Tag: 1960

Congratulations to Rick Garcia on being reelected for another four years as president of the Bolivian National Academy of Economic Sciences. Academic celebrations are being planned for 2019 since that will be the 50th anniversary of the organization.

John Richardson shared his thoughts: “Having just passed my 80th birthday, I find myself with conflicting reactions and emotions. First and most important, I don’t like being 80. Once you reach 80, society gazes past you—if it notices you at all. In my case, even more variables are in play, since by general account I appear to be 10 or 15 years younger than my chronological age. Luckily, I am fully mobile and reasonably energetic, although two replacement joints and arthritis are part of the aging story. Add in a heart valve replacement, and the story comes a little closer to being real. Psychologically significant, I don’t feel 80.”

Mike Rosen’s research at Columbia that focused on the causes and possible prevention/treatment of cardiac arrhythmias has ended. However, he still teaches graduate students and is deriving great satisfaction from helping them hone their skills in reading, understanding, critiquing, and presenting. Mike and several of our generation of Alpha Delts meet fairly regularly for food, conversation, and sometimes music, thanks largely to the organizational efforts of Rod Henry ’57. Mike’s wife, Tove, has retired and is professor emerita of pediatrics at Columbia. Daughter Jennifer Rosen Valverde ’92 is clinical professor of law in the Education and Health Law Clinic at Rutgers. Daughter Rachel was formerly a member of the hardcore bands Indecision and Most Precious Blood and now has a day job as a pathologist in a hospital in California. Tove and Mike spend time on Cape Cod, where he can kayak and revel in the contrast with NYC. They have traveled extensively over the years to every continent except Antartica, both for their work and for the adventure.

In late August, I accompanied my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson on a visit to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park. We were fortunate that smoke from wildfires was not present during our visit. We were delighted to identify 18 different wildflowers on our walks.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

Nici and John Dobson have bought a home in southeastern Tucson, Ariz. They plan to keep their house in Big Sky for several more years.

Peggy and Dave Hale were in Peru for two weeks in February. They visited Lima, Iquitos, and were on a boat on the Amazon River.

Barry Lorch passed away on March 12. He was my fraternity brother at Delta Sigma and had a zest for life. He spent 36 years working for New York State and retired in 1996 as director of the classification and compensation department. Barry and his beloved wife, Brenda, spent their retirement years traveling the world seeking new birds, as Barry was an avid amateur birder. He is survived by Brenda, four children, and nine grandchildren.

Rob Mortimer wrote the following: “A few words from Paris, where Mimi and I have made a practice of spending a few months during the spring. As francophone literature and French politics have been central to our academic careers, we feel pretty much at home here where we have many friends. No one can exhaust the cultural riches of this fabulous city: music, theater, museums, outdoor markets, and parks. We are still jogging in the Bois de Vincennes, which keeps us happy and healthy. Where else can one see a magnificent white peacock while out for a run?”

Ira Sharkansky wrote a blog titled “Wesleyan and Me” that appeared in the Feb. 7 issue of The Jerusalem Post that tackles the contentious topic of support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel movement on campus and academic freedom.

Jeannine and Myles Standish continue to be blessed with good health, enjoying retirement on the shores of Lake Keowee, about 10 miles from Clemson University in the northwest corner of South Carolina. Their community is extremely sociable; everyone’s from somewhere else and they arrive looking to make friends.

Myles still gives popular talks—on not only astronomy, but also on Shackleton, Robert Peary, Panama Canal, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Three sons are sadly far away in Hollywood, Portland, and Boulder. Upcoming 50th anniversary will be on the beach in San Diego and then visiting old friends in Southern California.

Paul Tractenberg and coauthor, Ryan Coughlan, released a major report, under the auspices of the Center for Diversity and Equality in Education (CDEE), titled The New Promise of School Integration and the Old Problem of Extreme Segregation: An Action Plan for New Jersey to Address Both. Paul established CDEE as a home base for his ongoing research and advocacy after retirement and serves as its president. He has a contract with Teachers College Press of Columbia University for a book about the Morris school district, a longtime project of his, along with three young research collaborators. Morris is the only school district in New Jersey, and quite likely in the U.S., that resulted from an order of the state commissioner of education merging two adjacent school districts for racial balance purposes. The merger occurred in 1971, and the Morris district remains one of the state’s most diverse, stable, and successful school districts. Paul and his colleagues have been awarded a $50,000 Chancellor’s Seed Grant from Rutgers-Newark to support ongoing work in the integration of New Jersey’s public schools for the next academic year.

