Ted Sanderson “directed Rhode Island’s Historic Preservation Committee for 40-plus years. Now, rehabbing a one-level modern home. With three children and three grandchildren, there’s plenty of visiting. Find us at the Newport mansions.”
Charlie Morgan published a book on Massachusetts’s constitution. “A bit of drama with the Mayflower Society and my HOA. Otherwise, healthy and busy with nonprofit and consulting clients.”
Steve Gleich “volunteers, teaches Buddhism, and admires his solar panels in rural Nova Scotia. Lily and I take care of each other and stay in touch with our foster son, Andrew, 42, and my brother, Dan ’72. Love to you all.”
Jerry Martin “retired to Vermont with daughters, Lyllah ’99 and Sarah, and four grandkids. On a sheep farm with ominous clouds of tyranny threatening, we are hopeful.”
From Ken and Visakha Kawasaki, “We continue our food distribution in unstable Sri Lanka. Be well, peaceful, and happy without enemies, worries, or troubles.”
Bill Eaton’s novel, Outward Bound, is available. Look for forests, murder, and love in a trip across the country. “We’ve been married over 50 years, with two sons and five grandchildren.”
Lynn Kozlowski is “fully retired from the University of Buffalo. I write 50-word stories and was in the running for a Story of the Year Award.”
Bill Demicco wrote, “Marie and I returned to St. Croix for the eighth time. Golf and gardening await better weather. Our daughter is a full professor of pathology at the University of Toronto. I spoke with Phil Wallas—he and Lynn just back from a month in Africa.”
Tony Mohr is now the managing editor of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Social Impact Review. Tony also wrote an essay, “The Last Carefree Summer,” which was published in the Loch Raven Review. Recently his memoir, Every Other Weekend—Coming of Age with Two Different Dads, which was published last year, placed second in the memoir category for the Incipere Awards. (In Latin, “incipere” means “to start” or “to begin.”)
Dave Dixon said he “spent a wonderful week with my two-year-old grandson and his father in Amsterdam and nearby cities, appreciating a life in which a car is truly an afterthought. Got together about two months ago with Jeffrey Richards, Rob Pratt, and Bruce Holstein ’70 for a Wesleyan benefit performance of Purlie Victorious on Broadway (produced by none other than Jeffrey Richards).
Jeffrey Richards ’69 (center) and Lin Manuel Miranda ’02 (right) with Leslie Odom Jr. backstage at Purlie Victorious. (Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Richards.)
Charlie Ingrao recently became an Italian citizen.
Fred Coleman said, “We are all well; Wendy and I, kids and grandkids [have] recovered from various ills.” Fred is still [working] with refugee programs, clinic consults, and Global Mental Health Learning Collective. In October he attended a conference in Entebbe, Uganda. “Other than a 52-hour plane delay (but that’s another story) it was great. Working on a project to use dignity as a lens for looking at human rights in mental health care. If any of you in health care, legal world, education, or other fields have reflections on dignity as a [central] ethical principle, please drop me an email.”
Barry Checkoway wrote that he his book, Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity:Challenging Segregation, Strengthening Diversity, was just published by Oxford University Press.
Bryn Hammarstrom was “looking forward to 55th.” His “open-heart surgery in 2020 went well, and I’m back to chainsawing and splitting the firewood that heats our home all winter.”
Darius Brubeck didn’t make our ’69 Reunion. Instead, he was playing in Switzerland at Marians’ Jazz Room with his brothers, Chris and Dan.
Ron Reisner was in Baton Rouge for Easter with his wife to visit her son, a junior at LSU. “Last month we all went to Belize for spring break and a beach vacation. We leave here for Scottsdale to visit my high school basketball teammate and some golf dates there at McCormick Ranch. . . . Also spent some days in the fall at Pinehurst and golfed with my Wesleyan teammate, Fran Spadola. Fran . . . can still hit that golf ball a long way (after all he was a real slugger in the Red Sox farm system). Such an enjoyable fun day with a really class-act teammate and friend from Wesleyan.”
David Freedman spent the winter in Puerto Rico with his wife, Carmen. “We still have good friends there and enjoy the holiday party season and new restaurants that have sprouted post-pandemic.” He also wrote that he “worked on a potable water project sponsored by a local Rotary Club in Puerto Rico . . . there are pockets of poverty that don’t have drinking water. If any of our classmates have experience in this type of relief effort, please share. My email is lcdodavidfreedman@gmail.com.”
Paul Dickman died just before Reunion. He and Fran lived in Phoenix, where he led the pathology department at the Children’s Hospital. Paul was a re
Greetings, Class of ’68! Several of your classmates have shared for this issue:
Dave Gruol reported on two things. He is part of “a weekly Zoom that includes myself, Pete Hardin, Ray Solomon, Dick Emerson, Ron Schroeder, Craig Dodd, and Jacques LeGette . . . . [It]began during COVID as a way to ease the tension of a difficult time [and] continues to this day. Personal news and humor are encouraged, while politics, for the most part, is not. So far, so good.
