From:

dbcsmith@aol.com

Date:

1/11/2013 6:19 PM

Just for the fun of it I have three pictures, one a little faded from 1968 and one taken in November 2012 and one from 2011 of Ron Scotti.  It is of Len and Pat Niessen and Dr. Jerry Niederman both of Class of 68 who were roommates in Dillon Hall together.

Jerry Niederman just retired after years of being in pediatrics at varying teaching hospitals, the last being in Chicago.  Jerry did breakthrough research on the effects of exposure to lead in paint on children, especially in low income areas.  Len is still working in his college discipline of electrical engineering and he has become expert in designing and managing interfaces in computer systems.  Jerry lives in Oak Park, IL and Len and Pat are still in their same house from 1970 in Framingham, MA.  Len’s passion was lacrosse (Len and Jerry both played) and Len wrote a book on the history of lacrosse at Notre Dame, a gripping history you would not want to miss.  I also went to the wedding of Michelle Scotti, daughter of Ron (’68) and Sharon Scotti in Charlotte in October, 2012.  It was great getting back with Ron reminiscing about the past.  Ron got his PhD in optical physics from Arizona and was world class in his field.  The phrase “beam me up Scotti” was actually invented by Ron in his work in space optics.  He has retired to Oriental, NC where he fights off pirates in the Atlantic where he sails his big ship and they weathered hurricane Irene.  He still runs the professional association for optical physicists, a riveting group to stay engaged with.  Ron, Brian Peters (’68) and myself were all drafted together in ’69 and somehow all ended up in the same OCS class at Ft. Belvoir, VA, where we became fast friends.  Ron’s dad owned a big pool hall outside Fordham University and the Scotti name was famous in Manhattan.  Speaking of Brian Peters, he finally retired in 2012 after a tremendous career in construction management with such notable projects as London Harbor (Canary Wharf), renovation of Grand Central Station and the most observed project in the history of the world, the clean-up of Ground Zero, where Brian took over Sep 14 and completed ahead of schedule July 1 with only one lost time accident.  His biggest claim to fame was that he was the best catcher in our class and not Joe Kernan although they were both in Vietnam about the same time.  Brian and Joann still live in Cranbury, NJ where they are still fighting the War of the Worlds.  Joann is still educating kids in Brooklyn so I guess Brian is now officially a kept man.  Way to go Brian.  Brian got his best Christmas present ever, tix to the BCS game in Miami where he went with his sons, Greg and Chris.  Speaking of kept men, my classmate, Chuck Belding was world class and ended this year when his wife, Kathleen Wall retired as a VP with BMW.  Chuck owned a wine and cheese shop on Long Island before BMW relocated its offices to the greater Greer, SC area.  Chuck spends much of his time helping at our mission parish of St. Anthony of Padua, where he is grandfather to many African American elementary school children and benefactor to the parish.  Chuck is also a bionic man these days with new knees and hips.  Chuck’s most daring exploits included flying choppers in Vietnam, where you are a hero by chance not choice and racing his Corvette, which he finally sold.  Speaking of chopper heros, I stay in touch with Bill Follette in Scottsdale, Arizona where he is semi-retired and servant of the people in local government.  Bill finds the most amazing photos and information to share with a wide group on the internet.  Definitely get on his list.  Bill and Barbara are doing well and I am trying to prod him to come to the reunion this spring.  Another classmate and curmudgeon is Bruce Morrow, retired from the Army as a LtC and living with wife, Ginny, in the Kentucky Lakes area, where he is fully retired and successfully battling cancer.  Ginny is still working at Murray State while Bruce still engages is some internet businesses which he has spawned over time, all under the Ardvark label.  My freshman roommate, Brian Muskus, finally fully retired for the 3rd time (US Air Force as LtC and C130 pilot), Honeywell rep in Japan, and college teacher in Ohio (while he took care of his mother, who died in 2012).  He has now moved to Ft. Walton, Florida in his retirement home he has rented out for years.  Any of you who think you have it hard, Brian is still raising twin 7th grade girls with his wife, Anne.  Way to go Brian.  Also heard from another Brian, Brian Kinney who lives with his wife, Pat, in Ellington, CT on the top part of a large hill overlooking Bradley Field and the valley below, pretty breathtaking actually.  Brian is retired from the state of CT, where he was an environmental En and Pat is a retired teacher.  Brian now works for the local parish, manages his rental homes in NH, and runs a service business related to managing census data for CT banks.  I ran into Dick Couch (’68) at the BYU game at the DeBartolo Center with family and friends.  Dick was a cheerleader when he was at ND and worked in accounting most of his career around the Pittsburgh area.  He is fully retired living in a retirement community in University Park, Florida, where he is neighbors with another good friend from our class, Arnie (and Ginger) Vance.  Arnie is stuck in a rut of playing golf and tennis just about every day.  This is all the writing I can handle today.  Lois and I are both retired, Lois as a teacher, and me as a marketing director of 35 years from Cryovac and as a COL of 32 years from the Army reserves.  I was ordained a permanent deacon in 2007 and spend much of my “free” time with my Prince of Peace Parish.  We went to our first game this year in Dublin, Ireland and our last in Miami for the BCS game.  Great season this year. See y’all May 30.

I have a ps.  I had dinner with Bob Marotta in Columbus, Ohio in early 2012 when I was up visiting my sister in Chillicothe.  Bob is a well known attorney who holds court at the Sciotta Country Club, where he discourses life and banters with just about every member present.  It warmed my heart as I was eating the liver Bob had the chef reserved for himself.  Bob is a very special person and he and Peggy enjoy their children and grandchildren greatly as they just added another reason for Peggy to travel to California..  Also visited another roommate on that trip to Ohio, Dick and Sharon DiLorenzo in Xenia, Ohio outside Dayton, where Dick just retired after a career as a military professor at the Air Force College located at Wright Patterson Air Base.  Dick is recovering well from his heart attack suffered while dunking on young airmen at the base gym.  But all is well as he is back to playing and showing up the youngsters at the base gym with the moves I taught him at the Rock. Dick and his two children who went to ND were trying to go to the BCS game.  Hope they made it.