Update 4-10-12

Hi,

First, Mike Wallace just died.  He was right behind Walter Cronkite for me though Wallace's perceived arrogance sometimes seemed irritating, and I haven't regularly watched 60 Minutes for years.  Still, he was a pioneer, and we were there to watch a lot of his exploring.

On a less nationally recognized level, Don Haas, possibly from the class of '66, died.  I recognized an early picture of him on Facebook, where it was mentioned that Don was best man at the poster's wedding.  But I can't trace that posting, so I don't know who the groom was, and I don't know how Don died.

Also, I've gotten a little more information from Barbara Blitfield Pech about Robert Spath, who died last week.  Apparently, Robert was born in 1945 so would have been in South's class of '63 if he hadn't moved to Florida after 7th or 8th grade.  But, evidently, he went to Forest Road School, rode the Hebrew school bus with some of us to Temple Gates of Zion, and lived next to my dentist Ed Zuckerman on Forest Road.

In happier news, this story from Mary Sipp-Green, about her son, Jared.  As an introduction, Mary notes:  Just proves what can happen when you show up at school and also pay attention.
    Stonehill College has two of the country's best undergraduate teachers according to The Princeton Review, which profiles Professors Richard Capobianco (Philosophy) and Jared Green (English) in its new book, The Best 300 Professors.  The book's impressive roster of top teachers features professors in more than 60 fields ranging from Accounting to Neuroscience to Sport Management.  They hail from 122 colleges and universities across the nation.  The professors featured in the book are a truly select group:  from an initial list of 42,000 professors considered, the final group of "best" professors chosen constitutes less than .02% of the roughly 1.8 million post-secondary teachers instructing students at colleges and universities across the U.S.  In its profile of Professor Green, The Princeton Review editors cite his "intent to encourage students to thirst for intellectual challenge and to love engaging with their world both critically and creatively."  His students note him as "an incredibly eloquent speaker with a great reading voice that really captivates.  He knows how to get everyone in the class interested in the reading no matter what it is."  Green has been teaching at Stonehill since 2002.  His research focuses on nineteenth and twentieth-century British and Continental literature and art, theories of urban modernity, anthropology and ethnology, commodity culture, and early cinema.
    The link to the full entry:  stonehill . edu/x25588 . xml   (please remove the spaces)

Ellen Epstein Silver assures us that she and her family are fine, although "the tornado sirens were blasting all afternoon and a dozen twisters touched down" in her area of Texas last week.  She also mentions that Al Roker from the Today show flew in to cover the story. 

A note from Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  Please contact Ellen Gumbiner if you have information about a class of '72 reunion.  Her e-mail address is:  ellengumbiner @ gmail.com  (again, remove the spaces).  Also, please, send any reunion information to me at cre8em @ aol . com, so that I'll be able to include it in the next Alumni Association Bulletin.  Thanks.

Finally an always appreciated note from Allen Moss:  Hey, folks...Moss in Maine here.
    Okay, everyone from the South High Class of 1965 raise your hands if you are now Medicare eligible!  Yikes, I remember when I was eligible for a driver's license permit at the tender age of 16.  That did not seem too long ago.  Very s-c-a-r-y.  Had been making plans to head into retirement this January at the ripe old age of 66.  Had gotten the "thumbs up" from my two financial lords and masters -- my financial planner and accountant.  Then along comes a possible promotion from the State of Maine.  Pretty ironic.
    My former boss, who I really liked and worked with at my present job, got his own promotion to another agency.  He now is looking for an assistant and has said, as Uncle Sam did, "I Want You!"  It would be a great job as a liaison for employee staff training and development at many of the other State of Maine agencies.  Lots of networking and inclusive work with other professional teams.  My team members would be folks I have worked with on occasion, and they are a great group of colleagues.  But, as usual, the State moves like a turtle.  The job has been posted, and my application is in, but it will probably take a few weeks for things to come down the pike.  Keeping my expectations low, but I would certainly push my retirement date back for this opportunity.
    In the meantime, trying to hold back reality by doing my eight miles every other day on my recumbent bike and yoga on the other days.  I found two CDs that make it tolerable:  the soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever -- yep, '70s retro -- and one of the incredibly trashy disco tapes from Ronco-Popeil or some such.  "Pulse."  Lyrics are pretty stupid, but I am amazed how fast the miles fly by.  I try not to imagine myself as John Travolta in a white leisure suit while sweating my butt off.  What image comes up occasionally is me looking like Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street trying to get stuffed into those pants.  What scares me more is how many employees at work have developed debilitating illnesses or have died from stroke or heart attacks in the their 50s.  It is a real incentive to stop whining and just keep pedaling.
    Over the last year, my thoughts have turned more and more to wanting to return to Africa.  I am surprised at how strong the pull is, since my third trip, I thought, could not be topped.  I have always dismissed going back because the journey is really grueling, about 35 hours total in transit, and the medication plus loss of sleep makes you sort of a zombie for three-and-a-half weeks.  But here I am thinking about it again.  Of course, once I get there, it is all worthwhile, but I have some time to decide.
    Have really been enjoying all the folks talking about the memories of Valley Stream.  And, of course, I shared everyone's sadness about Mr. Rosov's passing.  I did not know him as well as lots of other folks, but I always sensed his warmth and caring.  Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying our slow but steady journey to Senior Enlightenment!

There are other notes, including some in answer to Mark Jonas' question about bicycles, but this is over a thousand words already, so those notes will have to wait till next week.

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com

The South '65 photo site: picasaweb . google . com / SouthHS65

Yep, take out those spaces.


Rich