Class Notes | 1970s

Timmy “Fitz” Fitzgerald contributed that the members of the All-Decade Team gathered for a great evening of celebration this past October 29th.  A nice dinner was followed by a few speeches and the presentation. Members of the team from 1979 are as follows:  Tony Basilica, Kevin Bristow, Joe Britton, Neil Fitzgerald, Tim Fitzgerald, Bob Latessa, Dennis Robinson and John Papa.  Dennis Robinson gave an eloquent speech about our pal, Joe Britton. It was an outstanding night!

Jono Cobb sorrowfully wrote that he lost his wife of 32 years, Suzzanne, last July after a long battle with cancer. So sorry for your loss, Jono.

In case you didn’t know, Laura Walker was named the 11th president of Bennington College in August of 2020. She writes, “It’s been an honor and it’s been a privilege to be president of a great college and I always look to Michael Roth for inspiration and hope as we define the future of this extraordinary college!!”

Clifford Hendel is staving off retirement by maintaining his practice as a commercial, sports, and investment arbitrator—handling cases in Spanish, French, and Portuguese as well as in English. Additionally, he occasionally forays into nonlegal writing, including a short article in the current issue of NY Litigator (a publication of the New York State Bar Association’s commercial and federal litigation section) about the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and George Washington.

Steve Koplowitz has a new book! On Site: Methods for Site-Specific Performance Creation, published by Oxford University Press, will be available this spring (April–May). “It chronicles best practices and methods in creating site-specific performance, something I’ve dedicated over thirty years of my career. It covers many topics of production and navigating the world of art-making aiming to support artists both young and experienced. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/on-site-9780197515242?cc=us&lang=en&#.  And after 15 years of living in Los Angeles, Jane and I are moving back to NYC in May to start new adventures and projects.” Welcome back!

Denise Giacomozzi’s daughter, Kristen May ’10, gave birth to their first grandchild in October, Willow Autumn Whittle-May. “My husband and I spent an extended time nearby and have been able to get to Colorado again recently.  (Altitude is a challenge for me unfortunately.) I continue to volunteer for the COVID Grief Network, which provides free grief support for young adults who have lost a loved one to COVID.  The support is via 8-week grief groups on Zoom and has participants from the U.S. and abroad. I also volunteer for my church’s COVID Task Force.”

Matt Okun and his wife Annie Wong took a leap of faith and sold their home in Seattle.  They packed up their stuff and sent it to DC.  They moved to be closer to their  grandkids (2 in Alexandria, Virginia; 2 in Philadelphia.) By last July, it all came together and they landed in Aspen Hill, Maryland, where Matt is a staff developer at a middle school in Kensington.  They love living in greater DC and are sure it will even be more fun when and if the COVID restrictions are lifted. Matt has seen Casey Dinges and a bunch of high school friends.  Matt is looking forward to being at Wes U in June when his nephew, Alex Okun ’21 and his brother Steve Okun ’82 will be there for Alex’s delayed graduation.

Afropop Worldwide, the Peabody Award–winning public radio program that Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre have produced for the past 34 years, has won another honor. globalFEST, the New York–based presenter and promoter of global music, has awarded the program its Impact Award, a recognition from the professional community for sustained commitment and, well, impact! https://afropop.org/articles/afropop-wins-globalfests-impact-award. The news arrives just as Banning is heading off to French Polynesia to lecture about music on a small ship. COVID be damned!

Jim Friedlich wrote that his extremely talented wife, Melissa Stern ’80, is on quite an artistic roll:  Her drawing and sculpture exhibition, Does She or Doesn’t She (art about women and their hair), opened in Chicago in the autumn of 2020. A 20-year retrospective called Stronger than Dirt, ran in Kingston, New York, throughout last summer, and a show called Housebroken, of work done during the pandemic, debuted in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this fall. Next up is The Talking Cure, at the Fullerton Museum outside of Boston in Brockton, Massachusetts. The Talking Cure, which marries sculpture with spoken word art, has been traveling to museums throughout the U.S. for over a decade. Come visit if you are in the Boston area.

After 12 years of being your co-class secretary, it is time to pass the pen. This is my last issue and I thank you all for sharing your excitements, sorrows, challenges, and triumphs. If you are interested in becoming the next co-secretary, please reach out to either Diane LaPointe, myself, or Liz Taylor at classnotes@wesleyan.edu.

Greetings friends. As I write these notes, Russia has just invaded Ukraine and the world stands in disbelief. Maybe you, like me, are hoping and praying for a more peaceful world as we go into very challenging times. It’s unbelievable to hear words like World War III just as we were beginning to enjoy pre-C0VID activities such as family visits, travel, and celebrations. When this Wes magazine lands on your doorstep in a few months, who knows what will be going on but for now, I hope you and yours are healthy and safe.  Here’s what some of your classmates are up to:

Kevin Rose and his wife, Annie, downsized right before the pandemic from their home in Ipswich to a condo in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Their son, Danny ’19), was part of a cyber software start-up in Boston that got bought up and has relocated to NYC.

Lucy Mize is based more in Vermont than Virginia this year. She is still at USAID but also started a doctoral program at Indiana University in Global Public Health Leadership and her daughter expects to graduate from Wes this year.

