Tag: 1968

Locally things have been quiet. Our place is so resort-like, we don’t do much in the summer. We look into the woods, but our condo complex is on the water and has a lovely pool. So Judy swims laps while I schmooze with our venerable neighbors. (It seems you have to be 90 to be a friend of mine these days.) I was not as diligent as I should have been in rehabbing after my foot surgery and have recommitted to a special gym, an exercise regimen, et al.

Believe it or not, I rarely go to Wes and haven’t walked on Main Street in many, many years. Well, I did so recently and was absolutely stunned by its transformation. I’d heard that young people were going there as if it were a destination. But I didn’t believe it—until I saw it with my own eyes. The college bookstore recently partnered with what I consider Connecticut’s best independent bookstore and relocated to Main Street complete with a very cool restaurant. When you return for your 50th (May 24-27)—and you are coming, right?—you must check out more than just O’Rourkes (recently named the state’s best diner).

Nason Hamlin seems to be doing well, as every time I reach out he is traveling. First it was Spain, then the UK. An internist who spent most of his career in an underserved, rural town in Connecticut—yes, they exist—while his wife, Erica MALS’91, taught and “deaned” at Hotchkiss. When she got the opportunity to head a school in Seattle, they moved west and he joined UW’s faculty. They had always planned to retire to the San Juan Islands (well, west of Seattle: there are no traffic lights, loads of whales and from which, on a clear day, you can almost see Russia) and that is just what they did. Apart from their travels and children, I think their garden provides them with most of their excitement.

Brian Frosh, Maryland’s attorney general, made national news when he, along with D.C.’s attorney general, sued the president for illegally profiting from his position. Dave Webb is surprised at his becoming a committed snowbird (winters in Florida; summers on Cape Cod). He is leading a busy retirement with family involvements, visitors galore, and a lot of biking. He and Barb enjoyed a visit from Jo and Bill McConaghy who just sold his very successful Boston-area signage company. (As I recall, Williams was one of his clients.) He is staying on as a transitionary boss for two years without the hassle of ownership.

I caught up with Bill Johnson who, after getting his doctorate in economics at MIT, joined UVA’s faculty where, apart from visiting stints at Stanford and Chicago, he has lived happily ever after. Still teaching, his specialties are wages, wage differentials, and income inequality, so he is much in demand. His wife, Sarah, is Wellesley ’69 so they celebrated her 30th college reunion at the White House (and were hoping to do the same for her 50th). Traveling while they can, they have done genealogical research on their families in Europe and hit all 50 states. Bill talks of retiring to Manhattan, but his proposal isn’t getting traction with Sarah, who is an attorney, retired from an administrative post at UVA’s law school. They have a son in Alexandria who does data analysis for AC Nielsen.

Boisterous has always described anything you do with Brendan Lynch and our recent conversation was no exception. A lifelong Hartford-area guy who retired when MetLife took over after a 37-year career at Travelers (as president of asset management for institutional markets). He keeps his hand in things by serving on “real” boards—the kind that pay you and fly you to fancy places. But he is golfing regularly and—along with Mimi, his wife of 48 years—devoting a great deal of time and energy to an array of charities, mostly focusing on the (enormous) needs of Hartford’s inner-city youth.

He reports Kevin Dwyer, a real estate attorney, has gone California, complete with kids who swim like fish. He sees Kink Terry, a high-end commercial realtor, Frank Leone ’71, an East Hartford attorney, and Frank Waters ’70, who has an insurance agency in West Hartford and is a very successful girls’ high school basketball coach.

Ric Voigt lassoed Brendan into helping out with the Reunion—something there is still time for you to do. (Contact George Reynolds at greynolds@sandepointefunding.com, Stuart Ober at ober@stuartober.com, or Sandy See at alexander.h.see@gmail.com). And if you ask me, a college 50th is—like a total eclipse—a once in a lifetime deal that you miss at your peril.

Lloyd Buzzell | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

Business first: Our 50th Reunion is coming up. I know I will be there, but am not so sure about you (May 24-27, 2018). Stuart Ober (ober@stuartober.com), Sandy See (alexander.h.see@gmail.com) and George Reynolds (greynolds@sandpointefunding.com) continue looking for guys willing to help out.

Local: I had an urge to continue walking, so I used this winter to get my right foot reconstructed. Made me house-bound which, especially in view of the great and amazing things seizing our nation, left me glued to the tube (in deep denial, watching countless Law & Order reruns). Judy, as her just desserts for steadfastly seeing me through, went to a French immersion program near Nice in March. And in May, we took my hobbling to Ireland for 10 days. There we spent two days with an erudite and entertaining Irishman whose granddaughter Beatrix Herriott O’Gorman ’19—would you believe it?—is studying film at Wes. Loves it.

