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Andy Gaus writes: “In a previous class note, I mentioned that I had self-published a songbook of some of my best songs over the years. It has since come to my shocked attention that some of you don’t read music. Accordingly, I have started to record a few tunes and make them available on my website, andygaus.org. I will be adding more tunes from time to time. So far, there is no paywall. Otherwise, I am well, still living in Boston, and generally attending reunions, where you might find me at the Alpha Delt house.”

Charlie Hill writes: “After 30-plus years working in public schools as a teacher, middle school principal, tech innovator, and district administrator—plus four years in the navy—I joined Sara, my wife, in her retirement from an equally engaging life in publishing. We retired a day apart, and a few years later, moved to the Kendal Continuing Care Retirement Community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Lifelong New Yorkers, we originally had no idea where Kennett Square was—just that we wanted a CCRC that had the social justice ethos we found here. We have served on resident boards, joined many other activities, and created a digital archive that now holds and makes digitally available more than 50 years of community planning, living, political, and social documents. Most recently we have worked with other residents to send thousands of advocate letters to our elected officials, hoist signs on Route 1, demonstrate in Washington, D.C., and edit a Substack that helps inform resident subscribers and their families about those kinds of activities.”

Geoff Tegnell writes: “I assisted the Unitarian Universalist Church and the Dedham Museum and Archive in commemorating the 200th anniversary of Marquise de Lafayette’s 1824–25 tour of the United States as “the guest of the nation” with museum exhibits, school field trips, staging a play about “The Passing of Lafayette” [based on a short story by Elinor Ramsay] and reenactment of the general’s two-hour Dedham stopover on his way to Boston. (See https://youtube.com/live/NfRTiVLgr1w?feature=share.) I’ve also spent time writing the biographies of the 24 ministers who served First Church and Parish in Dedham since 1638. (See https://www.dedhamuu.org/visitors/our-ministers.) For the last three years, I have hosted our church’s Friday Folk Coffeehouse. Last summer my wife, Kathy, and I traveled to Scandinavia. Over the past 900 years, my forebears lived in all the regions surrounding the Baltic as part of the trade network established by the Hanseatic League.”

John Ashworth writes: “It has been 12 years since I retired from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and I have been a Colorado master gardener for the past 11 years, answering public questions at farmers’ markets, helping grow produce in public gardens for food pantries, and working two days a week as a volunteer at the Denver Botanic Garden. I have a personal year-round greenhouse and grow from seed mostly vegetables and Rocky Mountain perennials.  

“My wife, Nancy, and I travel a fair amount—my wife is a highly skilled amateur travel planner when she is not being an executive coach. As COVID projects I taught myself Italian and went back to practicing the Japanese language that I had learned as a high school exchange student and that I continued studying at Wesleyan. We went this past spring to northern Italy and the Italian part of Switzerland. To my surprise, I found I could communicate reasonably well with locals. When Nancy and I were standing in line outside a huge temple, I started singing an ancient Japanese song that I had learned in high school 60 years ago. To my surprise, I got 40 Japanese teenagers to sing along! They loved it. I loved it. Old guys sometimes can delight the young!

“So, life in Denver is good. We are healthy and always happy to host visitors and show them the sights.”  

Sandy See writes: “Emmy and I were on campus in June to attend a memorial celebration for Colin Campbell Hon. ’89. It was good to see many friends, including Dick Cavanagh and Steve Pfeiffer ’69, who gave a great tribute recounting his years with Colin as chair of the board. Also a treat to see Nancy and her now grown-up kids and grandkids. The formal portrait of Colin is a stunning resemblance and is in the Olin Library room named for him.”

Henry St. Maurice writes that he is running for a fifth term on the Columbia County (Wisconsin) Board of Supervisors District 21. His motto is “Don’t just march, run!” He is also on the board of Wright in Wisconsin, Inc., which promotes the works of Frank Lloyd Wright in their state. Henry and Mary invite fans of organic architecture to visit their home that was designed in 1954 by Wright for her parents.

