Class of '50

I feel very honored to have been elected your class secretary. I look forward to receiving your news for publication in the next issue of Vermont Quarterly. Please write to me at the above address and let me know what you are up to.

Class of '51

Milt Silveira spoke about the Anti-Ballistic Missile Program last April at UVM, giving a status report on how two objects with a closure velocity of over Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound) meet. Milt is the former chief engineer for NASA’s space shuttle project, and he is currently affiliated with the Department of Defense. He worked with all of the early astronauts during the formative years of the U.S. space program. Anita Swasey Vachon and her husband get together with Bill and Jeanne Semonite in South Carolina during the winter months and in Vermont or at their Maine cottage during the summer. In answer to what he has been up to lately, Robert Morrison wrote, “communications, vacations, and email with Earl Rogers and Bob Porter.” Chester Fogg enjoyed getting together for dinner with Richard Brockway. Col. Philip Kelsall and his wife witnessed a space shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center last February. They highly recommend it to others. Their next stop was a visit to New England in July. David Butterfield is “learning all the downsides and upsides of condominium living, with an emphasis on the downside.” Otherwise, he is enjoying his retirement, keeping in good condition by playing tennis at the YMCA. Arnold Piche moved to Mariner Sands Country Club in Stuart, Fla. Charles Gear spent ten years of travel, exploration, and study of the North American continent, all done by motorcycle. He keeps in touch with family and friends all over the continent. Loretta Foley Raymond wrote from Troy, N.Y., that she enjoys traveling, visiting, and reacquainting with former classmates. George Davenport of Shingle Springs, Calif., wrote sadly that his wife, Beverly, passed away last January, several months before their 50th wedding anniversary. Charles Layton of Easton, Md., noted that he is watching his grandchildren grow up in an entirely different world. Richard is retired and living in a life care community in Exeter, N.H. He and his wife, Jo-Anne Cochintu ‘53 Aplin, have five children and eight grandchildren. Leon Hull wrote that in April he and his wife, Maureen, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Leon retired from a career as a federal civil service technical writer and editor in 1986. Since then, he has written fiction, which is his first love, and has had several stories published, hoping for a major breakthrough. Dr. Frank Toscano wanted friends to know that he and his wife, Clyda, are building a home on the big island of Hawaii on Mount Hualplai on the Kona side. He wrote, “Come one, come all. Our rates are reasonable.” Raymond Gleim of Redding, Calif., wrote that he doesn’t see classmates out there. However, he was happy that his best friends, Ed and Betsy Bigelow Bouton ‘50, were planning to visit. Tom McGinty organized the McGinty Family Foundation in 1990, and, since that time, the foundation has given more than $3 million to primary and secondary education in northeast Ohio. Julia Gain Hutchinson of Milton, Vt., wrote that her daughter, Jen Hutchinson Blaine ‘75, recently retired from a very successful business. Miriam Schenkman Carroll loves to travel. Her latest trips included one to Peru to climb Machu Picchu. She also does volunteer work at the Atlanta Zoo and the Alliance Theater. She is also a creative artist, using materials from nature, as well as a published writer of poetry and short stories. Mary Bremer Williams of North Port, Fla., wrote that the North Port Chorale performed one of her compositions at their spring concert last March. Leo Parnes, M.D., is a tutor in the Boston School System. He is a past board member of the West Newton YMCA and ADA and a member of the Newton Democratic ward and city committee. Carolyn Nelbach McClintock of Enfield, Conn., wrote that she and her husband, Russ, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on September 9. They enjoy visiting their seven grandchildren. William Shorter of Petersburgh, N.Y., is president of the Homewaters chapter of Trout Unlimited, chair of the Petersburgh Town Water Board, chair of the Rensselaer County Conservation Alliance streams committee, and coordinator of the trout stocking program for Rensselaer County, N.Y. Geraldine Phillips of Brookline, Mass., enjoyed a very exciting trip last December on the Boston Arts Ancient World Cruise from Italy to the Holy Land for the Millennium Celebration. She visited Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.

