Class Notes | 1960s

Dear Classmates,

Thank you to those who responded to my recent request for news.

Unfortunately, the first message I received was from Jim McCague who told us the sad news of Tim Lynch’s passing. Tim lived in Pittsburgh and was a broker at Janney for many years. Some of us knew this was imminent through fellow Dekes, and we were encouraged to send Tim a message, which I believe a number of us did. Tim was a man of principle, bright and loyal, and will surely be missed by all who knew him.

Jonathan and Matthew, sons of Peter Dodson, wrote to inform us of their father’s sudden passing in mid-March. Peter (undergraduate president of EQV) earned his JD from Penn and was a lawyer at Ropes & Gray in Boston. Peter loved wildlife, the outdoors, and the arts.

Bob Leonard sent a thoughtful note and the following: “I am attaching some comments on our loss last spring of one-time classmate and compatriot, Ted Charlton ’66. Ted was a singular soul, a spirit, a self-sufficient waif. He had a flair for the amusingly wry. He was an honest-to-goodness old-time New Englander—confident, without unseemly pride, that his solitary view had merit and worth. After Wesleyan, he became a critical thinker/writer/teacher of American film, particularly ‘the Western.’ Terribly early in his career, he was struck down by a severe stroke. Bearing his disabilities without a shred of self-pity, he learned to live quietly with great imagination, which he shared within his immediate circle. His passing is born by his former wife, Sue Wiseheart, who has included Ted in her family following their amicable divorce, including her twin girls, who knew him as ‘Tio,’ a precious family moniker that shall ever remain with them as a reminder of someone special. I have been friends with Ted since our days in the College of Letters, sharing essays, poems, political diatribes, and black-and-white photos of forlorn cemeteries, poking fun at the bleak days of February. Ted will bring a knowing wink of human comprehension, and a triumphant spark of disdain for the ironies of life to his final resting place, which will be all the better for his presence.”

Rob Abel: “My colleague and I brought 17 corneas to Kigali, Rwanda, for transplantation, and are consulting at the best ophthalmic teaching institution in central Africa. “By the way, my granddaughters loved their visit to Wesleyan this past fall.” Rob also sent along a great picture of a handsome silverback gorilla he spied in the mountains of Rwanda. He claimed he/she was wearing a Wes t-shirt! and remarked, “He was healthy, seemed to be eating quite well, and wanted to be remembered to you and invited you to make the trek.” Thanks Rob! I’ll take that under consideration and congratulations on your important work for those in need!

Bertel Haarder: “After 42 years as a member of the Danish Parliament, seven years as member of the European Parliament, and 22 years as cabinet minister, I am now a columnist in 5 Media, and I have my own TV program in DK4. So, I’m a very active pensioner. My Wesleyan experience (foreign student 1964–65) greatly inspired my 15 years as minister for education and research.

Dan Raskin: “I’m still alive.”

Arthur Rhodes: “Not much to tell. Am fully retired from medicine after 50-plus years. Have returned to artistic activities. My Instagram board (@papazaydeh) includes 500-plus photographs—no selfies or family. With wife Leslie, we’re enjoying combined five children and 11 grandchildren.”

Bill Brooks: “Glee Club members might want to know that, in addition to collecting materials, establishing a finding aid, and so forth, I’m part of team planning a Professor Richard Winslow festival tentatively scheduled to begin in 2025. Maybe the magazine will do an article on this project in the next issue?

“Personally, I fully retired from the University of York on July 31, 2021, so I’m doubly done now (York and UIUC). But I’m still ‘series editor’ at the Orpheus Institute (Ghent, Belgium), which takes me across the pond at least five times a year. I bought a condo in Champaign, which I’m restoring. Still doing research; still writing music. And, as mentioned above, working full tilt on Richard Winslow’s Wesleyan archive: if anyone from the Glee Club has memories, pictures, recordings—anything!—please be in touch! . . . . Come raise a song for Wesleyana!!”

Bob Barton: “Hanging in at this end, on the inevitable slow decline, but playing tennis two to three times per week. I’m hoping to be with Major Moise for his 80th birthday in Auburn, California, on March 10. Maybe send you a photo. . . .  I’ll be out there mainly to celebrate my brother Bill’s induction into the Cal Berkeley Athletics Hall of Fame (lacrosse).”

Wolf Brueckmann: “I have not sent an entry to Notes for many years. I would appreciate the chance to let classmates with whom I have not been connected know of my whereabouts. Hope therefore that you might include the following brief update: After getting a PhD I got involved in transatlantic trade/investment issues for 30 years at the US Chamber of Commerce and other associations. Owned a small retail business and later taught MBA courses. After retirement, I moved from the Washington, D.C., area to the Shenandoah Valley (Luray, Virginia). Have one daughter, Loni, who is an anesthesiologist in Pittsburgh. Now dedicated to art and show my work (oil painting, mobiles) in area galleries.”

Some news from classmates:

Dan Davis wrote: “Suzanne Schmidt and I have been at Homewood, a CCRC in Frederick, Maryland, for one year. We enjoy good health, full mobility, and tennis five hours a week. After 20 years at the FDA, I do some consulting with pharmaceutical companies and am active for women’s reproductive rights and maintaining access to affordable contraception and medical abortions. Pastor Suzanne is very active for racial and environmental justice.”  

Joel Johnson shared: “Like my classmates, I’ve managed to turn 80. Had a typical Wesleyan career: MPA from Princeton, 16 years with the feds (State, Treasury, Senate Foreign Relations Committee), 16 years VP International of the Aerospace Industries Association, then failed retirement 101, so still doing some aerospace and defense consulting, which gets me to Paris and occasionally London. Have six grandkids—youngest batch (via my son) are all teenagers; oldest batch (via daughter) includes a chemical engineer doing hydrogen power, a middle granddaughter working as a school day therapist, and the youngest who is about to get certified as a jet engine mechanic. Now living in what was my weekend house on Nats Creek, an estuary of Chesapeake Bay that is an hour and a half from D.C. Lovely lady with house in Georgetown, so some shuttling back and forth.”

