CLASS OF 1964 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE
Here is some news and updates from ’64ers.
David Skaggs writes: “Three-quarters of the legendary white-shoe law firm POSH (Puner, Oleskey, Skaggs & Howard) convened at Jim Howard’s home in LA in March. Nick couldn’t make it, but Steve, Jim, and I had a splendid weekend together. The law firm never actually existed, but our imagination of it has been rich. My wife Laura and I attended the opening of a wonderful exhibit of paintings by Stan Lewis ’63 in May at the Betty Cunningham Gallery in NYC. Stan was his usual irrepressible self, held in some check by his lovely wife Karen. Much reminiscence about times Smith and Wes chorus and glee club sang together under the direction of Dick Winslow and Iva Dee Hyatt.”
Ken Woodrow shares: “I’ve spent most of my post-Wes life in Northern California, practicing psychiatry and teaching at Stanford. While my wife Wendy and I do a little more traveling, I’m not quite ready to retire yet.
“My daughter Laura, also graduated Wesleyan in 1997 and is now practicing osteopathic medicine in Marin, California.”
From Russ Messing: “I am now officially retired from at least 40 years of being a clinical psychologist. Now I spend my time writing poetry. I am currently writing my fifth book of poetry, all self-published. (I am more than willing to send copies of them to anyone who asks.) I love writing (my senior thesis at Wesleyan was cleverly entitled “Eight Short Stories”). Thank-yous to Joe and Kit Reed for supporting me in my first creative writing endeavors!
“These days I spend my Saturday mornings selling my award-winning olive oil at the Healdsburg Farmers Market—oil from our olive orchard of over 700 trees. Over 45 years ago my wife Arlene and I moved up to Sonoma County into a 30 x 30 log cabin (red-painted redwood logs and tin roof) onto a piece of remote land with a good-sized pond, redwoods, oak, and madrone. (We still split our own wood for our woodstove.) In the ensuing years we (Arlene is the visionary and the doer of this ‘project’) have created a true paradise—enlarging the house, having our two children born on the land, hosting kids from Synergy School (the elementary school that I co-founded in San Francisco) for their annual week of ‘Farm School.’ Now in my dotage, and no longer being a ‘shrink,’ I continue to write. I am a super-proud grandpa of six incredible ‘kids’ ranging from 21 to 4, and am embraced, taught, and supported by my/our three adult children.
“Right now a west wind sways the trees.”