Visit the 1953 memorial cabinet in the Class of 1953 Commons, which president Allen Collins tells me is now in place. It is filled with mementos and artifacts of our time at Dartmouth. With a little imagination you can get the sense of a bygone era in the ever-morphing life at our College. The class, which gathered on the plain in 1949, grew up and coalesced in the ensuing four years and is still vitally engaged with each other and with the College.


By the time you read this 39 classmates and their wives will have been welcomed at the Union League in Philadelphia with a tour and dinner and were entertained by the performance of an all-Gershwin evening by the Six of Clubs under the direction of John Hargraves ’66; all of this as part of the wonderful maxi-mini reunion organized by Charlie Buchanan and Phil Beekman.


Bonnie and Dave Siegal have put together a full program of activities for the fall. Mini-reunions September 20 and October 4 will be held at Kendal at Hanover, fast becoming a new hub for activities of the class with such class stalwarts as Marian and Put Blodgett, Mimi and Fred Carleton, Ann and Harlan Fair, Liz and Peter King and Donna and Chuck Reilly now residing therein. On October 19 a class meeting and class dinner have been planned at the Paganucci Lounge in the ’53 Commons.


December finds the class meeting on two different occasions. The first, on the 15th at noon at the Yale Club in New York City for a luncheon organized by Cathy Callendar with the able assistance of Bob Malin. The second, to be held on December 17 at noon at the Parker House in Quechee, Vermont, has been organized and arranged for by Bonnie and Dave Siegal. We expect a large turnout for both.


Unfortunately, I must end this by reporting the death of our dear and beloved classmate Richard D. Ledbetter. I offer the sincere and profound condolences of our class to his family.


—Mark H. Smoller, 4 Schuyler Drive, Jericho, NY 11753; (516) 938-3616; dartmark@gmail.com