Author: Randi Alexandra Plake

Greetings from the great Midwest! I have much news to report in these early months of 2018. Jeremy Kenner writes from down under: “No guns? No Trump? Sound good? Come to Australia!” Jeremy is currently living in Melbourne, has been in Australia for 17 years—and has no regrets. He still works for the government as an adviser in the field of health and research ethics. On a more personal note, he adds, he has reentered the world of childrearing and has five sons ages 31, 29, 27, 10 (step), and a 5-year old “as beautiful as they come!” Jeremy also invites anyone who is ever in the neighborhood to look him up.

Congrats to Gail Marowitz, who was nominated this year for her fourth Grammy (she actually won back in 2006)! This year it was for Best Recording Package for her art direction for Jonathan Coulter’s vinyl LP Solid State. Check out thevisualstrategist.com for more insights. Gail splits her time between a studio in the West Village and a 130-year old church along the river in the Hudson Valley.

Robin Frank enjoyed a fun evening catching up with Katy Ward Koch and Amy Curtis in the D.C. area. Robin is married to Geoff Megargee, a historian at the Holocaust Museum; they have a guitar-playing, skateboarding 15-year-old son named Ruslan. Robin writes, “I recently left a 30-plus year career in the federal service to became the associate general counsel for International Law at NASA, where some days, I do get to dance with the stars!”—not something that too many of us can say! Congrats, Robin!

Barbara Johnston wrote in from Rochester, N.Y., where she works as a city planner with an architectural and engineering firm. Her nights and weekends, however, are kept busy with her passion: percussion. “My main musical outlet is Brazilian Batucada, and the occasional Bossa Nova jazz or square dance gig.” Last November, Barbara attended the International Folk Music Film Festival in Kathmandu where, she writes, “I screened a short film in which I played drums. Hanging out with ethnomusicologists and listening to traditional music from around the world brought me back to Wesleyan roots!”

From the Bay Area, Ariel Rubissow Okomoto, a Wes Science-in-Society grad, writes of her family, “We are still helplessly West Coast, as my husband, Paul, and I continue to try and save the planet. Our daughters have picked up the vibe: Tira (24) is working on the San Francisco Pre-Disaster Challenge of Resilient Design and Mikki (20) is studying architecture with a focus on public urban projects.”

Brenda Zlamany, a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, had an exhibition called Brenda Zlamany: 100/100, on view at the Derfner Judaica Museum from September to January. The exhibition featured 100 watercolor portraits of residents of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale.

Congratulations go out to David Lynch, who joined the Washington Post as their national and global economics correspondent, after a storied career at The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and USA Today. Dave, who has three sons, lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Kathleen. He is also author of the book, When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again.

Paul DiSanto wrote in with lots of news: Dan Haar has left his long-time job at the Hartford Courant to take on new challenges with the Connecticut Hearst Newspapers. In Denver, Paul caught up with Lisa Greim, Julie Richman, and Michele Vion who are all doing well. From KC, Lou Scimecca and Tony DiFolco send greetings, though the absence of our dear classmate Brad Toomey leaves a hole in the hearts of the KC crowd. Paul reports that several of our classmates left long-term careers for other pursuits, time with family, and retirement (!): Jim Baker retired from Unilever; Jon Duane, from McKinsey; Rick Ciullo, from Chubb. Tim O’Brien retired from Blue Cross of Massachusetts. Many Wes alumni attended an informal party for him in Narragansett, R.I., including classmates Bill Stack and Pete Pezzelli. On campus, Paul often runs into Sandy Herzlich and Barb Martin, Ellen Jewett, Ed Suslovic, Delcy Ziac Fox, Mark Molina, Nancy Parker Wilson, Diane Goldstein, and David Resnick.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

This is the year many of us turn 60. Happy birthday to all! A few of you wrote in January to share what you are doing to mark this milestone and to note other family and personal milestones. Thank you for writing. We all look forward to learning how others will celebrate the entrance to the decade of our 60s, as well as hearing about other milestones in the 38 years since our graduation. After reading this column, please write to me. There are only two more years until our 40th Reunion. Sharing the journey of our 60s together as we transform our roles and goals in the decade ahead will be enlightening and rewarding. We all look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on campus in 2020 when we can look back with perfect vision and ahead with vibrant hopes and dreams. My email is listed below.

Ellen Haller: “After 30 years as a full-time faculty member in the UCSF department of psychiatry, I will celebrate my 60th birthday by retiring at the end of June! To celebrate, I will ride my bike from San Francisco to LA for the sixth straight year as part of the AIDS LifeCycle to raise money to provide free healthcare for people living with AIDS (tofighthiv.org). I will then look forward to more bike trips, continued ice hockey playing (yep, I still play regularly!), and quality time with family.”

Tom Loder writes: “Fun news—my eldest son, Aaron, will be going to Wes this fall like many of your kids did (Amy Zinsser, Bob Ferreira, Walter Siegel, Ed Biester…). Don’t know that there is a better endorsement of a school than to ’let’ our kids go there, even if they would have taken our spots had we had to compete against them for a seat in the freshman class. Guess that insures I’ll be on campus for our 40th.”

