Tag: 1957

Not much to report from our classmates in this issue. Maybe next time will be better.

I did hear from Al Kalb. He’s still healthy enough to swim regularly and has no restrictions on other activities. Just does them slower than he used to. I know what he means.

Dick Cassie writes that he is five years removed from the state of New Jersey and living in Newtown, Pennsylvania, with his very significant other of 12 years, Suzy Maguire. He wonders if it’s not too early to start thinking about our 70th Reunion in 2027, when we’ll be in our early 90s. Along those lines, it would be well to make sure the Alumni office (alumni@wesleyan.edu) has your current mailing and email addresses.

Gordon Wilmot says that he and his wife, Marilyn, spent eight nights in Newport, Rhode Island, during which time they celebrated their birthdays. Gordon also writes that he wishes Wesleyan’s Democracy in Action program [that happened on campus this past spring] had presented a conservative perspective to go along with its liberal leanings. 

Bob Anderson has largely retreated into his art making and gardening, while speaking out in church and community for a saner world. He is currently reworking a journal sketch from a medieval monastery he once visited on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. See a bit of his work on the internet at www.guemesislandart.org. Bob expresses good wishes and continued collegiality to all our classmates.

Betty and I are well in Hilton Head. Things are gearing up for the annual PGA golf tournament we have here. Traffic will be congested, to say the least. If you’re interested, watch it on TV. Some say CBS airs the show, but others say it’s our Chamber of Commerce that does it all.

Until next time.

Bob

Bob Anderson sent me a copy of his seasonal letter to family and friends. He lives in Guemes, a small island off the coast of Washington, halfway between Vancouver and Seattle. Bob keeps busy working on multiple new or unfinished art pieces, winterizing his landscape between rains, downsizing, and making short on-island trips for Sunday services. You can see some of his interesting artwork at www.guemesislandart.org.

Ed Porter writes he has acquired a small yawl that may become his summertime hermitage from which he can contemplate the world, and the future for our children and grandchildren. Sounds like a worthy goal.

Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn just got back from nine relaxing days in a nice Vrbo house in Beaufort, South Carolina. They’re both doing fine and trying to get the most out of their golden years.   

I also heard from Hal Ochsner. He recalls pledging Psi U and working over the years with Ken Travis on a variety of fraternity projects. 

Mark Feldman had no news for me this time, other than a mild case of COVID, but with all the Israeli-Hamas protests on college campuses these days, he is glad not to see Wesleyan in the news. I concur; from what I read, any demonstrations at Wes have been thoughtful and peaceful.

Betty and I traveled to Cape Cod in September for my 70th high school reunion. There were only four others from my very small class in attendance. One was my junior prom date (still pretty), and another was a football teammate. We had a great time for two nights, eating fresh lobster and reminiscing. The only downer was coming back on Connecticut I–95 in the rain. Below is a picture of the beautiful Cape Cod Canal, which flows very near the house where I lived as a teenager. 

Until next time, stay healthy.

Bob 

In late May Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn flew from Providence to Portland, Oregon, to enjoy a cruise up the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The daily informational meetings brought back everything they had forgotten about Lewis and Clark and their contribution to our history.

In last year’s fall issue, Mark Feldman mentioned the oral interview of his experiences as an attorney in the D.C. area, including the State Department. It has now been published as a book, entitled Footnotes to History, Law and Diplomacy. You can find it on Amazon and read it on Kindle for only $4.

A sad update is the passing of Ed Porter’s wife Elaine, after 59 years of marriage. Ed and his two sons are trying their best to adjust to life without her at their side, but it’s difficult. Condolences to all the Porters.

George Willauer and his wife went to his 70th high school reunion in Philadelphia. Having attended the school K–12, he was “a lifer.” Despite canes, walkers, and one wheelchair, all eight people there had a memorable time.

I got a long note from Hal Ochsner. Although he spent his senior year, followed by med school, at Indiana, his memories of Wesleyan and his Clark Hall roommates are strong. He moved to California in the 1960s and still practices medicine there, despite the leukemia he treats with infusions. Hal is our class agent, and you’ll probably be hearing from him later this year.

Ken Travis writes that a conversation with friends over dinner some 45 years ago led to student exchanges with a remarkable French family that culminated this year with 16 Americans attending a lovely wedding outside Paris. Four generations of French and American families partied most enthusiastically. Ken and Janice are about to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary. He wishes all the best to the ’57ers.

I just learned that Jack Braitmayer died last July. He grew up in Marion, Massachusetts, and went to Tabor Academy there. A successful businessman, he also served as a trustee at both Tabor and Wesleyan. Jack loved boats and sailing and was a huge supporter of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Condolences to all the Braitmayer family.

This spring Betty and I took a road trip up the East Coast. We spent a week at the time-share we own in North Carolina. (It’s for sale, by the way.) Then to Maryland where we got to see our great-grandson and his identical twin sisters. Finished by visiting cousins, nieces, and nephews in Virginia Beach, where we got married almost as long ago as the Travises. Great time.

Stay well and try to beat this heat.

Bob

George Willauer writes that he’s on the steering committee of a start-up foundation, PARJE, or Public Art for Racial Justice Education. So far, the organization has mounted five public murals in southern Connecticut towns and sponsored numerous educational programs in their schools.

Mark Feldman refers to an interesting New York Times article about the upcoming Supreme Court decision re affirmative action, and its potential impact on the admissions process at colleges and universities. The article uses Wesleyan as a vehicle for its storyline, with some beautiful pictures. The link is www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/us/affirmative-action-admissions-scotus.html.

