Tag: 1964

As your new class secretary, I extend appreciation for the messages from the three classmates below and unashamedly beg the rest of you for more in the coming months. There are no milestones too small, no reflections too revealing—your classmates want to hear them all. Given life’s calendar, our opportunity for reporting is shrinking rapidly. So, don’t tarry.

Brett Seabury wrote: “Wesleyan started my journey to become a ‘lefty.’ Two of my three daughters went on to Wesleyan too. Liz was a French major and Carrie was an American studies major. After graduating from Wesleyan, I went on to graduate school in social work and later a doctorate in social work at Columbia University. My formal education was broken up with another kind of education—three years in the U.S. Army at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. I do not think I can be blamed for losing that war because the Viet Cong never invaded Myrtle Beach or Charleston, even though General Westmoreland was a Carolinian. I spent the next 35 years as an academic at the University of Maryland and University of Michigan. There must be some kind of underlying defect in my career choices to work at two U of Ms.

“During my years at Michigan, I was able to pursue an avocation in sustainable farming:  producing grass-fed beef, chickens, sheep, goats, eggs, maple syrup, and raw honey that were sold at local farmers’ markets. At Wesleyan we were required to take many tests upon entering and exiting, and I remember my Kuder Preferential Test score that placed me highest in farming. After four years at Wesleyan, this test showed an even higher score in farming, which upset my parents who paid tuition all those years. When I look back after 60 years, I’m amazed at the accuracy of the prediction of this test. “I am presently involved in trying to get marinas and boat owners to considered electric boats and electric motors in their recreational boats. Though the Plug Boat Directory shows that most electric boats are made in Europe, the industry is growing here in the USA and Canada. One of the first electric boats was demonstrated at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. Today, many of the electric boat manufacturers are in Florida and California, but the industry is spreading across the USA. I hope we can stop the destruction of our planet for our grandchildren’s sake before it is too late. You can view my efforts at: protectmichiganinlandlakes.com.”

Steve McQuide reported: “While I really wasn’t prepared for the Wesleyan experience, I became a scholar of sorts in law school. I married June in the summer of 1967, and those student deferments caught up with me: three years active duty (infantry OCS, Korea).

“I practiced law in Albany, New York, for 35 years, active in local politics and the Rotary Club. June and I raised two fine boys, and now enjoy traveling in retirement, especially our skiing months in Utah, and our three grandchildren. I gave up drinking years ago, and am content, although I am concerned about the stark division of today’s populace along ideological lines. Intelligent discussion and kindness seem rare.”

David Skaggs, a former Colorado congressman, contributed: “After breaking a hip in a fall while planting strawberries in our garden in April, I am happily recovered with a new titanium post in my right femur. If you ever need a hip replacement, the anterior (not posterior) procedure is the way to go.

“I haven’t quite shed all political activity and am now focused with a group called Citizens to Save Our Republic. The mission is to disabuse folks of the surface appeal of the No Labels effort to field a ‘moderate, independent’ presidential slate. Our polling makes clear that a third-party ticket as proposed by No Labels, i.e., candidates for president and vice president—one R and one D—would pull more votes from Biden than Trump and in a predictably close election, ensure another term for Trump. You can decide if that’s a good idea.

“Hope we’ll have a good turnout for our 60th Reunion next spring.”

Some news from classmates:

Dan Davis wrote: “Suzanne Schmidt and I have been at Homewood, a CCRC in Frederick, Maryland, for one year. We enjoy good health, full mobility, and tennis five hours a week. After 20 years at the FDA, I do some consulting with pharmaceutical companies and am active for women’s reproductive rights and maintaining access to affordable contraception and medical abortions. Pastor Suzanne is very active for racial and environmental justice.”  

Joel Johnson shared: “Like my classmates, I’ve managed to turn 80. Had a typical Wesleyan career: MPA from Princeton, 16 years with the feds (State, Treasury, Senate Foreign Relations Committee), 16 years VP International of the Aerospace Industries Association, then failed retirement 101, so still doing some aerospace and defense consulting, which gets me to Paris and occasionally London. Have six grandkids—youngest batch (via my son) are all teenagers; oldest batch (via daughter) includes a chemical engineer doing hydrogen power, a middle granddaughter working as a school day therapist, and the youngest who is about to get certified as a jet engine mechanic. Now living in what was my weekend house on Nats Creek, an estuary of Chesapeake Bay that is an hour and a half from D.C. Lovely lady with house in Georgetown, so some shuttling back and forth.”

Jim Relyea reported: “Submitting my notes after all these years to meet the March 15 deadline reminds me of taking my Philosophy 101 final exam freshman year at 9 a.m. then running back to Andrus Hall to type my term paper and submit it by the 12 p.m. deadline. (Some sort of record in procrastination!)

“Life post-Wesleyan: I have worked full time since September 1964: audiovisual publishing; insurance/financial services; helped start two highly successful wealth management firms; married to Betsey for 55 years—we have three wonderful daughters and seven grandchildren (we adore them all); have lived in Briarcliff, New York, since 1970; semiretired (2016)—own small insurance consulting firm; very active with extended family, church, photography, guitar playing, tennis, and being a grandpa.

