Taking the pulse of the Class of 1971 at our 45th Reunion

Forty-fifth.

A propitious number, or so says Affinity Numerology, a website devoted to the mystical meaning and symbolism of numbers. Here’s what it says about 45:

45 contains reliability, patience, focus on building a foundation for the future, and wit. 45 is worldly and sophisticated. It has a philanthropic focus on humankind. It is generous and benevolent and has a deep concern for humanity. Along that line, 45 supports charities dedicated to the benefit of humankind.

As we march past for the 45th time in the parade of alumni, and inch toward our 50th, we can at least hope that we live up to some of these extravagant attributes. (Of course, Affinity Numerology doesn’t attract customers by telling them what losers they are. Sixty-seven, the year we began college and the age most of us turn this year, is equally propitious: Highly focused on creating or maintaining a secure foundation for the family. It's conscientious, pragmatic, and idealistic.)

But we don’t have to rely on shamans to tell us who we are. Roughly 200 responded to the long, whimsical survey that Art Lowenstein and Chris Connell (with much help from Alan Usas) prepared for our virtual Reunions Yearbook. Here’s an interpretive look at the results. Most questions were multiple-choice, but some left room for greater expression, albeit anonymously.

First the percentages.

Wedded Bliss

Two-thirds of us went to the altar just once and five percent never married.

A quarter of us have made return trips, which Samuel Johnson once called “the triump of hope over experience.” Eighteen percent are married for a second time and six percent on marriage No. 3 or more. Five percent are widowed. Five percent are divorced. Three percent have a same-sex spouse or partner. A sole respondent regrets getting married.

Progeny

Most have one (11 percent) or two kids (42 percent) Almost 20 percent have no kids. Almost a quarter have three or four kids. One person—presumable not the one who wishes he/she had never married—has five kids. On average we have 1.9 kids, which is also the U.S. average. One in seven has stepchildren.

Five-sixths of all our children are four-year college graduates. Almost two-thirds have graduate or professional degrees.

But their parents were no slouches. More than half of us have professional degrees, 40 percent master’s degrees and 15 percent Ph.Ds.

More than half are still waiting for their first grandchild (52 percent). The lucky ones have 1.5 grandchildren on average. The survey turned up only one great-grandparent, who has two.

Nine percent of us parents have children age 15 or younger.

Ten percent have kids 25 or older living at home, including one classmate with three still in the nest.

How often do we see our children?

Daily 15 percent Weekly 29 percent Monthly 36 percent Yearly 16 percent Never 5 percent

Thirty percent of us have children who went to or were admitted to Princeton.

Thirty-two percent have kids who were turned down.

The workaday world

Here’s how we put bread on the table.

Ten percent served in the military. Almost half worked for a small business or professional firm. Seventeen percent became academics. Sixteen percent toiled for a Fortune 500 company. Twelve percent worked for local, state or federal government and nine percent were in the non-profit world. More than a quarter worked mostly for themselves. A third mostly drew a paycheck. Five percent worked mostly abroad. Two percent worked for their family-owned business.

Twenty-two percent supervised five or fewer employees.

2 More than half (51 percent) supervised 21-250. One-sixth had more than 250 workers. Two classmates ran businesses with 10,000+ employees.

On and off the treadmill

Only 31 percent of us are retired. Forty-six percent work full-time. Twenty-two percent work part-time. Three people (1.5 percent) are unemployed.

Fifteen percent of those working say they do not plan on retiring ever. Twenty percent will retire when they can no longer do the job. The rest plan to retire or semi-retire within a year (7 percent), four years (35 percent) or five years or longer (24 percent).

One classmate retired at age 40 and another at 47. A small bunch retired in their 50s.

Eighty-six percent of the retirees are happy they stepped off the treadmill. The rest (14 percent) are ambivalent. Nobody’s out and out sorry they took retirement.

In the arena and the voting booth

Just 6 percent of us ever ran for office at any level. Most won local races, but lost at the state or national level.

Almost one in five have held appointed government position, a quarter at the national level.

Politically, the apples have fallen to the left of the tree. By our reckoning, 55 percent of our parents were Republicans, 42 percent Democrats and 1 percent socialists or communists.

