’Round the girdled earth they roam: In June, during the wee hours in India, Bill Helman received news of probably the highest honor the College can bestow as he was named a charter trustee of the College. And for our class the news gets better: I don’t know where she was at the time, but Denise Dupre was similarly honored by her simultaneous election as charter trustee. Our class now joins only the class of 1970 in the distinction of having three sitting trustees; John Rich is the third.


I caught up with Bill during East Coast time and he said he was “humbled and a bit overwhelmed” by his selection and looking forward to working with new College president Jim Kim. In fact Bill has known Jim for several years—they are neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts—and he describes him as an “extraordinary” man who is, and in Bill’s view will be at Dartmouth, an “inspirational leader.” So keen is Bill on Kim that Bill suborned truancy by allowing his son to sneak out to one of Kim’s Harvard lectures, which, by the way, was delivered to undergraduates.


Denise, meanwhile, told the College news service (I can’t speak with everyone live, although I try) that, “This small college has made a big difference in my life and I consider service on the board to be both an honor and a privilege.” Denise and her family were also in the news last December, when they got together to fund a significant upgrade of snowmaking facilities at the Dartmouth Skiway. 


This is no joke: Mike Palitz, one of many fellow McLane (now Judge) Hall mates, is the owner of Comix, a 350-seat comedy club on 14th Street here in Manhattan. I shared a few laughs with Mike as he told me of the fun and challenges of signing up Comedy Central-caliber talent and managing what he hopes will be a raucous crowd each night. Among the vignettes he relayed was the story of how he slipped behind the bar one evening only to be admonished by the bartender, who in turn was hurriedly advised by the other bartender that Mike was the guy signing his paycheck. Mike said he commended the guy for doing his job, but did not buy him a beer since they both were on duty. The scene reminded me vaguely of various occasions where I slipped behind the Sigma Nu bar doing double duty as chief pourer and keg protector. Speaking seriously now, Mike and co-head agent Brian Boyer remind us to consider a generous gift in celebration of our 30th reunion and to plan on attending it from June 17-20, 2010. Merle Adelman, moreover, urges us to have some mini-reunions beforehand so that we might recognize each other without the aid of Facebook.


Speaking of McLane-ites, I caught up with Laura Gold Zimmerman. Laura has been in the Chicago area for many years, including a 13-year stint, just ended, leading strategy and business development for the financial services side of Allstate. She has quickly filled any spare time by joining the boards of her local United Way and of the Illinois chapter of Mental Health America. In Chicago Laura sees the likes of Carla Boehm Sloan, Ed Sloan, Todd Young and Brian Boyer. 


I am sorry to conclude on a sad note: I just received the terrible news that Laura Woodberry Jessiman died while in Scotland in June. A reminder that our small world is also a fragile one. ’Round the girdled earth our departed classmates roamed; their spell on us remains.


—Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com