Hard to believe our 40th is upon us. Big thanks to fundraising superstar Joe Barrett and Virginia Pye for hosting a happy hour to reconnect us before we saw each other IRL at the reunion (yay!).
You sent some great book recommendations. I’ve already devoured Elizabeth Feigelson’s suggestion, We All Need New Names by Zimbabwean NoViolet Vulawayo, and Ginny Pye’s, Still Life by Sarah Winman, set in Florence. Ginny has a new book coming out, but that’s hush-hush til the deal is inked.
Charita Brown’s memoir, Defying the Verdict: My Bipolar Life (2018), is particularly relevant now because of the uptick in mental-health illness diagnoses during the pandemic. Charita is on the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) board of directors, was featured in a NAMI short doc, Shattering Racial Stereotypes to Defy the Verdict (on YouTube), and was awarded the Baltimore group’s 2021 Marcia G. Pines Lifetime Advocacy and Service Award. Congratulations!
The wait is almost over: The novel Peter Blauner started writing in 2002, Picture in the Sand, will be out early next year from Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press. Meantime, he’s writing shorter pieces for the New York Daily News and Nancy Rommelmann’s ’83 website Paloma Media. He says Christ in Concrete by Di Donato is an overlooked knockout read.
Speaking of the devil, Matthew Capece writes that while he and his wife Alexis were sipping port and eating nata in Portugal, he read Blauner’s Highway—“a disturbing and gutsy novel.”
David S. Parker, too, has a book out in May: The Pen, the Sword, and the Law: Dueling and Democracy in Uruguay (McGill-Queen’s Press). Yes, he says, it’s a history book from an academic press about a faraway place, but it’s written for the nonexpert with a good mix of jaw-dropping storytelling to balance out the historical-legal explanation of why Uruguay was the only country in the world to legalize dueling, between 1920 and 1992. I must know!
Maya Sonenberg’s third collection of short stories, Bad Mothers, Bad Daughters, received the Richard Sullivan Prize and will appear in August 2022 (University of Notre Dame Press). Her daughter is a freshman at Wes, and she met up with Sam and Ellen (Friedman) Bender at Homecoming/Family Weekend in October, when she also picked apples at Lyman Orchards, ate at O’Rourke’s, and hiked at Wadsworth Falls. She recommends In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova.
Jonathan Weber is back from Singapore with a new job, editor in chief of an ambitious online news start-up called The San Francisco Standard. He’s delighted to have teamed up with executive editor Heather Grossmann ’98 to reinvigorate local news.
Congrats to Rachael Adler, who married twice this year (to the same guy)—a COVID wedding at a clerk’s office during the pandemic, then August with the whole family. They moved to Oakland, launched her daughter to college, and she just completed her first semester of graduate school in psychology at the Wright Institute. Whew!
Rob Lancefield retired early from a 27-year career in museum work, most recently as head of IT at the Yale Center for British Art. While continuing some service with professional organizations, Rob is enjoying a simpler life with very little Zoom. He looks forward to reacquainting himself with his favorite guitar.
No sooner did Karen Paz move permanently to her summer house in Maine than she was elected a town selectperson. She recommends The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
Patty Smith was appointed to Virginia Governor Northam’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. She and her wife Cindy married on April 4, 2020, in an early Zoom wedding. She recommends Brian Castleberry’s Nine Shiny Objects, and Stephanie Grant’s ’84 memoir Disgust.
Other book recommendations:
Emilie Attwell: The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. (“She was told as a girl she could either see a psychiatrist or go to a comedy camp!” says Emilie, who, being the former, had to laugh.)
Karen Wise: Amor Towles’s A Gentleman of Moscow.
Jim Dray: The Prince of the Skies by Antonio Iturbe, based on the extraordinary life of Antoine De Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince).
Dena Wallerson: Kliph Nesteroff’s We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy.
Susan Cole: The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
Paul Meltzer: Japanese movies from the 1950s, especially those directed by Ozu, Kinoshita, Naruse, Ichikawa, and Kobayashi.
Jon Philip Rosenberg (who just finished writing the second edition of Atlas Shrunk): Dirty Love by Andre Dubus III and Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Finally, a shout-out to my co-secretary Michael Ostacher, for exceptional achievement in macaroon making (especially the ones dipped in dark chocolate). My husband Peter Eckart ’86 pronounced, “Everything in the world that is perfect is encapsulated in a macaroon by Michael O!” Indeed.
I’m seeing themes in this edition of our notes. Many of us are going strong, as we continue to do what we do, while others are winding down, and even retiring.
For example, Paul Robinson tells us that he was recently notified “I’ve been granted a patent (for you computer techies, it’s related to the Spectre vulnerability reported a few years ago). This is my fifth patent overall but my first solo, which is a nice career capstone.”
John Hester reports that he is happily retired and enjoying traveling. He landed in Summerville, South Carolina.
Dave Smith writes that “After 32 years of federal service, I retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I plan a combination of loafing, strategic environmental consulting, travel, and home projects going forward. While I enjoyed my time with EPA, having real time for nature, family, my guitars, and novel reading is a wonderful change. Best to all!”
Meanwhile, Michael Getz and his wife Tiziana is delighted that their daughter Melissa “had a wonderful, carefree, pre-omicron wedding in early December of 2021.”
That’s where we are in life, I guess, as we trudge deeper into the second half of our first century: winding down, retiring, and marrying off our children.
Others of us are still going strong with our careers as well. Ramon Pineda writes that he is happy to have changed jobs and is now working for E.W. SCRIPPS in Corpus Christi, Texas. “With NBC, CBS, CW, and Telemundo affiliates, we produce more news than any other broadcaster in the area.” Ramon adds, “News matters to us and we are always looking for great journalists who wish to join our family in Corpus Christi or the other 40-plus markets we serve.” If you know a journalist in the area, please let him know.
Barry “Pono” Fried continues to offer his unique tours of Hawai’i’s culture, nature, history, language, music, food, wildlife, sacred sites, beauty spots, and less visited country villages, on Maui, Kaua’i, and the Big Island of Hawai’i.
Belinda, Livia, and friends in Tanzania
Some of us travel and get together, which we cannot take for granted these days. Belinda Buck Kielland, Livia Wong McCarthy, and friends celebrated Belinda’s 60th birthday two years late in Tanzania this October, “when there was a small window of opportunity to travel. There’s nothing better than the gift of time with dear friends and roommates.” B and Liv wrote that they hope to see more Wes friends soon.
Delcy Fox also wrote that she was “fortunate to celebrate Christmas with my family in the Netherlands, where my son is on a two-year assignment. Since the country was on total lockdown, we took day trips to Germany and Belgium. In November 2021, I enjoyed viewing the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Whitney Museum in NYC with Gary Shapiro. We reminisced about when Jasper Johns came to Wesleyan. In January 2022, I had a Zoom dinner with Miriam Stern Sturgis and her husband Gary Sturgis ’77. Miriam and Gary recently welcomed their fourth grandchild, Adina Clare Paulsen. Throughout 2021, Miriam and I did Israeli Dancing together (via Zoom) every Sunday.”
As for myself, I can’t leave well enough alone. Like many of you, I suppose, I can’t seem to stop learning about all sorts of things and accumulating more and more certifications within my craft. After decades of work as a financial professional, I am now a recently minted CFP® Registrant (who does that at 62?). I have also become a certified tax coach through the American Institute of Certified Tax Planners. I also continue to help on the Emergency Committee for Rojava, as they continue to be under threat of ethnic cleansing, and worse, from both Turkey and ISIS. My 17-year-old is still deciding where to go next fall, which has a lot to do with why I’m not joining others of you in winding down quite yet.
