Peter Maeck lived next door to me in Gile Hall freshman year. He just emailed me about his new book, Remembrance of Things Present: Making Peace with Dementia. It’s a rhyming, photographically illustrated account of Peter’s journey with his father, William Maeck ’43, while he had Alzheimer’s. Peter writes, “Dad and I moved from a prose relationship into one of poetry, where we engaged more in rhyme than reason, freezing time initially then melting it and coming together in a lyrical realm between what had gone before and what was yet to be. If art can offer no more than palliative relief from Alzheimer’s, that is no less than modern medicine has done to date. Ideally, art and science can collaborate to reduce dementia’s effects and ultimately reach a cure.” Peter’s book is on Amazon. He’s on YouTube: “Maeck TEDxMarionCorrectional.” More at www.petermaeck.com. Wah hoo wah to Richard Wooster for planning another great New York mini-reunion dinner at the Yale Club. Thirty-one classmates and significant others came from near and far (Don O’Neil from Orlando, Florida; Bob and Lisa Lider from Naples, Florida;and Bob Joy from Boston). Two newly adopted exchange students, Nancy Hoverman (Mount Holyoke ’73) and Wendy Samuel (Sarah Lawrence ’71), were welcomed by the group. Also attending were Frank Anton, John Colangelo, Russ Deyo, Tony FitzPatrick, Mike Hannigan, Ken Harbour, Ron Harris, Steve Hoverman, Tom Jackson, Thorn Jenness, Bill Kennedy, Jeff andJudy McElnea, Tom McGuane, Rob Olson, Peter Pratt, Janet Rosa, Craig Shallcross, Rich Sternberg and Frank Watkins. Jon Osgood remembers his close friend and classmate, John Shanahan, who died in May: “John and I go back to the first day of college as freshmen, when we met in New Hamp Hall. Mark Totman and I were roommates and John, Dan Clouse and Roger Prince were rooming down the hall. I immediately liked this guy who referred to himself as ‘Shanahan.’ Friendly, interesting, interested and a great sense of humor. It was the start of a 50-year friendship. One of the best times in my life was an entire summer spent with Shans. After our sophomore year Shans and I started a cross-country road trip in my parents’ ’64 Ford Fairlane that eventually brought us to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where we stayed with Skidmore friends. It was a fabulous summer. On our return trip back East, we stopped to visit with another of John’s Skidmore friends, Martha Merrick, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Little did I know that John and Martha would later marry and spend their lives together. Recently, the Totmans and Osgoods were incredibly fortunate to have spent two wonderful days with John and Martha, just two weeks before John’s passing. We were reminded of John’s gift for storytelling, his wonderful sense of humor and his great sense of humanity. It is an honor to have been his friend.”

—Bob Lider, 9225 Veneto Place, Naples, FL 34113; liderbob@yahoo.com