CLASS OF 1980 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Sending a big thank you to all our wonderful classmates of Wes ’80 for all the enduring friendships, kindnesses, and contributions that you are providing to this world and to Wesleyan. Best wishes to all, Jacquie Shanberge McKenna, Wes ’80 Class Secretary

Susan Carroll (Managing Director): “I direct a joint international graduate program between Duke and UNC–Chapel Hill: the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center. It’s like a mini–UN (currently 19 fellows from 16 different countries), with a focus on peacebuilding and sustainable development.   Never a dull moment. . . .”

Jane Polin (Philanthropic Advisor in NYC): “I’ve done two start-ups during the past three years! The first is building pathways from HBCUs into the alternative asset management industry: see AltFinance.com. One of the three firms partnering to make AltFinance happen is Oaktree, where Wesleyan board chair John Frank ’78 serves in a leadership role. I’ve also returned to my career-long effort to advance the role of the arts in lifelong learning and thus had the great joy to launch The Misty Copeland Foundation, www.mistycopelandfoundation.org (aims to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to dance, especially ballet, making ballet affordable, accessible, and fun!).”

Janet Grillo (Film Director): “I directed my third full-length independent indie-fiction feature film, The Warm Season, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiuZhkK0krE, which is playing the festival circuit, winning awards, seeking distribution, and receiving critical acclaim: Film Threat https://filmthreat.com/reviews/the-warm-season/. I continue to teach full time at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Undergraduate Film Program and alternate my time between NYC, mid-Hudson Valley (Saugerties) and jaunts to LA to see my son (who just turned 29—yikes!).”

Jessica Ziegler (Visual Artist, MBA): “I am now building a second career as an artist, although I am enjoying the painting part much more than the business part! I am also doing volunteer consulting for nonprofits through the Harvard Business School Club of New York, and for small businesses through The Acceleration Project. My daughter is in graduate school in NYC, so we get to see her often.”

Jim Kent (B2B Marketing):Our daughter is in the graduate playwriting program at Columbia University and working part time help script doctor a Broadway play that goes up this spring. When I asked her about it, she quoted an 007 film: ‘I could tell you about it. But I’d have to kill you first, Mr. Bond.’”

Mike O’Brien (Software Engineer) and Ann Carlson (Genetic Counselor): “We were married 1987–2001. We welcomed our first grandchild into the world, Maxwell Dana King, born January 25, 2023, to our daughter Dana, in Melbourne, Australia.” So far Ann has been over to meet the little guy in person, but Mike has not!

Henri Lamothe (MD, CMSL, FAAEP): “I just spent the last weekend in NYC, supporting my daughter Austin (Trinity ’18) who participated in the NYC half marathon, along with my son Luke (Tufts ’12) all celebrating my 39th wedding anniversary with my dear wife Laura. In other family news, we are blessed with two grandchildren from daughter Brooke (Bowdoin ’10), Francis and June. We are continuing to adjust to the new realty in our lives with the passing of our son Matthew ’10. I continue on with my journey in medicine, now as a chief medical officer for the Upper Allegheny Health System in upstate New York. Miss my Wesleyan friends!”

Al Spohn and family are freezing in the process of visiting the University of Chicago.

Al Spohn (IT Expert): “I’ve been working in Mayo Clinic IT for 32 years, with 20 previous overlapping years in the air force. I was married in 2000 to Angela and we have three kids, 10, 14, and 17. The 17-year-old is eyeballing Wesleyan pretty heavily since all the online interest search mechanisms seem to be pointing her in that direction. Let’s hope admissions does legacy one more year! 😊.  Over the years I’ve been in touch with Jon Martin, Ralph Maltese ’79 and Ed Denton, among others.”

Melissa Stern (Artist): “I have three upcoming group shows. Two opening within days of each other in NYC. Pearls of Love opens April 27 at The Jewelry Library. An international group of artists asked to respond to “pearls” in any materials. Should be interesting. And on April 29 Out of Joint opens at The Boiler in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The gallery is in a 19th-century Con Edison steam plant. The architecture is worth the subway ride. In August I am in an invitational in Newport, Rhode Island, called Exponential, a show of women artists at Jessica Hagen Fine Art. Other than that, enjoying being in NYC and seeing theater and art. . . .  People are out and about again and that feels great.”

Frederica (Freddi) Wald (Chief Development Officer): “I am living in NYC with my husband, beloved dog, and daughter (away at college), and thrilled to be celebrating my four-year anniversary as a chief sevelopment and membership officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Happy to see the resilience and rebuilding of the city’s activities. I continue to love Broadway, take a dance class every now and then (Cheryl Cutler’s lasting influence!), get immersed in the art world again and women’s advocacy causes! And I refuse to retire. . . .  Love connecting with Wesleyan alumni anytime!”

Mark Zitter at Iguazu Falls, the largest waterfall in the world.

Mark Zitter (Nonprofit Entrepreneur): “I’ve been doing a good deal of travel lately. My wife Jessica and I were in Israel in January, Argentina and Antarctica in February, and London in March. I’ve moved out of the nonprofit I started seven years ago, the Zetema Project, and am in the process of creating a new nonprofit fellowship aimed at helping social sector leaders increase their effectiveness. I Zoom regularly with Scott Hecker, Paul Singarella, and Paul Oxholm, and have been in touch recently with Jane Polin and Irene Chu.”

Peter Scharf (Sanskrit Expert):In the midst of the COVID lockdown, my wife and I went into near total isolation, and it proved to be very productive. I edited two volumes of papers in honor of my former professor at the University of Pennsylvania, finished writing and publishing my introductory Sanskrit textbook in another two volumes, and prepared a provisional version of a Sanskrit reader for second-year students. I also developed an interactive exercise platform based on the latter two works that provides detailed and informative feedback for every step of translating from transliterating from Devanagari script, analyzing prosodic sound changes, word lookup, morphological and lexical identification, syntax, and English translation evaluation. Both my wife and I launched online instruction in Sanskrit through The Sanskrit Library and have been busy teaching via Zoom since. In December I injured my back trying to lift a bulky, heavy box of books. I’m still recovering but able to continue most of my normal routine save for having to cut back on exercise and yoga. A few weeks ago, my mother passed away at the age of 92. For the last couple of years, she would ask repeatedly, ‘Why am I still alive?’ Two days before she passed, she asked my brother, ‘Why don’t you just choke me? I just want to go to God and rest.’ She shortly got her wish, passing away peacefully in her sleep the next night.”

Gary Gilyard (MD): “Our youngest daughter Shelby Gilyard ’16 is getting married July 8! She is our third and the other two are already married with children. Hoping I can get a prospective Wesleyan student from one of them, although Shelby is my best shot.”

Walter Calhoun (Nonprofit): “I have more or less permanently moved my time and efforts to my various outreach campaigns focused on the needs of my nonprofits. For example, as its only three-term past president and 35-year board member, the Auxiliary Board of Family Focus Evanston asked me for the 12th year in a row to handle the staff Christmas gifts. Since our Auxiliary Board has many different levels of resources, talents, and income, they allow me to solicit donations among our Board anonymously so no one knows what each other has given but me. For the 12th year in a row, our 11 Board members met my disclosed goal of raising $3,750 which allowed me to give each and every full- and part-time employee a record cash gift of $250 for the 12th year in a row. I am also lay leader and stewardship chairman of the North Shore United Methodist Church in Glencoe and am honored to share a birthday with the late Peggy Bird.”

