CMC Magazine Fall 2020

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table of contents

features

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sections

Signal Boost

From the President

“When you’re a teacher, you learn that you have to meet your students where they are. We can’t stay in our comfort zone.”

The Hub

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CAMPUS LIFE FACULTY BOOKS

Re-Search for Justice “Very few colleges in this country tackle human rights specifically—not just offering a few classes but really delving into research and advocacy.”

Looking Back Alumni News

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PROFILES

Bart’s Legacy

CMCAA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

“If you ever witnessed a conversation between Bart and a student, you’d see that his ability to listen and communicate with them was uncommon.”

IN MEMORIAM

CLASS NOTES

Parting Shot

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from the president Dear Friends: During this year’s Convocation, I shared that I have been giving a great deal of thought to what it means, and what it could mean, for us to be in this moment.

Every moment is doubly charged with the past that shapes it and the future it anticipates. The past does not dictate the present, and the present does not fully determine the future. Each moment is part of the temporal continuum, yes. But the present need not merely replicate the past or pre-determine any particular promise or hazard in the future.

Within the structural forces outside of our immediate control, the powerful determinants that shape history and that frequently frustrate the future ambition of our free human agency, there is always a small space left for us. An opening only we can fill. A word or line in the story that only we can write. A computation in the formula that only we can calculate.

A moment. Our moment.

Years later, when we look back at now, what is the story we would like to be able to tell?

About how we responded to COVID-19, the persistence of racism, the challenges to our democracy, our economy, and our climate. Not only how we responded, but what we learned as individuals, as a community, a college, a society, a civilization? What contributions will we have each made?

The answers to these questions both stand above and undergird everything we want to do right now.

Within it and from a point in the future looking back, we find a special purpose to inspire us to learn through unprecedented challenges.

Here, we cannot know the future but we can face it with confidence. Confidence built on the evidence of how we responded the past few months, evidence that is fully demonstrated by our CMC community featured in the pages of this very magazine.

The sudden, sad, speedy, safe, successful departure from our campus last March. The immediate pivot to continue learning together, the adjustments, the generous support, and the resilience as we marked the moment with our graduating class. The innovative curricular designs and generous accommodations made by our faculty. The fierce dedication of our staff and alumni to reach out, to build community in new ways, especially with our first-years. And, of course, the remarkable response of our student body who chose not to wait it out on the sidelines and instead are here to learn and have fun on a new field of play this semester.

Based on this record of accomplishment and commitment to our community building, we should all be confident we can respond to whatever the world throws at us this year. Think of all the stories we will write together. Stories like our Justice League alumni and students working for systemic change through the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights or Bart Evans ‘70 and his lasting legacy of opening CMC to Silicon Valley for multiple generations. Stories that will give purpose to our learning together. Stories that will make a difference. In our own lives and those of others.

Thanks to all of you for co-authoring this. Our moment.

*Remarks adapted from CMC Convocation speech on 8/28/20

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thehub Best in Class “The Class of 2020, we are so proud of you. The creativity, the empathy and collaboration, and the absolute courage and resilience that you’ve shown is nothing short of amazing. It will serve you well.

And it will serve all who you touch.”

— President Hiram E. Chodosh from the Class of 2020’s Mark the Moment video

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Marking the moment As senior class president, Laleh Ahmad ’20 has taken on her share of leadership challenges and commitments at CMC. But in the midst of campus emptying in midMarch due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there didn’t seem to be a playbook for what should come next.

So, Ahmad relied on calm reassurance amid the heartbreak and tears as the Class of 2020 departed.

They would see each other again, especially on commencement day. And she would be the one to make it happen, Ahmad promised.

The

List

Distinctive CMC honors for the Class of 2020

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She kept her word. Ahmad organized a virtual call with roughly 150 of her fellow graduates on the afternoon of May 16—the day of their original commencement before it was postponed. The virtual celebration, complete with champagne toasts, helped “mark the moment” for graduates.

“Yes, we’ve gone through something scary and big together,” Ahmad said of the emotional day. “But I really wanted everyone to look back on their entire time at CMC, not just our final months.”

To honor their hard work and perseverance, the class also received a special box of items from CMC, including a Class of 2020-branded folder that played a commemorative video when opened. In self-shot videos, students shared memories about everything from the warm chocolate chip cookies in Collins Dining Hall to greasy keyboards during late night lab sessions to moments of bonding and belonging over impromptu dance moves on WOA trips.

Maya Love (Denver) William H. Alamshah Award for Student Leadership Kylie Bernardi (Spokane, Wash.)

Alumni Association Citizenship Award Santiago David (South Bend, Ind.) Alumni Association Citizenship Award Nikolai Parodi (Washington, D.C.) Alumni Association Outstanding Athlete Award for Men Phoebe Madsen (Santa Barbara, Calif.)

Alumni Association Outstanding Athlete Award for Women Maxwell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) William Dickinson Athletic Award

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Sydney Baffour (Arlington, Va.) The Sydney J. Rosenberg Award for Debate Amelia Gagliuso (Hinesburg, Vt.) Brian Walkenbach Award for Outstanding Resident Assistant Maxwell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) Brian Walkenbach Award for Outstanding Resident Assistant Maxwell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) H.N. and Frances C. Berger Award for Outstanding Senior Man Hanna Shiferaw (Seattle) H.N. and Frances C. Berger Award for Outstanding Senior Woman See the full list of CMC and national award winners at cmc.edu.

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Committed

IN JUNE, CMC announced a new Presidential Initiative on Anti-Racism and the Black Experience in America commencing in the 2020–21 academic year. The Initiative—the College’s response to the May killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and persistent patterns of anti-Black racism—will develop a long-term, structural, integrated educational response to racism, inequality, and inequity, said President Hiram E. Chodosh

to change

Four key commitments will drive CMC’s priorities for the Initiative: • This is a shared responsibility within the College community—embedded and pervasive, personal, professional, collective.

• This is a learning experience, not just something to be studied, but a set of skills, fluencies, and capabilities CMC commits to support and develop in each member of the community.

• This is a fully integral educational response, not a separate department or center. Change is effective when centrally embedded in CMC’s daily work.

• This is about outcomes, not just studies, plans, and investments. CMC commits to action and to developing a dashboard capable of accounting for measured success or failure.

Matthew Bibbens ’92, vice president for administration and planning, general counsel, and secretary of the College; Nyree Gray, associate vice president for diversity and inclusion and chief civil rights officer; Dianna Graves ’98, assistant vice president and dean of students; and professor Shana Levin, associate dean of the faculty, have led the first phase of the Initiative.

Developments into the fall and spring semester of the 2020-21 academic year have begun, including expansion of community involvement and leadership.

“We must develop a fresh vision, strategy, action plan, and accountable measures for how best to reinforce our values in action: through our behavior, our relationships, our community, our country,” Chodosh said. “This means reimagining the future and charting the roadmap for getting there, together. This is a moment for leadership to give greater resolve and focus to our collective efforts.”

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Vince Greer of the

Q&A CARE CENTER

With the announcement of CMC’s new Presidential Initiative on Anti-Racism, Greer reflected on his work as associate dean of students for diversity, inclusion, and residential life—and what each member of the CMC community can do to help.

The CARE Center is responsible for so much foundational work on diversity and inclusion at CMC. How do you see your efforts contributing to the President’s Initiative, and perhaps, leading some of the changes that need to happen?

I always have to remind myself that I do this work every day. This is a norm for me. It is not a norm for others. The CARE Center’s programming, educational capacity building, and broader opportunities allow us to be at the forefront to help students who, prior to the events of this summer, haven’t been as inspired or don’t quite know how to be involved. Maybe there are students now who have had a shift in perspective or motivation. So, I see CARE taking the existing things that we do—for starters, our ally and implicit bias training with student organizations—and extending it to folks who have historically been on the sidelines.

Much of the CARE Center’s leadership is student-centered through its fellow program. How do you help students turn their interests and motivations into real change?

It starts with truly meeting students where they are. We all have a starting point somewhere.

None of us just woke up with a higher level of proficiency—it comes through direct lived experience, our families and friends, reading books, learning theories, the classes we’ve taken, and continued education. Whatever the entry point, we all had to start somewhere. CARE does its best to remember that and to be a community of open inquiry and growth—not judgment.

The design of our program is intentional. We want to model what this work looks like at all the different stages, and that is fully reflected in our fellows. It’s why we also encourage them to attend multiple programs led by other CARE fellows—to not just focus on a single issue. That way, they can learn techniques and facilitate conversations across a variety of topics and dialogues that their peers are interested in. It’s what allows them to practice empathy and learn about an experience outside of their own vantage point, to think more broadly about the impact they can have.

What is something that can be done right now for diversity and inclusion that would have the broad impact you referenced—at CMC and in our own communities?

We can all start now by looking inward. Be part of the solution by starting with yourself. Do you, knowingly or unknowingly, perpetuate racism—whether it’s through a lack of awareness, or shutting down conversations, or being defensive, or intentionally being a contrarian? What is your contribution, or do you avoid contributing? If so, why? For instance, I’ve facilitated or attended events that center around gender equity and redefining masculinity, and a lot of times, there’s an assumption from people that, “Oh, this is an issue for a specific group or identity. I have nothing to add. This doesn’t affect me.” We have to start seeing these issues as human issues that require our collective attention and humanity.

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Timely research

Anna Green ’21, middle, studies on campus earlier this year.

A lot can change over the course of a summer. Case in point: Anna Green ’21 had no idea that her senior thesis topic—the history of Confederate monuments—would dominate the news so much these past few months.

“What was initially intended to be predominantly an exploration of journal articles and advanced degree theses turned into a current events-centric piece wherein, every day, I was getting carried away, staying up-to-date on the most recent developments in this area,” said Green, a government major.

“It was incredibly exciting. I finished my project with far more questions than I had at the beginning.”

As part of CMC’s virtual Summer Research Program, Green began digging into fundamental questions: Who built and paid for monuments? What was their intended purpose? What should we do now? She also learned about life as an academic, which has given her strong foundational knowledge to begin planning her actual thesis.

That holistic experience is the beating heart of CMC’s summer program, which launched last year as a way to give up to 15 CMC students in the social and mathematical sciences and humanities a way to conduct on-campus research alongside a faculty mentor. With campus life upended since mid-March due to COVID-19, this year’s program presented “obvious challenges to students and faculty advisors,” program director and mathematics professor Mark Huber said.

However, “everyone was up to the task” virtually. Students engaged in weekly lectures about research and delivered presentations to one another over Zoom. Huber also marveled at the range of research covered—from Green’s timely topic, to the interplay between COVID and racial dynamics in the workplace, to how immigration affects trade, to the effects of aging on neural processing.

“As a whole, we accomplished the task of the SRP to not just have students do research,” Huber said, “but to have students actively engaged in research.”

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Building community Lexi Punishill ’24 chose a small liberal arts college like CMC, in part, because she “wanted to be friends with everyone” on campus. Craving community with her new classmates while stuck in quarantine, the Connecticut native decided to give her social calendar a boost by doing the most 2020 thing she could think of.

“Let’s start a Zoom and just see how it goes,” she said with a laugh.

Her first call in early spring, with some 60 students participating, was a hit. Student-led outreach extended to a regular series of summer Zoom calls and daily GroupMe chats with participation in the hundreds. It’s all part of the unique backdrop for a group of high school seniors whose graduation year celebrations were abruptly cut short— and who now have seen their first semester of college further upended due to COVID-19.

Those unpredictable elements, along with an uncanny resolve to keep pushing forward amid disruptive circumstances, have led several members of CMC’s Dean of Students and Admission offices to refer to this first-year cohort as the “closest incoming class at CMC ever.”

“Usually with first-years, we have to do a lot of empowering. But this is a group of students who has been more than comfortable creating opportunities for themselves,” said Devon MacIver, associate dean of students for student engagement.

A new chapter: This year’s official Welcome to CMC for first-years

and transfers also moved to the virtual space with a livestream featuring faculty, staff, students, and College leadership. The theme, “Great Stories Begin Here,” resonated as CMC community members spoke about alumni and parent support, the value of interdisciplinary liberal arts, principles of academic freedom and open inquiry, and a shared responsibility to the growth and learning of one another—even without the benefit of the Claremont campus for the fall semester.

Sharon Basso, vice president for student affairs, also offered five main points of guidance for the Class of 2024.

• You belong here. All of you.

• You can do this. And do this well.

• We are here to support you.

• This is your story. And it doesn’t have to look or read like anyone else’s.

• Take care of yourselves and one another.

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thehub The title itself is deliberately provocative. After all, how can a president whose slogan is “Make America Great Again,” a president who cradles Old Glory at rallies while the loudspeakers blare “God Bless America,” be called unpatriotic?

Patriot act

Jack Pitney targets the president’s public posturing “As far as I can tell, my family has been Republican since the Civil War on both sides,” said Jack Pitney, Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics.

And like his forebears—dairy farmers, shopkeepers, small-town political functionaries—Pitney was a GOP enthusiast from a tender age. By 13, he was leafletting for presidential candidate Richard Nixon in his hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York. On the morning of his 18th birthday, Pitney made a special trip to the county seat in Ballston Spa to register as a Republican. That was in 1973, the height of the Watergate scandal.

With Nixon’s resignation and Gerald Ford’s pardon, Pitney soldiered through GOP disgrace. He went on to work as a full-time staffer for Republican officials and organizations in Albany, New York City, and Washington, D.C. But for Pitney, the rise of Donald J. Trump as his party’s leader broke 40 years of good faith.

“I voted for every Republican presidential nominee between 1976 and 2012,” Pitney wrote in the preface to his new book, UnAmerican: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump. “When Donald Trump clinched the nomination in 2016, however, I knew that the streak would end.”

Un-American is an encyclopedia of the current president’s character shortcomings. The 200-page “polemic”—Pitney’s word— lays out a raft of evidence gathered from Trump’s own speeches, interviews, and tweets.

“It’s very different from my other books, which have been academic, scholarly: bending over backward to provide alternative points of view,” said Pitney, who joined CMC’s faculty in 1986, shortly after earning his Ph.D. at Yale.

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Pitney’s answer: “Trump’s display of patriotism is a reality show— not reality.”

Divided into seven chapters, Un-American juxtaposes key phrases from the Declaration of Independence with Trumpian statements and conduct unbecoming of a patriot, Pitney said. The book ends in 65 pages of endnotes. “I wanted to ground everything in citable sources,” Pitney said. “If people question my evidence, I give them the breadcrumbs. Essentially the notes are a way of telling people, ‘You don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself.’”

The intended audience for Un-American is “general readers, and more specifically, Republicans, former Republicans, or Republican-leaning independents who supported Trump out of party loyalty or a belief that it was a patriotic act,” Pitney said.

“My argument in the book is that Trump is neither patriotic nor is he consistent with Republican beliefs, which is why I changed my registration as soon as he was elected. It’s not that I left the party.

The party left me.”

—Diane Krieger

Nixon v. Trump Jack Pitney’s GOP affiliation survived Watergate, but not Donald Trump.

He explains the difference.

“I teach a course on Nixon. I tell my students: ‘Everything bad you can say about Nixon is true. And everything good you can say about Nixon is true.’

Here’s the difference between Nixon and Trump: Nixon didn’t take the party with him. There were a bunch of Republicans on the judiciary committee who voted for his impeachment. Only one Republican stood up to vote to convict Trump at his impeachment.

Watergate was a Nixon problem—a huge problem. But it wasn’t a systemic Republican problem. Trump is a systemic Republican problem.”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Three Questions With…

Jon Shields

In their new book, Trump’s Democrats, Jon Shields and co-author Stephanie Muravchik explore what compelled voters in consistently blue states to cast ballots for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016.

“The 2016 election was the most surprising political event in my lifetime,” said Shields, an associate professor of government at CMC. “Writing this book was really just borne of deep curiosity, and a sense that something big and historic had happened, something that will reshape the future of our politics.”

To find out why blue voters flipped red, Shields and Muravchik— who are married with three sons—spent months living in Johnston, a Rhode Island suburb; Kentucky’s rural Elliott County; and Ottumwa, Iowa, the site of a meat-packing plant. Muravchik also joined CMC as a part-time visiting professor this fall.

Shields said they focused on these distinct areas because “all three places have longstanding and deep loyalties to the Democratic party. Not only did they vote for Barack Obama, since the New Deal they had voted—almost without fail—for Democrats.

After the election, we were just itching to get into some of these communities.”

Overall, Shields found that the citizens of these communities are loyal to their town or county; their thinking and political allegiances informed by a sense of belonging. “All of these places have a long history of being run by political machine bosses who used to dominate the Democratic party,” Shields explained. “Some of their most beloved leaders resemble Trump. They are grandiose and promise to take care of their people by cutting deals.”

that you have a Ph.D. It’s an initial obstacle, but it’s a soft prejudice. If people see that you can be disarming, and a normal person despite the Ph.D., they won’t hold it against you. They’ll look past it when they see you are a three-dimensional person.

In Rhode Island, people really wanted to talk, they were engaging and warm. In Appalachia, it was more insular. People there have a distrust of outsiders, so it was a harder nut to crack.

What did you learn from researching this book? How did this research deepen your work as a whole?

I know a lot more than I did four years ago. We have a unique angle on it too, because no one else has done something quite like this. I feel like I have a much better sense of the political and cultural divide that now separates blue communities, places like Elliot County, versus places like Claremont. I have a richer sense of that. In the future, we’re likely to revisit these communities and refine our view of this divide.

How did you prepare to write this book? What were some challenges?

We started by talking with local journalists, as they are a great resource. They know the lay of the land, and the right people. They introduced us to the local elites, politicians, schoolteachers, union leaders, and members of the clergy, as well as more ordinary folks.

Now that we are navigating a pandemic, do you have a different perspective on the places you visited?

After the lockdown here in California, I walked through the village in Claremont, and had a surreal experience. Very few cars were parked. The sidewalks were empty. It felt like a ghost town, like I was back on Main Street in Ottumwa, where there were lots of boarded-up shops and very few pedestrians. It gave me a chill.

This plague could bridge the divide between my cushy college upper middle-class town and Ottumwa, Iowa. I do worry and wonder about the increasing social despair, which they were neck-deep in before COVID. I want to go back and answer that question.

If you want to achieve social distance, tell working class Americans

— Anne Bergman

With the 2020 presidential election looming, Shields—whose work is focused, in part, on American politics—discussed the process of researching Trump’s Democrats and what he learned along the way.

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SIGNAL

BOOST I N T E R V I E W S

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Anne Bergman | Thomas Rozwadowski | Gilien Silsby I L L U S T R AT I O N

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F E D E R I C O

G A S TA L D I

he Dean of the Faculty’s office couldn’t contain its enthusiasm.

As teaching plans poured in from professors at the end of July, CMC’s faculty leadership saw the promise and power of a virtualized fall semester at their fingertips. New, topical courses. Innovative pedagogies. Smart software tools. Special projects, guest speakers, and at-home labs.

It was quite an evolution from mid-March, when due to nationwide spikes in COVID-19, CMC’s campus emptied abruptly—leaving students, faculty, and staff scrambling to restore an upended semester as best as possible. Wrestling with rollercoaster conditions over the summer only amplified the need for creative ideas and virtual contingencies at every turn. No matter the uncertainty, one tenet was abundantly clear: If in-person living and learning couldn’t happen in the fall, CMC faculty would be prepared to meet this moment for students.

Through it all—the trainings, the workshops, the collaborative sessions with colleagues and students amid a life-altering pandemic—here’s how CMC faculty are reflecting on their reimagined teaching, both now and in preparation for a future forever changed.

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JANET SHEUNG

Assistant Professor of Physics

REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: Opportunities to reimagine a lab curriculum come very rarely, and this is one of those times. For fall, we’ve outfitted our teaching labs with widescreen HD cameras and studio-quality lighting to improve the quality of the virtual broadcast. I’ve also made a conscious effort to steer away from shoehorning lessons meant for in-person teaching into a Zoom session. Instead, I’m focusing on skills like teamwork and technical problem-solving by using equipment shipped to our students. Fortunately, modern technology makes a lot possible! For example, one component we sent to each student is a combination acceleration and rotation sensor often used in drones as a crucial part of their on-board flight control. This electronic module costs under 10 dollars and is about the size of a finger.

GETTING CREATIVE: Our physics lab coordinator, Tom Dershem, came across a catapult kit (just under a foot-by-foot in size, can fire 10 feet) while researching new labs. For one of the experiments, the students work in groups to optimize their catapults for firing distance, and we determine which team does it best. There is a lot of physics to be learned from throwing heavy objects—and it doesn’t get more interactive than a hands-on learning experience!

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: The global scientific community is engaged in an unprecedented effort to develop vaccines in months, a process that normally takes a decade. For many laypeople, it has also become difficult to comprehend which statements are opinions and which are scientific statements. I hope to clarify for my students how an experiment leads to data, leads to a statistically significant conclusion, and leads to a scientific statement. I also believe that a major goal of a liberal arts education is to produce well-informed leaders and citizens. Communicating science is definitely something that has come up repeatedly during check-ins with my research students since summer. This pandemic has put into relief how being scientifically literate is an important part of being well-informed.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: The work of CMC’s Dean of Students office—the way they’ve continued to support our students even after they’ve all left campus—is one reason I’ve remained confident about this semester. They’ve gone as far as to help students arrange for good Internet connections at home. Also, I am inspired by my colleagues’ good humor, dedication, and creative ideas.

Implementing so many changes to the curriculum so quickly would have been impossible if attempted without the community of teacher-scholars I am privileged to work with.

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ANDREW SINCLAIR ’08

Assistant Professor of Government REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: I’ve really enjoyed thinking about how we could be ourselves—“how can we be CMC?”—without using our traditional classroom spaces. I started by making a list of all of the functions each class session served, including making time for “the meeting after the meeting,” an excuse to stand around and have an informal chat about politics. When we are on campus, all of these functions are bundled together. To make teaching at a distance work, I needed to devise a way to accomplish those functions with the technology available to us. Since the heart of any government course is the thoughtful formulation of intellectual arguments about politics, I believe we can achieve this with some creativity and effort. My courses this term are “unbundled” classrooms—with the lecture part delivered as a podcast, the conversation part organized into small group meetings, and activities of all kinds occurring throughout each week.

GETTING CREATIVE: To come up with ideas for activities, I drew on the material of my courses. For example, in my Introduction to American Politics course, students read this fascinating book chapter about a late-in-life exchange of letters between former presidents, onetime close friends, and later fierce political enemies, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Adams wrote: “You and I, ought not to die, before we have explained ourselves to each other.”

I liked the idea, so students are writing letters to their discussion groups. The goal of those discussions is not to win a debate. It’s to understand each other, and how our own views interact with the material of the course.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: We are living through a contentious and turbulent time in American politics. Due to the election in November, I expect an intense semester in my Introduction to American Politics and Public Policy Process courses, with everyone feeling an elevated sense of urgency, suspense, and relevance. I aim to help students turn that intensity into intellectual development. The final assignments in both of my courses—no matter who wins the presidential election, and from what perspective the student views those results— focus on looking ahead to the political opportunities of the future.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: Some of the changes to my teaching plans are not ones I would have made without the COVID-19 crisis. Now that I’ve tried them out though, I think some of these innovations are going to stay, even once we are back to teaching in person. That’s been my approach to trying to get through a challenging time: I want to look for the opportunities to make something good out of it. What I appreciate about being at CMC is that we have really been supported and encouraged in our efforts to think creatively, and there are a lot of fun people—faculty, staff, and students—around to do this with.

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TAMARA VENIT-SHELTON Associate Professor of History

REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: Last time I taught my Human Health and Disease in America class, I focused on scientific authority and the history of medical and scientific knowledge. Partly because of COVID-19 and partly because of the social justice protests, I shifted the focus to be about medical inequalities and the long history of structural inequality that has shaped medical knowledge and public policy. This is what we need to do for our students right now. This is the service that teaching history can provide, this is what a liberal arts education can provide—a conceptual and methodical tool kit for interpreting what’s going on in the world.

GETTING CREATIVE: I’m working on some big projects as part of both of my courses. In Human Health, students are participating in the COVID19@CMC program that is archiving the lived experience of the pandemic among the CMC community. Artifacts that we gather will become part of a digital archive housed

by Special Collections at the Claremont Colleges Library. In my American West survey, students are consulting with the Autry Museum in Los Angeles on their centerpiece exhibit, “Imagined West.” Usually, the museum asks visitors to interact with their new displays, but as they are closed to visitors, the museum approached me about students doing that work. The best outcome for the students would be if some part of what they worked on is up on the museum’s walls one day.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: The pandemic forced us into online learning, forced us to ramp up our tech capabilities.

Now, online teaching is at the center of both of my courses. Take videos—that’s how students are accustomed to consuming information these days. Our history department launched a YouTube channel this summer for videos about reflections on current events or careers related to history. When you’re a teacher, you learn that you have to meet your students where they are. We can’t stay in our comfort zone. It’s time to bust out of it. Some of these new ways of learning are going to be wonderful, and transform the way we teach for generations to come.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: Our students have been so proactive about creating an intellectual community for themselves and others. I’m so impressed, for instance, by the anti-racism book club that CMC students started this summer. I even heard that incoming first-years organized a meeting of their own before the actual book club meetup so they were prepared. That’s the most hopeful thing I have ever heard—that students would take ownership of their learning while in this sort of forced exile away from the classroom. It’s such a powerful lesson to us all.

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ANGELA VOSSMEYER

Assistant Professor of Economics REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: I’ve modified to a flipped classroom strategy, prerecording my lectures and meeting separately with students. One nice outcome of the student meetings is that I can get to know my students more intimately and get to work with them more closely on applied data exercises. There are aspects of this revamped approach that I’m fully embracing. For instance, because I’m recording my lecture materials beforehand, I can broaden the topics I cover in a semester.

Also, students can revisit my lectures as they prepare for exams, pause them, or even accelerate them, depending on what they need. Students are going to have a lot more control over how they absorb the material.

GETTING CREATIVE: No more big exams! We’re doing a lot more team projects, small group discussions, and mini quizzes, which are less intimidating. In teaching Econometrics, we do a lot of statistical theory and applied data exercises.

When we are in-person in the classroom, I need to have a computer screen and so does the student. Now, it’s easier because we are already going to be on our computers—so we can screen share and give additional direction on those exercises. It’s a lot more fluid.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: This pandemic is a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity. There is no better time than now to understand data and statistical modeling and their implications for shaping health and economic policies. Every day, we are looking at infection spread data and case counts.

We read in the news about predictions and forecasts of where these data are headed. Applying econometrics will give students a better understanding of why some predictions are more accurate than others and why some models are failing.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: My spring semester students gave me a lot of feedback. My research assistants also provide me with insights into student life, what students are concerned about. I’ve learned that students are stressed about their home environment and finding space that is quiet and uninterrupted. I’ve also gained a lot from conversations with faculty. The pandemic hit the spring semester so fast that we all implemented different methods to get through our courses. Doing that, we learned things that worked and those that didn’t. We know what to implement.

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ALBERT L. PARK

Bank of America Associate Professor of Pacific Basin Studies Co-Principal Investigator for EnviroLab Asia REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: For me, whether it be online or in person, what matters the most is constructing a community of reflective learners who work together to figure out how to approach and study the past—and how to apply history toward tackling pressing problems in the present. Constructing this type of community depends on building the appropriate intellectual context. It is my responsibility to make sure that I introduce a learning environment where a diverse range of views and perspectives are presented and respected. This can be done by using appropriate subjects, methodologies, and readings that lead to deep reflection; issuing intellectually rigorous assignments that connect knowledge and practice; and developing in-class exercises and projects where students learn from, depend on, and respect each other.

GETTING CREATIVE: For my Design Activism class this semester, I sent out design kits with craft materials that students can use to design and build objects each week. I also sent each student a box of Legos for building, chalk spray paint for our exercise on spray painting and activism, and an organic herb starter kit. Growing herbs and making a dish is a way for students to think about the source of their food and how to redesign the food system in ways that overcome inequality and environmental racism.

For Modern Korean History, I have students drawing up plans to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula and how to achieve reunification. Finally, as a way for students to learn more about Korean culture and the intersection between capitalism and culture, students are forming a K-Pop group to come up with songs, logos, and fan gear.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: I think students are enjoying new ways for building community and mutual help, especially through project-based learning exercises. I also think students enjoy the challenge of how to work together virtually to create new designs. It forces them to come up with new ways to communicate and express themselves.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: As a historian, I would call the pandemic a rupturing event that has jolted us from our routines and forced us to design new ways of carrying out everyday life. As a professor, this event has pushed me to reflect on my teaching styles and the way I have engaged students. In particular, it has caused me to go back to the basics and think about the goals of teaching and how to deliver effective learning outcomes. Living in this type of world requires us to help students to become more empathetic, resilient, flexible, and well-grounded people in terms of morals and ethics— and I am transforming my online classes to help those in my classes to become this type of person.

FALL 2020

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MARK HUBER

Fletcher Jones Professor of Mathematics and Statistics REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: Directly accessing technologies assists students in owning the material, the concepts, and ideals of my courses. For instance, the lab experiences are a collection of exercises that they work through with software.

My hope is that in working through these ideas themselves, I can serve as a backstop ready to help if they need it. If they can build these ideas and understand what’s going on, that’s better for them.

GETTING CREATIVE: I want students to still be able to work together in small groups. In order to make the online learning experience more collaborative, one of the things I’m doing is to work with online whiteboards that can be shared. I’ve also created online lab experiments that require students to work together on data sets. Finally, I’ve increased the accessibility to my office hours by breaking them up across the week into shorter time periods. More students will be able to come.

They can just log into Zoom, which is easier than meeting physically, and it’s easier for them to get to me.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: One thing that students are gaining now is an ability to take the lead in their own education.

It’s an advantage of pandemic learning—students can follow their own initiative and get the most out of the resources available to them. Also, with remote teaching, more faculty are putting resources and tutorials online—helping students learn concepts—and that helps everyone across the board, even when we return to campus. Once we create a video or tutorial, that resource is available for the rest of our careers.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: To help prepare us for online teaching, CMC held teaching workshops to help faculty build better syllabi, improve homework, and find ways to interact with students. The College and the Dean of Students office have done a wonderful job to prepare us all, including getting faculty and students the equipment and software we needed to be ready. Oftentimes, we as faculty are not always conscious of things that students need in order to thrive; it’s easy to respond to, but harder to anticipate those needs. We’ve been much more proactive in creating resources and online tools for our students.

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CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

RIMA BASU

Assistant Professor of Philosophy REIMAGINING THE CLASSROOM: I’ve never been one to follow the “sage on the stage” model of standing at the front of the room and lecturing to students. All of my classes are seminar-style and discussion-heavy, and I’ve found that Zoom can be a great equalizer in setting up students to be comfortable speaking up and contributing their own thoughts. My box is the same size as everyone else’s, and given the small class sizes at CMC, everyone is literally on the same page.

This puts us all on equal-footing in treating the class as a collaborative exercise in learning.

GETTING CREATIVE: One of my classes, The Challenge of Evil, is structured like a role-playing game. The goal is to build community through overcoming the trials and tribulations of a campaign—and also explore topics of human nature, the conflict between good and evil, and structural impediments to living a flourishing life. I’m also teaching a new and experimental interdisciplinary class called Structural Injustice. The course addresses the critical questions of our time. It’s team-based, interdisciplinary, studentdriven, and disseminates findings in non-traditional formats, including podcasts, videos, and artwork.

ROOM FOR OPPORTUNITY: People are really afraid, and with good reason. COVID-19 is no joke. My conversations with students have been honest. We are all struggling. Just as I’ve asked students to be flexible with me, I’m implementing greater flexibility to make what may seem overwhelming feel more manageable. We all feel a bit unmoored right now, in a state of unease. That’s the feeling that sparks philosophical thinking.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION: CMC is the kind of school that really puts value on education and in hiring faculty who are not only excellent researchers, but also excellent educators. All summer, faculty had discussions about pedagogy—what worked and didn’t work in the spring for preparation for the fall.

As a professor, if you’re going to face online-only instruction during a pandemic, I’m glad I get to do so at CMC where our class sizes are small, and where I can have in-depth, synchronous discussions and get to know each and every one of my students.

FALL 2020

CMC RETURNS: A FALL PIVOT

… and optimism for spring

In addition to faculty reimagining their coursework for the virtual fall semester, CMC has also configured all of its student life, research and institute, recreation, alumni engagement, and Athenaeum programming to online platforms.

The Dean of Students office, in particular, is connecting students with familiar campus resources and touchpoints, including a primary focus on mental health, said Sharon Basso, vice president for student affairs.

Through resident assistants, First-Year Guides, success consultants, and international student orientation leaders, CMCers are affiliated with several small cohorts to provide varied and vibrant experiences.

Technology isn’t the lone catalyst either, Basso said—with shipped gardening kits, fantasy leagues, baking/cooking nights, and mystery box exchanges among the activities for students through ASCMC and the College Programming Board.

“Connections are so important, now more than ever,” Basso said. “We will always be focused on making sure our students get the same facetime with faculty, staff, coaches, and experts that they were used to while on campus.”

The same holds true for the beloved Ath, which opened its virtual fall season in September with two award-winning writers, David Eagleman (Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain) and Ibram X. Kendi (How to Be an Anti-Racist). Director Priya Junnar emphasized pressing national issues— the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight for racial justice, the national election, and data privacy—while curating speakers for a very “in-the-moment” program, she said. “The Ath is so integral to the CMC experience—not just for students, but for everyone in the community. It’s part of the College’s DNA,” Junnar said.

Each aspect of the College’s fall plan emerged from the engaged contributions of hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and parents, in collaboration with College leadership and the Board of Trustees. Virtual outreach and planning sessions are continuing this semester, especially as CMC positions itself—hopefully—for a campus reopening in the spring.

Among the highlights of a spring CMC Returns plan: implementation of on-site testing, contact tracing, and quarantine for the CMC community; protocols for physical distancing, face coverings, and enhanced cleanings on campus; the reduction of density through expanded housing and dining options, greater use of the outdoors, and the universal design of curriculum for any combination of in-person and virtual learning.

Students would also be asked to sign an agreement that details their institutional and civic responsibility to adapt to living and learning on campus amid COVID-19.

For updates, visit cmc-returns.cmc.edu.

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Story by Diane Krieger Illustrations by Sergio Ingravalle

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h c r a e S Re-

e c i t s u J r fo

Student LEADERs champion the work of human rights lawyers

W

hile they don’t wear capes or wield superpowers, a growing corps of dedicated undergraduates are— record-by-record and case-by-case— rescuing ordinary citizens from injustice.

They call themselves the Justice League.

