Class Notes

I was unable to attend our 60th Class Reunion this past May and asked Marty Becker if he would mind giving us a rundown on the weekend. He kindly agreed and sent the following:

“Ten members of the Class of ’64 registered for the reunion. I attended with my wife, Shelley. But we split time between reunion events and the wake and funeral for our classmate, Peter Sipples.

“At the funeral, Pete’s son, Kyle, spoke about his dad and really captured who Pete was. We were able to spend some time talking with both sons, Kyle and Tim, as well as Pete’s widow, Pat.

“Saturday, late afternoon, we spent time with Jerry Hickson and Charles Landraitis and their wives. I learned that during our freshman year, Jerry and Pete Sipples were roommates. Charles was a math professor at Boston College. Jerry worked for IBM and spent years sailing around the world on progressively larger boats.

“At dinner that evening, we sat with Larry Dougherty and his wife, Estelle; Bill Mercer and his wife, Diane; Michael Ehrmann; and Jim Relyea. Fritz Henn ’63 also sat at our table. We had an enjoyable evening talking about Wesleyan memories as well as more current matters.”

[In addition to Marty and the six classmates he mentioned above, Kate Micari, our class rep on the University staff, wrote that these three ’64 classmates also registered to attend the weekend: W. David Hager, Alan Brewster, and Philip Polster.]

Marty was also good enough to give us a rundown on his own life. He wrote the following:

“My wife, Shelley, and I have lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for 30 years. Prior to that we lived in Greenwich Village for about 20 years.

“After Wesleyan, I went to law school at the University of Pennsylvania. I really liked Philadelphia—law school not so much. Having had student deferments during school, I ended up in the army the summer after law school, though I did get to take the bar exam first. Not happily, I spent the summer of 1968 to the summer of 1969 in Vietnam in a signal battalion.

“Once I got out of the army, I moved to Manhattan and went to work for The Legal Aid Society doing indigent criminal defense work, mostly representing kids 16 though 18 in the Bronx. It turned out that I played social worker more than lawyer, getting kids into drug programs or mental health services. Our classmate Michael Smith was a psychiatrist at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. We were able to refer clients for services through him and a colleague of his.

“While working for Legal Aid, one of the other lawyers and I developed a program to provide services to the population we were representing and wrote a proposal to obtain funding for the program. We were not successful in securing funding, and I eventually went to work for a New York City agency that, among other things, provided grants, using federal law enforcement (LEAA) funds, for criminal and juvenile justice projects. When those funds dried up, the agency was absorbed into what was, at times, the Criminal Justice Coordinator’s Office or the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice, which dealt with various criminal justice issues and continued to contract with not-for-profits for various programs.

“Shelley is a retired rabbi. She was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1991. (Anyone who knew me would probably be shocked that I’m married to a rabbi. Shelley was not a rabbi when we got married).

“When Shelley decided to go to rabbinic school, she first got a master’s degree at NYU and then spent five years in rabbinic school. I decided that I needed to do some Judaic learning of my own. So, I’ve spent a lot of time studying over the years.

“After Shelley was ordained, she mostly did part-time work at congregations in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. I served as her chauffeur (she’s a city kid and does not drive) and also helped her out with various tasks.

“I retired from the city in 2005. In addition to continuing to help Shelley, I eventually went back to playing tennis. (I spent a bunch of years running and had ceased playing tennis). And for over a dozen years, I have been doing volunteer work in Riverside Park. I do maintenance (grunt) work on and around the ball fields.

“The last congregation Shelley served was in Southington, Connecticut. During those years, we visited Wesleyan on a couple of occasions, and I was amazed by all the new buildings I didn’t recognize. We also had the opportunity to visit with Pete Sipples and [wife] Pat Farrell a number of times. Our most recent trip to Middletown was to attend both the 60th Class Reunion and, unfortunately, Pete’s funeral. He passed away just weeks prior to the reunion.”

