Tag: 1970

Aloha, everyone. Unfortunately, I need once again to begin my column with news of the death of classmates. The Alumni Office reported that George “Bo” Durbin passed away on April 11. Here is an obituary.

A few weeks later, they informed me that Brian Silvestro reported his cousin Russ “Rusty” Helgren had passed away at the beginning of May. Rusty started with ’69 and finished with ’70.Here is a link to his obituary.

Rusty, 72, of Virginia Beach, passed away Monday, April 29, at home of pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his son, SunTemple; daughter, Dove; and grandchildren, Cheyenne, Madison, Dakota, and Van.

Our condolences to the families.

This time around, I had an e-mail from our classmate and esteemed runner, Bill Rodgers. He connected with a teacher and coach from the Big Island at the last Boston Marathon. Bill raced in the Kona Half-Marathon over there about 15 years ago, his self-described “last outright win in a road race,” and had fun exploring the island and meeting runners from all over the world. He proudly wears a Wesleyan winter hat each year. Hope to see him and a lot more of you at the Reunion.

Gene Legg reported he’s in his 40th year as a high school teacher and was “thrilled to be the graduation speaker this year.” He says he “prepped for it by playing Teddy Roosevelt in the school musical!” Happy to be alive! (40 years! I’m impressed.)

Gordon Fain wrote a long inquiry to the Alumni Office and cc’d me. He’s interested in seeing more photos of alumni, significant others, and grandchildren, on the website in a way that protects privacy. Gordon indicated he and Lila have two grandchildren in Michigan and five in California. He’d like to see more about grandchildren of classmates. He has several suggestions, too, for sending things to grandchildren by U.S. mail economically. (Contact me or him for details.)

Former Spanish House and Lawn Avenue roommate Colin Kitchens is an avid Facebooker. Here’s his news: “A wife and three dogs, and finished a book with no intention of doing anything with it. Living in Larkspur, Calif., with some fear of the fire season. Doing some construction and carpentry, but mostly as a laborer. They tell me not to go up any ladders and my doctor suggested a hobby. Traveling a bit. Just life.” There you have it.”

Gerald Jones and his wife Georja are living in Diana Beach, Kenya, where she is a environmental director of AfricaChild Kenya. She is an activist in wildlife conservation with particular attention to elephants. Gerald says he can work productively anywhere they go. His eighth novel, Preacher Finds a Corpse: An Evan Wycliff Mystery,will be published in August.

Peter Ratner is enjoying year two of retirement. The family moved to the small town of Greytown (population 2,340) to live in their former weekend residence. “We are here with six chickens and our 16-year-old cat named Mehitabel who has been slacking off of late so I am reduced to trapping rats and mice on my own. The local hawks usually deal with the remains.

“I have decided that I am going to take this year off—no boards, no jobs, just relaxation and maybe helping out a bit on a conservation estate in Carterton although I have yet to put in my first appearance. Having said that, we are having our house (built in 1886) painted and the place looks like a war zone. Every time we turn around, another window or a weatherboard needs replacing but hopefully this round will last for 20 years which will see us through. I am doing a lot more reading and I am hoping that by the end of the year I may even get good at doing nothing. I have a hammock in which I have only spent four hours in the last six months—a situation I intend to remedy once summer arrives.

“We have about 1.5 acres here and we look after our daughter’s garden down the road, and in Wellington, the garden at our house which is rented together with my mother-in-law’s garden, so perhaps I should list myself as a part-time gardener. We are far from self-sufficient but we are not doing too badly with eggs (although the chickens are taking the winter off to moult), cabbages, broccoli (take that George W.), beans, potatoes, red onions, radishes, lettuce, rocket, mizuna, pumpkins, rhubarb, apples, pears, plums, quinces, lemons, lemonades, grapefruit, oranges, limes, one very lonely mandarin, and fresh herbs. My tomatoes and nectarines were a disaster this year and my entire garlic crop was wiped out by rust. I will put a new crop in soon and cross my fingers.

