Linda Bird Powers, ’67 Class Agent November 2024
7510 N 1st Street
Phoenix AZ 85020-4001
jmpowers1@cox.net
Greetings Classmates!
As the holidays approach and we process the results of the latest election, may those of you who write holiday letters, notes or whatever send me a copy for the next class letter. My snail and email addresses are above.
This letter starts with a short note that should have been in the last letter but got lost in the shuffle. An April 1st email from RICHARD STARKESON (starkeson@gmail.com) was called “‘Nothing in particular’. I just got my first emailed class letter (to my knowledge – if there were earlier ones, they were missed in the daily deluge of emails.) A great improvement. I have not been to Phoenix since the onset of the pandemic, and unlikely to go now during the warm season. When next I head your way, I will be in touch.” You probably missed 1, or maybe 2 emailed letters, Richard, I can’t keep track of them myself. But you certainly were correct to avoid summer in Phoenix this year – it was brutal and the worst we’ve experienced in our 47 years here. Some of MIKE POWERS’s cacti died in the heat!
At the end of July, having received the previous class letter and the summer edition of the Grinnell Magazine, PAT MARTIN ALEXANDER (bill-patalexander@comcast.net) wrote “Just read the digital ’67 class letter. It is amazing and inspiring to see what some folks are doing/accomplishing, and fun to hear from STEVE SHENDER after such a long time. I remember Steve from my time with the Grinnell Young Republicans. He and I were part of a group that escorted former President Eisenhower around campus during his visit. Our shift was the short drive from Grinnell House to Herrick Chapel, where Ike was to speak. We had a Grinnell car, but his aides told us that ‘The General’ always rode in his private limousine, which one of them drove. So, Ike ushered me into the back seat, got in after me and talked to me for the entire, short, drive. Steve sat up front with the driver, completely ignored. My father was a staunch Eisenhower supporter, so Dad was totally thrilled with my brush with his hero.” Great memory Pat.
On a different topic, Pat continued “every time I receive a Grinnell alumni magazine and read the obituaries, I find myself thinking ‘I wonder whatever happened to__________?’ and I google a name or two. This time, unfortunately, I learned that DOUG ATTERBERG passed away on August 9, 2023 in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The obituary for Douglas Keith Atterberg mentioned that his wife Ann had died in 2015. They lived in Keokuk, IA. I remember Doug from our freshman year, and we re-connected again briefly in 1968 or 1969 when he was on temporary duty with the Air Force in Denver and I was teaching in Colorado Springs. Such a long time ago, wasn’t it?” Yes, Pat, and it seems to me that it keeps getting longer faster and faster.
Doug’s obituary continued that after Grinnell he completed his Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Iowa. He was enrolled in ROTC at Grinnell and served in the U.S. Air Force, where he was promoted to captain and toured the world creating inventory programs for the quartermasters. He was honorably discharged.
In the event you missed it, the ‘IN MEMORIAM’ section of the summer issue of the Grinnell Magazine included “ROGER PAUL CLOW on July 15, 2023, Moline, Illinois. At Grinnell, Roger studied chemistry with Luther Erikson. He later received a PhD in chemistry from the University of Utah and an MD from the University of Colorado Medical Center. For three decades, he practiced medicine at Kaiser Permanente Wailuku on Maui, Hawaii. He was interested in plants, particularly trees, and rocks, and enjoyed tennis and other outdoor activities. He is survived by two children, Douglas Clow and Elizabeth Lawrence ’03, and two grandchildren.”
September brought news and photos from GLENN ELLIOTT (glennelliott09@gmail.com). “On Labor Day weekend my family threw a surprise 80th birthday party for me. My birthday is in January, however, the weather is much nicer on Labor Day weekend. The family gathering was supposed to be just me and my children and their families. To my surprise, my siblings and their spouses showed up also. I had arranged for a family photo shoot, but they arranged for the event to be catered. Attached are photos from that event and they include photos of all the girls, all the guys, the kids and a group photo. Plus, an additional photo of the Grinnellians: myself ’67, my brother Jim ‘69 and his wife Ann Davis Elliott ’70.
On left: Son Jon’s family – Jon, Heather, Parker, Davey;
On right: Daughter Susie’s family – Susie, Bob, Jake, Elizabeth
Center clockwise: Glenn and Janet, sister Kathleen, brother Jim with wife Ann
Congratulations on getting everyone together at once, Glenn. We’ll add another early
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY”
Shortly after the Labor Day gathering, while reaching out to send “Happy Birthday” wishes to a Grinnell classmate, Glenn happened upon the following news:
“TAMARA TATIANA “TANYA” HOVANESSIAN LAZAR, of Arden, DE, passed away on Monday, June 3, 2024. Born in a DP (displaced persons) camp in Stuttgart, Germany, the family emigrated to the United States in August, 1949, thanks to the generous sponsorship of an Armenian family residing in Boston. When her father became an editor and announcer on the newly formed Voice of America, the family moved to New York, and subsequently to Virginia, when the VOA was relocated to Washington, D.C. Tanya graduated from Grinnell with a degree in Speech and Theatre. After college, Tanya moved back to New York, where she met her husband, Miklos T. Lazar, who had come to the United States after fighting the Soviet occupation of Hungary in the revolt of 1956. They married in 1969 and moved to Delaware in 1970. They had been together nearly 30 years when Miklos died on October 10, 1998.
“For a few years, Tanya worked on contract with the Voice of America and the U.S. State Department, and as a free-lance translator of technical articles from Russian to English. She began her publishing career as editor of the Commuter News Digest in Wilmington. She then moved into medical publishing at Lea & Febiger, at the time, the oldest publishing house in the United States, having been established by Matthew Carey in 1775 with a loan from the Marquis de Lafyette. Tanya began as a copy editor in 1980 and retired as a managing editor in 2006, by which time the company had undergone many changes and was called Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, a subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer Health. For many years she worked in various community theatres as an actor and director, including Chapel Street Players, Wilmington Drama League, and Arden Shakespeare Festival. Tanya then decided to follow her dream and pursue a professional acting career, primarily in the Philadelphia area. Although she was fortunate enough to have played a variety of roles, her favorites included Lady MacBeth, Professor Vivian Bearing in Wit, Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, and Claudia in Nuts. Among the many shows she directed, she was most proud of Children of a Lesser God.
“Tanya is survived by her daughter, her three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.”
And the Class of ’67 had Tanya to thank for creating the “Memories” section of CONNECTIONS, our 50th reunion memory book, by editing nearly 300 disparate memory submissions into a cohesive and enjoyable read.
Speaking of Reunions, the College has scheduled our next Reunion for June 1-4, 2028, the year they could put the ’60s classes, ’63 through ’67, together along with all the other classes due to gather. Mark your calendars and hope for the best!
That’s all I have on this sunny – but not hot – Veterans Day with groups of vintage WW1 and WW2 military planes flying above the neighborhood as they lined up to fly above the Veterans Day parade – a brief but interesting peek at history.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL – I look forward to hearing from you.
Linda
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