Laura Reid (Pease)

Paul,

I am bringing a group of museum docents to Philadelphia to tour the Barnes, Philadelphia Art Museum, then on to Winterthur, Longwood Gardens and Brandywine.  I need some travel info.  Can we travel by train or do we need to rent a bus and driver?  We were there nine years ago before the Barnes moved downtown but we didn’t go to Winterthur......can you give me some advice?

Thanks, Laur

Bonnie Altman (Templeton)

Steve, I don’t remember the midnight lesson at your house, however, I would have loved it. 

Steven Levinson

Philip, points well taken.

Steven Levinson

Bonnie, maybe you missed it.  Midnight was, after all, pretty late!

Paul Simons

Hi Laura,

The photo - the building is the Philly Art Museum - was just taken looking through the glass of the Cira Center, part of the Amtrak building, adjacent to the 30th Street Amtrak/Septa station. Other museums on Ben Franklin Parkway - the Barnes and the Rodin most notably - are nearby, behind the trees.

The starting points are SEPTA Regional Rail and Amtrak. They'll get you to the places you named. For Regional Rail go to www.septa.org and you'll have lines, schedules, stations.

The attractions you mentioned should have their own websites with directions by various transport modalities. Also Septa has a phone app - both Apple and Android - that is terrific. It's real time, it rocks.

While here check out the observation deck at One Liberty Place - I've been there, fabulous - and the restaurant at the top of 2 Liberty Place - the R2L - www.r2l.com - looks good.

Bruce - I haven't been to the Barnes. I used to go to the main Philly museum on Sundays - free before 1:00 PM - but I am not much of a museum person. Actually I find auto junkyards or as they're called today recycling facilities to be fascinating museums of technology, good enough for me.

---

Bruce Fette

I have wanted to see the Barnes for a very long time, but reservations were required. Now that it has moved, is it still by reservation? Is the new facility as nice as the old facility?

Philip Spiess

Laura:  Having been a graduate student at both the Winterthur and Hagley Museums (1968-1970), I can tell you that Winterthur, at Greenville, Delaware, is a good twenty minutes to half an hour out Route 52 from Wilmington, Delaware (which is served at its downtown station by Amtrak), with Longwood Gardens about 45 minutes further on down Route 52 at Kennet Square, Pennsylvania.  Having been back to Longwood last summer, I'll mention that the massive fountain gardens recently have undergone a major restoration and rebuilding, and are splendid, and the conservatories have been enlarged and expanded; there is also an excellent food service at the Gardens.  Buckley's Tavern, an historic eatery at Centreville, Delaware, just down Route 52 from the entrance to Winterthur, also has fine food.  I suspect, given the locations of Winterthur and Longwood, and the way the countryside between the two is scrupulously maintained and controled by the various du Ponts who inhabit the region, that you will need a bus and driver (which is to say that I'm not aware that either site is served by rail anywhere close) -- but check out Paul's suggestions first.  (P.S.:  I hope this is more than a one- or two-day trip to see all that!)

Dale Gieringer

If you're going to visit Longwood, it's worth stopping by the Andrew Wyeth Museum in nearby Chadds Ford.  The museum is a gem if you share my retro taste for realistic modern portraiture, and it sits in a lovely wooded park alongside Brandywine Creek.

Philip Spiess

Dale:  If I may presume to clarify your suggestion:  The Brandywine River Museum of Art (its correct name) in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, is the major museum with holdings by the entire Wyeth clan -- N. C. Wyeth, noted illustrator; his son, Andrew Wyeth, noted painter; Jamie Wyeth, next generation painter; cousins, etc.; as well as works by the illustrator Howard Pyle (who was part of the Brandywine group).  It also houses some folk art and modern realistic sculpture.  The setting on the river, as Dale remarks, is beautiful.  Andrew Wyeth's Studio and N. C. Wyeth's Studio, both in the near vicinity, are now open to the public for (I believe) daily tours; they are managed and operated by the Brandywine River Museum.  

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

It is with great sadness that I bring you this news. After a long battle with lung cancer, Mike Hunting passed away this evening, June 7th. There will be a memorial service on Saturday, June 15th at the Cincinnati Country Club between 10 am-1 pm. There will be another memorial service this summer in Canada for all of Mike's friends up north, date and time TBD. 

Laura Reid (Pease)

Thanks Gail.  Chip and I saw Mike about two weeks ago.  He and Lollie hosted a gathering at their home for friends to come by and visit with Mike.  He was amazing, very strong and optimistic.  Such a great guy.  He was surrounded by his buddies from high school, college, golf and life.  As we walked up, they were laughing, sharing jokes and stories from “the way things used to be”.  God rest his soul.

