ROBERT A. JENSEN, the owner of a jewelry store in LaSalle, Ill., died Feb. 3, 2014, at age 81. He was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. His wife, Betty Whitaker Jensen, predeceased him. Three children, four grandchildren, two sisters, and many nieces and nephews survive.
Further adventures of the “Great Class of ’59”: Tim Day has retired from Bar S Foods, which he built and ran for years. He continues to be deeply involved in the U.S. Marine Corps. Tim has helped in the organization and funding of a chapel at Marine Corps Headquarters and has established scholarships at Harvard Business School for marines who are promising entrepreneurs. The Marine Corps will be installing a plaque honoring Tim’s service at the Mt. Soledad Veteran’s Memorial in La Jolla, Calif. on May 3, 2014. Congratulations, Tim! A high honor indeed.
In the “who knew” department, your intrepid reporters have identified a shy and elusive artist. A good football player and a better golfer who thought about the professional ranks. He worked in real estate and investments before taking up the paintbrush. After 9/11 he wished to pursue something he truly enjoyed and chose landscape painting. His love of golf and “old style” course architecture promoted an artistic awareness that has been financially rewarding. He has painted some of the most famous holes on the country’s most renowned courses. He has added duck and quail hunting scenes in South Texas as well as wildflower landscapes to his repertoire. This reporter has seen a portfolio of his paintings and they are good! We speak, of course, of Steve Pyle.
Having infiltrated Wesleyan’s board of trustees, Charlie Wrubel writes of an eye-opening experience regarding the operations of our University. The Trustees are diverse, energetic, and intelligent (would one expect elsewise?) and are actively engaged in the discussions and decisions that make the Wesleyan experience first rate. He is pleased to be on the Board and to represent our “age group.” It’s a generational thing!!
Skip Silloway reports that he and Molly spent some of October and much of November in Argentina and Chile seeing the sights of Patagonia with three favorite traveling partners. Two days in the old part of Buenos Aires, a wonderful example of the colonial era. The core of the city is very appealing. Next they went to Bahia Bustamante, on the Atlantic coast, which is a marine nature preserve. The ranch is devoted to sheep and the collection of seaweed, which is an ingredient in innumerable products shipped around the world. Next, on to Ushuaia, at the bottom of the continent. From this point, hiking and wildlife viewing. Next to El Chalten with more hiking, fabulous views of Mount Fitz Roy and a glacier walk complete with crampons and a bit of Bailey’s and glacier ice. A wonderful interlude at a small hosteria, the only guests in a charming oasis-like place. Next, Torres del Paine for more hiking and glacier viewing. Lastly to a wonderful small hotel in Santiago, another charming former colonial city.
Mary and Dave Eklund are back from Washington State, where they spent the night with Susan and Tom Young on Whidbey Island. He tried to convince Tom to stay longer at the Reunion beyond honoring Fred Stone and the baseball team! Dave and Mary will be here and then on to Nantucket Island, where they have had a home for years.
Irwin “Sonny” Barnet is about to retire as a partner of Reed Smith, with whom he merged his firm, after 50 plus years of practice on the West Coast. He is coming East for a board meeting in NY, planned too far ahead to be able to stick around for the 55th. We’ll miss him. When his wife answered the phone and I asked for Sonny, she said “You must be from the ancient past! Nobody has called him ‘Sonny’ for years.” Got that right!
Bob Berls can’t make it back. He is a keen fisherman, fellow member of the Anglers’ Club of NY and revered past editor of the Anglers Club Bulletin. Bob has fished here, there, and almost everywhere around the world. He still wants to get out west this summer, but health problems are slowing him down.
Dave Britt reports (after a paragraph of strong disclaimers) that he is leading a couple of discussion groups on US foreign policy options on world issues. We sure need his help! He learns a lot, enjoys getting folks to talk, and no one has yet walked out. Dave continues to serve on the Board of Children, Youth and Families at the Institute of Medicine, which addresses health and development issues facing kids and families. Dave is also on the boards of other nonprofits that help kids. Sue and he continue to work through their bucket list; last fall, a cruise up the Amazon and this spring, back to Botswana and Victoria Falls for photo safaris. Two grandkids in college, including one freshwoman at Fordham, rowing varsity crew (thereby proving that genes are not destiny). He is walking a lot, playing geezer tennis, swilling Chardonnay, watching sunsets, and feeling lucky.
