Class Notes
The 1950s and ’60s featured a Winter Weekend hosted by the junior class, which included all sorts of winter fun.
1945
Richard M. Ettington is still pretty healthy at age 96. He lives with his wife, Betty, 92, at their home in Palos Verdes, California. They have two grown children, Martin and Kathryn, and two grandchildren, Neil and Sarah. Richard stopped driving recently
Posted 2023-02-21
We heard from Fred Greenberg, who writes: “Any alumni residing in southeast New Hampshire (Portsmouth) or northeast Massachusetts (Amesbury) want to gather for one occasion to swap a few lines? Contact me at fredthecellist@yahoo.com or (603) 868-7303.”
Posted 2019-03-10
Fausto Hidalgo writes: “In 2013 I sent you a summary of my activities after graduation from RPI up to that date. That summary ended with a reference to my granddaughter, who was then a student at RPI (third-generation Hidalgo). I was able to attend her graduation and tour the many new buildings that have made RPI what it is now. In addition to the 10 grandchildren mentioned in the previous summary, my wife and I now have two great-grandchildren.
“There are not many new activities to add due to our age. We continue to exercise in moderation. Last January, right after celebrating my 94th birthday, I was diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery on January 25th. The surgery was successful and there was no need for follow-up treatment, but the recovery process was necessarily slow. I am now getting back to my normal activities.”
Posted 2019-03-10
Engineering
Charles Peters sent his life history beginning with college; here are excerpts:
After his sophomore year at Syracuse University he received Naval orders to report to RPI in Troy. “You know the full routine we experienced there. I remained at RPI on a continuous schedule without vacation or downtime from July 1, 1943, to October ’44 and completed sufficient credits for my 3rd and 4th year of college, and then was awarded a B.Ch.E. in chemical engineering with honors.
“I then went through midshipman school on an old cruiser refitted for training berthed on the Hudson River and affiliated with additional classes at Columbia University. With my commission in January ’45, I had more training in Washington, D.C., and Hingham, Mass. Beyond all this training, my only duty assignment was at an ammunition depot in Port Chicago, Calif., supervising the loading of ammunition aboard merchant ships for transport to the Pacific. We did get to handle a top secret shipment known as ‘big boys,’ which we found a month later to be the atomic bombs on their way to Japan. My only sea duty was aboard LSTs after the end of the war when returning ammunition declared obsolete or unusable was transferred to a LST, taken three miles out from the Golden Gate Bridge, and disposed of by lowering the bow ramp and discharging into the sea. I chose to be discharged in October 1946.” Charles then drove a 1935 Plymouth across country with three buddies, buying each one out as they arrived at their destinations.
He took a job at St. Regis Paper Co. in northern NY, and after two years, married the boss’s secretary, Elinor. For her health, they moved to Florida, where Charles began a 36-year career with W.R. Grace & Co. “I worked in all phases of process planning, engineering, construction, and operating of sulfuric and phosphate acid plants and related fertilizers manufacture prior to about 10 years as the chemical plant manager. My final 10 years involved travel around the country and part of Europe in liaison with customers, engineers, and contractors developing new joint ventures and improved facilities. This was a very satisfactory and exciting job.”
Following Elinor’s death in 1996, Charles met and later married Jean. “She had three daughters and a son who readily accepted me, so all of a sudden I inherited a grown family.” He and Jean thoroughly enjoyed traveling throughout the U.S. in a small motor home and outside the U.S. on small cruise ships and river boats. After Jean’s death in 2003, he stayed active in the Kiwanis Club holding all leadership roles including president. “A special function that I much enjoyed was leadership of a group that provided wheelchair ramps for anyone in need. I prepared most of the construction drawings.”
In late 2017, Charles, still in essentially good health, invited his oldest stepdaughter and her husband to move in with him. He lives in Plant City, Fla. Posted 2019-03-10
After his sophomore year at Syracuse University he received Naval orders to report to RPI in Troy. “You know the full routine we experienced there. I remained at RPI on a continuous schedule without vacation or downtime from July 1, 1943, to October ’44 and completed sufficient credits for my 3rd and 4th year of college, and then was awarded a B.Ch.E. in chemical engineering with honors.
“I then went through midshipman school on an old cruiser refitted for training berthed on the Hudson River and affiliated with additional classes at Columbia University. With my commission in January ’45, I had more training in Washington, D.C., and Hingham, Mass. Beyond all this training, my only duty assignment was at an ammunition depot in Port Chicago, Calif., supervising the loading of ammunition aboard merchant ships for transport to the Pacific. We did get to handle a top secret shipment known as ‘big boys,’ which we found a month later to be the atomic bombs on their way to Japan. My only sea duty was aboard LSTs after the end of the war when returning ammunition declared obsolete or unusable was transferred to a LST, taken three miles out from the Golden Gate Bridge, and disposed of by lowering the bow ramp and discharging into the sea. I chose to be discharged in October 1946.” Charles then drove a 1935 Plymouth across country with three buddies, buying each one out as they arrived at their destinations.
