On to the 50^th!

                        While the rest of you were home, forced to miss the reunion because you couldn’t trust the neighbor kid to feed your goldfish named Huarte and Snow or because you didn’t want to miss your spam mail about mobility solutions, we, the self-selected good-looking, slim, hirsute, unchanged class members had quite a time.  Here are some repeatable parts:

                        First of all, the St. Mary’s women all asked about you, as in “What about that cute (your name here)?  Did he ever get married?”

                        The reunion began with parallel events: Bryan Dunigan, Tom Gibbs and the Michigan City/Chicago crowd hosted a couple of days of golf, dining and shenanigans in Michigan City and another group met Thursday evening at Sunny Italy for dinner.  With us were Professor Don Costello and Kristine, and the late Professor Ed Goerner’s widow Iris.  By the time the groups converged in O’Neil Hall, our class had a hospitality outlay that later gained Tom Weyer the presidency of the appreciative class of 1973. 

                        Thanks to Skip Strzelecki, the Friday night class dinner featured vigorous, animated Ara Parseghian as guest speaker and official member of the “Great 68.”  Enjoy listening to Ara by paging down to the following item (at www.ndclass1968.com).  The 20 minute recording captured by Dennis Reeder includes Tom Weyer’s introduction.  When you listen, you will have the flavor of our reunion – at a safe distance.  Find on this blog, too, Dennis Reeder’s videotape of a succession of greetings his friends sent to Dick “Sandy” Carrigan, who would not give up to ALS or anything else that blocked his zest for life with his family.  In making the video, Dennis had to work with what he was given: a mix-up in the order for body doubles produced members of the class of 1908 instead of 2008.  Fred Ferlic, with the leadership skill he displays as the senior member of the Ferlic bloc in the South Bend Common Council, allied with Pat Barth and successfully blocked Joe Kernan’s wish for entertainment by a popular polka group.  Instead, we had quite a group playing fine Mo-Town.  Trouble is, while we had beauty among us in the persons of Anne Condon, Susan Schanning, Sheila Gibbs, Carmie Murphy, Elise Reeder and other young spouses, we had about as many of them as we used to find around on us on Thursday nights in January.  This gave our reunion the feeling of a smoker, and certainly put a crimp in any plans for a toga party.

                        Other events went according to pattern – with a Saturday picnic on the North Quad, O’Neill Hall visiting, various seminars, and walks (or in the case of Tom Condon and Anne, bike rides) around the campus.  On Saturday night, though, we were in two camps again, with some attending another class dinner program and the rest of us at a Covaleski Stadium dinner Fred Ferlic and Steve Anderson arranged.  When we all met later, Bill Gormley told a story about Lloyd Adams and Pete Adams gaining a fourth place result (a whisker out of medal territory) as the South African luge team in the 1976 winter Olympics.  (“Born to luge,” said Tom Condon.)

                        Turnout was decent, about 200 of us, mostly stag and all happy to be together.  Fortunately, Father John Sheehan, S.J., is becoming a regular at these reunions and so is Pat Keenan, who arrived from San Francisco this time with a preference for being called Jake.  Between the two of these classmates – with John displaying his actor’s force and Jake chortling, dancing and enjoying mischief with his rugby club buddies, our reunion had plenty of life.  Jake had enough left for a so-called Alternative Reunion organized by Betty Doerr (SMC69) in San Francisco over the July 4^th weekend.

                        Our class Mass officiated by Father John Sheehan, S.J. included a sobering, respectful memory of many, many departed classmates.  The list has been placed on our blog.

                        Unfortunately, we continue to add names – with mourning and with appreciation for the time we’ve had as friends.  Sandy Carrigan died on July 6, 2013.  At just about the same time, Bill Kenealy’s son Jay, 33, died after a brief battle with cancer. We lost John Stafford, father of four, husband of Judy, on May 11, 2013.  Louisville gentleman John Fowler’s December 18, 2012 passing came to light in the deceased list Notre Dame prepared for our reunion.  Ralph Moore, who began with us, died in May, 2013.  Richard Reddy sent news of former Bengal boxer and Pennsylvania State Senator Michael P. Shaefer’s death on January 21, 2013.  Gerald A. DeAngelis died January 12, 2003.  Lawrence R. Lange’s death occurred March 8, 2013.  John B. Tracy’s memorial service took place at the time of our reunion.  Thomas G. Wendel died April 10, 2013.  John H. Glorieux died on May 12, 2013.  Please remember these friends and their families in your prayers.

                        In addition to photos, our blog has instruction about using Notre Dame’s database for simple location of all alumni friends.  See www.ndclass1968.com. 

                        Stay in touch – Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. (off) 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.

