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.