We are in the countdown to our 60th reunion, and classmates are still writing about their lives and Cornell memories. Thank you all for your vibrant, interesting, and varied contributions!
Bill Brozowski writes, “Foreign travel and cruises have stopped. We visited about 60 countries, 6 continents, and then started on the US. The Chama, NM train to the Rockies was fantastic, even SNOWED for us Texans. Then Covid came. We made a move to Columbus, TX 10 yrs. ago – 3600 people. The virus has kept us hermits. The Phi Sigma Kappa pledging of the fifties was unforgettable. Also, many reunions were excellent. Old age is like glaciers; we wear down with time. But like that Texas song, I am as good once, as I ever was. Stayed in agriculture for over 70 yrs. with Cornell’s B.S. Farmer Bill.”
This from Don Morgan: “My wife, Neuza, and I were in Park City, UT, for some skiing over the holidays. We were joined by both daughters and their young families. Skiing was good, no one got hurt, and just being together was a pleasure. Omicron was there with us, too, with nine of the ten of us turning positive in the later days of the vacation, despite all being fully vaccinated. Happily, only the two of us became symptomatic, and that for only a couple of days.
I’ve been in touch with Bob Simpson and Fred Davis, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brothers. We are all looking forward to June reunion.
Corey Earle’s lectures on various facets of Cornell life are always stimulating and a pleasure to watch, as was a recent one on Cornell libraries. Who knew there were 20 of them on campus, and that one is underground, between Olin Library and Goldwin Smith Hall?”
From Karen Maynard Hemmeter: “After graduation (married Chris Hemmeter ’61 in my junior year), I lived for 30 years in Honolulu. Three children born there. Chris and I divorced in ’78. Remarried Cale Carson ’88, then we moved to Bellevue WA in ’91. Together we bicycled over 25,000 miles on many self-supported trips, just carrying our clothes, no reservations, B&Bs along the way – 6 months in Great Britain, 5 months Geneve, CH to eastern Hungary, Slovakia etc., etc. Wonderful adventures. Cale died (bike accident) in ’95. In ’98 I biked across the country with a group, and for the year 2000 and my 60th I rented an apartment on Rue du Cherche Midi in Paris. A lifelong wish fulfilled! I stayed in Bellevue for 7 more years then moved in 2003 to northern CA where I still live in Novato.
In 2010 I met and married Bob Hall. We are big time golfers, play several times a week and travel extensively. Reading a lot, two book clubs, volunteering at our local community college as well as a used bookstore, sales from which benefit our local libraries. I talk to Judy Miner Steenberg periodically – She and I visited Sue Peery Moore in Florida years ago. Happy to be alive and well.”
Elizabeth Belsky Stiel writes, “A group of SDT 1962 sisters are meeting via Zoom every six weeks or so. It has been a great way to reconnect and share our lives and interests with the other sisters. Highly recommended.”
Bette Kingan Witt reports: “After being snowbirds for a number of years Phil ’61 (Eng.) and I are now full time Florida residents in Seminole, Pinellas County, Tampa (aka Champa) Bay Area. I enjoy tennis, bridge, biking, bird watching, and volunteering as a docent at Heritage Village in Largo. We both volunteer at the Florida Botanical Garden, also in Largo. We are frequent walkers in the many Pinellas County parks and users of the excellent library system. Family members are happy and healthy. We are blessed!”
Woody (Wilbur) Gregory writes, “After graduation served 27 years in the U S Army, all over the world (Germany, Vietnam, Alaska, and a lot of the Midwest US). Then worked for a Construction Management firm with multiple projects largely in the DC area. Retired in 2007 to Smith Mountain Lake, VA. Moved to a wonderful retirement community in Lynchburg, VA, in 2019 with my bride, Bonnie (57 years of a wonderful marriage to date). We are doing very well though we would love to see this pandemic end!”