“Looking forward to seeing everyone at our 60th Reunion. Great memories of Wesleyan days. Sorry for the 59-year delay in sending this in. I’m sure it will cost me in drinks/desserts at the 2024 alumni dinner!

“Thanks to all for your patience.—Jim Relyea”

Russ Messing contributed: “I am still alive and well and have been visited by an imp who is dwelling somewhere in my frontal lobe and shrinking it a bit. The result is that my short-term auditory memory is affected. This hasn’t stopped me from being as funny as ever, going to the gym six days a week, taking care of all my business affairs, and, most importantly, writing poetry. I am now in the process of finishing my fifth book of poetry (all self-published)! I love writing and am ever grateful that I have this in my life. Writing has been with me ever so long (my senior thesis at Wesleyan was ‘Nine Short Stories’ and my mentors were Kit and Joe Reed).  Four years ago I retired from years of being a clinical psychologist, and years before that I was a cofounder of, and teacher in, Synergy School, a K–8 school in the Mission District of San Francisco. I am blessed with the best wife, three very creative and smart kids, and six saucy, self-assured, and, of course, brilliant grandchildren, ages 21 to 4. I am more than happy to send any of my books to anyone who might want them and at the cost of $15.00 each they are a real bargain.”

Nick Puner penned a follow-up to David Skaggs’s note from the Fall Issue. He said, “Indeed, I did miss the POSH (the fictional law firm of Puner, Oleskey, Skaggs, and Howard) reunion at Jim Howard’s in June. But, nothing daunted, OSH insisted on another such event, this time at Steve Oleskey’s in Brookline. And so, it occurred, October 30 to November 2. Among our activities was a trip to the JFK Library and Museum. Oh, how that brief moment in our history, both of our youth and of our nation, still plucks at my heartstrings.  

“Somehow, we POSHies have stayed cohered—to the point where our next event is already incubating.”

Matthys Van Cort wrote a tribute to Chris Wallach, who died on June 4, 2022, in hospice in Orange Park, Florida. Matthys said, “Chris was an amazing human being. Brilliant, ever curious, incredibly funny, a wacky polymath. Although we were COL colleagues starting in the fall of 1961, I got to know Chris better only after I moved to the John Wesley Club in the fall of 1963. I had a six-string guitar and a couple of Lightin’ Hopkins records. Chris had a 12-string and introduced me to Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and other blues greats.  

“After Wesleyan, he continued to read broadly. At our 30th Reunion in 1994, Chris was the only one, to my knowledge, who had actually read Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, the book that lead to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa against him. Twenty years later Chris suggested that I might benefit from reading Epictetus.

“Chris and I had a number of adventures while we were at Wesleyan and then during several years after graduation, after which we were out of touch for a time. In his last years we emailed intensely if not steadily. I will miss him terribly.

“In 2017 Chris wrote to me:

‘I’ve spent a lifetime failing to find out what to do with a lifetime, and in the process have been a race-car mechanic, small business owner, software developer and programmer, data-logger inventor and manufacturer, and so on. I retired in 2004 for a liver transplant, and discovered in the years following that I wanted to be just an inventor and fiddle around with stuff.  I patented an idea for a wind turbine, but have sinfully procrastinated on finishing a working prototype. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8410622B1/en.

‘All in all, I find myself more content than I ever thought possible, proof again of the power of shit luck.’

“Bruce Kirmmse, CSS class of ’64, had been for years in very regular contact with Chris, including almost daily emails and Chris’s visits to Bruce’s summer house in New England. On June 4, 2022, Bruce wrote to tell me that Chris had died. Among other things, he said: ‘He was a good, witty, and thoughtful friend, and my life is seriously diminished without him. Chris had for some months been in a care facility in Orange Park, Florida.’”

Here is some news and updates from ’64ers.

David Skaggs writes: “Three-quarters of the legendary white-shoe law firm POSH (Puner, Oleskey, Skaggs & Howard) convened at Jim Howard’s home in LA in March. Nick couldn’t make it, but Steve, Jim, and I had a splendid weekend together. The law firm never actually existed, but our imagination of it has been rich. My wife Laura and I attended the opening of a wonderful exhibit of paintings by Stan Lewis ’63 in May at the Betty Cunningham Gallery in NYC. Stan was his usual irrepressible self, held in some check by his lovely wife Karen. Much reminiscence about times Smith and Wes chorus and glee club sang together under the direction of Dick Winslow and Iva Dee Hyatt.”

Ken Woodrow shares: “I’ve spent most of my post-Wes life in Northern California, practicing psychiatry and teaching at Stanford. While my wife Wendy and I do a little more traveling, I’m not quite ready to retire yet.

“My daughter Laura, also graduated Wesleyan in 1997 and is now practicing osteopathic medicine in Marin, California.”

