Class Notes | 1960s

We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we danced, we told stories and said things about ourselves not said before—in short, it was an extraordinary Reunion!

Many thanks to the committee who put it all together and to the 93 classmates—a 50th Reunion attendance record—who returned to our beloved campus.

The university honored a number of our own:

Hugh Wilson: Distinguished Alumnus Award for his remarkable achievements as a mathematician, philosopher, biologist, chemist, physicist, researcher and professor.
Mark Edmiston: Outstanding Service Award for his many years of service to Wesleyan as a trustee and alumni association leader.

Rob Abel, Don Crampton, and John Hall: Wesleyan Service Award for sustained service to the college as fundraisers, alumni club leaders, donors and admission volunteers.

Joseph’s Robe, the ’65 award for meritorious service to the class, was presented to: Gary and the Wombats (John Dunton, Steve Flance, Brooke Jones ’64, Leon Robinette ’64 and Richard Smith), and to Reunion juggernauts Dave Dinwoodey and Bob Barton. (To further sway the judges’ votes in their favor, The Wombats put on a spirited performance on Friday night and we all danced like it was 1965 once again!)

The festivities, which began on Thursday, featured a nice mix of seminars, time for socializing and sports (some of us played golf, tennis, and basketball), and space in the schedule just to relax and walk the expanded and beautiful campus. We also had three enjoyable banquets: a Kickoff Reception/Dinner on Thursday evening; the President’s Reception/Dinner in our honor on Friday, featuring Michael Roth’s ’78 remarks on the state of the University and his vision for its future; and Saturday’s celebratory Class Dinner with Professors Anne and Nathaniel Greene, and Wendy and Karl Scheibe; Coach Don Russell and his son, Andy; long-time administrator John Driscoll ’62 and his wife Gina; and special guest, Linda Burton, widow of Mike Burton.

Seminars and panels featuring the ’65 family included: “Butterfield 2020” organized by Bob Barton, which explored the reasons Wesleyan went from one of the wealthiest colleges in the country to the verge of financial crisis in the 10 years after we graduated.
“Our Times” was an interactive discussion among classmates moderated by Tony Schuman concerning the turmoil of the ’60s—the civil rights movement, Vietnam, the social revolution—and its influence on our lives.

“Skills for the New Economy,” a WESeminar organized by Kirt Mead examined the skills that Wesleyan grads will need in a new economy dominated by technology and rapid change. Presenters included Kirt, who consults throughout the United States and Europe on business leadership and strategic planning, and Molly Barton ’00 (Bob’s daughter), who is a leader in digital publishing.

“Architect as Artisan and Community Activist,” was a WESeminar presented by Steve Badanes regarding his decades of work in community-based architecture and design. Steve is a noted speaker, author, itinerant designer/builder and the Howard S. Wright Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington.

“Global Warming: What the World’s Climate Scientists and Policy Leaders Now Know, Fear, Hope and Plan,” moderated by Bill Blakemore, featured classmate Jerry Melillo, along with Wes Professor Gary Yohe, a leading climate-impact economist. Bill began writing about global warming for ABC News in 2004, and Jerry chaired all three government National Climate Assessments and served as environmental adviser to the President.

(In this regard, a number of classmates attended an informal meeting afterward to discuss ways to encourage University initiatives, such as focusing endowment investments in cleaner energy rather than fossil fuel companies. For more information, please contact Woody Sayre; Robert.Sayre@u-pem.fr

Another major highlight were the three “’65 WesShorts” sessions designed for classmates—scripted or not—to speak briefly about their lives, professions, passions, families, and reflections on their Wesleyan experience. They were organized and moderated by Bob Barton, Hugh Wilson and Tony Schuman and were extremely varied and entertaining. (Most of them were filmed and will be available to the class online—details to be announced.)

Ron Young came back and spoke several times with eloquence and passion. Ron left Wesleyan to pursue a career in civil rights, world peace, religion, and education. He developed a lifelong relationship with Professor John Maguire and met the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on numerous occasions. Here are excerpts from a message he sent to the class following the Reunion: “Warm thanks for welcoming me in the class, despite my not graduating until 1986…. Connecting and reconnecting with many of you, experiencing Wesleyan’s wonderfully diverse community, learning in the Wes Seminars…. listening to the WesShorts…were incredible and very emotional for me. Reading the Remembrances about guys I knew and others I didn’t brought tears…

“Given how significantly my taking off from Wesleyan affected my life, I don’t regret what I did, but I do have a much deeper personal appreciation for what I missed.”

Ron wrote a memoir concerning his work in support of civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam War and efforts to foster peace among Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, entitled Crossing Boundaries in the Americas, Vietnam and the Middle East.

In addition to the Reunion committee, individual kudos to: Rob Abel and Bob Barton for producing a marvelous 50th Reunion class book;

David Dinwoodey, editor, and the many contributors for their efforts in putting together the touching Remembrances booklet containing personal memories of deceased classmates;

Don Crampton for his tireless and long-time work on the class’s support of the Wesleyan Fund and his committee, for their efforts, as well;

Hal Gorman, Bill Knox, Mike Maloney and Hugh Wilson for their donations of some truly fine wine for our enjoyment throughout the weekend;

Peter Kelman, expert in Web communications, who spearheaded the critical effort to locate lost classmates and to urge all to attend.

Now, thanks to Peter’s ongoing wizardry, coupled with Bob Barton’s wes65stories website, we are well-positioned to build on the relationships renewed and begun at our 50th. And, later this summer, all of us will receive the Class Book Addendum, and those who missed Reunion will also receive the tribute to deceased classmates and Peter Whiteley’s fabulous ’60s CD. (Thank you, Peter! I listen to it all the time!)

