Summer 2024

200 THINGS AND COUNTING

Addenda
The very interesting “200 Things to Love About Kenyon” (Summer 2024) issue brought back some long-forgotten memories worth sharing with other alumni:

No. 104: While I enjoyed watching long freight trains clatter through Gambier in the early 1950s, the Kokosing Gap Trail is an outstanding substitute. At my class’s 35th reunion in 1989, I jogged the picturesque trail to Mount Vernon and back. I was surprised that the trail is much shorter than Route 229. The hilly terrain made me think of the difficulties train crews faced controlling slack between cars on long trains, possibly causing derailments and the line’s eventual abandonment.

No. 57: As a proud Sigma Pi, nicknamed the PEEPS, I spoke to the group in 2002 about their heritage, both good and bad. It was an eclectic evening as the “guys and gals” listened in rapt attention while I shared unknown facts and stories, and debunked some of their knowledge about how the PEEPS were named.
— Caryl Warner ’55

Wow!
I have just traveled page by page through the (Summer 2024) alumni magazine. The only word I can think of to describe it: Wow! Well done, good and faithful staff!
— David McCoy ’60 P’87,’89 GP’17

And now we’re blushing
If it wasn’t already abundantly clear to generations of Kenyon alumni, it was made so to all who read “200 Things to Love About Kenyon,” that the Kenyon Alumni Magazine should be 201.
— Jeremiah S. Miller ’67

BICENTENNIAL MEMORIES

Servants to humanity
Kenyon was a crucible where we could explore our whole selves and come out competent to develop into who we wanted to be. It formed me into a good teacher and servant to humanity.
— Paul Cummins ’80

Kenyon strong, Gambier gentle
As I departed the Hill after the bicentennial reunion, I reflected on why I still return after 50 years and why I still give to my alma mater. We spoke often over that weekend of how Kenyon shaped us. It did not make us dogmatic and doctrinaire. Instead, it taught us to think independently and creatively, to question, to research, to revise. But we are more than rigorous rationalists and intellectuals. We are decent people and fervently humane.

I came from the urban Northeast where I had grown guarded and had taken refuge in clans. Once here, I immediately underwent a transformative experience that took place, not in a classroom, not through the arguments of great philosophers or from the laws of thermodynamics, but from the villagers of Gambier. On my first day of orientation, I noticed that not only did people not lock their car doors but left the motors running as they ran into the post office or bank. And they were always amiable toward the privileged and often brash student body, many of whom, like me, lamented or even resented exile to rural America. In a similar manner, I found no barriers among the students. However ostensibly different they were, they shared their commonality. No one told me I was weird. Everyone seemed worth knowing. Strangers would help me and be strangers no longer.

It is impossible to be cynical and detached in the Garden of Gambier. We really are born away by some strange spell, by something intangible, something ineffable. We emerged in a state of grace. We may be Kenyon strong, but we are Gambier gentle.
— Dennis Rom Pannullo ’74

Still rocking
Kenyon can change a person in many ways. One that struck me recently was a memory from my freshman year in Norton Hall in fall 1961. Someone from WKCO approached me, knowing I had a large collection of 45 rpm records. They asked if I’d be interested in hosting a weekly radio show. As a know-it-all freshman, I agreed to try it once. The slot was Wednesday night from 7 to 9 p.m., and I was to bring my own records.

I arrived at the prearranged time and was shown how to cue up records, play public service announcements, and comply with FCC regulations. After one night, I was hooked. The microphone didn’t scare me, and I eagerly planned my weekly shows, mixing fast and slow rock and roll. I called it the “Antler Club” for reasons best not mentioned here. One weekend, they asked me to cover a whole evening. I called it a “Rockathon” and played from 4 until about midnight on a Saturday.

Fast forward to 1985. I had been teaching Spanish at Fremont Ross High School for almost 20 years when the band director asked if I’d be interested in being the band announcer. I flashed back to WKCO and agreed to try it.

