This column will be devoted to reporting on our class’s well-attended Homecoming gathering on Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5.
Kudos to Hugh Wilson, Mark Edmiston, Bob Barton, and to the other members of the committee (and to Mark Davis ’96 and his Wesleyan colleagues) who made it all possible.
On Friday, we met at the new advancement office in the former post office on Main Street. (Just another example of Middletown/Wes collaboration, along with the attractive Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore on the next block, north.)
After a nice buffet lunch provided by the college, we were treated to presentations by Hugh Wilson and his wife Fran Wilkinson (Optimizing Cognitive Fitness during Healthy Aging), and Steve Halliwell and Wes professor Peter Rutland (Update on Russia and Ukraine). Very fine remarks, followed by a lively question-and-answer session.
Bob Barton then led an “open-mic” Wes65 Real Stories centering on comments around climate change and our democracy at risk. (Articles by Jerry Melillo and Phil Russell regarding climate change—its causes and what we can do about it—were provided as well. They can be emailed to you. Just let me know.)
We then got down to “serious business” with an enjoyable wine reception hosted by Fran and Hugh. The class then went to an excellent new Middletown restaurant, Esca, for dinner (hosted by Wesleyan and some generous ’65 classmates).
On Saturday, many of us went to the celebration of John Driscoll’s (’62) life in Memorial Chapel. John’s legendary service to Wesleyan and to our alumni was recounted by a number of speakers, all of whom highlighted the reasons he will be long and fondly remembered.
Later that day in front of a large crowd on Andrus Field/Corwin Stadium, the Cardinals beat Williams in an exciting game for the Little Three title (Wesleyan beat the Mammoths in overtime at Amherst in October).
To cap off the day, Rich Smith led a Gary and the Wombats recorded celebration of melodic memories with pizza and dancing. Once again, let the good times roll!
Those in attendance (in addition to those already mentioned) included: Donna and Clyde Beers, Jim Bernegger (and his brother Lloyd), Bill Blakemore, Lee and Win Chamberlin, Georgeanne and Marsh Cusic, Mary Ellen and Dave Dinwoodey, Lisa and Mark Edmiston, Joe Garrison, John Hall, Anne Halliwell, Carolyn and Bill Knox, Jeff Lea, Mary Anne and Mike Maloney, Alex and Major Moise, Cynthia Rockwell MALS ’19, Elizabeth Smith, and Mary and Gary Witten.
Finally, we all agreed that those of us who can make it should gather every Homecoming and make plans at that time.
And we all agreed it was wonderful to be back at alma mater.
Nick Puner penned a follow-up to David Skaggs’s note from the Fall Issue. He said, “Indeed, I did miss the POSH (the fictional law firm of Puner, Oleskey, Skaggs, and Howard) reunion at Jim Howard’s in June. But, nothing daunted, OSH insisted on another such event, this time at Steve Oleskey’s in Brookline. And so, it occurred, October 30 to November 2. Among our activities was a trip to the JFK Library and Museum. Oh, how that brief moment in our history, both of our youth and of our nation, still plucks at my heartstrings.
“Somehow, we POSHies have stayed cohered—to the point where our next event is already incubating.”
Matthys Van Cort wrote a tribute to Chris Wallach, who died on June 4, 2022, in hospice in Orange Park, Florida. Matthys said, “Chris was an amazing human being. Brilliant, ever curious, incredibly funny, a wacky polymath. Although we were COL colleagues starting in the fall of 1961, I got to know Chris better only after I moved to the John Wesley Club in the fall of 1963. I had a six-string guitar and a couple of Lightin’ Hopkins records. Chris had a 12-string and introduced me to Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and other blues greats.
“After Wesleyan, he continued to read broadly. At our 30th Reunion in 1994, Chris was the only one, to my knowledge, who had actually read Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, the book that lead to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa against him. Twenty years later Chris suggested that I might benefit from reading Epictetus.
“Chris and I had a number of adventures while we were at Wesleyan and then during several years after graduation, after which we were out of touch for a time. In his last years we emailed intensely if not steadily. I will miss him terribly.
“In 2017 Chris wrote to me:
‘I’ve spent a lifetime failing to find out what to do with a lifetime, and in the process have been a race-car mechanic, small business owner, software developer and programmer, data-logger inventor and manufacturer, and so on. I retired in 2004 for a liver transplant, and discovered in the years following that I wanted to be just an inventor and fiddle around with stuff. I patented an idea for a wind turbine, but have sinfully procrastinated on finishing a working prototype. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8410622B1/en.
‘All in all, I find myself more content than I ever thought possible, proof again of the power of shit luck.’
“Bruce Kirmmse, CSS class of ’64, had been for years in very regular contact with Chris, including almost daily emails and Chris’s visits to Bruce’s summer house in New England. On June 4, 2022, Bruce wrote to tell me that Chris had died. Among other things, he said: ‘He was a good, witty, and thoughtful friend, and my life is seriously diminished without him. Chris had for some months been in a care facility in Orange Park, Florida.’”
From Jim Dresser: “I am still living in Salisbury, Connecticut, where we sold a large house and built a small bungalow in the backyard just before COVID hit. It is indeed better to be lucky than smart.
