I started to work on my notes on Oct. 3, 2018, exactly 67 years since the baseball world experienced “the shot heard round the world.” Most of our class was around 8 years old, and the future was a long way off. Every Oct. 3, I think about the sudden end to the 1951 baseball season for the Brooklyn Dodgers, when their pitcher, Ralph Branca, threw a high fastball that he couldn’t take back, and the batter launched it into the left field stands for a walk-off homerun. The echoes of the broadcaster’s excitement can still be heard today. “The Giants win the pennant!” It was the radio version of the game the broadcaster was delivering, and there was no recording of his memorable call. Amazingly, a Dodgers fan was anticipating a Brooklyn victory, and was recording the radio coverage on a new tape recorder. It became a part of history.
It’s now Oct. 10 and I’ve not had much class news to share. My deadline has been extended, as my mind had been occupied by Hurricane Florence threatening us here in Savannah. We were just south and west of the storm’s path, where we escaped the storm surge, and we had no power outage. However, there is Hurricane Michael on our radar, and it reminds me of Hurricane Andrew that devastated the area south of Miami.
Sadly, our classmate, Robert “Bob” Rugg, passed on June 25 and he was a remarkable human being. Multitalented, he left a legacy of commitment to the Richmond, Va., community he was part of for many decades.
I reflect on my own contribution to communities I have served for many years, delivering thousands of babies and mothers through the birth process. I have found it humorous, how God had a plan for me to go from a freshman student planning to be a professional baseball player, to an obstetrician. My father knew a merchant on his policeman’s beat, who had a son attending Wesleyan. Dad thought I could go to Wesleyan, get “the piece of paper to fall back on,” in case the baseball dream didn’t materialize. Amazingly, we needed a catcher on our varsity baseball team my sophomore year, and I found the position that fitted my hands and throwing ability. Academically, I found myself learning how to answer questions, and examinations became something I could do well.
The final piece to the puzzle came in the summer of 1962, when my summer baseball season was ended by an appendectomy. I was recovering at a Brooklyn hospital, when young resident doctors were making rounds. They weren’t the image of my family doctor, peering through eyeglasses propped over his nose. They were young men who looked like my classmates at Wesleyan. I realized, for the first time in my life, that I could do what these residents were doing. Fast forward through Albany Medical College and a medical degree, to a choice between cardiology or obstetrics.
I chose obstetrics by flipping a coin, but there was nothing by chance in my story. I self-published a book recently, titled Baseball and Babies: My Life as a Catcher. Wesleyan needed a catcher my sophomore year, and I had a strong throwing arm and a comfort for using the “tools of ignorance” catchers required. I had the “piece of paper” I needed to get accepted to medical school. It certainly helped my career as a physician, to answer questions on exams at Wesleyan. Physicians are examined every day, and we are marked by society and held accountable for our decisions. As a catcher, I was responsible for choosing the right pitch to have my pitcher throw. I was thinking about various options every moment during the game.
Catching every game, during my three years of varsity baseball, prepared me for my career as an obstetrician-gynecologist. Coach Norm Daniels allowed me to call all of our pitches, as I weighed the talents of the opposition, and the skill of our pitchers. I realized that I had a selfish streak, but the catcher has the weight of the pitching staff, and the success of the team at heart. This realization was more valuable than any personal glory achieved reaching the major leagues.
Being on the team that was Little Three champions in 1963-64 was a dream come true. Recently, I learned of the existence of the Wesleyan Baseball Wall of Fame, located behind home plate. Two pitchers I caught at Wesleyan, Phil Rockwell ’65 and Jeff Hopkins ’66, were on the wall. I attended the induction of another pitcher I caught at Wesleyan in early May this year, Steve Humphrey ’63. In 1963 and 1964, our teams were good enough to be invited to the NCAA regional playoffs for an opportunity to reach the College World Series, but the university was fearful it would overemphasize sports. Liberal arts colleges have learned that sports contribute to maturity and commitment to community. Three pitchers’ names on the wall is a testimony to Coach Daniels and players that were a special family at Wesleyan.
Walt Pilcher’s hometown, Greensboro, N.C., escaped most of Florence’s wrath. Walt is busy writing novels. He just sent his fourth, Everybody Shrugs, off to his publisher, Fantastic Books in the U.K. “I’ve been retired from the panty hose business since 2000. You know, L’Eggs was what I worked on for years.” He and his wife of 63 years, Carol, have three children: a son, 52; twin daughters, 50; and six grandchildren, five boys and one girl, ages 10 to 21. As I have often heard with classmates who are now grandfathers, he struggled recalling all their ages and turned to his wife for help. Of course, she nailed it. Carol is also retired from both childrearing and being a RN. She likes to paint and is an eager golfer. Walt golfs too, but now plays with a group of men all pretty much his age. It’s a “low key group—no betting, an agreed upon number of mulligans each nine, and no great concern for handicap lowering scores.” They both go to Global Awakening conferences and belong to Grace Church in High Point, N.C.
Steve Weil has moved from far east Oregon (Pendleton) to far west Oregon (Portland). He has two sons from a former marriage, 44 and 43, and one grandson, 4, whom he Skypes with daily. He and his wife of 27 years, Wendell, have a daughter, Keaton, who is in a gap year after college and is applying to med school where she is considering focusing on cancer research. Wendell is about to become a grandparent too as a daughter-in-law has just become pregnant.
Steve’s older brother, Marty Weil ’59, is the longest-serving employee of the Washington Post. He has worked on the night shift there for many, many years.
