Class Notes | 1960s

Dear classmates, here’s the news:

Bob Mabon writes: “Last saw you at the 2005 Reunion, which I attended with Nan and Steve Hart and his wife, Jeanette. That’s when I heard the sad news about Sandy Creed’s illness. I corresponded with Sandy, and we reminisced about our superb trip to Europe. It must have been a great joy to Sandy and Alex to have three of Sandy’s best friends, you, Warren Thomas, and Charlie Orr, there at the end of his life. My father also succumbed to melanoma in 1996, which originated during the war when he was badly sunburned in North Africa.

“To Marine Corps OCS after law school, one year on active duty, and in the reserves for five years, retiring as a captain in 1974. Amazingly, Bob Del Bello and I were in the same OCS platoon. In the 50th Reunion class book, I wrote, along with you, a tribute to Sandy, and one for Bob, which recounts my experiences with Bob in the Marines.

“Retired from investment banking in 2010, having spent the last 17 years in London. Nan and I travel to the U.S. annually, except this year due to COVID-19, to see our two daughters, who live in NYC and Boston, respectively. We have four grandchildren. In 2010, we bought an apartment in a brownstone in Park Slope. It was built for the last mayor of Brooklyn in 1885. Our home in South Kensington was built in 1844. We frequently travel to Europe, especially Italy, where we lived in Venice from 1989 to 1992, before moving to London. (Steve and Jeanette live in Paris, and we see them often.)”

Carl Calendar writes: “At Brookdale Community College at the Jersey Shore for 48 years, ending up as dean of humanities. Still give lectures for the lifelong learning program. I worked three years in the summers for the state department in Malaysia and Borneo, promoting better writing and press freedom. And, had summer grants to study Shakespeare at Princeton and Exeter College, Oxford. I have traveled widely, including walking 200 miles on the Camino de Santiago where I earned my Compostela. Married to Jody Shaughnessy Calendar, former managing editor of the Asbury Park Press and Bergen Record. We have two sons: Bart runs his own communication company in Montpellier, France, and Shane is a corporate attorney in New Jersey.”

Gar Hargens writes: “In Beantown last weekend to watch grandsons Grayson and Holland (senior co-captain and sophomore) play two basketball games for Newton North High School. I connected with Susan Mead for a long-overdue lunch and reminiscence about Kirt and Wesleyan. She has four terrific grandkids and splits time between Cambridge and Marion. In December, Missy and I were invited to Costa Rica to meet 2-month-old granddaughter, Charlie Collett Hargens, my seventh grandchild. Youngest daughter Kendra ’04 is a senior designer for Patagonia, and with generous maternity leave, elected to introduce Charlie to surfing on the West Coast and have us down.”

Jim Henderson writes of the young man—a gifted singer—whom he, wife Connie, and a loving community have supported, and who just completed his sophomore year at James Madison University on a full scholarship. Homeless through most of high school, he lived with Jim and Connie before college.

Jim and Connie visited with a former exchange student they hosted in the 1980s from Dusseldorf. They remain active with book clubs, classes, and a number of civic and charitable organizations. They traveled in England last summer, which tied into Connie’s longtime love of English gardens and participation in a woman’s Shakespeare class that has been active for over a century. They live in Carrollton, Va., and would welcome hearing from friends who are visiting the area.

Arthur Rhodes writes: “Just retired from Rush University Medical Center. Leslie and I will be spending more time with our combined families of five children and 10 grandchildren in Chicago and New Orleans. Homes in both places. Surprised how each day flies by when I am not seeing patients.”

Roger Spragg writes: “At UC San Diego for 50 years, now retired from the department of medicine and patient care but continuing some mentoring and investigative activities. Carole and I celebrated our 50th anniversary last winter with our two sons and their families at our home near Whitefish, Mont. Travel, hiking, and reading on some subjects I neglected at Wesleyan are major activities. I’d enjoy hearing (rspragg@ucsd.edu) from Wesleyan friends.”

Dick Travis writes: “In June 2019, Evelyn and I celebrated our 50th anniversary with our first return to Glacier National Park since our family was there in the summers of 1983 and 1984 when I was at the park with the U.S. Public Health Service. Then off to Banff National Park, Lake Louise, and other parts of the Canadian Rockies. Most of our life now revolves around church and grandchildren’s activities. Our grandchildren range in age from 22 in graduate school to a 9-year-old, and we are thankful to be in their lives.”

Due to the pandemic, we had our 55th Reunion online, nicely organized by Wesleyan (Mark Davis and Ann Goodwin ’79) and our fine leaders, Hugh Wilson and Mark Edmiston.

Because of a commitment, I got in on the conversation a bit late, but enjoyed seeing everyone on the zoom and hearing their voices.

