Class Notes | 1970s

John McLucas had a blast at Reunion! One unexpected highlight was learning that Bill Pearson chairs the board at Young Audiences, a group which John enthusiastically supports in Baltimore. Another was learning that Peter Hayward’s in-laws are favorite neighbors of John’s in his new-ish neighborhood, Bolton Hill. John is starting his 36th and final year as professor of Italian and Latin at Towson University near Baltimore. Plans for retirement include continuing to write fiction. His debut novel, Dialogues on the Beach, came out in late 2017. A sequel, Spirit’s Tether, is in the editors’ hands, with a third, unrelated book in the works.”

Craig Everhart states and then asks, “I’m jumping into retirement in October. Much as people say to have a plan in mind, I don’t really have one. I may go bananas. But I suspect that I am like others of my classmates: work is pretty fulfilling, and I have not been driven to wish for other ways to occupy myself. What do you do in a similar situation?”

Blaise Noto reports, “I’m continuing as assistant professor of communications at Barton College in North Carolina, and loving it. Last semester, I designed and taught a digital media communications course in addition to my law and ethics in the media, sports and communication, public relations campaigns and marketing, and a range of others. I also have been active in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (been a member since 1985) as an official judge of Student Academy Awards for domestic and intentional students, as well as the Nicholls Scholarship Screenwriting Competition. And last fall, I was appointment chairman of the Alumni Interview Committee for Chapel Hill and other parts of the Triangle for the University of Pennsylvania. As for my summer—been at home and doing physical therapy from total hip joint replacement surgery at Duke Hospital. Feeling great!”

Jan Eliasberg updates us. “My daughter, Sariel Hana Friedman ’19, graduated Wesleyan in June; she majored in American studies and minored in film studies; she’s currently working for FICTIONLESS, a team of passionate storytellers and strategists producing emotionally rich nonfiction film + television alongside high impact brand content.

“And I’m making my debut as a novelist, with my book, Hannah’s War, bought by Judy Clain at Little, Brown in a bidding war. This was the announcement in Publisher’s Marketplace, with a lovely blurb by Amy Bloom ’75:

“Award winning writer/director Jan Eliasberg’s Hannah’s War, a thrilling historical debut about a female scientist working to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II, and the young military investigator determined to uncover her secret past, has been sold to Judy Clain at Little, Brown & Company, in a pre-emptive bid. Hannah’s War, adapted by Eliasberg from her Black List and BBC List topping screenplay Heart Of The Atom, will be Little, Brown’s lead title for spring, with a publication date of March 3.”

Reviews include:

“Jan Eliasberg knows how to open big with strong suspense and wry humor and take us for a hurtling ride through one of America’s most complex moments. The wonderful characters of Hannah’s War bring together a moving love story, a high-stakes mystery and a fascinating look into the moral compass of an exceptional woman.
―Amy Bloom, author of White Houses

“I flew through Hannah’s War, a gripping true story long overdue to be told, of a brilliant woman physicist working to develop the first atomic bomb and the secret she fights to protect.”―Martha Hall Kelly, author of Lilac Girls

Norma J. Williams was selected statewide to receive the inaugural Excellence In Practice Award given by the Solo and Small Firm Section of the California Lawyers Association. The award is to honor a solo or small firm attorney who has demonstrated exemplary leadership and dedication to the legal profession and has contributed to the betterment of the practice of law. Norma accepted the Award at a ceremony in Huntington Beach on June 14.

On July 11, Bob Heller’s 15-year valiant battle with cancer ended at the of age 67. He grew up in Carle Place, N.Y., graduated from Wesleyan University and the New England School of Law. After practicing in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Bob moved to Seattle and for the past 30 years continued practicing law there, the last 11 at The Walthew Law Firm. He’s been a presenter at workshops and seminars on issues involving Workers’ Compensation law. Bob is past co-chair of the Washington State Deaf-Blind Task Force, past chair of the King County Bar Association Committee on Legal Problems of the Disadvantaged, past president of the Board of Daybreak Family Homes, and a founding board member of the Washington State Deaf-Blind Service Center. Bob also volunteered his time as a speaker before cancer support groups, as a special service provider for the deaf-blind community, and was a long-time volunteer with Volunteer Attorneys for Persons with AIDS (VAPWA). The two-time All-American college football player and inductee to the Wesleyan Hall of Fame, was also a mean fiddle player (by ear) of Irish music. He loved family, friends, all things Irish, Saki, the Mariners, the Seahawks, and the Patriots.

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

We have news from around the world, starting with one of my three East College roommates from senior year.

John Spike writes from Venice, Italy. “In January 2017, I retired from the College of William & Mary after nearly 10 years as assistant director and chief curator of the Muscarelle Museum of Art. The ensuing freedom has allowed us to return to working in Europe for about half the year (or less, for tax reasons). In London, I am senior advisor to the Sir Denis Mahon Foundation. In Venice I am organizing a symposium and an exhibition of Raphael drawings for the Accademia museum in honor of the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death in 1520. Michèle is lawyering plus writing and lecturing on Matilda of Canossa and other medieval themes. This autumn in Tenafly, N.J., we’re looking forward to our 50th high school reunion. In Los Angeles, our beautiful 3-year-old grandson, Santiago Spike, is happily babbling in at least two languages at the same time.”

