Class Note 1996
Issue
January-February 2025
The second half of 2024 has been a mixed bag for the class of 1996. While 50th birthday celebrations continue, several classmates have had a rough go of things in recent months.
First, I am saddened to report the passing of Terence O’Brien Pincus, who left us in early 2024. Hailing from Ridgefield, Connecticut, Terence worked for many years in the wine industry, living in Atlanta, Seattle, and (ultimately) Austin, Texas. He was a “voracious reader with a peerless memory, [an] encyclopedic knowledge of the classics, Japanese and Russian history, politics, fine wine, and the New York Yankees.” While at Dartmouth, Terence was a member of Psi Upsilon and participated in the religion foreign study program. May he rest in peace.
Natural disasters have been particularly unkind to many in our Dartmouth family this year. Cara Robechek relayed that Jenny (Land) Mackenzie, husband John, and daughters Lila and Kate lost nearly everything in the massive flash flooding event that overwhelmed parts of Vermont in July. A beaver dam break and seven inches of rain in 24 hours caused the stream beside their Peacham, Vermont, home to flood its banks, wreck their house, and carry their barn and vehicles down river. The family was able to escape with their pets and a few items from the second floor of their house. Cara, Lara Fowler, and other Dartmouth friends started a GoFundMe, enabling the family to find a replacement home in Craftsbury, Vermont, and return to some semblance of normalcy.
Many classmates across the U.S. Southeast were besieged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Susie (Ettinger) Burkhart and Dax Burkhart took a double hit on their house in Madeira Beach, Florida. First, Helene struck in early September, cutting off the barrier island and leaving a path of destroyed homes, businesses, and cars. Storm-surge flooding forced them to remove everything from the home, dumping it in the street and waiting for insurance adjusters to evaluate the damage. Days later, Hurricane Milton came calling with a second round of wind, water, and destruction. Susie relayed, “We will be okay. But most people out there lost everything. The entire beach community is devastated and displaced, very heartbreaking.”
In happier news, congratulations to Kristin Johnson on her marriage to Kirk Mateme in mid-September. Tim Chow, Andrew Tannenbaum,and Wendy (Witten) Tannenbaum were among the ’96s in attendance at the evening wedding in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Marking 50th birthdays recently were Dave Levin, who celebrated the milestone in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Derek Squire and friends at the Michigan-Michigan State football game; Heather McNemar, who celebrated with a trip to New York City and by running her first 50K race (the Marine Corps Marathon 50K in the District of Columbia); Ken Lee, who took a “lifelong dream” trip to Seoul, South Korea, with wife Rebecca (Symmes) Lee ’98 and family; Sal Spataro and husband Joseph Manzella, who spent three incredible weeks in Mallorca, Spain, just before Sal’s big 5-0; twin plastic surgeons Della Bennett and Laura Bennett,who together took a well-deserved break from their respective practices in California and Texas; and fellow plastic surgeon Amy McLean-Sprole, who traveled to Tanzania to push her limits physically and mentally by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
A ’96 mini-reunion of sorts was held overseas in Reykjavik, Iceland, where both Holly Parker and Fiona Danks attended the Arctic Circle Assembly event held in mid-October. Gregory Papajohn and his family made a transoceanic move—relocating to Madrid, Spain, in August. Shawn Snipes made the slightly shorter but no less significant move to Philadelphia (where she works for Camden, New Jersey-based Campbell Soup Co.).
—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org
First, I am saddened to report the passing of Terence O’Brien Pincus, who left us in early 2024. Hailing from Ridgefield, Connecticut, Terence worked for many years in the wine industry, living in Atlanta, Seattle, and (ultimately) Austin, Texas. He was a “voracious reader with a peerless memory, [an] encyclopedic knowledge of the classics, Japanese and Russian history, politics, fine wine, and the New York Yankees.” While at Dartmouth, Terence was a member of Psi Upsilon and participated in the religion foreign study program. May he rest in peace.
Natural disasters have been particularly unkind to many in our Dartmouth family this year. Cara Robechek relayed that Jenny (Land) Mackenzie, husband John, and daughters Lila and Kate lost nearly everything in the massive flash flooding event that overwhelmed parts of Vermont in July. A beaver dam break and seven inches of rain in 24 hours caused the stream beside their Peacham, Vermont, home to flood its banks, wreck their house, and carry their barn and vehicles down river. The family was able to escape with their pets and a few items from the second floor of their house. Cara, Lara Fowler, and other Dartmouth friends started a GoFundMe, enabling the family to find a replacement home in Craftsbury, Vermont, and return to some semblance of normalcy.
Many classmates across the U.S. Southeast were besieged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Susie (Ettinger) Burkhart and Dax Burkhart took a double hit on their house in Madeira Beach, Florida. First, Helene struck in early September, cutting off the barrier island and leaving a path of destroyed homes, businesses, and cars. Storm-surge flooding forced them to remove everything from the home, dumping it in the street and waiting for insurance adjusters to evaluate the damage. Days later, Hurricane Milton came calling with a second round of wind, water, and destruction. Susie relayed, “We will be okay. But most people out there lost everything. The entire beach community is devastated and displaced, very heartbreaking.”
In happier news, congratulations to Kristin Johnson on her marriage to Kirk Mateme in mid-September. Tim Chow, Andrew Tannenbaum,and Wendy (Witten) Tannenbaum were among the ’96s in attendance at the evening wedding in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Marking 50th birthdays recently were Dave Levin, who celebrated the milestone in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Derek Squire and friends at the Michigan-Michigan State football game; Heather McNemar, who celebrated with a trip to New York City and by running her first 50K race (the Marine Corps Marathon 50K in the District of Columbia); Ken Lee, who took a “lifelong dream” trip to Seoul, South Korea, with wife Rebecca (Symmes) Lee ’98 and family; Sal Spataro and husband Joseph Manzella, who spent three incredible weeks in Mallorca, Spain, just before Sal’s big 5-0; twin plastic surgeons Della Bennett and Laura Bennett,who together took a well-deserved break from their respective practices in California and Texas; and fellow plastic surgeon Amy McLean-Sprole, who traveled to Tanzania to push her limits physically and mentally by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
A ’96 mini-reunion of sorts was held overseas in Reykjavik, Iceland, where both Holly Parker and Fiona Danks attended the Arctic Circle Assembly event held in mid-October. Gregory Papajohn and his family made a transoceanic move—relocating to Madrid, Spain, in August. Shawn Snipes made the slightly shorter but no less significant move to Philadelphia (where she works for Camden, New Jersey-based Campbell Soup Co.).
—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org