Class Note 1972
Issue
Sept - Oct 2019
Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1969, having completed our freshman year, we were rising sophomores. Some of you have been reminiscing with me about those times.
Frank Sullivan remembers that he was in Washington, D.C., for the summer. “I worked as a summer intern in the Washington, D.C., office of my hometown congressman, Rep. John Brademas of Indiana. Derivative of that experience, I’ve spent most of my professional life in political and government jobs. Of more consequence, I met Cheryl L. Gibson that summer. We married the week after graduation in 1972 and will therefore celebrate our 47th anniversary next month. We have three sons and five grandchildren.” Now that’s a success story. Congratulations, Frank!
Neal Traven had one word to describe that summer, a word that will resonate with most of us: Woodstock. How many of you thought about going but didn’t (like I did)? Well, Neal actually got there. “I went there with Bob Landback and David Watters. Unlike most, we actually had tickets. We arrived at Yasgur’s farm just about exactly the same time that Richie Havens started playing. We had to leave early Sunday morning to get back to our summer jobs, so we missed the mud bath that afternoon. And we missed Hendrix too.” Yeah, but Haven’s rendition of “Freedom” was epic! What a memory.
Paul Tyson was one of those who thought about going but didn’t. Paul is a retired foreign service officer who lives in suburban Washington, D.C. He says that he thought about going with Neal Traven and Lee Goodwin but didn’t. He was at home in Pemberton, New Jersey, where he had a job as a PX maintenance man on McGuire Air Force Base. He saw friends from high school and dated a few girls in nearby towns. “The summer was good, and I returned to Hanover with new roommates—John “Rocky” Rockwell, and John DeVierno—for a year that morphed into three happy years until graduation.”
I also received a lot of messages recalling what happened right before we left Hanover for the summer break—the takeover of Parkhurst Hall in May 1969. Paul Tyson saw the students going into the building to commence the occupation and then saw the deans and staff coming out a few minutes later. Neal Traven tells me that he was outside on the steps of the building the whole time supporting the guys inside. And sure enough, Lee Goodwin sent me a copy of a photo that reportedly ran in the Newsweek magazine showing the state police removing the occupiers. His mom found him in the photo and, sure enough, there he is on the steps just below Neal. A moment in history! Like many of us, John DeVierno “watched from a distance, wondering about the appropriateness of Parkhurst as a target for protest that really was against a national and international situation.” So it was, 50 years ago.
Write to me about your memories from those times. I’d love to include them next time.
—David Hetzel, 997 State Blvd., Franklin, TN 37064; dghetzel@gmail.com
Frank Sullivan remembers that he was in Washington, D.C., for the summer. “I worked as a summer intern in the Washington, D.C., office of my hometown congressman, Rep. John Brademas of Indiana. Derivative of that experience, I’ve spent most of my professional life in political and government jobs. Of more consequence, I met Cheryl L. Gibson that summer. We married the week after graduation in 1972 and will therefore celebrate our 47th anniversary next month. We have three sons and five grandchildren.” Now that’s a success story. Congratulations, Frank!
Neal Traven had one word to describe that summer, a word that will resonate with most of us: Woodstock. How many of you thought about going but didn’t (like I did)? Well, Neal actually got there. “I went there with Bob Landback and David Watters. Unlike most, we actually had tickets. We arrived at Yasgur’s farm just about exactly the same time that Richie Havens started playing. We had to leave early Sunday morning to get back to our summer jobs, so we missed the mud bath that afternoon. And we missed Hendrix too.” Yeah, but Haven’s rendition of “Freedom” was epic! What a memory.
Paul Tyson was one of those who thought about going but didn’t. Paul is a retired foreign service officer who lives in suburban Washington, D.C. He says that he thought about going with Neal Traven and Lee Goodwin but didn’t. He was at home in Pemberton, New Jersey, where he had a job as a PX maintenance man on McGuire Air Force Base. He saw friends from high school and dated a few girls in nearby towns. “The summer was good, and I returned to Hanover with new roommates—John “Rocky” Rockwell, and John DeVierno—for a year that morphed into three happy years until graduation.”
I also received a lot of messages recalling what happened right before we left Hanover for the summer break—the takeover of Parkhurst Hall in May 1969. Paul Tyson saw the students going into the building to commence the occupation and then saw the deans and staff coming out a few minutes later. Neal Traven tells me that he was outside on the steps of the building the whole time supporting the guys inside. And sure enough, Lee Goodwin sent me a copy of a photo that reportedly ran in the Newsweek magazine showing the state police removing the occupiers. His mom found him in the photo and, sure enough, there he is on the steps just below Neal. A moment in history! Like many of us, John DeVierno “watched from a distance, wondering about the appropriateness of Parkhurst as a target for protest that really was against a national and international situation.” So it was, 50 years ago.
Write to me about your memories from those times. I’d love to include them next time.
—David Hetzel, 997 State Blvd., Franklin, TN 37064; dghetzel@gmail.com