Reunion is upon us.


John Goheen promised to write a year ago and finally made good with the following report: “Mike Ultee and I enjoyed a fantastic ‘roommate rendezvous’ in France this past May. Mike (and wife Pat Dedert) and I (and wife Megan) traveled together for two weeks, the first in Paris and the second split between the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. The trip was especially delightful for Megan and me, since veteran European travelers Mike and Pat made all the arrangements and Mike is fluent in French. It was great fun to reminisce about Dartmouth days and to catch up on the intervening 40(!) years since graduation. During those intervening years Mike has become the chief scientific officer at Gallus BioPharmaceuticals (a.k.a. Laureate Biopharmaceutical Services), a contract testing and manufacturing firm in Princeton, New Jersey. I am a tax attorney at Ulmer & Berne LLP, a regional law firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. Now we are looking forward to the ’73 class reunion in June. Who knows what trip adventures may be hatched then?”


The National Elder Law Foundation—the only organization approved by the American Bar Association to offer certification in the area of elder law—announced in January that Phil Murphy successfully completed its rigorous examination (only about 20 percent pass), leading to certification in elder law, one of the fastest growing fields in the legal profession. Phil has practiced law for more than 30 years and focuses his practice on elder and special needs law, including estate and Medicaid planning, probate, real estate and guardianships. He is past president and current member of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a professional association of attorneys dedicated to improving the quality of legal services provided to seniors and people with special needs. He has actively served the town of Milton, Massachusetts, his lifelong home, as a town meeting member and as a chairman or member of various Milton committees. Phil is a frequent lecturer throughout the south shore and volunteers his time at the Milton Council on Aging Senior Center at its free once-a-month legal information clinic. He is on several subject-related boards, as well as chair of the Beth Israel Deaconess (BID) Hospital-Milton annual fund committee and is a member of the BID-Milton overseers, philanthropy committee and president’s council. For many years he worked for College admissions as a district director for alumni interviews in the South Shore, Massachusetts, district and as town coordinator in Weymouth and Milton.


The College recently learned of the January 2011 death of Louis Fernandez after a two-year battle with brain cancer. A full obituary can be found online at www.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com.


Class reunion planners look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the Hanover Plain June 12-15. If you have not yet registered please do so ASAP. The campus and the Upper Valley have changed a bit in the intervening years (as have at least some of us) so it is time for an in-person update.


—Val Armento, 227 Sylvan Ave., San Mateo, CA 94403; val.armento@alum.dartmouth.org