From Carol Shaw Andresen comes this news: “I do just happen to have a new connection with Gail Strand Wiley and Karin Nielsen McNamara which fits nicely here. Gail has set up a ZOOM connection with Karin and me and three other friends who are White Plains High School ’58 grads…and we’ve been chatting for an hour or so on Tuesday afternoons every six to eight weeks. It has been WONDERFUL – not only to catch up and talk to each other “face to face” – but to share book tips, travel lore, news about other CU friends, etc. We’re lucky that Gail’s husband Bud has the skills and equipment to make our conversations possible. But I’m guessing there are other CU cohorts who could get this sort of conversation going. I heartily recommend it!
Fred ‘59 and I are lucky to live in a Continuing Care Retirement Community in central North Carolina. Lots to do, many interesting people, nice new little house to enjoy with our little beagle. Life is good!
ZOOM classmate meetings are probably more widespread than we know. We don’t think of getting together that way when meeting in person is an option. Perhaps one good to come out of the pandemic is ZOOM chatting?”
From Mike Matthews: “I recently turned 80. I still work full time at ElectroHarmonix, a company I founded in 1968. The largest part of our business is the development, production, and international marketing of a line of sound effects for musicians. In fact, there is a display of our gear in Philips Hall! We are doing great with these products, even though we have been fighting the digital integrated circuit (IC) crisis. However, we recently received some large batches of these IC’s.
The second largest part of our business is vacuum tubes, those electronic parts that started going out of business, with the inventions of the transistor and integrated circuits. However, there remains a very strong niche market for vacuum tubes because guitar amplifiers with vacuum tubes sound better than solid state guitar amplifiers. The same thing holds true for hi fi amplifiers. We own 100% of one of only three remaining factories in the world that still make audio vacuum tubes. Sales are booming. However, we are concerned about the Ukraine crisis, and what can happen shortly to this business if this escalates.”
Judith Shulman Weis reports that she has “written four ecology/natural history books for the public: Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History (with Carol Butler, Rutgers Univ. Press); Do Fish Sleep? (Rutgers Univ. Press); Walking Sideways: The Remarkable World of Crabs (Cornell U Press).” She is working on final reviews for a book on the topic of microfibers from clothes – the most abundant type of microplastic pollution, and a couple of lengthy papers.
From Brian J. Coyne: “I retired in 2017 from private law practice – patents, trademarks, and copyrights – in Olympia, WA. I am now conducting mandatory arbitrations for the superior courts of the state of Washington. I’ve been guiding our church’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and derive great satisfaction from Bible study. My takeaway from the pandemic is that we need better methods to counter misinformation on the internet.”
DeeDee McCoy Stovel, writes from San Carlos, CA, “Until Covid, my husband Jack and I were busy volunteering at the local food distribution center and hiking in the Bay area. Now we are busy trying to stay safe and healthy. Our grandchildren are in college (Williams and Tufts, sadly not at Cornell). Curiously we lived in Williamstown, MA for 40 years. Now our friends there see our grandson on campus while we reside in CA! I get great satisfaction from being in nature. I loved leading hikes for school-age children before the program was cancelled. I look forward to starting up again. In thinking about Cornell, I remember the clam chowder at the Straight cafeteria and the prime rib at the Elmhurst Room in the Straight where I waitressed.”
From Judy Rosenblatt: “The pandemic has changed my life a lot. My remaining warrior older sister Sherry died in January 2020. On the good side, I’ve worked more in films and TV in the last two years than ever before. I did a segment of ‘Hunter’ (Amazon) with Al Pacino and Logan Lehrman. Also, a series pilot, ‘Eltingville’ and did an improvisational scene opposite Michael B Jordan in the soon-to-be-released ‘A Journal to Jordan,’ directed by Denzel Washington. I derive satisfaction from transcendental meditation, which I’ve been practicing for 46 years, acting, good friends, and being in touch with little children. Those pure contacts feed me every day. Life is not promised. Life is frail. Kindness to others is the greatest good – and imperative.”
To which I say “Amen” – and hope to see you on the Hill in June! Evelyn Eskin