Class Notes
The 1950s and ’60s featured a Winter Weekend hosted by the junior class, which included all sorts of winter fun.
1964
Class of ’64 Reunion | Members of the Class of 1964 met in Mystic, Connecticut in September 2021 to celebrate an informal reunion before their 60th in 2024.
Jim Bexfield (jim_bexfield@comcast.net) is still working but not traveling and wondering whether he will ever retire.
Posted 2021-02-26
Jack Waite’s (jwaite@jgwaarchitects.com) architectural firm, John G. Waite Associates, has offices in Albany and New York City, and specializes in the restoration and reuse of historic buildings. At the most recent convention of the American Institute of Architects, Jack’s firm received the National Design Honor Award for the restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda, the center place of his University of Virginia. Another recently completed project was the restoration and rehabilitation of the Cincinnati Union Terminal, the last great railroad station built in America. That $225 million project now houses the Cincinnati Museum Center. And in April, the project received the Palladio Award, an international award for excellence in classical design.
Posted 2021-02-26
Gene Tucker (tuckerwg@jmu.com) taught environmental sciences at James Madison University until 2011, after three years in the chemical industry and 32 years in R&D for the Environmental Protection Agency, interspersed with degree breaks to get himself “piled higher and deeper.” Since then, it’s been retirement in North Carolina caring for his wife, and retreating to his cabin and woodworking shop at a lake in southern Virginia.
Posted 2021-02-26
Tom Reddy (tomreddy1942@gmail.com) and his wife, Vita, left on a 120-day world cruise on Jan. 4. As they traveled, the COVID-19 virus began to impact; with ports, and then countries, beginning to close to passenger ships, they gave up in Bali, and traveled home, arriving on March 9, just missing the airline shutdown. They did have a great time in French Polynesia, New Zealand, and Australia.
Posted 2021-02-26
Dick Chase (Richard.e.chase@gmail.com) wrote to say that before COVID-19 hit, he had been volunteering for the Huron River Watershed Council — sitting on the advisory committee for one of the creeksheds, and leading groups of volunteers collecting insect larvae from creeks to check the quality of the creeks.
Posted 2021-02-26
Uli Decher (ulidech@cox.net) wrote to say that he has been teaching at the University of Hartford as an adjunct professor. Uli retired from Westinghouse and has been teaching two courses per semester. This past spring was very busy, since his students were dismissed in mid-March, and he had to learn to teach online. Uli lives with his wife, Helen, in West Granby, Connecticut.
Posted 2021-02-26
Allan Warshawsky (“Woosh”) (awisra-el@aol.com) reports that he and his extended family are all well. “Woosh” has three grandchildren in the Israeli army, five in university, and one in the 12th grade.
Posted 2021-02-26
Frank Thiel reports that he and his wife, Patricia, are well. Residents in his community donate funds each year for scholarships for the young folks who work (or did until lockdown) in the dining rooms. Frank is a member of the Scholarship Committee, and they ultimately awarded five scholarships. A charming young lady will be using her award at RPI. Find out more from Frank at f.l.thiel.4@gmail.com.
Posted 2021-02-26
Engineering
Michael Wellner writes: I am beginning this edition of Class Notes by talking briefly about our 55th Reunion, which sadly I could not attend because my wife and I were on a delightful vacation cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon. Here are a couple of reports.
Posted 2020-05-19
Engineering
First, Dick Vennett and his wife, Mary Ann, went to Troy hoping for a sufficient turnout of ’64 alumni to warrant having a class dinner. But that was not to be. Although our 50th Reunion attracted more than 60 classmates, this year we managed only 10 who returned to the ’Tute. Of those 10, Dick and his Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity brothers made up 70%! These included Earl Foster, Nancy and Rich Greer, Mary Ann and Dave Marko, Tom McShane and his nephew, John, Diane and Eloy Nava, and Pat and Jack Piela. And they had their own reunion at the Century House Inn in Latham, and visited the campus on Friday, a beautiful day, and then had their own “class” dinner at the Century House. And on Saturday they all went to Saratoga Springs for a Beatles tribute concert, to honor the 50th anniversary of the Abbey Road album at Caffe Lena. Of course, they all enjoyed each other’s company, and decided that another five years was much too long to wait to meet again as a group. So their plan is to meet in two years (September 2021) in Mystic, Conn. Future fraternity reunions will be organized by the local brother(s) offering to host the reunion. Aside from that, Dick had a successful hip replacement in late June, and was able to attend the reunion without pain or cane! Find out more from Dick at rmvennett@cs.com.
