Tag: 1980

Steve Mooney: “In some ways, I’d love to have my college experience back. Love to have the opportunity to apply myself and explore my creativity. And while I have no regrets about my four and a half years in Middletown, there’s just so much Wesleyan offered that I was too young and immature to embrace. I studied things that ended up having nothing to do with my future interests, and maybe that’s what college is all about. As for now, Mary and I are happily retired, living in Boston, and proud parents of Ben and Nicole, who are now in their mid-twenties and doing well. I spend my mornings reading and writing personal essays, having discovered my passion for storytelling only recently. If you’re bored and want a night out, come join me and Mary for a Moth StorySLAM in Brookline or Somerville sometime. The host, Steve Almond ’88, author and comedian, is also a Wes grad. Fun for all!” 

Jennifer Boylan: “My new book, Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us, was published by Celadon/Macmillan in February 2025. It’s about the difference between men and women, as I have lived it, as well as a look at the contrast between coming out as trans in 2000 and coming out now. I was helped in the titling of this book by one Steve Mooney, who, when I asked whether Cleavage was a good title or not, laughed so hard he fell out of his actual chair. I thought, ‘Okay, that works.’” 

Lisa Olsson (originally ’78): “I am playing cello with the Yonkers Philharmonic, Westchester Chamber Soloists, and Kort Quartet. I will also have a chapbook of poems published by Finishing Line Press in spring of 2025. Both children are out of the house and all pets, too, so focus will be on long-delayed travel to see friends and relatives. My husband and I enjoy spending time at a family home on the north fork of Long Island.”

Walter Calhoun: “I wouldn’t be the man I am today without Wesleyan. I will bring up old history and family connections to reinforce my family’s significant connections to Wesleyan all these years, which I am not sure Wesleyan put together. But let me start at the beginning. My introduction to Wesleyan came from a postcard sent by Wesleyan in 1975 asking me to apply while I was a junior at New Trier East High School based on my SAT scores. I do not think Wesleyan knew that my cousin-in-law, Terry J. Hatter ’54, was a prior Wesleyan graduate who was then a member of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees.

“During this time in the late 1970s, Terry Hatter was married to my first cousin, Trudy Martin Hatter, whose father, Louis E. Martin, was the liaison to the Black community under United States president Jimmy Carter, a position he also occupied under previous democratic presidents Kennedy and Johnson and later President Clinton. I had always enjoyed a great relationship with ‘Uncle Louie’ and absolutely loved how he was often referred to as ‘the godfather of Black politics’ since he was such a well-mannered, positive, and discreet man who loved to compliment people ‘as a great American.’ While attending the 1980 Wesleyan graduation, Louis E. Martin received a Wesleyan honorary degree, which was given by son-in-law, Terry Hatter.

Finally, Scott Hatter ’92 is a son of Trudy and Terry Hatter, and he, too, attended Wesleyan during the 1990s, while also playing exceptionally well on Wesleyan’s football team.

“Personally, my history was significantly formed on Chicago’s North Shore where my father, Harold William Calhoun (a light-skinned, second-generation ‘Negro’ lawyer from Kimball, West Virginia) and my mother, Lillian Scott Calhoun (a light-skinned ‘Negro’ and daughter of Savannah, Georgia, insurance executive Walter Scott), and their four children were the first ‘African American’ family to ever move in and live in Kenilworth, Illinois, [from] 1965 through 1976. I was their third child. My family had a not always positive unique upbringing in Kenilworth; mine was uniformly positive. In short, I greatly, greatly enjoyed it; my younger sister hated it, and my parents and older brother and sister were more or less neutral. As a light- skinned, first grader at Joseph School Sears in Kenilworth, I enjoyed a tremendous advantage versus my other siblings in my grade-school experience. While there, where I was able to play seven sports,[I] threw a no-hitter for the ultimate, 1972 Kenilworth baseball champion, Kenilworth Cubs, managed by Charlie Castino with son, Bill, brother of eventual Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year, John Castino; won John Dorrer Rebel Award in football in 1972, with quarterback Bill Castino;  and was elected 1972 student council president at Joseph Sears School, despite being the only African American in the school. I  became  an excellent dancer with the Gus Giordano Dance Studio and eventually became intimately devoted to Jesus Christ from becoming an altar boy at the Kenilworth Episcopal Holy Comforter Church. Growing up as the only Black family in Kenilworth impacted me greatly, especially since my four years at Wesleyan were the first years I lived outside of Kenilworth. This changed me significantly, and I loved it after all my individual success at Joseph Sears and New Trier East High School.

“I attended Wesleyan [from 1976 to 1980]. After Wesleyan, I graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1983 [and then] relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where I began an insurance defense practice at Jacobs, Williams & Montgomery, Ltd. and stayed until 1997 when I started my own firm, the Law Offices of Walter S. Calhoun.

“On May 2,  2002, while a partner in Myers, Miller, Standa & Krauskopf, my life was irrevocably changed when I was struck by a car as a pedestrian on lower Wacker Drive in Chicago, Illinois, sent 30 feet in the air and landed on my face and head where I was knocked unconscious and remained in a coma for 27 days while being hospitalized for another six months. I suffered a significant traumatic brain injury in this accident and still suffer from ‘executive function deficits,’ which complicates thinking and doing two things at once. I have not set foot in a courtroom since the accident and cannot ever see being a trial lawyer ever today.   

“All was not lost as I am still here to tell about it.  

“For the past 12 years, I have been stewardship chairman and now lay leader at the North Shore United Methodist Church, 213 Hazel Avenue, Glencoe, Illinois, where I helped raise my family as a divorced father between 1988 and 2014.

“I first became enamored helping people unable to help themselves at Wesleyan and seeing how the effect of negative realities often disproportionately affected the outcome of people through no fault of their own. As a member of the Wesleyan Argus, the Wesleyan Student Assembly, the Skull and Serpent Senior Honor Society, the Wesleyan rugby team, and Chi Psi Fraternity, I always tried to be a helpful and a friendly member of our Class of 1980. I still find that friendliness, politeness, good and proper manners important.

“In 1988, I joined the Evanston Auxiliary Board of Family Focus Evanston, an all-Black board, which was started by a [wealthy, Jewish,] Evanston woman primarily to help African American women in the maternal health areas. After  becoming vice president in 1990, I served three terms as president of the board; [they] needed to change the bylaws for me to serve the third term.

“When I first joined the FF Board in 1988, I was so depressed and saddened by the conditions the Black community had to work through to obtain academic success, I called a childhood friend from Kenilworth who worked at an international paper company, who sent truckloads of every type of school supply they made until I developed other supply lines to help level the ‘educational playing field.’

“For years, I have been one of, if not the leading, fundraiser for [this group] and now also help our parent company, Family Focus Evanston, [which has] expanded to 11 Family Focus centers all over Chicago but primarily in under-resourced areas like Englewood, Holman, Aurora, and the like.  

“More importantly, I led the charge to change the bylaws and broaden and integrate the board while I have continued to raise many hundreds of thousands of dollars while disabled since 2002 and without having held a regular job at any time since then.

“I have pledged to give Wesleyan $25 a month until November 6, 2027, because of the gratitude I have for the Wesleyan experiences and education and what Wesleyan can accomplish for other ‘once black’ now ‘mixed race’ students.”

Ellen Haller: “I remain deliriously happy in retirement from academic psychiatry at UCSF and spend my days cycling, doing strength and mat Pilates classes, and playing both pickleball, and yes, still true, ice hockey! Oh, and I also do all the household chores because my wife is still working in academic medicine. Additionally, I spend time with my 94-year-old mother and love traveling with my wife and 28-year-old son! Sorry to miss the reunion, but I’ll be playing in a hockey tournament that weekend. Best to all!”

In memoriam for Aleta Elaine (McClam) Staton written by Wesleyan classmate and dear friend, Allison Brown.

“When she enrolled at Wesleyan University, Aleta had not planned to pursue a degree in the performing arts, but the sounds of the orchestra, the rhythm of the drums, the harmonies of the choirs, the lights of the stage, and the applause of the audience called to her. The theater and the arts became her home. Wesleyan gave Aleta the platform to develop and nurture her innate talents as a phenomenal and charismatic actor, an elegant and powerful dancer, a strong and interpretive vocalist, and most importantly, an unconditional and supportive friend to everyone.

