Class Notes | 1960s

Dear Classmates,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was great to hear from so many classmates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also, good to hear from:

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

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

Please write to your class secretary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Rogers:

“Understand the continuing appeal and really appreciate your zeal

I’ve answered more often than you should reveal

So ignore or edit my replies and conceal

Our new home in Kentucky not a big deal

Although plentiful bourbon and horses produce a good yield

The aging body aches before and after each meal

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

So I’ll continue daily rehab to heal

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

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

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

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

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

From William “Mac” Runyan:

“Hello Class of 1969,

“I attended Wesleyan for the freshman year of the Class of 1969. I liked much about Wesleyan and played on the freshman soccer team. But after one year, decided I wanted to go to a co-ed school. Applied to Harvard, Swarthmore, and Oberlin. Admitted to Oberlin, attended there from 1966 to 1969. Then went to Harvard in clinical psychology and public practice from 1969 to 1975. Then was a professor at UC Berkeley, from 1979 to 2010, in the School of Social Welfare and affiliate professor in the Psychology Department.

“I have a website at williamrunyan.com. Includes a relaxed photo I like; and access to articles, chapters, and several books in the study of individual lives. In 1982 I published Life Histories and Psychobiography: Explorations in Theory and Method (Oxford University Press). [Below] is a photo I had taken for the book which was never used. Title for the photo in my mind is Psychologist on the Way Up . . . He Hopes.

“What kind of psychology to pursue? In the freshman dining hall at Wesleyan, Jeff Wanshel brought a copy of Toward a Psychology of Being (1962) by Abraham Maslow. This led to Carl Rogers. I felt this is a kind of psychology I would like to pursue. I have focused on the study of individual lives.

“I was flattered to win a lifetime achievement award and have a Festschrift with 17 people writing short articles about my work, their work, and our relationships. This was recently published in the fall 2023 issue of Clio’s Psyche. I hope to soon get the whole Festschrift added to my website, williamrunyan.com or a new related website.

“I’d love to hear from anyone who feels like communicating.”

Jim Adkins says: “I am finally ending my medical career the end of this year. . . . I can’t keep up with the rate of change of info and don’t want to! Contact with old roommate Bob Kayser who, after spending his adult career in the snow of northern New York, moved to south Alabama and is now on route to moving back to upper New York. I continue to play my horn as much as possible and travel as much as I can (need to do before can’t). Progeny are all well as are subprogeny . . . wife (spent most weekends at the Tech) continues in assisted living with multiple medical issues. Enjoy hearing what the rest of the class is up to.”

From Rick Pedolsky: “I’m still living in Stockholm (though wintering in Nerja, Spain). Still with my lovely Cecilia (it will be 50 years next year). Still running my business (though looking for a buyer). And still hoping that we’ll see each other at the next reunion (is it in the works?).”

Stu Blackburn writes: “I was featured in an ‘author profile’ column in Sussex Life in July this year. (Not exactly Time, but I was chuffed.) My wife and I are happily tending roses in a typically damp and cool English summer.

“My new novel, All the Way to the Sea, which is set largely in rural Rhode Island, is now out and available from Amazon. 

“Just wondering if you know how many of our classmates went into the military, either before or after the draft lottery in December 1969. My next novel is about someone whose life is turned upside down by getting a low number in that lottery. Any idea of who got ‘caught’, who fled to Canada, etc.?”

Darius Brubeck says that his book, Jazz at an African University and on the Road, was published in South Africa in May, and the international edition will come out next year. “At present it is only available in South Africa.”

Darius also said that “Our Wes-grad grandson, Nathaniel Elmer ’14, was married this June (to Wes grad Shira Engel ’14) after graduating from Yale. He is now a fully qualified architect; and our Wes-grad granddaughter, Lydia Elmer ’17, is in Chicago, awaiting her bar exam results.”

Fred Coleman sent in news highlighting his busy year. He has a new granddaughter, Laurel, born to youngest daughter Jennifer (Andy). . . . He also just presented “The Intersection of Faith Practices and the Development of Human Rights Driven Mental Health Care” at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. This was  done “in collaboration with a global mental health learning collective—[a] group of 16 teams in nine countries, which meets monthly by Zoom webinar and holds a yearly conference in Africa. I’ve been doing this for over a decade and it is challenging and very rewarding.”

