Our class is impossible. Just when I make a pact not to repeat any names that have appeared in this column within a year, our dang superstars are overachieving again. Louise Erdrich, who graced our reunion women’s breakfast with a fabulous recommended reading list (posted on our class Facebook page), has a new book that is, per usual, slaying reviewers. Future Home of the Living God is being praised as a tense, dystopian thriller that “stands shoulder-to-braced-shoulder right alongside The Handmaid’s Tale,” according to NPR. Don’t miss David Shribman’s New York Timesop-ed from December 11, a heartfelt, characteristically articulate appeal to our best selves about why truth matters. But my favorite piece of writing I’ve read in a long time is David’s address to his late father’s 70th Dartmouth reunion class last June: a tender tribute to the nobility of his father, his friends and a time gone by. Then there’s larger-than-life Reggie Williams honored in November at halftime at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium for his record-breaking Bengals linebacker years as well as his devotion to community as a Cincinnati city councilman.

Those of us not honored in a halftime show or appearing in the Times had time for coffee with our old pal Copa Cavanagh, who has recently moved to Boston with wife Madelynn after raising great kids in San Diego followed by a stint in New York, all the while keeping his French drill instructor worthy with business and pleasure travels to France. He kept Julie Miner and me laughing with reminiscences of their term in Toulouse as well as the story of the look on Professor Jamie Angell’sface when he realized Copa’s son was in his theater class at Occidental College. Ted Scheu is still loving his work as a poetry and writing teacher visiting elementary schools (100-plus days last year) but says the “r” word is whispering in his ear. “Robin and I want to volunteer more locally in Vermont and also travel.” He checks in with our class Patch Adams, Dr. Peter Gergely, beloved pediatrician and noted painter, whenever he’s in the Hudson Valley, for doses of laughter and reality. “Pete’s self-effacing brilliance keeps me sane.” Ted invites classmates to visit Middlebury anytime. Peter Gilbert and his wife, Cindy Char, enjoy living in Montpelier, Vermont, where for the last 15 years he’s been the executive director of the Vermont Humanities Council. It’s a treat to catch him on Vermont Public Radio discussing everything from Robert Frost to the importance of optimism. Having worked for 10 years as senior assistant to President James Freedman, Peter stays in close contact with many Hanover area classmates, including Sean Gorman. He and Cindy miss Jan Sorice, “a dear and inspiring friend.” We honor the memory and contributions of Christopher “Kip” Hall, our class Rhodes scholar, Masters circuit ski racer, international sailing racer, brilliant lawyer and adoring and adored father and husband (more at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obits).

—Sara Hoagland Hunter, 72 Mount Vernon St., Unit 4B, Boston, MA 02108; sarahunter76@gmail.com