ND Class of 1968                              Contact: Tom Figel, 312-223-9536 office             

Submitted: May 2, 2013                tfigel@lake-effect.com

Reunion Shock Troops, led by Weyer and Ptak

                Dennis Toolan’s wedding to Mary Louise Deane Nash on April 13^th was a sort of Blue-Gold 45^th reunion scrimmage, minus helmets and safety pads, for a happy group of Chicago and Michigan City classmates: 17 of the fellows by President Tom Weyer’s count.  With the snows of Indiana swirling outside Sacred Heart Basilica and a campus rugby match in progress on a field near some new (post-1970) dorms, Dennis and Mary Lou exchanged vows witnessed by Tom Weyer and Mary, Roger Guerin and Jean, Bryan Dunigan, Tom Gibbs and Sheila, Joe Kernan, Tom McKenna and Mary Ann of Carmel, IN, Tom McKenna and Mary Pat of Chicago, Gene Cavanaugh and Pat, Tom Moore and Kathy, Chris Murphy and Carmie, Dave Kabat and Barb, Ron Zabo and Lynn, Matt Walsh and Joyce.   On the left side of the basilica, like a rollicking set of visiting fans, were rows and rows of festive Mary Lou relatives, a multi-generation, fecund group probably multiplying during the very ceremony.  Through the balance of the day’s parties, from newborns to guys our age, they would hula-hoop, dance, celebrate and, in sum, set a high bar.  The family even had its own troubadour, Mary Lou’s brother Pat, who came from Florida with his band and his family lore set to music.  Bob Ptak, Roger Guerin and Dennis Toolan countered with a musical number Bob remembered from student days at Lake Michigan.  Outside the party hall, Joe Kernan told some Sorin Hall fables that included the celebrated Brien Murphy and a hapless door.  It was that kind of wedding.

                        And it will be that kind of reunion, as you will know from the class blog.

                        Still, you won’t find some notables in those reunion notes and photos.  Bill Kelly and Mary, now living in Scottsdale, AZ, expect to be in the midst of gutting and remodeling their retirement home, this on the heels of a Mediterranean cruise – a 30^th wedding anniversary celebration – that will only miss one or two ports and a mountain top Alpine chapel.  Bob Brady and Margaret, who spent a month in Hawaii during the winter, will be absent.  Jim O’Rourke, a strong reunion recruiter, received no’s from Tom Scully and from Tom Warner: “Tom Scully and his bride will be in Spain and France on holidays.  The Warners will be in their Tuscan farmhouse during the olive harvest.”  Tom Fitzharris, who booked travel to South Bend months in advance, had to cancel with mixed feelings when he was accepted into an Italian program the same weekend; he will be in Rome for a drawing course.

                        Jim O’Rourke also reported the loss of Bill Foley, who died January 12, 2013 in Grosse Isle, MI.  Bill had been a public accountant before he joined the family business, Michigan Foundation Company in Trenton, MI.  John Broderick, who brought his easy laughter and good spirit to many events, succumbed to cancer on February 15, 2013 in Ludington, MI.  John’s mother had been a stunt double for Lucille Ball and other actresses.  Albert W. Stuchlik died on February 22, 2013 in Bonner Springs, KS, where he was active in all the activities of his family plus those of the VFW.  He was a former member of the City Council.  Dick Frey ’66 sent the news to our class.  John Tracy, only recently celebrated for his achievements as one of the Chicago area’s most accomplished high school basketball players, died in Michigan City, IN in late March, 2013.  Mike Duddy died following surgery in Philadelphia, PA on April 9, 2013.  Mike and his wife Sandra had a family of three Notre Dame graduates and ten grandchildren.  We also send comfort to Dennis Reeder, whose mother Evelyn Wellnitz Reeder died in Columbus, OH on April 21, 2013.  May God not punish this mother of Notre Dame graduates for her unflagging loyalty to Ohio State University.  The blog has additional notes about each of these departed classmates and friends.

                        Thanks for sending news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626,             tel. (office) 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.   

Notre Dame Class of 1968     Contact: Tom Figel, 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com

January 31, 2013

A Primer for our 45^th Reunion

                        Let’s start with the main matter before rolling into all the great notes received from many of you: Our 45^th reunion will be Thursday, May 30 to Sunday, June 2, 2013.  Details, including registration connections and our lodging at a new-fangled hall named O’Neill, will be at reunion.nd.edu.  Other information, maybe the real poop, including news of some mini-reunions and lots of photos, will be at our class blog, www.ndclass1968.com.

Bryan Dunigan, who has been mentioned in these notes from time to time, took a break in late January from ruminations about Kelly, T’eo situations with an observation about the advanced age now of Katharine Ross, who played Elaine Robinson in the Graduate.  This led to chatter about immaturity, which led to Class President Tom Weyer, who replied with: “The only thing that bothers me about getting older is, I used to fantasize about older women.  Now there aren’t any.”

Bob Smith, asked for news of himself and his Southern buddies, responded with a generous, witty abundance of notes that appear here and at the “This Just In” section of this blog.  Among the many named in Bob’s report are Ron Scotti, Len Niessen, Jerry Niederman, Brian Peters, Chuck Belding, and Brian Muskus.  The blog permits the posting of replies and clarifications.  Legal actions have to follow regular procedures. Bob writes:

“Just for the fun of it I have three pictures, one a little faded from 1968 and one taken in November 2012 and one from 2011 of Ron Scotti.  It is of Len and Pat Niessen and Dr. Jerry Niederman both of Class of 68 who were roommates in Dillon Hall together.