Weg Thomas writes that he and Peg could not make it back to Reunion because of a granddaughter’s graduation from Wake Forest the same week. He has just opened a show of 30 of his photographs at the Volo Bog State Natural Area in Illinois. It will be up until the end of May. The gallery is sited on the only “quaking bog” in Illinois! Hope it doesn’t quake during the show.
Hugh Lifson, another of our artistic sons, has regretted Reunion as he has been given an opportunity to paint for a week in Gubbio, Italy. Good decision, Hugh!
Sue and Bert Edwards have returned from a 10-day cruise as part of their 50th anniversary. Bert has heard form Carol McGrew, a de-facto member of the Class of ’59 and wife of Ed “Dusty” McGrew, that they regretted missing the 55th. Dusty has not been well and is hoping to get back home soon. He and Carol were married on June 20, 1959, so it is 55th all over the place. We send our best to them both and will raise a glass to them at Reunion. Bert seems well-rested and ready to lead the class in contributions to the WAF.
Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311
John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858
JOHN A.H. BRISCOE, 76, the former director of development for the National Council of Churches and for Common Cause, died Dec. 8, 2013. A member of Eclectic, he received his degree with honors and with distinction in history. He received a master’s degree from Harvard University and also studied at MIT. During his career in public service, he was a Peace Corps volunteer, a teacher in Kenya, assistant to the president of Bryn Mawr College, and political candidate. He launched PennServe, a public service initiative in Pennsylvania, and he was also active in environmental causes. His wife, Kate Williams, survives, as do four children, four grandchildren, and his brother.
JOHN C. FOSTER, a glass company executive, died Jan. 30, 2013. He was 76. A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he received an MBA from Harvard University. He worked for many years at the Diamond Glass Company, rising to the positions of vice president and corporate director. He left Diamond Glass to found Foster Glass, a glass manufacturer in Salem, N.J. Subsequently, he started Foster Credit Company, which he headed until his retirement. Survivors include his daughter, two sisters, two stepsons, and an extended family.
The Great Class of 1959 continues to be active and adventuresome!
We will start with a special “shout out” to members of Eclectic and other Wesleyan representatives. About five years ago, Eclectic alums from our class (and others) expressed dismay at the condition of one of the great buildings on campus. Designed by L. H. Bacon, architect for the Lincoln Memorial and several other Wesleyan buildings, the Eclectic House had fallen into a state of disrepair and near ruin. Bing Leverich took up the torch, organized what became the “gang of 10” and persuaded the University to meet and discuss the situation and possible solutions. After several years of hard work and productive negotiations, the beginnings of a solution are emerging, involving current student members, the University, and the alumni.
At the same time, Bill Moody applied for and received both Connecticut and National Historic Places designations for the building. These designations helped change the nature of the debate and put matters on a very constructive course. Many have worked hard to get to this point, but for this edition The Great Class of ’59 salutes Bing and Bill.
Your scribes have heard from many other classmates and will insist on hearing from more. Alan Brooks writes that he had been pulled from retirement two years ago to direct the year-long 125th anniversary celebration of Westminster School, from which he graduated in 1955 and at which he taught for 52 years. He has retired again and thinks it will stick this time. He attempts to delay the results of age by competing with weights in senior events and coaching the sport in the spring.
Bill Moody and wife Janet have moved into “winter quarters” at D.C.’s Knollwood, a retirement community for military officers, although they retain their main residence in Incline Village, Nev. At Knollwood they have reconnected with a couple Bill knew in 1966 at the U.S. Naval Activity in Edzell, Scotland, validating again the concept of the “small world.”
We heard from Hugh Lifson, who reports a life-changing month. His wife of 52 years died after a protracted bout with cancer, while, at the same time, he is getting ready for a big show of his work at the Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City and another show later this winter. We are sorry for Hugh’s loss but having his artwork to lean on is a huge help. Hope the shows are great successes!
Ellen and Herb Steiner report visiting with Sibyl and Tim Martin at their family farm in Connecticut. All is well there, Herb having been an usher at their wedding. Tim is an architect, their two sons are architects and they both married architects. They recently saw Diane and Joe Vander Veer in Philadelphia for some art watching and they also see Amanda and Bob Ogren. Herb and Ellen will spend the winter in Delray Beach.
