With great merriment but low expectations, the usual suspects — Charles and Bobbi Griffith, George and Rose Piroumoff, Herb and Barbara Hallas, Bob and Lisa Semple — gathered at the Bowl for Yale’s home opener against Colgate. Yale lost, with a new coach, but played a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so there are high hopes for the future. As for us, we looked not a day older and not an ounce heavier, despite Rose’s brownies.
Phil Kopper delivered a lovely eulogy in Washington for his friend of 55 years, Dan Crowley, who died of cancer in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, leaving his wife Susie and two daughters. Their friendship (and Phil’s reminiscences) begin at Yale, where they met one Saturday on a charter bus going from New Haven to a mixer in Poughkeepsie, part of a “herd of Yale freshmen in tweed jackets and rep ties itching to encounter flocks of Vassar girls in black dresses with gold circle pins.” Both were Newsies (Phil a reporter and editor, Dan the top photography honcho) both covered the famous St. Patrick’s Day riot, both lived in Pierson, both liked bourbon, both gravitated to Washington, where Dan, the son of a Baltimore cop who came to Yale on an ROTC scholarship, founded a small law firm, played violin, raised a family, sailed the Chesapeake Bay — and remained to the end, for Phil, “the friend I could call any time. ”
Dan’s passing is one of several in a depressing roll call this month:
Jim McCullough, survived by his wife Martha and six children, died after long illness in Falmouth, MA., in July. Jim came to Yale from Pittsburgh and Shadyside Academy, got a degree in chemical engineering and worked as an educator and engineer before settling in Falmouth to work as an oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and to indulge two of his great passions, astronomy and sailing.
Dick Armstrong, survived by his wife of 51 years, Elsie, and four children, died in Farmington, ME. in July. He came to Yale from Wilton Academy in Wilton, ME., where he ran a successful insurance agency and later became director of human resources at Forster Manufacturing. Maine was his life: he hunted, fished and camped, served on many local committees, served as Wilton’s town clerk and served as the area’s representative to the state legislature for four terms.
Michael Koplow, who spent part of his professional career as an engineering consultant, died in May in Woburn, MA.He is survived by his wife Dorothy and four children, who ask that remembrances be made to support pancreatic research at the Hirshberg Foundation. A memorial fund in his name as been established at www.pancreatic.org/fund/michaeldkoplowmemorial.
Upton S. (Jerry) Brady III died in Greenwich, Ct., in May, survived by his wife Julie, three children and two stepchildren. He came to Yale via Punahou in Hawaii and Choate, earned an MBA at Harvard and worked in advertising at Benton & Bowles, among other firms. H was a passionate gardner and for many years a member of the board of deacons at North Greenwich Congregational Church.
David Ganley died of lung cancer on Aug 4 in Redlands, CA., survived by his wife Norene, three children and two stepchildren. David lived in Pierson, rowed crew, then embarked on an interesting and varied professional life the Army that began at t IBM, touched down briefly at the The York Herald Tribune, then swerved into the law. He received a law degree after he turned 40, in North Carolina, practiced law there for a numbers of years and then became a respected Administrative lLaw Judge in California.
We will have, I sincerely hope, more cheerful news next time.