Since Tony Mohr’s memoir, Every Other Weekend—Coming of Age with Two Different Dads, published in February, he has done bookstore readings and has appeared on podcasts. Tony says it “has been all sorts of fun. My next gig takes place at 6:00 p.m. PST on November 4, on Hollywood 360. Read more about it at www.anthonyjmohr.com.”

He goes on to say, “Beve and I spent the month of April in Australia and swept along the entire east coast, from Tasmania to Melbourne to Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. The place is grand—friendly people, brilliant scenery, lots of culture ranging from aboriginal to modern. Go there before we leave this world.

“And I’m still sitting on the bench part time. Despite being retired, it’s good to keep one’s toe in the water.

“Finally, I still can’t let go of my wonderful Argus memories (Jim Drummond and Jeff Richards, I’m looking at you), which is a reason I’m still one of the editors of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative’s Social Impact Review. We’re always looking for good articles and op-eds as well as interviews with interesting people. If the spirit moves, send us something. Cheers, Tony”

Nick Browning: “I exchange emails filled with political outrage and occasional despair almost daily with Peter Pfeiffer and I think we’re both keeping one another afloat in these perplexing political waters. I see Peter Cunningham occasionally. He’ll have a photograph book published shortly, which I suspect will be wonderful. Walter Abrams,  Rich Kremer, and I play golf almost weekly up here in Vermont. Kremer still reigns supreme with a golf club.

“My wife (Rebecca Ramsey ’75) and I have loved living in Vermont since we retired up here about four years ago.”

Steve Hansel: “Greetings from HOT and humid NOLA . . . breaking records this summer in the wrong directions . . . heat and drought. . . .  Grandchild #9 arrived February 28 and Sofia Florence is thriving. First grandchild in more than 10 years and first for #4 son, Nick, and his wife.

“Disappointed by the legacy move . . . just another brick out of the wall of alumni loyalty . . . a predictable reaction along with other similar schools.”

John Mihalec regrets our loss of classmate, Dan Rose, a first-class person in every respect. (His obituary can be read here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/daniel-rose-obituary?id=52462823)

In April Bob Dombroski traveled “to theGalapagos, enshrined by Melville—The Encantadas—and Darwin: tortoises may hold the secret of longevity?”

Bill Currier continues to take on interesting pro bono cases for clients who want to fight back; taught a white-collar crime class he made up to 11 wonderful Chinese law students (25-year-olds) in Shenzhen at the Peking School of Transnational Law via Zoom; working on a second novel; spent three weeks in Martinique writing and enjoying trade winds during Carnival on a beautiful fragment of France. First significant trip after three years of COVID. Wishing us all health, productivity, and a glimmering  understanding of it all.”

Rameshwar Das: “I’ve been leading online meditation three times a week through COVID, living between form and formless. Also returning to my photographic roots and finally learning Photoshop . . . old dog, new tricks.

“Here’s a recent one: Sunflower Corona ©2023 RameshwarDas

“Ahad Cobb has written a wonderful memoir, Riding the Spirit Bus. Jeff Wanshel and Edi Giguere moved to Pasadena and still sound whole.

“My final book with Ram Dass MA ’54 is cooking along, came out in paperback last fall. . . . Ram Dass/Richard Alpert got his master’s in psych at Wes. https://beingramdass.soundstrue.com/

“Thanks for stretching out the narrative! Love to us all, Ramesh”

Rob Pratt writes: “I just returned from five weeks in the Solomon Islands, where my company is working with the government in putting together a major solar and energy efficiency project. Great trip, and I’m enjoying getting to know new Solomon friends.”

