By Gregory A. Weiss
John McLaughlin MD has sent us some “belated” news: he became a grandfather for the first time in December 2002. (Shame on you, John, for keeping this quiet for so long!) Our class treasurer, Tom Opladen, recently joined Kestrel Consulting LLC as a managing director. Kestrel provides advisory consulting and other advice services to distressed middle-market companies.
Jim Rule says that he is “now spending most of my energy pursuing an antique and rare book business — doing shows throughout the country. Ten days hiking in magnificent Yosemite was a welcome respite recently.” Jon Streltzer MD has recovered from his second total hip replacement and, most impressively, is playing squash and golf again. His professional life in Honolulu seems to be thriving as well. He recently had his third edited book published, Cultural Competence in Clinical Psychiatry, and he has been elected secretary of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine.
A brief but interesting note from Dan Copp tells us that he is a financial consultant living in Baltimore with his wife Ann, a Yale Divinity School graduate who is a priest at St. Thomas in Owings Mills, Maryland. His daughter Hannah is a Yale School of Nursing graduate who is a nurse-midwife in Madison, Wisconsin, where son-in-law, Sam Poore, is a medical resident. They have a daughter, Annabelle, and another on the way. Dan’s son, Daniel, is a second-year medical school student at University of Washington. Young Daniel and his wife Hannah have an infant son, Harrison.
Following are excerpts from a long note from Tom Maher, speaking about the death of his wife: “Earlier this year, Pat, my wife of almost 21 years, died after a 2-1/2-year battle with cancer. Being her exclusive caregiver until the final six days of her life was the hardest thing I have ever done. I found strength that I never thought I had. My perspective on life is definitely transformed in fundamental ways.
“I grieve quickly and very deeply. I am a poor choice to speak or read at funerals. Fortunately, it was Pat’s wish to be cremated. This gave me time to begin to pull myself together. It took me more than two weeks to write an obituary I thought did her justice. I knew I had struck the right tone when I went into our favorite restaurant and a waiter came up and said: ‘Oh, Tom, I saw your wife’s obituary today and I laughed so hard.’ There were four Episcopalian priests in her funeral, two of whom spoke movingly and personally about her.
“I have found that at the age of 59 it is easier to meet interesting women than it was at 20! I have gone out with women from 49 to 21; the former are obviously more appropriate. I got to know a really great lady on a trip to Dallas last week. She had booked a trip to Maine for next week. Last night she called and said she preferred New Hampshire as a vacation site! Life will be good again.”
Bob Tynes and his wife Elvi “have settled back in to life in D.C. after 13 years (four tours) of consecutive overseas service as consul in Hong Kong and consul general in Belgrade, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. Will retire in 51 weeks with 39 years in the foreign service dating from December 1966, six months after we graduated.” Richard (“Pete”) Andrews has just been named the first Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Some big news from your corresponding secretary: I was presented with three grandsons in four days in early November! This makes a total of six grandchildren; am I the current titleholder? Even more amazing, two were identical twin boys born to my second daughter, Gretchen, and her husband, Tom, who already have three-year-old identical twin girls. My oldest daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Tim, added Timmy Jr. to their three-year-old daughter, Mary.