Class Notes | 1960s

Rick Pedolsky brought sad news. “Diamond Dave Driscoll died in February, the result of an earlier stroke. We hoped he would return to his jolly, grumpy, hopeful, cynical old self, but it didn’t happen.” Condolences came from Bruce Williams ’70, Eric Greene, Paul Dickman, Jim Drummond, and Bill Eaton.

Rick and Cecilia still live in Stockholm. “No retirement. Our company provides an online, interactive publishing platform for scientific, medical, and scholarly research organizations and educational institutions. Business boomed during the pandemic because this is information that has to be shared.”

    Steve Knox wrote, “Roommate Eric Esterhay died this spring after years of declining health. He was talented and generous. I will miss him.”

    Mark Hodgson and I met for breakfast in Old Saybrook. He lives north of Boston, along the coast. We share a love for kayaking and environmental protection. I had lunch with Phil Dundas ’70 at his Westbrook beach cottage. Swordfish, corn on the cob, salad, tempura asparagus, sugar free peppermint patties, and sparkling water. I felt virtuous. The view of Long Island Sound was mind blowing. Phil had a front row seat when Steve Bannon was removed from the Chinese tycoon’s yacht.

    Rick McGauley lives on Cape Cod, “two granddaughters nearby.”

    Jimmy Dreyfus mentioned some Beta ’70 names—“Steve Talbot, Dave Davis, Jeremy Serwer, Bruce Williams, and Tim Greaney.”

From Charlie Morgan, “Old age catching up. Broke toe, healed, re-injured. Doctors are puzzled.”

    Carl Culler said, “Kathy and I are semi-retired on Lake Norman in North Carolina. Bought a pontoon boat.”

From Peter Arenella: “About half of the US lives in an alternative universe where facts and science do not matter. We sold our California home and now live in Mexico. Miss kids but are happy in a serene mountain village.”

    Tom Goodman spent the pandemic photographing Philly, his home for the last four decades. Check tomgoodman.com for the panoramas.

    John Wilson is “vaccinated and healthy.”

    Peter Cunningham “attended a retreat with Zen Peacemakers and spiritual leaders of Lakota Sioux in Medicine Wheel, Wyoming.”

    Ron Reisner has “a whole new life.”

    Jim Drummond “makes the world safe for Texas criminals, guilty or not. My friend Jeff Richards does great work for the Actor’s Fund.”

    Doug Bell is “safe, happy, still standing at 74.”

    Rip Hoffman has sold his Westport townhouse and has moved to a life-care facility in Redding, Connecticut. “Will keep our social network. I do some retirement work for local pastors.

“Part of moving into Meadow Ridge is providing them with a brief biography.  I discovered that this biography was then posted on a public space for all to see.  The critical factor in this story is that the bio included that fact that I went to Wesleyan. We were here about a week, having dinner in the Bistro, and a gentleman came up to our table and said he wanted to talk to a fellow Wesleyan grad.  His name is Bob Wiley and he is from the class of 1950!  He is 99 years old.  We talk a little bit.  He said he’d be back in touch. Bob called us earlier this week and asked Mouse and I to join him and his wife for dinner.  It turns out Bob had invited another Wesleyan grad, Bob Runk, class of 1967.  I soon discover that Bob was part of Uranus and the Five Moons. I heard his group play numerous times at various house parties.  We shared a lot of memories of the late 1960s.”

    Ken Elliott “is in re-inventing mode. Attentive to the garden and woods. Studying Japanese. Finding ways to participate in my community. It’s all good.”

    Ed Hayes “keeps brain cells active with classes, guitar and Spanish lessons. Waiting for the ‘Aha moment.’”

    Ken Kawasaki’s “What a Piece of Work is Man” is on brelief.com.

    Stuart Blackburn’s new novel is set in rural Rhode Island.

    John de Miranda writes, “All is well. Son and partner awaiting Peace Corps deployment to Ecuador. Carol-Ann gardens and cooks. I teach at the University of California, San Diego.”

    Jack Elias has a new book: The Outrageous Guide to Being Fully Alive: Defeat Your Inner Trolls and Reclaim Your Sense of Humor.

    Rameshwar Das does virtual book tours promoting his mentor’s memoir, Being Ram Dass.

    Mike Fairchild “sends virtual hugs until we can all meet and greet again in the old-fashioned way.”

    Pete Pfeiffer says, “Maine’s spring and summer are always a big help for us older folks.”

    Bob Dombroski “recalled great Wes performances—Sun Ra, Norman Mailer, Janis Joplin, and transcending all—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

    John Mihalec shares his midnight pasta recipe—spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, anchovies, capers, Parmesan, and parsley.

    Gordy Fain ’70 remembered a beloved mentor for both of us, Marjorie Daltry Rosenbaum, and life at MoCon. “The cooking and food prep skills I learned there I use every day here at home. Also, I’m enjoying the return of fan-friendly baseball.”

From Fred Coleman: “I’m still working full time. Telehealth is amazing and a royal pain. I work more hours, though hardly leaving the chair. Don’t mind cutting the car commute. We cancelled an Alaska cruise, so drove 4,500 miles to see family. All kids and their spouses and grandkids were with us for the Fourth. Truly, family is so important.”

