Class Notes

Our 65th Reunion has come and gone, as have the 65 years since our graduation in 1952! Our commencement program listed 162 graduates in our class. The college’s current listing of our class numbers 90 survivors for whom there is good contact information. There were eight of us present for our class banquet, the highlight of Reunion. The years have taken a toll!

This was the first of our Reunions in memory without our esteemed Master of Ceremonies, the late Charlie “Rogo” Rogovin. No one could ever take his place as MC and no one tried on this occasion.

Present at the banquet were Joe Friedman and his wife, Barbara, of NYC.  Attending their own 35th Reunion were their daughter and son-in-law, Ellen ’82 and Sam Bender ’82, and two granddaughters. Joe is still fully engaged in the real estate title insurance business, serving as EVP and chief underwriting counsel of Regal Title. This was the first Reunion for Dwight Herrmann and his wife, Leslye, of Lemoyne, Pa. They are parents of Leslye Ash ’85 and Jane ’90. Dwight is a retired consultant with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Public Works. Ralph Moody and his wife, Lydia, came all the way from their home in Palm Harbor, Fla. Ralph is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, in which he spent his career.

Bob Porter of Canton, Conn., attended with his daughter, Sarah Porter ’86, and grandson. His wife, Connie, suffers from Lewy body disease and was not able to attend. Bob is retired from the Travelers. This was a special weekend for Al Ward. His daughter, Carolyn, attended our banquet. His granddaughter, Hyunji Ward ’17, graduated that weekend. Al’s daughter, Kathryn Ward Koch ’81, and grandson, Hyunwoo Ward ’20, were also on campus. Al resides in Lewes, Del., and, unfortunately, is a widower. He is a former Wesleyan trustee and is a retired partner of BakerHostetler, a leading international law firm.

Our class president, Bill Wasch, another former trustee and a recipient of Wesleyan’s highest alumni honor, the Baldwin Medal, was there in force with his children, Christina and Fred ’92, and two grandchildren. His late wife, Susie, never missed a Reunion and will always be an honorary member of our class. Bill is challenged with Parkinson’s, but with the help of a superb assistant, continues to carry on an active life. John Wood, his wife, Pat, and granddaughter, Megan, were there from Indianapolis. John has had a long and successful career practicing law, most recently with the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Jerry Bobruff, a retired physician now living in Naples, Fla., had planned to attend, but was forced to cancel due to some medical issues. Tom Collins and Mary Ellen, of East Hartford, Conn., had also signed up, but could not attend at the last moment. Believe it or not, Tom, who is now 94 and older than all of us, practiced law actively in the Hartford area right up to the end of 2016. Your scribe and his wife, Joyce, attended and led the singing at the banquet with gusto.  We live at Seabury Retirement Community in nearby Bloomfield, Conn.

It is with enormous regret that I report the death of John Jakobson on Apr. 7, 2017, in NYC. An Eclectic, John played tennis and squash at Wesleyan and graduated with honors and distinction. After Harvard Business School, he purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and pursued a career as a personal investor. He served Wesleyan for years as a trustee and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Among his immediate survivors is his son, Nicholas Jakobson ’05.

I am also sad to write of the death of Bruce Munro on Feb. 2, 2017.  Bruce was an Alpha Delt and, as a pre-med, could usually be found in the labs. He went on to Emory Medical School, became an obstetrician-gynecologist and practiced for over 40 years in New Jersey.  Of Scottish descent, Bruce was active for many years in all things Scottish.

We extend our deepest sympathy to all of John’s and Bruce’s families and loved ones on their great loss, in which we, too, share in our own way.

I have heard from Dick Kellom and Walter Grunsteidl, the latter a German Fulbright Scholar who was with us for only our senior year. Unfortunately, I have reached the 800-word limit imposed on class notes so cannot report further on them.

Finally, a significant highlight of the Reunion for me personally was the agreement of Joe Friedman to succeed us as scribe of these 1952 class notes. It has been a pleasure for me to stay in touch with so many of you while fulfilling this position and I look forward to the new insights that Joe will bring to our class notes.

Harold C. Buckingham Jr. | buckinghamharold@gmail.com
400 Seabury Drive, Apt. 2114, Bloomfield, CT 06002

William K. Wasch | wkwash@gmail.com
150 Coleman Road, Middletown, CT 06457

[Ed. Note: We thank Hal and Bill for devoted service as class secretaries, and we warmly welcome Joe Friedman as he takes on the role. Joe can be reached at jfriedman@regalnyc.com.]