Class of '52

Your secretary and her husband, Dick, loved our one-week cruise from New York to beautiful Bermuda last spring on the original “Love Boat,” celebrating an anniversary and special birthday. We saw the Tall Ships in Bermuda and, later in the summer, saw more at the Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Mass. Harriet Pratt Willett and her husband, Boyd, are enjoying their retirement in Denver, Colo., with frequent visits to Vermont to visit her 95-year-old mother, a 1923 UVM graduate, who lives in Bradford. Congratulations to Barbara Hardy Densmore and husband John ‘51 on the birth of their eighth grandchild. Their house was open for the Garden Club benefit for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the oldest state orchestra in the country. John is trustee of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. Trudy Wolf and husband Herb had an interesting two–week trip to Spain and Portugal last May. Their daughter, Joanne ‘77, now lives in Burlington. They attended a 50th anniversary party for Sara Cohen (‘50) Sussman and her husband, Joe, last July. Many UVM guests were there, Saul Agel among them. David Washburn very much enjoyed his two-week trip to Russia last summer. He is counsel to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind et al in New York City.

Class of '53

Mary Sanford Dodge and her husband, Bob Wang, of Denver will have booths at three Colorado Antiquarian Book Fairs this season. Between their business and being archivists for their old high school, the Peking American School in China, they are very busy. Mary recently spent a month visiting her mother and three of her children in New York.

Class of '54

Robert Merchant sent news that he and Mary recently moved to Island Pond in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to more fully enjoy their retirement. The balance of this column came from information gleaned at our class reunion last June. Our group was part of a “cluster.” (In addition to our own class, we celebrated with the classes of ‘55 and ‘56.) It was nice to see the other classes who were in school with us, but we found ourselves looking forward to 2004 and our 50th reunion, when we hope that more of our classmates will return to be inducted into the Green and Gold Club. In the meantime, I present here the news I gathered in June. Leigh Frank still lives in Rutland, Vt., where she teaches human services at the Stafford Tech Center. She has two beautiful grandchildren, aged five and 18 months. Pat Cella is now semi-retired and living in Westford, Mass. She returns regularly to Vermont to help her elderly mother and aunt. Pat also works with a non-profit organization. Cynthia Stafford MacDonald still lives in Montpelier, Vt., with her husband, Wallace. They are retired. The MacDonalds have a son, Bruce, but no grandchildren. Nancy Bucheim Beauchamp lives in Rutland, Vt., where she works part-time in the Beauchamp Pharmacy. She has taught skiing at Killington for the past 30 years. Nancy has five grandchildren and does lots of traveling. Martha Edson, another Rutland native, retired in 1993 from her job as vice president and director of human resources at the Shawmut Bank. She continues to live in Boston, but she owns a house in Rutland. Martha does volunteer work and travels. Marilyn Giles married Edgar Hartt. She retired from teaching in 1966; husband Ed retired in 1994. Travel and garden keep them busy now. Janice Schenck married Bob Nelson ‘52, and they now live near Brevard, N.C., in what she calls, “a little bit of heaven.” Janice keeps busy with volunteer work of all kinds. Bill and Jane Martin Thompson are now retired. They had two children attend UVM. For more than 37 years, Bill worked for IBM, then for the Queen of Denmark, where he helped develop a new city near Copenhagen. Now that they are retired, they enjoy friends and outdoor life. Lynn Ericson Willey and husband Dave ‘52 had two children, Jeff and John, graduate from UVM in the ‘80s. Lynn worked in a Champlain Valley agency, and she and Dave now run a bed and breakfast out of their Essex, Vt., home. Richard Ross wrote, “Married the beautiful Beverly Berk in December of 1998, and my life hasn’t been the same since.” Fran Strickler Sherman and husband Len ‘53 are doing well. They have a daughter and three grandchildren who live in California. Fran, our class president, remarked, “I am looking forward to our 50th in four years and will be in touch with everyone for help.” Your class secretary has enjoyed desktop publishing as a volunteer. I am now about to launch a second career in that field. I live in South Pomfret, Vt., near Woodstock, and would love to hear from more classmates with news for future issues of Vermont Quarterly. There were others at reunion but no opportunity to get to everyone, so do use “snail mail” or email and let your fellow classmates hear how you are and what you are doing.