Posted 2020-05-19
Science
Next, Art Schoenstadt reports that he, too, was among the small group of us who actually made it back for reunion. He made it to the football game, to see the Engineers win handily. And he was able to tour the five main schools, stopping in each for about 30 minutes, with faculty members describing their research, and attend an interesting panel discussion in EMPAC. Art also made a stop at the small town where he went to high school, and visited with the widow of his Ph.D. adviser. You can reach Art at alschoen@pacbell.net.
Posted 2020-05-19
Engineering
Del Webster reports that his grandchildren are growing up! His oldest grandson, Eamon, was recently married, and his oldest granddaughter, Karana, began her freshman year at Oswego State. Eamon’s brother Eadoin began his freshman year at the University of Vermont. They are grandchildren to be proud of, and life continues to be good! Contact Del at commodore@embarqmail.com.
Posted 2020-05-19
Engineering
Dick Foster wrote in to say that in October he made a three-week trip to five countries in Southeast Asia. He reports that it was fascinating to see sights such as Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Halong Bay, among many other sites, and so many very friendly people. The trip turned out to be a bit of a challenge, even for an engineer, trying to keep five currencies straight, especially when $10 USD equals 200,000 dong! Dick will tell you more: Write to him at fos01198@comcast.net.
Posted 2020-05-19
Engineering
And finally, Tom Luciano (baron731@com cast.net) reports that he headed back to Troy for our 55th Reunion. His fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, was celebrating 140 years on campus and 60 years on Sunset Terrace. The house had a “Meet & Greet” on Friday afternoon, followed by a gathering at McAddy’s Irish Pub on Broadway, downtown. Sadly, the house was showing its age after six decades. On Saturday there was an escorted tour of the campus, led by several students; it was great to walk around the campus. The football team took on Anna Maria College (a small Catholic School in MA) and won 38-0. The team looked like it had over 50 members, a big change from when we were there. They also watched the women’s hockey team take on Minnesota State; they lost 0-3. The RPI goalie was from Sweden; the ladies looked pretty fast on the ice, but were outplayed by Minnesota. The Alumni House was very well staffed and helpful; vans were available to shuttle people to and from the Field House and athletic fields. All in all, a fun weekend! Ready for our 60th anybody?
Posted 2020-05-19
Engineering
I heard first from Bob Ringlee, who notes that although he’s listed in the RPI records as a member of the Class of ’64, that was the year he earned his Ph.D. in mechanics. Before that he got a B.S. in E.E. from the University of Washington (Class of ’46), which may make him the oldest member of our class! Lately, he’s been enjoying retirement, doing a bit of consulting and writing a few papers. He is particularly proud of his eight grandchildren, and enjoys life, trying to keep stimulated with daily mental challenges. Find out more by e-mailing robertjringlee@gmail.com.
Posted 2019-10-10
Our old buddy Alex Hills reports that he is still consulting, active as a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon, and was recently elected to the National Academy of Inventors. Alex holds 19 patents, and apparently has not yet heard about retirement. He serves on the Polar Advisory Board of Iridium, the satellite communication company that has now completed launching a constellation of 75 new satellites; one of them actually carries a plaque dedicating it to Alex and the other members of the board. As he often says, “We’ll all be in space until we’re de-orbited!” You can contact him at (907) 232-6088, or ahills@cmu.edu.
Posted 2019-10-10
My old freshman buddy David Bleich (dbleich @aol.com) reports that in March he competed in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament for the 11th straight year, and finished 121st out of 741 competitors. Impressive. Overall, Dave says that life is still treating him well; he continues to live in Scarsdale, and has a trip to Scandinavia planned this spring.
