CLASS NOTES
CLASS NOTES
winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 29
28 winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine
the oil pump quit 20 miles into the tour. One of
life’s smaller glitches, requiring not courage but
patience and a philosophical attitude.
Everyone would love to hear your stories! Please
get in touch and share with us your doings.
1956
Priscilla Harvey Schroeder ’56
2215Windbrook Court
Westlake Village, CA 91361-3538
805-495-9758
Next Reunion: 60
th
, 2015 (cluster with ’55)
Arriving home from a fall weekend in Canton,
Jim Horne
reported that the former Moose con-
tingent enjoyed the camaraderie of golf, mingling
and “dialoging.” The group included
Fred
and
Lucy Tower Funke, Bob Ernst, Wayne Lausin,
MickeyWalker
and Sally Forrest ’55, and Jim and
El Horne. Jim and El are in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.,
for the month of March. Mickey and Sally spend
January through April in St. Augustine Beach.
I had a delightful chat with
Leslie Jose
, who con-
tinues to be involved with the Sages and Seek-
ers (a group of high-schoolers at a local private
academy). They write and present reports. At the
Natick Senior Center, Leslie participates in the En-
gineering for Humanity course with Olin, Babson
andWellesley college students. Eleven senior citi-
zen “community partners” work alongside eight
students from the three nearby colleges to design
solutions to everyday problems.
“These kids are the top of the top. They have very
willingly and openly wanted me to contribute to
the project, and it’s been a joy to get the [brain]
cells going again,” Leslie said. “It’s changed my
whole outlook. It gives us seniors not only the
chance to have a voice, but have it listened to.”
John Houx
(used to be Jack) is an actor with
15 years of experience. His most recent play was
And Then There Were None
, by Agatha Christie. He
played Judge Wargrave (the killer, but don’t tell:
LOL) at Pineapple Playhouse in Fort Pierce, next
to Vero Beach, where he lives. He’s also appeared
in
Damn Yankees
, Oliver (as Fagin) and
On Golden
Pond
(Henry Fonda’s character). His daughter at-
tended a performance of
On Golden Pond
-- that
was a special evening!
Bill Carter
retired from a New York law firm and
has lived in Hertford, N.C., for 17 years. Congratu-
lations are in order: he won the club champion-
ship in his golf community. He also is active in
sailing. One of his friends is Bob Batson, brother
of
Ray Batson.
Dick Contee
lives in Pine Bay, Rehoboth Beach,
Del., and is a volunteer in a number of organiza-
tions in the arts and culture. He has always been
an active volunteer in libraries. Dick called about
the next reunion: our 60th is in 2015, and we are
celebrating together with the Class of 1955.
After talking with
Tom Halpin
, I heard about
three other classmates from Maine –
Dick Lar-
son, Roger Greene
and
Tony Chapman
, who
died last year (see below). Tom and Mary live in
Stonington, Maine, in the summer (it’s on an is-
I have had the privilege of serving for 10
years on the Alumni Executive Council,
and during the last year and a half I have
served as council president. When I talk
with Laurentians, many have heard of
the council but few know much about its
mission, workings, finances and election
process. I’d like to explain the basics so the
entire alumni family is informed about the
institution that represents them.
The Alumni Executive Council of 35 vol-
unteer members is elected by the alumni
body at Reunion. Council members are
elected to three-year terms, and each member may serve two terms.
An elected officer may serve beyond the six-year limit (as I have been
privileged to do). Every two years, the Alumni Council elects a team of
officers to lead its ambitious agenda. I servewith three outstanding fel-
lowofficers: Ed Forbes ’02, vice president; Charlie Sullivan ’89, treasurer;
and Bill Cowan ’86, secretary.
Our Constitution requires that there be roughly equal representation
across the decades, so the alumni body is divided into five “clusters,”
each representing approximately a decade. When a Council member
from a cluster retires, a newmember from that cluster is elected.