These idealistic CMCers, connected through the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, are poring over large databases and archival resources; tallying up incidents, actions taken, and outcomes; and creating fact-rich spreadsheets on police brutality, terrorism, and mass violence.

After building steam for two years, the Justice League has taken on new urgency as young people search for impactful ways to usher in a more just society since the May killing of George Floyd. What began as a studentcentered volunteer task force has evolved into a competitive employment opportunity that has trained and deployed 18 human rights legal researchers to date, and candidate applications are surging.

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“Students want to do something about what’s happening in their neighborhoods, whether it’s the plight of detainees, increasing outbursts of anti-Semitism, or police brutality,” said Wendy Lower, Mgrublian Center director, John K. Roth Professor of History, and George R. Roberts Fellow. “We have to respond to what’s unfolding in the present day.”

Justice Leaguers (the pun on the DC Comics superheroes is very much intended) work closely with Los Angeles human rights attorney Nazareth Haysbert, whose firm, Haysbert Moultrie LLP, has been trailblazing a new model for human rights-centered private practice—powered, in part, by these Mgrublian student workers. It was Haysbert who coined the Justice League name to describe the student workers who support his firm’s human rights litigation practice.

According to Haysbert, “sometimes they’re looking for trends over time: Where has discrimination existed historically? When and what kind of restitution has been made or not made?

How has excessive use of force been defined in training manuals? Or they might comb through thousands of police complaints, sleuthing out when qualified immunity doctrine was or wasn’t invoked; when accused officers were or weren’t charged, and if charges were later dropped, why?”

The Justice League reflects an emphasis on domestic human rights that “young people desperately want to engage with,” Lower said.

“CMC students want to address things we find offensive here at home. So, the Mgrublian Center is responding to realities in America. It’s part of an ongoing conversation we have with students to galvanize their learning about these issues,” she said.

Flipping the switch

T

he seeds for expanding the Mgrublian Center’s scope and reach were planted by student volunteers supporting the pro-bono immigration work of board member Mark Palmer ’88 P’19.

In 2010, the center’s founding director, John K. Roth, asked Palmer to join the advisory board. As one of the first PPE majors—a program Roth helped begin at CMC—Palmer felt a special bond to the beloved philosophy professor. Roth also started the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights, which later became the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights.

“For me, simply being on the Mgrublian advisory board flipped the switch,” Palmer said. A financial planner who had passed

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“Now, more than ever, the world needs superheroes who will bring justice and restore faith in our common humanity. These students have answered that call.” – Nazareth Haysbert

the California bar but never actually practiced law, Palmer began taking on pro-bono asylum cases in 2014. His first client was an El Salvadoran woman, a mother of two, who had sought refuge in the United States to escape a physically abusive spouse. As his first case heated up, Palmer turned to Kirsti Zitar ’97, assistant director of the Mgrublian Center, to find one or two student interns willing to support this effort.

They found many more than that. “We would host a lunch discussion and see 40 students show up,” Palmer recalled.

He began to think of ways to spread more opportunities. Enter Haysbert. The L.A.-based lawyer met Palmer, who works out of San Francisco, at the Mgrublian Center’s annual Careers in Human Rights Panel and Networking Dinner. Soon Haysbert was training student volunteers to work on projects related to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).

Today, with steady support from Justice Leaguers, Haysbert’s portfolio includes 35 active human rights cases, some of them large class action suits. About half the caseload involves civil litigation on behalf of terrorism victims and their families, seeking civil damages from the frozen assets of terror organizations like Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and ISIS. The other half of cases focuses on police brutality, fair labor practices, sexual misconduct, and other domestic human rights issues.

By outsourcing research to Mgrublian students, Haysbert effectively is pioneering a new model in private contingencybased human rights litigation practice. And this is “just the beginning,” he promised.

“Now, more than ever, the world needs superheroes who will bring justice and restore faith in our common humanity. These students have answered that call. They are ready. They are growing in number. They will not be denied,” Haysbert said.

“And anyone who thinks these brilliant young college students will not be victorious in their common mission to do justice, think again. Together, we got plenty of superpower.”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Growth and advocacy

I

t takes up to three years for an asylum case to work its way through the immigration court system. By the time Palmer’s first case reached its conclusion—a resounding win—quite a few CMC students had pitched in.

These human rights-focused CMCers included Anoush Baghdassarian ’17, Cameron Van ’17, Helen Seligman ’17, and Rebecca Chong ’18. Baghdassarian went on to earn a master’s in human rights studies at Columbia. She’s currently a 2L at Harvard Law. Van was the first Mgrublian summer intern at the Haysbert firm in 2016. He went on to earn his JD from UC Davis law school.

“It was Cameron’s internship with Nazareth that got us thinking that maybe more could be done,” Palmer recalled. “Later, Kirsti and I set up a meeting with 30 interested students. Seeing their desire to help got Nazareth excited about working with more students.”

While those initial students provided a strong pipeline for human rights partnerships, the key heroine for CMC’s formal Justice League connection undoubtedly has been Larissa Peltola ’18.

From the moment she arrived at CMC, Peltola planted herself at the Mgrublian Center—first as a summer intern with Amnesty International, then as a student employee and research fellow documenting the widespread but little-studied pattern of rape as a weapon of war. That independent project grew into her prize-winning senior thesis, running over 200 pages. Peltola graduated with dual degrees in international relations and history; she also completed the Human Rights, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies sequence offered through the center.

It’s how she always envisioned her college career, Peltola said.

In fact, the reason she chose CMC over Georgetown and UCLA was because of the Mgrublian Center.

“Very few colleges in this country tackle human rights specifically—not just offering a few classes but really delving into research and advocacy,” she said.

Peltola brought her mother, Bonnie Abaunza P’18, founding director of the Artists for Amnesty ambassadors program, into the center’s orbit, where she remains an advisory board member. It was also Peltola who made the connection between the Mgrublian Center and Haysbert, whom she knew through her mother’s large network of human rights colleagues.

FALL 2020

The Justice League began as an all-volunteer team. It has since grown into paid legal research positions and Mgrubliansponsored internships for up to a dozen students a year.

Students include: Shreya Chatterjee ’22, a PPE and literature major from Irvine, Calif., who is passionate about Article 26 of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights—the right to an education; and Torben Deese ’22: a defensive lineman and double major in PPE and government from Sumner, Wash., who dreams of working for the ACLU. Both are Justice League task force members who spent the past summer as full-time interns with the Haysbert firm, along with Miriam Farah ’23, a public policy and history major from Redondo Beach, Calif. Rounding out last year’s Justice League were Jacob Boles ’22, Flor Canales-Morones ’22, and Jaelin Kinney ’22.

Peltola is their de facto leader. Last year, after returning from a Fulbright working with Roma in Hungary, she joined the Haysbert firm as a full-time researcher. In that role, she guides undergraduate interns and Justice League researchers.

Peltola funnels work to the students, matching their fluid academic schedules with immovable filing deadlines and running interference for staff attorneys looking to make new assignments.

It’s unusual for a law firm to entrust college students with high-stakes research, but in Peltola’s experience, there’s a real payoff. “Undergraduates are so eager and so hungry to really get into the action that they end up being the hardest workers,” Peltola said. “They bring a really fresh perspective.

And students from CMC, who have an interdisciplinary focus, tend to be some of the best researchers and the best interns, in my humble opinion.”

“Very f ew col leges in countr this y tackle human rights specific ally— not jus t offer ing a few cla sses bu t really delving into res earch a advoca nd cy.” – Laris sa Pelto la ’18

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Pathways for problem solving

CMC’s

interdisciplinary rigor and leadership

preparation are ideal windows into the

Mgrublian Center’s natural evolution— to not only encourage students to make a difference in their communities, but find substantive career paths for the good they want to pursue.

In the past, students who had experienced “deep learning and enlightenment” at CMC in courses related to human rights, Holocaust history, and other genocides, would leave campus with every intention of acting on this passion and then sadly, “often have a hard time applying it to a real occupation,” Lower said.

Beyond developing a new understanding of the world—what it means to be human and to be inhumane—Lower wants Mgrublian Center students to find a vocational track, be it through the law or elsewhere. Elyssa Elbaz ’94, a Mgrublian Center board member and CMC trustee, is also addressing the same need by funding the Elbaz Postgraduate Fellowship.

By supporting new graduates for a year of human rights professional experience, the fellowship creates a bridge between college to the human rights working world by focusing on leadership training, project management, field work and research, and advocacy.

Peltola, who entered the master’s of human rights studies program at Columbia University this fall, is a prime example of deeper engagement. The Justice League training she’s received will only benefit her long-term goal: To advocate for victims of rape and gender-based violence in armed conflict through an interdisciplinary approach combining legal, psychological, and physical support and protections.

“Supporting students requires more imagination. No matter what they pursue in their lives, we want them to graduate from CMC with an understanding of human rights as central to moral conduct and ethical decisions in their personal lives, careers, and the public arena,” Lower said.

“That’s another reason why we’re excited about where this is heading. The Justice League is clear cut. Students can see many serious pathways for applying their passion and knowhow to solving real life problems.”

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m o o r s s Cla s n o i t c e conn Starting this fall, Wendy Lower added

a new seminar that builds academic rigor into the Mgrublian Center’s domestic human rights connections. History 197: Racism Today and Human Rights Abuses, Historical Dimensions, and Redress combines readings and discussions on the history of racial violence and injustice with handson research. Students are divided into teams assigned to collect data for current legal investigations of police brutality and other historical human rights abuses.

Lower has enlisted a multidisciplinary team of faculty to cover related niches. Nazareth Haysbert and his staff are leading research workshops in qualified immunity, prosecutorial immunity, law enforcement bodyworn camera regulations, and barriers to police brutality prosecutions. Mark Palmer ’88 P’19 and his daughter, Paloma ’19 (a Boren Scholar who is interested in international human rights law), are assisting student groups. Guest speakers include celebrated photojournalist Eli Reed, who documented George Floyd’s funeral iconography.

A longer-term goal of the course, Lower said, is to go beyond the archives and “actually make proposals for solutions” to racial injustice and other domestic human rights problems.

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

The grandchild of Ecuadoran and Nicaraguan immigrants, Peltola grew up in Westwood. From a tender age, Peltola knew she wanted to follow in her mother, Bonnie Abaunza P’18’s, footsteps as a human rights change-agent.

“My mom has always been my hero, challenging me to be the best person I could be.”

Human rights advocacy comes naturally to Larissa Peltola ’18.

She practically cut her teeth in the Los Angeles offices of Amnesty International, where her mother was a pioneering program director.

“I grew up in those offices,” said the CMC alumna. “It was my playground. Each day after school, I went to work like some scrawny intern.” From answering phones, sorting mail, and getting coffee, she moved on to petition drives and public information campaigns. By middle school, she was interviewing Nobel Peace laureates like Mikhail Gorbachev and his Holiness the Dalai Lama for a website promoting teen engagement with human rights issues.

FALL 2020

Abaunza had taken a pay cut in 2001 to work for Amnesty International, leaving a lucrative career in Hollywood to pioneer the “celebrity engagement” model as founding director of the Artists for Amnesty ambassadors program. Today, her consulting practice, the Abaunza Group, designs social impact campaigns for films and documentaries, such as When They See Us for Netflix. “My mom has always been my hero, challenging me to be the best person I could be,” Peltola said.

This fall, Peltola entered the master’s of human rights studies program at Columbia University. A Ph.D. may be in her future. Her long-term goal is to advocate for victims of rape and gender-based violence in armed conflict.

“Right now, there’s very little mention in international law of rape and sexual violence,” Peltola said. “It’s not a recognized offense, which I think is astounding and, quite frankly, horrifying. These crimes usually fall under overarching terms like ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ ‘inhumane practices,’ ‘crimes of war,’ or ‘ethnic cleansing.’ I would love to change the laws to support these women.”

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“We can research whatever we think could be relevant.”

Shreya Chatterjee ’22 has been active with the Justice League since she arrived on campus as a firstyear. A double major in PPE and literature, she’s working on several terrorism-related cases at the Haysbert firm.

Unlike most undergraduate interns, Chatterjee says she enjoys a remarkable degree of freedom to think outside the box.

“They give us the longest leash possible,” she said. “We can research whatever we think could be relevant. Nazareth will say: ‘Here are the facts of this case. Go forth and be creative.’

We get to build a circle of information to present back.

In fact, for one of my cases, I found an angle of action that Nazareth hadn’t considered before.”

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That was in 2018, her first year at CMC.

In April 2019, with Haysbert watching, Chatterjee presented her research and preliminary findings to a closed, confidential session of the full board of the Mgrublian Center. “The board is full of powerful people,” she said. “It was just a very cool experience.”

While non-disclosure agreements preclude her giving details, Chatterjee says the case involves domestic terrorism. Once she presented her idea to Haysbert, he green-lighted her approach. Two years later, her insight is part of the litigation strategy.

Chatterjee is continuing her work with the Justice League this fall. A serial language-learner, she is currently adding Japanese to her quiver, alongside Latin, Hindi, Bengali, and intermediate Korean. She’s also a serious golfer, playing on the CMS team.

She admits to “feelings of protective pride” as the case moves forward.

After graduation, Chatterjee plans to attend law school—specializing in human rights, of course.

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

FALL 2020

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looking back

Alumni News PROFILES 32

CMCAA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 36 CLASS NOTES 37

IN MEMORIAM 70

Students channel their inner Nolan Ryan and Reggie Jackson in 1972.

FALL 2020

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Fifteen years in, CMC’s connection to Silicon Valley is stronger than ever thanks to Bart Evans ’70 Story by Anne Bergman • Photo illustration by Jay Toffoli Divya Vishwanath ’11 is reminded of Barton “Bart” Evans ’70 every time she introduces herself to someone new.

“I still say: ‘My name is Divya Vishwanath’ versus ‘I am Divya Vishwanath,’” she said, recalling guidance Evans provided on how to make the best impression in a professional setting, which included how to shake hands and where to place your name tag. “Bart would always say, ‘You are more complex than a simple name.’ He was intentional and wanted you to think about how to do well with every detail of who you are.”

Vishwanath, who worked for Google for nearly four years and is now launching her Indian beauty brand, is not the only CMC graduate to benefit from Evans’ profound and practical advice.

From 2006 until he passed away in 2014, Evans annually led a contingent of students to Silicon Valley as part of the Information Technology Advisory Board (ITAB) networking trips. Before each weeklong trip during spring break—warmly referred to as “Bart’s Boot Camp”—Evans would prep the students by vetting questions and guiding their research on companies. Additional tips—aka “Bart’s Code: Guidelines for Living in the World”—included clothing rules (dark suits only), name badge location (upper right lapel, “the optimum location when leaning forward to shake hands”), and cell phone etiquette (out of sight and sound).

These pro tips not only set up students for their own personal success, they provided the backbone for the overall success of ITAB, which Evans founded in 2005 to introduce CMC students to tech career opportunities in Northern California. Before ITAB

FALL 2020

began 15 years ago, a minimal number of CMC grads ended up in Northern California. Today, more than 20 percent of new grads are working in the San Francisco Bay Area within multiple industries.

Through the years, ITAB trips have benefitted more than 250 students who spent their winter and spring breaks on whirlwind tours of Silicon Valley’s leading companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Salesforce. (Due to California’s shutdown orders, the 2020 and 2021 trips have been cancelled.)

Many of these students landed internships and eventually found their careers in tech, thanks to Evans. In recognition of his impact on CMC, before his passing in May 2014, the CMC Board of Trustees voted to rename the program the “Evans ITAB Networking Trip” in his honor.

“I think Bart’s greatest, defining legacy for the College are his efforts to strategically position CMC into the tech industry,” said Daniel Freeman ’96, an ITAB founding member and veteran Silicon Valley executive.

“Not too long after I joined ITAB, I got a new job and I needed interns. I needed smart people, so I got the ITAB intern book and looked for ones I thought would be interesting. I hired my first intern and then increased to a second, and so on. Over the years, I’ve ended up hiring at least 50 CMC interns and hired 13 as full-time employees. Another part of Bart’s legacy was to enable people like me to lend a hand to others and help them on their journey to become tomorrow’s leaders.”

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“Reading ‘Bart’s Code’ will tell you more about Bart than I could ever tell you.”

– Fred Prager P’99 P’01

GIVING BACK As COO of Dionex, a Sunnyvale-based applied sciences company, Evans leveraged his own professional connections in the industry to help CMC build a presence in the Silicon Valley through ITAB, which he also chaired. ITAB and its early networking trips eventually opened CMC to the Silicon Valley semester-long program, which began in 2012.

“Bart cared about service,” Freeman said. “He wanted to help people and make the world a better place. He embodied the Goethe concept: ‘When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is. When we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.’

“This concept was key to Bart’s view on human potential. He wanted to treat these students at age 19, as the leaders they could be at age 40.”

Evans’ commitment to CMC resonates throughout the College, as he and his wife, Dr. Andrea Neves, established, in 2005, the Barton Evans and H. Andrea Neves Professor of Literature—a named professorship in the College’s Department of Literature currently held by renowned Robert Frost scholar and Ken Kesey biographer Robert Faggen.

In addition, Evans and Neves opened their home to CMC students and alumni on numerous occasions for receptions, dinners, and alumni events.

“Bart was influenced by the writings of the intellectual Edward Said and subscribed to a philosophy,” Neves said. “He believed that in the first third of your life, you prepare—and that’s where your education comes in. The second part of your life, you work—and accumulate. The third part of your life, that’s when you give back.”

Fred Prager P’99 P’01, founding partner and chair of investment banking firm Prager & Company, met Evans while the two served together on the College’s Board of Trustees. Prager and Evans also lived in the same Hillsborough community, south of San Francisco.

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“For Bart, it was always about the student, their experience,” Prager said. “If you ever witnessed a conversation between Bart and a student, you’d see that his ability to listen and communicate with them was uncommon. He took these students under his wing.”

A CONCRETE CODE Evans’ own education was remarkable. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, Evans entered the five-year management engineering program at CMC (then Claremont Men’s College). Completing the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in economics, he transferred to Stanford University where he graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.

In addition, Evans served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army, retiring with the rank of colonel. Military discipline and decorum infused his approach to leading ITAB. “He was a concrete thinker,” Prager said. “He tended to dissect how things worked—socially, corporately. What is appropriate or inappropriate? Basically, ‘Bart’s Code’ is a guide on how to conduct yourself in an adult environment.

“This is emblematic, in my view, of how Bart thought. He thought about one’s responsibility to themselves, to CMC, and to a prospective employer. Reading ‘Bart’s Code’ will tell you more about Bart than I could ever tell you.”

Part of Evans’ role with ITAB was to convince tech companies to widen the pool of student opportunities, especially to liberal arts students. Jonathan Rosenberg ’83 P’14 recalled Evans phoning him to see if he would agree to host an ITAB visit. At the time, Rosenberg was head of product management at Google, “You couldn’t say no to Bart.

It was impossible to say no; it was much easier to yes,” Rosenberg explained.

Rosenberg immediately noticed how Bart’s “formal” and “drill sergeant” methods contrasted with Silicon Valley culture, where, for instance, the dress code was notably more casual.

“What’s fascinating to me is that somehow Bart’s old-school style worked in the 21st century,” said Rosenberg, an ITAB advisory board member. “The students in suits would show up with prepared questions, and it seemed incongruous at first. But Bart would sit in the back of the room, provide feedback, and help the students be more successful.”

Paige Costello ’12, an ITAB alumna, is now a PM pillar lead of core product at Asana, a productivity software company headquartered in San Francisco. Costello recalled how Evans emphasized the importance of making a strong first

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

impression during the ITAB trip. “At first, we were a little embarrassed to be wearing suits. We looked like we were going to buy the place!” she said with a laugh. “But we made an impression, and Bart made sure that we were prepared with intelligent questions that demonstrated that we had thought about the company in advance.”

Evans, it turned out, also did his own detailed prep work before embarking on an ITAB trip. He would tell hosts like Rosenberg about each of the students before they arrived so they could also prepare for and personalize their time with them. Most notably, the students Evans selected for the trips were top-notch. “When he brought in a group of students, you knew they were the best—highly motivated and super well-prepared,” Rosenberg said.

FULL CIRCLE EFFECT In meeting the moment, Rosenberg noted, Evans’ timing couldn’t have been better. “Bart was asking managers to meet students they should be interested in hiring— during a time when the Valley was booming. And he was building a reputation effect for CMC with the companies that he was visiting. Those companies invited the next set of CMC students to come back, and then hired them as CMC graduates. Those alumni then ended up hosting CMC students at the companies where they were working. He started their careers with a network and a head start.”

For Vishwanath, there is a direct line from her ITAB experience—which introduced her to Silicon Valley during her senior year—and to Google, where she worked with Rosenberg, a personal mentor. Now, she’s eager to give back and to guide CMC students herself.

“So much of my life has been impacted by coming up here while at CMC,” Vishwanath said. “From my marriage (to fellow CMC graduate Tejas Gala ’09 M’13), to starting my own business, everything in my life has been impacted

by ITAB. Bart was teaching us things that had helped him throughout his career. I hope to do the same, as well.”

Costello, who has participated in many CMC alumni events—and in her roles at Asana and previously Intuit, has hosted ITAB trips—agreed that Evans’ passion and enthusiasm for helping others made all the difference for eager CMC undergrads interested in technology.

“Bart was a great example of a CMC graduate. He connected with current students and supported their interests and careers,” she said. “He opened doors for students and let them know about opportunities at their fingertips that they weren’t even aware of. His commitment was real. Bart took it seriously and made us all take it seriously, too.”

FALL 2020

BART’S CODE Before his ITAB networking “boot camps,” Bart Evans ’70 would deliver a presentation with guidelines for living in the world—not only for use by students during the trip, but throughout their lives. Daniel Freeman ’90 continues to use these tenets—known as “Bart’s Code,” for everything from clothing choices to phone use to writing thank you notes—with current CMCers.

Among some of Bart’s enduring principles: • Dark business suits for all (you can dress down once you are on their payroll).

• Pen and paper: do not go anywhere without them, ever.

• While thinking, pause and be quiet. Do not fill the void with “like,” “you know,” “ah,” “um,” etc.

Your listener would prefer that you think before speaking.

• Remember: the admins did all the preparatory work for the host. They are the real heroes, and often the unsung ones at that.

• You will put your phones away, out of sight and sound, from the moment you get off the bus until you get back on.

• Your online persona is a critical component of your personal marketing campaign.

• You will write thank you notes and you will send them.

• Never make a promise you can’t or won’t keep. You must do anything you say you will do.

• Always do it quickly enough so that the recipient associates it with your promise.

35

CMCAA president’s message My Fellow CMCers, When I was asked to serve as president of the Alumni Association, I thought the big projects of my tenure would be commemorating the College’s 75th anniversary and increasing young alumni engagement. The first project was dictated by timing and the second was a matter of personal interest. It’s now very clear that the challenges we face as a nation also have deep meaning for us as an educational community—namely COVID-19 and anti-Black racism.

I want our alumni to know how hard CMC’s staff, faculty, and trustees have worked to maintain the highest quality of academic experience and wellbeing for our students while we conduct our lives remotely. They have thought creatively, remained flexible, and provided high-touch, individualized support for our students during this transition to remote learning. I have faith that meaningful connections with great ideas—especially between students and faculty—are happening online and will be more powerful when we are allowed to work side-by-side again.

In addition to supporting the College, the Association’s primary raison d’etre is supporting alumni. The best way we can support each other right now (besides wearing a mask in public) is by recognizing that racism is still very present, affirming that Black lives matter, and doing the learning on how we can embody a community where everyone feels valued. I am excited by the commitments made in President Chodosh’s Initiative on Anti-Racism and the Black Experience in America, and look forward to building on it to make the connections between our diverse alumni audience even stronger. An early step that made

36

me so proud of our students was their summer antiracist book club, which connected multiple campus audiences and totaled 300 sign-ups, including 100 first-year students.

Our classroom experiences, extracurriculars, and the intimacy of our campus all combine to create thoughtful, engaged citizens of the world out of CMC students. I know it did for me. It is hard to imagine that our alumni will be apathetic during this upcoming election, so instead of asking you to vote, I urge you to consider what kind of leadership you might display in November. Is it starting a conversation about local races with friends and family? Serving as a poll worker? Checking in on an elderly neighbor’s mail-in ballot? Leadership can take many forms. I’d love to hear about what steps and actions you’re planning for the election.

We are living through uncertain times. I know that the skills and values instilled in us at CMC will provide the compass for how to best navigate these issues together. In addition to the virtual engagement programming offered by the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement, if you have thoughts about how the Association can remain a valuable and relevant resource for you, please do not hesitate to start a conversation with me.

Yours in service,

Emily Meinhardt ’10 President Claremont McKenna College Alumni Association

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Missing your class?

class notes Pacesetters ’48

Go to page 68 to learn more.

’49 ’50

ALUMNI

JIM STOESSEL ’50

WEEKEND

44 Westvale Meadows #A Concord, MA 01742-2855 978-369-2104 jhstoessel@comcast.net

2021

’51

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

VOLUNTEER TO BE A CLASS LIAISON!

alumni@cmc.edu

’55

TOM BERNSTEIN reports on behalf of the

Class of 1955: “DOUG PRUESSING passed away in

February in Scottsdale, Az. Doug grew up in Beverly Hills and graduated from Beverly Hills High before attending CMC. TOM NATHAN remembers playing Cub Scout Baseball against him when Doug was at Beverly Vista school. Doug was a great outdoorsman, enjoying skiing, hunting, and golf.

He and his friends even invented a new, fun-filled golf game called Trash Masters. However, fly fishing for trout and bone fish was his favorite. After graduating from CMC and serving in the Army, Doug moved to Dallas, where he ran the plant operations for the family business.

BOB HOWARD also was living in Dallas and became

close friends with Doug, his wife Anne, and their entire family. When Bob got married, Doug was a groomsman in his wedding. Doug retired and sold the business in 1989. He moved to Scottsdale and also acquired properties in Colorado, one a ranch on a great trout stream. Bob also became obsessed with fly fishing and spent many memorable times with Doug fishing on that stream and on numerous other fishing trips. On one occasion at the ranch, Doug spotted a number of trout upstream and instead of catching them himself, he gave Bob a heads up so he could have a chance at them.

Bob attended Doug’s celebration of life ceremony hosted by Anne at their country club in Scottsdale. I remember many fun, humorous times involving Doug.

Doug threw a big, fabulous party at his home in Beverly Hills and JACK HESS ’56 and I drove in from CMC. Returning to the campus after the party, I allegedly ran a number of stop signs in Claremont at 3 a.m. and got ticketed. I fought and lost the case in court (Jack Hess was not a great witness) and was fined $60, a lot of

FALL 2020

money in those days. To pay it off, I got a weekend job working in the Ski Chalet atop Mt. Baldy. I had never skied and really didn’t know much about it. But to look the part, Doug lent me one of his ski outfits, which I wore, fitting rental skis to actual skiers. One day, while working there, I met Jayne Mansfield. She was just starting her career and was going to do a photo shoot for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. I escorted her off the ski lift and bought her a cup of coffee in the chalet before the photo session. She was a brunette then. Doug’s brother RON PRUESSING ’54 also helped me out with another Claremont traffic ticket—we switched cars—but that’s another story. You can find Doug’s complete obituary in the In Memoriam section.

We’re also sorry to note the passing of JIM JAMIESON and DON NORMAN, both remembered in the In Memoriam section of prior CMC Magazines. Jim was living in San Luis Obispo at the Garden Green Villages retirement community. He and wife Perry, a Scripps alumna, were very active in the Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly University campus. Jim was famous for driving a fully restored 1955 Ford truck, painted green and bedecked with a Dalmatian constructed out of papier-mâché, that rode alongside him in the passenger seat. Don was one of the CMC Class of 1955 living in Newport Beach, Calif. He was part of the group that regularly attended the fun lunches we had at the elegant Elephant Bar restaurant with HUGH HALLENBERG.” TOM BERNSTEIN ’55

tlbernstein@earthlink.net

’56

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

CHUCK BATTERSON ’56

nereus2006@sbcglobal.net Reports from the time of the virus: SCOTT EVANS had a good phone catch-up with DICK HAUSMAN in April. Scott reports Dick is well, all things considered. Dick had very unhappily confined himself to bed— and was resigned to more of the same at least through the summer. Scott’s wisdom: “Beyond your control, recovery is (slowly) happening. Under your control, stay healthy, and help others.”

’57

JACK and JIL STARK added their news: “The Starks are all fine; 20 family members living in Claremont, so we get lots of supervision! Our home at the Gardens means we can go to the dining room all masked up and pick up our meals, so no shopping for us.” In early May, the Starks shifted their quarters to their cabin on Silver

’57 “CMC’s First Lady” About 100 attended the January unveiling of the sculpture of the remarkable Jil Stark ’58 GP’11. Jil’s bronze was well deserved: For being the First Lady of CMC during the twentynine-year presidency of Jack Stark GP’11; for guiding so many students; especially for all she did to develop the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum into an outstanding gathering place.

Included in the gathering were Jil and Jack’s large family, many friends and staff, and members of various CMC classes. It offered a good opportunity to enjoy the festivities and catch up with classmates and others who were all so supportive. In addition to the fundraising leaders Lee and John Devereux, Bebe and Rusty Grosse; and Peter Keady P’86 P’21 and companion Marsha Aurtunian, other classmates on hand were Sally and Scott Evans, Lois and Vance Gustafson P’86, Maggie and Lou Knafla, Mary Ann and Bernie Marshall, Dean Painter and Jim Villnow, Walt Parry and his companion Elizabeth, Shirly and Al Scheid, and, of course, guests of honor Jack and Jil Stark. For the luncheon festivities, Al Scheid generously contributed beautiful wines from Scheid Family Vineyards.

37

Lake, 30 miles north of Mammoth. There, they feel safe in their isolated area and do not have to visit Mammoth.

From BURT CORSON on Mother’s Day came nothing but positive news. He, Phyl, and son Eric were basking in 80-degree temperatures on their sunlit deck on the Puget Sound and planning to soon enjoy a margarita.

Said Burt, “We’re glad if our friends can behave similarly!

Cheers!” And we say Cheers to you, Burt, Phyl, and Eric!

RUSTY GROSSE says he and Bebe are both doing

well—better by far than they had imagined for age 85.

Rusty reports they had the best 4th of July possible with all the clan gathered, down to the seven greatgrandchildren. Their Morgana is now in National City, Calif. after maintenance following an eleven-year (in stages) round-the-world sail. That earlier voyage included Lee and JOHN DEVEREUX on the initial leg from San Diego to Hawaii. The Morgana is now ready for a planned trip to Alaska, to be followed by further (as yet unplanned) sailing—perhaps a second roundthe-world venture. We wish the Grosses happy sailing.

PETER KEADY ’57 P’86 GP’21

boscar123@me.com BERNIE MARSHALL ’57

berniemarshall@verizon.net BART BROWN writes: “A group of CMC ‘Good Old Boys’ have gathered for lunch over the last few years. However, due to COVID, some creativity was required.

ALLYN SCHEU came up with a virtual lunch via Zoom. Allyn’s secretary is technical director and producer. We had our first Zoom lunch in June which included ALLYN, KAE EWING ’60, JOHN DEVEREUX ’57, HOBIE SMITH, CLARK BOOTH, and BART BROWN. OMER LONG, BUCK JONES, and TONY ARNOLD ’60 were absent but will be fined if they miss the next event. There were a few technical issues and the ‘producer’ says it’s a bit like herding cats, but says she can move us from the dark ages into the present.”

’58

show in Pomona, but got lost driving through the streets of Claremont.

DAN MILLER obtained a master’s in political science at Georgetown after CMC and spent 35 years at Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in city planning. He retired but then went back to work with the Lynwood City, Calif. city council for nine more years. He said his Army training as an infantry officer (two years Korea DMZ and one year at Fort Ord) prepared him for city politics. He is widowed but living in Encino, Calif. and would like to share any thoughts on art, architecture, and Mexican culture. He spent three summers while at school living in Mexico City. His cell number is 818-371-6390.

I also received information about BILL SYMINGTON’s large spec home he is building in Santa Monica. He is the Energizer Bunny who can’t stop playing golf or developing real estate. He also looks good and smiles a lot.

I was on my first Zoom call at CMC; BOB LOWE, looking great, was on the same call. Another buddy, BRENT HOWELL, is celebrating his 80th birthday—does that sound familiar? He also is still working hard from home with CBRE. TAIN BODKIN keeps me in the loop from Mexico. His buddy, DUKE WYATT, also keeps Tain from getting into trouble.

COVID-19 is also creating additional issues for those of us in retirement and/or for our children and our grandchildren. The school has a neat address, cmcreturns.cmc.edu, where members of the community can find a comprehensive plan of return and updates. CMC is also interested in your input as they begin the new college year welcoming new and greeting old students and addressing “the unknown” process of education in a “new era.” I will include another Latin phrase, which you are welcome to comment upon, that may suggest more many unexpected issues: “canis canem edit”—nobody is safe from anybody or dog eat dog. Please send comments.

BOB BEASLEY ’59

MARSHALL SALE ’62

bobbeasley38@gmail.com

505-690-0299 m_sale@msn.com

’61

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

VOLUNTEER TO BE A CLASS LIAISON!

alumni@cmc.edu

’62

In Hamlet, was Shakespeare correct when he wrote “When sorrows come, they come not in single spies but in battalions?”

BILL HOLLINGSWORTH thinks so. 2019 was a great year taking trips to Paris, Memphis for a river cruise, and then ten days in Italy. This year he is spending time going to the grocery store and the post office. He did mention speaking with GEORGE NOSTRAND, RICK ADAMS, READ REDWINE P’93, and myself. He had also attended the National Hot Rod

38

From LARRY FORD, “Things for us are going pretty good. We got out of Florida before the big surge in the virus and arrived in our small summer Colorado community safely.

Amazing to see the different behaviors in our drive across country. We have a population of around 5,000 in Salida, Colo., and there have been minimal virus problems, which reflects the behavior of the community. Everyone wears a mask, is very respectful of social distancing, and avoids crowded/ confined spaces. Much different than what we saw in Florida as it was opening up.

’63

“Our family has become experts at holding Zoom meetings. We do them for birthdays, weekends, wine tasting, and celebrations. Our Rotary Club meetings also are Zoom sessions, but not as much fun as a weekly lunch meeting. My fishing trips have been cancelled due

to concerns about airports and air travel. I’m working on a couple of driving trips to some interesting rural waters in central Colorado and southern Oregon.

“As we approach our 80th birthdays, we decided to downsize and are currently managing that process, which is exhausting but hopefully will lead to a less complex living situation this fall. Fortunately, we remain healthy and are able to stay fairly active.”

