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WINTER 2022
Non Profit Org
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit #129
19464
PEACE BUILDS
p20
FAMILIES ARRIVE
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306
www.swarthmore.edu
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
WESLEY BUNNELL
Give back like BoHee by volunteering with Swarthmore.
Explore ways to get involved at swarthmore.edu/alumnivolunteers.
W
F AI LNLT E2 R0 2200 2 2
“I am forever grateful for the priceless
gifts that Swarthmore has provided —
an unparalleled education, a strong
sense of social responsibility, and the
most incredible friends I could ever have
hoped for — and so I try to give back
however I can, to share some of these
gifts with other alums and members of
our community. … Swarthmore really is
the gift that keeps on giving!”
— BoHee Yoon ’01, Alumni Council
president
Illuminating
p34
NATURE HEALS
p46
in this issue
PHILADELPHIA STORY
20
FEATURES
LIGHT, LAUGHTER, AND COMMUNITY
Diwali sparkled at Swarthmore this fall. The global
festival of lights is one of the major holidays celebrated
by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists, notably
Newar Buddhists.
Partners in
Peacebuilding
Swarthmore database
tells a deeper story of the
effects of gun violence in
Delaware County.
by Elizabeth Slocum
30
Dropping In
Skateboarding led to
reflection — and a new way
of navigating work and life.
by Roy Greim ’14
34
The Long Path Home
The urgent work of
advocating for immigrant
families.
Philadelphia is home to a growing number
of immigrant communities. Jonah Eaton ’02
(left) is at work with other Swarthmoreans
advocating for them as they navigate a new
environment. At Philadelphia’s Nationalities
Service Center, Eaton heads the legal
department and works with Deputy Director
Steven Larín ’97. The nonprofit is celebrating
its 100th anniversary. (Story, pg. 34)
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURENCE KESTERSON
by Heather Rigney
Shumaker ’91
42
2
53
FEATURES
DIALOGUE
CLASS NOTES
A Matter of
Resilience
Editor’s Column
Alumni News
and Events
How the 1921 Tulsa race
massacre in Oklahoma
shaped one family’s path.
by Sherry L. Howard
46
A Way Out
When chaos erupted in
Afghanistan, this rockclimbing group stepped up.
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
50
Letters
Community Voices
David Kennedy ’80, H ’11
Their Light Lives On
Looking Back
Studentwise
Daniela Kim ’23
and Carolyn Bauer
Books
Navigation
Betty Glenn Webber ’43
9
COMMON GOOD
84
SPOKEN WORD
Dorit Sallis ’86
Swarthmore Stories
Liberal Arts Lives
Anne T. Lawrence ’74
James Brady ’07
Duncan Stevens ’96
Always a Bride
The history of a painting
of a 19th-century Quaker
marriage ceremony.
by Louise Lichetenberg
Coffin ’67
MATHIEU WILLIAMS
ON THE COVER
“Therefore in the light wait,
where the unity is.”
— George Fox, a founder of
Quakerism, 1656. Candle
illustration by Brian Stauffer.
TEACHER OF THE
YEAR: Whitney Nekoba
Aragaki ’08 was named 2022
Hawai‘i State Teacher of the
Year. (Story, pg. 15)
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
1
dialogue
Editor
Kate Campbell
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Photographer
Laurence Kesterson
Administrative Coordinator
Lauren McAloon
Editor Emerita
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49
swarthmore.edu/bulletin
Email: bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Telephone: 610-328-8533
SEED STRATEGY
p48
I did enjoy this issue (Fall 2021)
of the Bulletin much more than
usual because the alumni
profiles had a unifying theme. It
was especially memorable, of
course, because the theme
itself is the biggest challenge
facing the world today.
— DIANA BAILEY HARRIS ’64,
Portland, Ore.
CLIMATE OF CHANGE
THE BULLETIN’S FALL ISSUE is dedicated to
Give back like Mwangangi by mentoring
current students. Learn more at
swarthmore.edu/alumni.
stories of Swarthmoreans making strides in
helping to sustain the planet. We are hopeful,
hard at work, and energized for change.
navigating new waters together
Whales and other species critical to ocean
health. Story, p.24.
9/15/21 4:07 AM
WRITE ON TIME
This issue (Fall 2021) is very timely in its subject matter, and
it is of the same high quality of most of the recent issues.
— THELMA YOUNG CARROLL ’64, Virginia Beach, Va.
STRUCK BY HYPOCRISY
A HOPEFUL EYE
We welcome letters on articles 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. Read the full letters policy at
swarthmore.edu/bulletin.
Your Spring 2021 issue this year is a particularly good one.
I liked the article about Leonard Nakamura ’69 a great deal.
I’m also keeping a hopeful eye out for the launch of the
extraordinary Webb Telescope. Best wishes to Swarthmore
in these difficult times.
— SUSAN BARKER GUTTERMAN ’59, New York, N.Y.
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
CXIX, number II, is published in October,
January, and May 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.
History was made on Dec. 25, 2021, when the James Webb Space
Telescope successfully launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French
Guiana. Read more about the telescope and about senior project
scientist John Mather ’68, H’94: bit.ly/JWSTMather
©2022 Swarthmore College.
Printed in USA.
pr inted w
th
i
e c o-fri
e
nd
ly
H-UV
ks
LAURENCE KESTERSON
p46
201653_Cover_R1.indd 1-2
Designer
Phillip Stern ’84
WINTER 2022
FOOD MATTERS
F A L L 2 0 2 10
Class Notes Editor
Heidi Hormel
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
p36
“Last year was my first time as a teaching
assistant for the Math Department. This role,
however trivial it may look on the outside,
has actually been one of the most rewarding
experiences I have ever had. Guiding
students through math homework problems
and seeing some of them develop an interest
in math has been an extremely fascinating
process. Surprisingly, it has not just been a
one-sided relationship; I have learned much
more about the problem-solving process
through guiding others to solve their
problems.”
— Mwangangi Kalii ’23
Staff Writer
Roy Greim ’14
Editor
TREE TOPS
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
Senior Editor
Ryan Dougherty
KATE
CAMPBELL
FALL 2021
Non Profit Org
U.S. Postage
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Permit #129
19464
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306
www.swarthmore.edu
I am so thrilled and excited by the focused attention given in
the Winter 2021 edition of the Bulletin to the power, energy, and
beauty of the arts at the College. I write as a member of the Class
of ’61, which celebrated the growth of the arts at Swarthmore
since our undergraduate days during our virtual 60th Reunion
last June. We organized a faculty forum focused on the growth
into the curriculum of the College. The faculty included Andrew
Hauze ’04 from Music, Sharon Friedler from Dance, Allen
Kuharski from Theater, Randall Exon from Studio Arts, Patty
White from Film & Media Studies, and Nat Anderson, director
of the Creative Writing Program. Their forum was glorious,
reflecting their love of the arts and their interrelatedness, with
keen attention to the process and timing of their growth and their
contributions to the cultural life of the campus community. It was
splendid, and the voices expressing themselves in this edition of
the Bulletin reflect and celebrate the power of the arts in all of our
lives. Thank you!
— MAURICE ELDRIDGE ’61, Swarthmore, Pa.
Managing Editor
Elizabeth Slocum
HOW HAVE GUNS become so deeply cast into the fabric of American life?
There were an estimated 393.3 million civilian-held legal and illicit firearms
in the U.S. in 2017, according to the Small Arms Survey. In 2019, more than
15,000 Americans were killed by guns, and in 2020, that number rose to
20,000. Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies and Sociology Lee Smithey
and his students are working to understand this reality. “Gun violence is
not a series of isolated incidents,” says Oliver Hicks ’22, one of Smithey’s
students. “It’s a systemic problem of pandemic-level
by
proportions.” Read more about this critical research
and work in community activism in Elizabeth’s
Slocum’s story “Partners in Peacebuilding” on pg.
20. As citizens, we should feel safe in a classroom,
in a place of worship, leaving a football game,
driving onto an on-ramp, unloading gifts from a
baby shower, or shopping at a grocery store. Instead, we live with the appalling
weight that the possibility of violence caused by a gun could happen at any
ordinary moment of the day — or, the more indescribable anguish, that we
might lose a loved one to gun violence. The stories of this winter Bulletin
highlight the responsibilities of citizenship, and of Swatties who heed the call
to change seemingly intractable mechanisms and problems with a precise
vision of what is just. In “The Long Path Home” and “A Way Out,” we meet
Swarthmoreans advocating for those who are displaced and in search of
better, safer lives. Learn how their own personal experiences helped shape
the meaning of this urgent work. Envisioning a more peaceful society in 1693,
Pennsylvania Quaker William Penn wrote, “A good end cannot sanctify evil
means, nor must we ever do evil. … Force may subdue, but Love gains.” We
hope this issue shares with you the gains.
The Power of the Arts
in
WHALE ILLUSTRATION © ELENNADZEN–STOCK.ADOBE.COM
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
COURTESY OF NASA
Force May Subdue, But Love Gains
2
Unifying Theme
ON OUR RADAR
EDITOR’S COLUMN
I’m sure I’m not the only alum to be struck, and not
in a good way, by the juxtaposition of the Fall 2021
Swarthmore Bulletin and Bill McKibben’s op-ed in the
Oct. 26 New York Times. I read them back-to-back this
morning whilst waiting for the basement flood alarm to
go off as this week’s extreme weather event (the “bomb
cyclone”) pummeled my area with yet more heavy rain.
It seems more than a little hypocritical for
Swarthmore to tout the various ways in which
individual graduates work hard to address climate
change and care for a warming planet (which, power
and more power to them!) when the College itself could
also make a significant impact by divesting from fossil
fuels.
If the Board of Managers’ decision not to divest
seemed nonsensical in 2015 (it did), then in 2021 it is
vicious.
I don’t need to reel off the list of climate disasters
taking place around the world to make that point. As
McKibben put it, with considerable understatement,
Swarthmore should know better. Swarthmore should
do better.
— JEANNE GARDNER GUTIERREZ ’02, Wassaic, N.Y.
Editor’s Note: In a November message to the campus
community, President Smith detailed the College’s recent
efforts to reduce the effects of the climate crisis and provided
additional information on how the College’s endowment is
invested. Read her update here: bit.ly/SwatClimate
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
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“The last decades’ advances in violence prevention prove unequivocally that we do not
have to live with the killing,” writes David Kennedy ’80, H ’11.
COMMUNITY VOICES
DO YOU SEE, AMERICA?
by David Kennedy ’80, H ’11
THE STREET SHRINE sat to the
right as I came off the highway into
Chester, not so long ago. You will
find them all over the country, in the
Black communities where America’s
homicide dead are unconscionably
concentrated. Photographs, flowers,
“RIP” written on paper, spraypainted on streets and sidewalks and
buildings. At my meeting later — with
city officials and residents desperate
about the violence and searching for
solutions — I mentioned the shrine.
“Was she there?” one of them asked.
It was years old, they explained; still,
most days, the murdered young man’s
mother visited.
For the past three decades, my work
has been focused on understanding
violence, particularly gun violence.
As a professor of criminal justice at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
4
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
in New York City and the director
of the National Network for Safe
Communities at John Jay, my intention
has been first to act — to do something
that works — and then beyond that
help people who do not already care or
understand why they should.
As a Swarthmore student, the
reality of Chester barely scratched my
consciousness. Though I spent time
there, working with kids and tutoring,
my outrage at the oppression of Black
communities was reserved for South
Africa. I organized on campus against
apartheid, had refined opinions
about the Sullivan Principles, argued
with President Dorie Friend about
divestment.
Oh, I was righteous.
But not the least bit righteous about
Chester. I will always be ashamed
about that.
America’s gun violence is
concentrated in its Chesters, and
neighborhoods like Chester in bigger
cities across the country. Black men
are about 6% of America and about
half of its murdered. In 2019, Chester’s
homicide rate was 53:100,000 — about
three times that of Chicago. I didn’t
know any of that when I was at the
College, and — not knowing — didn’t
care. I was too busy knowing and
caring about South Africa.
Today’s Swarthmore students know
better — and, clearly, they care. After
years of prep work, coalition building,
data gathering, and analysis, Professor
Lee Smithey and students in his Gun
Violence Prevention course have
gone live with the Delaware County
Homicide Database, making it easy
to see this awful reality. (Story, pg.
20.) Their work grew out of Smithey’s
teaching on international peace
issues, with a realization that there
were deadly serious problems very
close to home. They, and the College
community, should be proud that they
have seen, and taken action, around
this awful issue that is in plain sight,
not even hiding there — an issue that
so many of us do not see and around
which we do not act.
I’m also happy to say that Chester
itself has reason for hope. I have been
back to Chester over and over since I
began my work in violence prevention,
always without any success in getting
that work started.
But starting late in 2020, a team led
by newly elected Delaware County
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer
put its version of that work in place —
and Chester homicides are down more
than 60%.
The last decades’ advances
in violence prevention prove
unequivocally that we do not have
to live with the killing. But first we
must see it and take responsibility for
doing something about it. All praise to
Smithey, his students, and the College
for seeing what most of us, most of the
time, do not.
STUDENTWISE:
FOSTERING
COLLABORATION
Why degus?
Lab time:
Similar to humans,
both female and male
adult degus provide
parental care, and they
will readily accept
fostered offspring.
Providing support:
The labmates spent
about 350 hours total on
the research. “But some days
were very long, whereas others
were short,” Bauer says. “When
you’re working with live
animals, you have to adapt
your schedule to them!”
The research was
sponsored by a Eugene M.
Lang Summer Research
Fellowship.
by Elizabeth Slocum
Daniela Kim ’23, a bioeducation
special major from Weston, Fla.,
worked with Assistant Professor
of Biology Carolyn Bauer last
summer on a behavioral study of
how fostering affects postnatal
development of the degu (Octodon
degus), a species of social
rodent related to guinea pigs and
chinchillas. The research team —
which also included Krystle Boadi
’23, Sabrina Ellah ’24, and Kaja
Arusha ’24 — videotaped the degus
and engaged in animal husbandry to
see if being fostered with siblings
causes less stress than being
fostered alone.
What they
did:
The team worked together
to monitor animal weight and
health, take biological samples,
and record behavior. Kim focused on
assessing anxiety-related behaviors
via behavioral tests, while the other
lab members analyzed maternal
care, offspring play behavior,
and development of the
offspring’s endocrine
stress response.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURENCE KESTERSON
dialogue
Assistant Professor of Biology Carolyn Bauer (left) and Daniela Kim ’23 with a cardboard
model of a degu. In reality, degus are far smaller, about the size of a hamster.
Major
findings:
The team is still analyzing
Kim’s behavioral videos, but
Boadi’s research found that
mothers provide less maternal care
to fostered litters, and Arusha and
Ellah discovered differences in
weight gain and play behaviors
between pups fostered by
themselves vs. those
fostered with their
siblings.
Looking ahead:
Working
collaboratively:
“I most enjoy the energy that
Daniela and my other students
bring to the project,” says Bauer.
“Because the pandemic had
prevented in-person research
in summer 2020, we were all
just so happy to be working
together on an exciting
project.”
“In the future, I hope to
become an OB-GYN,” says
Kim, “so I love learning about
development and how it can
be affected by different
factors, such as stress.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
5
dialogue
Submit your publication for consideration: books@swarthmore.edu
HOT TYPE: New releases by Swarthmoreans
Emily Klein Abel ’64
Sick and Tired: An Intimate History
of Fatigue
UNC Press
Recent articles
about various
diseases conclude
that fatigue has
been
underrecognized,
underdiagnosed,
and undertreated.
As a result, we
know little about
what it means to live with this
condition, especially given its diverse
symptoms and causes. Informed by
her own experiences as a cancer
survivor, Abel offers the first history of
fatigue, elucidating how it has been
ignored or misunderstood, not only by
medical professionals but also by
American society as a whole.
Jennie Boyd Bull ’67
Learning to Weave: A Woman-Loving
Life
Mountain River Press
Bull’s memoir weaves a life from
her Southern roots into liberating
movements of the past century: the
lesbian feminist activism of the
1970s in Baltimore, the growth of
the LGBTQ-centered Metropolitan
Community Churches at the height of
AIDS deaths in the 1980s, life in the
ashram of an Indian yogic spiritual
tradition, and flowing in tai chi,
which she teaches today. Her writing
paints a vivid picture of each of these
communities and her return to the
mountains of western North Carolina.
Vytenis Babrauskas ’68
Electrical Fires and Explosions
Fire Science Publishers
Electrical explosions have been
researched much less than electrical
6
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
fires. Nonetheless, they are an
important failure mode and can result
in death, injury, or property damage.
The first author to comprehensively
survey the entire field of electrical
explosions, Babrauskas reviews the
research and the resulting standards,
but also focuses on shortcomings
and science misinterpretations of
the current generation of industrial
standards.
Wayne Patterson ’68
William Franklin Sands in Late
Choson Korea: At the Deathbed
of Empire, 1896–1904
Rowman and Littlefield
As chief adviser to
the Korean
government in the
early 1900s,
William Franklin
Sands attempted to
persuade Emperor
Kojong to
undertake reforms
and promote
neutrality to keep the country
independent. In this book, Patterson
argues that Sands was hampered by
corrupt officials who had the ear of the
emperor, by the Japanese and the
Russians who competed for influence
and who tried to replace Sands with
their own advisers, and, ironically, by
U.S. Minister Horace Allen, his former
superior.
Lewis Pyenson ’69
The Shock of Recognition: Motifs
of Modern Art and Science
Brill
Using a method called historical
complementarity, Pyenson identifies
the motif of non-figurative abstraction
in modern art and science, including
in Picasso’s and Einstein’s educational
environments. An emeritus history
professor, Pyenson also applies
his method to intellectual life in
Argentina, addressing its adoption
of non-figurative art and nuclear
physics in the mid-20th century, and
its attention to landscape painting and
the wonder of nature in the century’s
later years.
Darwin Stapleton ’69, ed.
Crossing Cultural Boundaries
in East Asia and Beyond
Brill
This volume,
edited by Stapleton
with Reiko
Maekawa and
Roberta Wollons,
explores the
personal
complexities and
ambiguities — and
the successes and
failures — of crossing borders and
boundaries. Focusing primarily on
East Asia, the book attends to the
intimate experiences of border
crossers, whether they are traveling to
an unfamiliar cultural location or
encountering the “other” in local
settings such as the classroom or the
coffee shop.
Richard Wolfson ’69
Nuclear Choices for the Twenty-First
Century: A Citizen’s Guide
MIT Press
Are you for
nuclear power or
against it? What’s
the basis of your
opinion? Did you
know a CT scan
gives you some 2
millisieverts of
radiation? Do you
know how much a
millisievert is? What is the point of a
bilateral Russia-U.S. nuclear weapons
treaty in a multipolar world? This
book, co-written by Wolfson and
Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, equips citizens
to develop informed nuclear opinions,
explaining the basics of nuclear
technology and the controversies
surrounding its use.
Joseph Horowitz ’70
Dvorák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate
of Black Classical Music
Norton
In 1893, the composer Antonin
Dvorák prophesied a school of
American classical music based on
the searing melodies of Black music
he had discovered since arriving
in the U.S. But while Black music
would be foundational for popular
genres known the world over, it never
gained a foothold in the concert hall.
Challenging the standard narrative for
American classical music, Horowitz
looks back to literary figures to ponder
how American music can connect with
a “usable past.”
Rebecca Bushnell ’74, ed.
The Marvels of the World:
An Anthology of Nature Writing
Before 1700
University of Pennsylvania Press
Long before the
Romantics
embraced nature,
people in the West
saw the human
and nonhuman
worlds as both
intimately
interdependent
and violently
antagonistic. With its peerless
selection of 98 original sources
concerned with the natural world and
humankind’s place within it, The
Marvels of the World offers a
corrective to the still-prevalent
tendency to dismiss premodern
attitudes toward nature as simple or
univocal.
Carolyn Lesjak ’85
The Afterlife of Enclosure: British
Realism, Character, and the Commons
Stanford University Press
The enclosure of the commons, space
once available for communal use, was
not a singular event but an act of “slow
violence” that transformed lands,
labor, and basic concepts of public
life leading into the 19th century. The
Afterlife of Enclosure examines three
canonical British writers — Charles
Dickens, George Eliot, and Thomas
Hardy — as narrators of this history,
the long duration and diffuse effects
of which required new literary forms
to capture the lived experience of
enclosure and its aftermath.
Matthew FitzSimmons ’93
Constance
Thomas & Mercer
In this thriller set
in the near future,
human cloning is a
reality. After a
routine upload of
her consciousness
goes terribly
wrong, young
Constance D’Arcy
wakes up 18
months later, her recent memories
missing. Her “Original,” she’s told, is
dead. If that’s true, then what does that
make her? The secrets of Con’s
disorienting new life are buried deep,
and so are those of why she died. Only
one thing is certain: Con is being
marked for murder. All over again.
Jeremy Weinstein ’97
System Error: Where Big Tech Went
Wrong and How We Can Reboot
Harper
A naive optimism about technology’s
liberating potential has given way to
a dystopian obsession with biased
algorithms, surveillance capitalism,
and job-displacing robots. Armed
with an understanding of how
technologists think and exercise
their power, Weinstein and fellow
Stanford professors Rob Reich and
Mehran Sahami share their insights
and solutions to help clarify what
is happening, what is at stake, and
what we can do to control technology
instead of letting it control us.
Susan Roth ’04 (writing as Rose Lerner)
The Wife in the Attic
Audible Originals
This Gothic
thriller reinvents
one of literature’s
most twisted love
triangles. With
devious
sophistication,
Lerner weaves a
haunting tale full
of secrets and
sharp edges. Will the governess’s
loyalties ultimately lie with the master
of the house — or with the wife in the
attic? Romantic and suspenseful,
Lerner’s latest novel is perfect for fans
of Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and Portrait of a
Lady on Fire.
Roman Shemakov ’20
The Digital Transformation
of Property in Greater China
World Scientific
The global trade war is not just
a reordering of technology; it’s a
reordering of cities. One way for the
U.S. to catch up, this book argues, is
through public-private partnerships
between Silicon Valley and
Washington, D.C. — or to “copy” China.
Co-written by Shemakov, Paul Schulte,
and Dean Sun, Digital Transformation
explores the people and companies
blazing trails in China’s “Internet of
Everything” to transform the way we
live, buy, and move.
The Bulletin receives numerous submissions of new publications from the talented Swarthmore community and can feature only a fraction of those
submissions here. Please note that work represented in Hot Type does not necessarily reflect the views of the College.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
7
common good
dialogue
SHARING SUCCESS AND STORIES OF SWARTHMORE
THE VIEW
FROM HERE
COURTESY OF PEGGY BISHOP
Reflecting on the lessons
learned in 100 years of life
by Betty Glenn Webber ’43
ALONG WITH MANY of my 1943
classmates, I am reflecting on the
milestone of my 100th birthday —
and
on the events and experiences that
defined my life. I am astonished that
I have somehow arrived here, and at
the same time I acknowledge that this
is increasingly common — 100 is the
new 90.
My earliest sustained memories are
of the impact the Great Depression
had on our family: My Princeton-grad
father was unemployed for seven years!
My teens were a series of changing
living arrangements, new schools, and
overhanging clouds of insecurity, until
the time came to attend college, without
one cent of financial preparation. My
four years were supported entirely
by private loans and scholarships,
the latter dependent on maintaining
a B average — stressful for someone
barely good enough but not brilliant.
College life was hugely enriching,
developing my self-identity, providing
broad intellectual options, and, most
memorably, acquiring incomparably
rich friendships. Our Worth L Section’s
round-robin letter had a 25-year
One constant in Betty Glenn Webber ’43’s life has been family, including (with
Webber, from left) granddaughters Liz Hayes and Angela Smith and daughter Peggy
Bishop. Another constant? The historic 4711 cologne. “First offered by Peggy Bebie
Thomson ’43,” she says, “it has provided consolation or celebration as needed.”
postgrad life, and some of those
connections have lasted to this day.
Halfway through our four years, we
were at war, triggered by the attack
of Pearl Harbor. Our male classmates
were immediately faced with
accelerated schedules through the
summers, as well as the philosophical
decision on conscientious objection
to military service. It was a period
of life-changing and mind-changing
challenges that shaped our individual
experiences of the war years.
Today’s assumption that most
women hope to be self-supporting
began with the postwar expectation
that women might opt for careers in
addition to homemaking/motherhood.
My contemporaries were divided, how
evenly I don’t know, with many a stayat-home later employed happily but
at less than a career level. I remember
saying at a job interview that I was
highly educated but not trained for
“I’ve delighted to watch my
daughter teach her girls to ‘help’
in her own volunteer ventures.”
8
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
anything specific. The generation
of those of us with uncommitted
time contributed hugely to an era of
volunteer support at innumerable
venues, a habit and a preference that
still look for an outlet at 100. My own
contributions of a helping hand have
been so rewarding that I’ve delighted
to watch my daughter teach her girls to
“help” in her own volunteer ventures.
The long view back for me
recognizes the historic events like
Pearl Harbor, the moon landing, and
9/11, as well as the movements over
time confronting racism. Much was
gained by the activism of the ’60s,
but so much more is still demanded.
Current political paralysis stymies
progress on so many fronts that it is
difficult to find constructive optimism.
We will not see what evolves but must
have hope that divisiveness will give
way to a more cooperative engagement
in the world of our children and
grandchildren.
An English literature major at
Swarthmore and a retired teacher’s
aide, Betty Glenn Webber ’43 lives in
Grand Rapids, Mich.
ON
THE
WEB
SHINING A LIGHT
Performance Associate
Jeannine Osayande was
honored for her work in
equity and social justice.
+ CELEBRATE
bit.ly/JOsayande
EXPLORING RACE
Six faculty members
reflect on courses
supported by the
President’s Fund for
Racial Justice.
+ ABSORB
bit.ly/SwatPFRJ
ADVANCING
THE DIALOGUE
Visiting Professor James
Fenelon discusses his
scholarship on Native
Nations.
JOHN MARTIN TOMLINSON ’23
NAVIGATION
+ ACKNOWLEDGE
bit.ly/FenelonQA
SHARING NARRATIVES
A capstone project of
the course Borders and
Migration documents
the experiences of
immigrants in the U.S.
+ ENGAGE
bit.ly/MigrationSwat
Katherine Kohn ’25 (9) celebrates a goal against Dickinson during Garnet Weekend. The field hockey team’s 13
victories this season were the most since the Garnet reached the Centennial Conference Finals in 2000.
FIELD OF DREAMS
Bringing
Their
A-Game
by Roy Greim ’14
DESPITE AN EXTENDED BREAK from
competition during the pandemic, Swarthmore
student-athletes did not lose a step: The field hockey,
volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer teams
qualified for the Centennial Conference tournament,
making it the first time in school history that all four
programs reached the postseason in the same season.
“Our team was able to build a positive team culture
while accomplishing the goals we set in the beginning
of the season,” Head Field Hockey Coach Hannah
Harris says. “We are so proud of the hard work and
dedication the student-athletes give to the program.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
9
common good
Top Notch
CONVERSATION GAPS
Game On
by Holly Leber Simmons
SAM LEBRYK ’17 AND STEVE SEKULA ’17 first
bonded over gaming — both video and
trading-card — as roommates in the
Dana Hall basement. “That was a great
way for us to build our friendship at
Swarthmore,” says Lebryk.
Sekula, the more serious player,
introduced Lebryk to competitive
gaming like Magic: The Gathering and
Pokemon. “I made my own card games
growing up,” he says.
After graduation, Sekula, a studio art major with minors
in computer science and art history, decided to try his hand at
designing a game. He came up with Gem Blenders, an expandable
card game inspired by trading-card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! or the
animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. With Lebryk living
in Miami and Sekula in Richboro, Pa., they stayed connected
through online games. Lebryk was instrumental in helping Sekula
test the early incarnations of Gem Blenders, and they soon
decided to team up to move the effort forward.
“Without Sam’s support, creating Gem Blenders wouldn’t have
gotten to where it is today,” Sekula says.
“Steve is more of the creative side; I’m more operational,”
Lebryk says.
10
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
In Gem Blenders, 2-4 players each build a customized deck
of cards and face off against each other. Through beta testing,
Lebryk and Sekula found that Gem Blenders even appeals to
people who are not familiar with trading-card or expandable card
games. In November 2019, they launched a Kickstarter, raising
just over $8,600, with support from family, friends,
and people they met doing demos.
The first inventory shipped in
November 2020.
They also added David Wurtele
’17 to the team. With a major in
computer science and minors
in linguistics and Japanese,
Wurtele has been invaluable
when it comes to coding.
Sekula and Lebryk have high hopes.
Once again roommates, the business
partners live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. They
work day jobs — Sekula in a restaurant, Lebryk at an investment
firm — but they treat Gem Blenders like a full-time job. “I want to
build a community, expand the card game, and continue making
cards,” says Sekula. “Then build the brand, maybe make a video
game.”
“As Gem Blenders matures, there are different avenues
available,” Lebryk says. “Because card games are such a big part
of our friendship in general, that’s something I want to continue.
“Swarthmore encourages entrepreneurship. You really do get
a strong mix of coursework that challenges how you approach
problems. That flexibility lends well to trying to do something on
your own.”
COURTESY OF PIG IRON THEATER COMPANY
The College held a “topping-off” ceremony this fall as the final beam was placed atop the forthcoming Dining and Community Commons (DCC)
building. The moment marked a key milestone in the DCC’s ongoing progress. Placing the final, tallest beam “is part of the sequence that will allow us
to close the building in, and to move to the next stage of this project,” says Susan Smythe, senior project manager and ADA program coordinator. It is
a time to celebrate the efforts of a dedicated construction crew, Smythe adds, and an act that symbolizes good fortune for those who will one day live
and work in this space. “I found it both moving and inspiring, and everyone on the site was very excited,” she says. Phase 1 of the project is expected to
be completed this summer. See the beam: bit.ly/DCCbeam
WHEN ZAINA DANA ’21 applied to
work as an assistant director with Pig
Iron Theater Company, she had no
idea how fortuitous it would prove to
be.
The troupe, founded by
three Swarthmore alumni, was
reintroducing Love Unpunished, a
hypnotic dance-theater piece about
the moments just before the collapse
of the World Trade Center, which was
presented on campus this fall as part of
the Cooper Series.
Dana, too, had created a piece,
Why Are You Killing Yourself?, to
explore how people view and talk
about 9/11, but from her perspective
as a Palestinian American college
student. By chance, the play became
a companion piece, but only after the
creators reflected on its potential
impact.
A hypnotic dance-theater piece, Love Unpunished explores the moments just before the
World Trade Center collapse.
“I think at first we each thought, ‘Uh
oh — what if our pieces clash too much
to live alongside each other?’” says
Dan Rothenberg ’95, director of Love
Unpunished and artistic director for
Pig Iron. “But I’m happy to report that
we ended up sharing common starting
points and arriving at different
endpoints, with both of us, artists
of different generations, wanting to
find a way to say things that aren’t
said — to make room in the discourse
for unexpected or even unnameable
emotions.”
“Together, the two pieces manage to
fill a few gaps in the conversations we
have — or don’t have — about 9/11 and
the wars and crimes that followed,”
Dana says.
— RYAN DOUGHERTY
Aspire,
Inspire
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURENCE KESTERSON
DEEPENING
TIES TO
SWARTHMORE
THROUGH
THE STAGE
Phil Weiser ’90, Colorado’s
attorney general, visited campus this
fall to deliver the 2021 Constitution
Day Lecture, “Our Aspirational
Constitution.” The annual lecture,
which features a prominent political
scientist or legal scholar speaking
about vital issues in American
politics, is held in recognition of
Sept. 17, 1787, the day when delegates
signed the U.S. Constitution at
the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
11
common good
Committed to
Diversity and
Inclusion
President Valerie Smith was named
one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s
2021 Women of Distinction, an honor
that recognizes the Philadelphia area’s
most influential female leaders. She
also received
the honor in
2017.
The program
recognizes
women in the
community
who are
blazing
a trail in
their respective businesses, are
respected for accomplishments
within their industries, give back to
the community, and are sought out
as respected advisers and mentors
within their field of influence. Smith
was one of the 30 honorees chosen
from more than 160 nominations in the
distinction’s 26th year.
“I am motivated by the desire to see
students, staff, and faculty members
flourish, and the opportunity to
advance the mission of the College
to provide an outstanding liberal arts
education and prepare students to
serve the common good,” Smith says.
“As we undertake a College-wide
strategic planning process to lay the
groundwork for the next chapter in
Swarthmore’s history, I’m excited
to develop programs and initiatives
which will allow us to have an even
greater positive impact on our
community.”
+ MORE: bit.ly/SmithDistinction
12
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
+ MORE: bit.ly/SwatHEED
Responding to Climate Change
COURTESY OF KYRA HALL ’22
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Influential Leader
A delegation of eight students, faculty, and staff members from Swarthmore joined
more than 20,000 people in Glasgow, Scotland, in November for the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 26th Conference of the Parties
(COP26).
The College first received NGO-observer
status in 2013 and has sent a delegation to
each summit since. The student delegation
prepared throughout the fall semester by
taking a course titled UNFCCC COP and
the International Climate Regime, taught by
Associate Professor of Political Science and
Program Coordinator for Global Studies Ayse
Kaya and Melissa Tier ’14, a Ph.D. candidate
in environmental policy at the Princeton
School of Public & International Affairs.
The UNFCCC is the U.N. entity tasked
with coordinating the global response to
climate change, with 197 member countries
contributing to negotiations at the annual
COP.
From left: Olivia Stoetzer ’23, Tyler
White ’22, and Kyra Hall ’22 at COP26
in Glasgow, Scotland.
+ MORE: bit.ly/SwatCOP26
COMCAST
For the fifth consecutive year,
Swarthmore received the INSIGHT
Into Diversity Higher Education
Excellence in Diversity (HEED)
Award, recognizing colleges and
universities that demonstrate
an outstanding commitment to
diversity and inclusion.
“The HEED Award not only allows Swarthmore to celebrate the College’s
achievements in diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it also reminds us that the
work is never done,” says Tiffany Thompson, interim associate dean of inclusive
excellence. “An inclusive community means ongoing self-evaluations and
improvements to truly make change.”
INSIGHT recognized Swarthmore’s undocumented-student policy, needblind admissions, enrollment-fee waivers, and partnerships as examples of
admissions policies and programs designed to recruit first-generation and
traditionally underrepresented students.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
CAMPUSQUICKLY
THINKING, DESIGNING,
AND BUILDING
David L. Cohen ’77 was a political science, history, and economics major at
Swarthmore.
DAVID L. COHEN ’77
APPOINTED U.S. AMBASSADOR
TO CANADA
by Elizabeth Slocum
DAVID L. COHEN ’77, a longtime executive at Comcast Corp., was ceremonially
sworn in this fall as the next U.S. ambassador to Canada by Vice President
Kamala Harris, after receiving bipartisan confirmation by the full Senate. Cohen’s
appointment, which was approved in a unanimous voice vote, was celebrated on
both sides of the political aisle.
A political science, history, and economics major at Swarthmore, Cohen went
on to attend law school at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum
laude in 1981. He served as a partner and chairman at the law firm Ballard Spahr
Andrews & Ingersoll in Philadelphia and as chief of staff to former Philadelphia
Mayor Ed Rendell. In 2002, he joined the leadership team at Comcast, where he
served as executive vice president and senior executive vice president. Cohen also
served as Comcast’s first chief diversity officer. Since early 2020, he has been a
senior adviser to Comcast’s CEO, Brian Roberts.
Cohen also maintains close ties to Swarthmore. He delivered the 2008 McCabe
Lecture on “The Intersection of Politics, Business, and Public Policy,” and he was
a featured speaker at the inauguration of former President Rebecca Chopp in
2009. Cohen’s wife, Rhonda Resnick Cohen ’76, is a retired partner with Ballard
Spahr and has been a member of Swarthmore’s Board of Managers since 2010. A
scholarship named for the couple was established in 2004 and is awarded annually
to a Swarthmore student on the basis of academic merit and financial need.
“This is an extraordinary achievement for David, and a testament not only to
his professional accomplishments, but also to his lifelong commitment to service,”
said President Valerie Smith. “We are incredibly proud to count David and Rhonda
among our alumni, and we wish them and their entire family the best in this
exciting new journey.”
MARIANNE MCKENNA ’72, a
founding partner at KPMB Architects
in Toronto, was presented this fall with
the Design Futures Council Lifetime
Achievement Award, which recognizes
a design leader whose life and practice
has meaningfully impacted the built
environment. An
art history major
at Swarthmore
with a master’s
in architecture
from Yale,
McKenna is
the first woman
to receive the
recognition.
The award was not the only honor
recently bestowed upon McKenna:
Toronto Life magazine also named
McKenna to its list of 2021’s most
influential Torontonians, highlighting
her leadership in revitalizing the city’s
oldest musical theater venue, Massey
Hall.