Bill Medd is happily retired in Norway, Maine, a town about an hour north of Portland, where he practiced medicine for more than four decades and worked to attract physicians to rural western Maine. “Now we’re just enjoying ourselves,” Bill told me in an August phone call. He and Marge have stayed put in the same house they lived in when he was taking care of patients in surrounding southern Oxford County. All three of their children live in Maine: Donald, a physician with an internal medicine practice in Portland; daughter, Cari, a school district superintendent; and Michael, an investor.

Bill grew up in Manhasset on Long Island and after Wesleyan went to medical school at the University of Rochester. He and good Wesleyan ’64 friend Don Ware, who got his medical training at the Albany Medical College and residency at the University of Rochester, joined forces to set up an internal medicine practice in a small community.  “We wanted to be rural but not too rural,” Bill says. After scouting towns in Vermont and New Hampshire, they found just want they were looking for in Norway—a welcoming community, need for docs, and plenty of outdoor recreation. Norway is on Pennesseewassee Lake and near skiing opportunities.

Their internal medical practice at Stephens Hospital in Norway later became part of MaineHealth, an integrated health system based in Portland. The Lewiston Sun Journal profiled Bill’s long, active career in a 2019 article: ‘It’s Been an Incredible Ride’ (https://www.sunjournal.com/2019/03/30/its-been-an-incredible-ride/). 

Don Ware died in Norway in 2022 at age 79. I may be wrong, but I could not find any mention of his death in earlier Class Notes. Here is the link to his obituary: https://www.chandlerfunerals.com/obituaries/Donald-Edward-Ware?obId=25641625. 

It was also good to hear from Rob Rutherford. He wrote:

“My wife, Diane, and I met John Jones and his wife, Maxine, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for three days in July. We visited the local art galleries, Los Alamos and Taos, and spent an evening at the Santa Fe Opera. We reminisced about our days at Commons Club, playing touch football, and party weekends.”

Mike Burack sent an email about his post-Wes life and a major change in it three years ago:

“I’ve not been an active alumnus, and I don’t think I have submitted anything for the class notes more than once or twice in the past 60 years. But time is passing, so I figure I might as well try to catch up now.

“After majoring in physics at Wesleyan, I did graduate work at CalTech and Stanford, but after a couple of years I succumbed to the realization that however much I had enjoyed physics as an undergraduate, I wasn’t serious enough about it to make it a rewarding career path for me. So, I switched to law school at Stanford, then clerked for a federal court of appeals judge in San Francisco for a year, after which I moved to D.C., where I spent my entire legal career at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now Wilmer Hale). During those years I married, raised two daughters, spent many hours on the road between D.C. and Chicago—where both girls went to college—and took annual family vacations in Spain, where my wife Maria is from. 

“Our daughters both settled in Europe. Our older daughter lives in Madrid; she’s married to a Bulgarian–U.S. dual citizen, whom she met in D.C., and they now have two young boys, four and three-quarters and three months. Our younger daughter now lives in Bonn (after periods in Vienna, Berlin, and London, in that order); she’s married to a Frenchman, whom she met in London, and they, too, have a young son, 15 months. We call our three grandsons the three Ls—Leo, Louis, and Luca—and we’re constantly confusing their names. (The alliteration was unintentional as far as I’m aware.)

“Once our daughters had moved to Europe, Maria and I no longer had any close family in the U.S., and all of her remaining family was still in Spain. So, taking the bull by the horns, so to speak, we decided to move full time to Spain ourselves, which we did in November 2021. 

“We live in León, a provincial capital in the northwest where Maria’s family lives. Being on that side of the Atlantic obviously makes it much easier to visit our kids and grandkids and have family get-togethers (both intra- and inter-) than it would be if we were still in the U.S. Moving here was a huge step for me, of course, but also for Maria, because after living in the U.S. for 50 years she thinks and acts more like an American than a Spaniard.