Participating in the call were: Tom Bell, John Dunton, Gary Witten, Fred Nachman, Fred Joseph, Major Moise, Dan Gibbs, Art Rhodes, Win Chamberlin, Richard Smith, John Hall, Tony Schuman, Peter Kelman ’65, MAT ’66, Bob McLean, Jim Henderson, Steve Halliwell, Phil Russell, and Clyde Beers.

To cap off the good chat and family/professional updates, Jerry Melillo ’65, MAT ’68 was asked for his assessment of the future given the reality of climate change. Among other potential results he mentioned are cyclones, hurricanes, oil spills, etc. from a warmer Gulf Stream, and additional compound events. A sobering, but important, message on which to end our evening.

Thank you all for participating!

Sad news to report: Professor Norm Shapiro, Hon. ’72 and Jono Hildner passed away.

Philip L. Rockwell | prockwell@wesleyan.edu

I hope that when my notes are published, we have an economy that’s working much better than the mitigating practices we are slowly getting through that has turned our sense of normalcy upside down. I’ve been sheltering down in my condo in Savannah, Ga., and time has an unfamiliar pace. I’ve heard from Russ Messing and Bill White, who are managing with the new normal. Recently, I spoke with Paul Lapuc, who is sheltering down in Chatham, Mass., on Cape Cod, and we shared our similar experiences. Fortunately, each of our spouses are doing well, and Bill is a bachelor reflecting on what the world is learning from each day.

Not much else to share, and I wish everyone well during a time we won’t soon forget.

TED MANOS, M.D. | ted_manos@yahoo.com

Some of you may remember me; most probably do not. I’m Jan Van Meter of the Class of 1963, your new class secretary. However, I’m not replacing Byron Miller in the role. I’m following him and hoping to do the job as well as he.

I’d like to help increase our sense of community as the Class of ’63. What are you doing these days, with whom, and where? How are you coping with what seems to be a world without…everything? What does Wesleyan and the Class of ’63 mean to you now?

Of one thing you may be sure: I’ll be in touch…and I look forward to it.

JAN VAN METER | bensfamily@aol.com; 212/427-2062

Ed.’s note: Robert “Jib” Fowles passed away on March 7. Jib was a College of Letters major at Wesleyan. After graduation, he spent a Fulbright fellowship year in India. He later moved to New York City, where he earned his M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and his PhD at New York University. He taught at NYU from 1967 to 1974. In 1974, he went to work at the University of Houston-Clear Lake as a charter faculty member where he taught for the rest of his career.

Jib was a committed scholar in media studies, publishing seven books and some 70 articles. His articles appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, TV Guide, Advertising Age, and many academic journals. His books include Television Viewers vs. Media Snobs (Stein & Day, 1982), Starstruck: Celebrity Performers and the American Public (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), and The Case for Television Violence (Sage, 1999).

In retirement, Jib served as commissioner of the Wiscasset’s Historic Preservation Commission, a docent for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and a member of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset. At the time of his death, he was completing a book on the social history of photographic imagery.

Jib leaves behind his wife, Joy, daughter Celeste Fowles Nguyen ’01, son Nathan, and many others.

Lindsay Childs reports that he published a book, Cryptology and Error Correction, An Algebraic Introduction and Real-World Applications by Springer Nature in their series, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics and Technology. He said he was excited that he just learned that it is being translated into Japanese. Lindsay wrote, “If there is an upside to the social distancing forced by the coronavirus, it is that there are presently far fewer distractions to keep me from focusing on the next book project: a research level collaboration on Hopf Galois module theory with six other mathematicians (in Munich, Atlanta, Boston, Gainesville, Keele (UK), and Montgomery). We hope to have it ready to submit by the end of the year.”

Bob Gause reported the publication of his fifth book, a collection of short stories entitled Strange Voices. He says he still works two days a week as a consultant in pediatric orthopedics “using telemedicine for 50% of patient visits.”

Dave Gottesman wrote a moving op-ed column on May 7 for The Post-Star (newspaper in Glen Falls, N.Y.) entitled “We Must Take Care of Our Front Line Workers” supporting the emotional needs of health care workers who have been serving the public in the coronavirus crisis. Hank Sprouse sent in the link for the class notes and said, “This is a very timely article at this moment in our lives.” Hank said that Tom Gregory had forwarded the article to him, saying that it was “Powerful, persuasive, and wonderfully written.” The newspaper noted that Dave “is a psychiatrist, the former commissioner of mental health for Albany County, and the former deputy commissioner of the New York Office of Mental Health.” Read it at poststar.com.

