Class Note 1981

Happy 2016! Since it is now officially 35 years since our graduation, it seems fitting to dedicate this column to college friendships.

Here is some news from some of my amazing One Occom Ridge housemates. From southern California, Anne Putney Swire shares happy tidings of her marriage to Astrid, with their children (two each) in attendance in a beautiful at-home ceremony ending with tango and an outdoor terrace dinner. Anne leads the advancement team at the botanic garden associated with the Claremont Colleges and keeps up her affiliations with several nonprofits dear to her heart. Searl “Lisa” Vetter reports that after 30 years of globetrotting, she and her husband have settled in Boulder, Colorado, where she hikes with her three-legged Aussie and leads a global network of leaders committed to a low-carbon future. Ellen Brout Lindsay moved back east to Amherst, Massachusetts, after 18 years in San Francisco. She and her husband have a daughter in sixth grade in Chinese and French immersion. Ellen is mostly retired and belongs to a few nonprofit boards. Chicago resident Jeannie Boutelle left the world of finance a few years ago to follow her passion for sustainable food and wine. She has several wine and spirit specialist certifications and enjoys writing. Lisa Robinson Spader lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She too has left a mainstream career to devote herself to empowering locals to make positive change in their communities. Lisa’s projects have included building a school in a rural village in India that had none, painting murals with AIDS orphans in Kenya, developing a chicken project in Guatemala to fund high school tuition for impoverished girls and providing relief to an Indian slum devastated by floods. Holly Burks Becker has been at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, for 30 years. Her field hockey fan travels with hubby Paul Becker have helped keep her connected to many old Dartmouth pals, including Ellen and Jeannie, Karen McKeel Calby, Robert “Barney” Oldfield, Annabelle Brainard Canning, Anne Hallager and Tom McGonagle, Bob VanWetter and Betsy Brew, Alain Moreaux, Pattie Marchand Bradley, Lizzie Eldridge and many others. Holly and Paul also enjoy infrequent but regular visits with Bob Smith and his family.

Suzie Sudikoff Weixel, Becky Nyren Shepherdson, Anne Minnich and Cathy Haley Rost met freshman fall in Lord Hall. Every year they gather for a long weekend to celebrate their friendship, along with partners in crime Lynne (Hamel) Gaudet and Barb Anderson. “It’s like no time has passed at all. We just talk and laugh,” says Cathy. Suzie is a writer and editor who tries to have at least one yearly life-affirming adventure, including a walking safari across Kenya and hiking the rim of the Grand Canyon. Suzie stays in touch with Dawn Decker Dowd and family. Becky and husband recently celebrated their Washington, D.C., empty nest with a trip to Europe, highlighted by a Czech Republic hike.

Please send us your news. Emil and I love and need to hear from you!

—Veronica Wessels, 224 Buena Vista Road, Rockcliffe, ON K1M0V7, Canada; (613) 748-6248; vcwessels@rogers.com; Emil Miskovsky, 77 Bates St., Suite 202, Lewiston, ME 04240; (802) 345-9861; emilmiskovsky@gmail.com