Dear Old Guards,
It was a gray and rainy morning as I drove from Greece, NY to Geneseo. The dreary weather was not the only thing on my mind as I made the 45 minute journey to The Big Tree Inn. There were three members from the ’68 pledge class coming whom I’ve never met. I wondered how comfortable they would feel with the earlier pledge class members whom they probably never met or hardly knew.

I soon realized I had no need to worry. After walking into the tavern I was greeted by Jim Wright (’68)* and big smile. I have to admit his full head of thick gray hair made me envious and self-conscious. Where was my ET beret when I needed it? After a few polite exchanges about our jobs and families, we chuckled about the legendary (and imaginary) Sam Trespino. (You can read about Jim’s most recent strange encounter with this character in the Old Guard Notes section.) It wasn’t very long before we were joined by regulars Al “Ace� Tolsma ’65, Bob Hussey ’63, Dave Mead ’65, Bob Veltz ’65 and newcomers Tom “Moonzo� Mooney ’68 and Tom Powers ’68.

Bill Kamalsky ’68……I quit drinking Jenny Crème long ago and have gone to Bud—this helps to deal with 900+ middle school students at Mexico Middle School where I am currently principal. If they only knew what I was like in college they sure as hell would not have put me in charge of a school! That’s all for now—again thanks for getting in touch. Stay well.

Tom Powers ’68……reports that he is Director of Audiology and Chief Research Officer at Siemens Hearing Instruments and once fitted Ronal Reagan with hearing aids at the White House in 1988.

Jim Wright ’68……. Not much out of the ordinary to report on most of my life events. Everything has gone reasonably well- MS in Accounting from SUNY Binghamton- 1973, married for 32 years, two offspring both grown and on their own, house in the burbs for 30 years., gainfully employed for the past 32 years, and no jail time served to date.

Health wise, it's a different story. The cumulative effects of a decadent lifestyle rooted in the late 60's subsequently augmented by a biker lifestyle eventually took their toll on my health. Unfortunately, much of the damage cannot be reversed. Presently, I'm recovering rather slowly from various botched surgical procedures- liposuction, tummy tuck, facelift, hair transplant, and several others. I fell victim to a surgeon whose incompetence left me terribly deformed. So hideous are the results that I rarely appear in public during daylight hours and am forced to work from home.

Tom “Moonzo� Mooney ’68……Just became a Grampa for the first time to Liam Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Steve Trokosky ’68…..reports that he is retiring this year as Superintendent of Allegany-Limestone Central Schools but will stay in the area because of a terrific new girlfriend.

Bob Veltz ’65 and Dave Mead ’65….. are still working on plans to reunite their band The Specters for a performance at our next reunion.

Tom DeBello’s ’63…. mother Adeline recently passed away at 9O after a long illness. Those of you who were close to Tom may wish to send a donation in his mother’s memory to Hope Children’s Fund at 301 Owasco Drive in Pt. Jefferson, NY 11737.

Bruce Jordan ’63 and Jack Sheehan ’63 and Family……are planning a month long tour of Eastern Europe in June. The tour will include a river cruise and a stay in Rome.

We will return the original and the Xerox copy (if you wish) to you after placing it on the web. To enlarge the photos in Internet Explorer look for the orange button near the bottom right corner with arrows on it and click it to change the size. In Firefox (and likely other mozilla based browsers) click on the magnifying glass when it appears. Special thanks to Dave for taking the time and effort to do this for us as well as letting us use his website to post our newsletters and pictures!!

Geneseo was a fabulous, fun-filled experience. I could have spent several decades there, if only my body could have stayed 25 for that length of time.

Too bad you have not been able to contact Eric Wilson ’66. I remember coming out of the Palace Lounge at 1 PM where Tom Crowley ’66, Beatle Bailey, and I tended bar just in time to see Eric come racing north on Main St. swinging widely around the fountain, and then crash into the house next to the Village Tavern (I think it was called that). Eric who was known to imbibe every so often, was blotto, so I dragged him out of the car and spirited him away to Beatle’s house to sober up and thus avoid DWI type charges.

Ditto for Tom Crowley. I was Best Man at his wedding to Marie Caracappa (Clio) which happened down on Long Island during semester break their senior years. Several car-loads of the brothers attended but I understand their union did not stand the test of time. Tom also had occasion to imbibe, and often, after extricating him from a lengthy session at the Palace, we would run down the hill to our apartment on Wadsworth St. where he often would run full tilt into the front of the house as he was unable to veer from anything but a straight ahead course.

Tom’s lengthy sessions often started at 2 PM when Pat Pallend ’63 would open the Idle Hour and then fun till the wee hours of the night. Ah Glorious days they were. And speaking of Pallend, he attended my wedding in Boston in 1974 and one of my bride’s uncles pigeon-holed him for a lengthy chat, providing all sorts of advice on how to be a good husband, as the uncle thought Pat was me (there is a faint resemblance, but I’m a hell of a lot better looking). But I have to thank Patrick as when I was still single and living in Boston, Pat and his then wife Robin were living in Webster, Mass and Pat was teaching at Worcester. I used to bring lady friends and spend the weekend with Pat, and when I brought Janet, Pat told me that she was a “keeper�.