year Mother Nature is proving once
again her unpredictability and will
not be making the passage ice-free.
Icebreakers can make the passage,
and ships with ice class (able to deal
with the large blocks of ice left in their
wake) can follow, but neither our ice
pilot nor our insurance company will
approve Silver Cloud for playing that
game. So Mother Nature will have her
way, and we will soon be heading back
to Halifax and Palm Beach. Once we
learned that we could not complete
the passage, we turned our atten-
tion to optimizing the photographic
opportunities, i.e., taking pictures of
this region’s big three: the polar bear,
the walrus, and the narwhal whale.
We were told that this region had the
best photo-ops. The pickings have
been slim: two polar bear sightings,
one sighting of a walrus and her pup,
and no narwhal sightings to date.” In
a subsequent wrap-up e-mail, Alex
said: “Finding ourselves blocked was a
blow, but nevertheless we had a good
time, seeing unusual scenery, meeting
Inuit, coming within 910 miles of the
North Pole, and viewing polar bears,
walruses, and, just as we were turn-
ing around, a pair of narwhal, albeit
all at a much greater distance than we
had hoped.”
I have no additional material to
include in these Class Notes. Without
your input, this space will be vacant
in future months. I have relied on the
same few people for information for
several years. It is time for the rest
of you to come forward to provide
something for me to report. I know
that you are out there doing inter-
esting things, reading good books,
and pursuing hobbies. In the hope
of inspiring at least a few responses,
I (Barbara Black) will share some
of the things that I’ve been doing.
Like many others, I work at keeping
mobile. I started tai chi classes about
four years ago to help with balance
issues. It has given me a new group
of friends as well as being something I
really enjoy. I always said that I would
take up bridge and knitting when I
was “old enough.” I started on the
knitting part a month ago. It’s been a
bit of a challenge, to say the least. My
hands are not nearly as responsive as
they were when I was younger. Learn-
ing to play bridge is still in reserve for
a future project. I took up painting
in acrylics when I lived on Camano
Island, but the past few months I’ve
been too busy to do much. I hope to
get back to work sometime soon. I
am active at my synagogue, serving
on the finance committee and work-
ing on fund-raising, among other
jobs. Occasionally I join an activity
with groups on Camano Island that
maintain gardens and trails in public
parks. In April 2017 I spent several
days on Orcas Island off the Wash-
ington coast with family. It was won-
derful to be back on an island where
I could look out at the ferries pass-
ing by. I drove to California to visit
friends from grad school in October.
During the trip south and my time in
Sonoma County, the weather was per-
fect. On the day I was leaving, I woke
at about 2:00 A.M. smelling smoke.
After a bit of confusion, we realized
that the fire was 12 miles east in
Santa Rosa. I packed my car to leave,
and my friends packed to evacuate if
necessary. The trip east to get to the
interstate highway going north was
interesting. Roads closed and opened
with no warning, and smoke was thick
most of the way. I am glad that my
youngest son spent a number of years
at UC Davis, so I had driven many of
the back roads before. Once headed
north on I- 5, I had planned to fol-
low the line of large volcanoes run-
ning from California to Washington.
I spent two interesting and beautiful
days driving from Lassen to Mount
Shasta. Then the weather changed,
with serious snow moving in to the
mountains. Sometimes changed plans
lead to interesting results. I had not
known that there is a road that goes
up Mount Shasta beyond the tree line.
The trip did not go exactly as planned,
but it was a good and interesting one.
Remember that future Class
Notes depend on your sending in
material. I look forward to hearing
from each of you in the near future.
–Barbara Black, secretary, 16309
19th Ave. SE, Mill Creek, WA 98012;
e-mail: bbblack@whidbey.net.
1955
You’ll find more details, including photos, in the unabridged version of these
notes at 1955.alumclass.mit.edu.
From Karl Reuther (Course 2):
“At 85-plus, I’m one of the oldest in
our class. Still in ‘good’ health, mar-
ried, exercising almost daily, and play-
ing pickleball at least a couple of times
a week. The main reason I’m writing
is to testify about the stem cell treat-
ment that I, and my wife Gayle, had
last August. Even with a brace, I was
unable to walk without severe ankle
pain, and going down stairs was even
more painful and scary. Our orthope-
dist had had the treatment, to avoid
a knee replacement, and suggested
I follow suit at the same clinic he’d
gone to.