Now, in 2024, I’m entering my 40th year as the band announcer. I’ve since picked up all band shows each year, plus occasional orchestra gigs. I’ve become the announcer for downtown parades in Fremont and was recently asked to introduce Mo Rocca when he came to honor another Kenyon grad, President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Thanks to WKCO for opening the door to an activity I continue to enjoy at 80. As long as I can climb the 92 steps to the press box, my announcing career will continue.
— Gary E. Kaltenbach ’65

Reflections on the journey
Congratulations on your splendid bicentennial issue! As a 1974 inventor of a very profitable and disruptive computerized typesetting system. I know what it took you to get this booklet made.

I entered Kenyon, a coveted status post-World War II college, as a full-pay student. The College faced challenges, including loss of military funding and a 1949 major fire that destroyed Old Kenyon. My experience was unique. Before Christmas vacation, Dean Frank E. Bailey warned me to return with $300 to cover my unknown and unpaid bill. I returned with the money and determination. Dean Bailey, offered me a small loan and a position as a dormitory proctor, which helped. I also worked as a short-order cook and found many temporary jobs, but three years of driving a school bus fit class time and paid best.

In my junior year, I accepted a ’39 Cadillac from a Navy veteran wanting my ’33 Ford — his future “hot-rod!” It allowed me to drive to Denison, where I met my wife of more than 70 years.

At 92, still inventing, I thank Kenyon for a solid education. But my success stemmed from hard work and the support of individuals like Dean Bailey and Dr. Paul Titus, who guided me through my major in economics to prove that “liberal arts” learning equips one to think, survive and achieve.
— Richard R. Tryon ’54 P’88 GP’16

Spring 2024

For the love of lefties
I love the left-handed index (“Back Talk,” page 80). Could you print the whole alumni magazine in a left-handed format? I’m left-handed and took notes from the back to the front of my notebooks. I usually read magazines from back to front.
— Bill Koller ’70 P’98

MAKING WAVES

Data-driven excellence 
It was nice to remember the legacy of Coach Steen (Spring 2024, “Making Waves”) and his juggernaut swim teams over the decades. Steen was highly data- and science-driven and collaborated with cross-country coach Duane Gomez (in his second year of coaching) to obtain a blood lactate test device. I believe he and Gomez were discussing lactate threshold, VO2 max tables and maximum heart rate and were inspired to completely change training methodology accordingly.

I recall some of the swimmers doing the 20-minute time trial with the runners, running over to the machine and getting a pin prick of blood tested. Once your lactate and acidosis levels were determined, the tables were adjusted and you had a training schedule tailored to your individual lactate tolerance.

I had a huge jump in strength endurance that year and for the remainder of my time at Kenyon. We were never training beyond our abilities, and injuries were very low that year. One of the side benefits of the collaboration between coaches was a great relationship between the two teams. Steen knew our names and was incredibly interested in our sport as well.
— Justin Lee ’88

Fall/Winter 2020

BLAST FROM THE MAGAZINE’S PAST

A sweet (belated) new year
A belated thank you for sharing Bethany Fonner’s “Maple Apple Upside Down Cake” recipe in the Fall/Winter 2020 issue. After substituting honey for the sugar and half of the maple syrup, it was the perfect dessert for a Rosh Hashanah get-together with family. For those who don’t know, a Jewish New Year tradition is to eat apples and honey. As my 7-year-old cousin said, “It’s a sweet treat for a sweet new year!” And this really was.
— Jacob Howley ’03

TO OUR LETTER WRITERS
We welcome letters of 300 or fewer words. Letters to the editor may be used for publication unless the author states the letter is not to be published. Letters may be edited for style, length, clarity, grammar and relevance to Kenyon issues.

Please address submissions to:
Editor, Kenyon Alumni Magazine, Office of Communications,
Kenyon College,
221 N. Acland St.,
Gambier, Ohio 43022.

Letters may also be submitted to editor@kenyon.edu.