“We plan to do a little travelling—I just got back from 10 days visiting family in New York. We will be in Sydney in June to see our youngest daughter and her husband who is living there, and Rarotonga in August just to sit on the beach. As of today, all of my children and grandchildren are well and settled. Looking at the politics in the U.S. I am feeling very good about my decision to move to New Zealand (The Trump or Jacinda Adern? Hmmm? Not a very hard choice). It’s not perfect over here. Jacinda bailed on bringing in a capital gains tax which we should have, and the farmers and developers are still much too powerful. However, it remains a mostly civilized place to live and by and large we can have political discourse without ending up as implacable enemies. It helps that there are only 4.7 million people and about a third of them are in Auckland. We are still subjects of the Queen and we have someone named Archie as the seventh in line to the throne.”

Darwin Poritz, who works at the Johnson Space Center in Houston sent the following: “This past October, I spent three wonderful weeks in Berlin studying German at the GLS Sprachschule. The instructors kept the classes animated, and there were afternoon or evening tours and Saturday excursions to Wernigerode, Rostok, and Warnemünde. I took advantage of the excellent breakfasts and the off-campus apartment offered by the school in the charming Prenzlauer Berg district. Two highly enjoyable Fat Tire Tours on bicycles exposed me to the city’s history and renown graffiti. Of course, I enjoyed the schnitzel, goulash, and hefe-weissbier as often as possible. My son John visited me for a few days in Berlin to enjoy the bier and schnitzel.

“In February, I had a week of skiing in Whitefish, Mont. We had a good time when my brother Noah and his wife Leona joined me from Bozeman for a few days.”

The photo of a long-haired Rusty Helgrenattached to his obituary takes us right back to our undergraduate years. On that note, Jacob Scherr sent the Alumni Office a photo from the infamous Grateful Dead concert on campus, spurring a flurry of e-mails, what I think might be called a meme about dramatic times then and now. Jacob asked: “What can we distill from our days at Wesleyan and the five decades since to give hope and ideas for the future?” Consensus was that that is an excellent question, worthy of being a theme of our 50th Reunion. Bruce Williamsasked, “Do we worry most for our grandchildren now?”

Involved in the discussion were David White (who arranged for the Dead to play), Bill Tam, Steve Talbot, Jeremy Serwer, Bruce Williams, Carl Johnson, Barry Gottfried, and Jim Elston ’70, MAT’72. Steve reminded us that the Dead gave a terrible performance. (I thought at the time that they sure had long jams, but didn’t think they played badly; a later listen to the recording of it changed my mind.) Carl mentioned that his Alpha Delt brother John Barlow ’69 had been a high school friend of Dead member Bob Weir and completed an autobiography called Mother American Night shortly before his death in 2018. (The book involves Wesleyan remembrances and Carl recommends it.) Barry wrote that his “nephew, Adam Schumacher, then two, danced on Foss Hill to the delight of the crowd. He’s now 50 of course. Still has a rock band—the Dead were his inspiration!!”

Steve T. also reminded us that a meeting was held in the chapel afterward to plan an open mic meeting the next day to discuss and vote on whether we would declare a strike and shut down the campus in response to the invasion of Cambodia and the Panther trials. I’m hoping the photo, and others from our tenure at Wesleyan, can be displayed at our reunion next May.

Speaking of the 50th Reunion, Jeremy Serwerhas been coordinating outreach, contacting as many of our classmates as possible to encourage them to attend, and reporting it to be a very enjoyable endeavor. He would like more of us to make calls, so please contact him if you can help. You can visit him at the farm in Connecticut or call him at 860/928-7660.

I have been a bit involved in the Reunion committee and would like information anyone may have about casting a brass or bronze medallion for the occasion. Also, I expressed an interest to the committee in displaying some photographs at Reunion and wonder if any of you also might have an interest in doing so.

And now for an unpaid advertisement: Come to our 50th Reunion! (May 21-24, 2020). There will be regional events throughout the year including a planning meeting at Wesleyan on Nov. 2. All are welcome to attend. If you have program ideas, want to get involved, or haven’t heard from the Committee, contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.eduor 860/685-5992.

Write when you have news or not.