Ann and Bob Williams are active singers in the Highlands Chorale. Bob participates in the Uncalled Four barbershop quartet. They are active at Midcoast Senior College as faculty, students, and administrators. The liberal arts curriculum there is reminiscent of Wesleyan.

The North Cascades Highway was closed for the winter and then opened in early May. Several hiking friends and I traveled to Washington Pass (elevation 5,500 feet) on May 16 for our last snowshoe of the season with a stunning view of Liberty Bell Mountain on a gorgeous sunny day.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

In June family and friends held a luncheon to celebrate the lives of Dick Huddleston and Charlie Smith and to dedicate the Huddleston Lounge in Downey House and the adjacent Smith Patio so that they would be forever memorialized on the campus they loved so much. The mood was bittersweet, as Barbara-Jan Wilson remarked, and celebratory. Spouses Lindsey Huddleston and Rita Smith spoke of how much Wesleyan meant to their husbands. Alan Wulff read a list of the 34 classmates who have died since 1959. Bob Williams, Tom McHugh ’59, Dave Hohl, and Chuck Olton reminisced about our days on campus in the ’50s.  It’s only fitting that these two close friends and extraordinary Wesleyan fundraisers were honored together.

Dave Larrouy expressed his sadness at the passing of Dick and Charlie. Dave and Maxine are enjoying his 25th year of retirement from Ford.

Nici and John Dobson had a wonderful month in the Dingle and Connemara areas of Ireland. It was great fun for John to return to the land of his heritage. He reported that their vacation home in Virgin Gorda received significant damage from Hurricane Irma, but parts of it are still standing.

Dan Nebert and his wife, Lucia Jorge, have retired to Charbonneau, Ore., which is mostly a retirement community enclosing three nine-hole golf courses. His career in medicine, pediatrics, genetics, and genomics now spans 57 years and is still going on. As a physician-scientist, he is semi-retired (still spearheading a genetics training grant at the University of Cincinnati). Congratulations to Dan on receiving the R. T. Williams Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics. In addition, he was notified by the Google Scholar Citation Committee that he is among the “Top 640 Most-Cited Scientists/Authors” in all fields of study, from 1900 to the present.

Jack Fowler continues as senior research fellow at the Center for Survey Research at UMass Boston. Jack has made significant contributions concerning social research methods, medical outcomes, and medical decision making. He was selected this year to give a heritage interview for the American Association for Public Opinion Research which provides insight into his career. It can be viewed here.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

I was deeply saddened to learn that Charlie Smith passed away in May after a long illness. Charlie was our class agent for many years, and we are indebted to him for his tireless efforts on our behalf. We will miss his kindness, unfailing optimism, hu-mor, and deep engagement with the world. He was a sociologist who specialized in social theory and economic sociology. He held several professional institutional roles, including faculty member (Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY), long-term editor of the Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, department chair of sociology, and dean of social sciences (Queens College). He was also active in his synagogue. He is survived by Rita, his wife for 53 years, daughter Abigail ’92, son Jonathan ’94, four grandchildren, two sisters, and a brother. Before his passing, Charlie was informed that our class scholarship had been renamed the Charles W. Smith Class of 1960 Scholarship Fund in his honor.

The passing of Dick Huddleston in January was a significant loss to our university community. He was class secretary and agent, and a director of development at Wesleyan. The following appears in the published obituary: “Dick dedicated his life to his family and supporting nonprofit institutions which provide educational opportunities for youth and adults. His love of his children and grandchildren was expressed by his playful character and ability to think ‘outside the box.’ He successfully shared these gifts in his career helping children and adults all over the world. A passion for travel and exploration of different countries and cultures was a constant theme in his life, motivating him to study six foreign languages, live abroad, become an airplane pilot, and learn to cook excellent Italian food.” He is survived by Lindsey, his wife for 56 years, children Kathy and Michael ’90, four grandchildren, one brother, and one sister. The Richard H. Huddleston ’60 P’90 Wesleyan Scholarship has been established in his honor.

In June family and friends held a luncheon to celebrate the lives of Dick and Charlie Smith and to dedicate the Huddleston Lounge in Downey House and the adjacent Smith Patio so that they would be forever memorialized on the campus they loved so much. It’s only fitting that these two close friends and extraordinary Wesleyan fundraisers were honored together.

Rick Garcia is president of the National Academy of Economic Sciences of Bolivia. In May, he appointed internationally known Dr. Francis J. Ayala as honorary fellow because of his extraordinary contributions to a better understanding of the interconnections between evolutionary biology and economics.