This will not be our last class gathering or Reunion! We have a great opportunity to continue to make new friendships, renew old ones and engage each other in beneficial ways for years to come. So, save Nov. 6–7 (Homecoming), the dates for our next get together. Details to follow!

Here I go again, putting together class notes for another issue of our alumni magazine. Where will my thoughts take me, and in keeping with the “this is why” at Wesleyan, I’m looking at our class, a half-century removed from undergraduates, to lend some perspectives to the conversation. I would like to believe that we were led into our future by Wesleyan to have integrity, responsibility, and generosity in the various domains of our lives. I have been back to each Reunion and have been recording my notes on a quarterly basis so that I declare our mission accomplished.

There is a broad range of contribution to the world when you look at the paths we all followed. I’m thinking of our 50th Reunion class book and what was shared about life after graduation. I’m impressed by the physicians, lawyers, judges, and politicians who emerged from the “storied halls;” educators, philosophers, business leaders, and activists who transformed the lives of others.

Recently, I looked at the addendum to the class book and reviewed the comments of Norman Daniels, Richard T. Smith, Jr. (Chip), Joel J. Johnson, The Honorable Frederick J. Motz and Oliver E. Wood Jr. (Chips). Norm Daniels and Chip Smith took the path of social justice in theory and application to the leaders at Harvard University, in Norman’s case, and the labor workforce and union concerns in Chip’s world. Norman studied psychology and philosophy at Oxford for two years. Chip received a degree in economics from Temple University.

Fred Motz graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1967 and spent time as an assistant United States attorney, followed by working in a law firm in Baltimore. In 1985 he was appointed a United States District Judge in Maryland by President Reagan and continues to serve his community.

Joel Johnson was originally in the class of 1964 and didn’t graduate until 1965 when his CSS project was extended one year. He spent two years at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. He would be a source of interesting perception in the world of commerce, having worked for the federal government—State Department, Treasury, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, participating in such activities as UN conferences on Trade and Development. He eventually left government employment and focused on international aspects of aerospace and defense trade and industrial cooperation.

Chips Wood got an MBA in international business at the Wharton School, went to Navy OCS training in Newport, R.I., and served for three years. He joined the Levi Strauss International Division and eventually rose to regional general manager, Asia. He later formed Wood Consulting International to assist companies entering foreign markets, including an enterprise in Russia.

We didn’t have women in our class, but in reviewing the notes on our wives, there is a powerful group of ladies who have been most valuable: Chip Smith’s wife, Kim, a neurosurgeon; Fred Motz’s spouse, an appellate court judge; Norman Daniels’, a neuropsychologist; and Chips Wood, a botanical artist.

Norman Daniels came away from Wesleyan wanting to learn theory acceptance in science.

Joel Johnson remembers Vic Butterfield’s advice to have four exciting years at Wesleyan but not the best years of our lives. Chip Smith was amazed at how much he learned after the first month of freshman year and the intellectual habits he developed. Fred Motz “being grateful not so much for the knowledge that was imparted to me, but for being taught to try to ask good questions.” For myself, I learned to trust my ability to be taught and took on four years at Albany Medical School and earned an MD degree. At Wesleyan I also learned how to be a catcher on the baseball diamond, giving me the tools to be an obstetrician and “catch” thousands of babies.

Tucker Andersen is semi-retired as an investment consultant. While he and his wife, Karen live in Warren, Conn., he spends two-and-a-half days a week in NYC doing consulting work. Karen was the UConn Master Gardener Coordinator for Litchfield County, Conn., for six years. She is now retired and concentrates on enjoying her garden, their dogs and their rural, 200-acre property. In their woods there is an abundance of wild life—coyote, deer, mountain lions (no tigers) and black bears. (Oh, my!) He’s seen two of the latter. Since mountain lions are solitary animals and it wasn’t breeding season and the two he saw seemed somewhat small, he thinks they were juvenile siblings. Tucker is about to retire from the Wes U Board of Trustees but will stay on the investment committee, which will entail his meeting on campus four times a year, as well as joining monthly conference calls for updates. Living in the “wilds”, he’s become “not a real birder” but is beginning to recognize some birds. The Andersens travel via a destination club—Exclusive Resorts which means they can go to wonderful locations—Newport, Kiawah Island, Tuscany, the Caribbean Islands, to name some they visited—and stay in luxurious accommodations. Tucker has run 40 marathons, including the Boston marathon twice. And while he had an entry for the ’13 Boston Marathon, fortunately due to a medical issue he did not run. He did run in it this year. His best time ever was in the NYC Marathon way back in ’78 when he ran a 3:32.43. And in ’13, two months to the day after a robotic prostatectomy, he very slowly completed the NYC Marathon. Happily his last two PSA tests have shown undetectable levels. He organized a mini KNK reunion at Wes U, which Don Sexton and Dave Buddington attended. A non-KNK attendee was John Kikoski, who just happened to be on campus and joined after walking into the room looking for someone else. Tucker and Karen have two adult daughters. Heather uses their Connecticut and NYC homes when not leading bicycle tours for adventure cycling or traveling, and Kristen (Wes U ’95), who lives in Denver, Colo., is a published author of I Never Intended to be Brave, a memoir of her solo bicycle journey through southern Africa.

