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We have lots of news from Mike McKenna, who tells me that as he speeds toward his 75th year, “life continues to be interesting and enjoyable.” In April, he accompanied Vermont governor Peter Shumlin ’79 on a trip to visit schools in China, encouraging exchange students regardless of the current political climate. He writes, “Here we are with leaders of the highly regarded Nanjing Foreign Language School. Although not representing Wes in any formal way, we did leave Cardinal pennants at each campus we visited, which were well received.” He said later that month marked the 100th anniversary of Wesleyan men’s soccer on campus. Generations of former Cardinals attended and held career workshops with current players and played some lively alumni games. “I wisely did not bring my boots,” he said. Mike also said the busy day was “followed by dinner. Alums from the mid-60s on, including Rick Edwards in our class, Dr. Skip Nelson ’74, and former captain Dr. Pete Barnett ’72, who remembered taking my family on my first tour of campus with my folks and Coach Terry Jackson in 1969.”
Mike also said through the leadership of co-chair Steve Levin ’75, “I’m happy to report more than $1 million has been raised by soccer alumni for our team endowment and for the athletic department. Wesleyan ranked 20th for total team wins in the country out of more than 400 D3 schools. Mike Whalen ’83 was deservedly named national Athletics Director of the Year. Having met former Wes athletes like Red Travis, Class of 1918, when I was an undergrad, I realize I’m now as old compared to current students as Red was to me way back then. And he seemed ancient! But that’s a century’s worth of one degree of separation which, is kind of cool.”
In May, Rick and Mike met again, along with classmate Rich Jasper, for lunch when he had to repay a lost bet on the Celtics versus the Knicks in this year’s NBA playoffs. Mike also said that our class’s Ahrens Award winner and our former teammate, John Hoder, attended the 50th anniversary of the United States Rugby Union Golden Gala in Washington, D.C., followed by a match between the men’s national team, the Eagles, hosting England, and our women’s team taking on Fiji.
My many thanks to Mike for being such an incredible correspondent over the years, and I have to say I cannot get enough of his many wonderful photos posted on Facebook celebrating moments from Vermont.
We also heard from Jim Powers, who reports that he and his wife, Martha, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary May 24 with friends and family at Rose Vineyards in Branford, Connecticut. Congratulations, Jim and Martha!
Our world traveler and another faithful correspondent, Steve Young, reports that he is “still actively retired in Londonderry, New Hampshire, after a more than 33-year career in the American diplomatic corps, culminating as an American ambassador. Glad I am not still in government as the [current administration] has steadily shredded the offices I worked in.”
My former hockey teammate from freshman year, Bill Burke, has some news from Colorado. He tells me that he and Tim Mooney are working on a note about the Duke Snyder Endowment that has been established to honor Dave “Duke” Snyder’s 33 years of service to Wesleyan as the first varsity hockey coach. Bill says, “The money will go directly to supporting men’s hockey in multiple ways, including off-loading Coach Chris Potter of current duties, like fundraising, that aren’t directly related to coaching and recruiting.” Nice work Bill and Tim.
Michael Fossel has been prolific. He writes, “I’m finishing my eighth book (almost every one of them was nonfiction, except for a novel under an alias). My agent is shopping this one around this month: Longevity—A Future beyond Aging. Should be out next year. I’m also contracted as the editor and senior author of another textbook for World Scientific for the year after that, with academics from around the world: Aging and Age-Reversal: The Prospects for Curing Age-Related Diseases. That will be my ninth and (hopefully) last book, as my time is now taken up with our biotech company. We now have full funding and will be moving ahead full speed.” How time flies. It seems like yesterday that we read his book Reversing the Aging Process.
Charles Cocores gathered with Wes friends in New Hampshire at Peter Cross’s house.
I am hoping to slow the aging process as I continue reporting for the CBS–owned TV station in Doral near Miami. We have been able to make some trips to Colorado where my youngest daughter, Holly, has become a nationally known bookbinder in Highlands Ranch, not far from Bill Burke in Centennial, and where she also teaches bookbinder courses in Telluride. We have also gone up to Virginia where my oldest daughter, Jennifer, is an elementary school and Sunday school teacher in Gloucester (near Williamsburg) along with my oldest granddaughter, Taylor, who is also an elementary school teacher right next to where my youngest granddaughter, Zoey, attends middle school. My middle daughter, Dana, still runs a hair salon near downtown Fort Lauderdale called Hair by Dana and is constantly working social media to find new clients amid these competitive times.
Until next time,
PETER D’OENCH | pgdo10@aol.com