Our Secretary Andy Kaufman writes:

            Dori Zaleznik, co-editor of our Class of ‘71 much acclaimed 50th Reunion classbook, is launching a new project to tell the stories of the historic beginning of coeducation at Yale College. The full story of that interesting time has not yet been told. This is a call to the men of ’70 and the men and women of ’71, ’72, and ’73 to participate by writing your stories so future historians can understand that period. The best history is told through narratives, and we would like to put together your stories — admittedly through the lens of memories from 50+ years ago. This is not an effort to report how Yale influenced your life nor to make Yale look good or bad. We want your stories about how you experienced coeducation at the time — the momentous and mundane recollections and anything in between. If interested, please send an email to Dori at coeducationatyaletherealstory@gmail.com.

Matt Gold missed our reunion because he was attending the American Medical Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago, the AMA’s first in-person full-function meeting in three years.  Matt continues in solo practice neurology in Winchester, MA, and in addition he serves as his local Independent Practice Association’s representative to the Organized Medical Staff Section at the AMA. For the last 10 years, he has been first the Alternate Delegate, and for the last 5 years the Delegate, of that Section to the House of Delegates of the AMA, and he has authored and advocated for numerous resolutions over that time.  In particular, Matt spearheaded (and wrote most of) a resolution approved at AMA last June (after a year of work) to acknowledge a strong correlation of hearing loss in mid-life to later cognitive decline and dementia and to encourage education and more research in this field. Though most of Matt’s activity at AMA is for the Organized Medical Staff Section, this resolution was submitted by the AMA’s Senior Physicians Section.  The resolution also received support from the American Academy of Neurology, and the National Institute of Health and the AMA are discussing possible collaborations to accelerate research on the subject.  Matt’s efforts were recognized in this SPS Member profile: https://www.ama-assn.org/member-groups-sections/senior-physicians/sps-member-profile-matthew-d-gold-md.

Rick Merkt reports that his new educational enterprise, Lionheart Classical Academy, opened successfully for business in Peterborough, New Hampshire, on August 31, 2022, welcoming nearly 200 young students.  This achievement followed nearly 20 months of intensive effort by the founding board.  Lionheart Classical Academy is a public charter school, meaning that any student in New Hampshire can receive a classical academic education tuition free.  It extends the principle of school choice to many Granite State families who could not otherwise afford it.  Rick currently serves as Secretary of the Founding Board and is working on a volume to recount how the founding got done, what they did right, and what mistakes they made along the way.  It is intended not only to tell Lionheart Classical Academy’s story, but also to act as something of a “how-to” guide for others in New Hampshire and New England interested in expanding educational options for children.          

            Jay Gitlin and Ginny spent some time in Ireland last summer.  Jay reports that the trip “was nice but exhausting (Basie joined us for the final two days. We drove from Dublin to Galway–went to a castle–fun–in Kinvara, a monastery in ruins–and did the boat ride to the Cliffs of Moher. How anyone ever crossed the Atlantic in those choppy seas is a miracle. We ended our time there with a proper dinner–bangers and mash–in a pub listening to traditional music. All fun.”  Jay has been busy on the Yale Club speaking circuit this fall.  In mid-September he gave a talk at the Yale Club of New York City entitled “Are Words Necessary? The Comic Art of James Thurber, Robert Osborn (Yale ’28), and David Levine.”  Jay was joined in the presentation by Adam Van Doren, who teaches painting at Yale and who did a PBS documentary on Thurber.  This was the second in a series of talks about cartoonists, with more to come, and Jay hopes that the collected talks will become a book. Vera Wells came to the talk and joined Jay and Adam for dinner afterwards.  In addition, later this fall Jay gave a talk for the Yale Club of Cape Cod on the evolution of Cape Cod as a vacationland.

Sadly, Jeff Fortgang notified me about the unexpected passing of Maury Eldridge last May, while kayaking off the coast of Maine.  Although Maury didn’t graduate until ’73, he remained officially a member of ’71 and submitted an entry for our 50th Reunion classbook (p. 293).  Although Jeff did not know Maury at Yale, in September 1974 they landed together in a clinical psychology doctoral program at Adelphi’s Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, now known as the Derner Institute.  Subsequently, they both moved to the Boston area for their internships and clinical careers.  Outside of the clinical sphere, Maury was an enthusiastic lover of nature, which was the focus of a long series of poems and magnificent photographs.  In addition to singing, he also energetically embraced any number of outdoor activities, such as rowing, snorkeling, hiking and birdwatching, and traveling to venues that provided these opportunities.  Since Maury’s death, Jeff has met with some of Maury’s patients who abruptly found themselves missing their long-time psychologist, and Jeff reports that without exception they describe experiencing him as a supportive, understanding, and stabilizing presence in their lives.  For a moving obituary of Maury, including an example of his poetry, see https://mysticchorale.org/maury-eldridge/.  We send our condolences to Maury’s wife Dale and their two sons and their grandchildren.

Several of you sent me notes about the passing in August of Janet Hill, Calvin Hill’s wife.  Although Calvin was ’69, we made him an honorary member of ’71 some years ago as a result of our Class’ long involvement with the Calvin Hill Day Care Center.  Many of our classmates had the opportunity to know and work with Janet as well, particularly in connection with the Center.  Jeff Gordon sent me this link to a moving article in the Washington Post about Janet, and Jeff and I thought many of you would be interested in reading it:     https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/19/janet-hill-duke-grant-hill-calvin-hill/.

Class Treasurer Bill Primps has sent out his annual solicitation for our Class Treasury.  We rely on our Class Treasury to defray class expenses, including reunion expenses not covered by the reunion fees, so your support is very important to us.  Please contribute if you can.

And don’t forget our monthly Zoom class gatherings, from Noon to 1pm ET on the third Thursday of each month.  We assemble in groups of approximately 12-15, and we shuffle the groups each month so that classmates have the opportunity to engage with a different cohort of classmates each time.  Participation continues to grow, spurred no doubt by the connections and reconnections so many of us made at our 50th (+1) Reunion last June.  Please send me an email if you would like to participate, and I will add you to the invitation list.

Cheers,

AMK

9-17-22