Class Notes | 1980s

Please send news to your class secretaries.

Happy fall, classmates. Steve writes for this column.

Josephine Colon wrote in to catch up with life events and smiled at my reference to ’88ers “gittin’ old!” You see, she was originally in the Class of ’76, took a personal leave, and returned—with two small boys—to graduate with us in the Class of ’88. To her Wesleyan bachelor’s degree in government, she added a master’s in education and a postgraduate certificate in teaching middle school math from Quinnipiac University. After a career in human resources in Manhattan, she returned to Connecticut, changed careers to certified school teaching, and retired in 2015. She now enjoys giving back through volunteering, mostly as a literacy tutor, and does her own art. “Much peace to all of you!—Josephine.”

Robert Garcia joins the list of ’88ers who are published authors. His memoir Bobbito’s Book of B-ball Bong Bong hit the shelves in July and was published by fellow Wesleyan alum Johnny Temple at Akashic Books. It’s an intimate view into his life as a ballplayer, announcer, and performer and dives into the folklore and history of the game. 

Jenifer McKim is working in public media and was recently promoted to editor of investigations and podcasts at GBH News in Boston. She’s bumped into several Wesleyan alums in recent travels—people doing mission-driven work—and remains always proud of the connection.

Cynthia Hall has been living outside Worcester, Massachusetts, for 10 years with her twin boys, Allo and Ozzy, who just turned 18. She moved to Massachusetts from Venice, California, and says that the opportunity to work at University of Massachusetts Medical School is worth enduring the cold New England winters. Spring may have been “crazy with graduation and applying to colleges,” but brought great results: Allo is starting at University of Massachusetts at Amherst in civil engineering; Ozzy will join the pre-pharmacy program part time at Quinsigamond Community College. Cynthia likes to take the opportunity to warm up by visiting Los Angeles annually and plans to meet up with Adam Sigel ’91, Janet O’Shea ’90, and Jason Matzner ’92. She recently caught up with Lisa Bender and Andy Ruskin ’87 in Washington, D.C., and says everyone is well . . . and sandwiched between aging parents and raising teenagers!

A good number of us are overseas.  In the “travel abroad” division:

Benjamin Junge is enjoying a “glorious” writing fellowship in São Paulo, Brazil, for the rest of 2025. When he’s on this side of the equator, he teaches anthropology at SUNY New Paltz and conducts research on citizenship and democracy in Brazil.

Andrew Goldman, a professor of history at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, is very honored to have been selected as the professor-in-charge of the Intercollegiate Center of Classical Studies (ICCS, or The Centro) in Rome and will lead a faculty team in 2025–26 to instruct undergraduates on the archaeology and history of ancient Rome and Italy. This is his third time at the program, first as an undergraduate in spring 1987, and then as a junior instructor in 1999–2000. Now he hopes to give his students the same amazing experience that he had almost 40 years ago. Andrew also joins the published list; his book, Ancient Cities, co-authored with friend and colleague Charles Gates, was issued by Routledge last year. This new third edition showcases his expertise on Roman archaeology and will be translated into Turkish later this year. Life in Spokane and at Gonzaga has been quiet and largely fulfilling. Andrew and his wife, Amy, had a wonderful time in early June visiting Boston and catching up with old friends, staying with Holly Campbell Ambler ’87 and her husband, David, as well as a long, tasty vegan lunch with Hillary Ross ’88.

An update from Stephen Morison Jr., who you may remember moved to Marrakesh, Morocco, last summer. First, on the day he wrote, it was 100 degrees and climbing (whoo!). He’s had a terrific first year as head of the American School of Marrakesh, a K–12 school with a rich history in the region. His partner, Emily Allen, also works for the school, and their daughter is earning a master’s in architecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Stephen and Emily get to see Paul Gosselin in Paris frequently, and they keep in contact with Wendy Blum ’87, Steve Kullback ’89, and Nancy Nachbar ’89. “I feel lucky to have been able to maintain these great friendships. In fact, Paul and I log onto the internet every Sunday and do a calisthenics workout together, continuing a tradition that began in college, then was revitalized during the COVID years.”  [Editor’s note: anyone our age who can still do calisthenics in 100-degree weather should publish the secret.]

If I may take the liberty to add my own contribution: I lost my father in April 2025. He was 104, a veteran of World War II, and thank heavens, lucid and able to the very end. In his lifetime he traveled to 164 countries on every continent. His granddaughter, my daughter Aubrey, starts college this fall at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, studying fashion design. She will be just three and a half miles from where her grandfather was born, in 1921, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, one week into the Harding administration. Full circle.

Thanks for sharing your news and please keep it coming. 

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We are deep into the celebration season of 60! Happy birthday to all! Eric Leifer wrote to say that when he reflects upon those of us turning 60 this year, he thinks that we are the lucky ones. Salud!

Trish McGovern Dorsey shared news from a big Wesleyan gathering. She says, “We had a total of 19 people in Nashville over a holiday weekend, including our significant others. We sampled musical venues on Broadway (of course), saw some minor league baseball, took group line dancing lessons, exchanged joke T-shirts and books, and visited many of the city’s great museums. Most importantly, we picked up right where we left off the last time we were all together. It was special beyond words. Grateful to this group for the past, present, and future!” The group, photo below, included Trish, John Dorsey, Holly Campbell Ambler, Debbie Martin Gould, Chris Gould, David Igler ’88, Cindy Willard Igler ’88, Sue Romeo Malestein, David Glotzer, David Witkin, David Josephs, Dennis Mahoney, and Doug Koplow.

Ian Rosen has moved from his sustainability business to a pharmaceutical start-up, IntraBio, focused on treatments for neurodegenerative disease. Their flagship product received FDA approval for neurological manifestations of an ultra-rare disease; they are looking for European approval. They are busy with other applications to the FDA and Phase 3 clinical trials for other treatments. Ian’s eldest daughter, Isabel ’24, is working as a paralegal for an immigration firm representing asylum seekers, and he couldn’t be prouder. His youngest daughter is entering her senior year of high school and starting the university process. His wife continues her many business activities. All good!

After more than 20 years at CUNY, Rebecca Bratspies will be moving from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, leaving NYC and joining the faculty of Tulane Law School. She is the first holder of the Oliver Houck Endowed Chair of Environmental Law. She’d love to know if any Wes classmates are in NOLA.