Jerry Niederman just retired after years of being in pediatrics at varying teaching hospitals, the last being in Chicago.  Jerry did breakthrough research on the effects of exposure to lead in paint on children, especially in low income areas.  Len is still working in his college discipline of electrical engineering and he has become expert in designing and managing interfaces in computer systems.  Jerry lives in Oak Park, IL and Len and Pat are still in their same house from 1970 in Framingham, MA.  Len’s passion was lacrosse (Len and Jerry both played) and Len wrote a book on the history of lacrosse at Notre Dame, a gripping history you would not want to miss.  I also went to the wedding of Michelle Scotti, daughter of Ron (’68) and Sharon Scotti in Charlotte in October, 2012.  It was great getting back with Ron reminiscing about the past.  Ron got his PhD in optical physics from Arizona and was world class in his field.  The phrase “beam me up Scotti” was actually invented by Ron in his work in space optics.  He has retired to Oriental, NC where he fights off pirates in the Atlantic where he sails his big ship and they weathered hurricane Irene.  He still runs the professional association for optical physicists, a riveting group to stay engaged with.  Ron, Brian Peters (’68) and myself were all drafted together in ’69 and somehow all ended up in the same OCS class at Ft. Belvoir, VA, where we became fast friends.  Ron’s dad owned a big pool hall outside Fordham University and the Scotti name was famous in Manhattan.  Speaking of Brian Peters, he finally retired in 2012 after a tremendous career in construction management with such notable projects as London Harbor (Canary Wharf), renovation of Grand Central Station and the most observed project in the history of the world, the clean-up of Ground Zero, where Brian took over Sep 14 and completed ahead of schedule July 1 with only one lost time accident.  His biggest claim to fame was that he was the best catcher in our class and not Joe Kernan although they were both in Vietnam about the same time.  Brian and Joann still live in Cranbury, NJ where they are still fighting the War of the Worlds.  Joann is still educating kids in Brooklyn so I guess Brian is now officially a kept man.  Way to go Brian.  Brian got his best Christmas present ever, tix to the BCS game in Miami where he went with his sons, Greg and Chris.  Speaking of kept men, my classmate, Chuck Belding was world class and ended this year when his wife, Kathleen Wall retired as a VP with BMW.  Chuck owned a wine and cheese shop on Long Island before BMW relocated its offices to the greater Greer, SC area.  Chuck spends much of his time helping at our mission parish of St. Anthony of Padua, where he is grandfather to many African American elementary school children and benefactor to the parish.  Chuck is also a bionic man these days with new knees and hips.  Chuck’s most daring exploits included flying choppers in Vietnam, where you are a hero by chance not choice and racing his Corvette, which he finally sold.  Speaking of chopper heros, I stay in touch with Bill Follette in Scottsdale, Arizona where he is semi-retired and servant of the people in local government.  Bill finds the most amazing photos and information to share with a wide group on the internet.  Definitely get on his list.  Bill and Barbara are doing well and I am trying to prod him to come to the reunion this spring.  Another classmate and curmudgeon is Bruce Morrow, retired from the Army as a LtC and living with wife, Ginny, in the Kentucky Lakes area, where he is fully retired and successfully battling cancer.  Ginny is still working at Murray State while Bruce still engages is some internet businesses which he has spawned over time, all under the Ardvark label.  My freshman roommate, Brian Muskus, finally fully retired for the 3rd time (US Air Force as LtC and C130 pilot), Honeywell rep in Japan, and college teacher in Ohio (while he took care of his mother, who died in 2012).  He has now moved to Ft. Walton, Florida in his retirement home he has rented out for years.  Any of you who think you have it hard, Brian is still raising twin 7th grade girls with his wife, Anne.  Way to go Brian.  Also heard from another Brian, Brian Kinney who lives with his wife, Pat, in Ellington, CT on the top part of a large hill overlooking Bradley Field and the valley below, pretty breathtaking actually.  Brian is retired from the state of CT, where he was an environmental En and Pat is a retired teacher.  Brian now works for the local parish, manages his rental homes in NH, and runs a service business related to managing census data for CT banks.  I ran into Dick Couch (’68) at the BYU game at the DeBartolo Center with family and friends.  Dick was a cheerleader when he was at ND and worked in accounting most of his career around the Pittsburgh area.  He is fully retired living in a retirement community in University Park, Florida, where he is neighbors with another good friend from our class, Arnie (and Ginger) Vance.  Arnie is stuck in a rut of playing golf and tennis just about every day.  This is all the writing I can handle today.  Lois and I are both retired, Lois as a teacher, and me as a marketing director of 35 years from Cryovac and as a COL of 32 years from the Army reserves.  I was ordained a permanent deacon in 2007 and spend much of my “free” time with my Prince of Peace Parish.  We went to our first game this year in Dublin, Ireland and our last in Miami for the BCS game.  Great season this year. See y’all May 30.”

“I have a ps.  I had dinner with Bob Marotta in Columbus, Ohio in early 2012 when I was up visiting my sister in Chillicothe.  Bob is a well known attorney who holds court at the Sciotta Country Club, where he discourses life and banters with just about every member present.  It warmed my heart as I was eating the liver Bob had the chef reserved for himself.  Bob is a very special person and he and Peggy enjoy their children and grandchildren greatly as they just added another reason for Peggy to travel to California..  Also visited another roommate on that trip to Ohio, Dick and Sharon DiLorenzo in Xenia, Ohio outside Dayton, where Dick just retired after a career as a military professor at the Air Force College located at Wright Patterson Air Base.  Dick is recovering well from his heart attack suffered while dunking on young airmen at the base gym.  But all is well as he is back to playing and showing up the youngsters at the base gym with the moves I taught him at the Rock. Dick and his two children who went to ND were trying to go to the BCS game.  Hope they made it. “- Bob Smith

Paul Robillard and his Lyons Hall roommates Ron Droste and Paul Rittman met in Seattle last August.  Paul says the three were part of a group of ten living in a so-called “ghetto” of three rooms over the arch in Lyons Hall (Did student housing know about so few living in such commodious space?).  They included Tom Jansen, Frank Melewicz, Tom Theis, Phil Morrow, Doug Heisler, Jim McCoy and Ralph White.  Paul, who is executive director of World Water Watch in Portland, OR, is getting the group together for the June reunion.