Charlie Morgan shares this update: “It looks like my book on the Massachusetts Constitution finally will go to print in September.” Charlie summarizes it as following:

“The book contradicts several commonly held beliefs of many Massachusetts lawyers since it asserts that the Massachusetts Constitution contains a patchwork of eight provisions that, when considered together, comprise a larger whole granting any person standing to have a grievance heard in court. It asserts that the many instances where Massachusetts courts have refused standing to plaintiffs are fundamentally flawed. The analysis will revolutionize Massachusetts court practice and pleading if it stands up to scrutiny. I expect that, at a minimum, the book will generate heated debate among Massachusetts lawyers and judges over the issues that it confronts.”

John Hickey: “I was saddened to learn that Gordon Holleb died. I remember seeing Gordon playing rugby on the field adjacent to the Foss Hill dorms freshman year on Saturdays and was amazed at his maturity in leading a ‘T-group’ with a group of sophomores (including me) with his pipe in his mouth our sophomore year. I learned that Gordon managed to parlay that interest in group therapy into an inventive group therapy clinic in Cambridge and later into a full-blown career as a therapist in Berkeley.”

Steve Broker lets us know that “Linda and I continue to divide our time between homes in Cheshire, Connecticut, and Wellfleet, Massachusetts, with regular travels to Maine to see family. My birding took me to southeastern Arizona in July, and both Linda and I will be on Monhegan Island in September. Our dear friendship with Bob Pease (Chelmsford, Massachusetts) is in its seventh decade. Brother Tom ’66 and sister-in-law, Louise Chow, have retired this month from spectacular careers in virology at Cold Spring Harbor Labs, Rochester, and University of Alabama, Birmingham.”

Bill Demicco says, “Marie and I still doing well. Best place to be is here in Maine, especially given wildfires, record heat, tornadoes, etc. elsewhere. Our daughter, Elizabeth (MD, PhD ), now full professor [in] Toronto. Also new roof on farmhouse.”

Alex Knopp “recently finished my several terms as president of the Norwalk Public Library and helped secure on-site parking for the library’s new expansion plan. I was recently appointed to serve on a new state commission to review Connecticut’s educational funding of magnet schools and other school choice programs. I still serve on the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial Board. I walk our municipal golf course several times a week during the summer and was able to win our D Flite Club Championship. My wife, Bette, is having her second book of short stories published (along with two novels). She received her first publishing contract by email as we drove up to our class’s 50th Reunion four years ago! Hope all of my classmates are doing well, Alex.”

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki sent in recent photos from their home in Sri Lanka.

Late August. Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Mornings start with swimming at a local health club. Home for breakfast, New York Times, and cooking. Minicrock vegetable soups—tomatoes, cukes, squash, beans, basil, herbs, and stock. Re-reading Hemingway and realizing his immense artistry. Peter Pfeiffer and Stuart Blackburn published new books. I highly recommend both. Regular visits to Acton Library, Estuary Thrift Shop, Florence Griswold Museum, and Parthenon Diner. Packing for family vacation at Point O’Woods, Fire Island. Red Sox can hit but fielding is suspect. Go Pats, Celtics, and Bruins!

With the birth of Ben Barnett Buzzell in Seattle on June 1st, Judy and I became grandparents.

As I anticipate entering hospice care shortly, I expect this will be my final set of class notes. It has been a joy and a privilege to serve as your secretary.

Take care, guys.

Having spent part of the year in Florida and part of it in Westport, Massachusetts, for eight years, Tom Drew and his wife Carolyn Benedict-Drew decided to sell their place in Florida and buy a place in Manhattan. They are now still sharing their Westport time, but they share it with the Big Apple instead of DeSantis- and Trump-land. Children (four of them, including Joshua ’89 and Jacob ’98) and grands (nine of them) are all within striking distance of the Apple. Tom, a cardiologist, and Carolyn both retired in 2015, celebrating by sailing a boat from Westport to Sarasota. Now, they are into a new urban adventure.

After he read about Len “Bergy” Bergstein’s death in a recent set of notes, Rick Nicita emailed me. Bergy, he told me, was his temporary roommate sophomore year (“I can still hear his cackling laugh”) before they went their separate fraternal ways—Bergy to Chi Psi and Rick to Psi U. Rick enjoyed his career as a movie talent agent for 40 years and then was a “personal manager” for a few years. Now he is involved in producing movies. As he explained it: “I am producing a movie which filmed in Dublin starring my former client Anthony Hopkins, titled Freud’s Last Session that will be in theaters on Christmas Day, and I have a few other movies that might happen with former clients like Al Pacino, etc.  However, I’m not 24/7/365 like I was back in the day. Instead, I spend my life with my wife of 38 years, fellow producer Paula Wagner, play bad golf, and read good books. That suits me better now.”

