Dartmouth recently lost its oldest alumnus when Harold “Rip” Ripley ’29 died in Hanover at the age of 104. Ever loyal to his alma mater, Rip served on countless committees and received Dartmouth’s Alumni Award in 1986. He also wrote great poems that often appeared in the 1929 Class Notes.


It was exciting and traffic-jam-producing to have the recent Republican debate, October 11, in Hanover. The town was overrun with video trucks, media, interested students and leaf peepers. Hope you had a chance to see the various correspondents talking from the Green with a lighted Baker Library behind them. In the background were students rallying in support of the Wall Street demonstration.


The College has recently concluded an extremely interesting series, “Leading Voices in Politics and Policy.” The speakers were all Dartmouth grads including Timothy Geithner ’83, Hank Paulson ’68, Robert Reich ’68 and Jeffrey Immelt ’78.


More money for Dartmouth’s Medical School: The National Institutes of Health has given them $11 million to examine how genes and the environment cause and prevent disease.


The College’s investments are doing better; they rose 18.4 percent for fiscal year 2011, and now total $3.143 billion. The endowment fund generates roughly 20 percent of the College’s annual operating budget.


Mini-reunion, starting September 30, was thoroughly enjoyed by a small number of classmates and their wives. Highlights included a dinner at the Native American House on Friday night that included a fine PowerPoint presentation about Henry Eagle and his father and Dartmouth’s first night football game. Ali Field once again did a wonderful job arranging everything.


I regret to report the deaths of Gerson M. Rosenthal Jr. and Charles W. Clarke Jr.


—John Jenkins, 80 Lyme Road, Apt. 304, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-2757; mmjenkins@kahres.kendal.org