Class Notes | 1960s

Class of 1960 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund

Joseph Ellis ’19, Manhattan Beach, CA

Your dedicated class secretary, Sal Russo, writes, “On Dec. 29, I was severely injured while descending on a ladder from the roof of our house. I broke both my nose and pelvis. In that one instant of time, my role of caregiver for my wife was dealt a severe blow. Fortunately, our friends were a great comfort and help to Judy. In addition, our children, Amy and Alan, who both live in Seattle, worked diligently to place Judy at High Gate Senior Center. I hope both of us will find healing in our lives.”

Congratulations to Dave Potts for winning the 2016 Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Award “for the best study of a significant aspect of Connecticut history.” His book has received critical acclaim from a variety of sources. Dave, have you begun researching for volume three yet?

Bob Williams and Ann have been singing in The Highlands Chorale, with two concerts a year. Their holiday performance was met with an enthusiastic response by a full house. Bob is also singing in a quartet, perhaps appropriately called “The Uncalled Four.” Nevertheless, they have a devout following at the Highlands. He is having great fun!

Gill Seeley wrote in: “I will be conducting the Port Townsend Community Orchestra, in a program of works by Sibelius, Thompson, Mozart, and Copland at the end of February. I will also conduct the Rainshadow Chorale, also part of Port Townsend, in their May concert, in which I will premiere my new work for choir, Native American drum and flute on a text by my wife, entitled Morning Rabbit. Incidentally, the 40-member chorus consists of mostly retired folks, but they have great work ethic and spirit. I am thrilled to be making live music again after over 50 years of conducting concerts.”

Ed Stein wrote in: “I’m still here. In a few days, I’ll turn 81, which might make me the eldest in our class. Still working, trying to make Chortles, mini-mini chocolate chip graham crackers, a school and household name across the country. Also, doing crossword puzzle solving sessions with seniors at assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Plus, doing some puzzle construction. Will have another New York Times puzzle on President’s Day, Feb. 22, with the theme of Presidential Trivia.

“Wife Addie retired from teaching second grade in New Rochelle, N.Y., after 28 years. She loved it! That is, until teaching became more about test scores. That’s got to change. Daughter Sharon heads up a signage company with husband Tom. Some clients include Greenwich Hospital, the New York Knicks, and Pepsi. And daughter Jamie works in a special marketing group for Hershey’s.”

John Duell wrote in: “Trish and I, with our two families (10 total) celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a weekend in London in early November. All of us enjoyed a performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, together with some excellent food. Looking forward to three weeks in Madeira in January.”

Rick Garcia, president of the Bolivian National Academy of Economic Sciences-ABCE, attended the Bolivian Conferences on Development Economics in December. The conference promoted the exchange of research experiences among Bolivian and foreign economists working in the in U.S. and European universities. While there, Rick gave the Silver Pin award to the best paper of the conference, written by Mauricio Tejada of the Alberto Hurtado University of Chile for his paper “Sources of Gender Wage Gaps in Latin American Countries.”

Sadly, Dick Huddleston passed away on Jan. 15. We will be following up with more information and reflections on Dick in the near future.

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

Editor’s Note: A heartfelt thank you goes out to your class secretary, Sal Russo, who worked diligently on collecting and compiling class notes while in a rehabilitation center to recover from his fall. We wish Sal a speedy recovery.

Jeff Powell, retired M.D., writes, “I had fun with Rob Pratt as we both have sailboats on Casco Bay near Portland, Maine. Where have the past 47 years gone?”

Paul Melrose’s “grandchildren grow bigger. Since we live closer, we are no longer special, just the normal routine. I’m career coaching, especially clergy. Madison, Wis., is a great place to live.”

Ken Kawasaki and wife, Visakha, were “never gardeners, but with 365 days of warm weather, it’s easy. Plant a turnip, get a turnip. What we would give for a good Brussels sprout. Not much frost here. We’ve built three monkey cages: veggies inside, monkeys outside. Fed up with American politics? Come help us set up a cooperative. Sri Lanka is good, and Kandy is great. We have solar hot water and plan to go off the grid.”

John Mihalec “listened to an interview with Tony-winning Broadway director Thomas Kail ’99 on the Wesleyan website. Steve Pfeiffer introduced Kail to Wes, where Kail met Lin Maneul Miranda ’02 and collaborated on expanding Miranda’s Wes-created nugget of songs into a musical, In the Heights. Their latest collaboration is Hamilton...Who knew that sans Pfeiffer, no Hamilton?”

Jim Adkins “now works just a half day a week as an ENT in Tampa, Va. Thirty-eight years of medicine. That’s enough. Two grown kids, each with two children. All are well. Looking forward to traveling more.”

Joe Borcynski writes, “Still alive. Grateful.”

Charles Elbot and his wife “had a delightful visit with Alan Wallace ’70 and Barb Watson ’71, both spry and youthful. Miguel Gomez-Ibãnez ’71 heads the North Bennet Street School in Boston. I work part-time as a leadership coach in the Denver schools. Sons live nearby, so I’m lucky. I remain appreciative of my Wesleyan time.”