Jim Relyea reported: “Submitting my notes after all these years to meet the March 15 deadline reminds me of taking my Philosophy 101 final exam freshman year at 9 a.m. then running back to Andrus Hall to type my term paper and submit it by the 12 p.m. deadline. (Some sort of record in procrastination!)

“Life post-Wesleyan: I have worked full time since September 1964: audiovisual publishing; insurance/financial services; helped start two highly successful wealth management firms; married to Betsey for 55 years—we have three wonderful daughters and seven grandchildren (we adore them all); have lived in Briarcliff, New York, since 1970; semiretired (2016)—own small insurance consulting firm; very active with extended family, church, photography, guitar playing, tennis, and being a grandpa.

“Looking forward to seeing everyone at our 60th Reunion. Great memories of Wesleyan days. Sorry for the 59-year delay in sending this in. I’m sure it will cost me in drinks/desserts at the 2024 alumni dinner!

“Thanks to all for your patience.—Jim Relyea”

Russ Messing contributed: “I am still alive and well and have been visited by an imp who is dwelling somewhere in my frontal lobe and shrinking it a bit. The result is that my short-term auditory memory is affected. This hasn’t stopped me from being as funny as ever, going to the gym six days a week, taking care of all my business affairs, and, most importantly, writing poetry. I am now in the process of finishing my fifth book of poetry (all self-published)! I love writing and am ever grateful that I have this in my life. Writing has been with me ever so long (my senior thesis at Wesleyan was ‘Nine Short Stories’ and my mentors were Kit and Joe Reed).  Four years ago I retired from years of being a clinical psychologist, and years before that I was a cofounder of, and teacher in, Synergy School, a K–8 school in the Mission District of San Francisco. I am blessed with the best wife, three very creative and smart kids, and six saucy, self-assured, and, of course, brilliant grandchildren, ages 21 to 4. I am more than happy to send any of my books to anyone who might want them and at the cost of $15.00 each they are a real bargain.”

Life updates and remembrances from several classmates:

Len Edwards writes: “I retired from the bench in 2006. I have flunked retirement, as I still teach and write (judgeleonardedwards.com). I have lived in the same house since 1977. Nearby, my son and family live. I remarried after my wife of 38 years died and between us, we have 12 grandchildren. I look forward to a reunion this spring.”

Fritz Henn contributes: “I am looking forward to graduation when my oldest granddaughter will graduate from Wes. That is three generations of Wes graduates. I am fully retired and actually gave my last lecture two years ago at the Winter Conference for Brain Research. I was asked to give the distinguished opening lecture, with introductory lectures by two of my previous students. It was a great way to end my research career but I miss both the lab and the students. 

“Currently I am living in Washington, D.C., sharing an enormous house with my daughter and her family and have the luxury of staying with my son and his wife (Wes grads) in their summer home on an island off the Maine coast during a good part of the summer.”

Jack Jarzavek shares: “I was remembering Bob Martin the other day and wondered how much many of our classmates knew of his fame and accomplishments. Bob was my freshman roommate and fraternity brother. He got his PhD from Brown in the late ’60s, and then taught for his whole career in Montreal. Bob wrote extensively on American literature and was one of the first openly gay literary critics in the U.S. His first book, of many, was his Brown thesis: The Homosexual Tradition in American Poetry. It is still a classic in the field. He did extensive research on Melville, Hawthorne, and American expats in Italy. Bob died in 2012. He was known for his erudition and wit.”

From Don Sexton: “Celebrated my 80th birthday in January. When I was in my teens, never thought of reaching 80, so am happy to be here and aboveground. Am busy with painting (www.sextonart.com). Have solo shows coming up later this year at the Litchfield, Connecticut, library (July–August) and at the Bruce S. Kershner Gallery in Fairfield, Connecticut (November–December). I continue to perform stand-up comedy on Broadway and elsewhere—love the audiences. After 50 years of teaching at Columbia, I pretty much have lost any stage fright I might have once had. My wife and kids and grandkids like to remind me, ‘But, Dad, some people should have stage fright.’ Best wishes to all—look forward to your 90th! Be well.”

Robin Cook has recently completed his 40th novel, while he and his partners anxiously await FDA approval for their new mobile spectrometry-based diagnostic machine for multiple viruses including COVID, influenza, and monkey pox (as described in earlier Class Notes).

Bruce Franklin, who has recently moved to Tucson, Arizona, reported in on an eventful post‑Wesleyan career that began in Kampala, Uganda, followed by a posting to Nairobi and later to an up-country secondary school in Narok, the land of the Maasai. Returning to America, he completed graduate studies at Columbia and Teachers College, and subsequently taught for 45 years, first at Kean University in New Jersey, then Quinnipiac in Connecticut. In 1998 he began playing in tennis tournaments in the Southwest and around the world, mostly the senior European red-clay court circuit, and soon after “founded with others a 60-and-over basketball program where I played for 22 years. . . .  Sometimes we even had our own cheerleaders—young and seniors!” Bruce continues “at a leisurely pace, to research into the business interests of the Founding Fathers.” 

John Hazlehurst writes: “Still happily ensconced in our ancient, three-story Victorian in Colorado Springs. All those staircases? We must be nuts. Further evidence: Karen and I have two large-breed puppies, a Chesapeake and a poodle mix. Now 15 and nine months, they’re mischievous, destructive, disobedient, and wonderful. We still publish our annual visitor magazine, Colorado Fun, which has somehow survived and thrived for seven years. We’re in reasonably good health, and enjoy geezer jokes, e.g., I sometimes forget a name, but I never remember a face.” [Ed. note: their impressive magazine is available online at www.coloradofunguide.com/themagazine/.]

