Class Notes | 1960s

Rick McGauley lives in Orleans, Massachusetts, and has family close.

Rip Hoffman resides in Redding, Connecticut, and is a Lutheran minister on call.

John Mergendoller ’68, travels, birds, and studies north of San Francisco. His family takes the whole image on the Christmas card.

Mo Hakim ’70 is the Lemonade King. His organic beverages are widely available.

Phil Dundas ’70 winters in Abu Dhabi and summers in Westbrook, Connecticut.

The death of Professor Richard Buel saddened many. While he lived at Essex Meadows, his presence along the Connecticut shoreline was apparent. He and I met monthly at a CVS. He led a remarkable life.

Daughter Annie is a child therapist in New Jersey and rescues dachshunds; five right now. Other daughter, Liz, has three children, ages eight to 14, girl/boy/girl, in Dundee, Michigan. Her husband works in an area nuclear plant.

Our world has shrunk to clinics, CVS, and TV. Maybe add library and food. I read large print. God willing, I will return for Commencement. Writers/artists/friends always welcome in Old Saybrook.

As many of you know, Lloyd Buzzell died last August. Your scribe for more than 40 years, Lloyd was one of the first recipients of a Wesleyan University Service Award in 1988. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife, Judith, their son, Joshua (Emma), grandson Ben, and friends.

Several of you sent in tributes to Lloyd. Phil Calhoun ’62 wrote:

“Lloyd developed his competitive rowing skills at Kent School at age 13, then, in 1964, brought those considerable skills to Wesleyan, where he was instrumental to the establishment of a Wesleyan rowing program. Lloyd ended his rowing career by competing in Boston’s Head of the Charles Regatta on his 63rd birthday. Fifty years of devotion to rowing is a testament to his indomitable spirit.

“Lloyd was an integral part of our family’s early life. He babysat our two daughters on numerous occasions, dined with us often, and most especially was a dear friend.

“Lloyd, using his wry sense of humor and exceptional writing skills, served as 1968’s class secretary for 40 years, with his final entry weeks before his death in August 2023.
Intellectually, he wrote many letters to the editor of his local New Haven newspaper, challenging causes he felt unworthy and supporting humanitarian efforts that lifted up those less fortunate than himself. He spent years teaching writing skills as a means of engaging incarcerated prisoners and providing them with insights into their lives, as well as hope for their futures.

“Lloyd’s special and endearing spirit, along with his infectious laugh, will be missed by the many folks who had the privilege of knowing him.”

From Bob Reisfeld:

A Tribute and Thanks to Lloyd Buzzell

“Dear fellow members of the Wesleyan Class of ’68:  

“Just a brief but hopefully meaningful comment about our classmate, friend, and longtime class secretary, Lloyd Buzzell. Of course, each of us have our own memories and personal experiences of Lloyd. Some of us never knew him personally, and some of us had closer ties to him over the years. I was one who didn’t know him well at all during our years at Wesleyan but got to know and appreciate him through his class notes and unflagging attendance at our class reunions. If anything or anyone kept our class connected in any way after we left the campus, it was Lloyd. He was kind, thoughtful, loving, playful, deep, fun, and accepting of us all. He found a way for us to share information with and about each other, based only on what we wrote to him, no matter our similarities or differences. He was nonjudgmental in his reports of us and allowed us to stay connected in some ethereal and uncritical way. For that, I think that we are all grateful to him. I know I am.”

And from Sandy See:

“Dear Guys, 

“I had been in touch with Lloyd and was aware of his declining health. He dealt with it openly and with acceptance. No woe-is-me for him, just lots of gratitude for the life he had been given. He kept an eye on Wesleyan, calling out praise and criticism as he saw it. He felt and expressed appreciation and love for us all, casting a glow over his time with us at Wes as we proceeded from boys to men. And he was never going to let us forget his stalwart rowing crewmates who made us so proud of their achievements in major races over the years. 

“Thank you for your friendship and service, Lloyd. We were fortunate to know you.”

