Class of 1958

The class’ 65th reunion, co-chaired by Hal Bernsen and Frank Gould with legion help from alumni relations’ Joe Piedrafite, director of alumni engagement, was put on during an eventful three days in early September.

Standing out among the many reunion events was the presentation to President Sian Leah Beilock of the ceremonial check representing the record-shattering Dartmouth College Fund gift from the class of $791,958. This broke the previous record by 42 percent or $233,000! Reunion giving chairs Bob Downey and Walter Vail, ably assisted by co-head agents Gersh Abraham, Jack Bennett and Hal Bernsen, invigorated a team of class agents to exceed expectations! Special thanks to Sandy Bromwell and Pat Crim, who kept us on track from the fund office. Well done. Also standing out were the invigorating three storytelling sessions headlining the reunion program. Oh, the tales that were told!

At the class meeting, a new slate of officers and a revitalized executive committee were elected to lead the class toward the sunset. Hal Bernsen was elected president; Frank Gould, vice president. Mike Simberkoff, incumbent treasurer, was reelected and John Trimble shed the title of secretary pro tempore and was elected secretary. He will also continue as newsletter editor. The executive committee will be Gersh Abraham, Mel Alperin, Bob Downey, Dick Frisch, Pete Kelsey, Jerry Manne, Ben McAdams, Don McCree, Don McIntyre, Joel Portugal, Sam Smith, Walter Vail, Jane Yusen, and Ron Zwart.

Kudos were directed at Sam Smith, retiring class vice president who instituted a program of writing surviving family members when memorial books were purchased by the library in a deceased classmate’s name. Retiring president John Trimble had also initiated writing every surviving spouse upon the death of a classmate with condolences but also welcoming them as honorary members of the class. An informal 65th reunion yearbook was assembled and given to all who contributed. Classmates had been asked to update their profiles from our 50th The Journey Continues and close to 90 did so in a hodge-podge of submissions from neat computer writeups to handwritten scrawls that confirmed that cursive is a lost art!

—John Trimble, 99 Mooncussers Lane, Chatham, MA 02633; jtrim99@comcast.net