Amanda Hardy Sloan (Landscape Architect): “I have been a landscape architect professionally for many years now and have found this profession satisfies my interests in helping the health of the earth, expressing myself artistically, working closely with people, teaching, and leaving a legacy somehow. After an entire career as a landscape architect focusing on native plants, rain gardens, parks, and dog parks, I have recently ‘semiretired’—like many of us at this age—right? I still do board work and landscape consultations. A board I’ve been on for many years is the Ecological Landscape Alliance—the best source of info about how to create a wonderful landscape while keeping it ecologically sustainable: www.ecolandscaping.org. My dear hubby Chris Sloan (Trinity College ’80) and I live in Sharon, Massachusetts. Our children are Anna (NYU 2008), who is a doctor of archeology (University of Oregon) and is the curator of the Southern Oregon Historical Society Museum and the Archaeology Laboratory director at Southern Oregon University; and Philip (Curry College 2015), who is finishing up his doctorate in counseling psychology at William James College. Both kids are married! We have a sweet grandson in Oregon, our dear little Elio James, whom we visit often (a cross-country flight!). I have a wonderful horse, whom I ride every two days for therapy and peace. She is a beautiful 22-year-old quarter horse. I think many more Wes people and ladies our age are involved with horses than we ever would imagine! This is an important part of my life.”

Paul Singarella (JD, MS, PE, Dad): “I’m now a Florida resident, which I heard is a good place for the back 9. I moved to Florida starting in 2020 to be closer to my kids, mom, and sisters during the pandemic. I ‘retired’ from Big Law in 2019 to focus on my water and energy projects. I’m incubating a portfolio of project opportunities throughout the West. I refer to them as my ‘hobbies’ until they come to fruition. (It takes an in-it-for-the-long-haul horizon to build infrastructure in the U.S.)  Mark Zitter, Scott Hecker,and I remain in close contact. I also keep in touch with Dave Bartholomew ’81,  Jack McGreen, Walter Siegel, Bob Garty, and, via a large email group, the DKE brotherhood. So, WesU remains an important part of my friendship group after all these years. For that I am most grateful. (Importantly, Dave B. piloted a mentorship program over the past few years for rising lawyers to be paired with a senior lawyer. The lawyers who participated in the pilot really benefited. Any WesU lawyers out there interested in being part of building this program from pilot to scale should contact Dave directly at d_bartholomew@yahoo.com. Spread the word!)”

Ellen Haller (Retired MD): “I’m thoroughly enjoying my retirement in San Francisco! The biggest decisions I face these days is whether to play pickleball, go on a bike ride, take a strength class, or suit up for an ice hockey game. (Yes, I still play regularly!) Outside of these endeavors, I help out my elderly parents, travel with my (still-working) wife, and enjoy occasional visits with our 26-year-old magician son. If any of you live in or are visiting NYC, check out his sophisticated, intimate sleight-of-hand card magic show! Yes, I’m biased, but it’s amazing; he’s appeared on Penn & Teller’s TV show and at LA’s Magic Castle. Info at danielroymagic.com.”

Tom Loder (JD): “I am here reporting in for Bob Ferreira and Jim Schor, our own ‘beach club’ consisting of huddling around a beer cooler near Bob’s and Amy Zinsser’s beautiful Connecticut home (with Amy’s gracious hosting, and with both she and Sharon Nahill wisely sitting out the festivities and endless retelling of fish tales about the days of our small gym, spring break, KNK, DKE, O’Rourke’s, and Williams Street capers. Still in touch with and thinking of many, including Larry Levy, Spence Studwell ’79, Barry Williamson ’81 (sort of), Walter Siegel, and a few Butterfield RA ‘advisees,’ if I can also include my Butterfield son Aaron ’22 among them (though the advisees taught me so much more than I ever taught them!).  Where’s Labeeb Abboud, Laura Nathanson, Linc Kaiser (Wes anthropology professor), Dave Miller ’81, Jeanette Talavera—the list is too long. Got to go huddle up on the beach with Bob and Jim and go to work on it!!”

Alan Jacobs (Filmmaker): “I fulfilled a dream by taking my children, Gil, Avia, and Ron ’16, to the World Cup in Qatar, where we saw three amazing games, including the Argentina-France final. Almost as satisfying is that after over a decade of delays, my film Down for Life will finally be released on major streaming sites (Apple, Amazon, etc.) on April 4. The U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus nominated it for the National Film Registry, which is both an honor and a reminder of how long ago we made it!”

Alan Jacobs with his children Gil, Avia, and Ron Jacobs ’16 at the World Cup in Qatar.

Steve Mooney (Marketing): “In April, I will be retiring from my job in marketing after 33 years with the same agency. I joined thinking I’d stay two years and lasted 33. Yes, it can happen. At my last staff meeting, I shared some recent ChatGPT queries. I post them here as we contemplate an unknowable future alongside AI.

Me: Write me a six-word story on retirement.

ChatGPT: “Finally free, life begins at retirement.”

And then this follow-up query:

Me: Write me a six-word story on becoming a writer.

ChatGPT: “Pen to paper, a writer born.”

“And so it begins. Next chapter! Go Wes!!!

“One more tidbit. Posted this illustration I customized to a Facebook page dedicated to the sport of Ultimate and got two hundred comments about where various people learned to throw a disc. For me, I learned to throw on Foss Hill in 1979 with Nick Donohue ’81, Chris Heye ’81, and David ‘Nietzch Factor’ Garfield, and went on to enjoy a long career in the sport.”

Credit: Original cartoon by Sofia Warren. (Wes ’13)

Doron Henkin (Lawyer): “Husband Victor and I are in good shape and still plugging away, lawyering for me and work at Bryn Mawr Hospital for him. I still sing with several choirs and groups, which I owe to Wesleyan. I got to be there when son Gil recently married Alex Sanchez Espinosa in and of Barcelona, Spain. They are headed to Berlin, where Gil will be doing postdoc research on the malaria carrier organism at the Max Planck Institute. Son Dan and daughter-in-law Kaitlyn are closer to home, in Pennsylvania, and the proud parents of granddaughter Eleanor James Henkin, now 1-year-old. Dan works in engineering at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and Kaitlyn is a nurse at Children’s Hospital. Daughter Hannah now works for Drawdown, the Climate Change Science nonprofit from her home base in Boston, and she still plays Ultimate every chance she gets. The ‘kids’ are of course also the ‘kids’ of my ex-, Ina Louise Shea, who lives nearby in Pennsylvania, and we are all still in regular touch and visits. We are so happy that the easing of the pandemic has brought more and more chances for family togetherness and travel.”

