As I write this we have just had three class mini-reunions. By now you all would have read in our class newsletter the entertaining account given by Frank “Pancho” Ryan of his first mini-reunion hosting at the Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport, Connecticut. Among the 10 ’81s in attendance was Peter Oudheusden, recently returned from having completed the Everglades Challenge from Tampa, Florida, to Miami. Peter is the first to complete the course by rowing. And to think that it only took him eight days!
Ann Jacobus was spirited enough to arrange a mini-reunion near San Francisco, building it around one of Sharon Washington’s on-tour performances in Wild with Happy. (I’ve decided I’m starting a groupie club for Sharon. Let me know if you want in.) Ian Christophe and Lucy Irwin came. So did Charmaine Curtis, who thoughtfully dropped me a note: “It was nice to meet alums from ’81s to ’11s and reconnect with ’81s— Carolyn Samiere and Cindy Greco—who I know live in the Bay Area but never see. We all went out for drinks and noshing after the show on a lovely summer night.” Charmaine is a residential real estate developer in San Francisco. She and her husband have twin daughters.
“No one got arrested. I got to tell my favorite dirty joke maybe 10 times. The barbecue was fantastic.” So tells Fraser Smith of the mini-reunion Chris “Spot” Morrison hosted in Indianapolis, Indiana, the day before the Indy 500. Peter Little wouldn’t have missed it. Jon Bassindale, Scott Markman and Tariq Zaman drove in from around the Midwest. And Dave Plough, who lives in California, flew in after attending an alumni/parent regatta in Hanover with his daughter, who is a sailor in the class of ’14. Dave gushed about the wonderful hospitality offered by Spot and his wife and daughter, and also writes that “if you—all Dartmouth folk, not just ’81s—are in the area this fall when Dartmouth will be playing at Butler, Spot and Peter would love for you to attend the Dartmouth tailgate.”
One guy who will definitely be there is Bob Higgins, whose son John ’14 is a running back. I contacted Bob after hearing that he was named chair of the department of surgery at Ohio State. After reading his amazingly impressive bio in the press release, I couldn’t help but be struck by the humility and gratitude expressed in Bob’s note, which he wrote while waiting for a heart transplant case to start. “In the face of terrible tragedy these folks—the organ donors and their grieving families—are the real heroes.” He wrote back later, “P.S.: Transplant went well, finished at 4 a.m. Ready to go for the day!”
A couple other key mentions: Deirdre Daly is now acting U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut. And Naomi Pollock, an architect and writer living in Japan, launched the inaugural Dartmouth/Keio speaker series with a talk on her widely acclaimed book, Made in Japan: 100 New Products. Cool book. Check it out.
—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
