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Milne
Alumni June Newsletter Dear Milne Alumni and Supporters, In this issue: * Important Message * Digitization Project Update! * Ginnah Howard, '57, Doing Time Outside * Eugene Blabey, '57, Referenced in the June 2013 Issue of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Magazine * Bill W. and Dr. Bob, by Jan Surrey, '62, and her husband, Sam Shem * "Imagine Upstate New York as the New Cambridge, Mass." * Sad News (Please note that links included in Milne Alumni Newsletters may at some point become obsolete.) IMPORTANT MESSAGE My husband and I are moving back to Albany during the second week in July. Since I don't know when I will have Internet accessibility, the July edition of the Milne Alumni Newsletter will be delayed. Thank you for your understanding. DIGITIZATION PROJECT UPDATE! To date we have received $10,512 toward digitizing all available Crimson & White and Bricks & Ivy editions. This includes $5,000 in matching funds from the Marcia Brown Library Fund. We are now able to begin our digitzation project, which will enable us to enjoy full-text web access of many of our Milne yearbooks and/or newspapers via searchable files. Please remember that the total necessary to complete this project is $25,000...so if you haven't yet donated or wish to increase your contribution, we're not finished yet! For further information, see https://www.albany.edu/~milne/Project.shtml. A list of donations is available at https://www.albany.edu/~milne/DigitizationDonations.pdf. GINNAH HOWARD, '57, DOING TIME OUTSIDE Doing Time Outside, by Ginnah Howard, will be published by Standing Stone Studios (www.standingstonestudios.org) as a paperback and ebook this August. It is a stand-alone sequel that picks up a few days after the close of Night Navigation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009). It focuses on the other upstate family: Carla Morletti and her two adult children, Tess and Rudy. DOING TIME OUTSIDE synopsis (from the back cover): "The Morletti women have a problem named Rudy Morletti. Bad habits and manic choices have landed him in jail. His mother, Carla, promises bail only if he agrees to tough conditions; his grandmother, Angela, presses him to go to Confession, but that being unlikely, she focuses on getting him the best attorney recommended by the jailhouse lawyers; and his sister, Tess, a vet tech student, hopes her summer internship working with chimpanzees will lead to a job at an exotic zoo far, far away from all of them. "Listening to the voices of the mother, the sister, the grandmother, and Rudy, we begin to hope Rudy will make it; that every time the phone rings, it doesn't signal a crisis. But then there are no calls, and the silence is even more frightening. "Compelling, gritty and funny, Doing Time Outside travels the back roads of family life to better understand what it means to be tied by blood and love to the world of mental illness, addiction and incarceration." Ginnah's website is at http://www.ginnahhoward.com/. EUGENE BLABEY, '57, REFERENCED IN THE JUNE 2013 ISSUE OF THE NATIONAL MODEL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION (NMRA) MAGAZINE Eugene Blabey, '57, has been referenced in the June 2013 issue of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Magazine in an article written by their Larry DeYoung. This particular article pertains to the history of the Hartford & Slocomb Railroad, a "shortline" railroad that operated in Georgia. The writer reports that this railroad "was what shortline entrepreneur Eugene Blabey calls a 'to the junction and back' operation." The writer continues in the article to describe the railroad's history and a photograph of one of its diesel engines. Gene has subsequently remarked to his Milne Class of '57 contact person, Dan Brown, as follows: "I've used the term 'to junction and back' to describe the garden variety shortline railroad that trundles down to a junction point to interchange with its Class 1 (railroad) connection (and) on several occasions have seen others pick up the phrase." Gene notes that he has been in the railroad business close to 50 years and has achieved the status of an "eminence gris (French for old fart)". He occasionally receives calls from railroad publications asking for a quote on this or that issue. Most recently, the publication Progressive Railroading called while they were working on a story about the 100th anniversary of the American Shortline & Regional Railroad Association wanting some perspective on the old days. Gene is a member of that Association's Legislative Policy Committee and may testify at a hearing before the Federal Government's House Railroad Committee later this year. BILL W. AND DR. BOB, BY JAN SURREY, '62, AND HER HUSBAND, SAM SHEM For anybody in the NYC area, please consider attending a performance of the play Bill and Dr. Bob (see link below), by Jan Surrey, '62, and her husband Steve Bergman (Sam Shem). To learn more about the show, read reviews, and watch a video, click here. "IMAGINE UPSTATE NEW YORK AS THE NEW CAMBRIDGE, MASS." "That's what Robert Langer, an Albany native and one of the world's most influential pharmaceutical inventors, said Monday [June 3] at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering during an event touting Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Tax-Free New York plan." In June 2008, Robert Langer, '66, was nominated by Mary Welch, '71, as our second member of the Milne School Hall of Fame. Read more of Bob's recent comments by clicking here. SAD NEWS Please note that I rely upon the Albany Times Union and input from other alumni for this information, so if you become aware of someone who has passed away, please let me know. If a name is underlined, it represents a link to the obituary. Many obituaries are available free for a limited time only. Ellen L. Neville, wife of Peter S. Neville, '52, passed away on May 20, 2013. Carolyn Stein Polick, '57, passed away on May 31, 2013. Elizabeth Schreiner Stockholm, '40, wife of Sidney Stockholm, '40, passed away on June 4, 2013. Thanks to all of you for your interest in Milne Alumni activities. Judy (Koblintz) Madnick, '61 For contact information, see the Milne Alumni homepage: www.albany.edu/~milne/ |