque story" in Kirkus, it was described in Publishers Weekly as "an engrossing story of four young people pursuing their dreams and pursued by their demons during the politically tumultuous '50s...thoughtful, intriguing." The straight protagonist's gay Columbia College roommate is one of the wittiest characters I've read about in some time. The White Road was published last year by The Permanent Press, Sag Harbor, N.Y. A few years ago, Bob started a small publishing company, The Vineyard Press, which uses the new technology of "print on demand" and puts out a dozen titles per year, available on the Internet at Amazon.com etc., or through bookstores. Bob and Ellen, whom the book's dedication calls his "partner in life and art," live at 106 Vineyard Place, Port Jefferson, N.Y. 11777. (Can't get over what a poker hand that ZIP code is!) Arthur E. Bradley had his daughter, Corine, send me a copy of his book Silver Threads, published in 1994 by Aplomb in El Paso, Texas and now out of print. It is an anthology of often wryly funny articles Arthur wrote in the '80s and '90s for Joslin's Jazz Journal on aspects of the history of jazz, Broadway show tunes, and other American popular music. Having been a fan of swing in my teens, I enjoyed the informally written but well-researched coverage and discographies of the 15 chapters, the titles of which include "Song Parodies," "Lyrics I Write of You," "Sixty Years of Stardust," "Roll Over Beethoven," "I Used to Hear America Singing," and "Band Leaders in the Movies." In "Jazz Looks Back," Arthur makes an interesting claim: "Early jazz...keeps the world humming American songs. It would not be far-fetched to claim that jazz has played a role in making English the dominant language." In ruing the decades-long esthetic decline of popular music, he writes, "Everything has its vogue. If you say 'Thank You' to young people today, they reply 'No Problem.' How could Larry Hart or Johnny Mercer write for this generation? I think about the songs of my youth as I do about the empty lots that surrounded our house 50 years ago - they were there when I needed them!" Arthur can be written c/o Corine M. Bradley, 20 Adler Place, Valley Stream, N.Y. 11580. Jacques Barzun '27 - according to a letter that Herbert C. Feinstein wrote upon returning home from lecturing on Buster Keaton's Frozen North in Norway (appropriate venue!) - appeared on CNN in connection with winning the National Book Award for nonfiction with his book From Dawn to Decadence. I'm sorry that I missed seeing Professor Barzun on TV, and even sorrier that his secretary recently had to write me that he couldn't respond as fully as he would like to a letter I wrote him, because of ill health. You surely join me in wishing him a speedy recovery. I think he wouldn't mind receiving brief get-well messages (that didn't require a reply) at 18 Wolfton Way, San Antonio, TX 78218. Happy Spring!
Joseph B. Russell At the close of a regular meeting of the committee on arbitration and ADR of the N.Y. County Lawyers' Association in February, your correspondent was asked by a new committee member, "Are you Joe Russell from Columbia?" As I turned around and looked at him, he said "I'm Arthur Galub." It was a most pleasant surprise, for we had not seen or been in touch for more than 50 years, since Art left to attend Yale Law School. He is now in the process of retiring from the faculty of Bronx Community College, where he has taught history for close to 40 years, and trudging back into the law. Like so many of us, he has reached that stage of life where one could say to him with pleasure and without hypocrisy, "You're looking good!" We intend to see one another well before the passing of another 50 years, as does a good friend and fellow member of that committee, David Brainin '48, with whom I lunch regularly (and who also must have a portrait in his attic that is growing old). Now a biotech/medical consultant to Sterling Co. with an innovative dual insulin infusion device, Jerome Blum recently spent two years as a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. A P&S graduate, Jerry was an ophthalmologist in Santa Clara for 34 years, where his patients included the U. of Santa Clara football, basketball, baseball and tennis teams. He also consulted for Hewlett-Packard and Intel. After retirement in 1989, he was engaged in solo medical missions and projects from 1990 through 1997, including setting up the first microsurgery department and worker hospital in Guilin, China; working with "Operation Shalom" giving eye care to Ethiopian Jews migrating to Israel; assisting the disabled with the late Olga Havel's foundation, Vybor Dobre Vule; and serving in an ecumenical medical supply mission to Sarajevo during Christmas/Hannukah 1995. He reports that he has been married to a wonderful wife, Jocelyn, (to whom we send our greetings) for 44 years and that they have four adult offspring, Heather, Jon (MBA Columbia '86), Jason and Pete. Jerry has just let me know that he also has three wonderful grandchildren. He seems to have fallen out of touch with our classmates, so here's his e-mail address for those who would like to reestablish a link: jvblum@aol.com. Meanwhile, Jerry, you seem to have found one of the secrets of a good life-keep punching! George Spitz, campaigning for the post of Mayor of New York City, has a website to which we are invited-www.georgespitz.com. To all you local voters out there, I comment that his message is worthy of attention and respect.
Mario Palmieri Ray Annino had a double golden-anniversary year in 2000. Not only was it the 50th anniversary of graduation, but also he and his wife, Marie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. While we're on the subject-how many others have we with marriages of half a century? (Let me know; it would be material for future Class Notes.) Ray continues to update his Web page showcasing his considerable talent as a watercolorist. The site is cleverly constructed and well worth a visit. You can see not only Ray's current offerings but also all his previous shows. Go to: http://pages.prodigy.net/raya1/. You will notice, classmates, that the news this time is sparse. The remedy for that is more input from all of you. So how about it? Let me hear from you. If you need ideas, take a look at the items reported in the columns of other classes.
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