We had a busy day on the Saturday of the reunion weekend. After the brunch at Peter Trowbridge's house we regrouped at Buttermilk Falls for a hike lead by George. Some of us got a little wet caught by a late afternoon shower but then continued to hiked up to the falls. Afterwards we had a relaxing picnic met by Lenny Mirnan. That evening Helen and I went to the Class of 1980 tent. Capping off the evening was a touching performance by the Chorus. Can you find Kirby? She is in the back and has her eyes covered as she tries to find us! 
Attendees from our class included Carol Lattmann, Helen Cohen, Kirby Date and daughter Johanna, George Frantz, Paul Pietropaolo and William Green.
If you were there, thank you for coming. If you weren’t there we missed you, we talked about and remembered all of you, and hope to meet up and do this again at another Cornell Reunion with an even better turn-out next time.
There seemed like no end of things to talk about catching up on career paths, family, friends, Cornell and LA Department memories including our class trips, projects, all-nighters and the campus grounds and sites in general. Yes the Green Dragon is still in the basement of Sibley Hall and according to George, the murals on the wall are original to the 1976-1980 era and have been restored! Same slate table tops. Yes, they are still there. Much has changed on campus, new buildings all over the quads, Alumni fields and the skyline looking towards Cornell up Libe Slope from West Hill looks very built up. The Johnson Art museum and school of Architecture are currently being built up and renovated.
Most noticeable and unfortunate as made national news this spring, a rash of suicides on campus this past year, led to the University constructing chain link fence around all of the campus gorge crossings. What a site that was and noted by all who crossed the Triphammer and Cascadilla Gorge bridges. If you received an email from Cornell Reunions take the opportunity to share your thoughts about your recent time on campus too.
Our group meandered into the Landscape Architecture Department Reception on Friday afternoon hosted by Professor Peter Trowbridge, current head of the department, and department staff. As this was the first reunion and trip back to campus for many of us, the new (to us anyway) department facilities are outstanding. Peter gave tours of the facilities and as we all gathered and met up with alumni of the department from other classes as well. Later that evening we sat on the patio of the Moosewood Restaurant downtown and shared stories as we ate a wonderful dinner there.
Some of us stayed on campus with the class of 1980, and some with local friends, but a number of us stayed way up on North Campus, with Non-reunion year housing, in a low rise where we had individual rooms, singles and doubles, in a suite of rooms, with our own mostly private bathroom and a shared kitchen and lounge area that we shared with several other, mostly empty suites. Parking was pretty lenient and none of us had any difficulty finding nearby parking. Libe Slope on West campus was unbelievably covered with parked cars, not much parking there, but no more U-Halls and all newish housing there. We purchased reunion buttons that gave us access to bus service and the Arts Quad Beer tents that was available for the over 6,000 Alumni and family who made it back to Ithaca this year.
Saturday morning Peter had our class and several other alumni over to his and wife Nina’s house to enjoy a delicious brunch of fruits and pastries and other sundry goodies, homemade of course, and tours of the amazing grounds, gardens, house and guest house. He had just started construction of his home and on the property as we were leaving campus. We took lots of photos of the house and grounds (and all weekend), so take some time and look through the blog. Ask if you would like any of the photos emailed to you if you can’t download them from the blog.
Saturday afternoon most of the group headed to Lower Buttermilk Falls and we hiked up the Gorge Trail and down the Ridge Trail. Much to our surprise, no swimming is allowed in the pools at the State Parks due to budget cuts to lifeguards. George provided an ongoing narrative while we hiked and while we did get rained on at the beginning of the hike, the weather for the weekend was mostly perfect and warm. What we found most interesting was that all three state parks in the Ithaca area, Buttermilk, Treman and Taughannock Falls are now connected by contiguous land or rights-of-way with what will eventually be developed as a hiking trail known as the Black Diamond Trail. George clued us in to this and had us park a short distance away from the park, (where we got drenched in the rain) so we could walk up the first section of the trail that has been cleared and mowed (and not have to pay to park at the Falls).