Lisa Pavlovsky made some great class connections recently. She ran into Ron Fortgang at a Bay Area alum event and then joined his 60th birthday celebration on Zoom with Steve O’Neal. In April, Lisa met up with Elissa Wolf-Tinsman in Monterey. Elissa lives in Denver but was visiting her daughter in California where she teaches. They had a great few days catching up. In May, when Lisa was in NYC for her son’s college graduation, Vivian Trakinski gave Lisa’s family an amazing behind-the-scenes tour of the American Museum of Natural History, where she is director of science visualization. The Invisible Worlds exhibit she spearheaded is truly extraordinary.

Michael Bennet is currently serving as the senior senator from Colorado in Washington, but he is running for governor in Colorado in 2026, and many of our classmates are actively working for his election.

Muzzy Rosenblatt celebrated 25 years of leadership at Bowery Residents’ Committee—a nonprofit organization focused on helping those facing homelessness. At a BRC gala this summer, Michael Bennet was on hand to honor Muzzy. Those of us who knew Muzzy at Wesleyan thought he might be the NYC mayor eventually, and his work for BRC is right in line with our expectations. In August, BRC opened the Robert C. Wood Apartments, a housing development that honors Wesleyan professor Robert Wood, one of Muzzy’s key mentors. Who can forget Bob Wood, his government classes, and his wooden worry beads?

Anthony (“Tony”) Salerno was awarded the 2023 Ameriprise Client Experience Award, working in the financial services arena.

I have news of my own to share! I have recently earned my Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)® designation. This is not a career change, but an addition to the editorial and project management work I do in educational publishing. Like many of you, I have been getting the crash course in aging as I help my mom, and I see how stressful the health, social, and financial issues challenges relating to getting older can be. So many people are unprepared for these challenges and are forced to make critical decisions in moments of crisis. I am looking forward to helping people thoughtfully anticipate, understand, and manage their options. Hopefully, our own aging challenges are decades away, but there is so much we can do now to be prepared!

Happy 60!

Greeting Class of 1986,

We, Deb Alter-Starr and Scott Michaud, are thrilled to be the new class secretaries for the Class of 1986! And we’ve got lots to cover, especially since 2026 is our 40th anniversary . . .  seems like yesterday we were celebrating Zonker Harris Day on Foss Hill!

For more about me (Scott), see this relatively recent Wesleyan Magazine article. I’ve also attended a happy hour with Susannah Goodman ’87, and talked with Sarah Tilly, Kristin Bluemel, and Ellen Santistevan.

Debbie here. I loved reading classmates’ accomplishments, abundant humor and memories shared. It’s fun to reconnect with my friend Scott from our infamous WestCo dorm, now, allegedly, a hotbed of nudity! I was treated successfully for triple negative breast cancer in 2024, uncovering a BRCA1 gene in our family. (Happy to network on this.) I retired from medical social work, have a nonprofit, Napa Valley to Ukraine, and resumed volunteer work as a Latino community ally, mobilizing our agricultural community to protect immigrants.

On to the news!

To start with, several of us made it to campus for Nietzsch Factor’s 50th anniversary reunion (which was great!) this spring. Over 100 Nietzsch Factor alumni descended upon WESU for a long weekend of reminiscence, celebration, and oh-so-much good-natured heckling. Attendees included 1986 classmates David Weber, Bill Wehrli, and Arnie Cachelin, and Andy Norman ’85/’86.

As an aside, Wesleyan’s women’s Ultimate team—the Vicious Circles—won this year’s D-III national title, playing brilliantly (Go Vicious Circles!)—this is a first for Wesleyan, men or women.

Some sad news:

Sue Erikson-Bidwell shared: “It is with great sadness that I am writing to inform you that I have learned of the passing of a dear classmate of ours, William (Bill) Lanza. Bill passed away in the late winter/early spring of 2022 and leaves behind his loving wife and son, as well as many friends that will miss him. Bill lived a successful and low-key life as an attorney, family man and expert pool player. I have fond memories of freshman year watching late-night TV (M*A*S*H, Twilight Zone, etc.) with Bill and his hall mates from Foss 7. I don’t recall seeing many class notes from the rest of that crew and I hope they are all doing well. After graduation, I have great memories of Bill convincing my husband and I to join his competitive pool team in the Hartford area. In my case, they just needed another warm body to fill out the team. Luckily Bill’s expert playing would cover for my not-so-good skill, but either way it was always a fun night out with friends. It will be a sad reunion year without Bill there to join us.”

The family of William (Bill) Gerber shared unfortunate news in a press release last July: “We are heartbroken to share that our beloved father and husband Bill Gerber passed away at Yale New Haven Hospital at 4:11PM today. . . .  To say that there is now a gaping hole in our lives is an understatement. . . . [P]lease take a moment to remember and celebrate someone who was so selfless and who loved his friends, family, job and his hometown of almost 30 years so much. Despite the physical issues he was experiencing as a result of what was determined to be a large, aggressive, malignant brain tumor, he worked long days and attended evening meetings up until the day before he went into the hospital. The Town of Fairfield was incredibly lucky to have him as its leader. And our family was beyond blessed.—Jessica, John and Gillian Gerber”

Bill was the first selectman in Fairfield, Connecticut, and served in public office there for 10 years. He lived there with his wife, Jessica ’90, raising three children, John, Gillian, and Teddy. Teddy died in 2010 from a rare cancer at the age of nine. Since his son’s death, more than $1.6 million for pediatric cancer research has been raised in his honor, according to Bill’s obituary.

Danial “Dan” Handelman passed on April 17, 2025. His friend Dave Calem ’89 said that“Dan really lived the values he learned at Wesleyan.” Dan was known in Portland, Oregon, as a “pioneer of police oversight” and was the co-founding member of Peace and Justice Works, a nonprofit organization that promotes nonviolent conflict resolution. There were many articles written in tribute of Dan. Here are a few:

Remembering Dan Handelman | Portland.gov

Portland lost its top police accountability advocate. Who will fill Dan Handelman’s shoes? – OPB

Remembering Dan Handelman: The Radical Keeper | Street Roots

Portlanders Mourn the Loss of Dan Handelman, Pioneer of Police Oversight – Portland Mercury

Portland Police Watchdog Dan Handelman Dies at 60

Read WW’s Earliest Interview With Dan Handelman

Now some good news:

From Lucy Seham Malatesta: “My husband and I retired this spring and have moved from New Jersey to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, effective last [July]! It’s a big shift after 32 years in the same suburban New Jersey home where we raised our three kids, but we are looking forward to all the nature and culture the Berkshires has to offer. My recent Class of ’86 sightings include traveling to Philadelphia to enjoy Karen Escovitz in her amazing band, BlocoFunk. It was a blast. I also had a lovely reunion with Sarah Tillyas we toured the Morgan Library in NYC and caught up on each other’s lives.”

