THE SCRATCH SHEET
Vol.6,
Contents
A. News and Notes:
1. Caplan Wins Award; 2. Founder’s Day 2007; 3. Honorary Degrees; 4.
Norm Chachkin; 5. Pete Shoemaker; 6. Ed Shockowitz; 7. A Dinner in
B. “Till Ours Hearts Be Still”: 1. Carl Sehl, 2. Jim Stidham
C. Communications from Classmates
1. Toby Caplan; 2. John Few; 3. John Heaney;
4. Dennis Lambrecht; 5. Pete Shoemaker; 6. Bruce Singer; 7. Chet Snyder, and 8.
Anonymous.
D. Who Are These
Guys?
E.
Other Business and Requests: Corinthians, 50th Anniv Gift to
the Hum, Movies, Chapel on Founders Day
The Scratch
Sheet is published by the Girard College Class of 1960. For even more trivial information see our
website: www.Girard1960.com.
Editors, writers, researchers, go-fors (some self-appointed,
others dragooned):
Toby Caplan 412-821-4256 (h) 412-681-2400 (w) mcaplan@blumcraft.com
Rocco D’Amico:
301-229-0834 Rdamico@ihsm.com
Ed DiRomaldo
215-365-5965
Dennis Gries 941-927-3757;
dgries@comcast.net
Ron Saracini 352-237-9690 r.saracini@att.net
Leo Michaluk Publisher Emeritus
The News
A. News and Notes:
1. Myron (Toby) Caplan to be awarded
the Alumni Award of Merit
Myron Caplan has been awarded the Girard College Alumni
Award of Merit. He will be presented
with this award on Saturday, October 13 at a dinner in Founder’s Hall. He will be the second member of our class to
receive this award. Don Ratajczak
received it in 1989. Classmates are
invited to attend. The form to register
for the dinner is appended to this Scratch Sheet. At this moment, we know that D’Amico,
Frigiola, Kane, Myers, Page, and Saracini plan to attend.
Additionally, on that date we would like to have a luncheon
of his classmates to honor Toby.
In brief, when Toby left the Hum, he was unable to afford a
college education, even though he had been an outstanding student. Through an alumni contact he was able to
secure a position with Blumcraft, Inc. of
Toby has also been instrumental in the building of the
Toby recently lost his wife of many years, Carol. They have two sons.
If you would like to join us at the luncheon to honor Toby,
please let Rocco know. We plan for it to
be around
2. Founder’s Day 2007
On Founder’s Day this year a small group of our class got
together. John Houghton, Ed Hill, Toby
Caplan, John Tate, Charlie Ellis along with one of his sons, and
3. Honorary Degrees
The Hum has instituted a policy of granting honorary degrees
to those who attended the Hum but did not graduate. The certificates are awarded at a ceremony on
Founders’ Day. Those who might be
interested can contact Charles Kalata, Alumni
4.
Norman Chachkin
Norm has been little seen since he graduated from Penn in
1964. Since we last met, the editor of the
Girard News in our senior year, has become one of the most prominent
civil rights attorneys in the
5.
Pete
Shoemaker
We have previously reported that Pete retired as COO of
ACopyAmerica, moved to the
6. Ed Shockowitz
It was rumored that Ed had become a “mountain man” in Shasta , CA “Hello, I'm Susan Shockowitz Ricci, Ed's daughter. I found your update sheet online. You can contact me at this email address: sisricci@yahoo.com. Ed and wife Rae still live on a large ranch outside Redding , CA Santa Clara , CA Oregon Redding , CA So there's the latest update for your website. Thanks for the interest and hope this message finds all of you well. --Susan” 7. A Dinner in the
Joe Frigiola, and John Kane recently visited for two days
with the D’Amicos in
8.
Eugene Daub
Many of you will remember Gene Daub who was our
classmate. He entered the Hum in February 1950, and left at his mother’s
request in 1953. Gene is a world renowned sculptor and with his firm
recently dedicated a sculpture of Thomas Jefferson at the
“The Darden Graduate School of Business at the
The 9-foot bronze sculpture depicts
The Daub Firmin Hendrickson Sculpture Group
(DFH) of
The following link will get you to more info on Gene and his firm. http://www.dfhsculpture.com/
This is a photo of Gene (c) and his partners, and a photo of
the
.
9.
Other Classmate Artists
Apparently most of us did not recognize the quality of the
Hum’s
10.
