CLASS OF 1952 | 2014 | ISSUE 2
Thorne Griscom, he of the memorable mellifluous voice as a Jiber, retired after 49 years of service at Boston Children’s Hospital. In his honor, the hospital has established an endowed chair in children’s radiology, to be known as the “Thorne Griscom Chair.” Congratulations, Thorne!
Bill Morrill’s fabulously interesting book, A Journey Through Governance—A Public Servant’s Experience Under Six Presidents, has just been published and is available on Amazon. Bill served 25 years with the U.S. government in various capacities during administrations from Eisenhower to Carter. In this book, he relates his experiences inside the White House, the Capitol, and with presidents, senators, generals, and cabinet secretaries as they wrestled with one critical national issue after another. George Shultz, former Secretary of Labor, the Treasury, and State, says about the book, “Morrill brings vast and diverse experience to his views about a subject of critical importance: how we govern ourselves. . . . Everyone, whether in government or not, can learn from this book.”
Kim Zachos read Bill Morrill’s book and wrote, “Today’s level of political talent is a disappointment to all who trained under Shattschneider, Bailey, Schorske, and Mangone—creates all the more need for the likes of Bill Morrill. Hopefully, Bill’s book will help fill the need for talented and committed public servants. Thanks [to Bill] for putting his history into print for those of us who stayed on the edge.”
Our class president and first lady, Susie and Bill Wasch, hosted a great Wes reunion in San Francisco. Their daughter, Dr. Heidi Wasch ’84, and her husband, Dr. Bob Leversee ’84, came down from Seattle to meet them after they arrived from a cruise through the Panama Canal on the Queen Elizabeth. Bill arranged a reunion at the Marine Officers Club on Sutter St. with all three of Heidi’s senior year housemates, Veronica Masterson ’85, Maria Mead ’84, and Sophie Ziegler ’85. A photo of the jovial group, their spouses and children can be found in the online 1952 class notes: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/.
The Class of 1952 is about to make another significant contribution to Wesleyan. This time it is by way of Ken Taylor’s daughter-in-law, Victoria Pitts-Taylor, Ph.D, who will join Wesleyan in the fall of 2014 as Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Feminist, Sexuality and Gender Studies. Another contribution of Ken’s is his daughter, Janet Taylor McCracken ’80, who is adding glow to Wesleyan’s crown as former Deputy Food Editor of Bon Appétit Magazine and now Test Kitchen Director at EveryDay. Ken is retired and living (with JoAnne) at Seabury Retirement Community in Bloomfield, Conn., after a 31-year career of serving the United Church of Christ (Congregational), most recently as Associate Minister of the CT Conference of the UCC.
Joe Proud has just surfaced after decades of flying under the class radar. Most of us remember Joe as a stellar distance runner on the track and cross-country teams, including the 1950 Little Three cross-country championship team. We also remember how, as president of DU, he led the move to break racial barriers by pledging the late Ed Beckham ’58, who later became Dean of the College at Wesleyan before moving on to a top position with the Ford Foundation.
Now comes the following new information (to us anyway) from sources other than Joe. After Wesleyan, Joe got a master’s and Ph.D in physics at Brown. He first joined Sandia Corp. and became responsible for the planning and conduct of experiments on full-scale nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site and in the South Pacific. He next cofounded Ikor, Inc. and earned international recognition for his work on high field breakdown in gases on a sub-nanosecond time scale. Although this work was originally motivated by a need to define limits on high power radar propagation in the upper atmosphere, the results provided physical insights and a data base needed in the development of high power gas lasers a decade later. (Yes, your scribe’s eyes have already glazed over in writing this!)
The last 20 years of Joe’s career were spent with GTE Laboratories, where his principal research focused on new light source technology involving electrode-less excitation of plasmas. Joe was responsible for more than 50 patents in this area. As you can imagine, Joe’s expertise resulted in his being the chair of numerous high level conferences over the years, including several gaseous electronics conferences. In 1983, he served as scientific director of a NATO Advanced Study Institute. In 1990, as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), he became a founding member of the Plasma Science Committee. He subsequently served on the NAS board on physics and astronomy. Would Professors Eaton and Van Dyke be ecstatic or what?!
But Joe is not “all work and no play.” Over time, he has honed natural and acquired skills in woodworking, painting, and antique car restoration. One specialty is reproduction period furniture and clocks, crafted from cherry and walnut hardwoods. Another is acrylic and oil painting, in which he is self-taught, his preferred subjects being landscapes and Florida birds. His restoration projects have consisted of at least four vintage MG T cars from the frame up, including metal work, sand blasting, painting, wiring, engine rebuilding, and upholstery.
Meanwhile, Joe has somehow found time before and after retiring to serve on several town boards in Sudbury, Mass., where he resides. He has been a widower since 1998, has an adult son and daughter, and four grandchildren. Without question, Joe qualifies as a Renaissance man!
More sad news. Don Friedman died Aug. 11, 2013. A lifelong resident of Denver, Don served seven terms as a Republican Colorado state representative, had a radio talk show, was a successful real estate developer and was active in many organizations. A complete obituary was published in the Denver Post on Aug. 13, 2013.
Mel Roboff died April 14, 2014 A long-time resident of Needham, Mass., Mel had a distinguished career as a marketing consultant for firms like Underwood Deviled Ham and Converse sneakers. Affectionately known as “Uncle Mel” by family members of some Alpha Delt classmates, Mel is survived by two daughters, Katherine and Julia.
DONALD T. SANDERS | dtsanders1@sbcglobal.net
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