Gene Peckham writes that he was a Broome County (New York) Surrogate Judge from 2010 to 2011, then returned to law practice for several years, “semi-retiring a couple of years ago.” He serves as a hearing officer for the New York state retirement system and handles arbitration and small claims matters for the New York state courts. On a personal note, he said, “We have been going to London for about 30 years on a theater trip,” and says that “for retirement recreation,” they have a cottage in Hallstead, Pa., and a condo in Charlotte, N.C. “I am in regular contact with my fraternity brothers Mike Hackman, Dave Irwin, and Joel Teaford. His wife, Judy, retired last year as executive director of the Klee Foundation; his oldest daughter Margo is a priest and canon to the bishop for the Episcopal church in Newark, N.J.; son Joe is a lawyer in Florida; daughter Beth is a pediatric dentist in Charlotte, N.C.; and he has five grandchildren.

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971

It is so refreshing to hear of the many exploits and adventures that our classmates have chosen in these times of challenge. For example, when asked if he played clarinet, Calvin “Pete” Drayer replied that he is “totally retired and [living] with my wife in a retirement home. I did not play the clarinet although I took piano and trumpet lessons. More fun was that we had a judges’ singing group and had competitions in three counties. I still play my CD of the Highwaymen and sing along.”

It’s the neglected garage that gained the attention of Phil Rodd. When asked for some recent news, he writes: “News from here? Not so much…Staying at home, growing a beard, and cleaning the garage (which I’ve been putting off for 15 years). Like everyone all over America, some plans canceled or postponed. I was planning to lead a tour of New York people to see Mount Rushmore, but that’s not happening. My stepson’s wedding, which we had planned for July, will be postponed. Other than that, I am enjoying the opportunity to just sit home.”

Russell Mott (AKA Bob Lannigan) states: “My only news is good news. I am not getting married, but for all intents, I may as well be. Two days before my 80th, I met Carol Lessinger of Mill Creek, Utah, and in about six weeks, I moved her to Southern New Mexico to join our family here. I am quite beyond ecstatic about all this and astonished it should occur at this juncture in my life. I am every day in my ceramics’ studio, as I have been for the past 20 years, and that just keeps getting [to be] more and more fun. Here’s a shout out to you, Jon, for all the years you have done this toil about who’s where and done what.”

Peter Funk has checked in with lots of information. “It’s a short story.” He writes. “I moved from NYC to London with my first wife, Lisa, in 1973. We have two daughters who graduated from Wesleyan, Alexandra “Lexy” ’91, and Jenny ’95. In the process, they have continued my deep interest in Wesleyan affairs. Lisa and I divorced, and I married my wife, Jennie, in 1983. In 1988, Jennie and I moved from London to Jersey in the Channel Islands. I have been in the communications field all my working life; film and television production and distribution, broadcasting, and telecommunications. I remain involved with our commercial radio station here in Jersey, but, otherwise, I have pretty much retired to my sailing, tennis, skiing, and traveling, including trips back and forth to the USA to see Lexy and Jenny and the four grandchildren. Assuming our upside-down coronavirus dominated world returns to some normality, I am very much looking forward to our 60th Reunion in 2021. Jennie and I are locked down here on our small island with our fellow 105,000 residents. There are no passenger flights or ferries in or out except for supplies and mail. The incidence of coronavirus is, thankfully, very low as a result. What happens next is an open question as it is most everywhere else in our world.”

Paul Dickson has a new publication out that he claims “is now more relevant [than ever] in that it shows how the nation was able to prepare and mobilize under strong leadership and prepare for a world war, feeling now that a new world war has just begun.” See kirkusreviews.com’s review of The Rise of The G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor.

Sadly, there have been a number of classmates’ deaths. Bob Reiser writes: “Neal Schachtel died in November. We had become good friends over the years, both of us moving to Atlanta in 1971. Neal was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 2018, and the doctors could never stop the disease’s progression. Tricia, Neal’s wife, had a luncheon in December celebrating Neal’s life. It was a wonderful testimony to Neal’s generous nature and warm personality.”

Bob continues: “Margaret and I have an active life volunteering. Margaret is on the board of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (the largest public garden in New England, and the second most visited site in Maine, well behind Acadia National Park, but ahead of L.L. Bean). I have the pleasure of serving on the Boothbay Region YMCA board and the Harbor Theater board. In Atlanta, we are active board members of the Alliance Theatre, and I am on the boards of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Oglethorpe University. This year I plan to finally retire from Balentine, an investment advisory firm after a 50-year career in investment management.”

An additional announcement is the death of Lou Larrey ’61, MAT ’62 on Nov. 7. He had lived in Falmouth for 46 years. His career as an English professor began in Connecticut, with later assignments in Oregon, California, and Massachusetts. Lou enjoyed singing with local choruses, boating, gardening, travel, and reading.

Please stay healthy, stay safe, and keep writing.