Zlamany with portrait
The weekend before these notes were due, my wife and I saw a dance performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music of T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets.” Yes, the idea is audacious, and was accomplished brilliantly. I came home to an email from fellow Brooklynite and classmate, Brenda Zlamany, letting me know that her portrait depicting five pioneering women scientists from Rockefeller University will be permanently installed at Rockefeller University, with an unveiling scheduled on April 14th.
And that’s seems to be our world: finding windows of availability for travel, seeing friends and classmates in person, or using Zoom and other remote means to get together, moving our work and careers forward, or winding down (by choice, I hope). In our 60s, I am keenly aware that entropy works. As B and Liv remind us, let’s not take things for granted, and work, against entropy, as much as possible, in gratitude.
Thank you to our class contributors—new and old. It’s so wonderful for you to share your major achievements, your firsts, your lives postretirement, your family news, your challenges, and your joys.
Susan Gray ’81 has directed and co-written a shocking and informative documentary, Earth Emergency, on climate change and environmental feedback loops (which amplify the warming even further, something that is not being taken into account by policy makers). With captivating illustrations, stunning footage, and interviews with leading climate scientists as well as support from Greta Thunberg and Jane Fonda among others, this revealing film, narrated by Richard Gere, examines how human activity is setting off dangerous warming loops that are pushing the climate to a point of no return—and what we need to do to stop them. A clear immediate call to action. The film is available on PBS Passport, indefinitely for now. Even better, the film is divided into five segments, one for each of the climate feedback loops described, and you can find it for free on Susan’s website: www.feedbackloopsclimate.com. There is also the link to the launch with the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg on the events page (1:20mins), which included clips from the film and interviews with their scientists along with his holiness. You can find a free curriculum on the website so teachers can teach with the film. The film is being seen around the world on global television in places like Latin America (the Disney Channel), throughout Europe, and soon in Asia and Africa. It was shown to the astronauts on the International Space Station as they looked down at our fragile blue ball and to the British Parliament. The Smithsonian Natural History Museum did a summer film series based around the short films on the web, the International Rotary Club is using it . . . His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales (Charles) invited Susan and her team to COP26 to show it to his Terra Carta Sustainable Markets Initiative event in Glasgow. Please watch it and spread the word and think of what each of you can do to make a difference.
Janet Grillo noted that she is one of those people who has not contributed in a long, long time. She marked her 10th year as a full-time arts professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Undergrad Film & TV Program, where she has had the privilege of instructing children of a few fellow alumni. She’s about to direct her third, independent, fiction-feature narrative film this summer and splits her time between Upper West Side and Upstate New York, mid-Hudson Valley, where there’s a thriving arts community and lots of great hiking trails. Janet is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, Emmy Award–winning producer, and former studio executive. She directed the award-winning Jack of the Red Hearts, and wrote/directed/produced the critically acclaimed Fly Away. Trailers can be seen on her website: www.feedbackloopsclimate.com.
For firsts, Alan Jacobs, managing director of Archer Entertainment Group: “I figured 62 is just the right age for my first marathon, so I ran New York in November 2021. Okay, ‘ran’ is a bit generous but I did finish and, pardon the very Wesleyan word, found the experience transcendent. Sadly, I am now hooked on this activity and about to run a half marathon at the Dead Sea with my daughter, Avia, who lives in Israel. Loving my new life in New York City, busier than ever with work, and launching a nonprofit to benefit Israeli filmmakers.”
Greg Brown is pleased to report that he retired on January 3, 2020, from his position as CFO of Swarthmore College, after over 40 years in government and higher education administration. He added, “My husband (Linton Stables, Rice ’74) and I look forward to decompressing, traveling, and doing volunteer work. I owe a debt of gratitude for my career to my Wesleyan mentor and work-study boss, Jean Shaw at the Center for the Arts, and to her husband Ralph (Biff) Shaw ’51. We try to visit with them whenever we’re in Connecticut.”
After a long career in IT (which actually makes money), Jessica Ziegler said, “I finally get to paint (which doesn’t make money but makes me happy). I am living in NYC, about to celebrate my 26th wedding anniversary and apply for Medicare—clearly, lots of time has passed! My daughter is in graduate school here and finally got to go back to in-person classes this semester. My father died of COVID last year, just before the vaccine was available, but luckily everyone else in my family is fine.”
Mitch Nauffts: “First-time poster, longtime reader. After 27 years with the Foundation Center/Candid, I retired as publisher/editorial director of Philanthropy News Digest in June and am happily embarked on the next chapter of my life. My wife, Lisa Leventer (Brown ’82), and I live on the Upper West Side, our longtime home, and are lucky to have our two sons, Andy (Queens) and Pete (Brooklyn), nearby. Our apartment has a cozy guest bedroom, and we invite all—but not all at once—to visit.”
Will(y) Rowe: “I decided to retire from Booz Allen Hamilton in March 2021 after a 25-year run to rewire and refire. My wife Teresa ’81 and I are still in Annandale, Virginia, and were thrilled when Jon Nimer and his wife came by for a visit in the fall. I host occasional Zoom calls with Jon, Dave Engstrom, Ken Freeman, Dave Loucky ’82, Rick Levine, Joel Tillinghast, and Dan Connors. If you’d like to join, please email me at rowewt@cox.net.”
Ellen Haller, MD, professor emerita, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences wrote, “I’m truly loving life as a retired person! My days are spent doing one or more of the following: pickleball, tennis, strength classes, cycling (California is gorgeous for riding—my favorite bike ride I’d have to say the AIDS/LifeCycle, which is a seven-day fundraising event from San Francisco to LA that I’ve done seven times so far. It’s been canceled the last two years, but we’ll be doing it again this coming June. It’s an epic ride with tremendous beauty and it’s an important cause. Typically, the event raises about $15 to $17 million, which goes to free health care for people with HIV/AIDS in San Francisco and LA), ice hockey (yep, I still play!), and fun classes on topics like opera, Broadway theater, and history. My wife is still working and is extremely busy as the chief of infectious disease at University of California San Francisco. (She says, it’s a shit show! The main thing is to just do everything one can to stay safe. She does think that things will improve this spring for sure but as to what comes next, she says who knows.) It’s been a full two years of ‘yikes!’ Our 25-year-old son is a professional close-up card magician and is quite successful in NYC and on YouTube. (danielroymagic.com)
Isabelle (Baudry) McDonald: “Hello from Falmouth, Massachusetts, in Cape Cod. My husband Tom McDonald ’79 and I (’79 as well, although I came in as ’80) are retired and living here full time since March 2019. I finally closed my private practice of many years as an educational therapist/learning specialist so that I could focus on doing more creative projects and taking care of my parents, who also moved here last year (my dad, Francis Baudry ’51, graduated when Wesleyan was still a men’s only college). Seems like there are not enough minutes in the day to do everything I’d like, although COVID has caused us all to slow down, and savor what we have right in front of us. . . . Am so lucky to live a mile from the sea, am an avid pickleball player, gardener, and am teaching myself jazz piano and music theory, which has been on my list for many years. My child Kamerin (Katherine) McDonald ’11 is living with their partner Jen in Amherst, Masssachusetts, teaching voice/piano/guitar out there. Life is going by way too fast. . . .”