Don Rosenstein writes: “Writing for the first time since…well, I guess 38 years! After living in the D.C. area and working at the National Institutes of Health for 18 years, my family and I moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., about a decade ago. I’m at UNC and provide psychiatric care for patients with cancer at UNC. I’ve stayed in touch with Amy Longsworth, Sam Liss ’78, Steve Greenberg ’78, and Ken Kramer ’78. Also, a UNC colleague and I published a book on widowed fathers (Oxford University Press).”

Alex Kolodkin writes: “Well, turning 60 is a milestone that seemed best celebrated from afar, and so my wife, Maria Rodriguez ’81, youngest daughter Talia (who is almost 16), and I traveled to Sicily, where we enjoyed the charms of southern Italy and somehow getting older seemed not so bad at all. I am in the department of neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where I have been conducting research in neural development and regeneration since 1995, and Maria is a partner at Venable LLP here in Baltimore. With our elder daughter, Sasha, only one year out of college, and Talia not yet there, there is little time to ruminate on turning 60, and that seems all for the best.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Class of 1979 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund

Julian Carraway ’18, Sociology

Happy Spring! My first PCA race of the season will be at Road Atlanta in April (ABD).

Ann Kaplan never ceases to amaze! “Last fall, I organized a conference, Duty to Warn. The speakers were psychologists who outlined their concerns about the president’s dangerousness. There’s nothing like successfully herding a group of NYC shrinks to give a person a sense of bewildered accomplishment. In August I dived the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. The strange life there includes hairy frog fish, blue ringed octopi, stargazers, seahorses, ghost pipefish, devil fish, and scores of nudibranchs. I attended a Vinyasa yoga retreat in a villa in Nice. In addition to hours of yoga instruction, the retreat included meditation, indulgent food, and great wine. LuxYoga sells a T-shirt that reads: “F*ck Kale. Eat Butter.” Last year, I was promoted to vice president at Council for Aid to Education, where I have worked for 17 years as a researcher and writer. I spent much of 2017 working with a brilliant coder, Jacob Drew ’98, on a benchmarking platform for advancement professionals. Our new application just launched and has been very well-received.”

Martha Bush remarks, “After a wonderful run of 25-and-a-half years at SIGMA, I will be leaving as of the first of the year. I will be doing a couple of personal projects that I hope to tell you about later in 2018.”

Matt Jarvinen reports that Ralph Maltese and his bride, Sheila Peck ’81, visited him in Colorado last September. Ralph was named “Most Valuable Wedding Guest” by the family when his godson, John Jarvinen, was married in the hills west of Denver. Ralph stuck around for a few short hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, topping out at an elevation just over 13,000 feet.

Melissa Stern ’80, Jim Friedlich ’79, and Max Friedlich ’17 spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with Tom Valtin, at Tom’s home in San Francisco. Jim hung out with Ralph Maltese in San Jose, last month. Tom is working at The Sierra Club as he has since Wesleyan. Ralph now runs operations for The Santa Clara Food Bank, serving hundreds of thousands of meals daily to the region’s most at-risk populations.

Robert Kuhn notified us that “after 11-plus years in Florida, my husband Steven and I moved back to the Northeast in April (with our two Irish Terriers). In fact, we moved to Salisbury, Conn., one town over from where I went to boarding school (Hotchkiss). We were ready for a change and needed to exit overcrowded South Florida—we just didn’t know we’d end up in a community I was a part of in the early 1970s! We’re very happy so far and look forward to reconnecting with northeastern friends and making new ones. Anyone in the area, feel free to reach out!”

Joy D’Amore moved to Philadelphia from Dallas in December to start as director of executive search at CBIZ CMF. She leads searches for CFOs for middle-market private equity-backed portfolio companies nationwide. On a personal note, Joy had a wonderful surprise. Thanks to Ancestry.com DNA testing, she discovered that she has four younger half-brothers who live in the Richmond area. Joy had been adopted at birth and grew up an only child. She met her brothers over New Years and is very happy to be developing a close relationship with them and their families, including seven nephews and two nieces. Joy had met a half-sister six years ago from her maternal side and stays in close touch with her and with her 14-year-old niece.”

Katharine McKenna visited her daughter, Eliza ’20, at Wes. Katharine continues to paint Wyoming and the West. Her paintings will be on exhibit at the President’s Office Gallery at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn until May. Still travelling, she visited Scotland and Costa Rica with upcoming trips to Las Vegas and Paris.

Andrew Tanzer reveals: “I just published my first book, Robert Kuok: A Memoir, the story of a low-profile, enormously wealthy Malaysian-Chinese tycoon. Published in English in Singapore and Chinese in Hong Kong, the book sold more than 100,000 copies in Southeast Asia in its first two months and will go on sale in the U.S. this spring. After 25 years in journalism, mostly in East Asia, I switched to private wealth management in 2011 and became a chartered financial analyst in 2012.”

