Class Notes | 1950s

Marty Weil reports in from The Washington Post where he is an editor. He is glad to have us doing the editing of elements of the “woke” phenomenon. He allows he may or may not come to the reunion. How is that for taking a stand?

We heard from Charlie Huchet. Still living in the same house but now all on one floor. Getting to it, however, requires 29 steps up to the front door. He is cutting back on his many community activities but remains active in Friends of the Library and local politics. He has just applied to run for the local planning commission. That doesn’t seem like cutting back!

Bob Waterhouse updates us on his move to Venice, Florida, in 2018. He describes it as “kind of ‘winter reverse’ via air-conditioning. Not doing much but my days are full.” We imagine many of us might report the same experience.     

Herb Steiner reports the “gift” of two stents as presents for his 86th birthday. Sounds like all is well as he is in rehab, but he had to cancel a European boat trip. Winters in Delray Beach, Florida, for four months starting in December. Biking, pickleball, and walking are activities he hopes will be in his rehab program. Reading and daily violin practice are brain-healthy activities. Hopes to come to the 65th. Regularly sees Bob Ogren, Tim Martin, and Joe Vander Veer.

We heard from Tim Day, writing from Jackson Hole. He and Sandy are almost done “downsizing,” as many of us have done. In their case, this means maintaining their three locations: Phoenix, La Jolla, and Jackson, but moving to condos or managed properties. A glass of wine or two sees them through the many choices that have to be made. Tim is active—three days a week in the gym—but admits to needing a bit more sleep as a result. (Don’t we all?) His initiative to send marine officers to Harvard Business School continues. He has now sent 75 marines to HBS, 24 of whom are general officers. That is a great contribution!

We all miss John Spurdle.

Class of ’58,

I should not have asked for your escapades when I requested info for the alumnus.  I forgot that we old-timers have few escapades. I did hear from John Watson who thanked me for some golf equipment advice I gave him, but he gave up golf for billiards. He plays with his grandson, who is a senior at Sacramento State.  

            Tom Mosher and his family of 15 spent two weeks in southern Germany and on the Rhine. He labeled it the best trip ever.

            Dan Woodhead is OK, nothing exciting going on. Dan, that is a plus.

            I have received emails from Bob Hayes, who is in Massachusetts and going it alone after losing his beloved Poog.

            Ezra Amsterdam is still in harness in Davis, California. He is not full time, but I am sure his colleagues think he is.

            Art Geltzer went to our reunion last June. He stayed in Portland. He observed that the school had changed little in the last 10 years.

            I had a phone conversation with Bob Fisher—doing OK, gave up skiing and tennis.

            I have frequent phone calls with Dick Goldman; he still plays golf and tennis and does some legal work. Kay and I plan to have lunch with Dick and his lady friend in February in Weston, Florida.

            I have kept in contact with Rick and Brenda Pank. Rick is doing well after his stroke. He speaks well and walks well.

             I still play some golf, casually and not competitively. But I play online bridge on Mondays with Barbara Levine, Art Levine’s wife. Art and Barbara are now on a two-week family cruise. I play casual bridge with Ted Wieseman on Thursdays. Ted has used oxygen and hopes to put it in the past. He also visits Walt Karney, who is in a nursing home.

Burr Edwards commented again on the legacy issue. Harvard will give preference to a legacy if two candidates are equally promising. He believes that is fair (and I agree).

            My next request will simply ask to respond to show you can.

Happy New Year!

Cliff

Bob Anderson sent me a copy of his seasonal letter to family and friends. He lives in Guemes, a small island off the coast of Washington, halfway between Vancouver and Seattle. Bob keeps busy working on multiple new or unfinished art pieces, winterizing his landscape between rains, downsizing, and making short on-island trips for Sunday services. You can see some of his interesting artwork at www.guemesislandart.org.

Ed Porter writes he has acquired a small yawl that may become his summertime hermitage from which he can contemplate the world, and the future for our children and grandchildren. Sounds like a worthy goal.

Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn just got back from nine relaxing days in a nice Vrbo house in Beaufort, South Carolina. They’re both doing fine and trying to get the most out of their golden years.   

I also heard from Hal Ochsner. He recalls pledging Psi U and working over the years with Ken Travis on a variety of fraternity projects. 

Mark Feldman had no news for me this time, other than a mild case of COVID, but with all the Israeli-Hamas protests on college campuses these days, he is glad not to see Wesleyan in the news. I concur; from what I read, any demonstrations at Wes have been thoughtful and peaceful.

Betty and I traveled to Cape Cod in September for my 70th high school reunion. There were only four others from my very small class in attendance. One was my junior prom date (still pretty), and another was a football teammate. We had a great time for two nights, eating fresh lobster and reminiscing. The only downer was coming back on Connecticut I–95 in the rain. Below is a picture of the beautiful Cape Cod Canal, which flows very near the house where I lived as a teenager. 

Until next time, stay healthy.

Bob 

Slim pickings on the news front, but we have one extraordinary tale to tell.

