Tag: 1971

Aloha. Well, I did ask for news and all I can say is, “when it rains it pours,” or if in Boston, “when it snows it definitely snows!!!” I received so much news you are going to have to go to: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/class-of-1971. Please read the long version, I could not do justice to your informative e-mails.

Bob Baranoff retired in June and is expecting first grandchild and other things….

Brett S. Goldstein: “After having retired from the rabbinical pulpit in Hollywood Beach, Fla., I’ve officiated at my 1,000th wedding.”

Mark Wallach: “I have become a grandfather: My son, Philip Wallach ’05 and his wife, Vera Krimnus ’05 became the parents of Bina (Wes class of 2036?) in July of 2014.

John Cuddy is getting ready for a fourth year of Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Saw Norm Leong: Sadly his brother died, and happily his stepdaughter just had twins.

Dave Lindorff was in London trying to cadge an interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. That and thiscantbehappening.net is “the only news organization in the US to be labeled a threat by the Department of Homeland Security.”

R. Anderson Sutton: “I’m dean of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa since Aug. 2013, after teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 31 years.”

John Schimmel: “I live in Los Angeles with my wife, Maureen Donley, and three children. After a long career as a bass player and a Hollywood studio executive, now I am a producer and head of linear content for Cloud Imperium Games (the largest crowd-funded project in history).”

Bob Yaro: “I retired as president of Regional Plan Association in December after 25 years with this Manhattan-based urban planning think tank. I’m also teaching at the UPenn School of Design. Expecting first grandchild from daughter Jennifer Yaro ’06.”

Jim Rizza: “Fourth granddaughter, Lilyana O’Connell, born to daughter Jess and son-in-law Aaron, Jan. 5th, healthy and happy. I’m still doing a little counseling, writing, guitar performance, flying airplanes, and semi-serious photography.”

Robin Gillam: “I’m now broken-hearted by the death of my wife, Judy, née Johnson, Oct. 20, 2014. This was the end of a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer that began in early 2011. I mostly have been occupying myself with hobbies—gym, motorcycle, choir and guitar playing, and now cooking and property maintenance.”

David Foster: “My career as a software geek is winding down after 20 years at Oracle Corp. Will retire next year. My volunteer work for the Alzheimer’s Association has me finishing my second year as chair of the board of directors of the Minnesota/North Dakota chapter.”

Bill Davis: “After 42 years with the New England School of Art & Design I have officially retired. My wife, Patty, and I (married in 1969), are still very much together. Our first grandchild, Nate, is now 18 months old. I have been very pleased to see Wesleyan president, Michael Roth ’78, actively promoting the value of a liberal arts education.”

Bob LeRoy is founder and coordinator of Plant-based Prevention Of Disease (p-pod.org).

Bert Whetstone (’71 and MA ’75): “I use my psychology training to do adventure-based team development and leadership training with young people. Please check out my site: drbertwhetstone.com.” After 30 years in New Hampshire, he lives on the Shenandoah River in Charles Town, W.Va.

Andy Glantz: “I still design and build custom, sculptural furniture. And I spend a lot of time renovating our home in Scottsdale, Ariz.”

Alan Epstein: “I have been very active in my research—immunotherapy. I am starting a new cancer biotech company. We now live in Pasadena one mile from the Rose Bowl.”

Warren White: “I am cooking and baking for the poor and homeless through the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, Room in the Inn, Safe Haven, and The Nashville Food Project.

Stewart Malloy: “Three children with lovely wife Claudia—two Brown graduates and one Yale. Three fantastic grandchildren (Stella, Elliot, and Clayton) under 3 have put a new spin on life!! Malloystewart@gmail.com.”

Demetrie Comnas: “Got together with John Billock at the occasion of the christening of his great nephew (his sister’s grandson) here in Pennsylvania. I spend a fair amount of time on our farm in Greece (highgroves.com) and believe that the EU has cut Greece a lousy financial deal.”

Bill Boulware: “I am now living in the D.C. area. My wife has a PR company that specializes in crisis management. If you’ve seen the show Scandal…she is the real Olivia Pope. The show was inspired by her and her work, and she serves as co-executive producer while still running her D.C. firm. My mother is alive and kicking at 91 and still lives in Harlem—-by herself. I co-wrote a book a couple of years ago, Long Shot, that was published by HarperCollins. I’m not involved much with television anymore but it amazes me how well Wesleyan is represented in that field.”

Mary O. McWilliams: “I just retired from full-time work and am enjoying a mixture of corporate and nonprofit board work, civic activities and travel. I’m active but don’t have to rush anymore! maryoliver.mcwilliams@gmail.com.”

