Back, Back... ...to Culver Days March 2017 Class of 1962 President’s Message We hope that you are all well and that as many of you as possible will be able to join us for our 55th Reunion. Go to our class web site (http://www.cma62.org) for the most current details. If you have yet to register, you can do so at http://www.culver.org/reunion2017. Note that pre-registration closes on April 30th. In this issue of the newsletter, we have a recap of the most recent Mini-Reunion: Chicago/ Culver, we introduce a new feature where we provide some of your remembrances of staff and faculty, we are especially pleased to include an article by Craig Duchossois: A Trustee’s Thoughts, and we focus on our classmates from Troop B. As always, if there is anything you’d like to share with us or on which you’d like us to focus, we value and encourage hearing from you. --JMD Editors’ Comments on 55th Reunion & Jane & Dee As we approach our 55th Class Reunion, 48 Classmates have indicated a strong inclination to attend and there are 3 maybes. It would be great to have 55 at 55th, so think about dropping by for at least a part of the get together. The Committee has been hard at work planning a full long weekend of activities for both classmates and spouses. For those who have been away for any number of years, you will find the Academy quite different and, yet, the same. If life is four seasons, I think most of us are starting to experience winter. Too many of our class will not enjoy the opportunity to reconnect because of health. Also, we will not be able to reconnect with those who have passed. The odds of seeing old friends and catch up on life is becoming slimmer. Think about the men and women that were part of your life in the formative years. Over the past five years, many have told me: “I really didn’t like Culver that much.” Maybe not, but the classmates were pretty great people. Over the past 5 years we tried to cover each of the units; however we have failed to address our coed contingency. Greg Gazda wrote pieces on Dee and Jane, while acting as newsletter editor, so we thought it would be different to have the ladies provide insight into their experience as the Thalia Menninger to a raft of Dobie Gillis cadets. The Academy allowed faculty daughters to attend class starting in 1957. Dee started in 1958 and Jane in 1959. Jane Benson grew up at Culver, the daughter of the Dean of the Academy, Ernest B. Benson. She knew the faculty members and their children. Jane spend her freshman (fourth class) year at Northfield School for Girls, before completing school at Culver. On the other hand, Dee Gleason grew up in Indianapolis and moved to Culver in 1956, when her father, Ronald J. Gleason, joined the English Department faculty. Dee professes to have been shy, and the move from a large urban city to Culver was a major change. She spent her 8th grade year in the Culver Community School system. She did not know many of the faculty or their children. While they were able to participate in pretty much the full gambit of academia, their experience was devoid of the athletic opportunities that we all enjoyed. Also, because they were the first females that PAGE 2 the administration had to confront and it was the late 50s/ early 60s, their social life, despite the best efforts of a few, was sorely lacking. Jane felt like she was “on view” and awkward in class, probably a factor of coming from an all girls school and our age at the time. While the school had almost one hundred years to figure out how to maintain order and educate male students, the introduction of coeds was a challenge. Both Dee and Jane commented on the strict code of conduct that they were to observe. The lack of facilities for women was an issue that took time to resolve. Both commented that the Theater Program under the guidance of Bill Martin and his wife was a blessing, since it not only provided an exciting experience, it also gave the coeds a more natural opportunity to socialize with the cadets. In 2016, the Coeds of all classes held a reunion at the Academy. This gathering focused the unique experience our ladies had on opening the Academy to women, even prior to West Point. I wish I not been so shy back then, which prevented me from knowing these Ladies better. In any event, I think that Dee and Jane’s thoughts on life at Culver will provide a new slant on your view of our ladies. We welcome emails, calls or letters of concern, observation or critique. Please contact us at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] Louis A. Desenberg/ R. Bradley Laycock/ Dan Baker Newsletter Editors The Great Chicago-Culver Mini Reunion July 13-17, 2016 From the inspiration of Craig Duchossois and the perspiration of Bob Sindelar sprang forth the Great Chicago-Culver Mini Reunion. It consisted of a magnificent day at the horse races near Chicago followed by a gorgeous weekend on Lake Maxinkuckee. For the full details (and far more pictures) follow the link from the Home Page of our class web site: http://www.cma62.org. Below is a synopsis of the activities and pictures from the web page. The Mini began with classmates gathering in suburban Chicago at the Marriott Schumburg hotel on Wednesday evening, July 13, 2016. The next day, Craig and Janet Duchossois invited us all for a Day at the Races at the Arlington International Raceway. The weather and view from our set of suites were spectacular. PAGE 3 We had a total of 24 attendees (13 classmates plus 11 significant others). Here are most (but not all) of us standing trackside after the race named in our honor. Trackside for the "Culver Mini Reunion" Race (L to R): Phil & Carol Wright, Howie Bridges, Cheryl & Mike Ryan, Vicki & Neil Crist, Rocky & Twink Wayburn, Betsy Davis, Linda Dewey, John Davis, Raymond Dewey, Tom & Cathy Westbrook, Bob Sindelar In the course of the afternoon at the track, we had the opportunity to meet and talk with Craig’s father, Richard “Dick” Duchossois … a most fascinating gentleman. As if we really needed more food after the fantastic spread at the track, Bob Sindelar arranged a superb family-style, price-fixed dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy. Following the drive down from Chicago on Friday and getting settled in our respective lodgings, we gathered at the lake house of one of Craig's daughters (Ashley Joyce) for some welcoming libations. The Joyce Lake House PAGE 4 Then around 5 PM, we loaded into a pair pontoon boats for a leisurely tour of the lake while noshing on delicious appetizers and refreshing drinks. On our way to a catered dinner under a tent behind the carriage house of the Joyce lake house, all 32 of us (19 classmates plus 13 significant others) gathered for a group photo: Standing: Bob Osborn, Jay & Mona Owen, Cheryl & Mike Ryan, Linda & Raymond Dewey, Nannie Sue & Bob Sindelar, Lou and Cathy Desenberg, Howard Bridges, Penn & Margarida Williamson, Neil & Vicki Crist, Rocky & Twink Wayburn, Bill Hall, and Tricia Fox Eisenberg Sitting: Doug, Neumann, Rene Murai, Janet & Craig Duchossois, Bob Hartman, John & Betsy Davis, Phil & Carol Wright, Buzz Eisenberg We had several special guests with us at the dinner. First and foremost, we were delighted to have Bob Hartman, Culver Historian and Honorary Member of the Class of '62, join us. Mike Ryan, Bob Hartman, Buzz Eisenberg PAGE 5 In addition, we invited three of the Academy staff with whom your Reunion Committee works most frequently (and without whom your Committee could never accomplish what it does): CAPT Mike Neller (Commandant of Cadets and the coordinator for events supported by our class's Student Enrichment Fund) and his wife Jeni; Alan Loehr (Director of Alumni Relations) and his wife Wendy; and Jeff Anderson (our liaison to the Culver Fund) and his wife Ashley. After dinner, we all crossed the road to the Joyce's lake house to watch the Ann M. Smitson Moonlight Serenade featur- ing the Culver Naval Band playing on board the 3-masted square rigger R. H. Ledbetter (the 1984 replacement for the O.W. Fowler from our days at Culver). [Weather permitting, our class will be cruising on the Ledbetter on Thursday evening of our 55th Reunion.] On Saturday, everyone was basically on their own for the morning and after- The R.H. Ledbetter noon. In the morning, Rocky Wayburn organized a threesome to explore the aeromechanical properties of dimpled spheroids (a/k/a "golf") at the Mystic Hills course. Joining him were Howie Bridges and Lou Desenberg. (Unfortunately, the only quote offered to describe the event was "The memory was it was not memorable!" from Rocky. No pictures.) Some people went trap shooting. (There were rumors that the Culver Fund benefited significant- ly from some wagering between two of the shooters.) A few couples visited the photography exhibition of photos by Eudora Welty, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Ansel Adams in what we knew as the Eppley Hall of Science (now the Crisp Visual Arts Center). Taken from the archives of the Culver Art Collection, this exhibition included photographs by Alfred Eisenstaedt created for the 1939 article on Culver Military Academy for Life Magazine.