Class Note 1957
Issue
A few columns back I asked for stories from classmates who as undergraduates or soon after graduation had changed their minds about what they wanted their futures to be; here are some of the replies I received, though there’s always room for more. There seems to have been a lot of serendipity going around.
When Bill Poplack suggested that they take a geology course together at the end of sophomore year, Bill Fiero e-mails that, “I was well on the road to becoming a biologist, but took the course and got hooked on geology, thanks to Andy McNair, a marvelous teacher.” Bill went on to take a Ph.D. in geology.
Cal Perry planned to follow in his father’s footsteps: after Dartmouth a degree in law and then the insurance business. But he got waylaid by his time in the medical service when he was in the military. He ended up at the New England College of Optometry and practiced for 40 years.
Cal’s e-mail included a story about his freshman roommate Dave Regan, who entered the same optometry school when Cal was a senior there. As an English teacher Dave had assigned a weekly theme to be titled, “What I Want to Do in Life.” He wrote one, too, and that changed his life’s work.
After majoring in economics Rod Hinkle joined the Peace Corps in 1961 to teach in East Africa for two years. That led to a career that included managing university overseas programs. Rod adds, “I met both of my wives (successive) in college overseas programs.”
After English major Bob Mowbray finished a master’s in forestry at Yale, a girl he was dating convinced him to join the Peace Corps for a stint in Ecuador. That led to a career working “on a wide variety of natural resource conservation activities.” In a final flourish similar to Rod’s, Bob says, “I met my wife while carrying out ecological research in eastern Ecuador.”
Herb Roskind remembers that he “could not wait to leave the South, with its narrowness, confined prospects and chilling racism.” He went from Dartmouth to knocking on doors in Manhattan, and eventually got into the international trade business. Now he teaches a course called “Global Trade in Real Time” at Arizona State.
After three unhappy years in law school Howie Howland eventually went job-hunting for “something international.” A family friend told him there was something called marine insurance. That led to a 33-year career insuring ships and their cargoes, and that led to travel to port cities in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.
As the days dwindle down—the season’s and our own—it’s not bad to remember Robert Frost’s lines from “My November Guest”: “Not yesterday, I learned to know/The love of bare November days/Before the coming of the snow….” Of course, he also wrote the scathing lines, “Better to go down dignified/With boughten friendship at your side/Than none at all. Provide, provide!” Both poems pertain: Happy Thanksgiving to all.
—Michael Lasser, 164 New Wickham Drive, Penfield, NY 14526; rhythm2@frontiernet.net
Nov - Dec 2010
A few columns back I asked for stories from classmates who as undergraduates or soon after graduation had changed their minds about what they wanted their futures to be; here are some of the replies I received, though there’s always room for more. There seems to have been a lot of serendipity going around.
When Bill Poplack suggested that they take a geology course together at the end of sophomore year, Bill Fiero e-mails that, “I was well on the road to becoming a biologist, but took the course and got hooked on geology, thanks to Andy McNair, a marvelous teacher.” Bill went on to take a Ph.D. in geology.
Cal Perry planned to follow in his father’s footsteps: after Dartmouth a degree in law and then the insurance business. But he got waylaid by his time in the medical service when he was in the military. He ended up at the New England College of Optometry and practiced for 40 years.
Cal’s e-mail included a story about his freshman roommate Dave Regan, who entered the same optometry school when Cal was a senior there. As an English teacher Dave had assigned a weekly theme to be titled, “What I Want to Do in Life.” He wrote one, too, and that changed his life’s work.
After majoring in economics Rod Hinkle joined the Peace Corps in 1961 to teach in East Africa for two years. That led to a career that included managing university overseas programs. Rod adds, “I met both of my wives (successive) in college overseas programs.”
After English major Bob Mowbray finished a master’s in forestry at Yale, a girl he was dating convinced him to join the Peace Corps for a stint in Ecuador. That led to a career working “on a wide variety of natural resource conservation activities.” In a final flourish similar to Rod’s, Bob says, “I met my wife while carrying out ecological research in eastern Ecuador.”
Herb Roskind remembers that he “could not wait to leave the South, with its narrowness, confined prospects and chilling racism.” He went from Dartmouth to knocking on doors in Manhattan, and eventually got into the international trade business. Now he teaches a course called “Global Trade in Real Time” at Arizona State.
After three unhappy years in law school Howie Howland eventually went job-hunting for “something international.” A family friend told him there was something called marine insurance. That led to a 33-year career insuring ships and their cargoes, and that led to travel to port cities in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.
As the days dwindle down—the season’s and our own—it’s not bad to remember Robert Frost’s lines from “My November Guest”: “Not yesterday, I learned to know/The love of bare November days/Before the coming of the snow….” Of course, he also wrote the scathing lines, “Better to go down dignified/With boughten friendship at your side/Than none at all. Provide, provide!” Both poems pertain: Happy Thanksgiving to all.
—Michael Lasser, 164 New Wickham Drive, Penfield, NY 14526; rhythm2@frontiernet.net