Mark Hodgson’s “wife passed away on July 7, sooner than we expected. Being alone for the first time in 38 years is a challenge, but I’m staying busy. One positive thought is how much I have learned about Judi, even after she is gone, and the ways I loved her without even knowing it, and how much my life was changed by her for the better.”

Bill Sketchley was “forced by disability to retire from city planning in 1998. More life and less money is not a bad trade. I contacted Karin Swanson, Mike Hulett’s former wife, by chance in 2015. Interesting perspective on the past.”

Doug Bell is “plugging away. Grasslands Fund is capped with 43 partner/investors. We have 1,500 leased/owned acres growing hemp, raising free-range pigs, and the finishing feed. I manage agricultural projects in Uruguay that include the above, as well as cattle and crops.”

Tom Earle “stays productive. I spent the summer renovating an investment house and worked nonstop. Now I’m back to teaching, a lot easier than tiling and installing cabinets. Maj and I have three grandchildren and enjoy them immensely.”

Tony Mohr and “Bev enjoy their rescued Lhasa Apsos—Ben and Jerry. We witnessed a friend’s wedding in Écully, France, at the Mairie. Lots of fun.”

Dave Siegel has “20 years as chief of medicine at VA Northern California Health Care System and professor and vice chair of internal medicine at UC Davis. I wrote extensively about hypertension and dyslipidemia. I have four grandchildren. Maybe retirement next June when youngest son graduates from medical school, but the thought fills me with anxiety.”

Steve Pfeiffer “sits on a ranch in Livingston, Mont., awaiting Rick Ketterer, John Stinchfield, Jerry Parker, Marc Pickard ’70, and brother Vic ’71 for the annual Wes mini-reunion. Everyone is in good health and spirits. Fishing, hiking, stories, a bit of drinking, and a few cigars. We applaud that Don Russell is now in the Wesleyan Hall of Fame. He coached three Little Three championship teams in our era and was instrumental in the building of the Freeman Athletic Center.”

Rick Pedolsky “enjoys working at a start-up after all these years. Who’s crazy? Spinning off from our interactive museum work, we provide a multimedia system for presenting scientific, medical, and scholarly research: iPosterSessions.com.”

Rick Vila “ran the New York City Marathon to celebrate becoming 70. Sold air charter based on Block Island. Still landscape for residents. Spend winters in Crested Butte pursuing love for aggressive downhill skiing. Sees Walt Filkins ’70 and Pete Canoni.”

Siegfried Beer was “a Larry Gemeinhardt student from ’68 to ’69, which was significant for my career as a history professor in Graz, Austria. I now direct the Botstiber Institute of Austrian-American Studies in Media, Pa. Four children, all American citizens, have gifted me five grandchildren. Sadly, last February, my American wife, whom I wed in the Wesleyan chapel, unexpectedly passed away.”

John Bach “works to stop the proliferation of cluster bombs. Since the U.S. will no longer traffic them, it’s nice to get a victory.”

Barry Turnrose’s “son Erik and wife Dawn had our first grandchild, Jenna Joy Turnrose, the light of our lives. Class of ’38?”

Mike Fairchild did “photography in Hawaii to celebrate my 70th birthday and 50th state. Son, Scott ’00, manages the senate campaign for Catherine Masto, the Nevada attorney general who wants Harry Reid’s seat. Daughter Marnie is a major donor officer for Amnesty International. I saw Bill Redkey ’68, who lives in Heber City, Utah.”

Steve Broker and “Linda visited St. Andrews, New Brunswick, then Grand Manan Island—birding, fishing, lobstering. We visited with Greg McHone there, who succeeded me at Wesleyan’s GLSP program. About to have my right hip replaced and look forward to restored mobility.”

John Crigler and “Steve Darnell met in Middletown for lunch and a campus stroll. Ran into summer security when we visited Clark and Foss. I saw Joe Reed and his wife, Kit.”

Alex Knopp is “president of Norwalk Public Library Directors. Bette’s finishing her novel. Daughter Jess teaches Head Start. Son Andrew writes for an Internet comedy site.”

Darius Brubeck “moved to Rye, East Sussex. I will spend Christmas in Venice with my grandchildren, Nathaniel Elmer ’14 and Lydia ’17. Years Ago available online.”

Bob Watson had “a great family vacation in Iceland where I presented a paper on dreams at a psychoanalytic conference.”

Always love,

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

Local news first: Judy and I celebrated our 70th birthdays and 44th anniversary and were recently musing how convenient it is to still be in love. When she noted that this may be more a matter of habit than conviction, I wasn’t taken aback. I can’t be choosy, as anything I get is more than I deserve. However, all this makes us newbies. We hosted Barbara and Dave Webb for a couple of delightful hours on our deck and Dave recounted verbatim the line he used to sweep Barb off her feet at an eighth-grade sock-hop. (He used to share it with his students at Choate in the hopes it might work for them, too.) Dave has kept in touch with a great circle of friends from Wes and reported seeing Paul Jarvis in Chicago while visiting his son, a realtor. They hadn’t gotten together in a while, but Tim Polk’s passing made them—as it should you—realize there are some things you should not put off to next year.

