Jul/Aug 2016

Yale’s recording secretary has informed us that our Class of 1969 Scholarship Fund beneficiary for 2015–16 is Madeline Hoffman ’19, a graduate of Minnetonka High School in Minnesota. She was a national AP scholar, national merit finalist, National Honor Society member, and captain of her school’s Science Olympiad and competitive math teams. She was a member of the school’s varsity swim team. She is currently pursuing course work in chemistry, cognitive science, and international relations.

Our scholarship fund as of last June 30th was worth $268,676, a testament to both our generosity and good financial management. Yale tuition, room, and board now totals $62,200 per year, with 49 percent of students receiving financial aid averaging $44,460.

I cannot help but note that our beneficiary Madeline Hoffman will graduate in June 2019. Our date with destiny, the 50th reunion, will occur at the same time. The clock is ticking.

News from Dues: Sam Weisman (samweisman@gmail.com) reports that “my wife, Constance McCashin, and I are still in West Newton, Massachusetts, near Boston, spending time with family and friends at our home in Chatham, on Cape Cod. Constance has a thriving therapy practice, and I am trying to get better at golf, having started the game a few years ago. I am active with the graduate acting students at Harvard [sic], but have stepped away from ‘show biz.’ Our daughter, Margaux, was married in October, and our son, Dan, is getting married this October. Life is good! Cheers to all my classmates!”

Much less happy is Gary Morson (g-morson@northwestern.edu), who writes: “Yale has embarrassed me regarding difference of opinion. It is not the Yale I knew.”

Alexander Tan says: “Still practicing architecture in Pasadena, looking to work a few more years. (They say architects don’t hit their stride ’til after 70—we’ll see.) Ellen, my wife of 42 years, is still working as a marriage and family therapist. We’re grandparents three times over and absolutely having a blast spending time babysitting. We’ll spend even more time with them after we retire, though Ellen wants to travel. We get back east every few years and usually visit with Steve and Bern Holahan, who are grandparents too.”

Frank Aronson (faronson@pbl.com) writes: “I continue to work full time, probably for two to three more years (so that I’ll be retired for our next reunion, the 50th!). More important, Paula and I enjoy our five grandchildren (so far)—three with our daughter Alyssa (TD ’95) and husband Randy (Union ’97) and two with our daughter Jessica (Princeton ’98) and husband David (Indiana ’98)—and our daughter Emily (Northwestern ’03). Alyssa and her family are near us, in the Boston area; Jessica and her family are in Seattle; and Emily is in NYC. I continue to enjoy active involvement in my synagogue and in-road bicycling, and my work on the Yale Alumni Fund board and Columbia Law School Fund board.”

Terence Benson (terrybenson@nyc.rr.com) writes: “I now do more TV work as an associate director on the PBS NewsHour weekend show. I still stage manage the Yale Alumni Chorus (when on tour). And I couldn’t be busier with soccer scheduling and refereeing, my aging co-op building, my Directors Guild of America activities, and promoting Go (the Asian game I’ve played and pushed for 55 years). Retire? Not a chance. I’m too busy and having too much fun. And my travels continue (~80 countries) and my family (including Kara ’06 and Ross, MIT ’03) is wonderful fun. No relaxing vacations! There will be plenty of time to sleep—later.”

Norm Resnicow writes: “By some miracle I received the 2016 Attorney Professionalism Award from the New York State Bar Association. Son Dan is getting hitched in June. He uses his PhD in molecular biology at a Boston area company to find cures for ailments that our generation is learning more about than we ever wanted to know. My 37 years as a board member and officer of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) came to completion due to term limits, but I continue my long commitment to refugee rescue and resettlement via HIAS committee and emeritus council memberships. Despite fear of heights, last year did 120-foot secured rope climb up a Brazil nut tree in the Amazon (because my wife Barbara had just done it), and fought off—using my stupidity instinct—a two-man mugging attempt in the beautiful Brazilian city of Salvador (which has the largest area of colonial buildings in the Western hemisphere).”

Uh-oh: mailbag and inbox empty!

“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.” —Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist, psychiatrist (1905–1997).