Class Notes | 1980s

Always fascinating to see what my periodic call for updates from the Class of ’82 will yield. Some dispatches are strictly personal, others all-business—all always welcome, of course. And even the most cut-and-dried correspondents can sometimes be coaxed to give up a personal detail or two.

Beck Lee, for example, wrote to plug the work of Jim Brenner ’79, who is building “a sustainable community housing development in war-debilitated Liberia”—a project he’s helping promote.

“I’ve loved providing a small measure of marketing help for this worthy project, but boy, is the work blazing new trails out there unforgiving,” Beck writes. “Reach out to him whenever you can. And, go ahead and buy a home out there. It’s certainly a good value!”

Prodded for at least a modicum of news about himself, he added rather reluctantly (oh, okay twist my arm!) that he is “enjoying fatherhood for the first time.” (We journalists sometimes call that “burying the lead.” Congratulations, Beck!) “I’m starting this at a very late age, so I hope anything I say doesn’t sound like old news to our much more parentally established classmates,” he wrote. “My son is very cute, by the way.”

Bob Russo writes that he has not been up to anything “juicy” of late, although he, too, is reveling in the pleasures of fatherhood. “I have not just published a novel, I have not won any awards, I am not planning any expeditions and I have not started a new company/nonprofit/website,” he said. “The current excitement in my life is: my son Peter is teaching me how to make a traditional archery bow using hand tools and a hickory stave.”

He adds: “I am now chair of my town’s park and rec commission, and we have a new dog—a chocolate lab named Shelby who will retrieve a ball all day long. Oh, and I am taking up beekeeping.”

Emilie Becker—we knew her at Wes as Bunny Attwell—has been named acting medical director of Texas Medicaid and CHIP. “Our son started college and our daughter is faring well at a boarding school in Connecticut where she is on the equestrian team,” she writes.

Bill Stephan lives in Buffalo, and is in his 19th year in practice as a family doctor “with a special interest in complementary medicine,” he wrote, adding that he “recently passed board exam for holistic medicine certification.” Bill has four kids: Alexandria, 23, a graduate of St. Bonaventure, who is pursuing a possible opportunity to skate in a Disney on Ice show; Kathryn, 21, who is graduating this year from Fredonia; Billy IV, a sophomore at WVU; and Juliette, 18, a high school senior.

Congrats are in order for Laura Fraser, who writes that she has launched Shebooks, a new e-book publishing platform for women, founded with two other veteran publishing professionals. So far, they’ve published over 40 short memoirs, stories, and long-form journalism pieces by top-shelf women authors, including Wesleyan writers. The works can be downloaded individually, or via subscription at shebooks.net.

“I can’t believe that after 30 years of being a freelance writer, I’m a start-up entrepreneur,” Laura writes. “My big hope is that we’ll be successful enough that I can go back to being a freelance writer—with someplace to publish.”

Lavinia Muncy Ross is “presently living the very full life of a farmer, musician and blogger.” She shares that she is living with her husband, Rick Ross, on a small farm in the Cascade foothills of western Oregon, and blogs about her farming and music at salmonbrookfarms.wordpress.com.

The Association of Reform Zionists of America honored our own Peri Smilow at a New York City gala in April, “for involvement in more than 30 years of Jewish communal life and education, and for helping secure the future of Reform Judaism’s support for Israel.” ARZA hailed Peri as a musician and educator blessed with a “special gift” of sharing spirituality and inspiring social action through her music.

Julie Faude writes: “I continue to work as a clinical developmental psychologist, both in private practice and at an independent school focusing on pre-K through 2nd grade,” adding that she and her husband are also avid travelers. “I am writing this from PHL airport en route to the Dominican. Jeff and I love to travel and live for Airbnb. We are outside of Philly and we are always open to visitors!” Julie adds that one of her daughters is a freshman at the University of Southern California and that her older daughter is poised to graduate soon from Cornell. “Margot will be moving to Boston to work for the TJX companies,” she writes. “Anyone in Beantown with a great apartment for rent, let me know!”

Bill Jeffway writes that he has joined the Bioethics Research Institute at The Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., as director of marketing and communications, after a 30-year career at global advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather where he worked in their New York, London, Singapore, and Los Angeles offices. Bill was married last year to his longtime partner, Christopher Fook Hong Lee, in Milan, N.Y. Congrats!

Joshua Ehrlich has just published his first book, Divorce and Loss: Helping Adults and Children Mourn When a Marriage Comes Apart. “It is being published by Rowman and Littlefield,” he said. “It is designed for therapists who work with children, adolescents and/or adults dealing with divorce.”

Stephen Daniel, Alex Thomson, Kevin Foley, Jack Taylor, and Peter Frisch write in a jointly-penned missive that they continued their 20-year tradition of a family ski trip during Presidents’ Day weekend, although this year without the usual participation of John Mooney, Dan Hillman, and Bruce Crain.

Harold Bordwin, writes that he and Julie Broude Bordwin sold their house last summer after 25 years in Westchester County and have moved to New York City. They are the proud owners of a co-op in a 1910 building in Morningside Heights. “Our son, Jesse ’10, is in his third year of a five year PhD English program at UVA,” Harold writes. “Our son, Simon (Bowdoin ’13), lives with us in NYC and is working at a start-up, online art gallery, Uprise Art.”

Thanks for the dispatches, one and all!

Stephanie Griffith | stephaniedgriffith@gmail.com

Greetings, once again, from Brooklyn. I never know when these will find their way to your mailbox, months after I write them. I write this in June, as I am about to visit my oldest son in Arizona, and, more importantly, his 2-year-old girl. He is a year from 30, and his sister just turned 25. Yes, their youngest sibling is still 9, as I write this, but some of you must have children who have hit 30 already. How do you cope with the knowledge that your child has hit the big 3-0? And, as important, if not more so: Can you still trust them?