Owen Tabor writes: “Delighted you and Skip have taken the reins…Bill Moody and others did a fine job with ‘the Few, the Proud…’ It seems, John that you appeared before me somewhere in the last 20 year, Memphis for a wedding, perhaps? [It certainly was, and Owen was in his kilts, playing the bagpipes for the bride and groom in immense style, as always—see below]. Wesleyan ties have been thin to non-existent, and a recent denial of a granddaughter’s application didn’t help. She is happily settled as a freshman at UVA. Anyhow, I am grateful for those years long past. I am retiring from my orthopedic surgery practice, (office only for the last 10 years), leaving my oldest son in charge of a six man group. Four married children, 13 grands, married 52 years to Margaret, a Conn. College girl.
“The wedding in which I was kilted was, I believe, our daughter Mary, marrying Rob Engel from New Jersey.” The couple had originally met at Princeton, but re-met 10 years later, in NYC while she was with the Times. “They are married, now, with four children, and living in Charlotte, N.C. Rob was a Deerfield guy, too, and still with two younger pre-college guys, one or both may go that way. Oldest boy doing gap year at King’s Academy in Jordan, a Deerfield model, and plans to go to Middlebury next year, he thinks. Rob and Mary lived in London for three years, youngest born there, and during those years Margaret was a gold medallion flyer on Delta! Cheers!”
Lastly we heard from Dick Cadigan about a “near miss” with their twin 6-year-old grandsons. While it will take a long time, Dick believes all will come right after they were jammed into a wall by a 90-year-old driver using forward instead of reverse. Dick is a believer in mandatory driving tests for all over 80, probably a very good idea.
Looking forward: Mark your calendars for May 22, 23, and 24, and plan to attend our 55th Reunion; when the Reunion questionnaire arrives, fill it out and return it; send your scribes notes on your activities and whereabouts. Let’s keep the Great Class of ’59 together!
Skip Silloway and John Spurdle
ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311;
jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858
BURTON H. SCHELLENBACH, 76, a communications and publishing consultant, died May 28, 2010. He was a U.S. Army veteran and most recently worked for the Episcopal Church. He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Dr. Susan Schaeffer, three children, one grandchild, and two brothers.
David Hohl ’60 writes: RICHARD K. ROOT ’59, M.D. died on Sunday, March 19, 2006, when a crocodile suddenly rose out of the water and dragged him from his dugout canoe on the Limpopp River in the Tuli Game Preserve in eastern Botswana. He was not seen again; his remains were recovered two days later.
A Nationally known expert in infectious disease, internationally recognized in the field of leukocyte biology, and widely respect for his teaching and clinical skills, Dr. Root, along with his second wife, Rita O’Goyle, had been in Botswana at the invitation of the Botswana Department of Health and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Dr. Root had been instrumental in starting the infectious disease program at the University of Pennsylvania when he was a professor there in 1971. The Penn-Botswana program was funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Merck & Company, Inc., to help provide treatment and services for the country’s HIV victims and to address the acute lack of trained doctors and nurses in Botswana, which has the world’s highest rate of HIV infection at an estimated 40 percent of the population. Dr. Root had been working with the staff at Botswana’s Princes s Marina Hospital in Garborone, the capital city, and the couple had just visited a clinic in the remote, northeastern district of Tuli when they decided to take the ill-fated river tour. Root’s wife was in the canoe behind him and his guide and witnessed her husband’s death.
The death in 2001 of his first wife from a progressive neuromuscular disease (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and his withdrawal from the practice of medicine in order to look after her had left Dr. Root in a prolonged personal crisis. According to his son, David, after meeting his second wife and marrying her in 2004, his father “had a second lease on life. He re-entered the practice of medicine with this incredible amount of renewed energy.” Dr. Harvey Friedman, chief of the infectious diseases division at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Botswana program, had visited Dr. Root just days before his death and said that he was the happiest he had been in years. Dr. Ruth Greenblatt, professor of clinical medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, for whom Dr. Root was a mentor, describe Dr. Root as “one of the most personable, caring and bright people I have worked with. … That he chose to teach in Botswana, country with a particularly intense AIDS epidemic, is no surprise to me. To place himself in a setting where he could make great contributions as a teacher is very much in keeping with the direction of his life.”
