Tag: 1962

Robin Cook and Chuck Work have reconnected, after realizing they both had homes in Naples, Florida. Also, Robin’s 41st medical-thriller novel, Bellevue, was published in December: “It happens to be one of my personal favorites even though it has a supernatural element, which is unusual for me because I generally much prefer stories based on hard science. The novel I’m currently writing features prions—those protein molecules that cause neurodegenerative disorders like mad cow disease.” As for medicine, Robin decided this year to let his final state medical license lapse: “It certainly will be a milestone for me as it has been a rewarding and wonderful career that I would certainly do over again if I were suddenly transported back to being an undergraduate at Wesleyan.”

Bill Everett writes: “At the end of September, Hurricane Helene hit our mountains with ferocious winds and one to two feet of rain. Our own home in Waynesville saw our road turn into a raging torrent, with the water coming about 100 yards from our house. We were without outside communication for a week but retained power and potable water. Many others were not so fortunate, losing their lives, their loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods, and businesses. As a woodworker, I was particularly saddened by the loss of several fine woodworking shops and studios in the area around Asheville, and, of course, the trees, mowed down by wind, rain, and landslides, litter our forests and roadsides. I am no longer surprised to see the faces of friends and neighbors in national news, as we struggle to recover from this catastrophe. The immense outpouring of help from all over the continent has sustained us in many ways, giving us an image of humanity’s best in times when the media shows us the worst. Some of you may have been among our unknown helpers. Thank you!”

Bruce Franklin relates that “after returning from teaching in East Africa in 1965, I lived as a graduate student at Columbia University and continued living on the Upper West Side until 2000. Worked as a professor in New Jersey until 1998 and [then] finally moved to Connecticut. Visited around the world playing tennis until 2006, when I settled into part-time teaching at a nearby university until 2021. I visit great-grandchildren in Hawaii and Washington State and currently divide my time between Connecticut and Tucson, Arizona. I am looking to attend our 65th Reunion.”

After living for 26 years in the Adirondack Park and homesteading on 40 acres with a half‑mile driveway, David Gottesman moved back to Albany after his wife of 60 years died. “I moved with my rescued Chesapeake Bay retriever and thank God I did. I miss the goats, donkeys, chickens, large gardens, and the beauty of the land, transitioning to the world of iPhones. Streaming has been a trip. I do miss my roommate Tom Gregory, a gentleman, a scholar, and just a decent person.”

John Hazlehurst reports, “Not much from periodically sunny Colorado Springs. Can’t believe that we graduated nearly 63 years ago, but grateful to be alive and only mildly demented. Still writing my weekly column in the Pikes Peak Bulletin and still living in our magnificent old wreck of a house. Digging through crates and boxes in the basement, trying unsuccessfully to throw away useless but interesting documents from the past and playing happily with our three puppies (an Aussidoodle, a Bernedoodle, and a Chesapeake). We’re publishing our visitor mag, Colorado Fun for the 10th consecutive year and hoping to stay healthy and active this year.”

Bob Hunter reports in the aftermath of President Jimmy Carter’s death: “As classmates may know, I had the honor of working for him on his NSC staff (Europe and the Middle East) for all four years of his term, less two hours and 20 minutes! I was fortunate to have had a final personal visit with him in September 2020 (see attached photo) and went to his lying in state at the Capitol and then to his funeral at the National Cathedral. For those who did not see the service on TV, I recommend getting the C-SPAN recording. With all that Jimmy Carter was and did for so many, we shall not again see the likes of him, at least not in our lifetime.” Bob’s historical tribute is at  https://responsiblestatecraft.org/carter-middle-east/.

Bruce Menke reflects: “As I near my 85th birthday, I am reminded of the many ways in which my four years at Wesleyan shaped my subsequent life. I was a political science major. Luigi Einaudi and Nelson Polsby were new faculty members, and I enthusiastically took whatever courses they offered. I also studied German and Spanish, and my newly discovered interest in foreign languages led me to take an intensive summer course in Russian at Northwestern University. With the support of my German language professors, I spent the spring semester of 1961 at the Freie Universität in Berlin, becoming fluent in that language. During my senior year, when I took Luigi Einaudi’s course on South American politics, he encouraged me to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Argentina. To my surprise I was successful and spent a year at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and became fluent in Spanish. That fluency led me to study French, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan, while my German led to Dutch, Afrikaans, and the Scandinavian languages. With this background I earned law degrees from Harvard and Southern Methodist University, before embarking on decades of work as a corporate lawyer focusing on business activities in Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Pakistan. My professors at Wesleyan provided not just excellent academic training, but also the personal encouragement and support to pursue opportunities which I would not otherwise have even considered. Thank you, Wesleyan!”

Charlie Murkofsky’s grandson, Nolan Rhodes, “has committed to play baseball for Wesleyan and will begin his freshman year in September. He’s a third-generation Cardinal. His mother, Erica ’90, was [also a graduate]. I continue to practice psychiatry nearly full time and also have the joyful experience of visiting with five additional grandchildren, two in Honolulu, two in Austin, and one more, like Nolan, in Westchester County. Health for me and Susan, my wife of 50 years, is gratefully quite good. That said, I expect challenging issues as time does its thing. My best regards to you all.”

Steve Trott now has two granddaughters at Wesleyan. “Both of their mothers (my daughters) graduated in the 1980s. To go with my father, who graduated in 1937, that makes it a family affair. One granddaughter plans to join Psi U. Not quite the same place, is it? They even win football games!”

