Tag: 1962

John Driscoll’s celebration on November 5, in a packed Memorial Chapel, was attended by classmates Robin Cook, Bob Krugman, and Hank Sprouse. Robin, who remembers John as “one of the most affable and good-natured individuals I have ever met,” regretted only the absence of speakers from our class who knew him best at the very beginning of his Wesleyan career. Hank, who had been close to John, found the memorial “truly moving for me—spiritual, loving, powerful, gentle, and meaningful.” For anyone interested, John left an extended oral history interview about his Wesleyan history, including his earliest days when we were there together; a transcript of this is available online at https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/ohp-53. 

Ken Landgraver has moved into a retirement community in Portland, Oregon, which allows him and his wife more time to travel: Morocco for two weeks in March and April; hiking the Camino in Spain where he got COVID and “had to spend two delightful weeks in Madrid until I tested negative”; and a week each in Santa Fe and Pismo Beach. They also “spent time at our beach place watching the whales, where they come in so close, we can hear them.” They have been using an old VW Westfalia van for camping throughout the Northwest and exploring Vancouver Island, while also adding two great-grandsons to the family. 

Bruce Menke and his wife Karen continue to be highly active politically in Athens, Georgia, supporting Democratic candidates and causes. They have hosted or co-hosted more than 20 fundraisers and candidate meet and greets, and recently organized a major Get Out the Vote effort. Bruce further reports, “Fortunately, our extended family has made it through COVID without serious illness. Our oldest grandchild is now a sophomore at Duke. Two others are high school sophomores and the youngest is in sixth grade. My interest in languages continues, with a focus on reading contemporary books in the Romance and Germanic languages and, to a lesser extent, Russian.”

Len Wilson writes that “after celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary and catching COVID in Europe last summer, there’s little to top that news. Joyce and I are heading back to our condo in South Philly after spending over two years ‘staying safe’ at our barrier island home on the Jersey shore.” Len remains active with his YMCA retiree groups and is helping plan a Christmas luncheon/fundraising “where I continue to be the auctioneer, squeezing all the giving I can get from my friends and [their] spouses. I will also continue my favorite activity (pickleball) indoors in the Philly area.”

Chuck Work reports that Hurricane Ian “did not hit us as directly in Naples as it did Fort Meyers and we were fortunate in that we live several miles from any water and so the surge did not reach us and we sustained no damage. But it will be a slow recovery for much of Southwest Florida.” He adds that he “went door-to-door for Democrats in our county making almost no difference.”  

Bill Wortman writes: “As everyone discovers when they retire, staying busy is no problem. There’s so much to do, in my case this past year six hiking trips with Road Scholars to national parks (Acadia, Big Bend, Glacier, etc.), local volunteer and civic activities, reading (most recently Joyce’s Ulysses, which I first read with Wilbert Snow in my sophomore year), and fitfully hacking away at invasive species on my small property just outside Oxford, Ohio, which is good therapy.” Sadly, Bill’s wife Sue Howlett (Mt. Holyoke ’65) died two years ago after nine years with lung cancer, but he has three grandchildren all doing well; two in Denver about to graduate this coming spring (one from high school, the other from college), and the third in St. Louis with still “a ways to go.”

Finally, many of you who were chemistry students will remember Tony Santonicola MA ’61, who as a master’s student was a teaching assistant and lab instructor during our freshman and sophomore years. It turned out Tony enjoyed interacting with brats like us more than mixing chemical reagents and moved on to the graduate counseling program at Harvard. He and I became roommates there in 1963 and consolidated a lifelong friendship in which he became “Uncle Tony” to my kids. He served for many years as director of counseling at the University of Hartford and has recently moved to a cottage in a retirement community near there where he tends to two garden lots and confounds everyone who can’t believe he is 92. He recalls his Wesleyan years with great fondness and extends best wishes to all who remember him.

Pandemic concerns cruelly limited in-person attendance for our 60th Class Reunion, but we were still well represented by Robin Cook (also there to celebrate the graduation of his son Cameron ’22, exactly 60 years after his own), Joel Teaford and his wife Maggie, and Hank Sprouse. Hank reports that attendance was very sparse for all the older classes, and that in the alumni parade he, Joel, and Maggie were second in line behind only three intrepid members from the Class of 1952.

