Nov/Dec 2007
Once again a titanic battle looms between our stouthearted men in blue and the nefarious visitors slouching in from the north. Once again Yale Bowl will throb with the joyous cheers of the victors and the bitter lamentations of the vanquished. Once again your scribe will be in (muted) attendance, and he has but one fond hope: that “Harvard’s team may fight to the end, but Yale will win.”
I haven’t received much mail from classmates, and thus have a paucity of cheerful news to offset the sadness of another obituary: Lance Konselman died in July after a long illness. At the time of his death he was the vice president for finance and administration at the Staten Island Botanical Garden. He was Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, and upon graduation served a tour of duty in Army intelligence. (His parents met in London while both were in Allied military intelligence.) He was posted to Beirut and was fluent in Arabic. Lance spent most of his post-Yale career in the not-for-profit sector. He held executive positions at Project Return Foundation, Medical and Health Research Association, and Praxis Housing Initiatives. He moved to Staten Island in 1998. Here is what Eric Johnson says about Lance: “He was a dear friend, a fraternity brother of incredible wit and bridge skill, and a member of my wedding party in 1971. I will always remember him as an outgoing gentleman, a quick study, and one who taught me much of what I now know about living outside whatever norms may exist at one time or another. A moment I shared with him—when I recall him being his most animated—was when we were in the TV audience and heard, in March 1968, ‘I will not seek, nor will I accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.’ Good work, Lance, then—we were ‘clean for Gene’—and now. Obviously, your great heart has gone on to touch many others. I wish you always well and to your family, a share of your strength.”
To relieve the gloom, Eric reports: “I and my second wife, Paula, now live in Port Orange, Florida, where we’re happy other than in July–August when we feel compelled to visit Nova Scotia. I sold my organic-foodingredient biz to SunOpta, a rapidly growing NASDAQ-listed healthy living company, two years ago, and currently consult for them on integration and expansion issues. My daughter Avery (JE ’01) is on staff at the Wall Street Journal covering Big Pharma and hoping that the new Big Daddy keeps out of the details. My son toils for a hedge fund and most likely makes more money than I, at least for now. . . . I’m active in the Yale Club of Central Florida and their related ASC—we got 12 accepted this year.”
David Bundy also reports happy stuff: “I am still busy with law practice in Alaska. Our five children are now spread over the country and our third grandchild is due in January. If you follow the Giuliani campaign you may note our second son, Elliott, one of his press spokesmen. Jean is having a solo show of her recent paintings at the Pleiades Gallery (see some of her art at pleiadesgallery.com) in Chelsea, from November 27 through December 15, with a closing party December 15 from 5 to 8. I will be there and hope to see classmates for a glass of wine. Address is 530 West 25th Street, Fourth Floor, New York.”
A last-minute note via the website from Mike Bouscaren (mikefred@comcast.net): “Mike Bouscaren has just published a new book called Ultrarunning: My Story, which is now available on Amazon.com. It’s a narrative of self-discovery through long-distance running, with 25 separate event stories including four 100-mile run events, the last completed in November 2006.”
More missing (55 total) classmates: Wing-Chiu Ng, Raymond S. Nunn, Odunayo Olagundoye, W. Hearne Pardee. Any information is welcome.
“All we can do is marvel at how time is a sly magician, distracting us with one hand, while pocketing our years with the other.”—Dan Barry (New York Times, 6/10/07).