Our classmate Jim Kates emailed to inform me that he now has a website (as he put it, “I’ve finally entered the very beginning of the 21st century with a website”). It has information about Jim (on the website he describes himself as “a minor poet, a literary translator, and the president and co-director of Zephyr Press”).  It also has lots of great visuals, lots of information about books Jim has written and translated, and much more (including a letter he wrote to his draft board in October 1967). I encourage you to check it out at https://www.jkates.net/about.

(Poaching again, this time from ’64.) When the story broke, I heard from one of my ’66 sources (actually, Smith College ’66, not Wesleyan ’66) that Rusty Hardin ’64, considered a “Texas legal titan” by the Austin American-Statesman and a “legal icon” who is a “Texas legal legend” by the Texas Tribune, was named as one of the lead lawyers working with the Republicans in the Texas Senate to impeach Ken Paxton, the suspended Texas Attorney General (also a Republican). Rusty has been the lead attorney in many high-profile cases. He represented the estate of Texas millionaire J. Howard Marshall in the dispute with former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith (she, memorably, responded to one of his questions in court by saying “Screw you, Rusty!”, a comment that has continued to reverberate as Rusty moves through life).  He also represented the accounting firm Arthur Anderson in the Enron case, and he has represented many professional athletes, including Rudy Tomjanovich, Roger Clemens, Calvin Murphy, Warren Moon, Scottie Pippen, and Wade Boggs. Rusty had this to say about the Paxton case: “This is not about a one-time misuse of office. This is not about a two-time misuse of office. It’s about a pattern of misconduct. I promise you it is 10 times worse than what has been public.”  (However, after a 10-day trial, the Texas Senate acquitted Paxton. According to the Texas Tribune, this was “his most artful escape in a career spent courting controversy and skirting consequences of scandal.”)

(More poaching, from further afield.) A retired guy with time on my hands, I have been reading (in, not all of) a 1,460-page book by David Garrow ’75 titled Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama. Published in 2017 (to mixed reviews), it is a prodigious work, based on over nine years of research that included more than 1,000 interviews, all conducted by Garrow himself. Garrow, who was in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan, with a subsequent PhD in history from Duke, has written extensively, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. There is much to quarrel with and much to admire in this enormous and ambitious volume.

This leads me to today’s quiz. Who is your favorite Wesleyan author, and why? Two categories. First, those who were Wesleyan undergraduates (e.g., Amy Bloom ’75, Robin Cook ’62, Jennifer Finney Boylan ’80) and second, those who taught at Wesleyan or had other affiliations with the school (e.g., Paul Horgan, William Manchester, Phyllis Rose). Prizes to be announced.

We begin with a telling photograph.

On the evening of May 24, 2023, President Roth gathered together members of the Wesleyan University community for a ceremony at the College of the Environment to honor, celebrate, and thank Essel Bailey and his wife, Menakka Bailey, for helping to found and support what will now be known as the Bailey College of the Environment. A dinner at the president’s home followed. As Essel has often and rightly noted: “The most significant challenges we face today are environmental.” Thanks to Essel and Menakka’s vision and generosity, the Bailey College of the Environment will soon have new, updated quarters in a renovated Shanklin Hall, funding for student research projects, and an endowment to support interdisciplinary faculty work on environmental issues. Essel (my one claim to fame moving forward will to have been Essel’s roommate sophomore year in North College) wrote to me, with an exclamation mark, “Our whole family, kids, grandkids, and siblings” attended the dinner as did one of Essel’s faculty mentors, Professor Nat Greene. Rick Crootof, Sandy Van Kennen, and Will Rhys represented the Class of 1966.

