Class Notes

Hello, classmates. In case you haven’t heard, we have a big reunion coming up next year! Please mark May 25-26, 2018 on your calendars and plan to be in Middletown to celebrate our 40th Reunion. I know what you’re thinking…How could it be our 40th?! Seems like graduation, or at least our 10th or 25th was only yesterday. No matter the year, we’re still going strong and looking forward so let’s make it the best reunion weekend ever! Also, let’s beat the 40th Reunion attendance record set by Class of ’77. We need at least 107 attendees. Hope you’ll be one of them!

In the meantime, please send us your news. The next issue would be the perfect time to tell fellow classmates your news and plans to attend reunion.

Onto the News: Lisa Alter made Variety’s inaugural “NY Dealmakers Elite” list which honors “power players” having a significant impact on Broadway, advertising, and the music business. Lisa is a partner at Alter Kendrick & Baron LLP in NYC and practices primarily in the area of copyright law, with a focus on domestic and international music copyright issues. She counsels composers, authors, musical estates, music publishers, and equity investors on a wide range of copyright and transactional matters, including music publishing, acquisitions, selling and administering copyright catalogues, and recapture of copyrights, among others. Lisa is the author of Protecting Your Musical Copyrights, which is now available in its third edition, and the recent Forbes article “Concord Bicycle Music Buys Imagem Music Group Heralding a Golden Age of Music Publishing.”

Jon Spector and wife, Wendy, enjoy life in Vermont. He commutes to The Conference Board in New York. “Wendy chairs our local arts organization and will be ski ambassador at Killington. My major accomplishment was participating in a one-hour art class and painting an image of a boat dock on a lake bordered by mountains—which according to several observers almost resembles a boat dock on a lake bordered by mountains. I feel a second career beckons.”

Rachael Pine has an empty nest in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with one daughter at Oberlin, and the second having graduated and now working as the food program coordinator at Oberlin Community Services. Her husband is general counsel of the Legal Aid Society and she works at a private foundation managing grantmaking related to health/healthcare and immigrant communities.

Bill Adler, our expat living and writing in Japan, says, “My cat, however, is indifferent to the view and thinks that the dim LED power lights that proliferate the apartment are a signal from the moon to make as much noise as possible at 3 a.m.”

Nancy Grossman sent her only child, Daniel, off to UMass Amherst with a “tentative” major of mechanical engineering. She says, “I am finding the empty nest so much easier to take when the boy is only four miles away!” Nancy practices acupuncture and publishes the occasional op-ed.

After 30 years of pastorate in the Atlanta area, Ken Samuel has been awarded a Lilly grant for a sabbatical. Among other things, he’ll be spending a month in the Philippines teaching at Silliman University.

 Gary Friedmann chairs the citizen grass-roots organization, A Climate to Thrive, which has the goal of making Mount Desert Island, Maine, energy independent by 2030. Their Solarize MDI initiative doubled the Island’s solar-generated power in 2017, and they aim to continue that trend, along with weatherization, local foods, recycling, electric vehicle, and student internship initiatives in the coming year.

Stefan Watson is the owner of Watson Custom Builders. He and wife Eileen Devereux ’76 have been rebuilding homes in downtown Albuquerque for 40-plus years. He writes, “All of our projects seem to take 10 to 12 years to complete—most recently a complete renovation of 8th and Mountain Road in downtown Albuquerque. We had acquired four corners 14 years ago thinking how nice it would be to own an intersection with six houses and an old gas station, now coffee shop.” Stefan completed a new floor design with artist Richard Tuttle for a Zahad Hadid Design home in Miami for real estate developer Craig Robbins. They’re working on a series of tile tables to be in Richard Tuttle’s gallery show later in the year.

David Rosenthal serves as co-head of the Global Capital Markets practice at Dechert LLP. He writes, “I’m very proud of my son, James ’08, who is following in my footsteps as a mid-level transactional associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in NYC, and my daughter, Elise ’11, who is following in her grandfather’s footsteps (inorganic chemistry freshman year ended any aspirations to become a doctor that I might have had) and is a first-year resident in ob-gyn at Montefiore in the Bronx.”

After many years at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Bob Kalb moved to Chicago to be the director of the Les Turner ALS Research and Patient Center at Northwestern Medicine and chief of Neuromuscular Medicine in the Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. He writes, “This promises to be a marvelous opportunity to both enhance the basic research in my lab and to foster translational medicine.”

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

Who would have imagined that at the tender age of 62, attendance at so many weddings would become such a big part of my free time? The combination of folks’ second or third marriages and children of friends or relatives marrying means that there is a steady flow of celebration and travel. Not that I’m knocking it in the least! At a time when there is a lot to be concerned or saddened by, having occasions to be in the presence of others to have fun and to share in the love is something I cherish.

