Class Notes 1974

At this writing it’s been about 10 weeks since we gathered for our 50th reunion and we’re 10 weeks from the election. Looking back, our reunion was truly a highlight for many of us, connecting and reconnecting. Looking forward, when you read this, we’ll likely know who will assume the Oval Office in January. That’s weird.

I’m reminded of the old rabbinical saying, “You are not expected to complete the task but neither are you permitted to abandon it.” So what’s the task? As your class secretary, it’s a commitment to help assure that those who’ve been deeply connected with our class and the College continue to feel connected; for many who haven’t, they find the opportunity and inspiration to reconnect. Start with a regular check of our class website: https://1974.dartmouth.org. Thank you, webmaster Ken Hall.

Please let me know what you’ve most enjoyed in the Class Notes. Many thanks to Phil Stebbins and others dating back to Steve Severson, Class Secretary of the Year in 1979!

I asked several classmates why they read Class Notes. From Tom Guidi: “I like to hear about what other classmates are up to these days. Mostly I look forward to hearing about people I know or knew who I have not kept in touch with.” From Rocky Whitaker: “I want to see if there’s anyone I know and keep up on what’s goin’ on.” Jean Weinberg shared she looks for friends who’ve been written about or who’ve written. Would that be you?

From Ron Heier: “Although I rarely know the classmates well, I enjoy reading about their life experiences, travels, and class get-togethers.” From Bill White:“I enjoy remembrances of people, events, and news, especially if it is something new or serendipitous.” Chris Pfaff wrote, “I enjoy keeping up to date with classmates on joyful and sorrowful episodes in their lives.” Keep the joyful especially coming from classmates and surviving spouses and partners alike.

Whether a Class Notes regular or not, please let me hear from you. Thank you.

—Bill Geiger, 7521 Sheffingdell Dr., Charlotte, NC 28226; (847) 322-5920; 1974damnotes@gmail.com

By the time you read this, many of you will be enroute to attend our Dartmouth class of 1974 50th reunion. We are closing in on 400 registrants. There is a busy schedule planned with lots of entertainment and a chance to hobnob with classmates, faculty, trustees, administration, and 2024 graduates. Events include a presentation by the Class of 1974 Health Equity Project’s first group of student researchers, our memorial service, a concert with prodigy Matthew Whitaker, (nephew of “Rocky” Whitaker) and our formal class dinner. Please see our class website for the most current information and to check our progress on all three fundraising projects.

I hope you’ve all seen “Too Many Too Soon II.” This video concisely describes our groundbreaking class project on health equity. The entire mortality working group has been awarded the 2024 Ongoing Commitment Award by the Dartmouth Social Justice Committee with a ceremony in Hanover on May 1.

Rick Ranger, our class newsletter editor for 40 years, who has been so influential in chronicling our classmates’ activities since graduation and whose prose reads like a Pulitzer Prize winner, is receiving an honorary degree, doctor of humane letters, during graduation ceremonies. Please attend this if nothing else, as Rick deserves all the honor our class can bring. Rick is reapplying for another three-year stint as an Anglican missionary teaching at Uganda Christian University Business School.

On a personal note, my wife, Linda, and I decided to take our concerns for health equity to another country by visiting an orphanage we support in western Kenya. Devastated by HIV, malnutrition, and a complete lack of governmental social support, this facility outside of Kisumu is an under-developed country in every sense. When we first connected with them some years ago, they had 15 orphans. There are now 70 and increasing. They also support 27 widows (of about 500 in the region) who are without income, food, or housing.

It was impressive to see how much the orphanage staff have done with so little. The children we met demonstrated remarkably high levels of maturity and hope for their ages. The mission’s estimated needs were originally less than $10,000 a month, but they were surviving on $5,000. Part of our visit was to obtain a more realistic assessment of their situation, and it’s fair to say $15,000 per month is a more realistic figure for what’s needed. This includes the only functioning school (grades 1-8) for the surrounding community. High school is available privately through boarding and day schools that are accessible only with outside financial support and this applies to the largest proportion of the current orphan population.

With an absent generation of adults unable to support the elderly, infirm, and young, it’s left to private nonprofits such as United Hope International to meet those needs. If any of you within the wider Dartmouth community would consider supporting its work there, please check out its website at www.unitedhopeint.org or contact me for more information.

Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Classmates, no snow here in New Hampshire as of the Christmas/New Year’s Eve interim, but lots of news to impart. By now you’ve all had a chance to read both president Matt Putnam’s holiday greeting as well as Rick Ranger’s newsletter. Likely, you’ve also received updated reunion information from Jerry Bowe and Peter DeNatale. If you somehow missed them, go to the class website, where they are available.

Since my last notes Duncan Todd, Tom Guidi, Dave Von Loeske, Peter Haffenreffer, and I attended President Sian Beilock’s inaugural tour stop in Boston. Tom commented: “I thought that she was pretty impressive. She seems to get what makes Dartmouth different from so many other top universities and treats that as a strength. She seems very down to earth.”

Further, “On Homecoming Weekend Chuck Bralver, Peter Haffenreffer, Rick Thatcher, and his wife, Sally, gathered at Peter’s home in Winchester, Massachusetts. All were Bissell Hall denizens. Our plan was to drive up to Hanover for the football game. Due to the day-long rain on Saturday we watched the game at Peter’s house instead and caught up with the Thatchers, whom we hadn’t seen in 10 years or more. They had been living in Washington state and moved to Oregon a couple of years ago to be closer to their son, Jim, and grandchildren. They also have a daughter, Karen, who was a stalwart member of the U.S. women’s national hockey team, medaling in the Olympics and several world championships.”

Congratulations to former class president Rocky Whitaker, who was reelected president of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni. Rocky hasn’t retired and continues assisting in the development and execution of sports marketing initiatives for college and conference athletics.

Dick Pantalone checked in: “Recently, several members of the class of ’74 had a mini-reunion in the upper Midwest. Three of us decided we would bike to our reunion in Hanover next summer from Wisconsin (1,200 miles). We are in the process of negotiating with Trek bikes, which originated in Wisconsin, to buy the bikes. We were all college athletes in our day and have no serious health problems now except for a few titanium joints. We think it’s a realistic goal but will take some planning and of course training. The three D’s 1974 reunion group includes Dick Cates, varsity skier and now owner of a beef cattle farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Dave Winters, rugby player and Illinois state representative for 18 years while working the family farm in northeast Illinois; Dick Pantalone, lightweight crew and a general and hand surgeon during his time in the United States and overseas. Maybe others can join them.”