Suzy Shedd: “I left my job coordinating accommodations for students with disabilities at Goddard College in November 2021. I’m now very happily back in private practice with friends of mine. We are a multidisciplinary team providing evaluations and therapeutic support for neurodivergent people and their families. Otherwise, I can say Vermont is a great place to live in a pandemic. My partner (Bob Purvis ’72) and I have had no trouble accessing our vaccines and boosters, and living in a rural area makes social distancing easier.
Meg Lyons shares her ideas on modernizing an 18th-century home in Connecticut Magazine and The Stamford Advocate (January 11, 2022 issue). Lyons, owner of Meg Lyons Architects, studied architectural history at Wesleyan. “I am at heart a modernist because I live in the 21st century, but at the same time, I have a love for the history of architecture and believe in honoring what came before,” she said. “Merging the historical and the modern together creates a sweet spot.” Also mentioned in the article is Marcia Santoni ’83, P’25.
Marty Saggese: “In January, I just passed my 20-year anniversary as executive director (CEO) of the Society for Neuroscience in DC. My whole career has been in government and nonprofits, though I never would have expected to be with one organization for so long. And surely, I would never have expected years 19 and 20 to be the most difficult. But since our main work is to organize an annual scientific conference for 30,000 attendees from around the world, because of the pandemic our annual meeting was cancelled in 2020 and we were forced to go all virtual in 2021, resulting in millions of dollars in financial losses in each of the past two years, and a real effect on the value we have been able to provide to our member-scientists. During the pandemic, as our 100-person staff has been working from home now for nearly two years, I’ve found mentoring my staff team to be the most rewarding part of my job at this point in my career. And it gives me the chance to give back some of the valuable mentoring that MY mentors gave me earlier in my career. This has given a focus to remaining connected to others in this crazy time, even when you don’t see them in person every day. Meanwhile, I’m staying safe and healthy so far. Here’s hoping to see Wesleyan friends at an in-person reunion at some point soon!”
Jim Kent: “This year I have mentored three Wes students on career ideas, and strongly recommend the experience. They are so bright, energetic, and enterprising, it gives me hope for our otherwise polarized world. My daughter accepted an offer to join the MFA program at Columbia University in playwriting, now making our family a triple Columbia threat: My wife and I both did graduate work there, and in a twist of karma, my daughter found a 5th-floor walk-up (gasp) two blocks from where I lived as a grad student.”
Gary Gilyard: “My wife and I have been blessed with grandchildren #3 and #4 this past fall. Both girls, one 6 months and one 5 months, from our oldest and middle daughters. We are so fortunate to have them both move back so we see all four all the time and get to be a part of their everyday lives. My orthopedic practice is great, I’m still loving every day, and as of now have no plans to retire. Our youngest daughter Shelby ’16 is in San Francisco. I truly wish the best for everyone out there from the class of 1980.”
Jeff Green: “I am finally in Australia, where I met my first grandchild who was born in the beginning of the pandemic. I continue to work in emergency medicine in Milwaukee and Ashdod, Israel, and I started the application for an Australian medical license. I’m planning an endless summer kind of thing, but instead of surfing, it’s doctoring.”
John Singer told us that he and his wife Karen are enjoying their first winter as snowbirds at their place on the beach just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. “Karen still practices law full time. I’m taking a sabbatical from teaching, and working on two projects. The first is creating a new curriculum and approach for teaching trial advocacy to law students. I’ve received invaluable assistance on this effort from classmates Brad Moss and Romi Albin as well as my CSS professor, Rich Adelstein. The second is a law review article addressing the need to classify personal care assistants as a necessity for disabled athletes who need assistance to get through the activities of daily life to be able to compete. The inspiration for the article is the blind-and-deaf swimmer who was a gold medalist in Rio and who trains where I do, Master’s Swimming in Baltimore. The swimmer withdrew from the Tokyo games after the U.S. Paralympic Committee refused to permit her to have someone help with critical activities that she is incapable of doing on her own, like getting from her room in the Olympic Village to the dining hall. I also had an abbreviated trip to Colorado to visit and ski with my son, Charlie, earlier this month. I was actually skiing fairly well when I caught an edge, took a tumble, and tore some groin muscles (I could feel something give as I was falling). This resulted in my first trip in a ski patrol toboggan since I was 15 and training to be a junior ski patrol (I remember the trip being more fun when I was 15). Fortunately, there was no structural damage, and I should fully recover with time. That evening, while watching the Olympics and seeing Michaela Shiffrin fall, I commented to Charlie that I clearly was not the only person who caught an edge and fell while skiing that day. Charlie’s incredulous response was, ‘Dad, are you really seriously comparing yourself to Micheala Shiffrin?’ I replied that Michaela and I both: were skiing; caught an edge; and fell. I conceded that any comparison between our skiing pretty much ended there though. Nothing like children, even adult ones, to keep you humble.”
Wendy Davis Beard, “I am continuing to transition from full-time promoter of my husband’s practice as a full-time painter to me becoming a full-time writer of my memoir of recovery from both a massive paralyzing stroke and terminal cancer diagnosis in 2007. I continue to develop this account in poetry, prose, and pictures, with the most insightful encouragement and criticism of our classmate, New York–based, award-winning poet Page Starzinger (see her website, https://www.pagehillstarzinger.com, for her poetry and link to published collections). Unfortunately, our plans to catch up with Page over New Year’s were postponed due to COVID. John and I are currently putting our renovated Wesleyan Chapel studio residence up for sale with the intention of moving to the British countryside, where we loved spending most of last year in lockdown. I look forward to seeing more of you all in America, the UK, or even Australia, where we will continue to divide our time. This was just published on Associated Press’s blog for former AP staff, from my ongoing memoir of recovery from paralyzing stroke in 2007.”
The Story of Everest’88 Climb—and Her AP Scoop from Lahasa
In 1987, I was asked to join the support team of Everest’88 on its trek into Base Camp from Tibet in the spring of ’88. After leaving the AP I had been working full time on the promotion and fund raising to enable the team to accomplish its ambitious goal of establishing a new route up the northeast face of Chomolungma, without supplemental bottled oxygen, fixed ropes or sherpas, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest in 1953 by NZ Edmond Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay, led by retired British Army Commander Lord John Hunt.
I ignorantly yet fortuitously asked him (not knowing the appropriate parlance of the climbing world) to be the honorary expedition leader of Everest 88 enhancing its link to ‘53 which was celebrated internationally for not only being the first to reach the summit of Everest, but for Jan Morris holding the news back to break – in London on the coronation day of Queen Elizabeth. Lord Hunt is quoted in Stephen Venables’ book: Everest, the Kangshung Face, that Hunt had been asked countless times to be the expedition leader of subsequent expeditions to Everest, but never an honorary Expedition Leader, which I had made up as I had the title of “medical director for medical student Mimi Zieman whose learned skills were put to the test at base camp as several climbers returned with badly frostbitten fingers, toes and in Venable’s case a nose (after spending a night exposed to the elements – not making it back to his teammates’ tent after his solo summit).
From left: Everest ’88 support team members Wendy Davis and Norbu Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay; Mimi Zieman, medical director, and Robert Mads Anderson, elite Alpinist and leader of Everest’88. With two Tibetan boys.
Whilst I was no longer working for AP, I got in touch with the Beijing office to invite them to a press conference with the team at our hotel before the team embarked on a trek through Tibet facilitated by an expensive permit from the Chinese Mountaineering authority – at a time when no Western journalists were allowed access to Tibet after news had surfaced of riots abductions, and violent loss of life in the Tibetan capital and spiritual home of the Dali Lama.
I agreed to make contact when the support team returned to Beijing ahead of the climbers who were still acclimatizing, making advance base camps and assessing their best window of opportunity for a push to the summit.
Everest’88
There was much interest in the support team’s inclusion of Tenzing’s son Norbu. Hillarie’s son Peter, an accomplished Alpinist in his own right, had declined an invitation to join the climbing team, it seemed on the grounds the plans to establish this new route seemed too dangerous if not impossible. Ed Webster, another American, Paul Teare, a Canadian-American, joined Robert Mads Anderson (an American NZ based expedition leader) and the British mountaineer Stephen Venables, who Lord Hunt had recommended as essential for this climb honoring the accomplishments of the very “British’ expedition of ’53.
After our progress had stalled due to heavy snowfall at the expedition’s pre-base camp where some of the Sherpa’s expressed their unwillingness to proceed with the risk to their precious yaks, the support team left the expedition to return to NY via Lhasa, but not before being stopped shortly before the capital by Chinese police who were most suspicious of Norbu’s passport as they incorrectly imagined he may be a foreign an agitator and or organizer. Fortunately, the Chinese mountaineering minder with us explained away the misunderstanding: rifles were lowered, passports returned, and we were allowed to proceed to the Holiday Inn for our first showers, pillows, mattresses and sheets in weeks where because of the clampdown on travel, the staff far outnumbered us, their only guests. When we went to dinner there would be several wait staff in line behind each chair.
But outside the situation was more ominous as army trucks paraded around Potala Palace with armed soldiers standing still and expressionless in the back, their rifles held close to their uniformed chests. Women would approach me, point to my camera and mime making a land line telephone call (as there were no mobiles then) imploring me, I assumed, to get the news out of what I’d seen, but without the language skills or real knowledge of any changes in Lahasa’s makeup. I could report nothing more than what I’d experienced with my own untrained reporter’s eyes, but when I returned to Beijing, the story came out as Wendy Davis says: “After bloodiest fighting in Lahasa” or something like that!
My good friend in NY AP Photos, Brian Horton, saw this on the wire and sent me a fax to our hotel (also mentioned in the feature, as the sight of our second press conference). Horton kindly and wisely warned me to be careful until I left China as I was still basically a guest of a foreign country until I returned to America. I had too much experience trying to beat UPI in picture placement to give anyone but AP a direct quote anyway! I also remembered our expedition leader Robert A. soberly advising me to hope for the best, yet prepare for the worst, which would obviously require me to return to China to sort out the repatriation of any dead or broken bodies, which we all know happens.
Everest’88
But, finally after weeks of waiting, for a reply to my faxes with the Chinese authority to confirm or deny the climbers were missing, as they were long overdue, I received the great news to share with the families sponsors and press that all were fine except the frostbite that Steamy Vegetables (aka Stephen Venables) had suffered after his successful summit bid with the support of Robert, Ed and Paul. While truly significant in the climbing world if not a must run story as international news. Stephen had not only taken a summit selfie holding up his climbing axe (before selfies were a thing) and before he began hallucinating which made for good illustrated copy on front pages of many British and European newspapers and subsequently in America after AP ran the photo and text. AP among others subsequently covered the final expedition press conference at the Explorers’ Club in NY where along with the climbers I had been made a member in relation to this expedition which carried a flag from the Explorers Club, as well as a flag from the United Nation’s as Miklos Pinther, senior cartographer from the UN, had joined the support team with the ambition of remeasuring Everest to put to rest the debate about its status as the highest mountain in the world.
With the conclusion of the press conference and team’s return appearance on Jane Pauley’s NBC morning news program, my career as an Alpinist support member and publicist was over. Good thing, as a major stroke in 2007 left me unable to even trek but still in good stead to write as well as walk and roll with a career in London! Robert has continued both his career on the mountains and marketing, lecturing across the US while Stephen, whom I meet up with in the UK, is a regularly published author now booked as both a lecturer and expedition leader of less ambitious expedition travel. Norbu Tenzing is Vice President of the American Himalayan Foundation which is based in San Francisco. He works closely with charities benefiting the Sherpa community. A couple years ago we met at the premier of “Sherpa” at the Sydney film festival, where he was as a special guest. I am still in touch with Miklos who has since retired from the UN after denied the opportunity to bring his measurement equipment to Tibet by the Chinese Authorities. Mimi is a pediatrician in NYC.
I have lost track of the others except aware that Ed who (long before Oscar-winning documentary Solo was made) established so many new routes across the US there’s a book documenting them. He lost a life-changing number of fingers to frostbite denying the same trail blazing solo climbing life he’d led before Everest ’88 when he put his bare hands on his metal camera to take a “once in a lifetime” photo. but has been quoted as considering his loss of fingers as a constant reminder of just what a tremendous team effort E’88 accomplished.
Most of us have married and had children, but this is the first time I have written about my first and last report from Everest and AP scoop from Lhasa in 1998! By virtue of our very exclusive access to Tibet!—Wendy Davis Beard
I am very sorry to inform the class of the passing of our classmate Greg Allcroft, on December 13, 2021. I received the news from Larry Levy who wrote, “He was a guy who was always in your corner and always had your back. His old Framingham pals including me, miss him.” Read his obituary here.
Timmy “Fitz” Fitzgerald contributed that the members of the All-Decade Team gathered for a great evening of celebration this past October 29th. A nice dinner was followed by a few speeches and the presentation. Members of the team from 1979 are as follows: Tony Basilica, Kevin Bristow, Joe Britton, Neil Fitzgerald, Tim Fitzgerald, Bob Latessa, Dennis Robinson and John Papa. Dennis Robinson gave an eloquent speech about our pal, Joe Britton. It was an outstanding night!
Jono Cobb sorrowfully wrote that he lost his wife of 32 years, Suzzanne, last July after a long battle with cancer. So sorry for your loss, Jono.
In case you didn’t know, Laura Walker was named the 11th president of Bennington College in August of 2020. She writes, “It’s been an honor and it’s been a privilege to be president of a great college and I always look to Michael Roth for inspiration and hope as we define the future of this extraordinary college!!”
Clifford Hendel is staving off retirement by maintaining his practice as a commercial, sports, and investment arbitrator—handling cases in Spanish, French, and Portuguese as well as in English. Additionally, he occasionally forays into nonlegal writing, including a short article in the current issue of NY Litigator (a publication of the New York State Bar Association’s commercial and federal litigation section) about the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and George Washington.
Steve Koplowitz has a new book! On Site: Methods for Site-Specific Performance Creation, published by Oxford University Press, will be available this spring (April–May). “It chronicles best practices and methods in creating site-specific performance, something I’ve dedicated over thirty years of my career. It covers many topics of production and navigating the world of art-making aiming to support artists both young and experienced. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/on-site-9780197515242?cc=us&lang=en&#. And after 15 years of living in Los Angeles, Jane and I are moving back to NYC in May to start new adventures and projects.” Welcome back!
