February, 2016
Gathered at the Great ’68 Flag
Richie Rogers, with grace and good sense, arranged the sale of his Rockaway Park, NY bar to buyers of his same stripe, people who would keep Rich’s staff and respect the Rogers Bar’s regular Joe customers. 
The Rogers Hotel, Rockaway, NY, established 1917, serving Class of 1968 since 1964
This lack of venality, nurtured during theology classes and proven when Rich and his wife added triplet daughters to the family roster, may explain why Rich’s years with the FBI didn’t morph into a rich position with one of the East Coast venture capital firms. As for the regular Joe customers, the patronage at times included Joes who were not regular ones: Pat DeMare, Mike “Rhino” Ryan, Bob Santalocci, Dave Graves, Mike Trombetta, Pat Furey, Dave Martin, Jim Hutchinson, and the late Al Berryman and Tom Weems. Now in retirement, the triplets all employed university graduates, Rich is able to engage in a practice he began a few years ago: he comes from New York for back-to-back home games, without going home between them. His regular Joe South Bend friends now attend Class of 1968 tailgates with him.
The constancy of the tailgate, marked with the class flag, spurred a thankful note from Brian Gormley to Bryan Dunigan and classmates after Brian and Kathleen came from Oakton, VA for the USC game: “I know it’s a tremendous amount of work for you all (Brian’s a southern boy) to maintain that tradition every weekend, but for those of us who live outside the area, it’s comforting to know that locating and rekindling with classmates is as simple as finding the ‘Great ’68’ flag.”
Larry “Monk” Forness, who hosted Jim Smithberger that weekend, is pushing the retired classmate to relocate from Dade County, FL to Granger, IN.
The Chicago classmates had a pitcher to cheer in the World Series competition this season: Pat Misch, son of Tom Misch and Linda, brought seventh game victory to his Lamingo Monkeys (Taiwan) with a no-hitter. The happy Monkeys, after beating the Chinatrust Brothers 11-0, had enough oomph left for throwing the lanky Misch into the air. Pat spent the 2006-2011 seasons pitching for the Mets and the Giants.
Matt Walsh is managing logistics for friends in possession of some of the precious Boston tickets. After arriving in Boston from Chicago, maybe directly from morning Mass, the group including Class President Tom Weyer, Roger Guerin, Bob Ptak, Rick McPartlin, Gene Cavanaugh, Joe Kernan and Bryan Dunigan will make its presence known at Fenway Park. Dick Kelly will come from Portland, ME. Also in town – with hopes to be in Fenway – will be Dave Lensing and his family, coming from Memphis.
After the Georgia Tech game, Tom Weyer sent these comments: “Ralph Neas brought greetings from the Pope – Ralph met him at the White Houe. My invitation, apparently, got lost. Richie Rogers, Mike Helmer, Steve Quinn, many others from the Great 68 there – John Sheehan and John Pearson represent the clergy classmates. I attended ‘The Play’ in Pittsburgh, a one man show starring Rocky Bleier. Great, a sold out house.”
Jim O’Rourke writes from South Bend that Tom Warner and his son James visited South Bend recently to catch up on old times and share a few ideas about what’s ahead for the family. Tom, former Chairman and CEO of Del Monte International, still has homes in London, Tuscany and northern California, and is now Fire Chief at the Shaver Lake, California, volunteer Fire Department. “He’s still in the same condition he was when he occupied the #4 seat in Notre Dame’s heavyweight eight-oar shell in 1966-67-68,” O’Rourke reports. Warner’s son, James, is a Ph.D. student at NYU, studying the culture and anthropology of the Arabian Peninsula. Access to key subjects and data in Sana’a, Yemen has grown very difficult in recent months, but he remains optimistic about his research.
Tom Scully, older brother of Fr. Tim Scully, C.S.C., paid a visit to campus recently, examining a dozen new buildings under construction, along with eight miles of new sidewalk and an estimated 1,000 fewer parking spaces. “My task,” he said to Jim O’Rourke, “is to remain relevant while encouraging my wife to continue working.” Tom was Chief Marketing Officer at Axsys International, a renal dialysis firm in Chicago, but is now “fully, completely, and entirely retired,” as he puts it. “Running errands, of course, is the task of the newly retired.”