Us? Fifty-three percent Democrats, 22 percent independents and 21 percent Republican. We also have one person in each of these five categories: Liberal, Libertarian, Apolitical, Anarchist and Canadian (sic).

Eighteen percent consider ourselves somewhat or very conservative, 32 percent moderate, and 43 percent somewhat or very liberal. Two people are radical, two apolitical and four something else.

One person (0.5 percent) is a Tea Party member.

Notwithstanding coming of age in the turbulent ‘60s, most think our political views have not budged (54 percent). The rest say they have moved to the right (24 percent) or left (23 percent).

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We voted 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 for the Democratic presidential candidates in every presidential election since 1992. Mitt Romney got 23 percent of our votes in 2012. Five percent of us voted for Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 and three percent pulled the lever for Ralph Nader in 2000.

The Gipper got only 31 percent of our votes in 1980 and 38 percent four years later. Back in 1972 George McGovern was swamped in Richard Nixon’s re-election landslide, but he garnered 78 percent of the Class of 1971’s votes.

And how, you ask, are we feeling in this tumultuous election year? The Donald? Feeling the Bern? With Hill, come hell or high water? We don’t know; alas, we didn’t pose that question.

Filthy lucre and such

One dollar today buys what cost 17 cents in 1971 (which means our $2,800 tuition that year is the equivalent of $16,541 today. The actual 2015-2016 tuition is nearly three times that amount ($45,320). So it doesn’t mean as much to be a millionaire today as it did when “The Millionaire” rules the airwaves.

Nonetheless, most of us (77 percent) are millionaires. Forty-six percent have a net worth between $1 million and $5 million, 18 percent are between $5 million and $10 million, and almost 13 percent possess more than $10 million.

No wonder we get so many appeals from Annual Giving.

But 54 percent of us are still paying off large mortgages. Three-quarters owe more than $100,000 and one in eight owes $500,000 or more.

Two-thirds donate more than $2,500 a year to charity. A third give more than $10,000, including 6 percent who give $50,000 to $100,000, and five percent who give more than $100,000 annually.

Most people (69 percent) own the house they live in. Ten percent are renters. Forty-three percent own two or more homes.

Almost two in five live in the suburbs, a quarter in big cities, two of five in small or medium-sized cities and 9 percent in the country. Four percent live outside the U.S. Fewer than three percent dwell in retirement communities.

Most of us (63 percent) changed careers at least once. A quarter changed careers three times or more.

4 Most of the retirees stayed put after getting their golden watch. Among those that moved, 44 percent sought a sunnier, warmer climate. Many sought to be near water, mountains, or their children.

We asked how many countries classmates have visited, but didn’t calculate percentages or averages. One person claimed 96. Nearly nine in 10 have travelled abroad for business or pleasure in the past three years.

We’ve had eight previous major Reunions. Eighty percent of those who filled out the survey attended the 25th and 72 percent the 40th. Which Reunion was the best? Here’s what they said.

• “25th Reunion: 16 live music acts, including Smokey Robinson, record setting Class of 1971 attendance, the first fireworks display, zero rain for the entire weekend, the coincident 250th Princeton celebration, and great food. What's not to like?” • “40th. Age increases the appreciation.” • “They're all great. I love the P-Rade.” • “The 35th or 40th. We were all kind of finished with our careers and comfortable in our approaching old age.” • “10th. Still single and had a wild time.” • “Each seems to be better than the last.” • “25th. I got the ugliest sport coat I've ever owned, but I only wear it every 5 years like a short lived cicada.” • “25th because all of my roommates also attended.” • “25th, drove across country in my old VW camper and stayed at the boathouse parking lot. Many friends not seen for years.” • “10th—still married, went with wife and had fun.” • “The 25th or 40th. My parents were still alive and I was newly married at the 25th. Loved Marine Corps marching band.” • “25th - I loved wearing the blazers for the first time, leading the P-Rade, sharing Princeton and Smokey Robinson with my kids (the first time they were old enough to appreciate it), and seeing the best fireworks show I've ever seen.” • “40th——nearly all my best buds came back for it....and the Beach Boys!” • “25th - biggest crowd, great entertainment; but the Beach Boys at our 40th was a close second.”