Posted 2019-10-10
Chet Ropelewski wrote in to say, in his first submission of 55 years (!) that, through pretty much of a random walk, he ended up spending the bulk of his career working in climate research, first with the National Weather Service, and then at Columbia University, retiring from the first in 1997 and the second in 2012.
Since retiring, Chet has co-authored the textbook Climate Analysis, published by Cambridge University Press in February of this year. He and his wife, Marie, now divide their time between suburban Washington, D.C., and New York City, with principal activities consisting of enjoying life and visiting their children in Virginia and Brooklyn. Chet has lunch with Ken Mooney a few times a year, and exchanges occasional emails with Dan and Dianne Litynski, and even rarer emails with Ray Whipple. Write him at Chetr.climate@gmail.com.
Posted 2019-10-10
And, of course, no class notes would be complete without a few words from Barry Wintner and his wife, Gisela, who spent a week in the glorious weather (best in the U.S.) of San Diego. They visited Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, walked among the superbloom flowers there, and then visited Balboa Park, where they sampled the museums and assorted gardens. Barry then went aboard the USS Midway (CV- 41), now a museum ship, and chatted up various docents. Email Barry at bwbaloo222@gmail.com.
Posted 2019-10-10
Michael Wellner writes: As for me, life continues to be good to us. My wife and I spent a delightful week in Martinique on a Road Scholar in January. Upcoming trips include a week in Lake Placid and a cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon. Although I am fully retired (since 2001!), I spend four days a week at a wonderful Lifelong Learning program (Quest) affiliated with City College in NYC.
Posted 2019-10-10
Michael Wellner states: Ray Whipple just received a certificate from the American Parachute Association, recognizing his 55 years of skydiving! His group, JOS (Jumpers Over Seventy) has a saying: “You don’t quit jumping because you get older, you get older because you quit jumping.” He is surely a braver man than I!
Posted 2019-03-10
John C. Hodge just published a book, STOE replaces relativity and quantum mechanics, summarizing his research into the Theory of Everything. He is living in the back woods of western North Carolina and loving it.
Posted 2019-03-10
Alan Silverman reports that he brunched with Barry Wintner and Bill Erskine in mid-October, to discuss their various medical maladies and solve world problems. He visited an innovative branzino factory farm in his hometown, 30 miles from salt water; a ChemE’s delight. And he attended the induction into his hometown hall of fame of a high school classmate (that of several other RPI ’64 grads) who contributed greatly to “green chemistry” while at the EPA and elsewhere. Alan has also been traveling, to Morocco and Portugal and Spain. We’ll hear all about it at the 55th!
Posted 2019-03-10
Gary Neville is having a great time in Venice, Marina del Rey, and Santa Monica, and (as he says) lucky to be alive! He has been deeply involved with the Yellowbird Tech Center for several years, and reports that his really big deal was when President Obama came by to visit a state senator, who is a tenant in the center; there were Secret Service guys all over the place, black SUVs around the block, helicopters hovering overhead, and quite the overall commotion. The Yellowbird Tech Center now has the distinction of being the only building in Venice to have ever hosted a sitting U.S. president!
Posted 2019-03-10
Dick Vennett, in November 2016 he and Mary Ann decided it was time for the next phase of their life. They moved to a new home outside of Scottsdale, Ariz., in the Trilogy Rio Verde development. They had lived in Park City, Utah, for 15 years, but decided it was time to move south for a warmer climate since they did not ski anymore and they had grown tired of the winters.
Posted 2019-03-10
Charyl Kay and Earl Sedlik, like so many of us, have been traveling in their golden years. Since Earl, by his own admission, has a particularly loud and gregarious style, he gets noticed in the oddest places. For example, while traveling with a University of Washington alumni tour on the Oceania Cruise Lines to Australia and New Zealand in 2015, Earl heard a woman call out, “I think that’s Earl!” It turned out to be Mary Ann Vennett exclaiming an “Earl sighting” to her husband, Dick Vennett. It was, indeed, Earl, and what followed were memorable days of shared touring mixed with reminiscing and lots of catching up. The Vennetts have just moved to Arizona to start a new retirement life, and Earl reports that they look great!
