CLASS OF 1971 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE
Aloha, Class of 1971! Here are your most recent emails to me about your transitions and other items. Enjoy!
Fran Pawlowski said: “Wow! The online format is practical, the written comments are extraordinary, and the design is exquisite. Your entry was particularly interesting to read. You sort of ‘retired’ then were resurrected and went back to work!
“On my end, I retired from teaching and serve as first officer to my wife as we participate daily in the lives of our 14 grandkids—ages two to 22. All live close to us, our home reminds me of Grand Central Station, and I feel I am experiencing one of the best parts of my life right now!”
Fran’s pet project idea for MoCon: “ideas which have been vibrating through my head for several years. Let me proceed this way: 1.) MoCon Hall was born in 1962, I believe, and died in 2012; 2.) If my math is correct, the Hall existed for 50 years.
“I have no idea how many thousands of Wes students passed through its doors during that half century for meals, concerts, dances, meetings, and so on. The design was magnificent, the layout was practical, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows were visually striking and offered panoramic views as well.
“Even though the building is gone, its memory is not. My concept basically has two parts and the first is easy. The University should have a stone monument ( 5 feet high, 10 feet wide?) erected on the site the Hall occupied. Designs for the monument could be solicited from Wes graduates, employees, and faculty. A committee could be assigned the task of selecting the design. The University would not bear the cost because the donations would come from Wes graduates, employees, and faculty.
“The second part is more complicated. There are a lot of materials on campus ( letters, copies of the Argus, yearbooks, photos, etc.) which would provide a wealth of information about the Hall. My idea is that this material could be developed into an online program which could be accessed by computers from anywhere in the world. Secondly, I envision a walking tour on the site of the departed Hall with 10, 12, 15 stops or more, perhaps arranged in a downward/upward circular pattern. I am sure you remember the steps leading down to the Hall’s front doors? At each stop along the way, visual and verbal Hall information would be available and accessed electronically. There is a bountiful amount of information stored on campus—probably in more than one location—to select from. A committee could also be selected to determine what information to include and perhaps the visual tour information would be changed/rotated three or four times a year?
“That’s it, in a nutshell. I suspect that this idea has been raised and discussed during the past half century. I further suspect that nothing has happened so far for a variety of reasons. However, the need to create an ongoing memory of the Hall is obvious: the Hall itself has been demolished, but its 50-year existence ought to honored for future generations of Wes students, workers, and faculty members.”
Malcolm Cochran writes: “I am hopeful that a notice about my most recent work could be published…. It is a major project, and in many ways is a culmination of my five-decades-long career since graduating from Wesleyan.” While not true a transition, it is the culmination of things he has done. https://www.instagram.com/mhcochran/;
https://columbusunderground.com/art-review-a-truly-miraculous-experience-at-requiem-jr1/
Mary O. McWilliams’ comment on my transition post in the online edition: “Neil, you’re a Renaissance man—medicine, design, biotech, and poetry. Thank you for sharing your gifts with your classmates and for pioneering in palliative care, another important calling. Best wishes to you!”
John Cuddy writes about his transition: “I had observed that when you retire that after six months of catching up all your delayed projects, you can wander aimlessly without purpose. So, I started to teach accounting as an adjunct at Towson University. I really enjoy working with the young folk, trying to introduce them to business, including a sense of responsibility and ethics, as well as how you can make a potentially boring subject fascinating. And then there is the home front, with gardening, catching up all the reading I want to do—have enough books to last until I am 135, and being my wife’s help desk as she teaches home and hospital students via Google Meet. But of course, can’t stop there—we decided to learn Irish and have been in a class for that since last fall. Interesting language. Our first goal was simply to pronounce signs and names correctly. Now I am trying to do a dual-language reading of Alice in Wonderland and looking forward to seeing The Quiet Girl when available for free streaming. Of course, aging has its fun moments—we took turns with health issues from October 2020 to early 2022, which kept us close to home. But COVID did help us find a different parish and we have become pretty active in our religious life, which of course forces me to read theology.
“By the way, I am with Alan Epstein on revisiting the classics from freshman humanities. In retrospect, that is a course that has stuck with me more than any other.
Slàn go fòill.
Lawrence Madlock ’70 writes: “Just wanted to say hello for Yvonne (MAT ’72) and me. She is retired from public health but works very hard as a volunteer. I’m still doing volunteer work in addiction medicine and clinical care about half a day a week. We’ll start back traveling soon.”
Warren White “thought Professor Thornton Page’s 1967 students might find it interesting to remember the required nighttimetour of Van Vleck Observatory given the recent discussion of UFOs and the sightings of Chinese balloons.” Warren shares a link to an article about Professor Page, which includes photos of him. In 1966 Page was interviewed, along with Carl Sagan, by Walter Cronkite about UFOs. Sagan, by Walter Cronkite about UFOs. https://underctskies.wordpress.com/category/thornton-l-page/.
And last but not least, check out the March 2023 National Geographic issue. Photographer classmate Michael Yamashita’s photo is featured there.
Thanks for reading and send more emails.
Aloha,
Neil