Tag: 1956

Kudos to Jay Kaplan: “My first book, Secrets and Suspense, sold out of its first edition. It is now available in paperback on Amazon, as well as in a second edition in hardback. There are five-star reviews of it on Amazon. I so enjoyed writing this book that I am almost finished writing another—In Search of Beauty—about our collections of art assembled over the past 55 years. It will be highly illustrated and will also be published by Academica Press. And the Cosmos Club just awarded me their Founders Award for outstanding service to the club. The award has only been made once before and cannot be made for another three years.” Way to go, Jay!

Bill Bixby has moved to Applewood Amherst, an independent retirement community with 100 units. He dines daily there with other residents. He is selling his house to his son, who has a law firm in Springfield. Bill presently is recovering from a broken hip—lots of physical therapy—and uses a walker. He still has speaking problems but meets with two or three UMass students one hour a week. He’s not driving anymore but will use an Applewood bus for doctor appointments, etc. He hopes that friends can drive him to sporting events at Amherst College and UMass but still plans go to annual Wesleyan and Amherst baseball games. Get well, Bill. We’re on your team.

Writes Barry Passett: “Margery and I have moved into a retirement community near our (beloved) old house. As happened in the Air Force 65 years ago, I am having trouble adjusting to a more controlled environment. Since 2018 was a difficult health year I am crankier than ever. I’ve given up most of my ‘music impresario’ role, too. I’m playing poker with Art Levine ’58. We can use two more players!”

From Doug Northrop: “I still play tennis three or four times a week. I give occasional talks to local groups and made it to YouTube for a talk on courtesy at the Winchester Academy. With one son and family in Maine and another son and family in Seattle, I go to the third son in St. Paul, Minn., for Christmas. He has a 13-year-old daughter who is frequently mistaken for a college student and a 10-year-old son who can get me to checkmate in four or five moves. The great-grandchildren are out on the coasts and visit during the summer months.”

Jim Jekel: “Jan and I celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary last August with 24 family members (including our two great-grandchildren). They came from as far away as Asia (our daughter, Wesleyan ’86) and California. Jan is active in music and I in teaching adult classes at church and community classes on various topics. We are still able to keep up our place on Cape Cod and rent it out during the high season, although most of the year we live close to family near Harrisburg, Pa. It is great to hear about classmates.”

From Don Price: “After 60 years, I have retired from a career in science/medicine (including faculty appointments at Harvard and Hopkins). Helen and I spent most of the summer at our home in Woods Hole visiting with family, friends, and colleagues. All our kids are in medicine, and they and the grandkids love the science environment.

“I’ve been thinking about science, medicine, oceanography, marine biology, climate change, energy sources, education, world health, et al. Moreover, I’ve been trying to hybridize neuroscience and humanities, particularly to what may be going on in the brains of principal characters in Shakespeare’s plays. The greatest characters of interest are Prospero and Lear. There are important lessons to be learned in the outcomes of these plays.

“One of our grandsons entered Wesleyan this fall. I hope he has mentors like Nobby Brown and Fred Millet, who were a principal or influence on my career. Great opportunity for a young man.”

Jim Gramentine observed that he was born on the very same day as Brigitte Bardot—adding that he had seen a recent photo of B.B. and wonders if, after all these years, he might be catching up with her in the looks department. It reminded me of Ann’s and my tour around France in 2004. As we approached Bordeaux our guide pointed out a local landmark, commonly known as “the Bridge at Bordeaux.” She claimed that some of her former touristes (mostly male) had expressed disappointment because they thought they were going to catch a glimpse of a certain French actress. I asked her, ‘If they wanted to see the Brigitte Bardot, shouldn’t they have started looking at Brest?’ She dragged me to the front of the bus and made me repeat It for the group.

Just keepin’ hope alive.

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

We’ve just received the sad news that Glenn Boynton died quietly at Porter Hospital in Middlebury, Vt., on May 28. He was 83.

Last June Marge and Gary Miller attended their younger granddaughter’s graduation from the Art University of Bournemouth, U.K., where she majored in costume design. She was also a finalist in an all-U.K. student competition. She is a costuming apprentice at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater and appears to be poised for a fascinating career.