From Lake Placid, N.Y., John Huttlinger reports a busy summer. “My CPA practice is very time consuming, but I enjoy working with my clients,” he says, adding, “I have taken steps to seek out a smooth and orderly transition to semi-retirement, but have not found the right solution to that yet.” He is still active with the Lake Placid Film Festival, which was launched in June 2000. He attended the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, where he met festival organizers Mike McKenna and Lloyd Komesar ’74. His film society arranged their annual classic film screening hosted by Jeremy Arnold ’91. Jeremy is a writer for Turner Classic Movies and writes the companion books to their Essentials series. His family has had a camp on Lake Placid for over 80 years. John and wife Karen had lunch with Jeremy and his mother at their classic Adirondack camp high on a cliff overlooking Lake Placid.

He’s also connected with Charlie Cocores ’74: once at Reunion last year, when he invited him to go to Foxboro to watch the Wesleyan Men’s Lacrosse team play in the NCAA Division III championship game (Wesleyan won) and again last spring in Middletown for a reunion of Wesleyan Men’s Lacrosse teams from the 1970s “which Mike McKenna inexplicably attended as well!” He says he also keeps in touch with Michael Gionfriddo, who has moved back to Middletown and spends a lot of time at Wesleyan.

Bruce Fergusson tells me, “Peter, first of all, kudos for drastically lowering your A1C! I’m still north of the border myself but we’re working on it.” He says following his wife’s retirement as a social worker for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, they sold their home and moved to Salem, Ore. “As I’ve done elsewhere, a new home is not yet christened until I build a dry-stone wall—front yard this time. Building stone walls is a lot easier than writing, but I’ve somehow still managed to finish, and publish, my eighth novel, and I’m working on the next,” he says. (brucefergusson.com)

His son Brian is in grad school, hoping to become a respiratory therapist. His oldest son, Patrick, recently married, is in the “thick of the D.C. political scrum,” working as the assistant chief-of-staff and legal counsel for a prominent “Rebel Alliance” congresswoman.

Jay Rose writes that, “Since we are all old, I can share the rites of passage for our age group. I am getting my second hip replacement, we recently downsized to an over-55 community, and my back hurts all the time. But I can break 90 pretty often.”

From Nashville, Jim Powers, with the Vanderbilt Center for Quality Aging, reports that he received a HRSA Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program grant to train health professionals to care for older people and deliver effective models of care to improve health outcomes.

At this writing here in early September from South Florida, we have dodged Dorian, another dreaded hurricane that was heading in our direction originally putting us “in the cone” for a week and then skirting north after walloping the Bahamas and then threatening my oldest daughter, Jennifer, and her family in southern Virginia before heading further north. We are still in the peak of the hurricane season so who knows what I’ll be reporting next.

Until next time,

Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com

Once again the highlight of the summer was the (fifth annual) Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, the creation of Lloyd Komesar ’74. This year I attended every possible screening (except those for kids and the one show at midnight, which is now past my bedtime), saw 20 different films, most of them excellent, and got to spend time with even more Wes people than ever before. First time festival goers Tom Halsey and Dennis Kesden joined veterans Mike Arkin, Mike Busman, Steve Goldschmidt, and yours truly, plus spouses and significant others. I won’t try to name all the attendees from other classes, but it was particularly good to see Arthur Fierman ’74 for the first time since Wes, as well as to spend a good deal of time at Mike McKenna’s [’73] estate up the road in Weybridge. The highlight, as always, was the Wesleyan reception at Sivan Cote’s [’05] Stonecutter Spirits, where we got to sample Sivan’s new Adventure Whiskey (for me every whiskey is an adventure) and to meet Nikhil Melnechuk ’07, whose film, Don’t Be Nice, was one of the festival prize winners. Everyone should think about going to the festival next year. You’ll get to spend some time in Middlebury in lovely weather (okay, so the skiing sucks in August), you’ll see some great films, and you’ll get to see a whole lot of Wespeople. And, as Lyn Lauffer ’74 pointed out, you will enjoy your next Wesleyan Reunion even more after going to MNFF.

Steve Alpert sent me a link to a story he posted on his website dedicated to Indonesian art and culture in which he tells of getting a bungai terong (eggplant flower blossom) tattoo, and how that tattoo saved him from being attacked by a deadly poisonous snake. See it at artoftheancestors.com. As Steve relates, there are two types of people in the tattooing ceremony—those who cry and bleed a lot, and those who are brave and bleed little. Steve, of course, falls into the latter category.

We lost Tim Atwood ’73 on July 12. He practiced law in Connecticut, specializing in litigation, and primarily representing the firearms industry. As his LinkedIn profile states, “I’ve represented almost all of the major gun companies. National trial counsel for three, currently vice president and general counsel for Charter Arms. A long list of insurance clients and Fortune 500 clients also. I currently handle administrative regulation issues in the firearms industry, commercial real estate development projects, personal injury, and workmen’s comp matters. I’ve handled enough cases in southern Connecticut that there is usually a chorus of ‘Hi, Tim’ when I walk into a courthouse.”

