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WINTER 2018
Periodical Postage
PAID
Philadelphia, PA
and Additional
Mailing Offices
MISS HOT MESS
p15
DR. SAILOR
p63
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306
www.swarthmore.edu
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
LAURENCE KESTERSON
WINTER 2018
WE HOPE YOU’LL RESOLVE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH US THIS YEAR
Swarthmore can help customize an endowed fund, bequest intention, life-income gift, or other type of
planned gift that advances our educational mission and achieves your financial/estate-planning goals.
Begin the conversation: Contact Jessica Cunningham ’08 in College Advancement
giftplanning@swarthmore.edu • 866-526-4438 • swarthmore.plannedgiving.org
vital spaces
MR. CLEAN
p76
in this issue
9
LABOR OF LOVE
Through Birth,
a Companion
Swarthmorean doulas
make a social-justice
difference in delivery.
by Cameron French ’14
MOMENT IN TIME
November’s SwatFit inaugural
Turkey Trot collected donations for
local food banks ... and gave Assistant
Director of Athletics Max Miller an
excuse to shake a tail feather.
Mother of the modern doula movement Penny Payson Simkin ’59 (right) with clients and friends, photographed by Ashwin Rao ’99.
18
40
45
FEATURES
FEATURES
CLASS NOTES
What Stays the
Same
On the Radio
Alumni News and
Events
The most vital of spaces,
campus will always spark
the Swarthmore spirit.
Telling stories and
changing the world ...
over the airwaves.
by Laura Markowitz ’85
by Jonathan Riggs
26
Universal Attraction
For stargazing
Swarthmoreans, the
thrilling exploration of
new frontiers.
by Kate Campbell
34
Home Is ...
A place of comfort, of
creativity, of closeness with
friends and family: Home is
unique to each of us.
by Elizabeth Slocum
2
DIALOGUE
Editor’s Column
Letters
Community Voices
C. Stuart Hain
Rewind
David Pao ’65
Gaye Goodman ’67
Tami Kellogg ’91
Their Light Lives On
Garnet Scrapbook
76
SPOKEN WORD
Tyrone Dunston
Bob Freedman ’58
Books
Global Thinking
John Robbins ’07
WEB EXTRAS
BULLETIN.SWARTHMORE.EDU
MAKE A NEW FRIEND
Meet Sylvia Hand Pott ’52.
9
COMMON GOOD
Swarthmore Stories
Learning Curve
Harris Kornstein ’06
ON THE COVER
Nathaniel Peters ’18 in Swarthmore’s
Peter van de Kamp Observatory
photographed by Laurence Kesterson
Profiles
Liberal Arts Lives
EXTRA SPACE
Explore our galaxy of online
intergalactic goodies.
RADIO GA GA
Listen to alumni’s favorite
audio pieces and podcasts.
DWARF STAR
Learn about Benjamin Lay, the
mighty Quaker abolitionist.
OUR ARCHIVES, OURSELVES
Every issue ever is now digitized!
Elsita Kiekebusch ’07
Bethany Wiggin ’94
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
1
dialogue
Our Space, Our Time
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
Editor
Jonathan Riggs
Class Notes Editor
Elizabeth Slocum
Designer
Phillip Stern ’84
Photographer
Laurence Kesterson
Administrative/Editorial Assistant
Michelle Crumsho
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Editorial Assistant
Eishna Ranganathan ’20
Editor Emerita
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49
SWARTHMOREAN vital spaces—the theme of
this issue—exist everywhere. Some of the most
meaningful to us on the magazine staff, of course, are
the ones you help us create in these pages.
Now, for the first time, you can more fully explore
them and the entire ongoing Swarthmore College
Bulletin story: Every previous issue, dating back to
the magazine’s 1935 beginning as the Garnet Letter,
has been digitized and made available online.
As you’ll see, we’ve also made some editorial
changes starting with this issue. We’ve redesigned
Class Notes and added a new, enhanced In
Memoriam section, “Their Light Lives On.”
Our motivation for this was simple: The more
connected we all are, the more effectively we can
come together and change the world. We’re proud
to give you the opportunity four times a year to pick
up this publication and—just as countless other
classmates and community members are doing at the
same time—to look back, forward, around, within.
Ultimately, the Bulletin is a vital space where we
can learn from, challenge, encourage, and inspire
each other. Just like Swarthmore.
by
JONATHAN
RIGGS
Editor
+
EXPLORE: bit.ly/BulletinCollection
bulletin.swarthmore.edu
facebook.com/SwarthmoreBulletin
instagram.com/SwarthmoreBulletin
Email: bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Telephone: 610-328-8533
We welcome letters on subjects covered
in the magazine. We reserve the right to
edit letters for length, clarity, and style.
Views expressed in this magazine do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the
editors or the official views or policies of
the College.
Send letters and story ideas to
bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Send address changes to
records@swarthmore.edu
The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN
0888-2126), of which this is volume
CXV, number II, is published in October,
January, April, and July by Swarthmore
College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore,
PA 19081-1390. Periodicals postage
paid at Philadelphia, PA and additional
mailing offices. Permit No. 0530-620.
Postmaster: Send address changes
to Alumni Records, 500 College Ave.,
Swarthmore, PA 19081-1390.
Printed with agri-based inks.
Please recycle after reading.
©2018 Swarthmore College.
Printed in USA.
BEYOND BARS
pr inted w
i
ly
H-UV
No ‘Ordinary’ Friend
I’m not an alum, but I’ve lived in Swarthmore almost 25
years; my kids grew up on campus. This spring, I met Sylvia
Hand Pott ’52, whose grandparents had lived in my house.
During a visit, I saw the Bulletin—Sylvia joked she was
intimidated by how amazing her fellow alumni were.
What? Sylvia is amazing.
She is thoughtful, dedicated,
and swims, kayaks, bikes, and
walks the beach daily. Sylvia
has raised four interesting,
interested children; she hosts
anyone at her home in Cape
Cod who needs a safe house
and an open heart and mind;
she sings with a choral group
and is active in politics. She is
unlike any 86-year-old I know
and yet she describes herself
as “just ordinary.”
Please profile Sylvia. I am so proud of my strong,
dynamic, caring friend, and that we share a love of learning,
life, family, and, of course, Swarthmore.
—VICKY HUESTIS, Swarthmore, Pa.
We can’t say it enough: The Bulletin belongs to all of us.
Read about Sylvia: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
ks
th
WINTER 2018
nd
e
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
e c o-fri
I was gladdened to see fall 2017’s “Unbarring Progress” about prison work. I used
to co-lead a program called Houses of Healing—a powerful tool for change written
specifically for inmates. The work was truly satisfying, deeply moving, and appreciated.
—RICHARD STONE ’65, Fresno, Calif.
GOOD BEEHAVIOR
Elizabeth Slocum’s “Hive Minded” (fall 2017) reminded me
of a wonderful lab I had in the 1960s in Professor Kenneth
Rawson’s Biology of Animal Communities class—one of my first
experiences with a science class where the labs weren’t meant
to test how well you could reach a “correct” answer.
We had an elegantly designed study to verify the theory
of Karl von Frisch that bees communicated the direction and
distance of food with the famous “waggle dance.” (Some
scientists countered that bees were directed toward food based
solely on scent.) We used the hive behind Martin Biological
Laboratory, tagged individual bees by gluing tiny numbers from
an electronics parts catalog on their backs, set up scented and
unscented sugar water around campus, and observed the bees
exiting the hive, feeding, and returning.
The results were—alas—equivocal. My first (but hardly last)
taste of the realities and frustrations of actual research! Of
course, decades later, the “waggle dance” is now accepted as
how honeybees communicate.
—BOB CUSHMAN ’71, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Managing Editor
Kate Campbell
2
Write Here
LETTERS
EDITOR’S COLUMN
in
+ WRITE TO US: bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Please donate my book,
Tips for Living Happily and
Gracefully as You Grow Older,
to McCabe. My daughter, Judy
Nicholson Asselin ’75, edited
it and her daughter, Carrie, did
the illustrations.
—JEAN MICHENER
NICHOLSON ’49, Medford, N.J.
Consider it done. Congrats!
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Inclusion. Such a lovely word, thought, and action. Recent Bulletin
articles on Swarthmore student involvement in civil rights, being
a naturalist, mental health issues, formation swimming, and
beekeeping made me feel that perhaps I might one day feel included.
I did not get a Ph.D., did not work in academia, did not write a
book. Instead, after a lot of wandering, I homesteaded in Alaska and
started to seriously study Buddhism in 1996.
I built my own cabin by hand. (Sadly, not a log cabin, but I built
one for the University of Alaska that is used every year at the Alaska
State Fair.) I built my first house on skids in February without
knowing it. In the spring when the soil thawed, the half on frozen
ground sank, leaving the house 3 feet out of level. Back to square
one. I hired a neighbor—a mason—to put in a foundation and went
from there to build myself an “Alaskan shack.”
So, if you ever have an article about using moose to do your
pruning; hunting caribou; getting through the winter with no
electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing in a very cold climate;
mistaking a black bear for your neighbor’s black lab and running out
to shove it away with your bare hands, I will be right there reading
along avidly. Thank you so much for your thoughtful Bulletin, and
congratulations on your inclusivity.
—PANTHEA REDWOOD ’61, Palmer, Alaska
WATER WORKS
I was thrilled to see “All Together Now” (fall 2017). When I
arrived in 1964, I was delighted that the College had a water
ballet team that I could become a part of. That fall, we put on
“Peter and the Wolf ” (original program enclosed).
Water ballet was a part of my years I’m completely happy
about. It provided a respite from the angst of studenthood.
—JEAN WARREN KEPPEL ’68, Prescott, Ariz.
Thank you, Jean. We donated your program to the College Archives.
Phyllis Hall Raymond ’54, M’71 donated a wealth of synchronized
swimming materials there, as well. If you have any Swarthmore
memorabilia, email archives@swarthmore.edu.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
3
dialogue
COMMUNITY VOICES
LAURENCE KESTERSON
PLACEMAKING
“B
UT THIS being
Swarthmore, the
impulse to care is more
complex than it might
first seem. Indeed,
at Swarthmore,
empowering others to become their
most realized selves is a crucial part
of what caring for their well-being
means.” —Al Bloom H’09, Swarthmore
president, 1991–2009
Shortly after my LPAC work
began, Bill Spock ’51 became the vice
president and CFO of the College. I see
him as the epitome of Swarthmorean
caring, and his example as a gentleman
and a leader is a lighted marker for me.
Bill hired the actual impetus for my
invitation and inclusion here: Larry
Schall ’75 came on as associate vice
president for administration in 1990.
Early the following
year, he offered me the
by
Since I began my
job of director of facilities
unexpected journey in
management. Larry’s
this caring community
thoughtfulness,
where I’ve had the honor
creativity, intelligence,
of helping shape some
and encouragement
of its physical spaces,
strengthened our
I have been continually delighted,
operations to further embrace what
encouraged, and empowered by
Al Bloom defined as Swarthmore’s
countless people who give these spaces
empowering form of care.
life: our faculty, students, staff, alumni,
Larry’s sensitivity to design in
and friends.
collaboration with Al and the late
In the early 1980s, Eugene Lang
Margaret Helfand ’69 also set the
’38, H’81’s generous gift gave me the
direction of facilities design on
opportunity to come to this campus
campus—Kohlberg Hall and the
when I was assigned as the project
Science Center, for example—and I am
manager by the construction firm
happy to have followed that lead.
building Lang Performing Arts Center.
As I come to the end of my career at
C. STUART HAIN
vice president
“Swarthmore’s caring community
helps each of us become our most
realized selves.”
4
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
Swarthmore, I cherish a more recent
example of the kind of care that is the
exemplar of this community.
The setting was September’s
annual appreciation breakfast for
our Environmental Services (EVS)
staff. Director Tyrone Dunston (pg. 76)
introduced President Valerie Smith,
who thanked the staff for their work
taking care of buildings on campus.
More important, she applauded
them for their care of the people on
campus, especially students. Val
gratefully emphasized that point by
speaking of the care she had received
from the staff seated before her from
the moment she arrived on campus.
EVS and all of the facilities staff
are very much part of that form of
empowering care Al described at
Swarthmore. I will always be thankful
for having been part of that.
I remain delighted and forever
changed by every opportunity I’ve had
to notice not only the splendor of the
campus in large and very small ways,
but of the people and their interactions
whose caring ties it all together.
This care makes Swarthmore the
uncommon endeavor it is, and, with
unbound gratitude, I say thank you for
my extraordinary life as a member of
this community.
—After serving the College for nearly
30 years, STU HAIN retired Dec. 31 as
vice president for facilities and capital
planning.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Caring for our spaces means caring for one another
REWIND: WE ARE ALL ONE
Consciousness evolution begins with each of us
AT SWARTHMORE, I learned to
question and to keep an open and
critical mind with reference to the
settled paradigms we were taught
growing up. I hope readers will apply
that to what follows.
I believe there is a creative force
of vibrational energy, containing the
universe that your and my souls are
experiencing. Everything is ultimately
made of that energy—we are all
individual manifestations of it.
As such, we all
by
have souls that are a
portion of the infinite
vibrational energy of
’58
that creative force.
Just as one frame of a
hologram contains all the information
to replicate the whole, every individual
soul contains all the information of the
creative force. This is what is meant
when it is said that ultimately all
human beings are connected through
our individual souls, which in turn are
one with that force, whatever name we
give it.
This isn’t how most humans were
raised. Most of us were raised in a
belief system that our tribe was “good”
while the other was not only “bad,”
but our “enemy.” Our education in
“difference” permeates every facet of
our lives.
Ultimately, this thinking will lead
to the end of the human race, unless
we develop a new
belief system. Our
own consciousnesses
must evolve for the
consciousness of
the human race to
evolve. We must accept a brand-new
paradigm: None of us is “different”
from one another—in our needs for
food and water, for connection, for
meaning, for community. We are, on
the individual level, simply distinct
BOB FREEDMAN
from one another in name and form.
As I look back, I never really bought
into the old paradigm. As a kid, I rooted
for the Cleveland Indians while my
friends—avid fans of the Yankees,
Giants, or Dodgers—thought I was
crazy. I remember telling them, “You
root for your teams and I’ll root for
mine! But can we agree that we all love
baseball?”
When I arrived at Swarthmore, I
soon learned that the student body
was divided into “turkeys” and “jocks.”
I chose to make friends based on the
individual, not whether they fell into
one category or the other. My friends
in both camps thought I was unusual.
Perhaps that explains why, for more
than 20 years, my passion has been
reading about and studying how we
each can replace this old paradigm. I
have met some of the many people who
are leading the movement to evolve
human consciousness.
If you are open to learning more, you
might start with the following:
Your mind may rebel against what
Neale Donald Walsch says in his book
The Storm Before the Calm, but I hope
you can be open to his logic.
Barbara Marx Hubbard will tell
you about what she is doing to lead a
worldwide consciousness-evolution
movement.
Also, the Shift Network will lead
you to many others who work either
individually or as groups to accomplish
this evolution of consciousness.
The core statements on John
Audette’s Eternea site are fascinating
and worth a read.
Some of you may not agree with or
understand my beliefs, but I hope that
you will at least think about them with
an open mind.
The point of an institution like
Swarthmore is to seek and honor truth.
This is mine, and I want to share it. I
welcome questions and comments:
rafwritings@aol.com.
To quote the great 13th-century
Persian poet Rumi: “Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is
a field. I’ll meet you there.”
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
5
dialogue
AUTHOR Q&A
BEHIND THE BOOK
GOP vs. LBJ?
VERSOS SENCILLOS: EMMA OTHEGUY ’09
by Joshua Zeitz ’96
by Michelle Crumsho
In her beautiful bilingual
debut picture book, Martí’s
Song for Freedom (Lee & Low
Books), Emma Otheguy ’09
(pronounced “Oh-teggy”) tells
the tale of the famous author,
intellectual, and activist’s
unwavering dedication to
securing Cuba’s liberation from
Spain—an especially inspiring
story for younger readers.
“José Martí’s journey started
so young: What he did as a
teenager was reflective of
actual work toward the cause
to which he devoted his life,”
she says. “It’s an incredible
example from history of how
children can be agents for
change.”
—Available Jan. 30, Building the Great Society (Viking) is
Joshua Zeitz ’96’s fourth book.
What do you tell kids about your book?
I emphasize that José Martí was fighting
for democratic values that are shared
across the cultures of the Americas. Our
current president has made me realize
the degree to which democracy has to
be taught in order to be preserved—
children need to learn, intentionally, that
democracy rests upon the right to protest
peacefully, a free and independent press,
and the cooperation of diverse peoples.
What’s its takeaway?
Latinos have deep roots in the United
States: Our history and the history of
Latin America are intertwined. It is
possible, as Martí said, to belong to more
than one place—to be from every place
and on the road to everywhere.
What’s the power of picture books?
They give children a chance to learn,
share, and celebrate. Even the physical
KONRAD BRATTKE
HISTORIANS ARE influenced by the context in which they live
and write. I began this book during the administrative and political
challenges Barack Obama faced launching the Affordable Care Act.
Ironically, it’s not Obama’s legacy that the GOP Congress and
president wish to dismantle. It’s LBJ’s. Block-granting Medicaid,
privatizing Medicare, making sharp cuts to school nutrition programs
and SNAP, steering federal education dollars to private religious
academies, rolling back voting rights—even proposing vast religious
exemptions to public accommodations laws: All of these longstanding
policy aspirations are an attempt to unravel the Great Society.
LBJ and his staff enjoyed certain advantages that may be forever
lost. They governed in a rare moment of unbounded economic growth.
People generally trusted government and experts—until LBJ’s own
dissemblance on Vietnam, followed by Watergate, triggered a halfcentury of public skepticism that has poisoned American life.
But many of the challenges are the same. The Great Society
attempted to redistribute some of the artificial economic and political
privilege that white Americans had come to view as their birthright.
That’s where much of the opposition to contemporary liberalism
crystallized. We’re still grappling with that problem today.
shape of a bilingual picture book inspires
the bridging of two languages and the
sharing across generations and cultures,
stretching across laps or being held up
high for a classroom of kids to see.
+ CONTINUED:
bulletin.swarthmore.edu
HOT TYPE: NEW BOOKS BY SWARTHMOREANS
Rachel Sullivan Robinson ’99
Intimate Interventions in
Global Health
Cambridge University Press
6
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
In her new book, sociologist
and demographer Robinson
looks to sub-Saharan Africa
to draw often-overlooked
global and local parallels
between the resources,
discourses, and strategies
used to promote family
planning and those used
to prevent HIV—and how
the former influenced the
latter. “By recognizing
the similarities between
preventing pregnancy and
preventing HIV,” she writes,
“we are able to reach broader
conclusions about why and
how countries respond to
health problems.”
David Sobel ’87
From Valuing to Value
Oxford University Press
Sobel, the Guttag Professor
of Ethics and Political
Philosophy at Syracuse
University, collects 20
years—and counting—of
his papers articulating and
defending subjectivism:
the idea that things have
value because we value
them. “This book aspires to
sketch the main contours of
the long and winding road
from valuing to value,” he
writes, “and to start to make
a case that the road is sound
and bridges that have been
purported to be impassable
are in fact repairable.”
Jean-Jacques Malo, editor
W.D. Ehrhart [’73] in
Conversation
McFarland
Called “the poet of the
Vietnam War” by Pulitzer
winner Studs Terkel, W.D.
Ehrhart ’73 has long been
a prized subject, including
in the 2017 miniseries The
Vietnam War. And yet only
a few major interviews
(bit.ly/W-D-E) have been
published. This collection
gives a richer glimpse of
the man. “I’d dynamite
every war memorial in the
United States of America,”
he tells one interviewer.
“We ought to memorialize
people and events worthy of
memorialization.”
Marilyn Mathews Bendiksen ’59
On Being Called
Zion Publishing
“I have always been grateful
to have been your elder
daughter,” Bendiksen
writes in this tenderly
crafted, deeply researched
biography of her late father,
the Rev. Charles Mathews.
A passionate theologian and
spiritual seeker in her own
right, Bendiksen examines
how her father’s wisdom
deepened over a lifetime
that spanned five dramatic
decades, and how his faith
continues to shape her
own. “He left us knowing
who he was and how his life
mattered,” she concludes.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
7
common good
dialogue
SHARING SUCCESS AND STORIES OF SWARTHMORE
GLOBAL THINKING
STORIES OF BELONGING
Bringing balance to public discourse on Muslim identity
by Amanda Whitbred
8
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
executive order on immigration, or
“Muslim ban.” Robbins’s team helped
organize a protest in Boston’s Copley
Square, during which Robbins was
moved not only by the huge crowd and
the distinguished speakers, but also by
the stories attendees shared.
“People brought hundreds of these
incredibly passionate and moving
signs,” says Robbins. “Signs about
their Jewish identity, or the fact that
they were immigrants or refugees or
children of immigrants or refugees,
or that this was not the world they
wanted for their kids.”
Among 25,000 strangers that day,
Robbins experienced the power of
community—and reaffirmed his
dedication to his mission.
“I’m in a position where we can
change public discourse while
impacting individual lives,” says
Robbins. “It’s tremendously fulfilling,
and I am very grateful for the ability to
do that work.”
Robbins credits Swarthmore with
leading him toward his career. The
College instilled a strong sense of
social justice that convinced him that
he could “have a big impact on the
world and had something to offer.”
As an English major, he was
fascinated by how people bring
ON
THE
WEB
JOHN ROBBINS ’07
Executive Director
philosophical ideas together “and pair
them with stories and the language
of the heart.” After Swarthmore, he
earned a Ph.D. specializing in 18thand 19th-century dramas written by
women. He uses what he learned to
help him tell compelling, relatable
stories about the individuals he works
with, as well as to combat the negative
stereotypes and hateful speech he
encounters.
“Swarthmore gave me the tools
to be able to explore, think through,
and critically push back against
the narratives that go on in the
media or within the larger place of
ideas,” Robbins says. “I’m grateful to
Swarthmore for giving me the toolkit
to disentangle ideas that are full of
hate or grounded in fear.”
ZERO WASTE CAMPUS
We’re on track to divert
80 percent of our waste
from the incinerator in
Chester by 2022.
+ LEARN
bit.ly/SwatZero
READING THE SIGNS
Faculty and students
instill a love of learning
in deaf children.
+ VIEW
bit.ly/R-I-S-E
SERVICE AND
COMMITMENT
Staffers on how being a
military veteran informs
their College work.
+ WATCH
bit.ly/VeteransDaySwat
WHAT, ME WORRY?
The late librarian David
Peele ’50’s memory
lives on in McCabe via a
new donation: his MAD
magazine collection.
+ LAUGH
bit.ly/MadMcCabe
“These problems aren’t going to be
solved tomorrow. These are longterm issues with deep roots.”
LAURENCE KESTERSON
JOHN ROBBINS ’07 wants to change
the negative narratives about Muslims
that dominate the media.
As founding executive director of the
Massachusetts chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), the largest Muslim civilrights group in the country, he says the
importance of his work has intensified
in the last year.
“The stereotypes about Muslims are
around violence or lack of belonging,”
says Robbins. “The more that we can
introduce positive stories of people
who are serving their country, who
are going through the challenges of
adolescence, who are struggling to
belong in the same way that many
other Americans are, the more we are
going to impact how Americans of all
backgrounds view Muslims.”
In the face of ignorance and hatred,
Robbins is motivated by the proactive
efforts of advocacy. CAIR’s programs
include anti-bullying seminars with
teachers, administrators, and parents;
meeting with elected officials and
getting American Muslims involved in
the political process; and responding to
speaking requests from the community
to learn who Muslims are and what
they believe.
“When someone is fired from work
because they want to take prayer
breaks, when they’re denied a vacation
or time off to celebrate a Muslim
holiday, when they’re harassed at the
airport—we’re there for them,” says
Robbins, who left his teaching job to
apply his communication skills in
Boston’s Muslim community. Since
hiring a staff attorney a year ago, CAIR
has received nearly one call a day
asking for this kind of assistance.
An extreme example is the impact
of and reaction to the January 2017
DISAVOWED ART
Deborah DeMott ’70 on
when and why artists
sever ties of authorship.
+ LISTEN
bit.ly/DeMott
SPECIAL DELIVERY
Through Birth,
a Companion
by Cameron French ’14
SWARTHMOREAN DOULAS, like Hana
Lehmann ’13 (left, with clients Meagan Ebersole
and Joy and Abigail Peterkin), are making a
social-justice difference in delivery.
They see their work as empowering, validating,
and nurturing—even in the face of critics who
worry that doulas may drive their own potentially
unsafe agendas.
Not so, according to the mother of the modern
doula movement, Penny Payson Simkin ’59. She
says doulas help women understand their options.
+
CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
9
IC ANNIVERSARY
Celebrating 25 years of community-building among
diverse groups, the Intercultural Center will continue
to grow via the Changing Lives, Changing the World
campaign gift given by James Hormel ’55, H’09 and
Michael Nguyen ’08. Stay tuned for more ways it will
create empowering connections, like this cozy moment
between IC interns Taty Hernández ’19 and Cindy
Lopez ’20 captured during Garnet Weekend 2017.
There was ample reason to rejoice at the Aug. 25 ribbon-cutting
of the Chester Charter School for the Arts’s new three-story,
90,000-square-foot building: The nonprofit K–12 public charter
school can now offer more than ever to its almost 600 students.
Swarthmorean ties run deep to CCSA, which was founded in
2012. The idea began with the work of John Alston H’15 and Maurice
Eldridge ’61 with support from Jeff Scheuer ’75, Jane Lang ’67, and
The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts.
The original CCSA building, located in Aston, was smaller, serving
only kindergartners through fifth-graders, who had to be bused in.
The new school building—complete with dance studios, science labs,
and a gym—now serves Chester children in their hometown.
Among the Swarthmoreans dedicated to the program’s success
are CCSA capital campaign leaders Barbara Klock ’86 and Salem
Shuchman ’84, as well as Joe ’73 and Lana Everett Turner ’74, who
donated in honor of friends Peter and Peggy Thompson, a professor
emeritus and a longtime Swarthmore staffer.
@TIBETBASKETBALL
LAURENCE KETSERSON
The New School
BELOVED
BENJAMIN
IS WAITING
+
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
MORE: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
WINTER 2018
‘Traveling’ Encouraged
by Cara Ehlenfeldt ’16
T
FRIENDS HISTORICAL LIBRARY
DWARF SAILOR, vegetarian
teetotaler, smasher of teacups:
The fiery Benjamin Lay
(1681–1759) was among the
very first activists to insist on
the complete, unconditional
emancipation of all enslaved
Africans.
Friends Historical Library has
a wealth of information on this
Quaker hero, including a new
biography by historian Marcus
Rediker and a spoon fragment
allegedly collected from Lay’s
Pennsylvania cave home.
“We can create really beautiful opportunities for people to understand themselves on a deeper level,” says Andrew
Greenblatt ’13, with hoops-loving monks in Tibet. If you’re interested in learning more, email him: lifeofgreeny@gmail.com.
O ANDREW
Greenblatt ’13,
basketball is more
than a sport he played
at Swarthmore—it’s
a social medium,
especially at an elevation of 10,500 feet
on the Tibetan Plateau.
“It’s so intimate,” the longtime
basketball lover says. “There are only
10 people on the court, and they don’t
wear a lot of gear—you can see their
facial expressions and body language.”
Greenblatt helps run the Tibetan
Hoop Exchange in partnership with
Norlha Basketball. This tournament
for Chinese and Tibetan teams brings
in foreign spectators to add to—and
gain from—the sporting experience.
Basketball has long been a favorite
sport of Tibetans, yet coaches and
formal training are hard to come by
on “the Roof of the World.” Seeing an
opportunity for cultures to connect,
the program’s founder partnered with
a Tibetan tourism company to create a
unique immersion program.
Norden Travel promotes the
tournament as an opportunity for
outsiders to consciously experience
local culture while supporting
Tibetan-owned-and-operated
businesses. Through the exchange,
Tibetans and visitors help each
other advance—whether that’s by
fostering athletic skills, financial
support, or newfound awareness.
“People get to look a culture in the
face, experience what it’s like to live
a certain way, and ask themselves
questions about how they identify
and how they’re moving through
the world,” says Greenblatt, “all in
the process of doing something like
basketball and sharing skills that are
in demand in this part of the world.”
Greenblatt invites anyone
interested in supporting local
culture and the love of basketball to
attend the next tournament in May.
“I become a better person by
spending time with the Tibetan
people and learning about their
culture,” he says. “I’m lucky they’re
willing to share that with me.”
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common good
Big Pictures
FACULTY NEWS
With the retirement of the esteemed
Peter Collings, Steve Maurer ’67, and
Michael Cothren, congratulations on
the following new appointments:
Picture a photo of Robert W. “Tiny”
Maxwell, Class of 1907: imposing in a
Swarthmore football uniform, bruised,
broken-nosed, and bloody after a
1905 game against the University of
Pennsylvania. Picture U.S. President
Teddy Roosevelt, shocked by that
photo, roaring an ultimatum: College
football must implement new safety
rules or he will abolish it.
That’s the story, anyway. It’s true
that after that game, Roosevelt began
conversations that culminated in the
formation of the NCAA. As for the
infamous photo, scholars have pretty
well debunked the legend. No one has
located this image, and we certainly
don’t have it in the Swarthmore
College Archives.
Thanks to a recent donation, we do now have several dozen photographs
of Maxwell: in a Shakespearean play, on the beach, wearing his uniform.
He attended Swarthmore from 1904 to 1906 but did not graduate. In 1906,
Maxwell played for one of the first pro football teams, Ohio’s Massillon Tigers.
He returned to the College in 1909 to serve as assistant football coach. Later,
he worked as a referee and sports editor before his fatal 1922 car accident.
The original photos came to us in a collection (bit.ly/FHLMaxwell)
assembled for a 1984 Sports Illustrated article (bit.ly/TinyMaxwell).
—CELIA CAUST-ELLENBOGEN ’09
Michael Brown is the Morris L.
Clothier Professor of Physics.
Lisa Meeden is the Neil R. Grabois
’57 Professor in the Natural
Sciences & Engineering.
William Turpin is the Scheuer
Family Chair of Humanities.
Deep Thinker
Making A.I. smarter through diversity
by Alexandra Sastre ’05
WHAT DO preventing deforestation in
the Amazon, creating wearable devices
for patients with Parkinson’s disease,
and collecting the largest archive of
Urdu texts have in common? Deep
learning—and data scientist Rachel
Thomas ’05 is helping pave the way.
“It’s such a high-impact field,” she
says. “There’s so much that’s possible.”
A subset of artificial intelligence,
deep learning allows tools like Google
Photos to organize huge libraries and
Skype Translate to work in real time.
When Thomas first developed
an interest in 2013, however, she
found the field extremely exclusive—
so much so that it led to the biases
of homogeneous Silicon Valley
developers being encoded in the tools
themselves. Last year, FaceApp’s “Hot”
filter was revealed to whiten people’s
skin and make their features appear
more Eurocentric, but other pervasive
biases aren’t always as visible.
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“Algorithms have been used to make
hiring, firing, and parole decisions,”
Thomas says. “It’s dangerous when
they’re biased and not auditable.”
