Author: etaylor

For this issue of Class Notes, rather than share stories about individual members of our class, your class secretary would like to celebrate us as a community and celebrate our journey through life. This spring marks 35 years since we graduated, which puts us at about the halfway mark from 20 to 90. We’ve done so many interesting things; there are so many interesting things still to come.

      In the interim, we have certainly gotten dispersed geographically: we can be found in 44 states and several foreign countries, though there are 15 states where a couple of us can be found (AK, AL, AR, DE, ID, KS, KY, LA, MO, MS, NE, OH, SC, TN, WV). At the other end of the scale, there’s New York City where more than 80 of us have congregated. When reviewing our class list and our majors, I had not realized that nearly 1-in-7 of us were English majors (about 100 out of about 750) and that 200+ others were nearly equally distributed among four other majors: Art, Biology, History, and Government. If those five majors made up half the class, maybe we weren’t that diverse after all? Though in each of the five there are quite a few subdisciplines. In any event, what we did at age 18–22 may have helped set the trajectory for our lives, but those majors don’t fully encompass who we are today and why we are loved and appreciated, and while there probably were some broken hearts along the way, hopefully we didn’t accumulate too many enemies.

      In recent years through this Class Notes column we’ve learned about spouses, children, parents, jobs, hobbies, trips, and various passions. We’ve heard of deaths, illnesses, divorce, intermittent retirement, and career shifts. At my urging, you’ve also told of local, often unrecognized, things such as coaching youth sports, serving on the school board, or volunteering at a church or food pantry. These things may not be splashy, but they make a difference, and so it was a pleasure to honor and recognize you for them.

      For myself, on New Year’s Day of 2020, I decided that I would make a conscious effort do at least one additional good deed each week­—sometimes it was mailing a check to a small, under-resourced charity, other times I added things such as hacking back at invasive plant species and picking up trash on the beach. In January 2021, I looked at my list of the 52 things from 2020 and decided to continue this weekly tradition for another year.

     To help broaden our horizons, please continue to share your stories. I’d love to hear about what you are doing and your community involvement. My email is easy to remember (ehoward86@wesleyan.edu), but note that your notes to me won’t be shared with the class. With this issue I’m stepping down from my role as class secretary, and I also asked for others to serve as co-administrators of our Facebook group. As secretary for the past decade, I’ve enjoyed corresponding with many of you, but after 10 years, it is time for someone else.

     I have the honor to be your obedient servant.

Hello again, Classmates. It has been a long winter and hopefully by the time this issue arrives the worldwide health situation will be improving.

     During this long turn inwards, Stephanie Fleischmann has been co-creating The Visitation (here.org/shows/the-visitation/), a sound walk produced by Here, set to launch March 26, which can be experienced anywhere. She has also been writing libretti and texts commissioned by Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Brandeis University, and developing new works supported by West Edge Opera’s Aperture and Opera America. Poppea, with composer Michael Hersch, premieres in Basel and Vienna this fall.

     Mark Randles did not get to go on his annual summer trip to see baseball games at a few different stadiums (and to take in the local history), a tradition he shares with Michael Bailit, Jim Glickman, Bill Barry, Hans Schweiger, and Melany Kahn ’86. Dallas and Houston were supposed to be on their 2020 itinerary, and they are hoping to resume this coming summer.

     Annmarie Zimmerman is taking the time and space afforded by the pandemic to move on from the end of her 35-year marriage. Her kids are supportive and helping complete long-standing house projects. She is reconnecting with old friends, playing the piano, reading more and doing less laundry. She is a physician so her work life has not changed much, just more safety precautions, and she is hopeful about the vaccines on the horizon. As she says, “A fallow time is sometimes what we need to create anew.”

     Karen Rosenberg gets together with a large group of Wes Friends for regular Zoom cocktails, mostly from West College or off-campus on 69 Oak Street. One recent gathering included Maria Mead, Charlotte Sonnenblick Van Doren, Dima Litvinov, Dana Sachs, Heidi Wasch (and her husband Bob), Monica Elias, Sara Jamison, Jim Wasserman, Eric Caplan, Tony Richter, Eileen Kelly, Andy Tauber, Mike Kaplan, Jennifer Colton, John Miya, and Arthur Haubenstock.

     Rob Leland came back from China at the end of 2000, with his wife, and has been living in the Bay Area since. His eldest son began studies at UC Berkeley but has been stuck in his dorm for the pandemic. His daughter will launch next year, and California may or may not be in his future plans.

     Paul Baker continues his work in sculpture, available at his website c-clampstudios.com. During the pandemic, he has been rereading the Hardy Boys series, and is marveling at the vocabulary in these otherwise young adult books. Inspired by the books (and by Professor John Risley’s Visual Connections art class) he has been imagining what camera the different characters would use. He has created a 1959 style Leica camera for Laura Hardy (the mom) and a family movie camera (1961) for Fenton, the dad; and has works in progress for the boys and their friends.

     Gail Farris is excited about becoming a grandparent (daughter Kim, class of ’14 is expecting in April).

     Paul Gross writes from Seattle about his high schoolers in remote (now hybrid) school, and the long wait for the vaccines. They expect to be on the East Coast shore for the summer, following expected orthopedic surgery for their son. He has reconnected with senior housemate Rich Macy and Brian Whittier during the pandemic, as well as his freshman year head resident Joe Barrett ’82. When he connected with RA Janet Cranshaw (Mink) ’82, he found that her husband Jonathan Mink ’81 was also an advisor to the NIH and they have collaborated on research together.

     Lee McIntyre has a new book, How to Talk to a Science Denier, to be published by MIT Press in August 2021, and yes, will include a chapter on COVID denial.

     Finally, I received a late note from Sally Bromage (Suhr), who was one of my fellow denizens in Gingerbread House. Everyone in her house is healthy and employed, and she is one of the people who actually did get to long-term projects and cleaning out. She and husband Scott are empty-nesters in Atlanta, and have children in Denver and both Portlands (Oregon and Maine). She will be giving Delta Airlines a lot of business when we are all able to fly again.