Tim Geisse and Peter Conway recently zoomed with Dartmouth Area Christian Fellowship alumni and noted their plans to attend reunion. They hope that others whom they knew will be attending and an extension to reunion weekend can be arranged. Eric Wadsworth and his wife, Laurie, who live in Lyme, New Hampshire, offered to help organize. If interested, please contact Eric and Laurie at lauriewads49@gmail.com.

See you soon.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Happy autumn, ’74s.

I hope you all enjoyed the foliage and were able to avoid most of the extreme weather. We had smog in New England from fires in Canada and one of the wettest summers on record.

Chris Pfaff attended a reunion of former baseball players and alumni at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Classmates Don Casey, Bob Whelan, Mike Draznik, Todd Tyler, Bruce Williamson, and Tim O’Connor were joined by ’75s Kevin Kelley, Glenn Reed, Tom Snickenberger, and Mark Ditmar as well as ’76s Jay Josselyn, Jim Beattie, and Todd Morris and ’78 Charlie Denison.

Tom Csatari hosted a mini-reunion on October 7 in Hanover for the Yale-Dartmouth football game. I hope you made it.

Mike Thomas suggested reading a superb short article on the College’s Arts & Science webpage; “Fostering a More Racially Inclusive Rural America.” Please take a few minutes to check out this article by professor Emily Walton, our original advocate and cheerleader for the Health Equity Project.

“In this article she clearly articulates a subtle but really important truth about how the ‘others’ feel. Not only does she ‘talk the talk’ but (in this article) sets an example for others in clear and purposeful language. We are very fortunate to be in league with her and to be beneficiaries of her attention and support in so many ways.”

Rick Ranger responded to Dr. Walton’s article: “As someone who moved to a small town from the big city of Anchorage, Alaska, I have just a window crack of appreciating what it must be like to be a stranger of color in a place like upper New England. As a company town there was always that subtle distinction of whether you were one of the Alyeska employees or really from Valdez. The number of non-Alaska Native non-whites could be counted on two hands, but, yes, one spent one’s time realizing that they were ‘other.’ Obviously being white gave me a huge head start—but all I am saying is that I was never more a stranger than I was as another Alyeska hire in a small Alaskan town at the end of the road with a population of just more than 3,000.

“What fixed it for me was becoming the courtside voice of the Valdez High School. There was a long time when we were strangers—but everyone knew who we were. That’s way different than being a stranger in Long Beach [California] or Washington, DC. Professor Walton is really onto something—and what she is doing will really help people form community in the face of their differences. There is no other choice.”

We will be joining the class of 2024 at its ceremonial reception of their class rings on Tuesday evening, October 24. Please contact Phil Stebbins at p.stebs@gmail.com if you would like to participate in handing out these mementos and build on our efforts to forge a connection with the ’24s.

Don’t forget to save the date for our upcoming 50th reunion, June 6-9.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Hello, ’74 classmates!

Bruce Miller checked in with a personal update: “Have been busy teaching, mostly via Zoom, a free financial literacy class I developed called ‘Understanding Money.’ I have taught it nationwide, including multiple classes at Dartmouth and Stanford, as well as for companies and nonprofits—more than 1,000 students so far. In just two 90-minute sessions folks learn how to get out and stay out of debt, save, and invest for their financial freedom. While the class is open to anyone, I’m particularly interested in helping underserved communities and first-generation, low-income college students. If any of our classmates know of organizations that could benefit from this course, they can contact me on my website, understandingmoney.net. I would be happy to schedule a private class for their group. Thanks and see you next June for our (ugh) 50th!”

Fundraising for our two class projects is going well. We’ve received pledges and gifts of $300,000 for the Health Equity Project just launched in December and have accumulated $600,000 for our class scholarship (including money raised since our 45th reunion). Our Dartmouth College Fund target is at least $1 million, so we hope to reach a total of $2 to $2.5 million altogether by the time of our June reunion.

Last weekend I attended the 10th Annual Wheelock Weekend held in the new Class of 1982 Engineering and Computer Science Center. Named after the College’s founder, the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, and sponsored by the eponymous Wheelock Society, this conference attempts to build bridges between reason and faith within the College for students, faculty, and alumni.

The “Veritas Forum” was held on Friday night. This year’s theme focused on how our values inform our work. On Saturday I participated in three roundtable discussions among the nine offered. These were “What makes a ‘good’ doctor?” “What makes a ‘good’ investment?” and “What puts ‘human’ in human centered design?” Other offerings included “What are athletics for?” “What is an adventurous life?” “What is the future of creativity?” “What does it mean to be educated?” and “What do we owe to strangers?”

After the afternoon sessions, tours were given of the partially renovated home of Eleazer Wheelock, which is now home to 24 undergraduates and will soon offer a large common area for campus events. They need another $300,000 in donations to complete the work this summer. Afterward alumni participants hosted students for dinner at Molly’s Restaurant for wide-ranging discussions on any number of topics of interest.

To finish off the weekend, on Sunday morning we gathered in the basement of Aquinas House for a brief ecumenical service before we all headed home. It was a fun and intellectually stimulating weekend. If you have the chance, I encourage you to attend in 2024.

Please be thinking about our 50th reunion in less than one year. The best place to get information about our reunion is 1974.Dartmouth.org. We also are hoping to have a gathering this fall with the class of 2024. Keep your calendar open for that.

See you soon!

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Greetings, ’74 classmates. As we end 2022 and begin 2023, let us all hope for a new year that brings us renewal. It seems that all the news this year was negative, with the so-called end of democracy, threat of recession, record inflation, pandemic fatigue, climate catastrophe, and mental health crisis on campus.

Fortunately, good things are happening in our class and for Dartmouth. As I write this, you’ve received Rick Ranger’s long epistle. For those of you in other classes who don’t receive it, it includes eulogies for former President James Wright and classmate Dudley Flanders, updates on Rick’s mission in Uganda, a short biography on new class Alumni Council rep Duncan Todd, and reprints of a recent article on retired attorney and fiddler extraordinaire Bernie Waugh. At our November class executive committee meeting we set goals for our 50th reunion to raise a total of $2 million; $500,000 each for our class scholarship and health-equity projects and $1 million for Dartmouth College Fund. A thorough summary of these efforts is also included in Rick’s letter and copies are available simply by contacting Rick or me.

