Class Notes 1961

In mid-October 2024, Pete Bleyler, the producer and director of the class of ’61 mini-reunions for approximately the past five years, with three mini-reunions per year, recently completed his first mini-reunion program for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, with this one being a hybrid of live, on-campus meetings and Zoom offsite. As usual Pete was assisted by Harris McKee for his technical expertise and Maynard Wheeler for his executive and administrative talents. Once again, the subject matter considered for each segment and the classmates, faculty members, members of the College administration, or outsiders involved in each segment were all well rehearsed.

Much is happening these days, both on and off the Dartmouth campus, both within and outside of the Ivy League, and both within and outside of college education in general. The issues in question have all emerged at one level or another. However, most have not been fully resolved at a national level, state level, or perhaps not even a local level.

First, there is the issue and extent of “free speech” at Dartmouth and other colleges and universities, private and public. Where is this issue headed and how will it get there in final form, both in written form and in practice?

Second, there is the issue of future admissions procedures and restrictions at Dartmouth, other Ivy League colleges and universities, and other high-quality colleges and universities. Should preferential treatment be given, or even be allowed, with respect to minorities, outstanding athletes, legacies, students with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities, under-educated students, students with special other than academic abilities (such as professional actors or actresses), etc.?

Third, there is the issue of the unionization of student-athletes and perhaps other specialty students in the future (such as amateur actors and actresses).

Should these and possibly other issues be discussed at the class level now so that our understanding, thoughts, and opinions can be consolidated into viable recommendations at the proper time in the future?

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

In May Pete Bleyler, the producer and director of our class of ’61 mini-reunions and reunions for the past approximately four years, usually with three mini-reunions per year, recently completed his final mini-reunion program for the fiscal year ended June 30; two were Zoom only and one was a hybrid of on-campus meeting and Zoom offsite. As usual, Pete was assisted by Harris McKee’s technical expertise and Maynard Wheeler’s administrative talents.

David Birney, deceased, will look down on the theatrical capability of our mini-reunions and reunions today and smile at their quality.

Gerry Kaminsky, Pi Lam president while at Dartmouth, organized an extended luncheon in Manhattan in June for any fraternity brothers able to attend. Fortunately, five brothers within the New York metro area were able to make it and all had an enjoyable time: Gerry Kaminsky, Bill Kandel, Larry Levy, Vic Rich, Bob Rosier. For other brothers invited from outside the area, you missed a good time and we missed you.

Jim Meirick, deceased while we were still undergraduates at Dartmouth, Al Loeb, deceased within a decade or so after graduation, and Ron Pickett, deceased for about four years, would smile down at the event, regretting that they could not attend.

How Dartmouth has changed through the decades! First, it went coed during the mid-1970s. Several unnamed deceased classmates would have appreciated this very much. Second, the Hopkins Center arose out of the ground and has kept on expanding. Pete Holbrook, deceased, and David Birney would have appreciated the ongoing development of this major arts project. Third, Dartmouth Medical School’s expansion from an outstanding two-year partial medical school into an outstanding four-year medical school has been accomplished smoothly. Many of our class’s deceased graduates from the two-year medical school would have appreciated the expansion. Fourth, the development and growth of Rockefeller Center has added greatly to the development of a college learning center about government. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, deceased, is looking down on the area with pride and satisfaction.

Someday the rest of us will also be upstairs and looking down on the Dartmouth Green. What will we see?

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

It is now the end of February and the class of ’61 has just completed its second mid-year mini-reunion of the fiscal year. The winter mini-reunion via Zoom was again focused mostly on our fellow classmates and their life experiences after Dartmouth, while at Dartmouth (where relevant), and prior to Dartmouth (if relevant). In addition, presentations and discussion with various members of the administration, faculty, and current students comprise about 30 percent of each mini-reunion schedule. However, even these sessions have had classmates as the moderator.

As usual, this recent mini-reunion was well organized, well produced, and well managed by Pete Bleyler, mini-reunion chair, with quality technical and operational assistance from Harris McKee and Maynard Wheeler. Also, as usual, about 90 people registered to attend, with approximately 60 in attendance for the entire four-hour formal session and some lesser number for the half-hour informal classmate discussion before and after the formal discussion and the half-hour women’s discussion group subsequent to the formal session.

Participants from the class in this mini-reunion, either as direct participants or as moderator, included Al Rozycki, Pete Bleyler, Oscar Arslanian, Hop Holmberg, Ted Tapper, Pete Tuschak, Ron Wybranowski, and Matt Friedman. Also active were three spouses of classmates: Karla Goodridge was a participant while Nyla Arslanian and Patti Rich were the co-coordinators and co-moderators of the ’61 women’s group session at the end of the formal program.

The segments of the program relating to quality presentations by and discussions with members of the Dartmouth faculty, administrators, and current students included Dartmouth’s new head football coach Sammy McCorkle along with two members of the current team and Dartmouth’s first vice president for government and human relations, Emma Wolfe.

In summary, the mini-reunion was informative, educational, interesting, and entertaining. Certainly I was one classmate (apparently among many others) who was not aware that John Kemeny, Dartmouth’s then faculty department head and future president, led the College’s successful effort to quietly admit 10 qualified Hungarian refugee students into the class of 1961 as scholarship students.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

A ’61 class project, begun nearly 30 years ago in 1994, was finally completed in 2023.

The initial phase of the project, a high-quality, life-size statue of Robert Frost (class of 1896, with many close ties to Dartmouth although never a graduate), created by now famous sculptor George W. Lundeen, was completed and donated to Dartmouth by the class of 1961 during its 35th Reunion in 1996. Primarily because the College at the time had no other statues on campus (and to date still does not have any statues of a person, real or imaginary), it placed the statue of Robert Frost at the top of College Park, alone except for the existence of the long unused Bartlett Tower. Although at the time the upper tier of College Park was in decent shape and reasonably well kept, those conditions were not maintained during the next 20 years, although the Frost statue gained popularity and increased visitation steadily during that period.

For our 55th reunion in 2016, the class had a re-dedication of the statue, ran a College-wide art contest using the Frost statue as the focus point (with financial awards in three categories and a public display of the winning and runner-up efforts during the week of the various reunions), and worked with the College to clean up the upper section of the College Park area.

In 2022 the ’61 class executive committee realized that the upper area of College Park was again overgrown and, more significantly, the edges of the rock outcropping near the statue was falling away, thus creating an ugly and potentially dangerous situation for visitors. Although initial planning and discussions were leaning us toward possibly doing another Frost statue improvement project for our 65th reunion in 2026, we learned the class of 1967 was planning to improve portions of the upper area of College Park. Fortunately for both classes, we were able to join together and coordinate our efforts in a joint class project to do a quality job for the entire upper section of College Park, now renamed “The Rise.”

The Robert Frost statue, after nearly 30 years, finally has a home attractive enough and large enough to accommodate comfortably his friends, students, and other visitors.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Congratulations to Al Rozycki along with Maynard Wheeler (current class president), Pete Bleyler, and Ron Wybranowski for overseeing the outstanding restoration, beautification, and expansion of the area surrounding the popular life-size Robert Frost statue commissioned by the class and presented to the College more than 25 years ago. Also, many thanks to Gerry Kaminsky and Art Kelton, as well as several other classmates,for leading the campaign required to raise the funds necessary to finance this class project.

The highlight of the project was the creation of a stone “Mending Wall” (as in the Robert Frost poem) containing a wooden seating area that can easily accommodate several people. Pictures of the completed project (on time and within budget) have been sent to the entire class. Pictures alone, however, do not do it justice. George W. Lundeen, the prominent sculptor who created the statue near the end of the last century, will be proud of the project’s end result. Try to attend the hybrid class mini-reunion (live on campus/Zoom off-campus) on October 6-8 to see the completed project as well as attend a special dedication and recognition ceremony.

The class of 1961 in June completed its ninth entirely Zoom or Zoom-live combination reunion and mini-reunion sessions. All of these events have been interesting and informative with a combination of classmate speakers as well as speakers from the College and undergraduate classes. This session was again produced and executed by Pete Bleyler, with excellent promotional and technical assistance provided by Harris McKee and Maynard Wheeler. Classmates, spouses, and widows of classmates (now formally considered a part of our class) participating in this mini-reunion included panel participants Dave Knuti, Maynard Wheeler, Larry Gleeson,and Gim (and Eileen) Burton; moderators Chris Bosworth, Henry Eberhardt, and Denny Denniston; presenter of another ’61 Special Classmate AwardVic Rich; and a primarily women’s breakout session led by Nyla Arslanian and Patti Rich.

During the June 2023 mini-reunion, the ’61 class officers presented a ’61 Special Classmate Award to Ken Kolb, a longtime active classmate and current at-large member of the ’61 executive committee as well as the host, along with his able and personable spouse, Pani, of possibly the most successful off-campus mini-reunion ever held by our class.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The class of 1961 has just completed its approximately seventh entirely Zoom only or Zoom-live combination reunion and mini-reunion sessions, each min-reunion comprising approximately a five-hour day and the single full reunion during that period comprising two-plus days including on-campus College events and class meals in addition to combination live-Zoom themed classmate panel discussions. All of these events have been well thought out, produced, and executed by Pete Bleyler, with excellent promotional and technical assistance provided by Harris McKee and Maynard Wheeler. Each panel discussion included excellent themed sessions involving multiple classmates along with a classmate moderator plus sessions involving key administrators from the College. Attendance at each session has averaged about 100 people.

For many, probably the most interesting and unusual speaker topics included in the February ’61 mini-reunion dealt with classmates Steve Grossman and Ted Tapper, with Doug Zipes as the effective moderator of the session. Due to the need to submit this May/June column to DAM in a timely manner, the unusual professional career turns of both Steve and Ted will be covered more thoroughly in the next edition of DAM.

Our ongoing class project, in collaboration with the class of 1973, to renovate and beautify a large section of College Park has begun.

Rog McArt became the 18th classmate presented with the Dartmouth ’61 Special Classmate Awardfor outstanding service to the class, College, and society, in that order, during the most recent class mini-reunion, in February.

Ron Boss’s granddaughter, a freshman at Dartmouth, is doing well and has earned a spot on the freshman women’s lacrosse team. Thus, the “Boss” legacy carries on at Dartmouth.

While in New Orleans for a few days at the end of February to visit a granddaughter at Tulane, Patti and I spent an enjoyable afternoon with classmate Ken Kolb and spouse Pani Kolb, an active member of the ’61 women’s initiative committee. During the recent February mini-reunion Ken was an effective moderator of a panel discussion of five classmates on classmate service in America’s military services primarily during the 1960s and 1970s.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

As another fall season winds down and the winter season approaches, the warmth of the fireside causes those classmates near the Dartmouth campus and those far from the Hanover area to pause and reflect upon the class of 1961’s past and emerging future. The past fiscal year once again showed the class of 1961 to be a group of high achieving alumni dedicated each year to helping make Dartmouth one of the world’s premier undergraduate institutions, as well as to enjoy the ride along the way as a closely knit group of classmates dating back to the matriculation in the early fall of 1957.

One of our achievements year after year is the class’ ability to achieve the Dartmouth College Fund highest class participation rates, on a regular basis in the 70th percentile and with a high in excess of 75 percent. With the onset of the pandemic the class of 1961 established virtual Zoom reunions and mini-reunions lasting one to three days, which are always interesting and technically near flawless in execution. Earlier this fall the class once again was able to be live on campus and so created a successful three-day fall mini-reunion, both on campus and virtual for those unable to attend in person. In addition, the class recently has undertaken a significant class project to renovate and expand the area surrounding the popular Robert Frost statue, donated by the class of 1961 to the College in 1996. There is also the class’ well-funded performing arts legacy program, established by the class several decades ago to bring well-known performing artists to Dartmouth for two to three days to perform at the Hop and meet with performing arts students and faculty to discuss common interests. There have been many other class projects, including pre-pandemic off-campus mini-reunions since May 1989 hosted by local classmates throughout the world. The aforementioned have brought the class together, encouraged friendships among classmates, and impacted the College in a positive way directly and indirectly.