Bill Wood lives in Virginia Beach and has nice view of the Chesapeake Bay. He retired in 2004 from the Virginia Beach Department of Human Services, where his focus was on behavioral health. He and wife Nancy now travel extensively on month-long trips abroad. Married in 1964, they have two daughters, 52 and 49, and two granddaughters, 16 and 14. Nancy, now retired too, is an ordained Episcopal deacon and worked as a hospital chaplain. For the past five years, they have lived in a retirement center which has an excellent fitness facility. They use it a lot and it helps to keep them active. A popular summer sport there is lawn croquet “of the bumpy lawn variety,” but now Ping-Pong season is almost upon them.
Barre Seibert is “mostly retired” though he still does some financial consulting work. He and wife Julia live in Clyde Hill, Wash., where he is an active member of the town council. Julia was a high school teacher and now, like Barre, is “mostly retired.” She is quite active helping their local library, especially with fundraising. They have two daughters, 48 and 46, and seven grandchildren, ages 7 to 16. They enjoy traveling. Recent trips were to Hawaii and Mexico. Barre’s favorite hobby is gardening. Although he plants flowers, vegetables sounded like a greater interest. In fact, when I phoned, Julia called him in from the backyard where he was in full fall vegetable harvest mode, some of his crop headed straight to their table, others for storage, and some to go to neighbors and friends.
Linwood Small lives five months a year in Raymond, Maine, where he grew up and the other seven in Blythewood, S.C. Linwood has his PhD in psychology and taught psych for many years at Columbia College in South Carolina. After retiring from there in 1999, he taught psych part-time for 12 years at Cappella University. Linwood’s wife, Judith, a psychologist, too, is also retired after serving as a staff psychologist for the University of South Carolina. They were married in 1974. He is a stepfather to her three grown children, ages 62, 60, and 58, and step-grandfather to her four grandchildren.
Like Linwood, Barry Craig spends time in two different states. Though he says he “pretty much retired” he spends a third of his time up in Pascoag, R.I., working as trustee for an estate. He and wife Gina, whom he married in 1969, live in Mount Juliet, Tenn. He used to drive up to Rhode Island and did not mind the two-day trip. But now he finds it’s cheaper and more relaxing to fly. Gina is also retired, having at one time worked for Burger King. She was in charge of all its nonprofit activities, such as corporate donations. They are now much involved with their new puppy, teaching it what not to chew inside and what definitely to do outside.
Some sad news: John Corn died passed away over the summer. You can find his obituary at magazine.wesleyan.edu.
Notes in this report include some interesting reminiscences from our time at Wesleyan.
Peter Buffum and his “wife of 52 years” live in Philadelphia. They visited the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles in Paris where he “stayed and only occasionally studied back in 1960—prompting Mark Barlow ’46 to report to my parents that I was apparently lost in Paris!”
Robin Cook dropped off his freshman son at Wesleyan in the fall (“I know I’m years behind many of our classmates”) and said it is interesting that “my son is in Clark Hall—where I roomed with Jeff Hughes for three years.” He said, “The campus looks terrific with facilities we couldn’t have dreamed of, as well as a bevy of smart women.” He added that “we all could probably have gotten an extra degree if we had better used all the time we spent traveling to women’s colleges.” By the time this issue comes out, Robin will have published his 36th novel, which “is 36 more than I ever expected to write as a chemistry major.” He credits the required freshman humanities course for helping push him in the writing direction.
Ray Fancher retired as professor emeritus and senior scholar after 45 years in the psychology department at York University in Toronto.
He was a founding member of York’s “unique graduate program in the history of psychology,” which he says was “inspired partly by my College of Letters experience at Wesleyan.”
John Hazlehurst has stopped doing “downhill bicycle time-trialing on twisty mountain roads” due to a bike crash. He also says he is “surprised to be a great-grandfather.” On both issues, he asks, “Does this mean that I’m no longer a promising young man?” (Is that a question we all should ponder as we begin approaching our 60th Reunion?) He writes that “living in Colorado is still wonderful,” and he credits U.S. Senator Michael Bennet ’87 and Governor John Hickenlooper ’74 for contributing to that.
Dave Hedges writes, “Ann and I are still enjoying life as age and health allow us.” This includes summers at Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, winters in Ft. Myers and Naples, Fla., trips to 12 grandchildren “scattered around the country,” and recent trips to New Zealand, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Vin Hoagland has retired after 33 years teaching chemistry at Sonoma State University. An avid bike rider, including a daily three-mile commute to SSU, he also biked 12 miles to Petaluma High School to tutor chemistry students. He says he also biked “all over northern Germany” when his wife Margo was working there as a horse dressage rider, judge, and teacher. He is now working on a project to convert a planned freeway extension into a linear two-and-a-half mile park with a bike/pedestrian trail.
Warren Smith has been honored by being nominated to the prestigious Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church, an informal group of established scholars, all Episcopal lay persons, who provide expertise to the church by meeting annually to deliver papers and conduct seminar-style discussions. This year’s annual meeting will be in Warren’s hometown of Albuquerque.
Previously, a suggestion had been made in our class notes column regarding the Vietnam War and its impact on the lives of our classmates. The response of members has been tremendous— so much so that it will take a few publications to include everyone’s comments. If your reply is not present in this edition, please be patient and your secretary will attempt, in time, to cover everyone’s view. It is never too late to submit new or additional thoughts.
Howie Morgan was one of the early responders to the request, writing: “Didn’t give a crap! I was in grad school and getting married. Lyndon Johnson got us in this mess! My wife, Betsy, was at Berkeley and marched in the protests until broken up by a Hells’ Angels motorcycle gang!”
Phil Rodd replied: “I never served, because I was married in 1964 and married men were not being drafted.”
