Class of 1965
Reunion Notes
Robert (Bob) Keith Alspach ’65
After 35 years of teaching Junior High/Middle School science, I happily retired in 2001. Since then, I have been doing as much traveling, particularly cruising, as possible. Two highlights of my travels have been the maiden Asia/Pacific cruise aboard Holland America’s Volendam in 2002 and my 2008 Grand World Voyage aboard the Amsterdam. New Zealand, Australia, China, India, and Italy are countries that I hope to make a return visit.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
William (Bill) Edward Artz ’65
I owe a large debt of gratitude to Ohio Wesleyan for allowing me the opportunity to receive a college education when most other colleges told me no. Since graduating OWU, I attended law school in Washington, DC, and have been engaged in the practice of law for the last forty years. My practice is devoted to trial work focusing exclusively on representing the interests of patients and/or their families who have sustained brain damage or death as a result of medical negligence. In 2005 I was privileged to be invited to join the Inner Circle of Advocates, a national organization limited to the top 100 plaintiff’s attorneys in the country. On another note, I have continued to pursue my tennis interests since OWU days, competing in 1995 in Buenos Aires in the Pan Am Maccabi Games (silver metal winner in singles) and in 2001 in Tel Aviv in the Maccabi World Games (bronze metal singles and silver in doubles). I’ve been married for thirty-three years to my patient and tolerant wife, Cherie, and we have one daughter, Rachel, age twenty-seven. Cherie is an attorney and has been retired for a few years, focusing her life on volunteer charity work, golf, bridge and our daughter Rachel. Rachel received her college degree in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Arizona. She is now residing in the Washington metropolitan area (thankfully) and is pursuing an education in nursing.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Donna (Mycock) Bigger ’65
I lived, worked, and traveled for three years in Japan, then seven in Germany before settling in the Rochester, NY, area. My son Christopher was born in my hometown of Niagara Falls, NY, during our approximately three months visit there, between Japan and Germany. For many years I worked for the Livingston County Office of Workforce Development in Geneseo, NY, as a career counselor. I am working almost as much as before doing almost the same job for another Workforce Investment Act service provider in the same area. I do enjoy the work, but I find I am quite tired when I get home. I still keep my hand in music a bit by singing in the SUNY Geneseo Festival Chorus, a group of college students and local citizens. We usually do two concerts of a major work or choruses a year, Spring and Fall semesters. My son now lives with me and is a full-time student at St. John-Fisher College majoring in journalism/communications. He is a senior this year, but I think he is in for the long haul. He will probably teach at the college level in media literacy. He has already assisted a mentor in editing a textbook on the subject. I do manage to keep in touch with Ohio Wesleyan a bit too, being an Alumni Admissions volunteer.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Sara Driesbach Brannen ’65
We (Sally Driesbach Brannen and Herb Brannen, Class ’65) have been retired from teaching and dentistry for a number of years. We spend summers and winters at our home in the mountains of northern California. We live on the Sea of Cortez in Baja Mexico in the spring and fall. Both locations offer outstanding outdoor activities which we enjoy immensely. We also travel a good deal. The most recent trip was to Africa with OWU friends, Jim and Sue Petri Locke. Our remaining time is devoted to enjoying our family, especially the three grandchildren.
Frederick Styles Breimyer ’65
Ohio Wesleyan was a surprise. It wasn’t even on the schedule of colleges to visit when my father and I set out on this quest. Education, though, involves serendipity as well as planning, and my father’s sister lived just outside Columbus. So it began with an unscheduled stop on a Saturday morning in light rain. Now, almost fifty years later, it appears to have been particularly fortuitous. More than an education, it supplied grounding—a perspective on the life to come and appreciation of the possibilities. I, as many others, followed a path to a professional career. A Ph.D. from Northwestern University followed, and with that in hand I was able to shape a career I could both enjoy and be proud of. I am still at it. Personal life, as is most often the case, has had ups and downs. Divorce was the big down; children prior to the divorce, the big up. Three children, Elizabeth, Lauren and Paul, each now married, and three grandchildren (and counting) provide much pleasure, as does my wife, Adele Langevin. Retirement will come, but that is a term, not a condition. What I will do with/in retirement is unknown. Then, again, I didn’t know I would stop by and find my way to Ohio Wesleyan. Life provides both the questions and, if one listens softly, often the answers.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Russell V. Brown ’65
In 2007 I retired after 32 years teaching Spanish at Muskingum University. I keep busy with part-time teaching and editing, singing in several choruses, volunteering at a local food pantry, and as a docent at the John and Annie Glenn Historic Site in New Concord, Ohio. My wife Karen (Colby ’65) retired from her Spanish teaching position at Ohio University Zanesville in 2006. We make time for travel to Spain, the American West, and to visit family in New York, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Nancy Bates Busse ’65
I haven’t been to a reunion since my 15th in 1980. The short version of those 30 years; I worked in association publishing until I retired in 2008. My husband Jim and I have five grandchildren, ranging in age from 5 to 13. We will move to South Carolina within the next two years to get away form the traffic and snow of the D.C. area, although we love it here for many other reasons. I’m learning to oil paint, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. For those of you not yet retired, I recommend it!