“I spend most of my time trying to build affordable housing in this expensive enclave of Connecticut, which got more unaffordable after the pandemic influx from NYC.
“I was honored that Gina asked me to be one of the speakers at John Driscoll’s ’62 celebration of life in the chapel at Homecoming. I then got to sit in Corwin Stadium in shirtsleeves and reflect on John, Wes’s most ardent football fan, while the Cards beat the Ephs handily to win the Little Three.
“I continue to be amazed by the time and effort required ‘to alleviate the many ills to which the flesh is heir,’ but I am defying the odds so far.”
John B. Jarzavek wrote: “I was pleased to see that there is a memorial challenge to remember our classmate, Colby Andrus. As was our wont in the ’60s, most of us knew only our fraternity fellows and course classmates. I got to know Colby our junior and senior years when we were both on the Board of House Presidents. He was always soft-spoken but full of energy and suggestions. After graduation we kept in minimal contact. However, his son John enrolled in the Rivers School (’96) where I had been teaching since 1965. I taught John in art history, in which he continued at Wesleyan after he graduated from Rivers. While he was at Rivers, his mother Alice was a school trustee. I got to see the Andrus family regularly, and we became close friends. We discovered that we were all Italophiles. Norman and I bought our Italian apartment in 2001—we sold it in 2021—and Colby, Alice, and we met often in Italy in those years. Colby and Alice and their two boys had also lived in Italy for a year in the ’80s. His Boston business was importing and selling Italian furniture. We traveled Italy together and ate great food over the years. My closest Wesleyan friends were fraternity brothers Bob Martin, Bob Sloat, and my fraternity “big brother” Hill Panitch ’62. Thankfully, Colby joined that crew. I can still see his smile.”
David Landgraf contributed: “Ten plus years into retirement and haven’t had yet to return to paid employment. Have kept my law license active just in case. Have kept busy with church work, yardwork and gardening, catching up on casual reading, and providing unsolicited advice to children and grandchildren. Am still living in the house in Southern New Jersey (greater Philadelphia area) to which my late wife Linda and I moved with two small children in 1977, but it is becoming an increasing burden. My son and his family (two children, ages 11 and 9) live about an hour away near the New Jersey shore, and my daughter and her family (three children, ages 17, 15, and 9) are in Frederick, Maryland, about three to four hours away by car. See both frequently. I have been trying to take one or two trips each year, but that schedule was interrupted by COVID-19. My middle brother and I did take a Rhine River cruise, which included a performance of the passion play in Oberammergau, Germany, this past summer. Looking at a possible family trip next summer, if kids’ sports schedules and the college entry and visits for the oldest allow.”
And from Frederick Taylor: “Visited Lew Whitney and his wife Yoli in LA in early September. He is well and still sailing. It was great to see him and trade memories, some of which may have actually occurred. We exchange book ideas and discuss the various authors we enjoy. We plan to see each other annually as Carole and I travel from New York to see our daughter Liesl and family in Manhattan Beach and perhaps a granddaughter in college on the West Coast.”
John Driscoll’s celebration on November 5, in a packed Memorial Chapel, was attended by classmates Robin Cook, Bob Krugman, and Hank Sprouse. Robin, who remembers John as “one of the most affable and good-natured individuals I have ever met,” regretted only the absence of speakers from our class who knew him best at the very beginning of his Wesleyan career. Hank, who had been close to John, found the memorial “truly moving for me—spiritual, loving, powerful, gentle, and meaningful.” For anyone interested, John left an extended oral history interview about his Wesleyan history, including his earliest days when we were there together; a transcript of this is available online at https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/ohp-53.
Ken Landgraver has moved into a retirement community in Portland, Oregon, which allows him and his wife more time to travel: Morocco for two weeks in March and April; hiking the Camino in Spain where he got COVID and “had to spend two delightful weeks in Madrid until I tested negative”; and a week each in Santa Fe and Pismo Beach. They also “spent time at our beach place watching the whales, where they come in so close, we can hear them.” They have been using an old VW Westfalia van for camping throughout the Northwest and exploring Vancouver Island, while also adding two great-grandsons to the family.
Bruce Menke and his wife Karen continue to be highly active politically in Athens, Georgia, supporting Democratic candidates and causes. They have hosted or co-hosted more than 20 fundraisers and candidate meet and greets, and recently organized a major Get Out the Vote effort. Bruce further reports, “Fortunately, our extended family has made it through COVID without serious illness. Our oldest grandchild is now a sophomore at Duke. Two others are high school sophomores and the youngest is in sixth grade. My interest in languages continues, with a focus on reading contemporary books in the Romance and Germanic languages and, to a lesser extent, Russian.”
Len Wilson writes that “after celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary and catching COVID in Europe last summer, there’s little to top that news. Joyce and I are heading back to our condo in South Philly after spending over two years ‘staying safe’ at our barrier island home on the Jersey shore.” Len remains active with his YMCA retiree groups and is helping plan a Christmas luncheon/fundraising “where I continue to be the auctioneer, squeezing all the giving I can get from my friends and [their] spouses. I will also continue my favorite activity (pickleball) indoors in the Philly area.”