After many years in New England, David Youngblood has lived for almost 30 years in Lexington, Ky. When I asked him why he moved south, his reply was simple: “I was chasing a lovely woman who is now my wife.” That lady would be Ellen Rosenman who, unlike David, is not yet retired. She is a professor at the Univ. of Kentucky and is writing a book. Her teaching and writing keep her very busy. David taught English for 20 years at Newton South High School in Newton, Mass., (10 years as department chair), and then, once in Kentucky, for another 29 years (23 as department chair) at Sayre School in Lexington. There he generally taught seniors, always an AP class or two, the other grades in English one time or another, and creative writing now and then. When I talked to David in June he had only been retired for five days and was “quite new at it.” But both being teachers, they’d generally had summers off and liked traveling. For their 25th anniversary, they drove the length of New Zealand, north to south. It’s a long way to go and they were eager to see it all. So while it was endlessly spectacular with lovely view after lovely view, in the end they were pretty worn out in that they had not given themselves much time to just stop and rest. Now they factor that into their travels. The Youngbloods have two daughters, one adopted. Ardilla is at V.C.U. in Richmond, Va., studying interior design, and Lizzie, who went to Vassar, works for a NGO in D.C. Both are 26. David still plays some tennis and stays in touch with John Vinton and wondered what had become of Larry Shultes. (Spoiler alert: I will find out for the next notes.) He recounted a vivid memory of his Wes U days: “I was racing back and forth through the halls having a snowball fight with other freshmen when a very irate student jumped out of his room where he had been trying to study and punched me in the eye.” Naturally, being a psychotherapist, I asked him in an understanding and empathetic manner, what he’d learned from that. And naturally, being a teacher, he responded assertively that he’d learned never to throw snowballs in dormitory hallways again.”

From Chambersburg, Pa., David Brill reports that he has been retired for four years from his medical practice in radiology and nuclear medicine. His wife, Elizabeth, to whom he has been married for 11 years, is also retired from being an editor for a religious book publisher. They do some traveling and had a wonderful cruise on the Danube River to celebrate his retirement. They have also visited Tuscany. But he has a special fondness for the American West, where he loves to bird watch. He has introduced Elizabeth to bird watching, which she enjoys but not with quite the passion he has for it. (As I am a birder, too, we talked birding a lot.) He got into birding when on a trip to the Galápagos Islands, he met J.J. Hickey, a renowned American birder who was on the same cruise. Once he learned of Hickey’s credentials, he approached him and they talked birding. From that talk, David said he learned a lot about identifying birds and became interested in getting into birding. As for being retired, he goes to the gym and some Bible studies but mostly he calls himself “a self employed dilettante,” by which he means that what he likes best is just doing whatever he wants—and that is learning about many things that he could not pursue when he was working. He reads very widely in scientific areas outside of his own, especially in the natural sciences. He also likes history and art. He describes many of his days as involving sleeping, getting up, eating, reading and then reading some more. He says that is a payoff from a liberal education, a desire to keep learning. Also he recalled that he had an intellectual inferiority complex coming to WesU from a public school. He thought that he’d be way behind the prep school guys. Unfortunately he did feel overwhelmed and that lasted for about three years until he was told he was the top guy in the bottom quarter of the class. This seemed to fire him up and he says he began to strive to “catch up” and he had a good senior year. After graduation he kept on “catching up” and continued to do so long after others had gotten to wherever their level of satisfaction was and started resting. He never “rested.” That helped him go far in his career and appears to be continuing.

RON TALLMAN from t. Augustine , FL said that right now the big excitement is that one of his daughters from his previous marriage, Kelly Clements has just been appointed Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees for the UN. She started her career in government way back as a Presidential Intern with Pres. George H. W. Bush and now this. She will be moving to Geneva. He has a second daughter, Jennifer who teaches elementary school in SC and between the two he has 5 grandchildren, ages 8-20. Ron retired at a. 61 due to health reasons and it was then that he and his wife, Noel moved from Chicago to St. Augustine, FL. He developed Cervical Dystonia which limits his physical activities more and more now. Prior to his retirement he had been Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Roosevelt University, Chicago. Three years ago Noel also retired. she had owned her own ad agency. He’s not sure how the got into it, but they really like going on cruises. The went to Tahiti last year and will go to the Open in the UK this year and then cruise way up the Norwegian coast, perhaps even encountering the newly emboldened Russian navy. And in the Fall they will go to Lisbon and then cruise in the in the Mediterranean. He has fond memories of their exciting encounter with the tail end of a fierce hurricane in the N. Atlantic. Ron played #3 on the WESU golf team but due to his physical ailments, now thinks his golfing days may be ended. He also remembers that he “kind of lost track” academically and being young and “seeking adventure”, he and JOHN BURT (initially of ’64 but eventually of ’65) left WESU Jan. ’62 for Europe and returned Nov. ’62. (Dean Barlow told them he was sure they’d never return to WESU.) They visited pretty much most of Europe, drank “a 1000 bottles of wine, hundreds of bottles of beer and there were all those young ladies to befriend”. The last month of their European jaunt they lived on “.50 cents a day room and board”. A surprised but pleased Dean Barlow readmitted them and he found his lost academic track and actually graduated with the class of ’64. “But I identify with the class of ’63” says he. Ron then went to the University of Maine, got a Ph.D. in Canadian history and eventually became the director of the Canadian-American Center of the Univ. of Maine where he created the largest Canadian Studies program in the US (and the world outside of Canada) with up to 1,200 students per year enrolled in various courses. He was also president of the Assoc. for Canadian Studies in the US for two years as well as a founder and for many years, a board member of the International Council for Canadian Studies which allowed him to travel and lecture around the world.