Brian Ford reports that his book came out last year: Respect for Teachers: The Rhetoric Gap and How Research on Schools is Laying the Ground for New Business Models in Education, which examines and critiques the privatization of the public education system.

Gene Norden writes that after Wes, he got a law degree from Duke and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago business school. “I practiced law and was a wealth manager for many years, and recently made a career move to become director of trusts and estates at Bonhams auction house in New York. I love being in the art world and have never been happier! I remain very close friends with Tom Danziger, who is uniformly considered one of the top art lawyers in New York, and who has been invaluable in helping me make the transition.”

Steve Blum, who blogs at negotiatingtruth.com, finally finished the book he has been working on since he was class secretary. Negotiating Your Investments joins knowledge from his two longtime careers by applying negotiation methods he has taught at Wharton for two decades to investing and finance strategies from his practice.  Steve wonders aloud about the loss of dignity involved in begging classmates to read the darned thing.

Paul Godfrey is proud to report that his son, Charlie, graduated with distinction from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with degrees in math and physics. Next year he will be going to graduate school at the University of Washington headed towards a PhD in math. And, he will be a graduate teaching assistant. “Since I took self-paced calculus at Wes on a pass-fail basis and got a P, followed by a huge sigh of relief, this makes perfect sense.”

After a 25-year career as a broadcast photojournalist, Kit Tyler founded The American Mercury Inc., a media production company specializing in broadcast documentary programs. Kit has created dozens of series and programs on a wide range of topics from Autism to climate change to Western history.  Saving The Bay, a history of San Francisco Bay, won several Emmy awards. His latest work, Becoming California, the environmental history of California will premier in the fall of 2014. Kit lives in Sacramento, with his wife, Libby. They have two sons, Nicholas and Henry. 

Wesleyan friends Nancy Traub Chirinos and Charlie Spiegel recently traveled together to Seattle to celebrate Nancy’s younger daughter Eva’s graduation from University of Puget Sound, and to show Seattle Univ. to Charlie’s daughter, Nora.  “We continue to ask Nancy’s daughters, who are in college, if they want to stay in touch with their friends for their next 35 plus years,” Charlie adds, “although we progressively less articulate the exact number of years.”

Nancy is a marriage and family therapist intern at S.F.’s Marina Counseling Center. Charlie is a family lawyer/mediator in solo practice, and recently completed re-writing a California-wide low-cost divorce educational presentation to include same gender couples (divorceoptioninfo.com). “So we do weekly morning exercise walks up S.F’s Twin Peaks, and often swap case tips, and recognize how lucky we are to still live one block from one another. Join us some morning.”

David Todd informs us that “Since graduation, a collection of men from the class of ’81 has gathered now and then for a weekend in the wild. In April, Rich Eastman, Danny Haar, Chris Heye, Joel Kreisberg, Tom Land, Beck Lee, Kevin Osborn and I traveled to upstate New York to navigate a treasure hunt, hike together while all still can, and play poker. Kevin, as usual, won. Other outings have included Ryan Helwig, Rob Levin, Ted Parker and Perry Pockros. See the photo: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/

And finally, I will make one more shameless plug for my cousin, Gabrielle Fondiller ’07’s not-for-profit Hatua Likoni (hatualikoni.org). It’s a community NGO working to promote education and employment among youth in Likoni, Kenya. Through scholarships, mentoring and career guidance, Hatua helps Likoni’s top students gain the skills, credentials and networks they need to contribute to and benefit from Kenya’s growing economy. As you consider end-of-year charitable gifts, please keep this in mind.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

JOANNE godin audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

There are many happy returns from the April 1099 request for class notes—no extensions required!

Ken Miller writes: I won the 2014 ASJA Award in science/technology writing for my story “Mushroom Manifesto” in Discover. It’s a profile of the visionary mycologist Paul Stamets, who was inspired to study fungi as a teenager when psilocybin mushrooms cured his severe stutter. Stamets has discovered ways to use mushrooms for some highly unorthodox purposes, including cleaning up oil spills and atomic fallout. You can read the article here: bit.ly/Q2df2R.

Suzy Shedd writes: Hey, Kim—Great to hear things are going so well for you! I’m happy to say that I have added the position of Disabilities Support Specialist at Goddard College to my menu of work activities. Meanwhile, Vermont is FINALLY seeing signs of spring–mud season!

Faith Elizabeth Fuller writes: I am still in Berkeley, Calif., renting my Oakland house out to my daughter and a large group of 20-somethings. I am on the board of the “Prevention Project,” a national coalition to promote the use of research in the social sciences to save lives and reduce government costs. It’s a great project, because it can appeal to us liberals who want government to step up to the plate and to conservatives who want to reduce government spending; preventionproject.us. It ties into my efforts to reduce incarceration levels for drug offenders in California by offering rehabilitation as an alternative to prison. I am working as a consultant (proposal writer and evaluator) to the courts in four bay area counties: Alameda, Solano, Marin, and Francisco.

My son, Jack Madigan (age 26) went to Israel to shoot a documentary called The Village of Peace. It is the story of a group of African-American Hebrews who went to Israel in the 1970’s to form a Utopian community. It is quite an amazing place, and the film was showcased at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February. My daughter, Ali Madigan (now 25), has been working with a British artist named Kesh and also is finding her own creative success.

Ellen Haller writes: “After stints as the director of the psychiatry residency training program and the director of clinical services, I’m now happily the director of the adult psychiatry clinic at the University of California, San Francisco, where I’m about to enter my 26th year on the full-time faculty. Outside of work, I still play hockey regularly and love playing in tournaments including one in Florida (naturally) for women over 50 and the Gay Games later this summer. A big shock is that a) my kid is now finishing his junior year in high school, and b) he is interested in applying to Wesleyan (Yay!). We’re off for a tour of several New England schools over spring break. Can’t wait to see the campus again!