Bruce Lawrence Cook ’65
After a career teaching with Columbia College, DeVry, and Keller, plus working in marketing for Chicago Sun-Times, I now work with emerging authors on my websites: Author-Me.com, Reserve-Books.com, InnisfreePoetry.org, and Enskyment.org. Also, I’m continuing my family’s traditional role in religious publishing by maintaining my website WorldSundaySchool.com with free weekly graded lessons for underprivileged churches, internationally. I have a wonderful family with my wife, Eileen, who just endured two knee-replacement surgeries. My son Calico is webmaster at Bastyr College, Seattle; Downers Grove, IL, Helen teaching 7th grade in a local school; and Bruce an accountant at Ahlbeck in Des Plaines, IL. Our beagle doggie, Pumpkin, is always eager to make new friends.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Sandra Decker ’65
I just returned from Portland, Oregon, where I attended my daughter’s graduation from Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. This was a three-year Master’s program. My son and his girlfriend were there from Seattle, and a few other friends and relatives flew in for the occasion. It was a very enjoyable reunion.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Jeffrey Peter Dippel ’65
There are currently two prominent passages in my life: my son Zephyr just started college at Philadelphia University; and sadly, my wife Ellen has just died from pancreatic cancer at age 52. I am proud and hopeful for my son, and shocked and devastated by the passing of my wife. Zephyr and I are forging ahead, assuming that Ellen is at peace, while we continue to do what would have pleased her with our lives. In spite of arthritis and heart condition, I plan to be as creative and supportive as is possible as an artist and parent. And Everet Haycock is still my favorite teacher.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Carol Drury ’65
I can’t imagine giving up private practice so am currently doing it part time. The remainder of the time I travel with my husband and grandchildren, having just returned from taking the grandkids to Brazil and the Amazon, and my husband and I just got back from an extended trip to Turkey, Greece, and Italy. While at home I spend some time doing wildlife and parrot rescue. Life is good!
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Andres Duarte ’65
I have taken a beating in business, as Hugo Chavez doesn’t like me—so I decided to go back to Grad School and in March `09 finished M.A. degree in international relations at Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University. This surely compliments my past M.S. in Geology, and I turned out to be the oldest alum in Fletcher. Now back in Caracas working and hoping the bubble will burst and drown Chavez. In 2006 I was honored to be named a life trustee at OWU, and I also was named Director of Transparency International NGO chapter in Venezuela. Our family is contemplating moving out of Venezuela, and this may happen soon. Nevertheless, I am still associated with a Caracas newspaper as member of its editorial board and an outside director in Venezuelan bank. Our trading and transportation business is about 90 people strong.
Gale Eckerson ’65
I retired in 2006 after 40 years as a librarian in some fairly nontraditional jobs. The computer changed our lives and profession profoundly! As a retiree, I have time to write, paint, sew, and read (aiming for 3 books per week!). Not enough money for major travel, but I savor my vacation times in Maine, and visit friends in the northeast U.S. whenever possible. A lot of time is spent these days trying to stay healthy so that I can enjoy my activities. I’m very happy as a New Englander and never tire of this lovely state of Massachusetts. I’m still in touch with several classmates from OWU and enjoy hearing from them and even visiting when possible.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Marcia Farr ’65
I’m still a professor at The Ohio State University, teaching in both College of Education and Human Ecology and the English Department. Since the last reunion I’ve published a book on my study of Mexican Families in Chicago and Mexico (Rancheros in Chicagoan: Language and Identity in a Transnational Community; University of Texas Press, 2006) and a book on language diversity and education (Ethnologist Diversity and Education: language, Literacy, and Culture; Routledge, 2009). I am bilingual in English and Spanish, and I’m learning German (again—I started at OWU decades ago). For me, learning languages and doing research in various communities is great fun! I also greatly enjoy my family and four grandchildren, two in San Francisco and two in Indiana. For photos, see my Facebook page!
