Class Note 1975
Issue
Greetings from reunion central, where our 35th reunion is quickly coming to a close. It’s been a remarkable three-day event and for the 100 or so members of our class and their families it’s been truly wonderful to catch up, spend time together and see how much better we look than the other classes who are up for their reunions. Many thanks go to our own Lon Cross and his dedicated reunion committee for making this happen and for all their hard work on our behalf.
Beginning with Monday night’s informal pizza and beer reception, the activities went into high gear the next morning at 6:30 a.m., when six brave souls biked 21 miles on the river loop. We were all impressed—all two of us who were up when they returned. Sandy Tierney and I had our regular singles squash challenge and though I won’t report the scores, the trend lines are looking more favorable for me then they have in the past (Sandy routinely whips me).
The class next assembled down by the river for our annual class meeting and lunch led by “democracy in action” Scott “Scooter” Lochridge. Demonstrating complete confidence in the work of the executive committee during the past five years, the class approved—in a unanimous voice vote—the entire business agenda before Scott opened his mouth. Among other things, we approved a new class constitution that gives broad powers to the newly installed class officers to declare war, levy taxes—but only against Harvard. The new set of officers are: Lon Cross, president; Chris McConnell, vice president; Judy Geer, treasurer; yours truly, secretary; Bill Rathke and Ron Cima, head agents; Simmy and Jim Irwin, newsletter editors; Stuart Bratesman, webmaster; Tom Dennison, gift planning officer and co-chair of our 40th reunion with David Cook. We all appreciate the hard work done by the retiring officers.
Following the lunch, the newly named ‘1975 Climbing 23’ (23 of the best conditioned athletes you have ever seen) hiked the 4.4 miles up and back from the summit of Moose Mountain. The weather was perfect and except for the mud I managed to find as I fell into it, there were no injuries to report. We promised ourselves that we would make this a reunion tradition (though as I watched some of us tie our shoes, we may need student workers to help us at future gatherings in the bending over part).
We then convened for drinks, dinner and a concert by our newest honorary class member, Livingston Taylor. During the cocktail hour (more like hours), we showed the great slide show that David Lampert put together of our 1970s vintage photos. Though Nancy and I left early the next morning, the party continued unabated with a class lunch with President Kim and the presentation of the class reunion gift (at press time it was approximately $565,000) representing some heavy lifting by our reunion giving chairs Rick Mayberry, Chris McConnell and Judy Geer.
Wednesday night’s dinner featured our classmate Dan Nelson, the director of Dartmouth’s Outdoor Programs (DOC, Skiway, ski team, etc.) and former senior associate dean of the College. Many thanks for doing this, Dan.
—Jim Bildner, 5 Boardman Ave., Manchester, MA 01944; (617) 737-1100; jim_bildner@hks11.harvard. edu
Sept - Oct 2010
Greetings from reunion central, where our 35th reunion is quickly coming to a close. It’s been a remarkable three-day event and for the 100 or so members of our class and their families it’s been truly wonderful to catch up, spend time together and see how much better we look than the other classes who are up for their reunions. Many thanks go to our own Lon Cross and his dedicated reunion committee for making this happen and for all their hard work on our behalf.
Beginning with Monday night’s informal pizza and beer reception, the activities went into high gear the next morning at 6:30 a.m., when six brave souls biked 21 miles on the river loop. We were all impressed—all two of us who were up when they returned. Sandy Tierney and I had our regular singles squash challenge and though I won’t report the scores, the trend lines are looking more favorable for me then they have in the past (Sandy routinely whips me).
The class next assembled down by the river for our annual class meeting and lunch led by “democracy in action” Scott “Scooter” Lochridge. Demonstrating complete confidence in the work of the executive committee during the past five years, the class approved—in a unanimous voice vote—the entire business agenda before Scott opened his mouth. Among other things, we approved a new class constitution that gives broad powers to the newly installed class officers to declare war, levy taxes—but only against Harvard. The new set of officers are: Lon Cross, president; Chris McConnell, vice president; Judy Geer, treasurer; yours truly, secretary; Bill Rathke and Ron Cima, head agents; Simmy and Jim Irwin, newsletter editors; Stuart Bratesman, webmaster; Tom Dennison, gift planning officer and co-chair of our 40th reunion with David Cook. We all appreciate the hard work done by the retiring officers.
Following the lunch, the newly named ‘1975 Climbing 23’ (23 of the best conditioned athletes you have ever seen) hiked the 4.4 miles up and back from the summit of Moose Mountain. The weather was perfect and except for the mud I managed to find as I fell into it, there were no injuries to report. We promised ourselves that we would make this a reunion tradition (though as I watched some of us tie our shoes, we may need student workers to help us at future gatherings in the bending over part).
We then convened for drinks, dinner and a concert by our newest honorary class member, Livingston Taylor. During the cocktail hour (more like hours), we showed the great slide show that David Lampert put together of our 1970s vintage photos. Though Nancy and I left early the next morning, the party continued unabated with a class lunch with President Kim and the presentation of the class reunion gift (at press time it was approximately $565,000) representing some heavy lifting by our reunion giving chairs Rick Mayberry, Chris McConnell and Judy Geer.
Wednesday night’s dinner featured our classmate Dan Nelson, the director of Dartmouth’s Outdoor Programs (DOC, Skiway, ski team, etc.) and former senior associate dean of the College. Many thanks for doing this, Dan.
—Jim Bildner, 5 Boardman Ave., Manchester, MA 01944; (617) 737-1100; jim_bildner@hks11.harvard. edu