Alumni Notes: September/October 2015

The summer doldrums are upon us, newswise,  so these brief notes are mainly about stuff that’s coming up or things you might want to  plan ahead for.

First,  a mini-reunion. These have been hugely successful over the years, but we have not so far had one in the Pacific Northwest. Now we will, thanks to   Charlie Nolan, Lee Voorhees, Larry Pierce and Bill Wurts, a  hardworking committee of four who have already  begun blocking out rooms in Seattle and planning events  for a four-day mini-reunion beginning  Wednesday, Sept. 14 , and running through Saturday, Sept. 19.  That’s next year, not this, so please make a note  of it in your calendars. Further details will be forthcoming. I have the numbers of these four if you need them.

Second, a redesigned website  will be available whenever Sandy Wiener can finish it in concert with a gifted  web designer recently hired by the Class Council. Our existing website has served us very well, but Sandy, who has long been interested in enhancing our class communications, felt that we could profit by incorporating  some of the features of the Class of 1964  website, which is truly first-class.

There will be room for news of classmates, perhaps  more timely than what this column is able to provide; a Class Notes archive; a new In Memoriam section that would compile published obituaries and unpublished eulogies and remembrances that  can be viewed alphabetically  and chronologically dating all the way back to graduation; a publications section (books, articles and blogs by and about classmates); a photo gallery; an art gallery ; and, possibly, a “sound off” section where classmates can blog,  though this feature never really took off for the class of 1964.

Sandy will keep us posted, but I suspect that the new site will simply announce itself. BTW, Google can get you to the 1964 site in about 10 seconds.

(NOTE: SANDY MOVED FASTER THAN I THOUGHT! THE NEW WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING AT YALE1959.ORG. THE PARAGRAPHS ABOVE WERE WRITTEN A MONTH AGO FOR THE PRINT EDITION, HENCE THE DATED QUALITY.)

Third, the usual suspects and spouses — Griffith, Hallas, Ittner, Semple, Gertz etc — will again gather in Parking Lot B at the Yale Bowl to  greet the new season on Sept. 26 against Cornell, , followed by Columbia (10/31), Brown (11/7), Harvard (11/21). For some unexplained reason, the athletic department  scheduled only four games in the Bowl this year, possibly because there were six home games last  year. In any case, expectations are high, although with our group, they always are.

John Moss has taken George Piroumoff’s place as our AYA delegate, and George has returned to the Class Council.

As referenced here some years back, Harvey Applebaum’s daughters  established an award in his name to mark his 70th birthday, the award to be given to seniors who have written especially distinguished essays on public policy based on research in the Sterling Memorial Library’s government  documents collection.The winners this year were Anirudh Sivaram of Calhoun College for an essay on the president’s  wartime detention authority; and Anna Russell of Timothy  Dwight for an essay on how price transparency could improve health  care in hospitals.

Peter  Sears is into his second year as Poet Laureate of Oregon. A  signal honor. Perhaps he will come see us in Seattle.

No obituaries this time. Not a one. Hooray!