Hail, noble ’72s, far and wide!


As this issue of the magazine arrives on your doorsteps many (most, if all goes well!) of us will be headed for or already in Hanover celebrating our 40th gathering of the clan. Interest was high and still growing as this column went to the presses. I am greatly looking forward to seeing you back on campus in June!


A scarcity of news among classmates this time around has nearly forced me to dust off the archives wherein lay such venerable pearls of folklore as, “The Relative Merits of Making Winter Road Trips to Smith,” “Cabin Fever: Myth, Reality or Merely an Excuse to Rage?” and “Mud Season Then and Now: How Field Turf has Irrevocably Diminished the Existential Experience of Spring Athletics!” Nay, I shan’t dredge these up simply to fill copy space, although as a last act of an outgoing secretary it is amusingly tempting!


On a more serious note, though, I’d like to take a few minutes in this last missal to tell you how much serving you has meant to me. Some may know that as an undergraduate who worked his way through the College, my social contact with our class was necessarily limited. Although I was blessed with the chance to manage our freshman hockey and baseball teams, by our sophomore year tuition and living expenses forced me to devote my out-of-classroom time simply to making ends meet. Mind you, the benefits of steady employment and unparalleled exposure to world-class performing artists at the Hopkins Center were a huge plus and provided me with a wonderful skill set I use to this day, but it wasn’t until well after we graduated that I came to know the classmates I had shared four years with in Hanover. Reunions planted the seed of repatriation, and these coupled with the past 10 years as your secretary and member of the class executive committee have brought me full circle. I cannot thank you enough for your good-humored support, affection and patience with this poor boy from the woods of northern New England. To those who read this and like myself may not have “connected” when we were students, whether for financial, social or political reasons, it’s never too late. Across the mists of time that special, indefinable bond we share as Dartmouth men both endures and matures. Forty years ago I never imagined I would or could feel the way I do about you, my classmates, and our College. It is love in the purest sense.


So as this chapter draws to a close, my dear friends and esteemed brothers, your humble scribe puts away the parchment and passes the quill to a new writer. I thank you for having endured 55 installments of varying import, newsworthiness and informational value during the past 10 years. It has been my great pleasure and privilege to have served you. 


Until we meet again, best wishes forever in green!


—Lauren “Duff” Cummings, P.O. Box 580, Hanover, NH 03755-0580; lauren.cummings@ dartmouth.edu