Class Note 1984
Issue
When we first arrived at Dartmouth in 1980 we were thrilled about the possibilities…that is, until we saw our dorms. Banished to Siberia—Derek to the Choates and Jan to 44 College Street—we weren’t quite sure we were going to make it. However, we soon understood it would be the people, not the actual dorm, that would save us. So we dedicate this column to catching up with some of our past roommates.
Terry Ann Kremer Tatro—I lived with Terry Ann junior year, but met her on our freshman trip, cooking starchy food, paddling in the rain and laughing over our pathetic sleeping bags—hers, cotton, mine, synthetic with broken zipper. T.A. writes, “I moved about 15 years ago back to my hometown of Titusville, Florida, where I still work as a freelance book editor.” She adds, “I help perfect the college-level accounting textbook. Doesn’t that sound deadly?” Actually, freelancing helps give her time to be an active mom to boys Case (13), Evan (11) and Tyler (10). Also, “freelancing has given me time to attempt making a quilt out of the T-shirts my boys have gotten from their swim, tennis and soccer meets.” T.A. writes, “Bet they’d rather have something electronic!”
John Minier—John was my roommate senior year at Dartmouth. We shared a room at Alpha Chi. Any attempt to keep our room habitable failed miserably. Maybe it was the half-filled chew cups. Maybe it was Strat-o-matic baseball cards strewn about? This update from John who defends doctors in malpractice cases in Durham, North Carolina: “I coach my son Sam (11) in baseball and my son Jack (10) in football. Our football team doesn’t win often. Building character.” He adds, “Sam is blessed with smoothness that I did not have. Jack is more like me. I am only slightly neater than when I was your roommate. But my golf game is good. I shoot in the high 70s.”
Susan Schoenberger—Susan was one of my roommates in New Hamp. We roomed again after college in Litchfield, Connecticut, where she wrote for a local paper and I was a reporter/producer at a nearby radio station. We lived above a pizza parlor owned by a crazy Greek guy who made us sign a lease that prohibited having guests. Luckily, the demands of working in the media made us too tired to care. To this day Susan continues her successful writing career. She’s worked for the Hartford Courant and The Baltimore Sun and just recently left the dying newspaper business (her terminology) for fiction writing. She is currently working on her second novel. She resides in West Hartford, Connecticut, with husband Kevin and children Andrew (17), Jenna (14) and Claire (12). Happily, we both own our own homes and can invite over whomever we want!
Mark Lange—While technically more of a dormmate than roommate (we lived in closet singles in the Choates), Mark writes, “Rob Watson visited me in the Bay Area, where we ate the kind of meal we could only dream of as lightweight rowers a quarter-century ago.” He added that the entire freshman eight of the 1984 class—John Harris, Dave Shuler, Christopher Cross, Casper de Clercq, Rush Fisher, Rob Watson, Steve Hoxie, Joe Holland, Mark Lange and coxswain Keith Dickey—committed to return and race in October’s Head of the Charles this year, only to have their entry denied (we’re still unclear why, but believe intense anxiety among Harvard alums was a factor). “This came as a great relief because we got to talk smack without having to do any actual rowing.”
—Jan Gordon and Derek Chow, 132 Wildcat Lane, Boulder, CO 80304; (303) 448-1580; janandderek @comcast.net
Jan - Feb 2010
When we first arrived at Dartmouth in 1980 we were thrilled about the possibilities…that is, until we saw our dorms. Banished to Siberia—Derek to the Choates and Jan to 44 College Street—we weren’t quite sure we were going to make it. However, we soon understood it would be the people, not the actual dorm, that would save us. So we dedicate this column to catching up with some of our past roommates.
Terry Ann Kremer Tatro—I lived with Terry Ann junior year, but met her on our freshman trip, cooking starchy food, paddling in the rain and laughing over our pathetic sleeping bags—hers, cotton, mine, synthetic with broken zipper. T.A. writes, “I moved about 15 years ago back to my hometown of Titusville, Florida, where I still work as a freelance book editor.” She adds, “I help perfect the college-level accounting textbook. Doesn’t that sound deadly?” Actually, freelancing helps give her time to be an active mom to boys Case (13), Evan (11) and Tyler (10). Also, “freelancing has given me time to attempt making a quilt out of the T-shirts my boys have gotten from their swim, tennis and soccer meets.” T.A. writes, “Bet they’d rather have something electronic!”
John Minier—John was my roommate senior year at Dartmouth. We shared a room at Alpha Chi. Any attempt to keep our room habitable failed miserably. Maybe it was the half-filled chew cups. Maybe it was Strat-o-matic baseball cards strewn about? This update from John who defends doctors in malpractice cases in Durham, North Carolina: “I coach my son Sam (11) in baseball and my son Jack (10) in football. Our football team doesn’t win often. Building character.” He adds, “Sam is blessed with smoothness that I did not have. Jack is more like me. I am only slightly neater than when I was your roommate. But my golf game is good. I shoot in the high 70s.”
Susan Schoenberger—Susan was one of my roommates in New Hamp. We roomed again after college in Litchfield, Connecticut, where she wrote for a local paper and I was a reporter/producer at a nearby radio station. We lived above a pizza parlor owned by a crazy Greek guy who made us sign a lease that prohibited having guests. Luckily, the demands of working in the media made us too tired to care. To this day Susan continues her successful writing career. She’s worked for the Hartford Courant and The Baltimore Sun and just recently left the dying newspaper business (her terminology) for fiction writing. She is currently working on her second novel. She resides in West Hartford, Connecticut, with husband Kevin and children Andrew (17), Jenna (14) and Claire (12). Happily, we both own our own homes and can invite over whomever we want!
Mark Lange—While technically more of a dormmate than roommate (we lived in closet singles in the Choates), Mark writes, “Rob Watson visited me in the Bay Area, where we ate the kind of meal we could only dream of as lightweight rowers a quarter-century ago.” He added that the entire freshman eight of the 1984 class—John Harris, Dave Shuler, Christopher Cross, Casper de Clercq, Rush Fisher, Rob Watson, Steve Hoxie, Joe Holland, Mark Lange and coxswain Keith Dickey—committed to return and race in October’s Head of the Charles this year, only to have their entry denied (we’re still unclear why, but believe intense anxiety among Harvard alums was a factor). “This came as a great relief because we got to talk smack without having to do any actual rowing.”
—Jan Gordon and Derek Chow, 132 Wildcat Lane, Boulder, CO 80304; (303) 448-1580; janandderek @comcast.net