I had a chat with Tim Polk’s widow, Lucy. She and the kids are managing. Still teaching in St. Paul. Taken up golf. I met Wesleyan’s Imam, Sami Abdul Aziz, and his wife. Bright, personable couple who are the center of a vibrant community. Report good support from the administration. Harrison Knight polished up his pickle ball game in Bonita Springs last winter. Paul Spitzer was the subject of a lovely magazine article in Cornell’s Living Bird. Michael D. Terry ’69 was very explicit that “you do not take me or yourself too seriously” as he continues to write about his cancer journey. His treatment center, Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, is using some of his material in their outreach. Bob Runk ’67 has always impressed me as a particularly good-natured guy and I’ve attributed his good vibes to his love for music. Well, it continues. Check out his new stuff on iTunes by searching for “Bobby Runk” and “RunkRock.”

Wig Sherman—whose good cheer and gossip over the years has made him your unacknowledged associate class secretary—and I caught up recently. After Wes, he served in ‘Nam in the Army working with IEDs—a most unenviable assignment. Then Wharton, and a very successful run on Wall Street. Mid-life two things converged which changed his course: second thoughts about his career, and the prolonged illness and ultimate death of his daughter, Whitney, at 13. He then got a master’s in education and planned to teach in his hometown of Wilton, Conn., but instead got approached about joining the Board of Education, which he did. (That precluded his teaching in town.) He toiled mightily and with distinction on the Board (“more hours than I ever put in on Wall Street”). As its chair, he addressed the graduating class several years, most thoughtfully ruminating—as the son of a gas station owner—on the meaning and obligations of affluence to the high school’s graduates in this very upscale town. In Vero Beach for the last five years, Wig keeps up with a lot of brothers from the Lodge. Ralph Boynton ’69 lives in his complex, and Bob Newhouse is planning to move in.

I caught up with John Mergendoller, a southern California native, now in the Bay Area. (There was a picture of him online and he looked both well and very California.) After Harvard’s School of Ed, he did his doctorate at Michigan and enjoyed a Fulbright in Geneva. Most of his career was with the Buck Institute for Education, an outfit that works face-to-face with 15,000 educators worldwide each year, advancing project-centered learning. John is quite involved with music, playing acoustic guitar and mandolin in groups. His wife, Jessica, has a doctorate in anthropology and taught at UCSF’s medical school. Their son, Jacob ’11, lives in Brooklyn and works in the tech world, while their daughter, Julia ’07, works at Berkeley’s Latin America Studies Center. He keeps up with some of his Beta brothers: Frank Phillippi, Bud Bourke, Bob Knox, and Dick Cavanagh.

Brian Frosh, a Columbia Law School grad, is Maryland’s attorney general. An April 11 article in the Baltimore Sun opined that he “doesn’t have an A-list air about him. But late in the afternoon on the General Assembly’s final day, he was greeted like a celebrity when he walked onto the floor of the Maryland Senate. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas ‘Mac’ Middleton threw an arm around him. Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Chairwoman Joan Carter Conway kicked up a foot, and all three smiled broadly for a photo. ‘We love our A.G.,’ Middleton said.”

The occasion for the article was that Brian had “emerged from the annual 90-day [legislative] session as one of the major winners.” Drawing on ties he cultivated as a 28-year member of the General Assembly representing the Silver Spring area, Brian succeeded in gaining for the attorney general position itself a considerable boost in power. In this newly empowered role, he is expected to defend Maryland’s reformed money bail system, to fight against sharp pharmaceutical price increases, and for the rights of emigrants. Though a trusted figure in Maryland politics, he has ruled out a run for higher office.

In closing, I’d note I am writing this on May 26 and, if everything goes as it should, we will be together next May 26 celebrating our 50th—which to my mind, leastwise, is a big deal. Humor me and show up.

Lloyd Buzzell | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

I’ll open with the observation that I am unaware of a lot of energy swirling around our upcoming 50th (May 24-27, 2018), though maybe—as I have stated that I do not wish any leadership role—I am not entitled to make any such remarks. However, three of our classmates, Sandy See, alexander.h.see@gmail.com; Stuart Ober, ober@staurtober.com; and George Reynolds, greynolds@sandpointefunding.com, would appreciate your help in making the 50th into more than a pedestrian affair. Consider contacting them.

After three years, I am still not able to distinguish retirement from an extended vacation. However, I took a break from Yale football this September, and Judy and I spent a week at Chautauqua—a lakeside Disneyland in western New York for mature culture vultures. There we had the good fortune to share some quality time with Paige and Dale Lott ’56. He is a landscape painter and geographer, retired from the New Jersey university system, in the midst of a very active retirement in Poultney, Vt.

In August, Laurie and Bob Newhouse were thrilled with the arrival of their first grandchild, Robert Hayes Newhouse (“Hayes”).

Bill Nicholson’s daughter is SMU bound. Jeff Talmadge’s website, WeNeedaVaction.com, which is largely a family enterprise, celebrated its 20th year and is thriving. He and Joan are devoted to the Red Sox, their kids, their seven grandchildren, and are planning a trip to Cuba.

In October, Boston’s Head of the Charles Regatta was run for the first time in, I believe, 26 years without a “founder’s” crew from Wesleyan—my ‘mates. However, Wes was well represented—the women beat 27 other crews to win their event. And during the course of the weekend, the David Crockett ’69, a beautiful eight, formally joined Wesleyan’s fleet. (The varsity rowed in it last spring and dubbed it “the Crockett Rocket.”) Wife Kitty, son David, and daughter Cordelia (lovely folks all), spoke of Davy’s vibrant and expansive spirit, as did Coach Phil Calhoun ’62 and Captain Will Macoy ’67.