Mark Lischner’s daughter, Lori, teaches special education in San Rafael, Calif. His son, Benjamin, is a physician in Norway. In 1971, Mark started a group practice in Sacramento in pulmonary and critical care medicine. The office now numbers over 30 caregivers. He plans to continue “until stopped by physical disability, dementia, or death.”

Gil Seeley is teaching a course in world music  at the Jewish Community Center in Tucson, where the new director of arts and culture is Barbara Fenig ’11.

Carl Syriala died on Nov. 12, 2016, in West Barnstable, Mass. He was an aquaculture expert and served as the treasurer of the local fire department for 15 years.

In retirement, Paul Tractenberg directs projects designed to improve educational equality. Rutgers Law School presented a major program honoring his 50 years of work in the field. Paul and Neimah enjoyed their annual New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day festivities with their four grandchildren. They went to Florida in February to share a good friend’s “special birthday,” and on a small boat cruise in May to the Mediterranean side of Italy and France.

Bob Williams wrote in: “We maintain our great Wesleyan relations with Marilyn and Mickey Levine. I am active with a flourishing Midcoast Senior College and editor of their newsletter; the layout man is Burr Taylor ’61. I also enjoy my friendship with another Russian historian, Phil Pomper, recently retired from the Wesleyan faculty, and my barbershop singing with the Uncalled Four.”

Alan Wulff wrote in: “I had a great reunion with Dave Boesel. Dave is involved in many things, most notably fervent, active work in the political arena. Dave is a black-belt martial arts expert and was elected president of the American Ju-Jitsu Association.” Alan visited Wesleyan in May and had dinner with Bing Leverich ’59.

I am happy to report that I am now back home. It is a blessing that the left ischium of my pelvis has healed well. I was at Mt. Baker Care Center from Jan. 1 through Mar. 4, where they prepared me with physical and occupational therapy for reentry into my normal surroundings. It was good to resume driving and restart activities such as yoga, contra dancing, and hiking. In addition, I visited the Wesleyan campus with my niece Liz in April and was impressed with the activities taking place on Science Saturday.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

Class of 1960 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund

Joseph Ellis ’19, Manhattan Beach, CA

Your dedicated class secretary, Sal Russo, writes, “On Dec. 29, I was severely injured while descending on a ladder from the roof of our house. I broke both my nose and pelvis. In that one instant of time, my role of caregiver for my wife was dealt a severe blow. Fortunately, our friends were a great comfort and help to Judy. In addition, our children, Amy and Alan, who both live in Seattle, worked diligently to place Judy at High Gate Senior Center. I hope both of us will find healing in our lives.”

Congratulations to Dave Potts for winning the 2016 Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Award “for the best study of a significant aspect of Connecticut history.” His book has received critical acclaim from a variety of sources. Dave, have you begun researching for volume three yet?

Bob Williams and Ann have been singing in The Highlands Chorale, with two concerts a year. Their holiday performance was met with an enthusiastic response by a full house. Bob is also singing in a quartet, perhaps appropriately called “The Uncalled Four.” Nevertheless, they have a devout following at the Highlands. He is having great fun!

Gill Seeley wrote in: “I will be conducting the Port Townsend Community Orchestra, in a program of works by Sibelius, Thompson, Mozart, and Copland at the end of February. I will also conduct the Rainshadow Chorale, also part of Port Townsend, in their May concert, in which I will premiere my new work for choir, Native American drum and flute on a text by my wife, entitled Morning Rabbit. Incidentally, the 40-member chorus consists of mostly retired folks, but they have great work ethic and spirit. I am thrilled to be making live music again after over 50 years of conducting concerts.”

Ed Stein wrote in: “I’m still here. In a few days, I’ll turn 81, which might make me the eldest in our class. Still working, trying to make Chortles, mini-mini chocolate chip graham crackers, a school and household name across the country. Also, doing crossword puzzle solving sessions with seniors at assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Plus, doing some puzzle construction. Will have another New York Times puzzle on President’s Day, Feb. 22, with the theme of Presidential Trivia.

“Wife Addie retired from teaching second grade in New Rochelle, N.Y., after 28 years. She loved it! That is, until teaching became more about test scores. That’s got to change. Daughter Sharon heads up a signage company with husband Tom. Some clients include Greenwich Hospital, the New York Knicks, and Pepsi. And daughter Jamie works in a special marketing group for Hershey’s.”

John Duell wrote in: “Trish and I, with our two families (10 total) celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a weekend in London in early November. All of us enjoyed a performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, together with some excellent food. Looking forward to three weeks in Madeira in January.”

