Tag: 1966

We begin with a telling photograph.

On the evening of May 24, 2023, President Roth gathered together members of the Wesleyan University community for a ceremony at the College of the Environment to honor, celebrate, and thank Essel Bailey and his wife, Menakka Bailey, for helping to found and support what will now be known as the Bailey College of the Environment. A dinner at the president’s home followed. As Essel has often and rightly noted: “The most significant challenges we face today are environmental.” Thanks to Essel and Menakka’s vision and generosity, the Bailey College of the Environment will soon have new, updated quarters in a renovated Shanklin Hall, funding for student research projects, and an endowment to support interdisciplinary faculty work on environmental issues. Essel (my one claim to fame moving forward will to have been Essel’s roommate sophomore year in North College) wrote to me, with an exclamation mark, “Our whole family, kids, grandkids, and siblings” attended the dinner as did one of Essel’s faculty mentors, Professor Nat Greene. Rick Crootof, Sandy Van Kennen, and Will Rhys represented the Class of 1966.

Wesleyan students and faculty today and for years to come will be inspired by, and benefit from, Essel and Menakka’s vision and support. On behalf of your fellow classmates, thank you Essel and Menakka.

Although he retired as distinguished professor of psychology from the University of California, Davis, eight years ago, Phil Shaver has not let grass grow under his feet, writing: “I have continued working on research and writing projects with other (younger) people. One of them, a very creative Israeli professor, Mario Mikulincer, and I have two new books out, both with long academic titles, I’m afraid: (1) Attachment Theory Expanded: Security Dynamics in Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Societies; (2) Attachment Theory Applied: Fostering Personal Growth through Healthy Relationships.” For his many scholarly contributions to the field of psychology over many years, Phil will be honored—and what an honor it is—in September with induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Not sure where he finds the time, but Phil has also “been taking watercolor painting classes and playing golf a couple of times a week, until three weeks ago, when I had to have knee replacement surgery. Throwing your weight leftward while pivoting on the left knee gradually wears the knee out. My workaholic professor wife, Gail Goodman (who has not retired yet), and our 27-year-old twin daughters, both of whom live nearby, are a lot of fun and treat me very well.”

Clark Byam, who lives in Pasadena, California, continues “to hike and play some golf. Also have a lot of Goggle stock, so good retirement accounts. Wasn’t recommended by a broker but years ago Wall Street Journal article I read said if you don’t know what to invest in . . . invest in Google. Best advice I ever got.”

On May 25, Barry Thomas sent this wonderfully informative update: “A couple months has passed since Connie and I returned from Burundi. Other than just being a bit lazy, the only excuse is that I have been a bit under the weather for a couple weeks. Nothing serious or chronic, and I am getting better. Just getting old which, I am coming to understand, is serious enough.

“The time in Burundi during February was very good. We were joined by another couple . . . Ana is an early childhood education person who had helped Connie with the online training programs during the pandemic years. Her husband is a now retired professor of religion at Appalachian State. They found the experience to be . . . extraordinary—of course, seeing all the negatives involved with the extreme poverty but, on the other hand, all the good work being done by the Dreaming for Change staff. Connie and Ana had a rewarding three weeks working with the teachers and the children. There are now 130 children in the school that includes a first primary grade. D4C has experienced an influx of children and mothers in recent weeks as they seem to be coming from greater distances for food and other help. Part of the issue is that D4C is becoming known in the province as a good place where food and a nurse’s care are being provided.

“During our visit, D4C celebrated a fifth anniversary. The place of trust that has been built with the community is noteworthy. Connie and I were also impressed with the staff Janvier has attracted and the organization he is putting together. In my time working in poor places, I have learned that, aside from the bad political leadership and governance, the main factor holding people in their subsistence life is the absence of organization management and just plain organizational work experience.”