Appearing for the first time in these notes in decades SKIP SHORT, living in Hamden, CT, has had a very interesting career or rather, careers. Not at all sure what he wanted to do for in life for his first three years at WESU, he took an inventory of his likes and found four areas of interest(1) artistic/scientific problems, (2)construction [“as a kid I was fascinated by construcion sites”], (3)analytic challenges and (4)people. So he decided that architecture would include all those interests and hustled to take courses (especially math) that he’d not needed before and after graduation, enrolled in Yale’s architectural program from which he graduated. While there he began to buy and renovate rundown buildings. And along the way met his first wife who became the property manager for what turned into almost 180 units. Eventually he became very tired of the renovation work so when he and his wife divorced he sold her his half of the units which she owns to this day and which their two children, Matthew, a 36 and Sarah, a. 31 now manage. For the first 20 years after graduation he worked for an architectural firm in New Haven. he eventually left and opened his own private practice for 15 years. But while he really liked dealing with clients, he did not like hassling with contractors or building inspectors and at age 50, walked way from the field. Wondering what to do, he noticed that his bookcase was filled with body/mind books. He decided to take a course in massage therapy at the CT Center for Massage Therapy. He liked it and learned the Trager method of massage which he practiced along with some more conventional methods from his early 50s up to three years ago. He now does a lot of volunteer work. With his architectural knowledge, he is very useful to and active on his 120 unit condo board. He is also very involved in a peer to peer counseling group in CT and an officer of the CT Butterfly Assoc. He recalled that he and ED FINEBERG used to relax while at WESU birdwatching in woods up towards Long Lane School. Skip married his wife Deborah in “01. She is an RN and is a Unit Manager in a Dementia unit.

Travel seems to be the theme for our brief class notes this issue. Bruce Corwin reports that he is renting a house in southern Spain for the entire Corwin family, including nine children and grandchildren, to celebrate his 75th. Apparently family togetherness only goes so far, because he and Toni are following that with a seven-day cruise on their own from Athens to Venice.

Bill Everett and Sylvia this year toured ancient monuments on the Nile. In addition to seeing the Great Pyramid and the temple of Abu Simbel, they joined Egyptian archaeology expert Zahi Hawass in exploring ancient village and tomb sites. They then went on to Cyprus where he continues to work conserving the Skouriotissa copper mine where his grandfather worked and his mother lived as a girl. In non-travel news, his book Sawdust and Soul: A Conversation about Woodworking and Spirituality was published this year.

Finally, Steve Trott reports that Steve Butts and Marian spent three to four months in Paris. No word on whether he made it across the pond for some Irish folk music jam sessions. Steve recently was awarded the Idaho State Bar Association’s first Distinguished Jurist Award.

If anyone has any other tales of memorable 75th birthday celebrations this year, we’d love to see them in the next issue.

We were welcomed to our 55th Reunion by the sound of the bells of old South College. Dave Potts presented a WESeminar, “Only Yesterday? Wesleyan in the ’60s,” that was based on his recently published book, Wesleyan University, 1910-1970: Academic Ambition and Middle-Class America. At the Wesleyan assembly and annual meeting of the Alumni Association, Dave received the James L. McConaughy Jr. Award, which recognizes a member of the Wesleyan family whose writing conveys unusual insight and understanding of current and past events. In his acceptance speech in the chapel, Dave pointed out the stained-glass windows that commemorate past presidents and important benefactors to the university.

Myles Standish received a Distinguished Alumnus Award for his accomplishments at the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he created and continually improved high-accuracy planetary ephemerides (orbital positions) that are vital to the successful navigation of planetary spacecraft. Those ephemerides are now the world’s standard, providing data to virtually all of the national almanac offices, astronomical researchers, and observatories.

At our class banquet, I led the singing of “Sentimental Journey,” which captured our feelings about attending the Reunion. That was followed by “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight” which reminded us of those fabulous party weekends. The singing of some traditional Wesleyan songs was a fitting ending to the banquet. My thanks to Charlie Smith and Brittany Richard, our liaison on the Wesleyan campus, for all their planning that made it a successful 55th Reunion.

On the day after the class banquet, my extended family had a reunion in Cromwell at the home of my niece, Liz Pulling. With both college and family reunions, it was a memorable trip to Connecticut.

Find Darius Brubeck’s latest CD, Cathy’s Summer, on Viperrecords or CDBaby. “Am attending the South African Jazz Educators’ Conference. Following are gigs in UK and Europe for my London-based quartet. Granddaughter Lydia Elmer ’17 is a junior at Wesleyan.”

Mike Fink wrote, “Youngest daughter is doing well at U. of South Carolina, heading toward an athletic training major. She is passionate about training and sports injury research.”

Peter Pfeiffer said, “After 40-plus years of logging Maine’s woods, I’ve found a way to make money at it: write about it. Hard Chance, Tree Farming in Troubled Times. mainauthorspublishing.com. Five-star review from Nick Browning. Haven’t quit my day job, though this waist-deep snow is slowing me down.”

John Bach paints houses, is the Quaker chaplain at Harvard, and is proud of Wes’s lead in providing scholarships for vets. “I bang the drum of not confusing learning with education; it’s more important to be a good person than just a good student.” Eric Michaels retired from 37 years as a lawyer and baby-sits full-time for two toddler grandkids. Al Cover officially retired from teaching at Stony Brook U. “The dean made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I didn’t.”

Ron Reisner wrote, “Saw old Dekes at the Herb Kenny Tourney in November—Dick Emerson ’68, Steve Knox, Pat Kelly, and Dave Revenaugh ’72. Want a bigger group at the basketball/golf outing in June. We mourn Dave Crockett’s death, who, along with roommate Rick Peace, always found humor in whatever temporary trouble confronted the Deke House. Some minor surgery corrected a vision problem—I learned about real friends when the wheels started to come off.”

Russ Helgren “had a great weekend in Harbour Town, N.C., with six buddies from Fairfield, including George Amarant. Ostensibly a golf weekend, George, a non-golfer, was designated cart driver. I split time between Virginia Beach and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Life is good.”

