[ Nu Alpha Phi ]

The NAP Network

Note: For privacy reasons, postal addresses and telephone numbers have been omitted from the online version of this column.

Chuck Shelton '32 #144

Thank you for putting out such a fine Oak Leaf. Did you know that you spread out the news items equally over the years? Twenty-six items from the years '58 to '96, and twenty-seven for the years '25 to '57.

Glad to know that so many of the Brothers and Sisters of the later years enjoy the Fraternity so thoroughly.

I hope your stand in favor of preservation of the Wash prevails. But when the college's "construction crew" gets a few thousand bucks under their belt, look out. In the past thirty years, the college has over-built the campus in a sad way.

[Sent dues.]


W. Boone, M.D. '62 #552

[Sent dues.]

Bill Bowie '75 #762

Hi everyone! Keep up the good work!

After thirteen years in Yosemite National Park, I'm now in Bear Valley, CA.

email: email_deleted

Steve Conner '57 #455

Attended the United Nations Habitat II Conference in Istanbul Turkey as a YMCA Delegate and then toured Turkey with my son, Chris ('85). We thoroughly enjoyed the country, people, history, and culture.

David '64 #581, and Barbara Goodman '65

David works at a local Baltimore hospital while Barbara is receiving training at Johns Hopkins in genetics.
email: email_deleted

Jim Tesitor '52 #367

[Sent dues.]

Roger French '53 #363

[Sent dues.]

Gordon H. Clarke '54 #414

Enclosed is my check for '96 dues.

Delighted that Lee Harlan is now a Nappie. He has done so much for Pomona over the years.

On a personal note, hurricane Bertha hit my home hard. I lost three big trees and power and water were out three days (when I had visiting guests). Scary, but no injuries.


J. L. (Peter) Fish '53 #373

Brother and Sister Nu Alphs,

My apology for being unable at the last minute to attend the Nu Alpha Phi 75th Anniversary. I was not able to transition in time from grubby volunteer worker for a week on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) near Warner Springs to clean and presentable member among you. After being properly castigated, I learned from several brothers that I had missed a great gathering.

If you are not aware of the PCT, and the involvement of some of your Nu Alpha Phi brothers in the PCT Association, I will be happy to fill you in. By Act of Congress in 1968, the PCT was recognized as a National Scenic Trail from Mexico to Canada for hikers and equestrians. It starts near Campo on the Mexican border, passes Pomona College just north of Mt. Baldy, and ends at Manning Park B.C. 2646 miles later. The PCT incorporates much of the earlier John Muir (CA), Skyline (OR), and Cascade (WA) Trails. A few hardy souls hike or ride it in one season but a great many more hike one or more sections a year. It took me four years to complete what was a great experience of hiking it and in the process I was joined at various times by Nu Alpha Phi brothers Don Smith '53 #384 with sons David, Mark, and Steve as well as Porter Lombard '52 #357. Porter also lead me up Mt. Shasta in a memorable ascent of one of the prominent peaks which also became goals for me along the PCT.

Porter and I now serve as Vice Presidents on the Board of Directors of the PCT Association, the non-profit advocate organization for the trail. For me this has become a full time and thoroughly satisfying third career. Don along with fellow Nappie Francis Wheat '42 #234 are supportive members. Our job is to promote and protect the PCT and in partnership with government agencies to maintain it by providing trail volunteers. If you would like to support and participate in what we feel is a worthwhile enterprise on behalf of this national treasure passing right at Pomona's back door, please contact me.

email: email_deleted

Robert N. Shaffer, M.D. '34 #135

Congratulations on the format and the contents of the new Oak Leaf. You are doing a superb job. I am sure all Nappies are grateful to you and your editorial board.

Except for an occasional dollar sent for dues or the scholarship Fund, I have never sent a letter to the Oak Leaf in the past 60 years. The letter of Harry O. Sheppard, '39 #186, in the last edition has stimulated me to send you a small anecdote about him which is reputed to be true.

Early in Harry's career, he became the agent for the "Little Giant," a gasoline-powered tamping machine used to compact the ground around the base of buildings, pillars, etc. With each cycle of the engine, the heavy machine leaps about a foot above the ground and then flattens anything in its path when it comes down.

Having just obtained one of the machines, Harry was in his upstairs bedroom figuring out how to work the animal. Inadvertently, he started the motor and the Little Giant leaped into the air, came down on the floor, went through the floor into the downstairs living room, through that floor, into the basement! Harry remained in the bedroom looking with amazement at the hole. If the story isn't true, it should be!

Enclosed are a few shekels to be used as needed.