     Time marches on. Talk to you all soon.

Greetings everyone! Here we are about to pass the one-year mark for COVID. Who would have believed such a year could happen? Judging from your emails I see many have adapted to a COVID lifestyle and are making the best of it. Flexibility, creativity, and a sense of grace and gratitude permeate your news. Thanks to all who have contributed. Here we go . . .

     Kate Rabinowitz lives in East Hampton, Long Island, teaches at local schools and runs a memorial arts and wellness foundation for her daughter, Anna. The foundation recently joined forces with Kathy Eldon, the founder of Creativevisions.org, a nonprofit organization that supports creative activists who use arts and media to ignite positive change. During the lockdown Kate teaches online and has time to read again, practice yoga, make art, and take a few writing courses at Stanford University extension. Kate lives with Rameshwar Das ’69, who just finished the memoir Being Ram Dass (Sounds True Publisher). Das met the late Rameshwar Dass at Wesleyan while Dass was teaching in the graduate psychology department.

     Frank Wood has lived in New York City since 1984 with his wife, Kay Gayner, who teaches dance for the National Dance Institute, and three cats. He sits on the advisory board of the Workshop Theater (artistic director Thomas Cote), which supports new works by writers of color. Though performance is mostly shut down in New York, Frank has been cast in episodes of a few of the TV shows following strict COVID protocols. He and friend Maddie Corman teach acting class on Zoom under the auspices of the Atlantic Theater Company.       The memory of his dad, Robert C. Wood, Government chair for 10 years at Wesleyan, reminds him to fight the good fight every day.

     Tim Brockett’s Wesleyan degree in earth science enabled him to mine more precious metals from the Rocky Mountains than he will ever need. And, now that he is retired, he is re-reading wonderful books written by incredible authors Hawthorne, Dickens, Defoe, Kipling, Scott, Hemingway and many more. All are included with the 1950s-era “Great Books of the Western World” and deal with the Human Condition in countless imaginative ways. He writes “Now that I have 40 years of adult living and experience, I can understand the authors so much better.” He has enough to read to keep busy for the next 40 years.

      Jan Elliott and her early and world music group Ensemble Passacaglia released its second CD, A Tune for All Seasons in December. She bides her time during the pandemic teaching and rehearsing online. Ken Schneyer’s second short-fiction collection, Anthems Outside Time and Other Strange Voices, was released and received some very nice reviews. He is adapting to teaching remotely and writes he has very little time for much else.

      Karen Adair Miller writes she is safe and healthy during these tough times and is fortunate to keep up with friends and family with Zoom. The fire pit, too, has provided opportunity for small get-togethers! She has taken advantage of the outdoor winter sports and keeps busy with downhill, cross-country skiing, skating, and snow shoeing.

     Wayne Logan has recently published a number of books about the law, including the forthcoming Sentencing Law, Policy & Practice (Foundation Press), The Ex Post Facto Clause: Its History and Role in a Punitive Society (Oxford University Press), and Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws (Cambridge University Press).

Greetings, classmates.

      We’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel here . . . hopefully, by the time this comes out we will be vaccinated and returning to our normal lives, or the new normal.

     Notes are sparse this time. Gary Wishik, an anesthesiologist in upstate New York, writes, “Intubated many people, most of them died,” which is the saddest six-word memoir since Hemingway. He says he’s hoping that the New Order/Pet Shop Boys concert in September in Toronto won’t be cancelled—me too; he deserves a fun night out. Thanks to you, Gary, and to all the members of our class who have been on the front lines during COVID.

     Scientist Greg Lewis has contributed on a different front—he designed and invented the air sampler that can detect coronavirus in air particles, originally developed for the flu. Meanwhile, he and his coworkers have built an air sampler for the International Space Station. Cool!

      We’ve been seeing each other on Zoom a bit. Bob Russo writes that Mark Sirota hosted a gang (John Brautigam, Joe Barrett, Joe Fins, Anthony Pahigian, Mike Greenstein, Mike Levine and Tom Davis) for Zoom trivia, and I’d like to know who won. Meantime Bob and his wife Carol have enlarged their garden and are planting and pickling all kinds of veggies.

      Paul Meltzer writes that due to COVID-delayed municipal elections in Texas, plus a runoff, he wound up spending over a year getting re-elected to a second term on Denton City Council. But he did ultimately manage to defeat the challenger, “a popular local evangelical minister heavily supported by real estate PACs who was running because he is opposed to an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting LGBTQ residents. He’s anti-mask too.” In other words, he writes, “Worth it. Now on to trying to accomplish something worthwhile.” Good luck, Paul.

     Susan Cole is missing her women’s writing workshop at York Correctional Institute, and is glad, at 80, that she has received her vaccine.

      Life during COVID has brought a lot of changes for Karen Paz. She and her husband moved to their place in Maine in March and decided to sell their house in New Jersey and make Maine a full-time thing. They’re enjoying being in a rural spot with a frozen lake. “One of the very few blessings of COVID!”

     Joe Fins has used his time during the pandemic to play cello! He began taking lessons at Wes, “a lifelong dream inspired by playing Schubert’s String Quintet on WESU one winter afternoon when I hosted Classics for Lunch,” he says. On a lark he asked Paul Halliday, a cellist in the Wes Orchestra and classmate, for a lesson, but decided it was too much to combine cello with the College of Letters and pre-med. “So fast forward a few decades and I started. I am an errant student and don’t practice as much as I should or want but I do love the instrument and am committed to doing this as long as I am able.” Now we know whom to tap for our next Class Notes Live.