AT A CROSSROADS
Crossroads, the latest
novel by Jonathan
Franzen ’81, H ’05, was
met with wide acclaim
when it debuted in
October, appearing on
The New York Times
best-seller list as well
as on a number of
year’s-best roundups.
The first book in an expected trilogy,
Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern
family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis.
“It’s an electrifying examination of the
irreducible complexities of an ethical life,”
writes Washington Post book critic Ron
Charles. “With his ever-parsing style and
his relentless calculation of the fractals
of consciousness, Franzen makes a good
claim to being the 21st century’s Nathaniel
Hawthorne.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
13
common good
BEARING WATER
Tackling the problem of
water access for the
unhoused
14
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
handwashing stations.
“I would start the day by getting
the truck and going to the clinic and
filling it up with water and adding
chlorine, and then going around from
one site to the next and refilling the
handwashing stations and cleaning
the dispensing end of the tube and the
soap dispenser,” says Guerrette, who
also did any needed repairs. “When I
wasn’t actively out delivering, I was
thinking about ongoing problems and
how to solve them.”
Guerette said the 10 original
handwashing stations were eventually
replaced with five larger general-use
water stations, and the project was
taken up by a new nonprofit group.
Guerette has resumed his career as a
programmer.
“I’m really glad I was able to do this
whole project because it addressed
a need that had been there for a
long time,” Guerette says. “I remain
frustrated and angry about the broader
context this work is being done in. I
wish we lived in a more compassionate
society.”
A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
KARA BLEDSOE ’16 (right, in pink), an analyst with Ithaka S+R, returned
to the College this fall to assist the Swarthmore Libraries in a visioning
study, working to “build a vision for the future that complements the vibrant,
passionate Swarthmore community,” she
says. She engaged students in insightful
conversations on how the libraries could
support them. “When I was in their
shoes, I received a great deal of support
and care from the librarians and my
peers,” Bledsoe says, “and though I could
never repay that in full, I’m grateful for
the chance to return this small fraction
through my contributions to the visioning
process.”
Gwendolyn Lam ’24 (top) and other members of
Swarthmore’s Bird Club helped band and measure
northern saw-whet owls at the Willistown Conservation
Trust in Chester County, Pa.
TOP TEACHER
RODERICK WOLFSON
IN THE EARLY MONTHS of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Nick Guerette
’05 could often be found delivering
water to handwashing stations he
helped establish while working with
the Berkeley Free Clinic, a selfdescribed “radical, do-it-yourself
health collective” with an outreach
team that brings supplies directly to
the city’s unhoused residents.
“Initially, the problem we were
trying to solve was preventing
the spread of COVID by allowing
people to wash their hands in major
encampments for folks living on the
streets in Oakland and Berkeley,” says
Guerette.
“But I met up with activists who
had been working on the more general
problem of water access for folks living
in encampments,” he says. “There
were certain spots where people could
get access to public spigots or water
fountains, but in most of the larger
encampments, there was nothing like
that.”
Once more resources became
available, they shifted from just
providing handwashing to providing
larger quantities of bulk water to be
used for all purposes.
Guerette, who studied computer
science and engineering at
Swarthmore, quit his programming
job in March 2020 with plans to
take a part-time, minimum-wage
job helping the Free Clinic catch up
on maintenance projects while also
working part time at a bakery.
The bakery shut down, and Guerette
found himself free to volunteer his
time to design and maintain the
GROUNDED.WORLD
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
CHILLY TEMPERATURES and working
at night were all part of an exciting
volunteer experience just miles away
from Swarthmore’s campus. Students
and staff members helped to band
and measure northern saw-whet owls
in November as part of an ongoing
conservation effort by the Willistown
Conservation Trust in Chester County,
Pa.
“It was amazing,” says Gwendolyn
Lam ’24, president of Swarthmore’s Bird
Club and a double major in biochemistry
and applied math. Founded in 2015, the
Bird Club is a student-run organization
dedicated to the observation of birds
both on and off campus. “We arrived
as soon as they caught an owl, so we
didn’t have to wait that long in the cold,”
says Lam. “We learned a lot about the
owls, local birds, bird-banding careers,
banding process, and the volunteers
and employees themselves. Owl
banding is a super cool experience.”
Students also learned about how the
owl data — including sex, weight, and
age — are documented for research
purposes. “The owls are given a unique
identification band so that researchers
will know who it is if it is ever caught
again,” says Lizzy Atkinson ’24, a
biology major and chemistry minor and
vice president of the Bird Club. “This
data gives researchers insight into how
owl populations are doing in terms of
health and size.”
— KATE CAMPBELL
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Banding
Together
WHITNEY NEKOBA ARAGAKI ’08, a biology and
environmental science teacher at Waiākea High School in
Hilo, Hawaii, was named 2022 Hawai‘i State Teacher of
the Year. The award, given annually to a classroom teacher
selected from more than 13,000 educators, was presented to
Aragaki by Gov. David Ige and Interim Superintendent Keith
Hayashi.
“This award affirms that my efforts in the field of
education are moving in a positive direction, by those who
are knowledgeable about the profession,” Aragaki says.
A biology major at Swarthmore, Aragaki says she also
found a home in educational studies with professors K. Ann
Renninger and Lisa Smulyan ’76. “The opportunities to
learn and problematize pedagogy deepened my advocacy for
educational equity and joyful liberation,” she says. “I take the
lessons learned from my time at Swarthmore and apply them
to engage and challenge my students to achieve and reinvest
in their communities.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
15
common good
IN TRIBUTE TO THREE FRIENDS
Stephen Maurer ’67, the Neil R. Grabois ’57 Professor
Emeritus in the Natural Sciences and Engineering, died Aug.
25. He was 75.
A mathematics major at Swarthmore, Maurer returned
to the College as a faculty member in 1979 and taught
classes at all levels for nearly 40 years, including calculus,
linear algebra, statistics, and discrete mathematics, his
specialty. Maurer also
relished opportunities
to serve his department
and the larger campus
community, serving
as associate provost
for information
technology in 2000–
03, and twice chairing
the Mathematics
Department, first for a
year in the early 1990s
and again from 2004 to
2011.
“Steve was a born
leader,
one who brought
Stephen Maurer ’67
energy and goodwill to
any leadership role he held, and his dedication to teaching
is legendary,” says Retired Professor of Mathematics and
Statistics Deb Bergstrand. “I have such respect for him
and his legacy as a dedicated colleague and all-around fine
human being.”
Robinson Gill Hollister Jr., the Joseph Wharton Professor
Emeritus of Economics, died Sept. 14. He was 86.
Hollister joined Swarthmore’s faculty in 1971 and for 44
years taught labor and social economics and econometrics,
among other classes, to generations of students. In 1977, he
co-founded the College’s public policy program, which for
nearly 40 years provided students with internships and a
senior thesis opportunity. But during a career devoted to
the evaluation of public policies, Hollister is perhaps best
16
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
known for his pioneering
use and advocacy of
randomized control
trials, considered
the gold standard for
estimating the causal
impact of social policy
innovations.
“Rob Hollister was
an institution in the
Swarthmore Economics
Department,” says
Professor and Chair of
Economics Amanda
Robinson Hollister Jr.
Bayer. “His colleagues
and students will
always remember him for his brilliant mind, quick wit, and
big heart. He provided a wonderful model of how to use
expertise in economics to help people.”
Edward Picciotti, a longtime College shuttle bus driver,
died Oct. 21. He was 71.
Picciotti came to Swarthmore in 2005 after retiring as a
life member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers Local 98, where he worked in communications.
In addition to his 16
years in Public Safety,
Picciotti drove vans for
the Chester Children’s
Chorus and the
Swarthmore Summer
Scholars Program. He
had recently switched to
day-shift shuttle driver
before retiring in the fall.
“Ed was a great listener
and loved interacting
with our students,” says
Public Safety Office
Manager Mary Lou
Edward Picciotti
Lawless. “What I truly
loved about Ed the most
was his love for his family. You could see it in his face and
feel it in his voice.”
+
MORE: bit.ly/SMaurer, bit.ly/RHollister, and bit.ly/EPicciotti
ANNE T. LAWRENCE ’74
Hooked on Humanities
COURTESY OF ANNE T. LAWRENCE ’74
Swarthmore mourns the recent loss of
three valued community members: two
esteemed emeritus professors and a
devoted member of the Public Safety staff.
HISTORICAL QUEST
“I was a good listener,” says author Anne T. Lawrence ’74, shown here at a signing of the
book Lawrence started researching and writing when she was a Swarthmore student.
MINE WARS
How good listening
skills helped craft
a book 50 years in
the making
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
AS A RISING SWARTHMORE
senior, Anne T. Lawrence ’74 jumped
at the opportunity to move to West
Virginia to collect oral histories from
participants in the battles to unionize
the coal mines.
“I had a small car, a Toyota Corona, I
had a portable tape recorder, and I had
little cassette tapes,” says Lawrence,
who took a leave from Swarthmore and
her studies in history and sociology
to “set about tracking down mostly
elderly people who had participated
themselves or had family members or
friends who participated in several key
historical events that had taken place
in the 1920s and 1930s.”
Nearly 50 years after Lawrence
started that journey, her interviews
— which originally appeared in
a National Endowment for the
Humanities project report — have
been published in a new book from
West Virginia University Press, On
Dark and Bloody Ground: An Oral
History of the West Virginia Mine
Wars. Many interviews focus on the
1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, an
armed conflict between an estimated
10,000 coal miners and supporters
against a coalition of law enforcement
officers, mine guards, and citizens. The
battle ended when President Warren
G. Harding called in Army troops.
“The union was crushed in 1921 and
was not able to successfully organize
southern West Virginia until 1933,
when New Deal labor legislation was
passed,” says Lawrence. “There’s
an arc in the book from a defeat to a
victory 12 years later.”
Lawrence, who retired as a
professor of business at San José
State University in California, recalls
how she built trust with sources as a
Swarthmore student.
“I am a small person, just 5 feet
tall, and I don’t think I looked very
threatening,” she says. “I was a good
listener, and I would just sit with
people. I was a smoker at the time, and
I would offer my interview subjects a
cigarette. We would often sit on the
porch and smoke together.”
“I encountered a lot of evangelical
Christianity in the area,” she adds. “I
was sitting on one woman’s porch and
she said, ‘Dear, have you been saved?’
I didn’t know what that meant. I said,
‘Saved?’’
And she said, ‘Yes, dear, have you
accepted Jesus Christ as your personal
savior?’ I didn’t know what to say. I
paused for a very long time, and I said,
‘Well, I’m a Quaker,’ which I was.
“She said, ‘We all quake before the
Lord.’ And she started telling her
story.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
17
common good
DUNCAN STEVENS ’96
UPPING THE ANTE
Winning Writer
ALL IN
Bringing skills learned
at Swarthmore to the
poker table
18
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
COURTESY OF JAMES BRADY ’07
WHAT WERE THE ODDS that James
Brady ’07 would become a professional
poker player?
Pretty low, if you had asked Brady
in college. The Philadelphia resident
started playing with friends as a student
at Swarthmore “but was one of the worst
players in the bunch,” he says. Through a
little bit of luck and a lot of skill-building,
however, Brady upped his game, enabling
him to pursue poker full time.
“I enjoy the analytical aspect of poker,
but also the social and psychologically
demanding elements,” says Brady, who
has won almost $300,000 so far in his
career. “Swarthmore allowed me to study
a variety of subjects, and I get to bring
different parts of my brain to the poker
table depending on what the situation
demands.”
That includes drawing on his two
Swarthmore majors, economics and
mathematics, in addition to his master’s
in finance. Math and stats come into
play at the basic level of the game, Brady
says, as well as in game simulations
that are used to calculate styles of play.
Meanwhile, Brady uses his financial
knowledge to guide his business and
manage downside risk. “One of the main
goals of professional players is to grow
wealth over time, allowing one to play at
gradually higher stakes,” he says. “This
takes budgetary discipline and careful
planning.”
It also takes practice, including
reviewing and analyzing past rounds
of play and heeding advice from top
poker coaches, Brady says. A mid-level
professional, Brady aspires to one day
LAURENCE KESTERSON
by Elizabeth Slocum
“I took a lot from being around people whose backgrounds were very different from mine,
and not assuming everyone sees the world like I do,” says joke writer Duncan Stevens ’96.
THE WRITE STUFF
Poker is mostly about patience, says professional player James Brady ’07. “In the short
run, poker can have a large amount of luck,” he says, “but in the long run, luck is a small factor,
with skill being 80–90% of what determines results.”
compete against the top names in poker,
though he has already taken part in some
memorable tournaments — even once
sharing a table with actors Kelly Hu and
Jason Alexander.
Last May, Brady headlined his own
charity event, going head-to-head against
fellow poker pro K.L. Cleeton to benefit
Cure SMA, or spinal muscular atrophy, a
rare genetic condition that both Brady and
Cleeton have. Although Brady lost in the
best-of-five tournament, the online event
raised $10,000 for the nonprofit.
The shift to virtual gameplay during
the pandemic has taken a toll on Brady’s
winnings, but it’s also given him time to
work on his skills, which Brady says are
now better than ever. He’s eager to return
in person to the poker community, where
each player brings something unique
to the game — just as students did at
Swarthmore.
“Swarthmore exposed me to the
smartest and most impressive people I
have ever met and forever changed how
I think and how I view intelligence,” he
says. “It also taught me humility and
to understand that you can succeed in
attempts, not just results.”
JAMES BRADY ’07
Poker Pro
SURELY,
HE JESTS
Finding the universal
in the personal
by Ryan Dougherty
WHEN COLLEAGUES of Duncan
Stevens ’96 at the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. first saw his jokes in
The Washington Post, they couldn’t
believe it — and neither could he.
“I would never think of a person I
know only in a very dry, official context
picking up a paper to read this humor
contest in the back,” says Stevens,
an appellate-litigation attorney in
Vienna, Va. “The worlds are so far
apart.”
In the world of the Post’s The Style
Invitational, however, Stevens’s humor
is money in the bank. Last year, he had
138 jokes published — far more than
any of the thousands of other entrants
from around the world. Deadpan
and middlebrow, Stevens’s style is
rooted in word play. A favorite was
his response to a Cider House Rules
prompt: “Man, this is one awesome
cider house!”
Stevens enjoyed crosswords and
games as a child, but was mostly
straitlaced through college. He joined
an a cappella group that tagged playful
intros onto songs and wrote an opinion
column for The Phoenix that veered
satirical. But the first time he wrote
something “intentionally funny”
was in law school, at Northwestern
University, about the life of a J.D.
student.
When Stevens started with the
FDIC, in 2000, he became a fan
of The Style Invitational contest.
But he didn’t submit often and
wasn’t published until 2012. Then,
friends from his Episcopal church
started pushing him to ramp up his
moonlighting.
“I faced the moral authority of
people who expected to see my name
in the paper every week,” Stevens says
with a laugh.
Before the pandemic, Stevens jotted
thoughts on a legal pad during his
long train commute, or while his kids
played in the park. Now, working from
home, he steals moments throughout
the day to commit jokes to paper or his
phone. Stevens’s writing process has
changed, but not his motivation.
“It’s a competitive, spirited
community of creative folks with
fertile minds, and you want to show
you can measure up,” says Stevens,
who is also spurred on by classmates
from Swarthmore and even his
elementary school who follow his
exploits online.
Reflecting on Swarthmore, Stevens
is most grateful for meeting his wife,
Rebekah Bundang ’97, formerly an
administrator and now a volunteer
with the Literacy Council of Northern
Virginia, who has a similar sense of
humor. But also hugely impactful was
how much more eclectic the College
was than his boarding school.
“I took a lot from being around
people whose backgrounds were very
different from mine, and not assuming
everyone sees the world like I do,” says
Stevens.
That lesson connects, if indirectly,
to his comedic style.
“Knowing your own limitations and
your own mind is the only way to write
in a way that can be appreciated by
people who aren’t exactly like you.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
19
PARTNERS IN
PEACEBUILDING
Swarthmore database tells a deeper
story of the effects of gun violence in
Delaware County
by Elizabeth Slocum
20
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WINTER 2022
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
BRIAN STAUFFER
photos by Laurence Kesterson
21
B
BEHIND EVERY STATISTIC is a story.
Of a family searching for answers or justice. Of a
community rallying for resources in response to senseless
shootings. Of a loved one lost to gun violence.
Those stories often go unheard in the greater narrative
of gun violence. As mass shootings and other high-profile
crimes dominate headlines, community violence tends to get
pushed aside as an unfortunate reality of American life.
A Swarthmore project is trying to alter that narrative.
Launched this fall, the Delaware County Homicide
Database (delcohomicides.swarthmore.edu) is an online
dashboard and interactive map that tracks all violent deaths
in Pennsylvania’s fifth-most-populous county, the vast
majority of which are firearm-related. Created by students
under the guidance of Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies
and Sociology Lee Smithey, the database aims to assist in the
prevention of gun violence while painting a fuller picture of
the effects of firearms.
The project is a peacebuilding effort in partnership with
advocacy groups, Smithey says — developed in collaboration
with members of the local community, and informed by their
personal experiences.
“When I look at that map, I probably tend to see it as a
sociologist first, and I start thinking about proximity to the
interstate, the income level in these various neighborhoods,
etc.,” says Smithey, who is also coordinator of Swarthmore’s
Peace & Conflict Studies Program. But residents of areas
22
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
where gun violence is pervasive, he says, “see a mosaic of
stories and individuals and people, and they know that
many of these homicide events are related to one another.
It opened our eyes to how this information is going to tell a
different story to different people.”
A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM
Shootings claimed the lives of more than 15,000 Americans
in 2019, not including suicides, according to the Gun
Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks firearm casualties
nationally; 2020 saw the highest number of firearm deaths
in more than two decades, with nearly 20,000 fatalities, and
2021 was on pace to approach or exceed that figure.
In Delaware County, the Swarthmore database shows, 28
homicides were recorded in 2019, the most recent year for
which local statistics are available. The map accompanying
the data illuminates hot spots in lower income and more
highly populated parts of the county, in line with trends for
community gun violence nationwide.
For years, local anti-violence organizations have worked
to draw attention to the issue, in hopes of advancing state
gun legislation and bringing interventions to the areas that
need it most. But data collection can be a challenge for the
groups’ volunteers, as they balance full-time jobs with their
advocacy work. “It’s really hard to go and ask for resources
when you don’t have the backup data,” says Jess Frankl of
Delaware County United for Sensible Gun Policy, or Delco
United, a legislation-focused advocacy group that partnered
with Smithey and his students on the database project.
The dashboard has elevated the conversation. “It helps a
group like ours to go to our elected representatives and say,
look, you know there’s a problem — the numbers do not lie,”
says Frankl. “Here’s where the problem is and here’s who it’s
hitting and here’s what you’re not doing to fix it.”
The statistics also help proponents as they engage with
members of their own communities — or with those who
are against their cause, adds John Linder, who co-chaired
Delco United with Frankl from 2018 to 2021. (The nonprofit,
which was co-founded by Robin Lasersohn ’88 and her
husband, Terry Rumsey, became a chapter of the statewide
organization CeaseFirePA early last year.)
“We have to get accurate data, share it with people from
the community, and teach what it means,” says Linder, a
professor at Delaware County Community College who
served as mayor of Chester, Pa., from 2012 to 2016. “If we
educate, we have a chance to eliminate. If we educate, we
have a chance to motivate. If we bring to people’s awareness
what is bothering them, we’ve got the greatest chance of
The Delaware County Homicide Database will help advocates like John
Linder and Jess Frankl draw attention to the issue of gun violence, among
both elected officials and community members. “If we bring to people’s
awareness what is bothering them,” says Linder, “we’ve got the greatest
chance of them taking the medicine that is prescribed for them.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
23
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
IS JUST IN
OUR BLOOD
CREDIT
by Elizabeth Slocum
Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies and Sociology Lee Smithey allowed the personal experiences of gun-violence survivors to inform the design
of the homicide database. “It opened our eyes to how this information is going to tell a different story to different people,” he says.
them taking the medicine that is prescribed for them.”
It might be surprising to discover that a database like
Swarthmore’s didn’t already exist for Delaware County;
with the amount of information available on the internet,
it’s easy to assume that anti-violence groups had all the data.
Smithey points out, however, that although limited statistics
are readily attainable through law enforcement agencies,
they are rarely presented in a way that’s easy for the public to
process. By utilizing the College’s technological and scholarly
resources, Swarthmore students served as research assistants
for the local groups, supporting them in their advocacy.
“We tried our best to give our community partner
organizations the most information they can possibly get
in order to do their job better and make our communities
safer,” says Oliver Hicks ’22, a political science and peace
& conflict studies major from San Luis Obispo, Calif., who
worked on the project. “Gun violence is not a series of
isolated incidents. It’s a systemic problem of pandemic-level
proportions.”
24
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
HUMANIZING THE VICTIMS
For the database, students downloaded homicide
information from the Pennsylvania Uniform CrimeReporting System and then cross-checked their findings
against local news reports to glean further details about
each case, such as the specific locations of the shootings.
Dashboard users can search gun deaths in the county
going back to 2005, while filtering by such demographics
as victims’ age, sex, and race, and applying map overlays
including median income per area.
The project drew inspiration from the work of
photojournalist, activist, and educator Jim MacMillan, who
launched a similar site tracking gun deaths in Philadelphia.
A former journalist-in-residence with Swarthmore’s
War News Radio and former manager for media and
responsibility for the Lang Center for Civic and Social
Responsibility, MacMillan is the founding director of the
Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting, which
emphasizes the importance of including community voices
THE SANDY HOOK SHOOTINGS
profoundly affected Robin Lasersohn
’88.
A preschool teacher at the time
of the 2012 massacre, which left
26 young children and educators
dead at a school in Newtown, Conn.,
Lasersohn found herself wondering
what she could have done in that
situation to protect herself and her
students.
Not willing to sit idly by, Lasersohn
took a stand. With her husband,
Terry Rumsey, she co-founded
Delaware County United for Sensible
Gun Policy, in hopes of effecting positive
change at the legislative level.
“Terry and I had been concerned
about gun policy and gun violence in
the U.S. for many, many years,” says
Lasersohn, a Media, Pa., resident who
has been engaged in local activism since
her days at Swarthmore, where she
special-majored in education and social
change. The pair attended the Million
Mom March in 2000 and were tuned in to
firearm issues, she says, but Sandy Hook
truly mobilized the anti-gun-violence
movement nationwide.
Launched in 2013, Delco United has
pushed for bipartisan support of firearm
legislation at the state and federal level,
including universal background checks
for gun purchases and bans on highcapacity ammunition magazines. It has
also encouraged participants not to tiptoe
around the issue of gun control or to be
afraid to call out the NRA.
“When we first began organizing, a lot
of folks on the gun-sense side of things
were scared to be direct and bold in their
demands,” Lasersohn says. “Through a lot
of strategic planning and organizing, the
Robin Lasersohn ’88 encourages advocates not to tiptoe around the issue of gun control. “When
you overcome that fear and decide, ‘I’m doing this out of principle, and I’m going to put myself out
there,’” she says, “you’re free to voice truth to power.”
people experienced their own collective
power. We transformed that attitude into
one of like, dammit, you’re going to start
listening to the majority of the community
here. We want some basic, commonsense
solutions, and we’re not going to be
fearful and back down.”
Once, Lasersohn says, during a unity
walk of about 100 people from Chester to
Media, Delco United was met by roughly
25 armed counterdemonstrators who
tried to shout them down. Instead of
engaging with them, Lasersohn and her
group marched on by, singing “We Shall
Overcome.”
“It was a transformative experience for
a lot of people,” Lasersohn says. “When
you overcome that fear and decide, ‘I’m
doing this out of principle, and I’m going
to put myself out there,’ you’re free to
voice truth to power.” From that point on,
she adds, the opposition group essentially
faded away, as Delco United grew to more
than 2,000 members.
Having accomplished their first-stage
organizational goals with Delco United,
Lasersohn and Rumsey passed the
leadership baton to Jess Frankl and John
Linder in 2018. The move freed them
up to focus more on other priorities,
including Green Seeds, their grant-writing
consultancy that supports organizations
doing work that benefits the greater
good. Among Lasersohn’s clients are the
Swarthmore-backed Chester Children’s
Chorus, as well as Historic Fair Hill,
a Quaker nonprofit directed by Jean
Murdock Warrington ’71.
Green Seeds “meets our need to have
right livelihood, to feel like the way we
earn a living is also helping to change
and heal the world,” Lasersohn says. And
it allows the couple to continue making
change in the community, through openspace preservation advocacy, continued
support for the anti-gun-violence
movement, and other efforts close to
their hearts. “I was not an activist before
I came to Swarthmore, but I think I was
itching to be one,” she says. “Community
organizing is just in our blood.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
25
in the coverage of fatal shootings.
Smithey builds on this idea in his Gun Violence Prevention
course, through which the homicide database was developed
over five nonconsecutive semesters. As part of the course —
which explores gun violence from the perspectives of public
health, policy, law enforcement, prevention advocates, even
gun enthusiasts — community partners and survivors of
gun violence are frequent guest speakers, often sharing how
they’ve been personally affected by firearms.
“For me, the course was really about humanizing both the
living and, unfortunately, deceased victims of gun violence,”
says Aleina Dume ’23, a sociology and educational studies
major from Queens, N.Y., who took Gun Violence Prevention
during last winter’s January term; the course is being offered
again in the fall. One particularly impactful speaker for
Dume was Beverly Wright, a mother from Chester who lost
her son, Emein, to gun violence in 2005. In response to that
tragedy, Wright formed the group Women of Strength United
for Change, which provides support for families suffering
similar losses and works to advance gun policy to prevent
future violence.
“Hearing her story, but also about her grassroots activism,
really helped me remember that these are lives that we’re
entering into this database,” Dume says. “We might not know
this person’s name, but that just speaks to how important the
work is.
“As a person of color in this class, and as a woman, I think
about how Black women and mothers are so often on the
front lines of gun violence protests and advocacy. How can
we make sure that the right voices are being uplifted?”
One way, advocates say, is simply to listen.
After consulting with community members like Wright,
Smithey’s students decided against using pinpoints for each
death in the database, to avoid reducing each victim to a
statistic. Instead, the information is presented as a heat map,
with areas growing more saturated in color as the number of
cases increases.
“Having those conversations is so important, and listening
is way harder than talking,” says Frankl, who is now on
the board of CeaseFirePA while working for an insurance
company. “For Lee to have the initiative to say, you know
what, we think we know what we’re doing here, but let’s
get an outside ear because these are the people really being
affected, and to take that and find ways to change it — no
matter how much work it might be from a tech standpoint —
that was so important.”
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Linder experienced firsthand the importance of listening
during his term as Chester’s mayor. While working to reduce
the crime rate within Delaware County’s only city, Linder
made a practice of visiting every victim of gun violence in
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
A rally held by CeaseFirePA in November drew dozens of
advocates to the Delaware County Courthouse in Media, Pa.
“Gun violence is not a series of isolated incidents,” says Oliver
Hicks ’22, who attended the rally. “It’s a systemic problem of
WINTER
2022 / Swarthmore College Bulletin
27
pandemic-level
proportions.”
“Once you start to view gun violence as entirely preventable, you find it impossible not to keep going,” says Jim MacMillan, founding director of
the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting, shown above working with Aaron Moser ’13 on campus in 2013.
JOURNALIST AND EDUCATOR JIM MACMILLAN WIDENS VIEW ON GUN VIOLENCE
by Ryan Dougherty
THE RISE OF GUN VIOLENCE throughout
the pandemic dampened Jim MacMillan’s
spirits, but not his hope.
“It’s discouraging, but it only reinforces
the need to do the work,” says the Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist and educator.
“Once you start to view gun violence as
entirely preventable, you find it impossible
not to keep going.”
Informing that view are MacMillan’s
40 years of covering gun violence. He
was a photographer for 17 years with the
Philadelphia Daily News, taking a leave
in 2004–05 to cover the Iraq War for the
Associated Press in Baghdad; he later
served as an editor/producer of the Gun
Crisis Reporting Project in Philadelphia.
Between those moves, MacMillan made
a stop at Swarthmore, where he was a
journalist-in-residence with War News
Radio and a manager for media and
28
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
responsibility for the Lang Center for Civic
and Social Responsibility.
As founding director of the Philadelphia
Center for Gun Violence Reporting,
MacMillan explores the hypothesis that
changing the way that journalists and
news organizations report on gun violence
can prevent shootings and save lives.
That effort is rooted in the concepts of
solutions journalism, trauma journalism,
and, as he learned from Professor Lee
Smithey, peace journalism.
“There’s a pretty straight line from
my experiences at Swarthmore to what
I’m doing now,” says MacMillan, who
has returned several times to Smithey’s
classroom as a guest speaker.
Having collected and analyzed gunviolence data in Philadelphia, which
he shared through a database in 2012,
MacMillan delighted in the recent efforts
of Smithey and his students.
“We’re all basically flying blind without
data,” MacMillan says, “and making it
accessible to more people is an incredibly
generous gift to the community.”
Swarthmore’s database could empower
government, nonprofits, and individuals
to take the collective action needed
to prevent gun violence, he adds. But
that’s only possible because of the deep
community engagement fostered from the
beginning of the project.
“Having the trust and confidence
of community partners verifies that
you’re doing it in a way that they think is
valuable,” he says. “And it feels like the
nature of this Swarthmore community
that I know, its emphasis on communitybuilding, is the secret sauce.”
the hospital. There, he communicated between doctors and
family members and offered comfort to loved ones during
times of extreme panic and grief. Half a decade later, Linder
says, people still tell him how much the gesture meant.
“I at some point would know someone in their family — a
parent or an uncle or aunt that I went to college with,” says
Linder, who was born and raised in Chester and attended
Widener University there. “Someone once asked me, ‘Why
did you put yourself through that?’ I said, ‘I didn’t put myself
through anything. I did what I thought was the responsible
thing to do.’
“Even the quote-unquote bad guy, the drug dealer who
was shooting — they belong to somebody. … Something that I
don’t think the young people realize when they’re engaged in
it is that that shooting, that death, that’s final.” By connecting
with people — whether they’re young people in Chester,
students at Swarthmore, or opponents of gun legislation —
Linder says he gains ground in the fight against firearms.
As a lifelong resident, Linder understands Chester’s
current challenges, including a lack of jobs, poor educational
opportunities, and a high crime rate. But he also sees signs
of hope for the city that he loves, including a sharp drop in
shootings reported last summer, attributed partly to the
Chester Partnerships for Safe Neighborhoods, a communityengagement program launched by District Attorney Jack
Stollsteimer.
What outsiders don’t always realize about Chester, Linder
says, “is that most of the people there abhor gun violence. We
think because it happens, people outside think everybody
goes for that. Everybody doesn’t go for that.”
What residents want, he says, is a safe and quiet
community where everyone can live without the fear of
crime. As Linder often tells opponents of firearm legislation:
“I don’t want your gun. What I want is your commitment
DATABASE IN ACTION
Just six weeks after its launch, the Delaware County
Homicide Database was already having a positive
impact on community anti-violence groups.
“Making a Change Group Chester highlighted
your map at a program pitch tonight for a new
intervention initiative in Chester,” CeaseFirePA
Organizing Manager Max Milkman wrote in an email
to Professor Lee Smithey in December. Milkman
leads the Delaware County Chapter of CeaseFirePA,
Delco United. “They said your database was key to
helping them understand where to invest resources.”
that we’re going to work together to stop people from taking
our lives.”
CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
Swarthmore’s homicide database has the potential to help
reduce gun violence by allowing advocates to monitor trends
across the county. “We can see when it’s getting better, when
it’s getting worse,” Frankl says. “We want to know what’s
being done: Are the interventions that are being put in place
actually working and getting to the people who need it?”
But it is also expected to be useful to trauma surgeons,
public health workers, and local governments. Before the
pandemic, Pennsylvania officials invited Smithey, Frankl,
and Linder to Harrisburg to discuss tracking gun deaths on
a statewide level. The hope is that Swarthmore’s project will
inspire additional databases — created for other counties,
perhaps by other colleges.
“It is just amazing how we have constantly run into
leaders who want to talk about this,” Smithey says. “And
it can be rewarding for students — many just took a class
because they thought Gun Violence Prevention would
be interesting, and then they realize we’re actually doing
something that people say that they need.”
The database is also likely to evolve along with those
needs. One idea is for the site to eventually include an
“in memoriam” section, where loved ones could honor
victims with photos and tributes. “The students are rightly
interested in humanizing this data as much as possible,”
Smithey says, “and so we imagine soliciting descriptions
of victims by surviving family members, if they wish, in a
totally voluntary way.”
That addition would only bolster the efforts of antigun-violence advocates, Frankl says. Never a numbers
person, even during her time leading Delco United, Frankl
instead felt drawn into action by the victims and survivors
themselves, by their personal narratives of tragedy,
perseverance, and triumph.
“It never stuck with me until I connected it to the lives
being lost, until I had their stories, until I had the bigger
picture of what was happening,” Frankl says. “And that’s
what I love so much about how Lee did this. He didn’t rush it
and say, I’m busy, I have other things to do, let’s get this up on
a website. He did it with multiple classes and educated the
students on the bigger scope of the problem. He brought in
community members and got their point of view. It was done
in the right way.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
29
LAURENCE KESTERSON
DROPPING IN
Coach Mame Fremah Bonsu ’14 loves
the freedom of skateboarding and the skill
required to be great at the sport. She started
30
SwarthmoreAnansi
College Skatelife
Bulletin / Inc.
WINTER 2022
her own company,
Skateboarding
led to
reflection —
and a new way
of navigating
work and life
by Roy Greim ’14
HOW MANY PEOPLE can say they’ve met
their childhood hero?
Skateboarding coach Mame Fremah Bonsu
’14 fell in love with the sport thanks in no small
part to the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game
franchise. Before videos were readily available
online, devotees swapped VHS tapes of their
favorite riders; Bonsu, a native of Lewiston,
Maine, didn’t have access to these videos but
immersed herself in skateboarding via her
Nintendo GameCube.
Fast-forward to last June, when Bonsu was
working at Substance Skatepark in Brooklyn,
N.Y., where she lives, and happened to meet
— and then skate with — the legendary Tony
Hawk.
“He randomly came in, and we had a session
together,” she says. “It was just super cool,
because he’s so down to earth. He was offering
me skating tips, and I’ve been able to keep in
contact with him, just asking about things.”
For Bonsu, the line from skating as a
childhood passion to a full-time profession has
had its fair share of twists and turns.
After taking time away from skating in
middle and high school, she returned to
it at Swarthmore and spent her summers
developing a feel for transition skating at her
local skatepark in Maine. The term refers to
using quarter-pipes, mini ramps, and halfpipes, says Bonsu. “Transition skating literally
started with ditches, big gutters, and empty
backyard pools,” she says.
Postgraduation plans took Bonsu to New
York City to work in advertising, and she
mostly thought of skateboard coaching as a side
hustle.
“It basically started when some kids asked
me to help them in the park at the time, and the
parents were watching, and then they came to
give me money,” Bonsu says. “Other parents
said, ‘Oh, can you teach my kid, too?’ I gave two
to five lessons on a weekend, and then I went
back to work on Monday.” Over time, Bonsu felt
increasingly out of place in the corporate world
and faced an identity crisis that pushed her out
of the advertising sphere.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
31
REGULAR:
Left foot
forward, right foot
back (push foot).
GOOFY: Right foot
forward, left foot
back (push foot).
FAKIE: Roll
backward in your
normal stance.
SWITCH: Skate
opposite to your
normal stance (i.e.
a regular skating
goofy).
STREET SKATING:
“Street, sidewalk,
ledges, curbs, stairs,
rails — skaters find
spots around the
city or skate these
features that are
built in skateparks,”
says Bonsu. “A lot of
technical tricks such
as the kickflip are
associated with the
street category, but
technically most of
this can be brought
to transition.”
“In many of the corporate environments I
was in, I felt like authenticity and unapologetic
display of your true self was discouraged,” she
says. “I had to accept that I would always have
to assume an outward appearance at odds
with who I truly am in order to survive in the
corporate world. I began to identify with my
perceived disposability, and I often stopped
feeling like a real person.”
Encouragement from her therapist and the
changing circumstances of the pandemic —
which Bonsu credits with providing “a whole
new weight to re-examining life” — led her to
pursue coaching as a full-time job.
She began her own company, Anansi
Skatelife Inc., named in homage to a spider-like
folktale character central to many West African
people; Bonsu, who was born in the U.S. but
spent part of her early life in Ghana, admires
Anansi’s craftiness in outmaneuvering larger
foes and wants to encourage her students to
show the same creativity in solving their own
problems. Anansi also serves as a reminder of
her ties to Ghana, which she hopes to represent
at the Olympics and help foster the growth of
the emerging African skating scene.
