By John D. Hatch III
YAM@Yale62.org
Bill Shipley reports that he and wife Jensie have moved to their “forever home” in Westwood, Massachusetts, where they will spend all but the four months of summer, which will be spent in Chatham. In Chatham they are “joined by our three daughters and grandchildren for most of the summer, for excellent small sailboat racing and motor boating on Pleasant Bay and at the Eastward Ho Country Club.” He continues: “I spend most of my time in Chatham pruning our trees to save our nice view and preserving our nice picnic tables where most of the family eats two meals a day together. Also, both Jensie and I play quite a bit of bridge but she is much better than I! My best to all.—Bill.” His one and only email is now Wushipley@gmail.com.
Dick Riseling reports: “The Apple Pond Farm and Renewable Energy Education Center, the home Sonja and I have developed over 50-plus years, was hit by a tornado on April 22 that compromised our home, main equipment, and storage buildings. It wiped out our huge barn and smashed most of our farm equipment. The twister knocked down or broke off at 40 feet our wonderful stand of spruce trees, felled over a hundred trees on our hay fields, and blew our fences down. It eliminated nine outbuildings where we held various workshops, destroyed our wind turbine and solar systems. No humans or animals were hurt.”
Snowmageddon! If you haven’t checked out our Yale62.org website recently, you might do so, as Fred Ilfeld has shared his emotional reactions of living through and coping with the 33 feet of snow (!) at his home in Olympic Valley, California, this past winter. On the plus side were wonderful views from his hillside home, and the prospect of continuous skiing from November into July. This spring, when he felt he could leave, he and his wife Barbara went biking in Japan, an escape we hope to persuade him to share with the class in a subsequent Y62 web posting.
While at the website, you might enjoy Lee Bakunin’s reflections on turning 83. They are included at the end of his article in the form of a “Seussian-styled” poem entitled “What I Learned about Life from Dr. Seuss.”
“The Pursuit of Happiness in Later Life” was the title of the fast-paced and informative April Coffee Hour, which was presented by Dr. Leo Cooney, Yale professor emeritus and developer of the Yale Medical School’s geriatric section. Joining him to share their choices of “retirement” housing in their pursuit of happiness were classmates Louis Audette, Rob Titus, and Gary Richardson and his wife Diane Ronayne. Dr. Cooney’s slides and the video transcript of the Coffee Hour are both found at Yale62.org.
Reflecting more on their pasts than the future, the Salas brothers and our ’62 classmates, Rody and Jacobo (Jack), were joined by their Yale brothers Henrique (Henry) ’61 and Gustavo ’64 in a fascinating program orchestrated by Bill Weber. The brothers shared an illustrated family history and the ethos developed in their family in Venezuela, their lives at Yale, and their different paths since. The session ended with the usual Q&As and a look at contemporary Venezuela. It too is found on the class website.
How is your summer going? Reading any books you find interesting? Travel? Family? Please do share with classmates what you are doing, and even what you’d have liked to be doing.
Necrology: Sadly, we must announce new deaths among our classmates. Robert (Bob) Connery died in November of last year, but we did not learn of it until April. Stephen W. (Steve) Buck fought hard against Parkinson’s and congestive heart failure, but lost his vital battle on April 30, just seven days short of his 83rd birthday. Finally, we have a newly written obituary for Toby Berger, whose death we had noted in the last edition of this column.