Class Notes

Thanks to all who wrote in regarding what is happening in their lives. It is great to read that so many folks are gathering with fellow classmates. Due to the quantity of updates, some will appear in our next issue.

Don Citak attended a mini class reunion in Manhattan accompanied by Don Lowery, Jeff Shames, Tom Roberts, Vanessa Burgess, and Dave Thomas. Everyone enjoyed drinks and dinner, catching up with one another. Don’s stories of attending Robert Kraft’s Seders and pictures of himself with Bon Jovi were among the highlights, as were Tom’s stories about his visits to college campuses, and Jeff’s stories about bouncing back and forth between Boston and New York to juggle his many commitments. Don C. just grinned as he showed pictures of his two grandchildren. There is nothing better!

Don Spencer wrote of undergoing treatment for appendiceal cancer for the past 10 months. First chemo, then major surgeries. It was a serious ordeal, but he is hopefully through the worst of it. Don wants to extend major thanks to the many family and friends, including Wes alumni, who supported him. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in your recovery.

John Fink may be onto a new job in Hawaii. His current e-mail is: johnfink808@gmail.com.

First-time contributor Gary Altman’s daughter, Jill, was married in December in Layfette, La., to her wife, Kate. Son Matthew and his wife had their first child, his first grandchild, Sara Annie. His law firm, Altman & Associates, continues to grow with no plans on slowing down. Gary was honored at a gala for Hope Connections for Cancer, a local charity that provides free cancer support groups to patients and families. Gary and wife Liz have been married for 15 years and live in an historic Potomac, Md., house, where they make gourmet pizza in a wood-burning pizza oven.

Jane Goldenring has been busy traveling in many directions to Charlotte to see Janet Malkemes, who is doing great, then heading to Wesleyan to teach a two-day class for the graduating film students, including a visit with Kate Seeger, then to NYC, where she caught up with Jane Eisner. Laraine Balk Hope came to meet Jane from D.C. The two went to see the new production of Oklahoma and hung out at the Met for good measure.

Jeff Gray celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary on Cape Cod with a crowd, including the Honorable Judge Bob Nastri and wife Kathleen, Dave Thomas with companion Gretchen Dowling, Tim O’Brien ’81 and wife Linda, Gary Breitbord ’79 and wife Colleen, and Mr. Kenneth J. Langley, Esq., who retired at the end of January of this year after many years of service as an attorney for the state of Massachusetts. Speaking of retirement, Jeff hung it up last June. Thirty-nine years in mortgage banking was apparently enough.

Felice Burstein and John Roxby have both retired and sold their house in Pennsylvania. They are planning to move to Concord, N.H., to be closer to kids and grandkids. The new home won’t be ready for a year, so they are taking advantage of a lack of home ownership to live “untethered.”

Jonathan Gertler’s family is doing great. His 15-month-old granddaughter, Jhie Hong Gertler, is a delight and his adult children are all thriving.

Linda Palmer retired from the law and now works at the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Her husband is an environmental advocate; her children live nearby in the Boston area.

Lisa Reitano was moving her mom and came across this gem from her dad, who was a CPA and kept track of every penny. He totaled up what Lisa’s Wesleyan education cost for all four years. The grand total of tuition, room and board, books, and phone calls was $21,494.34. As anyone who still has a kid in college knows, it is unbelievable.

Shalom Staub wrote that after 38 years in Harrisburg, Pa., it was time for a change. He has moved with his wife to Los Angeles, taking a new job as director of UCLA’s Center for Community Learning. He’s loving it! Still building new social networks though, so he’d love to connect to LA-based Wesleyan alumni.

Peter Guenther noted that there was recently a reception on campus for his old lacrosse coach, Terry Jackson. It was held at President Michael Roth’s [’78] home and hosted by Athletic Director Mike Whalen ’83 and Bill Belichick ’75. Among the many old lacrosse players who came out were some former teammates: Andy Darpino, Pat McQullan ’75, Mike Sanfilippo ’75, Carl Taylor ’78, Charlie Cocores ’74, Pete McArdle ’76, and Mark Fredland ’74.

Nice pithy note from Mary Jo Wade: “Downsizing. Less work (in theory). Grandchildren. Life is good for her and Jack (Gray).”

Here is hoping that life is good to you all!

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

News from classmates covers the range of human experience and emotions, and this word-limited column cannot do justice to them. Perhaps it may cause some of us to reconnect with old friends.

In early April, Susan Avitzour lost Daniel, her husband of 42 years. Daniel held a PhD in pure mathematics from UC Berkeley, worked all his life as an inventor-engineer, and was a devoted husband and father. Susan is grateful to her seven children, friends, and religious community for support during this difficult time.

In June, Barbara Birney will help celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary of her parents Margaret and Robert Birney ’50. Her brother Bob ’81 also plans to attend.

