Milne Alumni April Newsletter
April 15, 2009

by Judy Koblintz Madnick, '61

Dear Milne Alumni and Supporters,

In this issue:

* Reunions
* Milne Photos
* Merle Lyn Bachman, '72: Diorama with Fleeing Figures
* Thanks to Our Website...
* Sad News

REUNIONS

As a reminder, you can keep up with all Class-Reunion Planning at Reunions.

The Class of '61 held a "mini-reunion" on Monday, April 13th, at the Orchard Tavern in Albany. Fifteen classmates and guests enjoyed an informal dinner...and celebrated Dave Blabey's birthday! Gee, this is starting to sound like the Milne Merry-Go-Round!

MILNE PHOTOS

Do you have old photos from your Milne School days? If so, please let me know! (Contact information is on the home page.)

MERLE LYN BACHMAN, '72:
DIORAMA WITH FLEEING FIGURES

Merle Lyn Bachman, graduate of the Milne Class of 1972, has a collection of poems out: Diorama with Fleeing Figures (Shearsman Books, Exeter, U.K., 2009). From the back cover: "The poems in Diorama with Fleeing Figures delicately point to devastating historical events. Instead of mounting judgments, the poems accrue power gently, even stealthily. Evoking a language at once lost, familiar, original, and dying, they balance fragments of culture, with a locus of Jewish Eastern Europe, against intimate imagery of the body – 'the most confused part of the forest.'" Pierre Joris, an internationally known poet and translator (with whom Merle studied during her Ph.D. program at the University at Albany, State University of New York) contributed this blurb for Merle's book:

"'Scrimshaw,' the dictionary says, is the art of carving or incising intricate designs on whalebone. These poems are indeed intricate designs carved, or better, etched, if not on whalebone, then 'inside this wrist,' as Merle Lyn Bachman writes. This is lovely, tough, needed work. Her question: 'Where is the location of desire?' A relentless investigation, at times celebratory, at times plangent, in tightly wound lyrical constructs that take nothing, neither themselves, nor the world for granted."

The book costs $15 and can be ordered through The Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany or online here.

THANKS TO OUR WEBSITE...

Thanks to our website, I recently received the following email:

Dear Ms Madnick,

My name is Mara Elliott. I am a parishioner at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Albany. We are putting together a special service for this Memorial Day and hope to be able to provide biographies of the eight young men from our parish who died in World War Two.

One of these young men...was Richard Alexander Selkirk. I know from the Milne website that he graduated from the Milne School in 1938. I know he died in France in 1944 and is buried there. I believe he had two sisters, Ruth and Jeanne, who also attended Milne.

Any information you could give me would be appreciated. We want very much for the parish to see the young men who died as more than just names on a plaque – we want them to be real people who are remembered for the lives they led before they were killed in the war.

Thank you very much.

I sent an email to the members of the Class of '38 for whom I have an email address and received a response from Frank Steinhardt. Frank subsequently mailed to Ms. Elliott copies of yearbook information regarding Richard Selkirk's high school activities and accomplishments. I received a note of gratitude from Ms. Elliott...and none of this would have happened had she not found "Richard Alexander Selkirk" on our website!

When I contacted Ms. Elliott on April 12th for her permission to post her email in our newsletter, she mentioned another Milne alumnus who died during World War II, Jack Benjamin from the Class of '32. I called Annette Worthman Rosenstock, '34, who told me that she has the 1932 yearbook. Since I happened to be in Albany visiting family and friends, I was able to pick up the yearbook the very next day, drive to Ms. Elliott's home so she could photocopy the appropriate data, and then return the yearbook to Annette—mission accomplished!

Ms. Elliott has promised to provide all the biographical information she has compiled regarding Richard Selkirk and Jack Benjamin upon the completion of the memorial project. Perhaps one (or more) of you would like to help memorialize other Milne alumni who have given their lives for our country. I am confident that Ms. Elliott would be willing to share her sources of information to help us get started.

SAD NEWS

The following Milne alumni, attendees, and family members passed away recently. Please note that I rely upon the Albany Times Union and input from other alumni for this information, so if you become aware of someone who has passed away, please let me know. If a name is underlined, it represents a link to the obituary. The Times Union links are available free for 30 days after the initial posting. Other newspapers may have different timetables.

Elaine BECKER Towle, Milne Class of 1941, passed away on Friday, March 27, 2009. Elaine was the mother of Sharon TOWLE Warejko, Milne Class of 1974 - Times Union.

Thanks to all of you for your interest in Milne Alumni activities.

Judy (Koblintz) Madnick, '61

For contact information, see the Milne Alumni homepage: www.albany.edu/~milne/

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