Tag: 1980

Positive news and happy antidotes from the Class of 1980.

Joel Tillinghast: “I climbed Mt. Fuji last summer.” Here are some photos taken during Joel’s descent:

Wendy Davis Beard: “I visited my daughter in Florence at the end of 2025.”

Dan Connors: “I did enjoy going to the last No Kings protest with my fellow Missourians, and I keep waiting for the tide to turn. Highlights [from 2025] were vacations in the Ozarks, a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and my first venture to Universal Orlando in over a decade. Now tax season is calling me, and it’s time to put my CPA license to good use. . .”

Mark Zitter: “With two daughters living in NYC—Tessa ’21 in Brooklyn and Sasha at med school in Westchester—my wife, Jessica, and I will get an apartment on the Upper West Side and split our time between there and the Bay Area. But we’ll mostly be on the road this spring while we’re on a 25-city theatrical tour for Jessica’s new documentary, The Chaplain and the Doctor. Meanwhile I’m spearheading a national initiative with multiple funders to accelerate AI adoption among nonprofits and launching a blog and video channel on leadership in the business and social sectors. More on both at markzitter.com.” 

Marty Saggese: “In March I will step down, after 24 years, as executive director of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). I don’t use the word ‘retire,’ so I’m looking for suggestions on a new word to describe what you do after ‘graduation’ from working? I have been spending a lot of time in Venice, Italy, where I bought an apartment, and I hope to be there and travel even more this year. I’d love to see any classmates there, so I will agree to host an ongoing Wesleyan soirée in my garden (with wine or Aperol) as any of you pass through Venice.”

Melissa Stern: After traveling to museums throughout the States for 13 years, my interactive mixed media project is coming home to NYC. The Talking Cure (highlighted in the Wesleyan University Magazine in 2013 and shown at Real Art Ways in Hartford) will open on March 5, 2026, at A Hug From The Art World, 112 Tenth Avenue, NYC. The show will run through mid-April 2026. I’ll be doing some public events during the run of the show. Stay tuned! https://www.ahugfromtheartworld.com/

Debbie Lipshutz: “I am actively volunteering with ctc4progress.org in Pennsylvania. This highly focused and effective work is encouraging infrequent voters to vote in the midterm elections, to help recover our democracy.”

John Singer: “As classmates with whom I’ve stayed in closer touch know, about 12 years ago, after multiple back surgeries, I have idiopathic bilateral denervation below my knees. This is a fancy way of saying the muscles in my calves, ankles, and feet don’t really work. About four years ago, my son’s now mother-in-law (who is a physical therapist) offered to take me to the person who she thinks (and I now agree) is the best orthotist in Maryland. It was a life-changing experience as I was fitted with ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs)—think of them as lower leg braces—that permit me to lead a pretty normal life again. Among other things, I can walk without the risk of tripping and stand without wobbling. I could walk my son down the aisle without assistance when he got married two years ago (the Honorable Brad Moss officiated).

“In the four years that I’ve been using AFOs, each of them, separately, have snapped and broken (they are made of carbon fiber). I discovered that most insurers will only pay for a new orthotic every five years, including replacement ones when an orthotic breaks, as I found out is not uncommon. Using my AFOs as an example, an AFO can cost around $1,100 each (I wear two) so many if not most people—even those with insurance—are out of luck for potentially years if their orthotic breaks and they cannot pay for a new one out of pocket. Another barrier, even for those with insurance, are significant co-pays even when there is coverage.

