The year 2018 is a milestone for the class of ’38—80 years out! I have this report from 80 years ago: “Hanover’s population doubles for a day, [as] 505 ’38s smash clay pipes on the stump of the Old Pine and receive their degrees. There are truly memorable addresses by class president Merrill Davis, class orator Howard Van Riper, class poet Charles Livermore, Sachem orator George Dana, [plus] Art Soule’s address to the College, and John Cutler’s address to the Old Pine.”

At my first reunion I had the honor of visiting the stump of the Old Pine, and I remember how awestruck I was. This tradition has since always created emotions for me, and I can only imagine how the class felt and feels to this day. And yet, we are talking about a tree stump! The wonder of it all! It was the end of the students’ experience at Dartmouth, only they realized that their connection to Dartmouth never ends!

More from that report: “The class started on the edge of a Great Depression. We were launched as Hitler marched across Europe; many of us were still groping when we found ourselves a part of that Great War. ‘You are now a part of Dartmouth, and for as long as your life shall last, Dartmouth will be a part of you. They have the still North in their soul; the hill-winds in their breath; and the granite of New Hampshire; is made part of them till death.”

Congratulations to the amazing class of ’38 from its adopted class member and its biggest fan.

—Jean M. Francis, 2205 Boston Road, O-139, Wilbraham, MA 01095