Cilla, Isak, and Rick Pedolsky sent “Health, Happiness, and Peace.”

The East Hampton (N.Y.) Star reviewed Rameshwar Das’s new book, Polishing the Mirror, a collaboration with Ram Dass, which recounts experiences with Maharaj-ji. The book’s simple statements offer an alternate way of looking at life and its purpose. Ramesh wrote, “Quiet the mind and open the heart. Create a daily spiritual practice—polish the mirror. Meditation, recitation of a mantra, reflection, chanting, and silence are recommended. Embrace aging and dying. Open your heart to unconditional love, serve selflessly, accept fear and suffering.”

Steve Pfeiffer checked in from Johannesburg.

Visit Tom Goodman at tomgoodman.com.

Eric Greene wrote, “I’m at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show to buy inventory. Eighty degrees while shop in the Berkshires is buried in snow.”

Doug Bell wrote, “Grasslands continues to grow. Three new partners with years of agriculture, forestry, and financial experience. The global appetite for farmland and forests is accelerating. We have solutions in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. I failed retirement. Life is an exciting ride right now. Carolyn and I are in our 20th year and still love the dance, passionately. Lucky guy I am. Blessings to all.”

Harry Nothacker “finished 12/40 (third American) in the 65-69 age group at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. It was hot and windy. I started training when I retired and the rest, they say, is history. Many folks helped, including roommate Dave Farrar, who was my support person when I swam across the Chesapeake this past summer.”

Mike Fairchild “traveled with son Scott ’00. Wild rickshaw rides, tigers in the Ranthambore National Park, cremation ceremonies along the Ganges. Wife Susie continues dancing at libraries, hospitals, country fairs, nursing homes. I photograph public ceremonies and recently produced videos on Christ’s life for St. John’s Church in Cold Spring Harbor. Daughter Marnie works for Amnesty International. She observed in Ferguson, and we worked together at an Amnesty event in NYC that featured women speaking on behalf of human rights and freedom of speech.”

Steve Broker wrote, “George Creeger taught us how to read critically. His analysis of Billy Budd was an eye-opener for a young boy from Ohio and Virginia. After MLK’s death, George walked into class and read ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.’ No introduction or conclusion, one of the most powerful moments I experienced as an undergrad. I took his ‘Early Connecticut House’ when working for the GLSP. His knowledge of architecture was extraordinary. Few teachers had as much lasting impact as did George Creeger.”

Jim Adkins had a “great Christmas. So much family at son’s house in New Hampshire—eight people, five dogs, and everyone got sick. Still work three half-days—trying to find the right balance.”

Alex Knopp “chairs Connecticut’s US Civil Rights Commission, is involved with Sheff vs. O’Neill, and lectures at Yale Law School. Wife Bette retired after many years as a language arts teacher in Norwalk.”

Gordy Crawford wrote, “I lost a great long-term friend when Davy Crockett passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Till the end, he traveled, was with family and friends, golfed, maintained a good spirit, was a fighter, and we all miss him. After a long time at Capital Research and Management, I do some board work, golf, fly fish, and travel with Dona.”

Mid-February. Intersections obscured by snow piles. Shovel. Eat. Sleep. Packing for SC and Abby and Benton’s birthdays. “Papa Charlie” loves it.

CHArLIE FARROW | charlesfarrow@comcast.net
1 Cold Spring Rd., East Haddam, CT 06423

I spoke to Dave Webb last summer: very busily retired on Cape Cod after 42 years at Choate. One of the kindest guys in our class, it is no surprise that he volunteers at Hospice two days a week. Barb is volunteering at a couple of libraries and arts venues, and both are in several book clubs. Dave is auditing courses at a community college—trying for fluency in French. They have a son (and daughter-in-law) nearby who own two successful restaurants and they care for two grandchildren regularly. And they’re traveling: a Viking cruise on the Danube, two months in Florida in the winter, and lots more local trips. One thing they regretted about their careers at Choate was that they were not able to live in their own home, so while many of us are shedding ours, they’re now enjoying theirs. Dave is in touch with Ron Gwiazda ’67 whose career was in education, mostly at Boston Latin, and with Hank Sprouse ’62 who, with his wife, will be traveling with Dave and Barb on the Danube.

In September, Wallace Murfit came East, chartered a 40-foot sloop and sailed the upper Narragansett Bay and out to the Vineyard. Judy and I spent a week in October in the Czech Republic. I love Europe but, as my walking is quite limited due to tendinopathy, it was frustrating hobbling around the cobblestones. Planning a mid-winter get-away to Nassau. Amby Burfoot finished 11th out of 1,787 entrants in the 65-69 division of the 4.8 mile Thanksgiving Day Manchester Road Race. Dave Losee had a trifecta in 2014: ably chaired his high school reunion in June, had his son, Jamie, get married in July, and had successful open-heart surgery in September.

I heard from Bill Beeman: In January, he joined actor Tony Randall and Senator James Inhofe in Tulsa Central High School’s Hall of Fame. Bill is chair of the anthropology department at the University of Minnesota, and is noted for his research on neuroscience and cognition in conjunction with music and theatrical performance, as well as his expertise in the understanding of cultures of the Middle East and their influence on international affairs. Last June, he married Frank Farris, a MIT graduate, who is a mathematician teaching at Santa Clara University in California. They’ve been long-distance partners for 30 years.