Brian Schanning, who will be at the reunion with Susan in June, calls attention to Pete Kogge’s receipt of the IEEE Computer Society 2012 Seymour Cray Award.  The award, a significant one, is only a recent adornment on the career of Pete, who is on the school’s Electrical Engineering faculty.

Rick McPartlin, who had not seen many of his west suburban Chicago classmates in days, organized his annual late January gathering at a Rush Street spot.  John Walsh was there, along with Tom Gibbs, Ted Nebel, Bob Ptak, Mike Tyrrel and Rick.  Out of this correspondence came a powerful note from Mark Lies, another West Side pack member with the common Fenwick High School, Notre Dame credentials. ”My dad is ND ’43, is a WWII Navy Veteran who survived the sinking of his destroyer off of Okinawa in 1945 when it was hit by Japanese suicide planes and the ship sank in minutes, with the loss of half the crew. The story has a happy ending. He was rescued by another Navy ship. When he went on board the rescue ship, an officer greeted him, his ND roommate Bart Ramsour. There is magic about ND. I followed his lead and went through ROTC at ND and served on a destroyer off Viet Nam and also sailed off Okinawa where my Dad’s ship was sunk.”

Jim Hutchinson and Jerry Murray were among those who got to Miami for that game, along with Ken Beirne and Susan and Jay Schwartz and his daughter Megan.  At the blog, you can read the banter and see the photos Jerry sent.  Here’s a bit of it from Jerry: “The pep really had 33,000 screaming fans jammed shoulder to shoulder on the beach.  You couldn’t fall or pass out if you wanted, just like the rallies in Stepan Center or the old Field House.  It was surreal.”

The rest of this is tough news.  Please remember our friends and their families.  Roger Guerin says that John Tracy is in hospice in Michigan City, ready for communication by phone (312-343-2723) and johntracy68@gmail.com.

John Flemming and Zoli are heading a March 2, 2013 afternoon at New Orleans’ Tipitina’s for celebration of Eddie Kurtz, who was the life of New Orleans’ party and many of Notre Dame’s.  Eddie died January 12, 2013 with his usual set of exuberant, fantastic creative projects in progress.  For example, he had been working on a sequel to Hair, a followup to the five novels he completed in the past year or two.  The Facebook site Eddie’s Exes (and other lifelong friends) is worth following, since lots of the anecdotes have weavings of Notre Dame.  Eddie died not many months after his father and a couple of weeks before his mother Marilyn, so grief is well settled on this major New Orleans family.

Carl Frank of Riverside, IL died at the beginning of January, leaving his wife Ruth and his children and grandchildren with memories of a “Bumpa” whose legal career had been a series of accomplishments over more than 40 years.  Al Berryman, who started his Notre Dame years as lanky beanpole from Bellevue, WA and went on to practice law in Fresno, CA, died October 5, 2012 with his family around him.  Al asked to be remembered with a smile and a raised glass.  We can do that, and will.  Gary P. Verleye of Mason, OH passed away September 22, 2012, survived by his wife Linda and son Michael, who will graduate from Notre Dame in 2013.  Gary headed his own accounting firm in Cincinatti, OH.

John Pearson, C.S.C., who will be working the reunion as celebrant of a 50 year Mass at Notre Dame and a 25 year Mass at St. Mary’s, sent word of former Cavanaugh Hall Rector Rev. Matthew M. Miceli, C.S.C.’s death on Dec. 9, 2012.  Father Miceli came to Notre Dame in 1954 and held all kinds of meaningful teaching and administrative posts for four decades.

Please continue sending news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.  Or reach me at Lake Effect Communications, LLC, tel. 312-223-9536.

Much to Celebrate at 45^th Year Reunion

Fresh from a fall series of lop-sided triumphs in all his Class Presidential Debates, Tom Weyer spent many weekends basking in the success of his administration’s plans for the Notre Dame football program and the enjoyment of our 45^th year reunion in June, 2013.  Supporters are calling the program Weyercare; there seem to be no critics.  The only tender moment for the Class President occurred during the Stanford game debate when his wife Mary Weyer pressed him about the use of household funds for the largesse offered to tailgating friends from the back of the family’s SUV.  Even Weyer backer Jay Schwartz, whose Maryland law firm’s lobbying practice gives him a close view, agreed that “Politics is not supposed to work like this.”  But then Weyer’s answer set everything to rights.  Adroitly, he began by thanking Mary for her question and stepping back for a discussion of class monetary policy since the Minton Administration.  Early in the fall, Weyer burnished his foreign policy credentials during a trip to Ireland, where he attended the Dublin game and rallied supporters in Adare, Killarney and Sneem River before traveling to Normandy for a visit to the Obama Beach memorials of the American and German forces.  With the Weyers were campaign advisers Matt Walsh and Joyce – who arranged transportation – Tom Gibbs and Sheila, Roger Guerin and Jean, and Bryan Dunigan.  Bryan, who competes with Sandy Carrigan for control of the world’s daily stream of welcome emails, learned that Brian Gormley and his wife Kathleen are working for the Army in Germany: she in Stuttgart and Brian a couple of hours distant.  Brian’s email is now brian.gormley2011@gmail.com.

