First, a correction. In the March-April column, I misstated the days on which we hold our monthly in-person luncheons at the NYC Yale Club and Zoom sessions. The in-person luncheons are held on the first THURSDAY of each month and the Zoom sessions are held on the third THURSDAY of each month, NOT Tuesdays.  [Editor’s note:  This correction has been made to the online version of that column.]

Hugh Scott moved permanently back to St. Louis from Florida last summer. Hugh hailed from St. Louis and has children and grandchildren in St. Louis and nearby in Kansas City, as well as lots of family: “[w]hile I loved living in Florida for most of 30 years and half of my business was there, I will always regard St. Louis as my home.”

Harry Klebanoff retired from his psychology practice at the end of 2023: “I’m not at all happy (to say the least!) with the way people are treating people, or nature, in our world. I want to invest time and energy trying to improve things. I’ve organized local groups in our Marshfield, MA area to protect the coastal wetlands from development. When not writing or speaking on these subjects, I’m chasing grandchildren – eight total, ranging from 4 months to 14 years. Linda and I are fortunate and continue to exercise despite the various ‘surprises’ associated with aging. My best to all.”

After I included Vic Machcinski’s “first ever” submission to the Class Notes in last January’s column (and – mea culpa — misspelled his name in the process), Vic sent me a followup note that as a result of the column he and Don Tansey had reconnected after many years.

David Holahan has just published a family history that traces its lineage in this country back to the early 1800s, including many connections with Yale. He reports: “Our father, Richard V. Holahan, class of 1933, and three of his brothers were Eli grads (Edward, James, and Michael), as were all of his and my mother Pamela Crawford Holahan’s five sons: Michael (1961), Thomas (1963), Richard (1964), Stephen (1969) and me (1971). An American Amalgam documents a baker’s dozen of Blue Holahans, among them: Tim, class of 1992, and my parents’ grandson; my first cousins Edward, class of 1958, and Dennis, class of 1965, and my first cousin once removed Amy Woolever, class of 1995. My niece Elsa Holahan, class of 2027, is the most recent Eli. She is my parents’ great granddaughter. Wait, there’s more! Jack R. Crawford, my paternal grandfather, was a distinguished professor of English at Yale for 37 years, beginning in 1909 (He is a Princeton grad, but it didn’t take). His wife, Dorothy Crawford, worked for decades, into her 80s, at Sterling Memorial Library, curating the Crawford Collection of Modern Drama. They produced plays at the Lincoln Theater in New Haven, an enterprise that eventually gave way to the Yale Dramat. Their daughter, Elizabeth Knight, earned a Ph.D. in German Literature from Yale in 1938, and my mother took graduate courses at Yale as well. My father and his brothers were not typical Yale applicants of their era. They all benefited from scholarships from the New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Their father, a staunch Democrat and telegrapher’s union member, was a switchman on the line in Darien. Yale could not tell me how notable our Blue wave is. I have been informed, however, that my class dues are overdue. I am a semi-retired journalist living in East Haddam, freelancing articles here and there.” In his exchange with me, David also noted that he is a “a former weekly newspaper publisher/owner and beer league hockey player, semi-retired, married to Kyn Tolson, with a son and grandson on the West Coast.” He also “captured the Blue Ribbon at the 2004 Hadlyme Pumpkin Derby for a 525-pounder.”

Sadly, I must close this column with news of the passing of three classmates. George Adams died on May 6, 2023. After Yale, George graduated from Boston University Law School in 1975 and spent 40 years practicing real estate and probate law. He was a partner at Harlow, Adams & Friedman, P.C., in Milford, CT, retiring in 2016. He was active with non-profit work, including Lawyers for Lawyers, and served on the board of the Friends of Boothe Park and the Milford Arts Council. His obituary notes that he was “known for his neat and natty style, sharp mind and quick-witted quips, he enjoyed travel, skiing, scuba diving, playing the piano, the music of Cole Porter and loved the occasional daredevil adventure – like paragliding or sky diving.” George’s survivors include his wife Sandra, his daughter, granddaughter, mother, siblings, and their families.

Rick Merkt sent word that Wayne Schmittberger died on February 19, 2024, in Pennsylvania. Wayne and Rick roomed together in TD during our undergraduate years. After Yale, Wayne went to law school at NYU and spent his career pursuing his passion: creating games and puzzles. His obituary notes that he was “the decades-long Editor-in-Chief of Games Magazine, invented the board game Orient Express, and authored several books, including the logic puzzle series Montague Island Mysteries.” Rick recalls that Wayne was also “a brilliant chess player.” Wayne leaves two adult daughters, Kim and Bonnie, plus grandchildren.

Finally, Dwight Raiford died suddenly on February 24, 2024, while on an annual golf trip with friends in Tampa, Florida. As an undergraduate, Dwight was one of the principal organizers of the Black Student Alliance at Yale and was heavily involved in the creation of the Afro-American Studies program, serving as one of four students who, along with four faculty members, developed the interdisciplinary proposal for Black Studies. After Yale, Dwight taught math through the Opportunities Industrialization job training program and a course he designed in black intellectual thought at Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He then earned his MBA at Harvard and embarked on a long and successful career in finance, investment banking and financial planning in New York City, working over the years at Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Citibank, Price Waterhouse Cooper, and MetLife. In 2015, Dwight and his wife Iris retired to Atlanta to be nearer to family and friends, including their son, who is in the entertainment industry. Several of our classmates who were close to Dwight sent me news of his passing, including Kurt Schmoke, Don Roman, Lupi Robinson, Bill Porter, Bill Primps and Doug Smith. Kurt and Dwight were roommates for two of our undergraduate years, along with Doug Smith and Jim Rohrbaugh, and the four of them have remained close friends over the years. Kurt wrote that “[o]ne thing that some of our classmates may not know about Dwight was that he was the former Chairman of Little League International Board of Directors. He achieved that position because of his outstanding work in developing the Harlem Little League, a league that required solid academic performance as a prerequisite to athletic participation. He and Iris worked together on that project, which has benefited countless number of children and families in Harlem.” Dwight and Iris’ daughter, who received her PhD in African American Studies from Yale in 2003, is a professor of history at UC Berkeley, and their granddaughter is a recent graduate from Yale College (’21). Don Roman noted that shortly before he died, “Dwight had just been appointed a Trustee at Ebenezer Baptist Church, replicating the longtime role he played at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. I’m sure he was quite proud of this accomplishment.” A Celebration of Life service for Dwight was held at Ebenezer, with Rev. /US Senator Raphael Warnock presiding. Doug Smith served as one of the pallbearers, and Jim Rohrbaugh was one of the speakers. Kurt reports that a significant number of Yale alumni living in the Atlanta area also attended.   We send our condolences to the families of each of George, Wayne, and Dwight. We have posted copies of their obituaries to our class website, Yale71.org. In Dwight’s case, this includes a copy of the lovely memorial booklet (with many photographs) that his daughter prepared for his Celebration of Life service.

Be well.

AMK 3-16-24