CLASS OF 1976 | 2016 | ISSUE 1

I received a lot of responses to my requests for news this quarter, and I am not going to be able to fit it all in. Some will have to wait until next time. This column will focus on classmates who have not written in for a while.

Susan Peterson Avitzour, who has four thriving grandchildren, earned a master’s degree in English and creative writing last year. She continues to work as a psychotherapist but has also published four short stories and just finished her first novel.

Meredith Gang Bergmann sent me a wonderful photo of her presenting a bust that she created of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Justice. In New York this past October, Meredith’s husband, Michael, wrote and directed a libretto in an opera based on Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. And, this past April, Michael’s film, Influence, for which Meredith did the production design and their son, Daniel,–– was the technical advisor won two awards at the Houston Film Festival.

Arvid Bloom is retired after 25 years as a psychology professor and has re-discovered an old passion for photography. Arvid also is learning guitar and is helping a museum to restore a helicopter from the Korean War era. He and his wife, Gretchen, also volunteer at a local animal rescue center.

Alida Jay Boye was stationed in Mali as counsellor for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2010-–2013. In appreciation for her work, she was knighted by the Malian Government and is now a “Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mali.”

Rob Briskin is a concierge internist in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He and his wife have twin 6-year-old girls.

Karen Adair Stephens Caplan is living in Wallingford with her husband, Dick. Their daughter, Samantha, lives in Carlsbad, Calif., and their son, Tom, is working as property manager with his dad. Karen has joined a hospital-based palliative consult team. She would love to hear from old friends.

Sidney Cohen (a doctor in cardiology and internal medicine with a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics) is now living in the Bay Area with his wife, the former Carol Fisher (second marriage). Sidney has three children: Jacob, who is a CPA and is married to Sarah Waxman; Rachel, who works at QVC; and Jonah, who is in med school in Israel.

Lawrence Davis and his wife, Ronna, will be away and regret that they are going to miss the Reunion. Their daughter, Ilana ’06, recently had her second child and their son just graduated from IDC Herzliya in Tel Aviv.

Ron Epstein is a family physician on the faculty at the University of Rochester. He and his wife Deborah have a son Eli ’11 who will be having an engagement party in Wenzhou, China, in March, followed by a wedding in Vermont. Their daughter, Malka, recently graduated from the College of Charleston. Ron is the president and Deborah is the artistic director of Pegasus Early Music, a NFP that serves Western New York.

Lenny Femino reports that our class had a great turnout for Homecoming and that, although the DKE House has been closed by the University, it was used for food and gathering after the game. Paul McMahonPete McArdleDennis Harrington, Bob GandolfoJeff WhiteAl PoonDave EckertJack O’DonnellSteve Beauchamp ’77Jeff Gray ’77 and his wife Joanne, Dennis Robinson ’79, and Scott Karsten ’74 among others, were in attendance.

Steve Goldman was elected managing partner of Robinson and Cole in Hartford. A trial lawyer at the firm since 1980, he has focused on insurance coverage and class action litigation, handling numerous federal and state appeals in multiple jurisdictions, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Alan Haus writes about the upcoming election. He says that if Clinton wins, he may exercise his dual US/EU citizenship and move to Europe. And if Trump wins, he will find out how long it is before SpaceX is in full service!

Libby Horn’s chorus, Saratoga Soundtrack, came in fourth in the world in the small chorus division of the Sweet Adeline’s International Competition in Las Vegas this past October.

Nina Jaffe is on the graduate faculty of Bank Street College of Education in NYC, where she advises candidates involved in childhood education. Nina’s book The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth From Puerto Rico, was selected as a Staff Pick at The Bank Street Bookstore. Nina’s husband, Bob Armistead, is a special educator teaching in the South Bronx, and their son, Louis, is a free-lance film editor and producer.

Debbie King got (re)married this past June to Daniel Toth in Boulder, Colo., after a long engagement. Their daughters and granddaughters made up the wedding party. They honeymooned in Bordeaux, France, and the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Debra Gottheimer Neuman and husband, Paul, moved last year to Mystic, Conn., where they live in an 1806 cottage in the historic district. Last May, their son Joshua was married to Meagan Riley in Athens, Ga. The newlyweds are each pursuing MS degrees, he in plant pathology and she in nursing.

Joe Reiff’s book on the Civil Rights Movement. Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society, has been published by Oxford University Press.

Lisa deSchweinitz and her husband will be downsizing into a co-housing community in their hometown of Anchorage. Lisa is a family physician. She does medical missions in Spanish-speaking countries and went to Nicaragua last fall.

Steve Smith started as a ’75 but joined ’76. He lives in East Flat Rock, N.C., with his wife Jean, who teaches in the local public school system. Steve did computer programming most of his career and now works for DHG in healthcare consulting in Athens. Their two children, Tara ’07 and Tyler, work in Charlotte, Tara as a librarian and Tyler as a computer programmer. Steve and Jean are active in the dulcimer club in Asheville.

Last December, Marc Stier became the director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, a leading progressive think tank in Pennsylvania. Marc’s book, Grassroots Advocacy and Healthcare Reform, was recently published. Marc’s daughter with Diane Gottlieb ’80 graduated from Hampshire College last spring.

Our Reunion is May 19–22, 2016. You can find more information at: wesconnect.wesleyan.edu, under “Events.” Hope to see you there.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net