Class Notes 1980

We are moving toward the 45th class of 1980 reunion in June (19-21) 2025. Of course, we will be joined by our lovely friends in the classes of ’79 and ’81. In the meantime, classmates Debo Hart Goth and Kim McConaughy Vletas and others got folks jazzed for 2025 by organizing an activity-filled, classmate-clustering time in Park City, Utah. Information on the event came from multiple directions: Carol Burns shared the official schedule and participants list for “Winter Carnival West” and Brian Boyer provided some color commentary to me about dinners and opportunities to talk with both his close classmates (Peter Fowler, Andy Minden, etc.) and folks he hadn’t connected with since some long ago reunion. For more details and pics, check out Bill Goodspeed’s most recent newsletter!

This issue of the alumni magazine is focused on books! A delight for me personally, as a perpetual liberal arts student and a professional scholar/bibliophile. I asked an assortment of classmates for their book picks from this season of life. Speaking of delight, my daily meditation (since my birthday in March) is done to The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, a poet who shares short musings on a delight he has found in his daily goings, doings, and thoughts.

A book that appeared in multiple responses is David Brooks’ The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life. Mark Fischer reflected that it was helpful as he preps for retirement. Peter Fowler contributed the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Going Infinite (Michael Lewis) on Sam Bankman-Fried, and Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology (Chris Miller)—a theme? Steve Smith is in a Dartmouth book club directed by Mike Wall’s wife, Suzanne. So he had a massive and diverse list that would exceed my allowable word count. A few recommendations: four novels by Louise Erdrich ’76 (including The Sentence), books for spy novel enthusiasts such as a trilogy by Jason Matthews (starting with Red Sparrow), and any book by Erik Larson—I love his super-long titles and recommend (if you’re interested in the Gilded Age) The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America.

I saved Ellen (Groetch) LaBerge’s recommendations for last. She and I live in the same city and got together recently (first time in a while) for dinner with Daniela Varon (Dani lives in N.Y.C. and teaches at Yale drama), who came to Syracuse for the totality. Dinner was awesome; the totality was a bit cloudy in town but still able to be captured on film. Ellen suggests three books written by classmates: Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge by Jill Fredston and Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths and Embattled: How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us to Resist Tyranny by Emily Katz Anhalt. I hope these suggestions (and the rest of this DAM issue) help you find texts that nourish your brains, hearts, and souls. Happy reading.

—Kal Alston, 948 Euclid Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210; alstonkal@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

Greetings to the class! I joined Rob Dinsmoor and Wade Herring on the Class Notes beat this fall. I am writing from Syracuse, New York, where I have been a professor (philosophy of education and women’s and gender studies) for 18 years at Syracuse University (after 16 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). The first decade I was a university-level administrator in the provost-chancellor areas; after that, until this school year, I was an associate dean in the school of education. Today you find me a “recovering” academic administrator, contemplating retirement during 2024. Part of the reason for the retirement dreams is the hope I will be able to do more writing, artistic, and consulting projects that come from my own impulses (rather than writing bylaws and policy documents—an activity I enjoyed but am happy not to do anymore!).

As for Dartmouth, I feel very fortunate to serve on the board of visitors for Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, ensuring that I go to campus at least twice a year. And I am really looking forward to making up for the “lost” reunion of 2020 in June 13-15, 2025!

I talked with Mark Fisher this summer about the joys of having grown children and figuring out retirement and the next phase of life (travel, where to live, etc.). He is still full of the energy and joy that animated him during Dartmouth (and our intersection during grad school at UChicago).

Kim Marra, who retired after a long career as a professor of theater arts and American studies at the University of Iowa, is still living with her partner, Meredith Alexander (also retired Iowa theater arts faculty), in Iowa City, Iowa. This year she visited her (and my) major advisor in Dartmouth drama, professor Nancy Kindelan (who retired from Northeastern) in Massachusetts.

Brian Boyer has (with spouse Gretchen) made the last major reno in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, retirement pad, and they are feeling settled there. Bri also took a December Spanish immersion trip to Uruguay.

I found photographic evidence of seven of the “37 Hot Sh*ts of Bones Gate” (plus Mark Zimmerman ’81) on my social media feed: Chuck Wheelock, Craig Lambdin, Rob Ruocco, Hans Morris, Mark Alperin, and Frank Fesnak at their 41st annual Bones Gate “Swaddling Day” dinner at Contento in New York City. You shall all be pleased to know they look well and well wined and dined.

I will always suggest following Ty Burr’s film writing (Ty Burr’s Watchlist). You can find him on Substack, where he also will occasionally offer meditations on family, growing older, and life on Planet Earth.

Please keep in touch. We’d love reports from the February mini-reunion and other class of ’80 gatherings and doings. Please make sure to update your alumni profile to alert the College about your communication preferences: www.alumni.dartmouth.edu/connect/find-alumni.

—Kal Alston, 948 Euclid Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210; alstonkal@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

Our relationship with one another is based in the now. Forty-seven years have slipped away, but time has left us with more than boring stories of glory days. We still have one another. In a culture where loneliness and isolation are epidemic, our connections are precious.

Scott Osman, CEO of 100 Coaches, proposed “80Connect.” Todd Young agreed to coordinate and serve as a group facilitator. In addition to Todd, Scott trained Kate Laud, Debo Goth, and me. All five of us led 80Connect groups.

Chris LaRocca shared his experience of 80Connect: “It was amazing how, in a short period of time and at great distance, real bonds were formed, strengthened, and made manifest as we shared setbacks, uncertainties, and challenges but also joys, laughter, and successes.”

Alec Clarke reflected, “I was unsure whether it would have any value, but I could not be happier that I accepted. My group ranged from one good friend to some acquaintances to two people I did not know at all, but now I feel like I have seven other people that I could talk to any time about anything.”

Rob Rough wrote,“We shared life experiences and concerns we face as we age. I received valuable feedback from the group on a number of items. We really bonded and were sad when the process ended.”

Reported Lies Sapp: “Although I have had almost no contact with things Dartmouth since I left Hanover in 1979, I thought—with nothing to lose—why not accept the offer of forming new connections and rekindling old ones? I am so glad I did. It forced me to look backward through the mists of time to re-examine myself, my experiences, and the College. I feel far more engaged and connected with my undergraduate experience and my classmates than before.”

Brian Boyer concluded, “I think 80Connect is one of the most important initiatives our class has taken to promote class spirit and connection. It comes at a perfect point in our lives where we all may need a boost to counteract the isolation associated with aging and retirement. 80Connect is especially enriching in that we all have our common Dartmouth experience as a basis for sharing about our lives.”

John Ribaudo said, “It allowed me to connect at a deeper level with some alumni I knew at Dartmouth as well as those I didn’t. It also gave me a deeper appreciation of my life path as well as the life paths of others.”

According to Jeff Demers, “The 80connect experience was a surprisingly intense and enjoyable experience. We shared very personal details, which before the session I would have said that there is no way we would get to this level.”

Mere Adelman observed; “Although I knew almost all the people in my group, I learned so much more about them and myself from my involvement. I appreciate the help each of them gave me and miss our sessions.”

Consider signing up next time. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

Look for the good things.

Linda Holekamp teaches preschool through fifth grade in Port Huron, Michigan. Linda likes being with children, which is a good thing.

Linda Williams reports that her hometown of Tahoe City, California, is a wonderful place to live. Still, the area can be a little isolating, Linda confessed, and that was before this year’s record-breaking snowfall.

Dan Dross has helped start three private equity funds. He is the father of three children. Senior partner and cofounder of Trinity Hunt in Dallas, Dan has a second home in L.A., that is to say, lower Alabama, otherwise known as the panhandle of Florida. The panhandle is not really in Alabama, which is a good thing, but it is still in Florida.

At the law firm of Fox Rothschild in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tom Marek is a corporate lawyer married to a recently retired judge. Tom recently became a grandfather, which is a most excellent thing. Working out every day, Tom is a strong contender for “most unchanged.”

Bill Martini describes his career as 1950s style. Based in Portland, Oregon, Bill is a longtime employee of Tecogen, a company known for cost-efficient, environmentally friendly products for energy production that nearly eliminate criteria pollutants and reduce a customer’s carbon footprint.

Living in Greenwich, Connecticut, Sally Sandercock Michler is grateful to have all three daughters nearby in New York City. One of those three is mother to Sally’s granddaughter, a “pure joy.”

Tim Nolan describes himself as semi-retired, enjoying the good life on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Tim has four children. The last time we spoke, Tim had eight grandchildren and two more on the way.

Home again in Little Rock, Arkansas, since 1995, Dana Abraham founded a breast clinic in 2007. Dana’s clinic is a leader in breast surgery in Arkansas, specializing in breast surgical oncology and oncoplastic surgery, including breast reductions. Since any breast issue can cause anxiety, Dana takes pride in her bedside manner and ability to connect with her patients and their families.

David Broll is still working in financial services outside Philadelphia with Creative Financial Group. David’s son, Steve, works with him. Daughter Kelsey is a human resources professional for a local nonprofit.

Stephen Collins has a long and successful track record in the residential real estate market in Dallas. When buying and selling their homes, Stephen says people lay their souls out to you.

If you have never read Independence Day by Richard Ford, your dutiful secretary recommends it. The protagonist is Frank Bascombe, a real estate agent. Here’s a taste: “I myself, Frank Bascombe, was mugged on Coolidge Street, one street over, late in April, spiritedly legging it home from a closing at our realty office just at dusk, a sense of achievement lightening my step, still hoping to catch the evening news, a bottle of Roederer—a gift from a grateful seller I’d made a bundle for—under my arm.” Bascombe is full of regret—not a good thing.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

A final report on my congressional campaign: As I said on election night to a large crowd, I am grateful for the great class of 1980 and humbled that people who knew me when I was 17 would still support me for U.S. Congress.

Running a political campaign is like starting a business. More than ever, I think small business owners are some of the bravest people I know.

I campaigned in all 15 counties of the district, which includes Georgia’s entire coast. I put 25,000 miles on the campaign vehicle in 10 months.

My campaign raised approximately $1.4 million, almost five times more than any other Democratic congressional candidate has ever raised in the 1st District. The only Georgia congressional challenger to raise more this cycle was Marcus Flowers. His $15 million could not beat Marjorie Taylor Greene, and he received only 34 percent of the vote. Seven congressional challengers in Georgia did not top $100,000.

I campaigned with Sens. Warnock and Ossoff, Stacey Abrams, and numerous local elected officials.

The campaign’s TikTok videos went viral (I am the chillest dude in America). Senior Washington, D.C., correspondent Hallie Jackson traveled to Savannah to interview me. Ms. Jackson’s story about TikTok and politics was broadcast on NBC Nightly News shortly before the general election, using me as an example of a politician who effectively used TikTok, contrasted with Dr. Oz, who did not.

I question whether Georgia is a battleground state. No Democrat won a statewide race on November 8. An incumbent, Warnock won only after a runoff against a very flawed candidate and spending millions and millions of dollars. Georgia’s new lieutenant governor was a fake elector on January 6, 2021.

Congressional districts are drawn to favor the incumbent of whatever party. No congressional incumbent lost in the general election. (No incumbents in statewide races lost in Georgia.)

I carried two counties, including Chatham (Savannah), the most populous county in the district where both the incumbent and I live and have spent our adult careers. I received 58 percent of the vote in Chatham County and 61 percent of the vote in Liberty County. In the 1st District I received more votes than any other Democrat on the ballot, with the exception of Sen. Warnock. I earned 41 percent of the district-wide vote. The only other challenger in a Georgia congressional race who exceeded that percentage was Republican Chris West, who received 45 percent of the vote in Georgia’s 2nd District, a district that Republicans redrew in 2021 in an effort to make it more competitive for Republicans.

I have an endless supply of new stories, a development that friends and acquaintances will receive with mixed emotions. As Tom Chapin has said, “If Wade likes a story, you’re going to hear it more than once.” (I’ve told that story more than once.) Who knows, maybe a book or some public speaking gigs will come out of this.

I am grateful for the experience, and I have no regrets.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

Thank you, everyone, for writing! Tom Bartlett recently published Sailing from Plymouth, a book of short stories which “present a range of characters and experiences from the past, present, and future that capture either the fair seas or stormy conditions of human existence.” The book is available on eBay UK and all proceeds will benefit the life-changing work of Advantage Africa in Kenya and Uganda.

Meanwhile, Big Table Publishing published my second book of short stories, You’ll Never See It Coming, which, like its predecessor, Toxic Cookout, finds humor in everyday paranoia. Both are available on Amazon and from the Big Table Publishing website.

Ben Zuraw writes: “Peter Boone and I had the priviledge of attending the annual awards dinner this spring of Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education (SCOPE), a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to send deserving children to camp. There Dan Zenkel was awarded SCOPE’s youth advocate award. Dan has been a long-time board member of SCOPE as well as its board president. Dan and Michele hosted Peter and me for a fun dinner at their home the next evening.”

In July Dr. John A. Rich assumed the position of inaugural director of the Rush University System for Health Bank of Montreal (RUSH BMO) Institute for Health Equity. The institute was launched last year to help coordinate health-equity efforts across RUSH and its diverse communities and recognized the need for a full-time director who shares its vision and values. After graduating from Dartmouth John earned a medical degree from Duke University Medical School and a master’s in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. While at Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center), he was troubled by the way that trauma, poverty, and the lack of access to healthcare constantly affected the health of Black and Latino men. There he launched a young men’s health clinic and created a community health worker training initiative in which young men from the community were taught skills alongside primary providers. He received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. His book Wrong Place, Wrong Time; Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2009.

In May Chris Browne was named director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, where he has served as acting director since January 2021. While majoring in history and Native American studies at Dartmouth, he learned aviation through the Flying Club. After Dartmouth he went on to graduate from the U.S. Navy’s “Top Gun” fighter weapons school.

I’m eagerly following Wade Herring’s congressional bid in Georgia. “I am grateful for the encouragement, support, and financial generosity of the great class of 1980,” he writes. “I am confident that my decision to run was the right thing to do. Despite all of our nation’s problems and divisions, I remain hopeful about America and the promises that she has to keep.”

—Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net; Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

Paula Holmes-Eber and her husband, Lorenz Eber, announce the release of their new book, Breathtaking: How One Family Cycled Around the World for Clean Air and Asthma, a fascinating epic recounting their family cycling trip around the world on two tandem bicycles. Their journey raised awareness and funding to support sufferers of asthma and other respiratory diseases. For more information on the book, contact Paula’s publisher, Maura Cahill ’20, at mcahill@rowman.com.