September took me to two great destination weddings: Squaw Valley, Calif., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. In California, I was honored to officiate at the wedding of my nephew, Michael Frank ’08. As necessitated by the Golden State, I became an ordained minister in order to perform my duties. There was a wonderful turnout of Wesleyan graduates, with a photo taken at mountain top. At the end of the month I made my way to Wyoming for the wedding of my godson, Desmond Jennings, the son of Iddy Olson. Both events were in spectacular surroundings and had lots of emotion packed in to full weekends of activities: dancing, eating, hiking, not necessarily in that order. One leaves these weekends with a great sense of fulfillment at participating in such crucial turning points in people’s lives. On a personal note, a shocking turning point for me is that my architecture firm is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, which seems totally impossible to me. As I have described so often, it is the people (staff, clients, and consultants) who have made the ride so worthwhile.

On to the news from those who responded to my request for news:

Will Sillin wrote in that Chester “Chet” Arnold (director, UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research) introduced his artwork to the Benton Museum at UConn. The result is that two of his paintings are included in their current show about water, Unfiltered. Will is justifiably thrilled that his work is hanging with numerous outstanding contemporary artists as well as masters from the 20th century who are represented in their permanent collection.

First time contributor Robin Cleveland writes: “Having spent a long career in Washington, 16 years on the Hill with McConnell in many roles, then the White House and World Bank, I began a degree in school counseling, which led to my being a doc student in counseling at 62.” Robin loves teaching at GW: “When all was said and done the truly great story is not the headlines you get to write but the lifelines you weave.” Finding her way back to very good people like Seta Nazarian ’79, Virginia Torczon ’78, Chris Harned ’89, and Rich Middlebrooks, Robin welcomes all to reconnect.

Hank Rosenfeld ran into Joan Goldfeder at the downtown LA public library on a Lenny Bruce panel. Joan was much missed at our May Reunion.

Continuing on the wedding theme, Jay Kilbourn writes that his Wesleyan daughter was married this summer, and she lives happily in Portland, Ore., practicing permaculture. Jay is a volunteer lobbyist at the nonpartisan Citizens Climate Lobby, doing his best to mitigate climate change and pass a bill in Congress to implement a carbon fee and dividend.

Jim Lyons wrote to express how happy he was to have attended our May Reunion. Back in Germany, he hit the road running with two productions planned for the fall at a theater near Stuttgart: a musical revue premiered in September and a second show on the story of Elvis’ 1968 comeback special to premier soon.

Jane Goldenring came back East for—what else?—a family wedding in the Hudson Valley region. Jane caught up with new grandmother Sharon Adler, as well as Jane Eisner and Mark Berger while in New York.

Michael Foxall is an elementary school principal in Fairlee, Vt. His wife and family enjoyed 20 years of overseas international school service, both as teachers and administrators, before returning to home in Canaan, N.H.

Bob Rees caught up with Marcy Neuburg in the Twin Cities while she was visiting her son and granddaughter. Marcy is off sailing somewhere between the North and South Poles. Bob is collecting poems from Earl Phillips and Lee Arnold in hopes of getting them published in Minneapolis.

Tom Roberts and Vanessa Burgess each wrote in to say what a great time they each had at our Reunion, echoing a sentiment expressed by many.

I wish all a happy and safe season leading up to the end-of-the-year holidays!

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

For this issue, I asked about retirement plans and got varied and often non-committal answers. To vary the line-up, the last shall be first.

Tom Kovar went to Professor Dick Winslow ’40’s funeral in Antrim, N.H. Dick, 99, was a mentor of Tom’s in the music department. Afterwards, Tom had dinner with Pam Swing ’75, Win Lockwood ’78, and others.

Cheryl Alpert is a real estate agent in the Boston area. Her son, Eben, is enjoying his work at PWC and her son, Chason, just started at Booz Allen.

Carol Bellhouse published two books and produced two films this summer. Burnt Orange is about three women at the end of the world. The second film is a pilot for an adventure race series; the first episode is about racing burros.

Carol Berger has retired from her career as a school psychologist. She and husband Ron live in Longmeadow, Mass., and have two married sons and three granddaughters. Carol stays in touch with Linda Borreson and Sue Feinstein Barry and hopes to get together with Nancy Cornwell Goeden.

Ethan Bronner, who writes on politics for Bloomberg, is investigating President Trump and Kushner business practices and keeping an eye on the federal probe into possible collusion with the Russians. Son Eli ’10 is the president of a startup called Careerlist, which links young marketing professionals with big companies.

Joe Carcillo is a pediatric intensive care physician in a children’s hospital at the University of Pittsburgh. His daughter is in her first year at Michigan and Joe is coaching the local girls’ Catholic high school rowing team.

Jon Cleworth enjoys being an uncle to one nephew and five nieces. He reports that Jimmy Joy MALS ’72, former crew coach at Wes, received an award this November at the New York Athletic Club for his outstanding career as an oarsman and his contributions to American rowing.

