Inyo County, California, is larger than the State of New Hampshire and is home to 17,000 people, the highest point in the lower 48 states (Mount Whitney), the lowest point in the United States (Death Valley) and Chris Langley, the county film commissioner, executive director of the Lone Pine Film History Museum, author, filmmaker and president of the Inyo County board of education. That’s all.


Chris has recently been involved with such major productions as Iron Man, Transformers 2 and Disney’s The Lone Ranger and has or is writing books on Mount Whitney and the history of filmmaking in Death Valley and Lone Pine, his home with wife Sandy for the last 41 years. He works closely with his entrepreneurial superintendent of schools to supervise the five local public schools in the county, each of which is unique and reflects its community, as well as 23 small charter high schools the district runs in Los Angeles. “So,” observes Chris, “I don’t have too much time for the links, the beach or the latest thriller quite yet.”


Also still hard at it in California is Nelson Lichtenstein, who remains “happily and fully at work” teaching American history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as occupant of the MacArthur Foundation Chair in History. There he directs the center for the study of work, labor and democracy, which hosts speakers and holds conferences designed to animate the scholarship of a new generation of graduate students and young faculty. 


Nelson’s latest book has already become a must-read in the field. One reviewer said “A Contest of Ideas: Capital, Politics and Labor shows Lichtenstein to be a major public intellectual. Anyone wanting to understand the fate of trade unionism, globalization, worker rights and more will find this book illuminating and necessary.” When not writing, researching or teaching Nelson continues to climb, hike, and play tennis, sports first developed at Dartmouth.


Class Connections chair Chuck Sherman organized a very successful dinner in July with about 80 members of the class of 2016, our 50-year class soulmates, on the theme of “Personal Skills for Professional Success.” The featured speaker was none other than Peter Post, grandson of Emily Post, who gave a spirited presentation on what to do and not do during critical business and social encounters, from dining to interviewing for a job. In addition to the ’16s, the dinner was attended by “mentors” Al Keiller, Paul Klee, Jim Lustenader, John Chapin ’66A and Jennifer Casey ’66A and their spouses.


Remember how you encouraged your kids to study abroad or someplace far away—just so you could go visit them? Wayne and Kathy LoCurto remember. This fall they are spending time visiting their five grandchildren who are now in college, starting with Patrick Lesch, who is a member of the class of ’18 at Dartmouth (is that really possible?). They will then swing by Union, Penn State and Notre Dame. And with seven more grandkids still in high school, there’s no telling where the LoCurtos will end up in the years ahead.


There’s no telling where you are or what you are up to, unless you tell. Pass along the good news and happy upcoming holidays. 


—Larry Geiger, 93 Greenridge Ave., White Plains, NY 10605; (917) 747-1642; lgeiger@aol.com