2009 Classmate Happenings



Caribbean cruise pictures from Robert Dunn

My cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 was for 15 days, calling at 9 islands in the Caribbean, 20th December 2009 to 4th January 2010.

Because the Queen Mary 2 is the flagship of the Cunard fleet, the captain is designated a commodore and, at various intervals during our voyage, Commodore Bernard Warner, reminded us that, although we were on a cruise of Caribbean islands, the RMS Queen Mary 2 was NOT a cruise ship. “She’s an ocean liner, built for North Atlantic storms.” Indeed she is and her four stabilizers were put to the test on the penultimate day at sea, approaching New York, when we encountered a “Force 8+” storm with 20-foot waves, some of them smashing into the port side as she ploughed onward. Along that port-side on Deck 2 (quite close to the water) there was a long hallway [not the correct nautical term, I’m afraid] with very large windows, maybe 5 feet wide by 4 feet high and game tables arranged for the passengers to play at cards or Scrabble or whatever. My friend and I were seated at one of these and during that great storm, every now and then a HUGE WAVE would SMASH against the windows. Those seated at the tables had grown accustomed to this drama, but passengers who just happened to be passing along that corridor when one hit, usually SCREAMED AND RAN. Great fun! For all the other 14 days of this Caribbean cruise, the QM2 felt like a cradle, gently rocking me to sleep at night. She will never visit Vancouver because, at 1,137 feet long, she is too long for the Panama Canal and she’s too high for Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge. RD

 

The pictures are

1.     Robert Dunn in June 2009 taken at the Faculty Club of the University of Victoria, British Columbia

2.     Rough seas taken from the port side of deck 2 of the Queen Mary 2 on, Sunday, 3rd January 2010

3.     RMS Queen Mary 2, docked at Curacao on 26th December 2009

4.     Part of ship’s library, said to contain more than 8,000 volumes

5.     Dressed for Christmas Dinner in the grand dining room of RMS Queen Mary 2, somewhere at sea in the Caribbean Sea

__________________________________________



Year end pictures from Butch Alexander

December 31, 2009

 

President Obama rented a house on Kailua Beach that is about 10 minutes away from Butch's house. Butch took these pictures so that we can see the beauty of the area where Butch lives and that the president likes as a vacation spot. The picture of the house near the beach is the house that the president rented.

__________________________________________



Year end summary from Warner Blair and his family

December, 2009

 

Click on the link to see interesting pictures of Warner Blair and his family..


__________________________________________



More Photos from Butch Alexander

October 2009

 

Butch has provided a picture of Karen and Monte Kropp that was taken in front of their home in Asheville, North Carolina. Their house is for sale, and they are considering moving back to Pennsylvania. Monte was in the class of 1958.

 

The other three pictures were taken on a week long bicycle trip that Butch took on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina with two buddies from Hawaii. This is the way he completes his long summer vacation in the lower 48 states.

__________________________________________

Death of Sally Ann Cunningham Brannan

July 10, 1939 to October 12, 2009

 

This is more sad news. Sally battled kidney cancer for two years. There is more about her life at the above link.


 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Death of Gerald David Ramsay, Sr.

September 18, 2009

 

The sad news of Jerry’s death was published in the obituary section of the West Chester Daily Local News on Sunday, September 20, 2009. For several years he had been ill with leukemia, but it was about a year ago that the disease got to be more aggressive. At our 50th graduation reunion he looked fine and was happy although he had the disease by then. Many of us remember that he was an excellent football player, athletic in general and popular with the girls. He will be missed.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recent Luncheons

September 2009

 

There have been three luncheons at the Desmond Hotel in East Whiteland Township for visiting classmates.

 

The first luncheon was held on Saturday, May 30 and featured Jean Carver Ryder who traveled all the way from Venice, Florida. Jean was visiting for a wedding that was held the next day (Sunday). Attending were two of her classmates who knew her from her Easttown School days – Carole Redington Campbell and Steve Goff. Also there were Alta Acheson Fisher (our junior high science and senior high math teacher), Ruth Herman McQuiston and Bill Keltz. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken.

 

The next luncheon was on Thursday, July 23 with John Gartner who was making his annual visit from Tucson, Arizona to East Goshen Township to see his sister. Joining John were Steve Goff, Carole Redington Campbell, Anne Alexander Winship (Butch’s sister and member of the class of 1956), Barbara Quay Murdock (class of 1956 and married to our classmate, Lee) and Bill Keltz.

