Tag: 1965

John Dunton said: “Because my grandson, Owen, who was first in his freshman class and is the third Dunton generation to attend Wes, will be graduating (a year early—a much better student than his grandfather), Carol and I look forward to attending the graduation in 2025. This will be the first in-person reunion without Gary and the Wombats since 1970—we think we can still ‘rock and roll’ but haven’t had a chance to prove it since 2015, and that memory is probably sweeter than a current appearance would provide.”

Bruce Lev wrote: “I finally decided it was time to send a very quick update. The most important news is I’m still vertical, still working full time as CEO of Loeb Holding Corp, the private bank/family office of the financial services and very philanthropic Loeb family, founded early in the 20th century. And still married to Prudence, who’s still writing (most recent novel, Last Born, a fictionalized account of the last days of the dinosaurs). As Bob Barton knows, we started our married life on a 47-foot sailboat in Rowayton, Connecticut, 42 years ago (Bob made our sails) and after a 25-year detour to Westchester, New York, so Prudence could indulge her obsession with horses, we’re back in Rowayton—hopefully for good. The great pleasure over the last few years is reconnecting with Tom Elliman and Joe Garrison and their wonderful wives, Betsy and Brenda, all of whom live in Branford, Connecticut. We try to have a meal every couple of months. I do plan to make the Reunion and very much look forward to it. Best to all.”

From David Osgood: “A few weeks ago I drove up to the Chicago/Wisconsin area from my home in Nashville. I was able to schedule a lunch with Bill Turner and George Adams. Bill and his wife, Barbara, spend the summers in Fontana, Wisconsin, and their winters in Florida. George follows the same routine and in addition operates a successful business in southeast Wisconsin. We had a good time reminiscing about Wesleyan fall and spring house parties and our common acquaintances.  As lifelong St. Louis Cardinal fans, George and I commiserated on the last two terrible seasons. Bill, a Cubs fan, is used to that result.   

“I continue to stay in touch with Larry Carver ’66 and David Griffith ’66. Both are doing well.”

Arthur Rhodes shared: “Retired from medicine in 2020 after a total of 50 years, having cared for more than 100,000 patients; taught more than 1,000 medical students (Harvard University School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Rush Medical College in Chicago); and pivotal in the training of more than 100 residents in dermatology.  My spouse, Leslie C. Newman, and I are spending time with combined families of five adult children and 11 grandchildren, splitting time between a suburb 25 miles north of Chicago (Glencoe, Illinois) and Mandeville, Louisiana. Leslie and I are enjoying gardening and abundant wildlife.  Am filling spare time pursuing a lifelong interest in photography, showing my best work on Instagram: ArthurRRhodes_Photography.

“Best wishes to my former classmates, who I hope are thriving and well.” 

Hugh Wilson sent this news: “Fran and I plan to attend our 60th Reunion next May and hope to see many of you there. On a personal front, I’ve got two items to report. First, I have finished a draft of my book: Inside Understanding: How Finite Brains Interpret a Vast Universe. I’m now starting to look for a publisher. Also, I just learned today that Geoff Hinton was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence. I worked with Geoff’s group from 2005 to 2015 and helped him to get funding from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research for his pioneering work on neural networks that can learn. I was one of the first to develop mathematical models of neural networks in 1973, and they have since been vastly expanded by Geoff and his colleagues. My small contribution to his Nobel work makes me very proud.”

Dear Classmates,

Thanks to those of you who responded to the recent call for information.

Bill Brooks: “Hello, everyone! As I write this, I am preparing to teach an undergraduate class at Wesleyan. Yes, that Wesleyan—home, sweet home! The class is devoted to the music and thought of Richard Winslow, whom many of you will remember with fondness. You may know that Dick died in 2017, just four months short of his hundredth birthday. His family donated his papers to the Wesleyan archives just before the pandemic, and the archives prepared a preliminary finding aid based in large part on a database that Tracey Grinnell had constructed (thank you, Tracey!). If you’re interested, check it out: https://archives.wesleyan.edu/repositories/sca/resources/richard_k_winslow_papers. 

