By Stephen W. Buck
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Don Kirkland wrote to us last summer. (Our apologies for not fitting his words into our column earlier.) He said, “The old Navy man is still in Thailand. Probably always will be. You can’t go anywhere . . . anywhere with the virus. Maybe at our age most of our traveling days are over. But if you have to be somewhere, Thailand is a nice place to be. From what I see on the news, it is better than a lot of places in America now. I sure as hell know it’s safer than Chicago.
“Hang in there and be happy. ‘Be happy this moment, this moment is life.’ I have that in quotes because somebody said it, but I don’t know who.”
Ross Rudolph writes: “I have now been retired from plastic surgery for four years but continue to be involved with the specialty. My latest effort is the gaining of patents for making surgical gloves that will fit better than what is now available. I am now in the process of seeking manufacturers who would be interested in making these gloves, since they solve an unmet need. My colleagues and I did a survey of 6,180 sterile glove users and found a high level of interest in using gloves with correct finger lengths, if only they were available.
“Nancy and I continue to live in La Jolla, with no plans to move. All four of our children and all five of our grandchildren live in California, and so we get to see them a lot. I had to give up skiing but am still surfing with modifications. Life does go on.”
Bill Weeden sends in the following: “In my 80s, I’m finding myself busier in my chosen profession than I’ve been in roughly 40 years. I’m currently visible on Amazon Prime Video in no less than three starring film roles. They are the hilarious horror comedy Psycho Ape!, the acclaimed rock opera The Lives of Hamilton Fish, and the 1990 cult classic Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD.
“I just closed in the title role of Hal Raises Hell in a Hell’s Kitchen Kitchen, a one-act by Nick DeSimone, with whom I traveled to South Korea right before the pandemic to do another of his plays. We hope to do Hal in Manhattan as soon as possible, paired with one or two of DeSimone’s other one-acts.
“I’m soon to be seen starring in The Once and Future Smash, a brilliantly conceived horror film hopefully featuring a cameo by classmate Victor Miller, who wrote the horror classic Friday the 13th. Also on the still-to-be-filmed horizon are The Curse of Frankenstein, to be filmed in Detroit, in which I’ll play Dr. Percy Frankenstein, the idiot descendant of the original doctor; Kabukiman Returns, the long-awaited sequel to the 1990 film; and Psycho Ape 2, which will shoot in L.A.
“Apart from the horror genre, I’m featured in a pilot film called OJM Capital, in which a group of ‘Old Jewish Men’ run a hopelessly out-of-date financial operation. Should be hysterical.”
From the reunion committee: “An update on the 60th reunion, scheduled for the weekend of June 9–12, 2022, and starting Thursday afternoon. We will be based in TD College and there will be plenty of transportation options to get around the campus. Am delighted to say that we have great speakers lined up, including Prof. David Blight, a Civil War and abolition expert who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his book on Frederick Douglass. There will also be class panels and many other features, but ample time will be afforded for social interaction. And yes, we will have the ’62 Whiffs, a set from the great Finkle and Weeden, and the indomitable Joe Holmes and his band. Hope to see you there.”
Sadly, we report the passing of classmates Kevin Buckley, Charles Hayes, Howard Kolodny, James Pearson, and Peter Wells, whose obituaries will be posted on our website, Yale62.org, in due course. On our website, we have newly written obituaries for the following classmates: Adelbert K. “Doug” Charles Jr. and Edward “Ted” Hard.