Class Note 1980
Issue
Sep - Oct 2017
As we learned in History 57, “go west” refers to more than geography, even when the subject is our 60th birthday celebration in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 26-29, 2018, at the Marriott Camelback Resort. Maja Wessels and Lisa Shanahan found an ideal venue for golf, hiking, ballooning, horseback riding and celebrating the big 6-0 with ’80 friends. Page Polk Lipe and all us 50-something youngsters are included.
Class of ’80s needed the pioneering Dartmouth spirit when they helped found the first sororities at the College. Freshman spring Stacy Phillips discussed with Kate Wiley Laud, Laura Gold Zimmerman and others the need for Dartmouth women to have a time and place to develop friendships. Stacy recalls: “I learned we were not the first ones with this idea. Class of ’79s Leslie Gordon and Lisa Friel had already decided that Sigma Kappa would be Dartmouth’s first sorority. The rest is history.”
Katie continues: “The founding felt daring. As the first sorority, we challenged the administration to deal with another coeducation issue. Women wanted a social presence, organized by ourselves. Houseless for our four years, we roamed. I remember the call I received the year after graduation when the new president told me the Dartmouth administration had bought us a house. We cheered. It was a real victory. I hung up the phone and cried.”
Stacy, one of the country’s pre-eminent matrimonial lawyers, has merged her firm of 26 years with international powerhouse Blank, Rome. She helped two of Katie’s children settle in Los Angeles. Katie sees Vermont-New Hampshire sisters Ann Munves and Cathy McGrath regularly. Ann hosted a brunch for the officers of Sigma Kappa’s successor sorority, Sigma Delta. “We regaled them with stories, which have improved with time.”
Lauri Livesey Sanduski and Meg Coughlin LePage met on freshman trip before joining Sigma Kappa. They got together recently for the bridal shower of Meg’s youngest daughter, Liza. Meg skied with roommate and Sigma Kappa sister Debo Hart Goth in Breckenridge, Colorado, last winter. Debo remembers how Meg excelled as Sigma Kappa president when the house was searching for its identity.
Laura Murphy Moore recalls: “Kappa Kappa Gamma started after some ’79s proposed the idea of a second sorority, encouraged a diverse group of women to join and then led an impressive vetting process on which national sorority to bring to campus. Without a physical house until after we graduated, we sought to provide a ‘home’ to meet and get to know other women, not always easy in those early years of coeducation! Without Kappa, I would not have even met three-quarters of the women who became my sisters.”
Laura and husband Charlie Moore founded DinnerTime, a personalized meal planning app. I can vouch. DinnerTime fulfills its mission to make it easier for people to “come back to the dinner table.”
The class Homecoming dinner will be held at the DOC House on October 7. Reserve your room in the ’80 block at the Courtyard Marriott before September 7. Deets regarding Homecoming and Scottsdale, Arizona, are on the new class website: 1980.dartmouth.org.
—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com
Class of ’80s needed the pioneering Dartmouth spirit when they helped found the first sororities at the College. Freshman spring Stacy Phillips discussed with Kate Wiley Laud, Laura Gold Zimmerman and others the need for Dartmouth women to have a time and place to develop friendships. Stacy recalls: “I learned we were not the first ones with this idea. Class of ’79s Leslie Gordon and Lisa Friel had already decided that Sigma Kappa would be Dartmouth’s first sorority. The rest is history.”
Katie continues: “The founding felt daring. As the first sorority, we challenged the administration to deal with another coeducation issue. Women wanted a social presence, organized by ourselves. Houseless for our four years, we roamed. I remember the call I received the year after graduation when the new president told me the Dartmouth administration had bought us a house. We cheered. It was a real victory. I hung up the phone and cried.”
Stacy, one of the country’s pre-eminent matrimonial lawyers, has merged her firm of 26 years with international powerhouse Blank, Rome. She helped two of Katie’s children settle in Los Angeles. Katie sees Vermont-New Hampshire sisters Ann Munves and Cathy McGrath regularly. Ann hosted a brunch for the officers of Sigma Kappa’s successor sorority, Sigma Delta. “We regaled them with stories, which have improved with time.”
Lauri Livesey Sanduski and Meg Coughlin LePage met on freshman trip before joining Sigma Kappa. They got together recently for the bridal shower of Meg’s youngest daughter, Liza. Meg skied with roommate and Sigma Kappa sister Debo Hart Goth in Breckenridge, Colorado, last winter. Debo remembers how Meg excelled as Sigma Kappa president when the house was searching for its identity.
Laura Murphy Moore recalls: “Kappa Kappa Gamma started after some ’79s proposed the idea of a second sorority, encouraged a diverse group of women to join and then led an impressive vetting process on which national sorority to bring to campus. Without a physical house until after we graduated, we sought to provide a ‘home’ to meet and get to know other women, not always easy in those early years of coeducation! Without Kappa, I would not have even met three-quarters of the women who became my sisters.”
Laura and husband Charlie Moore founded DinnerTime, a personalized meal planning app. I can vouch. DinnerTime fulfills its mission to make it easier for people to “come back to the dinner table.”
The class Homecoming dinner will be held at the DOC House on October 7. Reserve your room in the ’80 block at the Courtyard Marriott before September 7. Deets regarding Homecoming and Scottsdale, Arizona, are on the new class website: 1980.dartmouth.org.
—Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 835-7722; robdaisley@me.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Wade Herring, 1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com