CLASS OF 1976 | 2024 | SUMMER ISSUE
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Martha Meade has been a painter in Los Angeles for many years now. In January she reported: “A great start to the year! My painting, La Vie en Rose, has been accepted into the group show BLOOM @ Shoebox Arts @ The Brewery Artist Complex in downtown LA. “
Mike Greenberg was awarded an honorary degree at Wes’s commencement on May 26, 2024. You can read about all the honorees and their impressive accomplishments here.
Charlie Sedell passed away on January 27. His obituary notes that he worked at Electric Boat as a welder for 37 years; his Facebook page reveals that he was a true artist, creating extraordinary historical replicas of useful objects. After retiring he worked with the Waterford Historical Society to restore their model blacksmith shop to a working shop.
Seth Lerer has two publications of note. In January The American Scholar published his lovely essay “Bicentennial Beginnings”; you can (and should, particularly if you studied with Richard Wilbur) read it here. Routledge Press just released Seth’s Introducing the History of the English Language, available at www.routledge.com. Seth retired from UCSD in June 2023 and decided to unretire in 2024. He will be a visiting professor of literature at Claremont-McKenna. The students are lucky to have him!
From Bob Craft:“Two years ago my wife and family moved to Portland, Oregon. We love Portland, it’s very green and wet. My son, William Craft, has been made the data editor of The Guardian (investigative journalism).”
From Tom Kovar:“As you know, I am celebrating my 70th birthday by retiring, shortly afterward! Can’t wait.”
From Jack O’Donnell: “I turn 70 this month of April and although I’m playing it down, my family insists on playing it up and I’ll be playing along. . . .”
Barb Birney was “planning to visit Carol Bellhouse in New Mexico and then drive to Camp Wood, Texas, via Carlsbad Caverns to view the eclipse directly in the path of totality.”
Ken Carpenter, astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was selected in early 2024 as a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Fellow, to develop a mission concept for placing a UV/optical interferometer on the lunar surface, by leveraging off the Artemis moon base infrastructure. The NIAC Phase 1 Opportunity is among the most competitive in all of NASA with a roughly 4% success rate. The announcements of the Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) selection can be found at these sites:
https://www.nasa.gov/general/niac-2024-selections
https://www.nasa.gov/general/lunar_long_baseline_optical_imaging_interferometer
https://hires.gsfc.nasa.gov/si/aesi.html
From Deb Neuman: “As I march toward my 70th birthday in October, life is continuing to present new opportunities and challenges. It seems I will never retire! In March I accepted a new position as director of development for Safe Futures, whose mission is to stop abuse, restore hope, and save lives of people impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and trafficking in southeastern Connecticut. I’ll be working to raise the remaining $3 million needed to build the Center for Safe Futures Family Justice Center in Waterford, Connecticut.
“For me, this is like coming full circle from my first job in a nonprofit (after 22 years at IBM), heading external relations for CARE, the international poverty fighting NGO. I can’t think of a better cause to serve during the remaining years of my professional life.
“On the personal front, I am now in the fourth year living on my own after my husband’s death. I still miss him very much, but have found good friendships locally that make life rewarding. Our son, Josh, has moved to nearby Taftville, Connecticut, after many years in faraway locations. I’m glad to have him closer.
“My late in life hobbies, in addition to cycling, now include tap dancing and pickleball. I love pickleball, but unfortunately have developed my first sports injury—pickle elbow, aka, tendonitis.”
From Betsy Eisenmann: “In Chelmsford, south-side daffodils in full bloom took a March snowstorm in stride, with most still standing up once the snow melted. Have fingers crossed that the buds of flowering shrubs won’t get frostbitten before they bloom, as happened last year. The Big Seven-O on February 2 and took a (return—Dad was stationed in Pearl Harbor 1970–72) trip to Hawaii with family toward the end of the month. Note to self: jet lag is much easier to get through at age 18, than at 70.”
From Kyrie O’Connor: “My husband, Van Dittmer, and I left Texas in 2017, when I retired from newspapers, and moved to a log cabin on 20 acres in very rural Vermont. He makes and sells Shaker furniture. I just cause trouble. Between his kids and mine, we have five grandchildren living, literally, from Maine to California. We thought we’d have traveled more by now, but the pandemic knocked that into a cocked hat. This year, we’re getting rolling again. I’d love to hear from Wes folks.”
From Lenny Femino: “I have been blessed to have reached 70, still married to my beautiful bride with two daughters that are healthy, happy, and working in their respective fields. But it is the grandchildren that have blown me away. It has been such a gift that surprised us once they came into this world. I still work, but on easier matters so that I am around to enjoy the family and my precious grandchildren.”
From Chris Mahoney: “I am married to Joan Barrett whom I met at the Darden School (UVA). I retired (I was retired) from Moody’s in 2007. We split our time between Eleuthera and a farm near Gettysburg. Joan is the president the National Beagle Club (I’m not kidding) and has a pack of 24 beagles, which she hunts all the time. I have nothing to do with that activity. I collect cars, that’s my hobby.”
