From Steve Clarkson, ’55 Class Agent, 70th Reunion: “The school’s presentation and organization (food included) were superb. The Pan Athletic Center (2022) and the Falls Music Center (2024) are amazingly impressive. Tidbit from Art Kelly: the year we graduated the 70th reunion class was 1885, graduating just weeks after Chester Arthur finished his term as President.”
From John Doykos , ’55 Class Agent, 70th Reunion: All had a terrific time. Beez Morton, Steve Clarkson, Ray Clevenger, John Doykos, Dave Driver, Doug Fisher, Dave Haartz, Gerry Jones (Friday night), Walt Levering, Art Murphy, Don Oasis, David Page, and Herb Woodward. “Friday night excellent buffet dinner for over 2000 alumni at the new (2018) Snyder center. Saturday morning parade from Holmes Library to Cochran Chapel to the accompaniment of several sensational numbers by the Class of ’20. Class photo in the Chapel followed by afternoon reminiscing for some of us in Sam Phil room 104. Dinner upstairs in the Mural room of the Commons, excellent fare and ‘a little more elegant’ than our day.
“Dave Page lives in Exeter, the next town over from my home in Rye Beach where I have a view of the Isles of Shoals. Where Dave Driver goes out for a singing fest every summer. Spoke recently to John Palmer, back in his roots in Portland, Maine; we golf every summer. And with Al Polk, the day before the Belmont Stakes (June 7). The year of our 25th reunion, he won the 1980 Belmont Stakes with his thoroughbred Temperance Hill at 53-1 odds. He sounds great from his home in upper Michigan.”
Notes from a recent telecon: Another malefactor has emerged from the shadows to take credit for The Great Route 28 Detour Caper, our class’s singular contribution to campus lore. Dave Gunn, anticipating a long and distinguished career in railroading, helped to derail commuter traffic down Hidden Field Road. Delighted to be able to “trap a bus,” as he put it to me, just by moving a red cone or two. A taste of raw power he would need to run Amtrak and before that every subway system on the eastern seaboard and Toronto.
He’s now the picture of contentment on picturesque Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. With a handsome view out his kitchen window of property that’s been in the family since the 1800s. Where sail boating was great on Bras d’Or Lake and you can’t see another house in any direction. The night so unpolluted by light he can see all the stars in the sky with the naked eye.
He enjoys a ferry ride to Newfoundland but it’s been a while since he’s hiked 6,288’ up New Hampshire’s Mount Washington. Time once spent at his cabin at Crawford Notch now taken up with crossword puzzles (when newspapers arrive once a week), preparing meals, and tending to his tomcat Sandy.
And preaching. At the local United Church of Canada, when the pulpit is vacant and they need a seasoned railroader to keep neighborhood gang violence under control. Just kidding about the gang violence, but Dave does take service to church seriously and to another cause. Staying away from computers. This update courtesy of 19th century technology: the telephone.
When life needs something extra after five each day Dave savors it with Navy strength dark rum, two one-ounce shots carefully measured. Adding style to talent, character, and achievement. What you would expect of peerless class leadership whose philosophy of life is to enjoy it just like he’s doing. When he isn’t bus trapping.
From Steve Kaye: “My avocation as member of the audience for classical music and as a producer-presenter of same in venues in and around Millbrook, NY have resulted in the creation of a new 501(c)(3) org called Millbrook Music Salon formed this January. We have presented four concerts with one more scheduled for June 29 with two Met Opera performers that will be the culmination of our first mini-season.
“I also do a series of music barn concerts in a slightly upgraded barn that sits in a field occupied by a herd of visiting bovines. I sometimes insist that visiting pianists play a piece by Fred Rzewski who I think was in or near our class but who disappeared to Harvard earlier than most. He is considered a major composer who spent most of his life in Europe but his work has been taken up by a few major performers, most importantly by Igor Levit.
“Our book club’s present title is a collection of letters written by Oliver Sachs ending in a series that describes his slide downhill. Among his many notable correspondents was Atul Gawande whose book Being Mortal describes what happens as one ages and says there’s nothing to be done about it so just enjoy what physical facilities you have and rejoice. That was such good advice I pass it along.
“Somewhere deep in my background was a law career, a bit of farming, a bit of polo, a stint as newspaper editor and publisher that somehow led me to producing concerts. I can’t explain it. I really can’t.”
From Peter Parsons, former class secretary for Yale ’60. “Born in Baguio, the Philippines, I’ve made five videos on various subjects of WWII in this country, four on YouTube by searching peter charles parsons. I also have four books available in Amazon Kindle. As the oldest historian in the Philippines, I get trotted out occasionally to participate in a conference or two. Usually, I hang out under the radar.”
Richard Judson Cowles 07/28/37 – 05/06/25. PA ’55. Born Joseph Richard Callahan in Passaic, New Jersey, adopted by his stepfather as Richard Judson Cowles. Attended Andover on a scholarship, hitchhiking from Port Huron, Michigan with his Boy Scout tent, and served in the Merchant Marine on Great Lakes ore boats to pay for college at Cornell. Earned an MBA from Michigan and an MA from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM. Executive with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), then on to NYC to lead the operations of Telerate Systems, guiding its rapid growth into a major global provider of financial market information. Back to Santa Fe in 1986. Lived by Socrates’ maxim, “the unexamined life is not worth living” and epitomized a life of service. At the invitation of KPMG and US AID he facilitated Russia’s and Eastern Europe’s transitions to market economies. Helped to rebuild and preserve The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, now a National Historic Landmark.
Next up: a remembrance of Mike “Digme” Bell 07/03/37 – 12/24/21.
Dave
Friendship isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.