A postcard from Jim Birney informs me that he and Bobbie have moved to the assisted living section of their development. Time marches inexorably on, Jim.


An e-mail from Brita Reed, whom I do not know, announces that her father and mother, Joe and Eva Sardella, are enjoying a Mediterranean cruise. I Skype every few Fridays with my pal of 75 years, Lansing Reed ’48. It turns out that Brita’s last name is the result of the fact that she was once married to Lansing’s son, John. Brita reads the ’50 column and her sister Joanne takes excellent care of our investments at Raymond James.


The phone rang. I answered. On the other end were a young and vital sounding Gerry and Ginny Sarno. For several years they have thought they might get to Vero Beach, Florida, during the winter but it hasn’t happened. However, during upcoming February they have definite plans to visit Naples (Florida) and have promised to drive across the state to see us, the McIlwains, the Whitemans, the Fauvers and possibly others. We look forward to that.


Nob Hovde reports the good news that he is currently free of the cancer that he has been fighting. Nob talks quite frequently by phone with Whit Williams and attends the church also attended by Harry and Mary Lou Van Benschoten.


Jack and Jill Harned have led a busy life this year; a 50th wedding anniversary family stay in Virgin Gorda was a high point. Then there were two trips to California during the second of which Jack joined a group of his peers in a vineyard harvesting grapes! Jack picked 300 pounds. They saw Rick and Sue Miller while out West. April found them in Israel for 10 days, when they saw numerous settlements on the West Bank. As we spoke they were preparing for Homecoming weekend (Harvard). Tommy Ruggles was ordering a flatbed truck that, on the way to the game, would transport the Harneds, Joel Leavitt and friend, the McIlwains and Bob Kilmarx and Babs. I didn’t learn who would drive but Tommy will be playing his banjo past the Hanover Inn. Not bad for a bunch of 80-year-olds.

Bob relates that Casque & Gauntlet was celebrating the 125th year of its founding. Kilmarx, Harned and McIlwain were roommates at C&G during our senior year and they savored the pleasure of being together on that occasion. Bob has five great-grandchildren, and his grandson Sumner is a freshman at Dartmouth and making his mark as a member of the soccer club.


In the last column I mistakenly reported that Bob had repurchased his old Nonesuch sailboat. I erred. It was a C&C Redwing 30. Sorry about that.


—Nev Chamberlain, 1835 North Garden Grove Circle, Vero Beach, FL 32962; (772) 569-2893; ranevero03@aol.com