From Kevin Williamson: “I’ve spent the last three years making a documentary about my neighborhood called The Price of Progress, LAX and Its Neighbors. It’s about all these neighborhoods around LAX that were built in the ’40s and ’50s and were then torn down in the ’60s when LAX expanded. They left all the streets and sidewalks and just leveled the houses, leaving us with all these ghost towns. I’m currently entering it in festivals and am looking for a distributor who can pay for the finishing costs.” Kevin shared the link to his film with us.

From Erika Levy: “I’m still living in New York and loving my work at Teachers College, Columbia University, as a professor of communication sciences and disorders, despite all of the recent turmoil at Columbia. Am receiving fun invitations to present my work in person in Brazil, among other destinations to which we will travel. Both children are in college now, with our daughter graduating from Wesleyan in spring 2026. I definitely plan to be at our 40th(!) Reunion and am very much looking forward to connecting with my classmates there!”

From Ellen Santistevan: “I’ve been doing more motorcycling this year than I have in a long time. I hope one day to understand the internal combustion engine.”

From Bennett Schneider: “I chatted with Michael Roth ’78 about art and activism at the annual Film & Theater Alumni get-together in Los Angeles this June. I went to the event with Lisa Rosen and Wan Yeung MA ’17. Wan and I live very near each other in LA and have dinner together several times a week. I had lunch recently with Al Septien ’85 and Michael Steven Schultz ’85. In my own news, having been teaching workshops on Combining Art & Activism, including one at the Faculty of Arts of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMéx) in Mexico City. Accordingly, attended the No Kings protest dressed as a hot dog and carrying a rubber chicken. Lastly, does anyone know of a Wesleyan World of Warcraft guild?”

From Lisa Porter: “I am living in NYC where my day job is currently the voice and dialect coach for the national tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I [was] in the Bay Area in August and September playing Suzanne again in an original cast remount of Eureka Day. I recently hiked the Camino in Spain with my sister. I see Shawn Cuddy, James Hallett, and Melinda Newman very often.”

From Hal Phillips: “What ho, WesKids. Sorry to have been aloof but a surfeit of WesExposure of late, and our pending 40th Reunion, moved me to write. And yes, he added selfishly, Bloomsbury will publish another book of mine in January 2026. Sibling Rivalry: How USA vs. Mexico Became the Most Contentious, Co-Dependent Derby in World Futbol arrives just in time for the 2026 World Cup. Fear not: No punches pulled on the politics. Also, the primary editor on this book [is] the inimitable Stephen McDermott Myers ’87.

“Meantime, I experienced a fairly wondrous hang at the April 2025 100 Years of Wesleyan Soccer gala. Total delight to spend time on campus again with David Perryman ’87, David Slade ’87, my co-captain Rob Macrae, Sean Kelley ’85, Bruce McKenna ’84, David Carnoy ’87, Adam Rohdie ’89, Andrew Lacey ’89, John Nathan ’84, Scott Kessel ’88, Eric Apgar ’87, and Vinnie Caride ’85. Let me also report that, early in COVID, the vaunted WesGolf team started holding reunion rounds that engendered, as only golf can, marvelous six-hour hangs with the likes of Ted Galo ’85, Rich Gibbons ’87, John Brais, Stu Remensnyder ’84, Jon Gould, and Matt Shatz ’89.

“I find the irony here to be pretty thick. Sports were so very low-key at Wesleyan during our shared time there, to the point of manifest dismissal. That soccer and golf have helped preserve all these relationships so well strikes me as a notable riposte. Another observation: I can still identify these old men by their postures, their gaits, and laughter. Playing sports together, spending so much time as part of a pack, is a lasting form of intimacy. They don’t talk about that sort of thing in Lord of the Flies.

“I’m in closer touch with five of my Butterfield C, 530C, freshman hall mates: Dr.David Rose lives north of Melbourne with his Australian wife, Dr. Sharon Davis. He got a PhD in biology but has since applied his work life to bioinformatics. . . . Dennis Carboni lives with his wife, Barbara, on outer Cape Cod. He earned a master’s in ecological landscape design but today works boutique construction, manages ice rinks (inclusive of Zamboni driving) and DJs for the cool kids in Provincetown. . . . Dr. John Sledge lives in LA with his wife, Dr. Isabella Sledge. He practiced orthopedic surgery, but today he’s chief scientific officer at a lab that develops blood tests for the early diagnosis of cancer. . . . Dave Terry lives in White Plains, New York, with his wife, Alexandra. He taught high school Spanish for years but today provides translation services to the New York State court system. . . .  I live in southern Maine with my wife, Sharon Vandermay. After 10-plus years in daily newspaper and magazine worlds, I continue to operate the content/digital marketing agency I founded in 1997, though I’m slowly transitioning to the more chill, 60-something acts of writing books, visiting my kids in Montana, fronting an alt-country band, and playing the world’s top 100 golf courses (70-odd down, 30 to go).”

Greetings, ’85ers! I saw a lot of you at our reunion and missed many of you who couldn’t make it. Time marches on, but I thought we all looked pretty good!

Hillary Hess writes: “I rode up to Reunion with my freshman-year roommate, Caroline Wilkins [that’s ME!]. A highlight for me was the gathering at the boathouse—Emily Denham Swomley, Margaret Bracken Thompson, Caroline, and I rowed a four, guided by the current assistant coach and current rowers. (The previous evening, Dave Barr had said to us that he wasn’t rowing because he was afraid of hurting something—saying what I was thinking, but we all got back to the dock unhurt and kept the boat on a more even keel than I expected.) Terry McClenahan represented the class for the men’s team, and former coach Pat Callahan ’71 joined us on the apron. Outside the senior art show, I ran into French majors Jeanne LaVallee and Ellen Campbell. At the class dinner, I caught up with fellow rowers Wendy Buffett and Denise Pasche and coxswain Paula Carbone.”

Hillary and I also caught up with Mike Jacobs,Bill Duryea, Jill Hamada, and Diana Lefer at a lovely class dinner held at the new Fries Center for the Arts, named for our 230 Washington Street housemate, Mike Fries, for whom Bill Wrubel gave a lovely introduction. Bill also led the class in a moving memorial to classmates who’ve passed away, inviting us to name friends we’ve lost and hold them together in our hearts.

I also heard from several classmates by email:

Dr. K.T. Korngold writes: “I graduated this May with an EdD in Montessori Studies from University of Wisconsin–River Falls, and my case studies are included in the newly published book by Patrick Frierson, Maria Montessori’s Philosophy, Following the Child (Oxford).”