Wendy Buskop writes from Houston, Tex.: The Wesleyan experience of getting one out of their mindset has helped me write and issue about 900 United States patents. I enjoy all the energy- related, maritime-related, and software patents. It’s been fun to patent arctic expedition vessels and fast ferries for clients that invite you to take a ride… I especially like the rides on 400 foot vessels that go 40 knots like giant speedboats. Come see us at the following Trade Shows: South Texas Oil Show, San Antonio: July 9th & 10th, Booth 693; Permian Basin Oil Show, Midland: October 21st-23rd, Booths B83 & B114.”

Cathy Andronik is writing her doctoral dissertation on recent Australian literature for teens, focusing on Aussie authors who have been honored with the Printz award. She should receive her degree from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, by the end of 2014.

John Singer writes: “Have seen a lot of alums in the past several weeks. Had lunch with Dave Fagelson and Jon Nimer, while Jon was visiting DC for work. Had dinner last Friday in Philadelphia with Peter Eisenhardt, Brad Moss and Lew Gitlin ’79. Sadly, Peter was in the US for his father’s funeral. I also regularly see David S. Block ’81. Our wives were roommates at Penn; our children were classmates and go to the same summer camps.

“In December, Karen and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. Our son, Charlie, is a sophomore at Tulane, and our daughter, Amy, is a senior at the Bryn Mawr School, where I regularly see former Clark Hall neighbor, Maureen Walsh ’79, the headmistress. Amy will be a first year student at UVA in the fall. Coming up on 20 years at the Federal Trade Commission. After doing mostly appellate work the past 13 years, I just switched back to doing primarily trial work after being asked by the Director of Consumer Protection to start a new enforcement program concerning deceptive on-line negative option sales. All in all, life is pretty good as we approach our 35th(!) Reunion.”

Walter Calhoun writes: “I am going to San Francisco for my aunt’s, Gertrude Martin’s, 100th birthday party on April 19. Gertrude Martin was married to Louis Martin who received an honorary degree from Wesleyan at our graduation ceremony in 1980 ( I know you remember!). Hope to see Steve Freccero, an assistant United States attorney, who prosecuted Ted Kaczynski the Unabomber while I am there.”

Mike O’Brien writes: “On Feb. 2nd, I joined Dave Stern, Tom Kovar ’76, and a large number of singers, guitarists, drummers, bass players, pianists, and far more ukulele players than you would think likely, at the 6th Annual Beatles Open Mic, an event organized by Dave, in Florence, Mass. I was part of the house band, and over the course of the evening played guitar, keyboard, bass and drums. A personal highlight for me was doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with Dave on lead vocal and me on lead guitar, a complete role-reversal from the days in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s when he and I played in bands together. One of these years, we will get Jack Freudenheim ’79 to join us for this shindig.”

Melissa Stern writes: “I’ve just returned from a six–week artist residency in Israel. Had great adventures working in South Tel Aviv, far off the tourist trail, in a neighborhood of artists, manufacturing, refugees and motorcycles! Here’s a link to my blog, where I chronicled some of my adventures: speakingintongues.melissa-stern.com/. I continue to write about art for CityArts, here in NYC and once I get un-jetlagged, I look forward to getting back in the studio!”

Liz Sikes writes: “It was a heck of a winter, wasn’t it? Only news from here is that after spending the last two summers in Bremen, Germany on a Hanse fellowship (to study how ancient carbon may be getting into our estuaries). I am really looking forward to being parked back on the east coast for the summer. I’m hoping to be up on the Cape, too, doing some work at Woods Hole. My daughter is surviving her first year at Wes and pretty well—but that’s not really news is it?”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

The call for class notes echoed with these victories and personal homecomings.

I learned that Marty Saggese was nominated for Top Association CEO for his leadership of the Society for Neuroscience since 2002. Under his direction, the group’s annual meeting is now one of the largest scientific gatherings in the U.S. He increased the profitability of the group’s flagship scholarly journal, and last year the group launched BrainFacts.org, an informational website that has already started winning awards. This is what the nominators had to say about him: “Saggese effuses that rare combination of charisma, innovation, rigor and attention to detail…Few associations in the USA today can boast of such a leader.”

Julia “Tag” Wu Trethaway writes: “In early July I was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and the doctors told me I was at Stage 4, as the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. At first I was shocked, but I was lucky enough to have an ‘in’ at Sloan Kettering and three days after I was diagnosed I was seen by the top esophageal oncologist in the entire world, so that was my first blessing. I also feel incredibly lucky because I have terrific health care through the Hotchkiss School and they gave me a paid medical leave for the first semester. I started chemotherapy right away in July, but the cancer kept growing until I couldn’t swallow or eat and had to use a feeding tube for two weeks while being hospitalized. Then at the end of July, after two chemo treatments, the drugs kicked in and the tumor started shrinking and I gained back all my weight (at 100 lbs. normally, I was down to 89). Yay! I stopped using the feeding tube at the end of August and last week at the end of October they yanked the tube out (literally)! I continue to feel blessed on this journey that we call life through all the twists and turns we all face daily, monthly, yearly. I have learned not to judge others: everyone has a story. I feel blessed with a devoted husband (Tom Trethaway) of almost 30 years (this June 2014) and two grown children who are both employed in New York City (one at Sotheby’s and one at Davis Polk) and both are economically independent, whew. I have no idea what the future will bring. I know I am a BAMF and will beat this eventually, but for now I am soaking in every minute of every day knowing that I am blessed with a loving and supportive family, mounds of friends like some of you who remember me from the late ’70s, and first-rate health care at MSKCC. How lucky that I didn’t get hit by a bus or get maimed in a car bomb! Blessings to all of you out there. (P.S. I’d love to hear your ‘story’; feel free to e-mail me at jtrethaw@hotchkiss.org.).”