On December 1 we held our first all-class Zoom meeting to introduce our new website, launch our health-equity project, and promote our official fundraising campaign for our 50th reunion. Hosted by webmaster Ken Hall, it was a successful start to what the executive committee believes will be a series of virtual class gatherings during the next 18 months, designed to build momentum for both our fundraising and attendance at the reunion itself in June 2024. The presentations were recorded and are available to watch on the class website. Stay tuned for the next event coming soon.

Bob Baumann sent me his latest erudite commentary on the war in Ukraine. To access this, go to www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Online-Exclusive/2022-O....

Chris “Lance” Baldwin notified me regarding four books he is writing, the most immediate one being a treatise on the geologic fall line (North America), “How Geology Drives History: An Exploration into the Eastern Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line & Its Impact Upon Civilization.”

“The geologic fall line is the most significant phenomenon in American history; it is an escarpment, not a fault, that runs from N.Y.C. to Alabama and beyond. The Piedmont to the west was higher than the coastal plain to the east so the fall line is characterized by 900 miles of falls and rapids. Explorers trying to sail upriver could not get by the fall line. They had to settle there. Fall-line cities became major points of trade and commerce. The major Indian trails, now Route 1 and Route 95, run parallel to the fall line. Because of the cheap power at the falls, more than 1,000 mills sprouted up. For these reasons, fall-line cities morphed into 37 major cities in the eastern United States. This is not taught in American history, despite it being the single most important phenomena. My book will change that.”

Until next time.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Hi, everyone.

I recently received a note from our Bob Bauman with three articles he wrote on Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis Ukraine and other eastern European and central Asian countries. The first article was written after Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 and published in 2018. The subsequent articles were published in late 2019, both in the periodical Military Review.

Here’s Bob: “I read your notes in the latest alumni mag and could not help but be intrigued by the final paragraph looking for classmates to engage on Russia. This June marked 50 years since I went to Leningrad on the Dartmouth foreign study program along with Greg Pulis, Peter Faucher, Pernell Delly, and other ’74s.

“Since then I have spent almost all of my time working on or in the former Soviet Union, including a year of doctoral work at Moscow University and many subsequent research trips. After finishing my Ph.D. in Russian history at Yale, most of my time was spent as a civilian professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Kansas. I also taught at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and taught briefly at the Bashkir State University in Ufa, Russia, and am currently in my third year of teaching at the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan. My Russian still gets lots of regular work here in Tashkent. In addition, I have a very good vantage point on the war in Ukraine from Uzbekistan, which like all of the former republics of the USSR takes great interest in what is currently happening. Anyway, as grist for the mill, I mention several of my articles, although none has been written since the war started. My diplomatic status here necessitates a degree of discretion on my public profile at the moment.”

The first article is titled “A Central Asian Perspective on Russian Soft Power”; the second is an essay review of Stephen Cohen’s book, War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.

Bob goes on to “note the recent mystery concerning the assassination of Vladimir Dugin’s daughter. Dugin has been an advocate of Eurasianism and restoration of Russian empire. His daughter was a journalist known for her nationalist views. She is now treated as a martyr to inspire Russians to fight on against Ukrainian “extremism” and American hegemonic ambitions. The “investigation” into Dugina’s death instantly concluded Ukraine was behind it. Russia is a pretty Orwellian place right now. This is not intended to exempt the West from all criticism, just to note that reality does not intrude much into Russian ideology these days.” His third article is “Mobilizing History to Promote Patriotism and a New Past.”

Class president Matt Putnam “hopes that all are still gaining grace if not Gallup and beginning to plan for attending our 50th reunion and considering support for the College and our two projects our class has identified (health equity and the 1974 scholarship).”

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Dear ’74 classmates, it’s almost freezing tonight in New Hampshire, more than a month into spring. It just goes to show that we aren’t safe until Memorial Day, even with global warming.

I’m happy to report that Duncan Todd was unanimously approved as our class representative to the Alumni Council beginning in September. We all pass along our gratitude to Tom Guidi for his three years of fine service. You should have received Tom’s final summary from the spring meetings already.

Although we just began collecting for our Dartmouth Class of 1974 Scholarship after our 45th reunion, our treasurer, Peter Blodgett, reports that we’ve already raised nearly $170,000 as of this April, on our way to a goal of $500,000 by our 50th reunion. Congratulations on a great start! We already have two undergraduates who are our beneficiaries.

Peter is joined by webmaster Ken Hall in reminding everyone that you can pay your class dues and donate to the scholarship fund and class projects via the links on our website. About 30 percent of you have paid up for dues this year.

Peter DeNatale and Jerry Bowe want to congratulate the class for the rapid response within 72 hours to Matt Putnam’s poll on hat design for our reunion. This was an impressive and encouraging response which, we hope, bodes well for the future of our class communications and reunion events.

In the last issue of the alumni magazine it was noted that the College was notified of the death of Paul Kaminski, even though he died in 2010. This is unusual, in this day and age, to say the least. But I’ll use it to note that we should all consider reaching out to the friends we made on the Hanover Plain, especially now with a worldwide pandemic and our approaching 50th reunion in two years.

In the past I’ve avoided the potential duplication of news by not specifying most individual classmate deaths in this venue. But I see that many other classes list these, so I’m going to begin to do that as well. In case you missed them, here is a list of those classmates deceased in 2021: Karen Jennings Lewis, Carl Levick, Wayne Guerrant, Dudley Flander, James Burke, Miguel Pulido, Bradford Davis, HoKeung “Freddie” Fu, and Richard Woolworth. They are sorely missed. Happily, there have been no reported deaths in 2022.

Finally, I want to let all of you know that my wife, Linda, and I live just 10 minutes from the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, which, unless you fly into Logan at Boston or West Lebanon, New Hampshire, itself, is the closest major airport to the College. In these days of frequent flight delays and cancellations, if you are ever stranded in Manchester, New Hampshire, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are happy to provide emergency accommodations and a hearty meal to wayward travelers to or from Dartmouth. Maybe I’ll even get some news that way.