I heard from Beth Purnell Gartman who has served as a school-based psychologist since 1989, including the last 11 years dedicated to supporting elementary-age students at a small independent school for neurodivergent learners. Now she’s embracing a new chapter: “I will be transitioning to part-time work as an independent educational consultant. In this new role, my goal is to empower families by helping them identify and prioritize their children’s needs, navigate school choices to find the ideal fit, and implement diverse strategies to support their unique learning styles.”

She adds, “The ’85 crew is still going strong! Amy Hamburg Shir, Jenny Henkind, and I have made it a tradition to gather annually for a long weekend trip. This year, I’m delighted to host the group here in Atlanta. My new home, which my kids affectionately call my ‘next phase of life’ home, is a true gem. I purchased this 1952 mid-century- modern beauty a year ago from dear friends. The groovy, 1960s, kidney-shaped pool adds to its charm, making it an ideal spot for entertaining. Should your travels ever bring you to Atlanta, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as I have a wonderful guest suite ready for visitors.”

Marquis Lobban missed our reunion but writes: “I currently reside in Los Angeles with my new wife, Nkem. My new wife came with a bonus daughter. So now, I have three children and am a newly minted granddad. My work as a commercial real estate developer requires many trips to the East Coast. I wish everyone in Class of ’85 many blessings!”

Shelley Stark lives in Attleboro, Massachusetts, with her husband, Louis, and works at Arcadis, a global engineering firm managing the document control department. “My son, Spenser, remains in school at Bridgewater State and my daughter, Holland, graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2023. I see good friends and fellow alums Rosilyn Ford (frequently), Leslie Turner ’88, and David Shopper ’82 when I can.”

Rosalind (Brown) Stewart wrote that she hasn’t attended a reunion or written to the class notes for years, so she filled me in: “I have lived in London, UK, with my husband, Ian, since 1989. I haven’t been to a Wesleyan reunion since, although I did log on to our virtual one in 2020, which was great fun. I had planned to attend this year, but our daughter (we have three adult children) had just graduated from her master’s program at Penn that same time. So, I met up with some Wesleyan friends of mine to create a series of ‘mini’ reunions instead. First, in April, Cindy Van Wynen, who was on my floor in Foss 10 back in 1981, returned to London to spend time with her daughter. We spent some happy times together, going to a play (Shakespeare’s Richard II), the Saatchi Gallery, and the ballet at Sadler’s Wells. Then in May, just after said daughter’s graduation, Ian and I went to Washington, D.C., for a couple of days and had dinner with Derek Reisfield and his wife. I had lunch the next day with Ira Dassa and then met up with Robin Wolser Guinot, who has temporarily relocated with her job to D.C. So, although I missed the whole shebang in Middletown in May, I did see four of my friends, all from the Class of 1985 this spring.”

Rosalind adds that she and Cindy, who lives in Nassau, Bahamas, keep in regular contact with Janet Macomber Williamson, who lives in Portland, Oregon: “We three spent a week together in February 2023 in the Bahamas, first Nassau and then Eleuthera, to celebrate our collective 60th birthdays that year. It was the first time we had spent time together without family and spouses since 1985 . . . and what fun it was!”

John Vigman also wrote from across an ocean: “Greetings from Tokyo. Still working, been at Veolia here in Japan since 2011 but nearing retirement and thinking of moving to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, learning Spanish and relaxing a bit. Anyone in Tokyo for beers and yakitori, let me know.” 

Barbara Schwartz shared, “I’m trying to see how to make a difference when the world is so painful. I am a therapist and continue to counsel and supervise. I volunteer with SURJ (Showing up for Racial Justice) and attend meetings with Color of Change. They both are great organizations that give hope that we can do something besides bemoan how bad the country/world are.  For some peace, I hike somewhere each weekend and spend two weeks hiking each summer. This summer we are going to Joshua Tree, Phoenix, and Sedona. This fall, we are going to San Fran where I will have the pleasure of seeing Marc Stein.”

Hilary Jacobs Hendel had exciting news: “I’m going to be a grandmother, and I’m launching my new book at the end of September called, Parents Have Feelings, Too: A Guide to Navigating Your Emotions So You and Your Family Can Thrive. This book is important for parents with children of all ages from zero to 100 years old. Here’s a recent picture of me with the book cover.

Hilary had promotional events planned at the Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side and the New York Public Library at 42nd Street in late September.

Dave Given has retired to Montana! “After careers in pension actuarial (me) and corporate finance (Irene), we moved 2,500 miles from Natick, Massachusetts, to Lolo, Montana, and retired early in 2022. Zero regrets! Golden retrievers, horses (her thing), volunteer work, and plenty of off-roading and hiking. Right now, the magpies are squawking in the orchard because the cherry trees are LOADED this year. The picture is me with dogs at the Missoula Pride festival and along the shore of Lake McDonald up at Glacier National Park.”

Dale Hernsdorf is based in LA and is a goldsmith: “I make one-of-a-kind pieces in high karat gold with curated gems and the occasional ancient rare coin. The line, cleverly named ‘Hernsdorf,’ has done well. I love what I do. My daughter, Annie, is marrying Brett Keating ’15 later this summer.” Here is one of Dale’s pieces:

Mark Schafer writes: “My essay about the work of the Jewish-Mexican poet Gloria Gervitz (whose book-length, life’s work poem, Migraciones, I translated for New York Review Books in 2021) was published in December in Este es el testimonio del oyente: Aproximaciones críticas en torno a Migraciones de Gloria Gervitz, the first collection of critical writings published on Gervitz’s poetry. In June the Latin American Jewish Studies Association awarded this book its 2025 book prize for an edited volume published in 2024.”

Mark also recently signed a contract with New York Review Books for his revised translation of the Cuban author Virgilio Piñera’s novel René’s Flesh and Cold Tales, a dramatically expanded collection of stories of the same title, originally published in 1987 and based on his 1985 College of Letters thesis!

He adds:

“Inspired by a local resistance gathering, I designed and made a banner with my daughter, my friend Yvon Augustin and his daughter, and with two other friends. [It was designed and] made to activelycounter the forces of fear and hate that have grown so loud recently in our country—especially for people ‘of the global majority’ and other marginalized and oppressed groups. We’ve been holding it over highways in Boston during rush hour and we marched with it in this year’s Boston Pride parade.”

Finally, “While my 15-year-old daughter, Carmel, is hanging out with a bunch of summer camp buddies at a rented house in Cape May, New Jersey—with chaperones!—I will be visiting my dear old friend, Catalina Ríos ’84 in Philly.”

Hello, Classmates!  