David Hafter writes: “With James Marcus ’81, Kathy Bergeron, Vic Tredwell,and I had a band back at Wesleyan named Wealth of Nations. I had some of my best college times playing with these people. Over the (gulp) decades, I have performed alone and infrequently, playing fundraisers here and there. All the while, however, I had myself in ‘training’ for the day when I might be able to get back in a band. When my son, Noah, moved out for school and beyond (he’s now almost 21 and also a singer/songwriter), I started playing in public more often in Davis and Sacramento, Calif. I met up with other local musicians and, long story short, resurrected the Wealth of Nations name with new bandmates. We play my originals, Beatles, the Band, Grateful Dead and more. I’m having a great time with guys my age who, like me, never stopped playing.”

Mark Zitter writes: “I spent a few weeks of vacation this past summer with my family in Europe. We had a great time in London, where I had dinner with our classmate Scott Phillips. He’s been living in London for about 15 years, and at this point his English is excellent. Scott has a bunch of kids—I lost track of how many, maybe four?—but they’ve basically survived his parenting and left the nest. Now his wife, Crystal, has to put up with him without any distractions. Not sure how that’s going but she was out of the country when I visited.”

David Gould writes: “Very nice to read your look-back at what sounds like a fine year. My story is similar. After graduation my whole tilt was toward New York and away from native Boston (Needham). Lived in Manhattan, lived in SW Connecticut, raised a son and daughter, worked in magazines, media (travel, golf), editing, consulting all that good stuff. Was married all that time to a Wes ’80; our marriage ended in fall of 2009, I moved back to Mass. (Falmouth, then Needham), went to LOTS of Red Sox games, usually last-minute on impulse… knew all along that I missed the Boston/eastern New England cultural whatever-it-is but had no idea how much.”

Suzi Shedd writes: “I’m happy to say that Bob Purvis ’72 and I moved into our new home—with a big view of the Worcester Range (a sub-range of the Green Mountains) at the end of August. We are located between one of my brothers and my parents, so neighborhood association meetings on our dirt road are known as ‘family dinner.’”

Susan Kravit-Smith writes: “My victory this year was one I shared with the State of Washington, where I have lived since 1981: I married my partner of 18 years. We legally wed as soon after the marriage equality vote as we could (12/12/12) and then had a marriage celebration in July 2013. We had an outdoor ceremony in my gardens with 200 people, live music throughout the ceremony, and a 12–piece funk band afterwards, with dancing under the stars! It was a magical time, wonderful to celebrate with old and new, straight and gay, 3- to 85-year-old friends and relatives. Everyone was so happy to share this new freedom with us. My 13-year-old daughter put it well when she quoted John Lennon at the ceremony: ‘It matters not who you love, but that you love.’”

Alan Jacobs writes: “I’m ‘living the dream’ in Hollywood, running an entertainment company that produces films and manages talent. There is a large, well-documented but unexplainable Wesleyan Mafia out here in Hollywood (see the Film Center walls for details). We’ve had some wonderful summer interns/future Mafia members from Wesleyan over the years, especially this last summer (Jenna Robbins ’13 and Zoe Broad ’14). Biggest Wesleyan trip: Learning that my son Ron ’16 is friends with Matan Koplin-Green ’16, son of my buddy Jeff Green. None of the creative writing classes I took at Wesleyan or… prepared me to imagine that!”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY
kim_selby@yahoo.com

David writes: Greetings from Brooklyn. Thanks for your contributions this month:

Tom Furrer is in his 27th year of ordained ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and the 10th year of cooperative medical clinic ministry with the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna, Nigeria. In July 2013, he was installed as the Archdeacon of Kaduna Diocese—the first non-Nigerian to receive this honor. Over the past 10 years, this cooperative work has provided medical care to 100,000 people. A second clinic will open in 2014 that will double the capacity of the medical ministry.

Dave Robertson writes: “Mary Roach and I have at least four things in common: We’re both Wesleyan class of 1981. We both published books in 2013 (me: Brick by Brick; Mary: Gulp). Both of us have focused on topics that are of interest primarily to 7-year-old boys (in my case, LEGO; in Mary’s, eating and pooping). We shared a mailbox freshman year. Remember how they used to group us by last name? Robertson and Roach shared a box.”

Brian Tarbox is proud to announce, “I had a patent granted for caching of media in video streaming, and gave a sermon at our local UU Church on the meaning of spirituality in a heterogenous liberal faith. I’ve trained our congregation to replace ‘amen’ with Battlestar Galactica’s ‘So say we all’ at my services.”

Judith Mogul, with her husband, Dan Kramer ’80, tells us, “We had a Wesleyan wedding this summer, with our daughter, Ilona Kramer ’08 marrying Daniel Meyer ’08 at our home in Cold Spring, N.Y. Daniel’s mother, Anne Meyer ’71, is also a Wesleyan grad, so his father Rob was the only non-Wesleyan among the four parents.”

Jeremy Kenner still lives in Melbourne, Australia, “a wonderful city,” and works for the government in the health advice and research field. “I am the expert adviser for ethics to the National Health & Medical Research Council (our NIH, but much smaller scale). More important, after raising three sons to adulthood, I am starting over as the stepfather of a 6-year-old and father of a 15-month-old named Akiva Benjamin, with whom I am completely smitten. With their mother, a Russian emigré, I live a peaceful life by the bay just south of the city. I am also developing a piece of land in northeast Tasmania as a getaway for me and my five sons. Life couldn’t be better.”

During a US trip last summer, Jeremy saw Bob Stern ’80, Suzanne Papert Hinman, Bob and Fran Pepperman Taylor ’80, Peter Frumkin ’80 and Anji Fink Citron and Todd Herron Citron ’82. “All are well, as are all their 14 children.”

He adds, “Australia is all the good things people say it is. Come and see!”

Neil Foote got promoted to principal lecturer at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, where he teaches introductory and advanced classes, including digital and social media for journalists. “I also am still running my communications consulting firm, where I do everything from traditional public relations, media strategy, content management and brand positioning for such clients as nationally syndicated radio personality and entrepreneur Tom Joyner. My wife, Jane, and I have enjoyed visiting our daughter, Alex, who is in her junior year at Harvard where she is in East Asian Studies. I’m a lifetime trustee at The Lamplighter School, an early childhood school, which my daughter attended and where fellow alumnus Jonathan Morgan ’94 serves on the board. I’m also president of the board for the National Kidney Foundation, where we’re raising money to increase awareness about preventing kidney disease.”

