Class Notes 1965

Bill Young represented our class at the NCAA skiing championships in March, hosted by Dartmouth at the Skiway and Oak Hill. He also carved a snowflake “D” statue at the Oak Hill venue. Linda Waterhouse provided Bill with copies of our Passion DVDs and books, which Bill distributed at Oak Hill and the friends of Dartmouth skiing reception in the Hanover Inn after the event. These were given out at no charge, and Bill reports they “went like hotcakes.” Many thanks to Bill and Linda for promoting the class.

I received a long article from Ned Greeley; my hope is that we will have room for the entire piece either in our newsletter or on the class website. From Ned: “After college I joined the Peace Corps and met Monica Newland, my wife-to-be, in Nigeria. We both taught in remote, single-gender boarding schools and first spent time together evacuating from Nigeria as the Biafran War broke out. Fast forward to Uganda, where we, by now with a son born in Kampala, were again forced to evacuate due to civil conflict. This time it was prompted by the infamous Idi Amin. Monica began teaching at the international school in Kenya, and I worked in the regional U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) office. Our teams helped small USAID offices from Djibouti on the Africa Horn to the small countries around South Africa; for example, we kickstarted development projects and performed analyses of a specific sector or industry.” Subsequently, Ned and Monica had postings in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia, and Cambodia.

When a procommunist leader took over the government and USAID evacuated Cambodia, Ned returned to Washington, D.C., and retired.

Apologies: Our 60th reunion in June took place after the deadline for this column. Look for a summary in the next edition or in other class sources. Note also my address as of June 19 will become 22 Willow Spring Circle, Hanover.

We have been notified of the loss of Frank Bellizia (2013), Tuomo Jarvinen (2016), Heinz Kluetmeier, Jim Mechenbier, and Ray Sonntag. For further information, visit www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy, 22 Willow Spring Circle, Hanover, NH 03755, (603)643-5589, murph65nh@comcast.net

Reminder: Our big 60th is coming up, June 16-18. We will also have a mini-reunion this fall, the weekend of October 10-12. Yale will be our football opponent, a game that takes on added significance this year because, for the first time, Ivy League teams will be eligible to compete in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Updated details on class website at www.biggreen65.com.

The Dartmouth community has lost two notables with the passing of Tom Kurtz and Ralph Manuel ’58. Tom was best known for assisting John Kemeny in the creation of the BASIC programming language, assisted by ’65s John McGeachie, Kip Moore, Keith Bellairs, and several others. Ralph was in the dean’s office from 1962 to 1982 and returned to Hanover in 1999.

In November George Wittreich, Ken McGruther, Mike Orr, and Roger Hansen met at Jekyll Island, Georgia, for this year’s guys-only golf outing. Days consisted of breakfast, golf, nap, dinner, and card games, with lots of time for good fellowship and solving the problems of the world. So far as collective memories can determine, the original foursome of Mike Orr, Ted Atkinson, Bill Webster, and “Punch” Lochridge first convened in the early to mid 1990s. Through the years attendees changed, with Ken McGruther replacing Punch. Later Roger and George joined the group as Ted and Bill phased out. Venues, too, have varied through the years and included Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, and Kiawah, South Carolina; Orlando and Amelia Island, Florida; Pinehurst, North Carolina; Massanutten, Virginia; Mobile, Alabama; and now Jekyll Island. The most memorable golf shot was by Bill Webster at Kiawah, where on a par 3 his shot was headed for the water when suddenly the ball bounced up on the green, having struck the back of an alligator.

From Jack Kabak (our only ’65 from South Africa): “I withdrew from Dartmouth in sophomore year to return to medical school in South Africa. Geri and I married in 1967 and left in 1971 for Chicago. My specialty became ophthalmology, and we soon found our home in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2000 I sold my practice to colleagues in Palo Alto, and we found and restored a medieval Tuscan farmhouse in Chianti near Siena, where we spent our summer and fall months and took car trips throughout the European continent. This idyllic period was shattered in 2017, when Geri was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away one year from diagnosis.” We hope to get Jack and new travel partner Judy to Hanover before long.

We have been notified of the loss of Rex Roberts, Howard Child, Fred Smith, and David Tafe. For further information, visit www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

A class meeting on July 9 was convened by president Mike Gonnerman via Zoom; 25 classmates were in attendance. Here are some highlights. Sixtieth reunion chair Roger Hansen announced that dates are scheduled June 16-18, 2025. Final activity dates are pending College approval. Jim Griffiths reported on behalf of our Dartmouth College Fund committee that we met our goal of 35-percent participation with a total of 36 percent. Total dollar contributions were well in excess of our goal. Pete Frederick updated that our decision to honor deceased classmates with a $65 contribution to an activity appropriate to that classmate has been approved and will be implemented. The full minutes may be found on www.biggreen65.com.

My old roomie Rod Meade has joined the ranks of ’65 authors with a new thriller, The Maltese Connection, a novel of international intrigue based in large part on Rod’s real-life experiences as a member of Navy underwater demolition teams and SEAL teams (yes, he really was one of those guys). The plot centers on Mac McGuire, a former SEAL who uncovers an international plot that includes the assassination of the pope. I highly recommend it. Rod wrote me: “You will also smile, no doubt, with my reference to my principal character’s Dartmouth heritage, including the fact that he lived in 106 Massachusetts Hall (the first-year room we shared).”

In mid-June Jane and Tom Meacham flew from Anchorage to Boston so that Tom could compete in his 23rd running of the Mount Washington Road Race (MWRR). In Concord, New Hampshire, they enjoyed lunch with Glenn Currie, Tom’s old Dartmouth roomie, and his wife, Susanne. At the MWRR itself, Tom ran (in truth, power-hiked) to third place (out of three) in the men’s 80-84 age group. The weather at the summit this year was typical: Once above the treeline, the racers had 40-degree temperatures and a steady wind averaging 35 mph, with frequent gusts above 65 mph, and much more headwind than tailwind.

We have lost classmates Russell Rothrock and Birger Benson.For further information, visit www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755, (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

A personal note: Since 2016 your Upper Valley classmates have met monthly for breakfast. When our meeting site closed, we relocated to the Hanover home of Marcia and Pete Frederick; in nice weather we picnic outside, in bad weather we are graciously welcomed inside. The Fredericks have just moved to a Kendal community in Pennsylvania—what to do? Brigid and I solved the problem by buying Marcia and Pete’s place, so the tradition will continue!

You may recall that the son of the late Kighoma Malima was searching for information on his father’s undergraduate life. He received a response from Jonathan Silbert, who knew both Kighoma and the late Naison Mawande very well. During their exchange Jon found that he and Kighoma, independently of each other, had both had letters published in the Class Notes of April 1986. Since that time, Jon says, “I remained on our Connecticut Board of Education (perhaps the most thankless of all elective offices!) until the governor rescued me in 1991 and nominated me for a Superior Court judgeship. I served until 2012, then returned to my old law firm, of counsel, with a practice devoted exclusively to mediation and arbitration.” He notes that he visited Richard Bernstein in Vermont to view the April solar eclipse.

Rob Overton reported, “On February 2 I was awarded the Harman Hawkins Trophy by US Sailing. The Harman Hawkins Trophy is awarded annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing in the field of race administration. My contribution was in the Racing Rules of Sailing as the longstanding chair of the racing rules committee and as judge and umpire in the sport of sailing.”

The theme of this DAM is books. Packing for our upcoming move, I found books authored by classmates Brian Porzak, Chick Kozloff, Philo Willetts, George Bellerose, and Mike Gonnerman and poets Glenn Currie and Mike O’Connell. My apologies to those I missed.

We have lost classmates Andy Gundlach and Damonhuri “Algis” Alkaitis. For further information, visit our class website, www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy, 7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

Classmates are doing lots of different, interesting things. Shortly after moving to Vero Beach, Florida, in early 2016, Stu Keiller became the first executive director of a small nonprofit teaching sailing to children. Today Youth Sailing Foundation (YSF) registers more than 300 children annually for free sailing instruction. Stu explains: “With a fleet of 80 small sailboats, YSF uses sailing as an experiential learning platform that instills the basic building blocks for a successful life. Learning to sail requires resilience and perseverance. Sailing is challenging. It requires focus and quick decision-making. Sailing takes kids out of the digital world into the world of wind, waves, and sunshine. It helps them achieve their potential. YSF’s roster reflects the demographics of Indian River County. About 50 percent are from underserved homes. There are 12 children from the homeless community. Twenty-seven and 10 percent represent the minority and special needs communities, respectively. Sailors come from 35 schools and academies. Diversity is a strength in itself. A Harvard study has found that the highest correlation for a child getting out of poverty is knowing and interacting with children not in poverty. Narrow horizons are lifted, and a world of possibilities is opened. The annual $750,000 budget is funded entirely through the generosity of a loyal donor base that includes Allen Zern and David Wagner. This same donor base has generously gifted $3.8 million to build a community sailing center on a beautiful 4-acre waterfront site leased from the city.” Stu shifted colors on January 1 to focus on completing the project by the end of 2025. Visit www.ysfirc.org or call Stu at (410) 703-8660 to learn more.

Rick Leach (a summer ’65 lunch attendee) wrote that he was sorry to miss last fall’s mini-reunion. He was busy “hosting an asylum seeker from Congo-Brazzaville for three months and am moving a lovely family of asylum seekers from a Lake George motel to an apartment in Glens Falls [New York].”

We have lost classmates Bill Herold and Norm Christianson. Condolences also to Roger Hansen, who lost wife Nancy in December 2023. For further information, visit our class website www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

I have a couple of items to report on this month. Stu Keiller reported: “Diane and I stopped by the Ravine Lodge on July 4. I was able to get a good look at the Class of 1965 Bunkhouse because the Lodge is closed for business on Tuesdays and there were no guests staying in the bunkhouse. I was shocked at what I found. The bunkhouse looked exactly the way it did the day we dedicated it in 2015. It was pristine; not a pin out of place and clean as a whistle. The outside was beautifully stained and the views as breathtaking as always. I spoke with the manager and he confirmed the bunkhouse is the most popular and fills up first. There have been thousands of overnight stays during the last eight years. Clearly the guests and staff take a great deal of pride in maintaining the facility. Just as importantly, it was [our class members’] generosity that allowed us to build a high-quality building that will serve generations to come. A special thanks to Dave Beattie, who inspects the building yearly, reports maintenance items to the College, and follows up to see they are addressed.”

On another front, Bill Webster decided to put together a crew featuring classmates to row in The Prouty, the annual fundraiser in Hanover to benefit the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Bill was inspired by the June death from cancer of fellow crew member Hugh Lade, and despite a late start he lined up (among others) Bob Ernst, Jim Ramsey, Pete Dupret, Jack Corneveaux, and Larry Goldberger to row or support this effort. More than $6,000 was raised. As fate would have it, Prouty weekend coincided with torrential rain and flooding in New England and the rowing event was cancelled. Bill promises a similar effort next year, so contact him directly if interested in supporting or participating.

With regret I must report the loss of two classmates whose deaths have been reported to the College since the last Class Notes: Hugh Lade (see above) and Rick Davey. See our class website www.biggreen65.com for details.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755, (603) 643-5589, murph65nh@comcast.net

In April we had our annual mini-reunion for southwest Florida classmates and their wives at the legendary Snook Haven in Venice. Attendees included Marcia Pryde and Ted Atkinson, Bill Busker, Deb and Jim Griffiths, Linda and Rick Mahoney, Jane and George Wittriech, and Brigid and Bob Murphy. A great time was had by all listening to the Gulf Coast Banjo Society (Jim Griffiths is a past member), eating pulled pork sandwiches, and catching up on stories old and new. This place was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in September but has been beautifully restored.

This luncheon was in addition to our monthly breakfast for local classmates, the most recent of which was attended by Bob Murphy, Rick Mahoney, John Bullock, and Dave Bush. The latter two are retired physicians, so it was interesting to note that they both ordered the granola bowl for breakfast, while Rick and I feasted on pancakes and waffles (there is undoubtedly a lesson there somewhere). John and Dave were about to depart Florida, so it was good to fit this meeting in before their departures. They both decried the trend of modern medical care toward less personal conduct and more “assembly line” surgery and other procedures.

Recently I also had the pleasure of catching up with Gary Jaffe. “Hawk” describes himself as a serial globetrotter since Dartmouth. Following his M.B.A. from Stanford, he did strategic planning for the U.S. Defense Department. Then followed a couple of startups (bar/restaurant/food service) before he embarked on a long career in finance and consulting. After a stint at Reynolds/Dean Witter, he joined Bain & Co. and then Gemini Consulting, finally becoming an independent consultant in London, Johannesburg, Rome, Geneva, and Hong Kong. Hawk is now retired, living in San Francisco, and doing consulting for Bay Area jazz and theater nonprofits, and enjoying hiking, tennis, and Zumba classes.

With regret I must report the loss of seven classmates whose deaths have been reported to the College since the last Class Notes: Byron Ford, Jack Heidbrink, Paul “Mac” Jones, Jack Miller, Marty Stackhouse, Rob Upton, and Larry Zalcman. See our class website www.biggreen65.com for details.

—Bob Murphy, 7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755, (603) 643-5589, murph65nh@comcast.net

On October 15 last fall, 15 members of the undefeated, Ivy championship, nationally ranked 1962 football team gathered for a 60th reunion party. Pete Frederick reported on the 1965 class contingent.

“Jack McLean, Jaan Lumi, Bob McConnaughey, and I represented the class. It was an honor to walk out on the field. Other than the football score it was a great day. In several cases it had been 60 years since guys had seen each other. The highlight of the day was dinner at Floren Fieldhouse. Captain Billy King started the conversation with several stories about the ‘Bullet’ and the Princeton game. Teammates shared other stories, not only about our season but about contact with our teammates during the last 60 years. There were laughs galore and perhaps a tear or two. I spoke with several members of the current team who commented how great it was that we could get together one last time. I quickly responded that we were already planning our 70th celebration!”

