Putting together these notes is a bit challenging since I write in mid-April for a publication date after our 60th reunion, where it now appears that at least one-third of our living class members will have been on hand to exchange in person news and reminiscences. These notes also mark the end of my stint as class secretary. So forgive me if I use these milestones as an excuse for indulging in a few personal reflections.


In the recent predilection for generation naming (“The Greatest,” “Baby Boomers,” “Gen-Xers,” etc.) we seem to have fallen in the cracks. May I suggest for our generation, or at least our segment of it, “The Luckiest.” Born too late to have been aware of the Great Depression, we were, except for a handful of veterans, too young for World War II. The availability of student deferments and non-combat commissions kept all but a few from the battlefield rigors of Korea, and we were too old and, thankfully, our sons too young, for the Vietnam quagmire.


While the timing of our births insulated us from personal involvement in our country’s wars, it did grant us the opportunity to utilize our talents, enhanced by our Dartmouth experience, to pursue our individual ambitions and career choices during what will undoubtedly be recorded as the greatest sustained period of general prosperity and individual opportunity in American history so far. 


Now as senior citizens we are, I sense, largely unaffected onlookers to the economic and societal woes presently afflicting the country, a serenity perhaps tempered by some apprehension as to what the future holds for our grandchildren. But, all in all, we have been most fortunate, in Dartmouth, and in the country and times in which we have lived our lives.


As a valedictory, I thank everyone who helped me rebuild my ties to the class and College which time had frayed, particularly Ken Roman, Bill Montgomery and the late Angus Russell.


As to the future, my wish for all is contentment in the days and years left to us.


—Dave Drexler, 1706 N. Park Drive, Apt. 8, Wilmington, DE 19806; (302) 428-0398; dave@drexler.com