CLASS OF 1979 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
Another fine (except for the score) Red Sox Opening Day was attended by myself, George DuPaul, Jeff Gray ’77 and Tim O’Brien ’81. A toast was raised in honor of our good friend and brother Brad Toomey ’81, P’18, who passed away suddenly and much too soon. His life was celebrated in Kansas City, where he lived, by Peter Campbell (recently retired to Charleston, S.C., from his CIO role at Sprint), Pete Pezzelli ’81, Tony Difolco ’81, Tim O’Brien, Paul Disanto ’81, Rick Ciullo ‘81, and Lou Scimecca ’81. Another get-together of the DKE brethren was held in Boston where Bill Vernon ’73, Jeff Gray, Dave Thomas ’77, Ken Langley ’77, Paul Fichera ’77, Dave Matteodo ’77, Ralph Rotman ’78, Bill Ahern ’78, Tim Fitzgerald and I were in attendance. It’s been over 35 years and the DKE/Wesleyan bonds are as strong as they were when they were formed.
I had the good fortune to run into Dan Wolf at a local event. Dan continues his role as CEO of Cape Air, as well as a Massachusetts State Senator.
Jake Walles completed three years as Ambassador to Tunisia last September and shares: “I’m working on counter-terrorism issues in the State Department in DC. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with our European partners following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.”
Melanie Freundlich: “I attended an alumni event in NYC and ran into Ann Biester Deane, also spied Anne Shirrmeister Goldrach. Heavily attended and organized by several illustrious women alumni including Vanessa Burgess ’77, it featured awe-inspiring stories from four amazing Wesleyan women. I am still living in Montclair, N.J., with my husband, Peter, and two daughters, Sophia and Ava (18 and 23), and running my architectural lighting design company on West 38th Street, sometimes collaborating (separately) on projects with architects Mark Ginsberg and Joan Craig.”
Chris Austill is living in Somerville, Mass., and has been a grant writer at the YMCA of Greater Boston for the last 13 years. Chris has a 14-year-old daughter who is a soccer goalie and plays soccer six days a week when she can.
Pamela Dorman is still publisher of her eponymous imprint, Pamela Dorman Books, at Penguin Random House, where she is publishing the bestselling Jojo Moyes and Carolyn Parkhurst ’92, whose new novel, Harmony, comes out this August. Pamela’s twins, Nick and Sophie Krichevsky, are juniors at New Rochelle High School and are embarked on twin college searches—Sophie is liberal arts and Nick is all tech.
Darlyne Johnson: “Still workingz—just GYN now. Had some health challenges but I take my handful of meds/vitamins and keep on moving. Have son in 9th grade and daughter at University of Tampa. Have seen Jim Brenner, Banning Eyre (hosted first book signing party in Milton for his book) and Sean Barlow.”
Craig McLaughlin is living in Santa Cruz, opening a new mediation and counseling business, getting certified in Hakomi, a mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy approach, and awaiting his daughter’s return from her Fulbright year in Morocco. He and his father, Curtis McLaughlin ’54, just signed a contract to produce a third edition of their textbook, Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach. In October, he finished the book tour for his memoir, Passing on Curves: While Death Rides Shotgun, with a spoken word performance at The Trident in Cambridge.
Bethany Kandel is finally done paying for college tuition for her sons! Her youngest son, Jared, just graduated from Tulane University with a degree in finance. Older son Ryan is a graphic designer. She still lives on the Upper West Side with her husband, Gary Fishman, and is a freelance journalist, content contributor, and consultant for websites and organizations. She also works to help breast cancer survivors with the website she founded, BreastCancerFreebies.com.
Jodi Daynard: “My second novel, Our Own Country, was published this past February. The first, The Midwife’s Revolt, became a bestseller last year. The third in the trilogy will be out next spring—I’m about to leave my teaching job forever! I’m happily living in Newton, Mass., with my British husband, Peter, and my two spaniels, Bailey and Rory. My son, Alex, is at M.I.T. getting his PhD in solar chemistry.”
Ben Solnit: “I still work part time for Connecticut Legal Services and serve on a number of nonprofit boards. My wife, Audrey, and I took a course this spring with Herr Doktor Professor Herb Arnold in the WILL program on The Epic of Gilgamesh. Our daughter, Rebecca (Dickinson ’12), is associate dean of graduate support at St. James School, a private middle school in Philadelphia, which serves a low income neighborhood. Our daughter, Anita (Tufts ’14), is finishing up her tenure at South Bay Mental Health in Lynn, Mass., and will attend the Columbia School of Social Work this fall in the MSW program. Audrey and I saw John Hatleberg and Rise Dimson in NYC in January for a joint birthday dinner.
Brian Katten: “I took early retirement on October 1, 2015, after 33 years as Wesleyan’s first full-time sports information director. I continue to do some freelance work and also got certified as a high-school baseball umpire. No grandkids yet but I expect my daughter (Anna ’11) to come through in that department next year!”
Allison Read Tom: “I took early (disability) retirement from my position as associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. I’m now creating a new life, focused on gardening (well, supervising someone else in the garden), quilting, friends, cat, and grown children. Caitlin, my eldest, is a Ph.D. student in political science at Berkeley. Alanna, my youngest, is finishing her first year at UBC school of law as I write. I’m heading to France this summer for a luxurious week-long quilting workshop, followed by a few days in Paris. A new adventure for me, but I am learning many things and finding deep contentment.”
Martha Bush: “Good news from my side of the world in Rochester, N.Y. Recently we had a management buyout of our company, SIGMA Marketing Insights, and I was made president. Our daughter Lauren is graduating from Harvard so we’ve made our last tuition payments!”
Lincoln Frank continues to live in NYC with his wife, Molly O’Neil ’84, and sometimes-at-home children—two out, two in college (including Harry ’15). Molly just completed her MDiv on her way to becoming a board-certified chaplain. Linc still hits tennis balls with his old teammate David Schenkein, CEO of a terrific biotech in Cambridge.
Lauren Steiner: “I have been running LA for Bernie, the oldest and largest Bernie Sanders volunteer organization in LA. I will be going to the Democratic National Convention as a Bernie delegate in July in Philly and am looking forward to staying with Nancy Katz Colman and David Colman.”
Gary Breitbord | gbreitbo@aol.com
Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com