Saturday dinner was at nearby Tutelo Park in under a pavilion where we shared a self-catered dinner of sandwiches, deli platter and salad and washed down with a case of micro-brew Ithaca Brewery beer and soda samples. According to George, Tutelo Park was a significant Native American town site and is located on the lower part of West Hill at the south end of town, not far from Buttermilk Park. There are several State Champion, largest trees in the state, within the park including Black Walnuts, Pignut Hickory, and amazingly, an American Chestnut tree. Will Green called Professor Lenny Mirin, who stopped by the park and caught up with all of us there. Lenny still teaches Landscape Architecture History in the School of Architecture after 30+ years!
Later Saturday evening several of us headed to a newly renovated Bailey Hall and plaza for Cornelliana Night, where Kirby joined in the Alumni Glee Club and Choir and sang for us, all alumni songs including the Alma mater. There was a recap of all the funds raised by the reunion classes, in excess of $58 million dollars, about 600+ members of the Class of 1980 were at Reunion, making our full class the largest in attendance at reunion, Baby Boomers, go figure! There was a special tribute to Cornell Veterans and the oldest alumni there, from the Class of 1931. Do the math. He was over 90 and in a wheel chair, but made it back for reunion! Also one younger alumni rode to Ithaca by bike for reunion over 500+ miles. He was recognized as well.
Sunday morning as we ate breakfast, we said our goodbyes and all made our way back to our homes.
Again, thank you to all who came and helped to organize this little adventure.
We have most of the class emails. No pressure, no class president, maybe a newsy email newsletter occasionally. So stay in touch from time to time. Take care and be well.
Helen
At the Friday reception Peter Trowbridge tells us stories and shows around the new studio.
Hi everyone,
As we get closer to our 30th Cornell Reunion I wanted to let you know what we have planned for the June 10th- 13th weekend.
Friday June 11th
1:00 – 5:00 Reception at 440 Kennedy Hall, followed by an evening gathering.
Saturday June 12th
10:30 Brunch at Peter Trowbridge’s home and garden located at 1345 Meckenburg Rd. Ithaca. It will be great to see what he has done with his garden over the last 30 years ago!
2:00 – 5:00
Hike to Buttermilk Falls, Ithaca. It will be great to see the gorges and waterfalls of the Ithaca area. George Frantz will lead the walk and talk about talk about the genesis of the park other interesting land use planning, archaeology park development and open space preservation stuff that has happened in the Inlet Valley south of Ithaca over the past twenty years.
7:00
Chorus performance at Bailey Hall an (additional charge of $10.00 for tickets). Kirby Date will be performing with the chorus!
Sunday June 13th
Morning coffee and bagels.
Carol Greetings:
How wonderful to receive your card. It really brought back many fond memories looking at all the old (very young) faces. I identified a few – hopefully correctly. I would LOVE to attend the reunion but unfortunately we are having a graduation party for my son that weekend. What’s so interesting is we were @ Amherst just last month attending a Williams vs. Amherst lacrosse game.
Please keep me posted as to the activities – maybe I can take a ride up on Sunday June 13th. Here’s my contact information:
Katy Weidel
WorkNew Jersey Meadowlands Commission
1 DeKorte Park Plaza
Lyndhurst NJ 07071
201 460-4667
Love to stay connected.
Cheerfully,
Katy
Carol,
Thanks for the post card reminder about Cornell Reunion. I plan to make it to Reunion, if I am in Ithaca.
Since graduation in 1980 I have migrated into land use and environmental planning after going on to get a Masters of Regional Planning from Cornell. I left Ithaca for a few years to work in Pennsylvania before returning in 1988 to work for the Town of Ithaca. After a 12-year stint I left government work and went into private planning practice here in Ithaca. I’ve worked for Tetra Tech Architects and Engineers here in Ithaca, taking care of their environmental impact review and State Historic Preservation Office compliance, as well as a principal of my own firm, George R. Frantz & Associates.
One of my areas of expertise is agricultural land protection strategies and economic development. I do consulting work for American Farmland Trust. Currently I am also working for a half-dozen towns across New York to draft agriculture and farmland protection plans, and new zoning regulations to better protect agriculture and enhance economic opportunities for farmers. In September I will be speaking on the topic at the ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo in Washington D.C.
