P.A. 1964
Tom Seligson
15 Bradley Street
Westport, CT 06880
October, 1999

As the weeks since our 35th reunion now turns into months, I'm pleased to report that almost everyone I've spoken to retains cherished memories of that special weekend together. Tory Peterson, Bill Matassoni, and Sam Allis share my feelings that the event was all too short. I know I wasn't along in being depressed for several days afterwards. It was the feeling of having renewed close friendships, only to then be abruptly separated. To help maintain these close bonds, Peter Pfeifle, Tony Bryant, and others inquired about how we might better organize our class e-mail list, and create a system for group messaging. Our dedicated web whiz Matthew McClure is on the case , and I'll report our progress in the next column.

My apologies to those classmates who attended the reunion, but weren't rewarded with a promised position in the upcoming George Bush administration. Overlooked were Dick Howe, whose years mastering the bureaucracy of Massachusetts state government would make him an ideal Ambassador to the Ukraine, Dan Cooper who can give George private lessons on presidential power, from his years as our own visionary leader, Richard Kalin whose information/software expertise make him perfect to head up the Library of Congress, and Chuck Rounds, who should already get his eye on some Federal judgeship. A number of classmates hoped to join us, but came up with legitimate excuses. Toby Thacher was being given a "surprise" birthday party by his wife. Hugh West had the conflict of a son's high school graduation, and his daughter's first birthday in the United States. "We adopted her at 3 months in Romania last summer," he explained. Chai Kambhu also had a graduation to attend, I believe. And John Kidde and Don Vermeil were scheduled to be golfing in Ireland, perhaps laying the groundwork for their ambassadorial posts should George be elected. Incidentally, my favorite photo from George's campaign was in the August 23rd Sunday New York Times. The editorial section showed George at a New Hampshire gathering, his arm wrapped around the shoulder of a "supporter." This was no casual political embrace; George seemed to have genuine affection for the white haired gentleman. Maybe because that's because he was our beloved Tom Lyons.

George isn't the only classmate getting national exposure these days. Randy Hobler who's busy sharing his marketing expertise with start up internet companies, spotted Paul Gallagher in a commercial for Prudential. I saw him as well, and I think Paul's brother, the well-known actor Peter Gallagher should be calling for tips. "I was in a focus group two days before the reunion," Paul explained. "While my response was not scripted, I did my best to come up with a soundbite that would be selected from the 14 participants, during the 90 minutes of filming. It worked, and the spot aired during games 2 and 3 of the basketball playoffs. I'm hoping it will be back on for the Prudential halftime scoreboard during football season. How else could I pay my pledge to PA."

It's indicative of our warmth and respect for PA that so many of us continue to send our kids there. The latest is Dewolf Fulton's son Marshall, who entered this fall as a junior. Those of you who made the reunion saw that dad "Dewey" is as energetically colorful as ever, even though he didn't slide down the bannister in commons, which I caught him doing several reunions back. Dewey's now entering his eighth year on the staff of Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, overseeing publications, display ads, special projects, as well as the 25 students/semester internship program. Bob Auld also has a son just starting at Andover. Bob e-mailed me to send his regrets that he couldn't make the reunion. He had another son graduating from college that same weekend. Bob reports that, after two years in Hong Kong, he and his family just moved back to Tokyo, where they had lived in the mid-80's. "My job here is Chief Investment Officer for Fidelity Investments; so reassure any interested classmates that we'll be taking good care of their money if they want to invest in the long anticipated rebound in Japan."

Watching out for our money stateside is our favorite investigative reporter Bruce Kauffman. Bruce has moved from Atlanta to Southern California, where he is "helping grow" a four-year-old daily called the North County Times as reporter/editor. "I'm heavily involved in looking into apparent nefarious deeds of the business world," he writes. "We find, for example, that the profits oil refineries make in California - where regular gas was up to $1.67 on average a few weeks ago - have been more than double the profits on the East Coast. Your guess is as good as mine, but the lobby spends the equivalent of about $30,000 per legislator per session in Sacramento." But Bruce does know who he can trust. He's been in touch with Dave Mason and ex-roommate, Lee Kenna. All of you, stay in touch.