We spent the Fourth with Maurice Hakim ’70 and his wife Carol. They live on a beautiful street off the Boston Post Road that ends at Clinton’s town beach. Hot dogs, cheeseburgers, baked beans, potato salad, pickles, brownie sundaes. The long isolation of the pandemic eased.

Love to all,

Charlie

Hal Skinner is a retired lawyer (Duke) in the Jacksonville area who recounted being on campus a couple of years ago for a beautiful Homecoming with his son, Hal Skinner Jr. ’92, and some grands. Hal Jr. is a very busy epidemiologist who, along with his wife, are professors at Lehigh. Hal’s daughter and her husband are attorneys who live nearby. Hal and his wife, Ana, were traveling extensively. He walks the dog and the beaches. He adds he does not like aging.

Jeff Lincoln succumbed to Parkinson’s on November 21, 2019. I knew him just well enough to know him to be a kind and gentle man. Turns out he lived in Guilford, one town over, and was an IT manager at Yale. Had an MBA from the University of New Haven and served as treasurer of some community organizations including the Shoreline Unitarian Society. A founder of Guilford Cable TV, he believed in creating an environment where people share information. Long active as a Boy Scout leader, he enjoyed the outdoors. He had two children and five grands with whom he spent summers at a family cottage at Groton Long Point.

Rich Kremer ’69 summers in Norwich, Vermont. The only thing he loves more than golf is family. As he has a lot of both scheduled this summer, he is one happy camper. He plays regularly with a couple of great characters: Nick Browning ’69 and Walter Abrams ’69.

Bill Carter is in Hanover. He’s been involved with Ashoka, a change-making, international NGO, for 40 years. Ashoka is currently focusing on scientists and social entrepreneurs addressing climate change. His wife, Nancy, has been a school board member for 25 years. His oldest son teaches in Saudi Arabia, his middle daughter is a social worker in Chicago, and his younger son does energy retrofits in Portland, Oregon.

Bill is working with Chris Palames, who is in western Massachusetts and the creator of Independent Living Resources, a nonprofit he runs from his house that is making an impact throughout western New England. Presently, he is creating a platform on Patreon for content-creators to share their responses to and experiences with disability—including his own. (He was injured in a wrestling accident while at Wes.) He noted with warmth his life-long friendships with John Bach ’69 and Professor John Maguire, whose civil rights work served as a model for Chris’s work with American Disabilities Act issues.

Sidebar: John Maguire was an extraordinary person, one of the faculty members who made Wes what it was. By his own account, born a bigot, he became, among other things, a personal friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a graduate of Yale Divinity School, a Freedom Rider, and president of the innovative State University of New York–Old Westbury.

Ray Solomon retired as the long-time dean of Rutgers Law School–Camden (with a year tacked on as chancellor of the Camden campus). To mark Ray’s work at Rutgers, an anonymous donor contributed $3.5 million for the establishment of a Solomon Scholar program for outstanding students committed to public service. Ray’s entire career has been in legal education: After a J.D. and a Ph.D. (American history) from Chicago, he clerked for a Federal Appeals judge in Cincinnati before working eight years as an administrator and research scholar for the American Bar Association’s Foundation. After a stint at Northwestern, he moved on to Rutgers. Originally from Philip County, Arkansas, he is involved with memorializing the Elaine Massacre, a little known 1919 racial conflict that was one of the most deadly in American history. He is married to a Russian literature professor he met through the late Walter Kendrick. Part of 1968’s Golf Club (Dave Gruol, Pete Hardin, Craig Dodd, etc.), he keeps up with a slew of classmates. He has two daughters and one grand.

Many of you are smarter and better read than I. Nonetheless, I would like to recommend Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration and Caste, as it taught me more about race in America than anything I have ever encountered.

Our world-class ornithologist, Paul Spitzer, is now a columnist for Connecticut Estuary, a quarterly that is focused largely on the four-state Connecticut River watershed and Long Island Sound. Paul characterizes it as “a noble effort to document and, thus, protect the natural and cultural features of the region.” Living on the Choptank in Trappe, Maryland, he swims daily. He notes, “We’ve had a big, luscious vegetable garden for years . . . Chris is a brilliant woman of the soil, and we eat well.”

Some months ago, Wink Wilder quite aptly noted that being 75 then was akin to having a high draft number back in the day. So, in that sense, we are most fortunate geezers. (I slept better after my second jab.) While slowly falling apart, I was not keen on dying quite yet and am profoundly grateful for having seemingly survived the pandemic. And profoundly sad for those that did not.

One of the unanticipated benefits of being class secretary is that I periodically get emails from guys I have not seen, or even thought about, since I graduated, long, long, ago. Sometimes they are from people I barely knew, or didn’t know at all. About a month ago, I got one from Bud Smith, ’66, who I last saw in the spring of his senior year, when he was about to graduate. He was a waiter at the eating club at Eclectic. “Baby Bud,” some people called him. I had no idea what his major was, or very much about him, other than that he was a good-time presence at Eclectic.

