The Dartmouth Class Officers Weekend at the end of September 2012 generated 11 officers in attendance from our class: Denny Denniston (president), Ken DeHaven (vice president), Vic Rich (secretary), Ivar Jozus (treasurer), Pete Stuart (head agent), Bob Conn (co-webmaster), Tom Conger (co-newsletter editor), Pete Palin (co-gift planning chair), John Damon (co-gift planning chair), Harris McKee (co-newsletter editor, co-webmaster), Al Orschel (class representative to the Dartmouth Alumni Council). Apparently, we had the largest class representation at the Class Officers Weekend. Apart from College-related activities, the ’61 class officers attended a spirited class meeting, a dedication ceremony for a class of 1961 shell given to the Dartmouth rowing club and an enjoyable dinner on Saturday evening for our classmates and spouses at the Norwich Inn.


At our separate class meeting Ivar, class treasurer, presented the class’ financial report for the fiscal year-end June 30, 2012. The end-of-year cash balance was $35,091. Excluding non-recurring receipts and disbursements related to our 50th reunion, the class had an excess of revenues over disbursements of $3,105. Ivar noted that the College recently has taken over financing of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, which means additional funds will be available to our class. We will use the additional funds of approximately $8,000 per year to increase class participation in various class activities, such as for new or existing projects or to reduce the cost to classmates for formal reunions at Dartmouth (every five years) or mini-reunions either on or off campus. As a start, it was agreed by those present to allocate $5,000 to subsidize in part the class mini-reunion planned for Charleston, South Carolina, on April 14-17, which provides a substantial additional incentive for all classmates to attend.


Getting back to the rowing shell dedication ceremony, a number of classmates contributed funds totaling approximately $40,000 to purchase a new class of 1961 eights shell for the Dartmouth rowers. At the dedication ceremony it was noted that “Class of 1961” will be inscribed permanently onto the shell.


Our class has granted a unique gift to the College in the form of the Class of 1961 Performing Arts Legacy. Since its inception more than a decade ago this legacy has funded 45 performing arts programs at Hopkins Center for the benefit of the Dartmouth and Hanover communities. As of September 2012 the legacy has an accumulated balance of approximately $915,000, based on classmate and class contributions from inception, earnings on the various account balances through the years and after annual distributions to the Hopkins Center to support varied high-quality performing arts programs through the years that the legacy program has been in existence.


Our highly ambitious class goal was to create a net endowment of $1,000,000 by our 50th reunion. If we could reach that goal during the current year, it would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the recently announced “Year of the Arts.” With a concerted effort by our entire class, we could raise the approximate $85,000 balance required during this year. Now wouldn’t that be a really great achievement for our class?


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