Steve Smith relates that he was not a combatant, being “exempt since I was in graduate school in a PhD program at Tulane, preparing for a professorship in anatomy and neurobiology as a teacher in medical school. I guess they thought I might be as useful there as I would be wading through the swamps along the Mekong River. I supported our troops and was embarrassed by their treatment upon their return. I also felt, and still do, that we were foolish to go in and bail out an intensely unpopular French regime. We were set up to fail, since we were hardly looked upon as saviors, so we had virtually the entire population against us. Not a wise move! I wish we had learned our lesson, to keep our noses out of other peoples’ wars!”
Lewis Kirshner was actively involved with the conflict. He writes: “I served as a psychiatrist in the U.S. Air Force from 1969-71, stationed at Wright-Patterson in Ohio. These were turbulent times in the U.S. I was active in the anti-war movement, as a member of the Concerned Officers group. Much against my nature, I spoke at rallies and on the radio about our opposition. I treated many Vietnam casualties at our hospital and was also involved (as an expert witness) in military trials of men who refused to participate. Although I was warned/informed about the legal restrictions on my activities as an active duty officer, I was treated well by the Air Force and had a decent, if often frustrating, professional experience, in contrast to my highly conflicted feelings about being a part of the military! I recall the reactions after Kent State at our base, where many people criticized the protesters (although there was widespread anti-war sentiment even among careerists). I published an article in the leftist journal The Radical Therapist, founded by a militant colleague, that almost cost me a fellowship at Harvard after discharge, for fear they were taking on a flaming radical!
“Although I continued to support and counsel anti-war young people during that period, I regret that my contributions were in fact quite modest. Encountering and supporting Bernie reawakened some of these old feelings from the ’60s and ’70s about social change. Busy in professional and family life in a very blue state, I almost forgot the polarization, xenophobic tendencies, and deep racial injustices that were so much on the surface and seemed about to be confronted back then. In recent years, we have seen that this hopeful attitude turned out to be illusory. I don’t know whether this country is capable of facing its history and fulfilling those aspirations from the 60s. Time may be short.”
A quick reply from Bob Carey: ”Vietnam—burned my draft card, had some talks with the FBI, was on the bus a lot from NYC to Washington,” and Brad Beechen quipped: “No role, Jon.”
Paul Dickson delivered his latest book to his publisher, which will appear in bookstores on Sept. 1, 2019, marking the 80th anniversary of the beginning of World War II. “My book,” Paul explains, “is about the transformation of a U.S. Army that, in 1935, could fit into Yankee Stadium, into an army of 1.6 million the day of Pearl Harbor. It is also the story of how Secretary of War George C. Marshall gets this army in shape to fight Hitler’s armies in North Africa and Europe, but also to identify and promote the leaders he needed to win the war, i.e. Patton, Eisenhower, Clark, Bradley, etc. I have been working on this one on and off since 2005. It is tentatively titled The Rise of the Fishbowl Army, an allusion to the fact that the numbers for the 1940 military draft were plucked from a fishbowl. Not much from me on Vietnam. Spent early days of the war in the Navy and wrote about it from Washington as it dragged on.”
Respectfully submitted,
Jon K. Magendanz, DDS | jon@magendanz.com 902 39th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205
Congratulations to Rick Garcia on being reelected for another four years as president of the Bolivian National Academy of Economic Sciences. Academic celebrations are being planned for 2019 since that will be the 50th anniversary of the organization.
John Richardson shared his thoughts: “Having just passed my 80th birthday, I find myself with conflicting reactions and emotions. First and most important, I don’t like being 80. Once you reach 80, society gazes past you—if it notices you at all. In my case, even more variables are in play, since by general account I appear to be 10 or 15 years younger than my chronological age. Luckily, I am fully mobile and reasonably energetic, although two replacement joints and arthritis are part of the aging story. Add in a heart valve replacement, and the story comes a little closer to being real. Psychologically significant, I don’t feel 80.”
Mike Rosen’s research at Columbia that focused on the causes and possible prevention/treatment of cardiac arrhythmias has ended. However, he still teaches graduate students and is deriving great satisfaction from helping them hone their skills in reading, understanding, critiquing, and presenting. Mike and several of our generation of Alpha Delts meet fairly regularly for food, conversation, and sometimes music, thanks largely to the organizational efforts of Rod Henry ’57. Mike’s wife, Tove, has retired and is professor emerita of pediatrics at Columbia. Daughter Jennifer Rosen Valverde ’92 is clinical professor of law in the Education and Health Law Clinic at Rutgers. Daughter Rachel was formerly a member of the hardcore bands Indecision and Most Precious Blood and now has a day job as a pathologist in a hospital in California. Tove and Mike spend time on Cape Cod, where he can kayak and revel in the contrast with NYC. They have traveled extensively over the years to every continent except Antartica, both for their work and for the adventure.
In late August, I accompanied my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson on a visit to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park. We were fortunate that smoke from wildfires was not present during our visit. We were delighted to identify 18 different wildflowers on our walks.
Don Jennings, who grew up in Old Saybrook but now lives in Sudbury, is looking for a second home near us. “I’ve been buying and selling stamps for decades and do some estate planning and zoning work.”
Steve Darnell watched the lacrosse game where Wesleyan became a national champ.
Jeff Richards “has three productions going—American Son, The Lifespan of a Face, and a national tour of Fiddler. I’m energized by the work and creative people.
“Saw Bill Edelheit, Peter Cunningham, and Harry Chotiner, also Alan Metzger ’68, Charles Irving ’70, Dave Rabban ’71, and Peter Michaelson ’71.”
Bill Sketchley’s “disability is discouraging but not fatal. I would enjoy more cultural events and state parks, maybe even Pat Kelly’s resort. I have a ramped van and hire drivers. Life’s expensive. Anybody know a good alternative to cash?”
Nick Browning’s first grandchild, a boy, arrived Mother’s Day. “I still play basketball several times a week, though my body regularly reminds me of its age.”