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754

Aloha, everyone. Maurice Hakim and Carol are “glad to be back in Florida for the winter although we already miss being in our 1799 Cape in Clinton, Conn. We’ve made many improvements to the house. We’re now planning for the addition that includes a modern kitchen and sunporch.” Maurice is still working. His company manufactures ready-to-drink organic teas and lemonades for private-label grocery store chains. He sees Jeremy Serwer, Phil Dundas, and Charlie Farrow ’69. He’s in touch with Seth Kaufman, Jim Elston, and David Geller. Maurice is working with John Griffin on our 50th Reunion book.

Sadly, Maurice is “now afflicted with Type 2 Diabetes and its consequences, particularly neuropathy, probably as a result of my overindulging in Hostess Cupcakes and My-T Fine chocolate pudding since my early youth. I have started to take it more seriously by going to physical therapy.”

I think this is the first time we’ve heard from Mitch Grashin. Mitch’s daughter Merrily Grashin (NYU ’06), has written a wonderful book, a very funny, educational and useful, feminist cocktail book, entitled Women’s Libation! Cocktails to Celebrate a Woman’s Right to Booze (Penguin/Random House). It was the New York Times Editor’s Pick on Black Friday.

Coming out of retirement for the second time, Mitch “helped create and is working with a startup, White Eagle Insurance Solutions, located in the Bay Area, the epicenter of the new California Gold Rush. We are becoming, and will soon be established as, the de facto insurance provider nationally for the $30-plus billion commercial cannabis industry.”

Gene Legg wrote, “I am in the midst of my 40th year of teaching high school and still going strong! I see my buddy Elliot Daum occasionally at special events, and he is as wonderful as ever. I am forever grateful to Wesleyan for the incredible education we all received and to Psi U for putting up with my self-centered idiocy for four years. I have raised two wonderful sons (28 and 24 respectively) and managed to stay out of trouble for most of our 48 years since graduation. Since I went to Harvard to get a graduate degree, I feel qualified to compare these two bastions of education. I loved Harvard, but no comparison: WesTech is in first place in every category!”

Mark Geannette retired after practicing law for 45 years. He and wife Gloria have been traveling, most notably to French Polynesia and Sardinia. For his 70th birthday they went to Easter Island.

Colin Kitchens is “in the San Francisco Bay Area with my wife and three dogs. I have been writing and the narrative and my energy to pursue it are about to collide. In exciting news, classmates, I am looking for an alternative to death, and making some incredible headway. I will set up a GoFundMe page soon­­—you don’t want to be late for this train.”

Still a political leader, Steve Talbot, regularly posts thoughtful and informative pieces on Facebook. On a related note, you’ll want to get Bob Stone’s Trumpericks books. You can see samples on FB regularly.

As I write, Jeremy Serwer is speaking on a group call of the 50th Reunion committee exhorting folks to call classmates about the Reunion. (He’s chairman of the outreach committee.) If you know anyone who’s kind of off-the-grid, please let the committee know how to contact the person, or better yet, do it yourself!

Our 50th Reunion is May 21-24, 2020, slightly more than a year away. A robust Reunion committee (Alschuler, Bullard, Carter, Dachs, Daum, Davis, Diamond, Elston, Fain, Geller, Gottfried, Griffin, Hakim, Hazel, Heilweil, Johnson, Jones, Josephson, Kellogg, Knight, Krugman, Laitos, Murphy, Ossad, Policoff, Poritz, Saltzman, Sarles, Scherr, Serwer, Sheffield, Silvestro, Stone, Talbot, Tam, White, Williams, Woods) is busy reaching out to folks to collect up-to-date contact information, as we want as many of you to come back to Middletown as possible.

Work has started on a class book and programming ideas are already being discussed. Look for pre-Reunion regional events and if close by, attend! Want to get involved or haven’t heard from one of us? Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 at klynch@wesleyan.edu or 680/685-5992. And, please check out wesleyan.edu/classof1970 for the latest news.

I’m happy to report visible progress on the never-ending building project here on Kaua’i. The elevated solar rack is well underway, and the house foundation is scheduled to be poured in a few days. I can’t tell you the joy! Speaking of which, I made my first trip to New Orleans at the end of December and loved it. For anyone interested, I posted a lot of photos on FB.