Rob Buccino plans to spend three weeks this summer in France following the women’s world cup soccer tournament and bicycling along the Rhone. He is enjoying semi-retirement fully.

Betsy Eisenmann, a retired RN, exercises regularly and does volunteer work, including at her church’s thrift shop.

Ron Epstein found the memorial for Jon Barlow to be a wonderful opportunity to see classmates influenced by his work. Ron’s daughter is becoming a physician, and he continues to find purpose in palliative care and in the mindful-practice training he does for physicians.

Karen Gervasoni’s daughter is graduating high school and heading to Champlain College to major in film. Karen is downsizing, staying in Kennebunk, and wishes everyone well.

Joellyn Gray’s son Malcom’s movie 21 Bridges opens in late September. It is named for the 21 access bridges out of Manhattan, stars Chadwick Bozeman and is a psychological thriller.

Peter Hansen and his wife, Gail. live in DC and are consulting part-time. They regularly visit their granddaughter in NYC and daughter in Seattle and this spring traveled to Greece.

Byron Haskins just returned from Dublin, Ireland, where he attended the Project Management Institute Leadership Meeting. At the same time, his son Stephen was giving a TED-style talk at a medical conference in Belfast. Check out Byron’s music video hobby on YouTube.

Polly Hays retired from a 34-year career with the U.S. government, mostly with the Forest Service in water resource management. During her last years of work, she also spent much time helping her elderly parents to the end of life. She finds herself enjoying leisurely days at home with friends and family with time to pursue new interests.

Jim Johnson, to celebrate the 15th year of his company BikeTours.com and his 65th birthday, threw a free, full-day Bluegrass festival for his community which attracted 2,000 people and featured a farmers’ market and some of the region’s top bands. Jim recently started an organization called Chattanoogans for Responsible Development and has earned himself the names “community activist” and “flaming urbanist jackal.”

Sad to report that, on March 31, Nancy Kathan passed away. After Wesleyan, Nancy earned a fine arts degree from Yale. She was a leader in women’s issues and the arts and for the past 30 years, worked in Philadelphia with several theatre and film organizations.

Thomas Kovar plans to work another five years at the VA and is still doing plenty of music. In late May he performed at Eclectic for the ’79 Reunion.

Chris Mahoney and his wife, Joan, are on their second trip to Israel with plans to see the Galilee, the Golan, Jerusalem, the Negev, Eilat, Aqaba, and Petra.

Dave Eckert retired last year and moved back to Cincinnati. He recently had a hip replacement, his recovery is going great, and he hopes to be back on the tennis courts by mid-summer.

Jaimee Mirsky and her husband Jay retired last summer and are now grandparents to Jordan via their older daughter Joanna.

Nat Needle met for dinner with both of his sons in Worcester, Mass., and gave his first-ever piano recital for his students and their families and guests.

Debra Neuman’s son Josh will receive his master’s in agronomy at Oregon State in June. Debra enjoys her job as the executive director of a Catholic retreat center with a small addiction recovery residence for young men.

Jack O’Donnell’s daughter Maggie ’19 graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wes this May with a near perfect GPA. Congratulations!

Pam Swing ’75 and Marty Plotkin’s son, Ben, is getting married this fall. Pam is a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center and co-authored a play about the suffrage movement. Marty is a software development VP at Oracle. He plays the violin and is deeply involved in chamber music.

Gerry Rau received excellent medical care at modest cost from Taiwan’s socialized health care system. Gerry’s authored a textbook for engineering and science students that will be published in August.

Steve Smith and his wife Jean are retiring this summer and celebrating with a long, relaxing cruise.

Craig Tighe and his wife Ann live in San Mateo. Craig is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of DLA Piper where he works with technology startups. Ann is retired from an environmental nonprofit.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Mike Lehman, professor of biological sciences, joined Kent State University as the inaugural director of their new Brain Health Research Institute (kent.edu/brainhealth), joining Eric Mintz ’90 and Merri Rosen ’90, both key members of the new institute and its executive committee. “Great example,” Mike says, “of how Wesleyan alumni come together to innovate and lead in science and higher ed!”

Larry Greenberg writes from Martha’s Vineyard that he and his wife Debbie are finally grandparents, to Emelia, the first child of their eldest son Dan and wife Kait. Youngest son Stephen will marry in late June after producing the Stanley Cup Finals between the Bruins and Blue Jays. Daughter Sarah is traveling the world setting up and managing conference venues. Larry continues to practice orthopedic and sports physical therapy, with Debbie practicing occupational hand therapy in their clinic. Retirement is still a few years away.

Ed Van Voorhees kept his news short and sweet: “New grandchild, Jasper.”

