Class Secretary, Barry Bryan, has started to mobilize the Class Council in preparation for the upcoming 60th Reunion to be held May 31- June 2, 2012. Abe Claude has agreed to assume the responsibilities of 60th Reunion Chairman as a reprise of his outstanding performance in organizing the Charleston Mini-Reunion! Frank Wilton, who had originally accepted the reunion chairmanship, was compelled to give it up to attend to family responsibilities. Stay tuned for more information about plans for the reunion. Check in on our 60th Reunion Section frequently. Want to see who's coming? Click 60th Reunion attendees>

Although many of us may have "lost a step toward first" athletically, a number of our classmates are as active as ever in the writing and publishing of books. Our "literary corner" portion of this website seems to be expanding. Of particular note are the first two memoirs listed below by two of the four African-American members of our class.

• Nathan Garrett's recently-published memoir, "A Palette Not a Portrait" is now available from Amazon. The flyleaf abstract notes:

  "This memoir starts with humorous but honest glimpses of this mostly middle class and mostly African American North Carolina family. It contains revealing stories about the author's life at Yale from 1948 to 1952 and his unusual experiences in the military. The setting then shifts to Detroit and descriptions of involvement in the "numbers racket", fighting off rivals for the hand of his wife of now 52 years and becoming the 65th African American CPA in the nation. The sections that recount his return to North Carolina in 1962 are filled with insights on black business, the civil rights and antipoverty struggles, Historically Black Colleges, social and civic organizations and his pioneering work in public practice and in the regulation of public accountancy nationally. The concluding sections are an essay on his quest to understand God and religion and a thoughtful dialogue on love and marriage."

• John Richard (Dick) Cooper's memoir "My Life — One Stone in the Great Wall," not yet in print, deals with the significant changes and progress made regarding race and gender issues during his lifetime and the problems that still remain. To read the entire prologue of Dick's book click here.
  
  
• The two remarkable memoirs above seem to demand a reprise of an essay by their roommate, Dr. Charles Payne, entitled "Retribution, A Remembrance" that appeared on this website shortly after Charlie's untimely death in 2007.
  
  
• Dick Thompson announces that his third book, "Destiny's Journey - Homeward Bound," is now published and is available for purchase. Purchase details are given on Dick's Classmate Activities page.
  
  
• Joe Callo has established an outstanding reputation as a naval historion. His most recent publication in The December 5 edition of The Weekly Standard was a review of the book "1812 The Navy's War" by George C. Daughn. To read Joe's perceptive review of this book click here

(Well okay, most of the demanding was done by Alan Stamm.) The magic jukebox that will play all your favorite Whiff songs is now back in operation, and it won't even require you to put in a nickel. Just click here to see the Whiffs as they were in 1952 and at the 55th reunion, then click the song title you want to hear on the jukebox.

Dr. Richard Rifkind and his wife Carole co-produced and co-directed “Naturally Obsessed: the making of a scientist,” a one hour documentary film showing the training of young scientists and their role in the process of discovery. Their film was given an award from the National Academy of Science for excellence in the communication of science. To read more about the film, click here.

Our class Poet Laureate, Tom Greening, has provided us with a poignant new poem entitled "Sunday Drive" which might have added meaning for some of our classmates."

Clovis Heimsath, architect, artist and author has been busy. His architectural firm's classroom addition to the Austin Independent School District's Langford Elementary School features some interesting "green building" components; click here for more detail.

To see what some of your other classmates are doing, click on "Classmate Activities."

One of the webmaster's saddest tasks is posting the names of recently deceased classmates on the necrology pages which list their names in alphabetically and by date of death. To date, 449 of our classmates have perished. Here are the names of those who have left us recently: