Tag: 1961

Categories Class Notes, Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1961 | 2022 | FALL ISSUE

Greetings to my 1961 classmates from the cool and delightful Adirondack Mountains of New York State. I suspect that Steve Smith has been challenged with the heat of his summer location, writing: “I am still living with Mary Jane in Florida near the west coast. My chief activity is participation in Help to Home, a program for the provision of low-cost housing for struggling families.” Russell Mott tells us that he is “living now on the U.S. East Coast with my girlfriend. This latest chapter continues with unusual good fortune, as my life was saved by an extraordinary neurosurgeon at Tufts last November. That was the third time my life has been saved (first, by an 85-pound French Poodle named Tarr, when I was but 1-year-old, and second by a Kiwi international tugboat captain named Peter Scott in ’75, during the evacuation of several thousand Vietnamese, days before the North Vietnamese took the city of Da Nang). It is summer, and like 20 previous summers, I am at camp 24/7, in northeast Massachusetts, introducing ceramics to kids 8–15, having the time of my life. Bueno hasta siempre.— Mook (My camp name given to me over 70 years ago by another Eclectic brother, Jake Congleton, WES U class circa 1955.)”

Spike Paranya tells us: “Kathy and I continue to enjoy our retirement in Oneonta, New York. Our area offers lots of opportunities for community involvement close at hand. I still volunteer as a jumps coach for the Sidney High School track team and other top athletes at local high schools. I’ve done this for 40-plus years but not much longer! Just prior to COVID I had two athletes win state championships in the long jump and triple jump, adding to my previous champions in the high jump. I can no longer demonstrate these events to my athletes!  Since many of these kids also play in the band, I have enjoyed years of watching them play in their school concerts. Our band director just retired, and we figured out that at his last concert I was probably the only person in the audience who had been at his first concert 37 years ago! I also spent 30 years taking care of our church grounds and some building needs. I don’t miss that at all!  I still like to garden and, in addition to that, at our summer home in Princeton, Massachusetts, I have made walking trails through the 38 acres of woods we enjoy there. It seems to keep me healthy but not necessarily free of pain! Kathy is still young and sharp for which I am thankful. She spent a lot of time volunteering with the Catskill Symphony as they chose a new director. Also, as chair of a committee at our UU Church, she managed the installation of two new stained-glass windows in our church sanctuary. It was quite a process. They are beautiful! In the wider world, the war in Ukraine is so depressing. A group of my Slovak relatives live close to the Ukraine border and are involved helping fleeing refugees who have such sad tales to tell.”

A note has been received from Frank Stewart that reads: “Thankfully, we are healthy here in South Florida, but hating the politics. We have been here since my retirement from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2002. Diane is a volunteer, teaching English as a Second Language through the County Library, and I spend most days with the Lifelong Learning Institute of Nova Southeastern University, sitting in on lectures and auditing classes. So sorry to hear of John Driscoll‘s (’62) passing. He wasn’t ’61, but he was close.”

The warm summer weather appeals to Glenn Hawkes, who writes: “I’m finishing up my stay at our home in Rwanda, where one finds the best of summer weather year-round. In recent weeks I’ve visited with many of the high school graduates, for whom schooling was made possible, thanks to generous Americans, including our classmates Al Williams, Ed McClellan, and Bob Hausman.”

Categories Class Notes, Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1961 | 2022 | SPRING ISSUE

John Rogers opens our column with some rhyme:

I too am always seeking

Remedies for arthritis and pain.

At 82 not likely to be found,

So living daily with pills and a cane.

A recent move from South Carolina to Kentucky.

Left behind warm weather, shrimp and grits.

Thinking Lexington better for family and health,

Now relying on bourbon and snow mitts.

Winter here reminds me of Foss Hill icy slopes,

Plodding carefully to frats and dreaded classes.

Definitely needed study time in Olin and Clark,

But all too often imagining weekend lasses.

Fading memories of ’61-classmates and activities,

But certain now I excelled at sports and games.

Details of classes and grades quite fuzzy,

Not unlike daily questions about best friends’ names.

“Some sad news,” writes Peter Funk: “Brad Beechen died on 10 January in Chicago after a yearlong illness. He is survived by his wife Mary-Jane and son Adam. My review of the 4 June 1961 commencement program confirms that Brad graduated as a Bachelor of Arts with Honors and Distinction.  In addition to being a brilliant scholar, he was an excellent athlete and a close friend to many of us.  How he ever managed to study as a member of DKE during his four years at Wesleyan will remain a mystery to us mortals who managed to limp over the high threshold and obtain a simple BA.  I also managed to confirm for myself that 176 of us graduated with a BA on that day.  It was a long time ago, but I remember it well.”