“Things like the language, smell, air feel, city,
“SKATING HAS ALWAYS
BROUGHT ME A SENSE OF
FREEDOM IN DIFFICULT
TIMES.”
— Mame Fremah
Bonsu ’14, who left
the corporate world to
pursue her passion
32
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
village, landscape, and religion of Ghana all
hold traces in my body and psyche,” Bonsu says.
“With each visit to my homeland, I feel more and
more connected — connected to the land, the
people, the culture, and the history. I also feel
connected to its future, whatever that may hold.”
It’s fitting that Bonsu found her way back
to skateboarding because of the central role
it’s played in her life. Describing it as her “first
form of therapy,” she says skateboarding has
taught her how to navigate her anxieties, feel
balanced in the world, and learn how to fall —
both on the board and in her day-to-day life.
“I feel like there’s so much of my external
world that overlaps with skateboarding,” she
says. “For example, if I lean back too much on
my board, I’ll wipe out. And if I think of all the
other things that are in the past that I can’t
control, that are behind me, that I’m leaning
back on, it’ll cause me another kind of pain.”
Despite the taxing nature of the sport, Bonsu
wants to skate as long as she can and hopes to
remain involved even if she hangs up her board.
In the meantime, she has big plans for herself,
including pushing to increase the visibility of
female skaters of color.
As a kid, she was largely surrounded by
white, male skaters at her local park. “When
you’re a minority in a particular community
or culture, it can be easy to get into the mind
frame of ‘How do I represent my people?’” she
says. “As a Black woman, I have experienced
— and also placed on my own shoulders — the
responsibility of setting an example for ‘the rest
of us,’ at my own expense, constricting how I
moved forward. If you aren’t mindful, it can pull
you away from the experience of being you.”
Much like her decision to leave the corporate
world for skateboarding, Bonsu is motivated
by her desire to represent herself on her own
terms, to display her truth as authentically as
possible.
“Skating has always brought me a sense of
freedom in difficult times,” she says. “I want
other Black, female skaters of any age to feel
that same sense of liberation.”
LAURENCE KESTERSON
TRICKS OF
THE TRADE
“In many of the corporate environments I was in, I felt like authenticity and unapologetic display of your true self was discouraged,” says Mame
Fremah Bonsu ’14, pictured above at a New York City skatepark. “I had to accept that I would always have to assume an outward appearance at odds
with who I truly am in order to survive in the corporate world.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
33
THE
LONG
PATH
HOME
The urgent work of advocating
for immigrant families
by Heather Rigney Shumaker ’91
34
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
Steven Larín ’97 is deputy director of the
Nationalities Service Center, a nonprofit in Philadelphia
celebrating its 100th anniversary.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
LAURENCE KESTERSON
D
URING STEVEN
Larín ’97’s
childhood, El
Salvador filled the
news headlines.
Civil war. Fight
to stop communism. What he heard
watching the news, however, differed
from the talk at home.
“There are people at the other end
of those stories,” Larín’s parents
reminded him. “Families trying to just
live their lives.”
As the family gathered around the
dinner table during the 1980s, they
spoke of friends who’d disappeared or
35
His first semester was exciting
and a world away from everything
he knew. But after going home for
Christmas break, Larín didn’t return
to Swarthmore. His father’s job was
in danger from layoffs. At the time,
Swarthmore’s aid package included
a family contribution they couldn’t
afford.
“I couldn’t do that to my family,”
Larín says. Instead, he enrolled in
Los Angeles Valley College. After a
year and a half of community college
and realizing there was something he
needed to complete back East, Larín
re-contacted Swarthmore, where he
was welcomed back.
“I didn’t speak up before,” he says. “I
didn’t talk to the financial aid office or
dean. I was shocked by how easy it was
to come back.”
When Larín returned to campus
in 1994, he joined HOLA, the Latino
student organization. California was
not far from his mind. The state’s
Proposition 187 was threatening to cut
off public schooling and health care
for undocumented immigrants. Larín
alerted fellow students to the issues
with Prop 187.
Soon, student groups focused on
civil liberties and homelessness grew
interested. Together, they created the
Coalition Against Xenophobia, which
became a leader for organizing Prop
“THE PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED ME WERE THE
STUDENTS. WE ALL CAME TOGETHER. THAT’S
HOW IT HAPPENS AT SWARTHMORE.”
— Steven Larín ’97
36
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
187 protests nationwide.
“The people who inspired me were
the students,” says Larín, who went
on to earn his law degree from Loyola
Law School in Los Angeles. “We all
came together. That’s how it happens
at Swarthmore.”
One exceptionally inspiring student
was Elizabeth Green ’97, who joined
Larín in his activist work. “We’ve
been married for 15 years now,” he
says. The dual-attorney couple live in
Swarthmore.
“THE CHILDREN I’M WORKING WITH LOOK
LIKE MY OWN CHILDREN.”
Larín remembers an 8-year-old boy
trying to rejoin his mother, who
was living in the United States.
“Guillermo” (not his real name) fled
violence in El Salvador, traveling by
foot, train, and bus with his older
brother. Border patrol detained
them on entry. Although Larín won
Guillermo’s asylum case, reuniting
him with his mother, the two brothers
were separated.
“Terrible, terrible things happened
to that family,” says Larín. “And on
top of that, there’s the impact and
devastation of separation. Our focus is
keeping families together.”
Larín sees the big picture when it
comes to reasons for immigration.
Take the case of Guillermo. “He fled
because a gang had taken over the
neighborhood where he lives,” says
Larín. “Two big gangs there are 18th
Street and MS-13. Those two gangs
have origins in the streets of L.A.”
As Larín explains, the U.S. deported
large numbers of undocumented
young men from California. These
youths introduced U.S. gang culture to
many places in Central America.
“There are real connections
with U.S. history,” says Larín, “and
LAURENCE KESTERSON
been killed. Today, the human stories
are the focus of Larín’s lifelong work
with immigrants and refugees. Larín
is deputy director of Nationalities
Service Center, a Philadelphiabased nonprofit celebrating its
100th anniversary. As an attorney
specializing in asylum cases and
immigrant youth, he has worked
directly with immigrant families for
20 years.
Larín’s parents, both Salvadoran,
fled the growing violence in their
country, arriving in the U.S. in the
1970s with his brother, then 2. Larín
was born in Los Angeles. His father
found jobs as a carpenter and factory
worker in the aerospace industry. His
mother took assembly-line jobs.
They faced hardship — and
sometimes mistreatment — but
thrived with new opportunities and
support from extended family.
By the time he reached high school,
Larín knew he wanted to be an
attorney to help immigrant families.
“You should pick a highly ranked
school that meets 100% of financial
need,” Larín’s guidance counselor
said, while handing him a Swarthmore
brochure that showcased a pretty
campus, filled with trees. “Many
people do school visits,” says Larín,
but for him, “it was based on the
brochure.”
“I was very much aware that people are forced to move,” says Jonah Eaton ’02, “and where they move to is not always a
very receptive place.”
GROUNDED IN GLOBAL POLITICS
by Heather Rigney Shumaker ’91
STEVEN LARÍN ’97 IS NOT THE ONLY SWATTIE working at
Philadelphia’s Nationalities Service Center. Jonah Eaton ’02
heads the legal department and works side by side with Larín.
Eaton joined the group as a staff attorney helping immigrants
apply for U.S. asylum and currently oversees a team of 10
immigration attorneys.
The two colleagues had many of the same professors and
credit Swarthmore for its thorough grounding in global politics.
Eaton also draws on his Quaker heritage.
“I grew up in a Quaker, U.N. family,” he says. His mother worked
for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a
protection officer. “We lived in Pakistan at the time. She took me
to a refugee camp on the Pakistan border when I was 9 years
old.” Those early experiences made a deep impression. “I was
very much aware that people are forced to move, and where they
move to is not always a very receptive place.”
Swarthmore was a natural fit for Eaton. His father was a
Hicksite Quaker and a Swarthmore alumnus, and the College
nurtured his growing interest in humanitarian work. “The College
attracts people interested in social justice,” he says.
Eaton’s specialty in asylum and refugee law is tough work, and
not all of his clients’ asylum cases are granted.
“You lose a lot,” he says. “People get deported. Families get
separated.” But Eaton believes everyone who seeks asylum
deserves a chance to be heard. What’s more, U.S. law requires it.
He disapproves of the recent Biden administration response to
Haitians seeking asylum at the U.S. border. “They are breaking
the law when they deport these people,” he says, “because there
is a right to apply for asylum if you’re in U.S. territory. Full stop.”
Eaton doesn’t worry about what has been labeled a “border
crisis,” calling it largely a political construction. Given the nation’s
size and wealth, he says, the U.S. can absorb large numbers of
immigrants. “We could have just let all those people in,” says
Eaton. “We can take it.” Besides, he says, most asylum seekers
don’t reach U.S. borders. “The vast majority of people who flee
trouble end up in the country next door. They never make it to the
United States.”
For those who do come to the U.S., Eaton believes everyone
deserves a fair hearing under law. A 2019 Pennsylvania State
University study found that 77% of people in Pennsylvania
detention centers are deported without counsel. He advocates for
public defenders for immigrants. Immigration law is convoluted,
he says, and his clients are often survivors of torture. “They fled
here. Now they need protection.”
Eaton is not surprised to be working with so many
Swarthmoreans, including student interns and Emiliano
Rodriguez ’04, a union organizer with Unite Here.
“Swarthmore graduates go into nonprofits and changemaking,” Eaton says. Many days he finds himself in meetings
with fellow alumni. “It’s me and Steven and Emiliano,” he says, all
trying to “move the ball in a more just direction.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
37
— Steven Larín ’97
tremendous connection with U.S.
foreign policy. People are fleeing real
danger. As a country, we’re responsible
to provide refuge, especially if we’re
part of creating the situation.”
The Nationalities Services Center
has been at the heart of this work for a
century.
NSC’s original mission was to
help women learn English and gain
naturalized citizenship. Clients were
mostly Polish, Greek, German, or
Armenian. The 1960s brought Cubans
and Hungarians fleeing revolution,
then many refugees from Southeast
Asia. Today, NSC is a unique, one-stop
hub for all low-income immigrants
and refugees, serving more than 5,000
clients from 100 countries in 2020.
New arrivals can find legal services,
English-language classes, health
care, job counseling, translators, and
interpreters.
Larín notes the similarities between
the sudden influx of Vietnamese
refugees in 1975 and the mass arrival
of Afghan refugees today. “There’s
been a tremendous outpouring of
support,” Larín says of the 28,000
Afghan evacuees who have entered the
U.S. through the Philadelphia airport.
“Employers offering work, people
offering temporary housing, others
just wanting to welcome and greet
them at the airport.”
“We consider ourselves an antipoverty organization in addition to
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
an immigrants’ rights organization,”
he adds. “The issues that impact
immigrants impact everybody in our
community.”
In the future, Larín expects an
influx of environmental refugees.
The World Bank predicts 143 million
climate migrants by 2050, people
fleeing severe storms, droughts, and
hurricanes. This displacement has
already begun.
“Organizations like the Nationalities
Service Center offer crucial aid to
newly settled immigrant and refugee
communities in the Philadelphia area
and help uphold our reputation as the
City of Brotherly Love,” says Visiting
Assistant Professor of Political
Science Osman Balkan.
Welcoming immigrants is simply the
right thing to do — for humanitarian
reasons, and for very real economic
benefit, Larín says. “The focus now is
trying to change the narrative around
immigration,” he says. Immigration
brings young workers to revitalize
cities. Immigrants buy houses, pay
taxes, and start businesses at a rate
80% higher than non-immigrants,
according to a study from the MIT
Sloan School of Management. Many
essential workers during the COVID19 pandemic — from health care to
food delivery — were immigrants.
“They worked hard during this time
to keep food in our stores and on our
tables,” Larín notes.
He hopes for two things: lawful
status for millions of undocumented
people and an end to criminal
treatment and detention centers.
Despite daunting challenges, Larín
imbues his daily work with heartfelt
optimism. His team is solid. Jonah
Eaton ’02 directs NSC’s legal services.
Vivian Echeverría Quiroga, a onetime
client, serves on the board while
pursuing a nursing degree.
“To see the tremendous joy when
things work out well,” says Larín, “to
see that story repeated over and over
— we’re just there for a moment in a
person’s life.”
A Path to
Citizenship
JORGE AGUILAR ’05 remembers
the day his mother told him they were
leaving Costa Rica for a new life in
the United States. As a 7-year-old, his
thoughts were mainly on the plane
ride.
The full impact of living in the U.S.
as undocumented immigrants didn’t
hit until later. Aguilar and his mother
moved to the Bronx in New York City
and shared housing with an immigrant
family from China. “Six of us slept in
the one-bedroom apartment,” says
Aguilar. His mother found work as a
seamstress in a garment factory.
The job involved long hours and
little pay, but it was the only work she
could find. She was a single mom, and
deaf in one ear and nearly deaf in the
other. As a girl in Costa Rica, she’d had
no access to sign language or hearing
aids. “Because of that, she had a thirdgrade education,” says Aguilar. “She
was functionally illiterate.” He is
amazed by his mother’s courage.
His mother left for work early, so at
age 8, Aguilar was boarding the city
bus to school on his own, knowing
little English. After school he waited
for her at the local public library,
which closed at 7 p.m. “In retrospect, it
was frightening,” says Aguilar. “Mom’s
[ job] was frequently raided by the
immigration police. Had they caught
her, I would never have been picked up
after school.” Aguilar learned English
and soon became a baseball-playing,
American kid.
They moved out on their own when
he was 10. Aguilar saw kids playing
outside their one-bedroom apartment.
“I had no friends and I was lonely,” he
says. “Baseball became my entry into a
social life in the U.S.”
But things got tough in junior high.
His school was riddled with violence,
and Aguilar kept a straight-C profile
to stay safe. His mother warned him to
stay out of trouble.
“If you get in a fight, you’ll get kicked
out of the country,” she told him,
explaining that the consequences
for his friends would be different.
Luckily, Student Sponsors Partners,
a nonprofit program for at-risk youth,
steered Aguilar to a new school.
Thanks to his sponsor and mentor,
Aguilar started attending St. Agnes
Boys High School, an all-boys Catholic
school in Manhattan. “Then my
grades blossomed, once I was in a safe
environment,” says Aguilar.
His mother remarried a U.S. citizen
and then applied for legal status for
her son. His application for residency
was denied because the family’s annual
income failed to meet U.S. immigration
income requirements. Aguilar was told
to deport in 90 days. He was only 16
years old.
“I was on the cusp of being deported
without my mom,” he says. At the
time he was only a high school junior.
“I cried to anyone who would listen.”
Teachers and counselors were
sympathetic, “but it was my baseball
coach who offered up a solution,” he
says. His coach introduced him to his
father, a retired judge. They convinced
a law firm to take his case pro bono and
COURTESY OF JORGE AGUILAR ’05
“OUR FOCUS IS
KEEPING FAMILIES
TOGETHER.”
Jorge Aguilar ’05 was 7 when he and his mother emigrated from Costa Rica. Today, he is
a child psychiatrist in the Bronx. Aguilar says he found support at Swarthmore, especially
through Amy Cheng Vollmer, the Isaac H. Clothier Jr. Professor of Biology. Top: Aguilar and
his mom. Bottom: Aguilar and wife Caitlin Proper in the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
39
“Although the Supreme
Court [DACA] case was
a partial win, Congress
was still unable to create a
pathway to citizenship.”
TORY RUST LLC
“As the daughter of a Puerto Rican man and a Cuban woman,
I feel fortunate to be doing this work,” says Lourdes Rosado ’85,
president and general council of LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
A PLEA FOR EDUCATION AND EMPATHY
by Tara Smith
ONLY EDUCATION can dispel the darkness and lies that shroud
immigrants in fear and keep our broken immigration system on
lockdown.
Lourdes Rosado ’85, president and general counsel of
LatinoJustice PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense & Education
Fund), says her own eyes were opened in Professor Ken Sharpe’s
Latin American seminar, when she learned about the role the U.S.
played in authoritarian regimes and weak democracies.
Rosado has spent decades fighting for social justice on
a variety of fronts — from litigation and policy advocacy to
40
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
community education and engagement. “It’s a very challenging
time to be representing the Latino population of this country,”
she says. “As the daughter of a Puerto Rican man and a Cuban
woman, I feel fortunate to be doing this work.”
Rosado was chief of the Civil Rights Bureau at the New York
State Attorney General’s Office when President Donald Trump
enacted the Muslim travel ban in 2017. She and her colleagues
leaped into action to combat this and other items, including the
rescission of DACA, on his anti-immigration agenda.
“Although the Supreme Court case was a partial win,” she says,
“Congress was still unable to create a pathway to citizenship.”
Though she breathed a sigh of relief when Trump was defeated,
“we’re seeing threats from other areas, including state governors.
And there’s still no pathway to citizenship. I’m baffled by the lack
of empathy — especially by parents.”
Another injustice Rosado finds astounding is the lack
of acknowledgment and provision for the vast numbers of
immigrants, including undocumented people, who have been
putting themselves at risk as essential workers, doing the work
others won’t do, throughout the pandemic. “They need to be
honored, not excluded from federal aid,” she says.
Rosado is proud of her organization’s work in assisting Latinx
workers who were excluded from federal aid to apply to a New
York state-created fund.
She sees hope for change coming out of the work that many
public-interest law firms are doing, as well as from community
organizing at the grassroots level and from individuals like Karina
Ruiz, who approached U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona on a
flight to inquire politely about her campaign promise to work on a
pathway to citizenship.
“That was a very powerful moment,” Rosado says. “It’s only
through that kind of pressure that change is going to come.”
Rosado, who was serving on Swarthmore’s Board of Managers
when the vote was taken, is also proud that the College declared
itself to be a sanctuary campus.
As in most struggles for justice, it’s not just about institutions.
Swarthmoreans everywhere can bring the light of education and
empathy to their communities.
COURTESY OF JORGE AGUILAR ’05
— Lourdes Rosado ’85
Aguilar and his mom, Denia Ching, at his swearing-in ceremony. As a still-undocumented
high school senior, Aguilar applied to Swarthmore, which offered him a full scholarship.
“They wanted to have students from a background like mine on campus,” he says.
halted the deportation orders.
As a still-undocumented high
school senior, however, Aguilar’s
options for higher education were
limited. He couldn’t get a bank loan
or federal financial aid. Would any
college give him funding? He applied
to 36 colleges, hoping one would offer
private funding. His school supported
him, paying for each $40–$60
application fee. “Of those 36 colleges,
Swarthmore was the only one that
offered me a full scholarship,” says
Aguilar. “They understood my status.
They wanted to have students from a
background like mine on campus.”
He met people from different
backgrounds, played varsity sports,
and served as class president. Still, it
wasn’t easy.
“I struggled at Swarthmore because
I never took an AP class and we didn’t
speak English at home,” he says.
Amy Cheng Vollmer, the Isaac H.
Clothier Jr. Professor of Biology,
became Aguilar’s mentor, a
relationship he credits with helping
him survive the rigorous academics.
“I WAS ON THE CUSP OF BEING DEPORTED
WITHOUT MY MOM. I CRIED TO ANYONE
WHO WOULD LISTEN.”
— Jorge Aguilar ’05
“She didn’t judge my potential
by my performance,” says Aguilar.
“She judged my potential based on
my passion and my determination.”
Vollmer went on to co-found the
Swarthmore Summer Scholars
Program (S3P) to give students like
Aguilar research opportunities.
Vollmer suggested he work as a
research assistant before attempting
graduate school. He did, taking night
classes on the side.
By the time Aguilar graduated
from the Albert Einstein College of
Medicine with an M.D. in medicine
and a Ph.D. in microbiology, he had his
citizenship papers.
Today, Aguilar is a child psychiatrist.
“I practice in the Bronx,” he says. “My
patient population is almost entirely
Black, Brown, and poor.” Psychiatry
is still predominantly a white field,
and Aguilar says it’s important to
recruit providers who can relate to
and fully understand their patients’
circumstances.
Mental health providers are in skyhigh demand, especially for kids, due
to the pandemic and national unrest.
That stress is causing pathological
anxiety and depression, says Aguilar:
“These things don’t go unwitnessed by
kids.”
According to a study by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
mental health-related emergency
room visits have increased 31% since
the pandemic began, and suicide
attempts by girls has increased 51%.
Aguilar worries poor families have
less access and longer waiting times
for mental health care.
No one benefits when immigrants
struggle unnecessarily. Immigrant
kids are “just as American as the
other kids,” he says, and welcoming
immigrants — the way Swarthmore did
— is the right thing to do.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
41
A MATTER OF RESILIENCE
How a violent chapter in Tulsa shaped one family’s path
by Sherry L. Howard
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
MIKE SIMONS
MIKE SIMONS
Sandra Alexander ’73 views a photo
of her father, John Melvin Alexander, at
the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa,
Okla. Both of Alexander’s parents were
survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
COURTESY OF SANDRA ALEXANDER ’73
G
ROWING UP in Tulsa, Okla., Sandra
Alexander ’73 was surrounded by World
Book encyclopedias and a family devoted
to education.
As a girl, she fell in love with slide rules
and regretted when they were replaced
by calculators. She sat in on her brother’s math tutoring
lessons. Their mother, a certified substitute teacher, bought
textbooks for home study and gave her children reading
assignments.
“Mom made it perfectly clear to my older brother, Paul,
and me that all of our schooling was in preparation to go
to college,” says Alexander, a pioneering Black lawyer in
eastern Oklahoma. “She had definitive ideas about the
education of her children. In retrospect, Paul and I have
realized that we were sent to school, but we were also
home-schooled.”
Alexander’s education included integrating Tulsa’s
Holland Hall, a prep school for children of elite, white
families, before going to Swarthmore in 1969 on a full
scholarship. Her mother, Marie — herself a college graduate,
with a minor in education — was determined her children
would be driven and self-reliant.
That fierce focus on education and achievement,
Alexander now realizes, was built on a history of resilience
born from tragedy. Her parents were survivors of the 1921
Tulsa race massacre, one of the most depraved acts of racial
violence in U.S. history.
“Their childhood experience was the rebuilding of Tulsa,”
she says. “That must explain some of the choices they made
in raising us.”
Both of Alexander’s parents were toddlers when a white
mob looted the homes and businesses of Black families and
burned them down in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood. An
estimated 300 Black people were killed, hundreds more were
injured, and thousands of families were left without homes
or livelihoods.
Dubbed “Black Wall Street,” Greenwood had been a
physical symbol of Black prosperity, some 35 blocks of
vibrant businesses, well-furnished homes, and both collegeeducated and impoverished people. The wave of destruction,
which started on May 31, 1921, and lasted for 18 hours, was
catastrophic, causing millions of dollars in property damage,
in addition to the loss of financial legacies.
Neither side of Alexander’s family sustained property
damage in the massacre; her father, John, told the Tulsa
Reparations Coalition that his father unlocked his doors,
prayed to God to keep his house intact, and fled with his
family before the mob approached. His own house spared,
he later opened it up to those who were left with nothing.
Despite the magnitude of the losses of life and way of life,
within three months the community had begun to rebuild on
its own. During the 1930s and 1940s, many of Greenwood’s
Alexander’s parents — including her mother, Marie, shown
above in a floral dress during college — raised their children on
the legacy of Black Wall Street: that Blacks could create their own
American dream and reach their full potential if unobstructed.
“Their childhood experience was the rebuilding of Tulsa,”
Alexander says. “That must explain some of the choices they
made in raising us.”
WINTER 2022
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43
“MY GRANDPARENTS MADE THE
CONSCIOUS DECISION TO STAY AND
RAISE MY PARENTS IN TULSA.”
— Sandra Alexander ’73
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COURTESY OF SANDRA ALEXANDER ’73
COLLECTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN
HISTORY AND CULTURE, GIFT OF THE FAMILIES OF ANITA WILLIAMS CHRISTOPHER
AND DAVID OWEN WILLIAMS
COLLECTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
AND CULTURE, GIFT OF CASSANDRA P. JOHNSON SMITH
Top: North Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Okla., prior to the 1921 Tulsa race
massacre. Bottom: On May 31 and June 1, 1921, mobs of white residents brutally
attacked the African American community of Greenwood, colloquially known as
“Black Wall Street,” in one of the deadliest racial massacres in U.S. history. Homes,
businesses, and community structures including schools, churches, a hospital, and
the library were looted and burned or otherwise destroyed. Exact statistics are
unknown, but the violence left around 10,000 people homeless and as many as 300
people dead with many more missing or wounded.
businesses and its vitality were restored.
But over the decades, conversations about
the massacre slowly slipped into the darkness
like a shadow. Few people talked about it
— in fact, Alexander’s grandfather never
mentioned the riots to her father until later
in life.
Her parents instead focused on conveying
Greenwood’s legacy of success to their
children.
“What Black Wall Street is, is fertile
ground,” Alexander says. “It showed
that Black people can thrive. We are
not dependent. It thrived without being
dependent upon white people.”
Alexander’s family has its own history of
empowerment. Her mother’s father was a
carpenter who owned property. He made
sure his only child, Alyce Marea, called
Marie, attended college. She graduated with
a chemistry degree and tested gunpowder
for DuPont during World War II. Her father
worked at the Post Office and spent his off
days as a popular bartender and waiter at
parties for area families and businesses.
When the local prep school, Holland Hall,
decided to integrate, Alexander was selected
to enroll. She felt no animosity there, but her
mother had prepared her well for people who
would judge her by her skin color and gender
— like the white counselor at her former high
school who implied that she wasn’t fit for
college.
“She didn’t know anything about me,”
Alexander says. “All she knew was I had
colored skin and I was female. And that
statement to me said, ‘When I look at you,
I don’t see a prospective college student. …
Somebody who looks like you shouldn’t want
to go to college.’”
Holland Hall, meanwhile, “saw a
prospective college student, and Holland Hall
expected me to want to go to college.”
In 1969, Alexander became the school’s
first Black graduate. When she was accepted
to Swarthmore, she was unaware of the sitins earlier that year demanding that the
College admit more Black students. “My
mere presence was the accomplishment of
something that I didn’t even know somebody
was trying to accomplish,” she says.
Growing up in Oklahoma made it hard
for her to relate to the Black students she
Sandra Alexander ’73’s family focused on conveying a legacy of success. “What Black Wall Street is, is fertile ground,”
says Alexander, a political science major at Swarthmore who went on to law school at the University of Tulsa.
met on campus, many of whom were from the East Coast.
“Before I got to Swarthmore, I didn’t understand ghettos; I
understood all-Black towns,” she says. “I didn’t know about
or understand the Great Northern Migration; I understood
the Trail of Tears and the Okie migration to California
during the Dust Bowl.”
“They were talking about their life experiences, which
were just foreign to me,” she says.
“Part of the dynamics at Swarthmore [was] that the Black
students would sit together in the dining hall,” Alexander
says. She initially joined them but struggled to connect.
“Finally, I just asked myself a question: But for the color of
my skin, would I know these people? When the answer was
no, I got up and left.”
She retreated into avenues that enriched her experience,
joining varsity sports and taking computer programming
courses. She chose Russian literature and engineering as
elective graduation requirements.
A political science major, Alexander graduated with the
Class of 1973 and went on to law school at the University of
Tulsa. After law school, she spent four years at the Internal
Revenue Service and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development in Washington, D.C. Alexander returned to
practice law in Tulsa. However, she found herself pulled
into civic service. In her professional life, she says, she
accomplished what her family had taught her.
“My parents encouraged me to pursue the service
approach, not to be hung up on making money,” she says. She
was appointed to the boards of nonprofit institutions often
as a way to help to integrate them, she says.
She’s most proud of her work on the Planned Parenthood
affiliate, where she helped create a program to provide
prenatal care for poor women who had been shunned by
private obstetricians. These days, at age 70, she’s trying
to take it easy, only accepting cases through clients and
continuing her community service by working in her church.
The ongoing public discussion of the massacre that began
in 2021 eased her burden of having to explain an experience
that, although traumatic for earlier generations of her family,
did not destroy or debilitate them.
“My grandparents made the conscious decision to stay
and to raise my parents in Tulsa. My parents made the
conscious decision to stay, and I’ve made the same conscious
decision to stay,” she says. “That’s kind of a continuous chain
of my family here.”
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
45
A WAY OUT
When chaos erupted in Afghanistan, this
climbing group stepped up
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
A life spent climbing mountains
prepared David Thoenen ’68 for an
unexpected turn of events this summer.
JEFF WITT
46
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
The nonprofit organization offers a
mountaineering program designed to
build leadership skills for Afghan girls
and women ages 15 to 24.
“All sorts of great things were
happening in line with the objectives
of the program, and we were expanding
and bringing in more young women,”
says Thoenen, who now serves as
chair of Ascend’s board. But in May
2021, the Taliban started to scoop up
Afghanistan province by province,
and by mid-August they had arrived in
Kabul. On Aug. 31, the U.S. completed
withdrawal of its troops, ending a
20-year war in Afghanistan.
“We moved from our initial
objectives and programming to
evacuation and resettlement,”
Thoenen says. “Particularly the
young women who were leading
the programming, but also others
associated with the program, were
obvious high-risk targets for the
Taliban because of their role in
pushing for women’s empowerment.
“The girls and women in our
program were terrified,” Thoenen
says. “They’ve never lived under the
Taliban.” They were fearful, “not only
of the violence associated with the
Taliban,” he says, “but also the lifestyle
they would have to have when the
Taliban took over.”
As of this fall, Ascend had
evacuated more than 145 people from
Afghanistan, including some family
members of Ascend participants.
Some of the girls and young women
were evacuated by charter flight from
Mazar-i-Sharif. Others fled over land
through Pakistan, coordinated through
a whirlwind of networking activity
WINTER 2022
with nongovernmental organizations
and Ascend’s contacts on the ground.
“We had four women who had to crawl
under barbed wire and walked two
miles barefoot through the desert,”
Thoenen says.
A few were at the Kabul airport
when suicide bombers attacked on
Aug. 26, killing 183 people. “One
of these girls entered the airport
covered with blood and wore those
same clothes until she reached the
resettlement center several days later,”
Thoenen says. “Another one of our
girls saw a little girl’s leg blown off.”
Thoenen says Ascend’s focus is
temporarily shifting to resettling the
young women, many of whom ended
up in camps in Qatar and the United
Arab Emirates.
“We’ve got 18 resettled in Chile and
about six or eight in Denmark so far
and promises of visas elsewhere,” he
says. “That will be our focus through
the end of the year, to make sure that
everybody gets out of the camps and
into an environment that will be
nurturing and help them get where
they need to go in the longer term.”
Beth Jones ’70, a former assistant
secretary of state and ambassador to
Kazakhstan, joined Ascend’s board in
July and also aided in the nonprofit’s
evacuation efforts. She was moved by
Ascend and the girls she met online.
“I was really inspired by their
enthusiasm for the training and
the trips that they’d taken into the
mountains and the camaraderie
that they clearly enjoyed,” she says.
“It was just very affirming that this
organization could do this kind of work
in Afghanistan with so many girls.”
Rock and ice climbing with Ascend helps
the young women to learn trust and how to
overcome their fears.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
CAMILLE FIDUCIA@CAMABAM
T
HOUGH HE HAS
had his share of
high-risk
endeavors, David
Thoenen ’68 never
expected to be
involved in dangerous evacuation
efforts from Afghanistan.
Thoenen, a mountaineering and
climbing enthusiast who retired
from a 35-year career at IBM, signed
up in 2017 to volunteer for Ascend.
47
A professor of political science at
Swarthmore, Tierney is a
senior fellow at the Foreign Policy
Research Institute and author of The
Right Way to Lose a War: America in
an Age of Unwinnable Conflicts.
48
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
JIM FABER
The Taliban is an
ultraconservative group that
took power in Afghanistan in
the 1990s amid the chaotic civil
war in the country. Following the
9/11 terrorist attacks, the United
States and its allies swept the
Taliban from power. But the
group recovered in sanctuaries in
Pakistan and, by 2006, were an
organized nationwide insurgency.
Over a decade later, after a
torturous exit strategy, the United
States reached a deal with the
Taliban and withdrew in 2021.
For many Americans, the
conflict was a forgotten war.
In August, it suddenly became
visceral again when the Taliban
launched a lightning offensive and
captured Kabul. Foreigners and
Afghans desperately fled from the
airport, evoking scenes of Saigon
in 1975. Some hope that a more
moderate Taliban could emerge,
given the dramatic changes in
Afghanistan over the past two
decades, including education and
work opportunities for millions of
Afghan girls and women.
However, the notion of a
kinder and gentler Taliban may
be wishful thinking. The Taliban
regime is dominated by hardliners, and progress on women’s
rights has been brutally shut
down. The Afghan people — and
the wider global community —
are caught between a desire
to protect hard-won gains and
exhaustion from a seeming
forever war.
— DOMINIC TIERNEY
CAMILLE FIDUCIA@CAMABAM
THE TALIBAN IN POWER
Ascend is a nonprofit organization offering a mountaineering program aimed at building
leadership skills for Afghan girls and women ages 15 to 24. A practice of hiking and exposure
to nature and athletics help to build confidence.
Jones’s first assignment as a
Foreign Service officer was in Kabul
in 1971–72. She traveled the country
by Volkswagen Bug and motorcycle.
“When I served in Afghanistan, it
was very open, and we traveled all
over the place and hiked around the
mountains,” she said. “I knew how
gorgeous it was — it is — and how
much fun I was sure the girls had on
some of their treks.”
Though Jones stepped down from
Ascend’s board in October, it was for a
notable reason: She rejoined the State
Department as coordinator for Afghan
relocation efforts, overseeing the
department’s resettlement of Afghan
individuals in the U.S.
“I hope to be involved in the future,”
Jones says. “I feel as though I’m still
involved inasmuch as I’m staying
very involved in what’s going on in
Afghanistan now. That will be good
background for later.”
The program is life-changing, says
Habiba, an Ascend participant and
intern. “Finding Ascend was like magic
for me in my life,” says Habiba, 17. She
spoke from Humanitarian City in Abu
Dhabi, where she was waiting for her
newborn brother’s birth certificate to
be issued so she could continue on to
Denmark. Ascend had arranged for
visas for Habiba and her family there.
In the remote province where she
grew up, Habiba says, sports were
As of this fall, Ascend had evacuated more than 145 people from Afghanistan, including
family members of Ascend participants in some cases, says David Thoenen ’68.
not really an option, certainly not for
women. She’d never known anything
like Ascend before.
“At first I was really afraid of rock
and ice climbing; I could not trust
anyone,” she says. “But I learned how
to overcome my fears.”
“It was the best feeling,” she says of
climbing. “Your mind is really calm.
You’re out of fear.”
Although Ascend does not intend
to be in the refugee evacuation
and resettlement business forever,
Thoenen says the nonprofit will
continue helping to move the young
women and to notify the local
resettlement agencies to pick them up.
“Then we’ll go back to our original
mission,” he says, some of which will
still take place in Afghanistan.
Ascend has already started working
on redesigning the programming,
Thoenen says, and is also exploring
the idea of delivering it to girls in
refugee communities.
“The other option may be to restart
our programming, pretty much as
it existed in Afghanistan, but in a
country where the environment and
culture are similar.”
For young athletes like Habiba, the
opportunity to find strength in nature
is priceless. “You’re just thinking
about how to conquer this mountain
or conquer this rock,” she says. “All you
think about is that.”
“Your mind is really calm. … You’re just thinking about how to
conquer this mountain or conquer this rock.”
— Habiba, an Ascend participant
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
49
ALWAYS A BRIDE
The history of a painting of a 19th-century Quaker marriage ceremony
by Louise Lichtenberg Coffin ’67
D
ESPITE the old
maxim “Always
a bridesmaid,
never a bride,” a
recently cleaned,
repaired, and
conserved painting has recorded an
early 19th-century Quaker marriage
ceremony for 125 years. Percy Bigland
(1856–1926), in his day a soughtafter English portraitist, completed
A Quaker Wedding, 1820 in 1896. It is
not known why Bigland painted this
work, which he originally titled In the
Presence of the Lord, following two
years of research and preparation.
During the painting’s showing in
London’s Royal Academy, the name
it is now known by became popular.
Percy Bigland (1856–1926) originally titled
this work In the Presence of the Lord but later
changed it to A Quaker Wedding, 1820.
50
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
Anachronistic, in that the bride is
shown dressed in white — a custom
not followed until the mid-1800s
— the painting nonetheless conveys
the deep meaning and simplicity of
a wedding in the manner of Friends.
Set in the Friends Meetinghouse
at Jordans, Buckinghamshire, the
marriage represented did not actually
take place. The models were relatives
and friends of the artist, himself a
Quaker, and included his brother-inlaw as the groom and his wife as the
woman with the bowed head sitting
behind the bride, along with other
“weighty” Friends.
