William Wendell Fletcher – 50th Reunion Essay

William Wendell Fletcher

3655 Planting Green

Stillwater, MN 55082

wendellandsue@gmail.com

651-342-1654

Spouse(s): Susan R. Fletcher (1984)

Child(ren): Daniel Abbasi

Grandchild(ren): Jordan, Elias, Isabelle

Education: Yale AB 1969, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 1977 MS

Career: public policy analyst, manager, writer, consultant (current)

College: Timothy Dwight

Originally in the Class of 1968, I dropped out in my junior year, graduating in 1969 from Timothy Dwight while living off campus on the shore. I spent most of my career working at nonpartisan agencies—yes, there really are such things— in Washington, DC, changing focus overtime from environmental policy, to technology assessment to transportation. It seems hard to believe at this time of hyper-partisanship that Congress had the good sense at various times to establish four nonpartisan analytical support agencies, two of which I worked for—the Congressional Research Service (where I met Sue, my wife and partner in life), and the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). After OTA was eliminated in 1995—a strange Newt Gingrich priority, I finished my federal career at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the US Department of Transportation and one of the 13 federal statistical agencies. These agencies strive mightily to keep partisan politics out of their work, and mostly succeed.

Returning to Yale with my wife Sue after nearly half a century, we were much taken with the students in my old room in TD. My impression is that coeducation, greater diversity, and a more globally representative student body have improved Yale—and the food was a pleasant surprise! When I was a student, pretty much the only options for me in the TD dining room as a lacto-vegetarian were an unadorned cheese plate or a couple of hard-boiled eggs—now there are numerous delicacies for vegans, vegetarians and for people with a wide assortment of other dietary preferences.

Sue and I are now retired—aside from occasional consulting projects— living in Stillwater, Minnesota, a picturesque small town on the banks of the St. Croix River, a designated National Wild and Scenic River that is only a 20-minute drive to the Twin Cities. We enjoy seeing my stepson and his wife (who live in Connecticut) and our three wonderful grandchildren whenever schedules permit, and we have good friends and family in the area. I am grateful to have these people in my life. I credit my Yale liberal arts education in teaching me how to “learn how to learn”—a trite expression that nonetheless embodies a skill that has become essential to succeed in contemporary life and a source of much satisfaction.

My younger self from 50 years ago would be surprised that we avoided nuclear war up until now (as this is written, at least). Sadly, my old self of today is no more sanguine about the world we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren. Our generation has done little to end the threat of nuclear annihilation and is oddly complacent about the impacts of human caused climate change. We won’t live to see the results of our inaction 50 years from now, but the students I met at TD two years ago may, and I hope they are better stewards of the world than we (and I) have been.