“A friend to everyone that met her, Aleta was an integral part of Wesleyan’s African American community. Whether it was getting your hair braided or cut, like the neighborhood barber or beautician, she was always the shoulder you could lean on, a confidant, and a consummate supporter and advocate.

“After graduating, Aleta dedicated her life to the cultivation of artist in Middletown as well as her New Haven community, serving as an educator, an arts administrator at Long Wharf Theater, as the former Cultural Affairs commissioner and chair, as director of Community Engagement at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and as an actor in plays as powerful as Ntozake Shante’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

“As an educator within her community and a lecturing professor at Quinnipiac and Yale Universities, her students ranged in age from pre-K to mature adults. For Aleta, theater and the arts were her teaching instruments about life, its struggles, challenges, joys, and hopes. She worked tirelessly to inspire the lives of all she came in contact with. Her life was the theater, its people, its growth and evolving diversity, and the impact it has on culture and society.

“When asked about her approach to teaching, Aleta said, ‘Through the years, I have come more into my own as an instructor. I’ve found everybody has a way of communicating. There is no completely prescriptive way of teaching this or that. You have to discover along the way what parts of you can connect with them that you need to share every day . . . I have a lesson for every increment of the subject matter, but the lesson can veer to the right or the left or explode in the center, and those are the magic moments in class! I live for that. . . .’

“For those who knew Aleta, they understood that her own personal struggles and health challenges took a back seat to the work she knew she could accomplish. Aleta ‘lived a full life,’ one that will continue in the lives of her daughter, Jade, her sister, Laura, and all of those who were blessed to have met and been inspired by her.

“On September 25, 2022, while speaking to an audience that came to support her, Aleta said, ‘I am just like y’all. You know, been through, going through, we’ll get on the other end. I don’t know how this is gonna turn out, but it’s already written. So, I have nothing to complain about, I have nothing to worry about. I will be fine. . . .’”

“On July 4, as people celebrated America’s freedom, the curtain closed as Aleta Elaine (McClam) Staton took her final bow.”

The obituary for Aleta: Aleta Staton

Melissa Stern: “It’s been a very exciting time in my family. My son, Max W. Friedlich ’17, has a play on Broadway. It’s called JOB, and I admit we’re all still a little gobsmacked that this has happened. A year ago, we were literally stapling the set together in a tiny theater downtown. And now it’s on Broadway. It’s been nuts!

“I have a solo show opening at DIMIN NYC in Tribeca. I am very excited about it and happy to be working with this fab gallery. It’s called A Leg to Stand On, sculpture, drawing, and assemblage. It opened on September 6 and runs till October 19. (406 Broadway, 2nd floor; Leg to Stand On)

David Hafter: “After 42 years of providing mental health and clinical supervision services, my run comes to a welcome end in December. I run a team of clinicians who provide services for Medi-Cal clients. I will continue doing trainings for the agency a few days a month, but the rest of the time in retirement will be devoted to writing—a novel and a play in the works—and playing with this great band, Wealth of Nations (named after the original WoN from Wesleyan with the original band members from Wesleyan: myself, James Marcus ’81, Kathy Bergeron, and Vic Tredwell). The current band has a blast together.”

James Kent: “I remain in touch with our Wes E&ES professor Pete Patton, who had near-death experience with a pulmonary fungal infection he picked up [in] Death Valley, and as of two years ago, he was going back to—Death Valley! Crazy is a required component in E&ES. Our other professors, Greg Horne and Jelle de Boer, have passed. I went to Jelle’s memorial and told bad jokes about his Dutch accent.”

Amanda Hardy Sloan: “I have found, after picking up riding again at age 50, after my kids were grown and flown (I had been an avid teenage rider and had to give it up at Wes because I couldn’t afford it), that many, many women our age are riding again. Women of ALL backgrounds and abilities. There are many opportunities for women like us to ride. It is so therapeutic and both physically and psychologically good for us!

“I could not afford a horse of my own when I was younger, but hubby, Chris, and I found ourselves in a position to be able to do so on a modest level as we neared retirement. My dear mare was introduced to me by the trainer I was riding with at age 52, and I just fell in love with this horse. She is probably the only horse I will ever own. I’ve had her for 15 years, and we know each other backward and forward. She is now age 23, so slowing down a bit, but we only pleasure/trail ride, so it works out well.

“Mika is a registered Foundation Quarter Horse with champion bloodlines (but even if she wasn’t, I’d love her just the same!). She came east to Massachusetts when her Utah ranch had to be disbanded in the economic downturn of 2008–2009. She was pregnant with a filly. The truck she was on coming East hit an ice storm and flipped over. She was scraped up badly, but no bones broken. The truck with her on it continued to the upstate New York breeding farm that had purchased her. When they saw her injuries, they refused her. She was put back on the truck and went along with two young geldings to Horseplay Stables in Massachusetts, where I was riding. Our kind owner/trainer, Terri Hoy, accepted her, cared for her, cured her, and delivered her filly, Lulu, not long after! It was then that I started riding her and later purchased her. We had many years of trail riding, pleasure riding, and even a dabble into dressage with Horseplay!

“Recently I have moved Mika, as she is aging, to a small family farm in the town where I live. Attached are some photos of a trail hand walk we took with my husband, Chris, and our dog, Sabina, when we first moved to this new barn.

“Professionally, I am a landscape architect! This is my second career; I switched to it in my early 30s after working in nonprofit public relations during my 20s. I have loved the profession—a combination of environmental awareness, advocacy, design, knowledge of nature, and doing a lot of drawing! I am pretty much retired now. I continue to serve as a board member of local environmentally oriented organizations.”

From me, Jaquie: “I don’t know about all of you, but this summer has screamed by for us. Andrew McKenna (hubby extraordinaire) and I have both of our girls home—our older daughter, Xan, just graduated from Williams (a double major in studio art and comparative literature, with a minor in Spanish) and is working four to five part-time (some paying) jobs and also doing volunteer work in the arts as she figures out what the next step is for her (ideas and connections welcome); and our younger daughter, Juliana, a rising junior at Eckerd, spent the summer working on her dive master for scuba diving, lifeguarding, and looking for a marine biology internship for next summer (again, ideas and connections welcome).

“I’ve been taking a summerlong course to become certified as a pollinator advocate. (My head is bursting with all the in-depth information we have learned from this program that is focused on native plant species and native pollinators—absolutely fascinating and so critical for our survival.) And Andrew is hyper focused on his work at the Boulder Airport.

“It’s so special for us to be having family dinners together most nights—lots of laughter and many adventures together as well. We have had a revolving door of visitors—family members and friends. And we have been working on big challenges—Andrew, Xan (committee coordinator), me (committee treasurer), and many others are working hard to save Boulder Airport (trying to get Boulder City residents to vote ‘no’ on two measures on the ballot calling for the closure of the airport. I am happy to report that the measures have been withdrawn, though the work continues to be sure we promote and protect Boulder Airport. And we’re also working with BlueWave Postcards to try to save democracy (Xan is one of the artists—her pastel for the Arizona card just got sold out).

“On November 6, I go in to get my left knee replaced—talk about a game changer on so many levels and a fairly sedentary end of the year as I work hard on PT for my recovery (send all your positive energy on November 6 and going forward—it will be greatly appreciated)!”

Our 45th Reunion is coming up in 2025!!! I’ve signed on as reunion chair and welcome a co-chair and volunteers to make this reunion memorable. Also open to ideas for class speakers both for us and for panels.

Freddi Wald (Sherman): “I continue to live in NYC with my husband, Roger, and beloved dog, Tuffy, and am so excited to see our daughter, Nora, a film major and Wesleyan senior graduating this spring with Wes Class of 2024! After almost four and one-half years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as head of membership (through COVID closures . . . don’t ask!) and a deputy chief officer in development, I’m thrilled to have switched gears and joined the Ackerman Institute for the Family, as chief of Development and External Affairs—overseeing marketing and all fundraising and board development for the institute. (Yes, you CAN get a new job at aged 65!) Ackerman is such a change from the big corporate and museum world I’ve experienced, but I’ve never felt so motivated and inspired by the great work we are doing, advocating for mental health services and new innovations in family therapy, serving all populations and communities in the five boroughs. I remain an avid enthusiast of musical theater and film and occasionally take modern dance classes, fondly remembering the Cheryl Cutler and Pam Finney classes from Wes—that kept me centered!”