Driven to make deep learning
accessible and inclusive, Thomas and
her partner, Jeremy Howard, launched
Fast.ai, a research lab working with the
Data Institute at the University of San
Francisco to train a new generation
of developers. Last year, Fast.ai also
established a diversity scholarship to
help members of underrepresented
communities learn the field.
As she’s gotten more people talking—
and coding—Thomas was named one
of Forbes’s “20 Incredible Women
Advancing A.I. Research.”
“Being able to get deep learning into
as many hands as possible will help
solve problems that people working
in tech may not even know about yet,”
she says. “That’s what really excites me
about Fast.ai’s mission.”
While Michael Nafziger ’18 was in
Barcelona on a preseason men’s
soccer team trip, white nationalist
demonstrators were descending on
Charlottesville, Va., to protest the
planned removal of Confederate
statues. It hit close to home—he’s
from nearby Crozet, and his parents,
brother, and grandfather were among
the local Quaker counterprotesters.
“It was disconcerting to hear
about it from afar,” he says about
the violence in August. “My family
was actually in the crowd that was
driven into about 20 minutes before it
happened.”
Nafziger, a peace and conflict
studies major, reflected on the event
when he led an All-Campus Collection
this fall and shared a poem entitled
“If Swarthmore Were Charlottesville”
written by Leslee Wagner, wife
of men’s head soccer coach Eric
Wagner.
“It said that Charlottesville could
have happened anywhere around the
country,” Nafziger says. “It was great
to share at the collection because
it brought home the reality of what
happened.”
—ROY GREIM ’14
+ QUESTIONS? TREASURES? archives@swarthmore.edu
GIVING THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP
DIERDRE KONAR
JASON ARTHURS
AT ONE WITH
CHARLOTTESVILLE
Caro Luhrs ’56 (with Katie Clark) was
the first female physician on the Georgetown
Medical School faculty. She also has driven a
D.C. Metro bus, takes ukulele lessons, and has
served as class secretary since graduation.
AS PART OF the Changing Lives,
Changing the World campaign,
Caro Luhrs ’56 made a bequest in
September to endow the Center for
Innovation and Leadership (CIL).
Her gift will ensure that future
generations have the tools, resources,
and mentorship they need to
enhance the common good through
entrepreneurship, leadership,
collaboration, and experimentation.
“We have to pay close attention
to women in leadership and lift up
examples for our students to see and
follow,” says Katie Clark, the CIL’s
founding director. “Caro has been
the first many times over in her life,
and we want to honor, uphold, and
celebrate her example.”
“I feel so happy to be able to make
this gift,” Luhrs says. “I hope it will
stimulate other people to give to
the campaign and respond to the
many adventures that a Swarthmore
education can lead to.”
—EMILY WEISGRAU
+
FULL STORY: bit.ly/LuhrsCIL
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common good
LEARNING CURVE
ONCE THERE WAS A QUEEN ...
Encouraging ‘happily ever after’ for all
With a 4–1 record, the team
had its best start through
five games since 2012.
CROSS COUNTRY
Xiaojing Zeng ’19 and Lilly
Price ’21 earned All-Mideast
Region honors at the NCAA
regional meet.
The men’s team placed
second at the White 8K
race at Lehigh’s Paul Short
Run.
Bridget Scott ’18, Sarah Wallace ’18, Alice Liu ’18, Malia Scott ’18, and Olivia Leventhal ’18.
V-Ball VIPs
by Roy Greim ’14
Trailing 5–1 is not ideal in the fifth set
of a volleyball match, which goes to 15.
That’s where Swarthmore’s team found
itself during the third round of the NCAA
Tournament—Garnet volleyball’s first-ever
appearance—with a spot in the national
quarterfinals on the line.
Their Sweet 16 appearance may have
been new, but their opponent was not;
lined up across the net was the 12thranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, who
had defeated the Garnet twice during the
season. Head coach Harleigh Chwastyk
called a timeout.
“One of our players who’s usually quiet,
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Lelosa Aimufua ’20, told us, ‘We are
better than this. We have so much more
to give,’” Sarah Girard ’19 recalled in the
post-match news conference. “Something
just clicked.”
That would be an understatement—
Swarthmore rattled off an 8–0 run to
alter the outlook of the match. Hopkins
briefly recovered after its own timeout but
ultimately fell to the Garnet’s game.
In delight, Swarthmore rushed the court
for a celebration dogpile in front of a
majority pro-College crowd.
The Garnet’s five seniors (above)
accepted the Regional Championship
trophy. It was their 97th career victory
in a Swarthmore uniform and the most
memorable in their College career.
After the tournament, Swarthmore
ranked 18th in the American Volleyball
Coaches Association poll, the program’s
first-ever national ranking.
On Nov. 5, backup goalie
Sommer Denison ’18 subbed in
for the penalty shootout against
Johns Hopkins for the Centennial
Conference Championship—and
secured the Garnet’s win and fourth
berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Accordingly, she was named Most
Outstanding Player.
by Gina Myers
TO THE TUNE OF “The Wheels on the Bus,” a roomful
of children sing along: “The hips on the drag queen go
swish swish swish / swish swish swish …”
It’s Drag Queen Story Hour at the Brooklyn Public
Library, led by Lil Miss Hot Mess, a.k.a. Harris
Kornstein ’06, serving creative, playful activism to teach
acceptance and diversity at an early age.
“I joke that, at heart, I’m an awkward teenage girl in a
talent show,” says Kornstein, whose performance ethos
combines campiness and sincerity.
Started in San Francisco by the literary nonprofit
RADAR Productions, Drag Queen Story Hour now
occurs at libraries, schools, and bookstores worldwide,
tapping into children’s imaginations while providing
positive, unapologetically queer role models.
Kornstein’s first foray into drag involved a Harry
Potter-themed show shortly after he graduated from
Swarthmore. He’s come a long way—even appearing as
a dancer with pop star Katy Perry on Saturday Night
Live. Currently, he balances Drag Queen Story Hour with
working on his dissertation at NYU.
His research on social media, surveillance, and big
data led to more specific questions on how these issues
affect the queer community—where policing has long
been a concern, from bar raids to forced outings. He’s
also interested in how drag provides a creative outlet to
resist surveillance.
Kornstein’s goal is to bring drag into the classroom at
a Swarthmore-like institution where he could work in a
hybrid mode of performance and theory. Starting with
story hour, though, has been fiercely rewarding.
“I have the kids repeat, ‘When I grow up, I want to be
a drag queen!’” he says. “I tell them to say that whenever
LAURENCE KETSERSON
FIELD HOCKEY
unsuspecting adults ask them what they want to be.
“It’s always a cute moment that plays on the unfounded
fears many people have about queers converting children—
and that’s exactly why I like it.”
“I spread happiness and queer subversion,
regardless of who these kids grow up to be.”
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common good
LIBERAL ARTS LIVES
ELSITA
KIEKEBUSCH ’07
BENJAMIN PLUER
“Butterflies are vulnerable,” says Elsita Kiekebusch ’07, seen here with the nonvenomous
Opheodrys aestivus, commonly known as the rough green snake. “They are very sensitive to their
environment, which makes them a good indicator group for climate-change effects.”
LIBERAL ARTS LIVES
WINGS AND THINGS
She’s conserving creatures great and small
by Kate Campbell
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Except for the venomous snakes, Elsita
Kiekebusch ’07 says her work in stifling
swamps is nearly perfect.
As a zoology Ph.D. student at North
Carolina State University, she studies
rare butterflies, tenderly raising them
from eggs to adults and measuring their
survival and developmental rates across
temperatures and seasons to link climate
change and the delicate butterfly.
“The body temperatures of insects
are determined by external heat,” says
Kiekebusch. “Increased temperatures due
to climate change are causing a variety of
impacts to their lives, including shifts in
how long it takes for them to develop and
alterations to the potential regions where
they can survive.”
It’s wondrous and rewarding
research—but also hot and dangerous.
“I love being outside,” she says. “But
since I work with endangered butterflies,
I can’t wear repellent and am exposed to
mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers.”
One of the rarest subjects of
Kiekebusch’s studies is St. Francis’ satyr,
a surprisingly plain brown butterfly
found only in North Carolina. Her role
in researching it led to the chance
discovery of a never-before-documented
phenomenon: a third annual generation
for this endangered species.
“We had thought they had only two,”
says Kiekebusch. “This might sound
like a small detail, but it’s actually a
predicted effect of climate change.
Increased temperatures lengthen the
growing season in temperate zones,
providing additional time for insects to
add generations.”
Because there were no observations
from previous years, the N.C. State team
continues to rule out other causes.
“This experience showed me there’s
still so much to learn about butterfly
biology,” she says, “and opened my eyes
to a new avenue of research questions to
consider.”
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Ecologist
“People are connecting with the Schuylkill in ways they hadn’t before,” says Bethany Wiggin ’94, who does fieldwork in a kayak.
REFLECTIONS
ON THE WATER
The river’s history and
promise are her muse
by Kate Campbell
THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER is talking.
Listening is Bethany Wiggin ’94,
who creates imaginative, collaborative
ways to teach its mysteries.
“It’s a living laboratory,” says
Wiggin, associate professor of
Germanic languages and literature and
founding director of the Penn Program
in the Environmental Humanities at
the University of Pennsylvania. Since
2014, she’s connected the public with
the river’s history, health, and ecology
through the arts and sciences.
Most commuters “commit a willful
act of forgetting this river belongs to
us,” she says, but it’s urgent to embrace
our role as environmental stewards
by discovering—and enjoying—the
Schuylkill’s tidal ecology.
When the Trump administration
shuttered the EPA’s climate-change
webpages last year, an alarmed Wiggin
rallied her colleagues and spearheaded
rescue sessions of climate and
environmental data, earning her
national media attention, including an
interview on The Daily Show.
By teaming with artists like Jacob
Rivkin, whose raft of native wetland
plants acts like a floating filter, Wiggin
is bringing new energy to her fight; last
fall, Penn was awarded a $1.5 million
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant
supporting Wiggin’s environmental
work and the Penn Program in the
Environmental Humanities.
“We’ll spark conversations about
how the lessons we’re learning in
Philadelphia about rising waters might
be of use to other communities in port
cities across the planet,” she says.
Of special interest, Wiggin adds, is
her all-liberal-arts-on-deck Floating
on Warmer Waters project, which
unites Bartram’s Garden, Penn
Libraries, and Drexel University to
investigate relationships between
people and nature on the river.
“We’ll be able to offer an on-water
intensive seminar,” she says, “with
topics from shipping history to
riparian ecology, oral histories, art
history, and digital design.”
BETHANY WIGGIN ’94
Schuylkill Sage
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17
STAYS
THE SAME
DOUG PLUMMER
WHAT
Since 1864, the College’s campus has continually changed, but one thing never will: its power
to spark the Swarthmore spirit. To honor this most vital and vibrant of spaces—past, present,
and future—we offer this joyful visual-valentine-picture-poem.
by Jonathan Riggs | photography by Laurence Kesterson and the College Archives
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Glade Garden
Crum canoe for two
Willets dreaming
Here comes the sun
Swarthmore has always been a dream that belongs to its dreamers. The
glory of nature; the art of contemplation; the quiet moments alone and
together: found, shared, treasured. There is wisdom in the calm; there is
truth in the eye of the storm. Every inch of campus has been the birthplace
of an idea, an emotion, a memory.
Joy ride
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First Collection
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21
1943 Navy dance
BCC legacy
Pages of spring
Parrish peekaboo
Anatomy of a science lab
Swarthmore has always been a living classroom that belongs to its learners.
Discoveries of all stripes—intellectual to emotional, world-changing to
whisper-quiet—abound at every hour and place. Compassion and curiosity;
exuberance and education. Every question, every connection is a rich
opportunity to bond, to build, to begin.
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Literary lounge
Matchbox strong
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Net worthy
Beach bonding
BEP building rendering
#thirsty
Sunset symphony
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ANGELINA ABITINO ’18
Swarthmore has always been an evolution that belongs to us all. Quakerborn, equality-driven, a work in progress. A beautiful idea—a beautiful
ideal—continuously informed, enhanced, and expanded by all who
experience it: our common thread, our College, our campus.
+
Breaking new ground
SEE HOW SWARTHMORE CONTINUES to create and reimagine vital campus spaces: lifechanging.swarthmore.edu/spaces
WINTER 2018
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UNIVERSAL
ATTRACTION
For stargazing Swarthmoreans, the thrilling exploration of new frontiers
by Kate Campbell
Pictured in a NASA photo, the Eagle Nebula is about 5.5 million years old.
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LAURENCE KESTERSON
STOWAWAYS TO OTHER WORLDS
In those discoveries, some of what we do find and haul back
to Earth—or unintentionally leave behind—poses a potential
threat to humanity … and beyond.
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 created a legal obligation
to avoid the harmful contamination of other worlds, says
Christopher Chyba ’82, H’03, professor of astrophysical
sciences and international affairs at Princeton University.
One danger, he says, is viable microorganisms hitching a ride
inside our robotic spacecraft.
“There is no question that many of these can survive years
freeze-dried in space,” says Chyba. “Were they to reach
another world with its own indigenous biosphere, there is a
small chance that our stowaways could then contaminate—
or even overwhelm—that alien biosphere.”
Taking caution adds cost and potentially slows the pace of
exploration, but he believes it’s worth it.
“I’ve always taken preventing forward-contamination
seriously,” says Chyba. “It’s the price of admission. It’s why
NASA sent the Cassini spacecraft into Saturn’s atmosphere
to burn up, to be sure that it could never inadvertently crashland on the moon Enceladus, which has an ocean of liquid
water—and possibly life.”
The search for extraterrestrial life has long fascinated
Chyba, although most of his research now is on nuclear and
biological weapons arms-control policy. While he was an
associate professor at Stanford University, he also held the
“We were always questioning,” says Nancy Grace Roman ’46, H’76, who showcases her Lego figure and Hubble model telescope at her D.C. home.
Read her essay on the meaning of Swarthmore: bulletin.swarthmore.edu.
NASA, ESA, M. ROBBERTO (SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/ESA) AND THE
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ORION TREASURY PROJECT TEAM
MAGINE SWIRLING your hands
through the heavens as if the cosmos
were water, sifting through the secrets
of space: luminous massive stars, red
dwarfs, dark matter, supernovas, and wondrous grains of
interstellar dust. Swarthmore’s scholars led, and are leading,
explorations that continue to change what we know about …
everything.
An ethereal formation erupting against a canvas of
glittering light, the Eagle Nebula photograph that hangs in
the home of Nancy Grace Roman ’46, H’76 is a reminder
she helped build a doorway to the universe. The image was
captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Roman, who once
studied the stars from Sproul Observatory, is lauded as the
“Mother of Hubble.”
As NASA’s first chief of astronomy in the Office of Space
Science, Roman was integral in bringing Hubble to life, then
to space.
Early in her career, many scientists scoffed at the idea:
“They didn’t think you could learn anything from a satellite
that you couldn’t learn from the ground.”
Her love of space began early. Roman’s father was a
scientist, her mother an amateur stargazer. By elementary
school, Roman had started her own astronomy club. When
she reached Swarthmore, she took courses by astronomy
professor Peter van de Kamp before going on to work at
Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago. There, she
knew she had discovered something important with her
study of low dispersion spectra of bright stars.
“I noticed that, compared to the strength of the hydrogen
lines, the strengths of the lines of other elements varied from
star to star,” says Roman.
When she divided the stars into two groups accordingly,
she detected that the stars with stronger lines moved around
the center of the Milky Way in circular orbits, similar to the
sun.
“The others tended to move in more elliptical orbits and
to stray farther from the plane of the galaxy,” she says. “This
was the first indication that common stars were not all the
same age. These other elements are made in stars and hence
increase in abundance as stars die.”
One of many of Swarthmore’s legendary space scientists
including astronomer Sarah Lippincott Zimmerman ’42,
M’50; astrophysicist Sandra Moore Faber ’66, H’86; and
professor of physics Janet Conrad ’85, Roman is so culturally
significant that Lego created a figure in her honor, part of a
Women of NASA collection that also includes Sally Ride ’72.
(Upon its release in November, the set rocketed to No. 1 as
Amazon’s best-selling toy and quickly sold out.)
After more than two decades of management at NASA—
and having an asteroid, 2516 Roman, named after her—she
continues to advocate for young women in the sciences and
stays on top of emerging research.
“There’s always an amount of wonder,” says Roman. “Dark
energy is a source of energy we don’t even fully understand.
We keep discovering things that people never expected to
find.”
Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the
SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., a private research
group devoted to the study of extraterrestrial life. There are
at least three ways to look for it.
“You could land on another world’s surface or fly through
its erupting geysers, and directly sample what’s there,” says
Chyba. “This is challenging for reasons of payload mass,
expense, and engineering, but also because the surface
environments are quite harsh.”
Another option would be surveying the atmospheric
makeup of planets orbiting other stars.
“We may find biosignatures to make a circumstantial
case for life on this or that world,” Chyba says, such as
finding molecular oxygen together with methane in the
atmosphere, just like on our planet. “We’re only beginning
these kinds of atmospheric observations for Earth-sized
exoplanets, and it’s going to get much better with new
telescopes.”
A third option is searching for signs of technology
detectable across interstellar distances, an avenue that
doesn’t require any assumptions about biochemistry, he
says, but does require the tremendous assumption of the
evolution of technical intelligence.
It will likely be a long search, but Chyba’s focused first
on detection within our own solar system,“where, if we are
lucky, we may find something like microbial life,” he says.
ROOT OF THE TREE OF LIFE
Among the 100 billion planets or more in the Milky Way,
many will be Earth-like with a similar chemical composition,
says Aaron Goldman ’03, assistant professor of biology at
Oberlin College. He hopes his work will give astronomers a
clearer view of whether life might exist there.
“Understanding how life emerged on Earth can give
us a better idea about where else and how often life has
originated in our solar system and galaxy,” says Goldman,
who developed LUCApedia, a framework for studying
the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) and its
predecessors. The database has changed the way research
is being done because, beforehand, there was no system of
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Beneath the ice cover of Enceladus is likely a global
ocean of liquid water, possibly with hydrothermal vents and
habitats for life, says Christopher Chyba ’82, H’03. Read the
speech he gave upon receipt of his honorary
degree: bit.ly/Chyba03
CARRIER OF THE WORD
Part of searching is knowing where to begin. Even though
it happened 13.8 billion years ago, John Mather ’68, H’94
desperately wants more people to know the truth about the
Big Bang.
“The name ‘Big Bang’ conjures up an image of a giant
firecracker,” he says, “which is the exact opposite of the way
the universe is behaving.”
Half the size of Jupiter, 51 Pegasi b was the first known exoplanet
when it was discovered in 1995. Jennifer Yee ’07 searches for planets by
looking for the effect of their gravity on the light of unrelated stars.
The JWST will launch in 2019.
“We’ll be looking at distant galaxies
merging together and being born from
the primordial material,” says John
Mather ’68, H’94. Read his essay on
Swarthmore: bit.ly/HumbleArrogance
30
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
NASA
/JPL
- CA
BENDING THE LIGHT
She watched the stars and wondered how the planets spun.
Space held an early fascination for astrophysicist Jennifer
Yee ’07, who nurtured her love of it with two fixed habits.
Her father regularly called her outside to look up at
streaking comets and brilliant meteor showers.
“And we also watched a lot of Star Trek together,” she says.
At the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Yee
searches for planets by microlensing, or looking for the effect
of their gravity on the light of distant, unrelated stars. With
her research team, she’s discovered more than 20 planets
and was awarded a Sagan Exoplanet Postdoctoral Fellowship
by NASA.
One of her most exhilarating discoveries happened on July
4, 2011. (A true Swarthmorean scholar, Yee had canceled
holiday plans because of a very promising microlensing
event.) As observations were recorded in Chile, Yee
downloaded and analyzed the images.
“I had expected that the star would be getting slowly
brighter as a function of time, but I actually saw that it was
rapidly getting fainter,” she says. “It was so exciting. That
MINING THE DUST STREAMS
Planets, all the rage in contemporary astronomy, came into
existence because tiny bits of dust stuck together and grew
into planetesimals. The story of that dust, which exists in the
space between the stars, turns out to hold mysteries.
Bruce Draine ’69, a Princeton professor of astrophysical
sciences, never expected that interstellar dust would become
his life’s work.
“When my new supervisor at Cornell assigned me to
work on it, I initially thought it seemed uninteresting,”
says Draine, who received his Ph.D. there in 1977. “But, in
retrospect, I’m very glad he did.”
Turns out, there are many ways to study interstellar dust.
“Faraway dust dims and reddens the light from distant
stars, and the starlight energy absorbed by the dust is
reradiated in the infrared,” says Draine.
Both the dimming of the starlight and the energy radiated
in the infrared can be studied using telescopes in space, or on
the ground.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
classification for the genomic content of ancient life.
Studying the features of an organism that existed around
3.5–4 billion years ago has presented many surprises.
“Even though this ancestor represents a very ancient form
of life, research shows that it was not a simple or primitive
one,” he says. “They were strikingly complex with a fully
operational genetic code,” including a cellular membrane
and many of the elaborate processes seen in organisms today.
Despite his interest in the potential for life beyond Earth,
Goldman knows it’s unlikely we will be able to visit these
planets any time soon.
“But in the near future, we may be able to examine the
chemistry of their atmospheres,” he says. “There are so
many more potentially habitable planets and moons in the
galaxy than in our solar system that I think this astronomical
approach is our best chance of finding extraterrestrial life.”
“This allows us to try to figure out what the dust must be
like, but it would be wonderful if we could get some actual
samples to study in the laboratory,” says Draine.
In 2006, NASA’s spacecraft Stardust brought back spacedebris samples for scientists to study firsthand.
“When the collection panel was exposed, it could also
collect interplanetary dust, or particles that came from
comets and collisions between asteroids,” he says. “Stardust
collected three particles they identified as interstellar, but
my own view on this is that those particles are unlikely to
have been so.”
There were four microcraters in the collection
panel’s frame with residues that could be analyzed
spectroscopically, Draine says—except the particles that
made the microcraters were destroyed in the impact.
“It’s not easy to capture interstellar grains!” he says. “Some
from the time of formation of the solar system ended up
trapped in material that arrives at the Earth as meteorites,
and these grains-inside-meteorites have interesting stories
to tell.”
These stories are significant at the cosmic level, but
they’re also important on a more personal level.
“To be human is to be curious,” says Draine. “The 20th
century was the first time that human beings figured out
how big and how old the universe is, and what it contains.
I feel fortunate to be alive in this era. It’s crucial that our
civilization keep its eyes open, and keep asking questions.”
Though he can’t say exactly what the next news will be,
Draine is sure of a stream of discoveries to come.
“The universe will continue to surprise us,” he says, “as
long as we keep looking.”
LTE
CH
GOLDMAN: TANYA ROSEN-JONES; YEE: IRENE YEEB
Pioneers: Aaron Goldman ’03 studies ancient life forms, while
Jennifer Yee ’07 is a planet hunter.
was the moment when I knew it was possible we would
detect a new planet.”
Yee and all the researchers were in luck when her team
showed there was indeed a planet, five times the mass of
Jupiter, orbiting a star similar to the sun, at a distance
similar to that of the Earth.
The biggest challenge of her research is that microlensing
is difficult to detect. Identifying an “event” is a one-in-amillion chance—the lens star has to be nearly perfectly
aligned with the background star in order to detect the
lensing effect, and timing is critical.
Yee is also working to understand how planetary systems
are constructed.
“Jupiter-sized planets can be found at all separations
orbiting other stars,” she says. “With transits, we’ve seen
systems with five or six Earth-to-Neptune-sized planets, in
which the outermost planet is only just beyond the orbit of
Mercury, but we have a limited knowledge of what kinds of
planets exist on wider orbits.
“Over the next decade, we can expect microlensing to tell
us what’s out there at Jupiter-like distances.”
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31
EARLY
STARGAZERS
A central task of early Greek
thinkers was to try to invent a
compelling, persuasive account
of the origins of the universe—
what we would call a cosmogony.
For the Greeks, the cosmos was
unquestionably a well-ordered,
elegant system. The great mystery
was how it came to be and why it is
the way it is.
The earliest speculations on the
origins of the cosmos consist of a
series of grand and often visionary
theories, usually incompatible with
one another. Anaximander argued
that everything was composed of
an infinite substance he called
apeiron (“boundless”), while
Thales, who correctly predicted an
eclipse in 585 BCE, believed that
moisture was the central element
in the birth and evolution of the
cosmos.
Pythagoras believed ratios
and numbers could explain
the intricacies of the cosmos;
Heraclitus thought an eternally
ignited and extinguished fire kept
the heavens and earth in place.
None of these great minds—you
can include Homer and Hesiod’s
mythological explanations, too—
would have accepted the proposal
that the universe was meaningless
or that it was too complex for a
human mind to grasp.
What I find so fascinating and
truly inspiring about early Greek
interest in the universe is its
heady combination of a dogged
commitment to the belief that the
universe is this perfectly beautiful,
divinely ordered thing, with the
belief that it can only be fully
understood by human observation
and fearless, theoretical
speculation.
—JEREMY LEFKOWITZ, associate
professor of classics
The Orion Nebula is 1,500 lightyears away. Hubble images show dust
and gas where stars are being formed.
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LAURENCE KESTERSON
He should know—Mather measured it and was awarded
the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the Cosmic
Background Explorer (COBE) satellite with George Smoot
of the University of California, Berkeley. In measuring the
pattern of radiation that came from the early universe, their
work has been so vital to the study of life and space that
astrophysicist Stephen Hawking described it as “the most
important scientific discovery of the century, if not of all
time.”
“We learned how to do it together,” says Mather. “We
measured the cosmic microwave background far better than
we had dared to hope.”
He did so by successfully bringing a difficult and
innovative satellite project to completion while working
with a NASA engineering team.
In addition, Mather’s groundbreaking research on the
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will give the world
views of the universe that could never have been imagined.
“Working with a different NASA engineering team
in partnership with the European and Canadian Space
Agencies, many aerospace contractors, and an international
science team, we are near to completing an even more
challenging telescope that will serve all astronomers
everywhere, and enable unimagined discoveries,” he says.
His true pleasure comes with each new discovery and the
knowledge shared.
“We began it with COBE, but now there’s ‘precision
cosmology’ and a standard model of the universe with
seven numbers to describe everything,” Mather says. “I
never guessed it would happen. I’m still astonished at the
“We’ve seen how easily diseases can spread globally through planes,” says Linda Vu ’19, “but how easily might a microbe hitchhike between planets
on spaceships and probes?”
Rare astronomical
drawings by Étienne
Trouvelot discovered in
Sproul Observatory just
before the 11,000-pound
telescope was dismantled in
July and transported to its
new home in an Arkansas
space education center.
+
WATCH
bit.ly/SproulTelescope
power of the idea, the word. None of us knew how to build
the COBE satellite when we proposed it; none of us knew
how to build the JWST when we proposed it, either. But the
objectives were inspiring, and brilliant engineers came from
everywhere to contribute. It’s not so personal as it might
seem, and I see my role as a carrier of the word.”
SKY THE COLOR OF WINE
Linda Vu ’19’s life took an exciting turn the moment she
started looking up.
“I have the keys to the telescope,” she says, patting her
pocket on a walk toward the Science Center.
Vu studies the stars at Swarthmore using state-of-theart equipment in the van de Kamp Observatory. The keyholding responsibility is daunting, but under the guidance
of astronomy professor David Cohen, Vu’s getting more
comfortable with it.
As a child in Washington, D.C., stargazing was limited—
light pollution hid the stars.
“Where I live,” she says, “the night sky is the color of red
wine.”
Vu had planned to be a writer, not a scientist. She didn’t
start wondering about space until high school, where teachers
made biology beautiful and astrobiology even more so.
“This idea of life on other worlds is really cool,” she says,
having grown to love astronomy so much that, in her spare
time, she analyzes data on exoplanets.
“When I first met Linda,” says Cohen, “she wanted to
know about an astrobiology course at Swarthmore, which
we don’t have—yet. I offered her a position on our exoplanet
research team. Since then, she has been a careful and skilled
researcher and leader.”
Working at the van de Kamp Observatory, Vu—a biology
major with a minor in astronomy—finds open-house nights
especially rewarding. After all, explaining basic astronomy
to the public who come to view the night sky through the
powerful 24-inch telescope is important.
“What’s the point of scientists doing all this great research
if not everyone understands what’s going on?” asks Vu, who
hopes to pursue an astrobiology Ph.D. “If people walk away
with a deeper love for space at the end of the night, then it
was worth it.”
And it is—for Swarthmore’s space scholars, sharing
knowledge they seize from the currents of at least 100 billion
roiling galaxies is as thrilling as the first gasp of delight in
finding it.
+ MORE ON SWARTHMOREAN EXPLORERS: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
33
Home
is ...
... a symbol of urban renewal
BILL KING ’13
Baltimore
A place of comfort, of creativity,
of closeness with friends and family:
Home is unique to each of us
“10 Light is a modern space, but its designers carefully
saved countless elements of the historic structure
underneath,” says Bill King ’13. “This kind of development is a
more sustainable model, more respectful of that which came
before us. Projects like this have the capacity to renew aging
urban landscapes across the country.”
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
LAURENCE KESTERSON
by Elizabeth Slocum
“10 LIGHT STREET is widely celebrated as one of the most beautiful
Art Deco-style office buildings in the U.S.,” says King, a lawyer focused
on urban planning and land use, “but it’s always faced great difficulty
attracting tenants, especially as downtown Baltimore suffered severe
population loss from the 1970s through 2000.”
Captivated by plans to reinvent the 34-story, circa-1929 building, King
signed on as one of its first residents in 2015 and co-founded the City
Center Residents Association, a grassroots group representing Baltimore’s
fastest growing census tract—and one of its most diverse.
“My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents all lived their lives
in Baltimore,” says King. “As I now work in Baltimore, live in Baltimore,
and walk the streets of Baltimore—often tracing the same paths they have
walked—I am struck by the importance of taking care of this place that we
have all shared.”
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
35
... open to those in need
“DOROTHY DAY, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement,
said: ‘I wanted the abundant life. I wanted it for others, too,’” says
Brown, who with husband Steve established Casa Alma, a Catholic
Worker community that embraces homeless and low-income families.
“Living at Casa Alma, I can explore what ‘the abundant life’ entails.”
For Brown, it means a modest life, lived in communion with people
on the margins. Casa Alma comprises three homes—two houses of
hospitality for formerly homeless residents, and a community house
where the Browns live with their three children—on a shared urban
homestead featuring gardens, a mini-orchard, chickens, dairy goats,
and honeybees.
“The values that were meaningful to me at Swarthmore,” says
Brown, “are the same ones we try to express at Casa Alma: a deep
commitment to social responsibility, the thoughtful examination of
problems and creative responses, celebrating nonconformity, and
valuing each person’s perspective and lived experience.”
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
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DAVID HUCKABY
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURA SNYDER BROWN ’95
Charlottesville, Va.
“Because Arvie suffers from PTSD and chronic migraines, he decided to let go of the ‘haveto’s’ and resign from his job,” says Bunny Sedmont Bennett ’95. “Our household expenses are
minimal, so he can develop his gifts of writing and painting, as well as practicing his guitar.”
“All the guests are people who bear the brunt of injustice:
convicted felons, refugees, immigrants without legal status,
people who have experienced trauma or generational
poverty,” says Laura Snyder Brown ’95. “Each one has gifts
and strengths, and I’m grateful to know them.”