It has been a great ride to date from and with the class of 1961. To name all of those classmates involved through the decades would have taken up all of our allotted space. Therefore, for the first time, no individual classmates have been named. The unified class of 1961 has been the sole entity mentioned.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Congratulations once again are due to the class of 1961 for putting together and presenting another outstanding class mini-reunion on May 27, its third during the fiscal year ended June 30. Once again Pete Bleyler (the mini-reunion chair as well as the producer and director of the event) along with Harris McKee and Maynard Wheeler (the online managers and technical wizards for the event) deserve much of the credit. However, as always, it was the panelists who made the show a success; they were well-prepared and interesting speakers and moderators, both from the class of ’61 (Oscar Arslanian, Al Ward, and Dick Noel as classmate speakers, and Charlie Buffon, Bob Hargraves, and Pete Bleyler as classmate moderators), spouses of ’61 classmates (Nyla Arslanian), and three current Dartmouth studentswho are or were Dickey Center or Bosworth awardees of stipends from the class of 1961.In addition, Vic Rich and Harris McKee presented a 1961 Special Classmate Award(on behalfof the class’ special classmate awards committee) to Al Rozycki for his outstanding service to the class of ’61, Dartmouth College, and the Geisel School of Medicine. The approximately five-hour mini-reunion ended with several breakout discussion sessions on several different topics designed to be of interest to the attendees.

Don O’Neill andVic Rich,as the class’s designated alumni liaisonsto the Dartmouth trustee-appointed presidential search committee, have been working hard with the other ’61 class officers and executive committee members to compile a recommendation list from the perspective of older and more seasoned alumni as to what qualities and viewpoints the committee should be seeking in a new president for Dartmouth and in what general order of priority. Completion and submission of the list is scheduled for July.

The Mike Kirst biography project, promoted by Stanford University, has concentrated on structured conversations with and about Mike and about educational reform and the politics of education. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

On February 10 the class of 1961 held its second virtual mini-reunion during the current fiscal year ending on June 30. The cost-free event, led by Pete Bleyler, lasted four-plus hours and was another resounding success.

The interesting program had 123 classmates, spouses, and widows sign up for the event and as many as 91 people watching and participating at any one time. The panel discussions were all interesting and informative, and in some cases even provocative. Classmate panelists and moderators included Hop Holmberg, Charlie Buffon, Jim Richards, Tom Conger, Doug Zipes, Dave Milne, and John White. One highlight of the program was an interesting discussion with the coach and two players from the current NCAA national championship women’s rugby team.

Another highlight of the program was the presentation by Vic Rich of a 1961 Special Classmate Award to David Birney. Unfortunately, due to a deteriorating medical situation, David was unable to attend the presentation personally. As a result, his long-term significant other and primary caretaker, Michele Roberge, accepted the award and gave a wonderful acceptance speech on his behalf. Finally, the technical aspects of the entire Zoom program were again handled expertly by Harris McKee, Maynard Wheeler, and Ron Wybranowski.

The class was recently informed by Zhuoman Gardner, a former Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) employee and a formally adopted classmate for nearly a decade, that she was moving to Worcester, Massachusetts, to begin a new job as the associate director of the Holy Cross fund. We congratulated her and wished her well in her new position. She said that she would miss us and working with us with respect to our DCF efforts each year.

As a final matter, Don O’Neill and Vic Rich were recently appointed by Maynard Wheeler, class president, to represent the class of 1961 in interfacing with the trustee members and cochairs of the Dartmouth presidential search committee, which was formed to search for President Hanlon’s successor.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Congratulationsto the class of 1961 for receiving a letter of achievement from the Class Officers Association Executive Board (COAEB) and alumni relations for achievement by the class during the fiscal year ended June 30, with special emphasis on our virtually held and well-attended four-day 60th reunion. The June 2021 event was outstanding, with about 230 classmates and others attending the 24 diversified and distinct sessions. The primary classmates responsible for our 60th reunion success were Pete Bleyler (chair), Harris McKee, and Maynard Wheeler.

The next class activity receiving specific mention was the effort put forth and the success achieved by the class of ’61 women’s initiative committee, led by Nyla Arslanian and Patti Rich. During the five-year period leading up to the 60th reunion they built up a subcommittee of 10 active ’61 spouses and widows who, because of their social bonding and communication efforts, were a significant reason for the successful attendance at the 60th reunion and added to the diversity of the reunion programs, including the production of an excellent 26-page 60th reunion booklet (thank you, Nyla). The growth of the women of the class of 1961 reached a peak in 2019, when the class, under the leadership of former class president Don O’Neill, formerly amended the ’61 class constitution, designating all of the spouses and surviving spouses of ’61 classmates as fully participating members of the class of 1961, a first in Dartmouth’s history.

Finally, the class of 1961 was recognized in the citation for its continuous and record-setting leadership in the important area of Dartmouth College Fund participation. This effort, led by the class officers and executive committee members Harris McKee, Henry Eberhardt, and Rog McArt, along with the assistance each year of Denny Denniston, Gerry Kaminsky,and Don O’Neill, has led our class to consistently become the class leader with the highest DCF giving percentage among all Dartmouth classes and a consistent recipient of the College’s annual DCF participation awards. This past year the class of ’61 (again) had the highest DCF participation rate among both reunion classes and non-reunion classes.

To conclude, we ask only why the awards for class of the year and reunion class of the year and all of the individual class officers of the year (president, secretary, treasurer, reunion chair, etc.) were cancelled. We await a viable answer.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The class of ’61 recently completed its 60th reunion, held from June 14 to 17. The amount of effort and preparation put into this four-day event was monumental and involved many classmates, with Pete Bleyler (reunion chair), Maynard Wheeler, and Harris McKee leading the way. There were 24 distinct sessions, of which 14 were formal programs lasting an hour or more: five classmate panel discussions; two panel discussion segments each involving multiple students who had received financial grants from the class; a formal memorial service for deceased classmates; a “passages” classmate discussion session, which the class has had at every major reunion since our 15th; an extensive business meeting segment led by Don O’Neill, outgoing class president; a panel discussion exclusively for classmate spouses and widows; several art segments with original artwork from classmates, spouses, and widows; three evening entertainment segments, two of which consisted of classmates; multiple classmate breakout groups and several open-mike conversation group sessions; and election of new class officers, with Maynard Wheeleras incoming class president. This entire reunion, online via Zoom, was the most extensive virtual reunion or mini-reunion conducted by any Dartmouth class or by the College to date.

Overall the entire reunion went smoothly. Everything was well thought out, planned, and rehearsed and preceded by three virtual Zoom mini-reunions from October 2020 through April 2021 used in part as learning and training sessions. The approximately 45 classmates, spouses, and widows directly involved in the reunion program were all well prepared. A total of 232 people registered, including more than 40 spouses and widows of classmates. There were strong turnouts for each segment. The reunion was educational, informative, and entertaining.

In conjunction with our 60th reunion, all classmates and widows received a revised class directory (Harris McKee, editor), a 60th reunion booklet (Nyla Arslanian, editor), and, currently at the printer, an archive book of Dartmouth-related awards and formal awards, recognitions, and appointments bestowed upon the class as a whole and upon individual ’61 classmates during the six decades since graduation (Vic Rich, editor).

Finally, during reunion the ’61 special recognition awards committee (Dave Prewitt, chair) bestowed four additional awards for outstanding classmate service to the class of 1961, Dartmouth College, and the wider community, in that order: No. 10 Gerry Kaminsky, No. 11 Ron Boss, No. 12 Don O’Neill, No. 13 Pete Bleyler. All these awards were well earned.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

As the Covid-19 pandemic slowly begins to recede, the class of ’61 has begun to step up its momentum as it prepares for its virtual 60th reunion, its last big showdown at the O.K. Corral. Pete Bleyler, chairman, and his many assistants, including Maynard Wheeler and Harris McKee on the inside and class president Don O’Neill on the outside, in addition to many other classmates, spouses and widows are all working diligently to develop and implement the three-day-plus program from June 14-17.

On January 12 the class held a highly successful one-day, two-program Zoom off-campus mini-reunion. The program was chaired by Maynard Wheeler with assistance from Harris, Pete, and Don, and included two discussion panels led most ably by Chris Bosworth, widow of Steve Bosworth, and Dave Prewitt as the program moderators. One panel included a discussion of the U.S. Foreign Service from the perspective of four career foreign service officer classmates (John Adams, Parker Borg, Jake Gillespie, and Jon Sperling). The other session consisted of John Barry, the author of the book, The Great Influenza, as the key speaker. That session discussed the U.S. influenza pandemic of 1918 and its similarities to and differences from the current Covid-19 pandemic. In between the two panel discussions Terry Rogers held a photo exhibition. In total some 92 classmates, spouses, widows, and outside guests attended the mini-reunion event.

An extensive response to a survey sent out to all attendees of the January 12 event confirmed that the mini-reunion was highly successful and that the class wanted to have similar one-day virtual minis going forward on a quarterly basis.

On March 2 Harris again ran our annual class of 1961 birthday celebration, held on the 61st day of each year. Along with unique pictures of classmates holding the class logo poster for 2021 designed by Harris, this year also included a bring-your-own-bottle virtual cocktail party.

On April 6 another quarterly one-day virtual mini is scheduled to take place. The key speaker will be Mike Kirst, one of the nation’s foremost people involved in public education from kindergarten to 12th grade in California and throughout the United States. The moderator of that program will be David Blake.

To conclude, a few of us attended the recent Dartmouth social justice awards virtual ceremony, where Vince Wilson, our recently adopted classmate, received the Holly Fell Sateia Award. Congratulations, Vince.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

On October 2-3, 2020, the class of 1961 once again made Dartmouth history, as it became the first class to hold a successful two-day virtual mini-reunion. After our regular annual fall on-campus mini-reunion had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus, several class officers—led by on-campus mini-reunion chair Maynard Wheeler and assisted primarily by class president Don O’Neill, class digital content manager Harris McKee, and class 60th reunion chair Pete Bleyler—in less than a month redesigned and converted it into a virtual mini-reunion. It ranged from a diverse seven-session agenda beginning mid-Friday and ending Saturday evening to a technically perfect Zoom setup that encouraged classmate participation. It even included small breakout sessions following each of the six faculty- or college administrator-led sessions and discussions from three students in diverse areas of study who were recipients of annual grants awarded by our class. In all, 81 classmates, spouses, widows, and others attended at least one of the two days’ sessions, a very good turnout from our small class base.

One highlight of the event was the filmed broadcast of the recent original musical piece, “Symphony for Winds ‘Dartmouth,’ ” a 250th anniversary composition composed by Oliver Caplan ’04. It includes the second of its three movements as a tribute to the increasing significance of the Robert Frost statue contributed by the class of 1961 to the College during the mid-1990s. Another highlight was the formal adoption into the class of 1961 of Vince Wilson, a Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) administrator working primarily with our class’ DCF efforts for several years. The final highlight was the presentation of two 1961 special recognition awards by Vic Rich to David and Joan Prewitt and Maynard Wheeler for outstanding long-term service contributions to the class, the College, and society in general, in that order. The two awards were primarily for providing most of our on-campus and off-campus successful mini-reunions during the entire 21st century to date. All three award recipients were completely surprised.