Class of '55

For the brothers of Phi Sigma Delta fraternity and their “dates,” the 45th Cluster Reunion was one big fraternity party. Along with Scott Brodie and Irwin Herling, both ‘54, and Marv Nierenberg, Bernie Rome, Joe Siegel, Barry Stone, and Frank Vener, all ‘56, there were 17 brothers from our class: Ben Aibel, Walt Beck, Dave Braver, Dan Burack, Abby Dan, Lew Dan, Morty Gerwitz, Hal Greenfader, David Hershberg, Bob Kaplan, Bob Katz, Steve Klein, Dick Lewis, Al Mufson, Mark Rosenblatt, Jay Selcow, and Earl Steinman. Everyone had a wonderful time, and they all look forward to the 50th. Nancy Brown Bunting of Brandon, Vt., recently donated a collection of Horace Mann papers to the UVM Library. Horace Mann is considered the “Father of American Education,” and this collection is a major building block for the library’s resources on the history of education in America. Classmates are invited to visit special collections in the Bailey Howe Library to see the collection. Lawrence Sullivan retired in February 2000, but he continues to serve on several high tech company boards. He is expanding the family’s second home in Poultney, Vt., which he intends to have as his retirement home by the end of the year.

Class of '56

Liz Semans Eidelson has been writing articles and newsletters as public relations for the Lower Merion, Pa., library system. She also writes poetry for her own enjoyment. Over the past two years, she has translated poems from the ‘70s into French, and she also wrote a newspaper column, “Library Lore.” Liz is also an avid gardener and reader. Kenneth Wadley recently returned from a trip to Egypt and Israel. He lives in Westwood, N.J., and trains his two cocker spaniels and teaches dog obedience. Henry Schriever, MD, had been chief of pathology at the JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., for 30 years before he retired in 1998. He and his wife, Kay Warren (‘57) Schriever, now live on the Jersey shore. They have five children and nine grandchildren. Lynne Stevens Chase lives on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and would love visits from UVM friends vacationing in the area.

Class of '57

Ellen Collins Brouillette of Harrisville, N.H., began her fortieth and last year of teaching. She spends her summers in Slovenia (formerly northwest Yugoslavia), where her eldest daughter, Suzanne, lives. During the summer of 1998, she and Mary Lou Landa Colburn, Judith Lamson Blackmer, Donna Davidson Borefsky, and Sally Reagan Manning got together for the first time in 35 years. Margaret Rotanelli Daronco of Bronxville Heights, N.Y., has embarked on a new career, writing poems and books for primary-school children in affiliation with the Benchmark Education Company. She and her husband, Paul, travel back and forth between New York and Florida and enjoy playing golf and tennis. They have seven grandchildren.

Class of '58

I received a humorous note from Tish Turrone regarding my “voice from the past” in the winter Vermont Quarterly. She read it that her husband, Dick, had made a mysterious quilting trip to New Hampshire. She didn’t even know he quilted. So much for my literary skills! Philip and Barbara (‘57) Dondero wrote that they live year round on a motor yacht on Lake St. Clair, Mich. He is retired from government service and now teaches as an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University. He also operates his own consulting business on land development. Pat Doherty (‘58) Denmead and husband Robert ‘60 have moved to Venice, Fla., on the Gulf Coast. They would love to hear from their “old” friends. Keep the news coming!

Class of '59

As secretary of our class, I have the opportunity to return to UVM for various conferences, including admissions and recruiting, development for class contributions, and, of course, a seminar on how to write better class notes for VQ. I don’t make it every year because of the distance, but on those years that I come up in the fall, it continues to be a profound experience. Chittenden Hall and the other freshman dorms are no longer just “shoe boxes.” Billings Library and the Old Mill are still standing in all their splendor, and the campus is breathtakingly lush. Most importantly, the atmosphere among eager students and faculty is vibrant, focused, tingling with excitement. I urge classmates to visit the university while it’s in session. It’s an experience you won’t forget for a while. Alice Baum of Rockville, Md., reported that “it was wonderful being back in Burlington for our 40th reunion last year. She said that the alumni office and our class officers did an outstanding job organizing the weekend event. Besides her work, Alice and her husband stay busy visiting their children and attending his professional conferences in the U.S. and abroad. John and Martha Harrington (‘62) Webster of Lutherville, Md., also enjoyed our 40th reunion last year. John said that he appreciated the chance to see the new buildings as well as the old buildings that brought back the old UVM spirit. He added, however, that he is saddened by the decreased emphasis in the Greek system, which years ago was so much a part of his UVM experience.