Class Note 1980. By the time you read this, our 45th reunion is ideally a shining bright spot in your summer memories. More than 300 classmates and guests attended our reunion, representing about 25 percent of the class. Many reunited with old friends, while a few became fast friends with classmates they never knew during our four years on the Hanover Plain. The reunion committee, led by cochairs Carla Sloan and Frank Vecella, did an excellent job of creating an event schedule that was full but allowed time for meeting with other classes and affinity groups. Merle Adelman, our head agent, reports that the class raised $3.75 million for Dartmouth College Fund with participation above 40 percent, and the College recognized our 94 leadership gifts with the Class of 1964 Award. Since the last reunion, our class has given the College $72 million, an exceptional amount.
One of the best-attended events of our reunion was the “Reimagining Ourselves” panel discussion on Friday morning. The session was attended by an estimated 200 classmates and guests, a nearly packed house within Filene Auditorium. The session, created and moderated by Mary Ann McDonald Carolan and Michael Wall, featured panelists Brian Boyer, me (Jennifer DesCombes), Mary Ann McGarry, and David Delucia. They discussed, respectively, retirement and giving back, transitioning to a new gender, planning new adventures while adapting to life’s events, and using our Dartmouth advantage to help others. After the panelists spoke, audience members were encouraged to share some of their reimaginings, and several spoke eloquently about their lives and the challenges within.
The conversations started during the session carried into lunch, and many classmates indicated that the openness and honesty of those who spoke carried through their reunion and often led to deeper conversations with classmates.
Other well-attended 1980 events included a pickleball round robin on Friday and a competitive scavenger hunt on Saturday. Rob and Susan Williams coordinated the pickleball round robin, and for those who had never played, arranged to have an instructor teach the basics. For those classmates with any experience, the round robin format provided as many games as you could ever want.
Peter Marlette coordinated the 1980 campus-wide scavenger hunt with support from “officials” in official-looking striped shirts: Curt Flight, Kim Vletas, Kate Wiley Laud, Bill Goodspeed, Carol Pelmas, Bob Lisk, Cathy McGrath, and Peter Rentschler. Classmates formed into groups and scoured the campus for answers and mementos with 1980 history.
Reunions also represent a changing of the class officers. We want to thank Cathy McGrath and Joe Mannes for their dedication to our class during the last five years and welcome Carla Sloan and Frank Vecella as the new class co-presidents. The changing of the guard also provides new volunteer opportunities. If you are interested in helping with class events, please contact Carla or Frank. For a full list of the new class officers, please visit the 1980 website, 1980.dartmouth.org, and click on the “Class Organization” tab.
—Jennifer W. DesCombes, 256 W 7th St., Clare-mont, CA 91711; (909) 921-3402; jennifer.descombes@gmail.com; Wade Herring, P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com;Kal Alston, 948 Euclid Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210; alstonkal@gmail.com