Class Notes | 1970s

Remember to mark your calendars for our 45th Reunion May 24-26. Registration and information about the Reunion can be found at wesleyan.edu/rc . Also, feel free to contact any members of the Reunion committee, which includes: Bob Arcaro, Charley Blaine, Scott Brodie, Jon Eddison, Peter Heyward, John Hickenlooper, Lloyd Komesar, Lyn Thurber Lauffer, Barry Lenk, Charisse Lillie, Pat Mulcahy, Bill Pearson, Sharon Purdie, Dean Richlin, John Shapiro, Harold Sogard, Nancy Stack, Charles Steinhorn, and Pamela van der Meulen.

Devra Fischer, known at Wesleyan as Heather, was awarded a doctorate in psychoanalysis and certified as a psychoanalyst by the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) in December in LA. This achievement comes after a long and fruitful career as a psychotherapist practicing in Beverly Hills.

This achievement comes after a long and fruitful career as a psychotherapist practicing in Beverly Hills, Calif. The title of her thesis is “The Body Speaks.” Devra can be reached at 310-749-1633 or ndevraf@gmail.com.

Jan Eliasberg reports, “I continue to write and direct in film and television, but I’ve been surprised and delighted to discover two new areas of creative expression:

“I’m currently completing the second draft of a novel called Heart Of The Atom. I sold the novel based on an original screenplay I had written and have spent the last seven months writing, and now revising, the manuscript. I’ve had terrific help and support from Paul Vidich ’72 another Wesleyan grad turned novelist, and his wife, Linda. I’m represented as a novelist by Adriann Ranta Zurellen at Foundry Literary + Media and publication details will be forthcoming. The following is a short synopsis of the book:

1945. The American and German scientists race to create, develop, and test an atomic bomb. Dr. Hannah Weiss, a brilliant physicist, is the only woman in the Critical Assemblies Division at Los Alamos, the top scientists working directly with Oppenheimer on the bomb’s final stages. Major Jack Delaney, a rising star in the shadowy world of military intelligence, arrives in Los Alamos with a mission: to find the spy leaking nuclear secrets to the Germans. Dr. Hannah Weiss becomes his prime suspect. Inspired by true events and characters, including the extraordinary female scientist Albert Einstein called “the Mother of the Bomb,”Heart of the Atomexplores one of the great mysteries of the Twentieth Century: How did Nazi Germany—with its fanatic will to power and its cadre of Nobel-winning scientists—lose the crucial race for the atomic bomb? Winston Churchill called it “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,” but Jack Delaney is determined to reveal the truth he knows is hidden in the heart of an unlikely hero.

“I also undertook to renovate an apartment in Manhattan that has been in the family, but sitting unused, for a number of years. I gut renovated the kitchen and three bathrooms, as well as making minor renovations throughout the rest of the space. I found a phenomenal contractor and sourced all of the fixtures, tiles, paint colors, wallpaper, rugs, furniture, and artwork myself. I was thrilled when the design magazine, Apartment Therapy, featured a storyon my work, complete with photographs. It turns out that I love the work of renovating and designing — it’s a very creative process similar to directing — and I’ve taken on a couple of paid gigs renovating for friends and colleagues.

“Finally, my daughter Sariel ’19 graduates from Wesleyan in June; she majored in American studies and film studies.”

Charlie Cocores retires to Pawleys Island SC when not in Old Saybrook. He is doing a Habitat for Humanity Global Village build in Romania and would love some Wesleyan folks to join in. Contact him at cocoshfh@gmail.com.

Monique Witt writes, “Not much that’s new while we’re involved in the new building. Ben is touring, Dev is designing audio tech, I’m finishing up some production projects and Steven is hip-deep in his deals. Ben has an Instagram post from a Target store in Cali where he’s playing a kid’s cat keyboard that meows. They were buying a pick-up cable by the toy section. It helped to lighten my day in the face of the hardships from the political situation. NYC suffers less, but I run with a curator from the Smithsonian and the situation is dire. Hope everyone is getting through this.”

Gail Austin Cooney reminds us that “it’s that age when the big news is often retirement! I stopped working because it was getting in the way of my dancing. Now, I am a modern dancer with Demetrius Klein DKDC/DIY in West Palm Beach. My brief encounter with modern dance at Wesleyan (thank you, Cheryl Cutler) is finally paying off. I am the oldest in the company and have the least amount of formal training but I’m not the only one on Medicare—it’s a diverse group and a huge source of joy in my life. We perform several times a year on a regular basis. One of our goals is to bring modern dance to people in the community who might not otherwise encounter it. Fun, fun, fun!” Contact her at gail.cooney@gmail.com.

