Moravian College Magazine

NEWS OF 1961

From Sam Maczko:

Congratulations are in order for Joe Castellano for staying involved at Moravian College. In addition to Joe's participation in campus activities and functions, he has been nominated to serve on the Alumni Board for 2005- 2008. I know Joe will do an exemplary job representing our class.

Joe, Monk Morelli '59, and I, along with our wives, attended the Mardi Gras Dance, held at the Hotel Bethlehem. We all had an enjoyable evening. The participants ranged from current students to faculty, administration, and alumni.

Barry Gaal is adjusting to the retired life. He had an interesting career along the way to retirement. Upon graduation, he completed his military obligation and then worked in industry for three years. He then worked in the business office at Moravian for seven years. For the next 15 years, Barry was the business manager for Dickinson College. Then he moved to Lehigh University. Almost 19 years later, as associate vice president for business services at Lehigh, Barry entered a well deserved semi-retirement. He consults at Lehigh University for a day and a half each week.

Tom Christianson and his wife, Donna, are no longer in Baja, Mexico. They've moved to Austin, Texas. In 2004, Tom and Donna traveled to London and worshipped at St. Paul's Cathedral at Easter. For Labor Day, they traveled to North Dakota for a niece's wedding. During a seven-week period before the national election, Tom volunteered in the Philadelphia suburbs for his favorite candidate. They spent the holidays in Austin with children and grandchildren. One son and his family are in San Antonio; another son and his family are in Boerne. Another son and his family live in London. Their daughter Milana lives in Austin and will be married in April at a ceremony that Tom will conduct. Tom spends his leisure time trying to figure out how Medicare works. In addition to mastering the maintenance of his swimming pool, Tom will continue to volunteer for his favorite political party. He'd enjoy hearing from former classmates, and the Christiansons welcome any Moravians who care to visit them in central Texas.

From the Alumni House:

Sandra Kromer Long retired in 2001 as a school librarian in New Jersey and then was hired by the Palm Beach County (Florida) Library System as a reference librarian. Her husband, after he retired, was head librarian at New England Institute of Technology in West Palm Beach. He's now a consultant with the Volusia County schools. They moved from all the major congestion to a beautiful small seaside town.

NEWS OF 1960

From Peter French:

News from the class has been slim. Jim Hauser contacted me to say he could not come to the Sarasota Weekend, and I had a brief e-mail from Harriet Peters Williamson. A bunch of us have been planning our 45th reunion, which we hope will have been a great success by the time you read this.

The first annual Sarasota Winter Weekend was a success. Working with Tony Falco '57 and with great support from the Alumni House, more than 25 people were encouraged to come to the Sun Coast. On Friday evening, Jim Rohrbach '59 and his wife, Joyce, his brother Don Rohrbach, Fred Woitscheck '56 and his wife, Wanda, and I had dinner at Primo's, where we all agreed the Chianti was unparalleled. We saw Broadway Bound at the Asolo Theater after dinner. Saturday morning, we gathered at the Ringling Museum and were joined by Harry Hart '55 and his wife, Mary Jane, and Jim '65 and Barbara Woltjen Morgan '67.

Lunch was at Café of the Arts, a French restaurant close to the museum. There we met more friends: Al Buralli '49 and his wife, Betty; Seminary trustee Bob Hess and his wife, Mary; Burke Johnson '61 and his wife, Eleanor; my wife, Grace; Barry Stipp '52 and his wife, Colette; Chad Wenger '98 and his grandparents, Alice Joyce Yeager '45 and Bob Yeager; and, of course, Bertie Francis Knisely '69 and President Rokke. All the seats were filled for a leisurely twohour lunch. President Rokke told us about all the things happening at Moravian and his vision to place Moravian as one of the top 100 private colleges in America.

The afternoon was for naps, a return to the museum, and getting ready for dinner at Marina Jack's on the bay. Around the table were 10 of us, including Peter Bilan '64 and his wife, Andrea, and Millie Diefenderfer Thompson '39. It was more than three hours before we rose to depart amid promises to do this again next year. Tony Falco got a late case of the flu and he missed the day, but he and Pat are set for next March. Next time we will start with Friday afternoon golf. Floridians, plan on being here. Snowbirds, think Sarasota for a great time.