Tag: 1959

The Great Class of ’59 are inveterate travelers, as the following will attest. Linda and Dick Cadigan write about their trip to Tanzania and seeing all the game animals that could be seen. A side excursion to a Masai village was equally interesting. Their guide talked about his father and his eight wives. Early Anglican missionaries came to accept this habit “as done,” but tried to discourage it for new marriages. Later in South Africa, compromise was reached, permitting polygamy only if the husband proved he could support the additional wives.

Bob Czepiel may get the award the for most travel. After a Wharton MBA and 30 years on Wall Street and retiring at 58, he began serious travel. He and Anne have circumnavigated the world twice! They have visited more than 70 countries. Can anyone top that? In his spare time Bob went back to Wes and took a couple of film courses to support that interest. Oldest granddaughter is starting at Wellesley in the fall.

Herb Steiner also travels: Winter in Delray Beach–tennis and biking; Croatia in October; Japan in the planning stage for next October; and Copenhagen in July. Herb will be visiting with Anne and Joe Vander Veer this month and Sybil and Tim Martin this summer.

This issue of Class Notes is a one-secretary effort, as co-scribe John Spurdle and Cyndy are in London officiating at the 175th anniversary of the London Library, ably assisted by support from Queen Elizabeth. John became involved with the library when living in London and took advantage of their presence there to celebrate Cyndy’s 80th birthday. Congratulations, Cyndy. From Eclectic to the London Library. Wow!

Jim Brands writes of the “usual” activities, trips to the Bahamas and Mexico. Perhaps a “trip too far,” as in Death Valley in November. Gail fell and broke both arms, requiring an extended stay in Las Vegas for repairs. Hardly “usual.” Happily, recovery is progressing nicely!

Walter Burnett reports good health, much traveling and nearing an 80th birthday. Aren’t we all! Travels include a month in Alaska this summer.

Ray Simone, while not traveling, encourages us all to travel to Rhode Island. As an enticement, he offers a new restaurant he and his sons opened in September of 2014 in Warren. Their focus is on locally grown food and locally caught seafood—simonesri.com.

Dave Eklund, now president of the Sanitary District of Tiburon, Calif., is coping with the inevitable conflict between demands for more service at less cost. Good luck! In between district meetings Dave will be involved in a nice tradition involving the defunct Delta Sigma fraternity. The ’59 members are holding a two-day “retreat” near Providence. Tony Allen, Dave Darling, Nancy DiMauro, Bill Minor, John Dennis, Larry Kedes and Dave will be there. Following the event, a mandatory report must be filed. Dave will also be in attendance for Tom Young’s admittance to the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Tom.

Paul Stevens is in Portland, Maine, where he is still practicing his architecture skills after 50 years. The firm was started by his great-grandfather in 1884. Paul also still runs competitively and tells us that his 4-year-old grandson has run a mile in 10 minutes. Architecture or running in the future?

We heard from Stan Bowers, a colleague from Deke who laments the situation there. Stan has been in the wine distribution business for over 40 years and is joined by his son, Stan IV. Married 50 years, with a new responsibility, Carl, a rescue Rottie. Any idea who is in charge here?

Ed Murphy and Dick Cadigan review Bob Gillette’s new book very favorably. This book is a full re-write of his earlier book, The Virginia Plan: Wm. B Thalheimer and a Rescue from Germany. The new book is Escape from Germany: From Nazi Germany to Thalheimer Farm. This version is aimed at early teen readers who, Bob feels, should know about these events. This is also a fictional account of true events. Amazon has both books.

Wolfram Thiemann, a foreign scholar during our era, wrote: “Happy after my retirement some years ago from University of Bremen (2003); still active in doing research in astrochemistry, such as exploration of comet Chury by ESA-sponsored project ROSETTA/PHILAE, searching for life’s origin in universe. Teaching in Indian and Chinese universities promoting more environmental awareness. Doing some historic research into 20th century German past, with all its dark remnants. Helping out in reviewing PhD theses and manuscripts submitted to international journals is my personal ‘prevention against age-related dementia.’”

