Tag: 1962

Bob Gelardi serves on the board and as chairman of the Charity Relations Committee of the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, the fourth largest charity wine auction in the U.S. This year the Foundation will be giving a record $3 million to 16 local children’s’ charities.

Bob Saliba wanted to share with classmates a book rewritten by Peter Mooz, American Masterworks of Religious Painting 1664-1964. Bob writes, “I always thought of ‘religious painting’s being from Europe 1200-1600. But no, the religious has been a vital part of a longer painting history; I just didn’t see it until Peter focused on it. A great read. Thanks, Peter.”

Steve Trott says, “I’m still hearing cases on President Trump’s favorite Circuit, the dreaded Ninth, but nothing involving him.” A former Justice Department official in Washington, Steve adds, “I’m plenty glad to be as far away as possible from D.C. without going all the way to California. Idaho is a great place to live.”

Chuck Work and Roni are enjoying retirement on the eastern shore of Maryland and Naples, Fla. He makes a familiar lament: “I know time is passing too quickly when my son Ben ’99 tells me he is attending his 20th Reunion in Middletown.”

Finally, a sad note on the passing of Richard Knapp in January at his home in Asheville, N.C. For most of his career, he was a professor of foreign language at nearby Mars Hill College. We extend condolences to his family.

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971

Class of 1962 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund
Joseph Scancarella ’21, Wayne, NJ

Robin Berrington writes that 2019 for him will involve “down-shifting into a lower gear.” (As readers of prior reports from him know, “lower gear” for Robin still puts most of us to shame.) He wants to “shed many of my activities” and “focus” on his work as a docent at the Freer/Sackler Gallery in D.C., and a board member of both the Contemporary American Theater Festival and of the Japan and Korean/American Student Exchanges. Highlights of the year included a trip to Umbria in Italy “with a group of old Japanese friends who had hired a guide to take them from Bologna through Urbino and other cities, ending in Rome,” and a return trip to Japan to announce his retirement from the Noguchi Foundation, where he visited Nagano, Kanazawa, and Kyoto.

Bruce Corwin writes that the movie business runs well in the family. He reports his nephew, Brad Fuller ’87, a Hollywood producer, won the 2019 Critics Choice Award for best Sci-Fi or Horror Film—A Quiet Place.

Ever the diligent class president, Bruce reminds us that we are “Aiming for our 60th—but need help.” (Assume he means the planning committee, not getting to the site in walkers!)

David Fiske: “Mary Ann and I in January celebrated our 50th anniversary. I’m still enjoying the beach life in Rehoboth Beach, Del., doing freelance writing and editing, and enjoying granddaughter visits to Washington, D.C.”

Mike Riley wrote to share with classmates his “2020 vision of marital hospitality and Christian neoteny” that he will engage with “online outreach.” He writes, “My card will say: Michael H. Riley, PhD / T’INKER / Christian Neoteny & Marital Hospitality / Theory and practice of visits by self-appointed Quixotic Young to self-respecting Married Couples with a Camelot, Eden, or M-anger to share. 904/315 8945.” He has a very interesting website at maritalhospitality.com.

Finally, a sad note: In the fall, John Magee, who was living in Sequim, Wash., passed away after battling cancer. He is survived by his wife, Bobbie. Dave Hedges heard the news from John’s brother-in-law, Bob Jaunich ’61. Dave writes that John “led a rather free-spirited life, mostly on the West Coast, and including several jobs.” Dave, Phil Calhoun, and Ted Hillman connected with him by phone a few years ago, but “could never entice him back for a Reunion.”

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971

Notes in this report include some interesting reminiscences from our time at Wesleyan.

Peter Buffum and his “wife of 52 years” live in Philadelphia. They visited the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles in Paris where he “stayed and only occasionally studied back in 1960—prompting Mark Barlow ’46 to report to my parents that I was apparently lost in Paris!”

Robin Cook dropped off his freshman son at Wesleyan in the fall (“I know I’m years behind many of our classmates”) and said it is interesting that “my son is in Clark Hall—where I roomed with Jeff Hughes for three years.” He said, “The campus looks terrific with facilities we couldn’t have dreamed of, as well as a bevy of smart women.” He added that “we all could probably have gotten an extra degree if we had better used all the time we spent traveling to women’s colleges.” By the time this issue comes out, Robin will have published his 36th novel, which “is 36 more than I ever expected to write as a chemistry major.” He credits the required freshman humanities course for helping push him in the writing direction.

Ray Fancher retired as professor emeritus and senior scholar after 45 years in the psychology department at York University in Toronto.

He was a founding member of York’s “unique graduate program in the history of psychology,” which he says was “inspired partly by my College of Letters experience at Wesleyan.”

John Hazlehurst has stopped doing “downhill bicycle time-trialing on twisty mountain roads” due to a bike crash. He also says he is “surprised to be a great-grandfather.” On both issues, he asks, “Does this mean that I’m no longer a promising young man?” (Is that a question we all should ponder as we begin approaching our 60th Reunion?) He writes that “living in Colorado is still wonderful,” and he credits U.S. Senator Michael Bennet ’87 and Governor John Hickenlooper ’74 for contributing to that.

Dave Hedges writes, “Ann and I are still enjoying life as age and health allow us.” This includes summers at Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, winters in Ft. Myers and Naples, Fla., trips to 12 grandchildren “scattered around the country,” and recent trips to New Zealand, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Vin Hoagland has retired after 33 years teaching chemistry at Sonoma State University. An avid bike rider, including a daily three-mile commute to SSU, he also biked 12 miles to Petaluma High School to tutor chemistry students. He says he also biked “all over northern Germany” when his wife Margo was working there as a horse dressage rider, judge, and teacher. He is now working on a project to convert a planned freeway extension into a linear two-and-a-half mile park with a bike/pedestrian trail.

Warren Smith has been honored by being nominated to the prestigious Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church, an informal group of established scholars, all Episcopal lay persons, who provide expertise to the church by meeting annually to deliver papers and conduct seminar-style discussions. This year’s annual meeting will be in Warren’s hometown of Albuquerque.

DAVID FISKE | davidfiske17@gmail.com
17 W. Buckingham Dr. Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971