MIT Class of 1963, Class
Notes for December 2005/January 2006 issue
of Technology Review
In mid June Barbara and I traveled north to the San Francisco Bay area home of Dee and *Tony Geisler* for a mini-MIT reunion including 1% of the Class of 1963 and 0.1% of the Class of 1961. The Geislers live in Diablo, a small, wooded community at the base of Mount Diablo. We didn't win the long distance award, though. That went to Violet and *Ira Blumenthal*, who came from North Carolina. Of course it helped that Ira's daughter Robin and her family live in Palo Alto. Ira's granddaughters Emma and Annelies were something of a draw. *Joel Zimmerman*, also a southern Californian, attended, as did Bay area residents Sandy Auerback and *Vic Scheinman*, Susan and *Keith Gilbert*, and Ellie and *John Graham*. Sue and Bob Spivock were the 0.1% representing the Class of '61. At the reunion Dee and Tony inaugurated a new pool table (in spite of Tony's Baker House billiards tradition). In the first game Ira edged out Joel in a game of 8 ball. The reunion was a day long but we stayed with the Geislers for two days. Tony is a great storyteller, and I'll spin out his yarns for you in future Class Notes columns. My notes from that day are sketchy; I hope the stories I'm relating are accurate. My apologies if I've made omissions or mistakes.
We've all changed since graduation; we have gray in our hair or less hair, greater girth, and various body parts aren't working as well as they did when we were 20. But on the whole this group was in pretty good shape. We all agreed that Victor was the least changed since our undergraduate days. I hadn't seen Keith Gilbert since June 1963, and he brought me up to date on his doings since then. Keith took his microwave engineering skills from MIT to California and went to work for Watkins Johnson Corp. He worked there for 30 years, rising through the ranks to top management. Along the way he discovered he was as much interested in project management as he was in engineering. Eventually the company split into two divisions and Keith was CEO of one. He retired in 2002, but is now working half time as an internal management consultant for Tycho, the present owner of Watkins Johnson. Keith is still in touch with *Pete Rupp*, now retired from Exxon and living in the Houston area. Pete, if you read this drop me a line and let me know what you're doing. Keith kept contact with *John McNally* for years after graduation, but hasn't heard from him lately. John, how about a contribution to the class notes.
I didn't know Joel Zimmerman at MIT, though we both lived in Baker House. Of the eight of us at Tony and Dee's house that day, I think Joel has had the most unusual life odyssey. After graduating from MIT in course 13 (naval architecture) Joel returned to his native San Francisco, and worked at his craft for 2½ years. Then he returned to MIT to pursue a Ph.D. in the same field. One day he was in the housing office, talking to one of the secretaries. She suggested he take a yoga class. Joel said he had never done anything impulsive, but he took the yoga class and it changed his life. Within a few months he had dropped out of the naval architecture Ph.D. program. For the next 10 years he taught yoga and massage in Cambridge. In the late 70's he returned to he West Coast, and did a short stint as a naval architect again. After that he spent three years fixing cars, which he described as "a good job if you want to beat yourself up." In 1980 Joel changed directions again, teaching engineering drawing at San Diego State University for five years, and from 1985 to 1990 he was an aerospace engineer at the North Island Naval Station in Coronado. Then, starting around 1990, he began to support himself by investing in the stock and currency markets. This, he told me, was very good timing, and we know that timing is everything. These days Joel is feeling the need to change directions again, and he's not sure which way he's going to go … one thing is for sure though, his life has certainly taken more twists and turns than most of ours have. For relaxation Joel plays violin and guitar, and likes country and blue grass music. He came to Dee and Tony's house on his way home from the Folk Life 2005 festival in Seattle.
Victor and Joel regaled us with the story of a cross-country trip they took together in the summer of 1962, along with a friend of Vic's from Greece named Katarina. (Katarina later dated another member of our class, *Gregory Parissis*, also a naval architecture grad.) Victor was on his way to a summer job and Joel was heading home to San Francisco. An exciting moment on the trip came when Vic literally saved Joel's life -- Joel was having an asthma attack and Victor drove him to a hospital.
Vic Scheinman is a consulting professor at Stanford. He teaches a graduate level mechanical engineering course in team design for 35 to 40 students. Corporate sponsors make significant financial contributions and the teams of 3 or 4 students get to spend about $15,000 on their projects. It's a heady experience for the students, but the main beneficiary of this money is Fedex; the students are always ordering parts at the last minute. The day before the reunion Vic's son, 22, had graduated from UC Davis. Vic also has a daughter, age 25. And, by the time you read this Vic and Sandy will have been to China and back on a trip with Tony and Dee.
Bob Spivock graduated MIT with a degree in management and minor in electrical engineering. He's spent the last 25 years consulting to food production companies, helping them navigate the maze of FDA regulations. John Graham is still practicing psychiatry in Marin County, CA, working for the county and in private practice. John enjoys his work, but he plans to retire from his county job shortly, and he's looking forward to having more time for himself.
Sadly we note the passing of our classmate *Harry Koons* this past May 11. Harry earned his BS with us in course 8, and continued at the Institute for his Ph.D. in geophysics. He worked for 37 years at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA in the Space Sciences Lab, where his title was Distinguished Scientist. He was an expert on space weather and worked on many satellite programs. Outside the lab Harry enjoyed birding. Our condolences to his wife, Ann, and his family. If any of you have fond remembrances or stories about Harry that you'd like to share with our classmates send them along to me.
Regards to all. More stories from Tony next column. 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.