Ron Epstein’s book, Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity, is doing well and he has been traveling to talk about how doctors can practice more mindfully and achieve shared understanding with their patients.

Jeff Frank recalled his Wesleyan experience as encouraging free expression, tolerance of different opinions, and learning to persuade those with different outlooks to your point of view. Remarking on the news about universities shutting down what is labeled by the opposition as “hate speech,” Jeff hopes that the free discussion of ideas remains a part of the Wesleyan experience.

Karen Gervasoni’s daughter Lia is a high school junior and is dabbling in media studies. Son Cole is playing on his high school basketball team.

After transferring to and graduating from Wesleyan, Jamie Beck Gordon worked for Ed Koch and obtained a degree in international relations from Columbia. She volunteers for various charities and is on the board of The Neuberger Museum at SUNY Purchase. Married in 1985, Jamie has a son, 30, and a daughter, 27.

Joellyn Gray is on the board of the CTA Foundation, an offshoot of the Consumer Technology Association, the group that hosts CES, the world’s largest trade show for technology.

Oliver Griffith is working for an infrastructure fund in Africa and living in Paris.

Steve Gross and wife Meiyan are retired, she from the Sunnyvale School District and he from SanDisk. They renovated their home in Cupertino, Calif. Daughter Alexa attends Wellesley College. While visiting her, Steve stayed with Tim Hill ’75 and Jan Schwaner-Hill ’75, and caught up with Norbert Kremer in Boston.

Byron Haskins, recently retired from federal service, volunteers as a MoveOn Summer Resistance Mobilizer, focusing on preventing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Grandson Zayer was born in August. Byron traveled enough to visit all six grandchildren within 30 days, including trips to Montreal and NYC.

Alan Haus and family vacationed in New Orleans, the Caribbean, and Mexico. While traveling, there were four actual or potential hurricanes in the region and a major earthquake in Mexico. Alan’s family lucked out and had perfect weather.

Maggie Heffernan reports that David Low moved to Manhattan and now lives in the same co-op as she does. They run into each other often and are both big Yankee fans.

Libby Horn is working as a FNP at a family practice, sings in two choruses and church choir, and volunteers at a hospice and a school-age reading program.

Jim Johnson brought the concept of “Ciclovia” to his hometown with the Chattanooga City Celebration closing down more than six miles of city streets to motorized traffic and connecting festivals in six neighborhoods for cyclists and pedestrians.

Michael Kennedy-Scanlon and his wife live in Barcelona and experience first-hand the Catalan independence movement, which he describes as highly emotional and intolerant.

Andrew McCulloch retired as president/CEO of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan of the Northwest. After 10-plus years in this role, his organization was ranked as the highest quality, best service, and most affordable entity in the Pacific Northwest.

Jack O’Donnell had his first grandchild and traveled to London to meet him. Son Sam ’01 lives in London and Jack figures he will be making many trips there to make sure the little guy can play baseball. Jack’s daughter, Margaret ’19, is studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Hanoi, and Cape Town.

My oldest daughter, Samantha, is engaged and making plans to get married next year. Daughter Michelle is gainfully employed. And daughter Lindsey is studying Russian in Kazakhstan. I had a busy year, traveled around India in February, flew in a two-seat WWII fighter in June, and spent Labor Day weekend with Nancy in Asheville, N.C., with friends.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Ellen Remmer’s son got married in Maine, and her husband retired. She has trouble contemplating retirement, but foresees winter travels to escape New England. Ellen recently saw Nena Bloomquist.

J.D. Moore had one amazing WesWeek. Thursday: reminisced and caught up with Tim Donahue ’74 during a mediation break. By next June, Tim will have celebrated his three children’s weddings within one calendar year! Saturday: met Dave Rosenthal and his wife Suzie (visiting from Buffalo) and sister Diane Thomas ’78, for coffee. Saturday: dinner with local friends Roberto Rosario ’77 and family.

Debbie Kosich was home in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Fortunately her part of town (and her condo) didn’t flood. She thanks Wes friends who contacted her during and after the storm, and hopes that Florida classmates are okay.

Cathy Gorlin’s son, Ross, is engaged. Cathy reconnected with Tory (Rhoden) Cohen, a Smith exchange student who shared their Lawn Ave. house and is now a Boston dentist with two children.

Jeff Morgan divides his time between Berkeley and Tel Aviv. He and wife Jodie run Covenant Winery (founded in 2003) and started Covenant Israel Winemaking last year. Their daughters also work in wine—Skye in New York, and Zoe in Tel Aviv. Jeff and Jodie published their 10th cookbook last year—The Covenant Kitchen, Food and Wine for the New Jewish Table.

