Class Notes 1965

John Mieyal reports that he is vice chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University and the research program is going well. Last October, he was invited as a platform speaker at the international meeting of the Redox Network at Jeju Island, Korea. John and wife Donna celebrated 40 years of marriage in 2006 by taking the extended family to Hawaii where their youngest daughter, Angie, accepted a proposal of marriage – wedding is next June. She is the third of their four children to be married and they have a lovely grandson and granddaughter. After 28 years in Cleveland Heights, John and Donna are enjoying their new homestead in Timberlake, Ohio. ... After 32 years, Paul Welsh is still working at Pima Community College where he has been a department chair, associate dean, dean of instruction, executive dean and provost. He and his wife, Ida, recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with an Alaskan cruise. Last year was Paul’s 25th year as an ordained deacon for the Diocese of Tucson. He has three boys, all over 30 and all unmarried. One is education director for a large technology distribution firm in Ft. Worth while another is in Phoenix doing computer consulting. One remains at home with Paul and Ida because of several physical and mental disabilities. ... Don McCullough reports that after JCU, he went to the University of Buffalo for an MBA and then worked for GTE Sylvania for 26 years where he capped his career by going to Europe to take over the European Lighting Business based in Geneva, Switzerland. After an early retirement in 1994, Don became president/COO for Health o Meter Products in Chicago. Health o Meter acquired Mr. Coffee in late 1994 and Don and wife Susan moved to Cleveland. After a final retirement in 1998, Don moved to Alton, N.H., and has done some consulting since then. Don and Susan have three daughters; all married, and are blessed with seven grandchildren. They escape to Boynton Beach, Fla., for the winters. One of their daughters and her family recently lived in Hudson, Ohio, for a year and visited JCU. They reported impressive changes! Don was able to find relatives in Iowa last year where his great-grandfather settled in 1840 after having received a land grant from President Polk. As a result of this connection, Don found relatives in Ireland and visited them last fall. ... Ralph Nottoli writes that he and his wife, Etta, have three grown children and, soon, a total of ten grandchildren. They have lived in the Atlanta area since 1973 and confess to not missing the Chicago or Cleveland snow. Ralph is in the commercial real estate business in Atlanta suburbs and is trying to slow down to have time for other interests. They just completed a ten-day river cruise from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Moscow. ... John Rioux retired for the third time since December 2000. He and his wife, Diane, have seven children, who are all college graduates, and 12 grandchildren. John and Diane have been spending the summers in Northern Michigan and plan to drive their RV to Florida this February. John was very sad to hear that Coach John Ray passed away but was glad to read all the beautiful e-mails from his terrific teammates who also admired Coach Ray. John remembers his years at JCU as being great and would go there again if he were 18. ... Finally, after a 10-day trek that took us to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore, my wife, Cecile, and I landed in Chicago where I was able to spend time with Mary Ann and Jack Kenesey. We had a good time reminiscing. In retirement, Jack does volunteer work and also serves as an arbiter in the court system. As luck would have it, their son, Tim, was visiting -- I had not seen him since he was a little boy. Now he is the president of the Medical Protective Company, one of the largest medical malpractice insurers in the U.S. Their daughters are both in the medical field, Kristen is a pediatrician and Elizabeth is a nurse practitioner. They have nine grandchildren. ... Tempus fugit, Dick