“AFTER MANY YEARS of touring with his
band, my husband, Arvie, and I decided to
move near Nashville to further his musical
career,” says Bennett, a social worker,
author, and songwriter. “We gave away
nearly all of our possessions and chose a
lifestyle of simplicity.”
Their 400-square-foot cabin—on a
dirt road near a little lake in the woods—
features a composting toilet, water from
a community well, and no oven. (They
rely on a grill and Crockpot instead.) The
beautiful setting of pastures and hills
sparks Bennett’s creativity and offers
peace of mind.
“My lifestyle enables me to do what
brings me joy,” she says, “without the
burden of a mortgage.”
... a tiny, inspirational retreat
PHYLLIS “BUNNY” SEDMONT BENNETT ’95
Centerville, Tenn.
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
37
... completely off the grid
“Just before Thanksgiving several years ago, a massive grizzly bear killed and cached an elk
in front of my home, staying there for about a week before denning for the winter,” says Molly
Raney Shepherd ’64. “After a rather fraught initial encounter, we coexisted. When the bear
finally departed, eagles and ravens swept in to clean up what remained and to celebrate their
own Thanksgiving in a place that is still wild.”
“I HAVE ALWAYS been drawn to wild places,” says Shepherd, a retired lawyer in
northwestern Montana. “Within days of my move to Missoula in 1975, I visited friends
on the North Fork of the Flathead River. The majesty of the mountains, the richness of
the forests, and the abundance of wildlife enchanted me.”
A decade later, Shepherd purchased 80 acres in the river valley between Glacier
National Park and the Whitefish Range, 50 miles from the nearest grocery store.
A one-room cabin served as a seasonal getaway until 2003, when Shepherd built
“Ararat,” her dream abode, in collaboration with an architect, a structural engineer, and
an “off-the-grid guru.” The firewise structure features solar panels, a diesel generator,
and propane- and wood-supplied heat.
“I love that my home is bold and unexpected,” says Shepherd, “but also warm,
welcoming, and functional in what can be an unforgiving environment.”
38
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
LOUIS FOX
MOLLY RANEY SHEPHERD ’64
North Fork, Mont.
“I didn’t want to just build at the end of dirt roads,” says Massey Burke ’00, who
studied natural building in a remote part of Northern California. “I wanted to explore
what those techniques had to offer—ecological restoration wrapped up in construction.”
Listen to a lecture: bit.ly/MudManifesto
“THE RELATIONSHIP TO making things is a
funny one in our culture,” says Burke, an artist
in the natural-building movement. “Being able to
create the life and the world that’s around you
is a deep human need, but because everything
is so mechanized, that part of being human has
been pushed into craft or specialties, where
someone else will do it for you.”
Using clay, sand, plant fibers, and other
natural materials collected at construction
sites, Burke builds modern homesteads from
the literal ground up. In an alternate use of
the ecological technique, Burke retrofitted her
small, funky 1940s bungalow in the East Bay,
replacing deteriorating stucco and drywall with
light straw-clay—a centuries-old process seen
in old German storybook buildings.
“Building with clay is this universal language,”
she says. “We don’t realize it here, but twothirds of the world population still lives in
earthen housing. This is a return to what our
ancestors did, but it’s also a reinvention of it.”
... an ecological work of art
MASSEY BURKE ’00
El Sobrante, Calif.
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
39
H
AVE YOU EVER
lingered in your car,
just to catch the end
of a radio story? It’s a
medium that speaks
to us—literally.
With an immediacy and intimacy
unlike print, television, or video, radio
conveys the sounds of a scene and the
emotions and nuance of the human
voice in all its colors ... while our minds
fill in the blanks.
Since NPR first launched in the
1970s, Swatties have been drawn to
public radio and helped shape it into
what it is today.
It makes sense: After all, radio has
the power to surprise, spark empathy,
and move us all a little further toward
the common good.
ON THE
RADIO
Telling stories and
changing the world
... over the airwaves
Hansi Lo Wang ’09 works out of NPR’s
bureau in New York City. “What I love about
radio is that it can strip away all of the
distractions and focus on one person’s voice,”
he says. “We need to really listen to each other
now more than ever.”
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
BRIAN MCCABE
by Laura Markowitz ’85
IN 2004, Swarthmore launched an
extracurricular radio program called
War News Radio, the brainchild of
60 Minutes producer David Gelber
’63, H’17. Frustrated by the lack of
coverage given to the Iraq War, Gelber
thought Swarthmore students could do
better. Supported by the Lang Center
for Civic and Social Responsibility,
WNR continues its coverage, focusing
on the conflicts in Libya, Iraq,
Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
Grateful for her WNR experience,
Jess Engebretson ’09 went on to spend
a year as a Watson Fellow exploring
radio and reconciliation in Rwanda,
Indonesia, and Liberia: three countries
with histories of violent conflict
instigated or exacerbated by radio.
Back home, she became a producer for
Backstory, a national radio program
focused on American history, and then
took a job with a nongovernmental
organization to teach audio
storytelling to displaced residents in
South Sudan.
“These ‘camps’ of displaced persons
were more like small towns of 20,000
to 40,000 people,” says Engebretson.
“With no newspapers or radio, and
a largely illiterate population, audio
programs functioned as a major news
and entertainment source.”
Disseminating a twice-weekly,
30-minute show in multiple
languages—including audio dramas
that reflected issues experienced
by people living in the camp—
Engebretson came away from her
Sudanese experience with a new
respect for how audio storytelling can
create community “in a way akin to
literature.”
Today a doctoral student in English
literature at Columbia and a podcast
producer for the long-form series
Life of the Law, she’s launching a new
podcast to “bridge the divide between
academic research and popular
conversations that are going on around
people’s dinner tables.”
HANSI LO WANG ’09 says he majored
in WNR more than political science.
“It wasn’t just professional
development for me, but a culmination
of my values of being an engaged
citizen,” he remembers. “After talking
about war theoretically and reading
about it, I was interviewing people in
Iraq.”
During one such interview, he
heard gunshots—“and the reality of it
grabbed me through the phone line.”
A year out of Swarthmore, Wang
won an NPR Kroc Fellowship. He
worked his way up from web producer
to production assistant on All Things
Considered, went on to Weekend
Edition and Code Switch, and now is a
correspondent on the National Desk,
based in New York.
Wang credits Ken Sharpe, the
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of
Political Science, with teaching him
some of the most important skills he
uses every day.
“Ken’s constant poking and prodding
with questions—I try to do this when
I tackle a story,” he says. “What are
all the different sides? What does the
world look like from another person’s
perspective?”
In the end, radio journalism appealed
to Wang because he could be engaged
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
41
CARLOS BARRIA
42
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
“A class I took on Irish contemporary poetry with Nathalie Anderson got us to look at how
people use language to deal with histories of atrocity or sustained violence,” remembers Jess
Engebretson ’09, pictured working in Liberia. “It raised ethical questions about how to represent
those experiences. I still think about those questions when I’m interviewing someone for radio.”
WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C. The
nationally syndicated show launched
in response to hate crimes against
religious minorities after 9/11 and
then broadened—it’s the country’s only
public radio show exclusively focused
on religion and an opportunity to spark
thoughtful discussion.
“I like to think about how radio
waves can go through walls,” Holtzman
says. “It’s the best medium for reaching
people who might otherwise not have
access to these stories.”
“I HAVE NO training in business or
economics,” says Mitchell Hartman
’85, senior reporter for American
Public Media’s business news program
Marketplace and a Swarthmore
comparative religion graduate, “so
I can come at stories with the naïve
questions my listener will probably
also have, like ‘What’s the bond
market, and should we be worried
about it?’”
His first job in journalism started
senior year, when he worked at the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The end of the summer of ’85, all of
the unions struck against [the paper’s
owner] Knight Ridder,” remembers
Hartman. He got his first clip in the
strike newspaper, “but I decided all the
journalists were miserable so I would
never be one.”
After working at a human rights
organization run by lawyers—they
were even more miserable, he says—
he returned to journalism. He earned
a master’s from Columbia and
freelanced in Europe and the Middle
East before landing on his current
show in 1994 in Los Angeles, where
he had followed his partner, Lisa
Silverman ’84, for her teaching job at
the University of Southern California.
“Then just 5 years old, Marketplace
was the scrappy upstart trying to
muscle in on NPR’s schedule on the
clock,” remembers Hartman. “I worked
the graveyard shift for three years
at baby-sitter wages. There weren’t
enough people, so if you wanted to do
something, you could. I was on the air,
reporting all the time.”
Today, he’s based in Portland, Ore.,
where he covers employment, labor,
and the workplace.
“I used to write long Swarthmorean interview
questions,” says Abby Holtzman ’16, top left. “Now I feel
like good radio is just getting out of the way.”
“Hearing someone’s voice helps us feel a
connection,” says Andrea Hsu ’95, left.
ELISSA NADWORNY
“RADIO GIVES VOICE to the
underrepresented,” says Abby
Holtzman ’16. “Rather than having
others narrate their lives for them,
people can narrate their own, and I
want to bring out these voices as much
as possible.”
During her first year at Swarthmore,
Holtzman hosted a show on WSRN
called Students, Stories and Songs,
where she interviewed freshmen about
what they missed about their homes.
“I bribed people to let me interview
them by offering to buy them samosas
at the Kohlberg Coffee Bar,” she laughs.
Touched by the humor and heart
in these intimate confessions of
homesickness, Holtzman took an
oral history class with Diego Armus.
“It woke me up to the power within
interview dynamics,” she says. “I
learned about listening to silence.”
After becoming editor-in-chief of
The Daily Gazette her sophomore
year, Holtzman realized she wanted
to be a journalist, so she attended
the Salt Institute for Documentary
Studies. There, she learned the
basics of radio reporting: how to
structure an audio story, how to hold
a microphone correctly, and how to
think of storytelling in terms of sound.
After graduation, she completed a
service learning year as an associate
producer for Interfaith Voices, based at
AARON LEAF
with current events and participate
“at a level that isn’t activism, but is just
as important: informing the public.”
“Our work is cool,” laughs Mitchell Hartman ’85,
above. “It’s always a kick when my mother says, ‘Mrs.
Reider heard you on the radio!’”
“Swarthmore gave me the sense that
there’s a moral compulsion to work in
the world and tell people’s stories and
explain what their struggles are and
where they’re coming from, and what
the oppression is that hurts us and
holds us down,” he says. “Radio gives
me that opportunity, and that’s what
compels me.”
A SENIOR PRODUCER for NPR’s All
Things Considered, Andrea Hsu ’95
finds that crafting sound is the part of
radio she likes best.
“The human voice touches people in
a way that words on paper can’t,” she
says.
An art and Chinese major, she had
no idea what she wanted to do for a
career, so after Swarthmore she signed
on with a public relations firm in
Beijing.
“I met a lot of journalists, and I
thought, That looks like fun,” she
remembers. “So I quit and got a job
with the BBC as a local researcher.”
Her small team came up with story
ideas and covered major events such
as President Bill Clinton’s 10-day visit
to China in 1998. Although she loved
the creativity and space to shape and
broadcast a story, she also learned
about the limits to press freedom in
China. Unhappy with some of the
BBC’s coverage of Tibet, the Chinese
government revoked her visa.
After relocating to London to work
on BBC Radio’s East Asia Today,
Hsu went on to earn a master’s at
Stanford and land her NPR gig, but
she still draws inspiration from her
Swarthmore years, especially two
summers she spent in Chester.
“Eight of us rented a house and,
with money from the College, we ran
a summer camp for kids, doing art,
theater, and outdoor activities with
them,” says Hsu. “It was a chance
to live in the community and try to
understand the context of people’s
lives. Now, when we go out to do a story
for NPR, I build in time to get that
same context—it makes a difference.”
LULU MILLER ’05 fell in love with
radio her first year out of Swarthmore.
The history major and daughter
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43
+
HEAR pieces by profilees and read an
interview with Gene Sonn ’95, audio news
director at WHYY: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
+
LISTEN to Laura Markowitz ’85’s radio
work: bit.ly/RadioLM
44
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
KRISTEN FINN
of a Quaker matchbox couple was
living with three other Swatties in
a basement apartment in Queens,
trying to write fiction, and working in
a woodshop where public radio played
all day. After hearing RadioLab, a
weekly public radio show and podcast
that weaves stories and science into
sound- and music-rich documentaries,
she wrote the producers “an inquiry/
fan letter/love letter.” They hired her
and she eventually became a founding
producer.
Although she’d had no previous
training in radio journalism, doing
improv at Swarthmore with the group
Vertigo-go gave Miller a surprisingly
good foundation.
“Going into an interview is like going
into an improv scene,” she explains. “If
you get out of your head, you’re OK.”
She also played Swarthmore rugby,
where she learned about team-building
and trust.
“It’s such a big part of interviewing,”
she adds. “You have to stay alert and
present, but play is also crucial: Right
in the middle of heavy stuff, maybe you
use goofiness and irreverence to sneak
in these deeper ideas.”
After five years at RadioLab, Miller
left to earn an MFA in fiction from the
University of Virginia. She returned
to radio to co-create and co-host the
popular NPR podcast Invisibilia,
about the ideas, beliefs, assumptions,
and emotions that control human
behavior. Its first season made history
when it hit 50 million downloads and
was placed on more than 400 public
radio stations. (Miller took a break for
much of Season 3 to write a book, due
out this year, but is eager to return to
radio.)
“I am interested in people who have
a harder time getting their story told,”
she says. “People are sitting on these
magnificent tales and experiences, and
we are in the position of privilege to be
the ones to craft the narrative.”
“Tim Burke’s history classes helped me discover a deep (even rabid?) love of primarysource research. It was under his instruction that I fostered a love of doubting the ‘experts’
and turning instead to the people on the ground to tell a story,” Lulu Miller ’05 says. “The
process of interviewing and editing tape is not unlike the joyously grueling task of primarysource research: combing through hours of tape in search of the rare gems—emotion, humor,
surprising scene details—that deepen a story.”
class notes
A TREASURY OF ALUMNI-RELATED ITEMS
ALUMNI
EVENTS
LAURENCE KESTERSON
BECOME A FRANK 5 FELLOW
The Aydelotte Foundation is
looking for alumni under 30
who are passionate about their
work and value their liberal
arts education. Applications
open Jan. 16.
swarthmore.edu/
aydelotte-foundation
ALUMNI WEEKEND
June 1–3
Start planning your trip to
campus now to join classmates
and friends for the Parade of
Classes, Alumni Collection, and
so much more!
alumniweekend.swarthmore.
edu
The College community came together Dec. 1 for Living the Liberal Arts: A Celebration of Eugene Lang ’38, H’81.
Among the attendees were (from left) Lucy Lang ’03, Jose Claros, Rob Miraglia (back), Ben Wiles ’03, Veronica
Herrera ’03, BoHee Yoon ’01, and Shreena Gandhi ’01.
CHANGING LIVES,
CHANGING THE WORLD
Celebrate Swarthmore as we
launch our comprehensive
campaign in Chicago, Miami,
and Atlanta this spring. Details
coming soon!
lifechanging.swarthmore.edu/
events
Libby Murch Livingston
lizliv33@gmail.com
1941
I enjoyed a delightful get-together
of old and new Swarthmore friends
this summer on Damariscotta Lake
near Jefferson, Maine. I wish that
the late Margaret Chase Judd ’39
and my Bill ’39 could have been
with us.
Daughter Elinor and I drove
up to the Judds’ summer place,
where we had often brought our
family. We, with our five children,
had camped many a time with the
Judds and their five children years
ago throughout the West. When
we arrived in New Britain, Conn.,
in 1945 for Bill to start surgical
training at New Britain General,
Margaret called that very day
to welcome us. We became fast
friends. Now, I enjoy Margaret’s
daughter Becky, who lives near me.
We often lunch together.
Those in the Philadelphia area
would not think of this as a big
deal, but up in the wilds of Maine,
one finds few gatherings of
Swarthmoreans. Here were three
class secretaries: Diana Judd
Stevens ’63, her daughter Kathy
Stevens ’89, and moi (pg. 75).
With Diana’s husband, Paul ’65,
also at the gathering, we could
“Hail, all hail” with great cheer.
I am sorry to report the July 4
death of Isabel Durkee Warner,
who had been living at Crosslands
Retirement Community in Kennett
Square, Pa. After Swarthmore,
Isabel worked for the predecessor
of the CIA, first in London, then
in Washington. She married Miles
Warner in 1948, and they had three
children before divorcing. She
earned a master’s degree in library
sciences at Villanova and worked
many years as a high school
librarian in the Penn-Delco School
District. Isabel was an excellent
cook, an expert knitter, a serious
gardener, and a widespread
traveler. She is survived by
children Bob, Sallie, and Thomas,
and three grandchildren.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
45
class notes
1942
An avid photographer who piloted
his own small plane, he was
predeceased by a daughter and is
survived by wife Mary, a son, and
two grandchildren.
Mary Weintraub Delbanco
delbanco660@gmail.com
Lucy Selligman Schneider reports a
quiet life except for the opportunity
to view the eclipse from the roof of
her 12-story apartment building.
Lucy Rickman Baruch “discovered
that 96 is not too old to make jam!”
after a summer weekend with
family, picking then preserving
plums at their country cottage. She
and Bernard “are getting used to
the care home” and find visits of
three great-grandchildren a tonic.
My home, Roland Park Place
in Baltimore, continues major
renovations. A summer highlight
was the visit of grandchildren Ben
and Yvonne with their partners.
Daughter Janet Felsten and I spent
a pleasant afternoon with Gwynn
Russler, daughter of Jacqueline
Quadow Russler, who died in
December 2015. Jacqui had four
daughters and two grandsons who
survive her.
Elizabeth Letts Metcalf died June
23 in her Florida home after a long
illness. Betty had a distinguished
psychology career and leadership
roles in public service. She won
elections three times to the Florida
House of Representatives. Betty
was married for more than 50
years to the late George Metcalf.
They are survived by daughter
Christine Metcalf Ng ’83,
son-in-law Stephen Ng ’82, and
granddaughter Jennifer.
William Faison Jr., who graduated
from N.C. State with a mechanical
engineering degree, died Aug. 23.
He served in World War II, then
was a safety supervisor at U.S.
Steel South Works for 34 years.
FOLLOW US!
Facebook and Instagram:
@SwarthmoreBulletin
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46
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
1943
Betty Glenn Webber
bettywebber22@yahoo.com
616-245-2687
See that info above? Send me a
few words on your life and times.
Your news may not be of headline
caliber, but we’d be happy to have
“Page 2 or 3” updates. Act now!
Barbara and Jack Dugan “glory in
the closeness (togetherness, not
geographic) of our three children,
six grandchildren, and four greatgrands—scattered but in constant
contact.” Jack keeps up with
campus news through Barbara
Sieck Taylor ’75—daughter of
William ’47 and Barbara Tipping
Sieck ’50—who worked for
him when he ran the Greenwall
Foundation. Jack has had vision
problems and has added brokenhip complications, but he hopes to
be around for our 75th Reunion.
In contradiction of my claim that
we no longer generate headlines,
DeWitt “Bud” Baldwin still works
full time at the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical
Education in Chicago, frequently
travels abroad and in the U.S.,
and enjoys working with student
interns and other mentees.
His “impaired mobility” doesn’t
incapacitate him; “retirement
has to wait,” he says. He and
Michele “plan to celebrate our
60th anniversary in the historic
Périgord-Dordogne area of France,
known for food, wine, architectural
beauty, and the Lascaux caves.
It is the region where Michele’s
family hid from the Germans in
World War II. We are sharing the
memories with our children.” Bud’s
retirement philosophy rings a
bell with me as I watch our kids’
generation picking dates to hang
it up; do they know what they are
going to do for the next 30 years?
Mary Stewart Trageser sends a
“best to all” message and delights
in welcoming her first great-grand.
The little one lives in San Diego,
a bit far for day-to-day contact.
She’s pleased that “Stewart” is
part of his name. Mary works
to keep her 1815 church history
sorted out. She’s active, too, in a
couple of book groups.
The complex where I, Betty,
live cannot sustain a book club,
unfortunately, but I read a lot.
I can’t help sharing a bit about
a delightedly sophisticated
historical novel by Amor Towles. A
Gentleman in Moscow portrays the
life of Count Rostov, sentenced by
the Bolsheviks as an “unrepentant
aristocrat” to lifelong house arrest
in Moscow’s great Metropole
Hotel. The depiction of the
following decades is done with
gentle irony and humor, quietly
effective in skewering officious
bureaucracy. The characters are
vibrant and the pages littered with
understated turns of phrase.
Please be in touch, right now
while you’re in Class Notes mode.
1944
Esther Ridpath Delaplaine
edelaplaine1@verizon.net
Sadly, I share the December
2016 passing of Katherine “Kay”
Flint Shadek at home in Spring
Lake, N.J. She received a degree
from Barnard College and was
a graduate of Columbia Law
School, where she met husband
Arthur. As a teenager, Kay traveled
extensively with her parents.
They had invested in IBM stock,
which resulted in a portfolio
that she managed for more than
60 years. She and Arthur were
benefactors of Franklin & Marshall
College, Columbia University,
Barnard College, and Stevens
Institute of Technology. She was
a voracious reader, well-informed
on European and U.S. history,
and a strict grammarian. She is
survived by children Laurence,
Thomas, James, and Katherine;
10 grandchildren; and two greatgrandchildren.
Eugene Lindstrom died peacefully
July 14 at Foxdale Village in State
College, Pa. Wife Eleanor had
died in 2011, and a son, Jon, also
predeceased him. He is survived
by children Karen, Mark, and
Scott; four grandchildren; and
three great-granddaughters. He
attended Swarthmore and Iowa
State before receiving a Ph.D. from
the University of Wisconsin. He
was a corporal in the 8th Army Air
Corps in World War II serving in
Ireland, France, and Germany.
Gene taught at Penn State, rising
from professor to associate dean
of the College of Science to head
of the biology department. He
retired in 1988. In retirement he
was an amateur radio operator, a
driver for Meals on Wheels, and
a member of the borough’s Shade
Tree Commission. He was an active
member and on the Vestry of St.
Andrew’s Church.
My own news is the arrival of my
first great-grandchild, Sebastian
Robert Delaplaine, on Aug. 30.
Granddaughter Emily and her
husband returned from their six
months of travel in the Far East,
and step-grand Devra is traveling
for two months in South America
before joining a Seattle law firm.
Please send me your news.
1949
Marjorie Merwin Daggett
mmdaggett@verizon.net
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie visited
Barbara “Bobbe” Lea Couphos
in June in New Milford, Conn.
Bobbe is happily settled there with
daughter Carol and son-in-law
Steve. Maralyn and husband
George enjoyed a steam-railroad
1945, 1946, and 1948 are in need of class secretaries.
Interested? Email eslocum1@swarthmore.edu.
site nearby before going on to
Maine for two weeks.
Richard Kirschner still plays
tennis, though only “a bit.” He and
wife Mary live on the banks of
the Rio Grande in Albuquerque,
N.M., where he does sculpture and
wisely advises the world on public
policy. Visits from classmates are
invited.
Condolences to the family
of Morton Kimball, who died in
September. Mort also graduated
from Cornell, then worked for
Hilton Hotels and a propertymanagement company in D.C.
and Miami. At one point he was
NYU’s director of student affairs.
Retirement in 1989 took him to
Seneca Lake and to the Highlands
in Pittsford, N.Y. He was an active
volunteer and lifelong opera lover.
His extensive collection of Met
Opera broadcasts are now at
Nazareth College.
A returned email led to the
sad news that Barbara “Barri”
Aeschliman died in August
2015. Barri was born in China
and graduated from Temple
Medical School. She was a
retired psychiatrist who lived and
practiced on Cape Cod. Barri and
I had lived in the same section of
Worth senior year. I had a short
but happy mini-reunion with her
in the late 1980s on a soccer
field in Lexington, Mass., where
her daughters’ Cambridge team
was playing one from Lexington.
Condolences to said daughters,
Melanie and Johanna.
How about some news from those
without emails listed with the
College?
1950
Jan Dunn MacKenzie
mjanmack@comcast.net
Robert Paton died July 2. He
received an M.A. in literature from
Middlebury College and was an
actor, educator, and author, writing
Not Just Test Scores. He was
also the founder and owner of the
Theatre of Dreams in Manhattan.
Wife April and sons Craig and
Trevor survive him.
Margaret “Margy” Hench
Underwood died June 26. She
was a fierce field hockey and
tennis competitor, and also an avid
music and art lover. She has two
surviving daughters.
Stephen Sickle died July 17.
Preceded in death by wife Susan
and grandson Eric, he was
the cherished father of Linda,
Judy, and Debbie, and adored
grandfather of five.
Hope Sieck Gilliams, widow of
Howard “Suds” Gilliams ’49, lives
in her family home in Potomac,
Md., with some help from her son
and grandson. Her late brother, Bill
Sieck ’47, was married to Barbara
“Tippie” Tipping Sieck, who lives
at the Broadmead continuingcare retirement community in
Cockeysville, Md. Tippie spent
many years in the Woman’s Club
of Roland Park, Md. Her family
reports she has had a full life.
Nick ’53 and Lucy Handwerk
Cusano live in West Chester, Pa.,
and are looking to downsize.
Joan Litchard Wyon lives in a
retirement center near Dedham,
Mass., where her younger
daughter and family live. “I am on
a walker after a lifetime of being
athletic, but still have the mind that
college challenged and cultivated.”
Rudy Hirsch and wife Blanche
have lived on Capitol Hill for
35 years. “From here, we have
traveled to most corners of the
world, but have always been
happy to return,” Rudy writes.
“Washington is a delightful city,
with interesting people, endless
museums, concerts, and unique
architecture. In 1957, I went to work
for IBM and remained a full-time
computernik until a few years ago.
That gave me a ringside seat for
watching the arrival of information
technology and the changes it is
still making on our lives.”
I, Jan, have lived in Denver for
60 years and have kept up College
ties. Two children, Kathleen
MacKenzie ’78 and Ian MacKenzie
’80, also attended. I stay occupied
volunteering at the Botanic
Gardens and advocating for peace
in the Middle East. As a retired
teacher, I try to keep up with
school issues such as the effects
of charter schools. I hope you will
do a better job sending notes than
I have the past many years.
1951
Elisabeth “Liesje”
Boessenkool Ketchel
eketchel@netscape.com
I contacted many new classmates,
thanks to an updated class list.
Wonderful to hear from all who
wrote in. Next time, I will try
to contact those without email
addresses in hopes that we can
gather more contributions.
First, good news about our class,
from Lew Rivlin: “I learned that
there are 105 of us approximately
87-year-olds from Swarthmore
1951 still alive and occasionally
kicking.”
And a response from Ralph Lee
Smith: “We appear to be pretty
hardy! I’ll be 90 on Nov. 6. Are
there other World War II vets
among the kickers? I went in at 17
in 1945 and caught the tail end. It
would be nice if more classmates
sent in class notes!”
Suzanne Reymond Frederickson
is “alive and kicking despite having
been evacuated for two weeks due
to the Elephant Hill wildfire. I am
home but still have a good deal of
smoke—hoping for heavy rain!”
Paul Shoup and wife Marija “are
in Europe, heading home in a week
or two. This will probably be the
end of our annual trips to Belgrade
(Marija’s home) and Switzerland.
All the best to classmates!”
Wolf Epstein is “still around—now
in northern Wisconsin, where we
usually spend summers at what
was once a small cottage and now
is a 3,000-square-foot, winterized
place we call the ‘palazzo.’ It is on
a moderately sized lake, about a
mile in diameter with very clear
water. Seems all we do is travel or
plan future travel, like a big trip
next year on the Amalfi coast of
Italy to celebrate wife Edna’s 80th
birthday. We’ve rented a large
villa so that all of our children and
grandchildren can stay with us.
We are both long retired, though
Edna still writes and edits for the
American Bar Association. We are
going to Montreal in October for an
ABA meeting.”
Wolf and Edna also signed up
for a 50-day cruise around South
America, and with lots of time to
spare, they travel to Europe and
back by boat. “Very comfortable
with so little rocking that you
almost feel you are on dry land.
With a daughter and her family in
London, we always stop there first
before taking the ‘Chunnel’ (the
135-minute fast train) for our usual
month stay in Paris—our ‘second
home,’ since we lived there for two
years in the 1960s and have many
friends there. We are both fluent in
French, so language is no problem.
Best wishes to all classmates who
are still enjoying life.”
Mary Ann Ash Chidsey writes:
“I said a few years ago that I was
going to move to a senior residence
(Gorham House) in Gorham,
Maine, the town where son David
lives. I still plan on that but would
first like to get son Alan off on his
own and finish treatments with
several doctors. I’ve joined a Great
Books discussion group at our
library, which I’m looking forward
to. There’s so much to read in print
and on the internet—I can’t keep
up.”
Dick Frost “finished a month in
Santa Fe, N.M., where I attended
a couple of Pueblo Indian dance
ceremonies with a friend from my
high school alma mater, Brooklyn
Friends. On Sept. 18, I lectured
on my book The Railroad and
the Pueblo Indians for the Native
American studies faculty and
students at Colgate University. On
the national-disaster front, I expect
President Trump to resign by New
Year’s from disgust that Congress
ignores his bidding, while Robert
Mueller’s rope tightens around his
belt. Then what?”
Miriam Strasburger Moss and
husband Sid “have lived in Lathrop
Retirement Community, a Kendal
associate, in Northampton, Mass.,
since spring 2015. We enjoy a
busy, good life, living near our
daughter and in frequent contact
with son Paul ’78, who does
good work on climate adaptation
for the state of Minnesota. Sid
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
47
class notes
and I retired from gerontological
research five years ago, and
we still present at national
conferences. In July, we attended
the International World Congress
of Gerontology and Geriatrics in
San Francisco and presented our
symposium, We Are Now ‘They’:
Old Gerontologists Living in AgeSegregated Housing.”
1952
Barbara Wolff Searle
bsearle70@msn.com
I am all moved in and slowly
acclimating to a retirement
community in the California town
where my daughter, Karen Linnea
Searle ’84, and her family live.
After 35 fulfilling years in D.C., I’m
finding the process a bit bumpy,
but every day is different so I
will wait awhile before I tell you
more about my experience. In
the meantime, if you have been
through a big change of this sort,
write and tell us about it!
I continue to be astonished by the
energy and entrepreneurial spirit
of classmates. Joan Berkowitz
still teaches online in the graduate
school at the University of
Maryland University College.
“This semester I am teaching the
mandatory introductory course
in cybersecurity. The course is
part of a pilot program testing a
new approach to teaching. UMUC
put out a call for professors
willing to try something new, and
I volunteered. Students complete
six assignments to demonstrate
competency in writing, research,
developing a personal branding
statement, working in Excel,
critical thinking, and teamwork.
If they don’t get an assignment
right on the first try, I explain
why and have them resubmit. My
only knowledge of cybersecurity
is as a victim; my students, in
contrast, are working adults with
years of experience in information
technology. I expect to learn a lot
from them.”
Sadly, I have three deaths to
48
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
report. Bennett Hill died June 21
from complications after a fall.
Bennett was born and raised in
Wynnewood, Pa., where he also
taught Latin and history for 35
years at the Montgomery School.