Doug Bell’s 1-year-old grandson is “a happy young man. I had breakfast with Harry Nothacker, who is a top Ironman athlete. Still friends with Curt Allen ’71, with whom I once played a lot of music.”
Pam and Rick McGauley “led a three-generation trip to Disney, with 4-, 5-, and 7-year-old grands. Everyone is still talking. After a long Cape winter, it’s gardening time. Daughter Louise and family are moving to town.”
Charlie Elbot “coaches school principals at educational workshops. My wife and I traveled to Yucatán and Canyon Badlands, Arches, and Monument Valley. Elliot Daum ’70 visited us in Denver.”
Tony Mohr reports, “All’s well in the courtroom. Beve and I spent three weeks in Japan, no agenda other than hanging out.”
Charlie Morgan “lives in Bonita Springs. We visit New Jersey to see three children and nine grandchildren. I’m busy with insurance consulting and running the Hungerford Family Foundation. Play tennis almost every day.”
John Bach “continues tilting at windmills. Now it’s the nuclear arms race.”
Jim Adkins “works part-time as an ENT doc and plays trombone and euphonium every week. My wife of 41 years has pulmonary problems. Daughter and grandkids, 4 and 7, spent summer here. Kids running around the house is a trip.”
Steve Knox “is practicing law and collecting grandchildren.” Both he and Ron Reisner “enjoyed the Wesleyan men’s basketball golf outing in June. After greetings from Coach Kenny, we joined Dick Emerson ’68 and Pat Dwyer ’67, Jack Sitarz, Brian Silvestro ’70, Bob Woods ’70, Joe Summa ’71, and Jim Akin ’72. Great Wes day.”
Steve Mathews “saw Dave Nelson and Bill Currier. Witnessed the eclipse with Jim Weinstein. Did an American Cruise Line tour of the Revolutionary War sites around Chesapeake Bay. Best to all intrepid ’69ers.”
Steve Hansel looks forward to Reunion next year. “Right now, I’m chairing Eclectic Investment Management.”
Alex Knopp “completed my 11th year as a visiting clinical lecturer at Yale Law School. I’m president of the Norwalk Public Library. Bette finished her first novel. Daughter Jess teaches in the child development center at Norwalk Community College. Son Andrew writes scripts for made-for-TV movies.”
Pete Pfeiffer writes, “The years have not been kind to our class. So many friends have passed or are passing slowly into the twilight.”
Rameshwar Das gardens, leads meditations, and works with wife Kate Rabinowitz ’83 promoting art and wellness for school children through the annalyttonfoundation.org.
Kate and Barry Turnrose “celebrated our 48th anniversary. Steven Crites married us. Dave Farrar, Harry Nothacker, and Ron Reisner the groomsmen.”
Visakha and Ken Kawasaki sent greetings and news from their Buddhist Relief Mission.
John de Miranda taught at Nanjing Foreign Language School as part of a UC Berkeley program.
Siegfried Beer “retired from ACIPPS, the only organization of its kind in the world, ending a 40-year career at the University of Graz. Wesleyan was a major influence in my life.”
David Siegel “teaches medical students as part of an emeritus position at UC, Davis.”
Ian Vickery writes, “Deep in the Ozark forest, surrounded by children, grandchildren, turkeys, deer, and bear, it seems a million miles from Middletown. There is another life, and we are living it.”
Jeff Wanshel writes, “Went up to Memorial Chapel on March 27 to attend a celebration of the life and work of late great poet/translator Richard Wilbur MA’58 Hon.’77. While at Wesleyan (’57-’77) Dick won the Pulitzer and National Book Award and co-founded Wesleyan University Press. His graceful Moliere translations were performed everywhere. An unfailingly kind man and generous teacher, Dick nevertheless did his damndest to set writing students on the good path (excellence). I was lucky enough to take courses from him twice.
“Poetry at the time was broadly divided into two camps, so-called ‘academics,’ where Dick was perhaps paramount, and such wild men as Ginsberg, Creeley, and O’Hara (the ‘new poetry’). Dick was friends with all, negotiating these mined straits with unflappable ease. And soon Wes Press, under Dick’s guidance, pioneered a third way, exemplified by Robert Bly’s ‘Silence in the Snowy Fields’ and James Wright, a poetry observant of nature and ‘things of this world,’ but newly open to the ‘deep image’ of Spanish-language poets such as Neruda and Vallejo. David Orr, reviewing Dick’s final collection, Anteroomsin the New York Times, wrote that Dick had ‘spent most of his career being alternately praised and condemned for the same three things’— for his formal virtuosity; for his being, ‘depending on your preference, courtly or cautious, civilized or old-fashioned, reasonable or kind of dull’; and finally for his resisting a tendency in American poetry toward ‘conspicuous self-dramatization.’
“As the celebrants ably demonstrated, reading his work and reminiscing, Dick is warmly remembered, and his poetry much more than ‘holds up.’”
John Barlow’s life was celebrated in April at San Francisco’s Barlow Memorial Weekend—his graduation from meatspace.
John Boynton, whose twin, Ralph, died last spring, is a principal at The Townsend Group, raising capital for investment products that reflect his global vision.
Maurice Hakim ’70 and wife Carol are restoring an historic home in Clinton, Conn. We do something together almost every week.
John Mergendoller ’68 visited as part of his 50th. He has retired from educational consulting to pursue musicmaking.
Celebrated 49th anniversary. Will never catch Gordy and Dona. Wes is where it began. Can’t/wouldn’t change anything. Eggs Benedict at Mersina’s. Cut flowers in odd vases for condo friends. So glad summer is here.
