Class Note 1991
Issue
July-August 2023
Greetings, ’91s!
I’m sitting here making plans for our upcoming mini-reunion. Even though I live close to Dartmouth, I get excited every time I make the trek to campus. It’s high on my list of happy places.
Daniel Bryant loves it too. He writes, “I recently caught up with Joe Ueberroth, who continues to live and love southern California; grabbed dinner with Greg Portland, who remains one of the foremost orthopedic surgeons in Chicago; and saw Tom Gladden, who recently cofounded a new private equity fund and is doing great. I also saw Robin Reynolds, who bopped out from the Bay Area to see her daughter at University of Chicago and found time join us at a fun dinner with Stephanie Sokolic, among others. A few weeks ago I hung out with classmates Steve Fried, Astrid Womble, and Hoyoung Huh at a Palm Beach [Florida] Dartmouth dinner celebrating President Hanlon’s accomplishments and legacy. It was great to catch up and realize that Dartmouth is still a really special place to all of us 30 years later!” I couldn’t agree more, Woody.
Ross Mandell graciously provided me with an update (after I pestered him). He reports that he has combined his passion for technology and sports in the twilight of his career, working for ncsasports.org (part of IMG Academy and Endeavor). “It took me decades to find the perfect fit but working at Next College Student Athlete has been so rewarding as I get to help families empower their student-athletes to create a plan to reach their peak potential and find the right college experience, including playing their sport.” If you want help in this space, reach out to Ross at rmandell@ncsasports.org.
Finally, I have some sad news to share as I learned that we lost classmate Samuel Dixon on January 2, 2022. Arthur Conner provided these poignant thoughts, “I like to think somewhere in the multiverse there is a place that ‘gets’ Sam. He was such a bag of talents and quirks, of deep literary knowledge mixed with odd executive functioning, a lover of the world who was terribly shy at meeting it. Sam, of course, would be able to tell me the five best novels and three Star Trek episodes that dealt with multiple worlds, which is why in part this haunts me. There is a gap in this world. As someone who is goofy half the time, I appreciated how Sam laughed at some of my ideas—or maybe I just loved the laugh that seemed to cut off all his oxygen. Somehow, even after 20 years, I had hoped we would all meet again, that he could have been the wise uncle to our children and explained to them why William Faulkner was the best American author. But for right now I am missing one of the great American souls.”
Thank you for the beautiful words, Arthur, and everyone please keep the class news coming.
—Tracey Cushing Gilliam, P.O. Box 131, Manchester, VT 05254; (917) 951-1472; tragilliam1@gmail.com
I’m sitting here making plans for our upcoming mini-reunion. Even though I live close to Dartmouth, I get excited every time I make the trek to campus. It’s high on my list of happy places.
Daniel Bryant loves it too. He writes, “I recently caught up with Joe Ueberroth, who continues to live and love southern California; grabbed dinner with Greg Portland, who remains one of the foremost orthopedic surgeons in Chicago; and saw Tom Gladden, who recently cofounded a new private equity fund and is doing great. I also saw Robin Reynolds, who bopped out from the Bay Area to see her daughter at University of Chicago and found time join us at a fun dinner with Stephanie Sokolic, among others. A few weeks ago I hung out with classmates Steve Fried, Astrid Womble, and Hoyoung Huh at a Palm Beach [Florida] Dartmouth dinner celebrating President Hanlon’s accomplishments and legacy. It was great to catch up and realize that Dartmouth is still a really special place to all of us 30 years later!” I couldn’t agree more, Woody.
Ross Mandell graciously provided me with an update (after I pestered him). He reports that he has combined his passion for technology and sports in the twilight of his career, working for ncsasports.org (part of IMG Academy and Endeavor). “It took me decades to find the perfect fit but working at Next College Student Athlete has been so rewarding as I get to help families empower their student-athletes to create a plan to reach their peak potential and find the right college experience, including playing their sport.” If you want help in this space, reach out to Ross at rmandell@ncsasports.org.
Finally, I have some sad news to share as I learned that we lost classmate Samuel Dixon on January 2, 2022. Arthur Conner provided these poignant thoughts, “I like to think somewhere in the multiverse there is a place that ‘gets’ Sam. He was such a bag of talents and quirks, of deep literary knowledge mixed with odd executive functioning, a lover of the world who was terribly shy at meeting it. Sam, of course, would be able to tell me the five best novels and three Star Trek episodes that dealt with multiple worlds, which is why in part this haunts me. There is a gap in this world. As someone who is goofy half the time, I appreciated how Sam laughed at some of my ideas—or maybe I just loved the laugh that seemed to cut off all his oxygen. Somehow, even after 20 years, I had hoped we would all meet again, that he could have been the wise uncle to our children and explained to them why William Faulkner was the best American author. But for right now I am missing one of the great American souls.”
Thank you for the beautiful words, Arthur, and everyone please keep the class news coming.
—Tracey Cushing Gilliam, P.O. Box 131, Manchester, VT 05254; (917) 951-1472; tragilliam1@gmail.com