Class Note 1996
Greetings, fellow ’96s. Hope you are well. At the time of this writing Egypt and Lybia are on CNN daily, Charlie Sheen is on a quest and there were really no surprises at the Academy Awards. Hope you’re ready for a wonderful spring.
Reunion was just this past summer and I regret that I did not get up to Hanover for the occasion, but the pictures are fantastic. Hats off to Lanea Eschmeyer Trip and her team for excellent coordination of a terrific event. Bravo!
Allen King,I have not heard from lately, but Brad Parks managed to remind me that one of my first names is Alan and that, thankfully, I didn’t go by that at Dartmouth, as some may have gotten the two of us confused. Possible, but not probable.
Coincidentally, Brad did manage to share that his first novel Faces of the Gone won both a Nero Award and a Shamus Award (given by the Nero Wolfe literary society and the Private Eye Writers of America, respectively). His next book, Eyes of the Innocent, was scheduled for release this month, but I have not yet received a copy, so no more shameless plugs for you, Brad.
Erika Meitner did send me her book Ideal Cities, selected by Paul Guest as a part of the National Poetry Series. Quoted by Paul Guest, “these poems are so generous, so bright and sharp, and so funny and winning; they feel immense.” Be sure to pick up a copy. When she’s not writing poems Erika is an assistant professor of English at Virginia Tech and also completing her doctorate in religious studies at the University of Virginia.
Incidentally, Nate Meyers is back in New York City after spending a recession-holiday year in Sao Paulo, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Nate is heading up strategic partnership for online beauty community at www.beautystat.com. “For the beauty obsessed who demand the fact not fiction”—check out the site.
Strangely, I received a note from David “Vid” Guerrerio that he and Mark Zuckerberg will be going separate ways and that he will delete his Facebook account. I’m not certain how we will stay in touch, but he’s managed to “sneak out” my e-mail address, which I also provide at the end of this update. Vid is currently living in Los Angeles and is manager of client consulting at the Nielsen Co. in Hollywood, California. Good luck to you, Vid, in the Facebook-free world.
Patrick Kwon and wife Young, Daniel Lu, George Huang and Gholson Lyon were in attendance at the wedding of Ravi Arulanantham and Varsha Raju in Palo Alto, California, last September. Ravi and Varsha currently live in Washington, D.C., where Ravi works for the government at the Export-Import Bank. The couple honeymooned in my home state of Hawaii and especially loved the northern part of Kauai. What’s not to love? Congratulations, Ravi, and best wishes, Varsha.
Sadly, I regret to inform you of the passing of Grier Laughlin, who died in a head-on car collision in Aurora, Colorado, on February 20. President of Englewood, Colorado-based Quintus Financial Services, which he formed with two other colleagues from Merrill Lynch in 2005, he was a beloved water polo coach, the founder of Colorado Water Polo and, with his family, active in Our Lady of Laredo Catholic Church in Aurora. He was on the way to the airport with his children to pick up his wife when he was killed. Several of his swimming teammates and Psi U brothers were in attendance at his funeral in Denver.
A memorial fund has been set up to benefit his three children. The family asks that donations be made to this fund in lieu of flowers and other gifts. Donations may be sent to Grier Laughlin Memorial Fund, c/o Ellis Family Services, P.O. Box 270334, Littleton, CO 80127.
—Kelii Opulauoho, 733 Amsterdam Ave., #3F, New York, NY 10025