Mike Wall and his wife, Suzanne, may not have cycled around the world, but they too completed an impressive journey. For their wedding anniversary in February these two Minnesotans booked a weeklong Nordic ski trip on the Appalachian Mountain Club lodge-to-lodge trails through the wilderness of northern Maine. The first day of their trip required them to plow through 10 inches of fresh snow for more than six hours, which Suzanne described as “Type 2 fun,” meaning, “not fun when you are experiencing it, yet fun to talk about later.”

Emily Katz Anhalt reports that she is still living in Guilford, Connecticut, and teaching classical languages and literature at Sarah Lawrence College. Her most recent book is Embattled: How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us to Resist Tyranny (Stanford University Press, 2021), which “argues that Ancient Greek myths, told in epic tales and Greek tragic plays, offer us a lifeline out of our current sea of raging, mutually destructive, political passions and polarizations.” Timely wisdom.

Shaun Smith retired in the spring of 2019 after four decades in commercial real estate finance. She and her husband, David Hov ’78, thereupon moved to Leesburg, Virginia, where they are close to their daughter and first grandchild, Aidan Preston Lincoln.

Mike Perrella is running a commercial division for a 100-plus-year-old community credit union. He and his wife, Alison, are imaging retirement but not there yet. They are enjoying their first grandchild and looking forward to their daughter’s wedding this summer. Mike would love to hear from classmates who are in central New England or the Boston-Manchester, New Hampshire, area.

Jim Leahy is still practicing investment management law with a focus on regulatory compliance in New York City. He and his wife, Noreen, now have three grandchildren. Jim reports enjoying reading Dr. Seuss (I assume to his grandkids) and singing in the choir.

Though we live no more than a mile apart, I had to hunt down Cathel MacLeod to pry out some news. He responded ruefully, “Sadly, there are consequences for a surgeon’s life. Now that I am retired it seems my invisibility cloaking has failed. I had a quiet but rejuvenating winter. I am hoping to make it easier for college newsletter classmates by doing in retirement all I put off for decades.” We shall see.

Save the date for the “When I’m 64” birthday super mini-reunion, October 9-12, at the LaFonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more info contact Brian Boyer at brianboyer7@gmail.com or Lisa Shanahan at lisashan@msn.com.

—Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

As I have written this column through the years, I have debated whether it should be timeless or not. In this moment, I am stuck in time, specifically, that odd week between Christmas and the new year. The Omicron variant has renewed uncertainty about public events and public health. Do you lack all conviction or are you full of passionate intensity? Who is to say which is best or worst?

Meanwhile, unstuck Brent and Cami Bilger are loopers. The Great Loop is a continuous waterway that includes part of the Atlantic, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland. In January Brent and Cami will sail out of northern Germany, down to the tropics, and across the Atlantic.

Dana Cetlin, a busy real estate attorney in Natick, Massachusetts, is grateful that property is moving, with one daughter in business school at MIT and another in medical school at Northwestern.

In mid-2021 Dr. Jacqueline Brown Gettys became medical director of Capital Health’s post-acute care program. She helps patients move from one level of care to another. Said Dr. Gettys, “I’m excited to lead the new program that aims to improve communication and coordination of care as patients transition out of the hospital so we can achieve the best possible outcomes when they get to their next level of care. While seniors are the most common patient population to be served by the program, our services are available to any patient who receives care at Capital Health.” Capital Health is based in Trenton, New Jersey.

Matt Cairone is a litigator at the Philadelphia office of Fishkin Lucks. Matt represents large industrial entities in toxic tort matters, but his two grandchildren are what make his heart beat faster.

Another lawyer, Steve Camerino is the CEO of law firm McLane Middleton in Manchester, New Hampshire. When not herding cats, Steve likes to hike, ski, and visit New York City with his wife, Sarah, also a lawyer.

Richard Braverman is a retired pediatric radiologist in Houston trying to decide what comes next.

Bob Berlinger has retired from the television industry. He describes himself as comfortably divorced for 20 years. Bob’s son, a journalist, is to be married this January to a French woman he met in Hong Kong. Bob’s daughter, Michelle, is a member of the class of ’13 and the owner of her own jewelry design company. Just as Bob hung out at the Hop doing theater, Michelle made the jewelry studio there her home.

Joyce Booth is an immigration lawyer in Stockbridge, Georgia. Her practice focuses on family-based immigration, temporary protected status, and detention and removal cases.

One final bit of lawyer news: Meg LePage has been inducted into the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Fellows are recognized as distinguished members of the labor and employment community who promote achievement, advancement, and excellence in the practice by setting standards of professionalism and civility. How else to describe Meg?

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net; Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com

This August I had the pleasure of spending a weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine, with Lauri Livesey Sanduski and her husband, Jim. Lauri and I were together on the same freshman trip, when we quickly bonded. It was the beginning of a lifetime friendship. We hiked in Bar Harbor, more slowly than we did 45 years ago, but with no less enthusiasm. Lauri recently retired from IBM, her one and only employer since she graduated from Tuck in 1981.

Our drive home took us through the quaint coastal village of Camden, where Peter Kesser, former general counsel of two large public companies, now runs the Camden Maine Stay Inn, a historic bed-and-breakfast. Peter’s shift from lawyer to innkeeper came somewhat fortuitously when the former owners of the inn—whom Peter and his wife, Janis, got to know from years of being guests—announced they were ready to retire and wanted to sell. Peter says although he left behind his legal career in Memphis, Tennessee, “I did not retire, nor was I burned out on the law or escaping corporate life. In fact, I loved being a lawyer.” Peter is thriving in his new role. “I most enjoy meeting and talking with our guests—people of all ages, with widely varying backgrounds and careers, and from all parts of the United States and the world.” He also loves living in Maine, where “I can hike a mountain and sail on Penobscot Bay in the same day and all within a few minutes from the inn.” Peter welcomes all ’80s—indeed all Dartmouth grads—to visit him in Camden. You can check out the elegantly appointed inn at camdenmainestay.com.

Speaking of traveling to Maine, Merle Adelman let me know she is planning a trip to Portland in September to take part in the Maine Lighthouse Ride with fellow rider Laurel Smith.The 60-mile route hugs the coast starting in South Portland, home of Peg Stewart and Ursula Mathers Nehrt,to Cape Elizabeth, home to Susan Green Spagnola and John Moloney, to Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, and back to Portland, home of Rich Entel.Maybe she will see some of our classmates along the way.

Like many of our classmates, Rich is a physician, specializing in addiction medicine. Rich is also an acclaimed visual artist who studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and was an artist-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony. Take a look at his amazing sculptures of soulful animals made of discarded cardboard and pieces of musical instruments at entelmenagerie.squarespace.com

I end my column with a plug to read the thoughtful and inspiring interview of trustee emeritus John Rich called “We are Finally Talking About Racism as a Problem Worth Solving,” online at calltolead.dartmouth.edu/stories. John credits his medical career addressing the effects of racial trauma to his study of English at Dartmouth.

—Meg Coughlin LePage,8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

The pandemic has brought us a year of radical change. Some of us have lost loved ones. David May reports that his parents died, but he couldn’t be there because of Covid. On the other hand, he has a new grandchild and reports that he “will never lose the joy from this blessing that just keeps giving.”

Some of us have relocated. Jeffrey Demers writes “My wife and I moved—not to a warmer climate, but to one that is snowier. We moved to Sharon, Vermont, just a short trip down a dirt road to Hanover. We wanted to get away from the congestion that exists around Boston and move to a quieter environment.” John Clark and his wife, Becky, now live in Grafton, Vermont. “We managed to settle in the safest state in the union as far as Covid is concerned.” To distract themselves from the chaos on the news, Becky took up knitting and quilting and John took up nature photography. “After almost a year of learning photography, I upgraded my camera, and a whole new world of possibilities has opened up.”

Tom Bartlett lives in England with his wife and has two grown kids. He works in prison reform and prisoner resettlement and is applying for dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom. “After 30 years on this island, it’s about time.” Sean O’Keefe’s third novel, Phantom Money, was published in March. “The story is about an L.A. lawyer who is forced to launder $100 million for a drug cartel while he is being investigated by an FBI strike team. Writing novels on the side makes the practice of law endurable. I’ve been participating in author readings on Zoom.

“I enjoy hearing other authors share their work and reading from my short story collection, Toxic Cookout, channeling such characters as a world-weary truck driver and a spoiled, snarky 17-year-old girl.” Marc D. Feldman writes that he may be the only member of the class to have surgery on another member of the class—in this case, someone with whom he took P.E. as a freshman. “Carter Harsh, a neurosurgeon, performed a very successful cervical fusion a couple of years ago that cured me of serious arm pain,” he writes.

In response to my question about new undertakings, Elisabeth Lilly writes, “I took up tennis! Then I fell on the court and sprained my wrist.” Laurel Smith learned a new sport last winter—skating with Nordic blades on frozen New Hampshire lakes. After quitting piano lessons at the age of 10, Kristin Lord started playing again seven or eight years ago and now takes virtual lessons with a regular teacher, but Covid has kept her too busy to practice as much as she’d like. Carol Krensky Huston writes, “Not much. Just graduated from law school, passed the New Jersey bar, and became a lawyer. Ho hum.” (Slacker! Just kidding!)

—Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net; Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage, 8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com

You should know by now that our class has new co-presidents, Joe Mannes and Cathy McGrath. Joe is the president of Samco Capital Markets in Dallas, where he has worked in a variety of capacities since 2001. After Dartmouth Joe earned an M.B.A. from Wharton. Joe also judges chili contests.

Living in Fairlee, Vermont (population 980), Cathy is a senior consultant at Marts & Lundy Inc. Cathy advises nonprofits about fundraising programs. And you thought your job in a pandemic was tough. “No, really, Zoom galas are fun.”

I hesitate to write about holdover presidents, but Susan Fagerstrom and Mark Alperin will continue to provide their expert assistance, at least through our 40th reunion. Or, as they say in Bulgaria, “When the pig in yellow slippers climbs the pear tree.”

Our new treasurer is Brian Boyer. Brian has worked at Wespath Institutional Investments (WII) since 2003 and currently serves as director of private markets. Like Joe, Brian also has an M.B.A. from Wharton. WII is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Wespath Benefits and Investments, a general agency of the United Methodist Church. In operation since 1908, Wespath manages the largest reporting faith-based pension fund in the world. Who knew the Methodists had so much money?

Our new secretaries are Rob Dinsmoor and Meg Coughlin LePage. Rob lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he writes about health and medical issues. He also writes fictive memoirs, pieces in which he disguises real characters he has encountered. If you are not in one of Rob’s books, you do not know whether to be relieved or insulted. Rob’s life changed dramatically when he started practicing yoga, and even more when he started teaching yoga. Whenever I tried yoga, pre-pandemic, the instructors always gave me concerned looks that loudly telegraphed, “Please, old man, do not die in my class.”

Meg is an attorney, a partner at Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine. She is the mother of four, including twins. Just writing that makes me tired. Meg lives with her husband, Mike, in Cumberland and is a dedicated runner. Meg is a very nice person, especially for a lawyer.

We have lost another classmate, Joni von Herrmann, who died in October. Carol Burns, Joni’s freshman year roommate, remembers her as “a force of nature, beautiful, self-confident.” Carol further recalls, “We had many fine adventures (including early morning breakfasts with Brent Bilger at Thayer, which we referred to as ‘Brekkie with Brent’). Joni was kind and fun and passionate about Dartmouth.”

Jerry Jeff Walker also died in October. He performed in Spaulding in 1977 and in the Bema at our 25th reunion. Walker made a number of definitive Texas outlaw recordings, notably “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.” As for the Spaulding performance, I was there, a terrifying experience because I was far too sober for the drunken mob of an audience.

Mr. Bojangles. Mr. Bojangles. Dance.

—Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage, 8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net

The award-winning class of 1980 continues its proud tradition of achievement giving to the college. In case you missed the ad in a prior DAM edition, for our 40th reunion fundraising, our class received both the Class of 1938 Award for the highest reunion dollar total ($4,379,783) and the Class of 1964 Award for the greatest number of reunion 1769 Society members (94). Congratulations to all who gave so generously, to head agent Merle Adelman, co-presidents Mark Alperin and Susan Fagerstrom, and to new agents Grant Bogle, Kevin Boyle, and Harry Shulman,with an important assist from veteran Bill Helman!

Speaking of Grant Bogle, he left his job as head of commercial for a Boston-based biotech company called Tesaro in mid-2019, several months after it was sold to another company. Without skipping a beat, he and his wife, Karen, went back to school full-time at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative. Grant is learning how to use his corporate savvy to make an impact for the greater good. That is a bold and noble encore career.

Speaking of encore careers, Bob Henderson recently hung up his cap and gown after 17 years of “transformational leadership” as head of Nobles and Greenough School. For his encore career Bob joined the independent consulting firm of Resource Group 175 and is helping schools find great heads like him. Speaking of great heads, Marc Lewis is also in the headhunting business, focusing on placing C-level executives and board members worldwide. Like all of us, Marc’s social life has slumped a bit during the pandemic. The low point came when his daughter, Sarah, had to postpone her much-anticipated wedding this summer. Marc is looking forward to more fun in the future, including our reunion and the Dartmouth alumni holiday party at Richards of Greenwich, Connecticut, which he touts as a not-to-be-missed event. Speaking of Greenwich, Dan Fitzpatrick sat down for an interview recently with the Greenwich Sentinel to explain his transformation from corporate lawyer to wealth advisor to a writer of “common-sense culture commentary.” Channeling Peggy Noonan and C.S. Lewis, Dan tries to be “thoughtful and thought-provoking without being mean, rude, partisan, or offensive.” That’s a novel approach these days. Asked if he would ever write a book, Dan quipped, “Every person of Irish descent believes that they have the ‘gift of gab’ and a solemn duty to share that gift with the world, whether the world wants it or not.” Maybe Dan’s book will be available for sale at our rescheduled reunion next year.

Speaking of sitting, Bill Goodspeed has created an encore career sitting on boards—seven of them at last count. Who would have known you could get paid for just sitting?

I am new at this, and I need material. For the next issue tell me about your encore careers or at least your plans for post-retirement adventures. I haven’t figured it out and need inspiration.

—Meg Coughlin LePage, 8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com; Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; dinsmo@earthlink.net

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan directs Italian studies at Fairfield University. She was scheduled to be in Italy three times spring semester. When those plans were canceled, she noted how much she was looking forward to reunion. She added, “The word ‘quarantine’ comes from Italian for 40, as in the number of days a ship that might have carried illness had to remain in port before crew could come ashore in the 1600s. In typical Italian fashion, ‘quarantina’ means 40-ish.”

Co-chairs Cathy McGrath and Alex Frank confirm our 40-ish reunion will take place summer 2021. Committee members Chris Bensley, Jeff Demers, Peter Fowler, Debo Hart Goth, Paul Grassie, Bill Koch, Ann Munves Malenka, Trina Olin Santry, Lisa Shanahan, Carla Boehm Sloan, Dan Zenkel,and Ed McNierney are working overtime to reschedule activities. Alexremains committed to following Ed over to King Arthur Flour to bake something for the first time in his life.

