Kenyon Class of 1980 Fall Class Letter
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| Dear classmate,
Greetings from Gambier! The leaves are changing as Gambier enters its most beautiful season. I wish you could see it. There is so much happening at Kenyon! I am pleased to share some of the latest news from the Hill.
This semester, twelve members of the Class of 2026 were able to enroll as the direct result of donor support for the Kenyon Access Initiative (KAI), a vital scholarship effort to increase access for low-income students. The College’s goal is to enroll fifty students each year through KAI, in addition to other robust financial aid. This diversity in backgrounds and lived experiences enriches campus life in so many ways.
Chalmers Library, in the West Quad, has quickly become a hub of activity both day and night. Its neighbor Lowell House, home to admissions and financial aid and named for Pulitzer Prize winning poet Robert T.S. Lowell IV ’40, is also open. Oden Hall, future home to social sciences and named for former president Robert Oden, will open next fall. The 261-space underground parking garage for visitors and employees is already helping to ease congestion in the Village without disrupting the beauty of Gambier.
In a few weeks, students will have access to another dining option in “downtown” Gambier, when Peirce Express opens in a space under the Gambier Deli. This space will also be home in the evening to a student-run bar known as Flats. Look for more about both of these in an upcoming issue of Kenyon News Digest.
In other news, the Music Department is celebrating its 75th year. In celebration, Alumni Council is developing an updated version of the Kenyon songbook which will be viewable online and distributed at Reunion Weekend during the all-class sing. If you haven’t saved the date yet for Reunion Weekend, remember that all classes are welcome to attend May 26-28, even if it is not a reunion year.
It is easy to feel wistful about our own time at Kenyon. I invite you to turn that nostalgia into action with a gift to the College. Every gift matters regardless of size. Gifts to the Kenyon Fund can be directed toward enrolling the next high-achieving group of students through the Kenyon Access Initiative, athletics, one of the College’s many green centers and more. Please consider making your alma mater, and current Kenyon students a philanthropic priority this year by giving online at gift.kenyon.edu.
Thanks to all who submitted class notes for this letter (see below). Please consider updating us with your note for the spring Class of ‘80 letter.
All good wishes to you, Ellen Turner (for the 1980 class agents)
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Reunited and it feels so Kenyon
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Reunion Weekend 2023
will take place in Gambier May 26 - 28
Along with special programming for the 50th Reunion class on May 25, we’ll be celebrating milestone reunions for classes that end with 3 and 8, as well as K80s, Peeps and Chamber Singers.
All alumni are invited to return to the Hill for Reunion Weekend, especially those celebrating a reunion beyond their 50th. Registration details will be emailed in early 2023. If you think we may not have your most current info, please share your up-to-date email and phone number with us at updateinfo@kenyon.edu. (We can’t invite you if we can’t reach you!)
We are so excited to reunite with you! See you soon.
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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.
- The Center for American Democracy's Midterm Elections Panel
Hear from alumni experts at this free, virtual event Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 7-8 p.m. ET.
- Spring Giving Challenge
Our annual 36-hour online giving challenge will take place Wednesday, April 26 – Thursday, April 27.
- Reunion Weekend
All alumni are invited to join us on the Hill May 26-28.
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Class AgentsClass agents are your connection to campus. To learn more about becoming one, contact Director of Leadership Annual Giving Tracey Wilson via email.
• Tom Chesnutt • Griffin Doster Fry • Robin Gabriel • Ellen Turner
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Nancy Anfanger: After leaving the entertainment industry I continue to pursue my civil rights law practice in the Los Angeles area. I am grateful to live in a culturally and ethnically diverse city and view the sharing of such diversities as among the best gifts people can mutually exchange. I am baffled by Ohio becoming a “red” state. That’s not how I remember it.
Andrew Bowers: I am retired! It’s not what I expected. Everyone keeps asking, “So, what are you going to do now?” When I answer, “Plenty of nothing,” they always frown a little (and don’t even think of Porgy and Bess). I believe there’s WAY too much Puritan work ethic going around. I thought of giving clichéd answers, “Travel!” “Volunteering!” “All the odd jobs I never got to!” But that would be lying just to make them happy and that’s not me, at least not anymore—I’m retired!
Virginia Calhoun de Millan: Retired after 34 years of teaching, 20 of those years at our Chiapas state university's English Language Teacher Training program, I now have a new, full-time position! Not exactly a business administrator, nor yet a lion tamer, but something in between--nanny for our first grandchild! Xun (the Mayan version of John) Omero, at 4 months, is already responding enthusiastically to English songs and nursery rhymes, and will obviously become either a poet or a Tik Tok sensation in a few more years, after attending Kenyon, obviously.
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Quentin Hardy: It's been very useful to make a career move out of one industry at 60, not least because Google is an excellent place to be and Journalism has generally become the other thing. One of my sons has entered the Jesuit novitiate while the other is doing very well in his Master's in Artificial Intelligence. As a parent, I'm proud of how, each in his own way, they take reality seriously. My wife left the SFPL and has been doing her own bookbinding, with great success. I've given a series of online Art History lectures on modern culture & technology, and their Renaissance antecedents, now looking for new ideas.