Jon K. Magendanz, DDS | jon@magendanz.com
902 39th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205

Thank you to Dave Hohl for planning our 60th Reunion. It is unfortunate that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from gathering in Middletown. Thanks also to Myles Standish ’60, MA ’62 and Bill Masterson for producing the 60th Reunion booklet that provides an update on classmates. I still have copies of our freshman class directory (1956), 20-year history (1980), and 50th Reunion booklet (2010). Together with the most recent 2020 booklet, they provide an informative historical record.

Dave Hohl led our virtual 60th Reunion via Zoom on June 12. The program began with Alan Wulff reading the names of our 43 deceased class members. Participants then had the opportunity to describe their current activities. Jay Levy answered questions about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We ended our session by having a lively discussion of politics with written background material provided by David Boesel (“The Oligarchs and the Mob” as well as “Similarities between Trumpism and Fascism”), Bill Walker (“Butterfield Excerpt”), and Robert C. Williams (“The Virus of Autocracy”).

From Gus Napier: “Margaret and I remain uneasily isolated in the beauty of our woodland Appalachian spring. Grateful for the friends here and trying socially-distanced hikes and even occasional shared meals at the two ends of a picnic table. Margaret does the grocery shopping at certain hours in a small market and gives socially-distanced tours of her beautiful native plant garden. I ‘chair’ a 12-man discussion group on Zoom and am working on poetry and some photography. I was delighted by the bios in the class book.

“Our son, Mark, a pulmonologist, has returned to his former hospital, Albany Medical Center, to work weekends on the COVID-19 unit while doing his full-time work as a medical director at Anthem. Sarah and her family from Concord, Mass., are headed soon for residence in our guest house, and we are very eager to see them. The parents will both work online. Julia’s family in Buenos Aires seems incredibly far away now. The city is in severe lockdown, but Julia and Juan seem to be very productive. I am in close conversation with Oliveio, 13, who wants to be a filmmaker—we share movie reviews on Letterboxd.

“I am very disappointed not to get to meet for our 60th. I find the impulse to reach out to others very strong and find the old-fashioned landline a good friend. Good luck to us all, and to you-all, as we say down here.”

Rick Garcia has moved to an apartment in La Paz, where he occasionally enjoys the company of children and grandchildren. He is the president of the National Academy of Economic Sciences of Bolivia (ABCE). ABCE and INESAD produced Investigations for the Economic Development of Bolivia that contains the research results of five groups chosen in a worldwide competition. The book serves as a reference for universities and public policymakers in Bolivia. At Wesleyan in February 2019, he presented and discussed a comparative view of liberal arts college education in Bolivia and the U.S., and a paper on sustainable development from the point of view of Bolivia’s compliance with U.N. goals and the performance of the Morales government.

Tragically, Robert G. Williams was killed in a car accident on Nov. 22, 2019. He was an attorney in Mooresville, N.C.

Alan Shestack died in his Washington, D.C. home on April 14. He had been suffering from multiple health problems in recent years. Alan’s first curator job included responsibilities for the National Gallery’s Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in Pennsylvania. In 1965, he moved to Yale University Art Gallery, where he stayed until 1985, rising to become a director and an adjunct professor. After two years in Minneapolis, he began his tenure as director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA). Upon leaving the MFA in 1993, he returned to the National Gallery, where he was deputy director and chief curator until retiring 15 years later. His longtime friend Mervin Richard commented that Alan “was keenly in love with art, especially prints.” He married Nancy Jane Davidson, an immigration lawyer, in 1967. She died in 2016. He is survived by a foster daughter, Lisa Yi Lu Feng, and two grandchildren.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

Steve Knox lives in Asheville, near children.

Jeff Richards is “busier than ever with The Minutes and a revival of American Buffalo. Met Dave Dixon and Bill Edelheit for brunch.”

Steve Hansel is “happy to see 2019 go. We moved back to New Orleans.”

Nick Browning wrote, “Happy 2020 to everyone struggling in this difficult world. Full-time as a psychotherapist. Our 3-year-old grandson is a joy. I visited Gordy Holleb. Knee surgery nixed basketball as I face the inevitable.”

John Bach “plucks out happy melodies amid the drums of perpetual war.”

Alex Knopp “edits the Connecticut Law Tribune. As president of the Norwalk Library, I’m co-locating broadcast studios for CPTV in the addition. Bette’s first novel, The Better Angels, is a time-travel mystery.”

Steve Broker ’69, MAT ’72 “documents breeding birds, early and late winter ones, and seasonal migration patterns for the CT Bird Atlas. Field observations, field observations, field observations. Doing so strengthens our connections with the environment.”

Dave Siegel said, “Nancy and I just back from Vietnam and Cambodia. The more than expected rate of birth defects are a legacy of Agent Orange use during the war. We were surprised by the lack of public health and education infrastructure.”

