CLASS OF 1951 | 2017 | ISSUE 3

Bill Mitchell is very much the traveling man. Early in the year he took a trip to his oldest granddaughter’s graduation. A month later he drove from his home in North Carolina to Texas to see family and friends. Last fall he got back to see his first Homecoming game in well over 50 years and was rewarded with a Wesleyan victory. Bill wrote he might even try again this fall. He and I will keep rooting for the Red and Black.

Bob Hammett and his wife celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past summer with a family clambake, attended by two sons and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. Bob spent a month last winter with flu and pneumonia, but reported he was feeling better. He said his hearing was very weak, but he had a couple of great hearing aids “and a wonderful specialist who keeps me tuned in.” He’s also been getting shots in his left eye every six weeks to keep it going. Here again, Bob was helped by another special specialist.

Dave Morey wrote from Ithaca, N.Y., that he was serving on a few committees and a trip for him means going to the supermarket. “The old body is wearing out and I can’t get new parts for it, but at least it’s still going. It’s just not as far or as fast,” he wrote. That’s my situation, too, and I’ll bet all those still with us will say the same.

Chuck Exley wrote from Grosse Pointe, Mich., that he had lost his wife, Sara, 10 years ago and has since remarried a woman, who along with her late husband, were good friends of his and Sara’s. Chuck said it was remarkable that three members of our small class—he, George DeGenaro, and Richard De Gennaro—live within a mile of each other in Sarasota.

Bill Churchill wrote in September that he and wife Maggie were winding up another summer at their cottage at Mattapoisett, on Buzzards Bay, Mass. By late fall they planned to be back at their duplex in a retirement community in Burlington, N.C. “We really have the best of both worlds,” Bill wrote, “with lots of activities and interesting residents. Having Elon University is another source of stimulation. We will keep on trucking as long as the body allows and I’m sure all of us who are left will say amen to that.”

Ken Kenigsberg had replied affirmatively to my requests for news several times over the course of years, and I was sorry to get news of his death. His obituary gave a very full account of his impressive achievements during his 40 years of practicing medicine. He served as chief of pediatric surgery and researched the causes of sudden infant death syndrome. He devoted his life to saving children. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He was fiercely proud of his Jewish ancestry and the state of Israel, and provided volunteer service to the Israeli Medical Corps during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Ken loved nature and participated in scuba diving, sailing, and fly fishing. He left his wife Abby, to whom he was married for 54 years, three sons, and seven grandchildren.

I had one other communication from Sandy Malcomson, who indicated he was doing fine.

DAVID M. PHILIPS | davephilips69@hotmail.com
43 Cannon Street, Cranston, RI 02920-7620