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754

Aloha. I’m sorry once again to have to begin the column announcing the death of another classmate. Arden Reed has died from an aggressive cancer. After Wesleyan, Arden earned a master’s and a doctoral degree in comparative literature. He had been a professor at Pomona College for several years.

Bill Bullard wrote of Arden (known as Bud “in the day”): “. . . I keepcoming across former students of his at Pomona who remember him as a star, a fascinating teacher and extraordinarily dedicated to his students.” Bill noted that his new book Slow Art was acclaimed and that he “had just begun a series a interviews and lectures about the book when he became sick. I know Dan Rosenheim visited him in Santa Fe when Arden was on sabbatical there and may have more stories. Arden and I wrote back and forth several times about the new book and reminisced about Phil Hallie’s Philosophy of Art course, which we took together in the College of Letters and which Arden in part credited for his interest in the arts. Bud was in our group of COL students who studied in Paris in the spring of 1968 and lived the extraordinary mayhem of Mai ’68.”

Bob Stone (aka Robert Mark Stone on Facebook) visited family and friends in New York recently. He indicates he is “still living the retirement good life in sunny (and hotter than ever) Southern California. Spending lots of quality time with our 5- and 9-year-old granddaughters and 3-year-old grandson. We consider ourselves extremely lucky that they all live nearby. And another granddaughter is due next February!

“Nancy and I continue to travel and gain an appreciation for other places and people. This spring we were in our happiest place again: photographic safari in Africa. This was our third such adventure and we can’t seem to get enough of it. This time we went to two private game reserves adjacent to Kruger National Park in South Africa. It was spectacular! We followed that with a safari on horseback in Botswana. I should say that Nancy was on horseback and I was in a Land Rover, since I failed to meet the ‘must be able to gallop away from danger’ qualification. We also visited Johannesburg, with a fascinating tour of Soweto. Our understanding of the history and culture was enhanced by having listened to Trevor Noah’s book Born a Crime during the long flights over from Los Angeles. I highly recommend the Audible version of the book, as Noah himself reads it and imitates the wonderful voices and accents.

“My other retirement avocation has been writing limericks, specifically ones poking fun at current POTUS. It’s been a therapeutic outlet for me. My first volume, entitled Trumpericks, was published last November. The next one, called Trumpericks 2: Stable Genius, will hit the market by early October. The first had about 160 verses and the new one has over 300 more. They’re arranged chronologically, supported by informative endnotes (the lawyer in me), and accompanied by cartoon illustrations from a wonderfully talented artist. Together these ‘covfefe-table books’ provide a satirical history of the first 20-months of this administration. Both books are available on Amazon. So much for the shameless self-promotion. I look forward to seeing my Wes classmates at our upcoming 50th (gulp) Reunion in 2020.” [Note: if you’re not seeing Bob’s posts on Facebook, you’re missing out. I recommend the books.]

Peter Ratner write that he and his wife retired at the beginning of the year. They now spend about two-thirds of their time in Greytown with seven chickens (three of which are Aracanas and lay blue eggs). The rest of their time is spent in Wellington with their daughter and granddaughter as well as with an aging cat who is ‘remarkably spry for 17.’ Peter says, “I don’t miss work in the slightest and so far, I have been so busy I haven’t had time to wonder what I am going to do with myself. I have just discovered podcasts and audiobooks which I can get from the library and am in training to do the Milford Sound at the end of February which is the last of the four Great Walks in New Zealand and the only one I haven’t done.” Peter says, “I am seriously considering turning up for the big 5-0.”

Had a note from Ralph Moore on behalf of himself and Pete Stein. Ralph wrote, “We opened the Stein & Moore law firm in St. Paul, Minn., in 1977 and practiced together since (known locally as Pete and Ralph’s Pretty Good Law Firm). This year, being tired of management stuff, we closed the firm and merged our practice across the Mississippi into a Minneapolis firm, and continue to work at the law.” Ralph says that both he and Pete (and their wives) plan on attending the 50th Reunion in 2020.

