My wife, Eliza, and I were recently in the Upper Valley to (finally) sell our house in Grantham, New Hampshire. Success. While making our rounds I bumped into Roger Clarkson dining at Three Tomatoes in Lebanon, New Hampshire, with his wife, Karen, and family. Needless to say, Roger was nonplussed to learn that I had sold a house, and he was not involved. Worse, he spilled the beans to Jeff Sassorossi that I was in town and had neglected to turf up on his doorstep. Although I was able to provide apologies, Jeff told me that my penance was coughing up my annual class dues, which we should all send along—now.

While connecting with folks through my (now former) Upper Valley homestead, I received this note from Blake Winchell, a fourth-generation Texan:“Hope this finds you well and loving Galveston [Texas]. I had many great days of skipping high school at Surfside! [It is just down the coast from Galveston.] I had an opportunity to visit Chicago last week for a board meeting and enjoyed a wonderful mini-reunion with three great ’75ers—John Koltes, Tom Denison, and my dorm mate and roommate for all four years, Keith Benson. We were proud to catch up on each other’s families. A bunch of really great kids have come out of those unions. Look forward to seeing (all) you (all) at the 40th!”

To complete the Gray family geographic connection, I enjoyed a nice email exchange with Howard Hodel, who is in Honolulu. My mother’s family dates back to the 1800s in Honolulu—go figure. Howard is the acting chief investment officer of the Hawaii Employees Retirement System. He plans to attend our next reunion, which is the week after his daughter’s graduation. As an aside, Howard is also the class gifting chair. If you want to make a statement for our 45th (well…44th), Howard is your man.

Ron Cima pinged me to see if I might be willing to be the class of 1975 contact person for Zeta Psi. Of course I would, so here goes. Hey, all you Zetes, come to reunion next year. You know who you are, but where the heck is Rick Cornwell? One of my fraternity brothers, Brad Ashley, states that he is just chilling in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. However, he seems to have spent a great deal of time and effort opening St. Johnsbury Academy in South Korea. He and I are already concocting a bike ride for our reunion.

Speaking of bike rides, we are preparing for a mini-reunion in Austin, Texas, during the weekend of October 26-28. If you want more details, just send me an e-mail.

Vox clamantis in Tejas.

—Stephen D. Gray, 3627 Avenue M, Galveston, TX 77550; (650) 302-8739; fratergray@gmail.com