Class Note 1968
Issue
It was a Dartmouth graduation in June for three ’68 legacies: Chris Bustard, son of Elaine and Dave Bustard; Kevin Robinson, son of Linda and Steve Robinson; and Samuel Peck, son of Diane and David Peck. And the first graduation for new president Jim Kim. It was a great experience, and different from how it was 42 years ago. No surprise to those of you classmates with legacy sons and daughters, but all new to me. Seating is now on the Green, not nested between Webster, Baker and Sanborn, and there are many more seats, and bleachers! Seating is first come, first serve, so even with gray and threatening skies the seats were jammed early. For my family, arriving from different directions at different times, it meant bleachers way back by the Hop. But not a problem, since there is now a JumboTron! The procession is led by a bagpiper (I hear the same guy has been doing it for 15 or more years). The crowd was also entertained by the Sun God, a performance artist with an Aztec-looking mask floating around through the multitude. I had seen him at the bonfire last fall—this guy is a character. Saturday night of graduation most of the houses and sororities had tents on their front lawns and dinners for the graduating seniors and their families. It was a very nice touch. The Aires sang on the steps of Dartmouth Hall Saturday evening. The Commencement speeches were quite good—check them out on the College website. Principal speaker Steven Lewis, co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World, is a forceful speaker with much rhetorical flourish, but I really enjoyed President Kim’s address. He quoted President John Sloan Dickey from 1946 (hey guys, a good year!), saying, “The world’s worst troubles come from within men, and there is nothing wrong with the world that better human beings cannot fix,” and then concluding: “You are the better human beings we have been waiting for.” A terrific message to our newest graduates, but also a message to all of us. Go out and make a difference, make the world a better place. I think we ’68s have been doing that for 42 years, and let us continue to do so! I touched base with Hanover correspondent John Engelman, who reported that for the first time in more than 20 years there are no incoming ’68 legacies. The next wave will be our grandchildren, I suppose. My own first grandson will be class of 2031, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see incoming grandlegacies (is that a word?) in the next few years.
A touch sooner: Mini-reunion in Hanover on October 9 and 10 (Columbus Day), with a Yale football game. Also, I’m told, a weekend celebrating rugby at Dartmouth. Pencil it in, and as always feel free to attend the executive committee meeting Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with location TBD (but you’ll find us!).
Hope you are having a great summer, all.
—David Peck, 157 Sandwich Road, Plymouth, MA 02360-2503; (508) 746-5894; david.peck@ childrens.harvard.edu
Sept - Oct 2010
It was a Dartmouth graduation in June for three ’68 legacies: Chris Bustard, son of Elaine and Dave Bustard; Kevin Robinson, son of Linda and Steve Robinson; and Samuel Peck, son of Diane and David Peck. And the first graduation for new president Jim Kim. It was a great experience, and different from how it was 42 years ago. No surprise to those of you classmates with legacy sons and daughters, but all new to me. Seating is now on the Green, not nested between Webster, Baker and Sanborn, and there are many more seats, and bleachers! Seating is first come, first serve, so even with gray and threatening skies the seats were jammed early. For my family, arriving from different directions at different times, it meant bleachers way back by the Hop. But not a problem, since there is now a JumboTron! The procession is led by a bagpiper (I hear the same guy has been doing it for 15 or more years). The crowd was also entertained by the Sun God, a performance artist with an Aztec-looking mask floating around through the multitude. I had seen him at the bonfire last fall—this guy is a character. Saturday night of graduation most of the houses and sororities had tents on their front lawns and dinners for the graduating seniors and their families. It was a very nice touch. The Aires sang on the steps of Dartmouth Hall Saturday evening. The Commencement speeches were quite good—check them out on the College website. Principal speaker Steven Lewis, co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World, is a forceful speaker with much rhetorical flourish, but I really enjoyed President Kim’s address. He quoted President John Sloan Dickey from 1946 (hey guys, a good year!), saying, “The world’s worst troubles come from within men, and there is nothing wrong with the world that better human beings cannot fix,” and then concluding: “You are the better human beings we have been waiting for.” A terrific message to our newest graduates, but also a message to all of us. Go out and make a difference, make the world a better place. I think we ’68s have been doing that for 42 years, and let us continue to do so! I touched base with Hanover correspondent John Engelman, who reported that for the first time in more than 20 years there are no incoming ’68 legacies. The next wave will be our grandchildren, I suppose. My own first grandson will be class of 2031, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see incoming grandlegacies (is that a word?) in the next few years.
A touch sooner: Mini-reunion in Hanover on October 9 and 10 (Columbus Day), with a Yale football game. Also, I’m told, a weekend celebrating rugby at Dartmouth. Pencil it in, and as always feel free to attend the executive committee meeting Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with location TBD (but you’ll find us!).
Hope you are having a great summer, all.
—David Peck, 157 Sandwich Road, Plymouth, MA 02360-2503; (508) 746-5894; david.peck@ childrens.harvard.edu