CLASS NOTES | SPRING 2025 | 57 they accepted the position before the war broke out. “We travel to France and Italy two or three times per year. “As I tell everyone, if you come to Louisiana, you are required to come to my house to help me drink the 1,200 bottles of wine in my wine room (no cellars in La.).” Burt Rosenberg (jrosemd@ aol.com) writes: “After serving as corporation counsel for my hometown of Hamden, Conn., from 1992 to 1998, I have been assistant corporation counsel for the City of Stamford since 1998. My main duties are interfacing with the police department, which is very interesting work. Lots of ‘criminal stories’ that defy belief. My twin sons are successful in their respective fields: Dave works for the Howard Hughes Foundation, which doles out grants for medical research, and Jeff works in marketing for a Brazilian exporter. They live in Portland, Maine, and NYC, respectively. I have no plans to retire anytime soon— enjoying the job too much.” ’72 Charles S. “Chuck” Steele, 2080 Flint Hill Road, Coopersburg, PA 18036. (610) 737-2156 (M); signscss@aol.com Soon after the Summer 2024 issue was published, I received a voice message from Larry Gash, expressing his surprise at having been mentioned. I returned the call, and we had a nice chat about what had been printed and what is factual for Larry now. He is officially retired, having sold Soltz Paint, which included four locations in New Jersey. He and his wife, Carla, love to travel and are making up for 50+ years during which the business didn’t allow it. Unfortunately, during a recent trip she suffered a fall that resulted in multiple bone fractures, so they acquired a one-floor condo in Maplewood and are allowing her to recuperate there before resuming their travels. They’ll continue to maintain their multi-story seaside home in Ventnor. Larry loves the game of bridge and is a bronze life master player. I also learned that we each have young grandsons (ages 5 and 3), and we spent extended time on our call comparing their growth and development. We also discussed our becoming grandparents at an advanced age. Do we represent a trend or an anomaly? Have other classmates become first-time grandparents in the past decade? How many of you are already great-grandparents? Larry encourages others to contact him at his new, post-retirement email address: lgcplgag@gmail.com. As long as I’m catching up a little, here’s a tidbit omitted from the preceding issue. Jim Rosamilia was a javelin master on Lehigh’s track and field team. Jersey boy Ronald A. Lambert arrived at Lehigh from River Vale and graduated with industrial engineering credentials. I selected him for this issue because he joined our Class of 1972 Facebook group and I don’t recall his name ever appearing in one of these columns. My aging roster lists most recent employment as regional sales manager with HSBC Bank U.S.A., but that does not suggest anything about the duration of his tenure there. He and wife, Anne, reside in Rye Brook, N.Y. Facebook makes clear that they are devout Yankees fans, and there’s even a video clip of Ron throwing warmup pitches to catchers in the Yanks bullpen! Their proximity to NYC allows them to attend numerous concerts, plays, etc. Ron is also a student of the martial arts and just published his book—“Honoring the Life of BP Chan: Celebrating a Life of Martial Arts and Qigong.” It has been available in print since May 2024 and should be available in e-book format by the time you receive this information. Richard F. Green managed to evade any mention in our 1972 Epitome, but he did join our 1972 Facebook group. His profile there is somewhat sparse but does identify where he has lived. Another Jersey boy, from Perth Amboy, he moved from Bethlehem to Providence, R.I. (1974), then to South Korea (1980), then Scriba, N.Y. (1982), then Southwest Oswego, N.Y. (1991), and finally to Granbury, Texas (2007). It also shows that he is a fan of the Green Bay Packers, Monty Python and Lehigh Athletics, and has very eclectic musical tastes. The only employment position appearing in an older Alumni Association roster reports that Rich was a system engineer with Constellation Energy Group, Inc., when he was in upstate New York, but the current version identifies his Lehigh Club as Dallas-Fort Worth and his undergraduate major as metallurgy and materials sciences. Perhaps he can follow Larry Gash’s lead and indicate what got him to move to Texas from the East Coast. Reaching my word limit. Here are 10 more: I still have some 50th Reunion golf shirts, sizes L-XXXL. ’73 Patrick Fekula, 1891 Evans Drive South, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250. (904) 451-4949 (M); Pfekula7@gmail.com Having lived in Florida for the past 48 years, I’m often asked, “How do you deal with all those hurricanes?” The simple answer for Floridians is that we get prepared well before hurricane season and then hope for the best … and we get good flood insurance! Well, what if you live in the mountains of western North Carolina and are unexpectedly hit by the rain, wind and flooding caused by Hurricane Helene? I am writing this column the day after Thanksgiving, from my son’s home in Burnsville, N.C. Burnsville is located 35 miles northeast of Asheville. We’ve all seen reports of the devastation that Helene brought to this area, but I must tell you, if you haven’t seen it up close and personal, you are not getting the full picture. My son took me on an afternoon tour of a few of the surrounding towns like Bakersville, Microville and Spruce Pine. I was shocked and saddened by what I saw. For those of you who know western North Carolina, many of the roads border creeks and rivers. A previous storm had dumped more than 10 inches of rain on the area. When Helene hit, it caused flash flooding, falling trees and mudslides from Asheville in the west to Boone in the east, a distance of over 100 miles. I’ve seen the destruction hurricanes cause in Florida, but the difference is that most Floridians are prepared for them; the people in N.C. were not expecting a storm of this magnitude. Residents were without electricity for weeks, and safe city drinking water was unavailable until just before Thanksgiving. Bridges and homes were literally swept away by the floodwaters, and, as I write this, many who lost their homes are living in tents. Many people lost their lives. One long-time resident of Bakersville told me he was still cleaning debris from his property and working on his damaged roof two months after the storm. With tears in his eyes he added, “Very few folks in this area have flood insurance.” People are getting help from FEMA; in addition, local agencies have been doing a yeoman’s job, and there are many individual heroes who have come forward to help. In my experience, the news cycle passes swiftly, and people move on with their lives. Unfortunately, the people of this area will be dealing with this disaster for years to come. Our family has already contributed in various ways … my son hosted two families whose homes were damaged for Thanksgiving dinner. If you would like to help, contact me and I will provide you with a
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