CLASS OF 1959 | 2025 | FALL ISSUE

1959 ARCHIVES | HOME
← 1958 | 1960 →

Bob Chase reports from a retirement residence in Virginia. Both children nearby keep an eye on him. Bob still follows politics and his favorite sports teams. As many of us do, he worries about the outlook for his grandchildren. He remarked favorably on President Roth’s comments and responses to pressures being applied to education. Ted Fiske and his wife, Sunny Ladd, also enjoy life in a retirement community, this one in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They recently took a Viking Cruise on the Rhone River with an extension to Paris. They enjoyed the fact that the boat took them to sights rather than having to chase the sights themselves. They spend July in Islesboro, Maine, then move to Alstead, New Hampshire, and a lakeside cottage with both daughters nearby. Ted continues to oversee his Fiske Guide to Colleges, 43 years of guiding high school grads, recently my own included. He is proud that Wesleyan has a president who has spoken eloquently on his opinions about pressures on universities.

Tim Day says he and Sandy spend a third of each year in Phoenix, La Jolla, and Jackson Hole. Overseas travel is a frequent supplement. He remains healthy, with gym workouts four times a week. The only change seems to be the pace. From Alan Brooks we learn that for the first time in 40 years, he has had to miss Masters/Senior shot-put competition due to a severe case of gout. He hopes to return to it next year. Pete Rockefeller recently visited Wes and spoke with President Roth who he commends for standing up with courage and integrity for Wesleyan’s principles. Pete is coming to grips with the end of a 50-year career in computers.

We heard from Paul Stevens, who is still working part time for SMRT Architects, a company his great-grandfather started in 1884! After back surgery, he recently ran a two-mile race, at a grandfatherly pace, with his two sons and three grandsons. Well done! They summer in Maine at a cottage they have been to since 1968. Plenty of continuity in this family. Recent hot weather reminded Charlie Huchet of sunning on the roof of the Deke house on “Tar Beach.” The hot weather stands in contrast to the weather at an archaeological dig his daughter was at in Ireland, digging for medieval objects in the mud. He suggests it was easier to find the pub.

Bob McKelvey is still working at the investment company his family started and has recently partnered with a California group. Lots of new systems and issues to resolve. Various ailments have slowed his travels to Wes. He stays in touch with two groups of classmates, an Alpha Delta Phi group and an Oxford College group. He recently joined a group of Alpha Delts, Classes ’57–’61. It is interesting to find out what they have done, including a dining steward who has published eight novels. As with others, he thinks Roth’s defense of academic freedom was well reasoned.

Herb Steiner says that one of his 12 grandchildren is at Wesleyan. He and Ellen still winter in Delray Beach, Florida, then spend the rest of the year in Mahwah, New Jersey. He is “aging out of those difficult violin parts, so I’m playing the viola. The viola music is in the alto clef. Learning the clef is like trying to master a foreign language. I’m still in close contact with Joe Vander Veer, Bob Ogren, and Tim Martin. All are well.”

Joe Mallory was in Maine for the summer and early fall: “Enjoying the natural beauty of the earth while learning to live by myself. Health [is] good—walking a mile or two daily with modest discomfort from sciatica. Just had two grand-twins graduate from Dartmouth, with another scheduled for next year.”

Bob Gillette shares that he and Marsha “returned to our New England roots last year as we moved from Lynchburg, Virginia, to Springfield, Massachusetts, to a senior community. It was invigorating, recently, as we participated in a humanists discussion group that tackled philosophical questions that felt like the bull sessions of Wesleyan days. Thoughtful neighbors shared life insights and continued questioning where we are, where we have been, and where we continue to go. Indeed, I am finding this lap of life exciting, though not without its challenges. Luckily, Marsha and I, after 66 years of marriage, have settled into a time and place that feels just right. We have our health, canoe paddling is still a passion, [there are] plenty of cultural opportunities to experience, and being surrounded by kind and supportive folks our age, all have made for a very full and active life. I play my alto recorder every day, and I’ve teamed up with a resident violinist for Baroque playtime.

“Within the morass of our political situation, we recently participated in ‘good trouble’ at our own No Kings rally. It was stirring to hear the honking horns of supportive cars pass by as they viewed old folks in wheelchairs and walkers display posters and waving American flags.

“I am still writing with others in a writing group and giving book talks. I have gotten involved in the governance of our community, and my teacher’s blood still courses through my being, though a bit slower. How significant to realize that after 66 years since our ’59 graduation, the essence of our liberal arts education is still a driving force in our lives. Let’s keep going, as long as we have left. Best wishes to everyone with hope and courage that this country can flourish with humanity. Our four grandchildren and two great- grandchildren deserve the opportunities and freedom we experienced.”

In April, Hank Lifson hada show at theHudson River Gallery in Coralville, Iowa, (a suburb of Iowa City). “My exhibition, entitled The Stones of Tzfat (the title derived from John Ruskin and Mary McCarthy), was an impression of a town in northern Israel, which is a center for Kabbalistic mysticism, established in the late 15th century from Sephardic Jews fleeing Spain. I’m pleased at the results since many people viewed the work. I’m also still living, painting, and drawing in a retirement home in Cedar Rapids.”  

Sadly, Ed Murphy lost his wife, Marilyn, last year to dementia. They “had been married for 55 years. I’m slowly accommodating to her passing—near daily swim workouts, visiting friends and family, and making a few new friends. . . . Though my house now is much bigger than I need, I’m not tempted to move. The thought of having to clean out 54 years of accumulated stuff is too daunting. Looks like I’m here for the duration.

“The other day I happened on [the] thoroughly researched and engagingly written two-volume History of Wesleyan University [by Dave Potts ’60] in my library. It set me to reminiscing about our four years at Wesleyan, friends made, professors who inspired us, and President Butterfield, who kept it all focused on liberal arts education. It was 70 years ago this September that our Class of 1959 came together to begin its journey. What a journey it was and continues to be.”

Finally, Alan reports that Laird Burnett wrote to let us know that his dad, Walter Burnett, died on June 8. Alan and Walter were roommates throughout their years at Wes, and Alan said, “I will greatly miss his Christmas newsletter and occasional visits here in Connecticut and at our cottage at Maine.” Our condolences to his family.

SKIP SILLOWAY | ssillow@gmail.com; 801/971-6165

DICK CADIGAN | crcadigan@sbcglobal.net

AL BROOKS | afbrooks36@gmail.com; 860/670–0579