From Bruce Demple: “We experienced this year’s event from Wimberley, Texas, where our older daughter had a wedding celebration about a week earlier (more on that in a moment). In our part of Texas Hill Country, it was pretty cloudy, but we did get occasional glimpses with gaps in the lower clouds, and those became increasingly, with even a diamond ring effect before the actual one, thanks to the effects of the high clouds. We shuffled constantly between eclipse glasses, sunglasses, and no glasses. The abrupt appearances of the eclipse in progress were accompanied by simultaneous whooping from a few parties in the nearby hills. So, we had the sense of being in a bigger group even if we couldn’t see it. The clouds didn’t cooperate at all during totality, but it became almost pitch black with an astonishing speed. I came to realize that in 2017 out in crystal-clear Wyoming, there had been twilight all around, as though sunrise or sunset was occurring equally in every direction.
“But no beefing about that because the high point of our trip had already occurred: our older daughter Marie and her husband Latane’s celebration. They’d already gotten legally hitched at Brooklyn City Hall several months ago, but this event both had a big emotional impact on the whole crowd, not just Sue and me, followed by a party that was epic. Lots of musicians, and they know how to do that.”
From Nat Needle: “It’s April! My 32 piano students of all ages and I begin preparation in earnest for our annual recital, June 1 this year. All expect to perform; as of today, all have selected their music! As usual, it’s a lush mix of genres based on divergent interests, including original compositions and arrangements, and a few arrangements that I’ve had to create for them. In 2023–24, I engineered more opportunities for students to perform throughout the year, and encouraged some to perform at local ‘open mics,’ in their faith communities and in their schools.
“I still intend to go, as gracefully and harmlessly as I can, from teaching full time to half time so I can get into more public community activity. This includes performing as well as organizing events and projects in harmony with my friends here who are pointed in an evolutionary direction. Come find me nat@natneedle.com.”
David Harmin said: “Hi, everyone! Still buzzed from seeing Monday’s totality in Monteplier, Vermont. Have loved working in Mike Greenberg’s lab, but I’m looking forward to retiring at the end of the year.” David and I are excited to be celebrating our 70th birthdays this fall by traveling to North Carolina for the wedding of his younger son.
From Marc Stier: “OK, since you asked. Ever since I heard that the CP USSR had a position called “chief ideologist” I’ve wanted to have that job for the Democrats. Last May I created a new organization called the Pennsylvania Policy Center that is the functional equivalent in Pennsylvania. We are working now on campaigns for tax justice, a higher minimum wage, and full and fair funding of our public schools.”
From Susan (Petersen) Avitzour: “On the personal level, things are good. Fred’s and my deferred chuppah is set to take place this Sunday – unfortunately after your deadline, so I can’t send photos from this wedding. I’ll be going to the chuppah wearing a sling, though, having fractured my shoulder last week—but fortunately the sling will match the color of my wedding dress!
“All this feels somewhat frivolous, I know, given the general situation. Fred and I are desperately and perhaps quixotically hoping for a ceasefire and hostage/prisoner exchange, the sooner the better— even more quixotically—one that may lead to a just and lasting solution for all of us in this tortured corner of the world.”
From Gary Halberstadt:
“Hiya Class,
Never check in but after viewing otherworldly full eclipse in home in Indy why not?
Still solo pediatrics;
amazing wife of 39 years;
three kids, one grandkid, and one guard cat;
daily music food and outdoors;
will try to make 50th.”
Bob Osborne continues to enjoy teaching voice as a faculty member at Columbia University/Barnard College and Vassar College. He splits his time between New York City and the Hudson Valley, grateful to be able to attend the Met Opera one day and shovel manure the next. Still active as a baritone, he recently sang a recital in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Dusting off recipes from his days in Middletown, he actively replenishes his homemade granola stores.”
From Steve Goldman: “After 44 years, I am retiring as of May 1 from my law firm, Robinson + Cole. The firm, founded in 1845, consisted of 66 lawyers when I began in 1980, and its only office was in Hartford. It is now 255 lawyers with offices in nine cities. I have been fortunate to be able to grow with the firm and have taken on a wide range of roles, including serving as the managing partner for several years and starting an insurance coverage litigation practice that now consists of over 40 attorneys in multiple jurisdictions. My career has also allowed me to be inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Coverage Counsel. The cycle of life continues—I’ve now concluded that it is time for the next chapter, and I’m very excited to take on new challenges. In a strange way, it feels like being a freshman at Wesleyan all over again: little terrifying but also incredibly exciting as I explore new things that I can get involved in. I continue to live in West Hartford with my wife, Kathy ’78, and our four children are all embarked on exciting careers of their own.”
From Meredith Bergmann: “In a few weeks, on the 15th and 18th of May 2024, we will be celebrating the unveiling and dedication of my first new work of public art since the 2021 unveiling of my FDR Hope Memorial on Roosevelt Island, NYC .
“This new work is a commission for the historic town center of Lexington, Massachusetts. The monument, the first to celebrate women as participants in this place—often referred to as the birthplace of American liberty—is a free-standing ceremonial bronze gateway standing 12-feet high on a circular granite plaza. Among symbolic animals and plants, portraits of 24 women from Lexington’s history are sculpted in relief, with 12 different women and girls portrayed on each side. Visitors can stand in the central gateway and join hands with them.”
The unveiling ceremony took place on May 15, and on May 18, there was a “Meet the Artist” event followed by the dedication.
KAREN HARMIN | karen.harmin@gmail.com