Class Notes Archive 1931-2014
Class Notes are searchable back to our spring 2000 issue. You can browse the notes by decade (click on a decade to view its class notes):
Class notes from the 1950s
| 1952Robert Stephenson, of Camarillo, died in October 2012 after a lengthy illness. He was a retired strawberry grower and a Marine Corps veteran of World War II.
(appeared in the Spring 2013 issue) • Joseph Vaira, a Drytown rancher, died in December in a Jackson hospital at the age of 83. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
(appeared in the Spring 2013 issue) • Peter Pitkin died in June in San Mateo at age 84. He was a Korean War U.S. Army veteran, a retired high school science and math teacher and owner of a wine and spirits store.
(appeared in the Fall 2013 issue) • Arthur Aseltine Jr., of Forbestown, died June 3 at age 83. (appeared in the Fall 2014 issue) • John Lindt Jr., M.S. ’60, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, died June 18 at age 85. He was an Army veteran, rice researcher, retired World Bank agricultural project official and charter member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. (appeared in the Fall 2014 issue) |
| 1953Robert Upchurch, Ph.D., and his wife, Sallaine, recently moved to Chesterfield, Mo., where they live near their son and daughter. "Much of the year 2000 will have been consumed by this change of residence," he writes, "but we are now settled for the next 20 years. Then we will revise the plan." (appeared in the Fall 2000 issue) • Bill Clark of Hanford, a leader in the international dairy industry for over 30 years, received an Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for the assistance he has given UC Davis as an animal science department adviser and industry liaison. In 1971 Clark launched his own animal genetics company, World-Wide Sires, now the world's leading cattle genetics marketing firm. (appeared in the Winter 2003 issue) • Katey Walker, Ph.D. '75, has retired from her post as family resource and public-policy specialist at Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service and has moved to Florida to be near her family. For 18 years, she taught communication, leadership and time- and money-management skills. In 1998, she earned the Excellence Award from the College of Human Ecology Extension, and in 2001 the National Public Policy Education Committee and Farm Foundation awarded her the R.J. Hildreth Career Achievement Award. (appeared in the Summer 2003 issue) • George Thoukis, Ph.D. ’58, has retired after 44 years at Modesto’s E&J Gallo Winery. He rose to the position of vice president of winemaking, then spent his last seven years there serving as a traveling ambassador and wine educator. (appeared in the Spring 2004 issue) • James Hester has retired after working in the agricultural chemistry industry and nursery business. He lives in the Coachella ValleyÑwhich has “the best golf in the world!” he saysÑand, at age 81, still plays 18 holes twice a week. His grandson was a freshman at UC Davis this year. (appeared in the Summer 2004 issue) • Retired Col. Forrest Storz, after a 30-year career with the Air Force and 10 years with Westinghouse Sunnyvale, is now teaching flying at Half Moon Bay Airport. (appeared in the Summer 2004 issue) • John Stuart Rowe received an Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Rowe is a third-generation dairy farmer in Davis, running a family farm that has been in operation since 1894. (appeared in the Winter 2006 issue) • Moshe Shifrine, M.S., Ph.D. ’58, founder of Truffles International Inc., is cultivating French truffles in hydroponics. These rare mushrooms are being used in chocolate candies—“truffled truffles”—under the brand name Eros. (appeared in the Summer 2006 issue) • James Hester was originally part of the class of 1944, but his studies were interrupted while he served as a naval seaplane pilot during World War II. Upon his graduation, Hester worked as an entomological advisor in several states until 1980, when he bought a retail nursery. He remained in the nursery business until he retired in 1999 to the Coachella Valley where his interests include, he writes, “golf, golf and more golf.” (appeared in the Fall 2006 issue) • Retired Col. Forrest Storz remains an active flight instructor with the Half Moon Bay Flying Club. (appeared in the Fall 2006 issue) • Denny Constantine, D.V.M. ’55, received a 2007 Alumni Achievement Award from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in recognition of his research on aerosol transmission of the rabies virus and his distinguished career in public health. Constantine is public health officer emeritus and veterinary epidemiologist with the California Department of Health Services Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory. (appeared in the Fall 2007 issue) • Leo Anagnos died in Lodi in January. He was 77. While at UC Davis, he was a letter winner in football. In 1953, he married Cally Belenis of Davis, and they continued attending Aggie football games well after Mr. Anagnos graduated. After spending two years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Anagnos worked for General Mills and for his family’s Lodi farm. Along with his wife of 55 years, he is survived by his sons, Ted and Steve; daughter, Kathy; four grandchildren; and one great-grandson. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • Eugene “Gene” Luhdorff of Woodland, a pioneer of modern water irrigation techniques, died of complications of Guillain-Barré syndrome in August. He was 79. Starting at his family’s well drilling business, E.E. Luhdorff & Co, he developed methods for creating groundwater wells without sand. In the 1970s, he co-founded the water engineering and consulting firm, Luhdorff & Scalmanini, developed new crop irrigation methods and helped create an innovative drip watering system now used widely in Napa Valley vineyards. In the 1960s, he travelled to India with the Peace Corps to help drill wells for low-income villages. Additionally, he was a supervisor for water projects in South America and Asia, and he served as a consultant to U.S. irrigation studies in the Middle East. Mr. Luhdorff received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Groundwater Resources Association of California in 1998, served as president of the Associated Drilling Contractors of California, and was a board member of the National Water Well Drillers Association in the 1960s. He retired in 1991. He is survived by his twin sister, Elaine; wife, Jan; children, Mark and Karen; and grandchildren, Aubrey and Kevin. (appeared in the Winter 2011 issue) • Dale Covey, a longtime Hemet educator and a World War II veteran, died in October in Idyllwild at age 80. After working as an agronomist, he spent 33 years as a teacher and principal with the Hemet Unified School District. In retirement, he mentored new teachers through the California State University, San Bernardino, student-teacher program. He was also a charter member of the Hemet Harmonizers barbershop chorus, and enjoyed gardening and the outdoors. His wife of 30 years, Marjorie, died in 1980. Survivors include his second wife, Phyllis, eight children and two stepchildren, 21 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. (appeared in the Spring 2011 issue) • Douglas Hogue, professor emeritus at Cornell University, died after a brief illness last July. An expert on animal breeding and nutrition, he co-developed an accelerated lambing system that changed lamb production worldwide. (appeared in the Spring 2013 issue) |