   On a sad note, Vernon L. Martin, originally from Oxford, Mississippi, passed away September 28, 2020, in Brooklyn, NY, where he had been a resident since graduating Wesleyan with a BA in theater in 1982. He later studied fictional character development at Columbia University, and screenwriting at New York University. Vernon worked for the New York City Public Library for years, and intermittently at Seward and Kissel, LLP, while pursuing his passions for theater, writing, poetry, and fashion.
In the mid-1980s he worked with the Wesleyan-grad-based Mumbo Jumbo Theatre collective, an early and earnest attempt in New York City theater to model what was then called “multi-cultural” representation. Vernon worked diligently behind the scenes and as an active participant in workshops developing content. The group was co-founded by his friend Vashti DuBois ’83 (with Tim Raphael ’84 and Akiva Goldsman ’83, all Wesleyan graduates) and included Vernon’s life-long friends cf blackchild (Carlia Francis, ’82) and Renée Bucciarelli, ’83, among others. Later in life, Vernon had his “thirty-minute claim to fame” as a contestant on the television game show, Jeopardy.

    He is survived by his sister Barbara Ann (Wadley), and brothers Raymond, Sammy, Danny, and Barry, along with their families; he was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Vickie, and brother Larry.

Vernon is remembered lovingly by his family and his friends, including Audra Edwards, Sharron Edwards, Margie Wilder, Curtis Brown, Roxanne Fagan, James Jones, Renée Bucciarelli, Carlia Francis, Vashti DuBois, Sharon Alves, Russell Tucker, Pastor Timothy P. Taylor Sr. of the Hebron Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY and his congregation.

     I had a fun 60th birthday in February seeing a few Wes faces on Zoom, including Jonathan Weber, who has returned to San Francisco from Singapore; Steedman Hinckley and Lisa Farnsworth (she’s been painting up a storm during the pandemic, with gorgeous work); Danielle and Jordan Rudess; Marc Mowrey ’83 and his wife Susie Davis. My husband Peter Eckart ’86 and I are playing music with virtuoso jazz pianist John Baker ’84 and others in our Socially Distanced Jazz Band (I get to sing with the band because I feed them soup). Meanwhile, I had a piece in the Washington Post about how Zooming with my emotionally crusty dad has made him open up after all these years. Also during the pandemic, Peter and I renovated the house next door to the one I’ve had in San Miguel de Allende for several years, giving a Mexican artist and designer the chance to let his imagination run wild, with cool results.

     Here’s to silver linings.

Greetings from Brooklyn! I write this on the first day of March. I’m still working remotely for the most part (I love my commute, but . . .).
By now I hope that many of you have enjoyed our rolling virtual reunion. Some of you have earned prizes and awards, which you will see below.  I also hope you all will have received the “vaccine prize” by the time this magazine finds its way into your mailbox.

  Speaking of vaccines, Chris Graves writes, “My behavioral science work has been full-on, focused on vaccine hesitancy and pandemic behavior. I have been working with WHO, UNICEF, and supporting fellow Wesleyan alum John Borthwick ’87 who is CEO of Betaworks, and a founder of COVID Tech Task Force, which supports the rollout of the Apple-Google Exposure Notification app. And I have been working with our own nonprofit called NOCOVID (https://nocovid.us), which engaged stars like Chris Rock and Wanda Sykes for healthy behavior messaging. NOCOVID also put Matthew McConaughey and Tiffany Haddish each one-on-one with Dr. Fauci to ask tough questions their fans wanted to hear answers to.” His CNN appearances can be found on Vimeo.

     Charlie Spiegel writes, “I’m a teaching assistant in a University of San Francisco class called Queering Religion, taught by the former rabbi of my congregation who is now a chaplain at this Jesuit institution of higher education. Repeat that sentence a couple of times for effect. It’s an online hour-long weekly discussion group, with them prompting me with questions they feel are relevant to their class sessions, which I do not attend. It’s a very smart way to make remote learning more engaging, with six of us TAs (all Jewish) running separate groups.  My three undergraduates range from 21 to 29 with several different sexuality identities. Since they are asking about for example what it was like for me to come out, which was at the beginning of my sophomore year at Wesleyan, some of you are playing roles in my remembrances (known or unbeknownst to you!) At its best, our discussions look at the overlap of experiences, like growing up Jewish in a non-Jewish country being one experience that gave me the strength and personal confidence to come out as gay and an activist in a predominately heterosexual world. All seems a very Wesleyan-type experience.”

      Leslie Sundt Stratton and her husband are empty nesters. “Our older daughter is now a licensed vet working an internship in hopes of becoming a veterinary surgeon. Our younger daughter is a forensic chemist in Vermont who spends one day a week testing COVID samples and just signed a contract to buy a condo. How time flies!” 

     Leslie is still an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, also serving as department chair. “Like so many academics, I have moved classes online and am working hard to keep my students engaged. Our chief hobby/vice is travel—of course that is still on hold. We are glad we went on safari in Tanzania in 2019.” Leslie is in touch regularly with classmates Diane Goldstein Stein, Karen Zallen and Heidi Falk. “Zooming can be fun.”

      Mark Saba’s latest book, A Luke of All Ages / Fire and Ice (two novellas), was recently published by Adelaide Books (New York/Lisbon). “Also, I will be retiring in June after 33 years as a medical illustrator and graphic designer at Yale University. My wife and I are building a house in Maine and plan to settle there.”

    Kenneth Michael Bent (noting that he was “originally 1980, but finished mid-year with the group then known as 80.5”) was recently elected to Eastern Massachusetts’s Episcopal Diocese Executive Committee as a lay representative. He is a two-time past master of the Freemasons of Massachusetts, in addition to spending the past 17 years as a software engineer.

    Now to prizes and awards:

   The National Press Foundation has named global economics correspondent David Lynch and three Washington Post colleagues as this year’s winners of the Hinrich Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade. “The award carries a $10,000 prize, divided among the four of us.”

   Brian Tarbox got his 10th patent. Also, Amazon Web Services declared Brian a Community Hero. “There are less than 200 of these worldwide.”