Edith Hope Fine ’65
Fun book news. Armando and the Blue Tarp School are up for a 2009-2010 California Young Reader Medal; announcements are made in early May. A children’s musical based on the book premiered in March. Amazing. Clever script and music by the Park Dale Players and the music is lively, poignant, and fresh. Eight performances or 26 young actors wowed audiences and benefited teacher David Lynch’s non-profit responsibility. I’m blogging sporadically at live Journal (www.edithfine.com, www.bluetrapschool.com, www.waterweed.com). As usual, I’m busy with classes, SCBWI, reading writing, book and critique groups, author presentations to schools and organizations, friends, kids, and grands. Yes, I am still growing veggies in the front yard. Have a great reunion. I’ll be with my frosh/soph roomies Becky, Nancy and Peg in Pittsburgh in June.
Catherine Williams Fitz ’65
I retired from high school journalism in 2006 and am enjoying spending more time with five young grandchildren at our second home on Cape Cod and on the golf course. My husband is still practicing law in D.C.
Joseph Foltz ’65
After graduation I enlisted in the Army-Army Intelligence. One and a half years training in US including one year in language school for Serbo-Croatian, then one and a half years in Stuttgart Germany. Met my wife Dorothee in Austria, stayed in Germany working after discharge and married there, returned with Dorothee to US, taught German a year then went to law school. Worked in international field in-house first with US Steel, then PPG Industries and finally with The Timken Company, and lived/worked in France twice, five years each. Traveled on business extensively, last count over 50 countries. Retired in 2005 and we are living in Pittsburgh. One son, Sebastian, now in Oregon in grad school.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Cynthia Ann Forrester ’65
I continue to teach Spanish at Grove City College in Pennsylvania where I also advise Study Abroad students and sponsor the Foreign Language honorary and the Spanish Club. Travel is my addiction with 26 trips to Spain plus Iceland, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Canada.
Robert B. Gibson ’65
We have been in Georgia since 1991. I am retired as a psychotherapist but still continue as a hospital chaplain at a regional medical center in Macon. When our condo here sells, we will move up to our home in the North Georgia Mountains where I intend to become a hillbilly.
Jim Goodrich ’65
After a varied and mostly interesting career, I retired early (12 years ago) and have a varied and mostly interesting retirement. My retirement job has been as a full-time substitute teacher in the local high school, begun as a way to keep on the same schedule as my daughter and my two step-sons (and to keep busy). The kids have all graduated, but I became invested and coach, advise, serve on boards of student-oriented organizations and “belong” in a way that gives me a sense of purpose. Having school vacations gives me the time to do the usual retirement stuff that for me means serious boating in the summers and some travel (just returned from several weeks in S.E. Asia). I take particular pleasure in watching my daughter establish herself and to simply brag. Seeing her graduate cum laude from Harvard and now navigating law school, makes me feel that my average student ways didn’t damage her too much.
Marilyn Henry Harley ’65
I enjoyed teaching music for five years in Painseville Township. I then “retired” to raise our family. I returned to teach in the same system, but in the middle school. This I did for 20 years. I am now retired, but continue to direct the church choir and teen choir. Larry and I also sing in the Lake Erie College Community Choir. We now have some time to travel and enjoy our grandchildren. My time spent in the Music Department at Ohio Wesleyan was the highlight of my college life.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Ellen Marie Brasher Harris ’65
About five years ago my husband Gavin and I were finally able to move into a home we had designed and helped build over a period of 23 years. Less than three years later, Gavin died suddenly and unexpectedly. He was a unique and wonderful husband and friend.
The last two years I have been blessed, during a time of experiencing incredible stress and sense of loss, by my community of friends. I have received so much assistance and encouragement.
My parents are both 95 and living in their own house three miles from mine. I stay close to home to help with meals and doctor visits. For three years I have been working with my father on his autobiography, which we hope to complete soon.
I am proud of my children. My son Jonah is serving as a firefighter and enjoys his work. My daughter Anna is living in Santiago, Chile where a friend is teaching English.
My home is in a forest in Gallant, Alabama, and deer occasionally grace the garden/field east of my house. I sing in our church choir, accompany a local choral group, and enjoy making music the first Friday of every month in a delightful gathering of local musicians.
Life goes on with moments of laughter and good times shared with old and new friends. Change is relentless and promising. After all, love remains.
David Herron ’65
I have taken up deer and duck hunting. It gives me a chance to enjoy the outdoors and relationships with buddies.