We lost Geoff Gallas in June of 2016 and Doug Wachholz in January of 2017. Geoff held a master’s from Harvard and a doctorate from USC. He worked for many years in the Philadelphia area in court administration—much of that time as dean of the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of judicial administration at all levels nationwide. Wink Wilder and I were recently talking about bouncing about the country the summer of 1967 and enjoying Geoff’s hospitality in Palos Verdes, Calif. Captain of our swim team, he was then a classic southern California lifeguard. [A graduate of Syracuse’s Maxwell School, Wink actually found the California lifestyle so to his liking that, after a couple of years in Washington, he spent his banking career—and still lives—in Pasadena. Retired and a widower, he summers in Maine near one of his kids.]
Doug was a transfer student from West Point who went on to UVA’s law school and then clerked for a federal judge in the eastern district of Virginia. During the Carter administration, he served in USAID’s Africa bureau and later on with an early renewable energy initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean. (He spoke Spanish and Portuguese.) He then embarked on a career as an international consultant with projects throughout South America. In 1999, he moved to Reno, where he practiced law and expanded his consulting.
Dave Gruol, Dick Emerson, and John Andrus ’67 saw Wes’s basketball team take down then-number four Middlebury. John was a trust officer with several large banks and is now retired in Mendham, N.J., where he served on the town council for over 20 years. Patricia ’79 and DickCavanagh are watching their daughter flourish at Bowdoin—a really sweet school these days—where she is stroking the varsity. They live in Chestnut Hill and, after a stellar career, he is “concluding a decade of failing retirement”—chairman of the boards of BlackRock Mutual Funds and of Volunteers of America, a part-time lecturer at Harvard, and a lousy golfer. Just before Reunion, I helped organize and attended a translucent talk on ospreys and menhaden by Paul Spitzer sponsored by the local Audubon Society. Paul said that Ken Kawasaki ’69 and his wife have, for many years. lived near the Kandy Hill Station (a center of life for British tea planters in Sri Lanka since 1846) and is involved with teaching, fundraising, and other humanistic pursuits for a Buddhist monastery.
REUNION (more to follow): Bob Crispin received the Lifetime Achievement Award. We laughed about Bob’s career as Johnny U (for utility) on the baseball team. (The coaches played him wherever there was a need). After some teaching and coaching, he began what became a most impressive career in finance and asset management at Phoenix Life in Hartford. He ended his career as CEO of major chunks—Peru, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Latin America—of the multinational ING Group. A regular commuter to Atlanta and New York as well as a frequent traveler to his areas of responsibility from his home outside Portland, Maine (he’s a place in Charleston for “mud season”). One wife, three “kids,” eight grandchildren, and two labs.
Two highlights of one dinner: (1) Serious talk about the utterly amazing faculty we had and the unbelievable interactions we had with them, and (2) not so serious reminiscences with my two bosom buddies from freshmen year: Bill Smith and Bob Svensk. Smitty, a retired ad executive, is still in Southport mostly chasing five grandchildren under the age of 8 who are also in town.
Lovely lunch with Bob Smith: University of Chicago Law followed by a long and happy run on BC’s faculty and eight years as the dean at Suffolk. Three kids—two in Boston area and one in Montana. Dinner with Terry Fralich and Geoff Tegnell: Terry’s first time back on campus so his head was swimming. NYU Law followed by a change in direction—meditation, time in India and the Himalayas—to become a writer/teacher/speaker. Lives in Maine on—and I’ve been there to check it out—a small piece of paradise. Geoff remains Geoff. I don’t believe in auras but I am sure his is glorious. Social studies coordinator for eight schools in Brookline. Told me Peter Cosel, an attorney and grandfather, is alive and very well.
Bob Reisfeld, fellow PsiUer turned Kaiser psychiatrist, reflected on how widely acquainted I am with the class. To that, I replied it is completely self-serving: When we met, you were the most interesting, able and creative group I’d ever encountered. In the ensuing years, you have only gotten smarter, funnier, and kinder. What is there not to love?
Classmates, thanks for the many thoughtful e-mails in response to my group missive to you about athletics at Wesleyan (“notes from the underground”). I “might could” (as we say down south) send you another group e-mail sharing these many, and varied, perspectives. Stay tuned.
As for the more traditional class notes news from classmates, I have a bit to share. In characteristic fashion, I did not hear from Mike Cronan about his having been honored by the bar association in Kentucky, but fortunately his longtime law partner, friend, and fellow Eclectic, Fred Joseph ’65 sent me an e-mail with a clipping about one Charles J. (Mike) Cronan IV. It turns out that the Louisville Bar Association honored Mike by naming him the recipient of the 2017 Judge Benjamin F. Shobe Civility and Professionalism Award. The award is given to “an attorney who demonstrates the highest standards of civility, honesty, and courtesy when dealing with clients, opposing parties and counsel, the courts, and the public.” That indeed is the Mike Cronan I remember.
Other news? Jim Kates keeps on keepin’ on, with a new translation of a book (I Have Invented Nothing, the selected poems of Jean-Pierre Rosnay). Jim also won a $1,000 prize, the Kapyla Translation Prize, for his translation of Paper-Thin Skin by Aigerim Tazhi, a Kazakhstani woman poet who writes in Russian. The judge for this prize had the following nice comment about Jim’s work: “J. Kates manages to skillfully translate the depth of Aigerim Tazhi’s poetry along with the words, a rare achievement; one hears the resonance of the original in the nuances of the translation.”
Tony Caprio is president of Western New England University, and has been in that position since 1996 (a real accomplishment, I can tell you—the average tenure for college presidents these days is six-and-a-half years, down from eight-and-a-half years a decade ago; since 1996, there have been four presidents at the college where I teach).
