CLASS OF 1971 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE
Aloha classmates! Pandemic has changed everything for everybody. It doomed our May 2021 50th Reunion. In many places in the country life is returning to pre-pandemic activity. Our Reunion will happen April 2022 (better late than never). Keep your eyes out for dates and times.
You should have received your Reunion book. I believe an addendum will come for those procrastinators.
We do have a Reunion committee and they are working on things to do now and events and ideas for the future. You can still join the committee by contacting Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu. Also you can receive more information at www.wesleyan.edu/classof1971.
Interesting that a number of classmates have been searching for lost classmates and in most cases, were successful after many attempts.
Ed Swanson (etswanson@att.net) in Altadena, California, was looking for Vladimir (aka Walter) Zdrok. He found out that Walter is facing significant medical and other issues. Walter is living outside Philadelphia. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Ed at email above or 626-345-5067 or 310-283-1035 and see if you can be of assistance to Walter.
Guillermo Prada-Silva ’69 was looking for his dear friend Francisco (Pancho) X. Swett. Guillermo found him through Facebook from Pancho’s daughter Natasha and wife Anita, and learned that Pancho was still alive. “The not so good news is that he was initially hospitalized for back surgery, then got a blood infection, and if that weren’t enough, COVID! Needless to say, Pancho is still recovering from all these ailments, but showing the courage to ‘keep on fighting ’till the end,’ like a good Wesman.” He eventually heard from Pancho himself through WhatsApp!
Stewart Malloy (malloystewart@gmail.com) visited Wesleyan on May 22, 2021, even though Reunion was postponed. He was nostalgic and made a short video of his love for Wesleyan and classmates of Class of 1971. Looking forward to seeing Stew at the spring Reunion in 2022.
Steven Leinwand writes, “I am very humbled and proud to let you know that I have recently been awarded the 2021 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors NCTM members who have exhibited a lifetime of achievement in mathematics education at the national level. All three 2021 awardees plus the two 2020 awardees were recognized during the Opening Session of the 2021 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta in September. Following the Opening Session, a reception was held to honor and celebrate the recipients.” Congratulations Steve and well deserved I am certain!
Received a note from Nathan Nichols. “Hi Neil! Hope you and yours are doing well. Was looking forward to our reunion this year, but hopefully the in-person event will happen next year. My wife and I are both retired and continue to live in Maryland. We have been blessed with three grandkids and they are the light of our lives. Like many of us, I have had some health challenges. Recovering from cancer, but the outlook presently looks bright. We are outdoor folks and love the wilderness and hiking. Yosemite National Park remains my spiritual ground.” He went on to see if I could talk with his nephew who was moving to Hawaii and interested perhaps in farming. You may remember I was a vanilla farmer on Kauai. I love the crop but it is a good bit of work and I understand why vanilla can be expensive. Enjoyed my farming but gave it up for various reasons, one being travel. I am currently on a beach in Long Island, New York. My life revolves around the beach in New York and my home beach on Kauai. Life is tough but I volunteered for this gig!
Well, that is all the news I have. Remember to write and let me know what is going your way these days. Looking to see you all post pandemic for our 50-ish Reunion (April 28 to May 1). Be there or be square!
Aloha.