52 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES residual effects. “This event, like previous ones, was organized by Gerrie and Jim Martin. They have just completed their 22nd year in Charlotte. They enjoyed another European holiday in May—this time, with their son and his two teenage boys—and visited the Greek Isles, Athens and then Lucerne, Switzerland. “Joan and Kerry Rowles continue to spend hours driving to various places in the east. They spent time this year with their son at his farm in eastern Tennessee, and at the end of July, they traveled to Maine with their daughters and their families. They have sold their Pennsylvania lake house and reside most of the year in Marco Island. “Roz and Ray Phillips traveled to the Outer Banks from their Chapel Hill home. Ray had his left knee replaced in August and has almost made a full recovery. Roz has suggested strongly that Ray should limit his biking to a stationary in their home. “Gwyneth and Jon Sharp joined us from their longtime home in Lewes, Del. Gwyn’s physical limitations don’t seem to be deterring their travel. This past year, they visited their son and his family in Rhode Island and made a trip to California. Jon is still doing his best to educate us regarding the state of the world’s oceans. “Our final couple, Bonnie and Frank Pratt, flew down from New York/Connecticut. They spend a lot of their time in Stamford, living near their son and two grandchildren. Bonnie stays active in her clubs, and Frank plays as much golf as the weather permits. They are planning a trip to Italy for their 50th anniversary. “We all celebrated our 80th birthdays this year and will have all reached our 50-plus anniversaries with the same spouses by next year. We agreed that we are all slowing down but still enjoy traveling and, even more importantly, getting together and reminiscing about our wonderful years at Lehigh.” ’66 James A. Tiefenbrunn, 1201 Butztown Road, #31, Bethlehem, PA 18017. (610) 691-1714 (H); jat1@lehigh.edu Harry Brown, class president, represented us at the annual first-year student welcome rally. Hopefully, some of you caught the excitement by watching the live video feed. Harry invites anyone to join him in waving the Class of ’66 flag at future events. I joined Jean and Joel Goldstein, at the invitation of Barb Yaissle, at the annual gala of the ArtsQuest Foundation in Bethlehem in November. At the gala, Barb and the late Jack Yaissle were presented with the Linny Fowler Lifetime Achievement Award. Other family and friends attended, including their grandson, Ryan Stephens ’24. News of John Talotta was sent in by his good friend Hal Rush ’65. They met in 1962, were both townies and became lifelong friends. Quoting Hal, “Just prior to graduation John joined the U.S. Army to get the draft behind him. He went to OCS, became a first lieutenant and, when he knew that Vietnam was no longer in the cards, he married Dorothy Ross in 1968. She is a close friend of my wife, both having gone to Bellevue Nursing School in NYC. “After the military, he went to work with ITT in NYC in human resources. Later, he joined the Long Island Savings Bank and became a senior vice president. In 1998, the bank was merged, and he was given an exit package. Resources allowed him to truly retire from the rat race and have more time for fishing, traveling and, more significantly, putting extra effort into charity—hence, the following. “In 1973, he joined Big Brothers Big Sisters and became a board member and later board chair on a number of occasions, moving to emeritus status in 2021. He remains active in BBBS Long Island after 50 years of service. John favored BBBS simply because he wanted to help youth. Before he accepted a board position, he made clear that he wanted the organization to be run like a business. He helped make the agency solvent, including developing a successful donation center (a $5 million annual business) and a scholarship program, which, along with John and Dorothy’s funding, has provided $800,000 in awards. “This year, the BBBS of Long Island recognized John and Dorothy by dedicating its new building in Westbury to them. The dedication speeches by two past CEOs attested to his work and ethics. We did visit, travel, vacation and go to Lehigh football games with John and Dot over the years until the pandemic put a hold on many things.” Al Robertson spent his entire career in the steel industry and in Bethlehem. He started with Bethlehem Steel in the metallurgy department and moved through various positions to forging and casting sales. He retired in 1997 as VP of marketing and sales of the BethForge Corp., a Bethlehem Steel subsidiary. He then joined Lehigh Heavy Forge Corp. as VP of marketing and sales, retiring in 2017. For over 25 years, Al was involved with local government. He served on the planning commission and zoning hearing board for Bethlehem Township for over nine years and was chair of the planning commission for five years. He was then elected to the township board of commissioners for four four-year terms, serving as president for eight years. Al said that “working for the township gave me a great perspective on politics and service to the community.” Al enjoyed bike riding and participated in the 2011 NYC Five Boro Bike Ride. He also helped on the racing pit crew for Dick Johnson MBA’73. ’67 Eric Hamilton, journeyman618@ gmail.com Jim Findley says, “After 55 years, I have decided to let you know what I have been up to. After graduating from Lehigh, I went to Georgetown University for a master’s degree in political science and was selected to Pi Sigma Alpha, the honorary political science fraternity. I was selected to the federal government’s Management Intern Program at the Defense Logistics Agency and spent almost two years there, before entering the Foreign Service with the U.S. Information Agency, the information and cultural arm of the U.S. government overseas, now part of the State Department. “While at Georgetown, I met my wife, Kathy. We have been married 54 years and have two children. My first assignment was to the American Embassy in Mexico City as a trainee. Then, it was on to a one-person post in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where Kathy gave birth to our first child, and I was in charge of a Honduran-American cultural center. Hurricane Fifi hit during our last months there, and we were both heavily involved in the search, rescue and communications efforts. I was made an honorary citizen of San Pedro Sula for that effort and received a State Department Meritorious Honor Award. “We then moved to Athens, Greece, following six months of language training in Washington, D.C. I was the executive director of a similar organization that had 4,000 students of English at any one time, two libraries (one Greek and one American), a concert hall and two art galleries. “From Greece, we went to Newport, R.I., for 10 months, where I was a student at the Col-
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