Whatever you celebrate .
. .
best wishes for a wonderful holiday season
and a healthy, happy 2008!
Dear Milne
Alumni and Supporters,
In this issue:
* Florida Mini-Reunion(s) Anyone?
* Alumni Personal & Class Updates
* Sad News
* Mural Update
* info-please.com
FLORIDA MINI-REUNION(S) ANYONE?
Many Milne alumni either live full-time in Florida or have become
"snowbirds." Please let me know if you are interested
in helping to plan or would consider attending a Florida
mini-reunion in your area. This can be as simple as meeting in a
restaurant that has seating flexibility (i.e., ability to move
tables together) and that will allow you to "hang out"
for a while. One of the Class of '61's most successful
reunions was a lunch at a local Chinese buffet! Click here to send an email with
your comments. I will also be sending out a personal email to
alumni in Florida and southern Georgia.
ALUMNI PERSONAL & CLASS
UPDATES (in class-year order)
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed "news" for
this month's Milne Alumni newsletter! I hope that you all
enjoy the personal and class updates below as much as I did.
Pat (Costello) Smith, '49: "Our first
great-grandchild, Connor William Lybeck, was born November 26,
2007, in Phoenix, Arizona." Congratulations,
Pat!
Dan Brown,
'57: "On Sunday, November 18th, girls and boys of
the Class of 1957 were reunited with a classmate they had not
seen since graduation. Victor Hoffman joined seven of his
classmates for breakfast at the Gateway Diner on Central Avenue
in Albany. Sue Powell-Van Buren, Betty Wassmer-Finn, Larry
Berman, Jiggs Englander, Lou Hauf, James Allen Cohen, and Dan
Brown welcomed him home. Victor lives in Israel and returns to
Albany each year to visit his mother. He was formally a Rabbi
and, among other endeavors, served a congregation in New Orleans
prior to the devastating storm there. He is now involved in the
real estate business in Israel." Sounds as though you "girls and boys" had a
wonderful mini-reunion!
Ginnah (Huntington) Howard, '57: Ginnah has just sold
the rights to her novel, Night Navigation, to Harcourt. It
will be published in 2009. She is currently working on the third
novel of the trilogy. Some of her stories are available on the
Internet if you're curious. Your
Milne English curriculum served you well, Ginnah!
Faith (Meyer) Sandles, '59: "Members of the Class
of 1959 are planning their 50th Reunion at New Bern, North
Carolina, in 2009 – no dates set as yet."
Thanks for this information – and
reminder that not all reunions must take place in
Albany!
Jana Hesser, '62: "In September I took a trip to
Greece and had a reunion with classmate Ellen (Spritzer) Rocco.
She and her husband Tom Rocco have been living in Greece for
about 2 years, where he is Provost of a new American university
in Athens. Ellen and I had a great time reminiscing about
classmates, catching up on the last 45 years (!). It felt, in
some ways, as that almost half century, hadn’t existed
except for our white hair and a few wrinkles. We last saw each
other, briefly, in Athens in 1991 where by chance we bumped into
each other in Plaka. We reconnected just recently through one of
my co-workers, a Greek American, who moved to Greece 2 years ago
and ended up working at the University for Tom Rocco. Small world
isn’t it?" It certainly
is!
Marc Kessler,
'63: "The Class of '63 has scheduled a reunion
(45th, and our first one!) for July 2008. So far we have well
over 30 class members looking forward to being there."
Your first reunion . . . of many I
hope!
SAD NEWS
The following Milne alumni, attendees, or family members passed
away between mid-November and mid-December. 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 365 days after the initial posting.
Other newspapers may have different timetables.
Charles H. Freedman, father of two Milne alumni, Steven
Freedman, '67, and Mona Freedman Hampson, '72, and
brother-in-law of Cynthia Frommer Freedman, '58, (December 5.
, 2007) - Times Union
Ann GRAHAM Carter, 1946, has learned that Elizabeth Soyar BATES
Taylor, Class of 1946, passed away suddenly on July 14, 2007.
MURAL UPDATE
From Valerie DiRocco-Ruskin, Director of Donor Relations
& Fund Management
Division of University Development, University at
Albany:
1) Project
Status: Through the summer of 2007, ten of the fourteen Lithgow
murals had been restored. According to Jerry Parker, they would
like to restore the remaining four murals in the summer of 2008.
However, based on the pace to date, it is possible that two of
the remaining murals will be restored in the summer of 2008 and
the final two murals will be completed in the summer of
2009.
2)
Funding: There is an account in the Foundation called the
"Downtown Campus Campaign," which is managed by Bill
Hedberg. The purpose of this account is to house funds for
renovations on the downtown campus, including the Milne mural
restoration project. Funds in support of the Milne mural
restorations have been raised through a variety of broad-based
efforts with alumni, including the Milne alumni. Today, the
current balance is $98,000. All monies designated toward the
mural restoration have been deposited into this account. I
understand that generous donations from Milne alumni, in excess
of $25,000, supported the restoration of the first three murals
in the summer of 2003, 2004, and 2005.
3)
Future expenditures: University leadership will make the
decision/prioritize how to utilize any funds that remain in the
account after the mural renovation is paid for and
completed.
infoplease.com: I thought you
might enjoy this website: http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html.
You can choose any year (your graduation or birth year perhaps?)
and read about the "happenings" of that year. There are
other options also, including a perpetual calendar. Thanks to
Carol RICHTER Roffman, '70, for this link. Enjoy!
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/