“Craig Dodd and I will attend Jacques’s inclusion ceremony for the Baseball Wall of Fame on April 27. Unfortunately, because of a previous commitment, Jacques will not be able to attend himself. One of the things bandied about on a recent Zoom was whether or not Jacques had pitched to Steve Garvey, now the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. Steve played for Michigan State when we faced them in Florida in the spring of 1968. Of course, we had no idea at the time that he would go on to star for the Dodgers and Padres.”
Paul Spitzer wrote that he is well and is writing an ecologist’s memoir, entitled Dark of the Loon, about his 30 years of loon study along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Paul says, “Christine and I have lived for 30 years in our old farmhouse by the Choptank River, Maryland Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. We have a big garden and celebrate culture and nature in our region. I write about my lifelong bird ecology studies.” In April Paul was the keynote speaker at the Colonial Beach, Virginia, spring Osprey Festival. Paul also says that if you Google “Paul Spitzer Ospreys” or “Paul Spitzer Loons,” you’ll find his studies and teachings from across the years.
Paul, in the evening, by his Choptank River, Maryland, home.
Sam Davidson had some unfortunate news: “I wanted to let you know that Davidson Galleries was set on fire by a homeless person trying to keep warm in the alley behind my space on January 12. We are still trying to find the extent of work lost of the 14,000 works in inventory at the time. I hope that we can reopen in May or June. Onward!” http://www.davidsongalleries.com
Bob Knox wrote, “First, I want to honor Lloyd Buzzell as a friend for life. He contributed immensely to all of our lives, bringing us together for over 50 years with his constant good humor and diligence. I hope we can carry on with the cohesion that he created among us.
“Second, I want to share the news that following our wonderful reunion last spring, John Mergendoller and I have organized a bi-monthly Zoom gathering of classmates so that we can continue to share personal news, plans, and projects with each other. If you are interested in joining us, please email me at bob@robertfknox.com so I can send you the Zoom link for our next gathering. Cheers to all.—Bob”
Our classmate, Bernie Steinberg, died Sunday, January 14, 2024, age 78. Bernie grew up in St. Louis and majored in English literature at Wesleyan. After Wesleyan he went on to receive an MA from Brandeis and a PhD in Jewish philosophy from Hebrew University. He lived in Israel for 13 years and then worked at Harvard as the director of Harvard Hillel from 1993 to 2010. In 2012 he moved to Berkeley, California, where he was a vice president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and was a visiting scholar at the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. According to one article that I read after he died, “Most recently, he lived in Chicago, where his son Avi is an author and lecturer in nonfiction writing at the University of Chicago. He is also survived by his wife, Roz; a daughter, Adena; and a granddaughter.”
In one obituary, a former student is quoted saying the following about Bernie: “I have rarely if ever met anyone so committed to the sacred art of nurturing young adults and encouraging them to blossom. Over and above the hundreds and hundreds of undergraduate students he guided and counseled . . . when I worked at Hillel there was always a steady stream of young Jewish professionals who would come to see Bernie—to get his advice, to receive his assurance, to be challenged to think differently and more deeply about whatever was on their mind. The list of people Bernie mentored is like a who’s who of Jewish communal leadership.”
As our 80th birthdays arrive, humor is called for—Jeff Nilson providing some, writing: “As part of my aging, I have been writing limericks lately. Like earworms, they occupy more and more of my consciousness. Oh well! Soon I will be turning 80, which has given rise to this verse:
Soon I will be turning 80,
An age when the world less weighty.
I have lost all my glam,
But I’ve learned who I am.
(Oh I forgot.) . . . I’ve had a lot of gas lately.”
Jeff apologized for sharing this “bit of doggerel” with an English professor, and I replied that “Edward Lear is a favorite of mine,” while pointing out that “Samuel Johnson defines ‘doggerel’ as an adjective: ‘Loosed from the measures of regular poetry; vile; despicable; mean.’ And as a noun: ‘Mean, despicable, worthless verses.’ Yours hardly falls under these definitions, and I rather imagine that Johnson admired a good deal of what at the time was thought of as being doggerel, quoting as an illustration of the word in use a passage from Addison’s Spectator: ‘It is a dispute among the criticks, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary; or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.’ I say if age brings one to writing limericks, bring it on. I hope you won’t mind me including this in our next class notes. Your classmates, as I am, will be delighted.” I trust you are.
Jeff went on to write: “I haven’t thought much about Johnson or Addison over the past 50 years. It is most wonderful to think of these two giants tickling your brain. I vaguely remember Johnson’s definition of a fishing rod as a stick with a hook on one end and a fool on the other. Here on Cape Cod, one would never utter such a definition. There is a huge amount of money spent to transport fishing rods and their men into the waters around the Cape, so that they might catch a fish or two. Our granddaughter, Sarah, works at the Allen Harbor boatyard detailing and occasionally repairing boats costing between $20,000 and $100,000. During the summer, most sit idly waiting for their owners to take them out into Nantucket Sound.”