Diane Cornell ran out of excuses for not sending news after retiring from the FCC Chairman’s office at the end of 2016. On her “way out the door,” the Federal Communications Bar Association honored her with the Excellence in Government Service award.

In 1996, after four years in New Zealand, Nancy Luberoff settled in Chapel Hill. “My husband, Bruce Boehm, and I are lucky that our two kids live here. Our married daughter, Elana, lives in Cambridge.” Nancy has swum daily since Wesleyan, and also hikes and kayaks. “I haven’t written books or movie scripts, won huge awards or big races, but I live a good, healthy, happy life, giving and getting much love from family and friends.”

This September, after a week teaching in the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law, June Jeffries visited Exeter, N.H., where she dined with Robert “Bobby” Thompson ’76, and his wife, Nadine. June highly recommends exploring the Black Heritage Trail in Portsmouth, N.H., which Bobby assisted in developing.

Dennis Chin contributed for the first time: “After graduating early, I went to D.C. to work on the Council on Wage and Price Stability with Harold Levy. I subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. Nine children and 31 years later, I retired from Kaiser and began part-time work at a V.A. hospital. I have since been commissioned a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves. My job, the kids, and two granddaughters keep me busy.”

Ed Van Voorhees says too many people are moving to Nashville. He and his wife, Linda, work part-time, and he staffs the nonprofit Bootstraps Foundation (bootstraps.org), scholarship program. Ed and Linda have granddaughters in Denver and L.A., plus three more due this year in L.A., D.C., and Nashville.

Double delightful news: Ellen Kabcenell Wayne and Charley Wayne ’73 are first-time grandparents of identical twins, Vivian and Hazel, born September 26, 2017.  The parents are Joseph ’08 and Hannah Wayne. Ellen says, “Charley is completely starry-eyed, and, after raising three sons, we deserve the girls!”

Paul Bennett enjoys more time, less stress, and a varied set of volunteer activities since retiring. His and Laura’s two sons, ages 28 and 26, are single in Brooklyn and Detroit, a distance that he hopes won’t be permanent.

Steve Hoffman is chairman of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, responsible for implementing the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana use. “We will foster a new industry that will create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. By late 2018, we will be responsible for regulating medical marijuana, currently under the Department of Public Health.” Steve’s looking for folks to join his team and would welcome Wes alumni.

Roger Weisberg and Karen Freedman are thrilled to have their entire clan back in NYC. Son Daniel, a doctor, is returning in time to take care of his parents if they need it. Daughter Liza, a lawyer, will work for the ACLU. Eldest daughter, Allie ’05 has two kids and leads Recess, her decade-old nonprofit arts organization. Roger is producing his 33rd PBS documentary, about early childhood adversity and resilience. Karen runs Lawyers for Children, which she founded almost four decades ago.

All is well in San Francisco. Our daughter, Julia, 23, graduated from Stanford and is continuing for her master’s there. Our son, Ethan, 21, is a third-year mechanical engineering student at Northeastern. No retirement for me yet!

For a collection of class updates that didn’t make it in this issue or the last one, click here.

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

NEWSMAKERS | 1970s NEWSMAKER CHARISSE R. LILLIE ’74 Charisse R. Lillie ’74, businesswoman, attorney, and lecturer, received the A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. [Hon. ’96] Lifetime Achievement Award during the 29th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Attorney Conference in October. The award recognizes the accomplishments of a lawyer or judge who has demonstrated dedication to the legal profession and the minority community through civil, community, or legal service. Lillie is the CEO of CRL Consulting. Previously, she was affiliated with Comcast Corporation, where she served as a senior vice president of human resources, among other executive positions. Earlier in her career, she was a trial attorney with U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. A history major at Wesleyan, Lillie earned a master’s from Yale University and a doctorate from Temple University. Wesleyan named her a Distinguished Alumna in 1993.

Jai Imbrey writes, “My Oberlin daughter Genevieve is marrying a Wesleyan lad, Jack Scott ’06, so all is well in the universe. I have completed a book on mosques published by Rizzoli, the first in 30 years to cover mosques worldwide with new photography and a chapter on Russian sanctuaries. The name of the book is Mosques: Splendors of.”

Jai’s husband, Bob, having weathered two hurricanes back-to-back at their home on St. Thomas, is now working to restore power and drinking water to the island at large.

Bruce Duncan reports, “By the skin of my teeth I was promoted to professor of physics at Fitchburg State University, effective this current term. Now I need to determine how to survive in retirement, which may come in a summer or two.”

Todd W. Grant and his wife traveled down the Oregon coast in May. They had perfect weather and beautiful scenery. In August, Todd and one of their sons backpacked for a week in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. The scenery was spectacular. Todd comments, “I feel fortunate to still be able to do these things.”

