Peter Fluchere: Covid: saved by the internet, the phone, Zoom. Business survived, with masks and staying out of the diner. Lost 25#. Gained respect for the little things in life. Avoided being stupid, but had to do 2 quarantines due to others inability to stay safe. All good, looking to revive life in ’21.
Bob Boruchowitz: I enjoyed the poetry discussion with Daniel Epstein. It was fun to see a number of classmates on the Zoom. I have spent much of the pandemic with family in Hawaii. I have been able to work from there. I plan to return to Seattle and supervise from there my summer law student fellowship program focused on race equity.
Randy Giarraputo: Living in a rural village in France, we have had an easier time with COVID and staying masked up and isolated. No temptation to go to a restaurant or café as they have all been closed for most of our “confinement,” as the French call lockdown. We keep in touch with family, friends, and fellow alums through FB and Zoom. One of the joys is a group of New Orleans teaching friends that meet weekly on Zoom…we usually have a guest and have recently invited some of our former students. A good feeling for us as they have turned out to be such wonderful leaders, especially during this pandemic crises. We finally made plane reservations to return to the US for a visit…mid-November to mid-January. The light at the end of the tunnel?
James Lieberman: In retirement I have been active with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine as a faculty facilitator for first year medical students, interviewer of prospective medical students, and a member of the Alumni Board. In the last year these activities have been virtual on Zoom. I am having very rewarding experiences as a volunteer at CWRU Covid-19 vaccination clinics. Belinda and I have been blessed with good health. Belinda Yen-Lieberman continues in her infectious disease research at the Cleveland Clinic. We run into classmate Alan Gross during our weekly grocery shopping. Before Covid-19 we would see Bob Zatroch at our weekly yoga class.
George Lagassa: Spent my entire post graduate school (SUNY/Buffalo) life in New Hampshire, where my first job was as a member of the faculty of Political Science at UNH. Whoever would have predicted that I would retire in 2020, closing a successful consulting practice that specialized in the appraisal and valuation of electric power plants and utility assets? But I put that Poli Sci PhD to use over the years by serving in various volunteer municipal government posts including Selectman, planning board member, school board member, and Zoning Board chair (from which I also retired last year). I live with my wife of 49 years (Peri) in the seacoast New Hampshire town of North Hampton, near my oldest daughter, Phelps, in Newburyport, MA. My younger daughter, Beach, lives in Brooklyn, NY and will produce our first grandchild in April 2021.
Byard Clemmons: Like many of you, I am disappointed that we were not able to celebrate our 50th Reunion Year together either last spring or this year. I have enjoyed hearing from many of you through email and on Facebook. I look forward to getting together when it is safe to do so. Gerry and I have gotten both Pfizer shots and I encourage you all to get vaccinated. I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the beginnings of our 8th Decade. I hope to catch up with you during the virtual reunion in May. Stay safe.
Michael Podmaniczky: Moved to Salem, Mass. Semi-retired but still working independently as museum conservator/craftsman. Contributor to “Boston Furniture, 1700-1900”, still writing for WoodenBoat magazine. (Zip code same as graduation year!)
Ron Ditmars: Still teaching grad students German in a summer intensive format via the Erasmus Academy which I have directed for the past 31 years. Now working on packaging that course for sale. Sarah, our second daughter living on Nantucket Island, let us know that she is expecting on April 30, who will be our first grandchild. It is such a miracle, even to contemplate the origin of the baby’s soul. Our oldest daughter is still teaching art in a Bronx "second chance" high school, and Heather, our youngest, is teaching music in an elementary school in Queens. Two months ago, a third (and the same) giclee, limited edition pen and ink drawing of a harbor scene of mine sold for $700 – which I had sketched 37 years ago on the island. The boutique showing it keeps $350. You never know if something you have created in the past has value today! And here is a gift for everyone: google “Medical Medium” and listen to Anthony Williams deliver one astounding talk after another (at no charge) on the ideal health foods. Keep safe and sound.
Phillip Parker: After talking about it for a couple of years, my wife and I sold our home in Bethesda, Maryland and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in March of last year. We now live four blocks from our grandchildren and 510 miles closer to the cottage that we own on Little Traverse Bay. We drove out to Ann Arbor on March 11, and already there were more trucks than cars on the Pennsylvania and Ohio turnpikes. Within two weeks after we arrived, everything in Michigan shut down and we became the caregivers for two grandchildren ages seven and one. Our daughter, a pulmonologist and critical care specialist, is on the University of Michigan Covid task force and was working crazy hours during March and April. Our son-in-law, who works in the university international student affairs office was helping international students (U. of M. has 6,000+) deal with travel bans, housing issues, and other uncertainties caused by the shutdown. In retrospect, we feel fortunate to have moved when we did. It was strange living in a university town with virtually no students, and we missed having an opportunity to attend the concerts and lectures that we looked forward to when making the move. But that has been more than offset by being able to help our daughter and her family get through a difficult year. I've had the opportunity to watch our younger granddaughter learn to walk and now begin learning to talk, and I often reflect that I spend more time with her than I was able to spend with her mother at the same age. There is something to be said for retirement.
Richard McManus: Here we go Kenyon! So, our reunion rehearsals are continuing and my harmonica playing is much better than it was a year ago. Despite living in cloister for the past year I have been busy teaching (hello Zoom) and keeping close with my family. Since last year I have added a new grandson, so I am up to three (3) grandchildren. Given that I have four daughters, this gender number came as a surprise to all of us. I am doing some work on CHANGING THE WAY READING IS TAUGHT which remains a national disgrace. Right now, I am working two ways on that. This way (www.breakingthecode.com) and starting an effort to train teachers to be better at this critical skill. Why is our country broken? Because so many people cannot read sufficiently well to understand what is going on.
I have also worked on my fitness and HOPE to be better able to sail this summer, when my boat will be back in the water and ready to cruise the Boston Harbor area. Perhaps I will go further on her this year. Anyway, hope to see my classmates at some point. This is the best time of year in Gambier, so don't miss it. If you have Facebook we are putting some music together from way back at www.facebook.com/St-Johns-Wood-Night-Train-106372084502918
There you go. More than you wanted to know!
David Adams: I am as busy as possible while "sheltering in place" in Northern California with everything from Netflix binges - their soapy dramas - to multiple on-line classes for seniors at the U of California to formal public affairs presentations. I am one of the somewhat modest number of Californians fully vaccinated against COVID.
David Taylor: The 50th year reunion has passed us by. I hope that my classmates have weathered the COVID storm. My wife Joanne and I live in Bozeman, MT. It’s a lovely college town of about 30,000 in the mountain west. I’m an infectious disease doctor working from home this last year on COVID related therapies. We just got the Moderna vaccine and are feeling increasingly optimistic about getting out. Chief among our travels was to see my son James Taylor ’07 and his wife who just had a baby boy, my first grandson.
John Morrell: Nova Scotia Canada weathered the COVID19 pandemic better than any other place in Canada. My 3 churches are open for worship, restaurants have had inside dining for months. I was in a live theatre production earlier this month and the sea ice in front of my beach front home has disappeared. Had our first walk on the beach yesterday with my wife and two cats, one from our time in Doha, Qatar and the other from my 6 months ministry in Grenada. On March 28th we had our first seals sunning on the rocks in front of our beach home. Looking forward to our virtual reunion in May.
I want to put together a PowerPoint of the Kenyon Choir European/England Tour in the summer of 1968. Choir members Classes of 1968, 69, 70 and 71 can contact me by email if they have scanned photos to send me. I also hope to upload my tape from our concert at Coventry Cathedral. Contact: jkmorrell@hotmail.com