David Luft plays in a different league. He is now “learning Czech and working on a book about Czech intellectual history since the 15th century.” He “started earlier with Spanish and Latin, and my real love, of course, was English. Thanks to Beckham and COL, I did get pretty good at German, and I kept at it. But I got interested in Austria, which was where Musil was from. So, there was a lot for me to unpuzzle about languages. And then in 1980, Solidarity made me want to learn Polish.” Of course! “For the past 20 or 25 years, I have been learning Czech and Polish in a chaotic way. It’s demanding . . . but pretty interesting. I can see Russia more clearly from there and understand Austria and Germany much better. I did learn some Russian in the 1980s, and Czech and Polish are closer to Russian than to German.”

Tom Pulliam worries that “my story is a little monotonous.” Hardly, Tom. What a life you are living! Tom is “coaching rugby at Stanford (mostly with women’s team who finished third in country last season) and with kids ages 10–14 at San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club—absolutely loving it—and still watching three grandsons (10, 13, and 16), who live seven minutes away, play baseball, flag football, and soccer. The 13- and 16-year-old [are] now playing MLSNext soccer, which is highest youth level in the U.S., but prevents them from playing anything else because it is so intense.” Tom’s “granddaughter is headed to sophomore year at University of Hawaii and is extremely happy there, studying marine biology. I am determined to get over there for visit and to see Hardy Spoehr.”

Shortly after hearing from Tom, I got this note from Hardy Spoehr: “Aloha, Larry. . . . Nothing much to report here except our second hurricane of the season is moving slowly toward us. Also, just want to put a plug in [for] Wesleyan’s ongoing webcasts of its athletic events . . . looking forward to viewing this year’s teams with my morning cup of coffee. . . . He Ola Kakou—be well.” Both Tom and Hardy wrote before the devastating wildfires in Maui.

Al Burman writes that he and his wife, MJ, are “still enjoying work and spending most of our time in Arlington, Virginia, and Sausalito, California, where quite some time back we had a chance for a nice catch-up with Barry Reder and Phil Shaver and their spouses. I was very sorry to hear about Frank Burrows.” Al attaches this photograph “of my wife MJ and me from our Amsterdam-to-Bruges bicycle-barge tour in June 2022. It was great fun and we are off to Mallorca for a similar ride in November.”

Great missive from Joel Russ who writes: “Carolyn and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary this year. We are now living in South Bristol, Maine, to be near three grandchildren (two of whom are off to college at Oberlin College and Conservatory and Williams) and are enjoying semiretirement. Carolyn retired after 33 years of public school teaching, and I in a variety of community-based nonprofits in Maine. I still do a little strategic planning and facilitation consulting for Maine-based nonprofit organizations, serve on three local nonprofit boards (land conservation, early childhood education, and chamber music), and one statewide nonprofit board, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. I also coach the local elementary school cross-country and track and field teams. Trying hard to stay fit and busy.

“My most important activity at the present time, however, is to help raise funds for a critically important Maine resource, LifeFlight Maine, Maine’s only emergency helicopter and air rescue service. This service is particularly important to Maine’s rural and coastal island communities. In the past 25 years, LifeFlight Maine has transported over 36,000 Maine residents of all ages, most of whom were experiencing life-threatening conditions.

“This is my personal story and why I am so committed. Twelve years ago our daughter-in-law, KC Ford (our son Matt’s wife), was a passenger in a small plane that sank soon after leaving Matinicus Island, located 21 miles off the Maine coast. KC sustained serious, life-threatening injuries. Had it not been for a LifeFlight Maine emergency helicopter, KC would most likely not have survived. As you can imagine, our gratitude toward LifeFlight Maine is immense. I have committed to express that gratitude by participating in a major fundraiser, Cross for LifeFlight, a self-directed athletic activity. My goal is to run 100-plus miles in the month of August and to raise $6,000.” Here’s a photograph of Joel the runner and one capturing the cause.

Ever so good to hear from John Stremlau, Hon Professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand. John writes: “My wife and I returned to Johannesburg in 2015, where I am working on a comparative study of the politics and international relations of South Africa and the U.S. Reckoning with race in these two different and distant democracies is a major thread. Although it primarily deals with recent and contemporary events, on a more personal level, I recall my formative experiences on issues of nonracialism and political equality, that really began during the 1960s at Wesleyan.