Almost three in five have attended off-year reunions. We have at least one Ironman who has attended every one, major or minor, 45 in a row. Favorite memories:

• “President Tilghman saying at our 40th Class Dinner, 'What genius for the Class of 1971 to bring in The Beach Boys for Reunions; why hasn't anyone thought of that before?' Also, dancing until dawn at our 15th Reunion to Rosanna Band.” • “My first P-Rade, 1983, realizing how many guys had already gone by and they were still over 80.”

5 • “Dancing with my 3 year old daughter at the 15th.” • “Visiting my old dorm room, watching the P-Rade, sitting in a dorm room with a senior and other classmates during a lightning storm, doing a community service project at the 30th.” • “In the early years, visiting with several professors who had a great impact on me.” • “Preteen son staying in dorm room with us.” • “Dancing late with my wife after fireworks” • “Taking our daughter who was born in 1969 and showing her where she lived and the campus.” • “Running accidentally into Cosmo Iacavazzi at our 5th.” • “35th reunion of the Women of '71.” • “Dancing to the Beach Boys with my daughter (a graduating senior) outside my freshman room on a beautiful summer night.” • “Meeting classmates I did not know in college.” • “Not remembering the next morning.” • “Watching the Old Guard (especially the walkers) by Nassau Hall, walking through the thick ranks of seniors by Dillon Gym. I love how Princeton gets almost immediately more diverse in the classes right after ours.” • “Visit to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.” • “Marching through the Nassau St. gate in our 25th with recent alumni who I had watched grow up.”

And some favorite memories of our undergraduate years:

• Drinking champagne with the Chambers Brothers band on concert stage at Dillon Gym. • Growing up • Playing basketball in Gauss Suite with roommates … when Goeff Petrie and John Hummer came in and played for a while. • Bobbitt (saying), ‘Only an animal would pass two no trump.’ • Walking home from the library late at night past Gothic buildings with my roommate, talking about Big Issues • Brown Hall Riots • 1970 Student Strike • All the parties at TI with my classmates • Saturday nights at . Late night • John Hollander teaching me to write. • The excitement of freshman week contrasted with the wistful horror of graduation time. • Rowing with my classmates on Lake Carnegie • track team, high jumping 6'6; protest rallies, glee club, coeducation • hanging out at Cap & Gown with the boys • Meeting my wife-to-be sophomore year. Late nights at the E-Quad. Having faculty treat me as a colleague.

6 • Playing in Peacock Crossing • Club Mixers • Graduation / football games • Basically I did not like undergraduate life at Princeton. No (or few) women. The club and bicker scene sucked. • Beating Yale in swimming • Being introduced to marijuana by a classmate in his room, while listening to Bach • Wednesday Night Bible studies at Dial Lodge (Yes, that Dial Lodge) • Grateful Dead concert in 1971 was on my birthday and that same day I turned in my thesis. • Houseparties • Falling in love and sharing Princeton. • Working in the chapel. • Brahms Requiem performances, with the . • Carlos Baker impersonating Hemingway • Meeting my wife • Dr. Alyea • Broadcasting football and basketball on WPRB • Occupying the swimming pool in 1970 when the school shut down. There were about 20 kids, both male and female skinny dipping. • Oldies but goodies parties at Tower Club • Discovering yoga • WPRB • May 1970-Nixon's invasion of Cambodia and the shutdown of the University and classes • So many — but the highlights include building lifelong friendships, incredibly stimulating History Department precepts, working with Nancy Weiss on my Senior thesis, partying at Cap & Gown, living in Blair Tower junior year, learning how to fence. • road trips • the strike • Too many. Perhaps dancing at the end of the night at Tower club. • Football, Theater Intime, , Roommates • Hummer's slam dunk against Columbia freshman year at Dillon Gym • Late nights with DuPraz as The Prince went to press • Tripping. • Carl Fields • Four Years of Theater Intime • Crew - especially trips to Florida and racing season

We get by with a little help from our friends

We’ve got friends. Some have scads. Apart from spouses and significant others, 18 percent count one to three close friends, 60 percent four to 10 and 22 percent more than

7 10. A great many are classmates. Fifty-four percent see one to four classmates regularly, 11 percent see five to 10, and 3 percent see more than 10.

Three classmates in four devote almost five hours a week on average to community service. Educational and cultural organizations draw the most participants (62 percent), followed by religious-sponsored groups (36 percent); recreational and civic improvement (both 27 percent), environmental and youth groups (both 19 percent). Ten percent belong to fraternal organizations. More than half serve on their organizations’ boards.