To conclude, the class of 1961 continues to carry its weight in College affairs!

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Covid-19 simply will not go away! Some areas have performed much better than others; some areas have performed more poorly than others. Some areas performed poorly early on but have improved dramatically; some areas that performed well early on have deteriorated dramatically. The bottom line at this time is that Covid-19 is not yet under control. Also, the virus’ direct and indirect effects on our class and our classmates are becoming more apparent. As of June, at least three classmates, unfortunately, had succumbed to this virus. Our anticipated mini-reunion scheduled for this past April in San Diego had to be canceled at the last minute. Our anticipated mini-reunion scheduled for this October is ready to go but is awaiting final clearance from the College.

Though the aforementioned observations do not present a particularly cheerful outlook for the current situation, at least one event occurred recently that was indicative of a thoughtful and positive gesture indicating clearly that we are all in this together and that we are all here within the Dartmouth community to look out for each other. One day in mid-June, a research scientist at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice was walking past the Robert Frost statue near the Bema and noticed a cloth facial mask with “D” lettering lying on the ground. Realizing that Robert Frost was sitting without a face mask on, she picked up the face mask and gently placed it on the face of the statue to make sure Frost was practicing medically approved and socially acceptable anti-coronavirus precautions. She then took a picture of this unusual rendition of the Frost statue. That same day a member of the College administration also walked by the Frost statue and noticed a socially distanced and appropriately face-masked Robert Frost contemplating our world of today. He too photographed the unusual incident. It turns out that the College selected the image as a “Photo of the Week” in June. This small incident illustrates how we are all looking after the Robert Frost statue, which has been looking after all of us in the class of 1961 and at the College for nearly 24 years.

—Victor S. Rich,94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The class mini-reunion scheduled for late March in San Diego was cancelled unfortunately due to the increasing spread of the coronavirus. At the age of our attendees, it was deemed better to be safe than sorry. Joan and Dave Prewitt, who planned and organized the San Diego mini, are to be commended for their efforts and wise recommendation. In spite of the cancelled mini and scheduled class meeting, the electronic and mail vote on the draft amended class constitution, sent previously to classmates, was approved overwhelmingly by the many ’61 classmates who voted. As a result, all spouses and widows of our classmates are now informal (and voting) members of the class of 1961.

One classmate who warrants mention is Ford Daley. For nearly a decade Ford has been performing (as a singer and musician on the guitar and harmonica) as half of a duo, Ford with Julia, in and around Hanover and the Upper Valley at senior housing facilities, senior centers, and health and rehabilitation facilities. Ford’s concert goals are simple: to make his audience happy and to improve their emotional quality of life. Ford’s hair may be gray and thinning, but his spirit is still young and vibrant.

Remember, the next ’61 mini-reunion is in Hanover October 2-4 and is being organized by Maynard Wheeler and his “staff” of one classmate assistant. Also remember our 60th reunion is in Hanover June 14-17, 2021, and is being organized by Pete Bleyler and his “staff” of 24 classmate assistants. Pete is leaving no stone unturned. As you are undoubtedly aware, our small entrance class is now shrinking rapidly. We currently have fewer than 500 known survivors, and by next month or so that number will be reduced even further. Also, there are increasing disabilities for nearly all of us to contend with on an ongoing basis. Therefore, any upcoming mini-reunions and our upcoming 60th reunion are significant milestones, and opportunities, for all of us to mingle together perhaps one more time as twilight slowly comes to the class of 1961, the small class that could achieve—and did!

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The fall season was a busy time for the class of ’61.

In mid-September the class had seven class officers attend the College-sponsored VOX Weekend: Don O’Neill, Denny Denniston Jr., Vic Rich, Ron Wybranowski, Harris McKee, Rog McArt, and Patti Rich. During the weekend we learned that we did not win back-to-back Class of the Year awards, although we were again a top contender for the fiscal year 2018-19. Also during the weekend, Don led a lengthy planning session with those class officers attending to discuss our class’ weak areas and desired improvements, including the revitalization of the ’61 class executive committee and filling the slots with classmates able and willing to contribute to the management of the class, recommendations for Dartmouth College Fund class dollar goals and participation goals for the fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21, and culminating with a general discussion of our class’ 60th reunion in mid-June of 2021.

The meeting during VOX weekend was followed by a detailed letter from Don to the other class officers and then to all ’61 classmates in early October regarding the issues referred to above and summarizing the class’ extensive accomplishments during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. In addition, Don announced that Pete Bleyler had volunteered to chair our upcoming 60th reunion and that Dave Prewitt and Joan Prewitt, our off-campus mini-reunion chairs, had announced that our next off-campus mini-reunion would be held in San Diego from March 22-25.

In mid-October the class held its annual on-campus mini-reunion in Hanover, during Homecoming Weekend. As usual, Maynard Wheeler, our on-campus mini-reunion chair, did an excellent job. The turnout was very good and included 23 classmates and 46 people overall. The highlights of the weekend (apart from trouncing Yale in football) were listening to four outstanding and very interesting undergraduates who were recipients of financial grants from the class of 1961 describe the projects that they had worked on during the year. Also during the weekend, Denny Denniston was presented with the Class of 1961 Special Recognition Award for his outstanding service to and continuing leadership of the class, only the fifth person from our class to be awarded this honor.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

During May 15-18 the small (less than 500 surviving classmates) but highly active class of 1961 (winner of Class of the Year for two of the past four years) held its first off-campus mini-reunion in a foreign location (London, England). What started as a moment of historical significance almost exactly 30 years ago—when the class of ’61 held its first off-campus mini-reunion (and the College’s first official off-campus mini) in early May 1989 in Washington, D.C.—evolved through three decades into a celebration of Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary. The class held its first foreign mini in the city and country from which the then Lord Dartmouth and king of England indirectly provided the financial support necessary for the evolution of Dartmouth College in colonial America.

During the London mini 19 classmates, spouses, and significant others followed a detailed and extensive schedule that included visiting historical sites and listening to historical perspectives. The class’ highlight event was the final banquet dinner celebrating our classmates’ 80th birthdays and held in the stately Hall of the Worshipful Company of Founders in London. Classmate Frank Stephens, a longtime resident of London, and his wife, Dawn, planned the itinerary and implemented the entire celebration. Clearly, from post-mini responses from attendees, they were successful. At the final class dinner class president Don O’Neill presented Frank with a framed photograph of the Robert Frost statue at Dartmouth, autographed by the sculptor, as recognition by the class for a job well done.

On another tack, Dartmouth is currently undertaking the development of a new master plan for the development of the College through the next 20 years or so, both within its current campus envelope and including its outlying areas. While building and campus development has grown steadily during the past decade with respect to academic and arts use, there has been little recent growth, actual or projected, of buildings for undergraduate residential use. It is important that all of us follow this current master plan and provide input as to what size the undergraduate student body should be, considering the College both as an isolated individual entity and as a member of the highly competitive eight Ivy League schools, all of which (except Dartmouth, which is already the smallest Ivy) are or have been intentionally growing their respective undergraduate student bodies. Maybe Dartmouth does not need to grow its undergraduate student body, but maybe it does.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

In part to celebrate Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary and in part to celebrate the 80th birthday of most of our classmates, an achievement in and of itself, several of our classmates along with their spouses or significant others and a few widows of classmates are planning to be in London, England, for a class mini-reunion during May 15-18. Coordinating this dual event is classmate Frank Stephens along with his spouse,Dawn, long-term London residents who have done an outstanding job setting up an itinerary and providing for group hotel accommodations. In addition, Frank is actively engaged in trying to reach out to and convince the current earl of Dartmouth to attend one of our mini-reunion class functions in London. Those classmates who may still desire to attend the London mini should sign up quickly via the enrollment applications located on the class website or email Frank at franklin.stephens@ntlworld.com.

Several classmates, at age 79, are still receiving current accolades for superior services rendered to their profession or the public. John King was recently inducted into the Health Care Hall of Fame for his lifetime involvement and achievement in the medical area of public health administration. Sam Bell was recently awarded the prestigious University of South Florida College of Public Health Class of ’56 Award (one of the university’s five highest awards). The college was founded to a large extent as a result of Sam’s efforts and supported subsequently through the efforts of both Sam and his spouse, Betty Castor. The college is now ranked No. 1 in Florida and No. 16 in the nation. Moe Banks recently received the Connecticut Law Tribune’s Lifetime Achievement Award for being at the forefront of mergers and acquisition activities, raising venture capital financing and providing tax advice to his clients, and for a lifetime of service to the West Hartford, Connecticut, community, including numerous leadership positions in several Hartford area arts organizations.

In closing, I leave you with an appropriate quote from an unknown source: “I’m supposed to respect my elders, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one now.”

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Congratulations to the great class of 1961 for being awarded Class of the Year(for all alumni classes out more than 25 years) in September for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018. Thirteen class officers (the largest representation from any class) were in attendance at Class Officers Weekend in September when the award was announced at the College-wide annual alumni class officers dinner. We knew that our class had a lot to offer and that we were in the hunt, but there were other excellent classes also in the running.

It would be easy to list the names of the four or five key class officers or even to list all of the class’ 19 officers (including three spouses) and possibly a few non-officer classmates who made specific contributions during the year, but that would not be doing the class of 1961 justice. Why? Because this award would not and could not have been won by our class without the efforts and contributions from a great many classmates and in some instances from most of our classmates. Our class won the award because we had the statistics, the creativity, and the cohesiveness, which is the most important ingredient of them all. Robert Frost would have been proud of the class of ’61.

This was the second Class of the Year Award for our class in 57 years, but it was our second win during the past four years. Yes, we have won various special recognitionawards throughout the decades, but only two Class of the Yearawards. Many classes have never won this award, only a few classes have won the award more than once, and even fewer more than twice. Our old and unusually small class has been referred to as a well-oiled management and participation machine among Dartmouth alumni classes.

An unidentified wise person once said that there were three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch them happen, and those who wonder what happened. I am proud to say that our class has evolved through the decades into a class that “makes things happen.” Congratulations to all 1961s for a job well done!

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516)446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The three-day mini-reunion held in May in Newport, Rhode Island, was a huge success. The program was varied and perfectly paced, the hotel accommodations excellent and reasonably priced, the weather good, and the close camaraderie among the 30-plus classmates attending along with an almost equivalent number of spouses and significant others was beyond great. At an official class meeting held during the festivities, it was agreed unanimously to include all wives and widows of classmates as ongoing members of the class of 1961. In addition, outstanding classmate awards No. 2 and No. 3 were awarded to Mike Murphy and Art Kelton, bothof whomweredeserving of the awards.Kudos to class president Don O’Neill for the initial and ongoing push and to Dave and Joan Prewitt, who selected the location, developed the program, and implemented all of the details during a year and a half.

The next off-campus mini-reunion is scheduled for May 15-18, 2019, in London and will celebrate the 80th birthday for most of our classmates. This event will be run by Frank and Dawn Stephens, who reside in London. The next class mini-reunion will be during October 26-28 in Hanover, which will coincide with Homecoming Weekend. This annual fall on-campus mini-reunion is again being organized by Maynard Wheeler, who hasbecome a master at managing these on-campus functions. Sign up online with the forms provided by Harris McKee on the class website.

Dick Beattie, senior chairman of a major New York City-based national law firm, recently stepped down as chairman of New Visions for Public Schools, an education-based foundation that he founded three decades ago. He will remain on its board of directors and executive committee. The goal of the foundation is to ensure that every student in New York City has access to a high-quality education, based on the belief that public schools should be able to provide that quality education. New Visions has become a successful innovation incubator for the New York City school system.

The Tanzi license plate plaque has made its annual transfer, this year from Gerry Kaminsky to Vic Rich. The next recipient, beginning July 1, 2019, will be Ron Boss.