Earl also reports a similarly provocative reunion at the Bloomsbury Edwardian Hotel near London’s British Museum in 2016. As the Sedliks entered the lobby to greet many Seattle friends who they join for an annual Shakespeare Tours October program of 10 London-based plays in 11 days, a woman declared loudly, “I think I hear Earl Sedlik’s voice...It is! There’s Earl!” That was Sue Crystal, who, with Dick Crystal, was on the very same trip; they immediately launched into a wonderful reunion!
Meanwhile, Earl and Charyl Kay are joyfully settled in downtown Seattle, where Charyl Kay is a docent at the Seattle Art Museum and continues to be active in the health-care field. She’s one of the founders of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence. Earl is active on nonprofit boards and as an adjunct accounting instructor at North Seattle College. They are both very active in their grandchildren’s lives in Seattle. Posted 2019-03-10
Earl also reports a similarly provocative reunion at the Bloomsbury Edwardian Hotel near London’s British Museum in 2016. As the Sedliks entered the lobby to greet many Seattle friends who they join for an annual Shakespeare Tours October program of 10 London-based plays in 11 days, a woman declared loudly, “I think I hear Earl Sedlik’s voice...It is! There’s Earl!” That was Sue Crystal, who, with Dick Crystal, was on the very same trip; they immediately launched into a wonderful reunion!
Meanwhile, Earl and Charyl Kay are joyfully settled in downtown Seattle, where Charyl Kay is a docent at the Seattle Art Museum and continues to be active in the health-care field. She’s one of the founders of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence. Earl is active on nonprofit boards and as an adjunct accounting instructor at North Seattle College. They are both very active in their grandchildren’s lives in Seattle. Posted 2019-03-10
Frank Thiel wrote to say that he and his wife, Pat, have moved into Beverwyck, a retirement community in Albany County, N.Y. And just in case you forgot, Beverwyck was the original Dutch name for Albany!
Posted 2019-03-10
Architecture
Tom Hemmerick, Architecture ’64 & ’65, says that he is retired now, but for most of his last 46 years he was a sole practitioner. This past summer he spent time in Barcelona, Spain, one truly beautiful city, and then a month in Calabria, Italy, one beautiful country.
Posted 2019-03-10
Michael Wellner ’64 states: Greetings to all my fellow classmates, and thank you for the outstanding response to my request for news. First up, I had a nice note from Dave Haviland, who wrote to say that he was honored to give the keynote address at the October 26 dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chapel + Cultural Center (C+CC) at RPI. This was an opportune time to recall the many ways in which the C+CC has met the needs of the community, especially RPI students, since opening in October 1968. In addition to Roman Catholic liturgies, the C+CC presents and hosts concerts, exhibits, discussions, and all kinds of events—as well as opportunities for prayer and quiet meditation.
Posted 2019-03-10
Michael Wellner And finally I can tell you that my wife and I and a half dozen friends spent a nice, warm 10 days in Palm Springs (Calif.) in mid-January. We first attended quite a few showings of some of the movies included in the Palm Springs Film Festival—a first for us for sure! That was followed by a week of touring the Palm Springs and surrounding desert area. Highlights included a tour of a wind farm (renewables are certainly the future); an architecture tour of the many mid-century modern homes in the area; a visit to the cemetery where Frank Sinatra is buried; and a tour of the Annenberg estate Sunnylands, used by many presidents with whom Mr. Annenberg was friendly. That was truly an amazing place; if you haven’t been I highly recommend it.
Posted 2018-10-10
Steve Weinstein wrote to say that he and his wife, Judy, cruised in January on a Regent Cruise Lines ship for a 19-night voyage from Beijing to Singapore with stops in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), and Bangkok. He got to experience a rapid train ride in Shanghai on an electro-magnetic field train, where the train levitates off the ground, and within 10 seconds gets up to 250 mph! It made the 18-mile run to the airport in under eight minutes! They also enjoyed day trips to the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. They also stopped in Vietnam, visiting the Hanoi Hilton and reading the “North Vietnam” version, which starkly contradicts the American or South Vietnam version. All in all it was a great trip.