Dave Hedges and his wife recently visited Quito, Ecuador, and the Galápagos Islands, “a thoroughly enjoyable trip with a group of just eight people on a 98-foot boat, and crew of 14 to wait on us. Wonderful wildlife with birds, iguanas, sea lions, turtles, and outstanding fish for us snorkelers. Quito, is a very interesting city at 9,400 feet above sea level and we were able to visit the equator and stand on both hemispheres at the same time. Only wish we had done it five to 10 years ago as the hiking was somewhat strenuous.”

Bruce Menke is still “fighting the good fight” in Georgia where the state legislature “continues to approve bills which are outrageous infringements of our most basic and essential rights, and we continue to do everything in our power to oppose those actions including writing numerous letters to the editor”—one of which appeared prominently in the March 12 edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Peter Mooz and wife Betty (a native of Middletown) are moving to a villa at beautiful Atlantic Shores Senior Community in Virginia Beach, following a long career in Texas and Virginia of directing art museums and foundations, followed by establishment of a real estate agency which specialized in restoring antique houses and creating historic districts. He remains active in a foundation for the fine arts he established in 1985 to help museums and artists bring art to low-income families, and in 2020 published American Masterworks of Religious Painting 1664–1964. He sends regards “to classmates and friends who have also found new lives in retirement, and thanks to Professor Sam Green who sent me on my life in art.”

Bob Saliba thanks his wife Jenny for convincing him to move into a continuing care retirement community, Fellowship Village, in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Following “one of the best decisions I ever made in my life, we are both very happy here, have made many new friends.” Fifteen months with a personal trainer “turned my life around and as a member and president‑elect of the residents council, in addition to my other activities and interests, there is no more rocking chair for me.” Their children live nearby, with daughter Lynne soon to receive her PhD in nursing from Rutgers and granddaughter Liz loving her first  year at Connecticut College; their son George, a freelance business journalist, lives nearby in Caldwell. 

Len Wilson is “still learning to adjust our lifestyle to be trained by our one-year-old Chinese Crested puppy [while] still playing pickleball several times a week. My game is better, but my legs are aging at an incredible pace, and I am still too proud or dumb to play down at a lower level.” Len has just “volunteered,” under some peer pressure, to assume the vacant role of chair of his retired YMCA alumni group, which “keeps me informed and active at the keyboard a major part of each day.” He and Joyce “continue to enjoy retirement and reflecting on grandchildren’s career choices.”

Chuck Work reports surviving Hurricane Ian in Naples while many others were not so fortunate. Closer to the water, the damage from the surge was significant. He was writing from San Francisco while hoping that the terrible weather would allow him to attend one son’s golf match in a qualifying round for the SF Amateur Championship and a grandson’s game with the Cal Berkeley Soccer Club. Vin Hoagland echoed Chuck’s complaintabout the deluge of rainin Northern California as his rain gauge measured 2.9 inches in the previous 24-hour period.

Just before deadline, Dave Hedges added the sad news that his dear friend Ted Hillman passed away on April 3; obituary at https://www.freyvogelfuneralhome.com/obituary/Edward-Hillman.

And two other websites of possible interest:

John Driscoll Memorial Service:

https://www.wesleyan.edu/alumni/events/past-events/fy23/homecoming-2022.html

Just before deadline, Dave Hedges added the sad news that his dear friend Ted Hillman passed away on April 3; obituary at https://www.freyvogelfuneralhome.com/obituary/Edward-Hillman.

And two other websites of possible interest:

John Driscoll Memorial Service:

https://www.wesleyan.edu/alumni/events/past-events/fy23/homecoming-2022.html

Just before deadline, Dave Hedges added the sad news that his dear friend Ted Hillman passed away on April 3; obituary at https://www.freyvogelfuneralhome.com/obituary/Edward-Hillman.

And two other websites of possible interest:

John Driscoll Memorial Service:

https://www.wesleyan.edu/alumni/events/past-events/fy23/homecoming-2022.html

Bruce Corwin at our 50th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUu9_Zso6g.

“I lead a very simple life here in St. Paul, Minnesota,” (writes Bob Hausman) “with family very close: sons, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. I had to go to Connecticut for a funeral, so I got to see WesTech. While there, I made a quick trip to the shore, where I would normally see Red Erda ’63, but he was not home. I did get to swim in the Sound. I am in touch with Glenn Hawkes, Emil Frankel, and Bob Wielde. Coincidentally, public television just did a feature on folk music in which they showed the Highwaymen singing Michael Row the Boat Ashore, a blast from the past.”

An update was sent from Peter Funk: “I am pleased to report that Jennie and I are well here in the Channel Islands. The aftermath of COVID is receding but, like elsewhere, we feel the effects of inflation, the dreadful war in Ukraine, political uncertainties, and particularly, Brexit, which has restricted travel and trade to and from Europe. (France is a mere 17 nautical miles from us.) This too will pass, perhaps. I am also pleased to report that daughters Lexy ’91, Jenny ’95, and their families are well and living in the USA. I may get them back to this side of the Atlantic one day. My fond regards to our classmates and Wesleyan.”