He gave tours—sometimes in
period clothing—at Historic
Waynesborough in Paoli, and was
a founding member of St. John
the Baptist Catholic Church in
Bridgeport, Pa. He is survived
by wife Patricia and daughter
Elizabeth.
Robert Barbanell died Aug. 30
from complications of recent
surgery. An 11-year pancreatic
cancer survivor with a strong
sense of values and a wry humor,
Robert retired as managing
director of Bankers Trust. He
is survived by wife Betsy; son
Edward; stepchildren Larry, Mark,
and Ellen; brother Arthur; and two
grandchildren.
Guy Brusca died Sept. 10 in
Voorhees, N.J., after a brief battle
with pneumonia. Guy joined the
U.S. Merchant Marine at the end
of World War II before earning an
engineering degree at Swarthmore.
He received his master’s at Penn
and went on to a 40-year electrical
engineering career. He is survived
by wife Judith, sons Mark and
Glenn, two sisters, and four
grandchildren.
1953
Carol Lange Davis
cldavis5@optonline.net
Marguerite “Margy” Morey
Zabriskie was planning the first
gathering of Building Bridges with
Friend Families, in September at
the Intervale Center in Burlington,
Vt. “Being the lead person on this
is both challenging and scary,
but I’m hopeful we can pull it off.
Unfortunately, our very communityoriented imam has left and I have
yet to meet any replacement.
Getting the Muslim community
involved is very important.” Margy
and husband Sandy look forward
to the 65th Reunion—if they
don’t have a conflict with one of
three grandchild graduations in
the spring. She hopes several
classmates will attend.
Stanley Mills contacted Bob
Grossman after Hurricane Harvey
hit Houston. Thankfully, the
Grossmans did not get washed
away, but they were confined
to their home for several days
because of floodwaters.
Margery “Marky” McCloskey
Laws reluctantly moved from her
home of 40 years in Madison,
Conn., to a senior residence, The
Gables in Guilford, Conn.
Clark Dean tells of recently
hearing music he once heard
coming from Don Mawson and
Dick Waddington’s dorm room.
Clark contacted the alumni office
in an attempt to reach them, but
was sadly informed that Don and
Dick are deceased. Clark also
wrote Stan Mills with a question
about a march for piano written
by an ancestor in the 1800s. “Stan
wasn’t able to answer my question,
but I did get two delightful phone
calls from him.”
Nina Felber Streitfeld fondly
remembers Carol Holbrook Baldi,
who died in June: “Carol was
a close, lifelong friend and my
financial adviser whose expert
advice enables me to keep my
head above water financially. I
got to know Carol as we were
the slowest eaters left in the old
dining hall at the end of mealtimes.
We roomed together senior year
on the third floor of Worth, were
in each other’s weddings, and
saw each other through various
stages and vicissitudes of our
lives. Carol had a brilliant, lucid
mind and a capacity for wonder
that made ‘amazing’ one of her
most frequently used words. Her
achievements in being first as a
woman in a variety of financial
endeavors are spectacular.
In investigating investment
opportunities, Carol traveled
widely. She fell in love with Brazil,
and nothing made her happier than
visits to Rio. I am grateful to have
had the privilege of knowing her
and being her friend.”
Elizabeth Wilkins McMaster died
Aug. 21 in Providence, R.I. After
obtaining a master’s in social work
from Columbia, Betsy enjoyed a
long career that began at New
York Hospital and continued
at Providence’s Visiting Nurse
Association. A lifelong Francophile,
she spent two years in Paris in the
early 1960s immersing herself in
everything French. She spent many
weekends and holidays with family
sailing the Chesapeake Bay and
New England coast. Betsy tutored
foreign students in English into
her 80s and co-authored a 2014
book about her father, a renowned
Johns Hopkins pediatrics
professor. Betsy is survived by
husband Philip, sons Charley and
Joseph, and three grandchildren.
Barbara Turlington, an education
advocate, died Sept. 3 in Chevy
Chase, Md. Barbara taught at
Connecticut College for Women
and Mount Holyoke and was on the
founding committee of Hampshire
College in Massachusetts. Barbara
is survived by sister Sylvia
Turlington O’Neill ’50.
1954
Elizabeth Dun Colten
lizcolten@aol.com
Good news: First great-grandchild
for Fred and Elena Sogan Kyle—
Jack Baird, son of their eldest
son’s second daughter, born July
4, a “memorable birth date.”
Larry Franck was in Maryland
during Hurricane Irma, but,
because of the storm-velocity
reduction, things at his other home
in Punta Gorda, Fla., were not as
disastrous as predicted.
Punky ’55 and Anne Chandler
Fristrom are not traveling much
these days, but had a busy
summer, including a two-week trip
to Ashland, Ore., with son David
’83 and his family.
Bob Merin died Aug. 27. He
was an anesthesiologist who
volunteered extensively for church
and medical causes and loved
tennis, golf, boating, and scuba
diving. Wife Barbara predeceased
him, but he is survived by children
Michael, Jan ’85, and Sara ’88,
and granddaughter Katherine. Jay
Ochroch says Bob played for the
Long Island Lacrosse Club while
in medical school, and Jay played
against him as a member of the
Philadelphia Lacrosse Team. Bob
was also an Anesthesia Boards
examiner who interviewed son
Andrew Ochroch ’87. Small-world
department.
I maintain that an exceptional
number of Swarthmoreans still
volunteer. As noted in “Planning
to Live to 100? Volunteer!” in the
June/July AARP magazine: “The
obvious payoff is the social good
done. … Findings indicate that—in
general—the older the volunteer,
the greater the personal benefits
of volunteering.” Do you fit this
category? Check in, please.
1955
Sally Schneckenburger Rumbaugh
srumbaugh@san.rr.com
Despite breaking her wrist in a
fall, Ann Imlah Schneider was
determined to stay active. She
organized a full-day trip to Virginia
wineries for fellow residents at her
retirement community, and soon
she was typing with two hands and
driving to the airport to pick up her
son and his family on their return
from Corsica. She is eager to get
back to traveling.
Bill Bosbyshell retired for the
second time in January 2017. After
his official retirement in 1999, he
assisted with Sunday services at
St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in St.
Petersburg, Fla. He enjoys sitting
in the pew for the first time in
59 years. Bill and wife Caroline
Thomas Bosbyshell have traveled
extensively in retirement and,
following an August 2016 Great
Lakes cruise, had a mini-reunion
with Bob ’54 and Mary Jean Gray
Schless in Chicago. “It was a
wonderful visit,” Caroline says. At
home, she stills enjoys gardening.
I wish I could share the photo she
sent of their lovely backyard.
Caroline kindly sent me the
impressive, four-column New
York Times obituary for Roger
Abrahams, who died June 20.
It was Roger, she tells me, who
reconnected her with Bill in
1956. When Roger came to visit
her apartment-mate, Lois Lesley
Donohue, he brought along Bill.
That meeting led to their marriage.
Roger explored the profane
and vibrant folklore of black
everyday life in his many books
and music albums. Remember
him and Ralph Rinzler ’56 singing
folk songs? One anecdote from
the obituary made me chuckle. It
seems that when Roger turned in
his dissertation, “Negro Folklore
From South Philadelphia,”
the head of Penn’s English
department told Roger’s adviser:
“We cannot have a dissertation
with such foul language in the
English department. If you want
to approve it, go and have your
own department.” The university
opened a department of folklore
and folklife, and Roger got his
doctorate. I urge you to look up the
obituary (bit.ly/RAbrahams). It’s
worth reading.
This column would be more worth
reading if I had more material.
Please write!
1956
Caro Luhrs
celuhrs@verizon.net
Jessica Heimbach Raymond
spent three weeks in Heidelberg,
Germany, this summer, studying
German language and culture at
the Goethe-Institut. The 50 course
participants, from 18 countries,
were divided based on speaking
ability. Jessica was the only
American in her small group and
the oldest in the entire program.
Jessica next traveled to Bamberg,
a “charming medieval town and a
UNESCO World Heritage site.” She
did a lot of sightseeing and got lost
several times but “always managed
to find my hotel.”
Sigrid and Bob Adler’s grandson
Bronimir Adler-Ivanbrook ’17
graduated from Swarthmore in
May. The Adlers were there, and
Bob remembered “how fortunate
we were to have the opportunity
CAPTION THIS
to study and grow in that splendid
setting.” Bob’s comparison with
other colleges became particularly
vivid the very next day when
granddaughter Maira received
her diploma from the University of
Maryland. “Sitting in an enormous,
cavernous UMD athletic facility
provided a vivid contrast” to what
he had just witnessed and had
experienced himself 61 years ago.
How many of you know the
name of our 1956 commencement
speaker? Bob and I had forgotten.
Joanna Rudge Long’s detective
work uncovered that it was Judge
Charles Wyzanski. Does anyone
recall what he said?
Trudy Richter Mott-Smith (pg.
75) has contributed her energy
and skills to many important social
causes. Now in her 80s (like all of
us), her latest venture has been
to develop a solar panel for the
Unitarian Universalist Church of
Concord, N.H. The congregation
wanted to reduce its electric bill
and also believed the reduction of
CO2 emissions was mandated by
the Seventh UU Principle: “respect
for the interdependent web of all
existence of which we are a part.”
Trudy was selected as project
manager. After a year-and-a-half
of work, including planning and
zoning, 100 solar panels now rest
on mounting driven into the ground
by the church, concealed from the
street by shrubbery. The project’s
total cost was $130,000, about
$30,000 of which was spent on
zoning and planning approvals.
The panels have been producing
electricity since May, saving the
church about $5,000 per year.
Great job, Trudy!
1957
Minna Newman Nathanson
jm@nathansons.net
YOUR CAPTION HERE!
Be creative! Submit a caption by March 15 to cartoon@swarthmore.edu.
To see last issue’s cartoon with suggested captions, go to Page 65.
Mayer Davidson and his wife
moved into a continuing-care
retirement center: like being on
a cruise ship (many activities,
meals served in a communal
dining room, a much-smaller living
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
49
class notes
space, and people around all the
time) but without the waves. He
can’t yet take full advantage as
he still runs diabetes programs in
a safety-net Los Angeles County
outpatient clinic and a “free” clinic,
sees endocrine patients, teaches
medical students, and does clinical
research at Charles R. Drew
University. The FDA approved
the insulin-dose-adjustment
algorithms he and his son’s
company computerized. Mayer
adds that—as his grandparents
immigrated—he is an example
of how immigrants enhance
the economy and well-being of
Americans.
At the end of the summer,
Barbara Fassett Oski Beane
moved from Florida to Vermont
near daughter Jessica. While at
her Lake Carey, Pa., house for the
summer, Barbara and daughters
Jessica and Jane had lunch with
Roger ’53 and Lily Anne Frank
Youman and their daughter Nancy;
the girls were childhood friends.
Barbara and Jessica also had
lunch in NYC with Sari Ginsburg
Seiff’s daughter, Judy, and her
father, Eric. The Oskis and Seiffs
shared a camping trip years ago.
Several classmates died recently.
Please send any remembrances.
Clifford Earle died in June.
Though Cliff majored in physics,
music was important to his time
at Swarthmore, and friend Peter
Schickele dedicated several
pieces to him. Cliff and Elizabeth
“Lisa” Deutsch Earle ’59 married
as National Science Foundation
fellowship graduate students
at Harvard. Cliff spent postdoc
years at Princeton before joining
Cornell’s math department, serving
as chair until his 2005 retirement.
His research on complex analysis
resulted in more than 80 widely
cited papers. An active musician,
Cliff often accompanied singers
on piano and was a church choir
member. Besides Lisa, Cliff is
survived by daughters Rebecca
and Susan and two grandsons.
Thomas Maher also died in
June, survived by wife Helen and
children Thomas and Rebecca.
Tom majored in engineering
and received an MBA from the
University of Virginia. He worked
for the President’s Office of
50
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
Emergency Preparedness and the
EPA. Tom was a member of the
Philadelphia Union League, an
active church member, and a Red
Cross volunteer. A great-greatgrandson of Gen. John T. Wilder—
whose battles at Chickamauga
and Chattanooga were pivotal in
the Union’s Civil War victory—Tom
enjoyed family Civil War history,
the history of Roan Mountain,
Tenn., and model trains.
Stephen Pitkin died in Stuart,
Fla., in August, leaving his wife
of 54 years, Marcy, two children,
and a granddaughter. Steve had
a master’s in city planning
from Penn and served in the
Army and National Guard. He
taught at Penn’s Fels Institute
of Government and later as an
adjunct with Springfield College
and LSU–Shreveport. An Eagle
Scout, Steve supported scouting
after retirement and was active
in planning associations and the
Unitarian Universalist Church. He
loved tennis, exploring new cities,
classical music, and birding, with a
lifetime count of 200 birds.
1958
Vera Lundy Jones
549 East Ave.
Bay Head, NJ 08742
verajonesbayhead@comcast.net
I was delighted to hear from Jim
Burgwyn. Upon graduating from
Swarthmore, Jim was an Army
draftee. After serving, Jim earned
a Ph.D. from the University of
Pittsburgh. He taught history at
West Chester University for more
than 30 years and has written
seven books, most recently
Mussolini’s Last Gasp: The Italian
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Social Republic 1943–1945.
Jim also played for and managed
a Men’s Senior Baseball League
team. “I had many wonderful times
playing in tournaments in Phoenix
and Florida, plus father/son games
with son Ted, a star hitter and
second baseman.” Jim retired in
his mid-70s with a lifetime batting
average of .370!
Jim lives with wife Diana,
a music critic, in Center City
Philadelphia, and keeps fit by
playing tennis. “Best to all my longlost Swarthmore friends. Do get in
touch: hjburgwyn@gmail.com.”
Leonard Willinger died March 10.
He is survived by wife Mary Anne,
four children, 12 grandchildren,
and five great-grandchildren. Our
condolences to his family.
Please get in touch! Don’t forget:
Our 60th Reunion is in June. I
hope to see you there.
1959
Miriam Repp Staloff
staloff@verizon.net
I just returned from an interesting,
fun-filled trip to Buenos Aires,
Argentina. It was early spring
there, chilly and rainy. Visitors
are treated very well, as the
economy, while improving, is also
subject to atomic inflation, 30 to
40 percent in the past few years.
This year, the government is trying
to harness inflation to about 20
percent. Since I last visited, some
30 years ago, the city has grown
like a child on steroids. Tall, thin,
reflective-mirrored buildings are
crowded onto a square inch of
ground. Apartments cost as much
as $2,000 per square meter. The
gracious, French-style “palaces”
exist; many are disappearing. The
ubiquitous tango dancers, which
I recall stalking tips on almost
every street, are gone, consigned
to “tango shows with dinner,”
principally for visitors. The young
female dancers remain lithe,
sequined, and acrobatic; their male
partners, middle-aged, suited, and
bored.
Unless you want to hear more
about “My Summer Vacation,” I
suggest that you write and let me
know what you did on yours.
1960
Jeanette Strasser Pfaff
jfalk2@mac.com
Peter and Barbara Hopf Offenhartz
’58 had a delightful visit with
John and Yvonne Schaelchlin
Palka on Whidbey Island, north
of Seattle. The Offenhartzes were
there to see the eclipse. “Clear
skies, no smoke, and just over
two minutes of totality; even saw
a solar flare. As my 9-year-old
grandson said, ‘Awesome!’” Johnny
and Yvonne are about to undertake
a major transition—they have
lived in the Pacific Northwest
since 1969. “Now family calls, and
we are moving to Maple Grove, a
suburb of Minneapolis.” Yvonne is
continuing full-steam-ahead with
her Sumi art. Her instruction book,
Super Simple Sumi-e, has been
picked up by Sasquatch Press in
Seattle. Johnny’s blog, Nature’s
Depths (naturesdepths.com),
continues—there are whispers
about turning it into a book.
Chris Clague has a book
recommendation: Graham Allison’s
Destined for War: Can America and
China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?
“The answer seems to be yes,
but we have to think about China
realistically.”
Our topic: In response to a
classmate’s complaint about the
many errors in newspapers and
books, Mimi Siegmeister Koren
replied, “Editors and proofreaders
are so 20th century!” This set off
an email exchange. Janet Lockard:
“I’m still trying to make it into the
late 20th century. I don’t think
there’s any hope of my joining the
21st. Does anyone else choose
not to have a clothes dryer or
dishwasher?” Sara Bolyard Chase
remembered her house from 1970,
which boasted a four-legged 1926
stove and cord clotheslines in the
basement laundry room. “What I
love about some ‘inconveniences’
of earlier household arrangements
is that they add a set of ritual
observances to one’s life—daily,
weekly, seasonally. One can
luxuriate in the subtle sense
of accomplishment of fitting
necessary acts to their necessary
times.”
Joan Stadler Martin agreed: “We
have never had a dishwasher; my
husband, Michael, has always
washed the dishes and even enjoys
the ritual. Our dryer is used only
for tumbling the stiff clothes after
they have dried on the line.” But
she added, “I may try a smartphone
next month.” (She did! And she
likes it!)
So it seems that we are
ambivalent about the wonders
of the 21st century. Mary Lynne
Ahroon Poole: “Most of us have had
home computers since our 40th,
when the Sw60 listserv began.
My first was an Apple II in 1981. I
know some of you were online long
before I was. We may do without
clothes dryers, but the internet is
really important to all of us.”
John Harbeson remembered one
old technology with no regrets
whatsoever: “How did we survive
the reign of the Ditto master?”
John Palka added: “Remember the
scribing stylus with a tiny ball at
the tip? It was a challenge to draw
pictures with it without ripping the
membrane of the master!” Joan
Bond Sax: “I don’t think the current
generation even knows where the
word-processing commands ‘cut’
and ‘paste’ came from. I remember
that for the first two issues of our
reunion yearbook, not yet named
The Coot, I sent out instructions
that reminiscences had to fit within
certain margins. They were mailed
to me. A few of us gathered around
my dining room table to cut out
your contributions and paste them
onto 8-by-11 sheets of paper that
we copied at the copy center.”
Linda Habas Mantel reported:
“Kenneth and I traveled from
Portland, Ore., to N.Y. yesterday
via a connection in Chicago. Guess
what—there are almost no flight
monitors in the airport to let you
know your gate! ‘Everyone’ has
a phone app that shows all the
information. Well, I don’t have an
iPhone, and Kenneth goes into
a minor panic if he can’t see a
monitor. Finally found one just
before the escalator—whew!”
Kay Senegas Gottesman
remembered writing research
papers using the library, the card
catalog, and browsing in the stacks.
“We hosted Swarthmore students
for 10 years while they were in the
D.C. area for unpaid internships.
One topic discussed at dinner was
the differences in our experiences.
They couldn’t understand how we
wrote papers without the internet.
I explained that either way you
have to know what questions to
ask, what you are looking for,
and how to recognize relevant
information when you see it. I’d also
point out the old way was easier,
since there was a finite amount of
material to search through in the
physical library. I would always
end by noting that it was my/our
generation that was responsible for
the origins of today’s technology.”
And a few tidbits from Sue Willis
Ruff: WTF meant Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday; when we
misspelled, we couldn’t blame
spell-check; only the Three Billy
Goats Gruff had to worry about
trolls.
Topic to be continued …
1961
Pat Myers Westine
pat@westinefamily.com
This was written on the first day
of autumn and won’t be read until
the new year. Please send me your
holiday letters and updates—I
know that everyone is doing
interesting, fulfilling activities and
traveling to fascinating places in
retirement. I appreciate classmates
who answer my requests for news.
Mary Lou Jacobson CottonMiller writes from New York state
that she retired as Ulster County
Community College’s registrar 14
years ago and loves being active
in all her groups—meditation,
memoir writing, book club, French
conversation, wellness, church,
choir—and traveling the world with
husband Dave Miller. She has three
Cotton sons: The oldest, Will, is a
Cooper Union grad who has been
with NYC’s Mary Boone Gallery
for 18 years and had a show at its
uptown location this fall; middle
son Keith, an Oberlin Conservatory
grad, finished a three-month
tour (piano/keyboard) with Idina
Menzel’s band and toured with
Joan Osborne in the fall; and the
youngest, Neil, is the “mainstream”
(her word, not mine) one who
works for a computer company in
Austin, Texas.
After 30 years in Ashland,
Ore., Sandra Dixon and husband
Arthur downsized and moved to
Portland, Ore., to spend time with
their only grandchild, Scarlet, 4.
Sandra left her staff psychiatrist
job when they moved, but soon
expects to work about eight hours
a week at a crisis clinic. This past
year, she played violin with the
University of Portland orchestra,
but she is looking for new playing
opportunities now that the group
doesn’t need community members.
As we get older, our lives are a
mixture of good and sad news.
Faith Blocksom Gildenhuys sent
both. She and husband Dion
moved from Ottawa, Ontario, to
Victoria, British Columbia, in 1997
when they retired from university
teaching positions: she from
Carleton University, where she
taught English; he from McGill,
where he taught mathematics.
Faith keeps active as a freelance
editor for government departments
and scholarly journals. Son
Peter has two children and is a
philosophy professor at Lafayette
College, and daughter Anne has
three children and is a biomedical
engineer in Ottawa. Their family
gives them great pleasure,
but their lives changed in 2011
when Dion was diagnosed with
Parkinson’s “plus” (depression
and dementia), which became
increasingly serious. After caring
for him at home for five years,
Faith reluctantly moved him to a
care facility last year. She does not
travel much anymore, but she and
Dion enjoyed past trips to Europe
and China. She would love to hear
from anyone traveling to her end of
the continent.
I, Pat, am finishing a series of
terms (seven years in all) on my
retirement community’s Resident
Advisory Council, all as secretary.
(What else?) The RAC Constitution
requires a two-year hiatus after
two terms. I will remain active as
secretary of two other groups and
involved in myriad other clubs and
groups. My youngest grandson is
a freshman at Slippery Rock (Pa.),
and my youngest granddaughter,
Kira Emmons ’20, is a sophomore
at Swarthmore after spending
much of the summer doing
research for the engineering
department.
1962
Evelyn Edson
268 Springtree Lane
Scottsville, VA 24590
eedson@pvcc.edu
After all the news I garnered at
the reunion, I am suffering from a
dearth of information. Even most
of my trustworthy correspondents
are silent.
Jackie Lapidus and Lise Waldman
Menn continue to promote
their anthology, The Widows’
Handbook, by giving readings with
contributors and widowed friends,
and speaking with therapists,
bereavement groups, and
educators. Still waiting for that call
from Oprah. Jackie reports that
the sailing expedition with Sandy
and Izzie Phillips Williams ’63 went
off as planned and was a delight,
despite cloudy, cool weather. She
also shared the news of Stanley
Rosenberg’s new book, Accessing
the Healing Power of the Vagus
Nerve, released in December.
Stanley has “more or less” retired
from his bodywork practice and
moved to Copenhagen to be closer
to his children and grandchildren.
Lee Moore, last seen in Class
Notes sailing his boat, About Time,
in the Caribbean, writes from the
Hurricane Irma zone that he and
his wife had to evacuate their home
in Florida for Albany, Ga. “We were
treated royally and made to feel at
home. Despite the circumstances,
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
51
class notes
ALUMNI PROFILE
we enjoyed it.” Many of their
northern Caribbean friends were
not so fortunate. He grieves over
the destruction. “We will contribute
what we can—it won’t be enough.
But everyone can help a little, and
collectively it will add up.”
Dave Burack is “semi-retired”
but still works on environmental
assessments in such exotic
locations as the Mongolian–
Russian border, Nepal (a powertransmission project), and Vietnam
(highway and bridge construction
in the Mekong Delta). When not
traveling, he lives “independently
and happily” in Brooklyn, near his
son and daughter, their significant
others, and a grandson, 8. “Sadly,
I need to report the passing of
my former wife, Lani Despres ’63,
whom many classmates knew and
loved, last February after a lengthy
illness but with her family in close
attendance.”
I, Evelyn, returned from four
weeks in Japan, where my sister
and I visited my niece, Ursula,
who works there. It was a special
treat to have a “native” guide, as
she speaks Japanese and helped
us navigate Tokyo’s subway and
supermarkets. I had always wanted
to see Japan, and found the
beauty of its gardens, the serenity
of its shrines and temples, and the
civility of its people completely
satisfying.
So write to me!
1963
Diana Judd Stevens
djsteven1@verizon.net
Who is thinking about our 55th?
Irma survivor Polly Glennan Watts,
recovered from femur fracture,
volunteered to help with music.
Suzi Merrill Maybee, who visited
Swarthmore this fall to see her
granddaughter play volleyball,
looks forward to the reunion. Bruce
Leimsidor’s reunion plans depend
on whether he returns to Chechnya
to teach this spring. Last summer,
Bruce taught about immigration
and asylum in Bucharest. Anne
52
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
Howells is tantalized by reunion
prospects. In June, Anne was
ordained as a novice Zen priest—
not something she imagined for
herself when she retired and
moved to Seattle. She still plays
chamber music, participates in
book groups, and travels, and
is shedding possessions before
moving to a retirement residence.
Mired down in condo and dancecamp stuff, Jane Jonas Srivastava
says we will have to wait for the
story of the 96 needles, perhaps
until reunion. Seth Armstrong, who
wants to attend, wrote a 200-page
paper, “Flaming Moderate,” about
all potential future American
policies. Recently, Seth traveled to
Morocco and Sevilla. Rich (Dick)
Burnes and wife Judy planned to
attend our 50th, but the heavy
rains (remember them?) kept
them at home. Last June, they
spent a night (excellent food and
accommodations) at the new Inn
at Swarthmore. Rich says they
hope to get back there—which may
mean they will attend our 55th. In
September, Austine Read Wood
Comarow, who wants to attend our
reunion, started Osher Lifelong
Learning classes at UNLV.
Sandy Hutchison Smith isn’t sure
whether she and Rad will attend
our 55th. If their granddaughter,
a Temple freshman, is still in
Philly in June, they might. The
Smiths and their family spent a
week at Arch Cape, Ore. Rad and
Sandy enjoy the many activities
of Ann Arbor, Mich., including
Osher Lifelong Learning. Kevin
Cornell says Jeb Eddy plans to
attend our reunion. Kevin injured
his shoulder while working at the
farm and asks anyone with advice
about replacement surgery to
contact him. Kevin and wife Pat’s
geothermal/solar-energy heating
and cooling system at the farm has
them in the black for both. Next
up for the Cornells: downsizing
their D.C. house. When Linda and
Evan Smith are in Maryland, the
Cornells see them often.
Between selling her D.C.
house and moving to Seattle,
Gail MacColl stayed at Bob and
Caroline Eubank Lyke’s place
while they were in Japan, where
Caroline lived for several years.
For the second time in just over a
year, Kathie Kertesz moved within
Mill Valley, Calif., to a place with a
lovely landscaped private patio.
Marianne and Phil Wion
celebrated their 50th anniversary
in Switzerland with family. Holly
and John Cratsley celebrated
theirs with family at a Wyoming
ranch. In October, the Cratsleys
were in Japan for the 20th
anniversary of their sister-city
relationship, Concord, Mass., and
Nanae, Hokkaido. Hans Treuenfels
and spouse Terri Stebbins spent
four months on their boat in
southeast Alaska enjoying the
wilderness, virtually no internet
or cellphone connections, and
no TV or newspapers. David
McLanahan toured Germany,
Croatia, and Greece. Helen Rees
Lessner cruised from Vancouver to
LA. Dave ’62 and Alice Handsaker
Kidder visited their son, a United
Airlines pilot, who lives in Guam.
At home, Alice promotes speaking
opportunities for an organizer
of Black Lives Matter, Karlene
Griffiths Sekou.
Holly Humphrey Taylor is
determined to retire and has
set June to resign from the
boards on which she serves.
Meanwhile, she enjoys visits from
family. One of Atala Perry Toy’s
photographs received best of
show at the Midwest Museum of
Natural History. Several others
were accepted into regional
juried shows. Dan Menaker likes
comparing Amazon book rankings
with Leo Braudy: The African
Svelte for Dan and Haunted for
Leo. Dan is working on three
books. For Book I, so far, he has
“A…” More on Books II and III next
column. Pat Horan Latham has
many hearings scheduled for her
arbitration work, which she loves.
She is on the board of a federal
credit union in Florida.
David and Marilyn Tindall Glater,
Holly and John Cratsley, Dorothy
Earley Weitzman, Nancy Braxton,
Ellie Jahoda Horwitz ’62, and
Alice Carroll Swift ’61 attended
the memorial Friends meeting
celebrating Robert Tinker’s life.
After the summer email telling of
the deaths of Susannah “Sukey”
Stone Eldridge (July 28) and
Rosalie Berner Fedoruk (July
30), Terry Spruance, a voice not
heard from in years, called. Terry
continues part-time CPA work and
enjoys his granddaughter, bridge,
tai chi, reading, and the sensational
garden wife Anne created.
Our class will miss Sukey, who
relished the freedom to travel,
study, and spend time with family
and friends after she retired, and
Rosalie, a devoted student of
Tibetan Buddhism and perpetual
scholar.
We’ll also miss Lani Despres and
David Bartlett, whose deaths I
learned about on deadline. More in
spring’s Class Notes.
1964
Diana Bailey Harris
harris.diana@gmail.com
swarthmore64.com
In my 15 years of preparing our
Class Notes, this is the first time
that I’ve not had to trim—usually
with painful severity—the abundant
news that you so faithfully provide,
in order to fit the 800-word limit.
I think it’s because we’re now
Garnet Sages. It’s not that we
have fewer activities to report,
but, by tradition, we now have a
column in each of the Bulletin’s
four annual issues, instead of two:
spring and fall. Not only does that
mean generating more news; it
also means seeking updates before
the last news you sent me appears
in print.
Our Class Notes editor said we
could choose to revert to our
former spring/fall schedule. Since
we have our terrific swarthmore64.
com, generously sponsored and
expertly curated by Bernie Banet to
cover our “breaking news,” I think
our previous rhythm makes sense.
From now on, news will be due only
at winter and summer solstice.
We’ll be out of sync for one more
cycle, since I must ask for news for
the spring issue before you read
this in the winter issue. Then we
can proceed on an even keel.
Barbara Kline King wrote, right
after I’d turned in the last column:
“Our oldest grandson, Evan,
“The uniqueness of Swarthmore was that it gave a liberal arts education to an engineering
student who had never gotten that before,” says David Pao ’65.
THE EYES HAVE IT
A proud scientist, engineer, doctor, & dad
by Carol Brévart-Demm
DAVID PAO ’65 had just finished
kindergarten in Nanking, China,
when his father received an overseas
assignment—requiring Pao to repeat
the school year in the United States.
“I wonder if that affected my
psyche,” he jokes, but moving between
cultures gave him a unique perspective
throughout his education.
Initially slated to go to MIT, Pao
instead accepted a scholarship to
study engineering at Swarthmore. The
uniqueness of the College’s liberal
arts education opened a different door
entirely: Swarthmore allowed Pao an
extra year to complete medical school
requirements as well as his B.S. in
electrical engineering.
Completing medical school at
Columbia University and an internship
at George Washington University, Pao
pursued a residency in ophthalmology
at Thomas Jefferson University–Wills
Eye Hospital, inspired by his curiosity
about his own near-sightedness and
new technology in the field.
“Initially, I was a very rare person
there, the only engineer among
125 medical students,” he says,
“but engineering lends itself to
ophthalmology, since it includes
physics, optics, and measurement.”
