Here are various and assorted remembrances from our 35th Class
Reunion in June. Please forgive any inaccuracies -- I didn't
make notes, and I remember less than I thought I would. Ira
Blumenthal and his wife Violette are living in Durham, North
Carolina, where Ira has been dabbling in SPC software add-ons
to Excel, and with process control systems. Violette recently
helped my older daughter, Laura, and her family find a place to
live when Laura re-located from Palo Alto to Durham. I had a
pleasant chat at the reunion with Tom Goddard, and his
wife, Laura. Tom has been at Exxon Corp. in New Jersey for many
years, and is looking forward to spending more time at a home
the Goddards own on Cape Cod. Tom was a miler and captain of
the track team. If I recall correctly his best times at MIT were
about 4:10. He is still pretty trim, and looks like he could
do a mile in under five minutes. After the Friday night dinner
at the Stonehurst Mansion, we got a ride back to Cambridge from
Faye and Dan Ross. The Rosses are still living in Philadelphia,
of course, where Dan is practicing law and Faye is teaching.
As you may know from an MIT mailing, Baker House is being renovated
in time for the 50th anniversary of its opening in 1949. A group
of us got a hard hat tour of the work in progress (it's being
done during the summers -- this past one and the summer of 1999).
Victor Scheinman and his companion, Sandra Auerbach, took
the tour. Victor is famous for many things, not the least of
which was building the Baker House trophy case which hung for
many years in the lobby and later on the dining room balcony.
The project manager assured us that the trophy case was safely
stored away and would be restored to its prominent position when
the renovation is complete. Victor and Sandy came to the reunion
all the way from Woodside, CA, in the Bay Area, and were on their
way to vacation in Europe. At the pre-tour slide show of Baker
House life over the past five decades there were pictures of the
Las Vegas Party of 1962, featuring Martin Schrage doing
the twist ( Martin was on the tour), and Dick Males dealing
blackjack. These pictures appear in our 1963 yearbook. Dick
and his wife, Barbara, just returned from a trip to Turkey. In
this amazing age they sent us, not a postcard, but an E-mail message
from an Internet cafe in Istanbul!
One of the important things we do at class reunions is elect class
officers. (See what you're missing if you don't attend.) Larry
Krakauer will continue as Class President for the coming five
years. Paul Abramson and Alan Bell, are our vice
presidents. Steve Bernstein, will continue with his able
management of the Class of 1963's funds in his job as treasurer.
David Claypool is our Class agent. And Ron Young
continues as Class Webmaster. I like that title, "Class
Webmaster". It sounds just a bit sinister, and gives the
impression that Ron is somehow out there behind the scenes, pulling
the strings for the Class of '63. And if you are reading this
column you know who volunteered as class secretary.
Jim Fidelhotz wrote to say that his wife, Rosa Graciela
Montes, just got a $60,000 grant from CONACYT (the Mexican equivalent
of NSF) to fund three years of a project called Quinta Dimension.
This project helps kids develop cognitively through computer
use. Jim's oldest daughter, Natalia, is in her freshman year
at Berkeley majoring in communications. His oldest son, Tanis,
scored high on the regional Math Olympiad, and will go to the
national contest. "He's just a chip of the old blockhead!"
writes Jim.
Philip Spira's wife, Andrea, informed MIT that Philip
passed away on Jan 5, 1998. He was a course 6 graduate of MIT,
and was living in Palo Alto, CA at the time of his death. Our
condolences to his family.
Finally, I'll beg one more time for news. Send E-mail, snail
mail, or call. You can reach me at: Mike Bertin, 22 Gillman
St, Irvine, CA 92612. E-mail:
MCB1@aol.com. If you want to
schmooze, call me at (949) 786-9450.
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