Last column I shared with you that I am now an empty-nester. Next week I am reaping the benefits of my years of childrearing. My oldest child, Kelley, just turned 30 and she is taking me on her birthday celebration trip! We will be traveling to Italy and Egypt for 10 days while my husband stays home with the dogs and cat. Not a bad reward and I am so looking forward to the wine, pasta and camel riding!


As many of us baby boomers have our eyesight degenerate, we have our own Eric Donnefeld to thank for thepossibility of improvement! A 1980 graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, Eric is an ophthalmologist on Long Island. He was a principal investigator in the trials that led to FDA approval of laser vision corrective surgery and was one of the first to perform the procedure in the 1990s. In addition to his own practice, he is also a clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York University.


My Pink Floyd reference seemed to resonate with many of you! Chris Jenny checked in with the news that his oldest daughter, Lauren, is now in the class of 2014. His son Alex just graduated and played football for Dartmouth. His son Chris is now a sophomore. So one out, two more in and congratulations on such a “green” family, Chris! Rich Sarner also checked in with the news that his daughter, also a Lauren, will also be matriculating into the class of 2014! And thank you, Rich, for correcting me that my Pink Floyd lyric was from The Wall! Alison Grant Williams was happy to hear that she wasn’t the only one still out there with an 18-year-old son. Her son will be attending Lehigh University this fall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Alison is the director of diversity outreach at the CFA Institute in Chicago.


In July Gary Clohan took a trip with three other Dartmouth-educated geology/volcanology professionals to Lakagigar, Iceland, home to the infamous Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in April and May. Gary is on the faculty at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and teaches geology, geography and environmental sciences. In his many travels he has climbed to the high points of all 50 states and three continents and in 2009 hiked the Appalachian Trail.


Thanks for sending your news—keep it coming!


—Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net