Gigi Peeples (legally, Yvette): “I took early retirement in March 2022 after 23 years in the very demanding physician staffing industry (especially during COVID). Lots happened prior to this decision, including my father passing away after four years of caring for him and needing to take care of my mental and physical health. It was the best decision, although I find myself continuing to adjust to having so much free time (a good problem to have). After 27 years in Georgia, I am back in California along with my daughter, son-in-law, and nine-year-old granddaughter! We love it here! It was my son-in-law’s idea, then he and my daughter insisted I join them, which was an easy ‘yes’ for me. I still have lots of family and friends here from Marin County to San Diego and all points in-between. I sold my house of 17 years and downsized like CRAZY (donated a ton and had an estate sale). We arrived in June 2023 after a four-day cross-country trek, caravanning with three vehicles [and] four dogs and a cat and have since settled in nicely. We feel right at home and like true Californians . . . we are NOT loving the abnormal amounts of rain this past year, though it is good for drought recovery. My granddaughter made friends instantly and has a busy social life, as well as being a competitive dancer. My son-in-law has always been quite the entrepreneur and still has businesses in Georgia, which he and my daughter are able to run from California. He’s a custom home builder in Georgia and is looking into expanding that business to the West Coast. He and my daughter have made lots of new friends since we moved here, some of whom have expressed an interest in wanting to build homes. So, he’s starting the process of getting his California builder’s license. They also own 53 rental properties in Georgia and desperately need a property manager, so I’ve recently joined the ‘family business’ part time in that role. I hope to start traveling soon to see all my ‘peeps’ here in California and to Switzerland to visit my cousin.”

Randal Baron: “It feels like a traumatic year because of this fateful election and war, and on a more personal note, trying to find a place for my mother in her old age that she will accept. On a happier note, I have plans to see both Indonesia and Cuba in 2024 and to see our classmate, Michael Shulman.”

Melissa Stern: “My son’s (Max W. Friedlich ’17) play [Job] had an amazing off-Broadway run in the fall and winter. Seventeen weeks of performances, over 20,000 tickets sold. Wesleyan did a ‘friends and family’ night in October that included a talk back after the play with Max and producer Alex Levy ’08. We were all thrilled that so many WesTech folks showed up, both for that special night and over the course of the run! I am headed off to Portugal tonight for a two-week vacation. Hopefully it stops raining there. Unprecedented flooding and rain throughout the country. Oh fun!”

Mark Ritter: “I’m an entrepreneur advisor to ICI Fund, an Israeli venture fund focused on artificial intelligence (AI). I’m doing all I can to learn about the technology. It’s mind-blowing. Recently I’ve been researching and presenting on the use of AI in health care, which has tremendous promise but also plenty of risks. Many people would prefer to speak to an AI bot than a human provider because they find the chatbot more empathetic. Speaking as a human, this is disappointing and a bit creepy, but it also suggests opportunities to offer therapy and reduce loneliness.”

Best wishes to all Wes ’80 alums and your families.

Your class secretary writes: When soliciting entries for this magazine, I wrote to our class: “I just want to note that the class notes were pretty much sidelined as I have been pretty caught up in the support (hugs, listening, meals, dog walking, etc.) of good friends who just lost the father/husband of their family to glioblastoma (brain cancer). Life is so fragile and so unpredictable. My husband, Andrew McKenna, and I learned that personally when he was diagnosed this past year with kidney cancer. But we were sooooo lucky, it was stage one, operable so that his kidney was 85% saved, the cancer extracted with clean margins, and he is considered cancer free. One day you’re tripping along merrily, the next in a nightmare. And after hearing from many of you, I know these are not isolated experiences. There are so many wrenching stories. So, let’s set aside our differences and treasure what we have, treasure our family and our loved ones, our neighbors, and our dear friends.” Thank you all for your care and support and your responses!

Karen Klapper: “Still working as a hospice physician in Palm Beach County, as I have been for the past 32 years. When I am not working, I am having fun doing organic gardening, butterfly gardening, and attracting hummingbirds to my yard. These are  life-affirming activities, which help counterbalance me to keep taking care of the terminally ill. Plus, I read the comics daily!” 

Janet Grillo: “Very sorry about the loss of your friend and what an ordeal you and your husband have been through. Yes, as we are in our 60s, mortality looms large. Here is my update: I am enjoying my 11th year as [a] full-time faculty arts professor at NYU Tisch Undergraduate Film school. The third indie-fiction feature I directed, originally titled The Warm Season but retitled Alien Intervention by the distributor (because no one ever called it ‘show art’) played festivals here and abroad, won the Festival Director Award at the Boston Sci Fi Film Festival, Best Cinematography Award at Santa Fe Film Festival, and played to a packed house at Woodstock Film Festival (my adopted ‘hometown’). Film Threat said, ‘The universal becomes highly personal—and overwrought special effects take a welcome holiday—in Janet Grillo’s The Warm Season, a science fiction drama of human-extraterrestrial contact that impresses with humor and heart. Reviving a few character and plot elements from the likes of John Carpenter’s Starman and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the film, made for under $1 million over a couple of dozen shooting days, comes into its own as a compelling genre entry that covers more themes of existential relevance than those two major-studio pictures combined.’Alien Intervention can be streamed via SVOD on Apple, GooglePlay, Amazon, and Vimeo.

Randal Baron: “I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. These losses make me try to live life, fitting in as much good as possible. Luckily my husband and I have been relatively lucky with health, though not unscathed. We got in a trip to the Philippines and to Egypt [in 2023], both of which were terrific. I cannot recommend either enough. The Philippines has hands down some of the kindest people I have ever met. Egypt was also very hospitable despite the war, which had started the day we arrived. Unlike many Muslim countries, non-Muslims are welcomed into all the mosques and beautiful places. In 2024, we plan to visit Indonesia. We are enjoying life in Philadelphia, which is finally approaching a post-pandemic normal. We are hoping the city will mobilize again to save us from tyranny. I saw a T-shirt that says, ‘Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia since 1776.’”

Kenneth Toumey: “Thanks for the great message. Life is precious, thanks for the reminder. . . .  I am semiretired, (working three days a week in a small but wonderful IT company servicing small businesses in northern New Jersey) , spending the ‘off days’ enjoying my coonhound, Clementine, my grandchildren, and playing guitar and bass in a band. Cherishing every moment! I am a lucky man. All the best to all of you from class of ’80!” 

Wendy Davis: “So true, Jacquie, and a big hug to you for your resilience and grace under pressure. I’d just add prayers for all those caught in crossfire of the Middle East. Love to Andrew and welcome to the cancer survivors club, a great group with no initial vetting and no annual fees. 100% happy with my experience. . . .  This will be our first Christmas in Devon  in our ‘new’ 16th-century Manor House . . . takes some getting used to  with no central heating; we’re improvising with fire in wood-burning fireplace [and] several superefficient and effective German heaters; body heat helps, too, after the months the house was empty before we moved in last January. Spring and summer were absolutely delightful in the garden as every day was a surprise with flowers blooming from previous owners’ planting. This year we’ll be looking forward to more of the same including the fish and frogs in the pond currently hibernating under ice (sincerely sorry for them).”

Peter Scharf: “Over the past year I continued teaching Sanskrit courses online (https://sanskritlibrary.org/courses.html) and writing books to support Sanskrit learning (https://sanskritlibrary.org/publications.html). My wife and I started a digital Sanskrit humanities program (https://sites.google.com/sanskritlibrary.org/courses/sanskrit-digital-humanities) to train students to help bring the vast Sanskrit literature into the digital medium.”

Mark Zitter: “Thanks for your message, especially the PS. We’re all at the age where various relatives and friends (as well as ourselves) are facing the health challenges you cite, with both tragic and magic results. They are a reality of life, and they test our character. For news: My wife and I were in Tel Aviv on October 7 when we awoke to sirens and rockets falling. From the bomb shelter I canceled the tour I was to host for 24 of my Stanford graduate school classmates. We were able to leave the country within a few days but ever since have been consumed with the conflict in Israel/Gaza and dismayed at the surging antisemitism in the U.S. As I write this in early December, it feels like a dark time for the world and for Jews. On a brighter note, in a few days Paul Singarella and Scott Hecker are flying into the Bay Area where we’ll head to the Napa Valley for a weekend of wine tasting, fine dining, and mud baths. We’ve been having Zoom calls every other month and decided it was time to get together in person. Meanwhile, I had Daryl Messinger at my house for dinner last Friday and spent an hour chatting with Paul Oxhom yesterday.”

