CLASS OF 1982 | 2025 |FALL ISSUE
1982 ARCHIVES | HOME
← 1981 | 1983 →
Dearest classmates:
I’m going to keep this long and in as many original words as they let me. It’s a time for all our voices to be heard as the years go quickly by. There’s a lot a change and tenderness in there and I hope you appreciate it.
I must start with the most delicious piece of news from Beck Lee: “I wanted to let our classmates know that I have gotten the ball rolling to do a WESeminar on O’Rourke’s Diner with my old boss, Brian O’Rourke, for an upcoming reunion.” I would travel for that.
Beck also sent this piece of history and remembrance:
“I wanted to let you both know that very recently Barbara Woike ’79 told me that she was enlisting the help of several friends to learn about the final years of one of Middletown’s most notable citizens—Katherine ‘Sissy’ Wells, who was by far and away Middletown’s ‘best hairdresser in town.’ Barbara had photographed Katherine for her senior thesis, and she asked me if I had ever seen or met her. ‘Met her?’ I laughed. . . . ‘She invited me to her room in the Arriwani Hotel! She had me over for tea!’
“Barbara’s focus was to get Katherine, who was a transgender pioneer in that she heroically lived her truth as a fashion-savvy woman in Middletown from the ’50s (when she closed her hair salon on Main Street) all the way to the ’80s, during which time she cut hair in people’s homes. Lots of homes!
“She was a ubiquitous presence on Main Street—tall, elegantly dressed at all times, in heels, with an astronomically big beehive hairdo. She was a regular at the Woolworth’s off Washington and also at O’Rourke’s Diner, where I met her and we became friends. Anyway, there’s a lot to report on this matter, but the main things are that Barbara hosted a gathering in Katherine’s honor at The Buttonwood Tree during Pride Week and has organized a ceremony to place a marker at her grave (which Barbara and her colleagues discovered) on August 29 and a play reading of a play about Katherine by Beth Harpaz (and directed by Diana Moller-Marino at CNTER). I’m so happy this all is happening. Truly Middletown is all abuzz about this. Hundreds of people have posted on Facebook vivid memories of Katherine. I’m so proud of Barbara. . . and of Katherine!”
From Terri Seligman: “Aside from the daily nervous breakdown when I read the news, I’m good. Still lawyering and still enjoying lawyering, remarkably enough. I did pass the reins for chairing my department, after 15 years of doing it, and that was an excellent decision—a lot less stress.” And more time for music: “I continue to play in two Brazilian percussion groups and love it. And I had the wonderful experience of running into Rob Levin ’81 at a music festival where we were both performing. I hadn’t seen Rob since African drumming class, where he was a huge inspiration for me. . . . Very cool to see him and hear him and his group play.” And Terri adds something many of us agree on: “Very proud of President Roth and his principled positions on the current political climate.”
Catharine Arnold writes, “I am still working as a rheumatologist in Guilford, Connecticut, although I take Fridays off now, as my husband, John Bozzi ’79, and I now have four grandchildren—Luca, William, Ellie, and Daphne. We babysit William and Daphne on Fridays and take the train down to Philadelphia to help out with Luca and Ellie every two months or so.” And some words worth reading: “The grandchildren are keeping us going, in these stressful times for our country, although it’s hard not to worry about what life will be like for them when they grow up.”
Gregory Ward, a physician in Baton Rouge, works daily to restore and enhance the functional abilities of individuals who have experienced brain injuries and was invited by the NFL Players Association and the NFL commissioner to discuss an innovative approach to brain recovery and rehabilitation, discussing “how chess analysis can play a pivotal role in aiding athletes’ recovery journeys—especially in the brain.” He was covered in this piece: https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/louisiana_health/chess-for-brain-injuries-in-louisiana/article_b8973998-b54c-4535-833d-94b243d36739.html
Liz Wilks sent a catch up: “Moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 2023, which I love, but finding it challenging to be so far from family and cherished friends. One daughter in is London, the other is in LA, so the three continents straddle is . . . a stretch. Still managing to keep Call to Adventure Media going and teaching TV writing at Melbourne University. I regularly catch up with many beloved Wes friends—Sasha Alpert all over the globe (pictured), Dan Greenberger in LA, and Peter Blauner and Diane Kolyer in NYC.”
Virginia (Ginny) Pye was brief! Perhaps a bit worn out from this: She has a new novel, Marriage and Other Monuments, coming out in February. Nice work, Ginny!