Biff Shaw wrote that he and Jean continue to be very busy, and have been back to the college for retirement parties and celebrations, but otherwise spend less time there. “Fewer and fewer familiar faces,” he wrote. The only familiar face was Barney Kathan. “He seems hale and hearty,” Biff wrote, “and continues to write and publish.” A more loyal alumnus is not to be found.

Biff noted the passing of Bob Gardner, a regular contributor to these pages. He had continued his writing of science texts right to the end.

Howard Goodrich wrote that the Goodrich clan had moved to the Indianapolis area. Howard and his wife, Darlene, had moved there from St. Louis. Howard wrote that they’re still involved in the ministry, as is their youngest daughter, and he continued to do some writing.

Les Aroh, who was at our 65th Reunion, is another hearty survivor.

When Don Sharp’s daughter, Dianne, wrote, Don was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, but continued to live at his home in Fayetteville, Ga, across the street from Dianne. Sadly, Don passed away in December.

I’m hoping to dig up more news as the year rolls along.

DAVID M. PHILIPS | davephilips69@hotmail.com
43 Cannon Street, Cranston, RI 02920-7620

I received the following messages from Bill Spanos and Cliff Milner:

Bill writes, “I recently became a professor emeritus of SUNY-Binghamton because of health reasons, but I continue to produce what I think is urgently needed scholarship about the benighted age we live in.”

Bill has published more than 20 books since graduating from Wesleyan. He writes, “For those who are not scholars in the humanities, I recommend my World War II memoir, In the Neighborhood of Zero (Nebraska University Press 2012), which tells the story of my witness as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany to the Allied firebombing of Dresden, a memoir that might be usefully contrasted to my fellow regimental comrade Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five.”

Hie is now writing an autobiographical account of his “errant education” tentatively entitled Thrown: Searching in the Void for an Intellectual Vocation.

Cliff writes, “From the new world traveler! Last fall I took a Viking Rhine and Danube River cruise and enjoyed it so much that next week I am going on a Prairie Home Companion cruise to Scotland and Norway. I’m a widower now (three years) and have been kidded by friends that I’ll probably come home with a blonde from Norway!”

BUD DORSEY | margiedorsey5@gmail.com
161 Shore Rush Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522 | 912/638-5616

There’s a saying here in Colorado that we have two seasons, July and winter, and we had winter beyond belief this year.

In mid-May, we had a walloping storm that they are still trying to clear up in the High Country. But at the same time, I got a warm letter from Donald Dunn in balmy Ohio. He’d been reminded of something that happened a long time ago, because he’d been at an event where they were discussing World War I. There were pictures, and one of Geraldine Farrar, which called to mind the fact that he had been an opera buff for years, partially because when he was in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division, as I was, he was wounded and during his convalescence he was assigned to Naples for a few months until they could figure out what to do with him. During that time, the Naples Opera Company reopened, and Donald went to see La Traviata—the first time ever that he had been to the opera. He said that it was a real treat. “And then came Carmen, Il Trovatore, Aida, The Barber of Seville and I’ve been an opera fan ever since,” he said.

Well, reminding him of that time was the reference to Geraldine Farrar, because when he got back to Wesleyan—about the same time I did—we both signed up for an opera course with George McManus. It was a dandy.

I’m going to quote part of Don’s letter, where he talks about that experience, because it’s really very warming. He was “mightily impressed with George McManus’s leadership. And one of the things that is unforgettable was that among our various assignments, we did go to the opera and one of them was The Marriage of Figaro. After that performance, George McManus got us to see the conductor, meet some of the cast, and on our way back to Middletown from New York, we stopped and had a visit with Geraldine Farrar. It was a memorable visit because she was quite a testy person. She was suffering a little from gout at the time and was very entertaining in her comments about how things had been in the old days about opera.” During the course of pursing operatic matters with George McManus, Donald and he became pretty good friends and they continued that friendship after the war.

The significant part of that visit was that the McManuses stopped on their way back to California for a few days’ visit with Donald and his wife. During that time, not only was there good conversation, but also George played for them. And Donald remembers that vividly, particularly Beethoven’s “Apassionata,” which was a remarkable treat.

Donald reminded me that we have three things in common:

One—10th Mountain Division in our combat experience; two—Wesleyan, before and after the war;  and three—that mutual love of opera. He got his in Italy; I was brought up on it because my mother was a soprano and insisted that I go to every opera that came to Smith College or to Mechanics Hall in Worcester.