Posted 2018-10-10
Our superb class webmaster, Bob Burns, reports that in January, sort of on the spur of the moment, he invited his lady friend, Sherry, to visit friends in Costa Rica. These were friends he had met in Malaysia and their paths crossed again in Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Spain, and other places in between. In any event, he and Sherry crashed at their very environmentally friendly house in San Jose, and then used the next two weeks to go on hikes, view birds and other wildlife up close, raft on a Category-4 river (never again!), hang out in a luxurious mountain retreat, walk the streets of La Fortuna, swim in the warm Pacific in Quepos, and eat lots of beans and rice. Costa Ricans are a friendly and proud people and travel was very safe everywhere they went. Then in February he had to escape the “cold” of Tallahassee, and go further south to Marathon in the Florida Keys. “I pitched in with other RVers to help clean up the streets and mangroves that were devastated by hurricane Irma, which left a lot of damage behind. A bit of reading, relaxing, and swimming filled out the month.” Tough life, eh?
Posted 2018-10-10
My old pool-playing buddy Tim Russell wrote in from the Philadelphia neck of the woods to say that he and his wife, Chris, remain active in their church, St. Thomas’ Episcopal at Whitemarsh. Tim was the owner’s rep for a $5MM renovation of the Parish House and construction of a new education center (Carey Learning Center); 10 months of great fun watching the construction from the muddy beginning in hard hat and boots to the grand opening in late 2016. Happy to say the project came in on budget! Tim and Chris welcomed three great-grandchildren: Oliver, Eliza, and Jaxon. In between births, they traveled to Australia to visit her sister in Sydney, then a tour of the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide seeing the sights and visiting wineries, and then to Perth. “Both Perth and Adelaide were quite interesting, and Perth especially had an outstanding public transit system. We liked Fremantle, which is the port for Perth and the site of some of the America’s Cup competitions.” While there they enjoyed a sail on a Cuda—a type of fishing boat used for barracuda fishing and now prized by local sailors for racing.
Posted 2018-10-10
Del Webster is proud of his grandson, Eamon Murphy, who graduated from the College of St. Rose in Albany this year, with an award as the Outstanding Senior in Accounting, and will now be pursuing his MBA. Congratulations, Grandpa.
Posted 2018-10-10
On a sad note, you may have read in the last issue of our Class Notes that my good friend and Westchester (N.Y.) buddy Richard Koser passed away about six months ago as a result of a long siege with Parkinson’s disease. Rich was a close friend and a loyal member for many years of our Westchester Alumni Club. I will miss him.
Posted 2018-10-10
Bruce McKeon wrote to say that last April he and his wife, Kathleen, went on a scuba live-aboard Bahamas trip, and then in September they spent three weeks in Europe (before a sales meeting in Vienna). They skied at Vail in February, and are soon off to go to Manado in Indonesia for another scuba diving and adventure trip. Bruce reports that he is still working a few days each week with equipment for the papermaking industry in the Southwest—but with all that traveling it sounds to me like he has no time for work!
Posted 2018-10-10
Michael Wellner and his wife recently returned from two long-weekend trips. Of the first to Washington, D.C., where they had not been in quite some time, Michael writes: "Perfect weather; went to the Kennedy Center and the new African American History Museum. Well worth a visit." Of their second trip, he adds: "...more recently we flew out to Boulder, Colo. (just rated as the “happiest city” in the U.S.), where my granddaughter is in her freshman year at the University of Colorado. Beautiful campus, and really cute city." Michael also wants to remind all of his classmates about their upcoming 55th reunion in two years!
Posted 2018-03-15
Tom Luciano, the Class' commercial pilot, is now retired, but he recently received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which is the FAA’s most prestigious award for over 50 years of accident-free flying. The award ceremony was held at the Oakland Airport Hilton and was attended by 20 friends and fellow aviators, several whom he has known for 50 years. Tom has accumulated over 20,700 hours as an A-4 Skyhawk Marine Corps pilot, civilian flight instructor, charter pilot, corporate pilot, and airline pilot, and also owns and flies an E-55 Beechcraft Baron. Impressive!