Joel Feldman reported to Pete that he is a retired plastic surgeon living outside of Boston. Bruce Wagner regretted living so far away in the Great Lakes region. Rich Beams apologized for scheduling a conflicting trip to Ireland. Jim Westfall is an emeritus faculty member from the University of Southern Maine. Mark Tuttle sent a lengthy explanation of the life lessons he learned on the team, despite never playing a down.

I regret to report the loss of Steve Hudak. See www.biggreen65.com for details.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

This summer your class executive committee held its annual (in non-Covid times) meeting at Bill Webster’s home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Present in person were Mike Gonnerman, VP; George Wittreich, treasurer; Bill Webster, host; Jim Ramsey; Dick Avery; and Jim Griffiths. Present virtually were Don Bradley, president; Joel Sternman, head agent; John Rogers, newsletter; Hank Amon, Bartlett Tower Society; Roger Hansen, reunion chair; Carl Boe; Bob Ernst; Pete Frederick; John McGeachie; Ken McGruther; and John Silbert.

George Wittreich reported a healthy class treasury, with a balance of $109,903. John Rogers plans to revert to a snail mail newsletter for the next mailing; if you haven’t already please return your Green Cards to John. I (Bob Murphy) noted that a cumulative total of more than 500 classmates have now attended our monthly breakfasts in various locations. Keep an eye out for news from Mike Gonnerman on the 2023 winter trip, including a stay in the Class of 1965 Cabin. Finally, Roger Hansen has agreed to chair our 60th reunion, not that far away in 2025.

Speaking of Bill Webster, he often hosts members of the Ledyard Canoe Club as they complete their annual five-day voyage down the Connecticut River. This year had an additional class of ’65 connection as Rich Beams’ granddaughter, Amy Wiseman ’22, led the trip as outgoing president of the club. Amy reported: “This year we had 19 people take part. We averaged 30 miles per day from May 8 to May 14, including six portages. We were lucky enough to meet up with the Dartmouth Club of the Pioneer Valley [Massachusetts] and Hartford [Connecticut] for meals along the river and ended with a party hosted in Old Saybrook, where I met Bill Webster!” Grampa Rich says there are new traditions from his trip in the spring of 1962; for instance, participants now paddle naked through Hartford. The group was entertained at trip end by the Dartmouth Club of Hartford, which, Rich says, “provided lots of local, attractive young women to join us for our final dinner celebration.”

I regret to report the loss of Bruce Jolly, Bill Duschatko, Peter Morrissette, Jay Johnston, and Charlie Dolbert. See www.biggreen65.com for further details.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755, (603) 643-5589, murph65nh@comcast.net

At our monthly class breakfasts in Hanover, Florida, and Lake George, New York, I’ve noticed that the conversations often turn to “Reading any good books?” I asked some participants for their suggestions.

Ken McGruther was first to respond. “As a lover of history I recommend two trilogies of World War II: Pacific Crucible, The Conquering Tide, Twilight of the Gods by Ian Toll (Pacific) and An Army at Dawn, Day of Battle, Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson (Europe). Ken added in his favorite novels, which are (in order) Gone with the Wind, The Virginian, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Caine Mutiny. Dave Bush was next, coming up with another World War II choice in Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer. Dave also recommends anything by Bill Bryson, C.J. Box, or Michael Connelly (I would second all these choices). Mike Woodbury suggests any Dale Brown novel about Russian aggression, written three to 10 years ago, saying, “Very scary how accurate they appear now to current events—almost like Putin read them!”

Jim Griffiths reports, “In the past two years I’ve read all the historical fiction by Erik Larson and some by Ken Follett, as well as mystery fiction by Michael Connelly and M.C. Beaton. Incidentally, two of these authors were recommended by fellow ’65s at our monthly breakfasts.” Mark Sheingorn highly recommends White Freedom by Tyler Stovall, tracing the complex relationship between freedom and race. Mike Zare chipped in from Florida with Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, noting, “Probably not permissible in my home state schools.” Bob McConnaughey came up with Go with Me by Castle Freeman Jr., Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Where the Rivers Flow North by Howard Frank Mosher, and A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, class of 1924. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Steve Horvath. His home library may require an entire future column; my skimpy word allowance from DAM just doesn’t allow it here.

We have lost Ted Bracken and Tom Simone. See www.biggreen65.com for further details.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755, (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

Late last year we had the privilege of an interview with Jim Frank, currently in the third year of his first term as a Dartmouth trustee, via a Zoom call arranged by class president Don Bradley.

Jim has been impressed with the quality and commitment of the board, although he described it as a “saltwater” board (East and West coasts) and would like to see more geographic representation. He’d prefer more businesspeople, balancing the current professionals from backgrounds in education, law, and venture capital. Decisions are driven by the vision of the president, but topics are gated through the faculty, who effectively “drive the place.” He assured us that alumni opinion is strongly considered in the decision-making process. He noted that donors tend to be athletes or Greeks.

Jim sees no difference in the individual personality of today’s undergraduates from our vintage. They are collegial, not competitive, and generally nice and compassionate people. He does see two major differences from 1965. The first is price; with today’s costs, expectations are increased, and students and families are more demanding and more willing to speak up. Second, there are many more minority and first-generation college attendees; this leads to a greater emphasis on career planning. The future role of the liberal arts college is a frequent topic of conversation on the board.

Hank Amon asked about campus expansion northward onto the golf course, and Jim replied simply that golf is finished at Dartmouth. Inevitably new housing must be built, and both Tuck and the Medical School are considering completely new campuses. As a whole the College has come through the pandemic in good shape, in large part due to a 45-percent return on investments in the last fiscal year. He does not see replacing in-class teaching, nor does he foresee an increase in student body size. There is concern on the board about “skyrocketing tuition”; he noted that tuition is approaching $70,000, but that half of the undergraduates go for free.

I regret to report the loss of Rob Hartford and Dick Foster.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

Writing in mid-August, it’s impossible in this Covid era to even predict whether our October mini-reunion will or has taken place. I hope to have notes for the next issue.

One advantage of living in Hanover is access to Dartmouth events, of which the annual Pow Wow is one of the most interesting. Our classmate Rich Beams is a regular at our Upper Valley monthly breakfasts, where his diverse interests ranging from opera to Native American art always provide interesting conversational twists. Here’s what he is up to now.

Rich writes: “Inspired by the recent article in the May/June Dartmouth Alumni Magazine by Betsy Vereckey, ‘Heartbeat of the People: There’s more to the annual Pow Wow than meets the eye,’ I have begun planning an illustrated book titled A Journey in Time; a Pow Wow Through Pottery. In the article, painter Mateo Romero ’89, a member of the Cochiti Pueblo Tribe, describes the Pow Wow as a spiritual moment; so too is the making of pueblo pottery with its connection to community, nature, and ancestors—even as it has become very much a commercial enterprise today. Using my extensive Native American pottery collection, which goes from pre-historic, historic, to the contemporary, I hope to illustrate and examine the organic interdependence of Native Americans and their communities built around the making of their pottery, a journey through time, or rather a Pow Wow through pottery. As Lonnie Vigil, an award-winning Nambé Pueblo potter writes, ‘Each pot speaks to the continuity in the identity of family and community [and is] simultaneously an act of connection between the potter, the Earth Mother, and the ancestral spirits that guide them.’ My plan is to have as many Dartmouth Native Americans as possible comment on the various pots, making whatever observations or associations they may bring to mind. If it all comes together as a book, I’ll donate all proceeds to student fundraising efforts to sustain this admirable, 50-year tradition, the annual Pow Wow.”

I regret to report the loss of classmates Jim Hofrichter and Rick Suberman. Check the class website for obituaries and other updates: www.biggreen65.com.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

This month we feature two successful physicians now living in New Hampshire, Roger Hansen and Mike Bettman.

Says Roger: “Nancy and I both grew up in New Jersey and returned there in 1973, when I went into the practice of orthopedic surgery after my Hanover residency. Being young and eager, we did it all in terms of avid pursuit of my practice, and Nancy participated in setting up and running a nursery school. We were active in the church and local politics while raising three kids. Meanwhile, most of our vacations and get-away weekends were spent in New Hampshire, where we eventually bought a vacation home in New London (Nancy is a Colby Junior alumna). In the spring of 1980 Nancy said: ‘I will not live in New Jersey any longer.’ Our crazy pace, combined with the intensity of the New York metropolitan area, was doing us in. Since we enjoyed our time in New Hampshire so much, we decided let’s just move there.”

Says Mike: “Ellen and I met during medical school in N.Y.C., and we often came to Hanover to camp. We lived in Boston for 21 years, as my career evolved and our kids grew up and left. We decided to move to a place where I could continue in academic medicine and we could have the lifestyle we both wanted. We loved the Upper Valley and I took a job at DHMC. In 1993 we built a home on a piece of land in Etna that, in original 1700s plans for Hanover, had been designated to become the town center but was never developed. Also, we had often stayed at what was the Harris Cabin and remembered the gorgeous views. Working at DHMC was very different from practicing in Boston, as patients seemed more open and trusting than in the city. We’ve both since retired and still love living here; the quality of life is truly wonderful, even in the pandemic. Our kids wondered why it took us so long to move here!”

I regret to report the loss of two classmates, Jens Sorensen and John Shevlin.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

I’ve talked before about our monthly classmate breakfasts in Hanover, Florida, and Lake George, New York. I’ve met many great classmates; this month I’m featuring two Florida breakfast friends by starting at the end of the alphabet. Bob Ziemian says his first Florida experience was entering Navy flight training in Pensacola. He flew out of Pensacola for the craziest moment of his life, landing on the aircraft carrier Lexington for the first time solo. After getting his wings he flew regularly into other Florida air stations. In his second career as a Massachusetts judge he realized that our justice system was not dealing effectively with substance-abusing defendants. He visited the first drug court, in Miami, where the chief prosecutor was Janet Reno (later attorney general). He was then successful in establishing the first drug court in Massachusetts (1995), expanding the system to more than 50 courts, and becoming president of the New England Association of Drug Court Professionals. He continued his professional contact with the Miami court judge; now a Florida resident, he says, “I just want to get out of the cold in winter!”

Native Clevelander Mike Zare marvels that his path to Sarasota took an amazing Asian detour. Freshman year he bonded with Tokyo native Tetsuro “Ted” Inaji, a one-year exchange student, while playing ping pong and listening to classical music together in Little Hall. This inspired Mike, a French major, to minor in Asian studies. When Dartmouth brought in Yale professor emeritus Henry C. Fenn our senior year to start a Chinese language program, Mike enrolled and found it a delightful challenge. What a fortuitous happenstance when, while teaching at Honolulu’s Punahou School, Mike fell in love with Joan, a Chinese Jamaican who has become his bride of 52 years and counting. The next logical step was for them to travel to Taiwan, where Mike taught at Taipei American School before they eventually chose Sarasota to raise their four sons, who have so far blessed them with six grandchildren. I met Mike years ago when he saw my Dartmouth sweatshirt on Siesta Key Beach, Florida, and introduced himself. It’s a small world indeed!

—Bob Murphy, 7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

Your class met virtually on July 16, our 55th reunion having fallen victim to the pandemic. New class officers elected include president Don Bradley, VP Mike Gonnerman, treasurer Mark Sheingorn, secretary Bob Murphy, head agent Joel Sternman, webmaster Stu Keiller, newsletter editor John Rogers, and Bartlett Tower/scholarship fund agent Hank Amon. A round of snaps for Gonnerman and his crew for a successful five years just completed. Among those successes, your class received the Alumni Fund award for largest percentage increase in donors for a reunion class under head agent Don Bradley.

Many of us are involved directly or indirectly in fighting the pandemic. One very active participant has been Rick Leach, as noted in a Warren County, New York, newsletter. A retired local physician and epidemiologist, Rick has given hundreds of hours to spearhead the collection of thousands of handmade masks and face coverings. Initially he arranged with local dentists to sterilize the masks; with dental practices resuming, recipients still receive the masks but must wash them before use. “Those who have made the masks should be very proud, not just because of their beautiful work, but also because of how much they have meant to our community,” Rick was quoted as saying. Although retired from active practice, he serves as Warren County Public Health’s infectious disease consultant. He calls his donors “masketeers, as it calls up chivalry and altruism and protecting the community against a marauding and sneaky enemy!” Rick is part of the small but loyal ’65 cadre that gathers for lunch several times a summer at Lake George, New York.

Making a cameo appearance in (of all things) the Harvard Alumni Magazine was Mark Tuttle. An article on the 50th reunion of Aiken Computation Lab there noted that he was hired “not because Tuttle knew much about computer programming (he didn’t), but because he had been an undergrad at Dartmouth, which was already evangelizing computing for everyone.” Mark is founder and director for 32 years of Silicon Valley medical technology company Apelon.

Finally, with sadness I report the loss of classmates Peter Akley, Paul Helgesen, David Oesterheld, and Ed Wynot.

—Bob Murphy,7 Willow Spring Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-5589; murph65nh@comcast.net

What a difference two months makes. Last column featured plans for the upcoming 55th reunion, now deferred. This one is full of classmates’ discoveries of distancing via electronic media. Bev and I have gone online for family talkfests, writing groups, online classes, a book club, doctor visits, and strength training from our now-shuttered gym.

Rich Beams reports from splendid isolation in Chester, Vermont, not so much from Covid-19 as from the arrival of mud season. Ensconced therein with two black poodles, visited by a large black bear, Rich can continue his opera reviews and Mahala can continue her German lessons, both online.