“I believe I owe a special debt to the late John D. Maguire, who was just out of grad school and a member of the faculty. He had developed a friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, who he [brought to campus] several times during the 1960s. Meeting Rev. King, listening to his address in Foss Hill Hall and in smaller discussion groups, had an enduring impact on my life and still does. Indeed, I probably would not be here in South Africa, which I first visited in 1977 and became a permanent resident in 1999, or served in Atlanta as vice president for peace at the Carter Center (2006–15), had it not been for John Maguire. John, I think was born in Montgomery and in 1961, the year before our first year, was arrested along with MLK and another Wes colleague, David Swift, for joining one of the early freedom rides.”

John would very much like to hear “from any classmates who might have had a similar formative experience with Maguire and King during their four years at Wesleyan. It would be helpful to hear from them as a kind of reality check.” John can be reached at: jjstremlau@gmail.com or john.stremlau@wits.ac.za.

Those of us fortunate enough to live with him on the first floor of a Foss Hill dormitory freshman year referred to him as “the Great One.” That him is, of course, Alberto Ibargüen, who from being editor of The Wesleyan Argus went on to a distinguished career in journalism, among many accomplishments, becoming publisher of the Miami Herald. In 2005 Alberto became president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a philanthropic organization that invests in and supports media, arts, and culture. A New York Times article of March 24, 2023, let us know that Alberto is stepping down from that position. In its lead it says “He Brought an Artistic Flair to the Knight Foundation’s Philanthropy.” The article notes, “In its 18 years under Alberto Ibargüen, the organization funded punk shows in Detroit and poetry dropped from helicopters in Miami. As he prepares to retire, he talks about what might be next.” Congratulations to Alberto on a distinguished career. We wait to hear what is next for “the Great One.” (See: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/arts/design/alberto-ibarguen-retiring-knight-foundation.html).

From celebratory to sad news. Bob Dearth writes: “So sorry to learn of the passing of F. Sugden Murphy, one of my favorite fraternity brothers. We kept in touch often during the first five or 10 years out of Wesleyan and then drifted in different directions as we aged and our families grew. Then later, after he has moved to New Hampshire, I learn he has become good acquaintances with a friend from New Canaan whose wife was a classmate of my wife at Skidmore and who then moved his family to New Hampshire too. Many fond memories of our time together at Wesleyan and after. RIP.” Frederick Sugden Murphy Jr., known as “Skipper,” died on December 10, 2022. An obituary can be read here: https://www.seacoastonline.com/obituaries/pprt0381553.

And our classmate, Grant Holly, died on November 8, 2022. In 1970 Grant accepted a position as assistant professor of English at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where he would serve for the next 52 years, a greatly admired and cherished teacher and colleague. Many of you may not have known him at Wesleyan, as he and his wife, Michael Ann, and their daughter, Lauren, lived off campus. He and I, however, became close friends, both majoring in English, both writing our senior theses in the basement cubicles of Olin Library. That friendship deepened as we went on to complete our graduate degrees at the University of Rochester, writing our PhD theses under the same mentor, Professor James William Johnson. The friendship and good times I shared with Grant and Michael Ann beginning from our days at Wesleyan will always be cherished, his death shaking me. Grant, being the life force that he was, I thought would live forever. Here, if you have not seen them, are some links:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/grant-holly-obituary?id=37402268

https://www.hws.edu/news/2022/remembering-professor-grant-holly.aspx

https://www.hws.edu/offices/president/statements/statement-on-grant-holly.aspx

Let’s end on a happy note, this from the peerless Jeff Nilson, who begins with a photograph of his two grandsons, Isaac ’26, and William, “The tallest family member . . . age 17 . . . who plays the piano, the bass guitar, and the standup bass . . . wants to study music in Europe,”  and Jeff’s daughter, Li ’88, mother of Isaac and William.