Regarding his personal update, Peter continues: “I reached my 83rd birthday on the 27th of January this year and remarkably all is well here on our small Island of Jersey in the Channel Islands.  I have been trying to retire from my years of entrepreneurship and my international interests in communications, film, and television.  It has been a long voyage since we graduated in 1961.  After working with classmates, Bill Harris and Brad Beechen, in Chicago, I moved to New York and then to London in 1973.  I have been based on this side of the Atlantic, developing new communications enterprises in the Middle East, Far East, and Europe.  Lexy (’91) and Jenny (’95), my two daughters, are Wesleyan graduates.  I have four grandchildren and I hope the tradition continues. My best wishes to my fellow classmates.”

Pete Drayer proudly announces that his grandson, Ian Moran, is going to Wesleyan.  Russell Mott (aka Bob Lannigan) reports that he just opened a gallery with his partner and that he soon will be back to summer camp, with 160 kids in Amesbury, doing ceramics for seven weeks. Casey Hayes revealed his recent satisfactory recovery from a “three-day minivacation” in the hospital for emergency surgery treatment, praising the hospital staff: “They are so stressed out these COVID days—such troopers!”

Al Williams, a most faithful contributor to this column, writes: “I think all of us are tired of Zooming.  There is nothing like getting together in person. In that spirit, we organized a mini-Wes ’61 reunion lunch this past June, attended by Paul Dickson, Emil Frankel, Dave Denny, Ed Knox, Tim Bloomfield, and me.  It was a rousing success, and we plan a repeat this coming spring. At Paul’s suggestion, I later contacted Bob Palmeri who lives on Cape Cod near our summer house. Bob and I had a very nice get-together this past summer. Presently, my main contact with Wesleyan has been with Wesleyan wrestling, and I have become good friends with the current (and very talented) coach, Drew Black.

Jack Mitchell claims that his New Year’s motto is: “Be positive . . .  test negative!”  He writes: “The Jack and Linda Mitchell family, thus far, has survived the pandemic and are very healthy!

“Our oldest of seven adult grandchildren, Lyle (a Wes graduate, ’16), is engaged and will be married on Block Island in summer of 2023. He is attending Columbia University Business!  Our family business, Mitchell Stores, is still very healthy.  We now number eight stores.  Nine Mitchells from our family and my brothers are active in the business. My ‘Hug’ business has been limited to a few virtual presentations and selling many Hug books. In addition, I’m a trustee at the Greenwich Hospital and an executive in residence at Columbia Business School, guest lecturing in family business and mentoring students.”

Bob Hausman is thankful that all of his progeny reside within five minutes from him. He writes: “I continue to be well, although COVID has struck my domicile.  I walk 90 minutes a day and lift weights regularly. We still feel the effects of the George Floyd murder here in St. Paul. I am regularly in touch with Glenn Hawkes and have occasional contact with Bob Wielde and Emil Frankel.”

Categories Class Notes, Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1961 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE

We’ll start with a personal note from Paul Dickson: “For many years, I had hoped to get a shot at teaching a session at a writing class at Wesleyan. In part I wanted to do a little payback for the writing classes I took from poet Richard Wilbur, the influence of novelist and historian George Garrett, as well as the impetus I got from musicologist David McAlister, who allowed me to write my distinction thesis on rock ’n’ roll. On May 10, I got to do an hour as a guest lecturer in the writing class taught by Dan DeVisé ’89, a neighbor, good pal and highly talented journalist and author. My guest presentation was on his last day of teaching the course. It was both an honor and pleasure to talk (albeit remotely) to a group of Wesleyan juniors and seniors. Among other things, I talked about what it took to make a living as a writer, both glories and the inevitable challenges of living such a life. As for Dan, I have read two early versions of Dan’s new bio of B.B. King which came out in October 2021, and it is a fine work: King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King. Meanwhile, I heartily recommend his last book The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France.”

A short note from Bob Hausman reveals his optimism for the world as his progeny populate the planet: “A new baby granddaughter, when all the others are already grown. Few things have shaped me more than my Wesleyan education. A family friend is now on the faculty in theater. Her name is Katie Pearl.

Pete Drayer reports that he and his wife, Sandy, continue living in a lifecare community. John Rogers expects to relocate to Lexington, Kentucky, in September.

His “camp name” is “Mook,” but Russell Mott (aka Bob Lanigan until 1979) is returning to summer camp. “I am celebrating my 82nd year, returning to camp for the summer,” he writes. “This, my 20th summer at Bauercrest, a 90-year-old Jewish summer sports camp in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Since my principal gig is ceramics, I brought my entire studio with me when I moved last year from down south. Two Thanksgivings ago, I asked the director why a sports camp in Massachusetts wanted an 80-year-old potter. ‘I want to establish a working art center,’ he told me, and we are off and running to make that dream a reality. The kids arrive in 72 hours, and the studio is about 80 percent ready. I am figuring this is about as good a job as one could get, and it is all happening during my 82nd summer on the planet. I am truly one of the lucky guys.” Russell adds: “Bauercrest did a wonderfully edited video on ‘Mook,’ and it is on their website: Bauercrest.com.”