Denise Giacomozzi’s daughter, Kristen May’10, gave birth to their first grandchild in October, Willow Autumn Whittle-May. “My husband and I spent an extended time nearby and have been able to get to Colorado again recently. (Altitude is a challenge for me unfortunately.) I continue to volunteer for the COVID Grief Network, which provides free grief support for young adults who have lost a loved one to COVID. The support is via 8-week grief groups on Zoom and has participants from the U.S. and abroad. I also volunteer for my church’s COVID Task Force.”
Matt Okun and his wife Annie Wong took a leap of faith and sold their home in Seattle. They packed up their stuff and sent it to DC. They moved to be closer to their grandkids (2 in Alexandria, Virginia; 2 in Philadelphia.) By last July, it all came together and they landed in Aspen Hill, Maryland, where Matt is a staff developer at a middle school in Kensington. They love living in greater DC and are sure it will even be more fun when and if the COVID restrictions are lifted. Matt has seen Casey Dinges and a bunch of high school friends. Matt is looking forward to being at Wes U in June when his nephew, Alex Okun ’21 and his brother Steve Okun ’82 will be there for Alex’s delayed graduation.
Afropop Worldwide, the Peabody Award–winning public radio program that Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre have produced for the past 34 years, has won another honor. globalFEST, the New York–based presenter and promoter of global music, has awarded the program its Impact Award, a recognition from the professional community for sustained commitment and, well, impact! https://afropop.org/articles/afropop-wins-globalfests-impact-award. The news arrives just as Banning is heading off to French Polynesia to lecture about music on a small ship. COVID be damned!
Jim Friedlich wrote that his extremely talented wife, Melissa Stern ’80, is on quite an artistic roll: Her drawing and sculpture exhibition, Does She or Doesn’t She (art about women and their hair), opened in Chicago in the autumn of 2020. A 20-year retrospective called Stronger than Dirt, ran in Kingston, New York, throughout last summer, and a show called Housebroken, of work done during the pandemic, debuted in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this fall. Next up is The Talking Cure, at the Fullerton Museum outside of Boston in Brockton, Massachusetts. The Talking Cure, which marries sculpture with spoken word art, has been traveling to museums throughout the U.S. for over a decade. Come visit if you are in the Boston area.
After 12 years of being your co-class secretary, it is time to pass the pen. This is my last issue and I thank you all for sharing your excitements, sorrows, challenges, and triumphs. If you are interested in becoming the next co-secretary, please reach out to either Diane LaPointe, myself, or Liz Taylor at classnotes@wesleyan.edu.
Greetings friends. As I write these notes, Russia has just invaded Ukraine and the world stands in disbelief. Maybe you, like me, are hoping and praying for a more peaceful world as we go into very challenging times. It’s unbelievable to hear words like World War III just as we were beginning to enjoy pre-C0VID activities such as family visits, travel, and celebrations. When this Wes magazine lands on your doorstep in a few months, who knows what will be going on but for now, I hope you and yours are healthy and safe. Here’s what some of your classmates are up to:
Kevin Rose and his wife, Annie, downsized right before the pandemic from their home in Ipswich to a condo in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Their son, Danny ’19), was part of a cyber software start-up in Boston that got bought up and has relocated to NYC.
Lucy Mize is based more in Vermont than Virginia this year. She is still at USAID but also started a doctoral program at Indiana University in Global Public Health Leadership and her daughter expects to graduate from Wes this year.
Pete Lewis attended the memorial service for Coach Peter “Kosty” Kostacopoulos in Machias, Maine, in July 2021, where there were about 50 attendees split between family, neighbors, and Wesleyan alums, including: Tom Miceli ’81, Robb Sansone ’79, Todd Mogren ’83, and Frank Hauser ’79. Pete said there were many nice words spoken and a few laughs (including the eulogy line that “no umpires chose to attend”!).
Sadly, Sheryl Ann Smith, PhD died suddenly and unexpectedly just after Valentine’s Day 2022. Sheri, as she was known to her Wesleyan classmates, teammates, and friends, was loved by many and will be greatly missed. Here are several tributes to her memory: Jodi Wilinsky Hill, a former roommate, shared, “Sheri was a cherished wife, mother, friend, and sports psychologist. She was a talented, accomplished athlete, gardener (her orchids flourished in her Wesleyan dorm room—no small feat), and beloved daughter, sister, and community member. Sheri was blessed by beauty and grace, patience when needed, the ability to compete equally well individually or as part of a team and had an infectious laugh. She will be missed beyond measure.” Maureen Walsh ’79 wrote, “Sheri was one of the original trailblazers in women’s athletics at Wesleyan, and in one of the relatively early coed classes. She stood out as a loyal and generous teammate and friend. Sheri played on several ‘first’ female teams: ice hockey, soccer, outdoor track, and lacrosse. In ice hockey, she took her beautiful and accomplished figure-skating skills to become a fearsome ice hockey player during a time when the ability to skate backward with confidence put you on the first line.” Suki Hoagland, Sheri’s skating partner at Wesleyan and longtime, close friend, wrote:
“Dear Wesleyan family of 1978,
I write with a heavy, heavy, heart to share that our dear, wonderful, amazing, Sheri Smith-Schneider passed away this week. I am writing this remembrance hoping to celebrate Sheri’s extraordinary life but knowing I must first express my profound grief. To say a bright shining light has been extinguished is such an understatement. Life can be so unfair, cut way too short, delivering a gut punch you never saw coming. We have all weathered so much, and now this. Sheri’s death is still so raw I can barely think, and I imagine class notes are not supposed to be the forum for expressing such overt emotion, but as Dr. Sheryl Smith-Schneider would have surely counseled, ‘let it out, acknowledge, communicate . . . it’s ok to not be ok.’
“So, I want to share my journey with Sheri, as just one person of the thousands she surely touched. And while I feel awkward centering this note on my life, I hope it sheds light on Sheri’s gifts and you can revel in all the ways she gave to you.
Sheri and Suki
“When I arrived at Wes, fall of ’74, I had just bid farewell to my figure-skating career. I had trained up until the day I left for Middletown and the adjustment was hard. Early on I ventured to the rink and found Sheri. Having been a pairs skater I missed the joy of sharing the ice, feeling the air breezing across my face, gliding fast, holding on to someone else. Sheri picked this up right away and offered a perfect solution. We would choreograph a similar pair routine and perform it in between periods of hockey games. Which we did and it was fun! It helped me let go of one life and embrace a new one.
“Four years later, at graduation, I was holding it all together. I had loved my time at Wesleyan so much, sharing an incredible journey with all of you. I was sad, but eager to start my new life. Do you remember that glorious day, blue sky, bagpipes as we processed in celebratory red robes across Andrus Field? After the ceremony, as we hugged and took pictures and relished our accomplishments . . . I saw Sheri and burst into tears. How could I ever thank her for all she had given me? I would miss her so very much. I just sobbed.
“We kept in touch, delighting in each other’s lives—marriage, motherhood, doctorates, careers . . . . But by our 30th Reunion, I had used myself up and was struggling with debilitating mental illness. My depression was so overpowering I could barely move. I had flown all the way from Switzerland, and I wanted to enjoy our gathering, catch up, reconnect, celebrate, but I simply could not. Sheri saw through my façade, knew I was struggling, knew I was sick, knew I needed help. She scooped me up, left our reunion, drove me to her home, snuggled me into bed with a warm blanket, closing the curtains, turning off the lights and whispering, ‘It is ok, just rest.’
