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Wondering how your old friends have changed over the years? Visit Then and Now for a peek.

[Events and Information]

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Yearbooks
Thanks to Mitch Kief(1973) and Jim Cochran, Kathy McConaghie, and Toni McConaghie(1971)
1971 Yearbook(Pdf)
1973 Year book(html)
1973 Yearbook(pdf)
And anyone else who wants to get their name up here, all you have to do is scan an entire yearbook(and I'll even host it on the site!)

The April 17-19
Wilmington, NC Reunion
More Wilmington photos.......
Matt Barrett's &
Jill Best's

Departed
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copyright©2009 ACSGreece

Nicholas Econopouly August 4, 1924- December 11, 1999

Stanley Spiegel
12-21-99

I would like to emphasize what I said at the memorial service, that each of you (his children) are unlike each other in appearance and personality, but all of you are like your father. While he did not say it freely to his children, he revealed to me that he was proud of all of you. You have gone in a direction that he basically approved of. That is, you have all independently pursued a direction of your own. He disliked computers, but the instance of your establishing this web site is another example of how you each march to your own drummer, and this would be another instance of where your father would be secretly proud of you.

As most people who will look at this site probably already know, Nicholas had the impression that he was living on borrowed time for most of his adult life. Prior to going to college he had tuberculosis and was in a sanitarium on Long Island for a long period of time. I suspect for about a year. When in college where I first met him in 1948, he was told that Marfans would probably kill him before he was thirty. After that he was frequently told that he did not have long to live. He did not dwell on it, and with genuine courage went on and accomplished so much in his teaching and his life, with a sword of Damocles hanging over his head. When he was told that he had stomach cancer he asked directly how long he would live and told me that the physicians hedged. He finally pinned them down by asking if he would still be able to sit outside his house, have a cocktail, and watch the sun set. They said they thought he would be able to do that for quite a while. By most people’s definition it was not quite a while.

When I asked about what he had told his children he effectively said that he was titrating the information and that they were learning about it so that they would be best able to deal with it. Nicholas readily acknowledged to me that he did not want to see people when he was feeling sick, only when he felt all right. During the last few weeks of his life he was reluctant to see me but as he realized his life was nearing an end he consented to it. I visited less than two weeks before he died. As usual he was straightforward and told me all that was going on medically and psychologically. When I left after about three hours, he said, “That wasn’t so bad.” I think he still maintained the attitude of reluctance to share bad news, but with me he was usually free and so as the news was really bad it was very unpleasant for him to tell me.

Stanley

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