In a follow-up to our most recent Class Notes I am happy to report more detail from our own Elizabeth Manheim Ades on a surprise class mini-reunion (along with a few years’ worth of life updates). As many of you (I hope) read, Elizabeth received a surprise, semi-miraculous visit from good friend Alicia Jennings upon the birth of her second child on December 2. Elizabeth was “snoozing” in her hospital room when she heard an unexpected knock at the door. “When the door opened and it was Lici I thought I was hallucinating from the pain meds! There were halos of light surrounding her (from the hallway lighting) and I couldn’t understand how she was in my hospital room in Summit, New Jersey, when she was probably in Asia-Africa-alternate continent somewhere traveling with President Obama! In classic rock star fashion (and to keep her visit a mystery) she took cabs, trains, buses and walked to the hospital carrying her luggage the entire way and working from a map committed to memory before her phone battery died.” Elizabeth relayed that it was so awesome to have Lici come visit, although a “little scary that we have known each other so long and are now celebrating baby births together!” The reason for said visit can now be identified as one Charles Eli (“Charlie”) Ades, who joined elder brother Jake (who at 2 1/2 takes his job as big brother very seriously).


Beyond the welcome of their second little one, Elizabeth and her husband, Ken, relocated to Westfield, New Jersey, from New York City in late 2012, ironically just days before Hurricane Sandy came to visit. They lost power for 10 days and their neighborhood sustained a lot of damage—a great “welcome to the neighborhood” present, as she calls it. Natural disasters aside, the family loves suburban life especially given the fact that “fenced-in yard plus 2 1/2-year-old equals happiness,” per the now mom of two. As if all this life change weren’t keeping her sufficiently occupied, last winter Dr. Manheim (a clinical embryologist) became an adjunct professor in the biology department at Kean University, where she teaches lab sections for genetics and biochemistry.


In other ’96 news one of our classmates has been making big news in local politics. John Barros was recently appointed as Boston’s first chief of economic development by newly elected mayor Martin Walsh (against whom John ran in the race for mayor just months before). In the position he will oversee multiple agencies focused on small and local business enterprises, community redevelopment, consumer affairs and licensing, jobs and community services, tourism and special events—to name just a few. In a recent article in The Dartmouth about his appointment, John said that his “first priority is to make sure Boston is working for all of its residents” and in particular wants to “fight the ‘brain drain’ that often hits poor urban centers [by encouraging] people to stay in their neighborhoods and support them rather than move elsewhere.”


One last final note: If you are interested in helping with our 20th reunion, please reach out to one of our class officers today as planning starts now for June 2015! We need help with everything from meal planning to communications to child programming to logo design (among many, many other jobs!). The reunion committee is just starting to form right now and will take all the help it can get! Feel free to pass along a note to me at the email below and I will pass your contact details along to the committee heads as appropriate.


—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org