Tag: 1981

Greetings from Brooklyn!  I had the honor to meet up with Jenny Boylan ’80 at the launch of her latest book, Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us, at the main branch of the New York Public Library. It was a packed house.

Wayne Pepper “watched my niece, Rosa, graduate last May, and in the same visit had the great pleasure of taking my youngest son Scout on the grand tour, as he had never been on campus before: both theaters, ADP, including the infamous Grotto, and Olin.  Made sure to thank President Michael Roth ’78 for his leadership and activism.”

This was a general theme: most of you thanked President Roth for his leadership, activism, and advocacy, and I approve of these messages.

Jim Steiker is “winding down my long career as an employee ownership attorney and advisor and beginning a new chapter serving on boards of directors of employee-owned companies and teaching a course on ESOPs. My partner, Michael Golden, retired earlier this year. I’m still regularly in touch with Lisa Rudy, Clara Silverstein ’82, Cliff Meyer ’82 (started as ’81), and Cori Adler ’83 and can report that the Wes bonds are strong! I remain very proud to be associated with Wes, especially because of the advocacy of Michael Roth.”

Charles Newell is stepping down from his tenure at Court Theatre as senior artistic consultant. 

The Court Theater wrote in his honor:

“We would like to celebrate Charlie’s artistic legacy and thank him for his 30 years of leadership as the former Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director. He has directed more than 60 productions at Court — including An Iliad; Berlin; The Gospel at Colonus; The Adventures of Augie March; Satchmo at the Waldorf; Angels in America; James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’; Caroline, or Change; and The Triumph of Love, among many others—and his contributions have indelibly shaped our organization and the artistic ecosystem of Chicago. . . .” 

Livia McCarthy and Matt McCreight shared that David Resnick, Chris Lynch, and Paul DiSanto showed up at the memorial service celebrating the life of Colin Campbell Hon. ’89,in June. The photo here has four of the five of them. Livia writes that “it was wonderful to remember hidden memories about our formative years and the ways that a president, our president, could impact our lives.” Matt adds that he and Kathryn (Greene-McCreight ’83) “are doing well and still live in New Haven” and that he and his wife “also met up recently with Keith and Nancy Krakaur, and David Resnickand Cathy Klema—so wonderful to stay in touch with great friends.” Matt also says that he is “looking forward to seeing more great friends at our reunion next May. Put May 22–24, 2026, in your calendars now and plan on being there!”   

Referring to the memorial of President Campbell, Matt continues: “Speaking of great leadership, we should all be thankful for the stand Michael Roth is taking in defense of our democracy and the way in which he is doing so. Let him and Wesleyan know how much you value that stand—they need our support given all the pressures and funding cuts coming at higher education.”

Laurie Jacobs “celebrated the marriage of my daughter, Elizabeth Wojnar ’12, with Steven Sutro in March, with ’81 alums Susan Stone and Corinne Sternberg, and Laura Justice ’83, along with a bunch from 2012. I am still working as an associate dean and chair of medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey and live in NYC where I see many alums!”

Jim Sullivan ’82, P ’19, Miriam Stern Sturgis, Gary Sturgis ’77, and Delcy Ziac Fox, got together in Dennis, Massachusetts, for a mini-reunion of InTown 21 residents. Jim and the Sturgises caught up with each other after not seeing each other for 40 years. Jim lives in Bourne, Massachusetts, and is inpatient medical director at High Point Treatment Center in Brockton, Massachusetts. Jim has one son, Owen ’19; Owen lives in Brooklyn, New York. Jim is chairperson of Bourne’s finance committee, a volunteer position. Miriam and her husband, Gary, live in Essex Junction, Vermont, and have three children and seven grandchildren. Miriam is retired and helps with her grandchildren. She volunteers for Ohavi Zedek in Burlington, Vermont. Gary is retired and enjoys bird and wildlife photography. He has coached a women’s rugby team for 20 years. Delcy now lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, year-round and is retired. She volunteers for the Center for Coastal Studies, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, and Provincetown Pride. 

Chris Graves and his wife, JoAnn Ward, “are celebrating our 40th anniversary year and will celebrate our younger daughter’s marriage in August. Our older daughter just got her master’s degree in data visualization.

 “JoAnn and I spent a month in France and Spain, starting with a truly once-in-a-lifetime event. We were invited by longtime pal and Wesleyan classmate Sam Selesnick to sit in the presidential box at the French Open tennis (Roland Garros). We got to witness close up the epic and historic (longest ever) men’s final. Sam is a world-renown surgeon and received tickets as gratitude for his lectures in Paris. We then headed to Provence, next westward to the ancient Cathar region near Andorra, then traveled all over northern Spain. In the fall, we will go hiking in Portugal and witness the tennis professional ATP tournament in Turin.

 “JoAnn retired from the Washington DC Public Library, and I retired from my longtime Ogilvy PR job (global CEO, chair, and founder of behavioral science unit). I founded a new company called The Resonance Code LLC (www.TheResonanceCode.com) built on some award-winning research that more effectively decodes the human sensemaking genome. I do quite a bit of pro bono work ranging from combatting vaccine hesitancy to trying to lessen homelessness with Community Solutions (largest nonprofit in this space) and working to build empathy for the Muhammad Ali Center.”

Lisa Shuchman shared that “my family and I spent a few days at Wes in May to see my son and his friends graduate as members of the Class of ’25. It was inspiring to see so much creativity, curiosity, and camaraderie. It made me feel there is hope for this country and the world. As the international editor responsible for overseeing coverage of the global legal industry for Law.com/ALM Media, I have been witnessing the rule of law at risk almost every day, and I am more convinced than ever that we need all these smart, well-educated, compassionate, creative, and driven Wesleyan grads. I’m confident they will be the ones who figure out how to fix things.” 