Betsy and Mike Gonnerman decided that this was the year to run every road in Hanover. Betsy wrote a wonderful article about the effort: 201 miles, 255 roads (40-percent dirt), net 21,000 feet elevation. Hooray!

Bob Murphy is, as he says, hunkered down in Florida, where everything snowbirds come for is closed, including the southwest Florida class breakfasts. Murph notes presciently, “You better love your spouse (fortunately, I do, without limit), because you’re going to be seeing a lot of him/her for the foreseeable future.”

Jon Silbert notes that “thanks to the miracle of Zoom, I can continue to conduct mediations online from home. I suspect that even when the crisis has passed, some folks will find this method preferable. As the technology improves, it could create vast changes—whether for good or ill is not so clear yet—in the way we practice our professions (and live our lives).” He notes that probably all of us ’65s “are on a firm enough footing health-wise and financially to be likely to get through the worst of this. But there are millions of folks around the country and the planet who are not, and that is very scary.”

Korky Terada spends half the year in Japan and half in Australia, where he imbibes sulphur-free organic red wine, which has helped keep his internal age at 21 physically (we all look back and hope not mentally). He has 10,000 bottles and sends an invitation to visit.

Dick Tabors is still working and “thoroughly enjoying the three small companies that we have started since 2012.” He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering last year, a signal honor after years as “a strange economist and geographer.”

John Tobin’sstudy of the piano has moved from face-to-face lessons at MacPhail Institute (Minneapolis) to live lessons online. “More surprising,” he notes, “I believe I am learning from this method: not quite as I might have in person, but definitely more than I would have without them!”

Weaver Gaines continues his work at Evren Technologies, transcutaneous auricular (ear) vagal nerve stimulation to provide personalized, stand-alone treatment for PTSD and anxiety. He finds, surprisingly, that financing for small startups, which one might expect to freeze up during Covid-19 distancing, is active.

Finally, we recognize with sadness the deaths of Chuck Coe, Woodhall “Sandy” Stopford, and Tim Bryant. Obits will follow online.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

You will be reading this is mid-March, just the time to make spring and summer plans. Pencil in the 55th reunion, Monday, June 15, to Thursday, June 18. For early arrivers there will be a trip to Moosilauke and an informal dinner at the Ravine Lodge on Sunday, June 14. Mike Gonnerman, Roger Hansen, Dick Harris, and Steve Fowler are hard at work on planning the events. We will be staying in the Wheelock Cluster across from Alumni Gym. Activities will include a Robert Frost reenactment, a dinner with President Hanlon, a film and presentation on Dartmouth computing by John McGeachie, a talk on the space program by Ken McGruther, a reception, dinner, and dancing. And, of course, much conversation.

That’s the major reunion news, but during the last several years, several class mini-reunions, breakfasts, and lunches have grown organically. Maybe it’s the draw of Hanover bringing classmates back to the College, maybe a bit more time on our hands, but it’s been a happy development. First was the monthly Hanover breakfast at Skinny Pancake, which often boasts more than a dozen attendees. Then came Florida breakfasts and lunches in the winter months, as well as an annual spring training meeting. More recently, there are quarterly N.Y.C. luncheons and summer meetings at Lake George, New York. More info? Shoot me an email (to the address below) and I will redirect to the organizers.

Classmates living in Hanover can choose from among many activities and programs. Bob McConnaughey is newly elected to the Latham Memorial Library board (Thetford, Vermont). Dave Beattie is co-teaching a course through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on nuclear submarines. At the course’s conclusion, the class will attend the commissioning of the USS Vermont. And Bill Young is teaching an Osher course on ice statues, which will confer on students membership in the proud ice castle crew.

Glenn Currie has published a seventh volume of poetry, Ball of String. Rick Broussard, editor of New Hampshire magazine, notes, “As a poet and photographer, Currie takes notice of the world the way…a beachcomber does after a storm. Ball of String is a memory box filled with moments of living light.” Fine poetry, beautifully produced. Also, my (John Rogers) third novel (unpublished) was long-listed for the Grindstone International Novel Prize.

In early December I was given an affirmation of the American Idea, an antidote to the suspicion and conflict painted daily in the news. It was not the best of circumstances: I was suddenly in the hospital, needing cardiac bypass. On my way through the painful, scary process, I was soothed and protected by some of the fine ya-sure Minnesotans I have come to admire. But there were many more…a nurse’s aide whose family escaped Somali catastrophe, internment in Yemen, and came to Minnesota; men and women from a dozen Asian and African countries. They worked long, hard hours and were committed to doing their jobs well. It was a reminder of the values that make this country unique.

Mark those calendars for the 55th!

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Summer has been glorious in Minnesota. Too much water early, which was hard on our farmers, but generally free of the oppressive heat the rest of the country experienced. The cooler days of fall are coming, ushered in by the state fair, as always.

In Hanover Betsy and Mike Gonnerman and Larry Duffy have spent summer months volunteering at the Dartmouth information booth on the Green, which is sponsored by Sphinx, courtesy of Peter Frederick.

Earlier, April saw the 5 Colleges Book Sale, started by President Dickey’s wife and still going strong. The event takes in 100,000 books and raises about $80,000 for scholarships for New Hampshire and Vermont students at Mount Holyoke, Simmons, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley. Marcia and Larry Duffy and Gonnerman all work the event.

I asked, somewhat plaintively, for reminiscences of times at Dartmouth. Thanks to Ward Hindman for this memory of a road trip to Skidmore. “It was fall 1967. I was at Thayer School after getting my A.B. I had been given the name of a young lady at Skidmore College in New York and made a date to meet her. To keep me company on the way, I arranged to take three freshmen along.” (You all surely remember the agony of freshman year isolation.) “The trip down was uneventful, with the three super-pumped about winning their first football game. At Skids I dropped the players off and proceeded to meet my date. We sat together in a large lounge area, well chaperoned, and chatted. After a while it was clear that there was no magic, and I decided to see how my freshmen were doing. When I first arrived at the dorm where I’d dropped them, I didn’t see anyone waiting at the door looking for me, so I parked. As I got out of the car I realized there were three knots of activity off in the dark. I walked over to the first and discovered one of my freshmen on the ground getting the snot beat out of him by several guys who looked like offensive linemen. Here I was at 5 feet, 4 inches and maybe 150 pounds grabbing these guys and pulling them away. I dragged my guy back to the car and went off to rescue another one. At least he was still upright. I got the second one away from his attackers, and we went together to rescue the third. I got them in my brand-new Monza Corvair and realized they were bleeding all over my upholstery. I had some clothes in the trunk, which they used to clean themselves up. I don’t know if I broke the record for the trip to Hanover, but I was well above the speed limit the whole way. We went straight to the ER at the hospital. I never did find out if they recovered enough to play the next game, but I’m sure they learned something about bragging in front of the wrong people.”

More like that, folks—send more like that.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

One of my references for this column is a rapidly decaying copy of the 1965 Green Book—cover flaking, pages sticking, classmates looking oh so young. In my research I flipped to the back and realized the concept of Facebook has been with us longer than the app itself. The last pages have dormitory numbers of many women’s colleges in the Northeast. Remember calling those numbers hopefully, waiting while a distant voice yelled, “Some guy from Dartmouth wants to talk to you”? Then, successful in setting the date, remember donning a sport coat or Dartmouth green jacket (which would usually guarantee a ride when you stuck your thumb out), riding to Boston, Mount Holyoke, or further afield? Ahh, the optimism of it all. Such rumination raises the question: How about your experiences, your road trips? Let me know for the next column.

Now to the present. The winter months saw the expansion of the New York City meeting, well-attended Hanover breakfasts, a Florida baseball game, and a Florida micro-mini.

Hank Amon reports that a February lunch at Café Central included Jim Gerson, Bob Reilert, Jon Silbert, Brian Porzak, Dick Shaw, Mark Sheingorn, Charlie Strauss,Hank,and Carl Boe. He notes, “We went around the table, and each of us described what had become of our lives after Dartmouth. A stimulating and diverse group in terms of what our working and personal lives had involved.”

The Florida micro-mini reunion mentioned above included Bob Murphy, Rick Mahoney, Dave Bush, Steve Horvath, Bob Ziemian, Mike Zare,and Jim Griffiths. Micro-mini group, but macro interest and conversation. Closer to home, the Hanover Skinny Pancake breakfast is flourishing. March meeting included Phil Schaeffer, Hunt Whitacre, Dave Hewitt, Peter Frederick, Bob McConnaughey, Larry Duffy, Steve Fowler, Mike Bettman,and Mike Gonnerman. Good conversation and, of course, the pancakes.

Bob Murphy reports that “the first road trip for the ’65 club of southwest Florida took place March 18 with a group visit to a Detroit Tigers-Tampa Bay Rays game at the Rays’ spring training site in Port Charlotte. We were fortunate that Bill Brown was able to arrange group tickets for us. This was our first venture outside the friendly confines of First Watch Breakfast Restaurant. It won’t be the last, as we had a great time. Bill coordinated everything through Murphy, and the group included George Wittreich, Mahoney, Gonnerman, and Sherlyn and Peter Morrissette. Our group was enriched by the presence of Jim Beattie ’76, husband of our former alumni relations VP Martha Beattie; Jim pitched for Dartmouth and then for nine years for the Yankees and Mariners, so we all learned more about real baseball than we had collectively known before. A great experience!” He continues, “Coming up next is our coed luncheon at Snook Haven in Venice.” That Florida group does get around!

Finally, we note with sadness the January passing of Jim Danielson in Wenatchee, Washington, and George Poland in West Kingston, Rhode Island, in February.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Greetings. I am writing during the holiday season, when cheer is good, families are gathered, and news for the column is usually scarce. Not this year.

In November Joel Sternman, Brian Porzak and Hank Amon were hosted by classmate Father George Rutler at the Rectory of St. Michael’s Church in Manhattan. Rutler is the pastor of St. Michael’s, having been appointed by Cardinal Dolan in 2013. He has published 21 books and since 1988 has broadcast worldwide a weekly television program on EWTN, the Global Catholic Television Network. Hank says it was an afternoon to discuss “old times, our current work, and topical issues.” One of the topics must have been a December 18 lunch, organized by Amon and Sternman. It was the first of planned informal get-togethers of ’65s in New York City. They hope the meeting will eventually include classmates from the greater New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area. Attendees were Amon, Carl Boe, Shep Curtis, Jim Gerson, Tucky Mays, Porzak, Mike Rodgers, Jon Silbert, Charlie Strauss, Sternman, and Bill Webster. Classmates interested in attending future meetings should contact Hank (camon@whitecase.com) or Joel.

Nancy and Roger Hansen’s holiday letter shows a handsome, multi-talented family—teachers, engineers, a firefighter, a physical therapist, an M.B.A., a Massachusetts Maritime student. Roger notes that he keeps “several balls in the air” and has taken up wood turning. Sharp tools…balls in the air…hmm.

Bob Komives writes, “Life is good and fulfilling. Our year centered around a two-month trip that started with a wedding in Virginia and ended with a family reunion in Wisconsin, not far from my hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. In between was a summer in Europe,” wherein Marney and Bob explored northwestern Spain, then Torino, Italy, and southern France from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean by bicycle. He continues, “On the semi-productive side, most of my ‘work’ happens in coffee houses. I massaged my ego (by publishing on Amazon) a collection of my poetry, drawings, and abstracted photos called Scribbles & Coddles, and a second edition of Good Day: Poetry and Images for Seasons of Optimism, a book that combines my poetry with the paintings of a talented artist. Now most of my writing returns to short, personal vignettes from my childhood that started as bedtime stories for my grandchildren. I help in the library of the bilingual school and I hope to extend my urban planning career by volunteering in our city’s effort to be a sustainable community.”

Following Komives’ lead, I published Fatal Score, the first in a series of thrillers, in November and am now busy with the business side of getting the book out. Books two and three are written, and I’m working on No. 4 when time permits.

I am looking forward to 2019 and to hearing from those of you who think you are too busy, too engaged in good works, too enmeshed in family activities to write. Like Jell-O of old, there’s always room for a note, right?

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Ahhh, summer. Vacations, family fun, vicarious pleasures as grandkids do all the things good, bad, and hilarious we were prone to do back when. So, brace yourselves, lads. Mini’s coming up October 11-14, about the time this mag hits your mailbox. It’s a chance to climb (a bit of) Moosilauke, raise a glass at Debbie and Jim Griffiths’ Friday reception, watch the Green compete against Sacred Heart, navigate the steam tunnel, and hang with classmates.

The July quarterly executive teleconference was held at Bill Webster’s home. Mike Gonnerman, Hank Amon, Carl Boe, Jim Griffiths, Mike Orr,and Webster attended in person; Dave Beattie, Don Bradley, Rick Davies, Dick Durrance, Steve Fowler, Dick Harris, Gary Herbst, Stu Keiller, John Rogers, Joel Sternman, and Bruce Wagner attended by phone. Gonnerman’s slides (at www.biggreen65.com) tell the story of an active past year and promise many events to come.

Roger Hansen attended the Alumni Council’s May meeting as our class representative. He reported that the meeting focused on the Call to Lead campaign’s three objectives: advance our distinctive educational model to become the unparalleled leader in liberal arts education, make big bets on discovery to improve the human condition, and prepare students for lives of leadership. All of us can join the conversation at #DartmouthLeads.