Now that we are only publishing notes twice a year, there will be a long lag between sending me your updates and their appearing in print.

My apologies to Rick Okuno, who sent in an update last December, and I missed including him in the notes that were about to be published. Rick is in Tokyo with his wife and two daughters. He left a late-career government position with the Financial Services Agency last year and joined a mental health organization. He reflects that Japanese society struggles with a lot of stigma related to mental health, so he is finding being an advocate to be a fascinating challenge. Rick is happy to host an authentic Japanese meal for anyone who wants to look him up when visiting Tokyo!

Eric Caplan was back on campus after 40 years to teach, as a volunteer, a winter 2025 course on the history of psychiatry. His class of 45 students—athletes, artists, and others, covering 15 different disciplines—made his return a meaningful experience. Eric felt like Rip Van Winkle, waking to find the (Wesleyan) world has gone on while he was asleep. He was living in a house just off campus and reliving his Wes years by attending student events (cheering the men’s basketball team in the Final Four, going to student theater, and sitting in on lectures).    

Finally, my Gingerbread housemate, Melissa (Duggan) Pace, is publishing her debut novel with Henry Holt Books and Macmillan: The Once and Future Me. It’s a psychological thriller about a woman who wakes in a 1954 mental hospital with no memory; just a menacing little voice in her head she tells no one about, convinced she couldn’t possibly be the delusional schizophrenic doctors say she is—or something else entirely. Melissa wonders if she is the oldest debut novelist ever (or just feels like she is).

My Wes news is also LA based. I visited my son in Taiwan this year and used LA as my to/from launching pad. I lingered in LA for a couple of days and had a great lunch at the fabled Nate ’n Al’s deli with Al Septien ’85 and Bennett Schneider ’86. Al is off to Mexico City to co-executive produce a series for MGM and Amazon, El Gato, based on the Richard Dominguez comic book.

That’s it for this issue. Talk to you all in six months.

C Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis, which I founded five years ago. We are building out a network of state and local democratic environmental caucuses, working to elect Dems, advocate for climate policies and candidates, and resist climate disinformation. I was also recently elected vice president of my area labor federation, AFL-CIO, and serve on several national boards and advisory boards related to the environment. My husband and I farm on 80 acres in southeast Michigan, where we’ve planted over 1,000 native trees and have rewilded five acres of native prairie grasses and flowers (yes, the edge of the prairies once extended this far east!)”

John Goldberg was named Harvard Law School dean in June. John has been a member of the faculty since 2008 and has held several positions at HLS, including chairing committees and serving as a deputy dean. Read the impressive article here: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/06/john-c-p-goldberg-named-harvard-law-school-dean/

Nancy Rommelmann shared: “My newest book, Forty Bucks and a Dream: Stories from Los Angeles, was released in September, and my podcast, Smoke ’Em If You Got ’Em, with Dallas journalist Sarah Hepola, just entered year three!” 

Glenn Lunden wrote: “In my retired/not retired state (I am back working part time for my former department at the New York MTA), I recently found myself serving for the very first time as an expert witness. Yes, I am indeed telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I spent a day in the New York County Supreme Court building (think Law & Order), testifying on behalf of the MTA about New York subway operations and history for the MTA in a civil trial. It was a fascinating and sometimes nerve-racking experience, and I learned a lot about how trials work—or don’t work. We lost, of course (New York juries never find for the MTA), but I’ve been told my testimony will end up being an important factor in the inevitable appeal. (Dah, dum!)”

Megan Norris said: “My family and I, like so many others, are trying to wrestle with feeling really fortunate in so many ways (good friends, fun travel, silly dogs, daughter who still tolerates us), and watching the world, or at least our part of it, seemingly go to hell in a hand basket. I was on campus for Reunion & Commencement weekend in May and recently saw a number of Wes friends at a function on the East Coast; and I always come away from those encounters with renewed spirit. But I am aware that so many are hurting or afraid, there is no immediate fix, and the worst is probably yet to come. What seemed unfathomable is now here, and for the first time in my life, I’m not sure we can turn this around. 

“But I take great joy watching Wes folk, known to me or, as one of my colleagues says when called for a reference, known by reputation, all over the globe (and some close by in Detroit) doing great things. Our daughter is now teaching science in the Detroit Public Schools, which is a handful. And for the first time in quite a while Howard and I took a trip overseas and managed to get caught in the Iberian Peninsula blackout, which was actually a fun adventure. So, we will carry on.”

Jay Ash let us know that “the Duke Snyder memorial service was extremely well attended by players from the 1970s through the 2000s. Duke influenced all of us as hockey players and young men. The bonds we formed during each of our four years on the team remain to this day, and it was a blast to see so many of my former teammates this past April. For fear of leaving someone out, I won’t try to list everyone that I reconnected with.” CAPTION: From left to right: Chris Kincaid, Kyle Vietze ’81, Paul Godfrey ’81, and Jay Ash.]

David Frankfurter contributed: “Anath (Golomb) and I still live in Durham, New Hampshire, enjoying the mountains for hiking and the coastline for kayaking. We are both happy in our jobs (respectively, private clinical psych practice in Portsmouth and professor of religion at Boston University), although [the current political climate] is putting new stresses on teaching and therapy both. Our children have recently moved back East: Sariel to teach writing at Princeton and Raphael to do his residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Raphi and his wife also have a toddler, Sidonie, whom we get to see quite often. Everybody also has dogs, which makes for boisterous visits.”

We are hoping that one or two of you will volunteer to become your class’s new secretary—it’s a terrific way to connect with fellow ’83ers. If you are interested, please email the Class Notes editor, Liz Taylor ’87, at classnotes@wesleyan.edu. Thanks!

I’m going to keep this long and in as many original words as they let me. It’s a time for all our voices to be heard as the years go quickly by. There’s a lot a change and tenderness in there and I hope you appreciate it.

I must start with the most delicious piece of news from Beck Lee: “I wanted to let our classmates know that I have gotten the ball rolling to do a WESeminar on O’Rourke’s Diner with my old boss, Brian O’Rourke, for an upcoming reunion.” I would travel for that.

Beck also sent this piece of history and remembrance:

“I wanted to let you both know that very recently Barbara Woike ’79 told me that she was enlisting the help of several friends to learn about the final years of one of Middletown’s most notable citizens—Katherine ‘Sissy’ Wells, who was by far and away Middletown’s ‘best hairdresser in town.’ Barbara had photographed Katherine for her senior thesis, and she asked me if I had ever seen or met her. ‘Met her?’ I laughed. . . . ‘She invited me to her room in the Arriwani Hotel! She had me over for tea!’