Pete Lewis attended the memorial service for Coach Peter “Kosty” Kostacopoulos in Machias, Maine, in July 2021, where there were about 50 attendees split between family, neighbors, and Wesleyan alums, including: Tom Miceli ’81, Robb Sansone ’79, Todd Mogren ’83, and Frank Hauser ’79.  Pete said there were many nice words spoken and a few laughs (including the eulogy line that “no umpires chose to attend”!).

Sadly, Sheryl Ann Smith, PhD died suddenly and unexpectedly just after Valentine’s Day 2022. Sheri, as she was known to her Wesleyan classmates, teammates, and friends, was loved by many and will be greatly missed. Here are several tributes to her memory: Jodi Wilinsky Hill, a former roommate, shared, “Sheri was a cherished wife, mother, friend, and sports psychologist. She was a talented, accomplished athlete, gardener (her orchids flourished in her Wesleyan dorm room—no small feat), and beloved daughter, sister, and community member. Sheri was blessed by beauty and grace, patience when needed, the ability to compete equally well individually or as part of a team and had an infectious laugh. She will be missed beyond measure.”  Maureen Walsh ’79 wrote, “Sheri was one of the original trailblazers in women’s athletics at Wesleyan, and in one of the relatively early coed classes. She stood out as a loyal and generous teammate and friend. Sheri played on several ‘first’ female teams: ice hockey, soccer, outdoor track, and lacrosse. In ice hockey, she took her beautiful and accomplished figure-skating skills to become a fearsome ice hockey player during a time when the ability to skate backward with confidence put you on the first line.” Suki Hoagland, Sheri’s skating partner at Wesleyan and longtime, close friend, wrote:

“Dear Wesleyan family of 1978,

I write with a heavy, heavy, heart to share that our dear, wonderful, amazing, Sheri Smith-Schneider passed away this week. I am writing this remembrance hoping to celebrate Sheri’s extraordinary life but knowing I must first express my profound grief. To say a bright shining light has been extinguished is such an understatement. Life can be so unfair, cut way too short, delivering a gut punch you never saw coming. We have all weathered so much, and now this. Sheri’s death is still so raw I can barely think, and I imagine class notes are not supposed to be the forum for expressing such overt emotion, but as Dr. Sheryl Smith-Schneider would have surely counseled, ‘let it out, acknowledge, communicate . . . it’s ok to not be ok.’

“So, I want to share my journey with Sheri, as just one person of the thousands she surely touched. And while I feel awkward centering this note on my life, I hope it sheds light on Sheri’s gifts and you can revel in all the ways she gave to you.

“When I arrived at Wes, fall of ’74, I had just bid farewell to my figure-skating career. I had trained up until the day I left for Middletown and the adjustment was hard. Early on I ventured to the rink and found Sheri. Having been a pairs skater I missed the joy of sharing the ice, feeling the air breezing across my face, gliding fast, holding on to someone else.  Sheri picked this up right away and offered a perfect solution. We would choreograph a similar pair routine and perform it in between periods of hockey games. Which we did and it was fun! It helped me let go of one life and embrace a new one.

“Four years later, at graduation, I was holding it all together. I had loved my time at Wesleyan so much, sharing an incredible journey with all of you. I was sad, but eager to start my new life.  Do you remember that glorious day, blue sky, bagpipes as we processed in celebratory red robes across Andrus Field?  After the ceremony, as we hugged and took pictures and relished our accomplishments . . . I saw Sheri and burst into tears. How could I ever thank her for all she had given me? I would miss her so very much. I just sobbed.

“We kept in touch, delighting in each other’s lives—marriage, motherhood, doctorates, careers . . . . But by our 30th Reunion, I had used myself up and was struggling with debilitating mental illness. My depression was so overpowering I could barely move. I had flown all the way from Switzerland, and I wanted to enjoy our gathering, catch up, reconnect, celebrate, but I simply could not. Sheri saw through my façade, knew I was struggling, knew I was sick, knew I needed help. She scooped me up, left our reunion, drove me to her home, snuggled me into bed with a warm blanket, closing the curtains, turning off the lights and whispering, ‘It is ok, just rest.’

So, dearest Sheri, I guess it is your time to rest. I could never thank you enough.

“During the past few years, as we both recovered from our illnesses, Sheri’s stage-four cancer and my bipolar disease, we were exuberant about ‘getting our lives back.’ We connected often, more grateful, and keenly aware of how precious every single day is.  But . . . I just spoke to Sheri the other day. She was just a phone call away. . . and now she is gone. We have lost a treasure. So, to all of you, let us celebrate this extraordinary life and ensure Sheri’s legacy lives on.—Suki Hoagland”

Sheri’s obituary can be found here.

Carpe diem and please send us your news.

I hope everyone who was able to attend our 45th Reunion had a great, be it in-person or virtually, time. The following notes were assembled earlier this year. A complete recap of notes from our gathering will appear in the next issue.

Francis Rath is the chief public health coordinator for the city of Manassas Park. As one can imagine COVID has occupied a major amount of his energy. He is living in Great Falls, Virginia, and is an active volunteer paramedic.

