Class Note 1979
Issue
March-April 2026
Class Note 1979. “It’s very important to be one’s age,” poet W.H. Auden reminds us. “You get ideas you have to turn down—‘I’m sorry, no longer’; ‘I’m sorry, not yet.’ ”
Realizing our age, the Dartmouth class of ’79 is fiercely and gloriously shouting “Not yet!” into the universe.
Joe Greco just published his first novel, and his writing is terrific: “I always had an interest in trying to write fiction, but I also was interested in becoming a lawyer. As the years passed, however, I started thinking, ‘It’s now or never,’ and in my early 50s, I started writing short stories and trying to get them published. As I began to have some modest success with literary magazines, I also wrote two novels in the legal mystery-thriller genre. The Ghost Case Posse is the first I’ve published. I love fiction writing because I can create my own version of reality, something I couldn’t do in legal writing. Although I must admit that opposing attorneys did tell judges on several occasions that my legal briefs were ‘pure fiction.’ ”
Joe, who is recently back in touch with the class, has some great Hanover stories, including one about how he had trouble convincing our classmates that he was from California because “the Freshman Book switched my photo with that of Matthew Greco from New Jersey (no relation). As a short, dark-haired Italian guy with a moustache, I didn’t fit the California ‘Beach Boy image’ and so it became even more difficult to convince them that yes, indeed, I actually was the Greco from the Golden State.” Joe said he had to explain, repeatedly, that no, he did not surf. Joe went to Stanford Law after completing Dartmouth, as did several other classmates.
Richard Conn Jr. recently published The Earthbound Parent: How (and Why) to Raise Your Little Angels Without Religion, a compelling and invigorating volume very much informed by Richard’s own work in international law, investment fund management, and nonprofit organizations.
Another ’79 who has not been frequently in touch with the class but who has nevertheless been celebrated by the College, Stuart Michael Lewan last summer received the Hero Award from the Dartmouth gay alumni group at its all-class 40th reunion celebration. In his moving and deeply personal award speech, available online, Stuart explains that before returning to Hanover he’d “worried about how it would feel being among so many others whose grand successes in life made me less proud of my own” but that “the green grass and bright blue skies connected me with happier times I’d nearly forgotten. That’s probably why reunions are in the summer.” He ends with an embrace of his undergraduate experience, “I owe Dartmouth for much of what made who I am and made my life worth living.” Stuart includes Sam Abel in his list of those to whom he owes gratitude. We, in turn, owe Stuart cheers and applause.
The future will bring us closer together than our scattered memories of the past.
—Gina Barreca, 394 Browns Road, Storrs, CT 06268; gb@ginabarreca.com
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More of 1979 Class Notes
Realizing our age, the Dartmouth class of ’79 is fiercely and gloriously shouting “Not yet!” into the universe.
Joe Greco just published his first novel, and his writing is terrific: “I always had an interest in trying to write fiction, but I also was interested in becoming a lawyer. As the years passed, however, I started thinking, ‘It’s now or never,’ and in my early 50s, I started writing short stories and trying to get them published. As I began to have some modest success with literary magazines, I also wrote two novels in the legal mystery-thriller genre. The Ghost Case Posse is the first I’ve published. I love fiction writing because I can create my own version of reality, something I couldn’t do in legal writing. Although I must admit that opposing attorneys did tell judges on several occasions that my legal briefs were ‘pure fiction.’ ”
Joe, who is recently back in touch with the class, has some great Hanover stories, including one about how he had trouble convincing our classmates that he was from California because “the Freshman Book switched my photo with that of Matthew Greco from New Jersey (no relation). As a short, dark-haired Italian guy with a moustache, I didn’t fit the California ‘Beach Boy image’ and so it became even more difficult to convince them that yes, indeed, I actually was the Greco from the Golden State.” Joe said he had to explain, repeatedly, that no, he did not surf. Joe went to Stanford Law after completing Dartmouth, as did several other classmates.
Richard Conn Jr. recently published The Earthbound Parent: How (and Why) to Raise Your Little Angels Without Religion, a compelling and invigorating volume very much informed by Richard’s own work in international law, investment fund management, and nonprofit organizations.
Another ’79 who has not been frequently in touch with the class but who has nevertheless been celebrated by the College, Stuart Michael Lewan last summer received the Hero Award from the Dartmouth gay alumni group at its all-class 40th reunion celebration. In his moving and deeply personal award speech, available online, Stuart explains that before returning to Hanover he’d “worried about how it would feel being among so many others whose grand successes in life made me less proud of my own” but that “the green grass and bright blue skies connected me with happier times I’d nearly forgotten. That’s probably why reunions are in the summer.” He ends with an embrace of his undergraduate experience, “I owe Dartmouth for much of what made who I am and made my life worth living.” Stuart includes Sam Abel in his list of those to whom he owes gratitude. We, in turn, owe Stuart cheers and applause.
The future will bring us closer together than our scattered memories of the past.
—Gina Barreca, 394 Browns Road, Storrs, CT 06268; gb@ginabarreca.com