And now for this column’s challenge. Darwin Poritz says that [in last] “September my wife and I became-great grandparents—I am wondering if anyone in the class beat me to this feat. Being a great-grandfather is pretty special—until I realize it means I am married to a great-grandmother.” Well, did anyone beat him? [aside from his wife] In other news, Darwin indicates he has an upcoming trip to Berlin, Germany to study German “at the GLS Sprachzentrum in the trendy district of Prenzlauer Berg and taking in the sights.”

Ted Reed writes, “In September, we survived Hurricane Florence in Charlotte despite getting 11 inches of rain on our street. I should also mention that we also survived Hurricane Andrew in Miami in 1991 despite getting 170 mph winds on our street. Survival has given me confidence that I will make it to the 2020 Reunion, assuming that the informality of the ‘60s is maintained. I didn’t think I would end up in the South, but I guess I was heavily influenced by our 1970 seminar with Joe Reed on post-Faulkner southern lit. The texts included The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, which was written in Charlotte. ”

John Sheffield wrote that he’s been busy with three sailing deliveries “up and down the East Coast (Florida to New York) in spring and summer, car trips to visit friends in Georgia and South Carolina, transporting family members by car back and forth between Florida and New York, a military reunion (Florida), and The Big One, a trip about to happen as I write this: a month in New Zealand visiting a daughter.” John is excited to help plan our 50th Reunion in 2020.

And from “the booming metropolis (1,250 people) of Petersham, Mass.” We get word that Bart Wendell and wife Sandra (Whaley) are beginning their 50th year of friendship and 38th of marriage. “She splits her time between photography from her kayak, monarch butterfly rescue, and tilling the earth. I am winding down my leadership consulting practice and returning to behavioral medicine as ‘the migraine-free coach’ (both for my clients and now after 45 years of chronic migraines, myself).” Bart continues, “I have been officiating at far too many memorial services for my friends and neighbors. Yesterday’s, for our neighbor Dr. Alan Bachrach, included an absolutely brilliant ‘eulogy’ by another neighbor, (recently retired from WBUR award-winning journalist) David Boeri ’71. As for me, if my extroverted mom is any indication at almost 99, I’m hoping to stick it out for the long run and keep up my road bike riding. Getting back to the piano is next on my list.” Bart’s son, George (26), continues as an administrator in the IT department at Harvard Business School daughter Amelia (31) is a vet tech.

Out there in the Midwest, John Rinehart wrote, “I am still actively practicing infertility medicine in Chicago. My wife is a BSN, JD who has her own consulting firm for healthcare risk management. I have stayed academically active by teaching residents, medical students and technically have a title of senior educator at Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago. But I have found data analysis exciting and have just completed a master’s in predictive analytics at Northwestern University. Now I just need to figure how to commodity it.” John has two grandchildren, a girl and a boy, aged 3 and 1 respectively. He says, “I currently live in Burr Ridge, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago and would welcome visits from classmates if they are in the area. [In addition to that recent master’s, John has an M.D., PhD., and JD degrees!]

Out there in Colorado, Mark Fuller (he is still active skiing as reported in an earlier column) has just published his first book entitled Birds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. Says Mark, “My many years of birding and photography were the impetus for the book, which has been 2 ½ years in the making. I did the photography while my colleague and good friend, Rebecca Weiss, did the text. The book covers 155 species familiar to the Aspen area and includes some rarities and migrants. It features 263 color photos, maps of birding ‘hotspots,’ and essays on habitat, bird conservation, and birding ethics. If anyone is interested in buying a copy, they can reach me via my FB page, MarkWell Images or by e-mail at fulcon@comcast.net.” [In Alaska, the snowbirds leave at the first sign of Termination Dust, but I take it these are real birds.]

We have survived some nasty flooding in April and several near-hits from hurricanes this season. As visible progress finally is occurring on our house-building project under the direction of a new general contractor, we’re holding our breath a bit until the end of hurricane season in a few months. Still teaching middle school (computers this year—I call on the nearest 6-year-old for help if I get stuck) and still enjoying marriage to my wonderful wife, Vera, after 31 years, as well as the occasional jaunt with the Kaua’i Jeep Club. Lots of photos on Facebook. Need to market them!

I encourage you to join your classmates who already have declared their intent to attend our 50th Reunion. I’m truly hoping to see a lot of you there. Meanwhile, if you’re coming to Kaua’i, let me know.