“For me, adjusting to a different culture with a different language and different customs and norms is still sometimes difficult, and getting a Spanish driver’s license was a particular ordeal. Some things continue to drive me up the wall—like Spaniards’ habit of talking at the top of their lungs no matter where they are or who else is around; or constantly interrupting other people during conversations; or standing in the middle of the sidewalk in groups of four or five or six, chatting leisurely as though they’re all alone and forcing other people to work their way around them, even to have to go into the street to get by.

“But then there are also compensations, including the mountains and the sea and the food. All things considered, it’s a pleasant place to live. So, things are good overall. My only real regret is that I won’t live to know my grandsons as adults, but there’s nothing I can do about that. 

“Maria and I continue to follow U.S. politics closely. For longtime Washington residents like us, it’s impossible not to, even though we have to watch many events on CNN replay the following day because of the six-hour time difference. It has been a truly dismaying situation until recently, but things are now beginning to look up. What a strange (or should I say, weird) turn of events!

“My best regards to you and our other classmates. Stay well.”

Dan Davis contributed the following:

“I’m sorry I missed our 60th Reunion, but I had a total knee replacement on May 7.I have recovered very well and am back to tennis and golf.

“I enjoyed a nice career in ob-gyn that included three years in Germany with the U.S. Army Medical Corp and 20 years in practice in western Massachusetts. Male medical school students graduating at that time served at least two years of government service [one of the armed services, Public Health Service, Indian Health Service, etc.].  Like Larry Dougherty, I was inspired at Wesleyan by John Maguire, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and all the Department of Religion teachers; my major was religion with a minor in pre-med.

“I then switched gears and worked for the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, 1997–2016, in the division reviewing drugs/products for urology and ob-gyn. It was a wonderful second career and a better pace, with nights, weekends, and federal holidays off. 

“I had the privilege of being the primary medical reviewer for the first transdermal patch, vaginal ring, emergency contraceptive pill, and several other unique drugs for contraception and gynecological indications. I currently do a small amount of consulting with pharmaceutical companies and nonprofit organizations.

“I have three adult children (Sarah ’94, Amy, and Tom) and three grandkids in Madison, Wisconsin, and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. In 2001 I was married—a second marriage—to Suzanne Schmidt, who is an ordained UCC minister and [who works] closely with retired women clergy. We moved to a continuous care retirement center in Frederick, Maryland, in 2022 and have a new patio home with NO stairs, an accident-prevention feature.

“My experience at Wesleyan was a ton of great and challenging courses, many hours in the library, and an admission to the Columbia medical school. The social life was limited, but the overall experience was priceless!”

I received, through the good offices of Len Edwards, a notice that Stan Lewis had a show, Persistent Vision, at the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, over the summer.  It appears that our class has its fair share of artists; Don Sexton provided a list of our classmates who showed artwork at our 60th Reunion: Bob Travis, Byron Miller, Colby Andrus, Dan Snyder, George Tapley, Lew Whitney, Scott Wilson, Tom McKnight, and Don. He also said that he was sorry for the passing of Colby, who was a good friend, and he believed “Gerry Hirsch was also a quite good artist.” Don opened a show in Litchfield, Connecticut, in late August. He writes that he retired from Columbia eight years ago, and, besides his art, he does stand-up on Broadway. In his words: “Now, for the terrifying part: in the past, on a few occasions (very few) I have fronted a band. . . .  Nothing so cool as to watch the audience get up and start dancing as you sing—even if everyone is in their 80s. . . .”

Many of us will remember Dan Dennett, who left Wesleyan for Harvard after his freshman year.  The New York Times carried his obituary in April. Dan was a philosopher who wrote a number of books and articles on consciousness, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology. Both Jack Jarzavek and Bob Saliba ’62 were kind enough to notify me. In notifying me of Dan’s death, Jack noted that he still remembered a paper that Dan had written for the Integrated Program.