—Victor S. Rich,94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

May 2019 in London: How does that sound to the members of the class of 1961? It started out as a passing comment and photo by Oscar Arslanian, relating to his and Nyla’s very pleasant visit with longtime London residents and classmate Frank Stephens and his wife, Dawn, while Oscar and Nyla were traveling around England during September 2017. Then came independent recommendations from Maynard Wheeler and Vic Rich to hold our class’ first-ever out-of-the-country mini-reunion in London. Oscar offered to contact Frank to see if he would chair a London mini-reunion. His appeal was apparently successful, as Frank and Dawn agreed to set up the three-day-plus event and be our on-site hosts. As 2019 coincided with our 80th year on this planet, Don O’Neill,class president, and the rest of the 18 class officers unanimously agreed to an 80th birthday celebration to be held in London during May 2019. As our class held the very first Dartmouth off-campus mini-reunion in Washington, D.C., in May of 1989, to celebrate our 50th birthday celebration, it seemed only fitting that our 13th significant off-campus mini-reunion should be held in some far-off but highly accessible location, such as London, to celebrate our 80th birthday celebration. All we have to worry about between now and then is remaining alive and reasonably healthy.

A note received from Bob Naegele Jr. indicates that he is involved in trying to improve what he and others, including other Dartmouth alumni, deem to be “the failing public schools in Florida as well as the rest of the country.” It is quite an undertaking to pinpoint the problems and then to find workable solutions!

Harris McKee and wife Mary have now completed their first full winter as residents of Chicago, after having moved from “tropical” Arkansas. This may seem strange, when so many other classmates are moving to the warmer South after retiring. However, the magnetic pull of being closer to children and grandchildren apparently was just too strong.

By popular demand, I will again be concluding our class column with an interesting quote, but no room remains for this issue.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

What a fantastic mini-reunion weekend Maynard Wheeler, on-campus reunion chair, put together for us in Hanover during early October. He gave us perfect weather and kept us busy from dinner on Friday through brunch on Sunday. All classmates who were able to attend the event, which coincided with Homecoming Weekend, experienced a thoroughly enjoyable time. Some of the highlights included interesting presentations at Friday’s dinner by three current students who received grants from our class to help them finance their respective projects, lunch with Dartmouth students on Saturday, a class meeting led by class president Don O’Neill that included a presentation by Pete Bleyler about our new endowed class project, the traditional Dartmouth Homecoming march and subsequent bonfire, a presentation by the new director of the Hop to our class at Saturday’s dinner, the formal presentation by Dave Prewitt of the first Outstanding ’61 Classmate Award to Harris McKee and, last but not least, a truly remarkable comeback and last-minute football victory by Dartmouth against Yale.

On October 27, at the semi-annual Alumni Council meeting, Art Kelton became the sixthmember of our class to receivethe prestigious Dartmouth Alumni Award during a period of 56 years. Art’s wife, Elaine, and other members his family were in attendance at the event. Also attending were classmates Hank Eberhardt and Laurie, Art Johnson and Ellie, Al Rozycki and Diane, and Vic Rich. Both Hank and Vic were also included in a short video tribute celebrating Art and his award.

John King reported that he was now the chair of the board for Golf Fore Africa, a nonprofit foundation that assists in providing clean water to villages in Zambia. The foundation was founded by LPGA Hall of Fame golfer Betsy King (no relation to John), more than eight years ago and has since improved the lives of the men, women and children of those African villages. John recently returned from his third trip to that country, where he reviewed the work being done by the foundation.

In closing, remember this unattributed quote: “War does not determine who is right; it determines who is left.”

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Mike Butler wrote a letter to the editor of DAM that was published in a recent issue in which he praised the online edition of the magazine and stated that, “I can learn more here than by reading The New York Times!” Many classmates might agree with him.

Carol McCarthy, widow of deceased classmate Jack McCarthy, who passed away approximately four years ago, reported that Dartmouth recently accepted Jack’s papers for its archives. Jack was a poet of note and Carol headed a fundraiser project to assist with the cost of going through Jack’s previously unpublished poetry manuscripts and selecting various poems for edit and future publication.

John White recently self-published a book titled Celebrating America in Poem and Song: A Book of Patriotic Literature for the Classroom, which is a 50,000-word book of patriotic literature for use in homes and classrooms. According to John, the “purpose of the book is to encourage American patriotism through understanding and appreciating the fundamental ideas, principles, values, events, traditions, goals and dreams which have built our [great] nation.”

Mike Kirst is currently professor emeritus of education and business administration at Stanford University and the president since 2011 of the California State Board of Education (for the second time). The mandate given by the governor of California was broad: to understand fully the changing character of K–12 education and, where appropriate, to revise and revamp the education funding system for that group throughout the state. Mike has completed this work and is now implementing it. If successful, Mike’s plan can act as a model for other states to follow. Mike is also a noted authority on higher education and has done a great deal of research and published writing in this area, including most recently a book coauthored by Mike and titled Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education, published in 2015, and a new book titled Silicon Valley and Higher Education: Connected but Conflicted, due out this summer.

In closing, I offer the following unattributed quote submitted by classmate Art Kelton and Elaine Kelton: “If there was never any darkness, we would never see the fireflies.”

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

The ’61 class officers have nearly completed the class’ first formal communications plan, thanks primarily to Harris McKee, Don O’Neill, Denny Denniston, Gerry Kaminsky and Vic Rich. When finalized, the plan will be distributed to all classmates. It encompasses much of what we have been doing informally for the past 56 years. This written plan will guide the class officers on how best to fully communicate with all classmates and with the College, so as to strengthen the ties of brotherhood that have and will continue to bind us together as a unified and cohesive class of excellence.

For Valentine’s Day Dartmouth published several stories about married couples who met while students at the College. One such couple, Sarah and Dan Maxell Crosby ’04, apparently owe their relationship to the class of ’61. While both were freshmen working for Dartmouth Dining Services as caterers for reunion events, they met at our 40th reunion class dinner held at the DOC house in 2001. Sarah wrote that “The class of ’61 was a rowdy bunch and it was one of the best events in my four years of catering. [Dan and I] became ‘just friends’ [but] five months later we kissed near the Robert Frost statue” and married in July 2004. This is a big score for our great class, with an assist from our beloved Frost statue, which softly and quietly helped to seal the deal.

Mike Norman, now fully retired from an active and successful career as a pediatric nephrologist, still volunteers as a financial counselor to a nonprofit that helps people in need. Mike reports that he is healthy now, after having recovered at different times from a brain tumor (benign), cancer and a heart attack—not a bad track record for an amateur.

In closing I offer the following relevant but unattributed quote: “Nobody ever said that life was easy, they just promised that it would be worth it.” This quote is dedicated to all of our classmates who have experienced or will be experiencing some difficult medical issues in the future.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

Vic Rich recently had the privilege of beginning his fifth multi-year term on the Dartmouth Alumni Council during a period of some 45 years. “Never have I attended a council meeting that was as well planned, as informative or as well executed.” I am currently the representative for the Class Secretaries Association and the Class Newsletters Association. The only other member from our class currently on council is Al Rozycki, representing the Geisel School of Medicine. Dartmouth’s ambitions are at their highest and they are not merely words.

Well, Class Officers Weekend has come and gone. Unfortunately, after a tough battle, we did not win Reunion Class of the Year for the fiscal year 2015-16, although we were awarded one of the few Special Recognition Awards as well as two special Dartmouth College Fund annual awards, one for the highest percentage for participation of giving by a reunion class during 2016 and one for setting a new record for participation of giving by a 55th reunion class, both at 78.6 percent. Kudos to Denny Denniston, Hank Eberhardt, Rog McArt, Harris McKee and Hop Holmberg (participation chair for 2015-16, our 55th reunion year).

Doug Zipes, still very active both professionally and personally, was recognized last fall with an alumni achievement award from the Geisel School of Medicine and his latest fiction suspense novel, Not Just A Game, has been released.

Ron Wybranowski, also still very active as a professional photographer (second career) at age 77 and the photographer of our revised class logo featuring the Robert Frost statue, was recently accepted as a full member into the prestigious Copley Society of Art, America’s oldest nonprofit art organization.

The Robert Frost statue contributed to Dartmouth by our great class recently has risen in stature. When each of the 20 undergraduate and graduate school class marshals for the class of 2016 graduation ceremony was asked about his or her favorite place on campus, one student marshal stated in Dartmouth Life summer edition that her favorite place on campus was at the Robert Frost statue.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

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

Our 55th reunion is rapidly approaching—June 13-16. Although I hope we will all be there, unfortunately, that will not be possible. Approximately five to six classmates will pass away before that time; several other classmates will be unable to attend because of declining health. Other classmates may not want to attend because they have been out of the class loop for so long they believe they will not recognize or be recognized by anyone attending and will be unwelcome among those in attendance. Well, the first two reasons cannot be refuted or averted. The third reason, however, could not be farther from the truth. We have all aged and we have all changed in many respects. However, in many respects we are all still the same students who matriculated in the fall of 1957, most of whom graduated in the spring of 1961. Since that time we have all gone our separate ways, some maintaining strong ties to the class of ’61 or to the College while others less so. Now, however, we have come full circle. For many of us, now aged 76 or so, this may be the last on-campus reunion that we will be able to attend. We should not miss this opportunity to both attend and enjoy a reunion that has been carefully planned by Jim Baum, 55th reunion chair, and his committee, along with strong input and support from Denny Denniston, class president, and the ’61 class officers as a group.

The reunion program is diversified and brings into play the Robert Frost statue procured and dedicated by the class to the College nearly 20 years ago. George W. Lundeen, the famous sculptor of the Frost statue on campus, has graciously agreed to attend our reunion and be the guest speaker at the rededication ceremony for the Robert Frost statue. This alone is a unique reason for all able classmates to attend. But the key reason to attend is to become reacquainted with your fellow classmates, some of whom you may have been close friends or dorm-mates or fraternity brothers or teammates with while in college. I hope no classmate will let this opportunity pass him by. Every classmate is welcome and the class looks forward to welcoming each and every ’61 matriculated classmate.

Ongoing and outgoing Upper Valley entertainer Ford Daley and his trio Two Roses & a Thorn (Ford is the thorn) recently performed before a large turnout of Upper Valley classmates and wives, as well as several other alumni and spouses from other classes.

Ed Victor was recently made a commander of the British Empire by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The award was for services to the publishing industry. Ed is the chairman and founder of Ed Victor Ltd., a leading literary agency in London, where Ed resides.

Fit and trim, Art Kelton and Larry Levy looked great posing for pictures during a Dartmouth ski trip to Switzerland this past winter.

In closing, I refer to a truism stated by Andy Rooney when he was commentator on 60 Minutes: “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.”

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

After 54 very long years the class of 1961 has finally reached the top of the mountain. During the past Class Officers Weekend in Hanover, our class was presented with the ultimate prize for an outstanding class: Class of the Year Award for 2015. Not only had our small class never before achieved that honor, we had never before even achieved a runner-up for the Class of the Year Award. Our only prior accolades as a class had been a few special mentions, primarily for specific class projects or tasks originated and implemented successfully by a relatively few classmates. Our small class should be very proud that we have now, after 54 years, achieved an award as an entire class, an award that we could not have won without the broad continuing efforts of and participation by many classmates during an extended period of time.