Mark Merlis’s fourth novel, JD, will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press in March 2015. Mark was married in June 2013 to Bob Ashe, after a 31-year-engagement.

Vic Pfeiffer: “After retiring in 2008 from a career in healthcare/employee benefits/human resources strategy consulting with The Segal Company’s D.C. office, my wife and I moved to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to small historic Chestertown (1706). We renovated an old (1880s) house. Daughter Alex Pfeiffer ’06 gave birth to Riley Pfeiffer Reynolds in Aug. 2014, in San Diego. We had a great visit last June from Pat Callahan and wife Ann Goodwin ’79.”

Blake P. Allison: “I am still architecting away in Cambridge; latest project is a classroom building for a small special-needs school in Lexington. Martha’s Vineyard is quite a crossroad for Wesleyan alums: Bob Julier, Peter Woodin, John Abrams ’75, David White ’70, Morgan Muir ’73, Dusty Carter ’69, Tim Thompson ’73 (from Porter, Maine). Life is good!”

John Lippincott plans to retire in March as president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Last September, his daughter, Sarah Lippincott ’07, married Brendan O’Connell ’08. In retirement he expects to continue to use his expertise to advance educational institutions. lippincottj@verizon.net

Graeme Bush: “I am still the chair of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, coming up on my 15th year in that role. Kids are all great—Emmy is in real estate in NYC, Jenny is in Tel Aviv working with an incubator called Elevator, Sam is in Vietnam traveling before he finishes at Oregon and starts at Guggenheim Partners in June, youngest, Andie, is going to Lehigh in the fall, and Wendy and I will—finally—be empty nesters. Wendy is very involved in several organizations that foster Arab Israeli engagement. gbush@zuckerman.com.”

Fran Pawlowski (The Gallup Pole): “After more than 40 years, I retired from full-time teaching  last May. My legal business, Gallup Process Service, has been an interesting sideline since 1978. My wife (Delphine) and I are the proud parents of seven children and 11 grandchildren. I look forward to our 45th Reunion with great anticipation and hope to see many, many classmates. If you’ve never attended a Reunion, or haven’t for a long time, I invite you to attend our 2016 event. Peace.” I think Fran said it the best: See you in 2016! Aloha.

NEIL J. CLENDENINN | Cybermad@msn.com
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

 

Newsmaker: Michael Yamashita ’71

A photographer with National Geographic, Michael Yamashita ’71 received the National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for his work, “DMZ: Korea’s Dangerous Divide.” The award, presented at the Unity Journalists of Color Conference this summer, recognizes excellence among Asian American journalists and outstanding coverage of Asian American issues. Yamashita’s most recent book, Marco Polo: A Photographer’s Journey (White Star, 2004), a 504-page photographic journal, retracing the 13th-century explorer’s route to China, is setting records as a bestseller around the world. It has been translated into 13 languages, and is again available.

Newsmaker: John Lippincott ’71

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced that it has named John Lippincott ’71, MAT ’72 (and father of Sarah ’07), as president of CASE. He had been serving as CASE’s interim president since January 1. Prior to assuming the interim role, Lippincott was CASE’s vice president for communications and marketing beginning in 1999. Previously, Lippincott served for nearly 12 years as associate vice chancellor for advancement at the University System of Maryland. A College of Letters major, he began his career teaching humanities courses at community colleges in Connecticut, New York, and Oregon.

Newsmaker: Barbara Casey ’71

Barbara Casey ’71 was honored at the 10th annual Angels in Adoption awards ceremony, held in Washington, D.C. The program is organized by The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute to raise awareness about children, in foster care and orphaned, in need of permanent, loving homes; Senator Arlen Specter nominated Casey, who directs Adoption Associates, LLC, a licensed Pennsylvania adoption agency, and also heads a law firm specializing in adoption issues. She is a fellow of the Pennsylvania Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, and Resolve. She earned a master’s degree, as well as a JD, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Aloha, classmates; time for more news but none of you sent me anything in the last several months. I thought you guys and gals would just periodically drop me an e-mail without me having to remind you, but I guess not. So that means you get to hear about my life.

But before that, we received some sad news: James C. Nevius died suddenly on July 13, 2013. He was retired, having spent 25 years with Amerada Hess Corp., and then his own consulting firm. He left a wife, Angela, of 28 years, three sons and a grandson. He was 64.

