Class Note 1984
Issue
July-August 2026
Class Note 1984. Give a rouse for Lisa Ragen Ide who survived the three-day Arctic Circle Race (ACR) in Sisimiut Greenland, considered the most challenging cross-country ski race on the planet! In March Lisa, together with Dartmouth ski team friends Colin McNay ’82 and Tom French ’82, joined 200 racers from around the world, tackling extreme conditions in the rugged wilderness. Not only did the ACR require climbing up multiple mountain passes each day with difficult downhills as well, but Day 3 was a complete whiteout blizzard and the temperature inside Lisa’s tent at night was minus-18 degrees! Highlights included the amazing camaraderie between racers, awe-inspiring landscape, and incomparable views of the northern lights. Postrace, family and friends (including Lisa’s husband, Buddy Ide ’80, daughter Tessa, and Dartmouth ski teammates Gay Macomber Bird ’81 and Jerry Bird ’80) joined in for a weeklong boat trip and backcountry skiing in the fjords of West Greenland. Next up for these intrepid adventurers: Stay tuned for Antarctica 2028!
Excitedly preparing for a summer in London, Sissel Wivestad McCarthy, journalism professor at N.Y.C.’s Hunter College, will be leading the school’s first study abroad program for journalism. For Sissel, it’s also a great opportunity to revisit the city she and her family called home for seven years when she worked for CNN International on World Business Today back in the 1990s.
Prefer time travel to world travel? May I suggest Nancy Bernhard’s new novel, The Double Standard Sporting House—historical fiction, yes, but with themes that are (all too) often in the news these days. Though the book began as a pandemic project, its roots lie in Nancy’s interest as a historian in how war correspondents were changed by witnessing atrocities as well as her experiences practicing and teaching yoga, including to survivors of sexual assault. The novel’s heroine is a medical practitioner in 1868 who runs an elite brothel to fund her free clinic. When the political syndicate takes control of New York and begins trafficking girls, she fights back. Women use the tools they can—secrets, healing, community—to challenge political corruption and sexual predation. Nancy lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, David Margolin (an ’81 from Nancy’s other alma mater, Harvard), has two wonderful children, and, when we corresponded, was looking forward to a visit from Diana Gordon, her closest friend for all these years.
Among those joining the ranks of the newly retired, Molly Young Wender of Richmond, Virginia, is relishing that precious newfound commodity: time! Having graduated from her middle school teaching career, Molly is embracing yoga, craft projects, regular visits to her parents in Atlanta, plenty of road trips (last summer’s itineraries included New Mexico, Colorado, Dallas, Texas, and Hot Springs, Arkansas), and visits with Jane Blansfield Finch, who has her own counseling practice in Durham, North Carolina, and enjoys downtime on Block Island, Rhode Island.
Sadly, the College has just learned of the passing of Robert A. Braswell on October 17, 2018. Until we meet again….
—Deana Washburn, 209 Casino Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016; deanadw@aol.com
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Excitedly preparing for a summer in London, Sissel Wivestad McCarthy, journalism professor at N.Y.C.’s Hunter College, will be leading the school’s first study abroad program for journalism. For Sissel, it’s also a great opportunity to revisit the city she and her family called home for seven years when she worked for CNN International on World Business Today back in the 1990s.
Prefer time travel to world travel? May I suggest Nancy Bernhard’s new novel, The Double Standard Sporting House—historical fiction, yes, but with themes that are (all too) often in the news these days. Though the book began as a pandemic project, its roots lie in Nancy’s interest as a historian in how war correspondents were changed by witnessing atrocities as well as her experiences practicing and teaching yoga, including to survivors of sexual assault. The novel’s heroine is a medical practitioner in 1868 who runs an elite brothel to fund her free clinic. When the political syndicate takes control of New York and begins trafficking girls, she fights back. Women use the tools they can—secrets, healing, community—to challenge political corruption and sexual predation. Nancy lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, David Margolin (an ’81 from Nancy’s other alma mater, Harvard), has two wonderful children, and, when we corresponded, was looking forward to a visit from Diana Gordon, her closest friend for all these years.
Among those joining the ranks of the newly retired, Molly Young Wender of Richmond, Virginia, is relishing that precious newfound commodity: time! Having graduated from her middle school teaching career, Molly is embracing yoga, craft projects, regular visits to her parents in Atlanta, plenty of road trips (last summer’s itineraries included New Mexico, Colorado, Dallas, Texas, and Hot Springs, Arkansas), and visits with Jane Blansfield Finch, who has her own counseling practice in Durham, North Carolina, and enjoys downtime on Block Island, Rhode Island.
Sadly, the College has just learned of the passing of Robert A. Braswell on October 17, 2018. Until we meet again….
—Deana Washburn, 209 Casino Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016; deanadw@aol.com