Dr. Charles "Uncle Chuck" Cornwell

This summer I had the pleasure of spending time in Flat Rock, NC with Charles Cornwell.  We spent a couple of days with his wonderful wife Marty and their handsome grandson, Sinklar.  Also, visiting were Steve Holman, Mike McGrady '80, Jim Haynes '80, and Charlie Pearson '80.  We passed the time on their front porch looking at spectacular lake vistas and Marty's amazing flower garden while we reminisced about the "old days" and told lies about our academic and social prowess in the mid-seventies.  

Will Miller

Bruce Brown was kind enough to forward the following article from Charlotte Magazine honoring our very own Will Miller.  (That's right Will, this puts you in the category of "our very own" .  Congratulations and thanks to Bruce for the link.

Will was in the August issue of Charlotte Magazine, included in the feature article “Brilliant! 25 big ideas from 30 geniuses for how to make Charlotte a better, more interesting city – and how to make it matter”.

Will Miller
Social venture capitalist

Big Idea

Set up a first-class research-and-development operation that would find the absolute best practices for delivering social services being used around the world -- whether it be Sweden or Seattle. Then, coordinate with area agencies to use only those proven best practices.


While thousands of local United Way donors seethed in anger this year over that agency's alleged mishandling of money, a small group of philanthropists felt confident that their money had been well used, because they didn't just write checks, they became engaged in the charities they funded. Social Venture Partners Charlotte (which is not connected to the United Way) is a group of more than thirty couples who have each committed to giving $5,000 a year for two years as well as their time and expertise to the causes they support. Real estate executive Will Miller, fifty-three, left his job in 2005 and started SVPC -- the local affiliate of the twenty-five-city network of venture philanthropists -- and they've been chipping away at problems in education, housing, and healthcare ever since.

"A lot of people are happy writing checks to different charities without much of a strategy, and there's nothing wrong with that. But at some point, you might start wondering whether you really are making a difference. I call us 'frustrated philanthropists.' At its core, what we're doing is bringing passionate, intelligent entrepreneurs together in small groups to solve problems."

"People focus so much on how much less money we have, but it's not about money. It's about the way we deploy the money. We need to find a way to effectively engage human capital, because that's the community's greatest resource. If we could do that we could do a lot more than we've ever done before, with much less money."

Don Lupo

Hi Bruce,

I hadn’t sent in any updates because not a whole lot has changed since I sent the last one a while ago: still self-employed, still based in Frankfurt, still doing new displays, printed electronics and functional materials consulting, still running jam sessions at an outdoor cider farm pub during the summer. After my lead customer, a Finnish paper company, restructured at the end of last year and dropped all the projects I was involved in I had a very slow first half of this year but since this probably applies to any number of other classmates as well I didn’t think that was worth a separate mention.

But I did have one experience recently that seemed worth a quick note; Dennis Philips ’65 (another emigrant to Frankfurt and a member of my church here) and I met up with the Davidson alumni group led by Peter Wagner doing the European WWII tour in Rüdesheim on the Rhine for dinner. The restaurant was a tourist trap but the company was fantastic, of course, as it consisted of Davidson grads! It was an especially nice surprise to find that classmate Bruce Darden had joined the tour. We had a good time catching up on each other’s lives, talking about life here and there and of course reminiscing as guys in middle age will tend to do. Bruce commented to me that he was impressed to see me embrace another culture and become a native and that it was probably second nature. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean I was a complete misfit at Davidson and am assuming this was meant as a compliment ;-). Bruce sent me a photo of the group but I assume he wants to send it to you himself so I will not use his picture for my note.

Hope things are well from your side,
Regards
Don

P.S. Bruce D, it was great to see you in Rüdesheim, and thanks for the photo. Give my regards to Debbie and any other classmates or almost classmates you run into.

Philip Blue

..and knee surgery. We're in the same boat......bad knees. So I finally
decided to undertake the inevitable........knee replacement surgery. May 18 was
the big day. It ain't fun, but the results are worth it if your knee hurts when
you climb steps, jump up and down (I quit trying that a long time ago), or just
simple stuff like carrying luggage, groceries, or climbing a hill in Brazil to
get to that beautiful deserted beach you've heard so much about!! It was four
weeks ago today, and I can definitely do steps much better, as well as carrying
loads of groceries and bargains from flea markets and thrift shops. Maybe I can
get back to Brazil this fall and check out a new place I've heard about. But be
prepared for two to three weeks of limited mobility while you are recovering
from surgery, and you better have somebody to help you get around.......and
prepare the ice packs. Oh, and the most obvious thing...........only do one
knee at a time!!

Roy McCall

Greetings Bruce

Temperatures here in Saudi Arabia in June are reaching 110-120F. Naturally
people prefer to venture out at night.

Two of our three daughters attend the local German school where a number of the
teachers come from former East Germany.

Recently I accompanied the kindergarten class on a visit to Prince Al Waleed on
the 66th floor of the Kingdom Tower (after a visit to a lookout on the 99th
floor). He seemed to appreciate the childrens' song about the ducks and frogs,
and saved his kiss for the girl who asked to be his queen.

Sincerely
Roy McCall