CLASS NOTES | SPRING 2026 | 37 countless volunteer years serving the homeless with evening meals, organizing a Boy Scout troop as scoutmaster and supporting the Lions Club. In 2018, Barbara, his wife of 70 years, passed away. He has continued to stay in touch with his friends in Borovichi and spend time with his family, including his nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. He celebrated his 98th birthday in March 2025. We recently heard about Dr. Thomas Spinner Jr. from wife Nicole and son Tom. Tom passed away in 2016, but his humming of “Lehigh Will Shine Tonight” still resonates with his family and friends. Arriving at Lehigh in 1947, he had to look for a rooming house on his first day on campus, as the dorms were full of older, recently discharged servicemen from the war. Although he attended Lehigh for engineering, his grades helped him to realize that he would never build bridges, and he moved on to study history. After two years at Lehigh, Tom was accepted at West Point and transferred. His two and a half years at the USMA made him yearn for the good life at Lehigh, and he returned in 1952 and graduated in 1953. While at Lehigh, Tom lived in Richards 3B, was an athletic chairman, played intramural sports and was a member of the International Relations Club, as well as the Spanish and French clubs. Following further education at Columbia and the University of Rochester, he made a career as a historian and professor at the University of Vermont. Nicole met Tom on a French ocean liner, and after the trip, her father sent Tom a round-trip airline ticket to fly to France to meet the family. The trip was successful, as Tom and Nicole later married. Being world travelers, Tom and Nicole lived for many years in the U.K. and South America. Tom always reminisced about those happy years in the ’40s and ’50s at Lehigh. “When the sun goes down and the moon comes up, Lehigh will shine!” In the Campaign Impact Report for 2024-2025, it states that Jack Vanderryn ’51 ’M’52 D’55 established a LUAG Student Endowment Fund to support education and engagement activities that benefit Lehigh students. Thanks, Jack, for your giving spirit. If you are in the Class of ’51 or earlier, send an update or story to leemartucci12@gmail.com or call Wes at 302-998-7020. ’52 Bill Erdman, (407) 644-0391; 1171 Willa Vista Trail, Maitland, Fla., 32751 wce96@seeoursite.org; seeoursite.org/lehigh EDITOR'S NOTE: Computer issues held Bill back this time around. He’s sure he’ll have it fixed by the time you read this. Give him a call or drop an email to help fill his next column! ’53 Herb Roemmele, 622 North Flagler Drive, Apartment 801, West Palm Beach, FL 33401; (732) 796-3013; herbertroemmele@gmail.com I am writing this a few months before you read it, so my news is old news. We received a nice letter from Maryann Shea, daughter of our classmate Bill Connery. He was a member of Theta Kappa Phi and graduated from the business school. He spent most of his business career with the United States Chamber of Commerce as senior manager of the development group and director of capital funding projects for the northeastern United States. In retirement with his wife, Marlene, he lived in Homosassa, Fla., but has now moved to New Jersey to be near his two daughters. Thomas Rivel still lives in the Philadelphia area and spent his entire business career in accounting doing cost accounting associated with industrial engineering. Tom also spent time in the Air Force in Germany. After a few health scares, Pete Strategos is doing fine and living in The Villages, Fla. He is active in church work and senior citizens organizations. Pete spent most of his business career with Bethlehem Steel, with 12 years with AMP Connector Corp. Howard Harman now lives in a retirement community. His first wife passed away and he remarried. He had six children, two became doctors and four teachers. He also worked for Bethlehem Steel and was on the wrestling team at Lehigh. Nick Gentile heard from Phil Frank that Paul Niederer passed away. He had been an employee of General Electric. Nick is doing fine and is very proud of his grandson, now a student at Lehigh. As a freshman, he lived in the same section of Dravo that Nick lived in. My wife and I visited Art Tauck and his wife at their yacht club in Vero Beach, Fla. Art stays in Florida all year. His mind is perfect, and we enjoyed remembering the good old days at high school and Lehigh that we shared together. Tauck Tours continues to do well thanks to Art’s past leadership. EDITOR'S NOTE: Arthur Tauck passed away after this note was submitted. Please see his In Remembrance on page 61. A member of Delta Sigma Phi, Doug Clausen passed away in 2024. He was a VP in his fraternity and was active in numerous campus organizations. Another sad note—the death of Lehigh’s former president, Dr. Alice Gast. President Helble sent a personal note because he knew that I was a close friend of hers. I got to know her on the second or third day on the job and said goodbye to her on her next to last day when she invited me to a one-on-one lunch at Saucon Valley Country Club. She was outstanding. Keep the news coming either by phone or mail. With few of our classmates remaining, I need the support of those of you who do. ’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. ’55 Burt Sutker, (732) 718-0617; 21204 Shannondell Drive, Audubon, PA 19403 I hate to be a bother, but the column is only as good as you make it. Please send me happenings and any other item that will be of interest to your classmates. This issue highlights two of our classmates, Clarence Walbert and Richard Reichley. Clarence wrote, “I joined Exxon (now ExxonMobil) shortly after graduation, and [after] almost 40 years, my ExxonMobil career ended when the company closed the New Jersey facilities, consolidating them in Texas and Louisiana. They gave the senior-aged employees an excellent retirement package. Most of my ExxonMobil positions were in chemical plant operations and plant facilities engineering. “During many of my ExxonMobil years, I was part of the professional recruiting teams that included a few weeklong periods on campus every year. I also attended many of our five-year reunions, but that will not be possible for our 70th. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church and local community organizations have been important during my ExxonMobil years and continued in my retirement years for both my wife and me. Camping trips through most of the states were yearly activities. Our four children, one a Lehigh graduate, plus two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren complete our family.” Richard sent in these notes: Richard Reichley was a resident assistant in Dravo Hall during his junior and senior years. He was continually active in Lehigh chorus groups, winning an award at a Lafayette Sports Rally as well as Carnegie Hall appearances under the baton of Skitch Henderson. Richard earned a degree in mathematics and was the commanding officer of The Scabbard and Blade. Richard’s note to me included, “I have enjoyed reading about my classmates over the
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