CLASS OF 1989 | 2025 | SPRING ISSUE
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We were glad to hear from a gaggle of classmates doing life and out in the Wesleyan wild meeting up with each other too.
Phineas Baxandall shares that after 20 years together, he and his partner, Sarah Hill, decided to get married. He writes: “We didn’t tell anybody at all until we were on vacation with our kids and told them, ‘Thanks for getting dressed up for dinner. Our reservation actually isn’t until later, but in 10 minutes there will be a knock on the door, and it will be a justice of the peace.’ It was really fun.” Phineas also celebrates his long tenure at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, where he serves as policy director. After serving as interim president last year, he’s looking forward to a two-month sabbatical this spring, during which he plans to live in Berlin, read novels in cafes, and travel. Upon returning, his family will welcome a new puppy, following the loss of their loyal dog, Sadie, last fall at age 18.
David Eichler and his partner, Diane, moved to Billings, Montana, three years ago, after living in Los Angeles, Mountain View, Phoenix, and Denver. They are celebrating their 28th anniversary this year. David sold his PR agency after 18 years and is now in his second year of a master’s in clinical social work, with plans to open a therapy practice this summer. Reflecting on Wesleyan memories, David writes: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years since my fellow film majors and I were huddled in that dark screening room in the arts center. We were so fortunate to be learning from Professor Jeanine Basinger.” He was also saddened, as many of us were, over the losses of Rob James ’88 and Tim McCallum ’88 in recent years.
Ellen Ross Shields and John Shields have lived in Davis, California, for 22 years, after nine years in San Francisco. Ellen is a middle school counselor, and John is director of client relations for DWS, a real estate/finance subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. Ellen shares: “Our 26-year-old daughter is in her last year of a JD/MPH program in New York, and our 28-year-old, theme park–loving son is trying to break into film/video editing in Orlando—any Wes grads down there?” They look forward to retirement and promise to attend a reunion someday.
Peter Badalament, with extensive experience as a school principal, was recently appointed principal of the A.R. Gould School at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, Maine. Before his administrative roles, Peter taught high school English, geography, and history at the Lab School of Washington, a therapeutic day school for students with social and emotional challenges. He has also served as a project manager at Tyler Technologies and as adjunct faculty at the University of New England, teaching courses in educational leadership and organizational theory.
Topher Dunne is in his 30th year teaching high school history and social science at Georgetown Day School this year and has been happy to point various students toward Wesleyan over the years. Topher and spouse, Kathy, live in Arlington with their 23-year-old daughter.
Lori Lobenstine issuper excited about having her first children’s book coming out! It’s based on the true story of Lori and her goddaughter, Sophie, co-creating the first ever “by-dogs-for-dogs” newspaper, starting when Sophie was 10 years old (she’s now 20). Here’s a little bit more on it: https://www.levinequerido.com/barking-puppy.
Alex McClennen Dohan reports having been married to Dave Dohan for over 30 years, working for Mass Audubon for 20 years, and having a daughter turning 30 in the spring (and a son who is 27). Alex shares: “The best parts of our past year were two trips to Colorado—a place we’d never visited before! One was to the San Juan Mountains with both kids and their significant others for some backpacking, and the other was to Boulder, where I got to catch up with Lisa Michael, who lives in the area and also Greg Benson (who lives in New Jersey, but was on the trip with us).
Kelem Butts shared something of a New York story: “My girlfriend, Lori, and I went to New York to see Eric Stuart who was in visiting his parents from London. While we were there, we also hung out with Andre Kikoski ’90. Then we had a pleasant surprise—it turns out Tom Policelli was in from Connecticut, so we all met up with him for lunch.”They also dined with Greg Berman and Carolyn Vellenga Berman ’90. Lori noted how lucky Kelem is “to have so many excellent friends, and it’s all thanks to Wes!” We agree!
Karen McVey Fussell writes: “I continue to live a blessed life on our 45-acre former farmstead property in Maine. It’s hard to believe, but I am starting my 25th year as finance director for the City of Brewer. It’s a great job, but I have definitely started dreaming of retirement. Our son graduates from West Point this May, majoring in Chinese and cybersecurity. Our daughter is taking a gap year, which she kicked off with a transformational volunteer stint in Arusha, Tanzania. Working full time to earn money to travel more, she’s scheduled to go back in February and this summer, recruiting me and other family to join her. My husband just turned 80 (CRAZY!) but you would never know it. LIFE IS GOOD!”
After seven years living in Alaska and a beautiful drive home across Canada, Jim Levine is back living just a few miles from Wesleyan—which means he’s on campus often, swimming and working out at the Freeman Athletic Center, he says. His kids have flown the coop and are doing well, and after 20-plus years as an ER doc, including at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown and in rural Alaska, he’s working on deciding what he wants to do when he grows up. He’d love to see anyone who is in the area!
Eric Neuhaus writes that he is senior vice president of development for Glass Entertainment and that it was an exciting year for new TV shows they developed. Last year they released the worldwide hit documentary film Bitconned (Netflix), about one of the biggest cyrpto scams; Wiggin Out with Tokyo Stylez, a docuseries following a trans-celebrity hairstylist; Kill or Be Killed (Peacock), examining cases of murder or self-defense; a game show pilot for Fox based on the iconic video game Pong. He says: “There is always something new on the horizon. Stay tuned for some new documentary projects in 2025 that will entertain and inform.”
For Brad Frank, 2024 was a crazy year. He writes: “I lost my job but found a better one. My daughter entered her senior year of high school and found a new home at Syracuse University for 2025. My 15-year-old son set aside his baseball bat and glove and found a new passion in crew. No more batting eighth and playing right field. Now it’s sitting in the stroke seat and sweeping the eight- and four-person skulls down the river. And while November of 2024 was hard on my wife, she continues to guide our family with confidence.”
Ellen Forney just started grad school at the University of Washington School of Social Work, to be a therapist specializing in bipolar. Ellen has been a visual artist, cartoonist, and comics teacher since graduating from Wes with a degree in psychology and has been gradually coming back around to psych—with a 2012 graphic memoir about, she says, “my own bipolar: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me (Penguin); then a 2018 graphic handbook on mental health, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life (Fantagraphics). I’m finishing up a workbook for kids on how to make comics, due out summer 2025: The Adventures of You! Write, Draw, and Star in Your Own Comics (Workman). I was delighted to hang out with Rachael Timberlake ’90 (Butterfield hallmate bestie) when she visited Seattle recently for a seminar.”
Michele Chase Kashap will be back on campus to celebrate as her first born, Alessandro Kashap ’25, graduates from Wes this year. So cool! Congrats!!!
As for me (Michele), I narrowly “dodgeballed” a midlife crisis by first renaming it a “midlife exploration” and then kicking off an adult gap year (read: FUNemployment) with a solo trip to Europe—three countries in three weeks with a carry-on only—in which I planned nearly nothing, garden partied with complete strangers (yep), watched sunrise over Prague castle, and ate so much gelato in various parts of Italy as a meal supplement that my cholesterol shot up. Oops. I even stayed in an old, beautiful, and affordable former monastery on the Amalfi Coast—which had both a bar and a chapel. So basically, win-win y’all. 🙂
We appreciate you, each of you, and hope to see you out here in the Wesleyan wild. Stay in touch!
JONATHAN FRIED | jonathan.l.fried@gmail.com
MICHELE BARNWELL | michelebarnwell01@gmail.com