I’m very sad to report our classmate Adam Tanney passed away in September. On behalf of the class, I offer our sincere condolences to all his loved ones, including his son, Xavier.

When I set out to collect news for this particular column, I solicited book recommendations in addition to updates. Thank you to all who participated! I, for one, will be checking out some of these titles in the months to come. As you make your own 2016 reading list, please consider When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, the late husband of Lucy (Goddard) Kalanithi. It broke my heart and brought me solace at the same time. Jessica Wirth Strine loved The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson, and Leah (Threatte) Bojnowski enjoyed The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. Shira (Reiss) Krance recommends The Year of Soup by her father, Howard Reiss ’73. She said, “This novel was recently ranked No. 1 on Amazon in the bisexual romance category.”

Andrew Trief sent me a happy note to say he’d married Samantha Shabman (George Washington University ’11) in the fall. He “had proposed six months earlier while running the Paris marathon with her, just a few minutes before the finish line.” Dartmouth alums in attendance at the wedding included Ivan Cestero, Christopher Taylor and Tibor Nagy ’00. Andrew also included a strong recommendation for Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse. Andy Pease is excited to announce he and wife Lisa Samols (Columbia ’04) had a baby last spring. “Benjamin Samols Pease was born on May 3 in Tempe, Arizona. I also just finished my doctorate (doctor of musical arts) in wind conducting at the Arizona State University School of Music, graduating eight days after Ben was born. We now live in Phoenix.” On his bookshelf? Hyperion by Dan Simmons and its sequel, Fall of Hyperion. “They’re like Canterbury Tales in space opera form—good stuff!” Steve Forster wrote to say he and wife Suzanne welcomed their first child, James Stephen Forster, on May 16. Catherine (Nakai) Montoya and husband James had a girl, Callie, on May 18. Catherine noted, “Our boys (Jacob, 7, and Justin, 6) love her so much, checking on her constantly or helping us keep her entertained.” And Julia Calderon Rizzo, husband Mike and son Luke welcomed baby Natalie to their family on August 24. Congratulations!

Vanessa (Spencer) Blake’s 18-and-over women’s doubles tennis team won the 6.5 Combo State Championship for Georgia in October. She added, “We are headed to the regional championship in Alabama in the spring!” And earlier this year Kelly Fisher second chaired a trial in Portland, Oregon, “that resulted in a $3 million jury verdict. We represented a nurse who was terminated after 34 years of employment after she complained that time standards relating to productivity were negatively impacting her ability to properly care for patients. The jury found for us on all counts (retaliation under Oregon’s nurse staffing law, age discrimination and breach of contract), awarding $1.5 million in compensatory damages and another $1.5 million in punitive damages.”

Finally, a note fromour class VP, Kristin Delaney:“I am busy planning our 15th reunion (June 17-19—save the date!) with our class committee and committee reunion volunteers. I’m currently working on picking caterers and collaborating with the ’00s and ’02s on cluster events. If you’d like to help, please reach out! In my free time I am currently finishing We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride (wonderful!) and about to start Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.”

—Kristina Panettiere, 20 Great Rock Road, Sherborn, MA 01770; dartmouth2001notes@gmail.com