Class Note 1986. It’s very odd to be writing this with our reunion still months away and knowing that you may be reading it after we’ve had our fun frolicking on the Green and visiting all our old haunts on campus. I hope you brought your stories and shared them so that there will be many interesting anecdotes to fill this column during the next five years!
I love it when I receive news from classmates to fill up this column. I heard from MalcolmMcIver, who provided me with a description of a trip he and some fellow ’86s took to Utah in February. “Six ’86 rowing team members gathered in Park City with their freshman coach, Whit Mitchell. Wolf-Dietrich Weber, Garth Mark, Dan Kollmorgen, Mike Rich, Mark Proctor, andI hit the slopes (occasionally with our foreheads) during three beautiful days on the Wasatch Front. Despite having two Ph.D.’s, two M.D.’s, an M.B.A., and several B.A.’s, the crew got lost on the mountain, around town, and in supermarket aisles. We shredded greens and blues like the middle-aged bosses we are. In the evenings, we imbibed Garth’s gluhwein and bored wives with stories of training, racing, studying, and living in spartan 1980s dorms. Reputations of teammates who did not attend were guarded assiduously, except when there was a really good story to tell. The cherry on top: zero musculoskeletal injuries. We had enough fun that we are now planning a 2027 rafting trip open to all ’86 crew folk. Rowers will row and coxswains will tell them what to do, preserving the natural order of life on the water.” Are there any other groups of ’86s out there who would like to share their adventures with the rest of us?
John Hueston shared the exciting news that his wife, Mabelle Drake Hueston, has been appointed a regent for the University of California. He states that the University of California Board of Regents serves as the ultimate governing body for the university system, acting as a public trust to oversee its 10 campuses, six medical centers, and three national laboratories. Mabelle worked across her career to promote educational opportunities for underserved communities and language preservation on the Navajo Nation and nationally. She looks forward to making a difference as a regent! Prior to this appointment, Mabelle was president and executive director at Nihizaad Nizhoni, assistant director of the Native American program at Dartmouth, and an adjunct faculty member and lecturer in American Indian studies at California State University, Long Beach, where she was a student life and development coordinator. She was a Navajo language instructor at Torres Martinez Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as well as at Southern California Indian Center. Congratulations, Mabelle, on your appointment!
Please continue to send me your news. I love it when my inbox provides me with great information to share with all of you!
—Suzy Nachman Mercado, 55 Aspen Wood Lane, Fairfield, CT 06825; suzynmercado@gmail.com