1948
Willard Fichtel (WPE) writes, “Big Oaks from little acorns grow. Best to all at ESF in 2022.”
1955
Dan Meyer (FRM) writes, “Diane and I celebrated our 50th Anniversary, 25th year of retirement, and 15th year in Arizona in 2021. Still indelible are my classmates, and those cold and snowy days at Skytop waiting at a roach coach to buy something to eat – 70 years ago!”
1956
Jim Curley (LA) writes, “We are still at Collington CCRC in Maryland. Some of the worst results of the pandemic have ended: we can now eat in our community dining room except on weekends and on major holidays when, due to staff shortages, we must pick up our meals to eat at home. We now have subscriptions for plays at two Washington theaters. Day trips to museums and points of interest have resumed when drivers can be found for our community bus. On-campus movies and guest speakers have also resumed, and our campus gym and pool have reopened. Masks are required almost everywhere, but not in the pool! Two of our three sons, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Boston, are still working virtually from home. Our youngest son, in Toronto, has a combination of home and office work. Our daughter, a school social worker, is also back in the office. She and her family are recovering from the loss of their house in the CZU California wildfire in August 2020. They still own the lot in Boulder Creek where their house once stood. Anyone interested in a large debris-cleared property set among the redwoods on the side of a mountain? We keep in touch with Maurice Wrangell (’57, LA) and his wife, who live in Millbrook, New York. Maurice has succeeded in turning his relatively small piece of property into a forest that includes ferns, wildflowers, shrubs, and espalier fruit trees.”
1958
Nicolas Tipple (WPE) writes, “Now 85 and retired from sawmill and lumber business. Operated from 1965 to 2003 when I sold my business.”
1960
Hugh Canham (FRM) writes, “I try to keep active doing volunteer work with the New York Forest Owners Association, New York Society of American Foresters, and Empire State Forest Products Association. Heart surgery in May set me back for a while but I am doing all right now. Sorry no one from our Class of 1960 (including me) was able to attend the alumni weekend this year. Hope all are well.
Bill Ciesla (EFB) writes, “Enjoying retirement in Colorado. Since the Covid-19 outbreak began, our international travels have come to a halt. We’ve made some local trips this year in Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, and Wyoming. My volunteer projects are with a Fort Collins Kiwanis Club and as a Master Gardner with the Colorado State University Extension Service.”
Walter Kehm (LA) writes, “Covid allowed me to have a very productive year. My book, ‘Accidental Wilderness: The Origins and Ecology of Toronto’s Tommy Thompson Park’ was published. I gave special credit to professor Art Viertel, our plant guy! Ecology and landscape architecture can merge and produce a new urban forest. Stay well!”
1962
Edwin White (FRM) writes, “I enjoy being on both Ranger School and ESF alumni boards and am looking forward to in-person alumni reunions.”
1963
Frederick Gerty (FRM) next to the largest tulip tree he’s ever seen. It grows on a picnic and lake access area on TVA land in northeastern Tennessee, near Butler. He writes, “Tulip trees grow great here in Tennessee. Maybe someday I’ll see one this large in New York, but doubt it. The crown of the tree probably covers a half an acre or so. Magnificent, in any case, especially in full bloom.”
1964
Theo Mercer (LA) writes, “I celebrated my 83rd birthday on September 28. Love to hear from LA’mates. I work as it suits me at home and am in embarrassingly good health. Still happily married with seven grandchildren. That’s it in a nutshell!”