            “I’ve been going through the papers and refining the database, and an extended Winslow festival was launched in October 2023 with a high-profile concert in Crowell Hall. This spring (May 3, 2024) the festival continued with a choral concert in the chapel, and we hope to mount one or more of the big theater pieces in years to come. A Winslow publication series is in the works, probably to start with sets of his songs and his shorter choral works; and in the planning stages is an edition of his ‘collected writings,’ based not only on his manuscripts but also on video and audio recordings that are preserved in the archive. 

            “My plea to you: If any of you have anything pertaining to Winslow or to music at Wesleyan more generally, please get in touch with me. The archive will happily accept additional materials (I’ve already donated my own collection of scores and letters), and—as we prepare editions of the scores and papers—every single scrap of paper, every recollection, is valuable. Write me at w-brooks@illinois.edu (I check that daily). Stay well, search (and preserve!) your memories, and send me anything you have!” 

Steven Halliwell: “I am continuing to write a newsletter on Russia and Ukraine called ‘Hot Money and Dirty Laundry’ on Substack, and a number of classmates are regular readers, including John Hall, Win Chamberlin, Bob Barton, Ted Dreyfus, Bill Knox, as well as Bill Hunt and Woody Sayre, with whom I have very regular communication. Subscriptions are free!”

Carl Hoppe: “My wife and I still work very part time as psychologists. Three daughters are all well, employed, and self-supporting.”

Arthur Rhodes: “My wife, Leslie, and I are enjoying ourselves, with me being fully retired after spending 50-plus years in medicine, and Leslie still doing her design work (SpaceDesign.com) on homes (designing top to bottom) with several clients. We travel to Louisiana to see her five grandchildren (20 months to 11 years), and I get to see my six grandchildren in Illinois, ages 12 to 22 years (three in college). Spending time with ‘painting’ using photography, showing my best work on Instagram (arthurrrhodes_photography). Am in relatively good health, hoping to stay alive for a while. Best to all of my classmates.”

Dutch Siegert: Still working six days a week as a lawyer in New York City. I am busier now than ever before. My granddaughter, who is only a 15-year-old sophomore in high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is one of the top runners in the United States. She ran a 4:55 mile beating juniors and seniors. Her mother, my daughter, was the captain of Wesleyan’s track team back in 1996.”

Dear Classmates,

It was a great Homecoming weekend this year, as there was a big turnout on a perfect fall day. The football team beat Amherst, giving them their second straight Little Three title.

Enjoyed watching the game with Mary and Gary Witten and Lisa and Mark Edmiston. Gary lives in East Amherst, New York, and has written a book on financial literacy aimed at football players; thus, using terms such as “offense” and “defense” when referring to various fiscal strategies. After Wesleyan, Gary coached at Stanford while getting his master’s there and then coached at Columbia before getting into the insurance business. (It was a pleasure to sit with Mary and Gary at the All-Decade Team dinner on the Friday of Homecoming, which honored the ’90s football team. Gary, Warren Thomas, and yours truly represent the members of our class on the ’60s All-Decade Team.)

Lisa and Mark live on the shore in beautiful Madison, Connecticut, not far from Middletown. After a career in publishing and communications, he is happily retired. As a former Wesleyan trustee, he stays in close touch with the college and attends a number of games and other activities.  

I also enjoyed sitting with Warren Thomas at the Williams Homecoming game this fall, an exciting comeback victory over the Ephs. Warren is also happily retired following a career in automobile sales, capped off by owning a large dealership in western Massachusetts. Warren lives in Turners Falls and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with wife, Carol.

Always enjoy seeing Sue and Roy Fazendeiro (retired pediatrician) at virtually all the games, along with Lisa and Mark. All of them are very loyal fans!