On Election Day, not everything went the way I would have liked, but it had some nice moments nonetheless. My state senator is Ted Kennedy Jr. ’83—a personable and effective legislator—and he was at my polling site when I voted. We spoke of his son, a freshman, who is rowing in the second boat, and his daughter, who graduated last May and is now a doctoral student in physics at Columbia. A small town pol, Ted actually called a dear friend of mine in town, David Ramos ’05, and asked for David’s support personally. When I told Ted I was ’68, he just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

As a meathead oarsman out of Psi U with a preppy veneer, but not the capital, I have largely muddled through life. Being your secretary allows me to chronicle some most fascinating people, and, regretfully, we have lost two recently: David Berry died at his home in Brooklyn in December. A playwright and screenwriter, he won an Obie for distinguished playwriting for his first play, G. R. Point, which depicts soldiers in the Vietnam War in a sympathetic lens and ran on Broadway in 1979. (He started writing this as a novel until his then-wife urged him to make a play of the material.) Best known for his stage play and 1987 screen adaptation of The Whales of August, which was inspired by his Maine childhood and starred Bette Davis, Vincent Price, and Lillian Gish, he enlisted in the Army in 1968, but was discharged so he could serve as guardian to his younger siblings after his mother’s death. After the success of his plays, he continued writing while teaching at several institutions including the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Conn., and most recently the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Bill Ochs was a scholar, performer, and passionate teacher of traditional Irish instruments—specifically the tin whistle, wooden flute, and uilleann pipes—who was a pivotal figure in the renaissance of this musical tradition. His work was furthered by an MFA from Sarah Lawrence, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a 40-plus year involvement in the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan. He is the author of The Clarke Tin Whistle, which sold 250,000 copies. A resident since the 1970s of Hell’s Kitchen, he and his long-time partner, Margaret Vetare, shared a house in the Hudson River Valley. A political activist, Bill devoted enormous energy to some congressional campaigns. Also, he was exhilarated by the outdoors and was an avid swimmer, hiker, cross-country skier, and birdwatcher. On the trail or in the canoe, he always wanted to see what was around the bend.

Lloyd Buzzell | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

Local news first: Judy and I celebrated our 70th birthdays and 44th anniversary and were recently musing how convenient it is to still be in love. When she noted that this may be more a matter of habit than conviction, I wasn’t taken aback. I can’t be choosy, as anything I get is more than I deserve. However, all this makes us newbies. We hosted Barbara and Dave Webb for a couple of delightful hours on our deck and Dave recounted verbatim the line he used to sweep Barb off her feet at an eighth-grade sock-hop. (He used to share it with his students at Choate in the hopes it might work for them, too.) Dave has kept in touch with a great circle of friends from Wes and reported seeing Paul Jarvis in Chicago while visiting his son, a realtor. They hadn’t gotten together in a while, but Tim Polk’s passing made them—as it should you—realize there are some things you should not put off to next year.

One of the benefits of my job is that I sometimes get into wonderful e-mail exchanges. Bob Svensk ’fessed up to watching a PBS special on Janis Joplin and recalled when she came to Wes. It was Brian McCoy’s first big deal as college social chairman. In a joint deal with Yale—Friday in New Haven and Saturday in Middletown—for $2,500 each at the behest of her agent, this unknown California singer was booked to introduce her to the East Coast. (Brian established the date as March 9, 1968.) After the performance, several of the brothers invited her back to DKE where she swilled Jack Daniels and ate pasta glop without utensils ’til dawn.

I think it’s quite something to look back and consider that, at this point, most of us are grandfathers and she, long gone, has been given her own stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. While I never spent a night in the company of such a character, I—like you—have memories of all sorts from back in the day and it’s for that reason I plan to spend May 24 to 27, 2018 at my 50th Reunion. Sandy See [seescape@verizon.net], Stuart Ober [ober@stuartober.com] and George Reynolds [greynolds@sandefunding.com] continue looking for guys to help out with things.

I caught up with Eric Conger in a call that proved to be an insight into a life in the theater. After Wes, he attended Hartford Seminary until the lottery graced him with a good number. Then he, along with Bob Helsel, revitalized a summer stock theater in Ohio. (Bob pulled a bad number and joined the Navy while Eric continued there for four years, gaining some notice as a director.) Earning his Equity Card after five more years in regional theater, he came to New York and landed a contract on the soap, Another World. Additionally, he spent almost 20 years as an actor at respected venues like Hartford Stage and Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. He countered this gig-to-gig lifestyle by saving like crazy and getting into some real estate ventures. But, by the early ’90s, he wanted to stop traveling and switched into doing voice-overs, commercials, and industrials.