Hank further reported that his sadness about the absence of old friends at the reunion was partially mitigated by “a wonderful feeling of comfort and sense of belonging” as well as gratitude for his experiences at Wesleyan. In passing he visited the beautiful wood carving of a pair of northern cardinals that he had presented to Wesleyan 10 years ago at our 50th Reunion, and which remains on display just outside the faculty dining room in the Usdan University Center.

(Ed. note: I can personally attest that Hank’s internationally recognized bird-carving career is still going strong, and for many examples of his work you can visit his impressive website at http://www.hanksduckdecoys.com.)

As partial consolation for our pandemic woes, Mike Schramm from the Office of Advancement graciously organized and monitored a Zoom “social hour” for interested classmates shortly before Reunion. The participants were Bruce Calder, Dick Dubanoski, Ray Fancher, Jim Gately, Bob Gelardi, Mike Hackman, Bob Hunter, John Huss, Dave Irwin, Bill Jefferys, Bob Krugman, Bruce Menke, Gene Peckham, Mike Riley, Bob Saliba, Joel Teaford, Rick Tuttle, and Len Wilson. Dick Dubanoski placed our meeting in historical context by noting that the 60th-year alumni he saw in our own graduation parade of 1962 had graduated in 1902 and been born around 1880, so collectively we represented nearly a century and a half of life experience. Everyone appreciated this opportunity to see and briefly hear from one another, and at the end, several asked if we could share email addresses. Mike Schramm replied that explicit consent was required for the sharing of addresses and started a list of those who provided it. The list has been passed to me, and now contains more than 30 names with addresses. Anyone wishing to be added to it—that is, to have their name and email address added to a list that will be shared with other classmates so inclined—should let me know.

In other class news, Robin Berrington reports that for him in formal retirement, cultural life continues unabated, and his activities have included serving as a docent offering public tours at D.C.’s National Museum of Asian Art; acting as a board member of the Contemporary American Theater Festival in West Virginia; and arranging at home in D.C. a successful showing and sale of contemporary Japanese prints brought down from New York by a friend. Upcoming in September is a tour of a Chinese rural folk house that was rebuilt near the Shenandoah River of West Virginia, and which hopefully will be used for cultural and educational exchange programs between the U.S. and China, “something that is keenly needed nowadays.” Finally, he is planning for next spring’s Japan Bowl, the nationwide competition for American high school students of the Japanese language. He reports that “the enthusiasm of the young students who come to D.C. for the finals rounds is very contagious and is something reassuring to see.”

John Hazlehurst writes, “Not much to report, other than my continuing gratitude for reasonable health, my fabulous spouse Karen, and our three dogs including two puppies. Still writing a weekly newspaper column and actually getting paid for it. Sorry to miss the reunion, but maybe we can all mega-geeze for the 70th!” I should add that John’s highly engaging columns are available online at https://www.csbj.com/users/profile/john%20hazlehurst/ and are definitely worth a look.

Dave Hedges reports that he and Ann sold their home in Rochester, New York, and now have a condo in Ft. Myers, Florida, (where they live for half the year), while also spending about three months in Corvallis, Oregon, (where Ann’s son has a house with a nice apartment for their use), and summer in their cottage on Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Park and Judy Blatchford also have a summer home nearby, so he connects with them every year. The graduation from Gettysburg College of a granddaughter prompted visits with Phil and Janet Calhoun in nearby Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as well as with his close friend, fraternity brother, and Wesleyan roommate Ted Hillman, now living in unfortunately declining health in a retirement home in the Pittsburgh area. Dave remarks that “four of my six grandchildren have now graduated from college making me feel quite elderly”—a sentiment that will resonate with many of us.

Congratulations to Bob Gelardi, who chaired the Charity Relations Committee of the Destin, Florida, Charity Wine Auction Foundation as it raised “the largest amount ever, $3,700,000, to 16 local charities for children in need.” This was the third-largest wine auction in the nation, in a town of only 15,000 people.

Vin Hoagland, now retired from teaching chemistry at Sonoma State University, “loves living in Northern California after growing up in New England.” His wife is an accomplished dressage rider with an outstanding horse, while Vin finds his locale great for bike riding and normally covers about 250 miles a month doing errands or visiting friends. In July, however, he suffered a fall coming off a bike path onto a bike lane on a street, which restricted riding for several weeks but did not prevent him from continuing to teach AARP Safe Driver classes at local senior centers.