After receiving her doctorate in Jungian and archetypal psychology, Dr. Carol Cooper was appointed to the Board of Trustees at the Kristine Mann Library in Manhattan. In addition, Carol is teaching writing, history, and engaged media classes at NYU as an adjunct professor for the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

Andy Darpino wrote about upcoming retirement in addition to an epic trip with Will Sillin, Buddy Taft, John Gaebe, and Jim LaLiberty to Lake Powell, Arizona. They rented a 60-foot houseboat and cruised around the lake for a week . . . truly a “bucket list” adventure.

Don Ryan is planning to attend reunion as well as muster up some of the usual suspects for the event. John Roxby and Felice Burstein are happily settled at home in New Hampshire near their kinfolk. Jeff Gray and wife JoAnne have settled in Rye, New Hampshire, 3/4 of a mile from Jenness Beach, loving the seacoast. Guinness, their 110-pound Bernese Mountain dog, is already the star of the beach.

Jerry Stouck has a nice sounding life living between Park City, Utah, and Bethesda, Maryland. His daughters are on the East Coast and son in Hong Kong. Jerry is working on a biography of Janet Benshoof, a pioneering women’s rights lawyer. Otherwise goofing off when he’s not skiing, biking, hiking, or golfing. Jonathan Gertler works hard running two businesses and chairing a couple of start-ups in the life sciences: exciting along with the inevitable headaches that come from the early stages. Music is a huge part of his life: third album No Fear was released by Rock Ridge Music in Nashville to strong reviews. An avid fly-fisher, Jonathan is in touch with Bob Krakower, Susan Davis, Ellen Gendler, and Tom Kovar ’76.

Rather than retire, David Schreff is applying many years of corporate executive and board director knowledge to lead a high-growth adtech and marketing tech software provider, ACTV8me.com, that serves the media, entertainment, and sports industry. Most importantly he is fully enjoying being a granddad. Jim Dowling is an organizer for the dance and music community, including a decades-long association with the Children’s Aid Society and other nonprofits. In this vein, he has written a bit for the Village Voice, Dance Magazine, and served as advisor to Contact Quarterly magazine.

Mark Ellison was anointed to IEEE (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) Life Senior Member status and strives to accommodate inevitable senior life moments. Cindee Howard is enjoying retirement and very busy doing improv on Zoom, tutoring several folks in English also via Zoom, dancing tap, ballroom, and Latin, and playing mah-jongg.

Mark Beamis reports that in addition to good health and sanity, and a powerful snowblower, he managed a business trip to Seattle in early November, pre-omicron surge, to see old friends and work colleagues in person. During the fall, he was in Moody Beach, Maine, at the old family cottage. There is much to be said for working remotely at an oceanfront setting. For Thanksgiving he and the wife went to Delaware and spent the first family holiday in two years with in-laws, the first gathering since his mother-in-law passed. No fights, no arrests. Christmas was very quiet. He returned to Maine, Boothbay Harbor this time, to see a wonderful drive-through Christmas light show at the Maine Botanical Gardens.

Post bouts with COVID, Jane Eisner is back on campus at Columbia Journalism School, where they have established a new normal allowing people to converse with colleagues and students in person. Jane is also writing regular book reviews for The Washington Post and is working on a biography of Carole King for Yale University Press. Finally, Dean Holmes’s son, Dylan, wrote that his dad passed away in December from complications of frontotemporal dementia. The link to his obituary, can be found at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/brunswick-ga/dean-holmes-10492817. Dylan expressed how appreciative he was of the opportunities provided to him along with the many lifelong friendships at Wesleyan.

This sentiment sums up the reasons for returning for reunions: to celebrate one another at and with the University that played such an important role in our lives.

I hope everyone has a fine summer, and is able to continue meeting folks live and in 3D.

Meredith Bergmann has been awarded three new sculpture commissions. The first two are in Ithaca, New York—one honors Frances Perkins, FDR’s secretary of labor; the other, Lucy J. Brown, a community activist in Ithaca. The third is in Lexington, Massachusetts, and commemorates the role of women in the Revolution.  Details about the Lexington Monument can be found at https://www.lexseeher.com/monument.

Deborah Malamud has retired from full-time law teaching at New York University School of Law, but will continue teaching seminars. She will thus maintain a home in “law land,” while spending as much of the rest of her time as possible making music, traveling, and being with family and friends. She and her partner of 30-ish years, Neal Plotkin, will continue to divide their time between New York and Ann Arbor.

Byron Haskins writes: “Gabrielle and I are still splitting our time between Quebec and Michigan, but she has obtained somewhat of a dream job in Montreal, so we are fully stationed in a beautiful, almost 100-year old apartment building on the very west end of downtown Montreal. I’m truly trying to learn French for the first time in my life!”

Jack O’Donnell writes: “I’m still practicing law in New Haven and any notion of retiring was dashed when I got very sick in September. Being idle for two months reinforced how much I need the action of criminal defense work! Retirement goes on the back burner again!!”