“The life-changing nature of AFOs that I’ve experienced and the seemingly insurmountable barriers that some people face in obtaining these medically necessary devices has made working toward making orthotics more readily available a passionate cause for me. I’ve taken two concrete steps toward this goal so far. I am working toward the passage of a law in Maryland that will require insurers to pay for replacement orthotics whenever they break, absent abusive use. I will be testifying before the Maryland Senate, invited in support of the bill next week. Though it is cold in Maryland, so the legislators can see my AFOs, I will be wearing what could charitably be called ‘Bermuda wear,’ shorts along with a sport coat, dress shirt, and tie. On a more personal note, Karen and I are working toward sharing our good fortune by creating an endowment at the Johns Hopkins Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department (where I’ve been treated) to provide financial assistance to people who cannot otherwise afford to obtain orthotics. After working with the Hopkins bureaucracy since last July, the endowment (AFOs for All) should be up and running in the next month or so. Our goal is to raise at least $250,000 and Karen and I will match the first $125,000 in donations. If you’d like to learn more, you can email me at regnisj@gmail.com.

“There is an overabundance of issues that our world faces. I hope through my efforts I can help to address one. The availability of orthotics certainly is not one of the more visible problems, but I can assure you that it is critically important to those individuals who would benefit from them. My hope is that there will come a day when no one ever  is told by their physician, physical therapist, or orthotist that there is a medical device out there that that can make you safer and improve the quality of your life but, unfortunately, your insurance will not pay for it or you cannot  afford to pay for it out of pocket so you will have do without it.

“On another subject, I swam freshman and sophomore years. Though I no longer compete, I started back up with masters swimming probably about 25 years ago and swim about three to four times per week. I mention this because the water is my happy place and aqua therapy really helped me with rehab after my back surgeries. At age 59, just before I retired, I got recertified as a lifeguard so that I could help out with aqua therapy one day a week at a spinal cord injury center in Baltimore until COVID. While I like to think I provided some help to therapists and the patients, I can say with certainty that whatever I gave I more than got back in inspiration from the patients, many of whom were paraplegics. Sometimes I did CrossFit with the patients, and Karen would ask if I was the only one not in a wheelchair. While this was often the case, on a good day I could do two pull-ups. Some of the patients could do multiple pull-ups while strapped to their wheelchairs. The experience really showed how with hard work and adaptive athletic equipment you can overcome most anything. On a very minor level, because of safety issues mounting and dismounting, I switched from a traditional bike to a self-powered recumbent tricycle. When I ride here outside of Charleston, where we have our winter beach home, when asked about the trike, I tell people I have the fastest beach chair on the island. I sometimes ride with Lew Gitlin ’79. Lew had a stroke about five years ago and he and his wife now live on Kiawah Island. Lew needs an upright motorized trike, but the important thing is that he’s still getting out and riding.” 

Will Rowe: “A group of us mostly ’80 graduates touch base on Zoom calls a couple times a year—me,  Jonathan Selzer, Jonathan Nimer, Ken Freeman, Joel Tillinghast, Andy Boname, Richard Levine, Dan Connors,David Engstrom, Leszek Pawlowicz ’79, Dave Loucky ’82, and Teresa Kosciuk-Rowe ’81 (my wife). Really wonderful to be together!

“I’m grateful for many volunteer opportunities to lift communities, especially in these chaotic and uncertain times. Thankful for a racial unity group that I’ve been co-leading for some seven years, with [the] mission to build and sustain a beloved community through education, service, policy, and prayer that fosters repair, healing, and unity. Were young, old, black, white, brown, single, married, city, suburban, and country raised, and raised in other lands. We are members of different faith communities and come together weekly for connection and engage in many projects and initiatives.

“Enjoy spending time as a volunteer on several boards that support the quality of life of military families (e.g., Blue Star Families, the Foreign Born Miliary Spouse Network), needs of local communities in Washington, D.C. (e.g., Strategies to Elevate People DC), and serve as a volunteer with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission in areas of community resilience, workforce transition, and military-community infrastructure and quality of life partnerships. The common denominator is collaboration, relationships, and community action. Still live in Annandale, Virginia, and expecting second grandchild in March!”