Wendy Davis (Writer): “In March, we celebrated our 25-year-old daughter’s handing in her MA dissertation to her supervisor  from Royal College of Art where her dad and two elder sisters received postdoc degrees (shouldn’t we have received a loyalty discount?)! Also in March, I received from Wesleyan’s American Studies Department an invitation to the: Slotkin Symposium celebrating the 80th birthday and new work of my former academic advisor Richard Slotkin. I had only just contacted the now retired professor last year for the first time since our graduation in reference to a historical novel I am writing, which opens in the Civil War, which is his specialty. His response was most helpful and encouraging, even after a gap of so many years. . . . Wesleyan connections certainly endure don’t they! We moved out of our studio residence (a historic Wesleyan Chapel) in Greenwich, London, September 2022, extending our return trip to Australia from three weeks to four months in Sydney,  September through January, due to my husband John’s major surgery and recovery. Finally, we have subsequently resettled in the British countryside very  near the Jurassic coast, good metaphor at our age! All of which has been incredibly disruptive to work and continues to suspend John’s practice as he must organize new studios working with Jo, the local handyman’s help. Interestingly we recently returned to London (approximately three hours by car) to see the Cezanne blockbuster at Tate Modern, in particular to revisit the remarkable portraits of Cezanne’s Gardner. One of our favorite paintings since we saw Seated Man at the then-new installation of the Thyssen Museum in architect Rafael Moneo’s renovation of the Palacio de Villahermosa, an 18th-century neoclassical palace located alongside the Prado Museum in Madrid, where we were then living. I feel as if our own circle of human connection in our 16th-century Weycroft property may also compress to a small circumference of Gardeners, lawn mowers, handy mailmen, and one  efficient female cleaner (my disability precluding my ability to be of much physical assistance inside or out). All help has been sourced from the former team who helped the disabled WW ll–veteran proprietor residing here just before us (luckily for me there was a stair climbing chair for him already installed when we arrived)! The family and executors of the estate of the now deceased former owner have recently entrusted us with a treasure trove of original historical source material on the property dating back to Roman settlement. The property is listed in the Doomsday record  book (the parchment deeds still have red wax seals)! A local village boasts it’s the most rebellious village in England so perhaps when I finish with the American Civil War, I might be looking closer to our new home for inspiration! Whilst in Australia we increasingly worried about our choice to base ourselves in Britain with terrible regular reports from the BBC  about the strain on the NHS with life-threatening delays for ambulances and hand-over delays at A&Es across the country. It was especially distressing and confusing since we were experiencing such good care from our more familiar medical support team in Sydney. Fortunately, we have been very positively impressed  by our new local medical center here in Axminster, even better than our relatively recent experiences in Greenwich, but then we are fortunate to be presently in good health at the moment not testing the system. Long may it last! Good health and happiness to all of you dear friends and classmates!”

Sara Epstein (Psychologist/Poet):a practicing psychologist in the Boston area and first-time grandmother of baby Leo,has just published her first book of poems, Bar of Rest launched by Kelsey Books—see more on her website saraepsteinwriter.com.

Sara is a clinical psychologist who integrates mindfulness practices, including writing, in her psychotherapy work with children and adults. She also facilitates and teaches generative writing groups and classes. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Quarterly, Amethyst Review, Chest Journal, Nixes Mate Review, Plainsongs, museum of americana, among others. Her book reviews have been published in Mom Egg Review.

CLASS OF 1979 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Denise Giacomozzi reached out with the following note about a worthy volunteer opportunity that she is involved in and hopes others may want to join her. “My news is that I now volunteer for ENGin, a U.S./Ukraine-based 501(c)3 nonprofit, which urgently needs volunteers to practice English online with Ukrainian youth and young adults. I hope other Wes folks will check it out at www.ENGinprogram.org.”

Doug Pavlak shared this news with us. “Happy to report that my son, Gunter Haug-Pavlak ’23, is going to graduate this year as a member of the class of 2023.  He is the only one of our seven children (blended family) to go to Wesleyan. I otherwise am swamped in my practice in neuromuscular medicine here in Portland, Maine. My wife Norma continues to fight the plight of the elderly in her job in adult protective services for the great state of Maine.”

Julie Hacker is busily engaged and happy professionally and otherwise. She writes: “I organized with my partner and husband (part of the Cohen & Hacker team) the National AIA CRAN (Custom Residential Architectural Network) 2022 Symposium, which was held in Chicago. It was sold out in three weeks and was a great success. I am the VP of Sponsorship and Development for the AIA Chicago chapter and serve on the national and local CRAN steering committees. So . . . pretty active in my AIA chapter representing a residential voice in architecture. My firm, Stuart Cohen & Julie Hacker Architects LLC, is alive and kicking while trying to save our historic building stock.

“I continue to take my weekly musical theater classes even though my singing is subpar—a great group which keeps me laughing, and I get to perform! My son, Gabriel Cohen, is thriving in LA doing his studio work as a sculptor while managing an art gallery.

“I am definitely older but feel pretty ageless, which is the way I like to keep it. I have overlapped frequently with Joan Craig, our classmate and a wonderful architect in Chicago—in fact she now has a terrific architect working for her who used to work at my firm—small world.”

In news from Spain, Cliff Hendel and his family (now including two grandsons) remain in Madrid, which he first visited on a Wesleyan semester-abroad program in the fall of his senior year. He continues to work—in English, Spanish, and French—as an international commercial and sports arbitrator, using (or pretending to use) his multijurisdictional legal qualifications as attorney (New York), solicitor (England and Wales), avocat (Paris), and abogado (Madrid).

His sports work—involving international labor contracts in soccer and basketball—has been particularly rewarding, and particularly “global,” of late. As deputy chair of FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, he has been invited to a number of interesting destinations, including New Zealand for the draw of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Doha (Qatar) for the final of the 2022 Men’s World Cup, Rabat (Morocco) for the final of the 2023 Clubs’ World Cup, and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for the biannual conclave of the FIFA Football Tribunal, among others. He is looking forward to the upcoming annual meeting of the members of FIBA’s Basketball Arbitral Tribunal in Schlauss-Elmau (Garmisch, Germany), an Alpine resort where the G-7 has met.

He has also made a minor contribution to historical literature, having penned a chapter on the relation between Alexander Hamilton and George Washington in a Spanish collective work on historical pairs called “A La Sombra: Actores Secundarios de la Historia.” An English version under the title “Hamilton and Washington: The Architects of America” was published in the NYLitigator (Vol. 26, no. 2, 2021). His other writings are more prosaic and professionally oriented, such as an article “The Past, Present and Possible Future of the Spanish Renewable Energy Arbitration Saga,” published in the NYSBA International Law Practicum (Vol. 31, no. 1, 2018).

He would be delighted to welcome any Wes alums who visit Madrid on business or pleasure.

Anne Peters sent us this update: “I made a ‘shake up your life’ series of changes and married screenwriter Eric Roth (writer of Forrest Gump, Dune, A Star Is Born, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Insider, and House of Cards among others). He has two amazing movies coming out this year, one, Killers of the Flower Moon, is directed by Marty Scorsese, and the other, Here, is directed by Bob Zemeckis. We live between Santa Monica and Condon, Montana, and I still work long hours running my clinical diabetes program at USC. My son, Maxwell Votey ’14, graduated from NYU Law School and started working at Kirkland and Ellis in NYC with a dream of becoming an art law lawyer. My step-granddaughter, Maya Donovan ’20, lives in Brooklyn and is an aspiring singer.”

