CLASS OF 1962 | 2023 | FALL ISSUE
Two noteworthy outdoors accomplishments top off this report. First, Richard Dranitzke undertook a one-week hiking trip to the Faroe Islands, followed by a second week touring parts of Iceland with his daughter and her two children. The Faroe hike was listed as four out of six in difficulty by its organizers, and despite age‑related concerns expressed by his family, Richard reports that “being the rational, slightly stubborn fellow that I am, I had to go. . . . Faroe Islands are one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!” His photo of himself against the scenic Faroe backdrop confirms this and although conceding that the event was quite challenging, Richard humorously described himself as the best hiker in the group at the final dinner at the end of the trip.
In another impressive adventure, Walt Fricke “was invited by a friend to join a party canoeing the Horsethief-Ruby Canyon stretch of the Colorado River. After uncovering my canoe from its repose under a tree and confirming that it could be carried on my small SUV,” Walt found “the water was an order of magnitude higher than on my previous trips, and in its one rapid, I got unceremoniously tossed out of my position in the stern by a fierce cross current and swam the rest of the rapid. Fortunately, the canoe didn’t dump, and all ended well.” Kudos to both Richard and Walt.
In a more worrying report, Bruce Menke relates that his youngest son, who holds an MIT PhD in computer science and works for Google, has been slowly recovering from three spinal fractures sustained when he was struck by a large SUV while in a protected Boston crosswalk. Thankfully, after many weeks in a wheelchair followed by assistance with a walker, a full recovery is eventually expected. In other news Bruce and his wife Karen “continue to fight the good fight” for Democratic causes in Athens, Georgia, both with letter writing campaigns and by hosting a fundraiser that brought in nearly $8,000. Their two other sons and a daughter-in-law are all having highly successful careers as tenured professors at the University of Georgia, two in English literature and the other in genetics.
John Hazlehurst reports that despite losing a position with the collapse of his longtime employer, Colorado Publishing, he and wife Karen continue to produce their successful visitor magazine, Colorado Fun, and further have accepted new positions with the weekly Pikes Peak Bulletin. “Otherwise, life goes on and I’ll soon be joining my Colorado Springs High School classmates for our 65th reunion. There will be about 50 of us, and we’ll all be wearing large type name tags.” John further reflects that “our days at Wesleyan seem so distant—and much to my surprise, neither of our Colorado senators call me for advice. They’re both nice kids who graduated from Wesleyan. How did we get so goddamn old? Here we are, ‘Livin‘ after midnight,’ as the song goes.”
In a somewhat related vein, Steve Trott writes that contrary to the “golden years” myth, “Well, big surprise. North of 80 ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be. . . . But the good news, I guess, is that the combined ages of our putative presidential candidates, if understood in IQ terms, is off the charts.” Steve deplores the country’s polarization, “hearing all the time from the pundits that ‘Americans want divided government.’ What? This mess? I think that’s rationalizing incompetence into a strategy.” On the personal side, he and Carol are still in California where “this place is crazy expensive . . . maybe just crazy period. Downtown San Francisco is now a homeless encampment . . . and parts of downtown LA are nearly as bad.” Steve concludes by thanking Bob Hunter for “continuing to keep my NATO thinking on the right track.”
Len Wilson writes there is “not much new in my world. Staying active with YMCA alumni groups, nationally, internationally, and local, and editing a newsletter that goes to over 20 countries and keeps me busy scrambling for interesting articles. . . . I continue to play pickleball several times per week and would like to find a partner over 80 that would make for a formidable doubles team. Joyce continues to enjoy painting when we have some spare time without company at our shore home. Looking forward to learning how our other classmates are faring and funning.”
In a very sad note received just before going to press, I learned of the passing of Stan Scholl in Madison, Wisconsin, this past July 13. His obituary may be found here: https://www.prattfuneralservice.com/obituaries/Stanley-J-Scholl?obId=28433897.
Unsurprisingly, as we increasingly find ourselves among Wesleyan’s oldest surviving alumni, our news and notes tend to focus largely on issues related to aging. As a concluding note in this context, I have recently been appointed as the oldest “citizen member” of an Older Adults Advisory Committee established by my local regional government. I expect (hope) to receive far more advice from this position than I can give and will try to keep you posted on any useful or promising results.