Tom Parker: My wife and I took a road trip in July 2022 from Florida to Southern California. We saw baseball games in Atlanta, Texas, and Arizona. We also visited the Presidential libraries in Atlanta, Dallas, College Station, and Austin. Our youngest son is in Saudi Arabia on temporary assignment with the Air Force, so we have our son’s car right now. We are healthy. I was promoted at my office in late May. We are doing well and grateful. Los Angeles has had many really hot days this September and our drought is very real out here. Best to all my classmates.
Clayton Paterson: I love reading about my classmates' exploits as we embrace retirement. I retired 6 years ago as a lawyer with Johnson & Johnson, the baby shampoo company. I haven’t looked back. And now, a bit of modeling. A little less cerebral for sure. And, enjoying being a grandparent (twice). And, I said I’d never live in Florida. Now, I don't want to leave. Happy retirement.
Karl Shefelman: I was very saddened to hear of our classmate, Todd Holzman's passing. While Todd and I weren't super close, we were hall-mates freshman year in the south first floor of McBride and had reacquainted ourselves in the last few years on Facebook of course. As for me I'm trying to stay as youthful and healthy as one can, still doing my Taekwondo. I've done that and karate in some form or other, on and off throughout much of my adult life, including dabbling in it at Kenyon with David Horwitz and upperclassman Wai-Kwong Kwok ’79. My 4th Dan Black-Belt rank in my current school (Dojang) in Tribeca requires me to help teach kids and teens, which I love. As for the movie biz, it has crawled back into existence (although I did work on a Ron Howard movie 13 LIVES during the pandemic) and I'm currently working as a storyboard illustrator on a huge Sci-fi show HALO. Lastly, I continue to direct at least a short film of my own about once a year for the film festival circuit. If you're on Facebook, you know. That's all for now!
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Kenyon is grateful to the following donors for their generous support of the College, including the Kenyon Fund, during the 2021-22 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.
1980
Annual Fund Total: $118,727
Class Participation: 33.00%
Presidents Society
Donors of $50,000 or more
Douglas A. Ames*
Mrs. Mary M. Ames*
Diane Elam*
Pamela Feitler Hoehn-Saric P'10 '14*
Jennie Hutton Jacoby*
Philander Chase Society
Donors of $10,000 to $24,999
John Kilyk, Jr.*
Carie Levin
Mark O'Connell*
Ellen C. Turner*
Bexley Society
Donors of $2,500 to $9,999
Guy R. Riegel*
Lee S. Segal MD
Leonard Weinberg II*
Kenyon Society
Donors of $1,000 to $2,499
Anonymous
Dana S. Berg*
Douglas T. Braddock*
Robert H. Brauer*
Susan J. Halbower*
Jill Kaplin*
Sherryl Kohr*
Chuck Mann*
Wilhelm M. Merck* Laurel Smith Rosenberg*
Robert I. Sprague*
William F. Sterling*
Robert W. Thomas*
Robert E. Weinberg*
Kenyon Society
Donors of $1 to $999
Anonymous
Bobbi A. Barr*
James H. Bates MD P'11 '13 '17*
Andrew T. Bowers
Virginia Calhoun de Millan P'07*
Christine L. Carter*
Thomas W. Chesnutt*
Ann E. Cless*
Bret R. Cohen*
R. John Feely III*
Roger O. Fillion*
Lauren S. Fox*
Griffin Fry*
Lori Gallo*
Timothy G. Glasser*
The Rev. Mark C. Hallinan, S.J.*
Juliana Hanson Scherrer*
Quentin R. Hardy*
Kyle W. Henderson*
Timothy Herron MD*
Leslie Hough*
Roger M. Ikeda*
Sarah P. Jaicks
Charles S. Konigsberg
Heather Thomas Lazare*
Robert C. Lemp
James T. Leslie
William S. Lipscomb II*
Eileen P. Maloney* Leslie Marting P'14*
Kevin K. McKinney*
Laurence P. O'Connell*
Lori A. Palmer*
Stephen M. Penn*
Roger S. Pierce Jr.*
Ethan M. Powsner*
David N. Pugh*
J. James Reisler*
Stacy S. Remke*
Kenneth F. Rice*
Andrew L. Rosencrans
Robert S. Salomon III
Lisa D. Schott*
Stephen R. Sexsmith*
Amy B. Sheperdson*
J. Duncan Shorey Esq.*
Cindy Simpson*
Lynn Snyderman*
Doris Spiegler Greggo
Elizabeth A. Sprinkel
Leah Stewart Ogden*
Lynn Stofan Kaplan P'15*
Keith B. Studzinski
Sarah A. Swanson*
A. Robert Tenney
Richard L. Titus*
Lisa M. Turner*
Madge E. Vail*
Robert A. Weiss P'11*
Amy Wheatley H'92*
George Wharton Marriott Society
These alumni have included Kenyon in their estate plans or have made other planned gifts.
Douglas A. and Mary M. Ames '80
Douglas T. Braddock '80
Diane M. Elam '80
James J. Freedman '80
David D. Garner '80
Kyle W. Henderson '80
John Kilyk, Jr. '80
David W. Knowlton '80
Phillip P. Smith '80
Robert W. Thomas '80
Ellen C. Turner '80 (IMO Katherine King Turner)
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Kenyon College
105 Chase Avenue, Gambier, OH 43022
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