CLASS OF 1952 | 2015 | ISSUE 3

Hal writes: It was good to be in touch again recently with Jim Wolpert. I believe the last time we saw each other was in 1953 at an Army base in Sendai, Japan. From there, Jim was assigned to the 724th Ordnance Battalion of the 24th Infantry Division in Korea, where he rose to be Battalion Sergeant Major. Those of you who served in the military know that rank is heady stuff! After the Army, Jim worked in the stock brokerage business with various firms his entire career, finally retiring last Labor Day. Unfortunately, Jim lost his wife, Florence, six years ago. He has now moved to a new apartment in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.

I’m sure you have all experienced happenstance encounters during which a totally unexpected connection has been discovered. My latest one took place in Jackson, N.H., way up on the side of a mountain facing Mount Washington. It was at the current home of close friends and former neighbors of Joyce and mine in Glastonbury, Conn. We were there for their 50th anniversary. During the reception, I took up conversation with a man I had never seen before. One thing led to another and I learned that this man had grown up in Manchester, Conn. More conversation and I decided to tell him that I’d once recruited for Wesleyan at Manchester High. He then said that his brother had been recruited from that high school to play football at Wesleyan. I quickly asked, “What did you say your name was?” Response: “Al Schubert.” My reaction echoed across the Mount Washington Valley. “Roger Schubert’s brother? I can’t believe this!” And on and on about our late classmate, Roger, and his widow, Barbara. Small world!

The Al Chien family, without Al unfortunately, made another trip last summer to China, Al’s and his brothers’ birthplace and that of their Chien ancestors. They were able this time to view the newly reconstructed bridge their father/grandfather designed and supervised construction of over the Mekong (named Lancang in China) River as part of the Burma Road at the onset of the Japanese invasion of China in the late 1930s. Al’s father lost his life during one of the many bombings of the bridge and area by the Japanese. The bridge was recently reconstructed in another location as a museum piece because of its importance in the critical link it afforded both in the Burma Road as well as in the development of modern transportation in China. It was the first steel cable suspension vehicular bridge in China and became the model for many other bridges there. More details can be found in George Chien’s ’56 account in class notes.

Bill Wasch, our class president and class agent, reminds us that annual gifts to the Wesleyan Fund can and should be designated for the Class of 1952 Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Harold C. Buckingham Jr. | 

hcbuckingham@daypitney.com

400 Seabury Drive, Apt. 2114

Bloomfield, CT 06002

William K. Wasch | wkwash@gmail.com

150 Coleman Road Middletown, CT 06457