PHIL SHIRES shares: “I just finished a three-day motorcycle ride through much of Colorado, ranging from Durango to Steamboat, and I echo your observation that Western Slope Colorado is paying attention to the COVID issue and being careful. And since there are no ICU facilities in many of these areas on the Western Slope, they need to not get sick.

“On other fronts, we have finally dealt with Renee’s arthritic knees and her desire to get to ‘single level living.’

We left Boulder for Longmont at the northern edge of Boulder County at 9440 Crystal Lane, Longmont, CO 80503. Renee still hikes six to ten miles twice a week and skis, but she hated stairs.

“Since I had to sell my Clubhouse house/garage together with our house, we like to joke that we are downsizing to our new 8,400 square-foot home, backed up to Crystal Lake with three acres, a swim dock, and a boat dock—so much for simplifying our lives as we move into old age. I have reduced my sports and race car collection from 22 to 14, and my motorcycles from eight to four, so there actually is a little progress.

“We are in good health relatively and are still planning to use our place in Vail for another ski season if the COVID risk can be contained, but we don’t see ourselves hosting the annual family Caribbean get together this year due to the risks of travel with others.”

From BOB BOIES: “Barbara and I are doing as well as could be expected during COVID. I walk to the beach regularly, which is six miles round trip, on a trail from a nearby park through a wetlands preserve to Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, Calif. Our last trip was to Paris, Egypt, and Jordan in January, which was a dream trip for me. Our next trip will be to Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar next year if everything works out. I did attend and spoke at RUSS IUNGERICH P’96’s memorial at Spago (my first visit to that famed eatery). BOB WALKER ’64 and DOUG NOBLE ’64 also were there. Russ’ daughter, LAUREN (IUNGERICH) DOONER ’96, officiated over a large group of friends, who were mostly attorneys from Los Angeles and Orange County. Also, I am wondering if anyone has heard from GEORGE DAVIDSON? I have tried several times to contact him without success. Stay safe everyone, and I hope we will have a good representation at our 60th reunion in 2023.”

JIM MASON reports: “I’m still living in Mariposa, outside Yosemite National Park, and still working full time in the Emergency Department of John C. Fremont Hospital in Mariposa. Work has become more challenging the last few months with the need to create isolation areas which, when in use, disrupt the normal flow in the ED. Persons with respiratory symptoms that are not serious are seen in their cars and swabbed for COVID-19. It takes about an hour to get the results and then, if they are negative, we can bring them inside. Positive cases not

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

requiring treatment are sent home to quarantine. On top of that, we still have all the normal stuff that comes to us.

This is not a fun time to be working in health care. I hope to be able to retire by the end of the year or soon after.

When not working, I’m just staying at home except for a weekly trip to the grocery store. I really miss being able to visit with friends and family in the Bay Area. I hope all of you are doing well and staying safe. This too shall pass.”

From DARRYL WOLD: “The call for Class Notes reminded me that I have a picture of the hardcore group of us who attended our most recent reunion in 2018—our 55th. The picture is from the College, but I don’t believe the College ever sent it out—I got it only by inquiring and asking for it. No names of attendees needed. We’re easily recognizable because we haven’t changed since college—except maybe to get better looking. Editor’s note: We have double-checked and everyone who ordered the class photo had one mailed to them. Extras are available for $20 by emailing alumni@cmc.edu.

“I don’t have any news because my wife, Carol, and I are as locked down as anyone—the big event every week is going to the grocery store but that involves a lot of planning so we don’t have to make a second trip.

I’ve caught up on a lot of reading, and finishing some landscaping in our yard, but you probably don’t need to hear the details. I’m also working down the earlier vintages in my wine locker, which is enjoyable for me but also might not be something of widespread interest.

I enjoy reading the notes from those of you who actually find things to do, and am encouraged that you’re in good health and staying active.”

From LEE JOHNSON: “I am coping well with the COVID-19 changes to life as we knew it. Do not get out as much as I did prior to the lockdown and wear an N-95 mask whenever I go to any store or other location that I am liable to be in a crowd. Since I live on ten acres, I do not have to wear a mask outside normally. My son, Rich, and I have started selectively going to restaurants again, but wear our masks except while we are eating. It has been particularly good to have him here the past couple of years after my wife, Karen, died. His girlfriend from the San Francisco will be moving here in the next couple of months.

“Still staying active with our Liberty Area volunteer fire department as the administrative fire chief. I was the fire chief for about 34 years, but decided that active firefighting was for the younger volunteers. I wear my mask and follow social distancing whenever I am in a group. Most meetings with other fire departments have been cancelled, but we still do our departmental training meetings and board meetings. Since at least 65 percent of our call volume is medical first response, the pandemic has changed our protocols considerably.

“I am the Tulsa-Skelly-Getty-Texaco Chapter president of the Chevron Retirees Association and the Plains Area vice president for the association. Never worked a day for Chevron, but with corporate mergers, I am now a Chevron legacy retiree. Our chapter in Tulsa of about 250 members only has three or four people who ever actually worked for Chevron. Another example of modern life. Due to the COVID outbreak, we have cancelled our quarterly chapter meetings; the CRA annual meeting scheduled for Denver in early May was

FALL 2020

cancelled. Do not think things will change much with meetings until we can all be vaccinated.

Hopefully, by this time next year, all of us senior citizens can be sporting our ‘We survived the COVID-19 Pandemic’ T-shirts.”

From DICK MCKAY: “Life is as normal as it can be right now for Barbara and me. We are traveling bodies; we try and use the United Airlines benefits to the max while our bodies still cooperate.

Early this year, we made a trip to Tucson for a meeting, then COVID really poked its head into our business. So far, we have cancelled (or rather they were cancelled for us) a yearly fun gathering in Dayton, Ohio, another in Seaside, Ore., and a trip to Maui. Right now, we were supposed to be on the Silver Origin in the Galapagos, after seeing Machu Picchu. To stay sane, we rented a huge GMC Denali, put the extended family on board, and made a two-week-plus road trip to Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, and Capitol Reef National Parks and ended up at our townhome on the golf course and ski runs of Copper Mountain, Colo. After a week or so there, we headed back with stops at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, another stop in Las Vegas and home. The trip helped a lot. It was great therapy. We had moved our June Maui trip to August since Governor David Ige was going to lift the 14-day quarantine for anyone coming to Hawaii and replace it with a negative PCR COVID test within 72 hours arriving in the islands.

I jumped through lots of hoops to find a place that would test under age 18 (grandkids), as well as get 24- to 48-hour results, including over the weekend. Guess what? Governor Ige extended the 14-day quarantine until September 1, so that trip is permanently off the books.

“I have to say, of all the places we have been, restaurants and hotels have been doing it right.

Workers and clients wearing masks, breakfasts at hotels that provide it, kind of an adequate prepackaged grab it and go, and eat outside or in your room. Restaurants are well-spaced out, nothing on your table ‘til you show up, QR scanned menus on your phone or disposable paper menus, and so on.

I felt good about virtually all of the encounters out of our bubble. The Las Vegas hotels are running at about 25 percent self-imposed capacity, and the Bellagio said they were at 15 percent when we were there. All in all, pretty good. Grab your masks and venture out carefully.

’63 Life, appreciated Don James writes: “Goodbye to the past.

Hello to the future. Sue and I continue to enjoy good health and remain active.

We try to fit in time for a brisk one-hour walk every day. We also have joined an exercise class three times a week on Zoom sponsored by the wellness center at our local hospital. There are still many places we look forward to exploring, and we want to be ready to go when the time is right.

Good fortune has allowed us to travel two to three months every year for the last 20 years. We traditionally would rent an apartment for a week or more, live on the local economy, use public transportation, walk a lot, and occasionally sign up for a half-day tour of the surrounding points of interest.

Last year we visited Belgium and the Netherlands in April, Switzerland in June and July, and Banff/Lake Louise, Canada in December. Our plans this year for Scandinavia in June and Switzerland in July died on the vine as Europe closed its borders. Maybe next year. As Americans currently are not welcome anywhere, we are stuck in Hawaii. Prisoners in paradise.

The good news is that there are no tourists in Hawaii, which means there are no crowds at the beach, the trails, the roads, anywhere. The locals say it is like Hawaii was in the 1960s before the age of mass tourism and the jet age. As the pace of life here is dialed back, we have become more aware of the blue skies, white clouds, and beautiful beaches that define our world.

Not too bad.”

“I guess the best news is with all the money saved being at home, I could rationalize a new big home theater.”

From JOHN WELLS: “I am still in Colorado. I do travel some, probably more than I should. I am lucky to have a cabin to share with family and friends, and I am able to spend quite a lot of time there.”

From KENT GREENE: “Life here is pretty close to normal, as close as one can get in these weird times. Tennis and pickleball are back, so my social circle and the joy of competitive sports are in good shape. One of my friends is 83 years old and plays very aggressive, quality tennis.

I imagine that I might have a future in the game when I watch him play. I play five to six days every week and

haven’t had an injury in two years. It helps me to believe the myth that I’m not really old, after all.

“We worry a bit about the financial well-being of the La Costa resort, where I spend most of my free time. These guys have been hit hard; a big expensive resort that hasn’t had a single guest in four months. And so many of their employees out of work.

“I continue to spend mornings at my desk, writing software for my long-time customers. I’m afraid that, if I stop that work, my mind will shrivel up into nothing, so

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Pandemic perspective Lance Vinson writes: “All things considered, I’m doing well during this stressful time we’re all going through.

The truly important parts of life, the health and safety of my wife, Marilyn, son Eric, and his family, extended family, etc., are fine. Like many folks, we’re staying in touch with family and friends mostly with Zoom chats, phone calls, emails, and texts.

“Up to now, living in our downtown Austin apartment has been a real treat, with dozens of restaurants, theaters, the state capitol, the UT campus, and other attractions within walking distance.

The virus has changed all that, of course. Some of those destinations have partially reopened, but mask-wearing and social distancing are haphazard, so for now our trips outside the apartment are limited: morning walks (mostly me) or swims (Marilyn), quick walks to the ATM, post office, etc., along with grocery runs and the like. Whenever I start griping about this new normal, however, I do have to remind myself that these ‘problems’ are at worst minor inconveniences compared to what a great many people are facing, both economically and with their own or loved ones’ health and even survival.

“Despite living mostly indoors, we’ve been surprised by how busy we seem to be and how fast the time flies by, not just with Zoom-ing, emailing, and phoning family and friends, but also with the flood of interesting and entertaining online offerings filling our inbox: lectures, travelogues, music, and on and on. Again, I realize how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to enjoy these stimulating programs.

“I hope each of you is doing well, and look forward to learning your strategies for dealing with this challenge. Cheers.”

40

I look forward to the challenge each day.

My wife is an introvert/artist, so she hasn’t noticed any change in her life. Really, there’s a pandemic?! Yep. The COVID thing means no fishing trip or travel of any kind this year and fewer visits with my son and his family. I enjoy speaking regularly to DICK EDELMAN. Now there is a positive, happy guy.

’64

“I read a lot. My latest read, The Deficit Myth, is an attempt to explain Modern Monetary Theory. With the federal government printing money by the trainload, one wonders how we’re going to pay the interest on that debt and still have enough left over for investments in technology, medicine, education, and social programs. MMT says, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ It’s another puzzle. So many puzzles.”

ERIK HERRICK reports: “I only use platforms like Zoom for meetings, doctors, etc. ‘Friendly’ contacts I attend to with archaic practices like mailed notes, email, and Facebook Messenger. However, I am looking into getting a camera/microphone thingy to use with my desktop monitor (sigh). I do have a laptop with the camera thingy though and, of course, the phone. I should get comfortable with the technology, as I will have to use it for hearings starting in September for submission of evidence. ‘Transcript’ protocols in play for hundreds of years getting dumped? Beats looking for a place to park at the courthouse (grin).”

From San Pedro, Calif, MIKE WHEELER writes: “Nothing to report, but in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in.”

DAVID FORREST reports: “Two years ago, I left Hawaii after working for three years with the military as a counselor. Then I worked for a while as the head psychologist for a state prison out here on the Olympic peninsula. l lived in the remote little town of Forks, famed as the locale of the Twilight book and movie series. I spent much of the last two years with a series of broken bones (three times!) and one very serious operation. I now live in a lovely little home high on a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and see the lights of Victoria, British Columbia at night (192 Cypress Circle, Port Angeles, WA 98362). I got a good deal, because someday it will fall in the water! My son, Chris, is still a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, now seconded to the National Security Council with the catchy title of director of defense innovation and emerging technologies (can’t tell me what he does). I’m looking for the next gig. As Bob and Ray used to sign off their radio program, ‘Don’t forget to hang by your thumbs, and write if you get work!’”

LARRY FORD ’63

lford77@me.com

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Thanks to all who let us know how they are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.— Bill, Larry, Steve

PHIL MANN writes: “My wife, Ginny, and I have weathered sheltering-in-place well, with no health issues. Our two offspring and their progeny have likewise come through these 15 weeks with no serious health consequences. Our son—and his 13-year-old son—hunkered down in Pasadena, doing home schooling. The major downside for them was missing spring baseball programs—he was signed up on two different teams and was looking forward to advancing his skills with lots of practice sessions and games during the spring and summer. Our daughter and her husband were working from home pretty much full time while conducting online school for their eight- and four-year-old. Needless to say, their days were very full. Makes me tired to think about it. Coincidentally, all three grandchildren celebrated (maybe observed is a better verb) birthdays, beginning with the 13-year-old on St. Patrick’s Day, just as the quarantine began.

“Ginny and I were early to the social distancing and washing hands regimes, not so much on the face mask part. Being the restless and impatient sort, I eagerly volunteered to do the grocery shopping old school style—picking up a little bit three to five days a week.

It was oddly entertaining to see people at Ralph’s with a basket piled high with provisions or pushing two baskets full of purchased items to their cars.

“We probably picked up takeout about ten times, all from our favorite restaurants, hoping that each survives the lockdown. One activity that was energizing was a weekly picnic with a good friend from my working days, carefully selecting public parks and enjoying a sandwich with a couple of adult beverages while we solved a number of world problems.

“A positive note, in February we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner get-together with DOUG NOBLE and Ruth and BILL DAWSON about five weeks before the crisis impacted all of us.

“I’m filing my report now so I can get back to the insurance claims. Best to all, Phil.”

From LARRY BERGER: “Diana and I have split our time between houses in Orinda, Calif. and Grand Lake, Colo. Morning walks, lots of gardening, and healthy food have been the order of the day. We look forward to joining family, friends, and classmates on so many adventures postponed until 2021.”

TOM HARTNETT reports: “All well in southwest Colorado.

Few cases of the virus, especially where we live at 6,800 feet in elevation, about 25 miles southwest of Durango—dry land wheat farm and forested deer/ coyote area. Very rural, peaceful, comfortable, quiet.

Between Zoom, vegetable gardening for me and quilting for Elaine, and occasional trips to town, we are doing very well—come visit for evening wine on the deck. Our children reside in Peachtree City, Ga; Clovis, Calif.; Menlo Park, Calif.; Mt. View, Calif.; Santa Cruz, Calif.

Cheers, Tom.”

From BARRY SWAYNE: “Joyce and I have lived at Salemtowne, a three-stage retirement community located in Winston-Salem, N.C., since August 2007. We CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

moved east in 2002 because our two sons married girls from N.C. and have settled there. We have loved living here. However, since we live in a high-risk community, we have been under ‘stay at home’ requirements since March. Our last outing was on March 17, when we celebrated Bradley’s 13th birthday. He is our youngest of six grandchildren.

STEVE MCCLINTOCK writes: “Having lived overseas for 26 years, we knew masks were a good idea from the beginning. When the virus hit, I was appointed official ‘hunter and gatherer’ by Kathy—the side benefit is I can help others find stuff at Albertsons: ‘Madam, see aisle 16, south end.’ My saving grace has been being able to ride my horse, Ranger, a Tennessee Walking

plans were cancelled in mid-February. We had planned to be in Cambridge, Mass., with our son and his family for the month of June. Those plans were cancelled in mid-March. As Mary is immune-compromised, she was advised not to leave the house except for doctors’ appointments, so I’ve done all the grocery shopping during senior hours once every week or ten days.

“Salemtowne has provided us with lots of video activities, great food (I have heard several people say they have gained weight; our dining room has just reopened), and dedicated protection from the virus. Our motto, after praying each morning, is ‘One Day at a Time.’ God is sovereign, so we are waiting to see how He will bless us all at the end of this mess.

We are still sane, I think. We do keep fairly busy with walking, sleeping late, walking our dog, baking (Joyce), emailing, playing bridge (two handed—just the two of us), reading, playing Scrabble, visiting with friends (masks on and six feet apart), watching TV, and so on.

We really are quite contented and look forward to our 52nd anniversary on June 15th. I hope and pray that all of our fellow classmates are well and surviving the difficult times. May peace and health return to our country soon! Blessings, Barry.”

Horse, three times a week in the very early morning hours of the AZ desert. Best to you all, Steve.”

“Our days are measured by phone or Zoom with our daughter over breakfast (her teatime), and then at our teatime, talk to our son in Cambridge. Between those highlights, I continue work on a book and communicate with professional colleagues. We have dinner watching TV news, followed by the big event: one or two films drawn from the hundreds we missed over the years. Our resources to choose what to watch are classics in the literature of film: Roger Ebert’s The Great Movies (2002), Charles Wherenberg’s Movies Worth Watching More than Once (2005), Kenneth Turan’s Not to be Missed: 54 Favorites from a Lifetime of Film (2014), and My 200 Favorite Films, a self-published list by my friend, Roger Smith.”

ORLEY ASHENFELTER writes: “I flew into San Francisco from London in late March for a visit with grandkids, and I’ve never left! The lockdown and closures started just as I arrived, and I just could not bring myself to get on an airplane. At the same time, Princeton University sent all its students home and I taught the remainder of the semester on Zoom—so it did not matter where I was anyway.

“Walks with the grandkids, sometimes out at Land’s End, other times downtown (we discovered the little Yosemite-inspired parklet by the Levi’s headquarters) fill some afternoons. The Ashenfelter family Zooms each day at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time—happy to have you drop in, as have others.

“I will need to get back to New Jersey in due course, if nothing else, to check out my vineyard there. Summer is the farmer’s friend. And I did manage to get some of the wine from our first vintage shipped to San Francisco, kind of like shipping coal to Newcastle.”

DOUG NOBLE reports: “I have been reading more than usual, almost all non-fiction; did a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle; have rediscovered public TV in the absence of live sports; living alone, after three weeks isolation, I have started outdoor, at-distance meetings with siblings and friends; also drive out to a nearby park most days; travel plans on hold until a vaccine.

“And now, months into the pandemic, I have found the ultimate answer to passing time. I have resurrected my stamp collection after a mere 62-year pause—amazing how many unorganized stamps you can accumulate since 1958—however long this current Twilight Zone life lasts, I will be busy.

“Having been in an interracial group for the past 37 years, I have engaged in a lot of consciousness raising (mainly mine) about white privilege and systemic racism. So it has been very heartening to see that the BLM movement is beginning to resonate in the community at large, one of the few positive developments in 2020.”

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From JOE ZERBONI: “Happy to reply briefly and look forward to hearing from you and my classmates about their experiences. I talked to TOM HARTNETT last week on the phone. He is at his ranch in Colorado; but planning to move west (California) to be closer to his and his wife’s children.

“For the Zerbonis, life is about the same. Solana Beach has only 11 confirmed COVID cases from a rural population of about 19,000, so although we distance and mask, it is mostly to comply and cooperate, rather for fear of infection. I have a daughter, CYNTHIA ZERBONI ’89, who was a senior research scientist at Stanford Medical, specializing in viruses before she retired; and she has been filtering the news and feeding me facts. Just happy not to live in an urban area. I’m sorry the USTA tennis tournaments in my age group (75+) have been cancelled. Hard to maintain my ranking (#1 in the San Diego area in my age group) when there are no tournaments. My wife and I still play almost daily—on private courts, and, now, on a limited basis, on public or country club courts. I enjoy the more limited social interactions—never have been one to enjoy sitting around a table, listening to chit chat about nothing. I see my sons almost daily and am traveling to Houston to visit two daughters and their children. Overall, life is great! I remain fascinated with the scandalous news and folly of life. Best to you all, Joe (joezerboni@yahoo.com).”

RICK LAZARUS writes: “My wife Jonna and I fortunately were able to spend two weeks in Belize with family and friends in January, and a couple of weeks at our place in Vail in February, before everything shut down in March.

We cancelled plans for a trip to Greece in the fall and a couple of weddings in the spring, and have been in our house in Baltimore ever since.

“We have used our time to clean out lots of old files, learn about new networks on TV that we never watched, do a lot of reading, a few jigsaw puzzles, and my wife has cooked up a storm. I have stayed active remotely with a number of nonprofit boards and recently have begun to have outside dinners at home with other couples. However, we have missed time with our kids and grandson. We remain well and hope everyone stays safe. Best, Rick.”

Fred Lazarus IV President Emeritus Maryland Institute College of Art 215 Ridgemede Rd. Baltimore, Maryland 21210 443-695-1420 WES NAEF writes: “It starts with cancelling plans for March-June. We had tickets to visit our daughter in London for mid-March, to be followed by a visit to Ghent, Belgium for the great Van Eyck exhibition. Those

From TOM KENNEDY: “The pandemic has hit Massachusetts and the Boston community very hard.

Joanna and I were in Florida visiting our youngest son and family, where he works for the PGA Tour. We had been there for two weeks, due to fly home on March 10th. We debated whether to drive as things were getting very serious, at least up north. However, a two-hour flight won out over 18 hours of driving. The plane was three-quarters full, no masks, but we were nervous. Made it home safely; have been home bound since March 11. We wear masks everywhere we go, as mandated by Governor Charlie Baker, who has done a good job of staying on top of the pandemic. We have seen our oldest son, Sam, and family three or four times since they live nearby in Wellesley, Mass., and doing the proper physical distancing (my preference as opposed to social distancing!).

“Massachusetts and the elder care industry, especially nursing homes, have been ravaged by COVID. I have been in the middle of this issue being the chair of the Board of Trustees of Sherrill House, a 196-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston. We had closed our doors to new admissions and visitors the second week of March.

Only in the past week have visitors been able to see loved ones under strict guidelines. The obtaining of testing and PPE has been a nightmare. Despite what was being said at the national level, there never was enough of either.

“I spent the first month frantically calling everyone I knew who might have access, especially to PPE. Contractors for masks, commissioner of police in Boston (oh, ‘The former commissioner in Boston, now in Chicago, has just sent me a supply of masks.

Get some to you this afternoon!’). Realizing there was no baseball at Fenway and rainy April games not being played, ponchos with Red Sox logo are available. Someone in my neighborhood, who was very ingenious, got the shuttered Brookline Teen Center to make plastic shields. What a way to run a railroad!

While all of these moves were saving lives, we still lost 30 residents to COVID; many staff got sick and, thanks be to God, have returned to work even after

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hospitalization. One or two needed ventilators. Indeed, this was a war zone—and we were not alone, as half of the deaths in Massachusetts were from long-term care facilities. Massachusetts has been the third hardest hit of all states so far. And to think we are one of the major medical centers in the country, if not the world! My goodness, we were not prepared, and it all has been compounded with such poor leadership! Need I say more!

“There is no return to normal. We are forever changed.

Personally and professionally. Sherrill House had dedicated the first Alzheimer’s unit 35 years ago in greater Boston—yes, I have been involved even before then, state-of-the-art, with special programming, staffing, etc. Now we discover such a unit with 49 residents, which was a showcase to other facilities, is the most contagious Petri dish imaginable when a pandemic hits. Through it all, our executive committee (we are a not-for-profit) had daily updates with our CEO; trustees every two weeks. You can never overcommunicate in such a circumstance. I am so proud of our team at Sherrill House—they are indeed true heroes and heroines! We are not out of this pandemic yet—is there to be a second wave? If so, we will be better prepared the second time around.

“Meanwhile, Joanna and I are home bodies. With the events following George Floyd’s murder, we have been educated about a history of America we never knew.

June Nineteenth—never taught that in school. And who had heard of the massacre in Tulsa 1921, wiping out a very prosperous Black community—Black Wall Street?! Oh my, so much to learn, so little time! And pastorally, I have been dealing with friends who have died of COVID—doing final prayers of commendation over the phone. They never instructed seminarians of that in divinity school!

“Our lives have been full—and changed—and I believe will be for the better, for our grandchildren, and all institutions. The future presents us with great opportunities; I just hope we take advantage of them.

All the best, Tom.” From JOHN HOLMES: “My wife, Mary Jo, and I have endured the COVID-19 episode much like many others. We have missed seeing our only grandchild, who is two years old and lives in Nashville. We have had two cruises cancelled, one to see the tulips in The Netherlands with friends and one on the Douro River in Portugal with our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter to celebrate our 50th anniversary.

We’ve missed all of the expected community and social activities that generally fill literally every weekend on our calendar. In many ways it has been a rather bleak time.

“Nonetheless, we were able to spend some time in Hawaii in January and in the Central Coast wine country just the week before the lockdown became official. And our tropical pool and garden setting has made the stay-at-home order much more pleasant than it could have been. Most importantly, we have been fortunate to remain healthy throughout the quarantine. (This could be due in part to the vast amounts of gin and tonics we have consumed—for medicinal purposes only, of course.)

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“I am retired from my law firm of 35-plus years, but went to work soon thereafter ‘of counsel’ for another firm that shares the office building of my former firm, a building that I and my former law partners own.

In conjunction with that association are my roles as a settlement mediator, an administrative law judge in San Bernardino County, and a Superior Court judge in Riverside County. Coronavirus shuttered the courtrooms and in-person mediations. During these months I, and a few others, have continued to go to the office daily. I’ve been catching up on orders that needed writing following many prior weeks of my duties as a part-time judge. Finally, I have seen the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, just as the law firm has reopened to a full staff as of June 15.

“Like everyone else, we look forward to a time when we will be able to resume our ‘normal’ lifestyle, whatever and whenever that may be. I send my regards to everyone in the CMC family, hoping that this, too, finds you well.”

From GIL FERREY: “We are fortunate that, in addition to our home in Berkeley, we have a second home in Napa, which we purchased in 2014. We have lots to maintain in both, so we have driven back and forth, picked up great Mexican food to go in Napa and Italian food in Berkeley, and have not felt as imprisoned (as before). I shop at Home Depot, Costco, etc., while always wearing a mask and often gloves, but always with disinfectant.

“I had an appointment today at the VA in preparation for another normal checkup next week, will drive to Stockton to pick up some much-needed helicopter parts for restorations that we will soon commence, etc.

Looking forward to more normal socializing soon.”

JOHN HEATON reports: “What Ann and I are doing is not very newsworthy. In fact, most of what we are doing is not doing the things we planned for. Biggest hits are the cancellation of two cruises. One from Miami to Rome scheduled for departure March 30. The second was roundtrip Sydney, Australia, with sailing completely around the continent scheduled over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays 2020-2021. We have rescheduled this one for a year later.

“Also, all bridge tournaments and club games have been canceled through the end of this year. So, we are not playing our two-days-aweek club games and usually a quarterly three-to five-day tournament. There are online games, but neither Ann nor I like this option and are not playing.

DVDs. We are safe and well and hope our classmates are, too.”

From SAM FLORA: “Cross-country skiing replaced baseball as my sport following college. STEVE HALLGRIMSON, my baseball teammate at CMC, suggested I describe some of these ski activities along with the exploits of my kids. I am a Nordic master age class winner several times (ages 75-79 in 2020), class winner in the Anchorage Cup, a finisher of the 2020 90k Swedish Vasaloppet, silver medalist in the Norwegian Birke, and class winner of the skate and classic races in the American Birke. I skied eight of the World Loppet Races and eight of the American Ski Chase Marathons. I found out from my dentist that my Norwegian wife says that I’m a really good skier. At 79, I’m one of the better skiers in the country in my age group, maybe not the best. More accurately, I go to the races.

“A good friend once said that I brighten up when talking about my three sons and five grandchildren.

My son, Erik, is the director and elite coach of the Alaska Pacific University (APU) Nordic Ski Program. Erik had nine Nordic skiers on the last U.S. Olympic Nordic Team and six skiers nominated for the 2020 U.S. Nordic Team, plus the most successful current male U.S. skier, David Norris. Erik coached Kikkan Randal, one of the first U.S. gold medalists in Nordic. My son, Bjorn, is an M.D. (internist) with specialties in intensive care and pulmonary. He’s on the front line and doing well so far. My son, Lars, a two time Olympian and World Cup skier, is the founder of a village ski program that won FIS (International Ski Federation) and IOC (International Olympic Committee) awards for the U.S.—some of the awards are the first ever for the U.S. He has a business that conducts ski and bike clinics in Alaska villages.

Their mother, Berit, loves to be a nurse, threatens to retire, but that never seems to happen. She is the coordinator of open-heart surgery at Alaska Regional and also a ski racer. Erik and Gretchen have two girls and a boy. One girl is a freshman in college and the others, girl and boy, are good students and very good skiers. Bjorn and Melanie have twins, a boy and a girl, that I call the ‘miracle twins.’ Lars, a bachelor so far, has two skijor dogs, an Alaskan husky and a Norwegian shorthair/greyhound/husky bred for racing.”

In a pickle

“On the plus side, our country club remains open for golf and food service with takeout and delivery service only. It is looking like the club will open for other services soon. I have been golfing four days a week, usually badly but with good company and nice weather.

“Filling some otherwise idle time with lots of reading from the best sellers lists, and Netflix

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Donald Bell has been busy: “I have started an outdoor pickleball academy at a little-used tennis court in Nashville. Since there is not much indoor activity available, outdoors is a good choice if you follow safety regulations. The participation has been great. Even some pros are showing up to play in the fresh air. A two-hour pickleball session will wear you out. This is a lot of fun and you get in shape at the same time. We plan to continue despite the coronavirus.”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

BILL DAWSON writes: “Ruth and I sequester at our home in Altadena, below the San Gabriel Mountains, about 25 minutes from the (now empty) Claremont campus.

We try to visit as frequently as possible with daughter, son, and grandchildren, all of whom live nearby. We read the news about the progress being made on a vaccine and urge Big Pharma onward.”

LARRY BERGER ’64

laurencewberger@gmail.com BILL DAWSON ’64

billdaws@comcast.net STEVE HALLGRIMSON ’64

slh@berliner.com KEITH NIGHTINGALE writes, “My latest book on the Iran Rescue and the rise of special operations is now published and titled Phoenix Rising: From the Ashes of Desert One to the Rebirth of U.S. Special Operations. It is available on Amazon. Went to Fort Bragg for induction into the 82d Airborne Hall of Fame. I can now join the great in Valhalla. Still growing limes and killing gophers in Ojai.”

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JIM MCCLASKEY shared some excitement in his neighborhood. “B.C. (before COVID) T.J. GLAUTHIER

drove his vintage Thunderbird from Moss Beach to Walnut Creek, where we met for lunch and conversation. It was great for these former roomies to get caught up. About a month ago, an estimated 200 activists marched into my neighborhood to vandalize our Mayor’s house. They were not wearing masks or social distancing. I, along with a number of my septuagenarian neighbors, circled the wagons to protect our own properties. Despite a large police presence, no arrests were made.”

MALCOMB STARR chimes in with. “COVID shut down a planned trip to Barcelona and Mallorca in early April, so I have been hunkering down watching lots of movies. I highly recommend A French Village, if you speak French or can read English subtitles. Bicycling and occasional dining out has been my reprieve. I am also rereading the entire Tony Hillerman Navajo Tribal Police mystery series. I have two-and-a-half books to go out of the 23. Hope all is well and I get to see some of you again.

The disease has pretty much flattened out in Rhode Island, but I wear my mask religiously when outside the confines of the house. I retired from practicing law three years ago.”

FRITZ WEIS, WALLY DIECKMANN, and wives met for lunch in Coronado in June. Hot topic was how to thrive during a pandemic. Social distancing was observed.

TONY CHILDS writes, “LEE LIVINGSTON and I went to the BILL HARRIS memorial at the Old Folks home for movie

people in the San Fernando Valley. Lots of fun speakers recalling how clever Bill was. I have made contact with DONALD BELL. He is also into pickleball. All the senior pickleball tournaments have been cancelled for the rest of the year. Just about every country in the world is closed to Americans except Turkey, so unfortunately Susan and I are staying home. Getting restless.”

PERRY LERNER checks in with, “For the last five months my wife, Lenni, and I have been seeing the world

FALL 2020

through Zoom and the windows of our home in Philadelphia. Zoom meetings, Zoom classes, Zoom grandkids, Zoom cocktails, Zoom graduations, Zoom birthdays, and even a Zoom funeral. We need a Zoom reunion!”

RICHARD CLINE writes, “My wife, Anne, and I moved to Plymouth, Mass. a year ago. We chose this because it is about 25 miles from the town of Middleborough, where Anne was born and raised. Also, Anne has two sisters, two nieces, and a nephew living in the 6,000-person community of Pinehills where we reside.

Anne said she wanted to go home and I was welcome to accompany her. So, I did. Previously we lived six years in Portland, Maine. We chose that location and left San Diego County, our home for forty-five years, because we were trailing our daughter. She was then a nurse, who had taken a job in the area. Unfortunately, our daughter is energetic with goals. She took extra schooling and became a nurse practitioner. Then she started getting job promotions that took her too far away from us to visit regularly. So here we are in Massachusetts. The culture and physical attributes of the northeast are very different from Southern California. Some of the differences are very challenging and some fascinating and enjoyable. Currently, we live in a bubble of people consisting of Anne’s family. I get in a lot of hiking and pretend to play golf. I am also participating in Zoom gatherings. Stay well.”

JOE BRADLEY ’65

jbradley2004@verizon.net

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ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

JOHN GREEN ’66

3490 Point White Drive NE Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206-842-0159 greenjohnw@gmail.com RICK LEARNED ’66

ricklearned@gmail.com STEVEN WOODWORTH wrote to say, “My wife, Robin, and I are members of the ‘Very Early In, Very Late Out’ Club in Arizona. For those accounting types, the abbreviation is VEI/VLO. It is a one-time distinction with an undefined period. We earned this honor by going into quarantine on March 10, six days after cancelling a long-awaited cruise that was to depart on March 8. In retrospect, we are thankful for opting out, though at the time there was not a lot of ‘COVID Commotion’ in either the Caribbean or Scottsdale. Unfortunately, Arizona is one of those states that closed late and reopened too early. Hence, we are now encountering a dramatic escalation of the state’s critical pandemic numbers. Consequently, any likelihood of getting the curve down and life back to normal appears to be a pipe dream. We expect our VEI/VLO membership benefits to continue well into 2021.