Jeff gives this update on the family: “Grandson Isaac will soon finish his second year at Wesleyan. Grandson William is exploring colleges with strong music programs. He told his mother, Elizabeth ’88, he didn’t see any point in finishing high school as all he wants to do with his life is to play music. He plays bass guitar, piano, and stand-up bass. Unlike his grandfather, he has a beautiful singing voice. Granddaughter Sarah has been accepted at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Marietta and our children are healthy.”
On March 7 Harold Potter wrote from Logan Airport that he and his wife, Lee, were “on our way to Lisbon tonight. The last time we were there was 1980. Bill Machen, a fellow classmate, was with us then. We are traveling with Lee’s roommate from Swarthmore this time.” Below is a photograph of Lee and Harold in the village of Carmona, Spain. “We are now in Ronda, which is in the mountains. Pretty spectacular. Granada and then Madrid next.”
Harold and Lee Potter in Carmona, Spain.
Harold “enjoyed the recent comments from classmates about MLK” and went on to spark a conversation by writing that he “remember[s] James Baldwin’s visit too.” Others have as well, Thomas Hawley writing “remembrance of James Baldwin . . . was one of the highlights of my too brief Wesleyan experience.”
David Luft chimes in that “I might never have known who Baldwin was if he hadn’t come to chapel. I learned a lot from him, especially about the experience of being Black. Interestingly, Ta-Nehisi Coates said roughly the opposite on some matters when he visited Oregon State, but he meant the same thing. Baldwin wanted me to be able to acknowledge his Blackness, while Coates didn’t want me to think I was white. My parents actually never told me I was white. But you didn’t meet a lot of Black guys in Allentown in those days.”David goes on to add: “I’m working on a Czech intellectual history and on a collection of my essays called Toward a Central European Intellectual History.”
David Griffith,who also had an “impromptu lunch with Martin Luther King . . . just the two of us, in the CSS dining hall,” gives us this gem: “I remember drinking with Mr. Baldwin, late in the evening in our dining room at what had been EQV. I’m taxing my memory to recall the conversation with him, Franklin Balch, and Willie Kerr, who were often visitors at or after dinner . . . . While Dr. King looked into my whole being with what seemed a benevolent interest in my family and Colorado Springs and the high mountains, during my unexpected lunch with him, Baldwin was the literate cognoscente, offhand, lubricated, smoking (I believe), and I felt regarded me with the regard that any civilized person would have for a guy in blue jeans from the Wild West.”
Peter Monro had a dazzling encounter with “James Baldwin not at Wesleyan, but rather at the American Protestant Church in Paris, where he was living in 1965. In that church’s crypt, I also sat across from Joan Baez, who had broken off her tour of England when Bob Dylan took it over. She borrowed a guitar to sing at one of the weekly hootenannies held down there.” Hard to top that! Peter goes on to write: “The one celebrity of interest I met on campus was Norman Thomas, the aging socialist. I recall Jimmy Sugar, who would become a National Geographic photographer, taking his portrait.” Peter “was already planning my overall, and ultimate, appreciation for my Wesleyan education, which I suspect is quite unlike most others in both content and consequences. Ultimate because a serious medical diagnosis for my wife assures that I will have little time to offer further comments.” Here is his account of a brave, adventuresome, life well lived:
“Essentially two of my undergraduate years were spent abroad: summers in Tours, France, and academic years in Paris, first with the College of Letters as a sophomore, then pivoting back to a regular curriculum to spend the next year in the Sweetbriar junior year abroad [program], rooming with classmate Stephen Giddings, among others.
“My fluency and knowledge of French culture did not lead to an academic career, nor to the diplomatic career as political analyst in a Francophone country for which I had hoped. I married and started a family too quickly to permit that, which is why I now have two wonderful daughters, Catherine, 55, an outdoor enthusiast in Burlington, Vermont, and Allison, 53, a marketing specialist in suburban Boston.
“My Wesleyan mates—few in number (Phil Shaver, Sam Carrier, Jim Brink), strong in persuasion—pushed me to graduate school. But I walked—quite literally—out of graduate school in Worcester, Massachusetts, and down the street to a first career in journalism. It was a wonderful choice, informing me about all manner of things I wouldn’t have otherwise known, especially the nature of civic community that I had missed moving every couple of years growing up.
“When I burned out of that field at 35–stress and alcohol fueled its demise—I moved near my two daughters in rural Vermont with only enough money to buy land. So together we constructed a homestead—a log cabin from slash, a two-story house off the grid, hauling water, chopping wood—think David Budbill’s Judevine Mountain—(I’ve just recovered photos of daughter Catherine hammering the outhouse together).