Martha Meade ’76 and Steven Miller celebrated the anniversary of their son Leland’s Wes graduation. He got a degree in film (and the 2018 prize for Best Screenplay). They drove from LA to graduation via the southern route. The return trip with Leland and his gear was more complicated because the gear left no room in the car for passengers. Steve flew west with Leland’s gargantuan suitcase, while Martha and Leland drove to Minneapolis, where they met Steve to take the second leg of the trip, and Martha flew back to LA. “Stops included visits with Brad Kosiba and Tom Wheeler, each in their respective native habitats, as well as seeing relatives we’d never met before, several national parks, and local color like the UFO Museum in Roswell, N.M., and the moose we almost crashed into on a dark mountain road in Idaho.” Now life goes on, Martha is making fabulous paintings, and Leland went to China for six months to work on a film production.

Nancy Luberoff and her husband, Bruce, are enjoying semi-retirement, living on a lake in Chapel Hill, N.C. The best part is hanging out with their two baby grandchildren, one of whom moved to Berlin in July with his parents. Nancy inquires, “Any Berlin connections out there?”

Bruce “BB” Weinraub writes, “As the great musician Jesse Winchester once sang, ‘Do it, do it until you can’t do it no more’ and as our class notes march unrelentingly towards the front, I will now. going forward, write a note for every alumni magazine until I can’t do it no more. In the spring of 1973 while living on Hewitt 9, Jay Abramowitz ’76, introduced me to the record Gumbo by Dr. John (Rolling Stone Magazine’s 402 out of the greatest 500 albums). That record has had a profound influence on my musical life. As Dr. John just passed, I am motivated to thank Jay for that and to remember some of the musical greats that I saw at Wesleyan—The Byrds, Bill Monroe, Roosevelt Sykes, Mance Lipscomb, McCoy Tyner, John McLaughlin, Commander Cody, Bonnie Raitt, The Oso Family, Orleans, Weather Report, Pure Prairie League, and probably many more.” Does bring back memories of McConaughy and the hockey rink.

Paul Gionfriddo wrote, “I was pleased to give Roger Weisberg the Mental Health America’s 2019 media award at our annual national conference last week in D.C. for his documentary Broken Places, which will air nationally on PBS in 2020.”

A note from Brian Steinbach pointed me to a New York Times story about David Garrow’s article on Martin Luther King. Apparently, it stirred up quite the controversy in historical and civil rights circles.

Risa Korn provides me with a home-away-from-home almost every time I get to Boston, much to my delight. She is “bubbe” to two grandchildren, Arya and Theo, who live nearby with their parents David (Risa’s oldest) and Laura in the Boston suburbs. Her daughter Melanie, living in Brooklyn, is responsible for investor relations at American Express, and son Sam is completing his residency in Denver. Most recent news was Risa’s plan for a long weekend in NYC when Jane Hutchins comes down from Vancouver Island.

Bob and I were thrilled to witness our daughter Julia Daniel graduating with her master’s in computer science from Stanford last week. Now she’s off to Europe to visit friends and for a two-week teaching gig in Prague. Lucky us, we’re invited to celebrate her 25th birthday in Prague, and then we’ll travel en famille to Vienna, Strasbourg, and Paris. The only thing better would be if her brother Ethan could come too, but he’ll be deep in his penultimate semester of college.

Keep your news coming. It gets way too quiet between columns.

Cynthia M. Ulman | cmu.home@cmugroup.com
860 Marin Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941-3955

Let’s jump right into Reunion notes!

Pat Mulcahy’s notes on our 45th Reunion: “Here’s a key to the effectiveness and great good spirits of our reunion: right after our panel, What’s Next, for which Claudia Catania, Harold Sogard, Lloyd Komesar and Bill Pearson joined me to discuss the so-called ‘retirement years,’ I got a text from a highly placed publisher I know at Random House. She was in the next room at another seminar put on by her class, there for their 40^th. The laughter from our end could be heard through the wall.

“‘Sounds like you’re having so much fun!’ she said. ‘Can you meet me for coffee?’

“Then at our women’s group gathering, we were joined by a member of the class of 1979, who wanted to meet the women who’d paved the way for co-ed education at Wes. What she heard was honest and sometimes a little raw: there were bumps in the road as women arrived on a previously all-male campus. Many thanks to Sharon Purdie and Nancy Stack for organizing what is always a very worthwhile and touching session.

“Here’s my take overall: our class, which broke Reunion attendance records, is united by a dose of adversity, a commitment to social justice, public service, the arts, and to each other. Throw in a soupcon of goofiness.

“As Lloyd put it in a thank-you to Wes’s Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 for her efforts, “We are not an easy class to wrangle.” But we show up for each other and for the school—which has tremendous value. One of our number is even running for president. He, too, has our support and enthusiastic backing, because his values are our values.

“A shout-out to my old roomie Angela DiFranco Platt, there for her first Reunion ever. The students who checked us in were thrilled to see former roommates reuniting. So, what if she told everyone that I used to study in the shower? We had a blast.”