Ward Hindman writes, “After a career in aerospace (Air Force and corporate) I retired summer before last. In April Norma and I took a trip through European riverways hosted by the Dartmouth alumni travel office. We flew to Amsterdam, where we took guided walking and boating trips around the city. I took lots of pictures of canals and buildings built 500 years or more ago. The featured lecturer was John Stomberg, director of the Hood Museum. He was a fun guy and gave some really informative talks. We had dinner several times with Fred Glickman ’68 and his wife, Margery. We also got to know Mitch Zeller ’79 and his wife, Paula. He and I had a great connection through the Glee Club directed by Paul Zeller (no relation). By the end of the tour we had history coming out of our ears and a camera full of pictures.” The food was five-star, he adds, and “I managed to gain less than 10 pounds by leaving a lot on my plate, which was hard to do.”

Keiller has added the class of 1965’s memorial books program list to the “In Memoriam” section of www.biggreen65.com. The program donates books to Baker Library in the name of deceased classmates, choosing Native American subjects when possible.

I received the annual class list the other day: 738 names; 437 emails. Today, as Gonnerman and Keiller lead the class in using technology, that email address is important. Find details on accessing and editing your alumni profile, as well as looking up classmates, at www.alumni.dartmouth.edu/connect/find-alumni.

Finally, we received notice of the passing of Brian Walsh, who returned to Hanover in the mid-70s and became an important leader in Hanover, and of Tod Seel in September in Savannah, Georgia.

Send your news!

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Ah, spring. As I write this, robins are chirping outside my Minnesota window, no doubt irritated if not desperate because those delectable worms are napping under 15 inches of snow. Surely when you read this in June, we will have moved into Minnesota’s other season, road construction.

Rick Tabors writes that “life is going along. I have found a woman who is willing to tolerate my bad behavior—something about being an academic, and she hasn’t ever had to be closely attached to such an animal in the past. We live together in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, when I am not in Boston at the office and living in my old house in Harvard Square, which I do two or three nights per week. The commute is a killer up the southeast expressway, so it is sane to do it once up and once back per week. It gives Mary Ellen the time to live her own life, which was very active before we got together and hasn’t slowed down any more than mine has.” Life is going along, indeed—in the express lane.

Jack Hill reminds us all that, at our age, “being active and alive is ‘news!’ ” (A good thought for those of you who think your humble class scribe wouldn’t be interested in your doings.) Hill, like Tabors, makes active seem frenetic. He is a volunteer crew leader for Habitat for Humanity in middle Tennessee. “I also am a budget coach,” he says, “which involves being a financial advisor for families as they get ready to move into a Habitat home. I am trying to teach a 61-year-old woman, whose education was stunted by the Jim Crow South, how to read and write.” For relaxation, he says, “I cut our lawn, tend the flower beds, exercise the dog, change oil for the cars, take my bicycle out for a spin, play with computers. (The Dartmouth Time Sharing System, which came online when I arrived in 1963, launched my career with computer systems.)” Jack also coaches track (shot put and discus) at a local high school and interviews prospective Dartmouth students as part of the admissions ambassador program (run in middle Tennessee by Jim Harris ’64).

Mike Gonnerman sent a link to the Valley News, which had a front-page article on Steve Waterhouse. He notes, “Once a week they write a feature story about a local person who has contributed much to the area.” Stu Keiller has the article up on biggreen65.com.

Those of you who have disclosed your email addresses to Dartmouth will notice the occasional email from me. Not often. Just a plea for a check-in, a “Hi! How are you?” followed by a bit about yourself. This month you were dangerously near allowing me several hundred words to flak my upcoming thriller, to be out in November. Tabors and Hill saved you. Snaps for them. Send those notes.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Greetings!

Now that the wolf-wind is wailing at the doorways,

And the snow drifts deep along the road,

I hope you’re defying frost and storm and have your heart’s desire.

(How’s that for trashing a fine song’s scansion?) Winter is upon us, except for those who have discovered warmer climates, such as Bob Murphy, who is playing baseball in Florida (more on that below). Here in Minnesota the winter is…meh. Not enough snow to ski on yet.

So, to business. As mentioned earlier, we are moving to a new way of delivering the newsletter. (Pardon me—a new platform.) Mike Gonnerman is the leader in this, and Stu Keiller maintains a fine website that figures strongly in the new design. Instead of a printed letter, Mike hosts quarterly conference calls. The calls are anchored by slides, which go up at biggreen65.com after the meetings. The first meeting took place in November and was followed by an email newsletter in December. Gonnerman led the meeting. Bruce Jolly, John Rogers, Joel Sternman, George Wittreich, Murphy, Keiller, Roger Hansen, Brian Porzak, Bruce Wagner, Peter Frederick, Bill Webster, Bob Blake and Dave Beattie joined the call. Plan to dial in on February 20 for the next meeting. Speaking of Gonnerman, he finished the 2017 Marine Corps Marathon in a time that would have pleased a 40-year-old. It was his 24th marathon. Mike’s wife, Betsy, ran the 10k and won her class—by eight minutes! Continuing the class action, Murphy writes, “I still play baseball. Hard ball, not softball. I play tournament ball: Wagner Wood Bat Classic, Roy Hobbs World Series and Legends of Baseball.” Murph plays center field, first base or catcher, depending on the team. He batted nearly .500 and was named a team MVP. In a quite different honor, Cheshire Health Foundation honored Dr. Roger Hansen’s years of service in orthopedics at the Keene Clinic, his leadership in founding Monadnock Sports Medicine and many contributions to medicine in the Upper Valley. The peripatetic Hansen also represented us at the 215th Alumni Council, which was prefaced by a visit to the new, renewed Moosilauke Lodge and included a reading of Green Eggs and Ham. Presumably this was the scholarly basis for the discussion of “the fusion of a best-in-class undergraduate college and a dynamic research university” that followed.

Finally, we have learned from Linda Waterhouse that Steve Waterhouse passed away on December 8 after a brief battle with brain cancer. “He embodied the spirit of Dartmouth from his days as our Indian mascot on through his many class projects,” Keiller said. “Working with him on Passion for Skiing was a revelation. His tireless efforts to research and build the story of Dartmouth’s contribution to skiing made us all dig deeper.” Hank Amon recalled Steve’s energy and dedication to Dartmouth, and Jim Griffiths noted, “There is no member of our class who has contributed as much personal time and creative energy to the betterment of the College. Steve will be sorely missed.”

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

About the time this lands on your doorstep, a new electronic newsletter from the class will land in your inbox—if we have your up-to-date email. If you do not receive an email by November 1 please send a note to Mike Gonnerman at michael@gonnerman.com to update your address. Stu Keiller (our class webmaster) and Dick Harris (newsletter editor) and I, led by Gonnerman, have developed a communication plan we hope both recognizes the richness of current electronic communication opportunities and saves the class a little money. (The plan is on our fine 1965 website, biggreen65.com. An example of why we are going partly electronic: If this column were an email, you could punch through to the website.)

If there is an ongoing storyline to this column, it’s the varied things classmates have done post-retirement (which is to say, “retirement” is an insult to most). Cases in point: Ted Bracken was in Hanover recently at the Rassias Institute to learn new techniques for teaching English as a foreign language. He teaches at the Washington English Center in D.C. His 20 adult students hail from 15 countries with native languages including Spanish, Portuguese, various Slavic languages, French (including West and North African variations), Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. Ted notes, teaching “has become an important and meaningful part of my activities in retirement, and I am enjoying the experience immensely.” Dave Milkowski passed through Hanover in late May. He said, “I’d mentioned to Gonnerman that I’d met with a rep of the Dartmouth Vietnam Project to whom I’m donating my collection of documents and memorabilia (I spent three years total between 1966 and 1971 serving in Vietnam and Laos in special ops and intel) and he suggested we try to visit Jim Wright.” Wright has written Enduring Vietnam, which Milkowski recommends “to anyone of our generation, whether they went to Vietnam or not.” Dave says, “I’ve been trying to do some writing about Vietnam myself, under the rubric 1967: Year of Decision.”Speaking of authorship, Jay Wakefield has written a new book, The Copper Trade, which makes a case that copper mining of the rich reserves in (mainly) Michigan was the source of supply of much of the copper found in Europe in the Bronze Age. Wakefield’s articles trace a robust transcontinental trade in the metal. His biography notes that his pursuit has spanned 20 years and resulted in 30 articles.

Hank Amon reports that 221 members of the class gave a total of $347,895 to the Dartmouth College Fund for the College’s fiscal year ending June 30. The participation rate was 35.6 percent, a bit down from last year’s 39.8 percent.

Finally, we received word that Dan Southard passed away in February, Dan Crobett in July and Lee Arbuckle in June. Bob Komives wrote the obit for Lee, his friend and roommate at Dartmouth. There’s a fine article on Lee in the July-August issue of the alumni magazine. The obits will appear on the alumni magazine website and on the “In Memoriam” page at biggreen65.com—update those emails!

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

On to the summer doings of ’65s far and wide. First, the peripatetic: Ken McGruther writes, “Last year was a tough one for us, with Jory fighting off cancer, then poisonous snake bites (in Norway!), only to arrive in the USA in late September just in time for us to have to evacuate our home on Amelia Island, Florida, due to onrushing Hurricane Matthew. Fortunately, no damage, and as it turns out bad things did come only in threes.” Since then, Ken and Jory have hopscotched countries and continents—Norway, Caribbean, Paris, Italy for cooking school. A life well lived, indeed.

Weaver Gaines continues to be active in biotechnology, leaving recently as chairman of Nanotherapeutics (Gainesville, Florida). As an advisor to Keck Graduate Institute (Claremont, California), he participates in mentoring grad students. This year a Keck master of engineering (M.Eng.) student will intern at Nanotherapeutics. Gaines reports that a new hip a couple of years ago works so well that he’s going to do the other side this fall as part of his quest to replace worn out parts whenever possible.

Mike Gonnerman writes that the monthly Hanover breakfasts organized by Bob Murphy have expanded to Florida (winter months). Murph has his eye on a mini-reunion around the Detroit Tigers spring training in 2018. Hank Amon, Dave Beattie and Gonnerman, together with Dan Nelson of the outdoor programs office and Bill Young, spent several days in the Moosilauke bunkhouse. There’s a nice picture at the alumni office website. The group manages to look both intrepid and relaxed.

On May 9 Hanover voters rejected a proposed change to its zoning regulations that would have made fraternities more autonomous. Turnout was three times normal. Steve Fowler, Hanover’s town moderator, oversaw the balloting and ran the town meeting that evening with aplomb. We believe he did not offer a recital on standup bass, his most recent passion. 

Beverly and I spent the evening of our 50th anniversary deep in the Delta blues country, at a juke joint called Red’s Place in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Beverly put up with the nearly century-old hotel, which was formerly the black hospital where Bessie Smith died. All this in the name of love. Perseverance, too.

Mark your calendars for the fall Homecoming mini in Hanover. Come on Thursday, October 5, for a dinner in the Ravine Lodge with the classes of 1966 and 1967 and an overnight in the 1965 cabin. Friday morning will feature a hike led by Beattie up Moosilauke, presumably followed by naps, possibly physical therapy and certainly an evening reception back in Hanover. Saturday will feature a tailgate with the class of 1964 at Sphinx, football game vs. Yale (or another sport), reception at Pierce’s with the class of 1964. Finally, the Sunday class meeting at Pierce’s.

Finally, we hear from Hank Amon that Norm Leach has left us. Hank gave an eloquent memorial talk at his funeral on June 15. I will follow with an obit.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

The fall mini-reunion was held October 28-30 in Hanover. On Friday we poured into Linda and Steve Fowler’s home for a reception. Saturday morning included an excellent (and packed) back-to-class panel discussion of the then-upcoming election. After a tent lunch the weather turned cool and rainy for the Harvard game. In the evening we gathered in front of the fireplace at Pierce’s and (warmer and drier) watched the 1964 Harvard game (Dartmouth 48, Harvard 0) as narrated by QB Bruce Gottshall and teammates Bob McConnaughy, Jaan Lumi and Pete Frederick. Dinner at Pierce’s included Karen Kolodny and Hank Amon, Marianne and Don Bradley, Dianne and Tom Campbell, Marcia and Pete Frederick, Elizabeth and Mike Gonnerman, Susan and Bruce Gottschall, Nancy and Roger Hanson, Susan and Tom Long, Brenda Ringwald and Jaan Lumi, French and Bob McConnaughey, Mark Nackman, Beverly and John Rogers, Linda and Steve Waterhouse, Jane and George Wittreich. Carly Amon, ’17 joined us for dinner, as did 1965 scholars Madison Hazard ’20 and Jessica Tong ’17.After dinner, we were serenaded by the oh-so-talented Decibelles.

Donaldo Duca Hart responded to what he called my “moving appeal” for news from ’65s (are you listening, classmates? Please!) and said he’d throw in “a couple tidbits.” After nearly 30 years in overseas development assistance via USAID and the World Bank, he is retiring, possibly to Mexico (San Miguel, Ajijic), maybe after a sojourn in Grasse, near Nice, or Greece for a while. Phew! “Tough to leave my older daughter and her 5-month-old son,” he says, as well as his younger daughter, who is expecting her first baby in two weeks. That will make six grandkids from five offspring. “While in San Miguel Allende for three days, by chance or good karma I ran into my great friend, classmate and Alpha Theta brother Phil Edgerton and his wonderful wife, Gail. It was the happiest moment of a good trip.”

Upcoming events include CarniVail. “We welcome all ’65s to come join our group both on the slopes and at the CV events throughout the weekend,” says Steve Waterhouse. This year CarniVail will celebrate the more than 700 alumni who have served as ski patrollers or ski instructors while at Dartmouth or in later life. “We are working to bring in ski team members and Olympic and NCAA ski stars of the 1990s to party together over the weekend,” Steve notes.

