Letters
We want to hear from you — good, bad, just not ugly. Please share thoughts, insights, discrepancies, recollections, and how’s your Tom’s Trivia win-loss percentage coming?
Comment, email lisa.stiepock@uconn.edu, or send by regular mail to UConn Magazine Letters, 34 N. Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT 06268-3144.
➼ I always enjoy reading the UConn Magazine. I must say I was really disappointed in the last edition. I am amazed that you did not include the School of Nursing and a representative from the nursing profession in this edition. Nurses have been heroes in this pandemic; accolades have been offered throughout the country for front line health care workers, especially nurses. The editor started off the edition by saying, "...we decided to make this issue a front-to-back compilation of UConn people doing good in the world." It seems like a huge oversight to not include nurses right now. I've been leading a hospice team through this pandemic; it's been the most challenging year of my long professional career. I've also been volunteering whenever I can to get people vaccinated.
Maureen Groden ’90 MS, Southampton, Massachusetts, via e-mail
➼ I love reading the UConn Magazine from cover to cover — it is well written and organized, keeping me (BA '71, MA '80) well informed. I don't want to miss even one issue.
Cheryl Weisman-Cohen ’71 (CLAS), ’80 MA, Irvine, California
➼ Thank you for your effort to keep UConn in contact with all alumni. This issue was particularly important to me for a number of reasons. Coming from Meriden and being a 1955 graduate of this great University, the article on Miguel Cardona was special. Even more important was the recognition you gave to my friend Dee Rowe. I played varsity soccer during my four years at UConn and my wife, Lucy, and I have kept in touch with Dee over the years. It was special to see how he has been recognized by the men’s and women’s teams and their uniforms.
Ronald J. Meoni ’ 55 (BUS), Warwick, Rhode Island via email
Esther Pahl '52 MS
➼ Beautiful story about my Aunt Esther (Polly) Harris; Norkin; Pahl. What a great way to remember your roots — I remember going to her graduation in Connecticut and how she used to take me as a child to AIC in Springfield, Massachusetts. She looks darn good for 97. Wow!
Eugene Cantor, via our website
Dee Rowe
➼ I just wanted to compliment you and second your motion noting Dee Rowe as one of the “Good People” at UConn. My Dad was also a friend of Dee and he was a key reason I am a proud UConn graduate.
Greg Bartels ’82 (BUS), Tewksbury, New Jersey, via e-mail
➼ I met coach Rowe in the spring of 1969 — I was part of his first recruiting class. I played for him during my sophomore and junior years before leaving the team over a dispute he and I had in December of 1971. I reconnected with him on a visit to campus 20-plus years after I had graduated and we had a great conversation about the time we spent together at UConn all those years earlier. We maintained on and off communication over the next 20 years. Whenever I called he would typically begin our conversation by asking — how is your family, what do you need and/or how can I help? Over the past several years I managed to find my way back to him and several teammates from that period on a more consistent basis. It was nice to reconnect and feel a bit the like the prodigal son. A group of us had lunch with Coach in Storrs prior to the Covid breakout and there were a number of Zoom calls we gathered for as the epidemic restricted visits. He was a good and decent man who loved his family, his players ,and the game of basketball. His primary objective in life was reaching out to help people. He leaves behind that wonderful legacy. R.I.P. Coach Rowe and thank you.
Rich Begen ’73 (CLAS), Boston, Massachusetts, via our website
➼ It was the summer of 1954 in Worcester, MA after a summer league game. A young coach came up to me, put his hand my shoulder and said, “Stay with it, keep practicing.” I asked why. He replied, “You are different,” and walked away. Upon graduating from high school, Dee was the first to offer me a scholarship (to Worcester Academy). I chose instead to go straight to UConn. I have always regretted not playing that extra year before heading to Storrs. He remained a lifelong friend as he was to so many others.
Len Carlson ’62 (ED), ’63 MS, Evans, Georgia, via email
Do Good, Feel Good
➼ Malachi Bridges is of interest because I worked for an affordable housing organization in New Haven for 23 years, serving those in distressed neighborhoods who were at the bottom step of the economic ladder. I loved UConn, and got to visit there again when my daughter graduated in 2014. Henry Dynia ’75
➼ I am very impressed with Peter Goggins’ story. Feeding fish insects and vegetables and getting the same results as high quality commercial feed is terrific! If the product offers higher quality and is cost competitive, you have a product you can market to the commercial fish farms. One thought is that you may need to tailor your ingredients to what is locally available for foreign production. Good luck with your endeavor!
Wes Murphy, via our website
➼ Richie Mutts is inspirational, he opens up his heart to let others dive in. We need more people like him.
Suzie Arildsen, via our website
➼ Great story. Amazing man! Even though Richie Mutts is my son I can shout from the mountain tops: He gives 100 percent of himself to help others. He never stops. One of the most empathetic people I know. He is a giver who never stops or looks for anything in return.
Debbie, via our website
➼ As his cousin and growing up with him, Richie Mutts has always been full of compassion, care, and concern for others. The gift and callings of his life are and will continue to have a great impact — there are so many people needing and wanting what he has to offer. I’ve taken my seat and am in constant awe in what God is doing in and through him!!
Kym, via our website
➼ What a joy to read this narrative of Professor Marilyn (Waniek) Nelson. I was just a bright-eyed kid at UConn — back in 1981 or so when I enrolled in her class. I still have my journal and Marilyn’s critiques of some of my poems penned from my time in her class. I’ve kept these poems aside, and I re-read them every now and then — probably because I loved what she had to say about them than the verses themselves. Keeping them in a journal is much like taking them on a journey with me all these years. Thank you, Professor Waniek for sharing that journey — as if you knew! When I wrote about a Nostradamus quatrain that year, foretelling the “King of Terror,” she wrote an imaginary note to me from the future, placed in New York City, saying how wonderful it is that we’re all still here. How wonderful indeed. Peace.
Chester Dalzell ’83 (CLAS), New York, New York, via our website
➼ Thank you UConn Magazine for this incredible feature in print and online about Gina Barreca, her new book “Fast Funny Women,” and her living legacy at the University of Connecticut. Gina Barreca is a gift to so many (including lucky me!) and she keeps on giving and giving. Read the feature, buy the book, and join Team Gina — you will learn, laugh, and love UConn even more!
Laura Rossi Totten ’91 (CLAS), Jamestown, Rhode Island, via our website
➼ I’m even cute in cartoon form.
Jonathan the Husky, Storrs, Connecticut, via Instagram
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