Elyse Grasso writes: “If you look at the map of the damage from the December 30th Marshall Fire in Boulder, Colorado, my house was basically at the geographical center. I lost the house and its contents, but I got out safely and I’m settled into a temporary place while I make plans to rebuild. The view didn’t burn.”

Dan Henry writes: “My wife Jean and I have been blessed by the arrival of our fourth grandchild, Imogen Anne Henry on February 3. I continue to do a small amount of tech support for people and businesses. Two years ago, I switched to remote support only to eliminate the hassle and time of travel as well as to avoid COVID-19.”

Larry Davis and his wife Ronna managed to sneak away to Slovenia and Austria between the delta and omicron waves for some fly-fishing and general tourism. Otherwise, Larry still works part time as a senior advisor and chief scientist at MAP Energy and as a volunteer with several nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma City. Larry has been able to stay tangentially involved with the Earth and Environmental Science Department at Wes and is involved with the Middletown/Wesleyan Chabad House.

David E. Cohen and his wife Sandy have raised three kids in New Jersey, now (almost all) launched into the world. David is slowly sliding into semi-retirement from his medical practice and will soon be relocating to the Berkshires. David enjoys wood carving, boating, boatbuilding, and genealogy, and has been doing research for a book on some interesting local history in the Berkshires. In September 2021, David and Sandy spent a fantastic weekend in Woods Hole with Matt Paul, Stewart Shuman, and Michael Greenberg and their wives for their annual gathering, sharing memories, wine, great food, spirited conversation about science and politics, and a pretty long bike ride.

Rob Briskin writes: “I’m still in solo concierge-style practice in internal medicine in Jupiter and live in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. My wife Limor and I have four kids, two 12-year-old twins, a 24-year-old son, and a 26-year-old daughter. Keeping busy with the twins, pickleball (my new passion), and some tennis. Doesn’t make sense to retire at this point, plus I enjoy practicing, so will continue for the foreseeable future!”

Peter Hansen writes: “My wife and I continue to be based in DC and are slowly easing into retirement. We both still get enough emails and calls from clients so that we’re not quite ready to quit doing marketing (me) and public health (her). Fortunately, there’s enough flexibility so that we can devote our talents to helping other causes that we care about: a group that focuses on providing opportunities for underserved youth in DC,  animal welfare organizations, and a group (31ststreet.org) that is all about developing voting infrastructure at a grass roots level in key states across the country. Many of you would probably be interested in the latter and should go look at what we do. Along the way we find time to visit the grandkids in NYC and also get to Seattle to see our daughter. And locally I’m always up for a bike tour of the monuments in DC with anyone who is in town!  We managed to cross paths with Jon Daniels in Phoenix last fall and also took a bike trip with several friends including Jeff Shaw ’78 last fall.”

B.J. Buckley writes: “My chapbook, In January, the Geese, recently won the Comstock Review’s 35th Anniversary Poetry Contest and will be published in April 2022. I’ve also had, after a long ‘drought,’ a number of poems accepted this past year by a variety of fun and interesting journals, among them Plant-Human Quarterly, Calyx, Sugar House Review, Dogwood, SWWIM Everyday, Pine Row, Whitefish Review, and ellipsis.”

Rob Williams writes: “After 32 years of working in South Jersey, I moved to Maui. Unfortunately, I’m not here to retire but to work. As of now I’m the only infectious disease doc on the island working in the only hospital. I’ve been here a year, and I’m very busy, but I’m enjoying the island. I’m committed to at least working here five more years. I’m expecting visits from my eight grandkids and any old classmates who would like to visit. Rumor has it that Blaise Noto ’74 is living here but I haven’t found him. Also, I apparently got here right before Dr. Elliot Epner left.”

Mark Berger writes: “I’m pleased to report that I recently started a new job, as I just wasn’t anywhere near ready to retire.  I’m the chief medical officer for Genprex, a small but promising biotech company. Since I’ve spent over 25 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries working to develop new oncology therapies, this is an extension of my previous work. To me, the strategy of oncology drug development has been endlessly interesting and challenging, and I consider myself lucky to have fallen into this field.

“I’ve also been lucky to still be married to Jane Eisner ’77, who’s presently working at Columbia Journalism School. We’ve lived in New York City for 10 years, after 30 years in the Philadelphia area, and proximity to our two grandchildren in Brooklyn is a big benefit to our Manhattan location. Our oldest daughter Rachel (’06) and her husband Ari take care of the grandchildren when we’re not spoiling them. Rachel is in charge of nutrition for New York City’s Department of Aging. Our other two daughters live in Washington, DC, where Amalia, our middle daughter, is a nurse practitioner, and our youngest, Miriam (’12) works on the foreign desk of The Washington Post.

“Note that the true definition of family planning is that Rachel’s Wes reunions are the same year as mine from ’76, and Miriam’s Wes reunions are the same year as Jane’s from ’77.  Who could possibly have imagined that as a Wes undergraduate!”

Carol Bellhouse writes: “I bought a winter home in southern New Mexico. It’s on a hill with a massive rock wall so it looks like I live in a castle! Loving it—lakes, hot springs, artist community, and lots of sunshine!

