Class Note 1988

Jul - Aug 2014

Our class is known for trying new things. We hosted an online March Madness pool, which was quite popular, with prizes donated by Pauline (Garris) Brown (a LVMH gift basket), Lindsay Held and Jeff Carton (a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue) and Al Samuels (tickets to 50 Shades! The Musical). The first-, second- and third-place finishers were, in order, Jonathan Risch, John Replogle and Andy Lerner; Bev (Hagerdon) Thakur won the drawing for a Dick’s Sporting Goods gift card.  

Jennifer (Taylor) Hendrick also sponsored a virtual mini-reunion on March 29 (the 88th day of the year), asking classmates to post photos of themselves from that day on our Facebook group. In addition to Jennifer, ’88s who posted photos included Tim Ambrose, Sandy (Broadus) Chontos, Ruth Cserr, Lisa Ellis, Mary (Flounders) Green, Mark Kelsey, Nicole Sakowitz, Jim Shields and Bob Striker. Bonus points go to Dan Estabrook, who posted a photo from Dave Goran’s wedding, which took place that day. Congratulations, Dave. Based on Dan’s photo, ’88s in attendance included Dan, Scott Bertetti, Ron Grant, Walter Mutter, Nicolas Nobili and Russell Stevens.  

I am just back from a driving trip on the West Coast with my family. During my trip I spent a weekend with Gail (Davis) McCallister, her husband, Tom ’87, and their amazing kids Maggie (17), Brady (15), Katie (11) and Riley (9). One highlight of the weekend was watching Gail, her kids and my son Jackson (10) play basketball. (Let’s just say that some players were less thrilled than others to have Gail on their team.) 

I received the following update from Jennifer Arlin, who is married to Sam Braverman: “Sam and I are both on the board of the Dartmouth Lawyers Association (DLA) and we attended the 2014 annual meeting in Alyeska, Alaska, in March. I was appointed chair of the newly formed women in the law committee of the DLA. Hoping to make some progress in empowering women in the law, whether in school, workforce, home or re-entering the workforce. Sam and I practice criminal defense law together (with him going to court and managing the practice and me working mostly from home on writing projects). Our main office is in downtown Manhattan. Our oldest daughter, Sarah, is finishing her first year at Mount Holyoke and has not yet declared a major. Our second daughter, Rebecca, is a junior in high school and studies classical voice at the Manhattan School of Music on weekends; she is currently college shopping. And our son Robert, known as Bobby, is a freshman in high school. He enjoys playing the guitar and the piano and eating us out of house and home.” 

Finally, congratulations to Al Samuels, writer, director and producer of 50 Shades! The Musical. The show, which opened off-Broadway in N.Y.C. on March 12, has received a number of favorable reviews, including from the New York Post, New York Daily News and Variety, and has been named a “Critics’ Pick” by The New York Times. Several ’88s, including Lisa Ellis, Margie (Wallace) Gibson, Beth Hoffmann and Adam Rabiner, attended the show on March 11. It was great to see some faces we hadn’t seen recently— including Steve Cook (who was in town, with his wife, Wendi, from Tacoma, Washington), Rachel Dratch, Kevin Griffin, Chris Kelly, Brett McDonald and John Osborn—the next night for opening night. 