Class Note 1979
The hardest part of our volunteer work is reporting the passing of a classmate, and so it is with great sadness that we mourn the recent loss of three dear brothers and sisters: Carrie Ann Garfink Dixon succumbed to breast cancer on October 19 after a courageous struggle, Karen Knudson Nossiter died on August 18 after a long illness and Charlie Rowe died unexpectedly on August 24 during a family vacation. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of Carrie, Karen and Charlie, each of whom you can find memorialized on our class website.
With 2017 just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share some of your classmates’ New Year’s plans:
Barbara Bula resolves “to make the effort to rekindle old friendships that have fallen by the wayside since leaving Dartmouth. I also hope to travel to more places of my choosing and not just places dictated by my kids’ activities.”
Author, illustrator and recently adopted classmate Bob Chamberlin shares: “I have been painting a lot and am looking forward to inspired art—much of which will surely emanate from trips to California, Penobscot Bay, Maine, and of course the Second College Grant—in the coming year, when I will turn 60.”
Tom Ewing and his wife, Deanna, “hope to see more live music performed by local Nashville, Tennessee, talent.” Tom also resolves “to finish the novel I’ve been writing the last five years, focus on what I put into life rather than what I get out of it and read something written in ancient Greek, either New Testament or Plato.”
Leslie “Lulu” Gordon writes: “I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do pick a carefully chosen aspirational word (such as serenity, love, equanimity) for the year based on where I am in my life and where I would like to be. Then I use the word as a filter whenever I’m faced with a decision. For instance, I will ask myself, ‘Will this course of action bring me more serenity or less or is it at least serenity neutral?’ Staying true to this guiding word has helped make my choices much clearer, especially when I’m having trouble recognizing the right path.”
Bill “Huff” Huffman resolves to attend our 40th reunion in 2020, and “not get too excited when the Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets on January 1 and make the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1999!”
After witnessing the football team’s disappointing loss to Columbia University in miserable N.Y.C. weather, Joe Nastri still managed to resolve “to laugh out loud every day, and I’m not going to wait until January 1!”
Julie Varga, emergency physician and vice chair of emergency medicine at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, resolves “to be able to gracefully get down on the ground and back up again without using my hands and to work my last night shift ever on December 31, 2016!”
May the force be with you all in 2017!
—Stanley Weil, 15 Peck Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com; John Currier, 82 Carpenter St., Norwich, VT 05055; (802) 649-2577; john.h.currier@dartmouth.edu