Peter Feldman is currently living near Geneva, Switzerland, where his wife, Ritu, is a senior manager at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). They have one daughter who’s now 17 and in her final year of high school. Peter, who earned an MS degree in hydrology from the University of Arizona in 1988, has been working for over two decades in the international development and humanitarian response field as a water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) specialist. His geographic focus has been on Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. During the past year he was engaged on an assignment in Ukraine with the French NGO Solidarités International; and has recently joined IsraAID, an Israeli humanitarian NGO, as a senior technical advisor supporting programs in Africa as well as in Ukraine. He does want the E&ES faculty (past and present) to know that he still at heart considers himself a geoscientist and is prone to spending far too long studying road cuts, cliff faces, the geomorphic patterns of glacial terrain, and the polished stone used in any kitchen counter or, preferably, bar top.

Jonathan Needle: “A lot of us made it to 65 this year (2023), so hearty congratulations, and at this point you might consider trying to moderate your vaping as one of your New Year’s resolutions, as applicable. Another food for thought topic: there’s an open question whether all the microplastics in our American lives have adverse effects on humans, and possibly members of the plant and animal kingdoms generally. It seems like there’s little to be done about it (they are omnipresent) and the whole matter is still merely speculative. As to plastics in their many aggregated forms, consumer and plumbing products, for instance, I believe most of us in the U.S. have found them highly useful (but then few would cheer for a continuing blizzard of superfluous plastic packaging). With highest regards and wonderful wishes.”

Edwina Trentham: “I don’t have a note for the Class of 1980, but I just wanted to thank you for this beautiful message about the fragility of life and the importance of embracing it and treasuring our many blessings. [There is] a poem by Dane Cervine, which I recite every morning. I think you will like it.  Again, thank you for your beautiful and important message.” (Note: the poem is called Sin and it can be found online.)

Faith Elizabeth Fuller: “I am on the executive board of the National Prevention Science Coalition, working with researchers across the country to bring information on evidence-based programs and policies to government/public health—the premise is to create nurturing environments for young people will help prevent future crime, poverty, substance abuse, violence. I am leading a Credible Messenger project in California, whereby former gang members who have served long terms in prison become mentors to young people in communities experiencing high rates of gun violence. It seems to be working! And the mentors and mentees are endlessly interesting—personalities that bring a lot of humor to the work.” 

Cindy Ryan: “While many are enjoying the start of well-deserved retirement, I’m progressing in my third vocation as an LMHC (licensed mental health counselor) and have opened a private practice, which filled up rapidly, thanks to ways in which the pandemic destigmatized remote mental health treatment. I specialize in working with folks struggling with cancer, brain injuries, and other medical issues, so Jacquie’s message to our class resonated with me; my practice provides opportunities to deeply converse about existential realities we are starting to face. A few days per week I welcome the chance to work with lovely art students in the counseling center at MassArt in Boston. As for family, my son, Jonah, became a Canadian this summer, which I proudly witnessed. My daughter, Juliet, celebrated her 2020 pandemic marriage this spring and continues to work on her PhD in geology.”

Walter Calhoun had a Mexican fiesta/sushi dinner party at his home in Highland Park, Illinois, on October 25, 2023, for 10 people, and he was so fortunate Andrew and Elizabeth Parkinson were able to attend. Walter said, “It was so wonderful Andrew was able to bring me up to date on his Psi U friends like Bruce Bunnell ’81 and I was able to do the same with Chi Psi friends Stephen Freccero, Labeeb Abboud, and Scot Timmis ’82. Andrew’s wife, Elizabeth, is one of the most emotionally generous, empathetic, and wonderful women I have ever met and it was so great to see them both that night.”

THANK YOU, fellow alums from the Class of 1980!!! In response to my August ’23 request for submissions for this next Wes magazine (which will only be an online version for this issue), I’ve heard from a couple of completely new 1980 alums (YAY!!!!) and some of my stalwarts as well (YAY!!!!). Thank you all! I noted the following in my request: You don’t need to be a Nobel Peace Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner. I’d love to hear from you about you and your families and alum friends. Please send in your news on marriages, babies, graduations, retirements, publications, ideas, surprises, thoughts, concerns. Whatever you’d like to share. And PLEASE, those of you who haven’t written in for a while or haven’t yet taken the plunge, go ahead and make a stab at sharing. We’d love to hear from you! Also, what do you all think about President Roth’s elimination of legacy admissions? Send your thoughts in about that as well.

Sarah Slavick: Combining art and poetry, Family Tree features the work of four sisters: elin o’Hara Slavick (Irvine, California), Madeleine Slavick (Wairarapa, New Zealand), Sarah Slavick (Boston, Massachusetts) and Susanne Slavick (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). It premiered in 2021 (with its original title, Family Tree Whakapapa) at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art & History in Masterton, New Zealand (https://www.aratoi.org.nz/exhibitions/2020-12/family-tree-whakapapa-elin-madeleine-sarah-and-susanne-slavick), traveled to the Wallace Arts Centre in Auckland (https://art.cmu.edu/news/faculty-news/professor-slavick-exhibits-in-auckland-new-zealand/), and is now touring the USA as Family Tree. It premiered last fall at SUNY Cortland’s Dowd Gallery (https://www2.cortland.edu/news/detail.dot?id=46013d3d-f8d1-4107-88e3-7392c3a4c036) and is now at the Erie Art Museum (https://www.erieartmuseum.org/family-tree) through November 17, 2023. Other tour dates include the Sordoni Gallery at Wilkes University and the Martin Art Gallery at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania in the first half of 2025.

The College Art Association CAA Committee on Women in the Arts chose Family Tree Whakapapa as an April 2021 pick with this summary:

“This exhibition brings together the artwork of four sisters living in different parts of the globe and focuses on the related but distinct ways they engage with the arboreal imagination. Tangled into their photographs, paintings, life histories, and political commitments, the trees in their artwork are intricate lines, bold shapes, diffuse traces, and stylized patterns. Defying the ease with which the genealogical and botanical connect in the figure of the family tree, the Slavick sisters make it a thing of wonder: rooted in the ground and multiplying in our imaginations, family trees are botany and biology written with longing, hope, history, and loss.

“As curators, painters, photographers and writers, we all have incorporated images of trees in social, political and environmental conditions—trees that stand as refuge and livelihood, consumed and consuming, under assault and triumphant, as historical record and as harbinger of things to come. The exhibition offers perspectives both unsettling and soothing as nature increasingly reflects salient issues of our times.

“In its beauty and bounty, nature is often regarded as benign and apolitical. We do not expect a tree to assume an editorial stance or embody ideology. The conceptual, analytical, and sensual intersect in Family Tree Whakapapa with works that probe the multitude of relations within and between trees and humans. Branching out to, and from, the world, the artists address a variety of concerns.

“A faculty member at Lesley University, Sarah Slavick lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband of 30 years.”

Anne Hanson: “My new book, Buried Secrets: Looking for Frank and Ida, is the true-history detective story about how I discovered the hidden past that my grandparents, Frank and Ida, took to their graves. When I finally unearthed their real identities, I learned that their tales were lies invented to conceal disturbing facts.”

Some blurbs for Anne’s book included: “It’s a page-turner that will captivate readers from beginning to end. A great read!” according to Elaine Tyler May, Regents Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Minnesota. And “Buried Secrets is as suspenseful as a detective novel,” the Akron Beacon Journal wrote on January 1, 2023, “an intriguing journey through the world of genealogical sleuthing.”  Also, it was the Twin Cities Pioneer Press “Literary Pick of the Week” for January 22, 2023.

You can read a sample chapter here: https://annehanson.com/chapter-to-read/.

Find out more about Anne and Buried Secrets here: https://annehanson.com. The book is available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Kenneth Miller: “After nearly four decades as a journalist (www.kennethmiller.net), I’m publishing my first book in October 2023. The title is Mapping the Darkness: The Visionary Scientists Who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep. It’s a history of sleep science, told through the lives of four pioneers who helped shape the field.

“The project grew out of an assignment for Discover magazine on slumber’s central role in regulating our physical and mental health. While I was reporting that story, everyone in my family began having serious sleep problems—and soon after it was published, my 87-year-old father dozed off at the wheel of his Prius and plowed into a tree. (He survived, despite serious injuries.) By then, I’d become obsessed with sleep science. And when I learned that no one had written a book for lay readers on the discipline’s evolution, I decided to do the job myself. I hope some of my classmates will find a place for it on their nightstands.