After seeing a photograph, the
painting so moved Isaac Hallowell
Clothier, a Quaker philanthropist
and co-founder of the erstwhile
Philadelphia department store
Strawbridge and Clothier, that he
bought it directly from the artist.
Clothier exhibited the painting in
Philadelphia and at Swarthmore
College, then hung it in his home,
Ballytore, in Wynnewood, Pa. After his
death in 1921 and the death of his wife,
Mary Clothier, in 1930, their daughter,
Hannah Clothier Hull, inherited A
Quaker Wedding and placed it in her
home in Swarthmore, Pa.
Hannah Hull (1872–1958)
graduated from Swarthmore in 1891.
Married in 1898 to William Isaac
Hull, a political science professor
at the College, she devoted much of
her energy to the peace movement
and women’s suffrage, serving on a
variety of national and international
organizations. Her house on Walnut
Lane still stands, and although now
it is unclear just where the painting
was hung, she welcomed Friends
to come see it. When Hannah Hull
died, A Quaker Wedding passed to
Swarthmore College.
For many years, it graced the walls of
the Board of Managers room in Bond
Hall. Sadly, the original varnish grew
degraded over time by smoke from a
fireplace as well as from cigarettes,
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
51
LAURENCE KESTERSON
A Swarthmore College arts committee hired conservator Fred Koszewnik to save the painting in 2019. Koszewnik used swabs, organic
solvents, reversible film adhesive, synthetic varnish, and touch-up paint in the transformation. A Quaker Wedding, 1820 measures a
mighty 5 feet 5 inches wide by 6 feet 6 inches high. The figures are, therefore, nearly life-size.
discoloring the scene. Added to the
soot and grime was abrasion caused
by a too-earnest cleaning attempt. A
puncture through the canvas seemed
to seal its fate, and A Quaker Wedding
was put in storage in 2009.
Early in 2019, a Swarthmore
College arts committee composed of
Friends Historical Library archivists
Susanna Morikawa and Pat O’Donnell;
Ruth Krakower of the Advancement
Office; List Gallery Director Andrea
Packard ’85; Stacy Bomento of the Art
Department; and the late Constance
Hungerford, professor emerita of
art history, engaged conservator
Fred Koszewnik to save the painting.
Koszewnik undertook this task in
March 2019, working four days a week
for five weeks. Cotton swabs, organic
solvents, reversible film adhesive,
52
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
synthetic varnish, and touch-up paint
were used in the transformation.
That semester, students in an art
class exploring the ethical decisions
made while conserving artwork
were able to witness Koszewnik’s
treatment of A Quaker Wedding. All
were especially surprised and gratified
when the bride’s dress, seemingly
yellow, was revealed in all its original
radiant luminescence.
The arts committee decided to make
a long-term loan of the painting to
Swarthmore Friends Meeting, located
on Swarthmore’s campus. Because
of restrictions stemming from the
pandemic, the painting was once again
stored until last July when, at long
last, it was installed by Atelier Fine Art
Services of Philadelphia in Whittier
Room of Whittier House, adjacent to
the Meetinghouse.
The move from the Art Department
to Whittier House was facilitated by
Jordan Landes, Friends Historical
Library curator, and accomplished by
Luis Alvarez and Bryan Carlton of the
Events Office.
Typically, Percy Bigland’s portraits
vary in size from 15 by 18 inches to 37
by 50 inches. In contrast, surrounded
by its original frame, A Quaker
Wedding, 1820 measures a mighty 5
feet 5 inches wide by 6 feet 6 inches
high. The figures are, therefore, nearly
life-size. The viewer feels, indeed,
in the moment and, if religious,
perhaps even “in the presence of
the Lord.” And the young woman in
white, accompanied by the groom,
worshipers, and guests, remains
forever a bride.
class notes
A TREASURY OF ALUMNI-RELATED ITEMS
ALUMNI
EVENTS
VIRTUAL REUNION EVENTS
February through May
Classes celebrating milestone
reunions — those ending in 2
or 7 — will host virtual events
leading up to Alumni Weekend,
to break the ice and involve as
many alumni as possible in the
celebration.
VOLUNTEER WITH A
SWARTHMORE AFFINITY
GROUP
Swarthmore Alumni of Color,
Swarthmore Black Alumni
Network, and the Swarthmore
LGBTQ+ Alumnx Network are
looking for alums to help us
grow. Find out more about
volunteer opportunities to
assist in building our network
by contacting Caitlin Halloran
Edwards at challor2@
swarthmore.edu.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
ALUMNI WEEKEND 2022:
ONE SWARTHMORE
May 27–29
All alumni are invited to join us
on campus as we make up for
lost time.
swarthmore.edu/
alumniweekend
Michael Greenstone ’91, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University
of Chicago, engages with students and guests in October at Garnet Weekend, during which he also delivered the
2021 McCabe Lecture, “The Global Energy Challenge.” Watch it: bit.ly/McCabe2021
1943
Betty Glenn Webber
bettywebber22@yahoo.com
Unfortunately, the latest events
for our class are the losses of
two more of our members. Mary
Ann Myerscough Huber died April
13. At the College, she earned
a bachelor’s and was involved
in the Hamburg Show and
mountaineering excursions. Mary
attended Columbia University
and retired as an administrator at
Macy’s. Hans Land died May 29. He
left Swarthmore for Yale, earned a
law degree from Harvard, and had
his own firm in D.C. Their families
should be assured we share their
sadness and fond memories.
When I receive news of ’43ers,
I research our Halcyon pages to
verify my mental pictures of our old
friends. I find it amazing to be spoton so often; otherwise it’s “OK, I
remember now.” Do you still have
your yearbook?
I know we consider our lives short
of newsworthy information to
share, but our century marks are
one of a kind; we’d like to hear how
you marked yours.
1947
Marshall Schmidt
kinmarshal@aol.com
Like our classmates in the
classes of ’46 and ’47, our family
continues to grow with the
addition of grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. Counting the
number of descendants, six of them
are Swarthmore alums, and we
have a great-nephew in the Class
of 2024.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
53
class notes
The Class of ’46 was unable to
celebrate its 75th last year because
of COVID-19, but perhaps someone
from ’46 and ’47 will be there this
year to lead the parade of classes.
That would be great news to
include in this column, so please let
us know.
Cornelia “Kinnie” Clarke Schmidt
’46 and I, Marshall, will celebrate
wedding anniversary No. 75 this
year. I have been recovering from
a broken hip, and Kinnie has been
coping with severe hearing loss,
but otherwise we are well. We
remain busy and involved with
community activities, grateful that
we weren’t completely isolated
during the past year.
We would like to identify the
number of alums still alive in the
classes of ’46 and ’47. The Alumni
Office also would appreciate any
information you have about deaths
that have not been included in
Their Light Lives On. We hope to
hear from you.
1949
Marjorie Merwin Daggett
mmdaggett@verizon.net
Margaret “Peg” White Winters
died Aug. 4; she had been living
in a retirement community in
Downingtown, Pa. We send our
condolences to Peg’s children,
Matthew and Sally Winters
Bowman, and to her grandchildren.
1951
Elisabeth “Liesje”
Boessenkool Ketchel
lizketchel30@gmail.com
Diana Ginzburg Stein writes: “No
interesting stuff to report. Still alive
and kicking.”
Jerry Pollack sends: “In June, five
old friends visited [the late] Arthur
Mattuck in his Brookline, Mass.,
54
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
apartment and had dinner with
him, including Lotte Lazarsfeld
Bailyn, Don Blough, Lisa Steiner
’54, and I with wife Pat. Arthur
had retired from his career-long
teaching position at MIT, and he
was working on the introduction for
a new edition of Arnold Dresden’s
advanced calculus text. He was in
frail health and, sadly, passed away
Oct. 8.”
From Ruth Starrels Stern: “I’ve
been at a senior residence in
Portland, Ore., for a year. We’re still
very restricted so social contact
is limited, but there are abundant
activities generated (by plan) by
the very diverse community. I’ve
learned to play a tenor recorder
and have my own plant table, since
digging isn’t my thing anymore.
I’m considering a Road Scholar
program next spring; I hope others
have used this opportunity as well.”
Walter Blass, as usual, is traveling
and has an interesting report:
“Greetings from Lommel, Belgium.
It’s my last stop on a tour of
Europe.” In Switzerland, he visited
Basel, Morges, Charmey, and
Grindelwald, staying with former
students and enjoying the diverse
cultures they come from. He met
with old friends from France,
Hungary, and Germany; spent a
weekend near Bordeaux, France;
and then went to Eindhoven,
Netherlands, with Iranian friends,
which was followed by time with
extended family that he skied with
30 years ago “and enjoying their
offspring ages 3–10. We enjoyed
wonderful food, cheese, wines, and
great friendships.”
Kathy Adams Kirn was knocked
out in her driveway in Bexley, Ohio,
and her car was stolen as she
unloaded groceries one afternoon.
The perpetrators “turned out to be
two 15-year-olds — one girl and
one boy. They tore my right pants
leg off to get the car keys, then
immediately turned the car over to
three others outside Bexley. There
have been a score of car thefts in
Columbus by kids with guns, some
as young as 11. I had amnesia until
noon the following day and am still
having balance problems. The girl
was traced by fingerprints and …
will be tried as a 16-year-old adult
as she has stolen several vehicles
before mine. My car was only
recovered because it is diesel” —
the thieves had put regular fuel in
it, so it stopped running.
Dorothy Wynne Marschak last
summer taught her first class with
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
in D.C. after taking peer-taught
classes for many years. “The
course was a close reading, from
literary and historical perspectives
of E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime. I’m still
organizing programs (on Zoom) for
the Woman’s National Democratic
Club, mainly for my series ‘U.S.
Role in the World’ and ‘Social
Role of the Arts,’ while dealing
with multiple health problems. My
Swarthmore book club is in its
10th year (I believe) and still going
strong.”
As for me, I’m still using my bike
as transportation to the many
meetings and activities here in my
senior living village in Mount Dora,
Fla. I don’t ride outside it anymore
as traffic seems to have picked up
exponentially. I use my car when I
visit my six guardian ad litem kids.
It’s such a gift to have contact
with little children, since my own
great-grands live too far to see
very often. We were rehearsing for
our fall variety show. For me that
means line-dancing and a little
comedy skit. I discovered in my
late 80s that I love to make people
laugh.
Sadly, we have lost two more
classmates, Joanne Godshall
Wenner and Arthur Mattuck. Their
obituaries appear in Their Light
Lives On.
Thanks for writing, and I wish all
my wonderful classmates good
health and joy.
1953
Carol Lange Davis
cldavis1105@gmail.com
In July and October, Bob Fetter
went to Vermont to visit his brother,
Tom ’56. The second visit included
his special friend, Jean Wilson.
After that trip, Bob assembled near
Boston with 54 family members for
a memorial farewell to the younger
sister of Tom’s wife, Susie. Susie’s
other sister, Eleanor Hutcheson
Epler, her husband, Pim, and all
three of their children came from
Florida for the service. In October,
Eleanor had a hip replacement
and all went well, according to her
daughter.
The College received word of
the deaths of Tom Gallagher, Bob
Griest, Nancy Gibbons Walden, and
Bob Grossman. I had asked Bob
Fetter and Stanley Mills if they
remembered Bob Griest and Tom
Gallagher. Neither one remembered
Tom, but Bob Fetter said he and
Bob Griest were co-captains of
the Bearcats junior varsity football
team. He said a picture of the team
was included in our 50th Reunion
yearbook.
Nancy joined us when many
classmates traveled to Alaska —
probably about 20 years ago. I
barely knew Nancy at Swarthmore,
but we shared a room for part of
the Alaska trip and corresponded
afterward.
Bob Fetter said Nancy frequently
attended our class reunions and
contributed at least one reunion
write-up. I treasure a photo I have
of her holding a cute husky puppy.
Stanley had many memories of
Bob Grossman. Stanley, Bob, and
the late Sean Thompson were close
friends in college. A professor
and practicing neurosurgeon at
Methodist Hospital in Houston, Bob
flew to visit Sean when Sean was
dying. When the Grossmans were
in town, Stanley and his wife would
meet Bob and his wife for dinner
in New York City. Stanley said for
three years when wife Judy was
ill, he was constantly in touch with
Bob for advice on cancer doctors
for her to see.
Nina Felber Streitfeld reported
that her friend of 70 years, Gail
Macmahon Cornaro, died Sept. 17
in Austria. “She was an outstanding
student at Swarthmore and a
shining light to the world ever
since.” Mother of six and wife of
Christoph Cornaro, Gail graduated
with honors and was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa, the orchestra, and
the Garnet Singers.
I would like to hear from more
classmates. It is not easy to write a
column when the news consists of
obituaries. Please write or call me.
1954 1955
remembered by some of you from
his visits during our college days.
Elizabeth Dun Colten
lizcolten@aol.com
Is 2022 a significant birthday year
for you? We may be senior citizens,
but we still want our voices heard.
Cases in point: Peter Sielman’s
article “One Small Step for One
Homeowner: A Large Potential
for America” documents the
contributions his family has made
to fight climate change. Peter is at
apsielman@comcast.net for further
details. Corinne Lyman’s letter to
the Delaware Gazette, “Lasting
Image of Former President,” was
published Aug. 25.
George and Elsa Bennett Struble
’53 are thriving. She is active in
their Unitarian church and the
League of Women Voters. He,
too, is an active church member
(although he retired from painting
and ladders when he hit 80), takes
cello lessons, and has become a
more active philatelist, winning
several awards in stamp shows.
Dee Brock Partridge blames
COVID-19 for limited contacts
outside her Vermont complex.
She recommended pickleball. Any
others? (I, Liz, have tried it, but
confess I am not convinced.)
William D. Jones died July 3. A
star athlete at Swarthmore, Bill
became an avid and skilled golfer
in retirement. He had a long,
successful career in banking and
financial service, retiring to Hilton
Head, S.C., in 1995. Bill is survived
by wife Margery Paxson Jones ’56,
three children, five grandchildren,
and one great-grandson.
Lucy Bunzl Mallan died Aug. 9.
A beloved educator, economist,
activist, and adventurer, Lucy is
survived by three children and two
grandchildren. Much of her work
focused on economic justice for
women. She will be remembered as
an intrepid world traveler and for
her independent nature.
Raymond Swain, husband of
Mary Wren Swain, died Sept. 20.
A Tufts graduate and member of
Delta Upsilon, Raymond may be
Bernard Webb
bethel4684@gmail.com
John ’53 and Joyce Bok Ambruster
moved from Tucson to Flagstaff,
Ariz., three years ago to a
retirement facility called The Peaks.
“It’s a lovely part of the state, with
mountain views, tall pines, and the
Grand Canyon close by,” Joyce
writes. “John turned 90, and his
health is good, as is mine. Our
daughter and husband are close
by, as well as a granddaughter with
four kids. We’ve always been ‘news
freaks’ and still read two papers
a day and multiple magazines, as
well as public radio and serious
television keeping us in touch.”
Ron Decker and wife Anne moved
to the Goodwin House retirement
community in Falls Church, Va.,
near the home of daughter Alice
Decker Burke ’98 and family.
Previously, they had an apartment
overlooking Lake Michigan for 21
years. Ron had lived in Chicago
since he finished law school in
1959. He and Anne looked forward
to enjoying the cultural and
historical attractions of the D.C.
area and to meeting Swarthmore
friends who live there.
Susan and Paul Baumgarten and
their family were devastated by the
loss last year of their elder son’s
wife, Jayne, after an illness of
less than a year. Married 61 years,
the Baumgartens have “been in
the same house for over 50 years
(now age-proofed) and selfquarantined. Three of our children
live within driving distance, and
the fourth with three of our eight
grandkids visited from Toronto.
One grandkid married, one in grad
school, one in college, and the rest
in grade or high school. Susan
has continued her Torah study
and Jewish history classes at our
synagogue via Zoom. I had to quit
tennis because of balance issues
and general immobility but still sail
(my crew does the work) and play
piano. I try to give up gracefully
what I can no longer do. We read
a lot, and I like watching sports.
We don’t intend to move to a
retirement community or downsize.
While travel is physically difficult,
we still drive, get around, and don’t
have major health issues except
for arthritis.”
Sadly, I announce the passing
of Scott Cooper of Irvington, N.Y.,
who graduated from Swarthmore
with a degree in mechanical
engineering and had a successful
career in plastics. I remember
Scott well as one of a tight-knit
group of engineering buddies. He
once sought me out in the meal
line to reveal that I had done best
in an exam, making me feel really
good.
Also lost to our number are
Carolyn Wittman Gordon, who lived
in Sarasota, Fla., and Wilmington,
Del., and loved to sing; Paul
Marcus, who cared deeply about
civil rights and registered voters
in Mississippi in summer 1964;
and Ann Price Steele, who was a
varsity swimmer and, later in life,
an animal advocate.
1956
Caro Luhrs
celuhrs@verizon.net
The market value of our Class
of 1956 Scholarship, which we
set up at our 25th Reunion, was
$704,965 over the summer. It is
awarded based on academic merit
and financial need. Let’s hope the
value gets to $1 million while a few
of us are still around to rejoice.
Most of us are 86–88 years
old and have reached the age
where some of us first look for
obituaries in Class Notes and
Their Light Lives On (TLLO).
The class secretaries report on
deceased classmates’ time at the
College, personal interests, and
family. The College writes TLLO,
emphasizing accomplishments
after Swarthmore. Because of a
difference in deadlines, the Class
Notes occasionally fall one Bulletin
behind TLLO. You will note this in
two of the reports that follow.
We mourn the loss of Carl Levin,
who died of lung cancer in Detroit
on July 29. A political science
major, he was active on Student
Council and the Student Affairs
Committee. Carl once said that
these experiences were very
important in his choosing to run
for the U.S. Senate and being so
successful in public office.
Our thoughts are with Carl’s
wife of 60 years, Barbara;
daughters Kate, Laura, and Erica;
six grandchildren; and brother
Sander, a former Democratic
congressman with whom Carl
served simultaneously for more
than three decades.
We were sad to learn of Bob
Barr’s death from cancer Oct. 7.
He was one of the “adults” in our
class — great at solving problems
and easing tensions. Like Carl, Bob
was a political science major and
member of both Student Council
and the Student Affairs Committee.
He was also president of the Phi
Psi fraternity. We are very proud
that Bob came back to Swarthmore
to play a major role in the College’s
administration, first as dean of men
and later as dean of admissions.
Our deep sympathies are with
Bob’s wife of 60 years, Eleanor,
sons Richard and Jeffrey, four
grandsons, and brother David.
We were sad to learn of the death
of James Hormel ’55. In addition
to his husband, Michael Nguyen
Hormel ’08, our sympathy is with
Jim’s former wife, Alice Parker
Meador; their children Alison,
Anne, Elizabeth “Diz,” Jimmy, and
Sarah; 14 grandchildren; and seven
great-grandchildren.
1957
Minna Newman Nathanson
jimandminna@gmail.com
Beth Lewis Kidder wrote that she
has tried to remember who housed
her Amherst student husbandto-be when he visited her at
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/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
55
class notes
Swarthmore. Was it the late Steve
King or was it you?
Reinhart Wettmann, who was
a special student on campus,
emailed that he can’t recall who
the student was who drove with
him from Philadelphia to Denver
and Pikes Peak, Colo. Maybe that
was you! Reinhart also noted that
COVID-19 had not changed his
life — winter skiing in the German
Black Forest, summer in France,
and travels to see grandchildren in
Barcelona and London. The good
thing about living in Europe, he
said, is that he can reach all those
places by car in one day.
Following a reunion of 30-some
family members in her hometown
of Tunkhannock, Pa., Barbara
Fasset Oski Beane visited us
at our Cape Cod, Mass., house
bringing with her maple syrup that
was part of a fundraising activity
at her Wake Robin continuingcare retirement community in
Shelburne, Vt. When she toured
the place as a possible residence,
she was greeted by the now-late
Mary Jane Gentry ’53 who, along
with late husband Stokes ’51, was
among the community’s founding
group of Vermonters.
Marty Fisher Laties, who died in
May, spent the summer between
sophomore and junior year in
England, where she met husband
Victor at the English premiere
of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
The couple lived in Baltimore and
upstate New York, where he was
a psychology professor. As part
of her activism in safeguarding
separation of church and state,
Marty published what her obituary
described as “clear and cogent
prose and … wry cartoons.” Her
love of dance included decades
of modern dance classes. She is
survived by daughters Nancy and
Claire, son Andrew, and seven
grandchildren.
Sheila Brody died in September.
First head of investment relations
and then senior vice president
at Enhance Financial Services,
she was a role model and mentor
for younger women in finance.
A lifetime learner, she earned a
master’s in geography from Hunter
College in New York in 2002. A
single mother who raised sons Eric
and Randy, Sheila is also survived
56
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
by five grandchildren.
Bruce Kennedy, who was an
engineering major at Swarthmore
while wife Clem attended Penn,
died in August. An avid practitioner
of “instant” photography, he also
enjoyed Chinese cooking lessons
with Clem and teaching his family
to sail. Bruce was noted for his
famed “10-minute jobs.” He is
survived by two sisters; children
Robert, Mark, Kathryn, and Scott;
and three grandchildren.
Please share any memories you
have of Marty, Sheila, or Bruce.
lives she touched. She graduated
with honors from Swarthmore
and from Columbia’s Graduate
School of Journalism. During
her distinguished and respected
career as a journalist for The
Denver Post and Rocky Mountain
News, she was known for her
insightful op-eds. Later, Barbara
was associate vice president of
the College and, ultimately, joined
the Phi Beta Kappa Society in D.C.
She is survived by daughters Anne
and Jennifer and granddaughter
Cheralise.
1958 1960
Marianne Wertheim Makman
maynardmakman@gmail.com
Jeanette Strasser Pfaff
jfalk2@mac.com
Linda Howard Zonana
lhzonana@yahoo.com
Andy van Dam was named a fellow
of the Computer History Museum
for a lifetime of contributions to
computer graphics, hypertext,
and education. “I remain a
techno-optimist, but … we must
adopt a more tempered, systemic
concern with socially responsible
computing.”
Mimi Siegmeister Koren’s
husband of 38 years, Joe Zelvin,
died in July after a long illness. “I
can’t say anything more than that I
miss him terribly but am reassured
that his struggles to lead a fulfilling
life, and the frustrations that
entailed, are over,” Mimi writes.
Joe made himself an honorary
member of the Class of ’60 after
coming to a reunion. He particularly
enjoyed talking with our science
and engineering classmates — his
fields of interest and expertise.
Robert Gurfield received the Al
Allen Downtown Leadership Award
from the Downtown Fresno (Calif.)
Partnership for bringing new
commercial development to this
depressed area.
Gordon Adams decided being
outdoors was his preference. “So,
I have been leading tours of the
parks and natural areas in my
urban watershed.”
After six weeks in the hospital
battling a flare-up of lung problems
(added to his underlying cancer),
We hope our classmates are feeling
some relief from the domination of
COVID-19 in our lives. And we hope
more of you will be inspired — now
that we are all old and wise — to
contribute to this column. You may
believe you have nothing to report,
but classmates would be interested
in your reflections on retirement,
aging, current passions, travels,
and time with family and friends.
Sadly, three more ’58ers died in
2021: Catherine Glennan Borchert,
Jan. 23; Edwina Parker Furman,
March 26; and Marilyn Hughes
Johnson, May 28. Perhaps those
of you who knew them, or others
who have died recently, would offer
reflections on their lives.
1959
Miriam Repp Staloff
mrstaloff@gmail.com
Barbara Haddad Ryan, who set
the world on fire with her brilliant
mind and beautiful spirit, died
Sept. 30 but lives on through the
Peter Offenhartz was home and
on the mend. He and Barb Hopf
Offenhartz ’58 sold their house on
Eagle Island, Maine, but planned to
return as renters this summer.
Kay Senegas Gottesman writes:
“My husband, Bob, was diagnosed
with early stage dementia 12 years
ago. He lives at home with 24/7
aides. Since the beginning, I’ve
attended a dementia caregivers
support group. A couple of years
ago, I started a similar group that
I facilitate twice a month on Zoom.”
I had two late responses to the
prompt “Say something about
Swarthmore in six words.” Kate
Killebrew ’61: “Saturday night
movie, 7 or 9, Then study” and
“Sunday morn, wood chop with
Enders.” From Charles Jackson:
“Collection, Mary Lyon, Lafore,
always hungry.”
Last fall, Catherine Pinkney
Armington asked via our listserv
if we remembered singing with
the Philadelphia Orchestra under
conductor Eugene Ormandy. The
response demonstrated how
variable and possibly unreliable our
memories are. We agreed that we
sang; what and when was unclear.
Fortunately, Dave Horr clarifies: “I
was the College Chorus manager
our junior and senior years. We
were first invited to join the Bryn
Mawr and Haverford choruses
to sing with the Philadelphia
Orchestra in 1958. We sang Bach’s
Cantata No. 50, ‘Nun ist das
Heil.’ Ormandy apparently liked
our performance, so the Three
College Chorus was invited in
1959 to sing Bach’s Magnificat,
and again in the spring of 1960
to sing Verdi’s Stabat Mater.
Associate Conductor William Smith
prepared the choruses for all three
performances.”
Catherine’s question also elicited
some memories. John Harbeson
says: “It was a fork in the road for
me. I played violin in high school,
but I decided I couldn’t do both
chorus and orchestra so gave up
the latter.” Sara Bolyard Chase
recalls “wondering if I could get a
part-time job ushering there.” Linda
Habas Mantel “went often to the
Philadelphia Orchestra concerts;
they had last-minute cheap
tickets for students. A highlight
performance was the U.S. premiere
of Shostakovich’s final Symphony
No. 11.” Johnny Palka says: “It felt
really amazing at the time.” Fred
Breen recalls: “Ormandy directed
us to sing it in a more French style,
not in the more staccato German
style.” Joan Bond Sax remembers,
“It was thrilling,” and Anne
Brownell Sloane adds, “Glorious!”
Sue Willis Ruff says: “As the kid
who was told in first grade to just
mouth the words in the Christmas
program when everyone else was
singing, I’m in awe.” Kay says she
is also tone-deaf, “so I never could
sing or really ‘hear’ music like my
friends.”
1961
Pat Myers Westine
pat@westinefamily.com
As a result of our 60th Reunion
Zoom get-togethers, a Class of 1961
Zoom connection was organized
with Bill Stell in Calgary, Alberta,
as Zoom-master, with the group
including Jon Van Til, Bonny
Cochran, Randy Moore, Maurice
Eldridge, Steve Davidson, Alan
Kaplan, and me. We welcome
all ’61ers to the once-a-month
meetings around 3 p.m. ET. Email
Jon at vantil39@gmail.com for
instructions on how and when
to sign in to stay up to date with
classmates and talk about our lives
and current affairs.
Maurice, our class president, is
reaching the end of his terms as
assistant clerk, both of Swarthmore
Friends Meeting and the Pendle
Hill board. He mentors a few
seniors at the Chester Charter
Scholars Academy (the former
Chester Charter School of the
Arts), which Maurice helped
start and will graduate its fourth
class from a school with an arts
integrated curriculum. He lives in
Swarthmore and said the College
has the most students ever in
its history, is dealing with space
constraints, and has had to be
focused on the pandemic with
regular COVID-19 testing and a
high vaccination percentage among
students, staff, and faculty with
approved practices in full play. The
campus itself is open to visitors,
but the buildings were not when I
wrote this in the fall. Maurice said
the atmosphere was positive, and
faculty and administrators were
very busy.
Steve Vessey, Dave Fitchett,
and Randy have a monthly Zoom
meeting. They were Wharton-triple
roommates their senior year with
Dave as section proctor. Dave is
a retired orthopedic surgeon in
Albany, Ore.; Steve is a retired
biology professor in Bowling
Green, Ohio; and Randy is in his
ninth and “penti-ultimate” year on
the University of Hawaii Board of
Regents and his third year as chair.
Bill retired from the University of
Calgary faculty in June 2020 and
closed his office and labs. He’s still
busy with “academic and scholarly
things,” continuing to mentor
former and current students,
including some who weren’t “his,”
and working as scientific adviser
to junior eye researchers in
Wenzhou, China, and Singapore,
mainly helping them shape up their
manuscripts for publication. He
started singing with a community
chorus, the Big Rock Singers. “It’s
definitely not rock music.”
Dick and Mary Sargent Coles
’62 moved to Longmont, Colo., to
be closer to their daughter and
her family. Dick was fine until
several unrelated health issues
hit him simultaneously. He went
from hospital to nursing home/
rehab center, and when everything
was finally diagnosed and under
control, he was moved to a longterm skilled nursing center to build
up his strength so he can move
back home eventually. He loves
getting phone calls; for a telephone
number, email Mary at marymo41@
yahoo.com. Mail should be sent to
their daughter’s address: 517 Little
Fox Court, Longmont, CO 80504.
The class sends its sympathy
to the family of Janet Jones,
who died in September at
Collington retirement community
in Mitchellville, Md. She earned a
Ph.D. from Caltech and taught at
numerous universities, ending her
career as director of the National
Science Foundation’s chemistry
division. She married the now-late
Chris Cobb in 2010 as soon as it
was legal in D.C., where they lived,
and together they started the
Comis Foundation, which enhances
the lives of children and youth. I
remember Janet attending several
of our reunions, and her obituary
said that “the measures of success
most important to her were the
success of her students and the
results of her work to increase
opportunities for women in the
physical sciences.” She is survived
by her son and daughter, three
stepdaughters and their families,
and two grandsons.
I appreciate any and all updates
from classmates and look forward
to sharing them in future columns.
1962
Evelyn Edson
eedson@pvcc.edu
From Sue Ehrlich Martin: “I am still
biking, playing tennis, and doing
pottery (though sales are slow). I
just got back from my high school’s
60th reunion. My grandson, Jacob,
will be finishing his bachelor’s in
music production this semester
from the Berklee College of Music
in Boston, and my granddaughter,
Rose, just started her freshman
year in the engineering school
at the University of Washington,
Seattle. Husband Malcolm works
full time at the National Institutes
of Health in the search for the
elusive HIV vaccine as well as
exploring the COVID-19 virus in
monkeys to better understand how
it affects various body systems.”
Nancy Kramer Bickel was
rummaging through her boxes and
found some College treasures and
wondered who would remember:
the Auk, humor and cartoons; the
Grouse or the Ruffled Grouse,
discussion and debate of college
issues; Penny Puffin or Tupenny
Puffin, poems; Roc, essays, stories,
and poems; Ted Nelson ’59’s
various screeds; and the Phoenix
columns in tiny type. “I’ve been
prompted to this search because
I’ve been a member of a memoirs
writing group for years and
decided, after turning 80, I’d better
write down my memories while I
still can. Are some of you writing?
Clearing boxes to save your
children that chore? Any advice?”
Dan Headrick, whose first wife,
Rita Koplowitz Headrick ’64, died in
1988, is married to Kate Ezra, who
was a curator at the Metropolitan
Museum of New York, then an art
history professor in Chicago. “In
2008, she got a job as a curator at
the Yale University Art Gallery, so I
retired from Roosevelt University,
and we moved to New Haven,
Conn., where we still live.
“Rita’s and my three children are
all grown up. Isabelle decided in
her mid-50s to go back to school
and is doing research for a history
Ph.D. at the University of Texas at
Austin. Juliet, 50, lives in Brooklyn
in a Jewish Orthodox community.
Matthew, 48, is a professor of
physics at Brandeis University
in Waltham, Mass. Isabelle has
two sons: Zel, a grad student in
geophysics at UC–San Diego,
and Avi, an undergrad at Oberlin
College in Ohio. Matthew has
10-year-old twins, Misha and Rita.
“What have I been up to since I
retired? Well, typical Swarthmore
grad that I am, I write books. One
of them, a college history textbook
called The Earth and Its Peoples,
has more than made up for the
low salary I earned as a professor.
The most recent, Humans Versus
Nature: A Global Environmental
History, is my best and about to
come out in German. Other than
that, I walk slowly, I sleep a lot, and
I need hearing aids.”
Dan, Sue, and Nancy’s energy
and enthusiasm help balance the
obituaries that are the remainder
of this column. First, Linda
Fulton McKay died of bladder
cancer June 11 at her home in
Lawrence, Kan. An economics
major at Swarthmore, she earned
a master’s in biochemistry at the
University of Kansas in 1992. She
then went to work for Genentech,
a biotechnology company. Her
obituary noted “she was in
her element at the start of the
computer age.” She got involved
in civic and educational causes in
Lawrence and took up painting.
In 2003, three of her works
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
57
class notes
were accepted into the Kansas
Watercolor Society’s annual juried
show in Wichita. She is survived by
her husband of 55 years, Douglas,
and their two children.
Second, Bennett Weaver died
July 14 in Oak Park, Ill. He came
to Swarthmore as a cellist on a
music scholarship. After a year, he
returned to Gainesville, Fla., and
received a physics degree at the
University of Florida. He worked in
the actuarial department of CNA
Insurance, and later moved to
Harris Bank as an analyst. He loved
computers and was a founding
member of the Association of
Personal Computer Users. His
friends remembered him as a fount
of knowledge (“a real Renaissance
man”) as well as a person always
willing to help others. He is
survived by ex-wife Donna and
two daughters. Our condolences to
these grieving families.
1963
Diana Judd Stevens
djsteven1@verizon.net
Atala Perry Toy and I enjoyed two
80th birthday celebrations. One
was with our Crosslands neighbors
who had October birthdays, and
one with Paul Stevens ’65, Kathy
Stevens ’89, Steve Toy ’89 and
wife Colleen, and Brian Toy and
significant other Betsy. Celebrating
her 80th with cousins at a small
lake in northeastern Ohio was
a treat for Cay Hall Roberts. A
highlight of Beth Welfling King’s
80th year was spending a long
weekend at Lansdowne Resort,
Va., commemorating 73 years of
friendship with three childhood
friends. John Cratsley celebrated
his 80th under a big tent followed
by a walk in nearby woods, an
outdoor Mexican dinner, and a
visit from an ice cream truck. Carl
Jockusch’s was celebrated in July
by his siblings who came to Carl’s
home in Urbana, Ill. In August,
Elizabeth Northrop Jockusch ’64
and Carl had another celebration
with their three children and their
58
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
families in Gulf Shores, Ala. In
October, Peggy Anderson was
preparing to celebrate her 80th.
In November, in recognition of his
80th, Ed Ayres ran in America’s
oldest and largest ultramarathon
foot race, the JFK 50 Mile. Ed
wrote about the importance of we
“seniors” doing everything in our
power to save our troubled planet
and to pass along our wisdom to
children and grandchildren.
Janet Oestreich Bernstein hoped
to celebrate her 80th with family
in November. Once the vaccine
was available, she stopped sewing
masks and started sewing scrub
caps for nurses in Oregon. Harry
and Monica Pannwitt Bradsher
survived Hurricane Ida due, in part,
to the generator they installed
several years ago. Monica wrote
that many in Louisiana are feeling
the reality of climate change while
fearing the move from fossil fuel.
Oil and natural gas are Louisiana’s
leading economic sectors. The
state has ample solar power and
wind farms in the gulf, neither of
which is popular.
Gidget and Ted Nyquist’s
Scandinavian trip was postponed
twice. Ted did travel to Washington
state to photograph eagles. He flies
for Angel Flights West and tends to
his Arizona garden where he grows
cacti and succulents. Another
gardener, Claire Thurman, is thrilled
that Fair Haven Meander, the
garden she and her late husband,
John, created, will be on the Scott
Arboretum Garden Day tour May
15. Polly Glennan Watts stays busy
walking, swimming, singing, going
to concerts, and baking cookies.
Her youngest granddaughter is
a Swarthmore sophomore and
member of the tennis team.
Bruce Leimsidor is back in
Venice, Italy, with his partner after
more than a year in Paris due to
COVID-19 restrictions. In the fall,
he taught a couple of courses
on immigration and international
relations at Ca’Foscari, the main
state university in Venice, and
he hopes to spend a few weeks
teaching in Iraq and Israel in 2022.
Since restaurants were closed
because of COVID, Bruce followed
a diet, cooked at home, and shed
some pounds. Mike and Eugenia
Margosian Becker moved to a
senior living community in Bend,
Ore. They managed to downsize
from 2,200 to 900 square feet. The
main adjustment has been having
set times for meals.
Carl and Holly Humphrey Taylor
took their first trip in almost two
years to Pagosa Springs, Colo.,
with a group of friends from their
Atlanta days. They have been to
the symphony in person and were
hoping that their chorale rehearsals
would continue in person
(masked). Jane Jonas Srivastava
lives a small and rich life, rarely
traveling more than a half-hour
from home. Within that radius, she
can hike, walk with friends, do tai
chi, read, contemplate, and watch
human and nonhuman life in all its
vicissitudes.