Wesleyan students and faculty today and for years to come will be inspired by, and benefit from, Essel and Menakka’s vision and support. On behalf of your fellow classmates, thank you Essel and Menakka.

Although he retired as distinguished professor of psychology from the University of California, Davis, eight years ago, Phil Shaver has not let grass grow under his feet, writing: “I have continued working on research and writing projects with other (younger) people. One of them, a very creative Israeli professor, Mario Mikulincer, and I have two new books out, both with long academic titles, I’m afraid: (1) Attachment Theory Expanded: Security Dynamics in Individuals, Dyads, Groups, and Societies; (2) Attachment Theory Applied: Fostering Personal Growth through Healthy Relationships.” For his many scholarly contributions to the field of psychology over many years, Phil will be honored—and what an honor it is—in September with induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Not sure where he finds the time, but Phil has also “been taking watercolor painting classes and playing golf a couple of times a week, until three weeks ago, when I had to have knee replacement surgery. Throwing your weight leftward while pivoting on the left knee gradually wears the knee out. My workaholic professor wife, Gail Goodman (who has not retired yet), and our 27-year-old twin daughters, both of whom live nearby, are a lot of fun and treat me very well.”

Clark Byam, who lives in Pasadena, California, continues “to hike and play some golf. Also have a lot of Goggle stock, so good retirement accounts. Wasn’t recommended by a broker but years ago Wall Street Journal article I read said if you don’t know what to invest in . . . invest in Google. Best advice I ever got.”

On May 25, Barry Thomas sent this wonderfully informative update: “A couple months has passed since Connie and I returned from Burundi. Other than just being a bit lazy, the only excuse is that I have been a bit under the weather for a couple weeks. Nothing serious or chronic, and I am getting better. Just getting old which, I am coming to understand, is serious enough.

“The time in Burundi during February was very good. We were joined by another couple . . . Ana is an early childhood education person who had helped Connie with the online training programs during the pandemic years. Her husband is a now retired professor of religion at Appalachian State. They found the experience to be . . . extraordinary—of course, seeing all the negatives involved with the extreme poverty but, on the other hand, all the good work being done by the Dreaming for Change staff. Connie and Ana had a rewarding three weeks working with the teachers and the children. There are now 130 children in the school that includes a first primary grade. D4C has experienced an influx of children and mothers in recent weeks as they seem to be coming from greater distances for food and other help. Part of the issue is that D4C is becoming known in the province as a good place where food and a nurse’s care are being provided.

“During our visit, D4C celebrated a fifth anniversary. The place of trust that has been built with the community is noteworthy. Connie and I were also impressed with the staff Janvier has attracted and the organization he is putting together. In my time working in poor places, I have learned that, aside from the bad political leadership and governance, the main factor holding people in their subsistence life is the absence of organization management and just plain organizational work experience.”

David Luft plays in a different league. He is now “learning Czech and working on a book about Czech intellectual history since the 15th century.” He “started earlier with Spanish and Latin, and my real love, of course, was English. Thanks to Beckham and COL, I did get pretty good at German, and I kept at it. But I got interested in Austria, which was where Musil was from. So, there was a lot for me to unpuzzle about languages. And then in 1980, Solidarity made me want to learn Polish.” Of course! “For the past 20 or 25 years, I have been learning Czech and Polish in a chaotic way. It’s demanding . . . but pretty interesting. I can see Russia more clearly from there and understand Austria and Germany much better. I did learn some Russian in the 1980s, and Czech and Polish are closer to Russian than to German.”

Tom Pulliam worries that “my story is a little monotonous.” Hardly, Tom. What a life you are living! Tom is “coaching rugby at Stanford (mostly with women’s team who finished third in country last season) and with kids ages 10–14 at San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club—absolutely loving it—and still watching three grandsons (10, 13, and 16), who live seven minutes away, play baseball, flag football, and soccer. The 13- and 16-year-old [are] now playing MLSNext soccer, which is highest youth level in the U.S., but prevents them from playing anything else because it is so intense.” Tom’s “granddaughter is headed to sophomore year at University of Hawaii and is extremely happy there, studying marine biology. I am determined to get over there for visit and to see Hardy Spoehr.”

