CLASS OF 1976 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
From all reports, Reunion Weekend was a hit. The weather was good, there were some excellent panel discussions, and enough classmates made it back to make the trip worthwhile. I could not make it, and I want to thank Elisa Serling Davis for sending me some notes about those who did. Folks mentioned were present unless stated otherwise.
Adele Miles Batchelder started her career in product marketing. She now teaches public preschool part time and volunteers. She has two children in their late ’20s and lots of hobbies, including yoga and dance.
Mark Berger, who is married to Jane Eisner ’77, attended with their daughter Rachel Berger ’06, who was attending her 10th Reunion. Mark and Jane have a second Wes grad who will attend her Reunion next year. After spending 30 years in Philadelphia, Mark and Jane are now living in NYC. Mark is VP of clinical research at Kadmon Corporation and Jane is editor of The Forward, a national Jewish newspaper.
Barbara Birney just returned from six weeks in Botswana, volunteering for the Cheetah Conservation group there. She attended with her brother, Bob Birney ’81, and she caught up with Linda Whitlock-Brown.
Mel Blake works as a talent agent representing authors and speakers. He and his wife, Rebecca, are about to sell their home in Lexington and move to Portsmouth, N.H.
Sidney Cohen and his wife, Carol, live in Pleasanton, Calif., where Sid works as a physician adviser for Medtronic. Their three children (Jacob, Rachel and Jonah) are busy as a CPA/controller, administrator at QVC and medical student, respectively. Sid’s hobbies include enjoying California’s great weather, tending to his fruit trees, photography, and amateur radio.
Many of you probably know that Wes has closed DKE. This is and will continue to be a sore point with many alumni, including myself. Alumni were permitted to have an open house at DKE this weekend, however, and some Chi Psi brothers joined in. Jim Cornell sent me a photo of himself, Dan Bellegarde, Paul McMahon, Pete McArdle, Stan Opalacz, and Rob Williams at the House and another that included Dennis Harrington, Wes Higgins, Paul McDermott, Jack O’Donnell, and Steve Farrell ’77 having dinner at Bread and Water. Alan Poon was also there but missed the photo shoot. You guys look great, and I am sorry I was not there to join you! Lenny Femino would have liked to attend but his daughter Leonora graduated from Grinnell that same weekend. Leonora graduated with honors and was a four-year starter on the varsity soccer team and a hurdler/captain in track. Congratulations, Len!
Leslie Gabel-Brett is enjoying her three granddaughters. She also has a book that will soon be published on the marriage equality movement.
Joellyn Gray and her husband, Kevin, have four sons, two in the film industry, one pursuing a medical career, and one in digital marketing in NYC. Kevin teaches real estate finance at Yale and Joellyn is the director of new business at Fujifilm. She was able to reconnect with Steve Duncan, Steve Goldman, Debbie Gottheimer, Tom Kovar, Merle Kummer, and David Low and to meet Ron Kirschner and Adele Batchelder.
Debra Haffner is going to be the next senior minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reston, Va., near DC. All DC friends are invited to visit her congregation.
David Harmin and his wife, Karen Williams Harmin, live in Cambridge and they both work at Harvard Medical School in neuroscience research and administration, respectively. Karen is a former attorney and David is a former physics professor. They lived separate lives for 31 years and then got back together and wed.
Byron Haskins, who could not make Reunion, is putting an end to commuting, retiring from federal service and planning a more leisurely work life. Best wishes to you and your wife, Byron.
Tom Kovar had a great time at the Reunion and, in addition to working, is still gigging with his band, the Retroverts, about once a month.
Seth Lerer visited Wes for the first time since graduation. He spent time with Elisa Serling Davis, Connie Bodine McCann, Merle Kummer, and many others and participated in a very well-received panel discussion in which alumni presented their current work and the impact Wes had on them. After five-and-a-half years as the dean of arts and humanities, Seth is now the Distinguished Professor of Literature at UCSD. He also has a new book being published by Oxford University Press in August entitled Tradition: A Feeling for the Literary Past.
Alan Miller and Ethan Bronner, former housemates, teamed up again as part of a Wes seminar on news literacy: “Discerning Fact from Fiction in our Digital-Age Democracy.” The panel, which drew an overflow crowd, also included Rob King ’84 and Erika Franklin Fowler, an assistant professor of government at Wes. The moderator was Alberto Ibargüen ’66, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Alan is president and founder of the News Literacy Project, Ethan is a senior editor of Bloomberg News, and Rob is ESPN’s senior vice president for “Sportscenter” and News. Alberto and the Knight Foundation were instrumental in launching the News Literacy Project as well as the field of news literacy nationally.
For the next issue, I’d like to hear from more of you, particularly classmates whose names begin with a letter from the second half of the alphabet!
Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net