Gretchen and Brian Boyer recently hosted a transnational Zoom mini-reunion with Kal Alston (Syracuse, New York), Connie and Andy Minden (Boulder, Colorado), Mark Webb (Oahu, Hawaii), and Steve Smith and Deb Zvosec (Minneapolis). “Mark opted for a real Pacific beach background while Andy flashed pictures of more than a foot of mid-April snow on his deck. Steve and Deb maintain upstairs-downstairs isolation from each other as Steve works the ER of Hennepin County Hospital, dealing with Covid-infected patients daily. Deb makes cloth masks for ER patients; she demonstrated during the entire 90-minute call. While hunkering down with daughter Aviva, Kal is mastering her e-teaching skills for grad student seminars.” The Bri highly recommends Zoom to connect with classmates.

Bill Goodspeed excels as newsletter editor while waiting for The Onion to call. Speed reports, “Mike Lynch’s daughter, Haley, will soon graduate as a third-generation alum of Dartmouth undergrad and Geisel Med. Al Noyes’ son, A.J., won the Maine state slalom and giant slalom as a junior. My 1-year-old granddaughter, Lorelei, has added Mandarin and Latin to her violin studies; she aims to matriculate with the Dartmouth class of 2041.”

We have longtime treasurer Joe Mannes to thank for our class’ solid fiscal position. Joe officiates girls and women’s lacrosse at levels from second grade through college and also judges chili, Mexican food, and pie competitions at the Texas State Fair. He has completed more than 1,600 yoga classes in the past 10 years. My father, Joe’s pediatrician, would be proud and not surprised.

A few final fun facts: After graduation Kate Wiley Laud took classes with Sandy Meisner at the Actor’s Studio. When he worked for the Redskins, Mark Alperin greeted Ronald and Nancy Reagan as the team returned from winning the 1983 Super Bowl with, “Nice to meet you, Mr. President, and you as well, Mrs. President.” My wife, Chantal, surprised me on the 22nd anniversary of my proposal to her by proposing to me; we renewed our wedding vows moments later. I thank her, co-secretaries Wade Herring and Frank Fesnak, and all of you for a terrific decade as your scribe.

—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

We have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. But on June 18, we can cross the River Connecticut and return to the promised land. In part, reunions are about remembering who we were. More importantly, reunions are about discovering who we are now. I look forward to seeing you in Hanover in June to explore the now.

Carolyn Graff Wade, and her husband, Pat, received the 2019 William N. Stiles Award of Merit from the debtor-creditor section of the Oregon State Bar. A graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, Carolyn is senior assistant attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice. Fellow lawyers describe Carolyn as a “perfect fit in her longtime role” as Oregon’s bankruptcy counsel. A consummate rules-follower, Carolyn remains willing to think outside the box and consider creative solutions to the no-win situations of insolvency.

Carolyn reports that she and Pat are both in good health, he is enjoying his recent retirement, playing golf as much as his new role as a stay-home dad to their Portuguese water dog puppy, R2, allows. Carolyn and Pat both play bridge regularly, but not as much as she plans to do when she retires in less than 1,500 days (but who’s counting?). Their youngest son, Tom, and his partner, Anna, live in Seattle, where Tom works for the Seahawks in audio-visual, and Anna does graphic arts. Carolyn’s middle son, Chris, and his wife, Liz, are in L.A., parents of two children, thus making Carolyn and Pat grandparents. Their oldest son, Patrick, works only 40 miles away in Corvallis, Oregon, for Hewlett-Packard, but they do not see any of their children as often as they would like.

The Illinois Township Association of Senior Citizens Service Committees presented neighboring Oak Park Township and River Forest Township with a joint Township of the Year Award. River Forest Township supervisor Carla Sloan stated, “On behalf of all the seniors who are at the heart of what we do, we are thankful for the support of our community in providing the funding that is so essential to delivering this ongoing service.” Carla has served as township supervisor since 2009. Townships are units of government independent of village governments. Townships focus on human services, while villages deliver municipal services such as police, fire, parking, and road work. It takes a township to look after old people.

Carla and her husband, Ed, are just one of many classmate couples. Others include John and Susan Bick, Scott and Debra Daggs, Jack and Maureen McElhinney,and Steve James and Todd Hermann.

If you want to learn more about these Dartmouth couples, then see you in June in Hanover.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com

While waiting for a flight from O’Hare this past summer, I approached a young woman wearing a Dartmouth sweatshirt. She identified herself as Hannah, class of 2020. When I introduced myself as a proud member of Dartmouth’s class of 1980, she replied, “Wow! That was an incredibly long time ago. Congratulations!”

Huh? I did the math and determined that I probably seem as ancient and fossilized to Hannah as some guy named Harold from the class of 1940 would have seemed to the 1979 version of me. I suddenly understood why Rob Speidel used to bristle at the nickname “Gramps.” And what was Hannah congratulating me for? Not riding in the terminal’s motorized cart? Not drooling on my shirt? Bravely facing the modern world with an antiquated first name? To her, we represent a distant moment in time. Not a single member of our class is named either Hannah or Harold!

But we should be proud that our music transcends generations. Glenn Miller and The Ink Spots were two of the most popular artists in 1939, but the only way you might have heard them in 1979 was if Tony Furnary had blasted their songs out Phi Delt’s front window. But Tony gave us “Barracuda” instead…endlessly. Hannah knows “Barracuda.” And 40 years later, Hannah and her friends also know songs from The Clash, Tom Petty, The Police, and Led Zeppelin.

I frequently run into non-Dartmouth people who inevitably ask me if I know many of you. After I nod, they tell me how awesome you are. With a nod to Fleetwood Mac’s undergraduate-era song, “Second Hand News,” I will now share a few of their backhanded compliments. “Way smarter than a bonefish (Dan Berry).” “It took me years to realize how funny he is (Mark Alperin).” “If you’re impressed with him, you should meet his wife (Harry Shulman).” “Have you read his books? I read one from beginning to end. And it was pretty funny in a twisted kind of way (Bill Goodspeed).” “He sometimes comes up with really good ideas (Scott Osman).”

Antiquated-namesake Frank Vecella correctly identified the names in April’s column as classmates who have spent considerable time living abroad. Frank is our first two-time winner. So here’s another chance to win. What is the common thread that ties this group of classmates together: Albert Ellis, Barksdale Penick, Blake Kerr, Casey Giles, Chick Woodward, Chip Everett, Don Sparks, Sandy Koonce, Buddy Ide, Andy Bill, Kit Gorton, Bart Littlefield, Ty Anderson, and Scott Bechler?

The first reader to send an email with the correct answer will win a gift certificate. We will close with another tribute to the stages of life, presented in limerick form:

I can’t listen to hip hop or rap

K-Pop, J-Pop, or any such crap

All new music is junk

Worse than new wave or punk

Perhaps I should just take a nap.

—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com

Jeff Kuhn arrived at Dartmouth from New Trier East. Ben Zuraw and Todd Young were high school classmates. He roomed with Tom Carley on the second floor of South Mass, one floor above Tom Veith and Stan Smith and one floorbelow Bruce Collins and Jon Snider.At Dartmouth, he majored in economics, ran the advertising department of The D, joined Phi Delt, and played water polo. After graduation Jeff obtained an M.B.A. from Northwestern and moved to Dallas to work in commercial real estate.

To say that from here this familiar story gets interesting warrants a deafening chorus that begins “Why?” At the ripe age of 31 Jeff suffered burns over 80 percent of his body. Doctors told his family he had only days, maybe hours, to live. Last rites were administered. But as lead plastic surgeon Dr. Rohrich describes it, “Not only did he survive, he thrived.” Two years, 17 surgeries, and countless hours of excruciating treatment, physical therapy, and never-missed workouts with his faithful dog and personal trainer Sparky, he was stronger than ever. Then misfortune struck again in the form of a rare neuromuscular disease similar to Lou Gehrig’s in symptomology and painfulness. A second comeback took another two brutal years. Please do not pass, but rather go directly to Amazon and read Blue Sky Lightning: How to Survive and Thrive When Life Blindsides You. Jeff passionately explains how to overcome adversity and maintain positivity in the face of any challenge.

Marty Peterson is now in her second decade of cohosting the contemporary radio magazine Viewpoints. Each week’s show features interviews with guests that have expertise and real-world experience regarding current events, social commentary, entertainment and more. The program currently airs on over 700 radio stations and can be heard in 49 of the top 50 markets. You also can hear and see Marty in various voiceovers and television and radio commercials. Mark Webb declined comment on whether Marty’s tremendous success is encouraging him to make his comeback in acting on television and in commercials; those of us who remember his work from before Dartmouth would love to see it.

Mark your calendars: September 7, the 250th day of the year, we are celebrating the College’s 250th anniversary with 250 miles of hiking. October 11-12 is Homecoming weekend. Before the Yale game, we will gather for a tailgate; afterward, we will reconvene at the Dartmouth Outing Club House for our fourth annual Homecoming dinner. October 24 Janine Fate Avner is moderating webcast interviews with two classmates who took proverbial lesser-traveled paths. Jill Fredston will discuss avalanches, mountain safety, rowing in the Arctic Circle, and her book Rowing to Latitude. Michael Chu will add range with discussion of his 25-year career as tenor in the Leipzig Opera. You may view from home or join friends at one of several mini-reunions to be held that evening. For details regarding these events, and our upcoming 40th reunion (June 19-21, 2020), please see the class website and Facebook pages.

—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

Son, can you play me a memory? I’m not really sure how it goes, but it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes. Stephen Kim, Joel Getzendanner, and Steve Rutan met together last November at Stephen’s home in Carmel, California. Reuniting their band for the first time in more than a decade, the three performed cool sounds predating 1980 for the listening pleasure of the Kims’ family and friends. By the end of their set, the band was tired and their eyes were growing old, but their blood ran through their instruments and their songs were in their souls.

Armed with a Harvard M.B.A., Stephen works as a private investor and consultant. Joel, with an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, is a deputy assistant commissioner in the employment security department’s workforce initiatives unit in the State of Washington. Steve, credentialed with an M.B.A. from Tuck, is president of Rutan Management Consulting in Rochester, New York. All three business gurus know the difference between a professional musician and a large pizza. A large pizza can feed a family of four.

When I think of music at Dartmouth, I remember the Aires. Singer Steve Taft has more than 37 years as a Merrill Lynch financial advisor and is based in Bethesda, Maryland. A member of both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire bars, Dana Cetlin is a real estate lawyer in Natick, Massachusetts.

Scott Jardin, a nurse educator, still enjoys performing. You can find his albums, Nothing is Exempt and Round the World, wherever music is available online. The Amazon review notes that Scott “toured as a member of Dartmouth Aires, an a cappella group, and that’s some indication of Jardin’s eminently likable singing voice.”

Joseph Hunter owns a construction firm in Seattle. Joe married classmate Anne Van Roden. Anne is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in working with the gifted and twice-exceptional individuals and families. Anne earned a master’s of science in marriage and family therapy from Seattle Pacific University in 2001 and developed Seattle Relationship Therapy since.

Kris Treu is a founder of the law firm, Moscarino & Treu, located in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Outside the office, Kris enjoys performing with various musical groups, most notably, The No Name Band, a group of Cleveland lawyers who perform music of the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond for charitable events in northeast Ohio. You can also find Kris on YouTube performing the original song, “Treads.” Everybody knows Kris is married to Nancy Jepson Treu of Caribou, Maine. Also a lawyer, Nancy is drum major for a large and talented family of second-generation Treus.

Tom Bartlett is said to be in England. He is also reported to be an Elvis impersonator. I think the former is more true than the latter.

Come down from your fences. Open the gate. It may be raining, but there’s a rainbow above you. You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com

We were only 10 years old in October 1968 when we saw Dick Fosbury transform the high jump event with his gold medal-winning “Fosbury Flop” at the Mexico City Olympics. Was the domination by Soviet-bloc athletes in the javelin throw the inspiration for Tom Turnbull to take up the sport and eventually make a throw in college that is still among the best ever by a Dartmouth track and field athlete?

As 20-year-olds, we cheered as the Big Green football team recovered from a string of early non-league defeats with an October 1978 win over Yale in Hanover, the Elis’ only Ivy loss that year. The victory ignited a winning streak that helped Dartmouth gain its first league title in five years (and only title during our student years). Placekicker Chris Sawch earned First Team All-Ivy honors that season.

In October of 1988 the two most popular shows on television featured big stars who are still in the news but for all the wrong reasons: Bill Cosby and Roseanne. That same month The Golden Girls and Anything but Love were also ranked in the Top 10. Thirty-something Bob Berlinger would soon be directing episodes of both these shows.

Kudos to Bill Goodspeed. He barely edged out Deb Hart Goth and Cathy McGrath as the fastest to correctly identify the outstanding group of women in April’s column as cloaked, hooded, and smoke-intoxicated members of Fire & Skoal. So what’s the common thread that ties together this group of classmates: Frank Batten, Ted Blaisdell, Kevin Boyle, Mike Buchanan, Cas Caswell, Ronald Chen, Susan Clark, Paula Clemens, Guy Doyon, Gary Elovitz, James Gifford, Jon Herron, Corbey Low Hyman, Brian McConnell, Ed McNierney, Mike Morton, Elizabeth Miller Nestler, Jessie Brumbry Panek, Sam Roberts, Larry Rowe, George Sayen, Marcia Lawrence Somerville, Bob Stannard, and Beverly Foster Seinberg?

The first reader to send an email with the correct answer will win a gift certificate.

I’m sure that many of us have gathered with classmates to celebrate this big birthday year. The ubiquitous (and recently retired) Mark Alperin shuffled up his life of leisure to join me for my 60th. Despite his plea of “no surprises!” to wife Lisa, Rob Ruocco ended up welcoming a parade of unexpected visitors to his home in August. The wave included neighbor Craig Lambdin, kitchen-magician Chuck Wheelock, bicoastal Hans Morris, the ubiquitous Alpo, Iowan Chuck Blades, and a risen-from-the-dead David Marchiony. No animals were harmed in the celebration of Rock’s birthday.

We will close with a tribute to the stages of life, presented in limerick form.

We started as curious creatures,

And morphed into ambitious reachers.

As we exit the maze,

It seems the next phase

Will be lived as insufferable preachers.

—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com

By the time we got to Phoenix, Arizona, it was time for cocktails. The desert bloomed. The alumni magazine adopted the Oxford comma, and your humble class secretaries were grateful, supportive, and approving.

As we gathered under the pergola seeking shelter from the Arizona sun, our voices cried out in the desert, “Sixty looks good on us!” You may call us sexagenarians, and only the Latin-challenged have to file a human resources report.