One of the benefits of my job is that I sometimes get into wonderful e-mail exchanges. Bob Svensk ’fessed up to watching a PBS special on Janis Joplin and recalled when she came to Wes. It was Brian McCoy’s first big deal as college social chairman. In a joint deal with Yale—Friday in New Haven and Saturday in Middletown—for $2,500 each at the behest of her agent, this unknown California singer was booked to introduce her to the East Coast. (Brian established the date as March 9, 1968.) After the performance, several of the brothers invited her back to DKE where she swilled Jack Daniels and ate pasta glop without utensils ’til dawn.

I think it’s quite something to look back and consider that, at this point, most of us are grandfathers and she, long gone, has been given her own stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. While I never spent a night in the company of such a character, I—like you—have memories of all sorts from back in the day and it’s for that reason I plan to spend May 24 to 27, 2018 at my 50th Reunion. Sandy See [seescape@verizon.net], Stuart Ober [ober@stuartober.com] and George Reynolds [greynolds@sandefunding.com] continue looking for guys to help out with things.

I caught up with Eric Conger in a call that proved to be an insight into a life in the theater. After Wes, he attended Hartford Seminary until the lottery graced him with a good number. Then he, along with Bob Helsel, revitalized a summer stock theater in Ohio. (Bob pulled a bad number and joined the Navy while Eric continued there for four years, gaining some notice as a director.) Earning his Equity Card after five more years in regional theater, he came to New York and landed a contract on the soap, Another World. Additionally, he spent almost 20 years as an actor at respected venues like Hartford Stage and Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. He countered this gig-to-gig lifestyle by saving like crazy and getting into some real estate ventures. But, by the early ’90s, he wanted to stop traveling and switched into doing voice-overs, commercials, and industrials.

Since 2008, he’s focused on being a playwright and, in 2010, experienced what he described as a “dream experience.” His play, a comedy-drama entitled The Eclectic Experience, was produced at Philadelphia’s 1,200 seat Walnut Street Theatre for a sold-out six-week run. One night Andy Stone hosted an Eclectic reunion that drew 60, at which the guys loosely depicted in the play mingled with the actors playing them in the production. Eric has had two dramas produced at smaller venues and is working on a new project with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He lives in Weehawken, N.J., with his wife, Gayle Humphrey. Their daughter, Sophia, is making films at Ithaca College and their son, Davis, is entering George Washington. Like many of us this year, Davis is keenly interested in politics.

I spoke with Dave Gruol in August. After a brief flirtation with New York banking (and these were times when bombs were going off and management trainees protested the war during lunch), he hitchhiked through Europe for three months. During that period, he arrived at an American military base at 2 a.m. to see Steve Horvat and was let in and directed to Steve’s barracks. (Reminds me of the time, as a kid, a pilot asked me into the cockpit to help fly the plane.) Always interested in photography, he returned to the States and took a job with a tech wizard doing various commercial projects. In 1980, he went off on his own doing mostly product photography for smaller outfits. (One choice assignment was for a chain of Caribbean hotels.) All the while, he did personal work in black and white; series on boxers, jazz musicians, and a lot of New Jersey urban landscapes many of which are not far from his home in Morristown. Married later in life, his wife, Joan, is involved with the Thomas Nast museum. In good health and very happily self-employed, he is not contemplating retirement. Every summer, he gets together with a wonderful bunch of classmates— Steve Horvat, Dick Emerson, Craig Dodd, Peter Hardin, Jacques LeGette, Ted Ahern, Ray Solomon, and Ron Schroeder—for golf and tall-tales.

Last summer, I inspected Dave Losee’s new digs in Camden, Maine. Apart from the fact his front lawn does not overlook Penobscot Bay, it was perfect. Los—a pitcher who, by his own admission, was no Whitey Ford—most appreciatively remembers Dave Gruol as his center-fielder who would snag anything not put into permanent orbit. Finally, Rich Kremer ’69, one of my all-time favorites, is up in Vermont. A superb golfer back in the day, he is back at it with a particular eye to special courses.

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

In the words of singer-songwriter James McMurtry, “It’s a damn short movie—how’d we ever get here?” Right, our 50th Reunion is this spring, May 25 to 28. Hope you can be there. You should have received an e-mail from Mike Feagley and Rick Nicita, and maybe some other e-mails about the Reunion, asking, among other things, for you to write something for the class book that will be published prior to Reunion. A block of rooms has been reserved for our class at the Radisson Hotel in Cromwell. I encourage you to reserve a room soon if you have not already done so (860/635-2000).

I’ve heard from many of you over the last few months, and here are some bits and pieces of what I have learned.

First, the writers. Jim Kates received a 2017 translation fellowship grant ($25K) from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the translation from the Russian of An Astounded World: Selected Poems by poet Aigerim Tazhi. Jim, a poet, literary translator, past president of the American Literary Translators Association, and current president and co-director of Zephyr Press, most recently translated Muddy River: Selected Poems of Sergey Stratanovsky (Carcanet Press, 2016).

Dave Garrison, also a poet, wrote to say that he is in a poetry-writing group at his local library and one of the other members is Thomas J. Donnelly ’83. Dave and his wife, Suzanne, spend most of each year in Dayton, Ohio, where she still teaches. Dave retired from teaching in 2009, but they also spend time at a condo they bought in Prairie Village, Kan., because they have family there. They now have discovered that Jim Ruhlen, a physician, and his wife, Leigh, live about two miles away from their Kansas condo. Although Dave and Jim didn’t know each other at Wesleyan, they now get together when Dave and Suzanne are in Kansas.

