Yale Class Notes for November/December 2021
Paul Downey (60th Reunion Gift Chair) reported that our reunion gift was the largest ever from our class – $16,302,190. Hats off to Paul and his team including Reunion Planning Chair Wilford Welch. Also, thanks go to Ed Cantor and Tom Mazza, all the class officers, class agents and the many classmates who contributed. Ed Cantor added: The Class Endowment at the Yale Cancer Center has made remarkable progress going from $200,000 to over $2 million in six years. The fund can now fully support two $50,000 research grants per year for young scientists at the Yale School of Medicine.
Vince Teti wrote from the August shores of Lake Champlain, that he is looking forward to his new role as 1961’s AYA Delegate. In that position, Vince plans to be active in support of our special institution, which is “older than the Republic, but not very well understood”.
Phil Perrone sent this note from the Land of Ice and Fire: We are circumnavigating Iceland, hiking the glaciers and diving in the trench that separates two continents. Sorry to miss some of the reunion. We were moving to a new house in Savannah.
Jamie McLane reports that Sam Beard has launched a new global initiative which he believes will be his biggest endeavor to date. Sam’s public service career spans 50+ years working with 8 U.S. Presidents from Nixon through Obama. During the Carter and Regan presidencies, Sam fostered programs that created more than 10 million jobs in low-income communities. Full details of “The Sam Beard Story” and his latest initiative can be downloaded at connectuniverse.org Jamie reminds us that Sam was involved at the very beginning of the Class of 1961 Long-term Endowment Fund. At our 50th reunion, 40 classmates collected approximately $670,000 which has more than tripled to over $2,280.000 today. The operating principal of the fund states that after 25 years, one third of the money will be transferred to the regular Yale Endowment. After another 25 years, do the same. After fifty more years, the remainder will be transferred to the university’s regular endowment for use by Yale. If compound interest and the Rule of 72 continue being what Einstein touted as the “greatest power on earth”, the last transfer in 2111 might be one of the largest single gifts ever
Phillip Periman wrote a special poetic obituary in tribute to friend/classmate James P. Carroll. You can read the poem at: http://yale1961.org/james-p-carroll/
The Mini Reunion in Kansas City, MO Oct 14-17 2021, has been moved to March 24-27, 2022 due to covid. There were 60 signed up. A repeat invite will be issued specifically to the 60 as well as to the remainder of the class.
Ed & Patrice Robertson
Bob Budnitz and Wilford Welch are developing a November 18 program on Nuclear Power Plants – this is one more in the class of 1961 Monthly Seminar Series. A Zoom invite will be sent closer to the event.
Paul Tierney wrote I loved our 60th, even virtually. After 20 years of full-time and part-time teaching physics at The Shipley School, I retired for the third time (long story for another time). A celebration of sorts followed with two weeks at my cottage in St John, USVI. We bought the place in 1999 intending to enjoy it for five years or so, and here I am still enjoying it 22 years later.
Frosty Smith and Ed Cantor ask you to mark your calendar with a Mini Reunion in New Haven, Oct 13 – 16, 2022.
Webmaster Lou Allyn maintains a roster of obituaries at the Yale Class of 1961 Website http://yale1961.org
The following links connect to the most recently received obituaries which are then added to the complete list of 1961 Memorials. Read the full obituaries by following the links or at the Class Website.
Walter Curtis Johnson 07/28/21 http://yale1961.org/walter-curtis-johnson/
Stephen Robert Parks 07/22/21 http://yale1961.org/stephen-robert-parks/
James P. Carroll 07/2/21 http://yale1961.org/james-p-carroll/
John F. Ziebold 08/25/21 http://yale1961.org/john-f-ziebold/
Philip D. Lief 08/23/21 http://yale1961.org/philip-d-lief/
pc/lpa