At the end of a most exhausting year, Gary Atkins offers this: “Forgetting about dreidels and latkes, the message of the holiday is hope that things will get better. Gam ze yaavor—this too shall pass. On the shortest days of the year, we light lights and do our best to banish the darkness.” Tom Maremaa’s latest novel, Man on the Isle of Jura, about George Orwell’s time spent writing 1984, has just been published. Another ’67 author, Ted Haynes says, “One thing lockdown was good for was writing my third murder mystery: The Mount Bachelor Murders will be published February 2.” Early in the year Ted also “became the second-fastest swimmer in the country in my age group at 1,650 yards, and right after that everything went to hell.” It’s “wait ’til next year” for Ellis Regenbogen. “March 2020 was our 50th anniversary, but the big week with family in Turks and Caicos couldn’t happen. We finally managed to get the whole family here in Charleston, South Carolina, for Thanksgiving.” John Lobitz is also “hunkered down and safe but had no large family gatherings for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Decided not to ski this year, a real bummer, and canceled our annual January trip to Hawaii, another bummer! Getting really bored playing a lot of online bridge, reading books, and binge-watching TV series. Can’t wait for the vaccine!” Don Kress reports, “My wife, Beth, and I continue to work, which is helping to keep us sane during the pandemic. I hope to ski this spring in Winter Park, Colorado, where I’ve skied for 60 years!” Fred Behringer says, “Since we can’t travel or go to the gym, I am working much less and am playing a lot more golf, spending enough time on it now to begin to have a little understanding of the swing. There is a lot you can learn on YouTube!” Our congratulations go to Ron Fagin, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Jon Ingersoll sent along some vicarious travel adventures for all those hunkered down at home: “One blog I wrote driving the length of Route 66, Lake Michigan to the Pacific, and another during my 2012 small boat voyage from northern Montana to Key West, Florida.” Bob Sanner writes about his pre-lockdown visit to Indonesia with Barbara, hanging out with the Komodo dragons, and spending days diving to explore magnificent marine life. Bob adds, “Every week that goes by our ‘gratitude list’ grows as we learn about people who are working so hard, often at great risk, to care for humans and the planet. It inspires us to learn about the often unknown and underappreciated workers tackling the many challenges that have occurred this year.”

You can read all our classmates’ greetings along with links to Jon’s blogs, by going to our class website, 1967.dartmouth.org, and may 2021 bring you peace, joy, and happiness!

—Larry Langford, P.O. Box 71, Buckland, MA 01339; 1967damnotes@gmail.com