CLASS OF 1963 | 2018 | ISSUE 1

Class of 1963 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund

John Lewis Jr. ’21, Newark, NJ

Ron Tallmanis living in St. Augustine. Way back in the ’80s, he was director of the American Association for Canadian Studies at the University of Maine, the largest center for such studies in the U.S. But more recently, when he retired in 2002 it was as dean of Roosevelt University, Chicago. Noel, his wife, retired from advertising in 2007. They really enjoy taking cruises and have taken so many that he was not even sure how many. Possibly 20, he guessed. They find it much easier to travel that way. No hauling luggage around or changing from hotel to hotel. He and Noel recently bought a wonderful single-family dwelling in a retirement community and moved there after some renovations. He thinks they might be the youngest residents there and they are very pleased with the community. Lots of interesting and friendly fellow residents and a wide range of activities to choose from. He listed a few—monthly van group trips to high-end restaurants (always a sober driver to bring them home), free Uber drivers, golfing (Noel is very good! and he played golf at WESU). They once went to the Open at St. Andrews. “Great fun!” Ron has two daughters from a previous marriage. The eldest, 53, is the United Nation’s deputy high commissioner for refugees in Geneva and has two children. The youngest just turned 50 and is a teacher about to start teaching in Houston, Texas, and has 3 children. Ron’s grandchildren range in age from 12 to 22, but sadly, due to geographical distance, he sometimes only sees them once a year.

While John Coatsworth is in only in his seventh year as provost at Columbia University, he and Patricia are in their 53rd year of marriage.Prior to coming to Columbia, John was the Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs at Harvard where he also founded the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. He was also president of the American Historical Association. Due to his job he travels a lot to both Europe and South America. He and Patricia find so much to do in NYC that they “travel” more around town, especially to the ballet, than abroad. However, they did recently enjoy a brief relaxing and warm “escape” to Punta Canna in the Dominican Republic. John was originally a member of the class of ’62 but during his junior year abroad in Paris with a group of COL students, his mother, “our family bread winner” got sick and he took the year off and returned home to work and support his family. “Wesleyan was wonderfully helpful in allowing me to keep my scholarship and return and graduate a year later.” John has fond memories of being a member of the John Wesley Club. It was a great place to be, filled with wonderful odd balls and radicals. When I asked him about the rumors that inhabitants there might have partaken of substances not yet legalized in Connecticut, he replied, “Not so much so, but we did have some residents who were very accomplished chemists.”

John Bednarik lives with his wife Leslie Woods in Montville, Maine, which he said is located “halfway between Liberty and Freedom, with Hope just down the road.” (Confirmed by Google Maps!) John retired at 55 from the Bath Iron Works in Brunswick, Maine, which now builds Arleigh-Burke class frigates, all stealth and as large as WWII cruisers. He was in their computer department and had worked there for 14 years. From high school in New Mexico, John was recruited by the wide-ranging diversity policy of Victor Butterfield who wanted not only more out-of-state, but also way, way out-of state students. “I was a high school state champion. A very hot wrestling prospect in New Mexico but was lured east. Initially I lived in a small apartment in Butterfield’s house. There, as part of my scholarship pay-back, I waited at many official banquets and met lots of interesting visiting scholars and lecturers, including Paul Horgan. As a freshman, I was New England champ (135 pounds), but found the training and dieting too tiring. Also, I was getting very interested in my studies. So, I retired from sports, eventually joining the COL and got very interested in French literature. I spent the second half of my sophomore year in Paris and translated a History of the Wife of Pontheuwhile there. I majored in French, minored in Russian, with lots of psych courses too. After graduation, I got a letter from the New Mexico draft board inviting me to come and see if I was qualified to defend our country. I flunked the physical, but passed the Army Language school requirement, and was sent first to their language school. Studied Russian, Czech—with the name Bednarik, a piece of cake, that was my family history! And then on to the Army Security Agency.” He met Leslie while out in Monterey at language school. She has a very different family background from his—her family came over on the Fortune, the second English ship after the Mayflower. But that did not prove to be an obstacle. They dated for six weeks and got married. Initially they lived in NYC where John heard of a training program offered by IBM.  He applied, was hired, trained, and took to computers with ease. “Database was just like learning another language and was easy for me.” For a while they lived in New Fairfield, Conn., where he worked for Control Data, but after vacationing in Maine and Canada, they decided they wanted out and bought 135 acres in Waterville, Maine in 1967 and eventually moved up there in 1980. They grow most of their own food, including sheep and vegetables. In retirement John does his own iron work—welding iron animals and fanciful creatures as well as making ceramic candelabras. He has taken numerous adult education classes and now is improving his Spanish. He also speaks German, French, and Czech. That John is enjoying himself in his retirement came across very clearly. He, too, has fond memories of the JWC, having lived there after returning from France.

