Midwinter and June is that much closer. As I write these notes, we have 243 classmates on board, and only a few months to go to June 8-12. And a reminder: Be sure to participate in the Dartmouth 1968 “Who Are You” experience. The results of this should be fun and informative. Log on at www.D68WhoAreYou.org. Registration number is “1968.” You have until March 31 to participate, and could save up to 20 percent of reunion fees. Speaking of 1968, the Smithsonian just named our year “The Year that Shattered America.” For the second column in a row, the California fires are a part of our story: Hugh Boss wrote noting his family is relatively close. “Not sleeping much, but still okay. Fire is a few miles away and quite a light show at night. All depends on the wind. We are packed and ready to leave if we need to.” We do not want a Gone with the Wind story there. Chuck Adams shared an update as well: “Having returned in January 2017 to Geneva from my U.S. ambassadorship to Finland, I am now a partner and worldwide head of international arbitration with the global law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.” Great article from the University of Arizona on David Soren. Based on a recommendation from the Umbria region, where David has spent decades doing archeology, the Italian government has authorized the naming of a new strain of olive after him. In addition to that unique news, the article outlines some of the significant archeological investigations David has led or contributed to, including excavations in Cyprus at the site of a 365 AD earthquake, how malaria contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire and how water from the springs at Chiusi may have cured Emperor Augustus of stomach pain. Dave Dibelius shared his answer on the most valuable course at Dartmouth: a required but non-credit machine shop project at Thayer. The class had to construct a doodad made of half a dozen metal parts fabricated on a variety of milling machines. This experience, along with computer programming and a high school drafting class, helped support his career in mechanical engineering. Final report from our little Survey Monkey effort. With more than 70 responses (about 10 percent of the class), almost 89 percent of classmates are married, in their first (70 percent) or second (19 percent) marriage. Including classmates who have no children, we have an average of 2.15 children per classmate and 2.71 grandchildren. If adjusted for only classmates who have children or grandchildren, we have, per classmate, 2.55 children and 3.98 grandchildren. Except for the growing number of grandchildren (it was 3.40 per classmate when we began the survey), the figures are generally similar across the survey time. And now time for a new Survey Monkey class survey: What do you think about the possibility of Dartmouth expanding its undergraduate enrollment? The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7ZVD2CL.

—David Peck, 16 Overlook Road, Plymouth, MA 02360; davidbpeck@aol.com