Tag: 1978

Ken writes:

As of this column, the New Year has just been ushered in. Let’s hope for a great 2025 for all.

I’ll start by enthusiastically recommending a visit to Wes if you haven’t had the chance to recently do so. Following a fair hiatus myself, I went to the campus on a beautiful Saturday in September for an afternoon of tennis team alumni-student play. I drove up with our classmate, (my brother-in-law) Steve Greenberg, who did a great job of rallying some troops from our era to attend. Kathy Mintz was there as well from ’78, great to see as always; members from ’79 and a wide range of other years came as well; and last but not least, was the presence of our legendary, 83-year-old, three-decade Wes coach, and still-active tournament player, Don Long, who drove down from Rochester, New York (!) to attend. It was terrific to meet and play with the kids—both the men’s and women’s teams are nationally outstanding—and to spend some time with their highly successful and charismatic coach, Mike Fried. Best of all was just the simple feel of being on campus. 

As for brother-in-law Steve, he continues his very fulfilling lifestyle of full-time ophthalmology practice, family time, and a lot of still-good tennis and paddle tennis. His wife, Hannah, continues her full-time work as well—in the financial sector—and their kids, William, Haley ’14 (married to Spencer Hattendorf ’12), and Kit are thriving. Between the two of us, Steve and I have nine grandchildren . . . and counting. (While tallying, I’ll add that I do have a couple of millennial Wes grads in my clan as well, between my son-in-law, Alec Coquin ’08, and Eli Schned ’05, the brother of my other son-in-law, Paul.) A regular topic of conversation between Steve and me is the “if and when” of retirement—we’ve gotten nowhere with it but take that as a good sign.

BiIl Adler reports that he continues to enjoy life in Japan, which has been his home for the past 10 years. He lives with his girlfriend and cat, writes fiction, and continues to explore that country. He invites everyone to let him know if you’re visiting Japan . . . “I’ll show you around.”

Paul Chill retired in August from full-time teaching after a 36-year career on the UConn Law School faculty—14 years of which he served as associate dean. He will still be able to teach a course every year on a part-time basis, “but without the burdens of administration, committee service, and faculty politics—what a deal!”

Karen Frickenhaus writes from “our tiny piece of paradise in the woods on a pond in central Massachusetts,” where she and husband, Howard, live with their two dogs and two cats in “a little arts-and-crafts-inspired gem” they created and remodeled by themselves over the past 20 years. She just returned from her third yearly adventure in Germany, resulting from the unexpected discovery of a Frickenhaus family clan there; her enthusiastic relatives, “embracing their exotic American auntie,” have immersed her in the cultural treasures and charms of 20 German cities and innumerable villages, an ancient ancestral home, the mountains and cities of neighboring countries, and . . . pipe organ music! Karen still works full time in her own design-and-build landscaping business (The Garden Artist) incorporating an aesthetically naturalist approach. She says, “thanks to Wes for sparking a love of lifelong learning, cultivating my eye for design, and forcing me to keep my toe in the water of the German language!”

Geoff Ginsburg is in his third year as chief medical and scientific officer for the All of US Research Program at the NIH, the mission of which is to build the largest patient database of its kind—more than a million people—to serve as a unique source of health-care research. He reports that over 15,000 researchers around the globe are currently using the database, with a paper being published from it almost daily. “It’s a dream job to be setting a scientific agenda for the nation. My scientific roots were formed at Wes. I am grateful.”

Wendy Kaufman has spent her career involved in both education and the arts, currently focusing on the latter in which she is “proud to serve on the board of the Denver Art Museum. Please come visit! The newest show, Maurice Sendak, received a wonderful review in The New York Times. Best regards and cheers to ’74–’78 memories!”

Kathy Mintz not only attended the September tennis event on campus, but Homecoming as well, where she played in a student/alum/parent round-robin event and enjoyed seeing assistant tennis coach Lucas Pickering’s father (“my old publisher’s league softball captain in NYC”). Kathy continues to live in NYC, where she plays pickleball and squash—and works as an organizer for the annual Tournament of Champions professional squash tournament held at Grand Central Station.

