Class of 1959: 50th reunion

The 50-year reunion of the Class of 1959 began in a gentle rain Friday evening. The Cocktail Tent set up on Harkness lawn kept our heads and hairdos drier than our feet while we searched our long-term memories to identify the 46 classmates who attended. As usual Nick Passarelli, our tireless majordomo, had anticipated even the inclement weather and reserved for us a dry gathering place in the Donald Cohen Auditorium in the nearby Child Study Center. There we feasted on the traditional New England lobster dinner and discussed current professional and familial activities. A review of the biographical sketches in the elegant book given us at registration reveals at least 144 children and 185 grandchildren.

Saturday was a sunny day filled with activities. At the annual meeting of the Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine, Dean Alpern reviewed the state of the school which, in summary, is expanding both in buildings and research-wise, while the size of the classes and, in answer to many of our questions, the Yale system are unchanged. During the afternoon we were given opportunity to participate in one of three campus tours: the new West Campus, the Smilow Cancer Center or the Historical Library. On the West Campus tour we were guided through the Yale Center for High Throughput Cell Biology (HTCB) guided by Dr. Lars Branden, the Director, who demonstrated his ability to answer, in 8 languages, our many questions. His Space Age equipment is a core service resource for Yale-based and other biopharmaceutical research requiring genome-wide siRNA screening. Incidentally, the West Campus is like a 136-acre park with green lawns, turkey, geese, deer, and probably coyotes.

Our Saturday evening class dinner of filet mignon or swordfish was at the Quinnipiack Club. Dean Alpern attended and gave a welcoming talk. Nick reviewed his telephone canvas of reunion non-attendees and the various reasons and excuses given: illness in the family, honors elsewhere on the same date, and plain stubborn orneriness. Marc Schwartz led those who could recall the Class Soph Show in the class song. The reminiscing, stories, fellowship, and laughs continued late into the pleasant night.

Credit for our league-leading 74 percent attendance is due to Nick, Gerry, Jim, John, Carol, and Bob. The returning classmates were: Carol and Bob Amick, Ace Barnes, Frank Beer, Jack Bowers, Ed Clayton, Sid Cohen, Marty Colodzin, Lyall Crary, Ron De Conti, Marty Fackler, Bob Fisher, Paul Friedman, Bob Gonyea, Gerry Gordon, Jim Halsey, Rod Hartmann, Bill Heydorn, Mal Ing, Lenny Inker, Bill Jablonski, John Jasaitis, Ed Kaminskas, Herb Kaufmann, Kris Keggi, Dave Kingsbury, Mike Lee, Ray Mark, John Marsh, Brian McGrath, Pete Molloy, Ron Morris, Jim O'Neill, Nick Passarelli, Pogo Poglinco, Linc Potter, Dave Reed, Joe Robinson, Joe Saccio, Marc Schwartz, Dick Senfield, Owen Shteir, Carl Smith, Sandy Solomon, Leo Von Euler, and Mimi Wolf. Katherine Prokop, the widow of Jim Prokop was kind enough to come to our reunion for the second time.

Asa Barnes