56 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES The first installment of thanks for attending the 50th goes to Betsy Adams; Bob Adikes; Nancy Ahlum and her husband, Dale Ahlum; Lou Allegra; James Anderson and his spouse, Linda Anderson; Thomas Avakian; Patricia (Teller) Beadling; Linda and John Boyer; and Patti and Peter Bronecke. Thanks also goes out to Andy Brown, Hank Cardello, Sue and Allan Cheung, Judy and David Clark, Robert Clemence and Marilyn, David Cole and reunion committee member John Dittmeier and Moya, who helped make the cheerleading pom-poms for the performance during the parade of classes. Also, we thank Jeffrey Dreibelbis and wife Lorraine, Alumni Award winner Jim Duane and wife Michelle, Cathy and Gregory Emish and Richard Erdman. In addition, we thank Sarah and John Finn, Thomas Fisher, Doug Frey, Lynn Glancy and Andrea and Gary Goodman. I also want to thank my wife, CynDee Fekula, for accompanying me. Please look for additional names of class members who attended the reunion in upcoming 2024 class columns. In other class news, Alan “Scotty Mack” Macgregor, wrote to say that he and Sue enjoyed their first snow in Colorado during the last week of October. Scotty and Sue moved from New Mexico, where he had worked with NOCO in Santa Fe, before retiring, traveling in his Airstream and moving to Windsor, Colo., near Fort Collins. Scotty is enjoying “keeping up” with his much-smaller property. “Instead of working weekends, plus a few days in between, on the two acres in New Mexico, it’s 30 minutes tops,” he reports, on taking care of his new homestead in the “mile-high” state. Scotty is staying involved by doing some training for nearby utilities, “loving the Denver Nuggets and watching the Broncos and Rockies head for the basement.” His quote, not mine. In a short missive, Peter White reports that he retired in 2022 from a rewarding 27-year career as Kodak’s tax counsel, stating, “Now, I spend my days (in Pittsford, N.Y.) singing, ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and ‘Ain’t It Good To Be Alive?’” ’74 Bill White, 5418 Holiday Drive, Allentown, PA 18104, whitebil1974@gmail.com Preparations are well underway for our 50th reunion—and they include a challenge. “Our 50th Reunion Chair Jim Galletly is issuing a challenge to all classmates who have previously attended a reunion weekend. It is very simple: Bring a classmate and spouse/friend/plus one to our 50th! We promise an unforgettable experience in keeping with our theme, Undefeated and Unsurpassed. Reach out to just one classmate and get their commitment to attend, and we will have the party to top all parties! Get psyched!” You should already have received reminders about the dates, June 6-9, and you can get more information at alumni. lehigh.edu/reunion. Meanwhile, Mike Galler— who will be attending—sent me a nice update from his home in Old Saybrook, Conn. He wrote: “Lehigh provided life-changing impacts that resulted in lifelong friends, including TEP frat brothers Ed Morton ’73, Bill Mann ’73, Elia Schoomer ’72 and Frank Ingrassia ’75, as well as Gordon Buck, Pete Sleeman ’76 and Dennis Kacmar ’77, who sadly passed from this life. “Most significantly, I met my lifelong partner, a South Side townie, Barbara Ann Cmorey, while working part time at the Hess gas station freshman year. She pulled in for gas, which was 30 cents a gallon at the time, and I proceeded to clean her windshield, check her oil and immediately fall in love. But, it wasn’t until my senior year that I finally got the opportunity to date her. The rest is history. “We were blessed with three sons, and every family holiday we would visit Gramma on Selfridge Street. Driving down Packer Avenue, I would always make a point to say that this is where Daddy went to college. No surprise that all three sons became Lehigh engineers, with two achieving doctorates. I couldn’t be prouder of all of them, as their dad only got a Drexel master’s and Penn MBA. Now that I’m retired from the nuclear power industry, I get to spend more time with the girl of my dreams and my grandchildren. Life could not be better, thanks to Lehigh.” Finally, I heard from Blake Eisenhart, who was reacting to Mike Actis-Grande’s letter in our last issue. He and Mike were freshman roommates in Dravo C-3. When I asked him for some information about his life since then, Blake wrote: “Clearly, my greatest accomplishment was purely the accidental room assignment with Michael Actis-Grande on my arrival at Lehigh back in September 1970! “Since then, I have been luckier than most. Lehigh bestowed great preparation for public accounting careers in those days, and earning a master’s at Wharton Graduate School provided icing on the cake. Opportunities led me to advance in my career by running the Chesapeake Region Business Risk Practice at Arthur Andersen (from Richmond to Philadelphia) and then serving as chief audit executive at two global brand organizations (Marriott and Unisys), all of which allowed me to travel around the world (literally) for business for over 20 years. “When I retired, I was given the great opportunity (preCOVID) to teach a corporate governance (enterprise risk management) course in the Lehigh Graduate Business Program, which was quite the learning experience! During my career days, I married—and divorced—and am a proud father of a daughter currently advancing her career within PwC and also am a happy new grandfather of, unquestionably, a female future athlete! “I split my retired life between New York City and Virginia now, serve on a few nonprofit boards and stay active in Democratic political life in Bucks County, Pa., the swingiest county in the swingiest state, according to Politico! “I always admired the line from Auntie Mame: “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” I have been fortunate to have been fed enough.” Let’s all take another bite from that banquet this June. ’75 Thom Hirsch, 139 McHenny Court, Chester, MD 21619, ThomasHirsch44@Outlook.com Fifty years ago, the Arab oil embargo ended, the Watergate investigation was reaching a crescendo, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, Steve Wonder’s “Innervisions” won album of the year and the movie “Blazing Saddles” by Mel Brooks was released. Our 50th class reunion is coming. Save the date: June 12-15, 2025. Reach out to your friends from our days at Lehigh, and convince them to join you at the reunion. Our reunion committee, headed by our class co-presidents Mardi Blacher Reich and Jeff Sherman, is already at work. Let us know if you want to help. One aspect of the 50th reunion will be the presentation of our class reunion gift to Lehigh. When we were seniors, we contributed approximately $200,000 as a senior class gift to be used to fund scholarships. Since then, our gift has generated over $400,000 in scholarships to worthy students. The most recent recipient
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