Normandy Trip: Tom Long confirmed that the trip is on for June 12 -21. A complete brochure is available from the alumni travel office (603-646-9159) or by email from Tom at tomlong@gwu.edu. In 2016, 28 of us made the trip. It was the high point of the year for Beverly and me, and I know for many others. Recent pictures from Dave Bush reminded us of the good times.

Finally, we have learned of the passing of Hal Quadres in August. Hal was a math major at Dartmouth and a well-loved professor at Whittier Law School. An obituary will appear on the ’65 website.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Okay. I get it. Summertime and the livin’ is easy. Much too easy, apparently, to drop a line to your humble ob’t secretary. The days are dwindling down to a precious few before deadline (now we’re getting into fall lyrics) and you have good things to do—travel, family, relaxation—but is your wifi down? No? Your cell signal gone? No? Can’t find pen and paper? No? (Do I sound like your mother back when you were supposed to write home? Probably.) So, listen up! I heard from 8 percent of you last year. Let’s set the bar low for this year: 10 percent. As fall approaches, break out the slippers, set a fire in the fireplace, plant yourself next to a glass of good cheer and write. (Please, no emoticons.) A phone call would be nice, too.

Having complained a little, I do have a couple of interesting communications that demonstrate the variety of paths our classmates’ lives have taken.

Hans Kluetmeier says, “Digital technology has allowed a lot of mediocre photographers to take good pictures, but the best are still the best.” If you take a look at “Photo Finish,” the feature story in the July-August Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, you realize what he means. It’s the choice of view, the composition, that sets his pictures apart. Imagining how to capture the essence of the energy and skill of a sport is an art Kluetmeier has mastered as a Sports Illustrated photographer. He has more than 150 covers—and 30-plus interior spreads—to his credit since 1969.

Richard Joseph, now professor of international history and politics at Northwestern, came to Dartmouth in 1979 as a senior lecturer and left as a full professor in 1988. His note, on the way to a reunion of Rhodes scholars, refers to the 2016 issue of Oxford’s Inspires magazineand an article that reminds us that his life trajectory includes a Fulbright; working for voting rights in Ruleville, MS; the Rhodes scholarship; being arrested and roughed up in Los Angeles; D.Phil. from Oxford; Dartmouth again; and his current professorship at Northwestern. Certainly a life well lived.

The summer executive committee meeting at Bill Webster’s included Webster and Hank Amon, Ted Bracken, Mike Gonnerman, Jim Griffiths, Roger Hansen, Dan Walden and George Wittreich.

Upcoming: The ’65 mini-reunion in Hanover, October 28-30. We will again meet at Pierce’s Inn in Etna. There will be ’tails at Fowlers’ on Friday. Saturday will bring soccer, volleyball, field hockey, lunch al fresco before football with the small-c crimson, followed by dinner at Pierce’s. Class meeting at Pierce’s on Sunday. Also, mark your calendar for CarniVail, which Steve Waterhouse says will happen March 3-5, 2017.

Finally, we note the passing of Winfield Shaw Clark. “Binny,” wheelchair bound by an accident in his teens, transferred to University of Illinois after two years. He went on to achieve academic distinction and to a career in teaching concepts of Buddhism and success as a musician. Jim Chandler attended his memorial service.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

Much doing for ’65s these days. March saw a successful CarniVail, led by Linda and Steve Waterhouse. The Normandy trip, exploring D-Day and led by Susan and Tom Long, is coming in June and is fully subscribed.

The ’65 mini-reunion at CarniVail has grown from Steve Waterhouse’s “why don’t we have a mini-reunion ski weekend?” in 2000 to a 200- to 300-person gala that is a jewel in the Vail, Colorado, winter season. This year the planning committee included Steve, Dick Durrance and Mike Gonnerman, as well as 21 Dartmouth grads from the classes ’60 through ’11. The class of 1965 was well represented by Steve and Linda, Dick Durrance and Sue Drinker, Gretchen and Chuck Lobitz, Jim Little and Mike Gonnerman. There were panel discussions that included many elite members of the U.S. and international skiing programs: “The Future of Ski Racing” had Tiger Shaw ’85, Aldo Radamus (whose program has produced Lindsay Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin) and Jory Macomber ’85, a former Dartmouth ski team captain, three-time All-American and current VP of the U.S. Ski Association. Terry DelliQuadri ’88, a four-time All-American and two-time Dartmouth ski team captain, returned from races in Europe to attend the gathering. Close to 20 former Dartmouth ski team captains attended as well. Dartmouth skiing continues to have substantial influence on the sport and the industry that supports it. There was also discussion of developments at Mount Moosilauke, including the 1965 cabin. Ralph Miller ’55 described how he became the first person to ski 100 mph—quite a feat!

Finally (I am writing in April), we ’65s were preparing for comps when Gordon Moore’s article in Engineering magazine introduced the observation now known as Moore’s Law (computing power will double every two years). Most of us didn’t know at the time that Dartmouth was about to propel us into the computer age. I could have seen it if I’d been looking in the right places. My roommate Kip Moore returned to Dartmouth after the two of us hiked the Presidentials that early summer. Kip stayed in Hanover to work on BASIC with John Kemeny, Tom Kurtz, John McGeachie and other undergrads. I returned to Illinois, a steel construction job (for the princely wage of 10 bucks an hour), an injury and the resultant purchase of a $25 Stella guitar. The rest is history (Kip’s summer job, not the guitar part). A 2014 article in Time called BASIC “The Programming Language That Made Computers Personal.” The grant that funded the project was committed “in spite of” the fact Kemeny and Kurtz expected to use undergraduates to develop the language and the time-sharing that made it groundbreaking. The GE 225 computer they used had 1/167,000th the memory of my iPhone. Even Gordon Moore is no doubt surprised at the durability of his observation and what people such as Kemeny, Kurtz and those undergrads did with it.

And, like they said in the forum, magis melius—more (words, stories from you) is better.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; john.b.rogers.65@dartmouth.edu

After my second column I was beginning to fear that I might lack material. John McIndoe came to my rescue, sparking a conversation between his freshman friends and Topliff dorm mates Bruce Jolly (who says he was an interloper from Brown Hall), Don Boardman, Bob Komives and Lee Arbuckle.

Don wrote to his Topliff mates that it was crucial to have been in one dorm for the duration. He said, “When my daughter graduated with her class of 1989, she had moved several times during her four years. She developed lots of friends, but through other organizations rather than in her living spaces. I very much like the idea of staying in the same residential area for all four years, even if you spend a term or year off campus.” He said he thinks the clusters that the class of 2019 will live in are a good idea, but maybe too large. (See a January 2015 article in The Dartmouth that describes the clusters at thedartmouth.com/2015/01/30/113281.)

Bob Komives reminded us of “hallway hockey, broken windows, flooded (on purpose) bathrooms, peanut butter-and-bacon sandwiches delivered by the sandwich man, fishing and being fished away from books, being in awe of my dorm mates.” John McIndoe added, “Especially the hockey games and the many good parties with much song in Charlie Dobbins’ and Art Jean’s room. Especially the two back-to-back gatherings on Freshman Father’s Weekend—lots of dads, lots of bonding, lots of beer.”

The discussion of dorm experiences segued nicely to a question Ted Bracken brought us from the Alumni Council: To what extent did an intellectual experience or experiences you had while an undergraduate at Dartmouth continue to resonate after you graduated—whether in the work you do or have done or in your life overall?

I had marvelous notes from Lee and Stu Keller addressing that very question. Both were eloquent and both demand space in the next column. (Did I mention I went from fear of sparse pickings to an embarrassment of riches?) Lee said, “I found the first two years very stimulating. The questions of ‘who am I?’ ‘what do I want to do in life?’ and ‘how do I prepare for that?’ became more robust than they had been for me in adolescence.” Stu noted, “I came from a modest background with no connection to Dartmouth on a full scholarship via the Navy ROTC program and was immediately accepted into a circle of classmates from the dorm, fraternity and classroom, some of whom have remained lifelong friends.” Stu remembered John Sloan Dickey saying at graduation, “Now go out into the wide, wide world. Remember, we will be with you all the way.”

“It took me nearly 50 years,” Stu said, “to learn the meaning of ‘with you all the way.’ ”

I’d love to include your answer to Ted’s question in the ongoing conversation. Drop me a note at johnbairdrogers@comcast.net.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net
 

One of the pleasures of the 50th was connecting with people I hadn’t seen in years. In particular, it was a treat to run into Brown Hall dormmates John Ferdico, Steve Shaul, Carl Seager, my frosh roommate, Kris Greene.

My freshman year at Dartmouth was certainly the toughest time in my academic life, and I see in retrospect how important that first group of classmates was to my time at Dartmouth. Coming as I did from a public high school that was, ahem, one of those that made the upper-90 percent possible, thrust into “Calculus I,” finding that my dormmates were one, possibly two, years ahead of me academically was very hard. Noel Perrin, my “English 1” professor, looked at my first paper, shook his head sadly, then brightened and said, “Mr. Rogers, I hope I can help you master the mother tongue.” I spent a lot of time that year with my nose to the grindstone.

This reminiscence was prompted by Kris Greene mentioning Brown Hall in Scott Meacham’s book, The Campus Guide: Dartmouth College, an Architectural Tour. Scott ’95 is Tom Meacham’s son. Kris wrote, “The living rooms in the suites were so underutilized that they have been turned into additional bedrooms! How sad. I thought we spent a lot of time there.” Yes, those rooms were forums for serious discussions, bull sessions and, umm, put it this way—one February we contemplated jamming towels under the door to make the place watertight, then laying down an inch or so of water, leaving the windows open to provide ourselves a very small skating rink. I think that remained one of those ideas that died after the conversation veered toward how to get a ride to Skidmore for the weekend.

Kris also wrote that he and Joan gave up ocean cruising several years ago, noting, “the definition of cruising is ‘fixing your boat in exotic places.’ ” He continued, “Lately Joan and I have been camping with a 20-foot RV trailer, which is also fun and doesn’t require crawling around in the bilge or going up a 60-foot mast. We don’t go away for the winter these days, however, and have been enjoying Vermont year ’round. Joan has been organizing a 50th reunion for her class of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.” (They didn’t meet until both attended Penn.)

I am going to be prodding some of you to gather those freshman friends and tell me your dorm stories. We can start with Steve Waterhouse’s Fayerweathergang, then possibly Weaver Gaines, who may be coerced into taking time out from nurturing an early-stage biotech to gather those long-ago thoughts from a cadre of intrepid members of Massachusetts Hall. Then how about you?

Finally, sadly, we have learned that Michael Merritt passed away. An obituary will run online.

—John Rogers, 6051 Laurel Ave., #310, Golden Valley, MN 55416; (763) 568-7501; johnbairdrogers@comcast.net

During the summer of 1965 most of us left the Hanover Plain for the “real world,” whatever that was. In its infinite wisdom the Pentagon ordered me to Naval Guided Missile School and the nuclear weapons training center (if that doesn’t send chills down your spine, you should have your pulse taken). Then Weaver Gaines drove me from Virginia, where he was in law school, to New York, where we visited with John Rogers (starting NYU Business School) and Rick Spears (finishing at Tuck) before I caught a flight to join USS Springfield in the Mediterranean. That summer American troops fought the first multi-battalion battle of the Vietnam War, which would affect many of us in untold ways. We remember and honor those who served, including the four classmates and friends whose names appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Dennis Barger, Steve MacVean, John Seel and Jack Livingston.


It has been a genuine pleasure and a privilege to be part of the executive committee for the last five years and I want to thank the members on behalf of our class. Roger Hansen, our president, has been instrumental in advancing our class goals—particularly in reaching out to classmates whom we have not seen (or heard from) for years. He also piloted us to complete our class projects, including the wonderful book Passion for Skiing and the companion documentary film Passion for Snow, both led by Steve Waterhouse with contributions by many of our classmates. Ken McGruther, our vice president, lent us his experience and enthusiasm in countless areas—and managed our out-of-Hanover mini in Savannah, Georgia. Mike Gonnerman, treasurer, has done a masterful job at managing our finances during a time of significant cutbacks. Ted Atkinson, communication manager, has coordinated our increasing network of media links. Dick Harris, newsletter editor, kept us informed about recent events involving classmates—enabling me to concentrate on my tour down memory lane, exploring the events that shaped our lives 50 years ago. Stu Keiller and Jim Hamilton, webmasters, created a platform through which we can easily stay connected. Stu also served as director of class projects, overseeing the construction of the new Class of ’65 Bunkhouse. We had a sequence of memorable in-Hanover minis, thanks to Jane and George Wittreich. Steve Fowler and Mike Bettmann, as reunion chairs, managed our 50th with grace, efficiency and imagination. Our head agent, Don Bradley, and planned giving chair, Hank Amon, were active and successful in raising funds for the College. Bob Murphy established ties to the class of ’15. Our connections to the Alumni Council were handled most effectively by Ted Bracken, Pete Frederick and Mike Gonnerman. In addition, Sue and Bill Webster have provided glue to hold us together, hosting the summer executive committee meetings at their home. Jim Griffiths, Bob Blake and Bob McConnaughey have been ever-present, willing and able workers for the best of the class and the College.


Being secretary has given me the chance to reconnect (or connect) with many of our extraordinary classmates, for which I thank you. 


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


Fifty years ago, as we entered our final four months as undergraduates, two groups of events that had been brewing for some time reached critical points. Involvement by some of our classmates had begun earlier. Richard Joseph and other classmates had gone to Alabama, some as early as November 1964, to help mobilize people for the march to assure African Americans the right to vote. Prophetically, Joseph observed to The Daily D, “It’s going to be years and years before things are settled.”