Daniel Dennett wrote, “I spent just freshman year at Wesleyan in the class of ’63 before transferring to Harvard to work with W.V.O. Quine, who became a life-long hero of mine. The year at Wesleyan was a deep and formative experience for me. Three teachers, Robert Benson, the historian, Louis Mink, the philosopher, and Henry Kyberg, a visiting logician from Princeton, inspired me for years. Two fellow freshmen, Stan Lewis and Spike D’arthenay ’64 showed me that art, music and poetry were even more wonderful than I already thought, while at the same time showing me by their very great talent and insight that there might be other worlds for me to excel in. I shudder to think of some of the obnoxious and narrow-minded things I did back then. I apologize and hope that any whom I might have embarrassed back in ’59-60 will chalk it up to my immaturity and over-eagerness to impress. It was a great year for me and it laid the foundation for what has been a gratifying life of adventure and accomplishment. I am still married to the woman I met later in 1960. We have two children, both married, and five grandchildren. After 40 years, we sold our farm in Blue Hills, Maine, and now spend summers in a house on Little Deer Isle, Maine.”  Dan has a very impressive array of accomplishments—world-wide lectures/workshops, numerous articles and books, and is a recipient of the Netherlands highest honor presented by Queen Beatrix. There is a very interesting article about Dan in the March 27, 2017 issue of the New Yorker, written by Joshua Rothman entitled, “Daniel Dennett’s Science of the Soul.”

James Ferguson, long been retired from his consulting work, is very active as administrator of the Washington Soccer Club in D.C. It has a youthful membership of under 200 and is very serious about high-level training for young soccer players. It has only travel teams and does not play in any recreational league. They are understandably proud that three of their graduates have made it onto the U.S. national teams. We remember Jim in sports for football or wrestling, but many years ago, as his sons got into soccer, Jim did too. Eventually, he wound up as rules chairman for the National Youth Soccer Association and sat on the Rules Committee of the National Soccer Federation. Jim took up writing when his granddaughter, Nora, was 9 (she’s now 18). He wrote a story for her (“and all children under 70″) called Nora, The Checkerboard Duckling, which he says his friends all like. While book publishers like it too, none has yet been able to decide what age would be its target.  He’s written two screenplays “which no one has bought” and has made board games “which no one wants.” He seems undiscouraged and continues to write. Jim has two sons, 41 and 37, and three grandchildren, with another due prior to your reading this. I was shocked to hear that Jim’s youngest son, Brian spent 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After much effort by a fine, new lawyer who unearthed information either initially ignored, misinterpreted, or deliberately overlooked, a judge released Brian from prison. Brian is rebounding well. He is engaged, attending Georgetown, and will get his degree this spring. After leading a successful “Ban the Box” campaign in D.C., Brian is employed as head of the D.C. mayor’s Office of Returning Citizen’s Affairs, which helps reintegrate D.C. residents who have spent time in jail or prison. Having become a jail house lawyer himself, Brian is seriously considering going to law school after his graduation. During Brian’s incarceration, if asked what he wanted in life, Jim would say, “I want to live to see my son breathe free again.” A last tidbit—when quite young, Jim was told that if he learned cribbage, it would help his math. So, he started playing the game and now plays it nearly everyday. Football, wrestling, cribbage. A natural progression, I guess.

And sad news, John Sommer died Nov. 11 of cancer. Alex Aikman, a classmate of John’s from seventh grade through WESU, has written a wonderfully detailed and lovingly prepared obituary which is available online.

Be advised it’s true—Our 55th Reunion is almost upon us! And I hope a great many of you will plan to come to campus May 25-27. Harvey Bagg, Jim Dooney, Jim Dresser, John Driscoll ’62, Doug Evelyn, Marty Hatch, Dave Landgraf,John Kikoski, RussRichey, Peter Treffers, Don Sexton, and I have been busy planning what we hope will be a wonderful weekend. Join this opportunity for our class to assemble once again. Remember, the older we are, the better we were.

Byron S. Miller | tigr10@optonline.net
5 Clapboard Hill Rd., Westport, CT 06880