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“Although we have adjusted to our new lifestyle, it has

never been our inclination to spend time in Arizona during the summer. Our patio topped out at 116 degrees last Sunday. Thank God the air conditioners are working well. Our daily outdoor walks and exercise are now started shortly after 5 a.m., this requires our heads on pillows not long after cocktails the night before!

We take seriously the notion that there is a ‘silver lining’ in everything and are hopeful that our extended membership will allow us more time to try to look for it.

Such is life in the desert, and we would not have it any other way!”

MIKE DONOVAN provided his COVID report: “I have read about 40 books and watched endless stuff on Netflix and Amazon Prime. We have spent hours and hours pulling weeds, spreading mulch, and cleaning up the yard. It looks better than it has in years. I am hopeful I will be able to get some books from the library soon.

Almost all the books I have read came from my input shelves and they are getting bare. We missed our customary trip out of the country this year. We were planning a cruise in May, but that got cancelled. I really cannot wait to get on a plane again. My advice to classmates: ‘stay safe, wherever you are.’ (See what I have been reading at www.donobug.com.)”

“I hope everyone and their families are well,” wrote MARTY KAPLAN. “My life has been very routine as I suspect it has been for most of us. OK, you can call it boring. Our son, Kevin, is an M.D., so he has been a great source of information. We have ignored the conflicting news coming from the business and political sources. Those sources, Kevin notes ‘all have either ‘could’ or ‘may’ in the headlines.’ Yes, hope is important, but I prefer reality. Comments like, ‘the virus is a hoax, heat in the summer will ‘kill’ the virus’ do not ring true. Of course, we all hope there is a vaccine sooner rather than later. My son believes it will come late next year or even early 2022. And he questions if the vaccine will be what everyone hopes it will be.

My wife and I are trying to be incredibly careful, but we do go out. We take a weekly trip to Costco, the grocery store, pharmacy, pet food store, and infrequent haircuts. We do not dine-in and only limited take out. I have enjoyed the CMC Virtual Programs via Zoom and podcasts. The one I enjoyed most was with STEVE BULLOCK ’88, the governor of Montana. If you are not taking advantage of these informative meetings, you are missing out on a free CMC ‘info-cation.’ We are concerned with the appearance of a long journey ahead but remain hopeful that everyone and their families can stay healthy.”

“Greetings from Portland towne, home of the little green men,” writes FRANK PETTERSON. “My whole family is doing well so far; we are good with masking and the distancing. We were on vacation in South Palm Springs when COVID hit, just having purchased a condo. So, we stayed on an extra ten weeks and applied online ‘retail therapy’ to whip the place into shape. Now we have three humble abodes that require considerable attention. This helps to keep us busy during the isolation. Our homes are in Portland, Sunriver (south of Bend), and Palm Springs. We are like migratory birds and move between locations for their high seasons, while keeping contact with our families, friends, and the business. Thinking back, I have had seven melanomas, prostate cancer, three hip 43

’67 Slice of life Steve Rudd has offered his and Martie Vaughn’s Good, Bad and Ugly Pandemic Tales from Saratoga, Silicon Valley, Northern California: • The Good. After three months shut down, California Governor Newsom, the Santa Clara County health director, and the Saratoga Country Club Board opened the SCC tennis courts first to family members, so Martie and I were able to practice some singles on weekends. Then, it was opened to club members, so Martie can play women’s doubles and I can play men’s doubles twice a week. (You are invited to play, as well, so long as you do not trounce me.)

• The Better. Martie and I love to go to friends’ homes for dinner parties, which have been ruled out during the pandemic. But, even in good times, we are reluctant to host them, due to so many friends’ culinary peccadilloes, including food allergies, special diets, and wine preferences. The pandemic has solved our dinner hosting predicament. We now host “Pandemic Pizza Pie Patio Parties” under our gazebo, and our friends are so desperate to socialize that they come anyway.

• The Best. For the past sixteen weeks, our oldest daughter, Kristi, has been purchasing and delivering our groceries to us. I am permitted to supplement Martie’s grocery list with my essentials that have been left off. My list includes kippered herring, vanilla wafer cookies, and white wine varietals.

• The Excellent. I have a precocious grandson, August, age seven, who lives with his parents in Ojai, Southern California. In a sign of the times, his parents have restricted his screen time, so that he will do something productive. One day, being bored and with no school and no playmates, August ‘borrowed’ his mother’s iPhone, called his Aunt in New York on Facetime, and asked her to turn on her TV, so he could watch his favorite shows in real time.

• The Bad. The same people who ultimately opened our tennis courts, had the audacity to shut down my ‘non-essential’ trusts and estates law office. Of course, the worst part of all was being designated ‘non-essential, which is an anathema to us egocentric attorneys. And then there was the hassle of vacating the office building and having to set up my home law office and my legal assistant’s home office (a whole mile apart). I still cannot find one of my trust legal files.

• The Not So Bad. The pandemic has challenged me to distinguish myself from the other 191,235 California attorneys, and not rely solely on my stately Spanish mission style law office building’s drive-by appeal. I have even had to ask the occasional satisfied client to give me a good review on Yelp. Amazingly, I have started to see clients under the age of 50, including a young couple from Turkmenistan.

• The Ugly. Two days before my SSR-CMC CRUT office building sale contract (for $200,000 over appraised value) contingencies were to be removed, the powers that be closed all non-essential office buildings, and my timid buyer withdrew from the contract. I am now tending the office building (my partners have retired) and having to digest all the CDC, Governor Gavin Newson, Cal Osha, SC County, and Cupertino City office reopening directives. Face shield anyone?”

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replacements, I am a little overweight, and still on the hunt for a hole in one, but I am 75 and still alive! I have been blessed and I hope you will be too.”

STEVE MARTIN tells us that the coronavirus has increased his workload because he is the treasurer of the Hospital de la Familia Foundation, whose main beneficiary is the Hospital de la Familia in Guatemala, near the Mexican border. He writes, “The Hospital’s business model was to host visiting U.S. doctors performing dawn-todusk operations on pre-selected local patients. That model is broken, but there is now another model, which is Guatemalan patients being operated on by Guatemalan doctors. Wait, that model is broken, too—as the government has prohibited overnight stays, shut public transportation, and the community has put up a checkpoint to prevent outsiders who may be infected from getting into town. So, forget about it. Our nonfoundation income has dropped by 35 percent (so far).

The Foundation increased its payments by about 30 percent and the Hospital dropped its expenses by about 30 percent, including suspending one-third of its staff for six months starting in August. Visit www.hdlff.org to see more about this worthy charity.

“The numbers don’t tell the whole story because the order of nuns that had provided services since the Hospital’s startup pulled their three assigned sisters back to what I call the ‘mothership’ (that’s a pun—it’s actually a ‘Mother Superior’ from the head office who has been overseeing the nuns). With no nuns and less revenue, the local board had to gear up and decide what to do.

It completely wimped out in ability or willingness to act. So, the Foundation’s board issued a unanimous ultimatum that the Hospital board agree to a new president by the end of July or we will delay sending any further funds. I have been running point on this dispute for the Foundation and speaking individually to each member of the local board that I can reach to see whether they will agree to carry on with a different president.

“I live in a Mexican village and the coronavirus has increased my workload here, as well. I am the presumptive president of the neighborhood association except that the required all-hands, in person installation assembly has been postponed indefinitely. We also closed our small office in March, due to the pandemic.

Since there are about 25 families who haven’t paid their 2020 dues, my wife and I purchased a 10’ x 10’ canopy, which we put up in our car park for a few hours each Saturday so that owners can pay in an official-looking and reasonably non-threatening environment. We call it our ‘spaced out’ office. An illegal development project, water shortages, cobblestone displacements, an occasional 30-foot tree blowing over, loud parties, and barking dogs round out the responsibilities of my job.”

“Well, you caught me at home,” exclaimed ROB MAGGS. “All incredibly quiet here. Family is all well. Trips cancelled with only occasional ‘friends on the patio for cocktails.’

Cable news gives me hypertension. This has been a remarkable year. We have purchased only one tank of gas since February! Clubs are closed for long stretches, children and grandchildren have chosen to cancel previously scheduled visits, and everyone is extremely cautious. Debbie and I have read many books since the year began. My most recent is Exercise of Power: American

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the PostCold War World by Robert Gates. Have also tackled several books about WWII Britain and Europe and the occasional mystery. Even though Africa has locusts, much of the world is subject to the new viral infection, and large-scale unemployment and businesses closing daily, the USA appears to have it relatively easy compared to the hardships suffered and endured when the world is at war.

“It is also remarkable that I have been able to complete so many home repair and improvement projects. Our gardens are lovely (even though it has been extremely hot lately). Our eldest grandchild just graduated from Northwestern University. She has two siblings in college, one at Brown and the other at Colgate, with a younger brother still in high school. Our two youngest grandchildren are in middle school. They are all active in sports and are fortunate to enjoy beach-front living at various points along the Long Island Sound.”

BRUCE BEAN commented on his COVID experiences.

“After moving to a condo in September of last year and closing our business office in April of this year, I have probably been doing what most of us have been doing—truly little of interest. The one exception was a drive from Minneapolis to Broomfield, Colo. to help our third son and his wife with their newborn fraternal twin boys. Mary (Scripps ’67) and I have busied ourselves with household chores, walking the dog, grocery shopping, and tried to help with four-year-old Vika (not very successfully since her world has been turned upside down with the arrival of twin siblings). After two weeks, we drove back to Minneapolis on a more northern route through Wyoming and South Dakota’s Black Hills and Badlands. Our drive out to Colorado was through Iowa and Nebraska. The traffic was heavier both ways than I thought it would be. People were beginning to get back on the road as the states began to open.”

Margie and JIM CARSON are still isolating in Northern Virginia except for weekly grocery shopping, medical appointments, and an occasional high-risk run to Home Depot. “We see a few friends, one couple at a time, for BYO Everything ‘happy hours,’ appropriately distancing on our back deck. We cancelled a Viking Cruises trip to the Nordic and Baltic countries in July and a self-planned trip to Germany this fall. But the worst impact of COVID has been not seeing our kids and grandkids since February. Fortunately, we and the family thus far have remained virus-free. No mean feat for our Brooklyn crew!”

GUY BAKER reports that he had prostate surgery on Halloween 2019. “This took me off the circuit in November and December. I fully recovered by December 1, with a zero PSA ever since. I had just started to return to normal—only to find ourselves amid COVID. Our two youngest children sheltered in place with Colleen and me, which made this adventure much more fun than if we had dealt with it alone.

There have been lots of conversations, laughs and food—especially food. Business has continued through Zoom meetings and a lot of phone calls. I go into the office most days and have devoted this time to catch up on projects I have been neglecting, to update our websites and marketing materials. All in all, it has been

FALL 2020

a peaceful and restful time for all of us.”

Guy also mentioned that he had received a wonderful honor last fall as the recipient of the John Newton Russell Memorial Award, the industry lifetime achievement award, within the life insurance and financial planning industry. This is a special award, and to be considered for it is a real honor. (Editorial note: please take a few minutes and watch Guy’s award on YouTube. You can find it at “JNR 2019 Guy Baker.” Listen to Guy talk about the factors that have made him so successful: Community, Consistency, and Character. Guy concludes with “hope you all are well.”)

And lastly, ROBIN BARTLETT concluded with his own COVID story. “My wife, Barbara, came down with the virus in June. The first five days were touch and go and very frightening because I could not visit her in the hospital and the daily reports from her internist were, ‘Well, we’ll see how she is tomorrow.’ She was given one of the trial drugs and that helped her turn the corner and come home after two weeks. My youngest son and I were both tested immediately. He was negative and I was positive, but have been completely asymptomatic.

My wife’s recovery has taken more than a month and she has been warned to be extremely diligent about interactions with the public and observe all protective measures. That COVID test really sucks. You know what I mean if you have had it. It was no fun having that little swizzle stick shoved up each nostril and into your brain, but am thankful to have my wife home again safe and sound. And finally, in the middle of her illness and the pandemic crisis, our first grandchild was born to my oldest son, Jason. Claire Catherine is the first female born in the Bartlett family in four generations! (Even our dogs were male!)”

MEMORIES OF WWII, THE A BOMB, FATHERS, AND RELATIVES: FRED MERKIN, our resident class historical

sage, recently reported on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and offered two articles for our introspection: John C. Hopkins, The Atomic Bomb Saved Millions. Wall Street Journal (August 5, 2020) and Victor Davis Hanson, Our Annual August Debate over the Bombs: It was a terrible choice among even worse alternatives, National Review Online (August 6, 2020).

Fred provided a personal commentary, “I do not come to this historical question dispassionately. My father, who served in the Navy and Marines during World War II, told me that he was scheduled to be deployed with the task force formed to perform the first home island invasion- that of the most southern island, Kyushu.

Odds are that I owe my life to President Truman’s historic decision, and perhaps others in our group might be able to make the same claim.”

This communication enjoined ROB MAGGS to respond, “One of my uncles was a Navy diver who was among the first Yanks to visit the site of the second bomb to photograph the damage. He came home feeling fine, but the film only lasted a few months after the pictures were developed. There are too many nuclear powers today. It is very frightening.”

STEVE RUDD commented on watching a YouTube video, First to Fight, Marines in WWII—Solomon Islands.

“This is a documentary that depicts my father, Searle Rudd’s, Marine Corps experiences in WWII. My father

survived the fierce fighting in the Solomon Islands, and came back to the United States as a Marine captain to train more soldiers. My uncle, Albert Boechat, fought the Japanese on Wake Island, where 200 Navy seamen held off several Japanese battleships for two weeks, and were ultimately overwhelmed. My uncle died in a Japanese POW camp in China, and his gravesite is at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Cemetery in Hawaii.”

And DENNIS MANN chimed in with, “My father contracted San Joaquin Valley Fever in late 1943 (a highly contagious pulmonary disease about which little is still known). He was medically discharged as a first lieutenant of United States Army Corps of Engineers in early 1944. The only survivor from his combat engineer battalion that he knew of was Jack Davenport, sheriff of Monterey County in the 1950s (their unit went through Peleliu Island, Leyte, and Okinawa). As the Americans got closer and closer to mainland Japan, casualties skyrocketed. It was only after the surrender was signed on September 9, 1945 that my parents started working on me. I arrived in Santa Cruz on May 5, 1946 and owe my existence to the dropping of the bombs and all the sweat, blood, and tears they endured.”

These stories prompted ROBIN BARTLETT to add, “I think I am in the same salvation boat as Fred, Robb, Steve, and Dennis. My father, a second-generation West Pointer, was assigned to a combat engineer battalion at the outset of WWII. His unit was scheduled to depart for combat in North Africa when he was tapped for a post in Nicaragua. The Army needed a West Point graduate, with a science background, who spoke fluent Spanish to take over as commandant of the Nicaraguan Military Academy. He spent WWII in that position as well as chasing down Nazi agents. His face is on a Nicaraguan stamp, along with the first six commandants of the Academy.”

CMC MEMORIES, CONTACTS AND MUSES: This shipboard report came in from JOHN “BUNJAR” PETTIT P’91 some time ago, “Hej, hej, hej! Several of our classmates were invited to take a cruise on PAUL SCRIPPS’ racing yacht The Miramar last October. We started in Ventura Harbor and travelled out to the Channel Islands for two days; then visited Santa Barbara Island for a day (I didn’t even know it existed until this trip); and then on to Catalina Island for a day. We then came back to Paul’s home base at the San Diego Yacht Club, where a souvenir photograph was taken (copies are available for $25 each from Bunjar). It was a five-day trip that will last a lifetime in the memory bank. Included in the excursion were TOM BURTON ’68, JOHN MAZZA, PAUL SCRIPPS, ERIC HASS P’18, and myself. And we have not changed a bit. Order a picture and you will see.”

JIM CARSON chimed in by saying, “Although we started well before COVID, thanks to DENNIS MANN, over a dozen of us from the class of 1967 have been staying in touch regularly via email. Much of the discussion revolves around politics and national issues, of course, with the 2020 elections occupying much space. But VAN SMITH manages to drive us to a higher plane now and then, and VAN WOLBACH back to a lower one. As a group, we run the gamut from right to left, which makes discourse sometimes challenging, not always gentle, but always ‘interesting’ and sometimes constructive. Occasionally, an opinion may be changed.

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Sometimes it gets intense enough that some of us will ‘take a break’ for a while. But I think we all value the connections. I have gotten to know some of my classmates better than I did when we were at CMC. Thus, I await enthusiastically for our next class reunion to connect with these friendships face-to-face.”

VAN WOLBACH responded to the question, is there a classmate with whom you have recently connected?

“I have been entangled in a political brawl for a couple years now with several CMC classmates.

After two years, I think I can truthfully report that my views have not changed anyone’s thinking; nor have my classmates’ views altered mine. Among this disputatious group, I will single out two classmates I did not know at school, FRED MERKIN and JIM CARSON. Jim, with his CIA background, often provides a rare insight to our discussions, and Fred offers marvelous writing on constitutional issues. (Since I am a conservative who identifies with Fred’s point of view, I admit I am partial.)”

“Cindy and I celebrated our 50th anniversary last year,” commented SANDY MACKIE, “and we are hunkered down here in Winthrop, Washington. We are well off the beaten path with CMC Professor John Roth as a neighbor. An interesting connection with CMC came from my work with Professor Winston Fisk, who encouraged me to go to law school in Washington, D.C. and to follow my interests in economics and administrative law. One of my first interviews for clerking at a law firm in D.C., at the suggestion of a local professor, was with Ashley Sellers at Sellers, Connor and Cuneo. As I sat down wondering what type of questions he might ask, he looked up from my resume with a bemused expression on his face and said, “so you know Winnie.” For the next hour, he regaled me with tales of his adventures with Professor Fisk, working on a bar association committee, and drafting the Yugoslavian constitution and administrative programs. At the end of the hour we agreed what a wonderful professor Fisk was. Then he finished by saying, “by the way, can you start on Monday?” The advice from Professor Fisk and the job with Mr. Sellers were the beginning of a very satisfying legal profession and I am now fully retired as of November 2019.

“I appreciated a call from LES WAITE when I was unable to attend our 50th. I have kept in touch with JIM SLAWSKI, who roomed with JIM CARSON and me in D.C., and I welcome hearing from all, including DENNIS MANN and STEVE GRIFFITH. A final note about PHIL GARDNER. Phil’s father helped me get a job with the City in Pleasanton in the summer before law school.

This established my 50-plus year association with towns, counties, and the growth and maintenance places where people live, work, and play. It is certainly a tribute to our classmate connections.”

It is with regret that I announce the passing of EDWARD “TED” HERLIHY from colon cancer on August 4th.

RON DOUTT P’94 and LES “PUMA” WAITE reflected on their memories of our classmate and their close friend.

The Ted Others Knew: Ted’s career centered around things that moved and things that grew. He was a handy, hands-on, self-employed entrepreneur. He had

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’67 King of swing Van Smith commented on personal goals and the physics behind his golf swing. “As we wheeze down the final stretch, let’s try to get our priorities straight. Fore! Just before going to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn., in July of 1960, I had the privilege of playing in the Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf Tournament. It is still the largest junior tournament in the world.

Unexpectedly, on the first day, there were sirens, a police escort, and out stepped … Ben Hogan. He directed us to stand in a U around him and gave us the Five Lessons Clinic. In the process, he dropped probably three dozen balls on the ground and hit every one of them with a driver, no tee, about 270 yards with a high, slight fade. Every ball landed on the first green, dropping like autumn leaves. Dumbfounding. The place was stacked with great juniors, and I can assure you that everyone who saw the exhibition that day has never forgotten it. At my current age, it is still, by far, the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I was already neck-deep in the game, but it was then and there I really dedicated myself to golf. Now that, amigo mio, is a real issue.

Not long before my dad died, he confessed to me a regret at having never become a fine golfer (he had been a superior athlete at several sports). That got me thinking, and it reminded me of a resolution I had made long years before, and then somewhat forgotten. So, in the early ‘90s, I started again, redoubled my efforts, and found that achieving my real goal, somewhat like a small child wanting to be a fireman or a railroad engineer, was phenomenally, almost surreally difficult. But it turned into the most enjoyable project, which I now pursue almost exclusively in an area out behind our house, several hours a day. You won’t want to watch the whole thing, but I have a 30-minute show on YouTube, ‘The Physics of Golf with Van Smith,’ which outlines how I finally found a use for the physics I was forced to take in pre-med classes at Yale and using it to solve my swing. It just shows to what ends we go to reach our longheld dreams. Not to over dramatize it by calling it ‘The Hunt for Golf October,’ it is more like ‘Stalking the Wild Asparagus.’ There exists, in theory, a way to swing the club that exploits the laws of physics, but that does not mean it’s a motion that is all that easy to find. Call it ‘The Da Vinci (Golf) Code,’ and I am still lookin’.”

a multi-faceted career during which he managed the family properties, sold nautical equipment, piloted airplanes and boats, and helped run a volunteer fire department. His homes were in La Habra and Fallbrook, Calif. and Sandpoint, Idaho.

The Early Years. Ted was a man everyone liked, but few knew well. He was an independent outdoorsman and had a well-concealed yet finely tuned sense of humor. Ron first met Ted in 1950, when they were in kindergarten in La Habra, Calif. For eighteen years, they lived less than two miles apart. After finishing high school, Ted and Ron, unbeknownst to each other, enrolled at CMC. They ended up in Berger Hall for all four years. JOE JOHNSON also joined them at CMC coming from La Habra. La Habra was less than thirty miles from Claremont, so Ted spent many weekends at home dealing with family matters and volunteer commitments as a member of the La Habra Heights Volunteer Fire Department. Thus, Ted was not an active

participant in the many legendary pranks that took place at Berger.

Ted’s CMC Years and Thereafter. Ted and Les became close friends and lived next to each other during their junior and senior years. They were both economics majors. Something clicked between the two and they roomed together while pursuing masters’ in business administration at USC. Les’ recollection was that Ted was always engaging, with a ready laugh and a big smile (hence his nickname, “Teeth.”).

Ted and fellow classmate MARTY KAPLAN were the first entrepreneurs in our class. (This was even before that word became part of our lexicon.) In 1965, they purchased the Claremont Cake Company, which allowed parents to send birthday cakes to their children attending the Claremont Colleges. Ted and Marty took the cake orders and coordinated with a local bakery to produce the cakes. According to Marty, CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

Ted always took the deliveries scheduled for Scripps and Pitzer (both schools were all female in those days), while Marty got stuck with the boys at CMC. Ted joined Les and Ron (as well as CMC classmates JOHN MAZZA, ERIC HASS P’18, and ED STANTON) in the two-year master’s in business administration program at USC. After receiving their degrees, Ted and Ron fulfilled their ROTC military commitments. They both got married and then found themselves in Vietnam, first Ron and then, seven months later, Ted. As luck would have it, upon Ron’s receipt of discharge papers, he met the officer who was to replace him. That officer was none other than First Lieutenant Edward T. Herlihy. Ron stated that he was confident that Ted and he are probably the only two officers to hold the same title and perform the same duties of chief, NonAppropriated Funds Branch in the First Signal Brigade.

Closing Thoughts. “Ted was a fiercely independent and an avid outdoorsman,” noted Les. He raised avocados and fresh flowers at the family-owned farms in Fallbrook; manufactured boating accessories from his Newport Beach facilities; and bought an old, singlescrew tugboat and outfitted it for Pacific Northwest excursions. Later, he turned his expertise toward the skies and aviation. He became a pilot and owned a pontoon plane that he would land on the lake near his Idaho home. Above all, he was a great friend and, just maybe, he was ahead of his time. “Ted Talks” had an early disciple and he opened many a conversation with: “Puma, I have idea.” Ted is survived by his wife, Mary, and daughter, Ann. He will be sorely missed by Ron and Les and by so many others. Godspeed my friend!

Ron finished by saying, “I feel fortunate that our lives intersected on numerous occasions over the past seventy years.” Borrowing from Puma’s thoughts, he added: “If it moved, Ted was interested; if it floated, Ted was mesmerized; and if it flew, Ted was transfixed.”

Ted’s flight path through the check points of life was all too brief. He experienced heart aches and family loss, but with faith and hard work he persevered. Ted was a class guy who was all about family, country, duty, and friends. He will be greatly missed.

ROBIN BARTLETT ’67

Rbbartlett01@gmail.com CLASS OF ’68 ACTIVITIES DURING COVID: A report from PAUL WIENER tells us that he and Ann have been sticking close to home since they had to cut their vacation to Chile short in mid-March. Paul says they are both well, but end up being boring alumni. Ann has been doing a lot of weaving and he has been reading a lot and playing the market. “I bought some stocks in March and April and figured on an 18-month to threeyear hold. To my surprise, they went up like crazy—in just a couple of months. It certainly is NOT what I expected, but I am happy with the result.” (Editorial note: Paul does not tell us the name of the stocks.) Paul ends by saying that he’s going to start up a small home bakery, baking bread for a local market. He hopes to pay back his start-up costs in three years or so, but it is mostly a fun thing to do. (Editorial note: at least he now has the “dough to do it.” Ouch!)

’68

FALL 2020

“I currently am hiding out behind the ‘Pine Tree Curtain’ in N.E. Texas, writes JOHAN CARL. The city government here in Austin behaves as if they are seeking membership in the CCP. With all foreign travel plans suspended, I have been spending my time reading, concentrating on educational subjects rather than the news, and listening to Bob Dylan. I keep active by swimming four times a week across an 81-acre, spring-fed lake at the nearby state park. I play tennis once a week with some guys who are mostly a decade younger. Since we are outside, we forgo masks but maintain our social distancing. I mow two-plus acres behind an old manual push mower at least once a week. And finally, because the dance halls are mostly closed, my simpatico and I continue to wear out the flooring circling around the kitchen island.”

Editorial note: I asked Johan to comment on his rigorous diet and exercise routine in hopes of helping all of us learn how he can maintain such a vigorous daily schedule.

Here is what he had to offer: “Any diet/exercise program only works if one really wants to do it. You must double your natural heart rate for 30 minutes. I walk early in the morning when all the birds are in song or at evening dusk after the day cools. You may not agree, but golf and tennis do not qualify as cardio exercise. They are therapeutic, but remember what Mark Twain had to say on the subject: ‘golf was a good walk spoiled.’ Freud claimed that tennis was the only human experience that was better than sex ‘because it lasted longer.’ He obviously did not live long enough to experience the ‘truth.’ I have been fortunate with many things in life. I have found that my quality of life is very much impacted by gratitude for every experience rather than by longing for what I might desire such as more coordination or mental horsepower.”

“I keep in touch with JIM ARNOLD ’67 P’09 and GARY HOWARD. I believe that CMC should have classroom instruction this fall. We all live in a new reality and have little idea about how permanent or transitory it will be. Going off to college is all about the thrill of new independence, coupled with developing responsibility to learn to manage it. Outdoor classes are wonderful, and the professors should have no objection to it. ‘Turn off the news and love your neighbor’ is my philosophy.”

RODGER BAIRD writes that although 2020 was scheduled to be a fun and interesting year, the pandemic changed that early-on. A bucket-list fishing trip to Madeira and a family reunion near Kona were cancelled, a son’s big wedding was scaled down to just parents and siblings, another family wedding was cancelled altogether, and contact with grandkids has been limited to virtual encounters. “Other than those disappointments, we have been lucky enough to have life go on, and to do so with surprisingly good health. While Zoom ‘quarantini’ meetings were at first a novelty, they have become a pain in the neck (literally).

Instead of traveling and fishing, I have spent my time reading published virus research papers, trying to learn more about the immune system and immunology, and writing some fiction. I published my fourth book in May and started researching and writing another to stay focused on something besides the chaos of the day.

I look forward to reading what others have to report.

Good health wishes to all!”

FRIENDSHIPS, MEMORIES, AND UPDATES: DOUG CAMPBELL tells us, “I have had some friendships that have lasted 50-plus years, with CRAIGE CITRON (my roommate senior year), TOM RYAN, and STAN EUBANKS.

Last September, I enjoyed getting together with Craige for some golf in St. George, Utah. We have gotten together a few times since our CMC days, when I have been in Southern California. At the reunion in 2018, we discovered that we both liked golf. However, with him living in SoCal and me in the Denver area, arranging a game was not easy. I visit my mom in St. George, Utah, often and I was able to convince Craige to drive up there last September to spend a couple days. We played golf one day and visited Zion National Park.

Our golf games are comparable. Neither one of us are going to threaten the course record. I think I scored a little better that day, but we both had a great time.

“Tom Ryan, Stan Eubanks and Craige had been friends and Green Hall buddies before we all moved into one of the new ‘tower’ dorms in ‘67-’68. We stayed in touch frequently and all went through ROTC together. After graduation, Craige and I initially were both stationed in Oakland, and lived in the same apartment for a while.

After my Army years (1969-1971), I moved back to L.A. and regularly got together with Tom and Carolyn Ryan (Pitzer class of 1969) and their three kids. I moved to Denver in 1976, so seeing them since then has become a rare but pleasant event. They did have us stay with them at their house in Thousand Oaks, when my wife and I attended my 50th high school reunion in Los Angeles in 2014. I keep trying to talk them into visiting us in Colorado, but so far without success.”

ROGER BAIRD P’11 also shared a memory of his time at CMC. “Certainly, having graduated from CMC opened a few doors as far as grad school and job opportunities were concerned. Once I started working, I stayed with the same organization for 32 years in a career focused on environmental sciences and public health, but I did hire several CMC and HMC science graduates over the years. I have stayed in touch with several old friends and classmates, and have enjoyed class reunions as well as team reunions, especially with Coach Arce and baseball teammates. I was on the CMS Hall of Fame nominating committee until last year and spent a lot of time on campus watching games between 2007-2011 when my son, RORY BAIRD ’11, was a student. It has been amazing to watch the place grow over the years.

“Until the COVID shutdown, I had regular lunch meetings with CRAIGE CITRON, STAN EUBANKS, and TOM RYAN. We met at the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles and enjoyed a great open-air French restaurant conducive to lively conversation and where the waitress remembered what wine we ordered on previous visits. (Craige never could get a beer there, however.) I have also seen JON ANDRON P’96 P’10 on a regular basis on various boating excursions that included JK LEASON P’98 and ROGER HAMMOCK. I stay in regular contact with ED HICKS, who also has been good enough to travel to college baseball games with me to watch my son play, attend reunions, and more recently, to critique my amateur efforts at writing historical fiction.”

How does one pick one memory from perhaps the best years of one’s life? It is so difficult choosing the

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sweetest cherry from a bumper crop. “The ripest of all,” wrote JOHN ELLIOT, “is my memory of being captain of the boxing team and winning darn near most of my fights. And I also remember exactly where I met Marguerite, my first true love and wife, and what was lost and found down in the Wash under a bright moonlight sky. And I remember all those Hollywood Stars who would come to speak at our coat-and-tie dinners on Wednesday nights. And I remember all those close friends that we still hold tight.

DaKaNa WaKaShay!!!

“And here is another potpourri of memories for you.

Perhaps the best of all were those good old poker games in Wohlford that went all night, or the time when KENNY ROSENTHAL ’72 P’94 P’99 jumped into the trees off the balcony trying to fly. I always enjoyed afternoon tea with the Scripps students—looking for a date with someone both cute and bright. I paid DICK BARRON 50 cents a page to type my senior thesis.

Another highlight was beating CalTech in the Rose Bowl—with nary a fan in sight. Professor Rood’s history lectures were most always ‘man, out of sight.’ And, of course, the cheeseburgers at Hub were good to the last bite. I will conclude with: BEAT POMONA!” “I met my wife, Happy, at Pitzer,” commented JOHN POWER, “and we have just celebrated 52 years of marriage. We met at a mixer. She would protest the war in the peace marches. As I was headed to Marine Officer Infantry training upon graduation, I marched for the flag. We resolved our differences by getting hammered in the Cucamonga orchards.”

“I am happy to report that there is still life for the Class of 1968 after our 50th reunion—two years ago,” contributed JIM ARNOLD ’67. “I have enjoyed contact with a number of ’68ers: JON ANDRON P’96 P’10, JOHN CARL, AND PAUL WEINER. My life has also intersected in recent years by DAVE PRESKILL ’69, TONY GONZALES ’85, KERRY FANWICK ’76, and JACK ’57 GP’11 and JIL STARK ’58 GP’11. I have maintained contact with several environmental attorneys to include GARY SMITH ’73, JIM BRUEN ’65, CAM TREDDENICK ’88, and MICHELLE BLACK’04 (she is a Roberts Environmental Center alum!). I have appreciated the opportunities to see what the ‘best and brightest’ students do when they engage with the Roberts Environmental Center, where I am on the Board of Advisors along with attorneys Cam Treddenick ’88 and DAVE OSSENTJUK ’83 (of ‘chop me before I kill again’ fame—this is an inside environmental law/CMC joke). I still generally enjoy my profession and the opportunities to interact with a wide range of people whose lives intersect within the environmental regulatory world that has developed since 1968.

And I am still working on becoming the mature and responsible adult I was meant to be (I think).”

“I experienced the most delicious hamburgers at a small place called In-n-Out,” wrote MICHAEL BARKIN. “You will recognize the name these days, but not then.

And we loved the ‘Claim Jumper.’ Yum! As a transfer student from Long Beach City College, I was surprised and flabbergasted to learn that Professor Stokes in Latin American History expected more than two or three pages within the first week of classes! What??? I quickly learned that he required delivery of at least 20 pages, fully researched and footnoted. Late nights in Honnold

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Library followed suit. But what an education I received from Dr. Stokes and all the staff. One warm Sunday afternoon coming home from the library, I heard some beautiful music and while sitting on the grass, I enjoyed the girls with flowers in their hair listening while ‘Light My Fire’ played on. Ah, those were some great days!

“Yes, we experienced the ‘Wash’ and cabin parties on Mt. Baldy. I have always wondered who it was that drove us back down the mountain that night? I am still here, so I guess that safety was the rule. I have been remiss in seeing my roommate, TOM STANFORD, and friend DALE ROUNDY P’04. They are down in San Diego and I hope to make the trip to see them again soon. I learned a lot from and admired RAY DRUMMOND, and finally and thankfully, we have come to BLM. I have been a regular attendee at the Southern California Res Publica luncheons. It has been marvelous to experience contact with world leaders in small groups, to ask insightful questions, and listen to their answers.

This has been an amazing opportunity. Other than traveling to many areas of the world for business, and for my continuing education learning about the finest international wines, I know that I experienced a worldclass education at CMC and something for which I am forever grateful.”

Lastly, heard from DAN SMITH. He sent a short note to say hello to all classmates. He is now living in Spokane, Wash. in a 1912 house. He and his wife, Morgan (a.k.a.

Nancy) gutted their house and rebuilt it over a sixyear period. He has two full grown sons, and four grandchildren. Dan spends his time gardening in the spring, summer, and fall with lots of snow shoveling in the winter.