“It was a five-year project that segued into my second career—after another year of graduate school—as a landscape architect, a wonderful calling for me, complete with constructing my pencil designs with shovels and tractors, and conserving land in stunning places, mostly here in Maine.
“Over the decades, French has allowed me to fully engage with clients in the Acadian-infused folks in northern Maine, to hike isolated areas of France in the past 10 years, where I was more than once the first American locals had ever met, and to help asylum seekers from French-speaking African nations here in Portland.
“As a result of my years abroad, I lacked much contact with professors or students or the campus community in Middletown, but Wesleyan deserves a doff of my hat for its unique offering of a lengthy immersion in a wonderful foreign culture. (That undergraduate experience also convinced me I could learn other languages, so in the past decade I’ve spent one spring in Lucca learning Italian and two months hiking the Camino de Santiago after ramping up in Spanish.)
“One anecdote: In Paris of the ’60s, I befriended a plumber, who—despite being a Communist—bought a café where he one day accosted me with a pointed finger, saying, ‘Your capitalist society is dying!’ He was showing off for two mates in his Communist cell standing at the bar. I smiled and replied, ‘Yes, that’s why your daughter is studying English in London.’ He roared with laughter, introduced me to his pals, and gave me a free cognac.”
It finally happened: Tom Pulliam’sgranddaughter, Madeline, met Hardy Spoehr. Hardy writing: “We had a great visit with Tom Pulliam, his wife, Alice and . . . Madeline in January. Tom still looks like he can take the rugby ball from scrum over the goal line. Madeline is a student at our University of Hawai`i.” Hardy goes on to write: “Last month, February, I received a great call from Rick Crootof who, with his wife, Linda, gathered with his family on Kaua`i. . . . Great to catch up with both.”
Tom Pulliam corroborates the long-sought visit. “In February, finally got together with Hardy Spoehr and his wife, Joyce, in Honolulu. The occasion was visit to granddaughter Madeline, a sophomore at U. of Hawaii where she is studying marine biology and art. . . . She’s a self-taught surfer, so Hawaii suits her just fine. Was terrific seeing Hardy, who is still paddling in outrigger canoe races, and as it turns out, he has been competing in those races for years against an old rugby coach of mine, who also joined us all for dinner, which is how each found out: both recognizing the other as member of an opposition team.” Tom gave this further update on his ever-engaged, active life: “And speaking of rugby, one of the true highlights of the year was the return to rugby by oldest grandson, Evan, now a junior in high school, to play for his high school team, which resurrected its rugby team after being dormant for 100 years. He had stopped playing for couple of years to concentrate on MLSNext soccer, which forbids its players from playing any other sport. Evan couldn’t resist, though, and led his team to [a] six-game win streak, concluding a great season during which he played 9, the same position I played for several decades, and demonstrated skills that vastly surpassed any I possessed over a long career. An unexpected event: an action photo of Evan appeared on the cover of the national high school rugby magazine, but his MLSNext coaches undoubtedly never saw it. Evan will visit Connecticut College in a few weeks, which is interested in him playing soccer there, the same Connecticut College from our Wesleyan days (and nights), but not really the same at all. Wife, Alice, and I head to Italy at end of April for three weeks. Should be fun and probably a little different experience from my last visit to Italy in 1978 on a rugby tour. Still spending lots of time with daughter Amanda’s family. They live about seven minutes away. In addition to Madeline and Evan, there are Jay (14) and Ben (11 soon), who are also athletes. We spend many happy hours watching them compete.” Tom ends with this thought that no doubt many of us share: “Never planned a life this good. Never expected it. Has not stopped me from thoroughly enjoying it.”
Clark Byam writes that he has “nothing to report other than I’m now 80, still hiking. . . .” This led to a back-and-forth about the importance of staying active. I had no idea what an athlete Clark was and is, asking him innocently about his time on the Wesleyan swim team, and getting this: “I had a bad sinus infection my senior year at Wesleyan that kept me out of practice for three weeks. I came back for one week of practice and decided I no longer had the desire and quit the team. There was a biology professor who had spent a year in Japan and had also gotten his black belt in judo and was offering a class in judo. I took it, and it was a challenge but learned a lot from it. I also trained and boxed in the Golden Gloves my first year in law school before I went into naval aviation training in September of 1967. Later when I was a lawyer in Pasadena, I played a lot of tennis, over 10 years, at Cal Tech tennis courts with a client who was Cal Tech graduate and brilliant. Also played a lot of racquetball at a local gym. So, you might say I was a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, but I stayed active.” Whew! Keep it up, Clark! His parting words to all of us: “Stay healthy!”
Thanks to those of you who responded to the recent call for information.
