61 A few final kudos before setting our 50th Reunion to rest. First, a mention to Jay Treadwell for managing catering for the weekend and being responsible for the food at our events. In addition, he arranged for the Sherwoods to entertain us and bring back memories of earlier days. And also, the "Anniversary Party" congratulating all of our classmates and their Cornell spouses was conceived and hosted by Marshall and Rosanna Romanelli Frank, who also arranged for the commemorative cake.

Now we immediately move forward to our 55th Reunion in 2016. Class President Peter Greenberg and wife Elke and Gerrit and Elizabeth White visited David Kessler in the northern Catskills during fall foliage season to enjoy the scenery and begin planning for our next event. Peter is working on plans for Cornell '61 mini-reunions beginning next year. David relates, "We had a wonderful barbecue at my place, toured the area (including towns that were devastated by Hurricane Irene), hiked up to scenic viewpoints overlooking the Hudson Valley, visited the Thomas Cole Museum (the originator of the Hudson River School of Painting), and enjoyed country dining in Hudson, NY, and in Greene County, NY. I'm certain we all remember how spectacular the fall can be in Upstate New York."

Recently I heard from Bobbie Horowitz along with other author classmates. “What a fab time!” writes Bobbie. “I’m thrilled to Guest Star on the Colin Lively Radio Show, 'Here Women Talk' and will mention my book Find Your mini-Qs(?): Reveal the Slim, Strong, Sexy Star You Truly Are!  at Age 50, 60, 70, and Beyond. I know this will be FUN and fun helps keep us vital” I listened to the interview and Bobbie did a great job including her reflection on growing up in Bensonhurst, Long Island “Where everyone was either Jewish or Italian.” Ron Barnes also hit the publishers list with his new book. “Looking back at the challenging era that was our youth, with a dash of Cornell nostalgia to commemorate 50 years,  Living on the Edge, by Rondo Barnes, is now available at Amazon.com & soon at Kindle eBooks.“ Another recent publication Out of Time: One Couple's Journey Through Cancer, written by Nancy Greyson Beckerman '64 is available at www.OutofTimebyBeckerman.com . Nancy, widow of our classmate Barry, writes “To let you know about a new book just out, a memoir of my husband's and my battle with his cancer. Actually, Cornell does figure quite prominently in the book: we visited Ithaca frequently and, our last trip together was to Cornell.”  

I received a lengthy note from Dick DeTeresa, a teammate on our 5^th year Mechanical Engineering project. “Hope everything is going well for you. I am retired after a 40-year stint in my laminating business where we catered to the home furnishing trade. I am happily married with 8 grandchildren, and enjoying retirement. Italians have an expression, 'il dolce di far niente', which means 'the sweetness of doing nothing'. Not exactly a goal for young engineering students, but after years of pressure business, it is a great advantage to really enjoy the moment, and not be continually thinking ahead of what must be done next. On a sad front, I want to let you know that my best friend at Cornell, our fellow ME student and scholar, Bob Carlson, has died after a losing bout with leukemia. Bob was the second highest achiever in our class, and had a long career as a professor at Stanford, where he was imparting his knowledge from his Cornell days. He was a truly great man who died way before his time. Nice to see you are still active at Cornell. Thanks for the memories. Regards, Dick.”

And a note from Hal Binyon. “After our 50th Reunion in June I managed to check another item off my 'Bucket List.' Since we were reasonably close, we visited Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame followed by dinner at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park.  Later in the summer we had a most enjoyable Danube River Cruise--preceded by a few nights in Budapest and followed by several nights in Prague. “

My neighbor at The Landings in Savannah, John Sobke, recently hosted the annual Phi Gamma Delta Golf Junket. A total of eight classmates gathered for this outing, which has been held for more than a few years at varied locations including Scotland last year. I joined them for dinner at one of our clubs and had a fine evening with this group of close friends. In addition to John, Robin Bissell, Ken Blanchard, PhD '67, Phil Hodges, Jack Neafsey, MBA '63, Dick Tatlow, Warren Spika and Pete Meinig were on hand. Pete, as we all know, recently stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He has served as a trustee for twenty years. He and wife Nancy (Schlegel) ’62 have supported Cornell through the generous giving of both their time and contributions that sets a standard for all alumni. We, as a class, want to thank Pete and Nancy for their outstanding achievements in support of The University.

As always, we need your continued support and input to make the column a success. Send us an email: Doug Fuss, dougout@attglobal.net , or Susan Williams Stevens, sastevens61@gmail.com.