     Amy Feil Phillips is transitioning from creative director and graphic designer to fine artist, and was recently selected as one of 15 finalists for the 51st Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts’ Emerging Artist Program in Tampa. The annual festival draws artists from across the country to vie for the $15,000 Raymond James Best of Show Award and an additional $65,000 in awards. Phillips has a collection of awards, such as Best of Show in the International Society of Acrylic Painters 11th Annual Exhibition in 2017 as well as local, regional and national American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards. Phillips was recognized nationally in the Print Regional Design Annual and has developed branding for Tampa Electric, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa Bay Water, Eckerd Connects, and Heartbeat International, among others.  With an MBA in Marketing, Phillips has also taught Advertising and Graphic Design at the University of South Florida.

     Congrats to all!

     Finally, on behalf of our class, we send our deepest condolences to Wendy Kosakoff, whose husband, David Kohane ’80, passed away in February. Read her beautiful tribute in the Class of 1980 notes.

Thank you, wonderful Wes ‘80 classmates, for all your responses to my late request for submissions – maybe a benefit of our all being stuck at home after a year of the Covid pandemic.

David Garfield was the first to send his update and save the day: “I am still alive. Still an immigration attorney. Still living with my wife Jung Hwa and youngest daughter 17 in Honolulu. She is attending Iolani and loves musical theater and hates ultimate frisbee. Up to 4 grandkids, my granddaughter #4  born last month on my birthday..yay. no more ultimate ugh.” 

For many around the world, this past year has been a period of time of great loss. On behalf of our class and Wesleyan, I send our deepest condolences to Wendy Kosakoff ’81, “I share with profound sadness that my husband, David Kohane, passed away at the end of February from pancreatic cancer. David and I met at Wesleyan in Clark Hall in 1977 and got married at Russell House in 1982. He was my best friend and the love of my life and the father of our three wonderful sons.

And to Demie Stathoplos, “It’s been a time of loss for my extended family: my close cousins, sisters and I lost my mom, two aunts and an uncle in a 3 month period, between November 2020 and February 2021. All were close to or older than 90 years old, but it was still a lot to experience, especially needing to be distanced from each other. I’ve spent the past 6 years managing my parents’ medical and financial affairs, so the death of my mom (after the passing of my dad 3 years ago) has ended a significant part of my day-to-day work. My husband Dan has been working for Boston University from home since March, and my 21-year old son Alex tried online college courses, but found the experience was not for him. It’s rough launching as a young adult in the middle of a pandemic. Our dog Karma has seen a lot more of us, but much less of our friends she used to play with. I’m a volunteer climate activist, and have been busy (on Zoom) with 350Mass in my hometown of Newton, as well as with UU Mass Action. I’m also leading a group of city staff and civic volunteers in implementing communication of the city’s Climate Action Plan. This past year I gave (Zoom) talks at my church as well as to the greater Boston area about taking action on climate change. I’m also on a leadership team at my church teaching an anti-racism curriculum (The Richmond Pledge to End Racism). I stay in touch with Nancy Stier and Sharon Grady. For Dan and my 20th wedding anniversary, we traveled in July 2018 to Alaska, and got to spend time with Scott Taylor in Anchorage. The trip was amazing, and included both seeing Mt Denali from below, and taking a plane ride to a glacier on the mountain.  Given the work I’ve been doing on the climate, I’m thinking about how to minimize my air travel in the future. I hope we get to see each other in person in the near future.”

Jay Borden, “Amazing what difference in mindset a vaccination can create. Somber to upbeat. Dimly present to planning for the future. The change in Administration helps. I can read again instead of ceaselessly doom-scrolling. Now, I’m right in the middle of planning our first post-vaccination trip to go see my brother in Albuquerque and my youngest daughter in Santa Monica. My wife gets her second jab early April, so we can start looking forward to a little more light. 

Carolyn Sullivan, “This time last year I was visiting relatives in England when I had to cut my trip short due to COVID. Everyone has COVID tales to tell, I’m sure, so I won’t go there, but suffice it to say that as an introvert I have been doing just fine. My husband and I have evaded the dreaded virus (knock on wood), I’m happy to report, and are looking forward to getting vaccinated and seeing our similarly vaccinated friends and family SOON! My sister and her husband recently moved to Nashville–it’s been almost 25 years since I had family on my doorstep, so that’s wonderful. My husband and I are working on our third self-produced album of original songs in our home studio–these projects are always fulfilling, but especially so during the pandemic. Our music falls into (or between!) different genres… Rock, pop, blues, even a little bluegrass/folk… We studied songwriting in Nashville but apply the principles to just about everything but straight-ahead country! You should be able to find us on iTunes or Spotify under Carolyn and Dickie Sullivan. Our last two CDs are “Love and the Cold, Hard Ground” and “Sail On Through.” I’m trying to up my audio engineering game via lots of YouTube videos and online courses, which is definitely keeping me out of trouble! I’ve lost touch with most of the people I knew while at Wesleyan, I’m afraid, but I always like reading the Class Notes!”

Chris Carey, “I wanted to shout out to all my Psi U Brothers from Cleveland, Ohio. I have resided here with my wife Donna since leaving ol’ Wes and have two grown boys who both reside and work at opposite ends of California in San Diego and San Francisco. We are scheduled for our Pfizer two shot this week and are excited to go visit them in the coming months. We hope to head east to Middletown sometime this fall and pay a visit to our Connecticut friends Earl Mix and Marshall Stearns, not to mention Bruce Bunnell in Boston where my brother resides. I continue to manage money for my clients providing Financial Planning services as an Independent Advisor and made the switch to independence after 30 years working for the man. I can see this continuing for another 15-plus years God willing. Keep us posted on our reunion timeline, as I would love to see everyone on the grounds of Foss Hill. Maybe Orleans or Todd Rundgren can pay us a surprise concert visit!”