 

The third luncheon was held on Saturday, August 15 with two classmates featured – Butch Alexander and Warner Blair. Every summer Butch leaves Hawaii to visit family and friends on the mainland. His sister, Anne, lives near Downingtown, and he spends some time with her and then moves on to many other places throughout the United States. Warner was here from Fort Worth, Texas to see his sister, Barbara (TE class of 1953) and his mother. He has a daughter living in Ohio, so he tries to see these three people once a year in a grand tour of sorts. It is nice that a few mothers of our classmates are living. Quite a few people attended this luncheon. Eddie Williams came from Jersey City. His mother is one of the living mothers and lives in Philadelphia. For many of us this was the first time we had seen Eddie since we graduated in 1957. Also there were Clark Marshall, Carole Redington Campbell , Jill Reichner Frank and Chuck Frank, John Kraljevich, Dick Devaney, Dave Mayo, Bill Keltz, Doug Braendel , Xuan (pronounced swan and Butch Alexander’s significant other) and Fran Cox Nodland (TE class of 1953, sister of our classmate, Phil Cox, and the leader of the TE School District Alumni Association).

 

For those of you that like to socialize, reminiscence or watch a football game all of those things can be done at the All Alumni Gathering activities on October 2 and 3.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------



Message from Warner Blair

July 2009

 

The latest event in Warner’s family was the wedding in California on Friday, July 24th of his second to youngest daughter, Summer. The groom is Darrell. Warner and his wife are the parents of seven children, and this was the first time in nearly five years that the entire family has been together. They still have one daughter and one son left to marry.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update from Herb Samworth

July 2009

 

This year Herb and his wife, Carolyn, moved their residence from Winter Garden, FL to Chambersburg, PA. Their new address and phone number are:

 

          2317 Majestic Court

          Chambersburg, PA 17202

 

          Tel:  717-267-5904

 

While he lived in Winter Garden, he was in charge of the Scriptorium. About three years ago he and his colleagues produced a DVD on the Scriptorium which was a combination of history and theology. It amazes him how many times this DVD has been shown on TV. For his next project Herb and a friend hope to make a DVD on the History of the Geneva Bible. He points out that the title sounds uninteresting, but the subject deals with one of the most significant historical periods in the history of England.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos from Butch Alexander

May 2009

 

Butch has provided pictures of Lanikai, Hawaii that were taken from World War II pill box bunkers.

 

This summer he will be on the mainland. He travels all over, so contact him to find out if he will be near you because he enjoys visiting with his classmates.

__________________________________________

Message from Dr. Robert Dunn

May 2009

 

After serving for 20 years, I retired from the Presidency of The Vancouver Oxford & Cambridge Society [a society of roughly 1,200 graduates of the two ancient universities who live in British Columbia] and my successor, a Cambridge man, having twisted my arm to attend the annual Dinner, in the Great Hall of Green College, University of British Columbia, presented me with a Commemorative Proclamation, gilt-framed and inscribed with elegant calligraphy all in Latin. Miss Basehore would have been best pleased. As I was opening it, the entire gathering of about 120 stood up and sang FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! In reply, I said that, in serving the Society for twenty years, I hoped that I had, indirectly and in a general way, given back something of what was so generously given me during my four years at Oxford.

 

[Text & translation of the Commemorative Proclamation]

 

[The calligrapher used, for the most part, Carolingian uncials.]

Amico suo carissimo cultorique optime merenti Doctori Roberto Dunn qui inter Annos Domini MCMLXXXVIII et MMVIII ut Praeses Secretarius Pro Tempore (Honoris Causa) et Rationarius SOCIETATIS antiquae et venerabilis alumnorum VNIVERSITATVM OXONIENSIS ET CANTABRIGIENSIS in provincia COLVMBIA BRITANNICA degentium ad solemnitatem Cursuum Navalium celebrandam atque ad hilaritatem istarum academiarum iuxta limites Imperii perpetue sustinendam Anno Domini MCMXXIX conditae hac in causa nobilissima indesinenter et efficaciter operam navabat mores sodalitatis prudenter decenter sapienterque custodiens omnibus horis personam hominis gerens vere academici SOCIETAS gratias maximas agit Die quarta decima ante Kalendas Maiae MMIX

Antonius Knox LLD
Praeses Secretarius Pro Tempore (Honoris Causa) et Rationarius

Marcus Vessey DPhil
Vice-Rationarius Pro Tempore (Honoris Causa)

