From the Mailbag

Jay Hoffman (Minnetonka, MN, 57-62, 69) noticed the photo of the Rec Hall from 1959 in the previous issue of “The Keylog” and wrote that it “brought back a lot of memories of CN for me. “I was a camper from 1957-1962, and Bill Tucker was my counselor for my first four years…S-2, L-1, L-6, Axemen 4. The picture contained others of my camping days. Muggs, Nardie, and “Hi-Pockets” Al Goldman, who lead many Good Time Charlies. These alumni newsletters are great. Keep the Fires Burning.”

Sally Stein sent an obituary for Leo Drey (St. Louis, 33), who passed away in May at age 98 and whom she described as “an incredible, interesting, one-of-a-kind man.” Leo, who found a way to accrue wealth by purchasing forestland and preserving it for selective harvest, aimed for a richness of spirit. In 2001, he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “It’s a way that is not only economically beneficial, butLeo Drey the forest remains aesthetically pleasing, and people can still use it for hiking, camping and other recreation.” He was the kind of fellow who offered to lease 44 acres of Ozark Woodland to his old school, John Burroughs School, for an annual fee of $1 (it has been dubbed the Drey Land) and whose answering machine announced, “I’m out planting a forest. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll try to get back to you before it matures.”

Here is how his obituary began: “For decades, city boy Leo Drey drove across dusty Ozark roads, introducing himself to farmers and offering to buy their timberland. Much of that land was nearly worthless from years of neglect by lumber companies. But Drey had a grand plan to make money from the wrecked forests. He would restore them, selectively harvest and sell some timber while preserving the rest for nature lovers, recreation and gradual harvesting later. To the surprise of many, Drey’s pioneering ideas worked. His forests thrived and he became a multimillionaire. His buying trips paid off and eventually he became Missouri’s largest private landowner. Then he gave it all away—to a foundation he set up to preserve the land.”

In the days following the death of his brother, Peder, Lars Kolind (Aarhus, Denmark/Copenhagen, 67-70) described his older sibling as a successful businessman and philanthropist who “never wanted recognition or media coverage, but he deserves to be remembered.” Lars, too, is active in business and philanthropy, writing, “I own about ten companies in different fields that I love to work with. I spend about one third of my time in China helping CEOs understand how they can apply Western management practices, I continue to write and to lecture, and I spend about 20% of my time raising money for World Scouting. Vibeke and I still run the Løndal Estate although we have in fact moved to Copenhagen. Our four children are all doing well, so we have no complaints.” He also could have mentioned that he has authored several books and has been involved in forming organizations in Denmark ranging from the National Competency Council to the National Network for Social Cohesion to the National Council for Children and Culture.

John Nevins (Oak Park, IL/Pensacola, FL, 00-06, 08-12, 14) wrote with an update about his military
training. “Right now I’m living in the Florida panhandle, Pensacola to be specific. I’m still a Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant Nevins(I get promoted in January), and I am stationed up at Naval Air Station Whiting Field for what is called primary flight training. Primary flight training is what all Student Naval Aviators need to pass in order to then specialize into jet/rotary/maritime types of aircraft. Right now I am in the contact phase of training, which means that I am working on learning how to do different kinds of landings and maneuvers, like recovering from stalls or spins. I spend most of my day studying and the other part flying the T-6B, which is a beautiful 1150 shaft horsepower trainer aircraft used by, among others, Israel. We do most of our stuff at around 200-240 knots, your average Cessna 2-seater normally maxes out around 100kts for reference. I am hoping to end up in the helicopter pipeline when I graduate Primary training around January, to eventually fly the AH-1Z which is known as the cobra. On the leisure front, I’m actually starting to play ice hockey again, as sunny, muggy, miserably hot Pensacola actually has a sizable men’s league.”

Louisville attorney Fred Joseph (Louisville, 56-63, 65-66) sent a note to Nardie and Sally Stein that included an update on his various interests beyond his role as counsel for Stiltes & Harbison, PLLC: “I’m spending more and more time in my wood shop making furniture and picture frames.  I’m also finding some new on line sources I can use for my family history project (currently approaching 950 pages) and am considering writing a book on my father and grandfather’s architectural firm. I’m also heavily involved in a group which is working on the development of a Jewish archives in Louisville. For someone who avoided history classes all through high school and college, this is quite a change.”