Denny Huston writes: “After 55 years of teaching, most of them at Rice, I decided finally to retire completely from teaching courses in the university, though I will still teach a class in film off campus. Lisa and I have been traveling some, and had a great trip to Madrid in December, where we were given a fun tour by one of my granddaughters, who had been studying there for a semester. Maybe the biggest news in our family is that my daughter Kate ’91 has a son who is now touring the world in West Side Story for the next year and a half. I am sorry that living in Houston puts me relatively far away from life at Wesleyan, though I still am lucky enough to see some Wesleyan people who are passing through, most recently Bill Wagner, a fraternity brother and roommate my senior year. I would love to hear from others who are traveling this way (jdhuston@rice.edu).”

“It all started when we were at Wesleyan in 1958,” writes Jack Mitchell. “The big picture is that all in our nuclear family are healthy. Our family businesses, now eight stores strong, show record sales and profits. Our oldest grandson Lyle ’16, who graduated from Wesleyan and worked five to six years in our industry, is graduating from Columbia Business School in June and will join us as the first in a fourth generation! We will also celebrate our grandson Bob’s July wedding in Colorado. I’m now chairman emeritus, working most days meeting and greeting clients in the Westport and Greenwich stores, and participating on several corporate boards. Tennis is still my favorite game, while enjoying Block Island during summers with Linda as we celebrate 62 years together.” Jack sends his best to all with happy and healthy safe hugs.

In a reflective tone to your class secretary, Alexander (Sandy) McCurdy states: “You’ve kept us connected to that very special time in our young lives, which so quickly slipped by. We charged off into the adventure for which WesTech, as we used to say for some unknown reason, had prepared us. Any news from me could only be extremely boring, except how my mind wanders happily to the Wesleyan campus, from time to time, recalling such wonderful oddities as our dutifully worn freshman beanies. Can we imagine the looks on today’s [students] if they were presented with such required haberdashery? Of course, you know that Pete Drayer died not too long ago. I saw a bit more of him in our May years at his retirement place nearby me, where he settled in with his wife a while ago.”

“Happily, I no longer have a ‘bucket list,’ exclaims Russell (aka Bob, aka Mook) Mott.

“Without a ceramic studio until the summer when I go back to camp, I am beginning my fifth career in drawing with acrylic and collage on stretched canvas, eventually finished over with resin. I have no clue if I possess enough talent to enforce the chase, but the thrill of testing and then again and then again—I’m all over it like a bad suit. For those who may remember, John Keratzes, who died at a very young age in 1975, was my closest friend and ‘best man’ at my first wedding in 1966. (We had the same date of birth, January 18.) I returned from Vietnam in 1975 to learn that he had just passed, so I spent a very long time searching for relatives. Six years ago, I located his son, Matt Komonchuk, who lives with his Brazilian wife Miriam in Portsmouth. He owns a radio station, and we correspond all the time and are best friends.”

Cheerfully submitted,

Jon

Nici and John Dobson continue to enjoy travel as their favorite form of recreation. They had two-week trips to Key West, Florida, in both March and November of 2022. John views Key West as his favorite town in America.

In May 2022, Peggy and Dave Hale spent 12 memorable days in Iceland where they saw snowcapped volcanoes, glaciers, and geothermal features. They also visited horse and goat farms, museums, and cruised to watch whales and puffins.

Ira Sharkansky reported that he continues to produce a blog that focuses on the mess of Israeli politics. In his view, Prime Minister Netanyahu is letting extremists express what they want, but so far controlling what they accomplish.

Congratulations to Steve Golin whose third book, Women Who Invented the Sixties: Ella Baker, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, and Betty Friedan, has recently been published! These four women serve as role models for those who continue to challenge the status quo in the quest for a better world.

Bob Williams wrote: “Ann and I are still happily living at The Highlands of Topsham, along with Sue and Jim Dover. We are saddened by the loss of our friend and classmate Mickey Levine and try to stay in touch with his widow Marilyn.

“I’m finishing up a book on the Voynich manuscript at Yale, a mysterious book that no historian or cryptographer has been able to read or decipher. Since there is no evidence the text existed before 1912, I think Voynich (a Polish London bookseller) probably produced it himself as a hoax. The Golden Fleece! So, I’ve written a book that few will read about a book that nobody has been able to read. Still singing and living off the investment of our excellent WesTech liberal arts education.”

Congratulations to Paul Tractenberg who will be honored on May 4, 2023, for founding the Education Law Center in April 1973. The 50th anniversary will be celebrated with a panel discussion and a festive reception honoring Paul along with the outgoing and incoming executive directors. In addition, Paul presented the oral argument to the New Jersey Appellate Division in the Lakewood case (which he is cocounsel with a former law school student of his) for 5,200 public school students. Finally, Paul has been mentoring Ben Levin ’23, a Wesleyan senior, on a major education law and policy project entitled “State Education Clauses for Tomorrow.”

Maria and David Martin continue to make valuable civic contributions. The local Jubilee Park and Community Center encompasses a 62-block area in an underserved community in southeast Dallas. They have been serving there with time, talent, and treasure since its inception 25 years ago. Their latest accomplishment was to open a community clinic operated by Parkland Hospital for which they raised over $7 million for the building fund. It opened in September 2022 and was operating at 85% of capacity a month later.

In addition, in early winter they celebrated the birth of their first great-grandchild. They feel fortunate as a family and note that Wesleyan has played a big part in that blessing.

Edward A. Collins III passed away on October 20, 2022. Ed married his high school sweetheart Gretchen in 1960 and had a career as a reinsurance underwriter. In 1996 they built a house on a small, idyllic lake in New Hampshire, and this is where they spent their summers and autumns over the past two decades. He was a loving, supportive father, and shared his passion for sports with his children. He was an avid golfer and fly fisherman. Ed will be remembered for his soft-spoken kindness and his unwavering willingness to help others. Ed is survived by his wife, daughters Wendy and Robin, son Andrew ’91, and three granddaughters. My condolences to his family and friends. His obituary can be read at www.rickerfuneralhome.com/obituary/edward-collins-iii.