David Harmin, Tom Kovar, and I took advantage of the brief pandemic cease-fire in October and returned to Wesleyan for Homecoming. We never got around to attending official events, but spent the time wandering around campus, hoping that the three of us could cobble together clear memories of our college experience. It’s a wonderful experience being there; a sudden fragrance or play of light and you can be immediately transported back to your college years. For the three of us, the Arts Center particularly brought back visceral memories; the minute we stepped into a stairwell in the music building, I could just hear Nic Collins practicing his sax. I mention this as a (not terribly subtle) way of reminding you that our 50th Reunion is around the corner. I’d strongly encourage you to attend, even if you cut ties with Wesleyan in June ’76 and never looked back. It’s good to remember what an extraordinary place it was—and is!

← 1974 | 1976 →

Please write to your class secretary.

Charisse R. Lillie has been named one of 2021’s most influential Black corporate directors by Savoy Magazine. Charisse is CEO of CRLCONSULTING LLC, a full-service consulting firm based in Philadelphia.

In the book Evergreen Cemetery of Santa Cruz, authors Traci Bliss and Randall Brown bring to life the tragedies and triumphs of diverse individuals who helped shape Santa Cruz, California, and its values that endure today. The Evergreen Cemetery, founded in 1858, served as the last resting place for many of the region’s earliest settlers, entrepreneurs, and artists. The property was given by the Imus family of cattle ranchers who had narrowly avoided the tragedy of the Donner Party more than a decade before. Along with these pre–gold rush California pioneers, the community buried several notables including London Nelson, an emancipated slave who became a farmer and donated his property to the city schools. Also interred at the cemetery is journalist Belle Dormer, who wrote about President Benjamin Harrison’s visit to Santa Cruz and its world-famous redwoods, and businessman Wong Kee, a tireless leader of the town’s Chinese community.

Randall is a Santa Cruz County Distinguished Historian, who serves on Santa Cruz’s Historic Preservation Commission. He also serves as a featured history columnist for the San Lorenzo Valley Post. He is the author of The San Lorenzo Valley Water District: A History. 

John McLucas’s third novel, The Boxer’s Mask, is forthcoming from BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. It traces the rise of a young actor in contemporary Rome, and his interactions with a circle of Anglo-American expats who variously adore and objectify him. John has enjoyed pandemic opportunities for Zoom and phone reunions with Lyn Thurber Lauffer, Steve Cutts, Eric Neuman, Dan Kenigsberg, Scott Brodie, and other classmates.

Monique Witt’s son Ben was nominated to the American Pianist Competition. He has material recorded (unmixed and unreleased trio, solo, sextet), and new work from his Berlin residency. Back from his European tour, he’s on tour in the South. Her son Dev just finished his production space for ExMachina, and their Pulsar monitors were chosen for an international award for technological innovation in sound (SOS, December 2021). His space was featured on the Today Show. Monique is between Greenpoint, at the old facility, Bushwick, and LIC, at the label. Steven finished the year still working too hard. They all got COVID, musicians as well, but everyone is fine now.

 During the pandemic, to get outside and socialize, Pat Mulcahy joined a cycling club in Queens that meets every Sunday, weather permitting, at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. This is a very mixed group in every way: About a third of the 35-person crew is made up of native Spanish speakers. Recently she bought an electric bike to give her a boost on hills. (She takes a fair amount of ribbing from her cohorts. . . . ) Every time she posts a biking picture on Facebook, Wayne Forrest chimes in. He and his wife are also avid e-bikers. Now Harold Sogard has apparently joined the cohort! And Lyn Lauffer says she wants to come down for the Five Boro Bike Tour (40-plus miles, in May).

Motto: The class of ’74 is not made up of slackers. You’re a prime example! Never was. . . .

On the work front: Pat is still editing and doing collaborative writing. Her newest project came out this March 2022 from Mango, a relatively new press in Miami: The Answer is You: A Guide to Creating a Life Full of Impact by Alex Amouyel, executive director of Solve at MIT, an accelerator program for inventors and social activists. Alex is one of her only millennial clients. It’s good to stay in touch with the younger generations.

Randy “R.N.A.” Smith’s latest historical novel for golf fans is out in April.  Quadruple Birdie highlights the human frailties of four famous Texan pros during 1950 and beyond, as narrated by their erstwhile counselor.

Lloyd Komesar reports, “After staging a successful in-person 7th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival this past August, attended by 40 Wes grads, we are full-steam ahead with our 8th Annual edition, slated for August 24–28.  I invite my classmates to attend and enjoy the films, the panels, the parties (all outdoors), the beauty of small-town Vermont in late summer, and the joy of the conversations and friendship renewals that go on every year. And a special shout out to Wayne Forrest for spurring the creation of the AICEF Prize for Cross-Cultural Filmmaking that debuted at MNFF7 and will continue at this year’s fest. AICEF (American Indonesian Cultural and Educational Foundation, which Wayne oversees) has enabled us to collaborate with the Bali International Film Festival in a wonderful filmmaker exchange that brought a terrific Indonesian filmmaker to Middlebury this past August. Thank you, Wayne!”

A number of classmates are keeping busy with their writing.