President Roth spoke at the Stockbridge, Massachusetts, library in connection with the release of his new book, The Student: A Short History. Don Sexton, Bob Siegle, Dan Hottenstein, and I attended. His talk on the subject was, to no one’s surprise, entertaining, learned, and witty. In the question-and-answer period, he spoke about Wesleyan’s response to the student protests in the spring. It was the consensus of the four of us that Wesleyan had dealt with the protest better than its peers. After the talk, we and our wives (except mine, who was conflicted out) had a terrific dinner at Bob and Rita’s house.

These mini-reunions are memorable—we should all try to keep in contact with our classmates. In that vein, please keep me posted on your various activities so I can pass them on in the next issue.

Robin Berrington writes: “I put together a group of 12 other theatergoing participants from the Washington, D.C., area to attend the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in July. I have attended CATF since 2004, was asked to join their board, and most recently ‘graduated’ to the honorary board. I have seen it rise in prestige and popularity over the years as it features new plays seldom or never seen before, on topical—sometimes controversial—themes and with new young casts fresh from New York or the West Coast. The New York Times has even called it one of the ten best summer festivals in the U.S., so I never have a problem assembling the group to accompany me. This time we were asked to look over a newly deconsecrated church as a future site for its activities. Everybody said it was one of the highlights of one of the best years ever.” 

News of this award for Lindsay Childs: “The University at Albany Emeritus Center recently elected Lindsay N. Childs as William L. Reese Fellow for 2024. Named after founding president and benefactor Bill Reese, the program is designed to honor to UAlbany emeriti for sustained, consequential and exemplary post-retirement professionally related contributions and achievements in scholarship and creative productions, teaching or service, in or outside the University.”

Although no longer actively practicing medicine, Robin Cook’s writing of medical mystery thrillers continues unabated with his latest entitled Bellevue, scheduled for December publication. “Strangely enough it incorporates a bit of the supernatural,” Robin reports, “which is certainly unique for me as hard science has always been the cornerstone of my stories.” He recalls that at Wesleyan, “after my first paper in freshman humanities rated a miserable C-, I felt relegated to the ‘hard sciences’ and stayed away from difficult courses like English and literature because they all involved writing, which was understandably graded on a subjective basis. On the other hand, Wesleyan encouraged me to do an Honors College distinction thesis, the experience of which was why I thought I could write my first book. Ultimately, I give Wesleyan the credit it deserves for my writing career.”  

Bill Everett sent “a little news from the Smokies as we continue aging in place in these mountains,” and included this photo of one of his beautiful hand‑turned wooden bowls “if that will help break up the page.” Other impressive examples of Bill’s handiwork, and that of his wife, Sylvia, may be viewed on their joint website, WisdomsTable.net. 

Jim Gately reported an extended cruise with his wife, Kay, during most of February and March to various parts of Asia. “We flew initially in early February to Auckland, New Zealand, and boarded the Seabourn Sojourn there a couple of days later. After spending several days exploring both North and South Islands, we headed west to Sydney, then northeast along the Great Barrier Reef, and eventually to Darwin. From there, we spent several days exploring various islands in Indonesia before steering north to the Philippines, and finally to Taiwan. We flew back to Philadelphia and home in Villanova from Taipei, arriving home jet-lagged but totally satisfied with our adventure. We learned a great deal about the history and current politics of all six countries (not five . . . this is a quiz!) we visited, met some extraordinary people, and thoroughly enjoyed all the many varieties of nature and humanity we met along the way.”

Bob Gelardi “retired” in July from his volunteer job as chairman of the Charity Relations Committee of the Destin (Florida) Charity Wine Auction Foundation, after serving for 13 years. This year the charity provided $3.5 million to 16 local children’s charities (and over $30 million since inception in 2005). Bob developed a model he would recommend for other charities to follow: “We have written agreements with each recipient charity spelling out not only their responsibilities to our Foundation and ours to theirs, but also their responsibilities to each other and the children they serve. We bring together all 16 executive directors twice a year and underscore these partnerships, and each executive director shares what they need and how they can help each other. Playground equipment, computers, and office space are among the many things they have helped each other with over the years.” Bob appended the above photo of a recognition plaque mounted by one of his charity’s grateful recipients.