Pam van der Meulen shares, “I had a wonderful time at Reunion, and I think everyone else did as well. It was great to reconnect with old friends, and I feel like many of us are pursuing new friendships with classmates we never knew. I hope to see more NYC alumni in the future. And I was particularly happy to see Lindsay Wilson again, after 20 years! I was not able to make it to Flagstaff after Randy died last summer, so I was glad she made it to our 45th. And the two of us had a great time sightseeing in NYC after Reunion.”

Jan Eliasberg exclaims, “What a magnificent weekend, attending the class Reunion dinner and, the next day, my daughter’s graduation, Sariel Friedman ’19!

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see everyone, but I hugged and caught up with the irrepressible Lloyd Komesar, Bill Pearson, Claudia Catania, Ellen Driscoll, Jon Eddison, Bill Burton and our (perhaps) future President Hickenlooper and his lovely wife.

“My big news, along with my daughter’s graduation, is that I completed a novel which sold in a bidding war to Little Brown. It’s going to be their lead title for spring 2020. I called it Heart of the Atom; Little Brown seems to think that science will ‘scare readers away.’ It is titled Hannah’s War.

“They’re sending me on a major book tour so, if you have a great relationship with your local, indie bookstore, please let me know so I can visit and sign books.”

Janet Biehl‘s biography of her late partner, the social-ecological theorist Murray Bookchin, was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin has since been translated into Spanish and French. Some 15 years ago Bookchin’s own writings, in Turkish translation, influenced the Kurdish freedom movement to adopt a new paradigm seeking democracy, anti-hierarchy, and ecology. As a result, Janet has been involved with that movement since 2011. She has translated several books about the Kurdish struggle from German into English (published by Pluto Press), including the three-volume autobiography of the founder of the Kurdish revolutionary women’s movement, Sakine Cansiz. Janet also translated into English Revolution in Rojava in 2016, which is about the gender-equal, democratic revolution that has been under way in northeastern Syria since 2012. She has just returned from her third visit to that area (April-May 2019) and is currently at work writing and drawing a graphic novel about her journey.

Mike Heard reports: “I am in my 12th year of doing volunteer work for the Los Padres National Forest near Big Sur, Calif., and it has finally dawned on me that I retired long ago but did not notice at the time. I’m preparing for another fire season, hoping to get in good enough shape to be able to pick up a little bit of money working as a casual hire on the inevitable wildfires. It was a real pleasure to reconnect with many of you whom I knew (and others that I didn’t) at the Reunion. Kudos to the Reunion committee for doing a bang-up job.”

Wayne Forrest reports, “I still work at American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and recently became chairman of the American Indonesian Cultural and Educational Foundation. Through that organization I helped arrange for the Sultan of Yogyakarta to visit Wesleyan in November 2018. The highlight for me is that I joined his gamelan group in their performance in NYC and played both gamelan and tuba. There are special pieces in the repertoire that use Western brass and percussion. I still play tuba in and around NYC and so this coming together of my two worlds was very special. Retirement still seems a ways down the road; I am stilling having fun helping to broker good relations between the U.S. and Indonesia.”

Bruce Duncan’s big news is that as of June 29 he’ll be retired from Fitchburg State University. Since he has not put in enough time, he doesn’t qualify as Professor Emeritus. Instead he’ll be the Former Professor of Physics or the Erstwhile Professor of Physics or the Late Professor of Physics.

Doug Cole had lunch with Lloyd Komesar in Ol’ Pasadena during a visit to his daughter’s and her family (including two of six grandchildren). It was fun to catch up after all these years: neither had changed much. Lloyd was wearing a Grateful Dead tee shirt—Doug is listening to China Cat Sunflower / I know you rider, as he writes. They compared their heroics of intramural softball, etc. It was interesting to learn about Lloyd’s impressive career at Disney. We all know what he is up to now. Carolyn and Doug are deeply rooted in the Northwest; he expects to continue selling until 70; grandparenting is a joy. He just hopes the democracy and planet are still around for them.

Monique Witt reports, “My older son, Dev, breaks ground on the Soundworks building in Williamsburg, July 1, and has finished the new monitors for broad distribution this fall. My younger son, Ben, is touring again in Canada, and then the West Coast, followed by a European tour and a long stop to compose new material with friends in Croatia. He finished recording his third full release album, “The Nebula Project,” which is largely original materials for sextet format (Ben on accordion and piano with some of the finest young jazz musicians he knows) to be released early 2020. Steven and I are still working full-time.”

John McLucas will retire from the faculty of Towson University in June 2020.He has taught Italian and Latin there since 1984 and just finished a term as president of the Faculty Association.He recently completed the draft for his second novel, Spirit’s Tether, a sequel to his debut novel, Dialogues on the Beach(BrickHouse Books, Baltimore 2017).

Charlie Cocores has provided the link to his next build (Coco’s Constructores) in Puerto Rico in January of 2020 for the Fuller Center for Housing, which you can find here.