Then, on March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday, when more than 500 civil rights demonstrators, organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and led by John Lewis, sought to march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. State troopers, some on horseback, others firing teargas, stopped the march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Many of the marchers were knocked to the ground and beaten with nightsticks. Seventeen were hospitalized. The incident was televised nationally and became a turning point in the civil rights movement. Three more marches followed during that month. In the final march Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led an estimated 25,000 protesters to the state capitol.


On behalf of the student government, Joseph had supervised the campus visit and lecture by Malcolm X shortly before the black leader’s assassination on February 21, 1965. Then, in April, he helped host the Northeast Colleges Conference at the College. It featured a keynote address by Lawrence Guyot, chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and John Lewis, chairman of SNCC. More than 200 students from the region attended. In comments to The Daily D, Joseph described the conference as an expression of “the Dartmouth College undergraduate commitment,” to establishing a new direction for the civil rights movement. “Our aim,” he said, “is to stimulate student government to play a more active role in the movement.” During a discussion group he urged “students working in civil rights not to scorn outright student governments, but to involve themselves in the hope of making use of the power and privileges available to them…to provide leadership” in the effort to achieve equality. 


In recognition of a lifetime of work in pursuit of social justice, Richard Joseph, now Northwestern’s John Evans Professor of International History and Politics, was recently honored by Dartmouth College with one of the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Awards—the Lester B. Granger Lifetime Achievement Award. We will be honored to have him as a speaker at our 50th reunion in June.


The day after Bloody Sunday, 3,500 Marines landed in Vietnam. They were the first American designated ground combat forces to land, marking a clear escalation in the conflict.


The next month Phi Beta Kappa inducted 19 classmates, including Pete Baumbusch, Tom Bettman, Walter Carrara, Dave Feldshuh, Chris Fisher, Kris Greene, Chris Knight, Derek Knudsen, Gary Parker, Doug Peterson, Gil Podolsky, John Rapoport, Bill Stanton, Sid Stein, Joel Sternman, Dave Weber, Jay Wright and Alan Zern.


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Politics dominated the scene, as our last fall quarter wound down. The biggest event in many of our lives was the opportunity to vote in the presidential election for the first time. We took our ballots to a room in the basement of Baker Library, marked them, turned them in to an election officer, and waited to see the results. The Daily D had conducted a poll of students, which indicated a 72.8-percent victory for Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater. The actual results were a slightly smaller landslide victory for the Democrats. Bobby Kennedy defeated the incumbent Kenneth Keating for the New York Senate seat.


Unnoticed by most, two days before the election, Vietnamese insurgents attacked the American airbase at Bien Hoa with mortars, destroying five B-57 bombers and several other aircraft. The war was beginning to escalate. Names like Bien Hoa would become all too familiar over the next nine years.


On the eve of Houseparties Weekend, Bryce Harbaugh was elected to Palaeopitus as a member-at-large. The final big fall weekend of our college career was a special time for many of us. Coach Blackmun introduced the football team from the balcony of Hopkins Center and the team responded by beating Archie Manning’s Columbia squad handily. Steve Waterhouse sent me a photo and reminded me that Andy Gundlach was not the only Indian cheerleader we had on the sidelines that year. Capping outstanding college football careers, All-Ivy honors were accorded to Ed Keible, Bob Komives and Bruce Gottschall, with Ted Bracken and Jack McLean also received recognition.


Led by captain Ron Knapp, the soccer team tied for first place and received an invitation to play in the NCAA national soccer championship tournament that year. The rugby team, captained by John Raney and Dan Corbett, also had a strong year, finishing the season 8-3. The basketball team, led by captain Vic Mair and Dave Blain, started the season off with an early December victory over the University of Vermont.


Not all of the accomplishments took place on the athletic arenas. Five of our classmates received Marcus Heiman Awards for excellence in the creative arts: Mike Schiffman and Ron Tegtmeier for music, the late Larry Lowic for painting, Tri Devakul for sculpture and Willis Fugate for poetry.


Reading the issues of The Daily D from those days brings back great memories. The managing board, led by Charlie Strauss, the late David Konowitz, Edward Goodkind, Pete Bush, Bill Boukalik, Mark Nackman, the late Stu Lieber and Mark Laster, produced a great paper. We took it for granted as undergraduates. Today it’s easy to see the hard work that went into chronicling our lives in Hanover.


Steve Fowler (stephens.fowler@myfairpoint.net) and Mike Bettmann (bettmann@wfubmc.edu), are putting together a great weekend for our 50th. Put it on your calendar now. Contact your friends of 50 years ago and urge them to attend. The dates are June 12-15, 2015. We will also have a gathering on Thursday, June 11, at the Ravine Lodge for the official dedication of the new Class of 1965 Cabin. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


During the summer of 1964 as we prepared to return for our senior year, our world turned upside down—although we did not yet know it. While on my midshipman cruise aboard USS Bennington in the Pacific I saw messages from two American destroyers in some place called the Tonkin Gulf. The geography was strange, but the messages were troublesome.


On August 2 USS Maddox, while on an electronic intelligence-gathering mission known as a “DeSoto patrol” in the Tonkin Gulf, was fired on by North Vietnamese Swatow-type patrol boats. Maddox fired more than 180 rounds at the attackers, which were also strafed by U.S. Navy aircraft. One round hit the Maddox. 


No one aboard Maddox was aware that two nights earlier four American high-speed patrol boats, operating from Danang, participated in a South Vietnamese raid on the very islands from which the Swatow boats operated. One raid was detected before they could put their commandos ashore. With a patrol boat bearing down on them, the boats fired on the island and then made a high-speed run to the south. They were back in port by noon. The other attack went more smoothly. The South Vietnamese commandos got ashore, planted bombs, destroyed a water tower and other buildings and made good their escape.


On August 4 the Maddox, now joined by USS Turner Joy, returned to the Tonkin Gulf to complete the DeSoto patrol. They again reported being attacked by North Vietnamese patrol craft, fired on the boats and called for aerial support. Responding to the destroyers’ report, President Johnson ordered aircraft from USS Constellation and USS Ticonderoga to attack bases in North Vietnam. Lt. (j.g.) Richard C. Sather, a pilot from the Constellation, was killed when his plane was shot down some 25 miles north of the Swatow base. Lt. (j.g.) Everett Alvarez Jr. was shot down and captured. He remained a prisoner of war until February 12, 1973.


The president addressed the nation the evening of August 4, describing the reported attack and announcing the air strike. He observed that the American response “will always be measured. Its mission is peace.”


On August 7 Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, authorizing the use of American armed forces “to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression and…to take all necessary steps…to assist any [ally] requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.” The House acted unanimously and only two members of the Senate (Gruening, D-Alaska, and Morse, D-Ore) opposed the resolution.


A subsequent investigation concluded that the second attack had never really happened, but was a misinterpretation of radar information. Others contend that the investigation was wrong. The debate continues to this day.


Regardless, the stage was set for full American intervention in the Vietnam War that affected our lives in so many ways.


Meanwhile, the world went on unaware. On August 27 the Disney film Mary Poppins premiered in Los Angeles and Lyndon Johnson was nominated for a full term by the Democratic National Convention, meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Spring and summer bring gardening activities. Personally, this involves me providing unskilled labor for Nancy’s gardens. A couple of our classmates take on the pleasures and challenges of tending the garden themselves.


Andrew Stauss tends his garden at his home in East Norwalk, Connecticut. He finds it a pleasant and fulfilling outlet. His work as a brand consultant is going well. He helps clients develop brand identities, strategies and designs for consumer goods and business-to-business applications. Andrew has enjoyed trips to Hanover to visit his niece who recently earned her Ph.D. in psychology at Dartmouth. The classmate he sees most often is his twin brother Charlie Strauss, who lives nearby in Fairfield, Connecticut. Charlie is retired and active on a number of boards.


Jim Dealing gardens and contemplates the meaning of life in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. He and Liz will be celebrating their 44th anniversary. After 30 years in teaching Jim retired at age 57. He’s been busy with leadership positions in his Unitarian Church. Recreational activities include cross-country ski racing and birding. This winter he did back-country skiing in Colorado and stayed in 10th Mountain Division huts. Both Liz and their daughter, who is a Waldorf School teacher in Burlington, Vermont, graduated from Smith.


Kris Greene and his wife, Joan, moved back to New England two years ago. After graduation from medical school at University of Pennsylvania he had a medical career in the Navy followed by nine years in private practice before retiring. He is justifiably proud of designing and building his own home in Hyde Park, Vermont, during these last couple of years. His building skills are self-taught. Now that the house is completed Kris has enjoyed cutting wood and snowshoeing. His daughter is a veterinarian in California and his son lives at home and works at Stowe, Vermont.


Terry and Ed Keible report that the West Coast mini-reunion on the Monterey Peninsula in California will be September 11 to 13. Rooms are reserved at the Marriott in Monterey where we will have the Friday evening reception. Potential activities include golf, cycling, kayaking and visits to the aquarium and nearby Carmel as well as the famous 17 Mile Drive. Mark your calendars and be on the lookout for registration information.


French and Bob McConnaughey are organizing the Hanover mini-reunion that will be at Pierce’s Inn October 23 to 25. Planning for our 45th reunion on June 14-17, 2010, is in the works. Ted Atkinson and Bruce Wagner are assembling the reunion committee and arranging for good weather.


Sadly, I must report the death of Paul Eldridge on February 24 following a brief illness. His obituary will appear in the Alumni Magazine.


—Roger Hansen, 16 Southview Drive, Keene, NH 03431; (603) 903-0524; hhansen@ne.rr.com


Bill Webster wrote: “It was with great relief to me and especially my youngest son Jay that he got accepted into the class of ’13. He had been courted by Bowdoin. Just because I went to Dartmouth, along with my brother and father, and that he could keep alive the string of three generations of legacies, it still was purely his choice. When I mentioned that I would pay his tuition for Dartmouth but he was on his own in handling the tuition for Bowdoin, I think that made his choice a lot easier.” And Bill included a message to Carl Boe and other crew team members: “You better start putting together your ‘lightweight’ crew for next year’s 45th reunion. I am responsible for sports activities and am already beginning to throw out our every-five-year challenge. For you heavyweights, consider beginning to train for this, as you will get called up in the months leading up to the event. To show you how serious I am about this challenge I have taken up rowing again and am back to my college weight and competing in national competition. My No. 3 son, Tim, who will be a junior at Richmond, is rowing there. He is coaching at Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport, Connecticut, where I row and is going to be rowing with me in father/son competition at the Nationals in August and Head of the Charles in October. He is 6 feet, 6 1/2 inches now—remember at the 40th when he stroked our boat because we couldn’t get Hugh Lade out from Seattle? Hugh and our whole group will assemble next year and Tim will be our coach. I expect our whole heavyweight crew will come out next May, I hope at the executive committee meeting and stay till reunion so that we can get a month’s training in.”


Bill and Sue hosted the class of ’65 executive committee meeting in July at their newly completed house in Old Saybrook. We had 19 attendees representing all aspects of class activities. President Ken McGruther noted that this is the last year for the current class administration since new officers will be elected at our 45th reunion next year. The fundamental purpose of the executive committee meeting, aside from good fellowship, is to organize the agenda for the annual class meeting to be held in Hanover during the fall mini-reunion at Pierce’s Inn. 


For 2009 the event will be October 23-24—Homecoming. Columbia is our opponent for the football game. Bob and French McConnaughey are preparing a fine program for the weekend.


Reunion communications chairman Ted Bracken writes: “Save the dates! From June 14-17, 2010, the great class of 1965 will be celebrating our 45th reunion in Hanover. Co-chairmen Ted Atkinson and Bruce Wagner, along with your reunion committee, are putting together a program that will provide opportunities for recreation, intellectual stimulation and fellowship, all in comfortable surroundings. More detailed information will be coming soon from your reunion committee via the class newsletter, e-mail, regular mail and the Internet, including the opportunity to sign up early and reach out to encourage fellow classmates to join in the festivities.”


—Roger Hansen, 16 Southview Drive, Keene, NH 03431; (603) 903-0524; hhansen@ne.rr.com


The major theme of class of 1965 activities in recent months has been skiing. On February 12 Passion for Skiing was introduced at a reception for the Dartmouth ski team at the Hanover Inn. This book is the most recent of our class projects. Steve Waterhouse spearheaded the publication of this story of the alumni, staff and families of Dartmouth College who dominated the development of modern skiing for more than 100 years. Some 60 writers contributed material, including Dick Durrance, Doug Leitch, Roger Hansen and Stu Keiller from the class of ’65. For further information about the book visit www.passionforskiing.com.


During the weekend of February 26 to 28 the annual CarniVail event in Vail, Colorado, was held under the leadership of Steve Waterhouse and the Tuck School. Approximately 20 of the 100 or more attendees were class of 1965 classmates and their families. It was a weekend of great skiing and great fellowship. Entertainment at the annual banquet was provided by the Carcajou Singers. The Carcajou Ski Club was founded in Hanover in the mid-1930s. Members included Dartmouth students, coaches and faculty as well as community members. Singing of ski ballads was one of their favorite pastimes. The singers were led by Bill Briggs ’54, a member of the Ski Hall of Fame, pioneer extreme skier and collector of ski ballads. Jim Griffiths and his brother Clark ’57 were members of the club and performed with Bill. Tom Campbell contributed to the vocal effort as well. Ron Riley, who owns and operates two restaurants in Vail, reminisced about the old days with Ted Atkinson. Among the others attending were Ken McGruther and his son, Sue and Dick Durrance and Bill Webster’s sons Bill and Scott. 
Norm Christianson contributed excellent wines for the banquet. Norm, along with his wife, Ellen, and his son Jay, own and operate Canyon Winds Cellars, a winery in Palisade, Colorado. To learn more see www.canyonwindcellars.com. 