Michael R. Rosen passed away on January 6, 2023, following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was honored at a conference in October 2022 for his 50 years at Columbia University where he was professor of pharmacology and pediatrics. Michael authored and coauthored over 500 peer-reviewed publications and received multiple national and international awards. He will be remembered for his love of literature, music, travel, kayaking, Cape Cod, and spending time with family and friends. He is survived by his wife Tove, daughters Jennifer and Rachel, and two granddaughters. He was devoted to the memory of his late eldest daughter Dina. My condolences to his family and friends.

Alex Knopp wrote: “I recently completed six years as president of the Norwalk, Connecticut, public library board and continue to serve as a member of the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial Board and the Connecticut Retirement Security Advisory Board. Very proud that my wife Bette just had her fourth book of fiction accepted for publication (two novels and two short story collections). I recently had a gratifying opportunity to get back in touch with Steve Talbot ’70 who is working on a PBS documentary about how the Vietnam War peace movement succeeded in preventing President Nixon from vastly escalating the war during the fall of 1969. Steve and I were part of the group of Wesleyan students who sought to block military recruitment on campus in 1968–69. He’s been a PBS Frontline documentary filmmaker for the past 30 years. As our 50th class reunion seminars demonstrated, it’s quite amazing how much the anti-war movement and the Vietnam intervention has linked so many of us together even after so many years!”

Ron and Chryssa Reisner’s 2022 dance card had them traveling all over the eastern U.S. It felt daunting to read: March: Wesleyan for NCAA basketball game and same-day lacrosse game; April: Durham, North Carolina, for Duke law 50th reunion, with a side trip to Pinehurst for golf; May: NYC for one-year wedding anniversary and Middletown again for the men’s basketball golf outing “with the ‘sixties dekes’ tee sponsors—Richard ‘Blade’ Emerson ’68, Jack Sitarz, Steve Knox, Andy Gregor ’70, and me)”; April, May, and October: New Orleans, Baton Rouge (Chryssa’s son is a sophomore at LSU); August: summer vacation in Boston, Maine (Rockland, Vinalhaven, and Ogonquit), Saratoga Springs (racetrack), and Poconos (Chryssa’s vacation home).

Rip Hoffman is having fun as pastor of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, New Canaan, Connecticut.

Darius and Cathy Brubeck published Playing the Changes. He said, “Cathy and I have finally submitted the manuscript of our co-authored book, Playing the Changes, which we began in 2017, with publication planned for May. In February we will travel to LA for two performances of Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice, and for related panel discussions and teaching at UCLA. (https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/music-and-justice-concert-featuring-dave-brubecks-the-gates-of-justice). Our grandson Nathaniel is getting married in New York in June (I like it). Meanwhile, The Darius Brubeck Quartet is still busy in the U.K.”

Tom Earle read The New York Times report on Middletown’s rejuvenation. “Was it run down in our era? Chas Elbot and I did bail on a Main Street rental.”

Tony Mohr’s memoir, Every Other Weekend—Coming of Age with Two Different Dads, is a Koehler Books imprint.

Jeff and Cheryl Powell “have eldest granddaughter east from Wisconsin. She’s a freshman at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Summers we cruise the coast of Maine in our island sloop.”

Stu Blackburn’s new book is All the Way to the Sea. “Just back from Delhi; our son lives there. Nice, warm, but the pollution is terrible. All the best.”

Jeremy Serwer ’70 revealed that Michael Roth ’78 played jazz keyboard and sang at Reunion. Check YouTube. Jeremy’s commercial real estate company is based in East Woodstock, Connecticut.

Rich Kennedy ’71 rides his bike daily. “Golf often. Have writer’s block. Imagination on vacation. Reading Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. Next is Worth of Water. Rabbits, crows, slugs, and elk still haunt last year’s garden.”

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki deliver food to the needy and sick in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Maurice (’70) and Carol Hakim continue to polish an antique home in Clinton, Connecticut. Some consider Mo Connecticut’s resident gadfly.

Steve Currie wrote: “Shey and I are still happy in Vermont. I retired in 2005 and we came back home to Vermont, to Rutland. Golf, skiing, motorcycling and Vermont outdoors in general, along with many various community services, have filled our time over the last 17 years. Currently I’m in my second year as president and rules chairman of the Vermont Golf Association. I’m also a USGA Certified Expert rules official/referee and I work VGA, NEGA, and USGA tournaments and events all over New England. Still reasonably healthy although a replaced knee and total hip replacement has slowed the skiing down a bit—as well as just getting a bit too old (maybe a bit fearful?) to ski the steep terrains as aggressively as I always have when younger. . . . So, we are beginning to think about moving south when my VGA term and responsibilities are finished. We sometimes see classmates and other Wes alums up here in summer for golf and winter for skiing.”

Jim Dreyfus “went to Homecoming and saw Wes beat Williams 35–21. A new building is going up near PAC and Olin, as well as a science one near Shanklin. A developer bought Beta House, though his plans are not yet public.”

Dave Dixon is “an urban designer for Stantec, Boston. I’m optimistic about the future of city planning. My husband and I divide our time between Boston, Brooklyn, and Salisbury, Connecticut.”

John and Linda Andrews “reside in Crosslake, Minnesota, about 150 miles north of Minneapolis. Having left the local city council, I have more time to visit family in Florida, Texas, and California.”

Mike Fairchild “still teaches elementary school. I’m a freelance photographer and lead history book discussions at the library. Son, Scott ’00, is chief of staff for Senator Masto, Nevada. Glad tidings to all.”

Pete Pfeiffer wrote, “It’s painful to watch the lights go out for our classmates. This was probably my last winter logging campaign. A new book, Solastalgia, is available at Levellars Press and Amazon.”