Rbbartlett01@gmail.com

’71

Just a few short months from now and we will officially be over the hill. Way over. Our 50th reunion is fast approaching. Believe it or not, there is a committee of volunteers actively working on the reunion. One of the major accomplishments of the committee, thus far, is we have convinced the college to reinstitute Andy Choka Day. The Berger Belchout was nixed for inexplicable reasons. Efforts are underway to find Mr. Choka to see if he will make a guest appearance.

Anyhow, the committee consists of BOB WILLIAMSON, STEVE PRUZAN, DON KLEIN, JEFF MASON, BOB GOLDICH P’04, STEVE MARRS, JOHN FISHER, ORMOND RANKIN, DAVE HATTON P’00, BILL SCHILLING, and myself. Please contact anyone on the committee to talk about the reunion or for any other reason. We have doctors, lawyers, psychologists, and businessmen on tap to answer any questions you may have or even to give a physical. Right, Mason?

So far, we have heard from quite a few classmates, including JOHN WILEY, ALEX MCCONAHAY, DICK GALE, MIKE KREGER, and AL DAUBER. It looks like we will have a great turnout for the reunion so we hope you all can make it. Stay safe and healthy, Dan. Editor’s note: The class of 1971 is looking for a new class liaison as our wonderful and current liaison, DAN COOPER, would like to pass the baton to another classmate. If you are looking for ways to connect with classmates and reminisce about times at CMC, please reach out to alumni@cmc.edu to volunteer.

DAN COOPER ’71

ROBIN BARTLETT ’67

ALUMNI

about the time (last year!) when he almost got arrested trying to break into Browning Hall at Scripps. It’s a funny story. Now.

ALEX MCCONAHAY, Phillips Hall,

never did become the lawyer 2021 he thought he was going to be when he started at CMC. But he knew that even before graduation. Instead, he became a teacher of history and comparative religion and English, amongst other things, and then took off traveling. Upon return, it was into education full time, including more teaching, and administration. He was a high school principal for nine years before going on to the district office. Thanks to his economics minor from CMC (and his miserly ways and good luck), he retired at 50. Since then he has had his head in the stars. No, seriously, he took up astronomy, taking pictures of the heavens, and sharing those sights with others. He also continued his travels.

He keeps a website (www.alexastro.com) and is part of a YouTube channel (The Astro Imaging Channel), where every Sunday night you can see what he has been up to.

5036 N. Calle Bosque Tucson, AZ 85718-6302 520-529-9427 dcooper@cooperudall.com

WEEKEND

Alex has been married to Judy, from Ohio (Miami University) since 1976. They have two boys, and one lovely and talented granddaughter. Judy and Alex live in Moreno Valley, California. His hair is gone, the hearing is pretty much gone, but the attitude in general remains. If you come to the 50th, he will tell you all

’73

Amid the pandemic, there’s still plenty going on, including a variety of ways to stay connected with the College and each other.

As you recall from a recent announcement,

STEVEN MCGANN is back on the CMC Board of Trustees.

Good stuff. So, there’s one way to stay connected with the College. Steve’s latest academic project is with the Center for Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. One of his recent articles (which he discusses on the next page) is at: https://bit.ly/3gEcHvJ. In addition to writing about United States policy in the Pacific, Steve’s articles also are relevant to current issues.

LOWELL SEARS reports that COVID-19 officially retired him from work and travel. He writes, “My focus has shifted to vegetable gardening and reading bedtime stories to my grandchildren over Zoom. Triathlons are suspended, but I continue to train. I finished 2019 ranked 5th nationally in the Aquathlon and was representing the USA at the World Championships in the Netherlands until they were cancelled. Not sure if the vicissitudes of age will have me competing whenever the championships next take place. As for

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

spotlight C. Steven McGann ’73 Retired U.S. ambassador, deputy commandant, and international affairs adviser TAKING ACTION: When C. Steven McGann penned a recent op-ed entitled, Canaries in a Coal Mine: Women, Racism, and National Security, he had a few issues in mind regarding governance and change. The article—cowritten with Sahana Dharmapuri, the director of Our Secure Future: Women Make the Difference—draws on the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, as well as resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council. The Congressional legislation is based on “the human right to participate fully in society,” McGann wrote, with women as the peace-builders and defenders that can help in times of great crisis—”if we listen to them.” “Going forward, diversity in government also allows for the ability to quickly build stronger coalitions within civil society at the state and local level,” he noted. McGann, who was named a member of CMC’s Board of Trustees this year, said his piece was influenced by former professors Ed Haley on foreign policy and Ward Elliott on legislation, while matching the contemporary work of current CMC faculty and staff like Peter Uvin, Jennifer Taw, Zach Courser ’99, and Nyree Gray. “Moreover, with the large number of CMC women and students overall majoring in government, leading the Claremont International Relations Society, participating in Model UN, and choosing our strengthened Washington Program,” McGann said, “I thought it would be useful to underline the important role of diversity and gender in formulating policy solutions as they matriculate into future leadership positions.”

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connecting with CMC, I have to say it’s the occasional outreach from the Development Office. However, it seems that warm memories of CMC proliferate as the years go by. I’m looking forward to our 50th class reunion in the post-COVID world!”

MARK ROSENTHAL says, “My only regular CMC contact is EDGAR ROSEN ’70, who thinks I’m nuts for working

such long hours. I think my years at CMC helped groom me for a successful life career. Research has become my full-time pursuit these days, and, luckily, I manage all my projects from home. I am now working on a bundle of new projects, one of which (just funded) is to manage coronavirus patients. I have six medical devices in development to handle a flock of problems. I’ve successfully treated more than 1,000 patients with chronic pain so they all were able to stop narcotic pain-relief drugs. I have to promote myself to private investors these days since grants for noncoronavirus work now are tough to get.”

BRUCE FLAXMAN checks in from Rancho Mirage. As for maintaining CMC connections, he credits JOHN KANDER for initiating and continuing Zoom calls with “our Appleby brethren.” WIN AKELEY, DAVE BECK P’01, TERRY GIPS, CRAIG GOLDSBERRY, STEVE HIRAHARA, MARK MILKER, CHARLIE WEAVER, JIM RAY, TIM O’SULLIVAN ’74, and DAN COOPER ’71 (Mr. RA himself ) have participated. “It may seem unbelievable, but nobody has aged a day!” Well done, gentlemen.

From CHUCK HAUK: “The coronavirus pandemic is personal for our family, since one of our sons is an R.N. and the other is a paramedic. I am proud of them for taking their responsibilities seriously, but, of course, I worry about them, too. It’s also personal since I’ve gained weight sheltering at home—my own COVID 15. As for staying connected with the College, I use Facebook. And now that I’m retired and no longer work for a public agency, I get to say exactly what I think about our current state of politics. This year, I got to wish PETER GASTALDI P’02 a happy birthday—our birthdays are two days apart. MARK CHIPMAN and I swap pictures of flowers in our gardens, and a dear friend from CMC (and who is my youngest son’s godfather) is HANS NIELSEN ‘75. Wishing all of you the best.”

PAUL BENINGER P’09 checks in: “I’ve kept up my CMC connections primarily through faculty at what was the Joint Science Department, now the Keck Science Department. When I was on campus last September to talk at the Athenaeum, I met with Bob Pinnell, who taught chemistry, and Meg Mathias, who taught microbiology. They are both retired now and very active in community projects. I thanked them for their kind demeanors as faculty, not only to me but to all of their students. They are such genuinely caring and supportive people. Separately, I reconnected with BLAKE OKIMOTO, who practices law in Honolulu. We had a very good catch-up via Zoom.”

And from REID DABNEY PM’12: “Sherry and I have been working, hanging out, and sheltering in place. We’ve been doing our share of gardening and have a bumper crop of tomatoes, peppers and corn. My son, CRAIG DABNEY M’12 is currently doing field work for the Biden campaign in Arizona. Anyone want to help him? He

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’74 Eye on reform Dennis Rosenbaum, who joined us at our last reunion, is certainly in the thick of things: “I have retired from the University of Illinois at Chicago as professor emeritus of criminology, law, and justice, but I’m still deeply involved in my work on policing. I serve as the compliance officer for the settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the City of Portland, Ore., so you can imagine how that is going! I’m also associate monitor for the consent decree with the Chicago Police Department.

Essentially, we gather data to assess whether these law enforcement agencies are complying with the reform requirements and are moving in the direction of unbiased policing that builds public trust. With the emergence of the Black Lives Matters movement, we are hoping that the reforms will have a lasting impact, but we’ll have to wait and see. Susan and I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to Chicago in the past four years (don’t ask).

Enjoying our two daughters and four grandkids when we get a chance.”

would welcome any assistance. Let me know. My most important CMC connections (then and now) are CRAIG DUCEY, PAUL FISHER, BRUCE FLAXMAN, KEN GILBERT, PETER NICHOLSON, BILL SIMMONS P’05, and ROB WAGNER. It was great to live with Bill, Rob, and RODNEY INGRAM in New York City after CMC. Paul, Bruce, Rob,

and I have played many rounds of golf, and all of us have shared numerous jokes and observations about the world over the years. It also has been great to work with Ken on the CMC Alumni Board during the last decade or so. I truly miss all these guys!”

MARK SPROWL checks in: “At the end of 2019, I retired from 34 years of ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Over that time, I served as pastor and associate pastor at congregations in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Louisville, Ky., Springfield, Mass., and Richmond, Va. This is a calling that neither my classmates nor I would have predicted during my college years! After CMC, I went on to USC film school and earned a master’s of fine arts in cinema, but I wasn’t sure this was the field for me.

My becoming active in a church in Los Angeles proved to be the launching point for my attending Princeton Theological Seminary and ordination. My wife, Jan, also is a Presbyterian minister and works part-time in clinical pastoral education, which focuses on interpersonal pastoral skills useful in chaplaincy and crisis ministry.

We live in suburban Richmond, Va. No grandchildren yet, just dog sitting for our daughter. I look forward to seeing my classmates at our 50th reunion in 2023.”

Congrats and welcome to the Retirement Club.

It’s very good to hear from BRIEN AMSPOKER. “After 45 years of computer software development (most recently, 13 with IBM), earlier this year I called it quits and retired. My wife and I had hoped to spend the first few years of retirement visiting the rest of the U.S. National Parks (we have visited 36 of the 62 parks so far), but the pandemic has thrown a monkey wrench into those plans. While waiting for a vaccine, I have been playing a lot of tennis, mostly with my wife,

but also with my Saturday tennis group (see www. woodbridgetennis.net). You can also find me biking the Irvine, Calif., streets and trails, striving for Strava PRs (personal records in this athletic tracking app). I have yet to make a sizable dent in a myriad of household tasks waiting for me.” And congrats and a welcome to the Retirement Club to you as well!

Y’awl stay safe.

KEN GILBERT ’73

4308 Goodfellow Drive Dallas, TX 75229-2816 214-353-9828 kpgilbert@sbcglobal.net A flurry of reports from classmates starting with DAVID ROTH P’04: “I have been living in Houston since 1979 when I finished my internship and began a residency in urology. I have been with Baylor College of Medicine since then. Earlier this year I stepped down from chief of urology and my endowed chair at Texas Children’s Hospital. I remain with the hospital as director of surgical perioperative services and professor of urology, pediatrics, and OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine. My three children and two grandsons live within a couple of miles of my wife, Polly, and me. I see retirement in the future but gradually will move to that as I slowly decrease my clinical responsibilities. All my children are doing well—a lawyer, a doctor, and a social worker. All are married and successful. I often remember those happy days at CMC that prepared me for the life that followed.”

’74

Of timely interest, JOHN VALLANDIGHAM writes, “I’ve been fairly busy recently, working in ICUs with COVID patients. The reality is much different from what others would have us believe. Prompt testing is strictly rationed. Drugs are in short supply. And the drugs we do have (Remdesivir, pooled plasma, Dexamethasone)

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

have very limited efficacy. I’ve actually had offers to work in states on an emergency basis, even when I don’t have a medical license in that state—something I’ve never heard of before. I’ve seen many patients die needlessly— that should hurt us all. I know it does me. I’m not one to say the sky is falling, but this country needs to stand up and take this pandemic seriously, like so many other countries have.”

STEVE SORELL writes, “I’m still working full time. My staff worked remotely for a couple of months and then began a gradual re-entry (two days a week). Two of them are back in the office full time with me. We are careful to maintain reasonable distance, sanitize, etc. Business has been slowly recovering, but the mix has changed. Most of my legal practice historically related to business formations and agreements. Recently it’s been much more about disagreements and business “divorces.”

It was great to hear from AL LUSK after many years, “I retired two years ago from the State of California’s Employment Development Department after nearly 36 years of work (work he later described as ‘rewarding in countless ways’). I did not say anything then because I did not think anyone would care. I still don’t think anyone gives a flying rat’s rear end…” Actually, Al, we do give a rat’s rear end… so good to hear from you again.

It’s a shame these Class Notes don’t have space for photos since the pandemic has certainly done a job on personal grooming. For instance, TIM DONAHOE shares, “On a personal—but not very interesting note—my hair is now longer than it was in college. I’ve never particularly cared for the look of late-middle aged men with long grey/silver hair (usually in a ponytail), but what is one to do during these times? I’m still searching for a headband in my color. On the other hand, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, tattoo parlors are still open; so, maybe…” In the absence of photos, classmate GIB JOHNSON provides first-hand confirmation of Tim’s situation and writes, “What Tim says is true. His hair is very long. No, REALLY, REALLY long. He looks like Howard Hughes when he was living in the penthouse at the Sands in Las Vegas. Only thing missing are the Kleenex-box slippers. If you can’t remember Hughes’ look, Tim also resembles a trim David Crosby, sans guitar.

So, believe him. His hair is long.”

In the “I’m going to feel old after reading this ‘category,’” JIM WEBSTER writes, “August 4th was my last day of work for Ingersoll Rand. After 43 years in industrial sales for the same company, I’m looking forward to retirement and some new adventures. Meanwhile, I’m water skiing like mad at 5 a.m. on days where the water conditions are glass calm (or at least as close to that as possible) Still crazy about the sport after 62 years on the water!”

Think about that for a second. Water skiing. At 68 years old. 5 a.m. And someone else is getting up with him to drive the boat.

I’m looking for photos of our fellow classmates for my next Class Notes eblast. Send them to publisher@ chicagohealthonline.com And so it goes.

SKIP WEISS ’74

skipweiss@aol.com

FALL 2020

’76

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

MARK LAURIA ’76

1706 Chattanooga Court Claremont, CA 91711 909-625-2760 markwlauria@gmail.com ROBERT YIH writes: “Since four or five months ago, a bunch of us from ’77 have been having video meetings on the first Monday (or Tuesday, depending on the time zone) of every month. It’s a great way to relieve the boredom of in-shelter living. Lots of reminiscence and exchange of stories in the old days that would be somewhat incriminating for others to know today. For the call just now, we had MATT JARVINEN, JIM HOWARD, myself, JON BROWN, JOHN ARNSTEIN, MIKE IDEKER, and CLINT MORRISON, who organized the call. STEVE CHAMBERS and KEVIN HALVORSON were also on the call last month. It’s a good crowd. Some of us were having our morning coffee.

Others were having their evening pleasures. Lots of laughs.”

’77

DR. ROBERT KISKADDON gave insight into the use of a musical instrument as Personal Protective Equipment: “I haven’t talked to a CMCer in a while, so here is a ‘Hello’ from the Florida Emerald Coast. I am still working as the chief medical officer for the HCA hospital in Destin/Fort Walton Beach. Life has been a little hectic these days with the pandemic and our ICU management strategies changing almost daily as we improve our understanding of the disease. I took up the bagpipes about 25 years ago, which has come in pretty handy as a means for social distancing. Despite all that, life is good for me and my wife, Nan, living on the water as empty nesters (except for our two Jack Russell terriers), trail running, sailing, and taking our Harleys on cross-country trips.

Shep, Kirk, Stuart, Miles, give me a shout sometime.”

DONALD LEVITT posed some questions: “I had my first hole-in-one on July 28. I have been reading the works of Professors Harry Jaffa and Leo Strauss. Really complicated stuff. Can anyone help me understand what they are talking about? What can they teach us about the current political quagmire? Are we looking at the impending death of one or both of our two major political parties?”

JIM CARROLL sent in this update: “Tacey and I built a

house on Kiawah Island, S.C. and moved down here full time in February 2019. Little did we know that COVID would reunite us with both of our New York resident kids. The shutdown brought son, Tyler, and daughter, Jamie, along with Tyler’s girlfriend, Lane. The empty nest turned into Camp Kiawah with four of us working from home. Yikes! We have the bedrooms, but had to improvise work spaces and meal plans. The good news is that all the kids have remained employed and healthy. Tyler and Lane decamped after two months for her parents’ home in upstate New York. Jamie heads back to her teaching job in New York at the end of

August. I’d like to think home life will go back to normal, but something tells me that won’t be the case for a while. Hope all my CMC friends are healthy and hanging in.”

CONRAD CORCORAN provided important advice on wine selection: “Expensive suits and shoes have been traded for shorts and sandals, the computer exchanged for a bike, and early morning meetings for long workouts or long walks with Red and Rosie, my red labs. Fifty years of work and saving turns to leisure and spending. It is final as of January 1. I am retired, sold the office and my practice of 38 years. Remember to order the best wine, always. See all of you at the next reunion.”

KEVIN HALVORSON is now wearing several hats: “DAVID BROWNLEE and I have kept in touch over the years. In

fact, I did some IT telecommunications consulting for him at two of his companies. It’s great he is back in Claremont and I can see him when I am in the area, which I did recently.

“As for me, I turn 65 in a few days, as many of us do this year. I got my master’s in business administration from University of Oregon in June 2019. Even in a hot economy in the Portland area, I was considered for various positions. Then COVID hit and I was furloughed by Xerox. I am now part of the ‘gig’ economy. I am involved in podcast advertising, business consulting projects in real estate, and legal\employee benefits services.”

DAVE HECKENDORN writes: “I made a major career change two years ago, from marketing medical devices to working with the 10,000 international graduate students, scholars, and post-doctorates at Harvard, with InterVarsity, a campus Christian ministry. I have managed to track down and see MIKE RALSTON ’78, BRIAN BROWN, BART BREWER ’76 and RAY ROTOLO ’76 P’14 in these past two years, and speak with DAVID STARK. Still seeking LASKA JONES, STU DUVAL ’78, and a handful of others.”

BARRY NUSSBAUM checked in to say: “I have been extremely busy doing news commentary across numerous platforms, all recorded from my home studio.

I am doing network commentary weekly (for six years) on One America News Network, and another four to five shows weekly on various platforms including our own. Our site is http://www.americantruthproject.org/.

My new book entitled, Because You Asked, is available through our website. I connected with GREGG JARRETT from our class through a mutual friend. As you know, he is a regular on Fox News and has several best-selling books out now.”

AL HARUTUNIAN III ’77

619-844-5960 al.harutunian@yahoo.com RICK VOIT reports, “Camp Voit is doing just fine these days. I am in the middle of a phased four-year retirement exit from Merrill. Emily and I split our time between Chicago and Seattle, and the firm was kind enough to give me desks in both cities. Truth be told, most of the time is spent enjoying blue skies, trying to work off excess weight, and waking up later. I do have an unpaid spot with Youth for Christ’s headquarters in Den-

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FRANK CHMELIK ’78 P’18

A serious side Dan Goldzband sent in this tribute to Steve Marquardt ’76 after seeing his obituary in the Spring 2020 issue: “Even at CMC, you can know someone only from a distance. Many alumni from the 1970’s may remember Steve only as the campus cut-up, who seemed to make everything a joke. Yes, the man was hilarious. I will always remember his introduction when running for AS President: “He arrived at CMC in a sealed boxcar and has been kept under heavy sedation ever since.” There were many more quips, some vulgar, but all the product of a rapier wit and great intelligence. I had the opportunity to know him as more than just a caricature. We were both in Prof. George Dunn’s “Modern Political Thought” course in Spring of 1978. I don’t recall many specifics (so much of it was over my head), but I have a clear recollection of Steve very thoughtfully considering and questioning the difficult material we grappled with.

He took Nietzsche seriously, and evidently, he took his career seriously, too. We should remember that, along with the funny stuff.”

ver (National Mission Catalyst, ha!) and really enjoy doing development work for the ministry (chaplaincy in youth jails and cities). My son Gordon is 30, six years into sports television, and Stuart, 28, married a cool young lady and he is a buyer for W.W. Grainger. And Emily still likes me. Very best regards to all.”

BRIAN MORONEY reports, “as of today, September 7th, Carolyn and I are preparing ourselves for the college departure of our youngest child on the 18th. He recently asked us what we will do with ourselves once he was gone! Really?!?! After raising ten children over the past 33 years, I don’t think that will be a problem—do you?”

CRAIG BENTLEY responding to how COVID-19 affected life reported, “The pandemic brought the film/video industry almost to a halt. I think the very reason I was so drawn to the business (it’s extremely collaborative nature) is also the reason it was so affected by a highly contagious disease. My company (imageworks.tv) has managed, however, to produce some effective (but small scale) campaign videos during the pandemic. In general, I think it’s very evident now that when we as a society lockdown, we get control over the virus, and when we don’t, we lose control again. Fingers crossed for continued rapid vaccine development.”

PHIL PALMINTERE said, “Here in Park City, the ski resorts closed once the pandemic hit mid-winter. With the shortened ski season, I barely broke a million vertical feet with only 59 days on the slopes at Deer Valley. Returning to Las Vegas was surreal—bicycling from the extreme south end of The Strip all the way to Downtown— with more bicycles than automobiles on a road that is usually saturated with vehicles and partiers 24/7, 365 days a year. Just as the past is frequently divided between ‘pre-war’ and ‘post-war’ eras, so also will people of the future think in terms of ‘pre-pandemic’ and ‘post-pandemic’ eras. As I write this, the U.S. is at about 4.85 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The smart people say we should hit herd immunity at

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’78

somewhere in the 200 to 275 million case range. That means we only have another 195 to 270 million-ish cases to go before things settle down. Or maybe we get an effective, safe, deployable vaccine. Until then, I only have another 20 pairs of skis to tune. I feel for CMC students, faculty, and administration during the pandemic, but I have confidence they will find a way to thrive.”

FRANK CHMELIK P’18 reports, “I left Bellingham, Wash. on

March 1 for a planned two-month motorhome tour of the United States with planned stops in the Southwest, South Carolina, Ft Lee, Va. (where my son was an Army captain), and back across the Midwest. We saw Molly and STAN HELFAND in mid-March in Los Angeles, where we had dinner at a packed restaurant. By the third week in March, we stopped in Georgetown, Tx. (near Austin, where we played golf with Carolyn and BRIAN MORONEY, and again had dinner in a packed restaurant.)

By the fourth week in March, we elected to turn back at Vicksburg, Miss. (after touring the National Battlefield) as federal and state parks were closing, restaurants were closing, and there was talk of quarantine. We raced across Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico and headed for asylum in Palm Desert. However, along the way a friend called and offered his winter home in Gilbert, Ariz. with the offer ‘do you want me to have the pool service heat up the pool?’ We ended up spending April in Gilbert, Ariz., playing golf and riding bicycles as the governor of Washington issued daily edicts and restrictions always based ‘on the science’—hence closing down all ‘non-essential’ businesses, but leaving recreational marijuana sellers and liquor stores open as ‘essential.’”

We hope to hear from other classmates how COVID-19 pandemic has altered their life plans or life view.

Chmelik Sitkin & Davis 1500 Railroad Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225-4542 Phone 360-671-1796 ext 204 Direct 360-306-3001 Cell 360-223-5633 Fax 360-671-3781 fchmelik@chmelik.com

’79

Greetings from CLINT GREENBAUM and special guest, JOHN BECKER.

COVID, COVID, COVID—is no joke, but at times it sounds like Marcia, Marcia, Marcia (have to admit, from 1969 until now, we thought it was “Marsha” Brady!) The pandemic has turned the world upside down, but how was it affecting the Class of ’79? So, The COVID Era Survey was sent to our classmates (please email, if you did not receive a survey). No one is identified in the results below, since anonymity provides the most honest answers. At the end of the survey findings you will find the names of those who contributed. One additional note: we appreciate the number of responders who let us know we are crazy, but that the world was worse.

A few general observations—The Class of ’79 is experiencing the pandemic the way most of America is: a lot more at home time, fewer face-toface interactions, and a greater use of technology to conduct business, interact, and be entertained.

However, most of us are reaching out to classmates and friends in spite of social distancing requirements.

Politically, we span the socio-political gamut from hardcore conservatives to left-leaning voters.

But what really stood out from the survey was how incredibly funny the class still is. From wry observations to crack-me-up jokes, almost every respondent offered some witticism that left us smiling.

Here are the questions and results: If you were currently in college or graduate school, would you attend classes in person, online, or would you take a gap year for the 2020-2021 year?

• In Person: 50% • Online: 40% • Gap Year: 10% What will be the number of confirmed COVID cases in the U.S. as of December 31, 2020? (At the time the question was asked, the number was approximately 4 million.)

The mean: 18M; standard deviation: 5.7M. • 6 to 10 million cases: 61% • 10.1 to 15 million cases: 22% • 25 million cases: almost 6% • 32 million: almost 6% • 70 million cases: almost 6% Observations from respondents and clarifications: “Who’s counting and what is the criteria?”; “Can you be counted twice?”; “Do I get paid if I say yes?”

Do you know someone who had COVID? Seven classmates responded that they know someone who died of COVID.

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

• Yes: 73% • No: 17% Since April 1, 2020, have you: Allowed anyone, other than your family, inside your house?

• Yes: 75% • No: 25% Comments: “two were plumbers,” “one was an air conditioner repairman wearing a mask and gloves, in Phoenix when it was 112 degrees;” “I don’t let people into my house with or without a pandemic”; “Rumor has it that PETER CROLIUS ’80 was ahead of the game and denied entry to the Easter Bunny in April out of an abundance of caution.”

Eaten in (or outside) a restaurant?

• Yes: 55% • No: 45% Comments: “One more yes, if you consider Fat Burger a restaurant.”

Gone to a dentist?

• Yes: 41% • No: 59% Gotten a haircut in a barber shop/salon?

• Yes: 41% • No: 59% Been on a commercial airplane?

• Yes: 18% • No: 82% Comments: “Not yet, but I have reservations to go.”

Another said: “My son and daughter-in-law are currently staying with us, taking a break from being shut-ins at their apartment in New Hampshire. He is working and she is going to school from our house. They flew here.”

Did you Zoom prior to April 1, 2020?

• Yes: 77% • No: 23% After?

• Yes: 95% • No: 5% Do you think you will be Zooming in 2022?

• Yes: 89% • No: 11% Zoom has received mixed reviews such as: “Can’t wait for it to end!” or “It is here to stay, particularly great for in-law visits.”

How many masks do you own? Do you wear them?

• 1 to 5 masks: 60% • Around 10 masks: 10% • 25-plus: 30% A classmate wrote, “I supplied masks and sanitizers to all my employees for when they come into the office.”

Another set up their whole staff to work remotely. All those who responded said that they wore masks.

Because of the pandemic do you find yourself more or less fit?

• 27% are more fit

FALL 2020

• 41% are less fit • 32% are the same A recurring theme from those who felt less fit was that the pandemic had forced them to abandon their preparations for their next competitive Ironman competition, but they would be back on the regimen in 2021. For those who felt the same, the recurring theme was “always was and still am a stud.”

Did you reach out to classmates?

• Yes: 93% • No: 7%

to announce that, after 50 years of trying, I have finally grown an edible watermelon. Recently had a nice back and forth with PETER CROLIUS, who reached out to me when he was visiting my hometown of Durango, Colo. He, his wife and daughter are doing well.”

STEVE GARCIA wrote, “Since most of my clients are deemed essential, I have not missed a day in the office due to the shutdown. It’s been challenging for my wife, as she provides care for our parents, all of whom are elderly but still living, and babysits our granddaughter several times a week. Our second granddaughter is due in November.”

Some highlights: “Of course, I may be social distancing, but I’ve golfed with my old roomie.” Michael McGrain, hiked with SCOTT WHIPP ’80, and Zoomed with the water polo alumni (MIKE SUTTON ’76 hosts a bi-weekly gathering of that group), among other things.

GARY ENGLER says, “Daughter Erica started as a grade school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School district this August. Congratulations to RICHARD DORMAN P’20’s son JOSH DORMAN ’20—valedictorian in CMC Class of 2020.”

“I’m also friends with a few on social media. I love photos of families, vacations, and fun activities that are posted. I probably should have reached out to them directly.” “Played golf with one yesterday.” “Yes, lots of emails and Zooms. Our class has had great participation in the online alumni gatherings. I saw Bill MacGowan in person after his wonderful mother passed away. We sat outside on the patio of his family home in Newport Beach.”

WHIT LATIMER is proud to announce that he is going to be a grandfather (again.) Another new grandparent is STEVE TRENHOLME, “My second son has his first daughter! My granddaughter’s name is Maya Aki Trenholme. I had no memory of how tiny infants are.

During the week I saw her, she spent her time either sleeping or drinking mother’s milk. Since I saw her about a month ago, she has doubled in size. God knew what he was doing when he designed mother’s milk for babies.”

Here’s what’s up with our classmates: CODY SMITH P’18 P’21 wrote: “Cancer in remission,

retired two years ago, looking forward to a third act.”

FRANK VERDERAME says, “My son, Nick, has been practicing law with me for a few years now. It’s been great. He is likely to surpass me with success in practice. My other son, Ted, quit his job as a financial analyst two years ago, and pursued his passion for Swiss timepieces. He went to Switzerland, learned how to make the watches, and had to overcome the challenges of COVID to get them manufactured.

He works with a team in Switzerland that is part of a company that has been making Swiss watches for more than 100 years. They turned out great and he is selling them now. Go to www.endatto.com to check them out. One of our dear CMC classmates bought one. A wonderful friend indeed. My daughter, Annie, is a Pilates expert. She has her own studio. And, she gets hired by companies to train Pilates instructors.

Occasionally, that work takes her abroad—Japan, Qatar, UAE, southeast Asia—at least before COVID happened.

I’m still practicing law. People keep asking me if I’m going to retire, but I love what I do. I’m lucky to have been with my wife, Laurie, for 38 years now. Things are good, why would I change anything?”

KEVIN GOODWIN P’16 writes, “EILEEN’81 P’16 and I have been sheltering in place at our wine country ranch. I have basically been here full time since our return from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Korea at the end of January. Eileen has been here full time since early March. We expect to be here for the foreseeable future. We have really enjoyed the Zoom seminars and the virtual wine tasting that EVAN RUTTER ’06 and crew have been putting on and encourage all to participate when you can. Life at the ranch is good. We have painted anything that does not move quickly and have greatly expanded the garden. I am pleased

KEVIN PETERS notes, “Had some great travel plans that fell apart this year, but all things considered, I can’t complain. At least I got in a fantastic month in New Zealand at the end of last year before the world got turned on its head.”

BILL MACGOWAN retired as the EVP for human resources at Newmont Mining on April 1. He was immediately abused by STU UPSON, PETE WEINBERG, JOHN FARANDA, Renette and JIM HEIR ’78, AND JOHN BECKER for slacking off.

JEFFREY DAAR wrote, “I was appointed to the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission in June. The Ethics Commission has the responsibility for the impartial and effective administration and implementation of the provisions of the City Charter, statutes, and ordinances concerning campaign financing, lobbying, conflicts of interest, and governmental ethics, among other things.

My oldest daughter was supposed to get married in Cabo at the end of April. We then moved the wedding to November.”

A special shout out to JOHN BECKER, who is going to be my statistical survey guru the next time I poll the Class of 1979. John said that he was laid off in April.

“COVID s--ks! Thank goodness for the extra federal assistance. I can still retire, I hope!”

Thanks to SCOTT ANDERHOLT, JOHN BECKER, JEFFERY DAAR, GARY ENGLER, JOHN FARANDA, FORD FROST, STEVE GARCIA, KEVIN GOODWIN P’16, CLINT GREENBAUM, RUSS GREENBERG P’18, DAVID KRONICK, WHIT LATIMER, JOHN MCDOWELL, JEFF NICKELL, LESLIE OLSON-COLLINS, KEVIN PETERS, TIM SHIPE, CODY SMITH P’18 P’21, STEVE TRENHOLME, and FRANK VERDERAME for responding to the survey.

Editor’s Note: Condolences to CLINT GREENBAUM and his family on the passing of his smiling son, Jake, who would

53

have been 31 years old this fall. “May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

CLINT GREENBAUM ’79

61 Seafield Lane Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 cgreenbaum@aol.com Under normal circumstances, we would be basking in the sweet memories of our recently-held 40th CMC Reunion. New friendships made and old ones renewed.

But, of course, these are hardly normal times. Instead, we face the reality that society views us as old and vulnerable. How did that happen? Why not take your mind off of COVID for a few minutes and enjoy the great input of some of your classmates? Stay safe and be well!

’80

From PAUL NATHAN: What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? “By far the most important ones in life: very good friends. I have been so fortunate to count WAYNE “WAYNITO” SLAVITT as one of those amazing friends.”

Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with? What prompted you, or that classmate, to reach out? “Recently I have been in contact with CARRIE GEORGE P’14 P’16 on her concerns on the Presidential Initiative on AntiRacism, KATHY (EVANS) HURLEY P’07 (development), DOUG PETERSON P’14 P’15 (at CMC Board of Trustees meetings/calls). Time flies but it is always great to be able to re-connect.”

Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? “KARL HEIM, BILL MORRIS, CAROL KAZMER. From the alumni directory I know where they live but how are they doing?”

From STEVE CASSELMAN P’07: “Love to hear from SUE GREENBERG ’81.”

Contacted BILL MORRIS about catching up at the 40th Reunion.“ Was looking forward to it, waiting to see now, as with many, especially classmates, hoping for a reliable vaccine!

“Too many wonderful teammates/coaches, classmates/ alumni, and friends during special opportunities at

CMC, and post-graduation, to mention individually. So many special memories. Contacts with all appreciated.

“Been teleworking in Nebraska since March. Two children tested negative for COVID-19. Such an insidious disease, even medical professionals are constantly learning more about it. Staying fit via Schwinn Airdyne and free weights.”

From BILL LEBLANC: “Thanks for the nudge. I’ve been doing a lot of reminiscing lately, partly because I’ve been organizing all my photos from the past 50 years.