Chuck Work reports that Hurricane Ian “did not hit us as directly in Naples as it did Fort Meyers and we were fortunate in that we live several miles from any water and so the surge did not reach us and we sustained no damage. But it will be a slow recovery for much of Southwest Florida.” He adds that he “went door-to-door for Democrats in our county making almost no difference.”
Bill Wortman writes: “As everyone discovers when they retire, staying busy is no problem. There’s so much to do, in my case this past year six hiking trips with Road Scholars to national parks (Acadia, Big Bend, Glacier, etc.), local volunteer and civic activities, reading (most recently Joyce’s Ulysses, which I first read with Wilbert Snow in my sophomore year), and fitfully hacking away at invasive species on my small property just outside Oxford, Ohio, which is good therapy.” Sadly, Bill’s wife Sue Howlett (Mt. Holyoke ’65) died two years ago after nine years with lung cancer, but he has three grandchildren all doing well; two in Denver about to graduate this coming spring (one from high school, the other from college), and the third in St. Louis with still “a ways to go.”
Finally, many of you who were chemistry students will remember Tony Santonicola MA ’61, who as a master’s student was a teaching assistant and lab instructor during our freshman and sophomore years. It turned out Tony enjoyed interacting with brats like us more than mixing chemical reagents and moved on to the graduate counseling program at Harvard. He and I became roommates there in 1963 and consolidated a lifelong friendship in which he became “Uncle Tony” to my kids. He served for many years as director of counseling at the University of Hartford and has recently moved to a cottage in a retirement community near there where he tends to two garden lots and confounds everyone who can’t believe he is 92. He recalls his Wesleyan years with great fondness and extends best wishes to all who remember him.
Russell Mott writes: “Another summer at camp in Amesbury, Massachusetts, teaching ceramics, and livin’ the dream back in New England. Presently I am running a gallery with my partner, Joyce, and moving from throwing to altered and sculptural forms with the kind assistance of the finest active potter in the country (in my opinion), Steve Hemingway of Minnesota. It is a fascinating and terrifyingly wonderful excursion. For those interested in the final collapse of South Vietnam in ’75, a friend of mine has written a book about the chaotic evacuation of Saigon, something in which I was also involved. Getting Out of Saigon, Ralph White, Simon and Schuster, April 4, 2023. It’s a hell of a tale.—Que tenga buen dia, Jon.” Muchas gracias, Russell.
A bit of poetry from John Alexander:
“Over many years, believe I’ve shared enough.
But if desperate, try usual comments on health, aging and family stuff.
Trying each day to remember pills, appointments, friends, and names,
Especially before the body and mind succumb to increased pains.”
A few words from Jack Mitchell with a bit of promotion tossed in: “Linda and I continue to have a wonderful marriage for 61 years—four sons, seven adult grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren. Our Mitchells family of stores in seven locations is very healthy, with constantly improving sales over previous years. We are probably the largest independent family-owned luxury men’s/women’s/lux clothing and jewelry establishment in our country. Presently, it’s a third generation of Mitchells working in our stores—three of our sons and three of my brother Bill’s, moving soon into a fourth generation, two of whom went to Wesleyan! Healthwise, my days include tennis or walks with Linda, or providing motivational lectures on my three HUG publications. I give credit to my dad who claimed that Wesleyan inspired me to open The New York Times to the editorial page rather than the sports pages! Happy, healthy, and safe Wes hugs to all!”
In August–September, Nici and John Dobson traveled to Ireland, London, and lastly Malaga, Spain, where John attended a formal meeting of the Duke Hand Society.
Michael Jay Levine died on October 30, 2022, surrounded by his loving family. Mickey ran a private medical practice in Holyoke, Massachusetts, for more than 40 years and was adored by his patients for his manner, sympathy, and kindness. He and his wife Marilyn were tireless travelers who made it to every continent. He is survived by his wife, daughters—Naomi, Erica, and Devorah—and six grandchildren. My condolences to his family and friends.
Jim Meyerhoff and co-authors wrote a review article on the brain-unique equivalent to the lymphatic system that was published in Military Medicine. Also, their microdissection of mouse brain into fundamentally and anatomically different regions was filmed by the Journal of Visualized Experiments.
In August, my companion Tish Geehan and I took a ferry to Orcas Island where we climbed the tower on top of Mt. Constitution (elevation 2,407 feet) and had a magnificent view of the other San Juan Islands and the Cascade Mountains to the east.
Ken and Visakha Kawasaki continue their active, anti-war, pro-environment lifelong passion.
Harold Davis wrote, “All’s well. Christine and I enjoy retirement. Just back from southern France. I serve on several philanthropy and health-care boards.”
Charlie Morgan is “working on a potential book about people’s rights and the interpretation of Massachusetts’s constitution. Grandson Jordan is a Marine on the USS Kearsarge. All other grandchildren are pursuing higher education. Life is good in southwest Florida where I play a lot of tennis.”
From Ron Reisner, “Sixties Dekes sponsored a tee box at Wesleyan’s annual basketball/golf outing—Dick Emerson ’68, Steve Knox, Jack Sitarz, Andy Gregor ’70, and I. We were all saddened by the passing of Coach Herb Kenny. Dennis Robinson’79 remembered how Coach wanted good basketball and good scholarship and was delighted by our post-Wes lives. I am indebted to Coach for much of my success at Duke Law and subsequent legal career as a federal prosecutor, trial lawyer, and state court trial judge.”
