Tag: 1962

Categories Class Notes, Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1962 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE

I took on this new position as class secretary hoping that it would bring me back into contact with old friends and acquaintances. That it has, and I thank those classmates who extended good wishes privately, as well as those with the substantive news reported below.

     Pete Buffum is retired, still married after 55 years, and in the same Philadelphia house after 50 years. After spending 20 years in program development and evaluation of prison and probation settings while teaching occasional courses in criminal justice at Temple University, Pete “spent another two decades mostly assisting my wife in her real estate career. Now, while I consider myself retired, I am finding it difficult to get her to retire. She has way too much energy. But in the scheme of things that’s not much to complain about.”

     Bob Gause still practices pediatric orthopedics in Winterport, Maine, probably as the oldest on the staff with “no more surgery but 25 patients in the office tomorrow. They keep me young just solving their problems so I am lucky.” He recalls rooming with Dave Fiske and Tony Scirica in the Psi Upsilon house “along with a boa we fed mice from the psych lab. Good days . . . good memories. Memory is key.”

     John Hazlehurst reports, “I’m still living in Colorado Springs, happily ensconced in a three-story Victorian not far from the three-story Victorian where I grew up. Still gainfully employed as a reporter and columnist for the Colorado Springs Business Journal, and amazed and amused by life as a crusty old geezer. Together, Karen and I have six kids, 22 grandchildren, and four great-grands. We’re healthy and active, although not as fit and foolish as we were a few years ago. Too busy to retire—three big rescue dogs, multiple jobs paid and unpaid, our statewide visitor magazine Colorado Fun, frequent family visits, and the never-ending renovation of the 1899 house.”

     Mike Riley is “still trying to reach out with my (heterodox, insouciant, outrageous) answer to ‘what is to be done?’ with our time and our country,” with his website maritalhospitality.com.

      Bob Saliba and his wife Jenny have moved to a retirement community—Fellowship Senior Living in Basking Ridge, New Jersey—where “I was the reluctant spouse, but I can say with confidence that it was the best decision ever. We are in good health and are enjoying living here very much.”

     Steve Trott relates that after 33 years on the Ninth Circuit Court he has assumed “inactive senior status” with one case left to finish. His “spirited dissent” on an immigration case judgement by his colleagues became one of roughly 90 out of 12,000 requests to the Supreme Court to be taken up, and “the Court reversed my colleagues 9-0 and sent the case back with instructions to do it right. Now I will probably get to write a new opinion correcting our mistake.” In his new life after 55 years with the law, Steve plans to “spend much of my time bothering Bob Hunter with questions about foreign affairs.” Steve added that the Highwaymen, “after losing Chan, Bobby and David, closed up shop after singing together for 50 years in the end of a great adventure.” A final note added that Rick Tuttle visited for a few wonderful days in Boise during which they celebrated Rick’s birthday and “had a great time catching up and exploring terrific memories from Wesleyan and EQV.”

And finally an update from your new secretary: Personal life has been up and down as I lost both my first wife Lynn and son Seth to cancer while just in their 40s, but have been happily remarried for 30 years now to Helena, a Finland-born, and now retired, flight attendant with Air Canada. My resulting exposure to both Finnish and airline culture has greatly enriched my life. I have also been lucky professionally. After a PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard, I landed in the large and internationally staffed Psychology Department at York University in Toronto, where in 1980 some like-minded colleagues and I established a new specialty graduate area in the History and Theory of Psychology. Our small program has turned out a steady stream of outstanding scholars and teachers, while my own research and writing became focused on this area. Its most visible result has been the textbook Pioneers of Psychology currently in a 5th edition published by Norton. Although formally retired, I maintain affiliation with the program but work as I say for less than half the time and with half the efficiency of yore.

Just prior to going to press, I received the very sad news of the passing on November 4, 2021, of our longtime leader and friend to all, Bruce Corwin; his obituary ran in the Los Angeles Times: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/bruce-corwin-obituary?id=31339645

Best wishes to all for the holidays and 2022.

Categories Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1962 | 2020 | ISSUE 3

At the beginning of October, coping with the COVID-19 social distancing was a common thread in the handful of comments received this cycle.