Lastly, we hear of “Shive” Shively from Dave Eklund, who visited Shive in the San Diego area. Shive’s sense of humor is sharp, as are recollections of Wesleyan hockey and baseball.

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311

John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858

Greetings to the Great Class of ’59. We have news from several of you from whom we have not heard in years! Hopefully we will hear from more of you in the future.

Bob McKelvey, a great and long-term supporter of Wes, serving on our Board and numerous committees, is still working full time in the investment advisory business he took over from his father many years ago. He says he works because he has nothing else to do, although working with smart colleagues and clients may fill the bill. Has recently seen Hamilton and joins in singing its praises. Bob also praises the second volume of Wes history by Dave Potts ’60, which includes our years and President Butterfield. Bob says his interaction with Wesleyan is winding down, although he always makes spring Reunions and fall Homecomings. His main campus link is Alpha Delt, one of the few fraternities left and co-ed since the early ’70s. Bob is still active on the American Rhodes Scholar alumni group, which provides an interesting reason to connect with a group of smart young people, and is dealing with the “Rhodes must go” movement. An additional commitment is with his Oxford College, Merton, now celebrating its 750th anniversary. He provides context by reminding us that Merton was 500 years old when we were staring our Revolution. Lastly are a couple of local initiatives supported by Bob’s energy in his spare time. Wow!

Ted Fiske checked in, reporting on the month of October in London, where he spent time with Jack Lambert. Ted’s wife, Sunny Ladd, is on sabbatical from Duke and they spent time researching two inner London schools that have had great success educating low-income students. A paper will soon be published by the Brookings Institute, with some suggestions for U.S. policy makers. In addition, Sunny and Ted took in many of the multicultural events, including the Swan pub, which Sunny haunted 45 years ago as a student in London. She thought the stools were new but not much else.

Ed Murphy sends news of Bob Gillette’s new book about two teenage Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany on a Virginia farm. Ed also reports his own “escape“—from snow in northern Virginia to Colorado. On their return they will attend a Navy Change of Command Ceremony for their younger son. Lastly, Ed reports a D.C.-area tradition among the nine local members of ’59: a semi-annual lunch, next in April. Nice touch.

Tim Day has written us about his recent trip to Israel and Palestine. It was a combined cultural trip and a chance to spend some concentrated time with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), including push-ups! How many is unspecified, but it sounded like lots! Rather than try to condense badly a fascinating report, the full story can be found BELOW, and we’re including a link to Tim’s Dropbox for pictures here. Thanks, Tim!

Dick Wenner’s wife, Maureen, passed away unexpectedly last summer while on vacation in the Finger Lakes. “2015 was a tough year for me, but I am hanging in there.” Dick is still singing bass in the church choir (since 1978), and has been their treasurer for almost 25 years. He says, “My new pursuit is genealogy, and am busy finding out about the Wenner Swiss and Alsace roots, totally fascinating! Don’t get back to the campus much. Never really recovered from campus life in the ’70s, and recent shenanigans have not helped.”

Weg Thomas has recovered perfectly from a total hip replacement and is back hiking trails and working at the Conservation District. “Granddaughter Katherine Thomas graduated from  TCU.TCU is not far from the Cadigans’, so we had a jolly dinner with them as part of the celebration. Some of you know that Katherine’s brother, Nick, died most unexpectedly on Easter Day. Their father, Sean, started life in Vet’s Village in 1959.” Nick and Weg were very close, as he was an environmental restoration specialist. In his honor a tree planting project was started. So far, more than 200 trees have been planted and the donations keep rolling in.

“The Chases and the Moodys joined me for an evening at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Washington to hear David Lough talk about his new book on Churchill’s finances, No More Champagne. Then on to a great French bistro dinner. A great story, as we do our retirement budgeting! Churchill, needless to say, was not a fan of budgeting, nor was his wife!!”