“On the domestic front, I’m hunkered down among the oaks, chaparral, and rattlesnakes in Topanga Canyon, California, with my wife, Julie Ries. We’ve got two kids—Leo, who recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz, and Samantha, who’s starting her sophomore year at Bard. Happy to report that both are guitar players, and that (in addition to whatever Gen Z bohos are digging these days) their tastes run to much of the same great stuff my Wesleyan pals and I were jamming to when we were their age. When they’re home, the strains of Dylan, the Dead, Nina Simone, Neil Young, Robert Johnson, the Stones, and Fairport Convention come wafting from the living room, delivered by a pair of scruffy youngsters with good hearts and interesting minds.”     

John Singer: “A couple of things to contribute. On the Wes front, Karen and I spent a long weekend with Daryl Messinger and her husband, Jim Heeger, at their lovely home in the Berkshires. We spent a couple of nights at Tanglewood and another at a revival of Cabaret and [also] went up to MASS MoCA [where] Karen and I stopped at the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield on the way to the Berkshires. Went somewhat spontaneously to Philadelphia to meet Brad Moss for an Orioles versus Phillies game. Ever the gracious host, Brad arranged for an O’s victory.

“On a personal note, our son Charlie got engaged in April. He’s been dating his fiancée, Kelly, for about four years and we’ve come to love her almost as much as Charlie does. Kelly conveyed me with an incredible honor and requested that I bake their wedding cake. Lots of practice baking in the Singer household. I view this a bit like the Apollo moonshot project with the goal of a soft landing of the cake on the cake table at the wedding!”

Jeff Green: “I continue to work ER shifts in Milwaukee and Ashdod. We spent the summer with our Australian grandchildren underfoot and nothing could be finer. Playing a lot of music and working on my oud skills. This is how I want to spend my golden years. I’m practicing now.”

Peter Scharf: “I’ve mostly recovered from my back injury last December. I just finished teaching the intensive first-year Sanskrit course in the University of Wisconsin’s South Asia Summer Language Institute. We also had a student in The Sanskrit Library’s intensive summer Sanskrit course. This fall The Sanskrit Library is launching programs to teach Sanskrit digital humanities.” 

Dan Connors: “Regarding legacy admissions, I’m all for getting rid of those. Legacies have enough advantages already. Hope Wesleyan’s commitment to diversity holds out for the next generation.

“As for me, I’m still writing and reading books to grow my brain . . . now up to 400 books read and reviewed on Goodreads. Find me there or at my blog, authordanconnors.com.”

Scott Hecker: “I just returned from a very Wesleyan reunion of our bands Praxis and Urban Renewal from back in the day. For several years running now, we’ve had an annual gig at The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. We gather on a Wednesday, rehearse for three days straight, and perform to a (usually) sold-out house on Saturday night. It was a blast! Attaching a picture; shown are Paul Spiro, Matt Penn, Joe Galeota MA ’85, Bryant Urban ’81, Carl Sturken ’78, Dave Samuels ’79, Billy Hunter ’78, Robert Levin ’81, and myself.  Also in the picture are non-Wesleyan ringers Liz Queler (a Tufts grad who knows Wesleyan folks through ultimate Frisbee) and her son Joey (both are professional musicians).”

Alan Jacobs: “My youngest of four, Guy, graduated from the University of Oregon in June, ending a streak of thirteen consecutive years with at least one child in college. So, for me, it was more like a Bar Mitzvah.

“As for President Roth eliminating legacy admissions, I applaud it. In my experience, and from what classmates have told me, Wesleyan always seemed ambivalent about accepting children of alumni unless the family made a major donation. Three of mine applied Early Decision, all as recruited athletes, and only one was accepted—which is pretty much the same rate as the general ED population at Wesleyan. This will help manage expectations.”

I haven’t written my own news for a while so here goes from me and my husband Andrew McKenna and our two daughters. Jacquie just drove down to St. Petersburg, Florida, to bring our younger daughter, Juliana, to Eckerd College. Juliana transferred from UCSC and is looking to major in marine science as a sophomore. Now being right on the water (not a 40-minute bus ride away), amongst 2,000 instead of 19,000 students who seem much friendlier, in sunny weather instead of nonstop rain, fog, and cold is already working much better for Juliana. Very empowering to recognize when something doesn’t work and daring to make the change. Jacquie heads back out at the end of August to drive with our older daughter, Xan, to Williams for her senior year. Xan spent her junior year in Madrid, Spain, and Santiago, Chile, having amazing experiences. She’s majoring in comparative literature and studio art (examples of her artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/xanmckenna/shop?asc=u). Andrew continues to run the services and flight school at the Boulder Municipal Airport, finding a bad bureaucrat can hamper one’s best-intentioned dreams. And finally me: I’m at a crossroads, wanting to leave the world of international development finance (after 40-plus years of working all over the developing world in project finance, focusing on renewable energy and sustainability) and not sure what the next chapter holds—open to ideas! And about eliminating legacy, we both think it’s the right thing to do at this juncture in Wesleyan’s history.

Sending a big thank you to all our wonderful classmates of Wes ’80 for all the enduring friendships, kindnesses, and contributions that you are providing to this world and to Wesleyan. Best wishes to all, Jacquie Shanberge McKenna, Wes ’80 Class Secretary

Susan Carroll (Managing Director): “I direct a joint international graduate program between Duke and UNC–Chapel Hill: the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center. It’s like a mini–UN (currently 19 fellows from 16 different countries), with a focus on peacebuilding and sustainable development.   Never a dull moment. . . .”

Jane Polin (Philanthropic Advisor in NYC): “I’ve done two start-ups during the past three years! The first is building pathways from HBCUs into the alternative asset management industry: see AltFinance.com. One of the three firms partnering to make AltFinance happen is Oaktree, where Wesleyan board chair John Frank ’78 serves in a leadership role. I’ve also returned to my career-long effort to advance the role of the arts in lifelong learning and thus had the great joy to launch The Misty Copeland Foundation, www.mistycopelandfoundation.org (aims to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to dance, especially ballet, making ballet affordable, accessible, and fun!).”

Janet Grillo (Film Director): “I directed my third full-length independent indie-fiction feature film, The Warm Season, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiuZhkK0krE, which is playing the festival circuit, winning awards, seeking distribution, and receiving critical acclaim: Film Threat https://filmthreat.com/reviews/the-warm-season/. I continue to teach full time at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Undergraduate Film Program and alternate my time between NYC, mid-Hudson Valley (Saugerties) and jaunts to LA to see my son (who just turned 29—yikes!).”

Jessica Ziegler (Visual Artist, MBA): “I am now building a second career as an artist, although I am enjoying the painting part much more than the business part! I am also doing volunteer consulting for nonprofits through the Harvard Business School Club of New York, and for small businesses through The Acceleration Project. My daughter is in graduate school in NYC, so we get to see her often.”

Jim Kent (B2B Marketing): “Our daughter is in the graduate playwriting program at Columbia University and working part time help script doctor a Broadway play that goes up this spring. When I asked her about it, she quoted an 007 film: ‘I could tell you about it. But I’d have to kill you first, Mr. Bond.’”

Mike O’Brien (Software Engineer) and Ann Carlson (Genetic Counselor): “We were married 1987–2001. We welcomed our first grandchild into the world, Maxwell Dana King, born January 25, 2023, to our daughter Dana, in Melbourne, Australia.” So far Ann has been over to meet the little guy in person, but Mike has not!

Henri Lamothe (MD, CMSL, FAAEP): “I just spent the last weekend in NYC, supporting my daughter Austin (Trinity ’18) who participated in the NYC half marathon, along with my son Luke (Tufts ’12) all celebrating my 39th wedding anniversary with my dear wife Laura. In other family news, we are blessed with two grandchildren from daughter Brooke (Bowdoin ’10), Francis and June. We are continuing to adjust to the new realty in our lives with the passing of our son Matthew ’10. I continue on with my journey in medicine, now as a chief medical officer for the Upper Allegheny Health System in upstate New York. Miss my Wesleyan friends!”