John McCoy started the enjoyable season with an appearance from Washington, D.C. for the Purdue game.  Then the Miami game in Chicago brought Dick Kelly from Portland, Maine as well as many others who gathered with Chicago classmates at Tufano’s on the Near West Side the night before.  John Walsh was present and did all of us the favor of preparing this report: “Tom Gibbs and Bryan Dunigan convened an extraordinary dinner on Friday evening to rev up the Great ’68 members who came to Chicago from all parts of country to Beat Miami!  Among the 44 of us were John O’Connor and Jan, Mike Brennan (Adrienne was visiting her Mom in Sycamore), Gene Cavanaugh and Pat, Bill Gormley and his wife, Bob Ptak and Donna, Denny Toolan, Tom Gibbs and Sheila, Roger Guerin, Bob Timm and Katherine, Pete Farrell, Bryan Dunigan, Tom “Rock” McKenna and MaryPat, Joe O’Neill from Midland, TX, John Walsh and Dia, Dave Kabat, Ted Nebel and Stacy, Ken Howard, Bob Denvir ‘67, John Barry ’69 and Marge, Bill Smoley (ND Law ’71), and John Burke (honorary ’68).”

Paul Zalesky wrote that Steve Van Voorhis and he spent the Purdue weekend at John Longhi’s Niantic, CT home.  In addition to enjoying the game, the former Lyons Hall residents resumed the marathon play of hearts.  Steve is now retired and living what Paul called a “golfer’s dream” in Florida.  John is a former Columbia University professor of Geology and Paul is a medtech industry consultant.

Chicago classmate Mike Minton wrote a note that appears in full on the blog www.ndclass1968.com.  Mike attended the Dublin game festivities with his son Michael, a repeat of attending the 1996 game with his father Bernie.  Mike and his son joined Tom Moore at the pep rally and also met the 2008 Class President Bridget Keating.  Mike’s daughter Melanie married in June, 2012 in Grand Beach, MI.  The law firm received 2012 Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune recognition as “Top Rated.  Another proud parent is Lake Forest, IL’s Mike Obiala, whose son married in October, 2012.

Amid the good news is some of the other kind.  In Dallas, John Hughes and his family are dealing with the illness of John’s wife Trish.  In August, 2012, Eddie Kurtz and New Orleans lost Eddie Kurtz, Sr., 88, who helped oversee the construction of such New Orleans projects as the Superdome.  During spring of 1968, he also sent boxes and boxes of shrimp for the enjoyment of Eddie and his classmates.  We also lost in September and in October two others who were not of our class but, like Col. John Stephens, Professor Frank O’Malley, Father Bernard Lang, C.S.C., Professor John Malone ’42 and other Notre Dame spirits, formed us.  Jim Flanagan, who started his doctoral program in 1964 as the freshman year English teacher of Tom Condon and Mike Baroody, died on Labor Day in New Jersey; the letter of life wisdom Jim wrote to his grandchildren last April appears in the blog and has been reprinted in many parts of the world.  On October 2, 2012, Professor Edward Goerner ’52 died in South Bend.  His funeral filled Sacred Heart, just as his final, stirring lecture of each government course filled his classroom for a rehearing of “mankind going forth to embrace the cross.”

Please send news or post it at www.ndclass1968.com.  – Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.

Put us in, Coach.

In a rehearsal for the 45^th reunion of our class during the first weekend of June, 2013, a group of us met in Canada recently for practice with our recall of each sacred event and connection of our student years.  Dennis Reeder and his wife Elise (Stephens SMC 69) hosted their D.C. area neighbor Carol Ann Dyer (SMC 69), my wife Nancy (Carlin SMC ’69) and me along with our three granddaughters at a grand Ottawa River cabin Dennis’ maternal grandfather and his Canadian buddies built on a small, riverfront farm during the 1950s.  A summer gathering place for the Reeder family during Dennis’ childhood, this lovely spot facing Quebec from Ontario two hours west of Ottawa is now a part of our own Notre Dame histories.  Carol Ann made her visit enroute to see relatives in northern Michigan. The Reeders made room for us among their own children and grandchildren as well as in Elise’s schedule of daily cross-river swims.  For Nancy and me, the days along the Ottawa were a respite from the Midwest sweat lodge where so many classmates led by Class President Tom Weyer are leaning down for the energetic evenings of gatoring and whatever will come along on the reunion weekend.  After the Ottawa, the Reeders, Nancy and I headed to Montreal, where we met with Jim Davis and his Charleston, SC friend Bonnie.  While in Montreal, we impressed the Quebecois with our fluent English and easy management of currency transactions pegged at 1:1.  On the evening of his arrival, Jim was about to enter a store for purchase of bottled water when he paused and asked “Will they take American money?”  A passerby, perhaps a vacationing member of the Development Office, answered, “I’ll take American money.”  The Quebecois are fully bilingual, and virtually all are on Bryan Dunigan’s email list, so we were very much at home as we poked around the city and shared our dossiers on all the people, mischief, hopes and divinities of our South Bend years.  Put us in, Coach.  We are ready for the reunion.

