CLASS OF 1957 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

George Willauer writes that he’s on the steering committee of a start-up foundation, PARJE, or Public Art for Racial Justice Education. So far, the organization has mounted five public murals in southern Connecticut towns and sponsored numerous educational programs in their schools.

Mark Feldman refers to an interesting New York Times article about the upcoming Supreme Court decision re affirmative action, and its potential impact on the admissions process at colleges and universities. The article uses Wesleyan as a vehicle for its storyline, with some beautiful pictures. The link is www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/us/affirmative-action-admissions-scotus.html.

A sad note is the passing of George Davies on February 9th. He and his twin brother Kent were great wrestlers, and it was exciting to watch them on the mat. I had forgotten that George was our class secretary for many years in the ’80s and ’90s. When input was on the low side, he would fill space with tales about his own family. You can read about his life well lived in the online Obituaries section. Condolences to Dusty and Katie.

Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn are still cleaning out her mother’s house. They’ve found 70 years of National Geographic magazines in the basement. That’s a lot of magazines! They’re getting to be experts at restoring cast-iron pots and pans using electrolysis and differentiating between sterling silver and silver plate.

I heard from Jim LaCrosse. He will be at Wesleyan this May for his grandson Will’s commencement exercises, marking four generations in a row to graduate from Wes. Jim was the second generation, joining us after an all-expenses-paid trip to Korea in the early ’50s, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Our firstborn turned 60 in March, and he’s making noises about retiring. Those are two indicators that we’re getting old, if aches and pains aren’t enough. And our youngest has decided to relocate his family from Canada to the USA. We are their base of operations during the process. It’s novel to have a six-year-old running around the house.

If you would like to get my call for notes and updates before each issue of the magazine, send me your email address and I will update its database, which is different from the directory the University keeps of all alumni/ae.

Until next time, stay well. Bob