Back once again to the Hanover Plain,


Lucky are we who still remain.


We were pea-green freshmen on Dartmouth Row.


How could it be so long ago?


Seventy-four years, “a fair piece,” as Al Foley would say,


How young we looked back in the day.


Commons and beanies and snowflakes flying,


Learning the words to “Dartmouth Undying.”


December 7: The wide world calls,


Goodbye to high jinks and carnivals.


Some left immediately, the rest in stages.


Newsreels continued to be outrageous.


Amid the worsening situation,


No one here for graduation.


This fragmented group so torn apart


Returned to Dartmouth full of heart.


Let’s toast the builders of the class:


To the men who endowed the halls we pass.


And to those men who reported class news,


Who kept us in touch—they were the glue.


We returned to celebrate lifelong friends,


To traditions and loyalties that never end.


To lobster bashes and the Dartmouth refrain,


And so many tailgates in the rain.


Here’s to the creators of the ’44 Place,


To all who helped win the Green Derby race.


And to the ladies, a round of applause—


Your time and your energy supported our cause.


Seventy years of reunions have come and gone.


The bodies have weakened, but the spirit soars on.


Let’s “give a rouse for the college on the hill” once more,


And another for the great class of ’44.


—Betty Munson, 23 Linscott Road N, York, ME 03909; elizmunson1944@gmail.com