Chuck Perrin‘s new album The Yearn – liner notes written by Brian McMahon perhaps? almost every day another barrier gets stripped away fresh pathways open beckoning promising we chase them following wide-eyed hopelessly lonely yearning for connection . . . . . . It’s an asshole world Larry Mitchell guitar/bass/drums/sound design, Dave Curtis bass, Richard Sellers drums Blood Larry Mitchell guitar/sound design, Yvette Graham Williams gospel vocals, Misha Piatigorsky…
Chuck Perrin, running his club Dizzy’s Jazz in San Diego, has a new CD, available at ChuckPerrin.com. Dennis Lopez, also on the West Coast now, in Oregon, has written a book. Rich Pivnicka wants Tom McCloskey to repeat the tuxedoed party Tom threw our senior year, an event marred (or, in the sense of entertainment, improved) by Fred Schwartz‘s assassination of Chris Murphy.
Bob Brady has had great jolts of loss: his wife Margaret in late August and now Bob’s mother Dorothy Elizabeth Lindsay Brady at age 102 on October 29, 2015. See the following articles (posts) for Mrs. Brady’s remarkable history, plus information about others we’ve lost – Margaret Fox Brady, William Sullivan, Mike Philbin, Peter Noonan, Tim Fangman.
In case Mike Burgener and some others of us need time to get in shape, this is an alert: we are now two years from our 50th reunion. Eddie Kurtz was not able to heed his instruction, but it’s a good one: “No croakin’.” In support, the class of 1955, invites us to make use of that class’s medical information site, “Heading Home”, http://www.nd55.org/s/1210/clubs-interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=226&pgid=16666.
Photos to share? News? Information about people we remember but don’t track so well? Pat Hermann, once the University of Alabama English professor? George Kelly? Dick Blumberg? Send them in from the cold. Please post to the class blog and send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536, tfigel@reputecture.com.
Joe Hale informs us from Houston of Tim Fangman‘s death from an auto – truck accident June 6, 2015:
I recently received an e-mail from Ann Reins Fangman (SMC ’68) in regard to the tragic death of her wonderful husband Tim in a vehicle accident on June 6, 2015. I knew Tim from freshman year forward as he was on my wing of the third floor of Keenan. He grew up in Omaha and graduated from Creighton Prep. After Tim’s ND graduation he got his medical degree from Creighton and later spent a year or so at the Mayo Clinic before returning to his home town of Omaha to practice cardiology. (Tim’s dad is still living and is a well-known Omaha physician.)
Tim was the only occupant in his SUV and was wearing his seat belt when his SUV (heading north above Columbia Falls, Montana to a cabin – near Glacier National Park) was hit head on by a truck that crossed over and struck the SUV on a viaduct. Alcohol and speed were factors in the accident. The other driver has been charged with motor vehicular homicide, and is awaiting trial.
I last saw Tim and Ann after our 10th Year ND Reunion as I drove over to Omaha. Tim and I traded a few e-mails during the last year or so. I’ve circulated the news of Tim’s death to fellow Keenan and other ND classmates who knew him. And my three-year ND roommate Tom Culcasi said his wife Judy (SMC ’68) would notify her SMC friends. Gene “Skip” Schraeder replied that he could remember tiptoeing as his room in Keenan was close to Tim’s; Skip didn’t want to jostle the needle while Tim’s stereo (once again) was playing Beach Boys recordings. (I can’t think of a nicer way to disturb whatever peace existed in Keenan!)
Many really-nice comments in regard to Tim’s diligence and interest in his patients can be seen if you Google the obituary, etc. from the Omaha newspaper. Tim was predeceased by his mother Jeanne and two granddaughters. Along with Ann and Tim’s father, Tim is survived by a son, three daughters, 10 grandchildren, 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
Cape Elizabeth, Me, 10/29/15—Dorothy Lindsay Brady, aged 102, died peacefully, surrounded by her seven children and several of their spouses. She had been in good health, physically and mentally before suffering a stroke approximately a week before her death.
