Class Note 1963

I am writing in early May, about three months since the pandemic began. Our class’ last reported in-person mini occurred March 10, a golf outing at Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert, California, attended by Marty Bowne, Bill Courtney, Howard Culver, Steve Rosen, Bruce Coffey, Doug Cooper, Vin DiFiglia, Charlie Parton, Steve Lister, and Steve Frank, who hosted classmates and spouses at home for cocktails and dinner. All subsequent in-person gatherings in spring and summer, including Tanglewood on Parade, July 27-28, were canceled. Homecoming October 2-4 football mini is still scheduled, pending decisions made this summer and fall.

In place of live gatherings, our class held two Zoom conferences in April, an approach conceived by Ed Mazer. The first, April 3, simulated the annually scheduled Ponte Vedra, Florida, mini and included Ed and wife Charlene, Roy Benson, Bob and Beth Bysshe, Bill and Carol Hindle, Allan March, Mike and Jeanne Prince, Bill and Petie Subin, Chuck Wessendorf, andMary Ellen Sullivan and yours truly. The second took place April 30 and was administered by Dan Matyola for Alpha Chi Ro (AXR) brothers Mike Emerson, Bud Bruggeman, Denny Emerson, Richard Enholm, Tom Jester, Roger Parkinson, Jeff Weaver, and Bill Lamb. I was invited to sit in.

Although each gathering had its own character and atmosphere, the pandemic was not far from everyone’s thoughts. At virtual Ponte Vedra, April 3, Mike Prince reported Jeanne was tested that day at a drive-thru after showing symptoms. (Results were negative; she was recovering from pneumonia.) Allan March, retired physician and director of medical care for military dependents and retirees, said his hometown Gainesville, Florida, went into lockdown weeks ahead of the state after University of Florida students returned from studies in Spain and Portugal with Covid-19. Bill Hindle, retired radiologist from Washington, D.C., who studied at the same time as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, cut short his ski vacation after Colorado Springs, Colorado, was shut down March 13 and found D.C. “a disaster” on his return. “The only answer is social distancing,” said Bill, who sought a blood bank where he could donate.

A month later, on April 30, AXR brothers shared college memories and listened intently to retired radiologist Bud Bruggeman, who explained the pandemic, his views on how the country should deal with it, and how seniors and others can best cope. There was lively discussion during and afterward on how the situation is being managed and when and how to open the country. More class virtual reunions are reported in the works.

I missed meeting Barry and Jane Linsky November 9, 2019, among the enthusiastic fans at the Dartmouth-Princeton football game at Yankee Stadium. Be sure to check out the March/April alumni magazine piece on Dartmouth siblings that features Blair Wood and his three brothers, George ’67, Michael ’60, and John ’73.

I regret to report the deaths of William Hubbard, Charlie Pugh,and Allan Creamer. Classmate obituaries by Tige Harris appear in the magazine online edition.

—Harry Zlokower, 190 Amity St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; (917) 541-8162; harry@zlokower.com