And Bill Klaber (whose specialty is prose, not poetry) wrote to say that he was preparing to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with his son in June. He explained, “I’ve climbed to 19,000 feet before on Denali (12 days on the mountain, -20°F), but that was 30 years ago when I was 40. So these days I’m walking the roads with 20 lbs. of cat litter in my knapsack.” Come to the Reunion to see if he did it.

Two of our classmates have turned to the performing arts as extras in films. Steve Pfeif retired after a 14-year part-time gig as a career consultant at DBM/Lee Hecht Harrison. He still runs a small business writing résumés for military veterans who are transitioning out of military service. Steve has been working as a “background artist/extra” for TV shows and movies shot in Atlanta. As he put it, “think of a deep background, out of focus, white-haired guy.” He and Devon have been married 44 years, and have two children and four grandchildren.

Also to be found on the silver screen, if you look carefully, is Bruce Morningstar. Bruce and Katie still live in Rosarito, Baja, Mexico. He writes that he, too, has worked as an extra in two films. The first was titled Little Boy and the other titled Compadres. “Both were fun…I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

And a few classmates sent word that they had retired. Jeff Hicks retired in May, after 26 years as chairman of cardiac surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Here’s his take on his career at Rochester as a medical student, resident, and then staff member there:

“I have watched over the 49 years the progress of change in our medical profession as well as the vise-like grip the insurance companies and government have on health care today. My greatest reward was the teaching of more than 150 residents, both in general and cardiac surgery, and watching them as they blossomed into great surgeons in their own right. Serving nationally on the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, the president of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, and multiple other professional committees has been icing on the cake. Forty years at the operating table has provided me with a bad right knee, three back operations, and lots of memories.”

An e-mail from Alan Neebe revealed less about his career, but did report that he retired as professor of quantitative methods at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC at Chapel Hill, and that he is “still happily married to Eloise (Weejy) Cole, Smith ’69.”

As of May, Pat Weinstein was still working as the owner of Weinstein Beverage, the franchisee for Pepsi-Cola in north central Washington (the business was started by his father in 1937). He and his wife, Susan, were running the company as a family business, which included the full participation of two of their children, one of whom, the company’s general manager (daughter Eileen) was living in Paris, France (the wonders of modern technology!). Pat still plays hoops, and travels around the world to do so. At the time he wrote, his team had won the World Masters Championships in Italy, and they were gearing up for the American Masters Championships in Vancouver.

Ned Preble moved about three years ago from New Hampshire to Oregon to be closer to his five kids in California (“Three have left since I got here?!”). He teaches business courses at Capella University, is trying to drink up his wines from France before it is too late, and is trying to decide what to do with his baseball cards from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. (“No, I do not have Mickey Mantle’s 1952 rookie card.”)

Ned provided info on what he called “a Delt Cluster.” Here is some of it: Phil Corkill, a retired superintendent of public schools, now lives in Tucson; Dave Reynolds is a doctor in Springfield, Mass.; Dave Butler retired from a career as an international lawyer at a big insurance company in Newark; and Jim Guard is an architect living in the San Juan Islands.

I have a new book out, co-edited with Gene Borgida ’71, and titled Collaboration in Psychological Science: Behind the Scenes (Worth, 2016). One of the chapters was co-authored by Phil Shaver ’66. We dedicated the book to Professor Karl Scheibe and to my mother, Irene Zweigenhaft, who hired Gene not long after he graduated from Wesleyan: “To Irene Zweigenhaft and Karl Scheibe, both of whom saw the best in us, even when we were young and foolish.”

Richie Zweigenhaft | rzweigen@guilford.edu

Aloha, dear friends and classmates!

As the glow of our 50th fades and the streaks of the dawning of our 51st (or at least our 55th!) begins on the horizon and the winter snows have encumbered some of us, we need to again acknowledge our fellow classmates Al Burman, Frank Burrows, Jack Knapp, John Neff, and Dick Stabnick for a great “50th Reunion Class Book Addendum,” which, once again, brought back heartfelt memories both of our past and ongoing relationships with one another and our school. Thank you, folks, for a great final chapter to our class book.

First, a big shoutout to our titular class leader, Rick Crootof, and his wife, Linda, who have been blessed by becoming grandparents with the stork’s arrival of Maddox Meyers Uhl. Rick noted about his grandson: “Our first grandchild, a boy, 6 lbs. 12 oz., was three weeks and a day earlier than expected, but all is well.” Congratulations to you and new parents, Martha and Keegan. At the same time, the Crootof family celebrated the graduation of son Matthew Crootof ’96 from Idaho State University’s physician’s assistant program. Matthew and his wife, Kami, plan to live in Bozeman, Mont., where Matthew will begin his practice.

