Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: Slater Society–1950s

1929
Roger Vickery (see ’32). . . . John Wilson (see ’32).

1932
Doris Wilson Vickery writes, “Good grief! Am I the only member of the Class of 1932 who is still around? If I am indeed the last blossom on the plum tree, then I will stop fussing over the lack of information about the Class of ’32. If I am not, then here, for one, is an entry to get you started: I celebrated my 95th birthday on a sunny August weekend in 2005 with a family gathering at my summer home on the eastern tip of Lake Ontario. Sadly, my twin sister, Helen Wilson, and her husband, Roger Vickery ’29, and my brother, John Wilson ’29, are no longer living. (While at the University, Roger was president of Alpha Delta Phi and on the swimming team, while John was captain of the ’29 football team.) Nonetheless, I enjoyed the company of 17 family members, including my three children, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. I enjoy good health and happy memories, and I look forward to the future.”

1942
Earl Costich writes, “I retired from Lightnin Mixers, a mixing products company, after 40 years and have been a member of Brook-Lea Country Club in Rochester since 1951. I still play golf frequently. I was a ski patrolman at Bristol Mountain Ski Resort south of Rochester for almost 30 years and volunteered at a local hospital for 20 years. Working with the University’s alumni relations department, I endowed a graduate fellowship in my field of chemical engineering.” Earl was featured in the book You Did It for Me: Care of Your Neighbor as a Spiritual Practice, by the Rev. Kevin McKenna.

1950
Kenneth Hubel, class correspondent, writes:

After two years in a urology research lab at Strong Memorial Hospital, Leonard Bloch attended medical school at the University of Amsterdam, “learning to speak and understand the Dutch language in a big hurry,” he says. After a rotating internship in Amsterdam, marriage to Susan Bender ’64, and the birth of their first two children, a son and a daughter, Len returned to Rochester in 1958 for his surgical residency at Genesee Hospital. In 1964, he joined his mentor in surgical practice at Genesee and had the pleasure of teaching medical students and surgical residents for 31 years before he retired from clinical practice in 1995. He had been active in the Monroe County Medical Society and the Academy of Medicine, and he helped found the Genesee Health Service. He finally retired fully in 2004 after having served as part-time medical director at Preferred Care of Rochester and medical director at an area hospital. That has allowed time for volunteering as a second-grade teacher’s aide in the Fairport school district, as well as tennis, golf, and more diverse reading. He and Sue have five children and five grandchildren. Len recalls the “memorable names” of our mentors: Don Charles, Hemlholtz and Lines, Speed Spiegel, Dexter Perkins, Doc Campbell, Arthur May, “and so many more.” He writes, “It is difficult to believe all the experiences life has given me, and yes, I would do it all again.” (10 New England Drive, Rochester, NY 14618; (585) 381-5926; lensue2xmd (at) aol (dot) com).

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

Doris (Jill) Geier Finegan was named the Los Angeles County Library Adult Volunteer of the Year for her work at the Friends of Claremont Library. She has been on the board of directors of the library for more than six years and has been the manager of the Friends Bookstore for three years. David Wishart ’60, who has worked with Jill for several years, writes, “The award is well earned.”

1957
Bob Greeley was presented with the Texas City, Texas, Chamber of Commerce’s Community Service Award for his work as chairman of the board and onsite supervisor of Habitat for Humanity of Texas City. The organization’s ninth home is nearly complete. Bob and his wife, Dot, moved to Texas after retiring from Eastman Kodak Co. “Working with the volunteers and the selected homeowner’s family is a great way to enjoy retirement,” they write.

1958
John Rathbone, class correspondent, writes:

Marg Taylor Adams sends “greetings from Naples, Fla.,” and adds that travelers looking for “a great place to visit” might just put Chicago on their itineraries, as Marg and her husband, Doug, did. They highly recommend the Elderhostel at the Art Institute of Chicago. Marg says, “There is housing at the University Club across the street, Symphony Hall is just down the street, Wrigley Field is not far by ‘El,’ Miller’s Pub is the place for baby pork ribs, and don’t forget Millennium Park and the top of the Hancock Building.” Marg says they are planning another Elderhostel trip in the fall, this time to Florence.

Sally Goddard has moved from her apartment in Rouses Point, N.Y., back to Cooperstown, the village she left to attend Rochester some 51 years ago. Sally’s mother “got tired of living alone,” Sally says, and asked Sally to keep her company in the home her parents bought in 1931. Mom plays bridge, knits, and regularly helps with church activities, so Sally keeps busy volunteering, quilting, and enjoying the Susquehanna Chapter of the Adirondack Club’s Tuesday ‘walks.’