Neil Rossman wrote in for the first time. He said, “I never sent any news to class notes over the years because . . . well, just because. However, after reading the archived notes which were sent today and being saddened by reading for the first time of the deaths of many classmates and friends, I thought I ought to send something before I, too, appear as an obit. Back in the day, I handled 480 Dalkon Shield IUD cases and was a director of the Claimant’s Committee in the A. H. Robins Bankruptcy. I tried and won the last case which preceded the bankruptcy filing and testified as an ‘expert witness’ before the court on the nature of settlements. I also changed the entire fire apparatus industry in this country when I tried and won the Tynan v. Pirsch case in the U.S. District Court in Boston in late 1985. It resulted in all fire trucks having to have four doors with individual seating and seat belts for all members of the crew. It was, and I believe still is, the largest verdict (as opposed to a settlement) for an injured firefighter in the country. I also tried another firefighter case in Waterbury, which was ultimately overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court, but which forced additional safety standards regarding the securing of all tools and equipment in the cabin to be secured, lest they fly about in a crash or rollover. I was asked to serve on the NFPA so-called “1500 Committee,” which wrote all of the safety and health standards for the fire service including fire ground incident command, safety officer, etc. I also was asked to speak to fire service groups around the country and Canada, at last count 55 times. I’m in my 51st year of practice and hoping to retire (sometime?). I don’t golf or sail anymore, but I do run a 37-foot commercial lobster boat out of Marblehead and fish 180 traps from May to Thanksgiving. Best, Neil”

Bill Heckman sent in his first update in over 50 years!:

“Hi from the Wild West! . . . . I’m a proud survivor of ‘Norwines Revenge’ Class of ’68, and happy to send you this update. Good to read about so many ex-classmates, but sad so many have crossed over  . . . may they all find peace.

“Finally retired five years ago and living six and six in Arizona, between Scottsdale winters and Flagstaff summers, at 6,600 feet—for perfect year-round happiness. Three kids, four grands, [and] one great-granddaughter; much world travel (over 60 countries) . . .  a grand life!

“Although I’ve done well as a retail executive for half of my career and as a marketing rep for the rest, every place I worked no longer exists. Entire industries have vanished and I worry for the coming generations adapting to new realities.

“Sending big HELLO to any who might remember me and especially to Dave Cain, Jeff Camp ’70, Warren Williams, Rick Hammer ’69, Cami  Billmyer ’67, John Phillips ’69, and Dave Webb. Hope all are well!

“Best wishes for happiness, good health, and much enjoyment in our twilight years!”

Kenneth Schweller said he continues“to work on developing 3D video games for bonobos, chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, and baboons. The goal of our team is to study their spatial navigation abilities and their cooperation and competition strategies. Our latest work is with 30 baboons at the Southwest National Primate Center where we will be doing a long-term study of the cognitive deficits that characterize Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Thirty baboons will be tested (noninvasively) over their life span to assess their navigation abilities as they search for hidden food in a virtual touch-screen environment, a task that places a high demand on memory and problem-solving. We hope to discover which of our tasks might be predictive of later impairment with the goal of developing similar diagnostic tools for humans.”

Bob Svensk sent in this headline: Bill Gerber ’86 won the first selectman race in Fairfield, Connecticut, last fall, beating the incumbent by 42 votes.

Henry St. Maurice said he was “sorry to learn about Lloyd’s passing. He was indeed an exemplary class secretary. My note is as follows:

“I am semiretired from higher education, doing what I chose when granted emeritus status at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 2009. I serve on doctoral committees for that institution and for Edgewood College, supervise student teachers, and do freelance editing for researchers submitting manuscripts for peer reviews. I also serve on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin Incorporated, and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Anyone who’d like to visit our local points of interest would be welcome to be our guest in the home that Wright designed for Mary’s parents in 1954.

“A high point of the past year was presenting her bachelor’s diploma to our daughter Emma, who is now a teacher in a nearby middle school. Her brother, our firstborn, is a contract specialist for Uncle Sam in Washington State. 

“Best wishes to all my fellow Wesleyan alums, especially those who roomed with me in Casa Pandolfo at 124 Main Street. —Henry”

Mark J. Estren shared: “From one of my last communications with Lloyd: ‘I have been working with people in ALFs (and hospice) for years and know you have had a significant adjustment on many levels. Also, my girlfriend, a CNA, is a trained expert at assisting people with ADLs (activities of daily living). Expectations modest (but not gone altogether) is one of the keys. You are in the right headspace for this.’ Lloyd then suggested I sum up my own current life in 100 words. I wrote exactly that number for him to include in our class notes. He did not get the chance, but here they are:

“I, your youngest classmate, just turned 75. Uh-oh. Still writing on investments, health care, and more—latest book, One Toke to God, explores spiritual properties of cannabis. Also consult as psychotherapist at nonprofit Christian life-care community, Shell Point, and post weekly at www.infodad.com about kids’ books and classical music—thousands of my reviews online. Hobby: herpetology rescues—currently six turtles and a bearded dragon. Significant other, Bev, works in pediatric ICU at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Daughter, Meredith (Duke engineering undergraduate/London Business School MBA), is CEO of travel concierge firm Albertine, and a Kensington Symphony violist. Life in 100 words!”

