On the cusp of our 45th (sort of) reunion I asked classmates, “What’s next?” and told them they had three words to respond. Here are the answers in the order received, with my occasional editorial comments in parentheses.

Anne Bagamery wrote: “Seize the day.” Steve Strauss wrote: “Travel, activism, learning.” Jim Mizes wrote: “Love, laughter, learning.” “Lenny Weiser-Varon wrote: “Colonoscopy.” (Two words short!) Brooks Clark wrote: “Into happy retirement.” (Brooks has just retired from the University of Tennessee.) Tom Castle wrote: “Grandkids visiting Florida!” Maggie Fellner Hunt wrote: “Family, friends, travel.”

Jim Lattin wrote: “Hemingway got six.” (Stop complaining!) Wilson Neely wrote: “Beat actuarial expectancy.” Mike Brennan wrote: “Work, sports, travel.” Vicki Smith wrote: “Time well spent.” Will Fraizer wrote: “Mentoring, teaching, and traveling.” Geoff Crew wrote: “No worries, hakuna matata!” Dan Galyon wrote: “Maintaining a pulse.” (Aiming high!) Melinda Kassen wrote: “Enjoy third act!” Kevin Hoffman wrote: “My best me.” Lisa Kaeser wrote: “We love New Hampshire!” Bill Petit wrote: “Time with son!” Sharon Lee Cowan wrote: “M.A. in art history.” Will Browning wrote: “Off to Mexico?”

Annie Kuster wrote: “Save the world” (Ambitious!) Steve Damron wrote: “Publish my book!” Lauren Tanny wrote: “Back to traveling!” John Jordan wrote: “Teaching ’23s leadership.” Steve Cuervorst wrote: “More chaos, naturally.” John Larson wrote: “Love, geology, work.” Mark Arnold wrote: “Pennsylvania-New Hampshire two-state solution.” Mary Thron wrote: “Thoroughly enjoying life!” Jim Friedlich wrote: “Death at 110.” Jack Reeder wrote: “Italy and Greece.” Harriet Schwartz Crew wrote: “Retire Geoff, travel!” Glenn Swartwout wrote: “My next book!”

Scott Axford wrote: “No, thank you.” (One curmudgeon in every crowd.) Wendy Muello wrote: “Learning, travel, purpose!” Amy Simon Berg wrote: “Time will tell.” Steve Ornstein wrote: “Gratitude every day.” Pierre Kirch wrote: “Veni, vidi, vici!” Peter Vaughn wrote: “Dartmouth fellowship period.” Cotton Smith wrote: “Carping more diebus!” Richard Hoeg wrote: “Grandkids, owls, nature!” David King wrote: “Retirement on horizon!” Richard Yocum wrote: “Failing my retirement.” Michael Yoshii wrote: “Retirement (sort of).” Burke Whitman wrote: “For common good.” Helen Lukash wrote: “Adventure, reflection, perspective.”

Bill Dexter wrote: “Play. Play more.” Judy Osher wrote: “Calm, caring, joy.” David Master wrote: “Love, work, knowledge.” Carol van Dyke wrote: “Hubby retirement, adventure travel, declutter.” (Stretching the boundaries, but we’ll allow it!) Anne Barschal wrote: “3-D animation.”

Funny, thoughtful, eloquent, and occasionally enigmatic: The class of 1978 44 years out.

Just received the sad news that John Mares passed away from pancreatic cancer last November. On behalf of the class, I want to express condolences to his friends and family. Look for a remembrance on the class website: http://1978.dartmouth.org/in-memoriam.

Finally, I had a chance to catch up with Fletcher Colcroft IV after many years. Fletch headed off to Sumatra shortly after graduation on a Rockefeller grant to study the rodent population there and lost touch with many classmates. He is currently working on a novel, a roman à clef based on a recent journey in his yacht, Occam’s Razor, down the Intercoastal waterway to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Rumor has it one of the characters is based on Lenny Weiser-Varon. “It remains to be seen whether that character will have legs or be yet another Fletch in the pan,” says Lenny. Stay tuned!

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—Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com