Letters to the editor

Want to respond to something you read in Miamian? Feel free to submit letters to miamian@muohio.edu. Include your name, class year, home address, and phone number.

The letters that ran in the Summer 2012 print edition of Miamian are marked with double asterisks (**).

Editor's note

100 and counting

When I turn 100, I want to be just like Harold Morgenstern ’37. Except female. And with red hair.

Harold and his hair caused quite a tizzy Alumni Weekend. Everyone seemed amazed that a gentleman only four days shy of his 100th birthday could still have such a full, snow-white head of it. Actually, the oldest alumnus at Miami’s June reunion seemed amazing from head to toe, inside and out.

From Pompano Beach, Fla., he still drives. He also still works, volunteering nearly eight hours every weekday in the microbiology lab at Florida Medical Center. “I don’t like playing cards around the swimming pool.”

And he still recalls his Miami days, which began as a “fluke,” he told me after we found a quiet corner in Shriver Center to chat.

In 1933, he was visiting his hometown of Westfield, N.Y., when he bumped into his former Presbyterian pastor, then preaching in Oxford and living on High Street in Old Manse, which was decades away from becoming a university building.

“The pastor told me if I could get through my freshman year at Miami, I could stay in the finished basement at Old Manse if I helped take care of the house, shovel snow, and cut grass.”

With it being the heart of the Depression, Harold knew a good offer when he heard one. He signed up for classes in the new business school and moved into Fisher Hall, where Marcum Center is these days. Joe Bachelor ’11, as in Bachelor Hall, was Fisher’s freshman adviser and a favorite of Harold’s.

The Presbyterian minister died during Harold’s sophomore year. The accounting and marketing major stayed on at Old Manse until the end of that academic year to assist the widow and her children. Fortunately, his professors helped him remain in school. “I worked for Professor Dennison for $15 a month. That paid for my food in Ogden Hall.”

Even in the ’30s, campus life wasn’t all work and study. Harold gave me the impression that he attended nearly every Saturday night dance in McGuffey Hall. Can’t say I’m surprised since he’s still a bit of a flirt with the ladies. Soon enough he settled on one girl, Jayne Hopkins, a 1937 classmate of his.

“Even though I was a Presbyterian, I attended the Methodists’ Halloween party.” As fate would have it, so did Jayne. Married 54 years until Jayne’s death in 1992, they have four children. Three came with him to Alumni Weekend.

“My personal outlook is optimistic.” Seems to work. He is a fit and active centenarian. I overheard more than one person say he doesn’t look a day over 80, not a compliment you hear often. Harold attributes his good health to avoiding vices, well worth the trade-off. “I have a lot of fun at a hundred. The young girls, they all want to hug me.” Yep. Life’s pretty darn good at 100.

Donna Boen '83 MTSC '96, Editor

Letters to the editor

All on same team

**Your article about basketball coach Charlie Coles’ retirement (“The Ultimate Miami Man,” Spring 2012 Miamian) reminded me of a proud moment for Miami athletics. During a winter 1998 weekend when Miami’s men’s basketball team was playing in a tournament game at Western Michigan, our Miami women’s synchronized skating team happened to be competing in Kalamazoo as well.

When head skating coach Vicki Korn heard that Charlie Coles ’65 had gone into cardiac arrest, she told our skating team to put on our “reds” (Miami gear) and head over to the basketball arena. The team was about to play their next game – without their beloved coach.

When the basketball team entered the arena, 30 skaters were standing in our bright red gear singing the Fight Song at the top of our lungs: “Love and honor to Miami, college old and grand. …” I’ll always remember the players looking up in grateful surprise and joining us in the Fight Song – and that moment of unity between Miamians during a time of uncertainty.

Susan Begany Brockhaus ’00
Arlington, Va.

Toasting cuatro chicas

**I found the article about the cuatro chicas interesting (“The Four Chicas’ Great Argentine Adventure,” Spring 2012 Miamian).

In the summer of 1941, my father took a leave of absence from teaching Spanish at Miami for a job with the State Department; I went through fourth grade at the American Grammar School in Belgrano, Buenos Aires.

In December 1941, just before school was out for the summer, Ward College (which included the American Grammar School) had a celebration at the Swift Packing Co. There was a circle of burning coals about 20 feet in diameter. Workers dressed up as gauchos, walking around with one hand in a glove, the other holding a bottle of wine, some of which they poured over meat closest to the fire. All the alcohol evaporated during the process, and the taste was great. The cuatro chicas might try this with just one piece of meat to draw a crowd.

David Barr ’54
Kettering, Ohio

**Nice article about alumni wineries in Miamian, but there is a wonderful one developed by Hank Johnson ’65 in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., by the name of Chaumette (www.chaumette.com) that deserves an article all its own.

Historic French vertical log construction, beautiful tasting room, gourmet chef and restaurant, veranda dining, wedding chapel, banquet facility, villas, full-service spa, excellent wine, and beautiful views.

Check it out.

George Cook ’65
St. Louis, Mo.

Editor’s note: We have heard of other Miamians in the vineyard business since the Spring Miamian article: Richard ’65 MS ’67 and Carol Howell ’67 of Bent Creek Winery, John Duplay ’66 of Duplay Family Vineyard, and Doug Hengehold ’93 of Hengehold Family Winery.

**My wife and I certainly enjoyed the articles on wine in the Spring Miamian. Having a daughter living in Sonoma County, we have had our share of wine.

Several years ago, we attended an Elderhostel at the California University of Pennsylvania and one course was wine tasting. Each day, we sampled two wines and rated them to the American Wine Institute tasting chart. Our professor was on a budget.