Jono Cobb writes: “No big news on the home front but I want to encourage folks to get to the polls this November! If you think your vote doesn’t matter take a look around at the current situation in our country.”

Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre invite everyone to join them at Afropop’s 30th anniversary gala on May 3 at City Winery in NYC. Harry Belafonte is honorary co-chair. Aurelio Martinez and Mokoomba will be inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame. Afropop’s galas are always exceptional (afropop.org/page/gala2018).

Gary Breitbord | gbreitbo@aol.com

Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com

Class of 1978 Endowed Scholarship Fund

Matthew Richard Grimaldi ’21, Florence, MA

Alison Gilchrist is enjoying life on the coast of Maine. She volunteers at the Penobscot Marine Museum’s photo archive, as well as for the Midcoast Restorative Justice Project as a mentor. She’s catching up on her travels, and is appreciative of it all: “My kids are all doing well, I’m healthy, I have great people and family around, including brother Geoff ’92 and his family. I’m so lucky!” Nice.

Richard Order is serving on the board of the Mandell Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center and is co-chair of its Jewish Film Festival. He continues his work as a partner in the legal firm of Updike, Kelly and Spellacy, in Hartford, Conn.

Marisa Smith continues dual careers as both a playwright and a theater book publisher. Smith and Kraus Publishers have surpassed its first quarter century, with 700 titles in print. About 10 years ago she got the bug to write plays herself and has become an award-winning playwright. Upcoming productions include Sex and Other Disturbances in May (Portland Stage, Maine) and Venus Rising in January 2019 (Northern Stage, Vermont). Her oldest son, Luke, is married and works as an attorney in San Antonio, Texas, while second son Peter is a sommelier in Los Angeles.

Our 40th Reunion is coming up on May 25-27. Hope to see many of you there.

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

As much as I enjoy an email update from fellow class members, nothing beats running into folks, accidentally or planned, for an actual face-to-face meeting. Such was the case visiting with Liz and Will Sillin at the opening on an art show in Lexington, Mass., where Will had several fine pieces of work on display. Joining in to support the artist was fellow architect Rob MacNeille and wife Kim. We made a New Year’s resolution to get together and compare notes early in 2018. Rob has an amazing design and construction practice based in Essex and Wellesley, Mass. At Thanksgiving, my family had a Reunion gathering in Bermuda where, after a fine dinner out, we ran into Kathy (Asquith) Franklin. Kathy was on a wedding venue scouting trip with her future daughter-in-law and family. We both laughed at the incredible coincidence. It was great to see Kathy as we missed catching up during last May’s Reunion.

Several other folks wrote in wishing well to all in the New Year, including Kate Seeger and Lisa Brummel. Wendy Giardina has started studying Japanese in preparation for a March trip. This will be Wendy’s 11th language. In addition, Wendy is doing some translation for a French publisher and has begun attending an ornithology course in nearby (for her) Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Janet Malkemes sent along her annual update, which included a report on her recovery from the removal of a cancerous tumor from her intestine. She has returned to work this New Year cancer-free with great appreciation of the medical staff that provided great care, as well as a support network of wonderful family and friends.

Dave Schreff enjoys his investing and board work in pro and college sports, media, and product licensing. His two sons are married and he sees their sister in New York frequently.

Buzz Cohen has staged-managed Oedipus El Rey for the Public Theater. Last summer Buzz was the stage manager for Shakespeare in the Park’s Julius Caesar and received the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Art of Stage Management.

Brad Arrick is a clinical professor of medicine at Dartmouth College, where he has been chief of hematology/oncology. He completed a master’s in healthcare management at Harvard. Brad and his wife are looking forward to their son graduating high school next year.

Sadly, Dave Loder informed me of the passing of Tom Tucker in late 2017. Tom was a survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. He was a chief underwriting officer at Hartford Insurance Company’s Commercial Markets Division. Remembrance gifts may be made in his honor at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG.org).

Finally, Bob Rees was delighted to meet up with Don Lowery at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. Don, a former New England Patriot PR director and confidante to Coach Bill Belichick ’75, expressed disappointment that the Minnesota Vikings had failed to reach the “Big Show,” where Don suggested that the Vikings would have been torn to shreds. If there is one thing I have learned as a Patriots fan and believer in karma, it is best to leave some things unspoken.

Best wishes for a healthy and joyous 2018.

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

Class of 1976 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship

Valerie Acosta ’20, Bronx, NY

Susan Avitzour and husband Dan returned from a trip to Tenerife, Canary Islands, where they went on a dolphin- and whale-watching boat trip. They have five grandchildren with a sixth expected in June. Susan is semi-retired and looking for a literary agent for her novel. Unfortunately, Dan is having some health problems.

Carol Bellhouse had dinner in LA with David Bickford, Chris Vain, Juliet Green, and Susan Gans ’75. She attended the Sundance Film Festival. She has five films in the works.

Richard Berka provided the sad news that his  wife, Carmen Valle, a physician, passed away in 2014 after a long battle with breast cancer. Their son, Richard, Jr., got his master’s in marine biology at James Cook University in Australia and is going to  veterinarian school in Perth. Their daughter, Della, is a sophomore at Yale. Richard is in-house counsel at Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., and lives in Brightwaters, N.Y.

