Dear Retirees,
I had planned to have these updates sent to you at the end of June and in time to alert you to the birthdays of Anne DeVroome Kamerling (June 26th), Anne Sczygiel (28th), Linda Siegel (July 6), Les Kalkhof (7th), Judy Ormond (8th), Barb Ballin (12th), and Steve Basson and Andy Wagoner (15th).
Life, unfortunately, had other things planned. At least there is time to send birthday wishes to Joe Conti (18th) and Jeani Foster (28th) ahead of schedule. Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful new year. Maybe next year we should plan a party to celebrate all of these birthdays with the retirees and our old colleagues?
The MSO had a groundbreaking ceremony for the new hall at the site of The Grand Theater! It was a surprise to see this information posted on Facebook; I hoped the retirees would have been invited to the event since many worked so diligently on various committees for many years to see this day. It seems to have been a wonderful event and for more details and photos, please google “Milwaukee Symphony Groundbreaking.” A number of sites came up, but I was unable to get their full addresses.
While you are at the computer, the MSO.org site has an interesting article on this year’s retirees, Norma Zehner and David Taggart. Larry Sorenson and Les Kalkhof sent photos of the party and picnic.
Check out the photos on the Retirement Party 2018 page.
Robert Levine wrote of these retirements-
The end of this iteration of the MSO viola section. We will miss having David and Norma with us every day except, of course, Mondays. (We’ll miss them on Mondays too; it’s just our day off). Doesn’t this look like a wonderful bunch of people? Because they are. I’m so proud to be in their midst. Norma was our misprint whisperer. David was our conscience. Now I’m the only one left from the viola section I joined in 1987.
There was also an fine article on David Taggart and his upcoming Scenic Shore 150 Ride to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. At the end of this Update is his recent “Lymphoma Times” which contains a link to the article in the Journal Sentinel.
David and Teri celebrated their 31st anniversary in June.
Gary Greenhoe posted a wonderful tribute to Bob Rusk:
As we celebrate Mother’s day today, I’m also obliged to remember this May 13th in remembrance of Bob Rusk, my dear friend, who died three years ago today. Bob was my mentor all the years we played together in the Milwaukee Symphony. He would always be available for talks well into the night when it came to brass acoustic and design parameters.
I am indebted to him and all of those think sessions for much of my success as a trombone designer. One of the premier tuba players of our generation, he also contributed so much to the tuba world over the past 50 years, designing and converting vintage tubas from York, Holton, King and Conn. He is deeply missed!
The past months offered travel opportunities to several retirees.
Liz Tuma and John traveled to Paris and Arles!
Gary Greenhoe visited family and friends in Michigan.
Sara and Dale Harmelink spent time in Colorado.
Sara writes,
Just returned from a glorious trip to Breckenridge CO with son Neal and his two beautiful daughters! We are so appreciative of this opportunity and we were even greeted by semi spring upon our return. We missed Mindy and Nathan and Nicole, Nick and Crue though. Dale and I had a pre-trip to Denver seeing our dear friends Wade and Sue and the added bonus of visits with cousin Marcia and nephew Scott while in the mountains.
I believe the Sue of “Wade and Sue” is our MSO violist from the 70’s, Sue Davis.
Bill Barnewitz and Juliette visited family and friends, too, spending some time in Montana.
Bill & his Mom
Bonnie Peterson was in San Diego for a high school class reunion and is now at her summer home in Chicago. Grandson Jasper makes Bonnie a proud Grandparent.
Here they are at Roosevelt University after Jasper played exceptionally well at a piano recital.
Les and Wilanna Kalkhof enjoyed time in Minneapolis celebrating several family birthdays, including Les’s.
Dottie Diggs spent a few weeks in Giverney.
Larry Sorenson is back home in Spokane for the summer. For you who love roses, Larry writes that it is a great year for the flower in Spokane and “Rose Hill” has 4 acres with 1500 plants!
Found a great photo of the Wininsky family- Reese, Dona, and Michael.
It is hard to imagine that the intrepid Judy Ormond is afraid of snakes, but she set a goal of getting more comfortable with the critters for her 72nd birthday. Here she is, at the Milwaukee Audubon Center, having some socializing with the lovely Maria.
Judy also spent some time in Sante Fe visiting Danis Kelly and Janet Millard. Judy writes that Danis and Janet send their best wishes to everyone.
Proud father John Lounsbery walked daughter Kathryn down the aisle for her marriage to Helen Berger on May 5.
Lewis and Sandy Rosove enjoyed a five day break in Washington before beginning their busy summer.
One of Tom Wetzel’s students at UWM wrote a lovely tribute-
Congratulations to this guy on his last UWM Percussion Ensemble concert and retirement! I don’t have the words to explain how much I appreciate him. Tom, thank you for being the greatest teacher I’ve ever had. Thank you for pushing me further than I ever thought I could go. Thank you for making me start at the beginning again when I played one wrong note. Every. Time. Thank you for teaching me to do things with “more power,” in percussion and in life. I hope to impact one person half as much as you’ve impacted me and so many others. I hope retirement allows you to ride your motorcycle in warm weather, and finally get that dog. Cheers!
That is it for now. And if I may… life is still going to be a bit chaotic for a while, so I’d like to include the August Birthdays and hopefully send the September Updates in a more timely manner.
Leos celebrating this August are: Pat Mumm-Lovely on August 2nd, Leland Midgette – August 6th, Reese Wininsky – August 20th, and David Babcock – August 22nd. Best wishes to all of you for a most happy day!
And my best wishes to you and your families,
Andrea
From David Taggart
Dear Friends & Family,
In the six weeks since the last edition of the Times, the bicycle season has really heated up, as has the Wisconsin summer. Terry and I are one week away from our Scenic Shore 150 bike tour fundraiser for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and we’re feeling pretty well prepared, with over 900 miles logged this season so far. This time next Saturday we’ll be resting in Manitowoc, halfway through our 150 mile weekend.
Team Chemo-Sabe has 96 riders ready to get on the road, and so far we have raised over $84,000 toward our $100,000 goal. You may get tired of hearing me say it, but once again the team is in record territory, both in size and money raised. I couldn’t be more excited to ride with these wonderful friends who share my enthusiasm for supporting the LLS mission to cure blood cancers.
Two weeks from now I will be having my next Rituxan infusion, the third of eight remaining in my “maintenance” course. Going through chemo again this year makes it that much sweeter to do this ride. I have benefitted from the LLS-funded research which continues to improve treatment options, and which produces new medications at an amazing pace. The new drugs and treatments are frequently being used to treat other cancers, and non-cancer diseases, so this is a very exciting time for blood cancer research.
Thank you all for being out there, reading my notes and sending many forms of support as I continue to chart my way, living well with cancer. I offer my special thanks to all who have donated to my Scenic Shore 150 campaign, and I invite those who may have forgotten, or haven’t made donations yet, to join me in supporting LLS through this event.
If you would like to make a donation, you can either:
1) Make your donation online with this link, or
2) Write a check payable to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and send it to me.
David Taggart, 6067 N Milwaukee River Pkwy, Glendale, WI 53209
Every donation matters, every donor is carried with me as I ride. I wish you all could see the throngs of cyclists who will be with us next week, including many other survivors, and many who ride in honor or in memory of a blood cancer patient. It’s a great celebration of perseverance and hope.
I want to share one more thing as I close – our Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran a feature interview about me and Team Chemo-Sabe last week; you can read it here. Thank you all so much for your love and support.
David “Chemo-Sabe” Taggart
OLOMA65 