CLASS OF 1982 | 2024 | FALL ISSUE

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Dearest Classmates:

We have a bit more space this issue as it will be entirely online, so a lot to catch up on, mostly as it was sent to us. Some things to mourn, many transitions, and some hopeful updates. Please have a read.

We are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Dr. Carol Evans. Carol had a 30-year career in international security and was the director of the Strategic Studies Institute at the United States Army War College. The army embraced strategies she developed for countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. She advised the director of Central Intelligence, the National Ground Intelligence Center, and the Defense Science Board. Carol was in Wesleyan’s program in Ghana in 1981–1982 when a coup d’etat and martial law shut down the university outside Accra. A fellow student in the program remembers Carol as the cool, organized presence who helped get the Wesleyan folks back home safely. In addition to her academic and policy work, Carol also found time to teach economics to master’s students at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and to travel widely with her daughter, Fiona.

Eric Sack ’83 is retiring from his full-time faculty position in the English department at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Eric spent the 1980s as an investigative reporter in New York City, and his experiences living in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn led him to leave journalism to pursue education with a focus on inner-city and disenfranchised students, leading him to SCC. He writes that his most gratifying accomplishments at SCC will always be watching students gain confidence in their ability to use written English as they work toward a more fulfilling and productive life for themselves and their families. He hopes to continue part time in the fall in the writing center while he helps raise identical twin granddaughters.

Mark Sirota writes, “I left my job as general counsel of Trusted Media Brands after 30 years at the company and am taking the summer for some rest and relaxation before planning the rest of my life. I continued my ‘old men watching older men’ perform while the older men are still alive concert tour with James Taylor at Tanglewood, The Rolling Stones at MetLife, and Billy Joel’s 150th and final concert of his residency at Madison Square Garden, where he was joined by Axl Rose. I was in Washington, D.C., in July to celebrate my twins’ 21st!! birthdays with them, where I was hosted by Anthony Pahigian and his wife, Gordana.”

Reina Galanes moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. In October 2021, she retired from careers in health-care insurance administration and instructional design. Two years later, she joined End of Life Choices California (EOLCCA) as a volunteer. The mission of this nonprofit organization is to provide Californians with information and support to successfully navigate their legal end-of-life options, including medical aid-in-dying. Reina says, “Talking about death is the proverbial elephant in the room. Our lives are unpredictable and so are the timing and manner of our deaths. What is important to you? What do you want to happen? What do you not want to happen? Have you shared your end-of-life wishes with your loved ones? It’s never too soon and can always be too late. It’s your life, your death, your choice.”

John Robinson writes, “Our adult kids are all doing great. Maya [Sonenberg]’s latest book, Bad Mothers, Bad Daughters, came out last year, and she is working a book now about Merce Cunningham. (Maya is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Washington.) In my retirement, I think I’m busier than before: now doing the business side of the arts for all who need it—producing, advising and supporting performance art, choreography, music, and now film too. You can see a couple of films I’ve executive produced. They are currently streaming (on Prime) and elsewhere: Thin Skin (director: Charles Mudede) about the life of a Seattle jazz trumpeter; and Anu (director: Sudeshna Sen), a coming-of-age story for the whole family (I have a small role in this one). And more to come soon with new episodes of Uncertain Detective series, and a film of the Kronos Quartet’s final concert together in San Francisco.”

Patty Smith writes “I spent 10 days of June in residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) working on my newest novel-in-progress. And in July, my wife, Cindy, and I headed to New England for vacation. Highlights included a delightful dinner with Ginny Pye and John Ravenal ’81 at their lovely home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a fabulous get-together with Terry Cowdrey and Laura Fine Warren at Laura’s home in Massachusetts.” Patty is still teaching American literature and creative writing at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg, Virginia, and still writing. 

Carlos Hoyt wrote to let us know he has a book coming out in November/December (with his colleague, Minna Ham), Diversity Without Divisiveness: A Guide to DEI Practice for K-12 Educators.

Cary Dier, technical editor in the Operational Evaluation Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), is a recipient this year of the 2023 W. Y. Smith Award, named in honor of General William Y. Smith, who led IDA for five years.

Emilie Attwell keeps going as a psychiatrist in Texas. “Life is great right now. I came to New Mexico to escape the heat, and it turns out I escaped Hurricane Beryl as well! It is a working vacation. Work starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. As long as I have Wi-Fi and privacy, I can work!”

David Hessekiel sent a nice update. “Last fall I sold Engage for Good, the corporate social impact conference and digital resource that I started 23 years ago. I consulted to the new owner, a terrific social entrepreneur 25 years my junior, until this May’s conference, at which they were kind enough to present me with a lifetime achievement award. (And, no, that honor doesn’t mean I have some sort of terminal illness—thank goodness.) 

“At 64 I’m far from retired, but I am enjoying the much more relaxed pace of overseeing one instead of two conference businesses—the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum—and the time that opens up for other pursuits. Besides tennis, pickleball, and swimming, it has meant a return to my journalistic roots. As luck would have it, a neighbor bought our local newspaper last fall and I’m a regular contributor. Incredibly exciting was covering the Democratic congressional primary race this spring between incumbent Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer, which attracted more political spending than any such contest in American history.”

Here is the photo of David at the Engage for Good conference this year.

And for a next generation thing, Ellen (Friedman) and Sam Bender joined Ellen’s father, Joe Friedman ’52, for the graduation of their daughter (and Joe’s granddaughter), Eliza in May. They got mentioned in the Class of ’52 Notes last issue for the musical Eliza directed at Wes in April, but I thought it right to stick them in here for us.

I really like letting people know that they have room to write, since we have space for 2000 words, as it turns out that people will really send updates. We’re so glad to share them with you.

LAURA FRASER | laura@laurafraser.com

MICHAEL OSTACHER | mostacher@gmail.com