Class Note 1961
Issue
November-December 2023
Kudos to Al Rozycki, who headed the recently completed 2022-23 “Mending Wall” Frost statue project for the classof 1961—with Maynard Wheeler, Pete Bleyler, Ron Wybranowski, and Mike Murphy—for overseeing the restoration, beautification, expansion, and financing required for the immediate area surrounding the Robert Frost statue. Also thanks to Gerry Kaminsky and Art Kelton for leading the campaign required for the class to raise the funds necessary for this project. A rededication and recognition ceremony is scheduled for Saturday morning, October 7, as part of a weekend hybrid class mini-reunion. Scheduled to attend and participate in this ceremony will be Dartmouth’s new president, Sian Beilock.
Congratulations to the entire class of 1961 for creating and promoting during a period of approximately 30 years a statue of Robert Frost by noted sculptor George W. Lundeen that the College initially tried to hide in a warehouse, settled upon its compromise location in a then overgrown and weedy College Park area, not close or readily accessible to much of anything at that time. The site eventually became more visible (because of new dorms eventually built nearby), utilized (for certain College and Hanover High School classes), visited (by students, alumni, and prospective applicants to Dartmouth and travelers), and appreciated by all of the aforementioned (several times selected as a calendar month on the official Dartmouth annual calendar; selected at times each year by graduating students as one of their most favorable places on campus).
Finally, the Robert Frost statue has come to serve as the major connecting link between Dartmouth and the poet, who attended the school twice, never graduated, and still received two separate honorary degrees from the College (one of only two people to accomplish this). As a result of the Robert Frost statue gift to the College in 1996, the renovation and improvement of the area in 2016 and the construction and installation of the “Mending Wall” and seating area this year, the Robert Frost statue is finally at home at Dartmouth. Our class’s promise long ago to the Frost statue has been honored through a road less traveled.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com
Congratulations to the entire class of 1961 for creating and promoting during a period of approximately 30 years a statue of Robert Frost by noted sculptor George W. Lundeen that the College initially tried to hide in a warehouse, settled upon its compromise location in a then overgrown and weedy College Park area, not close or readily accessible to much of anything at that time. The site eventually became more visible (because of new dorms eventually built nearby), utilized (for certain College and Hanover High School classes), visited (by students, alumni, and prospective applicants to Dartmouth and travelers), and appreciated by all of the aforementioned (several times selected as a calendar month on the official Dartmouth annual calendar; selected at times each year by graduating students as one of their most favorable places on campus).
Finally, the Robert Frost statue has come to serve as the major connecting link between Dartmouth and the poet, who attended the school twice, never graduated, and still received two separate honorary degrees from the College (one of only two people to accomplish this). As a result of the Robert Frost statue gift to the College in 1996, the renovation and improvement of the area in 2016 and the construction and installation of the “Mending Wall” and seating area this year, the Robert Frost statue is finally at home at Dartmouth. Our class’s promise long ago to the Frost statue has been honored through a road less traveled.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com