Howard Curzer reports, “The new, big thing in my life is a very small thing—a grandson. Jonah Henry Stanton Curzer was born to Mirah Curzer and Josh Stanton on Dec. 16. Jonah has not yet revealed his superpower, but we can wait.”

Harold Sogard has no meaningful personal news this time around, but would like to say that he is very much hoping that people who for one reason or another have not come to previous reunions will be able to attend our 45th Reunion this May!

Larry Green continues to practice law as a trial attorney and partner at the Boston law firm, Burns & Levinson. When introduced to someone outside of work, Larry is often asked: “You’re retired, right?” To which he jokingly responds, “I must look much older than I really am or much more prosperous than I really am.” Larry and his wife, Denise, do, in fact, enjoy life outside of work, spending more and more time at their second home in Ogunquit, Maine, and traveling to visit five grandchildren in Boulder and Palo Alto. Having been unable to make it to Wes Reunions because his annual extended family reunion is held in Ogunquit every Memorial Day weekend, Larry extends an open invitation to classmates to look him up when traveling to either Boston or Ogunquit.

Chuck Gregorywas elected to the vestry at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale. He also sings in the choir there. He also sings in the choir there. He’s secretary to the board of a community group, the Central City Alliance, which held a street fair on March 2nd called the 13th Street Craft Beer and Wine Festival with Car Show. Busy, busy, busy!

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

We have news from across the country. Mike Robinson regrets having to back out of our recent milestone Reunion and will try to visit this year but has 2023 written in red in the centennial calendar. Meanwhile, he reconnected with a rowing teammate, Vinnie Broderick ’75. Vinnie, who runs a summer rowing camp in Vermont, met up with Mike’s rowing coach brother and tracked Mike down in Baltimore and York, Pa. The visit yielded a reconnection for Mike with Phil Calhoun ’62, past rowing coach, as well as  stories of shenanigans during the rowers’ spring training in Florida.

From Lafayette, Colo., Mike McKenna has been appointed to the USA Rugby board of directors. Mike says, “I look forward to combining my passion for the sport and professional experience to help further strengthen our great game both here in the U.S. and within the international rugby community.” Mike has been active for decades helping the Wesleyan rugby club and founded the Old Methodist RFC, strengthening alumni ties. Congrats, Mike!

Peter Gelblum devotes his time to the worlds of theater and social justice. He is president of Mountain Community Theater in Ben Lomond, Calif. Over the last few years, his “work” at MCT has included playing Brutus in Julius Caesar and one of the convict-angels in My Three Angels, and directing Miracle on 34th Street, the Play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Other Desert Cities, Damn Yankees, and my favorite, August: Osage County. He writes, “At other local theaters in the astonishingly vibrant theater scene in Santa Cruz county, I’ve recently played Judge Haywood (the Spencer Tracy part in the movie) in Judgment at Nuremberg and directed several shows for an annual festival of 10-minute plays.” He has also produced two productions of Climate Change Theater Action in Santa Cruz.

For several years, he has been on the board of directors and executive committee of the ACLU of Northern California and the chair of the Santa Cruz county chapter of the ACLU. “In those roles, I’ve gotten to work with other activists, elected officials, and law enforcement leaders to address issues such as protecting the rights of the large homeless population, militarization of police, police transparency and accountability, surveillance, racial justice, and immigration rights,” he says, adding he is currently on the sheriff’s advisory team for the county. Peter says “My wife, Michele, and I love it here in Boulder Creek among the redwoods. The only downside is that our combined three kids and two grandchildren are scattered around the country, so we don’t get to see them as often as we would like. In light of that, I’m especially thankful for those modern wonders of airplanes and video chat.”

Robert Abrevaya says the 14th edition of The Robert William Abrevaya Show was produced Dec. 28. Comedy by “The Official Comedian for the 2020 Elections.” He says seven of his shows and autobiographical information are available at vimeo.com/RWAShow. At The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard, he has been the closing act most potluck nights since (at least) 1983. His new Facebook page is RealRobert William Abrevaya. He is also on Twitter @AbrevayaR. And he invites you to call him at 323/926-6115.

A busy Tom Kelly is splitting his time between Phoenix and San Diego and now has four grandchildren who range from 4 months to 4 years old. He is working with early stage health care companies with “strong value propositions” in an industry that he believes could be involved with “massive disruption.” He is “trying to tilt Arizona blue with moderate success.”

