Class Note 1989
Issue
March-April 2023
It’s the week before New Year’s and it definitely doesn’t feel like the holidays. I wish I were in the spirit and have tried—we made five gallons of my family’s eggnog recipe to give away to friends, but spirits were dampened by the death of my father and other challenges.
I know many other ’89s lost family members this year as well, and I share in your grief and sadness. I’m incredibly grateful for the outreach from classmates and especially our ’89 Cares group, which is ready to help out classmates in need.
Facebook instant messages continue to be a provider of content for my columns. I got a suspicious one from Dana Wakiji, and emailed her directly. Dana shared: “I lost both my stepmom and stepdad last year, plus my aunt and mother-in-law this year. It’s a tough thing being this age as we lose so many people. The good news is I am all right after dealing with breast cancer this year. They caught it early fortunately. I’m still looking for a full-time job. It’s kind of a Catch-22 since they want to fill sports jobs with young (read: cheaper) people and public relations and other communications jobs want you to have direct experience in those roles.” If you know, you know—Dana is an amazing sports writer whose career included covering the Detroit Red Wings, among other teams.
Speaking of hockey, Jeff Rosenthal emailed me “between periods of watching an Islanders game.” (I’d expect nothing less). “My wife, Jennifer, and I just became empty-nesters this fall. Both our kids turned their backs on Dartmouth with my daughter now a senior at Swarthmore and my son a freshman at Yale. Homecoming 2021 was my last shot to convince him to go green and yet, despite having an amazing time hanging out with a bunch of ’89s and seeing an exciting football overtime win over Yale, he decided a few weeks later to apply early to the losers of that game. I don’t see many ’89s that often (I always want to go to more of the N.Y.C. events) except Alex Simpson. We coached Little League baseball together for years and remain close. We bond nowadays over the fact that his kids also both decided not to go to Dartmouth (both of his are at Duke) and our never-ending heartbreak of being Mets fans.”
Did you know about our class of 1989 pollinator project, which since the spring of 2021 has planted more than 12,000 square feet of plants for pollinator species? There’s a great article in The Dartmouth that explains it more in detail here: www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/11/class-of-1989-pollination-project-….
Our class received an award during the fall Volunteer Officers Experience meeting for the pollinator project and its multiyear commitment to enriching the Dartmouth environment and community. Huge props to our class VP, David Hammond, and our service committee for all the energy they put into creating and spearheading this effort that is a lasting gift with not only an aesthetic but also an ecological benefit to the Dartmouth campus and surrounding Upper Valley.
Kathy Apruzzese Sherbrooke has written a new book, The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly, which is inspired by the true story of Kathy’s mother and her past as a model in 1940s Hollywood, with timelines from Los Angeles to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. It’s available this April.
Send me your news, updates, or even fake Facebook instant messages—it would be great to hear from you.
—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com
I know many other ’89s lost family members this year as well, and I share in your grief and sadness. I’m incredibly grateful for the outreach from classmates and especially our ’89 Cares group, which is ready to help out classmates in need.
Facebook instant messages continue to be a provider of content for my columns. I got a suspicious one from Dana Wakiji, and emailed her directly. Dana shared: “I lost both my stepmom and stepdad last year, plus my aunt and mother-in-law this year. It’s a tough thing being this age as we lose so many people. The good news is I am all right after dealing with breast cancer this year. They caught it early fortunately. I’m still looking for a full-time job. It’s kind of a Catch-22 since they want to fill sports jobs with young (read: cheaper) people and public relations and other communications jobs want you to have direct experience in those roles.” If you know, you know—Dana is an amazing sports writer whose career included covering the Detroit Red Wings, among other teams.
Speaking of hockey, Jeff Rosenthal emailed me “between periods of watching an Islanders game.” (I’d expect nothing less). “My wife, Jennifer, and I just became empty-nesters this fall. Both our kids turned their backs on Dartmouth with my daughter now a senior at Swarthmore and my son a freshman at Yale. Homecoming 2021 was my last shot to convince him to go green and yet, despite having an amazing time hanging out with a bunch of ’89s and seeing an exciting football overtime win over Yale, he decided a few weeks later to apply early to the losers of that game. I don’t see many ’89s that often (I always want to go to more of the N.Y.C. events) except Alex Simpson. We coached Little League baseball together for years and remain close. We bond nowadays over the fact that his kids also both decided not to go to Dartmouth (both of his are at Duke) and our never-ending heartbreak of being Mets fans.”
Did you know about our class of 1989 pollinator project, which since the spring of 2021 has planted more than 12,000 square feet of plants for pollinator species? There’s a great article in The Dartmouth that explains it more in detail here: www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/11/class-of-1989-pollination-project-….
Our class received an award during the fall Volunteer Officers Experience meeting for the pollinator project and its multiyear commitment to enriching the Dartmouth environment and community. Huge props to our class VP, David Hammond, and our service committee for all the energy they put into creating and spearheading this effort that is a lasting gift with not only an aesthetic but also an ecological benefit to the Dartmouth campus and surrounding Upper Valley.
Kathy Apruzzese Sherbrooke has written a new book, The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly, which is inspired by the true story of Kathy’s mother and her past as a model in 1940s Hollywood, with timelines from Los Angeles to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. It’s available this April.
Send me your news, updates, or even fake Facebook instant messages—it would be great to hear from you.
—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com