CLASS NOTES | FALL 2023 | 53 teaching a continuing education course in masonry at the local high school starting this fall. Jeff Rubin is a meditation instructor and senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition at Unconditional Healing. He is teaching Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practice, as well as offering programs and support for those experiencing illness, adversity and chaos in their lives. Jeff developed an online workshop titled “Unconditional Healing: Finding Well-Being Through Adversity,” which teaches a contemplative path for re-assessing one’s life in the face of extreme obstacles and awakening one’s inherent mental, emotional and spiritual potential. He has offered Unconditional Healing workshops around the country since 2006. Bruce Williams is a general contractor specializing in home additions and residential construction. He founded the company in 1976. Bruce served as an elected official in Takoma Park, Md., for 22 years, the last eight as mayor. He was very active with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, serving 19 years on the board of directors, including a term as chairman. Bruce has also been very active on Chesapeake Bay issues since 2003 and was appointed to the Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee in 2009. ’72 Charles S. “Chuck” Steele, 2080 Flint Hill Road, Coopersburg, PA 18036. (610) 737-2156 (M); signscss@aol.com James M. Christian, DDS, MBA, FACS was the first to contact me about getting a Reunion shirt and, darn it, that message went directly to my spam folder. Thankfully, he persisted with a followup that arrived in my inbox, and I then located the first one. He majored in biology at Lehigh and represented us in varsity basketball, so it naturally follows that he was a member of Theta Delta Chi. Email conversations informed me that Jim was planning to retire from his position as professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Services Center at the end of June. He also hinted that he and Twila might be relocating from Tennessee soon but that I could still ship the shirt to his residence in Collierville; it made it in good shape. “Yes, Chuck, I do want a shirt. XL if a normal size, with minimal shrinkage.” That’s how M. Alexander Hill introduced his order. “I am west of Boston and frequently on my boat south of Providence if you find a central shipping point.” He did provide the best shipping address in Holden, Mass., and received his shirt, too. I’m especially grateful that Alex provided some more info to help me with this issue of our class notes. Alex continues, “Having made the several but infrequent giant Sigma Phi Epsilon reunions (150 brothers and wives), I have immensely enjoyed returning. But family ‘stuff’ prevented me from being there for a shirt in 2022. Many things highlight that 50 years have passed (like your @AOL email address) but many other amazing things seem to show little change (like some of the aircraft models still actively flying in the commercial and military markets). It makes some passengers nervous when this old guy says, ‘I managed the manufacture of that part.’ “Two years ago, after retiring from most other activities, I traded my racing sailboat for a cruiser and sailed her up the Great Loop from Marco Island, Fla. This year, I plan to cruise the Upper Great Loop through Erie, Montreal and Lake Champlain. Working on ‘bucket list’ projects is such fun. One of my three live-in grandkids begins her ‘bucket list’ with her high school graduation in June.” If you just glance at his LinkedIn profile, you’ll wonder how Alex ever made time to go sailing at all—especially as a highly ranked racing competitor! Cell phone text messages were sufficient for Thomas Hammond to receive his shirt in Wellesley, Mass. In that commonwealth, if you mention The Tax Man, state leaders all know you’re referring to Tom. He majored in government at Lehigh, then quickly grabbed a master’s degree in public relations and communications at Boston University. By 1982, he had earned his J.D. at New England School of Law (later renamed New England Law | Boston), concentrating on tax law/taxation. Over the next 40 years, he served the Massachusetts Department of Revenue as chief of the litigation bureau or director, criminal investigations/ tax counsel, was director and general counsel for the House of Representatives Post Audit and Oversight Bureau and finished his state tenure with 16 years as chairman of the Appellate Tax Board, from which he retired last year. During that same period, Tom also juggled five years as an adjunct professor in the graduate tax program at Boston University School of Law. In official retirement, he is now “only an adviser” to the Massachusetts Bar Association. ’73 Patrick Fekula, 1891 Evans Drive South, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250. (904) 451-4949 (M); Pfekula7@gmail.com Here are the highlights of the Class of ’73’s 50th reunion! Starting on Thursday evening at the Brown and White Awards Dinner, Celeste Varricchio was presented with the Eugene Grace Award, given in recognition of her 50 years of distinguished service to Lehigh. Bernie Suess received the Joseph Persa Award, presented to the one individual who made the greatest contribution to an outstanding class reunion. Jim Duane received the Alumni Award for not only being instrumental in directing students to Lehigh, but also for his significant contribution to the life of the university. Friday evening, Lehigh President Joseph Helble ’82 welcomed us back to campus at an exclusive 50th class reception. Originally scheduled outside at the president’s residence, the reception was moved indoors at Williams Hall, due to poor air quality from the smoke caused by the Canadian forest fires. Later that evening, we socialized at Maida House and held our initial practice for the Parade of Classes. True to her word, Celeste did not make us learn any dance moves! On Saturday afternoon, everyone was attired in their khaki slacks and Lehigh football jerseys as we proudly marched in the Parade of Classes. Since we were celebrating our 50th reunion, we were the last class to perform in the competition for the Petty Flag. We opened the performance with our Lehigh “football team,” made up of Betsy Adams, James Nicholson, Dave Cole, Ron Kralik, Rick Racosky and John Boyer. They ran a fictional final play from a past Lehigh-Lafayette football game. The “defenders” were made up of sign holders George Lazorchick, Dave Laudenslager, Doug Frey, Lyn (Stewart) Simensen, Tony Licata, Robert Hoerner, Jim Duane, Pat Fekula and Jim McCauley, signifying major events that our class faced during our years on campus. David Morrison started the play-by-play off with, “Here we go … the Class of ’73 is on the 50-year line. The ball is snapped and the freshman runner is heading down the field. ‘Saturday Classes’ and ‘Four O’clock Quizzes’ move in for the tackle. But the runner laterals the ball to the sophomore receiver, who sidesteps the opposition’s ‘Choosing a Major’ and laterals off to the junior carrier, who fumbles the ball right in front of ‘Coeds on Campus’! Wait … the fumble is
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