CLASS OF 1963 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE
Several classmates wrote in with news:
Jack Jarzavek said, “I thought I would write the following for the next issue of the alumni magazine.
WANTED: I bought paperback faculty picture books my freshman through junior years. These had pictures of the current faculty with their degrees and dates of beginning teaching at Wesleyan. When we moved from our house to our apartment, they got lost in the shuffle. If anyone has copies and is going to throw them away, please send them my way. Thanks, Jack Jarzavek
“Not a lot of news. There is now a second recipient of the Jarzavek Teaching Chair at the Rivers School where I taught for 40 years. We are still cooking up a storm and doing research on dance in 17th-century French baroque opera. My collection of 15,000 LPs and 5,000 CDs of opera and classical vocal recitals will now be digitized by National Archives and made available to libraries. I gave the collection to the Rivers Conservatory. Best, Jack.”
Len Edwards wrote, “My wife and I spend much of the summer in Truckee, California, a little north of Lake Tahoe. We hope that forest fires will not smoke us out as they did last summer.
“The San Francisco Bay Area continues to celebrate the Golden State Warriors and their surprising NBA title. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are local heroes. The second edition of my juvenile court book is selling nicely—however, the audience is limited to judges and attorneys who work in juvenile court—not a large group. I continue to work with Health Management Associates in a project to reduce the impact of opioids in California. The death rates from overdoses continues to rise. My golf continues to deteriorate, but I haven’t given up. I’m hoping to attend our 60th next year, but need to know if anyone else will show up.”
Walt Pilcher sent in this update: “Carol and I moved to River Landing, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in High Point, North Carolina, in 2020 after 30 years in next-door Greensboro, and we are loving it. Some say it’s like being on a stationary cruise ship because there are five restaurants, a pool, a nine-hole golf course, a well-equipped fitness center and gym, planned excursions, and more activities than we can keep up with. No casino, of course, but we don’t miss that. Outside, I’m still on the boards of three faith-based nonprofits and preaching the occasional guest sermon at our church. Inside, Carol still paints and sold several pieces in an exhibition here in May/June, while I continue to write. My publisher is planning a big promotion in September involving a dozen of their authors, including me, with my comedy novel, The Accidental Spurrt: A Mark Fairley Mystery, and its follow-on in the series, Killing O’Carolan, which will have been launched by the time you are reading this. Both are hilarious and getting great reviews. I taught a three-session course on creative writing here last fall and this spring, which was a lot of fun. For me, as with many of us, this season of life has been vastly different from what I envisioned looking ahead from 1963. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Russell E. Richey is dean emeritus of Candler School of Theology and William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History emeritus. He currently serves as visiting professor of Methodism at Duke Divinity School. Russ is on the editorial boards of Methodist History, Journal of Southern Religion, and New Room Books, and he is general editor of the online Methodist Review. Richey’s most recent books are Methodism in the American Forest, Oxford University Press, 2015, and A Church’s Broken Heart: Mason-Dixon Methodism, New Room Books/General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, 2021.
Don Sexton shared: “During the summer I had a major solo show of my paintings in lower Manhattan, Great Cities of the World—more than 50 works. Through 2023 I have several other solo shows scheduled for New York and for Connecticut. Please visit my website for dates and details: www.sextonart.com. I am also beginning a new career, stand-up comedy. I joined an improv group to stay alert during these later years, then started doing stand-up as well—have performed stand-up in midtown Manhattan and elsewhere. Great fun for me and—I think and hope—for the audience. My wife will retire soon from the NYC Department of Education and we plan a lot of travel, to favorite cities and to new places. We are considering moving to Paris although that would likely affect my stand-up career unless my French and my French sense of humor improve markedly.”
Dave Snyder writes: “Since retiring from my business (remanufacturing ink jets and toner cartridges) some 15 years ago, I’ve been involved with three nonprofits. The first, TCP Global, is involved in microloans in the developing world. We started out in Colombia, and then expanded into Guatemala, where my wife Sally and I had served in the Peace Corps, immediately prior to coming to HBS. Subsequently, we went into Peru, 11 countries in Africa, and Nepal. The second nonprofit is Casa Colibri. We work with the Mayans in northwest Guatemala. We built a medical clinic there in 2009 and continue to go there three times a year on medical missions. The third nonprofit, TGHI (The Thelma Gibson Health Initiative), works here in the Miami area providing a variety of services to underserved, low-income residents in the area.”
And from Thomas McKnight: “Nothing makes me happier than wrestling with my muse every afternoon to the accompaniment of my beloved bel canto operas—well-known composers like Bellini and Donizetti, but even rarer ones like Pacini and Marchetti. Like my art they are somewhat out of fashion and maybe that’s why we are on the same wavelength.
“Mornings I’ve been reading a lot about what happens after death and reincarnation—subjects speeding toward me like a train without an engineer. Evenings are for solace. During the pandemic my wife Renate expanded her cuisine repertoire, and we now feast on Japanese and Indian dishes along with her Austrian and Italian standbys. And then there is Netflix!
“Some paintings are currently in an exhibition at the Litchfield (Connecticut) Historical Society, Artists of Litchfield, a historical survey of which I am one of the most recent exemplars. More will be shown at a retrospective of sorts at the Mattituck Museum in Waterbury (Connecticut) opening in June 2023.”