Paul J. Galuszka 1951-2011

Paul J. Galuszka

Paul Galuszka entered Deerfield as a sophomore and, for all three years, was a member of the Varsity Swimming Team.  Paul was also an All American swimmer and, together with Herndon, Liipfert, Walbridge, Allen, Calder, Louis and Spitznagel, was a member of Mr. Boyle’s undefeated team our senior year. 

Following graduation, Paul enrolled at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.  Upon graduation from Lafayette, he ventured south to Loyola University in New Orleans where he received a law degree in 1976.  Paul settled in Louisiana where he practiced law for the next 35 years, specializing in personal injury and workers compensation as well as criminal defense.  In his spare time, Paul continued to swim in competitions for his age group and enjoyed salt water fishing in the Gulf Coast areas of Louisiana and Alabama. Paul passed away unexpectedly while at home on February 26, one day short of his 60th birthday. Paul is survived by his brother Peter ’72, his mother, his wife, two sons and numerous relatives.

Summer Postcard - 2011

To the Great Class of 1969:

Main Street

As you can see from the photo, courtesy of John Knight '83, this past week was a reminder that New England is not immune to the effects of hurricanes at this time of year. While the Lower Level was flooded to the top of the goalposts, the campus was otherwise spared. The Deerfield Inn was less fortunate, and is closed until further notice.

As for the Academy, it will open its doors next week for the start of its 213^th year. According to the fact sheet on the school’s website, this year's students will come from 39 states and 31 foreign countries. Of the 2,355 applicants, 13% were admitted, and 65% of those admitted had the good sense to accept. Parents of boarding students will be asked to pay $47,470 in tuition and fees this year which, I would note for the curious, represents a 10% discount to the cost of attending Harvard ($52,650).

Class News

Todd Stone

With the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 only days away, it is timely to recognize Todd Stone who, as any reader of this blog knows, has dedicated his life’s work since then to creating an enduring visual record of lower Manhattan through his paintings. Todd has lived downtown for many years in a loft which, until two years ago, had a view of the World Trade Center site. When that view was lost as a result of construction, Todd found space for his studio on the vacant 48^th Floor of the newly constructed 7 World Trade Center where he has been able to continue painting the rebuilding of the former site of the Twin Towers. Over the course of the summer, Todd has shared his work in seven separate showings aimed at distinct constituencies. Rusty Young and Peter Bernstein (the latter freshly back from China) were able to attend the opening on July 27^th, and I followed up on a perfect evening two weeks later at a reception for downtown residents. Rusty was effusive in his description of Todd’s work and the event in an e-mail to me following the opening likening Todd to a rock star. The Huffington Post described the venue as “the City’s most amazing art studio” and included a video clip of an interview with Todd. Bloomberg Radio also interviewed Todd.

As some of you with longer memories may recall, I mentioned in March 2007 that Howie Carr had written a New York Times bestseller entitled The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century. With the capture in June of Whitey Bulger, #1 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List after the killing of OBL, sales of Howie’s book fortuitously jumped 26% on Amazon within 24 hours, producing an unexpected windfall. Howie was interviewed on a number of programs, including ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Here’s a link to the clip.

Five years following the sale of the National Stock Exchange which he headed, David Colker appears to have found a new gig that will enable him to pursue his musical interests. The Grace Music Theater, a 520 seat, two story building in Evanston, is being developed by David and was approved by the local zoning board in August. David said the new theater would provide a "state-of-the-art music performance space" and would be a "dramatic addition to public life downtown.”

Another entrepreneurial classmate who recently launched a new venture is Rusty Young. After rubbing shoulders with entertainers for the past five years as CEO of The Count Basie Foundation, Rusty has co-founded MusicWorks Entertainment which will be in the business of promoting and presenting benefit shows for both national and local non-profits.

One addition to the blog I hope will be of interest is a link on the right to YouTube videos of various classmates. Besides some clips mentioned in previous posts, you will find a humorous recounting of the origin of the Blarney Stone by Brian Connery.

Best wishes to all.

DWS

Deerfield Crew Wins Bronze!

The show! Wow! I’ve never seen Melton Lake so crowded for ANY event. Granted, I’ve been here for less than 2 years, but I come to the lake 5-6 times a month (I live 8 miles away) and love to walk the shores and watch the events. This was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen – over 200 boats. Traffic and roadside parking thick as molasses for the 1.5 miles along the lakeside event site.  Incredible. The launch site traffic alone looked like a hundred different drill-teams all vying for the same space. Speedos & sunglasses, binoculars & baseball caps and for this weekend, there was no other place to be – no other sport – no other game in town for this group of folks. If rowing has a “Daytona 500” this is as close as it comes before the Olympic or Collegiate finals.

Caught the nail-biter finish right at the line – the UT/Battelle “Tower”.  Sunny, bright and 93 degrees Fahrenheit (as usual) and the 4th day in a row for an “air-quality alert”. Water calm and smooth (also, as usual) – no sign of the rumored Lane 2-through-Lane 5 surge/chop that (some) rowers say moves down the lanes (underwater) from about 1100 yards past the finish. That wasn’t a factor in this finish.

Deerfield showed that they can and DO compete at the National level and finished only about 2 strokes (about 6.5 seconds) from the nose of the Oakland Strokes boat (yes, all you 60’s and 70’s music fans will recognize the reference to the Bay area’s (still) most distinctive “power-funk” band, the Tower of Power).

From the finish line it looked like all the boats were “shifting gears” in the last 200-300 yards. The Deerfield boat showed smooth-power that was totally deceptive when you watched how they moved through the water – they made it look “easy”. The kind of smooth that you like to look at - until you realize they just blew by you and you’re “off-the pace” by about 10-15% and are going to be licking your wounds all the way back to Palooka-ville. The kind of grace that gives you just the briefest flash of a side view - and then all you see is “stern”.

On the other hand, in Lane 1, the Oakland crew looked older and more physical – and I mean  “2 hours of gym every morning for a year” more physical. They were digging hard and then harder as they smelled the finish line. The only two teams that I heard anyone in the “peanut gallery” talking about for this race were Oakland and Deerfield.

I was happy to see a truly fine bunch of young men and women out there. Excellent conditioning – great style – 3 days of grinding out the heats with the “best of the best” that the US has to offer. No doubt about it, this is a BIG TIME event with all the pressure, craziness, great performances and soul-numbing deflation as team after team comes face-to-face with their real individual and team level of performance. As Frank Zappa used to say, “One, two, three ……. BURN!!!!!!” You either have the chops or you don’t. And you have to have the ability to “bring” it not just one, two, three, or four times - but every time at this level.

Deerfield’s team showed that they have every right to be at the top of the heap. It’s no fluke that they delivered the goods – this was discipline, coaching, conditioning, teamwork and “heart” – and a really distinctive competitive style.

Way to GO, GREEN!!!

Taylor (‘Tee’) Johnson, ‘69

Knoxville, Tennessee

Lakeside at Melton Lake, Oak Ridge, Tennessee