Peter Clark received the University College of London School of Management Award for Best Lecturer in the Master’s in Management Programme. He told Mike Carlson he was wearing a Mets jersey under his doctoral robes when he received the award.

Finally, I got back in touch with Jim Cacciola, whom I had not seen since our fifth Reunion. Had a lovely dinner with Jim and his partner, Dave, during a recent visit to Boston. It was a delightful reminder of what a good, decent, compassionate man Jim always was. He is now retired after a career as an internist in Boston. Yet another reminder of what a great bunch of people that Admissions Office put together! Jim says he will be at our 50th, and I hope you all will as well!

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

Aloha. Here are the long notes I received last time but did not publish or cut severely.

Dave Lindorff writes: “On April 15 I received a 2019 Izzy award from the Park Center for Independent Media for outstanding independent journalism for a cover story run in the December 2018 issue of the Nation magazine titled “Exclusive: The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed.” It is really exciting for me to have finally, after 47 years working as an investigative journalist, won a national award that recognizes my work! Especially exciting is that it’s an award honoring the memory of I.F. Stone, one of the people who most inspired me to get into this profession and to pursue it independently rather than working on the staff of some corporate media organization, with all the compromises inevitably involved in that kind of thing.

“Moving on to more things now. At the moment I’m working on a documentary film project about the and death of Ted Hall, the man who, at the tender age of 18 as one of if not the youngest scientist working in Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project to build the atom bomb, decided, even before the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that the prospect of the U.S. coming out of the war with a monopoly on nuclear weapons was too horrible to permit, and so, on his own with no connection to any Soviet spy ring, he walked the plans for the implosion device to the Soviet Consulate in New York, significantly helping the Russians to catch up and explode their own bomb in August 1949. Ted was never caught, but went public in 1996 as he was dying of cancer. U.S. government documents prove that the U.S. was planning, since even before the end of WWII, to obliterate Russia as an industrial power using its atomic bombs as soon as it got enough of them. Ted, it can now be proven, by his youthful courage and impulsivity, saved the world from a holocaust even worse than the one Hitler caused, and into the bargain helped give us 75 years of no nuclear weapons being exploded in war despite the existence of thousands of them in the hands of mutual antagonists (admittedly at enormous cost to all sides!). I’m still looking for more funding so if anyone wants to be a backer let me know.”

William H. “Bill” Hicks is a graduate of Wesleyan University who also holds a master’s in public health degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health (1973). Bill also has studied at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He grew up in Harlem during the 1950s and 1960s before going away to prep school in Massachusetts, Mount Hermon School. He has spent most of his professional life in the public health arena in areas including policy research and analysis, health systems planning, and health systems and facility administration while being constantly in ministry. He received his license to preach the Gospel at Oklahoma City in 1971. He has written extensively on Christian topics including two books, Discipleship and Discipline: Second Edition and Sermon Outlines and Study Guides: Simple, Self-Directed Instructions On Being A Disciple (From The Perspective Of The Pew), with a third book pending publication. He enjoys life in Chattanooga with former District Public Defender Ardena Garth Hicks, his wife of 29 years and his two daughters, Rachel (BA, University of Memphis magna cum laude, 2014) and Sarah (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Global Scholar, University of Tulsa, 2017).

Randy Stakeman is moving to Humble, Texas, north of Houston, to live with his son and family. He will have a small one-bedroom apartment in the house and access to his granddaughter.

First timer Mike Ronan writes: “I’ve retired to Panama, where Pam and I have a small craft coffee farm in the mountains near Boquete. It’s quite beautiful. After years of experiments—taxi driving, banking, Peace Corps, bartending, grad school, and marketing, in that order—I settled down as a comp and lit instructor at Houston Community College. I had never dreamed of teaching, nor administration, but it was very satisfying career, fulfilling a need to serve. Coffee farming is its own pleasure. A lot of effort goes into every bean. My two kids are writers and filmmakers. Before leaving the States, I had a chance to catch up with a couple of fellow oarsmen, Michael Mullally in Montreal and Buddy Coote in D.C. and I stay in touch with Roy Cramer.”

That is all the news this time. Remember the 50th Reunion is coming up. Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, P’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 860/685-5992 to get involved. We need your help! Aloha.

Neil J. Clendeninn | Cybermad@msn.com
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

Aloha, all. First of all, I need to remind you that our 50th Reunion begins on May 21 with an informal class dinner and ends on that Sunday with Commencement. (see wesleyan.edu/rc for full details). Please make your arrangements to attend now. Thank you.

I had a long note from Bob Stone (he of the Trumpericks books) concerning a lunch reunion with his swim team and fraternity buddy, Vic Pfeiffer. Bob wrote warmly of Vic (“Some people you meet along the way help to elevate you and enhance your performance”) and of the other members of the medley relay team, John Ketcham and William “Boo” Gallas ’69. Bob reminisced fondly about competing in the NCAA College Division national swimming and diving championships, losing the gold by a blink. “Definitely a highlight for me and an honor to be associated with these very talented guys.”