Tom is currently working part-time for a NASA subcontractor, Metis Technical Solutions in Sunnyvale, Calif., as a senior aviation safety analyst for the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). Working with data that is submitted to the FAA, they process about 8,000 reports a month. Posted 2018-03-15
Tom is currently working part-time for a NASA subcontractor, Metis Technical Solutions in Sunnyvale, Calif., as a senior aviation safety analyst for the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). Working with data that is submitted to the FAA, they process about 8,000 reports a month. Posted 2018-03-15
John Veilleux has been doing lots of bike riding, occasionally flying his Piper Cherokee, and still doing a bit of work supporting the Los Alamos National Laboratory, from which he retired a few years ago. John's favorite pastime is riding his high-end road bike in the 102.5-mile Santa Fe Century in May, on the Sierra Sampler tour with Adventure Cycling in September, and in the Durango-Silverton, Colo., Iron Horse Classic (objective: beat the train to Silverton), plus a host of others. Not bad for a Class of ’64 alum!
Posted 2018-03-15
Bruce McKeon reports that he and his wife have been on four scuba trips from July ’16 through April ’17, including one to Bali and a live-aboard in the Bahamas; a week at Vail and a few days at Mammoth satisfied their (somewhat reduced) skiing schedule this past winter. This past September, the pair spent 22 days on a European trip, including a Danube River cruise, and a sales meeting in Austria with Teufelberger, a company Bruce represents in the paper industry. To top it off, Bruce and his wife have two daughters and six grandkids each! That’s enough to keep any alum busy.
Posted 2018-03-15
Herb Schneider reports that after retiring in 2001 from executive positions at GE and Pitney Bowes, he and his wife Ellen moved to Cape Coral, Fla., where they have docked their boat behind their house. They have enjoyed boating in New England and Florida for over 30 years, and are now fortunate to have their children and grandchildren living nearby in Florida. Herb and Ellen are both very involved in nonprofit organizations which, along with family and traveling, keep them busy virtually full-time.
Herb, who's proud that his RPI engineering degree has proved instrumental in his career success and early retirement, now enjoys the Florida climate year-round. Trekking through the snow to classes and slipping on the ice in Troy and New England are now distant, although somewhat romantic, memories! Posted 2018-03-15
Herb, who's proud that his RPI engineering degree has proved instrumental in his career success and early retirement, now enjoys the Florida climate year-round. Trekking through the snow to classes and slipping on the ice in Troy and New England are now distant, although somewhat romantic, memories! Posted 2018-03-15
Jack Piela recently got back from a European vacation that included a riverboat cruise from Budapest, up the Danube to Vienna, and then through a series of canals and locks to connect to the Rhine, with several other stops including Heidelberg and Cologne, and Amsterdam. Although he found the trip wonderful, Amsterdam was a disappointment; he had stayed in Amsterdam in 1980 when on assignment to the European Space Agency, but feels today that it has not improved. He writes: "The city was dirty and it looked as if the residents didn’t take pride in their environment. Trash and cigarette butts were all over and crossing any street, with all the traffic and bicycles, proved to be an adventure." That said, Jack advises that if you do go, plan to spend a whole day in the Rijksmuseum.
On a more personal note, Jack and his family have relocated to Exeter, N.H., which is about ten miles from the University of New Hampshire. Jack’s fraternity, ASigPhi, is trying to re-establish a chapter there and Jack has been asked to be on the “Council of Elders.” (Getting older has so many perks!) Jack also adds that UNH has a good hockey team, sometimes playing RPI, so this could turn into a fun thing. Posted 2018-03-15
On a more personal note, Jack and his family have relocated to Exeter, N.H., which is about ten miles from the University of New Hampshire. Jack’s fraternity, ASigPhi, is trying to re-establish a chapter there and Jack has been asked to be on the “Council of Elders.” (Getting older has so many perks!) Jack also adds that UNH has a good hockey team, sometimes playing RPI, so this could turn into a fun thing. Posted 2018-03-15
