Tag: 1963

Rob Siegle writes: “Before the lockdown Rita and I had a wonderful week on the north shore of the Dominican Republic with classmate and fellow radiologist Dan Hottenstein and his wife, Pat. Back in the U.S. we’re doing well. Our kids are employed, our grandkids are in college and beyond, and I work almost full-time as a pediatric radiologist at St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia. I still enjoy teaching/pontificating to the residents and med students even if it’s by Zoom.”

Jack Jarzavek reports: “Norman, my partner/husband of nearly 56 years, and I have been reading up a storm. As a COL member, literature has always been a high intellectual priority, and I began 40 years of academic life teaching French, then English and finally as chair of the English Department and founder of the Art History program. Recently, I spent over two months studying W.H. Auden’s poetry and his intellectual development. Norman is reading Gogol in the original and practicing on both our harpsichord and piano for at least an hour and a half each day. Usually we spend half a year at our apartment in Arezzo, Italy, but not for a year. It is a great base from which to travel all around Italy. We both also love to cook, so great meals emerge after martinis every evening. We have a double apartment here in Boston with balconies on which to read and relax. I see Colby and Alice Andrus from time to time. They too are adopted Bostonians.

“There is sadness, however. I have lost my two closest Wesleyan classmates. Bob Sloat, my fraternity brother at Gamma Psi, died two years ago. We still see Caroline for lunch and dinners. Bob Martin died in 2012. He was my freshman roommate and fraternity brother. The three of us had many adventures over the years. I miss them dearly.”

From Allen Tucker in Maine: “Meg and I are keeping well­—she’s a quilter and I’m a software developer and still playing some golf. I also host a monthly Zoom meet-up with my HS class of ’59, which is a lot of fun.

“I just finished reading Eddie Glaude’s new book Begin Again, a narrative about James Baldwin’s struggles with racism in the ’60s and ’70s and its implications for the world today. It’s a powerful book.”

“Since I have been on the West Coast for the last 30 years, I am a little out of touch with my former classmates,” writes George Tapley. “Here’s my news. My wife Jan and I are healthy and weathering the pandemic well. I spend a lot of time doing drawings, photos, and oil sketches of the local scenery; the hills behind Fullerton provide endless visual stimulation. (c.f. georgetapleyart.com). I paint, Jan plays ukulele with various groups on Zoom. We both joined OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) for their mystery book club. Best of all, our two children and four granddaughters are doing well.

I am now reading Zachary Carter’s The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and The Life of John Maynard Keynes (different sort of book for me but I like the Bloomsbury artists and am curious about Keynes and his monetary theory and then and now).”

Walt Pilcher, too, has news. “First, my second novel, The Accidental Spurrt, a Mark Fairley Mystery, was released in late 2019. It’s hilarious (if I do say so myself), a fish-out-of-water story available on Amazon. You’ll be sorry if you miss it.

“Second, Carol and I have moved into a continuing care retirement community in High Point, North Carolina, next door to Greensboro, our home for 30 years. It has about 700 residents and a 9-hole golf course. We love it so far. I’ve always wanted a Jeep Wrangler, but we now have a personal golf cart we named “Happy,” and so that itch has been scratched.”

Bill Roberts and Melissa still live in Middletown, two blocks south of the campus. “I ride my bike on the campus several days a week, and the grounds have been just beautiful since late March as spring 

unfolded and almost all of the students are gone. 

“For two weeks in October 2019, I spent my noon hours in the Usdan Student Center, registering students to vote in the Middletown mayoral election. I was happily astounded by two things­­—the incredible diversity in the student body, and the number of women among them. It is always a very pleasant surprise to see the students return to campus.”

Russ Richey’s latest book is A Church’s Broken Heart: Mason-Dixon Methodism and will appear in the New Room Book series. The book is his 25th as author, co-author, or editor. Russ is now working with Columbia University Press on yet another book project, on several editorial boards and continues teaching at Duke University Divinity School.

JAN VAN METER | bensfamily@aol.com; 212/427-2062

Some of you may remember me; most probably do not. I’m Jan Van Meter of the Class of 1963, your new class secretary. However, I’m not replacing Byron Miller in the role. I’m following him and hoping to do the job as well as he.

I’d like to help increase our sense of community as the Class of ’63. What are you doing these days, with whom, and where? How are you coping with what seems to be a world without…everything? What does Wesleyan and the Class of ’63 mean to you now?

Of one thing you may be sure: I’ll be in touch…and I look forward to it.