Of course, many others are rehearsing reunion skills, too.  Bryan Dunigan’s annual golf outing on August 9^th gave Chicago and South Bend classmates an occasion for more than one kind of sport.  The emails were a good warm-up for the jokes and banter that make for good retelling at a following year’s get-together.

Early in May, Eddie Hagar hosted a similar weekend in Palm Springs, CA for golfers Paul Dunn, Ken Collins, Tom Roche, Bill Sweetman, and Dave Boehnen.  Says Paul in his report, “We told the same old ND stories, and shared fond memories about how smart and good looking we were back then.”

David R. Lee has retired from his Albuquerque, NM law practice and turned the firm over to other ND talent: David’s son Chris Lee ’96 and Mike Ross ND Law ’96.  David mentioned other interests as well as law: he has published a legal thriller on Amazon titled “The Bail Bondsman”.  Also, his grandchildren Fletcher, 4, and Penny, 2, “can sing the ND Fight Song and have the full ND wardrobe for game days.”

Bob Dunphy kept his own black belt schedule over a weekend in June.  First, he directed a UFC Heavyweight Championship fight in San Jose for Showtime before catching a red eye flight to his daughter’s Notre Dame graduation.  Bob enjoyed hearing the grads serenade 96 year-old Father Ted Hesburgh with “Happy birthday.”

John Walsh happily caught mention of Congressman Dan Lungren in a news story about the simplistic level of Congressional orations; our classmate was the exception with his erudition.  Ralph Neas turned up in more than one story about pharmaceutical patents; Ralph heads a D.C. organization representing the makers of generic medications.  In Milwaukee, John Byrnes is a business leader recently prominent for a regional organization’s $1 million investment in petabytes of computing capacity important for medical research and other technological innovation.  John is executive managing director of Mason Wells Inc.

Tom McCloskey is working on the establishment of June 21^st as National Music Day.  Tom and his wife Bonnie live in Aspen, CO and have another home near their grandchildren in San Francisco.

Paul Arthur Romanski, a good Navy ROTC friend of Brian Schanning, died on May 5, 2012 in Newport, R.I.  Born in Chicago, Paul retired from the U.S. Navy in 1998 as a Captain.  Please remember Paul, his wife Karen and their children in your prayers.

Please note that our class blog has settled at the address www.ndclass1968.com.  There you will find announcements, emails and plenty of photos, including a recent one sent by John Williams.  He was attending an annual lunch with Dan Jordan, John Kukankos, and John McGrath

Send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-881-7391.

ND Class of 1968                 Contact: Tom Figel, tel. 312-223-9536 x 301

February 1, 2012                  tfigel@lake-effect.com

Tragedy Averted

By the narrowest of margins, a mere whisker of four decades and some years in the timeline of human existence, our class and western civilization itself, escaped the calamity that befell a favorite South Bend address last December 5^th.  On that night, the original Corby’s, vacant and unprotected, fell victim to a careening pickup truck in a reported hit-and-run crash.  What if this had occurred in the 1960s time when the flower of Catholic youth, male and female, was accustomed to moments of conviviality and relaxation there?  Imagine the leadership vacuum today in South Bend if Fred Ferlic, maybe in the company of eminent physician Steve Anderson and the late Iowa legal luminary Bob Kohorst, had been in the destructive path.  Not only would we lack Fred’s presence on the South Bend Council but the second member of the bloc, son Gavin Ferlic ‘04, would be absent, too.  And what if Senior Class President Michael Minton had stopped by at that very time for a quick moment of companionship with some other student leaders, with head of the Hall President’s Council Jay Schwartz, Observer Editor Pat Collins, and St. Mary’s Student Body President Therese Ambrusko?  By means of a wormhole entered in early 21^st century Rochester, NY, Jim Hutchinson, younger than the legal age during our years, has been able to insert himself in groups that some remember hanging out at the old Corby’s.  What if Jim, along with Neil Rogers and Richie Rogers, Dr. Pat DeMar, Bob Santalocci and Pat Furey had chosen that very moment for a study break, a decision that would have deprived us all of law enforcement talent, medical and legal talent?  What if future Class President Tom Weyer, in a celebratory mood after a rugby club victory, had led future New Jersey State Senator Bill Gormley, future Philadelphia surgeon Brien Murphy and innocent Tom Gibbs into the path of tragedy?   When the damaged shrine was torn down by city authorities in following days, the outrage was quick.  Tom Condon, who had praised Corby’s for its “tolerance and convenience” during a brief tenure as the Observer Cuisine & Corkage columnist in 1967, fairly shouted in an email: “No landmark preservation office?  What’s up that one-horse burg?”  Amid the debris at the scene, officials found some Tiger Jim Schaefer identification showing that he is now 69 years old, and still looking younger than his years.

