Class Note 1961
Issue
Nov - Dec 2015
I just recently learned that classmate and thespian David Birney has an award at Dartmouth named after him, the David Birney Award for Excellence in Theatre Arts. That is impressive! Kudos to David.
Also learned recently that Ken Walker had open-heart surgery in December 2014. The operation was successful and Ken is back to hiking and playing tennis and expects to return to skiing this winter.
Steve Kirschner, now a fully retired physician, divides his time between Marco Island, Florida, for eight to nine months a year and New Hartford, New York, for three to four months. As part of our invite-a-classmate-to-reunion effort I hereby invite Steve and Linda to our 55th reunion in June 2016.
Bob Conn, in charge of preparing an updated ’61 class directory, is well along with the project. If you have received any requests for updated personal information, please respond immediately so that the revised directory can be published and mailed to all classmates by the end of the current year.
A sincere thank you and kudos to Hank Eberhardt, Harris McKee, Denny Denniston and several other classmates who assisted them in exceeding both of our class Dartmouth College Fund goals for the fiscal year recently ended. As a result of their tireless efforts, our class raised substantially more money than our stated class dollar goal. In addition, the class had a fund participation percentage of a very impressive 75.1 percent, which ranked third among all Dartmouth classes, including reunion classes.
Jeffrey James, who has long been a friend of the class and a resourceful advocate for the class of 1961 Legacy of the Arts program during his decade of tenure as the director of Hopkins Center, has retired. As class secretary I sent him a sincere thank-you note on behalf of our class.
Our class logo revision project has been completed. Undertaken under the direction of Harris McKee, who painstakingly presented and revised numerous renditions, we now have a new logo and new class stationery, both centered around the Robert Frost statue our class had produced and contributed to Dartmouth nearly 20 years ago. Thanks also to Ron Wybranowski, now a professional photographer, who contributed the photograph of the Frost statue upon which our new logo is based.
To close, I want to refer to one of the recipients of our class’ annual grant programs, which are stipends given to a few select students each year in different academic, artistic and athletic disciplines. In 2004 our arts initiative grant was given to Christopher “Zeke” McMullen-Laird ’05, a music major, to conduct (and discuss in advance) a concert in Rollins Chapel consisting of the works of Mozart in his last year using period instruments. After graduation with high honors as a senior fellow in music, Zeke went to Europe to become a conductor. After additional post-education and training in Europe he went from one success after another. In 2011, the Munich International Orchestra appointed Christopher McMullen-Laird as its conductor. Many thanks to Maynard Wheeler for his tireless efforts in administering this program each year for our class.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; richwind13@gmail.com
Also learned recently that Ken Walker had open-heart surgery in December 2014. The operation was successful and Ken is back to hiking and playing tennis and expects to return to skiing this winter.
Steve Kirschner, now a fully retired physician, divides his time between Marco Island, Florida, for eight to nine months a year and New Hartford, New York, for three to four months. As part of our invite-a-classmate-to-reunion effort I hereby invite Steve and Linda to our 55th reunion in June 2016.
Bob Conn, in charge of preparing an updated ’61 class directory, is well along with the project. If you have received any requests for updated personal information, please respond immediately so that the revised directory can be published and mailed to all classmates by the end of the current year.
A sincere thank you and kudos to Hank Eberhardt, Harris McKee, Denny Denniston and several other classmates who assisted them in exceeding both of our class Dartmouth College Fund goals for the fiscal year recently ended. As a result of their tireless efforts, our class raised substantially more money than our stated class dollar goal. In addition, the class had a fund participation percentage of a very impressive 75.1 percent, which ranked third among all Dartmouth classes, including reunion classes.
Jeffrey James, who has long been a friend of the class and a resourceful advocate for the class of 1961 Legacy of the Arts program during his decade of tenure as the director of Hopkins Center, has retired. As class secretary I sent him a sincere thank-you note on behalf of our class.
Our class logo revision project has been completed. Undertaken under the direction of Harris McKee, who painstakingly presented and revised numerous renditions, we now have a new logo and new class stationery, both centered around the Robert Frost statue our class had produced and contributed to Dartmouth nearly 20 years ago. Thanks also to Ron Wybranowski, now a professional photographer, who contributed the photograph of the Frost statue upon which our new logo is based.
To close, I want to refer to one of the recipients of our class’ annual grant programs, which are stipends given to a few select students each year in different academic, artistic and athletic disciplines. In 2004 our arts initiative grant was given to Christopher “Zeke” McMullen-Laird ’05, a music major, to conduct (and discuss in advance) a concert in Rollins Chapel consisting of the works of Mozart in his last year using period instruments. After graduation with high honors as a senior fellow in music, Zeke went to Europe to become a conductor. After additional post-education and training in Europe he went from one success after another. In 2011, the Munich International Orchestra appointed Christopher McMullen-Laird as its conductor. Many thanks to Maynard Wheeler for his tireless efforts in administering this program each year for our class.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; richwind13@gmail.com