Since 2008, he’s focused on being a playwright and, in 2010, experienced what he described as a “dream experience.” His play, a comedy-drama entitled The Eclectic Experience, was produced at Philadelphia’s 1,200 seat Walnut Street Theatre for a sold-out six-week run. One night Andy Stone hosted an Eclectic reunion that drew 60, at which the guys loosely depicted in the play mingled with the actors playing them in the production. Eric has had two dramas produced at smaller venues and is working on a new project with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He lives in Weehawken, N.J., with his wife, Gayle Humphrey. Their daughter, Sophia, is making films at Ithaca College and their son, Davis, is entering George Washington. Like many of us this year, Davis is keenly interested in politics.

I spoke with Dave Gruol in August. After a brief flirtation with New York banking (and these were times when bombs were going off and management trainees protested the war during lunch), he hitchhiked through Europe for three months. During that period, he arrived at an American military base at 2 a.m. to see Steve Horvat and was let in and directed to Steve’s barracks. (Reminds me of the time, as a kid, a pilot asked me into the cockpit to help fly the plane.) Always interested in photography, he returned to the States and took a job with a tech wizard doing various commercial projects. In 1980, he went off on his own doing mostly product photography for smaller outfits. (One choice assignment was for a chain of Caribbean hotels.) All the while, he did personal work in black and white; series on boxers, jazz musicians, and a lot of New Jersey urban landscapes many of which are not far from his home in Morristown. Married later in life, his wife, Joan, is involved with the Thomas Nast museum. In good health and very happily self-employed, he is not contemplating retirement. Every summer, he gets together with a wonderful bunch of classmates— Steve Horvat, Dick Emerson, Craig Dodd, Peter Hardin, Jacques LeGette, Ted Ahern, Ray Solomon, and Ron Schroeder—for golf and tall-tales.

Last summer, I inspected Dave Losee’s new digs in Camden, Maine. Apart from the fact his front lawn does not overlook Penobscot Bay, it was perfect. Los—a pitcher who, by his own admission, was no Whitey Ford—most appreciatively remembers Dave Gruol as his center-fielder who would snag anything not put into permanent orbit. Finally, Rich Kremer ’69, one of my all-time favorites, is up in Vermont. A superb golfer back in the day, he is back at it with a particular eye to special courses.

LLOYD BUZZELL | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

I will start with Wig Sherman (Army vet) who let me in on a Wharton reunion at a dinner hosted by Jay Hoder (Navy vet) in Vero Beach. (Back in the day, back in Rhode Island, they played ’ball against one another.) Bob Runk ’67 (Army vet)—and some non-Wes guys—were present. “As you might expect, we listened to oldies but the night was not spent conjuring up old memories…rather focused on the present and future. All the while laughing.” Wig and Jay live in Grand Harbor, a community owned by Carl Icahn, as does Mike Spence, who is such a good golfer that he is shunned, and Ed Cortez ’69, who is an active artist and the lead singer in a local rock group.

There is a brilliant and hugely influential 2010 book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander that persuasively argues slavery was succeeded by Jim Crow laws, which created a permanent racial underclass and that, in turn, has been succeeded by The War on Drugs and mass incarceration to the same end. And Eric Blumenson’s research on “Policing for Profit”—how the federal Drug War gives police departments financial incentives to pursue drug offenders—was cited prominently. Eric teaches at Suffolk Law School in Boston.

I recently spoke to Dave Webb (who is splitting his time between Cape Cod and Ft. Myers), and he reported Paul Jarvis, a psychologist formerly in private practice and at Illinois State University, is retired. Living just outside of Chicago, Paul also has an in-town condo. Two daughters and grandchildren nearby. His wife, Carolyn, authored what has become the standard text—“the Samuelson”—of nursing. Peter Corbin, a Millbrook, N.Y.-based artist, had a one-man show at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Va. Featured were a number of his fishing paintings complemented by a lovely catalog and a 2014 video showing the progression of his work on one painting, which presented his philosophy. Bill Beeman was quoted in the Times’ Feb. 14th Travel Section in an article about Americans traveling to Iran.

Judy and I went on a Viking cruise of the western Mediterranean in January. It was our first ever as we search for a way for me to travel, given my limited mobility. While I have never been so pampered or well fed, I thought it pretty sedate. Fortunately, we brought along our own excitement in the most genial persons of Chris and Gary Wanerka ’62, pillars of our new town. Chris cooks a mean shad and Gary is a legendary semi-retired pediatrician specializing in allergies.

It is my somber duty to report we lost two from our class in December: David Moss and John Grace. Robert Pease ’69 was kind enough to give me an account of David’s life: He completed his first two years at Wesleyan, after which he was drafted into the Army and served as a medic—becoming known as “Doc Moss”—with the First Cavalry in Vietnam, providing the initial treatment of wounded soldiers during the Tet Offensive and starting a medical program for Vietnamese villagers. He returned to Wesleyan in 1968 but moved to Oregon without completing his degree—something he later attributed to his recent combat experience. After receiving a BA and MA in history from the University of Oregon, his career included staff work in the Oregon State Legislature, chief of staff for the Oregon Speaker of the House, and the renovation of dilapidated properties into rental houses for modest-income families. A city councilor in Salem, he was appointed chairman of the State Ethics Committee by the Governor, in which role he was known for forthrightly speaking his mind on issues such as gay rights.

