Class Note 1942
Issue
September-October 2024
As I begin this column for the class of ’42, I am inspired by two significant items. The first is Jon Mendes (103) is back home and in good spirits.
Second, I have been delighted of late by several emails from children of members of the class of ’42. (If you are a child of ’42, please email me.) Nick Holekamp ’82 writes: “Thank you for maintaining the Class Notes for the great class of ’42! My father, Carl H. Holekamp Jr., was a proud member of the class. While I’m not a member of the class of ’84, both of Carl’s sons attended Dartmouth. I’m an ’82 and my brother, Peter, graduated in 1978. Regarding the book, Dartmouth at War, my dad contributed his stories from his time in the Navy on the island of Guam. He was very proud of his legacy, which was tied in so many ways to his alma mater. That Peter and I (and our two sisters, for that matter) exist at all is also in a way thanks to Dartmouth. Our grandfather, Mott D. Brown, class of 1917, brought his daughter, Barbara, to his 25th reunion, where she met Carl, who was attending his fifth. My parents married four years later and were together for nearly 60 years. I suppose it makes sense, then, that every 10 years the family would make the trek from St. Louis, Missouri, to attend reunion and that it was almost a foregone conclusion Peter and I would eventually matriculate.
“But that’s far from the end of Carl’s legacy. He also had two brilliant daughters, Kay and Julie. Julie attended Vanderbilt, and Kay, the oldest, followed her mother’s path to Smith College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. She went on to an astounding career as a behavioral zoologist, becoming the world’s leading authority on the spotted hyena of Africa. Her work and story comprised the cover story of National Geographic magazine’s February 8, 2024, issue. My dad was very proud of her. I think he would also have been proud of the contribution I’m making to the care of children with complex medical conditions as chief medical officer of Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in St. Louis.”
—Joanna Caproni, 370 East 76 St., Apt. A 406, New York, NY 10021; caproni@aol.com
Second, I have been delighted of late by several emails from children of members of the class of ’42. (If you are a child of ’42, please email me.) Nick Holekamp ’82 writes: “Thank you for maintaining the Class Notes for the great class of ’42! My father, Carl H. Holekamp Jr., was a proud member of the class. While I’m not a member of the class of ’84, both of Carl’s sons attended Dartmouth. I’m an ’82 and my brother, Peter, graduated in 1978. Regarding the book, Dartmouth at War, my dad contributed his stories from his time in the Navy on the island of Guam. He was very proud of his legacy, which was tied in so many ways to his alma mater. That Peter and I (and our two sisters, for that matter) exist at all is also in a way thanks to Dartmouth. Our grandfather, Mott D. Brown, class of 1917, brought his daughter, Barbara, to his 25th reunion, where she met Carl, who was attending his fifth. My parents married four years later and were together for nearly 60 years. I suppose it makes sense, then, that every 10 years the family would make the trek from St. Louis, Missouri, to attend reunion and that it was almost a foregone conclusion Peter and I would eventually matriculate.
“But that’s far from the end of Carl’s legacy. He also had two brilliant daughters, Kay and Julie. Julie attended Vanderbilt, and Kay, the oldest, followed her mother’s path to Smith College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. She went on to an astounding career as a behavioral zoologist, becoming the world’s leading authority on the spotted hyena of Africa. Her work and story comprised the cover story of National Geographic magazine’s February 8, 2024, issue. My dad was very proud of her. I think he would also have been proud of the contribution I’m making to the care of children with complex medical conditions as chief medical officer of Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in St. Louis.”
—Joanna Caproni, 370 East 76 St., Apt. A 406, New York, NY 10021; caproni@aol.com