From Larry Tondel: “I happily retired from my law practice involving complex securities and structured derivatives transactions through big law in NYC (Sidley Austin LLP) when I turned 70 and now split my time with my wife of almost 50 years between our lake house in New Hampshire and our homestead of 45 years in Cresskill, New Jersey. I serve as trustee of several organizations and enjoy my leisure time and lots of travel. The knees have finally given out after too many injuries, so I am relegated to kayaking and scuba. Days of 1968 are a different world from 2023 . . . I cherish my memories of Wesleyan ’68 and Michigan ’71 (where I went for law school).”

I got a nice email from Tony Gaeta. He is now, as he puts it, “long retired.” He and his partner are living by the water in Southport, North Carolina.  Here is some of what he wrote: “On a wonderful trip to the great state of Maine this past summer, my partner and I enjoyed dinner with Ed ‘Big Ed’ Simmons in Freeport, as well as seeing Billy Congleton at Bill’s brother Jake’s (’56) 90th-birthday celebration. As for me, I’ve been long retired from the legal profession and teaching at UNC Law and Campbell Law, sold my farm and horses in Pittsboro, North Carolina, and moved to Southport, North Carolina, to live on the water and be closer to my boat docked here in a nearby marina.” 

Tony also wrote that he had hoped to see his Chi Psi friend, Len “Bergy” Bergstein, when he went to San Francisco to see Tony Conte, who was recovering from a bad accident in April 2022. Here is his account: “I was deeply sorry to learn of Lenny ‘Bergy’ Bergstein’s passing. He and I became great friends at The Lodge and I had planned on seeing him last year on a trip to San Francisco, when I visited our other great fraternity brother and friend Tony Conte, as he recovered from a horrific automobile accident where he was literally run over twice on the sidewalk as he returned home from dinner one night in April 2022!  He’s recovering nicely and his accident has reunited us.” 

When I reached out to Tony Conte, he wrote back with the horrifying details of his accident (elderly driver, driving an old and silent Prius, and, alarmingly, not wearing the glasses she was required to wear). He wrote that “I have shed the wheelchair; I have shed the walker; and I still use a cane for balance and support…. Both Tony Gaeta and Tony Caprio have been fantastically supportive to me from the first minute. They are in part responsible for my recovery. I don’t think I could have made it through the trauma center, the ICU, the two hospitals, and the care facility without their constant contact and encouragement.” And Tony also had this to say: “I am lucky to be alive and savor each day.”

When I saw that there was new info on the JFK assassination, I wrote to Bill Klaber to ask him what he thought. Bill, as those of you who read these class notes assiduously well know, is the coauthor of Shadow Play: The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy (originally published in 1998, with an updated paperback edition in 2018)and also the producer of a 14-episode podcast called The MLK Tapes that challenges the official story of how Dr. King was murdered. It won a Webby, which is a big deal in podcast land. Bill said about this: “Of greater satisfaction to us was the request from the American Civil Rights Museum in Memphis for the rights (the legal work now underway) to use portions of The MLK Tapes in their wing of the museum devoted to the murder of Dr. King, which is now closed until Juneteenth 2025 while they ‘rethink’ their exhibits and incorporate evidence that we were able to bring forward in our podcast. If you are ever in Memphis, be sure to visit this stunning museum.”

Here is what he wrote back: “Hey, Richie. Yes, we were freshmen when the president was murdered, and I was in law school when Bobby and Dr. King were killed. I’ve just returned from Dallas where I spoke at a conference marking the 60th anniversary. As far as Peter Landis, the Secret Service agent who recently revealed that he found a bullet in the president’s limo— his account is way more likely than the official story that has the first bullet traveling downward and striking Kennedy’s back before somehow traveling up to exit his throat, then moving over to shatter Governor Connolly’s rib before leaving his chest and destroying Connolly’s wrist, and then striking his leg. This slug, found at the hospital, is called the ‘magic bullet,’ because it not only merrily defies the laws of Newton, but emerges in perfect condition, which is impossible after striking so many bones. Landis says that his bullet was probably pushed out from the wound in Kennedy’s back, in line with the doctor’s assertion that Kennedy’s back wound had no path out of the body and no spent bullet in the wound. But however logical, Landis’ account requires an additional bullet, exceeding the three-bullet limit for a single gunman and proving the official account is a clumsy lie. And it’s not just this bullet, the lies are all over the place, like underwear in a burglarized apartment. I would love to come to Wesleyan and give a talk on these three, rather important, historical events. I’m a graduate of the CSS and have asked them for an invite to speak at their weekly luncheon. So far, no invitation. Still hoping. Bill.”

