David Caplin: Hi All, Where did the last 50 years go? I am still very happily practicing Plastic Surgery full-time in St. Louis, coming up on a 40 year wedding anniversary, three grown children (all gainfully employed) and two very small granddaughters. Other than a COVID pandemic everything has been going well. I often think fondly of all of you and of my years at Kenyon. I guess the good news is that, as the years go by, the older memories are the last ones we forget. Although an in-person 50th reunion may not materialize it would be fun to have old friends share recent photos of themselves (in case we need an additional reminder that we are getting really old). Stay well and be safe so that we can all look forward to our 75th reunion.
Stephen Christy: All is well here and I can't seem to stay retired as I continue my somewhat-morbid landscape architecture work of designing Green Burial cemeteries. I just finished building another one, and for fun the owners are considering opening it on Halloween. Reservations, anyone?
Belinda Bremner: All plans, best laid or otherwise, certainly went agley this Spring. Two productions I was to be in were cancelled/postponed and all future theatre plans on indefinite hold. Much volunteer work also curtailed. And all travel cancelled. But plenty of time to write. And to get into as much masked and socially distanced "good trouble" as possible. And to plan to see everyone in Gambier in May. Delighted we will be sharing the reunion with our pals from '70.
Preston Zoller: The day I retired, I wheeled my desk chair from my work computer in my home office to the computer I use for writing novels. My schedule has remained largely the same since then, but without the phone calls, travel, and responsibilities that I faced as a business development professional.
This summer I published my seventh novel, ROOT AND BRANCH, a thriller set in a near-future dystopian America. All my novels have received praise from publications like Kirkus Reviews (with a prized Kirkus Star and Booklife/Publishers Weekly Editor's Pick for my latest!) and my readership has grown steadily since the first novel came out a decade ago. The coronavirus lockdown has hardly affected my life because, on most days, I live in the fictional world of the novel I’m writing. I come out for food, exercise, chores, research, and a few glasses of wine and spirits on weekends with wife and friends. Now that our two daughters are grown, I no longer have to feel guilty about taking time away from them to write.
As for my back story, after leaving college and business school, I spent two years at a Manhattan non-profit before joining the State Department for a decade of postings to U.S. Embassies across the Middle East. I resigned in the mid-80s to attend law school at Columbia. I practiced law in Delaware for several years before deciding it wasn’t for me. Instead, I went into the nutrition business, working for a series of firms that made branded and private label supplements for the mass market. I miss my colleagues and customers from time to time, and am no longer exposed to the latest in nutritional science, but I’ve never looked back.
Seven years ago my wife and I moved from Boston to Salt Lake City, a lovely place with friendly people, low cost of living, sunny skies, safe streets, and ample opportunities for enjoying the outdoors. I don’t know how many more years of skiing, hiking and biking I have left in these bones, but I plan to go on writing until the lights go out. (Note from Norm, I have read all of Preston’s novels and they are really good – I highly recommend.)
Peter Holme: Retired 2010, moved from Denver to Venice, Florida in August 2016....living with my wife Candy in a nice beach town, ....had a fun 6 hour quad bypass open heart surgery in June 2020 ...(my 2nd close call with death)....still swimming 40 laps a day and playing my 12 string guitar.....love to my college friends...hope you'll remember me at the 50th !!! P.S. To see my art go to Peter Holme III Photography....ciao
John Grillo: My response to Norm’s request is less an update on my personal comings and goings, but a fervent wish that all of you in the Class of ‘71, and your loved ones, are doing well and, if science can finally prevail against this virus, we will be able to assemble in Gambier next Spring for a grand 50th anniversary celebration!
Alan Janos: I'm still definitely enjoying my retirement, in spite of a few minor medical "issues" which arose this past spring/summer, and am really hoping for a memorable (in the most positive sense) 50th Reunion next year.
Tom Southworth: Mary and I continue to love our new home in Cranston, Rhode Island. That would always be a good thing, but it is particularly good in these pandemic times when our life since last February has basically been confined to home. Typically the fall would find me in Vietnam working with my colleagues there helping Vietnamese students find appropriate US boarding schools in which to continue their secondary education. While I am continuing to work with the American Education Group-Vietnam, as is the case with almost everyone else, that work is being done virtually. Who would ever have thought the word "zoom" would become such a staple of our lives. We are grateful that video conferencing gives us a chance to "see" our children and grandchildren, but we cannot wait for that time when we can once again visit with them. I am so very much looking forward to our 50th reunion next May and hope that the conditions of the world then will be such that we can actually gather in Gambier and not be relegated to a virtual event.
Rick Yorde: The pandemic has curtailed our travel plans since our February visit to Havana that was detailed by my partner, Jamie Barth, '74. I have kept myself busy during this time of social distancing with daily practice of Taoist Tai Chi, a form focused on the cultivation of body, mind and spirit and practiced in 26 countries around the world. It has been a key part of remaining calm through the present turmoil. Over the past two years I have also been actively involved in the development of a small business incubator space that we hope to launch on the West Side of Chicago to assist disadvantaged in creating their own businesses.
Jack Killen: Retired life in Fort Lauderdale suits my soul! Fred and I moved here four years ago. It was a big adjustment, after 41 years in D.C. and an amazing 33 year career at the National Institutes of Health, but the pace of life here is pretty delightful, and we’ve settled into a community of wonderful friends. We celebrated 35 years together last November. My pandemic pastimes have included work on a book exploring the intersections of neuroscience and a traditional wisdom conception of personality. I've also fallen far down the genealogy rabbit hole, and took up the French horn again after 50 years. I hope to join a local band when covid-19 is history. More than anything, I have come to appreciate in a new and deep way how much “little” things like a casual dinner with friends, a concert, a night at a local community theater, and visits with family mean everything. I started looking forward to our 50th reunion in 2013 when I began a six-year stint on Alumni Council. If it happens, I will be there! I hope you will too.
Patsy Cimarosa: My husband (who never smoked) was diagnosed last June with stage IV lung cancer. That and the pandemic are what my life is about these days. My husband is doing well on a new immune therapy - no chemo. I hope he’s well in May so that I can attend the reunion.
I just remembered that Chris Finch and his lovely significant other Eleanor came for the weekend. We went to the Beinecke Library at Yale and had a great time. They went to NYC to see David Jaffe ’72 in a play. There - some good news.