“They first did a liposuction
from my stomach to get a load of fat
cells, which were spun to remove the
stem cells, ‘activating’ them before
mixing with 30 cubic centimeters
of my blood. Next the mixture was
injected into both my ankle and my
knee, with the balance given to me
intravenously. The treatment took
an afternoon, with little discomfort,
though my stomach that gave up my
treasured fat cells was a little sore for
a couple of weeks.
“I got some immediate relief,
but after three months, severe pain
is now mild discomfort, and I no lon-
ger dread going down stairs. If the
pain returns, Gayle and I will return
to the clinic next September. Last Sep-
tember we rode out Hurricane Maria
on St. Kitts. The eye passed about 60
miles south. No more vacations in the
Caribbean during hurricane season.
See you in 2020 at the next Class of
’ 55 reunion!”
From Elliot Framan (Course
16), SM ’56: “I am embarrassed that
I have not been in touch with you,
although I do read the Class Notes.
After 35 exciting years doing a variety of programmatic works at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, I retired at
the end of 1990. It was an early retirement, and I then went to Taos, NM, to
own and operate a B&B. That part of
New Mexico, and the opportunity to
do something different, was fun and
interesting. I also started consulting
in photography, teaching workshops,
and running a few tours. After three
years it was time to move on.
“I moved to Corrales, NM, a quiet
rural village just outside of Albuquerque, and did photography full time.
It was a great location for it, and very
productive. My wife and I traveled a
lot and raised horses (Paso Finos),
riding them throughout the forests
in the local area. We were there for 19
years enjoying our lifestyle. In 2000
my wife contracted cancer, passing
away from it in 2010. So the enjoyment of the house and locale was no
longer there.
“After a difficult couple of years,
I met a wonderful lady from Tucson
and moved there. We bought a nice
home on the east side of the city and
were married in April 2014. She also
loves photography and traveling; we
now do about two out-of-country trips
a year. Our best trips have been to
Botswana and to Tanzania, where we
saw the enormity of the Great Migra-
tion. We also travel to the West Coast
to see our children and grandchildren.
I give thanks for our excellent health,
and we continue to plan excursions
away from home. What do we do with
all our pictures (over 45,000 so far)?
A lot of prints around the house, slide
shows, and books. I wish the best to
all our classmates and hope to see
them from time to time.”
From William T. “Bill” Deibel
(Course 2): “I didn’t have a large cir-
cle of friends outside my fraternity
(Theta Delta Chi), but I’ve stayed in
touch with all those brothers in ’ 55
and many from other classes. How-
ever, you’ve reached out to me at a
most appropriate time. I have just fin-
ished an 80-page history of the first
60 years of the Duracell Company’s
two forerunners, and I expect to have
it printed in time for the 100th anni-
versary this year. Here’s more about
me, much of which is from the ‘About
the Author’ page in my book: After
MIT I served three years at sea on
the USS Maury (AGS 16), flagship
of a four-vessel task group. I was the
chief engineer for the last 18 months,
in charge of a 125-man department.
From 1959 through 1978 I held vari-
ous middle-management positions
with three major U.S. corporations,
managing product and manufactur-
ing engineering departments and a
sales and marketing department. All
this work was in the field of heavy-
duty trucks and components, particu-
larly brakes. I was granted five patents
in that field. From 1979 through 1995
I co-owned a full-line, commercial
new-truck dealership in downtown
Seattle. I was serving as president
(CEO) when my partner and I sold
the company in 1995. I worked for
the new owners for another two years
before retiring. I’ve authored or coau-
thored three Society of Automotive
Engineers technical papers and six or
more articles that were published in
club magazines and covered various
historical subjects relating to auto-
mobiles, auto engineers, and related
personalities. I still live in Seattle
with my wife, Karel, whom I met in
Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1958 on my
last Maury cruise. She joined me in
Oakland, CA, the following year when
I was working for Peterbilt Motors.
We were married in San Francisco
that November; we have two married