JAN VAN METER | bensfamily@aol.com; 212/427-2062

Ed.’s note: Robert “Jib” Fowles passed away on March 7. Jib was a College of Letters major at Wesleyan. After graduation, he spent a Fulbright fellowship year in India. He later moved to New York City, where he earned his M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and his PhD at New York University. He taught at NYU from 1967 to 1974. In 1974, he went to work at the University of Houston-Clear Lake as a charter faculty member where he taught for the rest of his career.

Jib was a committed scholar in media studies, publishing seven books and some 70 articles. His articles appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, TV Guide, Advertising Age, and many academic journals. His books include Television Viewers vs. Media Snobs (Stein & Day, 1982), Starstruck: Celebrity Performers and the American Public (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), and The Case for Television Violence (Sage, 1999).

In retirement, Jib served as commissioner of the Wiscasset’s Historic Preservation Commission, a docent for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and a member of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset. At the time of his death, he was completing a book on the social history of photographic imagery.

Jib leaves behind his wife, Joy, daughter Celeste Fowles Nguyen ’01, son Nathan, and many others.

Ed.’s note: Byron Miller is stepping down as class secretary. Thank you Byron, for serving so admirably as secretary for the Class of ’63 for decades.

We will be seeing less and less of James Ferguson now, as he is successfully losing weight—over 40 pounds! Perhaps some remember that Jim was a football player back in the day. But now he is a serious fan of soccer, having turned most of his seven grandchildren into soccer players. He did this simply by telling them how dangerous football was even for young players. In the case of one small grandson he pointed out that his size would matter far less on the soccer field, which the boy has found out to be true and is now happily playing soccer. Jim likes to “write stuff.” Following a request from one of his two granddaughters, he wrote a short story. He’s also written two screenplays.

As we both served in the Army as well as in Special Forces in South Vietnam, we talked a lot about that. Jim said he generally did not feel comfortable in groups but that the most comfortable he’d ever felt in a group was with his Special Forces A-Team in Vietnam. “I may or may not have liked every single man, but I knew if something happened to me, someone would come to help.”

Jim Miller closed the Armstrong Department store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1990. Founded in 1890, his family, had owned and run it for 100 years. For several years thereafter Jim had an Island Inkjet franchise, eventually quitting after writing out his 10,000th work order. He is now involved in various service clubs and is treasurer of his local homeowners’ association. He gardens a lot and, while still in high school, he got very interested in his own sound system and has more or less been upgrading it as ever improving equipment comes on the market. He and Marlene, his wife, enjoy the local performing arts (ballet, theater, and opera) and see lots of performances at their excellent community theater of both local performers as well as groups passing through. They have three children—two daughters, 55 and 52, and a son, 50­—and five grandchildren, ages 8 to 25.

After WesU, Tom Buxton went to Carnegie Mellon Business School and came out determined to “play with the big boys,” i.e. get a job with a seriously large company, which he did. Twenty years ago, after 32 years with Boeing, Tom retired. While there, he was part of the team that developed both the 767 and 777. Tom’s wife, Terra Anderson, also worked at Boeing. She worked internally coaching and training executives. While both are retired (he in 2000 she in 2004), both were very, very upset and embarrassed at the news of the serious problems in the 737. Tom recalled reading People of Plenty by David Potter in a humanities class at WESU. He feels it is right on now and that we are endangering the earth’s future and may well run out of vital resources. For that reason, he is developing his large farm on Whidbey Island to grow all the basic varieties of food resources Tom and his wife have two children, 45 and 42, and two grandchildren, 5 and 7.

Byron S. Miller | tigr10@optonline.net
5 Clapboard Hill Rd., Westport, CT 06880

Tom Spragens writes: “I recently retired after 48 years in the political science department at Duke. Also recently discovered that both my sophomore roommates and Eclectic fraternity brothers had offspring living here in Durham. That led to a recent reunion.” He enclosed a picture of the reunion and he, Fred Karem, and Alan Gayer are looking relaxed, well-dressed, and handsome.

And John Coatsworth writes: “I will be stepping down as provost of Columbia University this summer after eight years in the post. I plan to return to teaching in Columbia School of International and Public Affairs and in the history department. I’m looking forward to spending time with our two grandkids, Emma, 12, and Alex, 10, who live with their parents a few blocks from Pat and me in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.”

