Class Note 1959

The first order of business for this new secretary is to gratefully acknowledge the efforts and contributions of my predecessor, Dick Hoehn. For the past five years he has consistently brought to the fore and to this forum the Class Notes of note. He became a master at mining our minds and sorting through the many achievements and adventures of our classmates. Not an easy task with a bunch that is so geographically dispersed and so accomplished in so many fields of endeavor. In addition, as the creator of the obituaries for passing classmates, he has done an incomparable job of bringing those men to the forefront of our memories in a most respectful way. So I take my hat off to Dick and thank him for his classic and classy fulfilment of the roles and responsibilities of our secretary.

Although our 60th reunion has been chronicled and photographed by many and in many places, I do want to relate how much of an impact it had on me. Having lived in Southern California for more than 40 years, I found myself in sensory overload on my return to Hanover, with the green of the forests, the beauty of the Dartmouth campus and the overwhelming feeling of being “at home” and immersed in memories that have really, in retrospect, forged the individuals and individualism of our class. I found the reunion to be a stunning reaffirmation of the importance of Dartmouth. I was struck by the relevance and the reality of those old, old words—the granite of New Hampshire, the still wind of the North and ’round the girdled earth—they really are right on.

We have a hall of fame inductee. John Folmer has served as the town attorney for Cortlandville, New York, for more than 29 years and he was the first person inducted into the hall of fame for this upstate New York community. John attended the Syracuse University College of Law and, after serving for two years in the U.S. Army, began practicing law, first in New York City and then in Cortlandville, near his birthplace of Cortland. He has actively served in many community, service and law-related organizations. In his 55-plus years practicing law John was president of the New York State Bar Association and a former city prosecutor for Cortland. John, congratulations to you.

—Charlie MacVean, 3528 Liggett Drive, San Diego, CA 92106-2153; (619) 508-4401; crmacvean@msn.com