October update from Kathie
Kertesz: She is in a wheelchair,
unable to walk by herself or use
her right arm. Her therapists said
she is making progress and should
be over “this” in six months to a
year. Kathie focuses on the positive
and imagines herself flying like
hummingbirds and walking again.
Beth Welfling King wrote about
the many projects she has to do,
like sorting through 40 years of
photographs. Let us know what
your projects are.
1965
Kiki Skagen Munshi
kiki@skagenranch.com
Sally Warren had four photos in
an exhibition in the local Uzès,
France, museum in May. The most
interesting part, she said, was
listening to two schoolchildren
discuss one of her photos.
Lucia Norton Woodruff writes:
“My most vivid recent memory is
of the indescribable joy of going
to the very first rehearsal of our
small string orchestra in almost
two years.”
Niki Giloane Sebastian, an
outreach facilitator and trainer
with New Mexico Caregiver
Coalition, writes: “I am helping
them implement grants from
the National Domestic Workers
Alliance to teach a program
called We Make History, and the
Community Care Corps to assess
needs and stress levels of familymember caregivers. My husband
works at Los Alamos National Lab,
about two hours from our home,
and stays there during the week,
giving me an interesting balance
of togetherness and alone time.
I continue to learn details of his
Cameroonian culture, grateful for
my own early years growing up
outside the United States, which
make it easier for us to ‘meet in
the middle.’” Niki and her husband
also are “hosting” a United World
College-matched student from
Morocco, another chance, she
says, to explore a different culture.
Walt Pinkus keeps “referring
back to a wisecrack I came upon
last spring: ‘I just had my COVID
test. The results are that I’m 95%
feral and unlikely to be able to
reintegrate into polite society.’
This past year, I stepped back into
being president of our community
Computer & Technology Club. My
term ends Sept. 30. Working out
how to do programming via Zoom,
instead of in person, has been quite
a ride.”
As what Vivian Ling called the
“silver lining of the pandemic,”
she was invited by the European
Chinese Language Teachers
Association to represent their
American counterpart (Chinese
Language Teachers Association)
and deliver a keynote address at
their biannual meeting, in Lisbon,
Portugal, in late October. “This
may sound very exciting until you
realize that the meeting will be by
Zoom. I really would like to see
Portugal, though.”
Josef Joffe is teaching
international politics and political
theory at the Johns Hopkins
School of International Studies
in D.C. “I’m back to the roots of a
rigorous education at Swarthmore,
lecturing on the thought of Ken
Waltz, one of the greatest, and
Thucydides, Machiavelli, and
Hobbes.” In another field of
endeavor, Dave Wright’s wife, Zo,
is still beating him at golf. “We did
go to Maui and played the famous
Kapalua courses — and I lost both
days.” Barron’s named Dave one of
ALUMNI COUNCIL NEWS
The spring semester is a busy time for the Alumni Council. We caught up with two
members to learn more about them and what they love about the Council.
Twan Claiborne ’07
Tell us about yourself
and what drew you to the
Alumni Council.
“Originally from Seattle, by
way of Lake Providence,
La., I currently live in
Harlem and teach at a
Quaker independent school
for students with disabilities in Brooklyn. I
joined the Alumni Council to reconnect with
the Swarthmore community and contribute my
knowledge to the historical Swarthmore quilt.”
What has most surprised you about the
Council?
“I can’t say that I’m surprised by this — rather
I’m proud of the commitment that the Council
has in being a resource to all facets of the
communities that need it.”
What final words would you want to share
with alums?
“Swarthmore is a complicated place. I
encourage alums to find ways to connect
back. Their knowledge and voice are needed
to give a full picture of the Swarthmore
experience, and you can never anticipate who
will benefit from your story.”
Maria P. Mello ’08
Tell us about yourself
and what drew you to the
Alumni Council.
“Originally from Fortaleza,
Brazil, I currently live in
New York City where I
am a professor of special
education at St. John’s
University. I teach teachers of students
with disabilities and research transition to
adulthood for young adults with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. I joined the
Council to engage and reconnect with the
Swarthmore community.”
What Alumni Council initiatives are you most
excited about?
“There are so many like SwatTalks and
sustainability. However, I am most excited
about supporting the Lang Opportunity
Scholars. It has been incredible to hear
about their amazing projects. Being able to
contribute back to the Swarthmore students
and community has been deeply meaningful.”
What has surprised you most?
“Not really a surprise, but I have met some
pretty amazing alumni.”
alumni@swarthmore.edu
the Top 100 Independent Advisors
again. “Of course the dirty little
secret is that ‘it takes a village’
— in our case, 42 people at the
company.”
Earl Tarble writes: “One of the
things I have used the Bulletin for
has been for ideas on what books
to read, so I was pleased to see
there were some suggestions from
our class members. In the past I’ve
read and enjoyed Bowling Alone
by Robert Putnam. Alan R. Gordon
’81 has written a series of Fools
Guild mysteries that I have been
thoroughly enjoying. I recently read
High Tension by John A. Riggs ’64.”
The book ideas are in the
extended version of the notes for
people who are on my list; anyone
from the class can join, just send a
note to me, Kiki.
Julie Diamond and I got into quite
a long exchange about books on
India, and each of us came up with
some authors/titles the other didn’t
know. Julie says she is teaching a
seminar for student teachers for
the Center for Worker Education at
City College in New York. “I wrote
postcards for Reclaim Our Vote to
get out the vote in Virginia. I read
Bleak House and was about to start
A Passage to India. I’m trying to
read some Georges Simenon and
stories for the Swarthmore shortstory class. Also, I watched Ted
Lasso and liked it.”
1966
Jill Robinson Grubb
jillgrubb44@gmail.com
At our 45th Reunion, Phil ’65
and Pam Corbett Hoffer shared
their experience with the onset
of Alzheimer’s, facing it with love
and humor. We watched them
put out a wishing bell and piñatas
for passersby, share a dog with
another family, and report that Phil
wanted to know if gorgonzola was
a fish. Today they have continuing
in-home care, offering a range
of services. Pam has planned
a retreat for Phil in a memory
center so she can have Anne Mills
for a “retreat” in her home. Phil
agreed when Pam said, “Do this
for me.” Self-care is critical. She
also recommended getting rid of
big houses that require too much
maintenance.
Anne lost husband Jim Hanbury
in August. She said it’s strange to
be alone and not be a caregiver,
but Anne’s focusing on building a
new life that will include volunteer
activities and the retreat with Pam.
Jody Williams said she’s
“emotionally OK in the widow
department,” mostly grateful for
her time and adventures with
Dave. She’s organizing files and
keeping on top of the world’s great
problems, finding a new faith
community, and learning to say no.
When staying at the Inn at
Swarthmore in September, Liz
Kutchai and new partner Bill, who
lost his wife more than a year ago,
had dinner with Bill Belanger and
companion Lynne, the best friend
of his wife who died in June. Liz
enjoyed staying on what should be
called the Sarah Van Keuren floor
of the Inn, as it was decorated with
her nature prints.
Experiencing a different kind
of change, John Robinson is at
peace — leaving behind his former
angry, authoritarian personality
engendered by his parents’
oppressive Quakerism — having
found the compassion and empathy
of that faith in his later years.
Meanwhile, he is happy that his
two daughters, three grandkids,
and wife of 41 years are healthy and
happy.
A dedicated reader, Stephen
Bennett recommended Evil
Geniuses by Kurt Andersen, which
lays out how the right won control
of our economy and our country.
Steve read Deacon King Kong by
James McBride, because Obama
loved it — so did Steve — and
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, a
nonfiction account of Marconi’s
wireless telegraphy and catching a
murderer.
Thompson Webb completed an
Anthology of 31 Influential Poems
in the Life of My Spirit. This
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
59
class notes
was a creative way to reflect on
friendships, losses, and bright
moments, including the 59th
anniversary of the Cuban missile
crisis, which The Fog of War
showed how close we were to
nuclear war.
Worn out by her roommate’s
tragedy freshman year, Judith
Graybeal Eagle went to Germany
junior year. She remembered a
time when Nancy Basehore Loomis
drove from a distant town to save
Judy from a difficult spot. This year
Judy met Josh Green ’92, who’d
had an equally tough freshman
year, carried on, and is lieutenant
governor running for governor of
Hawaii.
Thinking back to his involvement
in the civil rights movement, Tony
Loeb remembered hitchhiking
to Stanton, Tenn., with Dulany
Ogden Bennett. They stayed
with the Boyds, a Black family
of sharecroppers, and learned
to chop cotton, wear protective
face coverings, and drink enough
water. “Mr. Boyd” had Tony drive
his truck, as it was dangerous to be
seen with a white woman (Dulany).
The sheriff stopped them and
asked the identities of everyone.
Despite threats, they were allowed
to drive on. After picketing against
segregated facilities in Cambridge,
Md., Tony was jailed. Other inmates
were surprised he was there for
fighting for the civil rights of others.
The judge fined him $0.01.
Janet Chozen Bays loved
Swarthmore for having so much
in one place: caving, rappelling off
the railroad bridge, folk dancing,
chorus, basketball, Freshman
Serenade, silent Quaker meetings,
canoeing on the Crum, biology field
trips, and people excited about
learning.
1967
Donald Marritz
dmarritz@gmail.com
Jennie Boyd Bull (pg. 6) released
Learning to Weave: A WomanLoving Life, a series of essays
60
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
with a cover that is a napkin she
wove. The book is the fruit of her
work in the Great Smokies Writing
Program, which she entered when
she retired to the South Toe River
Valley in western North Carolina.
This memoir traces her life from
her Southern roots to “some of
the liberating movements of the
past century: antiwar activism
while at Swarthmore; the lesbian
feminist separatism of the 1970s
in Baltimore; the growth of the
LGBTQ-centered metropolitan
community churches at the height
of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s; and
life in the ashram of a fascinating
and rich Indian bhakti yoga and
Indian spiritual tradition. I paint
a vivid picture of each of these
communities and my return to
the mountains of western North
Carolina, where I teach tai chi.”
Like many of us, Larry Arnstein
is still amazed and enthralled by
his grandchildren. He is also sure
that we recall his performance in
Everyman in the Crum Meadow,
when he played the nonspeaking
role of either Kith or Kin in which
he “was required to cavort, which
I did well, before Everyman was
confronted by Death.”
Phyllis Teitelbaum reports:
“During COVID, husband Tony
Lunn and I have discovered that we
have a special skill: organizing and
hosting Zoom celebrations. To date,
we have done my and Tony’s 75th
birthdays and a dear friend’s 80th
birthday celebration, complete
with photos of the celebrant from
childhood through adulthood;
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New
Year’s events; and two Beatles
parties. We’ve had as many as 65
Zoom participants, from Denmark,
England, Canada, Sri Lanka, and all
over the United States.”
Steve Hamilton has news about
Peter Katzenstein, who is the
Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of
International Studies at the Mario
Einaudi Center for International
Studies and professor of
government at Cornell University.
In April 2020, Peter was named
the recipient of the 26th Johan
Skytte Prize in Political Science
— “considered the Nobel Prize for
political science” — for his work.
Peter said it “recognizes work that
I have done in many different fields
WINTER 2022
of political science over almost half
a century. That feels even more
satisfying than winning a prize for a
particular piece of scholarship.”
After being partners since 2004,
civil union participants in 2011, and
married in 2013, Mark Sherkow and
husband Bob Hostettler are finally
living together under one roof in
a Chicago condo. Mark’s chorus
“is back rehearsing in person
after a year of rehearsals and two
concerts on Zoom.”
Janet Munnecke Madden is
grateful that her family has
remained healthy during the
pandemic, but now “at last, fully
vaccinated, we are able to share
our first indoor meals, relishing
this simple pleasure.” Her five
grandchildren, along with a new
great-grandson, “are a constant
delight. Grandson Patrick is a
professional rugby player with the
San Diego Legion, and we watch
their weekly games. My health
continues to be a challenge as the
MS progresses, so I’m lucky to have
an incredibly supportive husband
and first-rate medical care.”
I am sorry to report the death of
Steve Maurer (pg. 16) in August.
He had a distinguished academic
career, including teaching at
Swarthmore for 36 years and
at MathPath, a camp for middle
schoolers who love math. By formal
contract and personal philosophy,
he and wife Fran Stier shared
parenting their two sons. Steve was
the first faculty member to take
parental leave, even before the law
sanctioned it. The College report of
Steve’s death is at bit.ly/SMaurer.
Poll: Who thinks we should have a
formal 55th Reunion? Please let me
know at dmarritz@gmail.com. I for
one vote “aye.”
1968
Kate Bode Darlington
katedarlington@gmail.com
The year 2021 was another annus
covidensis, as Chris Miller puts
it, and also annus 75th birthday
for most of us. None of you sent
me a picture of your cake ablaze
with 75 candles, so when my 75th
occurs, I’ll rise to the challenge, fire
extinguisher within reach.
Chris wrote from his “marginally
winterized cottage near the tip of
Cape Cod, where the off-season
population density is low and the
pathogen-free wind off the bay
unceasing. Robin Feuer Miller ’69
spends time and digital frustration
Zoom-chairing her department
at Brandeis, providing me with a
daily mix of schadenfreude and
self-congratulation for having had
the prescience to retire just before
the pandemic hit. I spend my time
reading randomly, as I never could
do when actively professoring at
Brandeis, and trying to play the
piano — demonstrating that new
synapse formation at age 75 is a
whole lot slower than it was at 12.”
Farther north is Dick Gregor, who
lives with his wife on a farm near
Maine’s shoreline. Across the street
are his daughter and son-in-law
in the cottage that he designed
and built for them. Dick raises
chickens, does Zoom play readings,
and hosts Airbnb tourists.
Ren Brown runs a gallery in
Bodega Bay, Calif., with a focus on
contemporary Japanese prints as
well as fine ceramics. With his late
husband, an artist, he created the
business and beautiful gardens
behind the store. “Being selfemployed, living near the ocean,
having gardens, and being involved
with the arts — what could be a
better life?”
Chris King’s Asian brush paintings
are on display at a doctor’s office
in Ojai, Calif., where he and Chitra
Yang King live. Chris also wrote
a book of short stories. Chitra is
editing her 430-page memoir and
connected with a classmate from
her convent school in New Delhi.
When in Berkeley, Calif., the couple
hobnob with Pat Tolins Coffin,
Chitra’s former roommate, and
Pat’s husband, Peter ’71.
Frank and Vera Grant Brown ’70
bought a house three blocks from
Swarthmore, where they can be
part-time lawyers and also attend
events, athletic and otherwise, and
“connect with our amazing studentathletes and their families.”
Additionally, Swarthmore has put
some of Frank’s WSRN broadcasts
of football games (done with Mike
Halpern) and basketball games on
the Swarthmore Athletics website.
Stan Baker works part time as
a psychotherapist specializing in
children and families, including
play therapy, attachment trauma,
and autism spectrum. He and his
husband celebrated 28 years of
life partnership and 11 years of
marriage. Stan has a new title,
“The Venerable” replacing “The
Reverend,” having been named
by the Episcopal Church as the
archdeacon for diaconal formation
for the Diocese of Vermont.
On the other side of the world,
David Thoenen (pg. 46) works with
the Ascend program, empowering
Afghan girls with mountaineeringbased leadership training. In
August, David received a one-line
message from the executive
director: “The Taliban are in Kabul.”
David adds: “Our international team
worked around the clock getting
our girls and volunteers out of
the Taliban’s hands and resettled
across the planet. It was both
traumatic and rewarding. The team
managed the escape of over 60
of their highest risk people from
Afghanistan,” with the next-riskiest
50 in the queue as of September.
In his September SwatTalk (bit.
ly/MatherSwatTalk), John Mather
described how NASA’s James
Webb Space Telescope, which
launched in December, would
be able to see the first galaxies
from nearly 13.8 billion years ago,
certain moons around Jupiter
and Saturn, as well as exoplanets,
where there might be — or might
have been — life.
After Libby Leavelle Bennett
died May 9, a group of classmates
gathered by Zoom to share
memories and, in following
meetings, other reminiscences.
Dick hosted the meeting, and
Stan, Bob Bartkus, Sam Brackeen,
Ren, Donna Fischer, Emily Albrink
Hartigan, Hal Kwalwasser, Carol
Jean McKnight, John Seidenfeld,
Carol Shloss, Sue Knotter Walton,
Julie Biddle Zimmerman, and Kim
Tingley ’67 participated. Write
to dickgregor@gmail.com about
future Zooms with classmates.
Classmates who attended our
50th Reunion agree that it was a
huge success. Plan to get together
for our 55th Reunion in May 2023
and contribute your reunion ideas
to me to make our 55th awesome!
1969
Jeffrey Hart
hartj@indiana.edu
Andy Weinstein died Oct. 3, and
Rabbi Dan Nussbaum attended
the funeral in person. Several
classmates, including Belle Brett,
Ellen Schall, and Paul Peelle,
attended by Zoom.
Mark Alexander and his wife live
in Alameda, Calif., “to be near our
grandkids and to avoid allergy
season in L.A. The kids have
migrated to Portland, Ore., to buy
more affordable homes there. We
will be following them, either with
another studio apartment, living
with them, or parked with our RV
in their driveways. We are still
in big demand as babysitters for
Emerson, 4, and Avi, 1. Our other
daughter is planning on a child and
future babysitting from us.”
Joan Goldhammer Hart joined the
board of the Textile Arts Council
of the Fine Arts Museums of San
Francisco. Jeff Ruda is an active
member and past president of
the San Francisco Ceramic Circle,
also affiliated with the Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco. Ellen
joined the board of the New York
Women’s Foundation, which invests
in women-led, innovative, and
bold community-based solutions
that promote the economic
security, safety, and health of
the most overlooked women.
Randall Larrimore continues his
work as chair of the Chesapeake
Conservancy’s board.
Alan Feldman retired in 2015
from his education career. He has
been married to Carol Seitchik
long enough to have a 44-year-old
daughter who lives with her Israeli
husband and two daughters in Tel
Aviv. Alan and Carol are frequent
visitors to Tel Aviv and were
especially happy when their Israeli
family could visit this past summer.
Since his retirement, Alan has
been active in peace efforts in the
Middle East, with J Street and as a
board member of American Friends
of Combatants for Peace.
Nancy Bekavac became the board
chair of the American University
in Kosovo (AUK), where she has
been active since 2012. AUK is
an independent, underfunded but
ambitious English-language, fouryear college in Pristina, Kosovo.
If you have ever wanted to spend
time in the heart of the Balkans and
have some interest in helping, feel
free to contact Nancy.
Glen Castore and Barb Zaveruha
’70 continue to curate 73 acres
of restored prairie and native
woodland near Northfield, Minn.
Glen is on the board of supervisors
(fourth term) for Bridgewater
Township, dealing with everything
from gravel-road maintenance to
the intricacies of zoning. He also
serves on the Joint Powers Board
for the Northfield Area Fire and
Rescue Service, trying to keep an
excellent volunteer service from
being damaged by city politicians
and administrators. Barb makes
and sells pottery, with a customer
base that was voracious after
the famine of the pandemic. Her
apprentice of four years has
progressed to journeyman status,
making excellent pieces, firing
them in the wood-fired kiln, and
selling alongside Barb.
John McDowell has finally retired
and is professor emeritus at
Indiana University, Bloomington.
He also has a new book, co-edited
with three colleagues, Performing
Diverse Environmentalisms:
Expressive Culture and Ecological
Change. Its blurb promises
that “readers from across the
humanities will find novel points of
departure in confronting ecocidal
inequalities and all-hands-on-deck
challenges to collective survival.”
Nancy Hope Wilson is the author
of a number of children’s books
including Bringing Nettie Back,
The Reason for Janey, A Nose for
Trouble, Helen and the Hudson
Hornet, Becoming Felix, Old People,
Frogs, and Albert, Flapjack Waltzes,
and Mountain Pose.
Peter Seixas is self-publishing
his memoir, To Lay Aside Dreams,
which has sat on the shelf for a
decade. His cancer has progressed
through much of his body but was
not yet putting much of a crimp in
his daily activities.
Judith Lorick has been living
in Panama City, Panama, “and I
love it more every day.” She is still
coaching, all virtually now, and
started volunteering at a home for
girls. “Although life here is almost
‘normal,’ jazz clubs have been slow
to reopen, so I haven’t yet made
contacts in the music world.”
1971
Bob Abrahams
bobabrahams@yahoo.com
The past couple of years have been
“interesting,” and we don’t know
how 2022 will go. So let’s see what
classmates have been up to.
Steve Melov and husband Al
Goddard continue to enjoy time
at their home on North Carolina’s
Outer Banks and their apartment
in Richmond, Va. While wearing
a Swarthmore T-shirt, Steve was
asked by a woman if she could
look more closely at the shirt.
After a couple of seconds, she
chuckled and said, “I thought it
said Smartmouth College.” He said
that laughter in troubling times
definitely made his day.
After 46 years in D.C., Barbara
Atkin and husband John Hornbeck
moved to Hyde Park in Chicago.
“We have a condo near our son and
his wife, both on the faculty of the
University of Chicago. We can see
our grandchildren almost daily. As
enchanting as I am finding their
conversations, I’m looking forward
to meeting adults. I can be reached
at Barbara.Atkin@gmail.com.”
David and Bonnie Gregory Inouye
’69 hosted Jack Mayberry and
Francesca Kress at their cabin at
the Rocky Mountain Biological
Laboratory in Colorado and showed
them some of the local hiking
trails and David’s study sites. “It
was fun to meet their daughter
and her family, too,” David writes.
“I was also helping a Swarthmore
undergrad this summer on her
project on moth pollination. (She
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
61
class notes
saw a mountain lion one night while
observing moths.)”
The College is planning oncampus activities, beginning May
26, for alumni celebrating their
50th Reunion this year or who
celebrated their 50th during the
past two years, which are the
classes of 1972, 1971, and 1970.
What will our class do? Watch for
more information.
For this and other online
connections, go to swarthmore71.
org for links to our new website and
the Class of 71 Facebook page.
1974
Randall Grometstein
rgrometstein@verizon.net
I wrote this on the type of perfect
fall day that inspired Cheryl
Wheeler’s song “When Fall Comes
to New England.” I’m glad to report
that many of us continue to find
much to be thankful for.
Pete Jaquette is grateful for
excellent medical care. He and wife
Andrea celebrated his retirement
in May by driving to the East Coast
for a reunion gig with the Narwhals.
Unfortunately, Pete needed
emergency surgery as they paused
in Santa Fe, N.M. The Narwhals
had to find another keyboardist.
Pete successfully recuperated, and
he and Andrea continued to their
summer place in Maine.
Jeff Frankel drove son Evan ’25 to
Swarthmore in August.
Nan Cinnater writes: “Without
formal education in library science,
but many years as a bookseller
and lots of in-service training, I
became the lead librarian at the
Provincetown [Mass.] Public
Library in 2016. We wrapped up our
fifth book festival Sept. 19 — three
days of conversations, interviews,
and readings with distinguished
authors. I was particularly happy
to invite another Swarthmorean,
Maya Shanbhag Lang ’00, who
published a memoir of her mother
called What We Carry. We also
featured Robert Jones Jr., whose
novel The Prophets was short-
62
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
listed for the National Book Award,
as well as 16 other wonderful
writers. I’ve lived in Provincetown
for 32 years with my partner, Diane
Johnson. In July I got to see my old
roommate, Yvonne Healy, whose
daughter got married on Cape Cod,
Mass. I can’t wait to visit Yvonne
and husband Robin in Colorado.”
Kate Buttolph says: “The
pandemic hasn’t slowed the pace
of land conservation, nor access to
fun places to hike, walk, or kayak
in the Adirondacks or western
Massachusetts. I have been
working on a large partnership
land-conservation transaction with
another land trust and two state
agencies and a town. All together,
we will conserve over 600 acres.
Also, I’m spending lots of time
with two grandsons, ages 6 and
10, or with old family records that
need preserving or tossing. I found
Susan Orlean again and read The
Library Book. Looking forward
to Jonathan Franzen ’81’s new
book. I would love to see anyone
passing through or visiting western
Massachusetts.”
Patty Gilles Winpenny is in
her fifth year as a high school
learning-support teacher at a small
international school in Singapore.
“I’ve been marooned here due to
pandemic travel restrictions. I
count days by consecutive Korean
lessons, almost 600 now, Chinese
review, and card games at the
beach with Russian friends. I
moved in March to an apartment
just five minutes from Palawan
Beach. Son Tristan is an organiccertified commercial beekeeper on
the Big Island, Hawaii. His wife and
my grandchildren (11 and 7) have
home-based teaching and learning
Zoom fatigue. Son Patrick works
in Pasadena, Calif., as a software
engineer, and his Russian wife has
received her U.S. citizenship. I’m
hoping to visit home in Vermont in
2022.”
K Wertheimer muses: “Despite
the intensity of public words and
deeds, personal events loom
largest: the birth of our first
granddaughter at the beginning
of lockdowns (we had expected
to be there and couldn’t); time
— face-to-face again — with
my father, Michael Wertheimer
’47, who is 94 and finally acting
over 70, and a tiny but gratifying
niche as a constructor of
double-crostic puzzles, thanks
to doublecrostic.com. Part-time
work as a project manager keeps
me feeling somewhat contributory
toward the good of society. Daily
suburban walks make the weather
ever interesting, and other small
pleasures abound, such as books
both new and familiar, and a
windowsill bird feeder. Life goes on;
I’m glad, and that’s about it.”
Jean-Marie Clarke writes: “At this
point in my life, having reached my
70th year, I would only like to share
my favorite quote. It comes from a
letter by Mark Vonnegut ’69 to his
father, author Kurt Vonnegut: ‘We
are here to help us through this
thing, whatever it is.’”
1975
Sam Agger
sam.agger@gmail.com
Suzanne Benack writes: “I’ve been
doing some of those milestones
that mark the phase of life we’re
all in. I retired from Union College
[Schenectady, N.Y.], teaching my
last class the day before the college
closed for COVID, so I never had to
learn online teaching, then cared
for my mom up to her death a year
ago. I’m spending my first years
of retirement doing long-deferred
maintenance and improvement on
my house. Even with COVID, I love
being retired — as I loved my job
when I was doing it.”
In September, Perry Chapman
retired after 39 years in the
University of Delaware’s
Department of Art History,
published her first issue as editor
in chief of the Journal of Historians
of Netherlandish Art (jhna.org),
and had a glorious vacation in New
England, where she spent time with
John Samuelson on Cape Cod and
with Maud Anderson and Laura
Giles in Tamworth, N.H.
Dave Gold was anticipating the
birth of his fifth grandchild in
January.
Kip Davis shares: “The opera X,
The Life and Times of Malcolm X
that I co-wrote with my brother,
Anthony, and my cousin, Thulani,
is being remounted between the
spring of 2022 and the fall of 2023,
starting with the Michigan Opera
Theater in Detroit and ending with
the Metropolitan Opera in New
York. There are additional stops in
Seattle and Omaha, Neb. Anthony
is the composer, Thulani is the
librettist, and I wrote the story.”
The opera had its premiere in 1986
at the New York City Opera.
Anita Cava writes: “The virtual
reunion sparked connections with
folks I had not been in touch with
for decades. Tura Campanella
Cook and I have read and virtually
discussed Wilkerson’s Caste and
related topics. Mark Pattis and
delightful wife Lisa have treated
me to lovely outdoor dinners on
visits to Asheville, N.C., and several
others made the time to have long
catch-up calls. I’m grateful for
these lifelong friendships.”
Steve Stutman’s son is working
on a master’s at Delft University
of Technology in the Netherlands,
“and wants to build manufacturing
robots in space. My daughter
attends a local high school, is
studying bee behavior, and wants
to build a high-altitude balloon
project. My wife and I celebrated 21
years of marriage this year, and she
is looking at doing some NGO stuff.
I’m getting back to applying simple
robots to ocean and hospital tasks.
COVID has interfered with our dim
sum expeditions.”
1976
Fran Brokaw
fran.brokaw@gmail.com
This is my, Fran Brokaw’s, final
column as your class secretary, but
never fear — elections for class
officers are on the way. With no
further ado, here is the news.
Marilyn Vedder has retired. “This
last year-and-a-half of being a
psychologist in private practice
was difficult. I feel like I’m on an
extended summer vacation. I
visited Katherine Theodore ’77 in
Maine my first week away from
the computer, and my sister Amy
Vedder ’73 and brother-in-law Bill
Weber ’72 in the Adirondacks at
peak leaf time. Also, I have been
spending lots of time at my partner
Hank’s beach house. Today, I was
on the boogie board with his three
grandkids — not bad for midOctober in North Carolina. I haven’t
figured out my next steps, but in
the meantime I’m having fun.”
Teresa Nicholas and Gerry
Helferich report Teresa’s third
book, The Mama Chronicles, a
sort-of companion piece to her
first book, Buryin’ Daddy, has
been published. The new book
is a memoir of her mother, who
grew up as a sharecropper in the
Mississippi Delta, as well as a
meditation on their relationship
and on such themes as family,
home, and memory. Gerry’s next
book, due out in April, is a historical
detective novel — a first for him —
set during Theodore Roosevelt’s
tenure as NYC police commissioner
and featuring a historic heat wave,
a presidential election, blackmail,
and, of course, murder.
Bruce Leinberger is “blessed with
good friends, loving grandchildren,
and a 43-year marriage.” Jed
Brickner retired after 39 years as
a partner at Latham & Watkins,
where he was an employeebenefits attorney and served in
various management roles. He
also got married: “Third time’s the
charm!” His child E.K. Brickner
’22 (they/them) is a Swarthmore
senior. Liz Owens Dean and
husband John are up to five
grandchildren. She can barely
resist gushing about how much
they love being grandparents. She
does music copy work, specializing
in Hebrew chant. When this work
dried up during the pandemic, she
built a dollhouse and furniture
in her basement. Check it out on
Instagram (littlenora.s.dollhouse).
Marty Spanninger checks in:
“Having thought I may have been
retired by default during the
pandemic, I am happily engaged
again producing a four-hour film
for Netflix about a legendary
basketball player (to be named
when the film is officially
announced). I just returned from
a quick trip to Italy — first a food
and wine tour with Swarthmore
Professor Hansjakob Werlen in
Tuscany and then a stay with the
daughter of Swarthmore Professor
Thompson Bradley in Venice.
Husband Bob Mueller ’68 will be
staying in Italy another week. In
November, we’ll be co-hosting
a long-weekend seminar with a
group of Swatties and yet another
Swarthmore professor — Phil
Weinstein on Martha’s Vineyard,
where he has retired. This year
we’re reading Moby Dick (past
years, we read Jonathan Franzen
’81, Toni Morrison, Faulkner, and
Virginia Wolff).”
Kelly Tillery and wife Jennifer
Evanson Hassel split time between
Lancaster, Pa., and Cape May, N.J.
Kelly works in intellectual property
litigation at Troutman Pepper and is
writing a play about Lincoln, Grant,
and Frederick Douglass. Jennifer is
retired from law and nursing and is
writing a book.
As for me, I, Fran, left medicine
almost seven years ago, and I love
retirement and the spaciousness it
brings. Both of my children are on
the East Coast: my son and his wife
in Ithaca, N.Y., and my daughter,
son-in-law Desmond, and their
son, Sebastian, in Fredericksburg,
Va. It has been fun and rewarding
to serve you as class secretary. If
any of you venture north to New
Hampshire, please call or email
me. Meanwhile, 2026 is coming
along soon; I hope to see you then
as we celebrate 50 years since our
graduation. Walk in the Light!
1977
Terri-Jean Pyer
terripyer@gmail.com
I was happy to hear from
Katherine Harper, who said
that the pandemic pushed her
forward to fully retire from
executive coaching. “I’m happily
doing a small amount of pro
bono coaching, along with lots
of getting outside locally while
international travel is on hold.
Pre-pandemic, I was featured
in award-winning educational
videos and a documentary on
trailblazing women engineers.
Their purpose is to inspire young
women to consider engineering as
a career. These National Science
Foundation-sponsored videos are
a great resource for educators
and STEM camp or club leaders
and are free to use (clarkson.edu/
inspire). I’m still grateful for my
liberal arts/engineering education.”
Irisita Azary has been in
Heidelberg, Germany, with
husband Roger Lee ’78 and two
sons since 2015. For the November
2020 U.S. election, she developed
an international get-out-the-vote
campaign through Democrats
Abroad that inspired hundreds
of volunteers to send tens of
thousands of hand-colored
postcards to U.S. citizens living in
85 countries.
Retiring from the University of
Missouri in June 2021 — 35 years
to the day after he started — Mark
Milanick shared reflections on
his research and teaching career.
During his first two decades, he
mostly did National Institutes of
Health-funded research on red
blood cell membrane transport,
along with a modest amount of
teaching medical and graduate
students. He catalyzed what may
be the only ongoing collaboration
between a fisheries and wildlife
biologist and a nurse; they are
published in the area of stress
physiology. For the last 15 years,
his focus changed to teaching
undergraduates, mentoring
teaching assistants, and
developing life science generaleducation courses with such
irresistible titles as Bodily Fluids
and their Function; Toxins — the
Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful;
Filtering Fact From Fiction in TV
Medical and Crime Dramas; and,
the students’ favorite, the Science
of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll.
While Mark and his wife of 37
years, Margaret Fairgrieve, relished
the time they spent in Columbia,
Mo., raising their son (who is now
off to graduate school), they have
relocated to Missoula, Mont. If you
find your way to Missoula, Mark
may share his talent for making
balance sculptures of wood and
rocks. (I would have liked to see
one that he sold at a juried art
show called “Pure Idiotic Table of
Elemental Human Types.”)
Your classmates would love to
hear from you, too.
1978
Donna Caliendo Devlin
dmcdevlin@aol.com
It is with great sadness that
I report the deaths of two
classmates. Eedy Nicholson died
July 16. She retired in 2015 as
an attorney for the Department
of Social Services of the
Massachusetts Department of
Children and Families. A member
of the Twelfth Baptist Church in
Roxbury, Mass., Eedy traveled
internationally with its choir. Those
of us who sang with Eedy in the
College’s Chorus remember her
wonderful voice, which she also
shared with the College’s Gospel
Choir, remaining active with that
organization.
David Raymond died Sept. 12. He
worked in business-security sales
for ADT and for Stanley Black
& Decker. A Haddonfield, N.J.,
resident, he served as a referee
for youth football and basketball
programs, as a boxing ring
announcer at Philadelphia’s Blue
Horizon venue, and as an official
summer swim announcer (and
board president) for Tavistock Hills
Swimming Club in Haddonfield.
Dave leaves behind wife Nancy and
daughter Hayley ’18.
Our condolences to these
wonderful classmates who shared
so much with their communities
and enriched the lives of so many.
1980
Rich Slattery writes: “Sheila Casey
and I married Oct. 9 in Alexandria,
Va., where we live. Swarthmoreans
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
63
class notes
in attendance were my crosscountry teammates Jim Rupert
’79, George O’Hanlon ’79, Steve
Daniels ’81, and Steve Cangemi ’83,
and classmates Ira Gitlin and Eric
and Jodie Landes Corngold. Sheila
works in the State Department’s
European Bureau, while I will mark
30 years with Amtrak in December,
where I am in the Government
Affairs Department.”
Rick Rogers is an adjunct
instructor with Salem State’s
Certificate of Advanced Graduate
Study in Educational Leadership
program in Massachusetts. “I
teach a course each semester and
supervise practicums. During my
interview with co-director Megin
Hammond Charner-Laird ’97, I
mentioned Swarthmore’s impact
on me; she shared that she, too,
was an alum. I’m impressed with
the way Megin and her co-director
have reshaped this program and
feel like I’ve found a good fit to
do this work.” Rick has also done
work to support principals, which
was featured in Education Week
(bit.ly/3iIheBf).
1981
Karen Oliver
karen.oliver01@gmail.com
Luisa D’Amato has spent her life in
daily newspapers. After graduating
from Swarthmore, where she
was a writer and editor at The
Phoenix, she earned a master’s at
the Columbia University School
of Journalism. From there Luisa
worked at newspapers in Canada,
writing news, features, occasional
investigative stories, columns,
and editorials. She is the local
columnist and Sunday editor at
the Waterloo Region Record in
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She
believes passionately in local
news and its role in sustaining a
strong and democratic community.
Luisa has two children, Vienna
D’Amato Hall, a singer-songwriter
who creates spaces for feminist
musicians, and Tony D’Amato
Stortz, an outreach worker who
64
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
assists people struggling with
homelessness and addiction.
John Fischer reports from Hyde
Park, N.Y.: “We’re back fully in
person at the Culinary Institute
of America, and, thankfully,
vaccination is required for all.”
Also, the sake brewery less than
a mile from campus was being
worked on again.
