Class Note 1982
Issue
Nov - Dec 2015
I just learned that three more classmates are leaving the United States to live abroad. That makes 42 total! After 29 years as a foreign service officer, Mark Davidson is retiring and moving with his family to Japan to take a private sector job in public and government relations. Mark completed four tours of duty over the years at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo and writes that he is “delighted to return to the city with more Michelin stars than any other on Earth.” Mark previously lived in Pakistan, Paraguay, Venezuela and Spain.
Sarah Riddle Lilja has begun her own one-year foreign study program. Her husband is taking a sabbatical from the University of Minnesota and visiting nine different universities abroad to talk about his research, learn about their programs and teach. New Zealand and Australia are the first stops—then on to Europe with stays in Belgium and Sweden. Sarah promises to blog about her adventures and post pictures to our class Facebook page.
And Los Angeles will now have one more parking space when herr professor doktor Joseph Reinkemeyer returns to Deutschland to teach screenwriting at the international film school at Cologne University of Applied Sciences. His appointment is for three years. Alles gute, mein freund! I lived in Cologne for two years after Dartmouth.
In June I was in San Francisco and helped organize an ’82 gathering at Arguello’s in the Presidio. Susan Burkhardt, Jon Root, Tony Zanze, Mark Cormier, Bill Prescott, Leslie Fleming, Gabe Kind, Karen Masterson Dienst and I had a wonderful time catching up. It turns out that Mark got married in the Presidio, Bill lived there for three years while his dad was in the Army and Tony’s real estate office is located there.
One of the great joys of being a class secretary is helping classmates reconnect with each other. I am pleased to report that 140 classmates participated in our virtual reunion back in March on the 82nd day of the year. And preparing our annual class officer report, Robin and I confirmed that we mentioned 65 different classmates in our columns this past year—of which 24 had not been included in at least a decade. That’s a challenge with only 500 words!
I conclude my column by reporting that I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Ed Gerson, who is the class secretary of the great class of 1935. Ed lives in Laguna Woods, California, and I had lunch with him in June. He turned 101 in July. Ed has an amazing life story, which was featured earlier this year in a Wall Street Journal article written by Victoria McGrane ’02. It was such fun hearing about Dartmouth in the 1930s. There are only three members of his class still alive. Ed does a wonderful job keeping in touch with them. In fact, I encourage you to read his column after you finish this one. Here’s to you, Ed!
—David Eichman, 9004 Wonderland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; dme4law@sbcglobal.net; Robin Shaffert, 5044 Macomb St., NW, Washington, DC 20016; robinshaffert@yahoo.com
Sarah Riddle Lilja has begun her own one-year foreign study program. Her husband is taking a sabbatical from the University of Minnesota and visiting nine different universities abroad to talk about his research, learn about their programs and teach. New Zealand and Australia are the first stops—then on to Europe with stays in Belgium and Sweden. Sarah promises to blog about her adventures and post pictures to our class Facebook page.
And Los Angeles will now have one more parking space when herr professor doktor Joseph Reinkemeyer returns to Deutschland to teach screenwriting at the international film school at Cologne University of Applied Sciences. His appointment is for three years. Alles gute, mein freund! I lived in Cologne for two years after Dartmouth.
In June I was in San Francisco and helped organize an ’82 gathering at Arguello’s in the Presidio. Susan Burkhardt, Jon Root, Tony Zanze, Mark Cormier, Bill Prescott, Leslie Fleming, Gabe Kind, Karen Masterson Dienst and I had a wonderful time catching up. It turns out that Mark got married in the Presidio, Bill lived there for three years while his dad was in the Army and Tony’s real estate office is located there.
One of the great joys of being a class secretary is helping classmates reconnect with each other. I am pleased to report that 140 classmates participated in our virtual reunion back in March on the 82nd day of the year. And preparing our annual class officer report, Robin and I confirmed that we mentioned 65 different classmates in our columns this past year—of which 24 had not been included in at least a decade. That’s a challenge with only 500 words!
I conclude my column by reporting that I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Ed Gerson, who is the class secretary of the great class of 1935. Ed lives in Laguna Woods, California, and I had lunch with him in June. He turned 101 in July. Ed has an amazing life story, which was featured earlier this year in a Wall Street Journal article written by Victoria McGrane ’02. It was such fun hearing about Dartmouth in the 1930s. There are only three members of his class still alive. Ed does a wonderful job keeping in touch with them. In fact, I encourage you to read his column after you finish this one. Here’s to you, Ed!
—David Eichman, 9004 Wonderland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; dme4law@sbcglobal.net; Robin Shaffert, 5044 Macomb St., NW, Washington, DC 20016; robinshaffert@yahoo.com