Sidney Cohen and wife Carol live in Pleasanton, Calif. Sidney works for Medtronic in clinical research overseeing cardiovascular research. He recently became a grandfather and spends as much time as he can visiting his grandson and family in Philadelphia. Sid would like to hear from all: sidneyacohen@mac.com.

Lawrence H. Davis and wife Ronna visited Wes in October and enjoyed visiting the Earth and Environmental Sciences department. Last year, they visited Cuba and Spain, and this year Lawrence is planning a fishing trip to Bolivia and a trip to Estonia. Son Max returned to the U.S. after seven years in Israel, and daughter Ilana ’06, who is the mother of their two grandchildren, is continuing her law career.

Michael Donnella, who is living in El Dorado, Ark., had a Wesleyan football weekend in LA hosted by David Carlisle, who is the president of Charles Drew University. Mike reports that David has brought the university from the brink of closure to a thriving concern. Michael Bell and James Gaither ’77, and two of Mike’s children, joined him for the game. Mike enjoyed Christmas/Hanukkah with Ely Leichtling and Sally Merrell of Milwaukee.

Elizabeth Eisenmann learned carpentry while building a new studio in her basement for her collection of “vintage” Singer sewing machines and cabinets. She went on her first cruise to the Caribbean.

Ronald Epstein’s book Attending Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity has just come out in paperback. See pp. 20–23 for more on his work.

Barry Fogel is beginning his 36th year in environmental law. Daughter Ella is a junior at Santa Clara University. Barry stays in touch with John Brainard, Eddie Sanchez ’74, and Steve Levin ’75, Jeff Van Nest ’75, Mark Nickerson ’75, and Jeff Prystupa ’75.

Jeff Frank is looking forward to selling his moving business and retiring in the next couple of years.

Karen Gervasoni says this column enabled her to get in touch with Larry Gilius, her old Wes boxmate. They discovered they both have adopted daughters—Lia from Vietnam and Linnea from China—who are high school juniors. Glad you could reconnect!

Debra Haffner, in her second year as the settled minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Va., has done her 14th protest march in D.C. since last year’s election.

Peter Hansen and wife Gail now call D.C. home. They are both doing part-time consulting, she in public health and he in construction marketing.

Josette Hendrix has been working in the Pacific Northwest through a small NGO that she founded which nurtures intercultural understanding (nwlacc.org). She has three children and is now a grandmother. She lives on Whidbey Island on a small biodynamic farm that welcomes young aspiring farmers to apprentice for a season. She hopes to reconnect with some classmates.

Jaimee Kurfirst Mirsky is finishing up her second 20-year career (first was in advertising TV production, then high school English teacher). Jaimee has been married for 38 years and has two children who teach. Her first grandchild is on the way.

Abe Yale‘s youngest son, Alex, married Amy Gold on New Year’s Eve in Boston. The newlyweds went gorilla tracking in Uganda, on safari in Tanzania, and relaxing on the beach in Zanzibar. Alex works for Facebook and Amy for Google, both in NYC. Daughter Alison is about to give birth to granddaughter number two. Congratulations, Abe!

My family spent Christmas in London where we visited our daughter, Lindsey, who is living abroad until June. It was great having everyone together. We had some fun, and I met up with my friend Paul Hannon, an Irish journalist with whom I shared a London flat the year after graduation.

The Wesleyan Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Gamma Phi) had its 150th anniversary this year, and a lot of the brothers were back to celebrate. I was sorry that I had to miss it, but glad to see that so many of the old gang got together.

If you have not written in a while—or ever—please do. Nicholson 6, Harriman Hall, West College, Chi Psi: speak up!

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Class of 1975 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship

Carolina A. Montano ’21, Homestead, FL

Apologies to Steve McCarthy! Somehow the cybersphere routed into oblivion the emails he had sent me last fall. A bit belatedly, here is Steve’s news: “Aside from my usual investment and foundation work, I have been active with three ongoing creative endeavors: This is my 14th year as a mentor and judge for the NYU/Stern $300K business plan competition. During every month of the school year a team of 25 to 30 coaches, in conjunction with faculty, conduct workshops on developing and executing formalized pitches across three ‘silos’—traditional, technology, and social impact. It’s very interesting and rewarding. During my past 17-plus years as president of a small ’virtual’ nonprofit theater company (shakingthetree.org), my colleagues and I have written 14 one-act plays about family dynamics in business, wealth management, and philanthropy. We work with artistic directors and actors from LookingGlass Theater in Chicago and Alley Theater in Houston to deliver the pieces live. Over the past six years I have been a partner and executive producer on several iconic (90-minute) corporate and individual biopics/documentaries—Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf, Crazy About Tiffany’s, Harry Benson: Shoot First (all available on download). We at Quixotic Endeavors (QE) have several other projects in various stages of completion for The Carlyle Hotel and Norman Rockwell.”

