Just got news from alumni relations that William Veech passed away last (2016) year.

The Upper Valley crowd piled into the Norwich Inn 40 strong, about evenly divided by sex, for an annual Christmas, oops, holiday luncheon. Host Jim Adler announced a new venue may have to be found for the ensuing year due to the ravages of inflation. Watch this space.

As we smash into our collective 80th birthdays, a plan gestates for an 80th birthday bash in Key West, Florida, where several of our lads lurk who are willing to organize a cultural event at, say, Hemmingway’s house or an adult beverage bash at Margaritaville or both. Stay tuned.

Alas, your correspondent inadvertently lost his class file of things from you all about which he could select tidbits and so I plead for new and improved news items to present in future columns. We receive so few I can print them. So resend and I will file them and if the originals then float to the cloud or, as we WW II Army brats remember, are grabbed by the gremlins, I can dust them off, pick them right up and plow ahead.

—John M. Mitchell, 300 Grove St., Rutland, VT 05701; (802) 775 3716; jmm00033@comcast.net