Dorothy Elizabeth Lindsay was born in 1913 in Lindsay, Oklahoma. She was born in a town named after her father, and in a house built in the 1870’s by her maternal grandparents in what was then the Oklahoma Indian Territory. They were of Choctaw heritage. Dorothy was a member of the Choctaw Nation.
Her parents, Lewis Edward Lindsay and Anita Murray Lindsay, met and married when he visited the Murray ranch as a cowboy on a cattle drive from his native Texas.
Dorothy’s father taught her to read before she began her schooling in a one-room schoolhouse in Erin Springs, Ok., adjacent to Lindsay. She attended the Lindsay schools and then graduated from a convent high school. She went to Oklahoma Women’s College, Chicasaw, Ok. for two years, following which she attended and graduated from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Ok. Afterwards she did graduate work at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, MA, graduating as a dietician. With the onset of World War II, she volunteered for the U.S. Public Health Service.
As a child, Dorothy studied piano and the cello. She also was an active athlete, playing tennis and riding horses. She met her future husband, Dr. Francis “Bud” Brady, on the tennis courts at the Public Health Service Hospital in Baltimore, Md. They were married in Fort St. John, British Columbia, in 1942, after Dr. Brady, an Army dentist, was deployed to serve the troops building the Alaskan Highway.
During World War II, they lived briefly in Alameda, CA, where their first child was born. She then moved back to Oklahoma when he was redeployed to the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. Following the war, they moved to Titusville, Pa, “Bud’s” hometown. He developed a thriving dental practice and together they raised their seven children, Anita, Mary Ellen, Robert, John, Michael, Lewis, and Lisa.
Classmates at the Brady family’s Titusville home 1969
Dorothy was a force in her children’s lives. She taught each of them to ride a bike. She made sure each knew how to swim. She insisted they take music lessons. She monitored their academic progress and social lives. She made their Halloween costumes. She made sure they enrolled in “good” colleges. As they married and her 17 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren arrived, she took on the same role for the succeeding generations.
Even as she mothered her large family, Dorothy continued to have an active life. She played tennis and golf. She enjoyed bridge and other card games. She was an active member of the Titusville Women’s Club and the PTAs of her children’s schools. She read widely and maintained a life-long commitment to the liberal tenets of the Democratic Party.
Following her husband’s retirement in 1980, they began to spend the winters and eventually re-located to Ft. Myers, FL, where they enjoyed playing golf and bridge, and had an active social life. They traveled widely, to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Central America.
Dorothy constantly entertained members of her family. All of the grandchildren have fond memories of driving their grandmother’s golf cart, visiting the orange juice store, and going to Ft. Myers Beach. She took many of them to Disneyworld and made sure that each of them had the opportunity to enjoy Deer Hill Camp in Durango, Co.
Bud died in 2009, and Dorothy re-located to Village Crossing Assisted Living, Cape Elizabeth, Me, in 2011, to be near her daughter Lisa. Dorothy was grateful to Lisa, and her husband, Russ, for their unstinting help while she lived at Village Crossing.
Dorothy is survived by her three sons-in-law, Dean Jensen (Mary Ellen), Jeff O’Sullivan (Anita), and Russ Leonard (Lisa), and three of her four daughters-in-law, Roberta Isleib (John), Jane (Mike), and Pat (Lewis). Bob’s wife, Margaret, died earlier this year.
She is also survived by 17 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Donations may be made to the Lindsay-Murray Mansion, c/o Lindsay Historical Society, Lindsay, OK. Benson Memorial Library or St. Titus Church, Titusville, Pa., or Cape Elizabeth Library, Cape Elizabeth, Me., or Gosnell Memorial Hospice House, Scarborough, ME.
Pat Misch didn’t pull a Don Larsen, but he came pretty damn close.
Sunday night in Taiwan, Misch threw a no-hitter in Game 7 of the Taiwan Series to clinch the Chinese Professional Baseball League championship for the Lamingo Monkeys. It was the first no-hitter in Taiwan Series history. The Monkeys beat the Chinatrust Brothers 11-0 in the decisive Game 7.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, here are all 27 outs of Misch’s title-clinching no-hitter:
“My catcher called a good game, I just pitched to where he wanted the ball,” said Misch to Jason Pan of the Taipei Times after the game. “Then I got the batters down in order, inning by inning, and our defense was outstanding tonight.”
