Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: Slater Society–1950s

1950
Kenneth Hubel, class correspondent, writes:

The shortened interval between future publication dates of Rochester Review prevented any harvest of news of classmates in this issue, but perhaps we’ll have a bumper crop in the next issue.

In the absence of personal news, I have reviewed the numbers. The centennial edition of Interpres in 1950 reported, “The Centennial class of the University of Rochester—consisting of nearly 200 women and more than 300 men—was the largest class ever to have been admitted to the school up until that time.” We must have added some along the way, because the 50th reunion summary, Then and Now, published in the fall of 2000, lists 567 surviving members, 47 with unknown addresses, and 171 who had died, totaling 785.

In reviewing the past decade, I find I have sent letters rather randomly to 227 classmates, and that 91 have responded with biographical information. I’ve enjoyed doing this, but you can’t applaud with one hand. Write me. Send pictures. Tell me and your classmates where you are and what you have been doing for 53 years. And even if you have, do it again.

—Contact: Kenneth Hubel, 2562 Oak Circle N.E., North Liberty, IA 52317; (319) 626-6562; khubel (at) southslope (dot) net.

1951
W. Bromley Clarke ’68 (PhD) and Jean Foster Clarke ’52 celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. When they’re not traveling, she keeps active with Jazzercize classes, and he plays golf and is a member and past president of his local Rotary Club. The couple has three children and eight grandchildren.

1952
Jean Foster Clarke (see ’51). . . . Pat Ryan Greene e-mails that she was one of six septuagenarian peacemakers honored by WAMM (Women Against Military Madness). She also was elected 2003–04 president of the 750-member Elder-Learning Institute at the University of Minnesota.
. . . Jerome Zukosky ’57 (Mas) writes that he has been living aboard his sailboat since retiring in 1991 from Business Week magazine, where he was an editor and then deputy chief of correspondents. After many years of sailing on the East Coast and to and from Bermuda, he has spent the past four years cruising in the eastern and southern Caribbean. While Jerome visits family and friends in the States, his boat, the Herman Melville, waits out the hurricane season in a boatyard in Trinidad. He was planning to spend much of the winter season in the U.S. Virgin Islands and other islands in the northern Caribbean. Jerome can be reached by e-mail at wtb3140 (at) yahoo (dot) com or by mail at 411 Walnut St. #417, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043.

1955
Ellen Miller is a coeditor of All This Reading: The Literary World of Barbara Pym, published in 2003.

1956
Nelson and Norman Leenhouts are retiring from Home Properties, the publicly traded real estate investment trust they founded, but they are buying the commercial property management part of the business, Home Leasing. The two will remain co-chairmen of Home Properties’ board.

1958
John Rathbone, class correspondent, writes:

In our last submission, Val and I expressed the hope that many of our classmates would find their way to the River Campus for Reunion 2003. Well, our hopes were realized, and then some. The “Better than Great!” Class of ’58 established a new record for 45th reunion “returns” and raised the bar once again (or, if you prefer the limbo, we lowered the bar). We do not have “the numbers” right at hand, but they were very good. And it was wonderful to see so many friends from “’way back when” once again. We just regret that there was so little time to visit with each and every one of you.

Thanks again to overall Reunion 2003 chair Ed Hajim for his leadership efforts coordinating this fall classic and to our own Class of ’58 tri-chairs, Judy Frank Pearson, Dick BeBrine, and Jerry Gardner for their hard and diligent work setting goals and ensuring that the many committee members enjoyed their tasks and contributed mightily to an enjoyable time for all. One hesitates to “name names” when so many contributed, but two classmates come immediately to mind: John Meyers, for taking on the massive job of seeking contributions from our class, and Dick Vidale, who completed his work on the class CD on the last day of October by incorporating photos from Reunion 2003. Thanks also to the classmates who made the late-night requisitioning and replenishment runs to keep the festivities going at the after-hours get-together.

We enjoyed the opportunity to watch part of the marathon three-day tennis match with Marg Taylor Adams, Char Dorwald Drotning, Dick D’Amico, and Dick Vidale.

Val Evans Rathbone ’60W (Mas) and John Rathbone report that they stopped by to visit fellow classmates Mary Woolverton and Bob Rufe in Colorado while returning from an annual Nevada family visit. Bob and Joan Rufe live in Woodland Park, and Bob wished to be remembered to his classmates, saying that business commitments prevented their attendance at the 45th. Mary hosted the Rathbones for lunch at her Morgan horse ranch southeast of Denver and enlisted John as a wrangler to help her corral a stray colt. Commitments to the American Morgan Horse Association prevented her from attending the reunion, but Mary sends her best wishes to her many friends in the class.

Jane Allyn Piliavin wrote that she regretted missing the reunion, but she had a heavy schedule in autumn, teaching three classes at the University of Wisconsin– Madison. Jane promises to attend our next reunion, the “Big 5-Oh.”

Naturally, with so many classmates chatting together over the span of Reunion 2003, there has been very little news sent to us to pass along through this column. Many have written to say they had a great time, but we cannot find news to pass along. So, if we have somehow overlooked a note from one of you, please forgive us, let us know, and we’ll ensure that it gets into the next edition.

—Contact: John Rathbone, 2375 Brookview Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; jrathbon (at) dreamscape (dot) com.