Class Note 1980
Mar - Apr 2014
So here’s a question for you philosophy majors: If two or more classmates have a conversation and a class secretary isn’t around to record it, do they make a sound? And now the logical follow-up: How loud can it get when two secretaries are present?
At an annual get-together in New York City I had the pleasure of sitting across the table from Stanley Weil ’79, the author of the class column you routinely (and wisely) skip over to read this one. We couldn’t resist lamenting the challenging times we face as column writers. How much easier was it for predecessors Mike Carothers and Dan Zenkel, who could fill endless columns with scores of saccharine updates on weddings, promotions, advanced degrees and newborn babies? At this stage of the game what scraps have you, our classmates, left for us? Like the Robert DeNiro character in all his recent movies, we “hear things.” But who wants to read about midlife crises, divorces, serial rehabs and beaten murder raps? Certainly not highbrow readers like you!
You’ll have to read Stan’s column to gain his perspective but my big takeaway from the evening is that Stan, Terry Gould ’79 and Rich Brown ’79 all look much older and less hip than any of the members of our class. The members of that class look uniformly beaten and tired, like shells of the young men and women they once were, while the ’80s I meet seem almost younger each time I see them. It was no different with our dinner group. Who could be fresher than Chuck Blades, a man personified by the evening’s first course, a salad? I suspect that we’ll soon find decrepit portraits in the attics of the Dick Clark-impersonating Rob Ruocco and Hans Morris, and whatever Jeff Citrin has lost in head hair he has clearly made up in vitality. Is it me or is there something invigorating about the youthful humor of Craig Lambdin? And can someone explain why most adult hairlines creep backward while Mark Alperin’s rushes forward?
Perhaps taking their cue from the legendary cliff swallows that take residence in the local mission each spring, Andy Graham, his wife Janeen ’96, and young sons Robbie and Reid recently relocated from Newport Beach, California, to San Juan Capistrano, where Janeen is now academic dean at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. As those of us who have lived there know, it doesn’t get much better than life in Orange County. Andy continues with private equity investing, which is where he learned how to trade one slice of heaven for another.
By the time this column went to press, we hadn’t received any correct answers to our last “common thread” puzzle, but for those of you who are wondering whether you’re on the right track, let’s just say that fellow scribe Rob Daisley might have had the music of Willie Nelson or Ray Charles “on his mind” when he formulated the question. Now it’s time for the latest opportunity to show how well you know your fellow classmates: this month’s “’80 List.” What is the common thread that pulls these people together: Barry Krumm, Scott Bechler, Meg Blakey, Dave McQueeney, Earl Grossman, Rob Speidel, Lauri Livesey Sandusky?
You could put my name on this list as well. If you think you know the answer, send us an email. The first three with correct answers will win Gift Rocket cards redeemable at the Dartmouth Bookstore. Get that Dartmouth shot glass you’ve been dreaming about!
—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com