Class of ’59 – May/June 2010

Illustrator and designer George Ladas of Roselle, NJ is bringing back some of the superb architectural timepieces that he created in the late 1960s. The sculptures, void of numbers or graphic symbols, provide time information using the movement of light along a linear framework. The Orbita clock was acquisitioned by the Museum of Modern Art for its design collection and Bloomingdales featured the Orbita and Linear Time Column in its advertising. To see these and other timepieces visit www.time.base24.com. And the next time you’re in Las Vegas visit Caesar’s Palace and delight in George’s gigantic animated Trojan horse, which marks the entrance to the FAO Schwarz store.

And here’s a blog I recommend: http://rdhblog-richard.blogspot.com. It’s by Richard Horwich and has an on-going series of interesting and provocative posts. Richard and his wife Nancy live in East Hampton, NY, with a pied a terre on NYC’s Upper West Side. Richard teaches Shakespeare at NYU. In 2009 he revealed to the world his secret life as a playwright. He has written what he says is “perhaps the most uncommercial play in history: The Merchant of Venice, Act Six. Its audience needs to be on speaking terms with the Shakespeare play to which it is a sequel, which rules out about 95% of potential playgoers.” Nonetheless, the play received a professional reading last spring at The Naked Stage, a group that supports dramatic activities in the East End of Long Island. The next step would be a workshop; if anyone knows a small theater group that’s looking for material, have them get in touch with Richard!

Recent travels for Art and Helen Geoffrion have included a cruise to the Galapagos Islands, a family reunion at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, and a trip to the Gold Coast of Australia for the ITU Triathlon World Championships, where Helen medaled. In between travels, Art keeps some professional service activities going, works on several family history projects, maintains four websites, and indulges his love for music and nonfiction. A love for music drew several classmates to a concert in NYC in January. Lenny Rubin, Ellie Applewhaite, and Bill and Jackie (‘61) Kingston unexpectedly met at a University Glee Club concert that featured the Cornell Glee Club. “Quite a lot of the audience stood to sing our Alma Mater,” reports Lenny. And Ellie notes that “the combined group sang the Biebl “Ave Maria,” which I understand has become a signature piece for the Cornell Glee Club.”

Please remember to pay class dues for the 2010-2011 year, and send me news for this column. And remember, you can get a heads-up on classmates’ activities by following our occasional Twitter posts on the class website, http://classof59.alumni.cornell.edu.

At reunion last June, Professor Isaac Kramnick acknowledged the role of Peter Kellogg as one of the student leaders who ushered in the end of in loco parentis. Peter, who was president of the student council our senior year, joined the Navy after Cornell, received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, and eventually went into corporate finance, rising by age 37 to the position of VP of finance with a major pharmaceutical company in Europe. But then his marriage disintegrated, leading to an international custody battle in which Peter’s two young sons were removed from his care. “The impact on me financially, emotionally and physically was catastrophic,” notes Peter. “Increasingly I relied on a prescription drug to dull the pain and get me through the day. My increased addiction caused my life to unravel in an inexorable downward spiral. In 2001 I found myself in a charity detox ward in Dallas surrounded by screaming heroin addicts. I was at the point of death. At age 63, I was broke, unemployed, all alone and owned neither house nor car, nor much else, and owed over $200,000 in credit card debt.

“It all changed in 2002 when Jesus Christ saved me. I was saved physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually. I never touched that drug again. Everything in my life turned around almost immediately. I landed a six-figure job and soon all the debts were paid off. My health was restored. I was a free man. In 2005 I joined the Catholic Church and in 2006 I bought a house in Round Rock, TX—the first house I had owned in my own name in 30 years. But in 2007 I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. After two years of treatment I am cancer-free. This is why my friends call me the ‘miracle man,’ and why I always respond to ‘hopeless cases’ with the rejoinder that “There is no such thing as hopeless. All things are possible with God.’” If you’d like to see a one-hour DVD, “The Conversion of Peter Kellogg,” contact Peter at peter.kellogg@att.net.

• Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.