Wayne Slitt played pickleball with Bob Ziegenhagen ’68. “We spent time at a time-share in Cabo with KNK roommates Charley Ferrucci and Bob Tobias and their wives. We live near Tampa and spend summers in Connecticut. I coach a girls’ travel softball team and referee youth ice hockey.”

Fran Dickman wrote for Paul, who “retired from Phoenix Children’s Hospital, April 2021. He attended his 57th high school reunion, has two nieces at Wes, and works on a textbook of pediatric bone, soft tissue, and joint tumors.”

Steve Hansel “settled into a far smaller house in New Orleans. Back playing tennis after a long layoff.”

Fred Coleman said, “A good year despite COVID—we stayed safe most of the year with great care, vaccines, boosters, masks, care about activities. Then got COVID two weeks ago and are recovering with increased sleep and tiredness. . . . On better notes, worked with and attended our 10th Easy Africa Mental Health Conference in Uganda (missed the Ebola areas). We went back to a combination of in-person and online hybrid model. It was great to see good friends and colleagues. Hiked in the Adirondacks, Rockies, Sedona with various people. Two Viking cruises. A two-year delayed southern France-Lyons-Avignon-Rhone River- and Paris [trip] with my wife, and a likewise delayed Prague-Elbe River-Berlin [trip] with best friend.

“The new year will bring a grandchild (youngest daughter), first child for her and for us [our] third grandchild. We lost my brother-in-law to cancer and various friends and colleagues to COVID.

“Life is short. Live well and be with the ones you love!”

John Wilson anchors life in Ann Arbor.

John Bach’s wife’s cancer battle has brought him enlightenment.

On my desk is a pen and ink of the arched bridge over the Concord River. Young, in Boston, I walked the storied venues of the American Revolution so much they entered my dream life. Dressed as a Minute Man, I hid behind stone walls as musket balls exploded around me. When the British were too close, my arms became wings and I hovered over the skirmish.

Next is a print of Childe Hassam’s Summer Evening. A red geranium, a window frame, a young woman in white. What does she see in the flatland stretching to the horizon?

See a studio portrait of my sister Kate. We meet at shoreline restaurants and laugh at the silly, terrible things that preoccupied our parents. And photos of the grandchildren—Eloise, Benton, and Ozi.

Cornered Joel Lang, author/journalist (four decades at the Hartford Courant), now semiretired in Bridgeport. One of his last projects at the Courant was a special, 80-page section on slavery in the North, which sounded like a precursor to the NYT, Pulitzer-winning 1619 Project. Became a book, Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery, which was both critically acclaimed and given four or five stars by 95% of its Amazon readers. Joel researched 19th-century logs of the British Navy’s pursuit of illegal slavers at Olin. Acknowledged indebtedness/inspiration to professors Richard Slotkin of American Studies and English’s George Creeger. Noted Middletown was a busy port in the slave trade and home to a large population of enslaved people.

Dave Losee observed you have to have something to retire to, not simply from: An attorney still working one big case, he is now a beekeeper—30,000 new friends in his backyard (in Camden, Maine) is how he puts it. Chris Thomas, a retired family doc in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and an astronomer, “feels very much at one with the night sky . . .  who often stops to think someone in that galaxy is in my eyepiece looking back at me.” His son shares his passion. Wallace Murfit rowed in two of the world’s greatest regattas: England’s Royal Henley Regatta and the Head of the Charles in 2022.

John Carty (a self-employed attorney and businessman) agrees with Trump on one point— “When you retire, you expire”—and is redoing his house to age in place. Lives near Villanova where he participates in their Senior Enrichment Program and various cultural offerings. A heart surgery graduate who, if he’d known how much fun grandchildren were, would have skipped children completely. Wheelchair bound, Lloyd Buzzell has been in assisted living well over a year now. Pleasant enough if you don’t think about what you’d rather be doing. Like you, playing the cards he’s been dealt as best he can. Karl Norris reported his programming experience in the College of Quantitative Studies led him, when drafted, to a computer research group and on to a career in corporate IT. Retired and in Bloomfield, Connecticut, enjoying the blues harmonica, online courses, one indulgent wife, two daughters, one granddaughter, and five “grandpets.” He plans to move to Edinburgh if things get much crazier here. Stuart Ober’s son, Alexander, is a member of Wes’s class of 2026. Lovely lunch with Chris and Gary Wanerka ’62, a retired pediatrician. Going strong: They went on a Memphis-to–New Orleans cruise.

Good chat with Rich Kremer ’69: Wonderful kids and grands spread around the world—North Carolina, Denver, London, and South Korea—so he is somewhat cuddle deprived. We laughed: When Andrea retired from Dartmouth, her department gave her the august title of “visiting scholar” (so she can use the library). He’s been part of a religious discussion group for 18 years, via Zoom of late.

These notes appear months after I write them, so my coverage is always dated but: Ken Kawasaki ’69, after time in France and some teaching in Japan, has, with his wife Visakha, long headed the Buddhist Relief Mission in the hill country of Sri Lanka and reports their area suffers from “serious shortages of petrol, cooking gas, rice, other staples, and medicines . . .  regular power shortages. On top of this, inflation is rampant. People, hungry and angry, are protesting every day.  Because COVID-19 is still spreading, we are basically staying home, but still connected with good folk, who are helping us provide dry rations and basic medicines for those who are in great need.” For information on their work, contact kawasaki@brelief.org.