Charlie Murkofsky still maintains his full-time psychiatric office practice while also spending time visiting six grandchildren and their parents in dispersed places including Hawaii and Texas. He and his wife Susan “got lucky with COVID, which we both had pre-vaccine without severe illness.” He is “still trying, notwithstanding resistance from my lower back, to stay active with skiing and tennis and to keep the noggin going with French lessons and puzzles. I find it very sobering and sad thinking of our dwindling numbers.”

I must conclude with two sad notes. Bill Oliver reported that his fellow DKE brother and lifelong friend Jack McCarron passed away in March. His obituary can be found at:

https://godfreyfuneralhomes.com/tribute/details/2336/John-McCarron/obituary.html.

And many of you will already have learned of the passing of John Driscoll, who together with his wife Gina served Wesleyan so wonderfully for many years in the alumni office. For tribute and details go to:

https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2022/06/27/driscoll-62-remembered-for-his-extraordinary-service-to-wesleyan/.

With apologies to classmates whose welcome and interesting reports had to be edited down to meet length restrictions:

Robin Berrington reported, “Not much changed over the past two years for me as I remain holed up in my apartment, although managing some socializing in with friends and colleagues at home.” Like many colleagues, Robin “continues to struggle with minor problems associated with our advanced age, but so far has not been infected by anything.” Dismayed by Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction on Groundhog Day, he remained hopeful “since Phil’s accuracy rate is only about 40%. Until then, I hope all is well with all our classmates.”

Lindsay Childs lamented Bruce Corwin’s passing, noting they were roommates freshman year, and had both played tennis in high school. One day in the fall, one of them found a posted notice with the message:  Come Out for Freshman Squash. “Neither one of us knew anything about squash, but tried out, made the team, and played on the varsity for the next three years.” Lindsay continued to play regularly for 30 years and still plays tennis a couple of times a week.

Robin Cook reported being deeply involved in novel #39, “which is certainly 39 more books than I ever expected to write. This one is about how private equity involvement in hospital management reduces clinical supervision in the attempt to maximize compensation.” On another note, he and three partners founded a testing company and have developed “an entirely new way to detect SARS-CoV-2: a machine about the size of a roll-on suitcase which uses Ion Mobility Spectrometry and gives the strikingly accurate result in 15 seconds.” In a coincidence “that probably hasn’t happened too often at Wesleyan,” Robin’s son Cameron will be graduating as a philosophy major this spring precisely as we celebrate our 60th Reunion. Robin recalls himself avoiding those “hard” philosophy classes at Wesleyan because of his concentration on premed requirements, but “Wesleyan is such a terrific liberal arts school, it’s a shame that I was afraid not to risk it.”

Bill Everett reports the publication of two books since last summer “to provide a kind of capstone to my academic career: An ‘expository memoir’ entitled Making My Way in Ethics, Worship, and Wood, presents the main contours of my thought, including my work in worship and woodworking; and the second is a collection of my most significant essays entitled A Covenantal Imagination: Selected Essays in Christian Social Ethics. With that work completed, I turned to a project building a set of worship furniture for Boston University’s School of Theology.” Pictures of and commentary about Bill and his wife Sylvia’s impressive furniture- making projects are available on their website at WilliamEverett.com. They continue to participate in their church and local community of Waynesville in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.

Bob Gause writes, “We are now in our 80s and more names will appear with ‘he passed,’ but we are still proud members of ‘the Silent Generation.’ I refuse to give up, still practice pediatric orthopedics at EMMC in Bangor, Maine, two days a week but no more surgery. In my office, no one knows my age but then age is just a function of how you feel so they know me as 60+. I have a 40-foot catamaran in Panama that I hope to visit February–April, COVID permitting; and if not, I’ll keep carrying in wood for the woodstove.”

Bob Gelardi feels “fortunate in being able to give back to those in need through my board membership and chairing of the Charity Relations Committee for the Destin (Florida) Charity Wine Auction Foundation, which runs one of the ten, top-wine auctions in the country in a town of only about 15,000 people. Despite COVID we were able to give away—to 16 local children’s charities—$2,000,000 this year and over $25,000,000 since its founding in 2006. On a personal note, I am happily married, with a son, a daughter, their spouses, and three grandkids.”

John Hazlehurst writes, “We’re still in our ancient, drafty Victorian on the westside of Colorado Springs, dealing with sometimes nasty winters” and with a new Chesapeake puppy who is “playful, energetic, unruly, and big enough to knock us over when he jumps up—dangerous, but great for increasing one’s balance and agility.” John feels “proud of both our Wes graduates, Bennet (’87) and Hickenlooper (’74), in the Senate, but a little distressed to realize that I’m now (I think) the senior former Colorado-elected official with such a distinguished background.”