In early November 2023, my wife, Lisa, and I spent a day with Steve Sellers, my old roomie (from freshman and sophomore years), in Chapel Hill. He and his wife, Martha Julia, were visiting the Tarheel State from their home in Guatemala. It was a rare treat to spend a day together, wandering around Franklin Street, the site of many a raucous scene after various Tarheel athletic victories, and the Chapel Hill Botanical Garden. After earning a PhD in anthropology and teaching for a while, Steve, now retired, worked in what we call artificial intelligence (he was the first person to tell me about “the cloud”). Martha Julia, a developmental psychologist, was in Chapel Hill to organize a conference for Jerome Kagan, her graduate school mentor, who died in 2021. 

Ironically, or maybe just interestingly, or maybe just interestingly to me, two weeks earlier my wife and I spent a day with her freshman roomie from Mt. Holyoke. What, I wonder, are the odds of two old (and getting older) married folks at our advanced ages still being in close touch with their freshman year college roomies, and then getting to see them within a two-week period?  

Let’s begin with this wonderful reminiscence from Barry Thomas: “Yesterday, my mind took me back to freshmen English and my struggles with the classics, such as Moby-Dick, with which, as a public school boy, I had had very limited experience. This, as opposed to the prep school guys, who had already read Moby-Dick, Pride and Prejudice, and other such, in some cases, more than once. There it was, in an old, battered box, my copy of Melville’s classic, all highlighted and underlined. Wonder if I will understand Ahab and his quest any better this time around? Call me Ishmael.” Barry’s discovery of that battered copy of Moby-Dick made me smile,recalling as it did my own struggles to keep up with our prep school classmates. And it took me to a bookshelf  where I have copies of Alfred North Whitehead’s The Aims of Education and Science and the Modern World, sent to us that summer before freshman year and the focus of those group meetings when we got to campus, mine lead by Professor David Abosch. From the underlinings I must have read both carefully, and The Aims has stayed with me, being relevant today. Abosch took us aback, prep school and public school alike, when he asked how many of us had read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No one raised a hand; he opined that if one hadn’t done so by the age of 18, he would not amount to much. 

Barry goes on to tell us that “Dreaming for Change in Burundi has had a very good year. I have written previously about the visit Connie and I made to Burundi in February. We celebrated a five-year anniversary since the beginning of the work in 2018 to address malnutrition in one rural community. It was a very rewarding experience to see all that had been accomplished by our colleagues . . . to address the challenges with which people, especially women and children, are contending as they strive to survive each day in their subsistence life. The focus has been on improving family health and nutrition, providing educational opportunities, and improving family income. We could not have been more encouraged by the programmatic progress being made and the development of organizational capacity and capabilities.

“Now we learn . . . that Dreaming for Change has graduated from its start-up phase and is moving on to the next phase of sustainable growth and development. USAID has provided a grant to fund a vocational training program for women. Soapmaking and sewing/tailoring will be the focus. Many of the women will come from the microfinance program that now has 325 women formed into 13 groups. Remarkably, this Village Savings and Loan Program has become self-sustaining. Then, the U.S. Embassy announced in July that the embassy would be sponsoring the establishment of an ‘American Corner’ at the Dreaming for Change Center. American Corners are small library and computer lab facilities that U.S. embassies around the world make available to local people, especially young people, to help them learn about the United States, learn English, access scholarship programs, etc. Usually, these facilities are available only in urban settings. Our American Corner will be the first to be opened in a rural community in Burundi. It will be a resource that will enhance all the programming. Then, a month ago, a relationship was opened with a prominent, U.S.–based family fund whereby Dreaming for Change would receive annual funding support of an unrestricted character. In other words, this very ambitious service venture is opening new sources of funding, over and above the funding that its rather small group of U.S. private donors has provided during the start-up phase. Very welcome, of course, as the funding requirements of the preschool and primary school, now with 150 students, continue to increase and, though there is measurable progress, malnutrition programming remains a critical part of the service model. So, 2023 has been a really good year for this venture of service in one of the poorest places in the world. More work to be done.”

John Stremlau’s request in our last class notes that we share with him our memories of the visits that Martin Luther King Jr. made to Wesleyan set up quite an exchange, and here a glimpse of what I have seen:

Hardy Spoehr writes: “Aloha, Larry. I attended two of Dr. King’s presentations in our old dining hall on Foss Hill. Let me tell you, coming from Hawai`i in those days I really had no idea or background in the civil rights issues at that time . . . before coming out of those gatherings when all joined hands and arms and sang ‘We Shall Overcome,’ are still one of those times in one’s life that bring forth ‘chicken skin.’ We all left those gatherings feeling the power of ‘oneness in purpose’ and having no doubt that we shall overcome. There was so much hope and promise that now, at the age of 80, I can only tear up a bit when I view the current situation in the United States and only hope that this current generation of students, who we once were, can once again create an overwhelming wave for them to ride into the curl and come out of the tube bringing forth the promises so eloquently envisioned in those times at Foss Hill.”   

In response to John’s “query about MLK at WESU,” Bud Smith writes: “An attempt to reckon with Blacks in my life, it’s largely about one of our WESU classmates, Lawrence Benét McMillan, who followed me to campus from Bunnell High in Stratford, Connecticut, where our families were across-the-street neighbors. We were roommates for the first semester of my senior year, which was Benét’s junior year.” Bud goes on to include a link to his essay “Lights in the Darkness,” published some years ago in the Black Issue of the Tidal Basin Review”: https://issuu.com/tidalbasin/docs/tidal_basin_review__spring_2011/122. The essay, which “explores a number of campus incidents . . . including hearing MLK in the chapel,” is riveting. John’s e-mail is: john.stremlau@wits.ac.za. Do share your memories with him.

Bud has a number of irons in the fire, writing: “In May of 2023, the Connecticut legislature passed a controversial resolution exonerating all those accused of witchcraft in colonial times. The second edition of my historical novel The Stratford Devil (2007), about the hanging of Goody Bassett in my hometown of Stratford, was taught in the schools as part of the 15-year educational effort behind that resolution. The first edition (1984) portrayed Goody Bassett as an early feminist. The new third edition cleans up some errors in the first two and contains a much-needed preface. Coming in an age of religious terrorism, political witch hunts, Native American reparations, and environmental degradation—with attempts to limit wolf populations in states that have them ( including right here in Wisconsin)—the novel is a microcosm of America today.”  And meanwhile he is “collaborating on a screenplay based on the novel with a former LA screenwriter, whom I met through my softball league, which ended last month. Golf league is over, too, but I’m still fishing.”

Ever so good to hear from Dick Stabnick who still goes “to the campus periodically when I am in Middletown in court. Closed my original law firm after 50 years and now still practicing of counsel with my daughter’s firm. Cheri and I spend time between West Hartford and our home in Rhode Island with an occasional trip to our home in Florida. That’s the problem, no hobbies other than time with our daughters and grandson.” I see no problem at all.

Clark Byam and Paul Gilbert, among other news, remind us that an important date in our lives is forthcoming this year, Clark writing: “I turn 80 end of December and still hiking 2 to 3 miles most days.” Paul notes that “all is well here in Charleston, South Carolina. Once the summer heat lifts, the fun starts. Even Christmas is fun, although my wife and I miss the beauty of a snowy winter but not the aggravations. I’m turning 80 in March, which is a shock but I’m devoting my volunteer time to Veterans on Deck, an organization that provides sailing experiences to vets at no cost. Many of them are younger men and women who are battling mental issues from serving in the military. All we do is enjoy our trips with no expectations from our guests, and we do get lots of smiles and thanks. It’s worthy work.”

Two of our classmates will not see that 80^th year. David Griffith writes: “Jeff Dunn, a standout football player who was on our freshman team and left before the end of the year, has passed away here in Colorado Springs, after a very long and successful career in construction and real estate.” Here’s the link to his obituary: https://obits.gazette.com/us/obituaries/gazette/name/jeffry-dunn-obituary?id=53086268

And our classmate, David Witherbee Boyle, who had “been in serous decline for a couple of years, with kidney failure, Parkinson’s, and seizures,” died on October 22, 2023. As Rick Crootof writes: “David was a significant force in our KNK life, as an animated Autoharp and song-filled full member of our fraternity, and memorably as the owner of a VW bus (also memorably unheated since he bought it in New Orleans, and also with no gas gauge!), which spent numerous road runs to Smith and Holyoke transporting dates to and fro. At our reunions, he invariably was up front carrying our ’66 banner. When I would address our class dinner having chaired five, six, seven, eight, and eventually nine reunions and declaim ‘It is time for a younger man,’ his voice would reliably ring out ‘but you ARE the youngest man in the class.’ He was a lovable teddy bear, and he loved his family, his Cleveland Browns, and especially his Kentucky. He leaves a hole. RIP, David Witherbee Boyle ’66.” His obit: https://www.brown-forward.com/obituaries/david-boyle.

In closing, Essel Bailey, who denies stealing signs for his much beloved Michigan Wolverines, reminds us that we “Really need to get behind Wesleyan’s This is Not a Campaign . . . because there is more the current Wes could do in the world!”

And Liz Taylor ’87, Wesleyan’s Class Notes Editor, shares this photograph from Homecoming 2023.

     

Dear Classmates,

It was a great Homecoming weekend this year, as there was a big turnout on a perfect fall day. The football team beat Amherst, giving them their second straight Little Three title.

