Class Note 1971
Mark your calendars for yet another memorable mini-reunion to celebrate our collective 65th birthdays in Naples, Florida, at Jim Rager’s place, April 10-13. Jim has planned an open house for Thursday, dinners Friday and Saturday night, first at his country club and then Saturday at his yacht club, followed by a Sunday brunch at his home. Golf, offshore fishing, relaxing and general fun in the sun are all on the agenda. Contact Jim at jrager2@cogeco.ca. November 20 a number of Washington, D.C., area classmates gathered for the Youth Leadership Foundation (YLF) Award annual dinner to raise more than $6,000 in support of this organization. The YLF (www.helpingkids.org) “empowers youth in Washington, D.C., to reach their full potential through character formation.” The foundation has been one of Bernie Wysocki’s key interests in recent years. Bernie was accompanied by wife Holly, along with class prez Peter Pratt with wife Marsha, Tom Burton with wife Christa and Gene Elrod accompanied by wife Barbara. Barbara has been volunteering at Walter Reed Hospital helping wounded warriors with their recoveries. The Burtons, previously in Chicago, are now in the D.C. area, where Tom is covering the FDA, among other assignments, for The Wall Street Journal. Bernie, our newsletter editor, will have already emailed his first issue by the time you receive this issue of DAM. If we don’t have your email address, this is another great reason to send it to me so you won’t miss out on future communications. Another class mini-reunion, scheduled for this February in Yellowstone, has been delayed until February 2015 for various reasons. Tom Loucks, our resident class geologist, has been working diligently over the last couple months to prepare a lecture/seminar on the history of this most active geological basin for our entertainment and education. Tom tells me we need to get out there sooner rather than later—there have been three major eruptions of this vast basin: 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 640,000 years ago. It’s overdue, and Tom assures me we’ll have a “blast” when we finally do converge on the park. From our friends at Blunt Alumni Center: “John Gilligan, partner at Ice Miller LLP, has been recognized by Chambers USA in the ‘litigation: general commercial’ practice area. John concentrates his practice in resolving complex business disputes by negotiation or trial. With 36 years experience, John has tried more than 70 cases to decision, the majority by jury verdict, in state and federal court, the Ohio Court of Claims and before arbitration panels.” Kim Krostue and wife Sheryl have been retired for more than four years. Kim spent 35 years with IBM and is a retired partner of IBM Global Services. They spend their summers at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and winters in Tucson, Arizona, where he hopes to organize an annual class dinner for any ’71s living or vacationing in the greater Phoenix-Tucson area. From Hans Wolfgang Pfahler, “Greetings from Vreden, Germany. My wife and I retired last year and about the same time my daughter, a German-Dutch-trained lawyer working in Amsterdam, was admitted to the bar in North Rhine-Westfalia. My son is teaching English and geography at a gymnasium near Marburg.”
—Pete Webster, 17 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075; weebs71@gmail.com