Richard Order reports from Connecticut, where he practices law, that he has just published Reimagining a More Perfect Union: A Better for Modern America, a book “in which I dramatically rewrite and restructure the United States Constitution to make America sane again.”  In the book, Rich explains the history behind many of the current provisions and his how and why of replacing them with a system tailored to our current society. “No legal training is needed to understand it!”

Beth Robinson writes from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that the arrival of her daughter’s baby boy a year ago led her to retire from her long career in global health in order to take care of him on weekdays (“has felt wonderful to support my daughter and son-in-law”). Prior to this, Beth spent her career co-authoring and editing public health works, training journalists and health officials in Africa in the reporting and communication of HIV management, and teaching scientific paper writing in Latin America and Africa; since retiring, she’s switched to writing creative nonfiction, and “very thankful for having had great teachers in COL.” 

Julie Scolnik describes her 2024 as the year to be remembered as “Two Weddings and a Funeral.” Both her son, Sasha, in France, and her daughter, Sophie, in Brooklyn, tied their knots. And after a long and legendary life, her father Louis—”jazz-loving, sax-playing, civil-rights activist, founder of the ACLU of Maine and justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court—took his last bow” at age 101.

Susan Southard writes from North Carolina, where she moved eight years ago to support her 96-year-old father, that she’s currently working on her second book while at the same time arranging a 2025–2026 book tour based on the 10th anniversary of her first book, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War (2015) and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Japan. Her work focuses on the humanitarian impact of nuclear war, on which she speaks publicly in addition to her writing and welcomes invitations to do so (susansouthard@cox.net).

Jonathan Spector reports that all is well with family and life in Vermont: keeping busy with a lot traveling; helping to produce a “fantastic” Broadway play (Operation Mincemeat), scheduled to open in March ’25; and awaiting the arrival two grandchildren . . . “lots of fun activities in retirement.”

Bill Weiss writes from Pleasantville, New York, where he lives with his wife, Karen. He serves as general counsel for several of Teijin’s (Japan) U.S. corporate operations. Bill had a wonderfully fruitful family year in ’24: of his four kids, two became married and a third presented Bill and Karen with their first grandchild. I must also mention that our class-notes exchange revealed that the child’s father, Bill’s son-in-law Charlie, is none other than a terrific new practice partner in my orthopedic group!

Best,

Ken

Greetings ’78ers,

Here’s what several of your classmates have been up to lately:

Lucy Mize has had a busy year traveling to Thailand, Indonesia, Belize, Mongolia, Canada, Philippines, and Morocco. She reports that next year will be pretty much the same with Cambodia and Fiji thrown in. Her travel is all for work, which she says depending on the election outcome, could come to a screeching halt. Between trips, her granddaughter turned one and she will defend her DrPH on November 4, 2024.

Lindsay Mathews went hiking in Switzerland, Italy, and France last summer and is looking forward to hiking in Madeira, Portugal, in March 2025.

In June, classmates Eleanor Maine, Barbara Malt, and Joyce Manchester converged at the home of Judy Packer Jesudason and James Jesudason in Boulder, Colorado, for three days of high-altitude fun and reminiscing.

Jim Washington checked in from Hanover, New Hampshire, where he just graduated from Dartmouth’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies—Creative Writing degree program (poetry). His prior MA was earned at the University of New Hampshire—English/writing. He was surprised not only to be elected class marshal by his fellow students but also to receive a Thesis Excellence award.

Bill Adler has loved living in Japan for the last 10 years. He still enjoys writing short stories, playing with his cat, and traveling in the country.

Last year, Beth Robinson left her career in global health care and began helping to care for her one-year-old grandson. She enjoys spending a lot of time with him and helping support her daughter and son-in-law as they juggle full-time work schedules. Beth has also gone back to writing creative nonfiction—where she started and what she loves. In the prior 40 years, Beth has co-authored public health books, directed strategic communication, information dissemination, knowledge management, and learning programs, edited many hundreds of reports and articles, trained working journalists in Africa to report on HIV, and taught scientific paper writing to scientists in Latin America and Africa. It has been her privilege to collaborate with ministries of health, civil society organizations, and others in Africa to develop national health communications strategies and to manage communication on groundbreaking HIV research trials.  