Tom (Madison) McKenna interrupted the indolence of his retirement for a chance to argue and to be pictured  in a New York Times article against Indiana right-to-work legislation.  A few weeks later, Tom and Mary Ann were in West Hartford, CT as babysitters for three grandchildren and dinner companions of Tom Condon and Anne.

Amid the letters that came from John Schmelzer in Falls Church, VA, Larry Forness in Granger, IN, and others was a remarkable football play Jim Hutchinson unsuccessfully recommended to Coach Brian Kelly for bowl game use.  See http://www.dump.com/2011/02/22/end-zone-angle-of-the-final-football-play-of-trinity-vs-millsaps-video/.  Mike Helmer called from Napa, CA, where he keeps in touch with Fresno lawyer Al Berryman and Hawaii pizza chain owner Mike Trombetta.  Mike Helmer included visits to Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg Civil War sites and a Tucson stay with Dana Hart and Mary Ellen Flynn in a sweeping loop home from helping his daughter Mary’s family relocate to the Midwest.  Bryan Dunigan hopes to play golf with Naples, FL winter residents Roger Guerin and Bob Ptak in mid-March , then go to Tampa with Jerry Goetz, Joe Kernan, and Tom Cuggino for the former players’  team “Spring Training”.  Bryan says that Joe Kernan will receive the Moose Krause Award at the time of the Blue-Gold game.

Brian Sullivan is recovering from knee surgery in Miami.  Ed Walker, recently retired from the practice of law and still thinking fondly of Professors Richard Otter, John Derwent and Darwin Meade, is thinking of making his home in Paris.  Ed and his wife Janet Eyler went to Italy for a month, then to Paris for another three.

Dia and John Walsh enjoyed dinner in New Orleans with John Flemming while taking a break from the 2d birthday celebrations for their granddaughter, Lucia Walsh.  Flemming, a renowned leather mask maker, leather sculptor, and proprietor of Flemming Studio in New Olreans, was observing Carnival season, preparing for Mardi Gras, and celebrating the birth of his third grandson, Rex.  The Walshes also caught up briefly with Eddie Kurtz, who was busy promoting three of his novels that were published last year: Sex & Gravity, August in New Orleans, and My Casanova. (See full announcement, including link to publisher, in a separate “This Just In” note.)

In September, Bryan Dunigan, Tom Gibbs, Tom Weyer and his son John, Skip Strzelecki, Fran Mentone, Paul Dunn, Tom ‘Rock’ McKenna, Tom ‘Cuz’ McKenna, and John Walsh joined Rocky Bleier at a dinner in Chicago marking his induction into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame as the 2011 recipient of the George Connor Lifetime Achievement Award.

The fathers of Mick McKeon and Mike Ryan have passed away.  Please remember them and our classmates in your prayers.  Jerome Ryan ’41 was a WW II pilot, a father of 11, who often flew his own plane to games.

Please note a new address for our class blog: www.lake-effect.com/ndclass1968.  Send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-881-7391.

What a night!

Tom Weyer pointed out qualities that Sandy Carrigan had on full display during the gathering of class friends Sandy and Mary Carrigan organized at an Evanston, IL country club on June 17^th.  Sandy’s health these days is not good but he was in high spirits that night among all those he and Mary had gathered.  Tom Weyer told of Sandy’s business accomplishments: patents for things he invented, a company run very well, leadership of the industry association, honors galore.  Sandy, our president said, has been able to manage two groups of maniacs: the class of 1968 and Sandy’s Powder Hounds ski group.  In the exuberance of the moment, Tom did say something he must regret: he critiqued the quality of Sandy’s current golf game.  Since then, Bryan Dunigan has offered help getting Sandy to the August 11^th golf outing Bryan organizes each summer for Chicago area classmates.  The challenge had plenty of witnesses from all parts of the country: John O’Connor and Pat Keenan from San Francisco, Bill Gormley from New Jersey, Mike Brennan from New Mexico, Tom Condon from Connecticut, carloads of South Bend friends – Chris Murphy and Carmi, Joe Kernan, Fred Ferlic, Gene Cavanaugh, two varieties of Tom McKennas, a singular Mary Ann O’Toole, and the full roster of Chicago buddies.  Tom Weyer and the others who spoke – Mick Hyland, Skip Strzelecki, Sandy’s sons Chris and Rich – may have been opening acts.  Discerning an uncomfortable nanosecond of silence, Bob Ptak bravely leapt into the breech with a memorable and unrepeatable set of reminiscences about events from our class history.  Amid all the merriment, there was a sense of impending danger: with Bill Kenealy, Tom Gibbs, and Tom Condon and others present, a rugby party threatened to break out at any time.  As we left, we heard Rodriguez being celebrated in song.  What a night, as Joe Kernan said later.

A few weeks after Bob Ptak waxed Ptak in Chicago, Rich Rogers was speaking plainly at the Long Island wedding of his daughter.  Jim Hutchinson reports that Rich, in his wedding toast, told his son-in-law that Rich has “six guns and 2500 rounds of ammunition.”  On the other side of the state in the Buffalo area, Walt Moxham is watching his own children head to college; when the rest of us had our hands full, Walt was coasting along childless until the age of 47.  Obviously, Walt is still practicing law.  He is also talking with Tom Brislin and Bill Knapp about coming back for the reunion in 2013.  “I told (Tom) we have to stay on campus and run the Sunburst 5K no matter how many hours it takes.”