Mark Ginsberg was just appointed a commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (“LPC”). The LPC is the largest municipal preservation agency in the nation. It is responsible for protecting NYC’s architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status, and regulating them after designation. The agency is comprised of a panel of 11 commissioners who are appointed by the mayor and supported by a staff of approximately 80. There are more than 37,800 landmark properties in New York City. His bio on the commission’s website notes that Mark is a founding partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, with over 40 years of professional experience, and his national leadership in sustainable design, resiliency, and housing is widely recognized. The focus of his work is centered on community-based design, affordable housing, and sustainability. He lives in a historic district in lower Manhattan.  Congrats on your appointment, Mark. Sounds like a great way to contribute your time and expertise!

That’s it for this issue. Thanks for all the submissions!  Be safe and happy.

CLASS OF 1978 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Nancy Chen has moved from Bozeman, Montana, to Calgary, Canada, with her husband Jack. Her daughters live on the West Coast: one soon finishes her PhD program in water conservation at UC Irvine, and the other writes fiction based on Greek mythology and history. Nancy writes that entering her elder years, she has pivoted her leadership coaching toward her passionate niche of emerging elderly women.

Geoff Ginsburg reports that he has finished his tenure at Duke Medical School and has moved to the National Institutes of Health where he is chief medical and scientific officer of the All of Us Research Program.

Barry Gross has retired from his 30-year career in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley and has moved with his wife Pam “to a great mid-century in Stony Creek, Connecticut, with a koi pond in the middle. Middletown is just up the road, so what comes around goes around I guess!”

Lucy Mize reports that she and her kids have all been separately traveling—she to Spain to deliver a paper at an urban health conference; son Thaddeus ’17 to Amsterdam; and daughter Belle ’22 to the Annapurna Loop Trail. Lucy is finishing a coaching certificate at Georgetown, significantly along in her doctoral degree program in public health, and still working full time, “and doesn’t feel like the work has slowed at all.” Lucy included Wes pictures of her kids, herself, and her father David Mize ’51:

Three generations of Wesleyan graduates: on the left is Thaddeus Brown, class of ’17; in the middle, Lucy, class of ’78, and her dad, class of ’51; and then on the right, her daughter Belle Brown, class of ’22.

Dave Wilson continues his jazz saxophone career, releasing his sixth recording as a leader last year—Stretching Supreme—a tribute to John Coltrane, which reached a high of #31 in the Jazz Weekly countdown. He remains in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his wife Lisa.

CLASS OF 1977 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

How is it possible that it is already mid-March as I am writing these notes? Others before us recognized, as philosopher and psychologist William James wrote, that “The same space of time seems shorter as we grow older.” Turning to some notes from our classmates that often provide an upbeat tone, we have heard from several folks.

Cindee Howard enjoyed meeting up with Suzy Taraba, her former freshman-hall neighbor, at the end of Reunion. Cindee was reacquainted with Lisa Brummel at Reunion as well and the two, along with their partners, have struck up a nice relationship including dinners, theater, and concertgoing. I enjoy Cindee’s comment of how nice it is to “make a new/old friend.”

Mark Slitt writes that he retired from Cigna last June 30 and has been enjoying every minute of it, even on days when not doing anything in particular. He strongly recommends it! In January he took an amazing trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Sue Guiney wrote that she has been traveling to San Francisco to visit children, as well as to Cambodia—the first time in three years, visiting friends and working with folks on the project she founded: “Writing through Cambodia.” Jerry Caplin writes that his family is preparing for a trip to Ghana in November to celebrate his eldest daughter Sophie’s wedding. A second wedding, closer to home in Charlottesville, will occur next January. His other daughters are completing educational pursuits: one a master’s degree in social work, a second a PhD in chemistry, and a third is a senior at Duke. He is quite busy with affordable housing/historic preservation efforts; his company, Silk Purse Properties, now has 76 rentals available. Jerry finds the whole enterprise enormously satisfying.

In July, Hank Rosenfeld drops a new release from Backbeat Books called, The Jive 95, an oral history of KSAN San Francisco—at 94.9 FM, our nation’s first underground station—where he worked in the “Gnus” Department. “I was at KSAN in the late ’70s, after learning my craft from Middletown radio heads like Bob Rees, Don Lowery, Bob Glasspiegel, Ted Stevens, and other classmates. William Altman has two new books  published: Plato and Demosthenes: Recovering the Old Academy (Lexington Books, 2023; xxxiv + 246; https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666920055) and The Relay Race of Virtue: Plato’s Debts to Xenophon (State University of New York Press, 2022; xiii + 370; ISBN: 9781438490915).

Yoriko Kishimoto has the honor of serving as president of the board for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District this year. “Midpen” owns and manages the greenbelt of open space in the San Francisco Bay Area and staff are experts in biodiversity, watershed management, trail design, and public access, etc. She has a place in Anderson Valley with her husband and is involved with the land trust there as volunteer president. Yoriko has offered to take any classmate out on a hike!

Francis Rath  is still going strong. He is no longer the chief public health coordinator and assistant emergency manager for the City of Manassas Park (Virginia). His wife of 43 years, Denise Thompson Rath ’78, is a former member of the U.S. Equestrian Team and owner of a very successful horse operation (www.greyfoixfarm.com).

Janet Malkemes is adjusting to life after the death of her mother Rebekah last July. “Mom moved to Charlotte just before COVID upended our lives in 2019, selling the family home in Pennsylvania. We enjoyed her final years, with her son Bob and daughter-in-law Charity living nearby. Otherwise, life in retirement continues nicely: annual family week at the Outer Banks, working with the International House of the Charlotte region, and supporting Democratic politicians.

“The Wesleyan Friday Zoom group that started during the pandemic [to which I, Gerry, participate] continues to provide excellent conversation and has been the entry to a monthly film group, proving that Wesleyan created wonderful, lifelong connections.”

Finally, I am sad to report, Amy Marshall lost her husband of 40 years, Tim Zenker MALS ’79, to Parkinson’s disease on December 4. He is survived by their three children: Fred ’09, Maggie, and Charlie. Amy lives and works in The Dalles, Oregon.

In spite of the single snowstorm of the winter season in the Boston area this week— leaving us with a mere few inches—unlike the rest of the state, springtime has returned very quickly with barely a trace of winter. Weather has been the major news worldwide. I hope everyone is staying safe and sound during these wild times.

CLASS OF 1976 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Susan Jung writes: “I’ve been happily retired for the last 10 years, doing the usual volunteering, genealogy, and traveling. I’m struggling to master Mandarin, which isn’t my family’s dialect, but beggars can’t be choosers. I live right next door to another Wesleyan alum, Robert Nick Anderson ’68.”

Cheryl Woodson shares that “The Democratic Women’s Caucus invited me to participate in their March 3 conference on issues that affect women. A five-woman panel of experts explained that caregiving is a women’s issue, and why the face of financial insecurity in aging is FEMALE. We recommended specific strategies to more accurately assess the needs of unpaid family caregivers and the poorly paid caregiver workforce and inform them of legislative progress.

“This month, Writers Digest will announce that the second edition of my first book, To Survive Caregiving: A Daughter’s Experience, A Doctor’s Advice, won first place in the 30th Annual Award for Best Self-Published Books, non-fiction, inspirational/self-help category (out of 1,192 submissions).

“My empty nest has become a temporary full house: both adult kids, my six-year-old grandson, and two cats. On the one hand, it’s been fun to have the band back together again, but it has also been a challenge for all of us. Come September, come!

