CLASS OF 1966 | 2014 | ISSUE 2
Aloha all. Hope summer is treating you well. First, our apologies for not recognizing sooner the passing of our classmates Guntis (Gus) Lemesis and Jon Mekeel last year. Our thoughts go out to both familes. Gus with his wife Susan lived in Alpharetta, Ga., where he served as vice president for Scientific Atlantic, Inc. At Wes, Gus was a member of Alpha Delt and very active in things music as well as basketball, baseball, and cross-country. Jon made his home in Essex Fells, N.J.
Wes alums continue to do great things. I regularly see Bill Tam ’70 who serves as our state’s water tsar within the State Department of Land and Natural Resources. He also sits on the board of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, which is planning a epic around-the-world voyage in two fashioned Polynesian double-hulled sailing vessels to call attention to the importance of our oceans and their resources. One of these canoes, Hokule`a, has sailed across the Pacific from the U.S. continental West Coast, to Alaska, Japan, and throughout the Pacific over the past 35 years and is a legend among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaska natives. You will be able to track these canoes and their sail on hokulea.org/world-wide-voyage. They left on this four-year voyage on May 17th; first stop, Tahiti. School children around the world are following this effort and so can all of you seventinarians; it’s never too late!
By now you all know that we took the Little Three Championship in football last season. Well, folks, we’ve just taken the Time Magazine’s Little Three Challenge as well! In the April 7, 2014, edition of Time (page 8), the magazine ranks graduates from “hundreds of schools” in terms of the relative influence of their alumni (I would guess ‘in the world’). The results:
Wesleyan vs. Amherst: Wesleyan alums are 1.11 times more influential than Amherst alums (56.5 compared to 50.8)
Wesleyan vs. Williams: Wesleyan alums are 2.03 times more influential than Williams alums (56.5 compared to 27.8)
If you want to do more comparisons go online: time.com/collegerankings
Finally, I know, classmates, you are out there and doing good things. Please let us know what these things are and drop me an e-mail or a card. I have a new e-mail, having recently joined the ranks of those of you with expanding “honey-do” lists after retirement. Our final thought proverb comes from the Cook Islands:
Ko te kata te vaerakau putuputu o te kopapa. Laughter is the constant medicine of the body. Let us all take this to heart and get at least one good laugh in every day. A plea for news…I know all of us are moving towards the big “R” (retirement), if we’re not already there. Please let us know what you are doing or plan to do (besides joining us all for the 50th in a few years. We need your thoughts to augment our ‘honey-do’ lists…e-mail me.
Hardy Spoehr | hspoehr7@gmail.com
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