Jeff goes on to write: “I am still taking nourishment. I try to be grateful every day. I say to myself, ‘This is the day you are given. Rejoice in it.’ Jeff has “started my third children’s book. It is an easy-to-read mystery narrated by a bulldog named Daisy.” Here, the opening lines of Sally, Daisy, and the Mystery of the Kidnapped Dogs: 

“Someone was stealing dog toys from the dog park. But my sister Sally and I didn’t care. We are not fetchers. We aren’t jumpers either. We are sniffers and watchers. We are bulldogs with short legs and heavy bodies. We don’t jump. We don’t run. We waddle. We like a good snuggle and a good scratch behind the ears.

“Our favorite thing is sniffing. Every morning there are great smells on the sidewalk in front of the dog park: other dogs, a few cats, rats and mice, roaches, spiders, old hot dog juice, and drops of old ice cream.

“We hang out with our dog walker Keisha. Here’s a photo of Keisha, Sally, and me in front of the dog park in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn: In that photo behind us, you can see a lot of jumping and fetching. But Sally and I are not one of those crazy fetchers.

“A couple of weeks after this photo was taken, some of my best friends disappeared. There was Alex the Greyhound and Felicia the mutt. She had one blue eye, one brown eye, and a lot of wisdom. I missed her. Who was taking our friends? No one knew how to stop the dognappers. And no one knew how to rescue our missing dog friends….”

Bud Smith has done it again, publishing another book; Bud edited and wrote a foreword to  Gauntlet in the Gulf: The 1925 Marine Log and Mexican Prison Journal of William F. Lorenz, MD. The inimitable secretary of the Class of 1967, Richie Zweigenhaft, reviewed the book, writing: “Gauntlet in the Gulf reveals the adventurousness of William F. Lorenz, a prominent early twentieth-century psychiatrist who, in 1925, was forced to abandon a fishing vessel smack in the Gulf of Mexico, only to be imprisoned with his shipmates in the Yucatan. It also reveals how innocent individuals traveling internationally can become caught up in geopolitical animosities. Finally, it reveals an insightful and engaging storyteller, as Claude Clayton Smith deconstructs Lorenz’s fascinating journal. When the Ruth strikes a reef, Lorenz’s leisurely, lyrical account, takes a stunning and dramatic turn.”

On the subject of books, David Luft’s The Austrian Dimension in German Intellectual History (2021) is now in paperback. This past January, “[a] colleague in Poland invited” David to give a lecture in Poznan, and he spoke on “writing Central European intellectual history. My friends in Europe suggested that, since I would be there anyway, we could create a workshop on the changing forms and meanings of Romanticism in the 19th century and after. I spoke to the workshop on Romanticism on January 23.” Harold Potter and his wife Lee have been traveling as well, Harry dropping me this note: “Lee and are at Logan waiting for our flight to Paris. Then on to Morocco.” Thomas Hawley has been receiving visitors at his home in Carmel-by-the-Sea. “Not too long ago we got together with Cliff and Michelle Shedd and Bill Boynton and his very nice female friend for a lovely evening together. And before that, Sandy Van Kennen and his son paid us a visit, which was just great.” Another West Coast classmate, Clark Byam, is “still alive and been retired since end of 2021 after 49 years of practice. Hike along in hills where I live [Pasadena] and play golf. Invested in stock market and so far reasonably happy with results.” David Griffith, who is about to retire from a distinguished career as a lawyer in Colorado Springs, writes: “Our family is fine. I’m in pretty good shape and looking forward to fly-fishing and nature photography and seeing the summer again, waking up to the mountains and rivers. I’m about to retire from law practice after 52 years. I’ve been writing stories from law and life . . . some true, others I’m not sure if the stories are true or lies or dreams recalled from mixed memories. Old habit of Griffith men to tell a good story and exaggerate or tell outright lies to make the story better.”

Dan Lang in “August . . . began a three-year term as a member of the Board of Governors at King’s University College,” London, Ontario, Canada, “a liberal arts college much like Wesleyan today. . . . ” At a recent board retreat, “maintaining faculty quality” was discussed. The phrase caught Dan’s attention. “Maybe it was the notion that King’s and Wesleyan are what we today call ‘selective liberal arts colleges’ that triggered a recollection of where I had heard the phrase before: Victor Butterfield in his address to the entering class, and in a little booklet—The Faith of a Liberal College—that we all received in our orientation packages. I still have a copy and looked. There it was on page 19, ‘responsibility for maintaining a faculty of quality.’” Dan doesn’t think much will come from such a discussion; “in Canada academic senates and faculty unions give the idea short shrift as a role of governors.”