Well, Baby Bud, it turns out, is a retired college professor of English and a writer. He wrote to ask me if I knew anything about the current whereabouts of our classmate, Benét McMillan. I told Bud that I last saw Benét in the fall of 1967 when he and I were at Columbia, me in a PhD program in social psychology, and Benét at the law school. Then 1968 happened, and I have had no contact with Benét. Interestingly, to me, and maybe to you, Bud included a link to an article that he wrote in 2011 about Benét and Benét’s family. It turns out that when Bud was in junior high school, living in Stratford, Connecticut, Benét’s family moved into the neighborhood Bud’s family lived in, and Bud and Benét went to the same high school, so Bud knew far more about Benét and his family than I ever did. For example: Benét’s father, a professor of history at the University of Bridgeport, was, as Bud puts it, “a personal acquaintance” of the poet, short story writer, and novelist, Stephen Vincent Benét, and named his son after him. Another example: his senior year of high school, Bud was the president of the student body, and Benét was the vice president. One more: Bud’s senior year at Wesleyan, Benét’s junior year, they roomed together at Eclectic, where Benét was the social chairman who brought the Chiffons (“Do lang do lang do lang . . . he’s so fine”) for a party at the house. I also learned that Bud was on Wesleyan’s golf team, which led me to ask myself, “Wesleyan had a golf team?”

Anyway, I can’t tell you much about Benét these days— he did become a lawyer—but I recommend Baby Bud’s 2011 article, “Lights in the Darkness,” published in the Tidal Basin Review.

In a recent set of class notes, I reported that Anthony Caprio retired as president of Western New England University after 24 years and I speculated that he must have done something right to have lasted in that position for so long, more than three times the average tenure for college presidents these days. I can now tell you more. He helped transform what was a small local college into a regional university with a national reputation. In the process, the school added graduate programs, including doctoral programs in behavior analysis, pharmacy, occupational therapy, and engineering management. This, in turn, meant that many major buildings were constructed (ten of the current 28 buildings). The school has received national rankings, including number five in the country, and number one in Massachusetts, for its graduates getting jobs. In a tribute to Anthony that appeared in the school’s alumni magazine, the author described him in the following way: “Cutting a distinguished figure whether walking through campus or leading the Commencement procession, he is famously approachable.” Before he retired, the school met and exceeded a $35 million fundraising campaign, its largest ever. The campaign included a $1 million “Caprio Challenge,” which also met and exceeded its target. Moreover, as part of a lasting tribute to his contributions to the school, the health and fitness center is now called the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Anthony and his wife Dana continue to live in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and spend much of the summer on the coastal Rhode Island beaches. Their son, Mark, is an associate professor of theoretical nuclear physics at Notre Dame.

Late in the game possible name change: Gary Conger ’66, tells me and other readers of his monthly art newsletter that he is considering changing the signature he uses on his paintings to “G. Branson Conger.” His classmate, J. French Wilson ’66, and his younger brother, E. Davis Conger ’68, seem to approve of the change. As I mentioned to him in an email, this nomenclature would put him in the company of three eminent sociologists who have studied the American power elite: C. Wright Mills, E. Digby Baltzell, and G. William Domhoff.

We held our 55th Reunion of the Wesleyan Class of 1966 on Zoom. There were two sessions—the evenings of May 27 and 29—both totally enjoyable. Twenty-three of our classmates attended. Tom Broker, Larry Carver, Rick Crootof, Gif Lum, Dan Lang, David Luft, Dave McNally, John Neff, Sandy Shilepsky, and Sandy Van Kennen attended both sessions. Essel Bailey, Jack Beeler, Pat Curry, Jeff Evans, Paul Gilbert, Jack Knapp, Peter Monro, Barry Reder, and Bud Smith joined us on the first night. Bill Fehring, Steve Giddings, Tom Richey, and Hardy Spoehr tuned in on the second. Both nights were laced with good and often moving accounts of lives well lived, humor and good fellowship reigning. Jack Knapp, thinking about his grandchildren, opened with a question that resonated with everyone: What kind of education will equip the young for a future with so many challenges, any one of which would be enough for any generation? Essel, who sits on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees, talked about Wesleyan’s strategic plans to provide that education. He also caught us up with his staff’s remarkable success in dealing with COVID in his long-term care facilities, two cases among 1,600 living there. His venture in viniculture, Knights Bridge wine, is going well.

Professor Broker and his wife, Louise, are still conducting their important research on human papillomaviruses, and Tom has taken up racewalking. My account of not being prepared for Wesleyan, my struggles in the first few years, opened up e-mail discussions with Jack Beeler and Jack Knapp, the latter recalling “my first class on the first day, a lecture in philosophy that was part of the integrated program. The instructor, a newly minted assistant professor whose name I have forgotten, walks in, mounts the podium and begins with words I will never forget: ‘I assume you all know the difference between a priori and a posteriori reasoning.’ I stared dumbly into space for a moment and then wrote in my notebook ‘Jack, you’ve made a big mistake. True story; I used it in several commencement addresses.” Dave McNally recalled his class on November 22, 1963, and spoke movingly of having ALS. Dave’s mentioning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s visits to campus sparked a conversation, many chiming in. Laughter flowed from Sandy Van Kennen’s ongoing story of becoming an entrepreneur of marijuana. Gif gave a harrowing account of his wrestling with cancer and a splenectomy, the good news being that he is on the mend. Bud Smith’s life is chock-full of good things, a wonderful marriage of 50 years, golf, fishing, and writing—he recently being the winner of the Midwest Review of Fiction Award. Sandy Shilepsky, while keeping up with mathematics, has taken up pickleball. Really! He also talked about his and his wife’s plans to move to a cottage in Charleston’s Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community (Paul Gilbert is planning on moving there as well). Dan Lang and his wife are keeping up their extensive gardening, having made their fifth trip to the Artic. Dan continues to teach one course at the University of Toronto. Barry Reder and his wife, Annie, also avid gardeners, live on an acre and a quarter outside San Francisco. Barry, recovering from a bad bout with strep, is enjoying family life, loves golf. The peripatetic Peter Monro continues his epic hikes. His work on carbon pricing to address climate change is gaining traction. John Neff, who moved to Winston–Salem in 2001, is keeping busy giving talks and completing a work on the watercolors of A.R. Ammons. Rumor has it that with COVID restrictions lifting, he has a date.