Jim Katis wrote: “Living in Greenwich, Connecticut, at age 90 with the wife of 59 years, Lauma. We are both retired psychiatrists and McGill graduates with three sons and five grandchildren.”

Out of curiosity, I asked Jim about Lauma’s ethnicity. Here’s what he had to say: “Lauma is Latvian. She has quite a storied life. . . . Born in 1929, she lost her mom at age three, and her father was the leader of the Latvian resistance against the Soviets and the Germans. She lost him at age 15 (killed by the Germans during WWII). She eventually made it to Canada as a displaced person and, after graduating med school at McGill, moved to New York.” If that story doesn’t deserve a hearty “wow,” I can’t think of anything that could!

Incidentally, I reminded Jim of his role in my tale of mistaken identity. I followed my two brothers, Al ’52 and Phil ’53 to Wesleyan. We didn’t think so, but we must have had some sort of familial resemblance, so I’ve spent much of my life answering to all three names. Anyway, one Sunday morning during our freshman year, I managed to rouse myself and get to a service at the Old South Church at the corner of Pleasant and Church Streets. There I saw just three familiar Wesleyan faces. The first was Jim, who sang with Al in the chapel choir. He greeted me with a tentative, “Hi, Al.” Second was the college physician, Donald Arnault ’40, whose in-laws had a camp on the same lake in the Catskills as did our family. He greeted me heartily: “Why Phil, I haven’t seen you in years!” The third was Norm Daniels, who was then instructing my PE section. His exact words were, “Hello, Chien.” End of story!

Dave Fricke writes: “Hi, all. Beryl and I are slowing down, doing okay here in Silver Spring, Maryland.”

From Bob Bretscher: “I’ve moved to Presbyterian Village Athens, Georgia. I’m healthy: enjoy half-hour walks and small gardening and reading. My present book is Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. It’s old but refreshingly stimulating. Now that I’m a nonagenarian, old books have a special appeal. My very best wishes to the class of 1956.  I’d be happy to text with anyone interested in doing so. Cheers.”

(If you’re interested in emailing a classmate, let me know and I can put you in touch.)

In case you hadn’t heard, Rick Francis ’58 died on July 8, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, two children, and five grandchildren. Rick, of course, matriculated with us in the fall of 1952, but having taken two gap years, graduated with the Class of 1958. He later taught, for 42 years, mathematics at Williston Academy, where he was also head football coach, coached basketball, and served as athletic director. At Wesleyan, Rick became a Little All-American footballer, but he’s best remembered by us ’56ers for that momentous pass to Denny Denault that put the only dent into the ’56 Trinity’s team otherwise unblemished gridiron record.   

During my 60-plus years serving as class secretary, my greatest concern was that of not hearing from classmates and thus not having anything to report. So happy to say that thanks to receipt of Jim Shepard’s message, I’m still serving my function. And Jim’s message at this time of the year was perfect, for he wished us all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I continue to settle in here in Silver Spring, Maryland. Still driving and have even learned to use GPS! Awaiting the opening of a recreational center (attached to our building) within the next two months, and looking forward to mastering a stationary bike!

As always, my best wishes to you and your loved ones in the days ahead. 

Don

Glad to have heard from so many aged but active members of the Class of 1954. I’m Dan Resnick, your current class secretary, scribbling away after Bob Carey stepped down. Bob did a remarkable job in his decade or more as our class secretary. About 40 of you sent in news during those years (see classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/tag/1954/). He was the happy recipient of news about awards and prizes, projects in the making, vagaries of retirement, successes of grandchildren, arrival of great-grandchildren, hobbies and pastimes ranging from gardens and fitness to labor on memoirs, and an astonishing amount of travel. He fielded and shared, too, the difficult messages announcing deaths and sickness. In the last decade he heard directly from Dave Walden, Terry Hatter, Bud Johnson, John Binswanger, Ken Davenny, Dave Hodgin, Curt McLaughlin, Len Stolba, Shep Johnson, George Ray, Dick Matthews, Marty Feins, Bob Gruskay, Bob Montstream, Rod O’Connor, Dr. James J. Yashar, Norm Stuessy, Carl Bufka, Chuck Davis, Ken Davenny, Jeff Lockhart, Dr. Jules Schwaber, Bill Drury, Bob Schnuer, Al Flynn, Bruce Storms, Ben Cope, Bob Muir, George Klein, Ed Dewey, Marshall Umpleby, Charles “Jim” Landesman, Art Dexter, Hal White, Art Spada, Eric Cone, and Bill Christopher. Let me share with you the updates we received in November.

Terry Hatter, from the United States District Court, married to Trudy for 64 years, now has a great-granddaughter and is expecting his first great-grandson in the spring. He wishes us all the best, and we congratulate him on his expanding family.

Bud Johnson reports to us from Westchester County. He and Lynn have just moved into a senior living campus in Rye, near New York City. He is close to most of his children (some are in Florida and California) and four of his eight grandchildren, a medical center, the Union League Club, and Winged Foot Golf Club. Sounds like a great choice, Bud.

