download the PDF version - Noble and Greenough School

graduate news1956Class CorrespondentGren “Rocky” Whitman410-639-7551grenwhitman@verizon.netRocky Whitman reports on TimLeLand: “After 35 years in a SouthEnd condo with a dramatic viewof Boston’s skyline, Tim and Juliehave moved into a condo at HarborTowers on the waterfront withan even better view of Boston’sskyline—and an elevator to boot.Tim seems to favor the latter overthe former. ‘Views of the skylineare nice, but they don’t help youcarry your groceries up five flightsof stairs,’ he notes. ‘And they don’thelp you shovel your car out aftera snowstorm, either.’ Besides anelevator, his new place has anunderground garage.”John Fritts writes, “My grandchildrenbrought up the topic oftoys and Christmas when I was akid. I explained that World WarII made life very different in the1940s. With everything rationed,there was little that we now takefor granted. With no gas, wewalked or rode bicycles. With nobuses, we hiked to school (uphill,both ways). If a tire tube blew out,we patched it.We also did some ridiculousthings, or at least they seem sotoday. We put black tape over thetop half of car headlights and madesure our window shades weresupertight so no light escaped—allthis to prevent enemy bombersfrom seeing our houses or cars atnight. My father put pails of sandin the attic, so if a bomb hit thehouse we could put out the fire. Foryears after, my sister and I wouldrecount all these foolish things andmarvel at how we survived.The grandkids, of course, wonderedabout toys, and I explainedthat most materials were notavailable; they were needed forthe war effort. We made thingsout of wood, using glue and nails.We decorated Christmas treeswith paper chains. We choppedfirewood and listened to JackBenny, Fred Allen, the great Gildersleeve,Amos and Andy, etc., onthe radio in front of the fireplace.We had no TV, cellphones,computers, electronic games ortexting. To use a telephone, wewaited for the operator to say,‘Number, please.’ We read andtalked a lot, and somehow made itinto the 21st century without thedevices kids enjoy today. My kidsand grandchildren have a difficulttime understanding all this. Theynever will, but I enjoy telling themhow we lived back then and howmuch fun we had growing up. Isometimes wonder if they reallybelieve me.”Kit Hayden reports, “I veryrecently and very reluctantly purchasedan iPod Touch. Suddenly,the rabbit hole is much larger;the ground is tipping; the slopeis slippery. From T.S. Eliot’s DrySavages: ‘The bitter apple and thebite in the apple…’ The man wasprescient.”1957Class CorrespondentJohn Valentine413-256-6676jvalj1@yahoo.comLance Grandone writes, “I amstill president of my HOA and amrunning for another term. What iswrong with me? Because of a lot oflegal issues in the community, I amspending much more time on thejob and have cut back my participationwith the Lifelong LearningAcademy and my volunteer workat the Florida Philatelic FoundationLibrary. I am still involved with buyingand selling rare stamps, though,and it appears to be a better investmentthan the stock market.I won’t get into all the healthissues that the golden agers loveto go on and on about. Since I’vewritten last, I’ve have a couple ofsurgeries for peripheral neuropathyand got to try every medicationknown to man, and experiencedfirst-hand all the side effects ofthe meds. Not recommended. Wethought the peripheral neuropathymight have been diabetes related,but after a bunch of MRIs, it turnedout I have scar tissue on my spinalcord, probably from an old injury orcar accident. I have limited feelingin my right hand, which makescomputer typing a real pain. So Igot Dragon diction, which worksvery well for most correspondence.I strongly recommend it to all youtwo-finger typists.Karin and I have taken a coupleof cruises that were a nice break,and we’re leaving for another 10-day trip. I am planning to take anextra suitcase containing a chemicaltoilet, 30 MREs and a sleepingbag for on-deck sleeping, just incase we run into trouble like thosepoor souls in February. Frankly, I’drather the trip was shorter becausewe will miss our great little dog,Duffy, and the community here.We are going with another coupleand expect to play lots of bridge.Our twin granddaughters arecollege sophomores at Coloradoand Tufts. Sara is a dual major inphysics and aerospace engineering,and Megan is concentratingon microbiology and math. I amtotally lost when they talk abouttheir classes.Other good news on the homefront is that we have reconciled withour daughter, Susan, after a fiveyearhiatus, and she bought a condolast month about 20 miles northof us in Long Boat Key, and abouthalf a mile from our son, Cass, whoalso has a place there. She has beenfurnishing it with the help of theInternet and Karin, who is there asI write this. Susan has an excellentjob with Rio Tinto and is currentlyon a three-year assignment in Serbiaheading up an $8 billion lithiumminingproject. She comes back tothe states two to three times peryear and spent Christmas with us.We had a great time. Our son isstill with Abbott Labs as a VP andwill probably take full retirement inanother three years at age 55. It’squite a rarity to have an individualspend an entire business careerwith a single company.That’s about it from sunnyFlorida. I read about your weatherin New England and just can’t believewhat you are going through.We have had a very mild winterhere, although tonight will be thecoldest night of the winter, dippingto the low 30s. As always, ourdoors are always open to any classmembers, spouses, partners, etc.My best wishes to all.”Robert McElwain writes,“Nowadays (euphemism for ‘inmy mid-70s’) I find reading morepleasurable than ever. I tend to gofor nonfiction, but recently I read ATale of Two Cities and really enjoyed48 Nobles spring 2013