Tim Greaney, professor emeritus after 29 years at Saint Louis University, wrote that he’s now teaching law at the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. Tim is working “to improve our broken health care system.” Recently, he testified on health care mergers before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee at the invitation of Amy Klobachar. Tim says he is “living large in the People’s Republic of Santa Cruz, where I spend a lot of time with Paul Roth, who is still going strong teaching, writing, and traveling the globe as a latter-day Louis Mink.” West Coasters are encouraged to contact Tim.

I had a very brief note from Steve Masten ’70, MA’75 saying he’s planning on attending the 50th Reunion. (Have I mentioned we have Reunion in May? Are you coming?)

Charlie Holbrook says, “Leslie and I are making plans to attend the 50th anniversary of the 1969 undefeated football team at Homecoming on Nov. 2, and in May we will be attending the 50th graduation anniversary of the Class of 1970. It is going to be an eventful year!”

Speaking of Reunion, look for an e-mail soliciting a little bit of writing to be put into a special Reunion memory book being assembled by John Griffin, Maurice Hakim, and John Sheffield. Also, Jeremy Serwer is requesting that you contact him with your top five favorite on-campus music concerts of our Wesleyan years. You can contact John at jqgriffin01@gmail.com or Jeremy at jeremy@theserwercompany.com. I believe they are still seeking photographs from our college years.

In closing, I would like to share with you a profile in courage from classmate David Redden. David was part of the fight against AIDS, using his auctioneer’s skills more than 30 years ago to raise funds by auctioning Christmas trees along with Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Harvey Fierstein.  Now David himself is struggling, doing personal battle with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Unable to do many physical things, David is busy writing, including editing, expanding, and categorizing “decades of my private Diary of a Sotheby’s Auctioneer.” “It is curious that so many words—well beyond one million, could be written about only one facet of what I conceive to have been a charmed existence.”  In love with the stories of items in “almost a million lots,” David tells of his office, “an irresistible vantage point from which to peer into the hidden corners of human existence.”  I have the distinct feeling that the resulting book will be incredibly fascinating and will, to paraphrase John McPhee in describing the experience of reading his fascinating little book about the history of oranges, will be a book you will enjoy from beginning to end, despite perhaps having thought at the outset that you would never be interested in a book about auctions.

While you await the publication of the book, please consider contributing to the David Redden ALS Fund at Columbia University, to support ALS and neuron research and the work of the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center.  

• ALS Fund Letter
• David N. Redden Lecture
• ALS Center Fact Sheet

I have the distinct feeling that the resulting book will be incredibly fascinating and will, to paraphrase John McPhee in describing the experience of reading his fascinating little book about the history of oranges, will be a book you will enjoy from beginning to end, despite perhaps having thought at the outset that you would never be interested in a book about auctions. While you await the publication of the book, please consider contributing to the David Redden ALS Fund at Columbia University, to support ALS and neuron research and the work of the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center. (I am asking the editors to publish David’s entire letter to his classmates in the online edition of this column.)

At this end, having recovered (more or less) from the flood of April 2018, we have renewed our efforts to finish our little offgrid home-in-a-valley with the help of a go-getter contractor.  (Photos on Facebook, if interested.)  Visitors will be welcome.

So, write with news or just because. And don’t forget to make plans to attend the 50th Reunion. (Did I mention our Reunion?)

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754

Hi all. Diane LaPointe here. Gary Breitbord, after many years of valiant service as our co-class secretary, has graciously passed the baton to me. Thanks for all of your hard work over the years on this, Gary!

As I write these notes, it is a beautiful late May day. Our 40th class Reunion was last weekend, and what a great weekend it was. Weather was picture perfect, and a record breaking 108 of us returned to campus. If you were unable to attend, you were missed.

Jack Freudenheim was instrumental (no pun intended) in organizing a reunion Eclectic party. He recapped: “We had a blast organizing a reunion band made up of as many alumni from the class of 1979 (give or take 10 years) as we could get to commit. People came from as far as Seattle and South Florida, with rehearsals in the spring in Katonah and Middletown for those who could attend, and the rest being organized online. We named the band The Fossils of the Moon in tribute to our beloved dining hall, home to so many concerts we all loved and the fossils that adorned the walls upstairs. Thanks to all who cheered us on; we had a great time playing for you! The following people played or sang: Charlie Berman ’76,Ann Beutler Millerick ’77, Banning Eyre, Jack Freudenheim, Wil Galison ’81, Chuck Gregory ’74, Tom Kovar ’76, Robert Levin ’81, Bill Levinson, Win Lockwood ’78, Beth Masterman, Jim Melloan ’77, Mike O’Brien ’80,  Matthew Penn ’80, Greg Shatan ’81, Tom Valtin, and Dirck Westervelt ’82.

The weekend included some great Weseminars including a well-attended session with terrific and extraordinarily accomplished panelists from our class, Laura Walker and Jim Friedlich. A shoutout to Rachel Christmas Derrick and Ann Schirrmeister Goldrach who compiled a photo montage slide show and accompanying sound track, respectively, for our class dinner. A great backdrop for our dinner conversation.