David Lynch has a new book: The World’s Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (and What Would Make It Right), which at press time was scheduled to be published on September 9 by PublicAffairs, so it’s likely out by the time you read this. “The World’s Worst Bet, my second book,explains the nation’s journey from the 1990s’ enthusiasm for global integration to the rise of economic nationalism today.”

Ned Lerner tells us that “after working on games (Madden ’93, Sims, MLB The Show, God of War, Last of Us, . . .) and game platforms (PS4) for 40 years, including two start-ups with Paul Neurath, I retired last year. Now I’m trying to become a technology pundit. My Substack is https://nedlern.substack.com/ if you’re interested in what happens after phones or TV. And I’m an increasingly creaky runner. I came in second (in my age group) at the SF Marathon. :)”

David P. Miller adds that “for a variety of reasons, but partially because I thought it might take many months for the Trump appeals to be finally dismissed and Harris to be officially declared president, we signed up for a long cruise (January–June) last September. Obviously, the election did not go as I predicted. Nonetheless, Cathryne and I were out of the country till mid-June. I got talk to John Lyden, Kathryn (Moody) Benjamin ’82, and others from many time zones through Zoom. A dozen or so of us are having a virtual WesSF Club reunion on September 17 (47 years). How do we remember when the SF club had its first meeting? The premier of the original Battlestar Galactica, which was interrupted by the press conference of the Camp David Accords. 

Penultimately, I will reiterate what many of you have shared with me in your messages: We thank President Roth for his courage and integrity as he stands in defense of our democracy, and the way in which he’s doing so.

I end on a sad note: Leukemia took two of our classmates over the past few months.

Dan Haar wrote to let us know that Brian Ford passed away on June 25 after a brief bout with a very aggressive form of leukemia. “Brian was a philosophy major originally from Long Island. He did graduate studies in political science at Columbia and taught in the New York City schools for many years. He leaves a daughter who is a college frosh.”

And Livia McCarthy wrote on the very due date of these notes to let us know that Michael Toohey died on July 18, after an 18-month struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. Michael was a man of many careers. He moved from banking management consulting to nonprofit work, when he became COO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the famous civil rights litigation and advocacy organization. 

Michael later became the CFO of George School, a boarding school in Newton, Pennsylvania, which he saw, as his obituary notes, “as the culmination of his career—a place where he could dedicate himself fully to the mission of education, while leveraging his financial and strategic planning skills to bring a much-needed perspective to the organization.”

This is the part of our notes that might be most important and the most difficult. I have used this before, but perhaps it is appropriate to repeat: I am hopeful for less-bidity. 

Brenda Zlamany continues to impress with her creativity and talent. She recently completed her fourth major commission for Yale University, a portrait of retiring Davenport College head John Witt. Brenda writes, “I’m also thrilled to have several pieces included in Surprises Unknown: The Art of the Wrapping, an exhibition running from February 8 to May 3, 2025, at the Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx. The exhibition explores the aesthetics and symbolism of wrapped objects.”

In May, Brenda travels to Newfoundland, for an artist’s residency project she curated titled Reunion: Friendship, Inspiration, and Landscape in Pouch Cove, which will include an exhibition. Later in the year, she will be at Tusen Takk in Michigan during the cherry harvest, painting portraits of cherry pickers as part of her ongoing project, Itinernant Portraitist: Climate in America.

 “I am taking a personal leap by purchasing a house in my ancestral village in Calabria. This mountain will serve as a creative escape and connection to my roots.” We wish her all the best in this next phase of her exciting and accomplished artistic career!

Ellen McHale (parent of Ben McKeeby, MA ’17) checked in from the Capital District Region of New York State, where she has been the executive director of New York Folklore since 1999. “I am entering my 26th year at this cultural nonprofit group that works collaboratively with folk and traditional artists and organizations to bring regenerative practices to bear in order to support the maintenance, cultivation, and nurturing of the diverse cultural heritages found in New York State, including its Indigenous communities. More information available at www.nyfolklore.org.

Ellen was honored this year as a “fellow” of the American Folklore Society for her outstanding contributions to the field. Ellen muses: “I found ‘folklore’ through Wesleyan—through my studies with Mark Slobin in the music department and through a class on folklore and literature. I continue to interact with fellow Wesleyan alumni who are my folklore colleagues, including Maggie Holtzberg ’79, Aaron Paige ’03, MA ’09, Karen Park Canning MA ’91, Andrew Colwell MA ’11, PhD ’18, Jim Kimball MA ’74, John Suter ’67, and many more Wesleyan alumni with whom I share a unique bond.”

Delcy Ziac Fox retired, and she and husband Bill have moved to the Cape full time. Delcy volunteers for the Center for Coastal Studies and also New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance. She celebrated the holidays in Provincetown with former InTown housemates Gary Shapiro and Jim Sullivan ’82, P’19, and then later Jim housed the Foxes overnight when their floors were being done. “You might want to say it was like old times, but 40 years later, bedtime was 8:30 p.m.!” quipped Delcy.

Paul Robinson also seems to be enjoying retirement. “I have officially retired, as of the end of September 2024, and enrolled in an online MFA program to achieve my goal of becoming a ‘famous science fiction writer.’ It’ll take about another year to finish the thesis (novel)—we’ll see where it goes from there!” Good luck to Paul as works on his chef-d’oevre—we eagerly await publication!

Lisa Greim writes that she has “failed retirement,” and now serves as chorale manager and chief fundraiser for the Arvada Chorale, the community chorus she sings with, pursuing a development goal to raise enough to hire contract, production, and multimedia managers at market rates. Lisa says, “I would rather delegate stage management to theater majors and multimedia to ‘digital natives. . .’ because I want to step away at the end of the year and reintroduce myself to my husband, Chris.” Lisa adds, “I would also like to return to volunteering, and to revising the manuscript that Kaylie Jones mentored me through, seven years ago.” Any Wes classmates (singers or non-singers) interested in her fundraising goals can email cololisa@gmail.com.

