CLASS NOTES | SPRING 2025 | 49 years. Tauck is also the parent of a Lehigh graduate. He has supported Lehigh Business and endowed an international internship program that supports an annual cohort of 12 undergraduates working abroad.” Editor’s note: Bob Gill passed away on Dec. 2, 2024. We are grateful for his impact on his community and Lehigh. Please see the In Remembrance section for more. ’54Editor’s note: To share your news or if you would be interested in becoming your class’s correspondent, reaching out to classmates and writing a column three times a year, please contact the Alumni Office at 610-758-3686 or alumni@ lehigh.edu. ’55Burt Sutker, (732) 718-0617; 21204 Shannondell Drive, Audubon, PA 19403 I lost the best part of me when Roberta died on March 19, 2024, after a battle with blood cancer and nearly 69 years of togetherness. I am buoyed by loving family and friends. The Lehigh group at Shannondell (Valley Forge) has grown to nine members, and we meet quarterly. My consulting activity now includes an association with a Lehigh professor who is working on improving navigation of interior spaces for the disabled. Still have energy for between four and six miles on a local track every other day. I recently took a picture with my identical twin great-grandsons, all in running shirts. Hard to believe 87 years’ difference between them and me. Now we have Ed Cahn’s wonderful, people-filled recollections: “Burt Sutker asked me to write a short piece for submission to the Alumni Bulletin. Burt alerted me that I owe a debt of gratitude to Haigh Cundey for the assignment. But now I have a good excuse to turn Haigh down when he requests a contribution to Lehigh. “I think it noteworthy that our classmate Lee Butz was inducted into Lehigh’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023 as the baseball pitcher with the lowest earned run average. This was a much-deserved honor. One of Lee’s guests at the event was the major league player Bill White. White played for the Phillies and other major league teams, was president of the National League and was a noted announcer. Lee and Bill were teammates on the highly successful Fort Knox, Kentucky, baseball team. They played before segregation was outlawed by Congress. Lee learned the adverse impact on his teammate when Bill’s meals were sent out to the bus. I always admired Lee for having his meal sent out the same way. “Since Lee and I are both graduates of Allentown High School (now William Allen High School) and since we both are in the Hall of Fame, I thought that some other Allentown athletes may have been so recognized. Indeed, Robert Numbers ’50, football captain, and Kim McQuilken ’74 are also honored. Our Class of 1955 had three members of Phi Beta Kappa who were from Allentown High School: Carl Albright, Charles Russoli and yours truly. In addition to Lee, Charles, Carl and me, my 1951 Allentown High School Class contributed the following graduates to Lehigh ’55: Al Albright, James Giannelli, Lou Kerschner, Joe Koczan, Lou Peters, Bill Seitz, Roger Shoch, Lew Somers, Art Swallow and Bill Swider. “On July 26, 2024, Alice and I had lunch with our classmate Dave Finger and his wife, Joan. Dave worked at Bethlehem Steel in a department headed by Bob McCann ’52. Bob was a teammate of mine on the 1952 basketball team. The four of us had a most pleasant lunch. Dave and I were brothers in Theta Delta Chi. “I continue to practice law with only a few cases remaining. “Finally, a memory from April of 1955. After the basketball season ended, Jim Gleckner (another Theta Delt brother) and I were recruited by the Bethlehem Police Department Athletic League to join a College All-Star Team to play a semi-pro team named the Quakertown Fays in a charity event. The Fays’ best player was a junior at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia by the name of Wilt Chamberlain. The rumor was that Wilt was paid under the table to preserve his amateur status. The Bethlehem Police also recruited a Lafayette graduate named Pete Carril, who later coached Princeton with great success. Carril suggested we use a full-court press to keep the ball away from Wilt. It worked. We won the game.” Hope that you will attend our 70th Reunion, June 12-15, 2025. I also hope that readers will write a column. Not hard, it is your story, and we all want to hear it. ’56 Bill Burgin, 534 W. Beechtree Lane, Wayne, PA 19087, (610) 6887374 (H); billburgin1934@ gmail.com It was great to receive a cheerful Christmas greeting from Brenda and Fred Jackson. They live in Houston but were photographed by the covered “Kissing Bridge” and on a sunset lake cruise in their summer venue, Jackson, N.H. They have also cruised on “the three major German rivers.” I was pleased to hear from members of two solid Lehigh families, that of Bill Ledder and the late Peter Blynn. Both families include multi-generations on the Lehigh rolls. Bill Ledder, a retired civil engineer, reports that he is active in his Warminster, Pa., living community and has a granddaughter enrolled at Lehigh. On campus, Bill was vice president of Pi Kappa Alpha. Peter Blynn, who died in August 2024, was a member of Alpha Chi Rho and a U.S. Army veteran. He had a long career with Texaco and enjoyed spending time with his large family and participating in outdoor sports, including race car driving. His grandfather and both parents received Lehigh degrees. Our deep condolences to Peter’s wife, Shirley, and the Blynn family. I was surprised one day when UPS handed me a package from Lehigh. In it was a handsomely enclosed document, the Class Correspondent Lifetime Service Award recognizing over 50 years of service to this role. I have submitted a class column to (almost) every issue of the Lehigh Alumni Bulletin since we graduated. All this is possible because you have kept in touch for those 69 years, sharing your news of family, careers, travels and milestones. Thank you! Keep your news coming, and have a good year. ’57 Jim Watson, The Waterstone, 150 Bloomingdale Rd., Apt 532, White Plains, NY, 10605. 201803-1307; jwatson@execsearchinc.net ’58 Bill Helfrich, 80 Southwick Drive, Orchard Park, NY 14127. (716) 662-7927 (H); bh7831@ aol.com Eighty-eight is still great and so are we! It is with great sadness that I inform you we have lost one of our greatest classmates— Dick Briggs. He has organized almost every reunion, planned the programs, mailed the notices and followed up with the attendees. I would like to honor him for all he did as class president. We miss you, but still have all those memories. What a great Beta. Jack Wright died right after I talked to him to see if he was going to attend the 65th Reunion. I was notified by his daughter Elizabeth and wife Nancy after they read about our conversation with him and had a few laughs. Jack was
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