It was a great season for the Cardinals football team (6–3) with big wins over Middlebury, Bowdoin, Amherst, and Williams.

Homecoming was a treat for all, with many activities, a big crowd for the football game, and perfect weather on our magnificent campus.

Hope enough of us will come back in ’24 for some kind of class get-together. Sooner than later, please let Hugh Wilson, Win Chamberlin, or me know if you’ll be coming back, so we can start to make appropriate plans.

Dear Classmates,

Thank you to the following who kindly responded to the recent request for news:

Charlie Bassos: “Daughter, Christi Bedan, is a vice president for the Tampa Bay Bucs. She has been awarded a Super Bowl ring and an Emmy. The Emmy was for a series with Brady and Gronkowski on the Bucs website. My five grandchildren: one 12 and the others six and under, all brilliant and all beautiful! Life is wonderful: 43 years of marriage; warm weather in South Carolina, golf twice a week, and survived a heart attack and small stroke.”

Bob Barton: “I’m hanging in there and fortunately playing a lot of tennis. Major Moise is recovering nicely from shoulder surgery. He says he starts hitting golf balls again in two months. Jay Clapp just completed the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh on an 80-plus basketball team (3-on-3 half-court). He was injured in the qualifying games prior to the nationals, but went to Pittsburgh anyway, hoping he would recover enough to play, but could not. Nonetheless, his team made it all the way to the bronze medal game and lost in a valiant effort.” (Congratulations, Jay!)

Bob MacLean: “In touch with Phil Russell, John Dunton, and Ralph “Jake” Jacobs. Jake and I get together at the annual Laguna Seca Raceway in California, where he knows every driver and car history. A great reunion! This year was my 60th year as a private pilot, having upped my credentials along the way to air transport pilot, certified flight instructor/instrument, while owning a Pilatus PC12 for charter; now it just ferries me between Palo Alto, California, and Aspen, Colorado, where I have worked part time at Aspen Snowmass ski school for the last 17 of 47 years as a certified ski instructor.”

Steve Badanes: “Life is good here on Whidbey Island. I’m still teaching our Neighborhood Design/Build Studio every spring at UW (ndbs.be.uw.edu), but the end is in sight and I might hang it up after this year. We got used to not traveling during the pandemic and it’s gotten pretty hard to get me to leave my studio here in the forest, especially this time of year. I sold my place in Vermont to the caretakers and retired from my summer gig at the Yestermorrow School, so I get to stay in the Northwest year-round.”

Clyde Beers: “Summer all good: family, friends, sports, and a wonderful trip to WES U to see our granddaughter, Libby, graduate. Then to Grand Cayman with our daughter Susie’s family. And then our traditional exciting Fourth of July with (self-exploded) fireworks. Gardens started slow, but with some rain later, everything’s blooming. Golf and tennis fun but challenging, with back and neck soreness helped by physical therapy.”

Carl Hoppe: “As I ‘mature,’ I continue half-time the practice of clinical and forensic psychology (family law). At other times, I play doubles tennis regularly, swim at the beach or at the nearby club pool, and walk our 14-pound dog with my wife, Diane, also a psychologist in part-time practice. Health is good enough for us older folks, but they don’t make memory like they used to!”

Gar Hargens: “Turned 80 in April. Missy and I celebrated at Franconia Sculpture Park like we did for my 70th with kids and grandkids and many friends. When I turned 60, Missy said: ‘Architects don’t get good ’til they’re 80, so why not keep going?’ So, I kept working. Latest project is for a Grammy-winning composer on Enchanted Island in Lake Minnetonka. Alpha Delt roommate Bob Leonard and I enjoy keeping in touch. He’s found a Celtic chapel(?!) he wants us to look at in Vermont.”

John Hall: “Daughter, Samantha, just gave birth to identical twin boys, Archer Ray and Rhodes Herbert Diaz. These are grandchildren eight and nine for Annie and me, but who’s counting.