Although there are several individual classmates who could be mentioned as being instrumental to the achievement of the Class of the Year Award, to mention some and leave out others would undoubtedly obscure the efforts of the class as an ongoing entity through the decades. During that time period we have had many outstanding generals, vital lieutenants and dedicated sergeants. However, that said, every successful army must have an outstanding leader during the time of a critical battle and that general during the 2015 fiscal year was our current class president, Denny Denniston, assisted most ably by all of the current class officers. The ultimate heroes, however, were still the 600-plus current and deceased classmates of the class of 1961, without whose dedication to the class and efforts on behalf of the class this award could never have been achieved. We can all celebrate together at our 55th reunion in June.

Thank you, Rick Reed (and your daughter), for assisting me in reaching George W. Lundeen, the sculptor we engaged to produce the life-size statue of Robert Frost that our class donated to the College nearly 20 years ago. I communicated with George on a few occasions, which included discussions about our 55th reunion project to hold a College-wide art contest to select the best artistic representation of the Robert Frost statue in any of the four disciplines of studio art encompassed within the studio arts department at Dartmouth. I have discussed with George his becoming a supporter of the art contest in several different possible areas or a participant at the Frost statue rededication. He has agreed and is currently considering which of these he feels comfortable with from a time, location and involvement perspective.

The on-campus class mini-reunion in October was a big success, thanks primarily to the organizational efforts of Maynard Wheeler, class on-campus mini-reunion chair. Forty-two people attended, including 25 classmates. The highlight of the weekend was the class dinner held on Saturday evening, with the guest speaker being the recipient of one of our class’ annual stipends to sponsor undergraduate students in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts. This triple-A program was first begun by Pete Bleyler during his term as class president.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; (516) 446-3977; richwind13@gmail.com

A few months ago Zhuoman Gardner from the Dartmouth Alumni Fund office, was formally adopted by our great class. During the past several years Zhuoman has become a great asset to and friend of our class and a strong bond has developed between her and our current class officers.

The Tanzi torch once again has been passed. The legendary Tanzi auto license plate plaque was recently (and timely) transferred personally from Vic Rich to Gerry Kaminsky for the final year preceding our 55th reunion, at which time it will again be auctioned off to the five top bidders for the five years immediately following our 55th reunion. Gerry is currently (summer of 2015) in the process of getting his equipment renovated and re-tooled: eye cataract surgeries, partial knee replacement surgery, intensive physical therapy for the unexplained partial loss of the functioning of one arm. “K” vows that these renovations will improve his health, his lifestyle and his golf.

As another Dartmouth tribute to Robert Frost, former President James Wright, while in office from 1998 through 2009, regularly sent care packages that included maple sugar candy and Robert Frost poems to Dartmouth graduates serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Russell “Ron” Boss and his wife, Marge, recently created the Marjorie and Russell Boss 1961 Family Head Coach of Women’s Tennis endowed position with a substantial contribution of $1.5 million. Kudos to the Boss family! Mike Kirst,along with another educator from Stanford University,recently edited and published a new book titled Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education, which discusses the changes taking place within this country in higher education during the past decadeor more. The authors argue that a growing accountability revolution, the push for greater efficiency and productivity and the explosion of online learning are changing the character of higher education, perhaps permanently.

Gregg Millett, currently living in upstate Schenectady, New York, spent much of the past year helping to revive a website, singlesoutreach.org, that he initially founded in 1983. He also continues to work with his companion, Ann Parillo, as the technical director of a weekly public access television show about the New York State capital region. In addition, through a China connection begun in 2004, an increasing rapport has been developed primarily by Gregg between Schenectady and Kumming, China, culminating in a sister-city relationship formalized by the mayors of each city and resulting in cultural and business representative exchanges between the two cities. Gregg closed his update with a great line: “I continue to pole vault; well, at least I roll into bed for afternoon naps.”

Finally, the ’61 women’s initiative committee chaired by Nyla Arslanian, spouse of Oscar Arslanian, along with a few selected wives of other classmates (Patti Rich, Elaine Kelton, Maria Oehler, Judy Miller, Carol Jozus, Karin Stuart, Diane Kittredge, Joanie Prewitt, Laurie Eberhardt, Laura Collishaw, Sandy Heinemann, Sara Evans, Kathy Wendell, Nancy Cook), has accomplished an objective of accumulating a majority of the personal telephone numbers and email addresses of the spouses, significant others and widows of deceased classmates.

—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; richwind13@gmail.com

Our class recently adopted a new class logo, centered around the statue of Robert Frost that our class commissioned and donated to Dartmouth nearly 20 years ago in connection with our 35th reunion. To this day it is one of the most popular destinations on campus, enjoyed each year by thousands of visitors. To further confirm the statue’s immortality, I refer you to a portion of a Dr. Seuss poem quoted in the January/February issue of DAM that expounds on the first significant snowfall of each winter: “Snow! There’s snow! There’s lots of snow! Lots and lots of snow to throw! You can throw it on the Green, you can throw it at your dean! If in the Bema you get lost, throw your snow at Robert Frost!” Now how is that for confirmation!


An initiative is currently under way for our class to sponsor a Robert Frost statue art contest during 2015-16 as a 55th reunion class project. The contest will encompass any and all of the four forms of studio arts, last for nearly a year, be open to all undergraduate and graduate students at Dartmouth during any portion of the contest period and provide for significant financial rewards and recognition to the various winners. Vic Rich and Pete Bleyler have taken the initiative to create and implement this project, which is still undergoing revisions as implementation progresses.


As most of you are aware, the Dartmouth intercollegiate sports program has improved significantly during the past few years, especially in the major sport of football. This is the result of several factors: better recruiting, improved coaching, a dynamic athletic director and improved staff, improved athletic facilities during the past decade, the installation of the new program for all athletes in team building and leadership, improved support from the administration, better marketing and recruiting to gain better athletes and the ability to raise more money from more alumni for use in the aforementioned areas. Two of our classmates, Ron Boss and Charley Chapman, have long been active proponents of and active leaders in developing and implementing the above programs relating to football, as members of the Friends of Dartmouth Football advisory board. Obviously, they have been successful.


Mike Gazzaniga, noted as the “father of cognitive neuroscience,” wrote a new book, Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience, which has recently been published to favorable reviews (The Wall Street Journal, February 24). In addition, Mike was the keynote speaker at a recent function in San Francisco sponsored by the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Silicon Valley.


In closing, we all will want to congratulate “Red” Facher (Red no more!) on reaching, and by now exceeding, the fifth anniversary of his heart transplant. My former partner, a Dartmouth ’55, has now reached his 16th year from the date of his heart transplant, but who’s counting. Both apparently are doing well. Red, you are an inspiration to all of us!


—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; richwind13@gmail.com


Your class officers, with assistance from the class executive committee, is currently in the process of revising our class logo, after more than 25 years of having a logo that focused on our class’ connectivity and connections with each other. Harris McKee, our class webmaster, agreed to assume administrative responsibility for this project. It was quickly decided that we wanted to build the new logo around the Robert Frost statue, which the class donated to Dartmouth in connection with our 35th reunion. Ron Wybranowski, a very talented photographer, donated several photos that he had taken of the statue. Harris then began to manipulate his computer graphics skills to present, eventually, 13 different variations for the class officers and the class executive committee members to review and evaluate. As of the submission date for this article, the process is still ongoing.


Patti and I just returned from attending a weekend wedding in Los Angeles. We arrived a day early so that we could enjoy a leisurely dinner at our hotel with Oscar and Nyla Arslanian. Because of their connections the manager of the hotel came over to our table, said hello to Oscar and Nyla and then picked up our entire dinner and bar bill. Then we learned at least partially why. Nyla, first chair of the class of ’61 women’s initiative committee, recently stepped down as the long-term president of the Hollywood Arts Council, a position she had held for an astounding 33 years, and has assumed the lifetime position of president emeritus. Upon her retirement Nyla was honored by the Hollywood community with a reception at the venerable Pantages Theatre at Hollywood and Vine. Nyla had no knowledge of the reception as she strolled down Hollywood Boulevard with Oscar, believing that they were going to attend an important business meeting, until she just happened to notice the Pantages Theatre’s glowing marquee on Hollywood Boulevard, which read on all three sides, “Congratulations Nyla Arslanian on 33 years of service to Hollywood.” At the reception she was feted by the community with accolades as well as a video in which numerous Los Angeles leaders proclaimed that, “There were not many great things that had occurred in Hollywood over the past 33 years that did not have Nyla’s name attached to them in some way.” According to Oscar, she was “completely blown away.” He even sent us pictures of the movie theater marquee and the award presentation (see our class newsletter and our class website). It appears that we drafted Nyla to be a ’61 class officer just in time.


The spring ’61 mini-reunion in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, has been set for Sunday, April 19, to Wednesday, April 22. Limited hotel reservations at a special low rate are available at the Williamsburg Lodge; call (800) 261-9530, mention “Dartmouth Class of ’61 Reunion” and use code #32210. Dave Prewitt, mini-reunion co-chair, and his wife, Joan, have put together a great weekend for all who attend.


—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; richwind13@gmail.com


While the great “O” (Oscar Arslanian) and Nyla run Hollywood, or at least Hollywood Magazine, they are still involved with managing various members of the seniors rock-and-roll circuit: Fabian, Brian Hyland, Chris Montez, Johnny Tillotson and others. In addition to the management segment, Oscar also sets up Golden Oldies concerts around the country. If any of you get the opportunity, and can still stay up that late, you may want to catch one of the shows when it comes to your town or city.


The Tanzi Plaque is on the move once again. During June it has gone from John King to Vic Rich, where it will remain for a year before being passed onto Gerry Kaminsky for its final year during its five-year life cycle before a new set of classmates get a chance in June of 2016 to bid on safeguarding it for the next five-year term between our regularly scheduled reunions held on campus. For those of you who may not recall, Harry Tanzi (1897-1990) owned the highly popular package goods (including beer) store in Hanover prior to, during and subsequent to our tenure at Dartmouth. On or about 1970 Harry presented his 1969 New Hampshire green-and-white license plate, “TANZI,” “to the class of ’61 with the provisio that it be used to raise funds for the College.” As a result, the class attached the license plate to a plaque and auctions off to classmates at our regularly scheduled five-year reunions the right to hold and display the plaque for one-year periods. The funds raised from the auction of the Tanzi Plaque are then added to the funds raised by the class for the Dartmouth College Fund during that year. In this way the class keeps the memory of our friend Harry Tanzi alive through the decades. The inscription on the plaque states in part that, “Harry Tanzi was a generous man. He gave his time, wit and wisdom to thousands of Dartmouth students. His legacy continues.” 


The ongoing multi-year (seven) history of Dartmouth skiing project, which began with a book, Passion for Skiing, and ended with a documentary film, Passion for Snow, has apparently reached a conclusion. Although the primary person behind the entire project was Steve Waterhouse ’65, Tu’67, one of the key people involved in the entire project at various levels was Art Kelton. The apparent final accolade for the project was the recent award as one of seven finalist nominations for the 2014 Emmy Award for Best Documentary Film shown on television in the year 2013.


Hank Eberhardt, class head agent, reports that as of June 23 the class has received nearly 87 percent of its Dartmouth College Fund contribution goal and approximately 71 percent of its donors goal for the fiscal year ending June 30. By the time you read this article I hope we will have reached, or exceeded, both class goals.