I think Seta Nazarian recapped Reunion best: “The proof that Wesleyan is unique lies in its people and the deep connection we share. That was proven this weekend. We never stopped loving each other; we only stopped seeing each other every day . . . ”

In other news, Deb Pearson-Woodhouse and John Woodhouse write: “Our son, John Pearson Woodhouse ’19, graduated from Wesleyan with a B.A. in math (major) and quantitative analysis (minor). We spent two full days packing up four years’ worth of accumulated items. We went on to enjoy the fabulous 40th Reunion (highlight: getting most of our dinner coop together at the dinner) and then of course seeing JP graduate on Sunday. It was a whirlwind weekend—but a great one.”

Jodi Daynard sent along the following: “I’d like to share that my family is well, and exciting things are happening: We just bought a cabin in Round Pond, Maine. My son, Alex, recently got his PhD in solar materials science from MIT and moved to California, where he’ll be working to save the world. Finally, my fourth novel, A Transcontinental Affair, is coming out Nov. 1, and it’s available for pre-order on Amazon. According to my publisher, it’s ‘A sweeping tale of adventure and danger, innovation and corruption, rivalry and romance on America’s first transcontinental train trip.’ Would love to hear from fellow Wesleyanites—you can write me via my author page on FB.”

I caught up with David Kendall at Reunion, and he is executive producing a sitcom for Netflix, which is starting production in July. It’s entitled The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia. He continues to live in Santa Monica, the proud dad of a 24-year-old daughter and 17 -year old twins (son and daughter).

Had a nice long conversation with Carol Churgin over dinner. She is making a difference in people’s lives (my words not hers) by working at a nonprofit in mental health and substance abuse, running a parenting workshop in her community, and providing a room in her home to a Rwandan refugee seeking political asylum. You inspire us, Carol!

Martha Bush wrote in to share the following: “After 25 years at SIGMA Marketing, a marketing analytics and martech firm in Rochester, N.Y., the last couple as oresident, I’ve jumped into the nonprofit world feet first. I’ve joined Foodlink, our regional food bank, as chief marketing officer. An amazing place with a mission to end hunger and build a healthier community. Rochester sadly has one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the country. I figure at our age it’s time to supercharge our pay-it-forward efforts!”

Jono Cobb updates us that he and his wife Suzzanne are looking forward to spending the summer at their Chappaquiddick house. He’s hoping to cross paths there with Banning Eyre during his annual family vacation.

Beth Masterman sent along a nice note: “I would like to express my heartfelt affection and appreciation for classmates who returned to our 40th Reunion. It was so worthwhile and so much fun! On the personal front, my daughter Amanda ’08 is expecting a baby in July, and as of January 2020, all of my three children will be married. My coaching business continues to grow, and I love it. Currently I serve as VP of events and logistics on the board of the International Coach Federation of New England. Through the ICFNE, I continue to learn, refine my skills, and meet great people.” She has lobbed a challenge for our 45th Reunion involving ukuleles. Space is limited here. More on this next issue.

Banning Eyre updates us on Afropop. “Afropop Worldwide is a Peabody Award-winning public radio series, launched by Banning and Sean Barlow in 1988. For the past 30-plus years, Sean, Banning, and their colleagues have been making field trips to Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East recording and collecting music, interviewing artists, and shooting countless photographs and videos for the radio program and the website afropop.org. This summer, Afropop is moving this archive out of Brooklyn and up to Middletown where Sean and Banning now live. The idea is to organize and inventory all the media and begin digitizing the most at-risk materials. It’s a big step in a long process! Afropop has recently launched a GoFundMe campaign to underwrite this move and the early stages of protecting the archive.” Sounds awesome to me!

And finally, on a sad note, Casey Blake ’78 writes: “It is my sad duty to report that my friend and Wesleyan classmate, Karl Arnason, passed away in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on May 12 after a long illness. Karl majored in economics at Wesleyan and later took an MBA at the University of Albany. In addition to holding positions as a project analyst for the New York Banking Department and the State Department of Transportation, he had a significant career in cycling. He was New York State cycling champion in 1982 and was then named to the national team the same year. He is survived by his wife Donna Behen and their three children, Thomas, Elisabeth, and Daniel, as well as other relatives.” See his complete obituary. He clearly exemplified what we all garnered from our Wesleyan experience by being committed to leaving his mark while on this earth by affecting the lives of others. Our condolences go out to his family.

As I write this, I (Diane) am entering my final week of work, having announced my planned early June retirement two month ago. I am looking forward to becoming more tangibly engaged in nonprofits that align with missions that are most important to my husband and me. Now is the time to truly embrace the ethos of Wesleyan—giving back and making a difference. I am looking forward to it. We will be splitting our time between our homes in California and New York and seeing more of our two children who live on opposite coasts.

Please send us news for our next issue. We are part of a wonderful community as Seta put it so eloquently above. We should never forget that.

Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com

Diane LaPointe | dmlapointe28@gmail.com

PepPep Bachman uses her operatic experience to teach presentation skills, specifically to female executives in the U.S. and Europe. As such she finds herself commuting between two very nice spots—San Francisco/Portland and the Austrian Alps.

Geoff Ginsburg is at Duke Medical School as director of the Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine, and also runs a nonprofit company, Global Genomic Medicine Collaborative, as well as two enterprises which he founded, Predigen and MeTree&You. “Keeping busy, enjoying the North Carolina beaches except for Hurricane Florence. Best wishes to classmates.”

