CLASS OF 1983 | 2026 | SPRING ISSUE
1983 ARCHIVES | HOME
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Our class hasn’t had a secretary for a while, so—miraculously or foolishly—I, Marion Wilson, volunteered. I was partly motivated by a desire to reconnect with friends I haven’t heard from or seen represented in the magazine (I wasn’t even receiving the class notes email myself!). So, here we are. By way of introduction: I’m living in Brooklyn, working as an artist, teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, and running a seasonal project space on a refurbished houseboat on Martha’s Vineyard (come visit!). Many Wesleyan friends have visited me there including Kay McCabe, Andrea Smith, Lyle Aston Harris ’88, Mary Freeman, Dan Haar ’81, Abby Carter, and Alice Appley ’82.
Aviva Goldstein writes: “I am retired but engaged in public health projects and volunteering with immigrants; continuing to swim in open water (Rockaways)/pools (three to four miles a week); traveling, mostly by bike. Living in New York, where I get around almost entirely by bike. My new ‘retirement activities’ are creative writing, learning Spanish, and ping pong—all humbling. Most of my life, I would read a short story and say, ‘I could do that.’ Not so easy. Need my 10,000 hours. May need 20,000 for ping pong. My husband is my buddy on traveling, biking, Spanish, ping pong, and life. My two boys are mensches, giving me hope for the future.”
Marc Mowrey writes: “I worked as volunteer professor for two months in the philology department at the National University of Lviv in Ukraine. Air raid sirens, bomb shelters, and memorials to fallen heroes are a regular part of life in Ukraine. Everyone has been touched by loss. From my window overlooking a church, I often heard a military band playing a dirge for a killed son or daughter of Lviv. Despite the losses, my hundreds of students remained upbeat, hardworking, and in good spirits—future leaders of the free world!”
Sue Peabody has put her COL degree to work teaching European history at Washington State University Vancouver, near Portland, Oregon, for the past 30 years. Currently on her (final?) sabbatical, funded by a Humboldt Research Award, she is living in Bremen and Berlin for six months. Watch for her forthcoming graphic memoir, Many Names: The Life Journey of a Sudanese Poet (LSU Press series, Noire/e: Race and Belonging in the Afro-French World, 2026), with author Moneim Rahama and illustrator Lena M.
Andrea Smith shared that as an anthropologist she has been teaching at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, since 1999. She researches memory, forgetting, and colonialism. Her latest book, Memory Wars, looks at how an assault on the Haudenosaunee during the Revolutionary War is remembered today. She has a fabulous 18-year-old son and lives in rural New Jersey. And she celebrates her first time writing into our Class Notes.
Megan Norris writes she has stepped down from being the first female CEO of her law firm (Miller Canfield, the oldest firm in Detroit), although they seem to find plenty for her to do so still goes to work every day. For the first time since 1986, when she takes a vacation, she will really be on vacation. Megan writes, “We intentionally go places where we have plausible deniability regarding phone access. Both my husband and our daughter, Taylor Matthew ’17, are in education and have summers off. I am told that next up is the full Camino de Santiago.”
Karyn Ellis writes with both good and bad news. Her 17-year-old daughter broke four bones in her back while training in freeride skiing, then her mother passed away at age 90 in the fall. However, as scoutmaster of a male/female (aka brother/sister) Scout troop in California, “we got our first four girls to the Eagle rank in 2025.” The nonprofit she founded two years ago to help Evyn’s ski team has done well. Competitive tennis, gardening, skiing, yoga, settling her mother’s estate, and multiple pets take up what little time remains.
Jaime Grant is finally empty nesting having sent her late-life baby off to Waseda University in Tokyo this fall. She released Polyamory for Dummies at the beginning of 2025, and debuted Kink for Dummies in November ’25. Her latest health report on LGBTQ+ women, What’s Killing Us?, was released in October through the National Center for LGBTQ Rights in San Francisco. She’s looking forward to an artists’ residency in Hyannis on Cape Cod this winter.
Lynn Ogden says: “Ralph and I enjoyed a blessed year with the arrival of our first granddaughter, Luana Adé. And her aunt [our daughter], Emi Ogden-Fung ’19, and Ian Brok eloped to Colorado in June. They moved east in November, and Emi is with a start-up in NYC. We were able to celebrate Emi’s nuptials in September and the holidays together in Ohio.”
Claire Gleitman writes: “I’m currently serving as dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Ithaca College, where I’m also professor in the department of English—and I continue to regularly teach my favorite course, which I call Dangerous Women in Drama. My husband, now retired, and I live contentedly in Ithaca, New York.”
Suzanne Smith shares: “I live with my son in northeast Los Angeles and work at an elementary school in a nearby community. Grateful for Medicare—one of the very few perks of aging—and a Wesleyan education in European imperialism and Latin American history. Thanks, Wesleyan, for your continuing commitment to the humanities and social sciences in the face of raging anti-intellectualism.”
Lisa Kennedy says: “I am celebrating my 25th year as a residential Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Hollywood, Florida. And hard to believe that I am about to begin my 40th year living in southeast Florida! Yet, my heart still belongs to my New England–Boston roots and, as such, I enjoyed a beautiful fall trip to Vermont, as well as trips to New York (to visit my daughter, who lives in Astoria), a trip to North Carolina, and a cruise to Iceland. My next big trip, and topping my bucket list, is a fall cruise to Japan. Hopefully some of the four years of studying Japanese at Wes will resurface to my frontal cortex and guide me somewhat.”
Steve Hubbell writes: “I live in Brooklyn. I direct a fellowship program at Open Society in New York, supporting the work of public intellectuals in seven global cities. I have three kids: one son who is finishing up at Oberlin, a daughter studying acupuncture, and a younger son who will be a freshman at Brown in September.”
Nicholas Herold: “We operate in and out of a gorgeous Second Empire Victorian in Portland,” that has a hot tub and a pool. “[We] have had the pleasure (and rarely otherwise) of meeting and hosting lovely and interesting people. We’ve met people from all over the world, including from both sides of the equator, and dream of starting a humorous podcast for our amusement and possibly for the amusement and edification of others. We are happy to offer all Wesleyan alumni a 10% discount on stays.”
Eileen Kelly-Aguirre has finally extricated herself from paid employ and is happily spending the school year with her husband in Pacific Grove, California. Come the new year, she will be the daytime “granny nanny” for her first grandchild, supporting her daughter’s return to her DEI leadership work at Stevenson. They will return to northwest Connecticut come summer, with an eye to relocating back to Spain in the near future with the extended family.
Shelley Stephenson writes, “I’ve recently settled in Helsinki, Finland, with my husband of 30 years and my high school–age son. My daughter is graduating this year from Bryn Mawr. After a PhD in Chinese and a career in international higher education, I now work as a consultant and am active in progressive politics both in the U.S. and Finland. I’m happy to meet up with any Wes alums in the area!”
Tim Brockett says that 2026 “greeted me at my new winter lake camp in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It is a quiet and peaceful place where I read good books and go for walks in the surrounding desert. I have family in Henderson, and they frequently visit. The kids love the camp, and we are all building memories. I sell books during the summer in Montana and volunteer my skills to the local HOA. My health is good, and I hope I have another 15 to 25 years left to be a part of the lives of the people I love.”
Melissa Hendricks writes, “I have retired from my job as director of the Johns Hopkins MA in Science Writing Program. On my retirement bucket list [is] returning to my bio major roots: I’m looking forward to volunteering for conservation and field biology projects.”
MARION WILSON | marionwilsonart@gmail.com