Praying for peace. Hope to see you soon.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Classmates, happy New Year!

Peter DeNatale is leading an effort to obtain up to date contact information for all of our classmates to facilitate a hearty 50th reunion. We are starting with fraternities and varsity sports, but any affinity group can work. If you’d like to help, please contact Peter at peterdenatale@comcast.net. Make sure we have your correct cell phone number and email address by contacting him or me directly. We need everyone’s help.

I’ve heard some concerns that our Class Notes don’t share enough about what classmates are doing. The primary reason for this is that I rarely hear from anyone besides the class officers. In these days of social media, I could be trolling all of you and picking up information that way. At least that’s what my kids tell me when I complain that I don’t hear from them. But social media means we put stuff out there in the ether and it’s other people’s responsibility to track me if they want to know what I’m doing. Unfortunately, I’m still old school. I suppose anything you share on Facebook would be fair game for me to use, but I obviously can’t track 700 of you for news. The second reason is that I’m responsible to let you and other classes know what the ’74s are up to. That’s why I report so much executive committee content. So please send updates that you’d want your friends to read along to myself or Rick Ranger. You’d be surprised how much interest they have. They want to hear from you before it’s Rick Sample’s obituaries.

Chris Pfaff sent along a note that, “My daughter, Elsa, got married in August in a very small wedding on Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks [New York] to a wonderful young man, Kevin King, who happens to be a Tuck grad. He’s a great guy!” Congratulations, Chris (and Elsa and Kevin)!

Rick Ranger wrote in from Uganda, where he and his wife, Catherine, are missionary teachers at Uganda Christian University Law School. For his birthday they went on safari in the eastern mountain region. It’s impossible to show his pictorial essay here, but if you didn’t get to see it for yourself, contact Rick at rlranger907@gmail.com and I’m sure he’ll share it with you.

Class president Matt Putnam chimed in to share his thanksgivings: “2021, ginormous thanks to the officers and group of classmates working to recognize the unexpected, accelerated loss of our Black classmates. A large collective effort appears to be resulting in a program that will engage undergraduates and recognize our class’ effort to impact the research in this area. We hope more details will be available by the time you read this.

“For 2022, please write—if only to report the results from your latest dentist appointment! Despite the tardiness, happy New Year from all of the officers, stay healthy, and we look forward to hearing from you and working together to plan the 50th reunion.”

Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Dear classmates, as Yogi Berra allegedly said, it’s “déjà vu, all over again.” Two months ago I said, “We are enduring the record-breaking temperatures of the late June heat wave.” Now it is late August and we have the same temperatures in the middle 90s combined with tropical humidity. By now, fall air has usually arrived, making it feel like September—but not this year. Well, I hope tomorrow.

From class president Matt Putnam actual: “A few of you may recognize the military ring of the preceding sentence. I feel fortunate to have actually learned it—on the job. I am sending this note to all of you with my head and heart aching this morning from awareness of the pain soldiers and Afghans are feeling today (August 27 post ISIS-K attack in Kabul). I suspect Afghanistan feels a world away for almost all, but I have learned during the last few years from classmates who have traveled to this seemingly forsaken, but hauntingly beautiful, part of the world in the course of your life since Dartmouth. I mention all of this because class leadership has, in working with the mortality working group, made progress toward a 50th reunion project(s) that will ask us all to engage with the world as it is today with hopes of making a better world tomorrow. More details will follow in the coming months. Here’s to a good, productive, and graceful fall 2021!”

John Haulenbeek, our head agent, sent the following: “Our class enjoys a well-deserved reputation for its high participation in the Dartmouth College Fund. The College has benefited from the generosity of our classmates who consistently donate funds that fuel financial aid. A big part of this success is the result of the dedication of our class agents. They are an excellent group to work with and we are always looking for additional help. Most agents reach out to classmates they know to solicit, which allows them to maintain connections forged in Hanover. If you have any interest in being part of this team, please reach out to me.”

Jerry Bowe and Peter DeNatale, our reunion chairmen, continue their efforts on planning our 50th reunion. Please mark your calendar.

Don’t forget to check out the class website, curated by Ken Hall. It’s been improved and you can get early information on class events, mini-reunions, correspondence, obituaries, and video interviews with classmates.

There is also an online Green Card to get information to Rick and me more quickly, especially now that his snail mail is in Africa. Please send us updates using 1974.dartmouth.org (click on “News,” then “Send Us News”).

Sadly, after a three-month pause, I just received notice of the deaths of two more classmates. Please see Rick Sample’s class obituaries at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obits.

Hope you are all having a great fall. I noticed that Homecoming was finally moved back to peak “leaf-peeping” time in early October. That rocks!

Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

Dear classmates, hoping you are all healthy and have gotten your Covid vaccines. Here’s the latest news from our class leadership.

Jerry Bowe and Peter DeNatale, our reunion chairmen (along with their wives), are already hard at work on planning our 50th reunion. In conjunction with the graduating class of 2024, we will be marching across the Green on Sunday, June 8, 2024. There will be many fascinating lectures, great entertainment and food, and, of course, the chance to see all the new changes on the Dartmouth campus. If you haven’t been back in 47 years (and counting), you owe it to yourself and your college friends to be there. Jerry says, “We have not yet determined the start date but it will most likely be June 5 or 6 through Sunday, June 8. Mark your calendars, start saving your pennies for travel, and savor a reunion of old and new friends. While we are not the richest class in Dartmouth history, we are a spirited, loyal, and fun group. Peter and I are working hard to have the best reunion yet!” I certainly hope you will all attend. It’s going to be awesome!

Your class executive committee has been hard at work, not only on this year’s Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) raising, but on plans for the class gift for our 50th reunion. This will include a new scholarship in our class’ name as well as a major project in conjunction with Dartmouth that will leave a lasting legacy. President Matt Putnam says, “Class leadership has been, and continues, in discussion with College leadership related to financial goal setting for our 50th reunion and the separate class project.”

Chris Pfaff chimed in with, “We are excited by the two objectives we have: scholarships and support for our mortality project. We are still framing the scope and objectives for each but are convinced they are important and very worthwhile projects for our class to embrace as we move toward our 50th reunion. And we are blessed to have great class leadership on this journey.”

Treasurer Peter Blodgett reports we’ve already raised approximately $120,000 for our scholarship. We have about $50,000 in our treasury and about $21,000 in our reunion account. More detail is available upon request.