Carolyn Sullivan: “As I write this, I am camped out in a hotel, eagerly awaiting the news that my power has been restored after five days without—thank you, Winter Storm Fern! Nashville has been hit bad. So far I’ve been struck by the following: (1) Nashville Electric Service needs big-time help with their disaster messaging; (2) When something like this happens, being in the present and solving problems as they arise is the only way to survive with one’s sanity intact; and (3) a sense of humor is a critical survival tool!

“I had already determined I wanted to let things play out this year and not do quite so much planning and goal setting, and these events have cemented that approach. The beginning of the year had its own challenges I won’t even enumerate here! Suffice it to say 2026 has come in with a ‘Let’s see what you’re made of!’ It’s somewhat liberating to strip things down to the bare bones and live one day at a time, to be honest. Now that I have a long hotel stay in my future and my laptop and functioning WIFI, I hope to catch up on my neglected Substack, “An Accidental Admin.” It’s been a fun creative outlet (no current plans to monetize). Tentatively plan a trip to the UK with my sister later this year, depending on how stable/unstable our country/the world seems to be. In these trying times, it’s the little things. Hope everyone is keeping keeping on!”

Art Feltman: Dale Wallington ’82 and I, who met at Wesleyan in 1979 and have been together since, just retired from our practices and will spend our winters at an outdoor recreational community in Sarasota, Florida. We will enjoy the other seasons at our longtime Berkshires cabin on Center Pond.

Dale is a psychiatrist and Art transitioned two decades ago from practicing law to vocational and literacy work with immigrants. “We recently marched in an anti-ICE demonstration in downtown Sarasota and will continue to be active in both places to include and support immigrants and refugees in our community.”

Mike O’Brien: “My youngest son, Walter (who is named after my late friend Walter Chmielewski) is a freshman at Savannah College of Art & Design, studying animation. My daughter Dana, who lives in Australia now (and whose mother is Ann Carlson), visited the U.S. in October. I got to see her, and my grandchildren Max and Alice—it was my first time meeting Alice! We met up in Brooklyn and took the kids to the Prospect Park Zoo and to many of the same playgrounds in Prospect Park to which I took my own kids, Dana and Jack, when they were little, decades ago.

“I played music at a Bob Dylan–themed open-mic fundraiser organized and emceed by Dave Stern, in November, in Northampton, Massachusetts.” 

Michael Zackin: “It is still hard for me to believe that our class is so close to the beginning page of the class notes. Mary (Nastuk) and I have continued to be very busy. Mary just retired from her job as a medical editor at The New England Journal of Medicine after almost 20 years and now hopes to spend more time volunteering, knitting, and kayaking. I am still working as a pediatrician, but after over 30 years I have cut back to two days a week. Not ready to pull the plug just yet. I always get excited when I have a patient attending Wesleyan.  

“We are enjoying a bit more time at our house in the Berkshires and spend time hiking, kayaking, running, and biking, but just also enjoying nature. In September, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with a group from Zero Prostate Cancer. Definitely an awe-inspiring trip.

“Our daughter, Katie Roose ’10, and husband, Robbie Roose ’04, and our two grandchildren (Willian and Alden) came east from Oregon to attend our son’s wedding. Also in attendance was my father, Jerry Zackin ’53. Oregon is too far from Massachusetts, and we wish we could see them more.”

Andrew and Jacquie McKenna: “We are excited to celebrate the graduation of our younger daughter, Juliana, this spring from Eckerd College in Florida. She majored in environmental studies with a concentration in marine biology and hopes to work with sharks after she graduates. Our older daughter, Xan, just began a full-time job with the High Mountain Institute in Leadville, Colorado—an outdoor semester school for high school and gap students (https://hminet.org—check it out for high schoolers you know) and continues creating and selling her paintings (https://xanmckenna.com).