Chris Heye was fortunate last fall to see many old Wes friends. “I spent time before and after Game 6 of the World Series wandering the streets of Boston with Dan Lynch ’80 and Steve Mooney ’80. I also saw Dan Haar and Joel Kreisberg at the Head of the Charles regatta in October. Finally, I visited Dave Bartholomew in his new digs in St. Louis. Fortunately this was before the World Series. I hope he will still have me back.”

Chris Graves has more news than can fit here! “The big news is that my daughter, Julia Graves ’17, started this year at Wesleyan, alongside many alumni friends’ sons and daughters, as well (Matt King, Melissa Stern ’80 and Jim Friedlich ’79). Julia also ran into several friends from Hong Kong, now also at Wes. How amazing to be young and at Wesleyan. Not so bad to be old and visit either.” At Homecoming, Chris witnessed our first Little 3 title in 43 years. “Who knew it had been that long?”

Chris continues to serve as global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations, whose group, Ogilvy and Mather, was named for the second year running, number 1 at the annual Cannes Festival. He was also a contributing author of the third book in a series, called Reimagining India, which includes fellow contributors Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt (Google chairman). In October, he chaired an event in NYC he named “Content Frenzy!” leading a no-holds barred debate among media leaders from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review and digital “natives” from BuzzFeed and others.

Finally, here’s a plug for a worthy not-for-profit, run by Gabrielle Fondiller ’07, who also happens to be my cousin. She spent a semester abroad in Kenya while at Wes. After graduation, she started and now runs an organization called Hatua Likoni (hatualikoni.org) helping young Kenyans to be able to afford high school, which is not mandatory, so they can get the education they need to succeed. Please help if you can. Thanks.

David I. Block and Joanne Godin Audretsch 

dAVID.I.block@GMAIL.com
Berlinjo@aol.com

Thanks to all of you who sent updates—they’re always eagerly anticipated and appreciated!

First things first: Somewhere in the cutting and pasting of e-mails, I managed to bungle Susan Budlong Cole’s name in my last class notes. (So sorry, Susan!) Susan is on her second retirement, having ended a 25-year career providing treatment for those with drug and alcohol addictions back in 2004, and now has wrapped up a seven-year career in financial planning and research. “I continue with my volunteer teaching at York Correctional Institution with Wally Lamb and the Inmate Writers’ Group.”

Anne Heller Anderson has settled in northern California. “I have not been back to Wesleyan since 1980, when I transferred to UC, Berkeley. But I am excited to say I will be back on campus again… with my daughter, Brooke, for the Sons and Daughters Program for high school juniors,” she writes. “I can’t wait to see the Usdan Campus Center, the organic farm, and Foss 6, my freshman dorm. Hope to see some of our 1982 classmates and their sons or daughters at the program!”

Lots of exciting career moves to report: Kweku Forstall in January becomes the Atlanta civic site director for the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Steven Maizes writes: “I am helping to open the new Los Angeles office for Guaranteed Rate mortgage, one of the largest mortgage bankers in the country. I have helped a lot of Wesleyan alumni get loans over the years in California, and we can now do loans in all 50 states.”

Joseph Dow is the senior compliance manager for the Boston Public Schools’ Office of English Language Learners. He has two sons, Aaron and Noah, ages 10 and 13. Joseph says that since leaving Wesleyan, he keeps in touch with his “classmate/former roommate and best friend, Douglas Borton, now the internationally famous writer, Michael Prescott.”

Carson Milgroom has been leading an “ordinary life on the plateau, happy and healthy, blessed” in Newton, Mass. He’s married and has two sons, 11 and 14, who are home-schooled. “I’m still playing hardcore amateur baseball around Boston,” he writes, “Just spent a week down in Fort Myers in a tournament my team won. Got to play at JetBlue Stadium/Fenway South.” Carson adds that he’s best reached at milgroom@gmail.com, and promises to send “another update in 20 years.”

Carl Schwaber writes that since 2009, he’s been living in Los Angeles and working as an actor. “Most recently, I booked and shot a co-star role on the TV series, Criminal Minds. I play a pimp who poses as a butcher in the episode that aired on Nov. 27, 2013, on CBS. More at carlschwaber.com

Congratulations to Jeff Phelon, who writes that he recently married JoAnn Sidor in Manchester, Conn.
“My brother, Pete Phelon ’85, was the best man. Paul and Fran Carroll Strumph from the Class of 1982 were also there to celebrate!” he says.

Wesleyan continues to beckon successive generations of Cardinals whose parents are alums.

“We (Robert Smythe and Susan Dinsmore Smythe) had a great time visiting campus with son Harry (hopes to be Wes ’18),” Susan writes, “Got to wander all around memory lane, including into the ’92 Theater, where I was happy to see posters on display of shows we were involved in along with Brian Snedeker. We were lucky enough to stay with Di Longley and Chris Diamond ’85, and also got to catch up with John Giammatteo ’81 and his lovely wife, daughter, and baby son! ”

Susan adds: “Robert continues teaching at Temple University and acting in Philadelphia and beyond. I continue to work as a project manager in facilities at Swarthmore College, and am finishing up eight years in local government.”

Alex Thomson says he, Kevin Foley, and John McIntyre ’86, “all enjoyed rowing together at The Head of the Charles this year in the Senior Masters Eights category.”

Julie Kraushaar Zurcher writes that she and her family now live in California, after returning from six years in Basel, Switzerland. “Am enjoying the convenience and customer-oriented aspects of life in America, and have re-connected with Michael Ostacher, who does return my e-mail but is busily living the Silicon Valley life, so I haven’t seen him recently. (But I still love ya, Mike!)” She is also good friends with Heyward Robinson ’80, who would have graduated with the Wes class of 1980 had he not decamped to Duke after two years.

