Tag: 1956

This will be mostly about Alan Gordon, who left us too soon in May 2010, but is fondly remembered. On Reunion weekend last May I talked with Larry La Brie and his wife Beth, who had just come from a memorial service in Hazardville, Conn., for Alan. They brought me copies of remembrances of Alan by Jim Wagner and Charley Longley, two of his freshmen roommates in Harriman Hall. I wish we had space to reproduce them here in full, but we don’t. I hope to capture a fraction of their eloquence in the excerpts below.

First, let me say that their fourth roommate, Bill Sieverling, left somewhat different impressions. According to Jim, Bill was “constantly worrying he was going to flunk out,” while Charley recalls the same Bill “suddenly appearing at 12 o’clock to nonchalantly type out a paper for a 1 o’clock class.” Well, we all know how that turned out [junior-year Phi Beta Kappa]!

JW: “I was the last to arrive, so I got the remaining upper bunk and the desk by the door, but I soon discovered that I had no trouble falling asleep when I only got about six hours of sleep a night!” He adds, “What an interesting assortment of guys we were!” Charles, he recalls “was a quiet fellow who kept to himself and didn’t talk very much, but was not at all unfriendly once you got to know him.”

CL: “I arrived at Wesleyan at my (our) quarters—and there was Alan’s mother. Don’t remember why she and I happened to be there alone, but I do remember learning that she was from Brazil, that I began pestering her with foolish questions about the country. I later learned that she wrote a gracious letter about our encounter to my mother, for they had been classmates at Wellesley. Alan’s mother made excellent guava jelly. [Alan] let me have a taste and no more! It must have been one of his favorites. No guavas in Maine. Delicious.”

JW: “Al [was] a serious, but pleasantly extroverted, friendly, and humble guy who seemed more amazing the longer you got to know him. He was the son of a missionary and planned to go into the same sort of work himself. But that was not all. Alan was very musical, and I got the impression that he could play almost anything that made sounds. Most definitely he could do very well on the guitar, accordion, piano, and organ, as well as sing quite well! Sometimes I wondered how he ever found time to study!”

CL: “Most of all. Alan loved things musical. I remember him at the organ in the darkened chapel on Friday night, with just the console lit up; and at the keys of the upright in the John Wesley House working out variations of songs for a composition class. About our junior year, he showed up with a big accordion, loaded with keys and buttons. And I remember Alan, elegant in tux, splendid in white shirt and black bow tie, full of smiles, eager and ready to sing!”

JW: “I remember Al best as a Christian brother and mentor who was very helpful to me as a brand new born-again Christian. I had had a very real conversion experience before arriving at Wesleyan. Al was there and often would encourage me when I hit a difficult spot or found studies or some other aspect of college life overwhelming. I remember Al more as a Christian who lived out his faith in practical way than one who talked about it a lot.”

CL: “It was through Alan that I became involved with the First Baptist Church in Middletown, teaching Sunday school and participating in youth fellowship… Occasional Sunday dinners after church with Rev. Johnson and family were lovely occasions.”

JW: “Alan’s girlfriend Alma visited from time to time. I seem to recall that they had been friends and sweethearts for some time, and it was really nice to attend their wedding in the Wesleyan Chapel just one day after we all graduated! I believe he was the first one in the class of 1956 to get married, and I was one of the last, not finding God’s choice for me until 1969! Indeed, I think that Al and Alma’s wedding was the first such ceremony that I had ever attended.

“I wonder what Alan is doing now in the great throngs that surround God’s throne as pictured in the Book of Revelation. Is he playing guitar, accordion, piano or organ, singing or perhaps directing the heavenly choirs? In any case, I do look forward to that Great Day when Alan and I and all the saints will be there singing (and playing) in the hugest orchestra and choir ever assembled to sing God’s praises forever! (I know he will be out of work as a doctor because there will be no more pain or sickness there.)”

Tributes to a great man, one sorely missed.

In July, Ann and I drove to New Hampshire to visit the sage of Antrim, Dick Winslow ’40. At 96. Dick is as gracious and witty as ever. He gets around with the help of two canes, but he still drives a car—too fast at times, he admits. Speaking of great men…

GEORGE CHIEN | gchien@optonline.net; 201/261-0997 

BOB RUNYON | rrunyon@unomaha.edu; 402/393-3320

My “Finding Your Laugh” Lyris message was intended as a “Creative Whack Pack” card for classmates. My purpose was to elicit an account of your kicks and surprises when attending to and noticing some of the funny stuff going on around you. Since I finished by calling it “your assignment,” however, I probably shut down some of those creative juices.