The boys in the boat—John Lipsky, Wallace Murfit, Coach Phil Calhoun ’62, MALS ’69, Bob Svensk, Nason Hamlin, Harrison Knight, Karl Norris, and myself—celebrated restarting the crew, and enjoying more success than we had any right to, by reuniting in Middletown in October. Sandy See lost his son Karl, 51, in September to cardiac arrest. Karl was a charming, loyal friend and colleague with an endearing sense of humor who had a fulfilling career in development for nonprofits and loved all aspects of New England’s outdoors. Our condolences. Terry Fralich is “doing well on this little piece of paradise that surrounds our home” (in Saco, Maine). I have visited and that is an accurate characterization of his place. Has two homes on the property, one for Terry and Rebecca, the other for his sister and her partner. Semiretired, Terry, informed by Tibetan Buddhism, counsels half-time and teaches at a mindfulness center.

Sometimes I worry about my adolescent enthusiasm for Wes Tech. Passed up some big names when I chose Wes because I thought I would be treated with more respect and kindness there. And I wasn’t disappointed. Got you guys—the most diverse, interesting, and accomplished group of characters with whom I’ve ever associated—as a bonus.

Classmates,
Sad news.  Len “Bergy” Bergstein died Monday, October 17. His sudden death was apparently caused by a heart attack.
In 2002, after attending our 35th Reunion, I wrote my first set of class notes. A week or so later, I got an email from Bergy that began, “Richie—somehow, during the weekend I missed the point where Pat Dwyer and you did a body exchange . . . well they say miracles happen at events like this. I truly enjoyed the chance to get re-connected.”
He then caught me up on what he had been up to since our graduation: “As for me—I moved to Oregon in ’72 after completing NYU Law School. I joined Legal Aid and got involved with an urban political crowd . . . this led to political involvement as a campaign manager for two Democratic candidates for statewide office. When my candidate for governor won in 1974, I went to work for him in the statehouse—probably due to poor staff work, he only lasted one term. Five years later I was working for the Portland mayor, Neil Goldschmidt, when he was asked to join the Carter cabinet as U.S. secretary of transportation—so I joined his staff in Washington, D.C. In 1981, I headed back to Portland and set up my own public affairs company, called Northwest Strategies, which I have been doing ever since. It’s a nice mixture of government, media, and community relations for clients with complex issues. No two clients are the same . . . I have helped site large scale projects with challenging environmental issues [modern landfills, gravel mining reclamation project, etc.]; helped a Native American tribe establish a positive image to offset the negatives of casino gambling; have gained public approval of development projects and ballot measures; and currently am assisting a large-scale agriculture and dairy enterprise become established on 93,000 acres of land in Eastern Oregon. Oregon’s relatively small population and reputation for livability/quality of life issues makes this an attractive place for me to practice . . . .”
When I learned that Bergy had died, I looked online and found that he had become very well known in Oregon, not only for the active role he had played in political life throughout the state, but also because he was a frequent commentator on local television in Portland, known for, as one article put it, his “wit and wisdom.”
The accolades rolled in, from both senators (one, Ron Wyden, said, “Len was instrumental with my start in public life”) and from various other prominent Oregonians (if that is what they call themselves). He clearly was well loved and well respected. One of Len’s obituaries, with photos, appears here: https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/10/longtime-oregon-political-strategist-len-bergstein-dies-at-76.html.
He is survived by Betsy, his wife of 38 years, two brothers, three children, and four grandchildren.

(Poaching alert!)  Brian Frosh (Walter Johnson High School, ’64, Wesleyan, ’68) was in the news again, this time in an article that included his (stern but distinguished looking!) photo in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/baltimore-priest-sexual-abuse.html). The attorney general of Maryland—Brian—filed a request that a judge release a 456-page document based on a criminal investigation that Frosh’s office initiated in 2019. It details decades of sex abuse of more than 600 victims by clergy in Maryland. According to the filing, “The sexual abuse was so pervasive that victims were sometimes reporting sexual abuse to priests who were perpetrators themselves.”  The Times writes that the report “is one of the first major investigations completed by a state attorney general on sexual abuse in the Church since a scathing report on six dioceses in Pennsylvania shocked Catholics across the nation in 2018.”   Brian was scheduled to leave office in January 2023.

“A bit hard to digest that it was 60 years ago that we started at Wesleyan,” begins this inspirational update from Dave McNally. “The 1960s were a different world, exciting like an erupting volcano, and I for one am extremely grateful to have come of age in that era. I am also grateful for the innumerable learning opportunities Wesleyan offered—in the classroom and beyond—although I regret not having taken advantage of more of them. Like many of you, I suspect, the older I get the more often I think about friends and experiences from years ago. I recently have happily reconnected with several friends from elementary school with whom I had no contact for nearly 70 years. And I have reread with pleasure the journals I kept on world travels over many decades. One of the innumerable benefits of retirement for me is having time for such reflections.

“Despite being afflicted with an unusual variant of ALS that has caused me to lose the use of my arms and hands—and which will inevitably spread and lead to my demise—I am a very happy camper, due to my incomparable wife, best friend, and (increasingly) caregiver, Michelle. We love our Williamsburg-style home outside Alexandria, Virginia, though we spend much of our time at our log house deep in the woods of the West Virginia Panhandle. There Michelle has created what I call ‘Mount Palomar East,’ an observatory with a 22″ Dobsonian telescope housed in its own dome. After three years and prodigious technical assistance from the Cumberland (Maryland) Astronomy Club, Michelle finally got the telescope and dome working perfectly just before Thanksgiving. The views may not quite compare to those from the James Webb Space Telescope, but they are pretty awesome.”