Elaine O’Connell Jordan has a
new job as the assistant kitchen
manager for the Lord’s Table, a
soup kitchen in Gaithersburg,
Md. They were serving hot meals
again after closing for COVID-19.
Elaine will supervise the teams
of volunteers who do most of the
cooking.
Lisa Lee has a brand-new job
in a brand-new city, Greensboro,
N.C. “I’m now director of alumni
and parent engagement at Guilford
College — a small liberal arts
college founded by Quakers.”
In March, Doug Miron became
Teen Court coordinator for Carteret
County, N.C., where he lives, as one
of his “retirement” jobs. Previously,
he was the volunteer judge. Doug
says the program “diverts young
people out of the ‘school-to-prison
pipeline’ into a more personalized
setting where they are ‘judged by
their peers.’ I train teen volunteers
to serve as jurors, prosecutor,
clerk, bailiff, defense attorney, etc.,
and we have hearings once or twice
a month, working in principles of
restorative justice.”
Jim Pasterczyk wanted me to
include something about our
authors. Jonathan Franzen has a
new novel out (pg. 13); Alan Gordon
is “always writing something.”
When pushed for his own news,
he sent a long note about cycling
during the pandemic, restoring
his bikes, and looking for flatter
territory since all trips are uphill
on the ride home. For fun he is
doing legal analysis of gun-rights
decisions and editing/proofing for
climbing publications.
Valerie Royce Cornell let us know
that Robert Simon died Aug. 28
in Amsterdam, after an illness.
He arrived as a freshman midyear
— from Brooklyn, age 25. Robert
studied art history and philosophy
at Swarthmore, did graduate
work in art history at Harvard,
and moved to Paris and then
Amsterdam, appreciating biking
everywhere, the classical music
scene, and the cafes; typically, he’d
meet partner Anna Bolten at one
cafe or another. He variously wrote,
taught, and made things and was
a popular teacher of media studies
at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam
(University of Applied Sciences), so
much so that nobody complained
that he taught only in English. His
own visual work, which he began
to exhibit more of in recent years,
combined paint and photography.
Among Robert’s many enthusiasms
were dogs — his own, dogs he
encountered on the street that
he would photograph, and dogs
in antiquity. An ongoing project
drew on philosophy, literature, and
art to explore the intersection of
animal and human consciousness.
Valerie and Robert became friends
after Swarthmore. “It was striking
to me how he remembered former
classmates and friends with
continuing interest and fondness.
I’ll miss him.”
William “Beau” Weston ’82
says wife Susan Perkins Weston
has been a civic-duty star in
Kentucky as “policy leader for the
Prichard Committee, our statewide
education reform leader (her day
job); redistricting expert for the
League of Women Voters; leader
of our Indivisible chapter; and
de-facto public health reporter on
COVID in our county.”
1983
John Bowe
john@bowe.us
For many of us, 2021 is a big year
— hitting 60 can feel like a shock.
Suellen Heath Riffkin hosted
Ellen Singer and Sue Kost at Long
Beach Island, N.J., “to celebrate
the big 6-0 by kayaking, catboat
sailing, playing pickleball, and
biking around the island.” Ellen
and Sue visited Swarthmore and
toured the new science building,
named in honor of Ellen’s mom,
Maxine Frank Singer ’52. Earlier
in the year, Suellen marked off
visiting her 49th state, Alaska.
Alabama, you are next.
Maria Simson got together with
Parrish 4th freshman hallmates
Diane Wilder, Anna Orgera, and
Sara Tjossem for a 60th-birthday
celebration. Maria (under the
name Maria Vale) finished her fivenovel series about shape-shifters
that use their human forms to
protect the land and the wolf pack.
Next up: an urban fantasy trilogy.
Martha Reed, Regina Hanlon
Barletta, Don Twomey, and John
Bowe gathered for a vaccinated
celebration of their 60th in June
at Don’s house in Boston. It was
awesome how conversations
picked right up without missing
a beat or feeling as if they’d been
distanced.
Bill Green briefly got out of
his “pandemic crouch” over
the summer, inviting his MIT
chemical engineering students to a
backyard party. Later he attended
a backyard party in Swarthmore
to celebrate birthdays missed
during the pandemic, including
those for Don Cheetham ’73 and
Melissa Shaner ’93, Ken Laughlin
’82, Amanda Cheetham Green
’85, and Steve ’97 and Elizabeth
Green Larin ’97. Bill was teaching
in person again at MIT, where he
co-authored a journal paper with
Victoria Barber ’13.
Deb Winer was excited that the
theater world was coming back
and about her “projects that
include a Broadway-bound musical
and an upcoming radio play
podcast series about middle-aged
women superheroes.” Pandemic
habits include video calls with
Ellen Argyros and Carolyn Morgan
Hayden, and seven-mile walks in
NYC. Deb insisted I add that “she
misses John something fierce” (to
make me blush?).
Dan Glessner, Dan Werther, and
Gary ’82 and Dianna Hannigan
Glessner ’82 gathered at Jerry
Miller’s house in Nantucket, Mass.
Dan ran into several students on
the island sporting Swarthmore
gear.
Shoshana Kerewsky teaches
honors college classes at the
University of Oregon, Eugene, and
looked forward to her memoir,
Cancer, Kintsugi, Camino, being
released.
Diane Wilder released her first
poetry collection, Leap Thirty.
She’ll surely sign them at our
reunion in 2023. She enjoys
occasional weekends with two
grandchildren, ages 11 and 16.
Betsey Dodd Buckheit’s interests
are varied — gravel biking,
running, quilting, bookbinding,
furniture refinishing, a black Lab
puppy, and the frustrations of
Northfield, Minn., city politics.
And “in the Swarthmore spirit of
lifelong learning, I am looking to
start bird hunting.”
Beth Varcoe (re)launched both
20-something daughters to NYC
this summer, is thrilled to have
a reliable, forgiving mare for
trail riding, enjoys grantwriting
for a small nonprofit, and loves
hearing about the campus from
her husband, Roderick Wolfson,
an architect in Swat’s facilities
planning office.
Wendy Hoben retired from her
unintended 19-year career as an
adult-literacy teacher — in part
to join her partner on trips. “I’m
also starting to volunteer as a
literacy coach, doing what I used
to do, only for free now. It’s great
not having to fill out timesheets or
haggle with an incompetent school
district.”
Greg Davidson and Tamah
Kushner started a weekly gathering
with neighbors on their driveway
the first week of lockdown, and it
was still going strong. Vaccines
have enabled them to travel to
see their grandchild, son of Polly
Edelstein and Arik Davidson ’11.
Greg said goodbye to the James
Webb Space Telescope, as it was
shipped from Redondo Beach,
Calif. Early on, Greg served as a
program manager. Tamah loves her
job as executive director of their
synagogue — except during High
Holy Days.
Leslie Johnson Nielsen says: “No
retirements yet, but we may be
identifying our ‘glide paths.’ I’ve
reduced to 80%, so I have time
to be with my parents and our
kids.” Leslie welcomed her first
grandchild Oct. 17. Vaccinated, they
expected to be able to do more
soon with less anxiety.
From me, John, we finished our
first placement of a foster child,
a then 21-month-old, energetic
toddler. It was satisfying seeing her
grow and learn to walk and talk. At
the same time, we’re a bit worn out.
1984
Karen Linnea Searle
linnea.searle@gmail.com
Helena Weiss Schotland was
starting as associate pulmonary
division chief for clinical affairs and
director of pulmonary physiology at
Mount Sinai Hospital and was “so
looking forward to being back in
New York.”
Lots of news from Keith Cornell.
“I now consider myself a recovering
lawyer. After practicing for 30
years, in 2017 I ran for a state
judgeship, won the Democratic
primary and then the general
election, and took office in January
2018. I serve as the Rockland
County [N.Y.] Surrogate Court
Judge overseeing wills, trusts,
and guardianships. In addition, I
am cross-assigned to family court
and handle child-custody disputes,
child-neglect and abuse cases,
and adoptions, among other cases.
Pre-COVID, I had occasion to have
Lori Douglas come before me on a
surrogate court matter.
“Now for the interesting stuff:
We were thrilled several years ago
when son Skyler ’21 was admitted
to Swarthmore. He graduated as
an engineering major last May on
a rainy day, not unlike our 1984
graduation day. The ceremony
was on Mertz Field to allow for
social distancing, and there was a
jumbotron set up so we could see
the speakers. Our newly minted
Swarthmore engineer spent the
summer throwing pottery and is
due to move to Burlington, Vt.
He has been hired by a startup
working on an emerging technology
involving the remote charging of
batteries. The company seems to
be full of super-smart engineers, so
he’ll fit right in.
“As an added bonus, Skyler will
be living within walking distance
of his older brother, Robin, and
his wife. I was thrilled to perform
their wedding in August in our
backyard. We had a very small
gathering, including my mother,
Harriet Donow Cornell ’54, and my
sisters, Kendall Cornell ’86 and
Valerie Cornell ’81. My wife, Carrie,
is a public-health professional but
also paints and has participated in
Jessie Winer’s Zoom classes.
“With our children and new
daughter-in-law in Vermont, we and
our two dogs, Bella and Charlie, are
thinking about spending more time
there, so I have a regular practice
of searching Zillow for the right
place to raise goats, alpacas, and
a donkey or two. We will be sure
to have a spare room or, at least,
a tent space for old Swarthmore
friends to help with milking.”
It’s been a quiet fall here in
Southern California, for which I am
grateful. My younger son, Powell
Sheagren ’22, is back on campus
again for his senior year. My older
son, Calder, is in Toronto, pursuing
a graduate degree in medical
physics, and we are hoping to visit
him now that the borders are open
again. I, too, have been enjoying
Jessie’s monthly art classes,
sponsored by the Central Park
Conservancy. She does a masterful
job of making the class accessible
and enjoyable for novices and
experienced artists alike. It’s also
a wonderful opportunity to enjoy
the beauty of Central Park through
your computer screen. If any of
you would like to join, contact me
and I’ll be happy to forward your
request to Jessie.
prereqs for a nursing program
here in Maryland — exciting new
opportunities. I hope all are well
and are finding happiness.”
Susan Poser and husband Steve
DiMagno have departed the
University of Illinois–Chicago for
New York. Susan became president
of Hofstra University on Aug. 1,
and Steve left academia to lead
a drug-discovery effort at Ratio
Therapeutics.
I, Tim, am also doing a reboot,
with one new hip as I write, and two
by the time you read this. Although
I’ve been assured this doesn’t really
require new boots.
David Pike “had the distinct
pleasure of dropping off Philip
Pike-Acosta ’25 at Willets, exactly
40 years after our own arrival.”
David’s new book, Cold War Culture
in the 1960s and 1980s: The
Bunkered Decades, contains much
material that happened during our
Swarthmore years.
Ian Aberbach and wife Beth
have joined the empty-nester
community. Son Adin ’25 entered
Swarthmore, and daughter Raya is
a senior at Boston Conservatory at
Berklee.
And last, Dave Landes and wife
Pam are enjoying retired life in
the Adirondacks, where hiking is
a favored activity. “We love the
escape from the Virginia heat and
humidity.” Their two eldest kids
have started working, and the
youngest is cooking up a storm at
the Culinary Institute of America
in Hyde Park, N.Y. Dave’s sister
Jordan is curator for Swarthmore’s
Friends Historical Library.
1985 1986
Timothy Kinnel
kinnel@warpmail.net
Maria Tikoff Vargas
maria@chrisandmaria.com
We hope this finds you happy,
healthy, and as unstressed as
the world allows. We just got bits
of news this time, so we hope
you’re enjoying a bit of vaccinated
freedom.
Matt Roach “just started the
Jessica Russo Perez-Mesa
jessicaperezmesa@yahoo.com
Karen Leidy Gerstel
kgerstel@msn.com
Jacqueline Lowey “had a great
reunion for Michele Grodberg
’83’s birthday with Carol Savary,
Marty and Bettina Garcia-Alegre
Welsh ’84, Deb Stern ’84, Rebecca
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
65
class notes
Alexander, and Alex Bowie ’84. I
switched careers and am selling
real estate in East Hampton [N.Y.].
I’m still married with two great,
grown children.”
Rikki Abzug “was able to take my
first sabbatical in 14 years during
the deep pandemic. I couldn’t
travel anywhere, but I was able to
do research while avoiding virtual
teaching. My older daughter is
an artist in Philadelphia, and my
younger is doing social media for
Vermont’s Department of Parks
and Rec. I keep trying to make
the world a better place one
undergraduate business student
at a time. I was particularly lucky
to catch Dave Allgeier and Steve
Salovitch ’85 traveling through
northern New Jersey, after we were
all vaccinated.”
The American Heart Association
named Donald Lloyd-Jones as its
president for 2021–22.
Aaron Weissblum is “semi-retired
in Maine, growing weed, and
making games and art.”
Alexander Gavis shares: “After
almost 25 years working in legal in
financial services in Boston, I am
scheduled to ‘retire’ in December
and move on to other pursuits,
including spending time with family,
teaching at a local law school, and
learning new things. My two kids
are doing well, with one in NYC and
one in Chicago. I hope to see more
Swat friends in 2022.”
Pedro Gregorio “got married
Labor Day weekend to Cookie
Driscoll, a Renaissance woman
from Pennsylvania who I met on my
way to the Swat reunion in 2016. I
started calling her a Renaissance
woman on the day we met because
it seemed like there was nothing
she hadn’t done in her life in
Arizona and Pennsylvania. When I
retire in a couple of years, I’ll move
to her horse farm near Gettysburg,
Pa., to start our next chapter. For
now, I’ll continue enjoying the
Pennsylvania Turnpike’s curves
between Ohio and Breezewood,
Pa., in the Alfa Romeo on my
regular 1,000-mile drives.”
As for myself, I, Jessica, continue
to live in Hawaii with my husband,
two kids, and two cats. I’m looking
forward to traveling and socializing
when the pandemic is over. I’m
always happy to see Swarthmore
66
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
classmates, so be sure to contact
me if you come my way.
1987
Sarah Wilson
sarah_nw35qg@yahoo.com
As the lockdown lifted in much
of the country, classmates were
coming to terms with their empty
nests — for real — as their progeny
returned to school.
Jack Dougherty and Elizabeth
Rose wrote that they dealt with this
phenomenon by building a minivan
camper and taking it on the road
to visit Sonke Johnsen ’88’s farm
in Hillsborough, N.C., and to
tour a goat farm with Magdalen
Lindeberg ’88 in Ithaca, N.Y. Check
out their video and design ideas at
JackBikes.org.
Another former Mary Lyon
freshman, Adam Schuman,
shares that upon becoming an
empty nester a couple of years
ago, “I moved to Manhattan and
am thrilled to see the resilience
and resurgence of the city. My
daughter is a college junior and
flourishing. I’m continuing to enjoy
the practice of law, including in the
emerging cryptoworld.”
Ellen Mallory sends greetings
from Orono, Maine, home to
the University of Maine, where
she works as a professor and
extension specialist of sustainable
agriculture. “It makes me feel
old to say it, but it’s also where
my husband and I raised three
daughters. We’re enjoying
watching them launch into the
world and having more time for
our own more modest adventures,
like canoe camping, bike packing,
cross-country skiing, and backyard
‘homesteading.’”
Katy Stokes is another alum who
bid farewell to her adult children
who have returned to their inperson studies. We spent a very
enjoyable couple of days catching
up in her delightful Long Island,
N.Y., retreat with my 2.5-year-old
foster son.
Never one to let any sort of
adversity slow his roll, Gehan
Talwatte says: “Lockdown in
London was boring, but I managed
to lift the spirits on my street
(quite literally) by organizing a
socially distanced street cocktail
party every Sunday evening.
On the business front, I tried to
enliven our weekly Zoom meetings
by inviting Swat friends to talk
about what they do. A big thank
you to Reid Neureiter, Laurie
Laird, Josh King, and Gary Fuges,
who educated and entertained
my colleagues. I did see Pierre
Cesbron ’88 in person in Paris.
Keara Connolly is back in London
after being locked down in Belize.”
Mike Sjaastad writes: “After living
in the San Francisco Bay area for
34 years (I moved to Berkeley
for graduate school right after
graduating from Swat), our family
has moved to Lake Oswego, Ore.
My wife is a veterinarian, and we
sold the pet hospital we owned
and operated in Silicon Valley for
20 years, allowing us to relocate
closer to family. We loved the
Bay Area and have many close
connections there (including with
Tom Goodman and Gary, along
with other Swatties), but with the
web and tech booms, life there
has changed a lot. For example, I
worked at a startup in a business
park next door to the young
company Google when they only
had 100 employees.
“In Lake Oswego, we are enjoying
an active outdoor life and living
through the dramatic change
of seasons. Our son, Miles, has
started high school, and my wife
Julie is considering a second
career in veterinary acupuncture.
I’m still working in biotech.”
1990
Jim Sailer
jim.sailer@gmail.com
Tracey Patillo
tepatillo1@gmail.com
As I, Tracey, write from my home
office, I’m still working 100%
UNITING AMERICA
KYLE ANDERSON ’89
Kyle Anderson ’89 was named senior vice president at America250,
the nationwide commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary in
2026 led by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. A political
science major at Swarthmore, Kyle joins America250 from the
Congressional Black Caucus, where he was executive director.
“I’m thrilled to join this talented and inspired team and look
forward to helping shape this effort as we bring on national
partners, programs, and initiatives designed to engage and unite all
Americans,” Kyle says. “I’m also really excited about the chance to
embrace and lift up the diverse stories and experiences that help
define the American experience.”
remotely at least until January. I
do miss the office camaraderie but
not the commute. I know many of
you are similarly situated, and I
hope you are staying well.
During the summer and after
our last submission, Martin Hunt
reported on his recent adventures
and travels. He said his family
had returned from Madrid,
visiting family, and he launched a
new venture-capital fund called
Swanlaab USA Ventures. He also
celebrated a one-year-delayed
25th wedding anniversary with a
river cruise down the Danube.
Debby VanLenten Jagielow had
a roomie reunion with Michelle
Hines while she visited her son
at University of Connecticut in
Mansfield. Their families enjoyed a
lovely fall New England day and ice
cream at the UConn Dairy Bar.
I, Tracey, am connected with
Emily McHugh via Facebook, and
she shares: “I have picked up a
new pastime that I have been
wanting to do — bhangra dancing
with my favorite online teachers
of Bhangra Empire. It is so much
fun, great exercise, and really
boosts energy. I invite you to check
out my dances on my fledgling
YouTube channel (just type in
“Emily McHugh”), where I also
highlight my Super Charge Sunday
program featuring entrepreneurs
and their journeys. I also spend
a lot of time sharing lessons on
entrepreneurship via workshops
based on my book, The Little Girl’s
Guide to Entrepreneurship. One
of my favorites was training local
Girl Scouts on how they could
increase sales of their cookies.
Most importantly, I would like to
share encouragement that no
matter how difficult these times
are, it is important to take time to
do something that inspires you,
lifts your spirits, and makes you
smile. Bhangra definitely does that
for me.”
Finally, Abiona “Abby” Berkeley
Cathcart shared her great
professional achievement.
Effective July 1, Abby was interim
senior associate dean for diversity,
equity, and inclusion for Temple
University’s Lewis Katz School of
Medicine.
We hope to hear from more of you
next time.
1992
Libby Starling
libbystarling@comcast.net
Steve Bruner and his family moved
in summer 2020 to southern
Vermont, where he works for
Alterra Mountain Co., managing
day-to-day operations of Stratton
Mountain Resort’s cross-country
ski and snowshoe center. Wife
Leah, on sabbatical from Amherst
College, is writing a book.
Their kids attend the Stratton
Mountain School, feeding their
passion for Nordic ski racing and
endurance sports. Steve misses
early-pandemic Zoom hangouts
organized by Chris Tipper. He
hopes that he gets to see many
classmates at our 30th Reunion.
Otherwise, unless my email ate an
update (this is not unheard of, and
if so, I apologize), the rest of you
are busy leading our middle-aged
lives. Random Facebook browsing
suggests that there may be other
news to report (A wedding? A job
transition? You know who you
are.), but sharing them would
unmask my stalker tendencies
and probably fail the Bulletin’s
fact-checker. See you at the 30th
Reunion in May!
1993
Ryan Roderick
hotroo71@hotmail.com
Noah Salamon
nbsalamon@gmail.com
Andres Versage
andres_versage@hotmail.com
As of this writing, yours truly,
Noah, was anxiously looking
forward to the possibility of inperson trick-or-treating (Zoom
trick-or-treating was much less
effective). Here are some updates
from your favorite class — the one
that graduated after Nevermind
but before In Utero.
Scott Kane retired as a captain
in the Navy Medical Corps after
22 years as an adult, child, and
adolescent psychiatrist. He
deployed three times, to Indonesia,
Iraq, and Kuwait, and his last
position was as director of mental
health for the Naval Medical
Center San Diego, where he was
responsible for the mental health
of more than 100,000 service
members and their families.
Jeff Moray made it to the floor
of the New York Stock Exchange,
where he was involved in some
sort of financial goings-on that we
vaguely understand.
A review of the new science
fiction novel Constance by
Matthew FitzSimmons (pg. 7)
appeared in the Aug. 25 issue
of The New York Times under
the title “Cloning Error Fuels
A Murder Mystery,” subtitled
“Matthew FitzSimmons’s romp of
a science-fiction thriller tackles
existential questions.” Constance
is his sixth published novel;
his earlier ones are part of the
Gibson Vaughn series of thrillers.
Matthew majored in psychology at
Swarthmore, but took classes in
directing and performance theory
and was very active in the Drama
Board. He lives in D.C., where he
taught English and theater in a
private high school for more than
a decade. Swarthmore Professor
Allen Kuharski notes, “A little late
for summer beach reading, but
worth checking out.”
Matt Clausen reported from D.C.
that he joined the Inter-American
Foundation as the agency’s
new public-private partnership
specialist. “I will be responsible
for leading the IAF’s efforts to
identify, develop, implement,
and manage partnerships with
private companies, foundations,
academia, and other institutions
to bring greater technical and
financial resources to bear
to achieve IAF’s grassroots
development goals.”
Ryan Roderick has made a
return to in-person teaching of
international students at West
Chester University. So far, the
return to commuting may cut
into daily pandemic afternoon
walks, and teaching in shorts and
bare feet will be missed. Roddy
also joined your humble class
secretaries, so if you’ve been
holding off on sending notes until
we got someone with a sense
of humor on board, now’s your
chance!
1995
Erik Thoen
erik_thoen@alum.swarthmore.edu
We start off with great news from
Maggie Gold Seelig, who was
nominated and accepted into the
Young Presidents Organization
Metro New York Chapter. She
founded and is the CEO of MGS
Group Real Estate, a boutique
residential brokerage firm with
a main office in Boston and a
presence in NYC. She’s helped
several Swatties in their real estate
purchases and sales.
In the literary world, Rodrigo
Dobry wrote the book If I Were a
Snowflake, available on Amazon.
“The text, written over several
years, is metered and rhymed.
This project was very much a labor
of love.” As a true collaborative
Swarthmore project, the cover was
painted by the multitalented Alyssa
Apsel.
A number of classmates
have been abroad, including
Suzanna Brauer, who received a
second Fulbright-Saastamoinen
Foundation Grant in Health and
Environmental Sciences and
traveled with her family to teach
and conduct research at the
University of Eastern Finland from
March to July.
Christina Richards, husband
Larry, and children Dorothy, 10,
and John, 6, weathered COVID-19
in Germany; they moved there in
2019. She’s an associate professor
in integrative biology at the
University of South Florida and
received funding for a four-year
project under the Make Our Planet
Great Again program. It includes
public outreach and has organized
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
67
class notes
weekly seminars, videos on
YouTube, and a large conference.
To get more details, follow
Christina on Twitter, @ecolepig.
In Portland, Ore., with her partner
since April 2020, Tania Lihatsh
has been an end-of-life doula for
more than three years and also
volunteers with hospice and with
End of Life Choices Oregon. “I’ve
helped folks with nonmedical death
care, advanced directives, funerals
and memorial services, legacy
projects, and navigating change
and grief. Most importantly, I help
identify opportunities to prevent
suffering; there are incredible
opportunities for healing and
growth even in our last days.”
Tania’s website is betterdeaths.
com.
Time has been flying for Cristina
Pérez, who is celebrating her
25th year of teaching English,
Spanish, and French at Friends’
Central School. “So much for
all the premed courses I took at
Swat.” She’s thrilled to be back at
school in person and is joined by
her seventh-grade daughter, Maria
Sofía. Cristina lives in East Falls in
northwest Philadelphia.
Last, Sally Chin has been
diligently recording our class
notes for more than 25 years, and
she’s ready to pass on the class
secretary baton. I’ve thoroughly
enjoyed working with Sally on the
notes, so I’ll miss my co-secretary.
Please join me in thanking Sally for
her great service to Swarthmore
and our class.
Since multiple class secretaries
improve the frequency, diversity,
and quality of our notes, I’d love to
have other classmates lend their
voices. If you might be interested
or have any questions, please
reach out to me or to Class Notes
Editor Heidi Hormel (hhormel1@
swarthmore.edu). As always, we
look forward to sharing your news.
ALUMNI WEEKEND 2022:
One Swarthmore
Save the date!
May 27–29
swarthmore.edu/
alumniweekend
68
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
1996
Melissa Clark
melissa.a.clark@gmail.com
Gerardo Aquino
tony.aquino@united.com
Colleen Bartley
cbartley@alum.swarthmore.edu
Welcome from our newest class
secretary, Colleen Bartley. We
celebrated our 25th Reunion with
a special virtual series of events,
and it was great to see those
who were able to participate.
Recordings of the Parlor Talks
are available by emailing
swatalum96@gmail.com. Special
thanks to Chris Marin, Christian
Henry, and Kathleen Lawton-Trask
for co-organizing.
I, Colleen, continue to survive
life in London, working as an
improvisational dance artist,
editor, social justice advocate, and
community organizer.
Curtis Trimble and Maria
Alejandra Gonzalez drove to
D.C. to meet up with Chris for
a music festival. Sam Voolich
was supposed to join them but
couldn’t make it. The next day
Andy Feldman, Chris, and Curtis
watched football and drank beer
at an outdoor, German-style
garden. Curtis adds: “I launched
an investment advisory business
within the private-equity firm
I joined last year. Andy and I
shared a few thoughts on startup
experiences as he struck out on
his own with an evidence-based
policy consultancy. I’m looking
forward to Family Weekend at
Bryn Mawr, where Sofia, our
oldest daughter, started her
second year.”
Ben Bryson received the Georgia
Library Association Presidential
Commendation for outstanding
service to the organization in 2021.
This year marks his third and final
year serving as the association’s
treasurer.
Will Craig is launching a startup
focused on the large-scale
recentering of advance-care
planning, death education, and
design of the final phase of life.
In lieu of a fourth biological
child, Laurie Gerber is gestating
lauriegerber.com.
Jacqueline Morais Easley is
working on a novel and can’t
believe she has two daughters
in college: one at American
University and the other at UCLA.
Her son is in eighth grade. “We
enjoy watching movies, going out
to eat, and cheering him on at his
basketball games.”
Rebecca Winthrop reports:
“COVID has been really hard on
the boys, but after a year and a
half, they are back at school. I love
working from home. I’m still at the
Brookings Institution doing a big
project on how schools can work
better with families, so I have been
busy sharing the insights with the
educational global conference
circuit.”
Kate Ellsworth works in Boston
as an acupuncturist, hikes with
her dog, and is trying (and mostly
failing so far) to enjoy empty
nesting while her kiddo spends
11th grade in Spain.
Sabrina Moyle publishes
humorous children’s books
focused on positivity, potty humor,
and social-emotional learning,
and is working on a children’s
animated series with the Jim
Henson Co. and Nickelodeon,
which should be out sometime
in the next decade. The greeting
card and letterpress business
continues to go strong. Pandemic
highlights included Facetiming
with Professor Emerita T. Kaori
Kitao and Zoom Christmas
caroling with fellow Anon a
cappella members Laura Christian,
Nazanin Moghbeli, Sita Frederick
’97, and Kanade Shinkai ’95.
Matt Robison is in Amherst,
Mass., with his wife and three
kids. He hosts a radio show on
WKXL 103.9 FM (NHTalkRadio.
com) and a podcast (Beyond
Politics with Paul Hodes and Matt
Robison). “I’ve been fortunate to
have incredible guests — members
of Congress, scientists, authors,
and even the country’s top UFO
video debunker. I interview
Swarthmore alums whenever I can
and have hosted Victor Pineiro
’00, Jamie Stiehm ’82, Michael
Morton ’97, and several others.”
Also, anyone in New Hampshire
can catch him on the Capitol Close
Up podcast.
Jonathan Evans attempted to
write from the “island of Kittoria,
but realized his wife was right, he
has been playing too much Animal
Crossing with his two daughters.
He then attempted to write from
Seattle, but his two pups ate that
letter. So an electronic message
was sent instead. Having survived
wildfires, local bridges shutting
down, and an anarchy zone, he’s
surprised at how much he still
loves Seattle. In his professional
world, he enjoys making users
happy for a startup that’s focused
on innovation.”
Here’s looking forward to our
next dance party on campus. Our
Facebook group is Swarthmore
College Class of 1996.
1997
Lauren Jacobi
laurenjacobi@hotmail.com
As I mentioned in my last column,
I’m beginning to work on a timeconsuming project and am looking
for someone to share gathering
alumni-related material and
writing our class notes. If you are
interested, please get in touch.
This past July, Bet Tzedek Legal
Services in L.A. announced a slate
of new board members, including
Jason Linder. These directors
will provide strategic direction
for Bet Tzedek’s mission to build
stability and hope for communities
experiencing structural disparities
and exploitation. Jason is a
seasoned trial lawyer and former
senior federal prosecutor. He
also serves as vice chair of the
American Bar Association’s White
Collar Crime Committee and
treasurer of the International Bar
Association’s Business Crime
Committee.
Ben Henwood, associate
professor of social work at USC,
has long been recognized in
health and housing research,
specifically homelessness. “My
clinical days are behind me, but
I am happy to be teaching the
next generation of social workers
who can hopefully win this battle
to end homelessness. (Part of
my day job is to serve as the
national co-lead for the American
Academy of Social Work and
Social Welfare’s Grand Challenge
to End Homelessness.)” He and
wife Heather were enjoying their
three children and new puppy. He
caught up with Franklin Rubinstein
and Gilbert Mireles ’96 and also
saw Dave Sturtevant ’96 while at
conferences in D.C. He sometimes
catches up with Ben “Bugsy”
Seigel ’96 and Tom Hooper ’96.
Kate Walker lives in Brooklyn and
relishes her work as a content and
media producer at the American
Museum of Natural History. “I’ll
have several video pieces in our
Sharks exhibition that opens in
December.”
Erik Henriksen lives in St. Louis
with his family, including two
children, ages 7 and almost 4.
“My lab’s work is centered around
the physics of atomically thin
materials or, perhaps, the physics
of electrons confined to two
dimensions — and the materials
happen to be the 2D platforms
that imbue the electrons with an
astonishing array of properties.
From the early days of graphene,
there are now hundreds of
materials we can pull apart with
Scotch tape (literally) to get
monolayers, bilayers, etc. We
make tiny devices out of these.
Right now, we’re trying to directly
measure the fractal structure
of Hofstadter’s butterfly using
sheets of graphene on insulating
boron nitride — moiré patterns
appear, imbuing the electronic
structure with a truly fractal set
of energy levels … or so people
claim. Consequences of this likely
behavior have been seen, but no
one has yet actually observed the
fractal spectrum. We’re aiming to
do that. St. Louis is great — great
zoo, symphony, parks, childfriendly. St. Louis and Missouri
certainly have their issues, but at
the same time it’s been great to see
local activism spread to and impact
the rest of the United States.”
Jerahme Posner resides near
Philadelphia with his wife and
three children, working in the
emergency room at Lankenau
Medical Center in Wynnewood, Pa.
“Our family loves traveling. This
year, despite the pandemic, we
have traveled to Mexico, Cape Cod,
and France twice.”
In his 10th year teaching physical
and environmental science online
with Oregon Charter Academy,
Shawn Bundy serves as the United
Soccer Coaches High School Girls
All-American chairman. His side
project is building a sauna in his
backyard to stave off the wet, cold
Portland winter.
Megin Charner-Laird is an
assistant professor at Salem State
University in Massachusetts,
specializing in childhood education
and care. Megin’s research looks
at teachers’ experiences of policy
enactment and school-based
professional learning and how
teacher leadership is enacted in
school settings.
Also in Massachusetts, Molly
Jacobs is vice president for
environmental education and
outreach at Manomet Inc., a
conservation organization focused
on migratory birds in the Western
Hemisphere. “This job is the
culmination of a big career shift.
I left my tenured faculty position
in 2017 to focus on environmental
education, and I’m thrilled to be
back in New England living close to
family and working for a cause I’m
passionate about.” She lives with
wife Lisa and daughter Greta, 8,
and catches birds in mist nets.
As always, please send me
updates; I’d love to hear from you.
1998
Rachel Breitman
rachellbreitman@yahoo.com
Shirley Salmeron Dugan
shirley.salmeron@gmail.com
After a tumultuous year-anda-half, our classmates are
reconnecting and moving forward
with eyes on the future, but also
taking time to toast the past.
Amita Sudhir “survived 18
months as an emergency
physician in a pandemic. I initially
hoped to change the course of the
pandemic by writing about it in
Slate, and for a brief nine months
had a prolific essay-writing side
job before I gave up. Under the
constant strain of caring for
sick people who got that way
by refusing a safe vaccine, plus
an overcrowded ER and nursing
shortages, I sometimes struggle
to tolerate a job I once loved. I
continue to work as residency
director and will have seen three
classes of residents through the
pandemic. That cultivation of the
next generation keeps me from
being entirely cynical. My kids are
9 and 13, and my house is 129. I
met up with Rani Shankar and her
kids at the Central Park Zoo.”
Katie Auld Aron works at a small
startup in Cambridge, Mass.,
developing cell-therapy treatments
for cancer. This new job has
delayed her ability to finish the
virtual choir video of Grapevine
alumni, which Katie hoped to post
by the end of the year.
Amy Albert wrote an upbeat
letter from New Jersey. Haven
Community Adolescent Respite
Center “is 5 years old, and we just
got our first federal grant. My son
is almost 10, a future chemist,
and a genuinely good person,
and his father makes me happy.
I’m grateful to have a community
of friends who have helped me
live out my dream of creating a
nonprofit for youth in conflict with
their families, including the ohso-awesome Jordan Hay and the
ever-creative Dan Gallant.”
Shirley Salmeron Dugan and her
family weathered COVID-19 in New
York by “vaccinating the entire
family, taking up new hobbies,
and adopting a dog. Our English
bulldog, Juggy, brings a lot of
laughs and male energy to our
household. I am grateful to have all
three daughters back in school full
time, although we have one each
in elementary, middle, and high
school,” so it’s a lot of juggling and
a lot of driving.
Last year at the height of the
strictest lockdowns and stay-
at-home orders in NYC, Larry
McDowell escaped temporarily
to a new vacation home in Ulster
County, N.Y., which “made endless
Zoom meetings and remote school
somewhat less insanity-inducing
for them and Idris, 7, and Eudora,
3.” Autumn brought the family
back to Brooklyn for the muchappreciated return to in-person
school, but most weekends
they hike the beautiful trails in
the Shawangunk Mountains. In
September, Larry had a coffee
date with Nick Kourtides, who was
in New York for work.
Charity Miller had a mini-reunion
in May with Liz Farley, Courtney
Clark Metakis, Elin Lisska
Christensen ’97, Hanan Hussein
Knoll ’97, and Doris, who married
Richard Choe ’96. “We managed
to pull off a ladies’ weekend in
New Jersey in a hotel suite with
windows open and masks. We
laughed and maybe shed a few
tears, but nothing like amazing
friends to help you heal after the
world turned upside down.”
Kelli Tennent Griffis wrote
from California, where she was
enjoying sunny weather, working
at the Pacific Ridge School in
Carlsbad, and spending lots of
time outdoors. Since she got new
“cyborg” hearing aids, Kelli is
“happy to be rediscovering how
much of the world she couldn’t
hear for the last 20 years or so.”
I, Rachel, spent time with Cat
Laine in Rhode Island in October
after a two-year hiatus of (inperson) visits. We celebrated her
husband’s birthday, and then they
drove me to Massachusetts for
my brother’s much-postponed
wedding. The same weekend, I
got a surprise visit from Vincent
Jones, who was swinging through
D.C. on a layover, en route to
Miami, and came by for breakfast.
Vincent is spending time on
cruise ships, scuba diving, and
other aquatic adventures. He was
looking forward to celebrating
Tirian Mink’s wedding in Mexico
City in November. He co-chairs the
board of a grassroots organizing
group in South Los Angeles and
is board secretary of a large
foundation/fiscal sponsor of
501(c)4 organizations around the
country.