Enjoyed watching the game with Mary and Gary Witten and Lisa and Mark Edmiston. Gary lives in East Amherst, New York, and has written a book on financial literacy aimed at football players; thus, using terms such as “offense” and “defense” when referring to various fiscal strategies. After Wesleyan, Gary coached at Stanford while getting his master’s there and then coached at Columbia before getting into the insurance business. (It was a pleasure to sit with Mary and Gary at the All-Decade Team dinner on the Friday of Homecoming, which honored the ’90s football team. Gary, Warren Thomas, and yours truly represent the members of our class on the ’60s All-Decade Team.)

Lisa and Mark live on the shore in beautiful Madison, Connecticut, not far from Middletown. After a career in publishing and communications, he is happily retired. As a former Wesleyan trustee, he stays in close touch with the college and attends a number of games and other activities.  

I also enjoyed sitting with Warren Thomas at the Williams Homecoming game this fall, an exciting comeback victory over the Ephs. Warren is also happily retired following a career in automobile sales, capped off by owning a large dealership in western Massachusetts. Warren lives in Turners Falls and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with wife, Carol.

Always enjoy seeing Sue and Roy Fazendeiro (retired pediatrician) at virtually all the games, along with Lisa and Mark. All of them are very loyal fans!

It was a great season for the Cardinals football team (6–3) with big wins over Middlebury, Bowdoin, Amherst, and Williams.

Homecoming was a treat for all, with many activities, a big crowd for the football game, and perfect weather on our magnificent campus.

Hope enough of us will come back in ’24 for some kind of class get-together. Sooner than later, please let Hugh Wilson, Win Chamberlin, or me know if you’ll be coming back, so we can start to make appropriate plans.

It was great to hear from so many classmates.

Robert Typermass wrote that following Wesleyan he completed the MBA program at Columbia University, and shortly afterward he was drafted by the army and stationed in Germany. Bob wrote:

“I couldn’t honestly say my army service was a particularly enjoyable time, but, in a way, it was a valuable kind of learning experience, and I was always well aware that it could have been a whole lot worse. Europe definitely beat the alternative.”

After the army Bob went to work in the financial sector, first at a commercial bank in New York City, then at another bank nearby. Several years later that bank was swallowed up by Merrill Lynch, and “I spent the rest of my working life at Merrill Lynch, in the institutional side of the firm,” Bob explained.

“Merrill was an interesting and generally decent place to work but not the most stable working environment thanks to a pretty much constant stream of reorganizations, management shake-ups, upsizings, downsizings, rightsizings, and ‘wrongsizings.’ Often chaotic but rarely dull. Most of my time was in New York, but I also had international assignments including a multiyear one in the Middle East and shorter stints in Asia and Europe.

“Around midway between 9/11 and the Great Recession, I quit working; it seemed like the right time to move on. When I let people know I was leaving, a friend there said to me, ‘I’m really ticked at you, Bobby; now I’ll be the oldest guy on the floor.’

“Nowadays I try to keep active and not worry too much about the future or other weighty, depressing issues. Whenever I feel the need for a dose of hopeless despair, I can always just tune in to cable news or watch the New York Jets.”

Fred Karem started off in the class of ’63 but took a year off to work in a Kentucky political campaign and ended up in our class. Fred and I both grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and went to the same high school, but lost touch after Wesleyan.

Fred wrote that he and Suzanne, his wife of almost 60 years and a Smith ’64 graduate, have long had a home in Lexington, Kentucky, but were spending the winter in Mountain Brook, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. They have a condo there, about a half mile from their daughter and her four children. They also have a son, Fred (with two children), in Franklin, Tennessee, and another, Robert, in Washington, D.C., where he is national security advisor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“After many years in state and national politics, law practice, and the apartment development business, I retired about eight or nine years ago. For the past six years, we have spent the winter in Naples, Florida, where, beyond the warmth, I enjoyed outings to Fort Myers to see Red Sox training games. Since growing up in Louisville, I have been a dedicated Boston fan because Louisville was the AAA farm club for the Sox during those years. Our Naples days are now over, and we will spend this winter here.

“More than 40 years ago, I started running for exercise and relaxation (no races). Fortunately, I’m still doing so, although jogging (rather than running) three times a week combined with indoor workouts three times a week.”

Ted Ridout wrote: “I was enamored with ships and sailing as a high school student. I built a Sailfish from a $169 kit in my bedroom. My father and I visited Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in the fall of 1959. Meanwhile, I applied to Wesleyan. They offered a full scholarship, while Webb was free to all accepted, funded by the marine industry. I decided on Wes. 

“Longing for at least a yacht while raising a family, I settled for ‘Ted’s land yacht,’ a hard-sided pop-up trailer easily towed by our minivan. In retirement, Chris and I and our dog drove it happily all over the Lower 48 and much of Canada.

