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You may recall that in our last notes I reported on David Harrison’s unexpected death. I had an amazing experience in May attending his memorial service at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. I arrived just after it started and stood in the back for a while until I spied a seat closer to the front that I could slip into unobtrusively. When Mark Allard ’74 started speaking, he named other Wesleyan friends in attendance, and I realized I had plunked down in the midst of four DKE brothers—Bill “Zim” Zimmerman ’74, Jim “Fats” Farrell ’74, Jim “Jumbo” Daley, and Dave “the Rave” Terry, all of whom had come from afar to be there. It feels odd to say that such a sad occasion turned, afterward, into a great time talking about what a complex and wonderful guy we had come to honor, our memories of life in the early days of coeducation, and half-century friendships that followed. The whole day reminded me what great company we were in during the early ’70s at Wes, how easy it is to kindle or rekindle friendships from those formative years, and what fun it is to connect with one another when we can. Dave Terry described the day as a “mixture of grief, remembered hijinks, and joy at reconnecting.”
Speaking of Dave Terry, his health report is that a TAVR aortic heart valve replacement in July had him in and out of the hospital in 24 hours and left him feeling “as if I have been gifted an additional 50 to 100K miles!” It was the wake-up call he needed to close his criminal defense practice after 45 years and more than 1,200 jury trials. Dave decided to “close up shop, live in Loreto/Ligui, Baja Sur, five or six months a year. Proud to announce I will be teaching beginning inglés classes on Fridays to the primary students in Ligui every Friday!”
The first reply to my call for Class Notes was Cathy Gorlin, who has seen separately her Kappa Alpha housemate, David Drake, and her 22 Lawn Avenue housemate, Tory Rhoden Cohen [a Smith exchange student], at the Clark Institute in Williamstown. “Both were in fine fettle,” she observed.
Michael Lehrhoff and his wife, Lisa, have raised their family and lived in the D.C. suburbs for the past 36 years. She is a retired teacher, and Michael is a (mostly) retired government attorney. They have some big plans. “We have decided to move to Santa Fe and will be bidding adieu to Maryland next April. It is an area we have visited many times, and we’re looking forward to embracing it as our new home for the balance of our retirement.” Hopefully they’ll be able to work in a visit to Middletown in late May, despite the big move. Did I mention it’s our 50th Reunion yet?
Update from Professor John Cavadini: No changes on the professional front at Notre Dame, but the grandchild count is increasing to 19 in the Cavadini clan. Can anyone top that? He reflects, “I have occasion to teach texts that I first read as an undergraduate at Wesleyan. I’m a little amazed and also grateful that someone had the patience to teach such texts to us undergrads. I am amused by the marginal notations of my 19-year-old self. It’s also poignant because I don’t think the Wesleyan that I knew exists anymore, judging from the materials we receive.” That sounds like an interesting conversation to explore at our Reunion. Will we see you there, John?
Also in academia is Andrew Barnes. His two news items are: 1) publication of his co-edited (with Toyin Falola) volume, The Palgrave Handbook of Christianity in Africa from Apostolic Times to the Present; and 2) his recent appointment as head of the history faculty in Arizona State University’s School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies in Tempe. He adds, “I look forward to seeing everyone next spring.”
Back in Middletown, here’s what’s going on with Amy Bloom. “I’m glad to be alive and healthy. Still working and writing and now retired from teaching at Wesleyan, after a long, wonderful run. Just sold a mystery that is set at “Cromwell University” located in “Centerville.” An unpopular English professor is bludgeoned to death with a bronze bust of Nathaniel Hawthorne. THAT was fun! I’ll see folks at the reunion, including, I hope Leslie Brett ’76 and June Jeffries, my beloved roomies.”
Across the country, Bonnie (Hunter) Samuels sent me some of her highlights. She retired from the geophysical fluid dynamic lab in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2016 and almost immediately moved to Creswell, Oregon. Bonnie and her husband, Stewart, have been traveling as much and as safely as possible. But most importantly for her, their son, Ryan, and his wife, Zara, married in 2022 and now have a little boy, Leon. Bonnie’s delighted that Leon and his parents have relocated to Oregon, because she loves being an active grandma. She and Debbie Kosich keep in touch with phone calls and, better yet, visits when possible.
I was so pleased Deborah Appel wrote this summer: “HelIo, Class of 1975! I live in Burien, Washington, a small town south of Seattle overlooking Puget Sound. My husband, Sam, and I moved here from Modesto in 2007 and love living in the Pacific Northwest. We have two kids, Sara and Ehud. Sara lives in Israel with her husband and two boys. Ehud lives in California with his wife and daughter. Sam is mostly retired from a career in psychiatry. I never had much of a career beyond teaching ESL and basic skills classes for a few years, but I did a lot of volunteering in the community and was active in our synagogue and our kids’ schools. I love walking in this beautiful and scenic area, cooking, and spending time with friends and family, and I’m involved in two storytelling groups. We visit our daughter in Israel once or twice a year and our son in California every three months, but now that granddaughter Sophia is getting bigger, they will be coming up here to visit starting at Thanksgiving. YAY! I look forward to reading about all of you and seeing your photos.”