Prompted by cabin fever and a lack of exercise, Faith Fuller (started with class of 1980, diploma reads 1981) wrote: “I am in Mexico, travelling around the Puerto Vallarta area, swimming in the Pacific, taking long walks, and working from my laptop. In 2020 I surpassed my goal of raising $10 million for nonprofits (partly due to the CARES Act releasing additional funds) so I had a productive year, but felt physically run down.  I’ve been out of the country since January and am taking all the precautions to stay COVID safe; which is not hard with all of the out of door markets.  I work as an independent consultant/contractor and my clients are 3 Substance Abuse Treatment providers in the Oakland/Berkeley area, 2 providers of services to the homeless (one to adults, the other to youth) in Alameda County CA, 3 nonprofits working with black youth in Compton CA and Oakland CA, the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives; and another who provides in prison programming. Love it!” 

Peter Scharf noted that he came to Pune, Maharashtra after his fellowship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla ended at the end of December. He and his wife are teaching Sanskrit on-line and just announced their spring and summer course in Sanskrit and Prakrit (sanskritlibrary.org/coursesnow).  They plan to return to their home in Iowa in April.

David Claman, “My wife, Sunita Vatuk, and I have been enduring the pandemic in Queens, NY. I’ve been teaching music online at Lehman College-CUNY since March 2020, and for 12 years before that. At this point I’m thinking of retiring to have more time to write music. I’ve been able to complete two projects in the past year, although not because the pandemic allowed me more time to do so. In October 2020, I released a CD of my own compositions entitled “Gradus” on Albany Records. I’m quite happy with the variety of music and the quality of performances. It can be streamed on Spotify and other platforms. More information is available at: https://davidclaman.com. More recently, I released something entirely different (for me) on YouTube, which is an arrangement of Wes Montgomery’s classic “Bumpin’ on Sunset.” Aside from me faking that I can play jazz piano, the four other players are excellent young Hindustani classical musicians who I worked with for several months in New Delhi in 2019 while I was on a Fulbright grant and a visiting professor at Delhi University. Their interpretation and improvisations bring new dimensions to the tune. It is on YouTube with an accompanying music video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhwH0cPkAJA.

Vic Tredwell, “I remain as Station Manager for the community radio station of Belfast, Maine (WBFY).  We’ve survived the pandemic well. I set the station up from the start to allow remote programming of shows, so I was seen as prescient when the bug came along and made it required.  Not true, but I’ll take it. We have replaced a number of cancelled events with radio versions, such as Belfast’s monthly contra dance and the New Years Eve concerts. The station’s latest fund-raising project is selling off an amazing collection of 78-rpm records that were donated to us.  Any collectors out there?….”

Alan Jacobs, “I just returned from what was supposed to be a one-month trip to visit my daughter, Avia, in Tel Aviv but it turned into three months because my friends in New York said stay there, the beach beside my apartment agreed, and then I heard that because I’m over 60, I could get vaccinated. I was never so happy to be this age. After the second jab, I had a lovely dinner with Jeff Green ’80, who lives in Tel Aviv part-time, and our two daughters, who are about the same age. While Avia and Lia were chatting it up, I turned to Jeff and said, “That’s our daughters.”  Jeff nodded, “Yep.” As for Israel, the good news is it’s a democracy — the only one in the region — and as Jews, we can get involved and have real influence. I’m not interested in politics but many of my friends there went out every Saturday night to join protests in Jerusalem demanding Netanyahu’s resignation.  The country has many challenges and social ills, but democracy itself is alive and well and Israelis are very active participants in it.“

My daughter and I are on right.

Mark Zitter, “I’ve taken advantage of COVID isolation to reconnect with some old friends. I have regular 3-way Zoom calls with Scott Hecker (still working in biotech in San Diego) and Paul Singarella (a retired attorney who just moved to Florida). I do the same with Irene Chu (still a graphic designer in the Boston area) and we’re trying to rope Julie Burstein into those calls. Julie is working with my wife, Jessica, on some radio programs and podcasts related to end-of-life issues. Julie also has worked with my daughter, Tessa (Wes ’21), on two podcasts. My wife and I recently hosted a virtual cooking class and dinner party with four couples, one of which included Daryl Messenger. Last month I chatted with Rick Smith, who lives in DC and is a top pharma consultant. I’m also in touch with Paul Oxholm, Jane Polin, and Melissa Stern (as well as her husband, Jim Friedlich ’78). I’m in a busy semi-retirement phase, hosting many COVID-related programs for the Commonwealth Club (https://www.commonwealthclub.org) (including Biden senior advisor Andy Slavitt this month). It was great seeing so many of our classmates during last year’s reunion calls. Hope all are staying healthy and sane.”

Halsey Frank, “Here’s my decennial update: After 34 years with the Department of Justice, I retired as US Attorney for the District of Maine this past February. I never expected to stay that long but found I liked the people and the work, and before I knew it the years were gone. I am taking a break to decide what to do next and would like to find a way to continue some of the civic education initiatives I started as US Attorney. Otherwise, our daughter Laura just moved back to New York City to resume her independence and continue working for a startup.  Our son Alex is on track to graduate from college this May, albeit likely without the customary pomp and circumstance.  My wife Eva continues to do the many manner of things that she has done since she stopped practicing law when we moved to Maine years ago. Our dogs, Jeeves and Henry, keep each other company and us entertained.”

Ellen Haller, “I happily retired in July 2018 after 30 yrs on the full-time faculty in the UCSF School of Medicine and am so relieved to not be Director of a Psychiatry Clinic during a pandemic! My wife is Chief of Infectious Disease at UCSF, so it’s been a rather busy time for her…The only silver lining in this pandemic is that our son unexpectedly moved back home after recently graduating from college, and he has become a quite successful professional magician including a performance on the Penn & Teller TV show, “Fool Us,” and regular Zoom shows for corporations, private parties, and ticketed audiences (danielroymagic.com).”

