Class Note 1988
Issue
Sept - Oct 2015
Dartmouth is renovating Memorial Field, which includes refurbishing the granite slab in the stadium honoring alumni who died in World War I. A second granite slab adding the names of all other alums who died in later wars will be installed, and other war memorials from around campus will be relocated there. Thankfully, we have lost no classmates to war, meaning no ’88s will be listed. To honor the service of the ’88s who have served, we will use the next two alumni magazine columns to provide updates about them. We have heard from David “Duck” Duckenfield, Mike Freidberg, Oliver Jenkins, Cynthia Marshall, Trent Pansze, John Sinnott, Tim Stretch and Rowland Wu. Their updates are included here or, because of the word limit, in the next column. We also know that Nate Denny, John Dill and Ted Waters served, and believe that Sean Black did too. Anyone else? Please let us know. We want to honor everyone.
After shutting down at Dartmouth during the Vietnam War, ROTC came back to campus in 1986 and Duck (along with Nate Denny and John Dill) was in the first class to graduate after the hiatus. “The day before graduation I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps. I went on to serve in the D.C. National Guard for four years before entering the U.S. Foreign Service. I served during the first Gulf War, but my unit was the only one in the D.C. Guard that wasn’t deployed (although I was called up).” After several years in Miami, where Duck was a partner in Balsera Communications Group, he currently serves as deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of communications for the U.S. Department of State.
Mike Freidberg entered the Navy Reserve in 1993, looking for a way to remain in public service after leaving government employ to join an information technology startup. “Although the first decade was quiet the Navy has had great impact on my life since 9/11. In 2002 I was mobilized for a year to work in counterterrorism analysis in Washington, D.C. I then spent several years preparing sailors to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012 I was mobilized again, spending 10 months in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, gaining firsthand experience in counterinsurgency as chief staff officer of a special operations task force, southeast. Now, as a drilling reservist, I’m overseeing weekend intelligence production and preparing sailors for their turns to go downrange. It’s been a privilege to do my part and a tremendous learning experience—something I’ve used as a civilian for the past 10 years, consulting to federal agencies around the Beltway. But it’s been hard to be away from my boys so often for so long, which makes me deeply appreciate my active-duty counterparts for the multiple deployments they and their families sustain.”
After 20 years in the Marine Corps Oliver Jenkins retired in 2009 and moved back to Shreveport, Louisiana. “I work for an oil and gas company, Phillips Energy Partners. My wife, Anne, and I have two children, Arthur (10) and Frances (5). In my spare time I serve on the Shreveport city council. We have all settled in comfortably to civilian life, although we do miss the adventure of living overseas.”
Trent Pansze served as a Navy doctor at Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton from 2001 to 2004. Since then he’s been working as a pathologist in Durango, Colorado. “We—my wife, Gisele Laffaye Pansze, and kids Martina (19), a sophomore at Whitman College, Derek (17), a high school senior, and Grace (15), a high school sophomore—enjoy all the outdoor activities here.”
—Jere Mancini, 34 Wearimus Road, HoHoKus, NJ 07423; d88correspondent@gmail.com
After shutting down at Dartmouth during the Vietnam War, ROTC came back to campus in 1986 and Duck (along with Nate Denny and John Dill) was in the first class to graduate after the hiatus. “The day before graduation I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps. I went on to serve in the D.C. National Guard for four years before entering the U.S. Foreign Service. I served during the first Gulf War, but my unit was the only one in the D.C. Guard that wasn’t deployed (although I was called up).” After several years in Miami, where Duck was a partner in Balsera Communications Group, he currently serves as deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of communications for the U.S. Department of State.
Mike Freidberg entered the Navy Reserve in 1993, looking for a way to remain in public service after leaving government employ to join an information technology startup. “Although the first decade was quiet the Navy has had great impact on my life since 9/11. In 2002 I was mobilized for a year to work in counterterrorism analysis in Washington, D.C. I then spent several years preparing sailors to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012 I was mobilized again, spending 10 months in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, gaining firsthand experience in counterinsurgency as chief staff officer of a special operations task force, southeast. Now, as a drilling reservist, I’m overseeing weekend intelligence production and preparing sailors for their turns to go downrange. It’s been a privilege to do my part and a tremendous learning experience—something I’ve used as a civilian for the past 10 years, consulting to federal agencies around the Beltway. But it’s been hard to be away from my boys so often for so long, which makes me deeply appreciate my active-duty counterparts for the multiple deployments they and their families sustain.”
After 20 years in the Marine Corps Oliver Jenkins retired in 2009 and moved back to Shreveport, Louisiana. “I work for an oil and gas company, Phillips Energy Partners. My wife, Anne, and I have two children, Arthur (10) and Frances (5). In my spare time I serve on the Shreveport city council. We have all settled in comfortably to civilian life, although we do miss the adventure of living overseas.”
Trent Pansze served as a Navy doctor at Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton from 2001 to 2004. Since then he’s been working as a pathologist in Durango, Colorado. “We—my wife, Gisele Laffaye Pansze, and kids Martina (19), a sophomore at Whitman College, Derek (17), a high school senior, and Grace (15), a high school sophomore—enjoy all the outdoor activities here.”
—Jere Mancini, 34 Wearimus Road, HoHoKus, NJ 07423; d88correspondent@gmail.com