Michael Wolfe’s Cut These Words Into My Stone: Ancient Greek Epitaphs was shortlisted for the prestigious PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2013. Paul Spitzer was in the pulpit a couple of times last summer sharing with congregations his transcendent feeling for nature. In November, Brian Frosh’s campaign to be Maryland’s attorney general was successful. I heard from John Stinchfield ’69: in Washington, D.C., recently retired after a long stint as general counsel for a real estate/development firm and now volunteering in a preschool class in which the head teacher is his daughter.

It is my sad duty to report that John Hollenbach passed away April 4th. After Wes, John earned a master’s in architecture from Harvard. He moved to Vermont in 1973 and headed several firms that did both design and construction of commercial and residential buildings in the Champlain Valley. He and his wife, Beth Philips, raised their children, Jake and Liz, in an old North Ferrisburgh farmhouse. Always a hands-on dad who hiked, biked, canoed, and skied with his kids, John took great pleasure every spring planting a vegetable garden laid out with architectural precision. He was an enthusiastic bird hunter, loved sports on TV, enjoyed good beer, and competed in the Sugarbush Triathlon. In 2000, John and Beth moved to Bangladesh where they worked at the American International School/Dhaka (AISD), and John renovated and expanded AISD, and created exciting educational spaces. In 2006, they moved to Cairo where John headed up the design and construction of a new campus for Cairo American College, a K–12 school. During 2011 and 2012, John worked for the International School of Kuala Lumpur, overseeing the development of a new campus. He thrived working in these new, and very challenging, cultural and construction environments. His obituary noted the obvious: “John’s was a life well-lived.”

As he was my mate on the crew and a good friend, it is with particular sadness that I report Davey Crockett ’69 died of pancreatic cancer in Seattle Nov. 24th. His career was in international finance and he lived in Switzerland, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. While overseas, he raised his children, David and Cordy, and made many friends in the expat community. Visiting more than 100 countries all over the globe in his lifetime, Davey’s travels were often motivated by a desire to visit old friends, better understand history, and discover how places had changed since he was last there. He had an abiding faith in God, and loved golf, running, rowing and his place on Vashon Island. There he grew raspberries, potatoes, roses, rhubarb, apples, pears, plums, and more. He made jars of jam and applesauce and eventually started brewing beer and making wine using the fruits he had grown. In college, he might have seemed like the brawling defensive tackle that he was. But when Judy and I visited, he met us at the airport and most graciously showed us about. We saw him with his son and daughter, and we talked about the death of his first wife, Taffy, and how he had cared for her at the end. He grilled us salmon and we had a salad from his garden. There were flowers at our bedside. He felt very fortunate to live the life he did and especially to meet Kitty Lee, a wonderful woman with whom he shared a very happy second marriage. Indeed, despite his dire prognosis, they had been able to enjoy a lovely cruise in the Mediterranean just weeks before his passing.

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

I’ve continued to receive e-mails about memories of Wesleyan people and events, as well as current life experiences. Here’s some more…

Don Stone, who celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary with his wife, Betty, not long ago, lives in the Bay Area, with two grown children and two granddaughters within 15 minutes (“it doesn’t get any better than that!”). For more than 25 years he has been active in a Jewish Renewal community in Oakland (Kehilla Synagogue) and he continues to work part time at St. Mary’s College, a Catholic Lasallian Christian Brothers liberal arts institution 10 miles east of Oakland.

Jim Vaughan retired from a health care investment banking firm at the end of last year but signed up to teach The Business of Health Care course in 2015 to MPA students at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. He is president of the Board of Trustees of the Frost Valley YMCA (“the largest independent Y camp in the U.S. and arguably the best”). In the small-world department, Mike Ketcham recently joined the Board. Mike had retired as senior executive at a YMCA in the state of Washington and had previously worked at the Frost Valley Y. Cheng Ong ’94 is also on the Frost Valley Board.

Jim Kates’ book of translations of selected poems of Mikhail Yeryomin won the second Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation in 2013 and was published in the fall of 2014 by White Pine Press. Jim also encourages me to inform you that the Wesleyan Progressive Alumni/ae Network (WesPAN) has been revived on Facebook.

Bob Runk discovered some digital home music studio software and has become obsessed (his term, not mine) with writing and producing music. He has a music site, which is called The Runkus Room (bobrunk.com). What’s he do? “Probably the most fun I have had so far is doing… are you ready?… a rap video with a great guy named Jeff Kitt (cousin to Eartha!). What a blast: youtube.com/watch?v=q4Qv4w8hTgs”

Bill Klaber wrote: “My book, The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell, that was published last year by ‘indie’ publisher Greenleaf Book Group, has been purchased by St. Martin’s Press in New York, and will re-debut as a St. Martin’s book in February [2015]. It has also won a few minor awards including a Stonewall Book Award for a book with gay/lesbian content, an Amelia Bloomer Award for a book with feminist content, and a Shelf Unbound Award as one of the ‘notable’ indie books of the year. That and a buck-fifty will get you a ride on the subway.”

Jim Sugar’s film, Swimming: Mind, Body, Spirit, was selected by the California Film Institute for inclusion in the 2014 Mill Valley Film Festival. He spends a lot of time these days “seeing, writing, producing, directing, and editing movies.” When he wrote, he was “halfway done with a film on the return of harbor porpoises to San Francisco Bay after a 60-year absence.”

Bruce Morningstar and his wife, Katie, live in what he calls “Paradise, Rosarito, Baja, Mexico,” about which he says, “It is Florida on the water without that horrible humidity, and no hurricanes.” My comment: Watch out, Bruce, for Don Henley has warned us, “Call someplace paradise—kiss it good-bye.” They visited Wesleyan in Oct. 2014, when his father, Joe Barry Morningstar ’39, was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame (his father won eight letters in three sports—football, basketball, and baseball). Their son, Kris, a chef for 12 years, just opened his first restaurant, in West Hollywood, called Terrine.

