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These pages contain all class notes from the Yale Alumni Magazine from 1957
on. The notes appear unchanged from their original publication save for the
correction of misspellings and other small errors. The few gaps in coverage
that exist result from the absence of Class of 1957 notes in a few issues of the
magazine over the years. Also, in keeping with changes in the magazine itself,
the frequency of publication occasionally changes.
Notes: March/April 2012
Notes: January/February 2012
Notes: March/April 2012
As our 55th draws nearer, I solicit all classmates' widows and widowed companions to let
me know their current email addresses if they aren't currently on the class list. My
email address is jbanner@aya.yale.edu. I'd also
appreciate classmates' help in urging the survivors of our deceased classmates to inscribe
themselves on our email rolls and class registry.
Crawford Shaw was noted in a late December issue of the Washington Post
as representing a trust claiming a $14-million-plus Iowa lottery ticket. The article
noted that Crawford, who hadn't responded to the Post's telephone inquiries, got
the ticket to lottery headquarters only two hours before the submission deadline. Hey
Crawford, mail early and answer your phone.
As I write, Mike Mellon, still on UVA's active faculty, recently returned from
academic leave at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. He and Karen
resided across the sound in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, and ferried their way back and
forth to the Cape. Charlie and Melba Strong toured Eastern Europe in
September shortly after selling their San Francisco house in exchange for a senior
independent living apartment in Plano, TX. "Glad to be free of home maintenance and
preparing meals," he writes. Chris Schwab is also a Texan, one out of New
Braunfels, where, though retired, he's on the board of the Mid-Texas Symphony. Dave
Mininberg continues his out-of-tomb researches into the dead. In September, he spoke
about "Museum Mummies and Medical Musings" to Cornell Medical School alumni. "The crowd
of more than 100 was all awake at the end," reports our lecturer. How would they have
dared sleep, given their likely fear of rising wrapped corpses ? Jack Hughes
reminds me that Frank Top is now senior vice president with MedImmune's venture
capital team. A pediatrician and virologist, he's held many senior positions at the
company, helped to bring to market FluMist, and worked on its HPV program.
From Jesse Lemisch comes word of a short Errol Morris film, "The Umbrella Man,"
that stars our very own PI Tink Thompson. The film offers a wry look at strange
historical occurrences, this one of an umbrella at the site of JFK's assassination, which
gets Tink musing about historical significance, conspiracy theories, and chance.
In Memoriam: We've learned tardily of the death in Anguilla on October 10, 2010
of Rafael V. M. Cestero. A native of Puerto Rico, Ralph was a Rochester, NY,
physician in private practice who directed the nephrology unit of the Monroe Community
Hospital there and served on the faculty of the University of Rochester Medical School.
After retiring, he remained in medical practice as director of the dialysis unit of the
Princess Alexandra Hospital in Anguilla. Peter Capra recalls Ralph fondly for "his
good humor, bright smile, and warm and generous personality." Ralph is survived by his
wife Jacqueline, as well as by their three children. Contributions in Ralph's memory may
be sent to the Trustees of Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810.
In Memoriam: George Perlstein died at his home in Portola Valley, CA on
October 13, 2011. George spent his long career as a neurologist at the Palo Alto Medical
Foundation. After tiring clinical work, he became medical director of the Foundation,
then its managing partner. George is survived by his wife Judith and their children.
Contributions in his memory can be made to the Department of Medical and Radiation
Oncology, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301 or to
Pathways Hospice Foundation, 585 North Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085.
In Memoriam: On November 14, 2011, the class lost Richard O. Jones after
a long battle with cancer. After Marine Corps service, Dick began a career in business
that saw him working in large corporations, as a public utility commissioner for
Connecticut, as director of Yale's support services, and most recently as owner and
operator of Terra Nova Enterprises, a food ingredient distribution company. His devotion
to the Corps was evidenced by his long participation "in uniform," writes John
Westcott "at memorials and funerals for fallen marines." As John also notes, for
far-flung classmates Dick was a lifeline to Yale, near which he lived all his life. But
perhaps most of all Dick was a sports fan. His most direct contribution to Yale sports was
his leadership of the effort to raise funds to help restore Yale Bowl through a dedicated
portal in '57's name. Vern Loucks writes, "We'll miss Dick at all the places he
has graced for many years with his love for Yale and for his class." Along with his wife
Eleanor, Dick is survived by their three sons. Donations in Dick's memory may be made to
the American Legion Griswold Post 79, PO Box 504, Madison, CT 06443, or to the Smilow
Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital, c/o Yale-New Haven Hospital Office of
Development, PO Box 1849, New Haven, CT 06508.
—JMB
Notes: January/February 2012
Plans move ahead for our 55th reunion. All involved in organizing the event
hope for a large turnout and much due celebration of our longevity,
productivity, and continuing contributions to the world. Attend!