“I’m back in high-intensity interval training to finally lose the COVID 20. I’m also polishing novel #2, which I finished while the sun came up over a balcony on the Smooth Jazz Cruise in February. My pseudonym is Teria Robens.

“I offer workshops for women, but I should also write a book about my experience dating over 60.

“That’s it for now. Anyone who wants to book me for an event or just give me a hug can reach me at cew[at]drcherylwoodson.com.”

Oliver Griffith is “happy to say that my request for French citizenship, which has been pending for over three years, was approved in February. Since I’ve been in Paris since 2007 and intend to stay in France, it makes sense. Moreover, I grew up in Germany, so it’s a homecoming to Europe of sorts.”

Jack O’Donnell writes: “As my career in law was winding down last year, I was fortunate that a longtime client, who was gravely injured by five New Haven police officers, wanted me to represent him in his civil case. What has made this such an amazing experience is that I brought Benjamin Crump in to assist me and together we are working toward an historic settlement with the City of New Haven. It is a tragic case of gross inhumanity toward an arrestee but in addition to getting our client full compensation, we are seeking major procedural and legislative changes. For example, retrofitting prisoner conveyance vans with seatbelts in New Haven and elsewhere and a medical civil rights law where detainees must be asked if they need medical attention and be provided it if requested. All in all, a rewarding way to end my career.”

Tom Kovar is “aiming for retirement in June of 2024. Counting the months but not yet the weeks or days. Still enjoying my various creative pursuits.”

B. J. Buckley says: “How are we doing with winter? This was Interstate 80 across southern Wyoming between Rawlins and Hanna. Four to 6 feet of snow fell, and then it drifted. They got FOUR rotary plows like this stuck, one after the other, also the huge tow truck that came to pull them out . . . took 18 hours to get everyone extricated. Parts of eastbound lanes near Evanston are still not open.

Interstate 80 Between Rawlins and Hanna, Wyoming

“Montana not much better, weeklong whiteout  (visibility at my place, about 6 inches in front of my face), 55- mph wind with gusts past 80 . . .  which DID blow some of the gravel roads near me completely clear, though you couldn’t actually SEE the road. ‘Course, now my yard has 10-foot drifts. And it’s snowing again.

“The Rocky Mountain states clearly need new names . . .  Wyarctica? Montundra? Coldorado? North and South Polekota?

“And then there are the nice folks who moved here during the pandemic who still do not have snow tires, never mind chains, and who set off driving to town (31 miles) in a blizzard wearing T-shirts and sandals. A coat? Nope. (No, we did not let them become ice sculptures. Yes, their car is still in the ditch. For their own protection.)”

Sue, Bruce, and Chris, July 2022

Bruce Demple writes: “Last July, my wife Sue and I camped in northeastern Utah with Chris Thomas, who started with us in 1972. Chris drove from Chico, and we arrived via Salt Lake City. The first couple of days was in Dinosaur National Monument, which was superb, if hot as hell. Luckily, Chris arrived first and managed to get our campsite moved to a place with at least a little shade. We then drove up to the rim of Flaming Gorge Canyon (where the photo below was taken), for two to three much cooler days that were also great.

“Unrelated, Sue and I stopped in Newton, Massachusetts, the last weekend of February (2023) to spend a couple of days with Bonnie Katz ’77 and Rich Gallogly, which was a welcome reunion as always.  We were nearby neighbors in Newton for almost 20 years, so it’s always a reunion to spend time with them—and it’s always too short, at least for us!”

Debra Haffner shares: “For the next two years, I am serving as the interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Huntington, Long Island, and would love to welcome Wes friends at worship on Sunday mornings, in person or online. My long-term marriage ended during COVID, and I am now enjoying my life’s great love story with a new partner. Life is good!”

Ethan Bronner writes: “My wife Naomi and I moved to Tel Aviv a couple weeks ago where I will be Bloomberg Israel bureau chief and senior Mideast editor for the next few years. It was an unexpected offer from Bloomberg and we had to think a little bit about it because we now have a seven-month-old grandson, Hugo Bronner, son of Eli ’10 and daughter-in-law Maheshie. But we will visit, they will visit. And I couldn’t say no to a last foreign posting hurrah for this old man. It is my fourth tour in Israel as a correspondent, each for a different news organization (Reuters, Boston Globe, New York Times, and this one) and I plan to submit this fact to the Guinness Book of World Records. Israel is facing an existential identity crisis and it’s a heck of a time to be here.”

Joe Reiff says, “I am elated to announce the birth of my fourth grandchild and second granddaughter, Ivy Geraldine Reiff, born in Baltimore on March 6, 2023, to our daughter-in-law and son, Jenni and Joseph. Her middle name is after my mother, who died in February 2022. As my parents said long ago after the birth of our first child, ‘Grandparenting is great!’ I retired in 2020 after 30 years teaching religion at Emory & Henry College, and my wife and I remain in Abingdon, Virginia. I am keeping busy, including work on a book about the advent of clergywomen in Mississippi Methodism.”

Nat Needle is “still in Worcester, Massachusetts, deep into the musical growth of 40-plus piano students ages five to seniors. Teaching classical, jazz, gospel, calypso, popular (vintage to recently released and not just USA). Also composition, theory, self-accompaniment for vocalists, and music appreciation. AND improvisation, sometimes paired with improv storytelling! Just starting arc toward many fewer students, much more community engagement through performance, and much less income earning. Sons Asa and Noriyoshi are helping me complete the shift by the end of 2024. Please reach out to me: nat[at]natneedle.com. ‘Dr. Seuss’ alumni: 50th anniversary cast/crew reunion in November? What Say You?”

Meredith Bergmann is doing marvelous work! In The New York Times read “Million-Dollar Staircase Adds a New Face: Ruth Bader Ginsburg”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/nyregion/ruth-bader-ginsburg-albany.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

“And on March 8, an unveiling at the New York State Museum in Albany of the one-third-height model for my 2020 Women’s Rights Pioneers monument.”  http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/womens-history-month

Karen Gervasoni writes that “On May 11, I married my sixth-grade sweetheart on the beach in Kennebunk. It was a beautiful day, with just our kids, our priest (a friend from high school) and his husband, and a dear mutual friend and her husband. We spent our six-week honeymoon in the fall meandering cross country in our travel trailer. Life is good!”

And a bit of news from the Harmin household: After working at one thing or another since 1968, I stepped into full retirement and am enjoying the unknown luxury of unstructured free time. (Note that “unstructured” is not a synonym for “idle”—just ask Byron Haskins.)  David Harmin, however, continues to love his work as the in-house bioinformatician in Mike Greenberg’s lab, and has no plans for retirement any time soon. We recently discovered that the neighbors on each side of us are also Wesleyan alum, and there are pockets of alumni elsewhere in the neighborhood. We’re everywhere, it seems. . . .

And to end on a sad note, Susan Jung also noted the sad news of the death her Wes roommate Josette (Despotova) Hendrix. The details of Josette’s remarkable life can be found at https://tinyurl.com/f7tj8y5u.

CLASS OF 1975 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Spring is sprung as I write this on a rare sunny afternoon between rainstorms in Northern California—fitting for the vernal equinox.