Lisa Shanahan checked off the final preparation list. Local host Maja Wessels schooled us on appropriately casual Scottsdale attire; Dave Bumsted made a note to go with only light-starched shirts. Fearless class co-leader Mark Alperin, distributed Dartmouth water bottles to keep us hydrated. Tom Cammann said hello to sister Amy Cholnoky ’77 and counted off the beat.

John Cholnoky, down from Montana, looked every bit the Western man. Joe Mannes hit poolside as fast as possible. Ellen Taratus almost sounded as if she had lived in Atlanta all her life.

Maja pointed a large group of intrepid hikers toward Camelback. Inter alia, Anne McNay, Debo Goth, Todd Pellett, Robert Schpoont, Paul Wax, and Rick Gemberling scrambled up the steep trail. The summit photo was given to Debbie Legatt for handling of the licensing rights. Carol Pelmas made sure no one broke any bones.

Eight ’80s braved 90-degree heat, venomous snakes, menacing cacti, and aggressive prairie dogs to complete an entertaining round at the Marriott Wildfire golf club. Tex Collins comfortably beat the heat with a winning score of 77. Colin McNay ’82, Brian Boyer, Buddy Ide, Derek Felske, and Linda and Dave Campbell thanked “Bump” for organizing the outing. Dave made sure no one had a heart attack.

Laughter filled the grounds at the private dinner held at Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright home that caught the trained eye of architect and vice president of design for Darden Restaurants Todd Taylor. Scott Slater celebrated his actual birthday,and Anne MacEwan smiled at leaving snow on the ground back home. Several of us noted the varying degrees of success with which we had left our jobs behind. Meg LePage confirmed that now is indeed an especially busy time to be an employment lawyer. Carol Burns recommended the “fun-employment” sabbatical she enjoyed before recently starting as senior counsel at an energy startup in Washington, D.C. At the Psi U table Rob Williams, Peter Fowler, and Stuart Bell wondered aloud when Bart Littlefield and T.C. were going to literally get the band back together.

Back in the real world, Dan Ernst was installed as Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal History at Georgetown Law. Dan has a forthcoming book, FDR’s Lawyers. Psychiatrist Marc Feldman’s fifth book, Dying to Be Ill: True Stories of Medical Deception, is now available on Amazon. It presents Dr. Feldman’s thoughts and experiences from working with deceptive and malingering patients.

Save the date: October 27 is our third annual Homecoming class dinner at Pierce’s Inn in nearby Etna after the football game against Harvard.

—Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com

Wide receiver and returner Len Robinson caught last fall’s football thriller while visiting his daughter at Penn. “I watched with Greg Henry, Tony Taliaferro and Paul Stephens. Greg is retired FBI, Tony is general counsel for BCBS and Paul is a pediatric cardiologist at Penn. Paul’s wife, Tyra Bryant-Stephens, is a national leader in prevention and treatment of pediatric asthma. I met up with Coach Teevens ’79 and players. I’m staying busy with my internal medicine practice and family’s nonprofit foundation.”

Lenny’s teammate John Clark retired to Grafton, Vermont, after 30-plus years with EDS and successor Hewlett Packard Enterprises, including two years in New Zealand, a “terrific family experience in a truly beautiful place.” John returned to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and ended up in Kansas City, Kansas, managing information technology outsourcing. “My wife of 35 years, Becky (Colby Sawyer ’81), has a family home in Grafton. After her mother passed away last year, we decided to retire and move in with her father. We have connected with Frank Leddy, Pete Scannell and Richard ‘Boomer’ Ackerboom. The funeral for Michael ‘Benny’ Startt ’79 triggered an avalanche of correspondence among lodge boys who loved Benny. Times like these, we realize accomplishments, money and possessions are not important; instead, we value most the relationships we have nurtured over the decades. The investments we make in time, laughter, tears and love sustain us in the long run.”

Laura Prescott has moved to Lebanon, New Hampshire, and earned the Association of Professional Genealogists Award for Exemplary Service.

She accepted my humble request for notes on more important topics. “Christmas 2017: attempted to be normal for three days—ate, drank, baked, visited family and overindulged. I suffered because I’m fighting cancer, rather, putting up with cancer. And ‘normal’ doesn’t work anymore.

“July 2015 I was living in Utah and working for Ancestry when I was diagnosed with Stage IV stomach cancer. Breast cancer had converted my stomach into an inoperable wreck. With treatable melanoma a decade earlier, I completely freaked out. The stomach cancer thing hardly fazed me. Yes, it scared me and my family knowing I might be dead in six months. Already a lost cause, I drew on my innate optimism and morbid humor.

“Chemo makes it hard to walk. I’m emaciated, with four ‘Borg’ tubes keeping me close to 120 pounds. Good news: Treatment options have multiplied, so I can linger longer on the cusp of living.

“Carefully worded Facebook updates provoke smiles and ‘thoughts and prayers.’ I appreciate all the support from my ‘genealogist family,’ ’80s, extended family and coworkers.

“I avoid pity with a vengeance. I just want people to laugh, live, love, explore, learn, hope and even cry with me. I’ve outlived my expiration date by two years. Each day is challenging, sometimes boring. If I didn’t turn to friends, family, laughter and positive thinking, I’d sink into giving up. The thought crops up more often than I’d like to admit: Wouldn’t it be easy just to let go? Maybe it’s the granite in my muscles and my brain that makes me persevere.”

Thank you, Laura.

—Rob Daisley,3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

One key to happiness is having something to look forward to. Anticipation is the first stage of enjoying a happy event. I dare say this first stage is often more satisfying than the event itself. For two of the past three years my beloved New York Mets made summers more joyful. Of course, this Mets team hasn’t lived up to expectations. For two straight years fellow fan Rob Ruocco and I sat in dazed silence as our championship dreams died in playoff games we watched live at Citi Field. But at least it was fun getting there. This year GM Sandy Alderson ’69 and the Mets came up short. There was nothing for Mets fans to anticipate. No fun. Less joy!

Reading this column to catch up on old friends is weak sauce when compared with spending real time with them. There’s a happy event to anticipate: the upcoming celebration scheduled for April in Scottsdale, Arizona. I just spent four days playing golf with class co-president Mark Alperin. Alpo and the other members of the organizing committee—Lisa Shanahan, Tom Cammann, Maja Wessels and Marty Peterson—have picked a perfect location and planned an unforgettable weekend. Every major city offers daily nonstop flights into Phoenix. Scottsdale is heaven for golfing, hiking, shopping, mountain biking and nursing hangovers. Sure, it’s hot but hey, it’s a dry heat. As chairman of the board of trustees for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Maja has arranged a Saturday night event at Wright’s architectural masterpiece, Taliesin West.

So here’s the deal: Don’t speculate on who’s going to be there. Take control. Contact your friends right now and make plans to meet them in Scottsdale. Google “class of 1980 dartmouth scottsdale” for details. If we simplify by calling Wright’s wonder “Tally,” we get a call for action: Tally rally!

I woke up earlier this week to the familiar-but-unfamiliar voice of Peter Kenyon. For the past six years Peter has been based in Istanbul as an NPR international correspondent. Peter has won awards at NPR for his outstanding coverage of the Middle East and specifically, post-war Iraq. You are a braver man than me, “Jersey Pete,” and a great reporter!

When we were in the Greek islands this summer, my daughter said, “You can almost picture Poseidon beneath the surface and Odysseus sailing these seas.” Those might not be words you’d say but you probably didn’t study as much Greek and Latin as she did. Dartmouth classics major and Sarah Lawrence classics professor Emily Katz Anhalt just published a book, Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths. It’s on the reading list at our house.

We will close with another tribute to the Dartmouth we knew, presented in limerick form. The verses come easier when I wear my Nantucket reds.

During our years we all liked the sound

Of a place to unite: Common Ground

An open forum for all

Built behind College Hall.

Are there young people like us still around?

—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (408) 859-9652; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com

As we learned in History 57, “go west” refers to more than geography, even when the subject is our 60th birthday celebration in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 26-29, 2018, at the Marriott Camelback Resort. Maja Wessels and Lisa Shanahan found an ideal venue for golf, hiking, ballooning, horseback riding and celebrating the big 6-0 with ’80 friends. Page Polk Lipe and all us 50-something youngsters are included.

Class of ’80s needed the pioneering Dartmouth spirit when they helped found the first sororities at the College. Freshman spring Stacy Phillips discussed with Kate Wiley Laud, Laura Gold Zimmerman and others the need for Dartmouth women to have a time and place to develop friendships. Stacy recalls: “I learned we were not the first ones with this idea. Class of ’79s Leslie Gordon and Lisa Friel had already decided that Sigma Kappa would be Dartmouth’s first sorority. The rest is history.”

Katie continues: “The founding felt daring. As the first sorority, we challenged the administration to deal with another coeducation issue. Women wanted a social presence, organized by ourselves. Houseless for our four years, we roamed. I remember the call I received the year after graduation when the new president told me the Dartmouth administration had bought us a house. We cheered. It was a real victory. I hung up the phone and cried.”

Stacy, one of the country’s pre-eminent matrimonial lawyers, has merged her firm of 26 years with international powerhouse Blank, Rome. She helped two of Katie’s children settle in Los Angeles. Katie sees Vermont-New Hampshire sisters Ann Munves and Cathy McGrath regularly. Ann hosted a brunch for the officers of Sigma Kappa’s successor sorority, Sigma Delta. “We regaled them with stories, which have improved with time.”

Lauri Livesey Sanduski and Meg Coughlin LePage met on freshman trip before joining Sigma Kappa. They got together recently for the bridal shower of Meg’s youngest daughter, Liza. Meg skied with roommate and Sigma Kappa sister Debo Hart Goth in Breckenridge, Colorado, last winter. Debo remembers how Meg excelled as Sigma Kappa president when the house was searching for its identity.

Laura Murphy Moore recalls: “Kappa Kappa Gamma started after some ’79s proposed the idea of a second sorority, encouraged a diverse group of women to join and then led an impressive vetting process on which national sorority to bring to campus. Without a physical house until after we graduated, we sought to provide a ‘home’ to meet and get to know other women, not always easy in those early years of coeducation! Without Kappa, I would not have even met three-quarters of the women who became my sisters.”

Laura and husband Charlie Moore founded DinnerTime, a personalized meal planning app. I can vouch. DinnerTime fulfills its mission to make it easier for people to “come back to the dinner table.”

The class Homecoming dinner will be held at the DOC House on October 7. Reserve your room in the ’80 block at the Courtyard Marriott before September 7. Deets regarding Homecoming and Scottsdale, Arizona, are on the new class website: 1980.dartmouth.org.

—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

Sean O’Keefe has published his second novel, The Return of Sir Percival. Kirkus Reviews named the book to its Top 100 list for 2016. Sean responded humbly, “If the novel had been read by only family members that would have been enough. Thankfully, a few others have read the tale and found it to their liking.”

Frank Vecella has chosen to transition from full-time to half-time at Ericsson while becoming a principal in the Dallas law firm of McKool Smith. Last summer Frank and wife Pam bought a summer house on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. “We saw Barb and Curt Flight, Leslie and Stan Smith, Gay ’78 and Jerry Bird and Cathy McGrath. Looking forward to hosting classmates who may be in the area!”

Approximately 40 classmates attended Homecoming last fall. For a clear vision of why you should make your plans now to attend this year’s Homecoming Weekend October 6 and 7, we turn to former Big Green defensive back, now Annapolis, Maryland, retina surgeon Dave Watt: “I traveled to Hanover with Tony Garippo to watch the bonfire and Homecoming game. This was a sacrifice because our Cubbies were playing in the World Series. The weather was wet and cold; we were surprised the bonfire would light. The team dropped another close game to Harvard. We may need more practice hitting dummies.

“We met up with teammates Frank Leddy, Greg Henry, Dan Freihofer and Johnny Olszewski as well as Bobby Brown. Bobby Garry and Charlie Moore were in town talking up lacrosse. I reminded them that when I arrived at Dartmouth from Iowa I had no idea what game they were playing with those sticks.

“A highlight was Dartmouth hockey defeating Michigan in the last minute. Between periods we visited the hockey hall of fame, where classmates Ross Brownridge and Dennis Murphy adorn the walls. Tony also turned me on to the studio and farm of the famous American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, just 20 minutes from Hanover.”

Frei enjoyed celebrating with Joe Henley ’79 the engagement of daughter Sarah Freihofer ’10 to Rob Henley ’09. Penny Breed ’79 and Kim Donovan Henley ’79 are mothers of the bride and groom. Dan notes, “There will be plenty of green blood in that family.”

Todd Pellett added that the rain cleared Sunday in time for him and wife Susie ’87 to see their twins, Peter ’20 and Nick ’20, help clinch the first ever post-season playoff berth in Dartmouth club baseball history.

Anne Munves Malenka gave kudos to Cathy McGrathfor coordinating outstanding tent activities with the ’79s and to Susan and Rob Williams for hosting the class dinner. Anne caught up with Peggy Stewart, Carol Pelmas, Lisa Shanahan, Meg Blakey, Ellen Martin Taratus, Glenn Elliot and Shaun Smith. Others in attendance included Richard Braverman, Jeff Demers, MaryBeth Shannon, Alec Clarke, Mark and Paula Ness Speers, Mark Alperin, Ann Daigneault MacEwan, Cynthia McClintock, Laura Murphy Moore, Brent and Cami Crone Bilger, Peter Boone, Shari Medina Jankowski and Al Ellis.

—Rob Daisley,3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-772;2 robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak,111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring,1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

By highlighting the achievements of an underappreciated Founding Father, the Broadway musical Hamilton secured a permanent place for Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill. Hamilton was on the ropes but he’s untouchable now. I loved the show. And I’m as big a fan of Hamilton as anyone. But it looks like my plan to replace his portrait with the face of one of our extraordinary Parker A. Small Award winners—Susan Ball or Ronald Chen—is now dead in the water.

“Muhammad” and “Wang” may be the world’s most common names but it appears that the pairing of “Tench” and “Coxe” occurs more often, going all the way back to the days of Hamilton. We’re familiar with classmate Tench Coxe, managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, California, and generous sponsor of the Jerry Jeff Walker concert at our 25th reunion. But there are at least three predecessors who share the same name: a prominent Philadelphia merchant and political ally of Hamilton’s from the late 18th century, a “country gentleman” and philanthropist from the late 19th century, and a weekend warrior who dominated Philadelphia-area squash and tennis tournaments in the 1950s. All of which begs the question: Is there in fact a continuum of individual Tench Coxes or a single immortal one? Is there a reason why Tench takes his meetings at the Rosewood at night rather than during daylight hours? Might the “V” in “VC” signify something other than venture?