Mort Paterson certainly captured the spirit of this exercise with this smashing episode: “I am finally learning how to curse. My normally sweet and gentle wife, a versatile actress, has recently been performing the role of Violet, the embittered feisty lady in August: Osage County at our local little theater group. Her language includes some blatant obscenities. Having helped her with rehearsals and seen three performances, I have picked up on her vernacular, joined the trend of today’s grandparents, and am ready anytime to confront nonsense with ‘Blow it out your a**!’ So watch out.”

Having seen August: Osage County a few months ago in the Omaha Community Playhouse (one of the oldest, largest, and best in the country), I know just what kind of language Mort’s referring to there.

John Foster contributed this travel tidbit: “One funny moment comes to my mind which others have found amusing: My wife and I were visiting a small church in England, once the chapel on my grandmother’s family property. The local sextant kindly took us in and on a tour. Noticing me looking up at a series of ladders leading up into the spire, he asked if I would like to ascend for a view of the surrounding grounds.

‘Sure… and are there any bats in the belfry?’

‘No,’ he assured me… ‘once you baptize and confirm them, you never see them again.’”

We also have this family episode shared by George Chien: “I’ll share an amusing story about my 12-year-old granddaughter Jeannette, the Girl Scout. Her troop put on a presentation about Scouting around the world, with each girl representing a country that has a Scouting program. They dressed appropriately, and spoke briefly about Scouting in their country. They were urged not to fall out of character. Jeannette chose Russia and gave her little spiel with an imaginary accent. Afterward a mother approached her with a little girl, hand-in-hand. The mother had a request. She had recently adopted her daughter from Russia, she explained, and the girl had not yet learned English. Could Jeannette, she asked, talk to her daughter in Russian? Well, of course, she couldn’t, so trying not to fall out of character; she made up a story about her parents working in the American Embassy and having moved to the U.S. when she was very young. Consequently, she apologized, she speaks only English. Later I told her, she could have said, ‘I’m not really Russian. I’m Chinese.’ A cool one, at that—but I don’t know what she might have done if they’d responded in Mandarin.”

Responding to an earlier solicitation, we have this comprehensive update from Larry La Brie: “I suspect that most of us are now fully retired and spend much of our time around our individual local towns—particularly places like the doctor’s office, etc. So far Beth and I have been fortunate to have reasonably good health. Some years ago I had some prostate treatment and recently Beth has had cataract surgery and a stroke, neither of which has significantly restricted our activities. We take more pills than we’d prefer, but many of these are vitamins and mineral supplements. Several days a week I try to walk our beach on the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina for at least a couple of hours. The island we live on is not particularly good for finding shells unless we have had a significant storm or beach sand ‘re-nourishment’ is being done. These sand projects involve dredging sand from an inlet or bar and depositing it on our beaches. My favorite find was a large prehistoric shark’s tooth and some really neat shells.

“For a number of years, as a hobby, I have been carving decorative decoy birds—primarily waterfowl. I do this at a class at our local community college with a number of fellow carvers and an instructor. In some respects it is more a club than a class. I also take numerous photographic images—slides and digital.

“Some of our trips have involved viewing birds and other wild animals. Beth tolerates birding but does not enjoy it as much as I do. This year, she found us a Road Scholar trip to southern Florida to observe birds, which we combined with visits to a law school classmate and a former coworker, which we have just completed. I am considering a 10-day birding trip in 2015 to the Galápagos Islands, as it is a place I have long wanted to visit and my carving instructor is coordinating the trip.

“One of the participants in this year’s birding trip happened to be a law associate of our classmate Guy DeFrances—one of those strange coincidences of life—I felt the odds of that occurring were pretty long. He too had gone to a small eastern college and we had some enjoyable conversations about our college experiences.

“We have five grandchildren, the oldest of whom is in high school. Our eldest son is married to a Moldovan lady, and they have young twin girls. Our middle boy and his wife have two boys and a girl. Our daughter and son-in-law are still hoping to have a family—only married four years.

Finally: “Funny? Outlandish? Weird?” [Choose one.” I flew up to Wesleyan in November for Homecoming. My kindly hosts—Peg and Phil Crombie (roomie!). Beat Williams for the first Little Three title in 43 years! A pretty young undergraduate asked for my fossil fuel divestment signature in an elevator (an elevator at Wesleyan?). Grand dinner at Alpha Delt. What’s not to like?] Walter Ebmeyer.

Keep the funny, freaky stuff coming.