David Britt writes: “Spurts said, ‘Talk or else,’ so I’m spilling the whole ugly story of the last year. Do not read while operating heavy machinery.

“AARP counsels seniors to keep moving, so we did. Again. First, we sold our summer condo in Connecticut. Then, six years after Sue designed our dream house on the Intracoastal Waterway (our longest stay ever in one house), we sold it and moved 1.6 miles north on Amelia Island, to a more urban, walkable, ungated community. I’m still enjoying moderating two discussion classes on foreign policy issues. It’s like a time warp to see folks with very different views listen to each other, agree on some basic facts, and find areas of agreement as well as differences. Maybe someday the country will try it again.

“In November, we took a very long cruise from Hong Kong to Capetown, with a number of stops in Malaysia, Brunei (not invited to stay in Sultan’s 800-room palace), and Indonesia. The highlights were several stops in East Africa down to South Africa. We saw, over and over, unrealized agricultural potential, masses of unemployed young urban men, and young, young populations. For pure fun we visited the Italian lakes last spring—stunning scenery, great food, no George Clooney. And, after everyone else in the Wes extended family, we saw Hamilton, that astounding, wonderful, riveting reinvention of American musical theater. Miranda ’02 and Kail ’99 are kicking Royalist butt.”

Hugh Lifson writes: “I really appreciated Bing Leverich’s note about Carl Schorske. I never took a course with him, but had many discussions with the great man via Terry Frederick, who lived with Schorske for a while. Ditto Louis Mink, Fred Millett, William Coley, Richard Winslow, Robert Cohen, and many others—as only a Wesleyan student of the time was able to schmooze with our exalted professors!

“Schorske came to Cornell College twice while I was teaching there. I described the second visit in our 50th Reunion Book. The first was equally remarkable. In response to an odd question of mine, he discoursed for 90 minutes spontaneously and astonished all of my colleagues. We happy few would not have been surprised. I hope Wesleyan does something special about him.

“Fond memories also for Vic Butterfield, inspired by your recent article. He seemed to know us all!”

George Holzwarth, officially retired (emeritus) as a professor of physics at Wake Forest, works in mentoring undergrad research and the occasional honors thesis. Working with 18-to-22-year-olds is keeping him young! “On a whim, I bought Dave Potts’ new book, Wesleyan University 1910-1970, to learn a little about academic politics during our years in Middletown. It’s a fascinating book, filled with details about the battles for the soul of Wesleyan carried out between Vic Butterfield, the Board of Trustees, and the faculty, especially during our time there—1955–1959. Highly recommended!”

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311

John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858

You can imagine where Cyndy and I were on October 2. Wesleyan took over the whole Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York for a night like no other: Hamilton. To say that the almost-three-hour show is a tour de force is an immense understatement. It is an evening we will never forget.

I am sure we had some classmates in the audience, but the house was full at 1,350 fans. Saw Colin and Nancy Campbell fleetingly, and President Roth, but none of our lads. The show is a must see! Even Ben Brantley of the Times is stumped when he tries to find fault with the production.

A sizeable chunk was raised for Wesleyan, something close to $1.5 million, I think. The cheers for the show were so loud, I could not hear the exact figure. Take a bow, Barbara-Jan!!

The Greater Washington Society of CPA’s gave a significant award to our long-serving Class Agent, Bert Edwards. The award was for “Outstanding Service to the Profession.” Two things about it were particularly notable: It was the first of its kind ever given by the Society, and it was given to a “good cop” with 55 years in the profession. Well done, Bert!! Look out, bad guys!!!

Bob Chase reported having a good summer in Maine, during which he had dinner with Joe Mallory, Alan Brooks, and Tom McHugh and survived.

Bing Leverich picked up on the passing of Carl Schorske at 100. He was a seminal figure in many of our lives and one of those wonderful professors we had the privilege to know.

Walter Burnett reports that “2015 has been one of travel in the Pacific—Indonesia in the spring and Hawaii in the fall. Retirement is now a little over a year old and I am enjoying fewer responsibilities while dividing my time between the mountains of North Carolina and Atlanta, Ga.”

Sounds like a pretty comfortable arrangement!!

Skip Silloway and his wife, Molly, were last heard from heading for Santa Fe. Any sightings??

An under-reported election has taken place in Tiburon, Calif. Dave Eklund has run his first political campaign and has done so without benefit of political action committees. An active door-to-door effort has resulted in Dave having been elected to a four-year term on the Town of Tiburon Sewer Board. The photo (posted at classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu) shows Dave in full campaign mode. Congratulations, Dave! What’s next?

The second annual midcoast Maine reunion of ’59ers took place at the spectacular home of Joe Mallory and his wife, Wendy, in New Harbor, Maine, joined by Bob Chase and wife, Joan, Alan Brooks and Marie-Pier, and down from the North, Tom McHugh and Anne. There was much good conversation, reminiscing, wine, and hors d’oeuvres, followed by dinner at The Bradley Inn. Thanks again go to Joe for setting this up and for being such a good host. Same time next year?

Bob Hydeman writes: “Here is my overview. Sixty years ago the world centered around the Wesleyan campus, the Goodyear Tavern included! The toughest decision was where to go that week: Conn. College, Smith, or Holyoke?? Since then the world has become increasingly more complicated and global. What would we know without computers, cable, smart phones?? No wonder we called our time at Wesleyan ’the good old days.’”

On a sadder note, George Bryant died at the end of March. He was an extraordinary man, smart, immensely talented, and who devoted his life to the town of Provincetown, Mass.

Architect, builder, civil servant, historian, manager (at the age of 10 he took over running the meat department at the family store when the butcher was fired), Peace Corps volunteer, George earned his master’s at MIT and practiced architecture with a major firm. He decided to return to the Cape and Provincetown. “He became the local architectural historian, architectural consultant, public servant, wine buyer extraordinaire, all the while being radical, free-thinking, subversive, unreasonable, intolerant and conservative,” said his son Eric. Sounds like George’s time at Wes Tech was not wasted. We will miss him.

Hope I saw you all on the campus sometime this fall. Homecoming was Nov. 7th!

That’s it for this one

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311
John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858

Members of the great class of ’59 and their support forces continue to be actively involved with their families and communities. Ted Fiske and his wife, Sunny, have just returned from London, where they attended a chamber music concert in which Hugh Rosenbaum performed with his bassoon up to his high standard. Ted and Sunny will return to London for the month of October during sabbatical to study the English education system. Sunny’s older son and family also live there.

Hugh Lifson writes from Iowa: “Really enjoyed your report. I am envious of all the meet-ups people are having. Out here in the boonies, Wes alums are rare and classmates even rarer! The get-togethers made me think of your column and President Michael Roth’s ’78 article. I hate to say it, but it is an old Williams College slogan—‘a college is Mark Hopkins at one end of a log and a student at the other.’ Well…. if my memory is correct, we all had such experiences. One dared not go into Louis Mink’s office unless you were prepared to spend an hour or two. The same thing often happened with Profs. Schorske, Tenzer, Greene, Schwarz, McAllester, and many others. I have often bragged about the fact that the Wesleyan education c. 1959 was the best in the country. President Roth may be unwittingly (or wittingly) hearkening back to our golden days.”

Skip McAfee reports from Bradenton, Fla., where he resettled after the loss of his wife of nearly 50 years. They had been in Columbia, Md., for 40 years, where Skip was the executive director of The American Society for Horticultural Science. Thereafter he edited the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, weighing at more than four pounds with more than 10,000 entries. Bradenton appealed as his new location because his younger daughter and growing family live there. Skip is also the umpire of choice for youth baseball and senior softball.