Robin Berrington laments being “holed up in my apartment” and says, “the only times I get out, it seems, is to see a doctor or go to the physical therapist.” However, he says there have been bright spots when, “on glorious fall days, I have asked various sets of two or three friends out for a late afternoon drink and conversation. We can take off our face masks and watch the sun go down.” In a comment that many of us probably will nod our heads at, he writes, “It passes for a social life in D.C.” He says, “I hope everybody else has found their own solution for the current emergency.”

 Jim Dossinger and Ginny are in Winston-Salem, “living at a wonderful retirement community called Arbor Acres.” He has been retired from Exxon for 23 years. He writes he is still in contact with Jim Schroeder on a regular basis. Referring to the COVID-19 distancing, he writes, “Our life is constrained like everyone’s due to the pandemic, but we cope with Zoom meetings, classes, and music. I am also into croquet, golf, and soon, fly-fishing for trout.”

Dick Dubanoski checked in to say that he is “just staying hunkered down.” He says he spends time “doing daily two-mile walks and exercises for my various joint replacements, etc.” 

Bob Gause writes that he is still working two days per week as a pediatric orthopedic consultant, which he says is “mostly to continue teaching residents, med students, and family.” Relating to the social distancing, he offers this piece of advice: “To everyone stuck at home, get a dog! A Jack Russell terrier will make you ten years younger.”

The pandemic did not deter hundreds of residents of Branford, NY, from staging a drive-by retirement party for pediatrician Gary Wanerka in front of the local town hall in July. The hours-long parade of former and current patients capped a 38-year local pediatric practice, with one colleague saying, “He’s just a damn good old-fashioned doctor.” (Thanks to ’68 class notes editor Lloyd Buzzell for sending me the local Shoreline Times article on what was a literal and figurative “moving tribute” to Gary.)

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971

Note: Wesleyan received the sad news that David Fiske passed away on December 15. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family and classmates.

Categories Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1962 | 2020 | ISSUE 2

Lindsay Childs reports that he published a book, Cryptology and Error Correction, An Algebraic Introduction and Real-World Applications by Springer Nature in their series, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics and Technology. He said he was excited that he just learned that it is being translated into Japanese. Lindsay wrote, “If there is an upside to the social distancing forced by the coronavirus, it is that there are presently far fewer distractions to keep me from focusing on the next book project: a research level collaboration on Hopf Galois module theory with six other mathematicians (in Munich, Atlanta, Boston, Gainesville, Keele (UK), and Montgomery). We hope to have it ready to submit by the end of the year.”

Bob Gause reported the publication of his fifth book, a collection of short stories entitled Strange Voices. He says he still works two days a week as a consultant in pediatric orthopedics “using telemedicine for 50% of patient visits.”

Dave Gottesman wrote a moving op-ed column on May 7 for The Post-Star (newspaper in Glen Falls, N.Y.) entitled “We Must Take Care of Our Front Line Workers” supporting the emotional needs of health care workers who have been serving the public in the coronavirus crisis. Hank Sprouse sent in the link for the class notes and said, “This is a very timely article at this moment in our lives.” Hank said that Tom Gregory had forwarded the article to him, saying that it was “Powerful, persuasive, and wonderfully written.” The newspaper noted that Dave “is a psychiatrist, the former commissioner of mental health for Albany County, and the former deputy commissioner of the New York Office of Mental Health.” Read it at poststar.com.

Gene Peckham writes that he was a Broome County (New York) Surrogate Judge from 2010 to 2011, then returned to law practice for several years, “semi-retiring a couple of years ago.” He serves as a hearing officer for the New York state retirement system and handles arbitration and small claims matters for the New York state courts. On a personal note, he said, “We have been going to London for about 30 years on a theater trip,” and says that “for retirement recreation,” they have a cottage in Hallstead, Pa., and a condo in Charlotte, N.C. “I am in regular contact with my fraternity brothers Mike Hackman, Dave Irwin, and Joel Teaford. His wife, Judy, retired last year as executive director of the Klee Foundation; his oldest daughter Margo is a priest and canon to the bishop for the Episcopal church in Newark, N.J.; son Joe is a lawyer in Florida; daughter Beth is a pediatric dentist in Charlotte, N.C.; and he has five grandchildren.

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971