John Myers
John has recently remarried.
He and his wife Georgina have moved to the
11.
John D.
Gearhart
It is difficult to keep you up to date with John. If you Google him, you will find over 300,000
entries. However we have found two
websites which will give you a snapshot:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gea0int-1
This site will give you a biography, a profile, and an
interview conducted with John where he reflects on his Hum experience.
http://streaming.americanprogress.org/events/2006/2006_08_04_stem_cell/6.gearhart.320.240.mp4.html
This site will show John giving a speech at American Progress,
and show the little acknowledged
importance of Archie Andrews in all of our lives.
B.
“Till Our Hearts
be Still”
Since we last communicated with you, two classmates have
passed away: Carl Sehl, and Jim
Stidham. You will recall that they were
Allen Hall roommates along with John Houghton, Jim Kelly, and John Kostelnick. The following sections present material we
have been able to gather on both of them.
1.
Carl Sehl
Carl had in the last two years reappeared and sent us a
number of humorous and heartfelt remembrances of his life in the Hum. They were featured in Vol. 5 of the Scratch
Sheet, and labeled “The Sehl Chronicles.”
On
The Final Sehl Chronicle
Sehl Chronicles –May 25, 2006
“Thank you for the last two pieces of correspondence. For brevity sake I’ll put in list form some
comments.
1. Matt Mills – take time to smell the
flowers, play golf, or if that doesn’t suit you, get back to work – just get
well!
2. I was impressed by Bruce Seaman’s
remarks and what a good sport he is.
Bruce was a classmate who chose a path less traveled and I’m sorry I
never got to know him better.
3. Few’s piece drove home the
compassion issue, and how left out some of our classmates must have felt if
they weren’t sports oriented. When
you’re young it isn’t easy being green.
If it’s any consolation John, the people I most admire today are
writers, musicians, and artists.
4. Gearhart’s 140 points was quite a
feat even though the opposition left the court at halftime.
5. So “Boner” Evans called me a Luddite
– I’ve been called worse. It’s not that
I’m adverse to new technology, but the older I get the more I crave the human
touch. I’ve used computers at work and
had my own P.C. and fully realize how indispensable they are, but the defining
moment for me was when I received a computerized birthday card – too cold, too
impersonal Maybe in my next life
I’ll become a Shaker: “Hands to work,
hearts to God”, and after all anybody who invented the clothespin can’t be all
bad.
6. Well done on the trivia
questions. Kline and Grant were spot on. But who said Eisenhower? Worst punishers – that’s a toss-up, but there
were certain housemasters that had an aura about them – you knew instinctively
not to cross the line – B. Joll, S. Craig, WooWoo Wilson, Zeil, and
Lander. I think S. Craig was a sandwich
short of a picnic, and thankfully was never on the receiving end of one of his
tirades. . Not exactly a person to teach
a class on anger management.
7. People I most wanted to be punished
by:
i.
Varney
ii.
Hutchison
iii.
Braun.
8. Now, Rocco I’m going to recount an
amusing incident that happened, I think, in Mariner Hall. So help me God this is true and is indelibly
etched in my mind. During a snow storm
they put us in one of those forced study halls.
We were sitting toward the rear of the class. I was in back and you were one seat over to
the left. I’m not sure who the teacher
was, probably Perley Pease. Everything
was quiet, then all of a sudden, as if possessed by Satan, you stood up and
threw a half-eaten apple, that missed the teacher’s head by no more than 3
inches. The funniest thing was, he never
knew what happened. Of course, I was
losing control of my bladder from laughing so much, and I think I was the only
eye witness. True Story.
That’s about it for now,
Carl
P.S. Enclosed is a check for the
Class of 60 fund.”
Carl Sehl Obituary Information
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SEHLCarl Sehl by John Houghton
“Carl,
all things Carl, many faces to as many people.
To me he was that “fellow of infinite just.”
It
never ended with us, it was a lifelong jazz rift, one playing off another, even
feeding each other lines so someone could hit it out of the park. It was quantum silliness, like in the hum but
better, more refined, not as crude or vulgar.
The art of giggle.
One
of Carl’s domains was kids. He loved
showing them up for the selfish, willful little bastards that they could
be. Eyeball to eyeball, down on their
level, no sharing, lots of whining, with large helpings of cunning and ? ?. He
had great fun with them. My kids loved
him.