My wife (Bert) and I have been married (second marriage for both) twenty-seven years and we are enjoying six grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Katherine Hooper ’65
I am a Suzuki piano teacher with a private studio in my home. I am also on the faculty of the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute in Vermont where I teach every summer. I am the choral music director at the Waldorf High School of Saratoga Springs with a fifty-voice chorus and a 24-voice a-cappela ensemble. I perform chamber music locally with two ensembles called The Cottage Street Players. Our two daughters have completed college and are living their lives. Our son is a student at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Virginia Dangremond Houghtaling ’65
Working as a clinical social work psychotherapist-learning and treating trauma survivors with emdr. Enjoying my four grandchildren in Berkeley, CA, and Seattle, WA. Celebrating my son Scott’s Ph.D. in biogenetics. Traveling; activity in my UCC church; Habitat for Humanity volunteering and Board membership.
Marsha Jaenke ’65
Don and I both worked in education in the Mansfield, Ohio, area. We are now enjoying our retirement. Our daughters, Julianne Jaenke and Janet (Matt) Nelson, and our four adorable grandchildren live in the same city so that we are engaged in their lives every day. We feel fortunate to have this time with them since we know that once they become involved with sports and friends outside the family we may not have the same opportunities. I am still active in the Gamma Phi Beta Cleveland West Alumnae and see one of my OWU roommates, Carole Stouffer Luce, fairly often.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Peter Lee ’65
Since retiring in 2005, I have been a community volunteer and have been involved with OWU Alumni groups. My wife and I really enjoy our time with our two grandchildren, Tobey(5) and Raegan(3). Retirement activities include: B. J. Jordan Child Care Programs, Inc. DBA Beanstalk – a non-profit 501[c][3] Child Care Agency – Board Member 2005 to date, Foothill High School Booster Club, 2004- present Founding Head Coach for the Foothill HS Boys Varsity Lacrosse team, 2004-present. Consultant to Ryquin Lacrosse to promote the growth of youth lacrosse in the Greater Sacramento Area. Play for the OWU Legends Lacrosse teams (Grand Masters and Super Grand Masters) in the Lack Placid, NY, and the Florida Lacrosse Classic each year since 2003. Co-edited the book, Ohio Wesleyan University, The History of Men’s Varsity Lacrosse, ‘Pride and Tradition’ Celebrating the First 50 Years; From Humble Beginnings to National Power, 1958-2007; printed by OWU, October 2006. Member of the OWU Alumni Glee Club Reunion Planning Committee since 1998. Reunions have been held at OWU in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2009. Compiled information for the book, Brothers Sing On! A History of the Ohio Wesleyan Men’s Glee Club, 1876-1952, and the Glee Club and Glee-ettes, 1953-1975, printed by OWU, October 2009. Served as Chairman for the Ohio Wesleyan University Lacrosse Alumni Association, 2003- 2008. I am looking forward to the SAE Ohio Delta Reunion set for October 2010. Phi Alpha, Brothers!
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Thomas C. Linacre Jr. ’65
I began my career as a sales representative for the Xerox Corporation in New York City. I moved on to work as a product marketing manager and national marketing manager in the office equipment industry. Subsequently, I moved into the industrial manufacturing arena as a business analyst with American Standard Inc., where I developed the financial justification for the creation of a new subsidiary in the Republic of Ireland. I was asked to be that subsidiary’s Managing Director and relocated to Co. Kerry for three years.
I served with distinction as general manager in the building materials and security industries. In 1983 U.S. named me “General Manager of the Year” after taking one of their divisions from a loss to over $3 million net profit in just one year. At Brinks Inc., I worked as a Project Controller with Siemens Inc’s Airport Baggage Division until I retired. Some of my more notable career experience has been:
Executive Recruiting: Contributed to the development of the Pondera Executive Recruiting Process, recruits executives for upper-level leaderships positions.
Human Resource Development: Created compensation plans for domestic and foreign companies, successfully resolved domestic sexual harassment and racial discrimination lawsuits, and participated in numerous succession planning activities.
Operational Leadership/Management: Created and managed a foreign subsidiary in addition to turning around several domestic companies.
Strategic Planning: Led the international strategic planning efforts for more than a dozen companies and new products.
Teambuilding: Orchestrated team-building processes for teams in a variety of industries.
Training: Conducted Graduate-level Business School trainings in International Marketing, Human Resources, Project Management, and Operations Management.
