Class of ’59 – September/October 2009

Great! Stupendous! Fabulous! The superlatives never stopped during reunion weekend, smiles and laughter were plentiful, the sun shone, and the campus looked fabulous—as did we. Folks began checking in on Thursday afternoon, frustrating class clerks whose efforts to keep things flowing smoothly were disrupted by ‘59ers eager to hug and chat. Forget about moving the cars and luggage: greeting a former corridor mate or fraternity brother took priority.

If you’ve been following the tweets on our website you know that we made history during the weekend. We had some 380 59ers at reunion; with spouses, kids, and significant others our total swelled to around 600! Not only did we set a reunion record for most classmates at a 50^th reunion but we became the first class in Cornell’s history to simultaneously hold the records for most classmates at both the 25^th and 50^th reunions. (It’ll be at least 26 years before someone can break this record!!!)

Another stupendous achievement: at the gala dinner on Saturday evening Barbara Hirsch Kaplan presented President David Skorton with a check for over $63 million. This gift from our class accounted for more than half the total amount raised by reuning classes.

Lots of coincidences, surprise encounters, joyful reminiscing. Both of our Susan Cohens were in attendance—Susan C Pel Or coming from Israel, Susan C Lubick leaving reunion to fly to Israel for a bar mitzvah. Carole Parnes and Harry Petchesky discovered that they may be related. Folks who have known each other since kindergarten—Alan Newhouse and Sally Schwartz Muzii, Maxine Hollander Bittker and Harold Samloff—meet yet again.

A highlight event took place on Friday morning, after many 59ers had taken tours of the Plantations or Ornithology Lab. The revival of Romp ‘n Stomp (aka English 355-356) at Bailey Hall was attended by more than 900 people. Each year during the 1950s that Prof. Harold Thompson taught the class he had a student instructor who participated in the musical portion of the class. Three of these instructors participants in the revival: Ellen Stekert ’57, Joel Hendler ’58, and Peter Yarrow, the last student instructor in the course, for Thompson retired in 1959. They led us in verses familiar and new, and Peter spoke eloquently about Operation Respect, his project designed to promote civility and conflict resolution among children. Stan Lomax spoke of Thompson and other great professors of our days on the Hill—and he and Harry Petchesky recalled the interviews Thompson conducted before accepting students for the class. BTW: This was Peter’s first reunion, and is also was for Harry Stern, Terry Wilson, Charles Kalish, and some three dozen others. Plan for the 55^th, guys!

The annual Olin Lecture on Friday afternoon was a dialogue between Ratan Tata and President Skorton on Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century. The Tata Group's many philanthropic trusts make it the largest grant-making organization in India, with aid to such areas as agriculture, water conservation, literacy and education. This year, the Tata Education and Development Trust committed $50 million to Cornell to establish the Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India and the Tata-Cornell Initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition. Tata also spoke in Sibley Hall about Tata Motors new $2,500 Nano minicar and its potential impact on Indian society.

Saturday morning found a large group of ‘59ers at the Johnson Museum of Art to view an exhibition of contemporary art from the collection of Guy and Nora Smokler Baron. The exhibition included works by Andy Warhol , Malcolm Morley , Jasper Johns Roy Lichtenstein Cy Twombly and many others. Since the 1990s the Barons have collaborated with a number of well-known artists to produce limited-edition holograms; a group of four self-portrait holograms by Chuck Close were displayed. The most recent work in the exhibition was one of Jane Hammond’s rebus paintings, which the Barrons donated to the museum.

Seen ‘round campus: Ellie Applewhaite and Alan Schecter at the late Friday afternoon reception and tours of Weill Hall, the new research facility—a keystone of Cornell’s New Life Sciences Initiative—designed by Richard Meier '56, B.Arch. '57. Linda Rogers Cohen was at the Saturn lecture in the Space Sciences Building, together with her daughter and son-in-law, both class of ’89, and their grinning, Cheerio-gobbling 6-month-old son Timothy. Andrew Jamison and his brother Alan ’49 at the Statler watching a documentary on Ratan Tata. Seth Newberger and Lenny Rubin chatting with a gardener at the Plantations. Svein (“Dick”) Arber discussing Hemingway with jazz singer Barbara Rosene (NC), who performed in our class tent on Saturday evening. John Webster and Ron Demer in the Goldwin Smith portico for the Alumni-Senior Sing. Chuck Brown, Phil McCarthy, Harry Kaiser, Carl Hedden, and Bill Kingston stroking on Lake Cayuga. Ron Muzii getting two hits in the alumni baseball game and winning the Bill Totten Colorful Player Award.

That’s it for this column but I’ll have more on reunion in the next issue. Even better: a DVD has been made of reunion highlights. Details will be available on the class web site. • Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.