Empty nester Dave Hessekiel makes a standing offer: “Classmates: Consider this an invitation to come on by for a visit to Rye!” Dave and wife Andi “miss our girls (Kira graduated from Tufts in May and is teaching English in France; Sophie is a sophomore at Vassar)” but they’re also enjoying their newfound freedom. Dave was on tour in Beijing, Seoul, and Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the book Good Works! which he co-authored last year.

Naomi Fuchs says she is enjoying life in Sebastopol, Calif., with her husband of 30 years, David Willson. “We have three grown children and two grandchildren with another on the way. I found my dream job as the CEO of Santa Rosa Community Health Centers, a community clinic providing primary care, mental health, and obstetrics to 40,000 low-income, underserved people in the greater Santa Rosa area.”

Peter Brooks is living in West Windsor, N.J., with his wife, two poodles, and the youngest of his four children. He has been CEO of a technology services company owned by Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania for the last 10 years, after stints at two engineering software firms and three years running his own software company in Cambridge, Mass. His two middle children are in college, and the oldest graduated and is living and working in Brooklyn. He writes that he “still loves music and plays the cello often.”

Greg Ward is a board certified physician specializing in rehabilitation and pain management, and is founder of the Louisiana Institute of Physical Medicine in Baton Rouge. He forwarded a bio stating that he is the proud father of two daughters and is an avid fisherman.

Bill Anschell, who lives in Seattle, recently served on a National Endowment for the Arts music panel. In 2013, he released his first CD of original electronica. He says that over the years, he’s had many of his compositions placed in TV and film by LoveCat Music, which is owned by Randy Frisch ’84.

Anne Hietbrink writes: “I’ve been out of touch with most of my Wesleyan connections for a while. I am living part-time on Lopez Island in Washington State and part-time near Monterey in California with my long-time partner and now spouse (yay!), Beth Shirk, and our two dogs. I am drawing, writing, and exploring pottery after a career working with outliers of various descriptions. I am an enthusiastic cyclist, fascinated by the physics and the fun of those wheels going round. I am curious about my beloveds from the Wesleyan years.”

Stephanie Griffith
stephaniedgriffith@gmail.com

I write this sitting at my kitchen table on the first cold night in mid-November. The house is suddenly very quiet ever since my trio started college in the fall. Realizing my kids would soon leave the nest, I threw my hat in the ring last spring and offered to be class secretary; I figured I would have some free time. I must admit, being an empty nester is quite nice. Yes, I miss the kids and the hustle-bustle, but it is rather nice going to the supermarket every two weeks and having a clean house. Besides, only 16 more days until Thanksgiving…but I’m not counting! Professionally, I’ve returned to my Wes roots for a PhD in sociology, have been working at Rutgers University, the School of Public Affairs and Administration, conducting research on urban education and school reform, and am writing a dissertation. What was I saying about free time? Here now, the news:

George Russell writes: “I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with my partner, Dave, and my dog, Buck. I do bodywork, movement analysis, teaching and chiropractic in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. In July 2013, I directed a dance/theater version of a play by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin called Savage/Love. It was produced by a performance space called HERE in Soho, and performed by De Facto Dance, which included Meg Fry ’91 and Kelly Donovan ’93.” George adds he recently saw Heather Masri, who works at NYU and is writing a book on science fiction writers; Carol Einhorn ’84 and her son, Griffin, age 5; and Melissa Wood, who teaches art at the Kent Place School in Summit, N. J.

Lee Hass reports she moved to Tasmania in 1993 and runs a nonprofit, Future Tasmanai, which works to help transition Tasmania towards a sustainable future, economically, environmentally, and socially. Kirsten Wasson has been transplanted, too. Kirsten has run away from upstate New York to the City of Angels and has landed in Beverly Hills. She works at a juice bar, seeking fame and misadventure. Kirsten’s son is also in Southern California and both are available for life-crisis consultation. Former class secretary, Cheri Litton Weiss, is also on the West Coast. Cheri recently enrolled in a graduate program in cantorial studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles and continues to be the broker/owner of a real estate firm, Top Coast Properties.

Back to the East Coast: Jonathan Chatinover is the swim coach for the Martha’s Vineyard High School co-ed swim team and Craig Edwards, married to Mary K. Bercaw, lives in Mystic, Conn. Craig continues to perform, tour, and teach music (private fiddle lessons at Wes) when he is not developing exhibits and soundscapes for the Ellis Island, Lyman Allyn, and Mystic Seaport museums. David Frankfurter and Anath Golomb live in Durham, N.H., with their dog, Sadie. David is chair of the Boston University’s Religion department and Anath maintains her private psychotherapy practice in Portsmouth. Their daughter, Sariel, is in her second year at Columbia and their son, Raphael, graduated from Princeton last year and is the executive director of Wellbody Alliance, an NGO based in Sierra Leone.

Pam Dolin Mitamura shares that her oldest daughter is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, the middle one is a sophomore at Vassar, and the youngest daughter is a senior, applying to college. On behalf of the class of ’83, I want to express our condolences to Pam on the passing of her mother last year.

Also, our condolences to Kate Rabinowitz and Rameshwar Das ’69 on the tragic death of their 14-year-old daughter, Anna Mirabai Lytton. The full obituary can be found here. May their memories forever be a blessing in your lives. Kate wrote: “This year is beginning a new life, after the death of our 14-year-old daughter this summer from a tragic bicycle accident. Rameshwar Das ’69 and I have two children, James, 16, and Anna, 14. It is the greatest loss, as she was the greatest girl. She was the joy of all of us, smart and funny and independent and creative, beautiful and ‘better’ than her parents…she got the best of us, and took it much further. In her brief life, she lived in a beautiful oceanside retreat near New York City, traveled to India, Italy, England, Scotland, Canada, and all over the US. She experienced city life and the wilderness through the farm and wilderness camps in Vermont, camping with her family, and adventuring all over the West. What a gift that she had so much experience and joy to live and share. It is not for any of us to know how long we are to live.