Bob Dearth, “a car nut” who “can’t accept aging gracefully,” writes, “Instead of throwing a big, six-figure sum at a new high-performance Corvette, I have gotten the bug to preserve one of the late ’50s/early ’60s piece-of-art automobiles that came out of Detroit as I was growing up.

My latest focus is on a ’61 or ’62 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible. These were huge tributes to chrome and options that were being added all the time to the cars being designed in Detroit. I’ve bought a shell of a ’62 that now seems to need more dollars to restore than I bargained for and I will likely turn to one already restored and finished . . . not to be a trailer queen but to drive and enjoy while we can still buy premium gasoline. I still remember the 17-year-old date I had as a senior in high school whose dad worked for GM and who had a ’62 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible as his company car and who let us take it out on dates, especially since the bucket seats and console kept us a respectable distance apart as we drove.”

We end with a celebration of the life of Frank Burrows who died on February 2. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His daughter Lauren writes that Frank “died peacefully at home. As was his nature, he remained cheerful and in good spirits until the very end.” Rick Crootof, who knew Frank well, visiting him at his home in Florida, writes: “Frank was a giant in our magnificent 50th Reunion class book, itself a giant love fest to our class. I am so glad he was able to join us for a reunion or two after the 50th.” John Neff wrote to Lauren: “I’m not surprised to hear that he was cheerful and in good spirits. I have only the most affectionate and smiling remembrances of your dad over all these years. Apart from Middletown I visualize him most in Faulkner territory there in Oxford. Or at a parting breakfast or lunch at our 50th when passing on to him a skinny red, white, and blue regimental tie acquired from J. Press in 1965–1966 for our tongue-in-cheek ‘secret society’ F.S.S.S. (Fraternal Society of the Self-chosen Seven) whose ritual greeting was ‘fssss-sss.’ All good times. Not least his quarterbacking our last reunion book with all the incredible Argus and other documentation—a labor of love.”

Dave McNally shared with Lauren this reminiscence: “Your dad was ever cheerful and good spirited, and always a pleasure to be with. And I will never forget, sitting at a round table at one of our class reunions (I think it was the 40th or 45th) when I noticed that my wife Michelle kept staring across the table at your mother Carol, and vice versa. It turned out that they had shared a house off campus when both were undergraduates at the University of Minnesota. Talk about small world! I was glad that Frank passed away peacefully (may we all be so fortunate). And may you fully celebrate his life even as you mourn his passing.”

As Rick wrote to Lauren: “I think we can all agree that you are an honorary member of the Class of ’66, however distinguished that might be! Thanks for keeping us informed, Love, Rick.” Amen.

“A bit hard to digest that it was 60 years ago that we started at Wesleyan,” begins this inspirational update from Dave McNally. “The 1960s were a different world, exciting like an erupting volcano, and I for one am extremely grateful to have come of age in that era. I am also grateful for the innumerable learning opportunities Wesleyan offered—in the classroom and beyond—although I regret not having taken advantage of more of them. Like many of you, I suspect, the older I get the more often I think about friends and experiences from years ago. I recently have happily reconnected with several friends from elementary school with whom I had no contact for nearly 70 years. And I have reread with pleasure the journals I kept on world travels over many decades. One of the innumerable benefits of retirement for me is having time for such reflections.

“Despite being afflicted with an unusual variant of ALS that has caused me to lose the use of my arms and hands—and which will inevitably spread and lead to my demise—I am a very happy camper, due to my incomparable wife, best friend, and (increasingly) caregiver, Michelle. We love our Williamsburg-style home outside Alexandria, Virginia, though we spend much of our time at our log house deep in the woods of the West Virginia Panhandle. There Michelle has created what I call ‘Mount Palomar East,’ an observatory with a 22″ Dobsonian telescope housed in its own dome. After three years and prodigious technical assistance from the Cumberland (Maryland) Astronomy Club, Michelle finally got the telescope and dome working perfectly just before Thanksgiving. The views may not quite compare to those from the James Webb Space Telescope, but they are pretty awesome.”