For those of you who are doctors, I have to mention this personal medical note. Some alarm bells went off over a year ago when I my A1C count hit 7.2 and I went in to the Type 2 Diabetes danger zone. I went cold turkey on the sugar after decades of guzzling Coca-Cola and M&Ms. In three months, my A1C count dropped to 5.8 and in 6 months it dropped to 5.5. My doctor said the drop was “freakish” and had not seen such an A1C drop before, along with everything else that improved. I also dropped from 181 to 162 pounds—too big of a drop, one doctor said. Must admit I feel better and have lost the “glucose belly.” In light of all the commercials about lowering your A1C count, my wife thinks I should write a short book about this.

On a final note, this time last year many of us were getting ready to attend our 45th Reunion. All who attended said it was fantastic and afterwards were eager to start planning for our 50th Reunion (May 25-28, 2023). We’ll be reaching out to folks to collect up-to-date contact information as we want as many as possible to make it back to Middletown. If you want to get involved or haven’t heard from a Reunion committee member, contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 680/685-5992.

Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com

Let’s start with some news from Leon Vinci. Stepping down from his role as national technical advisor on Climate Change for the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), he remains active with their Climate Change Committee. As a leader in climate change and health, he was invited to attend the Climate Change International Summit in Washington, D.C., in May.

During the second international Enhancing Environmental Health Knowledge (EEK): Vectors and Public Health Pests Virtual Conference in May, Leon’s presentation covered “Emerging Diseases and Vectors Related to Changes in Climate.” In June, he presented a paper entitled “What New Bugs are Telling Us About Climate Change “at the NEHA Annual Educational Conference in Anaheim, Calif. During that meeting he participated on an expert panel covering: “Collaborative Advances in Climate Change Policy at National Levels.” Along with chairing the educational track on Citizen Science at the National Environmental Monitoring Conference, he presented two papers on topics in citizen science, including “Global Examples of Citizen Science Policy” and “The Linkage of Citizen Science with Climate Change.” These events were in addition to his children’s health course, which he taught over the summer at the College of and Health Professions at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Steve Schiff was one of the producers of The Americans, which is now reaping well-deserved awards (Golden Globe, Critics Choice). He is working as the showrunner for Lucasfilm’s prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Since it will show on Disney+ we should not expect a lot of sex.

Roger Jackson led a fall tour through India last fall. Wes connections on the tour included Frank Levering ’74, Frank’s sister Betsy Morgan, Hon. ’97, one-time teacher at Wes and spouse of Professor of History Emeritus David Morgan, and Kristin Bloomer ’89, associate professor of religion at Carleton College, from which Roger retired a few years ago.

Ron Ashkenas is co-author of the Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook, published last fall by Harvard Business Press. The aim of the book is to help aspiring and existing leaders understand the small number of fundamental practices they need to master throughout their careers—and not get lost in the “noise” about leadership that is around these days. Ron and his co-author interviewed 40 successful leaders across a number of industries, including Wesleyan’s Michael Roth ’78.

“Michael was quite gracious in spending time to discuss his views on leadership,” Ron reports, “and the book includes a wonderful vignette about the process he used for reaching consensus about a ‘unifying vision’ for Wesleyan. If you get hold of the book, you’ll find it on page 38.”

Mike Kaloyanides is one of the contributors to the newly published Greek Music in America. The book is an anthology of essays exploring Greek music traditions in America. To quote Dan Georgakas, the blurb writer, “This is a landmark work in Greek American studies. Comprehensive essays and thumbnail portraits chronicle popular, rebetiko, regional, and sacred music in Greek America. The various contributors deal authoritatively with the subtle interactions between immigrant and mainstream culture. A must-read for anyone interested in the Greek diaspora or ethnic cultures in America.” The book is published by the University Press of Mississippi.

And, finally, I am pleased to add this important reminder: Our 50th Reunion is May 19-22, 2022. The Reunion Committee will be reaching out to folks to collect up-to-date contact information. Look for pre-Reunion regional events and if close by, attend! Want to get involved or haven’t heard from one of us? Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 680/685-5992. And, check out wesleyan.edu/classof1972 for the latest news.

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

Aloha, classmates. Let me start off with some sad news. Jonathan Felt died in October. He was originally in our class, but due to health reasons, graduated with Class of ’72. His death was sent in by his roommate, Patrick Callahan, and friend, Jake Weiss. His obituary was in the Ridgefield Press. Jon was an accomplished film producer and director. He had an eye for capturing the beauty around him and was quick to teach others who were just as eager to learn. Working with ABC 20/20 for many years, he spotlighted endless incredible stories for the world. Jon brought home numerous awards for groundbreaking documentaries like The Men Who Brought the Dawn, which highlighted the Enola Gay crew that dropped the first atomic bomb. He is survived by his two daughters, Danika and Alissa, granddog Mickey, and former wife yet cherished friend, Doreen Felt.