Ken Esper dropped an e-mail from Myrtle Beach where he has been living with his wife, Sandy, since January 2002. Ken just retired from teaching after 42 years. He and his wife are enjoying good health and good weather. He apologizes for not keeping in touch with some of his classmates and especially roommates Dave Owen ’66 and Jim Flanagan. ... Kip Zegers writes that he is starting his 24th year at Hunter College High School in New York City. His students won 33 awards from Scholastic in the annual writing contest run nationally by that publisher. His school won 18% of the prizes for all of New York City. Kip is still writing poetry. His wife, Jill, is associate clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Their daughter, Annie, is a sophomore at LaGuardia Arts, a public high school. Kip notices that many of his classmates have retired and hopes to join them at some point. ... After over 30 years as head of the Physical Acoustics Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., Joe Bucaro has left the federal government and joined Science and Engineering Technologies, Inc., where he hopes to continue scientific research and the development of new sensor and processing technologies. Joe and his wife, Lynne, live in the Northern Virginia suburbs, surrounded by three of their four children, their spouses, and nine grandchildren. He counts himself fortunate to be able to still be active in sports -- weekend golf, evening tennis leagues, and almost daily lunch time basketball games with a lot of young engineers and naval officers. Joe and his second son, Jeff (who never lived in Cleveland but loves the town), are die-hard Browns fans. ... Bill Goyette is still practicing law in Pittsburgh, a solo business with an office in his home. He concentrates on probate, estates, and wills and trusts, but like most solos he also does “a little of this and a little of that.” Married to Regina for 42 years now, they have four grown children and eight grandchildren whom they love to visit (Brooklyn, NY; Virginia Beach, VA; and Westfield, NJ). Their youngest daughter, Patti, lives in Pittsburgh, is an event planner, and helps out in Bill’s office. Bill sends his warm regards to our classmates and kudos to us as we reach the Medicare age. ... As of this writing, Ed Doherty is traveling to Uganda in November and December as a volunteer for a three week stint for ACDI/VOCA, based in Washington, D.C. The organization’s goal is to assist developing countries in agricultural development - www.acdivoca.org. His assignment is to teach basic business skills to farmers. Ed says it will be a challenge taking basic economics and accounting learned at JCU and translating that for subsistence farmers. This is Ed’s fourth volunteer assignment since 2000, having also worked in Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Ed would be delighted to respond to inquiries and says that if you want to “give back” to the needy and experience an adventure, ACDI/VOCA may have an opportunity. ... In late August, John Morris ’66 spent a weekend with me here in Bellingham. It was fun reminiscing. Following his stay, my wife and I spent two weeks in France, visiting my in-laws and enjoying the sun which seemed to elude the summer visitors to Europe this year. In December, we are going to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore followed by a quick trip to Chicago where we hope to spend some time catching up with Mary Ann and Jack Kenesey. ... Dick

News for the Class of ’65 is in short supply. Sadly though, I note the recent death of Dr. Lucien Aubé, who was my French teacher for many of my French courses while at JCU. I maintained contact with him throughout the last four decades, often returning to campus where he would have me speak to his classes (in French, of course) about the utility of foreign languages in the workforce. He and I would talk for hours in his office. At the 40th reunion dinner, I was fortunate to have him accept an invitation to join the class in Rodman Hall where he, his wife, Dolores, and I reminisced at the same table. Later I kept in touch with him through e-mail. I will miss him and his elfin humor. ... As planned, my wife and I traveled to French Guyana where she gave a paper at a conference of the Conseil International d'Études Francophones. The trip was interesting but not one that I would care to repeat. Although it is officially part of France, most inhabitants are extremely poor and the sanitary conditions can be a problem. The heat is overwhelming. As usual during all our travels, we saw traces of the Jesuit footprint in the region. Their presence began around the mid-eighteenth century in Cayenne where they built a monastery. It is now used as the Regional Prefecture. They must have suffered greatly from the heat and disease. ... Take care and send news! Dick

Jean and Jack Loeffler - gijl@comcast.net - report they have become residents of Florida this year, although he retired from Ford Motor Company back in 1999. They now call Venice, FL, their home, a big change from Michigan. ... I note from a previous column that Mark Hanket and his wife, Carole, also have a condo in Venice, FL. Do they know something about Venice that the rest of us don’t? Dave MacDowell - davemacdowell@cox.net - and wife Susan (nee Hoffman) contacted me from their home in Glendale, AZ. Dave was active in IXY and the Brotherhood Through Song, the Glee Club conducted by Jack Hearns at Carroll. He also wrote for our school’s paper. In 2001, Dave received an MBA from Capella University. He and his wife have three grown children, Connor (28); Blaine (26); and Bride (24). ... Chuck Friedman, still working full time in the environmental compliance field, would like to send his greetings to everyone. Chuck just recently won a “Bridging the Gap Award” from his employer for exemplary work with the Environmental Protection Agency on compliance issues. ... I got an e-mail recently from Jack Kenesey, who is still enjoying retirement in the Chicago area with his wife, Mary Ann, who, by the way, judging from recent photos, looks very much like she did when I first met her as a teenager. As for Jack… My wife, Cecile, and I have finally managed to spend a few consecutive months at home, however, travel looms again in June. I will accompany her to French Guyana for a week, where she will attend a conference in Cayenne and we will visit Kourou, the French equivalent of Cape Canaveral and Devil’s Island, the former temporary “residence” of Alfred Dreyfus and Henri Charrière (AKA “Papillon”). Time to get my vaccinations up to date. Regards to all of you – and send your news. Dick

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