You’ve heard about our 45th Reunion and just how fantastic it was. Now, it’s time to start planning for our 50th! Save these dates: May 23–26, 2024. We’re going to spend the next few years trying to track down as many classmates as possible. Want to get involved? Come to Middletown for Homecoming and a Reunion planning meeting on Nov. 2 or contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 860/685-5992.

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

Our Wesleyan Argus Editor-in-Chief Steven Greenhouse has an update. He says, “There are difficult times, and there are good times, and lately I’ve been feeling blessed.” His daughter Emily ’08 gave birth to their first grandchild, “a beautiful boy,” Eli, on March 20. He says, “Emily also landed an impressive job that shows that a Wes education can pay off—a College of Letters grad like her Dad, she was named co-editor of the New York Review of Books.”

Steven says he is proud that his second book, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, will be officially released by Knopf in August. “It seeks to serve as a history of labor unions and worker power in America while also examining modern-day efforts to lift workers, including the fight for $15 and the #RedforEd teachers’ strikes.” he says. He also had the honor of moderating a presidential candidates’ Forum on Wages and Working People. It was held in Las Vegas on April 27 and included John Hickenlooper ’74, along with Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, and Elizabeth Warren. “It was quite a thrill, and made my think that my double major in government and COL at Wesleyan wasn’t a waste,” says Steven.

He says he sees a lot of Wes folks, including our classmates Kirk Adams, Jon Siegel, Paul Baumann, Jon Raskin, Nancy Troy ’74, Claudia Catania ’74, and Vicky Bijur ’75. (Vicky is his literary agent.)

We also have some news from Rabbi Bob Wolkoff. He says that he and his wife, Ruth-Ann, were recently honored by their central New Jersey congregation for his 40 years serving as a rabbi (in Michigan, New Jersey, Sweden, Wisconsin, Georgia, and again in New Jersey). “Join the rabbinate, see the world. Who knew? A day does not go by that I do not think of my Wesleyan experience, my wonderful friends and fraternity brothers, and especially my teachers Rabbi George Sobelman, and Professor Philip Hallie, of blessed memory, and Professor Jeremy Zwelling, may he enjoy long life, all of whom offered so much in shaping my world view,” he says. He will be spending a few months this summer in Israel with his family, taking some much needed time to “trace and retrace my spiritual journey (otherwise known as ‘. . . what a long strange trip it’s been’).”

He’ll also be looking for some serious spiritual inspiration and rejuvenation, since his wife has been fighting valiantly against Stage IV cancer and he says that does take a serious toll on them. “My children Ethan, Joseph, and Dahlia are 16, 16, and 12, respectively, and the boys at least have started looking at colleges,” he says. “My daughter, who wants medical school, won’t finish until I’m 82. G-d clearly has a wicked sense of humor. As Jay Rose wrote to me a long time ago, I’m ‘going to be working a long time.’ Ain’t it the truth. But I love what I do, so it isn’t really work at all.” He sends his warmest regards to everyone.

Michael Edwards has had a satisfying career in developmental neuroscience for 20 years after Wesleyan. “A PhD in physiology from University of Utah, postdocs at Women’s Medical College in Philly, and at MIT,” he writes. Then he had a 10-year sojourn as a researcher at the E.K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, including production of 26 publications and appointments in neuropathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. Later he moved and held many odd jobs before a 20-year stretch in public health and grant writing.

He retired in March in the face of terminal cancer, which is “thankfully now in abeyance with effective treatment.” He now has plenty of time to enjoy the seashore with his dog at his old farmhouse with ocean vistas and he spends a lot of time reading widely and reviewing on Goodreads, where he recently passed 1,000 reviews.

From Alaska, we learn that John Bocachica’s acting  is leaving a memorable impression where the Anchorage Press says his role in the Anchorage Community Theatre’s The Giver brings the title character “to life.” The reviewer says John’s “physical look is beautifully chosen for this role but it is the slow emphasis he puts into the delivery of his lines that draws you in.”

All goes well here. I’ve been reporting for WFOR-TV, the CBS-owned station in Doral since September of 2007. It’s been a challenge keeping up with the much-younger, scrappy reporters but fortunately my longtime sources have continued to come through on numerous stories. I have been traveling some weeks to Denver to see my youngest daughter, Holly, and her husband in Highlands Ranch, where she’s an artist and wildlife biologist, and oldest daughter, Jennifer, and her husband and two granddaughters in Gloucester, Va., near Williamsburg, where she’s a marketing guru for her church and a nurse. My oldest granddaughter is going to be a junior this year at Old Dominion University and is planning on a career in teaching.

Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com

Those missives reminding you about our upcoming 50th Reunion bore some fruit, as Andy Feinstein got a note from his freshman year roommate, David Hamilton, whom none of us had seen since graduation. David has had a long career as a social worker and health care administrator in England, and he offered to pay Andy a visit during an upcoming visit to the States. So, Andy set up a lunch at his gorgeous home in Stonington, arranged for the first sunny day of the spring, and invited a number of his classmates. Besides David and his wife, Cindy; Andy and his wife, Liz; Elisa ’76 and me; present were Paul Vidich and his wife, Linda; and Mike Kaloyanides and his wife, Sheila. A truly lovely time, although all of us realized that we weren’t actually all that close at Wesleyan. But we all have so much in common now, and it was great being together.

I, in my role of class rememberer, did recall how David had a date come down from Wheaton in February of 1969, and she then got stranded at Wes by the enormous blizzard of ’69. Sure enough, that’s the same Cindy, and they will celebrate their 50th anniversary next spring. Now that is true love!

As for the other attendees, Paul is now a fully fledged man of letters, with two spy novels published (read them!) and another in the works. Mike is retired as professor of music at the University of New Haven. Andy is still actively practicing education law—the defender of special needs students and their families and the bane of school districts throughout the Northeast.

Elisa and I have been enjoying the proximity of our still-new location to Wesleyan and other Connecticut friends. We have enjoyed a few events on campus, and I have made a couple of New Haven pizza runs with Dr. Kaloyanides—one on the post-Super Bowl visit of Michael Carlson, the other after a visit to the Yale Gallery with our wives.

Steve Alpert has created a nonprofit educational site dedicated to Indonesian art and culture: artoftheancestors.com. The artwork is drawn from 40 museums with the idea of creating an interactive platform between scholars, academics, collectors, and stakeholders of the finest pieces in the public domain. There is also an active news blog with content being added constantly. Something, Steve says, to keep one going into old age. Steve, of course, owes the inception of this adventure to his Wesleyan experience. He enjoyed being at Wesleyan for the visit of the Sultan of Jogjakarta.

Finally, I have to report the sad news of the passing of Kevin Kulick in February, after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Kevin was a dermatologist in Buffalo, and is remembered by many as one of the nicest people in our class. Mike Busman and Dennis Kesden visited with him in Arizona before his passing. They reported that despite his illness he retained his sense of humor and positive presence. Neil Clendeninn ’71, secretary of the class of 1971, knew Kevin well, and will have more to say in his class notes.

Seth A. Davis | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

Aloha! Sorry for cutting most of your news as I am limited in words I can publish. I promise those who sent lots of news to have more in the next column.

Sad news, my good friend Kevin Kulick ’72 passed away Feb. 25 at his home in Buffalo, N.Y. I had seen Kevin two weeks earlier in Phoenix, where he was undergoing treatment. We discussed his course and I suggested he head back home. He was in good spirits and we had many laughs and reminiscing moments about our times at Wesleyan and our lives afterward. It caught me a bit off guard when two days after arriving home to family and friends he died. He will be missed, and these moments often bring us to the point of realization of just how short life is. Condolences to his lovely wife, Rise, and their children and families.

First time writer Mike Ronan says he’s retired to Panama, where he runs a coffee farm in the mountains with wife Pam after a career teaching at Houston Community College. His two kids are writers and filmmakers. Before leaving the States, he caught up with fellow oarsmen Michael Mullally in Montreal and Buddy Coote in D.C., stays in touch with Roy Cramer.

Demetrie Comnas and his wife, Ann, resettled in West Palm Beach, Fla., a couple of years ago, and are enjoying the sun, golf, and relative peace. “We get to Greece a couple of times each year, to visit brother Basil ’70. We see Cecily and Carey O’Laughlin and their delightful daughter Ashley.”

Kip Anderson writes, “I am happy to tell that my second book of poetry has just been published. It’s titled Roots in the Sky, Boots on the Ground. It consists of formal metaphysical poetry and is available from Amazon.” John Cuddy is in transition to full retirement, down to two days per week. Teaching one course in accounting at Towson University and soon pursuing volunteer opportunities. Bart Brush says, “After two years of retirement, I went back to work last August as a music teacher at Kayenta Middle School on the Navajo Reservation—my 17th year since starting in Utica, N.Y., in 2000. A career in education can be wonderful but does not make a lot of sense financially.”

Warren White continues to cook and bake for the poor and homeless. The number of meals prepared has increased by about 400 percent since 2013, surpassing Nashville’s high growth rate. John Rothman writes, “Philip Casnoff and Graeme Bush joined family and friends for the wedding of our son Noah this April in Palm Beach. I am still acting. Highlight of season 20 of Law and Order SVU: My judge was exposed as the ring leader of sex trafficking ring.” Bill Hicks has written extensively on Christian topics including two published books and a third book on the way. He enjoys life in Chattanooga, Tenn., with wife of 29 years, Ardena, and their two adult daughters, Rachel and Sarah. Mary McWilliams says after being widowed, “I finally found the second love of my life two years ago who is my companion for daily life and other adventures. My life is happily complete with friends and family, travel, board work, and now two grandchildren.” Mark Wallach started a new law firm and has five grands.

