Class Note 1955
Issue
Jul - Aug 2016
One way to wring news from our classmates is the old-fashioned telephone. So here’s a report on conversations with four of them.
Eric Bergstrom, our former Falstaff impersonator, is peacefully enjoying rural life in horse country west of Fort Pierce, Florida. Eric’s wife, Nancy, an accomplished horsewoman, cares for a rescued Arabian. Eric has volunteered with nearby Stuart’s police department for some nine years, doing vehicle patrolling and relieving sworn officers of time-consuming duties such as home-checks. He serves unarmed in a different-style uniform and calls for the real police if trouble looms. Eric’s five children all live and work in Grand Cayman, where Eric had run a resort and later served as a government tourist official.
Frank Carleton is recuperating from back surgery last August and lives with wife Nancy in a retirement home in Eugene, Oregon. They celebrated 60 years of marriage in June 2015 and are busy with water aerobics and bridge. After Frank’s peripatetic educational career around the country, they moved to the Northwest to be near family. Two grandsons keep the Carletons engaged, both in college in Oregon and one to be married during Labor Day in Louisville, Kentucky, an event Frank and Nancy plan to attend.
Jack Cogswell has broadened his civic duties in Needham, Massachusetts, from his earlier selectman post to positions on various community boards. He serves as a commissioner of trust funds, overseeing town investments of some $6.5 million in municipal uses such as the library, ensuring funds are disbursed as organizational trust instruments require. As a commissioner for tax assistance, Jack works to provide funds to residents for real estate tax bills.
Gordie Russell, wife Tina and two others absorbed today’s Cuba on a private, early spring visit. I hope later to provide more on Gordie’s experience and reaction to personal meetings there.
We mourn the passing of three ’55s: Richard T. Bueschel Jr., James W. Hall III, M.D., and Nelson C. Nicholson. A classmate’s expertise in side activities sometimes surfaces only after he is gone. How many knew, as Nelson’s obituary recounted, that he was an accomplished magician?
—Gale Roberson, 3140 Sprucewood Road, Wilmette, IL 60091; (847) 251-3125; galeroberson@sbcglobal.net
Eric Bergstrom, our former Falstaff impersonator, is peacefully enjoying rural life in horse country west of Fort Pierce, Florida. Eric’s wife, Nancy, an accomplished horsewoman, cares for a rescued Arabian. Eric has volunteered with nearby Stuart’s police department for some nine years, doing vehicle patrolling and relieving sworn officers of time-consuming duties such as home-checks. He serves unarmed in a different-style uniform and calls for the real police if trouble looms. Eric’s five children all live and work in Grand Cayman, where Eric had run a resort and later served as a government tourist official.
Frank Carleton is recuperating from back surgery last August and lives with wife Nancy in a retirement home in Eugene, Oregon. They celebrated 60 years of marriage in June 2015 and are busy with water aerobics and bridge. After Frank’s peripatetic educational career around the country, they moved to the Northwest to be near family. Two grandsons keep the Carletons engaged, both in college in Oregon and one to be married during Labor Day in Louisville, Kentucky, an event Frank and Nancy plan to attend.
Jack Cogswell has broadened his civic duties in Needham, Massachusetts, from his earlier selectman post to positions on various community boards. He serves as a commissioner of trust funds, overseeing town investments of some $6.5 million in municipal uses such as the library, ensuring funds are disbursed as organizational trust instruments require. As a commissioner for tax assistance, Jack works to provide funds to residents for real estate tax bills.
Gordie Russell, wife Tina and two others absorbed today’s Cuba on a private, early spring visit. I hope later to provide more on Gordie’s experience and reaction to personal meetings there.
We mourn the passing of three ’55s: Richard T. Bueschel Jr., James W. Hall III, M.D., and Nelson C. Nicholson. A classmate’s expertise in side activities sometimes surfaces only after he is gone. How many knew, as Nelson’s obituary recounted, that he was an accomplished magician?
—Gale Roberson, 3140 Sprucewood Road, Wilmette, IL 60091; (847) 251-3125; galeroberson@sbcglobal.net