Rick Pedolsky said, “Cilla and I summer in the Stockholm archipelago, running our business while swimming and wandering the woods, feasting on wild berries and mushrooms. Life is soft and easy. This year, two hours away are the horrors of the Ukraine. I remember Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, which 30 years ago proclaimed the ascendancy of Western democracy. Hallelujah. Amen. Oh, what a world, what a world.”
Jim Drummond “practices criminal law more intensely than ever. I hope the Texas church is punished for bastardizing Hamilton with a sermon against same-sex relationships.”
Jim Adkins wrote, “Heading toward more normalcy. Delta COVID made me quite sick. All outside interactions stopped, except for phone and internet, cutting me off from the world for several months. Now, back to music and travel. Where we go from here is unknown. Hopefully us old farts will fare well.”
Steve Knox enjoys life in the mountains of North Carolina. “Asheville is kind of a blue oasis surrounded by red—much like Austin, Texas. We have very active artistic and musical communities, a UNC campus, a growing throng of pickleball enthusiasts, and some of the best public tennis courts I’ve ever seen.”
“Saw Ron Reisner, Jack Sitarz, Dick Emerson ’68, and Andy Gregor ’70 at the Friends of Wesleyan Men’s Basketball Golf Outing at the end of May. It’s always a fun event, and Coach Reilly is doing a great job. The team won NESCAC again this year. On a sad note, former coach Herb Kenny passed away recently. He was a great coach and an inspiration to all of his players.”
Pete Pfeiffer reported, “Bob Conkling’s memorial service was lovely. Many people paid respects to the brilliant, witty lawyer, housebuilder, and philosopher. My second book, Solastalgia, is available on Amazon.”
John Wilson said, “All is well and quiet in Ann Arbor. Nothing exciting to report.”
Stu Blackburn wrote, “My new novel, All the Way to the Sea, is set in a fictionalized Little Compton, Rhode Island, where I spent childhood summers. It’s hot on England’s South Coast. All are welcome to visit.”
Tom Earle “traveled 2,000 miles in my wife’s native Norway. We didn’t see a single pothole or stretch of broken pavement.”
Rip Hoffman “received an offer I couldn’t refuse. I’m out of retirement and serving as pastor of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, New Canaan, Connecticut.”
Doug Bell “announced two grandchildren—boy, 5, and girl, 1. All the best to classmates.”
Fred Coleman wrote, “Just had a week with three kids, three in-law spouses, and grandkids on Lake George. Also, a day with all my paternal cousins—family!!
“Wendy retired in January after 43 years as a behavioral pediatrician. I have cut back from 60 to 49 hours most weeks. The need for psychiatrists . . . only increases.
“Our Africa group, now with nine teams in six countries has only met by Zoom—monthly, co-learning webinars and yearly conference. I hope to be able to go in person in October.
“Wendy and I deferred her 75th–birthday trip from May 2020 to this last May 2022—a Viking River Cruise in the Rhone Valley. The safest we have been during COVID. Everyone—crew and passengers—PCR tested pre-launch, then daily rapid tests throughout, with immediate movement off ship to quarantine. Masked except at meals, with good spacing.”
Dave Dixon is “still urban planning for Stantec, mostly in the U.S. and Canada. We have four terrific grandsons and a wonderful family. Never a dull moment.”
John de Miranda said, “My son Colin is in Ecuador as a Peace Corps volunteer. The idealism and service philosophy inherent in Jack Kennedy’s 1961 creation is still alive and well.”
Steve HanseI “sold the Florida house and downsized in New Orleans. Nine grands. All okay in general.”
Steve Howard “retired from commercial and civil litigation to become a pinochle player in an active-adult (?) New Jersey community, Exit 8 (a). Beth and I celebrated 53 years together, which produced two great daughters and two even greater granddaughters. One in college, the other a high school senior. Tempus fugit.”
George Evans “celebrated 46 years with husband Mike Devine. Paris, fall ’22, will reprieve a ’68 Wesleyan study abroad trip. I remember senior year living with Ed Sonnino and Howard Brown in Lawn Avenue.”
George Evans (left) and Ed Sonnino (right), Rome 1970
George made me remember. Senior year on the top floor of Beta house with Bruce Williams ’70, Rick McGauley, John Lacouture, Robin King, Curt Allen ’71, and Bill Fornaciari ’70. Who am I missing? One bathroom. Women guests. Vietnam. I took lit and art classes? I worked for Saga and the music department. There were few cars on the campus, which simmered with graduate school plans, marriage, military, the getting on of our lives. A seminal event passed, now, as gently as a light breeze.
Caught up with Dan Wood ’67: As Nason Hamlin put it, Dan, inspired by the English exchange student, Peter Harborow ’64, along with the late Mike Tine ’67, “did foundational work that was not flashy but essential for the early crew—like convincing local utility to give us telephone poles for the construction of our dock.” Became an endocrinologist (Columbia and UConn); then two years practicing among Hopi and Navajo as an alternative to Vietnam. Moved to Bath, Maine, in 1978. Happily married to an attorney who practiced elder law. Two daughters: one a Yalie who rowed in U.S. national boat a couple of years. In retirement, he is helping build a reproduction of the Virginia, the first boat built by Englishmen in North America.