Today a clinical associate professor
in private practice at Jefferson
University–Wills Eye, Pao holds six
patents and has developed numerous
instruments, including a bipolar
cautery to seal microscopic vessels
and an electrophysiological system
to measure electrical signals from
the eye and brain. He also advocates
for bipartisan patient-protection
legislation.
“Swarthmore reinforced my
moral and ethical commitment
to society,” says Pao. A former
president and current board member
of the Pennsylvania Academy of
Ophthalmology and the Bucks County
Medical Society, he has served on
numerous committees of the American
Academy of Ophthalmology and
Pennsylvania Medical Society.
Pao is now turning his attention
to plasma, the ionized gas referred
to as the fourth state of matter. (The
sun and lightning are examples of hot
plasma; fluorescent bulbs, certain TV
screens, and ozone water treatment
are examples of cold.)
“The field of plasma medicine is
unlimited,” he says. “We are at the
same point as when Benjamin Franklin
discovered what could be done with
electricity without being electrocuted.
We must encourage researchers
to explore this area—the United
States has only 10 plasma medicine
departments, whereas Asia and Europe
have more than 50—and counting.”
He’s working on refining a handheld
medical plasma probe, to be produced
this year. Among his key colleagues
are Greg Fridman and Justine Han of
Drexel’s plasma medicine department;
Ralph Eagle of Wills Eye Hospital; and
ophthalmologist daughter Kristina Pao
’04.
“Kristina and I experienced
unique father-daughter bonding with
time spent in the operating room
performing eye surgery,” he says.
He’s proud of her—and of all his
fellow family alumni. In addition
to Kristina, they include his other
daughters, Jennifer ’01 and Tiffany ’06;
sons-in-law Thomas Mather ’00 and
Paul Thibodeau ’06; brother Peter ’53;
and great-nephew James ’13.
With the success other countries
have had with improving their
antisepsis, wound-healing, cancer
treatments, and even crop yields
thanks to plasma, Pao’s hoping that his
family’s Swarthmore bond pays off in
other ways, too.
“I foresee us plasma researchers
collaborating with the Scott
Arboretum,” he laughs, “to grow
the world’s largest leafy plant for
agriculture and medicine!”
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
53
class notes
graduated from Princeton with
high honors in economics and he’s
got a full-time job in Chicago.”
Congrats, Barbara—and Evan!
John Simon reports, “My
10-month CAT scan last week is
clear!” Congrats to you, too, John.
Along similar lines, Peter
Freedman reports: “At men’s
group, we talked about our various
ailments and how we are handling
them, sharing sympathy and good
ideas. I’m the oldest in our group.
Life is good, if sometimes achy.
“Just spent a weekend in
Minneapolis watching my twin
14-year-old grandchildren and
3,000 other kids compete in
the national Ultimate Frisbee
tournament—a beautiful game
to watch. Remember Frisbee at
S’more? Two of Elise’s games were
live-streamed on ESPN. I’m still a
terror at ping-pong at 75!
“I reconnected with Bob
Olshansky this summer for a
nice lunch outside Boston, and
am Facebook friends with Bruce
Leimsidor ’63, an immigration
expert in Venice who makes
the most interesting posts. Also
hanging out with Barbara and Dan
Pope ’66 when they are in town—
they live in Eugene, Ore., and also
have a condo in Portland. Ran into
my sister’s friend Janine Fay ’67 in
Somerville, Mass.
“Waiting for Mueller to finish his
job finishing off President Twitter
… want to see him in his new
striped suit.”
Jerry Blum reports: “Wife
April and I continue our dancing
life. Sept. 8–10 will be our 11th
FootFall Dance Weekend. We are
hosting a series of Third Thursday
Challenging English Country Dance
workshops at our home and will
attend five dance weekends plus
a one-day English Country Dance
Ball this fall. As we both proceed
into our 70s, dancing keeps us
young.”
Ann McNeal still clerks Mount
Toby Friends Meeting in Leverett,
Mass., and appreciates “the
terrific opportunities for growth
in spiritual, interpersonal, and
personal dimensions. I also had
a painting accepted into the
Northampton, Mass., Biennial—it’s
not Venice!—an abstract based on
impressions of the Grand Canyon.”
54
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
BULLETIN BOARD
Notes and announcements from our staff.
ARTFULLY CRAFTED
Were you fortunate enough to take a course with Professor
Emerita T. Kaori Kitao? Help us pay tribute to this Swarthmore
living legend by sharing your memories of her.
HIGHS AND LOWS
It takes courage to fail—and it’s not always easy for
Swarthmoreans. Big or small, what have you learned from
failing?
PET PROJECT
Do you have unusual or just-plain-beloved pets? We’d love to
hear about the animals in your life and what they mean to you.
bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Duncan Foley, the Leo Model
Professor of Economics at the
New School for Social Research,
received the Guggenheim Prize
in the History of Economic
Thought for 2017, recognizing
lifetime achievement in the field of
economics. Congrats, Duncan!
1965
Kiki Skagen Munshi
kiki@skagenranch.com
smore65.com
David Darby wrote a note some
time back about moving to Fiji.
Being prosaic, I didn’t realize he
was joking. (After all, moving to
Fiji isn’t that far out of the ordinary
for our class, is it?) “We sold our
Seattle condo and now live only
in Montana,” he writes. “I will try
to be more discreet in my use of
alternative facts and fake news in
the future, since dozens of friends
were planning to visit or regaling
us with their own trips to Fiji.”
Almost as exotic as Fiji, Leonard
Barkan writes that in recognition
of his recent book, Berlin for Jews,
the German ambassador invited
him to speak at the embassy in
D.C. on Nov. 9 in commemoration
of Kristallnacht. “Too weird?” he
adds. “You decide.”
Ursula Poole Carter: “Richard
and I spent our summer break at
our chalet in the Maures hills in
Provence (formerly my parents’
retirement home). During an
earlier ‘gardening trip’ in May,
we explored the particularly
breathtaking ancient hilltop village
of St. Paul de Vence near Nice. I
am blessed with good health and
enjoy my membership in a small,
longstanding book group in Exeter,
England, as well as a steady diet
of cryptic crosswords and killer
sudokus.”
Nancy Weiss’s communication
from Charlottesville, Va., was
much darker. “Unfortunately, I will
always remember what happened
Aug. 12, my 74th birthday. My
wife, Carol, was in the church the
night before, when the KKK and
neo-Nazis marched through the
UVA campus toward the church
with their flaming torches. It felt
like they were going to set fire to
the church, which had over 1,000
people inside. Instead, they turned
their attention to UVA students
and staff. We still have about 30
people in the hospital.
“I am still in a state of disbelief
… that this happened here in our
beautiful town.
“On a happier note, we went
with friends to be in the path
of the total eclipse, and it was
spectacular. It was eerie to feel
it suddenly get cold, to see what
looked like sunset all around the
horizon, and to hear some roosters
start crowing. This month we
are off to southeastern Peru and
the Manu road with the Amazon
Conservation Association.”
Diana Burgin still writes about
the music world. “This summer
my ‘double’ book appeared [two
books in one volume on the life
of her father, Richard Burgin].
Also, Performing Life: The Story of
Ruth Posselt, American Violinist
won a Certificate of Merit in the
Association for Recorded Sound
Collections 2017 Awards for
Excellence. My next project is a
translation of and commentary
on five long poems by Marina
Tsvetaeva called Five Hard Pieces.”
A children’s book I, Kiki, wrote
about India, Nonny, Nani, also
appeared.
Ann Erickson got “unloader”
leg braces to help arthritic
knees and can now enjoy walks
in the redwoods again … but
not the weekend she wrote, as
the then-100-degree air was
filled with smoke. “My thoughts
often are about slowing down
climate change. I am glad more
Swarthmoreans are increasingly
active in this cause.”
In June, Peter Bloom retired from
teaching after 47 years in Smith
College’s music department. He is
still working on books and articles.
The hurricanes that brought so
much damage to the Caribbean
and southeastern U.S. touched
some classmates. Linda Pike
Goodloe was in the middle of Irma
and “had a terrifying night, but the
eye wall started to disintegrate
before it got to us. Still both north
and south of us there is much
more devastation, many flooded,
tens of thousands without power.”
She adds that it felt weird to be in
a mobile-home park on the water,
lots of houses very old, with almost
no damage. Lucia Norton Woodruff
lived vicariously through Hurricane
Harvey and its aftermath from
Austin, Texas, through hearing
about it from her daughter and
family in Houston.
Steve Saslow has been hiking
and seeing Oregon with Dana
Carroll, Will Bloch, and other
Swarthmoreans. “After hearing
about 10 days ago that the nation’s
lowest temperature that day was
31 degrees in Gothic, Colo., I dug a
bit to learn whether Swarthmore
continues to be associated with
the Rocky Mountain Biological
Laboratory there.” He found that it
is, though not as deeply as in the
time of Dr. Robert Enders.
Finally, we have lost another
classmate. Linda LaMacchia died
July 30 in Dharamsala, India.
A memorial was held Sept. 2
at Kunzang Palyul Choling, the
Tibetan Buddhist temple where
she often went in Poolesville, Md.
Dorita Sewell and Vivian Ling
attended.
1966
Jill Robinson Grubb
jillgrubb44@gmail.com
With hurricanes, floods, fires,
choking smoke, and continuing
injustice in America, “Haply I think
on thee,” solvers, thinkers, doers,
Renaissance men and women, and
dear classmates.
We lost Judy Walenta to decades
of cancer Sept. 1, her daughter,
Angola, holding her hand as she
passed. How lovely we could see
this brave, gentle soul at our 50th
Reunion!
From pneumonia to a thoracic
aortic aneurysm to an enlarged
right ventricle and hypertrophy,
Pam Corbett Hoffer discovered
sleep apnea was the cause and
now champions the CPAP machine.
Sandra Moore Faber received the
Gruber Award for her studies of the
structure, dynamics, and evolution
of galaxies. This column can’t do
justice to her riveting scientific
insights.
Jody Pullen Williams reminds
us to seize the moment and enjoy
each other now. She invites us
to visit her Airbnb as guests: 65
Ponce de Leon Drive, Ormond
Beach, FL 32176.
Also on the Class of ’66 B&B list,
Jane Carol Johnson Glendinning
finished building a three-season
cottage on Providence Island in
Lake Champlain, Vt.
Jim Tear was able to move from
Tampa, Fla., to Midlothian, Va., on
Sept. 14, despite Hurricane Irma.
He was eager to return to the
eastern deciduous forest and the
Piedmont plateau, where he enjoys
photography, hiking, and biking.
Bob ’64 and Catherine Young
Kapp got their fifth golden retriever
for their golden anniversary.
Another gift to themselves was a
trip to Spain and Portugal.
On the home front, Lisa and Joe
Becker are shredding a lifetime
collection of paperwork but
enjoy watching The Lead with
Jake Tapper, John Oliver, and
Grantchester.
Suzy Fox highly recommends
Heir to an Execution, the 2004
documentary produced by Ivy
Meeropol, daughter of Mike
Meeropol ’64. In a series of moving
interviews, Ivy explores the fate
of her grandparents, Julius and
Ethel Rosenberg, with integrity and
openness. Suzy came away with a
tremendous admiration for Mike
and thinks we should show the film
at a reunion.
Over a lovely lunch in NYC,
Janaki (Wendy) Hughes Patrik and
Judy Petsonk explored how aging
has enriched their respective arts.
Judy claims life’s complications
have helped her better imagine
complex motivations, missed cues,
and the unacknowledged fears of
characters in her novels. She now
has the patience to revise, playing
with complex structure and points
of view.
On one busy day, Judith Graybeal
Eagle watched a Spanish soap,
cleaned an aging dog, replaced old
appliances, recharged a shrubbery
trimmer, sliced a cold Okinawan
purple potato for scooping Greek
yogurt dip, warmed to good wishes
from Roy Van Til, considered
reading Andre Agassi’s Open, hid
two clarinet reeds in a sewing box,
weighed the saving wisdom of
top journalists, and reviewed video
of a new granddaughter.
Dulany Ogden Bennett enjoys
serving on Kendal at Hanover’s
board. Meanwhile, she spends
time with her baby granddaughter,
getting her ready for Swarthmore
lacrosse.
Martin Ewing shared memories:
“As freshmen, poking around
musty Beardsley storage with
John Cheydleur and Alan Douglas
’65; finding remains of old WSRN,
long off the air; wondering how to
restore it, certain that every college
needed a radio station; consulting
with Evan Deardorff ’63, who knew
where the bodies lay; proposing to
use College money to put ’SRN into
studios in upper Parrish; relating to
facilities staff; placing transmitters
in dorm basements; measuring
FCC field strengths; and managing
wily on-air talent, keeping their
heads above the academic waters.
Oh, and Eva Reissner [Ewing].”
Linda Lynes Groetzinger’s most
notable moment was serving
birthday cake on an upside-down
drawer.
The day before school started this
fall, Tom Riddell and wife Meg took
their local grandkids (ages 12, 9, 9,
and 6) out for the day. Breakfast at
Miss Flo’s diner, a 2.5-mile walk by
and wade in the Mill River, snacks
and drinks midday, an hour at the
playground with the obligatory
Meg obstacle course, a fort in the
backyard, a blue heron sighting on
the river (though one kid thought
it was a “herring”), and then home,
ready for school.
Glimpses into the Depression
and World War II years are seen in
Wendy Prindle Berlind’s gathering
of her husband’s parents’ letters
from the ’30s and ’40s.
Years ago, Eleanor Bly Sutter
introduced author/conductor
Joel Sachs to the music of
Arvo Part and a score of thenunknown composers from the
Soviet Union. He just wrote to
tell Ellie of discovering, in the
German Historical Museum in
Berlin, a letter from Einstein to an
organization trying to get visas
for Jews trapped in Germany.
Einstein recommended a young
violinist named Boris Schwarz, to
whom Ellie had written to see if
he wanted her collection of Soviet
compositions. Schwartz put her in
touch with Sachs, who made the
compositions famous.
Query: How are we adventurous?
1967
Donald Marritz
dmarritz@gmail.com
swarthmore67.com
For those who attended our 50th
Reunion, the memories are still
dancing—well, OK, walking—in
our heads. Thanks again to Belle
Vreeland Hoverman and everyone
who attended. If you did not, please
consider coming to the 100th.
If you, like the grasshopper, have
neglected to save for your dotage,
please note that Jan Vandersande
has published A Short and Simple
Guide to the Best Bets in the
Casino. Jan calls it “a must-read
for anybody who goes gambling. It
will very likely save you money, and
you might even make money.”
Kip Allen retired from classical
music radio announcing, but not
before making his station the
Arbitron highest-rated in the
country. He also recorded Charles
Dickens’s A Christmas Carol,
doing all the voices, as Dickens
purportedly did, says Kip. It’s
available on Amazon, “along with
at least 100 other readings. Some
are pretty good, but mine holds
its own.” Parkinson’s continues
to present challenges for Kip:
Physical movement is erratic, and
the disease has begun to diminish
his voice, so the Dickens recording
came “just in time.”
Barry Feldman ’68’s series of
constructions, “The Portables,”
saluting and sometimes sending up
makers and shakers of the 20thand early-21st-century art world, is
on Instagram, @barry_g_feldman.
Tasso Feldman, son of Barry and
Randy Warner, was in a play last
spring at Princeton’s McCarter
Theater.
Maybe because I, Don, find
myself listing (to port? to claret?), I
lean toward lists. Font size matters.
Chuck Rosenberg cheerfully
supplied the following updates, in
convenient, bite-size form:
1. Last June, Carol Weiss
Rosenberg ’66 and I celebrated our
50th wedding anniversary.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
55
class notes
ALUMNI PROFILE
56
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
a variety of deportation/removal
cases.
1969
Jeffrey Hart
hartj@indiana.edu
Glenda Rauscher died March 18.
We are all grateful for the many
years she spent as class secretary.
I posted an obituary on the class
Facebook page.
I will be reviving a regular class
email to supplement this column.
Feel free to offer suggestions for
how to improve it.
John McKendry reports: “It was
four years ago that I had my first
bear in the yard. I had forgotten
that it was in August; thought it
was more a winter thing. I still
haven’t fully gotten the hang of
living out in the wilderness.”
Subhashini Saghal Ali was
interviewed about a film based on
the Indian National Army trials (bit.
ly/Subhashini).
Fred Feinstein was in South
Carolina to view more than two
minutes of total eclipse. Randy
Larrimore saw the eclipse in
Hillsboro, Mo: “Wasn’t as dark as
I thought it would be. Nor did the
temperature drop that much—but
it was 88 degrees. Pretty weird,
though, as it got darker and darker.
Could see planets. The wind did
stop. For a true space cadet, this
was pretty neat.”
Kristin Wilson travels back and
forth to NYC and Paris to visit her
son, a professor of 19th-century
French art at Stern College for
Women. She still works for Kaiser
Permanente in the Bay Area,
designing IT-system changes.
Ellen Daniell, husband David,
and daughter Abby enjoyed diving
and hanging out at Anthony’s Key
Resort in Roatan, Honduras, in
January 2017.
Elizabeth Coleman wrote a poem
about her mother featured on
Poets Reading the News (bit.ly/
ElizabethColeman).
Ellen Schall said she was “proud
to have completed a 30-day
meditation challenge at MNDFL.
Amazing studio.”
David and Joan Glass Hilgers
attended the American Bar
Association’s Health Law Section
meeting in March in New Orleans.
They dined at Antoine’s while there.
Rich Rinaldi had his left knee
replaced in June, but is recovering
nicely.
Belle Brett keeps a blog on
downsizing (bit.ly/BelleBrett).
Anne Lowry Klonsky ’71 and her
husband stayed at the Atlantic Inn
on Block Island, R.I., in August.
Mike Sollins and his family visited
Nova Scotia this summer.
Randy Holland joined Wilson
Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
as senior of counsel in the
Wilmington, Del., office. He retired
from the Delaware Supreme Court
in March after more than 30 years.
Sarah Barton and husband
Joseph “live on the side of
a mountain overlooking the
Matanuska Glacier, about 100
miles northeast of Anchorage,
Alaska. This place includes a home
and laboratory, with experiments
in water, solar, gardening, heating,
lighting, training, art, alternative
energy, music, and communitybuilding. I still consult with Alaskan
museums and work on Arctic
policy. Life is made more grand
with four grandsons. Come visit.”
Tom McKay posted music by
the Lake Effect Winds quintet, in
which he plays clarinet (facebook.
com/LakeEffectWinds).
Michael Vitiello lectured in June
on legalizing marijuana in Italy
(coals to Newcastle?). He also
toured a manufacturer of balsamic
vinegar. I hope he will share his
recipe for risotto with red wine.
Cardiologist Felix Rogers
retired in June from Henry Ford
Wyandotte Hospital in Michigan—
not going cold turkey, but reducing
his hours.
Dorothy Twining Globus has been
traveling back and forth visiting
her grandson in the U.K. and her
granddaughter in Manhattan. Her
garden on Fire Island is flourishing.
Carl Kendall still commutes
between New Orleans and
Fortaleza, Brazil. He received a
Science without Frontiers Award
from the Brazilian government to
train students in public health.
Ronald Krall lives in Steamboat
Springs, Colo., where he and
his wife operate Off the Beaten
Path, an independent bookstore,
coffeehouse, and bakery cafe.
1971
Bob Abrahams
bobabrahams@yahoo.com
swarthmore71.org
We are living in interesting times,
and our classmates remain
involved. Dan Wasserman has been
busy with his editorial cartoons for
The Boston Globe. I guess there’s
been something going on in politics
or whatever.
Don Mizell spearheaded the effort
to successfully create Dr. Von D.
Mizell–Eula Johnson State Park
beach, Florida’s first state park
named for an African-American.
Don also got Hollywood, Fla., to
rename three streets that honored
Confederate generals for nearly
80 years. And Don was appointed
to a second term on the Florida
Committee of the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights.
Congrats to Shelley Fisher
Fishkin, who received a lifetime
achievement award from the
Center for Mark Twain Studies
at Elmira College in August for
“helping to assure that a rigorous,
dynamic account of Twain stays in
the public consciousness.” Shelley
was the first woman to receive
the award, established in 1991 and
given every four years. “I welcome
this award as a vindication in
the scholarly community of my
understanding of Twain as one of
America’s important social critics,”
Shelley says. “He was someone
who asked his countrymen to
confront our history of racism,
hypocrisy, corruption, and greed in
compelling ways. He tried to help
us break out of and question a
mindless acceptance of an unjust
status quo. That is the Twain who
matters most to me.”
Rick Beatty and wife Kate visited
Catherine Caufield in Point Reyes,
Calif., last summer. “Though we
JODI NEWTON
2. We are both thoroughly
enjoying my retirement after some
40 years of teaching, though I am
still “doing” art history.
3. We are going solar this fall,
if the folks on the local historic
preservation commission will give
us the requisite “Certificate of
Appropriateness.”
4. The catalog of some 70
Rembrandt prints (69 religious and
one self-portrait)—which Carol
and I collaborated on for more than
10 years—is finally seeing the light
of day (Indiana University Press).
The prints are owned by Notre
Dame’s Snite Museum of Art and
were on display there this fall.
Make sure to see The Big Sick, in
which Nick Kazan’s daughter Zoe
gives a terrific performance.
Belle Vreeland Hoverman says
the College has agreed to pay
for swarthmore67.com for the
next five years so that we won’t
have to deal with pop-up ads and
the like. This should allow us to
communicate more regularly with
one another. Please send me any
ideas you might have to start and
maintain conversations.
Mark Sherkow and husband Bob
Hostettler had a great time at the
reunion, after which they hiked
before returning to the Midwest.
Mark started a new chorus season
and hopes to write and continue
organizing his condo, “after 30
years of letting that slide.”
I am sorry to report the deaths
of two classmates. Jill Hays
died in September while under
hospice care at a friend’s home
in Bennington, Vt. Jill’s life was
distinguished by a love of travel,
languages, books, and writing. She
is survived by daughter Aislinn and
two grandchildren.
Many were shocked to hear of
the death of Eric Brown, who was
his usual lively self at our 50th
Reunion. Eric died in August in
Madison, Wis. He is survived by
daughters Allison and Jillian, and
wife Karen Kimball. Eric was a
management consultant who loved
traveling, languages, and bicycling.
Too bad the College no longer has
a football team, which no doubt
would “take a knee” in support
of racial justice and equality. My
kids are both legal-aid attorneys,
defending indigent immigrants in
“This mosaic is made of broken pottery, stained glass, and blue wine-bottle shards,” says
Gaye Goodman ’67, with her dog, Sammy. “It was inspired by a photo from Scientific American
of misfolded proteins doctors are studying in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.”
FREE SPIRIT
Her unique journey is as colorful as her art
by Jonathan Riggs
WHEN YOU ask Gaye Goodman ’67
for her life story, be specific.
“Cocktail waitress, belly dancer,
flight attendant, art teacher—I’ve had
the most checkered past of any alum
I know,” she laughs. “Of course, every
career was done with an abundance of
intellectual insight.”
Today an Albuquerque, N.M.-based
artist and successful entrepreneur,
Goodman has been an adventurer
since childhood, when she capped
off a year living in Japan with sailing
around the world at age 10.
“I was totally hooked on travel after
that,” she says, “and it set the pattern
for the rest of my life.”
After Swarthmore, she lived in
Switzerland, France, and Mexico but
found her true home in the world of
art. Supporting herself and her first
husband as a door-to-door pastel
portraitist in Houston, Goodman
decided to strike out on her own. She
moved to La Jolla, Calif., where she
lived by the beach in a house full of
Vietnam War fighter pilot veterans,
dove for abalone, and decided to devote
herself to art.
“I developed a way to draw on
velveteen in batik, and they sold really
well,” she says. “That was the start of
my actual commercial art career.”
To fund it, Goodman moved to San
Francisco to work for World Airways.
As a flight attendant, she traveled the
world anew, riding horses around
Egyptian pyramids and meeting her
second husband in the mists of Machu
Picchu. That marriage inspired her
to create large, abstract paintings;
her divorce inspired her to open an
art gallery in Galveston, Texas, and
eventually move to Albuquerque.
On the advice of her managementconsultant brother—who encouraged
her to scale back on the harp lessons
and professional belly-dancing
side gigs—Goodman focused all her
energy on Faux Real Floors, her latest
business. Using artistic techniques
she’d perfected over the years while
innovating others, Goodman finished
the concrete floor and walls of a
Rio Rancho, N.M., restaurant with
industry-changing aplomb.
“Floor staining had been around for
60 years, but no one was thinking of
it the way an artist would, and people
just went nuts for what I did,” she
says. “So I created a 10-chapter-long
video revealing all of our secrets that
we priced at $97. More than 11,000
copies sold around the world before my
brother stopped counting.”
As she trains her successor,
Goodman focuses on her own art again
and her current medium: mosaics that
utilize special phosphorescent glow
stones. For the beautifully broken path
she’s followed over the years, it makes
lovely artistic sense, too.
“My life’s been a roller coaster, but
I wouldn’t have wanted it any other
way,” she says. “Even when it was
sad, it was never dull, and ultimately
fulfilling.”
+ MORE ART: gayegoodman.com
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
57
class notes
hardly knew each another in
college, we had a delightful, fun
visit. Catherine even brought her
Cygnet for our entertainment! I am
happy we were able to connect.”
Jim Colvin still loves western
North Carolina. “Doing mostly trail
running, having completed the
Black Mountain Marathon and
a 30K trail race, among others.
Also continuing holistic therapy
practice, singing in Asheville Choral
Society, and active in growing
progressive church committed to
justice and inclusiveness. Give a
shout if visiting the area!”
And, for those of you planning
ahead, Nancy Shoemaker and Rick
Beatty point out that our 50th
Reunion is May 27–30, 2021—
Memorial Day weekend. Nancy
added the event to our Class of
1971 Facebook page, facebook.
com/groups/swarthmore71. Check
in there and mark your calendar.
1973
Martha Shirk
swarthmorecollege73@gmail.com
swarthmorecollege73.com
We’ve heard from quite a few longsilent classmates this year, some
with 44 years of news to report.
Elizabeth Enloe: “I’ve been
fortunate with my work, first with
the NYC–RAND Institute, followed
by eight years of international
relief and development in the
Dominican Republic and Somalia,
then 28 years leading domestic
programs of the American Friends
Service Committee. My Quaker
membership led to board service,
including at Haverford College.
Neither ‘retired’ nor employed, I
am enjoying an extended personal
sabbatical. I share life in two
locales—NYC and Beaufort, S.C.—
with a loving architect partner of
20 years.”
Since moving to California in
1989, Mary Ann Maggiore has been
ordained as a nondenominational
minister; served as a council
member and mayor of Fairfax;
comforted the sick as Marin
58
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
General Hospital’s chaplain;
consulted and wrote a book on
Raising a Sane and Successful
Teen; and started the nonprofit
LAUNCH (formerly Five 4 Five)
to help disadvantaged youths in
South-Central LA. “Thought it
would be a five-year thing, but
now it’s my life, and the nonprofit
is chugging along pretty well.
The goal is to get everyone into
meaningful work.”
Christine Stinson (formerly
Christopher Stinson) writes:
“With the elimination of my
gender dysphoria, my life is
simply wonderful.” She earned
two doctorates—in zoology and
business administration—and
teaches accounting and finance at
Ferrum College in Virginia. “When
I’m not teaching, I’m running,
writing and performing music,
kayaking, cooking, reading, and
gardening.” Read more about
Christine at bit.ly/2gTVOnI.
Jeff Schon is raising capital to
launch Akili Network Inc., which
would be the first commercial
digital broadcast network
distributing free educational
entertainment content to 18 million
children in Kenya. (Akili means
“smart” in Swahili.) It could mean
relocating to Nairobi, he reports.
Read Jeff’s amusing take on how
President Trump is affecting the
labor force’s productivity at
bit.ly/2kIiHGQ, and learn more
about the vision for Akili Network
at bit.ly/2ypfR4V.
Karen Kelly and husband Bill
Levy have lived in Williamstown,
Mass., since Karen retired from
her Philly-area geriatrics practice
in 2011. “It has been a good move
for us. I have been enjoying
more free time, travel, exercise,
and less anxiety.” Karen and Bill
became first-time grandparents in
September when daughter Emily
gave birth to Penelope Mae. Two
of their three kids are doctors,
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and the third is a consultant on
electronic health records.
David and Virginia Mussari
Bates also have a new grandchild,
Henry Galen Weir, born Feb. 22 to
daughter Katie Bates Weir ’08 and
husband Alec.
Retirements:
—Debra Lieberman from her
faculty position in UC–Santa
Barbara’s communication
department. She still directs the
university’s Center for Digital
Games Research.
—Patricia Emerson from a
30-plus-year teaching career, the
last 25 at Brielle Elementary School
in Monmouth County, N.J. “I am not
done with education, either mine or
others’, but I’m ready for change.
Suggestions?” Read a lovely profile
about her at bit.ly/2xYsfFt. She
has moved to Oregon, “home of my
birth and my heart.”
—Isaac Stanley after 28 years as
a business/IT analyst at MetLife.
He and wife Ava Harris Stanley
’72, who practices cardiovascular
medicine, celebrated 44 years
of marriage and are parents of
George, an electrical engineer,
and Chris, a jazz trumpeter. “In
‘retirement’ I look forward to
expanding my board and church
leadership, with a focus on Chicago
community revitalization and other
learning opportunities,” Isaac
writes. He is training to be a docent
at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie
House in Chicago, and last spring
completed the first round of yoga
teacher training. He also sails and
maintains their 39-foot 1978 Irwin
Citation sailboat, Star of the Sea.
—Pat McDonald and husband Tim
Welles (Haverford ’68), from NYC
psychotherapy practices, followed
by a move to Eastham, Mass., on
Cape Cod. “We decided the sea
and beautiful environment were
calling us to live here full time. I
plan to have a small psychotherapy
practice here and also hope to
dive into a long-delayed genealogy
research project. We both will be
involved in volunteer activities, Tim
with Habitat for Humanity, and I
with animal rescue.”
—Randy Thomas, as research
director for CNRS Physiology in
France.
Hope many of you plan to be
at Swarthmore June 1–3 for our
45th Reunion. Meanwhile, post
updates at swarthmorecollege73.
com or facebook.com/
SwarthmoreClassOf1973.
1975
Sam Agger
sam.agger@gmail.com
Suzanne Benack writes: “Is
everyone else thinking about
retirement? I’m hoping for spring
2019 and really looking forward
to it. I’d love to hear others’
retirement fantasies. Mine involve
a year of rarely being out of
pajamas, working on my house,
reading, cooking, and playing
piano. And lots of visiting friends.”
Bruce Jenkins got married
two years ago; Alex Henderson
attended the wedding.
Gary Albright and his violinist
wife, Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio,
completed the 21st season of their
Cactus Pear Music Festival in San
Antonio. Back home in Reno, Nev.,
they established the nonprofit
Chamber Music Reno, which offers
a “Silver Soirée” house concert
series, a mentoring program
for high school musicians, and
educational outreach events.
Larry Schall writes: “Life in
Atlanta remains fun and rewarding.
I am deep into my 13th year as
president of Oglethorpe University
and hoping to make it to 15 before
I figure out what to do with the
rest of my life. Betty and I have
found a new passion: inn-to-inn
hiking. This summer, we spent 15
days drinking our way in and over
the Italian Alps, first on the French
border, then on the Austrian border.