Rick opened our second session by paying tribute to those in our class who have died since the 50th Reunion, 2016: Michael Botein; Robert Killheffer; William Hauser; Alton Flanders; John Harter; Roland Crowl; John Baxter; Henry Lufler; George “Rick” Churchill; Thomas Francis; Richard Mastronarde; and Peter Spiller. Rick, who knows nearly everyone in our class, had words for all. Others chimed in with memories, Hardy on Thomas Francis, a football teammate and one incredible athlete who still holds the Wesleyan record for the hammer throw. John Neff shared a story that shed light on the enigmatic person Richard Mastronarde apparently was.

Then David Luft, Steve Giddings, Bill Fehring, Tom Richey, and Hardy Spoehr spoke of their lives, their memories of Wesleyan. David evoking Wesleyan’s liberal education as an ideal that has guided him; Steve recounting his 25-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with USAID, his three children, and heart surgery; Bill recalling a class with David McAllester and an evening and night spent in the presence and incense of Ravi Shankar; Tom, in that slow, beautiful, Georgia accent, recalling his early studies in philosophy, his becoming a lawyer, his volunteer legal work, his family being a Wesleyan one—his brother Russ (’63) a graduate along with Tom’s two sons; and Hardy telling us a startling story about hitchhiking back to Middletown in the night and being picked up by none other than President Butterfield. The discussions, the back and forth, were poignant and humorous.

      Bill took away another valuable experience from McAllester’s class. Attending an African American Church at McAllester’s suggestion, he learned to play the tambourine. Years later, while working in the South, he used his music skills to connect with the community; this would go on to help him in working with African Americans on environmental stewardship. In a recent update, Bill writes: “Bianca and I continue to survive the pandemic by being careful. Now that we’ve both been vaccinated, we’re looking forward to a bit more freedom with other vaccinated friends. I spend much of my time hiking, flying my plane, and taking photographs. Until the pandemic I was teaching wetland biology, birding, and photography at a local preserve . . . I have visited with Rick several time over the last few years to attend Orioles spring training games or photography outings.”

     Tom Pulliam, who was down the hall from me on Foss Hill our freshman year, has lived in San Francisco since 1971. He has “just completed an undefeated season coaching my grandson’s U12 rugby team . . . have had an awful lot of fun with sports in my lifetime (including 48 years playing rugby that began at Wesleyan and four national championship teams), but nothing has given me more pleasure than helping these kids learn rugby skills, then watching them go out and execute them beautifully against much larger opponents. Aside from that, retired from law practice several years ago and find being a grandpa and rugby coach vastly better than trying cases around the country . . . daughter, husband, and four kids live about 5 minutes away . . . son and his girlfriend live about 20 minutes away . . . having them all so close makes life very, very enjoyable . . . especially during this past, exceedingly strange year. We really never missed a beat, spending lots and lots of time with the family. Married 51 years to Alice, still living in the one and only house we’ll ever own.”

In response to Tom’s update I wrote in part: “Though we shared the same floor on Foss Hill as freshmen, I did not know of your prowess in rugby and wish I had, those four national championship teams being impressive. My most vivid memory of you was one evening when I was going to take a shower around 10:00 p.m., having just finished a paper for our English class. I asked how your paper was coming along: ‘I haven’t started it yet.’ I got a B; you received an A.” This exchange sparked these memories from Tom:

“I remember freshman year on Foss Hill. We had quite a bunch on that hall with poor Jim Dresser trying to keep us in order—Jimmy Byrne, Steve Murphy ’68, Don Berger (my roommate) and assorted others. Yes, my work habits were not something to be proud of. The first paper I wrote freshman year I finished days early then proceeded to revise and revise to make it perfect—it earned me a C+. I decided then and there that I could do that well by writing papers the night before they were due and did exactly that the rest of my four years. I was very fortunate things worked out as they did.

“Coach Don Russell made a huge difference in my life. After playing freshman basketball for him, he made me a starting second baseman on the baseball team over a highly recruited teammate. I think he appreciated my determination (inherited from my mom). I ran into him in Oregon where I was traveling with my wife and little kids. There was some NCAA event at the same place we were staying; had a wonderful time talking with him. I went on to have a lot of fun playing baseball for years, then won some slow-pitch softball championships in San Francisco as a pitcher of nothing but knuckleballs, which danced in the San Francisco winds.

