Class Note 1979
Issue
March-April 2021
We have fascinating classmates.
For Rick Leonardi, “drawing comic books had been my aim from grade school onwards; I’d never seriously entertained any other career. I went to work the January after graduation with a tryout issue at Marvel Comics. After that apprentice job (Thor #303) came issues of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Cloak and Dagger, which I worked on from a succession of Upper Valley rentals. Later, I continued drawing for Marvel and DC from Ketchum, Idaho, sending in product via FedEx and racking up ski days at Sun Valley. Back east finally in Boston, I met Cynthia Kellogg, M.D., and settled down with her outside Philadelphia in 1991.” Enjoy samplings of various projects @rick_leonardi.
Martin Venezky writes, “Dartmouth was a complicated time for me; I survived within a small circle of friends. I started off in the Choates, then moved into the very small, mostly unnoticed housing at 44 College Street, not really a dorm, but a converted house, cool and friendly, but unlikely to broaden one’s social circle. Although I began as a math major, my interests shifted to graphic design and photography, neither highlights (to say the least!) of Dartmouth’s visual studies program. Honestly, I only blossomed when I pursued an M.F.A. in design at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1991. There the deep love I have for my work was kindled and new creative possibilities were unleashed. This led to my satisfying and renowned career in design along with an unexpected teaching career, now as full professor in the design M.F.A. program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. My own work in complicated, abstract photography is a constantly rewarding challenge.” See @martinvenezky.
Bob Keefer, led to ministry by his boyhood pastor and involvement in the Church of Christ at Dartmouth, finds the pandemic an opportunity “to focus on what is essential and to be creative. Our church had long talked about expanding our online presence by webcasting; suddenly it became necessary. Now our church has a live webcast, also available recorded. We met in the sanctuary only once, but we never stopped our outreach: Sunday worship, weekly devotions, children’s messages by Murphy the Dog (Interested? See pcmomaha.org). Nevertheless, doing these tasks with little real human contact is wearing. I miss shaking hands, fist bumps, and hugs. Most of all, I miss the children. Pastors, generally, are not well paid, but our rewards are in the possibility to be present with people in ordinary times and times of crisis. I do the tasks and miss most of those rewards. I know this is temporary; someday one of the children will give me that first hug and one of the women will ask me to pray for her grandson and one of the men will tell me my sermon made his brain hurt. We’ll get through this.”
Sadly, Stacy Smith Quinn reports that her husband, Patrick Quinn, M.D., died in November 2020 of complications of neck cancer, diagnosed in 2005.
—Janie Simms Hamner, 7327 Centenary Ave., Dallas, TX 75225; jshandkids@aol.com
For Rick Leonardi, “drawing comic books had been my aim from grade school onwards; I’d never seriously entertained any other career. I went to work the January after graduation with a tryout issue at Marvel Comics. After that apprentice job (Thor #303) came issues of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Cloak and Dagger, which I worked on from a succession of Upper Valley rentals. Later, I continued drawing for Marvel and DC from Ketchum, Idaho, sending in product via FedEx and racking up ski days at Sun Valley. Back east finally in Boston, I met Cynthia Kellogg, M.D., and settled down with her outside Philadelphia in 1991.” Enjoy samplings of various projects @rick_leonardi.
Martin Venezky writes, “Dartmouth was a complicated time for me; I survived within a small circle of friends. I started off in the Choates, then moved into the very small, mostly unnoticed housing at 44 College Street, not really a dorm, but a converted house, cool and friendly, but unlikely to broaden one’s social circle. Although I began as a math major, my interests shifted to graphic design and photography, neither highlights (to say the least!) of Dartmouth’s visual studies program. Honestly, I only blossomed when I pursued an M.F.A. in design at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1991. There the deep love I have for my work was kindled and new creative possibilities were unleashed. This led to my satisfying and renowned career in design along with an unexpected teaching career, now as full professor in the design M.F.A. program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. My own work in complicated, abstract photography is a constantly rewarding challenge.” See @martinvenezky.
Bob Keefer, led to ministry by his boyhood pastor and involvement in the Church of Christ at Dartmouth, finds the pandemic an opportunity “to focus on what is essential and to be creative. Our church had long talked about expanding our online presence by webcasting; suddenly it became necessary. Now our church has a live webcast, also available recorded. We met in the sanctuary only once, but we never stopped our outreach: Sunday worship, weekly devotions, children’s messages by Murphy the Dog (Interested? See pcmomaha.org). Nevertheless, doing these tasks with little real human contact is wearing. I miss shaking hands, fist bumps, and hugs. Most of all, I miss the children. Pastors, generally, are not well paid, but our rewards are in the possibility to be present with people in ordinary times and times of crisis. I do the tasks and miss most of those rewards. I know this is temporary; someday one of the children will give me that first hug and one of the women will ask me to pray for her grandson and one of the men will tell me my sermon made his brain hurt. We’ll get through this.”
Sadly, Stacy Smith Quinn reports that her husband, Patrick Quinn, M.D., died in November 2020 of complications of neck cancer, diagnosed in 2005.
—Janie Simms Hamner, 7327 Centenary Ave., Dallas, TX 75225; jshandkids@aol.com