During the recent Class Officers Weekend, attended by 11 members and officers from our class, the class of 1961 was one of only seven classes (also the oldest class) awarded a special recognition award. Our award was for the continuing success of the Class of 1961 Legacy for the Performing Arts at Dartmouth, which culminated this year with the legacy fund reaching a net account balance of more than $1 million for the first time ever during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013. Thanks again to Dave Birney and Oscar Arslanian as well as other classmates for their continuing efforts on behalf of the legacy, as well as their generous contributions during the past decade.
Once again, the class of ’61 is indirectly being recognized as a result of one of its classmates. This time it is Vic Rich, your multiple-term and reasonably effective class secretary. I was informed after Class Officers Weekend in September (I was unfortunately unable to attend at the last minute) that I had been elected to be the vice president (and incoming president) of the Class Secretaries Association for the next two years. As such I will be a member of the class officers’ executive committee for the next four years, which should prove valuable to our class.
Patti and I had a very enjoyable dinner with Mike Murphy and his lovely wife, Helene, while they were passing through New York on their way up to Hanover for our class mini-reunion held during fall Homecoming Weekend in mid-October and orchestrated by Maynard Wheeler, our class’ at-home mini-reunion chair. By the way, happy birthday to my fraternal “twin,” Dave Prewitt, who happens to share the same birth date as I on October 13.
Dartmouth’s new president, Philip J. Hanlon, while on tour of several locations throughout the United States, visited New York City, where nearly 1,000 alumni attended the gala evening event. While there I met up with Denny Denniston, our class president, who also attended the gathering. Both of us thought that President Hanlon’s tour was a good idea in order to meet with alumni throughout the country. Denny has been very active this year with the class executive committee, discussing class objectives going forward and making sure that all of our class officer positions are filled with classmates able and willing to perform the various class functions required to generate an informed and involved alumni class.
Once again, for the 19th year, David Birney is producing and performing in his one- or two-person holiday show, called A Christmas Pudding. David has been doing this show for the past 18 years. It is a holiday confection of songs, stories, poems and tales of the season by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickenson, G.B. Shaw, Longfellow, St. Luke and others, spiced with carols, unusual recipes, jokes and traditional music of the season. Each year the script is different and the success of the holiday program has been growing. Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!
—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com