Rick Voigt recently published a novel, My Name on a Grain of Rice. From Amazon: “Harry Travers walks away from the manicured future his disintegrating, moneyed family had envisioned for him so that he could feel the rush of making something out of nothing. That something would be himself.” Eighty-four percent of the Amazon reviewers gave it five stars. The author is a lawyer (UVA). After working for the solicitor general in D.C., he moved to Connecticut and went into private practice focusing on workplace issues. In “retirement,” he has some college gigs (including Wes).
Vic Hallberg spent 11 years as a Lutheran minister serving parishes in Vermont and Minnesota (where, now retired, he lives) before shifting into the marketing of high-tech medical equipment. Vic has stayed close to Eric Conger, a Hoboken-based playwright, Bob Helsel, a retired IT consultant in Boulder, and Rick Voigt. The four of them (with wives) vacation together in, for example, the Adirondacks and Moab.
Amby Burfoot of Mystic, Connecticut, the 1968 winner of the Boston Marathon and former editor of Runner’s World, competed in his 59th consecutive Manchester (Connecticut) Road Race, a Thanksgiving Day event that draws about 10,000 runners from around the world. He said that any “lucky dude” can win Boston, but you have to be “pretty mean and gnarly” to run 59 Manchesters. He runs these days because he is not ready to “sit on the front porch and drink lemonade or something stronger.”
John Kepner, with a friend, is producing The Race to Social Justice podcast series. In one, John is interviewed on his coming to comprehend white privilege. Ray Solomon figures prominently in another. John’s hope is that candid, compelling discussions about race will help “each of us in our personal journey in addressing racism.” Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and others.
Jeff Talmadge, after 47 years in Wellesley, moved to East Orleans. Bob Ziegenhagen is living in an Episcopal senior living center in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Nice chat with BillCurrier ’69. Still learning things about one another. Bob Reisfeld’s older daughter made him a grandfather last year. His younger daughter got married in August. Though it irked the hell out of Ellen, Wallace Murfit became president of his rowing club, a position with a lot of work and no money that no one else would take. John Lipsky said all his children and all his grands live in Brooklyn. Bill Nicholson’s #1 son has retired. Bill hasn’t. Few years back, saw Peter Corbin, a renown, wildlife painter, who was in Jacksonville for a commission. Received Bill van den Berg’s holiday letter—a beautiful collage of photographs and text re his 2021. In June, Judy and I celebrated our 50th. Most meaningful accomplishment of my life.
Steve Beik died June 29, 2021, in Longwood, Florida. At Wes, a basketball player and ace tennis player (Pennsylvania State high school champion) who, in time, turned to golf. An attorney (Vanderbilt), he was a prominent figure in GOD TV, a worldwide “evangelical Christian media network” (Wikipedia). Described in his obituary as a quiet and reserved “yet passionate to see the Lord use the media to reach the lost.”
Mary Thompson, Greg Willis’s sister, wrote me: Greg died April 28, 2019, “by his own hand. . . .” The family believes the overwhelming power of PTSD finally caused him to take the actions he did. He served for 11 months on the ground in Vietnam and was never quite the same after those traumatic months. . . . Returning from Vietnam, he completed his MBA at Columbia then worked for the Bank of New York and Prudential Bache before retiring early to the family farm in Vermont. . . . He loved the land and walked almost all of it every day. . . . He became involved in the local Baptist church. . . . A train buff, he also collected antique farm tools, mostly from our family, farmers back through generations. He had a good life.”
I did not make it to our 55th Reunion, but I sent a query out on the list serve to see who did, and what they could tell me about it. I did not get any emails about the reunion, so I conclude that either no one attended or that no one was willing to go public about the wild debauchery that took place. I did, however, get a cryptic email from Bob Dyer. For those of you unhappy where you are, and thinking of a nice place to retire, here is what Dyer wrote: “August issue of Kiplinger’s magazine lists Middletown, Connecticut, as one of seven great places to retire.”
Meanwhile, on the news front, I can tell you that Jim Kates, holed up in southwestern New Hampshire (“in idyllic seclusion”), published two books in the spring of 2022, one a translation of poems by the Russian poet Mikhail Yeryomin (Sixty Years: Black Widow Press), and the other a book of his own poems (Places of Permanent Shade: Accents).
And another Jim, Jim Cawse, wrote to tell me that he had retired at the beginning of 2022. He closed his consulting firm, Cawse and Effect (great name!). The company of 12 years worked with various other companies on a variety of problems, ranging, as Jim put it, “from plywood adhesives to passenger traffic through Gatwick Airport.” At the time he wrote (February 2022), he was waiting to have a knee replacement, but his local hospital was full of COVID patients, so he was not sure when he would be able to have the surgery. In fact, it took a while, but he now has had the knee replaced, and hopes to be cross-country skiing again soon.