From Russ Messing: “I am now officially retired from at least 40 years of being a clinical psychologist. Now I spend my time writing poetry. I am currently writing my fifth book of poetry, all self-published. (I am more than willing to send copies of them to anyone who asks.) I love writing (my senior thesis at Wesleyan was cleverly entitled “Eight Short Stories”).  Thank-yous to Joe and Kit Reed for supporting me in my first creative writing endeavors!

“These days I spend my Saturday mornings selling my award-winning olive oil at the Healdsburg Farmers Market—oil from our olive orchard of over 700 trees. Over 45 years ago my wife Arlene and I moved up to Sonoma County into a 30 x 30 log cabin (red-painted redwood logs and tin roof) onto a piece of remote land with a good-sized pond, redwoods, oak, and madrone. (We still split our own wood for our woodstove.) In the ensuing years we (Arlene is the visionary and the doer of this ‘project’) have created a true paradise—enlarging the house, having our two children born on the land, hosting kids from Synergy School (the elementary school that I co-founded in San Francisco) for their annual week of ‘Farm School.’ Now in my dotage, and no longer being a ‘shrink,’ I continue to write. I am a super-proud grandpa of six incredible ‘kids’ ranging from 21 to 4, and am embraced, taught, and supported by my/our three adult children.

“Right now a west wind sways the trees.”

Hello ’64ers! Several folks have some news to share:

Jon Wilbrecht says: “We moved to Jacksonville, Oregon, this year to be closer to our daughters’ families. I’m still able to do business consulting in Minneapolis while enjoying all southwest Oregon has to offer.”

Chris Chase writes: “Name your animal—mole, squirrel, chipmunk, whatever—that seeks refuge in a burrow, hole, or tree cavity when danger presents itself. Just so, Karen and I have sequestered in our CCRC at Kendal in Hanover as the pandemic rages on. A pity: so many interesting people to talk with, so many stimulating things to do (e.g., concerts, writing, and study groups), but all cut to a minimum for safety’s sake. Still, one can still read. And discussions on the state of the world take place via email and phone. Karen finds an outlet through involvement in New Hampshire politics; I by singing in a local church choir. Trying not to worry overmuch about our grandson’s future; we are grateful for what we have.”

Brian Murphy notes: “Still alive, living in California—land of sun and little rain. Pretty lazy in general—enjoy getting out and seeing the varied wildlife in the area (e.g., wild pigs, burrowing owls, sea otters, golden and bald eagles, marsh wrens, dancing Western grebes, and pocket gophers). My wife Ginny is well, and our two daughters live in the area. Hope all of you are well!”

From Russ Messing:  “My big news is that I: just finished my fourth book of poetry, In the Corner of the Afternoon; have retired from being a clinical psychologist; am happy as a clam living in the wooded hills west of Healdsburg, California (the fires came right to the edge of our property!); still go to the gym 3-4 days a week; have the greatest family; and laugh a lot.”

Peter Stenberg writes: “News from Canada:  In October 2021 I had a two-hour webinar conversation with the foremost Icelandic author and filmmaker, Sjon.  Look for his film, Norse Man, which will be coming out soon.  Also of interest is his film Lamb, which came out in autumn 2021, and his new novel, Red Milk (2021), about the rise of neo-Nazism in Iceland in the 1960s.”

Bruce Kirmmse divides his time between Copenhagen and Randolph, New Hampshire. His translation of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling was published by Liveright/Norton in November 2021, and the same press will publish his translation of Kierkegaard’s The Sickness unto Death early in 2023.

Tom Frosch, emeritus professor of English at Queens College, has recently published articles on Blake’s “Book of Thel,” Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day. He has also recently self-published two books of poetry, Trickster in New York and The Storytellers. Kirkus Reviews wrote that the former was “a dizzying and gleeful tour de force” and “a carnival of poetic storytelling that will grab readers’ attention from the first page and never let go” and that the latter was “a large-minded and well-crafted collection by an expert storyteller.” Both are available on Amazon.  Tom’s wife of 46 years, Mary, was for 32 years head of English at the Spence School; edited three anthologies of multicultural short fiction; and, since retirement, has been a teaching consultant at the East Harlem Tutorial School and the Dalton School. Tom and Mary divide their time between the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Santa Monica. Of their two sons, Dan is a national news reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and Jon ’02 is reviews editor and movie reviewer for The Hollywood  Reporter.  Dan’s reporting was made into a prizewinning PBS Frontline documentary, Predator on the Reservation, and Jon has twice won the annual award for best film criticism in Southern California.  There are two grandsons, Zevi, 4, and Ezra, 6 months. Zevi plans to be a fireman, and Ezra plans to chew up everything he can get in his mouth, including his cloth books.

Editor’s note: We’re still searching for a new class secretary! If you are interested, please email: classnotes@wesleyan.edu.

Robert Maurer writes: “I am happy to report that I have finally retired! I just completed 10 years working in group homes for developmentally and intellectually disabled adults. I say to anyone ‘listening’ that, as a nation, we truly need far more mental health advocates and practitioners.”