“Continue to see Kit Laybourne ’66 on a regular basis and have re-engaged with my old roommate, Jim Bernegger.  After the reunion last fall, Mike Maloney and I have discovered many interests in common, including our Irish heritage and the challenges and opportunities brought by immigration. Annie is well on a new set of knees. Son, Jeremy ’92, a writer is on strike. Clear to me that he can’t/shouldn’t be replaced by AI. But that promises to be an epic struggle.”

Arthur Rhodes: “Am spending golden years with famous and brilliant designer wife, Leslie Claire Newman (www.SpaceInteriorDesign.com), among blended families: my daughters in Illinois, ages 53 and 51, and their three children each (ages 12 through 21); and Leslie’s three sons in Houston, Texas, and Mandeville, Louisiana, ( ages 46 through 49), and their five children (ages one through 11). Have totally separated from patient care after more than 50 years in academic medical practices at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Time flies taking care of two homes (Illinois and Louisiana) and visiting family. Leisure pursuits include daily walking, gardening, and photography (see Instagram account under my name or PapaZaydeh.”

Dear Classmates,

Thank you to those who responded to my recent request for news.

Unfortunately, the first message I received was from Jim McCague who told us the sad news of Tim Lynch’s passing. Tim lived in Pittsburgh and was a broker at Janney for many years. Some of us knew this was imminent through fellow Dekes, and we were encouraged to send Tim a message, which I believe a number of us did. Tim was a man of principle, bright and loyal, and will surely be missed by all who knew him.

Jonathan and Matthew, sons of Peter Dodson, wrote to inform us of their father’s sudden passing in mid-March. Peter (undergraduate president of EQV) earned his JD from Penn and was a lawyer at Ropes & Gray in Boston. Peter loved wildlife, the outdoors, and the arts.

Bob Leonard sent a thoughtful note and the following: “I am attaching some comments on our loss last spring of one-time classmate and compatriot, Ted Charlton ’66. Ted was a singular soul, a spirit, a self-sufficient waif. He had a flair for the amusingly wry. He was an honest-to-goodness old-time New Englander—confident, without unseemly pride, that his solitary view had merit and worth. After Wesleyan, he became a critical thinker/writer/teacher of American film, particularly ‘the Western.’ Terribly early in his career, he was struck down by a severe stroke. Bearing his disabilities without a shred of self-pity, he learned to live quietly with great imagination, which he shared within his immediate circle. His passing is born by his former wife, Sue Wiseheart, who has included Ted in her family following their amicable divorce, including her twin girls, who knew him as ‘Tio,’ a precious family moniker that shall ever remain with them as a reminder of someone special. I have been friends with Ted since our days in the College of Letters, sharing essays, poems, political diatribes, and black-and-white photos of forlorn cemeteries, poking fun at the bleak days of February. Ted will bring a knowing wink of human comprehension, and a triumphant spark of disdain for the ironies of life to his final resting place, which will be all the better for his presence.”

Rob Abel: “My colleague and I brought 17 corneas to Kigali, Rwanda, for transplantation, and are consulting at the best ophthalmic teaching institution in central Africa. “By the way, my granddaughters loved their visit to Wesleyan this past fall.” Rob also sent along a great picture of a handsome silverback gorilla he spied in the mountains of Rwanda. He claimed he/she was wearing a Wes t-shirt! and remarked, “He was healthy, seemed to be eating quite well, and wanted to be remembered to you and invited you to make the trek.” Thanks Rob! I’ll take that under consideration and congratulations on your important work for those in need!

Bertel Haarder: “After 42 years as a member of the Danish Parliament, seven years as member of the European Parliament, and 22 years as cabinet minister, I am now a columnist in 5 Media, and I have my own TV program in DK4. So, I’m a very active pensioner. My Wesleyan experience (foreign student 1964–65) greatly inspired my 15 years as minister for education and research.

Dan Raskin: “I’m still alive.”