Steve Sellers, my old roomie, and his wife, Martha Julia, have made the move from most of the time in Boston and some of the time in Guatemala to most of the time in Guatemala with visits to Boston. They rented out their place in Lexington, Mass., and their primary residence is now the house they built in Antigua, Guatemala. Both their daughter (Sylvia) and their son (Oliver) still live in the Boston area, so they come back to visit. They didn’t exactly leave the country because of Trump’s election, but Steve does tell me that “the bellowing and blathering of the current administration is a little more bearable from a distance.”
Jim McEnteer lives in Quito, Ecuador, with his wife, Cristina, who teaches sociology at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (the Latin American Social Sciences Institute), a graduate university, and their two sons. He continues to write. For those of you who don’t remember the late 1960s, his recent article in Salon might jostle a few brain cells. It is titled “My Long Strange Winter Trip with John Perry Barlow[‘69]” and published online on June 2, 2018, at salon.com.
I heard from Charlie Green, who caught me up with the following e-mail: “I am still practicing law at the firm I helped start in 1980. I am not working as hard, but still showing up. Nancy and I will have been married 50 years this August. One of our two sons graduated from Wes, as well as his wife. We have four grandchildren, three girls and a boy. We have lived in Fort Lauderdale for over 45 years.”
In addition to some thoughtful comments about athletics at Wesleyan, Steve Duck shared some information about his life since our 50th Reunion: “Since that wonderful weekend, I have retired. I enjoyed the suggestions of my classmates to ‘wait six to 12 months’ before deciding on a new direction. I am not there yet, but I know that ‘decide’ I will. I have completed an app [Apple Store] that focuses for persons with diabetes, how the state of medicine suggests they need more insulin if they consume a hearty amount of protein and fat in their diet. That felt good. I am believing that the best way to avoid despair regarding the current political environment is to get active in working for a progressive candidate for Illinois governor. I am also still growing and learning how to parent my 16-year-old daughter while at the same time enjoying my two grandchildren! I am grateful for my life and its journey. Hope to see you soon.”
Seems like good sentiments to end with (“grateful for my life and its journey”).
Bill Dietz writes: “Hardy Spoehr is a class treasure. Many of you already know that, but I did not appreciate what a treasure he is until we had a lengthy visit with him and Joyce in Hawai’i. Nancy and I were on Maui in late December for the wedding of our son’s best friend since second grade, and moved from Maui to Oahu for an additional vacation. We had gotten in touch with Hardy to arrange a visit, and he became our tour guide for the island of Oahu.
“His immersion in Hawai’i and its history is extraordinary, fed in part by his parents’ interests and engagement with the island. His father was an anthropologist who studied in Micronesia, so Hardy and his sister lived in Saipan and the South Pacific as children. His father became the director of the Bishop Museum (1953), a fabulous museum located on the original grounds of the Kamehameha School. The museum is dedicated to the history of Hawai’i, and his mother developed a chart of the genealogy of the Kamehameha royal family that is on display at the museum as well as at Queen Emma Summer Palace. Hardy was an early advocate of the need to focus on the health of native Hawaiians. For 25 years he was involved with Papa Ola Lōkahi, the Native Hawaiian Health Board, established by the native Hawaiian community and chartered by the federal government to oversee planning, training, and educational initiatives focusing on improving the national health and wellbeing of native Hawaiians.I was fortunate to have lunch with several of his successors—their respect and admiration for Hardy was palpable.He was also the executive assistant to the Kaho’alawe Island Conveyance Commission, asking for the return to Hawai’i of this island near Maui that was used as a weapons range until 1990.
“Here are a few other insights (among many provided by Hardy) from our visit. Hardy’s piping comes from a long history of English engagement with Hawai’i. Piping grew out of the interaction of Scots with the Hawaiian Islands, and Hardy has written a detailed history of piping (Upoho Uka Nui O Kekokia — Scotland’s Great Highland Bagpipe). As he points out in his book, Hawai’i’s first national anthem was God Save the King, and Hawai’i Alohais set to the tune of a traditional Scottish hymn. The Hawaiian flag has a Union Jack in the upper left corner, and eight red, white, and blue stripes representing the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Hawai’i still has a number of bagpipe bands, and Hardy is a long-standing member of Celtic Pipes and Drums of Hawai’i. He can be spotted in several of the band’s scrapbook photos. Consistent with the Hawai’i-Scotland connection, the pipe bands and others celebrate Robbie Burns’ birthday. Check out the tune written for his father—Alika Spoehr Hulaby Ka’upenaWong and performed on Burns Night 2018. Hardy was master of ceremonies that evening. Exceptional.”
After a distinguished career of 40 years, Daniel Lang has retired from the University of Toronto where he served “variously” as vice-provost, vice-president, and professor of economics. Well, not really. Shortly after retirement, Dan writes, “the president asked me to stay on as senior policy advisor on a part-time basis, which I continued until his term ended a year or so ago. If anyone is wondering what being a senior policy advisor entails, the serious answer is to sit in the back of the room and listen. The less serious, but also truthful answer, is to sit on committees and attend meetings that the president, for whatever reason, wants to avoid.
“Next, in a new and politically inscrutable twist, the minister of colleges and universities asked me take on a job planning and setting up a budget for a new provincial Francophone university.We are heading into the final lap, after which I can hand this over to a real Francophone. I still serve on the boards of governors of a polytechnic college and Roman Catholic seminary, both a very interesting relief from the pressures of a large international research university. Although, for intrigue, the seminary beats them all.
“I still teach a graduate course in public economics, and supervise a few graduate students, mainly because they are smart, and their research topics are interesting. When ambition gets the upper hand, I publish a paper or two, most recently on the economics of human capital in Mongolia as it shifts from a Soviet model of education to a Western market model. I am not sure the shift was the better choice.
