Bulletin-Spring23

50 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES nities, including The Elim Park in Cheshire and Covenant in Cromwell. Diane and Bill Mulley continue to spend the winters in their home in Daytona Beach and summers in New Hampshire. Don spoke with Bert Elsner, whose wife died a year ago, and was on his way to attend the Tower Society Meeting. They all hope to see you at the 65th! Guess what happened to us during the 158th Lehigh-Lafayette game telecast at Buffalo Sports Grill in Orchard Park, N.Y.? We ran into 77 inches of lake effect snow in 24 hours (honest)! All roads were closed as well as BSG! Even the Buffalo Bills (only 10 minutes down the street) canceled their home game and had it rescheduled to the Detroit Lions Stadium on Sunday. Does this sound familiar? Eight years ago, to the day, Lehigh was playing in Yankee Stadium for the 150th game. Our telecast was scheduled at Buffalo Wild Wings at Orchard Park, but another lake effect storm dropped over eight feet! Everything was closed, we couldn’t open doors, and the Buffalo Bills also moved their home game Sunday to the Detroit Lions Stadium. (The Bills won both those games.) This year, Bob Christie remembered that day eight years ago and called to see if we had the same dog that we had to take out. We had to open the storm door window and sweep a spot for the dog. Now, Holly has died, a different Bills team won their game and the snow melted. By the way, we don’t get that much snow very often, and they both melted down to grass in less than 10 days. The big news from Bob and Gina was that they sold the Old Forge cabin, but no news on a future residence. I did learn that they met at Cornell on a blind date! Too bad we couldn’t celebrate the Rivalry, but I did get some news. Dave Hecht ’60 sold his townhouse across the street from us and moved into an elder apartment complex nearby. Fred Batson ’50 was still planning to make the trip from downtown Buffalo, but our roads were closed. Lori and Joe Jablonski ’78 decided to continue work several days a week in Springville. Kaci (Holt) Nowadly ’96 is still teaching at Hamburg High, Bob Heidenburg ’57 ’58, our class clown, promised to forward a picture for the Bulletin. Sally and Dave Saunders are playing bridge and watching the snow melt. Some of the Lafayette gang were coming—Steve Schaeffer ’72, Rob Gripe ’91 and Ryan Cimo ’98 (his football uniform was No. 6, the punter). No more snow on Rivalry weekend! I talked with a lot of Philadelphia Eagles fans—Ed Delany (back at Hawk Mountain), Bill Burgin ’56, Bruce Gilbert, Ron Vaughn, Don Garaventi and Marianne Bux. Jack Hobby and I talked about the possibility of the Buffalo Bills meeting the Eagles in the Super Bowl! Great idea! It could happen! I called Linda Healy and found out that they did not get to Florida the last two years. Tom Healy is now in an elder home. He still recognizes Linda but will not miss Florida. Dick Briggs filled me in that Scott Wollaston survived the hurricanes, but Dave Saunders wasn’t so lucky—two years to repair. Hope that is all the damages. Anne and I almost got to a Lehigh football game. We missed seeing Harry Brooks ’59, Bruce Waechter ’56, Pinky and Ed Hatfield ’55 but not the game. Ed will be 90 years old in the spring. Happy birthday! I talked briefly with Bill Burgin ’56 about what his class did for their 65th reunion last June. Friday night, they used up the balance of their treasury on an open bar and dinner at the Weyhill Guest House at Saucon Valley Country Club. Saturday was the parade with golf carts, complete with walkers, canes and walking. A picnic on campus, dinner at the University Center and maybe breakfast were the plan for Sunday. We have to examine costs and availability. Hope to see you all at Reunion! Those at Gary’s Barber Shop, where the coaches get cut, are living through each game. Major Greekers for Brooks Goldman and the Buffalo Bills. ’59 Bob Teufel, 1 Stoklea Drive, Emmaus, PA 18049. (610) 967-2049 (H); (610) 393-0565 (C); rteufel@aol.com One of the many joys of living close to Lehigh is attending events at the Zoellner Arts Center, now celebrating its 25th anniversary with a series of superb programs, beginning with a New York Philharmonic concert. Spotted in the crowd was fellow classmate Arnie Balgalvis, who is celebrating (?) his fourth joint replacement. Can anyone beat his four? Reading the concert program, I noted a violinist held the Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. honorary chair. Gene and his family have a long history of supporting the arts. So, there I was with my son Ed driving to Canada for some salmon fishing and his cellphone rang with a caller ID “Fred Benson.” Turns out Fred is the next-door neighbor of Tony Sousa in Hulls Cove, Maine, and Tony relayed the news of John Canova’s passing with Fred as he knew he was a childhood friend. Fred shared some touching anecdotes of John’s kindness even as a child. Making it another “small world” story, Fred is Lafayette ’59 and said he and John had a long series of bets surrounding “the game.” Speaking of which, my fraternity brother Dan Bayer and his 80-game attendance record was mentioned by LU president Joe Helble ’82 at the pre-game brunch hosted by Lafayette. I’m a piker with 66 LU-LC games. Bob Shabaker, another Lehigh football season ticket holder, was seated behind us and vowed never to attend another game at Lafayette, as parking is almost impossible. I didn’t dare tell him my Lafayette granddaughter found us a secret spot a mere 30 yards from the stadium entrance. I told her she is back in the will! Speaking of Lehigh football, Bill Beattie knows how to pick a game. He and his family tailgated at the thrilling Colgate battle where Lehigh scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds remaining to lead us to a 36-33 win. Unfortunately, a similar miracle was not to happen this year at Lafayette. When John Canova and I assumed this column after our 50th reunion, we vowed “no bad news,” leaving the ill, spills and chills behind and deaths to the memoriam page. But sometimes, it’s appropriate to note the passing of one of the true personalities in our class, Denis Brenan. When we edited our 50th reunion yearbook, we asked classmates to write a brief summary of about 50 words of life after Lehigh. Denny submitted a page-filling legal brief, but it was so interesting, we decided to run it as is. Attending Lehigh on an academic scholarship, he worked part time on a variety of jobs, including short order cook and night watchman, while still managing to captain the basketball team and graduate Phi Beta Kappa. One of my fraternity brothers, Jerry Downey, was a close friend, and when I called with the news of Denny’s passing, Jerry had almost an hour of stories. I added a few about our AFROTC summer camp in Greenville, Miss., where after barfing in his facemask during his jet orientation flight, he quipped, “Guess I’m not cut out to be a pilot.” Possibly one of the few tests he failed. Now that we are in 2023, mark your schedule for our class reunion in 2024! And remember—“Inside every older person is a younger

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