In May-July, 2002, Victor "Vic" Obninsky '62 lay in a coma in a hospital bed in San Rafael, California. He had suffered two heart attacks, two legs beset by gangrene resulting in two below-knee amputations, kidney failure, collapsed lung and pneumonia. He received the last rites of the Russia Orthodox Church twice. Then, his doctors told him he'd never walk again. He replied, "Baloney!"

A year later in May, 2003, he got on a plane and flew to Obninsk, a city in Russia built on land confiscated from his ancestors. Next he went to Moscow, where he met his first cousin for the first time, and on to Bavaria and France. Last year he went to Namibia and South Africa, and traveled with his longtime friend and classmate John Fabiano to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, where he "suffered" watching the Boston Red Sox, whom he calls the "evil Bolsheviks," defeat his beloved Yankees.

"I did that," '62's resident curmudgeon says with a note of pride, "within a year of getting my legs chopped." He walks on prosthetic legs at home, and uses an electric wheelchair when he goes out.

Obninsky, a former Alumni Council member, has been '62's class secretary, penning the Class Notes for the Andover Bulletin, for 18 years. His health crisis stopped him only momentarily-for one magazine issue, when classmate Russ Donaldson pinch hit for him-from issuing his usual flow of news and nostalgia. Obninsky plans to be at Andover for his 45th and says, "If God gives me life, I'll run for reelection for class secretary."

His Classmates will be pleased. Obninsky's band is among the most loyal and mutually supportive of all the Andover classes - "we've always been a cohesive bunch and now even more so. We mean a huge amount to each other. We've got all sorts of different political and social Views. Everybody's doing different things in the world. Some have no professions and work in manual jobs; some are rich and retired. It doesn't matter, "he says.

In the midst of his devastating illness, Obninsky's wife of 34 years divorced him. Their divorce put a strain on him and his family, and he is estranged from his two children, which, he says, is worse than losing his legs. "I have a religious faith that definitely got strengthened. It almost got killed at Andover by daily chapel." he says, displaying a streak of the testiness for which he is well known, but it returned and I'm just very strong in it."

Obninsky, a practicing attorney who was recently nominated for a judgeship by California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been up front about differing with educational and social stands his school has taken in the past. But he now has a protégée, a grandchild of a friend whom he is encouraging to apply to the academy. "I'm convinced this opportunity for her to go to Andover is just an amazing thing. The school develops a person in so many ways, but one of the great things about Andover is its demand on its students to strive for excellence. The things I learned from books and teachers and about myself at Andover far exceeded college, far exceeded law school,? Obninsky notes.

"When something happens to you like losing your legs, you pray, ?I can't handle this, and God, if you feel like it, I really could use some help here?," Obninsky explained. Help came in many different ways. One was the love and support he felt from his classmates, including some he hadn't heard from in years. His band of Andover friends came to his rescue.

-Paula Trespas