On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps. Within five years more than 15,000 people, including many of our classmates, were serving around the world. With the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour scheduled for April, it is hard to believe that it was 50 years ago, on April 12, 1961, that Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be launched into space. A week later the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba failed, heralding an escalation in Cold War. 


During the mini-reunion tailgate before the Yale game this fall, we were serenaded by the Dartmouth College Marching Band. For several of us that experience brought back memories of one of our favorite pastimes at Dartmouth. We reflected on a mosaic of events from our days in Hanover. Most of those events were experiences shared with our closest friends who came from the organizations to which we devoted our efforts: the DOC, sports, fraternities, ROTC and many others. Some 22 members of the class of ’65 played in the band and serenaded the alums before football games.


Their time in the band generated vivid memories. Most members recall marching around campus on the Friday night of homecoming to the extraordinary cadences created by Ron Tegtmeier and the other drummers. They also remember playing in venues—Harvard Stadium and Yale Bowl—that seemed bigger than our campus. Tom Meacham recalls playing the herald trumpet (with Rich Bloch, Rick Spears and George Estabrook ’64) displaying banners made by Tom’s mother. Many share a dark memory as well. On November 23, 1963, the band was going to the final game of the season—the team was 6-2 and playing Princeton for the title. Suddenly the lead bus pulled over and the second bus followed suit. Members on the first bus had heard a radio report that President Kennedy had been shot. They stopped the bus and one member went back to tell those on the second. At first no one believed him—it was true. 


The ’65 bandsmen have led interesting lives. Several had careers in business and education. Eight went to medical school (Kris Greene, Rich Miller, Chester Phillips, Dick Shaw,Ron Tegtmeier,and the late Barry Gross), while two (Jim Roche and Bob Witty) earned both an M.D. and a Ph.D. There are three other Ph.D.s (including Ron Choy and Tom Flechtner), four lawyers (including Rich Bloch, Pete Bush,Tom Meacham) and a couple of M.B.A.s (John Rogers and Rick Spears) among the 22 musicians. Kris Greene, Don Miller and Dick Harris had careers in the military. A few of the musicians, such as Dick Harris, who has served as president of the Atlanta Musicians’ Orchestra, and Ron Tegtmeier have continued with, or resumed, their music. Others have branched out. Recently the National Theater in Washington featured a world-class magic show titled Rich Bloch and His Best Kept Secrets.


I hope to do further “affinity” group articles over time. If there is a group you would like me to feature, please let me know. Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


—Tom Long, 1056 Leigh Mill Road, Great Falls, VA 22066; (703) 759-4255; tomlong@erols.com