| Kenyon Class of 1971 Fall Class Letter
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| Dear classmates,
Ah, Kenyon in the Autumn and the canopy over Middle Path ablaze in color and all the casements cranked open and music on the breeze. Quick minds, young hearts, big, brave dreams. “But to be young was very heaven!—Oh! Times.” How can it be more than fifty years on from when we shared that magic? But when Spring returns and that canopy is abloom we will be back.
And what a campus we’ll have to return to! Chalmers Library is open and beautiful. (Have you seen the disco ball-esque skylight feature?) All four classes are studying together again in Gambier. (With a bonus first-year cohort finishing a semester in Copenhagen!) And plans are taking shape for an unforgettable Reunion 2022 on the Hill. (Mark your calendar for the weekend of May 27. All alumni are invited to attend!)
In other exciting campus news, the College just shared its new strategic plan that will guide its planning and actions leading up to the bicentennial in 2024 and beyond. You will be pleased to see it includes core elements like developing a computer science program informed by the liberal arts; enrolling, retaining and graduating a student body that is representative of the talent and diversity of our nation and the world; and expanding its commitment to environmental responsibility.
You have also likely heard the announcement of the Kenyon Access Initiative which will bring more high-achieving students to Kenyon thanks to a $25 million matching grant from the Schuler Education Foundation. Any amount we give through this Kenyon Access Initiative will be matched 1:1 and will go to a new scholarship for students from families with limited means and those ineligible for government aid — up to $25 million.
I could go on for pages about these two pieces of Kenyon news, but lucky for you, I don’t have to. Scroll on to learn more about Kenyon’s strategic plan and the Kenyon Access Initiative (and how they fit into our 2024 bicentennial celebration).
As you read about what’s in store for Kenyon’s future, I hope you’ll consider supporting today’s students with a gift to the Kenyon Fund and (if you have the ability) making an additional gift to the Kenyon Access Initiative that has the potential to bring 50 additional talented students to Kenyon each year.
Kenyon couldn’t be Kenyon without involved and supportive alumni like us. As the bicentennial draws closer, I challenge each of you to do a little more than you have in the past to help make Kenyon the special place it is. This could mean becoming an alumni volunteer, attending a College event, submitting a class note or setting up a recurring monthly gift.
Thank you!
Belinda Bremner
P.S. Is Kenyon already in your will? Let the College know about your planned giving by emailing daleiden1@kenyon.edu.
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| There's a lot happening at Kenyon today.
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We want you to be a part of it.
The Our Path Forward to the Bicentennial campaign is about building a strong foundation for Kenyon’s third century by growing our endowment and strengthening alumni connections. Get involved by:
Staying connected to Kenyon
You may only be a Kenyon student for four years, but you’re a member of our alumni community for life. The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement strives to make it easy — and fun — to stay connected. GET INVOLVED
Making a gift
Gifts of all sizes add up: every year, gifts of $100 or less to the Kenyon Fund total more than $250,000. Also, every dollar given to the Kenyon Access Initiative between now and June 2026 will be matched and used to create permanent new scholarship funds to enroll exceptional students with limited resources and those who are ineligible for government aid. MAKE A GIFT
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| Upcoming Events for Alumni
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Save the date for these upcoming events for alumni taking place online and on the Hill.
- Kenyon Women Giving Back
The quarterly event series continues on Tuesday, March 22 via Zoom.
- Kenyon Together
The 36-hour online giving challenge kicks off Tuesday, April 12.
- Reunion Weekend
All alumni are invited to join us on the Hill May 27–29.
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Class AgentsClass agents are your connection to campus. If you would like to learn more about becoming a class agent, contact Terry Dunnavant at dunnavantt@kenyon.edu.
• Belinda Bremner
• Phil Cass
• Chris Finch
• Denzil Hollingsworth
• Pete Holloway
• Jeff Oppenheim
• Norm Schmidt
• Mark Straley
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Jonathan Alspaugh: my older sister and I have moved to a retirement community, Wesley Village, in Wilmore, KY, just south of Lexington. The people are friendly, and the food is excellent. I'm one of the younger residents but that won't last long!
