CLASS OF 1964 | 2015 | ISSUE 2

Here I go again, putting together class notes for another issue of our alumni magazine. Where will my thoughts take me, and in keeping with the “this is why” at Wesleyan, I’m looking at our class, a half-century removed from undergraduates, to lend some perspectives to the conversation. I would like to believe that we were led into our future by Wesleyan to have integrity, responsibility, and generosity in the various domains of our lives. I have been back to each Reunion and have been recording my notes on a quarterly basis so that I declare our mission accomplished.

There is a broad range of contribution to the world when you look at the paths we all followed. I’m thinking of our 50th Reunion class book and what was shared about life after graduation. I’m impressed by the physicians, lawyers, judges, and politicians who emerged from the “storied halls;” educators, philosophers, business leaders, and activists who transformed the lives of others.

Recently, I looked at the addendum to the class book and reviewed the comments of Norman Daniels, Richard T. Smith, Jr. (Chip), Joel J. Johnson, The Honorable Frederick J. Motz and Oliver E. Wood Jr. (Chips). Norm Daniels and Chip Smith took the path of social justice in theory and application to the leaders at Harvard University, in Norman’s case, and the labor workforce and union concerns in Chip’s world. Norman studied psychology and philosophy at Oxford for two years. Chip received a degree in economics from Temple University.

Fred Motz graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1967 and spent time as an assistant United States attorney, followed by working in a law firm in Baltimore. In 1985 he was appointed a United States District Judge in Maryland by President Reagan and continues to serve his community.

Joel Johnson was originally in the class of 1964 and didn’t graduate until 1965 when his CSS project was extended one year. He spent two years at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. He would be a source of interesting perception in the world of commerce, having worked for the federal government—State Department, Treasury, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, participating in such activities as UN conferences on Trade and Development. He eventually left government employment and focused on international aspects of aerospace and defense trade and industrial cooperation.

Chips Wood got an MBA in international business at the Wharton School, went to Navy OCS training in Newport, R.I., and served for three years. He joined the Levi Strauss International Division and eventually rose to regional general manager, Asia. He later formed Wood Consulting International to assist companies entering foreign markets, including an enterprise in Russia.

We didn’t have women in our class, but in reviewing the notes on our wives, there is a powerful group of ladies who have been most valuable: Chip Smith’s wife, Kim, a neurosurgeon; Fred Motz’s spouse, an appellate court judge; Norman Daniels’, a neuropsychologist; and Chips Wood, a botanical artist.

Norman Daniels came away from Wesleyan wanting to learn theory acceptance in science.

Joel Johnson remembers Vic Butterfield’s advice to have four exciting years at Wesleyan but not the best years of our lives. Chip Smith was amazed at how much he learned after the first month of freshman year and the intellectual habits he developed. Fred Motz “being grateful not so much for the knowledge that was imparted to me, but for being taught to try to ask good questions.” For myself, I learned to trust my ability to be taught and took on four years at Albany Medical School and earned an MD degree. At Wesleyan I also learned how to be a catcher on the baseball diamond, giving me the tools to be an obstetrician and “catch” thousands of babies.