How can we not start with a wedding?
“I got married last June to Sally Rosenberg in Washington, D.C., at a cool venue overlooking the Mall,” writes Bruce Charendoff. “Our closest friends officiated. We took our honeymoon in South Africa and are living in Chevy Chase, Md., where our families (her two boys, my two girls) have blended well. Sally is a lawyer and children’s book author, whose first novel is being turned into a musical.”
Bruce adds that last year marked his 25th anniversary running government affairs and philanthropy programs at Sabre, a travel industry technology company.
Michael Haney and his wife, June, marked 25 years of marriage last summer with a trip to Edinburgh. He says, “We continue to develop film projects, and I dream of directing theater again.
“Our twins, Alex and Angie, have started their sophomore years at USC Cinema and Columbia, and they are growing up to be fascinating, independent, wonderful people who will make the world better,” says Michael. “I am running my own business as a private investigator, licensed in three states (who saw that coming?). Our specialty is locating and recovering unclaimed property.”
Peter Blauner writes that his new crime novel, Proving Ground, is due out next year. He is also working for the CBS show Blue Bloods as a co-executive producer, “which in this case is a really just another name for a writer,” he says.
John Johnson lives in Long Island with his wife and 10-year-old daughter. “My older daughter (who is 33!!) is about to make me a first time grandfather in March,” he writes.
“I’m a director of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in Brooklyn, where we serve more than 300 children per day. I’ve been in the youth development field over 25 years as a teacher, mentor, coach, counselor ,and administrator.”
John adds that he’s in touch off-and-on with several of our classmates, including Kweku (Dwayne) Forstall, Ron Comrie, Nasser Ega-Musa, Robyn White and Kim Holt.
Rabbi Jeff Glickman and his wife, Mindy, recently began translating values from their sermons into games. Their games, based on teachings from the Talmud, don’t have words and underscore the values of patience and humility. Jeff and Mindy were named a finalist for the Rising Star Designer of the Year award by toy and game professionals. One of their most popular games, “Don’t Be Greedy,” is manufactured by the company Melissa and Doug. Jeff said that in the past three years, nine companies have licensed their ideas. “All games model values,” he said. “People learn while playing.”
Jeff has been a rabbi at Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor, Conn., for the past two decades and also serves as chaplain for the local fire and police departments. Mindy owns and operates a men’s formal wear business and leads Jewish heritage tours.
Bonnie LePard was named executive director of Oatlands, a 415-acre self-supporting National Trust Historic Site and National Historic Landmark, in Leesburg, Va. Prior to that, she was the founder and longtime executive director of the Tregaron Conservancy in Washington, D.C., after working as an environmental crimes prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Suzanne (Suzie) Farman lives in Brookline, Mass., with her wife Wendy and their 17-year-old daughter Hannah. Suzanne is a special education teacher in the Cambridge Public Schools in her 28th year of teaching.
She writes that her daughter with David Eggers, Amanda ’17, is in her junior year at Wesleyan.
“David is an arborist/tree climber, and he lives in Framingham, Mass., with his wife, Lise, and their twin 9-year-olds, Julian and Marley,” Suzanne writes.
Suzanne has a number of abiding ties to the Wesleyan community. Her next-door-neighbor is Beth Bellis Kates ’81 and she is in regular contact with Emily Pereira Bachmann ’88 and Tom Bachmann ’88. She ran into Rob Lancefield at Wesleyan last spring, when she went to see Amanda’s West African Dance performance, and regularly sees Donald Berman ’84. “Just went to his amazing piano recital at the Longy School of Music where he is on the faculty,” she writes.
Becky Shuster writes that in November, she was named assistant superintendent of equity for the Boston Public Schools.
Carson Milgroom recently had hip replacement surgery and is doing very well. “I expect to be back to playing baseball by mid-summer,” he says.
Sharon Marable lives in Sharon, Mass. She accepted a new assistant medical director position at Tristan Medical in Raynham, Mass.
Carlos Hoyt writes: “I have a book coming out,” and refers us to an Oxford University Press link about the work, which explores issues of race and racial identity: blog.oup.com/2015/11/correcting-the-conversation-about-race/.
Joe Barrett reports from Seattle that he is “cranking hard on my fifth e-commerce start-up. Betsy ’12 and Andrew (Dickinson ’14) are doing age-appropriate things and are the loves of my life. Great summer get together with Anthony Pahigian, Tom Davis, John Brautigam, Bob Russo, Mike Greenstein, and Steve Davies ’83 on Martha’s Vineyard. Open invite to all to come visit when in Seattle. Reach us: 425/503-6997 or jbarrett@omniretailgroup.com.
Tricia Beard Mosher writes: “I continue to work as a consultant in Social Work and Public Service, Trish Mosher Consulting (original!) tmosher.com.
She adds: “I live in Orlando with my husband (yes, he works at Disney World), and our three children are adults or almost there. Our oldest daughter is studying to be an ASL interpreter; our son is studying and playing basketball at Earlham College (not necessarily in that order), and our younger daughter is still in high school and pursuing drama, performing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.”
Jim Friedlander and Liz Irwin continue to lead high-level educational tours around the world: “Recently Jim founded the Havana Heritage Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving the architecture of Havana during this period of transition for the country. Liz has recently been appointed as an official delegate to the United Nations and is advocating for women’s rights and climate issues.”
Joe Fins and his wife, Amy Ehrlich, celebrated son Harry’s bar mitzvah in New York in January. “We were joined by Wesleyan friends, Bart Brebner ’81 and Karen Liepmann ’83, Jeff Susla, Eva and John Usdan ’80, and Professor of Letters Emeritus Paul Schwaber and Rosemary Balsam-Schwaber.
Maya Sonenberg writes: “John Robinson and I continue to live in Seattle, where I’m teaching in the creative writing program at the University of Washington. He’s active on the boards of several local arts organizations, and we’re doing our best to raise a couple of amazing teenagers!”
She adds that a chapbook of her fiction and drawings, titled 26 Abductions, has just been reprinted and can be ordered at thecupboardpamphlet.org.”
Finally, I had the great pleasure of joining my former Butterfield freshman hallmate Roger Hale and his bride of many years, Elizabeth Chien-Hale, at a very fun Thanksgiving fete in Durham, N.C., along with other relatives and friends. I’m twisting Rog’s arm to send his own update for next issue, but suffice to say he continues to be the insightful thinker and tireless globetrotter I’ve always admired, in addition to being one of my dearest friends.
Your updates eagerly awaited!
Stephanie Griffith | stephaniedgriffith@gmail.com
If you would like to know what happened at our 30th Reunion, please contact any of the classmates listed in our online notes at classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu —and click on “Class of 1986.” All were registered and attended, and we look forward to seeing you in about 250 weekends from now for our 35th Reunion (May 2021). Some also posted photos at facebook.com/groups/wesleyanclassof86/.