I still think it is interesting that the secretaries of the Class of 1970 and 1971 live on a 550-acre rock in the middle of the Pacific and within a few miles of each other. Russ Josephson ’70 and his lovely and beautiful wife, Vera Benedek, stopped by recently for drinks and food on a typical beautiful Kauai day. Russ is in the process of trying to start building his house in the Kalihiwai river valley. His will be the first home in the valley. He seems to be enjoying Kauai, especially since he is no longer frozen in the north of Alaska. He drives around the island with his iconic license plate “YBCOLD”!

As for me, I have been in my home, overlooking Kalihiwai Bay and the ocean, for almost 12 years. Time flies! I am a part-time farmer with my 100 fruit trees, 1,000 tropical hardwoods, and 200 vanilla plants. I dabble in helping the Kauai planning department create policies and ordinances to keep the island rural and beautiful despite the inevitable growth both internal and worldwide. Our newest investors from Korea and China are buying up property at exorbitant prices. 

Most of my time recently has been spent trying to establish a palliative care medical practice team. Palliative care, like hospice, is for people with life-limiting or -threatening illness. We work with their treating physicians as part of a team, with a nurse, social worker, chaplain, and others, to provide relief of any physical mental, emotional, or spiritual suffering. We are attempting to make western medicine more holistic. The movement is going on across the country. Katy Butler mentioned it in her book and has a Facebook page “Slow Medicine” about palliative care and hospice care. If you or a loved one has a complex illness check in your area for palliative care; it can really be an aid to you and yours. Trying to get more insurance companies to cover it and make it more routine. It was deleted from the Affordable Care Act, because it was mistakenly credited with being a death squad, which is the furthest from reality for this specialty. Anyway, life is going well for me. Married off one son here on Kauai a year ago and he and wife are doing really well. Another son is in anesthesia residency and the daughter works in the hotel industry for Four Seasons. What more can a proud dad ask for than loving, independent children?

Well enough about me. Please on reading this send me some news about you so I have something to write about next time. All the best and Aloha…

NEIL J. CLENDENINN | Cybermad@msn.com
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

Aloha; just a little news this time. Many of you are recovering from a really bad winter, hope you fared well. It is any wonder why some of us left winter for permanent summer time, but I won’t rub it in.

Peter Michaelson says, “I don’t have any significant news for the class notes, as I think my comings-and-goings have been (too) well chronicled over the years. Becky and I were talking about you at dinner the other night, reminiscing on the fun time we had with you at the last Reunion, and we’re looking forward to the next one….” Yes the next Reunion is only two years away.

Ed Swanson writes, “I thought you might enjoy an article I wrote about the day that Leigh Ann and I fished on the River Itchen in England last fall. The Wilderness Fly Fishers was kind enough to publish the article in the March issue of Mending The Line.” If you enjoy fly fishing or even if you never have done it, the article is certainly enlightening. He talks about fishing on one of the best chalk rivers in England. If you have ever seen pictures of southern England’s rivers, they are crystal clear because of the limestone.

Heard from Vic Pfeiffer, who writes, “Like most other classmates, I intend to send you something, and then it never gets to the top of the list of ‘to dos.’ I just finished a really good book by Katy Butler called Knocking On Heaven’s Door. If you haven’t read it, you ought to. She combines the very touching story of her mother and father’s deaths—Jeffrey Butler was a Wesleyan professor—with the issues of dying and medicine in America today. Very well done and recommended to our classmates. I’m ‘retired’ (as of 2008) from a career consulting around health issues in Washington, DC, and now live on Maryland’s Eastern shore where I job coach (now just three days a week) adults with intellectual disabilities. My wife (33 plus years) and I have a 27-year-old autistic son, so we know the issues. Our daughter (Wesleyan ’06) lives in San Diego and we are expecting our first grandchild next summer. Wow! Thanks for doing the class notes job and for doing what you can to make them interesting. I missed our last Reunion, but perhaps 2016. The numbers get depressingly large.” So if you haven’t begun thinking about Middletown in May of 2016, know that at least two of your classmates are!

Leo Au and wife Melina are retired and hanging in SW Florida. “I am still actively involved with the Wes alumni association as co-vice chair and sit on a number of committees. Before the year is out, I wanted to pass along that in February that I attended Mike Yamashita’s talk at the Asia Society in N.Y., where I encountered our classmate Howie Dubner who has been working in the legal publishing business in New Jersey.” Well, that is it for this time. Aloha from paradise!

NEIL J. CLENDENINN |Cybermad@msn.com
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

Aloha. Thanks for your response to my pleas for news. I have too much, but here is a brief summary. Kip Anderson reports his first book of poetry was published, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder, White Violet Press, by C.B. Anderson. Harlan Stanley is “still working at LaSalle Investment Management, but found time to play golf with Frank Leone and Bruce Barit ’72 at Bandon Dunes in September.” He stayed with Burk Murchison in Dallas, who has three grandchildren. He and wife Peg have one granddaughter and another due.