My wife was always the lowest grader, and the professor remarked on Thursday, “Lady, why don’t you just stick to Coca-Cola.”

On Friday, he brought in two wines from his own wine cellar. Pat ranked them both high at 17 and 18, and the professor remarked, “I take back what I told you yesterday.”

Charles ’48 and Pat Steketee Cortright ’48
Naples, Fla.

More about Babbs

**Regarding the Spring 2012 Miamian Class Notes, which mentions the new book written by Ken Babbs ’58, some readers may be unaware of the significant role that Mr. Babbs has played in the major cultural events in this country over several decades’ time. This letter is not the place in which to detail Mr. Babbs’ life and its influence, and it’s certainly premature to refer to him in the past tense.

However, I think it’s safe to say that he has served as cultural touchstone in a manner that is perhaps unique in the history of Miami grads: an excellent student; an outstanding athlete who played under the iconic basketball coach Dick Shrider; a captain who flew a helicopter in Vietnam; a man who befriended and had an enduring relationship with Ken Kesey; a founding member of the Merry Pranksters; a major representative of the bridge between the beat generation of the 1950s and the counterculture of the 1960s, and much of what’s exemplified by both of those movements; a man who continues to be actively involved in a variety of issues.

There aren’t many who have this breadth of experience, and even fewer who have been major players in these events.

I remember reading about him in an article in The Student during the stressful, tumultuous, and sometimes isolating times when I attended Miami from 1966 to 1970. I was inspired by his example.

David Cowden ’70
Bridgewater, N.J.

In the band?

**When I was a student at Miami 1947-1949, my dance band, Scotty McPherson and his orchestra, played all over campus plus Western College.

The only members I remember by name are Ted Brown and Bob Barnes. (They are pictured in back row playing trombones.) I bought the band from them as they needed more time for studies. Sitting next to the pianist is my singer in a business suit.

I’d appreciate hearing from members. If you were in the band or know of band members, please send their names, addresses, and/or contact information to Miamian.

Hobart McPherson
Blacklick, Ohio

Thanks, Brice Hall staffers

Sixty years ago I began my Miami years full of curiosity and doubt. As luck would have it, I enrolled in F. Alton Wade’s 101 course and began to view the world of geology as he told of his experiences with Adm. Richard Byrd in the Antarctic. Later, David Scotford and Wayne Martin shared the results of their field research involving rock exposures along the Pennsylvania Turnpike and throughout the backcountry roads of southeastern Ohio. As my thesis adviser, Karl Limper introduced me to the nuances of field geology in the canyons of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming.

I was indeed fortunate to have learned from these professors, who knew the basics of geology is best experienced in the field, rather than in the classroom. Now, with the publication of my book, 101 American Geo-Sites You’ve Gotta See (Mountain Press Publishing), I feel a great debt to that Brice Hall staff of the 1950s. Their style of teaching not only prepared me for my career in industry and at the University of Wisconsin, but also instilled in me a love of the natural world that has given me a second career as an author.

Albert Dickas ’55 MS ’56
Blacksburg, Va.

MU-OU similarities

Ever since I graduated from Miami in 1977, I have proudly expounded upon being a Miami grad. Red and white is my favorite color combination. My license plate is “MU 1977.” So I’m pretty much Miami through and through.

But my love for Miami took a turn in October of 2006 when I started dating a graduate of that school in southeastern Ohio. And not only is he a graduate, he is an alum of their famous band. One of his first comments to me was “Oh, if you went to Miami, I guess that means we can get handicapped parking.” I shot back with “Did either of your daughters go to OU or did they go to REAL schools?”

But over the past five and a half years, while we have staunchly defended our respective alma maters, we have come to respect the traditions of each other’s school. We go to both homecomings and the Miami-OU game. I’ve had “Stand up and Cheer” running through my head as often as he has endured “Love and Honor.” I’ve walked the entire parade route down Court Street in Athens following the alumni band. He has hiked the steps from Yager Stadium and the hill back Uptown. I went to Detroit to watch OU play in the MAC Championship football game. He put on a suit and went to Miami’s Bicentennial ball in Columbus. We have consoled each other over the losses of his beloved band director and my beloved university president. In Athens, I was referred to as that “brave girl in the Miami jacket.” In Oxford, while wearing his band jacket, he was told, “I hate your school, but I love your band.”

We have both seen our schools through new eyes as we’ve served as tour guides of the campuses. The stories we have shared with each other have made us see that Miami and OU may be rival schools, but they, and their graduates, aren’t that much different. Both are excellent schools with strong academic programs, sports that have national reputations, and graduates that have made a difference in the world. As my boyfriend pointed out, “They are both brick; they just have different color trim.”

Susan Rapier ’77
Grove City, Ohio

A little coaching

Outside Yager Stadium, in the Cradle of Coaches Plaza, there are eight statues of the eight Miami football coaching greats, each a Miami student-athlete. The statues are of Red Blaik, Weeb Ewbank, Paul Brown, Paul Dietzel, Ara Parseghian, John Pont, Bo Schembechler, and Carm Cozza. Brown and Ewbank won championships in professional football, Brown with the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, Ewbank with the Baltimore Colts and New York Jets. Cozza, longtime coach at Yale, was president of the American Football Coaches Association. Blaik, Dietzel, Parseghian, Pont, and Schembechler were Coaches of the Year in college football. [Woody] Hayes and [Sid] Gillman did not attend Miami.

Bob Kurz ’58
Evanston, Ill.

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