Bill Brooks: “Hello, everyone! As I write this, I am preparing to teach an undergraduate class at Wesleyan. Yes, that Wesleyan—home, sweet home! The class is devoted to the music and thought of Richard Winslow, whom many of you will remember with fondness. You may know that Dick died in 2017, just four months short of his hundredth birthday. His family donated his papers to the Wesleyan archives just before the pandemic, and the archives prepared a preliminary finding aid based in large part on a database that Tracey Grinnell had constructed (thank you, Tracey!). If you’re interested, check it out: https://archives.wesleyan.edu/repositories/sca/resources/richard_k_winslow_papers.
“I’ve been going through the papers and refining the database, and an extended Winslow festival was launched in October 2023 with a high-profile concert in Crowell Hall. This spring (May 3, 2024) the festival continued with a choral concert in the chapel, and we hope to mount one or more of the big theater pieces in years to come. A Winslow publication series is in the works, probably to start with sets of his songs and his shorter choral works; and in the planning stages is an edition of his ‘collected writings,’ based not only on his manuscripts but also on video and audio recordings that are preserved in the archive.
“My plea to you: If any of you have anything pertaining to Winslow or to music at Wesleyan more generally, please get in touch with me. The archive will happily accept additional materials (I’ve already donated my own collection of scores and letters), and—as we prepare editions of the scores and papers—every single scrap of paper, every recollection, is valuable. Write me at w-brooks@illinois.edu (I check that daily). Stay well, search (and preserve!) your memories, and send me anything you have!”
Steven Halliwell: “I am continuing to write a newsletter on Russia and Ukraine called ‘Hot Money and Dirty Laundry’ on Substack, and a number of classmates are regular readers, including John Hall, Win Chamberlin, Bob Barton, Ted Dreyfus, Bill Knox, as well as Bill Hunt and Woody Sayre, with whom I have very regular communication. Subscriptions are free!”
Carl Hoppe: “My wife and I still work very part time as psychologists. Three daughters are all well, employed, and self-supporting.”
Arthur Rhodes: “My wife, Leslie, and I are enjoying ourselves, with me being fully retired after spending 50-plus years in medicine, and Leslie still doing her design work (SpaceDesign.com) on homes (designing top to bottom) with several clients. We travel to Louisiana to see her five grandchildren (20 months to 11 years), and I get to see my six grandchildren in Illinois, ages 12 to 22 years (three in college). Spending time with ‘painting’ using photography, showing my best work on Instagram (arthurrrhodes_photography). Am in relatively good health, hoping to stay alive for a while. Best to all of my classmates.”
Dutch Siegert: Still working six days a week as a lawyer in New York City. I am busier now than ever before. My granddaughter, who is only a 15-year-old sophomore in high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is one of the top runners in the United States. She ran a 4:55 mile beating juniors and seniors. Her mother, my daughter, was the captain of Wesleyan’s track team back in 1996.”
Steve Dunlap: “After three years at law school (Berkeley), three years in the navy (legal officer on the USS Kitty Hawk), and 25 years of hard work in minerals development, I retired to Florida. I rate my life’s successes as:
a successful marriage (no children though);
six holes-in-one at golf; and
attending all 28 of Verdi’s operas.”
Jon Bagg: “After Wesleyan I joined the Peace Corps and taught math and science in a secondary school in Ghana for two years. On my return I came to the West Coast and have been here ever since. I met my wife, Shelley, at the University of Washington, and we came to the Bay Area for jobs. We have been in the same house here for 48 years because our companies never transferred us.
“Long jump to now: In spring 2022 we took out our grassy front yard and put in dry land plants to help fight our long-term drought. That winter we got 58 inches of rain—a record. This past winter we again received more than 100% of normal. If we ever put in air-conditioning, we’ll warn you of the coming ice age.
“We slowed down our travel during the height of COVID but have now resumed it. In 2022 we managed to get to Scotland and East Africa. In March 2023 we spent three weeks in Sicily; in July we took our entire family together with another family to southern Africa; and finally in September we went with friends to northern Italy, Switzerland, and southern France. 2024 plans are in the works.
“We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June 2023. Our grandkids are now in 9th, 8th, and 6th grades. The two oldest have passed 5’11” on their way to greater heights and are taller than I am.
“Our house is single story so we will not move until wheelchairs are required, and maybe not then. We continue bridge, golf (Shelley), Red Cross volunteering (Jon), and regularly attend performances at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (whose artistic director is Johanna Pfaelzer ’90).”
Larry Dougherty: “After Wesleyan I received an MAT and EdD from Harvard Graduate School of Education. I worked for 10 years in the Brookline, Massachusetts, public schools as a curriculum director and then as a principal. One highlight was being assistant director of the Brookline Early Education Project, a joint research project of Harvard University, Children’s Hospital in Boston, and the Brookline schools.
“I left Brookline to be assistant superintendent of Schools in Greenwich, Connecticut. There I led a leadership institute for principals and workshops on teacher evaluation. I then became Superintendent of Schools in Fairfield, Connecticut, where I realized I was too far away from schools and too immersed in town politics. After three years in Fairfield, I moved to Denver to be headmaster of Graland Country Day School, an independent K–9 school.