A shout-out to five pioneering women athletes from our class: Joan Chevalier, Dianne Edgar, Kathy Keeler, Cynthia (Pygin) Markert, and Fran Rivkin will be inducted into the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame Class of ’24 at a reception and dinner on campus on November 1, 2024. Joan, Dianne, Kathy, and Cynthia were on the 1978 women’s crew varsity 8 boat that captured first place at the Dad Vail Regatta. Fran excelled in five sports: track and field, field hockey, ice hockey, basketball, and lacrosse.

We always look forward to hearing from you. Please email us any news and we’ll be sure to share it with your fellow classmates in the next Class Notes.

Cheers,

Susie and Ken

Greetings fellow classmates,

While these notes were compiled on a dreary, rainy day in early April, hopefully as you read them now, they find you enjoying a warm, wonderful summer! Here’s what some of your classmates are up to:

Robert Poss has released his fifth solo CD, entitled Drones, Songs, and Fairy Dust. It is available on all streaming and download services.

Cynthia Aaron checked in and hopes everyone is doing well. After 17 years with the Michigan Poison and Drug Information Center, the last 11 as medical director, she retired from active emergency medicine practice and moved back to New England. She keeps busy with toxicology consulting work for the Michigan Public Health Institute, online consulting with RubiconMD and webPOISONCONTROL. Cynthia left the “interesting but flat” Midwest and now lives in seacoast New Hampshire, where she built her, hopefully, last house. This is where she and her four-legged child, Sophia, plan on growing old together. She wonders if anyone has heard from Alex (Nancy) Rosentzweet?

Kevin Rose is very happy to share that his son, Danny ’19, just recently got engaged to Julia Kim ’20. They both live and work in NYC.

JD Solomon, who has published two historical novels, reports that he has become a storyteller in retirement, giving presentations about historical true crime at assisted living centers and senior centers in New Jersey. “Not surprisingly,” JD says, “audience favorites are stories about New Jersey’s two most notorious murders: the Lindbergh kidnapping and the 1971 John List family killing, which happened in my town of Westfield.”

Last issue we reported that Dana Rashti spent a month in Sicily as part of an Italian language and cultural immersion program. Dana let Ken know that we mistakenly identified “him” as a “her” in our note. We are so sorry, Dana! We hope you are enjoying your retirement.

Gail Boxer has been appointed board chair of Cyted, a cancer diagnostics company based in Cambridge, UK.

Geoff Ginsburg, chief medical and scientific officer of the NIH All of US Research Program, has received the PMWC Luminary Award for his pioneering work in personalized and genomic medicine.

Alison Gilchrist reports, “Loving and grateful for: life on the Maine coast, biking, sailing, fun volunteer work in the vast photo archives of a maritime museum, two grandboys, healthy family not far away (brother Geoff ’92 here), good health, and great friends. So happy I went to Wes, by the way!”

John McDermott welcomed his first grandchild, Liam McDermott Lockwood, into their family on November 7 (“everyone is healthy . . . all the best”).

Lucy Mize has welcomed her first grandchild as well— Anna (“she is divine”)—born on August 8 to her son Thaddeus ’17 and his wife, Alex. Lucy is close to finishing her dissertation, “End of Life Doulas in Vermont,” for her DrPh in life coaching. She also continues full-time work, traveling to India, Indonesia, and Thailand. Her daughter, Belle Brown ’22, has done extensive recent Asian travels as well, and is starting work in climate conservation. Lucy sends “all her best.”

Dana Rashti was able to recently spend a month in Sicily as part of an Italian language and cultural immersion program. It was based in Ortigia, a small island that was the historical center of Syracuse. He found Sicily rich in contrasts and history— economically, socially, topographically, culturally, and gastronomically—and was able to visit his grandparents’ hometowns of Agrigento and Canicatini Bagni (“stood on the ground that gave them life and where they spent their youth . . .  that was special for me”). Dana has been pursuing nonprofit work since retiring last year.