Shortly after hearing from Tom, I got this note from Hardy Spoehr: “Aloha, Larry. . . . Nothing much to report here except our second hurricane of the season is moving slowly toward us. Also, just want to put a plug in [for] Wesleyan’s ongoing webcasts of its athletic events . . . looking forward to viewing this year’s teams with my morning cup of coffee. . . . He Ola Kakou—be well.” Both Tom and Hardy wrote before the devastating wildfires in Maui.

Al Burman writes that he and his wife, MJ, are “still enjoying work and spending most of our time in Arlington, Virginia, and Sausalito, California, where quite some time back we had a chance for a nice catch-up with Barry Reder and Phil Shaver and their spouses. I was very sorry to hear about Frank Burrows.” Al attaches this photograph “of my wife MJ and me from our Amsterdam-to-Bruges bicycle-barge tour in June 2022. It was great fun and we are off to Mallorca for a similar ride in November.”

Great missive from Joel Russ who writes: “Carolyn and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary this year. We are now living in South Bristol, Maine, to be near three grandchildren (two of whom are off to college at Oberlin College and Conservatory and Williams) and are enjoying semiretirement. Carolyn retired after 33 years of public school teaching, and I in a variety of community-based nonprofits in Maine. I still do a little strategic planning and facilitation consulting for Maine-based nonprofit organizations, serve on three local nonprofit boards (land conservation, early childhood education, and chamber music), and one statewide nonprofit board, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. I also coach the local elementary school cross-country and track and field teams. Trying hard to stay fit and busy.

“My most important activity at the present time, however, is to help raise funds for a critically important Maine resource, LifeFlight Maine, Maine’s only emergency helicopter and air rescue service. This service is particularly important to Maine’s rural and coastal island communities. In the past 25 years, LifeFlight Maine has transported over 36,000 Maine residents of all ages, most of whom were experiencing life-threatening conditions.

“This is my personal story and why I am so committed. Twelve years ago our daughter-in-law, KC Ford (our son Matt’s wife), was a passenger in a small plane that sank soon after leaving Matinicus Island, located 21 miles off the Maine coast. KC sustained serious, life-threatening injuries. Had it not been for a LifeFlight Maine emergency helicopter, KC would most likely not have survived. As you can imagine, our gratitude toward LifeFlight Maine is immense. I have committed to express that gratitude by participating in a major fundraiser, Cross for LifeFlight, a self-directed athletic activity. My goal is to run 100-plus miles in the month of August and to raise $6,000.” Here’s a photograph of Joel the runner and one capturing the cause.

Ever so good to hear from John Stremlau, Hon Professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand. John writes: “My wife and I returned to Johannesburg in 2015, where I am working on a comparative study of the politics and international relations of South Africa and the U.S. Reckoning with race in these two different and distant democracies is a major thread. Although it primarily deals with recent and contemporary events, on a more personal level, I recall my formative experiences on issues of nonracialism and political equality, that really began during the 1960s at Wesleyan.

“I believe I owe a special debt to the late John D. Maguire, who was just out of grad school and a member of the faculty. He had developed a friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, who he [brought to campus] several times during the 1960s. Meeting Rev. King, listening to his address in Foss Hill Hall and in smaller discussion groups, had an enduring impact on my life and still does. Indeed, I probably would not be here in South Africa, which I first visited in 1977 and became a permanent resident in 1999, or served in Atlanta as vice president for peace at the Carter Center (2006–15), had it not been for John Maguire. John, I think was born in Montgomery and in 1961, the year before our first year, was arrested along with MLK and another Wes colleague, David Swift, for joining one of the early freedom rides.”

John would very much like to hear “from any classmates who might have had a similar formative experience with Maguire and King during their four years at Wesleyan. It would be helpful to hear from them as a kind of reality check.” John can be reached at: jjstremlau@gmail.com or john.stremlau@wits.ac.za.