Finally, I want to point out that newsletter editor and former class president Rick Ranger and his wife, Catherine, are finally leaving the Western Hemisphere in June (about the time you are reading this) for their delayed three-year mission to Uganda. Rick will be teaching at the law school of Uganda Christian University and Catherine will be developing a new program in human rights and humanitarian law. Check out their link: http://law.ucu.ac.ug/index/php/about-law/jsi. Rick will continue as our class newsletter editor, but feel free to send news to me.

I’ll close with this: “I’m always amazed at how much we all have in common if we only look for that instead of looking for what divides us,” says Peter DeNatale.

Have a great summer!

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

Classmates, I am writing to you after Christmas, shortly after a warm, rainy burst melted all the snow and left us a brownish green landscape as we await the advent of 2021 and the hope of a new year. With pandemic relief (social, political, financial, and medical) in sight, yet the winter surge persists, unabated, while the entire nation emulates New England and hunkers down until spring.

Class president Matt Putnam sends greetings: “Happy New Year! Having reached this point where I know that each day is a gift that I cannot buy, I find myself more appreciative of the good fortune I had to meet so many in our class and share the Hanover Plain for our time on campus. In the context of remembering I’ve sent letters of thanks to former teachers and sought out their quotes of wisdom. Here is one from President Kemeny: ‘If you have a large number of unrelated ideas, you have to get quite a distance away from them to get a view of all of them, and this is the role of abstraction. If you look at each too closely you see too many details. If you get far away things may appear simpler because you can only see the large, broad outlines; you do not get lost in petty details.’ ”

Mike Thomas reports on the working group regarding accelerated mortality among Black alumni. He and Bill Geiger, Rocky Whitaker, Walt Singletary, Rick Ranger, and Gerry Bowe were joined by Nathaniel Hagler and Bill White. “During this period of time not only have the disturbing mortality rate statistics proven to be accurate for our class but similarly so for the classes from 1973 through 1977. To say 2020 was anything but normal is an understatement, as we all now know. Group milestones were set, reset, and reset again. Progress we expected—for charting a clear course to a defined objective; engaging the College administration as well as subject matter experts on sociology, health disparities, and social change; and reporting on exciting progress—was delayed but not deferred. Advancement in these areas is the first order for 2021, along with a renewed commitment for more active facilitation of the group’s objectives.”

Chris Pfaff encourages classmates to read Rick Ranger’s most recent newsletter since it was so well done and notes that there was a nice tribute to Ellis Rowe in the latest Call to Lead Campaign piece on financial aid and included some nice quotes from his wife, Toni, and son Marcus.

Jim Taylor is sad to report that we have been unable to make any connections with the incoming freshman class of 2024. He is looking for suggestions on how we might reach out to them virtually until the pandemic is past.

Finally, we have lost another classmate since our last column. Please see Rick Sample’s class obituaries at www.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com.

Hope to hear from more of you in 2021. Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

Classmates, I am writing to you now in late August in the midst of the Democratic and Republican conventions. By the time you read this, the elections may be history. We are in the midst of the biggest pandemic the world has ever seen, and, of perhaps greater significance for the United States, a movement for social justice and racial equality larger than any seen since our high school days. The economy (except for the tech sector) is severely depressed. If it weren’t for these events, most of our thoughts might have been focused on pre- or post-retirement questions, but not only are we limited in which activities we can engage, uncertainty in every direction, we are also faced with major societal questions that may determine the shape of our world and culture for decades to come.

On campus, President Hanlon and the trustees eliminated golf, lightweight crew, the swimming and diving teams, for the stated goal of achieving “greater flexibility in shaping the incoming class.” Matt Putnam and I have some thoughts on this issue and would love to discuss with interested classmates.

Fifty years ago we were preparing to matriculate at Dartmouth, looking forward to Outing Club trips and making new friends. Many of these seminal moments may be denied to the incoming class of 2024. We should think about how we can reach out to them and encourage them. I would also love to hear what you all are thinking about these issues.

John Haulenbeek, our Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) head agent, checked in: It was a unique year for the DCF. The combination of events noted above created a reckoning for classmates making decisions about which causes to support, with many people focusing their resources nearer to home. We still raised roughly $300,000, which is up slightly from our last non-reunion year, with a participation rate of 48 percent. This is a remarkable testament to your commitment to Dartmouth students and the needs of the institution.

I’ll close with these timely lyrics from the Moody Blues: “I woke up today. I was crying. Lost in a lost world./So many people are dying, lost in a lost world./Some of them are living an illusion, bounded by the darkness of their minds./In their eyes it’s nation against nation against nation, with racial pride, sad hearts they hide,/Thinking only of themselves./They shun the light; they think they’re right, living in their empty shells./Oh, can you see the world is crashing, crashing down around their feet,/angry people in the street, telling them they’ve had their fill/of politics that wound and kill./Everywhere you go you see them searching. Everywhere you go you feel the pain./Everyone is looking for the answer. Well, look again; come on my friend./Love will find them in the end. Come on my friend; we’ve got to bend/down on our knees and say a prayer./I woke up today. I was crying. Lost in a lost world.”

Blessings.

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@gmail.com

Hello, ’74s. I hope you are all safe and socially conscious as we endure the Covid-19 pandemic. Here in New England we’ve been hit pretty hard. Most of my work is in Massachusetts, which is third after New York and New Jersey. New Hampshire has been relatively spared. I don’t think we will ever forget 2020. I’m sure 99 percent of us had to lose our 50th high school reunions.

Matt Putnam, our class president, on behalf of the class officers and executive committee, sends his best wishes for your safety along with the following: “As officers planning toward the 50th reunion, we move forward with plans to celebrate each other and the College in four years. Our efforts continue to focus on raising a full scholarship as a class project. For those remembering the fantastic work accomplished by Jim Taylor and crew at the 40th reunion, this scholarship effort falls short when compared by muscle effort and nails—but it will take twice as many dollars. So, please start saving and contribute early if you can. Also, our class will have the opportunity to connect with the class of 2024 in September this year and throughout their Dartmouth experience—more soon!