Here are answers to your questions:” What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? “My lasting connections have been with my classmates who were on the 3/2 program with Stanford for engineering. PAUL MILLER, our lovely spouses, and I did a fantastic seven-day bike trip last summer in Catalonia, Spain. Highlights were not crashing, the food, the beaches, and the wine. We Zoomed with KATHELEEN FITZPATRICK in April, was lucky to see CARL KOWALSKI ’81 on a trip last year to Palo Alto, Calif, and am Facebook buddies with DAVE LAYBOURN. We also had a wonderful socially distanced evening with JOHN BOLMER (soccer mate) just a week ago on his back deck.”

Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with?

What prompted you, or that classmate, to reach out?

“I had a quick catch-up email conversation with CARSON GRAVES, who helped me get the history on my old friend and roommate who I lost track of, CRAIG STEPHENSON, who passed away last year.”

Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? Send them a message here and ask them to connect with you! “Anyone from Benson Dorm 1976-77!”

From BOB FARRA: “To DON CHESTER and MIKE JAMES ’81, the theme song to ‘Welcome Back Kotter’ is apropos, so hum it while you sing: ‘Welcome back!’”

From DEREK “RICO” WERNER: What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? STU “STUBODY” MORRIS P’23, J.R. “WHITEY” WETZEL, JEFF ARCE P’22, DONNY CHESTER, BLAKE ISAACSON ’81, BOBBY FARRA, BRIAN BULLOCK ’81, MATT KAWAMURA ’82, STEVE “SCHI” SCHIRO, DAVE FLATTEN,

a few of the most important connections that had an influence on my life going forward. I know I am forgetting many that influenced my life, but these are the first people that have come to mind.

Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with? What prompted you, or that classmate, to reach out? While DONNY CHESTER and I lived close by each other in Green Dorm and roomed together after CMC in Corona del Mar, we re-checked in with each other because of the virus. I knew JEFF ARCE P’22 had lived in Honolulu for many years, but it was only when my wife of 35 years (Jennie, Scripps Class of 1981) and I visited Hawaii recently that we looked up Jeff and his family. It was just like yesterday for old friends.

Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? Send them a message here and ask them to connect with you! I would love to hear from MIKE WETLE, as he was a great guy who lived near me in Green Dorm, but we have lost touch.

From JAY TREMBLAY: What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? “One important connection was my RA in Benson, KEVIN SCOTT ’79. He introduced me to my wife, Jan Koors, on a blind date in Cambridge, Mass. (and the hometown of both of my parents) in 1983. Recently, we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary.”

Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with?

Jan was on the Berger Institute Board with MARI (BAUMGARTEN) ADAM for three years. In recent years, we visited with Mari both here in Chicago and in Boca Raton, Fla.” WAYNE SLAVITT ’80

’80 Personal heroes From Kevin Smith: “Most important connection I made was with Professor Rood.

I developed an appreciation for his WWII and continued service, for his intense study of international relations, and for his circle of professionals. He influenced and mentored my service to the U.S. Air Force and civil service. I remained close to him until his passing, and continue to be close to his family and friends. I appreciated Nancy P’80 and Bill Arce P’80 for their generosity during and post-CMC. I also developed an appreciation for this second WWII hero. I fondly remember special times enjoyed with them and my family at Spanish Creek and during many College World Series events. Miss both of these educators, friends, and heroes!”

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JEFF RECORDS ’81, ERIC JENICAN, DANNY REED ’81, MEREDITH (UHLMANN) BRENALVIREZ P’22, CAROL KAZMER, DAN KELLY ’82, JON MANN ’82, WAYNE SLAVITT, SCOTT “DADDY T” WHITTEMORE P’13 P’20, DAVID SCHNEIDER, RICH “REEECHARD” DORMAN ’79 P’20, DAVID MGRUBLIAN P’11, JEFF NICKELL ’79, JIL ’58 GP’11 and JACK STARK ’57 GP’11, JOHN FARANDA ’79, KARL (WOLFGANG) HEIM, LOUIS CARON, MARK “SPESH” SPECIALE ’81 P’17, SCOTT “WHIPPER” WHIPP, JOHN “SPINNY” SPINOSA P’14, CARRIE GEORGE P’14 P’16, AUGIE NIETO, PABLO NATHAN, LEE RODGERS, and PAULA NISHIBAYASHI ’81 are just

wayneslavitt@gmail.com

’81

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

VOLUNTEER TO BE A CLASS LIAISON!

alumni@cmc.edu Hello, my kittens. (A classmate thanked me for herding you cats for these many years.)

If you are reading this, you are ALIVE. And like me, grateful to be alive and healthy to whine about this COVID business. I’m looking forward to looking back on this as an annoying time that we got through. The CMC team suggested a theme of three questions, and I’ll start with those first.

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CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

From ELAINE ROSSI: What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? “Connections across time, for example knowing that classmates like NOAH MESEL, KAREN JACOBSON, and MARC BRODY P’21 will love the references to The Federalist Papers in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. And of course, lifelong friendships and bonds to professors.”

Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with? What prompted you, or that classmate, to reach out? “STEVE DALZELL! We always mean to stay in touch, visit and call. With the pandemic, neither of us are traveling so we finally did connect a few times. I reached out to him because I wanted to try to set up his beautiful daughter with the charming and accomplished son of a friend who just moved to St. Louis. Alas, she moved from St. Louis.”

Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? Send them a message here and ask them to connect with you! “Anyone headed to Hawaii who is interested in a socially distanced cocktail hour (pau hana)” (tk comment: This reminds me—where in the world did RISHA MARTINEZ go?)

From LISA (SCHAMEL) CUNDALL: What are some of the most important connections you made as a student at CMC? (picture a deer in the headlights). Is there a classmate you’ve recently connected with? What prompted you, or that classmate, to reach out? “LAURIE (CROM) STOFFEL ’84—found her on a list of alumni in the Sacramento area. She’s great and a good friend.” Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? Send them a message here and ask them to connect with you! JACK RANN ’84, JON SCHWARTZ.” Lisa also sent this: “Here’s me: (www.rideandtie.org/ wp-content/uploads/2020/03/jan-2020-news-finalweb.pdf ),” which shows her looking just like she did 37 years ago, but now with a horse, doing a sport called “Ride and Tie.” Upon my query, “Ride is obvious. What is Tie?”—she clarified, “We actually do equithon. ‘Ride and Tie’ is two riders and one horse. Everyone starts together with one person on the horse, one on foot.

The rider gets to a pre-agreed spot and ties the horse and takes off running. The runner gets to the horse, mounts up, and takes off riding. They switch at least five times. They are crazy people! In equithon, I ride a nine-mile course, then my runner runs the same course. Much more civil!” I agree with Lisa.

SAMUEL “SKIP” SANZERI kindly took pity on my

desperate plea for contributions. He writes, “Regarding connecting with CMCers over the years, I would say the most important part of all has been the friendships that I’ve had with many. Probably too many to list here, but I know I’ve not done as good a job to stay in touch as I could have. However, it does seem that there were plenty of times I crossed paths (for one reason or the other) with CMCers from our class of 1983, as well as surrounding, graduating classes. The best part about it is whenever I do get in touch with a classmate, the interaction seems so familiar and friendly that it’s hard to believe it’s approaching 40 years since we were on campus together.

“Additionally, I’ve tried to help a number of CMC students who have reached out for network connections, job

FALL 2020

interviews, or just career advice. I feel like it’s a good way to give back when a student contacts me and needs something, so generally I do everything I can to help. I’ve also recommended CMC to many high school graduates and have written quite a few letters on behalf of the students to help them move through the process of admission.

“On the business front, I’m focusing on quantum computing and have recently launched two companies here in Silicon Valley: www.quthought.com and www. qusecure.com. Quantum Thought is a venture studio designed to build quantum computing products and to spin out companies that utilize quantum computers.

QuSecure is securing communications and data using post-quantum encryption. Quantum computing is an exciting space that will play a role in our future along with AI, 3D/VR/AR. If any CMCers ever want to talk quantum, give me a call!” (I confess total ignorance of what in the world Skip is talking about. Super glad to have my bright classmates doing things I don’t understand but that make my life easier somehow.)

DAVID DEEDS: “The big news is that my youngest, Kyle, graduated with high honors in computer science and statistics from Harvard, which means no more big checks! He’s headed for the University of Washington’s Ph.D. program in computer science in the fall. My bet is he will become another academic. Other than that, I’m trying to stay healthy, but eating too much of my lovely wife’s food (Meredith Deeds—her cookbooks are on Amazon and her weekly column is on www. startribune.com ). We are enjoying the beautiful summer in Minneapolis and on Lake Superior. Stay healthy and sane all.”

JOHANNA “JO” BUTLER: “My family made it through the first three months of the pandemic. We had a tough time with the online schoolwork, but managed to finish the school year (first grade). However, at the beginning of July, I was laid off from the nonprofit where I had worked for 16 years. Donations were way down and I was one of many who were let go. While I was never going to get rich working at a nonprofit, it was good to know that I was helping to make the world a better place. I’m taking some time to decide where to go from here. Will I stay in IT, or go a different direction? I’m working on some projects around the house for now, and will keep an open mind about my future. BTW ‘here’ is a suburb north of Dallas.”

JACK NEWMAN continues as CEO of Austin Tennis Academy, which he founded. “Still loving it after 40 years.”

TAHIR KHURSHID: “Comforting that CMC ’83 is up and running. It’s been a strange and stressful half year. I’ve been stuck in Riyadh, but that is a blessing. The Saudi government did a marvelous job of shutting down, instituting work from home, and keeping supply chains moving! So much better than anything in Europe or the Americas. My source of stress is the delay in my son’s wedding. He is in Canada, she is in Pakistan! ‘Til travel restarts, we wait! Hoping for sanity to be restored in the U.S. soon, I really miss my biannual trips! Cheers, Tahir.

(Also TK, though signed Teekay).” (I had to add Teekay’s tk comment—Teekay seems so much more sophisticated than my “tk.” I’ll have to try it out.)

LYNN SONES writes, “Greetings from the great fly-over and swing (politically speaking) state of Ohio! Although there are definitely fewer planes flying above, the presidential campaign is already in full stride here as each party competes for the 18 electoral votes Ohio has to offer. No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, so you can imagine the onslaught of ads hitting in every direction from both candidates. We will see what happens in November.

“2020 was to be a year of celebration for me and my Pomona Sagehen wife, Nancy. We both turned 60 and planned to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary traveling the world. But then, the pandemic hit. So instead, we have been hunkering down safely in the corn fields of Ohio and will have to wait for the all-clear to restart our travel plans.

“2020 also marks my 30th anniversary at Gillette/Procter & Gamble. The stay-at-home economy has been a huge tailwind for P&G’s consumer businesses. Who would have ever imagined the hoarding of Charmin toilet paper!! Which brings me to the question posed about CMC connections. I often hear from CMC students who reach out to me for advice about marketing careers in the consumer goods industry and job opportunities at P&G. Hate to say this, classmates of 1983, but the CMC student of today is at a different level from where we were 37 years ago! And speaking of classmates, Nancy and I are looking forward to seeing PETER and LIBBY HUTT ’85 in Palm Springs this Thanksgiving and seeing TOM WOOLMAN sometime this fall in Boston.”

TAMMIE (CALEF) KRISCIUNAS: “I’ll nest in here. We’re good, thanks for asking. We’re thankful for jobs we like these days when so many are out of work. Whiny about having to mask up everywhere, and wipe down everything between patients, but we’re absolutely thorough in doing it. Cancelled travel, ballet, symphony, and dinner parties—made time for finally landscaping the back quarter. The availability of 17-year-old twin neighbor boys, eager for jobs and a weight set, was the catalyst. We’re paying them to build muscles as they lug rocks and do hardscaping. It’s amazing to look out and see what we talked about for 20 years. Oh, I should do the questions: Important connections made as a student at CMC? Clearly the people. My special ones know who they are. A classmate I’ve recently connected with? Um, not recently—I’m a stick in the mud. All old, but treasured, connections. Classmate I’m wondering about? Not personally. Elaine always wanted to know where Risha went, and I’d like to be able to tell her.”

WILLIAM “BILL” JONES: “Hello, fellow Class of ’83 CMCers. I believe I have the distinction of being the only member of our class who lives in Claremont. I live north of the Village in an area, which at one time, was known as Claremont North. In fact, if you drive into our neighborhood from Foothill Boulevard on Regis Avenue, you will see on one side of the street letters on a wall saying “Claremont” and on the other side of the street a wall with the word ‘North’ on it. It is strange to be living through the COVID crisis in Claremont. I think of Samuel Pepys living through the Great Plague in London. It’s not nearly as dramatic or as fatal, but it’s still a momentous time in history. I drive through the Village on my way to and from work. While there are more people ‘out and about’ here than in the past days of this crisis, many

55

spotlight Laura Grisolano ’86 President, Bridge Mediation & Leadership Solutions NEW CONNECTIONS: If you’re feeling like a sloth one day and the Energizer Bunny the next, you’re not alone.

Work-from-home challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic have understandably taken center stage at Laura Grisolano’s mediation and conflict management firm. It’s as if 2020 is “a big Monopoly board that’s been knocked into the air and no one knows quite how to put the disrupted game back together,” said Grisolano, who operates out of Phoenix. Worse yet, the basic rules don’t even appear to be the same. “My clients are really struggling with time and energy,” she said. “Weeks seem like months, but some days fly by before you’ve scratched the surface of your to-do list. No one knows what day of the week it is and everyone’s sleep schedules are disrupted.” To help professionals regain their footing, Grisolano works with teams and executive coaching clients on daily practices that will help even out the mood swings and keep the productive energy flowing forward. Using this moment to step back, re-evaluate, and pivot to accommodate new discoveries has also been serving her clients well. For a company, that might mean offering Zoom co-working sessions to recreate the supportive hive of an office; for an individual, it might take the form of journaling with some self-reflective questions to get to the heart of growing anxiety or conflict. “Sometimes clients need to be nudged into new strategies for getting emotional support—whether through Zoom calls with college friends, teleconference walks with workmates, or taking an online baking class with your grown children.” As people and organizations settle into an extended remote working environment, loneliness and a sense of isolation are the biggest risks. “Arguably the most important ingredient to make everything better is connection. We all need each other right now,” Grisolano said.

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CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

businesses are still closed. It seems like years ago when we could sit in a restaurant over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, walk into a store without thinking of social distancing, give a hug to a friend, or shake hands with a new acquaintance.

“The Colleges are quiet, as though they are on permanent break. I’m thinking back of my years at CMC and have not kept in touch with most of my classmates. I remember being STEVE NESBITT’s roommate my freshman year. I will always be thankful to him for introducing me to the music of Van Morrison. I still remember a crisp fall morning waking up to ‘Bright Side of the Road’ from ‘Into the Music,’ one of my favorite albums. My wife is an ICU nurse working with COVID patients at Pomona Valley Hospital. My wife is heroic, but it’s difficult seeing her go to work in the morning, hoping that she will return safely. I have an enormous sense of pride seeing her go off to help people who desperately need it, but also a sense of anxiety for her own safety.

Prayer helps in this regard.

“We have a little boy, Sammy, who is struggling being out of school and away from friends. He video conferences with a little boy his age. They watch movies together. Sammy puts his iPad on top of a sofa, pointed at our TV screen. Then he sits down on the couch. They watch the movie together, laughing or commenting on what is happening on screen. Sammy is absorbed with Minecraft. We are blessed to have a pool, and in these warm days of summer, it is nice to come home and be able to jump in the pool. I like to put a ‘Beach Party’ playlist from Spotify on while we swim. I’m trying to get Sammy interested in water polo. He has little interest in any other sport.

“I will always be grateful for my CMC years and the education I received there. I see its value more and more with the passage of time—not so much in financial terms, but in other ways. I wish everyone the very best and hope that we will all get through this and, on the other side of it, rejoice in gratitude that we survived. I hope and pray for scientists and researchers working diligently to find treatments, cures, and vaccines. Bless you all, fellow alumni.”

And with that, I, your faithful class liaison, bring this quarter’s submission to a close. Stay healthy.

TAMMIE (CALEF) KRISCIUNAS ’83

tammiekrisciunas@mindspring.com STEVE TAO happily reports, “I wanted to let the class know that I got married to my longtime fiancé, Gerald Bauman, in December 2019. We had a very small ceremony at the Beverly Hills Courthouse and our wedding dinner at a very dear friend’s house on top of Mulholland. It was literally a dark and stormy night, and it was a wonderful evening. In light of the pandemic, we also feel very lucky we were able to get our marriage license and get married in the first place, as courthouses shut down for quite some time during the spring, and many engaged friends couldn’t even get their licenses. We took two mini-honeymoons— one to Budapest, the other to Barcelona—but had to postpone the full honeymoon for later. Who knows when that will be? We consider ourselves blessed and

’85

FALL 2020

like to think we are the poster children for finding love at a later age. There is hope for us all.”

DAVE EASTIS ’85

7davide007@gmail.com

’86

ALUMNI

MIKE HUBER writes: “Still up

here in Seattle, with Microsoft. Married 27 years, all three kids now out of college.

Spent some time recently with CRAIG LYTLE (we were both part of the managementengineering program) on work related collaboration.

Great to see him. I’d also like to take this opportunity to remember CHRIS KAMPE ’85, someone whom we all loved, who passed many years ago.”

WEEKEND

2021

From NICK BAGATELOS: What are the most important or special connections you made from your years at CMC? “The wonderful people I met the first few weeks of CMC are the ones who have stayed in my life for the last 35 years.

My only regret from my days in Claremont is that busy schedule kept me from making as many friends as I could have. So many smart, motivated, honest folks.”

Is there an old classmate with whom you’ve recently connected? “I did a lovely hike with JOHN HUSSEY and his lovely girlfriend in July. JOHN POULOS ’87 regularly keeps me out of trouble, with his wizard like legal expertise, MICAH SCHEINBERG and I had a lovely lunch at his beautiful home in Manhattan Beach in late June, TOM GEORGE and CHANNING “KEOLA” CAINDEC joined me for a lovely socially distanced dinner in Mill Valley in mid-July.” Is there a classmate you’re wondering about? “NED BUSCH, are you still alive? I saw you sneak out of TOM WHITTEMORE’s wedding 20 years ago.”

Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your outlook on life?

“The COVID-19 pandemic made me realize two things.

First, I work with a group of extremely resilient individuals who are adept at change management. This kept me, my family, and my staff’s families safe and productive during this ever-changing set of guidelines to reduce the spread of the virus. I think the pandemic is the second story in this drama. The regional, national, and global reaction to this threat was more connected and unified than any other ‘public’ reaction in history. Billions of humans from around the globe took steps to shelter mankind from a looming disaster. The disease will be gone in the near future (six months?/two years?). The memory of an unprecedented global immediate and unthinking emotional reaction produced by the disease (like a knee jerk), is something that may change human communication forever.”

KELLY CHAN writes: “I must say that compared to the

graduate school I attended, CMCers have done a much better job in keeping the alumni members cozy and connected. While I remember some familiar names, some of you may not recognize me, as I was one of the fewer odd ones who graduated in December 1986. This is now my sixth year into retirement. Retirement life turns out to be better than I thought. I thought it could be boring for me. My wife and I live between Hong Kong and the San Francisco Bay Area. I am happy to keep in touch with KARL SAHLIN ’87 in Seattle, JAY UHM ’87 in Seoul, and ROGER CHING-FONG WU ’87 in Central California.

Wish everybody stays safe and healthy in the midst of the pandemic. singlemalt41@yahoo.com, whoever the connoisseur is. Cheers!”

From KEVIN TAN: “OMG! I can hardly believe it will have been 35 years since graduation (or 34 for the ME’s).

I looked through the distribution list and it brought back so many GREAT memories. Walking up to the Joint Sciences building in the mornings, or the math classes with Hoffman and Bradley. Going to Bauer for class with Jerry Eyrich, food fights (never!) in Collins, and some great times in the various parties in the various Claremont campuses.

“I have been retired since 2015, ran for, and was elected park commissioner (volunteer position) for the Oak Brook (Illinois) Park District, and sat on the Firefighters’ Pension Board to keep myself busy. My oldest was married in August last year, my second has just moved in with his girlfriend, and my youngest is searching for colleges to attend as a HS senior. I brought her to CMC before COVID lockdowns and she loved it. Met up with Professor Gerald Bradley and his wife at Walter’s, too.

It was amazing, and really made me wish I was back there.

“If we have a reunion next year, I will definitely try to make it back. Thank you, Jennifer, for keeping this distribution list. I included as a CC: my sister, KAREN TAN, who is also class of ’86 and is now in Beijing, China responsible for merchandising for Universal Studios (and other things). I’d love to hear from others in our class.”

BASSAM KANAAN writes: “So good to hear from you.

Brings back the most beautiful memories. I am writing from my home in Amman, Jordan. I have been living here for the past 28 years; been married for 22 years; have been blessed with two boys (20, 17) and a beautiful girl (12). My eldest is going to college in New York City.

I couldn’t convince him to go to CMC despite all my ‘bribes’ (I guess I may have tried too hard). I am hoping my second will be more rational!

“I’ve only been able to visit CMC once since graduation.

That was during my honeymoon with my wife (had to show where I had spent the best days!). I have been working with the same company, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, in various roles, for 20 years! Until recently, with COVID-19, my job entailed a lot of travel including the U.S., mostly to the East coast.

“Unfortunately, I lost touch with many old friends, roommates and classmates. But, old memories never will leave us, and I really hope to meet you all again soon. All the best, Bassam.”

From AAMIR SHIRAZI P’13: “Hello, Class of 1986. It is always a pleasure to hear from CMC, especially any tiny bit of news about our class. Jennifer, thank you for keeping us abreast with the latest, and for the nudge to respond. Our long lost friend, BASSAM KANAAN, wrote. Lovely to hear from KEVIN TAN, as well. Magical nudge indeed!

“I live in Lahore, Pakistan, got married in 1990, and we are blessed with three boys (29, 27, and 21). Older two have returned home to join us, the youngest has a year left at a university in Montreal. His return to university this term largely depends upon the COVID situation, something we are all confronted with in more ways than necessary!

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Fortunately, our family has successfully avoided the dreaded virus thus far, though business/economy has found some rough waters, but in time that too shall pass.

“I am in constant touch with ROGER OROZCO P’14 P’16, JEFF HIGGINS, JOHN SCOTT, BRYAN TUNINK, JON BALLESTEROS, and PETER DUARTE, though he has gone off the radar lately. We have also met a few times since graduation, introduced our kids and better halves, and found time to play tennis at CMC. KAISER KABIR is active on Facebook and I had the pleasure of welcoming him to our home many moons ago.

incredibly challenging, as we have seen passenger traffic plummet. However, very fortunate to have a job and we do not anticipate having to make any layoffs anytime in the foreseeable future.

“Just the past weekend KIM (WEDEKIND) KINCANNON and LAURE DARCY were at our ranch in Kelseyville for an annual summer get-together. Normally, DANA SILKENSEN and DANI (FISK) NOLAN ’85 also join us, but couldn’t make it this year due to COVID. All of them are doing incredibly well and don’t look a day older than graduation day 1986.

“Wonderful memories of CMC remain fresh for all the friendships we made, conservations we struck, deadly walks to the library, dining at Collins hall, Tommy runs, Fosters strawberry doughnuts, parties we attended, playing darts, sharing beers, and our midnight tennis matches. If any of you ever travel to this part of the world, please drop in a message and it would be an honor to host you.”

“AAMIR SHIRAZI continues to do a wonderful job of

BILL TARKANIAN writes: “Thirteen years of practicing civil and criminal law, coupled with my own personal issues with substance abuse, prepared me well for running a behavioral health non-profit, Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (www.LACADA.com); but nothing could prepare me for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I often think about many freshman year exploits with PETER DONNELLY, KEVIN HOUSTON (a.k.a. Fluffy), RUSS RODEWALD, and CARY EVANS ’85. I hope you boys are doing well. Here’s to the health and happiness of the entire CMC class of ’86. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to gather for our 35th reunion.”

“Instead of developing new programs and expanding existing ones, I find myself dealing with the daily impact of COVID for a workforce of 300 clinicians, nurses, counselors, case managers, and social workers; while housing 400 persons; and engaging another 500 from various community based out-patient centers. The Courts were closed for three plus months, allowing me additional time to work with our medical director and nursing staff to keep staff and patients safe. However, as I write this, I’m reminded that the situation here in Los Angeles County is worse than ever, with no apparent end in sight. The resulting impact of COVID on our economy, and the need to isolate from others, has exacerbated problems of homelessness, domestic violence, and substance use and misuse. LACADA added 40 new employees since the pandemic started, and the agency is expected to serve more people than ever.

“A big shout out to my friend, JEN TSANG, for finding me and looping me back in with my CMC family. Wishing all good health and wellness during these extraordinary times. Stay safe!”

From JON BALLESTEROS: “Jen, we all owe you our gratitude for keeping our class connected. It is completely unbelievable that we are approaching our 35th reunion. I certainly hope we have the ability to gather next year, as this pandemic certainly reminds us how important friends and family are in our lives. I think we all can agree that CMC gave us some amazing friendships that continue to shape and inspire us to this day.

“My husband, Brian, and I split our time between San Francisco and Kelseyville, Calif. with our two pooches, Besa and Tripp. Kelseyville is a charming rural community 2.5 hours north of the Bay Area. For work, I handle external affairs at San Francisco International Airport.

As you can imagine, the past five months have been 58

keeping a group of us together via periodic text all the way from Pakistan. The group includes JOHN SCOTT, JEFF HIGGINS, ROGER OROZCO P’14 P’16, PETER DUARTE, and a few I am sure I am missing. This group continues to make CMC proud with all their accomplishments. It has been too long since NICK BAGATELOS has been to visit and we hope he will come again soon.

DAN VELA reports: “Here’s a recap of the Vela household, et al. We have two rabbits who don’t get along, two cats who mostly get along, and we are a full, small house with my wife who is not employed; my stepson who moved back in with us (he’s on the autistic spectrum) and is pursuing film technical skills; and my 11-year-old daughter who did NOT like remote learning the last months of the school year. As for me, I’m still going into the office each day as an essential worker for the benefits office for the many thousands of union carpenters in the southwestern states. I was surprised to find out that a colleague, HEATHER RUTMAN ’94, works for the Regional Council of Carpenters, just upstairs in our building.

SHERI (SHEETS) STICPEWICH writes: “Stunned that it is 35 years since we graduated, although I’m not sure why I should be so surprised. I’ve been living in the U.K. for 26 years and have raised my two children (23 and 20) here.

We moved out of London more than 15 years ago now, and I am grateful for the peace and green of the Surrey countryside during lockdown. I have been working in my garden, painting, and doing some pottery over the past few months joined by my husband, youngest daughter, and two crazy fox red labs that make me laugh.

Retired from finance decades ago and enjoyed a second career as a prep school librarian until fairly recently. Since retirement (wow, I hate that word), have turned my hand to art and garden design. Being creative was something I never pursued at CMC, and I was always jealous of fellow students attending the art classes at Scripps.

“I ventured back to CMC when my eldest was looking at colleges and was overwhelmed by the transformation of the place. Sadly, I couldn’t convince either child of the merits of CMC and they chose Yale and Colorado College in the end. Their college days make me regret that I wasn’t at CMC for all four years rather than transferring in as a junior. I have such fond memories of the eclectic group at Beckett and starting the bar Picasso’s in the lounge, being introduced to ska, reggae, punk, and new wave music, and enjoying the constant banter (not necessarily the food) at Collins. Sadly, I have lost touch with many classmates and would like to shout out to TERRY HOSKINS ERICKSON, DANA SILKENSEN, and CHRIS NELSON ’87 for all their kindness during those years.

Wishing everyone well! Do get in touch if you are ever in London!”

“COVID has taught and reminded me of many things, but I think the persistent one is BEING KIND. I am much more aware of the individual circumstances that inform and drive our actions and reactions. Just having the pandemic ‘hanging over our head’ gnaws away at our tact, willpower, sense of stability, and predictable outcomes. All we really have is the day that we are living today. I donated blood last week and hoped that I had the antibodies, but alas, I didn’t. I’m not sure what difference it makes, and that’s okay—for today. Carpe Diem and Be Kind to One Another. With love and friendship.”

PENJALEE KENNEDY writes: “Thanks, Jennifer for dedicating your time to help us to stay connected. This is a great opportunity for us to reminisce and have a little respite from these crazy times. 2020 has proved to be like no other year. My daughter turned 30 years old (I’m still in disbelief )! I’ve been a resource specialist in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for the last 25 years. Due to COVID-19, teaching via distance learning simply is our reality. As if the global pandemic was not enough, the United States is in the midst of another civil rights movement. The killing of George Floyd further highlighted the bigotry and systemic racism that continues to exist in our country, but the global reaction to the horror was amazing. Personally, I was comforted by a fellow alumna who reached out to me.

JEN (SALTZMAN) UNER, I am so appreciative and thankful for the discourse. Your gesture renewed my hope that this country can heal when we acknowledge that Black Lives Matter. It all starts with real communication with people you know.

From RICHARD HANKI P’20: “It is astonishing how 35 years has flown by. I still remember so vividly my time at CMC. Some truly wonderful memories.

“Thirty-five years since graduation? Time is fleeting and so precious. Spend quality time with those you love and make sure they know it. Peace and Love.”

“I am blessed to be married for 33 years to my wonderful wife, Mimi (Scripps College), and have a beautiful daughter JENIFER HANKI ’20. We currently live in Huntington Beach, Calif. I am still working and enjoying life (despite the current challenges). I still get together with HENFRED BRARD and DAVID TUSTISON and, of course, we reminisce about our days at CMC. Hope everyone stays healthy and safe.”

From JENNIFER (SALTZMAN) UNER: “I am just starting year seven now living in Chicago, after a lifetime in California.

My husband got a great job here, heading the master’s in fine arts program for film and TV music composition at Columbia College of Chicago. He still composes music for film, too, and you’ll find credits for Kubilay Üner on IMDB. We love Chicago despite the famous Midwest winters. I side with the locals now who say, ‘There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing.’

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

“In other news: Super excited about 2021 reunion opportunity! CMC has been more salient for me lately, as they’ve hosted interesting lectures and conversations on Zoom, which I discovered on Facebook. These have been really informative on a variety of topics. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to follow the CMC Community page to learn about these sessions, AND join our class group so you never miss a beat about us. We are, after all, the greatest class of all time in all media and throughout the universe in perpetuity. There are 68 of us subscribed at www.facebook.com/groups/cmcclassof1986.”

JENNIFER TSANG writes: “After almost 35 years since our graduation, I am happy to have assumed the role of class of ’86 liaison, because it’s given me an opportunity to reconnect with many of my classmates, including people with whom I barely connected during our four years together!

“In Chile, we’ve been confined to our home by law for the better portion of time since the 16th of March.

I’ve learned a new level of productivity sitting a mere one meter from my bed 14 hours per day! And while the workload has been unrelenting, I am nonetheless grateful to be home with my loved ones, safe and sound, and healthy. And employed! The increasing poverty and suffering that we are witnessing in this part of the world as a consequence of the pandemic is heartbreaking.

We also have been watching the Black Lives Matter civil rights movements in the U.S., as well as the different social and political unrest all over Latin America, and other parts of the world like Hong Kong and Lebanon.

These are unprecedented times we are living in; I am hopeful for a better tomorrow, and am very much looking forward to seeing the entire CMC Class of ’86 in full swing at our upcoming 35th year reunion!”

CAROL HARTMAN ’86

cohartman1gmail.com JANE KAUFMANN SANKER ’86

janeksanker@yahoo.com JENNIFER TSANG ’86

jtsangk@gmail.com

FALL 2020

’90

“Life under COVID means hiding in Sun Valley for me and family during the summer. My oldest daughter, JESSICA WINSSINGER ’19, graduated from CMC last year and is now enjoying her working life with Palentir (remotely at the moment). My son, ANDREW WINSSINGER ’22, is hoping for a return to campus at CMC for his junior year after his internship under the leadership of JON KIRCHNER ’89 (thank you Jon!). My wife, Jennifer, and I continue to split our time between Scottsdale and Sun Valley with our youngest, Annabelle, now a sophomore in high school. DAVID DOUD continues to cheer me up with his occasional phone calls! Life today would not be the same without the friends I made at CMC. All the best to the CMC community under these unpleasant, yet hopefully passing circumstances.”

FAYE (KARNAVY) SAHAI ’90

fkarnavy@gmail.com

’91

’91

FREDERIC WINSSINGER P’19 P’22

writes: “Over the past month, I had the great fortune to reconnect with my great friends, RICHARD FOX ’89, AKI YORIHIRO, and CARL GENBERG. We all met in Pinehurst, N.C. for some golf, of course, socially distant lessons in Epicureanism from Aki and hot discussions in politics with Professor Fox. A great time!

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

Connecting and creating Scott Torrey P’23 writes, “One way I’m staying connected to CMC is trying to help as many existing and recently graduated students find meaningful employment. I had the opportunity to sponsor two CMC students at the company where I work, PayScale. They focused on assessing customer satisfaction with our product, building a predictive model for churn/retention using Salesforce.com and Gainsight data, while assessing the detailed comments from our customer satisfaction scores to identify trends and feedback.

These students face challenging times with a global pandemic and looming recession. There is tremendous talent at CMC and encourage all alumni to find creative ways to put it to work! #CMCcreatesgreattalent”

Erik Voake/Getty Images for Hulu

“Last fall, the company I was working for during the move here, Oblong Industries, merged with a publicly traded company and I was let go. By February, I got a new gig leading communication in North America for ProGlove, a maker of industrial wearables. ProGlove’s flagship product is a wireless wearable barcode scanner that allows workers to both scan what they need to plus keep their hands free for other things. Like assembly or picking or lifting or driving. Household names in automotive, aerospace, distribution, and logistics are among the customers. The company is headquartered in Munich, which is where my husband grew up; I thought I’d get some trips to Europe amongst the perks, but alas COVID-19 has had us on lockdown. It has been interesting to watch via my new colleagues the dayto-day differences in how Germany and the U.S.A. have handled this crisis. I won’t spend any time on this topic, except to say I hope we’ll have vaccines and treatments identified really soon. Everyone I know working in music, entertainment, events, travel, and hospitality is really hurting right now. Fingers crossed we see a solution soon.

CHARLES STEARNS

says, “Keeping busy and trying to stay outdoors. KERSTIN

(AHLSTRAND) ANDERSON, WILLIAM ‘TREY’ WAFER, and I were teammates on the

Virtual Cascade Lakes Relay this July (maintaining distance with some other team members, including JIM ANDERSON and MAX STEARNS.) We’ve had virtual happy hours with far-flung CMCers and socially distant gatherings with CMCers in town. ADAM NEMER ’92 and I work together at Kaiser Permanente NW and have been leading regional COVID-19 responses for our respective departments.”

