Class Note 1987
Issue
Jul - Aug 2016
Spring is the season for graduations and reunions. This time next year we will be celebrating: class of 1987 30th reunion June 15-18, 2017—save the date.
Betsy Wall Rutherford, Sharon Flanagan and Wendy Becker recently got together for a belated celebration of their 50th birthdays. Betsy shared: “Sharon lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters. She is consulting with a newly created firm of her own (Lone Pine Advisors LLC). Wendy is quite busy in London with her husband, two kids and work on several boards—both for profit and not for profit. It was fun hearing from her about the British education system. Wendy is a tri-country citizen (United States, United Kingdom and Italy)—and, as usual, involved everywhere she is! Wendy is also on the board of Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding; she was heading to Hanover for a meeting after seeing us. I am in Baltimore, working for Johns Hopkins Medicine as a fundraiser for the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. My kids are both in college, one in Hanover (graduating in June!) and the other is a freshman at Vassar. Being an empty-nester has not been as bad as I thought, but it is quiet.”
Vic Trautwein and Leslie Collins Trautwein live in a somewhat rural town in the Dominican Republic. “We raised our four kids down here, though three have left the nest at this point in time. Our oldest son and daughter are in college together in the San Francisco area. Our third is a high school junior studying in Germany. Our youngest, Chase, is still at home and turned 15 in December, which means a huge, almost wedding-like quinceañera. She drew and sewed her gown (clearly this mango fell far from the apple tree!).”
For the last 14 years Vic and Leslie have directed a group of orphanages and schools serving 1,800 impoverished kids for an organization called Kids Alive International. They need more child sponsors if anyone wants to help. You can sign up online at kidsalive.org (make sure to pick a kid in the Dominican Republic). “We love our work helping kids and have had the privilege of watching families break out of cyclical poverty and formerly disenfranchised youth become productive members of society. We are grateful for our language study abroad Granada experiences and especially Dartmouth friends who have encouraged, supported, prayed for and visited us over these years! It has been full of ups and downs, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Leslie also shared a little health news: “Right after our 25th I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Caroline Sobota pushed me to follow up on a mammogram I had put off for months. Thank you! (Get those routine checks done, girlfriends!) If anyone is walking through this journey, I would love to encourage you and walk alongside. As far as we know I am cancer-free.”
Like other ’87s who live “a bit off the beaten path,” Vic and Leslie were unable to attend one of the recent 87th day of the year mini-reunions but would be open to hosting an 87th night sometime in the future. Though they live in the mountains, with three peaks greater than 10,000 feet, they could probably venture away to a nice beach for a day or two if a group came down that way. Any takers?
Make a contribution to the Dartmouth Alumni Fund (dartmouth.edu/~alfund) by June 30 to help us meet our class goal.
—Lisa Pabich Damon, 2124 Ashwood Ave., Nashville, TN 37212; lisa.damon.87@alum.dartmouth.org; Allison Bleyler McDonald, 43 Hop Brook Road, Amherst, MA 01002; allisonmcd@gmail.com
Betsy Wall Rutherford, Sharon Flanagan and Wendy Becker recently got together for a belated celebration of their 50th birthdays. Betsy shared: “Sharon lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters. She is consulting with a newly created firm of her own (Lone Pine Advisors LLC). Wendy is quite busy in London with her husband, two kids and work on several boards—both for profit and not for profit. It was fun hearing from her about the British education system. Wendy is a tri-country citizen (United States, United Kingdom and Italy)—and, as usual, involved everywhere she is! Wendy is also on the board of Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding; she was heading to Hanover for a meeting after seeing us. I am in Baltimore, working for Johns Hopkins Medicine as a fundraiser for the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. My kids are both in college, one in Hanover (graduating in June!) and the other is a freshman at Vassar. Being an empty-nester has not been as bad as I thought, but it is quiet.”
Vic Trautwein and Leslie Collins Trautwein live in a somewhat rural town in the Dominican Republic. “We raised our four kids down here, though three have left the nest at this point in time. Our oldest son and daughter are in college together in the San Francisco area. Our third is a high school junior studying in Germany. Our youngest, Chase, is still at home and turned 15 in December, which means a huge, almost wedding-like quinceañera. She drew and sewed her gown (clearly this mango fell far from the apple tree!).”
For the last 14 years Vic and Leslie have directed a group of orphanages and schools serving 1,800 impoverished kids for an organization called Kids Alive International. They need more child sponsors if anyone wants to help. You can sign up online at kidsalive.org (make sure to pick a kid in the Dominican Republic). “We love our work helping kids and have had the privilege of watching families break out of cyclical poverty and formerly disenfranchised youth become productive members of society. We are grateful for our language study abroad Granada experiences and especially Dartmouth friends who have encouraged, supported, prayed for and visited us over these years! It has been full of ups and downs, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Leslie also shared a little health news: “Right after our 25th I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Caroline Sobota pushed me to follow up on a mammogram I had put off for months. Thank you! (Get those routine checks done, girlfriends!) If anyone is walking through this journey, I would love to encourage you and walk alongside. As far as we know I am cancer-free.”
Like other ’87s who live “a bit off the beaten path,” Vic and Leslie were unable to attend one of the recent 87th day of the year mini-reunions but would be open to hosting an 87th night sometime in the future. Though they live in the mountains, with three peaks greater than 10,000 feet, they could probably venture away to a nice beach for a day or two if a group came down that way. Any takers?
Make a contribution to the Dartmouth Alumni Fund (dartmouth.edu/~alfund) by June 30 to help us meet our class goal.
—Lisa Pabich Damon, 2124 Ashwood Ave., Nashville, TN 37212; lisa.damon.87@alum.dartmouth.org; Allison Bleyler McDonald, 43 Hop Brook Road, Amherst, MA 01002; allisonmcd@gmail.com