Categories Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1961 | 2021 | ISSUE 1

“The new Wesleyan is great,” exclaims Sandy McCurdy. “We saw that at our 50th. But we old guys remember the thrill of being one of under 800 students, [enjoying] such features as excellent  science, religion, English, [plus additional] language departments to mention only a few. Where a star, like Richard Wilber, would lead my freshman humanities class of eight students and where Professor McGuire headed off with Yale’s Henry Sloan Coffin as a freedom rider. With the exception of no women being there with us, didn’t we have it good?” Dick Poulton appears to agree, adding his own thoughts: “Memories fade, of course, or get confused a bit! I learned too late in life the value of keeping some sort of written diary of people, places or events. My single year (1957-1958), as part of the Foreign Student program at Wesleyan, was a seminal highlight in my life in so many ways. Alas, my roommate, Trent Sorenson MA ’58, died a long time ago; my wonderful first girlfriend married one of America’s best-known astronauts; my good friend Ed Beckham ’58 became, I believe, dean of Wesleyan; I remember singing in a very fashionable ‘skiffle group’ created by Pete Rockefeller ’59; and I remember very clearly singing in the glee club under Ray Randell and in the choral society under Dick Winslow ’40, who both gave me a life-long addiction to their different types  of music! But I come back to my big question! Please, where can I read the reminiscences of my classmates? They might well help me to resurrect more valuable memories of what was one of the  most enjoyable and valuable years of my life!”

     Bob Hausman writes: “I have a condo in a senior co-op in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unlike all my traveling classmates, I pretty much stay put because I have mild dementia, but my Wes Tech education keeps me going mentally. I am blessed with my family right here in the Twin Cities. I have six grandchildren with one on the way. I am in touch with Glenn Hawkes and Emil Frankel.

     John Rogers responds with tongue in cheek: “Understand your regular request. Hope you get enough replies and sends. No need here yet for coroner’s inquest, or first Amazon package of Depends.

Still living in Sun City Charlotte for last seven years. Too much time in doctor’s office for senior care. Grateful for 59 years of marriage with joy and tears. But not sure now about Why, What, Who and Where.”

     Praise and recognition continue to address the writings of Paul Dickson. Denny Huston shouts: “Dickster, Congratulations! Unlike the rest of us, you are even stronger these days. We are all awed.” Ernie Hildner states: “With this wonderful accomplishment, you should put humility aside and bathe in the accolades. Well done! Bask in the pleasant warmth of deserved recognition.”

     Ernie continues to add: “For a few months now, some Alpha Delts have been enjoying biweekly Zoom calls organized by Doug Evelyn ’62, loosely emulating the discussions we had around the  Star and Crescent eating club coffee table back in the day. Usual participants include Bill Wagner, Paul Dickson, Bob (Gio) Palmeri, Tim Bloomfield, Ernie Hildner, and J.D. Huston, Brian Murphy ’62, and Doug. With a geographic spread from California, via Texas and Colorado, to the East Coast (Vermont to Virginia), and the wide diversity of careers and expertise spanning professor to scientist to diplomat to lawyer to curator to sailor, knowledge­—and/or opinion—can be found on almost any topic. As at the old Alpha Delta Phi coffee table of our youth, conversations range from current events here, there, and elsewhere to philosophy, ethics, civil rights, books and articles to read, etc. One conversation now mentioned a little about something that never came up at Wes, the participants’ health issues, as we all age as gracefully as we can. Good fun to socialize with fraternity brothers, especially in these pandemic times.”

     Jack Richards sends this update: “Enjoying being a retired old/young guy with 10 grandkids. I hope to teach the kids how to sail. Just bought a camp in the Adirondacks, and Carol and I just got our  first vaccination. We’re playing by the safe CDC suggestions. Hope all my classmates are, too. I’ve  scrubbed my hands so much I found the answers to a sophomore physics exam. A day with my roommates, Beau and Quent, is still on my bucket list.”

     John Dennis has been busy. He writes: “An update on my newly

published second memoir: . . . And Master of None was published by Primavera Press on Amazon, November 15, 2020. I am well into my third memoir and will update you on this and my soon to be  published children’s book Where’s Sharah?, which is the sequel to The Mouse in the Lemon Tree, also available on Amazon.”

