Notes from the Class of 1954

In the spring Robert Byrne (CivEngr’54) will publish his 24th book, The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said (Simon & Schuster). While at CU he was editor of the humor magazine The Flatiron and played pool, snooker and billiards. One of his books, Byrne’s Standard Book of Pool and Billiards (Marnier Books), has sold more than 500,000 copies and helped him get inducted into the Billiards Congress of America’s Hall of Fame in 2001. He also became a full-time freelance writer after 20 years as editor of an engineering magazine based in San Francisco. Robert lives in Dubuque, Iowa.

Longmont residents Jim Armitage (MEdu’54, EdD’67) and his wife Doris Armitage celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in November. The couple has four children and celebrated their milestone with family. Jim taught in the education school at CU, served as director of elementary education at Oregon State University and spent 11 years as principal of Foothill Elementary School. He retired in 1987. The couple spends winters in Arizona.

On March 26, 2011, Joyce Pierson Rumsfeld (A&S’54), wife of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, broke a bottle of champagne to christen the USS Arlington. Joyce is the ship sponsor of the Arlington, one of three vessels named in honor of the heroes and victims of 9/11. The vessel is named for Arlington County, Va., where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, killing 184 people. She lives in Chicago.

For the past decade John Howe (MechEngr’56) has been an author and speaker on energy, population, environment and economics. He writes “We are entering the second half of the short oil age, and in that context, things don’t look very promising.” His studies are shared in his manuscript, The End of Fossil Energy, 4th ed.: What’s Next? It’s Up To You. John, the 1956 CU ski team captain, and his wife Debbie Mead Howe (Art’69) live in Waterford, Maine. They have fond memories of their time at the university and Boulder in the 1970s when John was vice president of engineering for the Head Ski Co. on 63rd Street and Debbie was a professional freestyle skier.

Former CU football player Royal Shepherd (Geol’54, MS’68) and his wife celebrated their 60th anniversary on Aug. 16, 2013, at the Red Lion Inn in Boulder Canyon in the same room as their first anniversary dinner. Royal graduated from Boulder High School, played football on the first all-services football team for the Air Force, coached at Aurora Central High School and taught school for the Boulder Valley School District. He and his wife have four children and live in Longmont, Colo.

A seasoned developer with experience in site evaluation, land acquisition and development, David M. Noyes (Fin) has constructed commercial, industrial and residential buildings and developed a golf course. He also has experience in fundraising for equity participation. Prior to his business career, he served in the U.S. Navy as an officer.

It seems nothing can slow down David Hall’s (A&S) golf game. David was featured in The Albuquerque Journal for using only a single zero-iron club to shoot below his age, an 84, at the Puerto del Sol Golf Course, despite a long list of ailments. He has a tournament named after him, the annual Dave Hall 3-club Tournament, which takes place every December.

After leaving Boulder, Tony Snyder (MMusEdu) taught music in Iowa before becoming director of bands at a high school in Omaha, Nebraska. Thirty years later he retired and founded the Nebraska Wind Symphony. The band and its 85 players celebrated its 42nd year in 2019.