Rick Garcia, president of the Bolivian National Academy of Economic Sciences-ABCE, attended the Bolivian Conferences on Development Economics in December. The conference promoted the exchange of research experiences among Bolivian and foreign economists working in the in U.S. and European universities. While there, Rick gave the Silver Pin award to the best paper of the conference, written by Mauricio Tejada of the Alberto Hurtado University of Chile for his paper “Sources of Gender Wage Gaps in Latin American Countries.”

Sadly, Dick Huddleston passed away on Jan. 15. We will be following up with more information and reflections on Dick in the near future.

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

Editor’s Note: A heartfelt thank you goes out to your class secretary, Sal Russo, who worked diligently on collecting and compiling class notes while in a rehabilitation center to recover from his fall. We wish Sal a speedy recovery.

John Berry wrote the following: “Our daughter, Clay Berry, returned from Russia last year after spending two years as the treasury attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow with numerous trips to Kiev, Ukraine. This spring she was appointed a deputy assistant secretary of treasury, the department’s highest non-political position, with responsibility for Europe, Russia, and all the former Soviet republics. Meanwhile, my wife, Mary, continues to row competitively with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia—a substantial commute from our home in Alexandria, Va. She will be rowing this fall in the Head of the Charles Regatta and plans to compete in the International Masters Regatta next year in Bled, Slovenia.”

Ed Chalfant wrote the following: “Not much going on. Nice lazy summer, with trips to North Carolina and Maine to help with the lobster crisis. Winkie is doing a lot of really good painting with acrylics and showing locally. I am working on a theology and set of liturgies for end-of-life issues and events. Continue to hold services every week at our little ’start-up mission’ which is able to give about 75 percent of offerings to mission outreach partners due to really low overhead and generous people. Both of us are very well and just celebrated 57 years of marriage this week.”

Dan Freedman is retired completely from MIT after a multi-year phase-out. Dan and Miriam now live in Palo Alto, Calif., near their two children and granddaughter. Although retired, he works nearly full-time in the physics department at Stanford. This is the 40th anniversary year of the discovery of supergravity, and his original paper (with two co-authors) was honored in June by celebrations at the Majorana Institute for Physics and Culture in Sicily and at CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Dan also presented lectures describing his research at the Supergravity: What Next? Workshop held in September and October at the Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics in Florence, Italy.

In March 2016, Peggy and Dave Hale traveled to Croatia, where they cruised down the Dalmatian coast, with stops in Montenegro and Albania, to Athens. A bus tour took them to Olympia and Delphi.

Congratulations to Jay Levy for receiving the 2016 Global Citizen Award from the Global Interfaith AIDS Alliance, an international organization that does pioneer work against HIV/AIDS in Africa, particularly Malawi. During the last three decades, Jay has investigated the mechanism of HIV infection and has contributed to the development of anti-retroviral therapies. In response to sad news in the last issue, Jay recalled that he, along with Wink Adams and Powell (Al) Johns, were among the few who lived at Soest House the first six months of their freshman year. Jay recalls that “it led to a real bonding of that group. It is with great sadness to us all that Wink now joins Al with his passing. Their spirit and memory will always be with us.”

Bob Sade edited The Ethics of Surgery: Conflicts and Controversies (Oxford University Press, 2015). Most of the authors of the articles are surgeons, giving a real-world cast to the discussions and arguments; the exchanges are enriched by an admixture of lawyers, sociologists, philosophers, and others with expertise in ethics.

Charlie Smith is the author of What the Market Teaches Us (Oxford University Press, 2015). Rather than attempting to explain and predict how the market functions—a futile endeavor—this book focuses upon the rich teachings that the market offers us for dealing with ambiguities and unexpected and contradictory happenings.

Bill Walker is the author of Danzig (Create Space Independent Publishing, 2016), a novel of political intrigue set in Central Europe in the 1930s. Richly atmospheric, it is gripping historical fiction in the grand tradition that has received rave reviews. Bill has a website at authorwilliamwalker.com that describes the book and provides a convenient link to buy it from Amazon in electronic or print forms. You are encouraged to read the novel and then to submit your review.

On a personal note, one of the highlights of my summer was taking part in the annual ferry boat contra dance in July. An enthusiastic 150 dancers, along with caller and musicians, took a regularly scheduled Washington State ferry round trip from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. It was great fun, especially when the ferry encountered strong currents that tipped the dance floor!