What do Chris Sawch, Crystal Morgan Phillips, Hayden Kepner, Jay Harter, Laura Giuliano, Susan Sawyer LeBlanc, Susan Ball and Corbey Low Hyman have in common? They share the same birthday (April 14). There were no winners this time, so I’ll ratchet back to easier challenges. Try this: What is the common thread that ties this next group of classmates together: Ty Burr, Greg Clinton, Sabrina King, Emily Wheeler, Mike Morton, Josiah Stevenson, George Wallace, Mike Bush. If you need a hint, consider the historical theme of this column. The first reader to guess correctly wins a gift certificate.

In other old column business, Steve Collins was the first to correctly guess that former roommate Greg Dunn had never trained an award-winning Doberman pinscher. But an email response from Greg himself casts a cloud on the results: “I know that Alpo worked for the ’Skins, but I’m not sure about the other two.”

Did I mention Mark Alperin?In July a plan to play a simple home-and-home series at our two golf clubs evolved into an epic multistate golfing adventure. Craig Lambdin joined us in Philly on Day 1. On Day 2 Curt Flight hosted a round in New Hampshire. Curt, Mark and I completed the circuit on Day 3 at their club outside of Boston. Too much of one type of driving, perhaps—but the event will grow and evolve because Curt and Mark are country gentlemen with rare aptitudes for the sporting life.

—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring,1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com

One evening this spring I walked back to my office after dinner. When I work late I change clothes at the office before going out. Ray Romano says you can tell the best year of a man’s life because he dresses that way for the rest of his life. I was dressed in a Dartmouth T-shirt and blue jeans, same as 1978. I was headed north toward Reynolds Square, one of 24 squares in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. Suddenly a young bearded man shouted at me, “You a hockey fan?” A little startled, I hollered my answer, “Yeah!” The dude enthusiastically called back, “Oh, yeah!”

Dartmouth is a hockey school. Coached by Bob Gaudet ’81, Dartmouth’s hockey team made it to the ECAC hockey semifinals in Lake Placid, New York, in March, but fell to top-seeded Quinnipiac. Bob has been the head coach at Dartmouth since 1997.

I fondly recall when Dartmouth hockey made it to the NCAA Final Four in 1980, losing to North Dakota, the eventual tournament winner. Ross Brownridge, Rick Drill-Mellum, Dennis Murphy, Don O’Brien, Barry Ryan and Rich Ryerson all played on the team that year. Barry won the Unsung Hero Award, Dennis won the Sportsman Award, and Ross, for the second year, won the MVP Award.

Carol Burns visited Savannah last December in conjunction with a work trip to nearby Fort Stewart, home to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. After many years as a lawyer with Bechtel, Carol now works for the consulting firm Archetype. Carol leads the opportunity development team and helps develop renewable energy projects in the Army Office of Energy Initiatives. Carol’s oldest daughter, Julia Duke, is in law school. Twins Anna and Maria are almost out of college. All three girls are periodically in and out of mamma’s house in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Husband Marc Brannock is a system engineer who works as a contractor for the federal government.

Jon Bye, with wife Susan, visited Savannah in March to combine business with pleasure. Susan has her own college counseling firm and wanted to tour the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Established in 1978, SCAD has more than 7,000 students at the Savannah campus, which includes some 67 buildings sprinkled throughout the historic district.

My wife, also Susan, and I met Jon and Susan for drinks on the roof of the Bohemian Hotel. Overlooking the Savannah River, we had a panoramic view east to the Atlantic Ocean and west to the port terminal, the fourth busiest container handling facility in the United States. Jon and Susan were grateful to be out of frozen Minneapolis, where Jon is a partner with the law firm of Lindquist & Vennum. A commercial litigator, Jon has been with his firm for more than 30 years.

Jon and Susan’s son, Alex, graduated from Whitman College in 2015. Alex has been selling ski shells at the ski store in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and skied more than a million vertical feet this past winter. Youth is not always wasted on the young.

—Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com

Rich Konsens is an orthopedic surgeonwith extraordinary credibility when he consults patients of our vintage on how to stay in shape. When he captained the Dartmouth track team Rich captured gold in the long jump at the Ivy League Championships. Three decades later, with encouragement from former teammate and current medical practice partner Reggie Tall, Rich began training for Masters competitions. He placed third in the USA Masters Championships, and at the Worlds in Lyon, France, he made the finals and finished 10th overall. Rich and wife Michelle live in Orlando, Florida, with their two teenaged sons.

Rich Ryerson has joined the alumni relations team as director of class activities. He comes back to the College after serving as admissions director for Kimball Union Academy. Do colleagues at Blunt know about Ryer’s two goals at the end of the 6-4 victory over Clarkson that earned the Big Green a trip to the 1980 Frozen Four?

Big Green sports appear on many a classmates’ list of reasons for loving Dartmouth. Will Hale responded to my Facebook post on the topic with a link to an interview with Buddy Teevens ’79. After witnessing the last-minute victory over Princeton that clinched the Ivy title, Greg Henry posed for a smiles-a-mile-wide photo with the coach and several other teammates from the 1978 championship team. A larger contingent of ’80s, including Cathy McGrath, Jay Weed, Kevin Boyle and Marc Lewis among many others, saw the Homecoming shellacking of Yale. If you are thinking about next fall’s Homecoming weekend already, we play Harvard on October 29.

How many of these appear on your list of reasons for loving Dartmouth: WDCR-WFRD, The D, the Outing Club, the Aires and Woodwinds, the Hop, Thayer, the mid-Mass stoop, the river, Moosilauke, language study abroad and foreign study programs, the Reserve Room, the Green, Main Street, Thompson, the largest Ivy League marching band north of Boston, ice sculptures, Spaulding, the Bema, Professor Rassias, Professor Slesnick, President Kemeny, the Baker bells, the class tent, roommates?

“Being around such high-quality people” is how Mark Webb eloquently summed up what many of us love so much about Dartmouth. Every reunion Mark, Brian Boyer and I pose for a 304 Mass roommate photo. I posted the most recent one on the class Facebook page.

We now have 172 Facebook ’80 members. Check out Mark Winkler’s terrific photo of Charlie Moore, Laura Murphy Moore, Scott Herman and David Hogan from the mini-reunion he hosted. You also will find announcements of class events and Dartmouth news and sports. The potential, however, is far greater. Please post both current and throwback photos, especially of roommates. Consider how many “likes” you will fetch with a shot of, say, Jon Snider and Bruce Collins from 310 South Mass or Marty Peterson and Caroline Coggeshall from 406 Mid-Mass. Carla Buckman Lipe and Page Polk Lipe could post both current photos with their husbands and brothers-in-law as well as classic photos from when they roomed together in 207 New Hamp with Tasha Taylor Garnett. Please join and post today!

—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com

I post this column from the island of Mauritius, a slice of paradise in the Indian Ocean that may best be known as the final resting place of the dodo, an extinct flightless bird last seen in the 17th century. The dodo serves as both a mascot for Mauritius and a symbol of unplanned obsolescence. Its extinction less than a century after its discovery serves as a reminder of how quickly the forces of outside change can devastate the unprepared. At our reunion’s presidential address, President Hanlon outlined a set of bold initiatives designed to secure Dartmouth’s place as a destination for elite talent in the rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive world of higher education. I sleep better knowing that President Hanlon, Bill Helman, Denise Dupre, John Rich and our other trustees are committed to avoiding the fate of the dodo.

Now let’s turn up the heat with “Two Truths and a Lie”! See if you can determine which of the following three stories is the fake one.

First, Rick Gemberlind demonstrated his talent for putting mind over matter by walking barefoot across a 25-foot-long strip of hot coals at a Tony Robbins seminar in New York City. Rick completed the exercise painlessly, with no marks left on his feet or coals stuck between his toes.

Second, Lanny Vickery achieved spiritual renewal by spending an evening in the intense smoke and high temperatures of a Native American sweat lodge in the Los Angeles hills. His re-purification experience was shared with a group of tent-mates that included supermodel Margaux Hemingway.

Third, Mark Fischer helped prevent catastrophe at Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada when he and actor Mark Ruffalo stopped a potential arsonist from torching the iconic 72-foot Burning Man statue three days before the ceremonial fire at the close of the event.

Like many of us with roots in New York, David O’Connor has early and fond memories of watching the Knicks and Rangers play at Madison Square Garden and the Rockettes perform in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. As the new president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Co., “Doc” is now responsible for running these and MSG’s other sports, media and entertainment properties. Until recently Doc served as managing partner at Creative Artists Agency and helped launch CAA Sports, which represents hundreds of the world’s top athletes. Calling all Knicks and Rangers fans! Your days of screaming at sports radio call-in hosts are over. You can dial Doc direct!

Ellen Groetch LaBerge is pleased to report that the National Law Journal has recognized her dear friend Jayne Heimlich Conroy as an “Outstanding Woman Lawyer” for 2015. The honorees were selected based on independent investigations that identified them as the most accomplished female attorneys working in the legal profession today. Jayne has handled several enormous product liability cases, including some very high profile ones you are likely familiar with. She also helped forge settlements for thousands of 9/11 victims. Congratulations, Jayne!

—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring,1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com

Did you prepare for this month’s 35th reunion by studying a dog-eared copy of the Freshman Book? Such a strategy might help you recognize ageless wonders such as Brent Bilger and Mark Alperin but will leave you wordless and dumbfounded when approached by that classmate who has morphed into a dead ringer for your grandfather. Or the woman who now looks like Aunt Betty. Or any one of the several hundred follicly challenged guys in our class—with the possible exception of class proto-Kojak Bob Henderson. And was that Freshman Book selfie sketch submitted by Ty Burr even accurate enough to recognize him back then? Puh-leeze!


I have been blessed with the memory—and hair!—of an elephant but nonetheless anticipate some uncomfortable reunion moments. So I’m going to play the odds. If an unrecognizable man walks up to me in the class tent, I will address him as “John” (46 hits) or “David” (37 hits) and deal with the fallout. For female classmates I don’t recognize I’m going with “Susan” (17 hits). If everything works as planned I will rekindle relationships with John Ulrich, Dave Marchiony and Susan Spagnola—or some combination of their first name equivalents. We’ll see how it goes.


Before we introduce the new, let’s close out the old. In February this column presented a list of M.D.’s and asked, “What do these classmates have in common besides a med school degree?” The last two names on the list—classmates Paul Stephens and Tyra Bryant-Stephens—offered a hint. The answer: Each of the M.D.’s is married to another M.D. Doctors in love! Was that too corny?


As for February’s “Two Truths and a Lie”: Emily Lisberger Vitale and Lori Zelikow Florio have indeed started a fitness clothes company and Andy Minden has actually opened a store called Ramble on Pearl. Ross Brownridge is not making rocking chairs out of old hockey sticks. But maybe someone should be.


So now it’s time for this month’s “’80 List.” What is the common thread that ties these people together: Wade Herring, Mike Carothers, Rob Daisley, Dan Zenkel, Paul Elmlinger?


Now try to identify which of the following three stories is the fake one.


First: When he visited Dartmouth the father of Elisabeth Long Lilly often delivered jugs of vodka to Elisabeth and her friends.


Second: The parents of Blaze Tatananni were inspired by foliage they saw in Vermont shortly before he was born.


Third: Robert Roselli earned the nickname “Razor” because of his sharp play on the high school soccer field.


The first correct answers to either challenge win prizes.


In a career that has included stints as CEO of Godiva Chocolatier and president of famous brands such as Campbell’s Soup and Life Savers, Jim Goldman was recently named to the board of trustees for Save the Children. Jim also serves on the boards for Domino’s Pizza and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.


Looking forward to seeing you at our reunion!


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


I might enjoy holidays and vacations more if I could eat as much and sleep as late as I did back in college. When I try to relive my glory days as a gluttonous sloth, I am shocked to realize I am no longer in shape. I can’t downshift into low gear like I used to. 


Sound familiar? If so, I believe that a rigorous training regimen could help you overcome these shortcomings. Start with a set of increasingly large and well-timed meals before the holidays and a few quasi-geriatric-early-bird-bedtimes prior to your vacation. And of course, prepare for the inevitable late night binging at our 35th reunion (June 18-21) by going out of your way to participate in a few informal reunions with friends! 


I am fully committed to this pre-reunion training program. In late December I joined Mark Alperin, Hans Morris, Rob Ruocco, Craig Lambdin, Jeff Citrin, Chuck Wheelock, Paul Salafia, Stanley Weil ’79, Bill Gates ’81 and Mark Zimmerman ’82 for a holiday dinner in New York City. The unflattering pictures are a grim reminder of the fun we had. A month earlier Alpo, Hans, Rock, Craig and I expressed our support for Big Green football—and “praise” for Old Nassau—during and after the annual thrashing of the Tigers. Peter Boone was there at Princeton, enjoying the game with his father. Peter had come down from Connecticut where he works as an orthopedic surgeon.


There’s a common thread that links Peter and each of the other classmates on the list that follows. Of course they are all trained medical doctors. But what is the less obvious thread that ties together this particular group of M.D.s: Peter Boone, David Nutter, Joan Draper, Mark Liponis, Paul Wax, Cindy Shortell Peyser, John Buse, Harry Malcolm, Lisa Sanders, Susan Wiersma, Doug Ball, Susan Ball, Vanessa Britto, Kathy Cooney, Joan Draper, Rob Enelow, Ray Blackwell, Donald Fithian, Buddy Ide, Kim Leighton, John Coco, Paul Stephens, Tyra Bryant-Stephens.


And now it’s time for two truths and a lie. See if you can identify the one story that is false.


First, Ross Brownridge founded Lullablades, a furniture manufacturer that makes rocking chairs out of old hockey sticks.


Second, Emily Lisberger Vitale and Lori Zelico Florio started PrismSport, a company that offers fitness clothing in vivid colors and distinctive prints.


Third, Andy Minden opened Ramble on Pearl, a retail store that sells apparel for people with active lifestyles and doubles as an employment training facility for adults with developmental disabilities.


Did I mention that there’s a class reunion in June? You can get more details and sign up at our class pages on the Dartmouth website. Looking for a more personal touch? You can reach reunion co-chairs Cathy McGrath, Kate Wiley Laud and Lisa Shanahan by email at dartmouth80@gmail.com. Or you can contact Rob or me using the information below.


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


Before we play our next round of “Two Truths and a Lie,” let’s reveal the fictional story from the last game. If you guessed that Bob Spencer did not substitute as the lead guitarist for the band Loverboy during its Canadian tour, you were correct. The other two stories—Carly Geer as Olympic rowing medalist and Vicki Redel as Hollywood screenwriter—are true.


Now some new fun facts. Two of following three stories about classmates are true; one is false. See if you can identify the fictional story.