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754

Aloha, everyone. Greetings from Catastrophe Central, Mid-Pacific Division. Not a lot of news came in this time. For a while it looked like it was going to be “The Steves Column,” then it mutated into “The Steves, Roberts, and Jeremy Column.”

Steve Masten attended wife Ann’s 45th reunion at Smith. They married when she was a junior, so my calculations are they’ve been married 46 years. Wow, congratulations! Afterward, Steve and Ann visited with Charley Ferrucci ’69 in Connecticut. “Also had dinner with Wayne Slitt ’69. It’s always good to be reminded where you came from.”

Steve Talbot, who’s prolific on Facebook, posted that a friend “. . . talked me into walking the Path of the Gods, high above the Amalfi Coast. And like a fool, I agreed. The hour or so hike straight up from the town of Praiano to the rocky trail nearly did me in. But once on the relatively flat path it was all worth it. A spectacular view of the coastline. Precious few tourists on the trail, at least in May. The main person we encountered was a young Italian gardener who trekked up the mountains every day. Descending endless steps to the coastal road tested the old knees, but I was revived by a large glass of pure lemon juice, fresh squeezed from the prized Amalfi citrus. Straight, no chaser. [Wife] Pippa, meanwhile, was doing yoga moves down below, and we glimpsed Positano up ahead. Our total round trip: 10 miles and the equivalent of walking up 157 floors, according to my know-it-all phone.”

And the third Steve is Steve Ching, now retired from medical practice and living on the west side of Kaua’i. We run into one another from time to time. Last contact was Steve inquiring about a contractor to do some concrete work as part of a home remodeling project. (Hope it comes out as planned, Steve.) Meanwhile wife Mary was traveling “as our son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first child.” (Congratulations!) Steve says he’s trying to adjust to retirement.

Speaking of Facebook, Bob Stone, aka Robert Mark Stone, continues to publish his Trumpericks regularly. He took a short hiatus while on photo safari in Africa (from where he posted gorgeous photos), but he’s now back and writing. So much material!

And Rob Baker of Park City, Utah, and an occasional Kaua’i visitor, reported, “Our daughter Emily (Whitman ’02) and her husband Micah (Conn College ’06) had our first grandchild, Eli Patton Blazar, this May. We have been hanging out in Del Mar, Calif., for the event. I’ve found time to surf the North Country, too.”

Jeremy Serwer reported “. . . some 70-ish craziness, two-fold: (1) I had the honor of being accepted to this year’s FBI Citizens Academy in New Haven, a weekly class for eight weeks that introduces regular citizens to all that the FBI does—a public relations effort, for sure, and fascinating.” Jeremy’s conclusion is that “. . . 99 percent of the folks at the FBI are doing amazing things solving crimes, assisting victims and their families, protecting the American people, and honoring the Constitution.”

“(2) Closer to home, I’ve finally achieved the entry level to a relatively new American pastime I’ve long wanted to pursue: Cowboy mounted shooting. While horses and the Old West have been passions of mine for many years, combining six-gun target shooting with western riding is too exciting to describe. This season I’ll finally enter my first matches.” [I admit, one of the more unusual bits of news.]

Finally, Jeremy reports that “. . . wife Nancy is well; she has nine marathons under her belt, and has become a serious weight trainer. She’s truly ripped!”

As for us, we’re getting a new contractor, as the original one has totally folded. Aside from the April flooding (which left us with lots of mud, damaged materials, ruined personal items, and a bit of looting, just for some extra fun), we’re trying to proceed with the long-overdue construction of our house in Kalihiwai Valley. The major road work done last June mercifully held up for the most part. Damage done by an angry waterfall at a water crossing largely has been repaired by a contractor hired by the state to remove major trees lodged against the bridge supports.

After attending the Hawaii Democratic Party’s state convention recently (along with Neil Clendeninn ’71), I took a bus to Hilo and was able to see the volcanic eruptions on the Big Island (about 12 miles from our former home) by helicopter. (Some flooding photos sold to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser helped pay for the flight!) As is typical with me, I have posted lots of photos, both of the flooding and of the volcano, on Facebook.