“Barbara’s focus was to get Katherine, who was a transgender pioneer in that she heroically lived her truth as a fashion-savvy woman in Middletown from the ’50s (when she closed her hair salon on Main Street) all the way to the ’80s, during which time she cut hair in people’s homes. Lots of homes!

“She was a ubiquitous presence on Main Street—tall, elegantly dressed at all times, in heels, with an astronomically big beehive hairdo. She was a regular at the Woolworth’s off Washington and also at O’Rourke’s Diner, where I met her and we became friends. Anyway, there’s a lot to report on this matter, but the main things are that Barbara hosted a gathering in Katherine’s honor at The Buttonwood Tree during Pride Week and has organized a ceremony to place a marker at her grave (which Barbara and her colleagues discovered) on August 29 and a play reading of a play about Katherine by Beth Harpaz (and directed by Diana Moller-Marino at CNTER). I’m so happy this all is happening. Truly Middletown is all abuzz about this. Hundreds of people have posted on Facebook vivid memories of Katherine. I’m so proud of Barbara. . . and of Katherine!”

From Terri Seligman: “Aside from the daily nervous breakdown when I read the news, I’m good. Still lawyering and still enjoying lawyering, remarkably enough. I did pass the reins for chairing my department, after 15 years of doing it, and that was an excellent decision—a lot less stress.” And more time for music: “I continue to play in two Brazilian percussion groups and love it. And I had the wonderful experience of running into Rob Levin ’81 at a music festival where we were both performing. I hadn’t seen Rob since African drumming class, where he was a huge inspiration for me. . . . Very cool to see him and hear him and his group play.” And Terri adds something many of us agree on: “Very proud of President Roth and his principled positions on the current political climate.”

Catharine Arnold writes, “I am still working as a rheumatologist in Guilford, Connecticut, although I take Fridays off now, as my husband, John Bozzi ’79, and I now have four grandchildren—Luca, William, Ellie, and Daphne. We babysit William and Daphne on Fridays and take the train down to Philadelphia to help out with Luca and Ellie every two months or so.” And some words worth reading: “The grandchildren are keeping us going, in these stressful times for our country, although it’s hard not to worry about what life will be like for them when they grow up.”

Gregory Ward, a physician in Baton Rouge, works daily to restore and enhance the functional abilities of individuals who have experienced brain injuries and was invited by the NFL Players Association and the NFL commissioner to discuss an innovative approach to brain recovery and rehabilitation, discussing “how chess analysis can play a pivotal role in aiding athletes’ recovery journeys—especially in the brain.” He was covered in this piece: https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/louisiana_health/chess-for-brain-injuries-in-louisiana/article_b8973998-b54c-4535-833d-94b243d36739.html

Liz Wilks sent a catch up: “Moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 2023, which I love, but finding it challenging to be so far from family and cherished friends. One daughter in is London, the other is in LA, so the three continents straddle is . . . a stretch. Still managing to keep Call to Adventure Media going and teaching TV writing at Melbourne University. I regularly catch up with many beloved Wes friends—Sasha Alpert all over the globe (pictured), Dan Greenberger in LA, and Peter Blauner and Diane Kolyer in NYC.”

Virginia (Ginny) Pye was brief! Perhaps a bit worn out from this: She has a new novel, Marriage and Other Monuments, coming out in February. Nice work, Ginny!

More publications, as Jeannie Gagne’sfourth book was released in May, with Berklee Press: Vocal Production and Recording. “It’s co-authored with Grammy-winning engineer, my dear friend, and Berklee colleague, Prince Charles Alexander. I’m still a voice prof at Berklee College of Music (Boston), 25 years later! Where do the years go?!! Spent time recently with dear friends Marcy Mariona (neé Neiterman) and Kim Traub Ribbens.”

On June 29, Steve Budd performed his solo show Oy, What They Said About Love, a Jewish take on love, romance, and marriage, in Cambridge. “Good friends from the Community Services House attended: David Preston ’81 and Janet (Lambert) Preston ’83, and Marc Gold ’81 and his wife, Alison Paul (they met at Wes when Alison spent her junior year there from Smith).” More to come.

Steven Maizes’ twins, Benjamin and Olivia, graduated from Brown and UCLA, respectively.

Maya Sonenberg writes, “John Robinson and I had the real treat of returning to Wesleyan for our daughter’s (Phoebe Robinson ’25) graduation in May. How much the place has changed; how much it’s stayed the same. An enormous military helicopter buzzed the ceremony during all the pro-democracy graduation speeches.” No helicopter buzzed our ceremony, if memory serves. Well, who knows, we were in the hockey rink.

Speaking of which, my COL classmate, Joe Fins, was honored by giving two commencement addresses this year. “The first was at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin and the second at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) where they gave me an honorary Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc), which was pretty cool. It was in the Panther Hockey Rink in Milwaukee, and it reminded me of our graduation when we were rained out on Dennison Terrace.”

Other honors and awards from Matthew Capece, also with meaning: “The Labor Employer Research Association awarded me, as a senior attorney for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the 2025 Practitioner Fellow Award countering wage theft and worker exploitation in the construction industry.” Bravo.

Sharon Marable, a primary care physician in Sharon, Massachusetts, writes that she has been honored by the Middlesex West District Medical Society and the Massachusetts Medical Society as its 2025 Community Clinician of the Year, celebrating physicians who make significant contributions to patients and the community.

A not-quite-retirement and a real retirement from Carson Milgroom, with some generosity at the end: “Most everything is the same. . . . still live in Newton, Massachusetts, not quite retired from a 20-plus year job in the waterproofing business, now as sales manager and project executive. Recently retired from a 25-year career in highly competitive adult baseball (yes baseball, not softball), playing lots of golf. Letting go of baseball made time and space for getting back into working with Insight Boston leading personal growth trainings; check out insightboston.org (see The Creating Success Program—CSP). I saw Steve Mooney ’81 this spring and threw a Frisbee with him after all these years. There was a Nietzsche Factor reunion (the Wes ultimate Frisbee club) on campus in May. I passed along an original team T-shirt I’d been stewarding for 40 years.”

Patty Smith writes, “The plan is to retire at the end of the school year, 2026. This will end a 40-year teaching career, I think it’s time! Otherwise, still living in Chester, Virginia, with my wife, Cindy. We love being grandmothers! (Our granddaughter turns seven in October). I had two knee replacements this spring/summer, one in March and the other in June! I hate that it’s my big news, but there you go.” I feel you on this, Patty.

