1970 – Fall ’19 Class Letter
Susan Hecht Gebhardt
815-464-5761 / 815-260-1656 / [email protected]
I hope all of you are enjoying summer and are far from the storms, floods and excessive heat which much of the country is experiencing. WILLIAM “BILL” GEBHARDT ’69 and I are glad to be home despite the constant rain. We were fortunate to have been in Florida when our son, Will, and his family moved into their new home, but Bill has been helping him to build a deck. Since Will is an engineer you can imagine it is not your average deck. The weather finally cooperated so the yard could be graded and the front yard landscaped. The girls have been having fun playing in the dirt! Our older son, Matt, the club golf professional, has been busy trying to keep the course playable in between all the rain.
Bill and I will be attending his 50th reunion at Ripon next weekend. It is really hard to believe that much time has passed and that in one year we also will be inducted into the “Golden R Club!” We will be staying in Ripon, (not in the dorms, though that sounds like so much fun), since the Heidel House has closed. Fortunately we found out soon enough and were able to find accommodations. I will report back on all the events and the food to help plan ours. I hope to meet with the College personnel planning reunions to get things started. The College will be sending out a questionnaire soon asking for volunteers to help plan our reunion. Please take some time to read the information, offer suggestions and volunteer to help. I will send you updates as I get them.
MARK HENKEL ’70 and HILDE BORMANN HENKEL ’73: “Well, today (May 29) is National Senior Health & Fitness Day, so all I have to share is that while we are happily semi-retired, we are very active in teaching taekwondo year-round (we are both seventh-degree black belts), twice a week, and we have additional activities here on the hobby farm: raising a new batch of chickens and working up and weeding with our huge raspberry patch giant garden and literally acres of lawn.”
JAMES WALSH ’70 of Mukwonago, Wisconsin: “Lucky man. Last five years survived heart stoppage, prostate cancer, bleeding stomach ulcer, hernia and right knee replacement. Life is great! Family is great, 11 grandchildren.”
Thank you for sharing your news with us and for your support of Ripon. Please volunteer to help plan our reunion. I will send you my thoughts on the ’69 reunion later this summer. Also please notify Ripon of any changes in address, email, or phone.
Sincerely,
SUSAN HECHT GEBHARDT ’70