Writing in September, Gary said he was “biting my nails, watching hurricane Florence bear down on Wilmington, N.C., where we have our winter home. We’re warm, dry, and comfy here in Maine, and I’d hate to have to dump things in the car and haul it down to North Carolina to pick up the pieces! Time will tell. Oh, and Sept. 15 is our 62nd anniversary, and we’ve planned a great lobster dinner to celebrate. Another reason to hope for a high-pressure ridge to save us.”

Julius Kaplan: “The big news is that my book, Secrets and Suspense, came out several months ago. Google it and share with me my delight in the great reviews it has been getting. It is essentially a memoir of my career as an international lawyer, presented in the form of stories arising out of matters I worked on as a lawyer, but presented for the lawyer and non-lawyer.

“I enjoyed writing the book so much that I am now in the process of writing another one! This one deals exclusively with the world of art and my participation in it over the past 50 years.”

Bob Bretscher writes: “My piloting days are over. I’m selling my Cherokee Dakota, tail #N86FE. Every flight was a joy. My next project is an effort to write my memoirs up to when I retired 1996. After the first year as a widower I appreciate my family and friends more than I could have ever imagined.”

Walt Ebmeyer reports: “I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a year ago, thus again joining my old pal Muhammad Ali. Class of ’56 athletic types will remember my similarities to ‘The Greatest.’ Anyway, I’m too old to worry about it and kind of enjoy my children and grandchildren waiting on me.”

And Tom Plimpton: “My last e-mail to you stated that I would report on my trip to the state of Washington in September. Well, my health, which has been very good, took a turn for the worse. I wound up in the hospital in late July for five days. My health has since been precarious, and I did not go on vacation and have no news for you. Now I’m taking life one day at a time. Keep up the good work. Peace and joy!” Get well, Tom.

Writes Larry Fung: “Nothing much to report except I am getting older.” Larry: I’m not sure that qualifies as news!

Jack Shuman sent this tribute to his Wesleyan roommate, Ron Benson, who died on March 29. Ron, remember, was cocaptain of the ’55 football team that won the Little-Three Championship. Jack wanted us to know some things about Ron that he left out of his communique in the last issue.

“After school and the Navy, Ron worked in advertising, but in midlife he tired of big company life and formed his own consulting company. He also took up his favorite cause, helping business persons to further Christian morals and ethics in the business world.

“When his wife Polly was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Ron dedicated his life to her, refusing over 10 years to have her institutionalized even in her last ugly days. But as a result of this he joined a support group at his church, where he met his second wife-to-be Shirley, who had just gone through the same process with her spouse. They hit it off and eventually enjoyed a winter romance that culminated in their marriage last September. But that also was the culmination of Ron’s other life problem.

“In his early 40s Ron was on his daily jog when he suddenly collapsed. Luckily, he was almost at the feet of a well-trained emergency technician who recognized that his heart had stopped and immediately went into life-saving maneuvers. For the next 40-plus years Ron wore a defibrillator, which restarted his heart at least three times. But worse, Ron had another heart attack in September, just before the marriage. He insisted on going through with it. He and Shirley tried greatly to rehab his heart during the next six months, but he succumbed in March.

“Ron leaves behind his wife, Shirley, two daughters, Beth and Sarah, and a stepson, Stephen. He was my lifelong friend and I’ll miss him!”

And so will we.

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

Jay Kaplan’s new book, Secrets and Suspense (International Law Stories), has been published by Academica Press. You can read about Jay and the book on Amazon’s website. I’ve had the privilege of reading a sample chapter, which was fascinating.

Bill Bixby writes: “In May I was inducted into the Wes Baseball Wall of Fame with other new members from 1963, 1977, 1988, 1991, and 2003.

“Unfortunately, none of my family could attend, but some friends did. The alumni baseball game was mostly fun but looked a lot more like batting practice.