Lucy Mize travels worldwide in her work for USAID, adding Finland, Burma, and China this year to her log, additionally getting in some recreational travel when accompanying her husband Tim in his work with the World Bank. Stateside, she splits time between Vermont and the D.C. region. When in the latter, Lucy follows the MLB Nationals intensively with Bill Tabor, and reports she had nice visits there from Alicia Springer ’79 and Kathy Mintz.

David Ocean is executive vice president of sales for the Four Seasons Residences, in Surf Side, Fla.

Steven Peretz practices intellectual property law in Miami, where he both grew up and eventually co-founded his legal firm 10 years ago. His daughter Sarah works as a social media influencer in Los Angeles (“I have found that following her on Instagram is the best way to know what she is doing”); son Jonathan attends college in South Florida. Steven’s passion is flying. He has logged approximately 2,000 flight hours, particularly enjoying trips to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.

Kurt Schwartz has retired from a long career in public service for the state of Massachusetts—as a police officer, EMT, state criminal prosecutor, the cabinet undersecretary, the homeland security adviser, and, finally, the emergency management director, during the past 40 years. He plans to do some homeland security and international disaster consulting, but has been “transitioning into retirement pretty easily,” enjoying travel and the freedom from the call, preparation, and response to “disasters and emergencies,” and is enjoying his newfound time with his wife, Susan, and their two kids (ages 25 and 29) who live nearby.

Jon Spector and his wife, Wendy, are happy in Woodstock, Vt., to where they moved from Boston four years ago. Jon stepped down from his CEO position at the Conference Board last year, for which he still provides some advising, and Wendy works part-time for the Sharon Academy. Their four boys “are doing well . . . one married, one engaged, all employed, only one off the cell phone plan.” They’re soon to equip their 200-year-old house with new windows and solar panels, “which is what passes for excitement in Vermont these days.”

Lynn Thomas went on a terrific trip to Morocco this past February with her daughter Carolyn Grace Kimberley Helaine Thomas (“…a royal name as she is royal to us!”), who is excitedly heading off to Ithaca College this year. Lynn stays busy with her consulting firm, which focuses on training, coaching, and working with companies to learn and integrate emotional intelligence (“responsible for 80 percent of our personal and professional success”) into their working culture.

James Washington and his wife, MaryLu, are into their first year of empty-nesthood. Jim is director of admissions for strategic initiatives at Dartmouth. He continues publishing poetry—in the digital Bloodroot Literary Magazine—and is studying for his second master’s degree, in creative writing, in Dartmouth’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program.

Gary Friedmann remains active in environmental and energy issues in his state of Maine, recently leading a coalition of statewide organizations to a State House meeting with the governor and other state officials regarding climate change action; this resulted in legislative passage of a bill seeking to make Maine energy-independent, as a net exporter of renewable energy, by 2030.

Keep us posted on your lives!

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

Thanks to all who wrote in regarding what is happening in their lives. It is great to read that so many folks are gathering with fellow classmates. Due to the quantity of updates, some will appear in our next issue.

Don Citak attended a mini class reunion in Manhattan accompanied by Don Lowery, Jeff Shames, Tom Roberts, Vanessa Burgess, and Dave Thomas. Everyone enjoyed drinks and dinner, catching up with one another. Don’s stories of attending Robert Kraft’s Seders and pictures of himself with Bon Jovi were among the highlights, as were Tom’s stories about his visits to college campuses, and Jeff’s stories about bouncing back and forth between Boston and New York to juggle his many commitments. Don C. just grinned as he showed pictures of his two grandchildren. There is nothing better!

Don Spencer wrote of undergoing treatment for appendiceal cancer for the past 10 months. First chemo, then major surgeries. It was a serious ordeal, but he is hopefully through the worst of it. Don wants to extend major thanks to the many family and friends, including Wes alumni, who supported him. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in your recovery.

John Fink may be onto a new job in Hawaii. His current e-mail is: johnfink808@gmail.com.

First-time contributor Gary Altman’s daughter, Jill, was married in December in Layfette, La., to her wife, Kate. Son Matthew and his wife had their first child, his first grandchild, Sara Annie. His law firm, Altman & Associates, continues to grow with no plans on slowing down. Gary was honored at a gala for Hope Connections for Cancer, a local charity that provides free cancer support groups to patients and families. Gary and wife Liz have been married for 15 years and live in an historic Potomac, Md., house, where they make gourmet pizza in a wood-burning pizza oven.

Jane Goldenring has been busy traveling in many directions to Charlotte to see Janet Malkemes, who is doing great, then heading to Wesleyan to teach a two-day class for the graduating film students, including a visit with Kate Seeger, then to NYC, where she caught up with Jane Eisner. Laraine Balk Hope came to meet Jane from D.C. The two went to see the new production of Oklahoma and hung out at the Met for good measure.

Jeff Gray celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary on Cape Cod with a crowd, including the Honorable Judge Bob Nastri and wife Kathleen, Dave Thomas with companion Gretchen Dowling, Tim O’Brien ’81 and wife Linda, Gary Breitbord ’79 and wife Colleen, and Mr. Kenneth J. Langley, Esq., who retired at the end of January of this year after many years of service as an attorney for the state of Massachusetts. Speaking of retirement, Jeff hung it up last June. Thirty-nine years in mortgage banking was apparently enough.

