Class Note 1996
Issue
September-October 2022
As these notes are being written, the class of ’96 is mere days away from gathering in Hanover for our pandemic-delayed 25th reunion in July. I look forward to highlighting in our next column stories of great revelry, recollection, and togetherness as we gather in the hallowed place that calls us all home.
It is therefore with great sadness that I relay that one of our classmates will quite unexpectedly not be joining us for our return to Hanover—as I must report the untimely passing of Rusty Dalferes, whose family conveyed news of his passing on May 11 from natural causes after a short illness. Rusty, to so many who knew him, was a beacon of positivity, friendly spirit, and unbridled enthusiasm, particularly when it came to his love for international law and promotion of global harmony. After graduating from Dartmouth Rusty obtained his J.D. in international law from Tulane University Law School, and it was at Tulane where he first took up the mantle of working with the International Law Students Association (ILSA) and its annual Jessup Competition. Within a year he joined the board of directors of the Jessup and eventually began communicating with and coordinating hundreds of judges around the world. He truly espoused and promoted the Jessup motto, “In the future, world leaders will look upon each other differently, because we met here first, as friends.”
Brian Johnson, who like Rusty attended Tulane Law after our time in Hanover, quite eloquently eulogized someone who was a light to so many: “Rest easy, my friend. You blessed everyone you met with your friendship, intelligence, and spirit. You are gone too soon, but yours was a life well lived. Newman will miss your kicking, Dartmouth will miss your pong skills, Tulane Law will miss your enthusiasm. Your Goodreads reviews have been my go-to for years. Luckily you reviewed so many, I’ll never run out. I’m not sure if you came back to NOLA for Mardi Gras this year, but I hope you squeezed one last one in. Until we meet again.”
A well-deserved shout-out and congratulations to our own Ruth Morgan, who had a few good reasons herself to head back to Hanover recently. She joined several of our ’96 Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association (BADA) members for its 50th reunion this past Memorial Day Weekend. (Drew Brady, Evelyn Waters Brady ’95, Timmeko Love, and approximately 300 other BADA alums from various classes were also in attendance).
Just the week prior Ruth was also recognized as one of five recipients of Dartmouth’s Social Justice awards—honoring outstanding contributions to social justice, peace, civil rights, education, public health, and environmental justice. The awards were presented by Martin Luther King III in a ceremony at Spaulding Auditorium on May 23. Ruth was presented the Ongoing Commitment Award honoring an individual who has dedicated between 10 and 20 years to a chosen field. Ruth has dedicated her career as a family medicine physician to working with underserved communities, addressing health disparities, and helping educate future medical professionals. Ruth is the medical director of primary care at the integrated courtyard clinic for Project Homeless Engagement Addressing Limitations to Healthcare on the Haven for Hope campus in San Antonio, Texas. She also serves as core faculty and a site director for the community-based family medicine residency at the Texas Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research. She has advocated on local, state, and national levels for housing-first models, graduate medical education expansion for family and community medicine programs, increasing mental health resources, and expanding medical coverage for the underinsured.
—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org
It is therefore with great sadness that I relay that one of our classmates will quite unexpectedly not be joining us for our return to Hanover—as I must report the untimely passing of Rusty Dalferes, whose family conveyed news of his passing on May 11 from natural causes after a short illness. Rusty, to so many who knew him, was a beacon of positivity, friendly spirit, and unbridled enthusiasm, particularly when it came to his love for international law and promotion of global harmony. After graduating from Dartmouth Rusty obtained his J.D. in international law from Tulane University Law School, and it was at Tulane where he first took up the mantle of working with the International Law Students Association (ILSA) and its annual Jessup Competition. Within a year he joined the board of directors of the Jessup and eventually began communicating with and coordinating hundreds of judges around the world. He truly espoused and promoted the Jessup motto, “In the future, world leaders will look upon each other differently, because we met here first, as friends.”
Brian Johnson, who like Rusty attended Tulane Law after our time in Hanover, quite eloquently eulogized someone who was a light to so many: “Rest easy, my friend. You blessed everyone you met with your friendship, intelligence, and spirit. You are gone too soon, but yours was a life well lived. Newman will miss your kicking, Dartmouth will miss your pong skills, Tulane Law will miss your enthusiasm. Your Goodreads reviews have been my go-to for years. Luckily you reviewed so many, I’ll never run out. I’m not sure if you came back to NOLA for Mardi Gras this year, but I hope you squeezed one last one in. Until we meet again.”
A well-deserved shout-out and congratulations to our own Ruth Morgan, who had a few good reasons herself to head back to Hanover recently. She joined several of our ’96 Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association (BADA) members for its 50th reunion this past Memorial Day Weekend. (Drew Brady, Evelyn Waters Brady ’95, Timmeko Love, and approximately 300 other BADA alums from various classes were also in attendance).
Just the week prior Ruth was also recognized as one of five recipients of Dartmouth’s Social Justice awards—honoring outstanding contributions to social justice, peace, civil rights, education, public health, and environmental justice. The awards were presented by Martin Luther King III in a ceremony at Spaulding Auditorium on May 23. Ruth was presented the Ongoing Commitment Award honoring an individual who has dedicated between 10 and 20 years to a chosen field. Ruth has dedicated her career as a family medicine physician to working with underserved communities, addressing health disparities, and helping educate future medical professionals. Ruth is the medical director of primary care at the integrated courtyard clinic for Project Homeless Engagement Addressing Limitations to Healthcare on the Haven for Hope campus in San Antonio, Texas. She also serves as core faculty and a site director for the community-based family medicine residency at the Texas Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research. She has advocated on local, state, and national levels for housing-first models, graduate medical education expansion for family and community medicine programs, increasing mental health resources, and expanding medical coverage for the underinsured.
—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org