Reminiscence, a farewell, and gratitude

John Dempsey

The editor, in her office at 2 Whitney Avenue, View full image

One day in 2002, when I was the editor for the magazine of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a friend of mine told me the Yale Alumni Magazine was looking for an editor in chief. She thought I’d be terrific; I thought it was a long shot. Still, I promised her I’d give it a try. She wrote down the name and phone number of the young man whom Yale had commissioned to find a good editor/writer. I called him, and we arranged a time to meet.

We met, we talked for a while, and then I showed him some of my work. At NRDC, I had somehow managed to commission a long piece from Ian Frazier. When he saw that name in the magazine, his jaw actually dropped. I also showed him some of my own writing. He seemed to think I was a shoo-in. I was doubtful.

Then came the day when I was to meet the four people in New York who would choose the new editor—and I was panicking, because I was about ten minutes late. (Either the train was late, or I was late and missed the train I wanted; I don’t remember which.) I ran as fast as I could out of Grand Central Terminal and burst into the room panting and apologizing, certain that it was a lost cause and someone else would become editor. But no: they assured me everything was fine, and would I like to take a seat?

We had a very interesting and enjoyable discussion. Harvey Applebaum ’59 was there; he had previously chaired the AYA. Susan Hockfield, then dean of the graduate school, was there, along with Paul Steiger ’64 of the Wall Street Journal, and then-Vice President Linda Lorimer ’77JD. I remember answering a serious question from Linda (on my left), and then turning to Paul (on my right) and cracking a joke. He burst out laughing.

And I got the job. Paul told me later that they all thought I was the right person.
 
After that, my husband—Doug Barnes—and I moved to Connecticut with our two little boys. I was rather anxious at first. I had a dream in which I lugged my suitcase up the stairs to my suite in Berkeley College, only to find that other young women had grabbed all the beds and I’d have to sleep on the floor.

Yet everything worked out. Doug and I put our money down for a house in Hamden that’s only a 15-minute drive to Yale. I started working with our small staff on April 1, 2003—April Fools’ Day—which I thought was very propitious: we’d have fun! And we definitely did. There are always ups and downs, but we’ve had many more ups than downs, including several trophies for our work.

Through the years, the Yale Alumni Magazine has evolved beautifully, thanks to our excellent staff. When we needed a new art director, I interrogated several people. One of them was Jeanine Dunn, who knows many excellent artists and precisely how each image should look: she, too, was a shoo-in. And of course, where would we be without Ellen Cole, who catches everything that was spelled wrong or looked odd; and where would we be without Peggy Edersheim Kalb ’86, who has cascades of new books sent to her regularly and always chooses the best ones to promote; Jill Perno, who works like a powerhouse; Alison Wehrle, who pulls in the ads that help to keep us afloat; and Mark Branch ’86, who, like Ellen, had been working at Yale long before I was, and who knows Yale’s places and people like the back of his hand. And although Theresa Sikora, our longtime operations manager (who has probably made only three numerical mistakes in her entire life), will retire soon, we’re all very glad that she’ll come back to visit us.

It has been a long and wonderful run. I’ve teared up more than once whenever I thought about leaving my post at Yale. But after 21 years, I have decided to retire. It will be lovely to take a break, read more books, do some traveling. And one additional note, so that I can end where I began: that friend of mine who told me the Yale Alumni Magazine was looking for an editor in chief? She is Lenore Skenazy ’81, my classmate and dear friend. Thank you, Lenore!