REMINDER: Our 50th Reunion will be here in no time on May 21–24, 2020. Contact Kate Quigley Lynch ’82, P’17, ’19 (klynch@wesleyan.edu) if you’d like to be involved in the planning. “Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”

Russ Josephson | russ_josephson@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 1151, Kilauea, HI 96754

NEWSMAKERS | 1970s NEWSMAKER STEVEN OSSAD ’70 Steven Ossad ’70, a historian and biographer, won the 2018 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award for Biography for his book Omar Nelson Bradley: America’s GI General. The book offers an account of Bradley’s formative years, his decorated career, and his postwar life. Ossad, who has focused his writing career on biography and command, under-studied heroes and battles, the lessons of failure, and considering applicable military leadership-training models for the C-suite, was recognized at an awards dinner during the society’s annual meeting. A philosophy major at Wesleyan, he earned graduate degrees from the New School and Harvard University.

Aloha, everybody. I’m sorry to have to begin these notes with word of the death of another classmate. Arden Reed passed away “peacefully in his sleep…surrounded by his family, after a brief battle with cancer,” says Dru Sherrod, his partner for the past 35 years. She says, “Arden’s unique sense of curiosity and engagement will be greatly missed by his students and colleagues, friends, and family. May we remember Arden best by living lives of more intense connection and commitment, with others and with the world.” Agreed. Our condolences.

Josh Barrett just missed the deadline for the last column, so his news comes first.“Since retiring from my law practice I’ve enjoyed having more time for music, singing with the West Virginia Symphony Chorus, continuing to gig as lead guitar in a rock/R&N/blues band, and doing occasional acoustic gigs with my wife, Julie Adams, who is the singer in the house band on the weekly public radio show Mountain Stage. So, it was a special treat to have a visit this summer from my former bandmate Dave Cain ’68, who was bass player and leader of The House of David while at Wesleyan.Dave lives in Texas now where he retired from a career in teaching but is making lots of music performing as a singer-songwriter, doing some recording both as a solo and with his talented wife and daughters, and teaching guitar students. We hadn’t seen each other in decades but still have lots in common and had a fabulous weekend playing and singing together, reminiscing, and seeing a bit of beautiful West Virginia scenery. We don’t have many Wes alumni in West Virginia, but if you want to visit bring your guitar.”

Darwin Poritz wrote in for the first time in years, motivated by e-mails about our 50th Reunion. He wrote, “I spent June in France cycling with the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme, one week in the Loire valley near Blois and another week in the department of the Puy de Dôme, a complete cycling and linguistic immersion experience, the best way to cycle in France as the French do. Another week was spent in Grenoble, sightseeing and studying French at the local Alliance Française. Meanwhile, I am still happily working as a statistician at the Johnson Space Center here in Houston. In 2017, my daughter Julia received her Texas state license as a clinical psychologist, and my son John is pursuing his French degree at SFSU in California.” Thanks for writing, Darwin.

Dave Davis sends a “Happy New Year” to former classmates. Dave continues to work for Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)—the PBS affiliate in Oregon—as VP of TV production. OPB is currently producing a four-part National Public Television series on how the brain affects human decision-making. Dave is married to Cindy Talbot, M.D., sister of classmate Steve Talbot, and they have three children, all now getting either PhDs or M.D.s.

Had a note this time from Eric Buergers, maybe his first ever. Eric retired in June after teaching English at Arlington High School near Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for the past 38 years, capping a career that spans 47 years all told, including stints in Germany, Middletown, and Durham. Says Eric, “My daughter is an English teacher in our rival school, John Jay, and my son (U.S. Navy) got commissioned to D.C. from San Diego, so I hope to be able to spend more time with both…Wesleyan has served me well with great memories of life in the womb, and inspiration from people and ideas that carry on still.”

More from Eric about his career: “Looking forward to getting together with John Valente ’72, Bill Davis ’71, Brad Matthews, and Marjorie Melnick ’72 in New England, and Uffe Hansenin Denmark sometime soon. Wesleyan has served me well with great memories of life in the womb, and inspiration from people and ideas that carry on still. At a recent ceremony to honor and remember Marjorie Daltry Rosenbaum MALS’55, with whom I did my student teaching, I ran into Dick Winslow again. He took one look at me and said, “Buergers—you’re the percussionist!” Amazing after all these years. I’ll never forget him. Same for George Creeger, Alfred Turco, and many others. The music of Unit 1 still resonates!”