It appears that I am coming full circle: at Tetra Tech I was officially nested in the Site/Civil section and about half of my time was spent as a landscape designer. As a result I have begun the process of becoming a registered landscape architect in New York, and have passed the first three of five exams. I also have on the boards (OK ,the hard drive) small scale cluster subdivision designs for two clients here in Ithaca and a subdivision/site plan for an urban infill site.
In addition to my private planning practice I am a visiting lecturer in the Department of City & Regional Planning, where I teach one course per semester. Because I am a practicing planner I teach one of the planning field workshops – courses that place the class in a real world community, with a real world client. Currently I am teaching a class that is completing the inventory component for a new master plan for the village of Cayuga Heights next door to Cornell, but I have taken classes as far as the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans (Spring ’06, Spring ’08) to help complete recovery plans for ACORN and other neighborhood groups.
I’ve made a total of 8 trips to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast since Katrina, four with students from the field workshop courses and four with student volunteer work teams that have gone in to do actual clean-up and reconstruction. My Spring’ 08 undergraduate field workshop trip was featured in the May ’08 Cornell Alumni Magazine. (Author Dan Baum shadowed us during our Feb. ’06 trip to the Lower 9th and mentioned us in his story “The Lost Year," that appeared in August in The New Yorker.)
I’m not totally sure at this point if I will be in Ithaca for Reunion, as I may be representing Cornell in Shanghai during the first half of June. There I will be teaching in a joint Cornell University/Tongji University urban design workshop for three weeks. The project is pending the receipt of funding, but I will know within the next two weeks. Although I will have to bring myself up to speed very quickly for the Shanghai workshop, I will be able to tap about 10 years of research on urban form in cities in Vietnam as well as research on Clarence Stein, Ebenezer Howard and the Garden Cities movement.
Overall I’ve had quite the adventure since graduation in 1980. My teaching appointmentis only a quarter-time position so I am not on campus on a daily basis, but I do have occasional contact with Landscape Architecture people.
Since the early 1990s I’ve also collaborated with Prof. Sherene Baugher on a project utilizing pre-emptive archaeological surveys as a land use planning tool. Since wrapping up a project in the Inlet Valley south of Ithaca we’ve co-authored several papers and collaborated on a design studio project focuses on two new public parks designed to highlight Ithaca’s Native American history that were established in the wake of our archaeological project.
I see Peter Trowbridge on occasion as we cross paths in our respective consulting work
In March we also alerted the Town planning board to the potential for archaeological resources on a site proposed for a new Ithaca Beer Co. brewery. They are fortunately in the very early stages of design, and Sherene and I are now working with Ithaca Beer to ensure any cultural resources are protected. (and the brewery gets built!)
I did run into (Prof.) Bill Green in October 2006 at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. He is on the faculty at Rhode Island School of Design. I was there to speak on the abovementioned Inlet Valley archaeological survey.
I hope all is well with you, and barring a trip to Shanghai hope to see you in June.
Best regards.
George Frantz
Carol,
What a surprise to receive the old and alive card! I often wonder where everyone ended up after deviating from academia. I do keep in touch with Chris Capone Sandy, currently in Myrtle Beach, and have heard occasionally from Melanie Davies in Seattle. The reunion most likely won’t be possible for me this year as I am pushing to complete another masters thesis due June 18th. However if it progresses ahead of schedule I would like to attend if the group will be reuniting. Please catch me up on your endeavors for the past 30 years! I spent the first decade after graduating in private sector landscape architecture and land planning. My second decade was committed to nonprofit social conscience passions. This past decade has been devoted to public service. Trying to decide if I will remain in public service or dabble in academia or a mixture of both for the next decade. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks for pulling us back to our roots. Would love to have everyone’s emails as they surface and please feel free to share mine. Pam
Pam Page
ASL, CPRP, CPM
Assistant Director
Parks & Recreation
City of Lakeland
228 S. Massachusetts Ave
Lakeland, FL 33801
Was a photo in the Cornell Chronicle.
Left to right I can recognize: Bill Green, Paul P., Tom McG. , ??,Kirby?, Bob M. , Pam P.?, Alice? ,Karen W., George F., I’m in the yellow jacket with the rake,??,??, and Tom Johnson.
Are you in this photo? I’m sorry if I missed you , we were all so drenched looking.
We should plan on taking some group photos at reunion with whoever meets up there.
