Class Notes, Nov/Dec 2018

Michael Emery Smith died April 23, 2018, at home with his family by his side after a short, but hard fought battle with pancreatic cancer. Here is what we know:

“Michael’s career was mostly in commercial banking. Michael was an involved member of his community as part of the MDI Lions Club and served on boards of various local charitable organizations including the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service, the Tremont Historical Society, the Acadia Family Center, the Peony Society of Maine and Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County. Michael thoroughly enjoyed spending his free time fighting the black flies while gardening and fishing, and hunting in the fall, often at the Hardy Brook Rod & Gun Club in Maxfield. He was also an avid and dedicated fan of MDI Trojans basketball.”

Your scribe has just learned of the death of Philip Kuekes, from glioblastoma, on November 29, 2010. His brother Tom writes:

“He was a physics major at Yale. He moved to the Bay Area in 1969, owned his own computer consulting business and worked for TRW in Mountain View. He later worked for Hewlett Packard, specializing in nanotechnology. He received many awards for his work and authored more than 70 patents. You can see him in a recent and fascinating video which is available on YouTube, where he discusses his research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUOekeiqihc. (Trigger Warning from DS: this video contains graphic descriptions of atoms and computer memory, and may make you even more proud to be Y ’69.) Phil enjoyed hiking and traveling the world, and was a devoted family man. His wife, Cynthia Kuekes, died suddenly and unexpectedly in late July, 2018. His daughter is Ofelie Kuekes, of Menlo Park.”

The Albany Times Union reports:

“After a joyful celebration of his life with family and friends, Sheldon “Rusty” Carnes paddled peacefully to the Pearly Gates around 3:30 a.m. on March 26, 2018. He left behind his sisters, Katy, Roxy, and Sandy; brother Terry; multiple masks, puppets and flutes; and a wide diversified circle of loving friends.” Rusty’s YouTube channel has three videos, including “Captain Scurvy Dog’s Bible Hour, Part 1.” The Reverend Timothy Lake wrote: “Sheldon was a powerful voice for the voiceless folks of the world. He saw the world as a place of play and danced through it helping folks to move beyond barriers that held them back from their full potentials. As a masterful fool, he played a role bigger than himself and in so doing wove many subgroups of people together. Sometimes overwitty and grinding, he was capable of lightening a space that may have become dreary. Hail the traveler! Bright lights to the Mound.” A full report with pictures is on our class website at yale1969.org.

Edmund Lee (Ned) Wadhams, of Onancock VA, died on March 21 of a heart attack. Your scribe awaits a memorial to be submitted by his sister.

For the last-minute planners: The 50th Reunion Committee is planning several events during the weekend of the Yale-Harvard football game, which will be played this year on Saturday, November 17th at Fenway Park. There will be a festive gathering (with the Whiffenpoofs) before the game near Fenway, at the Hawthorne, which will replace the usual pre-game biennial festivities at the Wheeler’s in Cambridge. The latest detailed information for all events will be posted on the class website at yale1969.org.

50th Reunion:  Only months away!!! The latest news about our program and attendees will be posted on the Class Website at yale1969.org.

From Ken Wolfe:

Robb High, George McNamee, Howard Newman, Lang Wheeler, and Ken Wolfe have agreed to be Co-Chairs for the 50th Reunion Gift Committee. All five have been involved in leading previous Reunion Gift Committees and are looking forward to working with classmates to raise money for this milestone reunion. (Steve Schwarzman has agreed to join our Committee as an Honorary Co-Chair.)”

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“Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others—qualities which are in easy reach of every soul—are the foundation of one’s spiritual life.”

–from Nelson Mandela’s letters from prison

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