CLASS OF 1970 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
Aloha, all. Bill Kordas was inspired by the Boston Marathon to write and send links to articles about classmate Bill Rodgers and a photo of Bill with our late classmate George von der Lippe (Kordas says, “AKA ‘Vondo’ “) with Wes runners Silas Ward and Amby Burfoot: rw.runnersworld.com/selects/images/boston-billy-most-likely.jpg for the photo and rw.runnersworld.com/selects/boston-billy.html for a good article about Bill—with a great photo and interesting things about him.
O’ahu resident Elbridge Smith is still active in his legal practice which “has grown a bit, including a son. We continue to represent only federal employees, focusing in wrongful termination, discrimination, and whistle-blower cases.” Elbridge enjoys daily time with an 18-month-old grandson. Wife Diane helps out with law office business. Elbridge enjoys attending annual national legal conventions, allowing him to take in a couple of MLB games each year. He was planning to make his annual trip to N.Y. state to see his mom—still living in the family home at age 100—and to visit Cooperstown.
I ran into Steve Ching, MD, at the end of a local music event. It was late and he had a long drive to the southwest side ahead of him, so we didn’t get to chat long, but it was good seeing him.
Jeremy Serwer wrote from the farm near East Woodstock, Conn. He wanted to remind all of you to visit at the JJ Farm. “It’s been four-plus years now, and country life has more than agreed with us: the path to a relaxed and balanced life has indeed been discovered.” He reports that Carol and Maurice Hakim have visited and hopes David Geller will come this year. Jeremy and Nancy are recovering from injuries (shoulder and ankle respectively) and commend the local physical therapists. “Our major go-forward: we’re adding a second equine to the family, so balancing work and play towards retirement has become the paramount goal. Still loving both, however, so we consider ourselves most fortunate.” Jeremy invites e-mail at jeremy@theserwercompany.com.
A note from Ed Castorina says he’s “now a resident of Durham, N.C., home of Duke University and Burt’s Bees.” Ed is “the general counsel for Reichhold, a very old and responsible chemical company.” Says, too, that he “attended a Wes alumni function at UNC-Chapel Hill last summer and was stunned at not being the oldest alumnus.”
Meanwhile from the other coast, Dave Davis wrote, “My youngest daughter, Eva, graduates from Whitman College next month, and then hopes to go on to medical school, following in the footsteps of my physician wife, Cindy Talbot (sister of Steve Talbot). I still work at Oregon Public Broadcasting, the PBS affiliate here in Oregon (nearly 20 years), and am still enjoying the good life in Oregon.”
Occasional Kaua’i visitor Rob Baker wrote, “Sandy and I are happy to have finished our (last) building project and to be settling into another house. After going to my 50th high school reunion in Baltimore, we’ll go back to Kauai for a while. Our daughter, Emily, is getting married in San Diego this January, so there’s a lot to look forward to.” (Rob has an interest in a home that’s probably less than three miles as the crow flies from our lot. He’s up on the ridge; we’re in the valley. It’s amazing to me that three of us Wes folks—the third being class notes correspondent Neil Clendennin ’71—have roots so close together here.)
Gerald Jones writes from California about the “latest on my efforts to reinvent myself!” prleap.com/pr/244943/getpublished-radio-listeners-will-finally-get
Al Zimmermann is trying for a record. He says he’s retired for the third time. “I think this time it’s going to take. But, although retired, I’m still plying my trade—just not remuneratively. I’m doing pro bono work for the Lucille Lortel Foundation in NYC, rebuilding the Internet Off-Broadway Database (iobdb.com).” Just in case you didn’t think he was busy enough, Al also reports he’s “taking acting classes, writing a play and running Internet-based computer programming contests (azspcs.com). My wife, Leslie, and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last summer. Life is good.”
Blackburne “Blackie” Costin retired, as a partner, from Deloitte Consulting a couple of years ago. He opened up his own LLC and says “business has been quite good.” He’s really enjoying coaching youth hockey. Both his sons played hockey for Loyola Marymount University. Oldest son, Hunter, works for Tesla. Second son, Parker, is at LMU and working a paid internship between junior and senior years. Blackie says, “I’m doing fine. Creaking around a bit more than I would like but that’s just the way it is.” Roger that.
Bob Stone reports he’s enjoying retirement from his law practice and spending time with grandchildren. “Also some volunteer nonprofit board participation, overseas and domestic travel, more pleasure reading than I’ve ever done, seemingly futile efforts to improve my golf game, and reconnecting with friends and extended family. My wife, Nancy, and I have been married over 42 years, and now we’re heavily into checking off items on the bucket list. Some of those items have included spending time with close friends from my Wesleyan days. We’ve taken trips to France, Italy, and the Baltic nations with David Klatell and his wife, Nancy, and will be going to Vietnam and Cambodia with them in January. (I guess there’s some irony in the fact that after working so hard to avoid going to Southeast Asia 46 years ago, we’re paying lots of money to go there now.)” Stoney also reports being hosted by Jeannie and Marc Pickard at their Vancouver condo last summer. He says, “David continues his work as a professor and dean at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Marc is happily retired from a long and successful career as a television reporter and anchor, most of it in the Atlanta area.”
From Beaufort, S.C., Charlie Holbrook: “Just finishing my 12th year teaching history at Beaufort High School. Leslie and I are enjoying the mild winters in Beaufort and stay in Old Lyme for seven weeks in June and July.” He’s looking forward to taking another course from Professor Greene.
I’ve just finished my fifth year at a local middle school, where I get assigned to teach classes both within and without my “highly-qualified” fields. This year, it was eighth grade U.S. history and science. The highlight for me was teaching students how to analyze scenarios for constitutional issues and how to make arguments for both sides of the issue. Who knows what the highlight was for them? Meanwhile, I edited the second edition of a second book for a local author. Taylor Camp is about a little social experiment on Kaua’i in the 1970s, a small community of treehouses on Elizabeth Taylor’s brother’s property, and the clash with local authorities. After many months of rain, it looks like construction of our house will begin in earnest. We have lots of materials on-site and the beginning of a driveway, so the heavy equipment doesn’t sink. I’m going to need more lucrative work to pay the mortgage!
Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754