My college roomie, Steve Sellers, continues to live in Lexington, Mass., and work with SmartCloud, a start-up software company that provides energy planning services to various municipalities in New England but also elsewhere in the USA and abroad. It all happens in the cloud (smartcloudinc.com).

Jim Cawse, who holds 28 patents and has written many articles and a book, has added a blog to the website (cawseandeffect.com/chemistry-research/) for his consulting business, Cawse and Effect LLC. (“Experimental Design for Highly Productive Chemistry”). In February he did his first Webinar (“Effective Experimental Planning to Get the Most out of Your Freeslate Tools”).

And, finally, some sad news. Our classmate, Steve Hass, died at his home in Parkesburg, Pa., on July 31, 2014. Steve was married for 37 years to his wife, Jean, and had four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. After majoring in chemistry at Wesleyan, Steve did post-graduate work in accounting at Drexel and Penn. He then became self-employed as an accountant. Donations in his honor may be made to The Jackson Laboratory, Development Office, and P. O. Box 254, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609.

Richie Zweigenhaft | rzweigen@guilford.edu

Aloha, all. As you read this I hope the rebirth of the summer sun is emerging on all of you. Remember those first days of warmth lounging on the roofs of our respective fraternity houses and balconies? Great days! We send congratulations to Bill Dietz who last year assumed the new position of director of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. At a time when most of us are thinking of retiring, Bill is taking on new challenges and we all wish him well in this position. Prior to this, Bill served 15 years as the director of US DHHS’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity in Atlanta. I want to thank Bill personally for the times we talked and his interests in issues around obesity relating to Native Hawaiian health.

Tom Pulliam checked in and reported having had a great time here in Hawai’i with his family. He noted that his wife, Alice, first surprised him with the Hawai’i trip on his birthday last November and then his daughter, Amanda, surprised him further by getting the whole family to come. Tom noted his grandchildren, Even and Jay, became riders of “shorebreak” at the Banzai Pipeline (better than most of us!) and that both play Under 8 rugby under the watchful eyes of their coach—who is none other than “Grandpa Tom.”

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of another of our ’66 brethren, Robin Burns. Robin was a KNK brother, a Thorndike Scholar graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and a member of Wesleyan’s Yachting Club for all four years. Robin received his MA from Columbia University’s School of Architecture and then joined the City of New York’s Department of Design and Construction where he worked for four decades to improve the design of public buildings in NYC. “He was a good and caring man, taken too soon” (NY Times, 2/8/15). All our thoughts go out to Robin’s wife, Rena, and daughter, Jenny. Rena noted: “Robin and I had a good long run—42 years since we met and 38 years of marriage. We had a great love, and we left nothing unsaid.” Wish that we all have these same experiences and remembrances.”

As you read this, we are now only about a year away from our 50th! Can you believe that? I want to report that your 50th Committee headed up by Rick Crootof is already hard at work to make this a wonderful memorable experience for all. Frank Burrows is putting together our class book, ably assisted by Jack Knapp. Our university coordinator is Pam Vasiliou; her assistant is Nicola Bennett.

Both are working diligently on our behalf and we thank them for joining us in this effort. So…all of you—beginning with Tony Alibrio and concluding with John Zywna…whether you were KNK, CC, EQV, Chi Psi, DKE, AD, JWC Psi U, Gamma Psi, Beta, or Independents or non-aligned, please put on your calendars next year’s 50th, as we want to see you all. For we need to keep alive the wonderful, and sometimes sad, events of our Wes experiences…from the food fights in the Foss Hill dining hall (remember those flying baked potatoes and butter rolls?); to Dean Baisch joining us at our House Parties; to our memorable “road trips” to Vassar, Holyoke, Wellesley, Smith, Sarah Lawrence, and, yes, even to the New Haven School of Nursing and the Connecticut College for Women; to Tom Gulick’s “Miracle Interception” at Trinity; to “Dirty River Days”; to the linking of arms and joining with Dr. Martin Luther King in the dining hall singing “We Shall Overcome,” to listening to Wilbert Snow’s poetry; and to the tragic loss of President Kennedy. And we built upon all of this because of the confidence exuded in us by Bob Norwine (“Mahalo,” John Driscoll ’62) that we could become Wes Men and with the help of all our teachers and mentors under the guidance of Vic Butterfield we became Wes Men and, today, have become the wonderful potpourri of people that we are today. So Classmates, stay tuned for more info. Remember: Be there or be square!

A final thought: There is an old Hawaiian proverb which talks about the extent of family, and it was written for the folks living in the district of Ka’u on the Island of Hawai’i. I have taken a little liberty by inserting a new word in place of “Ka’u.”

Mai ka uka a ke kai

Mahi kahi pae a kahi pae o Wesleyan (Ka’u)

He ho’okahi no ‘ohana

From the uplands to the sea

From end to end of Wesleyan

There is only one family

Have a wonderful summer.

Hardy Spoehr | hspoehr7@gmail.com
1833 Vancouver place, honolulu, hawai’i, 96822
808/944 8601

The big news remains our upcoming 50th Reunion and hope everyone will make the effort to be there! Even for a day, it will be worth it, I’m sure. In the course of the Reunion planning and outreach we’ve received a lot of information on classmates, much of which will be in our Reunion book (to be distributed at Reunion) and in the addendum to be distributed later.