Greetings Classmates,

If you’re reading these notes, then you successfully found our “online only” Wesleyan Class Notes for Fall 2023. Hope you are well and enjoying a beautiful autumn wherever you are. Here’s what several of your classmates are up to:

Susan Southard, author of Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War (Viking, 2015) writes that she will be traveling to Taiwan and Japan for a five-city book tour in mid-October through early November. In addition to the United States, Nagasaki has been published in England and in translation in Denmark, Spain, Taiwan, China, and Japan. This trip, her lectures will be in Japanese. While she’s in Nagasaki, Susan will give the keynote address at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall. She suggests that if you ever have a chance to visit Nagasaki, the Peace Memorial Hall is an exquisite architectural structure—inside and out, every inch designed to honor the memory of those who died in the Nagasaki nuclear attack and in the decades since.

Kate Probst and her husband moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, in August after living in the Washington, D.C., suburbs for over 35 years. She describes it as “an experiment with no decisions beyond living there through June 2024.” They rented a furnished apartment that allows cats and dogs, and rented out their house in McLean, Virginia. They are enjoying their new life with all their errands on foot (which has greatly increased their daily step count) and only using  a car sparingly. They also enjoy being a 10-minute walk from their daughter and her fiancée, walking and eating—the two major NYC pastimes—as well as going to the theater, museums, and walking in Prospect and Central Parks. They are much closer to friends in the Northeast, so have many visits planned. And while they miss their friends in D.C., so far don’t miss living there.

Ralph Rotman was recently recognized on Forbes’ 2023 Top Financial Security Professionals “Best-In-State” list alongside his daughter and business partner Cassie Rotman. In 2018 they started Power 10 Advisory Partners, a premier wealth management and financial planning firm in Boston. With a unique blend of intergenerational insights, the Rotmans have successfully merged traditional financial wisdom with contemporary strategies. Ralph included this photo of he and his daughter.

Bruce Phillips is happy to report that he retired in August 2022 from 36 years working as a family physician and delivering babies in Plainville, Massachusetts. He had a wonderful career and is very appreciative of his patients and colleagues who trusted him for so many years. He enjoys retirement doing all the same things he did while he was working: yoga, gardening, tennis, biking, developing his spiritual practice, and enjoying time with his family. Now he just has more time and space to do all these things. This fall he will teach new medical students one afternoon a week the basics of being a doctor, including skills such as listening, expressing empathy, and learning how to do a physical exam. Bruce enjoyed visiting Wesleyan for our 45th Reunion. He found “being on campus created a nice warp in time.” Bruce added this recent photo of he and his wife, Judy Kaye.

Please keep in touch! We love receiving and sharing your news, photos, and updates.

Warmly,

SUSIE MUIRHEAD BATES | sbatesdux@hotmail.com

KEN KRAMER | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

Nancy Chen has moved from Bozeman, Montana, to Calgary, Canada, with her husband Jack. Her daughters live on the West Coast: one soon finishes her PhD program in water conservation at UC Irvine, and the other writes fiction based on Greek mythology and history. Nancy writes that entering her elder years, she has pivoted her leadership coaching toward her passionate niche of emerging elderly women.

Geoff Ginsburg reports that he has finished his tenure at Duke Medical School and has moved to the National Institutes of Health where he is chief medical and scientific officer of the All of Us Research Program.

Barry Gross has retired from his 30-year career in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley and has moved with his wife Pam “to a great mid-century in Stony Creek, Connecticut, with a koi pond in the middle. Middletown is just up the road, so what comes around goes around I guess!”

Lucy Mize reports that she and her kids have all been separately traveling—she to Spain to deliver a paper at an urban health conference; son Thaddeus ’17 to Amsterdam; and daughter Belle ’22 to the Annapurna Loop Trail. Lucy is finishing a coaching certificate at Georgetown, significantly along in her doctoral degree program in public health, and still working full time, “and doesn’t feel like the work has slowed at all.” Lucy included Wes pictures of her kids, herself, and her father David Mize ’51:

Dave Wilson continues his jazz saxophone career, releasing his sixth recording as a leader last year—Stretching Supreme—a tribute to John Coltrane, which reached a high of #31 in the Jazz Weekly countdown. He remains in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his wife Lisa.