Our 50th Reunion is coming fast. Yes, 2021 will be here before you know it. Bob Millner attended a working meeting of the Class of ’70 and gave us a report of what we need to start preparing to do. The committee is seeking volunteers to help plan this important milestone. We could use people who would help put together a class book. It involves soliciting bios and submissions from classmates.

The committee is looking for class members of color to participate in organizing a program addressing the African-American experience in our class (which was the first one at Wesleyan with a significant African-American presence) and perhaps comparing it with that experience today.

The Reunion committee will be reaching out to folks to collect up-to-date contact information. Look for pre-Reunion regional events and if close by, attend! Want to get involved or haven’t heard from one of us? Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 680/685-5992. And, check out wesleyan.edu/classof1971 for the latest news.

That’s all the news I have this time. I will continue to remind you about the 50th Reunion so please volunteer to make this event the best Reunion milestone. Thanks, and aloha.

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

Aloha, everyone. Maurice Hakim and Carol are “glad to be back in Florida for the winter although we already miss being in our 1799 Cape in Clinton, Conn. We’ve made many improvements to the house. We’re now planning for the addition that includes a modern kitchen and sunporch.” Maurice is still working. His company manufactures ready-to-drink organic teas and lemonades for private-label grocery store chains. He sees Jeremy Serwer, Phil Dundas, and Charlie Farrow ’69. He’s in touch with Seth Kaufman, Jim Elston, and David Geller. Maurice is working with John Griffin on our 50th Reunion book.

Sadly, Maurice is “now afflicted with Type 2 Diabetes and its consequences, particularly neuropathy, probably as a result of my overindulging in Hostess Cupcakes and My-T Fine chocolate pudding since my early youth. I have started to take it more seriously by going to physical therapy.”

I think this is the first time we’ve heard from Mitch Grashin. Mitch’s daughter Merrily Grashin (NYU ’06), has written a wonderful book, a very funny, educational and useful, feminist cocktail book, entitled Women’s Libation! Cocktails to Celebrate a Woman’s Right to Booze (Penguin/Random House). It was the New York Times Editor’s Pick on Black Friday.

Coming out of retirement for the second time, Mitch “helped create and is working with a startup, White Eagle Insurance Solutions, located in the Bay Area, the epicenter of the new California Gold Rush. We are becoming, and will soon be established as, the de facto insurance provider nationally for the $30-plus billion commercial cannabis industry.”

Gene Legg wrote, “I am in the midst of my 40th year of teaching high school and still going strong! I see my buddy Elliot Daum occasionally at special events, and he is as wonderful as ever. I am forever grateful to Wesleyan for the incredible education we all received and to Psi U for putting up with my self-centered idiocy for four years. I have raised two wonderful sons (28 and 24 respectively) and managed to stay out of trouble for most of our 48 years since graduation. Since I went to Harvard to get a graduate degree, I feel qualified to compare these two bastions of education. I loved Harvard, but no comparison: WesTech is in first place in every category!”

Mark Geannette retired after practicing law for 45 years. He and wife Gloria have been traveling, most notably to French Polynesia and Sardinia. For his 70th birthday they went to Easter Island.

Colin Kitchens is “in the San Francisco Bay Area with my wife and three dogs. I have been writing and the narrative and my energy to pursue it are about to collide. In exciting news, classmates, I am looking for an alternative to death, and making some incredible headway. I will set up a GoFundMe page soon­­—you don’t want to be late for this train.”

Still a political leader, Steve Talbot, regularly posts thoughtful and informative pieces on Facebook. On a related note, you’ll want to get Bob Stone’s Trumpericks books. You can see samples on FB regularly.

As I write, Jeremy Serwer is speaking on a group call of the 50th Reunion committee exhorting folks to call classmates about the Reunion. (He’s chairman of the outreach committee.) If you know anyone who’s kind of off-the-grid, please let the committee know how to contact the person, or better yet, do it yourself!

Our 50th Reunion is May 21-24, 2020, slightly more than a year away. A robust Reunion committee (Alschuler, Bullard, Carter, Dachs, Daum, Davis, Diamond, Elston, Fain, Geller, Gottfried, Griffin, Hakim, Hazel, Heilweil, Johnson, Jones, Josephson, Kellogg, Knight, Krugman, Laitos, Murphy, Ossad, Policoff, Poritz, Saltzman, Sarles, Scherr, Serwer, Sheffield, Silvestro, Stone, Talbot, Tam, White, Williams, Woods) is busy reaching out to folks to collect up-to-date contact information, as we want as many of you to come back to Middletown as possible.

Work has started on a class book and programming ideas are already being discussed. Look for pre-Reunion regional events and if close by, attend! Want to get involved or haven’t heard from one of us? Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 680/685-5992. And, please check out wesleyan.edu/classof1970 for the latest news.