From Seattle, Washington, Stephen Sullivan writes that he has published a book, Architecture as Art: The Work of Stephen M. Sullivan, which illustrates his residential architectural practice based in the Pacific Northwest. It also describes his personal design philosophy founded both in the classics of Western architecture and in his experience and appreciation of the architecture and craft traditions of Japan.

The book tells the story of Stephen’s development as an artist using architecture as his medium. It includes essays on his views of architectural design, which have been shaped by his personal history in the landscapes and the architecture of New England and Japan. Stephen’s training as a potter informs his architecture in its interpretation of houses as “vessels of experience” and in his work’s focus on materiality and the craft.

Thematic essays address topics such as the importance of intuition in the design process and the interplay of analysis with nonrational ways of thinking.

The projects display Stephen’s belief in generating an architectural language unique to a design’s client and its context, creating an architecture specifically tuned to its circumstances in time and place.

The book is carried by many local bookstores and can be purchased online from Elliott Bay Book Company.

Bruce Fergusson had some colorful comments. He writes, “Like everyone else, playing dodgeball with the bride of Franken-COVID variant.  Some near misses in the family but so far so good.  If only there was a vaccine to inoculate against the other ‘viruses’ plaguing the country.” He said he was looking forward to the Seattle Rugby Club’s upcoming season.  “I played for them way back when,” he said. He also closely follows the Seattle Seawolves—the nearest professional team to him in Salem, Oregon—and has been since the league’s inception.  He says he is still writing.  His latest novel, Triskell, came out in February.  He said, “I’m currently writing a children’s book for one kid in particular: my first grandchild.  As Kieran’s only three months old, it’ll be a while before he’s ready to read it, but it’ll be there when he is.”

Vinod Busjeet writes that “My novel Silent Winds, Dry Seas, published last August by Doubleday, is among NPR’s Best Books of 2021.”

Tim Lutz says he retired in June 2021 after teaching geology for 40 years at UPenn and West Chester University. He said his last presentation before retiring was a reflection on the influence of late Wesleyan professor Jelle de Boer on his career. He said it was part of a session to honor Jelle’s legacy, organized by E&ES professors Phil Resor, Joop Varekamp (also retired in 2021), and Martha Gilmore for the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America.  Since retirement he said not that much has changed. He said he and his wife (also a retired geology professor) are able to continue research projects that will keep them busy for years to come. He said they are also Force of Nature volunteers for Natural Lands, an organization whose mission is to “save open space, care for nature, and connect people to the outdoors.”

Tim says, “I’m looking forward to our 50th!”

It’s hard to believe that I have been so busy for the past two years covering all the fallout from the coronavirus. With any luck, the situation will improve significantly by our next Class Notes as we move closer to our 50th Reunion. Speaking of which, there’s an active reunion committee (Wayne Barber, Joshua Boger, Peter Cross, Michael Donnelly, Irv Estrin, John Feinblatt, Michael Fossel, Bill Gillespie, Steve Greenhouse, Mark Helfat, Diego Howard, John Huttlinger, Evans Jacobs, Rich Jasper, Ron Johnson, Mike McKenna, Ron Medley, Ellen Miyasato, Richard Orentzel, Jim Powers, Bill Quigley, Jim Raymond, Jay Rose, Tom Tokarz, Steve Torok, Charley Wayne, Donald Zilkha, Dave Zita, and yours truly) working hard on updating contact information and looking for recruits to join them as they plan for what’s going to be a great occasion.

Also, I can’t say enough about the incredible work that Kate Quigley Lynch has done to make us all aware of our upcoming milestone reunion. She is very interested in letting you know about what will be happening and would like to get your email addresses. You can reach her at: klynch@wesleyan.edu.

It is hard to believe it will be 50 years. It seems like yesterday that we were all wandering around Foss Hill at the Grateful Dead concert or attending fabulous concerts with Dave Mason at the hockey rink or the Youngbloods inside the McConaughey Hall dining facility. There are so many people I’d like to see, from my West College roommates my freshman year,  Tim Bahti, Paul Dietrich, and Tim Mooney; to hockey club teammates like Tim Thompson; to colleagues on the Wesleyan film board from our senior year like Fred Love; to my senior year West College roommates, Brian Mahoney, Ed Nathan, John Spike, and Paul Baumann; and not to forget numerous friends from our rugby days like Pete Cross, Mike McKenna, Dave Zita, and Bill Quigley. And to reconnect with others like Michael Donnelly, Michael Fossel, Granderson Hale, Steve Greenhouse, Mark Helfat, John Huttlinger, Evan Jacobs, Rich Jasper, Ron Medley, Jim Powers, Jay Rose, Tom Tokarz, Charley Wayne, David Feldman, Don Zilkha, just to name a few people. There are special stories about everyone I just mentioned in terms of their lives and career paths and retirement plans and the past five decades. There are others who I have not heard from in a very long time, like superstar soccer player, Michael Desmond.

