We rarely mention hurricanes in Class Notes, although Hanover has experienced a few, including the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which smashed Long Island and did great damage on campus. (See photos in the Dartmouth digital library program online.) But in more recent hurricane news, John and Elizabeth Beck were enjoying life in Naples, Florida, with a stunning view of Gulf Coast sunsets and gentle sea breezes, when the winds of Hurricane Ian came calling. Reminiscent of singer-songwriter Jeff Talmadge’s song “Hurricane,” this was an epic event. John recounts the story: “Our condo in Naples was hit with a 6-foot storm surge from Ian. We evacuated to Connecticut, so we weren’t in danger, but the building was badly damaged. Everything on the ground floor was washed away and the property was buried in sand. In the lobby, the doors and everything in it was gone, even the floor tile. In our cabana, everything was gone—doors, sheetrock, carpeting, tile, lights, fans, sink, toilet, shower stall. All that’s left are the cinder block walls and cement floor. In our garage, the car was submerged. The building had no electricity for weeks, but a disaster relief company brought in generators and installed dehumidifiers to prevent mold. They also removed sand and debris, capped leaking pipes, and repaired the electrical system, but there’s so much more to do. The building has electricity now but still can’t be approved for occupancy until the fire alarm and sprinklers are operational. That should happen soon, but it will take months to restore the elevator, so even when we can return, we’ll be climbing six flights of stairs to reach our condo. Despite all this, we’ll be driving down in a few weeks to maintain our Florida residency. Thankfully, we have friends who are letting us use their place through December. After that who knows?” In October John and Sue Leavitt joined Ron Talley, David Abbott, Gary Bartholomaus, Greg Lau, Richard Saunders, Bruce English, Bob Germans, Philip Bush, Greg Dobbs, and a Zoom screen full of classmates to lead a casual conversation about family forest management. For more than 25 years John and Sue have lovingly been stewards of their 130 acres in northeastern Connecticut. Dave Abbott, the bibliophile, has also been chairing a Dartmouth book club on Zoom, including participants from several classes. As of November more than 150 classmates have attended our many class events on Zoom! Correction: David L. Prentice was incorrectly listed as David Lyon Nichols in the last issue. Dave Prentice was posthumously honored with the Class of 1969 Outstanding Service Award for his work as editor of the class newsletter, editor of our 25th and 50th reunion books, service on the executive committee, and energetic participation in virtually every Homecoming and class reunion. He was praised as “the glue that held the class together.”

—John “Tex” Talmadge, 3519 Brookline Lane, Farmers Branch, TX 75234; (214) 673-9250; johntalmadgemd@gmail.com