CLASS OF 1981 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
35 Years! I don’t feel much more than 35 years old! It was great seeing so many of you. Joanne Audretsch and I were honored to receive Wesleyan Service Awards for doing what we do. “The West Wing” of Usdan Student Center was dedicated to (and by) Bradley Whitford (congrats!). And, we got to see what we all look like so many years later.
Oh, and next time we meet, in five years, we will be eligible to collect Social Security! 😉
Tonie Kline is “working in pediatric genetics in Baltimore and my eldest just graduated from Wesleyan! My older son is at NYU and youngest son is in high school looking at colleges. Had a fun time at the reunion catching up with friends from freshman year (so really 39 years!).”
Cindy Dorsey came down with her three daughters from Concord, MA, where she works as a psychologist. They met up with her brother Alan (class of ’83). “So fun to show my girls around campus. They couldn’t believe we did back flips out the second floor windows of Butterfield C during the blizzard of ’78 freshman year! Having the chance to see and give a quick hug to Matty King, Peter Smith, Nancy Parker, Mike Toohey, Tonie Kline, Susan Stone, Matt McCreight, Pete Congleton, and Kate Quigley made it so worth the trip- it was great to see you guys, after 35 years! Also nice to meet some classmates I never knew at Wes when we were there.”
Michele Choka attended her first reunion “(it only took 35 years!)” and visited with her 15 year-old son, who is interested in attending Wesleyan. “After the admissions orientation session, he asked me how I could possibly have gotten admitted to Wesleyan. :)” Ah, kids…..
Michele works in the energy industry in Denver, CO as a VP, Human Resources. “I also have been sitting on a public software company board for the last ten years; CallidusCloud based in Dublin, CA.”
Chris Graves “had a blast reconnecting with ’81 pals” including housemates Bradley Whitford, Dan Greenberger, Josh Manheimer. “We recreated a photo from our senior year house. We also recreated a photo from a video shoot that included Brad, Erika Goldman, Christina Mata, Julie Jacobson, and cinematographer Paul Schiff. I am sure the value in that 35-year old video is in the payments I may receive to never show it to anyone.”
Chris has been awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to continue his work on brain and behavioral science related to communications. “Ten of us–all somehow connected to behavioral science– will share the palace and will write all day, then come together in the evenings for debates and discussions. It will be a precious and rare opportunity. For about 8 years, I have been seeking out, collecting, digesting and collating primary research on cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, social psychology and narrative theory– then connecting them to try to arrive at more effective methods of communication (for example, how to change misperceptions or change someone’s mind on an issue or communicate climate change or vaccinations in a way that actually works). The final output is expected to be a book.”
David Miller writes that “while many of those that I spent large amounts of time with while I was a student were not able to attend (Paul Robinson, and Paul and Karen Neurath being notable exceptions) it was enjoyable, and somehow comforting, that I enjoy the company of Wes 81ers even if it seems that I am meeting them for the first time. I enjoyed getting to know Matt McCreight, Alyson Myers and Joanne Godin Audretsch better (to name just a few), and hangout (after a 35+ year absence) with Hugh Judge and Andy Hamilton at the reception. Discussing life on Foss Hill with Steven Blum, Dave Hill ’86 and Ralph Savarese ’86 brought back memories of many previous discussions. Getting a chance for a long chat with Delcy Fox is always a pleasure. My time travel experience was complete when I got to talk with Max Atkinson ’16 and his housemates after commencement. All in all, a great time.
David went from Middletown to Houston “where I met up with the remote part of my undergrad NASA Robot-ops team, where we had rovers run from our home universities participate in a giant easter egg-like hunt on simulated Moon and Mars terrain. The only team with an advisor that went to a school without an engineering program won big. The run was captured on youtube:http://bit.ly/24hueNf.”
He adds, “I wish we had had more time to talk ourselves — of some reason this seemed a busier reunion than usual.”