Education after OWU:
Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Long Island University
Attended Suffolk University Law School
I currently reside in Comstock Park, Michigan. I have two children: a son who works as a Nursing Home Administrator in Baltimore, Maryland, and a daughter who is married to an Air Force pilot in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I enjoy coaching and officiating high school Lacrosse as well as downhill skiing and scuba diving. I am a licensed pilot.
Bob Lorish ’65
I am retired and enjoy cycling, traveling, and keeping up with grandchildren.
Nancy Meyfarth ’65
I’m living in Sarasota, Florida, where I have spent most of the last 38 years. Presently I’m semi-retired and helping with my mother’s care. Also I spend as much time as I can visiting my three sons and their families who live in Charleston, SC.
Jack Morgan ’65
Now retired, we have five grandsons. Living in Lexington, KY, is still fun. I’m still helping ODK- on my schedule.
Gary Nickerson ’65
I have been living in New York City since I left OWU. MY graduate work was in economics (all but dissertation) and I worked as an economist for 20 years (1973-94), including stints as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank, a foundation program officer (Twentieth Century Fund), and a senior research analyst (NYC Criminal Justice Agency), also taught as an adjunct assistant professor at several NYC Colleges. I was also politically active during the 60s and 70s and was on the editorial board of the Review of Radical Political Economics. Before and after my economics career, I worked in computers. Initially I worked in programming (while dinosaurs roamed the earth), to finance raising a child and my graduate education. In the mid 80s, I returned to consulting (part-time at first), which I found more fun than the research I was doing. Since `93 I have worked full-time as an IT Director and IT consultant with my own company, www.gwntec.com/, helping small companies and non-profits work better through the use of technology. In my spare time, I work with kids through the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings program, nycico.sierra-club.org and enjoy with my wife the fun of living in New York City. Online I can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Barbara Nordlon ’65
In the summer of 2007 after my husband David retired from a 42-year career at Indiana University, we built a new home in Pinehurst, NC, at the Country Club of North Carolina, where we’ve been able to indulge our love of love and to enjoy the great beauty of the Sandhills region with its many longleaf pines, dogwoods, and magnolias. Both of my children live in Houston and are married, with young families—our four grandchildren. Keeping up with them and my 95-year-old mother has kept us on the go the past few years!
Richard Odgers ’65
I retired from teaching biology in 2001 and am presently an active member of the education department of the United States Sail and Power Squadron, Key West, FL. I still operate a small cottage establishment in Ontario during the summer. I am married with a daughter and son-in-law and two grandchildren. Hobbies include sailboat racing in the winter and vintage sports car racing in the summer.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
James Opfer ’65
Married, five children, one grandchild (although I am not old enough to be a grandfather!). I remember with great fondness the fudge cake at Buns and going to Pizza Villa with Al Fiorey and the gang; pop tart dinners at Lorish’s house, intramural wrestling and basketball (I was known as the hammer) and running around fraternity circle; shows at the larger Quonset hut and music classes in the smaller Quonset hut; the art of waterballooing with a lacrosse stick without getting wet; being on the ghost train at the Beta House during rush week; “attending” weekly chapel thanks to a friend who turned in your card; the yearly musical and the apartment rented by the seniors for post rehearsal relaxation, Lobue staring out the window of the library; finding an old pool in the bowels of Edwards; Smith and antebellum south; Jennings and baseball; Ware and his German Shepherd; the MUB; making friends with someone who owned a car; those wonderful visits from the family; Ohio State games and going to see the Cleveland Browns on Lou “The Toe” Groza day; selling cigarettes in the SGA office; 3.2 beer at the Surry or the Brown Jug (Big Cat or Colt 45); hamburgers at Butsies; sticks at the Hamburger Inn and Sunday night dinner with your friends when the fraternities did not serve a meal; pre- or post-church tomato juice with all the fixings at the L&K; meeting people from all over the world and all those other wonderful memories and friends who you just don’t see enough of.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Marian Page ’65
My last reunion was in 1965 (graduation), but I hope to make it to the 2015 graduation. In the meantime I’ve taught school, married (and divorced), raised a daughter and welcomed three grandchildren. My daughter, Susannah Joy Garcia, lives in San Antonio with two sons and daughter. She is working full- time, working on her bachelor’s degree, and raising the three musketeers (as we call them). I try to get down there twice a year and I am beginning to understand the mysteries of driving in Texas. I am now retired but volunteer at my old school and at the Christ Cathedral Montessori School where I attend church. I love living in my small town, Salina, KS., and have a wonderful group of friends. I enjoy gardening, sewing, reading, and walking my dog. I wish everyone a wonderful reunion weekend.
