Class Note 1962
Issue
March-April 2022
The Caring Class Network (CCN), brainchild of class newsletter editor Al Huck and Alan Rapoport, continues to provide valuable counsel and insight in monthly Zoom meetings for classmates and spouses facing mental health challenges associated with poor health, caregiving, and loss of loved ones, under the professional guidance of doctors Bernie Jacobs and David Bergman. CCN also offers regular Zoom lectures on important health topics, most recently an update on Covid-19 by Dr. Elizabeth Fagan. Email alexhuck62@gmail.com if you want to participate.
Following up on my commitment to feature legendary classmates who have made important contributions to the class legacy, I recently interviewed Jim Varnum, who retired in 2006 after serving 28 years as president of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Many of you will remember Jim’s soothing voice on WDCR back in the day as chief announcer and program director. After earning his master’s in hospital administration at University of Michigan, his home state, Jim served in various management capacities at university hospitals in Wisconsin and Washington before joining the staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover in the early 1970s. As president, Jim guided the hospital during a transformative period when its partner, Dartmouth Medical School, extended its graduate program from two to four years and the medical center moved from Hanover to its present location in Lebanon in 1991. These changes revolutionized the scope and quality of medical care in the region, earning Jim accolades as New Hampshire Business Leader of the Year in 1992 and the American Hospital Association Award of Honor in 2006. Characteristically modest about his contribution to what could serve as a business school case study in project management, Jim generously shares the credit with his many “extraordinarily cooperative,” colleagues at the Medical School, hospital, and community. Enjoying retirement in the Hanover area with his wife, Lucinda, Jim plays golf, serves on the boards of a handful of community service organizations, and meets frequently with about 30 classmates living in the area.
I regret to report the death of William D. “Bill” Gamble of Havelock, North Carolina, on December 11.
—David L. Smith, RR4 Box 225B4, Galveston, TX 77554; (775) 870-2354; david@davidlsmith.com
Following up on my commitment to feature legendary classmates who have made important contributions to the class legacy, I recently interviewed Jim Varnum, who retired in 2006 after serving 28 years as president of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Many of you will remember Jim’s soothing voice on WDCR back in the day as chief announcer and program director. After earning his master’s in hospital administration at University of Michigan, his home state, Jim served in various management capacities at university hospitals in Wisconsin and Washington before joining the staff at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover in the early 1970s. As president, Jim guided the hospital during a transformative period when its partner, Dartmouth Medical School, extended its graduate program from two to four years and the medical center moved from Hanover to its present location in Lebanon in 1991. These changes revolutionized the scope and quality of medical care in the region, earning Jim accolades as New Hampshire Business Leader of the Year in 1992 and the American Hospital Association Award of Honor in 2006. Characteristically modest about his contribution to what could serve as a business school case study in project management, Jim generously shares the credit with his many “extraordinarily cooperative,” colleagues at the Medical School, hospital, and community. Enjoying retirement in the Hanover area with his wife, Lucinda, Jim plays golf, serves on the boards of a handful of community service organizations, and meets frequently with about 30 classmates living in the area.
I regret to report the death of William D. “Bill” Gamble of Havelock, North Carolina, on December 11.
—David L. Smith, RR4 Box 225B4, Galveston, TX 77554; (775) 870-2354; david@davidlsmith.com