Our 50th reunion is a few weeks away (June 6-10). It will be filled with reestablishing friendships, making friends, giving toasts, telling stories (some of them true) and celebrating joyous experiences. We’ll be updated about the College and its plans and impressed by the changes made in only half a century. We should be thankful for our families, experiences and successes, but mindful that some classmates have been less blessed. Indeed, some are in situations that prevent them from joining the reunion. 


At Bemidji (Minnesota) High School Joel Deweese was a member of the basketball, tennis and golf teams. He came to Dartmouth at the urging of his grandmother, who recalled proudly the high praise given Dartmouth by her uncle, Solon R. Towne, class of 1872, DMS1875. Joel tried out unsuccessfully for the ski and tennis teams. He remembers the mates with whom he rowed lightweight crew: Bob Reigert, Gene Laka, Bowie Duncan, Kent Stockton, Will Cook, Read Langenbach, Bob Dilg and Dave Putnam, as well as his senior roommate Tony Kaufman. Joel majored in biology after almost completing a chemistry major. He went to the University of Minnesota Medical School, did an internship in Colorado, then returned to Bemidji, where he was a general practitioner. Eight years later Joel was involved in an automobile accident—driving too fast for the conditions on a snow-covered road. He has since been confined to a wheelchair in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, Mary. For about a decade he practiced there and taught EMT courses. He’s a voracious reader, enjoys good wine and the delightful climate. He’s looking forward to receiving a copy of Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives, hearing some stories about the reunion and maybe reconnecting by phone or email with the friends from his Dartmouth days. 


In comparison Kurt Schloth has had a much more difficult time. He went to Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, where he was in the National Honor Society and graduated cum laude. He had intended to major in engineering at Dartmouth and says he regrets that he changed to cultural anthropology. Kurt was president of the film society as a senior. He remembers his friends Gus Buchtel and Ed Fowler. He graduated without great career focus and was not lucky finding a satisfying occupation. He was a research assistant in a dental school, then “dropped out” in the San Francisco scene and became addicted. In 1983, when he was again “clean,” Kurt met Sue, a clinical social worker. They had a good marriage and enjoyed working together. He studied and became a self-taught, certified network consultant. They lived in Nevada, where Kurt worked for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and then moved to Boise, Idaho, where he became a computer consultant. Kurt returned to his addictions and their marriage failed. He now has a court-appointed custodian and is living in a semi-supervised home. His goal is to return to Portland. 


Consider doing a good deed for one less fortunate than yourself. You’ll be glad you did.


—Phil Schaefer, Box 1278, Grantham, NH 03753; (603) 863-1178; philschaefer42@gmail.com