Bill Johnson passed along a link to a recent Washington Post article about our classmate John Bates, a senior federal district judge in the District of Columbia  (https://wapo.st/4nTOUvF). The article described the ceremonial unveiling of his portrait and his remarks defending judicial independence amid rising political attacks on judges from the Trump administration. John, a George W. Bush appointee and former army veteran, has drawn criticism from Trump allies for rulings requiring the restoration of health-related web content and for halting the removal of DACA. Chief Justice John Roberts and several other Supreme Court justices attended the event, signaling broad support for John as a judge and judicial norms.

Jim McHale remains in reasonably good health, although he notes he needs to lose weight and grow more hair. He and Carol/Cookie recently celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary and welcomed two new grandchildren, a boy and a girl, both born this year. He is still working at the Securities and Exchange Commission as an attorney and ends his note, “All in all, mirabile visu!” Jim is looking forward to seeing classmates at our 60th and hopefully becoming a Powerball winner.

Eric Conger’splay, The Park, about the takeover by the government of a small midwestern town, received a stage reading in June at the Marilyn Monroe Theater in Los Angeles with a cast of Equity and SAG actors. It is the fourth such event in the last year, as the play’s big, beautiful march to Broadway rolls on. As if this weren’t enough, his screenplay about an adopted man searching for his birth family, entitled Bastard Nation, is currently completing development and looking to attach a star. Out of fierce loyalty to his peer group, Eric has limited investment opportunities for both these projects to the Wesleyan Class of ’68. Details to come.

Kenneth Schweller says, “I continue to work on NIH and other grants, investigating ape cognition through the use of video-game tasks. In July I gave a talk at St. Andrews in Scotland on Designing video games and using AI for ape research.  In September I will give a short talk at the American Society of Primatologists in Chicago about Kanzi’s legacy. Kanzi was a bonobo I worked with who could converse with humans using a symbol keyboard. In December I will head to Amsterdam to give a talk on using AI to simulate ape behaviors for comparison with collected data. My wife of 52 years died last December, and I am trying to keep as active and engaged as possible.”

Don Logie writes, “I recently made my 21st-century debut as a choral singer in a summer festival chorus. The theme of the festival was before Bach and beyond.  The festival organizer and sponsor was Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA), a 40-year- old professional choir based in New Britain, Connecticut. About 12 of its singers provided the chorus backbone. The conductor was Chris Shepard of CONCORA, clearly a leading world Bach choral expert. I really didn’t think I could do this, but I held my own and was very satisfied (and relieved) at the end.”

Bob Knox: “I ran the Dipsea race again in June; 7.2 miles over a ridiculous, but wonderful, single-track trail that includes about 800 stairs, 2,200 feet in elevation change, endless roots and rocks, and 1,600 runners having a glorious day together. I am one of the slowest runners in the race at this point, but my joy is simply being on the mountain with many dozens of friends. The next week I flew to Italy with my girlfriend/partner. We shared four weeks with my sons and grandsons doing a ‘hut-to-hut’ adventure in the Dolomites and hiking around Cortina d’Ampezzo, and we ended in Venice. Returning to California, I joined about 20 Wesleyan classmates on our bimonthly Zoom call. Our sense of community is palpable and being strengthened by our calls. I also wrote a letter to the editor about immigrants committing fewer crimes than native-born U.S. citizens, which was published in my local California newspaper and in the local paper in Springfield, Massachusetts, by my son who lives nearby. I am doing my best to strengthen all of the relationships in my life.”

John Mergendoller: “I am enjoying our monthly Wesleyan Zoom chats—it’s great to see and talk with old friends and make new ones. Bob and I urge others ’68ers to join. Contact Bob (bob@robertknox.com) for a link and prepare to be pleased and surprised. As for other activities . . . I spent a week this summer in Swannanoa, North Carolina, at a fabulous mandolin camp, and left not knowing whether I should leave my mandolin in the trash or increase my practicing to 18 hours a day. Prudence won out and I brought the mando home. Jessica and I are off to Northport, Michigan, to spend time with extended family and our bicoastal children and grandchildren. This fall we have a hiking trip scheduled in the Dordogne region of France. The COL sent me to France in 1965, and my love affair with the country continues.”

We send our best wishes to all,

John and Bob

BOB KNOX | bob@robertfknox.com

JOHN MERGENDOLLER | john.mergendoller@gmail.com