“I lost my wife, Fran, who passed away in September. But my family is very busy, and all are doing well. My son, Mark, and his wife, Jen, went to Germany to visit their son, Evan, a senior at Hobart William Smith, studying there. His older brother Tucker graduated last year from Trinity College and is in the U.S. Marine reserves. My middle grandson, Reed, graduated last year from Union College and works at an insurance company in Charleston, S.C. My granddaughter, Kira, a junior, is doing well in high school.

“I’m on a waiting list to move into Applewood, an assisted independent living facility only 10 minutes from my home in Amherst as well as from my son’s home.”

From Dave Thompson: “I’m writing from our winter roost in Vero Beach, Fla., but going north soon to Weston, Conn., and our house of 45 years. Two of our three children live in Connecticut and their young-adult kids still call it home. We have one daughter and a granddaughter in California. Joyce and I will celebrate our 60th anniversary with a family bash in Montana. My only serious complaint is that days are getting briefer—they go by too quickly. This sounds like a ’56er contented with life; a fair interpretation! Looking forward to our next Reunion.”

John Foster greets spring: “Renewal, yet the old body resists. We are blessed by having both our boys—one a WesTech grad—with grandkids here with us in Marblehead. Several of the latter are in college, though—Vassar and Brown—and two are youngsters. Thus—bypassing the med issues—life is good.”

Jim Wagner adds: “During the March 2 nor’easter, a tree fell on our house. Fortunately, insurance will pay all but the $500 deductible, and we were able to live in the house while awaiting repairs. It was a crazy late winter and spring: two 80-plus degree days in February, March colder than February, and four nor’easters. For the winter as a whole, we seemed to be in a donut hole as far as snow was concerned. Even my brother-in-law in Charleston, S.C., had more snow than I did in northern Virginia, and good old Connecticut, where I grew up, got clobbered at least once.

“In April Betty and I had a great time attending her 50th class reunion at James Madison University here in Virginia. We talked with JMU’s president, and I shared with him that my liberal arts education at Wesleyan was valuable to me as a science major. He was familiar with Wesleyan’s high reputation and said that JMU had a similar requirement for students majoring in the sciences—that they take at least a minimum number of liberal arts type classes for a well-rounded education.

“In June we plan to return to Harrisonburg for a week-long classical music festival featuring the music of Bach. It is sponsored by the music department of another school located there, Eastern Mennonite University. Hope y’all have a great summer!”

[In case you’ve forgotten, we were all required to take at least two courses in each of three disciplines: humanities, social science, and hard science—and to swim four lengths of the pool!]

Finally, “Sheila and Bob Runyon are suitably installed in their new apartment above the pond. We have downsized (kinda). Sheila more than Bob (a borderline hoarder). Selling the old homestead (36 years) was a necessity, but still a traumatic transition in memory. We have some great neighbors who have organized a Friday evening floor party: 5 p.m. wine, hors d’oeuvres, and conversation in a public space. An offshoot for guys is a Wednesday evening junket to The Casual Pint, a new craft beer franchise a few blocks away. Last week’s nature drama was the birth of five Canada geese underneath the first-floor balcony of a near neighbor. These new animal friends provide Bob with a treasured connection with the natural landscape. My daughter-in-law completes her first college year at the University of Nebraska Omaha in May, and my grandson will be off to Northwest Missouri State University for his freshman year in the fall. This struggling writer was immensely impressed with George’s superb memoir, Shards, which was independently published.” Thanks, Bob.

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

Sad news: Harry Barr, surrounded by his loving wife, Judy, and their family, died peacefully on Dec. 25. After Wesleyan, Harry graduated from Harvard Business School. He enjoyed a long career in investments at several firms in Boston and later volunteered on several nonprofit boards. He was a true friend of Wesleyan, always a familiar face at Reunions. Among his generous gifts to Alma Mater were three offspring, Pam ’81, David ’85, and Gregory ’87, as well as Gregory’s wife Elizabeth [Wendy] Trippe Barr ’89, and a grandson, Tyler ’21. Somehow son Douglas got away.

Fred Boynton’s book, Tales from the Annals of America: Things That You May Not Have Been Taught in Your High School American History Class, has been published and is available from Create Space, Amazon, and through local bookstores.