David Papoi ’65
I have now been retired from Procter & Gamble for ten years and have no idea how I got personal things done when working. Life is as busy as before, it seems, in a good way of course. Wife Pat (’66) and I have traveled the world, survived hurricanes, lost luggage and teeny tiny boats. Fellow ATO brother Chuck Kieser and I have traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, and (ahem, unofficially) Cuba. My golf game has improved from “fairly terrible” to “often bad”, and so by the time our fiftieth rolls around, I hope to attain the elite “why-is-this-guy-on-the-rough?” status. We are grandparents of Violet Rebecca Esperanza Gibbs, born 10/1/08. Mom is daughter Kristin (OWU `94). We daily thank Edith Hope Fine for making the adoption connection. My volunteer passion is Ohio Wesleyan. I just wish classmates could see the OWU that I see. I have been privileged to be a Trustee of the University, now in my second term. Most of the classmates know my good friend and classmate Bob Alspach and me as the class agents of the Annual Fund. It’s mighty encouraging when fellow classmates catch the vision of how OWU is still changing young lives for the better and how our financial support via the Annual Fund is so incredibly vital to the health of that process and to the University. If classmates or others want to chat, maybe some OWU insight, just call me in Cincinnati at 513-232-2435 or email [email protected].
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Roger Peters ’65
Retired in 1997 at age 58, Regional Sales Manager Canon USA. “Snowbirds” between homes in Venice, FL, and Hudson, OH. Married 45 years. Active volunteer; Two theaters, ASOLO Repertory, Sarasota and Venice Regional Theater. Two churches, Christ United Methodist, Venice, FL, and Hudson United Methodist, OH. Plantation G&CC fund raising. F&A Mason, Scottish Right Mason, Shrine, 32 Degree. Wife: Carol Lynne(Peterson) Peters, BSN, OSU ’62, MA Kent State. Retired 1995, Director of Nursing, Cleveland Psychiatric. Both enjoy extensive river cruising travel, Egypt, China, most of Europe, etc. Bridge. Family & friends continual winter visits to Venice, FL, home and our only grandchild. Two daughters: Lisa Mustapich, BA American University WDC, HR Director Merrimac (Special Needs) Education. Husband: USAF Lt. Col. Ret. Cited by President Bush for 9/11 intelligence work. Jill Austen, BA, Depaw University, Tri-Delt, Greencastle, IN, Senior Project Director, CitiBank Credit Card Division. (Divorced). One grandson.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Ellen Pinnell ’65
Life is good - good family, good friends, and good health. It is a gift to be able to live in both Minnesota and Mexico.
Alice L. Polley ’65
2005: Travel - Costa Rica, Belize, Tikal (Guatemala); Chartres Cathedral; skiing in Utah
2006: Elizabeth’s wedding to Patrick Montgomery, Lauren eloped with Frank Andrasco, Paul engaged to Kelly Crowley. Travel - Greece/Turkey, Iceland.
2007: Travel - Montana, skiing in Idaho.
2008: Elizabeth and Patrick had William; Lauren and Frank had Riley; Kate and Hailey Elizabeth; Paul got married to Kelly Crowley. Travel - Israel, Mongolia: skiing at Jackson Hole.
2009: Retirement! Major back surgery; no more skiing ever. Travel - Jordan/ Egypt.
2010: Next Grandchild April 8!
Howard Prestwich ’65
I am still working.
Margaret Elaine Rand ’65
Since graduating in 1965, I spent five years teaching (two years in public middle schools—French and Spanish), then three more at the University of Maryland teaching French. In 1973 I went to Louisiana and worked for a new Department of Education Bilingual Education grant doing work for the schools of that district, including state proposals for future funding. In 1967 I went to Paris, France, as a student at the Sorbonne and stayed two years, came home to finish my master’s at Middlebury College (Vermont), then returned to Paris to work for two more years. I married Tom Golden while still at Wesleyan. He died of cancer in 2001. I remarried in 1984, but divorced in 1990. I have been living in Washington, DC, for the last 25 years. I worked half of my career in the private sector as the Director of Training and Development, then switched to the federal government (Department of Education headquarters, then Department of Treasury headquarters) and retired from Treasury in 2007 as a Strategic Planning Specialist. I have been volunteering at Mount Vernon (G. Washington’s Estate) since 1991. I also do community volunteering at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. I have traveled extensively and intend to continue. Europe is an annual trek because of friends and goddaughter I have there. I’m Julia Child wanna-be in the kitchen, and I like to read—almost everything. Ohio Wesleyan had a profound effect on my life and I am still so grateful to have had the opportunity of studying there and learning many lessons of life.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Stewart Richards ’65
Keeping healthy. Paying attention. Staying relevant. Getting involved. And looking forward to our 50th reunion in 2015!
