Supersonic Trajectories

Brian Muskus, by way of Jim O’Rourke, brought attention to the recognition Paul Bevilaqua has received for invention of something that resulted in a military aircraft capable of supersonic speeds after take-off from a short airfield.   What Jim advises in his note – a look at http://wn.com/Paul_Bevilaqua – is true. Low-key as Paul is in the interview, the video is about something sensational.  Paul recounts the inspiration that came to him in 1986 as he and his group at Lockheed Skunk Works neared the end of a nine-month engagement, one focused on increasing the thrust of a jet engine so that the craft could take off vertically and then attain supersonic speed.  Design News named Paul 2004 Engineer of the Year.  The current aircraft, the F-35 fighter, caught Brian’s attention at http://www.aircraftowner.com/videos/view/f-35b—taking-stovl-to-a-new-level_1126.html.

Paul’s solution, the ability to ascend vertically and then leave a small space at supersonic speed, could have had some application to various class social events over the years.  One can imagine Jim Davis, for example, or Dick Farina or Al Berryman glancing past a date’s shoulder and seeing a fuming ex-girlfriend approaching from the other side of the Rathskellar or the senior bar.

There was no leaving the last Friday of January, however, when Rick McPartlin got a Chicago group together for a Rush Street evening.  President Tom Weyer was away on business that night, but Rick’s invitation brought out Mike Tyrrell, Ted Nebel, Dave Kabat, Bryan Dunigan, Bob Ptak, Tom Gibbs and Tom’s daughter Caroline, and Mick Hyland for some banter that included Bryan’s plans for a Superbowl celebration.  Serious talk concerned Dick Carrigan and the health problems that are plaguing Dick and his wife Mary.  Talk also concerned the sadness of a baby’s death in January: The death of Mikey Heaton at five weeks affected two Notre Dame households in the northern suburbs of Chicago: Mikey’s grandparents are Mike Heaton and Barb, Eb Moran and Judy.

Dan Harshman, whose long tenure at the head of Logan Community Resources in South Bend saw the organization become a solid provider of services needed by the disabled and their families, is going to retire at the end of 2011.  Dan made Logan his career and South Bend his home; both have had the benefit of Dan’s talent and kindness.

Brother John Paige is now applying his talent to the leadership of South Bend’s Holy Cross College, where he became president at the beginning of the year.  John had been vicar general of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Rome.

When the New York Times spoke with members of Congress about enhanced security, Representative Dan Lungren’s photo graced the article.  Dan, who represents a southern California district, is head of the House committee that oversees security.

We have reached that time in life, as Tom Scherer pointed out in his sad January note about the death of Mike Farr, and the death in 2009 of Tom’s former roommate Steve Bernard.  Steve, says Tom, founded Cape Cod Potato Chips, which he had sold to Auggie Busch at one time, and was last running a healthy organic snack food company, Late July, with his daughter.  In her own note about Mike’s death, Sandra Farr remembered the life that began with their meeting at an ND mixer at the Rathskellar Mike’s sophomore year.  They married in the log chapel in 1967.  While creating and running JIST Publishing in Indianapolis, they became parents to Jonn and Lisa.  Sandra’s note, along with a remembrance by their friend Bob Snider, appears in the class blog, http://ndclass-1968.lake-effect.com.

Eugene “Zenka” Siedlecki, the father of Helena Daly (SMC 69) died in December at the age of 91.  Zenka was a POW in Poland before flying for the RAF in Britain.  Clever and hardworking, he settled and raised his family in Woodstock, IL at the end of the war.  Connie McGrath, the mother of Tom Condon’s wife Anne, died in November, 2011 in Connecticut.

Please remember these classmates and friends in your prayers.

Send your news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-881-7391, tfigel@lake-effect.com.