“Hiking is good, especially where you have sights like that in your photo—country like that is good for the soul. My family lived in Golden, Colorado, a few years. I loved waking to the sight of the Rocky Mountains, worked doing remodeling construction in the summer there, including building a cabin in Tin Cup, in the mountains. Loved it and would have done that instead of practicing law if it had paid as well. Got back to the Rockies years later, playing a few times in the Aspen Ruggerfest, winning a memorable championship in 1976 in the mud against a rep side (i.e., all star team) from Southern California. Very good to rekindle old Wesleyan memories, Larry.”

     Clark Byam “will have 49 years with same firm in September and am retiring at end of year. Had first year of law school right after graduation from Wesleyan then went into naval aviation in summer 1967 and came back to Hastings Law School in 1970 to complete last two years of law school. Now enjoy golf, following stock market, and hiking in hills where I live about 5.5 miles per day. Stay healthy.”

“I am doing well,” Robert Rockwell writes, “but we are delighted the mask business is about to go away as is everyone. Retirement is calming but we miss in-person activities, don’t we?  We mourn for our classmates and their families who lost members. There must be quite a few, certainly some fellow ’66ers. We extend a collective embrace to them. All is well here and trout season proceeds apace—the ultimate in social distancing. Lots of reading and the like this past year. But it’s time to start gathering again, and I wish a great summer to all.”

And this update from Barry Thomas, about life in rural North Carolina and his and Connie’s work in Burundi. “Here in the mountains of North Carolina, life seems to be rather quickly getting back to ‘normal.’ Although still a bit cautious, I am relying on the vaccine and the herd immunity which seems to be taking hold, at least, in this neck of the woods. The county in which I live has not recorded a new case of COVID-19 for some weeks. There are two existing cases who are in residential care. I became part of a research study soon after the pandemic hit and am doing a blood check by mail each month that determines if my antibodies (from the vaccine) continue to be active. It is an interesting process.

“In Burundi, great progress is being made on the construction of two school modules, each with two classrooms, for the preschool that began operating in open and temporary facilities in March 2020. Work began on the first module the end of May and then on the second module last week. The expectation is to have the new buildings available for classes and 112, four- to six-year-old girls and boys in September. The project also includes latrines and a kitchen.

“It has been very interesting and invigorating for us to get a sense of the commitment by the parents in the community to the project. Although there is a project manager with engineering credentials and a crew of ‘professional’ masons doing the brickwork, we are employing community people, men and women, on rotating two-week shifts to do the heavy-lifting type work. It provides an opportunity for local people to earn some cash income. One will see women with babies strapped to their backs working with hoe and shovel in hand. This little project is injecting significant energy into this subsistence-based community, and we hope the preschool experience will help launch these little kids onto a track leading to a better future.

“The challenges of covering operating costs (teacher salaries, classroom materials, security, etc.) lie ahead, and we hope to be able to electrify the new facilities in a next phase of development. The solar installation that is planned would provide the first electricity in the Butanuka set of villages with about 30,000 people.”

John Dunton writes: “Dutch Siegert’s note about meeting Tim Lynch in the Philippines brought to mind my unexpected encounter in a restaurant in Cincinnati in 1967. Walking to my table I spied fellow Foss Hill 1 friend Rich Young. For a reader not in the class of ’65, Rich was totally blind. Freshman year I occasionally was a reader for him, but we never had a class together and we hadn’t kept in touch after graduation. The second I said seven words: ‘Rich, what are you doing in Cincinnati?’ he instantly replied, ‘Dunton, what are you doing in Cincinnati?’ He was attending a program attempting to teach the blind how to access computers through touch: reading punched paper tape (remember punch cards?) like braille—instead of punching holes in the tape, the impact rollers were wrapped in (no kidding) ladies garter material to make an impact instead of a hole. Of course, better technology rendered punch cards and tape obsolete very quickly; unfortunately, Rich died several years after our chance meeting. He was hands down one of the most fascinating people I met at Wes.”

Congratulations to three members of our class (Jerry Melillo, Phil Russell, and Hugh Wilson) who have been rated among the top 0.1 % most-cited researchers worldwide, according to a recent study by PLOS Biology. The study, led by Professor John Ioannidis from Stanford University, combines several different metrics to systematically rank the most influential scientists as measured by citations. More than six million scientists, who were actively working between 1996 and 2018, were analyzed for the project. Our classmates are joined by five other Cardinal alumni and thirteen Wesleyan faculty to be honored through this study. The study reinforces Wesleyan’s reputation as an exceptional liberal arts institution, said Hugh, who is professor emeritus of spatial and computational vision at York University. “It is sometimes questioned whether a liberal arts education is really optimal for an aspiring scientist. After all, wouldn’t it be better to take just science and math courses rather than spending part of one’s time with literature, philosophy, history, or art,” he said. “So, [this study shows that] liberal arts continue to attract outstanding scientists as dedicated faculty members who espouse both teaching and research.”

In May, the class had a Zoom meeting and a number of us participated. Good discussions about various topics including Wesleyan memories, gun legislation, and important climate change predictions regarding permafrost thaw and hurricane increases and decreases in China and the United States, respectively. Jerry also offered kudos to the Wesleyan students he’s mentored at Woods Hole over the years.

