Alumni Class Notes
Class of 1956
WILLIS ROSCOE RILEY lives in Mashpee, MA, enjoys good health and family connections, and is active with Habitat for Humanity and Fuller Center for Housing as a construction worker and with a local UCC congregation.
JAMES A. SCOTT is retired in Vermont. He enjoys travel with his wife and attended her 55th Yale School of Nursing reunion.
DAVID B. WAYNE lives in a house in Rowe, MA, that he and his wife (now deceased) built in the 1970s. For a number of years, he participated in the Pioneer Valley Symphony as a violinist. His son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild live in the...
RONALD WOODRUFF lives in Woodstock, IL. Ron is senior fire chaplain of McHenry County in Illinois, has three grandsons and is active in Habitat for Humanity, a food pantry, and the Heifer Project. “I’m so busy I don’t have time to commit a...
Class of 1955
JAMES H. HARGETT and his spouse, Louilyn Funderburk Hargett, are retired at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, CA. James’s papers have been placed in the archives of the Amistad Research Center and are highlighted on the center’s blog and homepage....
Class of 1952
WILL CAMPBELL has settled into a regular and predictable routine at Richland Place. He can often be seen navigating his own wheelchair slowly along the second-floor hallways, and once in a while he manages to get into an open elevator (though...
ROBERT E. CUTTINO is the only YDS minster of Baptist origin in South Carolina but, as Robert writes, “somehow they overlooked my Yankee connections and let me be president of the South Carolina Baptist Historical Society, South Carolina Baptist...
FRANCIS AND VIRGINIA GEDDES continue to enjoy living in Santa Rosa in the heart of California’s wine country. Francis has a new book out (see Alumni Books section). Virginia has been studying Shakespeare’s sonnets and finding them quite...
PAUL L. HAMMER celebrated his 85th birthday in March with a dinner with former seminary colleagues or their spouses and the gift of a book of heart-warming letters, cards, or e-mails from former students. Paul and his wife, Esther, also...
DICK STAZESKY attended the 2010 Convocation and there met a Chinese post-doctoral visiting scholar who teaches English and Christian culture at Renmin University in Beijing. They became close friends, and she is now his “Chinese daughter.” He...
Class of 1950
At Convocation and Reunions 2011, CAROL ROSE IKELER was honored with a special plaque in recognition of her faithful service on the Alumni Board.
Class of 1948
ROBERT SEYMOUR and his wife, Pearl, are now in their 11th year of being residents at The Carol Woods Retirement Community of Chapel Hill, NC. Recently Pearl’s worsening illness required that she move to the health center. Bob celebrated his...
DOUG AND JAN DORCHESTER moved into a beautiful retirement center, Thirwood Place in South Yarmouth, MA, on December 7, 2009, and are now getting used to living in a retirement community after decades in a home of their own. Jan expects to...
Class of 1943
ELIZABETH MACGREGOR BATES, known as Lib, is one of ten finalists out of more than 600 nominations for this year’s L.L. Bean Outdoor Hero Award. Lib is featured in the recently published book, Over the Hill Hikers, written by...
Class of 1937
DONALD F. BEISSWENGER lives in Nashville, TN. He married his current wife, Judy, after the death of Joyce. Donald writes, “It takes energy to keep in touch with 10 children and 13 grandchildren all over the world.” Don and Judy work with...
JIM HALFAKER is a board member of Northwest Harvest, a food bank system in Washington State that distributed 26,000,000 pounds of food last year. Jim also mentors new development professionals. Having survived two major medical traumas this...
KENNETH L. JACOBS is assistant general counsel at Crane Co. in Stamford, CT. Last year he established the Kenneth L. and Elizabeth H. Jacobs Scholarship to support YDS students preparing for the pastoral ministry.
CHARLES A. KENNEDY teaches adult education at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH, and does supply preaching and work with the NH Bible Society. He created a web site “arabkitsch.com,” a database of popular American sheet music since 1790...
WILLIAM L. MARTIN retired in 2010 from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Westborough, MA, where he served as priest for nearly a decade. He and his wife, Gail, have moved to Jim Thorpe, PA, and William currently serves as part-time priest-in-...
ELEANOR SCOTT MEYERS has been retired for years and lives at Pilgrim Place, an ecumenical community of retired persons in Claremont, CA. She reports that people come to PP from many walks in life; however, everyone there has been in some form...
JANE NEWALL and partner Debbie celebrated the birth of their fifth child, Adian Cadel, born August 29, 2010. In June 2011, Jane left Rainbown Cathedral MCC and relocated to Woodstock, CT. She is currently the chair of the National Clergy...
DAVE STROHMAIER serves on the City Council in Missoula, MT and works as an historian for Historical Research Associates. He has written two natural history books on fire in the West, and is currently a candidate for the U.S. House of...
TIMOTHY K. VANCE is now seeking new (non-parochial) challenges—a job with an “OFF” switch—after medical disability retirement in 2006. He volunteers at a hospice and cancer institute in Great Falls, MT, and works sporadically on an STM thesis...
BEAU WESTON has been married 30 years to Susan and has three kids, the eldest at Yale Law School. He has spent 22 years teaching sociology, now in an endowed chair, at Centre College, Danville, KY. Beau has written five books, mostly about the...
