Class Note 1974
Issue
Jan-Feb 2020
Those who’ve attended either of our last two reunions will recognize the outstanding job that Walt Singletary has done in creating the gold standard for Dartmouth reunion memorial services. I was privileged to meet Walt through Rick Ranger, who, back in 1970, was a manager of the Dartmouth football team, where he befriended Walt. Rick and Peter Conway convinced Walt to join our annual Doorkeepers’ retreat (based on Psalm 84:10) in Ohio, where Walt was introduced to golf and Kiawah Island. Walt helped with our music and gave me the opportunity to genuinely know another classmate from a very different background.
Walt was born on a small tobacco and cotton farm in South Carolina before moving with his mother and siblings to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1956. Due to his mother’s stellar efforts, Walt and five of his seven siblings graduated from college. Walt is happily married to Angella, his “Jamaican queen,” friend, confidant, and spiritual prayer partner. They have four successful daughters—Yolanda, Lauren, Andrea, and Wendy—and four grandchildren.
Walt developed a love for music studying under French violinist Monsieur DeJean, before switching to tenor sax, and played at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. At age 9 Walt studied classical piano and reached piano etude and music theory level 10 by his senior year at Ferris High School. By age 14 he was teaching two church choirs.
Walter was elected youth mayor of Jersey City during his senior year; receiving 17 scholarship offers, 11 for music. Nudged by recruiter John Hutchins from the Tuck School, Walter chose Dartmouth over Stanford and Yale. He loved studying French and did an abbreviated language study abroad in Bourges, France (due to his father’s 1971 death), and later a foreign study abroad in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
After graduating with a degree in micro-economics, Walt worked on Wall Street at One World Trade Center for Prudential Lines, a financial think-tank for CEO Spyro Skouras, an international shipping magnate. After working for General Public Utilities from 1982 to 1999, he became securities licensed. Walt still loves helping his clients achieve their financial goals.
At Dartmouth Walt met Billy Preston (Beatles organist) and Dwike Mitchell of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo (who played for Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughn). Dwike, a Tuskegee airman, was Walt’s mentor, jazz piano teacher, and caring father-figure until his death. Through him, Walt met many jazz greats, but feels his greatest encounter was a 1975 meeting with Jack Cuozzo, when he rededicated his life to serving Jesus Christ. “Prior to that, my spirituality was a part-time church habit or just head knowledge.” The Cuozzo brothers drafted him as chaplain for the New Jersey Nets. Walt talks occasionally with former Chicago Bear Mike Singletary, now a minister and coach, his plausible cousin, as they both hail from familiar relatives of the South. Walt is music director of his local church in Redding, Pennsylvania. He truly loves working on our memorial services.
I hope you are enjoying learning about your classmates.
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net
Walt was born on a small tobacco and cotton farm in South Carolina before moving with his mother and siblings to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1956. Due to his mother’s stellar efforts, Walt and five of his seven siblings graduated from college. Walt is happily married to Angella, his “Jamaican queen,” friend, confidant, and spiritual prayer partner. They have four successful daughters—Yolanda, Lauren, Andrea, and Wendy—and four grandchildren.
Walt developed a love for music studying under French violinist Monsieur DeJean, before switching to tenor sax, and played at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. At age 9 Walt studied classical piano and reached piano etude and music theory level 10 by his senior year at Ferris High School. By age 14 he was teaching two church choirs.
Walter was elected youth mayor of Jersey City during his senior year; receiving 17 scholarship offers, 11 for music. Nudged by recruiter John Hutchins from the Tuck School, Walter chose Dartmouth over Stanford and Yale. He loved studying French and did an abbreviated language study abroad in Bourges, France (due to his father’s 1971 death), and later a foreign study abroad in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
After graduating with a degree in micro-economics, Walt worked on Wall Street at One World Trade Center for Prudential Lines, a financial think-tank for CEO Spyro Skouras, an international shipping magnate. After working for General Public Utilities from 1982 to 1999, he became securities licensed. Walt still loves helping his clients achieve their financial goals.
At Dartmouth Walt met Billy Preston (Beatles organist) and Dwike Mitchell of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo (who played for Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughn). Dwike, a Tuskegee airman, was Walt’s mentor, jazz piano teacher, and caring father-figure until his death. Through him, Walt met many jazz greats, but feels his greatest encounter was a 1975 meeting with Jack Cuozzo, when he rededicated his life to serving Jesus Christ. “Prior to that, my spirituality was a part-time church habit or just head knowledge.” The Cuozzo brothers drafted him as chaplain for the New Jersey Nets. Walt talks occasionally with former Chicago Bear Mike Singletary, now a minister and coach, his plausible cousin, as they both hail from familiar relatives of the South. Walt is music director of his local church in Redding, Pennsylvania. He truly loves working on our memorial services.
I hope you are enjoying learning about your classmates.
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net