It was a pleasure to have Lou andEllen Springsteen join us again for our mini-reunion last year. Lou grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, and attended public schools there. He served in the Army in World War ll and came back to graduate from Dartmouth on the GI Bill. Parenthetically, I look back at what the country did, with a huge public debt at the end of WW II, for veterans’ education; the remarkable Marshall Plan that financed the economic reconstruction of Europe, including the Axis; the democratization of Japan under General MacArthur’s tutelage (grandiose ego in the right place at the right time); and the formation of the U.N. (with all its warts, a functioning international venue) and NATO. Lou went to work for S.S. Kresge (now Kmart) and then attended Brunswick Seminary, graduating in 1953. His first church was New Prospect Reformed Church in Pine Bush, New York, where he met and married Ellen Jamison. They have three children and six grandchildren. One granddaughter is a freshman at Dartmouth and on the equestrian team. In 1958 Lou became minister of Trinity Reformed Church in Old Tappan, New Jersey, where he remained for 33 years, retiring as minister emeritus in 1991 and settling in Westwood, New Jersey. Remaining active, he served with the Classis of the Greater Palisades, the Old Paramus Reformed Church in Ridgewood, the Old Stone Church of Upper Saddle River and the Community Church of Ho-Ho-Kus. He works with hospice in bereavement counseling and as a parliamentarian for various groups. Lou served as Dartmouth’s enrollment chairman for Bergen County, New Jersey, for 24 years and has faithfully conducted memorial services for many of our reunions. I had a very pleasant conversation with Nancy and Russ Carlson. Russ is steadily recovering from his heart attack of two years ago. He was still using a walker as of the end of last year, but says his mobility continues to improve. While still working on the transportation logistics, they are planning to join us for our 65th. He’s been a stalwart over the years and it will be great to have them with us again.


—Dave Kurr, 4281 Indian Field Road, Clinton, NY 13323; (315) 853-3582; djkurr@verizon.net