Class Note 1963
Issue
Nov - Dec 2015
Our class was on fire during the dog days of July when little seems to happen. Early in the month we presented a gift of $500, joining 40 classes to give support to the $12.5 million renovation at Memorial Stadium. In recent years classmates Doug Floren (Floren Varsity House) and Steve Lewinstein (new HD video scoreboard) have made major gifts. The class was recognized in the 2015 Dartmouth football program and on a permanent plaque dedicated in November.
Then in what seemed a sequel to the Lakers’ acquisition of Indiana Pacers all-star center Roy Hibbert earlier in July, we were informed that our contribution to the Dartmouth athletic sponsor program helped recruit women’s basketball guard Kealy Brown of Las Vegas as an early-decision candidate in the class of 2019.
And finally came icing on the cake. President Larry Bailey informed the class executive committee July 31 that Mary Lord, widow of Dan Watts, who died of lung cancer in 1973, had been unanimously voted our newest honorary class member, joining more than a dozen ’63 wives and partners who already have that designation. A graduate of the Thayer School of Engineering and member of Alpha Delta Phi, Dan was best known by many as an outstanding crew member who won a silver medal in the Pan American games in 1963, partnering with Bob Brayton ’64 in a pair without coxswain. He left as legacy a shell, the Dan Watts, which Mary christened at our 10th reunion and in which their daughter, Margaret ’91, rowed in her freshman year.
Keeping with the theme of celebrity comparisons, TV personalities PBS education correspondent John Merrow and Daily Show host Jon Stewart both retired in the summer. Okay, so Merrow did not generate as much press and cameos from Chris Christie and Stephen Colbert, but he did put out the news on his new blog, The Merrow Report, themerrowreport.com/2015/07/31/i-am-retiring. “How lucky am I?” asked John, who also founded Learning Matters, a nonprofit producer of news reports, documentaries and video production training programs for children who might not have had the opportunity. “Forty-one years of digging into America’s most important activity and the great privilege of trying to explain it to an intelligent and caring audience.” And in New York, another giant of the nonprofit world, Big Apple circus founder (now retired) Paul Binder will perform in cabaret December 5 at the Metropolitan Room, with proceeds going to the circus’ community programs. Paul and Shelley were in Hanover in July, when Paul taught his seminar, “Ritual, Theater, Circus.”
In April Princess Anne inducted ’63 Soaring Pine winner Tom McInerny of Honeoye Falls, New York, as an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Pediatrics and Child Health in the United Kingdom. Tom is retired as professor and associate chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where he spearheaded a program calling for a ban on assault weapons.
—Harry Zlokower, 190 Amity St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; (917) 541-8162; harry@zlokower.com
Then in what seemed a sequel to the Lakers’ acquisition of Indiana Pacers all-star center Roy Hibbert earlier in July, we were informed that our contribution to the Dartmouth athletic sponsor program helped recruit women’s basketball guard Kealy Brown of Las Vegas as an early-decision candidate in the class of 2019.
And finally came icing on the cake. President Larry Bailey informed the class executive committee July 31 that Mary Lord, widow of Dan Watts, who died of lung cancer in 1973, had been unanimously voted our newest honorary class member, joining more than a dozen ’63 wives and partners who already have that designation. A graduate of the Thayer School of Engineering and member of Alpha Delta Phi, Dan was best known by many as an outstanding crew member who won a silver medal in the Pan American games in 1963, partnering with Bob Brayton ’64 in a pair without coxswain. He left as legacy a shell, the Dan Watts, which Mary christened at our 10th reunion and in which their daughter, Margaret ’91, rowed in her freshman year.
Keeping with the theme of celebrity comparisons, TV personalities PBS education correspondent John Merrow and Daily Show host Jon Stewart both retired in the summer. Okay, so Merrow did not generate as much press and cameos from Chris Christie and Stephen Colbert, but he did put out the news on his new blog, The Merrow Report, themerrowreport.com/2015/07/31/i-am-retiring. “How lucky am I?” asked John, who also founded Learning Matters, a nonprofit producer of news reports, documentaries and video production training programs for children who might not have had the opportunity. “Forty-one years of digging into America’s most important activity and the great privilege of trying to explain it to an intelligent and caring audience.” And in New York, another giant of the nonprofit world, Big Apple circus founder (now retired) Paul Binder will perform in cabaret December 5 at the Metropolitan Room, with proceeds going to the circus’ community programs. Paul and Shelley were in Hanover in July, when Paul taught his seminar, “Ritual, Theater, Circus.”
In April Princess Anne inducted ’63 Soaring Pine winner Tom McInerny of Honeoye Falls, New York, as an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Pediatrics and Child Health in the United Kingdom. Tom is retired as professor and associate chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where he spearheaded a program calling for a ban on assault weapons.
—Harry Zlokower, 190 Amity St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; (917) 541-8162; harry@zlokower.com