Amy Natterson Kroll, “All is well here. I’ve been very lucky as I had a home office set up from when I had a home business 20 years ago, so when my office went remote over a weekend in mid-March, I missed nary a beat. We had our son with us for the first seven weeks of the pandemic, then he drove across the country to start his new job in Utah when things seemed to be getting under control, and two weeks later our daughter and her then 2 year old arrived for 7 weeks. It was wonderful, and exhausting! In the autumn we decamped for the mountains of Idaho where I worked remotely for 5 weeks, and then back to DC, where we have been increasingly reclusive, pending my getting a vaccine. There have been wonderful silver linings, and lots of reminding ourselves of our great fortune in staying healthy (so far).  I have hiked weekly in the parks in DC that I had driven through for 38 years; I have walked through numerous neighborhoods now quiet as life in northwest DC remains pretty much WFH; I have become very proficient at building a campfire in our two firepits; and over last the summer I grew a bumper crop of string beans, onions, rosemary and radishes. Hopefully, society will stay slower, children will continue to play outside and the air will stay a bit clearer once we can all fully emerge.”

Jono Cobb shared that “Like many of our classmates fortunate enough to have that option, my wife Suzzanne and I have been riding out the pandemic in the country which in our case is Martha’s Vineyard. We are also fortunate to have been able, since last March, to switch our teaching jobs to remote versions. I was already using Powerpoint slides as the basis for riffing about anatomy and physiology with my undergrad students. Suzzanne’s voice and music history curriculum was a tougher conversion. By summer our daughter, Jordan, will be living in Harlem near Rachel Christmas Derrick, with whom I’m in frequent Facebook contact.”

     Speaking of Rachel Christmas Derrick, she is “Still pinching myself that I’m actually making a decent living as a writer and editor. Writing is the only thing I ever dreamed of doing for a living. Despite the pandemic, 2020 was relatively kind to my family: I was promoted to assistant vice president and managing editor of the financial services nonprofit where I’ve worked for three years. My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. Our daughter graduated magna cum laude from Yale, made Phi Beta Kappa, and went to Oxford, where she’s getting her international relations master’s in refugee and forced migration studies. Our son, now a junior at Wesleyan studying history and chemistry, was accepted into Columbia University’s three-summer pre-med program. Neysa Dillon Brown, Adrienne Kelly Lumpkin, Vicki Wilson, Michelle Morancie, Wanda Wardlaw Matthews, Jeanette Talavera, Becky Vazquez, Jay Hoggard, Allison Brown, Mora McLean, and quite a few other Wesleyanites remain in my life 46 years on.”

     “I (Denise Giacomozzi) am a volunteer with the COVID Grief Network, a volunteer-run mutual aid network that offers free 1:1 and group grief support to young adults in their 20s and 30s who are grieving the serious illness or loss of someone to COVID-19. We continue to see an increase in the number of young adults who are requesting our support, and we are in need of more volunteers to offer care.” Please visit the Wes notes online for a full description and websites.

     In her first ever alumni note, Jane McCoy Dausner reports, “40 years ago, I graduated from Columbia University with my master’s and have been working in hospice and palliative medicine ever since. I married my high school sweetheart the same year, and we have three daughters, three sons-in-law and four grands. I continued with athletics, playing and coaching tennis, basketball and softball; my girls are now coaching their kids. I got nationally ranked in singles 10 years ago. I urge all alums to consider putting “donor” on your driver’s license; this is very close to my heart, having donated a kidney to my sister 20 years ago. What an experience! I wish you all health, safety and peace through these challenging times; times that always provide opportunities for learning and improvement. Would love to hear from Jane Alexander Gutcher and Beverly Hinton!”

     Matt Okun and his wife Annie are headed back to Matt’s old stomping grounds in DC. They are looking forward to spending time with Casey Dinges and his family, high school buddies, Annie’s two grandkids in Alexandria and Matt’s daughters and granddaughters in Philly and Brooklyn. “What a long, strange trip it’s been! Planning to be teaching this fall, not even contemplating retirement.”

     Peter Campbell writes “While we don’t see each other in person because of COVID, Zoom, texts, emails and even Facebook keep a bunch of us ’79ers together including George Dupaul, Tim Fitz, Gary Breitbord, Mike Scacca, and Frank Hauser. All of us were roommates at some point. There is always some very intelligent thread on family, sports, politics or the weather. Everyone’s memory is still good as no one has forgotten anything embarrassing anyone else has ever done. A larger group of late ’70s DKEs has a twice monthly happy hour call which re-creates the old DKE Friday afternoon bar experience from our era.”

     Architect Willie Lee Jones shared an article about him and his path to becoming director of parks and recreation of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. “We’re an expansive park and recreation department with over 230 facilities. We are an NRPA CAPRA accredited department, have the Carolina Star Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor, and we’re the only park and recreation department in the state that does.” To read the full article: http://blog.mecknc.gov/park-director/

     Stephen Lewin-Berlin finally retired last year from a career of starting software companies. “I was on the founding team for half a dozen or so, and several were quite successful. Unfortunately, our plans to travel extensively in retirement were curtailed by the pandemic. Our home life, here in a cohousing community in Acton, Massachusetts, is filled with dancing and drumming, reading and video binges, and social and political activism with a focus on anti-racist work, voting rights and environmental action. With three kids scattered across the world (Australia, California and Massachusetts) our family visits have become virtual online experiences, but with vaccines coming fast, we hope to travel again.”

     Alan Scott advised me that Mark Miller tracked Alan down recently and told him that their mutual friend, Bruce Hardesty, died in 2017. Bruce and Alan had been out of touch for many years. They lived in the same dorm or apartment for four years at Wesleyan; Bruce was a good friend.