Bob Barton (New Hamburg, New York), Ellen and Ted See (West Hartford, Connecticut), and Chuck Hearey (Orinda, California) visited with Cindy and me recently, and it was wonderful to have us together again. The six of us are retired and are now focused on our families, grandchildren, homes and gardens, volunteer work, and sports.

Chuck and I then went on to Rhode Island for a US Tennis Association senior singles and doubles grass court tennis tournament. We held our heads high against the best 75-plus year-olds in the country. Always great playing with Chuck!

As of this writing, a number of ‘65ers—led by Hugh Wilson and Win Chamberlin—are at work to gather our classmates for an entertaining Reunion weekend on campus during this year’s Homecoming weekend in October. Hope many of you had the pleasure of joining us!

Robert Maurer writes: “I am happy to report that I have finally retired! I just completed 10 years working in group homes for developmentally and intellectually disabled adults. I say to anyone ‘listening’ that, as a nation, we truly need far more mental health advocates and practitioners.”

Fritz Henn proudly notes that his granddaughter is now at Wesleyan. That makes three generations: her parents both also went to Wesleyan. He writes, “She took a gap year working helping a family in France in order to get French down. At the end of her time there we met so I could introduce her to German relatives she never met. Ella ’24 did get to Heidelberg, where I lived for nearly 20 years, when we had our 50th wedding anniversary; in the interval my wife, Suella, passed away and I was anxious to get back to my old haunts one more time. We toured Munich, Dresden, and Berlin and went to Hamburg where the virus caught us. We got the last planes back to Washington, D.C., and San Francisco; in fact, she was on the NBC Nightly News, just interviewed catching the last flight to SFO.

“I sold my house and joined with my daughter’s family to buy a very large house in D.C., where I have my own apartment but eat with my daughter’s family (much better cooks and as an infectious disease doctor, Sarah is good to be around currently). I still have one last research project going, hoping it will cure depression (but beginning to doubt it).”

     Scott Wilson reports, “What a difference a year-and-a-half makes! Lucy and I had returned from a three-week mind-expanding tour of Egypt and Jordan, and then attended a Maya symposium at Tulane University in New Orleans, continuing our pre-Columbian studies. But those were the end of normal ‘exterior’ life events. Since then we have turned to ‘interior’ events, keeping our heads down from the virus and the political maelstrom, but the ‘interior’ events hold benefits, too: An expanded and productive vegetable garden is one; Zoom provides access to an array of lectures far beyond our own pre-Columbian Society of D.C. events, and my pastel painting and drawing continue, with some frameable efforts. I’m compiling all of our travel for the past 50 years, vivifying memories that had lain dormant.

“One product of my college teaching was a co-authored, community organizing text published in 1994 by Columbia University Press. It has continued to sell well for more than 25 years.”

     Hank Zackin turned 80 in August. “We have three grandchildren: Sam 16, Isabella almost 14, and Lola 12.  I am retired, but looking for something productive to do.  I read a lot, mostly fiction, and am grateful to our local library, especially during COVID.  Both my wife and I are fully vaccinated, remaining fairly healthy and as active as possible, but no travel as yet.”

     Fred Taylor says that his family’s three children married and he now has 10 grandchildren. “No wonder we are worn out at 80. I am still working part time at Evercore, which helps keep the mind stimulated. Carole celebrated her class of 1965 reunion at Connecticut College.  We had our 54th anniversary!

“It’s terrific to be able to be very happily married to the same person for all these years. I enjoy staying in touch with Wesleyan with the Emeritus Trustee Annual meetings. It continues to be an active, engaged campus. I stay in touch with Lew Whitney regularly and we enjoy trading our latest book suggestions.”

“A few years ago I retired from Columbia Business School after 50-plus years, 10,000 students, and 100 endless faculty meetings,” Don Sexton began. “I am now learning how to be retired. Fortunately, I minored in art at Wesleyan and have been a professional painter for more than 30 years, and now I have time to put a little more effort into that career. Had to reschedule a few 2020 solo shows due to COVID, but have been doing commissions and have six solo shows in the New York and Connecticut area scheduled for 2021–22. I have also been participating in courses in improv and in standup comedy to keep alert during these later years and have some fun during open mike nights.

“My wife Laura is still working for the New York City Education Department as a parent coordinator and has been working from home. Our daughter is a mechanical engineer and senior manager in the defense industry. She and her husband have two terrific children. Our two sons are developing careers in the restaurant business and in the film industry. Usually we live in Tribeca in New York but during the pandemic we were staying in our country home in northwest Connecticut. If you’re near or visiting New York, my next solo show in Manhattan will be during August–December at the East 67th Street Library. Information on my shows is on my website: www.sextonart.com or email me: don@sextonart.com.”

“I delayed responding to your request, Jan, hoping that the muse would strike, but there is not a lot going on that is exciting,” wrote Harvey Bagg.  “Anyway, since the onslaught of COVID, Martha and I have been pretty much hunkered down in Chatham, New York. She is actively practicing law from our makeshift office. I, being completely retired, keep more or less busy with catching up on my reading and various projects around the house.  I note, however, that my current tastes in literature are not the great books, but mysteries. On a ‘me’ note, I was recently awarded the Vietnam Veterans of America Achievement Medal for my work with veterans. I hasten to add that I did not serve in Vietnam, but there is no Dominican Republic Veterans of America organization. I hope that this provides a little grist for the class notes mill. Best to all, Harvey.”

