CLASS NOTES
FALL 2012 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 33
No Grinding Down for This Laurentian
When
John P. “Gus”Hall ’50
was a junior at St. Lawrence, he was on the short list for the U.S.
cross country ski team in the 1948 Olympics in Austria. But a tragic car accident near campus
claimed his friend’s life and took away his chance to compete. His right leg was severely injured
and he was hospital-bound for nearly eight months.
Not only did he return to St. Lawrence, but he eventually headed back to the slopes with his
wife (and St. Lawrence sweetheart), Pat Davenport Hall ’50, using a “ski crutch” from Austria
that allowed him to ski on one leg. The saying that accompanied it, “Non le bastarde carborun-
dum,” spoke to the bravery of the skier; translated, it means, “Don’t let the bastards grind you
down.”
If there was a time to give up, it came in November 2009. Hall needed to have his injured leg
amputated. But he didn’t skip a beat. Fitted for a prosthesis, he learned to walk again. And
thanks to adaptive cross country downhill skill and snowboard lessons for the physically or
developmentally disabled through Spokane (Wash.) Parks and Recreation, Hall was able to hit
the slopes and once again enjoy doing what he loves with the woman he loves.
Meg Bernier ’07, M’09
As this issue went to press, we learned that Gus Hall had started hitting golf balls and waterskiing again
.
All right already, probably more than enough
about us. How about you? Remember, you too
can participate in this column. It would be fun to
hear from you.
1952
Barbara Robertson Mitchell ’52
9
Pepperidge Road
Morristown, NJ 07960-2532
973-267-9542
barmitchell@msn.com
Next Reunion: 65
th
, 2017
We had 15 classmates back for our 60th Reunion.
Unfortunately, we had three last-minute cancel-
lations.
Bob Castle
needed to have his artificial
knee taken out to eliminate an infection and then
placed back in.
JaneHallock Shroads
and Jimare
fine and still enjoying their “honeymoon.”
Mari-
lyn Miele Stolarik
never showed up. I wanted
to meet her husband, who said he would help us
sing Don Laidlaw’s last verse to our class song. Ev-
eryone was given a copy and Don strongly led our
group at our class reception. Thanks again, Don,
for all the verses. He and Joyce drove up from
South Carolina.
Charles Tucker
,
a Canton native, flew in from
Texas, the farthest to travel.
Marilyn LawHinter-
leiter
drove fromMichigan and made an effort to
see Appleton Riding Stables.
Phyllis Vant McKal-
lip
was there fromVero Beach and East Hampton.
Robert
and Jean
Farley
came up from Sarasota,
where my favorite beach is. You may remember
that I wrote about his landing on Omaha Beach.
He then served in Vienna with the Military Police,
in the Russian Sector of the city. My co-chair,
Janet
Phalon Favro
,
was busy with Canton activities,
but was there for the“rain on our parade”and the
wonderful dinners and bag lunch.
Tom Glover
and Diane Preussner ‘57,
Ron Bar-
low
,
Harry Haacke
and
Judy Hindle
were the Phi
Sigs and traveled from Connecticut. It was won-
derful to have breakfast with them before I left.
And there was Nat Wells ’53, who in 1952 dared
me to ski straight down at the Snow Bowl. I tum-
bled head over skis to the bottomwithout my skis
releasing.
Francis Butler
and his wife, Eva Zeisner ‘53,
drove from Charlton, N.Y.
Daisy Clark Dunlap
could not attend as she and Fred were en route
to a golf tournament with her grandson, who is
an excellent player.
David Hull
called from Panama City to say the
company he works for had just opened a new res-
taurant and he was too busy to get away. He
majored in economics and worked for the Fed-
eral Reserve inWashington, D.C., after graduation.
Maybe they could use you now. When he retired,
he worked a year each at several National Parks.
DickBrush
made the trip, as did
JohnHitchcock
and Margo. John had us all laughing at the Class
Gifts Ceremony when he presented our class gift
of $147,323 to President Fox and said 88% of our
class contributed. Our effort was 58%, but may
continue to grow to 60%.
Per Buer
was on call if I ran into a problemonmy
journey. On my drive home, I took
Ron Barlow
to
Connecticut, and the Adirondacks were just beau-
tiful. Ron is a wonderful traveling companion and
knew all the Connecticut roads for me.
We wish you had been with us if you were not;
we thought of all of you when we were remi-
niscing and telling stories. I hope you all had a
wonderful summer and wish you all a beauti-
ful, healthy fall season. No snow in October ever
again in the Northeast!
1953
Lois ShaverWells ’53
PO Box 22
Ogdensburg, NY 13669
518-312-5913
bigdeerpond@gmail.com
Next Reunion: 60
th
,
May 30-June 2, 2013
LoisWells
has returned as class reporter. Please
send her your news.
1954
Frank Shields ’54
16
Seward Street
Glens Falls, NY 12804
518-745-1775
fmshields@roadrunner.com
Next Reunion: 60
th
, 2014
Summer can be a bit of a struggle to contact
classmates, which some people would say is
probably a good sign as folks travel, exercise, visit
relatives and in general get away. Keeping that in
mind and noting that what you are now reading
was created way back in June, right after Reunion,
I’ll proceed.
Mimi and I went to Reunion, as we always do,
but limited our stay to Saturday, which
enabled
us to attend the Honor Guard dinner as well as
the chapel ceremonies where Alumni Citations
are presented and the results of class giving are
announced. A little
over $6 million was realized
from Reunion classes. Nice going, gang!
Although it was a rainy Saturday morning in
Canton, I grabbed our sign and marched
as class
representative. When someone asked where the
rest of the class was, I told them, “They’re at the
library.”
Good news from the folks at Rome Free Acad-
emy in Rome, N.Y.
Dave Karlen
will
join previ-
ously inducted
Larry Schneible
in the hallowed
halls of athletic performance at that birthplace of
outstanding competitors. Dave was a standout in
baseball and
football as well as hockey.
Speaking of Romans, on June 14, the Supreme
Court for the fifth judicial district of NewYork saw
fit to honor
Jack Grow
by placing his portrait in
the courthouse at Utica, N.Y. Jack’s daughter Julie,
an attorney in the family
law firm, presented Jack
to the gathering.
Bob Burk
checked in with an email that in-
formed us he and Mary enjoyed a “great year for
weather” in Florida. He said their only contact
with classmates was at a Christmas gathering
at the home of
Bill
and
Barbara Bell Bartlett
in