Joanna Buffington is still “retired” on outer Cape Cod but reports she’s busier than ever.  She has been helping to rescue endangered sea turtles that get trapped in Cape Cod Bay on their way south after feeding further north all summer and fall. She helps patrol the waters, and works in conjunction with Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay volunteer organization, the New England Aquarium, and volunteer pilots (turtlesflytoo.org) who fly the rehabilitated turtles to other facilities all over the world. “I had a personal record of rescuing 34 turtles this year,” says Joanna.  “With all the human drama around us (especially on the news), I find this a mental health savior.” Amen to that!

Brian Tarbox writes, “This was a year of traveling and talking. I gave my talk, What I Learnedabout GenAI from being a Dolphin Researcher, remotely in Kyiv, China, Japan, and in person in Sao Paulo, Rio, New York, Toronto, and Philly. I’ve become a bit of a prepper but deciding whether to prep for a climate disaster, a ‘Musk-agendon’, the rise of the machines, or a nuclear Putin, is always a day-to-day decision. As it used to be written in the East College tunnels, ‘Do not hope to survive in the vampire economy.’”  Adds Brian wistfully, “I miss the tunnels.”

Congratulations to Mark Saba on the publication of his new book called The Shoemaker (Casa Lago Press), about the experience of Italian immigrants in the U.S. in the 1920s, as well as the lives of their offspring generations later as they move around in their new country. For more information, check out www.marksabawriter.com.

My old C-1 housemate, Paul Godfrey, wrote in from his home in St. Paul, telling me he still has a hockey rink in his backyard and is busy teaching his two-year-old granddaughter how to skate like a pro! Retirement is not beckoning yet, Paul reports, so besides skating, he keeps busy as a managing attorney in the Twin Cities. When he needs a break from the city, he heads out to the gorgeous Minnesota countryside with his close companion—no, not with his wife, Mary Sue, but with his hunting dog, Axel (skating reference!).

Another classmate who isn’t thinking of retirement is Rick Locke. He is making his way back to Boston after serving several years as dean of the Apple University (at Apple HQ). “The big news on my end is that I am going back to MIT to serve as dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management (https://news.mit.edu/2025/richard-locke-dean-mit-sloan-0106). It’s been a great few years at Apple, but I am looking forward to returning to university life. The other big news is that our daughter, Juliana, gave birth to a baby boy (Louis William) 18 months ago. Jessica Barton and I are smitten.” Warmest congratulations to Rick as he assumes the leadership of one of the most prestigious university schools in the world!

Congratulations to Livia Wong McCarthy, recently elected to Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees and who welcomes feedback. “I will do my best to represent alumni interests well and I look forward to how I can help guide Wesleyan’s path during these unchartered times.”

Lisette Cooper checked in from South Florida where she’s working as vice chair of the wealth management division of Franklin Templeton and visiting her three children whenever possible. “And I would love to see any Wes alum in the area!”

Chris Graves writes, “I retired from Ogilvy, where I had served as both a regional (Asia-Pacific) and global CEO for 19 years. I founded my own company (www.TheResonanceCode.com ) where I decode the human Sensemaking Genome for more effective engagement and behavior change. I am working with the Milken Institute on its Project Prevent to increase the access and uptake to preventive health care. I am also supporting Community Solutions, which is led by an amazing woman who received $100 million from the McArthur Foundation for her work in combating homelessness. She and I were both Rockefeller Bellagio residents. And I joined as an advisor to the Muhammad Ali Center where we launched a new Compassion Index measuring and comparing U.S. cities. I am guest lecturing at USC, Columbia, and NYU. My wife, JoAnn Ward, retired from the D.C. Public Library, and we hope to travel together more. We will be hiking much of Portugal and then taking in the big pro-tennis tourney in Turin. Both our daughters live in Brooklyn. One works in research and is getting her graduate degree in data visualization; the other works as a software engineer for a firm that does AI for legal and financial services and is engaged to be married in August. Both daughters grew up overseas with us, as we were posted to Singapore, then London, then Hong Kong.” 

David writes for this issue.

Greetings from Brooklyn! And welcome to our digital notes, where you can share pictures and videos, and I don’t have to figure out how to squeeze it all into 800 words!

We’ll start with Ramon J. Pineda, who is “still in Corpus Christi; still working for Scripps TV; still living the dream! We’ve survived some storms (Alberto and Beryl), a crazy internet outage, the ‘spyware’ disaster that froze half the world, Trump’s assassination attempt . . . and 2024 is not over yet! Life is good, kids are good, and I am getting ready to sign up for Medicare—time flies! Sending you all my regards from South Texas. Be well!”

Matthew King announced that “after 40 years of government service, I retired this summer! From a naval aviator in the U.S. Marines after Wes, to DOJ as a trial attorney, to U.S. Customs/Homeland Security Investigations as a special agent and ending up at the Department of Homeland Security as the deputy assistant secretary of Law Enforcement Policy, it was time. Along the way I received the DHS Gold Medal for actions in Panama intercepting Russian weapons headed to North Korea; made the largest undercover seizure of Chinese automatic weapons in U.S. history; led a team of agents into Haiti after the earthquake in 2010; received two silver medals for other law enforcement issues; and upon retirement, was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal—the highest award DHS bestows.”

Congratulations Matt, on your prestigious awards, and thank you for helping to keep us safe!

Matt adds, “As a famous predecessor once said, ‘First 40 years for God and country—now I am a mercenary!’ I now look forward to my daughter’s, Isabelle ’16, wedding to Parker Wilson ’15 next spring and some lazy fly-fishing!”

Coincidence department: Matt concludes by letting us know that the Parker Wilson is our own Nancy Parker Wilson’s son—“small world!”