Douglas E. Bush '94 #1062

[Change of address.]

John E. Mills '53 #379

This is to notify you that J. Raymond Mills '27 #67 (my Father), and J. Leland Mills '29 #76 (my Uncle) passed away this year. I have many fond memories of them talking about their years as Nu Alphs and the close friendships they developed as a result.

Personally, I have been retired from Chevron for four years-am enjoying the less "hectic schedule." This year, I am the Foreman of the Grand Jury-it keeps me quite busy. Also, I volunteer at Stanford University working with foreign graduate students and their families-very rewarding experience.

I must commend the Editors of the Oak Leaf-a masterful job.

Enclosed is a check for the Cabin Fund in memory of my Father and Uncle-and a check for my yearly dues.


Charles R. Warfield '41 #221

Mary and I spend most of our time in the Newport Beach area. Part of the week, I play tennis and golf in Pasadena.

We see Jack Dwan '41 #211 now and then. He lives nearby.


Eric Myers '80 #865

[Eric uses "emoticons" in his Internet e-mail. Emoticons imbue electronic communications with emotions normally found in a speaker's voice or facial expressions. The character string, :-) looks like a smile if you tilt your head to the left. It denotes humor or sarcasm. Can you figure out what his second emoticon implies? You'll see more of this as the number of submissions via e-mail rises. -Eds.]

I'm glad to hear that NAP is joining The Net. Please add to your list my new (as of last year) e-mail address: myers@umich.edu

I'm now a Lecturer in the physics department at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, after spending two years as a visiting assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Vassar College. The other big news is that I'm engaged. My fiance, Mira Franke, has just finished her first year here at U-M, working toward her Ph.D. in Applied Physics. So we expect to be here for a few years.

The new Oak Leaf looks great. I'm glad you've been able to keep up with my many changes of address. I'll send my (late) dues as soon as I figure out how to e-mail them :-) [OK, I guess I'll have to be old fashioned and put a check in the mail.] I especially want to contribute to the Cabin Fund, since the College took the rooms away from the fraternities. :-( I hope that others will do so too.

Cheers.

email: email_deleted

Tully Wiedman '66 #623

After twenty-four years in Sacramento, we decided a change was in order, and I took on the job of Director of Emergency Services for Natividad Medical Center. This county (Monterey) hospital has a well-respected Family Practice residency and serves a largely indigent Spanish-speaking population with a host of medical and social problems not usually seen in a community hospital. The challenge has been great, but it is also a lot of fun. We have recruited a group of well-trained, young emergency physicians who are energetic and committed, and we are making great strides in bringing our department up to snuff. In addition is the frequently interesting interaction between nurses and other staff who are veterans and union members. We are building in Carmel Valley and enjoying the coastal influence after our two-plus decades in the heat, smog, and dust of the Sacramento Valley.

Lynn Comeskey '60 #517

[Sent dues.]

Don Smith '53 #384

I enclosed a check for '90s dues and the Cabin Fund.

Lynn (Landes '54) and I are comfortably retired in Twain Harte in the Sierra foothills about three hours due east from the San Francisco Bay Area. We have three married sons and eight grandchildren!

Greatly enjoyed the NAP 75th in Claremont this past April.

As ever in NAP.


Lucy Welchel '84 #924

[Change of address.]

Bill Platt '38 #177

What a treat to receive the new Oak Leaf. This maggot wants to be on any Nappie mailing list that may evolve. E-mail is such a convenient way to stay in touch and share ideas. For example, my sister-Betty Campbell-living at Claremont Manor, sent me the L.A. Times story on the possibility of another graduate school in biological sciences that may be added to the Claremont Colleges cluster. It would be nice to be able to get reactions to that proposal from Nappies in better touch with Pomona College and the Claremont scene than we can be out here in the hustings [In my case = The Sea Ranch].

Steve Zetterbert faithfully communicates with me and is of course a valued observer of the Claremont scene. I also got some perspective on latter day Claremont because our granddaughter, Helen Grindley, is returning this fall as a sophomore at Scripps College. You will not be surprised that she is an active member of our family e-mail hotline.

Chris Hall did a magnificent job of articulating "The Pursuit of Nappieness" over our seventy-five years. I'm proud to salute the flag he thus raised. And an honorary membership for Lee Harlan is a splendid notion!