“Andrew continues his work running the services at the Boulder Airport (including powered flight and glider schools) and is flying his Bonanza and searching for Amelia Earhart. Jacquie is on staff for the Boulder International Film Festival as the co-lead for the Call2Action series; is on the board for the African Conservation Centre-U.S. (https://accafrica-us.org), which includes hosting a Tanzanian safari in 2027 to raise funds for the organization; is a wildfire mitigation ambassador for her neighborhood, working to reduce the risk of wildfire in her community; is in a course on constructive conversations to encourage better listening and less divisiveness; and plans to return to the workforce to work internationally to protect wild animals.”

Our class had a small but spirited 45th Reunion in May. We first gathered as a class for the alumni parade:

We had our dinner in the new forum in the newly renovated PAC, now the Frank Center for Public Affairs. A great space!

Thirty-two classmates registered including: Jenny-Anne Horst-Martz, Mark Zitter, Laura Steinman Klapper, Marty Saggese, Art Feltman, Ken Freeman, Susan Thorne, John Usdan, Deborah Ehrenthal, Irwin Gelman, Ed Merritt, Thom Kleiner, Karen Murgolo, Steven Yermish, Joel Tillinghast, Andrew McKenna, Debbie Lipshutz, Carol Bumpus, Frederick Maynard, Julie Burstein, Deborah Dobin Robinson, Kim (Ofria) Selby, Freddi Wald, Walter Calhoun, Amy Rabinowitz, Nancy Stier, Matthew Penn, Jonathan Nimer, Mark Garfinkel, Nancy Rosenberg, and me, Jacqueline (Shanberge) McKenna, though not all were able to attend.

Our class’s first person to register was Carol Bumpus. The folks who traveled farthest were: four from California: Laura Klapper, Mark Zitter, Jonathan Nimer, and Deborah Robinson; and Andrew and Iflew in from safari in Tanzania! 

Aside from a delicious dinner and lots of chatting before, during and after, I welcomed the class to our 45th Reunion.

Kim Selby led a memorial minute for those classmates and those in our lives who have passed since we last gathered. Then Kim presented the Wesleyan University Service Award to honor our classmates who have devoted their time, talents, and treasures to support Wesleyan. This year, we recognized four classmates:

Frederica Wald-Sherman: Freddi has been a longtime volunteer for Wesleyan, serving as a WESeminar speaker, regional-event host, and, of course, an enthusiastic member of the reunion committee. She has done thoughtful outreach to classmates to encourage them to come back to campus. Her eagerness to help and obvious love for Wesleyan, as an alumna and parent, has made her a valuable part of the 45th Reunion efforts. 

Melissa Stern: Melissa has been a loyal Wes volunteer for many years. She and husband, Jim Friedlich ’79, were delighted that their son, Max Friedlich ’17, also came to Wes, and they have formed a terrific trio of Wes boosters and have been involved with many Wes events over the years, often as a family. Alums have flocked to her art shows, Max’s plays, and Jim’s involvement with panels and other events related to journalism. Melissa also was an effective parent volunteer and did the artwork for the Class of ’80’s regalia T-shirt design for our 35th Reunion that was an all-time favorite. 

Karen Murgolo: Karen has been volunteering for Wesleyan for nearly 25 years! She has served as a class fundraising volunteer (twice!), a parent volunteer, a WESeminar speaker, co-chair of the 35th Reunion Committee, and has been active reunion ambassador this year. 

Walter Calhoun: Walter has done a phenomenal job reaching out to classmates to reconnect and encourage them to attend Reunion. His enthusiasm and enjoyment of these reconnections have been infectious. 

And Jonathan Nimer read a note from a classmate who wasn’t able to attend.

Finally, Freddi reported on our class fundraising results: We blew past our participation goal with 137 donors. That’s a 20% increase over last year! And we raised $332,656 for the Wesleyan Fund, an 11% increase over dollars raised last year. Another fun fact is that we acquired 18 “new” donors—people who haven’t made a gift in over five years. Way to go class!

From the dinner, many of us went over to the tent in Andrus Field to dance well into the night with all the alumni and graduating class.

We are looking forward to a big group attending our 50th Reunion, so put that on your calendars for May 2030!

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.