Class Note 1948
Issue
September-October 2022
With the passing of John VanRaalte on May 7, the class and Dartmouth lost a stalwart supporter. He attended virtually every class reunion and was past president and class secretary for many years and a member of the executive committee at his death. At an early age John became an expert equestrian, excelling at jumping, polo, dressage, and hunt competitions, interests he pursued for a lifetime. He attended St. Louis Country Day School, served in the U.S. Navy, then took his degree at Dartmouth. John played varsity tennis and squash and was the best golfer at all our outings. He worked for a number of investment firms on Wall Street and was active well into his 80s.
Following are comments from my daughter, Penny ’77, from her class reunion, where she attended only the outside events except for the Hood Museum, which she thought was great. It has a wider selection of prominent works of art, including several paintings by Frank Dial, a prominent Black painter, two Rembrandt drawings, and a Georgia O’Keeffe landscape. The Dartmouth campus looks good, and all the new buildings work well with the older architecture. After years of negotiations the Occom papers were returned to his tribe. As coincidentally confirmed in The Wall Street Journal, Dartmouth is eliminating student loans and replacing them with grants. For Saturday evening a huge stage was built in the center of the Green for performers singing and dancing. There were closing fireworks. The band was called the Dartmouth Idol All Stars and was terrific. While everybody had a great time most had not brought any winter clothing and wore multi layers. (I remember coming out one night from a hockey game at our unheated Davis rink and reading the thermometer at minus-30 degrees.) Rooms were available at the government house for disparate interest groups. Women from the first three classes of 1976 through 1978 met there to reminisce and discuss their trials and tribulations during that transitional period, for which Dartmouth really wasn’t prepared.
Give me your thoughts. I’ll use everything that’s fit to print.
—Dave Kurr, 603 Mountain Ave., Apt. 331, New Providence, NJ 07974; (781) 801-6716; djkurr@verizon.net
Following are comments from my daughter, Penny ’77, from her class reunion, where she attended only the outside events except for the Hood Museum, which she thought was great. It has a wider selection of prominent works of art, including several paintings by Frank Dial, a prominent Black painter, two Rembrandt drawings, and a Georgia O’Keeffe landscape. The Dartmouth campus looks good, and all the new buildings work well with the older architecture. After years of negotiations the Occom papers were returned to his tribe. As coincidentally confirmed in The Wall Street Journal, Dartmouth is eliminating student loans and replacing them with grants. For Saturday evening a huge stage was built in the center of the Green for performers singing and dancing. There were closing fireworks. The band was called the Dartmouth Idol All Stars and was terrific. While everybody had a great time most had not brought any winter clothing and wore multi layers. (I remember coming out one night from a hockey game at our unheated Davis rink and reading the thermometer at minus-30 degrees.) Rooms were available at the government house for disparate interest groups. Women from the first three classes of 1976 through 1978 met there to reminisce and discuss their trials and tribulations during that transitional period, for which Dartmouth really wasn’t prepared.
Give me your thoughts. I’ll use everything that’s fit to print.
—Dave Kurr, 603 Mountain Ave., Apt. 331, New Providence, NJ 07974; (781) 801-6716; djkurr@verizon.net