Class Note 1974

The College forwarded to me two recent editions of the Valley News with articles about classmates. The first included a review of Keith Bellows’ second book, 100 Places That Can Change Your Child’s Life: From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth. Keith is an enthusiastic advocate of the power of travel as a learning tool. Dartmouth students who have participated in a foreign language program or foreign study program abroad would certainly agree with his ideas. Keith maintains that there is no better way to learn about the world than to travel it, from far away destinations to interesting sites close to home. Keith writes from personal experience. He lived in Africa as a child and has traveled to dozens of countries. For the past 15 years he has been the editor-in-chief of the award-winning National Geographic Traveler magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C., where he has practiced what he preaches with his three children. Before joining the magazine Keith enjoyed a career as writer, editor and producer in various media and communications organizations as well as entrepreneurial roles in early Internet ventures.


The second article highlighted a reception by Dismas of Vermont. Jan Tarjan, executive director, is spearheading fundraising efforts to renovate and transform a house in Hartford, Vermont. This house, along with Dismas houses in three other Vermont communities, will shelter former prison inmates as they make the challenging transition back to their communities with Dismas staff support. Jan assumed the leadership of Dismas two years ago after a 35-year career at Dartmouth, three years in the admissions office and 32 years as a senior program officer and associate dean with the Tucker Foundation. In 2011 Jan was one of four Dartmouth Social Justice Award recipients, receiving the College’s William Jewett Tucker Foundation Lester B. Granger ’18 Award for lifetime achievement. Outside of work Jan serves on the boards of various local nonprofit and professional organizations and is still an avid skier at the Dartmouth skyway. She and her husband, Raymond Brewster ’75, have two grown daughters and live in Lyme Center, New Hampshire.


Remember, construction week for the class of 1974 bunkhouse at Moosilauke is September 16-22.


As always, be safe.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com