Small world indeed! Congratulations to Matt, to Nancy, and to your families!

More and more of us seem to be at the end of long and distinguished careers. After 30 years as a professor of environmental science, urban planning, and sustainable design at the University of Illinois, Daniel Schneider has joined the ranks of those retired and moved back East, “to the Taconic Hills near western Massachusetts, where I’m setting up a shop for my furniture making. My son, Jacob, is working in D.C. as an EMT/emergency room tech, and my daughter, Rose, has just started at Bard College.”  He adds that “I can be reached through my old email, ddws@illinois.edu or my website, danielschneiderfurniture.com.”

Daniel shared with us a picture of him with his two children:

Delcy Ziac Fox, our tireless class agent, writes that the former residents of InTown 21 had a series of mini-reunions recently: Delcy herself met Jim Sullivan ’82, P’19 for dinner in Barnstable Village, Massachusetts; Jim and his son, Owen Sullivan ’19, met for dinner with Gary Shapiro in Brooklyn, New York; and Miriam Stern Sturgis, husband, Gary Sturgis ’77, and Delcy met for dinner in cyberspace.

Delcy tells us that she is retired now, as are Miriam and her husband, Gary. Gary Shapiro is still a teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Brooklyn, New York. Jim is inpatient medical director at a substance use organization, High Point Treatment Center, and son Owen is management consultant with Potomac Point Group. 

The deadline for this edition of the notes was August 26, after the Democratic Convention and before the September debate, which at press time was still scheduled.  We know that the Wesleyan community is a cross section of the country as a whole, and, if you remember the brilliant and remarkable virtual presentation our own Christopher Graves presented for our last reunion—in the context of vaccines—that our nation is very much segmented into four very different categories. He shared with us that we have much to learn about how to communicate not only with those who share our values but also with those who do not. The word “together” does not always apply.

That said, Will Galison wrote a song for the Harris/Walz campaign (you can find it on YouTube). He said, “my last overtly political video (much more ambitious) was in 2008, and it was made an official song of the Obama campaign, being played at fundraisers across the country.”

I end on a personal note, as I have the space to do so. I have joined the ranks of many of you now eligible for Medicare. I hit the big 65 on March 18, and my dear wife, Elizabeth, gathered my three children from the diaspora to join me for dinner at Jean Georges at Columbus Circle, in Midtown Manhattan.

In this picture, you can see yours truly, who forgot to take his napkin out from under his chin 😉 with my wife, Elizabeth, and my children behind us, in ascending order: my son, Lee, 20, who came down from upstate New York, is now in their junior year at the University of Rochester; my daughter, Soshannah, 35, who came down from Burlington, Vermont, and is now a Head Start teacher in North Providence, Rhode Island; and my son, Dan, 39, who is in marketing and came east from Scottsdale, Arizona.

I have enjoyed adding the pictures and not having to count the words. And speaking of counting, I just realized that we have less than two years to our next reunion. I’m looking forward to it already!

I write to you all on the heels of an extraordinary viewing of the total eclipse of April 8 in my town of Bloomington, Indiana, which was smack-dab in the middle of the eclipse path—with over four minutes of totality! Despite cautionary predictions about statistically cloudy weather at this time of year, the day could not have been more perfect: blue skies, warm temperatures, and many friends and family members gathered round in observance and reverence of this amazing  celestial display. My elderly neighbor of 83 started crying as she expressed gratitude at having the opportunity to see such a wonderful thing at least once in her life . . .  and I admit to wiping away a few tears of my own. (Hint, hint: you don’t have to hope and wait for 2044 . . .  there are several others that will be accessible in the nearer future, if you are willing and able to travel!)

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto is still hard at work publishing her regional digital magazine on climate resilience, KneeDeepTimes. She’s also in the “muddy middle” of a memoir rewrite about her days as a vintner, overlapping withe the multitasking of motherhood and science writing. She and hubby Paul still live in the heart of San Francisco and are empty nesters . . . both girls hatched and gone but taking up the family businesses: architecture, writing, equity, environment. 

Brian Tarbox wrote in from the Boston area to share some good news:  He was named an AWS (Amazon Web Services) Ambassador, one of only 250 worldwide, meaning he is one of Amazon’s designated top cloud experts in the world. In addition, he was designated “Alexa Champion”—a similar recognition program for people who develop code for Alexa (with whom we are all acquainted, I’m sure). Warmest congratulations on all that! Brian also writes that he had the pleasure of reuniting with Reina Galanes ’82 last December in California at AWS’s annual conference.  Another highlight of Brian’s year was a recent trip back to Middletown. “I was a panelist at the Wes career center meeting for STEM students. It was great to be back on campus and see all the construction (though I think the Butterfield dorms should get some love soon).”

Julie (Greenberg) Richman (originally Class of ’80) and her husband are still living in beautiful Colorado Springs, where she is now working as a freelance writer of op-ed pieces after many years working in organizational development, training, and project management.  Her husband retired from his psychiatry/pain management practice and now works remotely for Humana. “Our home is open to any Wesleyan alumni—and our view of Pikes Peak is amazing!” she writes. Julie shared some information about the fascinating work of her sons.  Adam (the younger) received his BS from University of Rochester, with a major in linguistics and brain and cognitive science, and his master’s in data science through Denver University; he is currently a data analyst with Waymo, but also nurtured his keen interest in genealogical research to develop an extensive family tree. Josh (the older) earned his BS in mechanical engineering as well as his MEng in aerospace engineering at Cornell. After two years spent with the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) program, he currently works as the deputy spacecraft systems engineer for the Parker Solar Probe/NASA Dragonfly project. 