George McKechnie, a retired clinical psychologist, has sold Axiom Home Tech in Monterey, California. Started 23 years ago, it specializes in custom audio and video design and installation (including home theaters). He now plans to devote his time to two new web-based businesses—one that helps consumers understand smart home technologies and how they can be custom-tailored to their needs, plus another business that matches people for friendship (not dating). He lives in Carmel with his wife Dee, who is also a retired clinical psychologist.
I saw the following in the Wesleyan Connection about Bill Klaber: “According to the Webby Awards, The MLK Tapes, a podcast written and hosted by William Klaber ’67, is the recipient of a 2022 Webby Award in the Best Limited Series category. For the past two years, Klaber has been working with Tenderfoot TV and iHeart Media on the podcast, which takes a deep dive into the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (May 1).” I listened to this one-hour podcast. I recommend that you check it out. It is dynamite.
As those of you keeping close track are aware, in recent sets of class notes I have taken the liberty to write about some guys in the classes behind us (Bud Smith, Gary Conger, John Wilson, all ’66) and ahead of us (Brian Frosh ’68). The 1966 class secretary has accused me of poaching. Here I continue to poach by telling you that my wife (Lisa Young) and I spent four days at a beach in South Carolina with Rick Voigt’68, and his wife Annemarie Riemer. Rick, now retired from practicing law, has been teaching classes at Wesleyan at the Wasch Center since 2015. Among the titles of the classes he has taught are The Effort to Build an Affordable American Middle Class Home: A Design and Social History, and Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Edsel Ford: Two Communists and a Titan of Capitalism Confront the Realities of the Modern Industrial Workplace and Make Great Art. Rick has published a novel, My Name on a Grain of Rice (Atmosphere Press, 2021), which draws among other things on his work as a labor lawyer who once worked for OSHA.
More poaching: Bill Dietz ’66 (aka Doctor Doctor Dietz) received an honorary degree from McGill University for his work on nutrition and obesity. You can see him on a YouTube video, decked out in fancy robes, giving his super honorary degree speech to the faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill (his beaming family in the front row) if you Google “Dietz” and “McGill” (or go here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-LR9VxBy4).
And, finally, this just in from Ed Simmons: Ed, a resident of Yarmouth, Maine, became the new board chair of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. He succeeds Maria Gallace ’84, a resident of Yarmouth. Founded in 1959, the Natural Resources Council is the largest environmental advocacy organization in Maine, with more than 25,000 members and supporters. Its mission is to protect, restore and conserve the nature of Maine, now and for future generations.
We begin in admiration: Larry Duberstein has just published his 10th novel, The Hospice Singer—in Larry’s words, “a tale revolving around the unexpected connection between one of the singers (part of a small choir offering in-home concerts to the terminally ill) and a beautiful and mysteriously lively young ‘client.’ The connection develops into a long and winding story with passages of amateur detection, cross-country picaresque, shifting relationships, and surprising resolutions. The intriguing but little-known phenomenon of hospice concerts can be seen as uplifting or depressing—it’s both, really.” Larry goes on to pay tribute to Richard Wilbur, pointing out “something very special about the man . . . his extreme generosity regarding what poets might choose to do, how they might approach the art . . . I was playing around with the [William Carlos] Williams’s sort of poem and never once did he say a discouraging word, either about the folly of skinny uber-objectified lines or about the fact that mine stunk. He simply made his comments as though intrigued and curious, maybe made a suggestion or two, and went along with the pretense that I was writing poetry. ‘Generous’ barely touches it. The word ‘kindness’ sits very close by, and it is, these days, a rare word and a rarer trait. . . .”
Gary Conger is “still in touch with John Wilson (almost daily), Cliff Shedd, Bill Boynton, and Bill Gernert. We had a reunion of the Fab Five (or the Eclectic basement rats) in Boynton’s Arizona home in 2018.” Gary is “happy to report that I and many loved ones have survived (so far) the COVID pandemic,” that his new “lady friend” has inspired “me to read War and Peace. I’m currently on page 1,169.” Gary’s son, Nick (41), “works for Biden’s EPA as their press secretary. He’s been a soldier for animal protection and the environment since he graduated college. My daughter, Laura (39), has become a nurse practitioner. She is married to a quite successful banker and now independent entrepreneur. They have given me two incredibly energetic grandsons, now ages 6 and 4.” Gary “still remember[s] fondly that truncated academic year” he and I spent in Kuwait, truncated because we wrote and distributed widely an eight-page mimeographed satire on life in Kuwait. A few days later the American ambassador, fearing prosecution, got us out of Kuwait.”
Rick Crootof, Essel Bailey, and Sandy Van Kennen attended the 55th Reunion of the Class of 1967 and our 56th. Rick writes that he and Essel had “a great dinner” with the Board of Trustees, that he “talked with over a dozen students . . . all of whom are at least double majors, some triple! All polite and engaging. They all must have taken theater courses, because they were so convincingly interested in what I had to say about the ‘old days.’” He and Sandy got in a swim, Rick “looking for a flip turn lesson… Sandy and I told every student we met on campus or shar[ed] a meal [with], to make sure they walk
Rick Crootof at R&C 2022.
into some professor they liked and say ‘Hey, can we hang out?’. . . . Saturday night Sandy and I had dinner for 2 1/2 hours with author Robin Cook ’62! That was exciting.” Having fond memories, I asked Rick to send me a photograph from the pitcher’s mound.