Continuing the thread of correspondence from former Stanford Hall residents, Bob Brady wrote from Connecticut.  For one June golf outing, Bob happened to be matched against classmate Brian Keller, the former basketball team member who was accompanied by his son Brian, Jr., someone capable of 325 yard drives.  Down one with three holes left, Bob and his partner battled to a tie finish.

During late June, Joe Blake traveled from Pennsylvania to San Francisco for the swim from Alcatraz.  In completing the event, Joe fulfilled one of the items on his bucket list; this is a list that tends toward the scaling of the Grand Tetons rather than the enjoyment of jelly donuts.  To the surprise of everyone, Joe did not meet another member of the class at the event.  A vicarious experience of the contest is available through reading of Joe’s account at his company website www.blakeforce.com.

No ordinary woman could be the mother of John Broderick.  His mother Alice, no ordinary woman, died at the age of 94 in January.  Born in Colorado, she left for Los Angeles after high school.  There, she became a stuntwoman who appeared in 40 of Lucille Ball’s movies as well as many of Hopalong Cassidy’s films.  John is in Ludington, MI, where he is a consultant to GM dealerships.

The class notes that follow what you just read are available in about a week at http://ndclass1968.lake-effect.com.  Why wait for trees to be felled and presses to roll?  You can see photos of good looking classmates enjoying themselves, too.  Also, Mike Obiala sent a terrific joke.  – Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.

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People’s Choice

             With the benefit of a copy of Theodore White’s unpublished The Making of the Student Body President, 1967 and after combing the Notre Dame library’s archive for notes of the successful John Darrouzet, Tom Weyer, Dan Lungren, Mike Crutcher, Bill Gormley and Michael Minton campaigns, Fred Ferlic launched his own political career.  On May 3rd, with a plurality of Rahm Emanuel proportions, Fred won the primary in an election for a seat on South Bend’s Common Council.  From Rochester, NY, supporter Jim Hutchinson observed that “Digger must have voted for him several times.”  Imagine, then, how many times Steve Anderson voted; Steve recruited Fred to South Bend years ago.  In the same election, Fred’s son Gavin won the primary election for another Council seat. 

            Our class means a lot to South Bend.  Logan Center, providing multiple services for the disabled, has been the life’s work of Dan Harshman, who will retire as head this year.  Dip into anything generous in South Bend and we soon encounter Joe Kernan, Gene Cavanaugh, Professor Jim O’Rourke, Pat Barth, John Paige, Steve Anderson and, on the distaff side, Kathy Malone Beeler, SMC 69.  In that group is Chris Murphy, whose meaningful career with 1st Source Bank, where he is chairman and CEO, is detailed in a substantial February, 2011 Hoosier Banker article.  It helps Chris that he was born at about age 30. 

            But South Bend, of course, is only one location of class significance.  Paul Stulgaitis, who called out of concern for Sandy Carrigan’s troubled health, is head of Blue Rock Consulting, which has available close at hand in Portland, ME the legal wisdom of Dick Kelly.  In Alexandria, VA, doctors are watching a minor health issue with Mike Baroody’s lungs while he himself spends time encouraging Mitch Daniels to become a presidential candidate of Tom Weyer importance.  Another Alexandria neighbor, Dennis Reeder, is giving his retirement time to the social justice efforts of D.C.’s Center of Concern, while his wife Elise Stephens Reeder SMC 69 is a dedicated volunteer ESL teacher.  Paul Ramsey, supposedly retired from Educational Testing Services, squeezed New York Holy Week observance and entertainment of 70 Easter guests, including Chicago’s Chuck Amato, between business travel from India, then to Istanbul.  Bill Kelly, who has done enough for the financial services industry, took up residence recently in Scottsdale, AZ.  Joe Blake, who does not think he has not done enough yet, is signed up for Team Hydro in the annual June 25th Sharkfest swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco to raise awareness and funds for those who suffer from hydrocephalus.

            In two years, we will be gathered for Class President Tom Weyer’s welcome and other events of our reunion.  Time remains for some of you – Jerry McCabe, Bob Smith, John Flemming, Fran Mentone, Rick McFarland, and Forrest Hainline come to mind – to put on some girth so that you can help obscure the gaudy Pebble Beach golf pants Fred Ferlic may be wearing for the class photo. 

            Bill Angell, who owned some Muscatine, IA enterprises before becoming a financial advisor there, wrote about the death of William J. “Bill” Beyer from cancer on October 30, 2010.  Bill and his wife Peggy Malone had settled in New Ulm, Minnesota where they raised three children.   Ken Castrop wrote from Columbus, OH about the loss of two of Ken’s best friends: Jack Burkhardt, who died of heart problems, on April 17, 2011 in Nashville and Doug Lubbers, an Allentown, PA resident who succumbed to cancer on April 25, 2011 after a 13-year battle.  A photo of Ken and his friends appears in the blog, http://www.ndclass1968.com.  Bob McCafferty, the father of Mike, died in early March, 2011.  On Good Friday, Jay Schwartz lost his mother Rita, a lifelong patroness of our class from her home in the D.C. area.  Please remember everyone in your prayers.

            Leave comments at the blog, http://www.ndclass1968.com and send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536 x 301, office.