"It's a pleasure to see alumni, friends, wives and kin," commented Harold Kassin, one of approximately 50 class members and guests at the 50th Reunion Luncheon of the Class of 1951, May 20, at the Hyatt Regency Miami.

He also found great pleasure in bringing up Law School memories with the group-memories of classrooms cooled by cross-ventilation rather than airconditioning, of models from the Art School on the second floor of the same building, and of favorite restaurants (the Dixie Bell, Embers, Wolfie's, and Shorty's).

Gerald Forman remembered finding it tough paying his last semester's tuition of $250.

Ellis Rubin, who served in the U.S. Navy before attending law school, remembered that he had a problem with stuttering and his superiors advised him, "Whatever you do, don't go in a courtroom." "And, here I am with more than 4,000 jury trials under my belt," he said.

Benjamin Shuman remembered an exotic dancer caught up in a "great cleanup the Baptists put on. A lot of us went to see the trial. She was a tassle dancer, and all the law students really enjoyed that trial."

Martin Carlin, who was editor of the Barrister when he was a student, remembered trying to balance conservative and liberal viewpoints.

J.B. Spence remembered beating Tom Lee for the student body presidency by winning the majority of night students' votes. "Years later, when I'd try a case before Judge Lee, he'd say, 'You can't win this one,'" Spence joked.

Lee's memories went back to the years before law school, when he was a combat pilot during World War II. "We lost 50 percent of our group in six months," he said. "Now, we're losing 1,000 World War II vets per day."

"We didn't know we had it rough," Wilbur Rollins said. "I had a paper route. I'd go to class; then, after class, I'd go to the movies every evening. I was the usher. For one year, I had some exciting success: I kept the books at a service station where I could trade my work for gas."

"We all worked hard to get through school," Frank Knuck noted. "Jay Kaiser had four paper routes. We were all getting up to go to Law School, and Jay and his wife Shirley had already been up since 3 a.m."

In addition to his law studies and multiple newspaper routes, Kaiser was vice president of the student body and helped start moot court at UM Law. "I solicited members of the Law School and put together a Moot Court Advisory Committee, and in the spring of 1951, we had our first argument," he said. "The 1951 class also was involved in starting the Law School Building Fund."

Monroe Dixon worked his way through law school repairing radios and televisions in Coconut Grove.

Richard Sorgini worked in the Law Library. "I opened the library and closed it and was paid 36 cents per hour for that job, which led to another source of employment to supplement my job: I got 32 cents to prompt a business student. I just didn't have the sagacity to take on a paper route."

The years following law school have been kind to many members of the Class of '51, such as Mac Mermell. "I've met wonderful people. I wrote wills and did estate planning and was named a trustee of a foundation that wanted to rid the streams and rivers of pollution," he said. "I've done very well. I married Peggy, and we ran a summer camp for children in Wildwood, Florida, for 40 years."

Also at the event, sharing the memories and food, were the following other members of the Class of 1951: Warren A. Bishop, Gene Essner, Martin J. Kabcenell, George N. Leader, James R. Parks, George D. Parrish, George Richardson, Samuel L. Saady, and Martin P. Shachat.

Along with the luncheon at the Hyatt Regency, reunion activities for the Class of 1951 included participation in the Law School's hooding ceremony, two lunches and a reception at the School of Law, and a tour of the Law Library.