     Len Edwards is busy as ever:  “We have now moved to the Sierra Nevada mountains for the summer. Our house is in Truckee, a railroad town near where the first continental railroad ran through and still does.

“My wife, Margie, and I married 12 years ago after both of our spouses died of cancer. With her nine grandchildren and my three we are busy with birthdays, graduations, and demands that we appear at holiday celebrations. We are both in our 80s but just barely, and our health is holding up. I, however, have flunked retirement. I still work as a consultant, teaching judges and attorneys around the country on juvenile law issues. I also am on the state ethics committee and am working on a project to reduce the impact of the opioid crisis on Californians.

“One sad note:  I am particularly grieving the loss of Peter Whiteley (’65) who was a close friend through grammar and high school and who then attended Wesleyan. Sadly, he passed away recently.”

     Stan Lewis, bound to be a lifelong artist, did pause to comment on his life. “Karen and I are living in Leeds, Massachusetts, a part of Northampton. Basically all I do is paint and visit grandchildren. Our oldest grandchild, Zoe, daughter of John Lewis (’64), just took a guided tour of Wesleyan. She was very impressed.

“I am getting tired and wearing out, but Karen has, over the years, made me do these 22-minute exercises every day (Miranda Esmonde–White’s Classical Stretch). I seem to be able to do a lot.

“I’ve got a method of painting that is so impossible that I continually fail. If I keep going, something good happens in about a year or even in 10 years. My classes in Kierkegaard, at Wes with Professor Crites, was a big influence as I developed this method. We have a large yard, and I decided years ago to use that as my subject matter since I am a landscape painter. In the winter, if it is really cold, I draw views out the windows. Right now I have a winter-spring painting based on my yard that I have been working on for 12 years. It must be finished for a show I will have in 2022 at the Betty Cuningham Gallery in NYC.

“The worst thing for me (besides the ongoing problem of not really knowing how things will turn out in my painting) is the news. We watch a lot of it on TV and can see our daughter-in-law Alisyn Camerota, an anchor on CNN. I slowly read books on my iPhone.”

I took on this new position as class secretary hoping that it would bring me back into contact with old friends and acquaintances. That it has, and I thank those classmates who extended good wishes privately, as well as those with the substantive news reported below.

     Pete Buffum is retired, still married after 55 years, and in the same Philadelphia house after 50 years. After spending 20 years in program development and evaluation of prison and probation settings while teaching occasional courses in criminal justice at Temple University, Pete “spent another two decades mostly assisting my wife in her real estate career. Now, while I consider myself retired, I am finding it difficult to get her to retire. She has way too much energy. But in the scheme of things that’s not much to complain about.”

     Bob Gause still practices pediatric orthopedics in Winterport, Maine, probably as the oldest on the staff with “no more surgery but 25 patients in the office tomorrow. They keep me young just solving their problems so I am lucky.” He recalls rooming with Dave Fiske and Tony Scirica in the Psi Upsilon house “along with a boa we fed mice from the psych lab. Good days . . . good memories. Memory is key.”

     John Hazlehurst reports, “I’m still living in Colorado Springs, happily ensconced in a three-story Victorian not far from the three-story Victorian where I grew up. Still gainfully employed as a reporter and columnist for the Colorado Springs Business Journal, and amazed and amused by life as a crusty old geezer. Together, Karen and I have six kids, 22 grandchildren, and four great-grands. We’re healthy and active, although not as fit and foolish as we were a few years ago. Too busy to retire—three big rescue dogs, multiple jobs paid and unpaid, our statewide visitor magazine Colorado Fun, frequent family visits, and the never-ending renovation of the 1899 house.”

     Mike Riley is “still trying to reach out with my (heterodox, insouciant, outrageous) answer to ‘what is to be done?’ with our time and our country,” with his website maritalhospitality.com.

      Bob Saliba and his wife Jenny have moved to a retirement community—Fellowship Senior Living in Basking Ridge, New Jersey—where “I was the reluctant spouse, but I can say with confidence that it was the best decision ever. We are in good health and are enjoying living here very much.”

     Steve Trott relates that after 33 years on the Ninth Circuit Court he has assumed “inactive senior status” with one case left to finish. His “spirited dissent” on an immigration case judgement by his colleagues became one of roughly 90 out of 12,000 requests to the Supreme Court to be taken up, and “the Court reversed my colleagues 9-0 and sent the case back with instructions to do it right. Now I will probably get to write a new opinion correcting our mistake.” In his new life after 55 years with the law, Steve plans to “spend much of my time bothering Bob Hunter with questions about foreign affairs.” Steve added that the Highwaymen, “after losing Chan, Bobby and David, closed up shop after singing together for 50 years in the end of a great adventure.” A final note added that Rick Tuttle visited for a few wonderful days in Boise during which they celebrated Rick’s birthday and “had a great time catching up and exploring terrific memories from Wesleyan and EQV.”

