CLASS OF 1974 | 2026 | FALL ISSUE

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John Gardner, one of the nation’s most influential coaches in the history of high school and prep school hockey, died on December 20, 2025. John compiled 867 wins and nine New England championships since beginning his coaching career at Avon Old Farms in 1975. He was inducted in the Avon Old Farms Hall of Fame in May. He coached more than 30 NHL Draft picks and more than 100 NCAA Division I hockey players. His 867 wins are the most in New England prep school hockey history. He also led Avon Old Farms to 13 Founders League titles.

During his time at Avon Old Farms, John served many roles, including teacher of mathematics, director of athletics, provost, and associate headmaster, as well as coaching football, hockey, and baseball.

John played baseball and hockey at Wesleyan. He was a four-year starting infielder for the baseball team and was the starting goalie for Wesleyan’s first varsity hockey team in the 1971–72 season, when he recorded a 2.80 GAA (goals against average). He was inducted in the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.

A recipient of the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance’s Gold Key in 2010, John is also a member of the Tri-State Baseball League’s Hall of Fame. He competed for 25 years in the league after graduation from Wesleyan. He is a past recipient of the John Mariucci Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association, its highest honor for a secondary school coach.

Lyn Thurber Lauffer reports, “I had a wonderful reunion with my best friend from high school in Middlebury this past weekend, at a memorial service for her mom, who passed away last December. My friend, Lisa, and her husband live in Houston, but have a home in Park City as well, and I have always dreamed of visiting there again (as I did in the ’80s, when I was working for the Jay Peak ski school, and they sent me out there for a conference). I’ll never forget skiing the back bowls! (Would my knees still be happy to do so??)”

Bob Baum shares, “It was great to see you at our 50th. I have finally started phased retirement. I have a sabbatical for the next year and then move to half-time teaching. As long as students and I both enjoy that I will continue. And lots of new books to write.  I spent some time in the beautiful country of Cape Verde, a series of volcanic islands with a total population of half a million—smaller than Vermont. Also, our youngest daughter had her first child and our first granddaughter.”

Monique Witt reports, “Busy times for us. Dev is shipping new product lines introduced at NAMM and AXPONA. The reviews have been tremendous. The labs have shifted manufacturing overseas and that, and perfecting the provisional tech patents, has eaten his time. He and Ben finished work on Laura Anglade’s upcoming album (Ben’s trio backs her, and Dev engineered it), and the brothers will produce and record the fourth Nebula album in August (this time Ben’s Brazilian compositions with the Brazilian crew). Ben has been touring with Rickie Lee Jones, Catherine Russell, and Laura, and with the Nebula Project (his sextet) and his trio. The Longest Way Round, the third Nebula Project album released in February, received 4.5 stars from DownBeat and was an editor’s pic. 

“Steven decided to go ‘of counsel’ in January to spend more time with the boys as their careers have become more demanding. I’m still involved with album production, doing more marketing and design work, working at the labs, and serving on a board. All good.”

Bill Pearson shares, “Still living in Rye, New York, and Ledyard, Connecticut. I still work with Contemporary Leadership Advisors and as a board member of several not-for-profit organizations—Young Audiences Arts for Learning (chair), the Osborn, National Council for the Traditional Arts, City Lore, Inc. Jane is managing our gang (with reasonable success) and writing poetry. Our eldest son, Nate, was married to Raegan Allsbrook two years ago in our backyard. Howe ’12 is a musician in New Orleans; his primary bands are the Deslondes, Ocean Boyfriend, LSD Clownsystem, and Twisted Teens. Henry in completing his MA at Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a math teacher, squash pro, and musician (Uncle Skunk). All are doing fine.”

Wayne Forrest reports, “Our daughter, Jamie, had our first grandchild in July. Knowing our life would change, my wife, Jean, and I spent three weeks in May traveling around Switzerland by bus, train, and boat—backpack plus a roll-on—like we were in our 20s. I picked hotels walking distance from the train stations (Montreaux, Wengen, Zermatt, St. Moritz, Lugano, Lucerne, Weggis). It worked out fine except Zermatt, where we were on the fifth floor with no elevator. We might have had our best Chinese meal in Zermatt, which is saying a lot given our proximity to NYC.

“The scenery was fabulous, weather gods were mostly with us, and we got to speak snippets of French, German, and Italian. Throughout the trip I was reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein, who spent a good part of his early adulthood as in Switzerland. He was a patent clerk at the end of the 19th century, when all kinds of inventions for clocks and other time-related devices came through his office. That legacy of punctuality lives on as we never missed a connection—trains/buses were always on time. Perhaps the Swiss obsession with time led him to relativity?  

“During the summer outdoor concert season, I get to play the tuba, one of my joys, in bands and orchestras several times a week under the stars. At the end of August, I connected [with] alums at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival where Lloyd Komesar was still running the show.”

In 2025, Charisse Lillie was honored by The Committee of Seventy with its 2025 Women in Public Leadership Award. In September 2026, Charisse’s memoir, Upon a Turning Stage: Life Lessons of a Mentee, Mentor and Ally, was released. Wesleyan figures prominently in the book.

On a sad note, Charisse’s husband of 43 years, Thomas McGill Jr. passed away after a long battle with cancer. A graduate of Notre Dame Law School, Tom was a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Philadelphia.

And our class was represented on a rainy, spring Saturday at Reunion in May. Folks I saw included Alfreda Gaither, Arthur Gaither ’75, Glenn Petersen, Pam van der Meulen, Lyn Thurber Lauffer, John Shapiro, Karla Bell, and Richard Orentzel ’73 (who spends time with our class!) Most of the folks (female and male!) came to the Women at Wesleyan Gathering, which I hosted. The Gathering focused on alums’ memories of co-education, including women transfers starting in 1968 and all students from 1970 to the present.

SHARON PURDIE | spurdie@wesleyan.edu