So, dearest Sheri, I guess it is your time to rest. I could never thank you enough.
“During the past few years, as we both recovered from our illnesses, Sheri’s stage-four cancer and my bipolar disease, we were exuberant about ‘getting our lives back.’ We connected often, more grateful, and keenly aware of how precious every single day is. But . . . I just spoke to Sheri the other day. She was just a phone call away. . . and now she is gone. We have lost a treasure. So, to all of you, let us celebrate this extraordinary life and ensure Sheri’s legacy lives on.—Suki Hoagland”
I hope everyone who was able to attend our 45th Reunion had a great, be it in-person or virtually, time. The following notes were assembled earlier this year. A complete recap of notes from our gathering will appear in the next issue.
Francis Rath is the chief public health coordinator for the city of Manassas Park. As one can imagine COVID has occupied a major amount of his energy. He is living in Great Falls, Virginia, and is an active volunteer paramedic.
After receiving her doctorate in Jungian and archetypal psychology, Dr. Carol Cooper was appointed to the Board of Trustees at the Kristine Mann Library in Manhattan. In addition, Carol is teaching writing, history, and engaged media classes at NYU as an adjunct professor for the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Andy Darpino wrote about upcoming retirement in addition to an epic trip with Will Sillin, Buddy Taft, John Gaebe, and Jim LaLiberty to Lake Powell, Arizona. They rented a 60-foot houseboat and cruised around the lake for a week . . . truly a “bucket list” adventure.
Don Ryan is planning to attend reunion as well as muster up some of the usual suspects for the event. John Roxby and Felice Burstein are happily settled at home in New Hampshire near their kinfolk. Jeff Gray and wife JoAnne have settled in Rye, New Hampshire, 3/4 of a mile from Jenness Beach, loving the seacoast. Guinness, their 110-pound Bernese Mountain dog, is already the star of the beach.
Jerry Stouck has a nice sounding life living between Park City, Utah, and Bethesda, Maryland. His daughters are on the East Coast and son in Hong Kong. Jerry is working on a biography of Janet Benshoof, a pioneering women’s rights lawyer. Otherwise goofing off when he’s not skiing, biking, hiking, or golfing. Jonathan Gertler works hard running two businesses and chairing a couple of start-ups in the life sciences: exciting along with the inevitable headaches that come from the early stages. Music is a huge part of his life: third album No Fear was released by Rock Ridge Music in Nashville to strong reviews. An avid fly-fisher, Jonathan is in touch with Bob Krakower, SusanDavis, Ellen Gendler, and Tom Kovar ’76.
Rather than retire, David Schreff is applying many years of corporate executive and board director knowledge to lead a high-growth adtech and marketing tech software provider, ACTV8me.com, that serves the media, entertainment, and sports industry. Most importantly he is fully enjoying being a granddad. Jim Dowling is an organizer for the dance and music community, including a decades-long association with the Children’s Aid Society and other nonprofits. In this vein, he has written a bit for the Village Voice, Dance Magazine, and served as advisor to Contact Quarterly magazine.
Mark Ellison was anointed to IEEE (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) Life Senior Member status and strives to accommodate inevitable senior life moments. Cindee Howard is enjoying retirement and very busy doing improv on Zoom, tutoring several folks in English also via Zoom, dancing tap, ballroom, and Latin, and playing mah-jongg.
Mark Beamis reports that in addition to good health and sanity, and a powerful snowblower, he managed a business trip to Seattle in early November, pre-omicron surge, to see old friends and work colleagues in person. During the fall, he was in Moody Beach, Maine, at the old family cottage. There is much to be said for working remotely at an oceanfront setting. For Thanksgiving he and the wife went to Delaware and spent the first family holiday in two years with in-laws, the first gathering since his mother-in-law passed. No fights, no arrests. Christmas was very quiet. He returned to Maine, Boothbay Harbor this time, to see a wonderful drive-through Christmas light show at the Maine Botanical Gardens.
Post bouts with COVID, Jane Eisner is back on campus at Columbia Journalism School, where they have established a new normal allowing people to converse with colleagues and students in person. Jane is also writing regular book reviews for The Washington Post and is working on a biography of Carole King for Yale University Press. Finally, Dean Holmes’s son, Dylan, wrote that his dad passed away in December from complications of frontotemporal dementia. The link to his obituary, can be found at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/brunswick-ga/dean-holmes-10492817. Dylan expressed how appreciative he was of the opportunities provided to him along with the many lifelong friendships at Wesleyan.
This sentiment sums up the reasons for returning for reunions: to celebrate one another at and with the University that played such an important role in our lives.
I hope everyone has a fine summer, and is able to continue meeting folks live and in 3D.
Meredith Bergmann has been awarded three new sculpture commissions. The first two are in Ithaca, New York—one honors Frances Perkins, FDR’s secretary of labor; the other, Lucy J. Brown, a community activist in Ithaca. The third is in Lexington, Massachusetts, and commemorates the role of women in the Revolution. Details about the Lexington Monument can be found at https://www.lexseeher.com/monument.
Deborah Malamud has retired from full-time law teaching at New York University School of Law, but will continue teaching seminars. She will thus maintain a home in “law land,” while spending as much of the rest of her time as possible making music, traveling, and being with family and friends. She and her partner of 30-ish years, Neal Plotkin, will continue to divide their time between New York and Ann Arbor.
Byron Haskins writes: “Gabrielle and I are still splitting our time between Quebec and Michigan, but she has obtained somewhat of a dream job in Montreal, so we are fully stationed in a beautiful, almost 100-year old apartment building on the very west end of downtown Montreal. I’m truly trying to learn French for the first time in my life!”
Jack O’Donnell writes: “I’m still practicing law in New Haven and any notion of retiring was dashed when I got very sick in September. Being idle for two months reinforced how much I need the action of criminal defense work! Retirement goes on the back burner again!!”
Elyse Grasso writes: “If you look at the map of the damage from the December 30th Marshall Fire in Boulder, Colorado, my house was basically at the geographical center. I lost the house and its contents, but I got out safely and I’m settled into a temporary place while I make plans to rebuild. The view didn’t burn.”
Dan Henry writes: “My wife Jean and I have been blessed by the arrival of our fourth grandchild, Imogen Anne Henry on February 3. I continue to do a small amount of tech support for people and businesses. Two years ago, I switched to remote support only to eliminate the hassle and time of travel as well as to avoid COVID-19.”
Larry Davis and his wife Ronna managed to sneak away to Slovenia and Austria between the delta and omicron waves for some fly-fishing and general tourism. Otherwise, Larry still works part time as a senior advisor and chief scientist at MAP Energy and as a volunteer with several nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma City. Larry has been able to stay tangentially involved with the Earth and Environmental Science Department at Wes and is involved with the Middletown/Wesleyan Chabad House.
David E. Cohen and his wife Sandy have raised three kids in New Jersey, now (almost all) launched into the world. David is slowly sliding into semi-retirement from his medical practice and will soon be relocating to the Berkshires. David enjoys wood carving, boating, boatbuilding, and genealogy, and has been doing research for a book on some interesting local history in the Berkshires. In September 2021, David and Sandy spent a fantastic weekend in Woods Hole with Matt Paul, Stewart Shuman, and Michael Greenberg and their wives for their annual gathering, sharing memories, wine, great food, spirited conversation about science and politics, and a pretty long bike ride.