It was great hearing from our classmate, Pete “Pedro” Spiller, a fellow canoer, who, in August along with his friend, Jon Berger (Middlebury ’68), finished a 22-day northern Ontario canoe expedition. He experienced “great challenges and a wonderful, delightful adventure, perhaps better suited for the young, but splendid opportunities to put what we learned over the years to good use. Exceptionally pretty country, end to end.” Pete went on to note that he began canoeing at age 11, “continuing on through the years at Wesleyan and Columbia.” Before beginning his professional career, he had completed a “60-day, 1,000-plus mile expedition ending at Hudson’s Bay,” a record none of us can match. It’s great that he is “back in the birch” (though now may be made of carbon fiber). Today, Pete noted that he is the chairman of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate at our nation’s first port, and that “it’s accurate to say that he does ’lighthouse keeping’ as a volunteer and ’light housekeeping’ at home.”

A sad note was received about the passing of our classmate Michael Botein on Aug. 3, at his home in South Orange, N.J. While at Wesleyan, Michael was a member of Alpha Delt and majored in English. He was active at WESU and The Argus and participated in the Wesleyan Tutorial program. After Wesleyan, he earned his J.D. from Cornell University (1969), and an LLM (1972) and JSD (1979) from Columbia University. His professional career in law was centered on his being a professor at the New York Law School and the founder and director of the Media Center. “A scholar in telecommunications, cable television and regulation, he was the author of multiple treaties, casebooks, and articles, and shared his expertise as a Fulbright Senior Scholar and visiting professor in law schools around the world.” Donations to his memory can be made to the Michael Botein Memorial Scholarship Fund.

We received a great note from Clark Byam, who, after our Reunion, reacquainted himself with his pathways on the East Coast before returning to his home in LA with, side trips to Alaska and British Columbia. By the time you read this, Clark, we hope you will have made it out see us here in Hawaii as well.

We have another “Hall of Famer” amongst our classmates. Will Rhys wrote that the Cleveland Play House had selected him for induction into the Hall of Fame in September. The Play House is the oldest regional theater in the United States (100 years old last October). Congratulations, Will, on a well-deserved honor.

And now to our authors: The Rev. Paul Gilbert wrote a wonderful note that first explained his absence from our Reunion. He was “closing out” his illustrious career at the Grace Church Cathedral, but as we all know, physicians, lawyers, and priests never “retire.” Paul has assumed a new position as priest in charge of “a small congregation in Edisto, S.C.” His wife, Jan, continues to work as a lawyer and, by the time you read this, both he and Jan will have a fourth grandchild. Paul noted that he is “in the final stages” of editing the second edition of his book titled, The Marriage Quest. He concluded with noting, “There are a couple of more in the pipeline.” So, Paul, make sure you get these done, as we expect to see you at the 55th!

Phil Shaver has published two books this last summer, both of which were new editions of previous publications. The first, Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications, is considered “the bible” for the psychological study of emotional attachments (to children, parents, pets, lovers, etc.), while the second, Attachment in Adulthood: Structure, Dynamics, and Change, focuses on the human element of attachments. Phil finally notes humbly that this last September he received an honorary doctorate in the social sciences from Stockholm University in Sweden. He notes, “The ceremony required that I purchase white tie and tails, something I have never owned before.” What a great honor, Phil. We all celebrate with you.

And so, my fellow classmates on this high note, I say a hui hou (not goodbye, but “until our paths cross again”) as your class secretary. Thank you for your trust and sharings over the years—it’s been a wonderful ride. As with all things, however, it’s time for renewal and change, and I am so happy that this important task will be passed to our classmate, Larry Carver, who heard my kaleo (call) to all of you at our Reunion. Please pass along to him the wonderful happenings in your life that all of us continue to have. His contact information is:

Larry Carver | Carver@austin.utexas.edu
2203 Bridle Path, Austin, Texas 78703 | 512/478-8968

A big mahalo, Larry. And finally, I need to recognize the wonderful work that Wesleyan’s alumni folks do for all of us. A particular thank you goes out to Cynthia Rockwell, Pam Vasiliou, and our current Office of Communications contact, Randi Plake. Thank you all. And so, my friends, there are only three things left to be said. The first is in that celebrated song by Bing Crosby and captured in the theme song of Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation: Mele Kalikimaka. The second is Hau`oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year). And the third is “See you at the 55th.”

Hardy Spoehr | hspoehr7@gmail.com
1833 Vancouver Place, Honolulu, Hawai’i, 96822 | 808/944 8601

Dear Classmates, thanks to those responding to the request for news!

Class conveners Mark Edmiston and Hugh Wilson write: “Although we have nothing planned for Homecoming 2016, we hope to meet at Reunion 2017. We’d like to consider the following opportunities for the class to pursue:

• East Africa safari trip centered on Kenya combining sightseeing with time at Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO).

• Cuba trip focused on higher education and the opportunities for ’65 to assist students there. We also talked about a $100,000 scholarship endowment to fund a Wesleyan student’s study in Cuba.

• Fund the compilation of a directory of alumni willing to mentor students in various ways.”

They add, “These are not mutually exclusive and feedback is encouraged. Also, detailed information would be available at the meeting.”

Bill Trapp writes, “Marilyn and I, the three kids, and eight grandkids are all doing fine, and I am headed out this morning for a round of golf. Could it get any better? We are enjoying some crisp Pacific Northwest fall weather and will soon drive to Southern Cal to visit friends. I certainly wish I could be there for Don Russell’s induction ceremony. He means a lot to all of us who were lucky enough to have had him for a coach and mentor. We will never forget his kindness and patience!”