Al Spohn (IT Expert): “I’ve been working in Mayo Clinic IT for 32 years, with 20 previous overlapping years in the air force. I was married in 2000 to Angela and we have three kids, 10, 14, and 17. The 17-year-old is eyeballing Wesleyan pretty heavily since all the online interest search mechanisms seem to be pointing her in that direction. Let’s hope admissions does legacy one more year! 😊.  Over the years I’ve been in touch with Jon Martin, Ralph Maltese ’79 and Ed Denton, among others.”

Melissa Stern (Artist): “I have three upcoming group shows. Two opening within days of each other in NYC. Pearls of Love opens April 27 at The Jewelry Library. An international group of artists asked to respond to “pearls” in any materials. Should be interesting. And on April 29 Out of Joint opens at The Boiler in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The gallery is in a 19^th-century Con Edison steam plant. The architecture is worth the subway ride. In August I am in an invitational in Newport, Rhode Island, called Exponential, a show of women artists at Jessica Hagen Fine Art. Other than that, enjoying being in NYC and seeing theater and art. . . .  People are out and about again and that feels great.”

Frederica (Freddi) Wald (Chief Development Officer): “I am living in NYC with my husband, beloved dog, and daughter (away at college), and thrilled to be celebrating my four-year anniversary as a chief sevelopment and membership officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Happy to see the resilience and rebuilding of the city’s activities. I continue to love Broadway, take a dance class every now and then (Cheryl Cutler’s lasting influence!), get immersed in the art world again and women’s advocacy causes! And I refuse to retire. . . .  Love connecting with Wesleyan alumni anytime!”

Mark Zitter (Nonprofit Entrepreneur): “I’ve been doing a good deal of travel lately. My wife Jessica and I were in Israel in January, Argentina and Antarctica in February, and London in March. I’ve moved out of the nonprofit I started seven years ago, the Zetema Project, and am in the process of creating a new nonprofit fellowship aimed at helping social sector leaders increase their effectiveness. I Zoom regularly with Scott Hecker, Paul Singarella, and Paul Oxholm, and have been in touch recently with Jane Polin and Irene Chu.”

Peter Scharf (Sanskrit Expert): “In the midst of the COVID lockdown, my wife and I went into near total isolation, and it proved to be very productive. I edited two volumes of papers in honor of my former professor at the University of Pennsylvania, finished writing and publishing my introductory Sanskrit textbook in another two volumes, and prepared a provisional version of a Sanskrit reader for second-year students. I also developed an interactive exercise platform based on the latter two works that provides detailed and informative feedback for every step of translating from transliterating from Devanagari script, analyzing prosodic sound changes, word lookup, morphological and lexical identification, syntax, and English translation evaluation. Both my wife and I launched online instruction in Sanskrit through The Sanskrit Library and have been busy teaching via Zoom since. In December I injured my back trying to lift a bulky, heavy box of books. I’m still recovering but able to continue most of my normal routine save for having to cut back on exercise and yoga. A few weeks ago, my mother passed away at the age of 92. For the last couple of years, she would ask repeatedly, ‘Why am I still alive?’ Two days before she passed, she asked my brother, ‘Why don’t you just choke me? I just want to go to God and rest.’ She shortly got her wish, passing away peacefully in her sleep the next night.”

Gary Gilyard (MD): “Our youngest daughter Shelby Gilyard ’16 is getting married July 8! She is our third and the other two are already married with children. Hoping I can get a prospective Wesleyan student from one of them, although Shelby is my best shot.”

Walter Calhoun (Nonprofit): “I have more or less permanently moved my time and efforts to my various outreach campaigns focused on the needs of my nonprofits. For example, as its only three-term past president and 35-year board member, the Auxiliary Board of Family Focus Evanston asked me for the 12th year in a row to handle the staff Christmas gifts. Since our Auxiliary Board has many different levels of resources, talents, and income, they allow me to solicit donations among our Board anonymously so no one knows what each other has given but me. For the 12th year in a row, our 11 Board members met my disclosed goal of raising $3,750 which allowed me to give each and every full- and part-time employee a record cash gift of $250 for the 12th year in a row. I am also lay leader and stewardship chairman of the North Shore United Methodist Church in Glencoe and am honored to share a birthday with the late Peggy Bird.”

Amanda Hardy Sloan (Landscape Architect): “I have been a landscape architect professionally for many years now and have found this profession satisfies my interests in helping the health of the earth, expressing myself artistically, working closely with people, teaching, and leaving a legacy somehow. After an entire career as a landscape architect focusing on native plants, rain gardens, parks, and dog parks, I have recently ‘semiretired’—like many of us at this age—right? I still do board work and landscape consultations. A board I’ve been on for many years is the Ecological Landscape Alliance—the best source of info about how to create a wonderful landscape while keeping it ecologically sustainable: www.ecolandscaping.org. My dear hubby Chris Sloan (Trinity College ’80) and I live in Sharon, Massachusetts. Our children are Anna (NYU 2008), who is a doctor of archeology (University of Oregon) and is the curator of the Southern Oregon Historical Society Museum and the Archaeology Laboratory director at Southern Oregon University; and Philip (Curry College 2015), who is finishing up his doctorate in counseling psychology at William James College. Both kids are married! We have a sweet grandson in Oregon, our dear little Elio James, whom we visit often (a cross-country flight!). I have a wonderful horse, whom I ride every two days for therapy and peace. She is a beautiful 22-year-old quarter horse. I think many more Wes people and ladies our age are involved with horses than we ever would imagine! This is an important part of my life.”

Paul Singarella (JD, MS, PE, Dad): “I’m now a Florida resident, which I heard is a good place for the back 9. I moved to Florida starting in 2020 to be closer to my kids, mom, and sisters during the pandemic. I ‘retired’ from Big Law in 2019 to focus on my water and energy projects. I’m incubating a portfolio of project opportunities throughout the West. I refer to them as my ‘hobbies’ until they come to fruition. (It takes an in-it-for-the-long-haul horizon to build infrastructure in the U.S.)  Mark Zitter, Scott Hecker,and I remain in close contact. I also keep in touch with Dave Bartholomew ’81,  Jack McGreen, Walter Siegel, Bob Garty, and, via a large email group, the DKE brotherhood. So, WesU remains an important part of my friendship group after all these years. For that I am most grateful. (Importantly, Dave B. piloted a mentorship program over the past few years for rising lawyers to be paired with a senior lawyer. The lawyers who participated in the pilot really benefited. Any WesU lawyers out there interested in being part of building this program from pilot to scale should contact Dave directly at d_bartholomew@yahoo.com. Spread the word!)”

Ellen Haller (Retired MD): “I’m thoroughly enjoying my retirement in San Francisco! The biggest decisions I face these days is whether to play pickleball, go on a bike ride, take a strength class, or suit up for an ice hockey game. (Yes, I still play regularly!) Outside of these endeavors, I help out my elderly parents, travel with my (still-working) wife, and enjoy occasional visits with our 26-year-old magician son. If any of you live in or are visiting NYC, check out his sophisticated, intimate sleight-of-hand card magic show! Yes, I’m biased, but it’s amazing; he’s appeared on Penn & Teller’s TV show and at LA’s Magic Castle. Info at danielroymagic.com.”

Tom Loder (JD): “I am here reporting in for Bob Ferreira and Jim Schor, our own ‘beach club’ consisting of huddling around a beer cooler near Bob’s and Amy Zinsser’s beautiful Connecticut home (with Amy’s gracious hosting, and with both she and Sharon Nahill wisely sitting out the festivities and endless retelling of fish tales about the days of our small gym, spring break, KNK, DKE, O’Rourke’s, and Williams Street capers. Still in touch with and thinking of many, including Larry Levy, Spence Studwell ’79, Barry Williamson ’81 (sort of), Walter Siegel, and a few Butterfield RA ‘advisees,’ if I can also include my Butterfield son Aaron ’22 among them (though the advisees taught me so much more than I ever taught them!).  Where’s Labeeb Abboud, Laura Nathanson, Linc Kaiser (Wes anthropology professor), Dave Miller ’81, Jeanette Talavera—the list is too long. Got to go huddle up on the beach with Bob and Jim and go to work on it!!”

Alan Jacobs (Filmmaker): “I fulfilled a dream by taking my children, Gil, Avia, and Ron ’16, to the World Cup in Qatar, where we saw three amazing games, including the Argentina-France final. Almost as satisfying is that after over a decade of delays, my film Down for Life will finally be released on major streaming sites (Apple, Amazon, etc.) on April 4. The U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus nominated it for the National Film Registry, which is both an honor and a reminder of how long ago we made it!”