Bill Dagger is thriving and still practicing law in lovely Woodstock, Vermont. He and Bobbi are hoping to travel to Israel next year, for an extended stay as an early attempt at partial retirement. Bill misses his "old" classmates, and is planning to attend the reunion next year, if it is finally allowed to happen.
Marty Kurcias: My wife and I were graciously accommodated overnight by Walker P. Holloway when our car broke down near Wheeling, WV. Great to see Pete and I must say he has the best view in Wheeling out his living room window. Leaving Wheeling, we went for the two-fer and swung a bit south to impose upon my old roommate, Ron Keeping and his wife, Cheryl in Evansville, IN. Good to see Ron and reminisce about Woodstock and a camping trip out west so many years ago.
Stan Litz: Still a lawyer in Cincinnati now occasionally jousting at windmills as the Courts and Administrative Agencies have devolved into Covid Zoom conferences and hearings. Woe is me. What to make of this Twilight Zone world. By the way Rod Serling is from Yellow Springs Ohio - home of Antioch College and Dave Chappelle. I digress – well, actually my mind is a cluttered zone of connected and unconnected trivia: from the sublime to the ridiculous. English, History, and Art /Architecture students recognize the fusion of the sublime and the ridiculous as the Grotesque, say Gargoyles.
Anyway, other than practicing law, I have been somewhat faithfully married for 2 score decades. I resumed playing sports post Kenyon: Hoops in various leagues, fast pitch softball, a pitcher, and I get occasional requests to return to the mound, tennis, biking and hiking, darts and I golf using only the 2 iron.
I have been studying music theory and piano at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music as well as academic courses in Physics and French. I started out as a French major at Kenyon and attended Grad school for 3/4 weeks upon realizing I was not cut out for academics.
I have been exhibiting my paintings, sculptures in galleries in the Tristate -- Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky -- on and off for decades. My works have been accepted in local, regional, and international juried competitions and exhibits.
Currently I am training for the 75 and up Senior Olympics. My weight is at 190 give or take -- I want to get below 185. I want to compete in boxing, Tai Chi, 400 metro sprint, weightlifting...
Thank You for reading about my desultory life. And I remain the Incredible Spider-Man.
Sante Matteo participated in two “Kenyon from Your Couch” events viewable on YouTube: An Odyssey Back to Gambier: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CrYG8KPouo, and Poetry Across the Ocean, in which he moderated a conversation with poet Daniel Mark Epstein, '70, and Kenyon Italian professor Simone Dubrovic, who translated Daniel's recent volume poetry Dawn to Twilight: New and Selected Poem into Italian: Dall'alba al crepuscolo: Poesie 1967-2014: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKDCECJeoE8.
Professor Dubrovic, who previously worked with Sante at Miami University before being hired by Kenyon, also edited Sante's last book, Il secondo occhio di Ulisse: Saggi di letteratura e cultura italiana (2019). A round table discussion of the book at the Italian Borderlands symposium sponsored by the Calandra Italian American Institute is available on YouTube. The book is in Italian but the round table is in English: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vx05KB9ch4&t=29s.
Bob Patrick: Martha and I are enjoying a yearly combination of about two months in our Rhode Island loft and ten months in our house in Bodrum, Turkey where we are part of an international community known as the Herodotus Academy of the Third Age -- a group of about 500 people who meet in only small groups to pursue activities and travel that builds community and enables us to get to know and to interact with people from many countries. I help lead the walks program and Martha coordinates activities for more than 500 members representing Turkey and many other countries. Such an international organization we think that we have always, unknowingly, sought. rcpatrick5443@gmail.com
Norm Schmidt: Jim Loomis '73 came to visit in early July. We planned to go to a Cleveland Indians Ballgame but it was rained-out so we enjoyed a few local beers and yakked about the joy of beating Denison in each of our four years at the conference meet. John Emack '72 and I continue to play golf once a week, he's still good and I keep trying. John and I enjoyed visiting with Gregg DeSilvio '74 and his bride, Julie, in August when they were in town from Florida to celebrate Gregg's 50th high school reunion (delayed a year due to Covid).