Paul Bennett, seven years retired, keeps busy with nonprofit boards and home projects. “I have to chuckle when I reflect on my board roles—when heading for retirement, I promised myself I wouldn’t do board work, but that’s exactly what I’ve ended up doing. I spend a good bit of time on two organization boards—Cristo Rey De La Salle High School in Oakland and Berkeley Symphony. The COVID years have been an enormous challenge for both organizations (and for so many others). The symphony, of course, is a performing art. As we all know, audiences disappeared when COVID hit and have been slow to return. While Berkeley Symphony is now back to its normal performance schedule, we’re still well off on audience counts—and unsure what future trends will look like.  We’ve had to address all sorts of unique problems over the last three years—definitely stretched my brain. The high school has been hard hit by COVID, not only with the challenges of maintaining classes and academics during remote learning, but also because the Cristo Rey model depends on the students being employed one day a week in our Corporate Work-Study Program. When many of our employer companies went almost completely remote, many of the jobs for our students (largely clerical/administrative/IT support) disappeared—and with them, the crucial revenue we depend on. We’ve been slowly clawing our way back, but it’s been an enormous challenge. They didn’t cover this stuff at Wes when I was there.” On the personal front, Paul and his wife still live in Oakland; older son is in Brooklyn teaching high school math, younger son in SF working a tech job. Paul’s summary? “Healthy, happy and staying active—all good.”

Dave Rosenblum writes that he retired from Deloitte Consulting in 2013, but “flunked retirement and am reasonably busy with a couple of corporate boards, private equity work, and nonprofit boards. Sue and I live in LA, but we have an apartment in Manhattan and spend roughly three months a year there—babysitting and hanging out with two young grandchildren (and their parents), who live in South Orange, New Jersey, plus really taking advantage of all that NYC has to offer. Had dinner recently with Steve McCarthy, who came in from Connecticut, which was a lot of fun. We are fanatic Dodgers fans, so the best part of the year is soon upon us!”

Susan Gans reports that “after more than 35 years toiling as in-house counsel for various television production companies, I stopped working a few years ago and am enjoying retirement. Being an avid cyclist since my teens, I started riding a tandem bicycle with my significant other just before the pandemic hit, and the tandem has changed our lives.” They tandem toured the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany last spring and will be touring Japan, the Greek islands, New Zealand, and Spain with their tandem in 2023–24. On the home front, Susan started a Facebook group called SoCal Tandem Riders, which now has over 225 members, through which they’ve made many wonderful new friends. She adds, “I’m looking forward to seeing my classmates next year at our 50th Reunion!”

Susan Gans on a 45-mile loop tandem ride near Ojai and Ventura with her significant other, Ken.

Cory Kratz sent word of her stay at the Bogliasco Study Center in in Bogliasco, Italy, near Genoa, working on a new book called Rhetorics of Value: Exhibit, Design, Communication, which will be published by Duke University Press. “I was with a great group of eight other fellows, each working on his/her own creative projects. An idyllic and productive time in the center’s villa and garden on the shore of the Ligurian Sea. In Cape Town, I’ll be hiking the Perlemoen Trail with friends before going to this year’s African Critical Inquiry Program Workshop, which is called Archiving Otherwise: Sound Thinking and Sonic Practice.”

John Cavadini writes that he is still a professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, and director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life (at Notre Dame). In another higher ed note, Bruce Weinraub, who lives and practices internal medicine in Northampton, Massachusetts, spoke on his experience in internal medicine to Wesleyan’s premed students in late March.

Janet Brodie is another classmate who appreciated a rare COVID gift—her regular Zooms with Risa Korn and Jane Hutchins. “They started out my college roommates and ended up my friends for life.” She loves the saying, “It takes a long time to make an old friend.” I want to point out that you all qualify, my friends, now that it has been more than a half century since we first met!

Bruce Tobey wrote, “I am still plugging away as an environmental attorney and business consultant. Living each month 60% of the time in Fort Lauderdale, I work with a remarkable wastewater technology entrepreneur and also avoid much of the winter cold (but also endure the summer heat). The other 40% is spent up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with my wife Pat (Skidmore ’81).  Our four daughters (Emily, Dana, Melanie, and Pamela) all came back to Gloucester after earning bachelor degrees at Wagner College, Tulane University, Merrimack College, and Rollins College respectively. All are happily settled down, and they and their men have presented us with a brood of eight grandkids, with a ninth on the way.

Bruce, Pat and the Tobey Tribe in 2022

My nine years as mayor (1993–2002) still color my life. In 1998 we had a yearlong celebration of Gloucester’s 375th anniversary, both for its own sake and as a warm-up for the 400thin 2023. Because no good deed goes unpunished, 25 years later, I am still at it, serving as president of the nonprofit that has spent the last five years organizing, fundraising, and event planning. The year is off to a fantastic beginning—if you’re in the neighborhood this summer, stop on by!

Nancy and Dan working in their backyard brewery.

Dan Gold has a tale straight out of the movies. “Four years ago, with retirement looming on the horizon, my wife Nancy and I sold our Southern California house of 22 years and rented a neighbor’s small guest house. No more chickens, pigs, or horses. Time to downsize. Some of our belongings went into storage, but the important stuff came with us to the rental. Three weeks after we moved in, the Woolsey Fire came through the canyon and burned the little guest house to the ground. We got out okay, but much of the physical stuff of our lives was gone. It was disorienting. I felt as if I was adrift, off balance. It was like I had no anchor. We stayed in motels for a bit then Nancy’s cousin gave us her house for a month. The fire was a weird chapter in our lives and the strange feeling of it comes back occasionally. Like when I’m looking for a favorite T-shirt, then realize, ‘Oh yeah . . . it was in the fire.’ Fast forward a bit and we decided it was time to get serious about relocating. So, we moved to Ventura, a cool little beach town up the coast. I decided to do one more season on the TV series Grace and Frankie and then retire from 40 years of working in camera in the film business. We love our little house in Ventura. We can walk to the beach and walk to the shops and restaurants on Main Street. I have time for surfing, biking, and pursuing my former passion for still photography. I volunteer at the community bike shop in town and Nancy and I enjoy brewing beer together (I mostly wash the kegs). Every once in a while, I get together with Chris Vane and Dave Babcock, and it’s like old times.

Dan Gold’s ready-for-prime-time grandson, Miles

Oh, I almost forgot! We have a grandson, Miles. He’s amazing. He’s such a smart, good-lookin’ kid. He really should have his own TV show.”

David Bickford is enjoying life in Los Angeles. “After reaching retirement age I’ve slowed down the pace a bit, but still acting and voice coaching and loving it. My wife and I often travel to Thailand to spend time with her family. I shot a nice supporting role in a film called Discussion Materials but I don’t know yet when it will be released.”

Stephen Blumenthal admits it took a long time for his first contribution to Class Notes. “Forty-eight years until my first peep!” He’s lost touch with classmates, except for Wendy Lustbader ’76 occasionally and Barbara Bachelder.  Here’s his interesting journey with a pivotal ’70s Wesleyan moment: “After 10 sweet years of teaching high school English and 12 years at a nonprofit, I was trained in the ’90s to provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and am heartened to see that modality helping more and more people now. Had my organic chem professor not introduced us to LSD, I might never have discovered the path I’ve taken. Thank you, Wesleyan! My partner James and I live in San Francisco and love hiking in the redwoods.”