We still enjoy our four children and
three grandchildren, especially
since they all live elsewhere!”
Annette DiMedio performed
as soloist with orchestra at the
Teatro Nacional in Guatemala this
summer.
David Gold writes: “It’s been 25
years since the devastation caused
by Hurricane Andrew—and now
Irma. Not nearly as destructive, but
extremely damaging, messy, and
disruptive.”
Rob Crain retired from Honeywell
in October after 40 years and
plans to spend more time at his
mountain home in Flagstaff, Ariz.
He wrote from Barcelona, where
he celebrated his 36th wedding
anniversary.
Sherry Coben writes: “After 22
years on the wrong (left) coast, my
husband and I are plotting a return
to the east. Our grown daughters
are fairly ensconced in NYC, and
our suburban nightmare of a house
is still waiting for a 10-year-old and
a 13-year-old to return home from
school—an uneasy, unlikely mix
of Miss Havisham’s dining room
and an Edward Scissorhandsstyle suburb. Time to go back
to civilization. Relocating at the
precipice of old age is daunting,
though; I suspect many classmates
are dealing with this third act.
One wishes there were a place to
go where likeminded souls might
spend their time. Not Florida. Not
Arizona. Not a golf-course-centric
retirement community. Something
more like a liberal arts college for
seniors, with lots of opportunities
for learning and hanging out
and artistic self-expression and
communal meals and … alas. Such
things are wasted on (or given to
and appreciated by) the young.
Wouldn’t this be a lovely time
to go to college? Without all the
pressure of preparing for adulting.”
Kip Davis writes: “In July 2016
I reached out to the college
registrar, Martin Warner, asking
what I needed to complete
my Swarthmore degree. After
establishing that I had met the
PE requirement and passed
the swimming test, he said that
I was one credit short of my
degree requirement and a twocredit thesis short of meeting
the requirements of my major,
sociology and anthropology. Martin
connected me with the department
chair, Sarah Willie-LeBreton,
who—though she was on leave—
volunteered to be my adviser.
Martin also pointed out that
because my original thesis was
an incomplete, there would be no
charge from the College—so I got
a 2017 experience at 1975 prices!
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
“I turned in my thesis in April and
walked at Commencement in May
(bit.ly/KipDavis). I was so touched
by the outpouring of support—
from the hugs I received from the
registrar’s staff when I picked up
my graduation packet, to the kind
words I received from fellow Class
of ’17 graduates, to the standing
ovation I got from faculty as I
received my diploma (and another
hug) from President Valerie Smith.
“I could not have done it (while
working full time) without the
support of my wife, Jill, and my
kids, Sonia and Evan; the kindness
of former professors Elijah
Anderson and Philip Weinstein;
Chris and Judy Epstein Leich,
who opened their home while I
researched; and Marty Spanninger
’76 and husband Bob Mueller ’68,
who put me up on all my trips to
campus.”
Also in attendance cheering Kip
were Jeffrey Scheuer and Barbara
Sieck Taylor.
David Cressey and Rob Wachler
visited Ontario’s Killarney
Provincial Park for seven days
in September. “We challenged
ourselves on a backpacking
slog, sans devices, into remote
backcountry, absorbing an
astonishing landscape of pink
granite and snowy-white quartzite
cliffs and escarpments. Much
starry campfire talk was wasted
on the halcyon Swats of longgone days and nights. Robbie and
I humbly apologize if y’all’s ears
were burning.”
1977
Terri-Jean Pyer
tpyer@hartnell.edu
Donna Mundy Martin retired
after 36 continuous years in high
technology, despite numerous
mergers and acquisitions at Digital
Equipment Corp., Compaq, HP, and
Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She
looks forward to her second act
as a voice actor for public-service
announcements, audiobooks,
travel and tourism, and technical
and instructional materials
that utilize her vast experience
in marketing and product
management. She and husband
Ralph live in Bear, Del. Their
youngest daughter started medical
school in the Caribbean.
Congrats to Mary Lou Dymski
and her soccer team, the Bay State
Breakers, who in July won the
Women’s Over 60 Championship at
the U.S. Adult Soccer Association’s
Adult Soccer Fest 2017 in
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
In March, Robert George (pg. 75)
received an honorary doctorate
from the Universitat Abat Oliba in
Barcelona, Spain. And in August,
Robby was honored by Baylor
University when it announced
the Robert P. George Initiative on
Faith, Ethics, and Public Policy, a
new program in D.C. The initiative
held its first event in October,
“Faith and the Challenges of
Secularism: A Jewish-ChristianMuslim Trialogue.” Robby will be
actively involved in the Baylor
in Washington program while
he continues as Princeton’s
McCormick Professor of
Jurisprudence and director of
the James Madison Program in
American Ideals and Institutions.
1979
Laurie Stearns Trescott
sundncr88@comcast.net
Lorin Kusmin lives near D.C.
and retired after 32 years of
service to the U.S. government.
Twenty-seven of those were with
the USDA’s Economic Research
Service, concentrating mostly
on the rural economy. Lorin’s
intention was to work a few more
years, but he chose not to finish
his career working under the
current administration. Wife Cathy
returned full time to her speechpathology profession, which allows
Lorin time to meet the needs of
their two teenage daughters and
four cats. Lorin wonders how
classmates are labeling our life
stage. “Middle-aged” might be a
stretch as we enter our 60s, but
“elderly” doesn’t fit, either. Are
we “near old” or “oldish”? Lorin
already anticipates a return to
campus for our 40th Reunion.
Never too early to plan for that!
Since fall 2016, Peter Plocki has
taken a break from defending the
U.S. Department of Transportation
in litigation to be the transportation
secretary’s special adviser on
safety oversight of D.C.’s subway
system, Metrorail—a challenging
yet rewarding job. In his spare
time, Peter has enjoyed traveling
to points from Maine to Georgia
supporting wife Merry, who is
taking her own challenging,
rewarding break, hiking the
Appalachian Trail.
Janet Tognetti Schiller became
a volunteer for Days for Girls
about two years ago, launching
the Rockville, Md., DfG team after
giving a speech at a Women of
Temple Beth Ami event. People
are often shocked to learn that
feminine hygiene is a pervasive
problem not only in developing
countries, but also here in the
U.S.—in prisons, homeless
shelters, and schools. Janet
discussed this with Maryland
Delegate Aruna Miller last fall,
paving the way for Gov. Larry
Hogan’s signing of House Bill 1067
in May. The legislation makes
sanitary supplies available free
of charge to homeless women
and girls in shelters and schools.
(Incarcerated women were already
provided for.) Janet considers
herself more an analyst than an
advocate, but after this experience,
she believes each of us has the
power to make the world a better
place, if we vote, persist, and stand
up for what we really believe.
That’s it this time around! Email
me with news you’d like to share.
1981
Karen Oliver
karen.oliver.01@gmail.com
“Time for me to weigh in,” says
Jon Berck. “After moving a couple
of years ago with my wife, Suzy,
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
59
class notes
from the Upper West Side to the
Upper Upper West Side in Garrison,
N.Y., opposite West Point, we’re
continuing our journey up the
Hudson Valley this fall by buying a
house in Beacon, N.Y., the newest
‘new Williamsburg.’ I’ll continue
my Manhattan-oriented solo law
practice, while Suzy transfers her
clinical psychology practice and
eliminates her commute. We’re very
excited. I’m celebrating by having
cataract surgery and delighting in
seeing the world without glasses
for the first time in 50 years!”
Caren Glatt shared her memories:
“Swarthmore was a cool place
where one could intellectualize
at breakfast, love at lunch, and
compare realities over dinner.”
Jeff Gordon notes that when it
comes to loyalty and inertia, he
likely has few peers. In September
1985, two years after moving to
Chicago upon getting an MBA
from the University of Michigan,
Jeff married the former Mindy
Block and started working at
the then-nanosized valuation/
corporate advisory firm of Duff
& Phelps. Thirty-two years later,
“both relationships are still going
strong!” Jeff and Mindy (formerly
an attorney, now the Midwest
Kehilla relationship manager
for the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism), live in
Highland Park, north of Chicago,
and have three adult children:
Matthew, an attorney (married to
Shoshana, a pediatric resident),
and Jonathan, a health-care
consultant, both in Chicago; and
Hannah, a senior brand strategist
at an ad agency in NYC. His
“other” long-term relationship,
Duff & Phelps—as a result of
organic growth and strategic
acquisitions—is now the largest
independent valuation company in
the world. Jeff’s niche is advising
boards of public and private
companies. Jeff is a member of
Alumni Council, which he says
has been a rewarding experience,
deepening his connection to the
College 35 years after graduation.
Thomas Hjelm of NPR was named
the 2017 U.S. Chief Digital Officer
of the Year by the CDO Club, an
award given to inspiring digital and
data leaders. Read more about his
career at bit.ly/HjelmCDO or bit.ly/
60
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
THjelm (CliffsNotes version: MFA
from USC, then NBC, AOL, NY
Public Radio, and NPR).
Leslie Jones moved to LA in
1985 for a Ph.D. in folklore and
mythology studies at UCLA,
where she studied Celtic and
comparative mythology and wrote
a dissertation on medieval Welsh
Arthurian romance. This ultimately
resulted in 13 years as executive
editor of the journal African Arts
(published by the UCLA African
Studies Center); don’t ask how,
because there’s no clear through
line. Her big effort of the past
several years has been yanking
the journal out of decades of nearbankruptcy by bringing in three
institutions to form an editorial
and financial consortium. It’s
been such a success that Leslie
was invited to talk about it at this
year’s Association of American
University Presses conference.
“Along the way, I’ve published
five books of my own on topics in
folklore and mythology; worked
for an encyclopedia publisher,
an archaeological institute, and
a journal of geophysics; spent a
year in Wales on a Fulbright; and
become a semiprofessional bellydancer. I seem to be settling into
a life of Middle-Aged Woman With
Cats-ness, with cronehood on the
horizon. The last year has added
political protest marches to my
roster. That’s one I’m really looking
forward to being able to ditch.”
Swarthmore received notification
of Michael Miller’s death from
his husband of 33 years, Robert
Seletsky. We heard separately that
the Association for Environmental
Health and Sciences Foundation
will rename its East Coast
Conference Student Competition in
his memory. “Mike was an integral
part of the Scientific Advisory
Board, conference planning,
and the student competition
for many years,” the foundation
said. “He was passionate about
the competition and the next
generation of environmental
scientists who came to showcase
their work at the conferences. His
dedication to furthering science
through knowledge, education,
and the emerging leadership of
students was his hallmark.”
Lauren Tumminello Thomas
celebrated 20 years of marriage
to Peter Der Manuelian, professor
of Egyptology at Harvard, and 36
years of small-apartment living in
Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood,
where she moved after graduation.
After organizing concerts and
lectures at the Museum of Fine
Arts for 17 years, she became a
writer for dot-coms and a freelance
editor. Now she stays busy on the
Gibson House Museum board and
volunteering for the garden club
and neighborhood association,
protecting trees and historic
architecture. She has five cats
and politely ignores everyone’s
reactions upon hearing that.
1983
John Bowe
john@bowe.us
Dan Mont writes: “The strangest
thing that happened this year: My
eldest son turned 30. How the
heck did I get old enough for that?”
Dan founded the nonprofit Center
for Inclusive Policy, which focuses
on education, employment, and
social protection.
Beth Varcoe got a horse,
and husband Rod Wolfson, an
architect, got a new job—at
Swarthmore! He is a planner/
project manager.
Kevin ’84 and Kristie Stokes
Hassett’s elder son graduated from
Columbia and works at Compass
Lexecon, an economics/business
consulting firm, while their
younger son is a sophomore at St.
Albans School in D.C. “Kevin and
I are delighted that we still have
three more years of cheering from
the bleachers.”
Andrea Davis enjoys directing
her therapy center, playing music,
running long-distance trails, and
the excitement in her kids’ lives.
Her children study veterinary
medicine at UC–Davis and
architecture at Harvard.
Classmates as grandparents!
Cindy White Lewellen and husband
Dave still live in West Virginia,
while their younger son married
in April and elder son had a baby
in July. Cindy is a certified music
practitioner, playing harp for
hospital patients in palliative care.
Barry Datlof, being a
procrastinator, is still deep into
tween- and teen-coping years.
His fertility company has started
clinical trials in Hungary. Barry had
a great “3B” dinner in Brookline,
Mass., with Bob Lufburrow and
Bruce Mallory.
Leslie Johnson Nielsen has
three grown kids in three states,
with interests spread across an
ethnomusicology Ph.D., an inprogress math education Ph.D.,
and work in the Bay Area. She’s
added two sons-in-law in the past
two summers. Leslie works at
Puget Sound Educational Service
District and is proud of efforts
to eliminate opportunity gaps by
leading with racial equity.
Lauren Schmitz Isaac celebrated
her first year of marriage to J.
Isaac. “It’s strange to do this at this
stage of life—I decided to change
my name to his, and that’s a lot
of work at this point!” Daughter
Claire, at Clark University, is
friends with Martha Swain’s
daughter. Lauren saw Diane
Wilder and Vivian Yeh on a visit to
Philly and Ellen Andersen Benya
when Ellen visited Portland, Ore.,
and she regularly sees Susheela
Jayapal, who lives nearby.
Katy Roth and Dreux Patton ’84
traveled (with kids) to Iceland,
Norway, and Sweden; Patty Scholz
’85 noticed their daughter’s
Swarthmore sweatshirt while
on Mount Flyen in Bergen. “We
just enjoyed a dinner with Dante
DiPirro, Dave Pazer, and John
Walsh. We plan to attend the
reunion, for sure.”
Nancy Burton Dilliplane is still
pastoring at Trinity Episcopal
Church in bucolic Bucks County,
where she provides several feeding
programs and the area’s Code Blue
shelter for those without adequate
housing on below-freezing nights.
Husband Steve still works at the
Academy of Natural Sciences
in Philly, an engineer among
scientists. Congrats on their 33rd
wedding anniversary, in June.
Their kids are scattered from
Pennsylvania to California.
In June, Dave Gertler and Sue
ALUMNI COUNCIL NEWS
Swarthmore’s Alumni Council wrapped up its review/voting
process at its fall meeting and is working on nominations for
next fiscal year. Members meet on campus again in March.
alumni@swarthmore.edu
swarthmore.edu/alumni/alumni-council
Kost commemorated their 25th
anniversary with a two-week
literary trip through England and
Scotland. In August, their son
married his college girlfriend on a
lovely San Diego afternoon. They
are happily adjusted to “in-law”
status.
Suellen Heath Riffkin will miss
our 35th—daughter Becky is
getting married that weekend.
Suellen started a consulting gig
with Friends Council on Education
in Philly, improving teacher
observations and feedback. She
has a steady beau, a pediatric
neurologist at Children’s Hospital
of Philadelphia, coasting into
retirement.
Deb Felix writes: “I am living the
dream. My college admissions
advising practice is flourishing,
entirely fueled by referrals from
former clients. I can work from
anywhere, spending fall and spring
in Maryland, much of winter in
Florida, and summer ‘at home’ in
Wellfleet, Mass.” (Check out her
yearbook picture, pg. 75.) She
gained some practical new skills
last summer renovating a family
cottage.
Joy (Susan) Hutchinson spent
two years at Swarthmore before
transferring to UC–Santa Cruz. She
received a master’s in philosophy,
cosmology, and consciousness
from the California Institute of
Integral Studies in 2010. She chose
“Joy” “to just be joy every day”
and to help herself and others
“remember that we are all joy.”
Her career is a mix of community
organizing, activism, and healing.
Nils Davis is looking for his next
gig, learning big data and machine
learning, and writing a book on
product management, Secret
Product Manager Handbook. He
and wife Sally live in “the bluestate paradise,” Menlo Park, Calif.,
where they enjoy a weekly blues
jam and dancing before heading
home to Masterpiece Mystery.
I very much look forward to
seeing you at our 35th!
1985
Tim Kinnel
kinnel@swarthmore.warpmail.net
Maria Tikoff Vargas
maria@chrisandmaria.com
Science: One of your secretaries
(Tim) went to Madisonville, Tenn.,
to see the eclipse. He got some
pretty decent photos.
Lifestyle: “During the eclipse,”
writes Paula Rockovich Gable,
“my husband and I drove our
Prius to Cleveland’s West Side
Market to buy local organic
produce. Aren’t we the cliche?”
Paula is the interim minister at
First Unitarian Cleveland–Shaker
Heights. She also finished an
executive doctorate in business
administration with a concentration
in leadership and ethics from
Georgia State over the summer.
“During the eclipse, I was at
the gym lifting weights with my
trainer,” writes Karen Rosenthal
Hilsberg. Karen left her psychology
career and now researches
container-recycling policy for a
nonprofit think tank. She is also
editing a book about the Sutra of
42 Chapters, an ancient Chinese
Buddhist text; singing in a choir;
volunteering; and doing homeimprovement projects—“more time
to have fun.”
Leslie Blum and husband David
Cziner are empty nesters “and
enjoying less laundry and mealplanning but do miss the kids. I’m
still doing onsite employee health
as an internist and loving it.” Their
eldest, Jon, is a doctoral student
in Juilliard’s composing program;
middleman Mike is a medicalinfection data analyst. “He’s
discovered a passion for microbes
and epidemiology!” Sarah, the
youngest, is a Colgate sophomore.
Education: After seven years
as assistant superintendent,
Patrik Williams was promoted
to superintendent of schools in
Smyrna, Del. Pat had previously
been an English teacher, then an
associate principal in Dover.
Business: Susan Gigler works at
BD Biosciences in flow cytometry
sales.
Ben Backus writes: “I just signed
on to be chief science officer for a
San Francisco startup, Vivid Vision
Inc. They make virtual-reality
games to treat binocular vision
disorders. Husband Carl and I will
miss New York. It’s scary to give up
being a professor with tenure, but
I will get to do science in a really
stimulating environment and spend
less time writing grant proposals.
We’ll be living in the East Bay and
look forward to being near family.”
That’s all for now! Keep those
cards and letters coming.
1987
Sarah Wilson
swarthmore87@gmail.com
Coming together for our 30th
Reunion, many of us had the
chance to connect for the first
time in three decades. Dozens of
classmates who had never been to
a reunion joined those who’ve been
attending since we graduated.
One of the weekend’s highlights
was Josh Davis and Reid Neureiter
taking on two students in a mock
debate. They may have lost
the competition to the reigning
national champion, but classmates
agreed their wit was unsurpassed.
Josh writes that this year
marks the start of college for
his last two sons. Malcolm ’21
is at Swarthmore, and Andrew
at Grinnell. Wife Jennifer’s Title
IX investigative work keeps her
busy, and Josh still practices
and teaches law. The couple
also participate every year in
the College’s Lifelong Learning
Program in Boston. This fall
marked their fourth class with
Philip Weinstein (who remains as
inspiring and intense as he was
when we were in school).
Fellow debater Reid continues his
practice as a civil and commercial
litigator in Denver. His children
with wife Nora are (almost) all
grown up, with one graduated
from college and living in Europe.
Their second, a Wesleyan junior,
is spending her year in Buenos
Aires, and their third is a high
school senior. The youngest plays
soccer and rugby, and Reid takes
photographs for the school teams.
Reid also spends his free time
cycling, skiing, and enjoying the
Colorado outdoors.
At the reunion, Mark Harkins
entertained us with tales from
the D.C. frontline. He continues
to enjoy teaching non-politicals
in the executive branch how
the legislative branch operates,
through a little nonprofit affiliated
with Georgetown University.
“Especially now, it is useful for
agency personnel to understand
and communicate well with
Congress. I also have enjoyed
mentoring recent grads who
are interested in working in
Congress. But most exciting, my
eldest (Micah ’21) just started at
Swarthmore. He has already spent
more time in Cornell Library than I
ever did, and he is trying to spend
more time at Renato!”
Mark had a great visit with
Miriam Jorgensen in June when
he visited St. Louis. Her eldest,
Olivia Smith ’21, is also a new
Swarthmorean.
In keeping with the Swarthmore
tradition of civic engagement,
Lori Kenschaft is a Unitarian
Universalist congregation lay leader
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
61
class notes
ALUMNI PROFILE
and organizes to help end mass
incarceration in Massachusetts, for
which she received an award from
the Massachusetts Commission on
the Status of Women.
On a housekeeping note, I, Sarah
Wilson, have taken over compiling
our Class Notes after a muchappreciated and very-long stint
by Tom Newman. We’d love to
hear from you! There is an email
to make it simple to contribute,
swarthmore87@gmail.com. For
those on Facebook, there’s also
a fairly vibrant private group,
Swarthmore ’87 25th Reunion,
which you are welcome and
encouraged to join.
I guess I should add my own
update: I, Sarah, returned to the
U.S. in 2014 after nearly three
decades in the U.K. Having
worked as a journalist and done
communications for international
NGOs for many years, I have
now settled into NYC doing
communications for one of the
largest labor unions in the country,
1199SEIU, representing health-care
workers.
1989
Martha Easton
measton@elmira.edu
Kathy Stevens
stevkath@gmail.com
Tom Lee and wife Stacy opened
Home Care Assistance of Greater
Burlington, Vt. “After several years
in corporate America, it was time
to get back to self-employment—
this time combining talents with
Stacy’s care background and
launching our nonmedical homecare business, helping seniors
live well at home. Needless to say,
we are excited to be helping to
change the way the world ages. I
particularly love that we’re getting
well-integrated into the local
senior-care community and all
the wonderful associations we’ve
made over the past year. We got to
catch up with Dave Pope during a
training trip to Palo Alto, Calif.”
62
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
Last June, Clif Kussmaul—visiting
as a Fulbright specialist—went to
Ashesi University College in Ghana
(founded by Patrick Awuah).
Kir Talmage writes: “Nothing
much new in my messy house in
Vermont. We finally have a school
bus that comes almost to our
house. I still work on projects and
don’t finish them—some of them
would even be good projects.
I did help my stepmother with
her children’s book; I finished
the layout and it’s now in print.
I became a Girl Scout leader,
because of course I needed one
more long-term, intense, timeconsuming project about which I
know nothing. Still part time at the
Birds of Vermont Museum, and
part time self-employed in frontend website development.”
1991
Nick Jesdanun
me@anick.org
As I write this column on a train
from Warsaw to Krakow, Poland,
I am reminded of how wonderful
public transit is outside the U.S. I
don’t own a car, and I’m annoyed
any time I have to rent one. Even
when I lived in transit-capable
Philly and D.C., I needed a car
many times. Anyone outside New
York get by without one? I’d love to
hear how you manage.
Because I’m in Europe, I’ll start
there. Biologist Brian Inouye, on
sabbatical from Florida State,
returns this spring to Stockholm
University, where he was a
Fulbright scholar. He spent the
fall at a field station in Colorado.
Consequently, his daughter will
attend three different schools
for third grade. He and wife Nora
enjoyed a visit from Chris Potter
over the summer.
Tom and Miranda Michael
Cantine ’93 left the comforts of
Seattle for a summer trip to Italy
and Greece, where they and their
three teens “consumed more
than our fair share of gelato.”
Tom works at Microsoft’s Bing
search advertising group. He
broke a 10-year hiatus from tennis
and joined a competitive league.
His teammate was former Swat
doubles partner Vivek Varma ’88.
In the U.K., Jess Hobart reminds
me I still need to do a marathon
there—and very soon, for it to
count in my quest to run in all E.U.
countries. (Poland and Belgium on
this trip brought the count to five—
out of 28. Yikes!)
Some of you may remember Alex
and Dawn Rheingans McDonnell
strolling down Parrish Beach with
triplets several reunions ago. Alex,
Rose, and Amelia are now high
school seniors. Their eldest child
is at Washington U. in St. Louis,
while the youngest just started
high school. The family lives near
Swarthmore and sees Deirdre
McMahon occasionally. Dawn
teaches in Springfield, while Alex
is at Friends’ Central.
Karan Madan’s son Arjun ’21 is
a Swarthmore freshman. So is
Cammy Voss and Denis Murphy
’89’s son, Declan Murphy ’21. Two
of Declan’s high school classmates
are also part of the Class of ’21.
Meanwhile, sister Eliza was a
counselor-in-training at Camp Dark
Waters, where she met Fox, son of
Bruce Maxwell and Jill McElderryMaxwell ’92. The connections get
deeper: Jim Ellis’s three sons were
also there as campers.
Alison Carter Marlow’s son,
James, is considering Swarthmore
for chemistry, engineering—or
both! Daughter Jacinthe started
high school. Alison works at
YouthBuild Boston, helping teens
and young adults build trade skills
and prepare for the GED.
In Maine, Chris Lyford’s three
children are taking advantage of
an unusual opportunity to learn
to ride the unicycle and juggle
in a school club. Chris joined
the Scarborough Education
Foundation board to promote
innovation in schools, while wife
Cari is on the town’s school board.
Chris occasionally sneaks out with
Matt Murphy and Fred Horch to
see a concert and “talk about the
good old days.”
Ted LaCrone says his daughters,
12 and 16, “are occupying my
attention when my work at a local
hospital isn’t.”
Beth McGinley’s son, Antonio,
2, is “a sweet, fun little guy with
wild, curly hair and a ready grin.”
She works at the World Bank and
tries to limit travel while Antonio is
still young. She was away just five
nights for a work trip to India. Wow!
(Jet lag lasted longer, though.)
Catherine Rich’s daughter, Emily,
turned 5—an age that combines
“skill development and ‘assertion
of independence.’” Catherine is
a primary-care doctor at Boston
Medical Center and runs a training
program focusing on underserved
communities.
Sad news from Nancy Hughes in
Singapore: It’s been a tough year
with her mother’s death in April.
She thanks Bob Bronkema, Leslie
Donato Schwab, and Mary Grace
Folwell for their support and drive
to the funeral back in the States.
Meanwhile, Nancy’s daughter,
Jesse, a high school senior, isn’t
applying to Swarthmore: “She
wants to create her own identity,
I guess.”
Laurel Hester and husband
Rob celebrated 20 years of
marriage and “like to say we
are ‘free-birding’ instead of
‘empty-nesting.’” Her son attends
Rochester Institute of Technology,
while her daughter attends
boarding school to challenge
herself more than the local high
school in Ithaca, N.Y., could.
Laurel says boarding school was a
difficult decision, but her daughter
“makes the most of her smaller
discussion-based classes—
hearing about it reminds me of
Swarthmore.” Laurel is a biology
professor at Keuka College.
1995
Erik Thoen
erik_thoen@alum.swarthmore.edu
Sally Chin
sallypchin@gmail.com
Leading off this hardcopy edition
of Class Notes with a certain irony,
let me introduce a class Facebook
presence! One of our more
“Preserving culture should be done everywhere, not just in one spot,” says Tami Kellogg
’91, on Ile Amsterdam in the southern Indian Ocean, one of her many global adventures.
TAILWINDS
She sailed into a new career in Panama
by Kate Campbell
TAMI KELLOGG ’91 tugs laundry
from the clothesline, and a troop of
howler monkeys bellows in the nearby
trees. The sound, a mix of barking dog
and bothered cow, is as natural as a
songbird here.
“Life in the tropics, right?” she says.
A retired ER doctor, Kellogg moved
to Panama to work with the Emberá
and Wounaan, ethnic groups in the
remote Darién rainforest.
Her route here was circuitous,
including tall ships and a disaster relief
effort. But a passion for languages
has—so far—kept her wanderlust at
bay. Invited for a monthlong visit in
2011 because of her medical expertise,
Kellogg was so beguiled by the people
and their intimate connection to their
environment that she asked to stay.
Today, she’s helping them protect
many vanishing traditions.
“Despite a lack of highway, the roads
are encroaching, and they are losing
forest and culture,” says Kellogg,
founder and president of the nonprofit
Soambá, or “One Common Heart” in
English. “It’s the story we know well:
commercialization, industrialization,
assimilation to the colonial culture.
We’re working to restore indigenous
language where it’s been lost.”
Before medical school, Kellogg
studied linguistics at Swarthmore.
“Now I think about that all the
time, translating between English
and Spanish, and thinking about
indigenous languages,” she says.
“Language loss is a loss for humanity.”
In addition to cultural survival
workshops for all ages, Soambá
teaches sustainability.
“You can have good infrastructure
without spending tons of money and
using nonrenewable resources,” says
Kellogg. “It’s about expanding choices.
We want to empower communities
to grow and develop as they see fit,
within their own worldviews, so future
generations inherit a livable world.”
Some of the preparation for
rainforest life was strengthened by her
medical career. The relentless pace
included treating accident victims,
heart attack patients, stab wound
survivors, and the common sprained
ankle. Her comfort with taking charge
as well as a newly learned patience are
skills she uses daily.
“Working in medicine was a
privilege,” she says.
Even so, the sea called.
“I had a few experiences sailing on
the Chesapeake Bay as a child,” says
Kellogg. She continued sailing during
medical school at Harvard University.
When she moved to New York City
for her residency, she volunteered at
the South Street Seaport Museum,
working on the historic Pioneer.
“There’s nothing cooler than
sailing past the Statue of Liberty in a
hundred-year-old schooner,” she says.
Experiences like that eventually
inspired her to take stock of her role
as a doctor ... and sail away from it
for good, accepting a job on a ship
for $1,000 a month. She eventually
sailed two 7,000-mile ocean voyages,
changing latitude and longitude at a
human pace.
“It made me so happy,” she says.
“When you sail, you really get in your
bones what it is to live on this planet.
You understand the shape of it, the
distances, and the fragility. Sailing is
the perfect speed.”
Her voyage finally led her to Panama,
where she found her current calling.
Sometimes she misses the high seas,
but Kellogg knows she’s in the right
place.
“Life gives us what we need to grow,”
she says. “I feel so incredibly lucky
to know the Emberá and Wounaan
people. They’ve taught me what it is to
be human, without sentimentality, but
with a deep connectedness: to people,
to animals, to the Earth.”
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
63
class notes
socially adept members, Eugene
Sonn, took the initiative to create
the group Swarthmore College
Class of ’95 (bit.ly/Swat95). He
certainly deserves a lot of likes;
within two weeks of its early
September start, the group already
had 84 members! According to
the Swarthmore College Alumni
Online Directory, we have 312
people associated with our class,
so a couple hundred classmates
now have unfinished homework.
If you enjoy Facebook, follow the
link, request to join, and start
(re) connecting with classmates.
In the D.C. area, Sampriti Ganguli
continues to help philanthropists
achieve the greatest good with
their resources. She’s been quite
busy over the past six months,
with donors stepping up in the
areas of climate change, immigrant
rights, and civic engagement. I
was envious to learn that Sampriti
and husband Eric Gibbs took an
‘anniversarymoon’ and headed to
Tuscany in August, sans kids, and
“enjoyed Swattie-like intensive
study of religious iconography
and fine wines.” Otherwise, they
remain active trying to keep up
with sons Keiran, 11, and Devin, 14.
Cherry-Rose Anderson and
Aaron Brockett live with their kids
in Boulder, Colo. Son Jasper, 14,
started high school, while Eliza,
11, is a sixth-grader at Jarrow
Montessori School. Cherry and
Aaron started a software firm
in 1999 that has grown into an
eight-person company specializing
in web-application development.