Bill Moody reports on a couple of mini-reunions. First the Messrs. Moody, Chase, Gillette, and Leverich and their spouses met at the home of Bing and Luize Leverich for dinner and tall tales and memories. Bob Gillette told about his new book, a sequel to his first, The Virginia Plan. A second reunion took place at the National Museum of the Marine Corps where Tim Day was honored for his generosity in funding an overlook site named in his honor. For a number of years, Tim has also funded deserving Marine Corps captains at Harvard Business School. Bert Edwards, Ed Murphy and Bill Moody were in attendance.

The oft-wandering Eklunds are still active, having attended two high school graduations, one in Colorado, and the other in New Jersey, a week apart. Cornell and Brown are the next stops for the grads and Dave and Mary will repeat in four years. Dave and Mary are on Nantucket, then to Walpole, Mass., for Dave’s 60th high school reunion. Next to Bristol, R.I., for July 4th to see one grandson march in the oldest continuous USA parade. Then to Jackson Hole. Wow!

We now have two classmates who are members of the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame: Fred Stone inducted last year, and Dave Darling this May. Dave Eklund and Tom Young were there in support in the Silloway Gymnasium! (All that and back-to-back NESCAC champions to boot!) Pictures of the event and the honoree are on our class site, thanks to Mary Eklund!!

Ed Roberts is retiring as the music director for the Lansdowne United Methodist Church after 14 years. He corresponds with Music Prof. Emeritus Dick Winslow ’40 who is now a spry 97. Prof. Winslow walks with two canes and refers to himself as “Citizen Canes.”

On a sadder note, Dr. Jim Browning died in March. He was a highly respected ophthalmologist, keen Steelers fan and renowned gardener specializing in azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias and dwarf conifers. He propagated and hybridized hardy rhododendron, and had to miss our 50th as he was called on to hold forth at the American Rhododendron Society, which awarded him their highest honor.

Peter Rockefeller remembers Jim: “In the summer of ’58, inspired by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other such visionaries, we bought a used Chevy in Hartford, with the help of Shive Shively, and eventually set off from Jim’s home in Pittsburgh to see the USA!
“We really bonded during our journey and many memories flood back now—his support during an awkward reunion with a no-show father in Florida, our nocturnal hike down the Grand Canyon and back up, staggering to the rim as the sun rose, descent into the Carlsbad Caverns at dusk as bats swarmed all around us, crossing the Mojave Desert in the middle of the night to preserve ourselves and the Chevy, observing the $2 betting limit in Vegas, discovering the magic of San Francisco, crossing the Rockies and peeing on the Continental Divide (doesn’t everybody?), and home.

“Jim was a private man, thoughtful and kind. I cherish the time I was privileged to share with him.”

Blanche Browning, Jim’s wife, responded: “Thank you, to all of you, for your kind words about Jim. Pete, I cannot tell you the number of times Jim talked about your trip, recounted exactly as you described it.

“Wesleyan can be credited for the number of books I counted in his library of Shakespeare’s works, more than 28. He listened every day to lectures of the Great Courses on all subjects: art, philosophy, religion, wars, history, and literature. When he passed away he was reading three books: Joseph and his Brothers by Thomas Mann, Plato and King Lear. He often reread many of his books.

“Finally, he was still working on hybridizing a new rhododendron to be named Wesleyana!”
Our thoughts are with Blanche and the family.

Ed (Dusty) McGrew passed away at the end of May after battling a number of things, including strokes and cancer. He and Carol were married for almost 56 years. Carol was at Conn. College; Dusty was an enthusiastic Alpha Delt and they obviously led an exciting courtship as they were married the minute the ink dried on their diplomas in June of 1959. They raised three daughters on the North Shore of Chicago. There are eight grandchildren, seven boys and one girl who are thriving. Three are college grads, one is studying medicine, and the rest coming along from grade school to high school. Quite a handful and a real achievement!