SAL RUSSO | salandjudy@hotmail.com
2700 Kentucky St., Bellingham, WA 98229

This column begins with the sad news that Wink Adams died on March 19, 2016. He spent the last eight months of his life in the skilled nursing unit of The Glen at Willow Valley in Lancaster, Pa., where he received kind, loving, and compassionate care. His last job before retirement was to train salespeople to sell investment products for MetLife. Wink loved the beach and water at Cape Cod. He also derived great pleasure from his collection of classic cars. He is survived by his wife, Carroll, son Richard ’85, and daughter Tracy. On behalf of the class of 1960, I express our condolences to his family and friends.

Another sadness for our class is the death of Herm Golnik on Oct. 12, 2015, after a short illness. While teaching and coaching at Monson Academy in Monson, Mass., and later Middletown High School, he received his master’s in education from the University of Hartford. He attended Vanderbilt Law School and received his JD in 1967. Throughout his career he worked for a series of financial institutions in New York City, Detroit, and Orlando that included American Express, National Bank of Detroit, and Sun Banks of Florida. He also worked for Chrysler at their Eight Mile Plant as a tool and die maker and taught in the Detroit Public School System. After retiring, he moved back to Middletown, where he occasionally was a substitute teacher. He enjoyed politics and baseball and loved the New York Yankees. Herm was predeceased by his son Alexander. He is survived by his sons Karl, David, Jonathan, Benjamin, daughter Katie, and their respective spouses. He leaves nine grandchildren. On behalf of the class of 1960, I express our condolences to his family and friends.

Roland Bassett wrote: “Adrienne and I are truly blessed. We travel a good bit, just back from a tour of India, and Adrienne is headed back to Europe with a grandchild in June. I am (almost completely, but not quite) retired from my law practice. We still live in Galveston, along with our three boys, our daughters-in-law, and all of our grandchildren (except for those who have headed off to college), but we also spend a good bit of time watching pine trees grow on our small tree farm in East Texas.”

Bill Murphy wrote the following: “I’m happy to add a few lines to the notes since recovering from a second hip replacement is restricting my other activities. I’d rather be in school, but the doctor has grounded me temporarily. I continue to teach at Hanover High School where I started in 1961, but now it is only two courses. I have the satisfaction of teaching some bright juniors in a course called Contemporary American History, which I sometimes call the course of my life, since it begins in 1941 and comes up to today. I also include Wesleyan in the course as I push the students to try to determine what causes change. The big question is why did the Civil Rights Movement come when it did, and the little question is why did EQV and other fraternities at Wesleyan challenge their discriminatory clauses—a question that I tried to pursue at our 55th Reunion. Many good discussions have resulted.”

The history of Wesleyan University (1910–1970) written by Dave Potts has gone into a second printing and has been assessed in the premier journal for reviews of books in American history as “a genuinely enjoyable read” with extended sections that are “page turners.” The reviewer goes on to observe: “The second half of the book is a gripping account of the struggle to realize” President Victor Butterfield’s “distinctive vision of what a liberal arts college should be.”

Gil Seeley wrote: “I have re-invented myself, so to speak, living in Port Townsend, Wash. Will conduct the Rainshadow Chorale in the spring concert and am teaching my world music/poetry class. It’s called ‘a Victorian seaport and arts community’ by the chamber of commerce, but for me it is a place where there are an extraordinary number of retired folks who have done fascinating things with their lives. I highly recommend a visit to Port Townsend, as you will not be disappointed! Cheers.”

Paul Tractenberg wrote the following: “I retired as of Jan. 1, 2016, after 45-and-a-half years of law professing at Rutgers Law School in Newark. My wife, Neimah, and I recently moved to a new condo townhouse. The impetus for the move was to have a place with a first floor master bedroom—just in case—even though walking stairs isn’t an issue for either of us yet. In fact, I still do bicycle rides of 30–50 miles and sometimes more. Retirement from law teaching doesn’t mean the end of projects about which I care deeply. To the contrary, the time I’m not spending on teaching and attending to faculty business is largely being consumed by project work. To accommodate my major project, I’ve created a new nonprofit organization known as the Center on Diversity and Equality in Education (CDEE) and, to my gratification, have received a number of generous grants to support my work. As the new organizational name suggests, my work continues to focus on improving the educational opportunities for children, and especially low-income children of color. The project is centered on the Morris School District, a consolidation of predominantly white, upper-income and suburban Morris Township and predominantly black and Hispanic, lower-income and urban Morristown. This merger, which took place in 1971 by order of the state commissioner of education, produced one of the most diverse school districts in New Jersey despite opponents’ claims that it would trigger massive white flight. In late June, we head out to our house in Hampton Bays and look forward to a summer of sun and sea. We hope that our grandchildren will join us before and after their summer camp (and their parents can come along, too). So, all in all, life is good. We wish our classmates and their partners the same.”