Class Note 1979
Issue
May-June 2023
Last spring Tom Ewing learned that he needed open heart surgery to correct hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. “The prospect of having my heart stopped, combined with news of classmates’ passings, brought out feelings around mortality and leading a purposeful life. One positive aspect of the experience was reconnecting with old friends from all periods of my life, especially Dartmouth. The operation went well; my stamina is coming back steadily. Having started a serious exercise regime during Covid lockdown, I entered surgery 35 pounds lighter than in 2019. Milestones of my recovery include finishing a five-mile charity run-walk on Thanksgiving and ice skating on Boston’s Frog Pond during Christmas.
“I have been married for more than 20 years to Deanna Raih, a Cornell-trained attorney who fights Medicare fraud. Our daughter, Miranda, perhaps the youngest ’79 legacy, is a dedicated figure skater. This year we’ve traveled to Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois to watch her compete in synchronized skating. She’s a high school freshman in a program for athletes at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, where she goes for two-week long residencies and practices with their figure skating team while doing most schoolwork online. She’s happy and we’re thrilled with the education she’s getting in this adaptation to distance-learning.
“I’m a classics major at heart. After a stab at architecture, I got an M.B.A. in finance to be practical. I’ve built several corporate budgets and can’t help but recognize the element of fiction in them all. I turned to writing as a way of integrating disparate facets of my life: fatherhood, business, creativity, and classical mythology. Facing mortality drove me to finish a ‘new adult’ novel I’d been working on, The Diaspora of the Gods. The story follows a classics major graduating from Dartmouth who’s trying to figure out his career and to find love. He’s helped by a Dartmouth freshman who reveals that she’s a Greek goddess and his guardian angel and that the real story behind Greek mythology is nothing like he thought. With other Dartmouth students and other gods, my protagonist comically thwarts a plot to launder drug money and destroy the full-scale replica of the Parthenon situated in Nashville, where I live. The tale incorporates a business plan for the bad guys and a fun twist about music royalties.” For an electronic copy, email thomas.c.ewing.d79@gmail.com.
On a sober note, I report the death of a son of Dartmouth, Kellen Haak, who was son of Vail Haak ’49 and brother of Amy Haak ’80. After a 15-year battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he died on January 13 at his home in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. He is survived by his partner, Mary LaMarca, beloved dog Rosey, his sister, and his mother. Kellen spent several summers after graduation working as the chef at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge while being enrolled in New York University’s anthropology and museum studies graduate program. After a stint at the Smithsonian in D.C., Kellen returned to Hanover to be collections manager for the Hood Museum for 25 years.
—Janie Simms Hamner, 7327 Centenary Ave., Dallas, TX 75225; jshandkids@aol.com
“I have been married for more than 20 years to Deanna Raih, a Cornell-trained attorney who fights Medicare fraud. Our daughter, Miranda, perhaps the youngest ’79 legacy, is a dedicated figure skater. This year we’ve traveled to Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois to watch her compete in synchronized skating. She’s a high school freshman in a program for athletes at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, where she goes for two-week long residencies and practices with their figure skating team while doing most schoolwork online. She’s happy and we’re thrilled with the education she’s getting in this adaptation to distance-learning.
“I’m a classics major at heart. After a stab at architecture, I got an M.B.A. in finance to be practical. I’ve built several corporate budgets and can’t help but recognize the element of fiction in them all. I turned to writing as a way of integrating disparate facets of my life: fatherhood, business, creativity, and classical mythology. Facing mortality drove me to finish a ‘new adult’ novel I’d been working on, The Diaspora of the Gods. The story follows a classics major graduating from Dartmouth who’s trying to figure out his career and to find love. He’s helped by a Dartmouth freshman who reveals that she’s a Greek goddess and his guardian angel and that the real story behind Greek mythology is nothing like he thought. With other Dartmouth students and other gods, my protagonist comically thwarts a plot to launder drug money and destroy the full-scale replica of the Parthenon situated in Nashville, where I live. The tale incorporates a business plan for the bad guys and a fun twist about music royalties.” For an electronic copy, email thomas.c.ewing.d79@gmail.com.
On a sober note, I report the death of a son of Dartmouth, Kellen Haak, who was son of Vail Haak ’49 and brother of Amy Haak ’80. After a 15-year battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he died on January 13 at his home in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. He is survived by his partner, Mary LaMarca, beloved dog Rosey, his sister, and his mother. Kellen spent several summers after graduation working as the chef at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge while being enrolled in New York University’s anthropology and museum studies graduate program. After a stint at the Smithsonian in D.C., Kellen returned to Hanover to be collections manager for the Hood Museum for 25 years.
—Janie Simms Hamner, 7327 Centenary Ave., Dallas, TX 75225; jshandkids@aol.com