Class Notes Editor – Paul Capra
2365 Chambers Lake Ln, SE
Lacey, WA 98503
E-mail: shonea1@gmail.com
Webmaster – Lou Allyn
E-mail: yaleclass1961@gmail.com
Website: http://yale1961.org/
Class officers:
Jamie McLane – Co Chair – E-mail: jmclane@profexa.com
Henry Kuehn – Co Chair – E-mail: hhkuehn@gmail.com
COUNTDOWN 64th Reunion
Mark on your calendars for September 25-28, 2025, for our 64th reunion in Chicago under the creative baton of Andy Block
COUNTDOWN 65th Reunion
Only 18 months left until our 65th Reunion scheduled for early June 2026, led by Hank Kuehn and his 65th Reunion Committee. The committee is planning to break all records including having more than 150 classmates and at least 50 wives, widows and plus ones return to New Haven.
THE 63rd REUNION
Ed Cantor, with the help of the Yale Alumni Assoc. staff, did a phenomenal job putting together, and then pulling off, a fabulous 63rd reunion for the class at a new LEED hotel on the New Haven waterfront during the October 24-27 weekend. With a turnout of about 120 classmates, wives, and widows (some of whom were at their first Y’61 mini- reunion), all were creatively and dynamically entertained by an undergraduate jazz ensemble and educated by top faculty-led discussions on “Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare”, “International Relations in the Digital Era”, “The Middle East-Iraq and the Future of World Order”; “Political Tribalism in America – Why We Hate Each Other and What We Can Do About It”; “Iran: Before, During and After the Revolution”; “Solving the Immigration Crisis”; and “Cancer Research at Yale”. The event culminated with a closing dinner appropriately located in the Peabody Museum. For the occasion, Frosty Smith hung a banner at the Museum door saying: “Dinosaurs Dining with Dinosaurs”. The evening ended with the smaller sized, but well-tuned, “Whiffosaurs” leading the class in song. Everyone seemed to be engaged, sharing stories, having fun, and thankful for their affiliation with Yale and the Class of 1961.
Those attending the 63rd reunion included: Lou Allyn, Ralph Bates, Marcia Bernstein, John Bingham, Andy Block, Colin Bradford, James Breznay, Ed Cantor, J. Charles Deahl, John de Neufville, Walter Fleischer, Warren Fowler, David Freund, Robert Gimbel, Lewis Girdler, Joan Goldfield, Frank Grazioso, Robert Hall, Robert Hubby, Penfield Jarvis, Claiborne Jones, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Malcolm Kamin, Nelson Kasfir, Stephen Kass, Brian Kelly, Henry Kuehn, Stevenson Langmuir, Mark Lebow, Jerome Lewine, Kenneth Maclean, Joseph Manko, B Thomas Mansbach, Robert Marvin, Jamie McLane, Robert McManus, Stephen McReynolds, James K Mooney, Peter Moore, Joe Novitski, Ronald O’Connor, Jeff O’Sullivan, John Paoletti, John Pearce, Phillip Periman, Philip Perrone, Don Puchala, Ross Reynolds, Ed Robertson, James Schneider, Joseph Schwartz, Terry Shockey, DeForest Smith, Jane Stewart W’61, Josh Taylor, Vincent Teti, Paul Tierney, Lee Titus, Roy Torkington, Jim Tripp, John Walsh, Peter Ward, Jon Wayland, and Joseph White.
Regarding the 63rd reunion, MARK LEBOW added that his wife Patti and he attended the reunion last weekend in New Haven. It was wonderful to see so many of our l961 classmates. We all recalled the amazing times we spent together in our undergraduate years at Yale. Our classmates were numerous, fascinating, friendly and in tip top shape. Hooray for Yale and our class of l961!
Bruce Chabner sent this note to our webmaster Lou Allyn: Lou, thanks for keeping up the class website. I have a few comments that might be of interest: I keep in touch with my former roommates, Dave Hall and Dick Linburg. Dave and wife Sally are avid bikers and are currently traveling in the Baltic States, where they stopped to see my friend, Siobhan Murphy, a Professor at the University of Tallinn. Dick and wife Ginny live in Vero Beach, Florida. By coincidence, Dick and my daughter Elizabeth were neighbors there, an opportunity to renew our friendship and share our orthopedic mishaps. My wife Davi and I continue to work. We have returned this July from Japan, where I consult with the Chugai Pharmaceutical Company and have been helping the Ministry of Health in plans to develop biotech. We have greatly enjoyed the presence in Boston of our granddaughter, Bebe Thompson (YC’20), a third-year medical student at Harvard and the Mass. General Hospital. She recently became engaged to Jake Gehri (YC’22), who works in finance in Boston. Jake set a Yale and Ivy League record for home runs (4) in a single game while a catcher at Yale, narrowly missing a fifth, reminiscent of Linburg’s fetes as an outfielder and pitcher.
Tom Davenport, writing from his family’s “Hollins Farms” in Delaplane VA reports that Robert McManus and Fred Truslow, roommates from Timothy Dwight, continue to keep up with regular zoom meetings every other week.
Andy Block sent notice that classmate Robert Grossman was recently inducted posthumously into the Society of Illustrators’ HALL OF FAME. The induction citation reads in part: “Robert Grossman was a renowned, award-winning New York based artist whose career spanned over 50 years. He liked to “illustrate the unillustratable”. He created the iconic poster for the movie ‘Airplane’, was nominated for an Academy Award, and his artwork graced the covers of over 500 magazines. Publications that featured his distinctive, whimsical and satirical illustrations, cartoons and sculptures included The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, The Nation, Sports Illustrated, National Lampoon and many others. His epic illustrated novel “Life on the Moon” was nominated for an EISNER award in 2020. Catch more at “robertgrossman.com”.
’61 NOTES EDITOR
Paul Capra