We are saddened to hear that James Kingsdale, 66, of Crested Butte, Colorado, died in New York City on December 22, 2009, after a brief illness. His obituary will be published on the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine Web site in the near future.


Bruce Wagner and Ted Atkinson, our 45th reunion chairs, have everything lined up for a delightful gathering on June 14 to 17.


—Roger Hansen, 16 Southview Drive, Keene, NH 03431; (603) 903-0524; hhansen@ne.rr.com


In June 2015 we will celebrate the passage of half a century since our graduation. For the next five years this column will trace events that shaped the world while we made our way to that moment. As we began our senior year in high school the Games of the 17th Olympiad opened in Rome. Cassius Clay (later Mohammed Ali) won gold. A few days later the Denver Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots 13-10 in the first American Football League game. On September 12, 1960, candidate John F. Kennedy announced that he was “not the Catholic candidate for president [but] the Democratic Party’s candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic.” Francis Gary Powers, captured U-2 pilot, was sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet prison. It was a different time.


More than 125 of our classmates and guests attended a wonderful 45th reunion—many thanks to Marcia and Ted Atkinson, Betsy and Bruce Wagner and the whole reunion committee. People came from as far as the Philippines (Steve Banta). In the fall of 1961 10 young men came from Colorado to join our class—five returned for the 45th: Bob Busch, Shep Curtis, Dick Durrance, Tom Long and Tom Meacham. We heard President Jim Yong Kim describe his plans for achieving John Sloan Dickey’s goal of “making a better human being” and met with him to discuss the global fight to improve healthcare, depicted in Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. Classmates played golf, took tours, heard lectures and concerts, but we most enjoyed visiting during the evenings in the class tent. Head agent Jim Griffiths presented checks for $500,000, as a reunion-year gift, and $35,409,442, representing the total of all ’65 gifts in the current capital campaign, to President Kim. 


We elected officers for the next five years: Roger Hansen, president; Tom Long, secretary; Mike Gonnerman, treasurer; Dick Harris, newsletter editor; Don Bradley, head agent; Ted Atkinson, communications; Jim Hamilton, webmaster; Steve Fowler and Mike Bettman, 50th reunion chairs; George Wittreich and Jane, mini-reunion chairs; Tucky Mays, out-of-Hanover mini-reunion chair; Stu Keiler, special projects; Pete Frederick (2010) and Ed Keible (2011-14), Alumni Council representatives; and Doug Leitch, Bartlett Tower Society. Roger plans to focus on increasing participation in class activities, culminating in the 50th reunion. The effort is off to a good start, thanks to Ken McGruther and all of the officers who did a splendid job during the past five years.


The fall mini-reunion is October 8-10. Pierce’s Inn will again serve as headquarters. Please contact Cindy and Bruce for reservations at (603) 643-2997 or piercesinn@valley.net. 


Our next out-of-Hanover mini will be at Shades of Green Resort on Disney World in Orlando, Florida, January 28-30, 2011. Contact Bob Blake at rblake65@mac.com for information. CarniVail will be held on February 24-27, 2011.


Classmate George Jacobs’ book, Managing Your Medicare: An Insider’s Guide to Maximizing Benefits and Lowering Costs can help us navigate this complex system.


Please contact me to share news of our classmates.


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


At 4 a.m. on Friday, May 1, 1964, professors John Kemeny and Tom Kurtz ran the first program written in BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), the easy-to-learn, high-level programming language they had created. BASIC became a standard instructional programming language at the dawn of personal computer age. The copy of the BASIC manual I bought for my children, like us, bears the distinguished copyright “Dartmouth College, 1965.”


In a wonderful turn of events Chester Phillips III recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Technology in Anesthesia, recognizing his “longstanding, visionary leadership in the development of electronic anesthesia record-keeping systems.” Ironically, Chet, as I knew him, remembers that, while taking John Kemeny’s course in BASIC, he leaned to a classmate and whispered, “Computers! I’ll never use this stuff.” He went on to found Anesthesia Recording Inc., developer of the CompuRecord anesthesia information system, installed in anesthesia departments worldwide. Congratulations!


As we finished our junior year our world seemed to be becoming a bit more real and chaotic. In May 1964 Rick Joseph urged classmates to participate with the Northern Student Movement to tutor remedial students in Florida and Mississippi during the summer. On June 12 Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Robben Island and, a week later, the Civil Rights Act passed the U.S. Senate. Two days after that three young civil rights workers were released from jail, then murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi. On the 23rd President Lyndon Johnson spent the day in Mississippi talking with the victims’ relatives and local officials.


The academic year ended on a number of high notes. Palaeopitus selected Larry Hannah as chairman, Mike Buckley and Rich Bloch as administrators of the honor code and Joel Eiserman as secretary for our senior year. Four classmates received the Marcus Heiman awards for the creative arts: Ron Tegtmeier and Mike Schiffman for music, Willis Fugate for poetry and Tri Devakul for sculpture. 


The lacrosse team was co-champion. Lee Mercer finished second in the league in scoring and Brian “Wah-Wah” Walsh was the all-Ivy goalie. Chris Knight led Canoe Club members as they started the annual 218-mile voyage down the Connecticut to Old Saybrook, Connecticut—a tradition that Bill Webster still regularly observes and hosts. 


On May 29 Herb West held the last comparative literature class of his 42-year career. According to The Dartmouth, a huge crowd attended, a band played and a waiter served a final libation. When asked to compare the old Dartmouth with the new, he observed, among other things, “There were no computers, squad cars or receptionists, just three telephones and a few typewriters.” 


On Sunday, June 14, the ’64s graduated and we became the top dogs.


You probably received a questionnaire from Steve Fowler (stephens.fowler@myfairpoint.net) and Mike Bettmann (bettmann@wfubmc.edu), who are hard at work planning our 50th reunion. Please respond. Most importantly, plan to attend. Contact your best friends of 50 years ago and get them to attend. The dates are June 12-15, 2015. Put it on your calendar now, we all know how fast a year can slip by.


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


In July about 20 of us, including Susan and Dave Beattie, Sharon and Bob Blake, Toni and Ren Carlisle and their family, and Ellen and Dave Wagner gathered in Hanover for a collective 70th birthday celebration. It was different from other mini-reunions in two major respects. First, we spent Friday evening hosting an “Etiquette Dinner” for an outstanding group from the class of 2015. There’s a sure way to make one feel one’s age—and a deep sense of appreciation that we don’t have to compete for a place in today’s class. On Saturday, following our class and executive committee meeting, we enjoyed a special tour of the Hood Museum, which focused on art either created or contributed by our classmates. Then we had our birthday dinner in the lovely Paganucci Lounge of the Class of 1953 Commons, which is the much-refurbished Thayer Hall. Instead of having one of the a cappella groups provide after dinner entertainment, we spent the time reminiscing about the extraordinary good fortune that has befallen us as a group to have lived in the period we have. We talked at some length about the events that surrounded the years of our births and our memories of 1963, 50 years ago.


World War II dominated our families’ lives at the time of our birth in 1942 or 1943. Axis advances had been stopped and the allies were advancing on all fronts. On November 20, 1943, Marines landed on “Bloody Tarawa” and in December summit conferences in Cairo and Teheran set strategy for the remainder of the war—and started planning our post-war world. On Christmas Eve 1943 Ike was named supreme allied commander for the massive D-Day landing. 


War and tragedy also dominated our lives as we neared the end of our fall quarter in 1963. During the afternoon of November 1, 1963, the South Vietnamese Army surrounded the presidential palace executing the anticipated coup. When Ngo Dinh Diem, “America’s man” in Saigon, called to ask if the United States would support him, Ambassador Lodge, on orders from Washington, said he could not provide such assurance. Diem and his brother Ngo Din Ngu escaped from the palace through a secret passageway during the evening, but were captured and killed the next morning in the Chinese section of the city. Then three weeks later President Kennedy was assassinated. That was the event that everyone at our dinner remembered above all others from our time at Dartmouth. Ted Bracken, Ed Keible and Bob McConnaughey remembered being with the football team at a hotel preparing to play Princeton the next day. Dick Harris and I recalled being on the bus with the marching band heading for New York for the game. Everyone then was glued to television sets. Rob Hartford, Steve Fowler and Steve Waterhouse in the TV room at the Sig Ep house followed events, including the telecast of Jack Ruby’s shooting of Oswald. Every person in the room was transported back by our reminiscences. Start planning for the 50th!


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


As we march toward our 50th reunion it is interesting to reflect on what we were doing 50 years ago. When we returned to Hanover for our sophomore year it seemed like there was change, often troubling change, on every hand. On the purely local level we found Hanover about to install its first traffic light and the Hopkins Center was completed and standing on the Green. The College said it was to fill a “cultural vacuum.” Some ’65s thought the opportunities presented were a godsend. Others did not even want to go inside to pick up their mail. 


While 416 students in Hanover pledged fraternities that fall, creating many lasting bonds, people were dying on the University of Mississippi campus. Gov. Ross Barnett defied a federal court order and continued to refuse James Meredith admission to the university. On October 1 troops quelled rioting in which two men were killed. President Kennedy federalized the Mississippi National Guard to prevent a clash between state and army troops. 


President Kennedy announced that the United States was imposing a “quarantine” on Cuba to stop the Soviets from “turning Cuba into an offensive military base capable of raining nuclear destruction on all the Americas.” Early on Monday, October 21, the NROTC secretary called every student in the unit. She alarmed them by saying that she needed to verify their personal information because the president wanted to call up all reserve forces to deal with the Cuban crisis. Only then did she say that she was just making sure that the ROTC members would not be affected and could stay in school. Everyone was nervous then but did not know for decades how close we came to nuclear war in those early days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The College published civil defense instructions and air raid procedures: ROTC students were to report to the gym, all other students were to return to their dorms and close exterior doors and windows. Faculty members were to dismiss classes and either return home or go (with families) to the lower corridor of Baker Library. After Premier Khrushchev announced that he would remove the missiles, the situation calmed down and we could focus on studies and football.


Headlines of The Daily Dartmouth on October 29 seemed to capture the major events of our world: “Threat to World Peace Reduced as Soviets Announce Withdrawal of Their Missile Bases in Cuba” ran alongside “Indian Eleven Blasts Crimson 24-6.” Coach Blackman had introduced his three-platoon system for a football team that was picked to finish third in the Ivy League. Several of our classmates served on the Tomahawks and the Savages. Cantey Davis, Pete Frederick, Dick Horton, Ed Keible, Jaan Lumi, Jack McLean, Dave Perinchief, Pete Sapione and Gary Wilson contributed to an outstanding team that captured everyone’s attention, winning all five of its games in September and October by an aggregate score of 129-9. 


Send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


As the fall trimester of our sophomore year began to wind down in November and December, our attention was divided among our coursework, the momentous events in the global arena and the giddy effects of the first undefeated football team since 1925. Most of us were trying to balance fraternity membership with the coursework that really counted in our majors. We were distracted by the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis—even though we could not know for decades how near we came to nuclear war. United States forces returned to peacetime readiness conditions on November 20, when the Soviets agreed to remove their bombers from Cuba and the United States abandoned its “quarantine.” The elections that year had repercussions that still echo. George Romney upset the incumbent Michigan governor. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress as Teddy Kennedy was first elected to the Senate. Richard Nixon lost his California gubernatorial race to Pat Brown and declared that the press wouldn’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.


On Thursday, November 8, recently re-elected New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ’30 gave the keynote address in a 10-day ceremony celebrating the opening of Hopkins Center. The program included a band concert and The Players’ production of Danton’s Death. The Hop, according to Ernest Martin Hopkins, class of 1901, provided the “stamp of the pure liberal arts college,” citing two critical needs for such an institution—a great library and a student center where all could meet and exchange ideas. The other place we congregated that fall was Memorial Field, as the football team won its final four games, shutting out Yale and Columbia, to finish the season 9-0. 


Ed Wynot is preserving his youth by teaching history at Florida State University and rooting for the Jacksonville Jaguars. After graduation Ed served in the Army before earning his Ph.D. in history at the University of Indiana. He moved to Tallahassee to teach Russian and East European history—he recently completed his 40th year at Florida State and has no plans to retire any time soon! He has two children, six grandchildren and a great-granddaughter! Ed is looking forward seeing our classmates at the 50th. 


Tom Sakmyster recently retired from a similarly productive and rewarding career, teaching the history of Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, at the University of Cincinnati. His most recent book, A Communist Odyssey: The Life of József Pogány, came out in September. Tom reports that he is now turning to something completely different, serving as the official historian for a nearby Shaker village that is being restored. 


Not all ’65s are historians. A three-volume encyclopedic text on Infectious Diseases and Conditions, edited by Brad Hawley, has also been published this year. Brad makes the complex subject accessible to both medical professionals and laymen. 


Start now planning to join Ed Wynot and all our classmates at the 50th, June 12-14, 2015. Try to identify a classmate who would be an appropriate recipient of an honorary degree at Commencement during our reunion. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Our sophomore year came to a quick end in May and June 50 years ago. As always, Green Key was the highlight of our spring. For the sixth time in a row Alpha Theta won Hums and Lawrence Ferlenghetti read his poetry for us. Despite a chilly weekend, everyone had a great time. A new slate of leaders emerged for the college and the class. Dick Durrance was chosen president of Green Key, with other officers Chip Hayes, Ed Thomas, Dennis Bekemeyer and Jim Cooper. Our class officers were Pete Frederick, Rick Mahoney, Mike Lewis and Robert Shine. The next week the College marked Armed Forces Day with a parade and awards to outstanding ROTC students, including Joel Eiserman. In other things we followed, Sandy Koufax pitched his second no-hitter, the Rolling Stones signed their first recording contract, and Peter, Paul and Mary won their first Grammy for “If I Had a Hammer.” The Dave Brubeck Quartet played a concert, featuring “Take Five,” to an enthusiastic Webster Hall crowd that included many of us. 


