By Scott G. Sullivan
This issue’s notes begin with a humdinger. Classmate Linus Travers has been selected, along with four other alumni from different classes, to receive the Yale Medal, the Alumni Association’s highest award for outstanding service to the university. Linus will receive his decoration at a gala dinner in New Haven in November.
Launched in 1952, the medal has been awarded to 313 individuals who have “not only shown extraordinary devotion to the ideals of the university but also were conspicuous in demonstrating their support of Yale through extensive, exemplary service on behalf of Yale as a whole or one of its many schools, institutions, and programs.”
That definition fits Linus like a bespoke glove. For nigh on six decades, he has worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our class, of Yale in Massachusetts, and, particularly, of Yale music. A member of the Whiffenpoofs, the Duke’s Men, and the glee club, he has organized and participated in countless events by those organizations and the Yale Alumni Chorus. Twenty years ago, he founded and still runs an annual spring chorus weekend. He is a member and past president of the YaleBoston alumni board and chronic head of the schools committee. He is a member of the AYA board and a class council member. He is a tireless fund-raiser for Yale causes; he has organized 1958’s last four reunions and is busily preparing the 60th. His fascinating contribution to our 50th yearbook describes his personal life as an educator in Boston and at UMass–Dartmouth, and is well worth a reread. Bravo!
Less earth-shattering personal news comes from David Lindskog, who describes a recent visit from Randy Kwei of Hong Kong at the Lindskogs’ home in Greenwich. Randy stopped off after a visit to Texas and to his children and grandchildren in New York City. Conversation centered on grandkids (what else?), Yale in Singapore, and the decline of Western civilization.
Bill Fitzgerald writes from Los Angeles to recount a recent weekend in La Jolla with his companion Sandy and Linden and (Rear Admiral) Ronne Blue. The foursome visited a hang-glider/paraglider cliff, from which various maniacs leapt into the wind and attempted to sail back to their starting place. Those who failed landed on the beach far below, where they began a game of nude volleyball. Ah, California!
Since the last issue, we have lost three classmates.
Edward I. Moore, a retired banker, died March 17 in Monroe, North Carolina. After Yale, he earned a BS at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He settled in Orange, Connecticut, not far from his hometown, New Haven, and remained there till 1993, when he moved to Palm Coast, Florida. In Connecticut, he served as president of the Orange Rotary Club and the Paugusset Club. In Florida, he was president of Temple Beth Shalom and a member of various social and philanthropic organizations.
Jim Hughes, a distinguished New York neurosurgeon, died the same day in Cresskill, New Jersey. The son of a psychiatrist, he took his MD at Penn, then served as a staff psychiatrist in the Navy. He did his residency at Columbia Presbyterian, then, for 27 years, practiced at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Medical Center and Harlem Hospital, as chief of neurosurgery at both; he was also on the staff at Columbia. He published frequently in professional journals such as JAMA, Neurosurgery, and Science. In 1980, he was portrayed in a movie, Seizure: the True Story of Kathy Morris, which recounted his treatment of a young singer fighting epilepsy. After formal retirement, he continued to consult at three hospitals in Harlem and the South Bronx, analyzing brain MRIs from his computer at home.
Jimbo Stocking died March 22. A star runner at Yale, Jimbo joined the Air Force after college, serving mainly in Washington. He took a law degree at Wisconsin and practiced, mainly aviation law, in Milwaukee until 1987, when he left his law firm but continued to practice from home. He finally retired in 1997, first to a fishing camp in northern Ontario where he continued to fly, and then bought retirement homes in Southern California and Milwaukee.
As for your scribe, I have spent the last two months traveling: Paris for my 80th birthday (au pied de cochon), England and Italy for my granddaughter Olivia’s wedding in Trento and lovely relaxation in Lucca. Unfortunately, I ended up catching a nasty disease, which, though not life-threatening, will keep me recuperating for a couple of months.