—Victor S. Rich, 94 Dove Hill Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030; victor.rich@mcgladrey.com


During the recent Class Officers Weekend, attended by 11 members and officers from our class, the class of 1961 was one of only seven classes (also the oldest class) awarded a special recognition award. Our award was for the continuing success of the Class of 1961 Legacy for the Performing Arts at Dartmouth, which culminated this year with the legacy fund reaching a net account balance of more than $1 million for the first time ever during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013. Thanks again to Dave Birney and Oscar Arslanian as well as other classmates for their continuing efforts on behalf of the legacy, as well as their generous contributions during the past decade.
Once again, the class of ’61 is indirectly being recognized as a result of one of its classmates. This time it is Vic Rich, your multiple-term and reasonably effective class secretary. I was informed after Class Officers Weekend in September (I was unfortunately unable to attend at the last minute) that I had been elected to be the vice president (and incoming president) of the Class Secretaries Association for the next two years. As such I will be a member of the class officers’ executive committee for the next four years, which should prove valuable to our class.
Patti and I had a very enjoyable dinner with Mike Murphy and his lovely wife, Helene, while they were passing through New York on their way up to Hanover for our class mini-reunion held during fall Homecoming Weekend in mid-October and orchestrated by Maynard Wheeler, our class’ at-home mini-reunion chair. By the way, happy birthday to my fraternal “twin,” Dave Prewitt, who happens to share the same birth date as I on October 13.
Dartmouth’s new president, Philip J. Hanlon, while on tour of several locations throughout the United States, visited New York City, where nearly 1,000 alumni attended the gala evening event. While there I met up with Denny Denniston, our class president, who also attended the gathering. Both of us thought that President Hanlon’s tour was a good idea in order to meet with alumni throughout the country. Denny has been very active this year with the class executive committee, discussing class objectives going forward and making sure that all of our class officer positions are filled with classmates able and willing to perform the various class functions required to generate an informed and involved alumni class.
Once again, for the 19th year, David Birney is producing and performing in his one- or two-person holiday show, called A Christmas Pudding. David has been doing this show for the past 18 years. It is a holiday confection of songs, stories, poems and tales of the season by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickenson, G.B. Shaw, Longfellow, St. Luke and others, spiced with carols, unusual recipes, jokes and traditional music of the season. Each year the script is different and the success of the holiday program has been growing. Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!
—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com



For those of you who don’t know or cannot remember back that far, Bruce Beasley left our class and Dartmouth after our sophomore year to pursue an education in fine arts (sculpture) in sunny California. Don’t forget that the Hopkins Center wasn’t even a hole in the ground at that time. Well, 50 years later Bruce is now a highly accomplished and well-known sculptor who works primarily in bronze and with geometric shapes. A few months ago Bruce had an exhibit of some of his works in a well-known art gallery in New York City.


Denny Denniston and Roger McArt decided to hold a class mini-reunion and cocktail reception at the gallery, where approximately 10 classmates (including Denny, Roger, Gerry Kaminsky, Larry Levy, Billy Kandell, Len DiSavino, Elliot Weiss, Vic Rich and, of course, Bruce Beasley) with spouses and a few non-Dartmouth friends enjoyed hearing Bruce tell us about why he left Dartmouth (with the school’s highly expanded and improved fine arts and performing arts program, he probably would have remained), how he developed his career as a sculptor, why and how he works with the raw materials he has selected and what he would like to accomplish in the future. Just one of Bruce’s artistic highlights was the development of a large and prominent sculpture that occupied a prominent position at the recent summer Olympics held in China. The New York event, which included excellent wine and abundant catered hors d’oeuvres, was sponsored anonymously by a member of the class of 1961. It is ironic that our class is now one of the most prominent underwriters of the arts at Dartmouth, through its Class of 1961 Legacy: the American Tradition in Performance Fund.


Denny Denniston was honored by the Dartmouth College Fund, which presented him with a Chairman’s Citation for outstanding performance in leading our class (with assistance from other classmates, including Don O’Neil and Tom Mauro) to achieve outstanding classmate participation in annual giving of alumni contributions.


For those of you wondering how and what Oscar Arslanian is doing, I can report that “O” is alive and well, and still living and working in Los Angeles. His Discover Hollywood magazine, which he and wife Nyla, who probably does most (if not all) of the work as the editor, publish each month, is bigger and more glossy than ever. The magazine looks great and is also very informative. Each city has these types of magazines promoting their attractions and upcoming events, but this magazine by Oscar and Nyla is better than most of them.


Next year’s off-campus mini-reunion by our class will be held in Philadelphia during the four days from April 22-25, 2010. Dave Prewitt and his wife, Joan, as well as a few other classmates are working very hard to develop an interesting, stimulating and entertaining program for all of us to enjoy: museum visits, bus tours, luncheons, dinners, dancing, etc. I hope we will all be able to attend and enjoy the event.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


Although this news is a bit late, it is still very exciting. After a “whirlwind courtship” of approximately 18 years David Armstrong finally succumbed to the youthful charms of Linda Green (or was it the other way around?) and they got married last summer. After all those years it became blurred as to who was chasing whom! Either way we all wish them the best. Pat and I had dinner with David in Florida in December (Linda was in Utah), which is how we learned of the betrothal.


For the current season 2009-10 at Hopkins Center, the Class of 1961 Legacy: The American Tradition in Performance assisted in the support of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in January. The review of and attendance at the performance was excellent. The ’61 Legacy Fund has continued its substantial annual support of visiting performing artists to Dartmouth College. 


Steve Bosworth is in the news again. As President Obama’s special envoy to North Korea Steve went there in December 2009 as the highest-level American official to visit the country in more than a year. The trip was part of an American-led effort to halt the North Korean nuclear weapons program and persuade the country to return to nuclear disarmament talks. The results of the trip were deemed cautiously optimistic, as North Korea accepted the need for nuclear talks, but set no date for such talks to begin. The trip and the talk were covered extensively by The New York Times, among other newspapers and news magazines, and included several good pictures of Steve.


Also hitting the news was Arthur Bloom, who wrote a critically acclaimed book about Joseph Jefferson, a great American actor of the 19th century and the alleged “dean of the American theater.” Although the book was written several years ago its highly prestigious review by the October edition of The New York Review of Books now places it as a major work of scholarship on the American theater.


Next, Bill Hutton was named the Bay Area’s Tax Lawyer of the Year by San Francisco’s Best Lawyer, one of the oldest and most respected peer-review publications in the legal profession. Bill has been listed as a Best Lawyer since 1987. He is a nationally recognized expert in tax and nonprofit law, with special expertise in the tax and financial aspects of land preservation. Bill has also been a frequent speaker at major national tax conferences and has taught courses to Internal Revenue Service, Justice Department and U.S. Treasury attorneys at the national offices of the IRS. Now this is a good person to know if you become subject to a tax audit!


Finally, also making news, Sam Bell recently received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health in Tampa, Florida. Sam spearheaded legislation that created the college 28 years ago during his services as a Florida legislator. Sam still continues to serve as the chair of the college’s advisory board, a position that he has held for the past 25 years. In addition, the college recently named its auditorium in his honor as a founder and leader of the college.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


In April of this year our class held an off-campus mini-reunion in Philadelphia. The event, which covered four days, was an outstanding success, (which I can now state as fact)! Kudos to Dave Prewitt, with more than able assistance from his wife, Joan (or was it the other way around?). The event consisted of cocktail parties, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, visits to museums, a tour of historic Philadelphia, a Saturday evening dinner dance with a live band and near-perfect weather. Approximately 33 classmates attended, most with spouses or significant others, so that we had approximately 61 people overall.


Passion for Skiing is the book project developed, funded, written, edited and recently published by Dartmouth alumni, led by Steve Waterhouse ’65. Included in the direct credits and profiled extensively are our own Art Kelton, Cartter Frierson and Steve Crisafulli. Art dealt with skiing and real estate, Cartter dealt with the growth and influence of ski clubs, and Pam Crisafulli Hammeyer, Steve’s daughter, dealt with Steve’s influence in the development and growth of the ski apparel industry.


Where should Dartmouth stand with respect to the quality of its major and most visible men’s and women’s athletic teams? Is Dartmouth’s budget allocation adequate and sufficient to fund good teams for men’s football and for both men’s and women’s basketball? If not, then why not? While I personally did not play either of those varsity sports at Dartmouth, I did take into account the quality of those teams when considering what Ivy League college to attend. Why? People generally like a winner! Winning games are more enjoyable to attend as a spectator. The school spirit is at a different and higher level. Finally, winners begat winners, both in and out of the classroom. 


Winning teams also generate free publicly for student recruiting and alumni support purposes. Such publicity is priceless. Just look at the publicity generated by Cornell, dubbed the “Cinderella Team” at the time, when it won two significant upset basketball games at the NCAA March Madness tournament this year to reach the “Sweet 16.” Also, what about the effect of Butler reaching the NCAA final?


I can remember distinctly that school spirit happening in 1959, when the Dartmouth men’s basketball team reached the top eight teams before losing to West Virginia in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals (the regional finals). That was a proud time for Dartmouth basketball, Dartmouth athletics and Dartmouth College. I firmly believe that the quality and quantity of enrolled scholar athletics probably improved as a result of that and similar positive athletic experiences.


Why would Dartmouth want or expect any less now? A top-rated college should have top-rated men’s and women’s major athletic teams. These teams do not necessarily have to win the titles each year, but they should certainly be perennial contenders. Building winning teams should be part of the educational process of building individual character. I, for one, am tired of seeing losing teams year after year in the major and most visible sports. What do you think about this? 


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


Perhaps the powers that be at “D” really do read the DAM class articles! Or perhaps it is just a coincidence that the College is upgrading its athletic faculty, as indicated by its recent hire of a proven successful men’s basketball coach, among others. We hope in the near future the men’s football and basketball programs will even generate a contender for Ivy League champion.


Kudos to Denny Denniston, class head agent, with able assistance from Don O’Neill, Ken DeHaven, Gerry Kaminsky, Pete Bleyler, Harris McKee, Pete Sheldon, Glen Gemelli, Dan Paradis, Tom Mauro, Morry Sheehan, Roger McArt and others. Denny and his unrelenting minions achieved $203,374 in revenue from our class and an amazing 82.2 percent class participation, with 411 cash donors. This is a great start toward our very ambitious 100 percent participation goal for our 50th reunion on June 10-12, 2011. To kick off our 50th reunion donation effort Denny already has had several expanded meetings with classmates, including a group over to his home in August to review the class list and determine a preliminary fundraising goal for our 50th. The attendees to that meeting included Kaminsky, Vic Rich, McArt, Bleyler, as well as Janet Rosa and Joyce Newton, valuable assets from the College’s alumni office. O’Neill, Ron Boss and Jack Reno attended via telephone conferencing. For the 50th Denny needs more help. If interested, please contact him at (212) 787-4789 or denndenn@ix.netcom.com.


Sam Hughes contacted the class “for the first time in many years” and confirmed the essence of my class article in the July/August issue of DAM, where I commented that highly competitive athletic teams in football and in men’s and women’s basketball were important to Dartmouth’s reputation and morale among prospective applicants, current students and alumni. Sam went on to state that he is “not opposed to females” or women’s athletic teams, and that he has “ex wives (three) all over the country and is now attached to the best one so far.” Sam, keep up the good work and remain very fit.


Tom Conger wrote that a ’61 rugby mini-reunion was held in Wisconsin in August. Attending the mini where, apart from T.C., Bill Glenn, John Edwards, Mike Murphy, Mike Mooney and Chuck Dayton. T.C. added, “Great crew, great times and some of the best wives in the class.” T.C., be careful, as you now may be treading on potentially dangerous ground.


Bulletin: Just informed that Pete Bleyler was selected to be the recipient of a Dartmouth Alumni Award, only the fifth person from our class to achieve such recognition.