Felice Burstein and John Roxby have both retired and sold their house in Pennsylvania. They are planning to move to Concord, N.H., to be closer to kids and grandkids. The new home won’t be ready for a year, so they are taking advantage of a lack of home ownership to live “untethered.”

Jonathan Gertler’s family is doing great. His 15-month-old granddaughter, Jhie Hong Gertler, is a delight and his adult children are all thriving.

Linda Palmer retired from the law and now works at the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Her husband is an environmental advocate; her children live nearby in the Boston area.

Lisa Reitano was moving her mom and came across this gem from her dad, who was a CPA and kept track of every penny. He totaled up what Lisa’s Wesleyan education cost for all four years. The grand total of tuition, room and board, books, and phone calls was $21,494.34. As anyone who still has a kid in college knows, it is unbelievable.

Shalom Staub wrote that after 38 years in Harrisburg, Pa., it was time for a change. He has moved with his wife to Los Angeles, taking a new job as director of UCLA’s Center for Community Learning. He’s loving it! Still building new social networks though, so he’d love to connect to LA-based Wesleyan alumni.

Peter Guenther noted that there was recently a reception on campus for his old lacrosse coach, Terry Jackson. It was held at President Michael Roth’s [’78] home and hosted by Athletic Director Mike Whalen ’83 and Bill Belichick ’75. Among the many old lacrosse players who came out were some former teammates: Andy Darpino, Pat McQullan ’75, Mike Sanfilippo ’75, Carl Taylor ’78, Charlie Cocores ’74, Pete McArdle ’76, and Mark Fredland ’74.

Nice pithy note from Mary Jo Wade: “Downsizing. Less work (in theory). Grandchildren. Life is good for her and Jack (Gray).”

Here is hoping that life is good to you all!

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

News from classmates covers the range of human experience and emotions, and this word-limited column cannot do justice to them. Perhaps it may cause some of us to reconnect with old friends.

In early April, Susan Avitzour lost Daniel, her husband of 42 years. Daniel held a PhD in pure mathematics from UC Berkeley, worked all his life as an inventor-engineer, and was a devoted husband and father. Susan is grateful to her seven children, friends, and religious community for support during this difficult time.

In June, Barbara Birney will help celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary of her parents Margaret and Robert Birney ’50. Her brother Bob ’81 also plans to attend.

Rob Buccino plans to spend three weeks this summer in France following the women’s world cup soccer tournament and bicycling along the Rhone. He is enjoying semi-retirement fully.

Betsy Eisenmann, a retired RN, exercises regularly and does volunteer work, including at her church’s thrift shop.

Ron Epstein found the memorial for Jon Barlow to be a wonderful opportunity to see classmates influenced by his work. Ron’s daughter is becoming a physician, and he continues to find purpose in palliative care and in the mindful-practice training he does for physicians.

Karen Gervasoni’s daughter is graduating high school and heading to Champlain College to major in film. Karen is downsizing, staying in Kennebunk, and wishes everyone well.

Joellyn Gray’s son Malcom’s movie 21 Bridges opens in late September. It is named for the 21 access bridges out of Manhattan, stars Chadwick Bozeman and is a psychological thriller.

Peter Hansen and his wife, Gail. live in DC and are consulting part-time. They regularly visit their granddaughter in NYC and daughter in Seattle and this spring traveled to Greece.

Byron Haskins just returned from Dublin, Ireland, where he attended the Project Management Institute Leadership Meeting. At the same time, his son Stephen was giving a TED-style talk at a medical conference in Belfast. Check out Byron’s music video hobby on YouTube.

Polly Hays retired from a 34-year career with the U.S. government, mostly with the Forest Service in water resource management. During her last years of work, she also spent much time helping her elderly parents to the end of life. She finds herself enjoying leisurely days at home with friends and family with time to pursue new interests.

Jim Johnson, to celebrate the 15th year of his company BikeTours.com and his 65th birthday, threw a free, full-day Bluegrass festival for his community which attracted 2,000 people and featured a farmers’ market and some of the region’s top bands. Jim recently started an organization called Chattanoogans for Responsible Development and has earned himself the names “community activist” and “flaming urbanist jackal.”

Sad to report that, on March 31, Nancy Kathan passed away. After Wesleyan, Nancy earned a fine arts degree from Yale. She was a leader in women’s issues and the arts and for the past 30 years, worked in Philadelphia with several theatre and film organizations.

Thomas Kovar plans to work another five years at the VA and is still doing plenty of music. In late May he performed at Eclectic for the ’79 Reunion.

Chris Mahoney and his wife, Joan, are on their second trip to Israel with plans to see the Galilee, the Golan, Jerusalem, the Negev, Eilat, Aqaba, and Petra.

Dave Eckert retired last year and moved back to Cincinnati. He recently had a hip replacement, his recovery is going great, and he hopes to be back on the tennis courts by mid-summer.

Jaimee Mirsky and her husband Jay retired last summer and are now grandparents to Jordan via their older daughter Joanna.

Nat Needle met for dinner with both of his sons in Worcester, Mass., and gave his first-ever piano recital for his students and their families and guests.