Tom Wheeler and his wife Sondra Ely Wheeler ’79 spend lots of time away from their D.C.-area home, in New England and Pennsylvania. Those are the locations of their daughters and respective husbands (two doctors, a therapist, and COO of a climate change nonprofit) and five grandkids ranging from age nine to age four (an aspiring ballerina, engineer, artist, paleontologist, and princess-unicorn respectively). “While I’ve resisted the siren calls to return to work designing large-scale software and DB systems for the Feds, Sondra still teaches religious ethics and fills speaking engagements occasionally. Most of our time has gone to helping an old friend with accelerating dementia to get her house sold and get moved into a new living situation near us, and to fundraising for a Christian dalit orphanage in Bangalore, whose donor base was ravaged by COVID (full story at violetschildrenshome.com). We got mild cases of COVID from the grandkids last year, plan a long trip across the American West this spring, and a longer one through Spain and to Siena sometime afterward. We’d love to hear from any classmates passing through the D.C. area.”

Brian Steinbach lamented this winter’s lack of snow in D.C. (come on out to the Sierras, my friend!), and sent the following news at the very last moment: “I have to note the sad demise of the houses at 28 and 34 Lawn Avenue, apparently torn down for the new science labs, as an aerial view reached via a link from the recent Wesleyan Connection showed. Many great memories of parties at 28, which most recently was the ‘Community Engagements House.’ I shared this with Steve Pippin, who lived there with Jeff Cox, Phil Swoboda, and Bruce McClellan ’76  sophomore year. And Steve forwarded it to Jeff, who recalled it was ‘home to the Bite-Me Pumpkin and many raucous parties.’ Jeff, now University of Colorado ‘Distinguished Professor of English and Humanities,’ reports he is still teaching and also still chairs his English department ‘for my sins.’”

The once-rollicking abode of Steve, Jeff, Phil and Bruce may have had a more staid reputation in 2016 before it was razed to expand Wesleyan science facilities.

But if you want to and can still party like it’s 1975, plan to join us at the Class of ’75 50th Reunion, May 23–26, 2025.  While it’s hard to believe, it will be too good to miss.

CLASS OF 1974 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Reminder: Consider joining our 50th Reunion Planning Committee. You can participate as little or as much as your time and interest permit. We have monthly Zoom calls.  Also, continue providing ideas for our reunion. Contact me (Sharon Purdie, spurdie@wesleyan.edu) or Mandy Broulik at abroulik@wesleyan.edu or Kate Lynch at klynch@wesleyan.edu to join the committee or to suggest ideas.

Harold Sogard updates us on his trying to start a new career as a voice actor: He was  signed by an agent in January and has started auditioning for a variety of interesting gigs. “Haven’t gotten hired for anything yet, but at least I’m getting some at bats!”

Monique Witt reports that the last few months were both sad and joyful. Ben got married on seven-day’s notice at city hall at noon; then he and Yoko drove to Baltimore an hour later for residence with the Baltimore Symphony. Dev has been doing IP for his new tech. Sadly, Steven’s father died at 99 and it has left a huge emptiness—the last living grandparent. OneTrickDog* has had four albums to get out, and the labs are very busy.  Ben’s official release of A Thousand Pebbles was at Smalls and was terrific. The reviews have been very strong. The CD release [includes] two sets from Smalls [and they] are up on YouTube and Facebook.

Jim Gilson sent in this report: “Two pairs of roommates assigned to 202 Washington Street our freshman year, along with their spouses, have continued to see each other over the years, including more frequently connecting on Zoom during the pandemic. Mark Decker still lives in northern New Jersey and works as general counsel for a large privately held company. His former roommate, Jim Gilson, relocated to Alexandria, Virginia, in 2016 when he retired as general counsel of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, though he continues to work on occasional nonprofit governance and law projects, including volunteering as a museum accreditation peer reviewer. Rip Dauster retired from a high school teaching career in southern Connecticut and, together with his wife Marjorie Allen ’76 (who recently retired from the Connecticut attorney general’s appellate division) has taken advantage of their time and Rip’s photography talent to share photos of their several trips to Europe. Paul Liscom continues to live in Boulder where he has greatly scaled back on his home-building business but continues to take on a few projects, including supervising and doing much of the labor on a major trail restoration and boardwalk enhancement in the upper elevations of the Rockies.

“Over the last year or so, the Zoom call group has been able to expand. Don Middleton—another 202 Washington Street ‘alum’—has joined in. Don continues to practice urgent care medicine and live in the south coast area of Massachusetts. Larry Green also has joined the calls; he still is practicing law at a Boston firm but has enjoyed being able to work more frequently from his house on the coast of southern Maine. Larry agreed to serve on the class reunion committee, helping to plan some panel discussions that already sound intriguing.

“As their time has become more flexible and COVID restrictions have lessened to some extent, couples in this group have been able to stop in on each during their travels and, health permitting, are hoping for a few times we all can be together even before the class reunion in a year.”

Howard Curzer recently published a book entitled, Virtue Ethics for the Real World: Improving Character without Idealization (Routledge 2023). A brief description of his book may be found here:

He is till teaching in the Texas Tech University Philosophy Department and is married to Anne Epstein. His daughter, Mirah Epstein Curzer, is an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. His grandson, Jonah (age four), is training for the Olympic cuteness competition.

Bob Baum recently returned from Senegal—from the same village he started going to the summer after we graduated from Wesleyan. He was adopted by a family there and he is now the oldest living family member. It was his first time back in four years. This summer he become chair of the new Department of African and African American Studies at Dartmouth.

Christopher Moeller shares, “My wife and I are still retired. The entire family is reasonably healthy. Finally, after three years of pandemic restrictions, we feel somewhat safe going out to concerts, dances, and other performances. I hope that trend continues! The only recent news (last August) is that our son Steffen and his wife have adopted a newborn and named him Owen, and they are thrilled.

“In February, Carolyn White-Lesieur, sent an email to me of the upcoming reunion and to offer to have ‘a conversation.’  She and I each sent a few emails, then had a lengthy phone call that covered many aspects of the last 50 years, or perhaps just a few. I asked Carolyn to pass my contact information along to a number of others who were significant to me during my year and a half in Middletown. Perhaps some will follow up!”

In February my husband Ted Sybertz and I went on a National Geographic expedition to Anarctica. The trip was fabulous and included  hiking, viewing lots of penguins, seals, whales, and icebergs, as well as kayaking, taking the “polar plunge,” and attending lectures by scientists conducting research during the expedition.

Our condolences to the family of Randy Brown who passed away on April 20, 2023, due to complications from a stroke that he suffered on Christmas Day of 2021. At his death, Randy lived in Boulder Creek, California. He was the author or coauthor of several books and pamphlets about the history of the greater Santa Cruz area and was a regular speaker at historical gatherings. He was also passionate about the history of baseball, in particular, the Negro leagues.

CLASS OF 1973 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

From Colorado, William “Billy” Burke writes, “I’m so excited about our upcoming 50th Reunion! It has already been terrific seeing classmates during reunion planning meetings on Zoom. I also had the good fortune to attend a planning meeting on campus the morning of Homecoming where the Class of 1972 shared tips from their 50th. It was the start of a busy day.”

