Class Note 1976

Responses continue to pour in for our Southwest “major mini-reunion” led by Jim Beattie in incredible Santa Fe, New Mexico, the weekend of September 6-8. Jim reports that many plan to come early, stay late, or both. We’ll celebrate our 65th birthdays at a special Saturday night dinner, the 250th day of the 250th year of Dartmouth College. If you’re not registered in our class block at La Posada Hotel, reunion headquarters, be sure to email Jim your plans to attend at jbeattie45@gmail.com. He needs a head count for the dinner asap and wants to be able to reach you with all the fun activities planned throughout the weekend, including golf with Andy Shaw, cycling with Rick Hill, guided city tour coordinated by Naomi Baline Kleinman, shopping, walks, hikes,and early morning farmer’s market. You’ll be greeted by bear-huggers Carolyn Allenby, Martha Beattie, Jamie Bergford, Cathy Joyce Brennan, Jack Brennan, Kathy DeGioia Eastwood, Inky Ford, Nancy Steward Freidl, Bob Freidl, Amanda Green, Donna Humphrey, Joe Jasinski, Andrea Lewis, Julie Miner, Tom Souza, Annie Stockmar Upton, Steffi Valar, Randy White,and me! Others planning to attend are Sharon Ali, Viola Allen, Chris Davis, Brewer Doran, Amy Gillenson, Deborah Hope, Debby Humphrey, Jody Karp, Gretchen Kent Kerr, Bob Lee, Jeff Long, Dave Magnus, Gary Love, Steve Melikian, Jim Naylor, Dave Robbins, Ken Wright, Lynne Brooks, Bill Saubert, Melanie Renchner,and Rick Zimmerman. For the ever-growing list of attendees, check 1976.dartmouth.org, our class website, or email Jim Beattie. In other news, we congratulate Kim Staggers Blanchard, this year’s honoree at the American Indian College Fund’s 30th anniversary celebration in New York City. A renowned lawyer, Kim was cited for her commitment to the education of American Indian students through her nine years as a trustee, her funding of scholarships for nearly 500 students, and her support of tribal college and university faculty. We also want to recognize David Shribman,former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and his associates, this year’s recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for their compassionate, in-depth reporting of the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue, three blocks from David’s home. David led the team and set the tone for the paper’s deeply moving coverage, which included running the Jewish mourner’s prayer in Hebrew across the banner. David, who won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his body of work for The Boston Globe, is coeditor of a new book on the college, Dartmouth Undying, and plans to move to Montreal this summer to teach at McGill University. We mourn the passing of our classmate Edna Darden, star of her Richmond, California, high school class and a pioneering female statistics major at Dartmouth. After a short stint as an actuarial, she pursued her passion for books and politics, managing a bookstore in Atlanta and campaigning avidly and articulately for her favorite candidates. Her generous spirit and wide-reaching embrace of humanity continue to inspire.

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