I’m happy to report visible progress on the never-ending building project here on Kaua’i. The elevated solar rack is well underway, and the house foundation is scheduled to be poured in a few days. I can’t tell you the joy! Speaking of which, I made my first trip to New Orleans at the end of December and loved it. For anyone interested, I posted a lot of photos on FB.

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

Greetings to all. This issue’s column has the uncanny privilege of featuring two of our classmates who have just released new books.

Elise Bean has just come out with Financial Exposure: Carl Levin’s Senate Investigations into Finance and Tax Abuse, which draws upon her 30 year of experience working as an investigator for Senate Levin (including 15 years of service on the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations). Notably, Elise mentions that a significant theme in the book involves the favorably bipartisan nature with which much of the congressional investigative work has taken place during her years there. She was recently back on Wes campus for Family Weekend to discuss the book in a Weseminar. Elise retired from her investigative congressional work in 2015 and remains in Washington, D.C., where she runs training programs for congressional oversight investigations and performs nonprofit work.

Helen Reiss has released The Empathy Effect: Seven Neuroscience-Based Keys for Transforming the Way We Live, Love, Work and Connect Across Differences. Helen is founder and chief scientific officer of Empathetics, Inc., and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Congratulations!

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

As the warm summer temperatures have been disappearing along with the abundance of daylight, we have some greetings from classmates to share here. Earl Phillips has received the prestigious designation as Lawyer of the Year for 2019. Earl’s practice has had a strong focus on environmental, energy and safety/health considerations. Heartiest congratulations go to you, distinguished Counselor.

Peg Batchelder writes that after being laid off from Bristol-Myers Squibb last May, it seemed fated for her to take an early retirement. Peg’s partner, May Coryell, retired that June, and they spent the summer packing for the big move to their condo on Maui. As one might imagine, retirement has been wonderful; they can’t imagine being happier anywhere else!

Paul Meisel’s oldest son, Peter, and his wife, Liz, had a boy named Riley on July 14. On the professional front, Paul has some children’s books coming out: Anna and Samia, a true story about a woman named Anna Merz who saved rhinos in Kenya; My Happy Year by E. Bluebird, a nonfiction diary of an Eastern bluebird; and See Me Play, a beginning reader. Paul’s I See A Cat, won a 2018 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award from the ALA.

A touching note from Jane Eisner: “Mark Berger ’76 and I welcomed Sadie Avital, our second grandchild, in August. Sadie and her big brother, Colin, live in Brooklyn, and we see them as often as humanly possible. She is named for my mother, Sadie, and I’ve learned that having your daughter (Rachel Berger ’06) give birth to a daughter and name her for your mother is truly one of the great joys in life.”

Lisa Brummel has been on tour visiting Switzerland and Germany on route to Israel. Lisa met up with Wendy Brown Giardina. I made sure there was up-to-date contact information for Rachel Helfer and Micah Balf.

Jane Goldenring has a Christmas movie, A Majestic Christmas, coming out this holiday season. Jane spent a lot of time in Montréal creating a winter wonderland in 90-degree weather. She has safely returned back to southern California to teach a graduate producing course at USC.

In Maine, Jay Kilbourn recently retired and is spending time as a citizen lobbyist with Citizens Climate Lobby, focusing on getting bipartisan support for the Carbon Fee and Dividend. This is a strategy to dramatically reduce carbon pollution and climate change, while growing the economy! Exciting to have a favorable solution to a critical global problem that enjoys support from Rs and Ds in this divided world. Following in his father’s footsteps, Doug Hauschild felt compelled to get involved again as an Eagle to teach merit badges. He is now signed up to teach eight merit badges (including the three citizenships) and has enjoyed the honor of sitting on or chairing 25 Eagle boards of review.

Catherine Compton Swanson is celebrating 25 years of marriage to Gary Jon Swanson. Catherine is a retired museum archivist. Along with their Brittany spaniel, Tucker, they enjoy their lake house at Otsego Lake in Northern Michigan and a cabin on Rangeley Lake in Maine. Catherine and Gary live in Lexington, Mass., and enjoy the symphony and the great town library. Yikes, we are neighbors!

Finally, one surprise in my life has been that my services as a wedding officiant have been much in demand. I just completed wedding number five in the Boston area this summer. In order to comply with California requirements, I became an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church which has garnered some prestige and/or legitimacy, along with a coveted clergy parking pass.

As these notes will be read at the end of 2018, I would like to wish all a very happy and healthy holiday season and new year.

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

Some great news from the ’76ers.

Jay Abramowitz lives in Santa Monica, Calif., and is married with three children. He used to write comedy for television and now directs live TV and writes stories. See the stories at: hollywooddementia.com.