Steve Mooney (Marketing): “In April, I will be retiring from my job in marketing after 33 years with the same agency. I joined thinking I’d stay two years and lasted 33. Yes, it can happen. At my last staff meeting, I shared some recent ChatGPT queries. I post them here as we contemplate an unknowable future alongside AI.

Me: Write me a six-word story on retirement.

ChatGPT: “Finally free, life begins at retirement.”

And then this follow-up query:

Me: Write me a six-word story on becoming a writer.

ChatGPT: “Pen to paper, a writer born.”

“And so it begins. Next chapter! Go Wes!!!

“One more tidbit. Posted this illustration I customized to a Facebook page dedicated to the sport of Ultimate and got two hundred comments about where various people learned to throw a disc. For me, I learned to throw on Foss Hill in 1979 with Nick Donohue ’81, Chris Heye ’81, and David ‘Nietzch Factor’ Garfield, and went on to enjoy a long career in the sport.”

Doron Henkin (Lawyer): “Husband Victor and I are in good shape and still plugging away, lawyering for me and work at Bryn Mawr Hospital for him. I still sing with several choirs and groups, which I owe to Wesleyan. I got to be there when son Gil recently married Alex Sanchez Espinosa in and of Barcelona, Spain. They are headed to Berlin, where Gil will be doing postdoc research on the malaria carrier organism at the Max Planck Institute. Son Dan and daughter-in-law Kaitlyn are closer to home, in Pennsylvania, and the proud parents of granddaughter Eleanor James Henkin, now 1-year-old. Dan works in engineering at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and Kaitlyn is a nurse at Children’s Hospital. Daughter Hannah now works for Drawdown, the Climate Change Science nonprofit from her home base in Boston, and she still plays Ultimate every chance she gets. The ‘kids’ are of course also the ‘kids’ of my ex-, Ina Louise Shea, who lives nearby in Pennsylvania, and we are all still in regular touch and visits. We are so happy that the easing of the pandemic has brought more and more chances for family togetherness and travel.”

Wendy Davis (Writer): “In March, we celebrated our 25-year-old daughter’s handing in her MA dissertation to her supervisor  from Royal College of Art where her dad and two elder sisters received postdoc degrees (shouldn’t we have received a loyalty discount?)! Also in March, I received from Wesleyan’s American Studies Department an invitation to the: Slotkin Symposium celebrating the 80th birthday and new work of my former academic advisor Richard Slotkin. I had only just contacted the now retired professor last year for the first time since our graduation in reference to a historical novel I am writing, which opens in the Civil War, which is his specialty. His response was most helpful and encouraging, even after a gap of so many years. . . . Wesleyan connections certainly endure don’t they! We moved out of our studio residence (a historic Wesleyan Chapel) in Greenwich, London, September 2022, extending our return trip to Australia from three weeks to four months in Sydney,  September through January, due to my husband John’s major surgery and recovery. Finally, we have subsequently resettled in the British countryside very  near the Jurassic coast, good metaphor at our age! All of which has been incredibly disruptive to work and continues to suspend John’s practice as he must organize new studios working with Jo, the local handyman’s help. Interestingly we recently returned to London (approximately three hours by car) to see the Cezanne blockbuster at Tate Modern, in particular to revisit the remarkable portraits of Cezanne’s Gardner. One of our favorite paintings since we saw Seated Man at the then-new installation of the Thyssen Museum in architect Rafael Moneo’s renovation of the Palacio de Villahermosa, an 18^th-century neoclassical palace located alongside the Prado Museum in Madrid, where we were then living. I feel as if our own circle of human connection in our 16th-century Weycroft property may also compress to a small circumference of Gardeners, lawn mowers, handy mailmen, and one  efficient female cleaner (my disability precluding my ability to be of much physical assistance inside or out). All help has been sourced from the former team who helped the disabled WW ll–veteran proprietor residing here just before us (luckily for me there was a stair climbing chair for him already installed when we arrived)! The family and executors of the estate of the now deceased former owner have recently entrusted us with a treasure trove of original historical source material on the property dating back to Roman settlement. The property is listed in the Doomsday record  book (the parchment deeds still have red wax seals)! A local village boasts it’s the most rebellious village in England so perhaps when I finish with the American Civil War, I might be looking closer to our new home for inspiration! Whilst in Australia we increasingly worried about our choice to base ourselves in Britain with terrible regular reports from the BBC  about the strain on the NHS with life-threatening delays for ambulances and hand-over delays at A&Es across the country. It was especially distressing and confusing since we were experiencing such good care from our more familiar medical support team in Sydney. Fortunately, we have been very positively impressed  by our new local medical center here in Axminster, even better than our relatively recent experiences in Greenwich, but then we are fortunate to be presently in good health at the moment not testing the system. Long may it last! Good health and happiness to all of you dear friends and classmates!”

Sara Epstein (Psychologist/Poet):a practicing psychologist in the Boston area and first-time grandmother of baby Leo,has just published her first book of poems, Bar of Rest launched by Kelsey Books—see more on her website saraepsteinwriter.com.

Sara is a clinical psychologist who integrates mindfulness practices, including writing, in her psychotherapy work with children and adults. She also facilitates and teaches generative writing groups and classes. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Quarterly, Amethyst Review, Chest Journal, Nixes Mate Review, Plainsongs, museum of americana, among others. Her book reviews have been published in Mom Egg Review.

I asked the Wes ’80 alums to tell us about their latest milestones, challenges, and insights into life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. And by the way, this isn’t a thankless job—I love hearing from fellow Wes grads because we all are doing notable things with our lives after having been launched by an amazing educational institution, and even sharing the everyday is comforting because we’re all going through some similar experiences. Wishing my fellow alums all the best for 2023, Jacquie Shanberge McKenna, Class Secretary.

This year, Paul Edwards has found his life dominated by his ongoing struggle with hairy cell leukemia, a rare disease. He noted, “I’m almost done with my second clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health. The first one bought me 12 years. This one has already eradicated the leukemia —levels are undetectable by any test, though that doesn’t mean it’s entirely gone. I am REALLY looking forward to a return to quasi-normal life in January when the treatment cycle is finally done.” Paul is the director of the Program in Science, Technology & Society at Stanford, also co-director of the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Gabrielle Hecht, his wife and colleague at Stanford, is a professor of history and nuclear security studies. She studies mining around the world, and issues of waste and discards more generally as well. She finished one book, Residual Governance, and got halfway into another, Inside-Out Earth, during the pandemic and is now back to traveling the world for research. She’s about to become president of the Society for the History of Technology for 2023–25. Their son Luka went to college in August, at Sarah Lawrence, where he is ecstatic to be done living at home but also super excited about the really innovative coursework in experimental animation, travel literature, and French colonial and post-colonial literature. Sarah Lawrence almost seems a Wesleyan by a different name! He’ll be a writer or an artist—already is one, really.

Jenny Boylan has had a whirlwind year. Her novel, Mad Honey, co-authored with Jodi Picoult, peaked at number three on The New York Times Best Sellers list, and stayed on that list for months. Jenny’s book tour took her from Seattle to Orlando, from Portland, Maine, to Houston, from Edinburgh, Scotland to London and many places in between. She saw many old Wesleyan friends during the tour—Steve Mooney and Virginia Pye ’82 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and David Block ’81 in New York City. Jenny spent academic 2022–23 as a fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, where she is hard at work on a new book, and spending time with the cohort of scientists, historians, musicians, and writers there. She gave the commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College as well as the College of the Atlantic in the spring of 2022 and received honorary degrees from both institutions—a PhD from SLC and an MPhil from CoA.  She says that after 35 years coasting along on her MFA it meant a lot to finally receive the doctorate, even if honoris causa is actually Latin for “not for reals.”