An almost retirement from Danny Softness: “After sort of retiring during COVID after 30 years in the franchise and real estate world, my wife, Ellen, and I bought Strippaggio, a small olive oil and balsamic vinegar business located here in Atlanta. And suddenly, I’m not so retired and loving growing our new venture. And eating much better!” Lovely.

And a real one: “Hi! It’s Barbara Malley Chandler. I am fully retired from a career of newspaper publishing, freelance graphic design, and general wordsmithing, but still playing Scrabble with Lisa Greim ’81 (the one on the right in the photo). We met during my freshman year in Butterfield B’s East College when Lisa and her sophomore hallmates hosted a room-to-room cocktail party. Lisa made whiskey sours, and I made a friend for life. I still live on the East Coast (now in Plymouth, Massachusetts) and Lisa lives near Denver. Among the many blessings of age and retirement is more in-person time with distant friends.”

I got to have dinner with Sam Bender and Fred Pelzman in NYC, both still working (a lot!) as physicians. And Ellen (Friedman) Bender invited me to see Maybe Happy Ending, hosted by co-producer Jeffrey Richards ’69, along with her parents, Joe Friedman ’52 (pictured with me) and her mom, Barbara. I thought, “This has got to win a Tony. . . .” It won six.

It’s a delight to be able to hang out with your co-secretary, Laura, and her husband, Peter Eckart ’84 now and then in the Bay Area, even for impossibly old birthdays, and at the odd Wes events in San Francisco, too!

Greetings from Brooklyn!  I had the honor to meet up with Jenny Boylan ’80 at the launch of her latest book, Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us, at the main branch of the New York Public Library. It was a packed house.

Wayne Pepper “watched my niece, Rosa, graduate last May, and in the same visit had the great pleasure of taking my youngest son Scout on the grand tour, as he had never been on campus before: both theaters, ADP, including the infamous Grotto, and Olin.  Made sure to thank President Michael Roth ’78 for his leadership and activism.”

This was a general theme: most of you thanked President Roth for his leadership, activism, and advocacy, and I approve of these messages.

Jim Steiker is “winding down my long career as an employee ownership attorney and advisor and beginning a new chapter serving on boards of directors of employee-owned companies and teaching a course on ESOPs. My partner, Michael Golden, retired earlier this year. I’m still regularly in touch with Lisa Rudy, Clara Silverstein ’82, Cliff Meyer ’82 (started as ’81), and Cori Adler ’83 and can report that the Wes bonds are strong! I remain very proud to be associated with Wes, especially because of the advocacy of Michael Roth.”

Charles Newell is stepping down from his tenure at Court Theatre as senior artistic consultant. 

The Court Theater wrote in his honor:

“We would like to celebrate Charlie’s artistic legacy and thank him for his 30 years of leadership as the former Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director. He has directed more than 60 productions at Court — including An Iliad; Berlin; The Gospel at Colonus; The Adventures of Augie March; Satchmo at the Waldorf; Angels in America; James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’; Caroline, or Change; and The Triumph of Love, among many others—and his contributions have indelibly shaped our organization and the artistic ecosystem of Chicago. . . .” 

Livia McCarthy and Matt McCreight shared that David Resnick, Chris Lynch, and Paul DiSanto showed up at the memorial service celebrating the life of Colin Campbell Hon. ’89,in June. The photo here has four of the five of them. Livia writes that “it was wonderful to remember hidden memories about our formative years and the ways that a president, our president, could impact our lives.” Matt adds that he and Kathryn (Greene-McCreight ’83) “are doing well and still live in New Haven” and that he and his wife “also met up recently with Keith and Nancy Krakaur, and David Resnickand Cathy Klema—so wonderful to stay in touch with great friends.” Matt also says that he is “looking forward to seeing more great friends at our reunion next May. Put May 22–24, 2026, in your calendars now and plan on being there!”   

Referring to the memorial of President Campbell, Matt continues: “Speaking of great leadership, we should all be thankful for the stand Michael Roth is taking in defense of our democracy and the way in which he is doing so. Let him and Wesleyan know how much you value that stand—they need our support given all the pressures and funding cuts coming at higher education.”

Laurie Jacobs “celebrated the marriage of my daughter, Elizabeth Wojnar ’12, with Steven Sutro in March, with ’81 alums Susan Stone and Corinne Sternberg, and Laura Justice ’83, along with a bunch from 2012. I am still working as an associate dean and chair of medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey and live in NYC where I see many alums!”

Jim Sullivan ’82, P ’19, Miriam Stern Sturgis, Gary Sturgis ’77, and Delcy Ziac Fox, got together in Dennis, Massachusetts, for a mini-reunion of InTown 21 residents. Jim and the Sturgises caught up with each other after not seeing each other for 40 years. Jim lives in Bourne, Massachusetts, and is inpatient medical director at High Point Treatment Center in Brockton, Massachusetts. Jim has one son, Owen ’19; Owen lives in Brooklyn, New York. Jim is chairperson of Bourne’s finance committee, a volunteer position. Miriam and her husband, Gary, live in Essex Junction, Vermont, and have three children and seven grandchildren. Miriam is retired and helps with her grandchildren. She volunteers for Ohavi Zedek in Burlington, Vermont. Gary is retired and enjoys bird and wildlife photography. He has coached a women’s rugby team for 20 years. Delcy now lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, year-round and is retired. She volunteers for the Center for Coastal Studies, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, and Provincetown Pride. 

Chris Graves and his wife, JoAnn Ward, “are celebrating our 40th anniversary year and will celebrate our younger daughter’s marriage in August. Our older daughter just got her master’s degree in data visualization.

 “JoAnn and I spent a month in France and Spain, starting with a truly once-in-a-lifetime event. We were invited by longtime pal and Wesleyan classmate Sam Selesnick to sit in the presidential box at the French Open tennis (Roland Garros). We got to witness close up the epic and historic (longest ever) men’s final. Sam is a world-renown surgeon and received tickets as gratitude for his lectures in Paris. We then headed to Provence, next westward to the ancient Cathar region near Andorra, then traveled all over northern Spain. In the fall, we will go hiking in Portugal and witness the tennis professional ATP tournament in Turin.

 “JoAnn retired from the Washington DC Public Library, and I retired from my longtime Ogilvy PR job (global CEO, chair, and founder of behavioral science unit). I founded a new company called The Resonance Code LLC (www.TheResonanceCode.com) built on some award-winning research that more effectively decodes the human sensemaking genome. I do quite a bit of pro bono work ranging from combatting vaccine hesitancy to trying to lessen homelessness with Community Solutions (largest nonprofit in this space) and working to build empathy for the Muhammad Ali Center.”