It was a fine letter from Donald. I appreciate his long memory and his warm regards, and I intend to pursue our conversation a little further, once I get a computer back—and that’s another whole story I may be forced to tell you out there at some time in the future.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves. Don’t let Donald Dunn be the only correspondent with your secretary. And to all of you, slán go fóille.

FRANCIS W. LOVETT | lovettfrancis@gmail.com
805 Compassion Dr., Apt. 208, Windsor, CO 80550 | 907/460-9338

Kate Linde just got promoted to digital campaign manager for Teen Vogue.

Silvia L. Diaz-Roa worked for a year with the nonprofit DKMS: Delete Blood Cancer to help register people to the bone marrow registry and save lives. Then she started a digital marketing consulting company called DR Digital Studio with her sister and it’s going well so far! She also applied to graduate school and has been accepted to Yale and UPenn.

Andrew Hove has been in Boise (Idaho, for those who may not know where that is…) since graduation working as an analyst at an engineered wood products company called RedBuilt. He’s spent about 40 percent of his working time in Mississippi assisting the management team of a plywood mill rebuilding and refinancing the facility that was leveled by a tornado two-and-a-half years ago. Outside of work, he tries to play music around town about once a week and usually head up to the mountains or camps somewhere right outside Boise on weekends.

Kimora Brock ended her first year in LA with a guest appearance on an Investigation Discovery Channel show called Married with Secrets, and a trip to Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, and Qatar as a yoga model for 2016 Udaya Live, a yoga festival. With the second year just underway, she has moved to Malibu with her partner and launched her company, Malibu Trail Mix, in early 2017. Malibu Trail Mix, LLC, is a 100 percent raw, organic, and sprouted trail mix designed to share the highest quality nutrition and love to the world. Please share the news, follow on IG and like on FB @malibutrailmix, malibutrailmix.com, and info@malibutrailmix.com. She thanks everyone for all of their support thus far and sends love and blessings.

Anthony Antonellis is coaching football and getting his master’s in liberal studies (both at Wesleyan). Previously, he worked at EMC corporation in Boston doing tech sales.

2016 was a great year for William Mendoza. In May, he graduated from Wes again with his M.A. in psychology. Recently, he started working as a research analyst at Ipsos, a market research company.

Anqi Guo got a master’s in finance and risk from the London School of Economics, and is starting her new job at Accenture London in January.

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu

Two updates this time around. Ali Ozols writes, “For the past two years, I’ve been working as a speechwriter to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.”

Glenn Hartman-Mattson writes, “Right after Wes, I taught human ecology and sustainable design for a year at The Island School, a semester abroad program for high school students in Eleuthera, The Bahamas. The following year I diddled around backpacking, ski bumming, and teaching kids about rocks, and have now made my way back to The Island School. Moving to admin, I do admissions and alumni relations and call Boston home base (with a few cherished trips to the Bahamas).”

Simon Riker gave an update on his production, Me Prometheus: “The New York Theater Festival has accepted our show, and we have the honor to present three performances of it at the Hudson Guild Theatre, a 96-seat theatre in Chelsea. The shows will be July 11, 15, and 16. We are excited about the momentum that the festival is creating for our project and we are excited at the future opportunities it could unlock.”

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

This year has been unfortunately uneventful for Bennett Kirschner. Some avoidable health complications have sidetracked his 10-year plan. Regrettably, he accepted a friend’s challenge to see who could eat more bottles of Flintstones Gummy Vites. While he won the challenge, his body was profoundly disoriented by this mineral glut. It has been eight months and he is still functioning at only 80 percent of his former capacity. Let this be a lesson to us all: be careful with vitamins.

James Gardner writes in from Germany, where one of his stepsons just had a baby, so he is now technically a grandfather (believe it or not!). He writes that there is a Facebook group for Wes alumni living in Germany or any German-speaking countries: facebook.com/groups/wesgermany. Everyone living in or frequently traveling to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland should feel free to join.

Benjamin and Vivianne Swerdlow recently bought a home in Richmond, Calif., with their black golden, Shadow, and their degu, Henry. Benjamin is in his second year of a PhD. program in clinical psychology at UC, Berkeley. Vivianne runs a free salesforce administrator training program for job seekers who have been out of work for six months or more, helping mid-level professionals with technology backgrounds gain new skills and find sustainable employment.

Chelsea Goldsmith is still living in Baltimore, still working in non-profit, and still really enjoying both of those things! Highlights of 2016 include learning to use the overcasting foot on her sewing machine, winning gold at Pirate Olympics, and getting engaged.

