During Class Officers Weekend (COW) this past September, our class achieved something that we had never before achieved during our 50 years since graduating. We were selected as the runner-up for the prestigious Class of the Year Award for classes out more than 25 years. Never before had we ever even received honorable mention, so it was quite a thrill for the 10 classmates attending the dinner at COW to have finally achieved that status. I was informed that the vote was very close and that we lost by very little.


Numerous people are to be commended for getting our class to the runner-up position. No one person could have done it alone, and it truly displayed our class cohesiveness to get us as far as we did. There were, however, four classmates who carried the ball further and pushed us all just a bit harder during the past year: Maynard Wheeler (50th reunion chairman), Rog McArt (outgoing class president), Denny Denniston (former Alumni Fund class co-chair and now class president) and Pete Bleyler (former class president and recent recipient of the highly prestigious Dartmouth Alumni Award). Without the efforts of these four classmates, as well as several other classmates, our class would have been hard-pressed to earn runner-up for the Class of the Year Award.


Also, at our 50th reunion dinner, five classmates responded to the successful auctioneering of Terry Rogers for the right to retain the Tanzi license plate plaque for one year each until our next full class reunion in 2016. We have four of the five names (John Henry, Bob Naegele, Vic Rich and John King); however, one name is missing. I hope you know who you are and will so inform Oscar Arslanian or Denny Denniston.


Finally, Oscar Arslanian and his equally talented wife, Nyla, were recently honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its annual entertainment luncheon, where they received the Hollywood Star Award for their respective roles as publisher and editor of Discover Hollywood Magazine and for their tireless efforts in promoting the arts and culture of the Hollywood area during many years. The Hollywood Star Award is presented to people within the entertainment industry who have made a real contribution to Hollywood and to the industry.


After a major reunion such as the 50th there is a natural tendency for a letdown and slowing of the pace. The class officers and executive committee are hoping to prevent this with a potential array of mini-reunions in some interesting places out-of-Hanover. More to come soon.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com