Misch walked one batter and otherwise faced the minimum in the nine-inning masterpiece. Here’s some more from The China Post:
Monkeys’ starter Misch came close to pitching a perfect game, the only blemish to his just over 100 pitch game being a walk to Brothers first baseman Peng Cheng-min in the fifth. He threw a complete game, striking out seven batters, limiting the opposing team to 24 at bats in the game, while the Brothers expended six pitchers after Chiu was relieved. Teammates swarmed the hero after the last Brothers hitter was thrown out at first, as the home field crowd’s cheers crescendoed euphorically. Misch’s no-hitter was the first ever in the Taiwan Series.
Misch, 34, spent the 2006-11 seasons as an up and down arm with the Giants and Mets. He posted a 4.80 ERA (89 ERA+) in 200 2/3 big league innings spanning 24 starts and 54 relief appearances. Misch spent the 2013-14 seasons in Triple A and an independent league.
The Marlins signed Misch to a minor league contract last offseason. He didn’t make the team out of spring training and instead reported to Triple A, where he went 5-7 with a 3.25 ERA in 72 innings. Misch was released in July and spent a month in an independent league before getting an opportunity in Taiwan.
I have to say, throwing a no-hitter in Game 7 to clinch a championship is pretty much the coolest thing ever. That’s something every pitcher dreams about as a kid. Congrats to Misch and the Monkeys.
He taught us all
(Courtesy of Tom Misch, Texas game September 15, 2015: Tom Weyer and Bryan Dunigan)
The South Bend Tribune announcement of Professor Emil T. Hofman’s death July 11, 2015 included the fact that, between 1950 and 1990, Professor Hofman taught half of each freshman class. Regardless of our own half, this professor taught us all. Who can deny that he affected our Notre Dame experience through his influence on the other phenomenal people who, like him, strove to make us educated, moral, and happy? To remember him and his Notre Dame era, our era, is to remember Professor Frank O’Malley, Professor Ed Goerner, Professor John Malone, Professor Ernest Sandeen, Father John Donne and many vigorous retirees such as Professor Don Sniegowski and Professor Don Costello. At times of reunion, we visit and admire the spread of new buildings but we return because of appreciation for the faculty and administrators who poured themselves into us. Add your own names to the reflection.
Only able to pass the basic, non-Hofman freshman chemistry through the help of the late John Fowler, I had my own brush with the Emil T. Hofman version through rooming with Brien Murphy. The approach of the weekly exam had the power to quiet that . . . wild man and many of his ilk. Do you remember, too, the once-a-week absence of so many from our quad and our dorms? With our engineering and pre-med classmates taken out of the mix for a time, the rest of us could make hay. We became available to the neglected St. Mary’s coeds pining for the bright fellows sweating over test questions. Pat Collins and Bob Brady had space to spread out in a library study area. Bryan Dunigan, working without interruption, could progress with the amassing of his now prodigious contact list, a replacement for an early passion for winding string into a ball. In his own Keenan dorm room, future Class President Tom Weyer could deliberate in private the outfit for his next basketball game appearance: Batman or the Flash, maybe Green Arrow or . . . a gorilla?
Did you see the August, 2011 Notre Dame Magazine article written by Brendan O’Shaughnessy, “The Excellently Extraordinary, Iconic Emil T. “? We know that when we meet in reunions, half of us know chemistry well and all of us know more about life because of Professor Emil T. Hofman.
Bryan Dunigan forwarded a striking note from Mick Hyland, who had been approached for a ride by an elderly man waiting in the same medical reception room where Mick was awaiting his wife Connie. After giving the man the lift, Mick asked him “Why me?” and heard “Your ND shirt told me that you were a good man and would help me if I needed it.” In reporting the incident, Mick said, “What a great reminder it was for me and all the years I have enjoyed my ND connection. As always, wear the colors proudly.”