Rick and Linda and Jack Knapp and his wife Carla, had plans “to embark on our fourth iteration of a Viking Cruise to Scotland and Norway” in mid-June only to be disappointed because of canceled flights.”
For Paul Gilbert “there hasn’t been much travel or getting together in the last couple of years,” pointing out that the “recent losses of friends and family has a sobering effect,” a feeling many of us share. Paul “had scheduled a series of books on transitions in life but I kind of lost my mojo in the COVID lockdown . . . . Now at 78, I’m just concentrating on daily pleasures and helping my wife who is 13 years younger, to plan her retirement from the practice of law next February. We’ll become a little more mobile then but having three cats will probably prevent us from taking a round-the-world cruise.”
Jeff Nilson hasn’t “left the Cape except for trips to Lexington to see our daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons, Isaac and William. Cape Cod has all the beauty and art that I need. So, I don’t mind sticking close to home.” Jeff includes “one of my silly math verses”:
The Numbers That Wanted to Be Counted Backwards
Sally the hen wanted to count to 10.
“I will count forward like other hens.
I’ll start at 1 and go quickly to 10.
And I shall do it again and again.”
“Not so fast,” said Sally’s numbers.
“WE like counting from 10 to 1.
No regular counting for us.
Counting backwards is much more fun.”
Sally breathed and swelled up her chest.
“I shall count forward; that is that.”
“We’ll run away,” her numbers cried.
Sally said, “You’re acting like brats.”
Sally began to count.
She shouted, “1!”
The 1 started to run.
It said, “Being counted forward is no fun.”
She yelled, “2! 3!”
The 2 and the 3 started to fuss.
They said, “You shouldn’t have counted either of us.”
She screamed, “4! 5!”
The 4 and the 5 tried to hide.
“We’ll never be counted forward,” they cried.
Sally shrieked, “6! 7!”
The 6 and the 7 hid in a shack.
They said to Sally, “We’ll never come back.”
Sally yelled, “8! 9!”
The 8 and 9 climbed a tree.
The 9 said to Sally, “You’ll never count the 8 or me.”
Then Sally felt badly about screaming so loud.
She missed the sign that said, “No yelling allowed.”
Realizing that screaming had done her no good.
She resolved to whisper to be understood.
Then Sally the hen whispered, “10.”
The 10 said to Sally the hen,
“The numbers will return
If you count backwards from 10.”
Will you help Sally the hen
Count backwards to 1 from 10?
Please put the missing numbers in the blanks.
Sally will offer you her deepest “Thanks.”
10, __?___, 8, 7, __?__, 5, __?__, __?___ 2, 1.
And he had his grandson send the following cartoon:
Jeff Nilson’s grandson Isaac provides an update on his grandparents.
Clark Byam “retired at end of last year after 49 years of practice with same law firm. Now play some golf, hike in hills where we live almost daily. Also keep in touch with my three kids. Son lives about 5 miles from me; two daughters live in Texas. Also follow stock market.”
Andy Kleinfeld tells us that “Amazingly and very fortunately, I have no interesting news, not even any uninteresting news.” But Andy’s no news turns out to be great news. He is still working, but not too hard, as a circuit judge; he and Judy, “married in 1967,” continue to enjoy their dream home, “a log house on a hill with a view of Mt. McKinley (now Denali),” which they bought in 1974; and “all three of our kids are grown and doing fine, as are our six grandchildren. We very much appreciate our good luck.”
Andy goes on to write: “We were also damned lucky to get so fine an education at Wesleyan. My law clerks mostly have gone to elite schools, but generally are not as well educated as we are. My kids managed to learn a lot in college but could easily have wasted the opportunities. I suspect that much of the deficiency I see in my law clerks is because the schools let them take whatever courses they want, so their course selection is by uneducated people, themselves. I think one of the things we paid for and received was the excellent guidance from the faculty on what to study, and not just the studies themselves.
“We also benefited a lot from the tolerance for different points of view and lack of censoriousness (maybe Nelson Polsby was kind of hard on institutionalists in his campaign for behaviorism, but that was healthy). E. J. Nell taught us neoclassical economics so well one might imagine that he was not a Marxist (though he taught that well too). Dick Buel, Reggie Bartholomew—wow—I can still quote them (and do). And I still think about imperialism with Barber and Butler, where we learned what happened and what people thought at the time, rather than learning only that it was bad. I sure miss our classmates and professors who are gone. I still think of Pete Spiller. As do, I’m sure, the girls he romanced from time to time.”
In response to David Griffith’s reminiscence in our last class notes, Andy assures us that “it wasn’t me who fell asleep in Professor Reynolds’s class.”
Barry Thomas enjoyed David’s account of Rip Reynolds’s class, writing: “What marvelous reminiscence from Jack Knapp and reflection from David Griffith! I was not in that class but, as a fellow public schooler, feel a great sense of empathy with Jack. And now, after 55 years or so, can enjoy David’s wry humor. For me, the revelation came in freshman English with a young professor whose name I do not remember—a really fine professor and, as it turned out, a very nice fellow. It was the poetry. I did not have a clue. ‘The horror! The horror!’” The professor was James Lusardi, whom many of us remember with great affection.