One recently honored for his contributions is George White, founder of
the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. George has been inducted
into the Theater Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime achievements. All
hail George for earning a pedestal in this Pantheon.
On the productivity side, Muller Davis has co-written “Enforceable
Civility: A Critical Part of the Judicial Process in Divorce Litigation” for
Strategies for Family Law in Illinois. Enforceable civility in all
divorce procedures everywhere—how about in all public life?—seems a good idea to
me.
I suspect that, were all classmates to report in, I could fill this column
with nothing but travel news. Among our wayfarers has been Ivan Selin,
who, with his wife, children, and grandchildren, fetched up in Mozambique and
South Africa last summer. By request, you can secure a full report, with
photos, from this Homer, our Ibn Battuta. Also, Hugh Thompson has led a
Rotary Group Study Exchange team to five Middle East countries despite the
region’s uncertainties. These visits are all home-hosted, which allows Hugh and
his fellow travelers to see and learn from others’ lives up close.
From John North comes word that after retiring, he and Penny have
moved near Rutgers and Princeton for their cultural offerings. He also
volunteers as chairman of the county board that reviews court cases ordering
children to be removed from their homes. John reports the fact that his
granddaughter Anna (’13) is the fourth-generation North family Yalie . Can
anyone in the class, quick or otherwise, top that? Please let me know.
In Memoriam: William M. Finn died on August 10, 2011, at his
home in Augusta, ME after a long bout with cancer. Bill had practiced law in
Augusta, then joined the legal office of Central Maine Power Company, rising to
associate general counsel and secretary, and finally the Yankee Atomic Power
Company. Don Bab recalls him as a quiet and thoughtful man. He’s survived
by his wife Suzanne and their two daughters, Julia Finn Ruesch and Meredith
Finn. Contributions in Bill's memory may go to the Lithgow Public Library, 45
Winthrop Street, Augusta, ME 04330.
In Memoriam: We lost one of our most distinctive classmates with the
death on August 15, 2011 in Seoul, South Korea, of Kong Kyun Ro. Born in
North Korea and raised under Japanese occupation, KK fought against North Korea
with R.O.K. naval and marine forces for four years after 1950. Serving on U.S.
ships during the war, KK gained the sponsorship of several US naval officers, at
least one of them a Yale graduate, who sponsored KK’s Yale application. He
joined our class in the spring of 1954 and graduated a ranking scholar magna cum
laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He then went on to secure Yale MA and PhD degrees in
economics before pulling down an MBA at the University of Chicago. After that,
KK pursued a career inside and outside the academy and published widely in
applied economics and energy. As he wrote for our 50th, "After my first
marriage to an American woman failed, I returned to Korea to start life over.
They say you can't go home again. That's not quite true. You just can't be the
same again. As an Americanized Korean, I found myself viewed as an outsider when
I returned to my homeland, just as I had been an outsider in America. But
outsiders sometimes see things more clearly than the insiders can." KK is
survived by his sons Christopher and Kyong Hoon and daughter Alice.
In Memoriam: After a sudden illness, Robert A. Blazis died on
August 23, 2011, in Hamden, CT. Bob was not listed with us during college but
turned up later as a member of the class. After graduation, he studied music
history at Stanford and won a prestigious Rome Prize Fellowship at the American
Academy in Rome. But instead of going into academic work, he taught at local New
Haven-area schools, then began work in libraries, including Sterling. After 1973
he was a member of the professional staff of the Library of Congress. Bob has no
immediate survivors.
In Memoriam: Daniel Cornwell died in his sleep on September 11,
2011 at home in Spring City, PA. A splendid swimmer, at Yale Dan was on the
varsity team and the All-American Team and so helped maintain Yale's unbeaten
swimming record in our era. After Air Force service, he started his long
business career with Merrill Lynch. In the West Chester, PA community, where his
family had lived for generations, Dan served on the Board of the Chester County
Hospital for many years. "His easy way with people and his great sense of
humor," writes Ralph Douglas, "accounted for his popularity wherever he
went." But it was in the water, notes Ralph, that he was in his element. ”He
seemed to find contentment and serenity in the sea." Dan is survived by his wife
Hendrika, their daughter Heather Gray and son Dan, as well as by five
grandchildren. Contributions in his memory may go to the Chester County
Hospital, West Chester, PA.
In Memoriam: Stephen L. Wanger died on October 8, 2011 after a
long struggle against cancer. After medical school at Columbia, Steve moved to
Chestnut Hill, near Boston, where he remained thereafter. For his entire career,
he was associated with the Lahey Clinic as a practicing neurologist while also
on the clinical faculties of the Tufts and Harvard medical schools. Bob
Barton writes about Steve that “if anything, he was too consistent in his
advice (first voiced in his high school valedictory) that people should think
for themselves, for his son and daughter both went to Harvard!" Steve is
survived by his wife Nancy, as well as by their children David and Betsy and
their families.
—JMB
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Bates.
This Page Last Updated: January 16, 2012.
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