As I write this, our mini-reunion in Washington is still two weeks away, but by the time you read this it will be history. My crystal ball forecasts a great success. About 50 classmates are expected, and Fred North and his DC committee have put together a full program, including a tour of the State Department reception rooms, thanks to Paul Cleveland; a Friday luncheon with political speechwriter Tony Snow; a meeting with Justice Thomas set up by Bob Weinberg and Guido Calabresi; and a grand finale dinner at the Chevy Chase Club, with lots of side trips (and rest periods). Our thanks to all who are making this possible.

The reunion will let us catch up with many of our DC classmates, one of whom is Ed Rowell. Ed is now retired from the State Department after serving as ambassador to several countries. He recently stepped down as president of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, but remains active as a director of the American Academy of Diplomacy and lectures on foreign relations matters in both the U.S. and Europe.

We may not see Dick Thompson, however. He abandoned Vienna, Virginia, recently to take up residence in New Bern, North Carolina. Dick says that he and his wife had been lifelong Virginians, but are Tarheels now.

Dick Prentiss and his wife departed Spain for two months last fall to tour the east coast visiting old friends, including his roommate Angus MacArthur in New Haven where they took in the Harvard game together. Dick plans to return for our 50th.

Lyman Page reports that his son Lyman Jr. was instrumental in the launch last summer of a satellite to study space, including collecting data concerning the Big Bang theory. He attributes his son's success to The Space Child's Mother Goose on which he was nurtured. Father thinks enough of the book to have had it reprinted.

Last summer Bill Kingman was treated to a retirement party by his firm Appleton Partners, which he says included a well-done roasting. He survived sufficiently to rendezvous with his roommate Larry Harris and his wife Betty at their home in Whidbey Island, Washington, followed by a sailing cruise off the British Columbia coast.

John Handley,and his wife Maggy spent a good part of last summer traveling in England where they visited their daughter in Buckinghamshire, rented a house in Scotland on the Ardnamurchan for a week touring that country, and driving to Paris. Afterwards, they returned to their daughter's and were there on September 11. John says that both the English and the Scots expressed great support and sympathy for the U.S.

Dick Dyer e-mailed me from the San Francisco area. After retiring from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (nuclear energy) in 1995, he has been involved in programs to assist prison inmates, including being president of Friends Outside, which operates visitors centers at California prisons. He is also a trustee of Cook College and Theological School in Tempe, Arizona.

Bill Kissick has returned to Mother Yale as an adjunct professor at the Medical School, having retired as a professor at the Pennsylvania Medical School. He and his wife Priscilla are now living in Branford after three decades in Philadelphia.

Several weeks ago I called Herb Prem to tell him that the movie High Society with Grace Kelly was on TV. Herb missed the show, but reminded me that in 1954 her New York address and phone number graced his address book. He also confessed a failure of nerve to call her. Today, Herb is a volunteer attorney at the juvenile rights division of the New York Legal Aid Society and recommends that retired lawyers in the area contact the Society's volunteer program for rewarding work.

I'm happy to end this column with birth announcements rather than death notices. Mer Haskel has welcomed a new granddaughter and Cal Bigler reports a 15th grandchild, named Elijah (or Eli for short?).

Have a happy summer, and keep your notes coming.