Katy Butler completed a successful nationwide book tour for The Art of Dying Well. Alvin and Cynthia James are semi-retired and living in Cedar Hill, Texas. Michael Brewin’s new album of guitar compositions, GUITARSOUL (jazz, world, classical), has been released. John Schimmel writes that the youngest of his three kids graduated from high school and he and wife Maureen face empty-nesthood. “A film I executive-produced about abuse in the for-profit foster care system will open the Nashville Film Festival. The film I wrote with the participation of the Dalai Lama is in pre-production. I continue on as senior producer of narrative content, developing stories and producing the performance capture shoots, for Cloud Imperium Games; and as part of the core faculty at the University of California at Riverside’s Low Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing arts. Last July, I performed in the 40th(!) reunion concert of the Broadway show, Pump Boys and Dinettes, of which I was a co-creator. Finally, I have just become active in the Alpha Delta Phi mentor’s program.”

Our 50th Reunion is May 20-23, 2021! That may sound far away but it will be here before you know it. Come to campus for a Reunion planning meeting on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 and look for regional events to attend throughout the year. The Reunion Committee is looking for your input. If you know of anyone that’s been off the grid or if you would like to get involved, please contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 860/685-5992.

Aloha until next issue. Again, apologize for cutting some of the news short but it will appear next time.

Neil J. Clendeninn | Cybermad@msn.com
PO Box 1005, Hanalei, HI 96714

Aloha, everyone. Unfortunately, I need once again to begin my column with news of the death of classmates. The Alumni Office reported that George “Bo” Durbin passed away on April 11. Here is an obituary.

A few weeks later, they informed me that Brian Silvestro reported his cousin Russ “Rusty” Helgren had passed away at the beginning of May. Rusty started with ’69 and finished with ’70.Here is a link to his obituary.

Rusty, 72, of Virginia Beach, passed away Monday, April 29, at home of pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his son, SunTemple; daughter, Dove; and grandchildren, Cheyenne, Madison, Dakota, and Van.

Our condolences to the families.

This time around, I had an e-mail from our classmate and esteemed runner, Bill Rodgers. He connected with a teacher and coach from the Big Island at the last Boston Marathon. Bill raced in the Kona Half-Marathon over there about 15 years ago, his self-described “last outright win in a road race,” and had fun exploring the island and meeting runners from all over the world. He proudly wears a Wesleyan winter hat each year. Hope to see him and a lot more of you at the Reunion.

Gene Legg reported he’s in his 40th year as a high school teacher and was “thrilled to be the graduation speaker this year.” He says he “prepped for it by playing Teddy Roosevelt in the school musical!” Happy to be alive! (40 years! I’m impressed.)

Gordon Fain wrote a long inquiry to the Alumni Office and cc’d me. He’s interested in seeing more photos of alumni, significant others, and grandchildren, on the website in a way that protects privacy. Gordon indicated he and Lila have two grandchildren in Michigan and five in California. He’d like to see more about grandchildren of classmates. He has several suggestions, too, for sending things to grandchildren by U.S. mail economically. (Contact me or him for details.)

Former Spanish House and Lawn Avenue roommate Colin Kitchens is an avid Facebooker. Here’s his news: “A wife and three dogs, and finished a book with no intention of doing anything with it. Living in Larkspur, Calif., with some fear of the fire season. Doing some construction and carpentry, but mostly as a laborer. They tell me not to go up any ladders and my doctor suggested a hobby. Traveling a bit. Just life.” There you have it.”

Gerald Jones and his wife Georja are living in Diana Beach, Kenya, where she is a environmental director of AfricaChild Kenya. She is an activist in wildlife conservation with particular attention to elephants. Gerald says he can work productively anywhere they go. His eighth novel, Preacher Finds a Corpse: An Evan Wycliff Mystery,will be published in August.

Peter Ratner is enjoying year two of retirement. The family moved to the small town of Greytown (population 2,340) to live in their former weekend residence. “We are here with six chickens and our 16-year-old cat named Mehitabel who has been slacking off of late so I am reduced to trapping rats and mice on my own. The local hawks usually deal with the remains.

“I have decided that I am going to take this year off—no boards, no jobs, just relaxation and maybe helping out a bit on a conservation estate in Carterton although I have yet to put in my first appearance. Having said that, we are having our house (built in 1886) painted and the place looks like a war zone. Every time we turn around, another window or a weatherboard needs replacing but hopefully this round will last for 20 years which will see us through. I am doing a lot more reading and I am hoping that by the end of the year I may even get good at doing nothing. I have a hammock in which I have only spent four hours in the last six months—a situation I intend to remedy once summer arrives.