Cherry focuses on social-justice
issues in her spare time and helped
start a Boulder NAACP chapter.
After five years on the Boulder
Planning Board, Aaron dove into
local politics and is now two
years into a four-year term on the
Boulder City Council. Congrats for
getting involved!
Finally, I, Erik, enjoyed a great
family vacation with a road trip
through southern Canada. One
highlight was kayaking in the
Thousand Islands region, where
you can paddle around numerous
small islands in the St. Lawrence
River. I particularly liked the name
Moneysunk Island!
We want to hear from you! If
you’ve been up to something
64
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
interesting, whether work or
pleasure, please let us know.
1997
Joy Oliver
joy_oliver@hotmail.com
Our class celebrated its 20th
Reunion in May. Christopher
Sunami attended his first reunion
in 15 years and roomed with Cyril
Yee and Tony Cheesebrough, just
like the old days. Christopher’s
and Cyril’s families also met up
later in the summer for a fun-filled
week at the Toronto home of Cyril’s
ever-gracious parents. Katie
Jozwicki Morgan says her favorite
reunion moment was during the
dance party (deejayed by the
legendary Alan Sama—thanks,
Alan!), when Prince came on and
all the millennials stopped dancing.
Uri Ko Yoo also reports having
tons of fun at the reunion with
her husband and sons, Noel, 3,
and Asher, 1. Uri still lives in Silver
Spring, Md., and works in the
Office of General Counsel of the
Social Security Administration.
Laura Gitelson was sad to miss
the reunion but had a good reason:
She and husband Josh Arnold
had second child Micah Gitelson
Arnold on April 24. Micah joins
brother Daniel, 3. Laura works
part time for MIT undergraduate
admissions and lives near Boston.
After 13 years with Warner Bros.
(and a short stint at a startup
called Loot Crate), Cynthia Hong
Suttle is now the proud smallbusiness owner of College Nannies
+ Sitters + Tutors in Burbank, Calif.
Let her know if you’re traveling
to the LA area and need a sitter.
Annie McCasland-Pexton still lives
in Melbourne, Australia, and has
written a book, Invisible Work,
released in November.
Swatties are on the move! Erika
Rauer moved to Eugene, Ore., with
her husband and two daughters
to be executive director of the
Eugene Opera. She would love to
meet area Swatties and requests
that you contact her through
the company. After 10 years in
Wisconsin, Stephen ’96 and Nina
Santos Laubach have replanted
themselves in central New Jersey,
returning to the Lawrenceville
School, where Steve incorporates
a working farm and surrounding
700 acres into the science
curriculum. Rest assured, they will
remain Packers fans! Their first
Swattie visitors included the family
of Rebekah Bundang and Chuck
Stevens ’96 (a Lawrenceville
School alumnus) as well as Steve’s
brother and sister-in-law, Jacob
’93 and Anjolie Idicula Laubach
’98.
Jill Rubin, husband Andrew, and
kids Lilja, 6, and Reijo, 4, moved
to Hartland, Vt. They landed in a
wonderful co-housing community
that includes Jersey cows, sheep,
a llama, farm fields and gardens,
cross-country ski trails, and a
wonderful community of people
(cobbhill.org). Jill welcomes
nearby people to reach out. I, Joy
Oliver, have temporarily returned
to the D.C. area with husband
Nate after two years in Morocco
with the State Department. I look
forward to catching up with old
friends during the six months of
training before moving on to our
next assignment.
With the light comes the
shadows. After all this lovely news,
it saddens me to report that Eric
Mealy died unexpectedly July 25.
Eric is remembered as a sweet
soul with a wicked sense of humor.
With his kind words and beautiful
voice, he made a huge impact on
all of us lucky enough to know him.
He will be missed.
1999
Melissa Morrell
melrel99@hotmail.com
Chris Seaman and Allison Lyons
’02 welcomed second child Owen
Michael Seaman in summer 2016.
Owen is now walking and waving
at everyone he meets. “I received
tenure at Washington and Lee
University School of Law (where
I’m an associate professor),” Chris
writes. “I also became director
of the Frances Lewis Law Center
(W&L Law’s research institute)
last summer.”
Mary Meiklejohn-Pitney and
husband Jack had son William
Endeavor Pitney in October. “Big
sister Eleanor is over the moon. I
continue to handle the data needs
of a community health center on
the North Shore of Massachusetts,
and our little island town is not
underwater yet.”
Eric Bishop-von Wettberg and
family moved to Vermont to take
faculty positions at the University
of Vermont. “We are happy to be
back in the Northeast close to
family and friends. I am thrilled to
teach in a department focused on
agriculture, and to have students
focused on organic farming
and sustainable approaches. I
spent the summer in Guangzhou,
China, as a Chinese Academy of
Science Fellow at the South China
Botanical Garden, and will be in
Ethiopia this fall as a Fulbright
specialist.”
Ben Fritz’s book The Big Picture
will be published March 6. It uses
material from the Sony Pictures
hack to take readers inside a
studio and explain why theaters
are full of so many sequels,
reboots, and superhero movies and
so few original films for adults. Ben
lives in LA and covers Hollywood
for The Wall Street Journal.
Ashwin Rao and family are doing
well and I, Melissa Morrell, am
lucky to see them often. Ashwin
is in his fourth year as program
director of the University of
Washington Sports Medicine
Fellowship, his ninth year taking
care of the Seahawks, and his
10th year caring for UW Husky
athletes. “The women’s crew
team, whom I care for, won the
NCAA national championship this
year. It’s the sixth UW national
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championship for which I’ve been
a team physician, along with the
Super Bowl win.” Not bad for a
team doc! Ashwin was also elected
to the American Medical Society
for Sports Medicine’s board of
directors. He and his fam visited
NYC and caught up with Andy
Caffrey, Gordon Roble, and Bob
Griffin.
Motivated by despair at national
politics and the feeling that in blue
Massachusetts he can’t effect
change politically, Roger Paratore
Bock has been volunteering
at a food pantry. “It has been
surprisingly rewarding—I feel
like I’ve been helping people who
actually need help, and I get to
learn how to say words like ‘butter’
in different languages.”
Vanessa Carter lives on a sailboat
in Sausalito, Calif., “with my
partner, Joe—everyone’s invited to
come for a sail! The hard part of my
update is I’m caring for both of my
parents, who have Alzheimer’s.”
Vanessa visited Leena Kansal and
husband Tom Dittmann in sunny
San Diego, where she met their
gorgeous twin babies, Eva and
Sonya.
Josh Knox is the proud parent
of a second-grader (yikes!) and
enjoys his Mondays taking her
swimming or for a playground
romp. Caliandra joins him
Tuesdays for aikido class, which
he helps teach. Josh is delighted
to resume practice, many years
after training with the Swarthmore
Aikido Club. He looks forward to
showing Eric Bishop-von Wettberg
around his permaculture garden
in Holyoke, Mass., now that Eric
has moved closer and the garden is
coming into its own.
Benson Wilder and family are
past one year in Seattle and have
mostly recovered from eight years
in D.C. Benson works at the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation
and sees brother-in-law Mac
Funk and family often. The little
cousins—Lusa, Mae, Silas, Wilson,
and Ethan—remain two short of
fielding an Ultimate team.
Elizabeth Nickrenz Fein is in a
Pittsburgh band called Take Me
With You. Jenny Briggs saw their
debut when they opened for Men
Without Hats.
Helen Oliver enjoyed lunch with
Alyssa Rayman-Read in early
summer, “where we played hooky
from work and caught up on the
last 18 (*cough*) years.”
I, Melissa Morrell, have returned
to my maiden name five years
after being divorced. I have also
retired from Microsoft, shifting
my work-life balance to entirely
life. This year will definitely be a
new adventure. Fortunately, I’ve
joined one of the two Seattle book
clubs to keep me intellectually
stimulated. We are reading books
within the theme of “Black/White,
African/American, North/South,
Then/Now,” which is exceedingly
timely. I have the good fortune of
seeing Susan Hunt, husband Paul,
and their family regularly. I’ll also
be spending much more time with
my daughter, Clara, 7.
If you missed seeing your news
here, email me and I’ll add you to
our next issue!
2001
Claudia Zambra
claudiazambra@gmail.com
We’ll begin with a few nuptials.
Kate Fama married Alexander
Tzschentke at a small ceremony
in the Irish countryside Sept. 9.
The two met in Berlin and have
settled happily in Dublin. In
attendance were bridesmaid Sari
Altschuler (and husband Chris),
Chris Woodrell (and husband
Mark), Vanessa Knoedler, Alissa
Parmelee, Aymeric Frély Pansu
(and wife Anne), and Maya
Peterson ’02. The bride and groom
were champs and danced until
almost 3 a.m.! Kate, an assistant
CAPTIONED!
“Is that the train to Tuscaloosa?”
— Josh Miller ’86
“You can’t miss its arrival because you’ll hear
‘goo goo ga-joob’ over and over again.”
— John Goldman ’71, H’17
“Looks like it’s slippery rail season again.”
— Ben Marks ’16
+ MORE CAPTIONS: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
professor of American literature
at University College Dublin, has
started a three-year research
group focused on architecture and
the humanities.
Jason and Demetra Ray Caldwell
had a ball with their two little girls
at the wedding of James JohnsonPiett ’03 and Yas Khawja ’03. It
was a blast seeing their entire
Swat family!
The class has welcomed a few
more children. Ryan ’99 and
Deirdre Downey Fruh, in Atlanta,
had Vivienne Saoirse in midSeptember. Brothers Teddy and
Thad are enjoying Vivi and can’t
wait for her to be able to jump on
the trampoline with them. Marisa
Chavez, an OB-GYN on call at the
hospital the night Vivi was born,
was one of the first people to meet
her.
Matthew Davis and Betsy
Grossman welcomed Jasper
Douglas Davis on July 5 in
Washington, D.C. Class of 2039?!
A few others checked in from
D.C., including Jaime Yassif, who
last year became the Biosecurity
and Pandemic Preparedness
program officer at the Open
Philanthropy Project, a charitable
organization based in San
Francisco. She frequently travels
to the Bay Area, where she hangs
out with Ann Finkelstein, Dave
Auerbach, and Emily Clough ’03.
Andrew Breitenberg regularly
hangs in D.C. with fellow Sixteen
Feet alum Carl Roose ’00, David
Ramirez ’01, and Alex Lundry ’99.
He is translating the Bible from
the old Greek and Hebrew and
also making art. Children Wills and
Isobel Grace are 5 and 2.
Nearby, Pat Murray teaches
American government and politics
at American University and lives in
Columbia, Md., with his wife and
son, Andrew, 1.
Aryani Manring left D.C. for
Yangon, Myanmar, with her
husband, Scott, and two kids. She
and Scott serve in the U.S.
Embassy and say it’s good to be
back in Southeast Asia.
Lily Yang and Peter Hastings are
in Stockholm. Antoinette Eltz is
in London (moved back there
from Zurich almost two years
ago) and enjoying everything the
city offers. She changed jobs and
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
65
class notes
is much happier, because she
travels significantly less. If anyone
passes through town, please get in
touch—she would love to catch up!
Maggie Thomer and Sam Picard
live in St. Petersburg, Fla., where
she is a urologist and he is a
paramedic. Sam pastors a small
church with a largely homeless/
marginally housed congregation,
which is a true adventure. He’s
also midway through a master’s in
health-care administration. Maggie
was training for a mid-December
triathlon.
Katie Hutchinson lives in
Cambridge, Mass. She, Sarah
Jay, and Amy Dickson ’99 took
inspiration from Loring Pfeiffer ’02
and started a chapter of Solidarity
Sundays, a feminist activist group
dedicated to resisting President
Trump’s agenda—message them
to join!
Tenaya Scheinman is a senior
attorney at the King County
Department of Public Defense in
Seattle.
Laura Cohen relocated from Philly
to Seattle with fiancé Matt, who
landed a job with Rooted in Rights,
a disability media advocacy project
at Disability Rights Washington.
They’re enjoying getting to know
Seattle and reconnecting with
Carrie Griffin Basas ’99, Jen
Callaghan, and Suor Kim ’02.
2003
Robin Smith Petruzielo
robinleslie@alum.swarthmore.edu
Yasmin Khawja wed James
“JJP” Johnson-Piett on Sept. 18
in Newport, R.I., in yet another
unforeseen Quaker matchbox.
Yasmin spilled barbecue chicken
on JJP’s khakis when “matched
up” at Lillian Marsh ’01 and
Walker Lee’s wedding three years
prior. Yasmin finished an internal
medicine residency. The couple
live in Astoria, Queens, and
honeymooned seaside in romantic
Lisboa, Portugal.
Sydney Beveridge and Josh
Wakesberg celebrated their
66
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON …
JOSH LOEFFLER ’03
Josh Loeffler ’03 accepted the position of head men’s basketball
coach at Johns Hopkins University. He and wife Helen Leitner
Loeffler ’04, a certified nurse midwife, live in Baltimore with their
children, ages 5 and 1.
“It’s great to be involved on a campus, dealing with college
students,” he says. “I got my break in coaching from my football
coach at Swarthmore, Pete Alvanos. Who knows what I would be
doing if he did not hire me at Hamilton College?”
+
Queens, N.Y., wedding with a
guitar serenade, cat jokes, trivia,
poetry, and heirloom pants made
of American flags. Mark Angelillo
helped introduce the couple;
Erica Cartmill, Rashelle Isip, Blair
Cochran, Renee Willemsen-Goode,
Kanani Milles, Josh Hurwitz ’02,
Sam Dingman ’04, Josh Kramer
’00, and Caroline Bermudez
attended.
Hollis Easter married Jasmine
Walker in Vermont. Swatties there
included Amelia Hoover Green,
Melissa Running ’94, and Eileen
Thorsos.
Ali Furman and husband Jay
had son Nathan Michael in July
2016. Abraham, 4, is a great big
brother! Ali is an M&A partner
at PricewaterhouseCoopers’s
advisory practice in NYC. Jay
completed a movement science
Ph.D. last spring and is a professor
at St. Peter’s University. The family
lives in Summit, N.J.
Neil Cavanaugh and wife Eva
had twins Axel and Hazel in April.
Brother Grey, 4, already rides a
bicycle without training wheels.
Ben Schak and wife Dory had
second daughter Eliza Rhys Schak
on June 2.
Liza Henty-Clark moved to
Sonoma County, Calif., and lives in
a cabin in the redwoods. Son Elliot,
7, loves to listen to audiobooks
and plan tree forts. Liza is an
occupational therapist in the area’s
tiny school districts and is earning
yoga teacher certifications for
children and adults.
Noah Metheny moved from D.C.
CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
to Geneva, Switzerland, where he
works at the Global Fund. He spent
the summer paddleboarding on
Lake Geneva, hiking the Alps, and
visiting Swatties across Europe.
Davita Burkhead-Weiner started
a new job in child and adolescent
psychiatry in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ursula Whitcher resigned her
tenured position at the University
of Wisconsin–Eau Claire to
become an associate editor at
Mathematical Reviews (part of the
American Mathematical Society).
She has enjoyed settling into Ann
Arbor.
Morghan Holt Milagrosa practices
midwifery and women’s health on
glorious Whidbey Island, north
of Seattle. Working for a public
district hospital, Morghan enjoys
serving a diverse community with
limited access to health care. She
is also working on a pregnancy
manuscript. Daughter Alexxys,
20, works full time in marketing;
Nuala, 9, loves fourth grade by the
sea; and Pablo, 3, is refining his
preschool parkour tricks.
Todd Gillette moved to San Diego
in July for his second of three
one-year rotations in acoustic
force fields research at Northrop
Grumman.
Latika Young was appointed
director of Florida State’s Center
for Undergraduate Research and
Academic Engagement. She enjoys
hanging out with alligators and
manatees, jumping into springs,
and bikepacking through the
Apalachicola National Forest.
Patty Park is now assistant
professor of literature in American
University’s MFA in creative writing
program. She is working on her
second novel and looks forward to
reconnecting with D.C. Swatties.
William Tran left NBCUniversal
after almost seven years to join
Viacom as VP, Production Risk
Team, in Business and Legal
Affairs.
Cleve and Krista Marshall Cooke
had two great outdoor summer
birthday parties for Linda Grace,
3, and Caleb, 5. Krista is a family
doctor in a Christian urban clinic,
while Cleve is a habilitation
aide. They have taken up family
taekwondo.
Rashelle Isip was featured in
September’s Cosmopolitan in
“Desk for Success,” sharing tips
on organizing and maintaining a
productive workspace.
Eden Wales Freedman was named
2017 Woman of the Year by the
Women’s Equality Coalition of
Linn County, Iowa, for her work on
behalf of woman and girls in the
U.S. and Afghanistan.
With three girls age 5 and
younger, Susan Christensen Henz
is moving at “kid speed” these
days. Music consists of “Pickle,
Pickle, Little Star” and truly
terrible “Hokey Pokey” renditions.
Amelia Hoover Green connected
with Laurel Eckhouse and Emily
Clough at an American Political
Science Association meeting
in San Francisco. Amelia’s son,
Henry, started preschool at the
center where husband Jarrod is a
director.
2005
Jessica Zagory
jazagory@alum.swarthmore.edu
We had an exciting summer of
new careers, family members, and
adventures.
Liza Anderson moved to
Claremont, Calif., for a two-year
position as visiting assistant
professor of theology and the
history of Christianity at Claremont
School of Theology.
Ian McCready-Flora started
his second year as an assistant
professor of philosophy at the
University of Virginia. He was
previously in St. Louis University’s
philosophy department and
Columbia University’s Society of
Fellows. Daughter Felicity started
kindergarten.
In July, Tanya Aydelott started
an MFA in writing for children
and young adults at the Vermont
College of Fine Arts; later that
month, she packed up her
northeast Ohio apartment and
moved to Williamstown, Mass.,
to be associate director for
international recruitment in
Williams College’s admissions
office. On her drive, she popped by
Pittsburgh to see Caroline Carlson
’06, though she failed to bring
a copy of The World’s Greatest
Detective for an autograph.
Keizen Li Qian is happily
embarking on a biology MS at Cal
State–Fullerton, studying protein
function in manganese-oxidizing
bacteria.
Elizabeth McDonald had daughter
Flora Andromeda Rotondo in
October 2016. Elizabeth and
husband Mike Rotondo are having
so much fun seeing her gain new
skills every day. Flora’s also played
with other Swattie babies, in San
Francisco and during summer
travel.
Sarah Cohodes and husband
Andrew Shawhan had daughter
Devorah Shawhan Cohodes
on May 30. Rachel Jacobs
Zimmerman and her husband
had daughter Hannah Marie
on June 8. Son Zack loves being
an older brother, and Rachel is
remembering how to function on
little sleep.
Rachel Scott and Aaron
Wasserman had Nathan Joseph
Wasserman on June 8. They
were fortunate to have much of
the summer off to figure out the
first weeks of parenting and take
pleasant day trips around town.
Anyone who wants to marvel at
Nathan’s cheeks—or change a
diaper—is welcome to stop by their
Boston home.
Jessie Martin and Joe Raciti
had daughter Lucy May Raciti on
Aug. 25. Lucy would like to apply
early-early action for the Class
of 2039. Her academic record
is forthcoming, but so far her
interests include eating, snuggling,
and being incredibly cute.
Adam Gerber and Dana Friedman
had Lina Ruth Friedman Gerber,
also on Aug. 25.
Maria “Piper” Hy joined Doctors
Without Borders and is going
to South Sudan as an OB-GYN.
Jason Bronstein moved to NYC
and is the assistant professor
of sleep medicine and pediatric
pulmonology in the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai.
As she enters the New Year, Erin
Dwyer-Frazier is reflecting on her
first year in solo practice. The Law
Office of Erin Dwyer-Frazier: Legal
Solutions for Digital Creatives is
hitting its stride, and for each new
client, Erin learns 10 new things.
She and husband Steve Almeida
had their sixth wedding anniversary
this year and also adopted dog
Abby from Freedom Street Rescue,
which transports dogs from a
high-kill, high-volume Texas shelter
to areas with higher adoption
rates. Her older “brother,” Tucker,
was also a rescue but was “only”
transported from Missouri. They’ve
become best friends, and Erin
and Steve remain committed to
encouraging adoption everywhere
and saving as many shelter dogs as
possible. #AdoptDontShop
Lindsay Brin married Aaron
McFarlane on July 29, in the
woods in Maine. A small group
of friends and family hiked in on
Friday and had a lovely weekend
of swimming, paddling, hiking,
playing music, and the wedding.
Tedi Asher (whose wedding they’d
attended two weeks earlier) was
there. After an M.A., a Ph.D., and
several years of postdoctoral
research, Lindsay pivoted from
ecosystem ecology to data
science. She now works at a tech
consulting company.
Chun Mei Lam and Raissa
Diamante (former Swarthmore
admissions staff) married June 25
in Pasadena, Calif. In attendance
were bridesmaid Maria “Piper”
Hy, officiant Powen Shiah ’09, and
Audrey Chan ’04.
2007
Kristin Leitzel Hoy
kleitzel@gmail.com
Duncan Gromko lives in Freiburg,
Germany, home to Black Forest
cake and beer mixed with
lemonade. He enjoys the great
hiking nearby, traveling Europe,
and meeting up with Colton Bangs
in Belgium occasionally. Duncan
moved to Freiburg a year ago
with Aurora Munoz ’10, whom
he married last May. He works
for a forest and climate-change
consulting company.
Athena Samaras lives in Durham,
N.C., and is a pediatric nurse
practitioner at a federally qualified
health center. Over the summer,
Athena married Alex Bibbey in
Annapolis, Md. Sara Sargent
officiated, with Elizabeth Richey,
Ian Adelstein, Karen Lorang,
Simone Boyle, Lauren Irizarry ’08,
and Edson Carias ’08 attending.
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham got
married in June, surrounded
by enough Swarthmoreans to
constitute a mini-reunion. His
father, John Goldsmith ’72,
FOLLOW US!
Facebook and Instagram:
@SwarthmoreBulletin
#SwatBulletin
officiated.
Emily Gasser Zucker married
Matt Zucker in front of family
Thanksgiving 2016 and held a
public wedding in Ithaca, N.Y.,
on Aug. 5. Nina Thanawala, Mu
Yang, Kannie Chim, George Hang,
Rosemary Gonzaga, Gil Jones ’01,
Loring Pfeiffer ’02, Nathaniel
Fairfield ’01, Daniel Sproul ’03,
Katie Tunning ’03, Kevin Setter
’02, and Corlett Wood ’08
attended, as did faculty members
Vince Formica (biology), Elizabeth
Drellich (math), and Peter Klecha
(linguistics). Emily teaches in
Swat’s linguistics department,
and Matt teaches robotics in the
engineering department.
Michelle Tomasik and Andrew
Cheng ’08 had baby Annika Yulin
Cheng in early July.
Caleb Ward lives in a 10-person
“WG” in Berlin with partner
Michèle and new baby Béla, a
sunshine-filled sweetheart. He’ll
be working on a dissertation on
ethics and feminist philosophy for
at least another year there, and he
welcomes visitors!
Nim ’06 and Katie Crawford
Cohen had their first child in
mid-May. Ilian James Cohen is a
bundle of energy and curiosity,
which surprises no one. Katie
finished a postdoc at Columbia
School of Nursing in March and
has since started as a health policy
researcher at RAND Corp. She,
Nim, and Ilian moved to LA over
the summer.
After six months of living with her
parents, Kristin Leitzel Hoy is back
in her fully renovated early 1800s
farmhouse. The move happened
just in time to welcome son Cooper,
born at home the second night in
the house.
Christine Costello Kensey
continues her EdTech work
as director of training and
user adoption at TargetX. She
has re-entered the university
setting, pursuing a master’s in
organizational leadership and
learning from George Washington
University.
Jon Stott started an executive
master’s program at NYU’s Wagner
School of Public Service. He is
also deputy director of EcoRise,
a nonprofit inspiring a new
generation of green leadership.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
67
class notes
Tim Roeper finished an
economics Ph.D. at the CUNY
Graduate Center and began his
first semester teaching at NYU.
Nathaniel Peters earned a Ph.D.
from Boston College in May and
started the Morningside Institute,
a small academic nonprofit in NYC.
He is also a lecturer at Columbia.
Karl Petre has become fully
absorbed by the adventures of his
Apple workplace. In his free time,
he enjoys catching up with Bay
Area classmates.
Nat Erb-Satullo and Nicole
Belanger Satullo ’08 moved to
the U.K., where Nat started a
lectureship in archaeomaterials (a
blend of archaeology and materials
science) at Oxford.
Anna Torres is an assistant
professor in the University of
Chicago’s comparative literature
department, specializing in Yiddish
literature and gender studies. She
is completing her first book, Any
Minute Now, the World Overflows
Its Border!
Eliza Blair attended the Tech
Elevator coding boot camp over
the summer and launched a career
as a software developer in the
financial sector. She is renovating
her dream home in Cleveland.
Juliet Braslow and Carlos
Villafuerte ’08 enjoy life in
Santiago, Chile. Juliet works
with the U.N. in the Sustainable
Development and Human
Settlements Department of the
Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Katie Van Winkle is writing a
dissertation and directing, most
recently an international tour
of Bear Eats Bear, a self-guided
postapocalyptic audio nature-hike
play.
2009
Melanie Spaulding
maspauld1@gmail.com
Yoi Tibbetts accepted a position
as a research assistant professor
in the University of Virginia’s
Curry School of Education, where
he studies motivation and how
it relates to student and athlete
performance. He is moving
to Charlottesville with Evan
Nesterak, who co-founded the
online publication the Behavioral
Scientist. Yoi and Evan comprise
half of a new startup, the Mindset
Assessment Project, which works
with the U.S. Soccer Federation to
examine the motivation of players
in the Development Academy and
youth national teams.
Hannah Jaicks is program
manager for Future West, a
Northern Rockies nonprofit that
works to protect biodiversity
in rural western communities.
Hannah works with policymakers
to ensure the recent de-listings of
the grizzly bear and wolf from the
endangered-species list do not
result in extinction. Hannah also
coaches a high school lacrosse
team in Bozeman, Mont., that won
the state championship last year.
Jason Thrope was promoted to
vice president of global capital
raising and investor relations at
Starwood Capital, where he started
as an associate in 2012. He has
played an increasing role in the
firm’s fundraising and will spend
more time working with clients.
Sophia Pan moved to NYC for a job
at the Governor’s Office of Storm
Recovery and lives in Brooklyn
with Marissa Davis ’08. She
would love to meet up with area
Swatties. Rafael Rivero founded
and manages Occupy Democrats
and the Washington Journal. He
and partner Eric Brown toured
Mediterranean Europe.
Keith Benjamin moved from
D.C. to Charleston, S.C., to be
the city’s director of traffic and
transportation. He and his wife
had baby Kingsley this summer.
Sasha Shahidi works at LA’s Ford
Theatres, which had an exciting
slate of summer shows. Jeff
McManus is still technical director
at IDinsight, a nonprofit helping
leaders in developing countries
use evidence to improve their
social impact. He spent most of
August, September, and October
training staff in India, Zambia, and
Kenya. Virginia Tice McManus
still teaches at Lighthouse in East
Oakland, Calif., but in a new role:
as a K–3 literacy specialist at a
new school, Lodestar. This has
come with unique opportunities
for creativity; e.g. her “classroom”
is on the stage of an auditorium,
which shows how important
reading and staff flexibility are in
SPOTLIGHT ON …
DAN HAMMER ’07
Dan Hammer ’07, an environmental economist and doctoral
candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, was honored
with the first-ever Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius
Award, for expanding the accessibility of satellite data.
“Swarthmore taught me the value of a broad perspective,” he
says. “The liberal arts curriculum granted the ability to learn new
things quickly—and to love that process.”
+
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WINTER 2018
CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
her new community.
Hyunjoo “JuJu” Lee finished an
emergency medicine residency at
Mount Sinai Beth Israel in NYC and
is in Philly for a Medical Education
Fellowship at Jefferson’s Sidney
Kimmel Medical College. Zach
Rhinehart is in his second year
of a cardiology fellowship at the
University of Pittsburgh and enjoys
every minute, especially his time
in the cath lab, the CCU, and
with his patients at the VA. Wife
Erin finished a residency after
celebrating their fifth anniversary
and will join the faculty of the
University of Pittsburgh as an
OB-GYN. Zach and Erin excitedly
announce that Elliot Joseph
Rhinehart (Class of ’35?) was born
in February. Elliot had a blast with
Uncle Nick ’13 at Aunt Tessa ’17’s
graduation, although he has not
warmed up to Sharples, forgoing
pasta bar in favor of breast milk.
Diana “Teddy” Pozo graduated
from UC–Santa Barbara with a
film and media studies Ph.D. and
a doctoral emphasis in feminist
studies. Teddy’s dissertation
project on queer videogames,
vibrating movie-theater seats,
and teledildonics is titled Haptic
Media: Sexuality, Gender, and
Affect in Technology Culture,
1959–2015. Haptic Media is under
embargo, but interested readers
can find parts of the work in Rated
M for Mature and a forthcoming
“In Practice” section of Camera
Obscura, shepherded to publication
by professor Patricia White and
featuring an essay by Claudia Lo
’16. The Camera Obscura section
is about the Queerness and
Games Conference, an annual,
community-oriented, nationally
recognized event exploring the
intersection of LGBTQ issues and
video games. Teddy’s been an
organizer for three years and will
co-lead the conference in 2018.
Emlen Metz finished a psychology
Ph.D. at Penn and moved to
Berkeley, where, through an
unexpected turn of events,
her postdoc is in the physics
department! Her subject is
teaching scientific and critical
thinking under the physicist Saul
Perlmutter. Dan Hodson started at
Yale School of Medicine in June.
Sean Nesselrode received an art
history Ph.D. from NYU’s Institute
of Fine Arts in May and joined
Rhode Island School of Design
as assistant professor of history
of art and visual culture. Patrick
Rock got hired to teach psychology
full time at Glendale Community
College in California.
Ben Raphel appeared on
Jeopardy! on Dec. 8—hopefully,
everyone tuned in! Lin Gyi and
Eric Loui got married May 28 and
honeymooned in Portland. Kevin
and Jordan Schmidt Shaughnessy
had second child Kathleen “Kate”
Rae Shaughnessy on May 18.
Kate enjoys milk and sleeping
and even took her first plane ride.
Liam turned 2 in October and
is settling into his new role of
big brother. He especially loves
showing Kate his toys and helping
her do tummy time. Tally Sharma
Venjohn and husband Chris had
baby Edison “Eddie” Bernard
Venjohn. Eddie made a slightly
early appearance on Mother’s Day,
and his interests include eating,
sleeping, and listening to Daveed
Diggs on repeat. That baby clearly
has excellent taste! Katie Sauvain
writes that another Quaker
matchbox child has arrived: She
and Ben Thuronyi ’07 had baby
Milo in March.
2013
Paige Grand Pré
jpgrandpre@gmail.com
With the 5th Reunion rapidly
approaching, classmates continue
to pursue academic achievement.
Marina Tucktuck started at St.
George’s University School of
Medicine in Grenada, while Joan
O’Bryan began studies at the
University of Cambridge for an
M.Phil. in public policy. She is
psyched and believes it will be tons
of fun.