Reunion is a huge opportunity to see everyone and take a walk through our past days and relish the changes. The Zilkha Art Gallery is special, and you also have to see what Jeanine Basinger has done with film studies and her legacy. When I flash back to the fall of our freshman year, I remember Jeanine taking a film class with me and John Frazier. And then she was on her way. I for one look forward to a return to Downey House—so many memories there—and a walk down High Street, which I am told Charles Dickens once called one of the most beautiful streets in the U.S. And maybe we’ll have a few moments with Michael Roth, ‘78, Wesleyan’s 16th president or some professors who you have known for decades. And after reporting for such a long time, I look forward to checking out the Wesleyan Argus, which I used to write for, including some news stories and film reviews and rugby articles under the name “Gary Owen.” And on a personal note, I look forward to revisiting the Davison Art Center, where my mother Ellen “Puffin” D’Oench, was curator for decades and where she did an incredible job pioneering the collection. Then there is Main Street, Middletown, once noted as being one of the widest streets in the U.S., where there has been a virtual renaissance or restaurants that even includes Thai food. And you can cap it off with a visit to the famous O’Rourke’s Diner, home of the famous steamed cheeseburger. I won’t forget a choice comment made by Eddie Nathan there early one morning, and as a result of that they asked him to leave. But that is a story for another day.

Hope to see you in 2023 for our 50th.

I am writing this at an exciting time in our class’s literary history.  Paul Vidich’s latest novel, The Matchmaker: A Spy in Berlin, has been receiving rave reviews, and is indeed a great read. Geoff Rips’s latest novel, Personal Geography, is a most absorbing and skillfully written book. As I have mentioned frequently, I am totally in awe of the literary fecundity of my classmates and salute these two authors and all the rest of you. Paul has also been making the virtual bookstore circuit.

Mike Bober reports that Geoff Rips recommended some of the “oral history” interviews on the Wesleyan website to him:  “What I didn’t know about the place! The years before we got there, the turmoil of our own brief time, and the ongoing conflicts of the subsequent 50 years are described from various points of view by faculty members who saw it all and are now uniquely positioned to reflect upon it. We were lucky to have known many of them. I guess this means I’m looking forward to the reunion.” I, too, heartily recommend those faculty oral histories, which you can find at https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/wessca-ohp.

Mike hears often from Mark Gelber, whose last 50 years living in Israel and extraordinary travels over the world on behalf of Ben Gurion University would make for a very different “oral history.” Last Mike or I heard, he is unlikely to attend, which means he just might.

I’m sorry to report two classmates left us last summer. Rob Rich on July 31 and Peter Phinny on August 13. Our sincere condolences to their families and classmates. Their full obituaries can be found online at classmates.blogs.wesleyan.edu/obituaries.

I have been spending a LOT of time working on our reunion—working on the class book, planning events, contacting classmates.  By the time you read this, our reunion will have happened.  I do hope that if you made it, you had a great time.

Greetings. For this issue I asked for a few words from classmates who knew they would not be able to attend the reunion. As I write this, we are scheduled for our 50th in less than 70 days.

Michael Mullally writes, “I remember rowing on the Connecticut River with my crewmates, Michael Ronan and Buddy Coote. We would run down to the boathouse, pull out the 8-man shells, load them up and over our heads, and lower them into the river from the dock.

Once, we were about to head out in the current when an unseen barge was being pushed across our path. We had to rush out at full power and literally rode the bow wave of the barge across its path and just avoided a serious calamity. There were days when it was so cold that we had icicles on our hands and feet at the end of the row. But we warmed ourselves by running UP to campus. This was all before breakfast!” Ahh memories . . .

Warren White says: “My 37th move while living in 12 states was from Nashville, Tennessee, to Richmond, Virginia (moving from Lawn Avenue to Beta Theta Pi was one of these). My nephew, Garret Westlake, instigated an extended family migration by taking the position of director of the da Vinci Institute for Innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University. It is a fast-growing urban university that reminds me of Wes U’s Hagen counseling me in 1971 that the University of Texas at Austin would be an ‘up and coming’ place to apply to for graduate school but a lot of the growth was simply concrete.  I enjoy frequent walks by the former Robert E. Lee statue in the picturesque Fan Historic District and read Colonial and Civil War history as a prospective docent at the renovated Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

“Many other double-masked, double-vaxxed volunteer prep cooks join me every week at Feed More, preparing 32 million pounds of food for 39,000 hungry, disadvantaged central Virginians every year. . . .

“I wish the class of 1971 a happy, heathy post-reunion life that surpasses actuarial odds!”

Mike Thompson muses: “As ‘American Pie’ begins, ‘A long, long time ago . . . ,’ it was clear that our class wasn’t going to be able to hold anything more than some sort of a virtual 50th Reunion, Demetrie Comnas set up a Zoom session and asked a group, mostly from Psi U, if they would be interested in joining. Here are the names, including several who joined up later on: John Billock, Pat Callahan, James Goold, Don Graham, Rick Lawler, Skip McLean, Dave Nelson ’69, Carey O’Laughlin, Vic Pfeiffer, Stu Reid ’72, Andy Sutton, and yours truly.  Gary Walford joined for a few sessions as well.