“We have about 1.5 acres here and we look after our daughter’s garden down the road, and in Wellington, the garden at our house which is rented together with my mother-in-law’s garden, so perhaps I should list myself as a part-time gardener. We are far from self-sufficient but we are not doing too badly with eggs (although the chickens are taking the winter off to moult), cabbages, broccoli (take that George W.), beans, potatoes, red onions, radishes, lettuce, rocket, mizuna, pumpkins, rhubarb, apples, pears, plums, quinces, lemons, lemonades, grapefruit, oranges, limes, one very lonely mandarin, and fresh herbs. My tomatoes and nectarines were a disaster this year and my entire garlic crop was wiped out by rust. I will put a new crop in soon and cross my fingers.

“We plan to do a little travelling—I just got back from 10 days visiting family in New York. We will be in Sydney in June to see our youngest daughter and her husband who is living there, and Rarotonga in August just to sit on the beach. As of today, all of my children and grandchildren are well and settled. Looking at the politics in the U.S. I am feeling very good about my decision to move to New Zealand (The Trump or Jacinda Adern? Hmmm? Not a very hard choice). It’s not perfect over here. Jacinda bailed on bringing in a capital gains tax which we should have, and the farmers and developers are still much too powerful. However, it remains a mostly civilized place to live and by and large we can have political discourse without ending up as implacable enemies. It helps that there are only 4.7 million people and about a third of them are in Auckland. We are still subjects of the Queen and we have someone named Archie as the seventh in line to the throne.”

Darwin Poritz, who works at the Johnson Space Center in Houston sent the following: “This past October, I spent three wonderful weeks in Berlin studying German at the GLS Sprachschule. The instructors kept the classes animated, and there were afternoon or evening tours and Saturday excursions to Wernigerode, Rostok, and Warnemünde. I took advantage of the excellent breakfasts and the off-campus apartment offered by the school in the charming Prenzlauer Berg district. Two highly enjoyable Fat Tire Tours on bicycles exposed me to the city’s history and renown graffiti. Of course, I enjoyed the schnitzel, goulash, and hefe-weissbier as often as possible. My son John visited me for a few days in Berlin to enjoy the bier and schnitzel.

“In February, I had a week of skiing in Whitefish, Mont. We had a good time when my brother Noah and his wife Leona joined me from Bozeman for a few days.”

The photo of a long-haired Rusty Helgrenattached to his obituary takes us right back to our undergraduate years. On that note, Jacob Scherr sent the Alumni Office a photo from the infamous Grateful Dead concert on campus, spurring a flurry of e-mails, what I think might be called a meme about dramatic times then and now. Jacob asked: “What can we distill from our days at Wesleyan and the five decades since to give hope and ideas for the future?” Consensus was that that is an excellent question, worthy of being a theme of our 50th Reunion. Bruce Williamsasked, “Do we worry most for our grandchildren now?”

Involved in the discussion were David White (who arranged for the Dead to play), Bill Tam, Steve Talbot, Jeremy Serwer, Bruce Williams, Carl Johnson, Barry Gottfried, and Jim Elston ’70, MAT’72. Steve reminded us that the Dead gave a terrible performance. (I thought at the time that they sure had long jams, but didn’t think they played badly; a later listen to the recording of it changed my mind.) Carl mentioned that his Alpha Delt brother John Barlow ’69 had been a high school friend of Dead member Bob Weir and completed an autobiography called Mother American Night shortly before his death in 2018. (The book involves Wesleyan remembrances and Carl recommends it.) Barry wrote that his “nephew, Adam Schumacher, then two, danced on Foss Hill to the delight of the crowd. He’s now 50 of course. Still has a rock band—the Dead were his inspiration!!”

Steve T. also reminded us that a meeting was held in the chapel afterward to plan an open mic meeting the next day to discuss and vote on whether we would declare a strike and shut down the campus in response to the invasion of Cambodia and the Panther trials. I’m hoping the photo, and others from our tenure at Wesleyan, can be displayed at our reunion next May.

Speaking of the 50th Reunion, Jeremy Serwerhas been coordinating outreach, contacting as many of our classmates as possible to encourage them to attend, and reporting it to be a very enjoyable endeavor. He would like more of us to make calls, so please contact him if you can help. You can visit him at the farm in Connecticut or call him at 860/928-7660.

I have been a bit involved in the Reunion committee and would like information anyone may have about casting a brass or bronze medallion for the occasion. Also, I expressed an interest to the committee in displaying some photographs at Reunion and wonder if any of you also might have an interest in doing so.

And now for an unpaid advertisement: Come to our 50th Reunion! (May 21-24, 2020). There will be regional events throughout the year including a planning meeting at Wesleyan on Nov. 2. All are welcome to attend. If you have program ideas, want to get involved, or haven’t heard from the Committee, contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.eduor 860/685-5992.

Write when you have news or not.

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754