I received a call from my almost-neighbor, Dennis Chin, who lives in Sonoma County. It was great to catch up with him and hear about his semi-retirement. He’s continuing to work and teach in orthopedic surgery part-time, while keeping up with the nine kids (almost all on their own now). We’re hoping to get together this spring.

Janet Bradlow and her husband, Joseph Schmitt, have moved. Joseph is retired, and Janet is semi-retired (emeritus agent with Prudential) and able to work anywhere with a phone, computer, and fax. So why not work from the beautiful beaches near Honeymoon Island State Park? Thus, they bought and renovated a condo in the Tampa/Clearwater/St. Petersburg area of Florida’s Gulf Coast. They discovered the downside of their view during Hurricane Irma, when water came through their balcony doors! The move put them close to Janet’s parents, now over 90. The whole family recently went on a cruise to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. Janet couldn’t wait for the renovation project and move to be over but says, “I will miss NYC. I never lived anywhere else except when I was at Wesleyan.”

Janet let me know that Nancy Carol (Smith) Blemly passed away in November 2015, after a difficult battle with cancer that prevented her from attending our 35th and 40th Reunions. Nancy and Janet were friends from freshman year on. Nancy’s third husband, Mike Blemly, and her son, Ben Hamilton, from her second marriage, survive her. Janet fondly recalled attending Nancy’s first wedding, and Nancy attended Janet’s in 1999.

Arthur Gaither said, “Retired life is becoming more enjoyable. I spend time leading worship services at a small church and as backup babysitter for my granddaughter, Anaya, 4, who is my best buddy. I also handle the domestic stuff so Alfreda ’74 can continue to work for the State of Connecticut. We celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on Nov. 25. Kinda scary. Shoutout to Andy Barnes in Arizona!“

I also heard from Jeff Cellars, who retired from the Foreign Service after spending 28 years as a diplomat in Hungary, Bahrain, Washington, Munich, Cyprus, Berlin, Belgrade, Bern, and NYC. Jeff said he and Bethanne, his wife of 38 years, were moving to Vermont. Not quite sure how he will keep busy in this new stage of life, but he has a children’s book in draft and is cooking up some other ideas

An evening with Wes alumni in San Francisco called “The Power of an Idea” brought out a few familiar faces. I didn’t see any classmates, but ran into Harold Sogard ’74, who is now retired and caught me up on the self-proclaimed “Born to Lose” suitemates who lived near us in Lawn Avenue dorms freshman year. Also got a chance to talk to Wendy Wheaton ’78 and Jon Nimer ’80.

I want to end with a shout-out to Brad Kosiba and Ed Van Voorhees (who just became a grandfather again!) for being the in loco parentis stops for our son and daughter as they made a January road trip from Massachusetts to Memphis, where Ethan was starting a six-month “co-op” work experience as part of his Northeastern University Mechanical Engineering program. I’m told the hospitality in Chapel Hill and Nashville was superb, and it was fun to share our kids with my longstanding, but rarely seen, friends.

As soon as you put this magazine down, please email and send me your news for the next issue. My deadline is a few weeks after the class notes arrive at your door.

Cynthia M. Ulman | cmu.home@cmugroup.com
860 Marin Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941-3955

Ken Jacobs writes, “My law firm, Smith, Buss & Jacobs, has grown to 17 lawyers over the past 25 years. In January we’re adding Robert Spolzino, a former appellate division judge, as a name partner, together with two other partners and three associates. We now represent over 350 co-op and condo associations in the New York metro region, including Co-op City. With Bob, we are adding a substantial municipal and litigation practice in Westchester and Long Island. I expect our profile to increase significantly in these practice areas over the next 12 months—it’s going to be an exciting ride.

“My wife, Sharon, and I adopted our children over our late 40s, so we’re about 10 years behind most of our peers in lifestyle changes. We like to say that it keeps us young, but we’re chained to the high school/college cycle for another decade. In the meantime, I’ve finally learned to like rap. Last spring my daughter Sasha and I started West Coast swing lessons as a way for Dad and daughter to bond. She stopped when school started (and she met her first boyfriend!), but I’ve continued. Meanwhile I read bridge books and play when I can, which is much less often that I would like.

“We moved from NYC to Westchester for kids, and then to Upper Saddle River, N.J., so my kids could attend Waldorf schools. My son Andrew is on the autistic spectrum—discussing how that has affected our lives would take an entire page, but it’s not the right stuff for an alumni newsletter. We have learned a lot and can offer a lot to younger parents who may be dealing with the same issues.

“Professionally, my firm has law offices in Westchester and NYC. Most of my personal clients are in NYC, but my co-op/condo colleagues in NYC now consider me as their ‘upstate’ liaison. I’ve worked from time to time on condo offerings with Seth Davis ’72. He’s a director at Warburg Realty in NYC.

“I enjoy reading your notes. It’s fascinating to see how many classmates have made their mark in unusual fields and what lifestyle choices they have made. When my kids are launched, we look forward to enjoying the same freedom (again!).”

John McLucas, in his 34th year as a professor of Italian and Latin at Towson University near Baltimore, has just published his first novel. Some passages in Dialogues on the Beach(BrickHouse Books, Baltimore, 2017, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble) may remind some classmates of Wesleyan in the early 1970s.”

