Class of ’59 – November/December 2011

Harry and Jill Petchesky celebrated Jill’s birthday in grand style this past July. Joined by Nelson Joyner, Neil Janovic, Marty Lehman and their spouses, they took an evening cruise around the Stockholm Archipelago. The Petcheskys and Janovics then visited with the Joyners at their country house several hours north of Stockholm. “The American flag flies proudly on their flagpole in their international community overlooking the Bay of Bothnia,” says Harry. Prior to the trip, Harry had mentioned looking forward to teeing off for 18 holes of golf at 8 pm one night. But a 3-mile hike through the woods to the sea “left only enough gas in my tank to play 9 holes, even though it remained light enough to play another 27.”

Small world tale: Harry and Jill were having dinner in Hudson, NY, one August evening with Benigna Chilla, a former prof of art at Cornell. She mentioned that she was going to Bhutan, and Harry told her that the country’s former crown prince, Lhendup Dorji, was our classmate. The man at the next table overheard the conversation and said that he had gone to Choate with Lhendup.

Naomi Johnson Dempsey, a long-time resident of Wilton, CT, has fully retired and moved eastward to Madison, CT. She continues to be an avid gardener and supporter of animal shelters, now volunteering at Forgotten Felines in Madison. Recent travels have included St. Maarten, Arizona, Nantucket, and the Finger Lakes region, where “of course” she showed her companion the Cornell campus. Eye surgeon Gerald Schultz, accompanied by his wife Joan, has travelled extensively in conjunction with his presentations on various ophthalmological procedures. They were in Vienna and Prague en route to Berlin for the 2010 World Ophthalmology Congress. Later they returned to India, by way of Istanbul, where Gerald lectured and did demonstration surgery in Mumbai. Then came a trip to Moscow, where he and colleagues presented a course on the artificial cornea.

Michael Crowley reports that Svein Arber has retired from teaching in San Francisco and has moved to Northampton, MA. Michael and his wife Wendy live in Pasadena, CA but each summer find their way to Dublin Pond, NH, where they reside until the end of October. “Paris entered our life when we purchased a wee nest on the Rue de Verneuil, one of the special streets in the 7^th arrondissement that fortunately eluded Hausmann’s 19^th-century wrecking ball. While there, I devote great attention to the city’s architecture, and amongst my modest addictions is a love of the decorative arts, so each morning you’re likely to find me prowling through the galleries of the Drouot auction house.” The Paris apartment is available for rent, with special rates for ‘59ers; check it out at www.wewillalwayshaveparis.net

The eighth mini-reunion of Alpha Delta Phi ‘59ers took place in Steamboat Springs, CO this summer. Hosted by Bill and Jan Dring, the week-long event was attended by Stan Lomax, Hans and Barbara Lawaetz, and Dan and Ann Hall. “The gathering was a splendid combination of trekking and talking as well as a chance to chat with the New Yorker’s Seymour Hirsch about declining ethics standards in the U.S., a topic I emphasize in my ethics course at the U of South Carolina,” comments Stan. Writes Hans: “We enjoyed it all—visiting each other, the hiking, the cocktail reception at the golf course club house, eating sautéed mushrooms with eggs from the back of a pickup in the mountains, attending the rodeo, and being announced as an honored guest from Cornell. Trying to rescue a half-nude—or was it half-dressed—woman who was running around the neighborhood was also interesting.” (“You know us, Robinhoods at heart!” says Stan.)

Was Rick Dyer punished for missing the Alpha Delt gathering? It sounds like it! While his brothers were busy in Colorado, Rick’s activities including cutting a hedge row at his Black Rock Farm. A tree snapped unexpectedly, causing minor injuries. Shortly thereafter, Rick unwittingly roused a ground nest of yellow jackets. “I left my chain saw running and ran. I only got about twenty stings on my legs, but between that and the facial bruises I looked scary!” Rick fared better than Gail Stanton Willis. The Houston realtor was in San Diego for a convention when she fell and broke her arm. She had a pin and screws put in the arm and while awaiting physical therapy learned that she needed a pacemaker. “I can’t wait to go through security at the airport!” she says.

Harry Chapin ’64 rose to fame as a songwriter and rock-and-roll performer but what was he like during his freshman year at Cornell? Bill Fogle, Jr. ’70 is researching that history and would like to contact anyone who has recollections of Chapin on the Hill. Bill can be reached at bill.fogle@cox.net or (480) 641-1137.

Our reunion attendance records, which are 428 (25^th reunion) and 383 (50^th reunion), are still intact. The Class of ’85, whose goal it was to break our record, had 365 classmates at this year’s reunion, and the Class of ’61 had 294, so we are safe for at least another year—and another 26 years for the double record!

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