Though Barry Thomas and Connie’s “return to Burundi has been delayed until 2023, the good work continues there. A well-integrated set of programs—with focus upon nutrition and food security, early childhood education, keeping teenage girls in school, and women’s entrepreneurship—are now well established. The very dedicated Dreaming for Change staff are being challenged by the day-to-day requirements for preparing and serving cups of porridge to 400 children and mothers, tending to 147 children in the preschool and first primary grade, supporting 125 women engaged in the Savings and Loan Program (a type of microfinance), and working with over 225 families who participate in the Kitchen Garden Program. On top of the daily challenges, the leadership is really being challenged by the rigors of finding funding to cover the now ongoing and growing operating costs for this broad array of service programming.

“I will give specific mention to the Acute Malnutrition Program that was started in November 2021. We had become aware that the daily porridge and the other family nutrition programs were not doing enough for the children suffering from an acute level of malnutrition. The level of under-five child mortality is improving in Burundi, but it remains among the worse in the world. With kind and generous support from a couple of our Wesleyan classmates along with support from a local church in Boone, North Carolina, we were able to put together a more intense program for these really destitute children and their families. The Dreaming for Change nurse administers the program. Our U.S. organization provides funding for the food and the specialized medicine. Personnel from a nearby government health clinic provide medical diagnosis and oversight as well as referral when necessary. There are over 60 families in the program. Community women who have been responsible for cooking the daily porridge have now received additional training and are going out to identify and serve families that live greater distances from the village center. They are called ‘Light Mothers’ in French. It is quite an innovative way to bring a basic level of care to the more remote rural population. Of course, the current state of global economics and geopolitics, ultimately, cascades down to affect the very poor, such as, in Burundi, most severely.”

Tom Pulliam writes: “Granddaughter Madeline is settling in very nicely at University of Hawaii, studying marine biology and surfing in her spare time. My wife Alice and I will eventually visit Oahu to see her and connect with our classmate Hardy Spoehr. Madeline’s younger brothers have begun playing MLS Next soccer, the highest level of youth soccer in the U.S. It is sort of the same game they have been playing for years, but the level of skills of all players is amazing as is the pace of play. In September our Pleasantville High School class reunion convened in Healdsburg, California, and it could not have been better: incredible energy from a couple of dozen senior citizens who remembered events from 60 years ago as though they just happened (though remembering what they ate for lunch that day was more troubling). Just finished making plans to head to Vancouver, Canada, in March for HSBC Rugby 7s World Series event there and will be joined by one of my original Stanford teammates. I am still thoroughly enjoying helping coach Stanford women in rugby and coaching 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds in rugby for the San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club. I started rugby at Wesleyan when my fraternity brothers insisted I play at Williams because they were short a player. I resisted mightily (anticipating my 130-pound carcass would not survive) but they prevailed. That decision turned out well over the years.”

Phil Shaver attended “my 60th high school reunion in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last month. I hadn’t been back for years. Of our class of 1962 (about 300 people), a third have died. Of the living, many have lost a spouse to death or dementia. So even though I had just undergone knee surgery for a torn meniscus, I felt grateful to be alive, generally healthy, and mentally sharp. My main research collaborator and I have two new books in press. My wife is still a full-time workaholic professor, in good mental and physical health. Our 26-year-old twin daughters are thriving. I’ve been taking watercolor painting classes for a couple of years and am enjoying it and getting better. I’ve actually sold a couple of paintings and had one on display at a local gallery. We’re all concerned about the unhealthy state of our country but can’t figure out what to do about it.”

