Choosing subjects for Class Notes can be fun. Bob Marchant’s idea was first jobs, building on the strength of a Dartmouth education. Bob Slaughter thought it more interesting to celebrate those classmates who pursued careers unrelated to their Dartmouth studies. Where’d we go? Erich Kunzel and Chris Wren came immediately to mind: Erich becausehe was theGlee Club president, student band director, and total music man at Dartmouth, taking his enormous talents to both national and international stages; Chris because he moved from English honors and Russian language courses to become The New York Times bureau chief in Moscow, with brilliant foreign correspondent stops along the way. Both are certainly among our most famous and celebrated classmates, quintessential even. Let’s identify some others.

I’m thinking Al Rollins. He’s living in New Hampshire. He’s wearing boots and a plaid shirt. He’s taking down a towering, storm-damaged tree in Clark Griffiths’ backyard or maybe out climbing mountains with his daughter, Debby ’87; maybe flying his airplane or just exploring his precious woods. Ask this former biology professor and Yale forester his major at Dartmouth, I’m betting he’ll say, “Outing Club.” I’m hoping Al has pancakes cooked over a wood fire every morning for breakfast.

Another quintessential candidate is Dick Reilly. We know Dick as the inventor of the aluminum paddle tennis court. His company built courts in 16 countries around the world. But a loving note from his daughter, Kathy ’85, brought to life a father’s love for Dartmouth, mountain adventures, and the great outdoors. From Mount Moosilauke to the Tetons, Dick was a horse whisperer in Montana and a family hero who called the bluff of a charging bear in Wyoming.

Of course, Joe Stevenson dominates any selection of quintessential alum. Joe became secretary of the Dartmouth club of Tokyo upon graduation from Tuck and volunteered for Dartmouth every year for the next 62 years. He was president of our class from 1967 to 1971, director of the Dartmouth College fund under President Kemeny, president of the Alumni Council, and our head agent with Bob Adelizzi at the time of Joe’s death. Fellow class presidents Tom Schwartz, Jack Hall, Bruce Bernstein, and Tom Macy were among the many attending his memorial service, and Tom sent a moving tribute to all classmates in honor of this dedicated ’57. In Tom’s words, Joe was “a giant among us and among all Dartmouth alumni.”

—John W. Cusick, 105 Island Plantation Terrace, Vero Beach, FL 32963; (772) 231-1248; johnwcusick @aol.com