61 Schools out! As I write this class column, graduation is over as are the reunion festivities. Although we are still three years away from our 55^th, it is not too early to plan for your event. For most of this column, I can thank two of our classmates for providing the content.

First, a note from Pauline Sutta Degenfelder our Reunion co-chair. “I’ve been engaged with Cornell, having attended the recent Tower Club Event in NYC and having the good fortune to meet with Marshall and Rosanna Romanelli Frank. After President Skorton's opening remarks, a number of students performed musical numbers, ending with a spectacular presentation of Asian Taiko drumming carried out with much verve and precision.  The entire program underlined the multi-faceted talents of the current students.

While on a recent campus visit, we (Joe '60 and I) had a delightful chance meeting with Jack '60 and Pat Laux Richards who were there for Pat's Plantations organization meeting. You all will remember the outstanding reunion affinity program she directed. We also attended the wrestling dinner celebrating Kyle Dake '13's unprecedented fourth NCAA win at four different weights. He attributes some of his success to getting eight hours of sleep each night.  That, too, is an accomplishment.”

May 11 marked the mini-reunion and tour of the US Military Academy at West Point. David Kessler , our predecessor as the ‘61 class scribe, sent the following write-up, as well as a collection of photographs that have been posted to our website, www.cornell61.org . “We had a wonderfully informative and entertaining special tour of West Point led by Colonel Edward Sobiesk, a faculty member and father of a Cornell student.  We got to see areas that the visitors ordinarily do not see: The Superintendent’s Conference Room, the new U.S. Military Academy Library (very high tech), the Thayer Award Room, the Cadet Mess Hall (it’s enormous and feeds several thousand cadets at each meal). The tour ended at Trophy Point overlooking the Hudson River with Col. Sobiesk telling the story about how the Continental Army blocked British ships from sailing up the Hudson by stretching a chain across the river. He also recounted the saga of Benedict Arnold's treasonous acts when he was Commander of Fortifications at West Point.  Following the tour, the group had lunch at the Thayer Hotel on campus.” Twenty classmates, spouses and friends made the trip on a gray spring day. David added that NBC’s foreign correspondent Richard Engle is the son of Peter Engle ’61. Small world.

Fifty-one years ago, Cornell graduated nearly 100 Mechanical Engineers including me. Number one in the class was J. Frederick Weinhold. Now, I again rely on David Kessler for an informative update. “The Class of '61 has not heard from Fred Weinhold EVER. Never attended a reunion, even though he grew up in Ithaca (his father was on the faculty). And, I have not seen him or heard from him since our last year, 1961 -1962. I ran into Fred at the Woodrow Wilson School Graduate Alumni Reunion in May. Following his graduation, Fred did a four-year stint in the Navy. Then, he was admitted as an MPA student at the WWS and received his MPA four years after I earned mine. In the annals of both Cornell and Princeton, it seems that it is quite unusual, given the competition for admission at the WWS, for two members of Cornell’s Mechanical Engineering program to receive graduate degrees from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. Keep in mind that my graduate class at the WWS numbered only 24. There may have been a few more in Fred’s class but, in any event, it’s quite a select group. According to his career profile, Fred worked on energy policy after leaving the WWS. He worked for the Federal Energy Administration and was involved in the creation of the Dept. of Energy. He worked with the Ford Foundation’s energy policy staff. In 1979, he began working with the TVA in Chattanooga and retired from the TVA in 1994. Currently, he consults on converting waste to energy. He is focusing on the use of scrap tires in cement kilns. He told me that he is active in the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE).” As a footnote to David Kessler’s narrative, I coincidentally met Fred a few years ago at the SCORE national meeting in Nashville, TN. Both of us were attending as chairpersons of our respective chapters, Fred’s in Chattanooga and mine in Savannah.

As a further update on our efforts to enhance class communications electronically, Larry Wheeler, our webmaster, has added the LinkedIn Group for the "Cornell Class of 1961". It is now operational and a link to it has been placed on our class website homepage in addition to our existing Facebook site. Please feel free to ask other classmates to join. This is a closed group with content only for members of the Class of 1961.  Larry will act as administrator, approving those who request to join. Despite our efforts on the Internet, we still encourage your emails and hard-copy class notes. Send us your latest adventures. Doug Fuss, dougout@attglobal.net or Susan Williams Stevens, sastevens61@gmail.com.