Sad news from John Kikoski. “My wife, Cathy MA’63, died recently after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. We met at Wes in September 1962, graduated together in 1963, and married in Aleppo, Syria, in 1964 (where Cathy grew up). We were the Class of 1963’s first and longest married couple.” She had a remarkable life. To read of it, type Catherine Kano Kikoski for an internet search. “Right now, I am recovering from cardiac surgery (transcatheter aortic valve replacement or TAVR) at Columbia Presbyterian and will be in recovery for maybe two more weeks. Can’t believe how much better I feel with a new valve that pumps 100 percent (not 20 percent) of the blood and oxygen my body needs.”

From Fred Taylor: “Carole and I now have nine grandchildren; the most recent born April 24 in LA. Annslie Taylor Leikarts joins the group of five boys and four girls spread among our three children. Still working part-time at Evercore. Love to travel with Carole and also enjoy spending time with our grandkids. Visiting WesU soon for the emeritus trustee gathering. Look forward to being on campus.”

In other related news, Laman Gray was back on campus and gave a TEDx talk. “Very enjoyable,” he said.

Allen Tucker writes, “During the last 10 years, I have been developing free open source software for nonprofits, usually with a student team. In 2013, I founded the Non-Profit FOSS Institute (NPFI) to provide support for other faculty and students who want to do the same at their colleges (NPFI.org). My new book, Client Centered Software Development, will be published by CRC Press. The book describes this work and its outcomes. It has been a great joy for me to be able to contribute to nonprofits in this way, and also to keep my hand in the education and software games for so long after retirement. My wife Meg and I have two adult kids who both live in the D.C. area. As academics, we have traveled widely, teaching in Germany, New Zealand, and Ukraine (both on Fulbrights). We are blessed in many ways but I am especially thankful to WesU for opening my eyes to computer science as well as the notion of humanitarian service as an essential element of a liberal education.”

Don Sexton wrote, “In 2017, I retired from the full-time faculty at Columbia University after 50 years and 10,000 students. Am still teaching a few weeks a year at schools in places like Shanghai, Paris, and Washington, D.C. I have been placing more effort in my painting (sextonart.com) and have three solo shows scheduled in New York over the next 18 months.”

Byron S. Miller | tigr10@optonline.net
5 Clapboard Hill Rd., Westport, CT 06880

Class of 1963 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund
John Lewis Jr. ’21, Newark, NJ

From way out in the deep blue Pacific Ocean, Kaneohe, Hawaii, to be exact, Richard Armsby retired nine years ago after having worked as a clinical psychologist for the Hawaii State government for many years. His work focused primarily on seriously mentally ill citizens who were often also very poor, disabled and thus frequently unable to find or hold work. His wife, Judith, retired too, also worked in the mental health field. She was an MSW with a geriatric case load.  They met while he was still at WESU. She was at Penn State where he transferred to both finish up his bachelor’s degree and start a graduate degree. While

he had only had two psych courses at WESU, the assassination of JFK got him very interested in pursuing a degree in psychology. They got married in 1967. During a couple of summers at grad school, he worked back in Texas for the federal government as a science writer. After they finished getting their terminal degrees, they moved to Hawaii in 1969. Since retirement he spends lots of time reading, getting books—mysteries, adventure stories, and

some non-fiction—from the library to read on his Kindle. He works out three days a week at the gym. About eight years ago, Bill Roberts held a DTD reunion at Bill’s house. Richard has fond memories of that reunion.

Stuart Silver, living in Columbia, M.D., retired in 2014. He worked as a psychiatrist. He and his wife, Ann Louise, have three children: a daughter, 50, a son, 49, and another son, 46, and seven grandchildren, ages 11-22. Visiting and being visited by their offspring, keeps them quite occupied. Stewart met Ann Louise while at WESU. He was 20 and a junior and she was attending Mt. Holyoke. They were married in 1962 and thus he may be the longest continually married of our all our ‘63 classmates. After WESU, Stewart went to Hopkins and got his medical degree in 1966. He was deferred till after med school he was drafted along with approximately 199 other MDs.

Of that group, he and one other were the only two who did not go to Vietnam. They were sent to Alaska, where you may recall there was not that much fighting going on. He said that he and his wife really liked Alaska and while it was not as modernized then as now and travel was somewhat difficult, it was very interesting to them. While in Alaska, his CO once declared that “there will be no more frostbite in this unit!” Also upset at the number of suicides in his command, he sent around a memo that there “were too many suicides” in his command and he wanted “them to stop.”

