Way back in the day, we were wide-eyed, pea-green freshmen in the winter of ’78 when we experienced what seemed to be an idyllic winter weather pattern. The glory of the season was experienced in skiing, ice-skating on Occom Pond, ice sculpture building, and an exceptional Winter Carnival. Sue Reed asked for stories and many of you shared. Just after the great blizzard of ’78, classes were cancelled for the first time in a century. Elliott Davis was a part of a group of ingenious snowdrift divers from second- and third-story windows in Wheeler, “lots of fun until someone hit a bike rack.” Christine Blaski recalled “jumping off Thel.” Veronica Wessels “slid down from my second-floor window in Butterfield. That snow was an incredible experience for a girl from Argentina!” Michael Holmes remembered “seeing human bodies falling from the sky. I later learned they were jumping from the roof of the Choates into the drifts, they were that deep!” One of those flying bodies was Lynn Noel, who also excelled in canoe sledding on the golf course. Geoff Hatheway and Mark Matuschak cruised to a victory of sorts in the downhill canoe race, “securing the venerated six pack of Billy Beer.” Others made the very best of it. Molly Sundberg Van Metre “managed to dig out of the River Cluster and be on the first bus to the Skiway! (P.S. I was on that bus more than I went to class that term. Oops!)” There was a raucous food fight in line four but Tracy Bennett “is not naming names.”

Not everyone was overjoyed. Byron Boston recalls good naturedly the brisk walk from the Choates to Thayer after the blizzard only to find out his boots were not waterproof, his clothes ineffectual, and classes were cancelled. Robert Butler realized a bonus since he had a sleepless night working on a paper due at 8 a.m., only to get a further extension and a much-needed nap. Vaughn Halyard recalled feeling isolated in the Choates, described as a “festive winter apocalypse…we burned furniture to stay warm while Marvin Smith blasted Weather Report’s ‘Birdland’ from his stereo.” Steve Pignatiello recalls “classes were cancelled, but not labs…and I had a lab that day!”

While the snow amounts and quality of outdoor opportunities are similar this year, the ability to congregate and comingle has been dampened by omnipresent pandemic concerns. Recently retired Robert Gaudet took advantage of his lakeside proximity to skate and pass pucks with his bubble mates and restart skiing in New Hampshire. In terms of mingling, our class has taken to the 8-One network enthusiastically. All of these are recorded on the class Facebook page, the most recent events were a discussion with Annette Gordon-Reed about her new book, On Juneteenth, and Gail Chen, Jeff Kemp, and Rick Silverman regarding “Nurture your mind, body, and soul.” This will continue to be a fertile source of engagement, so stay tuned and try it out!

—Emil Miskovsky, P.O. Box 2162, North Conway, NH 03860 emilmiskovsky@gmail.com; Ann Jacobus Kordahl, 2434 Leavenworth St., San Francisco, CA 94133; ajkordahl@gmail.com