Class of 1981

I hope everyone who made it to our 45th reunion had an “’81-derful” time. I’m submitting this in April, so there’s no telling how it went.

One thing’s certain: Thanks to the ’81 nominating committee, a new slate of class officers were unanimously voted in at this gathering. We all know that if you oppose someone, then you must take the job. In seriousness, so many of the “new” class officers have served us repeatedly in many roles through the decades. I’ll be ducking out but with a deep appreciation of how much goes on behind the scenes of our class. We owe old and new volunteers our gratitude, an enthusiastic round of applause, and more than a few drinks (near beer is fine). They keep our class cohesive and contribute collectively thousands of hours to the interesting, edifying, entertaining, and supportive things ’81s do. Like what, you may ask? Orchestrating impressive gifts to the school, financial and otherwise; reunions and get-togethers of all kinds across the world; panels and discussions on topical, meaningful subjects; input into Dartmouth’s future; a legacy for future students; support for classmates who can use it; interesting things to read and watch; and shoutouts about, awards for, and records of our lives and achievements, not to mention our passings.

Volunteers are genuinely welcome so please reach out if you have an interest in any of these headings. You’ve got skills and expertise to spare and likely more time on your hands to reconnect with really old friends and to get to know some new classmates. If not now, when?

Congratulations to our dedicated and over-qualified new officers: copresidents Lynnette Eubanks Marshall (previously newsletter editor) and Jeff Walters; secretaries Howard Morse (previously class agent) and Christy Hunter Mihaly (well-known children’s author); treasurer Alison Hibbert; mini-reunions, Chip Bettencourt, Elizabeth Wang (both serving another term), Robin Sullivan, Bob Dale, Jeff Healy, and Emil Miskovsky (former secretary and mentor for yours truly); newsletter editors Gail Chen and Vaughn Halyard (both stepping up again), Stephen Godchaux, Susan Weiss Spencer, and Rick Silverman (yet again, plus most recently reunion cochair); digital content manager Ellen Brout Lindsey (most recently reunion cochair and particularly brave to take on our website); Dartmouth College Fund head agents Tracy Bennett and Patsy Fisher; gift planning, Anne Scott-Putney (serving another term); Alumni Council rep Sally Ankeny Reiley (serving another term); class projects, Julie Koeninger and Molly Sundberg Van Metre (both serving another term); Compassio, Chris Morrison (serving another term); 8-One Network, Danielle Dyer (serving another term) and Beth Shapiro Lewyckyj (most recently our copresident); class award liaison Lynne Hamel Gaudet (most recently our other copresident); communications, Big Q; birthdays, Shelley Warren Wieler (serving another term).

Thank you, ’81 class officers—wishing you a productive and enjoyable officer term. And to all ’81s, have a great, green, ’81-derful summer.

—Ann Jacobus Kordahl, P.O. Box 470443, San Francisco, CA 94147; ajkordahl@gmail.com; Emil Miskovsky, P.O. Box 2162, North Conway, NH 03860; emilmiskovsky@gmail.com