Dr. RooT graduated from WEsleyan with Honors in General Scholarship and Distinction in Biochemistry. He was #3 and Pledge Trainer at Alpha Alpha, a varsity letterman in football and track, and a member of three honor societies, including Sigma Xi. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1963 and, following his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, he worked as a clinical associate and investigator at various divisions of the National Institutes of Health and as chief resident and instructor at the University of Washington. From 1969 to 2002, when he became an emeritus professor from the University of Washington Medical School, where he was vice chairman of the department of medicine and retired from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been chief of medicine, he held senior appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was chief of infectious diseases at Yale University, where he was vice chairman of medicine and was voted medical school teacher of the year in 1982, at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Seattle, where he was chief of medicine, and at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was chair of the department of medicine. Dr. Root was co-author of numerous articles, editor-in-chief of a textbook, Clinical Infectious Diseases, a former president of the American Federation of Clinical Research and, from 1986–1991, director of the AIDS advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Root is survived by three sons: David, a Seattle architect; Richard, a college and high school teacher in Los Angeles; and Daniel, a Seattle physician; by his wife, Rita O’Boyle; by her two daughters, Becky Fotheringhamn and Anna Potvin of Seattle; and by eight grandchildren.
David Hohl ’60 writes: RICHARD K. ROOT ’59, M.D. died on Sunday, March 19, 2006, when a crocodile suddenly rose out of the water and dragged him from his dugout canoe on the Limpopp River in the Tuli Game Preserve in eastern Botswana. He was not seen again; his remains were recovered two days later.
A Nationally known expert in infectious disease, internationally recognized in the field of leukocyte biology, and widely respect for his teaching and clinical skills, Dr. Root, along with his second wife, Rita O’Goyle, had been in Botswana at the invitation of the Botswana Department of Health and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Dr. Root had been instrumental in starting the infectious disease program at the University of Pennsylvania when he was a professor there in 1971. The Penn-Botswana program was funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Merck & Company, Inc., to help provide treatment and services for the country’s HIV victims and to address the acute lack of trained doctors and nurses in Botswana, which has the world’s highest rate of HIV infection at an estimated 40 percent of the population. Dr. Root had been working with the staff at Botswana’s Princes s Marina Hospital in Garborone, the capital city, and the couple had just visited a clinic in the remote, northeastern district of Tuli when they decided to take the ill-fated river tour. Root’s wife was in the canoe behind him and his guide and witnessed her husband’s death.
The death in 2001 of his first wife from a progressive neuromuscular disease (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and his withdrawal from the practice of medicine in order to look after her had left Dr. Root in a prolonged personal crisis. According to his son, David, after meeting his second wife and marrying her in 2004, his father “had a second lease on life. He re-entered the practice of medicine with this incredible amount of renewed energy.” Dr. Harvey Friedman, chief of the infectious diseases division at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Botswana program, had visited Dr. Root just days before his death and said that he was the happiest he had been in years. Dr. Ruth Greenblatt, professor of clinical medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, for whom Dr. Root was a mentor, describe Dr. Root as “one of the most personable, caring and bright people I have worked with. … That he chose to teach in Botswana, country with a particularly intense AIDS epidemic, is no surprise to me. To place himself in a setting where he could make great contributions as a teacher is very much in keeping with the direction of his life.”
Dr. RooT graduated from WEsleyan with Honors in General Scholarship and Distinction in Biochemistry. He was #3 and Pledge Trainer at Alpha Alpha, a varsity letterman in football and track, and a member of three honor societies, including Sigma Xi. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1963 and, following his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, he worked as a clinical associate and investigator at various divisions of the National Institutes of Health and as chief resident and instructor at the University of Washington. From 1969 to 2002, when he became an emeritus professor from the University of Washington Medical School, where he was vice chairman of the department of medicine and retired from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been chief of medicine, he held senior appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was chief of infectious diseases at Yale University, where he was vice chairman of medicine and was voted medical school teacher of the year in 1982, at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Seattle, where he was chief of medicine, and at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was chair of the department of medicine. Dr. Root was co-author of numerous articles, editor-in-chief of a textbook, Clinical Infectious Diseases, a former president of the American Federation of Clinical Research and, from 1986–1991, director of the AIDS advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Root is survived by three sons: David, a Seattle architect; Richard, a college and high school teacher in Los Angeles; and Daniel, a Seattle physician; by his wife, Rita O’Boyle; by her two daughters, Becky Fotheringhamn and Anna Potvin of Seattle; and by eight grandchildren.
