YAM Notes: November/December 2022
By John D. Hatch, III for the Y62 Communications Team. YAM@Yale62.org
Reverberations from the reunion gathering are still out there! Phil Proctor writes, “The primary impetus for attending my 60th Yale reunion was that I was invited to participate with classmate Sam Waterston and others [Charles Eisendrath, Ed Goodman, Steve Lash, Phil Moriarty] in a panel on ‘Working in our 80s,’ although in my case, it’s more like ‘Walking in our 80s’—which, by the way, has become easier since I’ve been taking a med called Lyrica twice a day, and a muscle relaxant to prevent cramps before going to bed.” Prior to attending, a visit was made to Rob Irving at his home in Avon. Rob had been unable to come to New Haven. Phil ended his missive with “It was a totally wonderful opportunity to visit with old friends, fellow Dramat member David Honneus, and we even ran into our mascot, Handsome Dan! I’m looking forward to the 65th!”
Our apologies to Charles Eisendrath, whose name was inadvertently omitted from the list of participants in the 80s panel in our reunion report published in the July/August notes of this magazine. Charles reports to us, “Immediately after the official reunion, I trekked west to visit roommates Bill Wheeler in Santa Barbara and Jim Curtis (unseen since June 1962) in Coeur d’Alene, for rewarding visits of a smaller sort, followed by reunion hats. All best.”
John Stewart wrote that he heard recently from Clyde Holt, with whom John and Bill Gross sang in the Columbus Boychoir and subsequently reunited at Yale. Clyde reports, “Jane and I retired early (well, she retired and I just more or less said the hell with it) and have devoted ourselves to travel. We discovered we were good at it in ’72 when we built a camper van, shipped it to Sweden, and spent a year tootling around Europe and North Africa with our two dogs. Back in the US we hauled out of New Haven and fetched up in Vermont, somehow imagining we could put behind us all that had gone before, especially New Haven and Brave Mother Yale, and start afresh. Oh, yeah, and our life plan retirement community is chock-full of Yalies and Smithies. There really is no escape.”
In responding to Tim Hall, Roscoe Sandlin wrote: “After I left Boston with a law degree in 2000 (oldest graduate of Suffolk Law School), I practiced in Lenox (also serving six years as selectman) until I decided to retire in 2010 and moved to Sun City Hilton Head. I presided over the community theater there and thoroughly enjoyed major roles in about 25 productions. In 2018 we decided to move to Macon to be near family (daughter and two grandchildren) there. I got on the board of one of the community theaters, and landed roles in several productions. When COVID struck and theaters shut down, I withdrew from active participation.” Roscoe has remarried (Glenda) following the death of his wife Midge in 2019.
A brief note from Burgert Roberts in South Africa: “I have never recovered, and probably never will fully recover, from my house in Mtunzini burning down to the ground with all contents—destroying my two trapped dogs, all my writing and artwork, entire libraries, all possessions. I had just been released from weeks of intensive cancer radiation therapy in Durban, was still pretty weak, alone, and no match for the fire in a big wind during an electricity blackout that night. Years of post-traumatic stress have haunted my homeless persona. I am working against time to complete my book of lyrics, a libretto for environmental theater, centered on the Gaia concept of living planet Earth. It is both a celebration of nature and a call to protect what might yet be saved from extinction and ecological collapse.” We wish him well and look forward to future ruminations on his life and activities.
Perhaps Burgert can make use of what may be our Class Car—the Nissan Patrol Y’62!?
Pickleball has infiltrated the sports world, especially for those in their 60s and up. David Ross and I spent an hour playing the sport with my daughter Errin and her husband Harry over the Labor Day holidays. I’d welcome comments from classmates to the address above, about your experiences and engagement with this relatively new (1965) yet pretty well-received sport. Thanks!
For too many of you, the contact info that Yale has for you seems to be dead-letter boxes and long-changed phone numbers. Your class’s communications team would like to keep you informed about Class of ’62 events and news. If you are not receiving information about Class of ’62 events and news, please let the team know how you can be reached by emailing us at YAM@yale62.org or by calling one of us. My number is (301) 216-4875 and I’d be glad to hear from you. And if you wish to keep that information available only to our class, be sure to tell us.
Sadly, we must report the death of classmate Phil Shailer. His obituary will appear on our class website in due course.