CLASS OF 1981 | 2015 | ISSUE 3
Save the date: 35th Reunion, May 20th–22nd, 2016. We will have been out for almost twice as long as we were around before we went in!
Paul W. Godfrey, of Farmers Insurance, St. Paul, has been elected secretary of the Minnesota State Bar Association. The office, which he assumed July 1, puts Godfrey on track to become the MSBA president during the 2018–19 bar year.
Barry “Pono” Fried’s business, Open Eye Tours and Photos, received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award for their private tours of Maui. Congrats!
Jim Baker and his wife, Diane, are living in Ridgefield, Conn. Jim retired from Unilever after 32 years (directly from Wesleyan to Unilever) and is now working for a small medical supply company in Guilford, Conn. Jim’s oldest daughter, Carolyn, just got married and his youngest daughter, Kristina, lives in NYC and works for a startup called Class Pass. Jim and Diane spend a lot of time on Fishers Island, N.Y., in the summer.
Pete Congleton recently joined the development office at Vassar College as the director of leadership gifts and gift planning. This is a new, hybrid position that involves leading a team of leadership gift officers in concert with Vassar’s Gift Planning team. Pete is “glad to be back in the Northeast, closer to family and friends, and looking forward to putting his fundraising experience to good use at a prestigious college that often compares itself to Wesleyan.”
After 17 years in Richmond, Va., John Ravenal moved with his wife, Ginny Pye ’82, to the Boston area. He’s now the executive director of deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln. “I managed to arrive just days before the epic winter began, but I’ve had a summer to thaw out, get my director-legs under me, and settle into a new home in Cambridge with Ginny. Our daughter, Eva ’15, moved to New York to pursue an acting career after graduating last spring from Wesleyan. Our son is remaining in Richmond now that he’s finished high school, supporting himself and skateboarding with a team.”
Alison Williams has started a new position as the associate provost for diversity and intercultural education at Denison University (as of July 16). She lives in Granville, Ohio, in a five-bedroom farmhouse (“long story”) 20 miles east of Columbus. “I have lots of room for visitors, as long as you don’t mind woodchucks and deer in the yard! I’m looking for anyone from Wesleyan to help introduce me to the Columbus area. I’m also looking for opportunities to play my oboe. I’ve enjoyed hearing from Wesleyan East College classmates who have children touring the great liberal arts colleges of Ohio (Eric Pallant, Jon Mink) or delivering offspring to grad school (Sara Margolis). I also hear from Michelle Coleman, Pam Delerme, and Cathy Clarke regularly.”
Ellen McHale is pleased to report that her son, Ben McKeeby, is a graduate student at Wesleyan, studying planetary sciences. She is looking forward to spending more time on campus over the next few years! “I also have a book (my first), which is due to be released by the University of Mississippi Press on Oct. 1, 2015. Stable Views: Stories and Voices from the Thoroughbred Racetrack is the culmination of 14 years (and many hours) of ethnographic interviews in the stable areas of the thoroughbred racetracks of the eastern United States.”
Leslie Sundt Stratton and her husband are still happily living in Richmond, Va. Their eldest just graduated from James Madison University and their youngest is now halfway through William & Mary. “I am still an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and looking forward to a research leave for the upcoming year–time split between Vermont and Australia. I am looking at how economic conditions (like the unemployment rate and housing prices) affect progress towards a college degree in the U.S. and Denmark. I will be looking at how couples divide housework time in Australia. I am hoping to see Diane Stein and her family this summer and very much enjoyed a trip to Boston to visit classmates Karen Zallen and Heidi Falk Logan—both married with children (Heidi’s husband is Chris Logan ’80).”
Steve Blum is still teaching at Wharton, and still running a small “wealth management” business and an even smaller law firm. His book Negotiating Your Investments recently cracked the “one millionth” level on Amazon. “Not a million sales,” he adds, “but, rather, there are 999,999 books selling more copies.”
Jeremy Kenner writes from Australia, where the seasons are upside down: “While continuing to make a living as an employee of the Commonwealth (in the agency equivalent to the NIH as an adviser in ethics), I watch my older children (oldest at 29) negotiate adulthood and my youngest (just turned 3) begin the journey toward personhood. Five boys/two generations: it is an unusual path, but one well worth treading. The only other interesting thing I’ve done down here in the Antipodes is build a cabin in northeastern Tasmania at a place called the Bay of Fires. Have a look on GoogleEarth sometime and consider visiting one of the more remote, if very civilised, corners of the planet.”
Neil Foote is starting his eighth year teaching at the University of North Texas’ Mayborn School of Journalism in Denton, Texas. He’s also become co-director of the school’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, entering its 12th year, which features keynotes and seminars from the nation’s top journalists, authors and storytellers. “I continue to do consulting with a variety of clients around the country, including the Tom Joyner Foundation, founded by the nationally syndicated radio personality with the same name. In family news, my wife, Jane, and I headed up to Cambridge to celebrate daughter Alexandra’s graduation cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in East Asian Studies. She’s currently pursuing her MSc in environment and development from the London School of Economics.”
David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com
Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com