Jai Imbrey is overjoyed that at long last the book she put together, Mosques: Splendors of Islam by Rizzoli, has come out at such a time when it is key to recall the extraordinary artistic contributions that Islam has inspired—a book edited by two Jewish women! In the great Apfel-imbrey tradition.

Join Carol and CharlieCocores on their Habitat for Humanity trip this summer in Krakow, Poland, from  June 22 to July 2.Join this 10-day trip to Poland to help build for families in need of decent, affordable housing. Event code: GV18566. “You’ll fly into Krakow, Poland. We will be working either in Pszczyna and/or Gliwice. For our cultural experience we’ll visit the famous Krakow Salt Mines and Auschwitz. Program donation: $1,900 (flight not included). 40-plus percent of this is a direct contribution to Habitat’s work; the rest covers your trip expenses.

Habitat Poland is serving families on the economic margin that work, but can’t afford decent housing. Despite recent reforms, overcrowded and damp housing without proper sanitation is still the reality for far too many of Poland’s low-income working families.

The team will get their hands dirty on the build site with various tasks. Throughout the week you’ll tour local markets, visit museums, learn more about Gliwice through a walking tour, visit the world-famous Krakow Salt Mines and Auschwitz. You’ll stay in double occupancy hotel rooms near the project site and enjoy dinners out at local restaurants. Contact Charlie at cocoshfh@gmail.com or 860-304-2668 if you’re interested.

Monique Witt reports, “we had two painful family losses, but we are rallying. The guys are good. My elder son, Dev, is moving to a huge warehouse in Williamsburg with his pro-audio partner to continue his tech startup/engineering/sound technology. My younger son, Ben, continues to record, to tour and to play in NYC. Beginning in March, he has consecutive tours in the mid-west, Canada, Japan, the west coast and Europe. He’s just recorded a second album with his touring trio, and his recent album, Instead, is selling well. He anticipates two more albums toward the end of this year, one on accordion.

“OneTrickDog* will release three more albums in the coming months (we released six last year, one mentioned for Blues Album of the Year). As we develop the upcoming Sound Works, we will briefly slow our recording projects. Steven is working too hard, as am I, but that’s normal.”

Carolyn White contributes, “I, too, went to the Middlebury Film Festival and it was really good and a lot of fun. I plan to go again in 2018 and encourage others to consider it! We could make this be an annual class reunion.

“Lloyd Komesar makes everyone, especially Class of ’74 people, feel so welcome and special. The films are top-notch and very interesting. Mark your agenda for weekend before Labor Day.

“My daughter Geraldine got married to a nice young man, Ryan Kurtz, and classmatesLindley Huey and Michel de Konkoly Thege shared in our joy. I have two adorable French-American grandchildren, Celian and Alana who live, unfortunately, in Toulouse, so not exactly next door, but I manage to see them via Whatsapp and regular visits to France.

“I continue to teach NAMI Family to Family classes and play on two tennis teams at the Mount Auburn Club near Cambridge.”

Gray Cox continues to enjoy the teaching philosophy, peace studies, and language learning at College of the Atlantic in the town where he grew up, Bar Harbor, Maine. He is the clerk of the Quaker Institute for the Future and is always looking for others interested in taking part in that think tank for spirit-led research on social and environmental issues. His own research and publication of late has focused on nonviolence, dialogical reasoning, and ways of biasing the odds towards development of ethical systems of AI. He also continues to compose songs which can be heard at graycox.bandcamp.com.

Stu Forman continues to serve as medical director of Gilead Community Services in Middletown, which was started in 1968 as a project of two Wesleyan students. He remains married to the love of his life, Amy (approaching 39 years), and now has the pleasure of working with his lovely daughter, Emily, who was recently hired as a psychotherapist by Gilead. “Add in three standard poodles, and I’d be a swine to complain. My only regret is not getting to write any more pornographic football articles for the Argus.”

Michel de Konkoly Thege provides, “I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the wedding of Carolyn White Lesieur’s daughter, Geraldine, who got married in a very festive French-American ceremony in Jersey City on New Year’s Eve. My wife and I see Susan and Dan Kenigsberg both in New York City and in eastern Long Island, where we both have homes and have shared many excellent dinners together.”

Randolph Smith’s seventh golf book should be out this spring. Entitled Golf’s Price,it’s a novel involving a tournament and subsequent TV reality show powered by a “devil’s bargain.”

In the twilight of his career, Bill Burton has returned to his geographic roots in Connecticut (3 years of prep school, four years at Wesleyan, 1 year of finding self) and is doing geologic mapping for the U.S. Geological Surveyin the Woodbury-Southbury-Roxbury area, west of Waterbury. Bill’s focus is determining the source of high uranium occurring in private water wells that are drilled into bedrock. His field headquarters in Woodbury is the spacious home of two renowned Yale geology professors. When back home in northern Virginia, Bill’s volunteer activities include beekeeping, board member of the local Audubon Society chapter and a committee on nighttime lighting, and helping run a local astronomical observatory. His wife Laurel is writing her fifth sci-fi-fantasy novel. Bill looks forward to finally getting up to Lloyd Komesar’s film festival in Vermont this summer.