“Diane MA’70 and I spend a lot of time playing bridge and tennis and walking the dog. I am in the later stages of my bridge-playing learner’s permit, but she is sharp as a tack. We have a big eco garden with lots of fruit trees, vegetables, and plants that make bees and birds happy. Diane is the gardener-in-chief and fearless foe of any squirrel or rabbit that dares to trespass. I provide the stoop labor.
“Our kids surprised us. Kate, who was insistent that she would go to college only in Canada, refused to attend any school other than the UofT, which she did. Now she works at Mount Holyoke and recently earned a master’s from Wesleyan. Tim, who wanted nothing to do with a Canadian school, went to Swarthmore, but later got an M.Eng and PhD from the UofT, where now as a sustainable energy engineer. Go figure! Like cats, they always end-up on their feet.
“After taking three long trips into the Arctic in Canada and Greenland, last September we headed for Canada’s west coast. We spent a few days in Vancouver, walking, biking, and taking water taxis to get around. For a North American metropolis, Vancouver is remarkably easy to navigate without setting bum in a four-wheeled vehicle. From there we flew north to Prince Rupert, and next took an all-day ferry to Haida Gwaii, where we stayed in a Haida wilderness lodge in a place called Tlell (population 180) on the northeast coast of Graham Island. The Tlell River was 40 feet out the front door. Fifty yards out the backdoor was the Hecate Strait, which separates Haida Gwaii from the mainland. Haida Gwaii, until recently, was called the Queen Charlotte Islands. It was renamed as part of a reconciliation agreement between the government and the Haida people. The islands, many of which are uninhabited and protected as land and marine preserves, are a temperate rain forest. After a series of protests, unchecked logging of the ‘old growth’ forests came to a stop. The forests and coastal waters were then placed in the hands of the Haida people. We hiked in the forests and along the beaches, and took a Zodiac boat to one of the smaller islands with a Haida ‘watchman’ to visit a deserted village. On the way back our guides, who like most people in Haida Gwaii hold multiple jobs, stopped and recruited us to give them a hand emptying their crab traps. The entire Haida Gwaii experience was like entering a new, different, and endlessly fascinating world. For this spring, we are planning a hike along the Camino de Santiago de Compestela.”
Alberto Ibarguen ’66
Well-deserved accolades. Robert Barlow is being “honored for his 12 years of service with the naming of the Free Clinic of Central Virginia’s lobby.” David Griffith alerted me that Alberto Ibarguen “was recently made a member of The Order of Isabella the Catholic by order of the King of Spain.” I reached out to Alberto who writes: “Not sure what to tell you about it, except it’s true. I was honored to receive it. It’s right up there with an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan and election to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (see photo of me signing the ledger first signed to AAAS founder, John Adams).
“I’m lucky and privileged to be healthy and active at the head of Knight Foundation, where we’ve helped Detroit come out of bankruptcy, Philadelphia reimagine many of its public/civic spaces, and Miami become a center for the arts. I’m proudest of having imagined and helped fund and organize the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, about which you’ll hear more as the laws of free expression on Internet get litigated.
“The foundation was also an early supporter of Wesleyan professor Erika Franklin Fowler’s research into negative campaign advertising. When we started, we had no idea how big a topic this would become until recent elections shenanigans. We’re now one of the foundations supporting teams of independent scholars looking at the 2016 election data. It’s the first-time Facebook has allowed their proprietary data to be examined by outsiders.
“Again, I feel privileged to be able to do this work, and lucky that Susana and I are headed for our 50th anniversary, our son, Diego ’97, is a Wesleyan alumnus and First Amendment Counsel at Hearst, we love our daughter-in-law and have three amazing grandkids. Life has been good.”
David Griffith also takes us back to the Wesleyan team that in 1963 set a New England record for the 400-yard freestyle relay, writing: “Van Kennen was the lead off swimmer . . . and gave us such an enormous advantage that all we had to do was put in a creditable performance to win it. I don’t recall if it was Clark Byam or Thos Hawley in second or third, but I anchored.Dietz was the alternate.” David gives this glimpse of one of our class’s greatest athletes: “VK won the 50-yard freestyle NCAA finals in 1966 . . . an event for swimmers from all schools . . . Yale, Stanford, UCLA, Wisconsin, Indiana . . . VK beat ’em all . . . it was at the Air Force Academy. VK then went up to our family mountain cabin in Alma, and from there he hitchhiked with his skis and boots up to Vail for some serious alpine skiing.”
The day after David’s note, I received one from that very Clark Byam, who lives in Pasadena but often visits Austin, having a daughter there and one in San Antonio. Clark, who as David points out is a “very highly accomplished [lawyer], really,” is “still working at the same law firm, now for 46 years in September, but have cut back on my hours.” He will “be fishing in Alaska in June for a few days and then my wife and I will be in British Columbia for couple of weeks in July.”
Jeff Nilson writes, with characteristic wit, that he is “still taking nourishment and dressing himself,” planting herb seeds, “pray[ing] that they might germinate toSaint Fiacre, the patron saint of gardens,” celebrating with his wife, Marietta, their daughter, Margaret’s, defeat of breast cancer, and taking great pleasure in their grandsons, Isaac (14) and William (11).
Robert Dearth and his wife, Barbara, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this June while keeping up with their grandson, Sebastian, who is visiting colleges this summer. Bob “attended my graduate school’s 50th reunion (Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia). It was a hoot.”
Bill Dietz calls our attention to Willie Kerr’s eloquent description of Bob Rosenbaum quoted in Bob’s obituary (Wesleyan, Issue 1 2018): “His stability in unsteady times, his disinterestedness in factional times, his clarity of vision in beclouded times, his grace in ungracious times helped bring Wesleyan through, not just intact, but enhanced.” Wise words in our unsteady time.