It’s a collection of essays on topics and people in the early history of our country that were important in shaping the nation that we live in today, but that get little or no exposure in conventional history courses. Books are printed to order. It’s big—7” x 10” and nearly 600 pages; the price is $21.95. It’s also available on Kindle for those who prefer that format, at a lower price. I’ve read parts of it. So far, so good.

Fred reports: “Beverly and I took a long road trip through the Southwest back to Kansas City for my 65th high school reunion. High point of that part was a visit to the Eisenhower home site and museum in Abilene, something I recommend to everyone regardless of their politics. Much fun in KC seeing an unfortunately dwindling company of old friends. Then back through the Northwest including Loup City, Neb., a stop in North Dakota (my 50th state), and down the West Coast (before the wildfires hit), to the San Francisco Bay area to visit with a son there and then home. Picked up a few good bottles of wine along the way. We are currently almost recovered from the holidays and are beginning to break our resolutions for 2018.”

From John Foster: “My loving wife, Lila, and I have lived happily for most of our 50-plus years together in Marblehead, Mass., a lovely community on the north shore of Boston. I’m happy to report Fred Boynton and his bride joined us here for a visit a few years ago. We are most fortunate to have both our sons and families here, too. Just gave my mooring to one of them as last year was my last sailing…not as steady on my feet as I used to be. Moorings are prized possessions here, with a reported 23-year wait list. Put your newborn on the list as they leave the hospital.”

And Mort Paterson: “My three sons and their wives/girlfriends and two granddaughters (from California) were here with Susan and me for Christmas in Philadelphia. We cooked for 10 for three days. It was worth it. Flew to Raleigh for New Year’s with Susan’s family. How about those Carolina Hurricanes! They beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ice hockey is a very fast game, I learned, often interrupted by overhead speakers blasting dithyrambic music. All about a black puck you can’t see.

“Before Christmas, I had been resting up after playing the lead in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale with a local drama group. He should look 55. Died my gray hair. Took off 25 years. Crazy man! It worked out. Good reviews. Did two other big roles earlier last year. Addicted, can’t quit.

“No shows right now. Time to get back to work figuring out annuities.”

Tom Plimpton is “still alive and well. For how much longer, who knows? I am planning to go with my daughter, Liz, and her husband to the Dry Tortugas this coming October. If we do it, I will write you a little report. Peace and joy!”

Biff Bevins: “I had all five grown offspring and six (ages 12 to 24) grand-offspring here in Chapel Hill at Christmastime. My dear wife, Priscilla, died eight years ago, one day after my 74th birthday. I will never really get over that, but carry on with an incredible compendium of memories through the thick and thin of our 51 years together. My pulmonary health is poor, which prevents me from traveling, but I cope with that pretty well. Other organs are doing just fine, save for an appendix and a prostate which I sacrificed to colleague surgeons many years ago, but I am happy to say I am surviving and have no complaints, having made it this far.”

That’s all for now, folks.

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

Congratulations and wishes of happiness to Ron Benson, on “[his] marriage to Shirley Chitty, she 79, me 83, the second for each of us. Her first was 53 years, mine was 55. Each of our spouses had long bouts with dementia, and we met in a support group for caregivers. We began dating about three years ago, after each of our spouses had gone home.

“It is surprising and invigorating to touch strong affections that had not been a part of our lives for a while. In addition, the second wedding for me was an entirely different experience. The first time, I spent the ramp-up period in Seattle, while my bride-to-be carried the load of planning and executing the event. I hopped off a Navy plane in Atlanta on July 2, to be married on July 3 in Athens, Ga. This time I have had the pleasure of being in on the planning of every nuance and floral stem. Though the vows were much the same, their weight and significance have been subjected to greater introspection.

“We will be living in Peters Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh.”