Jerry Martin “retired in June. Fifty years’ teaching is enough. Time to visit family in Vermont, maybe raise some sheep. We’ll try the bicoastal dance—LA and VT. Save us a seat at football and baseball games. Looking forward to 55th. Happy New Year and a regime change to all.”

Jim Drummond practices “criminal defense law in Round Rock, Texas. See novelist Bruce Hartman. I loved the Reunion, especially the Vietnam program. Great to see Barry Macey. Three children, four grandchildren, live with my brilliant and beautiful wife Deborah. Happy New Year to all!”

Bill Eaton checked in from Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins.

Jim Adkins said, “Not much esoteric from my life compared to what other classmates are doing. Work ENT one day a week at the Tampa VA. Travel as much as possible. Play my horn three nights a week for sanity(?). My wife is in assisted living, so I’m a solo traveler. Anyone want to go somewhere?”

Pete Pfeiffer sent pictures of Paul Bunyan, with chainsaw, sitting on harvested white oak logs in the Maine Woods.

Kathy and Charlie Ingrao “toured Paraguay’s German/Mennonite colonies and suppressed Jesuit missions. We’ve done most First World countries, 95 overall. Any classmates want to visit the 100-plus more exotic ones left?”

John Fenner is “a lawyer in Hollywood, Fla. Business divorces are like child custody battles—nasty, brutish, and long.”

Carmen and David Freedman “visited Isla Verde in San Juan. We hosted family before the earthquakes, which damaged the opposite side of the island. From Atlanta, we share with all best wishes for a prosperous and healthy 2020.”

Wayne Slitt “cruised the Caribbean with Bob Tobias and Charley Ferrucci.”

Howie Brown said, “Three weeks in Hawaii next year. Love to go but don’t want to live there. The recent death of a high school classmate exposed our delicate hold on existence. Enjoy every moment you can.”

Julia and John Richards “moved to Charleston, nearer sons. See Stan Robbins ’71, a retired lawyer in Annapolis.”

Mike Fairchild wrote, “Daughter Marnie in Brooklyn is development director for Amnesty International. Scott ’00 is executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I enjoy my media projects and teach elementary school science once a week.”

Tom Earle “welcomed grand twins in September.”

Steve Pfeiffer “practices global law. Five children and eight grandchildren. Thanks to those who made our 50th happen.”

Bob Berkowitz is a “pediatric psychiatrist at CHOP. See Joel Fein ’84 in emergency room. The need for youth mental help is expanding.”

Bernie Freamon “teaches about Islam in U.S. and Africa. New book available on Amazon.”

Charlie Morgan “attended U.S. Supreme Court hearing in the Chris Christie Bridgegate debacle.”

Stuart Blackburn’s new novel “tells the true story of a 1911 political assassination in India.”

Charles Elbot “closed my educational consultancy. Sons and families live nearby. Love my wife. Overall, I’m a lucky guy.”

Rameshwar Das was “bedside with mentor Ram Dass MA ’54, who died in December. Will finish his memoir on my own.”

Ron Reisner “attended Darius Brubeck and brothers’ Lincoln Center tribute to their father. Talked with Dennis Robinson ’79 and Gordon Cooney ’81 at a Wes lacrosse event.”

Fran and Paul Dickman “celebrated our 50th anniversary with parties and feasting.”

Mark Johnson welcomed “granddaughter Nova Mariano, Nov. 24, 2019.”

Andy Cohen teaches medicine at Brown and visits friends in Florida and New Orleans.

Jeff Powell wrote, “Cheryl and I are still living in New London, N.H. I retired from my internal medicine practice in 2012, however, continue to work as an IT consultant and physician informaticist at my local hospital in New London on an as needed basis. My wife and I spend our summers aboard our Island Packet sailboat cruising the coast of Maine. Our daughter, Kristen, is a family practitioner in Green Bay, Wisc. She has two teenage daughters. She and her family enjoy the rural Wisconsin lifestyle. Our son, Todd, lives with his wife and 7-year-old daughter in Columbia, S.C. I am planning on heading to my 45th medical school reunion in May at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. I still keep in  touch with Rob Pratt who also has a sailboat on the coast of Maine. It is hard to believe that we will be 51 years out of Wesleyan this spring.”

Peter Prestley “is on Martha’s Vineyard for the next chapter. Dig the off-season island life.”

Doug Bell sent “all blessings” and George Evans and Mike Devine celebrated their 43rd anniversary in Montreal.

Paul Melrose sees Fred Coleman and “works part-time at the Methodist Church in Madison, Wisc.”

George Evans and Mike Devine celebrated their 43rd anniversary in Montreal.

Dave Driscoll “installed solar PV and black pipe to heat our Florida pool and jacuzzi. Red tide keeps us out of the Gulf. Thank you, Governor Scott.”

