CLASS OF 1959 | 2017 | ISSUE 2
The Great Class of ’59…60th Reunion 2019. For those who missed it, enjoy this video of the Wesleyan fight song at Commencement: fb.com/wesleyan.university/videos/10150822050344995! Congrats to this year’s exceptional lacrosse team. What a difference 58 years make! An extraordinary record of 20-2, Little Three, and NESCAC Championships, and the quarter-finals in Division III, make the 2017 team close to, if not, the best ever. On June 6, 1959, the Wesleyan Lacrosse Club, under its first-ever coach, Nate Osur, met the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club, boasting four All-Americans, eight All-New Englanders, and several Canadians. The result was about the same as the “game” of June 2, 1763, when Chief Pontiac and his tribe mesmerized the British Army at Fort Michilimackinac with a lacrosse game outside the fort, and followed a loose ball inside and finished off the Brits!
Joan and Ted Bromage took an anniversary cruise to Bermuda, last there for their honeymoon in 1960. Granddaughter Georgia is graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design, and grandson Dylan is walking to Maine to see Ted and Joan on the Appalachian Trail. He has made 900 miles so far!
Bob McKelvey got his 1959 birthday card. The card pictured John Lloyd in his Porsche, buried in snow, with a cast of characters trying to push him out, including Spurdle, which elicited a rude note from Bob: “An Eclectic helping to push an Alpha Delt out of the snow? Only one less likely would be a Chi Psi.”
A fascinating message from Larry Brick that details an extraordinary dedication to a life of advocacy for the hearing impaired. After retiring from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, he has continued his advocacy for the deaf community. He and his wife have moved into a retirement home. The Bricks have three sons: the eldest is a computer expert, the second a well-known dancer and choreographer heading his own company, and the youngest, the first deaf graduate of Temple Law School, now working for the Governor of Maryland.
Peter Rockefeller sent us a very handsome picture of himself at a recent wedding. No other news, but he looks in great shape.
Charlie Wrubel wrote, “Now that my three-year term on the Board has ended, I want to thank all of you who allowed me to represent you as an alumni-elected trustee. Rest assured—and regardless of your thoughts about Wesleyan today—the University has a very responsible Board and excellent administrative leadership. Myra and I spent Thanksgiving in Scottsdale with son Julian and family. The New Year was celebrated in LA with son Bill ’85, and wife Jen Crittenden ’91, and their two girls. On the way there we watched granddaughter Sarah (son Rob ’88) participate in a fashion show. We ended with a great road trip with Mark Edmiston ’65’s family through New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.”
From Dick Cadigan: “Just getting over some face skin cancer stuff involving small skin graft—however, whenever I get “cut” I do not think of it as small ! All fine now, after three weeks healing. I read the following and thought of you: “June 2, 1763—Chief Pontiac and his Olibwe followers captured the British Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse and then chasing the a ball into the fort.” Wonder if you and other Wes lacrosse pioneers ever got recognized for your birthing efforts to get Wes lacrosse off the ground. As you know, this year’s Wes men’s and women’s teams were outstanding !
The following chain reaction started with Cads on April 6: “’After the age of 80, everything reminds you of something else.’—Lowell Thomas. ‘It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.’—Confucius.”
Bing Leverich responded, “’Never look back. Something may be gaining on you.’—S. Paige.”
To which Tom McHugh said, “‘Never make predictions, especially about the future.’—C. Stengel. ‘You have got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.’—Yogi Berra.”
And the finale from Joe Mallory, citing a cartoon of doctor and aging patient, “‘Stop telling me I’ll live to be 80 years old. I am 80 years old!’”
Wolfram Thiemann, a German foreign scholar, responded to his birthday postcard saying, “Wow! Thank you, guys. I was struck flat completely.” He’s still busy in environmental research and astrobiology and said that fellow scholar Uri Kogelschatz, passed away in 2016. He also remembered fellow physicist Paul Boynton ’61, who visited Wolfram in Germany with his grandsons three years ago.
Marty Weil, night editor of The Washington Post, has discovered the power of Twitter. “I am a couple of months beyond my first year of Twitter. I would like to call on the school’s wisdom and tech knowhow to see how we can reach the greatest number of alumni, family, and friends. Anyone missing out on this edifying opportunity, because they are tragically unaware of it, is missing an awesome tool.”
Hugh Lifson just returned from the Badlands where he did a series of watercolor paintings and sepia drawings.
Skip found classmate Richard Moores in Bellevue, Wash., via the birthday card effort. Class secretaries do not sleep either!
David Britt updated his record: “Pulse: (pause)—yes. Mouth: still running. Hearing: when convenient. Hair: vaguely remembered. Health: executive summary—very good, considering details available at yawn, zzz. Mental health: fine, except for the constant witch-hunts and conspiracies against me. Aging: I hope to continue to do so a while longer. Pace: each year it takes longer and longer to do less and less and I’m almost at the point of doing nothing full-time.”
He and wife Sue have moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., for summers, and stay on Amelia Island for winter. European trips in the works, “geezer tennis” regularly, and he chairs the Education Trust in D.C.
Elaine O’Neill sent word of Peter’s death. Our thoughts are with her.
Olin Associates have more fun! Please join and enjoy it!
And finally, the last word from Satchel Paige: “Age is a matter of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801/532-4311
John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212/644-4858