CLASS OF 1982 | 2019 | ISSUE 2
Michael Ostacher writes: Thanks to fellow Clark Hall resident Laura Fraser for sharing her class secretary duties—I can only hope to do half as lovely a job. We got a lot of notes and hellos, more than our 800- words worth, and it’s wonderful to hear from classmates. We age and it is mostly about people, no?
Liz Keyishian is in LA writing (mostly) for children’s TV animation and teaching TV writing at USC. “I’m married to an Australian and have two daughters. I hang out primarily with Wesleyanites: Cary Bickley, Sasha Alpert, Dan Greenberger ’81, and Elyse Klaidman. When I get to NYC, with Susan Kim, Diane Kolyer, Jane Rosenberg, Deedee Finney, and Jane Hammerslough Palmer. I’ve left out a lot of people . . .”
Speaking of, Diane Kolyer and Phil Abraham are in NYC, where she is a producer at HBO Documentaries and Phil is directing, most recently for the second season of Amazon’s Jack Ryan. Their eldest son graduated from Northeastern and the younger is at Wes, class of 2020. “We are loving that he is loving it.”
Bob Russo and Carol Frueh Russo ’84 are looking forward to their younger son Dan graduating from Oberlin this spring. Bob reports, “The last tuition payment has been made! Yay!”
Tricia Beard Mosher is a consultant to child welfare and family service systems, spending time in two of her favorite places, Maine and California, and living with her spouse Doug in Orlando. “Yes,” she says, “He works at Disney and no, we can’t get you a private audience with Mickey.” Her eldest (newlywed) daughter is in California, her son graduated from Earlham College, and youngest daughter finished her first year at Loyola Chicago. She is happy to tell you privately about her youngest’s wild tour of Wesleyan.
Rachael Adler shares, “I’m thoroughly enjoying the last year-and-a-half raising my daughter before she leaves for college. I’m in script development with a colleague writing a television series. I’m coaching actors all over the Bay Area—at my own studio, at Berkeley Rep. A.C.T., and Mills College. I’ve had a daily meditation practice for going on 30 years. Loving life immensely!”
In an inspiring second act, Shelby Haverson finished a master’s degree in restorative practices, and after a legal career, took the final leap and started as an academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University. Her youngest graduated from Wesleyan in 2018.
Anne Hietbrink, now living on beautiful Lopez Island in Washington State with her spouse Beth Shirk, writes about her own second act. “I am mostly retired from a unique career of legal social work where I learned immense respect for human resilience and creativity . . . the philosopher poet in me is getting a chance to stretch while I build multimedia art pieces that I sell here on the island.”
Chris Garson also has a second career, as a writer, and most recently has released nine short story anthologies on Amazon titled Two-Bit Stories. “Each volume contains four stories of 1,000 words. They’re meant for people who love to read but can’t find the time.”
John Brautigam, an election lawyer in the U.S. and working on democracy reforms in his home state of Maine, served on U.S. delegation as an observer for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and reports, “The election was another step toward democracy in an area that has faltered.”
Many of you (because of my inexperience with the class secretary portal) already know that Lawrence Comras is living in the Los Cabos region of Mexico and is involved in a bioregeneration and water reclamation project. He says to get in touch!
From Joe Fins: “I was invited to give a talk at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at a meeting on the ethics of personalized medicine and stayed at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a hotel residence inside Vatican City where the Pope himself resides. It was otherworldly!”
Jeannie Gagné, professor of voice at Berklee College of Music, was on a panel at the last Wes Reunion with Dar Williams ’89, Randy Frisch ’84, and Brian McKenna ’04 on the music industry, then performed at the tent party.
John Mooney’s news startup, NJ Spotlight, was acquired by WNET Public Television to lead their digital presence in New Jersey. “It has been a fascinating exercise in melding cultures and journalism.” John, your father would have been proud. He goes on: “I have stayed close with the boys from Wes (Peter Frisch, Stephen Daniel, Kevin Foley, Dan Hillman, Jack Taylor, and Bruce Crain), all of us recently attending Alex Thomson’s daughter Sloane’s wedding in Vermont. A fabulous weekend full of family and laughs, and that was just the Wesleyan crew. These are my most cherished friendships to this day.”
See, I told you it was about people.
Laura Fraser | laura@laurafraser.com
Michael Ostacher | mostacher@gmail.com