John Haulenbeck,our chief fundraiser, notes that we have a Dartmouth College Fund target of $450,000 for 2020. The executive committee has approved the 50th reunion class project to fund a full undergraduate scholarship to the tune of $500,000. We all hope the class will fully support this. Kudos to Peter DeNatale, John’s predecessor, who left such a good organization intact to aid John and our other agents with their work.

Our newsletter editor, Rick Ranger, is heading off to Uganda and a professorship at the law school there through the auspices of the Anglican church, which he attends in D.C. Rick’s wife, Catherine, is also headed there to develop a new program in human rights and humanitarian law. Check out this link: http://law.ucu.ac.ug/index/php/about-law/jsi. Please send along your prayers and support to both of them. They are required to raise their own monetary support. Thanks to the internet, Rick will still be able to continue as our class newsletter editor, but response times might be a little slower. Feel free to send your news to me instead.

As you’ll be receiving this during the summer, I can only hope we’re all getting more time outside. Here in New England it’s been warmer and drier than usual this winter. I think we had snow once in all of February. I’ll look forward to the warm up and opening our pool in May. If anyone is passing through Manchester, New Hampshire (by car or plane), on your way to the College, please feel free to contact us or stop by. We offer a nice guest room and great cooking and plenty of room for social distancing.

Finally, if you have a classmate worthy of profiling in Class Notes, I’d love to get your suggestions.

Hope to hear from you. Stay safe—blessings!

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

I hope you all had a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, etc. Although you are reading this in the spring, I am writing just before New Year’s.

By now the College is finalizing the matriculating class of 2024, with whom we will forever be linked. Our class president, Matt Putnam, wrote that our class executive committee is already working on plans to connect us with the 50-year-on class. “It is a privilege to serve the class in my new role leading toward the 50th reunion. The class officers believe we have established a reachable goal of supporting a full, yearly scholarship as our target 50th reunion gift. This does not let us off the hook to bring (continued) energy (and money) to the Dartmouth College Fund [DCF] during that same reunion year.”

As you may know, at our last reunion some disturbing statistics were presented, showing that our classmates of color were dying at a much earlier age and higher rate than the class as a whole. This was also seen at Yale and confirmed across several different classes (’73-’75). A morbidity and mortality working group was established and is hoping to work with a college department in an effort to investigate the causes and potential actions to take. I’m advocating for the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, an offshoot of the Geisel School of Medicine that offers master’s, since this type of assessment is right up its alley.

Fundraising update from John Haulenbeek: Dartmouth “kicked off this year’s fundraising with a challenge tied to Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary. With the help of very committed alumni, the plan tied participation to scholarship grants.” Participation of 4,740 donors was almost twice the 2,500-person goal and at least five $50,000 scholarships were created. The challenge raised $4,108,520 total. Our class had 66 donors who gave a total of $26,158 during the challenge.

Our class goals for this year’s DCF are $450,000 with 55-percent participation (which equals 391 donors). The status as of December 20 was $128,810 from 111 donors (16 percent).

John added: “It is impossible to overstate the value of the organization created by Peter DeNatale. Our class and Dartmouth are the beneficiaries of his work and the team he assembled. Technology has created a hurdle in contacting folks. The flood of unsolicited marketing (spam) calls makes people less likely to answer an unfamiliar number, so we end up in voicemail. Coupled with the fact that landlines are often not active, it’s unusual to get a live person on the phone. Email has become the default method to connect with the highest percentage of classmates. I’m considering using texts to reach out and would appreciate knowing how you would feel about receiving DCF texts.”

Please feel free to respond to John, Matt, or me if you have any comments or questions regarding the above. Also, please check out ’74 obituaries in the online DAM, as we have lost a couple more classmates since last summer. Blessings to you all!

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

Welcome to the new Class Notes 1974. I’d like to thank Rick Sample for his many years of excellent service. Rick will be continuing on as necrologist; unfortunately reporting soon on the recent deaths of our classmates Pete Becker and John Pruitt. Please see the DAM website.

I’d like to begin my notes with a profile of our outgoing class president. Gerald Bowe and his wife, Eleanor, have led our class for the last five years with great energy and distinction. Our recent 45th reunion was a great testament to their (and Matt Putnam’s) efforts.

Jerry grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He attended Boston College High School and received a scholarship to Dartmouth, the first person in his family to attend college.

Jerry says the most momentous occurrence during his Dartmouth career was meeting his wife, Eleanor, Colby College 1975. After majoring in chemistry, Jerry moved to Tuck and got his M.B.A. They settled in Hampstead, New Hampshire, and raised daughters Gretchen and Stephanie. Both girls attended Phillips Exeter, then Amherst and Wellesley colleges, following in Eleanor’s footsteps and becoming teachers.

Jerry’s early career was consulting at Bain and Co., working with manufacturing clients. On leaving Bain Jerry worked in increasing levels of responsibility at the specialty textile company Malden Mills, maker of Polartec fleece products. From 1993 to 1998 Jerry financed and built from scratch a free-standing company in the former East German city, Goerlitz. His company manufactured Polartec for European markets, growing from zero to more than 300 employees before selling to Malden Mills. Jerry then returned to Malden Mills as chief operating officer in 1999.

During the last 16 years Jerry has been the CEO of three Berkshire Partners portfolio companies. From 2002 to 2008 Jerry and Eleanor lived in Birmingham, England, where he was with Avery Weigh-Tronix (global provider of weighing equipment). During their time in England they leveraged low-cost airfares for many inexpensive trips all over Europe.

In 2009 they moved to Oakland, California, to be near their adult daughters, and Jerry became a long-distance commuter. First, he was with Masterplan in Nashville (healthcare imaging and medical device company, 2008-11) and then Vi-Jon in St. Louis, Missouri (personal care products manufacturer and distributor, 2011-17). In each case Jerry was inserted into an underperforming portfolio company that he successfully turned around, increasing the earnings-to-sales ratio by 300 to 400 percent.

In February 2017 Jerry retired as CEO, although he remains as chairman of the board of Vi-Jon. He and Eleanor now split their time between their home on Newfound Lake, New Hampshire (which they purchased in 2003), and Oakland.

Jerry says one of the biggest lessons he has learned in his career is the importance of mentorship. A few specific men in his life had outsize influence on his education, career, and success. He encourages us all to seek such opportunities.

Currently Jerry is in training for a 350-mile charity bicycle ride, called the MS Global, in Nova Scotia, in support of families dealing with multiple sclerosis. If interested in supporting this, go to the MS Global website.