Fresh from a 55th Reunion, the Great Class of ’59 continues on. We drew a surprising number of returnees, noted many have been married to the same spouse for nearly the entire time since graduation and want to recognize those of whom we are aware. Your two class scribes qualify, Cyndy and John Spurdle (56) and Molly and Skip Silloway (50). Our class “insider,” Charlie Wrubel and his wife Myra (54) certainly qualify. Others include Margaret and Owen Tabor (50), Judy and Bob Hydeman (52), Joan and Ted Bromage (55) and Sue and Bert Edwards. We are sure there others and we will include them when they report.

Alan Brooks writes: “At the 55th Reunion in May 2014, three classmates agreed to get together that summer in mid-coast Maine, where each had a summer place. Spurred on by Joe Mallory’s efforts, he and his wife, Wendy, joined Bob Chase and his wife, Joan, and Alan Brooks and wife Marie-Pier for dinner at the Public House in Damariscotta. A pleasant evening was shared during which we did ‘tell the stories of the glories of dear old Wesleyan.’ It was decided that our little reunion should become an annual summer tradition.”

Walter Burnett, visiting friends in Friendship, Maine, in early September, paid a call on his former roommate, Alan Brooks, at his Capitol Island cottage. During a leisurely lunch looking out over the Boothbay Harbor area, Walter and Alan had ample time to catch up on each other’s lives before Walter hit the road again headed for D.C.

Linda and Dick Cadigan report productive and satisfying missionary work in S.W. Uganda at a community hospital and health complex, where he encountered “a sobering exposure to the way millions live in much of the world.” Equally satisfying was the ordination on 1/15/15 of their oldest child, Katie, as an Episcopal priest in Santa Monica. They witnessed a standing ovation for Katie’s first service. The church is fortunate to see three generations of this family: Dick’s dad, Dick himself, and now Katie are all Episcopal ministers. The proud parents are now off to Belize in February for additional missionary work.

Ted Bromage staved off the cold while blowing 20 inches of snow from his half-mile driveway by thinking of the warmth and friendship of our Reunion. Also heartwarming is the spring launch of his trawler, Landfall, and our upcoming 60th high school reunion.

Molly and Skip Silloway, as part of their 50th anniversary celebration, spent much of July in the United Kingdom. The highlight was a weeklong charter of a barge on the Thames River. Both sons, a daughter-in-law, and their two grandchildren accompanied them on a memorable trip. After this, the two senior Silloways fled to Scotland for two weeks. All in all, a wonderful trip with great company, scenery, and people. “Och Aye Laddie, as they say in the Highlands, quite an odyssey.”

Cyndy and John Spurdle headed over to England in the Silloway’s wake for a trip to London to see old pals and to celebrate their youngest granddaughter’s birthday with theater, dining out and her own room at the Sloane Club. They then headed north to Suffolk for Christmas with daughter Meg ’84 and her family, renting “Fig Cottage” in the nearby village of Pettistree, home of the classic Greyhound pub. They headed back to London for New Year’s Eve and then home.

Our roving “starving artist” Steve Pyle has been reported on Fisher’s Island, where he delivered a painting, played golf, and stayed with the Spurdles. After flying into Groton in a plane far too powerful to land on Fisher’s Island, John came across the bay in his boat. There he played two rounds of Texan Foursomes with all available Texans on Fisher’s Island in increasingly windy weather, and had to find a bigger craft to take back to Connecticut.

On a more sober front we report the death of Marty Jaskot in Hawaii. Marty was one of Middletown’s own and leaves a large family here behind. The funeral took place in Hawaii and was live-streamed to Middletown for his family. Among the many and generous comments made about Marty were that he was a gentle man, unless one confronted him across the line of scrimmage. Marty was a great member of the class of ’59 and will be sorely missed.

Dave Eklund also reported the sad news that his younger brother Dick, whom he went east to help care for, has passed. Dick was a fighter pilot in Korea and Vietnam and since then a long time pilot for Delta. Our thoughts go out to his family.