On a sad note David Foster reports his wife, Linda Susan Foster, passed away Aug. 17, with her loving family and caregivers by her side. Rod Cash reports the passing of Gus Ayer on Feb. 13. “All of Gus’s friends at Wes remember him for his incisive comments on anything and everything and his wonderful sense of humor, accompanied by a beaming smile and the most infectious laugh ever. We also remember Gus for having a series of girlfriends all named Pat. Gus was mayor of Fountain Valley, Calif., in Orange County, and an environmental and political activist. He was an inspiring mentor for young progressives in Orange County. Gus is survived by his wife of 37 years, Verna, and sons Ethan and Eliot.” Marvin Williams reports that sadly his “wife of 34 years, Faye Williams, died this past June of cancer. She was brilliant, graceful, beautiful, and funny. I am spending part of Thanksgiving holiday in Grants, N.M., under 11,600 ft. Mt. Taylor with Herb Wilkins, my West College roommate, and his vivacious wife, Renee.”

Demetrie Comnas and his wife, Ann, returned a few years ago from almost 20 years in Europe (London and Athens), and settled in Villanova, Pa. “I am one of the senior partners in a UK–based consulting practice, The Principia Group, Ltd., and continue to serve on the review committee of the Fulbright Foundation for Greece, and as accounting warden of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Gladwyne, Pa.

Jay Wish writes, “After 34 years on the faculty of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, I’m joining the faculty of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis as professor of clinical medicine.” Jay Resnick is finishing his first semester of ancient Greek, and taking creative writing. He and wife Judy love their first year as grandparents. Fran Pawlowski is retiring in May after teaching at St. Michael Indian School on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Reservation since three months after leaving Wesleyan. Connie Balides won the Pedagogy Award for 2013 from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, an international professional organization of film and media scholars. She teaches film studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. Bob Baranoff is retiring as head of research for LIMRA, a research trade association for the financial services industry. His wife, Ronnie Kuzara, will be retiring from teaching art. They have bought a house in Arizona near their daughter, Rebekah, for the winters, and their son, Joshua, is getting married in June.

Another Wes-techer has moved to Hawaii: Andy Sutton. After 31 years as professor of music (ethnomusicology) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he retired in June and is now at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa: dean of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies and assistant vice chancellor for international and exchange programs. Ed Swanson’s daughter (a curator of Mellon Academic Programs at Williams College) gave birth to her second daughter, and his second grandchild, this fall. Budding chef in need of a job, Warren White earned a culinary arts technical certificate from Nashville State Community College.

Jim Rizza contacted his thesis adviser, Vito Modigliani, now professor emeritus, psychology, Simon Fraser University. Jim has three granddaughters—Ava, Aubrey, and Addison, ages 22 months to 4 years. Mary McWilliams continues to run a nonprofit that uses claims data on 3 million lives in Washington to report on the variation in quality and cost of various doctors and hospitals in the area and is focused on reducing the overuse, underuse, and misuse of health care services.

Katy Butler’s book, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, was just named one of the 100 best books of 2013 by Publishers Weekly and is a finalist for the “Books for a Better Life” award. [Ed note: See review, p. 18.] Jay Resnick, Mary McWilliams, and I read it and recommend it to all.

Sad news is that George Naylor passed away Nov. 8. He was the author of plays, short stories, and books about the counterculture and his time as a farmer.

Mike Thompson reports he keeps in constant touch with Jon Felt and Jake Weiss.

George Lehner is the chairperson at the Fund for Peace, a nonprofit that focuses on conflict resolution in fragile and failing states. He is also serving as counsel to the White House Correspondents’ Association in Washington. Henry Saunders practices internal medicine and hospice and palliative care in Conway, S.C. He and wife Donna married two years ago and live in North Myrtle Beach. They have a large combined family, including Henry’s daughter who just celebrated a same-sex wedding in Iowa to Wesleyan grad Kiera Mulvey ’00! He reports on two non-grads—Charlie Bell, who is a retired financier living in Thailand and Canada, and Jonathan Kramer, who has been on the faculty at N.C. State for years. Pam and Bob Kyrka report that Bob is retired, Pam is still teaching, Kristin ’04 is an immigration lawyer in Seattle, and Morgan is working and living in New Hampshire. That’s it! Thanks for the updates.

NEIL J. CLENDENINN
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714;
Cybermad@msn.com