A sad note is the passing of George Davies on February 9th. He and his twin brother Kent were great wrestlers, and it was exciting to watch them on the mat. I had forgotten that George was our class secretary for many years in the ’80s and ’90s. When input was on the low side, he would fill space with tales about his own family. You can read about his life well lived in the online Obituaries section. Condolences to Dusty and Katie.

Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn are still cleaning out her mother’s house. They’ve found 70 years of National Geographic magazines in the basement. That’s a lot of magazines! They’re getting to be experts at restoring cast-iron pots and pans using electrolysis and differentiating between sterling silver and silver plate.

I heard from Jim LaCrosse. He will be at Wesleyan this May for his grandson Will’s commencement exercises, marking four generations in a row to graduate from Wes. Jim was the second generation, joining us after an all-expenses-paid trip to Korea in the early ’50s, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Our firstborn turned 60 in March, and he’s making noises about retiring. Those are two indicators that we’re getting old, if aches and pains aren’t enough. And our youngest has decided to relocate his family from Canada to the USA. We are their base of operations during the process. It’s novel to have a six-year-old running around the house.

If you would like to get my call for notes and updates before each issue of the magazine, send me your email address and I will update its database, which is different from the directory the University keeps of all alumni/ae.

Until next time, stay well. Bob

As our Class Notes move closer and closer to the front (only nine to go), I enjoy reading the notes from the 1940s. In the spring issue there was a great one from an alumnus (age 100!) who, when he was a teacher at Chicago Latin, persuaded Jack Dearinger, Bill Wallace, and Norm Wissing to come to Wesleyan. Now that’s recruiting.

On the home front, our great-grandson has become the proud big brother to identical twin sisters!  Mother and babies are doing well, after a few weeks in NICU for the little girls. We met them for the first time over Thanksgiving. Beautiful, and so small.

Al Kalb checked in with a short note and promises news for the next issue. It was still good to hear from him.

With a variety of viruses still around in Nova Scotia, Ed Porter and Lainie are limiting their social life and keeping masks handy when out and about.  He hopes that in this season a spirit of respect may transcend the other forces at play in our present world. Well said.

Jim Brown and Betty took a romantic Caribbean cruise in May. They should have stayed home. She fell and hit her head, requiring 13 stitches, and he totally tore his left rotator cuff. They’ve both recovered, but Jim is still doing rehab because he enjoys it. He’s back to his college weight of 185, packaged differently. I know what he means.

Last issue I mentioned the Zoom session we had just before our 65th. It was great, and Dick Cassie wants to do it again. I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not hopeful. Maybe in 2027 Wesleyan will organize another one for us.

Gordon Wilmot and Marilyn will be driving down to Pennsylvania in December for their granddaughter’s graduation from Penn State. For several months now, they have been clearing out the house where her mother lived for 84 years. He allows that’s not very much fun.

I got an interesting email from Lars Erik Knudsen, who as a 19-year-old, came to Wesleyan on a Fulbright Scholarship from Denmark, where he still lives. The email was in Danish, which was no problem for Outlook to translate. He recalls his first-year roommates in Harriman Hall, Bill Moody ’59 and John Briscoe ’59. After his one year in America, he returned to Copenhagen, studied law, and became an attorney. He’s been married to Grete for 57 years and they have four sons.

Stay well and have a great 2023.

In preparation for our 65th Reunion, Michael Schramm, director of Annual Giving, hosted a virtual Zoom meeting in April, joined by 10 of us. It was great to see faces and hear what long-ago classmates are doing to keep active. I understand the actual reunion was not well attended. Better luck for our 70th!

Mark Feldman writes he once had a boss with the first name of Roberts and promises not to call me “Bobs.” Last year he agreed to an oral interview about his experiences as an attorney in the D.C. area, including the State Department. His current project is to transcribe all that was discussed (https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Feldman.Mark.pdf). If you have a couple hours to kick back with an iced tea, it is fascinating, and long.

Ken Travis is no longer a northeasterner. He and Janice have relocated to Bainbridge Island, Washington, to be close to family. This past year they’ve been able to attend a grandson’s commissioning as a Marine Corps officer and a granddaughter’s wedding, plus their daughter Leslie ’85 became a grandmother. He does confess to missing that old Cape Cod.

Ed Porter continues to be a sailing-boat enthusiast, although he limits his cruises to local waters, no longer taking more adventurous coastal trips, when he had larger vessels to sail aboard. He wonders how many classmates are also still dealing with wind and tide in their spare time.

Gordon Wilmot is also a sailor. He and Marilyn spent two weeks in March looking for a future winter home, and found the beautiful town of Beaufort, South Carolina, not too far from where I live. They expect to escape the cold Rhode Island weather there. Severe cases of bronchitis kept them from attending our reunion.

I recently learned of the passing of Bill Daley. He was a longtime GE employee, as was I, and we even roomed together early in our careers in Schenectady, New York. Bill was very active in his Trumbull, Connecticut, community, as well as the Deke house at Wesleyan. Condolences to Barbara and his family.

Condolences also to the family of Naren Bali, who died at home in June, after a long cardiac illness, surrounded by his family. For many years he was an IT consultant at Techint SA de CV, a Mexican construction and engineering company.

Jim Killough’s daughter Sarah ’88 emails that Jim passed away last December. She attached a glowing tribute/obituary written by Evan M. Drutman ’86. You can view it by clicking on Jim’s name in the Obituaries section or here.

Betty and I made a long car trip to Canada this summer, for the sixth birthday of our last grandchild. We spent a week in the Georgian Bay area of Lake Huron. Beautiful country, and a lot for tourists to do.

Stay well.

Until next issue,

Bob