Lloyd Komesar enthusiastically reports, “The 3rd Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival was a rousing success, made all the more so by the fabulous Wes folks who attended: Rose Komesar ’07 (and Maureen Carn P’07), Bill Pearson ‘74 (and Jane Pearson), Jay Craven P’04, Wendy Starr ‘74 (and Jeff Kessler), Debra Salowitz ’74 and Neil Salowitz ’73, Carolyn White-Lesieur ’74 (and Jean Lesieur), Claudia Catania ‘74 and John Cady ’71, Lyn Lauffer ’74, Elizabeth Lauffer ’07 (and Ferdinand Lauffer), Seth Davis ’72 and Elisa Davis ’76, Todd Jick ’71 (and Wendy Jick), Bob Kesner ’67 (and Andrea Torello), Steve Goldschmidt ’72 (and Stacy Sussman), Michael Arkin ’72 (and Morag Hahn), Mike McKenna ’73 (and Lynn McKenna), Joan Gamble ’80 (and Chip Paison), Sivan Cotel ’05 (great party at Stonecutter Spirits!), Dookie Bennett ’03, Maggie Masselli ’16 and Pierre Plantevin ’16, Adam Mirkine ’17 (and Ilene and Andre Mirkine), Sofi Taylor ’17, Maya Stevens ’17, Connie Des Marais ’17 (and Jim and Lyn Des Marais) and Paul DiSanto ’81.

“We are reaching true critical mass for Wes in Middlebury! Thanks to all of you for making the trip and here’s to seeing more of Wes at MNFF4, August 23-26, 2018. Mark your calendars!”

Not much news this issue. Please consider contributing to the next request.

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

NEWSMAKERS | 1970s NEWSMAKER JOHN HUTTLINGER JR. ’73 John Huttlinger Jr. ’73, CPA, was the 2017 recipient of the 14th annual Michael H. Urbach, CPA Community Builders Award by the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. The award recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who serves in leadership positions on charitable organizations’ boards of directors. Martha Spear of the Rotary Club of Lake Placid, who nominated Huttlinger, stated he “is the finest CPA-volunteer I have ever worked beside in my nearly 30 years of nonprofit employment and leadership.” Huttlinger serves as a board member for several community organizations including the Adirondack Film Society and the Rotary Club of Lake Placid. An economics major at Wesleyan, Huttlinger earned an MBA from Rutgers University.

Joshua Boger has been busy. After stepping down as chairman of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees and after 17 years on the Board, he says he deliberately stayed away to give new chairwoman Donna Morea ’76 some “breathing room.” In the fall of 2016, he was approached by his good friend Setti Warren, mayor of Newton, Mass., about helping him run for governor in 2018 against Charlie Baker. Joshua has been chairman of the campaign. In June, he simplified his calendar, stepping off the Vertex Pharmaceuticals board after almost 28 years, after founding the company in 1989. He says, “The campaign has been asking people, ‘What kind of Commonwealth do we want to be?’” He’s been dealing with issues including growing income disparities, the possibility of extending free college to everyone in the state, public transportation, renewable energy, energy conservation, and improving health care. In his spare time, he has been finishing up chairing the $750M campaign for Harvard Medicine (“The World is Waiting”) for the Harvard Medical School and chairing the Celebrity Series, Boston’s largest nonprofit presenter of live performing arts.

He also said, after 26 years “living in bucolic Concord, Mass., with my wife Amy” they “junked all of our suburban hand-me-down colonial furniture and swapped it for steel-and-leather-and-stone Italian modern, and moved to Boston’s hottest and hippest area, the Seaport, into a rooftop condo looking out directly onto Boston Harbor. It is, without apologies, our doomed attempt to act and become younger, and so far it is working wonderfully.” He says he exchanged 1,000 miles a month of commuter driving for 10,000-plus steps a day, “walking to most of my city commitments. He says Amy walks three block every day to her own ceramics studio, where she works seven days a week. In September they opened up their own art gallery (Dirt & Light Arts) with a joint ceramics (Amy) and underwater photography (Joshua) show, which got nice crowds for its nine-day run. For Joshua, it was his 10th major photography show, all but this one were solo shows—in the last few years.

He says their three boys continue their independent and creative ways: Zack ’06 lives in Brooklyn (with his wife Arielle DiGiacomo) and is the senior editor for documentary and reality TV shows, most recently The Vanilla Ice Project; Isaac ’09, after a stint as an EMT, has pivoted and built his own business in Seattle (Mixed-Up Events, LLC) as a producer of electronic dance music (EDM) concerts; and Sam (“the one we lost to Brown ’12” ) works for Google as a software engineer, recently moving from a three-year stint in London for Google to working remotely from Pullman, Wash., “following his heart.”

Our class president, Bill Quigley, writes that he and his wife have been distracted. His family has had a place in Puerto Rico (Palmas del Mar) since 1985. Their oldest son has been living there and Hurricane Maria’s eye passed directly over them. Bill and Dee managed to speak with him by phone after the storm hit and also received texts from friends saying he’s ok while living with “no power, no cell service and not much food. Bill was concerned about what he felt was a poor response by the government to “fellow citizens in need.”