“Now with so much time, adequate vision, and dexterity, I have returned in a major way to building ship models from kits. Doing the rigging on a square-rigged man-of-war must stave off dementia for a while. Typically, a year or more is needed to finish a ship.”

Also, good to hear from:

Robert Maurer: “My wife, Zoelle, and I have just self-published A Travel Adventure in France, a small book with photos, describing our day-by-day trip to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary in 2011 in the country we love. (Last May we celebrated our 47th.) In addition, I recently completed a decade-long project of sending my personal papers to Michigan State University Libraries for two of its special collections: African Activist Archive (digitized) and American Radicalism (hopefully to be digitized).”

Dan Davis: “We moved from Germantown, Maryland, to a continuous care retirement center in Frederick, Maryland, in February 2022. My wife, Suzanne, and I remain active physically and are enjoying church work. I retired from the FDA in 2016 and have enjoyed a limited amount of consulting since then. I play tennis four to five hours a week and nine holes of golf on Wednesdays.”

Please write to your class secretary.

I received good news from two of our classmate authors. Lindsay Childs reports that his most recent published textbook in mathematics, Cryptology and Error Correction, An Algebraic Introduction and Real-World Applications, has just been translated into Japanese. Previously the first edition (of three) of A Concrete Introduction to Higher Algebra was translated into Italian, and he has also published two books in the American Mathematical Society’s Mathematical Surveys and Monographs series. As Lindsay summarizes: “Since none of my five grandchildren (in grades 2, 8, 11, 11, and 13) know Italian, Japanese, or mathematics beyond first-year calculus, I now have six published books that none of them can read! Hopefully, however, the three older ones may later be ready to read the English versions of the textbooks in a couple of years if they pursue mathematics in college.”

Our second author Peter Mooz writes:“Art history must be defended. My latest book, American Masterworks of Religious Painting, has been advertised in French and German, and also the largest and oldest studio in Hollywood has asked to use certain chapters for films. Who said art history was not a good major? All this thanks to Wesleyan that offered a path to discover a blissful career.”

John Hazlehurst reports: “We’re buckling down for another Colorado winter in our drafty, badly insulated 1899 Victorian, to which I’m unreasonably attached. If we make it through another winter, maybe we’ll downsize and head south. We’ll have to figure out what to do with all our stuff—one acid-tongued pal calls our house the ‘Hazlehurst Museum of Mediocre Art.’ Don’t think the kids will want anything—they’re middle-aged folks who dread the prospect of clearing out our ancient mess. But I love it—nothing like rereading The Age of Innocence in a period-appropriate setting. Countess Ellen Olenska would be pleased, and I think that Edith Wharton will get me through the winter.”

After retiring as professor of pediatric nephrology from University of Kansas in 2010, Jon Scheinman did locum tenens (substituting for temporarily absent practitioners) for three years “and have continued to telemed as a GP since then, but now dwindling, as my tennis career also sputters along.” Jon continues with “much travel, fighting for liberal causes, and as president of Temple Israel. I’m still trying to make the world a better place, thus still delusional. I have two kids, two grandkids in Philadelphia.”

Steve Trott “thought the vaccine would immunize us from the virus, like the polio stuff does. Sorry. My wife Carol has had all the shots and boosters, and three weeks after the last one, she got it. But at least the shots seem to tamp down the symptoms. The last three years haven’t been all that much fun ducking bugs. It’s made travel tough, so we are largely stuck in SoCal missing Idaho. At least the drought is over, for the time being. Stay safe everyone!”

Len Wilson has “always believed that exercise and moderate activity are the secret to a healthy life. But I’m starting to realize that aging is becoming a worry for my kids. After taking an awkward tumble playing pickleball, my daughter had the audacity to suggest that Dad, at 83, maybe shouldn’t be playing pickleball any longer. What does she know? A few scrapes won’t keep me off the courts.” Len’s belief in global warming is strengthened as he nostalgically recalls days at his shore home when he could “scamper over the dunes and enjoy yards and yards of beach, but the dunes now end in a 20-foot drop to the ocean below.” He also has assumed the position of chairman for his area-wide Y retiree group for the coming year, “having fun and working with a talented dedicated board of fellow retirees who make the job a lot easier.” And a final note of advice: “Want to again experience the joys and responsibilities of parenthood? Be gifted with a Chinese Crested puppy in your 80s. Unlike grandchildren, he doesn’t go home with his parents.”