Bob Block writes, “After retiring in 2011 following 36 years with the department of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, I am now an emeritus professor and chair. I served the American Academy of Pediatrics as president-elect, president, and past president between 2010 and 2013. Since then, I have been spending more time with my wife, Sharon, and my woodcarving hobby. We are enjoying our three grandchildren who live nearby.”

Bruce Patterson writes, “I’m semi-retired. My wife, Martha, who is fully retired, and I bought a condo south of Sarasota last year after the horrible February 2015 in the northeast. We spent five months there last winter and had a ball. Just about every night we walked to Casey Key Beach to watch the sunset. Fabulous! While home in Stamford, Conn., I still do marine surveys, and am now doing one for the Darien Police Department. Both our kids now live in Stamford, so we’re very lucky. Our son works for a hedge fund in Old Greenwich and our daughter is a buyer for T.J. Maxx.”

PHILIP L. ROCKWELL | prockwell@wesleyan.edu

I’ve settled down in my recliner, with the sound of raindrops on the roof of my man cave, and it’s Labor Day weekend. My wife, Becky, is out having lunch with her BFF, and our cats are napping, leaving me with the opportunity to do notes for about the 120th time. The television is muted with college football back again, and there is an assortment of games to watch in this information and entertainment age.

I think back to our years at Wesleyan, with the intimacy of our portable football field provided for our gallant squad of Cardinals. Eight games each year with the likes of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Coast Guard Academy, and those other two schools of the Little Three, creating a much-needed break from studies. There were also soccer games and cross-country runs to entertain us. Dave Ransom and Jack Buttles toiled on the gridiron, and athletes such as Lou D’Ambrosio and Peter Sipples powered our soccer teams to successful campaigns.

I frequently think about the why when it comes to a liberal arts education at a place like Wesleyan. I learned to trust my capacity for learning, and the ability to translate the knowledge to answering questions. I can’t imagine how many answers I have given in the domain of exams or in my career in obstetrics and gynecology. There came a time at Wesleyan where I studied for an exam, and found myself prepared to give the answers. I found the capacity to choose the moment that I was prepared to handle whatever was asked of me. I trusted that they would ask me questions that I had the right answers for. My Wesleyan experience led me to trust my abilities to handle the tasks that were ahead in medical school, and as a practicing physician, to answer requests by patients, nurses, and other medical professionals. I believe I learned not to fear making the wrong replies after four years at Wesleyan.

News from alumni: Garry Fathman is still active as a professor of medicine at Stanford. He has three children, all married and employed, and three grandchildren ages 4-6. He celebrated his 74th birthday last week and says, “All is well in my world.”

Wink Davenport: “It has been a few weeks since the Olympics have been over and I still think about them and what they mean to me. You will remember that they have been a big part of my life: Player in 1968 in Mexico, referee in 1984 in LA, and administrator in 1996 in Atlanta where my daughter, Lindsay, won her gold medal in tennis. Watching our athletes compete and win was amazing and made me proud to be a part of the games.

“This summer has been very quiet. Jay McIlroy has been in Poland with his wife for several months and won’t return until November. Louie D takes off to his place in Montana and Palm Springs. We will all get together around the election and try to figure out where our country is going. It doesn’t look too promising.”

Rusty Messing: “I have finished my second book of poetry, Midnight’s Breathing, and am very pleased with it. I am still writing and hopefully will come out with a third book sometime next year. There have been other big events in my life. Our daughter, Ali, now has a beautiful little girl, Rumi. Our son, Jake, also has a beautiful little girl, Goldie. Jake and his wife will soon be leaving their condo in Brooklyn and moving cross-country to Healdsburg. Our other two grandsons, Joe (16) and Solly (14), along with our daughter, Jeanne, are dealing with the challenges of being teenagers. My health is good (knock on wood), my mind is slower, my smile is as wide.”

Brooke Jones: “I’m retired from 30 years at Rockwell, International, and doing some part-time work with a start-up. Now doing part-time math instruction for kids at the North Orange County Community College District. My wife, Judy, and I toured Italy last year to celebrate our 51st anniversary. This year, we’ve been enjoying our children and grandchildren, who all live within a couple hours’ drive. I’m also running for the local water board to run out the bums who used the drought to raise our rates last year to 250 percent of the previous rates, with promises of more to come. See facebook.com/Jones4YLWD.

“Sadly, we lost Spurgeon Leon Robinette who died in his sleep in June. A memorial service was held in September at Triple Creek, his home for many years in Arkansas.”

Allen Ames: “I am still alive and able to sit up and take nourishment. I live in a condo in Clinton, Conn., near the water with my ADHD dog. I have renewed friendships with a number of former students through social media. I have ’swallowed the anchor’ this spring and I am boatless for the first time. I have five children, 10 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, if I am counting correctly. All are beautiful and/or handsome, talented, and brilliant.

“Finally, coach Don Russell is being inducted into the Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1960 and always related to our class of 1964. He was my freshman basketball and baseball coach and did a great job. He eventually was athletic director at the powerhouse that was and is Wesleyan sports.”

