Beautiful Words

The essays written by Elizabeth Brady  [“Toward Clarity & Understanding,” March/April, p. 44] may well be the best writing I have ever read in the 30 years that I have received the Penn Stater. More like this, please. Elizabeth, thank you for pouring your heart out for us in this writing. Mack, I have been blessed to learn a little about your life.

Kristin Richdale Stellingwerf ’94 Bus
Westfield, N.J.

Never Forgotten

Ronald Coates was likely just yards away from that 1962 recorded aerial parking lot scene [“A Not Quite White Out,” Nov./Dec. 2024, p. 60-61] taken over six decades ago, already inside Beaver Stadium’s locker room, preparing to play in the snow. Coates, a quarterback and kicker in 1962 and ’63, played for Joe Paterno, then the team’s quarterback coach. They would remain friends for decades. Ron and I shared property lines and several land parcels for over 17 years in Mercer County, until 2019 when he and his wife, Joyce, moved to Idaho. He and Joyce were wonderful neighbors. May he rest in peace.

Nathan Clark ’84 Bus 
Greenville, Pa.

Engineering and Art

If my cousin Edward Henning were still alive, he would be sending kudos to Professor Benjamin Fehl and Penn State ["Cool Classes," March/April, p. 21]. Back in the 1960s, Ed was the associate director of the Cleveland Art Museum and curator of modern art, and I was completing my chemical engineering degrees. He frequently shared his frustrations about how engineers preferred the “Grandma Moses” school of art: They rejected, or did not understand, abstract modern art. He felt engineering blueprints at the time were the ultimate in abstract art—while the Picasso Clown is not a lifelike rendering of any particular clown, it conveys components of all clowns just like an engineering drawing conveys the components of machines, buildings, and bridges.

W. H. (Bill) Walsh ’60, ’63 MS Eng
Newark, Del.

Chip Resurgence

The Jan./Feb. ’25 article by Daniel Oberhaus, “Charting a Chip Resurgence,” [p. 42], was incredibly enlightening. It pointed out that “we are” not missing out on the $280 billion funding package to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. Penn State’s depth of experience facilitated the ability to create a Mid-Atlantic consortium to fully interact with the U.S. CHIPS Act. The author eloquently tied the article together with the proverbial three-legged stool: First leg: build facilities. Second leg: materials R&D. Third leg: workforce development. Well, let’s talk. No matter how massive the construction sites, or how sophisticated the materials R&D, the third leg of the stool is currently not even a piece of maple waiting to be “turned” on a lathe to become a leg of the stool. 

Randy E. Smith ’84 Eng 
Frankenmuth, Mich.

Treasures of the Past

The article “Preserving the Past, For the Future” [Jan./Feb. 2024, p. 46] highlights the work of one of Penn State’s great gems, Sue Kellerman [retired head, digitization and preservation department, Penn State Libraries]. Many of the artifacts, memories, and possessions are reaching a state where preservation is necessary. Penn State is fortunate to have an internationally recognized team able to keep the memory and quality of our history in first-class shape and teach future preservationists. 

Michael Kirschner ’66 Bus 
Naples, Fla.