A skier, whitewater rafter, sailor, carpenter and historian who was active in several charities, he developed a paper titled “The Myth of the Vietnam Veteran,” which used social statistics to argue against the image of veterans as drug-using, homeless, poorly-educated, suicidal losers. He presented this paper to many civic groups along with another one on PTSD, in which he argued that it was a very real but subtle condition. He leaves his wife, Patricia Graves Moss MAT’70, and a daughter.

While I only knew him in passing, I remember John Grace as a person of uncommon decency. His wife, Joan Raducha, put it nicely in saying, “His Wesleyan education was a significant part of his future.” A Grateful Dead fan and a whitewater canoeist, he spent an undergraduate year in India, earned his MA at Hartford Seminary Foundation, was a Fulbright tutor for a year at the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta, and then coordinated the University of Wisconsin Year in India Program in Banaras for three. Joan reports (somewhat incredulously, I think) that he convinced her that they could do anything together—including a rock climbing and rappelling course in the Himalayan foothills.

They returned from India to Madison, Wisc., where John established after-school programs in rural communities. He believed in servant-leadership and continued his commitment to human services, ultimately serving families and children as the head of the Wisconsin Association of Family & Children Agencies for 25 years. Further, through volunteer board commitments and his involvement with Madison’s Quaker Meeting, he worked with foster children, homeless families and as a patient advocate. Always an avid reader, in retirement, he consumed four papers a day, traveled widely and was an engaged grandfather. Besides his wife, he leaves a son and a daughter—Laura Raducha-Grace Thompson ’03, a physician and the mother of two.

I will close by reminding you that your 50th Reunion is May 24-27, 2018. You are expected to attend and, after that, I promise that I will never bug you about anything again. Sandy See (seescape@verizon.net), Stuart Ober (ober@stuartober.com) and George Reynolds (greynolds@sandpointefunding.com) continue to seek volunteers for our Reunion Committee.

LLOYD BUZZELL | LBuzz463@aol.com

70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

First, I will note that my wife, Judy, spent the fall in Paris and was there on Friday the 13th—and fairly close to some of the incidents—but she was not directly threatened and made it home safely a week later. We love France and she had a wonderful six weeks but never reckoned on it being so close to such a disturbing moment in history. (Like who did?) I make an effort to understand what is going on in this world and do grasp some things but, ultimately, it is beyond my ken and comment.

Paul Spitzer’s career as a biologist-ecologist was chronicled in Cornell’s Living Bird Magazine. As a youngster, he worked under the lead of the renowned Roger Tory Peterson, who directed him to study at Cornell, where he happily spent the 1970s expanding his understanding of the diminishing osprey population around the mouth of the Connecticut River. Realizing that the eggs were not hatching because of DDT (remember Rachel Carson?), Paul devised a way to bring healthy eggs from Maryland, constructed special nesting platforms with volunteers, and took other steps to increase the osprey population. In that area, there is now what he calls an “Osprey Garden.” He spends part of each winter in Belize doing an osprey breeding survey and his work on Maryland’s Choptank River is the subject of a chapter in a soon-to-be released book.

From Germantown, Tenn., Mike Terry ’70 is writing a powerful blog on his two-year cancer journey: withintenttocure.com. After a lifetime in Connecticut, Dave Losee is packing up and moving to Camden, Maine. Camden has an art colony which will keep Joan happy and it is close to Isleboro, where they have an exquisite cottage. But Isleboro, being on a small island, is insular and the town does not promise they’ll plow your road after every storm.

I had a great time catching up with Bill van den Berg recently. After Wes and some graduate work at Duke, he taught at NCA&T (Jesse Jackson’s alma mater) before earning his doctorate in biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania. He then taught at a branch of Penn State for six years but, as he did not publish enough, “perished,” Reinventing himself as a physics teacher at State College Area High School, he retired in the area in 2007.

As one who is doing just a middling job of retirement, I am awed by Bill’s interests and activities. A naturalist and wonderful photographer, he has a passion for wind-surfing: giving lessons in the summer, traveling to Hatteras with a group for weeks at a time, and going to Bonaire each winter. Interested in “anything we have trouble explaining with what we now know,” he is active in the Omega Society, a spiritual retreat center in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and teaches on the paranormal. He is most joyously sharing his life and interests—“going steady” is how they put it—with Helen Dempsey, a retired social worker.

As my regular readers know, I have kept up the guys who re-established crew at Wes in the 1960s and, when in 1992 they started to row together as seniors, joined in the frolics. (My last race was on my 63rd birthday; blew out a hip and retired.) I have long considered them an extraordinary group but now have objective confirmation: this October marked the 50th anniversary of their first appearance at the Head of the Charles which has grown into the world’s largest regatta. On this occasion, the Globe’s award-winning sports columnist, Bob Ryan, devoted his October 9th column to the achievement of hanging in there and together for 50 years.

