Class of 1970

The “Trips” column in summer 2023 included only five classmates. Here are two more.

Terry Shumaker (Edward III) tells us that Terry is derived from the Latin word tertius, which means “third.” He and Polly, his wife of 54 years, have been retired from law and other careers. They split their time (and golf) between Concord, New Hampshire, and Venice, Florida.

Bill Darter (William III) writes, “Since retiring in 2010 we’ve been splitting our time between our home of 33 years in Woodbridge, Virginia, and a retirement villa in Costa Rica. The villa is in a family compound with three of my wife’s sisters. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to live in a compound that has its own guard shack (no guard but it’s mainly used as the storage area for the gardener who serves the whole compound. In Virginia we live near our two daughters and granddaughters.”

And classmate Bill Ryan does one better than being merely a “Trip.” He’s a fourth (or IV).

In other news, Dave Hughes writes, “I was in U.S. Air Force ROTC at Dartmouth and learned to fly at Post Mills, Vermont, on a grass field, where final approach came in over a cemetery! That training paid off. I now freelance for a half-dozen aviation and aerospace magazines, mostly writing about avionics, uncrewed aircraft, and air taxis. I get to interview industry experts, such as the colonel who saved GPS and is now a professor emeritus at Stanford. I wrote for Air Technology magazine for more than 20 years and retired in 2019 after a decade of writing for the Federal Aviation Administration.”

Since few classmates have submitted anything recently, I’ll tell you what keeps me busy besides writing this column. I volunteer for two nonprofit organizations in my small hometown on eastern Long Island, the Bridgehampton Village Improvement Society (BVIS) and the Bridgehampton Civic Association. BVIS focuses on planting flower boxes that line the sidewalks of the village’s Main Street. Just before winter it decorates and lights Christmas trees on the same street. The civic association is focused more on making sure the village retains its small-town feel and that any new construction observes local codes. Members often appear before local town hearings.

In the process of volunteering, I hired a graphic design company to create a new logo for BVIS (here’s where I wish this column allowed graphics). I also arranged for the local radio station to air a series of public service announcements for the civic association. All the time I spent at WDCR did not go in vain.

—Stuart Zuckerman, P.O. Box 85, Bridgehampton, NY 11932; (917) 559-0063