Class Note 1987
Issue
Nov - Dec 2016
I’m excited to explore new themes for upcoming class notes columns. The deadline for this issue occurred the same week the National Park Service celebrated its 100-year anniversary. I enjoyed hearing about the parks and festivities in the news. The parks have been a travel destination for my family recently and we spent time this summer hiking and biking at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I’m looking for news from anyone who traveled to one or more of the parks this year and has a favorite to recommend. Also, news from our 50th birthday celebrations garnered a positive response and as a follow up I’m looking for experiences and ideas of how you are planning for your “next chapter”—would love to share your dreams and plans.
Karen Boyle responded to a recent request for news about these themes: “After 28 years in education I have four more years to go before I retire. My husband, Rick, also does, and we plan to travel the United States when we retire. We visited Greece and Hawaii in the past two years—Volcano National Park was spectacular, as was the rest of the big island. My oldest daughter just got her first teaching position at our local elementary school teaching second grade. My younger daughter is playing softball at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she is starting her junior year. If you happen to see them on ESPN, she is No. 14!”
Bob Gans admits to being guilty of rarely contributing news for this class notes column but the theme of “travel to national parks” caught his attention: “In late August my wife, Melissa, and I will drop off our youngest child at college, officially making us empty-nesters. In early September, to deal with the trauma, I will begin hiking the John Muir Trail, which begins in the Yosemite Valley and officially ends at the summit of Mount Whitney, about 220 miles away. It is part of the Pacific Coast Trail and the longest wilderness trail in the United States that does not cross a road. If all goes well I will finish up in three weeks. If not….”
Petra Schaefer also shared some thoughts and photos from a visit this year to Yosemite: “There is a week or so in February when the sunset hits the water on Horsetail Falls and it looks like a fiery waterfall (not to be confused with the dumping of burning branches off another point, a practice Yosemite stopped years ago). The New York Times ran a piece about this and I was heading up there with a friend and got a great picture. Not a bonfire on the Green but spectacular nonetheless. I am working for a family business that is located in central Massachusetts but I am living in California until my youngest finishes high school—four more years. I have been seeing more of Susan (Barto) Emery because her husband is working in the Palm Springs area, so she is on this coast more often. Very nice to keep in touch.” After these two endorsements of Yosemite, I definitely have this on my bucket list.
Class of 1987 30th reunion June 15-18, 2017—this is a great time to update your contact information to be sure that you receive reunion information. Visit dartgo.org/update to log in to the online system.
—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
Karen Boyle responded to a recent request for news about these themes: “After 28 years in education I have four more years to go before I retire. My husband, Rick, also does, and we plan to travel the United States when we retire. We visited Greece and Hawaii in the past two years—Volcano National Park was spectacular, as was the rest of the big island. My oldest daughter just got her first teaching position at our local elementary school teaching second grade. My younger daughter is playing softball at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she is starting her junior year. If you happen to see them on ESPN, she is No. 14!”
Bob Gans admits to being guilty of rarely contributing news for this class notes column but the theme of “travel to national parks” caught his attention: “In late August my wife, Melissa, and I will drop off our youngest child at college, officially making us empty-nesters. In early September, to deal with the trauma, I will begin hiking the John Muir Trail, which begins in the Yosemite Valley and officially ends at the summit of Mount Whitney, about 220 miles away. It is part of the Pacific Coast Trail and the longest wilderness trail in the United States that does not cross a road. If all goes well I will finish up in three weeks. If not….”
Petra Schaefer also shared some thoughts and photos from a visit this year to Yosemite: “There is a week or so in February when the sunset hits the water on Horsetail Falls and it looks like a fiery waterfall (not to be confused with the dumping of burning branches off another point, a practice Yosemite stopped years ago). The New York Times ran a piece about this and I was heading up there with a friend and got a great picture. Not a bonfire on the Green but spectacular nonetheless. I am working for a family business that is located in central Massachusetts but I am living in California until my youngest finishes high school—four more years. I have been seeing more of Susan (Barto) Emery because her husband is working in the Palm Springs area, so she is on this coast more often. Very nice to keep in touch.” After these two endorsements of Yosemite, I definitely have this on my bucket list.
Class of 1987 30th reunion June 15-18, 2017—this is a great time to update your contact information to be sure that you receive reunion information. Visit dartgo.org/update to log in to the online system.
—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