As I have regaled you with stories of their lives over the years, I will just do two things here. First, list the names of those who competed at the 50th: Harrison Knight, Joe Kelly Hughes ’67, Bill Nicholson, Will Macoy ’67, Bob Svensk, Nason Hamlin, Wallace Murfit, John Lipsky, cox George Bennum ’09 and Coach Phil Calhoun ’62. And, secondly, recommend you read The Boys in the Boat. It is the story of the University of Washington crew that represented the United States at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It has been a Times’ best seller for a year-and-a-half, so it is no cult book. Against the backdrop of Hitler’s Olympics, Daniel James Brown does a wonderful job of conveying the challenges and camaraderie of rowing to a general audience (which included my wife’s all-female book club).

Finally, I will put in my plug for our upcoming 50th Reunion. George Reynolds’ wife is on the board of her college and so he is a veteran of many Reunions. He noted how frequently he has been told how surprisingly terrific coming back was and saying they regretted not having come back more frequently. Well, the 50th is like the Last Hurrah and you really should consider making it: May 24–27, 2018.

Also, to make it as special and “handcrafted” as it should be, input from a legion of volunteers is in order. To date, we have more than a handful of classmates who have an expressed an interest in helping out but we need you! George (greynolds@sandpointefunding.com), Sandy See (seescape@verizon.net) and Stuart Ober (ober@stuartober.com) have graciously stepped forward to help identify and assemble a Reunion committee. And I’d be so appreciative if you contacted them and pitched in.

LLOYD BUZZELL | LBuzz463@aol.com

70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

A successful Reunion takes all kinds of things to come together and the 50th is the biggest of all. Sandy See (seescape@verizon.net), Stuart Ober (ober@stuartober.com) and George Reynolds (greynolds@sandpointefunding.com) continue trying to identify volunteers for our 50th Reunion committee. There is a wide range of tasks that need doing but, with a good-sized group in place, no one will be burdened. Indeed, it should be good fun to be working with old friends and classmates on a good cause. A lot of us have slowed down on the workfront and I can’t think of a better or more important venture to get involved with. If you read the accounts of the 50th from the classes ahead of us in previous alumni magazines, you know a number of people pitched in bringing forth a good turnout and a wonderful time. Please consider contacting them to make our 50th a memorable event.

Marrying Judy was the best thing I ever did so—as she is spending six weeks in Paris on a Road Scholar Independent Living & Study program—my fall will be a subdued one. My walking is too limited to go over for a visit and negotiate the city. I am managing being “home alone” but I won’t pretend that there is not a distinct drop in my quality of life.

A timely note—one element of Bill Beeman’s distinguished career at the University of Minnesota is an ongoing effort to improve understanding between the United States and Iran, a country he has lived in nine years all told. His 1986 book, Language, Status and Power in Iran, has been translated into Persian and is used as a university textbook in Iran. His 2008 book, “The Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs,” addresses and suggests a way out of the self-fulfilling prophecy of mutual demonization which has characterized the rhetoric and policies of Iran and the United States. An adviser to the State Department, the UN and the CIA, he goes back regularly and still leads tours.

Joseph McMackin is in Naples, Fla., a partner in a firm of 230 attorneys, who was just selected for the 2016 Best Lawyers in America. He has three sons—one handicapped, one a genius, and one undecided—and says keeping the family together despite his son’s affliction ranks as his biggest personal accomplishment. Professionally, he is particularly proud of being named by the governor to the Judicial Nominating Committee.

In August, the Times ran a piece on how Maryland was first to issue statewide guidelines prohibiting racial profiling by law enforcement that featured Brian Frosh, Maryland’s Attorney General.

I think you’ll like this—Nason Hamlin writes from an island off Seattle: “At the end of the day tomorrow, Erica and I will have completed one year of retirement. We had no training for it but have managed to make progress in the endeavor. We still make lists, mental or otherwise and often starting at 4 a.m., of the things we need to get accomplished that day. About six months ago I made the transition from being disappointed at the end of the day if I had not done everything on the list to being okay with having gotten anything done. We had very intense jobs before retirement but have not been bored. We are involved in a lot of music and we garden and read a lot. We have had a steady stream of family and visitors. Retirement is a work in progress, and we have to work at “loafing.” We’ll get there eventually if we work hard enough at it!”

I caught up with Randall Arendt, a landscape planner/site designer, who has had an incredible life: from his experiences in the Peace Corps and his work at the University of Edinburgh, he developed “conservation development,” a highly regarded approach to cluster and open space development that respects the natural habitat. During his career he spent a lot of time in the U.K. and made some interesting stops in the states, notably as the first director of Downtown Historic Lowell and director of the University of Massachusetts’s Planning and Applied Research Center. He has lectured in 47 states and been widely covered in the media including the New York Times and the New Yorker. Recently, he published Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character, the capstone of his career. A fellow at the Brookings Institute said of it, “This updated version of the 20-year-old classic is a how-to-guide to creating walkable towns in rural and urbanizing suburban North America, bursting with examples, many not built when the original book was written” (1994). His son is a Bowdoin graduate, and Randall, semi-retired, lives in Brunswick, a short walk from campus.