Tom Southworth: All continues to go very well for Mary and me here in Rhode Island. I continue to do some work (remotely...of course) with my colleagues in Vietnam as we assist Vietnamese families in their search for an American boarding school. The little time that I actually spend on video calls the more I am reminded how lucky I am to be retired and not having to have life dominated by Zoom and other such demons. This past summer we were able to spend time with our three sons and five grandkids which we'd not been able to do for a long while due to the pandemic. I was sorry to have our on-campus 50th reunion cancelled, but am very much looking forward to returning to the Hill next spring. Please let me know if any of you are ever in this area. Would love to see you!
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If you missed the chance to share your news for this letter, you can submit a class note at any time via class.letters@kenyon.edu.
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Kenyon is grateful to the following donors for their generous support of the College, including the Kenyon Fund, during the 2020-21 fiscal year. An asterisk (*) indicates a donor is a member of the Henry J. Abraham Society for loyal and consecutive giving. An obelisk (†) indicates an individual who is deceased. Please note that as of July 1, 2019 Kenyon’s annual giving societies have changed. Visit kenyon.edu/societies for more information.
1971
Annual Fund Total: $82,370
Class Participation: 52.2%
Kokosing Society
Donors of $25,000 to $49,999
Richard S. Alper*
Philander Chase Society
Donors of $10,000 to $24,999
W. Peter Holloway Jr. CFP*
Mark G. Skoning*
Bexley Society
Donors of $2,500 to $9,999
George S. Deepe Jr. MD*
Jack Killen MD*
Jeffrey A. Oppenheim P'08*
Thomas D. Southworth*
Mark K. Straley P'17*
Kenyon Society
Donors of $1,000 to $2,499
Jonathan W.T. Ayers MD*
Peter I. Bersin*
Philip H. Cass*
Bruce M. Dunlavy*
Christopher C. Finch
Hal R. Griffith*
John T. Grillo*
Alan G. Janos*
Donors of $1 to $999
Timothy N. Baker
Richard P. Bird*
Jonathan C. Boyd MD
Steven N. Bralower
Belinda Bremner
Donald B. Cameron P'04*
David H. Carter*
Stephen F. Christy Jr.*
William C. Dagger Jr.*
Stephen R. Dolan*
Clark J. Dougan*
David T. Duff
Mark S. Frank P'05*
Peter J. Galier*
Robert F. Gillett*
Richard S. Goldmann
David L. Gregg*
Ransom Griffin III*
Nat B. Hall*
Herbert W. Hennings*
Mark C. Herbst
Thomas H. Hollinger*
Peter Hoover*
S. Mark Johnson*
David E. Johnston
Damon H. Kerby*
John S. Klinedinst*
Jacob A. H. Kronenberg*
Bruce C. Landis*
Harold A. Levy
J. Scott Lord
Sante Matteo*
Earl N. McCardle Jr.
Leslie K. Mikesell
Scott D. Miller
Robert W. Mueller Jr. P'12
Christopher A. Myers*
Peter Norling*
Dennis M. O'Connor*
James H. Peace*
Robert A. Penney Jr., MD
Russell M. Potter*
Jon M. Rainey MD P'99 '02 '05*
Daniel G. Ralston P'03*
Robert J. Roesky Jr.*
Michael W. Rosenberg MD
Lewis C. Sage*
Norman E. Schmidt*
James J. Schneider MD
Ross I. Schram III*
Richard R. Terhune
Robert W. Weist*
Chris Weld*
Stephen A. Wellenbach*
William J. Williams*
Richard E. Yorde Jr. P'96*
George Wharton Mariott Society
These alumni have included
Kenyon in their estate plans or
have made other planned gifts.
Richard S. Alper
Jonathan Alspaugh
J. Michael Cummings
Christopher Finch
John C. Gaudry
W. Peter Holloway Jr.
Joseph W. Hornick
Alan G. Janos
Jack Killen
Michael Langstrom†
Dr. Robert W. Mueller Jr.
Mark G. Skoning
William C. Watterson
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Kenyon College
105 Chase Avenue, Gambier, OH 43022
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