The Oak Leaf, as always, brings welcome news of admired legendary elders-Comf Higman, Bev Blakesles, Blackie Smith, Gordon Petit, Zibby Zabriskie-of my contemporaries, and some of you later members whose trajectories I have followed for one reason or another, such as Jack Shelton. And it's reassuring to see the vitality and number of actives!

email: email_deleted

Pete Fish '53 #373

How neat to be on the Nappie Net. I think I've found my medium and a way around writer's cramp. I'm snailing my dues along with an activity update for a project involving several Nu Alphs including myself.

You writers, artists, editors, and publishers are doing a great job with the Oak Leaf.

email: email_deleted

Paul Nagai '88 #978

Tori Beyer '89 and I surprised our friends and family by exchanging wedding vows at a rocking Halloween costume-party held at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California. While many of our friends suspected, our parents and their friends didn't have a clue. As my mother said later, "Look at how I'm dressed! Do you think I'd have worn that if I knew it was going to be a wedding!?" Mom had come as the grim reaper, white face make-up, black lips and eyes, a long, drapey black cloak, and, of course, a scythe. Dad was a dashing vampire. Tori's parents brought a picture frame, a pitchfork, and farm clothes: American Gothic. Nearly everyone went all out with their costumes, there were some awesome ones!

Jenny Ruhl '88 (costumed as the Reverend Goddess Pomona) performed the ceremony, her first official act as a Universal Life Church Minister. She was ordained especially for the occasion (we made the donation on her behalf ... $47, of course).

Tori and I still crack up when we think of all of the guests, in costume (especially a family friend who came dressed as Pan, sans shirt and avec hairy chaps), strolling through the lobby of the Claremont, a somewhat stuffy hotel. For more pictures, stories, and contact information direct your browser to:

http://www.panaga.com/wed/wed.htm.

email: Paul Nagai

Ben Jones '54 #399

Denise and I signed up to do Scott Weber's Andes-to-the-Amazon 100-mile Stage Race in Equador. I made room in my schedule and bank account to do the event as I needed to do a marathon in South America. Several of the four stages were to be at least 26.2 miles. This would give me six continents of doing a marathon leaving only Australia/New Zealand in the South Pacific Continent. I had already done 99 marathons all together, timing it so that the centennial marathon in Boston would be my 100th marathon. As it turned out, the stage race was called off. We decided to go anyway. We did our own event in Quito, Equador, and in the Galapagos. It was a 50k (31 miles) ultramarathon in each location saving the regular 100th marathon for Boston on 05-15-1996.

We had twelve different flights arranged by a Flight Coordinator at American Airlines giving us the best bargains and frequent flier miles galore. We were in the air 28 hours total and covered about 18,000 miles. I have wanted to go to Equador for sometime, but kept putting it off to go to the Amazon, East Africa, the Himalaya and Antarctica. Since the race was canceled, we were able to spend more time in the Central Highlands of Equador and in the Galapagos. Quito, Equador, is at 9,200 feet elevation. The Andes in Equador split into two chains of volcanoes, the western and eastern chains. One side trip was south to Riobamba through the Avenue of the Volcanoes. Several peaks are over 20,000 feet elevation. One is Cotopaxi. Nearby was a 5.2 earthquake before we arrived which leveled 60% of the town of Pujili. The other is Chimborazo. This peak is the closest to the sun even though it is about 6,000 feet lower than Mt. Everest. Another way of saying it is that it is the furthest point on Earth from the Center of the Earth. This is because of a 13 mile bulge at the equator. Equador, by the way, means equator. Both of these peaks are covered with glacial ice. An avalanche on Chimborazo killed twelve people while we were there. Another interesting place to visit was Mitad del Mundo monument on the equator where we took pictures of ourselves straddling the red line at the equator. We toured Old Town of Quito visiting cathedrals on Palm Sunday and heard a Cardinal speaking. The market places were colorful and crowded. Shopping for souvenirs on Rio Amazonas was fun. Most of the running was at Carolina Park with some of the volcanoes in the background. A great eating place was Rincon la Ronde for native Equadorian food and music. We passed up the coastal region of Equador as we were going to the Galapagos. We also passed up the eastern jungle (oriente) as we had already been to the rain forest in Brazil, and I had been to the headwaters of the Amazon near Machu Picchu in Peru.

