Some of us have kept a copy of the program for the Commencement exercises held in Hanover on June 14, 1959. Among other information, it lists the names of 591 classmates who that day received bachelor of arts degrees. Although not explicitly noted in the program, more than 100 of those classmates receiving bachelor’s degrees were also in the midst of pursuing postgraduate degrees from one of the three graduate schools (in the case of about a dozen classmates, joint degrees from Tuck and Thayer schools). Almost all of those who had begun their postgraduate studies (pursuant to the now long-defunct 3/2 program) went on to obtain the advanced degrees from either Tuck, Thayer (or both) or the then two-year Medical School. One of the exceptions was Jerry Allyn,who, having started the 3/2 program with the Thayer School, switched schools in mid-stream and finished his master’s program in engineering at Yale. Being a three-year Dartmouth, one-year Thayer and one-year Yale engineer is not the only way in which Jerry stands out as a rara avis among classmates. He was also one of only three (to the knowledge of your scribe) who married the sister of a classmate. Jerry was introduced to his future wife, Fran, by her twin brother—and Jerry’s sophomore-year roommate—Sam Werner. Jerry and Fran vacationed with Sam and Laura Werner in Nag’s Head, North Carolina, about a year ago in celebration of Jerry’s and the twins’ 80th birthdays. Jerry reports that he and his brother-in-law and fellow science maven were intrigued by the changing nature of the Outer Banks and, while browsing in a bookstore in Kitty Hawk, serendipitously found a book that described in expert detail the natural processes that they had observed and wondered about. The book, published in 1995 and titled The Nature of the Outer Banks, was written by Dirk Frankenberg, then a professor of marine science at the University of North Carolina, whose distinguished career was cut short by his death about five years after the book’s publication.

—Dick Hoehn, 845 Union St., Marshfield, MA 02050; (781) 834-4113; rhoehn@choate.com