Edward Kilduff (LA) writes in response to a class note published in the summer 2021 “ESF Magazine” by Donald Wirth (LA), “Don, you are not the only one left from our class, at least not as I am writing this. I’m 81, so change is never unexpected. While I suspect that if our classmates were polled about me and my current whereabouts, they would guess that I was either interred, incarcerated or institutionalized. Nope. Happily living with my wife, Diane. This year, we celebrated our 48th anniversary on our 10-acre Chesapeake Bay waterfront home which we designed and built 22 years ago. Address: 4671 Ferry Neck Road, Royal Oak, MD 21662 (if you want to Google Earth it). We’re across the Tred Avon River from Oxford, Maryland. We have two daughters, 45 and 41, both happily married to great guys, and each has a 12-year old and a 9-year old, both families a boy and a girl, matched sets. Fun, funny grandkids, the joy of our lives. I retired from my small private practice in ’96 when I had a rare head and neck cancer recur. It was successfully treated at Johns Hopkins in ’94, but when it recurred in ’96, all bets were off and I decided that I didn’t want to die over a drafting board. But….fooled ’em again, although long-term effects of extensive radiation treatments have caught up with me regarding swallowing and eating and talking. But I’m here, and that’s 99 percent of the game of life. I had a great 30-year career in LA and my own firm for over 20 years, and have seen a lot of the world, often over the end of a fly rod. Great life for a welfare kid from the public housing projects of NYC. If you want to contact me, my email is kilduff@goeaston.net and cell is 301-466-8005. Don, I remember you as a very nice, solid guy. We were in LA in what I think was the best years with our WW II vets faculty!
1966
Neil White (FRM) and his daughter, Stacy, tracked down Professor William Powell on a recent visit to Syracuse. Even though White, who retired as a U.S.A.F. pilot with the rank of colonel, did not pursue a profession in forestry, he never lost interest in the subject matter he studied at SUNY ESF. He was able to present Powell with a financial contribution specifically for the American chestnut project that White has enjoyed following over the last few years from his home in Charleston, South Carolina.”
1967
Richard Gray (WPE) writes, “Enjoying retirement, children, grandchildren, and a beautiful wife by my side for 54 ‘glorious years.’ We have been truly blessed!”
1969
Leslie Landrum (EFB) writes, “After graduation in 1969, I went to Chile in the Peace Corps and worked in the School of Forestry of the University of Chile for nearly four years. There, I met my wife, Sonia, and also became acquainted with the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). I am still working on the taxonomy of the myrtles, in particular the genus of guavas, Psidium, a group of about 60 species from Mexico to Argentina. Officially retired from Arizona State University, I can luckily now do most of my work at home, which became evident during the pandemic. I also have been working on the “Vascular Plants of Arizona” as an editor and contributor. Our past publications for that project are available online at https://canotia.org/vpa_project.php. Best wishes to my classmates of 1969.”
1970
Thomas Yager (FRM) retired in June 2021 after 49 years with the A. Johnson Lumber Co. in Bristol, Vermont. He and his wife, Jane, sold their home farm in Waltham, Vermont and moved to Clancy, Montana to be near their three children and grandchildren.
1971
Donald Carr (FRM) writes, “I retired from the United States Fish & Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Oregon. I enjoy working the family tree farm in the Oregon Coast Range. We grow big trees. Send me an email: Carrfamilyforests@frontier.com.”
1975
David Armlovich (FRM) writes, “I retired in 2013 from the United States Forest Service after 37 years of loyal service. I ended my career working on the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre Gunnison National Forest in Colorado. Now I enjoy playing outside full-time, biking, hiking, kayaking, and of course skiing. If you find yourself in Western Colorado, look me up! I live in Delta.”
1976
Karin (Carlton) Fullam (FRM) writes, “Hello to Warren (FEG) and Terry (Stein) Knapp (FEG), Mary Butler (FRM), Bob Peterson (’79, EFB), Dan Peterson (’77, EFB), and Ellen (Skiff) Hogan (’77, EFB).
Douglas Newhouse (WPE) writes, “I have been working with architects and interior designers for 35 years now. The last 17 have been at my own company, providing high-end projects with specialty materials from foreign and domestic manufacturers. Focused on FSC, PEFC, and sustainable sources.”
1984
Paul Bensadoun (FEG) writes, “Best wishes to the College of Environmental Science and Forestry faculty, staff, and students – continued good health despite the Covid-19 Coronavirus disease.”
Jeanne Conde (FEG) is living the dream in Vermont.
1999
Leah (Moore) Staley (PSE) writes, “I have been busy at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection working on farm permits. I won this cup from an online EPA course. Hope all my old classmates are doing well.”
Weddings & Celebrations
2017
Erika (Sykes) Nowak (PSE) writes, “Mark (’15, ERE) and I were married on October 2, 2021. The memories we have from our time at ESF are some of our favorites. We are grateful for the many friendships that were started at ESF and continue today.”