Lloyd Komesarreminds everyone, “Here’s an open invitation to all my classmates to join a growing contingent of Wes grads for the 4th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival on Aug. 23-26 in beautiful Middlebury, Vt, the beating heart of the Champlain Valley in central Vermont. Great films by first- and second-time filmmakers will be on tap along with every conceivable craft beverage you can imagine. Our friends at Stonecutter Spirits, owned by Sivan Cotel ’06, always hosts an informal gathering for Wes attendees and Sivan’s barrel-infused gin goes well with conversation and good times. You can find us at middfilmfest.org. Let me know if you are planning to come so we can communicate directly.”

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

Alain Munkittrick has an important update. He says that he and Rosemary (who met at Wesleyan) are “excited, first time grandparents, having greeted Finn Munkittrick to the world in October.” They live in Portland, Conn., and are busy at work as architects for the restoration of three historic buildings on the former Elmcrest campus as a part of a $30-million development Brainerd Place.

Michael McKenna writes that he is still working out of global HQ in the barn behind his home in Vermont where he and Lynn have lived for 11 years. “Loved my time in NYC but really enjoy consulting both non- and for-profit clients on strategic communications,” says Mike. He gave his first talk at SXSW in Austin on How Social Media Creates Tunnel Vision. He also joined the board of The Conversation US, an online news source featuring content provided by university experts. Mike says he started a term on the Corporate Communications Advisory Council at UVA’s Darden School and also had his first trip to China to visit a new client in Shanghai. He says he asked classmate and Chinese expert Claire Reade for her good advice before leaving. Mike also sponsored the annual Middlebury film festival founded by Lloyd Komesar ’74. He says it is a “wonderful event” that attracts a lot of Wesleyan alumni. Mike and Tom Kelly, Tom Halsey ’72, and Rob Calhoun ’72 hosted a dinner for the Cardinal football team when they came north to play the Panthers. Mike calls it a “year of firsts” and says best of all was being father of the bride for his daughter Lee who married a wonderful guy who had known her since the seventh grade. He says both of his children live in San Francisco.

Phil Levienwas reading Hearts by Willy Holtzman ’74 and enjoyed it as much as The Morini Strad and Something You Did. Phil let his students at SBCC’s School of Extended Learning know what a “good read” the plays were and what fertile ground they provided for scene work.

James Powers writes that owns a condo on Music Row in Nashville, is serving on the 45th Reunion committee, and looks forward to seeing everyone this May. Working at Vanderbilt he found two generations of Wesleyan graduates drawn to healthcare policy. Jim, a geriatrician, and Laura Keohane ’03, a health policy faculty member, were approached to write a volume on U.S. healthcare changes. He called it a “daunting task” following the 2016 Republican landslide election. They produced a volume, Value Driven Healthcare and Geriatric Medicine: Implications for Today’s Changing Health System, scheduled for publication by Springer in 2018.

Steve Kallaugher tells me that he is still going back and forth to Swaziland, where he says his Little Young Heroes program has “blown up.” He says they have two offices, a staff of 27 people, and programs reach more than 11,000 orphans and vulnerable children. Plus, they started a community-based savings/micro-entrepreneurship project for their female caretakers. It now has 2,900 members and they’ve already saved over $150,000 to lend to each other. Steve also says a screenplay he wrote 20 years ago suddenly “got hot” in Hollywood this past summer and it’s been optioned by a “big time” producer.” He says, “I wrote it so long ago, it took me two days to find a copy after he emailed me saying that he wanted to read it. Only in the movies.”

Michael B. Robinson, who says he was “the linebacker not the fullback,” writes that he retired from Baltimore City Schools in 2014 and moved into a retirement community in York, Pa., in 2016 with his wife, who is disabled. Mike reports that he is “energized by the competitive political climate in Pa with a strong Democratic governor maintaining in a state that supported our new president. He hopes to renew acquaintances at our 45th Reunion.

David “Harp” Feldman mentions that his newest harmonica book, Harmonica Aerobics, is now in print, published by the Hal Leonard music company. “Why,” Dave asks, “is this newsworthy?” Because he dedicated the book to his great friend Paul Van Stavern ’74.

In an act of self-preservation (since David only knew two Peter, Paul, and Mary songs, and played them incessantly), while living at the late, but hardly lamented, Vinci Apartments on William Street, along with Gary Larkins and Jonathan Burr, Paul bought David two used records. Paul then informed him, at the time, that David could either learn to play blues and rock harp, or Paul would kill him while he slept and a “strange, esoteric, career was born.”