Laura Reid (Pease)

Dale, Philip and Paul, thank you all for your help with our docent visit to the Philadelphia area.  And Bruce, you do not need reservations if you are going during regular Barnes hours; admission for seniors is $23 unless you are a member.  You do need reservations if you are part of a group and want a docent led tour.  We (docents from the Taft) visited the Barnes about 9 years ago before it moved to its present location.  It is a breathtaking collection, especially for Impressionism.  Again, I knew I could count on my fellow classmates for help!!  Thank you!

Bruce Fette

Thanks Laura. Yes Impressionism very much appeals to me.

Steven Levinson

I was Mike Hunting's classmate since September 1952.  He was a kind, decent, open, and goodhearted person.  It's sad to know that his phone will be out of order for the duration.

Ira Goldberg

Another loss of a classmate is so sad. A reminder to cherish whom we have while we can. Thank you for keeping us all aware and appreciative, Gail. No easy task. 

Ira Goldberg

And... many happy returns to our 4 birthday celebrants - Bill, Carol, Gail, and Steve. 

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

I haven't posted or responded to any messages or posts for several months.  Although I have been trying to read all the message forum posts, usually on my phone, I'm still not current.  It's really difficult to write a decent reply without using a real keyboard.  The news about Mike prompted me to sit down, open my laptop, to write how very sorry I am to learn of his passing.  

We were in Inskeep's home room in 7th grade and always were in choirs together 7-12l.  We lost touch for many years, but in the 80s, reconnected.  My husband and I became his mother-in-law Daphne's neighbors.  Lolly and I struck up an acquaintance on two levels: she always brought a golden retriever with her whenever she visied Daphne; and, she was the only person I had met that shared the same nickname as my mother. 

I last saw Mike was when Laura hosted a Christmas luncheon for the "Lady Eagles" at the Cincinnati Country Club a couple of years ago.   My sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

I just learned today that Birdie Johnson McIntosh is quite ill, also with a dire cancer diagnosis.  She lost her husband, Art, several years ago. She has family and friends to support her.

I just want to add that while the class of '64 has lost many members, this website has been a wonderful vehicle to keep the rest of us connected. 

Peace  

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Mike’s obituary:

https://m.legacy.com/obituaries/cincinnati/obituary.aspx?n=michael-ladd-hunting&pid=193097780&referrer=0&preview=True

Jerry Ochs

Does anybody remember?   Was this girl in our graduating class or in the class of '65?

Paul Simons

Jerry this happens at times - the "Class Creator" website services many schools, many graduating classes from all over the country. Sometimes the queries to its database get crossed up. The woman in the photo didn't go to WHHS. I'm pretty sure I recognize her from TV and the Internet. She is identified as K.E. Fitzpatrick in the yearbook from St, Joseph HS in Waterford Twp. New Jersey from which she graduated in 1985. So she is a good bit younger than we are. She obtained a law degree and has been a counselor to highly placed political operatives. She married an associate, identified as George C,. with whom she worked in the legal and political realm. Or, according to alternative facts, she is a world - champion blueberry picker - New Jersey is a center of blueberry farming - and worked as a conductor on the Amtrak Metroliner between Washington DC and New York, where she is said to have thrown a drink at a passenger, a member of Congress, when he said something with which she disagreed.

Meanwhile, enjoy the view of the Philadelphia Art Museum from a platform at 30th Street Station.

Philip Spiess

That's Winnie Colt, in her mane bridle outfit on the day of her marriage, hoofing it up the hill in her saddle oxfords (or were they horse shoes?), say hay!  (Or is Jerry Ochs just trying to stirrup things?)

Jerry Ochs

You seem a little hoarse, Phil.

Philip Spiess

Jerry:  I am apt to bridle at your comment, but I will try to rein in my emotions.

Jerry Ochs

Phil: I was champing at the bit to read your riposte.  

Paul Simons

You dudes do a lot of horsing around for 6:00 in the morning. But yes, that's what cowboys do. I can hear Spiess and Ochs grumbling about it now, out on the trail out in Wyoming - that's Wyoming, Ohio, a ways past Elmwood Place and Hartwell on Vine Street -  - "Yeah, Simons, and the horse you rode in on..." well, it's not a horse. It's a car from Rockenfield Ford. I didn't know I got the best deal...until I went to Rockenfield!!