Arthur Rhodes: “Not much to tell. Am fully retired from medicine after 50-plus years. Have returned to artistic activities. My Instagram board (@papazaydeh) includes 500-plus photographs—no selfies or family. With wife Leslie, we’re enjoying combined five children and 11 grandchildren.”

Bill Brooks: “Glee Club members might want to know that, in addition to collecting materials, establishing a finding aid, and so forth, I’m part of team planning a Professor Richard Winslow festival tentatively scheduled to begin in 2025. Maybe the magazine will do an article on this project in the next issue?

“Personally, I fully retired from the University of York on July 31, 2021, so I’m doubly done now (York and UIUC). But I’m still ‘series editor’ at the Orpheus Institute (Ghent, Belgium), which takes me across the pond at least five times a year. I bought a condo in Champaign, which I’m restoring. Still doing research; still writing music. And, as mentioned above, working full tilt on Richard Winslow’s Wesleyan archive: if anyone from the Glee Club has memories, pictures, recordings—anything!—please be in touch! . . . . Come raise a song for Wesleyana!!”

Bob Barton: “Hanging in at this end, on the inevitable slow decline, but playing tennis two to three times per week. I’m hoping to be with Major Moise for his 80th birthday in Auburn, California, on March 10. Maybe send you a photo. . . .  I’ll be out there mainly to celebrate my brother Bill’s induction into the Cal Berkeley Athletics Hall of Fame (lacrosse).”

Wolf Brueckmann: “I have not sent an entry to Notes for many years. I would appreciate the chance to let classmates with whom I have not been connected know of my whereabouts. Hope therefore that you might include the following brief update: After getting a PhD I got involved in transatlantic trade/investment issues for 30 years at the US Chamber of Commerce and other associations. Owned a small retail business and later taught MBA courses. After retirement, I moved from the Washington, D.C., area to the Shenandoah Valley (Luray, Virginia). Have one daughter, Loni, who is an anesthesiologist in Pittsburgh. Now dedicated to art and show my work (oil painting, mobiles) in area galleries.”

Dear Classmates,

This column will be devoted to reporting on our class’s well-attended Homecoming gathering on Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5.

Kudos to Hugh Wilson, Mark Edmiston, Bob Barton, and to the other members of the committee (and to Mark Davis ’96 and his Wesleyan colleagues) who made it all possible.

On Friday, we met at the new advancement office in the former post office on Main Street. (Just another example of Middletown/Wes collaboration, along with the attractive Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore on the next block, north.)

After a nice buffet lunch provided by the college, we were treated to presentations by Hugh Wilson and his wife Fran Wilkinson (Optimizing Cognitive Fitness during Healthy Aging), and Steve Halliwell and Wes professor Peter Rutland (Update on Russia and Ukraine). Very fine remarks, followed by a lively question-and-answer session.

Bob Barton then led an “open-mic” Wes65 Real Stories centering on comments around climate change and our democracy at risk. (Articles by Jerry Melillo and Phil Russell regarding climate change—its causes and what we can do about it—were provided as well. They can be emailed to you. Just let me know.)

We then got down to “serious business” with an enjoyable wine reception hosted by Fran and Hugh. The class then went to an excellent new Middletown restaurant, Esca, for dinner (hosted by Wesleyan and some generous ’65 classmates).

On Saturday, many of us went to the celebration of John Driscoll’s (’62) life in Memorial Chapel. John’s legendary service to Wesleyan and to our alumni was recounted by a number of speakers, all of whom highlighted the reasons he will be long and fondly remembered.

Later that day in front of a large crowd on Andrus Field/Corwin Stadium, the Cardinals beat Williams in an exciting game for the Little Three title (Wesleyan beat the Mammoths in overtime at Amherst in October).

To cap off the day, Rich Smith led a Gary and the Wombats recorded celebration of melodic memories with pizza and dancing. Once again, let the good times roll!