Winning Over All

                         No
matter how the team fares in the end, the Class of 1968 tailgate program made
the season a success.  Those of us who
enjoy the generously provisioned visiting area before and after a game may not appreciate
enough the work a half dozen classmates put into the arrangements.  Dressed for the three or four South Bend climates he may
experience during his shift, Gene
Cavanaugh arrives in the early dawn and quickly secures half a dozen
parking spots on a line between the Legends restaurant pub and Gate C.  The Great Class of 1968 flag goes up, a
beacon for our class and a warning to those who would encroach on our
area.  Within the next few hours, others
arrive, many escorted by the exceptional women found at all class events: Fred Ferlic, Roger Guerin, Tom Gibbs,
Class President Tom Weyer.  The noise level increases and the cluster of
cars begin to mark a compound.  As the
hour of the game approaches, visitors stream to the area: veterans such as Rich Rogers, Mike Ryan and Jim Hutchinson, townies Jim O’Rourke, Chris Murphy and Joe Kernan, travelers such as Mike Helmer from San Francisco, Dana Hart from Gloucester, MA, Bryan Schanning and Susan from
Marblehead, MA, Tom Condon from West
Hartford, CT. 

                        As
she set up her family’s area in the dim morning light on the day of the Western Michigan game, Mary Weyer kept noticing a
stranger keeping his distance at the edge of the compound.  He gave off a whiff of the sea, this quiet
man.  A Red Sox fan? Mary wondered.  An engineering major?  Finally, she set the platter of meatloaf in
plain view.  Instantly, Dick Kelly came forward and fairly lunged
with Figel quickness at the plate Mary offered. 
Dick, now winding down his legal practice in Portland,
ME, spent the rest of the day with Tom Condon, Larry Forness, Nancy Carlin
Figel and me before coming into Chicago
for a couple more days of stories and laughs. 

                        The
week before, Bryan Dunigan and Matt Walsh had arranged for Dick Carrigan’s feted attendance at the
tailgate, arrangements that included viewing of the Pittsburgh game from the press box.  Tom
Chema from Atlanta
was among the classmates who saw Dick on a day that confirmed universal regard
for Dick and his family as they struggle with terrible health issues.  In a note to Bryan the next week, Dick wrote that the best
part of the day was “’feeling the love’ from all of our friends and classmates.” 

                        Jay Schwartz, largely unrecognized as
the former president of the Hall President’s Council in 1966-67, made the Pittsburgh game a
gathering for daughters Megan, Molly and their families.  Perhaps inspired by his time with Jay, Tom “Madison” McKenna attended the
Restore Sanity rally held on the Washington D.C. Mall in October.  Larry
“Monk” Forness, a Granger resident as of recent years, has been hosting
friends throughout the year.  So polished
is Larry’s hospitality that when Tom
Condon, Nancy and I arrived for our own stay, Monk had a press release
ready.  It appears in full on the blog at
http://www.ndclass1968.com.  Here is a taste: “After a career in
telecommunications, Jim Smithberger
and his wife Deb retired to Dade City,
FL, where they have what is
modestly called a ‘ranch.’  Monk at first
refused to admit Jim to his house, because Jim looks like he’s about 30 years
old.” 

                        John Walsh, who was a participant in
the class golf outing Bryan Dunigan
organizes each summer, sent a report that appears in full on the blog.  John begins, “Only mad dogs and ’68
classmates go out in 95-degree sunshine with 95 percent humidity. . .”  During the summer, John attended a wedding
near Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan,
where he met classmate Tom Bloom.  Class small talk turned up this tidbit: Fred Ferlic once operated on Tom’s
knee. 

                        Bob Brady and Margaret came to Chicago from Connecticut
for a fall business meeting that allowed time for an evening visit.  Margaret is back in good health after a rough
time with cancer last year. 

                        As
we enjoy our company, please remember in your prayers and your attention the
sorrows that have come to some of our classmates.  Donna deManbey Boynton SMC'68 wrote from Connecticut of George Boynton’s death from cancer on
March 11^th; Donna’s letter appears in the blog.  John
White’s death occurred May 7^th in NJ.  John, who was our business school
valedictorian, was living with his family in Branchburg.  Terry
Quinn, who had been living in Evanston,
IL, died during August.  Tom
Condon’s mother Carolyn, who added all the Figels to her own large family,
died on July 21^st in New
London, CT.  On the blog, you can see the obituary written
by Tom’s brother Garrett.  Mike Tyrrell sent a note about Thomas Leigh Nelson’s death in Houston, TX
on April 3^rd.   Betty Doerr let friends know in August about
the death of Kathy Cecil, her SMC 69 classmate. 
Don Hynes remembered Kathy in
a poem found on the blog, http://www.ndclass1968.com.

                        Please
send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-881-7391, tfigel@lake-effect.com.