Notre Dame appointed Jim O”Rourke to a Department of Athletics Advisory Council that is providing, comment, and reaction on a wide variety of issues. Says Jim, who requests help at jorourke@nd.edu: “First up: the fan experience. We’re looking at everything imaginable that fans would encounter when they come to campus.”
A road trip from the West Coast to Chicago took Nancy Carlin SMC 69 and our three granddaughters through Davenport, IA, scene of a remarkable Thanksgiving, 1964 combat involving Tom Condon, Mike Helmer, Jim Henegan and me. The three former New London, CT high school classmates had come to Davenport for a Thanksgiving with the Figels. Larry, a sister’s boyfriend, was showing us the adventures of Davenport’s one-ways cruising when an adventure ensued. Through mistake or intention at a stoplight, another carload of boys jumped our car. Tom Condon, even then no shrinking violet, engaged immediately while Mike Helmer first held his door fast and then relinquished his hold, whereupon the boy pulling on the door immediately smashed it into the face of his fellow. Jim Henegan and I took notes. Tom Condon and Mike Helmer later pursued these combative instincts in brief Army and Navy careers.
Don Hynes and Linda served up a mid-July reunion brunch in their Portland, OR home for John Walsh and Dia, Tim Swearingen and Denny Lopez. More of this may be in the offing: the Walshes son’ Conall will marry in Michigan in September, 2015.
Tom Fitzharris‘ new painting “Westbury, Big Red Tree #8” was included in an August-September show of the New York Studio School alumni. 
Please read the following notes telling of the deaths of William E. Sullivan, Margaret Brady (Mrs. Robert Brady) and Peter J. Noonan.
Please send news and photos to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tfigel@reputecture.com, tel. 312-223-9536.
(In attendance at the memorial service with Bob Brady were many of Margaret Brady’s friends, including Brian and Susan Schanning, Tom Brislin, Dennis and Elise Reeder.)
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Bob Brady‘s wife Margaret Brady of Guilford, CT., died peacefully at home, August 15, 2015 after suffering from breast cancer for several years.
Margaret was born September 15, 1947, in New York City, to Fred Schmidt and Florence Bergwardt Schmidt. The family moved to Englewood, NJ, when she was eight years old. She graduated from Dwight Morrow High School, Englewood, in 1969. Margaret received her B.A. degree in economics from Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College), New London, CT, in 1969, and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School, West Hartford, CT, in 1978. She was admitted to the bar in both Connecticut and New York State.
Margaret married Robert Brady in 1977. He survives her, as do their daughter, Lindsay Brady Beile, and son-in-law, Tyson Beile, of Seattle, WA. Margaret’s grandson, Lewis Robert Beile, was born July 14, 2015. She is also survived by a sister, Barbara, and a nephew, Alex Himes.
In addition to her family, Margaret’s passions were land use, civic beautification, and gardening. She combined these in her professional career and personal interests and activities. She believed that every generation is responsible for careful stewardship of the natural resources it inherits. She believed that a culture which allows the personal gain of a property owner to trump the collective interests of the community is morally bankrupt.
As a planner, she worked to insure that development respected the land, the community, and the neighbors. She thought life was too short to permit ugly buildings, or overbuilt or poorly landscaped sites. As a junior staffer in New Haven, then in more senior positions in Stamford and Westbrook, she developed master plans and zoning regulations to insure that forests and fields were not paved over and built up without careful management to minimize impact.
From 1969 to 1990, she worked as a land use attorney and city planner for the City of New Haven, the City of Stamford, and the town of Westbrook. In Westbrook, she introduced and oversaw the town’s implementation of recycling. She also served as a member of the Madison Zoning Board and was a founder of SGOD, the Madison organization that helped protect the Griswold Airport from over-development.
She labored daily to improve her personal gardens, first in Madison, where she lived from 1985 to 2002, then at her Guilford home, from 2002 to 2015.
Margaret was a dedicated member of the Garden Club of Madison for over 25 years, served on its board for many years, and was its president from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2002. She was a long-time member of the Madison Beach Club, where she was chairman of the Outdoor Planting Committee from 2003 to 2005.
Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Garden Club of Madison, Civic Beautification Fund, P.O. Box 29, Madison, CT 06443, or the Guilford Land Trust, P.O. Box 200, Guilford, CT 06437.
A memorial service was held on Monday, August 10th at 11 am at the Guilford Yacht Club, 379 Old Whitfield St. Guilford. To sign the online guestbook, please visit HawleyLincolnMemorial.com.
His friend Ray Munchmeyer sent an affectionate and sad announcement of Pete Noonan‘s death:
Peter J. Noonan, 68, of Little Rock, passed away on Saturday, June 27, 2015. He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on September 5, 1946, the son of the late James T. and Margaret (Owens) Noonan. Raised in Lee, Massachusetts, he graduated from the Cranwell Preparatory School. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s of Social Work and a Master’s of Business Administration with Concentration in Health Care Management from Boston University. Through his career in health care, he worked in hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia. In 1985 he joined The Holy Cross Health System in South Bend, Indiana and was a Senior Vice-President at Holy Cross Care Services through 2000. In 2001 he joined the St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock, Arkansas as a member of the executive team. He retired from St. Vincent in 2012.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Pamela (Berrigan) Noonan and two sons, Matthew Noonan (Christy) of Washington, DC and Gregory Noonan of Arlington, Virginia and one cousin, Patricia Macken, of New York City.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Christ the King Catholic Church on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will occur at a later date at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lee, Massachusetts.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to St. Vincent Foundation, Two St. Vincent Circle, Little Rock, AR 72205. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.
May 1, 2015
Bedbugs and Losses
Ted Nugent, not a classmate, not at Bryan Dunigan’s Christmas party
Bryan Dunigan did not realize that he had invited Ted Nugent (not a classmate) as well as Ted Nebel (a classmate) to his Dec. 2014 Christmas party until Bryan read the report in the recent class notes. This shows that the class secretary – despite Bob Ptak‘s watchfulness – was so over-served at the party that he ventured into very dangerous space: that is, the possibility of rousing the Fenwick High School, Oak Park, IL faction of the class, a group almost as numerous and more cohesive than the steady, salt of the earth Tom faction led by Class President Tom Weyer. The Fenwick faction is so powerful that it has its own honorary consul to the Czech Republic in the person of Richard Pivnicka. Furthermore, the group can bring influence on Slovakia through Rich’s wife Barbara, who is honorary consul to that country. This suggests a California mansion alive with gripping intrigue, an impression only heightened by the photograph of smooth, shaken-not-stirred Rich with Barbara as they posed like a Gilbert’s ad for the Blue Circle at their residence’s entrance for a March, 2015 San Francisco Chronicle article. See http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Why-the-Bay-Area-is-a-hotbed-for-volunteer-6164283.php?t=f4c883c2dd&cmpid=email-premium
A shortage of California moisture seems to have provoked additional California writers. With help from Ironman competitor Alex Georgiou and Ironman observer Bryan Dunigan, a YouTube series about Mike Burgener and Crossfit training came to light. Already a solid favorite of women (this accounts for the pantyhose ads and similar offerings abounding on the site), the Burgener series is now going after the desirable demographic of cool guys Mike’s age. Help by clicking the links on our class blog.
In the Rocking Chair With Coach Burgener: Episode 1
In the Rocking Chair With Coach Burgener: Episode 2
In the Rocking Chair With Coach Burgener: Episode 3
During February, Bill Clark and Maureen had a good Miami reunion and a bedbug experience with River Edge, NJ grammar school friends Mike Carroll (Pepperell, MA), Terry Adrian, (NYC) and Rick Dawn in Miami Beach. Says Bill: “After battling it out with AirBnB most of the night (about the bedbugs at the first place), we ended up leaving and settling in at Miami Beach where we lounged by the pool, swam in the ocean, took in the Art Deco architecture and admired the comely women (Bill means Maureen and the other spouses). I knew Mr. Botet’s Spanish class would come in handy.” Retired the past four years, the Clarks travel from Lafayette, CA to Basel, Switzerland and to Lexington, MA for long summer visits with their grandchildren.
