Class Note 1961

As required, I am writing this article in late April for publication in DAM July/August Issue. At this point in time we are still six weeks away from our 50th reunion. However, by the time the class reads this column our 50th reunion (June 9-14) will, in all likelihood, be either in progress or a past experience. Therefore, I feel schizophrenic in attempting to write this and relate it to our 50th reunion, as well I should.


As a start, the class should be honored and extremely proud of the class of 1961 50th reunion book recently received. It contains 433 pages of memories and thoughts by a great many of our classmates. The book is titled Paths We’ve Taken, in honor of Robert Frost, and it covers the 54 years from the time that we first arrived upon the Hanover Plain until shortly before we are scheduled to return there, 50 years after graduating from Dartmouth. Our class reunion book has more pages of classmate contributions and more complete obituaries than any prior Dartmouth 50th reunion book and it is the first Dartmouth 50th reunion book to use color within the body of the book. In summary, the material submitted by classmates is extraordinary, the pictures are excellent and the layout is outstanding. The book is a treasure for each and every classmate or their widows who received it. The class cannot thank Jim Baum (executive editor), Tom Conger (managing editor), Jim Watson (associateeditor), Tom Dalglish (editor-at-large) and Frank Ginn (honorary editor) enough for this wonderful tribute to our class. The book far exceeds anything that I had expected and may rank as the best 50th Dartmouth alumni reunion book of all time, certainly among the top three. Thank you, all—those who edited and published the book and those classmates who took the time and made the effort to contribute to it.


Also to occur at our 50th reunion will be the unique participation of several classmates: David Birney will perform “Love Letters by A.R. Gurney” in celebration of our Legacy for the Performing Arts; Mike Gazzaniga will conduct a forum on the topic of free will and the science of the brain; Steve Bosworth will conduct a forum on world politics; George Bland and Duane Cox will lead our class in a memorial service for our deceased classmates; Duane Coxwill lead our class in the return of our long-standing passages introspective; Pete Bleyler will be awarded the Dartmouth Alumni Award (only the fifth person from our class to win this award).


See everyone (or most everyone) at our 50th.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com