Class Note 1982
Issue
May-June 2026
Class Note 1982. Classmates are having remarkable, award-winning second acts.
Eben Jones swam at Dartmouth and afterwards raced elite-level triathlons while building a successful career in bond trading at JP Morgan and raising four children in Connecticut with his wife, Julie, also a triathlete. At 51 Eben won nationals in Burlington, Vermont. At 55 his knees balked so he turned to yoga. Two years ago his son convinced him to join in a half-ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile half-marathon). He did, and he was back! Last November Eben won first place in the males’ 65-69 bracket at the Half-Ironman World Championships in Marbella, Spain. He finished in five hours, nine minutes, and 20 seconds, losing to a 60-year-old by 10 minutes and beating a 70-year-old by 40 minutes. He also won the Olympic age group national championships in summer 2025. Currently, he is the top-ranked male masters athlete in the United States. Eben and Julie now live in Colorado, and he trades bonds remotely 25 hours per week and trains another 20 to 30 hours per week swimming, biking, running, lifting, and doing yoga. I feel like the human equivalent of a sloth just writing this. Eben enjoys seeing how his body reacts as he ages. I do too—from an armchair reading a novel where I monitor my resting heart rate. Eben and a fluid group of ’82 Phi Delts go skiing annually—this year to Sun Valley, Idaho, where those participating dined at John (’79) and Kim Young (’81) Moragne’s house. This year the group included Steve Schuh, Mark Soane, Peter Roberts, Steve Lichtenauer, Ralph McDevitt, Steve Dixon, Seth Brewster, Stan Kraska, Ben Wagner, Steve Douty, Jack Blunt, Scott Simmons, Jim McKee,and John Froemming. Greg Maffei joined for dinner.
In another second act, in September 2025 Rob Ford, longtime resident of California and tech and investment professional, became the CEO of Vermont Spirits in Quechee, Vermont, a craft distillery producing small-batch, award-winning premium bourbons, vodkas, and gins sold nationwide. Rob’s adventure began in 1995, when Curtis Reed introduced him to a tech investor, now one of Rob’s closest friends, who easily convinced Rob and his business partners (two sons of a Dartmouth ’59 who grew up in Hanover) to invest in a Quechee spirits business. In 2019 Rob began advising the distillery, helping raise investments, and sitting on the board, all while still running a tech company in California. The distillery’s newest venture is Harry’s Cocktail Lounge, a destination experience hosting public and private events and serving craft cocktails using Vermont Spirits products. The distillery has used Thayer students for an operational sustainability study and works with Dartmouth’s Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, having connected to it through Barry Schweitzer, who was Rob’s roommate all four years and serves in a leadership role there. Rob and his wife, Samantha, continue to live primarily in California, where they raised their three sons. Rob enjoys traveling back and forth to Vermont and always visits Hanover during his stay. Check out Harry’s when you’re next in Hanover or order the products online at https://vermontspirits.com.
—Philippa M. Guthrie, 2303 Woodstock Place, Bloomington, IN 47401; (812) 325-7512; philippaguthrie @yahoo.com; David Mason Eichman, 9004 Wonderland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; dme4law@sbcglobal.net
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Eben Jones swam at Dartmouth and afterwards raced elite-level triathlons while building a successful career in bond trading at JP Morgan and raising four children in Connecticut with his wife, Julie, also a triathlete. At 51 Eben won nationals in Burlington, Vermont. At 55 his knees balked so he turned to yoga. Two years ago his son convinced him to join in a half-ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile half-marathon). He did, and he was back! Last November Eben won first place in the males’ 65-69 bracket at the Half-Ironman World Championships in Marbella, Spain. He finished in five hours, nine minutes, and 20 seconds, losing to a 60-year-old by 10 minutes and beating a 70-year-old by 40 minutes. He also won the Olympic age group national championships in summer 2025. Currently, he is the top-ranked male masters athlete in the United States. Eben and Julie now live in Colorado, and he trades bonds remotely 25 hours per week and trains another 20 to 30 hours per week swimming, biking, running, lifting, and doing yoga. I feel like the human equivalent of a sloth just writing this. Eben enjoys seeing how his body reacts as he ages. I do too—from an armchair reading a novel where I monitor my resting heart rate. Eben and a fluid group of ’82 Phi Delts go skiing annually—this year to Sun Valley, Idaho, where those participating dined at John (’79) and Kim Young (’81) Moragne’s house. This year the group included Steve Schuh, Mark Soane, Peter Roberts, Steve Lichtenauer, Ralph McDevitt, Steve Dixon, Seth Brewster, Stan Kraska, Ben Wagner, Steve Douty, Jack Blunt, Scott Simmons, Jim McKee,and John Froemming. Greg Maffei joined for dinner.
In another second act, in September 2025 Rob Ford, longtime resident of California and tech and investment professional, became the CEO of Vermont Spirits in Quechee, Vermont, a craft distillery producing small-batch, award-winning premium bourbons, vodkas, and gins sold nationwide. Rob’s adventure began in 1995, when Curtis Reed introduced him to a tech investor, now one of Rob’s closest friends, who easily convinced Rob and his business partners (two sons of a Dartmouth ’59 who grew up in Hanover) to invest in a Quechee spirits business. In 2019 Rob began advising the distillery, helping raise investments, and sitting on the board, all while still running a tech company in California. The distillery’s newest venture is Harry’s Cocktail Lounge, a destination experience hosting public and private events and serving craft cocktails using Vermont Spirits products. The distillery has used Thayer students for an operational sustainability study and works with Dartmouth’s Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, having connected to it through Barry Schweitzer, who was Rob’s roommate all four years and serves in a leadership role there. Rob and his wife, Samantha, continue to live primarily in California, where they raised their three sons. Rob enjoys traveling back and forth to Vermont and always visits Hanover during his stay. Check out Harry’s when you’re next in Hanover or order the products online at https://vermontspirits.com.
—Philippa M. Guthrie, 2303 Woodstock Place, Bloomington, IN 47401; (812) 325-7512; philippaguthrie @yahoo.com; David Mason Eichman, 9004 Wonderland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; dme4law@sbcglobal.net