Following a succession of distinguished doctors from the class who were elevated to the top of their profession by being elected president of their respective professional organizations—namely Rick Feins and Craig Miller—now comes Peter Lawrence, who was recently elected president of the Society for Vascular Surgery. This group is an international body that advances the care and knowledge about vascular disease. Peter is currently chief of vascular surgery and vice chair of the department of surgery at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His vision for the society is maintaining a high standard of education for vascular physicians, building relations with related societies and strengthening the group’s educational efforts. Peter was moderator of our medical forum at the last reunion. 


Part of Dimitri Gerakaris’ work on class projects was to help fund the athletic sponsor program and our donation helped this group successfully recruit a midfielder for the men’s lacrosse team out of California who will arrive with the class of ’18. We received a letter of recognition and appreciation from the program directors.


Head agent John Myers reported in July on the very successful fundraising efforts of the past year. John sent a note thanking all the participants in the class for “setting a new standard for the Dartmouth College Fund.” The class of ’69 broke the record for total dollars raised for a non-reunion class 45 years out with $544,713. In addition, we broke the record for total class participation of a non-reunion class 45 years out with 39.2 percent of us giving. Much thanks goes to John and his team.


In July the new Dartmouth Alumni Magazine website was established and can be accessed at www.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com. Avail yourself of the wealth of information that can be found on the new site.


Richard Jensen participated in the retirement questions and tells us he left his position at Boston College as an associate professor of math in 2012. He had grown tired of teaching and wanted to pursue other interests. He is now president of a nonprofit, Growth Through Learning, which provides school fees for nearly 400 secondary school girls in East Africa. He also bought a new Harley Road King Classic—and is apparently now “king of the road”—and he keeps bees. He loves it all and has no regrets.


We have another classmate recently published, as Mark Willen had his book, Hawke’s Point, released by Pen-L in July. Mark retired in 2010 from a career in journalism, having worked for the Voice of America, NPR, Bloomberg News and Kiplinger. He has had numerous short stories published but this is his first novel. He has devoted his retirement years to writing fiction and he leads a writer’s workshop for teenagers.


We learned this month of the death of Eldon Hall at his home in Ely, Minnesota. He leaves many friends among his classmates.


Next issue we will continue the retirement review with Ben Romney, among others.


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