That’s it! Send me news. God bless!

—Philip Stebbins, 17 Hardy Road, Londonderry, NH 03053; p.stebs@comcast.net

In 2016 Doug Peabody cofounded a life sciences company, Ceracuity Inc., with Dr. John Hardy, a leading neuro-geneticist and a molecular biologist with the Taub Brain Institute at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. They are developing small-molecule, brain-penetrable drugs targeting aspects of the cellular clearance mechanisms in brain cells that clear misfolded proteins, notably Tau, that are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. They have raised seed funding, but more is needed for drug development. Steve Dietz is helping with the project. Doug and his wife, Annick Cooper ’75, became empty-nesters this year when their son, James, headed off to Cornell. Doug and Annick live on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, most of the time, but they have an apartment in New York City, where daughter Christina (Rhode Island School of Design ’15) and son Nick (Princeton ’18) live. Christina works at Bridgewater Associates and Nick is with the Jeffries Group. Daughter Olivia (University of Virginia ’19) is studying in France and Italy this year. Oldest daughter Alexandra “Alix” ’12 is a founder and the chief executive officer of Bev, a woman-run company selling canned California rosé wine. The company recently received funding from a group led by Founder Funds.

After almost 40 years and more than 8,000 surgeries Andy Wexler has retired from surgical practice and his position as chief of plastic surgery at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. About half of his practice was pediatric craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery, operating on children with congenital deformities and posttraumatic facial restoration. Andy continues to teach residents at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he is a clinical professor of plastic surgery. Andy’s passion during the last 25 years has been leading volunteer surgical teams to low-resource countries, primarily teaching local surgeons and performing surgery on children with facial deformities. He has worked in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia. Now that he is retired, Andy is able to spend more time on this work in some of the world’s neediest places. He founded a 501(c)(3) organization, Surgiwex, to bring surgical training and instruments to countries in need. While working recently in Nepal, Andy and his wife, Geri, avid hikers, went on the spectacular Annapurna base camp trek. Geri is a pediatric neuropsychologist who runs the autism clinic at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. Andy and Geri live in Pacific Palisades, California. They have two daughters. Becca earned an advanced degree in international affairs and security studies at Columbia and has served as an advisor to cabinet secretaries, United Nations ambassador Samantha Power, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Sarah was a varsity gymnast at the University of Pennsylvania, earned her physician assistant degree from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and currently works in the emergency room of a large hospital in the Los Angeles area.

Please contribute to the Dartmouth Fund by June 30.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

After graduation Larry Rome traveled around Europe before entering graduate school at Harvard and earning a Ph.D. in biology. Following postdoctoral work in the United Kingdom and at Harvard Medical School, Larry started his first position at the University of Tennessee. Before leaving Boston, Larry met his wife, Victoria. Today they have two sons, Henry (Princeton, Cambridge) and Nathaniel (University of Pennsylvania), both of whom live in the Washington, D.C., area and work in international relations. After three years at Tennessee, Larry moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he has worked for more than 30 years. He currently serves as a professor of biology with his scientific work focused on muscle physiology and biomechanics, mostly in fish swimming and calling. He also has a lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In 2002 he was talking with the Office of Naval Research because it wanted to build a submersible vehicle that could swim like a fish. One day staffers called and said that Special Forces in Afghanistan were carrying 80-pound backpacks with an additional 20 pounds of batteries, and they wanted to know if there might be a way to get energy from their movement and convert it to electricity. Although Larry wasn’t working on humans or terrestrial locomotion, he did teach the subject. During that phone call, he came up with the idea of getting energy from the movement of a backpack. Over the next few years at the University of Pennsylvania he invented backpack technology that converts movement to electricity, and he formed Lightning Packs LLC to develop it. The principal of operation is suspended-load technology (SLT): Walking causes the backpack load to rise and fall a few inches with each step, and the movement with respect to the carrier is used to turn a generator. The backpack increases power production by more than 1,000-fold compared to normal movement. That power can be used for emergency communication during disasters or normal communication in locations where there is no electric grid. Also, an SLT backpack without a generator reduces the vertical force on the body and stress on joints, making walking, hiking, and running much more comfortable. The load floats at a constant height above the ground and doesn’t have to decelerate and reaccelerate each time the carrier’s foot hits the ground. Larry has branded the packs HoverGlide. He ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in the fall, which continues now on Indiegogo. To learn more about Larry’s innovative backpack product line, go to his website at lightningpacks.com.

Please watch for monthly email updates from our reunion co-chairs Matt Putnam (Ann) and John Haulenbeek (Karen) about our 45th reunion from Thursday, June 13, through Sunday, June 16.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Thanks and kudos go out to all classmates who contributed to the 2017-18 Dartmouth College Fund. Our class registered 12-percent growth in contributions and a 58-percent participation rate. Our performance earned us three major giving awards, including the Fred A. Howland 1887 Award that recognizes the greatest increase in the number of donors in a non-reunion year class. We had 68 more donors than the previous year. Peter DeNatale, our head agent, led the charge with his inspired leadership.

After eight years of successful ownership and operation of Via Vanti!, the top Zagat-rated eating establishment in Mount Kisco, New York, Scott Mason and his wife, Carla, moved on in 2016 from the all-consuming restaurant business. Their first official post-restaurant act was to fly to England and complete the 192-mile, coast-to-coast walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea in two and a half weeks. Of all their hiking and cycling outings around the world through the years, this was their favorite trip. Upon their return home to Chappaqua, New York, Scott and Carla became first-time authors, each writing about a subject of personal passion. Carla’s book, titled La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A to Z, is a wonderfully informative read, recommended for anyone planning to travel to Italy or just wanting to get in the mood. Carla is currently promoting the book through speaking engagements (ladolcevitau.com), most recently in Colorado. Scott’s book is titled The Wonder Code: Discover the Way of Haiku and See the World with New Eyes (thewondercode.com). Scott has been interested and active in English-language haiku poetry for more than 15 years, receiving more than 150 awards in international blind-judged haiku competitions, including the top prize in more than 20 of them. He has served as artist-in-residence at the Studios of Key West, Florida, traveled to Japan, and edits the online haiku journal The Heron’s Nest. Scott believes that through his haiku practice he relates to the world with greater attentiveness and appreciation. The Wonder Code has been extremely well received within the haiku community and has won the top book awards from both the Haiku Foundation and the Haiku Society of America.