Ted Fiske lives in Durham, N.C., where his wife, Sunny Ladd, teaches public policy and economics at Duke University and Ted edits the annual Fiske Guide to Colleges. The two continue to write together on issues of education policy and travel, often combining professional duties and sightseeing in such trips as a conference in Segovia with stops in Madrid and Barcelona. The two also make “mandatory” annual visits to their grandchildren in London and Amsterdam, spending time with Liz and Jack Lambert in the former last May. Their most recent travel was a week-long excursion to Cuba, where the U.S. trade embargo limits the American car importation after 1960. This meant that the couple drove to a restaurant in a robin’s egg blue 1957 Chevrolet convertible with the top down. “Talk about bringing back memories!”

Harry Lerch and wife Sharon are now living in a fly-in community in Palm City, Fla. Harry is almost retired from his law firm in Bethesda. The couple make it clear that classmates living in or visiting Florida should reach out: “We’d be happy to host you for a round of golf, check out the beach, or just hang out and chew the fat.”

Bob Hydeman caught up from Texas. His oldest granddaughter, 18, is attending the University of Alabama. The next two, identical twins, were recruited to the Air Force Academy for their soccer skills. His 15-year-old grandson is a keen baseball player and the youngest granddaughter is just as great at volleyball.

Ray Simone writes, “Anyone traveling to or through Rhode Island, if you have the time, please come to our new restaurant, Simone’s, at 275 Child Street in Warren, R.I. My sons and I opened the restaurant in September of 2014. We are attempting to source our food from local farms and serve locally caught seafood: simonesri.com.”

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311

John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com; 212-644-4858

The photos below are from Dave Darling’s induction into the Wesleyan Baseball Hall of Fame, and submitted by David Eklund, who writes, “Please note the very special wall sign ‘running between the ears of Tom Young and Dave D.’ ”

 

 

 

 

 

The 55th Reunion of the Great Class of 1959 was an unbridled success. We had a good crowd returning, tremendous fun catching up and wandering around a campus that continues to change, capped by a lovely Class dinner. It was a great pleasure to have Nancy DiMauro with us for the weekend. Dave Eklund held forth in great style. (I have pictures!!). Dick Cadigan was our M.C. for the evening, and ran things with great enthusiasm and his usual panache. Doug Bennet and Midge were able to attend, which made the evening even more special. At cocktails beforehand, my wife Cyndy met Mike Whalen ’83. Her first comment was “What a big fellow you are!”

Cads has gone off to Uganda for three weeks for some well earned R&R after his great Reunion performance. He is on a mission with the Kellerman Foundation to work with the Batwa peoples, and then on to the Greek Islands in September! His last comments before departure were: “Great 55th! We can still laugh, sing, toast with and to each other. Great fun!!”

Larry Brick reports: “No need to invent a story about me. I am a first-class felon happily trapped with my wonderful deaf wife of 50 years. We ski bum for two months every year in the Rockies, scuba dive in the Caribbean, enjoy our extended family of three sons, six grandchildren, and close relatives. We live in a Continuing Care Community in Philadelphia. No housework, yard work, repair work, no work period. Deaf Community activist, career educator and administrator, living with the annoying and occasional aches and pains that are part of aging and which are much better than the alternative!”

Walter Burnett has just returned from a three-week trip of day hiking at the Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Pacific Rim national parks. Planning a trip to Indonesia this winter and Hawaii next fall. Walter is not slowing down at all, having just retired from the faculty at Emory University on July 1. He is still living in Western North Carolina, but spends time in Atlanta as well.

Marsha and Bob Gillette’s comments on our Reunion: “We glowed with warm recollections of the Reunion on our long ride back to Lynchburg. There is something special about our fellowship, which we seem to take for granted, but others notice. The genuine excitement of seeing each other and being together was palpable. We are so lucky to have been there to celebrate our 55th. Somehow we just cannot wait for another five years to pass. Having Al Haas ’56 with us for dinner was very special. He was my ‘big brother’ at Eclectic, and during those freshman days of self-doubt, he supported me. It took a bit longer for us public school folks to adjust to the demands of Wesleyan. I look forward to reading Dave Potts’ ’60 new volume on our years at Wesleyan and their historical context.”

