Class Note 1978
Issue
September-October 2024
Close your eyes. It is September 1974. The class of ’78 arrives for what is now called new student orientation but which was then called Freshman Week. What do you see?
There’s Bill Petit, 17, having his first beer from a keg on the steps of Dartmouth Hall. “This is awful; I can’t believe people actually drink it,” he thinks.
Class of ’78s are moving into their dorms. Harvey Weinberg learns he’ll be “hiking up to the fourth floor of Fayerweather about 1,000 times during the upcoming three terms.” Jim Mizes looks at his two-room triple and thinks, “This will be a challenge.” Over at Woodward, Barbara Dau’s parents “followed me in their car while an upperclassman took me to Topliff to pick up my key.” Nick Sakhnovsky returns from his first-year trip to find his Lodge room occupied by another student and all his posters gone.
Classmates from far away are experiencing culture shock. Rick Spier, a son of the Deep South, orders an iced tea at Lou’s and is told it is “out of season.” After a 12-hour flight from Honolulu, Christine Hughes wanders into the grocery store to provision her room in Wheeler and gets scolded for being barefoot: “In Hawaii, everyone is barefoot.” Scott Riedler, who has never been east of the Mississippi, feels “amazement seeing fall colors for the first time.”
As the week progresses, the new class settles in and personalities emerge. Owen Astrachan tries unsuccessfully to convince Timothy Patrickmiller and the fourth floor of French Hall that they should wear beanies.
Older students impart Dartmouth knowledge to the newbies. Steve Strauss and David LeMay learn in South Mass that “if the fire alarm is activated and there is no fire, set one.” Apparently a false alarm incurs dorm damage costs, while putting out an actual blaze is free. Steve Ornstein gets used to “the ‘chip for a keg’ knock on the door every evening.” Because his Topliff single adjoins that of campus politico Ernie Kessler ’75, Will Browning has to listen to “late-night strategy meetings as I try to fall asleep.”
The class is officially welcomed in a “rather serious” ceremony in Webster Hall that is Sharon Lee Cowan’s “first encounter with the word ‘matriculation.’ ” Andy Welch hears Dean Ralph Manuel describe Dartmouth as “a community where the life of the mind is pre-eminent.”
Voices cry in the wilderness. “Wow; this just got real,” thinks Geoff Crew. “I was so over my head—and then came Paradise Lost!” recalls Nick Scheu.
But great friendships are forged among the women of Topliff South, including Nancy Freedman; in Hinman Hall, Marga Rahman, Julie Hill Fulcher and Sheila Flanigan.
There’s Ray Boniface: first time away from home, nervous, standing on the Green facing the Inn. He hears a voice on his left: “What’s your name? I’m Bollie.” “What?” “Bollie.” “What?” “Bollie!”
Now open your eyes. It’s 2024 and Randi and Willard Bollenbach just slept over at Ray and Nancy’s house for maybe the 100th time.
Next time is for news. See you then!
—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
There’s Bill Petit, 17, having his first beer from a keg on the steps of Dartmouth Hall. “This is awful; I can’t believe people actually drink it,” he thinks.
Class of ’78s are moving into their dorms. Harvey Weinberg learns he’ll be “hiking up to the fourth floor of Fayerweather about 1,000 times during the upcoming three terms.” Jim Mizes looks at his two-room triple and thinks, “This will be a challenge.” Over at Woodward, Barbara Dau’s parents “followed me in their car while an upperclassman took me to Topliff to pick up my key.” Nick Sakhnovsky returns from his first-year trip to find his Lodge room occupied by another student and all his posters gone.
Classmates from far away are experiencing culture shock. Rick Spier, a son of the Deep South, orders an iced tea at Lou’s and is told it is “out of season.” After a 12-hour flight from Honolulu, Christine Hughes wanders into the grocery store to provision her room in Wheeler and gets scolded for being barefoot: “In Hawaii, everyone is barefoot.” Scott Riedler, who has never been east of the Mississippi, feels “amazement seeing fall colors for the first time.”
As the week progresses, the new class settles in and personalities emerge. Owen Astrachan tries unsuccessfully to convince Timothy Patrickmiller and the fourth floor of French Hall that they should wear beanies.
Older students impart Dartmouth knowledge to the newbies. Steve Strauss and David LeMay learn in South Mass that “if the fire alarm is activated and there is no fire, set one.” Apparently a false alarm incurs dorm damage costs, while putting out an actual blaze is free. Steve Ornstein gets used to “the ‘chip for a keg’ knock on the door every evening.” Because his Topliff single adjoins that of campus politico Ernie Kessler ’75, Will Browning has to listen to “late-night strategy meetings as I try to fall asleep.”
The class is officially welcomed in a “rather serious” ceremony in Webster Hall that is Sharon Lee Cowan’s “first encounter with the word ‘matriculation.’ ” Andy Welch hears Dean Ralph Manuel describe Dartmouth as “a community where the life of the mind is pre-eminent.”
Voices cry in the wilderness. “Wow; this just got real,” thinks Geoff Crew. “I was so over my head—and then came Paradise Lost!” recalls Nick Scheu.
But great friendships are forged among the women of Topliff South, including Nancy Freedman; in Hinman Hall, Marga Rahman, Julie Hill Fulcher and Sheila Flanigan.
There’s Ray Boniface: first time away from home, nervous, standing on the Green facing the Inn. He hears a voice on his left: “What’s your name? I’m Bollie.” “What?” “Bollie.” “What?” “Bollie!”
Now open your eyes. It’s 2024 and Randi and Willard Bollenbach just slept over at Ray and Nancy’s house for maybe the 100th time.
Next time is for news. See you then!
—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