Greetings Classmates. It’s early March as I compile our class notes and realize it was exactly one year ago that we, and the whole world, were just beginning to experience a dramatic change in our daily lives the likes of which we had never experienced. Thankfully, it appears there’s a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. No doubt each of you has your own “COVID Story” to tell and hopefully it contains some silver linings as we’ll see with the following classmates’ shared updates:

     John Rose resides in Connecticut and New York City with two children and three pups. He continues his work as a consultant and has been spending the last year helping New York State on COVID-
related issues: “modeling economic harm; helping to draft approach and industry guidelines for reopening the economy; and standing up vaccine program.” His son is a freshman at Wesleyan and his daughter is a second-year student at William & Mary. His wife, Elizabeth, left her job as deputy chancellor for operations at New York City Department of Education and is now CFO of Publicolor, an education nonprofit, and is volunteering at Foodbank in Connecticut.

      Jodi Wilinsky Hill wrote from Maui: “Life is mostly good. All things considered. I am blessed with fabulous work contracts­—all that have me working on behalf of equity and access, changing the experience for those who have lived in chronic poverty and many who have been subjected to systemic racism. My Wednesday Zooms with Wes friends have been a lifeline. And my first grandbaby, born in December, brings me tremendous joy and hope. My partner’s family hails from Maui and since he “had to” come to Maui, I tagged along. I am working from a lanai overlooking a few smaller islands, and when I have the time to look up I often catch a glimpse of a humpback whale. They never fail to thrill!”

     Nancy McCabe, classmate and wife of Pat McCabe, checked in from Santa Monica, California. She commented, “One personal upside to the pandemic has been transcontinental Zoom cocktails with a ’78 sextet including Susie Bates, Jodi Hill, Suki Hoagland, Moira James, Pat McCabe and a semi-alum, Nancy McCabe. We’re a busy crew! There are engagements, weddings, grandchildren and thriving careers keeping us all happy, busy and covid-free!”

     David Weild is living in New York and “commuting from bedroom to living room (like most of the rest of the world) with stops at the gym.” His company, Weild & Co, “a decentralized investment bank” has a presence in 17 states and is growing. According to David, “they are bringing ‘Wall Street to Main Street.’” He’s also been involved in several Acts that have been passed into law, all “basic economic activism trying to bring back upward mobility, especially to poor communities and to advance US competitiveness.” His kids are in or about to head off to college with two of the three at Tulane. David writes that he is still friends/connected with Kaylie Jones, Dr. Seth Gendler, Muffy Brown, and Dr. Olivia (Lucille) Lanna. He and his wife, Christi, are plotting an exodus from the state of New York but struggling over what to do about parents who are 90 and in New York.

      Rachael N. Pine is also safely WFH in Brooklyn, New York. While ensconced in her home office, she “has the pleasure of sharing the journey of two adult children who are each in their first year of a graduate program­—one at Yale/Nursing and one at UC Berkeley/Urban Planning—that has them totally engaged and charged with the pleasure (and, yes, stress) of learning ‘stuff’ that will empower them to make a difference in the world.”

      Steve Reynolds and his wife, Beth, have been healthy and safe with respect to COVID, but miss seeing their sons who live on the West Coast whom they haven’t seen in over a year. Steve retired from the energy industry about a year and a half ago; they sold their New Hampshire home last July and have moved to Vero Beach, Florida. He and Beth love the warm climate where they are able to stay physically active outdoors, and he’s hopeful (like the rest of us!) to resume visiting family and friends later this year.

     Elise Wagner has lived in Chappaqua, New York for many years and practices law at Kramer Levin in New York City, where she is a partner in the Land Use Department. There were silver linings to this past difficult year for her as she was named the 2021 Woman of the Year by WX Women Executives in Real Estate, an organization of senior-level women in real estate in New York City. The award will be presented at an event this November, which she hopes will be in  person. Her twin daughters and her two grandchildren are perpetual highlights although seeing her Atlanta grandchildren only once in 2020 was hard to bear. She hopes for many more visits in 2021.

     Pete Lewis and his wife are enjoying splitting their time between homes in Wake Forest, North Carolina and Newcastle, Maine. He’s not sure how 65 crept up on him or how his friends got so old but I bet many of us can relate to those sentiments! Pete finds his two-and-a-half-year-old grandson a “wonderful bundle of energy” and perhaps a great distraction as he explores this thing called “retirement.”

     Yours truly (Susie) will always treasure the closeness my husband, Nick, and I developed with our four-generation (from ages 87 to three) COVID pod here in Duxbury over the last year. I also wholeheartedly agree with Jodi and Nancy about the joy our “Wesleyan Wednesdays” continue to bring. As things in our lives begin to open up and “go back to normal” may we hold fast to all the silver linings and may we appreciate as never before in-person social gatherings and real hugs!

The world seems a bit brighter these days: literally with added daylight hours, as well as better news with vaccinations arriving and COVID case numbers dropping. People are beginning to make plans again, even seeing weddings that were deferred in 2020 rescheduled for later this year. All welcome news! In addition, classmates supplied some updates from their respective bubbles.

     William Altman sent along a cover of his most recent book, Ascent to the Beautiful­—Plato the Teacher and the Pre-Republic Dialogues from Protagoras to Symposium. The reviews are very positive. Susan White writes in that she moved to Brookline, Massachusetts with her partner Jonathan and enjoys being a condo owner and not having to shovel. Her son graduated from social work school and got married in November in a COVID-approved socially-distanced ceremony. Sue’s daughter is teaching locally at Teach for America.

     Steve Gold writes that he and wife Sue are living in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where they moved after becoming empty nesters in 2012. At the start of 2021, Steve retired after serving 28 years as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of New York and has joined JAMS, beginning a new chapter with a private mediation and arbitration service. Like many in our class he received his second vaccine dose and is now planning trips to join family he has not seen in over a year. Steve remains in close touch with Andy Adesman and Rick Dennett and can report good health and eager anticipation for more normal circumstances moving forward.