Which, roughly translated, says the following:

To our well-beloved friend, Dr.Robert Dunn, greetings. The ancient and venerable association of graduates of Oxford University and Cambridge University in Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in A.D. 1929 to celebrate the great annual Boat Race and maintain the happy spirit of the Universities at the marches of Empire, acknowledges with greatest gratitude your untiring and successful efforts as our President and Acting Honorary Secretary and Treasurer during the years A.D. 1988 to 2008 in maintaining the traditions of our association with the common sense, economy, humour and goodwill of a true university gentleman. April 18, 2009

 

Dr. Anthony Knox

President and Acting Honorary Secretary and Treasurer

 

Dr. Mark Vessey

Acting Honorary Assistant Treasurer

___________________________________________

 

Message from Sandy Giles Manning

May 2009

 

We ( Sandy and Bob Manning ) celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this month, May 9, 2009. Where does the time go? It seems as though we just left the Bahamas, and we certainly don't feel old at all. We had a great party with a lot of friends from Florida and the Bahamas.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message from Carole Redington Campbell

May 2009

 

Carole Redington Campbell and husband Tom have been going on cruises for the past nine years.  This last one was with two other couples aboard the Noordam in the western Mediterranean ( picture ), followed by four days in Rome.  They live in Hershey's Mill, West Chester, PA, from May through mid-October, and on the island of Cape Canaveral, FL, the rest of the year.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote about Carol Wagley Zantjer and Susan Corrigan

April 2009

 

Carol and her husband, Norm, have a condo in Estero, Florida where they spend the winter. On their return in April to Papillion, Nebraska they stopped near Sarasota for a long lunch with Susan Corrigan McLaughlin. Susan and her husband, Greg, want to move back to some undetermined location in Pennsylvania, but the depressed housing market in Florida has delayed those plans. As an alternative they got a cabin last summer in Maine, and they will be headed to it by early May to spend the summer in milder climes than around Sarasota. Susan did not say exactly where the cabin is, but there is a moose nearby. In the meantime Carol is back near her extended family in Nebraska keeping busy with them, yard work and the likes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote from and about Bailey Stewart

April 2009

 

Barbara and I just returned from a Two Hemisphere Tango cruise of 50 days from Fort Lauderdale around Cape Horn to San Francisco.  We visited nine countries and stopped at twenty ports.  The weather went from winter in Florida to summer in South America to freezing around Cape Horn to hot crossing the equator for the second time then wearing jackets in San Francisco.  The entire trip was fantastic; however, Montevideo, Uruguay, Santiago, Chile and the tango lessons in Argentina stand out in our minds.  I would highly recommend this cruising adventure to all.  Bring books and wine, sit on the balcony and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote about Gary Rigg

March 2009

 

Gary and his wife, Deana, took a vacation in Florida this winter. Toward the end of it they visited Susan Corrigan McLaughlin at her home in Sarasota. As a result of earlier prodding by this editor, Susan took a picture of the happy couple. Gary cannot imagine why anyone would want to look at his picture, but that decision is up to the reader.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote about Dick Devaney

March 2009

 

After retiring, Dick decided to learn how to play golf. He enjoyed it and got to be proficient. Every Tuesday at the DeLand Country Club (the club he belongs to) there is a tournament, and after play has finished prizes are awarded and penalties assessed. There is a penalty consisting of purchasing a pitcher of beer if the golfer’s ball goes into the water while playing the 16th hole, a par 3. The previous week Dick had driven the ball into the water so that he was determined not to repeat. As it turned out on March 31 he drove it directly into the hole. This triggered another tradition which is that the golfer of  a hole in one buys drinks for everyone on the course (and perhaps others). He was fortunate that most of the golfers preferred beer to liquor at that time of day, but it cost lots more than the price of one pitcher. Everyone had fun. That is the second hole in one for Dick.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anecdote about Betsy Marshall

March 2009

In a message from Betsy Marshall Newell she reports that she is busy researching the art and architecture of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran in preparation for a three week trip in April to those countries. She will travel with a small group and a scholar. She took an Asian art course around the time of our 50th reunion and it inspired in her a ‘huge interest’ in the art and architecture of China, India and Central Asia. Yes, she will wear a burka in Iran.

 

Betsy and her husband live in London where she has been enjoying spring which arrives in early March.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------