Class Note 1978
Issue
January-February 2024
Bonne Année, en bonne santé surtout. For those of you who did your language requirement in something other than French, that means, “Happy New Year, and in good health above all.”
Class of ’78s were front-row participants in two meaningful events on campus during the fall: the inauguration of Sian Leah Beilock as Dartmouth’s first female president and the memorial service on the Green for Eugene “Buddy” Teevens ’79, a celebrated varsity athlete during our undergraduate years and a beloved football coach whose fame and influence spread far beyond the Hanover Plain.
I asked two classmates to share their reflections.
Trustee Jeff Crowe reported in from the inauguration: “In a ceremony filled with tradition and regalia, our new president delivered a powerhouse speech to a large crowd assembled on the Green, earning multiple ovations for her vision for Dartmouth and her key areas of immediate focus. Sian even drew a big laugh—and revealed her social media chops—by taking a selfie with the audience at the start of her remarks. I’m trying to imagine our dear President Kemeny doing the same.
“Through the course of the inauguration events there were many classmates present, including Charlie Allison, Todd Anderson, Mark Arnold, Jim Bassett, Kevin Bixby, Celia Chen, Jody Dietze, Carol Hillman Van Dyke, John Jordan, Rick Kimball, Annie Kuster, Walter Malmquist, Curt Oberg, Dan Reicher, and Terry Ann Scriven. Folks were uniformly enthused about the day’s events and especially about Sian herself. The undergrads roaming the campus seemed beside themselves with excitement about their new president. And many alums, including our classmates, were quite moved to see the inauguration of the first female president in the history of Dartmouth.” Thanks, Jeff.
Curt Oberg, who played football with Buddy during our years on campus and worked alongside him as special assistant for the past seven years, gave a moving speech at the memorial. “I’m surprised I made it through most of it without tears,” Curt writes. I’ll let him tell you more.
As special assistant, “I was responsible for jobs, internships, alumni relations, bringing speakers to talk to the team, working with our players on career thoughts. I helped organize a Tuck bootcamp for our players to learn fundamentals of financial accounting. I did a lot of listening in B.T.’s office to his frustrations and to the myriad ideas he had to make the program and his players and staff better. I also did a tackling study for him where I analyzed every tackle by every team in the Ivies during the course of a season—3,500 tackles—to help him study concussions. We had fun, were very close friends, and I have lots of fond memories.”
At the memorial service “the mood was contemplative,” Curt writes. “It was a candlelight vigil, so there was some peacefulness to it. It was at dusk. I found it to be a celebration and memorial at the same time. It helped me with some closure.” Thanks, Curt.
—Anne Bagamery, 13 rue de Presles, 75015 Paris, France; abagamery78@gmail.com; Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com
Class of ’78s were front-row participants in two meaningful events on campus during the fall: the inauguration of Sian Leah Beilock as Dartmouth’s first female president and the memorial service on the Green for Eugene “Buddy” Teevens ’79, a celebrated varsity athlete during our undergraduate years and a beloved football coach whose fame and influence spread far beyond the Hanover Plain.
I asked two classmates to share their reflections.
Trustee Jeff Crowe reported in from the inauguration: “In a ceremony filled with tradition and regalia, our new president delivered a powerhouse speech to a large crowd assembled on the Green, earning multiple ovations for her vision for Dartmouth and her key areas of immediate focus. Sian even drew a big laugh—and revealed her social media chops—by taking a selfie with the audience at the start of her remarks. I’m trying to imagine our dear President Kemeny doing the same.
“Through the course of the inauguration events there were many classmates present, including Charlie Allison, Todd Anderson, Mark Arnold, Jim Bassett, Kevin Bixby, Celia Chen, Jody Dietze, Carol Hillman Van Dyke, John Jordan, Rick Kimball, Annie Kuster, Walter Malmquist, Curt Oberg, Dan Reicher, and Terry Ann Scriven. Folks were uniformly enthused about the day’s events and especially about Sian herself. The undergrads roaming the campus seemed beside themselves with excitement about their new president. And many alums, including our classmates, were quite moved to see the inauguration of the first female president in the history of Dartmouth.” Thanks, Jeff.
Curt Oberg, who played football with Buddy during our years on campus and worked alongside him as special assistant for the past seven years, gave a moving speech at the memorial. “I’m surprised I made it through most of it without tears,” Curt writes. I’ll let him tell you more.
As special assistant, “I was responsible for jobs, internships, alumni relations, bringing speakers to talk to the team, working with our players on career thoughts. I helped organize a Tuck bootcamp for our players to learn fundamentals of financial accounting. I did a lot of listening in B.T.’s office to his frustrations and to the myriad ideas he had to make the program and his players and staff better. I also did a tackling study for him where I analyzed every tackle by every team in the Ivies during the course of a season—3,500 tackles—to help him study concussions. We had fun, were very close friends, and I have lots of fond memories.”
At the memorial service “the mood was contemplative,” Curt writes. “It was a candlelight vigil, so there was some peacefulness to it. It was at dusk. I found it to be a celebration and memorial at the same time. It helped me with some closure.” Thanks, Curt.
—Anne Bagamery, 13 rue de Presles, 75015 Paris, France; abagamery78@gmail.com; Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com