A herd of deer climb the hill across the estuary. When they run, their white tails are semaphores. Then they disappear into the woods.

Charlie Farrow | charlesfarrow@comcast.net
11 Coulter Street, #16, Old Saybrook, CT 06475 

After an MA from SUNY-Buffalo, Ted Li joined the English Department of Pingry School where he enjoyed a distinguished 43-year run. He landed at Pingry due to George Moffatt, the two-time world champion in gliding who taught there then, and gliding became Ted’s primary avocation through the early ’80s. But, in 1984, he shifted his focus to fencing. While coaching Pingry’s team, he had the opportunity to manage the U.S. fencing team at the Los Angeles Olympics—and subsequently two other Olympics.

Though retired from the classroom, he is not only involved with Pingry fencing but has also been elected the international body that governs fencing. Gliding and fencing have taken him to all the inhabited continents.

Dave Garrison ’67 retired in 2009 as professor of Spanish and Portugese from Dayton’s Wright State University. He started in the class of 1967 but a year off in Spain happily moved him into 1968. In retirement, he plays tennis and golf and, after a 50-year hiatus, has taken up the trumpet again.

A poet, he has just completed another book which—not surprisingly—looks at things from the point of view of 70-year-old guys. An excerpt:

They take aspirin before playing tennis,
write wills directing their ashes
be mixed into the clay of the courts …
They have a lot to remember,
more than they have to look forward to.
These men put more and more pepper
on their potatoes, jam on their toast.

The Boys in the Boat—Wallace Murfit, Harrison Knight, Bob Svensk, John Lipsky, Nason Hamlin, Will Macoy ’67, and me—held our annual October get-together at Wes. A special treat for me was that Janet and Coach Phil Calhoun ’62, MALS ’69 came in from Lancaster. He was too young and irresponsible to be much of a role model but god we had fun.

With profound sadness, Dick Grimm reported the death of his wife, Annabella Gonzalez, of COPD in NYC on Nov. 24. Born into a prominent Mexican family whose friends included Frida Kahlo and the young Fidel Castro, she, a dancer, ended up in NYC and studied with Martha Graham. In 1976, she founded a modern dance company that is going strong and which performed at many venues internationally, at Wesleyan, and to many underserved audiences. Our heartfelt condolences.

Jan and John Graham report they are now living in a comprehensive retirement community southwest of Asheville, in part to be close to Jan’s 101-year-old mother who is in skilled nursing in the same complex, and in part to assure their daughters they will not burden them. The Osher Lifelong Learning Center at a nearby UNC campus is a big part of their lives. There, a variety of courses taught by retired professors and the like keep their minds fully functioning. Alas, John’s golf game has irreparably deteriorated but he has found other fulfilling ways in which to engage himself.

Locally, I write this in January. We are a mixed marriage and usually celebrate the holidays in a mixed-up way. But circumstances this year were such that I celebrated my first genuine Jewish Christmas—Chinese with friends followed by a movie. Refreshing.

Bob Reisfeld, the retired chief of psychiatry at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Redwood City, Calif., is enjoying good health and this phase of life with his wife, Leslie. They’ve two adult daughters: one married; the other in a long-term relationship. One is an incredibly athletic amateur aerial performer with a master’s in management in the nonprofit sector; the other a professional artist. Bob, Brian Frosh, and Tony Rotundo and their wives spent a week together on Maui in November snorkeling, golfing—studying the perfect Mai Tai. Tony and his wife, Kathy, retired from Andover’s faculty five years ago and moved from campus housing to Lexington to be closer to friends, family and “city life.” Their daughter is in computer science at Mount Holyoke, while their son teaches at a bilingual boarding school in Shanghai. In retirement, Tony is working on a book exploring the relationship between white masculinity and conservatism. (Sort of a sequel to an earlier volume he did on 19th-century manhood). He keeps up with a select group of Wesleyan friends: Eric Blumenson, Ray Solomon, Don Fels, and Mark Taylor. “Kathy often comments on what great friends I have from college. I always tell her to be glad she didn’t know us when we were 18.”

Lloyd Buzzell | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

Classmates, I had a nice note from Dave Garrison, now retired from teaching Spanish and Portuguese at Wright State, but still writing poetry—he was named the state poet in Ohio in 2014 and continues to publish his poems (and win prizes for them!) and give readings. He also plays golf, tennis, and trumpet (in a concert band for folks over 50).

Jeff Hicks has been honored by the medical school at the University of Rochester, from which he received his M.D. in 1971, and where he has taught since that time. He received the Alumni Service Award. The nice citation went as follows: “Throughout his celebrated career, Dr. Jeff Hicks has raised the quality of education for students at the School of Medicine and Dentistry as well as those studying around the world. A highly accomplished and admired educator, he holds numerous awards for teaching distinction. With deepest gratitude, we honor his generous and unwavering support of the School.” As we say down south in Greensboro, N.C., “Mazel tov!”