Ed and Barbara Hajim’s son, Brad, married Marthe Baltis in Denver on New Year’s Eve. Ed writes, “That means all three of our children are now married, and we are working on increasing the number of grandchildren. We only have three so far.”

Barbara Willsea Harper and her husband, William, traveled to Greece last May with Alumni Campus Abroad. It was their third trip with that company. This time, Barb sailed under the banner of the University of Maryland, where she received her M.A. They visited Athens, Crete, and Santorini, as the itinerary emphasized the Minoan civilization. It was a wonderful trip, Barb writes. “Did you know there really was a labyrinth?”

Judy Frank Pearson writes that she and three other classmates from the Cutler Union frosh dorm (Prince Street campus, remember?) got together on June 5 near Waterloo, N.Y., halfway between Cape Vincent and Buffalo—a convenient point for all of them. Sue Botsford Dalaly, Isabel Neilson, Peggy Bohensky Shepherd, and Judy shared old college pictures, stories, medical reports, and news of grands and great-grands. Sue’s brave husband, Nick, also joined the group. Sue and Nick live in Arizona but happened to be in the Buffalo area for a family event. Judy asks, “Four out of the original eight isn’t bad, is it?” In addition, Judy’s two sons ran in the Boston Marathon for the second year. Judy’s granddaughter, Heidi (Larry’s daughter), completed the Women’s Freihofer 10K Race in Albany last June and took an awesome second place.

Jim Polizotto writes that he and his wife, Lonnie, returned to Palo Alto on May 28 after a 10-day trip to Alaska. Daughter Renee and son-in-law Julio arranged the trip and accompanied them. Highlights were a train ride from Anchorage to Denali and a helicopter ride and hike on the tundra at Denali. Jim is still consulting part time; however, he adds, “I always have time to entertain visitors to the Bay Area.”

John and Val Evans Rathbone ’60W (Mas) traveled to Bruges and Antwerp, then sailed the Rhine and Moselle rivers, sampling the local wines along the way. When they got to Bavaria, the samples turned to local brews and wurst. The trip ended in Lucerne, where they spent a few days in the Alps. John opines that the alphorn is easier to play than it looks.

Walter Sy ’62M (MD) writes that he was looking forward to dinner with Joan DeBrine on July 24. After Dick DeBrine’s untimely death in April, Joan took over some of his work at the Hillsborough (N.H.) Historical Society. Dick, president of the historical society, had asked Walter to give a talk on the Civil War at the Hillsborough Historical Society. He and his wife, Jeanie Maddox Sy ’60, ’61N, traveled to Russia and four Scandinavian countries last spring. Walter comments, “If ever one doubts the relative merits of a society founded on individual freedom, individual initiative, and equality before the law, just spend one day in the countryside about 15 miles outside St. Petersburg, talking with Russian people, as we did. Then take the short flight to Stockholm. The differences are so dramatic that it inspires a sense of disbelief.”

Peter Tarrant, Patric Shea, and John Rathbone met in New Milford, Pa., for a minireunion last May. Nothing earthshaking transpired—just an Italian lunch and a lot of iced coffee and Diet Coke consumed while discussing accomplishments and nonaccomplishments during their undergraduate years and the (almost) half century since, closing with a quiet discussion of that little popular novel by Dick and Connie Gerhard Brown’s ’60 son, Dan: The Da Vinci Code.

Our May query for news caught Bobbie Kirsch Thomas swamped by preparations for Arcadia University’s reunion weekend. Bobbie, director of alumni relations at Arcadia, reports that she is looking forward to a reunion that she doesn’t have to run! Bobbie was planning on leading a trip of alumni and friends to China in June and says that she was going to room with Suzanne Jagel O’Brien ’59, associate dean of undergraduate studies at Rochester, who was Bobbie’s roommate in France a few decades ago. The 90 travelers will have taken a three-day cruise on the Yangtze River and visited the famous terra cotta warriors and horses.

Dick and Margaret Vidale spent two weeks in June visiting their daughter, Laura, in Switzerland.

Dayton and Lola Vincent flew to Ireland in the late spring and, after touring the country, visited England, where they departed for home aboard the S.S. Queen Mary 2.

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

1959
Suzanne Jagel O’Brien (see ’58).