James Russell ’65
Sorry that Kay and I can’t attend the 45th Reunion as we had planned. Daughter Eleanor graduates from Grinnell College at about the same time. Our son Brant receives his M.F.A. in Directing from Northwestern University, also near that time. Brant married his Kenyon College sweetheart last year (no grandchildren yet). I retired from environmental law practice at Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago in 2008. Kay continues her private practice in counseling psychotherapy. At this writing we are hoping to visit retired Professor Libuse Reed in Delaware in April, and contribute to her professorship as well as to the Annual Fund. Warmest wishes to everyone, always!
Robert L. Schauer ’65
I retired from AT&T at the end of 2005 after 37 years, the last year and a half of which I served as head of public relations and corporate communications. In 2008 my wife and I moved full time to Sarasota, FL.
Kathryn Kruse Scherer ’65
We are all reaching our renowned “Golden Years”! My husband and I, having enjoyed nineteen memorable years of marriage, were looking forward to another nineteen years of fabulous retirement. Then pancreatic cancer reared its ugly head and in six months, Jim had passed away. A long-time artist friend felt there were no cards appropriate to send to someone who was like Jim, so she designed three cards herself. Now, neither my classes from Martha Dahlman, nor my being a retired second grade teacher, prepared me to operate at-home business! I think a company is supposed to have a “business plan”. Our purpose is two fold: to provide cards with appropriate verses to send to someone you care about who is suffering a crisis in their life, and to operate a non-profit by donating all proceeds to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in Jim’s name. With the help of many dedicated friends, I now have a WEB site. I hope you don’t need such a card, but if you do or think you might www.crisiscards.net. And so, as I enter my “Golden Years”, I am also entering a new career! With an Ohio Wesleyan education, nothing is impossible!
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Suzanne Juhola Slater ’65
I retired from teaching high school chemistry in 2005. I am enjoying my violin and grandson.
John F. Smith ’65
I am a member of a small male vocal group which performs with a rock and roll band at concerts and other events. We do songs by groups from our era-The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Mamas and the Papas, etc. It is fun and also a considerable amount of work.
I continue to play a lot of tennis and enjoy our summer home in East Orleans and Cape Cod.
I was on campus in February 2007 for the memorial tribute to Frank Shannon. It was a wonderful reunion with team members. The day in Delaware was cold and gray with snow on the ground. Memories came flooding back. It could have been 1963…..
Mary Ferall Smith ’65
Life has taken many unexpected turns since I graduated OWU, leading me in directions far different than I would have imagined. I’ve lived in Ohio, New Jersey, Long Island, and Miami. I’ve been twice married and divorced. I have a wonderful son and daughter; both are in nursing and live in Florida so I can see them often. I may have graduated with a BFA but went on to become a social worker, who would figure, after attending Rutgers University MFA program, I finished two masters degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island. I have worked as a non-profit CEO and government senior manager both in New York and Miami, Florida. Along the way I fell in love with flying and have been an FAA licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor for 25 years. I do it more as a hobby and for the joy of being in the air. Work wise I am now semi-retired and consulting in the south Florida area. I am also returning to my artwork and plan on writing and illustrating a few children’s books over the next year or so. Meanwhile I have two lovely “boys”, my Shih Tzu pups, to keep things lively at home. Life is good and I am able to enjoy family, friends, good books, movies, some travel, and the Magic City. Living in “paradise” is a definite plus.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Barbara Gibson Bates Smullen ’65
Last five years-adjustment to retirement on disability. Became Associate of Sisters of Mercy. Pastoral care in Adult Home where I live and Lay Leader in RC Church. Teach courses, facilitate small groups, write articles for publication and poetry for fun.