Council members make a huge commitment when they agree to
serve. Each Council member agrees to attend three three-day meet-
ings per year, two on campus and one at Canaras, St. Lawrence’s con-
ference center on Upper Saranac Lake. We also participate in frequent
committee meetings by phone and periodic all-council meetings. Ex-
tensive project work is completed betweenmeetings.
Alumni fromall over the country belong to the council.We are blessed
to work closely with Lisa Cania, vice president for community and em-
ployee relations, who serves as our liaison with the University. Lisa
helps us get our work done, but more important, she is the heart, soul
and institutional memory of the council. By working with Lisa, we en-
sure that we and the University we love are on the same page. This is
not always the case at other colleges and universities.
Most work gets done at the committee level, collaboratively with Uni-
versity liaisons. The council has four committees, each with an ambi-
tious agenda:
• The Advancement and Engagement Committee works with the Uni-
versity’s Advancement and University Communications offices. Their
mission is to find ways to connect and re-connect alumni with St.
Lawrence.
• The Student Services and Recruitment Committeeworks with the Ca-
reer Services and Admissions offices. They also coordinate the Coun-
cil’s efforts to assist in supporting the NewYork City Semester.
• The Finance and Resources Committee builds and manages the
council’s budget (see below) and ensures that our income is sufficient
to fund all of our programs in support of students and alumni.
• The Membership and Honors Committee considers all nominees for
council membership and recommends candidates. It also recom-
mends the slate of officers for the council, Alumni Citation and Sol
Feinstone Award recipients, and student delegates to the council.
Our budget goes entirely to support programs for students and alum-
ni, including the Reunion breakfast, programs to welcome the New
York City Semester students to the city, internship support, and pro-
grams to engage undergraduates in the “Laurentian for Life” concept.
Much of that income is generated through a line of clothing and other
items known as “SaintsWear,” available through Brewer Bookstore (in-
cluding online). Products include a very popular rugby shirt, cycling
shirts, St. Lawrence charms and a cardigan sweater with distinctive St.
Lawrence markings. You can support our work (and thus programs for
students and alumni) by purchasing any of these high-quality items
through the bookstore.
If this council tutorial has made you think, “I’d like to be a part,”we’re
always looking for a fewgood Laurentianswho arewilling towork hard
in support of the school we all love. It’s a demanding volunteer com-
mitment, but members consistently testify that they love every min-
ute of it. It brings us closer to the college and to one another, and it’s
tremendously satisfying work. If you would like to put your name into
consideration for Alumni Council membership, or if you would like to
nominate a Laurentian friend, please send those nominations to me
(
, or to Lisa Cania (
.
Thank you to all of you for allowing me the privilege of serving as
president of your Alumni Council.
Stephen Todd ’92
Alumni Executive Council President
YOUR Alumn i Counc i l
Alumni Council 101
land and bills itself as “the lobster capital of the
world”). They’re in Brockport, N.Y., in the spring
and fall, and especially enjoy the eight-day jazz
festival in June. They spend winters in Florida
(The Villages area), where there are 36 golf
courses and the Senior Silver Sneakers program
for exercise and aerobics. Dick and Carolyn live
in Western Maine and Beverly Hills, Florida. He
is a retired surgeon and an accomplished boat-
builder. Roger and Nancy have a farmhouse on
the Maine coast and another farm where horses
and chickens roam.
I remember vividly the ride that Roger gave me
on his motorcycle at St. Lawrence. It was scary!
Winnie Pisani Thorn
is travelling again. She
took a trip to Paris, Normandy and Brittany.
Over the years,
Ed Zifcak
has travelled on nu-
merous cruises and now is retired. In his spare
time, he plays golf and takes care of his property
along with being a dog walker.
Dick Willis
knows the North Country well, hav-
ing graduated from Malone High School. He lives
in Marion, Md., on the lower eastern shore. A re-
tired businessman, he travelled for 20 years as the
comptroller for a Texas oil well services company.
After retirement, he settled in Marion and has a
full- time jobmaintaining a farm that has frontage
on Chesapeake Bay. This farm is for conservation
purposes; it can never be developed.The farmwill
be preserved for his family of two boys and one
girl, who all live nearby. For recreation, they hunt
and fish on the property.
