As we approach our 50th reunion in June there is much to reflect upon. If the official reunion book is not already in your hands, it soon will be. Many have labored mightily ever since our 70th birthday reunion in Charleston, South Carolina. Kent Huchinson and Dick Bragaw have cracked the whip on countless occasions and marshaled a cast of thousands—well, maybe hundreds—in a literary production that is sure to become a major motion picture. Well, maybe not a movie, but it is bound to be treasured as one beautiful book of which we can all be proud. We began, according to our numbers man Charlie Balch, as a class of 781 matriculants in the fall of 1958. As of this writing, in December 2011, 124 classmates have passed away. The book makes every effort to celebrate us all, living and dead, as fully and respectfully as possible. It is an invaluable summing up of our collective life journey.


And how times have changed in the past 50 years! Dartmouth is Dartmouth still—and yet on a planet containing 7 billion souls, in an Internet age of social networking. Relentless competition for admission to Dartmouth—not to mention other such coveted schools—has become a global endeavor. Educator and author Bill Carpenter is quoted in a recent article on college admissions in The New York Times (November 4, 2011): “I’d imagine that most of my classmates at Dartmouth couldn’t get in now. I probably couldn’t.” The majority of us no doubt feel the same way. And yet…we were there during a golden era that will not come again. Let’s celebrate our good fortune at a golden anniversary in June. Bill Pierce and Dick Brooks are planning a great reunion. Come on back classmates, wives, widows, partners, significant others. All are welcome!


And now the news. Kudos to Tom Moorman, retired general in the U.S. Air Force, for his numerous aeronautical awards. Most recently he was selected by Space News as “one of the top 10 contributors to the nation’s space program.”


Kudos as well to classmate and surgical oncologist Bob Osteen, who—in the words of Dan Tompkins—has received the highest compliment in an article in The New Yorker (October 3, 2011) by Atul Gawande, who praises Bob’s skill as his surgical coach. Dan reports, “The section concerning Bob begins quite wonderfully—the whole piece is impressive and inspiring.”


On a more personal note, I had the unexpected pleasure of hearing from Jerry Pepper, my freshman-year roommate in Cohen Hall with whom I had inexplicably lost touch during the past half-century. Formerly from Milford, Connecticut, Jerry now lives in Glendale, Arizona, and has happily worked for Costco for the past 28 years. On occasion he gets together with Alan Greenbaum, a practicing school psychologist in Phoenix, Arizona.


In closing I am pleased to announce that going forward Denny Barnes of Rockville, Maryland, will share, as co-secretary, in the writing of this column. A career lawyer and former litigator, Denny will keep us honest—or at the very least help us stay out of jail.


—Jim Haines, 307 Sewickley Ridge Drive, Sewickley, PA 15143; (412) 741-9088; jbhaines@comcast.net; Dennis Barnes, 4312 Bretton Road, Rockville, MD 20853; (301) 460-4523; dnbarnes62@verizon.net