     Finally, a follow-up to Paul Boynton’s search: I am grateful to all who were involved in that quest: Emil Frankel, K.C. Hayes, Jon Magendanz, Jack Mitchell, Tom Spragens ’63, Hank Sprouse ’62, and Chuck Work ’62, as well as Dave Snyder ’63 and Steve Humphrey ’63. Although I have listed those first names alphabetically, Emil, you and Jack gave me the most help and  encouragement, along with K.C. whose role was key by reminding me of Chris’s last name, which cut  the Gordian knot and enabled me to retrieve Chris’s email and phone number.” Paul and Chris have now connected.

Categories Class Notes | 1960sPosted on

CLASS OF 1961 | 2020 | ISSUE 3

Previously, a search was begun by a classmate for a lost fraternity brother. Paul Boynton wrote, “I remember that he was a tall, lanky, easy-going ‘cowboy’ from W and I liked him a lot, being a farm boy myself. One more clue: He occasionally wore a dark green Stetson worn in prior years while herding sheep.” The reason for this search is that the Stetson was given to Paul, who still fondly wears it and who now wants to express his appreciation to his benefactor. Through the assistance of Emil Frankel, Casey Hayes, Chuck Work, Jack Mitchell, and Tom Spragens, the “lost brother” has been identified as Chris Rich ’63. Contact with Chris Rich is still in the offing so Paul Boynton would appreciate any suggestions regarding contact info.

 Casey Hayes reports: “Bobbie and I just sold our Wellesley home of 51 years to move into a nearby retirement community.”  Reflecting on the past, Casey continues his comments to Paul: “I recall our good times washing dishes together at Eclectic all those years ago. I’m still grateful for all your knowledge of physics and explaining how best to get the grease off those pots and pans. That much has not changed, so I feel that I will have a secure spot in the labor force just in case things turn a bit more troublesome than they are already.” 

Emil Frankel writes: “Kathryn and I remain largely hunkered down in our house in Washington, D.C., getting out occasionally for errands, lunches or dinners with friends—carefully and outside. Mostly, I seem to spend my days at my computer, corresponding with friends, and reading online articles and newspapers. I’m still doing a little writing on transportation policy (I had an op/ed in the Hartford Courant about two months ago on post-pandemic transportation issues), but mostly I have been reading and worrying about politics and the November election. I recently joined a virtual presentation, sponsored by Washington’s famous independent bookstore, Politics & Prose, of classmate Paul Dickson’s new book (The Rise of the G.I. Army). Paul has received great reviews of this book, and the Class of ’61 should be very proud of Paul’s career, as a journalist, historian, and biographer. Kathryn and I are still doing ok and hope that my classmates and their families are healthy and safe in these challenging and dangerous times.”

      In reply, the “immodest” (his claim) author Paul Dickson summarized a few of his reactions to Emil’s comments: “A whale of a good time Monday night talking about my new book at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C. During my Zoom session, I got a gracious message from Emil Frankel. If I seemed a bit befuddled at the outset I could neither see myself or my host and spent the hour speaking to a logo. Just for the record, Nancy cut my hair, picked out my shirt and tie and I tied the tie. Tying the tie was a moment of pre-COVID nostalgia when one actually got duded up for such things.”

George Little and his wife, Carol (Middlebury ’67), continue growing old in place in a circa 1800 Vermont brick colonial house to which they’ve been entrusted since 1976. They met at the University of Vermont Medical School after George’s return from a tour as a Peace Corps staff physician in Africa. Both being pediatricians, they settled in Vermont while crossing the Connecticut River to practice as academic clinicians at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. 

George is currently an active emeritus professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and remains involved in global medicine. He currently serves on the boards of Action, a Kosovo foundation committed to women and children, and Group Care Global, a US NGO focused on group antenatal care globally. He has also edited a book with Ronald M. Green, a fellow Dartmouth retiree, entitled Religion and Ethics in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (2019). 

The Littles have three children—Nicholas ’95, Malaika, and Katrina.  The Littles have enjoyed contact with Dom Squatrito, Bob Carey  ’54 and Jack Woodbury. When a COVID-19 vaccine is sufficiently evaluated and disseminated, they anticipate returning to travel and visits including Middletown. 

Finally, Dave Parker and his wife, Borgny, returned to Middletown in August, settling into Assisted Living at Luther Ridge. “After nearly fifty years editing and writing for community newspapers,” Dave relates: “I thought I’d seen a lot of challenges and change for journalism. Yet, they pale in comparison to the tumult and shocks which now confront not only my old trade but all of us as citizens. I hope and believe my old colleagues, as well as my old John Wesley Club comrades will be keeping the faith.”

Jon K. Magendanz, DDS | jon@magendanz.com
902 39th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205