“Granddaughter Madeline,” Tom Pulliam writes, “will attend University of Hawaii and study marine biology. I have emailed Hardy Spoehr to let him know and told Madeline and her family what a wonderful person he is, encouraging them to make contact with him. I got new hip in April to go with couple of bionic knees, everything working fine. Just back from trip to Montana and North Dakota; Montana to see longtime rugby teammate who built a home in Paradise Valley near Livingston, and also to catch up with old high school classmate in Bozeman. Alice and I had great time with both of them, then headed to her hometown of Fargo for memorial service to celebrate life of her older sister.
“In few days heading to Lake Almanor in northeastern California for vacation with kids (our son and daughter, his girlfriend and daughter’s family); have been going there 40-plus years now, and it thankfully has changed very little. In September my old Pleasantville, New York, high school class will hold a reunion in Healdsburg, California (Sonoma Valley), which should be interesting, and also a great deal of fun.
“Other than that, just loving being involved in grandkids’ lives. They live about seven minutes away and the boys (ages 15, 12, and 9) are outstanding athletes, baseball and soccer in the summer. In fall rugby will replace baseball. Life is very good.
“Read with sadness of the death of John Driscoll ’62, who was from my hometown of Pleasantville where he coached me in football when I was about 12. He was a magnificent human being who helped many, many Wesleyan students successfully navigate that awkward four-year period of their lives. Those of you who knew him might be interested in watching video of his retirement ceremony on YouTube. I made donation to the Freeman Driscoll Endowed Scholarship Fund in his memory.”
At its spring convocation ceremony, McGill University awarded Dr. William Dietz the degree of Doctor of Science Honoris Causa. Congratulations to Bill on this fitting recognition of his many and longstanding contributions to understanding and helping to treat childhood obesity.
We end with this inspiring note and “small whimsy” from Daniel Lang who continues to teach, publish, and contribute as an administrator. “Next month I will start a three-year term on the Board of Directors at King’s University College. I find it somewhere between amusing and puzzling that some people still think that I know what I am talking about. My public economics and finance graduate course begins again in September. . . . Two papers have been cranked out for publication. Two more are on the way.” Dan’s “small whimsy” is a gem, ever so telling about our lives at Wesleyan in 1962–1963. Note that the professor is Lusardi.
A Swinger of Birches
“Wesleyan, when I was there, was preppy. Many of my classmates were from private schools. Most were from upper middle class professional families. Almost all of them were better prepared academically and more sophisticated than I was. In an odd, self-defeating exercise Wesleyan let you know this. Remember Hess Haagen? The results of a battery of tests, as well as academic statistics from high school, were assembled for each student in comparison with the averages for each entering class. This ensured that those who were insecure to begin with stayed that way with the knowledge that they were at best average. So I did not think that my personal experiences had anything to add to discussions in or outside class.
“About two-thirds of the way through freshman English there was an exception. The professor, a man recently from Yale named James Lusardi, assigned the Robert Frost poem, Birches, about ‘swinging’ birch trees. The usual class discussion ensued, with all sorts of literary metaphors about the deeper meaning of this or that. This had been going on for some time when Professor Lusardi abruptly interjected in his characteristic booming voice, ‘Doesn’t anyone here know what Frost is talking about?’ Well, I did!
“On Ledge Farm, where I grew up in Rhode Island, there was a field separate from all the others. It was called the White Field. I don’t know why. I think that the name had something to do with the huge number of small rocks that were turned up every time the field was plowed. It was a new field, one edge of which went right up to a steep ledge that dropped off about 100 feet into one of Fred Babbitt’s fields below.
“It wasn’t really a new field. It was reclaimed from a field that at one time was much larger and had been allowed to go wild. It was new in the sense that it had been re-cleared in my grandfather’s time. So the trees that grew around the field were young, and were more hardwoods than white pines, which made up the woods on most other forested places on the farm. There were plenty of young birches, not much more that saplings, 25- to 30-feet tall.
“One of my jobs in the summertime was to take a lunch pail—it was like a little milk can with a cover and bale—to my grandfather when he was working in a field far away from the house. The White Field was about a half mile down the road. Grandpa Manfred had a playful side to him. After his lunch he pointed over to a birch tree on the edge of the field and said that it would be a good tree for swinging. My first thought was ‘Where’s the swing?’ I thought he was teasing me with a joke.
“‘No,’ he said, ‘the tree is the swing.’ He was in his late 50s at the time with a bad arm from polio, but he climbed about two thirds of the way up the tree and began to rock back and forth until the tree started to sway 6 feet or so either direction. Birches, at least when they are young, evidently are very elastic. Then he lifted me up into the tree so that I could climb the rest of the way. The top of the tree was so whippy that it didn’t take long to figure out how to make it swing. After that, it was something that I always looked forward to at the farm. I learned, painfully, that other trees were more brittle than birches and would snap without warning. I also learned that even birches would snap if you tried to swing them in the winter.
“That’s why I knew what Robert Frost was talking about, and that my better-schooled classmates didn’t. Professor Lusardi, who intended his question to be rhetorical, was gobsmacked.”