John Hazlehurst reports “further evidence of our late-life dog dementia,” namely a seven-month-old Bernedoodle to join their three-year-old Chesapeake [and] a two-year-old Aussidoodle. “They’re delightful, destructive, and demanding. But they bring love and laughter to our lives and keep us from spending too much time mourning the departed. And to all classmates, drop in and see us if you’re ever in Colorado Springs. Just one request: if you come, take a few milk bones with you to bribe the canine guards at the gate.”

Jerry Rice wrote as he was “currently preparing my annual lecture to incoming graduate students at Georgetown University Medical Center. This marks 20 years of my teaching there as distinguished professor in the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and will most likely conclude this episode of my career. After 30 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, seven years subsequently with the World Health Organization in Lyon, France, and then 20 years at Georgetown, I’m finally ready to retire for good.” 

Bob Saliba reflects on his four years in a continuing care retirement facility: “We have been very, very happy here. We are in reasonably good health. I did not want to move to Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, but finally lost the domestic argument with my wife, Jenny, of over 50 years, and I consider the decision to move here to be one of the very best. I am completing my term as president of the council here. We have made many friends. It’s a different environment than living in a single-family home or apartment, but it’s worth it. Yes, the fellow residents are all old, but guess what? We’re old too.”

Rick Tuttle conveyed the great news that digital copies of the Wesleyan Argus from 1863 to 2023 are now available online at: https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/islandora/wesleyan-argus. Scroll down to our years and relive the events and issues that were consuming us then.

Chuck Work reports “I do have some news. I am running as a Democrat for the Florida State House of Representatives here in Naples. A very uphill battle. But at least I am doing something.” Previously a lifelong and active Republican, Chuck was convinced by changes in the political landscape to shift his affiliation.  

Finally, and very sadly, I received news from Hank Sprouse that his Wesleyan roommate and lifelong friend Tom Gregory passed away last December following a two‑year struggle with ALS. Tom was fine with telling people about his condition because the more people who know about it, the more likely is help for a cure. Tom had a distinguished career as a producer of award‑winning medical documentary films, and as senior vice president of Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska. His friendships from Wesleyan and Eclectic were always important to him and cherished. A full obituary is available here and a shorter one at https://www.jsonline.com/obituaries/pwix0650691.

One of the advantages of the new digital format now available to class secretaries in the Wesleyan alumnus magazine, is the use of photographs in our submissions. Sadly, two deaths are recorded for this Class Notes’ publication. 

       Spike Paranya was the first to send notification of Jack Woodbury’s death on May 22, 2024:

          “I’m so sorry to report that Jack Woodbury passed away on May 22 from cardiac arrest. He was one of our class’s finest. We shared the same career and training at UMass School of Education. We had great phone conversations over the last years about family and politics!”

         Additional information was later provided by Jack’s daughter, Sarah Woodbury ’05 and her wife, Clara Moskowitz ’05:

            “Jack greatly admired the friends and faculty he met at Wesleyan, and he often shared fond memories of the friends he made in Clark Hall, in his classes, and on sports teams. His time at Wesleyan helped inspire him to become a history teacher and later a public school administrator. Jack participated in civil rights marches in the 1960s, and racial equality and urban education became his passion. Hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak at a rally of 25,000 people in Montgomery, Alabama, and again at a small church in Chicago, were unforgettable moments for him. Jack was also thrilled to do his part when he and his wife, Janet, canvassed for Barack Obama’s campaign, and he was so excited to make it back to Wesleyan to hear Obama speak at the 2008 commencement. 

