Class Secretary to send his very best wishes to all of our Classmates and to tell them that he misses them. “Cliff Harding and Harry Warfield (deceased), a pair of hard-working backs, spearheaded Johns Hopkins, from Baltimore, to a brace of touchdowns in the closing six minutes to spill Randolph-Macon, 13-0 today for its second victory in four outings.” The Baltimore Sun, October 28, 1956. In addition, Gus Widhelm was listed as an end on the Hopkins team. I talked to Cliff and he remembers the game well because the team later went on to win the Mason-Dixon Conference. Aren’t you impressed that Your Class Secretary retained that article for over 56 years? Last year I reported that Deedee and Larry Wagner were anticipating living on their boat for six months due to construction on their apartment building in Marathon, Fla. One year later Larry told Your Class Secretary that it will be another six or seven months before they will be able to move back into their apartment. They have been constantly moving from one place to another during this entire time. Carl Seitz’s home was named “The Azalea House of Towson” last year. Carl says that most of the credit for this award should go to his parents, who planted the azaleas years ago. However, Carl has been diligent in giving the plants the proper care through the years. Norris Lankford is still living in his parents’ house where he had graciously entertained the Class in our sixth form year. He also noted that he is still farming the land next to the house as his parents did in our Gilman years. Tom Burdette and Your Class Secretary saw John Fisher in Baltimore this past winter and both commented that he looks just like he did when we were at Gilman. John later said that he attributes that quality to the love and care provided by his wife Dolly. When Jim Cox was asked how he was, he immediately responded, “I’m here.” He still attempts to play golf hoping for a miraculous recovery to his younger year’s caliber like a lot of aging golfers. His children are thriving: his two daughters are living in Valdosta, Ga., where Juanita and Jim live. Both of them in an earlier life had been dancers, one a ballerina and the other a Broadway dancer. With families now, one is teaching chemistry to high school students and the other working for a firm specializing in retirement planning and financial advisory. Their son is the lead computer software programmer for a firm in Texas. He developed an inventory control program which is used nationally. Jim was in a Valdosta hardware store and noticed his son’s firm’s sign on the cash register. He commented to the checkout person that his son created the program that he was using. Jim is not confident that the person believed him. Last November Peggy and Scott Sullivan visited Lago Maggiore (Italy’s second largest lake, on the south side of the Alps). They had a great Mardi Gras this year. Scott hopes that they can visit Europe late this spring to visit Peggy’s old haunts in Rome and for Scott to visit his children in England and France. They would also like to spend some time in Lucca, Tuscany, for some rest and fine food. Scott is also looking forward to seeing us at our 60th Reunion next year.
This column was completed on April 3. However, Your Class Secretary is to be awarded a Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement by The Holland Society of New York on April 8, 2013. The award is in recognition of service to The Society through the years. The Holland Society is an organization composed of direct male descendants of the original settlers of New Netherlands, whose purpose is to collect information and documents respecting the history of the Dutch colonial period in New Netherlands. The dates have not been set as yet for our 60th Reunion, but it will likely fall between mid-April and mid-May.
1956 F. Meriwether (Mert) Fowlkes, Jr. fmfowlkes@aol.com Our deepest sympathy is extended to Spencer Everett and his family on the recent, untimely death of his son Wesley ’83. One of the highlights for our class in 2012 was a lunch at the Maryland Club in Baltimore hosted by Bentley Offutt, Harry Lord and Dick Biggs in November. The gathering was in honor of Father Joe Healey, who was in town visiting from his Maryknoll missionary work in Kenya and Tanzania. Joe has had a 45-year career working in numerous African countries, which included serving as the church’s press officer during Pope Paul VI’s visit to Uganda. He has written numerous books on African proverbs, as well as short stories of the faith and hardships of the African people. Joe and Bentley left Gilman to attend Portsmouth Priory School in Rhode Island, before attending Princeton and Lehigh, respectively. Also present at this lunch were Dave Eaton, Cooper Graham and Julian Jones. Cooper Graham is retired after a career in the Library of Congress in Washington. He lives in Baltimore. Julian Jones is a senior director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY), and has been successful in expanding CTY centers throughout the world. He works with foundations, universities and other donors seeking support to provide educational opportunities for bright young people prior to their entering college. It sounds very interesting and rewarding! George Dowell is a semi-retired psychiatrist in St. Louis, Mo., where he says he is “still alive and well.” He enjoys 16 grandchildren ranging in age from less-than-a-year to out of college. And he still travels with wife Jacki as much as he can. He’s looking forward to our 60th Class Reunion in 2016! Lamont (Pete) Thomas reports from Milford, Conn., that he retired from university teaching in 2004, and is now very involved in teaching and learning Qigong (a.k.a. Tai Chi) for stress reduction. He is passionate about this mind-body practice, and serves on the board of directors of the National Qigong
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