With condolences to the families, the deaths of John R. Parsons, 85, Jan. 27, 2017, and John P. Gorsuch, 85, Feb. 15, 2017, are reported. John Parsons, of Worcester, psychology major and president of Sigma Nu, served in the Army, and was employed by Connecticut General Life and as a consultant before founding Parsons, McKee & Co. in 1976. John was northeast Ohio’s go-to expert for pension plans. He was active in the school system and the library as a resident of Avon Lake. He is survived by his wife, Joyce, four children, 12 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

John “Jack” Gorsuch, of Denver, Beta Theta Pi and history major, went on to Yale Divinity School and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1956. He served churches in Washington, D.C., Great Bend, Kan., and Yakima, Wash. In 1985, he founded the Center for Spiritual Development in Seattle. Retiring in 1992 as executive director, he continued practicing in the Northwest. He moved to Milwaukee in 2014 to be closer to family. Jack passed away shortly after learning that his nephew, Neil Gorsuch, was a Supreme Court nominee. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and three grandchildren,

As for me, before driving to our New York farm for the summer, I will attend the installation on June 9 of my daughter-in-law, Mother Tracy, as priest of the Episcopal Church of St. John, Aptos, Calif. My son assists with the driving from Oklahoma to New York.

In less than a year, our 65th Reunion will offer an opportunity to return to campus and renew friendships. During the winter send me a note of your thoughts about Reunion.

JOHN W. MILLER | Jwalmiller@aol.com
306 Autumn Court, Bartlesville, OK 74006 | 918/335-0081 

Our 65th Reunion has come and gone, as have the 65 years since our graduation in 1952! Our commencement program listed 162 graduates in our class. The college’s current listing of our class numbers 90 survivors for whom there is good contact information. There were eight of us present for our class banquet, the highlight of Reunion. The years have taken a toll!

This was the first of our Reunions in memory without our esteemed Master of Ceremonies, the late Charlie “Rogo” Rogovin. No one could ever take his place as MC and no one tried on this occasion.

Present at the banquet were Joe Friedman and his wife, Barbara, of NYC.  Attending their own 35th Reunion were their daughter and son-in-law, Ellen ’82 and Sam Bender ’82, and two granddaughters. Joe is still fully engaged in the real estate title insurance business, serving as EVP and chief underwriting counsel of Regal Title. This was the first Reunion for Dwight Herrmann and his wife, Leslye, of Lemoyne, Pa. They are parents of Leslye Ash ’85 and Jane ’90. Dwight is a retired consultant with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Public Works. Ralph Moody and his wife, Lydia, came all the way from their home in Palm Harbor, Fla. Ralph is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, in which he spent his career.

Bob Porter of Canton, Conn., attended with his daughter, Sarah Porter ’86, and grandson. His wife, Connie, suffers from Lewy body disease and was not able to attend. Bob is retired from the Travelers. This was a special weekend for Al Ward. His daughter, Carolyn, attended our banquet. His granddaughter, Hyunji Ward ’17, graduated that weekend. Al’s daughter, Kathryn Ward Koch ’81, and grandson, Hyunwoo Ward ’20, were also on campus. Al resides in Lewes, Del., and, unfortunately, is a widower. He is a former Wesleyan trustee and is a retired partner of BakerHostetler, a leading international law firm.

Our class president, Bill Wasch, another former trustee and a recipient of Wesleyan’s highest alumni honor, the Baldwin Medal, was there in force with his children, Christina and Fred ’92, and two grandchildren. His late wife, Susie, never missed a Reunion and will always be an honorary member of our class. Bill is challenged with Parkinson’s, but with the help of a superb assistant, continues to carry on an active life. John Wood, his wife, Pat, and granddaughter, Megan, were there from Indianapolis. John has had a long and successful career practicing law, most recently with the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Jerry Bobruff, a retired physician now living in Naples, Fla., had planned to attend, but was forced to cancel due to some medical issues. Tom Collins and Mary Ellen, of East Hartford, Conn., had also signed up, but could not attend at the last moment. Believe it or not, Tom, who is now 94 and older than all of us, practiced law actively in the Hartford area right up to the end of 2016. Your scribe and his wife, Joyce, attended and led the singing at the banquet with gusto.  We live at Seabury Retirement Community in nearby Bloomfield, Conn.

It is with enormous regret that I report the death of John Jakobson on Apr. 7, 2017, in NYC. An Eclectic, John played tennis and squash at Wesleyan and graduated with honors and distinction. After Harvard Business School, he purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and pursued a career as a personal investor. He served Wesleyan for years as a trustee and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Among his immediate survivors is his son, Nicholas Jakobson ’05.

I am also sad to write of the death of Bruce Munro on Feb. 2, 2017.  Bruce was an Alpha Delt and, as a pre-med, could usually be found in the labs. He went on to Emory Medical School, became an obstetrician-gynecologist and practiced for over 40 years in New Jersey.  Of Scottish descent, Bruce was active for many years in all things Scottish.

We extend our deepest sympathy to all of John’s and Bruce’s families and loved ones on their great loss, in which we, too, share in our own way.

I have heard from Dick Kellom and Walter Grunsteidl, the latter a German Fulbright Scholar who was with us for only our senior year. Unfortunately, I have reached the 800-word limit imposed on class notes so cannot report further on them.

Finally, a significant highlight of the Reunion for me personally was the agreement of Joe Friedman to succeed us as scribe of these 1952 class notes. It has been a pleasure for me to stay in touch with so many of you while fulfilling this position and I look forward to the new insights that Joe will bring to our class notes.

