54 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES Kennedy. Bob and I still have vivid memories of that tragic afternoon. Bob is still practicing law in New Jersey. I retired four years ago after 46 years of teaching American history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Bob and I have pretty much lost track of our Alpha Sigma Phi brothers and would love to hear from them.” See the In Remembrance section of this Bulletin for information on several of our classmates who have passed away in the last year. ’66 James A. Tiefenbrunn, 1210 Kirkland Village Circle, Bethlehem, Pa. 18017. (484) 695-4692 (C), jat1@lehigh.edu After preparing this column for 38 years, I am taking a fourmonth vacation to move and adjust to living at a life care community here in Bethlehem. The move is about one-anda-half miles and nowhere as interesting as the adventures reported by Joe Korff. “[The year] 2023 [was] a travel year for Mary and I. Mary has developed into a fine nature photographer (MaryKorff.com), and we are spending time visiting locations with unusual nature offerings. “Early summer, we were in Alaska capturing the amazingly fresh air and wilderness and were overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the vistas. The trip was complete with learning the five types of salmon and also learning that the land rises 0.9 inches each year as it recovers from glacial compression thousands of years in the making. Landowners with holdings adjacent to the ocean watch their land get larger as it gets higher and the boundary moves further out. It was explained to us in a humorously sarcastic/funny voice that the tax officials recognize the increased land parcel size and reward the land holder with higher taxes. “In July and August, we took a motor home trip from Florida to Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, on to the east coast and then back to Florida. We stopped in Cincinnati to watch Red Bull’s Flugtag, a crazy event of wild people pushing homemade (made to sink) planes over the edge of an elevated ramp into the Ohio River. Kerplunk! “October was spent in East Africa. We started in Zanzibar, then Tanzania, then Kenya and then back to Tanzania. The first leg of the flight was on Oct. 7, 2023, from Miami to Doha on Qatar Air, and we were flying pretty close to the southern tip of Israel when my phone lit up that Hamas was attacking. I looked up at the flight screen and saw that the plane diverted south prior to resuming course. “We visited the Masai Mara, the Serengeti, Amboseli National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater and toured a Masai village with William, the chief’s son, as our guide. The Masai are polygamous, and each family lives in a simple hut that’s been constructed the same way for centuries. We were shown around the hut, and William went into detail about the function of each room. The bed was made of crossed sticks covered with hide. “We took a fantastic sunrise hot air balloon ride in Amboseli that was full of surprises. One surprise was that I could go live on Facebook 7,000 feet up. When we landed, there was a breakfast outside on a long table in the middle of nowhere. “It was amazing to Mary and me how comfortable we were around wild animals that came right up to the tour guides’ Toyota Land Cruisers. For several nights, we slept in tent structures with full baths, and in one instance, the only lock on the ‘door’ was a zipper. A 10-foot croc lived 20 yards from us, and 30 or more hippos in the river kept the noise up. We were instructed to zip the tent door all the way down or the baboons would come in the tent and ‘borrow’ things. Electricity was by generator, and it was turned on only at various times of the day. “I can’t say enough about the wonders of Alaska and Africa. The people were more than hospitable, helpful and protective. “I haven’t retired yet; I might at the wake. But in the meantime, I’ll keep busy with Quaker City Castings, SimonKorff Productions (RaySimon.art) and keeping Mary happy. Best wishes, Joe Korff” ’67 Eric Hamilton, journeyman618@ gmail.com In March 2023, D’Arcy Roper conducted an informal email survey to determine who in the Class of 1967 served in the armed forces. If you have an active email address registered with Lehigh, you are aware of his project. D’Arcy spent a year working on this project. He identified 112 classmates who served in the Army (57), Navy (31), Air Force (17), Marine Corps (five) and Coast Guard (two). Of these, 28% (31) had “boots on the ground” in Vietnam. One classmate, Larry LaSalle, joined the Marines prior to graduation and was killed in action in Vietnam. All the others came home. At least one was awarded a Purple Heart. D’Arcy is sure that more than one classmate was wounded and suffered mentally and physically. Some most assuredly suffer today from exposure to Agent Orange. He found that eight Navy supply corps officers, seven pilots, six engineers, five doctors and three lawyers were among the 112 classmates who served. Ultimately, D’Arcy began receiving stories from classmates about their military career. Because the stories were so compelling, he decided to share them by email with the class. Fortunately, Stephanie Fisher, executive director of Alumni Relations, recognized the value of the stories and agreed to send the stories to the class from Lehigh on behalf of D’Arcy. Thus, the ’67 Veteran Storybook was inaugurated. Volume I, consisting of 14 stories, was issued Oct. 14, 2023. The 10th and final volume was issued March 12, 2024. In all, the Storybook presents 68 stories. Some are terse; others are verbose. All of them are interesting. If you did not receive all 10 volumes, email D’Arcy at darcyroper3@ gmail.com, and he will send you the ones you are missing. If you received none of the volumes because Lehigh does not have your current email address, you can ask D’Arcy for Vol I-Vol X. He will send you the volumes (PDFs) and have your email address added to Lehigh’s database. This will ensure you receive D’Arcy’s emails regarding the Class of 1967 going forward. Bruce Wolff sent a Christmas note to D’Arcy, which he shared with me: “The Wolff Pack enjoyed a month at the kids’ home in Katmandu. My highlight was a helicopter ride with Chris to a spot a few hundred meters above the famous base camp. “Our entire family enjoyed two weeks in France and a week in Minnesota for Rayna’s wedding to Spencer Welch. They are such a sweet couple! “Emily is doing very well. She continues her education at Highline in Seattle and makes good money as a childcare superstar. Emily and I enjoyed a road trip from Seattle to La Jolla. She is taking online classes to be with us in La Jolla from Thanksgiving till January. “Chris, Rachel, Xabi, Lydia and Rohan moved from Katmandu to Freetown, where Rachel became CARE’s country director for Sierra Leone and Liberia. “We look forward to the Wolff Pack gathering in La Jolla for Christmas.” ’68 George Klacik, 27 Oak Forest Lane, Summit, NJ 07901, gklacikjr@ aol.com, (908) 273-7850.
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