CLASS OF 1964 | 2024 | SUMMER ISSUE
Great to hear from classmates:
Steve Dunlap: “After three years at law school (Berkeley), three years in the navy (legal officer on the USS Kitty Hawk), and 25 years of hard work in minerals development, I retired to Florida. I rate my life’s successes as:
- a successful marriage (no children though);
- six holes-in-one at golf; and
- attending all 28 of Verdi’s operas.”
Jon Bagg: “After Wesleyan I joined the Peace Corps and taught math and science in a secondary school in Ghana for two years. On my return I came to the West Coast and have been here ever since. I met my wife, Shelley, at the University of Washington, and we came to the Bay Area for jobs. We have been in the same house here for 48 years because our companies never transferred us.
“Long jump to now: In spring 2022 we took out our grassy front yard and put in dry land plants to help fight our long-term drought. That winter we got 58 inches of rain—a record. This past winter we again received more than 100% of normal. If we ever put in air-conditioning, we’ll warn you of the coming ice age.
“We slowed down our travel during the height of COVID but have now resumed it. In 2022 we managed to get to Scotland and East Africa. In March 2023 we spent three weeks in Sicily; in July we took our entire family together with another family to southern Africa; and finally in September we went with friends to northern Italy, Switzerland, and southern France. 2024 plans are in the works.
“We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June 2023. Our grandkids are now in 9th, 8th, and 6th grades. The two oldest have passed 5’11” on their way to greater heights and are taller than I am.
“Our house is single story so we will not move until wheelchairs are required, and maybe not then. We continue bridge, golf (Shelley), Red Cross volunteering (Jon), and regularly attend performances at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (whose artistic director is Johanna Pfaelzer ’90).”
Larry Dougherty: “After Wesleyan I received an MAT and EdD from Harvard Graduate School of Education. I worked for 10 years in the Brookline, Massachusetts, public schools as a curriculum director and then as a principal. One highlight was being assistant director of the Brookline Early Education Project, a joint research project of Harvard University, Children’s Hospital in Boston, and the Brookline schools.
“I left Brookline to be assistant superintendent of Schools in Greenwich, Connecticut. There I led a leadership institute for principals and workshops on teacher evaluation. I then became Superintendent of Schools in Fairfield, Connecticut, where I realized I was too far away from schools and too immersed in town politics. After three years in Fairfield, I moved to Denver to be headmaster of Graland Country Day School, an independent K–9 school.
“After six years in Denver, I moved to Rome, Italy, as headmaster of the American Overseas School, where I worked for the next 11 years. I loved working and living in Rome and reviving a school that was close to bankruptcy when I arrived; I left a thriving, vibrant pre-K–12 school with over 600 students. I then moved to Los Angeles for another seven years and led the Buckley School in the San Fernando Valley. After that—whew—I retired and moved back to Denver. My wife, Estelle, still works part time as a CPA.
“I married Julie Becker in 1965. We remained married for 17 years and raised three wonderful children. After we divorced, I married Estelle, and we have been together for over 40 years. We have six children—mine, hers, and one together. We were the ‘Brady Bunch!’ All our children graduated from college and received master’s degrees; they live on the East Coast, West Coast, and our youngest here in Denver with us. We have 17 grandchildren, the oldest with a bachelor’s from Bowdoin and currently on a Fulbright in Germany; all are doing well, and we are proud of their accomplishments.
“Wesleyan had a profound impact on me. There were so many outstanding professors accessible to us. John Maguire was inspirational. I will always remember his lectures on violence in American politics; from our classroom we watched the flags downtown when Kennedy’s death was announced. I was fortunate to sing in the chapel choir and to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many other brilliant speakers. I had a lengthy discussion on totalitarianism with Hannah Arendt, a visiting fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies. I would love to be able to get her perspective on the world today. I arrived at Wesleyan a Goldwater conservative and left a supporter of Eugene McCarthy.”
David Skaggs wrote: “Politics remains a large part of my life, even as things wind down into semi-retirement. Activities include time as vice chair of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). This nonprofit is independent of the U.S. government yet receives almost [all] of its funding from congressional appropriations— some $315 million this year.” NED promotes “democracy and freedom in the parts of the world (way too many) where those values are under threat or worse. . . . I try to do what I can to protect democracy at home, so I’m participating in a couple of organizations working to preserve the integrity of the upcoming election and avoid the potential for third-party candidates to play the spoiler.
“All our classmates should be grateful as we have entered our ninth decade hopefully in decent health and adequate prosperity. If we have been equipped to accomplish some good things in our lives and enjoy some precious, lasting friendships, may we then raise a glass to Wesleyan.”
Bill White sent news that he said might be of the “look on the bright side” variety. He wrote, “I have been in and out of the hospital six times in the last four months. First it was anemia, but after many tests, no cause was found. However, while I was in for the fourth or fifth visit, I was diagnosed with heart failure. I put on extra weight, apparently from fluid buildup.
“My son decided I needed better advice and scheduled a second-opinion visit at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Heart Failure Division. After examining me and my record, they admitted me on the spot and kept me for 10 days. Over that time, they gave me intravenous diuretics, causing me to lose 28 pounds. I am now out and about, happy to have been dragooned into the Penn program. However, I’m told that I will probably be on diuretics for the rest of my life at one strength or another.
“I don’t think I will be able to manage physically to come to our reunion. I would like to come, but my current physical state may not allow it. That’s the news from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.”