A very successful CALC and a class meeting were held in Philadelphia, February 2-3. Attendees from our class were: Class President, Dick Tatlow; Reunion Co-Chairs, Pauline Sutta Degenfelder, Carol Gittlin Franklin, and Jim Moore; Class Advisors, Marshall and Rosanna Romanelli Frank; Past President, Peter Greenberg; and Webmaster, Larry Wheeler. The class meeting focused primarily on early planning and staffing for our very important 60th Reunion in 2021. The reunion theme will be "Great Journeys". Jon Greenleaf has designed the 60th Reunion logo which is posted on the top of our website homepage and our Reunion Co-Chairs have begun assembling a team of volunteers with areas of responsibility as listed below under each co-chair. Pauline notes: "I am grateful to this team for once again being willing to share their talents to provide our classmates with an extraordinary reunion experience. Although 81% overall of those surveyed after our 55th Reunion were satisfied, there were several opportunities for improvement, particularly in transportation and housing. These areas will receive extra attention."

Ted Rauch (arauchjr@comcast.net) sent along an update from Philadelphia, “I am excited to report that my grandson, Jackson Rauch, who lives in Prescott, AZ, will be a member of the Cornell class of 2022 this coming fall. Another reason for me to get to Ithaca more often.  I am finally retired after 50+ years in the investment business, still living in Rosemont, PA, and see fellow Psi U's Scott Holmes, Geoff Worden and Jeff Odiorne '62 on a regular basis. On frequent trips to NYC, I get together with classmate Frank Cuzzi as well."

A Class Note arrived from Janiene Comfort Eisenberg jee2@lehigh.edu She and husband Bennett reside in Bethlehem, Pa. and she wrote, “My diagnosis of chronic lymphedema has been life changing. Finally, after years of asking why a leg was swollen like that and I had tingling in my hands there is an answer that would have been different had I know years ago that I needed to drink more water among other things. This is not covered in medical school? I would welcome input from those in the medical field on this subject. Also would like to hear from classmates Muy Yee Ho, Fran Shapiro, Susan Oparil, Dolores Furtado and Jean Richards.”

Dr. Richard Berkowitz is in the news again being selected by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology for inclusion in “Giants of Obstetrics and Gynecology.” A link to that article follows http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(16)30048-5/pdf Citing the innovations of his career the article highlights his early acceptance into the Peace Corps in Africa and a subsequent stint as a general surgeon and obstetrician/gynecologist in a mission hospital at the foot of Mount Kenya. Looking back on his career, he is sorry about only one thing. “What I regret at this point in my life is that I’m not going to be around for the next 50 years because there are so many ground-breaking things being developed at the interface of genetics and our field. I’ve lived through an amazing period in the history of our specialty but think what is coming will be even more exciting.”

Peter Greenberg, previous class president sent the following, “Sorry to be the bearer of sad news but our classmate and my fraternity brother at Tau Delta Phi, Peter Sitkin, passed away after a battle with pulmonary disease. We first met on the bus to freshman camp (was it Sky Lake?)  In 1957 and we remained close all this time. Elke and I had planned to visit him in California next month but it wasn't meant to be. Harvey Meranus and Peter were friends for over 70 years.

I have included below extracts from the obituary published in the Sanoma Index - Tribune January 12, 2018. The full text is posted on our website www.cornell61.org under “In Rememberance”.

Peter Sitkin became a public service lawyer when the practice was relatively new. He worked serving people unable to afford legal aid and successfully argued a case before the US Supreme Court establishing the right of welfare recipients to receive a hearing before the termination of benefits. He graduated from Cornell and Columbia Law School with honors then moved to California to join the Peace Corps in San Jose prior to joining Bay Area Legal Aid.

Recently we had several Facebook posts from Lars Aanning, Bob Everson and David Kessler mentioning our freshman camp experiences. David posted a group photo of Sky Lake Camp on our Facebook page, Cornell Class of 1961. David also posted the comment “My recollection is that Sky Lake was located in Windsor, NY (pop 916) about 60 miles from Ithaca not far from Binghamton. My parents put me on a Lehigh Valley RR train in Hoboken and eight hours later I arrived in Ithaca (30 miles per hour... stopped in every town in PA en route). We probably then took a bus to Windsor after reporting to campus orientation counsel.”

Think forward to June of 2021! Meanwhile, help build the momentum by sending your news, particularly GOOD news to us. Keep your notes and emails coming. dougout@attglobal.net ,sastevens61@gmail.com