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.