Brenda Zlamany continues to wow audiences with her stunning, evocative portraiture.  Among recent exhibitions, she recently unveiled portraits of William Brown and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown) at the Great Hall Portrait Gallery in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her portrait of interdisciplinary artist Zachary Fabri was shortlisted for the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024 at the National Portrait Gallery in London. And she was selected for two artist residencies: the Glacier National Park Artist Residency in July 2024 and the “Reunion:  Friendship, Inspiration, and Landscape in Pouch Cove,” curated by Brenda and culminating in an exhibition at the James Baird Gallery.

Sinclair “Sindi” Sheers wrote in with some sad news but her entry nevertheless serves to inspire. She retired from her position at George Mason University teaching geography to care for her husband before he succumbed to cancer in January 2020. Since that tragic event, she has embraced life (and her husband’s memory) and has traveled the world, often with her daughter or her mom, to such far-flung destinations as Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Costa Rica, Panama, Iceland, France, Italy, Spain, the Balkans, and England. Closer to home, she visited Mexico, Yosemite and the Tetons, New Hampshire, Oregon, Miami, and an Exeter mini-reunion last year brought her together with old friends Sandy Smith, Miriam Block, and Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly, and where she also had lunch with Richard Eastman. Here is her unabridged update:

“My husband died of cancer in January 2020, right before everything closed for COVID. I had planned to go on a cruise on the Danube River with my older daughter in April 2020 but that was cancelled. My younger daughter and I took a quick trip to Disney World with cousins in late January 2020 and then stayed home for a long time.

            “I had retired from teaching geography at George Mason University a few years before in order to take care of my husband, so I read 93 books in 2020 and 122 books in 2021. After the COVID vaccine became available, I started traveling again.

            “In June 2021, I went to Wyoming with my younger daughter and visited the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone: geysers, bison, beautiful mountains and lakes, and other animals.

            “In October, I went with my mother on a cruise to Greece, Egypt, and Jordan including Santorini, the Suez Canal, the pyramids, Pharos’ tombs, Petra, Amman, and Jerash where we saw many very old beautiful things and few other tourists.

            “In December, I went with my mother and younger daughter on a cruise to Costa Rica and Panama including the Panama Canal. We visited a coffee plantation, a sugar plantation, and saw many interesting plants and animals and few other tourists.

            “In 2022, in March, I went to Oaxaca and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with my mother where the architecture is amazing.

            “In May, I went to meet friends in Oregon and took side trips to Cannon Beach, Montnomah Falls, and Crater Lake—such interesting natural phenomena. Later in May, I went to my 45th Reunion at Exeter in New Hampshire where I saw fellow Wesleyan classmate Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly among others.

            “In June, I went with my younger daughter to Iceland and saw more geysers, waterfalls, the dividing line between two continents, elf houses, hot pools, beautiful Westman Island, and puffins.

            “In July, I joined a friend I met on the October 2021 cruise on a tour of Normandy, France, where we visited Monet’s house, Mont St. Michel, and Omaha Beach. It was above 90 degrees most of the time.

            “In September, I hosted to my older daughter’s wedding in Chicago. Later in September, I spent a few days in London getting together with Exeter classmates (and fellow Wesleyan classmate Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly).

            “In October, I went on a tour of northern Italy including Milan, Lake Como, Bellagio, Bergamo, Verona, Bologna, and Venice. We toured a place where they made balsamic vinegar and watched glassblowing in Venice.

“In 2023, in January, I visited my aunt and uncle in Florida and met cousins at Disney World.

            “In April, I went to another Exeter mini-reunion in Los Angeles (where I saw fellow Wesleyan classmates Sandy Smith, Miriam Block, and Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly) and had lunch with fellow Wesleyan classmate Richard Eastman. Also in April, I went on a week-long tour of Spain to Barcelona, Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Madrid.

            “In May, I went on a cruise on the Danube River with my mother that started in Sofia, Bulgaria, and ended in Passau, Germany, with a side trip to Prague, Czechia.

            “In July, I took a week-long tour of Scotland visiting Glasgow, Inverness, and Edinburgh.

            “In August, I joined my older daughter and her husband in Paris and then at a spa in Germany where I became familiar with the European train system.

            “In September, I took a tour of Alsace, France.

“In November, I had a hip replacement and stayed home for a while.

            “In February of 2024, I went to Miami Beach for a few days.

            “In March, I visited my younger daughter in her new home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

            “I am about to go join Exeter classmates (including Wesleyan classmates Sandy Smith and Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly) in Austin to see the eclipse. I plan to see Wesleyan classmate Bob Sweeney while I’m there. Later in April, my older daughter is opening a yoga studio called Forth in Chicago, and I plan to be there to help. Then I plan to go on a tour of Portugal.

            “In May, I plan to return to Scotland to visit the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, which is only open once a year and spend more time in Edinburgh. Also in May, a friend that I met on my tour of northern Italy in October 2022 asked me if I would like to join her for a week in Paris. Of course!

            “In June, we will celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday in Rhode Island with her sister’s family. Later in June, I plan to get together with friends in Michigan and drive up to see Mackinac Island.

            “In July, I plan to tour Ireland with my younger daughter and then meet my older daughter, my sister, her family, and my mother for more 90th birthday festivities in the Netherlands.

            “In September, I plan to cruise the Adriatic with another friend I met on the Suez Canal cruise in 2021.

            “And then in November, I plan to go on a tour of Morocco.

            “Each year, I sign up for one or two tours and then things seem to get out of hand. I haven’t signed up for anything in 2025—yet !!

            “And I am not following Chrissi Winkelbauer Kelly around the world; we just end up going to the same mini-reunions; she seems to have a hand in organizing many of them.”

            – Sindi Sheers

In April I gathered at the lovely home of Kathy Prager Conrad in Alexandria, Virginia, with Livia Wong McCarthy and Deb Chapin for our annual reunion of senior year Sunday-night Coop. We had SUCH a blast reminiscing (as always!), eating, drinking, cooking, walking, visiting museums and the National Arboretum, and enjoying a magnificent nighttime tour of the monuments. So grateful for these friendships that have endured a lifetime—and I know I am not the only one!  So please . . . continue writing in, sharing your stories. And if you are trying to reach someone, know that David I. Block and I (as well as the Alumni office) are here to help you reconnect.

