CLASS NOTES
FALL 2012 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 37
Canada for the students, who are from the Bronx
and South Africa. The young person from the
Bronx experienced the art of fishing for the first
time. Ann is a member of an ecumenical gospel
choir, the Hymns and Hers.
Len Combi
sent an article from the
Schoharie
Daily Gazette
.
Titled “Nursery Business Stripped
By Flood Reopens,”it describes the recovery of the
123-
year-old Guernsey’s Schoharie Nursery from
flood damage late last summer.
Betsy Colyer
Guernsey
is the treasurer and handles advertis-
ing. The company grows many of its own prod-
ucts, provides landscaping services and delivers a
variety of trees and plants.
Winnie Pisani Thorn
is so proud of her grand-
son, who graduated with high honors from high
school and has entered the Naval Academy. Her
granddaughter graduated from Skidmore sum-
ma cum laude. Chip off the ol’block.
Lynn Chilton Burt
and husband Bob traveled
the trip of trips! They visited Egypt, Rwanda,
South Africa, the Maldives, Thailand, Bhutan, In-
dia and Jordan. One of the stand-out experiences
was climbing into the jungle in Rwanda to see the
gorillas – about 15-20, from newborn to seven-
foot alpha males. They said they will report on a
polar bear junket in the fall.
Alida Isham Millham
is retiring from the New
Hampshire Legislature after 12 years. Peter ’54
and Alida returned from France and a fabulous
two weeks traveling from Paris to Normandy to
Blois to Avignon to Nice.
I received a DVD fromAlida with the St. Lawrence
colors and alma mater playing in the background.
It is a keepsake from our 55
th
Reunion and I will
cherish the memories forever. My gratitude runs
deep, Alida.
DottieWhitaker Cannon
is busy with theWom-
en’s Club and Garden Club in Dublin, N.H. She
works long hours in the community vegetable
garden. She has also enrolled in classes at Dart-
mouth. Her granddaughter, Lucy Mellor ’13, was
on the cover of the fall 2011magazine, working in
a lab on campus.
Marian Finck Moore
has sent many informative
and interesting emails. One is a five-page list of
senior discounts. If anyone is interested in receiv-
ing the list, please email her at marian2005@juno.
com.
Ed Dowling
joins the list of classmates with su-
per grandchildren. Ed and Liz Klimow ’59 have
been traveling to high school graduations in
Texas and Colorado. Their two grandchildren
are enrolling at Texas A&M and the University of
Tulsa. Another grandson is a lineman for UCLA
football, and another, Chris, is a colonel in the Ma-
rine Corps, on his sixth deployment. We send him
best wishes.
Dave Joy
is moving to John Knox Village, which
is between Daytona Beach and Orlando, Fla. He
says there are many activities and trips planned
to keep one busy.
It is always a delight to talk to upbeat
Bob Bi-
ernacki
,
with his wonderful attitude. Bob’s wife,
Louise Welton ’57, has been under the weather.
We send the very best to Louise and the wish of
better health.
Ed Laine
works three eight-hour days each
week at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore.
He has worked there almost three years and still
enjoys the work. They are the flagship store for
the ‘chain’ so they have managers from all over
the U.S. and Canada traipsing through to see how
it’s done properly and with élan. They are at the
point nowwhere they are able to build one home
per month with the money they make from their
ReStore sales.
Ed was profiled in the spring 2011
magazine.
Ed’s wife, Donna Hines ’57, works four days a
week managing the office of a real estate apprais-
al business in Charlotte, N.C. She reported that
the 2012 “Gathering of the Clan” fly fishing fund-
raiser for Project HealingWaters/Fly Fishing raised
$3,400 from their auction. This project provides
instruction and outings for wounded soldiers re-
turning from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Ed remarked that our class column keeps eas-
ing its way toward the front of the magazine. He
wonders how we became the “Old Guard?” He
concludes that we all have another trip or two to
Canton in us for whatever reunion shows up next.
That would be the 2015 cluster!
When
Don Heithaus
arrived in Canton for the
first time on the “Canton Creeper,” one of the first
things he was told was that the Class of 1956 was
to be something special, the University’s 100
th
-
an-
niversary graduating class. Our class was some-
thing special. It’s still true today. Don remembers
a great experience, encompassing fraternity life
(
SAE), KSLU radio, Winter Carnival, 40 degrees be-
low, Billy’s 10-cent drafts, great sports (especially
hockey), the Sand Banks, friends for life, ROTC and
Military Police, his second lieutenant commission-
ing, Professors Reiff (“the best teacher”), McFar-
land, Rodehaver and Bloomer, Men’s Residence,
Snow Bowl, and meeting Janet Featherly ’58, his
wife of 55 years.
