Class Note 1981
Issue
This is my hardest Class Notes to write. I’ve procrastinated much worse than usual, and the deadline is only a few hours away. Fortunately, however, I recently made it to Homecoming Weekend for the first time in several years. It was a great time, not least because I got to see so many ’81s. There were 39 of us there! I admit that I was tempted to go for a new record for most classmates mentioned in a 500-word Class Notes column by naming all 39. But that would not exactly make for interesting reading. So I’ll just mention a smattering of the immense turnout including those I hadn’t seen for a long time or just met for the first time. You see, I was actually a hermit till junior year, when I started hanging out with the likes of Tim Phillips. Seeing “Lips” is always a highlight of any event, and Homecoming was no exception. Then I met football guys like Joe McLaughlin and Terry Bonus. Susanne Strong was back on campus for first time since graduation. She recently moved back to her native New Hampshire and is teaching. I finally met Betsy Field and Su-Moon Paik, who came all the way from California. And then there was Claudia Sweeney Weed, who I learned is practically as green as the Gaudets! Both her kids have now graduated from Dartmouth, one married a classmate and Claudia and Jay ’80 are new homeowners in Hanover. Claudia is now the latest in a line of class of ’81 living saints for having volunteered to serve as treasurer for our 35th. I figure the least we can do for her in return is to save money on reunion expenses by all staying at the Weeds’ house. I also saw Kirk Wilson, who had an especially good time. He not only got to see his son Chad ’16, but got to gloat that we beat the school in New Haven that his wife, Annette, attended. And when he thought no one was looking, I think I witnessed Steve Risberg giving the secret HPF handshake to Rich Page and Lon Povich. A special shout-out goes to Pat Berry and Shelley Wieler for helping our mini-reunion tailgate come together so nicely with the ’79s and ’80s. While I’m at it, I should also thank Toby Reiley, who generously volunteered his much better half Sally to organize the mini-reunion at the Hahvard game. I had a virtual chat with a couple former Richardson buddies. I checked in on Tom Waldo after running into a hometown (Juneau) friend of his in Montana. Tom is still saving the Alaska wilderness, God bless him, and cross-country skiing as well. Tom’s two sons are already out of college and he’s now an empty nester—exactly like Jim Payne. Jim, also a lawyer, is now working for the U.S. Patent Office in Virginia. And this just in under the wire from Betsy Rubinstein: It’s a girl! Her first grandchild, Maya Adira. —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
Jan - Feb 2014
This is my hardest Class Notes to write. I’ve procrastinated much worse than usual, and the deadline is only a few hours away. Fortunately, however, I recently made it to Homecoming Weekend for the first time in several years. It was a great time, not least because I got to see so many ’81s. There were 39 of us there! I admit that I was tempted to go for a new record for most classmates mentioned in a 500-word Class Notes column by naming all 39. But that would not exactly make for interesting reading. So I’ll just mention a smattering of the immense turnout including those I hadn’t seen for a long time or just met for the first time. You see, I was actually a hermit till junior year, when I started hanging out with the likes of Tim Phillips. Seeing “Lips” is always a highlight of any event, and Homecoming was no exception. Then I met football guys like Joe McLaughlin and Terry Bonus. Susanne Strong was back on campus for first time since graduation. She recently moved back to her native New Hampshire and is teaching. I finally met Betsy Field and Su-Moon Paik, who came all the way from California. And then there was Claudia Sweeney Weed, who I learned is practically as green as the Gaudets! Both her kids have now graduated from Dartmouth, one married a classmate and Claudia and Jay ’80 are new homeowners in Hanover. Claudia is now the latest in a line of class of ’81 living saints for having volunteered to serve as treasurer for our 35th. I figure the least we can do for her in return is to save money on reunion expenses by all staying at the Weeds’ house. I also saw Kirk Wilson, who had an especially good time. He not only got to see his son Chad ’16, but got to gloat that we beat the school in New Haven that his wife, Annette, attended. And when he thought no one was looking, I think I witnessed Steve Risberg giving the secret HPF handshake to Rich Page and Lon Povich. A special shout-out goes to Pat Berry and Shelley Wieler for helping our mini-reunion tailgate come together so nicely with the ’79s and ’80s. While I’m at it, I should also thank Toby Reiley, who generously volunteered his much better half Sally to organize the mini-reunion at the Hahvard game. I had a virtual chat with a couple former Richardson buddies. I checked in on Tom Waldo after running into a hometown (Juneau) friend of his in Montana. Tom is still saving the Alaska wilderness, God bless him, and cross-country skiing as well. Tom’s two sons are already out of college and he’s now an empty nester—exactly like Jim Payne. Jim, also a lawyer, is now working for the U.S. Patent Office in Virginia. And this just in under the wire from Betsy Rubinstein: It’s a girl! Her first grandchild, Maya Adira. —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