In reply to my comment about finding a path in life early, Eric wrote: “I’m not so sure what I found was a path—I think I stumbled upon a set of very fortunate circumstances. I had no idea when I entered Wesleyan what I would do professionally. English teacher was as remote a possibility as becoming an aardvark. But as you know, Wesleyan has a way of showing you more about yourself. In high school, music was my passion and math my strength, which Wes somehow morphed into a kind of English major. I still had no firm career plans when I graduated and took off for Germany, but circumstances there nudged me towards teaching and I found that I really enjoyed it…I discovered my niche with seniors about 20 years ago and have loved my gig even more as a result.”

From Joel Adams comes a bid for a record: “I am guessing that I hold the class of ’70 record for number of children currentlyin college. I have four: a senior at James Madison and sophomores at Temple, West Chester University (Pennsylvania), and Highpoint University (North Carolina). (Yes, triplets). I enjoy reading the class notes about some of you who are retired and living in or visiting various wonderful locales. I cannot afford to retire, but I am thankful for my good health which allows me to keep earning a living in the Philadelphia area.” I can’t afford to retire either, but I can’t imagine being in your situation. Wow! As the 1939 British poster said, “Keep calm and carry on.”

And a note from Roger Mann says, “Ted Reed and I went to games four and five of the World Series in Houston. Both of us attended our first World Series 60 years earlier in New York with our fathers.” It was a pretty decent series considering that the Red Sox weren’t in it.

We also received a sweet-and-sour note from Elliot Daum. The good news is that Elliot retired “…after 17 years on the bench and 27 as a lawyer.” The bad news: “We were burned out in the big fire in October but we’re rebuilding with the assistance of Brooklyn architect Nathan Rich ’02. We plan to travel a lot while we can. Life begins at 70!” Good outlook and good travels to you.

From down in New Zealand comes a note from Peter Ratner (the same one who many years ago wondered when the rest of us were going to come to our senses and move there, too—a sentiment that resonates more with me than ever, but I digress). He, too, recently retired after practicing law for 44 years, and his wife also retired from nursing. They plan to spend a few years mostly at their country place in Greytown, while helping to look after their granddaughter in Wellington, then “…we expect to be full-time in Greytown looking after our garden, working on some local conservation areas and, well, we are not sure what the future holds.” Congratulations to you both.

Meanwhile, back on the U.S. mainland, Steve Ossad was busy winning the 2018 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award for biography for his book Omar Nelson Bradley: America’s GI General. Ed Castorina has posted a review on Amazon. Looks like an interesting read. Congratulations, Steve.

Bob Stone in L.A. described a happy retirement from law practice. “I’m now two-and-a-half years happily into retirement from the practice of law here in Los Angeles. My wife Nancy pushed me to retire and, as in most things, she was right. I didn’t realize how much of a toll the commute and the work had been taking until the stress was removed. To my surprise, there’s no boredom. We’ve kept busy with travel abroad (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, and Peru, and next April back to South Africa and Botswana), babysitting for our three grandchildren (ages 8, 4, and 2), lots of pleasure reading and couples book group dinners, and just hanging out with friends. I’m also serving on some nonprofit board committees and occasionally volunteering legal services to those organizations. And there’s the never-ending quest to improve my golf game.

“I’ve kept in touch with some of my wonderful friends from Wesleyan, both on social media and the old-fashioned way. Marc Pickard and I have had frequent contact. We’ve visited Marc and his wife Jeannie in Vancouver several times and toured Peru with them last April. I’m proud to say that even at our advanced age, we were able to make the steep trek up to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. Last summer we were honored with a visit from Larry Mendelowitz ’72 along with his wife Karen and daughter Dana. Steve Berman ’72 made the long trip from his home in Santa Monica to the San Fernando Valley to see Mendo and join us for lunch. It’s always amazing to me how we can pick up so easily where we left off all those years ago at Wes.