Another high school reunion and more, Bob Dearth writing that the “Post COVID-19  lockdown lifestyle reset is proving a challenge. Our plans for a visit to Portugal gave way to a higher-priority hip replacement surgery for my wife Barbara to correct both a stress fracture and arthritic deterioration in her right hip, which I understand is a pretty common surgery these days. Recovery is in progress. Have downsized vacation properties in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, moving to a modest three-bedroom condo versus the big custom-vacation property with pool. So far, not a bad trade-off. Anticipate hosting one son and grandkids this coming December after Christmas. Will continue to enter the smaller of the billfish tournaments in early October this fall, weather cooperating. Have traveled to Lake Erie for walleye and smallmouth bass fishing recently. Lots of fun and fresh fish fillets to share. Sixtieth high school reunion in June was fun too but too few attended.”

This autumn found Essel Bailey and his wife, Menakka, in California, “having finished the harvest in Knight Valley and our Knights Bridge wines are on the lees! We came out from Ann Arbor after beating Michigan State in The Big House and listening to Wynton Marsalis and his jazz group in three separate presentations. Moving around still and enjoying it!”

And this update from Barry Reder. “I retired from the practice of law (helping businesses of all sizes, ranging from banks and insurance companies to chefs and entrepreneurs with a dream) at the end of 2006 and have not figured out how I maintained a seven-day/six-night law practice while doing all the ‘stuff’ that endlessly has kept me busy ever since. Ann has struggled with the afterlife of getting two new knees simultaneously more than a year ago, and we walk most days to try to improve things. Each of our two daughters has a boy and a girl and live in San Francisco. After 43 years in a wonderful house in the Richmond District (a suburb in the city), we downsized last spring into a wonderfully urban, quite new three-bedroom apartment. It took six months to clear the house out but only two days to sell it. When it was completely empty, it was strangely devoid of the emotional content I had expected; when empty, it was just a house, no longer the home where we had raised our kids and celebrated holidays and life. We spend half the year in the city apartment and the other half on our wonderful acre and a half on a hill in Sonoma with five table grapevines, a meadow, a putting green, and a pool. My handicap had its nadir at 9 and, despite diligent practice almost daily, is now 20+. Though nearly every weekly calendar has at least one medical entry, we feel endlessly fortunate and hope to enjoy stasis for a while.”

We end with two celebratory notes. Jeff Nilson’s grandson, Isaac Ostrow, Wesleyan Class of 2026, has become a member of Wesleyan Crew. Rick Crootof and Linda celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on September 4, 2022.”

We begin celebrating the distinguished career of Bill Dietz, his many years of clinical, metabolic, epidemiologic, and policy work devoted to helping us understand childhood obesity. Recently, Dr. William H. Dietz of George Washington University was “recognized as an Expertscape World Expert in health education,” a result of citations to Bill’s work, placing him “in the top 0.1% of scholars writing about health education over the past 10 years.” Well done, Bill!

A great story from David Griffith, inspired by Jack Knapp’s account in our last class notes about not being prepared for Wesleyan: “My first class on the first day, a lecture in philosophy that was part of the integrated program. The instructor, a newly minted assistant professor whose name I have forgotten, walks in, mounts the podium, and begins with words I will never forget: ‘I assume you all know the difference between a priori and a posteriori reasoning.’ I stared dumbly into space for a moment and then wrote in my notebook ‘Jack, you’ve made a big mistake.’” David, in the same class, remembers that the professor was Paul Reynolds and provides this reminiscence:

“One lovely autumn afternoon, the sun was streaming in the window of a seminar room in Fisk Hall, with a cardinal singing just outside, and bathed in that incomparable soft air of the Connecticut countryside, we slowly drifted in after lunch for a lecture in the freshman course on philosophy, part of the Freshman Integrated Program at Wesleyan in 1962. The original instructor, Mr. Shiman, had taken leave, I guess, and in any event that day the discussion and lecture were presented by Professor Reynolds, who was known and called ‘Rip Reynolds’ by the upperclassmen. Rip was a soft-spoken fellow, slight and thin and gray haired, with a little beard, in his 60s, and semi-retired from the faculty. He was noted for a paper he had published somewhere on Reverend Berkeley’s works on empiricism, and after our customary introductions, he launched into the talk that he gave from his paper, spread out on the wood table in that wood-paneled room, with 15 of us in attendance, seated on very comfortable armchairs. Rip’s delivery was as rumored, easy and light as a feather, slow and deliberate, reading more than speaking from knowledge, all on a topic that would hardly have stirred the heart to action or the mind to engage. As one might expect, as the lecture wore on, the combination of the afternoon, the armchair, and the soft tones of the speaker took their toll— first one student and then another slowly slumping into the chair and surrendering to the charms of Orpheus encased in quotations of Berkeley. Rip was not one to ask questions during a lecture or try to start a discussion, and he simply soldiered on, as one after another of my friends and fellows nodded off, until finally, about 45 minutes into a 55-minute lecture, even my friend Andy Kleinfeld drifted off, and then I no longer had it in me, and allowed my eyes to close. A public-school boy in a private school dominated class, I was diligently taking close notes on every class, trying to keep up with those privileged in their preparation for this college work, but I could not resist the day and the lecture, which was waning in strength. I suddenly opened my eyes and awoke from my light doze when there was no longer that soft droning speech to lull me to sleep, as happens when a sudden silence will wake a sleeper used to background noise; and as I opened my eyes, I realized with mild surprise that even Rip had fallen off, that he had indeed talked himself to sleep. It was somewhat gratifying to realize that I was the only one awake, that even the future valedictorian and master of all knowledge, Andrew J. Kleinfeld, had fallen off, and I was the witness. I kind of tapped on the table a little before the bell rang, which gave Rip a chance to bring up his head, shake off the afternoon nap, and stand to allow us all to leave. That was my only real experience with Rip or Berkeley, but I will never forget it. It was a signal to guide me, but I don’t know to what.”

Essel Bailey writes with the good news that “Our Knights Bridge Winery just opened a production facility in Knights Valley, California, and our wines got serious attention in this weekend’s Naples Wine Auction!” He and Menakka “recently acquired a property in northwest Connecticut where travel to Wes campus is very convenient.” And they have “reorganized our nursing care homes company, to become an ‘Employee Stock Ownership Plan,’ with all of our 1,600 employees as co-owners.”

Rick Crootof sees “Jack and Carla Knapp regularly since they are now living here in Wolfeboro, renting from friends of ours, from September to June, and 30 miles away in the summer. This is their second winter here and they are contracting for next winter again. Like you, they are former urbanites converted to the joys of small-town living. Many pleasant interactions conclude with ‘and this wouldn’t happen in Chicago!’” Rick also keeps up with Sandy Van Kennen, the two recently being “joined on a hike by Peter Monro.” Rick continues to enjoy Zoom “meetings with KNK brothers Jack, Dave Luft and Charlie Ingrao ’69,” where politics dominates. On the way to Sarasota for the winter, Rick and Linda spent a “night in New Haven with Bob and Priscilla Dannies.”

Received this inquiry from Tom Pulliam: “Do you happen to have email address for Hardy Spoehr? My granddaughter has been admitted to University of Hawaii and is interested in marine biology. I would absolutely love for her to meet Hardy, one of my all-time favorite people,” as he is for so many.

An update from Barry Thomas: “Connie and I are gradually getting back to a ‘normal’ pace of activity. Have been to a couple concerts—symphony and bluegrass. We have moved into a period of relative calm with the work in Burundi, striving to stabilize and make sustainable all building and program development activity undertaken during the past year. A third Department of State grant is providing opportunity to do more teacher training, which has to be done virtually. We hope that our return to Burundi is only delayed, and we will be able to travel to East Africa later in the year. The next big issue involves electrifying the Dreaming for Change Community Center, including the preschool. We are looking wherever we can to find an organization interested in supporting such a project.”

Let’s end on this uplifting note. Will Rhys writes: “Pandemic be damned, I did two performances in December of my one-man Christmas Carol and am now in rehearsal for Harry Townsend’s Last Stand, which will have a run in February at the Good Theatre in Portland, Maine.”