Earth, wind and fire…plus lots of water. Lately, Mother Nature dealt many in our class some of her historic challenges. Jay Greene reports that he’s okay in Napa, California, but that Ted Jennings was rushed from his Bodega Bay summer place to undergo emergency heart surgery in Santa Rosa, California; with a full aortal valve replacement accomplished, the wildfires arrived and Ted was evacuated to his daughter’s in nearby Berkeley for recovery. Ted and Sally are now safely back in their Albany, New York, home. Here on the Atlantic, our little barrier island place is being re-roofed and old live oaks re-foliating as we write. What are your stories? Meanwhile, on the good news front, the great class of ’57 is “Reunion Class of the Year”! The class received a standing ovation from 300 alums attending Class Officers Weekend; Charles Tseckares, Happy and Clark Griffiths, Wendie Howland, Al Rollins and Alice and Tom Macy cheered along. Tom deemed the award a fitting capstone to Bruce Bernstein’s five-year presidency and well-deserved acknowledgement of Clark Griffiths and his stellar reunion committee. Clark also organized ’57’s Homecoming activities, with Happy and Clark again serving their world-famous sausage and blueberry pancake brunch cooked over a woodstove at their Lebanon, New Hampshire, home. Jean and Mike Smith hosted a post-game reception at their Lyme, New Hampshire, home following Dartmouth’s triumph over Yale, with the Big Green winning 28-27 in the final seconds, the largest comeback in Dartmouth football history. Clearly, Homecoming was more than leading the parade of classes, a spectacular bonfire, football and great meals in great settings: Homecoming should be on every ’57’s bucket list. In other breaking news, Paul Hagedorn and Fern relocated from Wayne County, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, answering his Lutheran bishop’s call to help a struggling congregation in Philly’s Kensington section; this is Paul’s seventh congregation since “retiring” in 1997! Paul Sloane engages in Virginia politics: After his 2016 presidential campaign canvassing, he now works on the upcoming state gubernatorial election, believed to be a high-stakes national test. Sadly, seven classmates have passed away since our 60th reunion. Send in those Mother Nature cosmic joke reports, please!

—John Cusick, 251 Sabal Palm Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32963; (772) 231-1248; johnwcusick@aol.com