WINTER 2022
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69
class notes
1999
Melissa Morrell
melrel99@hotmail.com
Ashwin Rao was promoted to full
professor in the Department of
Family Medicine at the University
of Washington. He still serves as
program director of the UW sports
medicine fellowship and as a UW
Husky athletics team physician, in
his 13th year in that role. Ashwin
has stepped down as a team
physician for the Seattle Seahawks,
feeling like 12 years, two Super
Bowls, 10 playoff trips, and one
Super Bowl ring were enough.
Josh Knox got a second try at
a Southwest road trip in June
after his plans for 2020 had to
be COVID-19-canceled. With four
weeks off from work, he flew with
wife Brita Dempsey and daughter
Caliandra Dempsey Knox to San
Francisco and rented a camper
van. “Yosemite, Sequoia, Zion, and
the Grand Canyon national parks
were highlights, but astronomy
at Great Basin, slot canyons at
Capitol Reef, and hoodoos at
Bryce Canyon were also amazing.
The showers were still closed in
most parks; luckily, our van had
showering options. Caliandra, 11,
insisted on climbing both Yosemite
Falls and Angel’s Landing —
together we pulled it off.”
Ben Goldsmith was on Wondery
Media’s podcast Suspect about
the murder of Arpana Jinaga
in Redmond, Wash., in 2008
and Ben’s nine-year defense of
Emanuel Fair, who was charged
with the murder. I, Melissa, have
been listening to the podcast; it’s
terrific.
Daniel Laurison received a
Carnegie Fellowship.
Tobie Barton is spending a year
in Edinburgh with her husband,
who is a linguist specializing in
endangered languages like Scottish
Gaelic. Their two daughters have
settled nicely into the daily routine
of tea and treats. The family is
excited to travel throughout Europe
and eke out as much adventure as
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
COVID will allow. Tobie continues
to develop health guidance for
Head Start from afar.
After almost 20 years in the
D.C. area, Andrew Mast and his
family relocated to Chicagoland.
“Suburban life has been an
adjustment, but on net, it’s been
positive for us — particularly the
kids.”
Sarah Cross, an assistant
professor at the University
of Minnesota’s Department
of Obstetrics, Gynecology, &
Women’s Health, led the obstetrical
COVID-19 response for her
13-hospital health system and
even had her own “pandemic
baby,” Sophie, who joined Zach,
3.5, and Margot, 5.5. The family
also got a pandemic puppy. Sarah
has given more than 30 lectures
and interviews on COVID-19
in pregnancy, most recently
focusing on the vaccine. She has
been interviewed by National
Geographic, Forbes, and Newsweek
and had an opinion piece in the
Washington Post.
Michal Zadara spent winter
2020–21 at home in Warsaw,
Poland. “In February, I directed an
adaptation of Nobel laureate Olga
Tokarczuk’s novel Flights at Teatr
Powszechny here. We actually
began work on the adaptation at
Swarthmore, with Emma MorganBennett ’20 and students Zivia
Lichtenberg ’23, Nadia Malaya
’22, and Shail Modi ’22.” Michal
saw Jim Harker in Berlin, adding,
“We have been in touch and are
planning future academic/artistic
projects together.”
As of April, Tyler Wigg Stevenson
was associate priest at St. Paul’s
Bloor Street, a large Anglican
church in downtown Toronto.
“The pandemic has made
transitions strange, but all the
more so in church ministry, where
interpersonal interaction is at the
core. It’s been an adventure and
learning curve, but I am enjoying
myself and am grateful that we
are slowly reopening to in-person
gatherings.” Tyler also submitted
his Ph.D. dissertation, “Saecular:
The Ancient Word That Became
the Modern World,” in August and
expected to defend it by year’s end.
Stacey Bearden was thankful that
son Glen was in person for second
grade after being in remote school.
“After meeting at our 20th Reunion
and becoming friends, my son and
Maria Krisch’s son have enjoyed
virtual playdates from across the
country.” Stacey runs her own
compensation-consulting business.
“It provides work-life balance. I
took the summer off,” but was still
parenting full time.
2000
Michaela DeSoucey
mdesoucey@gmail.com
Emily Shu
emily.n.shu@gmail.com
As we’ve been navigating the
pandemic, we’re inspired to hear
from classmates making big
and small moves and starting
adventures.
Will Untereker and his family
(Wakana, Billy, and Noa) moved
from Tokyo to Minneapolis
in summer 2020 for a work
assignment. Will said they were
enjoying life in the frozen north,
despite COVID-19 complicating the
family’s first experience living in
America. As the pandemic winds
down, he hopes some peripatetic
Swatties will pass through and
visit.
Daniel Littlewood made a big
move from New York to his
hometown of Portland, Ore. He
was enjoying looking out the back
window at trees in Forest Park,
one of the largest urban parks in
the U.S.
Karen Lloyd, an associate
professor of microbiology at the
University of Tennessee, writes:
“My husband and I are taking
our daughters (ages 7 and 11)
to Iceland over fall break to see
the hot springs that I’ve been
studying for microbial ecology. The
11-year-old recently recovered from
COVID-19 because our schools
did not have a mask mandate. We
are very mad about this, but we’re
pleased that a federal judge has
required us to be masked.”
Jess Watson started as the
executive director of earthday365,
an environmental nonprofit in
St. Louis, about a week before
the pandemic hit. “In spite of the
craziness, I’m still loving it and the
daily walking commute through an
arboretum.” She also co-founded
Hidden Alley Ranch Housing
Cooperative, which includes cohousing, a community garden and
orchard, and a chicken co-op.
After spending over a decade
as an assistant U.S. attorney in
the Criminal Division of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of New York, Jessica
Sonnenschein Lonergan joined
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
as counsel in their New York office.
The firm provides legal services
to technology, life sciences, and
growth enterprises worldwide.
Jo-Anne Suriel shares: “I left
my career in private equity at
the end of 2019 and started my
own wellness and spirituality
practice, Energetic Well. I also
blog about parenting, activism,
wellness, and multilingualism at
MakeTheWorldMama.com.”
2003
Robin Smith Petruzielo
robinleslie@alum.swarthmore.edu
Patty Park sold her second
book and debut young-adult
novel, Imposter Syndrome and
Other Confessions of Alejandra
Kim, which will be published in
spring 2023. She is an assistant
professor of creative writing at
American University and supercommutes between D.C. and NYC.
Lucy Lang was appointed New
York state inspector general,
overseeing investigations into
corruption, fraud, criminal activity,
and conflicts of interest in state
government.
Veronica Herrera and Ben Wiles
had Santiago Octavio Benjamin
Wiles on May 1. His brother and
sister were happy to have a baby
in the house. The family is in Los
Angeles, where Veronica is tenured
at UCLA and Ben continues his
EMINENT ENGINEER
CHARLES “C.J.” RILEY ’01
Charles “C.J.” Riley ’01, a civil engineering professor at the Oregon
Institute of Technology, was named the 2021 Oregon Section
Government Engineer of the Year by the American Society of
Civil Engineers (ASCE). The award recognizes engineers for their
achievements, mentorship, and service, among other areas.
“It’s humbling and reassuring that I’ve found my calling and my
place and I have the great opportunity to do good work with good
people for the public good,” C.J. says. “I was the ASCE student
chapter co-president my senior year at Swarthmore. It was a very
small club but was also one of those vital seeds that grew into a big
part of my professional life. I have Dr. Faruq Siddiqui, who recently
retired from teaching at Swarthmore, to thank for pointing me
down this path. It has been so incredibly fulfilling.”
venture-finance legal practice.
President Joe Biden and the
Democratic National Committee
chairman nominated community
organizer Anna Perng to serve
as a DNC member-at-large,
appointed to the Credentials
Committee. Anna advocates for the
inclusion and full participation of
historically excluded communities.
She also has joined the BidenHarris administration as special
assistant in the Administration
for Community Living at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services.
William Tran was promoted
at ViacomCBS to senior vice
president of business and legal
affairs, production risk.
John Anderson and wife Karen
Travers were excited their children
were back in school in person,
although they are still getting
used to this new whirlwind of
after-school activities. John
helps structure the World Bank’s
financing of COVID-19 vaccine
purchases by poorer countries.
Abram Falk celebrated his 40th
birthday in NYC with Mike Kim.
Earlier in the summer, Abram and
wife E.B. Fortier Falk had a minireunion with Mike, Don Nguyen
and Marilee Serrania, Dave Collins,
and James Zvokel ’04 at Little
Island in NYC.
Danielle Masor Stember is in NYC
as a neurologist at the Department
of Veterans Affairs. She has three
boys, Jacob, Ben, and Emanuel.
John Fort loves teaching at
historic Chaffey High School in
Ontario, Calif. Daughter Amelie’s
first year at Carleton College was
going great.
Todd Gillette and wife Laura
had mostly settled into their first
(non-rented) home in Columbia,
Md., after moving in July; Skyler
Jourdan Gillette arrived Sept. 19
weighing in at 6 pounds 9 ounces.
In true Swarthmore fashion, the
couple were learning a ton while
struggling to get enough sleep.
2004
Rebecca Rogers
rebecca.ep.rogers@gmail.com
Danny Loss
danny.loss@gmail.com
The Class of 2004 continues to
welcome babies. In July, Kara
Passmore Kinikin and husband
Jason had daughter Harriet. Sarah
Hilding and husband Dan had son
Winthrop in April. Their 2-year-old,
Caroline, was “mostly” thrilled to
be a big sister. Sarah is relieved to
no longer be practicing medicine
pregnant during a pandemic.
New feline family members
included Cinnamon and Winston,
who were a boon to the emotional
health of Krista Gigone, Eric
Shang, and their kids during the
ups and downs of COVID-19.
After many years in New York,
Carla Greenberg moved in August
to Philadelphia with husband Ben
and son Miles, 4.5. The family has
settled in Queen Village and would
love to hear from Swatties nearby.
Along with brothers Evan ’01
and Michael, Andrew Gregory
is working on his first animated
project, an addition to the Takeo
Ischi Cinematic Universe. In
November, Andrew released
his first solo album in 10 years,
Sketched Twice. He and Evan
are taking over as hosts of the
podcast Punch Up the Jam. You
can find them both on Spotify or
wherever else you like to listen to
things.
Mark Hanis reports that NPR
covered Inclusive America’s efforts
to make the U.S. government more
accommodating of people with
disabilities.
Edwin and Meg Woodworth Nam
’03 live in Mexico City. Edwin
Way teaches high school in Baton
Rouge, La. Both Edwins would love
to connect with any Swatties in
their respective areas.
We, Rebecca Rogers and Danny
Loss, met up with Kirsten Vannice
over the summer and talked about
vaccines as our kids romped
around a playground.
2005
Jessica Zagory
jazagory@alum.swarthmore.edu
I, Emilano Rodriguez, am stepping
in briefly to cover for Jessica.
She is a pediatric surgeon at the
Children’s Hospital New Orleans,
and when I read the news of late in
Nola, I offered to help.
Arthur “Ace” Chalmers settled in
Sacramento, Calif., complete with
a house, yard, dog, and a couple of
fruit trees. He started a second job
in the exciting field of psychedelic
medicine and finally felt like he’s
hitting his Swattie potential to
change the world. He caught up
with Jorge Aguilar after seeing him
featured in “Humans of New York.”
An Bui spent the last year
leading marketing acquisition in
First Republic Bank’s lending and
innovation lab. She and her spouse
settled into a new home in San
Francisco’s Noe Valley and have
seen a few Swatties.
The ’05er formerly known as
Carmen Barron has a marriage
announcement. Carmen Jean
Bailey and Caitlin Daley tied the
knot Oct. 15 in a ceremony at the
Inn at Woodloch, Hawley, Pa.,
and are happily settled in South
Philadelphia.
Lindsay Brin moved to Ottawa,
Ontario, with her husband and their
twin-pandemic-toddlers in tow.
They’d love to meet up with any
other local Swatties.
Jesse Young renovated and built
the cabinets for his kitchen in
Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He also
made a video with Kirk Ellison,
Brandon Luzar, and Scott Birney
for Professor Faruq Siddiqui’s
retirement.
In my own professional news, last
summer I, Emilano, was elected
secretary treasurer of Unite Here
Local 274, the Philadelphia union
of hotel and food service workers
that I’ve spent the last 14 years
working for as an organizer.
On to birth announcements: Erin
Dwyer-Frazier and husband Steve
Almeida welcomed daughter Grace
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
71
class notes
Almeida in June. Their sister-inlaw served as their gestational
carrier, and it was the greatest
gift anyone could give — even at
2 a.m. Appropriately, some of the
first people the baby met were
Katie Berry and Dan McCarthy
upon her arrival at her home in
Massachusetts.
Olivia Toro and husband Mike
Swigert had first child Roxy in
September. They live with their two
cats off H Street in D.C. Mike and
Olivia work for the Aspen Institute
(on different teams); they met
while they both worked for D.C.
public schools in 2008.
Jonathan Fombonne and Lauren
Stadler ’06 had Sidney Lise Stadler
Fombonne on Aug. 11 in Houston.
She joined brother Ozzie and sister
Freya.
James Golden and Allison
Berliner had Rory Golden Berliner
on April 15 in San Francisco.
Rory’s brother, Theo, was 2. As
for some personality details, Rory
successfully crawled for the first
time to grab a colorful TV remote,
just like his brother did.
And, finally, a correction from the
spring 2021 Class Notes. It was
reported that Blair Haxel was a
trader in permaculture. Although
I’m sure a permaculture derivative
will exist sooner or later, Blair
works as a futures trader and is
also exploring a hobby interest in
permaculture in Burlington, Vt.
2007
Kristin Leitzel Hoy
kleitzel@gmail.com
Joely and Rohan Merriman-Parikh
’09 had Aakash Ashé MerrimanParikh on Sept. 23. Aakash is
happy, and so are they.
Samantha Graffeo Gardner and
her family welcomed Shepard
Gardner in mid-September. They’ve
purchased their first home and are
looking forward to their first winter
back in Colorado, where Samantha
practices pediatric dentistry. The
family enjoyed a visit from Aunt
Paige Gentry, and they invite
72
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
Swattie friends to visit if they’re in
the area.
Twan Claiborne celebrated their
10th anniversary in NYC, living in
the same quaint Harlem abode
with Alyosha “Yoshi” Johnson
’08 and their sister Nika Knight.
Additionally, Twan entered their
10th year of teaching, working at
a special-education independent
private Quaker school in Brooklyn
Heights. Fun fact: The school is
named for Mary Stone McDowell,
Class of 1896, and a handful of
Swatties work there, including
Ben Kaplan ’92. Since New York’s
reopening, Twan’s drag persona,
Kenya Keepup, has been lighting
up stages and street corners. She
might even audition for RuPaul’s
Drag Race Season 30. If you’re in
NYC, check out the show. (Kenya
may also make an appearance at
reunion.)
Peter and Stephanie Koskowich
Holm live in the Bay Area with
daughter Everly, 8. Peter works
for Dropbox, and Stephanie works
at the California Environmental
Protection Agency and UC–San
Francisco, having just finished an
epidemiology Ph.D. this spring.
When they aren’t shuttling Evie to
activities, they enjoy good food,
reading, and skiing.
Juliet Braslow and Carlos
Villafuerte ’08 spent six months in
a small family bubble in California
with toddler Orion. They have
enjoyed time with grandparents,
running in the backyard, and
finding ways to answer or reframe
the endless questions a 3-yearold can ask. Juliet began a new
position with the U.N. Economic
and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific in Bangkok
(telecommuting, for now) to
support countries in the region
to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals.
James Kalafus spends his
days developing software for
Thomson Reuters, tending his
indoor greenhouse, shaping his
dogs’ behavior for the seventh
year, singing, and dancing. He
loses sleep over the impact of
information systems on reality
testing and human relationships.
He finds hope in the same. Look
for James on social media,
@TheKalafus.
Jonathan Ference-Burke and
family relocated to the Milwaukee
area, taking advantage of the
pandemic to reassess priorities
and focus more on family.
Jonathan has been enjoying the
many projects that a 110-year-old
house offers, including casual
electrical work, battling basement
spiders, attempting to cultivate
dogwoods and birches, and
preparing for the Wisconsin winter.
Rose, 5, and TJ, 3, loved being
close to their schools and to their
grandparents.
2008
Mark Dlugash
mark.dlugash@gmail.com
Meredith Leich made a snap
decision in March 2020 to spend
the pandemic in Boston. Seven
hours later, she was on a mostly
empty plane out of O’Hare to her
parents’ home. Over the summer,
she drove with John Boonstra
’07 back to Chicago to retrieve
her possessions, and they had
the pleasure of socially distant
greetings with a handful of
Swatties on their way there and
back. Meredith has been
(un)fortunate to keep teaching on
Zoom — which zaps her brain — as
an adjunct at the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago and Loyola
University Chicago. Her paintings
are at meredithwatercolors.com.
Nick Forrest developed serious
adult acne during quarantine, but
he also reconnected (virtually) with
his favorite people in the world:
Shane Breitenstein, Stephanie
Duncan Karp, and Elizabeth “Bizzy”
Hemphill.
Linda Huang has had chronic
knee, shoulder, and neck pain
from sitting for all of 2020.
She has worked for the same
publishing company for over a
decade designing book covers.
Occasionally, she is asked by
The New York Times to illustrate
optimistic topics such as the
collapse of our political system.
She also designed the book jacket
for Qian Julie Wang ’09’s memoir,
Beautiful Country.
After the Upright Citizens Brigade
closed its New York theater at the
start of the pandemic, Madalyn
Baldanzi branched out on her own
to teach independent pilot-writing
classes. It’s been going well, even
though she misses her in-person
community of fellow comedy
writers. She’s been filling the hours
she would normally spend visiting
family and friends with her new
pandemic hobby: bird watching,
with highlights of the year including
a yellow-billed cuckoo in Brooklyn
Bridge Park and magnolia warblers
on Governor’s Island.
Stephanie Hsu entered the ninth
year of her love-hate relationship
with her role as a nonprofit
executive director. She is energized
by working and making music with
young people and being part of
a team of artists and educators
committed to antiracism and
youth power. She is exhausted by
the code-switching and cultural
straddling involved in going from
a donor meeting to facilitating a
session with young folks about
microaggressions to trying to
push the envelope in board
conversations around equity
beyond tokenism. After some
initial resistance, a decade of
living in Yakima, Wash., has turned
Stephanie into a Pacific Northwest
stereotype who camps, hikes,
gardens, worm-composts, and
wears socks with sandals.
Over the pandemic, Andrea Pien
connected with Susannah BienGund and Anna Ghublikian over
Zoom and separately organized
in their respective chapters of
Resource Generation. They created
a virtual giving circle for Swatties
to move money to the National
Bail Fund. If anyone wants to talk
about redistributing wealth or
using privilege for good, reach out.
Andrea moved to Collingswood,
N.J., and sometimes goes on
walks with her dog, Gus, and
Susannah and her baby, Yunfeng.
Gus receives mail from Evelyn
Lai’s dog, Marshmellow, who
lives in Austin, Texas. On the
internet, Andrea plays Dominion
with Xiaoxia Zhuang ’10. In other
internet fun, Andrea saw Stephanie
Hsu on a webinar, and the two had
a personal and public conversation,
after not seeing each other in over
10 years.
Meg Perry married Dustin
Kingsmill in D.C. in March and
started as an environmental
facilitator, mediator, and planner
with SWCA Environmental
Consultants. She and Dustin
relocated to Durham, N.C.
Katie Bates Weir and husband
Alec had son James Alexander in
July 2020. He and brother Henry
brought the couple joy in such a
dark year.
In 2018, Bizzy moved to rural
New Mexico. While working at
a sex toy and lingerie store in a
town of 6,000, she tried to open
a restaurant with partner Shane
Duke when the seller of the
restaurant building threatened to
sue them and stole their car, which
they retrieved after he crashed it
into an Allstate insurance office.
They moved to Las Vegas, N.M.,
and worked at a haunted former
Harvey House, where Bizzy was
called “señorita” by multiple
elderly cowboys who may have
been ghosts. They now live in
Albuquerque with dogs Gertie and
Box. In her spare time, she enjoys
listening to the podcast Dear So
and So by Steph Duncan Karp.
2010
Brendan Work
theworkzone@gmail.com
I’m delighted to offer you this tour
of the 2010 alumni class, one of
the most desirable properties in
our inventory. Notice all the natural
light, high-end finishes, and decolonial style.
The first thing you notice as you
walk in, obviously, is the David
Burgy. He has been working in NYC
climate adaptation for nine years,
but finally found time to write in
to announce his wedding. His
husband, Alex, while not a Swattie,
“appreciates the joy of life that
Swatties have” — credit to wedding
guests Bradley Fong, Carl Shapiro,
and Donald Burgy ’76. Another
statement piece you can’t miss is
first-time writer Helen Hougen, who
completed her urology residency in
Portland, Ore., and moved to Miami
for a urologic oncology fellowship.
She and husband Gary reported
having to transition “from hiking
boots to flip-flops, IPAs to tequila
cocktails, and hiking up mountains
to taking long walks on South
Beach.”
Of course the 2010 alumni
class comes with all the standard
amenities: a Melissa Cruz,
psychotherapist for students
at Sarah Lawrence College; a
weatherized Seth Green, still hiking
the Appalachian Trail, and the
understated G Patrick, doctoring in
the Philadelphia area and hoping
to join a wound-care practice.
The Noah Lang is still in good
condition, and reported both “doing
various things” and that he “likes
and works in the moving picture
industry.” Finally, step out in the
foyer and observe this state-ofthe-art Simone Fried. She attended
the first anniversary of Madeleine
Laupheimer and Jonathan Turner
in Waltham, Mass., along with
Helen Stott, Nia Gipson, and Ariel
Horowitz and Garth Griffin ’09.
This class has undergone some
beautiful upgrades. Rachel BellMunger (of the Minnesota attorney
general’s office) and husband
Chris had baby Lucy Elizabeth in
August, while Tobias ’11 and Erin
Scanlon Resch (third-year pediatric
oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins)
added baby Nora in May. In August,
Stephanie Appiah and her husband
welcomed Hudson Cash Appiah
Jacoby in Detroit, while in Portland,
Ore., Mattie Gregor MacDonald
and husband Ian reported the
birth of little Buddy MacDonald,
renowned smiler at reading
time. Philadelphia-based trauma
therapist Anne Miller-Uueda added
a second upgrade in the form of
baby Wesley Wheeler Miller-Ueda,
who was so excited to get into the
world that he beat his doula by 10
minutes. That doula, of course, was
Cecelia Osowski ’15, who herself
reported that she was married in
September to Kris Williamson. The
officiants were Hana Lehmann
’13 and Wes Willison ’12; in
attendance were Greg LoringAlbright and Omari Faakye, and on
the livestream were Katie Becker
Poinen and Erik Smith, joining at
4 a.m. from Tokyo. Cecelia lives in
Souderton, Pa., and is one of the
most energy-efficient doulas on the
market.
If you’re wondering about all
the white, that’s due to all the
weddings. On an August night
in Milwaukee, Julissa Ventura
married Jose Pablo Flores,
with Oscar Guzman, Maryanne
Tomazic ’09, Libby Murphy
’09, and Stefanie Wong ’07
among the guests. Then, shortly
after receiving an MBA from
Northwestern Kellogg, Jessa
Deutsch Kamerow married Anna
in September and moved with
puppy Puffin back to Berkeley,
Calif., where Jessa is a principal
at Boston Consulting Group’s San
Francisco office. We know Puffin
will enjoy the modern aesthetic of
this doggy door.
Finally, if you’re wondering about
the theme of this column, your
faithful chronicler and Missoula,
Mont., Arabic teacher is renovating
the house he bought with his wife.
He can now operate a jackhammer,
post-hole auger, and the most
dangerous of saws, but still doesn’t
have a plumber. If you know or are
one — or if you have notes about
this up-and-coming 2010 class
— please contact theworkzone@
gmail.com.
2011
Ming Cai
mcai223@gmail.com
Debbie Nguyen
dnguyen616@gmail.com
Sneha Shrestha is a mom to two
girls and started Yoma (which
means “dear mother” in Newari), a
parenting platform for expecting,
new, and experienced moms
in Nepal. Sneha is also looking
to cater to a wider community
of Swarthmore moms. She’s at
shrestha.sneha@gmail.com.
After paying off her student debt
last year, Samantha Griggs took
time off to hike and travel in the
U.S. and has decided to move to
the West Coast. She planned to
drive across the country, making
many stops along the way until
she arrived in Portland, Ore., by
the beginning of 2022. In October,
Kathryn Stockbower visited her
former Swarthmore adviser and bio
professor Rachel Merz in the San
Juan Islands, Wash., and toured
the Friday Harbor Marine Lab.
Aaron Zimmerman and Logan
Osgood-Jacobs had son Asa in July.
Trevor Rizzolo moved to San
Francisco and works on circuits,
enjoying work-from-home while
it lasted. Finn Black got their
registered nurse license and was
pursuing a master’s in advanced
public health nursing at UC–San
Francisco. Finn also works in street
medicine and public health on both
sides of the Bay.
On Oct. 2, Emily Evans and
Jeffrey Lazarus ’10 were married on
a ranch in Ukiah, Calif., with Caitlin
Adams, Sara Forster and Max
Wilson ’10, Phoebe Hansen ’12, and
Maddie Williams ’12 in attendance.
Emily and Jeff knew each other
in college and reconnected at
business school.
Sophia Uddin, husband Gabriel
Riccio, and their cockatiel,
Willow, relocated to Baltimore.
Sophia graduated from the
University of Chicago Medical
Scientist Training Program and
is a first-year otolaryngology
resident at the University of
Maryland. Gabriel’s latest book
of King Crimson transcriptions
has been reprinted (musicscores.
bandcamp.com). Kevin Kim
works at the Smithsonian’s
Anacostia Community Museum
as a researcher coordinating a
project documenting Asian Pacific
American foodways in the D.C.
region. Eva McKend joined CNN
as a national politics reporter.
She appears on air, writes stories
for CNN digital, and covered the
Virginia governor’s race. Nell
Bang-Jensen moved to Mount
Airy in Philadelphia and enjoys
occasionally running into Swatties.
She gave birth to daughter Orla in
June. Nell is the artistic director of
Theatre Horizon in Norristown, Pa.
Shameika Black was finishing
her first year as a joint MDiv/MBA
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
73
class notes
student at Palmer Theological
Seminary at Eastern University
in Wayne Pa. Niki Machac lives
in Brooklyn and is an OB-GYN
at Jamaica Hospital in Queens.
Morgan Langley works in the
league office of Major League
Soccer and lives in NYC with wife
Claudia and dog Cacique. Ruby
Bhattacharya works in the Office
of Admissions at Barnard College
of Columbia University, where
she was promoted to director of
recruitment and selection.
Nina Pelaez started a lowresidency poetry MFA program at
Bennington College in Vermont
and works at the Williams College
Museum of Art in Williamstown,
Mass., as curator of programs
and interpretation. Josh Abel and
Debbie Nguyen reside in suburban
Massachusetts with their two pet
rabbits, who require more care
than they could ever imagine.
Josh is an economic consultant
at Analysis Group. In December,
Debbie became executive director
of Alray Scholars, a nonprofit that
supports students returning to
college after taking time off by
providing financial assistance and
mentorship.
2012
Maia Gerlinger
maiagerlinger@gmail.com
After being deprived of what’s most
important in life — the people you
hold dearest — I hope 2021 gave
you the profound gift of time with
them.
Fabian Castro is doing brand
consulting, although he is also
“investigating the potential of Web3
for anyone who wants to discuss.”
He moves between Brooklyn and
Mexico City regularly. “I’m looking
forward to seeing how old everyone
looks at the 10-year reunion.”
William Campbell is “continually
shocked” to be the father of a
baby boy named Seppi (short for
Joseph).
Pierre Dyer finished an MBA
at the London Business School,
74
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
LUMINOUS LINGUIST
CASEY FERRARA ’14
Casey Ferrara ’14, a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago with
a focus on cognition, gesture, and sign language analysis, is the 2021
recipient of the Victoria A. Fromkin Memorial Prize for Student
Excellence in Phonology, presented by the Linguistic Society of
America (LSA). The prize is awarded for outstanding scholarship in
phonology by a graduate student.
“Casey Ferrara’s work on sign languages recognizes that meaning
is encoded in form,” the LSA says, “and instead of stating that fact
and then skirting around it to other matters, she hones in on it,
indeed, revels in it — bringing sign phonology into the waters of
phonetics made murky by semantics.”
moved to D.C. to work in the
hospitality industry, and is an
associate director of real estate at
Sonder and coaches a youth soccer
team.
Stephanie Beebe lives in Baltimore
with her boyfriend and dog Tigger,
and she researches investments
for T. Rowe Price. She “awakened
to the truth that her life and her
energy is completely her own, and
she hopes others can experience
the same.”
Hannah “Alex” Younger is an
adjunct professor at Virginia
Commonwealth University,
where she teaches in Craft and
Material Studies and freshman Art
Foundations. “I love it but college
students are scary.” She chose an
apartment with ledges to please
her cat.
Zach Weiner and Lisa Shang had
a “frankly surprising amount of
substantive updates.” Lisa is a
data scientist at Under Armour;
Zach got his certified financial
planner designation, and “perfect
dog Pretzel” turned 3. Zach and
Lisa attended the weddings of
Zach Schmidt, Iggy Rodriguez, Kat
Montemurro ’13, and Rory McTear
’13 and Sam Bennett ’13.
Zack Wiener, on the other hand, is
a chaplain in a psychiatric hospital
and a self-described “rabbi who
gleefully avoids pulpit work.” He
lives with his boyfriend in Chicago.
Julian Leland Bell and Avery
Davis Bell are in Atlanta, where
Julian does advanced research and
development at UPS, and Avery
is doing a postdoc in the lab of
Annalise Paaby ’00 on a National
Science Foundation fellowship. The
couple have a baby named Asa,
who is alternately an “absolute
dream” and a “tiny demon.”
Jonathan Martin is at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory
in Golden, Colo., but he is now a
researcher III there instead of a
postdoc. He married Xiaofei Pu on
Dec. 28, 2020.
Jennifer Yi, who is a fully licensed
clinical psychologist, works at the
Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs
Medical Center with veterans
with substance-use disorders and
PTSD.
Dante Fuoco is doing a poetry
MFA at Virginia Tech. He bikes by
cows, sheep, horses, ducks, and
geese on his way to class. Andrew
Cheng began a postdoc at Simon
Fraser University in Vancouver,
British Columbia.
2013
Paige Grand Pré
jpgrandpre@gmail.com
Congratulations are in order for
classmates who welcomed new
family members. Lisa Sendrow and
her husband had a future Swattie
in October, while Eugenia TietzSokolskaya had her second baby,
Alexei, in June, noting: “Life is now
chaos.” Joshua Satre is a research
analyst at ACLED in Frederick,
Md., and he and wife Morgan had
Ezekiel Joshua Satre in September;
he shares a birthday with Nora, 2.
Across the country, our peers
continue to advance in their
academic and career journeys.
Miriam Goldstein became a fully
licensed clinical psychologist,
working as an adult and
adolescent therapist. After eight
years in Ann Arbor, Mich., Miriam
was preparing to move with her
partner two hours west to Grand
Rapids. Miriam shared that leaving
a city she called home and loved
was scary and exciting. Joanna
Venator earned an economics
Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin–Madison, started a
one-year postdoc at University
of Rochester in New York, and
will be an assistant professor
next year at Boston College.
Also on the East Coast, Mariam
Vonderheide completed a dental
residency program, specializing
in prosthodontics, at Montefiore
Medical Center in the Bronx in July
and joined two dental practices in
Brooklyn.
Max Nesterak lives in
Minneapolis, where he is deputy
editor of the nonprofit news outlet
Minnesota Reformer. Alejandro
Sills keeps himself healthy with
his exercise regimen and workfrom-home job. He was helping
his mother, who suffered a broken
arm from a fall over the summer,
and hoped that he’d soon resume
charity work with Habitat for
Humanity ReStore and rejoin a
marathon-training club. David Hill
and his wife purchased a house
(once owned by Cathy Wilkerson
’66) in Brooklyn in June, and
David hit the five-year mark at
Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Turning
his new house into a home, David
and his wife got a miniature poodle
puppy dubbed Hudson Hill.
Wishing everyone health,
happiness, and healing in the
coming year.
2014
Brone Lobichusky
blobichusky@gmail.com
As the leaves changed, 2014
alumni were undergoing many
changes in their lives. Lisa Bao and
Aidan Shackleton celebrated their
wedding, which was postponed
by a year due to COVID-19. They
were wed in a summer ceremony
in Northern California’s Santa Cruz
mountains with many Swatties in
attendance.
Anthony Collard bought a house
in Brewerytown, Philadelphia. He
works at Siemens Healthineers
and was promoted to senior
digital marketing manager, North
America. Robert Fain, in his final
year of medical school at Brown
University, was applying for
residency in internal medicine. He
also worked at the health center on
Block Island, New Shoreham, R.I.,
and used his free time to explore
and surf.
Casey Ferrara was awarded the
Linguistic Society of America’s
Victoria Fromkin Prize for Student
Excellence in Psychology. Hannah
Grunwald and Robin Carpenter
lead exciting lives in Boston.
Hannah started her postdoctoral
fellowship working with cave fish
or penguins at Harvard. Robin
dominated the cycling circuit last
summer and became the first
American ever to win a stage at
the Tour of Britain. He continues
to ride with Rally Cycling. Most
importantly, their cats and COVID
puppy continue to thrive.
Stephanie Lechich successfully
defended her dissertation for a
clinical psychology Ph.D. at Long
Island University in Brooklyn. Her
project was titled “The Impact
of Perfectionism on Well-Being:
Shame in Perfectionism’s Influence
on Emotion Regulation.” She was
completing her internship at North
Central Bronx Hospital.
Lastly, Eleanor Pratt and Pat
Walsh live in Chicago, where
Pat is in his fourth year of his
mathematics Ph.D. program at
the University of Illinois. Eleanor
works for the Urban Institute,
studying social policies that affect
low-income families. They had
baby Monroe in July and have
experienced so much joy and sleep
deprivation since.
The author is now halfway
through a general surgery
residency at York Hospital in
York, Pa. She will be secluded in
the trauma ICU for the next three
months and mentally prepared for
the rotation with a week’s vacation
hiking Sedona, Ariz., and then
a visit to New Orleans. She also
loves to receive Swat alum updates
at any time throughout the year.
2015
Abigail Frank
abigailcrfrank@gmail.com
Nathan Cheek
nncheek@princeton.edu
A strong opening sentence is like
the following updates from the
Class of 2015: exciting, intriguing,
and absolutely essential.
Ariel Parker married Aaron
Jackson ’16 in March in Baltimore.
She was finishing a Ph.D. in the
biology department at Johns
Hopkins University and hoped to
defend by the summer. Anirban
Ganguly was in his second year
at Tulane University School
of Medicine in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Sabrina Singh
temporarily relocated to sunny
Singapore with a U.S. law firm.
Patrick Ross is a speechwriter
at West Wing Writers in D.C. but
was working remotely from Palo
Alto, Calif. He spent the summer
on a road trip around Britain’s best
craft-gin distilleries. After about a
decade of writing with Patrick on
various projects, Kimaya Diggs is
also a speechwriter at West Wing
Writers. She’s working on her solo
album and writing a lot about grief.
Kiera James finished clinical
psychology Ph.D. and moved from
Seattle to Pittsburgh with puppy
Rainie to complete a postdoc at the
University of Pittsburgh.
Julian Randall moved back to
Chicago in 2020, and has been
busy working on his debut middlegrade novel, Pilar Ramirez and the
Escape from Zafa, due out March
1. It’s available for preorder. He was
also included as a contributor in
the No. 1 New York Times bestseller
Black Boy Joy.
Kate Wiseman pivoted in
education and works as a
theater-teaching artist and writes
curriculum. She’s thrilled to be
back on the stage, being silly for
applause. On the other side of
Chicago, Julia Murphy was in her
final stretch of medical school and
continued to seek out new food
spots. When Julia is not eating, or
even when she is, she is reading
fun books.
Lauren Barlow and Daniel
Feist-Alexandrov have settled
into Cambridge, Mass., and
grad-school life. Since arriving
from Chicago and Switzerland,
respectively, the reunited pals have
begun to explore the lobster-roll
scene. Daniel has flourished as the
unofficial social chair of his cohort,
and after a pandemic-long hiatus
(out of respect for her neighbors),
Lauren has returned to tap
dancing, at a local studio.
