Class Note 1961
Issue
Sept - Oct 2016
Our 55th reunion has come and gone; it was really special. Great weather, great meals (okay, good meals), great events, great entertainment (especially by several talented classmates organized by Steve Dale), old friendships renewed, new friendships made and every event well-planned and well-executed by Jim Baum, 55th reunion chair, with follow-up and assistance from Denny Denniston, outgoing class president. Kudos to both.
As part of the class’ 55th reunion project we worked with the College to expand and improve the area surrounding the Frost statue on campus (Mike Murphy, chair). We also ran a successful six-month art contest (Pete Bleyler, chair), open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the College that generated nearly 40 submissions of the best interpretation of the Robert Frost statue at Dartmouth with winners in each of the four stipulated areas of studio arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, photography). Winners were selected by a diverse panel of judges and a five-week exhibition of the winning and honorable mention entries was held at the Black Family Visual Arts Center. We also held the rededication during our reunion of the Robert Frost statue at Dartmouth, with an eight-page formal program (Vic Rich, chair), statue sculptor George W. Lundeen in attendance as our honorary guest and keynote program speaker, and the presentation of a signed and numbered, limited-edition bronze miniature replica of the life-size statue, also completed by Lundeen, to the office of the president. In addition, two miniature Frost statues were raffled off and won by very lucky classmates Jim Naylor and Denny Denniston. During the rededication ceremony the class formally adopted Lundeen, the sculptor of the life-size bronze statue commissioned by the class approximately 23 years ago and gifted by the class of 1961 to the College 20 years ago.
The turnout for the reunion was very good for our unusually small class, totaling approximately 170 total attendees, including nearly 100 classmates. However, the 55th reunion was somewhat bittersweet since, based on our current rate of classmate attrition and increasing infirmities, this reunion will probably turn out to be the last major reunion for too many of us.
A class nominating committee, chaired by Art Kelton, spent two months coming up with a slate of class officers for the next five years. The slate—led by Don O’Neill as president; Gerry Kaminsky and Denny Denniston as vice presidents; Vic Rich continuing as secretary; Ivar Jozus continuing as treasurer, Harris McKee continuing as communications officer, webmaster and necrologist; Tom Conger continuing as newsletter editor; Harris McKee, Hank Eberhardt and Rog McArt continuing as co-head agents; Maynard Wheeler and Dave Prewitt as mini-reunion co-chairs; and Dave Armstrong and Red Facher as co-bequest chairs—was approved unanimously at our class meeting held during our 55th reunion.
In closing, we can now say that the poet Robert Frost, class of 1896 (though he never graduated), is now a permanent and a visible part of the history of Dartmouth. And for Dartmouth that is a good thing.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com
As part of the class’ 55th reunion project we worked with the College to expand and improve the area surrounding the Frost statue on campus (Mike Murphy, chair). We also ran a successful six-month art contest (Pete Bleyler, chair), open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the College that generated nearly 40 submissions of the best interpretation of the Robert Frost statue at Dartmouth with winners in each of the four stipulated areas of studio arts (painting, sculpture, drawing, photography). Winners were selected by a diverse panel of judges and a five-week exhibition of the winning and honorable mention entries was held at the Black Family Visual Arts Center. We also held the rededication during our reunion of the Robert Frost statue at Dartmouth, with an eight-page formal program (Vic Rich, chair), statue sculptor George W. Lundeen in attendance as our honorary guest and keynote program speaker, and the presentation of a signed and numbered, limited-edition bronze miniature replica of the life-size statue, also completed by Lundeen, to the office of the president. In addition, two miniature Frost statues were raffled off and won by very lucky classmates Jim Naylor and Denny Denniston. During the rededication ceremony the class formally adopted Lundeen, the sculptor of the life-size bronze statue commissioned by the class approximately 23 years ago and gifted by the class of 1961 to the College 20 years ago.
The turnout for the reunion was very good for our unusually small class, totaling approximately 170 total attendees, including nearly 100 classmates. However, the 55th reunion was somewhat bittersweet since, based on our current rate of classmate attrition and increasing infirmities, this reunion will probably turn out to be the last major reunion for too many of us.
A class nominating committee, chaired by Art Kelton, spent two months coming up with a slate of class officers for the next five years. The slate—led by Don O’Neill as president; Gerry Kaminsky and Denny Denniston as vice presidents; Vic Rich continuing as secretary; Ivar Jozus continuing as treasurer, Harris McKee continuing as communications officer, webmaster and necrologist; Tom Conger continuing as newsletter editor; Harris McKee, Hank Eberhardt and Rog McArt continuing as co-head agents; Maynard Wheeler and Dave Prewitt as mini-reunion co-chairs; and Dave Armstrong and Red Facher as co-bequest chairs—was approved unanimously at our class meeting held during our 55th reunion.
In closing, we can now say that the poet Robert Frost, class of 1896 (though he never graduated), is now a permanent and a visible part of the history of Dartmouth. And for Dartmouth that is a good thing.
—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com