“After six years in Denver, I moved to Rome, Italy, as headmaster of the American Overseas School, where I worked for the next 11 years. I loved working and living in Rome and reviving a school that was close to bankruptcy when I arrived; I left a thriving, vibrant pre-K–12 school with over 600 students. I then moved to Los Angeles for another seven years and led the Buckley School in the San Fernando Valley. After that—whew—I retired and moved back to Denver. My wife, Estelle, still works part time as a CPA.
“I married Julie Becker in 1965. We remained married for 17 years and raised three wonderful children. After we divorced, I married Estelle, and we have been together for over 40 years. We have six children—mine, hers, and one together. We were the ‘Brady Bunch!’ All our children graduated from college and received master’s degrees; they live on the East Coast, West Coast, and our youngest here in Denver with us. We have 17 grandchildren, the oldest with a bachelor’s from Bowdoin and currently on a Fulbright in Germany; all are doing well, and we are proud of their accomplishments.
“Wesleyan had a profound impact on me. There were so many outstanding professors accessible to us. John Maguire was inspirational. I will always remember his lectures on violence in American politics; from our classroom we watched the flags downtown when Kennedy’s death was announced. I was fortunate to sing in the chapel choir and to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many other brilliant speakers. I had a lengthy discussion on totalitarianism with Hannah Arendt, a visiting fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies. I would love to be able to get her perspective on the world today. I arrived at Wesleyan a Goldwater conservative and left a supporter of Eugene McCarthy.”
David Skaggs wrote: “Politics remains a large part of my life, even as things wind down into semi-retirement. Activities include time as vice chair of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). This nonprofit is independent of the U.S. government yet receives almost [all] of its funding from congressional appropriations— some $315 million this year.” NED promotes “democracy and freedom in the parts of the world (way too many) where those values are under threat or worse. . . . I try to do what I can to protect democracy at home, so I’m participating in a couple of organizations working to preserve the integrity of the upcoming election and avoid the potential for third-party candidates to play the spoiler.
“All our classmates should be grateful as we have entered our ninth decade hopefully in decent health and adequate prosperity. If we have been equipped to accomplish some good things in our lives and enjoy some precious, lasting friendships, may we then raise a glass to Wesleyan.”
Bill White sent news that he said might be of the “look on the bright side” variety. He wrote, “I have been in and out of the hospital six times in the last four months. First it was anemia, but after many tests, no cause was found. However, while I was in for the fourth or fifth visit, I was diagnosed with heart failure. I put on extra weight, apparently from fluid buildup.
“My son decided I needed better advice and scheduled a second-opinion visit at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Heart Failure Division. After examining me and my record, they admitted me on the spot and kept me for 10 days. Over that time, they gave me intravenous diuretics, causing me to lose 28 pounds. I am now out and about, happy to have been dragooned into the Penn program. However, I’m told that I will probably be on diuretics for the rest of my life at one strength or another.
“I don’t think I will be able to manage physically to come to our reunion. I would like to come, but my current physical state may not allow it. That’s the news from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.”
A number of our classmates responded to the request for news.
Peter Treffers writes: “I started my law practice off in New Haven, Connecticut, as the junior partner with a Wesleyan grad, Mitchel Garber ’37, and ‘practiced’ law there until five years ago when I moved to Ledyard, Connecticut. Now I live with my wife, who is a Pequot Native American, in the midst of the nature and near the casino (Foxwoods). Since Middletown is close, I can get to the reunions and see any classmates, particularly if I know you are coming in the ‘off” year.”
Byron Miller writes that he is retired from his private practice of psychotherapy, but he does participate in regular group discussions with new therapists to try to encourage them to establish their own private practice. He and his wife recently moved to Whitney Center, a Continuous Care Retirement Community in Hamden, Connecticut. They participate in a regular exercise program in the gym and enjoy dinners in the dining room and are slowly getting to know other residents. He and Len Edwards stay in contact as they share many interests, including golf, birding, and doing complex jigsaw puzzles.
Coincidentally, Len Edwards responded, writing: “I have failed retirement by continuing to teach and write about juvenile court. My writings are available at judgeleonardedwards.com. I continue to live with my wife at a home I purchased 47 years ago. Living in Silicon Valley means I made a good investment, but I plan on spending the remainder of my life here. We have a large garden and I spend time in it every day. Our 60th Reunion was virtual, but I enjoyed visiting with those who attended and even had Fritz Henn over for an afternoon visit with one of his sons. My son and three grandsons live about four miles from our home and that has been wonderful. My wife, Margie, brought nine additional grandchildren into our marriage and that makes holidays demanding since we are about the only grandparents for all of them.”
David Landgraf was able to join 15 or so members of the Class of 1963 at our 60th Reunion. He reports that it was a good and rewarding occasion (I agree), which was followed by a virtual reunion later. His family took a trip in August of last year through the Southwest and visited Grand Canyon and Bryce and Zion National Parks. Otherwise, he continues with the never-ending house projects, yard work, quasi-legal church tasks, and visits to and from his children and grandchildren.
