Classmates are sharing transitions. Please send us your news for future columns. John Ogden writes, “My wife recently retired, my kids have mostly left the nest, things at work are not as fulfilling as they used to be, and I am one of the oldest people in the room.” The work he has done through the years for the College connected him to classmates and a little of his youth. Most importantly, it gave him satisfaction knowing that he was helping to ensure the vibrancy of Dartmouth for the next generation of students. When asked to become one of our head agents, he happily said, “Okay.”

When Frank Governali retired the first time, 13 years ago, he wondered what it would be like not to have a Goldman Sachs identity and to be his kids’ primary caregiver. He questioned how he would fit into his small Maine community. He started volunteering everywhere and approached his new life like a job. (He admits that keeping a mobile file for each of his three kids was over the top.) Now he feels he did not so much retire as trade one demanding job for another. As he prepares to retire for real, he knows some truths: He likes to define his own schedule, but wants volunteer commitments that require frequent attention. Contributing his time and talent is more important than giving money, although the second usually follows the first. He wants to learn and remains open to change.

Jenny Clarke took a sharp turn because she was bored with her big law firm practice. An older friend, still thrilled with his work, inspired her. Jenny accepted a job running a prestigious but “slightly shabby,” civil rights law firm in Philadelphia at 10 percent of her previous salary. “It was terrifying because I didn’t know what I was doing.” She learned: When “little Pennsylvania defeated political gerrymandering; that was us.” Now she wants to hand the organization over to someone younger and cooler. She now would like to mentor “anyone who could reach their full potential if only they knew how.”

Laid off in 2010, Pam Gruninger Perkins had spent her entire career on the programming side of the nonprofit world. She felt her chances for a new position might be better if she switched to development. When opportunity knocked, she walked through the door and talked herself into a great job at the Rockefeller University. She cultivates new donors, particularly parents who want to know more about the latest research on childhood and adolescent health and behavior.

Leslie Embs Bradford’s daughter, Allie ’13, married the son of the mayor of Toronto last fall, with good friends Nancy Parssinen Vespoli, Dee Dee Granzow Simpson and Diana Taylor in attendance. Leslie’s son, Tyler ’14, walked her up the aisle. Leslie is battling breast cancer, but chuckled, “Have wigs, will wedding!”

Susan Van Wie Kastan has married guitarist Reeves Gabrels. As she has taken her husband’s name, henceforth she is Susan Van Wie Gabrels.

Congratulations!

—Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com