He
was ever the wordsmith. There were few
he didn’t know or couldn’t make a logical guess at. I was constantly taking a failing vocabulary
test, like Markauskas?? in Cas MacGregor’s class. He taught driving for AAA and every once in a
while he would run into an intellectual bozo know it all. So Carl would play him, encourage his
buffoonery. Near the end, Carl would
propose a ten question test to be exchanged on the last driving lesson. And by then he would know what the guy didn’t
know and slam dunk the bastard. He was
devious.
Also
he was Pierre LaFarge, scourge of the businessman. It was one of his fantasy characters, (more
silliness). Picture
Carl
loved food. He once reminded me,
actually several times, of two pork chops I gave him from farm raised pigs. The
texture, the flavor, the heaven he experienced eating them. That was in 1970 something. He was still tasting them in the 90s.
I
should mention that Carl was one of the worst drivers ever. He was one of those guys who would go for the
safety of the right lane, get behind a large truck, and start talking. It drove me crazy. Everytime I saw a
Anyway, I loved the guy. He was truly flawed, and just a little crazy,
but I loved him.
Below
is a photo of Carl performing as an extra with the Philadelphia Opera Co,
something he did on a regular basis, and also photos of three of Carl’s
sculptures.
2. Jim Stidham
Jim had had health problems since his late fifties. He is pictured in Vol 5. at Adam Deveney’s
house at our 45th reunion.
Below is his published obituary, along with classmates’ comments after
they had received John Kane’s notification of Jim’s death.
James G. Stidham
Feasterville Resident
Jim Stidham, age 64, went home to be with his Lord and Savior,
August 9th, 2006, while a patient at the University of Pa. Hospital, with his
loving family at his side.
Jim was born in
Jim was the devoted husband to his wife of 31 years,
He enjoyed his bi-weekly breakfasts with his buddies with whom he
went hunting and fishing. He has been a resident of Feasterville since 1969 and
has several caring and loving neighbors.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend his viewing on
Announcement from John Kane: Once again a classmate has left us. Jim Stidham
passed away on August 9th at the Univ of Penna Hosp. Apparently Jim has
had several illnesses that he has been fighting for years and has finally
succumbed to them. Jim's viewing will be
this coming Sunday, between
From Toby Caplan:
Sad, sad, sad...another class member gone! It was nice to see Jim at the 45th. He did not look good then. Sorry to hear of his passing.
From Al Bullock:
Thanks for your Email about Jim Stidham's passing on August 9. He
was a great guy, and we will surely miss him. You are correct in
pointing out that our numbers are dwindling fast, and that we should expect to
hear this kind of news more frequently. At the Hum, we all gave no thought
to our own mortality, and lived our lives with the expectation that we would
live forever. I guess it's true that if we knew then what we know now, we
would all have taken better care of ourselves.
From Dennis Gries:
This is getting to be too often. Two
really nice guys in only a few months.
From Rich Adams:
Hey John, thanks so much for the news as sad
as it is-Its hard to believe I just remember Stidham as so healthy and so good
in the sheet metal shop. Hope to see you soon.
From Bruce Seaman:
Thanks John. Your comment, though, really hit home. I don't know how
many others feel this way-- but we spent about 11 years growing up together.
There were fights, but we were all Hummers-- and anyone who wasn't a Hummer
better butt out. In other words, we were brothers. And for those of us who care
enough, we still are. We spread out all over the country, but when we get
together, the time and distance disappear, just like with family. I haven't
seen Jim since we graduated, but I miss that I'll not see him again. I guess
that makes me not too different from a lot of us.
C.
Communications
from Classmates
1. Toby Caplan:
Carol and I had dinner with Rich “Pepsi” Popella and his
wife Joanne on Monday. We met them at Denunzio’s Restaurant in
Rich is a Tool and Die maker (highly skilled machinist) with
a casting company in
Pepsi has good feeling toward Girard and wishes his mother
would have let him graduate. He said it was difficult to start over in
his junior year at
He is looking forward to seeing
We have been invited to visit them on any trip south.
I guess we can call their home…Pepsi’s Bed and Breakfast! I really felt good when he told me the goal
of his few days in western
2. John Few:
Rocco: Joe Wilson (
'61) and I will be having coffee tomorrow as he just phoned to confirm. After
hanging up I thought of you and how I owe you an email.