From New York City, Jonathan Raskin tells me that he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Louis Armstrong Educational Fund. He says it was started by Louis Armstrong himself and funds many organizations that are committed to jazz education. “As one who loves jazz, it is a real treat to be involved with them,” says Jonathan. He says by chance he assisted Armstrong when he was ill in his last year of life as he worked as an orderly at Beth Israel Medical Center. “I will always remember how he smiled at me as if I mattered,” he says, “small world.”

Michael Fossel says his global biotech company (Telocyte) is moving ahead, now with full funding, to their FDA trials targeting Alzheimer’s disease. “We’re confident that we can do something quite remarkable,” he says. “We’ll see what happens.” In addition, his latest book, The Telomerase Revolution, is now out in paperback, in seven languages and 10 global editions. “It will never pay my mortgage, but it’s doing well and getting rave reviews,” he says. “Much more importantly, my gardens and my granddaughters are all doing well.”

Congratulations to John Huttlinger who was the 2017 recipient of the 14th annual Michael Urbach CPA Community Builders Award that recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who serves in leadership positions on the Board of Directors of charitable organizations. He was honored for his knowledge, experience and service to non profits. John was a founder of the Adirondack Film Festival and the Rotary Club of Lake Placid, N.Y. called him “one of the finest CPA volunteers ever.”

David “Harp” Feldman writes that he is once again, after nearly 50 years, living with his parents. However, as he puts it, “At least it is they who have moved in with me (and with Rita, in our remote mountainside home in Vermont). I had to fly down and retrieve them from a rather poorly appointed hurricane shelter for Irma refugees from the Florida Keys. Fortunately, my dad (91) is a retired NYC fireman and my mom (87) a retired RN, so they were able to tough it out. Once the hurricane season is over and their mobile home has been made habitable again, I’ll bring them back and get them settled in.” Dave continues to write books on mindfulness, and on harmonica, and to create corporate and other group presentations featuring Harmonica-Based Mindfulness™.

As we saw this past hurricane season has impacted classmates. For some of us, it has been overwhelming. Rudolph Foy put out an alert. He tells me he experienced two Category 5 hurricanes around his home in St. Thomas and may need some help in the aftermath of Irma and Maria. You can reach him at rrfoy@midwest.net.

Kie Westby writes that on Sept. 9 on Martha’s Vineyard, “I had the coolest job in the world—walking my daughter down the aisle” and watching her join the man she loves. He called it “unbelievable” and said it “does not get any better.”

Peter Bernstein writes that in early September their daughter Rebecca ’08, who lives about two miles from he and his wife, married Justan Dakes, her high school sweetheart. “Wedding was at the fabulous Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville, N.Y. It brought back memories of wine tasting road trips our freshman year,” he said. Several of Rebecca’s Wes friends joined in the celebration, and spotted in the crowd was Jay Rose and his wife Marilynne. In addition, their son Ben (U of Florida ’10) of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., announced his engagement to Natalie Kovacs of Lighthouse Point, Fla. Peter said he and Jay recently went golfing with Mark Helfat. “A great time was had by all and nobody got hurt,” he said. He and Karen also celebrated their 33rd anniversary.

Finally, a reminder that we have another exciting Reunion coming up: our 45th on May 24-27. Hope to see you there.

Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com

Let’s start with in-person encounters with classmates. In July, I traveled to Santa Fe for a conference, and had lunch with Bruce Throne and Larry Weinberg. Both of them find living there to be close to idyllic. Larry retired from an active GI practice, but is consulting with the University of New Mexico family practice residency program in Santa Fe. His daughter, Leah ’08, and her husband, Scott Horowitz ’07, have teaching jobs at the University of Denver—in musicology and chemistry and biochemistry respectively, so Larry expects to spend more time in that other Mile High City in the future.

I attended Lloyd Komesar ’74’s Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, which was, if anything, more fun than last year. Steve Goldschmidt had attended all three festivals, and this year he managed to get co-worker Mike Arkin to come, too. Many, many attendees from other classes, particular ’74. Any Wes grads in the Northeast in late August should consider going. There really is not any way to have more fun. (And wait until you see the alumni reception they throw—THANK YOU, Paul DiSanto ’81, et al!)

Jane Kent Gionfriddo and her husband, Michael ’73, had their 40th wedding anniversary last summer! They moved to Middletown from Cambridge, Mass., to the house in which Michael grew up. Jane taught for 34 years at Boston College Law School and, with a co-author, published a first-year law student textbook, Legal Reasoning and Objective Writing: A Comprehensive Approach (Wolters Kluwer, 2016). In December, she retired from BCLS as a professor emerita. Their daughter, Catherine Gionfriddo ’03, was a film major and now is a freelance editor in NYC (catherinegionfriddo.com).

