Class Note 1988
Issue
The pipeline has been dry (send news!) so I will fill in with updates on three classmates I had the pleasure of seeing recently. First, I met Jeanne Cochran for lunch and can assure you she is as smart and sporty as ever. She left private practice a few years ago for a more family-friendly legal career with the Minnesota attorney general’s office. She and her husband, Andy, have two kids and enjoy living in Stillwater, a great small town perched on the bluffs of the St. Croix River. Next, I enjoyed reconnecting with Mainz LSA buddy Paul Scheible at a wonderful Dartmouth club event. We listened to religion professor Susan Ackerman ’80 give background on the discovery and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls before touring an exhibit on the scrolls at the Minnesota Science Museum. Paul and his wife, Jennifer, and their two kids have settled in a groovy Minneapolis neighborhood after living in Fontainebleau, France, and Neuchatel, Switzerland. I was relieved to learn that his expatriate years included lots of time at a family home in Germany, thereby explaining why his German fluency is still outstanding, while mine is schlechtlich. Paul does project management for General Electric. Lastly, Meegan McCorkle made a stopover en route from her home in Papillion, Nebraska, to a family wedding in Michigan. (Meegan’s husband, Jeff, who has built a successful career in the Air Force, would join her later by plane.) It was wonderful to see her three beautiful kids in action, including the nearly 2-year-old Marin, who is keeping Meegan smiling and laughing, as always.
It is with deep sadness that I share the news that Anita Hum Wong died peacefully on June 15 in Boston after a long and spirited battle with breast cancer. Even as her health declined Anita remained resolute, calm and generous. Anita’s inspiring story is captured in the blog www. myheromyfriend.wordpress.com made by her dear friend Lori (Gontarz) Pajor. In February Lori and two of Anita’s high school friends organized a celebration that was just what Anita had hoped for—a joyous event that allowed her to reconnect with those whose lives she had touched most deeply. Anita and Lori were joined by Steph (Ascoli) Tallo, Mark Nowacki, Jessica Smith, Heidi (Stowell) Nichols and Sandy Broadus Chontos, Tracy Kloeckl-Jimenez ’87 and 44 others. In March Lori and Steph joined Anita and her family on a road trip to Hanover—Anita’s first since graduation. They checked in at the Hanover Inn, left notes for the current owners of their old HBs and then got down to business: EBA’s chicken sandwiches! Sandy wrote the following tribute to Anita: “In my mind I keep seeing her in and around Topliff, with a mischievous smile, dimples two inches deep and that dark curtain of thick black hair, wearing a Dartmouth sweatshirt and shorts (even when I thought it was too cold out for them). Thankfully, I have been so blessed to have reconnected with her over the past couple of years and to have been invited to share in her life over the past few months. Anita taught me a lot about faith and grace and humor, but mostly about how fleeting things are and about the important things that will last.”
Anita leaves behind her devoted husband, Lawrence, and their 12-year-old son, Justin. Friends and family have established a fund in Anita’s honor to defray some of Justin’s college expenses. Details for donating, a fuller obituary and photos are posted on the class site, www.dartmouth.org/classes/88. Justin hopes to attend his mother’s alma mater.
—Jane (Grussing) Lonnquist, 4510 Drexel Ave., Edina, MN 55424; jjlonnquist@earthlink.net
Sept - Oct 2010
The pipeline has been dry (send news!) so I will fill in with updates on three classmates I had the pleasure of seeing recently. First, I met Jeanne Cochran for lunch and can assure you she is as smart and sporty as ever. She left private practice a few years ago for a more family-friendly legal career with the Minnesota attorney general’s office. She and her husband, Andy, have two kids and enjoy living in Stillwater, a great small town perched on the bluffs of the St. Croix River. Next, I enjoyed reconnecting with Mainz LSA buddy Paul Scheible at a wonderful Dartmouth club event. We listened to religion professor Susan Ackerman ’80 give background on the discovery and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls before touring an exhibit on the scrolls at the Minnesota Science Museum. Paul and his wife, Jennifer, and their two kids have settled in a groovy Minneapolis neighborhood after living in Fontainebleau, France, and Neuchatel, Switzerland. I was relieved to learn that his expatriate years included lots of time at a family home in Germany, thereby explaining why his German fluency is still outstanding, while mine is schlechtlich. Paul does project management for General Electric. Lastly, Meegan McCorkle made a stopover en route from her home in Papillion, Nebraska, to a family wedding in Michigan. (Meegan’s husband, Jeff, who has built a successful career in the Air Force, would join her later by plane.) It was wonderful to see her three beautiful kids in action, including the nearly 2-year-old Marin, who is keeping Meegan smiling and laughing, as always.
It is with deep sadness that I share the news that Anita Hum Wong died peacefully on June 15 in Boston after a long and spirited battle with breast cancer. Even as her health declined Anita remained resolute, calm and generous. Anita’s inspiring story is captured in the blog www. myheromyfriend.wordpress.com made by her dear friend Lori (Gontarz) Pajor. In February Lori and two of Anita’s high school friends organized a celebration that was just what Anita had hoped for—a joyous event that allowed her to reconnect with those whose lives she had touched most deeply. Anita and Lori were joined by Steph (Ascoli) Tallo, Mark Nowacki, Jessica Smith, Heidi (Stowell) Nichols and Sandy Broadus Chontos, Tracy Kloeckl-Jimenez ’87 and 44 others. In March Lori and Steph joined Anita and her family on a road trip to Hanover—Anita’s first since graduation. They checked in at the Hanover Inn, left notes for the current owners of their old HBs and then got down to business: EBA’s chicken sandwiches! Sandy wrote the following tribute to Anita: “In my mind I keep seeing her in and around Topliff, with a mischievous smile, dimples two inches deep and that dark curtain of thick black hair, wearing a Dartmouth sweatshirt and shorts (even when I thought it was too cold out for them). Thankfully, I have been so blessed to have reconnected with her over the past couple of years and to have been invited to share in her life over the past few months. Anita taught me a lot about faith and grace and humor, but mostly about how fleeting things are and about the important things that will last.”
Anita leaves behind her devoted husband, Lawrence, and their 12-year-old son, Justin. Friends and family have established a fund in Anita’s honor to defray some of Justin’s college expenses. Details for donating, a fuller obituary and photos are posted on the class site, www.dartmouth.org/classes/88. Justin hopes to attend his mother’s alma mater.
—Jane (Grussing) Lonnquist, 4510 Drexel Ave., Edina, MN 55424; jjlonnquist@earthlink.net