Professor Charles Wheelan hosted two classmates—one Republican and one Democrat—for civil, substantive discussions on campus this spring. In February the Hon. Alex Azar cited public distrust in government institutions as shaping how Americans view healthcare. “Leaders aren’t trusted very much,” Azar said. In healthcare, he observed, states are increasingly stepping up to regulate “instead of Congress doing its job and legislating…because they just can’t.” Azar, a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk and president of Lilly USA, served as U.S. secretary of health and human services during the first Trump administration. In April the Hon. Kirsten Gillibrand blamed poor messaging for Democrats’ losses in 2024, saying voters had prioritized economic and national security issues. Asked what she would advise students inclined toward public service, the N.Y. senator replied, “I don’t think there’s a more rewarding life than one dedicated to serving your fellow man in whatever capacity you choose. And if you don’t like the people who are elected, run for office.”
Bob Victor, working in Philadelphia for Comcast, says he and wife Lexa will spend time this summer in New Hampshire, where they may catch glimpses of daughter Lydia ’27. Other classmates known to summer or reside near campus include Jack Steinberg, Pat Walsh, professor Paul Christensen,professorCharles Wheelanand Leah Yegian, John Replogle, Pete Rutledge, dean Jon Kull, Jevin Eagle and Jani Rauch, Pam Crandall,and Bob Lasher.But move fast to catch Ruth Cserr,who is selling her longtime home in Orford, New Hampshire.
We caught up with Walt Burkley in New York en route to East Asia for a financial services conference. Walt—who reported seeing Bob Lasher, Caroline Marshall, and Perla Delson on this trip—lives in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, Anne, and three teenage kids. He described Southern California as “eerily quiet” after 14 deadly wildfires ravaged the area in January. “I keep coming back to how normal a lot of it was until suddenly it wasn’t,” he said, noting that lesser blazes occur there regularly. “I know several hundred people who lost their homes” because of flames or toxic smoke and debris that rendered them uninhabitable. When Anne urged Walt to come home early during the recent Palisades fire, he quickly complied: Twenty years earlier, pregnant with their first child, Anne had made a similar request just as a large section of their rented home broke off and slid down a hillside.
We visited in Minneapolis with Jane Grussing Lonnquist,working in child development;the Hon. Jeanne Cochrane,a Minnesota appellate judge; and Sonja Kuftinec,a drama professor at the University of Minnesota. Since earning a doctorate at Stanford, Sonja has published widely on performance and social change, early modern theater, and storytelling. She and her biology professor husband have a 12-year-old son and see Jeanne, Jane, and Bob Striker locally. Sonja also visits Rachel Dratch in New York and just saw Micah Rosenfield in Utah.
We’ll share lots more in a forthcoming newsletter.
—Sarah Jackson-Han, 6213 Winnebago Road, Bethesda, MD 20816; smjhan2@gmail.com; Bill Bundy, 442 Cedar Lane, New Canaan, CT 06840; bill.bundy@mac.com