Lisa Shuchman shared that “my family and I spent a few days at Wes in May to see my son and his friends graduate as members of the Class of ’25. It was inspiring to see so much creativity, curiosity, and camaraderie. It made me feel there is hope for this country and the world. As the international editor responsible for overseeing coverage of the global legal industry for Law.com/ALM Media, I have been witnessing the rule of law at risk almost every day, and I am more convinced than ever that we need all these smart, well-educated, compassionate, creative, and driven Wesleyan grads. I’m confident they will be the ones who figure out how to fix things.” 

David Lynch has a new book: The World’s Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (and What Would Make It Right), which at press time was scheduled to be published on September 9 by PublicAffairs, so it’s likely out by the time you read this. “The World’s Worst Bet, my second book,explains the nation’s journey from the 1990s’ enthusiasm for global integration to the rise of economic nationalism today.”

Ned Lerner tells us that “after working on games (Madden ’93, Sims, MLB The Show, God of War, Last of Us, . . .) and game platforms (PS4) for 40 years, including two start-ups with Paul Neurath, I retired last year. Now I’m trying to become a technology pundit. My Substack is https://nedlern.substack.com/ if you’re interested in what happens after phones or TV. And I’m an increasingly creaky runner. I came in second (in my age group) at the SF Marathon. :)”

David P. Miller adds that “for a variety of reasons, but partially because I thought it might take many months for the Trump appeals to be finally dismissed and Harris to be officially declared president, we signed up for a long cruise (January–June) last September. Obviously, the election did not go as I predicted. Nonetheless, Cathryne and I were out of the country till mid-June. I got talk to John Lyden, Kathryn (Moody) Benjamin ’82, and others from many time zones through Zoom. A dozen or so of us are having a virtual WesSF Club reunion on September 17 (47 years). How do we remember when the SF club had its first meeting? The premier of the original Battlestar Galactica, which was interrupted by the press conference of the Camp David Accords. 

Penultimately, I will reiterate what many of you have shared with me in your messages: We thank President Roth for his courage and integrity as he stands in defense of our democracy, and the way in which he’s doing so.

I end on a sad note: Leukemia took two of our classmates over the past few months.

Dan Haar wrote to let us know that Brian Ford passed away on June 25 after a brief bout with a very aggressive form of leukemia. “Brian was a philosophy major originally from Long Island. He did graduate studies in political science at Columbia and taught in the New York City schools for many years. He leaves a daughter who is a college frosh.”

And Livia McCarthy wrote on the very due date of these notes to let us know that Michael Toohey died on July 18, after an 18-month struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. Michael was a man of many careers. He moved from banking management consulting to nonprofit work, when he became COO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the famous civil rights litigation and advocacy organization. 

Michael later became the CFO of George School, a boarding school in Newton, Pennsylvania, which he saw, as his obituary notes, “as the culmination of his career—a place where he could dedicate himself fully to the mission of education, while leveraging his financial and strategic planning skills to bring a much-needed perspective to the organization.”

This is the part of our notes that might be most important and the most difficult. I have used this before, but perhaps it is appropriate to repeat: I am hopeful for less-bidity. 

Our class had a small but spirited 45th Reunion in May. We first gathered as a class for the alumni parade:

We had our dinner in the new forum in the newly renovated PAC, now the Frank Center for Public Affairs. A great space!

Thirty-two classmates registered including: Jenny-Anne Horst-Martz, Mark Zitter, Laura Steinman Klapper, Marty Saggese, Art Feltman, Ken Freeman, Susan Thorne, John Usdan, Deborah Ehrenthal, Irwin Gelman, Ed Merritt, Thom Kleiner, Karen Murgolo, Steven Yermish, Joel Tillinghast, Andrew McKenna, Debbie Lipshutz, Carol Bumpus, Frederick Maynard, Julie Burstein, Deborah Dobin Robinson, Kim (Ofria) Selby, Freddi Wald, Walter Calhoun, Amy Rabinowitz, Nancy Stier, Matthew Penn, Jonathan Nimer, Mark Garfinkel, Nancy Rosenberg, and me, Jacqueline (Shanberge) McKenna, though not all were able to attend.

Our class’s first person to register was Carol Bumpus. The folks who traveled farthest were: four from California: Laura Klapper, Mark Zitter, Jonathan Nimer, and Deborah Robinson; and Andrew and Iflew in from safari in Tanzania! 

Aside from a delicious dinner and lots of chatting before, during and after, I welcomed the class to our 45th Reunion.

Kim Selby led a memorial minute for those classmates and those in our lives who have passed since we last gathered. Then Kim presented the Wesleyan University Service Award to honor our classmates who have devoted their time, talents, and treasures to support Wesleyan. This year, we recognized four classmates:

Frederica Wald-Sherman: Freddi has been a longtime volunteer for Wesleyan, serving as a WESeminar speaker, regional-event host, and, of course, an enthusiastic member of the reunion committee. She has done thoughtful outreach to classmates to encourage them to come back to campus. Her eagerness to help and obvious love for Wesleyan, as an alumna and parent, has made her a valuable part of the 45th Reunion efforts. 

Melissa Stern: Melissa has been a loyal Wes volunteer for many years. She and husband, Jim Friedlich ’79, were delighted that their son, Max Friedlich ’17, also came to Wes, and they have formed a terrific trio of Wes boosters and have been involved with many Wes events over the years, often as a family. Alums have flocked to her art shows, Max’s plays, and Jim’s involvement with panels and other events related to journalism. Melissa also was an effective parent volunteer and did the artwork for the Class of ’80’s regalia T-shirt design for our 35th Reunion that was an all-time favorite. 

Karen Murgolo: Karen has been volunteering for Wesleyan for nearly 25 years! She has served as a class fundraising volunteer (twice!), a parent volunteer, a WESeminar speaker, co-chair of the 35th Reunion Committee, and has been active reunion ambassador this year. 

Walter Calhoun: Walter has done a phenomenal job reaching out to classmates to reconnect and encourage them to attend Reunion. His enthusiasm and enjoyment of these reconnections have been infectious. 

And Jonathan Nimer read a note from a classmate who wasn’t able to attend.

Finally, Freddi reported on our class fundraising results: We blew past our participation goal with 137 donors. That’s a 20% increase over last year! And we raised $332,656 for the Wesleyan Fund, an 11% increase over dollars raised last year. Another fun fact is that we acquired 18 “new” donors—people who haven’t made a gift in over five years. Way to go class!

From the dinner, many of us went over to the tent in Andrus Field to dance well into the night with all the alumni and graduating class.

We are looking forward to a big group attending our 50th Reunion, so put that on your calendars for May 2030!