Class Notes, Jan/Feb 2019
Ken Brown writes:
“Over the weekend of October 20th, 6 members of our class with 3 spouses attended a weekend in Charleston, SC. Last November, Ben Slotznick and Ian Glenday from the class of 1970 approached me with the idea of a joint class of 1969, 1970, and 1971 off- site mini-reunion. The thought was that, given the relatively few Yale alumni in the southeast, getting 3 classes to participate would ensure a good crowd. We ran the idea by Karen Jahn and she told us to go for it.
From our class, Frank and Susanne Hart, Tom and Susanne Hood, Tom Elek, Paul Field, David Joseph, and Ken and Ann Brown attended. Most of us made it a weekend with visits to historic gardens, colonial estates, ante-bellum plantations, Fort Sumter, and carriage tours of Charleston’s districts.
Henry ’70 and Susan ’71 Smythe graciously opened their house for a reception Saturday afternoon. Then 34 of us gathered at The Anson restaurant for dinner and lively discussions ending with an enthusiastic version of Bright College Years. Gerry Cameron ’70, the only Whiff present got us off on the right key.”
Ken also reports: “As the newly minted AYA delegate, I will give you a report on the AYA convocation in the near future.”
Your scribe has attended over 50 Yale-Harvard football games. In that span, I have witnessed miraculous wins, crushing defeats, and everything in between. This year’s game was an in-between.
- Highlight: Fenway Park is not designed for football, but the cushioned seats were the most comfortable I have ever occupied.
- Lowlight: we lost.
- In-between: Yale fought hard against a capable Cantab squad and was trailing by just 28-27 in the second half, when the offense, led by injured QB Rawlings’ doughty replacement, lost its mojo. The defense also buckled under a crimson onslaught, and the ensuing defeat ended a star-crossed season that had begun with the Bulldogs favored to win it all.
The forecast: next year, barring injury, Yale will prevail at the Bowl. See you there!
The ache of defeat was assuaged by the chance to see many classmates at events before and after the game. The pre-Game brunch at the Hawthorne was attended by almost 100 guests, including many classmates. The food was excellent, the 2018 Whiffenpoofs were in fine voice (including the first female, Sophia), and there were plenty of opportunities to see old friends and meet new ones.
As a class, we are once again in debt to Lang and Kathy Wheeler for their outstanding efforts as our biennial brunch hosts.
Dick Williams reports that he attended special Friday festivities centered on football and the [in]famous 1968 tie game. Dick calculates that a dinner at Murr Center at Harvard was attended by nearly 200 people, including 25 members of the 1968 Harvard squad (not including Tommie Lee Jones, who years ago (incorrectly) bragged that his Harvard offensive line had pushed around the Yale defense for the whole game). Five members of one of the greatest Yale teams to ever take the field were there: Williams, Brian Dowling, Del Marting, J.P. Goldsmith, and Bob Levin. More Yalies would have attended, but many chose instead to attend Carm Cozza’s memorial service in New Haven the previous weekend.
Lang Wheeler reports that 17 classmates attended a pre-concert Friday dinner at Henrietta’s Table in Harvard Square, followed by a Yale Glee Club concert at Sanders Theater. Lang states: “A kind young man from Harvard (Glee Club) had reserved an excellent block of mezzanine seats for us, from which we watched the thoroughly enchanting co-ed Yale Glee Club delight the audience with some traditional and some just-composed music. Their rendition of the Yale Football Medley, sung in higher registers than you might remember, delighted the Yale half of the audience.” Apparently, Harvard also sang at some point that evening.
These get-togethers and regional “minis” are just a small down payment on the Big One at the end of next May. Our 50th reunion should be our greatest. The sumptuous Reunion Classbook (which is in production as I write) will arrive well in advance of the event and should convince any remaining doubters that plans must be made. The Reunion itself will offer many opportunities to see old friends, meet new ones, reconnect with classmates, and expand your horizons. See you there.
“People forget years and remember moments.”
-Ann Beattie, novelist (b. 8 Sep 1947)