Thomas McKnight reports that the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, held a large exhibition—entitled Apollo’s Mirror: Recent Paintingsby Thomas McKnight—of his lesser-known mythologically inspired work through the summer of 2023. Currently Polia Press is publishing his first book of short stories, Tales of Mykonos, which is available on Amazon and Kindle. These take place on the contemporary Greek island but are loosely based on classical myths. A novel called The Silent Muse is in the works. Clearly being a being an octogenarian is not a time to pack it in and loll on a hammock, but Tom says that he does that too.
Jack Jarzavek is appealing for picture books of the Wesleyan faculty during our years at Wesleyan. He writes: “When we were undergraduates, the University put out picture booklets of the faculty with their degrees and starting teaching year at Wesleyan. In my move to our apartment several years ago, my three different booklets got thrown out. So, if any classmate has a copy kicking around and won’t miss it, I would love to have it.”
Robert Gallamore reports: “My wife, Suellen, passed away in January 2021 from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, so I sold our contemporary house at the seashore, downsized to an apartment, and prepared to settle into old man ‘widowerhood,’ but then I met this lovely lady, Beatrice, and upgraded plans. The irony was that back in my Nebraska homeland, Beatrice was [the name of] our rival high school, not well liked, of course, but for once, a crazy quirk of midwestern pronunciation bailed me out of an impossible conflict.
“Any class chronicler with a romantic soul can fill in the rest. Bea and I bought a nice house still here, near to President Joe and Jill’s beach house. Wesleyan and the Red Sox are about all I hold on to in New England. Fortunately, Wesleyan seems to be doing well, and I hope her progeny are also.”
I hope that more of you will let your fellow classmates know what has been happening; most of us have retired, some have not, everyone has something interesting to pass on.
Bob Gelardi writes that “I, my wife, Laury, my two grown children, and three grandkids are all doing well, and in July I’ll be ‘retiring’ from my position as chairman of the Charity Relations Committee and board member of the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation.” He notes that DCWAF has given over $32 million to over 100,000 kids at 17 charities in northwest Florida, and that as chairman he has worked with the executive directors of those charities to coordinate efforts and help them to support one another in their efforts on behalf of kids in need.
John Hazlehurst was “finally enjoying spring after winter of subzero temperatures, merciless winds, and one snowstorm measured by feet, not inches. Why am I not in Florida? Because I’m too old, cranky, and broke to move. We’re still happily ensconced in our old house, slaves to the whims of our two young dogs.” John’s wife, Karen, was editing the ninth yearly edition of Colorado Fun Guide, and he himself has a new job writing for a revived local weekly, the Pikes Peak Bulletin. [Ed. note: Even nonlocals can enjoy John’s colorful columns at https://pikespeakbulletin.org/author/john-hazlehurst/.] John concludes, “I keep thinking that I should go hobble around the campus and attend the 62nd Reunion of the Class of ’62 . . . but maybe we’ll go to Vegas instead. Again, fair winds and clear weather to all of our classmates.”
Bruce Menke reports, “Activism may not make for exciting reading. But that is what we [in Georgia] are still heavily involved in doing: climate change action; gun safety legislation advocacy; working with candidates for Congress and the state legislature; trying to roll back attacks on access to women’s health care; letters to editor and messaging to members of Congress urging the support of Ukraine; and on and on it goes.”
Jon Staley reports from Tucson that he and his wife, Chitra, paid a memorable visit to the Anza Borrego state park in Southern California to see and study its wildflowers and geological features. Their practiced eyes spotted innumerable botanical treasures and indications of a “landscape that seemed to have been formed underwater”—altogether producing “a picture of the desert Southwest that turns out to be not Sahara-like at all.” Jon adds that he loves the sun, rocks, and cacti of the Tucson area but regrets he must move to California next January. He has two rambunctious grandsons and plans travel to the Italian Lake District in May.
Chuck Work reports that all is well in Naples, Florida, and “the winter season was a little colder than usual, which kept us out of the pool, but we could still be comfortable on the golf course.” Chuck “spent part of a weekend with Emil Frankel’61 at his lovely home in D.C., and while there, spoke with Phil Bertocci, who is fine and working on another book. Also spoke with Milt Schroeder and arranged to get together with him and Mary in May, when Roni and I are headed to Phoenix for a national parks tour. A third generation Work is now ensconced at Wesleyan as my brother David’s (’68) granddaughter is finishing her first year.”