Finally, your secretaries may have
been a little too goofy last time
around. After writing that Nate
Cheek received his Ph.D. (a true
fact), we wrote a joke about Abigail
Frank also having a Ph.D., with
Ph.D. standing for phenomenal
dancer, in her case. This joke was
reworded by the copy editor to:
Abigail “also has a Ph.D. and is
a phenomenal dancer.” Though
it’s objectively hilarious that this
happened, we dutifully clarify that
Abigail does not actually have a
Ph.D. At Nate’s urging, however,
we’re leaving the “phenomenal
dancer” part uncorrected. In
the copy editor’s defense, this
situation is much funnier than our
original joke.
2017
Isabel Clay
isabelmarieclay@gmail.com
Emily Wu
emilywu1456@gmail.com
George Abraham’s book of poetry,
Birthright, won the George
Ellenbogen Poetry Award from the
Arab American National Museum.
They also left their bioengineering
Ph.D. at Harvard to do an MFA
and master’s program in poetry at
Northwestern. George is rooming
with Delfin Buyco, who’s starting a
biology Ph.D. at Northwestern.
Meg Barlet (formerly Bost) and
Isaac Barlet (formerly Little) got
married in Colorado and changed
their names together. Dan Asplin,
Chris Grasberger, and Laina Chin
’16 were in the wedding party.
Peter Daniels graduated from
Harvard Law School, moved to
Oregon, and started clerking for
the Oregon Supreme Court. He is
also training for his first 50-mile
ultramarathon. Amelia Estrada is
in her second year of the M.A./
Ph.D. program in theater and
performance studies at Tufts
University. She was writing
her master’s thesis on the first
women’s pair to represent Team
Mexico in acrobatic gymnastics
and how the “bling” aesthetics of
the sport reflect identity.
Ashley Hong started a master of
public policy program at Harvard
Kennedy School this fall. Charles
Kacir started a physics Ph.D.
program at UNC–Chapel Hill in
August. He lives in Durham with
Gracie Farle, who is mostly excited
to be teaching her second year of
high school biology in person.
Nikki Miller is leading talent
WINTER 2022
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75
class notes
2018
Min Cheng
mindcheng@gmail.com
Katherine Kwok
katherinekwokhk@gmail.com
Let’s take a moment to see what
some of us have done in 2021.
Some have found new friends:
Emma Suen-Lewis adopted a cat,
Smokey, who is busy terrorizing
her other cat, Toasty, and making
vroom-vroom noises when he runs
around.
Some of us have begun new
adventures (metaphorically
and physically). Cal Dobbs took
a sabbatical from teaching to
hike the nearly 7,000-mile Great
Western Loop trail that includes
the Continental Divide Trail (CDT),
Pacific Crest and Northwest trails,
Arizona Trail, and other connecting
trails — a route only a few people
have completed. At the time of this
submission, Cal was a few hundred
miles from completing the CDT and
on track to make history as the first
trans nonbinary person to complete
the Triple Crown of hiking (Arizona,
Pacific Crest, and Continental
Divide trails). They are using their
hikes to raise funds for the Trevor
Project, which provides support
76
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
and resources to LGBTQ+ youth.
Over the course of the pandemic,
Wesley Han decided to take their
work as an actor more seriously. At
the beginning of 2021, they signed
with a new talent agency and
management company and have
since booked work with actors like
Natasha Lyonne, Aubrey Plaza,
and Rachel Weisz. Matt Palmer is
a product analyst at AllTrails and
moved to Utah in October.
Some of us have finished graduate
school. Emily Olivencia-Audet
earned a law degree in May from
UCLA. In September, she started
as a fellow with the Social Justice
Legal Foundation in L.A. Husband
Matt Olivencia-Audet started as
a software engineer in July at
Google’s Venice Beach, Calif.,
location. John Calia graduated from
law school and lives in the Bay Area
with Margaret Luo ’16.
Some of us are on our way to
finishing graduate school. Amber
Sheth lives in Madison, Wis.,
where she finished her third year
of medical school and began a
master’s in public health this fall.
Bobby Zipp was finishing grad
school in computer science, got a
job at an ed-tech startup, and was
working on a nonprofit program
to support people impacted by
QAnon conspiracy theories. He
also started jogging again for the
first time in nine months after
hip surgery. Bobby saw Isabel
Sacks ’15 in person at their joint
housewarming and birthday party
in September.
2019
Laura Chen
laura.g.chen@gmail.com
Dorcas Tang
dorcastjy@gmail.com
Lan Ngo had an exciting summer
jam-packed with mosquito bites,
“heavy-arse luggage,” kayaking,
and outdoor activities. As part of
her travels, in Madison, Wis., she
saw Laela Ezra, who had acquired
a dog, a girlfriend, a condo, and a
therapist, in that order.
Moving west, we have Saadiq
Garba who moved to Los Angeles,
where the smog is wild but the
weather is beautiful. Speaking of
the complex relationships between
human and nature, Sarah Parks
expanded her gardening exploits.
She planted several ferns, sedges,
and astilbes under the trees in the
parking lot in a battle of wits and
stamina that will surely go down
in gardening history. Irene Tang is
raising two ducks in her backyard
named Punsi and Clumsi.
Perhaps raising ducks is a
similar experience to life-coaching
Sebastian Mintah, which Eriko
Shrestha has been up to. This
must be over Zoom, as Eriko
moved to Kathmandu, Nepal,
where she can’t find any Swatties.
Sebastian, on the other hand,
is firmly in Philadelphia, trying
to do many things to varying
degrees of success, including
wing chun, basketball, cooking,
and persuading others to watch
Dragon Ball. Pascha Hokama,
also in Philadelphia, was left with
Sebastian’s days-old CoLeSLaw,
which sat in her fridge for quite
some time.
Speaking of antiquities, Angela
Wang is at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, finishing her
master’s capstone, “Interpreting
Greco-Roman Antiquities in
Museums.”
Jada Smack, on the other hand,
is “this” close to considering grad
school again, a feeling I’m sure
many of us are familiar with. NYC
Swatties, hit him up.
In close proximity to New York,
we have Kyle Richmond-Crosset
in New Haven, Conn., in a house
that is experiencing a flood of taxrelated mail for Grantas Cosmetics
LLC, a mysterious and poorly
named beauty company.
Amal Sagal and Celine Anderson
have not been experiencing a flood
of mail, but have been bingewatching Seinfeld and have no
plans to stop.
I, Dorcas Tang, have also been
watching things and people on
screens with Celine, as part of our
monthly film club. For the month’s
theme, sensual breads, I nominated
The Passion of the Christ.
(Interpret that how you will.)
2020
Isabel “Izzy” McClean
izzy.mcclean@gmail.com
Mehra den Braven
mmehra.denbraven@gmail.com
Seasons change, and so do we.
Well, except Sagnik Gayen’s Catan
beat-down of Oliver Steinglass
continues, and no one can prove
otherwise.
Brandon Shi got a dog. If you
want to see a picture, reach out to
Brandon, who will happily oblige.
Sophie Nasrallah got a job this
summer as a research technician
at Cornell, studying agricultural
techniques that combat climate
change. Yale 360 wrote an article
about Sophie’s lab’s work titled
“How Adding Rock Dust to Soil Can
Help Get Carbon Into the Ground”
(tinyurl.com/3sdnxsyj).
Emma Morgan-Bennett is in
London for her second year of
the Marshall Scholarship. She
loves the city and all the people
she’s been working with on films
and projects. This summer she
worked for the London Design
Festival and the BFI London Film
Festival, where her highlight of the
week was accidentally standing
next to Jay-Z on the red carpet
for The Harder They Fall. (No, she
didn’t say anything to him since
all she could do was gasp, but
his bodyguard laughed at her as
he nudged her out of the way.) If
anyone visits or moves to London,
don’t be a stranger.
Mehra den Braven embraced
change and moved to Philadelphia
to support the city’s efforts to
house people coming home from
incarceration. Thankfully, no mice
were harmed or unknowingly
transported in the move from
California (big win).
Some other classmates also
experienced big wins this season.
Laura Wagner and Abby Diebold
finally went to Six Flags. It was
awesome.
We look forward to hearing from
everyone.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
acquisition at the tech company
Correlation One. Their mission is to
bring in underrepresented voices to
the field of data science. They also
host hackathons and softwareengineering competitions. Bringing
diversity, equity, and inclusion
hiring practices to the world of tech
has been truly transformational
for Nikki. Joon Park started the
second year of a computer science
Ph.D. at Stanford.
Jerry Qin migrated from SoCal
to NYC. He has been growing
a strong fig jam collection and
starting to experiment with making
hot sauce while doing some data
science on the side. Reach out
to him for dinner parties and
movie gatherings in Brooklyn or
Manhattan.
their light lives on
our friends will never be forgotten
Janet Locke Genest ’45
Janet, a retired elementary school
teacher and mother of three, died Sept.
9, 2020.
Janet graduated with a psychology
degree from Swarthmore, where
she was a member of the Chorus,
the Phoenix, and the synchronized
swimming team. In 1968, she earned
a certificate in elementary education
from California State University
Stanislaus in Turlock.
Joseph Lichtenberg NV
Constance Spink Fleming ’43
A longtime teacher in Jenkintown,
Pa., Connie died Sept. 20, 2021.
An English literature major, she
earned a master’s in elementary
education from Temple University.
Connie was a member of the Studio
Art Group and College Dancers at
Swarthmore and served as class
secretary and vice president.
Joseph, a psychoanalyst and Navy
veteran of World War II, died May 19,
2021.
Joseph earned a medical degree
from the University of Maryland
School of Medicine and had a private
psychoanalytic practice for 55 years,
during which he wrote numerous
chapters, articles, and books, including
Psychoanalysis and Motivation. He
was clinical director of the Sheppard
Pratt Psychiatric Hospital in Baltimore,
where he also taught; he also created
and served as editor-in-chief of the
Psychoanalytic Inquiry journal,
co-founded the Institute of
Contemporary Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis, and taught at a number
of higher education institutions.
Peter Dodge ’48
Peter, a longtime sociologist at the
University of New Hampshire in
Durham who enjoyed participating
in the Newburyport (Mass.) Choral
Society, died Nov. 7, 2021.
An Army veteran, having served from
1945 to 1946, Peter graduated with high
honors in history from Swarthmore,
where he worked for the Phoenix
and later served as class agent. After
completing a Fulbright scholarship in
Belgium, Peter earned a master’s and a
Ph.D. in social sciences from Harvard
University before joining the faculty
of the University of New Hampshire,
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77
in memoriam
Arden Fish Pierce ’49
Arden, who opened her home to one
and all, died Sept. 20, 2021.
A math major at Swarthmore, Arden
later attended Stanford University
and became a physical therapist,
working for 20 years at El Camino
Hospital and then for the Visiting
Nurses Association. She ran a folkdance campout with husband Hiram,
was a member of the Palo Alto (Calif.)
Friends Meeting, and was a donor and
volunteer with Planned Parenthood.
where he retired as an associate
professor emeritus of sociology.
Margaret White Winters ’49
A watercolorist with a sense of humor
and impeccable style, Peg died Aug. 4,
2021.
Peg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
the College, studying French and
philosophy, and developing her artistry
in watercolor painting. She worked
at Lippincott Inc. as a typist and later
opened Kennett Square, Pa.’s Brush &
Pallet, a frame shop and art gallery.
Boyd Asplundh ’50
Boyd, a father of seven and retired
executive with his family’s tree
business, died Jan. 14, 2021.
Boyd earned an engineering degree
from Swarthmore and was a member
of Alumni Council, Tau Beta Pi honor
society, and the varsity football team.
After receiving a law degree from the
faculty & staff
George Anderson, a chemistry
professor and research scientist, died
Oct. 8, 2021. He was 87.
Brenda Foreman, a retired
housekeeper, died Oct. 24, 2021. She
was 72.
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Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
University of Pennsylvania, he worked
for Asplundh Tree Expert Co., based
in Willow Grove, Pa., retiring as senior
vice president and secretary.
Renee Stoetzner Fuller ’51
Renee, who was known for developing
the “ball-stick-bird” reading method,
died Jan. 2, 2019.
Born in Germany, Renee attended
Swarthmore before ultimately
graduating from Hunter College; she
then earned a master’s from Columbia
University and a Ph.D. from New York
University. Renee was a research
scientist before becoming chief of
psychological services at the Rosewood
Hospital Center in Owings Mills, Md.
However, she was perhaps best known
for authoring several books on methods
to foster reading for those with dyslexia
and other learning disabilities, as
well as for founding Ball-Stick-Bird
Publications.
Lila Gleitman, who began her
academic career as an assistant
professor at the College, died Aug. 8,
2021. She was 92.
Robinson Hollister Jr., the Joseph
Wharton Professor Emeritus of
Economics, who taught at Swarthmore
for 44 years, died Sept. 14, 2021. He
was 86.
William Van Stone ’51
A retired psychiatrist and music
enthusiast who played saxophone and
bassoon and sang in many choruses, Bill
died Sept. 22, 2021.
Bill earned a bachelor’s in chemistry
at Swarthmore, where he was a
member of Phi Sigma Kappa, the
wrestling and tennis teams, the
orchestra, the Phoenix, and the radio
station. After receiving his medical
degree from Cornell University, he
practiced as a psychiatrist with the
Veterans Administration and the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Joanne Godshall Wenner ’51
Joanne, a daughter and granddaughter
of Swarthmore alumni, died Sept. 26,
2021.
Joanne attended Swarthmore
and had a love of flowers and the
arts, participating in watercolor and
oil painting, ceramics, and flower
arranging, and singing with the
Worthington (Ohio) Songsters. She
also loved watching old movies and
playing bridge, solitaire, and crazy
eights.
Gail Macmahon Cornaro ’53
Gail, who lived in Austria, Italy, and
Italy, died Sept. 17, 2021.
Gail earned a bachelor’s in history
with high honors and Phi Beta Kappa,
and was a member of the College Choir
and Orchestra. A homemaker, Gail
had six children and was married to
Christoph Cornaro, a retired Austrian
ambassador and former special student
at Swarthmore.
Rosalind Reydel Esakof ’53
Arthur Mattuck ’51
Arthur, an emeritus professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and an avid gardener
at the Fenway Victory Gardens in
Boston, died Oct. 8, 2021.
Specializing in algebraic
geometry, Arthur earned a Ph.D.
from Princeton University before
joining the MIT faculty in 1958; he
retired in 2010. He was the author
of the textbook Introduction to
Analysis and a talented musician
and master of languages.
After leaving the golf-retailing world,
Anne moved to Stowe, Vt., where she
was a social worker and a guardian ad
litem for the family court, all of which
she undertook as a volunteer.
Joseph Carroll ’53
Robert Griest Jr. ’53
Ruth Ann Moffett, a secretary at
Swarthmore, died Aug. 8, 2021. She
was 79.
Edward Picciotti, a longtime Public
Safety shuttle driver, died Oct. 21,
2021. He was 71.
Susan Stern, an instructor of modern
dance, died Oct. 18, 2021. She was 97.
Joe, a scholar, athlete, musician, pilot,
and founder of Mount Nittany Vineyard
and Winery in Pennsylvania, died Nov.
4, 2021.
After earning his bachelor’s in
mechanical engineering, Joe received
a master’s and doctorate from Indiana
University Bloomington and became
an associate professor at Pennsylvania
State University; he worked at the
Pennsylvania Transportation and
Traffic Safety Center before returning
to teaching, retiring as a professor
emeritus in 1992. A civic-minded man,
Joe was a soccer coach, school board
member, township supervisor, and
community activist, in addition to being
a Navy veteran of the Korean War.
Nancy Gibbons Walden ’53
Nancy, a music lover who performed as
well as managed her church’s concert
series, died Sept. 16, 2020.
A mathematics major at Swarthmore,
Thomas Gallagher ’53
Thomas, a lifelong student of literature,
music, art, religion, food, and wine, died
Aug. 13, 2021.
Thomas attended the University
of Chicago and Swarthmore before
entering the Navy in 1952, after
which he went to medical school. In
1970, Thomas joined the faculty of
the University of Nebraska College
of Medicine, retiring in 1999 after a
career of research, teaching students,
and working with patients and fellow
physicians.
Anne Maurice Braham ’52
Anne, who was committed to children
in difficult circumstances, died in
October 2021.
Anne earned a bachelor’s degree
in psychology with honors from
Swarthmore and a master’s in social
work from Bryn Mawr College before
becoming founder and CEO of the
World of Golf, which she built into a
successful business in New York City.
Rosalind, a biology major and devoted
mother of three, died Feb. 12, 2021.
A lifelong resident of Forest Hills,
N.Y., Rosalind also served as president
of Forest Hills Gardens Corp. Her loved
ones note that she was a “beautiful
woman inside and out, who showed
kindness and compassion to everyone
she met.”
University of Pennsylvania, Bill had
a distinguished career in the field
of pathology, where he published
breakthrough research in the treatment
of hemophilia. Bill also had a passion
for life, with interests in classical
music, antiques, shells, tennis, coins,
reading, and traveling.
Robert, a Navy veteran and 20-year
military reservist, died Jan. 29, 2021.
After Swarthmore, Robert earned
a master’s in mechanical engineering
and an MBA, both from the University
of Southern California, and he used his
engineering skills at Honeywell Inc.
and for Alliant Tech’s Marine Systems
Division in San Diego. An enthusiast
of bridge, crossword puzzles, and golf,
Robert also enjoyed many trips to
Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes, Calif.,
with his family.
William Reid ’53
Bill, a pathologist and varsity swimmer
at the College, died Oct. 18, 2021.
With a medical degree from the
Robert Grossman ’53
Robert, who performed 8,000
surgeries and was one of two
neurosurgeons who treated the
fatally shot President John F.
Kennedy, died Oct. 7, 2021.
After completing his education
and residency, Robert began a
medical career from which he
never retired, with positions that
included professor of neurological
surgery at Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in the Bronx, founder
and director of the Neurological
Institute at Houston Methodist
Hospital, and founder of the North
American Clinical Trials Network
for spinal cord injury. Robert also
was chair of the American Board of
Neurological Surgeons, president
of the Society of Neurological
Surgeons, and recipient of many
honors, including the Cushing
Medal and the Albert and Ellen
Grass Foundation Prize and Medal.
WINTER 2022
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79
in memoriam
Lucy Bunzl Mallan ’54
Lucy, an economics pioneer whose
worked focused on economic justice
for women, died Aug. 9, 2021.
Lucy earned an economics Ph.D.
from Northwestern University
and worked at the Commission on
Railroad Retirement, the Brookings
Institution, and the Social Security
Administration. She later became
interested in using computers in
education and earned a master’s in
computer science at age 53.
Nancy worked at General Electric in
Schenectady, N.Y., before eventually
marrying, moving to Niskayuna, N.Y.,
and raising a family. In 1983, she
completed an MBA at Union College,
after which she held a few jobs,
including as a tax preparer specializing
in retired clergy, before she herself
retired.
Arthur Bodin ’54
Art, a psychologist, avid photographer,
musician, and composer who took great
pleasure in telling jokes and stories,
died Oct. 15, 2021.
After receiving a biology degree from
Swarthmore, Art earned a Ph.D. in
psychology from the State University
of New York at Buffalo and, with wife
Miriam, moved to Palo Alto, Calif., in
1965; he was a clinical psychologist
at the Mental Research Institute and
had a practice in couples and family
systems/therapy until he retired in
2015. In addition, Art taught, conducted
research, published widely, and held
positions of leadership in various
professional organizations, while also
helping to found the California School
of Professional Psychology.
Anne Schick Chappelka ’55
Anne, a social worker focused on
children, died Sept. 10, 2021.
Anne earned a master’s degree in
social work from Bryn Mawr College in
1971 and became a preschool-teaching
director and trainer for the Head Start
program in Chattanooga, Tenn.; she
later worked as a home-based child
80
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
welfare caseworker and then as a child
abuse and neglect outreach program
team member at Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia. An active participant of
community activities, Anne also served
on the board of the Perry County (Pa.)
Literacy Council.
Steven Phillips ’55
Steve, a professor emeritus at Temple
University, died Sept. 18, 2021.
Steve earned a biology degree at the
College and a medical degree from
Hahnemann University in Philadelphia
before joining the anatomy faculty
at Temple. Among other activities at
Swarthmore, Steve was a member of
Kappa Sigma fraternity, the varsity
cross-country team, and the College
Chorus/Garnet Singers, and he
was one-half of a Quaker matchbox
marriage to Elizabeth Harlow Phillips
’53, who died in 2018.
Sheila Brody ’57
A role model and mentor for younger
women in financial services and a
Scott Cooper ’55
Scott, an engineer, Army veteran, and
award-winning photographer who
encouraged his children to question
everything, died July 31, 2021.
Scott’s degree in mechanical
engineering from Swarthmore led to
a career in the plastics industry; he
was an executive with several major
manufacturers, including Mearl
Corp. of Peekskill, N.Y., from which
he retired as vice president. Scott
loved photography and received many
awards for his art, including a grand
prize in Gourmet magazine’s annual
photography contest.
Rhea Mendoza Gendzier ’55
Rhea, a psychologist who worked on the
Phoenix while at Swarthmore, died Oct.
31, 2021.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa
from Swarthmore, Rhea earned a Ph.D.
in psychology from Harvard University,
and then worked as an experimental
psychologist at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and several
Boston hospitals. She was an avid
gardener, reader, and tennis player and
an excellent and adventurous cook who
enjoyed hosting celebrations at her
home in Lexington, Mass.
Barbara Haddad Ryan ’59
Barbara, a journalist who broke glass
ceilings and was known as “a Wonder
Woman Watch Dog” of public policy,
died Sept. 30, 2021.
Barbara graduated with honors from
Swarthmore and earned a master’s in
journalism from Columbia University
before starting her a career at The
Denver Post and Rocky Mountain
News. Later, she was Swarthmore’s
associate vice president of external
affairs and head of the Alumni Office.
devoted single mother to two sons,
Sheila died Sept. 8, 2021.
After earning her bachelor’s degree,
Sheila worked at Merrill Lynch before
joining Enhance Financial Services
Group Inc. as head of investor relations;
she retired in 1998 as a senior vice
president. A lifelong learner, Sheila
returned to graduate school and earned
a master’s in geography in 2002 from
Hunter College in New York, taking
classes offered by Swarthmore in the
years that followed.
Bruce Kennedy ’57
Robert Barr Jr. ’56
Bob, who devoted more than 30
years of his professional life to the
College, retiring as dean emeritus
of admissions, died Oct. 7, 2021.
Bob joined Swarthmore after
graduation as assistant dean of
admissions, serving until 1962,
when he was appointed dean of
men. After brief stops at Chatham
College and Dickinson College,
he returned to Swarthmore,
retiring in 1996. At Alumni
Weekend 2021, Bob received
the Joseph B. Shane ’25 Alumni
Service Award, recognizing his
support of the Chester Children’s
Chorus, the Scott Arboretum, and
the Swarthmore Fund, and his
numerous volunteer contributions.
Bruce, a native of upstate New York
who became a devoted fan of the
Boston Celtics and Red Sox, died Aug.
2, 2021.
After earning an engineering degree
at Swarthmore, Bruce and wife Clem
lived in Washington, D.C.; Syracuse,
N.Y.; Weisbaden, Germany; Melbourne,
Fla.; and Champaign, Ill., before finally
moving in 1967 to Acton, Mass., where
he joined Polaroid as a design engineer.
An avid reader and traveler, Bruce also
taught his family to sail and enjoyed
hosting friends at his beloved home in
Waquoit, Mass., on Cape Cod.
Linda Walton Doede ’59
Linda, who once served as Hamden
(Conn.) Community Ambassador in
Poland and who had a love for learning
and travel, died Aug. 3, 2021.
Settling in Lake Forest, Ill., after
graduation and marriage, Linda
dedicated herself to raising three
children and volunteering with
and her husband established the Comis
Foundation, which is committed to
improving the education of young
children and youth.
Ellen Gower ’62
organizations such as the Chicago
Botanic Garden, where she eventually
became a full-time volunteer
coordinator. Linda earned an MBA
from Lake Forest Graduate School of
Management in 1985, retiring from the
garden in 2002 after a stroke.
Ellen, a neuroscientist who loved the
Maine coast and had a passion for
philosophy, literature, and art, died Oct.
15, 2021.
Ellen earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience
at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, established her own
laboratory researching neuroanatomy
and memory, and was affiliated with
the Boston University School of
Medicine, Tufts University, and the
Boston Veterans Administration
Medical Center. She was active in
Boston’s musical community, singing
in the King’s Chapel Choir, and playing
the viola and serving as Orchestra
Committee Chair of the Harvard
Musical Association.
Janet Jones ’61
Thomas Wick ’63
A leading researcher and professor of
analytical chemistry who increased
opportunities for women in science,
Janet died Sept. 21, 2021.
After Swarthmore, Janet earned a
Ph.D. in chemistry from the California
Institute of Technology and served
on the faculties of Colorado State
University, the University at Buffalo,
and North Carolina State University.
In 1994, she was named director of the
Chemistry Division at the National
Science Foundation, from which she
retired in 2001. The next year, Janet
Thomas, an investment banker
and one-half of a Quaker matchbox
marriage to the now-late Barbara
Diebold Wick ’64, died Nov. 12, 2021.
An economics major at Swarthmore,
Thomas went on to receive an MBA in
finance from the University of Chicago.
A father of three, Thomas “loved
Swarthmore, his time there, playing on
the tennis team, studying mathematics
and then economics, and meeting my
mother there — in Saturday morning
German class,” daughter Cynthia Wick
’88 wrote in a tribute.
Gilbert Harman ’60
Gil, a professor emeritus of philosophy
at Princeton University, died Nov. 13,
2021.
After earning a Ph.D. in philosophy
from Harvard University, Gil joined
the faculty of Princeton, where he
was well-known across a range of
areas, including moral philosophy,
philosophy of language, philosophy
of mind, and epistemology. His first
book, Thought, is widely cited, with
selections frequently reprinted.
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
81
looking back
in memoriam
Andrew Cook ’67
Andy, a 12th-generation doctor and
a farmer who loved the outdoors, the
ocean, and sailing, died Sept. 29, 2021.
A history major, Andy earned a
medical degree from Yale University
and a master’s in education from
Harvard University, followed by
residencies in psychiatry. He worked
in mental health centers, hospitals,
and private practice in Maine before
becoming medical director of Maine’s
Children’s Behavioral Health, retiring
in 2009; in 2021, he was recognized by
the Maine Medical Association for 50
years of service. He and wife Jaki also
owned a cattle farm on Woodward Point
in Brunswick, Maine, and later passed it
on to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
Lawrence Gordon ’67
Larry, the “Johnny Appleseed” of shapenote singing who helped to start a food
co-op and cannery, died Nov. 9, 2021.
At Swarthmore, Larry was active
in Students for a Democratic Society;
he later joined the New Hamburger
Commune in Plainfield, Vt., and
formed the Word of Mouth Chorus,
which toured the South and recorded
an album. Larry was a high school
music teacher, and in 1988, after
taking a group of students to a sacred
harp convention, he created Village
Harmony and its summer camps, which
were held all over the world.
Stephen Maurer ’67
Steve, the Neil R. Grabois ’57 Professor
Emeritus in the Natural Sciences
82
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
and Engineering, who served on
Swarthmore’s faculty for 38 years, died
Aug. 25, 2021.
Read more about Steve on pg. 16.
Andrew Weinstein ’69
Andy, a biology major at Swarthmore
who was a member of Sigma Xi, played
football, and captained the tennis team,
died Oct. 3, 2021.
Andy earned a medical degree
from the University of Pennsylvania,
completed a pediatric allergy
fellowship, and trained in family
therapy. Certified by multiple medical
and professional boards, Andy had a 35year career as a practicing allergist with
Asthma & Allergy Care of Delaware; he
also wrote 30 articles, was president of
the Pennsylvania Allergy Association,
and was a member of numerous
professional associations, enjoying free
time sailing on his boat, Melinda Lu.
Joyce Olum-Galaski ’70
Joyce, a rabbi for Congregation Ahavas
Achim in Westfield, Mass., died Nov. 14,
2021.
Joyce earned a German degree
at Swarthmore and a master’s in
education from the University of
Submit an obituary
David Raymond ’78
Dave, an official announcer in boxing
rings and at swim meets, died Sept. 12,
2021.
A member of the Players Club
in Swarthmore, Dave started his
career in legal publishing sales at
Real Estate Data Inc. before joining
publishers Matthew Bender and West
Group; he later changed careers to
business security sales and worked
with ADT and Stanley Black &
Decker. Affectionately known as “Big
Dave” because of his larger-than-life
personality, he played high school and
collegiate football and basketball and
ran track, while as an adult he was a
referee for youth football and basketball
programs in South Jersey.
Robert Simon ’81
Robert, a teacher and artist, died Aug.
28, 2021.
After Swarthmore, Robert completed
graduate study in art history at Harvard
University, then lived and worked
in Paris and Amsterdam, teaching
visual and media studies at the
Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Known
for his directness and the quality
of his attention, Robert exhibited
photography and wrote on subjects
ranging from Cézanne to Staffordshire
bull terriers.
To report the death of an alum, email obituaries@swarthmore.edu. Please
provide the class year (if known), the date of death, and a short biography or link
to a published obituary.
Newspaper obituaries may also be mailed to Swarthmore College Bulletin,
500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081.
LAURENCE KESTERSON
Samuel Davis ’80
Sam, a longtime youth football coach
who once mentored NFL player and
Los Angeles Rams assistant coach
Tory Woodbury, died Aug. 11, 2021.
A member of the Swarthmore
Gospel Choir, Sam was a former
sportswriter for the Winston-Salem
Journal and a former sports editor
of The Chronicle in North Carolina.
Sam also published a weekly online
newspaper that highlighted area youth
and high school sports.
Massachusetts, Amherst, before
deciding to pursue the rabbinate
and attending the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pa.
A committed advocate for justice,
Joyce worked with Interns for Peace
in Jerusalem, took on a leading role
in Jews Against Genocide in Bosnia,
helped to found T’ruah: the Rabbinic
Call for Human Rights, and worked
with the Physicians for Social
Responsibility campaign for nuclear
disarmament, “Back from the Brink.”
Although foot warmers were practical items, the carved initials and hearts on this one indicate it was likely a gift for a woman with the initials H.G.
A CENTURY AND A HALF AGO,
long before down jackets and GoreTex boots, keeping warm was difficult.
Now, as students don their heavy
coats, the Friends Historical Library
of Swarthmore is showcasing an oldfashioned alternative to modern winter
gear.
The FHL, which celebrated its 150th
anniversary this fall, is displaying a
collection of soapstone and wooden foot
warmers. Although the popularity of
such foot warmers declined by the end
of the 19th century, these items served
an essential purpose in their time.
Archivist Celia Caust-Ellenbogen
’09 shared details about the FHL
display, including a soapstone foot
warmer from Lansdowne, Pa., and a
wooden foot warmer from New York.
Caust-Ellenbogen noted that “there
is nothing distinctly ‘Quaker’ about
either,” although both belonged to
Quaker families. In fact, similar items
have been documented in most parts of
the world. How did these footwarmers
function, and how would they have been
used?
“Soapstone would have been warmed
in the fire,” Caust-Ellenbogen says.
These foot warmers were used in
parlors or on carriage rides and might
have been wrapped and placed at
the foot of one’s bed to keep it warm.
Wooden foot warmers were perforated
for ventilation. Inside, a small tin bowl
enclosed a coal that generated heat.
People balanced their feet on top with
a blanket covering their legs to trap the
warmth.
While foot warmers were practical
items, Caust-Ellenbogen shared the
unexpectedly sentimental origins of
one item in the library collection. The
carved initials and hearts on this foot
warmer indicate that it was likely
a gift for a woman with the initials
H.G. During a cold winter, such a
toasty token would surely have been
appreciated.
— EMMA NOVAK ’22
WINTER 2022
/ Swarthmore College Bulletin
83
spoken word
REGULA WILLI
The COVID-19
pandemic has made
the experiences of
immigrants more
difficult, says Dorit
Sallis ’86.
SEEKING REFUGE
SINCE 2015, thousands of migrants
from the Middle East and Africa have
sought refuge and work in Europe.
Many of those who survive their
harrowing journeys are unable to find
employment and end up living on the
streets. Appalled by their suffering,
Dorit Sallis ’86 set up the Twin Star
Project to provide migrants with the
support they need to find sustainable
employment and become financially
independent.
I tell them about the program
and give them my number. Not all
of them call me. We start building
relationships with those who reach
out and learn about their needs so
we can begin supporting them. Our
approach is unbureaucratic, fast, and
customized to the specific needs of
each migrant.
The aim is to alleviate the
immediate stresses of poverty so that
they can start planning for the next
phase — finding a job and being able to
support themselves and their families.
My experience has been uniformly
positive. These migrants have risked
everything to find safety and work in
Europe. They’re ordinary people either
born in impoverished and corrupt
countries where it’s impossible for
them to feed their children or else
unwitting victims of war.
The Twin Star Project attempts to
remedy this by investing in their lives,
helping them to achieve financial selfsufficiency and a viable future.
How do you connect with migrants
who need help?
We support Afghan refugees in
Switzerland, where I live, but most
of our migrants are based in Italy. I
meet them on the streets of big Italian
cities where they’re usually begging.
What does the Twin Star Project
do?
The first part of Twin Star’s twovector approach is to get people off
the streets and meet their basic living
needs. As an NGO, we fund all our
work through individual contributions
People unable to survive
in their home countries
take massive risks —
leaving home in the hopes
of a better life in Europe
by Tara Smith
84
Swarthmore College Bulletin /
WINTER 2022
and grants. Twin Star pays for housing,
provides a monthly allowance,
organizes language and skills training,
and helps with other issues such as
legal and medical support. We call this
the halfway-house phase. In a second
phase, we focus on helping them find
work. In Italy, this can be challenging
because of an insular market that is
hard for migrants to penetrate. In such
cases, we invest in micro-enterprises
set up and run by migrants. This can
be a grocery for African foodstuffs and
toiletries, a small tailoring shop, or
a hairdressing business run out of a
migrant’s house.
How is your approach distinctive
from other NGOs?
We create opportunities for migrants
ready to return to their countries of
origin by funding house construction
and providing startup capital for
micro-enterprises there — for
example, a farm where vegetables are
cultivated in polytunnels or a small
neighborhood grocery.
Many organizations address one
piece of the problem rather than
taking a holistic approach. Our vision
is not just to keep migrants alive, but
to create a fundamental change in
their lives that solves their economic
problems once and for all.
All our migrants experienced trauma
from their journey to Europe. The
West Africans are loaded into open
vans for a perilous desert crossing
through the Sahara. When they reach
Libya, they’re subject to terrible abuse
— arbitrary imprisonment, kidnapping,
financial extortion, enslavement, rape,
and murder.
Those who survive are packed into
inflatable dinghies with some water
and a compass for the Mediterranean
crossing. At least half the boats
capsize. Those who do arrive in
“the promised land” of Europe find
only more suffering. The COVID-19
pandemic has made this worse.
+
FIND OUT MORE: twinstarproject.com
in this issue
PHILADELPHIA STORY
20
FEATURES
LIGHT, LAUGHTER, AND COMMUNITY
Diwali sparkled at Swarthmore this fall. The global
festival of lights is one of the major holidays celebrated
by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists, notably
Newar Buddhists.
Partners in
Peacebuilding
Swarthmore database
tells a deeper story of the
effects of gun violence in
Delaware County.
by Elizabeth Slocum
30
Dropping In
Skateboarding led to
reflection — and a new way
of navigating work and life.
by Roy Greim ’14
34
The Long Path Home
The urgent work of
advocating for immigrant
families.
Philadelphia is home to a growing number
of immigrant communities. Jonah Eaton ’02
(left) is at work with other Swarthmoreans
advocating for them as they navigate a new
environment. At Philadelphia’s Nationalities
Service Center, Eaton heads the legal
department and works with Deputy Director
Steven Larín ’97. The nonprofit is celebrating
its 100th anniversary. (Story, pg. 34)
LAURENCE KESTERSON
LAURENCE KESTERSON
by Heather Rigney
Shumaker ’91
WINTER 2022
Non Profit Org
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit #129
19464
PEACE BUILDS
p20
FAMILIES ARRIVE
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306
www.swarthmore.edu
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN
WESLEY BUNNELL
Give back like BoHee by volunteering with Swarthmore.
Explore ways to get involved at swarthmore.edu/alumnivolunteers.
W
F AI LNLT E2 R0 2200 2 2
“I am forever grateful for the priceless
gifts that Swarthmore has provided —
an unparalleled education, a strong
sense of social responsibility, and the
most incredible friends I could ever have
hoped for — and so I try to give back
however I can, to share some of these
gifts with other alums and members of
our community. … Swarthmore really is
the gift that keeps on giving!”
— BoHee Yoon ’01, Alumni Council
president
Illuminating
p34
NATURE HEALS
p46
Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 2022-01-01
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
2022-01-01
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.