First, some news: John Brenner has an “intriguing” second act as senior vice president at CVS Health, overseeing enterprise litigation. “Just as I was beginning to get the hang of retirement,” he wrote. Congrats, John!

Fifty-odd years ago, we got “The Letter”: our Dartmouth acceptance. I asked for memories in 25 words or less.

“Ecstatic,” “elated,” “excited,” and “absolutely thrilled” came up (Susan Kepes, J. Michael Brennan, Rich Sinnott, David Master, Brooks Clark, Rick Beyer, Therese Ojibway, Jim Lattin, David Hathaway, Nick Sakhnovsky, Bill Cunningham).

So did “relieved” (Craig Douglass, Brian Litscher, Amy Simon Berg) and “gratified” (Will Fraizer).

Walter Malmquist got the letter after morning assembly at school and “enthusiastically mouthed ‘Oh yeah!’ while exhaling to the pit of my stomach.”

Hamp Bekarian had to wait two extra weeks for international mail to arrive in Lebanon, but “it was worth it.”

“When life began,” Geoff Crew wrote, “suddenly nothing to really stress over.”

“A tremendous glow and a profound feeling of thankfulness,” wrote Dave King.

Jim Mizes: “Tears of joy and immense pride; my parents beamed and then worried about how we would pay for it.”

David Wright “literally jumped in the air in exultation.”

Lisa Kaeser “skipped class to drive to post office, opened letter in lobby, drove home to call Dad, then to school, where I pounded on my brother’s chemistry classroom to tell him.”

Cay Wieboldt Kendrick “burst into Mom’s sewing group, waving the letter and yelling, ‘I got in!’ ”

Todd Hemphill: “Principal walked up and told me. I ran through the school halls screaming.”

Doug Brown “drove to the commuter train station to pick up Dad while flying a ‘D’ sweatshirt from the car’s antenna.”

Kevin Hoffman: “Mom came to swim practice and announced that I ‘got mail today.’ The envelope had been steamed open and badly resealed. Her smile gave it away.”

Jack Reeder “circled the neighborhood in my VW Beetle to intercept the mail, a cream-colored envelope with a beautiful green return address. My heart was racing as I tore it open.”

Christine Hughes noted “the most lovely, deep, forest shade of green. I’ve been in love with that color ever since.”

Todd Baker “pulled out my white Dartmouth T-shirt with the green collar and green tab. It felt great.”

Harvey Weinberg “headed to Hanover with Dad soon after. We bought green and red Dartmouth T-shirts. Why were they selling red shirts, and why did I buy one?”

Sharon Lee Cowan: “The envelope contained information about freshman trips. Since I needed money more than a hike up Moosilauke, I resigned myself to working that week. Dumb decision.”

And the letter itself? Bill Buonanno says, “I framed it!” Jeff Miller did too: “It endures along with the memories.”

Dave Casper “brought it back to ‘Western Civ’ class at Whitefish Bay High School. My teacher went to laminate the letter—still have it.”

Jon Keeve sums it up: “Very excited to be accepted, though I could not have imagined how it would change my life.”

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—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