CLASS OF 1963 | 2023 | SPRING ISSUE
A few words from classmates:
From Jim Dresser: “I am still living in Salisbury, Connecticut, where we sold a large house and built a small bungalow in the backyard just before COVID hit. It is indeed better to be lucky than smart.
“I spend most of my time trying to build affordable housing in this expensive enclave of Connecticut, which got more unaffordable after the pandemic influx from NYC.
“I was honored that Gina asked me to be one of the speakers at John Driscoll’s ’62 celebration of life in the chapel at Homecoming. I then got to sit in Corwin Stadium in shirtsleeves and reflect on John, Wes’s most ardent football fan, while the Cards beat the Ephs handily to win the Little Three.
“I continue to be amazed by the time and effort required ‘to alleviate the many ills to which the flesh is heir,’ but I am defying the odds so far.”
John B. Jarzavek wrote: “I was pleased to see that there is a memorial challenge to remember our classmate, Colby Andrus. As was our wont in the ’60s, most of us knew only our fraternity fellows and course classmates. I got to know Colby our junior and senior years when we were both on the Board of House Presidents. He was always soft-spoken but full of energy and suggestions. After graduation we kept in minimal contact. However, his son John enrolled in the Rivers School (’96) where I had been teaching since 1965. I taught John in art history, in which he continued at Wesleyan after he graduated from Rivers. While he was at Rivers, his mother Alice was a school trustee. I got to see the Andrus family regularly, and we became close friends. We discovered that we were all Italophiles. Norman and I bought our Italian apartment in 2001—we sold it in 2021—and Colby, Alice, and we met often in Italy in those years. Colby and Alice and their two boys had also lived in Italy for a year in the ’80s. His Boston business was importing and selling Italian furniture. We traveled Italy together and ate great food over the years. My closest Wesleyan friends were fraternity brothers Bob Martin, Bob Sloat, and my fraternity “big brother” Hill Panitch ’62. Thankfully, Colby joined that crew. I can still see his smile.”
David Landgraf contributed: “Ten plus years into retirement and haven’t had yet to return to paid employment. Have kept my law license active just in case. Have kept busy with church work, yardwork and gardening, catching up on casual reading, and providing unsolicited advice to children and grandchildren. Am still living in the house in Southern New Jersey (greater Philadelphia area) to which my late wife Linda and I moved with two small children in 1977, but it is becoming an increasing burden. My son and his family (two children, ages 11 and 9) live about an hour away near the New Jersey shore, and my daughter and her family (three children, ages 17, 15, and 9) are in Frederick, Maryland, about three to four hours away by car. See both frequently. I have been trying to take one or two trips each year, but that schedule was interrupted by COVID-19. My middle brother and I did take a Rhine River cruise, which included a performance of the passion play in Oberammergau, Germany, this past summer. Looking at a possible family trip next summer, if kids’ sports schedules and the college entry and visits for the oldest allow.”
And from Frederick Taylor: “Visited Lew Whitney and his wife Yoli in LA in early September. He is well and still sailing. It was great to see him and trade memories, some of which may have actually occurred. We exchange book ideas and discuss the various authors we enjoy. We plan to see each other annually as Carole and I travel from New York to see our daughter Liesl and family in Manhattan Beach and perhaps a granddaughter in college on the West Coast.”