Susan Avitzour and her husband Daniel’s sixth grandchild was born in June, her youngest daughter Ayala was married in August, and she is semi-retired though continuing her psychotherapy practice part-time. Daniel has a neurological condition that requires him to use a wheelchair much of the time, but their family has stepped up to help whenever needed.

Meredith Bergmann’s design was chosen for the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Woman Suffrage Movement Monument in NYC’s Central Park.

Melissa Blacker and David Rynick ’74 have been together since 1977. Their daughter is expecting her first child and their first grandson in early February. They are both Zen Buddhist teachers and run a temple in Worcester, Mass. (worcesterzen.org). Everyone is invited to visit.

Matt Cartter, a state epidemiologist, loves the fact that he gets to combine his Wes education with his medical education. For an interesting example, see ctdigitalnewspaperproject.org.

Jon Cleworth is a physical fitness advocate and credits Wes Crew for instilling that in him. Jon is fighting MS and primarily uses a rowing machine to stay in shape.

David Cohen enjoyed his annual weekend with Steward Shuman, Matt Paul, and Michael Greenberg and their spouses on the south shore of Long Island.

Joe Cox‘s son, John, is a sophomore at Emory and runs for the cross-country and track teams. His daughter, Brooke, is finishing her senior year at the College of William and Mary (“WM”) and majoring in international relations. Her honors joint degree program with WM and the University of St. Andrews gives Joe and his wife Mary the chance to visit Scotland from time to time. Joe is with a small biotech company that completed its first human clinical trial last year (bolderbio.com).

Bruce Demple and his wife, Sue, just returned from a fabulous two-week trip in Brazil including five days in the jungle of Amazonia where one evening they scaled ropes 120 feet to get above the jungle canopy. Bruce spoke at two scientific conferences there, one in Sao Paolo and another in Foz do Iguacu.

Steve Duncan and his wife, Lynne Cohen Duncan ’78, sat out Hurricane Florence at home in Chapel Hill, N.C., and managed to miss all but some high winds and about 10 inches of rain.

Don Fallati and his wife, Ruth Pachman ’78, attended the graduation of their son, Mark, from Swarthmore in May. Mark made it to the NCAA tennis championships again this year, capping off a great college athletic career. Don and Ruth live in Larchmont, N.Y. Don has his own marketing consulting firm, and Ruth is managing director at a New York financial public relations firm.

Leslie Gabel-Brett is a consultant to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy and recently traveled with spouse Carolyn to see some of the national parks in Utah. Leslie will be teaching a course at Wes again in the spring.

Joellyn Gray puts in a plug for Bob Craft’s son, Will, who writes an investigative journalism series in a podcast called In the Dark. Joellyn’s son, Duncan, has written some great movie reviews at theperpetualpresent.com.

Byron Haskins is in the midst of a four-week exploration of Italy with his wife, Gabrielle, whose father’s family heralds from Tuscany. They have visited lots of places and Byron celebrated a birthday with dinner at Momma Rosa’s in Milan. Byron is enjoying the respite from the U.S. 24-hour news cycle and is collecting ideas for future short stories that he plans to write.

Alan Miller reports that the News Literacy Project, a national educational nonprofit that he founded and leads as CEO, celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year. NLP’s Checkology virtual classroom is now used by middle and high school teachers in every state in the U.S. and 97 other countries. In August, Fast Company praised NLP and said that its courses, which discriminate between real and false news “should become a fundamental building block of our students’ education.”

Nat Needle is teaching piano to students of all ages and organizes and emcees an open mic that brings people with and without disabilities together as performers and audience members. He welcomes contact from old friends at nat@natneedle.com.

Debra Neuman took an amazing two-week trip to Italy last summer with three women friends. They hiked, biked, walked endlessly, and enjoyed great food and wine.

Jack O’Donnell’s daughter, Maggie ’19, is a senior at Wes and it has been a perfect fit for her. Jack says that she has taken full advantage of all the school has to offer.

Marc Stier is the director of a progressive research, advocacy, and organizing group, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. The Center is running a statewide issue advocacy campaign called We the People that is setting an agenda for state legislative elections in 2018 and beyond.

Barbara Strauss’ daughter, Rebecca Ingber, is a law professor at Boston University and in September testified about security and executive power issues at the Senate Kavanaugh hearings. Her son-in-law argued his first case in the U.S. Supreme Court this past spring, and her daughter, Hanna Ingber ’03, was appointed as the editorial director of the New York Times this year.

Becky Vose just retired from 20-plus years of being a lawyer for the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project at Boston College Law School. She and her husband, Steve Schreckinger, have three adult children: Anna, a teacher in Colorado, Ben, a writer for Politico, and Michael, an analyst at the State Department.

