ALUMNI NEWS
1969 Don Pickels
Houston, TX donwayne69@gmail.com These are my final Class Notes, my parting gift to you dear classmates and others who read these words. My five-year job as ’69er Class Rep has come to its end. Boo hoo! Thanks to all who contributed their news and life events in our ongoing mutual effort to revive our class and keep our 50+ year friendships alive! Going to all those Kinkaid events, re-acquainting with old high-school friends and writing it all up twice a year – what an unforgettable experience! I got some praise and a little criticism, but you must admit we had plenty of laughs and shared a lot of information. In five years we progressed from five people sending in news to around 20 people contributing. People have said most of the other Kinkaid classes have gotten better with their more personal and entertaining Class Notes. Maybe my personal style and humor made a difference. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Let me pat my back on my way out the door...
Don Pickels, 1969 Class Rep, 2014-2018
As usual, a few energetic and loyal classmates shared their news with the rest of us. Bonnie German Chandler and husband John proudly announced their first grandchild Aralynn Chandler born in December 2017. The new parents Cedric and wife Crystal both just departed the Navy and arrived with Aralynn to live on the Massachusetts Chandler farm while seeking new jobs. Son Cedric is a real nuclear engineer looking for a job close by. Bonnie mentioned that with all the family and barnyard animals, her life has gone from quiet to quite lively. Hope she has time to handle our mailed 50th Reunion invitations! Head cheerleader Lynne Barlow Bentsen wrote in that she’s enjoying her new third grandson Samuel Oliver Stewart (Sam) living in Austin. Lynne is working on a big project involving trade finance in South America and the Caribbean. She says the traveling is fun and that her eighth-grade Spanish teacher Mrs. Staub would be proud
of her improving Spanish skills! This summer Lynne plans to be in Vail, CO and La Jolla, CA when she’s not working on our upcoming 50th Reunion set for March 30, 2019 at The Briar Club in Houston. Murphy Lents mentioned that in addition to breeding and showing champion horses, he’s also an innkeeper now, accommodating Airbnb guests in his 1850 vintage guesthouse at The Twisted Rose Ranch in Kerrville, TX. He and wife Dianne went to Tanzania and Rwanda for her 60th birthday and much loved the beaches in Zanzibar, safaris in the Serengeti and the incredible mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Murphy’s elder son Max ’03 has started the Baltimore Whiskey Company running a distillery in Baltimore, MD. The first awesome product is the Rye whiskey named Epoch Rye, two years aged in wooden barrels, and winner of a double gold medal at a San Francisco whiskey show! Murphy confesses to “taking a taste of that pretty good stuff!” Those gin aficionados among us should try Max’s Shot Tower Gin. After no news for several years, Marty Dukler emails that he and wife Dianne live in Maryland north of Washington, DC. They have a consulting company that “helps large and small for-profit and non-profit companies think through and execute transformational change.” Here’s hoping their clients understand that mystical bureaucratic lingo. One of their children got married in June. Our cruise-ship expert Carole Smithwick-Kiebach reports she and husband David periodically travel to Omaha, NE to visit their grandkids Michelle (4) and Ian (2). Son Andrew ’98 (fs) is the systems architect for Omaha Steaks and son Eric is the systems administrator with NetSync. Hubby David is opening a jewelry and collectibles “store” on eBay! Carole and David have popped over to visit family in Louisiana and Atlanta, GA, but are still in the planning stages for their big trips, possibly to Baja, CA and Alaska for some whale watching. Back here at home she continues to renovate some rental properties for eventual sale, along with planning a “retirement house.” It seems the concept of retirement remains foreign to her and the family! Our New York City actress/diva Marianne Tatum kindly informs that from July 11 to August 3 she’ll be appearing in an “off-Broadway” play entitled “The Possibilities” by Howard Barker at the Atlantic Theater. She urges any of us visiting New York to contact her for tickets and fun in The Big Apple. Sounds great to me! My most loyal reporter of news, Dr. Rick Frachtman, reports about a