First, they don’t call it an experiment when a cattle prod shocks a cow. Before pursuing his career as a psychology professor, Steve James worked as a hand on his grandparents’ cattle ranch in Oklahoma. 


Second, after landing his gig as a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic, Bill Barbaresi played the adolescent role of “Artful Dodger” Jack Dawkins in a local community theater production of Oliver!


Third, they say it’s good to be king, or in the case of Tom Bartlett, “The King.” Tom hires himself out as an Elvis impersonator.


Did Steve choose brains over brawn? Was Bill able to leverage his boyish charm into stage magic? Does Tom have a closet full of jumpsuits? Try to identify the fictional story. The answer will be revealed in the next column.


I recently received an email from James Reynolds ’75 that offers further evidence of our natural propensity to cluster. When James was elected to the board of the Galapagos Conservancy, he was surprised to find a second Dartmouth earth sciences major on the board (Erich Fischer ’89) and a third earth sciences major, Dennis Geist, installed as president of the board of the Galapagos-based Charles Darwin Foundation. Dennis, a professor of volcanology at the University of Idaho, has been conducting field research in the Galapagos since 1982. We are just a few earth sciences majors short in our quest to establish a new native species there!


While sitting in on an information session at Cornell in August with my teenage daughter and a large, very eclectic group of parents and prospective students, my eyes kept wandering over to the dad who looked the most like me. He wore the familiar weekend warrior uniform, the one that makes the women in our lives cringe: polo shirt, cargo pants, baseball cap, sunglasses. Several minutes of uncomfortable staring passed before I was able to match the face with a name: Bruce Daniels. Bruce was touring with his youngest son. He lives in the suburbs north of Boston where he fights the good fight for the Boston Private Bank and Trust Co.


Now is the time to start making your plans to attend our 35th reunion next June. Our bookend friends from the classes of ’79 and ’81 will be on campus too. Reunion co-chairs Cathy McGrath, Kate Wiley Laud and Lisa Shanahan invite you to send your ideas to dartmouth80@gmail.com. 


It won’t be fun for any of us if you’re not there.


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


Who knows what to believe these days? Does Miller Lite taste great or is it less filling? If you feed an aspirin to a seagull, will it explode in midair? Do higher tax rates generate higher tax receipts? In today’s complex world, finding the truth can be difficult indeed.


Let’s see how sharp your truth detection skills are. It’s time to play a round of “Two Truths and a Lie.” Two of the following three stories about classmates are true; one is false. See if you can identify the fictional story. Using Google is strictly forbidden!


First: No other American man, woman or team has ever finished better in an Olympics rowing event than Carlie Geer, who won a silver medal for single sculling in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.


Second: Kevin Bacon produced and directed a movie based on a novel written by Vicki Redel. The 2005 movie featured performances by Bacon, wife Kyra Sedgwick and Oscar winners Marisa Tomei and Sandra Bullock.


Third: When Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean became ill during a concert tour in 1986, Bob Spencer temporarily replaced him. Bob ended up playing lead guitar for Loverboy at their Calgary and Edmonton concerts that summer.


Are we graced by one of America’s greatest sports legends? Are all of us a scant two degrees of separation from the hyper-connected Kevin Bacon? Does the song “The Kid Is Hot Tonight” actually describe one of our own? And why do all three stories make me think about headbands? It’s your job to identify the fictional story. The answer will be revealed in the next column.


I share a common thread—a first name—with a classmate who has quickly and correctly answered each of the column’s common thread questions. Frank Vecella properly credits entertainment that features cops and detectives with saving our name from extinction (we can credit the new pope for its recent popularity surge). Back in 1983 Frank and his wife, Pam, decided to move from his hometown of Baltimore to Dallas “for a year or two”; some 30 years later they are still there, with a daughter starting her career in Dallas and a son finishing college. For the past 13 years Frank has been managing litigation as an in-house counsel for telecommunications giant Ericsson. As part of two trips to Vermont and New Hampshire last year, the Vecellas had dinner with Stan Smith and Joel Chansky and their much better halves, and later caught up with Cathy McGrath. Whenever possible Frank still reaches out to Bobby Garry, Peter Marlette, Paul Mourning and Brian Wicks.


Nearly 10 years ago I stated my intention to make Hans Morris this column’s most frequently mentioned person. It’s been way too easy, given his regular participation in college-related events and continual personal evolution. For this post: In his spare time Hans recently produced and co-wrote a feature-length documentary, Cherry Cottage: The Story of an American House. His film premiered last year at the Berkshire International Film Festival and received many favorable reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


Jenni Prigge Buhl, Kaj Christenson, Monica Williams Knox, Dennis Murphy, Crystal Morgan Phillips, Donald Skantze, Peter Storfer, Tom Vieth, Stuart West: What is the common thread that ties this list of classmates together? If you think you know the answer, send us an email. The first three correct responses will win Gift Rocket cards redeemable at the Dartmouth Bookstore (or virtually anywhere). Don’t let an opportunity like this pass you by!


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


’Round the girdled earth they roam: In June, during the wee hours in India, Bill Helman received news of probably the highest honor the College can bestow as he was named a charter trustee of the College. And for our class the news gets better: I don’t know where she was at the time, but Denise Dupre was similarly honored by her simultaneous election as charter trustee. Our class now joins only the class of 1970 in the distinction of having three sitting trustees; John Rich is the third.


I caught up with Bill during East Coast time and he said he was “humbled and a bit overwhelmed” by his selection and looking forward to working with new College president Jim Kim. In fact Bill has known Jim for several years—they are neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts—and he describes him as an “extraordinary” man who is, and in Bill’s view will be at Dartmouth, an “inspirational leader.” So keen is Bill on Kim that Bill suborned truancy by allowing his son to sneak out to one of Kim’s Harvard lectures, which, by the way, was delivered to undergraduates.


Denise, meanwhile, told the College news service (I can’t speak with everyone live, although I try) that, “This small college has made a big difference in my life and I consider service on the board to be both an honor and a privilege.” Denise and her family were also in the news last December, when they got together to fund a significant upgrade of snowmaking facilities at the Dartmouth Skiway. 


This is no joke: Mike Palitz, one of many fellow McLane (now Judge) Hall mates, is the owner of Comix, a 350-seat comedy club on 14th Street here in Manhattan. I shared a few laughs with Mike as he told me of the fun and challenges of signing up Comedy Central-caliber talent and managing what he hopes will be a raucous crowd each night. Among the vignettes he relayed was the story of how he slipped behind the bar one evening only to be admonished by the bartender, who in turn was hurriedly advised by the other bartender that Mike was the guy signing his paycheck. Mike said he commended the guy for doing his job, but did not buy him a beer since they both were on duty. The scene reminded me vaguely of various occasions where I slipped behind the Sigma Nu bar doing double duty as chief pourer and keg protector. Speaking seriously now, Mike and co-head agent Brian Boyer remind us to consider a generous gift in celebration of our 30th reunion and to plan on attending it from June 17-20, 2010. Merle Adelman, moreover, urges us to have some mini-reunions beforehand so that we might recognize each other without the aid of Facebook.


Speaking of McLane-ites, I caught up with Laura Gold Zimmerman. Laura has been in the Chicago area for many years, including a 13-year stint, just ended, leading strategy and business development for the financial services side of Allstate. She has quickly filled any spare time by joining the boards of her local United Way and of the Illinois chapter of Mental Health America. In Chicago Laura sees the likes of Carla Boehm Sloan, Ed Sloan, Todd Young and Brian Boyer. 


I am sorry to conclude on a sad note: I just received the terrible news that Laura Woodberry Jessiman died while in Scotland in June. A reminder that our small world is also a fragile one. ’Round the girdled earth our departed classmates roamed; their spell on us remains.


—Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


It was customary for the kids in my neighborhood to dress up as something scary for Halloween, usually a monster of some sort. Pedestrian hobo, princess and superhero costumes were almost always worn by new kids who hadn’t yet experienced the sheer joy of being seen by others as truly horrifying. And what joy it is! For me, there is nothing quite like it. When an opportunity to horrify an individual or group presents itself, I grab it with gusto. But I have found that what passes for horrifying has changed since our early years. The monsters we grew up with no longer seem so monstrous; even Greg Dunn has mellowed. Vampires aren’t scary anymore; shows like True Blood and Twilight have helped cultivate a new cool and downright sexy image for the bloodsuckers. In movies such as Land of the Dead zombies are more reasonable and intelligent than the humans whose flesh they want to devour. And recent characterizations of a more compassionate, less litigious Devil have certainly made his/her horns appear less long, sharp and pointy. For contemporary examples of pure evil, where are we to turn? Let’s think about this for a moment. Increasingly people like us are portrayed as the bankers who ruined the economy, the lawyers who protect special interests, the business elites who exploit workers and the doctors who amputate legs to collect higher fees. Just pick up the paper or turn on the news: To some we are now the monsters! Here’s a scary thought: Perhaps we should start dressing up as ourselves for Halloween!


A very frightening Bob Wood mask could become a bestseller in the Twin Cities, where in his role as the director of the Center for Craniofacial Services at Gillette Children’s Hospital, Bob performs reconstructive surgeries on children from around the world with congenital head and neck defects. Most of Bob’s patients are less than 1 year old. Later this year Bob will join his colleagues at the University of Minnesota, where he also serves as an assistant clinical professor, on a trip to Africa, where the team will perform craniofacial surgeries on local children in need. Bob’s trip this year follows previous ones to Mexico, Ghana and Haiti. If you want horns removed from your head or bolts removed from your neck, Bob is your man.


Visits to New York will end in disappointment when the shockingly realistic Rob Williams costume is sold out. This will come as no surprise, given the magnetic, Jekyll-and-Hyde appeal of Rob’s lifestyle. By day Rob is a partner in the global securities practice at Milbank Tweed, the law firm where he has spent the past 26 years; at night Rob slinks back to his other life, that of dedicated husband and father in New Jersey. And those of you with children at Dartmouth: beware! In addition to one daughter at Bowdoin and another still in high school Rob and wife Susan have a son who just began his sophomore year at Dartmouth, an excuse they use for making frequent visits there. Better lock that front door, Psi U!


And now it’s time to channel my inner Elmo. Four out of five Philadelphia veterinarians may soon claim that dogs are more frightened by Frank Fesnak than by new Eagles-arrival Michael Vick. After many diabolical years of terrorizing the technology industry, Frank is now teaching math to Philadelphia public high school students while pursuing graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Picture a remake of the old Michael J. Fox movie with a horrifying teacher substituting as the shape-shifter. We’ll call it Quinquagenarian Wolf.


—Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com


Lest the old traditions fail: The tradition—an alumni conversation with the College president—was old but the medium—a five-city videoconference call—was new. In late January classmates from the New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco areas joined a videoconference with President Jim Kim hosted by trustees Bill Helman and Denise Dupre in Kim’s Parkhurst office. Kim began with some heartwarming comments about the extraordinary College response to the heartrending events in Haiti (where he had spent some formative years). He then gave a state of the College report with (sign of the times) an emphasis on creative cost-management techniques and the continued need for our support even after successful completion of the capital campaign. He answered questions and once again demonstrated his keen sense of Dartmouth’s culture, a sense clearly grounded in a deep knowledge of the College’s history. I happened to be in the Bay Area at the time and thus had the pleasure of joining Cami and Brent Bilger, Brad Koenig and Ross Jaffe for the call at Franklin Templeton’s San Mateo campus.


Since our third trustee-classmate John Rich could not join that call I set up our own private call, eschewing the video (in case either of us had a bad hair day). John is chair of health management and policy at the Drexel School of Public Health and—not surprisingly—has known Jim Kim for 10 years. John describes Kim as a visionary with global perspective and feels that “Jim Kim is ready for Dartmouth and Dartmouth is ready for Jim Kim.” And perhaps the healthcare debate is ready for John: his book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men, was just published.


It is impossible to speak with Rob Daisley without his conjuring a smile from you, so I happily checked in with Rob in January. Dais himself was still smiling in recollection of a post-Christmas road-trip visit from Brian Boyer and family. The Boyers, he reported, loaded up the car, fled the Windy City and drove to the Florida Keys, stopping in the Cigar City (the now probably politically incorrect nickname for Tampa) to stay with the Daisleys.


Dave May reports that he and wife Julie celebrated their 25th anniversary last summer. Dave, having left academia for private practice eight years ago, is practicing musculoskeletal radiology, which means he reads tons of MRIs, including for children and athletes. Like John Rich, Dave is also an author (of a medical textbook) and in his spare time he reviews journal submissions, delivers lectures and does visiting professorships, including one at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in January.


It took Dan Zenkel’s message to loosen my suspicions of LinkedIn. I replied to Dan’s message and the result was a catch-up lunch at Rockefeller Center (Alec Baldwin was a last-minute no-show). Zenks is planning to re-enter the summer camp business. After my lunchtime lobbying I hope that he’ll join us for a camp-like experience at our 30th reunion, June 17-20. It may seem an odd source for reunion (let alone any) inspiration, but how’s this from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “We looked at the venerable Stream [read: campus] not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories.” For the record, Conrad was speaking of the beloved Thames before leaving for the Congo; thus the point is to evoke “the pleasure, the pleasure” rather than “the horror, the horror.” So e-mail Cami or Merle Adelman to tell her you’re in!


—Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


Setting another record, 220 of us returned to campus for our 30th. Cami Crone Bilger and recently engaged Merle Adelman co-chaired. Deke DesCombes’ revamped ’80 website and Eric Pfeiffer’s Facebook group handled advance publicity. Four-day Reunions, like four years of college, pass too quickly.


Bill and Bray Mitchell ’79/’79A hosted the kick-off gathering at their home overlooking Occom Pond. Inspired by Lanny Vickery’s 1980 Fogcutter’s T-shirt, more than half of the 37 hot “shots” gathered on the veranda, including Chuck Blades, Jeff Citrin, Greg Dunn, Chuck Wheelock, Frank Fesnak and Hans Morris (with daughter Lucy ’14). 


Service of microbrews and wines skillfully selected by Bill Koch was delayed when Janine Fate Avner, Suzanne Baldwin Gilmore and Debo Hart Goth were asked to show over-21 IDs. Page Polk Lipe demonstrated how to dodge the inquiry. Debo tracked down ’shman tripmate Paul Grassie. Paul, training for the 12.5-mile swim around Key West (successfully completed), described his annual JFK 50 ultramarathons: “The last 20 miles can be challenging.” Debo, who unflinchingly skis double black diamonds, deadpanned, “And the first 30 miles?” Including John Cholnoky and Patti Rea (with precious 3-year-old daughter Avery), 83 percent of our trip section made it back. 


I joined Chi-towners Dave Campbell and new class president Brian Boyer for a hike up sun-splashed Mt. Moosilauke. We followed trail-dust of Derek Brown, Amy Ladd, Scott Slater and Trina Olin Santry. At the summit we met up with Paul Grassie, Chick Woodward, Sally Nutt Van Leeuwen, Cindy Ginn Biondi, Sandy Perkowski Sutherland, Carol Pelmas, Ellen Martin Taratus, Meg Blakey (with daughter Avery) and Lisa Shanahan (with daughters Meg and Kate). No nametags needed. Check out the brochure shots on Facebook.


Tent highlights: Ann Donovan (with son Michael), Crystal Morgan Phillips (from London) and Catrina Cash Corey gathering for a classic North Mass breakfast; Jim Puiia and Brian Wicks (with Kate) exchanging one-liners with Pete Scannell, Jim Wilson, John Clark and Frank and Marion Leddy; Meg Coughlin and Mike LePage joyfully describing Meg’s return to work at her Portland, Maine, law firm; Rob Dinsmoor telling Tales from the Troupe (book available at Amazon); and Dan Zenkel speaking only off the record. 


As the sun set over picturesque Kemeny Patio, Mike McClintock presented our record 30th gift: $4,050,080. President Kim gave kudos to head agents Michael Palitz, the Bri and our entire class for being “one of the best in Dartmouth history.” His extemporaneous remarks displayed his remarkable passion. As Bill Helman whispered to Brad Koenig, “I would walk through walls for this guy.” Bruce Duthu delivered the keynote. Bruce reminded us how lessons learned as seniors (when “energy crisis” was a new term) will help us solve the eerily similar problems of today. “It will require the best thinking that our education in the liberal arts tradition has helped to provide. Let’s keep at it and get to it!” Forever green, indeed.


—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


Mary Ann McDonald Carolan, professor of modern languages and literature, directs the Italian studies program at Fairfield University—not a bad gig for a govy major. She just published The Transatlantic Gaze: Italian Cinema, American Film, which tracks the influence of Italian cinema on American film from the postwar period to the present.Mary Ann opted for a subject of greater interest than your usual scholarly fare after discussion with the first person she met on campus, Sue Kahil. Emily Katz Anhalt, Debbie Wolk Berger and Joni Von Herrmann helped her persevere through the lengthy slog of researching, writing and seemingly endless rewriting. Teaching undergraduate and grad students, lecturing in Italy and spending time with husband Jim and daughters Maria ’12 and Anna Barnard ’14 keep Mary Ann running.Mary Ann fondly recalls that her incredible journey started when she, Peggy Stewart and 10 others went to Rome for the classics foreign study program with professor Edward Bradley.


Our dean of freshmen and honorary classmate Karen Blank passed away of cancer this past December 31. Karen spent her last 28 years serving as dean for Columbia University and Barnard College. Ross Jaffe reconnected with Karen when his daughter Brooke transferred to Barnard three years ago. Ross and wife Eve helped Karen set up the Karen Blank Scholarship Fund so that her legacy might be continued at Barnard. As Ross noted, “Throughout her illness Karen was her usual calm and positive self, wanting to focus more on others than herself.”


Ross continues to work as managing director of Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999. He is currently working with the FDA on improving the regulation of medical device innovations. He lectures at Tuck on healthcare venture capital and serves on the Geisel School board of overseers. Ross still skis and plays tennis and recently added a new hobby: racing a Lotus Elise sports car in the West Coast Lotus Cup race series.


The 35th reunion pregame festivities have begun. In January Merle Adelman, Jeff Demers, Laura Prescott, Kenji Hayao, Ann McNay, Eric Pfeiffer and Cathy McGrath gathered at the Bull Run Tavern in Shirley, Massachusetts. Eric assures us that the Bull Run II will be equally successful. In February Paul Elmlinger and Regina Ketting hosted a larger gathering at the Yale Club in New York. Cathy, Beth Baron, Bill Helman, Chris Sawch, Dan Zenkel, Guy Dietrich, John Cholnoky, Hans Morris, Lori Zelikow Florio, Lisa Shanahan, Bob Garry, Sally Sandercock Michler, Sean Wilson, Laura Schnell, Stuart Bell, Victoria Sturgis Neely, Scott Bechler and Meg Blakey toasted Noky’s retirement and Lisa’s birthday. 


The common thread that ties together Scott, Meg, Barry Krumm, Dave McQueeny, Earl Grossman, Lauri Livesy Sandusky and Frank Fesnak? They all took jobs with IBM upon graduation. Frank will report on who figured it out next column. 


Check out the Dartmouth class of 1980 Facebook page for mini-reunion photos and more; everyone looks virtually the same on Facebook as in the Freshman Book.


—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


There’s a thread that ties many of us together. This connection is evident in the lives we are leading more than 30 years after we separated.


The turnout at this summer’s New York dinner was smaller than usual; besides myself, our group included Hans Morris, Chuck Wheelock, Rob Ruocco, Craig Lambdin and Mark Zimmerman ’81. Rob shared his admiration and respect for classmate Jim Wilson, with whom he has worked side-by-side for many years as a general partner at New York-based financial firm Carl Marks. Chuck talked about the partnership he developed with classmate Lanny Vickery when the two of them worked together to redesign Lanny’s Austin, Texas home—a home that has since been featured in architectural magazines. Craig and I talked about our favorite TV shows. (Are you also watching Drunk History?) We all poked fun at last-minute no-shows Jeff Citrin, Earl Grossman and Paul Elminger.


Did you know that Paul, Winston Hutchins and Doug Sacks all live in the same Park Avenue building? Small world. This summer my family and I enjoyed a lovely evening with Doug, his wife, Patty, their daughter and at least a dozen of her friends, and their two dogs at Doug’s marvelous summer home on Martha’s Vineyard. It’s that thread that pulled us together.


In related-but-unrelated news, Chris Bensley is now president and CEO of a startup travel services company. Two of his trusted directors are Bart Littlefield and Don McNaughton ’81.


In the July issue we introduced a new column feature, the ’80 List. After listing the following group of names we posed the question, “What do these classmates have in common?” The list included Albert Ellis, Bill Stewart, Joe Hunter, Tom Isaacson, George Morris, Bill Finnegan, John Toulmin and Grant MacEwan.


After seeing his name on the list, Tom Isaacson gave the subject some thought before asking for a hint. But in the very first sentence of the personal update he included with his request, Tom identified the list’s common thread. Tom’s partner’s name is Anne, with an “e.” Indeed, each of the fine gentlemen is or has coupled with an Anne. Worth noting: Two of these eight spouses are classmates Anne VanRoden Hunter and Anne Daigneault MacEwan. Now how hard was that?


Let’s return to Tom, who was drawn by his love for rock climbing to Boulder, Colorado, from Washington, D.C., back in 1998. Since then his interests have broadened to hiking, skiing and cycling. For the past five years Tom has competed in the bike race to the summit of Mount Evans (14,100 feet) and hopes to race someday to the top of Mount Washington, the mountain of his youth. For work Tom telecommutes to the D.C. offices of Covington & Burling, where he handles class action antitrust lawsuits. There are high standards for lawyers in Washington and for outdoor athletes in Boulder but that doesn’t faze Tom: “It’s not easy keeping up in both worlds, but I am happy to give it a shot.”


It’s time for this month’s ’80 List. What do these classmates have in common? Can you identify the thread that pulls these people together: Tom Chapin, Lauri Livesey Sanduski, Keith Glovins, Dan Freihofer, David MacAllaster, Jerry Bird, Debbie Wolk Berger, Al Noyes, Hope Picker, Keith Quinton, Jay Weed, Bill Finnegan, Katie Wiley Laud, Roman Lipp, Andy Graham, Jeff Sawyer, Trina Olin Santry, Grant MacEwan, Bob Burnham and Steve Rutan. The first three correct answers will win gift certificates from the Dartmouth Co-op!


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


With a world of information only a double-click away, genealogy has become a popular hobby. When the search for ancestral roots calls for a professional, Laura Prescott steps in. A past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Laura travels the country speaking on such topics as the 1940 Census and how to use the national online library. Laura’s busy schedule leaves her with little time for individual research, but if you really need to know if your family recipes are half-baked or legit, drop her a line. 


When daughter Stephanie graduated from high school two years ago, Deb Hart Goth discovered the ideal way for mother and daughter to celebrate: road trip. Lest the Goth traditions fail, Debo and younger daughter Jessica spent grad week in sunny Florida. After visiting Harry Potter at Universal, the duo headed to the coast for swimming with the manatees, relaxing on St. Pete beach and dinner with the Daisleys at Harry’s Beach Bar. After a decade as PTO leader and substitute math teacher, Deb has been improving her local Monument, Colorado, schools. The most recent Dartmouth ski team member to hail from Kansas is up for the challenge of dealing with Colorado’s education budget crisis. 


The Dartmouth rugby football club (DRFC) kicked off summer by successfully defending our national championship in the CRC 7’s. As the Big Green backs went tearing by, one could not help but recall the prolific scoring of Drew Miller to Pete Scannell to Webb Vorys to Dave Kollmorgen to Bob Brown to Grant Bogle to Kevin Ryan. As Bob pointed out, the only thing that looked different was the apparent inability of the current players to grow moustaches like Webb and Koll. Head out to the world-class Corey Ford Clubhouse this fall to see for yourself how the DRFC has evolved into arguably the premier college rugby team in America. As Grant noted, “The clubhouse is truly incredible. Too nice for the likes of the team we played on. But we did have fun.” Grant’s youngest is leaving their Houston home for the University of Vermont this fall. His eldest began work in D.C. this summer and his middle daughter is a senior at Wake Forest. 


Guy Dietrich, Peter Lubin and Brian Boyer recently got together for lunch and laughs in Chicago. The smiles on the Facebook photo were a mile wide. Peter practices law in Chicago. Guy, who just retired from managing UBS’ private wealth groups in New York and San Francisco, has been named a fellow at Harvard’s Business and Government schools.


With mini-reunions scheduled for September 29 (Class Officers Weekend) and October 27 (Homecoming), you need not wait until the 35th to return to Hanover. If you will not make it back until the next reunion, we have good news: “clustered” reunions are back. The ’79s and ’81s will be invited to join us in 2015. Hope to see you before then. P.S. Please join the class of 1980 Facebook page today.


—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


We may dress better, look older, dine in finer restaurants and more often than not behave as civilized adults. But there’s still no mistaking a reunion of Dartmouth friends. When Mark Alperin, Rick Gemberling, Jeff Citrin, Hans Morris, Tom Daniels ’82, Craig Lambdin, Robert Ruocco, David Turino ’81, Chuck Wheelock, Doug Sacks and I recently assembled for dinner in Greenwich Village in N.Y.C., the couple at the adjacent table approached to ask, “Are you college buddies?” It was a bold and accurate identification that helped wipe away the introspection and confusion caused by the bartender’s earlier guess, “Are you guys in the cast of Jersey Boys?”


Our classmates continue to accomplish great things in the world of academia. I recently caught up with Beth Baron, who has been the director of the Middle Eastern American Center at the City of New York Graduate Center since its establishment 11 years ago. Beth has stayed busy by starting up a major in Middle Eastern history and an master’s program in Middle Eastern studies, editing the International Journal of Middle East Studies and keeping up with research and writing that includes the upcoming completion of a manuscript: The Orphan Scandal: Christian Missionaries and Muslim Brothers in Egypt. One of Beth’s greatest joys has been mentoring graduate students. One former grad student, Sara Pursley ’91, worked with Beth on editing the journal and with the recent awarding of her doctorate, is now Beth’s associate editor. 


If you visit Hanover this fall you might consider looking up Larry Robinson. Larry is guest teaching the “Decision Science” class at Tuck before he returns to Ithaca, New York, where he has been a professor of operations management at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management since 1986. In recent years Larry has taken sabbaticals at Duke, the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago. Larry enjoys teaching—grading, not so much—and compares the classroom to a stage. Some of Larry’s recent work involves research on scheduling doctor appointments and designating an optimal number of handicapped parking spaces. Larry and wife Marcie have been together for 23 years, with son Eli entering his sophomore year in college out west.


Currently serving a three-year “sentence” as chair of the chemistry department and a professor of chemistry at the University of San Francisco (USF), Larry Margerum sees himself as more of a coach than a teacher in the classroom. Larry thinks that all the youth coaching he’s done—children Derick and Val both currently participate in college-level sports—convinced him that less talking and more doing leads to more learning. During the 15 years between Dartmouth and landing the position at USF, Larry developed his expertise by “doing” lots and lots of lab work in both the classroom (he earned a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina and did post-doctorate work at UCLA) and corporate world (he once worked as a chemist at Oakland, California-based Clorox, where he met wife Suzanne, a chemical engineer). For research Larry runs a group that is looking at possible applications of nano-chemistry to color sensors. Larry and Suzanne live in Lafayette, California, where they have been reduced to biking and swimming after their legs gave out a few years ago.


Stay posted. There are many more great stories to share.


—Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


In the 25th reunion yearbook Brooks Shumway vividly described her battles with cancer. Brooks remained upbeat, notwithstanding the emotional and physical toll of recurring serious illness. She dedicated herself to nonprofit work, travel, friends and family. She passed away in January at Stanford University Hospital. Upon learning the news, Bert Boles recalled how gracefully Brooks handled herself in class discussions with the toughest professors in their Stanford J.D./M.B.A. program. Regina Ketting hosted a dinner in memory of Brooks at the Yale/Dartmouth Club in New York City; Anne Patterson, Fr. Gerry Murray, Judy Recke and Jeanet Hardigg Irwin attended. 


Peter Marlette reported on a Kappa Sig mini-reunion: “Spent a great few days in Sea Island, Georgia, with Blake Shepard, Paul Mourning, Bill White, Curt Flight and Jamie Ardrey. Good golf, food, drink, Super Bowl and outstanding company.” This group undoubtedly will find a better location than New Jersey for Super Bowl XLVIII.


Dartmouth Lawyers Association continuing legal education Ski XXVI provided an opportunity for Ellen Vannah, Jon Bye and me to get together in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Ellen’s work as a worker’s compensation judge in Beaumont, Texas, has only sharpened her already keen and perceptive wit. Jon continues to litigate contract disputes for Lindquist & Vennum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both carved up the champagne powder. 


Lisa Shanahan hosted a midwinter mini-reunion dinner at her house in Connecticut. Ellen Martin Taratus, Meg Blakey, Geoff Edelson, Bill Helman, Susan Adler Funk ’81 and Amy ’77 and John Cholnoky enjoyed the cuisine of Ellen’s husband, Ken, and conversation that went late into the night.


Noky, Joe Misiewicz and Brian Wicks paid tribute to one of our finest at the funeral Mass held in Fayetteville, New York, this past February for Rick Zogby. Jim Wilson was moved by what a great job they did in celebrating a life worth celebrating. Zogs passed away of cancer on Valentine’s Day, surrounded by family and holding hands with his wife, Colleen. He was a father of four, skilled orthopedic surgeon and as much a leader in his community as he was on the rugby pitch. 