Bill Wortman reports “trying to keep active, useful, and mentally tuned hiking local trails, fighting invasive plants on my five acres, Kiwanis and volunteering, Cincinnati orchestra concerts, and reading most recently Lies of the Land about rural America and Jill Lepore’s These Truths. I also took an amazing rafting and hiking trip down the Nahanni River in Canada’s Northwest Territories, and went with Road Scholars for a week’s strenuous hiking through the geological wonders of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. One grandchild graduated from high school and another from Colorado State U in data science. Flew to Denver for both events, but can I make the third’s graduation 10 years from now?”

An update from Emil Frankel: “Kathryn and I continue our lives in Washington, D.C. I remain affiliated with a small, Washington, D.C.–based, transportation policy think tank, the Eno Center for Transportation, but most of my ‘advising’ consists of discussing transportation history and policy with former colleagues over lunches and through email exchanges. My intellectual and emotional energies are focused on the efforts to preserve democratic values and institutions both here at home and in Israel. As to the former, I remain involved in every Never Trump activity available to me, including some marginal involvement in a third-party effort (although I remain skeptical that the moment is right to launch a new centrist party). As to the latter, I am deeply engaged in efforts in my Reform temple to educate our congregants and the wider Jewish community about the attacks on democracy by Israel’s current extremist and theocratic right-wing government.

“I returned to my native state of Connecticut a few weeks after Reunion weekend to join in services to honor the memory of my former boss, former U.S. senator and former Connecticut governor, Lowell Weicker. I mention this because Governor Weicker received an honorary degree from Wesleyan in the early 1990s. He was the first sitting governor of Connecticut to receive an honorary degree from Wesleyan for many years, a historic tradition that seems to have been abandoned by the University in the 1970s. Lowell Weicker was a unique and extraordinary public figure; I am proud that Wesleyan recognized his contributions and that I had the opportunity to work with and for him.” 

At the time of our last Class Notes publication, Emil had written: “I wanted to let you know that our classmate and fellow Eclectic, Joe Powers, passed away a day or two ago. Joe and Maria had moved back to the Washington, D.C., region from New Mexico a few months ago, and they were living in northern Virginia when he died.”

Here’s a quickie note from Robert Wielde: “Proof of life. Traveling some. Reading a lot. Worried for the country.”                   

Peter Funk has provided a newsy update. He writes: “I am pleased to report that Jennie and I are well. I remain active in our island’s affairs, continue to sail and race offshore, and generally keep upright. I am reminded of Wesleyan frequently by daughters Lexy ’91 and Jenny ’95 whose offspring have visited campus to assess entry. No hits so far. I marvel at the lunacy of our American politics and the robustness of the economy. I remain hopeful for a more united Europe despite Brexit, which has dragged Jersey into the foreign nation category with attendant border and other restrictions. The war in Ukraine and threats arising overhang everything here. Please convey my best wishes to our fellow classmates and extend my welcome to visitors.”

Alexander McCurdy responded with a question: “My contribution would be a question regarding the folk singing group The Highwaymen. Didn’t this group originate in our era at the Alpha Delta fraternity house? Anybody know how they evolved with or into the later famous group with that name?” Your class secretary replied to Sandy suggesting he Google “Wesleyan Highwaymen 1960,” which he did with gratifying results.

John Rogers:

“Understand the continuing appeal and really appreciate your zeal

I’ve answered more often than you should reveal

So ignore or edit my replies and conceal

Our new home in Kentucky not a big deal

Although plentiful bourbon and horses produce a good yield

The aging body aches before and after each meal

But doubt my wife and 12 doctors really know how I feel

So I’ll continue daily rehab to heal

To try to delay the time when remaining family and friends kneel”

Paul Boynton reports on three issues: “One, my grandson, Caius Boynton, an accomplished musician and graphic artist, has just begun has first year at Wesleyan; and two, his equally talented twin sister, Auren Boynton, is simultaneously matriculating at Williams! Finally, three—their uncle, Eric Boynton (youngest of four sons), was recently inaugurated as the 12th president of Beloit College, founded in 1846.” Paul is the proud grandfather of eight and the father of four.

Nici and John Dobson reported that they were in Key West, Florida, for two weeks. That sounds like a good place to visit in November.

Mark Lischner passed away August 14, 2023. He was the founding member of Pulmonary Medicine Associates, which provides pulmonary and critical care services for the greater Sacramento, California, area. He worked over 50 years at the same corporation and retired in April 2023. He was not only appreciated for his medical expertise but also his humanity. His interest in the well-being of his patients, colleagues, and staff was remarkable. He is survived by his son Benjamin, daughter-in-law Kathrine, daughter Lori, and three granddaughters.

In September, I had a 10-day bout of COVID that was characterized by fatigue, sore throat, loss of taste, and three days of fever. I appreciate having been able to do at-home testing for the virus. Tish was a great help by bringing suppers to my house during the worst days.