Class Note 1974
Issue
November-December 2021
Dear classmates, as Yogi Berra allegedly said, it’s “déjà vu, all over again.” Two months ago I said, “We are enduring the record-breaking temperatures of the late June heat wave.” Now it is late August and we have the same temperatures in the middle 90s combined with tropical humidity. By now, fall air has usually arrived, making it feel like September—but not this year. Well, I hope tomorrow.
From class president Matt Putnam actual: “A few of you may recognize the military ring of the preceding sentence. I feel fortunate to have actually learned it—on the job. I am sending this note to all of you with my head and heart aching this morning from awareness of the pain soldiers and Afghans are feeling today (August 27 post ISIS-K attack in Kabul). I suspect Afghanistan feels a world away for almost all, but I have learned during the last few years from classmates who have traveled to this seemingly forsaken, but hauntingly beautiful, part of the world in the course of your life since Dartmouth. I mention all of this because class leadership has, in working with the mortality working group, made progress toward a 50th reunion project(s) that will ask us all to engage with the world as it is today with hopes of making a better world tomorrow. More details will follow in the coming months. Here’s to a good, productive, and graceful fall 2021!”
John Haulenbeek, our head agent, sent the following: “Our class enjoys a well-deserved reputation for its high participation in the Dartmouth College Fund. The College has benefited from the generosity of our classmates who consistently donate funds that fuel financial aid. A big part of this success is the result of the dedication of our class agents. They are an excellent group to work with and we are always looking for additional help. Most agents reach out to classmates they know to solicit, which allows them to maintain connections forged in Hanover. If you have any interest in being part of this team, please reach out to me.”
Jerry Bowe and Peter DeNatale, our reunion chairmen, continue their efforts on planning our 50th reunion. Please mark your calendar.
Don’t forget to check out the class website, curated by Ken Hall. It’s been improved and you can get early information on class events, mini-reunions, correspondence, obituaries, and video interviews with classmates.
There is also an online Green Card to get information to Rick and me more quickly, especially now that his snail mail is in Africa. Please send us updates using 1974.dartmouth.org (click on “News,” then “Send Us News”).
Sadly, after a three-month pause, I just received notice of the deaths of two more classmates. Please see Rick Sample’s class obituaries at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obits.
Hope you are all having a great fall. I noticed that Homecoming was finally moved back to peak “leaf-peeping” time in early October. That rocks!
Blessings.
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net
From class president Matt Putnam actual: “A few of you may recognize the military ring of the preceding sentence. I feel fortunate to have actually learned it—on the job. I am sending this note to all of you with my head and heart aching this morning from awareness of the pain soldiers and Afghans are feeling today (August 27 post ISIS-K attack in Kabul). I suspect Afghanistan feels a world away for almost all, but I have learned during the last few years from classmates who have traveled to this seemingly forsaken, but hauntingly beautiful, part of the world in the course of your life since Dartmouth. I mention all of this because class leadership has, in working with the mortality working group, made progress toward a 50th reunion project(s) that will ask us all to engage with the world as it is today with hopes of making a better world tomorrow. More details will follow in the coming months. Here’s to a good, productive, and graceful fall 2021!”
John Haulenbeek, our head agent, sent the following: “Our class enjoys a well-deserved reputation for its high participation in the Dartmouth College Fund. The College has benefited from the generosity of our classmates who consistently donate funds that fuel financial aid. A big part of this success is the result of the dedication of our class agents. They are an excellent group to work with and we are always looking for additional help. Most agents reach out to classmates they know to solicit, which allows them to maintain connections forged in Hanover. If you have any interest in being part of this team, please reach out to me.”
Jerry Bowe and Peter DeNatale, our reunion chairmen, continue their efforts on planning our 50th reunion. Please mark your calendar.
Don’t forget to check out the class website, curated by Ken Hall. It’s been improved and you can get early information on class events, mini-reunions, correspondence, obituaries, and video interviews with classmates.
There is also an online Green Card to get information to Rick and me more quickly, especially now that his snail mail is in Africa. Please send us updates using 1974.dartmouth.org (click on “News,” then “Send Us News”).
Sadly, after a three-month pause, I just received notice of the deaths of two more classmates. Please see Rick Sample’s class obituaries at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obits.
Hope you are all having a great fall. I noticed that Homecoming was finally moved back to peak “leaf-peeping” time in early October. That rocks!
Blessings.
—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net