superb Bahamas vacation he and wife Anne took in celebration of their grand 40th wedding anniversary. The beaches, cuisine and live music were delightful. They always manage to see and interact with musical stars from our youth, something that classmate Gary Wilkerson and I also enjoy. Rick has been a key player in planning our upcoming 50th Reunion, offering up quick mathematical analyses of party expenses, dinner options and expected attendance. He did similar brilliant calculations and helped me cope in our shared Kinkaid classes of advanced chemistry, math and physics. Rick, Tom Falik and I cordially competed in math and advanced physics. We bonded together to learn the “secrets of science” and deal with the legendary lab-coat “sweat rings” of Mr. Montgomery. Perhaps the main lesson of being Class Rep is how little people really change over the years. The helpful, smart and friendly folks carry those traits throughout their lives. My Class Rep duties re-acquainted me with Rick, Tom, Mark Bing, Garth Whittington, Phil Kleas, Lynne Barlow Bentsen, Martha Adger, Mike Robinson ’70, Peggy Whitmore Douglass, Capt. Sam Wright and all you other Falcon classmates mentioned herein. Sounds real corny but it’s something I’ll always remember and cherish. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from fellow-math/science Nerd Tom Falik living up in West Hartford, CT. Tom chimed in to say he and his wife would probably make it to our 50th Reunion. We had an email thread a while back reminiscing about Kinkaid music teacher Marshall (“Heaven’s Gate”) Applewhite and the tragic President John F. Kennedy assassination. That was before my arrival at Kinkaid, but Tom recalled being in the Kinkaid auditorium when the 7th grade history teacher announced the assassination at the end of an assembly. He says there were many tears of sadness, including from our classmates Martha Adger and Susie Adams Smith. I cried about it at Black Jr. High School across town. My old buddy Bill “Horn” Liedtke wrote in that his youngest daughter Louisa recently moved to Chicago, IL and his elder daughter Victoria lives in York, England with husband Gav. Here’s a musical riddle about Victoria: she’s still singing rock ‘n roll and is about to join “a classic American rock group to help record their 45th anniversary album.” Bill is sworn to silence and cannot name that old American band, but can we at least guess! I’m guessing the band is Heart or Bad Company...but Rick Frachtman and Gary “EZ” Wilkerson probably know the answer. Back to Bill…he
ANNUAL REPORT SPRING SUMMER 2015 2018
and wife Adelaide visited Victoria and Gav in June. Gav manages some bands like The Professionals (formerly The Sex Pistols) and others. The youngest Liedtke child Will still lives at home in Oklahoma City, OK and woefully “is wearing out since he is the only kid we can get to!” My oldest Falcon buddy Gary “EZ” Wilkerson blew my mind a few months ago when he won his prestigious “Iron Butt Award” for riding his beautiful Harley motorcycle last November for 84 hours straight, a grand total of over 3,100 miles! He sent me the details and terrific photos which somehow managed to make my butt hurt too! He and his small group of cycle fanatics rode through some of the most desolate areas of Texas with temperatures varying from 85 to 28 degrees in one day. Yes, he blazed through the far-West Guadalupe Mountains at high speeds! Out of the 30 finishers, Gary was the oldest in years and the youngest in heart. Next time you see Gary, ask to see his wellearned “Iron Butt Certificate,” but don’t slap him back there! As for your soon-former Class Rep (that’s me), I’ve been working hard to plan our 50th Reunion and make it a roaring success. Unfortunately it’s cut into my travel, kayak-fishing and disc golf time! I love what I do. Martha Adger, Lynne Barlow Bentsen, Bonnie German Chandler, Elise and Jeff Cross, Rick Frachtman and Carole Smithwick-Kiebach are in the process of finalizing plans for our party at the Briar Club. The committee is hard at work and will have more details to share soon. Stay tuned and mark your calendar for Saturday, March 30! We’ve worked hard to implement our Reunion and hope to see you there, with or without “retro ’60s” hippie clothes…your option. I’ll be taking a less prominent role since I’m “retiring” as Class Rep and transitioning to “ordinary old ’69er.” Oh, oh. Like The Who’s anti-hero Tommy, finally, “I’M FREE!” My ardent hope is that one of you will come forward as new Class Rep to continue these excellent and moving (ha, ha!) Class Notes. We had a 12-year hiatus when our class was near dead, and I stepped up to help revive it. The poor patient has been revived. It was my pleasure and burden. Don’t let all those efforts come to naught! Keep the news and good vibrations coming. I say farewell but not good-bye. Thanks for the laughs, the memories and love... Don W. Pickels, Esq., ’69 Kinkaid Class Rep, 2014-2018
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