We miss our dear Anna more than words can say.

A foundation has been established in her name that promotes arts and wellness programs for underserved populations in schools and community centers. Contributions can be made to Anna Mirabai Lytton Foundation, PO Box 625, Amagansett, N.Y. 11930.”

Thank you to everyone who sent me information for these Class Notes and/or a private e-mail to catch up. I’ve enjoyed checking e-mails these last few weeks and reconnecting with Wes folk. Until the next installment…stay in touch.

LAURIE COHEN
lauriec@rci.rutgers.edu

Happy winter, fellow classmates. Roger Pincus and I (Michael Steven Schultz) are your new class secretaries, and this is our first set of notes. I won the coin toss and will be your host this month, and Roger will take over next time. Thanks to all who took the time to send us a little news.

Chuck Schneider mentions in passing that he is a practicing medical oncologist at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute in Newark, Del. But he’d really rather talk about his fiction. A Portrait in Time, a thriller set in the contemporary Paris art world (and in 19th-century Paris, as well), is available in an Amazon Kindle edition (and soon in print). (charlesjschneider.com)

Paul Baker checks in from San Francisco to let us know about his November art show, featuring some new works. He and Scott Schryver call themselves “Art Men” (artmenart.com). The opening featured a signature whiskey-based cocktail called the “Jackson Pollock” (In past years, Paul was an exhibit designer at the Cleveland Museum of Art).

Don Rea left Bucknell University after 16 years and is now the technical manager of Arts People in Portland, Ore., (providing online ticketing and donation services to nonprofit theater and art organizations).

Mike Heydenburg checks in to say that he can’t really talk about much of what he’s doing, but he did get his second master’s of science from the National Intelligence University.

Lawrence Wiedeman also is unable to discuss too many details of his work, but does take time to mention a cardboard paddlewheel boat, a cow chip hurling soda bottle rocket, and 1930s golf clubs, among his non-work distractions.

Rick Davidman continues to work as an art dealer in NYC. He owns DFN Gallery (dfngallery.com), which is no longer a physical space but creates art exhibitions in several venues. Rick also acts as financial adviser to many artists, dealers, architects, and other members of the art/design world.

Hsiao-chiung (Helene) Li went to Hong Kong in 1993 after law school and still hasn’t left. She is no longer practicing law, but is married and is raising a family there, and often acts as a Hong Kong interviewer for Wesleyan.

Ellen Prager is back from the Galapagos Islands. As science adviser to Celebrity’s small cruise ship, Xpedition, she is able to make the trip several times a year. Like many of our classmates, she is also an author—her children’s illustrated book, Sea Slime: It’s Eeuwy, Gooey and Under the Sea, comes out in February, and she is starting a middle-grade fiction series with the book, The Shark Whisperer (available in February).

Michael Lewyn lives in Midtown and teaches property and environmental law at Touro Law Center on Long Island). He publishes articles on municipal planning and related issues, most recently in the Real Estate Law Journal. His writings appear regularly on two urban-planning blogs, the Planetizen (planetizen.com) and the Congress for New Urbanism (cnu.org/cnu-salons).

Joel Fein is part of Osler Circle, an almost-all-doctor Beatles cover band from CHOP (Childrens’ Hospital of Philadelphia), and played a gig at World Café Live in November (oslercircle.org).

Sally Bromage Suhr is celebrating 25 years of marriage and an empty nest (in Marietta, Ga.). She has left her second-grade teaching job after 11 years. Her daughter, Abby, graduated from UGA in May and is a kindergarten teacher at a charter school in Brooklyn; Dylan is a junior at Georgia College; and Anna is a freshman at Savannah College of Art and Design. She wants to know if Cathy, Melissa, Liz, Tammy and Jon are coming to Reunion.

Speaking of Reunion, Gail Jenkins Farris is already planning the 30th Reunion and is looking for submissions for a slide show (send to gailfarris@aol.com). Her daughter, Kim ’14, is graduating this year, and daughter Jen ’16 is also at Wesleyan (currently a sophomore).

See everyone in May?

Michael Steven Schultz and Roger Pincus
mschultz84@wesleyan.edu
Rpincus84@wesleyan.edu

Mary Beth writes: The flurry of 50th birthday celebrations has been lots of fun. I remember being a student at Wesleyan and thinking turning 30 would feel strange! This past fall I had brunch with Desirée Alvarez, Amy Seplin and Liz Maher Muoio, whose daughter, Molly ’17, is a frosh. Joe Muoio ’13 attended Homecoming 2013 weekend last fall with Molly and members of his former Wesleyan football team, including Head Coach and Wesleyan Athletic Director Mike Whalen ’83. Wes enjoyed victories over Amherst and Williams this year, winning our first Little Three Crown since 1970. Desiree, Amy and I had to feign interest in football while Liz explained how remarkable this achievement is. But, really: WOW. Congratulations and thank you, Mike! Amy Seplin has been a film editor since graduating from Columbia Film School, working in NYC on documentaries, and has now returned to Columbia to become a nurse practitioner. By the time you read this, we will have surprised her with a birthday toast at Bemelmen’s Bar. Desirée Alvarez is an artist and poet living in Soho. She exhibits widely and her fabric art can be seen at Central Booking Gallery on the Lower East Side. She designed sets for Gayathri Khemadasa and Jeff Hush ‘84’s Phoolan Devi Opera, which was performed at South Church in Middletown last spring. She also teaches at New York City College of Technology, CUNY. You can see more work and get more details at her website. Last April Desirée had an exhibit at Piermont Straus Gallery, owned by Laura Straus ’88, where Patty Fabricant has also exhibited. Patty has been hard at work designing many beautiful books over the years, and drawing and painting seriously in more recent years. She has now amassed an impressive and varied portfolio of work, and she is exhibiting more widely; details and images are available on her website. Patty and I had dinner last fall with Ellen MacLeod Korbonski, who has two young daughters and is also creating artwork in varied media, including some mesmerizing embroidery.