Greetings from the Heartland!  As I write this, the winter solstice is fast upon us. I hope that by the time you read this, spring will be in full bloom, war behind us, and New Year’s reflections manifesting themselves into positive energy and actions.

I received a wonderful update from Debbie Underberg Mueller. After a very successful and satisfying full-time career as an OB/GYN, Debbie relocated to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire to work part time solely as a gynecologist; she is using her free time to pursue her newfound passion—painting. A moment of serendipity in 2016, during a visit to her mom, resulted in her discovering a new talent—one that has become more than “just a hobby.” Debbie wrote, “I had, up until this point, felt very confident that I was someone who was completely artistically challenged. At the end of an hour, I had created a pretty horrible painting, but loved the way that I felt during the experience of creating it. It was meditative, focused, productive—the closest activity that produced this same feeling was performing surgery, but of course, the stakes are a bit higher with that! When I got back from that trip, I bought a box of acrylic paint, and my life as an artist began.” As her skills improved, she entered competitions, resulting in a multitude of accolades and prizes. “This year I received first place in the Art2Life International Juried Exhibition, from a field of over 5,000 submissions.” And Debbie shared that “also this year, Modern Impressionist Magazineran a feature story about me and my work. I show . . . in numerous galleries and have had several opportunities to mount solo exhibitions.” Check out some more of her stunning work at www.debbiemuellerart.com.

David Miller, who is still hosting an online science fiction book club, shared that he and wife Cathryne took a two-week cruise down the Mississippi River from St. Paul, Minnesota, to New Orleans, Louisiana.  “In Saint Louis,” Dave writes, “I  had a chance to spend the day with Linda (Hornby) Shogren ’83, who is also in the science fiction book club, and her husband David.”

Dave continues, “We got [in] a couple of concerts by Ethan Leinwand ’05, covering ragtime and early blues. There were concerts every night, but these were some of the best.  Surprising to me, the second half of the trip was the most enjoyable. Perhaps this was because of the music. . . .  Perhaps it was due to the cruise line’s careful choosing of ports. Or, perhaps, (because) I was just a visitor and didn’t live there. Anyway, I learned a lot (including a bunch of history which may no longer be taught in Florida), heard some great music and stories, ate some wonderful foods, and generally had a good time. Highly recommended if you’ve got the resources, enjoy blues and jazz, and can learn when you hear about some of the horrendous things Americans have done in the past.”  

John Ross wrote in with news of what sounded like a super-fun get-together with some of his Williams Street 10-person roommates: Greg Andris, Alan Mairson, and Sean Moran, who all joined Peter Gryska on his West Texas ranch recently for a long weekend of skeet shooting, wild boar tracking, fossil hunting, a “Friday night lights” high school football game, mesquite barbecuing, and general merrymaking, “Peter, who lives in Houston, is a director at SPECS, an iconic Texas retail chain. John is working on his sixth book and runs a food pantry in Bethesda, Maryland, which he founded, often assisted by Sean, a staff scientist at the military medical school at Walter Reed. Greg, who lives in Miami Beach, owns and manages a luxury resort in St. Lucia. Alan works on various media projects after a long career writing and editing at National Geographic. Much discussion revolved around what the other members of the 10-person—Anne Standley, Barb Parrot Katz, Leora Freedman, Mary Dowd, and Carol Muller—are up to.” Please—write me and let me know!

Felicia Angus reported in from northern New Jersey, where she and her husband of 34 years, Mike, have lived for several decades after spending the first third of their marriage living and working in England. She writes, “I still work in the city on Wall Street, funding Mike’s retirement. Our kids are grown and living in NYC and Vancouver. A whole lifetime has passed since we’ve graduated . . . yet there’s not much else to report!”

Congratulations to Laurie Jacobs on her new job! She wrote in to share that she “remains happily living with Bob in NYC despite the Jersey commute to my new role as associate dean for faculty development at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. My kids, Liz (Wojnar) ’12, is in Brooklyn, Julia in Buenos Aires, and Ben in Los Angeles, but all make it home often. I saw Susan Stone and Laura Justice ’83, as well as Corinne Sternberg on a Seattle visit. Life is good.”

I do concur with Laurie. Despite the curveballs that life throws us, let us continue to focus on the positive—on the beauty around us

Greetings from Brooklyn!  Welcome to the digital edition of the Class Notes, with lots of pictures! Thank you for all the pictures.

I write this in August. You know by now that it was hot. And fires. Lots of fires. And, of course, Maui, where my wife and I honeymooned right after 9/11, is well, at press time, authorities were still trying to find the missing and the dead. Tragic.

Greg Davis and his wife moved to Maui in 2021. He wrote this summer:

“We live in South Maui, and the devastating fires that destroyed buildings and homes in Lahaina and Kula were in West Maui. Maui is a very small island, so nothing is very far from anything else, but we were not directly impacted by either of those fires.

“There was, however, a third brush fire in Kihei, where we live. It’s not the first time we have had to contend with smoke, road closures, and power outages from brush fires in our area, but it was the first time we had to evacuate our home. The flames from the Kihei fire came very close to homes that are a few blocks away from us. And flying embers can set homes on fire when the winds are as strong as they were on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We evacuated our home on Tuesday night with our seven cats. When we got the evacuation notice, we tossed the cats into their carriers and then drove to the evacuation center we were told to go to, but when we got there, we learned that the center was being shut down because the fires were too close. So, we got back in the car and drove south, away from the fires, until we found an empty parking lot at an upscale shopping center in Wailea where we could spend the night in our car. The security guards there told us that management had told them to let people stay in the parking lot and in the public areas of the shopping center, and to keep the bathrooms open. We watched the news all night and saw what was happening in Lahaina but couldn’t get any news about our area. So, when the sun came up, we decided to drive back to our house to see if we still had a house.

