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More From the In Box
Write to us! Care to comment on an Ohio Today story? Or share a memory about your days on campus? Then drop us a letter to the editor. Here's how: Send e-mail to ohiotoday@ohio.edu By regular mail Letters Fax Fax letters to (740) 593-1887 Letters to the editor may be edited for space and style |
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Can a stuck zipper profoundly affect the lives of four people -- and many more? The answer to that question is at the core of a story of two young coed alumni of the Class of 1949. Beverly "Bev" Finkelstein and Lucille "Lu" Pion didn't know each other as they started their freshman year at Ohio U. in 1945, although both were from New York City: Bev from Flushing/Queens and Lu from Flatbush/Brooklyn. Then the zipper. By sheer coincidence, Bev and Lu found themselves alone in the swimming pool one day. Emergency! Bev's zipper got stuck. Lu came to the rescue, corrected the zipper problem, and a lifelong friendship began.
For the remainder of their four college years, they were inseparable: each other's roommates, soul mates, confidantes and true friends. But that wouldn't account for the zipper's profound effect on so many lives were it not for Lu's brother, Jim. Fast forwarding on the story, Bev and Jim met, fell in love, and the rest was history. Bev Finkelstein became Bev Pion, still Lu's close friend and now also her sister-in-law. Lu also fell into the arms of Cupid (outside the realms of Ohio U.) and married Herb Huebscher. Fast forwarding again, Bev and Jim Pion and Lu and Herb Huebscher have been lifelong friends, living near each other on Long Island, with five children and 10 (soon to be 11) grandchildren between them. Yes, the stuck zipper profoundly affected the lives of 19 people -- with many more yet to come. Lucille Pion Huebscher, AB '49
I am writing to enlist your help in locating past members of the Ohio University men's and women's swimming and diving teams. The Ohio University Alumni Swimmers Association is looking for coaches, assistants, swimmers, divers, managers and trainers who have been associated with the Ohio University swimming program, however briefly, between 1936 and the present. Graduation is not a requirement for membership. In fact, we have a number of people who attended OU only briefly. Our focus is on friendships made through the sport of swimming. Although we have located more than 800 eligible people, there are still a number of people whom we have not yet been able to find and probably several others whose names we do not even know. Membership is free, and we do not solicit money. Our group began as a result of a 1989 reunion of swimmers from the 1954 through 1959 teams. We had such fun that we repeated it in 1994. By 1997, our reunion included everyone from 1950 to 1960, and in 2000, we expanded to include swimmers from the early 1960s as well. Now we are trying to include everyone associated with all the teams. We have a small group that attends the Men's MAC Championship each year wherever it is held, and we try to encourage attendance at the Women's MAC Championship as well. We introduced the Tad Potter Memorial Award in 1997 in honor of Henry "Tad" Potter, first All-American swimmer from Ohio U. and the MAC Conference. We also maintain a mailing list to allow old swimming friends to keep in touch. We keep in close contact with the current team and coaching staff and, in general, try to promote the sports of swimming and diving at OU. I invite anyone who is eligible and not yet a member to contact me to find out more about the OUASA. You can write to me at 3015 County Highway H, Lac du Flambeau, Wis. 54538; call or fax (715) 588-9250; or send e-mail to alephart@newnorth.net. S. Alan Lephart, BSED '58
Permit me a triple-play here, briefly sharing three memories of my wonderful campus life at Ohio U.:
Finally, I loved the winter 2002 issue of Ohio Today. Excellent journalism indeed! Paul Chimera, BSJ '71
Ohio Today's news of the death of Robert M. "Max" Van Fleet, BBA '64, saddened me. Max arrived at Ohio University from Worthington, Ohio, in the fall of 1959 with a half-dozen male classmates, including Richard Vercoe, BSED '64, and my roommate that year in Perkins Hall, Kix Stewart. As a young man from the distant flatland west of Toledo, I was happy to be welcomed into the Worthington crowd, and Max quickly became a valued friend. Max possessed a sharp, dry wit and a modest disposition. He encouraged me as I struggled in writing bad verse and tortured prose, found the phrase that was worth saving, reminded me that elegance dresses simply. Max, simply, was a good-hearted young man. My writing remains rather pedestrian, and I last saw Max in 1964; but I have thought many times during the intervening years of that Worthington crew and of Max in particular. For we were young then and poised to embark upon the adventure of adulthood. Max Van Fleet helped me to reach that point of departure, and for that I am thankful; and because of that, I rue again the tolling of the bell. James Young, AB '63
The winter 2002 Ohio Today included a letter from Ken Fisher, BS '67, MED '72, in which he recalls Gam Hall's WGAM. I, too, was a member of the WGAM team, but that's not how I most clearly remember Ken. For many years, an OU tradition was the annual Torch Sing competition. Dorm and fraternity glee clubs competed for the trophy. Ken, as director, led Gam Hall's glee club to the Torch Sing title three-straight years, earning Gam permanent possession. Mike Johnson, BSJ '67 |