It is with great sadness that I inform the class of the summer passing of DeVona Cox, wife of Duane Cox (a.k.a. “Doberman”), who in partnership with Duane shepherded our class through many soul-searching discussion sessions held at our last five to six formal reunions in Hanover. Although not actually a classmate, she made an outstanding long-term contribution to our class. It is unfortunate that she will not make it to our 50th reunion, as she put in her time and effort to help get us from our 20th reunion through our 45th reunion and beyond. Dee will be missed, but she will be with us in spirit, if not in person.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


In December 2013, after 26 years, Pat and I sold our primary residence and downsized. The only positive interim enjoyment to this otherwise dreadful moving experience was that I got to look at some memorabilia that I haven’t looked at for decades. One of these items was the dated magazine, Swiss Holiday, billed as the official program for the Dartmouth Winter Carnival of 1960. As I browsed through that Dartmouth Winter Carnival magazine for 1960 I was impressed with how many ’61s were involved in all aspects of that Winter Carnival weekend. As a result, I am dedicating this article to those classmates, 54 years after the fact. Some of the classmates I will be referring to are no longer with us, but that doesn’t diminish their respective contributions at that time and it shouldn’t diminish our respect for their successful efforts in 1960.


The magazine listed Bruce Hasenkamp as its publisher, Bob Vincent Jr. as its business manager and Bob Conn as a contributing editor. The excellent articles and photographs relating to the Dartmouth Winter Carnival represented an outstanding walk down memory lane.


The magazine referred to the numerous social events occurring during the weekend. Of note, however, was the second annual student-faculty-town musical show, Guys & Dolls, starring David Birney in the lead role as Sky Masterson and featuring big Mike Mooney in the significant supporting role as Big Julie.


As to the athletic teams engaged that weekend, I refer only to those articles where classmates are specifically mentioned. The article about the highly rated varsity hockey team stated that the “high-scoring junior Bobby Moore is the man to watch on the green first line” and that “he teams up with the fiery Jake Haertl…to form a solid attacking unit.” The article about the top-rated varsity basketball team stated that juniors Dan Berry at forward and George Ramming at center were major contributors to the team. The article about the highly rated varsity ski team, competing for the highly prized Carnival Cup, singled out “juniors [Art] Bookstrom and [Jim] DeLong [to] pace the team for the weekend meet,” referring to both as strong in all four skiing events. Dick Nordhaus, John Stewell and Skip Bean were also referred to positively.


Finally, there was the Winter Carnival Board itself, which included Larry Gleeson as secretary and George Breed representing the Interdormitory Council. The board was responsible for the entire Winter Carnival weekend: the scheduling of all College athletic and social events; the production of the outdoor opening ceremonies, center-of-campus ice statue and Carnival Ball; the judging of the interfraternity-interdormitory-graduate school ice statue contests and the judging of the Winter Carnival Queen contest (a nice perk); and other matters, including the “supervision of the [weekend’s] guest policy” (whatever that meant).


In closing, I apologize if I inadvertently left out of this article any classmate who deserved to be included. However, I depended very strongly upon the magazine referred to above for my information, as well as for my inspiration. Perhaps, after traveling back 54 years, I can be forgiven.


Note that a significantly more extensive and complete version of this article (limited to 500 words here) can be found on the ’61 class website.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


Our class has done it! After many years of perseverance, requesting contributions, pleading for more contributions, begging and cajoling, the class of 1961 has achieved its goal of having more than $1 million in the Dartmouth Legacy Fund as of May 31. This is after having subsidized more than 45 different major performing arts events at the Hopkins Center during the past decade, including modern jazz, ballet, modern dance, comedy, folk music, soul, all from the ranks of the greatest performing artists in the United States. Along with the Frost statue, this has become our living tangible legacy to Dartmouth College and its students, faculty, administration, alumni and guests. Well done, gentlemen of the class of ’61! Thank you Oscar Arslanian, David Birney, Mike Murphy and our other classmates who contributed their time, efforts and monetary support to these two fine projects.


We have found the missing fifth person who is to receive the Tanzi License Plate Plaque. Oscar Arslanianhad the complete list, which is as follows from July 1 to June 30 of each year: 2011-12, John Henry; 2012-13, Bob Naegele; 2013-14, John King; 2014-15, Vic Rich; 2015-16, Gerry Kaminsky. This is now the official revised listing.


John King, Dick Barr and Hop Holmberg recently completed the 50th reunion of their graduate class in hospital administration from the university of Minnesota. John and wife Jane celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. According to John, that was the last of his 50th reunions and other 50th celebrations.


After 50 years (at least it has felt like 50 years), it bears mention that Hank Gerfen has been the perennial secretary of the Tuck School class of 1962. Gerf has had and continues to sport a big walrus mustache and a modest beard. He has resided in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, apparently forever. Hank and his wife, Maggie, recently became addicted to big ship cruising, which requires no continuous packing and unpacking but does generate a lot of pool and eating time.


In past DAM articles I have mentioned Dartmouth’s inherent connection to the development and growth of skiing and the ski industry in the United States. As part of those comments, I mentioned the key role that Art Kelton played in that development during the period from the 1960s forward, especially as it related to the development of the ski slopes, housing and commerce at Vail, Colorado, and the surrounding ski areas. Not to be outdone, Art’s wife, Elaine Kelton, and another woman have just written and had published a full-length book titled Women of Vail: Those Who Walked This Bridge—1962-1970. This unusual non-fiction book consists of the actual stories told in interviews by the women (including Elaine), mostly college educated, who left the lives they knew and moved to Vail during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Vail was not much more than a frontier town and before it was on any map. These memories and stories bring to life the realities that these women lived and the legacy that is their Vail today.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


In June the class of 1961 reached a milestone with its 50th reunion. The reunion was an outstanding success. The integration and flow of so many outstanding events strung together across a five-day period was “the” single highlight and it was the people, mostly our many classmates, who made it all happen. 


The more significant public events included attending graduation on Sunday with the class of 2011, where two highly respected classmates, Ron Boss and Mike Gazzaniga, received honorary degrees and where Conan O’Brien delivered a superb Commencement address. On Monday there was a symposium on future healthcare delivery, chaired and moderated by President Kim and including classmate panelists Charlie Francis, Mike Jenkins and John King because of their expertise and experience in the medical care delivery field.


Outstanding class-sponsored events included symposiums and forums conducted by several talented classmates or their spouses: Duane Cox led two sessions of the ever-popular Passages session; Steve Bosworth and Mike Gazzaniga (and his daughter) conducted forums in their respective fields of expertise (world politics and the science of the brain, respectively); Bob Naegele conducted a forum on the significance and importance of religious faith at Dartmouth and in life; David Birney and Michele Roberge presented A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters as an incredible gift dedicated to the class of 1961 Legacy for the Performing Arts; Tony Horan delivered a terrific rendition of Dutton Forster’s original “The Sachem Oration Part II: 50 Years Later”; Oscar Arslanian managed his duties as MC and as the keeper of the Tanzi plaque award with his usual skill and aplomb; Terry Rogers and Dave Prewitt skillfully led the perennial reunion auction to raise additional money for the class Legacy for the Performing Arts; Ron Wybranowski produced a terrific display from six talented artists from our class; Jim Watson, Gim Burton, Pitts Willard, Terry Rogers, Glen Gemelli, Steve Dale, Bruce Johnson, Ford Daley and his Foggy Mountain Boys all contributed either vocally or instrumentally to several musical events throughout the reunion; Jim Baum, along with Tom Conger, Jim Watson, Tom Dalglish and Frank Ginn, edited and produced an outstanding 50th reunion book (Paths We’ve Taken) for our class; Nyla Arslanian, who represented the women of our class, edited and produced The Herstory of Dartmouth 1961, a slimmed-down female equivalent of Paths We’ve Taken; Patti Rich and Nyla moderated a successful forum of ’61 women; Vic Rich produced and distributed to all ’61 reunion attendees a music CD, Songs From Our College Years, 1957-1961, consisting of 25 period rock-’n’-roll songs and four Dartmouth classics; Pete Bleyler gracefully accepted his well-deserved Outstanding Alumni Award; Pete Synnott received an award from the class for his outstanding dedication to our class and perseverance under adversity; Tom Conger played MC at the closing dinner with finesse in his introduction of former dean Thad Seymour, invited guest; finally, the Rev. George Bland and Duane Cox guided the class through a memorial service for our 105 departed classmates.


Thank you, Maynard Wheeler, 50th reunion chairman, and Roger McArt, class president, and your respective supportive wives, Sandy and Sandy, and all of the other many, many other classmates who assisted in orchestrating a lifetime remembrance for all of the approximately 225 classmates who attended and participated in the best reunion our class ever had and ever will have.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


The 50th reunion for the class of 1961 is now history. Nearly 400 people attended, including approximately 225 classmates. The event was a spectacular success and Maynard Wheeler and his numerous classmate assistants are truly deserving of a “wah-hoo-wah.” In addition, Denny Denniston and Don O’Neil and their numerous classmate assistants are to be commended for the outstanding job they did in the fund-raising area for the Dartmouth Alumni Fund: 88.4-percent class participation (443 out of 501 potential class donors) and $2,456,000 collected against a pre-established class goal of $2,001,961 (class goal exceeded by 23 percent). As a result of the class’ reunion success, it received two Dartmouth awards related to Dartmouth Alumni Fund giving for our reunion year.


The incoming class officers for the next five years, as submitted by the class nominating committee chaired by Art Kelton and voted upon at our reunion class meeting, are as follows: Denny Denniston, president; Ken DeHaven, vice president; Vic Rich, secretary; Ivar Jozus, treasurer; Pete Stuart, head agent; Pete Palin and John Damon, co-bequest chairmen; Maynard Wheeler, mini-reunion chairman; Tom Conger, newsletter editor; Bob Conn, communications officer; and Harris McKee, webmaster.


Our class began with 717 matriculated classmates, which was the smallest class during that decade. Since that moment in time we adopted two people into our class and 106 have died, which left us with a net amount of 613 net living classmates as of our 50th reunion. Since then, we have learned of the passing of Dick Bailey (April 2), Jim White (July 9), Bill Sheehan (July 11) and Terry Ortwein (July 30). We will miss all of them; look to our class website or our class newsletter for more details.


Ron Wybranowski, who successfully put together the 1961 Artists’ Show during reunion, has since expanded the participation by talented ’61 artists and their spouses (painters, sculptors, photographers) from 6 to 26. Because of popular demand, viewing on the website www.dartmouth61artshow.org has been extended until at least December 31.


By the time this article appears in mid October, Gim Burton will have already performed at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, October 9, as part of a 50th reunion concert for Your Father’s Mustache, a chain of banjo-sing-a-long nightclubs where Gim worked back in the 1960s and 1970s. We hope some classmates were able to attend, since I passed the info on to our class newsletter editor, Tom Conger, and to our class webmaster, Harris McKee, in August.


Chip Serrel, while fly-fishing on vacation in a remote part of Alaska during the summer, met Eleanor Killian ’11. Many Dartmouth tales were shared by these two alums, 50 years apart and just after our 50th reunion.


Finally, Mike Kirst, who wanted to attend our 50th reunion, unfortunately was detained in California, where he was recently re-appointed president of the K-12 California State Board of Education, this time with far more policy-making and decision-making power than granted when he held that same title several decades ago. In addition, Mike also has a large three-year grant through Stanford University from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve college success and graduation rates at broad access higher education schools (community colleges).


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


The class of 1961 recently lost a valuable and dedicated member. Pete Synnott passed away on February 18 after battling advanced Parkinson’s disease for the past 15 to 20 years. In spite of his deteriorating physical condition and his declining ability to communicate orally, since our Vail, Colorado, mini-reunion in the mid-1990s, Pete and his aide attended nearly every class reunion and mini-reunion event during the past 15-plus years. Not only did Pete attend these class events, but he was an active participant in each and every one. Through the years Pete became a rallying symbol for our class, a small but persevering class with few superstars but lots of camaraderie and participation, as well as the ability and willingness to look after each other. Fortunately, Pete was able to attend our 50th reunion last spring, where the class, justifiably so, acknowledged publically at a major class function Pete’s tangible and intangible contribution to the great class of 1961 and presented him with a special class award. In closing, I would propose that the class of 1961 dedicate its upcoming fall 2012 on-campus mini-reunion weekend to his memory. I believe that Pete would appreciate that. Let us know what you think.