He took a job at St. Regis Paper Co. in northern NY, and after two years, married the boss’s secretary, Elinor. For her health, they moved to Florida, where Charles began a 36-year career with W.R. Grace & Co. “I worked in all phases of process planning, engineering, construction, and operating of sulfuric and phosphate acid plants and related fertilizers manufacture prior to about 10 years as the chemical plant manager. My final 10 years involved travel around the country and part of Europe in liaison with customers, engineers, and contractors developing new joint ventures and improved facilities. This was a very satisfactory and exciting job.”
Following Elinor’s death in 1996, Charles met and later married Jean. “She had three daughters and a son who readily accepted me, so all of a sudden I inherited a grown family.” He and Jean thoroughly enjoyed traveling throughout the U.S. in a small motor home and outside the U.S. on small cruise ships and river boats. After Jean’s death in 2003, he stayed active in the Kiwanis Club holding all leadership roles including president. “A special function that I much enjoyed was leadership of a group that provided wheelchair ramps for anyone in need. I prepared most of the construction drawings.”
In late 2017, Charles, still in essentially good health, invited his oldest stepdaughter and her husband to move in with him. He lives in Plant City, Fla. Posted 2019-03-10
Engineering
Lynne Wolfgang’s response to my letter reminded us again that we have lost and are losing classmates rapidly. “I regret to inform you that my father, Richard Tietze, passed away in 2016. My mom never recovered after his death and passed away March 4, 2017.”
From his obituary, supplied by Lynne, we learn that Richard enlisted in the Navy while still in high school. He was accepted into the Naval Officers training program at RPI, earning a bachelor’s in chemical engineering in three years. After the war, serving as LTJG in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, he returned to RPI and earned an M.S. in metallurgical engineering.
Dick began his career in 1948 at Revere Copper and Brass, Rome, N.Y., division. He held positions in metallurgical, production, and systems management, and was named works manager, where he served from 1971 to 1980. In 1980, he was promoted to corporate manager of energy planning and control at Revere’s executive office in New York City. In 1984, he was named National Industrial Energy Manager of the Year. He retired from Revere in 1985 and continued his career in energy and industrial consulting.
Dick was recognized by the Rome Chamber of Commerce, Rome Family Y, United Way, and the American Red Cross in Rome for his service. In retirement, he also became a trained volunteer fireman at Fripp Island, S.C. Posted 2018-10-10
From his obituary, supplied by Lynne, we learn that Richard enlisted in the Navy while still in high school. He was accepted into the Naval Officers training program at RPI, earning a bachelor’s in chemical engineering in three years. After the war, serving as LTJG in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, he returned to RPI and earned an M.S. in metallurgical engineering.
Dick began his career in 1948 at Revere Copper and Brass, Rome, N.Y., division. He held positions in metallurgical, production, and systems management, and was named works manager, where he served from 1971 to 1980. In 1980, he was promoted to corporate manager of energy planning and control at Revere’s executive office in New York City. In 1984, he was named National Industrial Energy Manager of the Year. He retired from Revere in 1985 and continued his career in energy and industrial consulting.
Dick was recognized by the Rome Chamber of Commerce, Rome Family Y, United Way, and the American Red Cross in Rome for his service. In retirement, he also became a trained volunteer fireman at Fripp Island, S.C. Posted 2018-10-10
Engineering
Andrea Lehman, daughter of Edgar Lehman, responded to my letter. “I just received your class notes request, forwarded from my dad’s last address. Regrettably, he passed away in 2012. I don’t have anything written about dad’s career. He worked most of his life as the VP of sales for S&S Corrugated Paper Machinery in Brooklyn, for which he traveled the world. It blended his interest in engineering with his interest in people of all backgrounds and cultures.”
Posted 2018-10-10
Bill Peace Sr. “My only news is that my darling wife, Libby, passed away this past September, and I miss her tremendously! I just passed my 95th birthday, and I’m doing pretty well. Have great friends here, which is a great comfort to me. All my close friends from RPI have gone on to their reward.”
Posted 2018-10-10
Engineering
Richard Ettington “I graduated from Pelham High, a suburb of NYC, in June 1943, during WWII, and as no. 2 in class, was lucky enough to be accepted by the Navy in their V-12 Program (being an Eagle Scout probably helped). After two days of tests at Cornell U. they assigned a few of us to RPI where the Navy had an NROTC unit. We shared six bunks in each dorm and did our run and exercises every morning. (I was assigned to teach semaphore every a.m., having learned it in BSA.) Then I was assigned as an engineering officer to a destroyer in San Francisco, part of the Japan invasion fleet; then the war ended. I was then accepted back at RPI to complete a BSME and was hired by Ingersoll-Rand Co. in their sales training program. They had four plants and I decided to stay in their Painted Post, N.Y., plant, when my father, chief engineer of American Locomotive Co., advised that I’d make a good engineer, but a lousy salesman. I eventually met and married Betty, a school teacher in Corning, N.Y., and we moved to different jobs over several years until retirement from Dresser Industries, now Halliburton. In a suburb of Los Angeles, that company had 20 subsidiaries in 18 countries, so I did a lot of traveling. We have two wonderful children and several grandkids, most in Scottsdale, Ariz. I owe a lot to RPI and the Navy for a wonderful life!”
Posted 2018-10-10