The news brought forth poignant remembrances from a long list of Dartmouth friends, but as Noky pointed out, “Anyone who knew Rick well would know that he would not want us to get mopey; he liked having fun too much.” Cathel MacLeod added, “If he ever had a bad day, it never showed to those around him.” Drew Dougherty echoed the universal sentiment, “Really sad, but also touching how much love he inspired.”


Webb Vorys captured the essence of Zogs: “What a good man he was. While any person is hard to sum up, when I think of Zogs I think of a guy who was extremely gifted but totally humble, a guy who would give but expect nothing in return, a guy who put team before self, a guy who, even if you hadn’t seen him for years, you always kept in the ‘great friend’ category, a guy with a smile that said it all.”


—Rob Daisley,3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


Class of ’80s roam the girdled earth as destined, but to where?


Ex-Hoosier Richard Williams practices sports medicine in Cookeville, Tennessee. To kick off summer he is taking his children and spouses to Bonnaroo, a weekend of music and family “togetherness” (in a rented RV). We await Dick’s report on how Lil Wayne compared to Stephen Stills.


Kathryn Flitner Wallop suggests Sheridan, Wyoming. Literally. Kathryn recently Facebooked a plug for its frontier downtown, Big Horn Mountains view and enough historical sites for any “History 57” student. Sheridan High has a tremendously talented English and drama teacher. Kate remains a cowgirl, but one with a current passport.


Dennis Geist also loves life out west: “I’ve been a geology professor at University of Idaho for 21 years, specializing in volcanology. Three classmates are geology professors: John Stix (McGill), Craig Feibel (Rutgers) and Cliff Stanley (Acadia). Work takes me from Antarctica to Iceland to the Andes, but mostly to the Galapagos Islands, which has volcanoes as well as giant tortoises. I volunteer for Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) on Galapagos conservation projects; CDF has staved off dozens of extinctions. Outside of work and family (daughter Beryl graduates from college in May, then is off to research Panama coral reefs), I enjoy Idaho—fly fishing, mountain biking and backcountry skiing. I serve as rugby faculty advisor (bail bondsman). After 10 years of bachelorhood I do pretty much everything with Karen Harpp, from volcanoes to raising poorly behaved dogs. Coincidentally, she attended the same college.” Congratulations, Denny, on reaping the rewards of your hard work, and thanks for selectively recalling the 1980 London Dartmouth rugby football club tour.


From Portland, Oregon, Dr. Carol Pelmas reports: “My news is a bit ironic. Last fall, doing home maintenance, I took a fall from our deck. I broke my right leg and left hand. I’ve had surgery and unplanned downtime. Tasting my own medicine as it were. I’m on the comeback trail, plan to resume the bike commute (which should have been the cause of an injury, think darkness, sleet, cars!) and I hope race cyclocross soon. Cyclocross? The perfect sport uniting bikes and mud and kid-like fun. I’ve exchanged e-mails with Anne VanRoden about a spring girls’ spa mini-reunion. Annie’s son (with spouse Joe Hunter) was admitted to MIT early decision. Before we moved I used to see Tony Furnary at the hospital.” Please hold the chant until column end. 


Cathy McGrath and Dave Bumsted are organizing mini-reunions everywhere. For deets, see the class website (thanks, Deke) or contact Peter Fowler and Joan Clements Francis in San Francisco; Bri and Rob Schoder in Chicago; Stacey Phillips in L.A.; Mark and Paula Speers in Boston; Joe Mannes, Frank Vecella and Scott Zashin in Dallas; Bill Goodspeed and Meg Coughlin LePage in Portland, Maine; Bump in Atlanta; and Cathy McGrath in the Upper Valley. Mark two future minis on your calendar: Homecoming and Winter Carnival! Regina Rehkamp Ketting attended Carnival this year. The highlight: a rocking Thompson Arena hockey game. Let the chant begin.


—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com


American students are less proficient in American history than any other subject. According to the results of a nationwide test released last summer, most fourth-graders are unable to identify why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure, a majority of middle schoolers don’t know which side won the Revolutionary War and only a small percentage of high school seniors are able to identify China as the North Korean ally that fought American troops during the Korean War. Overall, just 20 percent of fourth-graders, 17 percent of eighth-graders and 12 percent of high school seniors demonstrated proficiency on the history exam.


Don’t blame me: I teach math, not history, and I’ve been doing it for less than three years. And certainly don’t blame Kathryn Flitner Wallop, who has been an outstanding English teacher at Sheridan High School in Sheridan, Wyoming, for the past 15 years. She entered Dartmouth with “slightly scuffed cowboy boots and rodeo queen belt” and after graduating followed a long and winding road that eventually led to the classroom after stints in advertising copywriting, public relations, guest ranch management, radio ad sales and voiceover, waitressing and various escapades in TV and print, including an infomercial that earned her some late-night notoriety as the “Bug Zapper Girl.” Whenever she feels the symptoms of teacher burn-out she reminds herself that there’s no better job than guiding young people through the world of big ideas. And then Kathryn tackles two other challenges in her insanely busy life: completing a second master’s degree, this one in fine arts, and raising her two young girls—ages 9 and 4—with restaurateur husband Oliver, perfect counterpoints to their 27-year-old big brother.


And don’t blame Al Noyes, who has been pioneering new and better approaches to education for more than 15 years. When Al was recently offered the opportunity to return to his native Maine to run an 80-year-old educational publisher, he jumped at the chance. Al has returned with his wife, Kathy, and two young children—ages 12 and 9—to Falmouth, Maine, the town where he grew up. Al’s family loves the lifestyle in Maine. At Walch Education Al is leading the transition of the company from a provider of supplemental educational books to a developer of mass-customized teacher and student resources, with the objective of enhancing the quality of interaction between teachers and students by eliminating many of the distractions teachers face and giving them the tools they need to be effective. If this gig doesn’t work out, Al is welcome to serve as a guest contributor to this column. Al has news to report on classmates Bill Goodspeed (“recently retired and sticking to a malt-centric diet”), Sue Green Spagnola (“who like me, doesn’t look a day older”), Harry Shulman (“still can’t play beer pong”), Mike Lynch (“good golfer but terrible singer”), Cathel Macleod (“braces are off”), Wade Herring (“I still can’t believe his accent and he still can’t believe mine”) and Mike Carothers (“losing his hair but unfortunately not the hair on his chest”).


I recently caught up with Peter Lubin, who is based in Chicagoland and works as a name partner in a law firm that specializes in commercial and class-action litigation. For the third straight President’s Day weekend Peter, daughter Tess and Tess’ godfather Guy Dietrich will take a ski vacation together, this time to Sun Valley, Idaho. Did Guy’s string of bad luck continue? Guy dislocated his shoulder on the trip two years ago, and again last year. Maybe it’s time to take up shuffleboard, boys.


—Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@mc.com


I’ve run into classmates in airports, supermarkets, on mountaintops and along unpaved country roads in the dead of night (don’t ask). I have bumped into members of our class at rodeos, in European museums and on the Hollywood studio set where they test contestants for Jeopardy. So at this point, nothing surprises me less or delights me more than hearing about other chance encounters.


For spring break Tom Ware and his family fled the frozen tundra of Wisconsin for a favorite resort destination in St. Croix. Once there, Tom’s son Thomas, scheduled to matriculate as a Dartmouth freshman this fall, regularly strolled the grounds wearing one of the several Dartmouth T-shirts he had brought along. One day a guest approached him: Was he a student there? It turns out the curious guest was none other than our own Regina Rehkamp Ketting. The chance encounter led to a reunion of sorts, with the two families meeting for a nice lunch on the beach and lots of talk about Dartmouth, past present and future.


It’s time to introduce a new column feature, “The ’80 List”: Albert Ellis, Bill Stewart, Joe Hunter, Tom Isaacson, George Morris, Bill Finnegan, John Toulmin, Grant MacEwan.


(What do these classmates have in common?)


For inspiration as you plan your summer, here’s a byline from Judi Byfield, who teaches African and Caribbean history at Cornell. Judi spent the first half of last summer attending a summit on global leadership at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, that brought together students, administrators and faculty from across the world. This university is one of the historically white Afrikaner universities that trained those who maintained the apartheid state. Although its population has rapidly diversified since the end of apartheid, the administrators and students there are all too aware of the history and trauma that must still be overcome to undo the institutionalized racial inequality that defined South Africa’s history during the 20th century. Through her interactions with the students Judi gained a new, deeply personal perspective on how the dreams that many hold for the future exist side-by-side with the pains of the past and the frustrations that many harbor for the slowness of the changes they anticipated. While it was exhausting for Judi to watch these young people wrestle with these issues, she also found it energizing. And it made for a great “What I did last summer” story.


Claiming his classmate is “too modest” to ever mention it himself, Jake Eschen recently directed me to an article in the March issue of Plaintiff that profiles fellow northern California lawyer Mike Danko. The article highlights how and why Mike, at the midpoint of his career, left a successful practice at an international firm defending financial institutions to dive headlong into plaintiff’s trial law. It was a career move Mike had never imagined making, inspired by a single case he agreed to handle for a friend. The transition has been a better fit for Mike than originally expected. Who better than a psych major to get in a juror’s head? And Mike’s interest in science and engineering—how things work—has served him well in his area of specialization, aviation law. One suspects that the airplane and helicopter Mike flies are among the safest ever built.


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com


In 1996 we held a family reunion at the Greenbrier, a gracious old resort in West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains. Our visit came shortly after the Washington Post exposed a decades-old secret. Back in 1958—the year most of us were born—Congress authorized the construction of a top-secret emergency relocation facility for its members. Completed in 1961 and designed to hold 1,100 people, this Cold War fallout shelter had been carved deep into the mountainside, nearly a thousand feet beneath the resort. For more than 30 years the shelter was maintained in a constant state of readiness by a small group of government employees working undercover. Cover blown, the government immediately declassified the facility and opened it to the public. When I visited, guided tours had just begun.


As I gazed in disbelief at the cavernous underground dormitories, conference rooms and legislative chambers, I thought, “If members of Congress were the only people left on the planet, would they have the skills to survive? And for whom would they be making laws?” I decided then and there that the facility might better serve a more worthy and diversely talented group of roughly one thousand: our class of 1980. I envisioned it as a more inclusive and less frivolous Sphinx-on-steroids. Our group would include a comparable number of lawyers but far more engineers, educators, artists, doctors and entrepreneurs. And we’d have those mad living-off-the-grid skills of Derek Brown.


As survivors, we could build on our shared histories. I recently heard some good news from high school and Dartmouth classmate Keith Pickholz about another hometown friend Bob Berlinger. After winning the Eleanor Frost Award for playwriting as a senior at Dartmouth, Bob went west, as graduates of New York’s Horace Greeley High School are programmed to do. After completing his graduate work at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Bob embarked on his successful career as a television director. Those of you who don’t jump through the credits have probably seen Bob’s name attached to episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, The West Wing and other critically acclaimed shows. Talent runs in Bob’s family: brother Joe makes award-winning documentaries. This spring Bob was recognized as one of UCSD’s Fifty Most Distinguished Alumni at the school’s 50th anniversary alumni weekend. One of the 50 best out of nearly 150,000 living graduates—well done, Bob!


I recently had the pleasure of reconnecting with Sam Walker. Sam, his wife, Tamela, and their two grown daughters live in Atlanta. During working hours Sam stays busy as the general manager of an environmental engineering and specialty distribution company and the senior executive responsible for sales and marketing at a management consulting firm. He somehow manages to carve out time for his true love, sports. Sam not only plays the usual round of golf but also plays baseball in a senior men’s baseball league. And if that wasn’t enough, Sam has been coaching football for various public and private schools every year since moving to the Southeast, where football is king and the competition is fierce. Can Sam maintain this level of activity? His recent hip replacement—made possible by a referral from Atlanta-based orthopedic surgeon Drew Miller—has only made him stronger.


—Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@mc.com


Although the number “15” on the bonfire and jerseys caused me to pause for some quick math (answer: 35), the Homecoming slideshow took my breath away. Class pres Cami Bilger confirmed that it was even more spectacular in person. Joining Cami for the mini-reunion were Brent Bilger, Dave Bumsted, Paul Elmlinger, Regina Ketting, Todd Pellett, Wade Herring, Sean Wilson, Bill Isaacs, Marty Peterson, Eric Pfieffer, Chuck Muenzen, Amy Haak and, of course, “Boomer.” 


Earlier this fall Cami and Regina were in Hanover for an equally idyllic Class Officers Weekend (COW). Co-pres Brian Boyer, treasurer Joe Mannes and head agent Merle Adelman rounded out our class representation. Joe was elected vice president of the Class Treasurers Association. Trustee Bill Helman delivered an uplifting state-of-the-College address at the annual COW breakfast. Also in town were Emily Lisberger Vitale and Roy Johnson, as well as the ’80 alumnae crew that rowed in the Laura Woodberry Jessiman boat: Trina Olin Santry, Leigh Limbach Johnson, Alison Smuckler Gensler, Sue Ball and Carly Geer. The Bri reported neither our margin of victory nor how much money he made betting on our team. 


By the time this column is published the holidays will be upon us, complete with the traditional last-minute shopping scramble. Worry not, as three classmates have recently completed must-have books. All three books are available on Amazon.com. 


Jill Fredston wrote the fifth edition of Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard. Jill updated the leading primer, first published almost 30 years ago, on avoiding avalanches while enjoying winter mountain adventures. As one Amazon reviewer put it, “this book will save your life.”


Rob Dinsmoor has followed up Tales of the Troupe with The Yoga Divas and Other Stories. Rob teaches how to survive and thrive in the apparently zany yoga world. In his words, “Join me as I room with the world’s creepiest human at a yoga retreat, take a session with the Yoga Nazi, adopt a dog under false pretenses and battle the elements in Central American jungles.”


Sean O’Keefe has written Helius Legacy, a thriller about the unwitting holder of obscure legal right to a billion-dollar property and the bad guys who want to make sure he never finds out about it. Sean spent more than four years working on the novel in his “spare time,” an oxymoron for a lawyer with an overflowing Chapter 11 bankruptcy practice in Newport Beach, California. This fall he logged more than 30,000 miles on Lehman-related litigation that for several years was more than a workout, even for Sean, before it finally settled on the eve of trial. Sean and wife Cathy have a 24 year-old daughter who recently got married and two high-schoolers. 


Shaun Smith and fellow scribe Dave Hov ’78 made it official on October 22. They live in McLean, Virginia, across the Potomac from where Shaun works as a senior director for Freddie Mac. We wish the newlyweds, and everyone else, pax et bonum this holiday season.


—Rob Daisley 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com