Also excited to be back in school
is Yin Guan, who after three years
of teaching math and science and
a year of traveling Asia returned
for a master of theological studies
in Buddhist studies at Harvard
Divinity School. She moved into
a lovely apartment near Davis
Square with four other humans
and two cats, all of whom are
amenable to visitors!
On the flip side, a number of peers
wrapped up graduate degrees in
the past year. Jacqueline Small
finished a joint-degree program
in May, earning a master of social
work from Rutgers and a master of
divinity from Princeton Theological
Seminary. After graduation,
Jacqueline moved to Erie, Pa., to
work for Sister Joan Chittister,
a Benedictine nun, author, and
lecturer, at her organization,
Benetvision. Jacqueline is thrilled
to do research for Sister Joan’s
publications, managing a fund
that provides prisoners with free
journals and spiritual books, and
designing e-courses on topics
like mindfulness, feminism in
Christianity, and interfaith work.
Monika Zaleska earned an MFA
in fiction writing from Brooklyn
College and teaches composition
and literature courses in the
English department. Hannah Kurtz
finished her term in Cambodia in
July, moved to D.C. in August, and
started a master of ethics, peace,
and global affairs at the School of
International Service at American
University.
Sarah Vogelman earned an
art history master’s from NYU’s
Institute of Fine Arts and began
as the exhibition assistant at
the Philadelphia Museum of
Art for 2020’s Jasper Johns
Retrospective. She looks forward
to reacquainting herself with
Philly and cannot believe the 5th
Reunion is almost upon us. Nearby
in Jersey, Nick Allred sweats it
out on the streets of a runaway
American dream by day; by night
he rides through mansions of glory
in Rutgers’s English department.
In career news, Ben Goossen
published Chosen Nation, the
story of a Christian religious
group’s entanglement with German
nationalism from the 19th century
through Hitler’s Third Reich and
the Holocaust.
Max Nesterak eats avocado
toast in the house he owns in
Minneapolis. He is a producer at
Minnesota Public Radio News
and an editor of the Behavioral
Scientist with Evan Nesterak
’09. Sam Sussman was selected
as one of the Frank 5 Fellows
by Swarthmore’s Aydelotte
Foundation. Sam is co-founder
and present director of Extend, a
conflict-education NGO in Israel–
Palestine that has been featured at
the U.N., at the Oxford Union, and
in Slate and The Huffington Post.
Sam graduated from Oxford with
an M.Phil. in international relations
in June.
Eugene Prymak is now a full
sales engineer for Powerhouse
Equipment and Engineering.
Traveling out west on a monthly
basis is a welcome necessity for
handling his territory, but he still
resides in Goshen Valley in West
Chester, Pa. He purchased an
investment property nearby as
well as a different primary vehicle.
Most important, Eugene “looks
forward to continuing to visit
campus this year and beyond.”
Zach Nacev married Erin
Curtis on Aug. 5 at Erin’s parents’
house in Silverdale, Wash. A bunch
of Swatties made the trip out to
celebrate (and enjoy a mini-Pub
Nite reunion!), including Sean
Mangus and Yvonne Socolar in
the wedding party, Chloe
Stevens, Emma Thomas, Taryn
Colonnese, Kira White, Jackson
Goodman, Bryce Codell, Klara
Aizupitis ’14, Tim Kwilos, Rory
McTear, Sam Bennett, Fernando
Maldonado, Laurie Sellars
’15, Marie Mutryn ’12, Yaeir Heber
’11, and Camille Rogine ’11.
Andi Merritt (now Campbell) got
married in June, and Elliot Padgett
married Megan Holtz in August
in Denver. Joshua Satre married
Morgan Feddes in Montana in the
company of many Swatties. He is
pursuing an M.A. at the University
of Denver’s Josef Korbel School
of International Studies as a Sié
Fellow. Julia Melin entered the
second year of a sociology Ph.D.
program at Stanford and married
a Yalie on July Fourth weekend.
Melissa O’Connor ’14, Ashley
Gochoco ’14, Aaron Moser, Jessica
Seigel ’16, Eliana Cohen ’17, and
Josh Raifman ’15 were there.
I wish you all the best and look
forward to seeing everyone at the
reunion! If you have any notes,
please submit them to me.
2015
Alexis Leanza
leanzaalexis@gmail.com
West Coast: Jason Heo returned
stateside to San Francisco this
summer after a year in Beijing
as an inaugural Schwarzman
Scholar and now works at
Emerson Collective. Jason sees
many Swatties regularly: Callen
Rain, Justin Cosentino, Ellen
Bachmannhuff, Matthew Sharma,
Emanuel Schorsch, María Ximena
Anleu Gil, Yongjun Heo ’09, Ari
Spiegel ’13, Davis Ancona ’14, Sarah
Nielsen ’16, Emily Gale ’16, and Razi
Shaban ’16. Come visit! (Unsure if
invitation is directed to just me or
the wider community—I’d contact
Jason before showing up.)
The middle part: Kate Wiseman
and Lauren Barlow are gallivanting
between the Chicago Diner and
Red Stars games (for which Lauren
gets Kate free tickets). They
completed the Chicago Triathlon
together. Kate is in her third year
as a 10th-grade English teacher;
Lauren routinely RAs her work
friends when they go out.
East Coast: Kimaya Diggs lives in
Northampton, Mass., where she
is a freelance music teacher for
grades 6–12. By night she manages
a craft brewery and performs
original music. She received a
Callaloo poetry fellowship last
summer, married Jacob Rosazza in
June, and will release her first solo
album this winter.
Patrick Ross is a writing and
research specialist at the Wilma
Theater in Philly and a firstyear member of the Foundry, a
playwriting collective. He still
collaborates with Kimaya and
contributed lyrics toward her
upcoming album.
Ariel Gewirtz passed her general
exam and is officially a Ph.D.
candidate at Princeton! She works
in a Bayesian stats lab modeling
human genomic data.
Osazenoriuwa Ebose is finishing
her last year at Temple Law
School and will work at Schnader
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
69
class notes
SPOTLIGHT ON …
MAYRA TENORIO LOPEZ ’15
Mayra Tenorio Lopez ’15 was named a Gates Cambridge Scholar,
the third Swarthmore alum to receive the honor. As a master of
philosophy student, Tenorio will explore how indigenous women in
Guatemala use their bodies to resist gendered violence within their
community.
“Swarthmore encouraged me to see myself as capable of
producing knowledge,” Tenorio says, “which very much widened a
world of possibilities for me.”
+
Harrison Segal & Lewis following
graduation. She’s still figuring out
adulting and will take any and all
advice.
Emma Madarasz and Elyse
Tierney moved back to the Philly
area. Emma is an assistant director
of residence life at Ursinus College,
and Elyse is attending Bryn Mawr
for a master’s of social service.
The two got engaged and happily
share custody of their fat, furry
son (read: cat), Puck MadaraszTierney.
The Gang (Ian Lukaszewicz,
Jason Hua, and Joseph Hagedorn)
broke up: Ian headed home to
“Strong Island” in pursuit of higher
education; Jason took a step
toward becoming a washed-up
Main Line squash pro by moving
to the suburbs; and Joe continues
his work from a new Gayborhood
flat while the world takes bets on
whether he will ever actually apply
to medical school.
After a year as a research
coordinator in Penn’s emergency
department, Tim Vaughan
submitted his medical school
applications. He looks forward to
no longer weeping over his laptop
while writing and rewriting essays
for hours. Check the summer Class
Notes to see if he actually got in.
Claudia Lujan escaped the heat in
Texas, where she started school at
UT–Southwestern, to visit Randy
Burson, who started an M.D./
Ph.D. at Penn. Greer Prettyman
(neuroscience Ph.D. at Penn) and
Justin Sui joined the weekend
“festivities” by ordering takeout
and studying until the caffeine
70
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
proved ineffective. The familiarity
was comforting.
Abroad: After two great years of
paying D.C. rent, Steven Gu moved
to Singapore to pay even more
in rent, ride bikes, and eat lots of
laksa lemak.
Natalia Choi still sends me
sweet nothings occasionally from
Korea or Siberia or Cádiz, the
breezy southern coast of Spain.
Her Spanish is improving, but at
times she feels Swarthmore didn’t
adequately introduce her to the
art of free time. I will accept any
suggestions on her behalf and
pass them along.
Andrew Dorrance teaches sixth
grade at the American School of
Puebla, Mexico. It’s challenging
teaching elementary school for
the first time, but he enjoys the
experience.
Location unknown: Ned
Weitzman sits on his couch a lot
and plays video games with Zoeth
Flegenheimer and Temple Price,
who kick Evan Rosenberg’s butt
at said video games on a regular
basis. We could—and probably
will—judge these young men for
submitting this particular tidbit for
Class Notes, but, hey, some studies
have found that video gamers
are faster, more efficient, and
less likely to make errors during
laparoscopic surgery, so maybe
we’ll all have to bite our tongues
in 20 years when they’re removing
our inflamed gallbladders. Except
Evan. Evan should not be trusted to
take out any gallbladders.
I, Alexis Leanza, passed my first
board exam; one down, countless
to go! I am excited to have signed
up for a career of lifelong learning
and lifelong standardized testing.
2017
Isabel Clay
isabelmarieclay@gmail.com
Emily Wu
emilywu1456@gmail.com
In the few months since graduation,
our class has already begun
to impress and inspire. In true
Swarthmore fashion, a number of
us are pursuing further education.
Cynthia Siego started a master’s in
global health in Boston, and Sara
Planthaber began law school in
Pittsburgh. Tess Wei completed
an art residency at Chautauqua
Institution last summer and began
a post-bacc at PAFA this fall. Grace
Farley started in Duke’s Patek
Lab studying the biomechanics of
super-fast movement in mantis
shrimp and midge larvae. She lives
with Charles Kacir in a Durham,
N.C., duplex and enjoys the
occasional company of N.C. native
Indy Reid-Shaw.
Jon Cohen started a graduate
research position at UC–Davis
in August modeling Northern
California’s reservoirs, rivers,
delta, and aqueducts. To make
the move west, he drove crosscountry, stopping along the way to
see Dan Asplin in Chicago; Isaac
Little and Meg Bost in St. Louis;
Dan Peterson ’18 in Berkeley; and
Atousa Nourmahnad, Marissa
Cohen, and Elizabeth Tolley ’18
in LA. He fit in some solo time
camping in all five Utah national
parks. He hopes anyone in the area
will reach out to meet up.
A number of us also began our
first full-time jobs.
Daniel Banko-Ferran moved to
D.C. to be a Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau research
assistant. Amit Schwalb teaches
at Philly’s Vaux Big Picture High
School. Also teaching is Haley
Gerardi, leading high school
chemistry and forensics courses
in Delaware. Brandon McKenzie
works in ophthalmology at Penn
and lives in New Jersey. Sarah
Branch moved to Brooklyn, N.Y.,
for a yearlong BRIC Downtown
Brooklyn Arts Management
Fellowship. Raven Bennett began
as the interim Title IX fellow at
Swarthmore. Isaac Little moved
to St. Louis with Meg Bost after
graduation. He is a systems
engineer at Emerson Hermetic
Motor, and she is a lab technician
at Washington University School of
Medicine.
Out west, Teruya KusunokiMartin works in machine learning
research. Shantanu Jain now
lives in San Francisco with 2016
Swatties. Tushar Kundu started
at USC as an economics research
assistant. About 10 minutes away,
I, Isabel Clay, teach English at
University Prep High School. I’m
also pursuing an urban education
M.A. through Loyola Marymount
University.
Outside the U.S., Meiri Anto
is abroad learning French. Tom
Wilmots toured Europe before
starting a master’s in finance and
economics at the London School of
Economics this fall.
A few Swatties remembered to
fit in a well-deserved break in
the postgraduation chaos. Chris
Bourne was “eating breffix, hoopin,
and making my own shower chairs”
before his school year began.
Perhaps most impressive of all,
Liam Fitzstevens has been going
to bed at 9:30 p.m., averaging an
outstanding eight hours of sleep
each night.
their light lives on
our friends will never be forgotten
expanded tributes at bulletin.swarthmore.edu
Isabel Benkert Daly ’37
Helen Van Tuyl Davis ’34
Helen, an economist turned real
estate agent, died Oct. 20, 2017.
A lifelong hiker and swimmer
deeply interested in nutrition and
health, Helen raised her family in
a former farmhouse in McLean,
Va., where she grew vegetables and
explored the mountains.
A math honors graduate, an actuary,
and a creative, loving homemaker,
Isabel died Sept. 22, 2017.
Daughter Florence Battis Mini ’68
wrote: “My mother raised the four of
us, took care of her aging father, ran
the household, and folded my older
half sister happily into the rest of
the family, all with every appearance
of serenity. She also volunteered at
church, led a Girl Scout troop, learned
to identify every tree in North America
(or so it seemed), and earned an MLS.
She always could give someone a ride;
friends were always welcome for dinner
or to stay the night.”
Celia Price Patterson ’39
Celia, a loving wife, mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother,
died Jan. 29, 2016.
A homemaker who held a B.A. in
French from the College, Celia’s fondest
hobby was dancing.
Barbara Deweese Day ’40
Barbara, who worked for the Army
Finance Office in Seattle and later for
the Red Cross as a social worker in
military hospitals during World War II,
died Oct. 5, 2017.
An English literary major and
homemaker who raised three children,
Barbara was an active community
volunteer and master storyteller who
loved learning, traveling, cooking, and
entertaining.
William Faison Jr. ’42
William, a World War II Army veteran
who graduated from North Carolina
State with a mechanical engineering
degree after leaving Swarthmore, died
Aug. 23, 2017.
A devoted father and grandfather
who built a 34-year career at USS South
Works as safety supervisor, he loved
piloting his own small plane and taking
photographs with his ever-present
camera.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
71
in memoriam
Barbara Valentine Hertz ’43
Barbara, a graduate of Friends
Seminary and Barnard College, died
Aug. 24, 2017.
A lifelong lover of the Adirondack
Park, she also served as managing
editor of Parents Magazine; director
of development of Barnard College;
director of development at the
Rosenstiel School, University of Miami;
and director of foundation relations at
the University of Miami.
Nicholas Beldecos ’43
A Navy vet, former executive and engineer
with Westinghouse Electric, and loving
family man, Nicholas died Oct. 9, 2017.
Over the years, Nick gave of his time
and talents to many nonprofit boards,
including Magee-Women’s Hospital, St.
Edmund’s Academy, St. Nicholas Greek
Orthodox Cathedral, and, most notably,
Family House, a home away from home for
patients and their families dealing with
life-threatening illnesses, where he served
for 25 years as a founding member.
Dorothy Shor Thompson ’43
Dorothy, a talented potter and caring
school bus driver for special education
students, died Jan. 6, 2017.
A volunteer reading tutor, she also
earned a degree in meteorology from
the University of Chicago.
James Sutor ’46
James, a retired vice president and
secretary for the board of Provident
Mutual Life Insurance Co., died June
1, 2014.
A World War II Navy veteran who
served on the USS Monterey in the
South Pacific, James was a board
member of many organizations,
including the Philadelphia StudioRecording of the Blind and Dyslexic.
Howard Harris ’48
Howard, a World War II Army veteran
who eventually become vice president
of public affairs for CPC International,
died Aug. 13, 2017.
A lover of sports, classical music,
bridge, theater, American history, good
friends, and good writing, Howard
doted on dogs and was described by
his family as “the rock and guide who
sheltered and encouraged us.”
Thomas Hodges ’49
A gifted advertising entrepreneur,
lifelong lover of Maine, and widower of
Elizabeth Wilbur Hodges ’49, Thomas
died Aug. 6, 2017.
Full of mischief and good humor,
“T.V.” could be found inventing gadgets
in his basement; writing, illustrating,
and binding his own books; creating
board games; espaliering fruit trees;
cartooning; singing and dancing; or
repairing antique clocks. He once built
a harpsichord on a lark.
Morton Kimball ’49
Morton, who served in the U.S. Navy
aboard a destroyer during World War
II and was recalled to duty during the
Barbara Stone Gelb ’46
A celebrated author and journalist who
entered Swarthmore at 16 but dropped out
to become a copy girl for The New York
Times editorial board, Barbara died Feb. 1,
2017.
The co-author with her husband of three
definitive biographies on the legendary
playwright Eugene O’Neill, Barbara
penned many other acclaimed books as
well as a one-woman play, My Gene, about
O’Neill’s third and final wife, Carlotta
Monterey.
72
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
Korean War, died Sept. 7, 2017.
Formerly New York University’s
director of student affairs, “Kim” was
an active volunteer in retirement with a
lifelong love of opera; Nazareth College
now holds his extensive collection of
Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.
Stephen Sickle ’50
A loving husband, father, and
grandfather who also held an MBA
in marketing from the University of
Chicago, Stephen died July 17, 2017.
University of Pennsylvania and worked
for RCA and its successors for 40 years,
Guy died Sept. 10, 2017.
After serving in the U.S. Merchant
Marine at the end of World War II, he
earned his high school diploma before
entering Swarthmore. Guy loved his
family and friends dearly, and always
enjoyed a good game of tennis.
Elizabeth Wilkins McMaster ’53
Elizabeth, who earned a master’s in
social work from Columbia University
and built a lengthy career helping
others, died Aug. 21, 2017.
A Francophile whose husband
described her as a “7-star cook,” Betsy
was a longtime pillar of a Providence,
R.I., women’s debating society, the
Shakespeare Society, and a book
group. She was renowned for her quiet
optimism, determination, compassion,
and strength.
Barbara Turlington ’53
An advocate for international education
and empowerment of seniors as well
Gordon Mochel ’50
Gordon, who went on to earn a master’s
in mechanical engineering from the
University of Pennsylvania, died June
18, 2017.
A resident of Connecticut, he was the
husband of Patricia Lackey Mochel ’50,
the brother of the late John Mochel ’45,
and the brother-in-law of the late Janet
Bartleson Mochel ’43.
Guy Brusca ’52
A distinguished electrical engineer
who earned a master’s from the
Robert Merin ’54
An Army veteran who became a
globally respected, field-leading
anesthesiologist, Robert died Aug. 27,
2017.
President of the Association of
University Anesthesiologists from
1987 to 1988 and author of more than
75 publications, he retired to South
Carolina, where he enjoyed tennis, golf,
boating, and scuba diving as well as
church and volunteer work.
Sarah Curtis Lichtenstein ’55
Sarah, a powerhouse psychologist in
the field of decision research and the
inaugural president of Eugene, Ore.’s
Human Rights Commission on Women,
died Aug. 31, 2017.
One of the key figures in establishing
her field—which fundamentally shifted
economics and psychology—Sarah
also had a passion for math and music
as well as an exceptional capacity for
empathy, wit, and analysis.
Sheila Brown Bishop ’57
Robert Barbanell ’52
A managing director of Bankers Trust
who prided himself on being a devoted
husband, father, stepfather, grandfather,
brother, uncle, brother-in-law, and son,
Robert died Aug. 30, 2017.
After attending Swarthmore, he
graduated from New York University
and was much loved by family and
friends for his intellectual curiosity,
strong sense of values, and wry humor.
as a lover of flowers and gardens, books
and Beethoven, animals and people,
Barbara died Sept. 3, 2017.
She completed her bachelor’s
at American University of Beirut,
Lebanon, and built an impressive
career that included serving as director
of international education at the
American Council on Education as well
as on the board of directors of Alliance
International Educational and Cultural
Exchange.
Yoshiro Sanbonmatsu ’50
Yoshiro, an admired teacher who
sought to educate his students
about the human condition in all
its complexities, died Oct. 22, 2017.
A social justice advocate who
handcrafted dollhouses—with
working doorbells and real
wallpaper—for his daughters,
Yosh became a full-time artist in
retirement and is remembered for
his moral seriousness, good humor,
and humility.
Sheila, who taught physics at
Youngstown State University, died Aug.
30, 2017.
One-half of a Quaker matchbox
couple, she was married to Edwin
Bishop ’58 and enjoyed reading,
needlework, and gardening.
Felicia Forsythe Humer ’57
Felicia, a retired social worker and
birthright Quaker, died Oct. 23, 2017.
A devoted mother and grandmother,
Felicia was an accomplished pianist—
having played by ear at age 4—and
enjoyed singing in a number of chorus
groups. She was also passionate about
serving those in need and volunteered
Mary Jane Winde Gentry ’53
Mary Jane, a loving force of nature
who dedicated herself to building
supportive communities while
encouraging friends and family to
do the same, died Oct. 4, 2017.
An influential volunteer who
played key roles in establishing
the Vermont Children’s Trust
Foundation and launching the
Champlain Valley High School Duo
Program, Mary Jane loved tennis
and spending time with her family.
her time at the Greater Pittsburgh
Community Food Bank, as a tutor, and
at her local YMCA.
Leonard Willinger Jr. ’58
A devout associate pastor who served
Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville,
Fla., Leonard died March 10, 2017.
He left Swarthmore after a year
and found his direction when he
converted to fundamentalism in 1959.
After completing his education at
Christian institutions and devoting his
life to religious service, he frequently
corresponded with the College on
matters of faith.
Virgil McKenna M’59
Virgil, a popular, award-winning
psychology professor emeritus at—and
undergraduate alumnus of—the College
of William and Mary, died Aug. 2, 2017.
An ardent admirer of horses and wire
fox terriers, he passionately followed
College of William and Mary news and
sports, drawing pride in its past as well
as its future.
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
73
in memoriam
Paul Rothman ’62
The owner and publisher of Fred
B. Rothman Law Books as well
as a beloved husband, father, and
grandfather, Paul died in October.
Although he treasured growing
up in a large family in New York,
Paul decided at age 13 that his
dream was to move to Colorado,
and he built a beautiful life there,
drawing immense pleasure from
the mountains.
Martha Merrill Pickrell ’60
Martha, who eventually earned her
bachelor’s in history from Indiana
University South Bend in 1970 and
worked as an archivist, writer, and
editor, died Sept. 20, 2017.
A prolific but unpublished poet who
enjoyed writing and recording her selfpenned music, Martha was a vigorous
walker, a voracious reader, a low-key
cook, and a grateful, giving friend to
many.
the book Songs and Lives of the Jomo,
about Tibetan Buddhist nuns living in
northern India.
friends wherever he went—his ability to
find something in common with anyone
made him unforgettable to so many.
Ann Coulter ’66
Mary ‘Molly’ Wood ’74
A former inner-city social worker
in Washington, D.C., and director
of volunteer services at Frankford
Hospital in Philadelphia, Ann died Sept.
20, 2017.
Active in the civil rights and antiVietnam War movements, Ann
volunteered in retirement for the
League of Women Voters of Jefferson
County, W.Va., and the Eastern
Panhandle Single Payer Action
Network, a group founded to advocate
for Medicare for All.
Judith Walenta ’66
A gifted and accomplished nurse
practitioner and healer who went above
and beyond to improve the health and
lives of her patients, Judith died Sept.
2, 2017.
In addition to her Swarthmore
bachelor’s, Judith held degrees from
Stony Brook University and New York
University and completed training
as a family nurse practitioner at
Community General Hospital in
Syracuse, N.Y. She was loved by many.
Eric Brown ’67
Eric, who learned six languages and
loved running his own management
consulting business for more than 30
years, died Aug. 28, 2017.
Passionate about international travel,
bicycling, and his family, Eric made
David Bartlett ’63
David, a beloved pastor, professor, and
pillar of the Yale community—among
others—died Oct. 12, 2017.
The author or editor of nearly 20
books and 50 articles, David served
churches as well as schools and applied
everything he learned to enhancing the
work of parish ministry.
WINTER 2018
Class secretaries (from left) Diana Judd Stevens
’63, Libby Murch Livingston ’41, and Kathy
Stevens ’89 met up in Maine last summer.
A freelance proofreader and medical
editor who also attended law school,
Helene died June 23, 2017.
Remembered for her sense of humor,
Helene volunteered with New York
Cares, coaching job seekers through
interview preparation, supporting the
city’s library projects, and securing
clothing for impoverished children.
Elizabeth Singreen Racina ’04
Elizabeth, who transferred from
Swarthmore to Tulane University and
then conducted postgraduate studies in
France, died May 10, 2016.
Fiercely loyal, a devout Catholic, a
lover of the arts and French language,
a writer, painter, poet, and creator
of many things, Liz married and had
a baby daughter, Olivia, in 2015 and
cherished her family.
From left: Kheay Loke ’81, Danny Kaplan ’81, Maya Hanna, Kathy Hom Huang
’83, Martha McGrady ’81, and John Huang ’81, hiking Lake Tahoe in 2016.
From left: Lila Weitzner ’19, Ben Marks ’16,
Daniel Banko-Ferran ’17, and Isabel Knight ’16, at
a Changing Lives, Changing the World event in D.C.
Jill Hays ’67
A teacher and researcher, Linda died
July 31, 2017.
Beloved by her large family, Linda
is also remembered as the author of
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
SCRAPBOOK
Helene Abramowitz ’77
Jill, a seasoned traveler, prolific writer/
editor, and accomplished poet with an
enviable rare-book collection, died Sept.
4, 2017.
A lifelong learner who loved exploring
different cultures and tutoring students
across many subjects, with a specialty
in ESL, Jill spoke several languages,
including Irish, French, and Japanese,
and selflessly arranged to have her body
donated to the University of Vermont for
medical research.
Linda LaMacchia ’65
74
Molly, who was born and raised in
Swarthmore and later became a
respected paralegal in Philadelphia,
died July 15, 2017
As comfortable working on complex
transactions for high-powered clients
as she was at home with her beloved
English sheepdog Tess, border terriers
Lucy and Jake, and standard poodle
RosyLou, Molly read extensively and
delighted in the Sunday New York
Times crossword puzzle.
GARNET
Robert George ’77 (right) received
an honorary doctorate last March
from the Universitat Abat Oliba
CEU in Barcelona, Spain.
Nearly two dozen people joined
Chinese professor Haili Kong on an
Alumni College Abroad trip to China and
Tibet. Photos: bulletin.swarthmore.edu
Deb Felix ’83 still summers “at
home” in Wellfleet, Mass., where a
yearbook pic from the ’80s caught
her cozying up with a fake captain atop
the Bayside Lobster Hutt.
Trudy Richter Mott-Smith ’56 spearheaded the
installation of 100 solar panels at the Unitarian
Universalist Church of Concord, N.H.
+ SEND YOUR PHOTOS/BLURBS TO BULLETIN@SWARTHMORE.EDU
+
to report a death notice, email records@swarthmore.edu
WINTER 2018
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
75
spoken word
their beds were made tight and their
barracks clean—all conducted with
a white glove. I actually enjoyed it,
because I could tell officers, “You did
pretty well, but here is where you can
improve.”
CRISP AND CLEAN
by Elizabeth Slocum
SINCE JOINING Swarthmore in fall
2016, Tyrone Dunston has brought
a military precision to his role as
director of Environmental Services
(EVS). The proud Marine (watch
bit.ly/VeteransDaySwat for more)
values order and tidiness—one
colleague has been known to peek
inside his office, look around, and
exclaim, “Neat!” Working with his
crew behind the scenes, Dunston
hopes to establish Swarthmore as
Pennsylvania’s cleanest college.
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2018
What should we know about EVS?
Our mission is quality assurance. We
also manage the waste with much
help from our Sustainability staff. Our
vision is 80 percent of Swarthmore’s
waste being diverted from the Chester
incinerator by 2022. It’s going to take
change of behavior, education, and
homework. We’re designing waste bins
and trying to be as uniform as possible
throughout campus while addressing
the needs of different buildings. We try
to be productive, cost-effective, and
meet campus sustainability needs.
How did your more than a decade of
military service influence you?
In the Marine Corps, I was selected
to conduct quality-assurance
inspections, which included reviewing
the barracks of high-ranked officers.
These were officers I had to salute
every day, and I had to make sure
What do you enjoy off the clock?
Spending time with my wife—we’ve
been married 33 years—or with my
grandson. I enjoy fishing and working
out, but I’m usually with family. We go
to Ocean City, Md., one of my favorite
places. It’s hard to take my mind off
work, so I try to do things that relax
me. My wife says, “You talk about the
workplace more than any other place
you’ve been.” And I say, “I guess that’s
because I enjoy my work.”
So is your house incredibly clean?
Yes! I drive my wife crazy. She’s neat to
the point where she cleans the house
a lot, but I’m more structural, where
things always have to be lined up.
People come to our house and say, “You
are a perfect fit for each other.”
Even here at Swarthmore, it’s not
just about cleanliness. It’s about the
structure, the presentation. You’ve got
people coming in—whether they’re
parents bringing students back to
school, or the students themselves—
when they first enter their dorm, if it’s
clean, neat, smells good, it says a lot
about what they’re venturing into. And
a first impression a lot of times leaves
the last impression.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURENCE KESTERSON
What drew you to Swarthmore?
I liked the diversity and the Quaker
values. I visited the campus after I
applied, and I found out that once
you come, you stay here. Everybody
seemed happy. And what do you know?
Two days later, I was called in for an
interview. It’s been a beautiful fit.
in this issue
9
LABOR OF LOVE
Through Birth,
a Companion
Swarthmorean doulas
make a social-justice
difference in delivery.
by Cameron French ’14
MOMENT IN TIME
November’s SwatFit inaugural
Turkey Trot collected donations for
local food banks ... and gave Assistant
Director of Athletics Max Miller an
excuse to shake a tail feather.
Mother of the modern doula movement Penny Payson Simkin ’59 (right) with clients and friends, photographed by Ashwin Rao ’99.
WINTER 2018
Periodical Postage
PAID
Philadelphia, PA
and Additional
Mailing Offices
MISS HOT MESS
p15
DR. SAILOR
p63
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306
www.swarthmore.edu
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
LAURENCE KESTERSON
WINTER 2018
WE HOPE YOU’LL RESOLVE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH US THIS YEAR
Swarthmore can help customize an endowed fund, bequest intention, life-income gift, or other type of
planned gift that advances our educational mission and achieves your financial/estate-planning goals.
Begin the conversation: Contact Jessica Cunningham ’08 in College Advancement
giftplanning@swarthmore.edu • 866-526-4438 • swarthmore.plannedgiving.org
vital spaces
MR. CLEAN
p76
Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 2018-01-01
The Swarthmore College Bulletin is the official alumni magazine of the college. It evolved from the Garnet Letter, a newsletter published by the Alumni Association beginning in 1935. After World War II, college staff assumed responsibility for the periodical, and in 1952 it was renamed the Swarthmore College Bulletin. (The renaming apparently had more to do with postal regulations than an editorial decision. Since 1902, the College had been calling all of its mailed periodicals the Swarthmore College Bulletin, with each volume spanning an academic year and typically including a course catalog issue and an annual report issue, with a varying number of other special issues.)
The first editor of the Swarthmore College Bulletin alumni issue was Kathryn “Kay” Bassett ’35. After a few years, Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 was appointed editor and held the position for 36 years, during which she reshaped the mission of the magazine from focusing narrowly on Swarthmore College to reporting broadly on the college's impact on the world at large. Gillespie currently appears on the masthead as Editor Emerita.
Today, the quarterly Swarthmore College Bulletin is an award-winning alumni magazine sent to all alumni, parents, faculty, staff, friends of the College, and members of the senior class. This searchable collection spans every issue from 1935 to the present.
Swarthmore College
2018-01-01
reformatted digital
The class notes section of The Bulletin has been extracted in this collection to protect the privacy of alumni. To view the complete version of The Bulletin, contact Friends Historical Library.