Old Rag XLIII · Rescheduled
Roving Reporters: Clint Brass ’90, Linda Johnson ’60, Ed Berkowitz ’56, RichMcKinless, Kathy McKinless
SPERRYVILLE, VA, May 5, 2007 - Talk about a SURPRISE Birthday Party! How about climbing 2,400 feet to the top of Old Rag Mountain, as a part of the Cornell Club of Washington's (CCW's) 43rd twice-yearly hike, and finding 43 Cornellians and friends celebrating your 80th birthday? That's what happened to Bob McKinless ’48 on Saturday, May 5th, when he completed his 41st ascent of the mountain 80 miles west of Washington, DC.
The elaborate festivities were part of a plan hatched by Clint Brass ’90 (former Cornell in Washington (CIW) student) who recently succeeded Bob as leader of the 9-mile hike sponsored by CCW. Clint began recruiting hikers and party planners in November 2006 and managed to keep it all a secret from Bob. Principal co-conspirators were Bob's son, Rich, and Ed Berkowitz ’56, veteran Old Ragger and a board member of Cornell Outdoor Education (COE). Credit goes to Clint for keeping things on track despite a three-week postponement of the hike (the original date was rained out) and a last-minute shift of the party site to a nearby stone shelter (when rain started on Saturday).
When Bob and his group (son Rich, daughter Kathi, grandson Thomas and friend Josh Wojcik ’98, who had flown in from Maine) arrived at the shelter, they found a "birthday cake" constructed of four dozen Little Debbie Zebra cakes sitting on a picnic table with 8 candles; commemorative T-shirts with a contour map of the trail (Rich's idea); and 40 small tin souvenir containers of red and white M&Ms (from Linda Johnson ’60, Executive Director of the Cornell Center, who couldn't make the hike).
Bob was also presented with a large photo poster of himself taken on a previous hike when COE Director, Todd Miner (Ed’s guest), repaired Bob’s boots with duct tape after they had self-destructed. Nick Woodward ’70 had the idea for the poster and contributed the original photo. Clint had it enlarged and mounted on foamboard, so many of the birthday hikers could sign it. Nick also gave Bob a symbolic set of extra hiking boot soles, as well as some duct tape and moleskin, for future emergencies.
Brad Spencer ’79, Scott Spencer ’71, and Mike Hurlbut ’03 (who sing with Bob in the Washington Men’s Camerata) led several songs, including Happy Birthday and the Alma Mater. Yet more alumni who helped plan the event included Ted Jamieson ’92, Heather Schroeder ’03, and Josh Novikoff ’03. Mark Schneider ’93 helped with impressive t-shirt sales. Car pool drivers and organizers included Heather, Mark, Eliot Greenwald ’73, Ying Ma ’97, Steve Suranovic ’89 (grad), Erika Ettin ’03, Jack Chiu ’99, and Marquise McGraw ’06.
Bob started leading the Old Rag Hikes in 1985, when he became CCW President, and has taken over 300 CIW students and almost 900 alumni to the summit during the past 22 years. Among those on the first hike, Old Rag I, were Linda Johnson ’60 and Jeff Lehman ’77, later Cornell's 11th President. Bob casually mentioned in November 2006 and at the February 2007 CCW Board meeting that Old Rag XLIII would probably be his last. As a result of extensive and secret marketing, some 70+ alumni and friends plus 11 CIW students signed up for the original April date. The postponement reduced the number of hikers to 43, as many had conflicts with the later date. Everyone joins in wishing Bob the very best for this truly memorable occasion. Thank you Bob!