Harold C. Buckingham Jr. | buckinghamharold@gmail.com
400 Seabury Drive, Apt. 2114, Bloomfield, CT 06002

William K. Wasch | wkwash@gmail.com
150 Coleman Road, Middletown, CT 06457

[Ed. Note: We thank Hal and Bill for devoted service as class secretaries, and we warmly welcome Joe Friedman as he takes on the role. Joe can be reached at jfriedman@regalnyc.com.]

Biff Shaw wrote that he and Jean continue to be very busy, and have been back to the college for retirement parties and celebrations, but otherwise spend less time there. “Fewer and fewer familiar faces,” he wrote. The only familiar face was Barney Kathan. “He seems hale and hearty,” Biff wrote, “and continues to write and publish.” A more loyal alumnus is not to be found.

Biff noted the passing of Bob Gardner, a regular contributor to these pages. He had continued his writing of science texts right to the end.

Howard Goodrich wrote that the Goodrich clan had moved to the Indianapolis area. Howard and his wife, Darlene, had moved there from St. Louis. Howard wrote that they’re still involved in the ministry, as is their youngest daughter, and he continued to do some writing.

Les Aroh, who was at our 65th Reunion, is another hearty survivor.

When Don Sharp’s daughter, Dianne, wrote, Don was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, but continued to live at his home in Fayetteville, Ga, across the street from Dianne. Sadly, Don passed away in December.

I’m hoping to dig up more news as the year rolls along.

DAVID M. PHILIPS | davephilips69@hotmail.com
43 Cannon Street, Cranston, RI 02920-7620

I received the following messages from Bill Spanos and Cliff Milner:

Bill writes, “I recently became a professor emeritus of SUNY-Binghamton because of health reasons, but I continue to produce what I think is urgently needed scholarship about the benighted age we live in.”

Bill has published more than 20 books since graduating from Wesleyan. He writes, “For those who are not scholars in the humanities, I recommend my World War II memoir, In the Neighborhood of Zero (Nebraska University Press 2012), which tells the story of my witness as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany to the Allied firebombing of Dresden, a memoir that might be usefully contrasted to my fellow regimental comrade Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five.”

Hie is now writing an autobiographical account of his “errant education” tentatively entitled Thrown: Searching in the Void for an Intellectual Vocation.

Cliff writes, “From the new world traveler! Last fall I took a Viking Rhine and Danube River cruise and enjoyed it so much that next week I am going on a Prairie Home Companion cruise to Scotland and Norway. I’m a widower now (three years) and have been kidded by friends that I’ll probably come home with a blonde from Norway!”

BUD DORSEY | margiedorsey5@gmail.com
161 Shore Rush Drive, St. Simons Island, GA 31522 | 912/638-5616

There’s a saying here in Colorado that we have two seasons, July and winter, and we had winter beyond belief this year.

In mid-May, we had a walloping storm that they are still trying to clear up in the High Country. But at the same time, I got a warm letter from Donald Dunn in balmy Ohio. He’d been reminded of something that happened a long time ago, because he’d been at an event where they were discussing World War I. There were pictures, and one of Geraldine Farrar, which called to mind the fact that he had been an opera buff for years, partially because when he was in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division, as I was, he was wounded and during his convalescence he was assigned to Naples for a few months until they could figure out what to do with him. During that time, the Naples Opera Company reopened, and Donald went to see La Traviata—the first time ever that he had been to the opera. He said that it was a real treat. “And then came Carmen, Il Trovatore, Aida, The Barber of Seville and I’ve been an opera fan ever since,” he said.

Well, reminding him of that time was the reference to Geraldine Farrar, because when he got back to Wesleyan—about the same time I did—we both signed up for an opera course with George McManus. It was a dandy.

I’m going to quote part of Don’s letter, where he talks about that experience, because it’s really very warming. He was “mightily impressed with George McManus’s leadership. And one of the things that is unforgettable was that among our various assignments, we did go to the opera and one of them was The Marriage of Figaro. After that performance, George McManus got us to see the conductor, meet some of the cast, and on our way back to Middletown from New York, we stopped and had a visit with Geraldine Farrar. It was a memorable visit because she was quite a testy person. She was suffering a little from gout at the time and was very entertaining in her comments about how things had been in the old days about opera.” During the course of pursing operatic matters with George McManus, Donald and he became pretty good friends and they continued that friendship after the war.

The significant part of that visit was that the McManuses stopped on their way back to California for a few days’ visit with Donald and his wife. During that time, not only was there good conversation, but also George played for them. And Donald remembers that vividly, particularly Beethoven’s “Apassionata,” which was a remarkable treat.

Donald reminded me that we have three things in common:

One—10th Mountain Division in our combat experience; two—Wesleyan, before and after the war;  and three—that mutual love of opera. He got his in Italy; I was brought up on it because my mother was a soprano and insisted that I go to every opera that came to Smith College or to Mechanics Hall in Worcester.

It was a fine letter from Donald. I appreciate his long memory and his warm regards, and I intend to pursue our conversation a little further, once I get a computer back—and that’s another whole story I may be forced to tell you out there at some time in the future.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves. Don’t let Donald Dunn be the only correspondent with your secretary. And to all of you, slán go fóille.

FRANCIS W. LOVETT | lovettfrancis@gmail.com
805 Compassion Dr., Apt. 208, Windsor, CO 80550 | 907/460-9338