“But the remarkable fact is that with only a handful of exceptions, this group has gathered online every Wednesday at 7 p.m. East Coast time!  The topics have ranged far and wide, from discussions of music (way above my pay grade) to college memories, to family, to politics, to Wesleyan today, etc., etc.  Jim Goold has made several fascinating presentations about the undersea search and recovery projects that he has undertaken for various countries all around the world. These weekly gatherings have become a vital part of our lives.”

From Anthony Wheeldin: “I was an attorney for 30 years and for the last 11 years I have been on the Sonoma County, California, Superior Court Bench.  My fondest memory: the outstanding Wesleyan faculty.”  And Jim Rizza: “My Wesleyan experience awakened me to a world that might be worth living in, something I had not found anywhere before, given my life experience up to that time.  That was life changing in ways that will forever leave me grateful.”  Andy Glantz says: “I am still in Scottsdale, Arizona, still making furniture and furnishings and still healthy. Roberta and I are planning our first short trip since the pandemic hit, which is nice. Love to hear from any classmates (zenith3735@AOL.com).”

Mary McWilliams regrets, “I won’t be at reunion, but I’ll be in Italy with my partner on an education program for a health system board I’m on. We’re spending more time in Palm Desert and Coeur d’Alene than in downtown Seattle for better weather and safer streets.” And from Charles Skrief: “I’m enjoying life in St. Paul with my wife Andrea Bond ’72; exploring Schubert’s last piano sonata; and writing a book that may yet justify Professor Golob’s (CSS) faith in a provincial sophomore.”

On a sad note, Todd Jick (TJ the DJ) is having a serious family issue. Send him your love. Todd you are in our thoughts.

Hope the reunion was fun for those who attended and we missed those who could not. Peace to everyone and stay safe and well. Aloha!

Aloha, Classmates.

By the time you see this in print, I assume that our twice-delayed 50th Reunion will have occurred.

Sadly, I must again begin this column with news of another classmate who has passed on.  Stephen Kyner died in December 2021.  His widow Deborah Ellington wrote to say, “He was always proud of having graduated from Wesleyan and grateful for the education he received there.”  Our condolences.  Here is a link to Stephen’s obituary:   https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/stephen-kyner-obituary?id=31886964

Sign of the times?  Mark Geannette wrote that he and wife Gloria last fall visited Italy and purchased an apartment in historic Alghero, Sardinia, and plan to visit semiannually.

Stephen Talbot is still politically active. He regularly posts thoughtful things on Facebook and is working on “a film about the anti-Vietnam War movement versus the Nixon/Kissinger administration in 1969. It’s called The Movement and the “Madman.”  A rough cut is being shopped around for completion funds, viewing outlets, and a distributor.  Here’s a link to the trailer:   https://www.movementandthemadman.com/preview.      

“This takes me back because it’s the story of what happened in 1969, especially that fall when we had the big march down Main Street in Middletown during the national moratorium on October 15 and when many of us went to Washington, DC, for the enormous anti-war march in November, which I filmed with a whole crew of Wesleyan friends (Dave Davis, Bill Tam, Guy Prevost, Doug Bell ’69, David White, etc., and my girlfriend Susie Heldfond) for my thesis film, March on Washington.”

Ted Reed was excited by my call for classmates to bring political buttons to the reunion.
Said Ted, “Are you saying that somebody wants my collection of political buttons? I accumulated a large collection as a teenager. This includes, for instance, Rockefeller for President pins from 1964. Now as a senior citizen, I would be very happy to find a home for them.”

Historian Chuck Caramello wrote, “My book, Riding to Arms: A History of Horsemanship and Mounted Warfare, has been released by University Press of Kentucky, in the series Horses in History.”

This from Mike Robinson: [We] had Jan Eliasberg ’74 join the monthly York (Pennsylvania) Book Club to discuss her debut novel, Hannah’s War.  Jan, a prolific TV and movie director, has penned an exciting WWII–era novel based loosely on the life of a female Jewish physicist who helped develop atomic fission for the Germans and then the Manhattan Project. Thanks to Zoom, the book discussion was enlivened by Jan’s passion regarding the under-noted historic accomplishments of women and ongoing challenges experienced by those of the Jewish culture in many contexts.”

This just in: The Memphis Bar Association has honored Prince Chambliss. “As we celebrate Black History Month, we honor City of Memphis Attorney Prince Chambliss Jr., who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement. After becoming the first Black partner at a Tennessee majority white law firm in 1981, he was elected the first Black president of the Memphis Bar Association in 1997. While continuing to practice law full time, he was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court as the first Black member of the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. In 2010, Chambliss published his life story Prince of Peace: A Memoir of an African-American Attorney, Who Came of Age in Birmingham During the Civil Rights Movement. ”

More from Steve Talbot: “I’m still very busy with work, helping to take care of my granddaughter who lives nearby, and still cautious about COVID (though I’m fully vaxxed and boosted and have been healthy).”

More on his film: “I’ve done over 30 interviews with the leaders and activists who organized and led those fall ’69 protests, as well as former Nixon and Kissinger administration policymakers. It’s been a really satisfying project to work on these past few years. Fingers crossed and financing allowing, I hope to complete the film by the end of 2022 and begin to get it out into the world.”

All the best to you and our Class of 1970.