Class Note 1968

Midwinter greetings! John Melski shared sobering news. In October he and Linda went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with their whole family, including their son-in-law’s brother, Nathan Kruser, and his family. On the last day of a glorious week at the beach Nathan went wading in exceedingly rough surf and was pulled out to sea by rip currents. The family on the beach had no cell phones and had to run to fetch help, which arrived too late. Nathan had drowned. He left behind a wife and two small children and shattered hearts among the family. A very sad teachable moment: Don’t swim in rough surf if you are a weak swimmer, and always have cell phones at the beach. On the brighter side, John’s transplanted liver has responded well to anti-hepatitis B medicine and is doing better. John is only moderately slowing down at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, from 110 percent to 80 percent. He also has been invited to speak to the hospital’s residents about the experiences of being a doctor patient. Ted Gundy, another of our physician classmates, and former Aire, wrote, noting he is still working full time in Rye, New York, the town where he grew up. He is an orthopedic surgeon, but stopped doing surgery six years ago to save on stress and malpractice premiums. In 1996 he was one of the 16 founders of the Westmed Medical Group, which has grown to 300 doctors. His wife, Donna, is a family therapist and they have three children (an anesthesiologist, a sound editor and a glass blower) and five grandchildren. Music remains an integral part of Ted’s life; he wrote and performed songs at each of his kids’ weddings and most recently performed in the Bach Magnificat for the third time. Ted was surprised and honored last year when the Aires, who were in New York City at Alice Tully Hall, called him up to the stage to sing his arrangement of “Somewhere” with them. Gene Mackles new career in game design was described in a recent Boston Globe Magazine article. In 2012 he invented a small card game called Iota, which won a Mensa Award and sold more than 100,000 units. More recently he founded his own company, PDG Games, and created three new card games: BOP!, D!Git and Q!nto. I saw a Don Ethan Miller post on Facebook noting the availability of a four-DVD set of instructional videos from Willem De Thouars, published by Don’s Mastadon Productions. The site notes that Don has been doing tai chi for more than 40 years, and is a four time national champion in tai chi tuishou (pushing-hands style). Clark Wadlow expanded on his family news in the recent newsletter: He has happily become involved in Ironman triathlon competition. Last October he competed in the Beach to Battleship Half Ironman race in his new hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. He beat 20 percent of the field and was the third oldest competitor!


—David Peck, 54 Spooner St., Plymouth, MA 02360; davidbpeck@aol.com