YAM Notes: November/December 2023
By John D. Hatch III
YAM@Yale62.org
As part of our growing seniority, we wind down old projects and undoubtedly start (unexpected?) new ones, Charlie Valier shares: “I have spent the last year winding down my law practice (concentrating on the finance aspects of health care, commercial lending, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and tax exempt bonds) and writing two articles for publication. This fall I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the Saint Louis Art Museum on George Caleb Bingham entitled, “I forget I am a painter, not a politician.” Then in February I will present two lectures on Bingham at Washington University for their lifelong learning program.”
As another completer, Paul Worman announced “the publication of my poetry chapbook, Mourning in America…It’s a collection of 20 poems including my obituary poem, “When the Air Fills My Space,” along with a biographical preface, “A Chanukah/Christmas Parable,” describing major events in my life as a “highly sensitive” male in a macho world, including how I came to attend Yale.” The book can be found on Amazon.
Regarding the heat of summer, Doug Bingham writes from Edmonton, AB, Canada: “The main impact on us (of the fires) has been smoke which has been very thick at times…” “One impact which hasn’t affected us personally is wildfire refugees. The city of Yellowknife NWT was totally evacuated; I think about half of the 22,000 population ended up in Edmonton.” “Perhaps our biggest worry has been very local. Our house is on the edge of a heavily wooded ravine which is part of the city park system (this is where I go running and walking). During July it was awfully dry and fire could have easily broken out. About 15 years back there was a fire in the ravine which came to within 20 m. of our garage… Happily, August has turned much wetter and somewhat colder than July.”
And “here in Montréal” say Mike Bristol, “we had many advisories and days of dangerously poor air quality. It was bad enough to keep us mostly indoors so I had to avoid strenuous outdoor activity a couple of times, but nothing beyond that. There was nothing to see, however; the heavy smoke bypassed us and made its way to places like Philadelphia, Washington, and even Western Europe. “
From Palmer, Alaska, Bill Gilbert relates “The area…has not been impacted by fires or flooding, but this past week (8/20/23) flood warnings have been issued, because of 4-5 days of rain; no fire warnings are expected this year because of cool temps & ample rain these past 3 yrs…Spring began in very early April, as usual here in 2018-2021, but in ’22 was delayed 2-3 weeks.. and in ’23 it didn’t arrive until early May. We only reached 70 degrees F once or twice all this past summer… which was a big change from our 1st summer (2018) when local stores ran out of fans when temps reached into 90s degrees F. Our weather has turned cooler & moister in the 4-5 years since then.”
A summer’s classmates’ activity was the ’62 Whiff August Reunion. As reported by John Stewart, in attendance in Gates Mills, Ohio were “…Bonnie Humphrey and Charlie “Sonuva” Michener. Peter “Pop” and Margaret Sipple, Louis “Boiler” and Patricia Klindienst, John “Dirty Bas” and Jolly Stewart had flown in together from Hartford. Dixie “Holy Mac” and Rives Carroll from Washington, Cam “Cash’n” and Angela Carey from Boston, Peter “Alarm” Clark and Ellen Barol from Cape Cod, Tom “Coast Guard” Cutler with friend Lindsay from Cape May, and Bill ‘Aspara” Gross and Jan Clarke from Philadelphia. Biggie “Popo” and Anne Moore were not able to make it…” John noted that in addition to singing and visiting various sites/sights around Cleveland “…the talk went on late into the night. We all felt that communications were the most satisfying ever – more profound, more revealing, and more rewardingly intimate. There’s something to be said for getting older!” John’s full report can be found on our website at Yale62.org.
In August, Jay and Marolyn Hatch took their second Yale-sponsored trip to the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in Cooperstown, NY. Yale does an excellent job of using faculty to provide commentators/lead discussions on the plays, as well as producing speakers from various aspects of the opera productions to talk about their roles and the opera; many were Yale grads. Taking the opportunity of not being far from the eastern side of the Hudson, they popped over to see Jay’s brother and sister in the Berkshires and introduced them, over dinner, to Lee and Joan Bolman. Overnighting in Hyde Park on the way back to Maryland, they took the opportunity to join John and Jolly Stewart at dinner in Rhinebeck.
Sadly, Charles E. Brainard, Richard R. Davis and Peter E. Maxim have passed on since the last column. Their obituaries will soon be published on our Yale62.org website. A classmate-penned obituary is now on our class website for Robert T. Connery.