Those in attendance (in addition to those already mentioned) included: Donna and Clyde Beers, Jim Bernegger (and his brother Lloyd), Bill Blakemore, Lee and Win Chamberlin, Georgeanne and Marsh Cusic, Mary Ellen and Dave Dinwoodey, Lisa and Mark Edmiston, Joe Garrison, John Hall, Anne Halliwell, Carolyn and Bill Knox, Jeff Lea, Mary Anne and Mike Maloney, Alex and Major Moise, Cynthia Rockwell MALS ’19, Elizabeth Smith, and Mary and Gary Witten.

Finally, we all agreed that those of us who can make it should gather every Homecoming and make plans at that time.

And we all agreed it was wonderful to be back at alma mater.

PHILIP L. ROCKWELL | prockwell@wesleyan.edu

Art Rhodes: “Sorry that I won’t be coming to Homecoming—too much going on in Chicago and New Orleans, homes of our extended family. I stopped seeing patients (Rush University Medical Center) in November 2019, after 20 years at that institution, and fully retired from medicine November 2020, after 50 years of academic medicine (Harvard, University of Pittsburgh, and Rush Medical College). Spending time with wife Leslie Newman (accomplished artist and designer), extended family, renovating a house in the Chicago suburbs, and getting back to photographic activities (see ‘Papazaydeh’ on Instagram for posted photographs). Leslie and I greeted our 11th grandchild on July 24, a vibrant and healthy boy. Two other grandchildren entered their freshman year in college, and a third grandchild entered their senior year in college. Wishing my classmates health and happiness in our remaining years during these tumultuous times.”

Peter Kelman: “What a strange last couple of years it’s been. So far, my wife (Therese) and I and most (but not all) of our family have managed to make it through two years of the pandemic without becoming infected (as far as we know). During the first two months of the pandemic, I wrote and published a blog that sought to deconstruct and clarify the mixed messages coming from public health officials, scientists, and self-proclaimed experts across the political and philosophical spectrum (like the OR doc from Wisconsin who scared everyone about touching anything that came into our homes). The blog had attracted some 600 subscribers by the time I closed it down in early May 2020, when our Vermont governor and State Department of Health began to hold twice-weekly press conferences in which they explained the science behind their recommendations and occasional edicts. In late June 2020, we bought a new, age-in-place suitable home in Montpelier and the following May we sold our prior sweet, little, but totally unsuitable, home on the other side of town. (In both buying and selling, we managed to time the crazy Vermont home sales market just about perfectly.) During the winter of 2021, when it seemed to many that the pandemic would never end, I organized and hosted a Zoom get-together of 100 members of my Staples High School graduating class for what would otherwise have been the year of our 60th Reunion; among the more than 20 excellent speakers were our Wesleyan classmates Jerry Melillo and Ted Dreyfus. In June, I celebrated my 78th birthday with a Zoom gathering of another 70 or so friends and relatives spanning most of my lifetime. Meanwhile, for the past two years, rather than despairing about the deterioration of civility and empathy in our nation, I’ve focused locally, organizing neighbors and other Montpelier residents around issues of concern regarding housing, homelessness, and growing inequality in our city and region. Lately, most of my reading has been written by contemporary, POC, hyphenated Americans, many of whom are women, rather than the dead white male authors we read almost exclusively during our years at Wesleyan. As a result, I am learning much that I never learned in all my 20 years of formal education, and I am becoming more aware of my own narrow understandings as a privileged white male. I particularly commend to you several works of fiction: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue; The Sentence by Louise Erdrich; No-No Boy by John Okada; Passing by Nella Larson, and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, as well two very important works of nonfiction—Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, which I receive by email and read every morning, and last but not least The 1619 Project created by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, a compendium of Black history and culture that has shifted my understanding of America like no other book I have ever read.”