 Morrie Heckscher is “pleased to report that one of the more rewarding projects of my retirement has been working with the University on the restoration and repurposing of Alsop House following the Davison Art Center move to Olin Library. COVID and management permitting, I would love to explore Alsop’s painted interiors with classmates attending our 60th! There’s nothing else quite like them. Otherwise, Fenella and I are simply holed up, shivering, in our Hudson River Gothic house.”

Robert Hunter writes, “My only real ‘news,’ in addition to my continuing to write and give talks on foreign policy (Europe and the Middle East), is that I just completed eight years as (part-time) international affairs advisor to the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio.”

Ted Lehne “retired from the last of my five ‘careers’ toward the end of last year. I started with two years in the U.S. Army, then worked in radio/TV and became an elected official in Alaska, then a training manager for Delta Airlines, and finally taught business courses online for a major university for 18 years. I am now back in Douglasville, Georgia. My best to everyone.”

 Dave Lorenzen regrets having “not kept up with our dwindling classmates” and reports “I worked from 1970 to 2011 as a professor of subjects related to India in El Colegio de México in Mexico City. Since then, I have been an emeritus professor in the same institution and still try to publish some research in both Spanish and English.” Dave has “three children, all three thankfully with good jobs, two as college professors and one as a researcher for a climate NGO in DC.” Dave and his wife Barbara, who worked for many years as a geologist in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, “generally spend summers in western New York and might be able to attend our 60th Wesleyan Reunion, provided COVID doesn’t cancel everything.”

Bruce Menke reports that after graduating he had a Fulbright scholarship in Argentina, during which “I read literally everything I could about Argentina and became fluent in Spanish.” After law degrees from Harvard and SMU, and the acquisition of reading proficiency in the Germanic, Romance, and Russian languages, he spent 25 years as in-house counsel with several companies doing primarily international oil and gas work, then 10 years as a “headhunter” placing lawyers. He married Karen in 1967 and the couple have three sons, all now with PhD degrees. They have lived over the years in Philadelphia, Caracas, Miami, Houston, and now in retirement in Athens, Georgia, and “have been very politically active, serving as Democratic precinct chairs and election judges in Texas and, in Athens, as elected members of the Athens–Clarke County Democratic Committee.” They have served on the campaigns of numerous Democratic candidates and actively supported action on voting rights, the climate crisis, and many other causes.”

Charles Seibert reports that “After Wesleyan, civil rights activism got me excluded from the philosophy department of Northwestern University, until I finally earned my PhD in 1972 from DePaul University, Chicago. After a period when I lived as an academic gypsy, putting together whatever part-time employment I could, I finally won a tenure-track position at the University of Cincinnati in 1994 and retired from there as emeritus professor of philosophy in July 2011. Retirement has been good on the whole, as finally there is time to read, write, and try to think with appropriate care. In August 2021, however, I was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma and, two surgeries and 33 radiation sessions later, I am still recuperating. My wife Sarah is my lifeline and we look forward to the future with hope.” [Ed. note: And we all wish Charles a speedy and full recovery.]

Len Wilson and his wife Joyce are planning “a gala, 60th-wedding-anniversary celebration this coming August at our summer home on the Jersey Shore, where we have been secluding ourselves for nearly two years from the anxieties of living in our South Philly condo. Hopefully in July we will be able to travel to Denmark to be with YMCA retirees as well as over 1,000 current staff and volunteers from Ys around the world. I have stayed active as a retiree in the YMCA, on both the local and national level, after my retirement. Joyce has become quite the watercolor artist, and I enjoy the daily experience of enjoying her art in both our homes. On a personal note, I am usually by far the oldest in three different pickleball groups, but still reasonably competitive, playing about five mornings a week.”

Chuck Work reports, “Roni and I are happily hunkered down (as much as we can be given this pandemic) in Naples, Florida. We get out to San Francisco twice a year to see our three sons and are in touch with Milt Schroeder and Emil Frankel ’61.  Had the pleasure of taking my grandson to visit the school not too long ago; visits are different in this pandemic era but the school is handling them as well as can be expected.”