On another tack, Ken Walker, and his wife, Margot, are the proud parents of two daughters, one of whom, Leese, graduated from Dartmouth in 1991, while the other daughter, Sabrina, is a special-needs person who has accomplished many things in her young life of 38 years. Sabrina has been an inspiration to the entire family with her perseverance and her athletic achievements in overcoming many difficulties to become a champion in Special Olympics gymnastics at the World Games in 1995; she now competes successfully in the Special Olympics equestrian program. Through the years Ken has become increasingly active in the Special Olympics program and has helped many participants, as well as the program itself. Kudos to Ken (and Margot).


Art Kelton was actively involved (with Steve Waterhouse) in the publication of the recent book on the history of skiing at Dartmouth project. He has also been very active in the production of the upcoming film on the same history of skiing project, including the contribution to skiing by the ski program at Dartmouth College and by numerous Dartmouth alumni. Anyone wishing to become involved or more involved financially or otherwise should contact Art to discuss.


Note that the date for this year’s on-campus class mini-reunion has been revised to the weekend of October 12-14. Class mini-reunion co-chair Maynard Wheeler stated that this was done in order to allow for more options and to prepare a better weekend of events for our classmates. Since this revised date encompasses both my birthday (October 13) and that of my “fraternal twin” Dave Prewitt, we are both happy with the change and look forward to once again sharing our mutual birthday. As a footnote, we tried to palm off to our classmates that Dave and I were “identical twins,” but found out quickly that this designation simply did not pass muster with our Ivy League classmates.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


The presidential search has ended and Dartmouth once again has a new president. We hope, as an alumnus of Dartmouth, he will be both a superb president and understand fully the significance of remaining in office for at least a 10-year term. Also, the importance of athletics at Dartmouth, both intercollegiate and intramural, has in the past few years apparently begun to receive substantial support from many sectors as both an important overall part of the student education and training process and as a good “investment” for the College on many levels. We hope this effort will be continued and perhaps even enhanced somewhat going forward.


Dick Noel has been bragging, and rightly so, that he shot better than his age (74) in golf a few months ago, with a round of 73 on a cold damp day in late October with Hurricane Sandy on the way. Along with this outstanding achievement, Dick has also been Senior Club Champion at the Brattleboro (Vermont) Country Club and also has three holes-in-one. This goes to show you the diversity of the members of our class—in retirement. Most of you who attended our 50th reunion clearly remember Dick as the stand-up comedian who performed his own material so well during the “Passages” session of our reunion.


Ted Tapper’sson Jake Tapper ’91 has become an outstanding news correspondent, commentator, author and TV interview personality. He is on the air often and is often on with other highly respected people from within his industry. For those of you who want the “formula” for your child or grandchild, contact Ted directly.


Alumni relations at the College has been offering webinars for Dartmouth class and club key volunteers to enhance the experience of being involved at the class or club levels. During this past November a one-hour countrywide webinar conference was offered, “Involving Wives and Widows in Class Programming,” targeted toward the pre-coeducation classes. Key participants in this program included Denny Denniston, our class president, and Nyla Arslanian, spouse of classmate Oscar Arslanian.I wasn’t able to attend the session, but I would guess that Nyla’s role was to assert how much she was already doing for the class and that her husband should begin to get more involved. If that were true, then maybe we should have entered her name above in bold ink, rather than his? Either way, we all know how much both of them have done for the class through the decades.


At our age we are now concerned with hoping that our grandchildren attend Dartmouth. In that respect, I would like to report that a grandson of Gerry Kaminsky, a classmate long involved on numerous levels, has been accepted into the class of 2017. I’m not sure who is more thrilled and excited, Tommy (the accepted applicant) or Gerry (the grandfather)!


Don’t forget to lock in your calendar for the class mini-reunion scheduled for Charleston, South Carolina, on April 14-17. Also, note that a portion of the function costs will be subsidized by the class; therefore, a great time plus a bargain.


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


For those of you who may recall our deceased classmate Bennett Tarshish, I was contacted by his son Dan, who is a current member of the British diplomatic service, serving in one of the world’s current hot beds for terrorism and diplomacy. Dan was 3 years old when his father died in England (1972). He and his mother remained in England. Since Dan was so young when his father died, he has spent many years attempting to learn more about him, which included his four years as a Dartmouth undergraduate in the class of ’61. If there are any classmates who remember Bennett, please jot down some notes and e-mail them to me victor.rich@mcgladrey.com and richwind13@gmail.com or fax them to me at (212) 918-1166 and I will forward them onto Dan. Thanks for assisting Dan in his quest to learn more about his father. 


Oscar Arslanian and his lovely and obviously competent wife, Nyla, were recently honored by the Travel and Tourism Marketing Association for their contribution to cultural tourism in Hollywood, California. Oscar and Nyla are the long time publisher and editor, respectively, of the Discover Hollywood magazine. The award recognized their leadership in the travel and tourism industry and their significant long-term involvement in the reinvigoration of Hollywood as a tourist destination. Next comes a star for each of them on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?


While still dealing with honors, let me report Art Kelton was recently elected president of the Dartmouth Club of the Vail region in Colorado. The club, now one of the most active in the country, is well known for scheduling and hosting the very popular annual CarniVail ski event. Art has also been selected to chair our class nominating committee to select new class officers at our 50th reunion for the subsequent five-year period. If interested in running for an office, give Art a call or e-mail him.


Still speaking of awards, Ken DeHaven was recognized several months ago by the Cleveland Clinic for the Distinguished Alumnus Award. This award apparently is the real deal! Had we known about this earlier Ken would have been happy to sign autographs on full-cover photo shots.


Our class was recognized in the fall as the recipient of the special mention in recognition of a special mini-reunion event held during 2010, in Philadelphia. The event was highly successful because of the planning and leadership of Dave Prewitt (my “twin brother”) and his delightful and talented wife, Joan.


Remember to sign up to attend our very first, and last, 50th reunion from June 9-14. From the looks of the preliminary schedule, the expanded weekend appears to be an outstanding event, thanks to our 50th reunion chairman, Maynard Wheeler, and his many assistants. 


A recent letter from President Kim to the class extolling our virtues discussed, among other areas, the ’61 legacy for the performing arts and its positive effect on Dartmouth’s students, Hopkins Center and the entire Upper Valley. President Kim stated it well when he said that the program helps “to breathe life into this extraordinary institution, and I am grateful.” So are we!


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


Congratulations are once again in order for Pete Bleyler, our former class president and recent recipient of the Dartmouth Alumni Award. Pete was recently elected as the second vice president of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni. It appears that the association was looking for youth and movie star looks when the nominating committee selected Pete to run on the ballot.


Apparently Henry Eberhardt has bitten the bullet, as he and Laurie finally left New England in January for the warmer climate of St. Petersburg, Florida. They now reside there permanently. Will New England ever be the same again? Hank may be gone, but he has not been forgotten. Our new head class agent, Pete Stuart, recruited Hank to be one of his key lieutenants in the alumni fund drive for our class.


John White recently communicated with me to let me know that during 2011 he spent a week in Haiti visiting his youngest son, Tim. John’s son had been on an 18-month assignment as the director of finance for the Haitian Health Foundation, a private charity that delivers free food, medical and dental services, clothing, housing, education, agricultural training and other self-help skills to the needy of a significant portion of Haiti. Tim’s area of responsibility covered more than 100 Haitian villages and approximately 225,000 people, nearly all of whom were in substantial need following the 2010 earthquake. The situation there was further complicated by the onset of a serious cholera epidemic that hit Haiti a few months after the earthquake. While in Haiti Tim apparently got malaria three times.


I offer you this story about John’s son because his involvement in providing assistance and improvement to the people of a Third World country, Haiti, is a remarkable story of a young man who, according to John, was a certified public accountant who left a successful banking position “to do something else with his life.” He appears to have accomplished that and much more. Tim’s contribution to society is a tribute at least in part to his values and upbringing as provided by his parents. In the fall Tim will be entering Yale graduate school, where he’ll study for a master’s in environmental studies. 


Roberta Heisterkamp, wife of deceased classmate David Heisterkamp, recently published a book dedicated to the memory of her husband. The book, titled Shared Moments: Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park Remembered in Postcards, which describes, primarily through antique postcards collected by the Heisterkamps during two decades, what tourists experienced when they visited the two parks.


As a closing comment, we all know that President Kim is leaving Dartmouth to become the head of the World Bank. Although he has been at Dartmouth for only a few years, he has made a positive impact on the school, on the students and on the alumni. I have met Dr. Kim on several occasions and I’m sorry to see him leave Dartmouth. Frankly, however, if I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the head of the World Bank I believe that I would have made the same decision. What would you have done?


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com


The Dartmouth Class Officers Weekend at the end of September 2012 generated 11 officers in attendance from our class: Denny Denniston (president), Ken DeHaven (vice president), Vic Rich (secretary), Ivar Jozus (treasurer), Pete Stuart (head agent), Bob Conn (co-webmaster), Tom Conger (co-newsletter editor), Pete Palin (co-gift planning chair), John Damon (co-gift planning chair), Harris McKee (co-newsletter editor, co-webmaster), Al Orschel (class representative to the Dartmouth Alumni Council). Apparently, we had the largest class representation at the Class Officers Weekend. Apart from College-related activities, the ’61 class officers attended a spirited class meeting, a dedication ceremony for a class of 1961 shell given to the Dartmouth rowing club and an enjoyable dinner on Saturday evening for our classmates and spouses at the Norwich Inn.


At our separate class meeting Ivar, class treasurer, presented the class’ financial report for the fiscal year-end June 30, 2012. The end-of-year cash balance was $35,091. Excluding non-recurring receipts and disbursements related to our 50th reunion, the class had an excess of revenues over disbursements of $3,105. Ivar noted that the College recently has taken over financing of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, which means additional funds will be available to our class. We will use the additional funds of approximately $8,000 per year to increase class participation in various class activities, such as for new or existing projects or to reduce the cost to classmates for formal reunions at Dartmouth (every five years) or mini-reunions either on or off campus. As a start, it was agreed by those present to allocate $5,000 to subsidize in part the class mini-reunion planned for Charleston, South Carolina, on April 14-17, which provides a substantial additional incentive for all classmates to attend.


Getting back to the rowing shell dedication ceremony, a number of classmates contributed funds totaling approximately $40,000 to purchase a new class of 1961 eights shell for the Dartmouth rowers. At the dedication ceremony it was noted that “Class of 1961” will be inscribed permanently onto the shell.


Our class has granted a unique gift to the College in the form of the Class of 1961 Performing Arts Legacy. Since its inception more than a decade ago this legacy has funded 45 performing arts programs at Hopkins Center for the benefit of the Dartmouth and Hanover communities. As of September 2012 the legacy has an accumulated balance of approximately $915,000, based on classmate and class contributions from inception, earnings on the various account balances through the years and after annual distributions to the Hopkins Center to support varied high-quality performing arts programs through the years that the legacy program has been in existence.


Our highly ambitious class goal was to create a net endowment of $1,000,000 by our 50th reunion. If we could reach that goal during the current year, it would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the recently announced “Year of the Arts.” With a concerted effort by our entire class, we could raise the approximate $85,000 balance required during this year. Now wouldn’t that be a really great achievement for our class?


—Victor S. Rich, 5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568; victor.rich@rsmi.com