I am writing something about our experience in the 3rd
grade, but needs work before I submit it to you, when at the ripe old age of 64
I realized that the 3rd grade was the only year we spent the entire time in one
building. It never occurred to me before, not that it should have. Is
it true that we ate, slept and went to classes all in
3. John Heaney:
Shortly after leaving Girard I joined the Navy and entered
the submarine service. I made a Mediterranean run on the USS Grenadier (SS)
525. From there I entered nuclear power school and upon graduation commenced
serving aboard fleet ballistic missile submarines for the next 18 years, making
twenty three (23) patrols, with one shore billet as an instructor at the
Windsor Locks nuclear training prototype facility.
Retired
from the Navy in 1982 as a Senior Chief Petty Officer, frocked Master Chief
Engineman ENCM (SS). Upon leaving the Navy I continued in the nuclear field
working for NUS developing computer databases for nuclear power plants in
I
fully retired in 1994 and returned to
I guess that gives you a very quick and dirty update of the past 46 years. jheaney@pobox.com; 352-259-3955
4.
Dennis
Lambrecht:
Thank you! The scratch sheet is great. I thought that I had
sent you my e-mail address, sorry.
It is very important, particularly for people in our age
group, to continue exhibiting proof that we are still functioning members of
society, on top of their game; that's exactly why I have kept my
Commodore64 in tip-top condition----send away.
Also, in a continuing effort to orally project my ability to
stay young, I still use words like "cool " and "nifty". I
think that it has helped me keep my children from sending me to a nursing
home. Although, that could be the start of the next great sit-com: (think a-team music): A GROUP OF MEN..........RAISED IN AN
ORPHANAGE........REUNITED AGAIN IN AN ASSISTED LIVING COMMUNITY AFTER FIFTY
YEARS APART
Would we still create short-sheets and move the connections
on the bed frames to fall apart for those who didn't check their beds at night?
Would we still have to eat everything on our plate? Would
you still have a major problem if the
servers at the end of the table didn't like you?
Would it have a central laundry that had questions about the
creamed spinach in your pants pocket?
Would we still have to "run
around the apparatus....go!"
Would there only be one soft drink vending machine locked in
a closet? Would we have to stand in line when it was announced?
Would they show movies on Sat? Would
it determine how we acted the rest of the week?
The fence behind the library
would have to be more like just a curb!
Would our individual rooms be graded a "1" or
"2', and would that have an effect on whether we could leave for the
day if we had more than a "9" for the week?
Would there be from two to six man rooms? Could we move the
furniture back and play basketball through the transom when we were supposed to
be reading?
Even with the advent of Viagra,
could we possibly, ever, have as many antlers?
I can think of several movie stars to play me, but I don't
think the "our gang" group is still around to play the rest of my
roommates.
I'LL TAKE THE QUESTION FOR TWENTY, CARL.
PRESIDENT GRANT ON HIS WAY TO ENTER WEST POINT according to
his autobiography.
Has anyone been able to find Bob Siren? He had a lot
of pictures when he graduated. (Dennis-
According to the Gries records, Bob passed away in 1994 in Columbus, Ohio.)
Maybe a little late, but my vote for harshest
punisher.."Moose" and his "ladies leg", although, I was
never hit by the guy with the paddle with holes.
Seeya ! Dennis Lambrecht absalesman@aol.com
5. Pete Shoemaker:
Rocco, I thought I'd write a little update about the Hum for
the next Scratch Sheet. I attended graduation on June 1st. It was a very moving
experience and brought back many memories, both happy and sad. The tears flowed
from many an eye, just like 46 years ago.
There were 40 graduates, the second highest number in 35
years. It's a great class. The valedictorian was Tokeia Washington, the
girl who coined the phrase, "Girard changes lives." College
acceptance rate is 100%, with attendance at
6. Bruce
Singer:
What a great surprise and pleasure to get Scratch Sheet #5 in the mail -- hard to describe the effect it had on me. I do have email but am just not the world's greatest Hummer where keeping in touch is concerned. Sign me up!
Somehow I've ended up living between
Reading the memories of classmates in the Scratch Sheet brought
back masses of stuff, in no coherent order, that's been way, way down there for
years: starting of course with West End Section A. Miss Craig oh she was tough! The
Quaker seamstress Miss Priser, who confused us with her "thee" and
"thou". And a governess around 3rd grade named Miss Boyd who
taught us to make fudge and play canasta - great preparation for adulthood
(well, not mine, but somebody's maybe). I can see I'm
going to have to give this more time. Meanwhile, I look forward to
reading those updates. With warm regards and many thanks for sending that
envelope, Bruce
7.