Harry Lanford has lived in Maine since 1979 and in Bangor since 2005. He retired from a career doing marine electrical and electronics for the Hinckley Company in Southwest Harbor. He married Ann Davis in 2005 and has children from an earlier marriage to Sheila Wilensky: Brook Wilensky-Lanford (married and in a PhD program in American religious history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Ethan Wilensky-Lanford (married and PhD student in anthropology at Rice). Ann and Harry enjoy traveling in a motor home.

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

In response to a plea from the Alumni Office for information, Bill McCollum e-mailed a note: “My wife, Janice, and I live in Kansas City. I retired from the practice of law three years ago. We have three children and three grandchildren.” While admiring his brevity, I thought that there might be more there so I called. He is a Blue Devils fan due to his having gone to law school at Duke and he still goes to at least one basketball game a year. He and Janice were married in 1970. After a career in childcare, she, too, retired, but they both still do volunteer work with needy children. While they have been “all over Europe” their travel now is mostly to visit their children (in Rochester, N.Y., Georgia, and D.C.) and grandchildren (two in high school, one in grade school). Bill is very interested in history and devotes a lot of energy and time in helping with the restoration and maintenance of two nearby historical houses. One is where wounded Civil War soldiers from both sides were cared for, and the other was a way station for people migrating west, way back in the really old days. From 1968 to 1970, BiIl was in the U.S. Navy. After OCS, he was trained, sent west, and served as commander of a small, really fast air-cushion craft in the Delta of South Vietnam. He left the Navy with the rank of first lieutenant.

Samuel “Bo” Grimes writes, “My wife, Sabra, and I have just been accepted for admission to a very nice retirement community called Tel Hai in Honeybrook, Pa. By a set of unexpected circumstances, we have obtained exactly the cottage we had hoped for in the community.

In December, we will move about 70 miles from our present home outside Baltimore to a small town in the Amish and Mennonite farm country halfway between Lancaster and Philadelphia. It will be a considerable change in our lives, but my younger sister has been living in the area for 10 years, which will help us to connect, and it’s close enough that we can be back in Baltimore in less than two hours. The present challenge is to clean out the house before embarking on a new life in a new place. We’ve been accumulating stuff far more than we need for the last 20 years.” Bo retired in 2012 after 49 years of teaching English and computer skills at the Gilman School in Baltimore. After graduating from Wesleyan, he got his teaching degree at Johns Hopkins. Since the draft existed then, I asked him how he’d avoided it. He said the headmaster of the Gilman School wrote a very persuasive letter to his draft board, which “convinced them that I was needed more there than as cannon fodder.” Sabra is also retired. She had worked as a scheduler at Gilman for years until she was replaced by technology. She sings in a local choir, plays the piano, and they both like music. They have two daughters who are 38 and 34. Once they get settled at Tel Hai, they will continue to travel.

Pete Smith wrote: “I think that this is probably my first communication with Wesleyan since, oh, maybe 53 years ago. I became disaffected during the craziness of the late 1960s and have not felt the urge to reconnect, though I did stop by the campus a few years ago in the late summer with nobody around at Alpha Delt. My professional life in brief: I spent 15 years in the foreign service, then moved to NASA, and retired as director of international relations in 1996 at 55. I lived in West Virginia for 22 years, then moved this summer to a smaller stone ranch house in upper Baltimore County. I’ve been married to my wife, Lynn, for 52 years this summer. We have two children, a daughter, 50, and a son, 48. Our daughter lives in Baltimore and has five children. Our son is in Charlotte with two daughters. I am still pursuing ham radio after 62 years and writing for various magazines in the field. Morse is probably my second language by now at probably 35-40 words per minute. The fascination continues to be that it’s just me, the ionosphere, and my station. No Internet, so the challenge continues.” Pete got into ham radio at 13, thanks to a radio club at his middle/high school. “My parents were quietly supportive, although there wasn’t much money for that purpose. I remember buying a second-hand Hallicrafters receiver and a Heathkit transmitter and just kept floundering around. In those days you had to know Morse for even the lowest class license, which is no longer the case for any licensing level.”

Richard Currie reports that he and “my lovely wife, Suzanne” just celebrated their 50th anniversary this year with trips to St. John, Virgin Islands, in January and a riverboat cruise up the Rhine during their anniversary month of April. And now a Trekkie alert! Their son, Tom, is working on visual effects for a new Star Trek series for CBS, while daughter Karen is stage managing for several professional companies in the D.C. area. Both visited Dick and Sue during their year-long anniversary celebration. Sue continues to work as a pastor in the greater Pittsburgh area while Dick volunteers with Meals on Wheels and Food Bank to combat hunger in the Monongahela River Valley. His food pantry received the 2016 Outstanding Agency award from the county bank office.

BYRON S. MILLER | tigr10@optonline.net
5 Clapboard Hill Rd., Westport, CT 06880

In April, Hank Fotter moved into the Elim Park Health Care Center in Cheshire, Conn., where his wife, Harriet, moved into the adjacent independent living center, Elim Park Place, a two-minute walk away. She writes that Hank started falling in October 2015, and by January 2016, he was in a wheelchair and needing around-the-clock care because of a “devastating combination of long-term physical illnesses and steadily declining cognitive abilities.” She says that Hank would enjoy receiving notes at 150 Cook Hill Road, Apt. #6110, Cheshire, CT 06410, and seeing visitors. Her cell phone number is 203-592-2733 if you’re in the area.