Rob Briskin writes: “I’m still in solo concierge-style practice in internal medicine in Jupiter and live in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. My wife Limor and I have four kids, two 12-year-old twins, a 24-year-old son, and a 26-year-old daughter. Keeping busy with the twins, pickleball (my new passion), and some tennis. Doesn’t make sense to retire at this point, plus I enjoy practicing, so will continue for the foreseeable future!”
Peter Hansen writes: “My wife and I continue to be based in DC and are slowly easing into retirement. We both still get enough emails and calls from clients so that we’re not quite ready to quit doing marketing (me) and public health (her). Fortunately, there’s enough flexibility so that we can devote our talents to helping other causes that we care about: a group that focuses on providing opportunities for underserved youth in DC, animal welfare organizations, and a group (31ststreet.org) that is all about developing voting infrastructure at a grass roots level in key states across the country. Many of you would probably be interested in the latter and should go look at what we do. Along the way we find time to visit the grandkids in NYC and also get to Seattle to see our daughter. And locally I’m always up for a bike tour of the monuments in DC with anyone who is in town! We managed to cross paths with Jon Daniels in Phoenix last fall and also took a bike trip with several friends including Jeff Shaw ’78 last fall.”
B.J. Buckley writes: “My chapbook, In January, the Geese, recently won the Comstock Review’s 35th Anniversary Poetry Contest and will be published in April 2022. I’ve also had, after a long ‘drought,’ a number of poems accepted this past year by a variety of fun and interesting journals, among them Plant-Human Quarterly, Calyx, Sugar House Review, Dogwood, SWWIM Everyday, Pine Row, Whitefish Review, and ellipsis.”
Rob Williams writes: “After 32 years of working in South Jersey, I moved to Maui. Unfortunately, I’m not here to retire but to work. As of now I’m the only infectious disease doc on the island working in the only hospital. I’ve been here a year, and I’m very busy, but I’m enjoying the island. I’m committed to at least working here five more years. I’m expecting visits from my eight grandkids and any old classmates who would like to visit. Rumor has it that Blaise Noto ’74 is living here but I haven’t found him. Also, I apparently got here right before Dr.Elliot Epner left.”
Mark Berger writes: “I’m pleased to report that I recently started a new job, as I just wasn’t anywhere near ready to retire. I’m the chief medical officer for Genprex, a small but promising biotech company. Since I’ve spent over 25 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries working to develop new oncology therapies, this is an extension of my previous work. To me, the strategy of oncology drug development has been endlessly interesting and challenging, and I consider myself lucky to have fallen into this field.
“I’ve also been lucky to still be married to Jane Eisner ’77, who’s presently working at Columbia Journalism School. We’ve lived in New York City for 10 years, after 30 years in the Philadelphia area, and proximity to our two grandchildren in Brooklyn is a big benefit to our Manhattan location. Our oldest daughter Rachel (’06) and her husband Ari take care of the grandchildren when we’re not spoiling them. Rachel is in charge of nutrition for New York City’s Department of Aging. Our other two daughters live in Washington, DC, where Amalia, our middle daughter, is a nurse practitioner, and our youngest, Miriam (’12) works on the foreign desk of TheWashington Post.
“Note that the true definition of family planning is that Rachel’s Wes reunions are the same year as mine from ’76, and Miriam’s Wes reunions are the same year as Jane’s from ’77. Who could possibly have imagined that as a Wes undergraduate!”
Carol Bellhouse writes: “I bought a winter home in southern New Mexico. It’s on a hill with a massive rock wall so it looks like I live in a castle! Loving it—lakes, hot springs, artist community, and lots of sunshine!
David Harmin, Tom Kovar, and I took advantage of the brief pandemic cease-fire in October and returned to Wesleyan for Homecoming. We never got around to attending official events, but spent the time wandering around campus, hoping that the three of us could cobble together clear memories of our college experience. It’s a wonderful experience being there; a sudden fragrance or play of light and you can be immediately transported back to your college years. For the three of us, the Arts Center particularly brought back visceral memories; the minute we stepped into a stairwell in the music building, I could just hear Nic Collins practicing his sax. I mention this as a (not terribly subtle) way of reminding you that our 50th Reunion is around the corner. I’d strongly encourage you to attend, even if you cut ties with Wesleyan in June ’76 and never looked back. It’s good to remember what an extraordinary place it was—and is!
Charisse R. Lillie has been named one of 2021’s most influential Black corporate directors by Savoy Magazine. Charisse is CEO of CRLCONSULTING LLC, a full-service consulting firm based in Philadelphia.
In the book Evergreen Cemetery of Santa Cruz, authors Traci Bliss and Randall Brown bring to life the tragedies and triumphs of diverse individuals who helped shape Santa Cruz, California, and its values that endure today. The Evergreen Cemetery, founded in 1858, served as the last resting place for many of the region’s earliest settlers, entrepreneurs, and artists. The property was given by the Imus family of cattle ranchers who had narrowly avoided the tragedy of the Donner Party more than a decade before. Along with these pre–gold rush California pioneers, the community buried several notables including London Nelson, an emancipated slave who became a farmer and donated his property to the city schools. Also interred at the cemetery is journalist Belle Dormer, who wrote about President Benjamin Harrison’s visit to Santa Cruz and its world-famous redwoods, and businessman Wong Kee, a tireless leader of the town’s Chinese community.
Randall is a Santa Cruz County Distinguished Historian, who serves on Santa Cruz’s Historic Preservation Commission. He also serves as a featured history columnist for the San Lorenzo Valley Post. He is the author of The San Lorenzo Valley Water District: A History.
John McLucas’s third novel, The Boxer’s Mask, is forthcoming from BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. It traces the rise of a young actor in contemporary Rome, and his interactions with a circle of Anglo-American expats who variously adore and objectify him. John has enjoyed pandemic opportunities for Zoom and phone reunions with Lyn Thurber Lauffer, Steve Cutts, Eric Neuman, Dan Kenigsberg, Scott Brodie, and other classmates.
Monique Witt’s son Ben was nominated to the American Pianist Competition. He has material recorded (unmixed and unreleased trio, solo, sextet), and new work from his Berlin residency. Back from his European tour, he’s on tour in the South. Her son Dev just finished his production space for ExMachina, and their Pulsar monitors were chosen for an international award for technological innovation in sound (SOS, December 2021). His space was featured on the Today Show. Monique is between Greenpoint, at the old facility, Bushwick, and LIC, at the label. Steven finished the year still working too hard. They all got COVID, musicians as well, but everyone is fine now.
During the pandemic, to get outside and socialize, Pat Mulcahy joined a cycling club in Queens that meets every Sunday, weather permitting, at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. This is a very mixed group in every way: About a third of the 35-person crew is made up of native Spanish speakers. Recently she bought an electric bike to give her a boost on hills. (She takes a fair amount of ribbing from her cohorts. . . . ) Every time she posts a biking picture on Facebook, Wayne Forrest chimes in. He and his wife are also avid e-bikers. Now Harold Sogard has apparently joined the cohort! And Lyn Lauffer says she wants to come down for the Five Boro Bike Tour (40-plus miles, in May).
Motto: The class of ’74 is not made up of slackers. You’re a prime example! Never was. . . .
