Not necessarily the winter of our discontent, but we have certainly seen more snow and bitter cold in Virginia than we had been told to expect by family and friends who live here. I remember last year this column covered some of the hard times our Maine classmates were experiencing with their weather, and I can only imagine how much worse it is this January and February.


We received news that Howard Robertson recently published a historical novel, Peculiar Pioneer (Publication Studio, 2013). The book is based on an Oregon Trail journal from the wagon train his great-great-great-grandparents led in 1853. It is the first work of fiction to deal at length with racism on the Oregon frontier and is available on Amazon. The book is a fast read and has interesting references to Dartmouth connections when Howard introduces an actual historical figure in the book who graduated from the College in 1820. John Ball traveled overland to the mouth of the Columbia River in 1832 and was employed to teach young men at Fort Vancouver, which is where the book’s protagonist became one of his students.


As promised, Steve Harris put together a February gathering with his wife, Cindy, Peter Robinson with Connie and Chuck Reifel ’68 with Janie Kinney for dinner followed by an evening with Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Folger Theater. Steve was appointed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and is chairman of its investor advisory group. Prior to this role Steve was staff director and chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, where he served for more than 15 years. Peter is still enjoying his role as an official advisor to the U.S. Senate for the interpretation of “Standing Rules of the U.S. Senate” and parliamentary procedure in his capacity as senior assistant parliamentarian. Chuck’s history is just as interesting, but I will let my ’68 colleague provide that in his column. The company was excellent and informative and proved the worth of our move to this part of the country—reestablishing contact with fellow alumni like these.


Peter Elias, our webmaster and class representative to the Alumni Council, tells us he has placed a full report on the fall meeting he attended on our class website. This is just one more reason to check that site occasionally. 


Fiftieth reunion alert! We move closer to the time we will be sharing the experiences we were having 50 years prior to any given September day in 2015 so be thinking about memories you can provide as we lead up to that important reunion.


Please tell Allen Denison and me about the things you are doing today so we can start having the good times early.


—Steve Larson, 465 Miller Road, Winchester, VA 22602; (360) 770-4388; wheat69@outlook.com