The event of the Chien family’s year was August’s coast-to-coast total solar eclipse. We moved our annual family reunion from New York’s Catskills to a lake house in southeastern Tennessee we had rented the previous October—giving us 10 months to fret about the weather. Forecasts were dire, but we awoke on eclipse day to cloudless skies. Our eclipse was picture perfect! It was Ann’s and my 11th total, but the first for 13 of our gang of 20, ages 16 to 94, and including four Wesleyan grads: Al ’52, yours truly, Chris ’83, Judy ’84. It was especially gratifying for our granddaughter Jeannette, whose only previous try was foiled by rain in Shanghai in 2009. Now 16, she mused, “I’ve waited half my life for this.”

More about the eclipse.

Walt Ebmeyer writes, “What a wonderful way to do the eclipse.  A few friends here at the old folks’ home planned to drive to Charleston. Even if it snowed, we could still have fun in The Holy City. But more and more people got sick as the great date approached, and we ended up watching a partial on the roof.”

Jim Gramentine gave it the old college try. “The day before the great event found my wife and me having lunch in Beatrice, Neb., with Shelia and Bob Runyon and their strapping grandson, Gabriel. That morning we had inspected Homestead National Monument, an official site for observing the eclipse, only to determine that by sunrise it would be hopelessly crowded. Therefore, we and the Runyons agreed to go our separate ways.

“By mid-morning the Gramentines had stumbled upon Fairbury, Neb., which seemed to have it all: few people, a large, treeless field, several porta-potties, and even a nearby McDonald’s. Partially cloudy when we arrived, the skies began to darken and then gently to rain.

“The horizon was brighter to the north, so on we drove to a dirt road traversing a corn field, only to move again yet two more times. In spite of the overcast, we enjoyed as much of the partial eclipse as we might have had we stayed in Milwaukee, but by 12:55 p.m. the sun had been swallowed, though not by the moon.

“We returned to Fairbury to drown our sorrows in Big Macs, only to find that the town had been true to its name. All who stayed had viewed a perfect eclipse. Would that some other life-altering celestial event had changed my restless nature before we flew to Nebraska.”

Alas! From John Foster: “Hate to say I’m not an umberphile, a word I suspect you must have created. I have been accused of having my head in the clouds occasionally though. Thanks for keeping flickering flame alive for the ’56ers.” (Actually, someone else made it up, though it’s not yet in the dictionary.)

But, Jim Wagner writes: “Betty and I saw the eclipse from Charleston, S.C. My brother-in-law had just moved there, so we were able to combine eclipse viewing with a nice visit. It was touch-and-go with variable clouds all day, but they parted just at totality and we could see the corona and the spectacular ‘diamond ring effect.’ It wasn’t clear enough to see planets or stars near the sun, but a bonus was visible lightning and audible thunder from a thunderstorm several miles away!”

Finally, from Frank Cancian: “Since our retirements from academic jobs in California, Francesca (a sociologist) has become a psychotherapist (part-time), and I’ve focused on the documentary photography I did with anthropology. Our kids, Maria and Steven, often use the Spanish they learned during many months in Mexico, and granddaughters, Emma and Rosa, are now in their 20s. We all travel a lot.

“My photos, taken in Italy in 1967, are now getting lots of attention there. See my websites: frankcancian.net and museomavi.it.

“I owe thanks to the memories of three Wesleyan people many of us knew: David McAllester, Sam Green, and Jack Paton ’49.”

That’s all for now, folks.

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

There’s a hoary joke about two old guys at a reunion. First guy spins a long, convoluted tale about his horrendous near disaster. Wide-eyed, the other guy asks, “Did you live?” First guy responds, “You ought to see me now!”

Last December, I had an aortic valve replaced, but, thanks to the evolving wonders of modern medicine, I went into the hospital on a Tuesday, came home on Thursday, and started cardiac rehab the following Monday.

Barry Passett asked, “George, what in the world are you doing with heart disease?” Darned if I know, but I’m pretty well back to what’s normal for me, thank you.

Walt Ebmeyer chipped in: “I had a similar heart problem in 2002: aortic aneurism pulling the valve apart. But in those days they opened the chest, put a nylon sleeve on the aorta and a titanium valve above that. Three weeks in the hospital! Things have changed for the better. Moved a year ago to a building for ‘active seniors’ in Silver Spring, Md. Dave Fricke’s grandson is in my granddaughter’s sixth-grade class. Is there a Washington Wesleyan club I could join?”

