Update 2-19-13

 

Hi,

 

Four notes, and then some annual class business.

 

First, from Barnet Kellman:  The mention of Richie Lobell on ESPN reminds me of numerous conversations I’ve had with Gary Gilbert, a comedy writer and tennis buddy of mine.  In high school, Gary played basketball for Malvern, and the first time he heard I went to South, twenty years ago, all he wanted to talk about was playing against Richie.  The subject has come up again and again over the years.  The man is a legend.
    On a Valentine's note:  I finally went to see Amy Lieberman’s partner Billy Valentine sing in a Beverly Hills supper club.  He’s like the reincarnation of Sam Cooke crossed with Ray Charles.  The guy is great.  And it was wonderful seeing Amy, as always.

 

[Rich -- Yep, Richie was something and may still be, but Billy definitely is.  My favorites of his performances are at the outdoor concerts in the park he's been giving recent summers.  For people outside Los Angeles, Billy's recordings can be found through an Internet search.  Just be aware there are several men with his name, so pair a search with the song title "Money's Too Tight."]

 

Next, from Paulinda Schimmel Babbini:  The Ovarian Circle's upcoming fundraiser is going well.  There are currently about 115 people who've purchased tickets -- men and women.  It's going to be a great event with delicious food.

 

Third, Stu Borman sends this curiosity:  Just wanted to let you know the South e-mail list seems to have been swept by a scammer, who deposited entries entitled "2011--2013 SCAM VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FROM THE IMF BENIN" in people's Google calendars.

 

[Rich --  When I wrote Stu that since I don't use Google calendar, I didn't notice, he wrote back.]

 

From Stu:  I noticed the entry in my calendar for the first time this afternoon, Friday, February 15th.  It's very unusual in that spam has never before appeared in my calendar, and Google provides no way to flag calendar entries as spam.  But since it was a shared-appointment entry, I could see the other recipients' e-mail addresses and noticed that they all seemed to be South people.

 

[Rich --  I asked Stu if the South names were alphabetical -- which might mean a raid on my address book -- or random -- which could mean an attack on one of my mailing lists.]

 

Stu wrote:  I deleted the entry so just went back to see if I could retrieve it.  But unlike Gmail, in which all deleted messages are kept for a while, Google calendar doesn't permit retrieval of deleted items.  One possibility would be to find someone in the group who still has the same spam entry in their online calendar.

 

[Rich -- If anyone else had a similar attack, please let me know.  Thanks.]

 

Fourth, a reminder from Emily Kleinman Schreiber that there's an Alumni Association meeting this Thursday, February 21st, in the South library at 7:15 PM.  New people always welcome.

 

Finally, the class business.  Booker Gibson writes:  I'm curious how many more years are left in the annual South scholarships named for Vince Tampio and me.  I think they're coming to an end.

 

[Rich -- Yep, you're exactly right about the scholarships coming to the end of their original ten-year commitment.  The good news is that means we've given $9,000 to the students with another $1,000 due this year.  The bad news is that means Vince has been dead for almost ten years. 

    As for the scholarships continuing:  it's up to both the initial supporters and the core of continuous ones.  We had a large outpouring of support when the scholarships were announced -- about seventy-five people -- and that money funded the scholarships for the first three years.  After that, a core group of about two dozen people in the combined classes of about '59 to '71 followed their pledges to send money annually.  I was going to tell people this in early March when Liz King Giordano's letter usually arrives and I start the annual fundraising, but you're way ahead.

    Now, Liz's letter has arrived, so it's time to start the conversation.  I'll run the letter next week, along with a thank you note we got from one of last year's recipients.  I'll also write the two-dozen annual supporters separately to see what they think.  We can finish the scholarships this year, or we can commit for another period of time, maybe five years.  We may also be able to go year-by-year, if that's not too undependable for the people at South.  But we need to acknowledge that we're getting older, and we may not be able to support these scholarships indefinitely.]

 

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

 

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

 

 

Rich