CLASS OF 1962 | 2016 | ISSUE 3

In April, Hank Fotter moved into the Elim Park Health Care Center in Cheshire, Conn., where his wife, Harriet, moved into the adjacent independent living center, Elim Park Place, a two-minute walk away. She writes that Hank started falling in October 2015, and by January 2016, he was in a wheelchair and needing around-the-clock care because of a “devastating combination of long-term physical illnesses and steadily declining cognitive abilities.” She says that Hank would enjoy receiving notes at 150 Cook Hill Road, Apt. #6110, Cheshire, CT 06410, and seeing visitors. Her cell phone number is 203-592-2733 if you’re in the area.

Bob Gause writes, “I’m still working at my first job, pediatric orthopedics, simply because I love it. Children I operated on 35 years ago return with their children and I can recall each case.” He spends time “on that same Winterport, Maine, farm” and at a camp on Moosehead Lake, and has written four fiction books. He says, “The last 75 years have been so exciting, I can’t wait to see what the second half has in store.”

Gary Wanerka was honored for his long service as a pediatrician and allergy specialist by receiving a Distinguished Service Award from the town of Branford, Conn. After his pediatric training at Yale, he served four years in the U.S. Army in Germany, and then began his practice in New Haven in 1974. He started up Branford Pediatrics and Allergy in 1982. Just like Bob Gause, he says he has many “grandpatients” and even some “great-grandpatients.” His wife, Chris, children Laura and John, and grandchildren, Trey and Reese, were present when he was presented with the award.

This year, Len Wilson was inducted into the National YMCA Hall of Fame, located on the campus of Springfield College, joining 130 other members. An interesting note: The YMCA Hall of Fame is housed in the building where basketball was invented, which had been the original YMCA training center for directors. Len has been retired for 10 years and says that he and Joyce “have settled into spending summers on the Jersey Shore with family and friends, and enjoying the rest of the year doing a little traveling away from our condo life in South Philly.” He is the first classmate to write (or admit) that he’s “caught the pickleball bug.”

And sad news on the passing in March of Dirck Westervelt in Brewster, Mass. He was retired after a long career as a psychiatric social worker. He spent two decades with the New York State Office of Mental Health, and specialized in the treatment of adolescents. He also volunteered for years as a counselor for Vietnam veterans. Our condolences to his family.

Reunion coming up: With the calendar turning to 2017, we are reminded that our 55th Reunion is coming up—May 25 to 28. Mark your calendars now, and we hope to have a good turnout once again. I hear that Len Wilson will be offering pickleball lessons.

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971