I attended the Second Annual Guitar Mash in New York, an interactive play-and-sing-along fundraising event, co-produced by Brooklynite Maureen McSherry ’87, who has become an all-around theatrical and event producer. She is a producer of Matilda, The Musical, and a producer of The Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. She also produced a beautiful, talented daughter who is trying to launch an acting career.

Michael Stephen Schultz ’84 and I also attended Dana Lesley Goldstein’s play, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, at Workshop Theatre in New York this past fall, and was happy to learn that Dana was getting inquiries from additional producers as a result of this production. The play is about a family with a daughter who attends a liberal arts college in New England, which felt familiar.

I am hearing good things from friends who have attended the Wesleyan Sons and Daughters weekend, which I attended last year with my son. It’s a smart way to start the college application process, helped us tremendously, and I recommend it to everyone with children in high school. Keep the notes coming, and happy birthday to the last few of you who have yet to cross over. Feels fine on this side.

CAROLINE WILKINS and MARY BETH KILKELLY
mbkeds@Yahoo.com
cwilkins85@yahoo.com

We are nearing (or at) 50 years old, and there are lots of changes in our lives. For me, a new career path means I spend weekends in Maine with my family and weeknights in Boston with my 80-year-old mother. I now do corporate relations in the College of Engineering at Northeastern University, and in the evening I work on a doctoral degree in organizational leadership. The goal is to complete my degree in 2016, the same year my twins get their high-school degree.

Here are similar stories from classmates:
Sarah Bosch Holbrooke: “After living in NYC since graduation, I moved with my family to Telluride in August. My husband, David, runs Mountainfilm.org, and we thought it would be nice for our three kids (Bebe, 18, Kitty, 13, and Wiley, 11) to experience four seasons of outdoor fun. I’m continuing to work in television production, freelancing for the Katie Couric daytime talk show. I think the biggest changes are that I’m making dinner rather than reservations, bears run outside our back door, and it’s mid-October and we’ve already had several serious snow storms. It’s all good, but a real adjustment from Brooklyn.”

Charlie Berthoud: “After 10 years near Pittsburgh, we moved to Madison, Wis. and love it here. I am serving as the pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church—a wonderful progressive congregation. My wife is looking for lawyer-related work after 12 years at home with our two boys. Emma Caspar ’85 is here too, and we enjoyed catching up at Nepalese restaurant. Life is good.”

Julia Lee Barclay-Morton: “I fell in love and got married at 50 for starters(!) to my beloved Canadian, John Barclay-Morton. I have found true love and am astonished by the grace of this. Having never experienced it, I didn’t know what I was missing until I found it. I was recently hired to edit a book by the widow of a well-known theater theorist (Stefan Brecht) of his writing on a favorite director/writer (Richard Foreman). This happened in part because of Wesleyan connections and work begun at Wes as a student. I also teach writing at Fordham, which is something new that I have discovered I love. Just two years ago, I moved back to NYC from the UK (where I had lived for eight years), with a PhD in hand (received at 46), a marriage ended, a theatre company disbanded, my father having died and finding out that my last name was a fiction because of WWII (and in the process discovering a new family). There were other losses as well, including a miscarriage, infertility, my stepfather’s death, friends dying, my cat of 20 years dying—in other words life in and around 50. Throughout all of this, I maintained my sobriety and celebrated 26 years clean and sober last year—a reminder throughout all of the good, the bad, and the ugly, that I am lucky to be alive. I feel truly blessed now, renewed after a time of grieving, and now able to participate once again fully in the world.”

Ellen Santistevan: “Going into the field of bodywork has been an absolutely amazing and life-changing journey. Everything about my life is healthier: most especially self awareness and relationships. It has been a true gift. Coincident (or nearly so) with opening myself up in this way has been a flowering of my artwork. Never before have I been so able and so needing to devote myself to writing and painting. There is a feedback loop between the creative personal work (internal) and the bodywork career (external), each of which enhances the other. I don’t suppose that I could have come to this point in my life without all the other experiences I have gone through. Just as I was unable to do a handstand as a child, and now am unbelievably surprised to be able to do so, even as I am approaching 50—age does have its perks.”

Elaine Taylor-Klaus: “In a nutshell, as a socio-preneur I am working to change the way that parents live with and manage children with chronic illness and special needs. Two years ago I launched ImpactADHD, a global resource for parents that is the first of a network of coaching/training resource sites and programs. With an emphasis on the importance of the role of the parent, we will expand the wellness model to teach parents to teach their children to live with and thrive with disease, rather than be defined and exclusively limited by it. We are setting up strong systems to meet the needs of families, introducing a new way to manage old problems. Research is proving that parent training improves efficacy of other treatment methodologies, and health care is moving in the direction of a wellness approach to medical care. These factors combined make the ‘coach-approach’ to parenting an ideal solution for families.”

Ethan Knowlden: “This summer, I had a job change: Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary for Complete Genomics, Inc., in Mountain View, Calif. We have about 200 employees, and my department is two. We have a very cool technology that allows us to provide the most accurate whole human genome sequencing available today. In March we were acquired by BGI, the world’s largest sequencing company, headquartered in Shenzhen. Complete’s mission is to improve human health by providing genomic information to understand, prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and conditions. That is something I’m excited to be part of.”

A P.S. from Eric: Many thanks to you for your generosity: 243 classmates made a contribution to Wesleyan last year. As I am turning 50 this year, I am giving contributions of $50 (or multiples of 50) to a bunch of organizations. Some gifts, such as the one to Wes, are in memory of friends who have died and never made it to 50. If you are looking for a reason to give to Wes, check out thisiswhy.wesleyan.edu.

Eric Howard
EricInMaine@gmail.com