CLASS OF 1961 | 2014 | ISSUE 2
Recent literary contributions from classmates have enhanced this class notes report, providing us with sufficient and gratifying updates. Pete Dybwad shows his own personal ecstasy, writing: “Life remains great. Still working, because I love what I do, and still living in Berkeley, because it’s 70 degrees outside in mid-March.”
Who could have guessed, as your class secretary is scratching away at his viola while viewing the audience before him, that a familiar Wesleyan face would appear? In his own words: “Bob Johnson writes that he has seen Jon Magendanz several times in Venice, Fla., as a violist in the remarkable Venice Symphony. A man of many talents, Jon contributes his musical talent to this renowned southwestern Florida symphony of more than 70 instrumentalists. Bob is also planning to see Jan Westerman, in Long Beach, Calif., during a visit to California later this year. Bob and his wife Suzanne live seven months each year in Nokomis, Fla. (just north of Venice), and the other five months in Pocahontas, Pa. (Two American Indians maidens—quite a coincidence.) They are both members of their Florida church choir, where his wife also solos and assists in directing as requested. He is vice president of his country club and is co-chairman of Men to Men, the organization for men with prostate cancer, providing support, guidance, and education. This September, Bob and Suzanne are planning a 16-day safari trip to Tanzania and Kenya, after which Bob will have visited 48 countries (mostly on business). He reports that ‘retirement is good. Only those who do not go outside their doors are not busy and active. Here’s to the future!’”
Terry Allen just cannot seem to capture the concept of retirement. In apology, he writes: “I know I should be retired, but I am now running three companies (Terry’s Tips, Da Vinci Body Board, and Coffee Can Investing) and just finished writing a book called Coffee Can Investing: Why Everything You Believe About Financial Planning Is Probably Wrong (in 2014).” Terry plans to take two two-week hiking trips in Europe this year, because he cries: “Otherwise, I’m just bored. Life is good!”
Dan Elliott writes: “Great time in the past year visiting my daughter, Maggie ’06, in Boston while she pursues her juvenile justice PhD at Tufts and my niece, Jessie Morris Adams ’04, and her husband Bryan ’04, in Nashville, while Jessie pursues a Vanderbilt PhD. Other (non-Wes-kid) visits have been to Germany where my son, Tim, works for Fuji Health Systems assisting roadside bomb victims from Iraq and Afghanistan; my son, Peter, in Nashville as a Vanderbilt athletic trainer and my son, Dan III, who is Obama’s chair of the Surface Transportation Board. Old age is fun with all of these accomplished progeny.”
Nancy and Paul Dickson’s son, Alex, was married last July 4th to Caitlyn Schnure. “Wesleyan celebrants at this wonderful event,” writes Paul, “included Tim Bloomfield, Doug Evelyn ’63, and Brian Murphy ’64. Alex’s brother Andrew Dickson ’95 was the officiant who performed the wedding ceremony.” Paul’s latest book Authorisms—Words Wrought by Writers was published by Bloomsbury USA on April 23, 2014, William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.
Robert Hammond writes: “Still enjoying retirement, seven months in Florida, five in Rhode Island. Carol and I are enjoying Vermont’s late snow. We Nordic (cross country) ski on community trails that cross our back field, and Alpine (downhill) at Pico and other areas. We have a seasonal ‘camp’ in the Adirondacks.”
George Little provides us with a multi-faceted update: “I retired from clinical medicine when I reached 40 years of attending call as a pediatrician/neonatologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. I miss the clinical and teaching team care of babies and their parents, but not the night and weekend call. It was time to step aside for those younger. Carol retired from her clinical and faculty position as a child development specialist. We are now enjoying our first grandchild and commuting to Oregon from Vermont to provide granny-care. Ellis was born in October. His mom is a pediatrician. I continue to have more than enough to do and am very involved in global pediatrics through and with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Helping Babies Breathe (HBB), a neonatal resuscitation program for resource limited areas is my main focus. I’m bookending my career in Malawi, where I served as a Peace Corps physician in the 1960s and now mentor the HBB program there. I’ve been to many countries, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. Carol and I have done training together in Mozambique, Sudan (Khartoum), and Kenya, as well as Malawi. Bob Carey, Jack Woodbury, and I, along with spouses, have enjoyed getting together since our last Reunion. We’re planning on Montreal via the Adirondacks this summer. I see Dom Squatrito and Carla quite regularly. Enough. Thanks, Jon, for getting us to submit info.”
Classmates’ submission of material that did not appear in this column’s publication will appear in the next issue. Thank you for your patience and please, keep writing.
Jon K. Magendanz, DDS |jon@magendanz.com
902 39th Avenue West, Bradenton, Fl 34205