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Save the Date, June 10 – 13 2021 Our 60th Reunion in Ithaca.

This year, the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference was held in Las Vegas, NV. And, on the same weekend as the Democratic Nomination Caucus. Previously the conference was held in Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore and our attendance was limited. With the glitter of Las Vegas and the reunion beginning to loom in the not-distant future, we assembled thirteen classmates and spouses for our pre-planning meeting. Unfortunately, class president Dick Tatlow had to cancel at the last minute to deal with a health issue.

Friday was our official arrival with a kickoff lunch highlighted by an interview with Trustee Chairman Bob Harrison ‘76. After addressing numerous issues his parting message was, “Give until it feels good!” Numerous breakout sessions were scheduled for the afternoon. Our group assembled for a casual dinner before heading off an evening’s entertainment. Larry Wheeler and Margaret had tickets to CHER and were joined by Susan and me. Another group including Diane Meakem, Doug and Joanne Uhler, Jim Moore and wife Geri and Sue and Bill Stevens saw Barry Manilow. The following day we all agreed that that the modern production techniques and special effects were amazing and that we were hopelessly out of touch with current show business. Special notice also to CHER who was in great form at the tender age of 73! (There is hope for all of us.)

In addition to those mentioned above, Rosanna and Marshall Frank attended who also had the double bonus of attending a Bridge competition during the weekend. Bridge is a consuming interest for Marshall. Dianne Meakem, our former class president, arrived with the fresh news that she was relocating in Florida but will still spend the cold months there while maintaining her residence in Connecticut. Susan Williams Stevens and husband Bill drove down from their new home in Reno. Susan has the honor of doing our next Class Notes column in two months. For this edition I am using all the available material from the conference. With our mailbag now depleted, please send Susan any new updated information. Finally, we were joined on a conference call by Pauline Degenfelder and Carol Franklin for our reunion planning meeting.

An enormous buffet breakfast started Saturday’s program featuring the presentation of the Vanneman Class Leader Award and a panel discussion concerning Creative Philanthropy. Workshops followed leading up to the keynote lunch which included more awards and recognition. Our class reunion planning meeting followed. Minutes of the meeting can be found on our class website. With Dick Tatlow unable to attend, we had several chair people presenting. The basic reunion topics were presented by Kate Freyer, Director, Reunion & Volunteer Engagement Events, and Jim Moore representing the reunion committee. The topics of greatest interest were speakers for our programs and general logistics including housing, entertainment and dining. Rosanna and Marshall led the discussion on finances and the proposal of a memorial dedicated to our late classmate and Trustee Chairman Pete Meinig. Doug Uhler then led a discussion of affinity groups related to the reunion. He pointed out that most of the 60^th attendees will have also attended the 55^th. Also, our numbers at this point are not overly large. He suggested we enlist our class council to review his prospect lists and sign up to contact and encourage classmates to attend. This effort is starting now, and we have received positive responses from Pat Laux Richards, Sue Rand Lewis and Frank Cuzzi. You may be contacted by one of our council members inviting you to join the celebration in June of 2021.

Our group of fourteen convened for dinner at Stone Crab Joe’s Restaurant. Unbelievably our evening was disrupted by, of all things, RAIN in the desert in February. Some unfortunates, who will remain unnamed, elected to walk to dinner. The rest of us thought UBER was a more prudent alternative and reaffirmed the value of a Cornell education. After our belt-busting dinner we adjourned for a small After Glow at the hotel before planning our departures the following day.

The last piece of good news from CALC was the announcement of the location of next year’s meeting. We will get another chance to be ready for our 60^th with the February 2021 meeting being held in Orlando. This should be a good party. See you there.

Meanwhile send us your news as usual to dougout@attglobal.net and sastevens@gmail.com