The world we reentered that summer was in a state of turmoil. The Daily D reported that Birmingham, Alabama, police commissioner “Bull” Connor had suppressed civil rights protests using dogs and firehoses, as nearly 1,000 were arrested. The Dartmouth Christian Union collected 381 signatures on a petition to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, urging federal intervention in the trial of 12 “freedom walkers” arrested during the protests. On June 10 President Kennedy announced that he was ordering the suspension of all American nuclear weapons testing. The next day he made a speech promising a civil rightsbill that would assure “the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves.” The following day civil rights activist Medgar Evers was killed in Jackson, Mississippi. A week later President Kennedy sent what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to Congress.


In June the Ayatollah Khomeini, religious leader of Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim community, was arrested in the city of Qom after speaking out against the emancipation of women in the regime of the shah. The following day protests erupted throughout the country. 


Please try to join classmates as we celebrate a collective 70th birthday with a special mini-reunion in Hanover during the weekend of July 12-14. In addition to our festivities, we will invite our “connection class” of 2015 to an etiquette dinner on Friday evening. Then we will share our common birthday dinner on Saturday evening, probably at the Dartmouth Outing Club House on Occom Pond. 


Our New England classmates have begun holding a regular breakfast in Hanover on the last Thursday of every month. They have also been inviting members of the class of 2015 and building more lasting connections. Several undergrads recently joined French and Bob McConnaughey, Betsy and Mike Gonnerman, Brigid and Bob Murphy, Sue and Bill Webster, Steve Fowler, Pete Frederick, Roger Hansen and Dave Weber. All are welcome; contact Bob Murphy at murph65nh@comcast.net. Classmates in cities around the country should consider establishing similar events on the local level.


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Fifty years ago this month most of us took a major step toward Dartmouth when we graduated from high school. We were following the beginning of the Mantle-Maris assault on Babe Ruth’s home-run record and listening to Ricky Nelson’s No. 1 hit “Travelin’ Man.” Individual joys were overshadowed by the Cold War, which dominated our world from the arts to outer space. Kirov Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defected during a tour in Paris, delivering a propaganda black eye to the Soviets. On May 5 NASA launched Commander Alan Shepherd, the first American into space, on his 15-minute flight. Twenty days later President Kennedy called upon the United States to “commit itself to achieving the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”


His call was not a commitment to pure science but the initiation of a campaign “to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny.” In the effort to aid the cause, many of us undertook studies of math and science that we might otherwise not have done. In keeping with my effort to bring together classmates with common interests, I am hoping to circulate a questionnaire about the impact the Vietnam War and military service generally has had on our class and to use the responses (anonymously if requested) in creating articles through the next year or so. 


Mike Gonnerman has been elected by the class treasurers to serve as their representative to the Alumni Council for three years beginning in July. In addition Mike has dragged our class into the 21st century, adding a PayPal button to our website to facilitate payment of class dues. You can use either a PayPal account or a major credit card by clicking on the “Class Dues” entry at the top of the lefthand column on the class home page. His effort should save the class some processing costs. 


Under the leadership of Tucker Mays the class is planning future out-of-Hanover mini-reunions, exploring some very interesting ideas and soliciting your input. Please copy this link to your browser to compete a brief questionnaire to assist us in the planning: www.surveymonkey.com/s/CDF6XT8.


Don Switzer reports from Rogers, Arkansas, that he is well and enjoying spending time with family. The lights of his life are his bride of 46 years, Linda, and their five granddaughters. After Vanderbilt Law School Don served as vice president and general counsel of a major insurance company and spent 15 years in private practice in Oklahoma, before assuming senior positions in insurance regulatory agencies in Texas and Arkansas. After “retiring” in 2000 Don responded to a request from the University of Arkansas to help the women’s athletic program by advising on NCAA compliance and doing academic advising. He found the young student-athletes to be very bright, committed young women and a joy with whom to work. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Fifty years ago, as thoughts of our first spring in Hanover entered our frozen visages, our world continued to change. On March 2, 1962, President Kennedy announced that the United State would resume above-ground nuclear testing. Protests erupted around the world. On April 23 The Daily D reported a confrontation that would come to characterize the 1960s: Forty pacifists, led by the late Anthony Graham-White, began a Hanover-to-Washington march to protest nuclear weapons and were picketed by other students. Two days later the United States detonated a nuclear device in an atmospheric explosion near Christmas Island. 


Cultural icons emerged. On March 7 the Beatles recorded their BBC Radio broadcast in Manchester. On April 10 the Dodgers played their first game in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. On April 16 Walter Cronkite became the anchor of CBS Evening News.


Our leaders started to emerge that spring. On April 3 class of ’65 debaters Brian Butler, Dale Beihoffer, Harry Miles and James Stanbery won first place in the novice division of the Ivy League debate tournament. A week later the class elected its officers for the next year. They were Pete Frederick, president; Punch Lochridge, VP; Mike Lewis, secretary; John Ferdico, treasurer; Tom Morton and Mike Lewis, Undergraduate Council members.


The class’s leadership tradition has continued. Brian Walsh moved back to Hanover 36 years ago. Since then he has devoted his talents to making the town and the College work and play well together. In addition to contributing to the local business community and founding several area companies, he served on the planning board beginning in 1977. For 16 years he was a selectman and selectboard chairman for Hanover. He used his position to strengthen the bond between Dartmouth and the community, recently spearheading the town-college alcohol task force to address the problems of binge drinking and sexual assault. In October Brian retired when his wife, Linda Pachett, retired from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He and Linda plan to go hiking and sailing, and he will continue his painting. His paintings were part of a show at the Howe Library in Hanover in November and December.


On Thursday, April 19, 1962, the College dedicated the Robert Frost Room in Baker Library. Frost donated the manuscript of his latest book, In the Clearing, to be held as part of the permanent collection. The next day we were welcomed to one of the most memorable events in our Hanover years. The great poet presented “A Lecture for the Class of 1965” in 105 Dartmouth Hall. Frost “said” his poems for us in what would be one of his last appearances. Our then-new class president, Pete Frederick, recently remembered with wonderful vividness his experience of 50 years ago in escorting the poet to Dartmouth Hall as one of the highlights of his academic career. I had never been much of a poetry reader before that day—since then I have relished it.


There’s still time to attend CarniVail, March 1-4 (contact Steve Waterhouse), and the mini-reunion in Williamsburg, Virginia, May 3-5 (contact Tucker Mays at 
tmays@optonline.net or 203-222-1719).


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


In June a remarkable ceremony took place on the western coast of France—one that has given me a great feeling of comfort about today’s young folks. Each of 15 high school students from all over America presented a eulogy at the graveside of a soldier from their hometown who had died in the Normandy Campaign more than 65 years earlier. These young people, two generations or more removed from the horrors of the D-Day invasion, identified with the young men who, having sacrificed their lives so that freedom could be preserved, are now buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy. The result was electric. There was not a dry eye within earshot as today’s youngsters told the stories of men of about their age, from their own neighborhoods, who died in the effort to liberate France.


The event was the culmination of months of work and study by the participants in the Albert H. Small Student/Teacher Institute–Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom. They had read several books about World War II, Normandy and the men of the Army. They conducted research in their community and the National Archives about their fallen hometown heroes. Each student was supervised by a teacher from his or her school and members of the institute. 


The students then traveled to Washington, D.C., where they listened to reminiscences of a man, who despite a remarkable ensuing career, recalls his service as a navy beach master on Omaha Beach on D-Day with riveting clarity. They laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Virginia, attended lectures by college faculty and active duty military officers, and conducted further archival research about their fallen heroes. Then they went to Normandy for a “staff ride” of the battlefields. They gave briefings at places like Pegasus Bridge, La Fière, Dog Green Beach and Pointe du Hoc. On the last day they went down onto Omaha Beach and then climbed the hill, following the path their soldiers had taken. At the top they reached the American Cemetery, planted French and American flags on their heroes’ graves and presented their eulogies.


The message that “freedom is not free, but requires sacrifice” resonates in today’s youth. We can be very proud of them.


Pardon me for deviating from my general practice of writing about the achievements of our classmates to share this experience that so deeply moved me. We will return to a more normal format next issue.


It’s not too late! Join our classmates for a collective 70th birthday and mini-reunion in Hanover over the weekend of July 12-14. Friday we will we will sponsor a traditional “Etiquette Dinner” at the Hanover Inn for our 2015 “Connection Class.” After a class meeting on Saturday we will enjoy an insider’s tour of the Hood Museum of Art and free time to visit with old (and new) friends. Then we will celebrate our shared birthday dinner in the Paganucci Lounge located in the Class of 1953 Commons (which we knew as Thayer Hall). 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


The last summer before we began our trek to become men of Dartmouth passed quickly for most of us. Bobby Lewis’ “Tossin’ and Turnin’ ” was No. 1 on the charts from early July until nearly the end of August. It accurately described our world. On the Fourth of July the Soviet ballistic-missile submarine K-19 developed a catastrophic leak in the nuclear reactor that killed eight crewmen. The ship rejected American offers to help and made it to port with the aid of a Russian diesel submarine. On August 13 Walter Ulbricht’s East German government closed the border and began erecting the Berlin Wall, symbol of the divided world in which we spent the next three decades. While we noted that Valery Brumel jumped 7 feet, 3 inches to set a new high jump, we did not notice that Lady Diana Spencer, future Princess of Wales, was born on July 1. Many of us started reading Georgio de Santillana’s The Crime of Galileo as we prepared for college.


Glenn Currie has published his fifth book, Granite Grumblings, in which he does what many of us wanted to do, depict life in Emmet Country for the folks back home in Colorado or Virginia. Having now lived in New Hampshire for more than two decades, Glenn has used his insight, sensitivity and humor to provide a look at the state we came to love, its charming people, and, in the process, at ourselves. 


Our next mini-reunion will be on Dartmouth Homecoming, October 21-23, and will again be based at Pierce’s Inn. We will have a pre/post-bonfire wine reception, a cookout before the Columbia game and a cocktail party-dinner on Saturday evening. We will hold the class meeting at Pierce’s on Sunday morning. Additional events may include a golf outing and a Homecoming parade hay wagon. We hope to have a panel discussion featuring Dartmouth students who are veterans of the current wars. Start making plans now. Being in Hanover with old friends in the fall is a special treat. Please mark your calendars and join us.


Stay in touch with Jane and George Wittreich for details about the mini. They recently returned from a tour of New Zealand and Australia, where they enjoyed seeing the different flora, interesting fauna and spectacular scenery as well as learning about the various “down under” cultures. 


In an effort related to our hoped-for panel of recent vets, we continue to work on (and try to create a manageable format for) a questionnaire to explore the experiences and attitudes of our classmates about one of the most formative influences of our adult lives—the military and, particularly, the Vietnam War. We plan to email it to everyone this summer and hope you will participate and share your recollections and views so that we can all benefit from our collective accumulated wisdom. We hope to create presentations and discussion panels for future gatherings based on the results. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


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


Fifty years ago we returned to Hanover in January 1962 more confident than we had been in September. You may recall that we were confronted with some interesting moral issues. On January 8 La Dolce Vita showed at the Nugget and got a 4.9 rating from The Daily D; two days later Elmer Gantry got a 4.6. Later in the month Herb West appeared as a defense witness in the obscenity trial of Mark Goodhue, manager of the Dartmouth Bookstore, who was prosecuted for selling Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. The court later ruled that the book was obscene, but acquitted Goodhue because of the educational nature of the college bookstore. There was also a heated debate about whether the honor system should have a mandatory reporting clause. On February 1 the student body, by a two-thirds majority, passed the honor code without the reporting requirement. The faculty approved the system in February. The United States began to spray defoliants in Vietnam in February as the war began to develop. John Glenn in Mercury capsule Friendship 7 became the first American to orbit the Earth—three times in four hours, 55 minutes. Our first winter in Hanover also had a lighter side. The Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Duke Ellington Orchestra both played for us in Webster Hall that winter. One of our own sparked perhaps the most memorable news item of the season. On February 6 The Daily D headline read “Stanford Co-eds Riot, Send Letters of Application in Response to Want Ad.” It turned out that Punch Lochridge had run an ad in the Stanford Daily calling for a “Beautiful girl as a date for Dartmouth Winter Carnival.” 


Our mini-reunion was well attended, with folks traveling long distances to participate. Brigid and Bob Murphy threw a wonderful welcoming party on Friday evening. Shep Curtis, who is thriving as a retired Episcopalian priest, came from Nevada to serve as grill master at the pre-game cookout planned by Jane and George Wittreich. Claude “Rocks” Liman is teaching English in Ontario but came south to participate. Barbara and Bob Busch traveled from Colorado, while Bev and John Rogers came from Minnesota and Bruce Wagner trekked from Michigan. Nettie and Mike Rodgers introduced us to their son Andrew ’12. Several of our classmates have taken on at least part-time teaching as we near retirement. Denny Bekemeyer has practiced in Seattle, and now travels to teach a course in the law of aircraft finance at the University of Illinois Law School. John Bullock and Gretchen traveled from Dayton, where John has retired from his ophthalmology practice to teach epidemiology at Wright State. Steve Fowler talked to us about the plans that are developing for the 50th reunion, while his better half, that is professor Linda Fowler, gave us a great talk on “The State of the Presidency in the Age of Obama.” 


More than 60 of our classmates have responded to the questionnaire we circulated in an effort to ascertain the ways we believe the Vietnam War and the military have affected us and the country. Send me a note about what you have been doing—and please complete and return the questionnaire.


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