John King

Chag  Pasach sameach  2025 to all my Jewish friends, classmates, colleagues.  

Also thank you  to all who have responded or sent me greetings over the years - much appreciated! You may perceive from the typing  (fonts settings) in this message .that I am not particularly able these days :{. May Adonai bless & keep you & yours as you celebrate your liberation.  With love and good wishes in Yeshua, John King xx

Alan Reichman

Thank you John and Happy Easter to you 

All the best

Alan Reichman 

Robert Jacobson

Hi John, I wish you and your family a Happy and Blessed Easter. Thank you for the Pesach greeting. 

Geraldine Auerbach

Dear Class of 66

I thought you might like to know that I finished re-editing all the class of 60 Diamond jubilee Newsletters and bios on the class of 60 website into a narrative and the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits had designed it beautifully into an eBook. We called it 'From Wits to the World'

I want to thank those of you in the class of 66 who contributed pieces specially regarding specially the teachers that you all had

We are discussing with Wits a zoom launch in the next weeks. If you would like to be invited to the zoom launch - please send your email address to me at geraldine@chol.website.

Click this link below to see the eBook   https://issuu.com/witsalumnirelations/docs/from_wits_to_the_world_medical_class_of_1960

Geraldine Auerbach

Mary Edginton

Hello Classmates of long ago.

I,m not good at writing messages, not sure why.

First of all I was sorry to hear, some weeks ago, of the passing of John Hyde, and this week, of Roy First, He was always Roy to us, where did the Martin come in?

John was a good friend of ours. He, Eric Faerber and I sat together in the second row in the Harvean LT and struggled together to take notes as the lecturers raced on. John was usually a bit slower than Eric and me. Remember those days when it was done to write down everything (most things) they said. Before the era of online notes and lectures that avoid regurgitating facts that could be found elsewhere. John was a gentle patient chap. He was a paediatrician in England as far as my notes tell me, was surely a good dr.. Condolences to his family.

Roy was a bright and friendly guy. A nephrologist in the US. Good mate of Mike Eliastam. A year ago Roy wrote some good sense on this forum about the shame of the Palestinian Israeli war and said PEACE was important. Condolences to his family.

This year end it will be 59 years since our graduation. Wow. I guess most of us are retired, perhaps a few stalworks carrying on. If some are, I trust their memories are better than mine - for the sake of their patients or systems and themselves. For those with health issues, sorry. May you be free of constant pain. And may you be at peace with the world, enjoying family and friends.

I think Mike Eliastam is not well - long covid, although I have not heard for a while. Are we going to  any effort to meet for our 60th anniversary??? Maybe online? Travel may be a bit tough for some/most?

Greetings to you all

Mary Edginton (Hodkinson)

David Nathanson

Mary Edginton

Dear Classmates

Greetings to you all wherever you may be and in whatever state. Serious calculations on my part tell me that this year end  will mark 60 years since our final exams and graduation. If dear Mike Eliastam were here he would be organising something!  It a bit expensive and energy sapping for us oldies to travel far. Is it?  But it would be good to make this momentous occasion in some way. I submit the following ideas:

• Each one of us write say 1000 words reflecting on our professional lives since Med school.  Probable need to define the kind of detail.  We submit to a defined online place, a couple of editors (us)  put them together and form a booklet to circulate to all
• We organise an online team meeting , maybe two meetings on successive days or weeks, which meeting allows each member 5 minutes (? more) to present her/his professional life. Someone clever at organising these meetings must organise and provide links.
• Other - what ideas. (You would be welcome to come to the Eastern Cape to the idyllic coastal village where John and I live, but as I said, maybe difficult)

Please consider and comment. Very best wishes

Mary Edginton

Aldo Serafini

May 22 2026

We have been coming back to South Africa quite regularly and are happy to continue so we can meet with each of you both formally and informally.  as we are at our time share in Beacon Island in Plettenberg bay when we are there for 2 weeks  usually between Oct to February if you are in the area alternatively please let us know where you are at that time if it's close by

Best wishes and Love to you all Aldo Serafini

Ronald Marcus

I would agree with Mary regarding her thoughts and suggestons for a 60 year reunion.

I think that her first two suggestions are not mutually exclusive but could be complementary.

Maybe we could do a survey to determine how many people would travel either way.

Best regards to all

Ronnie Marcus

Michael Belman

Delgithed to see signs of new life emerging from the long hibdernation of our website. Kudos to Mary for initiation this in this our year of our Platinum JubileI I can revisit the Help section of the site to refresh my memory of how to do a poll or survey. For example  we can ask if travel to SA is an option and questions relate to the format. Also volunteers for a panning group which can formulate the options to present to the class before final decisions are made. Important to know that our subscription has 2.2GB of space on the site and we have only used 13% so plenty of room for photos and videos. Let the planning begin. 

Pat Nathan (Amitai)

Thank you Mary for your suggestions and also to Mike Belman for everything you do. I would definitely consider a trip to South Africa for a reunion and would be happy to help planning in some way. If an in person reunion in South Africa  doesnt work out, a zoom option is always a possibility.

till we meet again,

Pat

David Nathanson

It is great to hear the enthusiasm from you guys. I'm very supportive of Mary's ideas, particularly writing a short 'report' or perhaps a slightly longer' memoir' would work well for me. Setting up a virtual meeting would also work well. However, planning a long flight anywhere is difficult for me.

Alan Reichman

What would you all think about a scheduled 2 hour (Or longer) zoom meeting at a scheduled time to accommodate the various time zones in which we all live.

Edward Gomperts

Hi all,

Great to see the responses to Mary's note. Mike's idea to send a questionnaire makes sense given the possibilities for the 'get together' ideas. Will also provide an idea as to the numbers of us who are interested (etc) to consider the options. Personnally, I do my best to keep away from airports. Our numbers are dwindling, and therefore a celebration and reconnection after 60 years is very welcome. A group donation to Wits Med School in the name of the Class?

Ed

Basil Porter

Mary-  well done on awakening the class of 66. I think the book is a great idea and doable ( would be happy to help). I think a Zoom forum will crash. And a real physical reunion- we should definitely first get feedback on the idea. Then we can see if there is enough room in Aldo's garage😇

All the best 

Mary Edginton

Dear classmates/friends
I cant believe how stoopid I am. Not even sure how to send a message. Hope this works.
There are a few responses to our survey about the 60th event/action.
Now time to go.
Pat, Basil and me with Mike Belman as communication minister. Others willing must say and join.
Lets decide what to do - written - needs guidance, it is not a PhD. We must set no.of words and scope -not all the great grandchildrens names. Needs a deadline and list of editors.
If we plan a zoom when? and what?  Different from the written material.
Look forward. Can we have a easy format for the planners.
All the best, Mary

Michael Belman

Firstly – happy birthday Mary for the 7^th. According to an earlier calculation I made from the birthdates listed (I used a formula on Excel) you are close to the median age of our class - about 83 years.

Also, congratulations on Mary’s encouraging note and call to action. Her suggestions line up closely with the few results we have from the survey albeit the response rate was low with only 10 responses from about 65 sent.

The consensus is that we do mark our 60^th at least with written bios. From the survey there is strong support for submission of a biographical summary which includes our premedical education, medical school, career highlights and there is strong interest in how we are now dealing with retirement and aging. This does not preclude tele-meetings but there is less support for that. Only one respondent supported an on-site in person event. 

Five respondents are willing to participate in planning the nature of the event. This includes Mary Edginton, Paul Hyde, Ron Marcus, Basil Porter and Pat Nathan but more are of course welcome to participate or offer suggestions. Meantime, I will forward a meeting invitation to this working group to get the process started.

The publication from the outstanding class of 1960 on their 60^th is a great example of a memorial summary booklet. Geraldine Auerbach, wife of one of the class members, brought this to my attention. She played a major role in editing this publication. She is a guest on our website and is willing to advise us how to procced. You can access this document at https://wits_medical_alumni_1960/mailchimpsites.com

Looking forward to further discussion and input. You can add yur comments below this - it is under the link "Message Forum"

Michael Belman

Possible error in URL for 1960 class.

Try this

https:// wits_medical_alumni_1960.mailchimpsites.com/whos-who-the-class-of-1960

or do search on browser 

"wits medical school class 1960 whos who" should bring you to the correct place.

Edward Gomperts

Hi,

Good to see the Class Forum becoming active, interactive and chatty again. I am happy to contibute to its continuation, so please send detail as to the tranfer of funds.

I reviewed, briefly, the Class of 1970 individual and collaborative document. As I see it: Some names stand out and I am pleased to see the accomplishments of our more senior colleagues as well as their experiences as medical advances were achieved. Some 'essays' are collaborative and others not, but most cover the radical changes in each contributor's medical field over the time of each one's professional activity. Most have added photographs, mostly non-personal, that assist the presentation. My assumption is that the 16 members of this Class enjoyed writing about their personal professional journey and that each contributor gained perspective about their medical school colleagues medical contibutions as well. 

Questions and comments:

1. Other than written for their colleagues, where and how was the Class of 1970 production distributed and who was likely to read it?

2. Our plan: Other than being written for our selves, who else will/plan to receive a copy of our production?

3. We should agree on the target of our 'production' and the topics to be covered. As to the topics, I suggest the following for discussion;

    Pre-med school; something/episode of interest to our colleagues during Med School training; Post medical school training; career through the present; retirement issues; keeping busy/functional post-retirement

4. As to the financial contribution to WITS: suggestions?

Best regards,

Ed

Michael Belman

Hi Ed, Thanks for your note and interest. This is the start of the process and we will get back to you soon with more detail. Clearly an organizing committee is essential to manage this and we will need volunteers. 

Here is a response from Geraldine Auerbach - the Editor of the 1960 Class Book. There was also a summary publication written by indiidual members. 

Other than being written for ourselves, who else will/plan to receive a copy of our production?

After the meetings, the Dean offered to make an eBook of the stories of our class, so I re-edited the Newsletters, bios and essays into a narrative called From Wits to the World, which is also on the Wits alumni pages you can access it here https://wits_medical_alumni_1960.mailchimpsites.com/from-wits-to-the-world

For accuracy it was the class of 1960 not 1970. 

Mike Belman

David Nathanson

Hi friends and colleagues,

I met Geraldine Auerbach while she edited the eBook from the 1960 graduating class and I was fortunate to experience her editing skills on something I wrote. I think she would be a perfect person to help us edit an eBook of the 1966 class. It makes perfect sense to have her gather and collate our efforts. By the way, another essay I wrote was titled: ' What I contributed to my profession.' Let me be so bold as to suggest that this might be a great writing prompt for all of us to address. It is one thing to write about our careers in a linear, conventional way, like a curriculum vitae. It is quite another when you ask yourself what you actually accomplished in a sixty year career. It also makes for a more interesting story.

I look forward to helping in any way I can. By the way, Mike, I did not see the questionnaire and I am also quite willing to help pay for the website. It is good that you have taken the reigns to help to keep us chatting.

David

Michael Belman

Thanks for your note, Dave. We are starting to get organiz and taking in the many suggestions that have come from the class and from a Geraldine Auerbach. within the next couple of weeks, we should have a better idea of the path forward. Essentially the consensus appears to be that of submitting personal stories outlining the trajectory of our personal careers over the past 60 years. Your suggestion of highlighting what we believe to be contributions is very helpful. add the latest stage, we could certainly hold Zoom meetings if there is support for that. So stay tuned and we should be coming out with suggested guidelines for our contributions by the end of the month. These will include many of the suggestions that have been made by you and others. Thanks for adding a note.

Mary Edginton

The writing and submission to Mike Belman (michaelbelman43@gmail.com) of thoughts and comments on 60 years since graduation at Wits is underway.

Many of our esteemed class members have not yet joined in. PLEASE consider writing something abut your life in the past 60 years. Your colleagues are very keen to hear from YOU.  It doesn't have to be long, if you list a few thoughts we can edit for you.  Come on guys and dolls. We are privelged to still be on planet earth, let's share what we have been doing.

Mary Edginton

Andre Van As (Class Of 1960)

Hii Mary,

I am enjoyin reading about you  and your clss colleagues. I have attached by bio as I do not recall having sent it to you for you fellow class members to enjouy. ? perhaps? The Bio has taught me that time is our biggest problem is things keep happening. e.g. relatives and friends die, and grand kids grow up. 

Regards - Andre

Michael Belman

Hi Andre, Great to hear from you and pleased to see you are finding the website useful. As you can see we are trying to stimulate interest in our classmates from 66 to write down their observations and thoughts of the 60 years since our graduation. Many of us are familiar with the excellent publications produced by your your class. 

Best wishes.