“After Wesleyan, Jack earned a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. He got involved in public education policy as chief of staff for the chancellor of the New York City schools in the 1970s and while serving as New Jersey deputy commissioner of education in the early 1990s. He spent most of his life working as a superintendent of schools in three suburban New Jersey school districts. In retirement, Jack mentored teachers in the school administrative program at SUNY New Paltz.”

            Another classmate, Lee D. Simon, died on the May 2, 2024. Lee was the parent of two Wesleyan alumni, Deirdre ’90 and Julia ’02. As described in his obituary:                    

“After receiving a BA from Wesleyan University in 1961, Lee entered a graduate program in biology at the University of Oregon and received his PhD in biology in 1966 from the University of Rochester. He joined the faculty of the Institute for Cancer Research (now Fox Chase Cancer Center) in Philadelphia as a microbiologist with a focus on the adsorption of T–even phages and breakdown of proteins in bacterial cells. He joined the faculty of the Waxman Institute at Rutgers University in 1976 and was a professor at Rutgers until his retirement in 2010. Lee was an accomplished electron microscopist: his iconic image of a bacteriophage infecting a virus (‘a phage shows its claws’) is still used in biology textbooks.”

           Peter Dybwad shares his recent update of activity: “I’m still happily at work heading the Wright Institute, an independent graduate school of professional psychology in Berkeley. I’m also happily living in a multigenerational household with two of my three children, the partner of one, and three grandchildren under four; two from one of my daughters, and one from the other. I’m walking five to six miles a day and can run and catch a bus (if necessary). My father emigrated from Germany in 1934. I fear for the future.”

And now a cryptic blurb from John Rogers.

“Think I replied before

So hope one of many

Still accepting golden aging

And trying to be trendy.”

Bob Hausman writes: “Nothing new. Just grandchildren graduating from college and high school. I am guessing that many of us are aging, as I am turning 85.” [Secretary’s note: Bob, It’s only a number. . .]      

Respectfully submitted,

Jon

In April, Peggy and Dave Hale went on a cruise from New Orleans to Memphis, during which they enjoyed good food, good music, and good people. Dave has cut back on community involvement, but still is on the Town of Sweden Planning Board and the board of the local food shelf. For something new, he did a few sermons for the Brockport Presbyterian Church, though he commented that “they are more like English classes.”

Mimi and Rob Mortimer were in Paris in spring where they observed the preparations for the Summer Olympics. As an example, the Place de la Concorde was converted into a skateboard arena with bleachers rising all round. Also, as subway stations were closed down, it became complicated to get into the Tuileries. On the way home, they spent an agreeable week in Ireland where they visited the Blarney Stone, Abbey Theater, and pubs. Their daughter, Amy ’87, was there as well to attend a wedding. Back in Boulder, Rob is preparing to go door-to-door for Kamala Harris.

David Paul Boesel passed away in Severna Park, Maryland, on June 2, 2024, after a long illness. He was passionate about civil rights throughout his life, devoting much of his time to voter registration and turnout. He was a skilled martial artist and also enjoyed swimming, workouts at the gym, scuba diving, foreign travel, and boating on the Severn River. Dave is survived by his wife, Gail, daughters, Kyle O’Connor and Alison Riso, son, Justin Boesel, his younger sister, Judy Kelly, and five beloved grandchildren. My condolences to his family and friends.

Christopher R. Campbell Jr. passed away in the San Francisco area on June 2, 2024. After attending Wesleyan, he taught algebra and English at Providence Country Day School. He subsequently went to Brown University for their MAT program. At Harvard University, he earned an MBA in consumer marketing in 1967. Chris was known for having a private consulting firm that had its office on a houseboat moored in San Francisco Bay. He learned to sail, race motorcycles, and fly airplanes. The latter gave rise to his writing software for business aviation. He is survived by his wife, Dolores, daughter, Wendy, and a grandchild. My condolences to his family and friends.