Present workshops - topics this year were in relationship between Spirituality and Mental Illness. Very active in AXΩ alumni chapter, loving and living with kitten “Princess”. Travel to Jordan with group of clergy. Travel for mission trip to Guatemala where I had grown up. James Souder ’65
Judi and I live on Lake Gaston off 85 midway between Raleigh and Richmond. I skated through life as an inventor (hospital TV support arm, broadband networking, biomagnetic devices) and am semi-retired, pursuing my passion for biomagnetic and energetic medial technology. I developed devices that are very effective for pain control, muscles spasm, and inflammation. I hope to continue research and demonstration efforts to mainstream the technology which is effective nominally 70% of the time. We are proud to declare our commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in further scientific investigation of the Shroud of Turin. My compatriot Tom D’Muhala was the organizer of the expedition in 1978 to scientifically examine the Shroud, as reported in National Geographic. We have former ERI, a 501 c3 research institute which owns much of the original images and data from 1978, to continue the scientific investigation into the image formation on the Shroud, and other phenomena at the intersection of science and faith. I would love to hear from anyone who remembers OWU class of ’65.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Sandra Bastian St. John ’65
The only other reunion I attended was in 1994 (Bales’ 30th) and we took our youngest daughter. Since ’94 (15 years) I’ve retired from 33 years teaching, do acrylic painting and tennis and have nine grandchildren.
Susan Baldwin Stroh ’65
I’m really enjoying writing memoir as well as fiction and some articles, teaching memoir workshops and collaborating with clients on their books, (especially memoir biography!). I write a bimonthly column for a local paper and do some charity work as well as CERT volunteering. Our son will graduate Long Beach State in environmental studies in 2011 after having a notable high school athletic career. My husband Duane and I like to create art, travel and be with family and friends. Duane still surfs quite a bit and we get to the beach and mountains quite often. He is a sole practitioner attorney with an office five minutes from the house (Sweet!).
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Hugh Arden Veley ’65
Since my wife is an avid equestrian, in our retirement we now own a horse farm in Boxborough, a small town 30 miles west of Boston. For the past several years I have been involved in town government, first as a member of our Conservation Commission, and now as a member of our Board of Selectmen. For those who have never witnessed a New England open town meeting, it is a real experience of democracy in action. While I fully appreciate the excellent education I received at Ohio Wesleyan University, I am equally appreciative of the wonderful people I had the pleasure to meet there. I still have the original 1961 suggested reading list for English 111-112 and occasionally will read for a second or third time my favorite books from that list. Thank you Mrs. Ruth Davies and other members of the English faculty for putting that reading list together.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Cindy Williams ’65
Since our last reunion I have been very busy with grandchildren! I help care for my son Lance’s three children in nearby Clinton, CT. With two boys ages 7, 5, and a girl 20 months, Lance and Julie are expecting twin girls in May so I will be even busier. My daughter Marisa and her husband Scott are still in L.A. with two boys 6 and 4 and a girl due in May! With both families having teacher moms, I still manage to travel to Mexico at least once a year to find my calm and regroup. Otherwise it’s bridge, reading and yoga. This is the first reunion since my 10th that I will miss. Hoping to hear lots of news from you all and hope that Andy Duarte is not having problems with Chavez.
Sharon Lynne Wybrants ’65
I graduated from OWU in 1965 with my BFA, and married Terry Lynch, a fellow OWU alumnus. After Indiana, we moved to NYC where Terry joined a law firm and I began my art career. We had two wonderful girls, Kate and Justine, who are now married and living in Brooklyn. Kate is a Kundalini yoga teacher and a potter, and Justine is an acupuncturist and a modern dancer. I co-founded SOHO20 Gallery, earned my MA in Painting from Hunter College, was awarded the Childe Hassam Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and I was Honored Alumni of the Year at OWU. I exhibited in The Downtown Whitney Museum of Art, and PS 1-Institute for Art and Urban Resources, The World Trade Center, SUNY at Stony Brook, the Dayton Museum, and Rutgers University. Terry’s and my marriage ended and I moved to SOHO, Puerto Rico and then NM, where I created an arts program for adults and children with disabilities. After three years we served two hundred people a week. In 1933 I moved to MA, where I was briefly married and taught art at Berkshire School, a college preparatory boarding school. Although I have been doing my own work all along and have shown consistently throughout the years, a great deal of my energy has been devoted to teaching art. Recently, however, I became aware that I needed focus on my own work. I am doing a series of large painting entitled Endangered Species, which includes artists, spirituality, world, religions, tigers, small family farms, our fragile earth and the five elements. I am very excited about this work.
*Update taken from 2010 Alumni Today Directory
Nancy Keck Yamakoski ’65
I am retired from teaching so my husband, Dick, and I have done quite a bit of traveling. We have been able to spend six weeks in St. Petersburg, FL, during the winter. We are lucky to be able to spend lots of time with our three sons and their wives and four grandchildren.