CLASS OF 1972 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
Thank you, one and all—nothing but good news this time! This very morning on Facebook I read that Paul Vidich is writing a novel, due to be published in spring of 2016. “It will be positioned as a Cold War spy novel wrapped inside literary fiction, à la Alan Furst, John Le Carre.” I can’t wait!
Chick Hancock wrote, inspired by John Perry Barlow’s ’69 obit of Oscar Look: “I was the fifth generation of my family to go to Wesleyan. My dad was in Alpha Delta Phi. God only knows in what form it exists today. Anyway, when we visited it in 1968, it had changed somewhat from 1936. He said, ‘We, juleps in hand, used to sing across the street to the Psi U’s.’ … When I was at Wesleyan, it was my great luck that David McAllester was teaching the Intro Anthropology course. That led to me becoming an Anthro major, writing a grant proposal that to this day I don’t understand, and teaching on the Navajo Reservation. This led to me becoming a Harley-Davidson dealer, flatteringly profiled in the alumni mag. About 10 years ago I visited Wesleyan with my younger daughter and sat in on a class. In filed the entire hockey team. I didn’t think that this bode well for class discussion—sorry, guys. What followed was extraordinary give-and-take. We subsequently visited another member of the Little Three where the professor had to beg the students to speak.”
Andy Feinstein happily lets me know every time Harvard Law professor Steve Shay is quoted in the New York Times. And Andy himself was quoted extensively on the subject of the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate’s report on the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Brian Hersey—bless him—took issue with my characterization of the usual tone of this column, finding it more “convivial” than “snarky.” “We’re more into mellowness than snarkiness with our age now and, in fact, the insertion of a nap break into our reading of your reports may be required by many of us, given the adrenalin rush it induces,” Hmm. I might have to insert such a break into the writing of the column now…
Charlie Smith, my junior year suitemate, wrote, following the announcement of my election to the ABA environmental section chairmanship, to remind me that I got my start in environmental law working on a National Science Foundation project along with him and future hydrologist Glenn Harris. Charlie lives in Bowling Green, Ky., which, to his surprise, was named by Forbes magazine as the third best place in the USA to which one might retire. Charlie now plans to check out the first- and second-place cities. He was present at Western Kentucky’s epic 67–66 victory over previously unbeaten Marshall. This is football we’re talking about now. The Western quarterback threw eight touchdowns, and deprived Marshall of a New Year’s bowl bid. Charlie has been at Western for 20 years, the last 12 as professor of library public services. He has authored research publications in both geology and musicology. In 2013 he received the President’s Call to Service award, a national-level recognition of volunteerism. And he was elected to the Linnean Society of London.
Could six months go by without a word from Bob “Whizzer” White? Of course not.
“Bob White reports the birth of his grand-niece, India Carson, who was born Oct. 10th, weighing in at 7.2 lbs. The mother, Theresa, Bob’s nephew, Tre, and Granddad Bill “Butch” Carson, are all doing well. For your amusement: St. Croix Diving December 2014: 16 dives; cumulative number of dives: 515. A typical day of diving: I am the one in the red fins; also, 1:04–1:20 is me—note the air bubbles coming from both ends, 3:24; the predator with the big fin on its back is not me; and why did I feel safe with the sharks circling us?—answer: there were two absolute beginners in our group (the sharks know who is who by the arms and legs flailing around). youtu.be/aQApCMnD0LM Insight into the origin of the Whizzer… My interest in diving started with TV character Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt. Mike Nelson, a former Navy diver, did judo—another interest of mine as a kid—in many of the episodes on land and in the water. At the time, I could not do judo. Wrestling became my passion. Recall that my freshman year roommate, Robert Weinberg, was a black belt in judo and brought judo to Wesleyan. Now you understand that my ‘methods of madness’ (a title borrowed from Professor Benjamin Braginsky’s book) were not random events.”
One might point out that some guy named Shakespeare had something to do with that title.
This past October I was privileged to be at Wesleyan for a celebration honoring Rabbi George Sobelman, who died a few years ago. George’s wife, Nina, and all four of their children—many of whom we remember as youngsters running madly around the Wesleyan campus and are now all quite prominent in diverse fields. Also there representing our class were Mike Busman, Karyn Scher, and Rivka Raffel, wives of Eddie Ohlbaum and Chuck Raffel. David Rabban ’71 was one of the organizers, and also among the attendees were Andy Baker ’71 and Todd Jick ’71, Jeff Richards ’69, Bob Wolkoff ’73, Pam van der Meulen ’74, and doubtless others to whom I apologize for my failing memory. A wonderful occasion to remember special times with a very special man.
SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
17 Wolf Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520