Those of us fortunate enough to live with him on the first floor of a Foss Hill dormitory freshman year referred to him as “the Great One.” That him is, of course, Alberto Ibargüen, who from being editor of The Wesleyan Argus went on to a distinguished career in journalism, among many accomplishments, becoming publisher of the Miami Herald. In 2005 Alberto became president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a philanthropic organization that invests in and supports media, arts, and culture. A New York Times article of March 24, 2023, let us know that Alberto is stepping down from that position. In its lead it says “He Brought an Artistic Flair to the Knight Foundation’s Philanthropy.” The article notes, “In its 18 years under Alberto Ibargüen, the organization funded punk shows in Detroit and poetry dropped from helicopters in Miami. As he prepares to retire, he talks about what might be next.” Congratulations to Alberto on a distinguished career. We wait to hear what is next for “the Great One.” (See: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/arts/design/alberto-ibarguen-retiring-knight-foundation.html).

From celebratory to sad news. Bob Dearth writes: “So sorry to learn of the passing of F. Sugden Murphy, one of my favorite fraternity brothers. We kept in touch often during the first five or 10 years out of Wesleyan and then drifted in different directions as we aged and our families grew. Then later, after he has moved to New Hampshire, I learn he has become good acquaintances with a friend from New Canaan whose wife was a classmate of my wife at Skidmore and who then moved his family to New Hampshire too. Many fond memories of our time together at Wesleyan and after. RIP.” Frederick Sugden Murphy Jr., known as “Skipper,” died on December 10, 2022. An obituary can be read here: https://www.seacoastonline.com/obituaries/pprt0381553.

And our classmate, Grant Holly, died on November 8, 2022. In 1970 Grant accepted a position as assistant professor of English at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where he would serve for the next 52 years, a greatly admired and cherished teacher and colleague. Many of you may not have known him at Wesleyan, as he and his wife, Michael Ann, and their daughter, Lauren, lived off campus. He and I, however, became close friends, both majoring in English, both writing our senior theses in the basement cubicles of Olin Library. That friendship deepened as we went on to complete our graduate degrees at the University of Rochester, writing our PhD theses under the same mentor, Professor James William Johnson. The friendship and good times I shared with Grant and Michael Ann beginning from our days at Wesleyan will always be cherished, his death shaking me. Grant, being the life force that he was, I thought would live forever. Here, if you have not seen them, are some links:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/grant-holly-obituary?id=37402268

https://www.hws.edu/news/2022/remembering-professor-grant-holly.aspx

https://www.hws.edu/offices/president/statements/statement-on-grant-holly.aspx

Let’s end on a happy note, this from the peerless Jeff Nilson, who begins with a photograph of his two grandsons, Isaac ’26, and William, “The tallest family member . . . age 17 . . . who plays the piano, the bass guitar, and the standup bass . . . wants to study music in Europe,”  and Jeff’s daughter, Li ’88, mother of Isaac and William.

Jeff goes on to write: “I am still taking nourishment. I try to be grateful every day. I say to myself, ‘This is the day you are given. Rejoice in it.’ Jeff has “started my third children’s book. It is an easy-to-read mystery narrated by a bulldog named Daisy.” Here, the opening lines of Sally, Daisy, and the Mystery of the Kidnapped Dogs: 

“Someone was stealing dog toys from the dog park. But my sister Sally and I didn’t care. We are not fetchers. We aren’t jumpers either. We are sniffers and watchers. We are bulldogs with short legs and heavy bodies. We don’t jump. We don’t run. We waddle. We like a good snuggle and a good scratch behind the ears.

“Our favorite thing is sniffing. Every morning there are great smells on the sidewalk in front of the dog park: other dogs, a few cats, rats and mice, roaches, spiders, old hot dog juice, and drops of old ice cream.

“We hang out with our dog walker Keisha. Here’s a photo of Keisha, Sally, and me in front of the dog park in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn: In that photo behind us, you can see a lot of jumping and fetching. But Sally and I are not one of those crazy fetchers.

“A couple of weeks after this photo was taken, some of my best friends disappeared. There was Alex the Greyhound and Felicia the mutt. She had one blue eye, one brown eye, and a lot of wisdom. I missed her. Who was taking our friends? No one knew how to stop the dognappers. And no one knew how to rescue our missing dog friends….”