The Ageless Class
A 45 year reunion looms for us in June, 2013. With recently retired Brian Higgins of McLean, VA and active lawyer Ed Kickham of the Detroit area already intending to come, Class President Tom Weyer is overseeing preparations for a merry time. Rich Rogers, ex-FBI, will plan security with a special area designated for Occupy the Great Class demonstrators. Tom Gibbs will continue as liaison with the sister class of 2003. Edina, MN Federal Magistrate Jeff Keyes is gathering information about senior discounts and early bird dining. Former Pangborn Hall social denizen Mick Hyland will lecture on eye contact, part of a seminar series that may include “Remembering Professor Frank O’Malley, Lola, and the location of the game tickets.” Pat Keenan and Gene Cavanaugh are collaborating on an all-AARP gator pile during the Saturday night party. Save the first weekend of June, 2013.
As a backdrop for anticipation of our 45 year reunion, an ordinary email from Tom Hansen ’74 about the existence of a new site, http://ndsa.undgroup.org, for senior alumni produced the realization that hey, there are guys younger than we admitting to being seniors. Admitting! How unlike us, who are continually fresh, irreverent and, in moments of maturity, even sophomoric. But imagine these other people, youngsters really, as they revisit the Huddle. Attired in The Shirt and sharp ensembles filled out from the Hammes Bookstore spring collection, stomachs sucked in, they look about, only to find themselves the objects of dressing leers. In the glance of the coeds, these alums are removed from view under a cascade of coats, hats and mittens that would make the work uniform of a Mideast sheik seem like a speedo.
For us, it is different. Even our retirees are on the move. Brian Higgins, who capped his career as a professional engineer during the past year, will travel to Dublin in late September with his wife Brenda. The two met after Brian completed Army service in Vietnam and returned to Notre Dame in the mid-1970s for his Ph.D. He and Brenda met as grad counselors for students in Professor Emil T. Hoffman’s course. John Broderick, healthy after treatment for cancer and willing to credit smart University of Michigan caregivers for the good result, is flirting with retirement. Tom Condon, who is the Hartford Courant’s deputy opinion page editor, has won the first-place National Headliner Award for editorial writing.
The Monogram Club in late April made Joe Kernan the 2012 recipient of the Moose Kraus Award, an event that included a video about Joe and another video with Joe’s touching remarks, including recognition of Sandy Carrigan and Mary. Bryan Dunigan put together a crowd of classmates: Tom Gibbs, Dave Kabat, Tom Weyer, Skip Strzelecki, Mike Heaton, Dennis Toolan, Roger Guerin, Tom Cuggino, Tom Durkin, Tom Misch, Dr. Steve Anderson, Dr. Fred Ferlic and Pat Barth. See http://youtu.be/kTdQiFPPVOQ and http://www.und.com/allaccess/?media=317514.
Ken DiLaura sent more information than Google. First, Ken and Veronica are grandparents of Nicholas Anthony DiLaura, born to Brian DiLaura ’96 and Jackie. The DiLauras saw Jim Ewing while in Naples, FL. Michael Coleman will be a grandparent in November. Joe Scott will retire from the Lexington, KY bench in September and return to private practice: a daughter is marrying soon. Andy Kelly and Mike Wolf are happy retirees: Andy in Winston-Salem, NC and Mike in Williamsport, PA.
Cowed by threats from Jim Hutchinson’s lawyer, the magazine editors removed a reference to Jim in the preceding notes. The full report appears in our blog, www.lake-effect.com/NDclass1968. If you like the white bread version of our class activities, stick with print. But, if you want it all, plus photos, intermittent notes and a chance to post comments, come online.
Please send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tfigel@lake-effect.com.