As he was a particularly dear friend after our years together in New Haven, it is with great sadness that I must inform you that Tim Polk died July 8th after an extended battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He taught religious studies for 30 years at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., where he offered a range of courses—Old and New Testament, as well as seminars on C.S. Lewis and Kierkegaard. He chaired his department and led the Presidential Scholar Program for many years. Colleagues noted he was renowned for his wit, his intellectual rigor, kindness, and his devotion to his students. Widely admired, one colleague said he was “the best exemplar and advocate…of the liberal arts tradition.” Another penned that he “has virtually exhausted all the means by which he could make Hamline a better place to work and learn.” In his obituary, it was noted, “He was a lover of many things: God, his wife and children, distance running, sacred music, serious reading, football, Philly cheese steaks.” Fiercely competitive, if he were my size, he’d have been in the NFL. A good man by any measure.

LLOYD BUZZELL | LBuzz463@aol.com

70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360

2018 is not really that far off—at our age, we know how the years fly by—and yet that is our 50th Reunion, the big one, the Last Hurrah. To pull it off properly, there are a million things that need to be thought through and taken care of and, in all candor, we haven’t done much of anything. (Unfortunately, there is no group, unbeknownst to you, secretly organizing the event and my clear sense is we need to get in gear.) To that end, we are putting out a general call for volunteers of all stripes. If you would like to lend your talents to make this a truly memorable event, please contact Stuart Ober (ober@stuartober.com) or Sandy See (seescape@verizon.net), who have been kind enough to step forward and help identify a working group or Reunion council.

John Ashworth, after a doctorate from Harvard and a post-doc at MIT, has had an adventuresome career in renewable energy, starting in what is now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The lab grew from 50 to 900 staff in a few short years and he worked with a variety of state governments initially and then helped set up an international program for assisting developing countries to create their own programs. There he met his wife, Nancy, and they were married in 1982. When the Reagan administration took a meat ax to the program, he joined a small consulting firm in Vermont that focused on technical assistance for the developing world. For five years, he did a great deal of travel for USAID and the World Bank, during which time he witnessed two coup d’états and spent countless nights in airport lounges. After which, he was delighted to find domestic work with a consulting firm in D.C., but his heart was not really into life in the Beltway.

In 1994, John joined a start-up software-driven environmental education firm in Phoenix and ended up running the environmental group. There he got a great deal of hands-on experience with desert plants and drip irrigation as they slowly landscaped a good-sized property in Paradise Valley. But the summers got to them, and they happily found a way back to Colorado through a job offer from his first employer, NREL, where he headed up their biofuels partnership development team for 11 years until he retired in May 2013.
In retirement, “Life is good”—in a smaller one-story house with a greenhouse and a koi pond. John works at the Denver Botanical Garden, has been teaching himself blues guitar and is working on his outdoor photography. He skis every week during the winter and they do a good deal of traveling when Nancy can fit it into her schedule as a certified executive coach.

Bob Svensk and Peter Swain ’71 have been partners for the past five years in a trade finance venture that was recently sold to Allied World Assurance. Bob reports that “Peter has moved to NYC and now works at corporate headquarters. I remain in Southport as an ‘independent consultant’—whatever that means.” Peter started Wes with us but finished in 1971. When I reached out, he kindly gave me “the bare bones of life since Middletown”: Taught art and history at Midland School in Los Olivos, Calif., 1971–75. Got his MBA at Wake Forest, where he met his wife, (Anne) 1975–1977. Worked at First National Bank of Maryland in their international and ship finance division with responsibilities that brought him all over the world (and for over five years in the 1980s he was very happily London-based), 1977–2000. This was followed by stints at Riggs Bank and as a partner in a small trade finance shop in Baltimore before receiving a call from Bob making him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The important stuff for Peter is Anne and three great kids: a psychologist, a med school student and “the third doing her thing.”

In April Rick Voigt taught a non-credit adult education course at Wesleyan that Don Logie attended. (Rick said Don was a disruptive student, continually asking questions that exposed the instructor’s limitations.) Since graduation, Rick taught at Miles College in Birmingham, Ala., a predominately black college that played an important role in the civil rights movement in that city. Then to the University of Virginia law school, where he met his wife, Annemarie Riemer. After law school, he worked for eight years in Washington, D.C., in the Solicitor’s Office for the U.S. Department of Labor, basically as a federal prosecutor under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Then he moved to Hartford to go into private practice, where he has been ever since. In the process of retiring, he is pursuing other interests, which for years had been on back burners. He is working in the Academic Support Center at Manchester Community College assisting students with writing, working with the Knox Foundation on urban “greening” and beautification issues, serving as a parajudicial officer (settlement officer) with the U.S. District Court for Connecticut, and teaching continuing education courses. They have two sons, both of whom live in Boston and have beards. From time to time, he sees Brendan Lynch, who deserves much credit for his civic work in the Hartford community.

Paul Spitzer forwarded a note he had gotten from Brian Frosh’s office. (Brian, you’ll recall, was recently elected Maryland’s Attorney General.) Some excerpts: “The death of Freddie Gray, or any person in police custody, is a tragedy… Baltimore is and always has been the very heart of Maryland. I know we feel compassion for our neighbors and friends, sadness over destruction and damage, and a shared commitment to rebuild and grow for the future…” Brian has been in the midst of things and, while lamenting the Baltimore that burned at night, he is uplifted by the Baltimore where residents help one another “and march together peacefully and with great purpose.” Let us keep Brian and Baltimore in our thoughts and prayers.