Had dinner with Bruce Tobey ’75 in Chicago recently and went to a magic show with Nancy ’78, Larry Schulman ’78 and his wife, Chris, where Larry became part of the show. Also reconnected with Mark Allard ’74, Tim Donahue ’74, and Bill Zimmerman ’74 after many years as well as Ed Kenney ’75, George Surgeon ’72, Mark Willis ’75, and several other Wes grads.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Sincere apologies to Richard Hume! The university editing process accidentally swapped wives and children, trading Lesley (planning travel to Scotland with Richard for her retirement/anniversary celebration) with Laura (Paul Bennett’s wife and Scottish dancing partner). Oops!

Richard, professor at the University of Michigan, teaches, runs his lab, and directs the undergraduate neuroscience program. While his retirement isn’t looming, Lesley retired in June. They celebrated their 43rd anniversary with Brooklyn-dwelling daughter Rebecca ’01, followed by the Scotland trip in July. Meanwhile, Paul Bennett enjoys retirement and volunteer work. Laura and Paul are the Scottish Country Dancers who recently traveled to the “home country.” Their two sons in Brooklyn and Detroit were mistakenly added to Richard’s family in the last class notes. Paul would be delighted if at least one son would move back to the Bay Area. Richard would be delighted if we could keep his news straight.

Apologies for referring to Dan Gold as “Don” in the last notes, but Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston, stars of Netflix’s Grace and Frankie know his name. “What a blast to work with such great pros and shoot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood so I can sleep in my own bed every night,” he says.

I caught up with Martha Meade ’76 in L.A. She is thriving and related the tale of discovering her unknown talent for and love of visual arts. She and Steve Miller celebrated their son’s Wes graduation this spring, followed by a cross-country drive home.

Karin Johnson, looking forward to retirement and hopefully traveling from her home in Japan for Reunion says, “All of you remain in my memory, forever young (!) and dear to my heart.”

Amy Bloom reports, “Another novel brought into the world, another amazing grandbaby (Zora Pearl!), and a happily retired husband.” They are working hard in small ways for political change.

Jay Geller is associate professor of modern Jewish culture at Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. Fordham University Press published his monograph, intriguingly called, Bestiarium Judaicum: Unnatural Histories of the Jews.

“L’chaim!” Jodie and Jeff Morgan have expanded their Covenant winery in Berkeley to Israel’s Galilee region, where their daughter Zoe works with them. Covenant wines are sold and appreciated worldwide.

J.D. Moore enjoyed a New Hampshire kayaking reunion Paul Margolin arranged. Paul, J.D., Joe O’Rourke, Steve McCarthy, Vinnie Broderick, and Dave Rosenthal had great discussions on the water and swapped tales around Paul’s firepit at night, followed by breakfast at a classic diner (featuring the Belichick omelets?).

Lisa Anderson has, after 30-plus years, sold to her junior partner the law firm she founded with a beloved colleague who died of cancer. Lisa is transitioning to her next “as yet untitled” chapter. Still working some for the law firm, she’s also designing and facilitating workshops on navigating difficult conversations, looking at issues of race and immigration status, and coaching Unitarian Universalist churches searching for new ministers. Lisa raved about a Wesleyan Institute of Life Long Learning writing course she took. She visits kids on each coast—especially their new grandson, Rowan, near North Cascade National Park in Washington.

Bob and I had a summer Memphis-to-Massachusetts odyssey delivering our son’s minimally muffled car. Stops included the beautiful home of Linda and Ed Van Voorhees in Nashville, who reported, “After an ancestral visit to Bob’s ‘cousin’ (Jack Daniel) and dining on Loveless Café fried chicken and fixin’s, the Californians drove eastward ‘loud and proud.’” Ed and Linda work part-time and keep busy with tennis and grandchildren (#6 was born during our visit). We stopped in Dolly Parton’s hometown but missed her and rolled through the Smokies to visit Alan Spiewak ’74 and Patricia Gutzwiller, who hosted our stay, extended for brake repairs. Caught up with Brian Steinbach and Mary Reyner in D.C. between their volunteer gigs. Outside New York, we spent a low-key couple of days with Jean Barish ’74 and her sons, Dean ’17 and Drew Sterrett, working on a startup. Last stop was Boston, where I saw Rachel Adler Hayes. Post-retirement, she’s busy “organizing everything in sight and tossing a lot of it, planning travel and catching up on TV shows.” Her big project was renovating her parents’ old home in the Catskills. Next spring Rachel and John plan to hit five of the seven states she hasn’t seen.

The best part of our trip was catching up with Wes friends—I recommend it! Stay in touch and send news my way.

