CLASS OF 1970 | 2017 | ISSUE 3
Aloha, all. Thanks to those who responded to the (again) delayed Lyris message requesting news. Seems Lyris doesn’t play well with Yahoo or Firefox or something.
First to reply was Steve Ingraham. Steve was off to Nepal with wife Sheila: “We will do some very comfortable trekking in the hills of the Annapurnas, eventually going off grid to the little hill village where I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer. Sweeping changes in politics and lifestyles in Kathmandu and other urban areas, but what about way off-grid, up in the hills? I’m excited to go back, back, back to the future. Retirement makes this bucket list trip possible. Wishing you and all of your loyal readers the very best!” Hope it was a great trip.
Roger Mann, who lives in Florida, wrote: “Tessa and I were dead on-target for Hurricane Irma. All of our relatives implored us to obey the mandatory evacuation order. The phone calls, texts, and e-mails were non-stop. We live on the ground floor of a two-story building less than a mile from the gulf. We were told to expect a 12-15 foot storm surge. In fact, the eye did pass right over us. There was wind damage and downed trees everywhere, but the storm surge never came to our neighborhood. We lost electricity, phone, cell, wi-fi, air conditioning, and potable water for a week, but Irma did not harm us.” Very good news. I hope you evacuate next time, though, just to be sure.
O’ahu islander Bill Tam wrote: “Retired from managing the Hawaii State Water Commission. Hiking in New Zealand, Nakasendo trail in Japan, Glacier National Park, Jasper, and, next month, in southern China. Wrestling my yard into shape, but forgot we are 69 and need a more thoughtful pace. Spent July in Oxford researching and writing chapters on water and natural resource management. Attended concerts almost nightly. Blackwells, the pubs, and the countryside were wonderful. Good health is everything. Aloha.” Thanks, Bill. Traveling vicariously. “I was so much other then. I’m younger than that now.”
Speaking of trying to keep fit, Marcos Goodman, who holds his high school shot put record and the number two spot at Wes, is really “going for it.” Check out his video here. Says Marcos, “In the video, I walked 15 miles and did 60 pull-ups in each of two consecutive days, touring Manhattan workout parks. The next week, I did 100 pull-ups in one day. Maybe I should figure out a better hobby?” I have a lot of tall grass, invasive trees, and nasty vines that you could attack.
KNK brother Jerry Cerasale sent a note. “I’m fine here on Cape Cod. Jan and I are expecting our first granddaughter in November to add to our four grandsons. We love visiting them. I have to run for the Housing Authority in Eastham again, but with the anti-incumbent sentiment who knows. No matter what, I’ll still love retirement.” Good luck. If you have any spare time, see if you can stop the people who send spam texts to our phones. Mahalo.
Cap’n Shef—aka John Sheffield—has a new career “getting off the ground slowly.”
I know what you mean; getting up isn’t as easy as it used to be. Seriously, he’s a yacht delivery captain. So far, he’s had “…one voyage this year from Houston (before Harvey) to New Orleans to Key West to Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. Grandson-raising is a great joy. Great 70th birthday party for 25 alumni of high school Class of 1965 in Cooperstown, N.Y., and frequent contact with other family members.”
Always good to hear from Steve Talbot, another one of the few of us it seems who is still working. Says Steve, “An article I wrote for KQED-TV’s website…Leave it to Beaver and the U.S. war in Vietnam…during our years at Wesleyan (here). I’m still in San Francisco, still married (Pippa Gordon), and still working for public television—these days as a producer for ITVS, the group that runs the PBS documentary series, Independent Lens. Right on, Steve.
Had a long note from Maurice Hakim (still very busy with the beverage business: organic teas and lemonades for high-end stores) that I need to edit pretty seriously for length. (Sorry, Maurice.) He and Carol bought an 18th-century cottage in Clinton, Conn., near the beach. They spend a long winter in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Maurice keeps in touch with Nancy and Jeremy Serwer in Woodstock, Conn. (they just acquired a second horse), and with Dave Geller who is still in Brookline, Mass., and took Maurice and Carol to Fenway recently.
Maurice also sees Charlie Farrow ’69 and Phil Dundas “who spends a few months in Westbrook when he and his wife are not in Abu Dhabi or Korea. Just last night we had dinner at his beachside house, along with Jack Frost and his wife Carol “Chip” Frost. Jack is a retired banker and spends nearly all of his time helping the Special Olympics and working towards improving government programs for children with disabilities.”
Thanks for all the news, Maurice.
I wish all of you well in the upcoming year. It seems that between natural disasters and insanity in the world, “stay safe” is broadly appropriate, too, unfortunately.
Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754