David Lynch joined the Financial Times as a Washington correspondent, covering white-collar crime. He adds, “I focus on the Justice Department and SEC.”
Cynthia Costas-Centivany writes from Vejer, Spain, where she and her family have spent part of every summer for the last 20 years. She has an ongoing botanical garden project that she would like some Wes science departments to get involved in.
Brian Tarbox received his 5th US Patent for “Tivo for Twitter”, a system to block and record social media posts for TV shows you record, and then play them back to you when you actually watch the show. “So, no more facebook/twitter spoilers of the big game.”
Jim Steiker has spent the last 30 years in Philadelphia creating and building a firm to promote and accomplish employee ownership. “Have had the opportunity to live out some of the social change values I developed at Wesleyan though I never expected it would result in working primarily with entrepreneurs who want to create a legacy while cashing out of their companies. Now married to Wendy Epstein for 29 years after being introduced by Cindy Schrager (’81) with two very entrepreneurial twenty-something children (both in Brooklyn of course) who appear as unable to work for anyone else as I am.”
Belinda Kielland writes that she was sorry to miss the weekend, as travels got in the way. She is living in Sag Harbor, Long Island, “with frequent forays into the city to keep abreast of the contemporary art world. I’m a strategic partner in OSL contemporary, a gallery in Oslo, Norway, where I lived for many years, and am proud to serve as President of the dynamic non-profit, Independent Curators International. Who knew where Mr. Paoletti’s Introduction to Art History would lead!”
She adds that her “adult children, Marika and Henrik, both live in London, so my international travels continue. Although it was strange to move back to the US after 30 years in Europe, I’ve now “landed” and have enjoyed the chance to re-connect with old friends. Had the happiest time recently spending some vacation days with Livia Wong McCarthy… she hasn’t changed a bit!”
Speaking of art, Brenda Zlamany wrote to tell me three of her recent accomplishments. She has a portrait commission for Yale’s Sterling Memorial library, of the first female Yale PhD recipients (https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4278/pioneers); She has curated an exhibition at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center here in New York (http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/sfac/); and she has a portrait on view at the National Portrait Gallery in DC (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/every-three-years-artists-compete-on-view-national-portrait-gallery-winners-180958490/?no-ist)!
Congratulations!
Elisha Lawrence is “living in SF and working as AVP, Global Anti-Piracy & Content Security for ABS-CBN International. My daughter will be a junior next year at Wesleyan and my son will be junior at Stanford.”
James Marcus has been appointed editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine and is “very excited and honored to get the gig. Also, am finishing up a book I’ve been writing for three years, called Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Emerson in Fourteen Installments. That will be published in 2017, along with Emerson’s Journals: A Selection, which I’m doing for Penguin Classics. All this will make for a busy spring, but in the nicest possible way.”
I end on a sad note. Paul DiSanto, who could only stay Friday as he attended his son’s UVM graduation over the weekend, notes that “one classmate we really missed at Reunion was Brad Toomey who passed away suddenly at home in Kansas City on April 7. Brad loved Wes, and was a loyal and enthusiastic WAAV admission rep and a past WAF class agent and reunion chair. He would have loved to be with us at the Reunion, and was looking forward to Commencement next year, as his amazing daughter Mary is a rising senior psych major at Wes. He is also survived by his wonderful wife Joan, and son Dan a high school senior.
Paul reports that he “was honored to attend the wonderful memorial service for Brad at the historic Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City along with Tony DiFolco, Tim O’Brien, Lou Scimecca , Rick Ciullo and Peter Campbell ’79. The many speakers talked about Brad’s love of live music, his intensity in sports and business, his wide ranging intellect, his impeccably detailed organization of the many ‘Vail Boys Ski Weekends’, his Irish wit, and most importantly his love for his family and friends. I heard from a lot of Wes folks, and Gordon Cooney probably summed it up best on Facebook when he said that “Brad found ways to connect with literally everybody he met.”
David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com
Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com