MIT Class of 1963, Class Notes for the November/December 2008 issue of Technology Review

This is the first Technology Review issue with notes from our 45-year reunion in June. I spoke to a lot of you (but not all), and some of you filled out little slips to tell me about your recent adventures. I have a lot of material, enough for perhaps 4 of these columns. If your information doesn’t appear in this issue or the next, be patient, I haven’t forgotten you. And for those who attended but didn’t get any info to me, please send it along and I’ll get it into a future column. A few observations … we are getting older. We look older, grayer, with less hair. We move slower. We hardly dance. At the Friday night dinner at the Brain & Cognitive Sciences building we had a DJ playing good 1960’s rock and roll, but very few of us danced. I spotted Barbara and *Stu Rooney on the dance floor, and Violette Blumenthal (but not her hubby *Ira Blumenthal) and a few others. At earlier reunions we had live music and we danced and partied late into the night. WE CAN STILL DO IT 1963! For our next reunion bring your dancin’ shoes.

So here goes the news, in no particular order. I tried to be accurate in my reporting, but if I got some facts wrong, let me know and I’ll correct the record. We came to the reunion from coast to coast and other countries. The “long distance award” goes to Graciela and *Carlos Uribe, who came from Cali, Colombia. The Uribes lived in Massachusetts for many years, but finally made the decision to return to their childhood home. They met in high school in Colombia, and dated long distance while Carlos was at MIT. They are now married 43 years, and have children and grandchildren living in Florida. Carlos told me that, “Coming to reunions is a statement for him.” He and Graciela have been to all nine of our reunions. *Bob Johnson and his wife Lisa Reich came from Santa Barbara, CA. I asked Bob if he had taken up surfing while living in SB. No, he told me, he’s a wimp when it comes to cold water. He goes kayaking occasionally, but he wears a wet suit. Bob says the Santa Barbara coast and the Channel Islands have interesting areas to explore with many cliffs and caves.

My reunion interactions began before the reunion. *Gene Sprouse E-mailed me to say that he and his wife, H’y, wouldn’t be able to make the reunion. They had committed to a trip to Tuscany before the reunion announcement arrived. But, Gene wrote, they were enjoying themselves, drinking Chianti, and planned to see everyone at the 50th. Gene’s new job of Editor in Chief of the American Physical Society is going well, with new challenges and interesting people. He recommends that everyone change jobs every 37 years! Gene was a physics professor at SUNY Stony Brook for many years. I had a call from *Woody Bowman, who also had a commitment that kept him from our 45th. He is spending 4 months at Erasmus University in the Netherlands teaching students from all over Europe about non-profit organizations. That has been Woody’s specialty since he ended his 20 years of government service in Illinois. Woody’s wife, Michelle, has been teaching at the U of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and will visit Woody from time to time.

While cleaning up and digitizing old 45 RPM records (remember those?) I came across the little known song “Mr. Bass Man” by Johnny Cymbal. It brought back memories of a recording session that *Frank Levy, *Dick Males, *Jon Wachtel and I did in the spring of 1963. I sent the file to all, and corresponded with them. Dick corrected me on my spelling -- I wrote “base” instead of “bass.” As usual he was correct. But he also wrote that he wasn’t planning to attend the reunion. He and his wife, Barbara, went to a nephew’s graduation in western MA in late May, but, much as they would have liked to see old friends, couldn’t justify hanging around until the reunion. Dick said he is very busy developing computer models for the Army Corps of Engineers. Get your priorities straight man! Dick assured me that he would be at the 50th reunion; he likes the idea of wearing that red jacket. Dick says he gets to tell some of the young people he works with that he first touched a computer in 1960, an IBM 1620 in the basement of building 1. It freaks them out. Dick and Barbara went on a conference visit to Vietnam, then took a few days in Thailand. It was a long, tiring trip, but it was quite interesting, with lots of energy and activity going on there. Dick had cataract surgery on both eyes in the spring, So far, so good, he reports -- he is going around without glasses for the first time since 7th grade. Son Matthew is finishing up first year, enjoying his teaching at UNC-Wilmington, and son Nathaniel, after 3 years, has given up the surfing life and has a job 5 am to 5 pm, 5 days a week, working on IT for a stock trading company in Beverly Hills. Nathaniel seems to have only two speeds with regards to work - dead stop, and full speed ahead. When I told Dick that our class roared when I was re-elected secretary, he said I shouldn’t get too big a head. Roaring does not necessarily signify approval, Dick wrote, he’s sure that crowds in the Coliseum roared, along with a distinct downward tilt of the thumb. *Frank Levy, by contrast had planned to attend some of the reunion events, but in the end they conflicted with the graduation of his son, Dave, from the Sloan School on the Saturday of reunion weekend and blood was thicker than class ties. Frank and his wife, Kathy Swartz ‘71Course 14, celebrated with other members of the family including Kathy’s brother, Paul Swartz, who came from Hillsboro, CA for his 35th reunion (Course 8). When I sent the recording of Mr. Bassman to Frank, Dick, and Jon, I told them that often the members of the 50th reunion class get to have a musical guest perform at Tech Night at the Pops. I suggested that the rock n’ roll group, “Frank and the Jokertones”, sing Mr. Bass Man at Symphony Hall. Frank wrote back to me that he was glad to see that I remain a @*!-ing nut, bright and funny, but a @*!-ing nut none-the-less. I took his remarks as a compliment. What else could I do? I haven’t heard from the 4th member of our singing group, Jon Wachtel. My last address, about 12 years old, for Jon, a fellow Course 8 grad, was with Elta Electronics in Israel. Jon, if you’re out there let me know what you are doing. Don’t you want to sing at Symphony Hall?

Some of our reunion news, about the 1963 crew’s victorious performance in the Reunion Row, is already up on the class web site. Check it out at http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1963/. More reunion news next issue.