Ron Byars, B.D.

CLASS NOTES YDS 2019

David Koehler writes: “I sort of miss our class reunions. That is where I learned about new books written by my thoughtful classmates. I have read the somber Through Veterans’ Eyes, a book about PTSD by Larry Minear. I have learned about the role of the university in the 21st century by my late brother in law Andrew Sorensen, then President of the University of South Carolina. I chuckled through a whimsical book about spirituality through fly fishing by Jim White —now found only in rare book collections. I think Don Saliers may hold the class of ’62 award for the most books published. My disappointment is that I have never had a chance to read a collection of the exegetical sermons by Bruce Rigdon. He explained to me that each sermon was an individual, existential event for a unique set of listeners in a particular time and situation. For this reason, he didn’t want them frozen in a book. I wish Woody Richardson had written his memoirs to describe his teaching young John Lewis, who became the civil rights icon and Congressman from Georgia. And I wish our esteemed class secretary, Ron Byars, would write something about the ongoing history of our Presbyterian denomination—especially in reference to our agreement to ordain gays and lesbians.”

Sorry to report the death of two classmates. Carl Harris died on May 14, 2018, in Santa Barbara, California. The link below will take you to his obituary: http://www.independent.com/obits/2018/may/21/carl-harris/

Arie (Han) Van den Blink died on Feb. 11, 2019 in Elmira, New York. The link below will link to his obituary.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/the-leader/obituary.aspx?n=arie-johanne...
May light perpetual shine upon them!

Ron Byars enjoys a weekly French class with eight or nine others at a continuing education facility in Lexington. “I’ve been fascinated with the language since I was twelve years old, and particularly enjoy working with it along with others similarly motivated. Much of the rest of the time, I read, as I’ve done all my life, for pleasure, but sometimes it overlaps with what they call ‘work.’ So, many book reviews for Presbyterian Outlook or Interpretation. And, a new book coming out later this year. (But not the one that Dave Koehler had hoped for!)”

Bill Barnes writes, “I’ve been in the all-volunteer Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra for some 30 years now. We play six concerts a year and even performed in Carnegie Hall back in 2008. What a thrill that was! I retired from full-time ministry after a dozen years as senior pastor of Prospect United Methodist Church, in Bristol, CT. Since then, I have been an interim pastor in three Connecticut communities, Lakeville, Wethersfield and West Hartford. I still fill in at nearby pulpits from time to time.” (YDS had mistakenly believed that Bill had died, a result of confusing him with another with the same name who had graduated from the Divinity School in 1959. Happily, Bill himself responded to my e-mail, promising that he was still alive!)

Jim White writes, “Hard to believe but sixty (60!) years ago this fall we YDS Class of ’62 walked together into Marquand Chapel. Wow!
This ‘from Oklahoma’ kid is now/still in Colorado walking a Golden Retriever named Gilda. Wife Patti graciously feeds me and, because of AMD, drives me to Pilates. Life is good (enough).
The especially good personal news is that my many-years-in-the-writing book, Fly-fishing the Arctic Circle to Tasmania: A Preacher’s Adventures and Reflections,came out this spring. It even recalls fishing in Connecticut on YMCA Lake Hubinger!
The CE person at our church persuaded me to teach a 4thgrade Sunday school class this year. Last week I showed them a picture of me when I came to First Congo (UCC) in ’89, and one kid asked, ‘What happened?’
Years.
That’s enough from White House West.”

Jim White adds that he had a great conversation with Woody Richardson, who is living in a care facility in Nashville. Jim and Woody shared memories of mutual visits in Colorado and Nashville.

Bill Goddard writes, “I am in my fifth year living at Atherton Retirement Village in Alhambra, California. Since living here I have written a book ‘Through My Eyes’" which has sold nineteen (19) copies. I have joined a local church, whose pastor was a student of mine when I was Adjunct Professor at Northern Baptist Seminary in the 80's. My two daughters have given me five grandchildren and three great-grandsons. My mind has not changed. I still believe the purpose of every Christian is: ‘To live to the praise of His glory’”.

David Price writes, “ I just looked in my YDS folder to see what I last wrote about my progress through my “golden years.” I told you then (2017) about my part-time job teaching ethics to mid-career health professionals in a course called PROBE, about living right on the ocean in NJ with my brilliant wife Pat Murphy, and about some of my favorite memories from our YDS days.
So, an update is in order. New in this past two years is increased engagement in local Democratic politics. I became a sustaining member of the county Dems’ Chairman’s Club. I contributed, canvassed and phoned on behalf of a young, first-time candidate for congress in my district. This Annapolis grad and Afghanistan vet was challenging a 17-termer whose career, in my view, is distinguished only by careerism and leadership of the house “pro-life” caucus. While my guy was an attractive candidate who worked hard, the hill was too high. 2020 will be a different story, I tell myself.
I am doing even more in the PROBE course (some significant involvement in about 20 weeks/year). I continue to love it and to be enormously proud of it.
Living on the ocean in a forth-floor apartment with huge windows puts one in immediate touch with the constantly changing natural world in a way that continues to be thrillingly interesting. It is also a way to be engaged with nature that one can maintain throughout all of one’s life. If I am lucky, my hospice bed will be right in front of the 12-foot wide sliders.
Meantime, I can report that I have no life-limiting diagnoses. I still take my increasingly creaky body to the local (24-hour, 365-day!) gym where I do clearly geriatric-level strength exercises and stretches next to the cops, off-season college athletes and bulging bodybuilders.
See, I do acknowledge that I’m old. As a teacher, as a grandparent of young adults, as a friend to younger people, I feel a responsibility to share the view from the perch of age. (I think that’s fairly common and hope I can manage to do it more helpfully and less clumsily than some other old farts.) My latest published writing is a chapter on “Ethical Issues Facing Older Adults” in a 2019 Hospice Foundation of America book. For the first time in my contributions to professional literature, I wrote mostly in my own voice, drawing anecdotes from my personal (non-professional) experience. The chapter begins this way:
We old folks go to a lot of funerals. Our class reunions thin out. Our address books have many names crossed out. We grieve for friends whose faces we will see again only in photographs. We know not when it will be our turn, but we know that we are old and soon will be very old and then we will be dead.”