CLASS OF 1982 | 2014 | ISSUE 3
The empty nesters, and almost empty nesters, among us are multiplying.
Jennifer Tucker Rosenberg, who works in New York as a psychiatrist in private practice and with children and adolescents in an agency, writes that the youngest of her three children has flown the coop. “We settled our youngest daughter, Raquel, into Barnard, where she joined her sister, Michal, who is a senior,” she wrote. “Our son, Eitan, is a web coder for Vimeo,” she said, adding that it’s “great to have all our kids in the same city—especially a city we love.”
Larry Selzer is still working at The Conservation Fund after 24 years, “and enjoying every part of it.” With his middle son, Ned, starting his second year at the University of Virginia, there’s just his daughter, Ellie, a high school senior, left at home. “Almost an empty nest, though not too sure we are ready for that,” he writes.
Rolando Arroyo, who lives in Oakland, Calif., is celebrating 25 years as a cardiovascular anesthesiologist at Kaiser Permanente. “My daughter is starting her junior year at the University of San Francisco, and my son is taking a break and back home; we almost made it to ‘empty nester’ status!” He wrote that his family this summer went diving and snorkeling in southern Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and that he has been on a “quest to perfect the art of empanadas baked in my outdoor pizza oven.” Send samples!
Congratulations are in order for Joshua Ehrlich, a clinical psychologist living in Ann Arbor, Mich., whose first book was published in May. “It’s called, Divorce and Loss: Helping Adults and Children Mourn When a Marriage Comes Apart. It is designed for therapists, but also might be helpful for divorcing parents.”
Greg Lewis, who lives with his wife in Berkeley, sent his update via cellphone while he was en route to Busan, South Korea, for a conference on international aerosol research. “Spending my spare time sculling and walking our 3-year-old dachshund,” he wrote.
Gordon Dutter has “no big news” to share, “but you can say that I still teach history at Monroe Community College and live with my wife, pets, and garden in the Western Finger Lakes region of New York.”
David Loucky, a professor of trombone and euphonium at Middle Tennessee State University, performs summers as Principal Trombonist at the New Hampshire Music Festival, a professional summer orchestra in Plymouth. He also is called on at times to play ophicleide—a 19th century predecessor of the tuba. Among his recent performances was one in Nashville, where he recorded extra ophicleide, trombone, and tuba parts to Ben Folds’ Piano Concerto, to be released this year.
Heather Baker-Sullivan wrote “from the tranquil shores of 55,” she’s reflecting on her life’s “quiet and unremarkable pleasures and achievements”—among them “intermittent employment” while raising four children. Currently, she’s an adjunct professor at Westchester Community College, teaching and tutoring English.
She says three of her children are attending university north of the border. “For any of you who are fortunate to have a Canadian parent (me), if not being Canada born (I wasn’t), feel free to e-mail me about how to get citizenship status for your children if they are not yet of college age and you want to explore that possibility: riverliffey4@aol.com. We couldn’t believe it was possible to qualify for domestic tuition, but it was! And McGill is not the only decent uni there!”
Reeve Huston just ended a sabbatical from his job teaching history at Duke University, and is working on a book tentatively titled Reforging American Democracy: Political Practices in the United States, 1812-1840. He lives in Durham, N.C., with his wife, Sally, and son, Isaac, and continues to sing and play guitar, as well as trying his hand at drums and songwriting.
Shelby Haverson wrote that he dropped his daughter Sallie ’18 off at Wesleyan this fall, while Richard Klein, an attorney in Manhattan, writes that he is “proud that his daughter, Nicole Emily Klein ’15, is following in his footsteps and will be graduating from Wes in June 2015.”
Tricia Beard Mosher and her husband Doug, a manager at Walt Disney World, have three children “at varying stages of teen and adult life.” She owns a consulting firm that focuses on social work, organizational development, and child welfare, working with states, tribes, the federal government, and community agencies. “Lucky to be able to do my type of work nationally and occasionally internationally, while having a great family to bring along sometimes, and to come home to.”
Patty Smith is teaching creative writing and American literature at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, in Petersburg, Va. “Still cycling, and I participated in the 2013 Pan Mass Challenge, a two-day 192-mile bike ride to raise money for cancer research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.” She’s had an essay appear this summer in Broad Street; A New Magazine of True Stories, and another in the 20th anniversary edition of One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories. She also received a scholarship to attend the Key West Literary Seminars in January 2015, where she’ll be taking a workshop in spiritual autobiography.
Joe Fins is on sabbatical during the fall 2014 at Yale University as the Dwight H. Terry Visiting Scholar in Bioethics. He’s also a visiting professor of the History of Medicine at the med school and a senior research scholar at the law school.
Elyse Klaidman writes that she is happily living in Berkeley and working at Pixar Animation. “I love the work I get to do, and the people I get to do it with. And Berkeley has the best weather and food!” she writes. “My oldest son is starting his sophomore year at the Rhode Island School of Design. While we miss him like crazy, my husband and younger son keep me entertained.”
Bob Russo enjoyed what he called “a fun time for a bunch of old geezers. Anthony Pahigian hosted a bunch of us—Mike Greenstein, Steve Davies ’83, John Brautigam, Joe Barrett, and Bill MacNamara—in Bethesda, Md., for a hike up Old Rag in the Shenandoah and for zip lining and white-water tubing on the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry.”
After teaching at the Derby Academy in the Boston area for 16 years, Carl Schwaber several years ago moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career. Since then, he has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in a sketch with comedian Howie Mandel, and he has also appeared on an episode of Criminal Minds. Both scenes can be viewed on his website, carlschwaber.com and he can be contacted via Facebook.
Rachael Adler opened the Waterfront Playhouse & Conservatory in Berkeley three years ago, which she describes as “a professional acting training program.” The mom of a 12-year old daughter, Rachael, who is “healthy, happy, and getting wiser,” was planning this fall to teach master classes in Barcelona.
Also working in theater is Carlia Francis. “In August, I began teaching acting and directing in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. Previously I taught acting, directing, and playwriting as the Heanon Wilkins Fellow in theatre at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. “The difference in the names is very slight but all other changes are significant. It is the first time in the last nine years I’ve lived in a ‘city’ city, and that is taking a bit of adjustment,” she wrote, adding that with a number of her family members already in Miami, “the move felt like coming home.”
Many thanks for all your dispatches, and more, please!
Stephanie Griffith | stephaniedgriffith@gmail.com