Marjorie Dodson is going on her fourth year in Beijing. She noshed on spicy rabbit heads with Dan Nass. If anyone is ever in China, give her a shout!

Kevin Curtin shipped up to Boston from NYC. After spending the last year doing private equity, he jumped ship to Jobcase, a startup based in-town. The company is a social media site for empowering America’s workforce.

Evan Okun coordinates nationwide tours for Circles & Ciphers, a Chicago-based restorative justice organization led by young people who are court-, gang-, prison-, and DCFS- involved. Circles & Ciphers opens each event with a spoken word performance, then hosts participants in a restorative justice peace circle to discuss police, and prison abolition. In 2016, they hosted events at Yale University, Hunter College, University of Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and a myriad of other cities across the country. It’s time to dismantle the prison industrial complex, so please contact him directly at: Circles.Ciphers@gmail.com 

The end of 2016 saw Nicole Bonneau graduate from Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Florida Campus as a doctor of chiropractic. She is very excited to be back in her home state of Vermont to practice, as well as to be closer to friends, family, and her fiancé.

In October, Kristen Raddatz became the executive editor for the Chicago Review of Books. Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in reviewing books, interviewing authors, or writing a lit-related piece for the CHIRB. She’s also still working her real (paying) job as a publicist at the University of Chicago Press, and she’d love to connect with any Wes alumni living in or traveling through the city!

After two years as the deputy media editor at Huffington Post, Catherine Taibi left to join Bloomberg as social media editor, overseeing social strategy on various platforms across Bloomberg.com’s many verticals, including markets, politics, technology, and luxury. Catherine had the privilege of traveling to all three presidential debates and covering each event live, interviewing top political/media figures and celebrities. Post-election, she will continue to cover politics both nationally and internationally.

Ian Waldron writes that Rory O’Neill returned to the United States after three years wandering in Brazil, and was duly roasted by his friends for three hours upon returning. He is acclimating well to American culture and norms.

As for myself, I spent the holidays down under and ushered in 2017 in Melbourne. Tried to smuggle a baby wallaby back to San Francisco, but sadly I couldn’t pull it off. Thanks to all my classmates for writing in and best wishes to everyone in 2017!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

Nathaniel Draper writes in, “The Syros International Film Festival will be held on July 14-19 in Greece. Now going into its fifth edition, the film festival was started by Cassandra Celestin ’13 during her senior year at Wesleyan, along with Jacob Moe (Pomona ’13). It was a self-funded endeavor the first year, and was subsequently joined by Aaron Khandros ’13 and myself, with the four of us making up the core organizational team.

“The festival has since grown to one of the most important art and film events in the region, and has earned recognition in the film world throughout Europe and further abroad. The festival is held every summer on the island of Syros, the capital of the Cycladic islands located just south of Athens, and embeds a rigorous curation of new and old films into many reconstituted spaces on the island, in open-air cinemas purpose-built for the experience. All of which is quite special, since the quality of the programming and the unique experience and community tend to turn guests into devotees who come back again and again.” You can learn more about the festival at syrosfilmfestival.org.

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu

Exciting updates from the Class of 2011!

Tim Dodds reports, “It’s been a crazy and fun year of notables in D.C. After finishing my master’s in June from UPenn, I rewarded myself with a heli-ski trip to New Zealand, only to come back broke, but with a rescue puppy. I’m looking forward to repping the Wes jugg squad as the head lacrosse coach at St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School in Virginia, and building on their #10 national finish from last year.”

Jared Gimbel is in Brooklyn, developing his first video game, Kaverini: Nuuk Adventures, as a co-production with Appetizer Mobile. The game, set in contemporary Greenland, is scheduled for release in 2017 or 2018.

Jon Sheehan, along with other Wes alumni (Sean Corlett ’07, Kim Wittmer ’01, Jacalyn Lee ’79, Molly Steinfeld ’15, and Noel De La Rosa ’01), participated in College Awareness Day at the NYC Department of Education in January.

Steve Hauser and fellow football teammate Nick Seara both married their longtime girlfriends last year with several Wes alumni attending these special events. Congrats!

Jennifer Cheng writes, “I’m still in Salt Lake City, working on my PhD. in neuroscience at the University of Utah. Every now and then I have time for less important things, like climbing and sleeping.”

And, last but not least! Devon Hopkins is moving to Brooklyn after living in D.C. since graduation. He is the new director of content marketing for CARTO, a software platform for creating data-driven maps.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2017!

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu