April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

Friend and sometime neighbor
Wally Bernheimer had lunch with
Paul Boire and Nancy together
with another friend, a Red Sox
exec who had worked with Paul
in the Cape Cod League baseball
many moons ago. Stories floated
about funny back-room sports
happenings, including one about
Lou Guzzetti after a game getting
into a scuffle with a UMass
basketball player that led to our
terminating basketball relations
with them and several about Paul
being ejected from ball games
after throwing down his clipboard
to protest a ref’s call in Al
Shaw fashion. Wally also had fun
phone conversations with Fred
Mayer on Red Sox baseball and
Bruce Shilling, who had attended
a Minneapolis lecture by Wally’s
writer daughter, Kate (Wesleyan
’88), on her fairy tale research.
Jack Heiser certainly caught
my attention with his note:
“Planning to attend a Big
Meeting proved harmful to
my health. I was packed and
ready in June but ended up in a
hospital. My doctors ignored my
plea for emergency performance
enhancing drugs. Eight months
and a knee surgery, followed by
much rehab, a total-knee replacement,
yet more rehab, a second
total-knee replacement scheduled
for late March followed by
even more rehab later, I am also
completing an almost complete
body rebuild with a 50-year perfect
health expectation (more a
guideline than a guarantee).Most
distressing about this is the burden
(me) on my caretaker wife.
Much of my career has been
spent managing stress and strain.
Now I am the stress straining my
wife. I hope to return to work
in May. I look forward to seeing
everyone at the centennial, unless
I end up in the hospital again.”
Lastly, on a bittersweet note,
I would personally like to
acknowledge that Pete Raisbeck’s
beloved wife Peggy passed away
in August after a long battle
with cancer. (Peggy resisted the
spotlight, and Pete wanted to
respect her wishes, but I insisted
on a notice here.) Many of us
knew Peg from back in college
days but perhaps didn’t know
all that she accomplished in outreach
over the years. She was a
model of volunteerism, including
Shelter Inc., finding housing for
the poor, founding the Becklam
Foundation to fund a number
of projects for the underprivileged,
being active with Loaves
& Fishes and soup kitchens,
tutoring mentally challenged
kids and assisting in the Oakland
schools, helping to settle Laotian
and Cambodian refugees back in
Vietnam days in Connecticut and
looking after desperate families
at Christmas. She was a great
lady, and our condolences go out
to Pete in his loss.
Onward to September, when
I hope more of you will emerge
from the closet about the election.
We are of a generation that
votes, so take the opportunity
to speak to the Williams community,
whatever your stripes.
Cheers, all!
1962
50 th
REUNION JUNE 7–10
William M. Ryan
112 Beech Mountain Road
Mansfield Center, CT 06250
1962secretary@williams.edu
I will begin with a quick
procedural note. Now that my
visits and the reporting of them
are complete, I will be soliciting
information for future class notes
via email. The college has email
addresses for over 80 percent of
the class. If you think they may
not have yours (and you care),
please contact the alumni office
and provide it. If you do not
have access to email, please let
them know that as well, and I
will make certain you receive a
hard copy of all requests.
Thirty-one classmates, most
with partners, attended the mini
in October. We now are the
official holders of the baton,
received from the Class of ’61 by
our president Spike Kellogg at a
first-class dinner at the Faculty
House. In other words, it is time
to make your contribution to
the 50th reunion fund. It was
a fun-filled and educational
weekend, with several Williams
faculty speaking to us and lots
of athletic events taking place.
We were entertained, amused,
and learned much from President
Adam Falk and former President
John Chandler. Rufus Jarman led
us in a stirring rendition of “The
Mountains” (all four verses)
at our Friday night dinner. I
enjoyed seeing all classmates but
especially ones I hadn’t seen in a
while, including Bob Jackson and
Mike Scott.
Rufus also deserves credit for
tracking down former classmate
Pete Hayes and turning him into
a current classmate. Pete began
with us but graduated in ’63
and was officially a member
n 1961–62
of that group until he changed
his affiliation. He immediately
wrote his bio for our book and
will be attending the 50th. He
and wife Melissa live in Santa
Fe, N.M., and have a total of
five children and five grandkids.
If you remember Pete, you will
not be surprised at the many
twists and turns in his life. He
began his post-Williams life in
the Peace Corps in Peru, served
as an A.P. photographer in New
York and moved to New Mexico
to manage a new outdoor store
founded by friends. Then he
started his own firm, Omniverse
Research, of Los Gatos, Calif.,
based on inventions Pete had
devised for a battery-powered
MIG Welder (I don’t know what
that is, either). “By the early ’90s
I was exhausted with commuting
to Silicon Valley so I took a
job at the local Boys and Girls
Club, helping transform ‘at risk’
kids into computer whizzes with
real prospects. Utterly fantastic!”
Welcome back, Pete. Get out
your wallet.
It is always special for me to
reunite with classmates, but the
minis are a real treat, as one can
mingle with members of adjacent
classes. I ran into Clyde Buck ’61,
who asked me to contribute to a
testimonial book he was preparing
for former coach and one
of my all-time favorite persons,
Clarence Chaffee. I assented and
now have a copy of the book.
(John Botts is also a contributor.)
It is an amazing tribute to
an amazing man. Contact the
alumni office if you would like to
purchase a copy.
Three weeks after our mini,
the college staged another huge
weekend to honor Mike Reily ’64
and officially retire his number.
(Too long a story to relate here,
but read the early November
Sports Illustrated story.) Over
300 of Mike’s classmates and
football players returned to
campus, including all seven of
the living members of our class
who played with Mike in our
senior year: Rawson Gordon,
Dan Crowley, Choppy Rheinfrank,
Price Gripekoven, Carl Davis, John
Newton and Bruce Grinnell. (Tovi
Kratovil also played but passed
away earlier in the year.) Price
and Bruce both wrote to me that
it was one of the “most memorable,
emotional and enjoyable
reunions” they ever attended.
Kudos to Ben Wagner ’64 for
organizing the event!
Now the sad news, which
unfortunately is becoming a
staple of this column. Two of
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