Chet Snyder:
Roc; thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Just a few notes
out of my life: I lost my wife of 32 years about 14 years ago and never
remarried. She was a saint. I retired
from Mobil Oil Corp. in 1994 working as a superintendent of the mechanical
division after 30 years of service. I became bored after 2 years of this and
started working part time as campus police at
8. Anonymous:
I coped by entering into a mini shell of
insulation, and didn't remove it until the shock of graduation. I then suddenly
found myself .."older" and more confident than others my age that I
was competing against in the workplace, and I did well. I also made
great grades in college, then grad school..which was not my track record while
in Girard. Some of the teachers were certainly unique and unforgettable
personalities, but the lack of high performance then was my fault completely,
not theirs.
D. 
Who Are These
Guys?
Left: Frigiola, Snyder
Right: Hoefnagel, Daub, Singer
E.
Other
Business and Requests
1.
We hope many of you will be able to attend either the luncheon,
the dinner, or both on October 13 for Toby Caplan. To register for the dinner fill in the form
at the back, or call Charlie Kalata at the alumni office, 215-232-8882, with a
credit card and he will register you.
Those who would like to visit with Toby for the lunch, please let Rocco
know at one of the contacts listed on the first page, so he can make the appropriate
sized reservation. At both of these
affairs, we will attempt to spend some time initiating our planning for our 50th
reunion. If you cannot get to these
functions, but would like to contribute to the 50th planning, please
let Rocco know.
2.
Charlie Kalata dug out for us a number of clean 1960 Corinthians,
our yearbook. If you have lost yours, or
weren’t around to get one, let Rocco know, and he will have a copy made for
you. It will be around $5.
3.
The Class of 1957’s 50th anniversary class gift to the
Hum was $107,000 which was used to purchase a computer lab. Our gift is getting sizable but we have quite
a way to go to exceed that amount. Toby
Caplan is managing this for us. We will
be sending out a separate communication on this issue shortly. Please be thinking about what you may be able
to contribute in the next 2 ˝ years, and also forward any suggestions you might
have about what are gift might be.
4.
Rocco has a number of movies about the Hum, and our class on VHS
tapes. He is hoping to have them
converted to DVD to make them available at cost to all of us. He, like Dennis Lambrecht, is still nursing
his Commodore 64, so he is requesting aid from anyone who may have some
expertise in this area.
5.
Most of you know that at the Founder’s Day chapel service, the 50th
anniversary class marches down the aisle as we did at our graduation, sings
Hail Girard, and the Farewell Song, and at the end of the ceremony marches back
up the aisle. (Scooters, and
wheelchairs, canes, and stretchers are all welcome.) We are inviting all of our classmates,
whether graduates or not, to join us in all of these activities.
6.
Dennis Gries, an expert in genealogy, has made Herculean strides
in finding most of the graduates who we had lost sight of. Really, the only one he has no clue on is Johansen
– lost him in
Form for Attending Toby
Caplan’s
Award of Merit Dinner
The annual Award of Merit dinner where
four great hummers, Ken Carpenter, 1954; Nick Silvano, 1956; Toby Caplan,
1960; and Garry Norton, 1967, will be presented with the Alumni Award of
Merit will take place on Saturday, October 13th in the
Ballroom at Founder’s Hall. The museum and its Legacy Collection will be
open under the care of Gil Bunker, Jan 1953, from
Tickets for the affair are $50.00 each
and include 2 beverage tickets. Print out the order form below and send
it in with your check or credit card number and we will see you at the dinner.
Name:
Class:
_________________________________________________
__________
Address:
_____________________________________________________________________________
City:
State:
Zip:
email address:
_________________________
__________ __________ ____________________________
Phone Number
(_____) ______-_________
Number of seats
requested:_____________
Total remitted: ($50.00
for each seat requested) by check, money order or credit.
$_____________._____
Credit Card No.: ____________________________________________
Exp Date: ______
Credit Card Security Code:
______
Slip your check
and this form into an envelope and mail it to the:
QUESTIONS? Call
Charlie or Bridgette at the Alumni Office. (215)232-8882
YOU CAN ALSO
CALL US WITH A CREDIT CARD NO. AND WE’LL FILL OUT THE FORM FOR YOU.