This, verbatim, from Steve Alpert: “Greetings from my Adlerhorst in Amsterdam. Aside from good earthy living in British Columbia, Reimar Schefold and I have just completed another book. The last one, Eyes of the Ancestors, was an award-winning book that Sir David Attenborough called the best book ever written on Indonesian art. The latest, Toys for the Souls, chronicles my friend’s remarkable journey and 50 years of study among the Sakuddei tribe of Siberut in the Mentawai Islands off the coast of West Sumatra. It is also a catalogue raisonné of their remarkable arts. Never a dull moment, I am working on another book dealing with artistic masterpieces from different Dayak tribes in Borneo. Anyone out there who is interested in the gamelan orchestra or Indonesian culture, please contact me. We are trying to bring the Sultan of Yogyakarta to Wes Tech.”

Dave Hagerty started his own business, Berkshire Leadership Partners in 2016, specializing in executive coaching and leadership development. He coaches in the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Dave and his wife moved to their second home of some 23 years in Great Barrington, Mass., in the Berkshires. They have four grandchildren ranging in ages from 6 to 9.

Ron Ashkenas’ tribe continue to increase.  He added three new grandchildren (one set of twins) and a new son-in-law to the family in the past year. The wedding (the last, he says) took place on the beach in Crete on July 4. “Our daughter and her now-husband live in Australia, and this was a relatively central location.” On the work front, Ron is retired from his firm, but still very busy with both paid and pro bono consulting.  He is writing a handbook on leadership for the Harvard Business Review—for which he interviewed Michael Roth ’78, who provided some wonderful insights.

Steve Berman spent five days with Randy Mastrangelo ’73 and his family, including Alexandra ’98. Tropical Storm Jose hung out the whole time Steve was there, depriving him of the sunshine to which he has become accustomed, and keeping Jim Shepherd was marooned on Martha’s Vineyard. But Mike Kaloyanides and wife Sheila did make it up. Mike provided the music for the processional and recessional at Randy’s wedding in 1972, and they hadn’t seen each other since then! Both agreed it was like they had seen each other yesterday.

Finally, I am saddened to report the passing of Andy Thomas. Andy graduated from the University of Idaho, College of Law, and spent his entire career with Idaho Legal Aid Services, providing free legal services to low-income people in housing, family, public benefits, and senior law cases. Andy appeared before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Idaho Supreme Court.   He served in many community organizations, including the Idaho Region III Mental Health Advisory Board, the Idaho Housing Coalition, the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, and the Idaho Homeless Coalition. He served as president of the Third District Bar Association and was held in high esteem by his fellow attorneys in the Third District.  Andy was a mentor and great friend to his colleagues at Idaho Legal Aid, both in Caldwell and throughout ILAS, which has seven offices across the state. In some respects, Idaho Legal Aid was Andy’s family, and his colleagues loved him dearly and will miss him immensely.

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

Aloha and a big mea culpa. I did not seek news for this issue so I feel a little guilty. But wait! There is nothing stopping you guys and gals from e-mailing things to me at anytime. The magazine comes out three times a year, so if you think of something, or something special happens in your life, drop me a short note.

I did hear from Jeff Kraines and David Rabban about the passing of our classmate, Rick Schenk. He was an MD and went to Stanford after Wesleyan. Jeff made the comment “Looking at class notes is like marching around Foss Hill in the alumni parade. We get closer to the front!”

As I have said in the past when I have little or no news, you get to hear about my life. I spent the summer in New York, where, incidentally, there was no summer weather. I am working on a new business idea combining healthcare, lifestyles, and the Internet. Anybody interested in the idea, please contact me for more details.

I did manage to go to Oregon for the solar eclipse. For those of you not in totality you really missed an experience of a lifetime. I am hooked. I plan on going to South America in 2019 to see the one there. You just can’t imagine the scene. It’s no wonder in older days, murders, slayings, and overthrows happened when they occurred.

I have been intermittently on Kauai, which is definitely still home. Still love the peace, serenity and beauty of the place. The community is also very engaging. It is just a place I appreciate more after several months in hectic-driven New York City.

Family-wise, my eldest son is working in Silicon Valley in recruiting and human resources. He is married and has two sons, 1 and 2-1/2 years old. I am not “Grandpa,” as I tell myself I am too young for that moniker, so they call me Puna, which is Hawaiian and short for Punahele which means “my favorite.” Of course, I will be when they come often to visit me on Kauai. My other son just finished his residency in anesthesia in Houston and is doing a fellowship in pain. He is getting married in March. My daughter is with Four Seasons Beverly Hills in hospitality.

I was working full-time until April, now just consulting with some biotech companies and looking for some board of director positions or advisory board position in oncology. Any of you in biotech, think of me if you hear of openings.

