Henry (Hank) Kuehn, Class Council Cochair – Email: hhkuehn@gmail.com
Ron O’Connor, Class Council Cochair – Email: oconnor.rw@gmail.com
Paul Capra – Corresponding Secretary
Email: shonea1@gmail.com
Lou Allyn – Webmaster – Email: yaleclass1961@gmail.com
Website: http://yale1961.org/
In the afterglow of the successful 65th Reunion, the several reunion committees continue to receive kudos for their work. The robust outreach netted 176 attendees (97 classmates), and fund-raising totals well above our goals. Here’s an accolade from Walter Fleischer who wrote: “Tremendous thanks for the best reunion in memory, and one of the most moving as we are all getting a bit long in the tooth. From the start at Mory’s to our meeting Handsome Dan, to the Memorial Service, to the last song of the Erricos, it was absolutely great”. Andy Block, with his typical enthusiasm, says he will be reserving rooms at the Omni and a table down at Morys for our May 2031 70th reunion.
A significant component of the Reunion was to say a heartfelt thanks to Jamie McLane who served ten years as Class Secretary, five years as Co-Secretary, ten years as Treasurer and co-chaired our 60th – among other invaluable work in support of the class of 1961 over the years. The reunion also confirmed our new Co-Secretaries: Hank Kuehn who chaired this reunion and several other mini-reunions and Ron O’Connor who assembled the popular Memorabilia Room.
Good news items from some of our more active peers: Paul Tierney and wife Peggy made their first journey to the Far East in June, traveling to Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. They experienced the bullet train the Japanese islands and the many temples and shrines. A notable stop was Nagasaki where the second atom bomb was dropped in August 1945. The day included the Atom Bomb Museum and the Peace Park. Both venues were crowded mostly with Japanese visitors. Of course, most of these visitors had not been born when the bomb fell. A quiet solemnity at both venues. Mark Lebow writes: “My wife Patricia Edith Harris and I are here in London, England looking at the David Hockney painting exhibition at the Serpentine Museum. The art is fabulous. Classmates who are in London should be sure to visit and see this splendid collection of paintings by an artist who died only a week ago. Jim Breznay and Lee Titus were roommates and have remained close friends. Each of them has a daughter (Jennifer and Amy) born in 1968. At the ‘61 25th Reunion in New Haven in 1986 Jenny and Amy met. Each was subsequently accepted at Yale. Like fathers … like daughters, they became roommates. They graduated together in May 1990 and have remained good friends ever since… just like their dads
And yet we pause to remember Robert Kimball. Robert wrote his senior paper at Yale on the American musical in the 1920s. After studies at Yale Law School, he became curator of the American Musical Theater Collection at Yale placing him at the center of the material he would spend a lifetime rescuing and interpreting. He made his reputation as a musical theater historian and champion of American popular song who acted as a kind of Indiana Jones, helping to excavate a treasure trove of manuscripts by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers from a warehouse in Secaucus, NJ. Kimball not only worked in the archives, he also lectured on the history of American musical theater at Yale and other universities, and appeared as a commentator on the 2004 PBS series Broadway: The American Musical. In 2013 he was featured as a speaker at Yale’s 100 Years of Cole Porter. Joe Schwartz and wife Marilyn write: “besides his many accolades, we shall ever remember Robert for his place at the talkbacks after Saturday matinee performances at Encores held at City Center in NYC; he always had so much to add about the musicals in question, and how thankful the Class of 1961 was for his valued assistance at many of its milestone reunions, for his help in setting up programs of entertainment, magically booking reunion dance bands and introducing us to the Erricos.
Herbert “Herb” McGoun Elliot died in April this year. He combined his Yale Engineering degree with an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business to head several NYSE-listed companies. He and his wife of 60 years, Bonnie, were deeply woven into San Francisco life. Friends and family alike describe Herb as a lively and engaging companion with a good-natured disposition, razor sharp mind, and an unfailing sense of humor.
Webmaster Lou Allyn consistently performs yeoman’s duties by maintaining a treasure trove of past, present and future event information regarding class activities. Activities include upcoming Yale ’61 at the Movies, Future Zoom Seminars, as well as on-line recordings of older events. Access the website at http://yale1961.org where you can drill down for more extensive information regarding the obituaries and stay ahead of coming class events. Anyone wishing to add a personal note to recent obituaries posted on the class website can do so with a simple note to Lou.