CLASS OF 1969 | 2023 | SPRING ISSUE
Alex Knopp wrote: “I recently completed six years as president of the Norwalk, Connecticut, public library board and continue to serve as a member of the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial Board and the Connecticut Retirement Security Advisory Board. Very proud that my wife Bette just had her fourth book of fiction accepted for publication (two novels and two short story collections). I recently had a gratifying opportunity to get back in touch with Steve Talbot ’70 who is working on a PBS documentary about how the Vietnam War peace movement succeeded in preventing President Nixon from vastly escalating the war during the fall of 1969. Steve and I were part of the group of Wesleyan students who sought to block military recruitment on campus in 1968–69. He’s been a PBS Frontline documentary filmmaker for the past 30 years. As our 50th class reunion seminars demonstrated, it’s quite amazing how much the anti-war movement and the Vietnam intervention has linked so many of us together even after so many years!”
Ron and Chryssa Reisner’s 2022 dance card had them traveling all over the eastern U.S. It felt daunting to read: March: Wesleyan for NCAA basketball game and same-day lacrosse game; April: Durham, North Carolina, for Duke law 50th reunion, with a side trip to Pinehurst for golf; May: NYC for one-year wedding anniversary and Middletown again for the men’s basketball golf outing “with the ‘sixties dekes’ tee sponsors—Richard ‘Blade’ Emerson ’68, Jack Sitarz, Steve Knox, Andy Gregor ’70, and me)”; April, May, and October: New Orleans, Baton Rouge (Chryssa’s son is a sophomore at LSU); August: summer vacation in Boston, Maine (Rockland, Vinalhaven, and Ogonquit), Saratoga Springs (racetrack), and Poconos (Chryssa’s vacation home).
Rip Hoffman is having fun as pastor of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, New Canaan, Connecticut.
Darius and Cathy Brubeck published Playing the Changes. He said, “Cathy and I have finally submitted the manuscript of our co-authored book, Playing the Changes, which we began in 2017, with publication planned for May. In February we will travel to LA for two performances of Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice, and for related panel discussions and teaching at UCLA. (https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/music-and-justice-concert-featuring-dave-brubecks-the-gates-of-justice). Our grandson Nathaniel is getting married in New York in June (I like it). Meanwhile, The Darius Brubeck Quartet is still busy in the U.K.”
Tom Earle read The New York Times report on Middletown’s rejuvenation. “Was it run down in our era? Chas Elbot and I did bail on a Main Street rental.”
Tony Mohr’s memoir, Every Other Weekend—Coming of Age with Two Different Dads, is a Koehler Books imprint.
Jeff and Cheryl Powell “have eldest granddaughter east from Wisconsin. She’s a freshman at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Summers we cruise the coast of Maine in our island sloop.”
Stu Blackburn’s new book is All the Way to the Sea. “Just back from Delhi; our son lives there. Nice, warm, but the pollution is terrible. All the best.”
Jeremy Serwer ’70 revealed that Michael Roth ’78 played jazz keyboard and sang at Reunion. Check YouTube. Jeremy’s commercial real estate company is based in East Woodstock, Connecticut.
Rich Kennedy ’71 rides his bike daily. “Golf often. Have writer’s block. Imagination on vacation. Reading Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. Next is Worth of Water. Rabbits, crows, slugs, and elk still haunt last year’s garden.”
Ken and Visakha Kawasaki deliver food to the needy and sick in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Maurice (’70) and Carol Hakim continue to polish an antique home in Clinton, Connecticut. Some consider Mo Connecticut’s resident gadfly.
Steve Currie wrote: “Shey and I are still happy in Vermont. I retired in 2005 and we came back home to Vermont, to Rutland. Golf, skiing, motorcycling and Vermont outdoors in general, along with many various community services, have filled our time over the last 17 years. Currently I’m in my second year as president and rules chairman of the Vermont Golf Association. I’m also a USGA Certified Expert rules official/referee and I work VGA, NEGA, and USGA tournaments and events all over New England. Still reasonably healthy although a replaced knee and total hip replacement has slowed the skiing down a bit—as well as just getting a bit too old (maybe a bit fearful?) to ski the steep terrains as aggressively as I always have when younger. . . . So, we are beginning to think about moving south when my VGA term and responsibilities are finished. We sometimes see classmates and other Wes alums up here in summer for golf and winter for skiing.”
Jim Dreyfus “went to Homecoming and saw Wes beat Williams 35–21. A new building is going up near PAC and Olin, as well as a science one near Shanklin. A developer bought Beta House, though his plans are not yet public.”
Dave Dixon is “an urban designer for Stantec, Boston. I’m optimistic about the future of city planning. My husband and I divide our time between Boston, Brooklyn, and Salisbury, Connecticut.”
John and Linda Andrews “reside in Crosslake, Minnesota, about 150 miles north of Minneapolis. Having left the local city council, I have more time to visit family in Florida, Texas, and California.”
Mike Fairchild “still teaches elementary school. I’m a freelance photographer and lead history book discussions at the library. Son, Scott ’00, is chief of staff for Senator Masto, Nevada. Glad tidings to all.”
Pete Pfeiffer wrote, “It’s painful to watch the lights go out for our classmates. This was probably my last winter logging campaign. A new book, Solastalgia, is available at Levellars Press and Amazon.”
Wayne Slitt played pickleball with Bob Ziegenhagen ’68. “We spent time at a time-share in Cabo with KNK roommates Charley Ferrucci and Bob Tobias and their wives. We live near Tampa and spend summers in Connecticut. I coach a girls’ travel softball team and referee youth ice hockey.”
Fran Dickman wrote for Paul, who “retired from Phoenix Children’s Hospital, April 2021. He attended his 57th high school reunion, has two nieces at Wes, and works on a textbook of pediatric bone, soft tissue, and joint tumors.”
Steve Hansel “settled into a far smaller house in New Orleans. Back playing tennis after a long layoff.”
Fred Coleman said, “A good year despite COVID—we stayed safe most of the year with great care, vaccines, boosters, masks, care about activities. Then got COVID two weeks ago and are recovering with increased sleep and tiredness. . . . On better notes, worked with and attended our 10th Easy Africa Mental Health Conference in Uganda (missed the Ebola areas). We went back to a combination of in-person and online hybrid model. It was great to see good friends and colleagues. Hiked in the Adirondacks, Rockies, Sedona with various people. Two Viking cruises. A two-year delayed southern France-Lyons-Avignon-Rhone River- and Paris [trip] with my wife, and a likewise delayed Prague-Elbe River-Berlin [trip] with best friend.
“The new year will bring a grandchild (youngest daughter), first child for her and for us [our] third grandchild. We lost my brother-in-law to cancer and various friends and colleagues to COVID.
“Life is short. Live well and be with the ones you love!”
John Wilson anchors life in Ann Arbor.
John Bach’s wife’s cancer battle has brought him enlightenment.
On my desk is a pen and ink of the arched bridge over the Concord River. Young, in Boston, I walked the storied venues of the American Revolution so much they entered my dream life. Dressed as a Minute Man, I hid behind stone walls as musket balls exploded around me. When the British were too close, my arms became wings and I hovered over the skirmish.
Next is a print of Childe Hassam’s Summer Evening. A red geranium, a window frame, a young woman in white. What does she see in the flatland stretching to the horizon?
See a studio portrait of my sister Kate. We meet at shoreline restaurants and laugh at the silly, terrible things that preoccupied our parents. And photos of the grandchildren—Eloise, Benton, and Ozi.