On the work front: Pat is still editing and doing collaborative writing. Her newest project came out this March 2022 from Mango, a relatively new press in Miami: The Answer is You: A Guide to Creating a Life Full of Impact by Alex Amouyel, executive director of Solve at MIT, an accelerator program for inventors and social activists. Alex is one of her only millennial clients. It’s good to stay in touch with the younger generations.
Randy “R.N.A.” Smith’s latest historical novel for golf fans is out in April. Quadruple Birdie highlights the human frailties of four famous Texan pros during 1950 and beyond, as narrated by their erstwhile counselor.
Lloyd Komesar reports, “After staging a successful in-person 7th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival this past August, attended by 40 Wes grads, we are full-steam ahead with our 8th Annual edition, slated for August 24–28. I invite my classmates to attend and enjoy the films, the panels, the parties (all outdoors), the beauty of small-town Vermont in late summer, and the joy of the conversations and friendship renewals that go on every year. And a special shout out to Wayne Forrest for spurring the creation of the AICEF Prize for Cross-Cultural Filmmaking that debuted at MNFF7 and will continue at this year’s fest. AICEF (American Indonesian Cultural and Educational Foundation, which Wayne oversees) has enabled us to collaborate with the Bali International Film Festival in a wonderful filmmaker exchange that brought a terrific Indonesian filmmaker to Middlebury this past August. Thank you, Wayne!”
A number of classmates are keeping busy with their writing.
From Seattle, Washington, Stephen Sullivan writes that he has published a book, Architecture as Art: The Work of Stephen M. Sullivan, which illustrates his residential architectural practice based in the Pacific Northwest. It also describes his personal design philosophy founded both in the classics of Western architecture and in his experience and appreciation of the architecture and craft traditions of Japan.
The book tells the story of Stephen’s development as an artist using architecture as his medium. It includes essays on his views of architectural design, which have been shaped by his personal history in the landscapes and the architecture of New England and Japan. Stephen’s training as a potter informs his architecture in its interpretation of houses as “vessels of experience” and in his work’s focus on materiality and the craft.
Thematic essays address topics such as the importance of intuition in the design process and the interplay of analysis with nonrational ways of thinking.
The projects display Stephen’s belief in generating an architectural language unique to a design’s client and its context, creating an architecture specifically tuned to its circumstances in time and place.
The book is carried by many local bookstores and can be purchased online from Elliott Bay Book Company.
Bruce Fergusson had some colorful comments. He writes, “Like everyone else, playing dodgeball with the bride of Franken-COVID variant. Some near misses in the family but so far so good. If only there was a vaccine to inoculate against the other ‘viruses’ plaguing the country.” He said he was looking forward to the Seattle Rugby Club’s upcoming season. “I played for them way back when,” he said. He also closely follows the Seattle Seawolves—the nearest professional team to him in Salem, Oregon—and has been since the league’s inception. He says he is still writing. His latest novel, Triskell, came out in February. He said, “I’m currently writing a children’s book for one kid in particular: my first grandchild. As Kieran’s only three months old, it’ll be a while before he’s ready to read it, but it’ll be there when he is.”
Vinod Busjeet writes that “My novel Silent Winds, Dry Seas, published last August by Doubleday, is among NPR’s Best Books of 2021.”
Tim Lutz says he retired in June 2021 after teaching geology for 40 years at UPenn and West Chester University. He said his last presentation before retiring was a reflection on the influence of late Wesleyan professor Jelle de Boer on his career. He said it was part of a session to honor Jelle’s legacy, organized by E&ES professors Phil Resor, Joop Varekamp (also retired in 2021), and Martha Gilmore for the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America. Since retirement he said not that much has changed. He said he and his wife (also a retired geology professor) are able to continue research projects that will keep them busy for years to come. He said they are also Force of Nature volunteers for Natural Lands, an organization whose mission is to “save open space, care for nature, and connect people to the outdoors.”
Tim says, “I’m looking forward to our 50th!”
It’s hard to believe that I have been so busy for the past two years covering all the fallout from the coronavirus. With any luck, the situation will improve significantly by our next Class Notes as we move closer to our 50th Reunion. Speaking of which, there’s an active reunion committee (Wayne Barber, Joshua Boger, Peter Cross, Michael Donnelly, Irv Estrin, John Feinblatt, Michael Fossel, Bill Gillespie, Steve Greenhouse, Mark Helfat, Diego Howard, John Huttlinger, Evans Jacobs, Rich Jasper, Ron Johnson, Mike McKenna, Ron Medley, Ellen Miyasato, Richard Orentzel, Jim Powers, Bill Quigley, Jim Raymond, Jay Rose, Tom Tokarz, Steve Torok, Charley Wayne, Donald Zilkha, Dave Zita, and yours truly) working hard on updating contact information and looking for recruits to join them as they plan for what’s going to be a great occasion.
Also, I can’t say enough about the incredible work that Kate Quigley Lynch has done to make us all aware of our upcoming milestone reunion. She is very interested in letting you know about what will be happening and would like to get your email addresses. You can reach her at: klynch@wesleyan.edu.
It is hard to believe it will be 50 years. It seems like yesterday that we were all wandering around Foss Hill at the Grateful Dead concert or attending fabulous concerts with Dave Mason at the hockey rink or the Youngbloods inside the McConaughey Hall dining facility. There are so many people I’d like to see, from my West College roommates my freshman year, Tim Bahti, Paul Dietrich, and Tim Mooney; to hockey club teammates like Tim Thompson; to colleagues on the Wesleyan film board from our senior year like Fred Love; to my senior year West College roommates, Brian Mahoney, Ed Nathan, John Spike, and Paul Baumann; and not to forget numerous friends from our rugby days like Pete Cross, Mike McKenna, Dave Zita, and Bill Quigley. And to reconnect with others like Michael Donnelly, Michael Fossel, Granderson Hale, Steve Greenhouse, Mark Helfat, John Huttlinger, Evan Jacobs, Rich Jasper, Ron Medley, Jim Powers, Jay Rose, Tom Tokarz, Charley Wayne, David Feldman, Don Zilkha, just to name a few people. There are special stories about everyone I just mentioned in terms of their lives and career paths and retirement plans and the past five decades. There are others who I have not heard from in a very long time, like superstar soccer player, Michael Desmond.
Reunion is a huge opportunity to see everyone and take a walk through our past days and relish the changes. The Zilkha Art Gallery is special, and you also have to see what Jeanine Basinger has done with film studies and her legacy. When I flash back to the fall of our freshman year, I remember Jeanine taking a film class with me and John Frazier. And then she was on her way. I for one look forward to a return to Downey House—so many memories there—and a walk down High Street, which I am told Charles Dickens once called one of the most beautiful streets in the U.S. And maybe we’ll have a few moments with Michael Roth, ‘78, Wesleyan’s 16th president or some professors who you have known for decades. And after reporting for such a long time, I look forward to checking out the Wesleyan Argus, which I used to write for, including some news stories and film reviews and rugby articles under the name “Gary Owen.” And on a personal note, I look forward to revisiting the Davison Art Center, where my mother Ellen “Puffin” D’Oench, was curator for decades and where she did an incredible job pioneering the collection. Then there is Main Street, Middletown, once noted as being one of the widest streets in the U.S., where there has been a virtual renaissance or restaurants that even includes Thai food. And you can cap it off with a visit to the famous O’Rourke’s Diner, home of the famous steamed cheeseburger. I won’t forget a choice comment made by Eddie Nathan there early one morning, and as a result of that they asked him to leave. But that is a story for another day.
