Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: Slater Society–1950s

1941
John Manhold writes that he’s “one of the few individuals to be included simultaneously in both the World’s Who’s Who in Health and Science and Who’s Who in American Art.” He has been commissioned to do a sculpture for a newly created museum in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

1943
David Baldwin ’45M (MD), a longtime faculty member at the New York University College of Medicine, has been named Professor Emeritus of Medicine. He and his wife, Halee Morris Baldwin ’44, live in Manhattan.

1944
Halee Morris Baldwin (see ’43). . . .
C. William Tayler oversaw the organization and presentation of the District of Columbia Bar’s Youth Law Fair at the District of Columbia courthouse last spring.

1948
Life trustee of the University Edwin Colodny, who served as interim CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care, has joined the Burlington, Vt.–based health-care network as an “of counsel” attorney.

1949
Carol Lendrim Willems sends news of a minireunion of four roommates in Northport, Fla., last February and writes, “We have kept in touch through the years and enjoy reminiscing about our dorm life in Cutler Union. Pat Rohrer McVay was the fifth resident of the ‘small room.’ Pat died in 1968.” The former roommates were Mernie Bacon Whitcomb, Carol, Molly Bruckel Yoss, and Nancy Carlyon Millett ’51 (MA).

1950
Kenneth Hubel, class correspondent, writes:

Marjorie Thomas Chapin ’50N worked as a nurse at Strong after graduation, then moved to New York City, where she worked in dermatology. She married Sam Chapin ’54M (MD) in 1956 when he was a fellow in allergy at the Cleveland Clinic. They started their family of three sons in Sam’s hometown of Springfield, Ill., and Marjorie became a “professional volunteer” for the League of Women Voters, the Junior League, Planned Parenthood, and “the usual parent duties for sports and school.” She refereed ice hockey games and was the first woman president of the Youth Hockey Association in Illinois. She earned a B.A. and M.A. in literature at the University of Illinois at Sangamon and, since their retirement to Key West in 1987, she has continued to follow her literary interests. She and Sam are active in the local environmental groups, and Marjorie has served on the county environmental education advisory board. She looks forward to attending her 55th nursing class reunion (3-A 12th Avenue, Key West, FL 33040; (305) 294-3168).

Carl Garland retired after 51 years in the chemistry department at MIT but is still involved in some research activities—enough to justify “a few scientific papers each year.” He and his wife have lived in Belmont, Mass., for 45 years and took their first cruise, to Alaska’s Inside Passage, in the early summer, before spending a couple of weeks with their family on Mt. Desert in Maine. Carl will campaign for John Kerry in New Hampshire in the days before the presidential election (4 Edward Street, Belmont, MA 02478; (617) 484-9479; Carlwgarland (at) aol (dot) com).

Bill McCarrick joined Kodak soon after graduation and remained with the company during four decades of their “golden years.” The position provided the enviable opportunities to live in Brazil, Mexico, and London, as well as various cities in the United States. Bill was a corporate vice president when he retired in 1990. He married Rosemary in 1959 and they raised two children. Since her death after a long illness in 1993, he says, one grandchild, golf, travel, and community activities “have kept me out of trouble” (14 Auburndale, Pittsford, NY 14534; (585) 248-9079).

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

1955
Stuart Platt ’70S (MBA) has been named director of Security Biometrics. He had joined the company’s board of directors in May. A former rear admiral, he is retired from a 31-year career in the Navy.

1956
Harvey Alter ’60M (MD) (see ’60 School of Medicine and Dentistry). . . . Donald Messina ’57 (Mas) writes, “In addition to teaching more than 40 years—now part time at Aquinas Institute in Rochester—I have become concert director at St. Andrew’s Church, soliciting and scheduling musicians for concerts and recitals and doing much of the publicity. I also have been conducting the Hochstein Chamber and Youth Orchestras, the Penfield Symphony, the Brockport Symphony, and the Eastman–Leung Chamber Orchestra in a special concert for strings and harp at St. Andrew’s last April.” . . . Arlene Eichen Stolnitz is the founder of the Sarasota (Fla.) Jewish Chorale. The 25-member group sings folk music in several languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and English. Arlene was instrumental in organizing the group, whose goal is to preserve Judaic music.

1957
Ken Guenther stepped down as president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America after nearly 25 years with the group.

1958
John Rathbone, class correspondent, writes:

Marg Taylor Adams responded to our call for news just as she and Doug had returned from a trip to Bethlehem, Pa., where they attended the Bach Choir Festival, then they turned around to head to New England for Marg’s 50th high school reunion and to visit family. They joined an Elderhostel at the end of August to travel to Bryce and Zion National Parks. Marg adds that her Super Senior 3.5 tennis team had “too many injuries this year,” so they didn’t make it to the state championships, but that Doug’s team, Super Senior 3.0, went to the nationals in Scottsdale.

Judy McDonald Norman and her husband, Dick, are in residence at their summer cottage on the St. Lawrence River until late September. Judy writes that she is not doing much that’s newsworthy except that on her 68th birthday, she donned her Lycra skin suit and kayaked all around the shore. Judy and Dick are both well and find life especially good in the summer, as they are busy planting, gardening, and “getting into camp mode.” Like many of us, Judy is helping to plan her 50th high school reunion. She was looking forward to seeing most of their 12 grandchildren this summer and planned to swim with her children and the older “grands.” She says, “Hello to all!”

Jane Allyn Piliavin will attend her 50th high school reunion in West Orange, New Jersey (“near Sopranos territory,” she writes). Jane was not sure she had reported the birth of her second granddaughter, who is now two. Four years ago, Jane was named Conway-Bascom Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison which, she points out, “means that my department likes me.” The honor comes with a $10,000-per-year stipend in “very handy” research funds.

Nancy Kelt Rice writes that her only news is that after retiring and enjoying it thoroughly, she actually finds herself at work again—“very part time.” Nancy’s old employer, Strong Memorial Hospital, has started a much-needed palliative care team, which wanted to start a bereavement follow-up program to support families of patients who died. A cause which Nancy wholeheartedly supports, the program fit right in with Nancy’s volunteer work. Nancy still sets aside time for travel and is returning to Argentina for the second consecutive year, “to drink in the scenery of the magnificent Andes—and a bit of Argentinean wine, of course.”

Bob Rufe has been enjoying a steady stream of business travel, mainly westward. He and Joan were in Virginia for 10 days in May to attend the Navy Nurse Corps Reunion in Williamsburg, which they followed by touring the memorials in Washington, D.C., including the Vietnam Memorial and the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington, then they walked the length of the reflecting pool to see the magnificent new World War II Memorial, which Bob and Joan agree is long overdue.

Joe Steinman writes to say that he and Jennifer are still living at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., but were planning to go to Switzerland for a month or so in the summer to ski and enjoy the Alps. Joe was at Purdue for his seventh year of teaching a two-week, intensive (60 class hours) “Applied Management Principles” course to 61 participants, including 48 Ph.D. students in science and engineering, five Purdue faculty, and eight mid-level managers from industry. Joe plans to teach one more year at the business school at the University of North Florida.

Walt Sy ’62M (MD) writes that he and his wife, Jeanie Maddox Sy ’60N, are both retired, living the country life on their hilltop “farm” at the end of a dead-end road in Westmoreland, N.H. The “country life” includes heating with wood, gardening, biking, and reading good books by the woodstove or on the front porch, “the former for 10 months a year and the latter for two months a year!” Walt says. Daughter Jennifer and her husband, Chris, and their children, Connor and Duncan, are in the Seattle area; son Christian and his wife, Tamara, and their children, Colton and Campbell, are in Keene, N.H; daughter Alice, currently in Durham, N.C., married John Dolbow in Keene on July 17. All of them have advanced degrees, good health, and active, energetic, and successful lives—what a blessing! Walt and Jeanie traveled to Romania and Serbia last fall. This fall’s trip will include Switzerland and Germany; they plan to trace Walter’s family tree. Two years ago, their trip to the Lake District of England included a trip to Jeanie’s ancestral area. Jeanie continues to take an active part on several boards and committees in the areas of social services and health care. Walt is pursuing his secret desire to be a historian, giving talks and hosting programs on the Civil War. Walt says they are open to visits at 185 London Road, Westmoreland, NH 03467. And Walt regrets to announce that once again, he was overlooked by the NHL draft, but there’s always next year!

Dayton and Lola Vincent and John and Val Evans Rathbone ’60W (Mas) completed a tour of Alpine villages, from Milan and Stresa in northern Italy through Switzerland and western Austria to Munich. John writes, “Summer saw us selecting some of our 2,500 photos and images for Val’s scrapbooking hobby, attending two 50th high school reunions, gardening, volunteering with the local fire department and veterans’ groups, and visiting one daughter in the Adirondacks, then it will be off to Nevada again in the autumn to visit our other daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.” Dayton and Lola will be returning to Hornell for his 50th high school reunion, too.

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