Bob Barton: “I want to share the story and image below. These help me stave off depression over the ongoing flood of negative realities—COVID, environmental disaster, Ukraine, the ease with which one man rallied millions to help him nearly destroy our democracy, the derailment of the Supreme Court, my arthritis, etc. Last year, before the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, Brian Resnick wrote: ‘The largest space telescope in history is about to blow our minds <https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22664709/james-webb-space-telescope-launch-date-december-science-hubble>.’ He now considers his mind blown. NASA has finally revealed its first images from the space-based observatory. These images are decades in the making and come after years of delays and budgets being blown. <https://www.planetary.org/articles/cost-of-the-jwst#:~:text=The%20James%20Webb%20Space%20Telescope%20(JWST)%20is%20expected%20to%20cost,support%20five%20years%20of%20operations.> But they do not disappoint. Consider this fraction of the very first image released by the space agency: What makes this image so mind-blowing is how small it is, and how large it is, at the same time. It’s small in the sense that this image represents only a teensy tiny portion of the night sky.   Imagine you are holding out a grain of sand at arm’s length. The area of sky that grain covers— that’s double the size of the area captured in the above image. But it’s huge in the sense that nearly every object in this image is a galaxy (besides the bright spiky starburst, which is a star in the foreground). Think about that: In every pinprick of sky, there are thousands and thousands of galaxies, at least.”

An update for the Geoff Geiser family: “We are living the good retiree life. Carole and I celebrated our 56th wedding anniversary in June. We spend winters at our primary residence in Churchville, Pennsylvania (Bucks County). Our summer residence is in Long Beach Township, Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Our two children, Erik and Lynn, and their families, are doing well. Our four grandchildren are also thriving. Zachary will be the last to graduate from college, one more semester to go. We look forward to our get-togethers during the holidays and at the beach house. This can be difficult considering all of their busy schedules. If any classmate is in either area, give us a call. Stay well. Geoff”

John Graves: “Dear Classmates, it seems like ages since I reconnected with many of you during our 50th! We’ve managed to survive two presidential elections, an insurrection at our nation’s Capital, a rapidly evolving pandemic, and the sad losses of several of our teachers and classmates. I was particularly saddened to hear of the losses of Professor John Maguire and his protégé, our dear friend and classmate Ron Young, both of whom were truly inspiring leaders.

“Meanwhile, I published my memoir, Lessons on the Road to Hope: A Psychiatrist’s Journey, Stillwater River Press (2020), now available in paperback on Amazon. In early chapters, I describe how I suffered from my first depression in my sophomore year at Wes, which forced me to drop out of my pre-med classes (later completed at Columbia). I transitioned, while at Union Theological Seminary, to entertaining a vocation in the ministry, rediscovering my interest in medicine, entering medical school, doing research in transplant surgery, and ultimately choosing psychiatry.

“I’ve been happily retired since 2016 from a general adult private practice involving teaching residents, running outpatient groups for men and bipolar patients, consulting and taking leadership roles in several public and private agencies, and treating a fascinating variety of patients with an individualized, eclectic approach.

“I’ve also had the pleasure of reconnecting with Fred Joseph and his lovely wife Anne for some incredible fly-fishing last fall in Estes Park (thanks again, Fred). I relished the opportunity to attend a Zoom session with Rob Abel, his young Wes protégé, Zoe Garvey ’20, and Hugh Wilson focusing on various psychiatric and cognitive syndromes associated with eye diseases. Bob Bast and I spoke at length following his reading of my memoir. He, not surprisingly, reported that he is revising the 11th edition of his definitive oncology text and continues, in his late 70s, to see clinic patients and train residents and fellows at MD Anderson. What a distinguished career!

“After a recent scary experience of mini-strokes, carotid surgery, followed by COVID-19 contracted in the hospital post-op, and an infusion of monoclonal antibodies, I’m resuming my walks, piano playing, and looking forward to resuming fly-fishing next month, as well as visiting shut-ins from my church parish. Life is good and I feel blessed to be alive.”