Though Barry Thomas and Connie’s “return to Burundi has been delayed until 2023, the good work continues there. A well-integrated set of programs—with focus upon nutrition and food security, early childhood education, keeping teenage girls in school, and women’s entrepreneurship—are now well established. The very dedicated Dreaming for Change staff are being challenged by the day-to-day requirements for preparing and serving cups of porridge to 400 children and mothers, tending to 147 children in the preschool and first primary grade, supporting 125 women engaged in the Savings and Loan Program (a type of microfinance), and working with over 225 families who participate in the Kitchen Garden Program. On top of the daily challenges, the leadership is really being challenged by the rigors of finding funding to cover the now ongoing and growing operating costs for this broad array of service programming.

“I will give specific mention to the Acute Malnutrition Program that was started in November 2021. We had become aware that the daily porridge and the other family nutrition programs were not doing enough for the children suffering from an acute level of malnutrition. The level of under-five child mortality is improving in Burundi, but it remains among the worse in the world. With kind and generous support from a couple of our Wesleyan classmates along with support from a local church in Boone, North Carolina, we were able to put together a more intense program for these really destitute children and their families. The Dreaming for Change nurse administers the program. Our U.S. organization provides funding for the food and the specialized medicine. Personnel from a nearby government health clinic provide medical diagnosis and oversight as well as referral when necessary. There are over 60 families in the program. Community women who have been responsible for cooking the daily porridge have now received additional training and are going out to identify and serve families that live greater distances from the village center. They are called ‘Light Mothers’ in French. It is quite an innovative way to bring a basic level of care to the more remote rural population. Of course, the current state of global economics and geopolitics, ultimately, cascades down to affect the very poor, such as, in Burundi, most severely.”

Tom Pulliam writes: “Granddaughter Madeline is settling in very nicely at University of Hawaii, studying marine biology and surfing in her spare time. My wife Alice and I will eventually visit Oahu to see her and connect with our classmate Hardy Spoehr. Madeline’s younger brothers have begun playing MLS Next soccer, the highest level of youth soccer in the U.S. It is sort of the same game they have been playing for years, but the level of skills of all players is amazing as is the pace of play. In September our Pleasantville High School class reunion convened in Healdsburg, California, and it could not have been better: incredible energy from a couple of dozen senior citizens who remembered events from 60 years ago as though they just happened (though remembering what they ate for lunch that day was more troubling). Just finished making plans to head to Vancouver, Canada, in March for HSBC Rugby 7s World Series event there and will be joined by one of my original Stanford teammates. I am still thoroughly enjoying helping coach Stanford women in rugby and coaching 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds in rugby for the San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club. I started rugby at Wesleyan when my fraternity brothers insisted I play at Williams because they were short a player. I resisted mightily (anticipating my 130-pound carcass would not survive) but they prevailed. That decision turned out well over the years.”

Phil Shaver attended “my 60th high school reunion in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last month. I hadn’t been back for years. Of our class of 1962 (about 300 people), a third have died. Of the living, many have lost a spouse to death or dementia. So even though I had just undergone knee surgery for a torn meniscus, I felt grateful to be alive, generally healthy, and mentally sharp. My main research collaborator and I have two new books in press. My wife is still a full-time workaholic professor, in good mental and physical health. Our 26-year-old twin daughters are thriving. I’ve been taking watercolor painting classes for a couple of years and am enjoying it and getting better. I’ve actually sold a couple of paintings and had one on display at a local gallery. We’re all concerned about the unhealthy state of our country but can’t figure out what to do about it.”

Another high school reunion and more, Bob Dearth writing that the “Post COVID-19  lockdown lifestyle reset is proving a challenge. Our plans for a visit to Portugal gave way to a higher-priority hip replacement surgery for my wife Barbara to correct both a stress fracture and arthritic deterioration in her right hip, which I understand is a pretty common surgery these days. Recovery is in progress. Have downsized vacation properties in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, moving to a modest three-bedroom condo versus the big custom-vacation property with pool. So far, not a bad trade-off. Anticipate hosting one son and grandkids this coming December after Christmas. Will continue to enter the smaller of the billfish tournaments in early October this fall, weather cooperating. Have traveled to Lake Erie for walleye and smallmouth bass fishing recently. Lots of fun and fresh fish fillets to share. Sixtieth high school reunion in June was fun too but too few attended.”

This autumn found Essel Bailey and his wife, Menakka, in California, “having finished the harvest in Knight Valley and our Knights Bridge wines are on the lees! We came out from Ann Arbor after beating Michigan State in The Big House and listening to Wynton Marsalis and his jazz group in three separate presentations. Moving around still and enjoying it!”

And this update from Barry Reder. “I retired from the practice of law (helping businesses of all sizes, ranging from banks and insurance companies to chefs and entrepreneurs with a dream) at the end of 2006 and have not figured out how I maintained a seven-day/six-night law practice while doing all the ‘stuff’ that endlessly has kept me busy ever since. Ann has struggled with the afterlife of getting two new knees simultaneously more than a year ago, and we walk most days to try to improve things. Each of our two daughters has a boy and a girl and live in San Francisco. After 43 years in a wonderful house in the Richmond District (a suburb in the city), we downsized last spring into a wonderfully urban, quite new three-bedroom apartment. It took six months to clear the house out but only two days to sell it. When it was completely empty, it was strangely devoid of the emotional content I had expected; when empty, it was just a house, no longer the home where we had raised our kids and celebrated holidays and life. We spend half the year in the city apartment and the other half on our wonderful acre and a half on a hill in Sonoma with five table grapevines, a meadow, a putting green, and a pool. My handicap had its nadir at 9 and, despite diligent practice almost daily, is now 20+. Though nearly every weekly calendar has at least one medical entry, we feel endlessly fortunate and hope to enjoy stasis for a while.”

We end with two celebratory notes. Jeff Nilson’s grandson, Isaac Ostrow, Wesleyan Class of 2026, has become a member of Wesleyan Crew. Rick Crootof and Linda celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on September 4, 2022.”