Class of ’59 – May/June 2009

Hope you’ll be joining hundreds of other ‘59ers for our fabulous reunion weekend on June 4-7! As I write this in early February, great plans are already in place. The revival of the ballad and folklore course affectionately known as “Romp ‘n Stomp”—complete with Peter Yarrow—takes place in Bailey Hall on Friday Morniing. On Friday night there’s a Hootenanny in our Class tent. On Saturday evening we have a great local band, joined by jazz vocalist Barbara Rosene , who currently is touring with the Harry James Big Band.

The traditional ’59 breakfast panel, once again organized by Dale Rogers Marshall and Stefanie Lipsit Tashkovich, is on Friday morning. Titled “Off the Record: Insiders’ Perspectives,” it presents several classmates who have participated in important sectors of society; they’ll share their personal reflections on their experiences in an informal but candid format designed to stimulate lots of exchanges with the audience. Among the speakers will be Carl Leubsdorf, Washington Bureau Chief for the Dallas Morning News, and Joel Birnbaum, formerly chief scientist and senior VP at Hewlett Packard.

Don’t forget that in addition to class activities there will be loads of University-sponsored events: lectures, open houses, college breakfasts, athletic competitions, walking tours, displays, exhibit, etc.

Thank you, Ron Demer! He has joined Dave Dunlop and Harry Petchesky as a reunion co-chair. Contact any of these men if you can be of help either now or during reunion. Our class president, George Schneider, notes that “thanks to outstanding affinity work,” he and others are optimistic that we’ll break the University record for classmates returning for a 50^th reunion (we still hold the 25^th reunion record). Take George’s advice and reach out to other 59ers, encouraging them to join you “on the Hill!”

“Barb and I are really looking forward to the 50^th reunion, as our first year of married life was spent living on Stewart Avenue, when I was a senior,” writes W. Hardy Eshbaugh of Oxford, OH. Although a professor emeritus at Miami U, he continues to teach, and often gives public lectures on conservation, botany and education. Recently, he was recognized with two awards: the Distinguished Economic Botanist Award of the Society for Economic Botany in 2007 and the Peter H. Raven award of the Society of Plant Taxonomy in 2008. Barb and Hardy celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary with their children and grandchildren in West Yellowstone. Other recent trips took them to Vietnam and Mexico. Plus there’s hiking, fly fishing, and bird watching, including leading a bird-watching trip to Costa Rica in 2007.

Will the potato gun once again shoot its “bullets” over Beebe Lake???? Let’s hope Chuck Brown brings it to reunion. He and his wife, Nancy Sterling Brown, who live in Dallas, PA, are delighted to report that two of their grandchildren will be continuing the family’s Cornell tradition. Also planning to be at reunion are Bert ’49 and Gail Freeman Warner. They traveled to France last year and go to Aruba in March every year—“a lovely getaway from winters in Rochester!” For more information on reunion, including a list of who’s planning to be there, check our class website, http://classof59.alumni.cornell.edu

Still working full time (“if I retired my wife would shoot me”) as a food broker for Paul Charles is Paul Marcus of Greenwich, CT. He plays senior ice hockey, remembering fondly playing varsity hockey at Cornell: “this was as close to the NHL as I would ever get and it was great!” Paul Schmied, who lives in Geneseo, NY with his wife Barbara Denton Schmied ’62, is retired but recently worked for FEMA on flood recovery in Iowa. Another retiree, Bernard Rothman of Philadelphia, PA has been traveling through the U.S. and enjoys “tennis, sailing, and grandchildren.” • Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.