1954 Make your plans now to attend the annual '54 Class Meeting on Friday, October 19 and enjoy the increasingly popular Homecoming Weekend, including Friday evening cocktail party -- followed by traditional parade and bonfire -- and Saturday luncheon and football game. A gala class dinner caps off this October 19-21 opportunity to get together with classmates and their spouses for a truly fun weekend.

An advance three-day planning session for the class of 1954's 55^th Reunion was held in May at the summer residence of Jane and Dick Page. Reunion advisory committee members attending included John Fenn, chair, Dick Barker, Don Berlin and John Gillespie, all accompanied by their lovely wives: Natalie, Barbara, Barbara and Sandy. Pete Barker, in absentia, serves as financial guru of the forthcoming event. Classmates are asked to save the dates June 15-18, 2009. Chairman Fenn indicates a post-reunion New England sojourn will be planned, to lure some of our more distant classmates to the Hanover Plain for what promises to be a spectacular event.

Barry Nova has been championing the rights of wrongly convicted prisoners through the Innocence Project, an organization that has been providing pro bono post-conviction legal assistance since 1992 to persons whose claims of innocence might be demonstrably proven by DNA testing, and has brought about reforms needed to protect Americans from wrongful prosecution and incarceration. To date, "200+ wrongly accused and imprisoned individuals have been exonerated." Recently, Susan and Barry co-sponsored and organized a fund-raising event which attracted 275 people and raised $35,000 to help the organization hire more attorneys and to provide assistance to exonerees. For more information, bjn44@hotmail.com.

Marianne and Lon Chaikin have recently returned from an exciting trip to Russia and celebrated their homecoming and Lon's 75th birthday with the purchase of a Manhattan pied-a-terre to provide an escape from the Vermont winters, not to mention the temporary closing of the golf course.

Sandy and Stu Roth were joined by other desert golfers, Sandy and Ted Novascone, plus visiting snowbirds Patty and Bob Osmond, for dinner at--where else --Arnold Palmer's Restaurant in La Quinta, CA.

Sonja and I enjoyed a delightful early summer luncheon with Jill and Peter Kenyon, visiting the Big Apple to meet daughter Sasha who just returned from a junior-year-abroad program in Paris and is now interning at Merrill Lynch before completing her undergrad studies at Colby. Peter took a few moments to update me on 54's exciting intern and athletic recruiting program. Joining Jay Davis and Dick Trowbridge on Peter's class projects committee this year are internationally oriented educators Dan McCarthy and Jon Moore. The committee agreed to increase financial support to the Rockefeller Center's civics skills training program to direct support for a Rockefeller International Intern, as part of an expanded annual plan to honor three deceased classmates each year with international internships, as follows: 2006-2007--David T. McLaughlin '54, Dickey Center; Thomas D. Sayles '54 Tucker Foundation. 2007-2008: Bruce F. Bastian '54, Dickey Center; Edward F. Hoban '54, Tucker Foundation; Rodman C. Rockefeller '54. Rockefeller Center. Complete details at annual '54 Class Meeting on October 19, 2:30 p.m., Collis Center.