Dennis Chin provided a full report on his career and family. An orthopedic surgeon, he retired from Kaiser Permanente after 31 years and then has worked part time for the Veteran’s Administration for the past eight years. Dennis has volunteered as an Oral Board examiner for the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons and participated in giving their annual exam for 25 consecutive years. He says, “I joined the navy reserves two months shy of age 63 while still working for the VA . . . . Updated retirement rules have recently allowed me to return to Kaiser four days a month. I now enjoy working with some of my former colleagues, as well as one of my daughters who is a physician assistant in the same orthopedic department that I was in for so many years!
“In the navy, I was promoted to the rank of commander some years ago, equivalent to lieutenant colonel in the other military branches. The military has definitely been an adventure! In April 2020 I was called up with about 48 hours’ notice to quarantine in San Diego for two weeks before heading to Gaum to care for sailors of the aircraft carrier Roosevelt. I packed my tropical clothes, limited to a backpack and sea bag. After five days, however, they released me from quarantine and sent me to New York City instead, arriving in late April. Definitely NOT tropical weather! I was in a group called Operation Gotham that deployed to seven NYC public hospitals, and I worked in the Coney Island overflow ICU. Great experience, but at age 66 I was VERY worried about contracting COVID. Fortunately, despite hit or miss PPE and no vaccine, most of us escaped infection. More recently I returned from a three-week deployment to the Solomon Islands for the Pacific Games, berthing on the USNS Mercy hospital ship from mid-November until December 2023. Sadly, I will be separating from the navy this November after eight years, but it has been a great experience serving alongside our sailors and marines!
“My family continues to grow. Five of our eight children are now married. There are six grandchildren, and I am sure there will be more to come! The kids ask me when I will retire. I tell them ‘When it is not fun anymore!’ Truly, it is satisfying to make people better with one’s hands and knowledge, and to mentor younger doctors, nurses, medical and nurse practitioner students, and navy corpsmen.”
I’m seeing a lot of Reunion Committee members on Zoom these days, including the indefatigable Steve McCarthy. He’s quite involved in documentary filmmaking these days. “For the past 13 years, I have been one of three partners at Quixotic Endeavors (www.quixoticendeavors.com) where we have funded/produced/distributed eight movies—all on iconic brands (e.g., Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany, The Carlyle Hotel) or iconic individuals (e.g., Harry Benson, Alan Pakula). This fall/winter, we are releasing two 90-minute films on Bob Mackie (the costume designer associated with Cher/Carol Burnett) and Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist/musical partner of 53 years). Oddly enough, when I first got involved in 2011, it was our late classmate Seth Gelblum who I sought out for advice and guidance. Seth’s partners at Loeb and Loeb still represent us!”
As for your class secretary, I enjoyed a visit in May from Risa Korn, and we got Martha (Faller) Brown to come over from Berkeley for brunch. Professionally, I’m happily continuing my consulting practice that guides nonprofit organizations on strategy, policy, board governance and development, leadership training, and transition planning. I believe that consulting is best done by those who actually also get their hands dirty in the type of work they advise others about, so I joined the Board of Trustees of Hidden Villa (https://www.hiddenvilla.org/) and was elected chair in June. Celebrating its centennial this year, Hidden Villa is an environmental education, regenerative farming, and wilderness preservation organization that manages 1,600 mostly undeveloped acres. It serves about 50,000 people a year and sits at the edge of Silicon Valley. The mission spoke to me, the history and commitment to social justice inspired me, and the people and place delight me. On the personal front, after five years of closure for COVID, fire, or massive snow problems, Yosemite reopened its Tuolumne Meadows High Sierra Camp, where we’ve spent a week or more almost every summer of the past 25. Our stay this year was extra special, both because of the years we couldn’t go and because we celebrated our son Ethan’s wedding to his beloved Amanda on the banks of the Tuolumne River. We did it in high style for the wilderness—our small family and two guests walking to the site in wedding finery and hiking boots, carrying our own picnic lunch (including a wedding cake in the shape of a bear). The evening “reception” was dinner at the Whoa Nelly Deli, otherwise known in our family as the Gourmet Gas Station (Mobil), a 45-minute drive away at the eastern foot of the Sierras. We’ll have a larger wedding celebration with family and friends in a more accessible spot next summer, though the river and gas station venues were very meaningful for us and will forever be part of family lore.
Late-breaking item: Retired Judge Moore, known to us as JD, has published a very readable article in Bloomberg Law on principles for successful mediation at https://news.bloomberglaw.com.
Keep those news items coming. I hope that these notes help remind you of the people, experiences, and intellectual growth that Wesleyan brought to your life. And I hope that will inspire you to take advantage of virtual and in-person opportunities to reconnect and continue our learning in our 50th Reunion Year. I’m looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it next May.
CYNTHIA M. ULMAN | cmu.home@cmugroup.com
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