     Bob Krakower now lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with wife Rosalie Burrows, whom he met in law school. He took early retirement moving to Montserrat, a small Caribbean island, but eventually moved back to the States because of a continuing volcanic eruption. Everyone, including children and grandchildren, are doing well. Friends from Wesleyan, especially Jonathan Gertler and Joanne Silver ’74, are still among Bob’s closest friends.

      Rachel Feldman is grateful to have been able to continue to help her fellow New Yorkers during this pandemic via teletherapy, after 30 years of providing “in person” psychotherapy in Manhattan. Mark Slitt is not retired, but is fully vaccinated, which is big news. John Fink got the dreaded COVID disease and after many months, had no sense of taste (some would argue that has been the case for 60+ years) and limited sense of smell.

     Joe Mabel retired in December 2020 from the software industry and has plunged back into music. He started The Weill Project dedicated to the work of the German (later American) composer Kurt Weill (who happened to be a distant relative of this writer). Hank Rosenfeld recently went hiking in Death Valley National Park with Bob Rees. Hank is working on an oral history of KSAN-FM in San Francisco, the first hippie underground freeform radio station, founded in the Summer of Love.

     Don Spencer bought a home in St. Augustine, on the Intracoastal. He and wife Vicki will be splitting their time between Connecticut and Florida; we have all been invited to visit. Cindee Howard writes that after leaving the hospitality industry decimated by the pandemic, she is enjoying retirement by taking Hebrew classes via Zoom, has been renovating bathrooms, and plans to travel to Israel this November. Cindee sends a big thanks to Amy Fisher, who introduced her to Israeli folk-dancing the first Wednesday night we were at Wesleyan.    

     Iddy Olson is now fully vaccinated. She will be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming being a doting grandmother as her son (my godson Des) has had baby number two. Iddy is grateful for her good health and that of her husband who had a tough 2020; they survived well in their first year of marriage during the pandemic year. It must get easier from here on. Carol Cooper passed her oral exams for her PhD in Jungian and archetypal psychology. She now returns to NYU as Doctor Cooper, to resume teaching part time as an adjunct professor at the Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music. In addition to teaching, Carol continues to write about pop music and culture.

    Here’s to wishing everyone good health and may we all be vaccinated by the time you all read this.

     It will be great for us to look forward to our 45th Reunion in 2022 when we may get to hug one another.

Alan Miller was recently named “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian magazine. Thirteen years ago, after a full career as a journalist, Alan founded the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan resource for educators and the public to develop critical thinking skills for evaluating news and information. One of the great features of NLP is the Checkology virtual classroom, a tool to help students and educators recognize credible news stories.

     Tom Kovar is still working at the V.A. and living near Northampton.  He’s still struggling with health issues that arose in part from a possible case of COVID last winter but remains cheerful and optimistic.  Given that gigging is out of the question right now, Tom has been continuing to play and write songs, and has found outlets for sharing music online. He’s looking forward to travelling to the Cape and to seeing friends and family in person again—soon!

     Arvid Bloom retired eight years ago after teaching psychology at West Chester University for 25 years. He remains active in his local photography club near Philadelphia; all meetings have been virtual lately. He enjoys taking long daily walks with spouse Gretchen, who retired from veterinary practice when he retired. Their 30th wedding anniversary is quickly approaching. He also stays in close touch with his 100-year-old dad, often remoting into his dad’s computer in Rhode Island to keep it running smoothly and to teach new computer skills.

     Ken Wagman reports that after transferring to UC Santa Cruz as a junior, he stayed in Santa Cruz—and he’s still there! He has been teaching math at Gavilan Community College in Gilroy and is looking forward to the day when he can leave Zoom behind and return to the classroom. He’s a member of the local masters swim team, working to swim 100 yards in fewer seconds than his age in years. Ken says he’ll retire when teaching is no longer fun.

     Jaimee Kurfirst spent the first 20 years of her career in advertising TV production, and the next 20 years as a high school English teacher. She and her husband are now happily retired and have moved to Morristown to be with their grandsons.  They’ve been able to spend the quarantine with their family in beautiful rural New Jersey.

     Joe Reiff just retired after 30 years teaching religious studies at Emory & Henry College. He spent the second semester of junior year at Millsaps College in Mississippi, with the intention of returning to Wes for senior year. But he fell in love and stayed at Millsaps, and he and his wife have just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.  They’ve retired to Abingdon, Virginia to be near their three adult children and three grandchildren. Joe writes: “I loved teaching and will miss working with students; I won’t miss grading and assessment.”  In 2016 Oxford University Press published his book Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society.

     Polly Hays writes: “My personal COVID story is that I got sick in March 2020, just as Colorado was shutting down. Not sick enough to get tested at a time when tests were reserved for those on the verge of needing hospitalization, but in June I went for an antibody test out of curiosity, and it came back positive. I am now tested monthly as part of a study at Kaiser, and as of this note, still have antibodies 10 months after my presumed COVID. Some of my pandemic pastimes have included yoga, Feldenkrais, and qi gong classes in my living room; Zoom sings; and bike riding.”

     Carol Bellhouse is riding out the pandemic in Victoria, British Columbia, where she notes that the people are nice, the architecture is gorgeous, and spring flowers are in bloom. (Sorry, Texans.) She continues to write books, make movies, and practice law.

     David Harmin (I begged him to give me a note) says: “I’m still happy and privileged to be doing bioinformatics in Mike Greenberg’s neuroscience lab at Harvard Medical School. I miss visiting my two adult sons, who are scattered to the winds, one a geographer near Raleigh, North Carolina and the other a martial arts expert who is managing a pot shop in Saskatoon. I’d love to hear from Bernie Possidente and Jabez McLelland.”

     Keep in touch! Send me notes at any time; you don’t have to wait for the inevitable mass email plea we send out three times a year.