I can see that point in life coming when I begin shedding responsibilities of parenting and working. And strutting to Mick Jagger’s “I’m free…to do what I want…any old time.” I know I’d like to spend more time with friends and classmates in the golden years. I’ve often thought it would be fun to hang out again with Jan Gaynor Bandeen. We were good friends senior year. We often went to Peter Christian’s for dinner on Sundays with Jim Delisle and Ann Jacobus. I really enjoyed Jan’s mischievous laugh, her sharp wit and her savvy understanding of the world. She lived in California most of the years since Dartmouth. We didn’t get to talk too often, and I hadn’t seen her for quite a long time. And now, I won’t get to see her at all. Incredibly, Jan died in September. One night she suddenly fell into a coma from which she never recovered. I guess it goes to show that we shouldn’t wait too long to do the things we yearn to—like getting together with old friends. 


Beth Shapiro Lewyckyj and John Sconzo have the right idea. They organized a mini-reunion dinner at CityZen in Washington, D.C., when John and his wife, Kitty, came through town. Kate Silberman Balaban, Abner Oakes and wife Lolly, Jerry Pierce, Tina Jones Silberman, Becky Nyren Shepherdson and Jill Martin Eichner were all enjoyed the fabulous food as well as each other’s fabulous company.


At Homecoming this fall more than 20 ’81s were on campus for the festivities. And for some of them it was no small jaunt: Carolyn Samiere came from California, as did Cas Stimson, who came with his wife and daughter; Susan Hess came from Dallas; Marty Cetron and his wife from Atlanta; and Byron Boston drove up with his wife and son from Richmond, Virginia. Elliott Davis showed off the campus to his son for the first time. And Kate Balaban doubled down by making her second class mini-reunion in as many weeks! Thanks to the classes of ’78, ’79 and ’80 for sharing a mini-reunion with us before the football game. 


The reviews from The New York Times describe Sharon Washington’s performance in Wild with Happy as “sensational.” By the time you read this a group of 24 of us will have gathered for dinner, seen the show at N.Y.C.’s Public Theater and then toasted Sharon in the theater’s adjacent lounge. 


—Robert Goldbloom, 324 Warburton Ave., Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706; (914) 231-5117; robertgoldbloom@gmail.com; Brian Cusack, 26 Ocean Ave., Marblehead, MA 01945; (617) 710-7228; briancusack13@gmail.com