CLASS NOTES | SPRING 2023 | 57 style shirts with webbed collar and sleeves, a three-button placket, 60/40 cotton/poly blend pique knit body hemmed to be appropriate whether or not tucked in. Color is deep chocolate (brown), and the decoration is a simple but classy left chest design, with “LEHIGH” and “50th Reunion” embroidered in white above and a gold “1972” below. For what it’s worth, the suggested retail value of the blank shirt is $25. I’m not equipped to accept plastic, but these days there are loads of ways to arrange for simple purchases/ fund transfers. Details can be arranged on an individual basis. You may text or phone my number or email me (info at the head of this column) with your inquiries. Susan and I have yet to derive a recipe that would make those shirts edible, and the mice have not found their storage location, so I am genuinely hoping that some of you will follow Jack’s lead and make a deal with me, too, that can result in some free shelf space in the shop. ’73 Patrick Fekula, 1891 Evans Drive South, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250. (904) 451-4949 (M); Pfekula7@gmail.com Our 50th class reunion is almost here ... the dates are June 8-11, 2023. We are expecting a record turnout,… and Celeste Varricchio promises there will be no dance routine to learn for the Parade of Classes! Registration opened in March, so you still have time to sign up and attend. Remember … it’s all about the connections. Speaking of connections, Charles Franken wrote to say that post-Lehigh, he graduated from the University of Miami law school and has practiced general civil and real estate law in the Ft. Lauderdale area for the past 45 years. He and Colleen recently relocated to Ponte Vedra Beach, just a few miles from my home in northeast Florida. Charles and Colleen have been married for 40-plus years and have a daughter who joined Charles in his firm before “finding her real passion as a social fashion influencer.” Colleen also worked with Charles as a paralegal before she created a business around her invention of the “Mattress Helper,” an under-mattress support that is being sold online through a number of major retailers. After Lehigh, Melissa “Missy” Muendel went on to earn a Ph.D. in physical anthropology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she has lived since 1986. She has been married to Mark Trantanella since 2002. There are no children, but she says, “We have a spoiled-rotten pit bull, Dharma, who allows me in her home.” She recently retired from Three Roots Capital (a CDFI) but is continuing to teach Clandestine Burial Recovery and Forensic Archaeology at the National Forensic Academy. Missy has deep roots at Lehigh: her father, Harold Muendel M.D., graduated in 1930; her brother, Ted, in 1964; her niece, Melissa (Muendel) Hartley, in 1994; and her great-niece, Hannah Hartley, is currently a member of the Class of 2025. Alan MacGregor says my last email brought back fond memories of the Poconos. He still loves the snow and settled near Ft. Collins, Colo. While they no longer ski, he and Susan have an Airstream and are now busy “traveling and seeing the sights we missed when we were working too hard.” After 43 years in family practice, with the last 10 at the Veterans Administration in Cape Coral, Fla., Robert Luber has retired and moved back to King of Prussia, Pa., to be close to his children. This has given him the opportunity to return to the Lehigh Valley to see longtime friends and visit the Lehigh campus, which he observed has a lot more buildings than when he roomed with me our senior year at Psi Upsilon. George Scherbak wants everyone to know he is planning to come back for the 50th class reunion and is encouraging his fellow Sigma Chi brothers Bill Beible, Robb Sultzer and DeVoe Reagan to join him. They typically attend the Lehigh-Lafayette game together when it is played at home. George and Barbara live in Downingtown, Pa., and have three grown children and two grandchildren. He is still working as an insurance sales executive and is also a partner in an ice-skating rink, Iceworks, in Aston, Pa. After Lehigh, John Boyer joined Rockwell International and then Emerson Electric in 1975. Emerson took him to Ogden, Utah, where, according to John, “I was going to stay for three years, and it’s now been 47!” John spent seven years as an associate professor of manufacturing engineering technology at Weber State University. He then started his own manufacturing education and consulting company, which he has been running since 1988. He and his wife, Linda, have three boys and nine grandchildren. Being semi-retired has allowed John to get to almost every Lehigh-Lafayette home game. He is looking forward to seeing everyone at the 50th class reunion in June. ’74 Bill White, 5418 Holiday Drive, Allentown, PA 18104, whitebil1974@gmail.com With this column, I finally finish the backlog of classmate information that has been languishing because I haven’t been able to squeeze it all in. The following information from Gary Hauk was received late in 2021. “I’m writing because I learned just this week that a classmate of ours died in September— Tim Haas,” Gary wrote. “Tim was one of a number of classmates who came to Lehigh from William Allen High School in Allentown, including Ron Amey, Jim Ogier and me (all of us except Tim going on to earn Ph.D.s in different fields). Tim spent his freshman year at Case Western Reserve University but transferred to Lehigh, where he majored in art, architecture and design. After earning a master’s degree at Rice University, he went on to a career with a number of distinguished private firms and retired after serving as a staff architect at Princeton University. “Tim and I had kept in touch over the years, but I hadn’t seen him in person since 2014. One of my best friends in both high school and college, he was the sort of soul with whom you could always pick up where you left off, even after years apart. Oddly, he had been on my mind the last time I was in Pennsylvania, the week before I learned of his death, and I was thinking it was time to be back in touch. I regret that I had the thought too late. A lesson there. “I retired in January 2020 from Emory University after 34 years in the administration, first as vice president and secretary of the university, then as deputy to the president and finally as the official university historian. My doctorate is in religion, but for a number of years, I taught freshman English (something I did as well at Lehigh while earning my M.A. degree there). I’m just finishing up a two-year term as chair of the Georgia Humanities Council. “Since my wife, Sara, has not yet retired (she also works at Emory, in fundraising), I try to keep my brain active as a freelance book editor and writer. “I haven’t been back to Lehigh in 20 years, but I marvel at the transformation of the place and look forward to visiting again in the next year.” Nick Noel is one of several of our classmates whom I see semi-regularly because they live in the Lehigh Valley. He retired from a long and successful career as a local lawyer in 2021 and wrote a first-person piece
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