Here are a few tidbits:

Gar Hargens writes: “Great to read about the work going into our Reunion. Thank you all. I still have my head down, cranking out the work. Unfortunately, several large projects may be peaking in late May but I hope to join you. The two ($4 and $30 million) are both trying to meet LEED, Passive House, and Living Building Challenge standards. As Bill Blakemore and Jerry Melillo address global climate change, I’d be glad to comment on what’s happening (or not) at the local project level.” Gar is president/owner of Close Associates (architects) in Minneapolis.

From Peter Babin: “After graduating from Wesleyan, went to law school, and then briefly practiced law before time in the military. Then I migrated into the world of commercial property, casualty and health insurance. Positions held include: vice president, risk management, May Department Stores, St. Louis, and CEO for insurer sponsored health/HMO plans in Denver; Dayton, Shreveport, and Helena. Retired in 2005 as CEO of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana. Married in 1972 to Barbara Ellen Makinen, have three daughters and four grandchildren (with a set of twins ‘in development’). Currently living about half of each year on the northwest coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, and the remainder on our small ranch south of Helena. Have kept my hand in business with property development activities in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Hawaii. Unfortunately, I’m unsure if I can work around scheduling conflicts with the 50th Reunion, but best to all and thanks for the memories!”

Bill Brown writes: “Mr. Excitement never left town. I ride by Wesleyan every day. In our senior year—February 1965—I was hired by the state of Connecticut, to teach emotionally challenged children at Connecticut Valley Hospital. I stayed for 32 years and retired at 53, in 1997, the day before my first granddaughter was born. Had fun babysitting her and her little sister, for years…. I was disappointed to see that Dean Barlow left Wesleyan when we did. He was the most important faculty member for me. The Argus cover featured me receiving my diploma from him at graduation time—the shortest graduate at 5 feet, 3 inches, and the second youngest. They should have chosen the student behind me, handsome Donald Brown!”

Bruce Patterson writes briefly: “Still married (tolerant wife). Two kids. Son lives in Stamford, daughter lives in NYC, so our plans are to stay in Stamford for the time being. Semi-retired. One day a week at West Marine. Rest of the time self -employed as a marine surveyor (seasonal in New England). My hobby is sailing.”

Update for Carl Calendar: After receiving his doctorate, Carl became a teacher and has been dean of humanities at Brookdale Community College on the Jersey Shore where he has worked for 44 years. Carl says: “Teaching the students in a community college has always been my passion—I love the diversity.”

He and his wife, Jody, have two sons, Bart, 46, in Montpellier, France, a journalist; and Shane, 29, an attorney in New Jersey. They live in a 200-year-old farmhouse in Moultonborough, N.H., where they spend summers and a few winter weekends. Jody is the editor of the Asbury Park Press.

In the 1990s, Carl worked for the State Department in Singapore, Malaysia, and Borneo, doing training for journalists. In 2005, he walked 204 miles on the Camino de Santiago on a pilgrimage to the grave of St. James.

Carl’s best Wesleyan Memories: “touch football and volleyball before dinner, party weekends, sensational teachers, and wonderful students who taught me as much as the professors.”

Marsh Cusic writes: “I’m retired from medical practice and the Navy and spending more time with our family farm in Illinois. Wow, farming has really changed over the years. It’s sure not ‘Old MacDonald’s Farm’ anymore. The challenge is to operate a business with a heart for the land. I crossed paths with John Hall, Don Crampton, and other Class of ’65 members at the Chicago area WesU alumni event last fall. I’m still a big bike rider and will do the 460-mile RAGBRAI Iowa ride in July, the GRABWAAR 480-mile ride in Wisconsin in June and a 120-mile Illinois ride in September. Our three kids and five grandkids live in Wisconsin and Minnesota, so we keep busy trying to keep up with them. Georgeanne (Conn ’67) and I look forward to catching up with ’65 classmates in May.”

From John Wilson: “After 25-plus years at the University of Arizona, I retired in 2010. Now, my adventure-action novel is in draft, and I met an agent who said she wanted to see the first 50 pages. I love learning to write and am even beginning to understand sentences. Potential for further entertainment is infinite.

“Linda and I met 50 years ago on Halloween at The Sancho Panza in Monterey. Fifty years. Most of you were seniors, I was a Spec 4 at the Defense Language Institute, and the coffee shop later became a Thomas Kinkaid gallery. Our Sancho Panza gets a few inches starting paragraph eight at theava.com/archives/21180. Linda has been a movement educator for over 20 years, and I have the best posture and easiest movement I’ve had since I was five years old. That’s cool but a long story.

“Last year, Heidi and I took our first daughter-father trip of any length: a week in Nashville. We walked to music, history, and Nash Trash and drove less than 40 minutes to the Parthenon and the site of the Battle of Franklin, and we got on well as fellow travelers. I must have been a good person in a prior life to get this trip. Heidi is still a preferred and student-centered high school English teacher and teaches a film class.

“Life is good and often fun. Avoid the front page and/or TV news and treasure your friends and the things you like do.”

From Bob Schmidt: “In October, Susan and I hosted Betsy and Tom (The Aleman) Elliman, Joan and Fritz Faerber, Tim Lynch and his lovely Rose at our Cape Cod cottage in Chatham, Mass. Joining us were Chris and Paul Lapuc ’64, who live full time in Chatham. We had a rollicking good time! On Saturday afternoon, we went to a Bluegrass Festival at Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod Winery. We sampled in earnest the wines, which were quite good. A few weeks later at a planning meeting for our upcoming 50th and Joseph’s Robe presentation we were treated to Truro wines that Hal Gorman hauled out of his car trunk. Turns out that Hal is the attorney for Truro Vineyards and is on their board of directors. Hal has offered to supply more wine for our Reunion—and gratefully, I say, ‘Bring it on, Hal!’”

PHILIP L. ROCKWELL | prockwell@wesleyan.edu