Owen Tabor and Margaret summered on the Isle of Skye, to escape the Memphis heat. They had a cottage on a singlet-rack road by the sea. Lots of beauty, quiet, sheep, and a great pub not too far away in operation since 1790. All in all, a perfect setting. I asked O. if he had brought along his bagpipes and kilt. “The pipes have been on the shelf for a while, and the wee kilt is in the closet, as I have become less wee…but the rest is good, man!”

Phil Pessoni was included in the publication, Legendary Locals of Middletown. I guess the authors felt that his close 20-year relationship with Jackie Kennedy and Caroline was important enough to qualify for that honor. Phil’s grandfather, Patrick Michael Kidney (1877–1967), was also in the book. He held many town positions over 40 years and had a great influence over the lives of many Middletown residents. Congratulations, Phil.

Joan and Ted Bromage got back to Mt. Desert, Maine, and wrote: “It was a great Reunion and good to see so many survivors! Joan and I enjoyed ourselves, felt heartened by the return of singing, and intrigued by the ‘aggie’ program at Long Lane. Had some time to do some historical research and I think we located my old study hall, the Goodyear Tap!”

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of John Briscoe. Our classmate Marty Weil wrote his obituary in the Washington Post. “Congressional Aide, Nonprofit Director” was the subtitle, but John said it best about himself in our 50th Reunion Book: “Briscoe has served as a practical idealist, an entrepreneur, a problem solver and an unreconstructed early 1960s optimist.” His wife Kate, his children and all his Eclectic brothers will sorely miss John, Peace Corps volunteer, Congressional aide, development director of several nonprofits, Lakeville farmer, husband, father, great pal of many. John Alexander Holway Briscoe was quite a man!

We are also greatly saddened to report the death of Robert Jensen. Robert came back for our 50th, at which time he was still running his successful jewelry store, which he told us was the largest in the U.S. in terms of display area. Our sympathies to his daughter and family.

Dana and Dave Clemens have been covering a lot of ground lately, and in sensible places, given the winter in the Northeast. Three weeks in Hawaii in January, most of March in Florida sounds pretty clever. A trip to Thunder Bay in July for a family reunion rounds out the 2014 plans, but there was not a way to squeeze Middletown into the mix, sadly.

Carol and Shive Shively have just returned to their home in California after a wonderful family reunion in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with three of their children and assorted others. Carol writes: “Shive continues to meet the challenges of Parkinson’s and is doing quite well. He has started playing the trumpet again, and is busily teaching the gal who is looking after him to play, too—a great sign. More travel to the East was not going to be possible this year.”

Fred Stone wrote: “It was a great honor to be inducted into the inaugural Wesleyan Baseball Wall of Fame on May 3. My teammates Dave Darling and Tom Young attended the event in the Usdan Center, which gave the Class of ’59 good representation. I was grateful for their support. Tom and Dave drove to Maine last summer to check out my progress since my stroke in 2010. I walk with the assistance of a walker, but otherwise I am in good spirits and take life one day at a time. The Wesleyan facilities were very impressive, and the Wall of Fame program was a class act.”

Charlie Wrubel’s son Bill ’85 won an Emmy for his role in co-directing Modern Family which, itself, won the Emmy for best comedy series. Bill has won five Emmys and now moves on to Warner Bros., where he has a contract to produce his own material. Wow!

Since our last class notes came out, we are sad to report the passing of Bob Berls. We chatted about his coming back, and he said at the time that he was too frail to try it… Our thoughts are with Bob’s wife and family.

Note to all classmates who took pictures at the Reunion: Please e-mail them to Cynthia Rockwell (crockwell@wesleyan.edu) and she will make sure that they are posted on our Class Notes website. I have already sent mine in, and hope others will follow! This is the url for the site: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/class-of-1959/. We found Wesconnect difficult to access. Hopefully, this experience will be different!!

Skip Silloway | ssillow@gmail.com; 801-532-4311

John Spurdle | jspurdle@aol.com