I spoke to Dave Webb last summer: very busily retired on Cape Cod after 42 years at Choate. One of the kindest guys in our class, it is no surprise that he volunteers at Hospice two days a week. Barb is volunteering at a couple of libraries and arts venues, and both are in several book clubs. Dave is auditing courses at a community college—trying for fluency in French. They have a son (and daughter-in-law) nearby who own two successful restaurants and they care for two grandchildren regularly. And they’re traveling: a Viking cruise on the Danube, two months in Florida in the winter, and lots more local trips. One thing they regretted about their careers at Choate was that they were not able to live in their own home, so while many of us are shedding ours, they’re now enjoying theirs. Dave is in touch with Ron Gwiazda ’67 whose career was in education, mostly at Boston Latin, and with Hank Sprouse ’62 who, with his wife, will be traveling with Dave and Barb on the Danube.

In September, Wallace Murfit came East, chartered a 40-foot sloop and sailed the upper Narragansett Bay and out to the Vineyard. Judy and I spent a week in October in the Czech Republic. I love Europe but, as my walking is quite limited due to tendinopathy, it was frustrating hobbling around the cobblestones. Planning a mid-winter get-away to Nassau. Amby Burfoot finished 11th out of 1,787 entrants in the 65-69 division of the 4.8 mile Thanksgiving Day Manchester Road Race. Dave Losee had a trifecta in 2014: ably chaired his high school reunion in June, had his son, Jamie, get married in July, and had successful open-heart surgery in September.

I heard from Bill Beeman: In January, he joined actor Tony Randall and Senator James Inhofe in Tulsa Central High School’s Hall of Fame. Bill is chair of the anthropology department at the University of Minnesota, and is noted for his research on neuroscience and cognition in conjunction with music and theatrical performance, as well as his expertise in the understanding of cultures of the Middle East and their influence on international affairs. Last June, he married Frank Farris, a MIT graduate, who is a mathematician teaching at Santa Clara University in California. They’ve been long-distance partners for 30 years.

Michael Wolfe’s Cut These Words Into My Stone: Ancient Greek Epitaphs was shortlisted for the prestigious PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2013. Paul Spitzer was in the pulpit a couple of times last summer sharing with congregations his transcendent feeling for nature. In November, Brian Frosh’s campaign to be Maryland’s attorney general was successful. I heard from John Stinchfield ’69: in Washington, D.C., recently retired after a long stint as general counsel for a real estate/development firm and now volunteering in a preschool class in which the head teacher is his daughter.

It is my sad duty to report that John Hollenbach passed away April 4th. After Wes, John earned a master’s in architecture from Harvard. He moved to Vermont in 1973 and headed several firms that did both design and construction of commercial and residential buildings in the Champlain Valley. He and his wife, Beth Philips, raised their children, Jake and Liz, in an old North Ferrisburgh farmhouse. Always a hands-on dad who hiked, biked, canoed, and skied with his kids, John took great pleasure every spring planting a vegetable garden laid out with architectural precision. He was an enthusiastic bird hunter, loved sports on TV, enjoyed good beer, and competed in the Sugarbush Triathlon. In 2000, John and Beth moved to Bangladesh where they worked at the American International School/Dhaka (AISD), and John renovated and expanded AISD, and created exciting educational spaces. In 2006, they moved to Cairo where John headed up the design and construction of a new campus for Cairo American College, a K–12 school. During 2011 and 2012, John worked for the International School of Kuala Lumpur, overseeing the development of a new campus. He thrived working in these new, and very challenging, cultural and construction environments. His obituary noted the obvious: “John’s was a life well-lived.”

As he was my mate on the crew and a good friend, it is with particular sadness that I report Davey Crockett ’69 died of pancreatic cancer in Seattle Nov. 24th. His career was in international finance and he lived in Switzerland, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. While overseas, he raised his children, David and Cordy, and made many friends in the expat community. Visiting more than 100 countries all over the globe in his lifetime, Davey’s travels were often motivated by a desire to visit old friends, better understand history, and discover how places had changed since he was last there. He had an abiding faith in God, and loved golf, running, rowing and his place on Vashon Island. There he grew raspberries, potatoes, roses, rhubarb, apples, pears, plums, and more. He made jars of jam and applesauce and eventually started brewing beer and making wine using the fruits he had grown. In college, he might have seemed like the brawling defensive tackle that he was. But when Judy and I visited, he met us at the airport and most graciously showed us about. We saw him with his son and daughter, and we talked about the death of his first wife, Taffy, and how he had cared for her at the end. He grilled us salmon and we had a salad from his garden. There were flowers at our bedside. He felt very fortunate to live the life he did and especially to meet Kitty Lee, a wonderful woman with whom he shared a very happy second marriage. Indeed, despite his dire prognosis, they had been able to enjoy a lovely cruise in the Mediterranean just weeks before his passing.

LLOYD BUZZELL | LBuzz463@aol.com
70 Turtle Bay, Branford, CT 06405 | 203/208-5360