Class Note 1988
Issue
September-October 2021
Greetings, ’88s!
It is a hot summer day here as I write this column, and, while I try to think cooling thoughts, my mind wanders back to Sophomore Summer, with its shady walks and canoeing on the river. What memories do you savor from Sophomore Summer? Please feel free to share those memories with me, and I will include your responses in an upcoming column.
I now continue what I started in my last column, with updates from several classmates living abroad.
First is Cristian Tahta, who reports in from Argentina. He tells me he and his family have fared well during the pandemic, despite a very long quarantine. He was deemed an essential worker and thus never stopped working, though he described feeling at times he was on an apocalyptic movie set with just a handful of cars on the road at rush hour. Cristian stays in touch with rugby team members, among others from Dartmouth, and has kept busy renovating his house on the weekends.
From Bermuda, Stephen Davidson also shared a report of life during the pandemic, which he said allowed him more time with his teenaged children and prompted him finally to learn to play the guitar he had bought many years ago in Hanover. Stephen’s sense of cabin fever while working from home for more than a year felt perhaps more acute given that he lives on an island that had little of the normal buzz of business and tourist travel. But he has been keeping in touch virtually with many classmates, crediting Sam Braverman with organizing a number of video calls and noting he also had caught up with Mustafa Vahanvaty after many years.
Simon Cordery checked in from the United Kingdom, where he experienced the “unscripted madness” of the pandemic lockdown as well as the great creativity it generated. Simon has been keeping busy professionally in the renewable energy business, as he is helping build an international network of solar-charging infrastructure. He also serves as a trustee of the United Kingdom’s first low-carbon community energy charity, Pure Leapfrog. The pandemic prompted Simon, like Stephen, to gather by video conference with classmates, specifically his first year dormmates from North Hall, including Tim Ambrose, Chris Bunker, Chris Lien, Bill Pike, and John Rajala. He said they enjoyed a lot of laughs as well as remembrances of friends who were absent and lost too soon.
Finally, I want to be sure you all know that our class elected Luzi (Johnson) Robinson as our next Alumni Council representative. She will serve a three-year term starting this summer. Luzi lives in Maryland, where she works as a lawyer on compliance matters. As many of you know, she was involved at Dartmouth in many activities and groups, including Delta Sigma Theta, Casque & Gauntlet, and the women’s swim team. And a big thank you to Mary (Flounders) Green, whom Luzi succeeds and who has been a wonderful representative of our class on the council.
—Tory Woodin Chavey, 128 Steele Road, West Hartford, CT 06119; dartmouth88classnotes@gmail.com
It is a hot summer day here as I write this column, and, while I try to think cooling thoughts, my mind wanders back to Sophomore Summer, with its shady walks and canoeing on the river. What memories do you savor from Sophomore Summer? Please feel free to share those memories with me, and I will include your responses in an upcoming column.
I now continue what I started in my last column, with updates from several classmates living abroad.
First is Cristian Tahta, who reports in from Argentina. He tells me he and his family have fared well during the pandemic, despite a very long quarantine. He was deemed an essential worker and thus never stopped working, though he described feeling at times he was on an apocalyptic movie set with just a handful of cars on the road at rush hour. Cristian stays in touch with rugby team members, among others from Dartmouth, and has kept busy renovating his house on the weekends.
From Bermuda, Stephen Davidson also shared a report of life during the pandemic, which he said allowed him more time with his teenaged children and prompted him finally to learn to play the guitar he had bought many years ago in Hanover. Stephen’s sense of cabin fever while working from home for more than a year felt perhaps more acute given that he lives on an island that had little of the normal buzz of business and tourist travel. But he has been keeping in touch virtually with many classmates, crediting Sam Braverman with organizing a number of video calls and noting he also had caught up with Mustafa Vahanvaty after many years.
Simon Cordery checked in from the United Kingdom, where he experienced the “unscripted madness” of the pandemic lockdown as well as the great creativity it generated. Simon has been keeping busy professionally in the renewable energy business, as he is helping build an international network of solar-charging infrastructure. He also serves as a trustee of the United Kingdom’s first low-carbon community energy charity, Pure Leapfrog. The pandemic prompted Simon, like Stephen, to gather by video conference with classmates, specifically his first year dormmates from North Hall, including Tim Ambrose, Chris Bunker, Chris Lien, Bill Pike, and John Rajala. He said they enjoyed a lot of laughs as well as remembrances of friends who were absent and lost too soon.
Finally, I want to be sure you all know that our class elected Luzi (Johnson) Robinson as our next Alumni Council representative. She will serve a three-year term starting this summer. Luzi lives in Maryland, where she works as a lawyer on compliance matters. As many of you know, she was involved at Dartmouth in many activities and groups, including Delta Sigma Theta, Casque & Gauntlet, and the women’s swim team. And a big thank you to Mary (Flounders) Green, whom Luzi succeeds and who has been a wonderful representative of our class on the council.
—Tory Woodin Chavey, 128 Steele Road, West Hartford, CT 06119; dartmouth88classnotes@gmail.com