I was not surprised to hear about
Harry Hou-
lis
being involved with community theater and
music, but was impressed when he mentioned
how he is teaching etymology (the study of
words) and learning his sixth language –Italian.
He lives in the Hudson Valley, near West Point,
and in his spare time assists his 14 grandchil-
dren with model trains.
Ann Shipman Wells
stays busy with her choir,
gardening, travelling to Florida, and visits from
children and grandchildren. Her oldest son and
family visited, and then her youngest son and his
family from Hong Kong came for five weeks. The
middle son is a fireman in Quincy, Mass., and her
daughter, Andrea, lives nearby and teaches Chi-
nese at the regional high school.
A fellow student union officer,
Gene Caruso
,
called and we reminisced about our times with
special events and when Marguerite Higgins,
war correspondent, was a guest speaker. Gene
has been retired for seven years and had four
professions. He was an industrial engineer with a
master’s from George Washington University. He
resides in North Baltimore, having also lived in the
District of Columbia and New York. Gene, it was
great to hear from you and hope you can join us
at the next reunion in 2015.
Mary Jane Hastings Smith
joined me with two
other Tri-Deltas, Tricia Nash Gomer ’74 and Ma-
jken Tranby ’06, for lunch in Pasadena, Calif. (see
the picture nearby). M.J.’s Navy grandson and
family (three great-grandsons, all boys under the
age of 5), now living in San Diego, visited her in
Glendora, Calif.
It is with heavy heart that I bring you the pro-
foundly sad news about four of our classmates.
Dorothy “Dolly” Fletcher Stade, Robert Ray,
Beryl Everett Atkinson
and
Anthony Chap-
man
all passed away in 2013.
Ernie Mazza
told
me about Dolly’s passing. Ernie’s wife, Mary, went
to high school with Dolly and the two families
have stayed in touch. Ernie said that Dolly was
suffering from COPD for three or four years and
just a few weeks before she died, George ’55 had
a stroke, but has no after-effects. George plans to
move to Maryland, near his two daughters. We all
knew Dolly as a very bright person who graduat-
ed summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Along
with her intelligence, she possessed wit and end-
less generosity and creativity.
Bob Ray was an ROTC distinguished military ca-
det and regimental commander, and then a high-
ly decorated career soldier who retired in 1986
after 30 years of military service. Colleagues at St.
Lawrence knew he would be a successful officer
in themilitary as we servedwith Bob on a number
of organizations, especially Outing Club. He was a
friend whom you could count on.
Beryl Atkinson lived in Switzerland, France and
Portugal before leaving Europe during World
War II, being among the last Americans to leave
Europe as the war escalated. She lived in Toronto
during the war and then returned to Switzer-
land and Ireland after the war. She moved to the
United States permanently at age 17. Beryl was a
native speaker and always valued her Swiss roots.
She met her husband, Asher Atkinson ’53, on the
college ski team.
Tony Chapman was a four-year varsity basketball
player as well as a good student, who was active
in honorary and service organizations.
Ed Laine
was an ATO brother who said Tony was one of
our academic stars. Roger Greene lived a couple
of miles from Tony and Karen and during the
season they would trap lobster together. Roger
said Tony and Karen were very involved with vol-
unteer work. Roger served with Tony on the local
ambulance corps, where Tony was president of
the board. Tony was a trustee on the board of the
local medical center as well. He served 25 years in
the U.S. Army before retiring as a vice president at
Citigroup and forming a one-person professional
risk management and marketing skills develop-
ment consulting company for financial institu-
tions. Roger says he cherishes all the goodmemo-
ries and Tom Halpin says Tony was a true friend.
On behalf of the class, we express our condolenc-
es to all the families of our beloved classmates.
For more on some of them, see“In Memory.”
A quartet of Tri-Delta alumnae met last
July for lunch in Pasadena, Calif. Clock-
wise from front left are Class Reporter
Priscilla Harvey Schroeder '56, Ma-
jken Tranby '06, Tricia Nash Gomer '74
and
Mary Jane Hastings Smith '56.
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