Don retired in 2006 from the laundry business
and banking, and sold everything just before the
economy went south. He spends his spare time
working with his photos (he used to own a calen-
dar business). He tries to play tennis three times
a week, and skis 50 days in the winter. They own a
house in Killington, Vt., and ski the East and West
and Europe too. They go to Florida (Hutchinson
Island) every October, after they see the colors in
Vermont. He enjoys Western music and travels
to Branson, Mo., in November. Living in the same
home for 45 years holds a lot of memories… just
like St. Lawrence University.
Keep the news coming.
1957
Joyce Caldwell Rhodes ’57
5-
C Oak Crest Court
Novato, CA 94947
415-892-9351
RHDJY@aol.com
Next Reunion: 60
th
, 2017
Your new class reporter is happy for the occasion
to be in contact with you by phone, email or post.
Our 55th reunion underscored howprecious each
of us is to the others. I had the good fortune to
come to know my classmates in greater depth.
Our class response was small, the easier to share
and enjoy.
Dick Deveans
says he and his wife, Marlen, have
recently returned from Monterey, Calif., where
they visited their son, who has been studying at
the Navy Graduate School and doing PowerPoint
presentations at the NATO War College in Rome,
Italy.
Lane Johnson
remarked that 80 is something
to look forward to. He works in his garden and
plays a lot of golf. He is treasurer of the Wellesley
Choral Society and sings in his church choir. He
and his wife have five grandchildren, travel often
and vacation in Truro, Cape Cod. They love living
near Boston, where they enjoy cross-country ski-
ing and hiking. He is challenged by the electrical
hockey-puck lights in the kitchen.
Art Saltford
and his wife, Nancy, are enjoying
retirement in Washington, D.C., but enjoy get-
ting away for the summers to their “camp” in the
Adirondacks. On the way to the 55th reunion,
they stopped for a few days at the Grand Hotel on
Mackinac Island, Mich.
“
It’s been a long time, but in many ways the
weekend seemed like yesterday,”
George Aney
said of Reunion. “Best of all was renewing old
friendships and marveling at how everyone has
stayed so young. No place like home, and this is
home!”
“
To this very special place I offer many accolades.
The Bigelows, Bradtmillers and ourselves have
done this every five years since 1957,” writes
BJ
LaidlawWilkinson
,
regarding Reunion.
Mary Ann Fitzpatrick Griffin
has been playing
lots of golf and entertaining grandchildren. She
put the two little boys (4 and 7) in golf camp and
the biggest problem they had was running to
the ball. The pro kept telling them, “Golfers don’t
run. TheyWALK.”
Janis Fowle Bigelow
noted, “Singing our alma
mater in the chapel was the best. It made me re-
alize what a wonderful experience I had at SLU.”
Peter Von Esch
is retired and living in Port Or-
ange, Fla. He andhiswife, Celine, have four daugh-
ters and eight grandchildren, four girls and four
boys. Three of the daughters and their children
live in the Northeast, with one in Seattle, pursuing
her Ph.D. at the University of Washington. Peter is
still active and enjoys remodeling projects. He is
Mr. Fixit for the daughters and their spouses.
Ewart “Odie” O’Hara
wrote during the class
banquet “as
Tinker DeGraff
is giving
Bill Barden
and me his latest assessment of the UE slide into
disaster. It is, therefore, difficult to conjure up any
thoughts that might be worth sharing. He and
Joyce have five children and nine grandchildren
who demand most of their attention. “It has been
wonderful sneaking away to our 55th reunion,”he
commented.
“
I am inmy sixth year of retirement and am in the
early stages of learning how to do it,” Bill Barden
chimed in. “I have carried over my feeling that I
have to get things done today and amdaily work-
ing to overcome it. Being with and talking with
classmates from so many years ago brings back
memories which I enjoy. It is interesting that I
remember so many faces. We get older, but the
classmate is still there!”
Richard
‘
Tinker was Here’
DeGraff
writes, "1953-
1957
were the best years. Then I went into the
Army. St. Lawrence was a wonderful experience