From GAIL TANAKA, “One of the best experiences I had was participating in CMC’s Washington, D.C. internship program in 1988, when I met Norman Mineta who was a U.S. congressman at the time. I interviewed him for a research paper I was writing about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II (which included my parents), and Congressman Mineta’s active role in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that provided a formal government apology and reparations for the internment.

“Fast forward 29 years—in 2017, I invited Norman Mineta to Adobe to speak to employees about his own internment experience during WWII, as well as his leadership role as U.S. Secretary of Transportation during 9/11. Secretary Mineta had not changed at all, other than he now has an international airport named after him. He is still smart, generous, and kind. Had it

not been for meeting him as a CMC student, I would not have had the opportunity to meet one of my role models.

“My parents are teachers, and they’ve always encouraged me to pursue my passions, so I love it when I see others pursue their interests. There are two people whose passion for their career was pretty evident while attending CMC, and is wonderful to see them now on the national stage. STEVE BULLOCK ’88 P’24—I know this one is obvious, but I’ve been telling my husband for years that Steve would run for president one day (I take this stuff seriously—I wrote my senior thesis about modern presidential elections). When Steve spoke as Senior Class President at CMC, it was clear back then he had the charisma, drive, and potential to be U.S. president. I was so excited when Steve announced he was running that I sent a note to my friend ALLYSON NAKAMOTO ’93.

And now he’s running for the United States Senate (good move to get better national exposure). When you think about a Democrat who can work well with Republicans, Steve has had a lot of practice since his early days at CMC. The next is MICHAEL SHEAR ’90. Michael seemed to know he wanted to be a journalist and had a passion for it. There weren’t many people at CMC who were planning to be a journalist—actually I can’t think of anyone else—but I remember he was focused on

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his writing and asked inquisitive questions. I think he also participated in CMC’s Washington, D.C. internship program. Now Michael is spearheading a lot of key articles at The New York Times. In today’s environment, journalism and a free press are even more important to our democracy.

“In this COVID environment, I hope everyone stays safe and pursues their passions.”

From DAN MARKERT: “I am the director of operations for the California National Guard, and between COVID-19 response operations and the statewide civil unrest the first week of June, I have been overwhelmed.

The most important connections I made at CMC were not necessarily one-on-one. My close personal connections centered on my Army ROTC friends and in the international relations department, particularly those with Professor Bill Rood. I am still close to several of my Army ROTC classmates and still serve in the California National Guard with my lifelong friend KINCY CLARK ’92. We went to Afghanistan together in 2018 and ran advisor and combat operations in Kandahar.

But of equal value is the enhancement of the close personal connections by the web of community we had centered on dorm life, the apartments, and sports or other activities. Surrounded by a web of friends, acquaintances, and ‘friends of friends’ that were all enjoying their own close connections that is what added even more value to those four short years in Claremont. I miss it so. Recently, CHARLES STEARNS fired up a group text out of the blue with WILLIAM ‘TREY’ WAFER, BRIAN LIPPA, DAMON KING, and myself.

Trey and Charles are both in Portland now and decided to let us know they were earning their craft beer by running the hills of Portland. I really hope we kick this COVID pandemic in time to gather in 2021. It’s been 30 years, and our kids are now in college, but it feels like just last year sometimes.”

INGRID (MORRIS) ENSING ’91

ingridensing@live.com ERIC WISE ’91

jericwise@optonline.net ERIK KIEFEL writes, “Just outside the beltway here in the D.C. metro area (literally just yards), we have persevered like everyone else with virtual school days and kids on Zoom sitting next to us while on business calls or similar video conferences ourselves. My wife, Laura, and our kids (Tessa, 10, and Kyle, 12) had the added challenge of dealing with me being sick and quarantined for a month (doing fine now). For my wife and me, we are doing what civil servants always do— serve the public. In my case—helping stop the people who finance activity that would do us harm: terrorists, money launderers, corrupt officials, and criminals; in my wife’s case, helping stop those would defraud Medicare and Medicaid in the middle of a pandemic—we follow the money!

’92

“When I think about the most important connections from CMC, it boils down to the senior apartment crew of GARY SPIEGEL (best man at my wedding; and returning the favor for his), WOLF “OLLIE” JUERGENS (thanks for hosting us way back when in Frankfurt), and SCOTT

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DEMASI (who I have completely lost track of ), and a couple of friends from Scripps (Christina Noble, in particular). I have been able to keep in touch a bit with Professor Ed Haley (my thesis advisor) and, before his passing, Professor Sven Arndt (my Lowe-Baker paper advisor). Also, I have ended up mixing with a few others over the years through work (BRIAN WEAVER, Sarah Runge from Scripps), as well as the CMC Washington Program in D.C. (Dr. Maija Harkonen and Michelle Chamberlain). I also took advantage of my time in quarantine to join the special Zoom session for the CMC family on leadership—very good discussion. More recently, I was able to hear from HENRY KRAVIS ’67 during a CB Insights Conference (virtual, of course), where he had a great discussion about leadership, the venture capital industry, and social justice.”

Thank you, Erik, for your update. Glad to read that you are back to health and that you are taking advantage of the CMC alumni virtual events. I have found them to be thought provoking and engaging. If you haven’t joined in on the fun, go to the Alumni tab on the CMC website, and peruse the “Virtual Program Library” | for topics you may have missed, as well as upcoming conversations.

In other news, SARAH “CRICKET” (BURKHARDT) MCKENZIE and CAROLYN (MCCUE) MCCLAIN recently met up for a fun-filled weekend in Kansas City, Mo. to celebrate Carolyn’s birthday! Sarah drove up from her home in Prairie Grove, Ark., and was impressed with how seriously everyone in Kansas City was taking the precautions, as folks in Arkansas are much less likely to be wearing masks and/or social distancing. Carolyn was relieved to be somewhere where things weren’t as tumultuous as Minneapolis. “There were separate hotel rooms, because Carolyn is an ER doctor in Minneapolis and has seen A LOT of COVID, but one had a nice balcony to sit and enjoy time together. Although lots of places were closed, the Steamboat Museum was diverting, the weather was perfect for hiking, and a great time was had by all!”

Sounds like a spectacular, albeit socially distant, birthday celebration and some much-needed respite. Thank you, Carolyn, and all the first responders and essential workers who are supporting us during the pandemic.

Here’s a quick check in from HOLLY MCCORD, who started her venture, Smart College Advising.

“Academics at CMC were great, but the most important connections I made were lifelong friends. Not all from our class, but I enjoy hearing from them. I recently connected with BRIAN MENHARD ’89, HORTENCIA ‘NONI’ VALLES ’94, and ROSIANA “NANI” AZMAN ’95 (who is Facebook friends with many others from Phillips; I would love to hear from them, too). For all its drawbacks, Facebook does make it easier to find people. I haven’t heard anything in the Class Notes from many of the freshman Benson crew in a long time—I won’t remember everyone, but TOM MELIAN, SCOTT WOOLLEY, DOM NAPPI, from first floor come to mind, and YASMINE CORDOBA, STACY SODERHOLM, and KAREN ATTYAH from second floor. Deb you were there, help me out! FRANK MARUMOTO ’89, our fearless RA who scared the heck out of me at our first dorm meeting, HELENA WALLIN-MILLER ’91, and MEL (POLITIS) PAULSON ’89 (who we freshman girls

constantly annoyed as she tried to write her thesis— sorry, we have grown up, I swear)! I imagine everyone has changed some and it would be fun to hear where life took you after CMC.” Ok, Holly, you give my memory too much credit, though I still remember Frank’s delicious chocolate chip cookies!

Congratulations and good luck with navigating the new realities of college admission for the class of 2021. With your many talents, your advisees will be well in hand!

I received brief hellos to everyone from CATHY (KIM) ROWLETT, GARY ZIMMERMAN, and KAREN ATTYAH. In answer to Karen’s inquiry as to how I am doing: “Well, speaking of college applications, my husband Paul (POM) and I continue to be impressed with the resiliency of our youngest son (Caleb) as he manages the process while hearing about 2020 incoming deferral rates (and how that may impact 2021 acceptances), testing site closures, and oh so many more additional challenges for this year’s senior class. When the idea of a summer job evaporated, he pivoted and took two online classes while continuing to volunteer at the local food bank.

We are grateful that outdoor pools opened up so that he can continue his training. Interestingly enough, USA Swim has designed a virtual swim meet format, creating the opportunity for year-round swimmers to compete. Our oldest son (Christopher) is working for the City Year program through AmeriCorps in the San Jose East Side Union High School District for his second year as a mentor and tutor. Our daughter (Kaitlyn) graduated this year from Boston College and started her full-time employment immediately with a Boston-based healthcare data company (since all plans for travel dissipated). She is working remotely from our Napa home for the time being, while my husband and the boys spend most of their time in the Silicon Valley. We gather when we can, as often as we can do so safely, since the boys have more daily contact with the outside world. I was recently fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, so we mitigate our risks for my protection as best we can.

“Shout out to MICHAEL ROSSI and his lovely wife, Shannon, who weren’t spotted, but via Facebook discovered that we all enjoyed a fun evening at Villa Montalvo for a night of comedy with Tom Papa for some much needed laughs (pre-pandemic of course).”

Don’t forget to send updates so that we can stay in touch. On that note, let me close with the parting words from Erik in his lovely note, “I hope everyone is safe and well. Please care for others and care enough to vote (and fill out your census form!).”

DEBORAH APODACA ’92

dpapodaca@yahoo.com

’96

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

JAKE ZIMMERMAN ’96

9046 Old Bonhomme Road Olivette, MO 63132 314-983-0553 jake@jakezimmerman.org

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

spotlight Mendy Minjarez ’98 Interim executive director at Seattle Children’s Hospital Autism Center

HIGH NEED: Dr. Mendy (Boettcher) Minjarez ’98 has learned quite a few lessons about managing Seattle Children’s Hospital Autism Center since becoming interim executive director last fall.

Number one: When a pandemic unexpectedly hits, you better be able to think outside the box.

The center’s staff had to develop new service models overnight, including group therapy and diagnostic evaluations being delivered via telehealth—which is not frequently done in the autism field. As one might expect, the transition hasn’t been easy for families who rely on structured therapies and activities for their children. “I don’t think the public understands how many challenges parents of children with special needs face right now,” said Minjarez, a psychology and biology dual major whose career path started at the Claremont Autism Center. At the beginning of August, the center resumed in-person diagnostic evaluations for some older children with complex psychiatric histories, along with limited therapy for toddler and preschool-age children.

Minjarez said her staff felt an ethical obligation to resume programming for high-need patients.

Yet while staff can wear masks or put up plexiglass barriers to mitigate virus spread, expecting children with autism to adhere to or understand social distancing is an ongoing challenge.

“Social skill difficulties are inherent in the diagnosis of autism, so this is hard for many kids. And diagnostic evaluations are very difficult to conduct while wearing PPE. What we do is based on identifying social communication deficits—not easy when faces are covered,” Minjarez said. “In the last couple of months, the reality has set in that we are not going back to normal anytime soon, if ever. We are going to have to continue to iterate and reiterate on new service models and approaches to meet the needs of our patients.”

FALL 2020

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From SYNYI “AMY” JAMEELA CHEN: “I recently reconnected with KRISTIN KELLET, a partner at the firm Phillips Jessner, LLP in Los Angeles because I’m going through an extremely complicated divorce. I highly recommend her if you or someone you know happens to need an exceptionally sharp family attorney. Love to all!”

’98

KRISTAL DEKLEER ’98

kdekleer@yahoo.com

’01

ALUMNI WEEKEND

2021

ARJUN MCAVOY ’01

415-722-3060 arjun.mcavoy@gmail.com MIKE AVENT writes: “I hope everyone is getting by as best they can in these weird COVID-times. My second child was born on May 15th—5/15/20 feels like a solid birthday. Henry Francis, henceforth known as ‘Hank Frank.’ Certainly not intentional, but we’re rolling with it. He’s a fat jolly man, doing great. Big sister, Louisa, (18 months old as of this writing) is doing a lot of ‘helping’ with the baby. Haven’t slept more than six hours in a few weeks, but otherwise we’re doing pretty well.

Can’t say I recommend having a kid during a pandemic, though.”

’04

CHRISTY MARTELL and her husband, Jared, traveled to France in September 2019 to enjoy SARAH CONWAY’s wedding festivities alongside BRANDI (THOMPSON) LANE and ADAM LANE, MARY BETH HOULIHAN, Sarah, Kristina Graeber, Lauren, and Marta. It was great to see old friends in such a beautiful location. On December 28th, Christy and Jared and their three-year-old Charlotte welcomed twins Erik and Lillian to this world. Welcome, Erik and Lillian!

MERCEDES (MUÑOZ) CHATFIELD was married in New Orleans in November 2019. They are welcoming their first little one, due in September! Mercedes is teaching middle-school math, although remote teaching is not anyone’s favorite!

PETER CALTAGIRONE is still in the same job in Alaska and enjoying it, but in his spare time he’s been making an investment in flying. Peter obtained his instrument rating in June and is currently working toward a commercial pilot’s license for both wheeled and floating planes. Seems like Alaska might be a good spot to avoid some of the nonsense going on down here in the Lower 48.

MEGAN BROTHERTON had her first child, Jacob Riley Schlanser, on May 29, 2020 in Los Angeles. Welcome, Jacob! She writes, “Family is healthy and growing—we got a (one-year-old) shepard/husky rescue puppy on Easter, and Bonnie is helping keep the kids busy.

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She also comes with the added benefit of needing lots of exercise, so Ian runs with her in the morning and I usually take the evening constitutional. I highly recommend a daily walk/run ritual!”

APRIL (WILSON) RUDGE started a new position with the JOA Group as a special projects manager (serving John Wayne Airport). She’s still working from home, though missing actual people, which I think we can all relate to! She and her husband marked their 15th wedding anniversary in May by buying a hammock and umbrella for the backyard. Gotta pace yourselves, guys!

April reports the kids are in modified, social-distanced training for Irish dance and soccer, and testing out their new rollerblades and hockey sticks in the cul-de-sac.

Wishing CMC folks new ways of connecting during this pandemic. Didn’t we have it good back in 2004 when we got to live next door to lots of friends? And dance together? (April has asked that I include the throwback song: “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by The Darkness—PARTY!) SETH MARTINDALE doesn’t have much to report other than hanging out a lot at home with the family and trying to work remotely as best he can.

At the start of the pandemic, CHIA-MING (CHEN) RO ripped out her front lawn and replaced it with a kitchen garden. And, like everyone else, she stood in lines and witnessed empty shelves as everyone panic purchased. As she watched coverage on the tons of food being tossed—because there was no way to move the product from the farms—she felt moved to do something. She’s started a garden coaching/ consulting business (@OrganicRoot2Fruit), focusing on urban edible landscapes that foster sustainability and improve confidence in food security (The website is www.organicroot2fruit.com). Chia-Ming is also lobbying for urban beekeeping in El Segundo.

Laslty, some extremely sad news—IKENNA NJEMANZE passed away on July 13th, 2020. He leaves behind his wife, Amelie, his two daughters, Akachi (8) and Anyachi (5), along with many beloved family members and friends.

A passionate international relations and history major, Ikenna treasured his time at CMC. He could be found discussing historical figures (or places) and debating the affairs of the world. He was accepted early to CMC and affectionately called it “Claremont Ikenna College.”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

He was active in the 3C InterVaristy Christian Fellowship (“IV”) and enjoyed working at The Rose Institute. After CMC, Ikenna traveled to China to teach English. During that time, he became fluent in Mandarin and, more importantly, met his wife. He came back to the States to pursue a master’s in East Asian studies at Stanford University, which he earned in 2013. Unable to pursue a career in his field of study, Ikenna went on to earn a second master’s in 2016, this time in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. He worked in human resources for Royal Dutch Shell Co., Cisco, and, most recently, Google.

Those who had the pleasure of knowing Ikenna met a uniquely special and thoughtful person. He would speak soberly and seriously, but smile and laugh freely. He was generous with his time and disposition.

Ikenna loved God, was a devout Roman Catholic, a loving husband and father, and a cherished family member, friend, co-worker and classmate.

MIKE AVENT ’04

518-88-AVENT mike.avent@gmail.com

’06

ALUMNI

KEVIN BLAIR reports, “My wife,

Aviva, and I welcomed our second daughter, Elora Bette Blair, on July 17. We chose the name Elora, which means ‘light’ in Hebrew, to signify the light she has brought us during these particularly dark times. As SAM JACKSON, who also has two daughters, recently texted me, ‘we are both well and truly outnumbered now.’”

WEEKEND

2021

CHRIS BOURNE is also a newly-minted “girl dad,” as he and his wife, Stef, welcomed Nina June Bourne on June 1st. She held on a few extra days to properly earn her middle name.

INA LABERMEIER writes in: “With several trips to see fellow CMCers canceled due to COVID-19, I decided to set up a Zoom happy hour to check in with the crew: MAIRA DOS SANTOS, ASHLEY (SEARS) JAMBOIS, IRENE BARCOS, CHRIS FRANTZ, KRISTINE IOTTE, JULIE WARTH, BRITTANY LUI GIRGIS, and ZACK KRELLE ’04. What was only planned to be a one-time thing turned out to be a weekly occurrence that we’re still doing! COVID-19 has ruined so many in-person plans, but it’s been so fun to see everyone more consistently. I keep thinking, ‘Why did it take global pandemic for us to set these up?’

We’ve been able to check in on kids, share stories and photos from our time at CMC, and talk about how we’re all handling the current times. Zoom may not be able to replace a trip to Spain, but I’ve heard more from this group in the last few months and that’s been awesome.”

KAZUMI IGUS shares: “COVID has forced people to connect in new ways. Recently, I had to Zoom with one of the students I lived with in Fawcett during my freshman and sophomore years at CMC, DIANA KELLY HOLDTMAN. We usually try to connect every couple of years when I head to her part of the country to visit family, but due to the current circumstances, I didn’t take my usual trip this year. Diana (whom I affectionately call D-I due to a

FALL 2020

long story that was heavily influenced by a Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz song and a certain guinea pig) and I bonded over ditching econ class to watch (and ridiculously act out AND horribly sing along with) the movie Moulin Rouge.

“As a person of color, my time at CMC was filled with more microaggressions than I had ever experienced before. This made for one of the most challenging times in my entire life. Having to navigate being of color in a predominantly white and historically conservative space was something that my years in the liberal, culturally diverse bubble of Los Angeles did not adequately prepare me for. I leaned heavily on the other students of color for support, which resulted in the vast majority of my ‘college friends’ being of color. Diana was from the polar opposite end of the racial and cultural spectrum. While we were both tall, athletic girls, our upbringing and backgrounds were very different. D-I ‘fit in’ at CMC, and I did not, but she was integral in making Fawcett home for me while I adjusted. She kept my memories of that time fun and light hearted. From our Moulin Rouge antics and being a perfect instigator of inter- and intra-floor Fawcett drama, to her professional-level knowledge and creativity in constructing the most epic desserts from the Collins dessert bar, Diana added the whipped cream and cherries to my hard-to-swallow CMC experience. Thank you, D-I!” ALEX (MARIN) STORMER provides big life updates: “We recently moved from Capitol Hill, D.C. to Hillcrest, San Diego on new orders from the Navy. After a two-year tour working as deputy special counsel for the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon, the Navy JAG Corps is sending me to the University of San Diego School of Law for a Masters of Law (LLM) in environmental studies. I am a little nervous for law classes via Zoom.

Already loving the weather and taking all taco recommendations for San Diego. During the pandemic, I have stayed in touch with all the CMC girls! YAN PU, NANCY TU, SOCORRO CHRISTMAS-REYNOSO, LEILA COOK, LAUREN (DAMEREL) HARRIS, NICOLE (AJALAT) ABRAHAM, JACKIE MUHICH, DIANA KELLY HOLDTMAN, and SUSIE KIM. From Zoom happy hours to a lot of texting moral support from fellow toddler moms, I love my CMC girls!”

KEVIN BLAIR ’06

kevinmblair@gmail.com Hello, Class of 2007! It’s been a while since we’ve connected, and so it was great for us to hear from you all. We asked about connections you made as a student at CMC, any recent reconnections, and general updates.

’07

First in family news, fellow classmates KACI FARRELL and TYLER WHITE welcomed a baby boy last October!

Augustus Gordon White is still getting used to visitors with face masks, but is happily enjoying his first summer in the Pacific Northwest. Also in baby news, LEAH JUDGE and her husband welcomed baby boy Dylan Judge-Johnson in July! Leah is an attorney representing whistleblowers.

Writing in about CMC connections, ANDREW LEE notes “I’m always so astounded by our community at CMC. It was once described to me that our college is like a fraternity/sorority where you can skip initiation and just get at comradery.” Andrew is now an investing partner at Initialized Capital, focusing on tech companies. In the world of startups, ARJUN DUTT started a new job as the COO at a Chicago startup called Purchasing Platform, in a role responsible for overseeing all customer operations and product.

GLORIA (BRACY) GUTIERREZ had the benefit of hosting a CMC student who was interested in a career in education. “SARAH CEJA ’21 followed my day as an elementary school counselor teaching lessons on social and emotional learning in the classroom and learning about how counselors implement comprehensive whole-school counseling programs with intention by using data.” And it turned out they had a past connection—Gloria had completed her counseling internship at Sarah’s high school!

JONATHAN NEUMANN adds, “I cherish the connections I have with faculty and staff, because I’m not sure I would have come away with many of those at a larger institution. I’m still in touch with a handful of them to this day, and am usually lucky enough to see some of them in person whenever I’m back on campus.” Jon recently reconnected with DR. LINDSAY BURT on a road trip from California to Salt Lake City (with appropriate COVID-19 precautions, of course), and chatted with SHEILA BHARDWAJ ’10 in the park. “So nice to see familiar faces during these times.”

LIZ (SCHULTZ) VENABLE remembers instantly connecting with her fellow freshmen on the 7th floor of Auen dorm. She has stayed in touch with many of these amazing women over the years. Most recently, she met up with TRACEY KATZ and CAREY TAN in February for a week in Cape Town and Franschoek, South Africa, where they enjoyed hiking, cycling, penguin viewing, and wine tasting.

DIEGO CUENCA writes about his CMC connections continuing to be a part of his life. “COVID-19 has actually given us more of a reason to connect since we are all at home. I train with KEVIN SHIH at the jiu-jitsu gym (though less now due to COVID) and our sons meet for play dates. STEVE KUO is the godfather to my son and we still talk regularly. DAN SHI and I talk about investing and share dad tips. I stay in contact with the school and work with at least one CMC intern every year.”

Diego recently reconnected with TAUSEEF RAHMAN. With all the stay-at-home orders, happy hours over video chat, and PlayStation 4 game dates are the new normal for weekends. “It’s been great to talk to him weekly, sometimes daily, even if we live on opposite coasts. We actually went to high school together, so it’s nice to be able to reconnect with someone from the same place.” Tauseef adds, “I couldn’t have said it better, and am glad to reconnect with so many folks online despite the distance.”

As for EMILY FERRELL, she has enjoyed playing virtual party games with CMC friends and doing a few socially distanced hangouts in Seattle/Portland. She is looking forward to a time when it’s safe to start traveling to see and hugging more CMC friends!

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spotlight Patrick Lacey ’11 and Tejas Gala ’09 M’13 THEY GOT GAME: Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Patrick Lacey ’11 and Tejas Gala ’09 M’13 spent more time with inmates at San Quentin State Prison than with some of their friends and family. Both are part of a group of former Stags basketball players and other CMC alumni who regularly play basketball at the prison—aka “The Q”—as part of an outreach program.

The Q league is also featured in an Emmy-nominated documentary, Q Ball, produced by 2013-14 NBA MVP and former Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant. Q Ball, streaming on Netflix, shares stories of the team’s coach and mentor (a convicted murderer), a player serving a 102-year sentence for a crime he committed at age 16; and a three-strikes offender who was arrested for possession of a firearm. To Lacey and Gala, these inmates are more than characters in a film. They are friends. “It’s easy to write off these prisoners and ignore their humanity,” said Lacey, who joined the league seven years ago at the invitation of fellow CMC alumnus Ben Draa ’10, a director with the Golden State Warriors. “This movie gets their stories out to the world.” Since joining the league, both Lacey, a senior manager at Salesforce, and Gala, a senior manager at Apple, have served as character witnesses and written letters for prisoners up for parole. They have also offered to help with career advice and professional connections. “Hiring someone or going to bat for someone, going out of your way to make sure you are caring for them, that’s another powerful way to support these guys,” Gala said.

“Being part of this program has fundamentally changed my life for the positive.”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

That’s all for now folks. Please keep in touch with one another and with us. It was great to reconnect with you all in these pages—Emily and Tauseef EMILY FERRELL ’07

emilygferrell@gmail.com TAUSEEF RAHMAN ’07

tauseefrahman@gmail.com

From KEVIN BURKE: “Hoping everyone is staying safe and WEEKEND 2021 the government can get its act together to fund 20 million or so tests a day, so we can go back to seeing each other in person again!”

’11

ALUMNI

BEN CASNOCHA writes: “I’m running Village Global, an early stage VC firm. Would love to connect with anyone in the early days of thinking about starting a company or raising money for their startup!”

YOSHAN KENNEDY-CHURNAC left the U.S. in December

2018 and has been traveling the world as a nomadic designer—fabric shopping around the world and shooting content in epic landscapes for her brand, YoshiZen. She’s spent the last few months enjoying the slowdown of quarantine life in Bali, where she’s been developing a line of sustainable laser-cut face masks made from cactus leather.

SAM CORCOS writes: “Hard to believe our ten-year

reunion is next year! I’m mostly in New York and San Francisco these days, so if you’re in town and want to meet up, shoot me a text. My number is 415-515-4630.”

From KARA (MANTANI) CURTIS: “Interesting time to have a baby, but our sweet and curious little Wyatt James Curtis joined our family on February 2, 2020 out here in Maryland. Initially working from home gave us a little extra time to spend with him, so we’re focusing on that silver lining now that I’m back in clinic full time!”

BRIAN LI and JULIA YU report: “We are thrilled to welcome our baby Reiya Li to the world! Born July 2, 2020. Weighing in at 7 lbs. and 6 oz., we think her leg and lung strength show stellar ’42 Athena potential.

Meanwhile, we will use our years of CMC training to tackle these sleepless nights.”

HENRY LYFORD writes: “Quarantine has been lonely in San Francisco, but JAKE BAUCH, MARSHALL FISHER, and I still managed to have some fun by going for a socially distanced bike ride. Unfortunately, Fisher had to drop out halfway through due to fatigue. It appears the lungs of the former SCIAC player of the month (week?) are not what they used to be!”

From MICHELLE (HARVEY) MARTIN: “Got married to Ricky Martin (no, not THAT Ricky Martin!) Three weeks into the shut down—original ceremony postponed to next year, did a quick backyard ceremony with family and friends watching on Zoom. Been #livinlavidaMartin since then!”

KATHRYN MGRUBLIAN writes: “For the last several years, I’ve had my own communications consulting business in Pasadena. I’ve recently been working with a Los Angeles-based hospital on their internal COVID-19 response.”

FALL 2020

From DIVYA VISHWANATH: “I’ve been behind-thescenes building the Indian-inspired personal care company, Sift. We’ll be launching soon. Stay tuned!”

MICHAEL ZAYTSEV reports: “This year I published my second book, The Cannabis Business Book. Huge thanks to CMC’11 classmates JAKE WYRICK for helping protect my intellectual property, and the artist formerly known as Alex, now ALEKSANDR GRABOVSKIY, for editing the book. Get it on Amazon for the enterprising stoner in your life. After COVID-19 put my events business on hold, I doubled down on my coaching business, started “The Cannabis Business Coach Podcast,” and have been facilitating mastermind groups for entrepreneurs. Good, clean fun! When I’m not busy having fun at work, I’m having fun at home practicing yoga and being a cat dad.”

DIVYA VISHWANATH ’11

dvishwanath@gmail.com KATHRYN MGRUBLIAN ’11

kmgrublian@gmail.com From TIM BAFFI: “I recently defended my Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at UC San Diego, got engaged in Paris, and started a postdoctoral fellow position at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) studying cancer initiation and immunotherapy. LJI was also designated the global headquarters of the Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium, so it has been an exciting time to do science amidst all the changes to daily life!”

’13

ELLIE BECKETT writes: “After four years in D.C., I moved

away at the beginning of August, and am planning to spend the rest of the year on the West Coast being socially distant near a beach. This trip will be after a month-long pit stop in Vermont, where I’m very excited to see ISABEL (HARBAUGH) MACDONALD and KELSEY GROSS, who are planning to pop up to see me for a quick visit from Cambridge. Generally, I’m trying to spend as much time outside as possible and keep active. I would love to reconnect with anyone in California this fall if conditions allow!

“A bright spot from the last few months has been reconnecting with my fellow CMC ’13 ladies through monthly Zoom calls (ISABEL (HARBAUGH) MACDONALD, AVANTIKA SAISEKAR, SUNNY TSAI, CLARE RIVA, ELIZABETH PETIT M’13, SUBIN KIM, KELSEY GROSS, ARIEL KATZ, HARMONY PALMER, JEN GOOD, KATE JOHNSON, JEN NAJJAR, PRISCILLA HSU). I’ve loved hearing their perspectives on social justice, favorite recent books, quarantine hobbies, and, of course the personal and professional achievements that these ladies keep racking up!”

ISABELLE HEILMAN: “I just had my one-year anniversary as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. I am fully in the sourdough-baking and new-plant-mom quarantine lifestyle. I recently reconnected with JUETZINIA KAZMER-MURILLO ’15, who lives walking distance from me. We’ve been getting Philz in Adams Morgan and hanging out in parks to get in some socializing.”

During shelter in place, KATE JOHNSON has reconnected with a philosophy book club she was a part of in college that was led by Professor Alex Rajczi.

Now she gets together (virtually, of course) every couple of weeks with LAURA SUCHESKI ’11, ALLISON SCOTT ’11, SARAH STERN ’12, and Professor Rajczi, and they discuss everything from movies and podcasts to our current philosophical existential crises. (Clare’s edit: nerds.)

RACHIT KHAITAN’s most important connection he made at CMC? His wife, VAIDDEHI BANSAL ’15! They got married last year.

SEAN MCQUEEN writes: “I’ve recently connected with my CMC classmate CLARE RIVA (lol—hi Clare). Through our mutual friend JAKE PETZOLD ’12, Clare and I have rekindled a friendship over the past couple of years, mostly through weekends away with Jake and other friends but during COVID we’ve connected through Zoom Shabbat dinners nearly every Friday. We’re now in at least two active group chats. I’m very excited about Clare’s upcoming induction into the Washington State Bar (the best state).

“In other reconnection news, I have been giving advice to classmate CAROLINE MIMBS NYCE on how to handle her recent Twitter fame (https://twitter.com/ mimbsy/status/1290813655055872001?). She owes me a drink, probably.”

From PARTH PADGAONKAR: “I guess the big news is that I’m moving from San Francisco to D.C.! My partner got a job at a nonprofit, and I started a new job at a tiny startup. It’s weird to be moving across the country during a global pandemic, but at least we’ll be wearing masks! Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there!”

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“Since we can work from anywhere these days, in the coming weeks, Shauny and I, will be visiting HARRISON DOYLE, JAKE BISHOP ’15, and MEGAN PATTERSON ’16

in Santa Barbara and JARED BERNSTEIN in Bend, Ore. to do some socially distanced surfing, mountain biking, beer drinking, and hiking. Miss everyone and looking forward to a not-so-far away ten-year!”

GENEVIÈVE DONAHEY is officially an M.D., as are AUSTIN WU and COLIN XA, who all graduated from George

Washington medicine this spring! She writes, “While the graduation was underwhelming, we’re all doing more exciting things in residency. I am in Detroit for my pediatric residency, and hoping to find a few free days to visit KATE JESSE in Chicago.”

ANNA BRITO’16

annacbrito12@gmail.com MADISON GEBHARD ’16

madison.gebhard@gmail.com KELSEY GOHN ’16

kelseygohn@gmail.com EVAN MOLINEUX ’16

evanjmolineux@gmail.com

STEVEN ZIMA and JENNIFER TORRES have

HARMONY PALMER and JEN RINGOEN ’12 bought a

house in San Francisco! Reach out to them if you find yourself in Noe Valley—they’d love to go on a socially distanced walk to catch up and introduce you to their new (spoiled) quarantine cat, Trooper.

CLARE RIVA is moving back to what she always resisted calling the “Best Coast”—this time to Seattle for a new job. She knows very little about the city, so please reach out with any tips! She is sad to leave her D.C. family— her literal family, but also CMC classmates and beloved friends RILEY (THOMLINSON) BECHDEL and ERIN BLUMENTHAL. But she is glad that this time has taught us how to connect virtually just as meaningfully—she has been especially glad to experience that through her weekly Shabbat dinners with SEAN MCQUEEN and JAKE PETZOLD ’12, et al.; her periodic book clubs with KATE JOHNSON, KATIE LORISH, and VERONICA PUGIN ’12; her semi-regular zooms with other CMC 2013 ladies; and her virtual communications with her old roommate, KATIE BROWNING, wherever in the world she may be at any given time—among many other dear CMC friends.

MACKENZIE SCANLAN is living in San Francisco with her

new greater Swiss Mountain dog puppy and partner Evan! “I’ve been at Facebook for almost five years and am working on election integrity work across our family of apps for the U.S. and other high-risk global elections.

Thankfully, the U.S. election is set to be tame and relatively quiet (jokes). To stay (somewhat) sane, I’ve been spending as much time in the mountains—either mountain biking or rock climbing. I hope everyone is doing well!”

DAVID TAYLOR’s big update is, “SHAUNY ULLMAN’14 and I are living together in Berkeley, Calif., where I am attending business school at Haas, or was—I am taking a leave of absence to avoid the remote learning environment this academic year. I will be a product manager at Electronic Arts for the immediate future.

“And of course, I’ll always value my CMC family over everything else. To that end, I’m reminiscing about all the time I spent with EMILY OTT going to philosophy classes, pre-gaming, and making margarita/quesarrito runs to Chipotle. Oh, and being roommates in D.C. immediately after graduation. Hi, Emily.

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purchased a home in Hendersonville, Tenn. Despite the pandemic making travel difficult, the couple successfully purchased and moved into their new home. They were sad to leave the large CMC alumni network in the San Francisco Bay Area, but encourage anyone near or passing through the Nashville area to say “Hi.” They can’t wait for concerts to start up again!

Steven joined Cigna’s Health Leadership program this summer after completing his master’s in business administration at the University of North Carolina. Jennifer moved from teaching multiple subjects at Title I public school in East Palo Alto to a position as a music teacher in Durham, N.C. During the year, as the pandemic began, she transitioned all her teaching online and became the tech teacher.