Debra Neuman’s son Josh will receive his master’s in agronomy at Oregon State in June. Debra enjoys her job as the executive director of a Catholic retreat center with a small addiction recovery residence for young men.

Jack O’Donnell’s daughter Maggie ’19 graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wes this May with a near perfect GPA. Congratulations!

Pam Swing ’75 and Marty Plotkin’s son, Ben, is getting married this fall. Pam is a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center and co-authored a play about the suffrage movement. Marty is a software development VP at Oracle. He plays the violin and is deeply involved in chamber music.

Gerry Rau received excellent medical care at modest cost from Taiwan’s socialized health care system. Gerry’s authored a textbook for engineering and science students that will be published in August.

Steve Smith and his wife Jean are retiring this summer and celebrating with a long, relaxing cruise.

Craig Tighe and his wife Ann live in San Mateo. Craig is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of DLA Piper where he works with technology startups. Ann is retired from an environmental nonprofit.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Mike Lehman, professor of biological sciences, joined Kent State University as the inaugural director of their new Brain Health Research Institute (kent.edu/brainhealth), joining Eric Mintz ’90 and Merri Rosen ’90, both key members of the new institute and its executive committee. “Great example,” Mike says, “of how Wesleyan alumni come together to innovate and lead in science and higher ed!”

Larry Greenberg writes from Martha’s Vineyard that he and his wife Debbie are finally grandparents, to Emelia, the first child of their eldest son Dan and wife Kait. Youngest son Stephen will marry in late June after producing the Stanley Cup Finals between the Bruins and Blue Jays. Daughter Sarah is traveling the world setting up and managing conference venues. Larry continues to practice orthopedic and sports physical therapy, with Debbie practicing occupational hand therapy in their clinic. Retirement is still a few years away.

Ed Van Voorhees kept his news short and sweet: “New grandchild, Jasper.”

Martha Meade ’76 and Steven Miller celebrated the anniversary of their son Leland’s Wes graduation. He got a degree in film (and the 2018 prize for Best Screenplay). They drove from LA to graduation via the southern route. The return trip with Leland and his gear was more complicated because the gear left no room in the car for passengers. Steve flew west with Leland’s gargantuan suitcase, while Martha and Leland drove to Minneapolis, where they met Steve to take the second leg of the trip, and Martha flew back to LA. “Stops included visits with Brad Kosiba and Tom Wheeler, each in their respective native habitats, as well as seeing relatives we’d never met before, several national parks, and local color like the UFO Museum in Roswell, N.M., and the moose we almost crashed into on a dark mountain road in Idaho.” Now life goes on, Martha is making fabulous paintings, and Leland went to China for six months to work on a film production.

Nancy Luberoff and her husband, Bruce, are enjoying semi-retirement, living on a lake in Chapel Hill, N.C. The best part is hanging out with their two baby grandchildren, one of whom moved to Berlin in July with his parents. Nancy inquires, “Any Berlin connections out there?”

Bruce “BB” Weinraub writes, “As the great musician Jesse Winchester once sang, ‘Do it, do it until you can’t do it no more’ and as our class notes march unrelentingly towards the front, I will now. going forward, write a note for every alumni magazine until I can’t do it no more. In the spring of 1973 while living on Hewitt 9, Jay Abramowitz ’76, introduced me to the record Gumbo by Dr. John (Rolling Stone Magazine’s 402 out of the greatest 500 albums). That record has had a profound influence on my musical life. As Dr. John just passed, I am motivated to thank Jay for that and to remember some of the musical greats that I saw at Wesleyan—The Byrds, Bill Monroe, Roosevelt Sykes, Mance Lipscomb, McCoy Tyner, John McLaughlin, Commander Cody, Bonnie Raitt, The Oso Family, Orleans, Weather Report, Pure Prairie League, and probably many more.” Does bring back memories of McConaughy and the hockey rink.

Paul Gionfriddo wrote, “I was pleased to give Roger Weisberg the Mental Health America’s 2019 media award at our annual national conference last week in D.C. for his documentary Broken Places, which will air nationally on PBS in 2020.”

A note from Brian Steinbach pointed me to a New York Times story about David Garrow’s article on Martin Luther King. Apparently, it stirred up quite the controversy in historical and civil rights circles.

Risa Korn provides me with a home-away-from-home almost every time I get to Boston, much to my delight. She is “bubbe” to two grandchildren, Arya and Theo, who live nearby with their parents David (Risa’s oldest) and Laura in the Boston suburbs. Her daughter Melanie, living in Brooklyn, is responsible for investor relations at American Express, and son Sam is completing his residency in Denver. Most recent news was Risa’s plan for a long weekend in NYC when Jane Hutchins comes down from Vancouver Island.

Bob and I were thrilled to witness our daughter Julia Daniel graduating with her master’s in computer science from Stanford last week. Now she’s off to Europe to visit friends and for a two-week teaching gig in Prague. Lucky us, we’re invited to celebrate her 25th birthday in Prague, and then we’ll travel en famille to Vienna, Strasbourg, and Paris. The only thing better would be if her brother Ethan could come too, but he’ll be deep in his penultimate semester of college.

Keep your news coming. It gets way too quiet between columns.

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