More publications, as Jeannie Gagne’sfourth book was released in May, with Berklee Press: Vocal Production and Recording. “It’s co-authored with Grammy-winning engineer, my dear friend, and Berklee colleague, Prince Charles Alexander. I’m still a voice prof at Berklee College of Music (Boston), 25 years later! Where do the years go?!! Spent time recently with dear friends Marcy Mariona (neé Neiterman) and Kim Traub Ribbens.”
On June 29, Steve Budd performed his solo show Oy, What They Said About Love, a Jewish take on love, romance, and marriage, in Cambridge. “Good friends from the Community Services House attended: David Preston ’81 and Janet (Lambert) Preston ’83, and Marc Gold ’81 and his wife, Alison Paul (they met at Wes when Alison spent her junior year there from Smith).” More to come.
Steven Maizes’ twins, Benjamin and Olivia, graduated from Brown and UCLA, respectively.
Maya Sonenberg writes, “John Robinson and I had the real treat of returning to Wesleyan for our daughter’s (Phoebe Robinson ’25) graduation in May. How much the place has changed; how much it’s stayed the same. An enormous military helicopter buzzed the ceremony during all the pro-democracy graduation speeches.” No helicopter buzzed our ceremony, if memory serves. Well, who knows, we were in the hockey rink.
Speaking of which, my COL classmate, Joe Fins, was honored by giving two commencement addresses this year. “The first was at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin and the second at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) where they gave me an honorary Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc), which was pretty cool. It was in the Panther Hockey Rink in Milwaukee, and it reminded me of our graduation when we were rained out on Dennison Terrace.”
Other honors and awards from Matthew Capece, also with meaning: “The Labor Employer Research Association awarded me, as a senior attorney for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the 2025 Practitioner Fellow Award countering wage theft and worker exploitation in the construction industry.” Bravo.
Sharon Marable, a primary care physician in Sharon, Massachusetts, writes that she has been honored by the Middlesex West District Medical Society and the Massachusetts Medical Society as its 2025 Community Clinician of the Year, celebrating physicians who make significant contributions to patients and the community.
A not-quite-retirement and a real retirement from Carson Milgroom, with some generosity at the end: “Most everything is the same. . . . still live in Newton, Massachusetts, not quite retired from a 20-plus year job in the waterproofing business, now as sales manager and project executive. Recently retired from a 25-year career in highly competitive adult baseball (yes baseball, not softball), playing lots of golf. Letting go of baseball made time and space for getting back into working with Insight Boston leading personal growth trainings; check out insightboston.org (see The Creating Success Program—CSP). I saw Steve Mooney ’81 this spring and threw a Frisbee with him after all these years. There was a Nietzsche Factor reunion (the Wes ultimate Frisbee club) on campus in May. I passed along an original team T-shirt I’d been stewarding for 40 years.”
Patty Smith writes, “The plan is to retire at the end of the school year, 2026. This will end a 40-year teaching career, I think it’s time! Otherwise, still living in Chester, Virginia, with my wife, Cindy. We love being grandmothers! (Our granddaughter turns seven in October). I had two knee replacements this spring/summer, one in March and the other in June! I hate that it’s my big news, but there you go.” I feel you on this, Patty.
An almost retirement from Danny Softness: “After sort of retiring during COVID after 30 years in the franchise and real estate world, my wife, Ellen, and I bought Strippaggio, a small olive oil and balsamic vinegar business located here in Atlanta. And suddenly, I’m not so retired and loving growing our new venture. And eating much better!” Lovely.
And a real one: “Hi! It’s Barbara Malley Chandler. I am fully retired from a career of newspaper publishing, freelance graphic design, and general wordsmithing, but still playing Scrabble with Lisa Greim ’81 (the one on the right in the photo). We met during my freshman year in Butterfield B’s East College when Lisa and her sophomore hallmates hosted a room-to-room cocktail party. Lisa made whiskey sours, and I made a friend for life. I still live on the East Coast (now in Plymouth, Massachusetts) and Lisa lives near Denver. Among the many blessings of age and retirement is more in-person time with distant friends.”
I got to have dinner with Sam Bender and Fred Pelzman in NYC, both still working (a lot!) as physicians. And Ellen (Friedman) Bender invited me to see Maybe Happy Ending, hosted by co-producer Jeffrey Richards ’69, along with her parents, Joe Friedman ’52 (pictured with me) and her mom, Barbara. I thought, “This has got to win a Tony. . . .” It won six.
It’s a delight to be able to hang out with your co-secretary, Laura, and her husband, Peter Eckart ’84 now and then in the Bay Area, even for impossibly old birthdays, and at the odd Wes events in San Francisco, too!
LAURA FRASER | laura@laurafraser.com
MICHAEL OSTACHER | mostacher@gmail.com