P.A. 1964
Tom Seligson
15 Bradley Street
Westport, CT 06880
May, 1998

For those of you who don't want to receive probing calls from your gossip-hungry scribe here, consider E-mailing me your news. A number of classmates have been checking in this way. Dave Mason wrote to tell me of his recent trip to Russia to adopt his daughter, Tatiana, age 10. Regular readers of this column will recall that Dave and wife Valerie adopted their son, Yuri, now 13, from Russia in 1994. The newest member of the Mason clan was living in an orphanage in Udmurtia, some 600 miles east of Moscow. Dave says that, unlike the many horror stories reported recently about Russian adoptees, his daughter was well cared for, well educated, and in great health. And she's apparently not alone. Dave writes: "Valerie and I keep up with ten or twenty other adoptive parents with no horror stories among us, even though one of the children is from a Romanian orphanage where conditions were supposedly awful. In Ana Karenina didn't Tolstoy say that happy families are all the same, i.e. not newsworthy?"

Henry Hobson's E-mail arrived from Cincinnati where he's in charge of electronic banking for Fifth Third Bank. The "Hobbah" is married and has a son in college at the University of Ohio. Jack Sartore reported in from Vermont, where he's been practicing law for the last 27 years. Jack is president of his firm, the second largest in the state, and his litigation practice runs the gamut from antitrust in the wholesale pharmaceutical distribution industry to alleged sexual abuse at a Catholic orphanage. He and Sally have been married for 25 years, and have four children, two sons in college (one an artist, the other a musician), and two Honduran born adopted teenage daughters. Jack wrote: "I saw Rick Brock at a retirement dinner for one of our superior judges. He looked very prosperous. He is always a pleasure to see. Very friendly, almost courtly. Rick has a firm in Montpelier that his father started. He is partners with a former Vermont Attorney General, and they are very well regarded."

It was through E-mail, a clipping in the Washington Post and a follow up phone call that I learned of Doc Downing's latest news. Doc was married last fall to Marialice Williams, a woman he'd known since Harvard, and been dating since his divorce 7 years ago. He obviously likes accomplished women. His new bride is the director of multifamily capital markets at Fannie Mae, and chairwoman of the boards at both the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency, and the National Capital Chapter of the American Red Cross. Doc, meanwhile, has abandoned law ("there are too many lawyers out there") for the gaming industry. His company, Gova, Inc. maintains lottery terminals and slot machines from Virginia and Atlantic City up to Foxwood in Connecticut. Doc, who sounds as lively and good-humored as ever, says he ran into Nat and Bill Semple at a P.A. function in D.C., and also sees Chai Kambhu, who's doing fine, and whose son, a recent P.A. grad, is going to Harvard this fall. Doc is hoping to see other classmates at our 35th reunion next spring. He's already promised to attend.

If Pete Smith joins us, he'll be flying in from the west coast. Pete, who was recently the Dean of the Graduate School of Education at George Washington, is now the founding President of California State University at Monterey Bay. I read a glowing front page story about Pete in The Monterey County Herald. The article refers to Pete as one of the most progressive leaders in education today. It also focuses on his down to earth manner and great rapport with students. "He's different because he likes to sing, and he likes to laugh," says a university official. "He's going to lead with his intellect, his experiential knowledge, and he'll lead by having fun."

Finally, this E-mail from Bart Loomis in Mandeville, Louisiana. "I had a very good phone call from Paul Gallagher a couple of weeks ago for the Andover annual giving. Each year we chat and catch up some. It is somewhat difficult to be 'close' to classmates down here in the swamps, but as time goes on, I increasingly feel the need to re-connect with my past. Tom, I greatly enjoy your writings of our class: so many memories are stirred up: of people's faces back then, of times during those four years, of the twists of time since then, and of desire to share experiences and re-build relationships." Bart's feelings are shared by many fellow classmates I speak to. I encourage all of you to stay in touch through our web site (http://www.well.com/user/mmc/pa64.html), by sending me news, and by planning on attending our reunion next spring.