GEORGE CHIEN | gchien@optonline.net; 201/261-0997

BOB RUNYON | rrunyon@unomaha.edu; 402/393-3320

Remember when Bob Runyon challenged us to examine our bucket lists—our goals for the time left to us? Recently I was compelled to revisit mine. I’ve never once had an urge to ski Mount Everest, but I have set foot on all seven continents. I accept that I’ll never sing a performance of Bach’s Mass in B-Minor, but derive some consolation from having 26 recordings to choose from, should I want to listen to it. I’ll have no regrets if I never see a World Series game or a Super Bowl in person, but I hoped to see Wesleyan win one more Little Three football championship before I depart this mortal coil.

And I did! Ann and I drove up to Middletown last November 2 to watch our Cardinals edge Williams’s Ephs to take the crown after 42 years of frustration. It was nerve-wracking to be sure, but how sweet it was! I wore my newly acquired Wesleyan sweatshirt for a week straight! Of course, Trinity put an end to that, but it was great while it lasted. Hip, hip, hooray!

We planned to sit with my roommate, Tom Reed ’57, but we never connected. Tom, bring your cell phone next time! I did see old friend Hal Buckingham ’52, Bill Gordon ’55, and our own Al Haas there. Al, I must say, looks great. He is still active as president of Educational Futures, Inc., assisting students from around the world who wish to study in North America. Al and Loni enjoy their role as grandparents for six boys and one girl who live in the Boston area.

The game prompted happy exchanges with Jim Gramentine and Ed Palmer. Enthused Jim: “This is just plain fun. Wish I had been there with you!” Ed, who is professor emeritus of mathematics at Michigan State and battles some serious health issues, added: “It’s so nice to hear that our guys are handling the aging process with courage. My own medical team has their hands full, especially my massage therapists, Ingrid and Dagmar.”

Dick Bauer writes: “News here pretty steady state. Health holding up; Ginny and wider family doing well. Play piano and sing regularly, finding more and more corners in the American Songbook for exploration. Also, still derive considerable satisfaction from leading monthly discussion groups here at our retirement community in Hingham, Mass. Over 80 are active; three separate sessions; lots of good, often humorous exchange. Hope our classmates are thriving.”

Random thoughts from Barry Passett: “I recently connected with a ‘kid’ from elementary school. He remembers Marv Pisetsky, one of our class’s best. Scott Aiken ’57 died. Not our class, but a diligent Argus writer/editor, so well-known to many. Two students took it upon themselves to create an event commemorating the anniversary of Ed Beckham’s death. Not our class, but important. They planned the event, overcame the usual bureaucratic obstacles, and raised the money. Over 200 people attended. (I was stuck in D.C.) Students rock!”

I promised more from Tom Connell, and here are some excerpts: “I have traveled a lot, something I continue to do. In 2012, I helped the Audubon Society lay out a trail for the sensory deprived and wrote a script explaining what was at each of the marked stops along the all-person trail. That script was professionally recorded and is available in MP3 and downloads for people who want to use it.

“My other major activity is research and trading stock, which keeps me active now that I am retired from the practice of law. I run my own portfolios and have enjoyed enough success at it that I am not tempted to turn management over to any other entity. I interested my son-in-law. We often debate just how much is predictable and recurring so you can learn from the past, and how much is based on current news happenings and political ‘moves’ (which are hard to predict). My background in law and politics leads to one method, his in science leads to another. It’s a good way to spend time.

“My son has his doctorate from MIT in artificial intelligence and is employed at the Watson Lab of IBM. He has a number of patents and several books in print (check under Jonathan Hudson Connell). By agreement with IBM he has his own, separate, small business, which designs and sells to colleges and schools kits that make artificial intelligence robots. He also teaches at Vassar. His wife has her doctorate in chemistry and is employed by, and part owner of, a technical instrument firm. My granddaughter is a sophomore at Vassar and my grandson entered college last fall. My daughter did her MBA work at UMass where she met her husband, my trading partner, who has his doctorate in polymer chemistry and is employed by Kimberly-Clarke evaluating potential acquisitions. Their older daughter, 13, has apraxia and is severely handicapped. The younger, 7, now in first grade, is a live wire and very creative.”

One final note: I’d like to express my thanks to Dick Bauer, Bob Calvin, and Pete Deacon for their kind words in response to my piece in Issue 1 2013 of this journal. Go, Wes!

GEORGE CHIEN and BOB RUNYON
gchien@optonline.net; 201/261-0997
rrunyon@unomaha.edu ; 402/393-3320

rrunyon@unomaha.edu ; 402/393-3320