Classmates, happy New Year!

Peter DeNatale is leading an effort to obtain up to date contact information for all of our classmates to facilitate a hearty 50th reunion. We are starting with fraternities and varsity sports, but any affinity group can work. If you’d like to help, please contact Peter at peterdenatale@comcast.net. Make sure we have your correct cell phone number and email address by contacting him or me directly. We need everyone’s help.

I’ve heard some concerns that our Class Notes don’t share enough about what classmates are doing. The primary reason for this is that I rarely hear from anyone besides the class officers. In these days of social media, I could be trolling all of you and picking up information that way. At least that’s what my kids tell me when I complain that I don’t hear from them. But social media means we put stuff out there in the ether and it’s other people’s responsibility to track me if they want to know what I’m doing. Unfortunately, I’m still old school. I suppose anything you share on Facebook would be fair game for me to use, but I obviously can’t track 700 of you for news. The second reason is that I’m responsible to let you and other classes know what the ’74s are up to. That’s why I report so much executive committee content. So please send updates that you’d want your friends to read along to myself or Rick Ranger. You’d be surprised how much interest they have. They want to hear from you before it’s Rick Sample’s obituaries.

Chris Pfaff sent along a note that, “My daughter, Elsa, got married in August in a very small wedding on Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks [New York] to a wonderful young man, Kevin King, who happens to be a Tuck grad. He’s a great guy!” Congratulations, Chris (and Elsa and Kevin)!

Rick Ranger wrote in from Uganda, where he and his wife, Catherine, are missionary teachers at Uganda Christian University Law School. For his birthday they went on safari in the eastern mountain region. It’s impossible to show his pictorial essay here, but if you didn’t get to see it for yourself, contact Rick at rlranger907@gmail.com and I’m sure he’ll share it with you.

Class president Matt Putnam chimed in to share his thanksgivings: “2021, ginormous thanks to the officers and group of classmates working to recognize the unexpected, accelerated loss of our Black classmates. A large collective effort appears to be resulting in a program that will engage undergraduates and recognize our class’ effort to impact the research in this area. We hope more details will be available by the time you read this.

“For 2022, please write—if only to report the results from your latest dentist appointment! Despite the tardiness, happy New Year from all of the officers, stay healthy, and we look forward to hearing from you and working together to plan the 50th reunion.”

Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com