CLASS NOTES | SUMMER 2025 | 37 Bill was a longtime boater. He traveled from Maine to Key West and has visited every port on the Long Island Sound. Pegg was his first mate. Bill eventually had to stop sailing and sold his boat. Bill told me that trolleys were everywhere back in the late ’40s. They went from Bethlehem to Allentown and to Easton. The Liberty Line went from Bethlehem to Philadelphia. Bill recalled taking that a few times. In fact, Bill recently visited the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa., and the Liberty Line was there! There were other stories Bill shared, including how his grandfather came over from Italy and they changed his name from Milanese to Milla. It took his family years to get it changed back to Milanese. And the time when he was in New York with other Lehigh grads watching the Tall Ships sail by and they all broke out in the singing of “Lehigh Will Shine Tonight.” Fred Batson ’50 reported that he attended the Western New York showing of the 2024 Lehigh-Lafayette game. For the rest of you in the Classes of 1945-1950, please reach out via email or phone. We would love to hear from you! Francis “Bud” Rosch Jr. of Lancaster, Pa., wrote the following: “I have hesitated all these years to write to the Bulletin because I have not climbed a mountain, written a book or been elected to office. Wes Wardell says there are about 60 of us, go ’51ers. After Lehigh, I went to work for DuPont designing and manufacturing valves. During that time, I fell in love and married Judy. We had four children, and three of them went to Lehigh … Maggie IE ’83, Katie ME ’84 and Fran IE ’86. The fourth, Pattie, went to the University of Delaware. “Not surprising that Lehigh was a big part of our life. Lots of good and some not so good, but it ended well. Judy and I make our yearly trip to Lehigh for a campus visit and football game. For those of you that have not visited the campus lately, it looks really good. “When I retired, I became interested in writing. I took a number of courses and even had my own website (and I barely passed freshman English). I started running in my seventies. I was slow but placed in the top five of my age group in some half-marathons (there were never more than three other runners in my age group). I also volunteered for over 4,000 hours at our hospice. “Next time you see a happy old couple with one of their children at a game, say ‘Hello,’ it might be us.” During the 1950 spring semester, the great actor Charles Laughton was making a tour of colleges and visited Lehigh. Laughton played the hunchback in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” a 1939 movie in which Maureen O’Hara made her screen debut. At Lehigh, he presented several classic readings and poems in a professional manner. Wes’ fraternity, Alpha Chi Rho, better known as the “Crows,” was about to sit down for the evening meal when the late Ed Purdy ’52 came from the campus. Ed excitedly said, “Guess who I saw at Lamberton Hall (the campus dining facility)?” We all asked, “Who did you see?” Ed said, “The actor Charles Laughton.” We immediately said, “Didn’t you invite him to eat with us?” Ed corrected his mistake, returned to Lamberton Hall and surprisingly brought Mr. Laughton back with him. We had a wonderful visit, and then we all went to Grace Hall for his presentation. It was amazing, particularly when Mr. Laughton announced that he had been invited to dinner with the Lehigh president, Martin D. Whitaker, but declined the offer. Instead, he visited the Crow house, another feather in our cap. We would love to hear your story as well. Call Wes at 302-998-7020 or email Lee at leemartucci12@gmail.com. ’52 Bill Erdman, (407) 644-0391; 1171 Willa Vista Trail, Maitland, Fla., 32751 wce96@seeoursite.org; seeoursite.org/lehigh Bob Hoyt wrote in December: “Jack Platt ’53, his wife, Julie, and I went to Allentown to see the annual wrestling match between Lehigh and Penn State. No. 1 ranked Penn State defeated No. 14 ranked Lehigh, 36-3.” Bob Arndt wrote about Christmas with his family. He wrote his note on an Amtrak, whizzing through Latrobe, Pa. In a follow-up note, Bob added: “My plan was to stay for eight days, but on Christmas Eve I had an attack of diverticulosis and a few other things which kept me in a Pittsburgh hospital and rehab for almost three months!” Young Wally Field wrote: “It is good to know some of us are still out there. Being the youngest* in our class, I have agreed to hold out as long as I can. So far so good. I’m slowing down some, but not enough to keep me from my ballroom dancing or singing in my church choir. If someone had asked me 15 years ago if I would still be singing tenor at 93, I’d have laughed. I started playing golf when I was 9, and last year was the first [season] I missed!” *Remember Wally, if you outlive all of us, YOU will be the oldest member of the Class of ’52! “It would be great to have a list of all of us still standing,” Wally said. My answer is, “Go to our website, seeoursite.org/ lehigh, and look at our pictures on the home page.” I have only ridden 169 miles this year—too cold in January— unusual for Florida; skin cancer of the head wouldn’t allow a helmet in February (now all healed); and I fell in March and bruised the bursa in my right knee—almost healed for riding in April. I’ve been reading a lot of Kindle books in my dotage and recently found a very unusual science fiction author, Laurence Dahners. He writes like a Lehigh graduate would—solid technical writing, warped sense of humor, nondiscriminatory prose, almost believable and fun to read. Have a great 2025, men. ’53 Herb Roemmele, 12133 Plantation Way, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 33418; (732) 796-3013; herbertroemmele@gmail.com I am writing this class report following a letter Nick Gentile and I sent out about organizing a get-together at Reunion. Some of you responded to the letter, and I have your news to share! Jack Platt and Bob Hoyt ’52 attended the Lehigh-Arizona State wrestling match at Grace Hall. Grace brings back many fond memories of all of us. John Ortlieb now lives in Oregon and spent his career as a civil engineer in general contracting. He was from Trenton, N.J., and was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi. His wife has died, but he has a daughter nearby. Al Wild lives near Richmond, Va., and has been retired for 30 years. His wife passed away a long time ago, and he has a fine lady friend. Spent many years with Westinghouse until it collapsed. He enjoyed boating on the Chesapeake Bay and seeing his three daughters. Richard Vance lives in California and was a Tau Delt Phi. He did well in a family business and married an Austrian airline hostess from Pan Am. John Beekley said that he would most likely come to Reunion from Rhode Island. He was originally from Glen Rock, N.J. He was the freshman roommate of Joe Morgenstern and spent a big part of his working career with Wilmington Delaware Trust settling estates. Unfortunately, he lost two wives. Warren Stevens is still active in business, buying and selling real estate in South Jersey. Warren is a brave soul— having lost a portion of his leg, he still has the courage to drive. His two sons are in the business, and one followed Warren and graduated from Lehigh.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==