The domestic airline SAN took us from Quito to Guayaquil and then 600 miles west to an airstrip on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. From there we boarded a 48 passenger vessel called the M/V Corinthian which was our home for on week. Each day we had several shore excursions on pangas with either wet or dry landings. It didn't make much difference since the air and water temperatures were both about 80 degrees. Also, there are no storms in the ocean at the equator. I have now crossed the equator nine times from north to south; twice on this trip, once by air and once by ship. I kept flushing the toilet on the ship as we were crossing the equator to watch the change in the swirl from counter clockwise to clockwise as we crossed from north to south. We traveled 520 miles on the ship. Each shore excursion was different on each island as well as on different parts of the same island. Many great pictures were taken of the wildlife: birds, iguanas, sea lions and tortoises. The plant life was also interesting in the seven different vegetation zones from coastal to the highlands. Snorkeling was like being in an aquarium with tame sharks and se lions cruising very gracefully. Visiting the Charles Darwin Research Center and shopping in Puerto Ayora was interesting and a lot of fun. I refer to these islands as the place of no shadows as the sun seems to be straight up all the time.

After we got back to Miami, we went to Boston where it was cold and rainy. It was only clear during the Marathon. It took 800 buses to get 38,000 runners to Hopkinton. I started in corral #12 with the 3:10 marathoners and had to run faster than usual to keep from getting tailgated too much the first ten miles. From then on I settled back to my usual pace and visited with other adventurers I have met at other events. These included: Arctic Joe Wormersley, race director of the Nanisivik Midnight Sun Run and with Bill Burleigh, Race Director of the Big Sur International Marathon. No, I wasn't the one who dropped dead after finishing the race, but he was just ahead of me.

We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel which was near the end of the race. We were close to some great shopping as the Prudential Center. The runners' exposition was at Hynes Auditorium and was packed. We enjoyed dinner with a friend at Pappa Razzi one night and with Bruce and Tonya Mauldin and her daughter, Valerie Prescott, at Davio's on Newberry. Bruce, Tony and I were doing our 100th marathon at Boston.


Paul Taylor '37 #181

For months have intended writing a note to the Oak Leaf, but alas, time marches on!

Peg and I seem to carry on about as usual except our foreign travel has been cut down a lot-maybe one trip a year to Europe. We are spending a good deal more time on local trips, including Elderhostel gatherings. Shell and Margaret Eller have joined us in a couple of these events-they are great, we recommend the Elderhostel Events.

I continue to spend a good deal of time in charity and volunteer work, i.e. fund raising and helping worthy groups. I'm on the board of the Huntington Medical Research Institutes here in Pasadena. We have a fine group of medical research people. Wee have a great program underway on Rhodamine 123. Presently there is no real effective protocol once it leaves the prostate and spreads through out the body. We are carrying on extensive research and the results thus far look very encouraging.

It was wonderful to be a part of the recent celebration of our 75th anniversary of the fraternity during Alumni week end. It was wonderful to get together with a lot of brothers I hadn't seen for a long time.

All for now, but will attach a check that I hope you will pass on to Jim Ach. Use it in any way that will help cover some of the fraternity's expenses.

Fraternally yours,


Sabine Brebach #998

I was so glad to get the July Oak Leaf! It sure brought back a few memories. Well, I guess I should tell you what I've been up to. In a nut shell, I went back to Houston after I left Pomona and goofed around for two years bartending and such. Then I decided to go back to school. After another four years I had a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from the University of Houston. Now I have been working at 3D/International for just over a year. We are an architecture firm (among other things), and I do corporate interiors. It seems to be a good match for my seemingly contradictory interests in the creative and the concrete. 3D/I actually has four offices in California: Sacramento, Oakland, Irvine, and Arcadia (some of these may just be projects sites and not real offices).

On the more personal side, I was engaged once, never married. Just broke up with my latest boyfriend of three years. Just turned 28 two days ago. Hmmm, let's see, I think that about covers that topic for now.

I am greatly looking forward to reconnecting with my fellow Nappies! E-mail is such a great thing. Look forward to hearing from you.

Long Live The Wash!

email: email_deleted

Paul Mathus '93 #1043

Howdy folks!

I'm livin' in SF and doin' that thing. Still playing music with Matt Garfein '93 #1042, Mikey Premsrirat '93 and Matt Dicky '93, the current iteration of which is called Monkeyboy. I work for Creative Wonders making educational children's software. I'm spending some quality time with Elmo, Oscar and Telly. Trying to score a job doing 3d animation on sick killing games, but right now it's mostly graphic cleanup of cute little furred mutants. There's mucho napposity in the Bay Area, a notable recent arrival being the inimitable Mr. Robert Bernard Grubbs '93. Northern California will be all the richer for the siren strains of his accordian and the vaguely distubing innuendos of his poetry. No soup for you.

email: email_deleted

Charlotte Andersen '90 #1002

I have accepted a relocation to our corporate headquarters location in Slough, England (just 20 miles west of London), and should be there for 2-3 years.
email: email_deleted

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