When my wife Lisa and I lived in Santa Cruz, Calif., lots of Wesleyan pals came to visit, on their way from who-knows-where to who-knows-where, or just to experience the hip West Coast Santa Cruz vibes. We get fewer Wesleyan friends passing through Greensboro, N.C. (can’t imagine why), but we did have a really nice visit from Tony Schuman ’65, and his son Sam, on their way from Atlanta to New Jersey. Tony last visited us in Greensboro in the 1980s, so he was way overdue. He is a professor in the School of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Until recently, he was the director of the graduate program, he served as interim dean for two-and-a-half years, and he is a past-president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. He and his wife, Peg, live in Montclair, N.J., where he serves on the housing commission, and he is a trustee of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee. Sam, a student at Oberlin, spent the summer working as an intern at Oxford American (Sam has a twin brother who is a student at Occidental). Sam patiently listened to me and Tony go on and on about 1960s Wesleyana, as we recounted stories about people with names like Melillo ’65, Dinwoodey ’65, Archer ’65, Fluegelman ’65 and Zetterberg ’65, Norman O. “Nobby” Brown Hon. ’67, and bands with names like Gary and the Wombats and Uranus and the Moons.

In the category of weird blasts from the past, Jim Kates writes (“Dear Herr Zweigenhaft, keeper of the flame . . .”) to tell me that his girlfriend from freshman year recently sent him all the letters he wrote her in 1963 and 1964, which apparently was a lot as when he wrote me he had read dozens of them and was not yet past October of 1963. These letters include many details that will be of interest to very few people (e.g., “Pete Kovach dropped by earlier this evening; he is cultivating a beard . . . He’d spent the weekend at Wellesley”) but they perhaps capture that memorable (but fading?) first year we spent at Wesleyan. Jim would be glad to share these with interested classmates.

Bruce Morningstar wrote to catch me up on what has been going on with him. He has been fighting prostate cancer and needed radiation treatment. Fortunately, this treatment seems to have worked, as his doc has told him that his PSA is now way down. Unfortunately, his wife of nearly 47 years, Katie, died in late October (“I lost my love and my best friend”).

Despite these travails, Bruce was nice enough to ask about me (“You write about the rest of us. Let us know how you are doing”). I’m doing fine, living with my wife, Lisa, and two rescue dogs, both collies (Jokomo and Zena), in the house in a historic neighborhood we moved into in 1975 (before it was “historic”). I have been fortunate in terms of the major health issues that many people my age and younger have faced. I am still teaching (though a somewhat reduced load), and still writing some academic stuff. My writing project this past summer (2019) was not my most academic (au contraire), but it was one of the most fun. It is a book about the pick-up basketball game I helped to found and have been playing in for 44 years. It is titled GEEZERBALL: North Carolina Basketball at its Eldest (Sort of a Memoir). By the time you read this, it should be available at my favorite Greensboro independent bookstore, Scuppernong, or whatever your favorite independent bookstore is, or (if you must) through Amazon.

Friendship first.

Richie Zweigenhaft | rzweigen@guilford.edu

“Lives well-led” is the theme. We begin with this delightful update from Phil Luks: “Wesleyan memories: sipping sherry with Tom Tashiro, the most precise and thoughtful person I’ll ever meet. Sitting on an Amherst hillside with a first date—now my wife of 51 years, Charlene Balcom, Mount Holyoke ’67—watching a young president, with a month to live, dedicate the Robert Frost Library. Throwing buckets in the best Clark Hall water fight ever. Charlene and Hank Lufler dancing on Hank’s couch to “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Falling off my chair laughing at one of Rusty Hardin’s [’64] stories.

“After law school, I joined a San Francisco law firm, and focused on developing and financing large cogeneration and alternative energy electric power projects. I then worked for one of our major engineering clients, as a senior executive responsible for the world-wide development of large non-government infrastructure projects. At the end of my career, I took a fling with a Silicon Valley startup that tried to create a specialized search engine, but got swamped by another startup with a funny name, Google. Along the way, Charlene and I had a daughter (Tracy, Reed College ’94) and two grandchildren.

“We retired to Healdsburg, Calif., one of the best communities in America (read David Brooks if you want to see how a city like ours, a society and community like ours, can work and thrive.) If you live here, you connect with the city’s life, and I’ve been active in the local community foundation and health clinic, and have been a planning commissioner for years. Charlene out participates me—the library would fall down without her. We keep active, we’re in good health and we try our best to look forward to the future.”