Serious matters

We are split 40-40 on whether race relations have gotten better or worse in recent years.

Three-quarters are for amnesty and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants; the rest split between opposed and undecided.

Will our grandchildren be better off than us? Thirty-five percent said no, 20 percent yes and the rest unsure.

Three-quarters believe the 2003 invasion and war in Iraq was unjustified. Fifty percent said the war on terror has not been effective; 22 percent felt it has been. Fifty-five percent believe our civil liberties are at risk; 30 percent say they are not.

Keeping the faith (or not)

Perhaps the most striking change is how far we’ve travelled from the religious tradition in which our parents raised us.

Ten out of 11 were raised in some faith. Twenty percent were Episcopalians, 20 percent Catholic, 17 percent Presbyterian (the faith of Princeton’s fathers), 12 percent Conservative or Reformed Judaism, 8 percent Congregational, 5 percent Baptist, almost 5 percent Methodist, 4 percent Lutheran, 3 percent Unitarian and a smattering of other religions. None of us was Muslim. One of us was Mormon and one agnostic.

Today we are almost evenly split, 49.7 percent practicing and 50.3 percent not practicing religion.

Catholicism (19 percent) and the Episcopal Church (18 percent) still have the most adherents, although fewer. Most of the other Protestant denominations also lost followers (Presbyterian 11 percent, Judaism 10 percent, Congregational 7 percent, Baptist and Methodist both 4 percent, Lutheran 2 percent. We picked up some Unitarians (4 percent) and Church of Christ members (2 percent, up from zero). We lost our Mormon and still have no Muslims. We gained 1 Buddhist and one follower of Hinduism.

One classmate professed belief in “Anti-Trumpism.”

8 Whatever our faith or lack thereof, 65 percent go to church or temple fewer times than once a month. Twenty-eight percent go once to four times a month, and 7 percent attend five or more services monthly.

Seven out of 10 believe there is a God, with certainty (34 percent) or doubts (27 percent). Almost a quarter checked “I don’t know; I’m an agnostic” and 15 percent chose atheist. So what do we believe in?

• Big Bang Cosmology (only eight percent skeptical or disbelievers) • Darwinism (93 percent believers, four percent maybe) • Free will (67 percent believers, 28 percent perhaps) • Afterlife (54-46) • Global warming (only eight percent skeptical and three percent disbelievers) • American exceptionalism (59 percent) • Extra-terrestrial life (33 percent believers, 46 percent perhaps) • Rock ‘n’ Roll (86 percent believers, nine percent perhaps)

And we put no stock in:

• Creationism (76 percent disbelievers, 11 percent skeptics) • Extra-sensory perception (55 percent skeptics or disbelievers) • Predestination (59 percent no, 24 percent skeptical) • Astrology (90 percent skeptics or disbelievers) • Reincarnation (57 percent disbelievers, 23 percent skeptics)

No strangers to ailments, but feeling good

The survey asked if we’d ever had a long, long list of ailments. A third of us have high blood pressure. Thirty percent have had cancers and 26 percent prostate problems. One in five has had heart trouble and one in 10 underwent heart surgery. Nearly a quarter of us have arthritis. Twenty percent have had joint problems and 12 percent have a new knee, hip or other replacement part. Twenty percent have eye problems and 15 percent hearing problems. Thirteen percent have dealt with depression and 3 percent other psychiatric problems. Eight percent have diabetes, 4 percent lung disease, 3 percent osteoporosis, 3 percent memory problems and 1 percent HIV/AIDS.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that an overwhelming majority report our health is excellent (49 percent) or good (44 percent). Only 7 percent said their health was fair; no one said it was poor.

More than three in five have more avoirdupois than when we graduated. Nearly a third said they are within 10 lbs. of their weight at graduation and six percent weigh less than that. Fifty-one percent weigh more 10 lbs. over and 12 percent weigh a lot more.

We sleep 7.1 hours a night on average, but three out of four get up one or more times a night. Sixty-one percent of us are nappers.

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Recreational sex, drugs and other stuff

Thirty percent have sex with their spouse or partner once a week or more.

