As you read these words another Hanover fall will be about to come to an end and we will be watching for the first snowfall. Today I am eagerly awaiting the beauty of this campus as the leaves turn and the air becomes crisp. I also look forward to seeing the class of 2027 arrive soon for the start of their first-year trips. Seeing them begin their lifelong and I hope much-loved journey as a member of the Dartmouth family never gets old. Sad news from Hanover comes with the announcement of the death of your adopted classmate and government professor, Roger Masters. I don’t know the history of how he came to be a ’45, perhaps one of you will share the story with me, but I do know he was a forceful presence over his 30 years teaching at Dartmouth. Roger studied at Harvard, served in the U.S. Army, completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and served on the faculty at Yale before coming to Dartmouth in 1968. His arrival in Hanover was followed shortly by a two-year leave to serve as cultural attaché at the American embassy in Paris. I was reminded that he often rode his bike up the hill from Norwich, Vermont, trailed by his two dalmatians. As early as last year I would see him striding purposefully around campus with his long beard, making him instantly recognizable. A member of the class of 1976 remembered him fondly as iconoclastic and individualistic. My interactions with him, not as teacher-student but when I was working in alumni relations, were robust and provocative. Until his last days he bemoaned the fact that the faculty at Dartmouth do not have a faculty lounge, where they could meet each other and share important conversations. As a political scientist, he believed that members of a community, especially an academic one, need to share ideas and challenge each other to think critically. I imagine most of us would agree that we all need to do more of that in this country today. Please send news to share with your classmates.

—Martha Johnson Beattie ’76, 6 North Balch St., Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 667-7611; mbeattie76@gmail.com