Marty Feins, ever eager to see classmates again, wants to know how many plan to attend our 70th Reunion, May 23–26, 2024.

David Hodgin, long dedicated to advancing public space for the arts in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz County, reports that one of his big projects, a Cultural and Performing Arts Center, is up and running. For 14 years Dave spearheaded this project for the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild (svctheaterguild.org), creating this performance space from an old roller rink. He also developed the first Alfred Hitchcock Festival: (hitchcockfestival.com). Hitchcock was a 30-year resident of Scotts Valley. The next festival is scheduled for March 8–10, 2024. Although still enjoying work on community service projects, he says that at 91, he is ready to pass along that responsibility.

Your scribe reports that Dan Resnick has no big projects in the pipeline, but thinks that, as the psalmist wrote, “my cup runneth over.” He has been married for 65 years, has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, has traveled widely, and is living comfortably and independently in a middle-sized city with great theater and music, medical care, proximity to family, and the pleasures of nature. A local wag has described Pittsburgh as “the Paris of Appalachia.” As a sometime resident of Paris, Dan couldn’t agree more, but is happy to hunker down in the foothills of the Appalachian chain.

For those who have not read the fall class notes that are only in digital form, know that our 70th was attended by Joe, Mel, and Woody. Please contact me to identify.

Jerry Zackin and his wife, Sandy, toured southeast Asia ending up in Australia, his seventh continent visited. He has two great-grandsons in Portland, Oregon, prepping for Wesleyan, 2038 and 2040. Their parents and grandparents are Wesleyan alumni.

A year and a half in an independent living facility is comfortable and convenient.

Please let me hear from you.

Jack Murray corresponded: “I am still here on in this earth in, to me, the remote year 2023 of the new millennium. Why? I don’t know. They say it’s genes, and not even this is likely. It’s certainly not from the way I’ve lived. It is most likely from residing in beautiful Santa Barbara and having so many good friends here. I send good wishes to the few other members of the Class of 1952 still alive, and think, with much love, of the many good friends from my class and the other classes I shared my happy years at Wesleyan with. I cherish, too, the great education I got back in the mid-20th century and the great professors who had such a lasting influence on my life. Again, thanks for everything.”

Seth Rosner wrote about the existence of a Class of ’52 “Gang of Five” that coalesced sort of by accident a good many years ago and consisted of him, Charley “Rogo” Rogovin, Kim Zachos, Bill Wasch, and Hal Buckingham, and their wives. Their first (very informal) meeting took place years ago in—where else?—Saratoga Springs for a lunch. It was so much fun they decided to do it again near Rogo’s digs in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Then, the Gang of Five members began departing and he believes he is the last one of the Gang left standing. He is heading for his 93rd birthday on the next Insurrection Day, still enjoys driving his two Ferraris, and he’s over the moon, happy in a life, madly in love with Judith, the most splendid woman he’s ever met. He further reported that they both flew to Rome, which she had never visited, saw the sights, and boarded the Queen Mary 2 for an 11-day crossing of the Atlantic and home. Only bad thing was he had a mild case of COVID-19 that kept him semi-restricted to their state room. . . . Bummer!

Only current serious impact of my/our age(s) is a problem with balance, walking with a cane or grabbling (gently) onto his beloved. He closes with the thought “that those of our classmates with us will recall I’ve always been a bit unbalanced, eh?” Looking forward with glee to our 75th Reunion.

He also asked me about his roommate at Wesleyan, John R. Tobi. Unfortunately, I found his obituary. John passed on April 3, 2021, at the Amie Holt Care Center in Buffalo, and is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and two sons, Donald (Barbara) and Steven (Patty), and four grandchildren, Jaclyn, Jacob, Harrison, and Emily.

I also received news about the passing of Ron Daniel on December 16, 2023, in New York City. Ron was a former Wesleyan trustee and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Wesleyan in 1988. More details to follow in the next issue.

Dear ’51ers,

You are letting the class down.

Here is the latest from super-loyal Barney Kathan. Barney gets to all events—he represents us well, and he still has his historic red blazer:

“I attended the Wesleyan alumni reunion in May 2023, along with my house guest, Don Schellhardt ’71, and discovered in the alumni procession that I was the second oldest alum in line, following a graduate from 1948 in a golf cart with his caregiver and walker. It was good to meet Leah Carlson at the Film Studies Center, where there is an annual award given in memory of my daughter, Nancy Lee Kathan ’76. My publisher is doing a second edition of my book, American Holy Days, with the addition of a section on our newest holiday, Juneteenth. Also, DreamBooks Media Professions would like to turn my book into a documentary movie, and I am working with them on that project. That’s all for now. —Barney”

Jean and I gave up the car last spring, so miss the campus events but watch for news sent regularly by the college.

And best in this New Year,

Biff

Please share your news with your remaining classmates by sending updates to classnotes@wesleyan.edu.