Recently received obituaries:

Barton “Bart” W. Browning, died November 5, 2021; obituary https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/centredaily/name/barton-browning-obituary?id=31435621

John “Jake” E. Davison, died February 9, 2020; obituary https://www.courant.com/obituaries/hc-obituary-john-e-davison-20200216-story.html

John C. Farr, died December 3, 2021;obituary https://www.eastbayri.com/stories/john-carnochan-farr-80-little-compton,94898

Richard “Dick” C. Whitely, died April 4, 2020; obituary https://www.tighehamilton.com/obituary/Richard-Whiteley

 

I took on this new position as class secretary hoping that it would bring me back into contact with old friends and acquaintances. That it has, and I thank those classmates who extended good wishes privately, as well as those with the substantive news reported below.

     Pete Buffum is retired, still married after 55 years, and in the same Philadelphia house after 50 years. After spending 20 years in program development and evaluation of prison and probation settings while teaching occasional courses in criminal justice at Temple University, Pete “spent another two decades mostly assisting my wife in her real estate career. Now, while I consider myself retired, I am finding it difficult to get her to retire. She has way too much energy. But in the scheme of things that’s not much to complain about.”

     Bob Gause still practices pediatric orthopedics in Winterport, Maine, probably as the oldest on the staff with “no more surgery but 25 patients in the office tomorrow. They keep me young just solving their problems so I am lucky.” He recalls rooming with Dave Fiske and Tony Scirica in the Psi Upsilon house “along with a boa we fed mice from the psych lab. Good days . . . good memories. Memory is key.”

     John Hazlehurst reports, “I’m still living in Colorado Springs, happily ensconced in a three-story Victorian not far from the three-story Victorian where I grew up. Still gainfully employed as a reporter and columnist for the Colorado Springs Business Journal, and amazed and amused by life as a crusty old geezer. Together, Karen and I have six kids, 22 grandchildren, and four great-grands. We’re healthy and active, although not as fit and foolish as we were a few years ago. Too busy to retire—three big rescue dogs, multiple jobs paid and unpaid, our statewide visitor magazine Colorado Fun, frequent family visits, and the never-ending renovation of the 1899 house.”

     Mike Riley is “still trying to reach out with my (heterodox, insouciant, outrageous) answer to ‘what is to be done?’ with our time and our country,” with his website maritalhospitality.com.

      Bob Saliba and his wife Jenny have moved to a retirement community—Fellowship Senior Living in Basking Ridge, New Jersey—where “I was the reluctant spouse, but I can say with confidence that it was the best decision ever. We are in good health and are enjoying living here very much.”

     Steve Trott relates that after 33 years on the Ninth Circuit Court he has assumed “inactive senior status” with one case left to finish. His “spirited dissent” on an immigration case judgement by his colleagues became one of roughly 90 out of 12,000 requests to the Supreme Court to be taken up, and “the Court reversed my colleagues 9-0 and sent the case back with instructions to do it right. Now I will probably get to write a new opinion correcting our mistake.” In his new life after 55 years with the law, Steve plans to “spend much of my time bothering Bob Hunter with questions about foreign affairs.” Steve added that the Highwaymen, “after losing Chan, Bobby and David, closed up shop after singing together for 50 years in the end of a great adventure.” A final note added that Rick Tuttle visited for a few wonderful days in Boise during which they celebrated Rick’s birthday and “had a great time catching up and exploring terrific memories from Wesleyan and EQV.”

And finally an update from your new secretary: Personal life has been up and down as I lost both my first wife Lynn and son Seth to cancer while just in their 40s, but have been happily remarried for 30 years now to Helena, a Finland-born, and now retired, flight attendant with Air Canada. My resulting exposure to both Finnish and airline culture has greatly enriched my life. I have also been lucky professionally. After a PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard, I landed in the large and internationally staffed Psychology Department at York University in Toronto, where in 1980 some like-minded colleagues and I established a new specialty graduate area in the History and Theory of Psychology. Our small program has turned out a steady stream of outstanding scholars and teachers, while my own research and writing became focused on this area. Its most visible result has been the textbook Pioneers of Psychology currently in a 5th edition published by Norton. Although formally retired, I maintain affiliation with the program but work as I say for less than half the time and with half the efficiency of yore.

Just prior to going to press, I received the very sad news of the passing on November 4, 2021, of our longtime leader and friend to all, Bruce Corwin; his obituary ran in the Los Angeles Times: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/bruce-corwin-obituary?id=31339645

Best wishes to all for the holidays and 2022.