ELLIE BECKETT ’13

ellie.beckettvt@gmail.com CLARE RIVA ’13

clare.riva@gmail.com

’16

ALUMNI

MICHELLE GOODWIN is

currently an AVP at Barclays 2021 Capital in San Francisco. When she isn’t waking up for work at 4 a.m., she is planning philanthropic events around the city. She was recently named an associate board member for Minds Matter of San Francisco. In addition, she holds a position on the young professional board for The Arc San Francisco.

Outside of work and volunteering, she is still out and about seeing CMCers as frequently as possible. From weekends in Monterey with HEATHER COUSINS to celebrating the Fourth of July on the North Carolina beach with JOHN MARSHALL. WEEKEND

JOHN HYATT is the incoming Marjorie Deane Fellow at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, where he’ll be receiving his master of arts in business and economic reporting.

BYRON COHEN is living in Cambridge, Mass., working on

a Ph.D. in public health at Harvard, and looking forward to the Boston Celtics winning their 18th NBA Championship.

’19

PATRICK HENNESSEY reports, “New job: product manager at Google. New temporary move: Denver.”

OWEN DUBECK writes, “Right now I’m living in Los Angeles creating documentaries and leading a nonprofit aimed at feeding people. I’ve been surfing and hiking a lot on the weekends.”

From RAFAEL VELASCO: “Hey Class of 2019, I miss you all so much! Rafael Velasco reporting from Chicago!

Just finished my first year of post-grad, and I somehow managed to make some Pomona Sagehen friends.

Turns out they can do more than just chirp, chirp. If anyone happens to find themselves in Chicago, let me know and I will make sure you eat and drink at Chicago’s finest. I am looking ahead to January 2021, I will be training in Fort Lee, Va. for four months. If anyone’s in that vicinity, let’s break bread!”

TEAGAN KNIGHT writes, “Working as a strategy consultant at PwC but remotely from Denver for a few months (instead of San Francisco)—cool opportunity to be able to travel and work!”

From ADELE ENGLISH: “Leaving consulting at Mercer and heading into VC with March Capital Partners.

Looking forward to moving in with (four-year roomie) KIMMY TUTTLE in Santa Monica and spending time with many of you as soon as we can safely do so!”

JOSH GUGGENHEIM writes, “Moves: NYC to Bay Area; Quarantine: bought/broke some 3D printers, making an antiviral mask; Trips: certainly harder with COVID, but you can still find tabs.”

NOLAN RAJAKUMAR reports, “Got a motorcycle license.”

ADRIENNE JO is starting her second year as a pharmacology Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania. She has officially joined Dr. Seema Bhatnagar’s Neurobiology of Stress lab, where she will be investigating the intersection between stress and addiction for the next five years. In her free time, she is strolling through the Schuylkill River while enjoying her techno music.

From SYDNEY TALMI: “I moved across the country to start a master’s in medical sciences at Brown University!”

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

spotlight Quincy Brown ’19 Co-founder, We All Rise

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE: Quincy Brown ’19 came of age on Alberta Street—a historically Black Main Street in his hometown of Portland, Ore. He biked and took the bus there as a kid. Proudly visited his grandmother’s house nearby. Showcased his art at the Alberta Street Fair. It “was and still is the cultural center of my northeast Portland neighborhood,” Brown said. When COVID-19 hit, Brown wanted to support local businesses—but he wanted to do so by involving Black community members he felt were “missing from the table” in the now gentrified area. We All Rise, a Black and woman-led community engagement initiative he helped start this summer, focuses on reinventing spaces across neighborhood commercial districts to help business owners. His biggest success: Launching a socially distanced pop-up market for roughly 60 craft, art, jewelry, and food vendors—or as he put it, “from a 7-yearold baker to a seasoned artist, we’ve brought the soul back to Alberta.” Brown studied environmental analysis at CMC, and as a first-year, used a fellowship with the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights to research the history of Black displacement along Alberta Street.

He was also an event planner across the 5Cs and said classes with professors Lily Geismer and Gaston Espinosa prepared him to work on projects related to spatial justice and civil rights activism. “It’s been life changing to apply all the research I conducted at CMC, whether studying environmental science, urban planning, history, race and ethics, and economics.

Bringing all these fields together during an intersectional crisis like a global pandemic is something I’d never thought I’d be doing, but out of every challenge, there are new solutions.”

Brown said. “As we empower more people to actively participate in their communities, we will truly see change.”

FALL 2020

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MALKA KAUSAR writes: “I’m currently living in the Bay and working for a tech startup as a biz ops coordinator.

I love my job, and although quarantine can get monotonous sometimes, I do enjoy the extra time I get to spend with my family and close friends. I’m looking forward to being out of lockdown and getting to travel again!”

TESS VAN HULSEN reports, “Just completed 1L year at the University of San Diego Law School. Looking to make the best of virtual learning by spending many days outdoors in sunny San Diego!”

NICK LABERGE writes, “Spent the summer backpacking the Colorado wilderness with my amazing boyfriend, JAKE HUDSON-HUMPHREY.”

From ELENA SEIFERT: “Cooked a lot during quarantine—didn’t make a repeat dinner in the first six weeks! And started medical school in Wisconsin on August 3.”

JESSE JENNINGS writes, “Moved to the Gold Coast of Australia, got a job, and got a dog. Growing my freelance photography business and selling prints of all the places work takes me. More thankful than ever to be Class of 2019, a.k.a. got out of there before camp Claremont became a virtual reality instead of a real one.”

MAYA GUTIERREZ reports, “I am working in San Francisco, studying Swedish, and working out with my roommates during quarantine.”

From NAMRATA DEV: “After college, I moved to the Bay Area and started working in a great tech startup only to get laid off due to COVID, but luckily found a great job within a month. I also was able to move into the dreamiest of homes in Oakland shortly after! My quarantine highlight was renting a massive RV with my housemate and driving up to the Olympic Coast—a super surreal experience. It’s been a rollercoaster ride to say the least but it’s all about the small wins and finding the balance by taking it day-by-day.”

EDGAR WARNHOLTZ fled the New York City epicenter in March and went home to Monterrey, Mexico for the longest consecutive time since high school, and will return to New York City in early 2021. He recently accepted the responsibility of co-chair of the Communications Committee of the CMC Alumni Association Board. He’s learning how to cook (send help) and has been reading the Harry Potter books for the first time (now on #5).

ADELE ENGLISH ’19

aenglish19@students.claremontmckenna.edu

Special thanks to these volunteer members of the CMC Alumni Association Communications Committee: • Edgar Warnholtz ’19 (co-chair) • Skip Weiss ’74 P’15 (co-chair) • Tanya Remer Altmann ’94 • Mitch Browne ’05 • Cary Davidson ’75 • Tyler Finn ’17 • Tim Galbraith ’87 P’23 • Stella Ho ’97 • Emily Meinhardt ’10 • Mark Munro ’12 • Paul Nathan ’80 • Harmony Palmer ’13 • Faye (Karnavy) Sahai ’90 • Timothy Wright ’77

Submissions To send a Class Note to CMC, please contact your Class Liaison.

Is your class missing? Contact ClassNotes@cmc.edu to submit or volunteer to become a Class Liaison. A full listing of liaisons is also available under the Connect tab at online.cmc.edu.

CMC does not accept engagement, pre-birth, or legacy application announcements; fundraising or solicitation notices; obscenities; libelous, defamatory, or harassing statements. All submissions to Class Notes are subject to editing for style, clarity, context, length, and strict adherence to content guidelines.

Please be advised that the editorial staff neither guarantees the validity of any Class Notes information in this magazine nor is responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information.

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FALL 2020

In Memoriam 1950s Paul M. Stone ’50 of Fair Oaks, Calif., died February 1, 2020. Before coming to CMC, where he studied business administration, Stone served as a combat air crewman in World War II. His tour took him throughout Asia aboard a Martin PBM flying boat working Air-Sea Rescue and reconnaissance missions. After college, Stone went to work for his father-in-law, owner of Morrissey Real Estate Co. He and two partners later purchased the company, which became Dunnigan, Yeates and Stone, and eventually transformed into one of the largest insurance agencies in Sacramento. Stone came from a musical family and always had his saxophone at hand. He played many venues, including the Hotel King Cotton in Memphis with Clyde McCoy and the Officer’s Club at Pearl Harbor. He is survived by four sons.

George R. Hall ’51 of McLean, Va., died June 18, 2020. A valedictorian at CMC, Hall studied economics and later earned his Ph.D. from Harvard. He was a Supply Corps officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and upon returning, joined the economics faculty at the University of Virginia. He also worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the RAND Corporation, and the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1977, Hall joined the Office of Energy Policy and Planning under President Jimmy Carter and helped draft legislation to create the Department of Energy. He was appointed a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and, after leaving government, led a successful career in economic consulting. He is survived by his wife, Florence, and four children.

Robert W. Prater ’53 of Palm Desert, Calif., died March 15, 2020. At CMC, he studied business administration, and after graduating, became a member of the U.S. Army stationed in Ft. Ord, Calif. Prater moved to Illinois to work for his father, and during a 50-year career at Prater Industries/Associated Prater Companies, became president and chairman of the Board. He loved to golf, especially upon moving to Palm Desert in the 1980s.

Prater is survived by two children.

Douglas H. Shaw ’53 of Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif., died December 14, 2019. He studied business administration at CMC and served as a Reunion Weekend program chair. Shaw is survived by four children and his niece, Laura Barrington ’84.

Dr. Eldon G. Bowman ’54 P’84 of Chesterfield, Va., died December 12, 2017. After graduating from CMC, Bowman received his master’s and doctorate degrees from Claremont Graduate School. He also served in the U.S. Army in Germany. Bowman taught at the College of Wooster (Ohio) and at Northern Arizona University.

He was an avid horseman and operated Canyon Country Outfitters, offering guided trail rides all over Arizona.

He retired to Prescott, where he was active in the Prescott Rotary Club and Westerners Corral. He is survived by four children, including Jodi (Ivie) Carroll ’84.

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Charles N. Calvin ’54 of Lincoln, Mass., died May 8, 2020. After graduating from CMC, Calvin served in the U.S. Army in Germany. Calvin moved to Massachusetts to work for Polaroid and told great stories about working with Ansel Adams and Yousuf Karsh when they visited the company. He loved to share knowledge by teaching computer programming and tutoring English language learners. A dedicated handyman, his love of woodworking was endless. Calvin was also actively involved in Parkinson’s studies at Mass General Hospital.

He is survived by four children.

Francis (Frank) B. Cobb ’54 of Dana Point, Calif., died May 31, 2020. He spent four years in ROTC training at CMC and entered the U.S. Army as a 2nd lieutenant.

Cobb served on active duty in Incheon, Korea, and while there, learned how important it was to keep a positive morale in his troops, eventually leading to a Meritorious Achievement Bronze Star. He especially loved to grow flowers, and returned to California to build greenhouses on a hillside in Santa Barbara. There, Cobb grew and bred cymbidium orchids and became a prominent and world-renowned orchid grower. As owner of Sandyland Nurseries, he became a pioneer in the flower business by experimenting with orchids, mums, ferns, potted foliage, and bromeliad plants— even attracting the attention of National Geographic Magazine. An active community member, Cobb served as president of the Ventura Production Credit Association, president of the Santa Barbara County Flower Growers Association, president of the Tri-Counties Flower Growers Association, and director of the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank. He also served as a national judge for the Cymbidium Society of America. Cobb is survived by his wife, Shirley, and five children.

Douglas I. Pruessing ’55 of Carefree, Ariz., died February 7, 2020. He studied business administration at CMC before serving in the U.S. Army. Pruessing worked in the family paint business and eventually became president of Western Specialty Coatings. He shared his enthusiasm for golf, hunting, fishing, and skiing with his friends and family all of his life. Pruessing is survived by his wife, Anne, and four children.

Richard L. Raulston ’56 of Corona Del Mar, Calif., died June 10, 2020. After CMC, he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Gordon, Ga. While there, he picked up his first tennis racket, which began a lifelong love for the sport.

Raulston joined his father’s home-building business, Raulston Construction Company, and helped build many home communities in Southern California. He was a beloved baseball, basketball, and soccer coach in La Jolla. Raulston also continued to play tennis and was proud to be able to attend Grand Slam events throughout the world. He is survived by three children.

Lindley Mixon ’58 of Raymond, Wash., died January 20, 2020. After CMC, Mixon earned a master’s in fine arts from Claremont Graduate School. A creator (of ceramics, bronze sculpture, oils watercolors, and digital art), an educator, a musician, a surveyor, an architect, a builder, and an adventurer, he lived his life to the fullest.

While in college, Mixon even rode a unicycle 26 miles between San Bernardino and Claremont while playing a guitar and smoking a pipe. He built an art studio and home in Claremont that has since become a historic site. Mixon is survived by three children.

Herbert E. Horstmann ’59 of Manteca, Calif., died in August of 2020. He studied business administration at CMC and played on the Stag baseball team. After graduation, he went to UC Berkeley for law school and then served in the Army in Korea. Horstmann worked for several law firms and later San Joaquin County as a Superior Court commissioner. He retired in 2011. He was a past president of the Woodbridge Golf and Country Club, Lodi Police Department Partners, Friends of Lodi Library, Salvation Army, Kiwanis, and a long-standing member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Because of his passion for baseball, he became a co-owner of the Lodi Crushers, a semi-pro baseball team in the 1970s. Horstmann was a member of the Tortugateers, an alumni engagement committee member, and a Reunion Weekend gift chair. He is survived by a son. Memorial donations may be made to the Arce Scholarship Fund at CMC, 400 N. Claremont Blvd. Claremont, CA 91711.

1960s Earle (Bud) R. Bevins III ’61 of Salt Lake City, Utah, died March 29, 2020. He studied business administration at CMC and did post-grad work in business at CSU Sacramento. Bevins also served in the U.S. Army before embarking on a career as a bank examiner. He is survived by his wife, Linda, and two children.

Col. Charles (Chuck) J. Kramer ’61 of North Chesterfield, Va., died February 14, 2020. A business administration major at CMC, Kramer also did postgrad work in public administration and public affairs at Pepperdine University. A retired U.S. Army colonel, he is survived by his wife, LaRae, and two children.

Russell (Russ) Iungerich ’63 P’96 of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., died January 26, 2020. He was 16 when he came to CMC to study government. Iungerich later became an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era and studied law at UC Berkeley. He loved the law and actively changed it. During his career as a deputy attorney general, he successfully opposed the Sirhan Sirhan petition and argued numerous landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, such as California v. Krivda, that are taught in law schools around the country to this day. In private practice, Iungerich took an interest in medicine, and for the last 30 years of his life defended doctors before the medical board. Considered one of the best in his field, he had an almost perfect record saving the careers of great doctors. Books and knowledge were his vices. His brain was his superpower. For years, Iungerich wanted his family to do poetry readings—to just sit around and share poems. With CMC, Iungerich served as a committee member, Class Liaison, and Gould Center board member. He is survived by his wife, Viola, and three children, including Lauren (Iungerich) Dooner ’96.

William (Bill) P. Gates ’64 of Blawenburg, N.J., died December 25, 2019. A mathematics major at CMC, Gates worked for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. He is survived by a son.

Charles (Chuck) B. Burton ’65 P’99 of Phoenix, Ariz., died February 17, 2020. He studied political science and played golf at CMC before continuing at Stanford and Duke Law. During a legal career that spanned nearly

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

40 years, Burton is best remembered as the founder of Burton & Leather & Associates in North Phoenix, where he tirelessly represented thousands of clients over different practice areas. He is survived by a son and daughter, Elizabeth Burton ’99.

Dr. Wayne B. Daniels ’65 of San Diego, Calif., died February 28, 2020. At CMC, Daniels studied economics and later did post-grad work in business at USC. He is survived by his wife, Sue, and three children.

Bruce Bartells ’66 of Redlands, Calif., died February 5, 2020. He played basketball while at CMC and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1967, spending most of his time in Germany. Bartells served as a part-time instructor and faculty advisor at the UCLA Graduate School of Business, the University of Redlands, and Cal Poly Pomona. He was also a founding partner of Soren, Christenson, Bartells and Walloch, and became CFO and CEO of Wilden Engineering and Pump until his retirement. Bartells is survived by his wife, Maggie, and four children.

Roger B. Hammock ’68 of Pasadena, Calif., died July 25, 2020. At CMC, Hammock studied economics and later did post-grad work in business at UCLA. He worked for Avery Dennison Corporation and served as a volunteer committee member for alumni engagement. Hammock is survived by his wife, Debra, and three children.

Dr. Michael W. Norris ’69 of Richmond, Calif., died April 11, 2020. He studied political science at CMC, and later pursued grad work in education at USC and in psychology at Pepperdine University and The Thayer Institute. Norris was a lifelong teacher and student of leadership studies who held positions as president of Human Resource Solutions and president/CEO/owner of Sensei 2.0. He is survived by his wife, Sharon Cassel, and two children.

1970s Edward S. Lowe, Jr. ’70 of Bainbridge Island, Wash., died October 31, 2015. Lowe studied managementengineering at CMC. David M. Reisman ’70 of Claremont, died March 17, 2020. He studied psychology at CMC and loved a good story. His prolific memory allowed him to remember people, places, and the timing of events from decades earlier, like the French lorry driver who picked him up while hitchhiking from Brussels to Paris in 1974.

Reisman established deep roots in Claremont, where he also received a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, living there for more than 40 years. He is survived by his wife, Rae Rottman, and two daughters.

Harvey D. Saver ’72 of Evanston, Ill., died November 13, 2019. He studied psychology at CMC and continued with post-grad work in public policy at the University of Michigan. A lifelong advocate for marginalized communities, Saver was a program officer for mental health initiatives at Illinois Children’s Healthcare. His life was dedicated to eliminating stigma and improving children’s lives, and he served as a volunteer with the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute and the board of Housing Options for the Mentally Ill. Saver is survived by his wife Gail Siegel, and two children.

FALL 2020

Naaman N. Haynes, Jr. ’73 of Tempe, Ariz., died March 5, 2020. A star basketball player growing up, Haynes received a full scholarship to CMC, where he also discovered his passion for football. Haynes, a history major, was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1973. He started several businesses, and touched the lives of many preschool and grade‐school children and their families through his photography. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas, proms, sports programs—whatever the occasion—Haynes was there taking pictures for families to enjoy and share. He is survived by his wife, Kimberly Steele.

Ted Lannan ’73 of Lincoln, Neb., died June 8, 2020. He received his bachelor’s degree in American literature at CMC and also studied education at Minnesota State University. Lannan had a great love of adventure. He is famous for leading a group of high school students on an outdoor expedition near Chadron, Neb., only to be caught in a surprise blizzard. Lannan and his fellow leaders brought the students to safety by breaking into a nearby ranger station and survived (according to legend) on eating frozen butter and rotten sausage.

He loved the outdoors. Throughout his life, he fished, camped, hiked, rafted and canoed, sailed, cross-country skied, climbed mountains, and surfed. His favorite memories were made on these adventures. Lannan is survived by his wife, Terri, and two children.

Richard (Rock) O. Cramer ’75 of Parker, Ariz., died January 19, 2020. At CMC, he studied economics and accounting and served on the CMCAA Board of Directors in 1975-76. Cramer was also an investor in R.O. Cramer Consulting Service, a manager at Desert River Produce, LLC, and a partner of VF Investments, LLC. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca Beal-Cramer.

Christopher R.W. Wong ’78 of Kowloon, Hong Kong, died June 19, 2020. He was an economics and accounting major and did post-grad work in communications at Boston University, the University of Macau, and the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

Wong was also owner and director of operations at GWK Holdings and a CEO at Gulf-Rich Corp.

Keith W. Kroese ’79 of Phoenix, Ariz., died April 9, 2020. He studied modern Chinese history at CMC before following a path into the law at the University of Arizona. Kroese was a voracious reader and gifted with a pen. He also loved four-wheeling, the Grateful Dead, and a good political debate.

1980s Boyd S. Smith ’80 of Pasadena, Calif., died April 15, 2020. He studied business administration at CMC before heading to USC. Smith had a successful career in both the commercial and residential real estate industries. His career took him to New York, San Diego, and Kauai, but he always returned to the city he loved, Pasadena. An active philanthropist, Smith led fundraising events for the Huntington Library and Gamble House, as well as many other charitable and social causes in his community.

Marc S. Schwarz ’84 of Bellevue, Wash., died January 31, 2020. He received a B.A. degree from CMC, majoring in literature and political science. Schwarz also studied computer science at Yale University, earned an M.S. degree from The Ohio State University in computer science, an M.S. degree in computer science and artificial intelligence from New York University, and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and systems design from New York University. Schwarz loved to learn and enjoyed challenging mental tasks from a young age.

He worked on complex puzzles and models as a boy, and later in life shifted those interests and skills into computer problem-solving. Professionally, Schwarz was an accomplished researcher and user‐interface analyst for advanced technologies. His intelligence, problem‐solving skills, and strategic thinking provided him with the opportunity to work for several renowned companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, Google, and Facebook. He is survived by his parents, Linda and Alvin.

Kathleen Sullivan ’88 of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., died May 5, 2020. After CMC, she earned a master’s in agriculture at the University of Massachusetts. Sullivan was a plant scientist for Syngenta Co. in Florida for a number of years. She prided herself on being an avid defender of ecology as a member of the Sierra Club and the leader of several Earth Day celebrations. Sullivan is survived by her husband, Charles Heffner.

1990s Scott M. Petrone ’95 of New York, died April 21, 2020. An accomplished high school athlete, he studied economics at CMC and was captain of the baseball team, where he earned four varsity letters. After graduation, Petrone embarked on a successful Wall Street career. He began as a clerk on the New York Stock Exchange, where he was the youngest head clerk in his firm’s history. Petrone then held senior positions at Prudential Securities and Lazard Capital Markets as a convertible bond trader with responsibility for institutional sales, market making, capital commitment, and compliance. Golf was a central part of his adult life, and his friends and family have many cherished memories of the hours spent on the course with him.

Petrone was also known to his friends and family for his encyclopedic knowledge of New York City and every restaurant that was worth visiting. He is survived by his parents, Ellen and Thomas.

2020s Elena A. Savas ’23 of Wilton, Conn., died February 15, 2020. A member of the CMS swimming and diving team, Savas broke numerous records in high school.

She also was an accomplished gymnast who won numerous state, regional, and national championships.

An economics major at CMC, Savas was equally driven with her schoolwork and recognized as an Academic All-American in 2019. She also shared her passion for diving with young children by coaching for four years.

Savas is survived by her parents, Anastasia and Jonathan.

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Faculty Carol Ruth (Demattos) Carney of Lake Geneva, Wis., died August 2, 2020. Born in San Francisco, she spent the younger part of her childhood in the Bay Area until her family moved to Anaheim. She landed a job working at Disneyland, where she had the good fortune to the meet the man himself, Walt Disney, several times. Carney received a B.A. in English literature from Dominican University, an M.A. in English from Wagner College, and a Ph.D. in English literature from Claremont Graduate University. She taught English at Damien High School in La Verne and English literature at CMC. While at CMC, she found a warm welcome, settled in, and before long came to be known as a fantastic professor, widely loved by students and faculty. The Claremont community appreciated Carney’s natural characteristics: she was nurturing and caring, kind and generous. As a lover of language who also loved helping people, she found herself right at home when she was asked to run the College’s writing center. Away from the classroom, Carney loved to travel. She was drawn to the California coast, Lake Geneva, Charleston, the Grand Canyon, and Mallorca, Spain. She especially loved going to Las Vegas with her son to watch Wayne Newton, who once sang to her and bought her a bottle of champagne.

Carney was a member of the Board of Trustees at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia and a docent at Hillwood, the Marjorie Merriweather Post estate in Washington, D.C. She is survived by her husband, Philip, and son, Andrew. A memorial scholarship fund has been established at CMC in her memory for a student interested in literature. Donations may be made to the Carol Carney Memorial Scholarship Fund, Claremont McKenna College, 400 N. Claremont Blvd., Claremont, CA 91711.

Staff Joseph (Joe) Cardoza of Claremont, died August 8, 2020. He served for 17 years as CMC’s principal investment officer until his retirement in 2009. Cardoza made many significant contributions to CMC, including the establishment of CMC’s Investment Office and the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. While he officially retired in 2009, Cardoza remained with the investment office in a part-time consultant role for an additional three years, making him a nearly two-decade veteran of the College. In his early years, he served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. Cardoza earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley before heading to Dartmouth College for an MBA. He worked in investment and finance positions for Dartmouth’s investment office, as well as in corporate finance and planning positions at Polaroid, American Standard, and Champion International. Cardoza eventually returned to California, serving in investment and finance positions for Pomona and Whittier colleges before joining CMC, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Jerome Garris P’91 P’01 Vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty Jerome “Jerry” H. Garris P’91 P’01, former CMC vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, died June 27.

A pillar of campus life for decades, Garris, 81, led major initiatives across the administration.

During his tenure and throughout his retirement, he was deeply supportive of faculty, staff, alumni, and students, said CMC President Hiram Chodosh.

“Jerry was so universally respected, beloved,” Chodosh said. “He was CMC’s dean of deans, who could take on any challenge with keen insight and warm grace. Jerry had an incalculable impact on all of us.”

Garris earned his Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 1972, having completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at San Francisco State University and Stockholm University in Sweden. He joined CMC’s faculty in 1974 as an assistant professor of political science and quickly distinguished himself as an institutional leader.

In 1977, then-President Jack Stark ’57 GP’11 named him vice president and dean of students, though Garris also remained an active member of the faculty. Among many other accomplishments as dean, Garris chaired a committee to re-envision the Athenaeum program, which resulted in the construction of the new building named in honor of Marian Miner Cook. He also was instrumental in the successful implementation of the College’s decision to become a coeducational institution in 1976. He subsequently helped effectuate the 1981 transition of the College’s name from Claremont Men’s to Claremont McKenna College.

CMC’s Board of Trustees Chairman David Mgrublian ’82 P’11 said Garris was the College and the Board’s “go to” person.

“He was always willing to apply his calm, thoughtful, and good-humored approach to anything we threw at him. He loved CMC and we loved him,” Mgrublian said. “He was my professor, my dean of students, my mentor as a trustee, and my advisor as Board Chair. He taught me how academic affairs work in higher education and more specifically at CMC.” Garris taught an expanded “Introduction to American Government” class for first-year students, which quickly became a favorite among undergraduates, recalled John Faranda ’79, ambassador-at-large for the College. With Pitzer College’s Walter Zelman and Pomona College’s Dan Mazmanian, Garris also developed a congressional simulation class that was extremely popular and continues to be taught in a different format at CMC. “To many of us in the Class of 1979, he became a respected mentor and friend, and he continued to engage with us at our weddings, reunions, and other gatherings. His genuine interest in us as students and as friends represented the best of the magic that is the CMC community,” Faranda said.

In 1984, Garris left CMC for Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, serving first as dean of the college, and after 1990, as provost and acting president. He returned to CMC in 1998, joining the development team as director of foundation and corporate relations. Garris quickly took on more roles, as associate vice president of research and institutes, and a senior lecturer in government. In 2005, then-President Pamela Gann named Garris vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, the 12th in the College’s history. In that role, he advocated eloquently for the centrality of research to the mission of a liberal arts college.

In 2006, Garris transitioned into a new post as senior associate dean of the faculty and vice president for special projects and stayed active in CMC life as dean emeritus, leading CMC’s reaccreditation review by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and spearheading other important initiatives.

In civic life, Garris was a long-time member and past chair of the board of trustees of Pilgrim Place, a seniorliving community in Claremont. In his spare time, he was an Egyptologist and automobile enthusiast. He was elected an honorary member of the CMC Alumni Association in 2005.

Garris is survived by his wife Penny, sons Christian ’91 and Alexander ’01, and grandchildren Nathaniel and Madeleine. A virtual memorial service was held for Garris in August.

A memorial scholarship fund has been established at CMC in Dean Garris' memory. Donations may be made to the Jerry Garris Memorial Scholarship Fund, Claremont McKenna College, 400 N. Claremont Blvd., Claremont, CA 91711.

—Gilien Silsby

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CMC Board of Trustees

Duane K. Kurisu P’08 Chairman and CEO, aio Michael Larson ’80 Chief Investment Officer, BMGI Regular Trustees Tao Li ’02 David G. Mgrublian ’82 P’11 Chair of the Board of Trustees, Claremont McKenna College Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Teng Yue Partners James B. McElwee ’74 P’12 CEO, IDS Real Estate Group Venture Capitalist Peter K. Barker ’70 P’01 AMB C. Steven McGann ’73 Board Chair Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College Founder, The Stevenson Group Retired Chairman of California JPMorgan Chase & Co. Retired Partner, Goldman Sachs & Company Harry T. McMahon ’75 P’08 P’09 Board Chair Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College James B. Bemowski ’76 P’07 P’09 M’10 Senior Advisor, G100 Companies Retired, Vice Chairman of the Doosan Group & CEO of the Doosan Corporation Marci Lerner Miller ’89 P’19 P’20 Attorney at Law, Miller Advocacy Group PC Yvette McGee Brown P’19 Partner, Jones Day Akshata N. Murty ’02 Director, Catamaran Ventures UK Hiram E. Chodosh President, Claremont McKenna College Robert C. Nakasone ’69 P’98 Retired CEO, Toys “R” Us, Inc. A. Steven Crown ’74 General Partner and Co-President, Douglas L. Peterson ’80 P’14 P’15 Henry Crown & Company President and CEO, S&P Global Tina Daniels ’93 Fredric J. Prager P’99 P’01 Director, Google Founding Partner and Managing Director, Prager & Co., LLC Cary Davidson ’75 Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Reed & Davidson, LLP Rey Ramsey Managing Partner, Centri Capital Robert A. Day ’65 P’12 Board Chair Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College G. Jeffrey Records, Jr. ’81 Chairman, The W.M. Keck Foundation Chairman and CEO, Midland Mortgage Co. Chairman, Oakmont Corporation and of MidFirst Bank David Dreier ’75 George R. Roberts ’66 P’93 Director, Tribune Publishing Company Co-Founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Steven L. Eggert ’82 P’15 Founder, Anton DevCo, Inc. Richard J. Romero ’89 President & CEO, Oremor Management and Investment Co. Elyssa M. Elbaz ’94 Manager, Elbaz Family Foundation Rossi A. Russell ’71 Attorney at Law Laura M. Grisolano ’86 President and CEO, Bridge Mediation & Leadership Bruce A. Soll ’79 P’12 P’15 P’17 Solutions LLC Retired Counselor, LBrands, Inc. E. David Hetz ’80 P’10 John Shrewsberry ’87 P’24 Chief Executive Officer, Prager & Co., LLC Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Wells Fargo & Company Gregory K. Hinckley ’68 Retired, President, Mentor Graphics Corporation Kenneth J. Valach ’82 CEO, Trammell Crow Residential John M. Isaacson Chairman, Isaacson, Miller Shaw B. Wagener ’81 Chairman, Capital Group Private Markets Susan Matteson King ’85 P’18 Senior Vice President, Product and Marketing Strategy, Christopher V. Walker ’69 Foresters Financial Founding Partner, Leonard Green & Partners Jeffrey S. Klein ’75 P’08 P’11 P’14 Retired Executive Chairman, 1105 Media, Inc. Life Trustees Henry R. Kravis ’67 Gary E. Biszantz ’56 P’08 Co-Founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-CEO, Former Chairman, Cobra Golf, Inc. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Barbara W. Boswell Educator and Vice President, Boswell Family Foundation

CMC

Editorial Thomas Rozwadowski Gilien Silsby Anne Bergman Valerie Ramos Visual Anibal Ortiz

FALL 2020

Design Jay Toffoli Cover illustration Federico Gastaldi Class Notes Rebecca Pelen Evan Rutter ’06 John Faranda ’79 Vice President for Advancement Michelle Chamberlain

Fall 2020 CMC Volume 43, Number 2 Published by Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA 91711-6400

Abbott L. Brown P’00 Chairman and CEO, Ridgestone Corporation Richard E. Butler Retired President, Kilkenny Consulting Corp.

Joseph T. Casey P’81 P’85 P’88 P’95 GP’20 Retired Executive Vice President and Director, Litton Industries, Inc. Marvin W. Drew ’51 P’75 GP’05 Private Investor Robert L. Emett ’50 Private Investor Perry A. Lerner ’65 P’89 GP’19 GP’20 Chairman & CEO, Crown Global Insurance Group, LLC Robert J. Lowe ’62 Board Chair Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College Founder and Chairman, Lowe Enterprises Inc. Thomas M. Mitchell ’66 Retired Chairman and CEO, Provident Investment Counsel Kenneth M. Novack ’67 Founding Partner, Schnitzer West Jack L. Stark ’57 GP’11 President Emeritus, Claremont McKenna College Buzz Woolley ’59 P’90 P’92 Retired President, Girard Capital, Inc.

Ex-Officio Trustees Emily Meinhardt ’10 President of the CMC Alumni Association, Claremont McKenna College Interior Designer, Studio Hardt Kathryn (KK) Streator P’18 P’21 President of the CMC Parent Network, Claremont McKenna College Founding Partner, Noosphere Marketing

Alumni Trustees Tanya Remer Altmann ’94 Founder & Pediatrician, Calabasas Pediatric Wellness Center Harriet B. Nembhard ’91 Dean and Roy J. Carver Professor, University of Iowa College of Engineering Timothy W. Wright III ’77 Partner of Operations, Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A.

Honorary Trustees John V. Croul ’49 Retired, Co-Chairman, Behr Process Corporation Glenn L. Hickerson ’59 President, Hickerson Associates

Claremont McKenna College, CMC, and Leaders in the Making are registered trademarks of Claremont McKenna College, and all applicable rights to use of the trademarks are reserved. Claremont McKenna College does not discriminate on any illegal basis in the administration of its admission, educational, or employment policies and practices. Claremont McKenna College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. To read online, go to www.issuu.com/claremontmckennacollege.

Copyright © 2020, Claremont McKenna College

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parting shot A CMC student looks out at the snow-covered peaks while on the balcony of Kravis Center.

FALL 2020

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE 500 EAST NINTH STREET CLAREMONT CA 91711-6400 A D D R E S S

S E R V I C E

R E Q U E S T E D

A welcome surprise CMC students received a special five-pound care package in the mail to start the school year—a surprise gesture filled with “reminders of their Claremont McKenna home,” said Devon MacIver of the Dean of Students office. “If we can’t all be together, we want our students to have CMC tokens they can enjoy this semester.” The shiny brown box included a six-foot round CMC-branded blanket (for social distancing), blue block glasses (for Zooming), four CMC folders, an academic planner and notepad (for class organization), and magnets, stickers, and other desk supplies. First-year students also received a tumbler as a welcome to CMC bonus.