As his leadership in these areas did not prove effective he was relieved. Stewart left the Army with the rank of major. He used to be a frequent skier, but now facing health issue, he moves around more slowly and cautiously.  He has a stamp collection, enjoys photography, likes to cook and actually admits to doing housework unasked. And over a long period of time in the past, he made a very elaborate, large model of a WWII liberty ship. The question of

which of his children is to carry on ownership of that model is not on his mind yet. The Silvers like to attend operas in NYC and have a farm in upstate New York.

Albert “Red” Erda of Guilford, Conn., retired 10 years ago, He was a consultant in computer usage, litigation, and support. Which means that in preparing a case, lawyers or their minions might have to read hundreds of thousand of pages of documents when preparing for a trial. So, both people have to be hired and files prepared so that computers can be programed to scan the material for keywords and issues. In retirement he still works on the Guilford Land Conservation Trust which seeks, raises money for, receives, and then maintains land donated to the town for permanent tax-free open space. When at WESU, it came to pass that he was advised by Dean Barlow to take some time off after his sophomore year and consider

his motivation for learning. “We called him Dean Furlough,” said Red. During that time off, Red considered joining the Army but his father told him in no uncertain terms to “get a job and learn something about actually earning a living!”

“So, I got a job surveying,” he said. “I liked math and found it easy. Eventually, motivation discovered, I returned to college but thereafter, every vacation I returned to surveying and my boss was always happy to put me right back to work.“

Red and his wife, Ann, have three children: two daughters, ages 51 and 49 and a son, age 46, and seven grandchildren ages 10-19. When he goes to WESU football games, which is reasonably often, he sits with John Driscoll. And while his hair is no longer red, (it’s white), he is still called Red.

John “Jack” Jarzavek retired 10 years ago after a 40-year career teaching (art history, French, English) at the River School in Weston, Mass. After graduating WESU, on a Fulbright he studied Elizabethan literature in the UK at the University of Bristol and then on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship returned in 1964 to study at Yale where he met his life partner, Norman Dobbs. He and Norman have shared their lives ever since. They got married in 2012. Norman got a degree at 16 from the Royal Toronto Conservatory of Music. And while

Jack was teaching, Norman was in publishing for 36 years, first at Addison Wesley and then Houghton Mifflin. They now split their time between Jamaica Plain, Mass., and an apartment in a 17th-century convent in Tuscany in the town of Arezzo, Italy, which is conveniently between both Rome and Florence. (And hot tip, they are planning to sell it shortly!)

Norman, who plays both the piano and harpsichord has played the Bach Goldberg Variationson Italian television. Both are passionate about classical vocal and operatic music and try to listen to new operas and voices every day.

Jack writes: “We travel extensively throughout Italy and Europe. We will make our first trip to Poland this coming March. We also like to explore the Italian Islands off the Tuscan Coast and Sicily. We will target the large island of Ustica this summer for 10 days. Boston is a very fine opera town so we go to many performances, probably three concerts or operas a month. I lecture at the New England Opera Club once a year and have done so for several decades.”

John Corn died last July after a long progressively worsening, undiagnosed illness. I talked with his older brother, Joe, who said that he was initially not at all that happy with John as his parents had never “asked my permission to have a second son! And all too soon John grew way too interested in my belongings and was slow to understand that he should not mess with them.” Joe said that that beating on John did not seem to have that much of the desired effect he hoped for. Eventually, with time those early problems disappeared and peace prevailed.  Joe said that after WESU, John enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, served for six years,

and was discharged as a captain. John considered the highlight of his Air Force service the time he served in Iran heading up a detachment that maintained the Shaw’s beloved F4 Phantom jets.

John was married twice and had one son, Scott, who sadly died at age 51 a few months before John himself died. John had a second child with his second wife who now lives with her mother in Texas and is much loved by the Joe and the rest of the Corn family. After a successful career in real estate in Chicago and his two divorces, John moved down to Panama in 2015. But as his illness progress, Joe convinced him to move back in 2017 and live with him and his wife Wanda on Cape Cod which John did for eight months. However, as his disease progressed he finally moved to a senior residence in Falmouth, Mass., in 2018.

However, after only a few months, his illness progressed and he had to be hospitalized and he died very quickly. Joe says John loved Wesleyan, college athletics, the Chicago Bears and Cubs, and lived to see the latter finally win a World Series, something many Cubs fans never saw in their lifetime.

Byron S. Miller | tigr10@optonline.net
5 Clapboard Hill Rd., Westport, CT 06880