Shortly after returning from Class Officers Weekend I received an email from Duncan Wood. Duncan was digging through boxes removed from his mother’s house in 1989 following her passing. Twenty-eight years later, approaching another downsizing, he decided it was time to go through the boxes. He found a letter sent by Dean Brewster to our parents on May 12, 1970, with two attachments. He found the letter and especially the enclosed Dartmouth Bulletin to be very interesting reading 47 years later. The letter informed our parents of the suspension of class on May 5 followed by the vote of the faculty to terminate the regular class schedule. The letter to students described the three possibilities for completing coursework, including taking a “pass” for credit. Duncan suggested that PDFs of the letters and the Bulletin be attached to a future class newsletter, since all of the class might find these memorable at this point in our lives.

Duncan requested one statistic that he would like to see available by the time of our 50th reunion: The percentage of the class that entered the armed forces in some manner, through ROTC, the draft or volunteering for Army Reserve, etc. Duncan views his time in the Navy Civil Engineering Corps, via officer candidate school, as his first graduate school. He matured a lot in that time.

MassBay Community College announced that Gov. Charlie Baker had reappointed Thomas E. Peisch as chair of the college’s board of trustees. Tom has served on the MassBay board of trustees since his appointment by former Gov. Deval Patrick in July 2012. In November of 2012 he was elected vice chair. Gov. Baker appointed Tom as chairman of the board of trustees in November 2015. Tom’s wife, Alice Hanlon Peisch, currently serves as state representative for the 14th Norfolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and co-chairs the state joint committee on education.

James Nachtwey, along with eight other distinguished photographers, was inducted to the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum on November 17 in St Louis, Missouri. The program for the induction states, beginning in 1981, James Nachtwey has dedicated his career to documenting wars and critical social issues, motivated by the belief that public awareness is an essential element in the process of change, and that photographs of war can intervene on behalf of peace. He has photographed conflicts worldwide, from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia to the Rwandan genocide, the Somalian famine, the civil wars in Central America, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the September 11th attack on New York City and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among many others.

During the past few months I have learned of the passing of four of our classmates—Jonathan Rapoport on July 10, Ron Perell on July 25, Traylor Mercer on August 29 and Bill Sewall on September 12.

Thank you for the contributions to these Class Notes.

—Gary Miller, 7 East Hill Road, Canton, CT 06019; garettmiller@mac.com