CLASS OF 1979 | 2019 | ISSUE 1
Hello all. Gary Breitbord here. First things first. It’s our 40th Reunion May 24-26! Please put it on your calendars if it isn’t already there. We hope you will be attending to re-connect with other ’79ers and to enjoy the weekend’s festivities. Registration and more information can be found at: wesleyan.edu/rc. Be there or be square.
This is my swan song as co-class secretary. It’s been a fun 10 years. I’ve enjoyed being a conduit for all the class news that’s fit to print.
I spent a delightful evening with Jeff Gray ’77, Tim Fitzgerald, Mike Rosenblatt ’80, Jeff Burns ’80, and Tim O’Brien ’81 sharing life stories of family, friends, careers and, of course, Wesleyan and DKE.This time with spouses and significant others. We all consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have found such wonderful, and tolerant, life partners.
Rachel Bashevkin writes in: “In 2016, after 35 years in the small town of Middlebury, Conn., I retired as director of studies at Westover School and moved to New Haven. I am very much enjoying this new life!I’m looking forward to reunion in the spring.” Alright! First attendee identified. Who else?
Joe Wilson ’19 received the Gridiron Club of Boston’s prestigious Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award for outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, sportsmanship, and citizenship. To celebrate with Joe, Dave Thomas ’77 graciously hosted a table that included Jeff Gray ’77, Paul Fichera ’77, Bill Ahern ’78, Paul Nelson ’78, Frank Hauser, and Mike Whalen ’83.
And from another classmate planning on attending Reunion Lisa Frantzis: “I will be attending Reunion and can’t wait to see friends again. I have been working in the clean energy sector since I left Wesleyan. I am wearing two hats these days . . . one as a managing director at Navigant consulting in clean energy and two as a senior vice president at Advanced Energy Economy where we are transforming policy at the state and federal level to accelerate the growth of clean, affordable and secure energy. I work with great people and love my work. I started to have kids late in life. Even though I have been married for 20 years to my partner Ophelia, we now have an 11-year-old boy named Luke who is terrific. I have tried to keep up my piano playing, but did not succeed in that as time has been tight. I have been keeping up with Roberta Rebold and Lisa Cunningham. Roberta lives in Israel with her family, Lisa lives in Brookline, Mass., and I live in nearby Cambridge, Mass.”
Rachel Christmas Derrick sent this update: “Wesleyan remains with me in many ways, particularly since my son is a freshman there. Unlike me, he is pre-med. Like me, he is thoroughly enjoying himself and is taking a fiction writing class. Our daughter, a junior at Yale, is studying political science in Rio this semester.
“After years as an editor in book publishing and a freelance writer, and after working in communications at the Rockefeller Foundation, Columbia University, and an affordable housing organization, I’m now Managing Editor of a financial services nonprofit with socially responsible investments ranging from renewable energy in India and small-scale farming in Tanzania to affordable housing in California. Never thought I’d end up in my husband’s field (finance)—but (apart from us) his passion lies with his part-time job: officiating football.”
Diane LaPointe: “I continue to enjoy working in the financial services industry as the principal financial officer for the asset management firm and mutual fund complex founded and headed by Mario Gabelli. Certainly, a very interesting place to be in this economic climate. Good people and challenging work. My husband and I have adapted to our empty nest. Our son Matthew (Princeton ‘13) has been happily living in San Francisco for the past 6 years and working in the tech space. Our daughter Megan ’17—Phi Beta Kappa and with high honors—spent a year in a fellowship with AmeriCorps, and is now attending UPenn grad school in Philadelphia working on her masters in urban education. I am looking forward to Reunion and seeing everyone but really can’t quite understand how it’s been 40 years!” I’m sensing a Reunion trend here.
Ellen M. Blau: “I’ve been living in beautiful but now bustling and too crowded Seattle for 30 years! My 28-year-old daughter and her new husband also live in Seattle. I’ve been a psychologist for 30 years here, mostly in private practice after a stint as a staff psychologist in physical medicine and rehab. Last year through a series of seemingly fated events I ended up working at a tech start up (like everyone else in Seattle) writing psychology and coaching web and app content. It was really interesting to have a Millennial boss and team (I learned bunch of phrases like “woke” and “avocado toast”) and challenging (they work hard in young tech companies) and I learned a bunch of other stuff (like that no one uses the same grammatical rules as our generation).
“That job ended this past summer, and my time, like many of us, I am sure, has been dominated by managing my 86-year-old mom’s life in Boca from across the continent. I had the thought recently that we should all share our stories about eldercare and support each other in this sacred duty. I’m now starting up a new chapter of psychology practice in an integrative medicine group focusing on positive psychology (mindfulness-based well-being, resilience, and self-efficacy practices, including applications of current neuroscience research on applied neuroplasticity). I’m thankful that my interest in biology and psychology has lasted a lifetime (did a joint bio-psych major at Wes, then MA and PhD. in clinical psych, postdoctoral training in neuropsychology and geriatric mental health). On the personal front I’ve been divorced for many years now but I’m truly blessed with friends, community, health, travel opportunities (including Cuba twice and the North Pole!) and I sing a lot (including Jewish leadership). I’m still learning as much as I can. Now that I know it’s our 40th Reunion maybe I’ll try to make it to Connecticut this May.”
Jane Marcellus: “My essay, My Father’s Tooth, made the Notables list in Best American Essays 2018. It’s set partly at Wesleyan. I also won the Betty Gabehart Award for nonfiction, given by the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, for work in progress.”
Adam Vickers: “Helen and I are enjoying life in Gaborone, Botswana. I’ve turned over the reins of our company to a younger man, so now I get to consult for the African Development Bank across the continent, do some executive mentoring and facilitate programs on strategic execution and sales. Helen operates her rentals and is involved with the community. Weddings and funerals are big on the social calendar, but we also get to travel a fair bit. We needed an excuse to see the rest of the family this year, so maybe reunion will work.” Excuse confirmed. Family and friends. Great reason for a trip.
Doug Pavlak: “I do not have a lot of exciting news to report since I last sent notes other than the fact that (finally) one of my (seven) children is going to Wesleyan! Gunter Haug-Pavlak was accepted early decision in December for the class of 2023. It was great to see the campus again while he interviewed, and my wife and I look forward to seeing him row on the crew (my sport).” Go Wes!
Jono Cobb: “This marks the 40th year since I shared a small four bedroom/one-bathroom house on Martha’s Vineyard with Maureen Walsh, Bethany Kandel, Deirdre Manning, Spence Studwell, Dennis Archibald, Jim Connery, Mike Riera and his un-housebroken dog. We named our mansion Little Walden.”
Reunion musing: “I thought growing old would take longer.
Gary Breitbord | gbreitbo@aol.com
Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com