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

Lindsay Wilson and family, our thoughts are with you as we remember Randy Wilson.

Harry Randolph “Randy” Wilson III was born on Nov. 20, 1952 in Lebanon, Pa., and passed away on July 57, 2018. Randy died doing what he loved, enjoying the great outdoors with his wife, Lindsay.

Randy graduated in 1970 from Mt. Lebanon High School, where he ran cross- country and track. During his high school summers, he was a camp counselor and played summer league baseball.

Randy attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1970 to 1972, but transferred to Wesleyan University in Connecticut to complete his degree. Randy graduated from Wesleyan in 1974 with a BA in history. During his college years, Randy ran cross-country and worked on the college newspaper.

It was at Wesleyan that Randy met Lindsay and from there he traveled with her to Stanford. Randy graduated from Stanford in 1976 with an MA in journalism. Randy had a number of jobs at newspapers ranging from the Mill Valley Recordi n California, to theHayward Daily News in California, to the Capital Gazette in Maryland, to the Maine Times before he arrived at the Arizona Daily Sun in 1995.

Randy will be greatly missed by his wife, Lindsay, daughter Caroline, canine outdoor adventure companion, Skye, sister Polly Ballantyne and family, brother Chad Wilson and family, and cousin Jon Bricker and family.

A celebration of Randy’s life was held on Monday, July 16 at the Coconino Community College Lone Tree campus commons. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Randy Wilson Journalism Award for Northern Arizona University journalism interns.

Donald Reid published Opening the Gates. The Lip Affair, 1968-1981 (Verso), a look at what was going on in France while we were in college.

Monique Witt writes, “Ben finished his European tour and stopped off in NYC before he left for China to play Blue Note Beijing and see the Great Wall. Dev is building the large space in East Williamsburg and moving forward with the R&D. Steven is still so busy, but has worked with an extraordinary entrepreneur most recently. I’m just making jazz, recovering from blowing out my knee running, and tending to two Cymric kittens we adopted in March.”

Stu Forman continues to be the medical director of Gilead Community Services, a mental health agency started by 2 Wesleyan students in 1968. He looks forward to seeing everyone at our Reunion.

Jonathan Weiss lives in Andover, Mass., site of the gas explosions. As of Sept. 22, he had no gas heat or hot water and it wasn’t anticipated for weeks. Otherwise, he works as psychiatrist in North Andover, two kids are happily launched. Son Samuel in Silicon Valley in his start-up, daughter Hannah ’12 lives in Brisbane, Australia, doing environmental work. “Hello to classmates!”

Gray Cox continues to enjoy teaching philosophy, peace studies, and language learning at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, spending increasing time with his grandchildren, performing original music for rallies and social gatherings (graycox.bandcamp.com) and working on a third book dealing with AI and Gandhian solutions to our existential threats. He misses the bull and comradery of CSS Beer and Bull in the old days though he has long since been happy to forgo the inebriation rituals associated with it.

Lloyd Komesar reports that “the 4th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival was, by any measure, our best yet. A record number of attendees came, boosted in part by the huge contingent of wonderful Wes folks who showed up: Wendy Starr, Bill Burton, Harold Sogard, Lyn Lauffer, Carolyn White, Pat Mulcahy, Judy Hirschberg Atwood, Tom Frei, Bill Pearson, Wayne Forrest, David Weller ’75; and so many more—Rose Komesar ’07, Michael Sandler ’07, Mike McKenna ’73, Todd Jick ’71, Steve Goldschmidt ’72, Mike Arkin ’72 [whose film, Honeypot, won Best Short Narrative], Seth Davis ’72, Elisa Davis ’76, Joan Gamble ’80, Bob Kesner ’67, Connie Des Marais ’17, Sivan Cotel ’05, Maggie Masselli ’16 and her husband Pierre, Mark Masselli ’09, Mark Davis ’96, and filmmakers Ethan Mermelstein [RAMP], and Daniel McGuire ’86 [Balian]. And probably a dozen more people to whom I was never introduced. The numbers keep growing and I hope that more of our Wes sisters and brothers will join us for the 5th Annual Festival next Aug. 22-25. It truly is a joyous time.”

Several classmates including Wendy Liebow, Scott Burson, Dean Richelin, and Sharon Purdie attended Barbara-Jan Wilson’s retirement party at the home of Amy and Joshua Boger ’73 at the Seaport in Boston. Wonderful company, food, drink, and views of Boson Harbor and the skyline!

Also, our 45th Reunion is coming up. Mark your calendars for May 24-26, 2019. We’re still looking for people to get involved and join the Reunion committee. Please email me or Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 (klynch@wesleyan.edu) at Wesleyan if you would like to join the committee.

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu