From a December 1958 letter one of our classmates reported the news gathered when he returned home from college for Thanksgiving.  Excerpts:

"I hardly saw anyone over the vacatiuon so I didn't pick up too much dirt.  Nik wasn't around, Lukie was as always over at Betty's.  We doubled Sat night.  We went into greenwich Village and had a frustrating time.  It was freezing out and all the places my brother recommended we couldn't get seats.  In addition to this Lukie was never satisfied with other joint we came upon so we ended up having one beer a piece--Boy I was a little annoyed but we had alot of fun!"

"All the 'dirt' I got was from Betty.  Jane Allen is getting maried in June.  It's about time they made it legal.  Diana [Djivre] is in love with this guy at Syracuse and she appears to be living with him.  Betty said the only time she spends in her room is to sleep.  Beanie Greenfield has made a hit at B.U.  They think she looks like Liz Taylor.  She must be wearing some padding!  I saw Bev and Joanne for a second Thanksgiving but they had little to say.  Micky is in love with some guy--she must be desperate."

"Little was going on at home.  Everything is just about as usual.  I stopped in at Ray's to get a little local color and man there was enough of it.  If they weren't drinking coke you'd think the place was the center of a Roman Orgy!!  Kids have really changed from our day I'm afraid."

"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't supply you with any more data (Linda Lloyd is pregnant). . . . Lukie isn't going out for  basketball.  He has a D but all his other marks are A's and B's so he's really not doing too badly.  He made his letter in Soccer [at Colgate Univ].  . . . I'm going to write Micky and get the full story."

Rosalie Greenfield wrote from Syracuse about the same time and said, "The very biggest news is that Diane is engaged. She is to be married at the early part of this summer.  Jack, her fiance is an associate professor in the physics department.  He has his PHD and is teaching physics classes to grad students and also doing research.  Diane met him when she was working on the physics project up here and he was (and is) heading it.  He's a very versatile person, extremely bright, and very personable.  You should see her--she is glowing."

After the Christmas holiday that year, since I had gone to my mother's wedding in Florida where she then lived, the same classmate updated me:

"I had a productive vacation (don't take me literally). I worked 130 hours and made mucho dinero!  I really needed it badly."

"Oh, I saw Allyson over Christmas.  She really has changed. --you wouldn't kjnow her.  She has broken up with Walt, thank God and seems to be having a wonderful time at school."

"You'd never guess what!  I'm 19--I really feel older!  This is the first time I've ever had that feeling.  IT must be my all too typical sophomoric attitude.  I'm just too typical anyhow."

"You should have seen Nik's haircut.  He looked like a convict.  Really a scream!"

"Johnny and Gail [Brown, '56]  had a few tough times at the beginning of the vacation but I guess Gail got tired of staying at home nights so they made up.  Johnny, of course, now feels that he has finally mastered her and that his worries are over--oh well, maybe they are but I wouldn't bet on it."

"I saw little of Lukie.  He was status quo, as usual.  He just a little tooooo status quo for me!  Betty is, as usual, stragling along."

"Kenny Kay [manager of the Pavilion] isn't working but he looked fit when I saw him.  In fact he looks fatter.  I don't know how he could do it on Katherine's cooking." 

"All in all I had a pretty wonderfull vacation.  I almost got engaged but some how or other I snuck out of it.  I think it might have been my mother's influence and the anticipation of ---------'s father's reaction."

Two weeks later he wrote that he could not visit in Florida where my mother lived: "After all we almost engaged men must look to the future!  Actually as I look back I really wasn't going to get engaged.  It would never happen.  At least that's what I think up here in the cold snowy north!  But unfortunately when I get down where the climate is a little more agreeable my views change.  I'm not going to worry about it.  I'm safe until Easter anyway!"