He adds, “The next stop was the Spurrier-Snyder Rink where hockey coach Chris Potter hosted a very special reception organized by Billy Devereaux ’75 and Jim LaLiberty ’77. About 30 Wes hockey alums honored Dave (Duke) and Diane Snyder. After watching the football team demolish Williams, several of us enjoyed dinner with Dave and Diane. Great stories, memories, and even a few tears. Not sure if you heard that Duke was recently the recipient of the John ‘Snooks’ Kelley Founders Award, as someone instrumental to the growth of hockey in the U.S. It was presented by the American Hockey Coaches Association.”

Billy says it was a fantastic time on campus. And he adds, “Of course, in the last dozen years or so it’s always bittersweet to walk down the steps from Foss Hill to the Vine Street tennis courts. It’s a nice grassy slope with a flower bed. But it’s no McConaughy Hall. I know the University had their reasons to tear it down but I want to preserve the memory of our very own flying saucer. So, I’m composing a rock opera that will memorialize the venerable venue. So far, I have the opening number and a high-level storyboard. As you may have said in your early reporter days, ‘Film at 11.’”

Michael Fossel writes that “Retirement is a silly idea, so we’re moving ahead with our biotechnology company and planning our FDA human trials.” He says they have a commitment for essentially unlimited funding, which should enable them to target both the dementias and cardiovascular disease. “In the meantime, I’ve agreed to be the editor and senior author for a new Elsevier Publishing medical textbook on aging, age-related diseases, and the prospects for curing them. Much more fun, however, is building a new ‘hygge’ loft over the garage and getting ready for a glorious summer of gardening,” he says.

Stephen Sullivan writes he is not sure if he be able to make it back for our 50th Reunion but he says he looks forward to reading the news of our class.

From South Carolina, Kie Westby writes that he has moved to Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Kie says he had a stroke in March of last year but reports, “I have recovered fairly well. Just started playing golf again. Am retired from the law practice.”

My senior year East College roommate, Dr. Brian Mahoney, writes that he and Nancy Collins “are now 51 years together and counting. Both retired physicians. Three great kids with in-laws and five grandchildren. The most recent is Cullan, born November 29, 2022, which means ‘handsome boy’ in Gaelic. He is a real Gerber Baby.” Brian says they hope to be at the 50th Reunion. He is having a total knee surgery on April 19.

Our colorful and eloquent classmate Eddie Nathan writes, “I’ve joined the committee planning our 50th Reunion. I’ve enjoyed reconnecting, though my sievelike memory doesn’t attach adequate history to the other men on the committee. Even so, it’s gratifying to see and hear them. I accept that the years have opened me a bit more to emotional recollections and gentler feelings, though I still cringe at the sound and smell of infants.” And he thanks us “for keeping these nourishing connections alive.”

And in light of that, at this writing, it looks as if we are going to have a very nice turnout of our classmates for the reunion. I’m sure I enjoyed seeing you on what I’m sure was a very special and memorable time in Middletown.

CLASS OF 1972 | 2023 | SUMMER ISSUE

Roger Day sent a note to both Peter D’Oench ’73 and me, daring us to fight over which class gets him. Since Peter is probably swamped with reunion-related stuff, I hereby claim Roger. This “duel” status stems from the fact that while he entered with the class of 1973, Roger earned sufficient credits to graduate with us, a fact that came to his attention while he was sitting high on Foss Hill (his words, not mine) on May 24, 1972, and heard his name called in our commencement ceremony. Well, we missed you in the D section, Roger. Roger will soon celebrate 40 years married to his “sweepotato Abby,” with whom they “issued three fascinating children.”

“My retirement from University of Pittsburgh Biostatistics and Informatics (& Cancer Institute) is far in the rearview mirror. Lots of kooks in academia. The teaching was my favorite part. Now I tutor kids from Central America . . . I love that even more. My creativity goes into tuba playing . . . . ‘Music is my medicine. And I am heavily medicated.’  Down from 50 shows a year to about six, all outdoors now, due to COVID. My favorite CDs are with the Blues Orphans: Hystericana and More Fake Blues. Pure fun the lyrics. Great tuba sound engineering. The YouTube channel, professorbeautiful, documents some of the crazy variety of music I have played. Cumbia, Andean, Cuban, bossa, jazz, R&B, klezmer, Croatian, Fado, Irish, lounge . . . . Currently at 20 movements of Bach Cello Suites/Bellow Cheeks, all on the professorbeautiful channel. Sixteeen to go, then Brandenburg 3. Body parts, don’t fail me now!”

You can see more about Roger’s music at professorbeautiful.org. As I have played some of those Bach suites on the instrument for which they were intended, I had to check out how they would sound on a tuba, and, well, it’s a unique experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YZOjJFbfZA&list=PLnw3n9JWwFxG7xbJy8qe0wDlv–beo7SP

Steve Schiff wrote me about the time of the Writers Guild of America Awards, at which he was nominated for two awards for his writing on Andor. Steve previously had four nominations and two wins for The Americans, not to mention a Peabody Award, a Golden Globe, two Emmy nominations, an AFI Award, a Producers Guild Award, a Critics Choice Award, and a Television Critics Association Award. What do they have in common? “They’re all heavier than they look. I thinks it’s a requirement.” (Steve asked me not to quote him but rather to provide my own pithy summary. Sorry, but I can’t top that.)

Blackwall Hitch, the band that played our last two reunions, will be playing once again at the class of 1973’s 50th. The group includes Michael Kaloyanides, Blake Allison, and Steve Blum, as well as Mike Kishbauch ’71 and Paul Fletcher ’73. Blake has found these performances to be a:

“Blessing of, at a late time in my life, being able to reunite and spend meaningful time with dear friends. You may not know that for Blackwall Hitch, to perform at our 45th and 50th Reunions, we gathered for a Monday-to-Thursday stretch before each reunion, practicing six plus or minus hours a day. Just being together and making music with cherished colleagues for an extended period of time was such an unexpected, but very much welcomed and gratifying, blessing.”

If you didn’t get enough about Jim Hoxie’s recent exploits in the last issue, you can see him give the opening remarks at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, of which he was program chair at www.croiconference.org/preliminary-agenda/. Let me commend to you the short film on the work of the organization at about 1:44, followed by a speech by and presentation of an award to Anthony Fauci.

Rob Gelblum’s glide path toward retirement from environmental law is just about over, and some venues actually calendar him for musical gigs. “And my wife and kids still put up with me! And I receive wisdom from our classmates RS&B—the Rips, Schultz, Bober Conspiracy.”

Finally, we lost Harry Glasspiegel to a stroke in December. Another luminary of the first floor of Clark Hall. Harry had a prominent career developing the concept of outsourcing, first as a lawyer and then as a consultant. In a 2015 interview with Who’s Who Legal, Harry gave this bit of guidance, which those of us still in the trenches should take to heart:

“I’ve seen and experienced the damage to clients and organizations of adversarial behaviors, tone, communications, and relationships, and conversely, have seen the benefits of having likeable, sensible people guiding the discussion and build process.”

Likeable and sensible. Harry will be missed.

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.”

Van Vleck Observatory, spring 2023 (photo by Dan Taylor)

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