Our 64th Reunion Luncheon was held on September 22, 2022 at the West Vancouver Yacht Club. Attending were 25 alumni, 16 family/friends, and two special guests. Most attendees were from the Vancouver area, but a few came from afar - Bill diPasquale (Civil) from Kelowna; Hal Norrish (Civil) from Chilliwack; and Shig Saimoto (Engineering Physics) from Kingston, ON with two Vancouver nieces, Laura and Debbie who greeted attendees at the registration table. Thank you Laura and Deb for your help!
Following the usual attitude-adjustment before lunch, Tom Fawsitt (Mechanical) proposed a toast to passed classmates, and in particular, to those who died in the past year:
Chem - John Martin of Calgary, AB
Civil - Herb Thorburn of Vernon, BC;
Mechanical - Glen Gibbard of Burnaby, and Ron Johnson of Everett, WA;
Metallurgical - Ed Hahn of Vancouver.
We heard recently that Norm Arnason (Electrical) of Courtenay, BC passed away on September. 16, 2022, and that Marilyn, wife of Bob Middlemass (Electrical) of West Vancouver died on September 17. If you are aware of other classmates passing in the past year or two, please let me know.
Dean Henry Gunning Entrance Award in Engineering: Henry Wakabayashi (Chemical) reported on the Award which was created at our 60th reunion in 2018. He said that an Anonymous Supporter will match our donations, dollar for dollar, until our goal of $50,000 is reached for our endowment fund! At the reunion, Henry Wakabayashi and Shig Saimoto each made donations of $1,000 each, and five others contributed $200 each! Thank you all for your generosity!
Further donations to the Gunning Entrance Award can be made at your convenience, and all donations will be matched by our Anonymous Supporter. A tax receipt is provided for each donation. Donations can be made to the Dean Henry Gunning Entrance Award:
- Online: give.ubc.ca/dean-gunning-award
- Mail: UBC Giving, 500-5950 University Blvd., Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3
- Phone: 604-827-4111 or 1-877-717-4483
The Applied Science Alumni Engagement Office is a great help to our committee, and came with a huge batch of swag which was distributed to appreciative alums. Kam Manhas (Mechanical) won the prize draw of a UBC pull-over. Our featured speaker was George Nielson (Civil) who spoke on his 15-year effort to write his memoirs which are almost completed; he then read to us the final chapter of his memoir, "The Good Old Times". George will bring copies of his book to the 65th reunion. X-MLA Ralph Sultan (Mech ’56) closed the meeting with insightful comments on the increasing role of government in the Association of Professional Engineers.
65th Reunion lunch: Our next get-together will be our big 65th in September, 2023 (details to follow). Thanks to all the Reunion Committee and to the Applied Science Alumni Office who make all this possible.
Submitted by Ed Frazer, EE BASc '58