Jim Hutchinson returned to an old campus politics issue with a proposal that we recruit the Rolling Stones for our 50th reunion: “They could sing some of their all-time hits modified for their, and our, current ages:
I can’t get no Bowel Action/Hey you get off of my lawn/Time ain’t on my side/19th cardiac arrest/You can’t always remember what you want/Wobbly Jack Flash/Mother’s Little Walker/Brown Something
, and many other favorites.” 
Our class is grieving for Father Ted Hesburgh, Father James Tunstead Burtchaell, Mike Philbin, Lenny Joyce, Merlin Bellinger, and Genevieve Ptak, mother of Bob Ptak. Mike Philbin died April 24, 2015 in Nashville, TN.
Mike Philbin passed away April 24, 2015 in Nashville, TN. See Mike’s obituary in following item.
Think Father Hesburgh had an effect on us? Twenty-four minutes apart, John Walsh and Tom McCloskey sent these memories. John first: “Fr. Hesburgh’s greater effect on my life has grown out of something that he wrote years ago, that I read during our senior year. He was writing about young grads and dads who used to ask him about what things they could do to make a great and lasting impression on their children, like taking them to Disney World or on expensive vacations. Fr. Hesburgh wrote, ‘The greatest thing that a father can do for his children is to love their mother.'” And Tom: “When I asked if he had any advice for me going into my marriage, he told me “to always remember that the greatest thing a father could do for his children is to love their mother”.
Tom Weyer wrote about a Father Hesburgh encounter in 2010: “I Sat with Sandy Carrigan at his last Notre Dame game in 2010. His son Kevin had arranged seats in the ‘Press Box…Sky Box.. I first encountered Fr. Ted in the men’s room….we mutually agreed not to shake hands. After the game Sandy and I were in the line for the elevator , as he was moving slowly. In the line was Fr. Ted ..as usually being gracious as he was being introduced to a group. He asked a very young man if he was a student at ND. His parents jumped all over that one…Hope next year ..we’re here on a visit…great student etc…Ted responded the usual..good luck..keep studying etc. We wound up behind the group on the elevator…I couldn’t resist…..Father, I said…I’ve been sending you letters since the Sixties.. When can I get off the waiting list???? Without turning or missing a beat Fr. Ted said….Maybe if you start behaving yourself…I’ll let you in.. I remember Carrigan’s laugh fondly.”
Lenny Joyce died in July, 2014. See Lenny’s obituary plus a selection of emailed reminiscences in a following item.
Emails about Lenny Joyce, who died in July, 2014, bring to mind Class President Tom Weyer’s punchline from a joke about a man made to speak kindly of a deceased neighbor: “His brother was worse.” During his Notre Dame time, Lenny took proud inspiration from the boldness and fire of his older brother Kevin. Even in reminiscences critical of Lenny’s lifelong political views, classmates admire the constancy of Lenny’s concern with justice. Lenny’s actions during his student days made him one of the best known members of the student body. As warm and good-humored as he was steadfast on behalf of causes that included racial justice and cessation of the war in Vietnam, he had friendships across all the campus groups.
From the emails about Lenny:
” I always liked Lenny even though his sense of humor was so dry it might better be called absent. He was the only flat out Communist I can recall ever personally knowing. He told me the Vietnam War was a good thing because it radicalized people, and he actually did not want it to stop. I guess he died in the faith.”
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” Like the rest of you I of course lost track of Lenny after college. His obit left me with mixed emotions. Here is a man who appears to have stayed true to his early in life convictions and devoted himself to Utopian causes throughout his life, even as those causes faded from view and the public consciousness. For those of us whose political convictions are not so fixed and who are always doubting whether we really have the answer, that type of single-mindedness and ability to throw one’s life into a never-ending series of defeats on the fringe has a fascinating quality and enviable quality to it. But there is also a sense of sadness about it too. I wonder if he ever came to grips with the what the terrible consequences would have been, in the real nitty-gritty world we live in, if his dreams had come true. But of course I didn’t know the person he became. I certainly wish I had that chance.”
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Post your own comments on the blog. Please send news to: Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-223-9536, tfigel@reputecture.com.
