The Road to Wisteria Lane Christine Estabrook ’73 on a Life in Acting and ‘Desperate Housewives’ from Taverntavern to Tenor Music Man Reverend Doctor Grandma
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OSWEGOOSWEGOALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO VOL. 31, NO. 1 SPRING 2005 The Road to Wisteria Lane Christine Estabrook ’73 on a life in acting and ‘Desperate Housewives’ From TavernTavern to Tenor Music Man Reverend Doctor Grandma Your sunset is waiting . Come home to Oswego for REUNION CLASSES: 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1974 1975 1976 1980 1995 1999 2000 2001 There’s only one place to reconnect with classmates, see favorite professors and rediscover your For the most up-to-date information on Reunion 2005, own younger self — check out the Web site at all under a world-class www.oswego.edu/alumni/reunion/ sunset. That’s Reunion 2005 at Oswego. Don’t miss Register online, watch for registration materials in the out on all the fun! mail or call the Reunion Hotline at 315-312-5559 Pass It On! hances are, someone helped you on your way to an Oswego degree. Maybe it was a parent, a relative or an Canonymous benefactor. Won’t you pass along the benefits of an Oswego education? Please consider donating to The Fund for Oswego so that generations of young people can benefit from the same great education you had. It’s a perfect way to honor the memory of those who made your own success possible. For more information, contact the Office of University Development at 315-312-3003 or go online to www.oswego.edu/giving/ Office of University Development • 100 Sheldon Hall, Oswego, NY 13126 • Phone: 315-312-3003 • Fax: 315-312-6389 • www.oswego.edu/giving/ Dr. Virginia Pratt aving earned a bachelor’s degree especially enjoyed having nontraditional from Allegheny College in 1950 students take her courses. Hand a master’s from Cornell “They brought an element of University in 1957, Virginia Pratt experience and resolve to the class- was well satisfied with her room that was of benefit to work in student personnel at U L A C T Y everyone,”she says. Buffalo State until she began F to contemplate her future. Noting that professors Since she was responsible for are often in the dark when it comes campus organizations, she spent a to knowing the degree of effec- lot of time at fraternity and sorority HALL OF FAME tiveness of their classes, she says, functions. “The exciting part of teaching is “One day,” she now recalls, “I said to my- to see that light bulb suddenly go off when a student gets the point, when a student makes a self: Virginia, when you are 50, do you still want Dr. Virginia Pratt to be going to beer parties?” She answered her connection between what is happening in class at own question in the negative and took some time the moment and some other idea or theory in his off to see the world before 1964, when she or her background. enrolled in the doctoral program in American “You never know whether you are making “It has been humbling for me to receive so Studies at the University of Minnesota. any impression at all on students. But sometimes, many cards and to know that so many people In 1968, when Charles Snyder was chair, they tell you later. The best time for me was get- thought of me throughout this ordeal,”Pratt says. Pratt was hired to teach in the history department ting a book in the mail one day that had been Clearly frustrated at the months of inactivity, she at SUNY Oswego. She remembers that in those dedicated to me, Richard Izzett and Thomas is eager to return to her life of travel and volun- turbulent and divisive days, faculty members Judd.” That book was written by David L. Faig- teering. (She has previously been active in gar- faced many challenges as they worked with stu- man ’79 and he thanked his former professors for dening and golf and has volunteered for the Safe dents who opposed the Vietnam war and sought giving him the foundation on which he built his Haven Board, the Human Concerns Center, greater freedom on campus. career in law and academe. Oswego Public Library, the Ladies Home Auxil- “The hardest thing on some faculty was to Since retiring in 1990, Pratt has followed a iary and the Cancer Society as well as the Oswego help young men along so they didn’t get drafted. migratory pattern of spending summers in Emeriti Association and the Oswego State Fall We didn’t talk about it much, but there was an Oswego and winters in Alabama. This year, how- Classic.) effort to help the men keep their academics up,” ever, instead of packing her R.V. and putting her Pratt says she is confident that the snow will she says. feline companions, Butterscotch