Class President Bill Quigleyhas been busy helping his son deal with post-hurricane issues in Puerto Rico, where, at this writing, an astounding 32 per ent of the island is still without power following the storm in early September. Bill is also helping him start a business. On top of that, he tore a muscle in his leg and was stuck in a boot for more than a month. Billand our 45th Reunion committee have been trying to contact all of you by e-mail or phone to encourage you to join us during the weekend of May 24-28. You may have already heard from me or Bill or other intrepid committee members including Wayne Barber, Joshua Boger, Michael Donnelly, John Feinblatt, Granderson “Granny” Hale, Mark Helfat, Evans Jacobs, Ronald Johnson, Tom Kelly, Ron Medley, Jay Rose, Charley Wayne, and Jim Powers.

So far we have scheduled a healthcare and technology seminars featuring our classmates, a class conversation about different paths we have traveled in life since graduation, and a Saturday class reception, and dinner featuring faculty and staff guests Norm Shapiro and Steve Butler. And my former film professor Jeanine Basinger tells me she looks forward to seeing you as well. Bill reports that more information is available on Reunion 2018 including suggestions on where to stay. You are also urged to join the Facebook group: Wesleyan Class of ’73 Reunion Roadtrip. He notes that Wayne Barber and Mike McKenna are among those who have posted so far. Bill says the Facebook group will have a lot of stories and photos.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with each other as inch closer to another milestone reunion in Middletown. Hope to see you there.

Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com

Believe it or not, planning efforts are already underway for our 50th Reunion. That’s going to happen in the spring of 2022. Many of us are already working to make this Reunion the greatest ever. We would like to bring as many classmates back to campus as possible. So, if you’ve not been to a Reunion in recent years—or ever—this is the one to go to and now is the time to start planning. We are setting up a novel “class council”—not to plan the Reunion itself but to work on reaching out to people from whom we haven’t heard in a while. If you are interested in helping in this effort in any way, please let me, or Andy Feinstein or Bob White know.

Roger Jackson retired from Carleton College in June 2016, after nearly 30 years of teaching Asian religions there. It’s well-nigh impossible, he says, to quit academia cold turkey, though, so he’s continued to keep his hand in, by giving talks, writing articles and reviews, finishing up a book on Buddhist meditation, advising students, and teaching off and on at Carleton and at Maitripa, a small Buddhist college in Portland, Ore. He is also enjoying, as always, family, friends, travel, poetry, good food, and baseball—but the current political climate not so much. “Watching Burns and Novick’s Vietnam series has been sobering, and a reminder that things not only could be worse, but have been.”

Of all the subjects of “whatever happened to?” queries, none were more frequent—or more futile—than those concerning George Walker. On New Year’s Day, a story in the New London Day gave us the answers. George left Wesleyan to join the Black Panthers, but became disillusioned. “It was clear we were not just overmatched,” he explained. “This was a flea against an elephant.” Disillusion led to heroin, and robberies to pay for it. George spent, by his own estimate, 13 years in prison, including a term for a bank robbery in Connecticut. In 2000 he moved to Florida, earned his undergraduate degree, and eventually earned a PhD in mental health counseling from Barry University. George’s dissertation, growing out of his own experience with long-term addiction, analyzed the concept of “ambiguous loss,” where the bereavement process has no closure, and where existing knowledge provides little help in processing such issues. How wonderful that our own ambiguous loss has now been addressed. And how wonderful for George to be able to help others deal with such situations.

John Manchester has signed a deal with TCK Publishing for three novels of psychological suspense—Never Speak, If I Fell, and The Girl in the Game. Two of them, he says, especially the second, have Wesleyan stuff hidden in them. Can’t wait!

I am sad to report that Rick Blake died in December, after months of a debilitating illness. Rick was an obstetrician and gynecologist, and taught those fields at the Howard University College of Medicine. His obituary noted that he majored in biology at Wesleyan, ran track, and played racquetball “for kill.” One Wesleyan racquetball opponent reported that while he, himself, did not like to lose, Rick disliked losing even more.

Finally, I spent a couple of wonderful days in Scottsdale this January with Dennis Kesden, who is now fully retired from the ophthalmology practice he shared with his wife Sherry. I have to say that Dennis has figured out his retirement as precisely as he figured out his life. He and Sherry met in medical school, and jointly picked ophthalmology as their field, as they saw the possibility, as individual practitioners, of doing exciting and innovative procedures out of their own office. That is precisely what they did, practicing together in an office they built on Long Island. Now, as is the trend in healthcare all over, they have sold the building and the practice, and live next to one of 27 fairways in a lovely golf community a short distance from their two grandchildren. It was great to see Dennis in a relaxed setting and talk about old times.

Speaking of families, I haven’t talked about mine lately. My older son, Mark, and his wife, Jenny, bought a house in Peekskill, N.Y., a short distance from the ancestral home. Mark is working at (brace yourselves…) West Point—as a labor economics analyst for the Army and Department of Defense. My younger son, Kevin, lives in our true ancestral home—the Bronx. In fact, he lives within walking distance of my parents’ homes, and the high schools (and one college) they attended. He works in the New York City 311 Call Center, answering inquiries and complaints on anything from parking regulations, noise, and garbage pickups, to protestations of innocence from Rikers Island inmates. He loves public service and is growing to appreciate the amazing variety of life in NYC.

Seth A. Davis | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801