Tag: 1962

We start with two significant genealogical achievements:

First, Andy Dahl writes, “After five years of research, writing, and editing, my book Finding Rose: The Search for My Grandmother has finally been published.” The book chronicles the life and fate of his maternal grandmother, Rose Liepmann Oppenheim, a German Jew, during the Holocaust. “I describe her life beginning with her prominent German-Jewish heritage through her persecution under the Nazis: the inexorable deterioration of her personal condition under the Nazi regime, the forced bankruptcy of her family business, the seizure of her home, the confiscation of her possessions, and her eventual deportation to the Izbica transit camp in Poland, where she perished.” The book also describes how his uncle, who had immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, joined the U.S. Army and became both a “Ritchie Boy” (a German-speaking interrogator of German prisoners) and General George Patton’s jeep driver. Immediately after the war ended, he drove through the Russian-occupied zone with the unfulfilled hope of finding his mother alive. Still, “thanks to hundreds of letters written from Rose to her children and other family documents carefully preserved in old leather ‘suitcases of sadness’ for 80 years, I have come to know her.” Finding Rose has done well in Amazon sales under the Holocaust Biographies category and was featured at the 2025 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Andy concludes: “I owe my ability to do historical research and write a book of this type to my time spent as an American studies major at Wesleyan many years ago.” 

Second, Morrie Heckscher “used the COVID lockdown to address what to do with a family archive I’d inherited, finally giving it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania—but not before composing a family history based upon its hundreds of post–Civil War letters, early photos, diaries, etc. These documented a classic American story: all about race and religion; ambition, immigration, and assimilation; patriarchs, powerful women, and family dynamics. These provided the kind of granular, unselfconscious evidence you don’t get on Google. The result, thanks to my Wesleyan education, is more history than hagiography. The Heckschers were from Hamburg, and the first-generation immigrants were the real achievers. More recently, my wife, Fenella, is about to come out with a biography of Jane Colden, America’s first woman botanist. She and I happily spend much of the time in our garden in the Hudson River Valley.”

In other news, John Hazlehurst is “still writing a weekly column for the Pikes Peak Bulletin, and (wonder of wonders) they’re still paying me to do it!” Otherwise, there’s “not much to report from no longer particularly scenic Colorado Springs, as Karen and I look forward to a calm summer with our three reasonably well‑behaved young dogs and visits from the kids, the grands, and the great-grands.”

Bruce and Karen Menke were recently recognized by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Georgia for their participation in classes offered by the institute over the past 10 years. Bruce continues as a highly active democratic supporter, writing “more than 100 op‑eds and letters to the editor, which have appeared in more than 20 print and online media outlets serving the 22 counties within our congressional district, with many letters appearing in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. I have also led a group of 20 letter-to-the-editor writers, who have generated a steady stream of messages to the voters in our area concerning the ongoing attacks on our democracy and the actions that can be taken to oppose them.”

David Lorenzen Sbrega and his wife, Barbara, have both had some serious health problems but “are hanging in there. We still live in Mexico City (since 1970!), have two daughters, [who are] now living in LA and D.C., and a son here in Mexico. He is father to our only grandchild, now four years old. We often visit Barbara’s home village in upstate New York. I retired from my job as a professor of South Asian history in El Colegio de México in 2011 but am sporadically active with academic projects including a recent co‑authored book about an early modern Hindi poet. I applaud President Roth’s efforts to defend the academic freedom of universities against government interference.”

On a late and sad note, Milt Schroeder passed away on July 24, and Chuck Work was among the distinguished speakers at his memorial service.

Since I have a little extra word allowance this time, I conclude with a brief personal note. Helena and I are still living happily in our suburban Toronto home, although as dual citizens we feel quite aghast by the recent turn in political relations. Despite a few “penalties of age” (as a contemporary friend puts it), I keep moderately busy with small academic projects, mainly book reviews and memoir‑ish short articles. I greatly enjoy hearing from Wes classmates and recently tried (with modest success) to establish a somewhat comparable email network among my surviving Springfield (Pennsylvania) high school classmates. To everyone so inclined, please keep your messages coming to me.

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!”