1963 – Fall ’19 Class Letter
Wayne Wolfgram
313-882-1712 / [email protected]
Greetings, Classmates! I hope this finds everyone doing well.
LARRY HAMILTON ’63 of Dallas, Texas ([email protected]): “Ripon organized a Career Discovery Tour that included about 15 students exploring potential future career paths.The group spent a couple of days in Dallas staying at my recently completed Lorenzo Hotel. I met up with them on a Saturday night and led a little walking tour of downtown Dallas starting at the Lorenzo, then walking to the nearby Aloft Hotel, a conversion of a historic 1925 building that we completed in 2009. There we all had a drink at the bar (with our bartender not checking IDs). Then we moved to the Dallas Power & Light complex where we had dinner at its Indian restaurant, Spice in the City, and the students got to see a historic complex that we had converted into loft apartments in 2005. After dinner, we resumed the walking tour down Main Street to the former Municipal Building (where Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby in 1963, our graduation year) at which point I excused myself and the students ventured on to explore the Deep Ellum neighborhood on their own.
“The following morning we had a nice brunch that I hosted at Lorenzo Hotel, and a few local alumni also attended. I think all of us elders found the students to be very impressive. They certainly seemed to be a cut above the likes of me at that age. The following day, while the students were off to other exciting venues, I had the pleasure of a brief meeting with Acting President Ed Wingenbach and Vice President for Advancement SHAWN KARSTEN ’09, so I was fortunate enough to get a good dose of Ripon College for a few days in March.”
SUSAN RITTER KALANGES ’63 of Chester, Virginia ([email protected]): “All’s well in Chester, Virginia. We always seem to be busy — with a little travel in the States (I haven’t been overseas for awhile), our organizations (need to cut down on those), our daughters who live close by and trying to downsize all our ‘stuff’ — just in case we need to downsize our living quarters one of these days! Hope to make it to our 60th reunion! Best to all!”
SUSAN KELLER MATTHES ’63 of Carson City, Nevada ([email protected]): “Here in the West, our spring often was mixed with snowfall in the mountains and rains in the valleys. Many of the peaks in the Sierra Nevada are still white and so lovely against a blue sky. Our water supply for the summer should be quite adequate here in the desert.
“Juergen and I revisited Utah and the Moab area this spring to finish up with a boat trip on the Colorado and a jeep trip into the Paradox salt extrusion areas. Here there’s a layer of 5,000 feet of salt below the earth’s surface which pushes up to the surface on occasion — a result of an inland sea which covered much of this area way back when! The forces of the earth are indeed interesting and beautiful!
“Relaxing time on our patio at Red Cliffs Lodge overlooking a quiet section of the river, listening to birds and watching rafters and kayakers float past completed our Moab visits. Flaming Gorge was another interesting, though not nearly as popular, stop for a few days in the upper northeast corner of Utah. Utah is certainly a state that has much to offer visitors of all interests.
“Value the positives of each day — and protect your health. Both are important! Happy summer days!”
DAN SCHULTZ ’63 of Silver Spring, Maryland ([email protected]): “I know that at our age most people are looking to downsize — selling the family home and moving into a smaller home or condo or into a retirement community, etc. We, on the other hand, acquired our winter home in Florida two years ago in Palm Beach Gardens; and over this past winter renovated a lakefront home on a small lake in Wisconsin that we will use for our getaway place in the hot summer months when you don’t want to be in Florida and would rather not be in the Washington, D.C., area where our primary home is. Hard to beat: Washington, D.C., in the spring and fall when it is beautiful here; Florida in the winter months; and a Wisconsin lake in the hot summer months. Our Wisconsin place is particularly special to me as it is on Lake Ripley, the lake where I spent my youth at our family summer home that ultimately became my folks’ primary home when my dad retired. Bookends of my life, so to speak.
“As we get older, our lives seem to become a series of falls. My wife fell riding her bike in February and broke her wrist and severed a tendon. One of my sisters fell last month and fractured her hip. And a number of our friends have experienced falls of one magnitude or another. En garde, and watch your step!”
All the best everyone. Let’s all stay in touch. Until next time.
WAYNE