“Fortunately for us, the winds had shifted after we left and the fires stayed in areas of vacant fields. There was no damage to our house or to any of our neighbors’ houses.

“The damage, death, and destruction in Lahaina is apocryphal, however, and it will take many, many years for Maui to recover from that. Many, many people have lost their homes, businesses, and their jobs, and at least 93 people have died from the fires [as of his note on August 14th].

“Right now, we are just grateful that we were spared. We are trying to stay out of the way of rescue efforts so that first responders can continue to do their jobs. The fires around Lahaina are not out yet. Eventually, we will try to find a way to help those who have lost so much.”

On a happier note, Lisa Greim retired from Xcel Energy last November, and has been doing contract writing and editing for them and others since then. “Telecommuting for two pandemic years spoiled me—I still want to work, but not the way virtual work expands into your whole 24/7 life.”

She adds, “It’s been a good compromise so far and has allowed me and my husband, Chris Varner, to scuba dive in Fiji, river cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium, and ‘festivate’ at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. We had the perfect pandemic wedding in August 2020, featuring a masked appearance at the courthouse to do the paperwork and a wedding picnic with our grown kids, boxed charcuterie, cupcakes, and canned beer.”

She saved the important part for last: “Chris is a lovely human being, my kids are both fledged, and life is sweet. Since photos are allowed, I’ll attach one from wreck diving in Sint Eustatius in 2021.”

Luis Taveras has a new book, The 90 Day CIO. “Available on Amazon. All proceeds go to charity. Thanks.” Congrats to Luis!

Brenda Zlamany is excited to announce, as are we, that she is “The winner of  the Worcester County Mechanics Association’s competition for the monumental portrait of William Brown and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown). William was a successful 19th-century businessman in Worcester involved in the Underground Railroad, and Martha was his partner in life and abolitionist work, as well as a community leader. This painting is one of three portraits of impactful Black Americans of the 19th century commissioned for the awe-inspiring Great Hall Portrait Gallery.”

https://mechanicshall.org/portraits-project/

On June 3, Brenda’s portrait of Elga Wasserman, commissioned by Yale University, was unveiled and permanently installed in its final location at Bass Library, 10 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut. https://news.yale.edu/2023/06/06/yale-unveils-portrait-our-very-own-mother-bear

“I am thrilled,” she adds, “to be a visiting artist at the prestigious American Academy in Rome for the month of September 2023!”

Brenda also had a series of Group exhibitions this past spring:

—A Painting is a Painting is a Painting, April 15–June 4, 2023,  at Artport, Kingston, New York

—Undue Burden: Privacy, Protection, and Politics, March 18–April 18, 2023, at City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, Connecticut

—Five Points: A Convergence of Dreams, April 6–29, 2023,  at Equity Gallery, New York, New York

Mark Saba has a new book of poetry, Flowers in the Dark, which was published in January by Kelsay Books.

At the end of 2022, Mike Trager became a retired partner at Arnold & Porter, where he had been a senior partner and part of the firm’s leadership. Mike began his career as a U.S. government attorney but spent most of the past few decades in private practice in Washington, D.C.  And, thanks to a presidential appointment, Mike has returned to government, where he is vice chair of the Department of State’s Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and a member of its Executive Committee. The board has the statutory responsibility for independently supervising the global Fulbright Program. Led by the U.S. government, in partnership with more than 160 countries worldwide, the Fulbright Program promotes mutual understanding among the peoples of the United States and other countries to provide for a more secure and peaceful world. The comprehensive program is a primary means for facilitating international cultural diplomacy and soft power.

Mike is thoroughly enjoying retirement with his bride of 36 years (Mariella, who is Washington Circle Chair of Refugees International). They are the proud parents of Nick ’11, who has spent the past seven years living in London while working for State Street Global Advisors, and Alex, who lives in NYC and works for Microsoft. His parents, Ina and Phil Trager ’56, Hon. ’08, are doing well. In this picture, taken in June at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco, Mike is in the middle, joined by embassy staff, the executive director of the Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange, and MACECE board members.

Alison Williams writes that she had a great time traveling to Togo, West Africa, in January for two weeks. “I stayed in Notsé, spent a lot of quality time under the mango tree getting to know the neighbors, did some science labs/workshops with high school students, and really immersed myself in Togolese culture. It was wonderful. I took the plunge and am now an independent diversity, equity, access, and inclusion consultant, working with schools (secondary and higher ed), civic groups, trade organizations and nonprofits). I’m ‘up for hire’ if anyone would like to inquire!  I’m managing to play my oboe a lot—a good antidote to the mad times we live in. I’ve been fortunate to have been in touch with lots of classmates in the past six months—too many to list and feel grateful for the friendships that have stood the test of many decades since our student days.”

David P. Miller sent some wonderful photos, including this amazing shot. “In late February, my wife (Cathryne) and I went on a cruise to Northern Norway, to hopefully see the aurora borealis. We were joined on this trip by the Benjamins (Kathryn Moody ’82 and Lee Benjamin). We had three nights of good aurora viewing, over a week of great meals, and a generally wonderful time. The photos below show the aurora over Alta, Norway, and the four of us at dinner.”

In July David went to Omaha, Nebraska, to visit “my good Wesleyan friend, John Lyden. John is now chair of the Religion Department at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. I got to spend several days with him and his wife, Liz, who I found out graduated from Brown in ’82 (we know several people in common). Omaha seems like a wonderful place and I also got to see ‘the greatest office in the world.’ The photo below is of the three of us in Memorial Park in Omaha.”

David adds, “I also regularly see Linda Hornby Schogren ’83. She’s a regular attendee of our monthly Zoom SF book club. I also see Bob Seiler ’82 regularly on our biweekly retired engineers Zoom meeting. One (perhaps the only one) good thing to come out of the lockdown was a massive improvement in video conferencing. I wish Wesleyan continued it today for seminars and updates—for those of us not in traveling distance to Middletown.”

I will leave you with this: stay safe, stay cool, stay out of harm’s way, and may the road rise to meet you—unless you live over a fault.

Greetings from Zurich, where I am vacationing and spending some time with my middle son James, who has been living here for three years and currently works for Google. What a beautiful place, and what a wonderful lifestyle.

So much news this cycle!

Congrats to David Lynch who shared: “I’ve just signed a contract with Hachette Book Group for my next book, a history of what’s gone wrong with globalization over the past quarter century and a look at what comes next. Working title is The World’s Worst Bet: How the West Gambled on Globalization and Lost. It is scheduled to be published by Hachette’s PublicAffairs imprint in early 2025.” A timely topic—and a book we should put on our “to read” list in 2025.

Alyson Myers, president of the Fearless Fund, an organization dedicated to a healthy ocean and a transformational, productive, blue economy (www.fearlessfund.org) traveled abroad in February with Tory Estern ’82.  Alyson writes, “Tory called and said: ‘You wanna go to Egypt?’ I said, ‘Yes, why not?!’  It was that simple!”  They first traveled to Istanbul, then on to Cairo for a few days, after which they boarded a riverboat to Luxor before heading up the Nile ( south, actually) heading to Aswan. What an amazing trip!

Lisa Rudy wrote in from lovely Cape Cod, where she is now a juried master artist in photography. “I’ve also been writing and directing plays in local theaters,” Lisa says, “and you can’t get a much better view than the one we get from the performance space in the Woods Hole Community Hall looking out at the research vessels and Woods Hole passage! I’m still hard at work as a writer and consultant; have done a lot of work on autism inclusion at museums across the country, and our son (who is on the spectrum) is playing clarinet in the town band where his dad is the proud emcee. Meanwhile, our daughter Sara is graduating college . . . no grandkids on the horizon, lol!”

Barb Martin Herzlich and Sandy Herzlich are still living in the suburbs of Philadelphia but enjoying much more free time now that Sandy has fully retired. Barb is turning into one of the area’s premier potters. The only problem is that the pieces she likes she won’t sell because she wants to keep them. The pieces she doesn’t like she won’t sell because she thinks they’re not good enough. “Our home is bursting with ceramics!” Beyond the regular retirement activities of golf, paddle tennis, etc., Sandy’s filling his days coaching football at the local high school and working as a substitute schoolteacher. During Homecoming this past fall, Sandy was honored to be named, along with classmates Tony DiFolco and Tim O’Brien, to the 1980s All-Decade Football Team, followed shortly thereafter with a visit with Tony and his wife Linda at their home in Florida. “It was great to get back and see so many old friends.”

Elisha Lawrence, who is living in Redondo Beach and loving the LA life, shared that her son is getting his master’s in computer science at Stanford and her daughter, who is applying for her MFA, graduated Wesleyan Class of 2021. “That’s 40 years after me!” she writes. “It feels like it was just yesterday that I was studying in the reference room at Olin.” She is approaching 10 years working as AVP, Global Anti-Piracy for ABS-CBN, a large studio based in Asia that distributes their movies and TV shows into 190 countries. Elisha would love to hear from Wes people in the area; she has a Wes sticker on her car and routinely gets stopped by people asking what year she graduated. Apparently, LA is a hotbed of lot of Wes alumni!

Congratulations to Kathy Prager Conrad, who recently shared that she officially retired in March after an illustrious career of service in our nation’s capital. Her last job was at Accenture Federal Services.  In Kathy’s case, “retiring” means a shift from full time to flexible work on a few key projects and from occasional to more frequent personal travel, along with more volunteering and family time. She kicked things off with a trip to Costa Rica; I am looking forward to details.

Deb Chapin checked in from a ski trip to Banff, where she was nursing a knee injury that prevented her from taking on the slopes but thankfully NOT the apres-ski activities. Snowshoeing was also on the itinerary. Cheers to that!

David Miller sent us an introspective note:

“I tested positive for COVID at the beginning of March, being vaccinated and boosted, and fortunately my symptoms have been pretty mild. However, the enforced isolation has given me more of a chance to reminisce and contemplate some things.

“For a few years, starting about 45 years ago, I was able to spend many nights at VVO looking deep into the sky. At that time there were only a few faculty and even fewer astro students. Even amongst that small crowd, I was one of the few who wanted to look through the telescopes with my eyes. I signed up for every observing shift I could and only on the coldest nights containing the longest exposures; 30 minutes or more of quietly tracking a star for Dr. Upgren’s parallax project in the middle of winter, had me questioning my activities.

“For years afterwards, I correctly thought I was spoiled; I had a 20-inch refractor and a 24-inch reflector practically at my beck and call when I was an undergrad. While the intervening years have placed me in the same room with bigger telescopes, I was never able to look through them. While paging through the images at APOD and marveling at the results from the Hubble and Webb scopes, I was filled with the longing and majesty of viewing a dark sky filled with stars.

“Having retired and having the time and funds to indulge some of my whims, I’m able to play with the new breed of smart telescopes. My Wesleyan education allows me to understand what is being done. My graduate studies and subsequent technical experience give me the how. My life gives me the why.

“Seeing details emerge from the seemingly dark sky and seeing the stars strewn across the screen like dust as the details of the nebulae and galaxies emerge makes me feel like I’m 19 on Foss Hill on a spring evening. I do wonder what the current majors feel as they gaze up at the night sky.”

That’s it for now. Happy summer!