Phil Shaver, distinguished professor of psychology emeritus at University of California, Davis, and his wife, Dr. Gail Goodman, were invited to speak at Altai State University in Russia. Phil shares this illustrious story: “Late one evening we went down for dinner in our hotel dining room, and besides ourselves there were only two guys sitting at a table with large, empty beer glasses, taking vodka shots followed by swigs of red berry juice. They invited me over for a brief conversation and three test shots, and we conversed as much as their modest English and my nonexistent Russian allowed. At one point in the ‘conversation,’ I happened to mention Putin. One of the guys excitedly said, ‘I LOVE Putin!’ He stood up, pulled up his sweater, and revealed a t-shirt with a picture on it of Putin wearing a jaunty sailor’s cap. I said, ‘That is GREAT! Where did you get it? I’d like to buy one.’ He said, ‘You like it? You can have it!’ And he quickly removed both his sweater and the Putin shirt, and – standing bare-chested – handed me the shirt. It was the first time in my life I ever realized what ‘He’d give me the shirt off his back’ means. My wife said, ‘Phil, are we ever going to order dinner?’” Though retired, “taking golf lessons and art classes,” Phil is “drawn back into work…I agreed to teach a 200-student course…I had thought I would never do such a thing again. I expected to be dead or demented by now, but since I seem to be in pretty good shape, I may as well make small contributions to the younger generations of students and coauthors.” I say, good for Phil.

In retirement, Paul Gilbert continues to contribute and to inspire: “I’ve discovered his favorite sport again while helping those who deserve it. Veterans on Deck is a volunteer organization run by veterans who take recently released and retired veterans who want to benefit from a program designed to provide a social atmosphere combined with a little adventure. VOD activities help to relieve socialization issues during active duty or after serving on active duty…We have a full schedule of sailing opportunities for vets Tuesday through Saturday. We have two boats, both skippered by retired older veterans qualified to be skippers. We go out (weather dependent) for two-hour trips utilizing our participants to work the boat. It’s a way of getting someone literally off the couch, put them in touch with their peers and generally have a good time. We’re supported by local donations to our nonprofit and are able to accept donations of sailboats for our use. Right now, we have a 27-foot and 31-foot sailboat. I’ve found new friendships as a volunteer and hopefully helped our participants find a way for a better quality of life.” Again, life being well-led.

Dave McNally and his wife, Michelle, recently “joined forces with John Neff for a fabulous weekend at Sugar Hollow Retreat, a beautiful rustic resort in east Tennessee owned by an old friend. The festivities included a day at the National Storytelling Festival in historic Jonesborough, Tenn., an annual event that draws thousands and features innumerable storytellers from around the world (our favorite was Bil Lepp, five-time winner of the WV Liars Contest). We stayed at John’s afterward in Winston-Salem and had the pleasure of him visiting us in Alexandria in December.

“I also spoke at length with classmate Rob Chickering, who still plays tennis several times a week and enjoys a relaxed retirement with his wife Rhoda in East Montpelier, Vt. And I met . . . in Alexandria, VA, with Pam Vasiliou, who just retired from a long career at Wesleyan. Any of you who ever attended one of our class Reunions appreciates how incredibly helpful Pam has always been. She felt a special bond to our class, and we to her. Thank you, Pam, and may you enjoy a long and wonderful retirement.

“Michelle and I spend as much time as possible at our log house in the woods in the West Virginia. We’re nearly three miles from the nearest paved road, just the way we like it. The photo shows a rainbow ending right on our house, a meaningful event for an Irishman like yours truly.”

Dave also sends news about our national champion swimmer, Sandy Van Kennen, who “recently had both knees replaced. Sandy is confident that both surgeries were highly successful, though he stresses that the key—apart, of course, from having a good surgeon—is doing all the prescribed physical therapy religiously, and having an adequate stash of the products that brought the Sackler family so much wealth (and infamy).”

Howard Brodsky’s exemplary work and stellar career are once more being recognized, Howard being “named the 2019 recipient of the international Rochdale Pioneers Award…the ‘Nobel Prize of Cooperative Business,’ the Rochdale Award is given out every two years to an individual who has made the greatest impact across the world through the innovations of shared ownership, specifically through the cooperative business model that anchors value with members, employees, customers, and their communities.” Howard “co-founded CCA Global Partners in 1984, bringing scale to entrepreneurial family businesses by creating an international enterprise of 15 unique cooperative businesses in multiple sectors of the economy from home furnishings, business services, sports retail stores, to childcare, nonprofits and more. Together, they serve 1 million small businesses in four countries and 20,000 childcare centers across America.”

Congratulations to Howard and best wishes to all, with the reminder to mark your calendars for our 55th Reunion in May of 2021.

LARRY CARVER | carver1680@gmail.com
P.O. Box 103, Rico, Colorado, 81332 512/478-8968