Twenty-six percent do the nasty once or twice a month. Twenty-five percent have sex very occasionally. Nineteen percent no longer have sex.

Thirty-five percent have used the little blue pill or some other love potion.

Most of us (56 percent) never smoked cigarettes or smoked once but gave it up (31 percent). Three percent own up to smoking occasionally and two percent are heavy smokers.

Four percent of us are heavy drinkers, 63 percent moderate drinkers, 21 percent drink on rare occasions and 6 percent are teetotalers. Six percent are recovering alcoholics and 3 percent were once heavy drinkers but gave it up.

Sixty-four percent have tried marijuana—a figure so low it strains credulity—and 24 percent have tied cocaine and other banned substances. Among the latter, two in five used cocaine after college, 16 percent took LSD and 23 percent tried mushrooms or other psychedelics.

Twelve percent of us have been arrested and 4 percent incarcerated.

Only one in four wears a tie or business attire to work every day. Nearly two-thirds dress up a couple of times a month or a year. One in 12 never wears a tie.

We’re not Luddites

More than nine in 10 use smartphones and home computers, and 99 percent send and receive emails. Two-thirds have digital cameras and about three-quarters bank and shop online. Forty percent download or stream music, 17 percent have operated a website and 2 percent use something called a typewriter.

Nine-nine percent spend at least one hour a week online. Forty-five percent spend one to 10 hours and 55 percent spend longer, including the five percent who spend more than 40 hours a week at their keyboards and consoles.

But 83 percent says they are total klutzes at video games. Barely a quarter call ourselves computer whizzes.

Three in five subscribe to premium cable channels.

Wheels, wings and things that float

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Two-thirds of us own two or three cars; nearly a quarter own just one, but nine percent own four or more. Fewer than 2 percent do not own a car.

Three percent own planes or have a jet share.

Twelve percent have powerboats and 7 percent sailboats.

Our favorite pastimes?

• Travelling for pleasure 83 percent • Sports 73 percent • Exercise in a gym or at home 72 percent • Walks 69 percent • Hiking 37 percent • Golfing 32 percent • Swimming 31 percent • Sex 48 percent

Eighty-three percent enjoy reading and 71 percent own up that television is a favorite pastime. Sixteen percent picked prayer and 14 percent meditation. Eighteen percent like going to rock concerts. Thirteen percent are book collectors and two percent are model railroaders.

Almost 20 percent listed “looking for my glasses” as a favorite activity. Go figure.

Check the full survey results to see our favorite books and movies as well as our favorite songs from college.

Hey, Jude over Satisfaction

We preferred the Beatles to the Stones by 3-1; Judy Collins to Joni Mitchell 3-2; the Temptations (56 percent) over the Four Tops and Smokey Robinson.

Almost two-thirds eat out two or more times a week. Five percent eat seven or more meals out a week.

Asked if we’d reached our goals, 60 percent said they had achieved the goal of spending more time with family; 33 percent said they’d spent less time than they’d hoped.

Half hadn’t read as much as they’d hoped; 42 percent said they did.

Fifty-four percent said they hadn’t kept in as good physical shape as they’d hoped; 44 percent achieved that goal.

As for smelling the roses, 38 percent did but 48 percent fell short.

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We didn’t use the dreaded term “bucket list,” but did ask what wonderful things people want to do. Among them:

• Visit Antarctica, have a harem • Lower anxiety level • Teach great-grandchildren (when they come) to ski • Write a novel • Read to young underprivileged kids • Work with the religious elderly • Break 70 in a round of golf, sail the Intracoastal Waterway, write and publish a good novel. • Visit Hong Kong, see my sons graduate from high school and go off to college, complete a book I've been working on for ten years. • A three month spiritual retreat; a six-month spiritual retreat; an international tour leading Sanskrit Chanting Groups • Gain enlightenment • Fly in a glider; raise one more Labrador; dance with my granddaughters at their weddings • Nothing really • Regain my youth and live life again, • Sit and tend a wood burning fire for hours on end • Hold my grandchildren...hoping there will be some before I die. • Skydive • Sail across the Atlantic • Hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up. Climb Mt. Whitney. Sail Desolation Sound. • Attend my Princeton 50th. • Hike the entire Appalachian Trail • See a cure for Alzheimer’s so I can get back more quality time with my parents • Die peacefully

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