50 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | CLASS NOTES Ron Johnson crossed a twoweek visit to Jordan and Egypt last April off his bucket list. Ron reports visits to Amman, the modern capital of Jordan with dozens of ancient historical sites, the Dead Sea, Cairo and the Great Pyramids (one of the Seven Wonders of the World), included lots of climbing and were not user friendly to octogenarians. Ron is visiting Madrid in November— a destination on his “serious” bucket list. If you have any bucket list travel accomplishments, your classmates would like to hear about them. Class President Bob Downing hosted a Zoom “cocktail party” last April. Joining the party were Frank Friedwald (Boulder, Colo.), John Gamble (Saratoga, N.Y.), Walter Ernst (Highlands, N.J.), Will Hamp (Ashburn, Va.), John Jacobson (Los Gatos, Calif.), Ed Waterman (Keene, N.H.), Buddy Gitlin (Newton Center, Mass.), Mike Gennet (Rancho Mirage, Calif.), Joel Glanstein (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Don Young (Cranford, N.J.), Rus Borner (Croton-On-Hudson, N.Y.) and Dick Connell (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.). It was a fun time reminiscing about our days at Lehigh. Downing has threatened to host one again. Stuart Steinmark is retired and living in Atlanta, Ga. After Lehigh, he obtained a law degree from Rutgers Law School and completed his ROTC commitment. He held the rank of captain in the Quartermaster Corps and was assigned as a contract officer in Vietnam in 1968-69. His career path led him to eight years with the IRS, a partner with a major CPA firm and, finally, as successor CEO to a family-owned distribution company. Stuart continues to deal with some medical issues associated with his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Our class vice president, Buddy Gitlin, died on July 22, 2023, after a short and courageous battle with an aggressive form of leukemia. See the In Remembrance section of the Bulletin. Some words of wisdom from Russ Borner: “Each of us is as unique as each grain of sand on the beach of eternity, and we all have a specific mission to accomplish before passing over the Rainbow Bridge.” ’63 Dr. Robert C. Elser, navman9@comcast. net; and James Newton Wilson, 959 Tree Tops, Wharton, NJ 07885, (973) LEhigh7-6516 (H), (862) 2430864 (C), b14jnw@gmail.com Here is a brief report on our 60th reunion held June 8-11. There were 36 of our classmates in attendance, plus 25 spouses and significant others. Our classmates Harold Milton and Newt Wilson were honored with Alumni Awards at the Thursday night dinner “for devotion and service to the alma mater” (they show up frequently wearing Engineer hats). The Tau Delts had a great turnout, with nine brothers, all sporting distinguishing T-shirts. Our intrepid reunion chair, Fred Braun, announced the slate of candidates for the next five years—with few surprises. Here are the officers, as unanimously voted to lifetime appointments at the Saturday class dinner: senior executive vice president, Bob Elser; EVP recruiting, Doug Feltman; EVP health and wellness, Meyer Haberman; EVP historian and memorabilian, Newt Wilson; EVP and treasurer, Anthony Mazzucca; EVP and secretary, Bill Montgomery; class correspondents, Bob Elser and Newt Wilson; member at large, Kem Widmer; and reunion chairman, Fred Braun. Class President Harold Milton received a lifetime appointment in 2018 and hasn’t been allowed to resign. It turns out that class offices and reunion committee members all have life tenure! Kind of like Supreme Court justices but without the perks. Just a reminder that the university’s contact information is only as good as what you send them! If you have changed your physical or email address or phone number(s) recently, please send the updated information to the Alumni Office or our class correspondents. From George Poncy: “Sad to see we lost a few classmates in the past few months. Update: I’m happy to say my motion picture, ‘Unconscious,’ is being re-released this summer on a variety of streaming platforms, after its initial theatrical run from Universal a few years ago. The DVD is always backordered on Netflix, which won’t matter anymore since they are phasing out of that business. We’re gearing up for another picture this summer, ‘High Water,’ a crime thriller. I always appear in my films, a la Alfred Hitchcock, and my roles keep getting bigger since I don’t have to audition! I’m credited as George Williams XII on IMDb. “I was voted Palm Beach County Writer of the Year in 2021 and 2022 by the Palm Beach Book Festival for my bestselling novel, ‘Snow on the Palms,’ and I hope to make that picture in the reasonably near future, since I ain’t gettin’ any younger. I was surprised to see Tom Cruise’s picture, ‘American Made,’ ‘borrowed’ material from the novel, but that stuff happens all the time. I still fly my Commander but don’t land in the streets like Tom did in that fanciful scene.” And from Carter Farish: “First time writing in, but I wanted to wait until I had something of interest to report. You may remember my collegiate career as a pole vaulter was rather uneventful as Lehigh—only had one unbendable pole! I was back on campus for the first time in decades to watch a real Lehigh athlete, my firstyear granddaughter Madeline, who earned a starting spot on the field hockey team. She was part of history as they won their second Patriot League title and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time ever. In May 2023, she represented our alma mater as they toured the Netherlands in friendly competition against several European club teams. In my time, it was unthinkable that 10 years after graduation, Lehigh would not only have women but would have a field hockey team. Fifty years later, I am looking forward to seeing the Lady Mountain Hawks beat Lafayette again this fall!” ’64 David A. Riemondy, 774 Malibu Lane, Indialantic, FL 32903. (321) 7779659 (home); (321) 506-7302 (cell); malibu4u@cfl.rr.com In my last column, I wrote, “When it rains, it pours. I’m overwhelmed with news.” Well, it’s still raining every day here in Florida but there hasn’t been any news. Maybe it’s been just too hot to write this summer. I know I’ve been lethargic. Mickey and I did make a 40-day journey to Scotland in April and May. We took a two-week repositioning cruise to Barcelona, spent a few days, then flew to Inverness. There we rented a car and toured the Highlands, Orkney, the Inner Hebrides, Stirling and Edinburgh before heading south to visit friends near Newcastle. We flew home on Icelandair with a couple-day layover in Reykjavik. Barcelona was lovely as usual, but it was unusually cold in Scotland. Iceland was rainy and cold. After 141 years, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is finally nearing completion. When we last saw it in 2007, the interior was full of scaffolding. Now, all that has gone. The impact of the size and colors are overwhelming. The Highlands scenery is beautiful and full of wonderful castles. There is no problem driving on the wrong side because most of the roads through the hills are one lane. It was a grand but very strenuous trip. Fortunately, we traveled with a younger couple who did most
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