A note from your secretary: Helena and I are still healthy and happy at home in the Toronto suburb of Oakville, where we take regular advantage of the numerous and attractive hiking trails nearby. I remain moderately busy academically, mainly on short articles and book reviews; I currently look forward to reviewing the complete set of reworked English translations in the soon to be published Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. As a new appointee to my region’s Older Adults Advisory Committee, I have learned the interesting fact that “older adult” is now favored as the most appropriately “neutral” designation for our age group, supplanting such alternatives as “senior citizens,” “the elderly,” “geriatrics,” or (my favorite) “geezers.” In closing I will just say that I greatly enjoy receiving periodic news from the outstandingly diverse and interesting group of older adults who constitute Wesleyan’s Class of 1962.
Paul Dickson has recently sold his home in Garrett Park and moved with his wife, Nancy, to Kensington Park Senior Living in nearby Kensington, Maryland. Paul also was recently awarded the 2024 Washington Independent Review of Books Lifetime Achievement Award. Recipients of this annual award have evidenced a long-term contribution in ways that encourage others to contribute and enhance a literary community rich in independent thought and boundless curiosity.
Peter Funk reports that Bill Harris’s wife, Robie, died on February 6, 2024, according to a New York Times obituary. “Bill and sons, Ben ’92 and David ’94, are holding up,” observes Peter, adding that “All is well with Jennie and me on our small island.”
Bob Patricelli writes: “Maggie and I are still upright and active. She labors in the garden and I in politics, i.e., D.C. legislation/Hartford, Connecticut, projects. I am dismayed by our national dysfunction. We have to do better!”
An update from Larry Wiberg has been received: “I’m doing well in Denver, keeping my medical license active and doing some part-time psychiatry. Wesleyan doesn’t seem that long ago. I can still conjure up the smell of the then brand-new Foss Hill dorms. I did leave Wesleyan a year early to start medical school at Stanford (you could do that back then). I only wish that Wesleyan had been co-educational, but my grades might well have suffered! Stanford medical school was on the Palo Alto campus, which I quickly took advantage of and met and married Katie Davidson, an undergraduate senior. We moved to married-student housing and started our family. I continue to have great appreciation for the intense intellectual challenges and experiences I had in my three years at Wesleyan!”
“Thanks for keeping us more or less together over these years,” writes Larry Krucoff. “My wife of 61 years, Carole, and I keep busy after retirement. In my case, it’s playing golf in Chicago (not a full-year occupation), shepherding a play reading group, and writing short stories. She is active with book clubs and docent activities at both the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House Museum and Chicago Art Institute. Quite certainly, she’s busier than I. I make up some of the difference by cooking and baking.”
Allen Thomas provides a detailed summary for us to enjoy: “Sixty-three years on from Wesleyan, three marriages (one extant) enjoyed, three continents lived upon, three children sired, five grandchildren indulged, two law firm partnerships practiced, lots of boards sat upon, two nationalities and two religions, and still my wife says I never change, only because I wear the same sort of chinos and the same button-down shirts I wore at Wesleyan and before! Keeping to a few constants in a kaleidoscopically changing life seems prudent. I have lived happily in London for more than 30 years now, sometimes continuing to practice international corporate law (defined as ‘taking money from one SOB and giving it to another’); sometimes as a non-exec chairman or director of insurance and other public companies; sometimes pretending to be an entrepreneur; but always enjoying ballet and chamber music performances, cooking, skiing, and indulging those grandchildren. The work has now pretty much retired from me, but the ballet, music, cooking, and skiing and children and grandchildren still give me much pleasure. I have a holiday house in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the center from which to entertain U.S. and UK family and visitors (you are all most welcome) and enjoy music at Tanglewood and dance at Jacob’s Pillow.”
Jack Mitchell sends his warmest wishes and tons of hugs. He proudly boasts, “Ed Mitchells, a fourth-generation clothing enterprise with eight stores coast-to-coast, was founded by his mom and dad in 1958 and presently employs my oldest grandson, Lyle ’16.”
Alexander McCurdy warmly reflects: “Pure Wesleyan nostalgia for dear ones who pass in front of my mind’s eye: Tom Peterson, Pete Odell, Hank Hilles, Larry Wiberg.The great professors who live on in their gifts to us. Weren’t we fortunate? Aren’t we still?”
Eric “Swede” Wilson summarizes the following: “Margaret and I are still doing well in Tuscaloosa, the home of the Crimson Tide. Health is good. I’m still active, walking every day, and am semi-retired from my second full-time employment. Margaret continues to paint for friends and children and is engaged in several clubs. The children are fine. My daughter, Avery, is married and lives in Nashville, working as a benefits advisor for a large health consulting firm. My son, Eric, is an attorney in Tuscaloosa, and has a 20-year-old son who attends the University of Alabama. My third child, Martin, continues to reside in NYC, where he is employed by HarperCollins.”
Here’s a short word from Robert Hausman: “I am still above ground. My family is fine as we anticipate grandchildren graduating and going off to college. I am still in touch with Glenn Hawkes and Emil Frankel.”
Paul Boynton shares that late last fall, he and his wife, Barbara, “joined the family of a close friend on a two-week visit to Namibia that included a several days’ safari on the Kalahari savanna.”