Robin Berrington writes: “I put together a group of 12 other theatergoing participants from the Washington, D.C., area to attend the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in July. I have attended CATF since 2004, was asked to join their board, and most recently ‘graduated’ to the honorary board. I have seen it rise in prestige and popularity over the years as it features new plays seldom or never seen before, on topical—sometimes controversial—themes and with new young casts fresh from New York or the West Coast. The New York Times has even called it one of the ten best summer festivals in the U.S., so I never have a problem assembling the group to accompany me. This time we were asked to look over a newly deconsecrated church as a future site for its activities. Everybody said it was one of the highlights of one of the best years ever.” 

News of this award for Lindsay Childs: “The University at Albany Emeritus Center recently elected Lindsay N. Childs as William L. Reese Fellow for 2024. Named after founding president and benefactor Bill Reese, the program is designed to honor to UAlbany emeriti for sustained, consequential and exemplary post-retirement professionally related contributions and achievements in scholarship and creative productions, teaching or service, in or outside the University.”

Although no longer actively practicing medicine, Robin Cook’s writing of medical mystery thrillers continues unabated with his latest entitled Bellevue, scheduled for December publication. “Strangely enough it incorporates a bit of the supernatural,” Robin reports, “which is certainly unique for me as hard science has always been the cornerstone of my stories.” He recalls that at Wesleyan, “after my first paper in freshman humanities rated a miserable C-, I felt relegated to the ‘hard sciences’ and stayed away from difficult courses like English and literature because they all involved writing, which was understandably graded on a subjective basis. On the other hand, Wesleyan encouraged me to do an Honors College distinction thesis, the experience of which was why I thought I could write my first book. Ultimately, I give Wesleyan the credit it deserves for my writing career.”  

Bill Everett sent “a little news from the Smokies as we continue aging in place in these mountains,” and included this photo of one of his beautiful hand‑turned wooden bowls “if that will help break up the page.” Other impressive examples of Bill’s handiwork, and that of his wife, Sylvia, may be viewed on their joint website, WisdomsTable.net. 

Jim Gately reported an extended cruise with his wife, Kay, during most of February and March to various parts of Asia. “We flew initially in early February to Auckland, New Zealand, and boarded the Seabourn Sojourn there a couple of days later. After spending several days exploring both North and South Islands, we headed west to Sydney, then northeast along the Great Barrier Reef, and eventually to Darwin. From there, we spent several days exploring various islands in Indonesia before steering north to the Philippines, and finally to Taiwan. We flew back to Philadelphia and home in Villanova from Taipei, arriving home jet-lagged but totally satisfied with our adventure. We learned a great deal about the history and current politics of all six countries (not five . . . this is a quiz!) we visited, met some extraordinary people, and thoroughly enjoyed all the many varieties of nature and humanity we met along the way.”

Bob Gelardi “retired” in July from his volunteer job as chairman of the Charity Relations Committee of the Destin (Florida) Charity Wine Auction Foundation, after serving for 13 years. This year the charity provided $3.5 million to 16 local children’s charities (and over $30 million since inception in 2005). Bob developed a model he would recommend for other charities to follow: “We have written agreements with each recipient charity spelling out not only their responsibilities to our Foundation and ours to theirs, but also their responsibilities to each other and the children they serve. We bring together all 16 executive directors twice a year and underscore these partnerships, and each executive director shares what they need and how they can help each other. Playground equipment, computers, and office space are among the many things they have helped each other with over the years.” Bob appended the above photo of a recognition plaque mounted by one of his charity’s grateful recipients.

John Hazlehurst reports “further evidence of our late-life dog dementia,” namely a seven-month-old Bernedoodle to join their three-year-old Chesapeake [and] a two-year-old Aussidoodle. “They’re delightful, destructive, and demanding. But they bring love and laughter to our lives and keep us from spending too much time mourning the departed. And to all classmates, drop in and see us if you’re ever in Colorado Springs. Just one request: if you come, take a few milk bones with you to bribe the canine guards at the gate.”

Jerry Rice wrote as he was “currently preparing my annual lecture to incoming graduate students at Georgetown University Medical Center. This marks 20 years of my teaching there as distinguished professor in the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and will most likely conclude this episode of my career. After 30 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, seven years subsequently with the World Health Organization in Lyon, France, and then 20 years at Georgetown, I’m finally ready to retire for good.” 

Bob Saliba reflects on his four years in a continuing care retirement facility: “We have been very, very happy here. We are in reasonably good health. I did not want to move to Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, but finally lost the domestic argument with my wife, Jenny, of over 50 years, and I consider the decision to move here to be one of the very best. I am completing my term as president of the council here. We have made many friends. It’s a different environment than living in a single-family home or apartment, but it’s worth it. Yes, the fellow residents are all old, but guess what? We’re old too.”

Rick Tuttle conveyed the great news that digital copies of the Wesleyan Argus from 1863 to 2023 are now available online at: https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/islandora/wesleyan-argus. Scroll down to our years and relive the events and issues that were consuming us then.

Chuck Work reports “I do have some news. I am running as a Democrat for the Florida State House of Representatives here in Naples. A very uphill battle. But at least I am doing something.” Previously a lifelong and active Republican, Chuck was convinced by changes in the political landscape to shift his affiliation.  

Finally, and very sadly, I received news from Hank Sprouse that his Wesleyan roommate and lifelong friend Tom Gregory passed away last December following a two‑year struggle with ALS. Tom was fine with telling people about his condition because the more people who know about it, the more likely is help for a cure. Tom had a distinguished career as a producer of award‑winning medical documentary films, and as senior vice president of Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska. His friendships from Wesleyan and Eclectic were always important to him and cherished. A full obituary is available here and a shorter one at https://www.jsonline.com/obituaries/pwix0650691.