If you’ve not finished your 55th reunion plans, get on the horse and get it done. June 13-17 will soon be here, and you’ll not want to miss what’s planned for those days in Hanover and at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. Our 50th was great and set College records. This one looks to be even better. The theme is “Thanks for the memories.” Faculty will share time with us, and I would guess President Kim as well. There’s a class regatta planned on the Connecticut River, a book signing for the authors among our class and spouses, as well as the usual memorial service for our deceased classmates. A host of other special events have been designed by the team of Tom Harper and Tom Rosenwald as well as all the gourmet meals and Tanzi Tent drinking to which we’ve become accustomed. If you haven’t alerted Elliott Weinstein with class officer suggestions, get on that one too. Elections will mark our class meeting while there.


Abner Oakes was among 11 persons Gov. M. Jodi Rell inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame last fall. “These men and women are truly community heroes. They are selfless, they are dedicated; they are courageous, kind and caring. They have served our nation…but it is what they have done beyond their military service that truly sets them apart.” After retiring Commander Oakes founded the Hamden Veterans Commission in 2000 and has served as its chairman for the past seven years. He has seen to the memorializing of veterans’ service at a number of community meeting places and established the annual Veterans Awareness Day at Quinnipiac University to expose middle school children to the history, service and lives of veterans. Well done!


The widow of Tom Conlon, Miriam or “Muffie” Conlon, edged out incumbent Michael Zimmerman by almost 1,400 votes and is now serving Washington County, Vermont, as one of its side judges. It’s a judicial position unique to the state. Side judges sit with the judge in superior and family court in each of Vermont’s 14 counties at their “shire town” or county seat, handling civil cases and violations of traffic laws and municipal ordinances. In theory the side judges, who are generally not attorneys, have input only on matters of fact, with legal decisions left to the judge, but the vote of a side judge has the same weight as that of the judge, so two side judges can outvote the judge. The office includes significant administrative duties, such as the appointment of the county clerk, treasurer and auditor, county road commissioners and notaries public. They manage the county courthouse, sheriff’s office and other property and prepare the county budget. As a result side judges receive two types of compensation: a salary for their administrative duties, paid by the county, and a per diem for their judicial duties, paid by the state. Way to go, Muffie!


Mark Mitchell won a third term in the Vermont House of Representatives, where he’s won such respect among the public that he stood unopposed this past fall. Wah-hoo-wah!


—R. Stewart Wood Jr., P.O. Box 968, Quechee, VT 05059-0968; (802) 295-8912; stewwood@aol.com