CLASS OF 1956 | 2016 | ISSUE 1
From Sandy Mendelson: “After 60 years, Bob has persuaded me to put pen to paper for his deadline.
“I’ve been a cardiologist at Washington Hospital Center my whole career. At various times I’ve taught house staff, fellows, and technicians; directed the coronary care unit; introduced formal CPR, advanced cardiac care courses, and paramedics in the DC area; and practiced clinical medicine. Our department staff totaled two of us when I arrived, and we did ‘everything’ that could be done for patients in a community hospital in 1967. Now the department is huge, with nine subdepartments, a nationally ranked program. My present activity is small, but it’s been wonderful to play some part in the amazing progress of cardiology! Beyond hearts, I consult in bioethics, as part of our hospital’s Center for Ethics.
“Irene and I are healthy, travel a lot—in ’15 to China and to Patagonia, spend time with our three sons and their families (including six grandkids), and do volunteer work. I’ve served as synagogue president and remain deeply involved with other Jewish educational organizations.
“We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Reunion!
“A sad note: the passing of our dear friend and my Wes roommate, Rabbi Harold S. White ’54. Hal was beloved and effective in his career at Georgetown University and in the DC area more generally. He attributed his passion for learning and teaching to his Wesleyan education and is widely mourned in this community.”
From Bill Bixby, several warm handwritten notes: “Hope to see everyone in May if Fran is well (dementia). Love Wes… Did not write Christmas letter last year due to a stroke Dec. 19th. In rehab six months—couldn’t drive and really missed it! Still have speech problems and work with a UMass graduate student here two to three hours a month…I can walk our dog, Barney, now but not like before!! He has to settle for 15-minute jaunts, not one hour, miles-long hikes. I miss not being able to read the way I could—I haven’t been able to finish a book yet!! Reading newspapers takes several days. (By then, it’s old news). I also missed my 64th high school reunion and Cape Cod this year!
“Mark (son) is with the same law firm (27 years) and has finally given up coaching soccer after 15 years. Jen (wife) fell on ice while walking the dogs last January and is still having headaches. Tucker (grandson #1) will be a senior at Trinity College and a U.S. Marine Reserve. His girlfriend graduated this year. They are very serious. Reed (grandson #2), will be a senior at Union College, will go to Italy to study Italian and the culture. Kevan (grandson #3) is a freshman at Hobart-William Smith College, five hours away in the Finger Lakes area. Kira (granddaughter) is a freshman in a new high school a half hour from home. She’s a goalie in field hockey. Mark picks her up on his way home. Merry Xmas, Fran and Bill.”
From Al Haas: “Not many of us could match George’s journey back through time to revisit his roots. My story is serendipitous but inauspicious. I spent three years after graduation as an officer on a destroyer with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, then a year at the University of Copenhagen, before coming back to the USA as navigator on the maiden voyage of a new yacht built in Germany. I was at the Berlin Wall when it was built, and our daughter was there when it was torn down,” he reports. He taught math at Hotchkiss School, returning each summer to Copenhagen, where he met and subsequently married Loni. The next two-plus years they lived in Micronesia, where he was deputy regional director of the Peace Corps. “We had our first child in the village [there] among the people…quite a spectacle!” They moved back to Cambridge, Mass., where Al attended graduate school in counseling and educational leadership.
“Over the years, I have been the principal or director of three secondary schools, two in Connecticut and one in Geneva, Switzerland. In between, we packed up and ‘hitchhiked’ around the world for a year, during which my wife and I were our two children’s teachers. Family and friends thought we were mad, but it was a life-changing and enhancing experience for all of us, especially for our son, 8, and daughter, 6. We ended up in Geneva at the International School. During our time there, I started helping expat children with the college admission process. This turned into Educational Futures (educationalfutures.com} that I co-founded with a Dutch woman in Geneva. This was in the mid-’80s, and the rest is history. I am still working full time with students from around the world who wish to study in North America at boarding schools or colleges and graduate schools. Working with young people keeps me legitimate and relatively ‘with it.’ Although I cannot keep up with them technologically, I continue to learn from my students, which helps to keep me in the game of life and a changing world. Loni and I are celebrating our 50th anniversary with a family cruise to Alaska this summer. Health is good, thanks to seven stents. Our two children have made us proud and have produced six unique and wonderful grandchildren. Basically, I think I have survived ‘old age’ by taking each obstacle in life as a challenge and turning each problem into an opportunity. We have few regrets and hope to see many classmates in May.”
From Phil Trager: “Ina and I plan on coming to the Reunion and look forward to seeing you there. To coincide with Reunion, there will be an exhibition of photographs from my forthcoming book, Photographing Ina. The years have surely flown by!”
“Dear Classmates of Robert J. Kaplan: I am so sorry to send you the news that Robert died of cancer in 2014. He was a wonderful father to our four children of whom he was very proud, a beloved husband, and a great cook. A psychiatrist, he worked in diagnostic centers for troubled youth in the ’70s and ’80s, and his unpublished manuscript, We Are All Afraid, was inspired by his compassion for disadvantaged youth. Subsequently, he was appointed by the New York City Family Court to evaluate custody cases, where his judgment was well esteemed. Wesleyan was the only educational institution of all he attended that Bob spoke positively about—for opening up new worlds of possibility and stimulation. Best regards, Peggy Jarrell Kaplan.”
See you in Middletown!
Bob Runyon | rrunyon@unomaha.edu
George Chien | gchien@optonline.net