Class Note 1963
Homecoming mini-reunions ignite memories, this one in a short ride from White River Junction, Vermont, in a taxi (“Sit up front, I won’t bite,” said the elderly female driver) as we crossed the bridge onto Route 5 to the Hanover Inn for a get-away breakfast with Bob Bysshe, John Lehigh, Sam Cabot, Ed Mazer, Larry Bailey and Dick Suett. With glimpses of 4 Aces Diner near the bridge and Baker Tower rising dramatically from the southern foot of Main Street, I thought of my first visit to Dartmouth while a high school student in the fall of 1958. Little has changed. The hill is still there, the majestic tower slowly coming into view, and the excitement that is engendered. Welcome home!
As mini-reunions go this one was a winner with a record attendance of 60 classmates, wives, friends and family, 42 of whom made it to the Canoe Club for dinner Friday night and proudly marched behind the ’63 banner carried by David Warr of Wareham, Massachusetts. There was Steve Guthrie, a stockbroker from Scarborough, Maine; Chuck Wessendorf and Mary Ellen Sullivan of Wilton, Connecticut, looking forward to their (count’em) 43rd straight Dartmouth football game; Tom Craig and Peggy Thorpe of Barrington, Rhode Island, both lawyers; co-mini-reunion chair Sam and Claire “Deamie” Cabot of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, she, author of A Short History of Ingredients (Xlibris); and Reg Jones of Bennington, Vermont, who in two days managed to attend lectures on health and climate change, two volleyball matches, a women’s basketball practice, the football game and concerts by the Glee Club and Gospel Choir.
Saturday morning’s meeting was a full house and an agenda lasting three hours, punctuated with grateful testimonials from student athletes and scholars and a rousing talk from Steve Spaulding, assistant athletic director for leadership. President Larry Bailey of Lopez Island, Washington, announced Charlie Parton of Rumson, New Jersey, and Petie Subin (Bill), of Margate, New Jersey, as members of the executive committee, and Ed Mazer of Long Meadow, Massachusetts, to be 55th reunion chair. Webmaster Terry Russell reported 889 hits on the website, including 219 unique visitors. The board voted to recruit a communications officer to manage the proliferation of media. Rain was in the forecast but it remained dry through three quarters of a hard-fought game against Holy Cross in which Dartmouth prevailed 24-21.
Soon it was time to party at what has become a traditional venue, the home of Dan Muchinsky and Mary Barnes in Plainfield, New Hampshire. The following joined the crowd of 40-plus to take a photo and sing “Happy Birthday”: Scott Babcock of Norwell, Massachusetts, retired computer systems designer, and wife Marcia; Dave Goodwillie and Judith List of Potomac, Maryland; Bruce Baggaley of Shelton, Connecticut, who returned to his passion, coaching rowing, at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and wife Patti; Steve and Diana Lewinstein of Newport, Rhode Island; and Ted Suess of Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania (Anne was at her high school reunion).
Sorely missed are four classmates whose deaths were announced recently: Robin Carlson, Marty McMullen, Robert Neuman and Floyd Peterson.
—Harry Zlokower, 60 Madison Ave., Suite 1010, New York City, NY 10010; (212) 447-9292, ext. 17; harry@zlokower.com