Walter Calhoun wrote in at the end of July from Highland Park, Illinois, “which just weathered another madman’s tyranny over an innocent public with an assault weapon on a rooftop over our Fourth of July parade. I am presently co-lay leader and stewardship chairman in the North Shore Methodist Church in Glencoe, Illinois. Last Saturday, we handled a funeral for a longtime resident, Peggy Bird, who had recently settled in Hanover, New Hampshire, after a lifetime in Winnetka, Illinois. Peggy was survived by her three children: Tom, Andrew, and Nancy who all spoke most lovingly and openly about Lew Gitlin ’79,  about the bonds of community and hospitality they were able to form in their formative years across Jewish and Methodist lines. Such positive and glowing comments about Lew Gitlin did not surprise me since I learned much about Lew’s  outstanding character and empathy when we met at Wesleyan. Lew, wherever you are, please know how much you were missed at Peggy’s funeral, but how high you were held in esteem, in your absence, by Tom, Andrew, and Nancy Bird. One month earlier I was able to arrange a small dinner party at a mutual friend’s house in Kenilworth, Illinois, which was attended by Andrew Parkinson ’80 and Elizabeth Parkinson,  who were both so supportive and gracious to me when I came out of my one-month coma and six-month hospitalization after being hit by a car as a pedestrian on May 2, 2002; and after my 32-year-old son Daniel committed suicide while a first-year law student at University of Michigan Law school on November 5, 2019. Andrew and Elizabeth are the epitome of the empathetic couple who always looks out for their neighbors with a well-developed sense of community. It is easy to see why Lew and Andrew were such well-rounded fraternity brothers at Psi U when we were at Wesleyan.”

Ellen Haller: “Hi from San Francisco where I continue to love retirement! My days are spent playing pickleball (a new obsession!), riding bikes, and playing women’s ice hockey in a local league. (Plus, I do all the errands as my wife still works . . . ) Our son lives in NYC now and supports himself completely as a self-employed magician. He does sophisticated close-up card magic and has a ticketed show in the city. danielroymagic.com.”

Over 34 years ago, Tammy Sachs founded Sachs Insights, a strategic research consultancy that drives innovation in product and web development. She is currently the CEO of Sachs Insights and is an instructor at Rutgers University, teaching UX Research—from Co-Creation Focus Groups & Ethnography through User Experience Testing for the Mini-Masters and Advanced UXD Course.Tammy says her Wesleyan heroes are long retired—Jeanine Basinger and Karl Scheibe. Tammy has hired and trained hundreds of alumni.

Retirement in 2018, after over 30 years as a teacher librarian in Connecticut, has not meant slowing down for Cathy Andronik. She’s found her dream job: presenter for the Bureau of Education and Research, conducting both live and online seminars on young adult literature (one of the company’s flagship programs, What’s New in Young Adult Literature, Grades 6–12?) for teachers and librarians around the U.S. She is also an adjunct lecturer in the School of Library and Information Studies at North Carolina Central University, where her favorite course to teach is called Ethnic Materials for Children and Adolescents, exploring the wonderful recent growth of diversity in books for young people. That focus is also present in her application to enter the PhD program at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia; she intends to compare diversity, in particular indigenous authors, and characters, in recent young adult literature from Australia versus the U.S. When she’s not doing any of the above, she is enjoying her two Morgan horses, Reny and Gentry; her flock of companion parrots; and her getaway cottage in Midcoastal Maine.

Cheryl and Jim Green P’22 were thrilled to attend their son Mitchell’s graduation from Wesleyan in May. Mitchell was a double major in chemistry and earth and environmental science (chem tract). “Wesleyan does a wonderful job with graduation festivities and the ceremony. From the welcome lunch (where Jim and I were interviewed as Wes alums who met the first day of freshman orientation), to the after-graduation celebration, there is nothing like a Wesleyan graduation weekend (including the heat)!  It was a great end to a unique four years on campus. We are so thankful to the faculty, staff, and administration for all of their efforts in keeping everyone safe during COVID and giving the students in the Class of ‘22 the best possible college experience they could have had. It was also very bittersweet for us since we really reconnected with campus during Mitchell’s time there. We are looking forward to going to Homecoming celebrations with Mitchell in the future.”

Cindy Ryan: It’s been a year of changes, living in my own little house next to a lovely watershed pond in Concord, Massachusetts. I am learning beekeeping, loving the challenges and rewards (honey!). Also starting up my third business entity (when many of you are retiring) as a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) specializing in expressive arts therapy. Hopeful to balance part-time counseling with painting and dusting off music skills on my new guitar.

Mark Zitter: I started Zooming with old friends during the pandemic and haven’t stopped yet. Scott Hecker, Paul Singarella, and I have a monthly Zoom call that we’ve come to cherish. We decided to take a cruise to Mexico together and are planning another trip in the spring. Scott is chief scientist for a biotech company and Paul, a retired lawyer, is doing exiting work helping the world deal with water problems and other environmental challenges. Paul Oxholm and I also have been Zooming regularly. He is interim executive director for a museum in his town of Reading, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, I just had dinner with Irene Chu, who lives in her hometown of Lincoln, Massachusetts. She continues to do freelance design work. Last summer my family rented a house in the Berkshires. We invited for dinner our classmates Daryl Messenger and Matt Penn. Along with my daughter, Tessa Zitter ’21, Wesleyan was well represented.  I’m in the process of concluding the Zetema Project, the nonprofit health-care organization I started six years ago. Its graduate fellowship program will live on with another management team. I’m now creating a new nonprofit organization aimed at improving the capabilities of social sector leaders.”

Irene Chu lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, with her wife Cindy and continues to work on her own as a graphic designer. Her youngest just started his first year at Bowdoin and her elder is a junior at Barnard. Irene is in touch with a handful of classmates, including Page Starzinger, who had a poem recently published in the New Yorker.

Page Hill Starzinger: “I’m rubbing words together hoping for fire—and gathering kindling for others: the Starzinger Writing Center is now open at Emma Willard School (Troy, New York), a high school for girls. The kids just attended the Dodge Poetry Festival and chose poets they’d like to invite back to campus. I’ve endowed three creative writing scholarships/awards named for poet and English professor David Baker at Denison University. One scholarship is for recruitment—because why not recruit writers (not just athletes or science stars), one honors professors, one offers student experiences (mentorships, internships, etc). Remember the William Carlos Williams quote, ‘It is difficult to get the news from poetry but men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there’? (I actually disagree about the news–there is documentary poetry—but agree with ‘lack of what is found there.’) With the government giving $25 billion a year to universities for STEM, 2,532 books being banned just from June 2021–2022, and teachers being underpaid and undervalued (only 17% tenured now), I am doing what I can.”

Helianthus (Published in the June 27, 2022, New Yorker issue)

The farmers’ market has sunflowers again. It’s another

July, and bees scramble over the sticky chocolate

centers. My mother says, Hi, sweets,

but she died two years ago. I see her clearly—

wearing a drip-dry striped boys’ shirt, looking straight

at me. There’s something she’s waiting for. I

can’t figure out what it is—never could. Young

sunflowers track the sun until they mature,

then they are stuck facing east. I wonder when

memory is not a haunting, when disappointment is

not unlearned. The florets spiral, a Fibonacci sequence:

each number the sum of the two

preceding. A generation is supposed to be better

than the last, but my father once wondered, staring at

a portrait of his father if sons always disappoint. I

can’t remember what I said next, but it wasn’t true.

Anne Chamberlain: “At the end of the summer, I completed an EdM in educational policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois. This was entirely online and it was most exciting to learn with classmates of all ages and backgrounds from throughout the world. It was interesting to receive a diploma and Medicare card in the same week, but it’s been important to put aside preconceptions about aging, education, and work. After a long first career in management consulting, it’s hard to believe I am slowly moving toward the end of my second career, working on employment equity at a large university. I am also working with cross-industry organizations on the effective and inclusive use of technology to better match job seekers and employers. And I am still loving my life in New York.”

Dr. Andrew J. Kirkendall published his latest book, Hemispheric Alliances:  Liberal Democrats and Cold War Latin America, with the University of North Carolina Press. Check out the book at the UNC Press website here https://uncpress.org/book/9781469668017/hemispheric-alliances/.

In Hemispheric Alliances, Kirkendall explores how liberal Democrats sought to create new models for U.S.–Latin American relations that went beyond containing communism. In an age of decolonization and in response to the ideological challenge of the Cuban Revolution, the Kennedy administration introduced the Alliance for Progress, which promised large-scale socioeconomic reform and democracy promotion in Latin America—moral leadership over mere militarism. During the tumult of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, liberal Democrats, in particular, embraced human rights.  Both the Alliance for Progress and human rights assumed a special U.S. responsibility for Latin America and significantly complicated foreign policy making.  Kirkendall finds that the Alliance for Progress and human rights emphasis left mixed legacies.  This Latin American focus of liberal Democrats was dissolved by the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush administrations who favored a more militant containment of communism. Andy continues to teach Latin American and World History at Texas A&M University.

Please write to your class secretary.