and Mr. Rogers, melt from the R.V. and spring will return to Skills she developed working in her “first on board for the trip south, she landed in the hos- Oswego. Then, she says, with a bit of mischief in career” in student services informed and pital for the removal of part of a lung.After weeks her blue eyes and a chuckle in her voice, “Just as strengthened Dr. Pratt’s classroom techniques, in intensive care and two months in the hospital, soon as the energy comes back, I’m ready to and she always felt comfortable in the company she was home on Valley View Drive for a subdued roar!” of young people. She says, however, that she Christmas with her sister and brother-in-law. — Linda Morley Loomis ’90, M ’97 Nonprofit US Postage PAID Oswego Alumni Association KING ALUMNI HALL OSWEGO, NY 13126 If Oswego is addressed to a son or daughter who has graduated and no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please clip the address label and return it with the correct address to the Oswego Alumni Association, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, N.Y. 13126, or e-mail the updated address to [email protected] SPRING 2 005 Alumni Association of the State University of New York at Oswego OSWEGOOSWEGO Vol. 31, No. 1 8 From Tavern to Tenor 14 Gerard Powers ’80 once sang in Hewitt Union’s Tavern. Now he is an internationally acclaimed opera singer. The Road to Wisteria Lane 19 For Christine Estabrook ’73, the ABC hit show, “Desperate Housewives,” is just the latest in a steady string of roles on stage, screen and TV. Music Man 23 Broadway producer Richard Jay-Alexander — 14 aka Dick Fernandez ’74 — talks about the ties that bind Oswego alumni to one another. Reverend Doctor Grandma 26 She’s 88, but that doesn’t stop E. Catherine Salisbury ’63, MSED ’73 — farm wife, great-grandmother, minister and author — from pursuing new challenges. 26 PLUS Campus Currents 3 Club News 12 Class Notes 29 Weddings 44 The Last Word 48 ON THE COVER: Christine Estabrook ’73. Photo by David Zaitz Photography 39 C AMPUS CURRENTS Renovation of Sheldon’s west wing begins heldon Hall, long ago the home of SOswego Normal School’s Practice School, will once again ring with the shouts of children. Halls that greeted prospective students will once more welcome wannabe Oswegonians. And even some of the old graffiti will grace desks and blackboards. All of these changes are part of the reno- vations now under way in the west wing of Sheldon Hall, Oswego’s historic landmark building. John Moore of facilities design and manage- ment shows the tiered classroom in Sheldon Hall. Inset, left: The Admissions Office will return to its historic location in Sheldon Hall. main level will be restored, complete with some of the old graffiti on the desks and on some of the blackboards. The original seats will be reupholstered and reused, and old woodwork will be restored.“The room will have a neat flavor to it,”said Simmonds. by the State University Construction Fund. With the traditional architecture match- Renovations are expected to be completed by ed with modern presentation technology, the January 2006. In all, Oswego is expected to tiered room will be used as a general class- Built in 1913, the college’s original “Old receive $52 million for capital projects. room and for admissions presentations and Main” is a historic building, and as such, The ground level of Sheldon Hall’s west orientation sessions. renovations will include original doors, wing will house the Children’s Center, the The top floor of Sheldon Hall will in- woodwork and detailing, according to Tom day care center which has served college and clude classrooms renovated to support the Simmonds ’84, director of facilities manage- community members in Swetman Hall activity at the eastern end of campus, includ- ment. The corridors, the door openings and since 1986. ing the School of Education in Park and transoms through openings will be restored The mid-level of the west wing will be Wilbur halls. as they were originally. Old doors that were the new home of the Admissions Office, and “This blend of modern teaching tech- stored for years are going back up. will include staff offices, meeting rooms and niques and an historical building continues The $4.6 million renovation of Sheldon classroom space that can be used for admis- what the college has been doing in the past Hall is part of the five-year capital plan sions presentations. few years, re-energizing and revitalizing the approved by the State University and funded The tiered historic classroom on the eastern end of campus,”said Simmonds. 3 O S WEGO Spring 2005 CAMPUS CURRENTS Hewitt bequest to benefit Sheldon Hall HAZEL F.