And finally an update from your new secretary: Personal life has been up and down as I lost both my first wife Lynn and son Seth to cancer while just in their 40s, but have been happily remarried for 30 years now to Helena, a Finland-born, and now retired, flight attendant with Air Canada. My resulting exposure to both Finnish and airline culture has greatly enriched my life. I have also been lucky professionally. After a PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard, I landed in the large and internationally staffed Psychology Department at York University in Toronto, where in 1980 some like-minded colleagues and I established a new specialty graduate area in the History and Theory of Psychology. Our small program has turned out a steady stream of outstanding scholars and teachers, while my own research and writing became focused on this area. Its most visible result has been the textbook Pioneers of Psychology currently in a 5th edition published by Norton. Although formally retired, I maintain affiliation with the program but work as I say for less than half the time and with half the efficiency of yore.

Just prior to going to press, I received the very sad news of the passing on November 4, 2021, of our longtime leader and friend to all, Bruce Corwin; his obituary ran in the Los Angeles Times: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/bruce-corwin-obituary?id=31339645

Best wishes to all for the holidays and 2022.

We’ll start with a personal note from Paul Dickson: “For many years, I had hoped to get a shot at teaching a session at a writing class at Wesleyan. In part I wanted to do a little payback for the writing classes I took from poet Richard Wilbur, the influence of novelist and historian George Garrett, as well as the impetus I got from musicologist David McAlister, who allowed me to write my distinction thesis on rock ’n’ roll. On May 10, I got to do an hour as a guest lecturer in the writing class taught by Dan DeVisé ’89, a neighbor, good pal and highly talented journalist and author. My guest presentation was on his last day of teaching the course. It was both an honor and pleasure to talk (albeit remotely) to a group of Wesleyan juniors and seniors. Among other things, I talked about what it took to make a living as a writer, both glories and the inevitable challenges of living such a life. As for Dan, I have read two early versions of Dan’s new bio of B.B. King which came out in October 2021, and it is a fine work: King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King. Meanwhile, I heartily recommend his last book The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France.”

A short note from Bob Hausman reveals his optimism for the world as his progeny populate the planet: “A new baby granddaughter, when all the others are already grown. Few things have shaped me more than my Wesleyan education. A family friend is now on the faculty in theater. Her name is Katie Pearl.

Pete Drayer reports that he and his wife, Sandy, continue living in a lifecare community. John Rogers expects to relocate to Lexington, Kentucky, in September.

His “camp name” is “Mook,” but Russell Mott (aka Bob Lanigan until 1979) is returning to summer camp. “I am celebrating my 82nd year, returning to camp for the summer,” he writes. “This, my 20th summer at Bauercrest, a 90-year-old Jewish summer sports camp in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Since my principal gig is ceramics, I brought my entire studio with me when I moved last year from down south. Two Thanksgivings ago, I asked the director why a sports camp in Massachusetts wanted an 80-year-old potter. ‘I want to establish a working art center,’ he told me, and we are off and running to make that dream a reality. The kids arrive in 72 hours, and the studio is about 80 percent ready. I am figuring this is about as good a job as one could get, and it is all happening during my 82nd summer on the planet. I am truly one of the lucky guys.” Russell adds: “Bauercrest did a wonderfully edited video on ‘Mook,’ and it is on their website: Bauercrest.com.”

Mark Lischner has completed 50 years of medical practice in pulmonary medicine. In addition, the group that he founded, Pulmonary Medicine Associates, has expanded to include critical care, infectious disease, palliative care, and wound care. It currently has 50 physicians and 12 nurse practitioners. Mark appreciates the mental stimulation provided by his medical practice, which was especially important during the pandemic when many activities were prohibited. He reported that he has a low-grade lymphoma that is responding to chemotherapy.

     Dave Major and co-author Sirkku Juhola have published a new book, Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Cities: A Guidebook for Citizens, Public Officials, and Planners. Dave says that he and Professor Juhola are foregoing royalties from Helsinki Press so that the book is available for free download worldwide under a Creative Commons license.

Congratulations to Bill Murphy who was honored for his 60 years of teaching at Hanover High School. Bill credits his late wife, Kay, for everything he has been able to do. A current student commended him for leading by example and encouraging critical thinking. An article about this event appeared in the Valley News.

An interview of Dan Nebert entitled “Role of Environmental Genetics in Preventive Medicine” was published in Yale University Journal of Biology and Medicine. He has made significant contributions to clinical pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics.

     Ira Sharkansky wrote: “We’ve moved to a retirement village, after 46 years in Jerusalem. The city has changed. Much more ultra-Orthodox than in the past, and lots of building near where we lived. Now we’re getting used to neighbors even older and weaker than us. Still blogging about Israeli politics.” You can read more about his thoughts at www.jpost.com/blogger/ira-sharkansky.

Congratulations to Paul Tractenberg on winning his first poker tournament. He entered the competition as a way of supporting the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. You can read more about this event in the New Jersey Jewish News.

     Bill Walker wrote an op-ed article entitled “The Coming Demand Surge Brings Back Memories of 1970s Inflation” that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in March 2021.

One of my favorite places to visit is Mount Rainier National Park. An interview done by the philanthropic Washington National Parks Fund describes a few of my family trips to the park and my involvement with hiking in Washington State. I have had occurrences of an abnormal heartbeat called supraventricular tachycardia since 2009. During the pandemic, the frequency and duration of these episodes increased, so on May 4 I had successful catheter ablation to destroy the heart cells that were causing the abnormal electrical signal. I am thankful to be living at a time when medical technology can provide a way of eliminating this disorder.