Brandeis Magazine

The pioneer class is busy planning for its 60th Reunion. We’re hoping for attendance by as many classmates as possible; all methods of communication are in use: email, telephone and even old-fashioned snail mail. Come, one and all. Penny Peirez Abrams writes, “My children’s book is now out, ‘The Calabash Tales,’ and being well received. My novel ‘Lunch for Breakfast’ should be out soon. I am working on my fourth book; it is a sort of journal and the working title is ‘A La Familia.’ My first book, ‘An Other Time,’ came out in 2010. Julie (Julian Koss) and I remain busy in the garden (organic veggies and lovely flowers) and with local politics. Although in the house I manage with a cane, when I’m out and about I have to do my ‘thang’ from a Hoveround. You will see me charging along in my chair come June. Try and keep up with me!” Caroline Shaffer 
Westerhof spoke at the MidSouth Sociological Conference on Oct. 29, 2011, in Little Rock, Ark. Her topic was the Divinity of Food: Religion, Soul, Diversity. A lector at St. Ignatius of Antioch Roman Catholic Church in Tarpon Springs, Fla., she is also a member of the advisory council for several McGraw-Hill annual editions on business, ethics, globalization, multicultural education, death and dying, and other subjects. Congratulations to Judith Kass. A glass bowl blown by a noted Wyoming artist, featuring a design sandblasted by Judith’s daughter Lia, was presented to the Indian ambassador to the United States by the Obamas. 
Tamar Soloff Brower and her husband, 
Martin, continue to enjoy living in Newport Beach, Calif., with four children and their spouses nearby. Tamar writes that she volunteers as a reading assistant at a local elementary school through a program called Reading Partners sponsored by the Jewish federation. She also created and chairs a new luncheon speaker program called “Meal and Spiel” through her temple’s sisterhood. Her husband continues to speak regionally on his books, “Los Angeles Jew: A Memoir” and “Orange County Jew: A Memoir.” Diana Laskin Siegal touts the ease of email to keep in touch. She and Lois Spiro Robblee ’53, who shared a top-floor Castle room with Inge Fleischmann Fowlie during their senior year, have recently caught up on their current news. Gustav Ranis was appointed lead researcher in a program supported by JICA (Japan’s foreign aid agency) on ethnic diversity and development in sub-Saharan Africa.