| Kenyon Class of 1968 Fall Class Letter
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| Dear classmates,
Kenyon couldn’t be more Kenyon than it is in the fall. Am I right? I’m talking cool breezes to balance out the afternoon sun, crunchy leaves blanketing everything in autumn colors and an endless supply of friendly faces to greet you along Middle Path. Whatever the season, I look forward to running into you on the Hill again soon, especially since we haven’t had a chance to reconnect there in some time.
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 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!
Howard Edelstein
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.
• Howard Edelstein
• Spinner Findlay
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Tim Holder: We adopted a teen-age Afghani girl six years ago. We are now working on getting visas to the US for her sister and two brothers, all teenagers.
Carl “Hunt” Beasley: Enjoying retirement life in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, visiting with son Adam and grandson Jake. Continuing to assist at All Saints Episcopal Church here with virtual services twice weekly and in person services on Sundays.
Peter Arango: No surprises this time around, unless I include the apocalyptic malaise that arrived as Hemingway put it, "Two ways ... Gradually, then suddenly". In the "lessons learned late in the game category," I realize that essentially losing the physical Kenyon during the pandemic, not having access to the campus, hit me harder than I might have expected. I'm grateful for the virtual connections with the vintage Kokosingers and the equally well aged brothers of Alpha Delta Phi, but cancelled reunions and the impossibility of returning to Gambier hit harder than I expected. Mary and I have also lost the Oregon we loved. Drought, smoke, and fire have changed the landscape and with Covid, crushed the Shakespeare Festival and tourism in southern Oregon. We had another good visit with Fred Link and his wife, but no golf, no shows, no dinners under the stars. We'll be moving back to New England when we find a spot to land, trading drought for rainstorms and snow.
Mark Sullivan has begun travelling again after over a year of Covid lockdown for him and his law office. In August he visited Kansas City for a meeting of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and in September he spoke for half a day in Albuquerque at the New Mexico Family Law Institute. Mark and his wife, Teri, are celebrating their 45th anniversary in December.
Gary Nave: Linda and I welcomed our second grandson with our son Greg' 04 in May. This makes five so far. Son-in-law, Justin Thoms '98 helped coach daughter Ruby ('30?) at a Kenyon swim camp last summer. Alexandra Thoms '23 was also on campus after having won a Summer Science Scholar award to study Molecular Biology.
Our youngest daughter Ellie was married in September. My roommate Bob Nevin '69 and wife Barbara attended the nuptials and joined us afterwards for an extended visit at our home in Bedford, NY.
Our real estate business (rentals in Manhattan) has fully recovered from the Covid pandemic. Still working with Greg who is computer literate, his father is not.
John Risler: Fall in Northeast Florida finds us still in amazingly good health as we break out of our COVID-19 cocoon. A road trip to Asheville, NC. provides a test run and a respite from our early summer hot spell. We continue our volunteer activities with Wolfson Children's Hospital, Ronald McDonald House Charities and SHINE/SMP Medicare counseling. The heat and rain have limited our summer sailing, but cool breezes should be here soon. Except for the Jaguars, St Johns has proven to be an ideal retirement home for us.
Ed Gaines: I am hoping to get knee replacement surgery the first week of October which has been cancelled twice before due to Covid. I am hoping to see many members of the Class of ’68 in 2024 when we all celebrate Kenyon’s two hundred year history.
Jack Train: Since retiring last June as Director of Real Estate Assets of the Christian Science Center in Boston, I've hung out in Chicago, Burbank, various parts of Colorado, and Tulum, Mexico. I enjoy fly fishing and Pierce Scranton and I have landed some fine trout together over the last year. I also consult with various church congregations who are looking to leverage their real estate in order to provide additional income for restoration or expansion of existing facilities.
Raymond Pfeiffer continues to spend his summers on The Punts Islands in the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River off of Gananoque, ON, and travels during the winters. He has published articles in Thousand Islands Life in December 2019 and January 2020, and is in touch with classmates.
Eric Linder: Like around 160+ of us at Kenyon in the year 1968, I have just turned 75, and am grateful to have reached that marker more or less intact. I continue to read eclectically if not fluently in several languages, to potter in a garden, to tutor, and to volunteer at my parish church. Also trying to break the habit of responding to every single political or environmental appeal that shows up on my screen. And to ponder what to do with the next ten years that will leave a few pockets of the landscape just a bit better off, or at least no worse, than I found them. I am still helping to plan a final interment of John Owen's ashes near the Trinity Pawling School where his parents taught for many years, and where John grew up. Tentative date: alumni weekend at TP in June of 2022.
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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.
1968
Annual Fund Total: $97,207
Class Participation: 53.2%
President's Society
Donors of $50,000 or more
William E. Bennett P'96 '00 '07 H'11
Philander Chase Society
Donors of $10,000 to $24,999
Charles W. Findlay III*
Lawrence D. Lilien MD*
William J. Yost*
Bexley Society
Donors of $2,500 to $9,999
Anonymous
Howard B. Edelstein*
J. McKinley Haning Jr.*
Raymond Heithaus P'99 H'14
Douglas E. Hutchinson MD, JD*
Gary L. Nave P'97 '04 GP'23*
Paul R. Skinner*
Gregory Spaid H'21*
Robert G. Sykes*
Kenyon Society
Donors of $1,000 to $2,499
Barry I. Eisenstein MD*
Edward B. Gaines*
Michael W. Gaynon MD*
Geoffrey J. Hackman*
Daniel G. Hale Jr.
James K. Keresey
Paul A. Lucky MD*
Breece McKinney*
John D. Morrison MD*
R. Richard Newcomb*
William M. Northway*
Jack D. Train*
Steve Watts*
Donors of $1 to $999
Peter L. Arango*
Lawrence W. Barnthouse
Jonathan W. Battle*
The Rev. Carl H. Beasley III*
Richard H. Bernstein MD*
Gregory W. Blackmer
Ronald K. Bliss*
Andrew H. Bowman P'92*
Barry W. Burkhardt P'98*
Merrill O. Burns P'93 '98*
John E. Carman*
Mark S. Geston P'91 '01
Jeffrey J. Henderson H'94*
Timothy R. Holder P'94*
David L. Hunter MD
Michael C. Johnston P'02*
Charles W. Kenrick
Joseph L. Lavieri*
Paul J. Leventon P'93*
Richard H. Levey*
Richard C. Malley*
Charles Maurer*
John T. Moffitt*
A. Laurence Moreau*
Jeffrey C. Northup*
J. Bryan Perilman*
Jon W. Peterson Esq.*
Raymond S. Pfeiffer*
Paul H. Rigali Jr., DDS*
James S. Schmid*
Michael A. Simons
John D. Sinks*
David R. Snyder*
Mitchel B. Sosis MD, PhD*
Charles R. Stires Jr.*
Mark E. Sullivan
Robert Tait*
George M. Vogelei P'99
Timothy J. Wildman
Stephen B. Wuori*
George Wharton Mariott Society
These alumni have included Kenyon
in their estate plans or have made
other planned gifts.
Jonathan W. Battle
William E. Bennett P'96, '00, '07
Howard B. Edelstein
Joseph France
Charles W. Kenrick
A. Laurence Moreau
John D. Morrison
William M. Northway
J. Bryan Perilman
Pierce E. Scranton Jr., P'97
(IMO Donald White)
Robert and Susan Sykes
Robert Wallace Jr.
Stephen B. Wuori
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Kenyon College
105 Chase Avenue, Gambier, OH 43022
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