Back to business. Jay Kaplan writes: “I have been devoting most of my time to four activities: “1. The Cosmos Club (cosmosclub.org); 2. The Explorers Club (explorers.org); 3. The National Gallery of Art. where we are members of their Circle; 4. So You Want to Be an International Lawyer? (A b

 

ok I have written which is now being edited and hopefully will soon be published)

“Both my wife, Ann, and I still enjoy good health. I retired from the practice of international law and have cut back on my exploration. In the past we climbed live volcanoes in Kamchatka, Siberia; climbed giant sand dunes in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia; trekked through the Peruvian Amazon; and climbed the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

“We placed an Explorer’s Club flag and white roses on the grave of John Glenn on the day of his funeral in Arlington National Cemetery. He was honorary chair of the Explorers Club and a member of our chapter, of which I have been president.”

This from Dick Bauer: “Dave J. Cox visited Ginny and me. He’s tallied over 100 countries visited by this point, and still counting. Most recent discussion topic for my Linden Ponderers seminar: ‘Does religion make us better, or nastier?’ No one fell asleep; but there was no blood on the floor either. Still truckin’, albeit a bit slower.”

In brief: Dick Boyden: “Nothing really here to report from Mashpee on Cape Cod. Doctors’ visits, grandkids, and gratitude.” Bob Calvin: “We are leaving for a few days to visit friends in Wisconsin.” Dave Fricke: “Beryl and I are doing well here in Silver Spring, Md. Classmates and friends are welcome to visit.”

New digs: Dick Smith: “I retired for the third time after 22 years at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where I had been doing eye research with mouse models. Linda and I downsized, so we moved to a smaller home in Orland, Maine. Four of our grandkids live nearby.”

Also Peter Gardiner: “Last year, after losing my wife, Jean, to pancreatic cancer, I moved back to Florida from Michigan. I’m in Port St. Lucie on the Treasure Coast. (Move coincided, so had to miss Reunion!)”

And, of course, here’s Bob Runyon: “Sheila and I are happily ensconced in our new apartment. It was the unique ordeal of downsizing from a large house in which we had been accumulating stuff for 36 years.

“A welcoming treat was watching a Canada geese couple in the pond just below our apartment window. The two birds seemed inseparable: always so close and attentive to one another. Then for several weeks, there was only one. Sheila said that the female must be away giving birth to their offspring. Just yesterday, she called me to watch the activity on the pond. There below our window was the happy couple with five little goslings paddling close behind. The lifelong bonding habits of Canada geese are one of nature’s wonders.

“When people ask about our future journeys, I tell them about our latest long trip—house to apartment in six months: two miles’ distance, still in the same zip code! The next real trip will be to Charlotte, N.C., in September, where Sheila will be conducting official conference duties for her Omaha chapter of P.E.O.”

Bob is stepping down from his role as class co-secretary. Over the past several years it’s been my good fortune and pleasure to have him as a partner—always helpful, full of good ideas, and devoted to Wesleyan and the Class of 1956. Thanks, Bob.

Gordon Rogers informed me of the death of his father, G. Ford Rogers III (Ford was a member of our freshman class, but transferred the following year), writing: “Dad died after being bedridden for almost nine years. We had a memorial service for Dad on May 7, 2017. My mother preceded my father in death 25 years ago. I was Dad’s full-time caregiver the last nine years after he became incapacitated.

“Dad told me some stories of his time at Wesleyan. He loved to laugh and share stories at times. I think laughing helped him hang on all those years. God answered my prayers and gave him more time after he almost died that first time in 2008, just two weeks after my Grandma had passed.

“Our travel business, Anchored Eagle Travel, helped us stay afloat as a supplement to his Social Security. I was able to work on that from home while taking care of him. Originally, he was going to do all the bookkeeping for our business and I would work with the clients booking travel. Dad was a great bookkeeper. He retired in 2000 as the docket manager of a major law firm in Chicago and he needed all his attention to detail and skills there.”

George Chien | gchien@optonline.net

Bob Runyon | rrunyon@unomaha.edu