Class Note 1979
Issue
May-June 2020
Buckle up and get ready to start your engines gang, because our “Building Bridges” 40th reunion is now just two months down the road! If you haven’t done so already, please visit our class website at 1979.dartmouth.org and register for what promises to be a truly special and inclusive milestone event. We will celebrate our extraordinary shared ’79 experience and honor those we have lost, including beloved classmates Dave “Coach” Philhower and Dave “Rusty” Joyce most recently. The tragic and unexpected deaths of Coach and Rusty on January 27 and February 3, respectively, leave gaping holes in our hearts.
Brighter news comes from Lori Arviso Alvord, who went by her maiden name (Cupp) during our time at Dartmouth and who has lived a remarkable and accomplished life. Please enjoy Lori’s bountiful update, which we greatly appreciate her sharing: “Thank you, Stanley and John, for inviting me to write a few words. Let me first say that, outside of some members of the Dartmouth Club of the Upper Valley and some Native American alumni, I don’t know most of you. For Native Americans such as me (I was born Navajo and spent my formative years on the Navajo reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico) and other people of color, relative undergraduate isolation at predominantly white academic institutions is a not uncommon shared circumstance. The unfortunate reality is that the gulf between sharply contrasting backgrounds and adolescent experiences has always been a difficult one to bridge. I won’t bore you with everything I’ve been doing since graduation, but here are some of the highlights. I was the first person in my tribe to become a surgeon and am currently working as a general surgeon in eastern Washington State. I am the author of The Scalpel and the Silver Bear, a bestselling 1998 memoir that is still being used in many university courses. I was associate dean for student affairs and admissions at Dartmouth Medical School from 1997 to 2009 and have had the honor of giving several speeches for Dartmouth, the most recent being the 2017 baccalaureate address. I have also served at the colleges of medicine at the University of Arizona and Central Michigan University. In 2013 I was nominated to be the surgeon general of the United States and in 2018 I received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where I earned my medical degree. I do a lot of work in Native American health and healing practices and mentor many Native American students. My husband, Jonathan Alvord, is a physician assistant, pilot, and world-class competitive trimaran sailor. Together we have two wonderful children who I fully expect to eclipse any of my work. Our son, “Kodi” (Kodiak), is a Yale graduate now in his third year at Brown Medical School. My youngest, Arviso (“Vi”) Alvord ’20, is a double major in Native American studies and studio art currently interning at the Hood Museum. I hope to meet more of you at Dartmouth club events in Washington.”
—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
Brighter news comes from Lori Arviso Alvord, who went by her maiden name (Cupp) during our time at Dartmouth and who has lived a remarkable and accomplished life. Please enjoy Lori’s bountiful update, which we greatly appreciate her sharing: “Thank you, Stanley and John, for inviting me to write a few words. Let me first say that, outside of some members of the Dartmouth Club of the Upper Valley and some Native American alumni, I don’t know most of you. For Native Americans such as me (I was born Navajo and spent my formative years on the Navajo reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico) and other people of color, relative undergraduate isolation at predominantly white academic institutions is a not uncommon shared circumstance. The unfortunate reality is that the gulf between sharply contrasting backgrounds and adolescent experiences has always been a difficult one to bridge. I won’t bore you with everything I’ve been doing since graduation, but here are some of the highlights. I was the first person in my tribe to become a surgeon and am currently working as a general surgeon in eastern Washington State. I am the author of The Scalpel and the Silver Bear, a bestselling 1998 memoir that is still being used in many university courses. I was associate dean for student affairs and admissions at Dartmouth Medical School from 1997 to 2009 and have had the honor of giving several speeches for Dartmouth, the most recent being the 2017 baccalaureate address. I have also served at the colleges of medicine at the University of Arizona and Central Michigan University. In 2013 I was nominated to be the surgeon general of the United States and in 2018 I received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where I earned my medical degree. I do a lot of work in Native American health and healing practices and mentor many Native American students. My husband, Jonathan Alvord, is a physician assistant, pilot, and world-class competitive trimaran sailor. Together we have two wonderful children who I fully expect to eclipse any of my work. Our son, “Kodi” (Kodiak), is a Yale graduate now in his third year at Brown Medical School. My youngest, Arviso (“Vi”) Alvord ’20, is a double major in Native American studies and studio art currently interning at the Hood Museum. I hope to meet more of you at Dartmouth club events in Washington.”
—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