Bob Gause writes, “I’m still working at my first job, pediatric orthopedics, simply because I love it. Children I operated on 35 years ago return with their children and I can recall each case.” He spends time “on that same Winterport, Maine, farm” and at a camp on Moosehead Lake, and has written four fiction books. He says, “The last 75 years have been so exciting, I can’t wait to see what the second half has in store.”

Gary Wanerka was honored for his long service as a pediatrician and allergy specialist by receiving a Distinguished Service Award from the town of Branford, Conn. After his pediatric training at Yale, he served four years in the U.S. Army in Germany, and then began his practice in New Haven in 1974. He started up Branford Pediatrics and Allergy in 1982. Just like Bob Gause, he says he has many “grandpatients” and even some “great-grandpatients.” His wife, Chris, children Laura and John, and grandchildren, Trey and Reese, were present when he was presented with the award.

This year, Len Wilson was inducted into the National YMCA Hall of Fame, located on the campus of Springfield College, joining 130 other members. An interesting note: The YMCA Hall of Fame is housed in the building where basketball was invented, which had been the original YMCA training center for directors. Len has been retired for 10 years and says that he and Joyce “have settled into spending summers on the Jersey Shore with family and friends, and enjoying the rest of the year doing a little traveling away from our condo life in South Philly.” He is the first classmate to write (or admit) that he’s “caught the pickleball bug.”

And sad news on the passing in March of Dirck Westervelt in Brewster, Mass. He was retired after a long career as a psychiatric social worker. He spent two decades with the New York State Office of Mental Health, and specialized in the treatment of adolescents. He also volunteered for years as a counselor for Vietnam veterans. Our condolences to his family.

Reunion coming up: With the calendar turning to 2017, we are reminded that our 55th Reunion is coming up—May 25 to 28. Mark your calendars now, and we hope to have a good turnout once again. I hear that Len Wilson will be offering pickleball lessons.

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

“Thanks for the e-mail,” writes Eric “Swede” Wilson, “to ’nudge’ me to recall some items that may be of interest for the class notes. I am still gainfully employed in my second job as in-house counsel for a Tuscaloosa-based holding company, after retiring from the FBI after 26 years in 1989. Margaret and I continue to have good health, and she is very busy painting and volunteering for various organizations in Tuscaloosa. My daughter, Avery, is now back living in Nashville, after moves to Del Mar, Calif., and Atlanta within the last five years. My son, Eric, is still gainfully employed as an attorney in Tuscaloosa. He has one son, who will turn 13 in November. My other son, Martin, is still working in NYC, and will have his second young adult novel published by Harper Collins in 2017. So, everything is good. Looking forward to our 60th in another five years.”

Howie Morgan claims: “Not much new here. Changing home address to Florida, but Betsy and I will still be running up and down the East Coast. Kids and seven grandkids are all well. None are looking at Wesleyan. Looking forward to Reunion in 2017.”

Jack Mitchell proudly proclaims: “My grandson, Lyle Mitchell ’16, just graduated from Wesleyan and granddaughter, Dana ’18, is a junior at Wesleyan!” In addition, Jack relates: “I’m in the process of partnering with a global firm to do workshops re: personalized customer service using my Hug Your Customers book as the centerpiece. We added Mario’s stores in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash. We now have eight men’s and women’s clothing stores. It all started with Mom and Dad when we were sophomores and is led by our third generation of sons and nephews! Still having lots of family fun with Linda—married over 55 years!”

Calvin “Pete” Drayer informs us: “Sandy and I have moved into a retirement home. I am still serving as a senior judge about 10 days a month. I am saddened by the loss of members of our class and my fraternity.”

Soon after receiving Pete’s expression of grief, the loss of another classmate was sent to your class secretary. William N. Schultz, a former Navy man and a graduate of Westtown Quaker School in Pennsylvania prior to his attendance at Wesleyan, died on Aug. 6. Bill worked as an art and antique appraiser in Philadelphia, and was a Philadelphia Eagles and jazz enthusiast.

News from Foster Morrison: “I have a little consulting job editing the maps for a biography of a Liberty Ship captain. Those vessels were mass-produced in WWII to move masses of material to the European theater. Captains and crews were trained PDQ. When the war was over, most of the ships were scrapped and the captains and crews had to find other work. But it all ended the Great Depression by putting much of the foreign competition, specifically Japan and Germany, out of business for a while. So we’re back there again, but with a China converted to capitalism of a sort.”

Foster continues, “I actually worked for two mapping agencies, but know little about making maps; mostly I programmed computers using Fortran, which looks kind of like algebra instead of zeroes and ones (binary numbers). Fortran converts the algebra to the binary numbers, but other computer languages have largely displaced it after all these decades. But with PCs you can now run your computer jobs every few minutes instead of once a day on those huge machines that cost millions of dollars.”

Respectfully submitted,

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