I will end this discussion about me. I am enjoying my life and its many changes. Keeps me occupied and traveling around. Life is good. Hope all of you are happy and content. And I hope this will make more of you send me your information so you don’t have to read about me again. Aloha.

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

Aloha, all. Thanks to those who responded to the (again) delayed Lyris message requesting news. Seems Lyris doesn’t play well with Yahoo or Firefox or something.

First to reply was Steve Ingraham. Steve was off to Nepal with wife Sheila: “We will do some very comfortable trekking in the hills of the Annapurnas, eventually going off grid to the little hill village where I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer. Sweeping changes in politics and lifestyles in Kathmandu and other urban areas, but what about way off-grid, up in the hills? I’m excited to go back, back, back to the future. Retirement makes this bucket list trip possible. Wishing you and all of your loyal readers the very best!” Hope it was a great trip.

Roger Mann, who lives in Florida, wrote: “Tessa and I were dead on-target for Hurricane Irma. All of our relatives implored us to obey the mandatory evacuation order. The phone calls, texts, and e-mails were non-stop. We live on the ground floor of a two-story building less than a mile from the gulf. We were told to expect a 12-15 foot storm surge. In fact, the eye did pass right over us. There was wind damage and downed trees everywhere, but the storm surge never came to our neighborhood. We lost electricity, phone, cell, wi-fi, air conditioning, and potable water for a week, but Irma did not harm us.” Very good news. I hope you evacuate next time, though, just to be sure.

O’ahu islander Bill Tam wrote: “Retired from managing the Hawaii State Water Commission. Hiking in New Zealand, Nakasendo trail in Japan, Glacier National Park, Jasper, and, next month, in southern China. Wrestling my yard into shape, but forgot we are 69 and need a more thoughtful pace. Spent July in Oxford researching and writing chapters on water and natural resource management. Attended concerts almost nightly. Blackwells, the pubs, and the countryside were wonderful. Good health is everything. Aloha.” Thanks, Bill. Traveling vicariously. “I was so much other then. I’m younger than that now.”

Speaking of trying to keep fit, Marcos Goodman, who holds his high school shot put record and the number two spot at Wes, is really “going for it.” Check out his video here. Says Marcos, “In the video, I walked 15 miles and did 60 pull-ups in each of two consecutive days, touring Manhattan workout parks. The next week, I did 100 pull-ups in one day. Maybe I should figure out a better hobby?” I have a lot of tall grass, invasive trees, and nasty vines that you could attack.

KNK brother Jerry Cerasale sent a note. “I’m fine here on Cape Cod. Jan and I are expecting our first granddaughter in November to add to our four grandsons. We love visiting them. I have to run for the Housing Authority in Eastham again, but with the anti-incumbent sentiment who knows. No matter what, I’ll still love retirement.” Good luck. If you have any spare time, see if you can stop the people who send spam texts to our phones. Mahalo.

Cap’n Shef—aka John Sheffield—has a new career “getting off the ground slowly.” 

I know what you mean; getting up isn’t as easy as it used to be. Seriously, he’s a yacht delivery captain. So far, he’s had “…one voyage this year from Houston (before Harvey) to New Orleans to Key West to Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. Grandson-raising is a great joy. Great 70th birthday party for 25 alumni of high school Class of 1965 in Cooperstown, N.Y., and frequent contact with other family members.”

Always good to hear from Steve Talbot, another one of the few of us it seems who is still working. Says Steve, “An article I wrote for KQED-TV’s website…Leave it to Beaver and the U.S. war in Vietnam…during our years at Wesleyan (here). I’m still in San Francisco, still married (Pippa Gordon), and still working for public television—these days as a producer for ITVS, the group that runs the PBS documentary series, Independent Lens. Right on, Steve.

Had a long note from Maurice Hakim (still very busy with the beverage business:  organic teas and lemonades for high-end stores) that I need to edit pretty seriously for length. (Sorry, Maurice.)  He and Carol bought an 18th-century cottage in Clinton, Conn., near the beach. They spend a long winter in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Maurice keeps in touch with Nancy and Jeremy Serwer in Woodstock, Conn. (they just acquired a second horse), and with Dave Geller who is still in Brookline, Mass., and took Maurice and Carol to Fenway recently.

Maurice also sees Charlie Farrow ’69 and Phil Dundas “who spends a few months in Westbrook when he and his wife are not in Abu Dhabi or Korea. Just last night we had dinner at his beachside house, along with Jack Frost and his wife Carol “Chip” Frost. Jack is a retired banker and spends nearly all of his time helping the Special Olympics and working towards improving government programs for children with disabilities.”

Thanks for all the news, Maurice.

I wish all of you well in the upcoming year.  It seems that between natural disasters and insanity in the world, “stay safe” is broadly appropriate, too, unfortunately.

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