Our 50th Reunion was such a success that a number of our classmates, led by Rick Crootof, thought of getting together for mini-reunions, a chance to catch up while cheering on those celebrating their 50th. As the Class of 1967 gathered in May of last year, I joined Rick, Dave McNally, John Neff, Will Rhys, and Sandy Van Kennenin the celebration. Rick, Dave, Will, and Sandy, joined by Frank Burrows, attended this year’s Reunion, a good time being had by all as you can see from these photographs taken by Rick. Our class seems to be the only one with a significant presence in non-Reunion years. Please think—Hardy Spoehr is—of attending the 50th Reunion of the Wesleyan Class of 1969 and the mini-reunion—we hope a perennial event—of the Class of 1966 in May of 2019. (Photos below by Rick Crootof)
Dear Classmates, it was a pleasure seeing Bill Blakemore in March at an event celebrating the late Richard Wilbur MA’58 Hon. 77, in Memorial Chapel. Bill’s remarks were wonderful, as you’d expect, and highlighted a moving evening of remembrance. Professor Wilbur, former U.S. poet laureate, recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award, taught at Wesleyan from 1957–1977 and is fondly remembered. Among Bill’s reflections was the fact that Mr. Wilbur had a profound effect on himself and on a number of our fellow students, including Bill Hunt, the late Sam Davis, and the late Spike D’Arthenay ’64. NPR covered the event, which you can find at npr.org.
Win Chamberlin provided this recap of his recent trip to Haina, Dominican Republic, with Habitat for Humanity: “We pushed loaded wheelbarrows into the house and poured a cement floor where there had been only dirt. The house was made of wood salvaged from shipping crates. We painted the inside white and the outside yellow. Our family was a single mother who had three adorable sons. Because of our work and the generous support from Habitat for Humanity, she has a bathroom, a floor, and a painted home. Her life is transformed.
“Haina is one of the 15 poorest municipalities in the country with nearly 65 percent living at or below the poverty level. The average annual income of the families served by Habitat Dominican Republic is $2,400. But the people are attractive, happy, and self-sufficient. They left us charmed and full of gratitude for the warm welcome we received from their community.” Wonderful report and work, Win!
Mary Ellen and Dave Dinwoodey were on campus in April for the dedication of the impressive new tennis courts on Vine Street and for the inaugural match, the nationally ranked women’s team versus a talented Tufts squad.
Terrific day (Cards were victorious) and a number of generous contributors to the project honored former standout Wesleyan tennis players, including Mike Burton and Fred Millett (recognized through Mary Ellen and Dave’s gift).
Dave and Jim Bernegger recently got together for lunch and then saw a performance at the Boston Conservatory in which Jim’s son, Quinn, had one of the lead parts. Quinn, who has a very impressive tenor voice, is finishing up his opera program at the conservatory and wants to make opera singing his career.
Fred Newschwander has published A Day in the Life of a Country Vet, a book I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend. (It is available on Amazon.) Fred has now retired but remains active in number of veterinary organizations and has been honored for his enormous contributions to his profession and to countless animals and their owners. Fred writes, “I sadly noted the passing of the two Wesleyan faculty members who had the greatest influence on my life at Wesleyan: Bob Rosenbaum and Dick Winslow ’40. I did a 10-day horseback safari in Botswana this spring where we rode about 15 miles per day to different tent camps. Enjoyed a boat/elephant tour of nature preserves in India in early 2018. The skiing and snowmobiling season has arrived, but I must admit it is getting harder to drag myself out into the cold.” Thanks for writing, Fred, and great job on the book!
As reported in the last issue of the magazine, Kirt Mead passed away last fall. Mary Ellen and Dave Donwoody attended Kirt’s memorial service in December and wrote his touching reflections of that event: “The service was held in a smallish Episcopal church in the very lovely waterside town of Marion in southeastern Massachusetts, where the Mead family has a summer home. Every available seat in the main church was taken, along with overflow in an adjacent smaller chapel. I’d estimate a good 250 people or more.
“The service itself was beautifully delivered with lovely reminiscences by Kirt’s two daughters and his two brothers, classical music by a string quartet, some poetry and hymns, and reflections of the presiding minister who clearly knew Kirt well. You would have quickly recognized from your own experience the Kirt Mead whose life was being celebrated: A prodigious intellect; an independent thinker unafraid to take a solitary position; and a man with a deep curiosity about most everything. In my own mind, I kept hearing a description of the quintessential Wesleyan graduate. The service had the effect of making me feel more deeply the loss of a classmate with remarkable talents.
“After the service, we headed a few blocks over to the water and the town’s primary yacht club, where Kirt was an active sailor and member, for a reception. We spoke with Kirt’s wife, Susan, who’s doing pretty well under the circumstances. She was very appreciative that we had come to the service, so I was glad that we had decided to make what proved to be a pretty modest effort, only a bit over an hour each way. I told the family that those of us who had worked with Kirt on our 50th believed that he had seemed to come full circle and had renewed his attachment to the current Wesleyan, and they all shared that same impression. Interestingly, I ran into Gar Hargens there. Gar had been visiting his son in Newton and came to the service before flying back to Minneapolis.
“Yesterday’s service for Kirt causes me to reflect upon the growing importance of the extended friendships that we are blessed to have with one another.”
Finally, during my annual trip to South Carolina for tennis, I stopped in Conway to see Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers play the University of Louisiana at Monroe. The game was played on Vrooman Field, named in honor of John, the school’s long-time coach, professor, athletic director, and administrator. Unfortunately, John and wife Deborah were on a cruise to France and missed an exciting game won by CCU 17-16 with a walk-off homer in the ninth.
