MIT Class of 1963, Class Notes for June 2004 issue of Technology Review
As you are reading this it is more than a year since our 40th reunion. I've been mining the rich vein of information you supplied me with last June, but I've just about reached the end. For the next four years I'll have to go back to my usual pattern of relying on alumni fund envelope flaps, news releases and cajoling you to send me news about yourselves.
During the reunion Barbara and I stayed in Baker House room 417. Most of you of the class of 1963 have turned soft, wanting air conditioning, maid service, and private bathrooms in your accommodations when you visit MIT for reunions. Barbara and I toughed it out with coed bathrooms, scratchy towels, and lovely views of Boston and trees along the Charles from our Baker front double. This room has some special significance for the class of 1963. It was the late *Bob Ratner's room, and many of us believe that it was from this room that IHTFP was first shouted out into the MIT night during the spring of 1960. It was also the room from which the Great Icicle of 1959-60 hung down 50 feet to the ground. The giant icicle was a hack initiated by *Larry Krakauer and me, and expanded on by Bob (who always thought in grand terms) and his freshman roommate, *Bill Tobin. The icicle made national news that very cold winter.
After the Saturday reunion lunch Barbara and I headed back to Baker with *Sal Mazzotta, Barbara and *Dick Males, and Violette and *Ira Blumenthal. Dick wanted to show Barbara the famous place where so many infamous things happened. Baker House is now much more accessible than it was in 1963, and Sal was able to go into the Baker desk area for the first time, in spite of having lived in Baker for all 4 of his MIT years. He showed us what passed for "wheelchair accessible" in those days. It was a rather steep and scary ramp from a side entrance to the dorm. Sal recalled coming back to Baker and having to wait for someone to help him down the ramp; there were some long waits on cold winter days. We went up to 417 where we enjoyed a bull session as memorable as those that took place in days of yore. We talked about whether MIT is elitist and whether along with all our engineering and science skills we came out well prepared for life on the outside with the great variety of people and circumstances we were going to meet. After a civil engineering career spanning many years, Sal is doing programming for IBM in the Boston area. Sal's son Matthew is married, but hasn't made Sal a grandfather yet. Barbara and Dick live in Cincinnati, where Dick does various kinds of software consulting involving Monte Carlo simulations, risk analysis, and decision support systems for clients from P&G to the Army Corps of Engineers.
I mentioned last November that Juli and *Tom Anderson were in the process of adopting a grandnephew. Tom sent a message recently to say that the adoption is complete, and in addition to their son, 32, their daughter, 25, and they have now welcomed another son, Douglas, age 3 to their family. Tom writes that Douglas is a great blessing to their entire family, but that he will hold off retiring on Social Security until his youngest son is in kindergarten. Tom and Juli enjoyed the 40th reunion and are already looking forward to the 45th. *Pat White sent a short note to say that the history of the MIT Science Fiction society that she received last spring took her back 40 years. *Ron Alpert retired last December 30, after a 34+ year career supporting the engineering aspects of fire safety at properties insured by FM Global. Ron continues as editor of the Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, published by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. He hopes to start a consulting career providing scientific and engineering support for fire safety in existing buildings. *Allen Womack was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, a nonprofit historic site. Poplar Forest is in the Bedford Plantation outside Lynchburg Virginia where Jefferson built one of the first octagonal homes in America for use as a retreat after his presidency. Alan had been the president and COO at BWX in Lynchburg. BWX manages critical environmental and production functions at U.S. DOE sites, and has been a principal supplier of nuclear reactor components for the federal government. Alan also served as president of the Industrial Research Institute, the nation's foremost organization of industrial technology executives. I received an obituary notice from the alumni association informing me that our classmate *Barry Kurtzman died in May 1995, but the notice supplied no details. Our belated condolences to Barry's family. If anyone has any remembrances of Barry that you would like to share please send them to me.
Final reunion musings. At breakfast at the Stratton Center on graduation day 2003, the Monday after the reunion, I ran into Bill Huston, MIT '33. I met Bill at the Alumni Conference in October 2002. He was attending his 70th reunion. When he graduated he had about 600 classmates; 88 remain. After breakfast we watched the graduation procession file into Killian Court. I spotted *Bob Johnson marching with other members of the MIT Corporation. I saw some students I had interviewed as an MIT Educational Council member and others I knew from my visits to MIT. Barbara and I went inside to 10-250 where we watched the ceremony on the big screen projection TV. Among the honored guests in the ceremony were the red-jacketed members of the Class of 1953. I remember at our graduation seeing the red-jacketed Class of 1913 file into Rockwell Cage. I was impressed by their dignity, and awed by their age. Today those red jackets are closer than ever, and they look pretty good. In 1776 the redcoats were the enemy. Soon they will be us. See you all at future reunions.
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.