Class Note 1973
Issue
May-June 2021
Vaccinated? Yay!
In November Jim Jordan wrote: “This is the first update since graduation. I have been estranged from Mother Dartmouth for years. I worked materials management in the machine tool industry for 10 years, until 1984. By then I met and married Brenda, my wife of now 40 years. We considered moving elsewhere but love the Upper Valley. I enjoyed being ‘Mr. Mom’ for a couple of years after our son was born and then I returned to the carpentry learned from my father growing up. I worked for others and eventually had my own one-man business. Location, location, location; we bought a house in Cornish in 1984 and loved the town and the location, so expanding and improving the house was a frequent part of my work. We expanded the house to the point we could invite my wife’s sister and another Dartmouth friend to move into their own bedroom suites; most of the original ranch style home is now an open kitchen and central living space. We call it the ‘Old Folks Commune,’ all on one floor. Winters were just too gray, so we searched in 2010 and found a house in Camp Verde, Arizona, 90 miles from and 2,500 feet higher than Phoenix. Our housemates keep the home fires burning and care for the place when we are gone. Summers in the Upper Valley and winters in Arizona—life is good!”
Jim Wallace sent a December note: “I have attended a pair of class reunions, but this is my first message to the class. I’ve spent most of my humble career working as a psychologist in schools with students of all types and ages. I’ve taught wellness courses for a few decades, first at Cornell and then at Colgate (where my wife, Ann Jane Tierney, is a professor of psychology and neuroscience). I have enough credentials to function as a clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, and sport psychologist. What have I accomplished besides a modicum of longevity? I wrote a little-read nonfiction book in 2016, On Target: Comparative Challenges of Sports & Games, and now I have published Holy Rollers, a crime fiction story set in the world of golf with elements of psychology, aikido, humor, and romance to make it lively and informative. Classmates are welcome to contact me at drjimpsy@gmail.com, read my blog (drjimswhims.home.blog), or check out my website (www.eqpsych.com).”
Late January’s engaging presentation, “Thoughts from President Wright to the Class of 1973,” on the parallels of what was occurring in the United States during our student years and is happening today drew the attendance of more than 80. If you missed the session, or want to hear it again, try the video recording link. Wes Pugh summed up reaction in the chat: “Thank you. You have always been one of the ‘GOATs’ [greatest of all time] on the Mount Rushmore of Dartmouth leaders. We, the class of ’73 want you to know: You and your actions as a Dartmouth leader, professor, and administrator have been and are much appreciated!”
—Val Armento, 227 Sylvan Ave., San Mateo, CA 94403; valerie.j.armento.73@dartmouth.edu
In November Jim Jordan wrote: “This is the first update since graduation. I have been estranged from Mother Dartmouth for years. I worked materials management in the machine tool industry for 10 years, until 1984. By then I met and married Brenda, my wife of now 40 years. We considered moving elsewhere but love the Upper Valley. I enjoyed being ‘Mr. Mom’ for a couple of years after our son was born and then I returned to the carpentry learned from my father growing up. I worked for others and eventually had my own one-man business. Location, location, location; we bought a house in Cornish in 1984 and loved the town and the location, so expanding and improving the house was a frequent part of my work. We expanded the house to the point we could invite my wife’s sister and another Dartmouth friend to move into their own bedroom suites; most of the original ranch style home is now an open kitchen and central living space. We call it the ‘Old Folks Commune,’ all on one floor. Winters were just too gray, so we searched in 2010 and found a house in Camp Verde, Arizona, 90 miles from and 2,500 feet higher than Phoenix. Our housemates keep the home fires burning and care for the place when we are gone. Summers in the Upper Valley and winters in Arizona—life is good!”
Jim Wallace sent a December note: “I have attended a pair of class reunions, but this is my first message to the class. I’ve spent most of my humble career working as a psychologist in schools with students of all types and ages. I’ve taught wellness courses for a few decades, first at Cornell and then at Colgate (where my wife, Ann Jane Tierney, is a professor of psychology and neuroscience). I have enough credentials to function as a clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, and sport psychologist. What have I accomplished besides a modicum of longevity? I wrote a little-read nonfiction book in 2016, On Target: Comparative Challenges of Sports & Games, and now I have published Holy Rollers, a crime fiction story set in the world of golf with elements of psychology, aikido, humor, and romance to make it lively and informative. Classmates are welcome to contact me at drjimpsy@gmail.com, read my blog (drjimswhims.home.blog), or check out my website (www.eqpsych.com).”
Late January’s engaging presentation, “Thoughts from President Wright to the Class of 1973,” on the parallels of what was occurring in the United States during our student years and is happening today drew the attendance of more than 80. If you missed the session, or want to hear it again, try the video recording link. Wes Pugh summed up reaction in the chat: “Thank you. You have always been one of the ‘GOATs’ [greatest of all time] on the Mount Rushmore of Dartmouth leaders. We, the class of ’73 want you to know: You and your actions as a Dartmouth leader, professor, and administrator have been and are much appreciated!”
—Val Armento, 227 Sylvan Ave., San Mateo, CA 94403; valerie.j.armento.73@dartmouth.edu