Please remember to mark your calendars for our upcoming 45th reunion from Thursday, June 13, through Sunday, June 16, 2019.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

First, let me mention a few housekeeping items. The deadline for contributions to the Dartmouth College Fund is June 30. If you haven’t made your annual gift, please grab your credit card and go to www.dartmouthcollegefund.org. Every contribution helps the College and boosts our class participation rate. Also, mark your calendars for our upcoming 45th reunion from Thursday, June 13, 2019, through Sunday, June 16, 2019. Next year also marks the 250th celebration of the founding of Dartmouth. Watch for special celebrations the College is planning for the anniversary.

Rob Stone kindly wrote recently with an update. Rob and his wife, Karen, live in Bloomington, Indiana. Rob is the state coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization working to move the United States toward universal healthcare using expanded and improved Medicare as the model. After three years of undergraduate work at the College, Rob went to Dartmouth Medical School for two years and then transferred to the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver. He completed a family practice residency and then practiced in the barrio on the city’s west side. After three years Rob moved back to his home state of Indiana, where he has been ever since, working for 28 years as an emergency room physician and practicing palliative medicine since 2011. Rob and Karen have three children and two grandchildren. Rob notes that the grandchildren, aged 9 and 12, are both unusually smart and cute.

Dan O’Haire sent news in March that he and Dick Spellman, freshman-year roommates, had enjoyed a day skiing together in Breckenridge, Colorado. The meeting was their first since graduation. This past winter was the 59th consecutive year of skiing for Dan and the 63rd consecutive year for Dick. Dan lives in Aurora, Colorado. After Dartmouth he earned an M.S. in geology from Montana State University in Bozeman. In his first career he worked as a geologist in oil and gas, soil and water testing, mapping, gold exploration, and lead-zinc-silver exploration, mostly in the North Country of New Hampshire, Montana, and Alaska. After nearly 20 years he moved back to Colorado in 1993, changed careers, and married his wife, Jeannie, in 1995. Along the way he earned a B.S. in computer science from the University of Alaska in Anchorage and then a B.S. in mathematics from Metropolitan State University in Denver. In 2013 Dan retired from his second career of 20 years as a math and science teacher in Denver-area public schools. He continues to teach math and science (chemistry, physics) as a substitute teacher and tutor. For fun Dan has been a trip leader with the Colorado Mountain Club for 25 years. After a serious illness eight years ago, Dan resumed his Colorado Fourteener Quest, eventually completing 52 of the 56 summits at elevations above 14,000 feet.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Fred Wearn reported from Oregon on the marriage of his daughter, Colleen Wearn ’06, to Joe Horrell ’04. The wedding, a real Dartmouth event, took place in the fall on Mount Hood. Fred sent along a group picture of the more than 50 Dartmouth alumni who celebrated the occasion. Included in the picture, in addition to the bride and groom, were Fred’s brothers, George Wearn ’76 and Dick Wearn ’64, and Fred’s daughter, Anna Wearn ’12. Also in attendance were the groom’s siblings, Emily Horrell Templeton ’02 and Chuck Horrell ’00. Paul Sunde, director of admissions at Dartmouth and Colleen’s former boss when she worked at the College, was the officiant for the wedding. Fred’s best friend, Sam Robertson ’67, also attended. Fred and Sam met after Dartmouth while in medical school.

Amanda Stoermer grew up in Oklahoma hearing stories about the wonderful place that is Dartmouth from her father, Jeffrey Stoermer. This past summer Jeffrey mentioned that his Kappa Kappa Kappa would celebrate its 175th anniversary in the fall. That became the catalyst for a visit to New Hampshire. Amanda formulated the plans while Jeffrey reached out to classmates and fraternity brothers. Amanda and Jeffrey traveled to New Hampshire in October. They caught up with Dana Bisbee in Manchester, New Hampshire. Jeffrey and Dana had overlapped at Georgetown Law in D.C., when Jeffrey was pursuing an LL.M. in taxation and Dana was earning his J.D. In Hanover Jeffrey and Amanda participated in the Dartmouth Night Homecoming parade and bonfire with Bob Baumann and Gary Wells.They enjoyed the football victory over Yale. They visited the 1902 Room in Baker Library and climbed Baker Tower and celebrated the Tri-Kap anniversary with Dave von Loesecke, Bruce Williamson, Keith Shenberger and Steve Larmon. Although this was Amanda’s first visit to Dartmouth, her older brother, Adam, had visited the campus with Jeffrey when Adam was touring schools on his college search. In the end, Adam attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Today Adam is a teacher, coach and campus minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is married, has three daughters and is a world-class triathlete. Amanda attended DePauw University for her undergraduate studies and earned a master’s in social work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Amanda lives in St. Louis and works for a nonprofit organization in the healthcare field, where she manages safety-net programs and trains medical students to provide compassionate healthcare to the underserved. Jeffrey is in private law practice in Tulsa, focusing on estate planning, trust and probate law, tax and business organization. He is an avid runner, a volunteer and board member emeritus of the Parent Child Center, an organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect through education, treatment and advocacy, and an adult Sunday school class teacher. Jeffrey has been married to his wife, Deborah, for 41 years.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

From Dublin, Ohio, Jeff Johnston sent news about his family and his activities in retirement as well as reflections on his career in publishing. Jeff and his wife, Marcia, recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. Jeff and Marcia met and started dating in the ninth grade. Marcia attended Plymouth State College in Plymouth, New Hampshire, but according to Jeff, she spent every weekend at Dartmouth. After college Marcia was an early childhood educator and stay-at-home mother. Jeff and Marcia have been blessed with three children and three grandchildren and they love being grandparents. Their oldest child, Paul, graduated from Ohio State with a degree in civil engineering. Their middle child, Sarah, graduated from Ohio State with a degree in school counseling. Their youngest child, Dave, and again according to Jeff, probably the most intelligent person in the family, works for the U.S. Postal Service. The bulk of Jeff’s career was spent in publishing management as an editorial director running a publishing imprint. Like many of us, he didn’t know what he wanted to do after graduation. However, after a couple of years he stumbled onto his dream job as a textbook editor in college textbook publishing. He helped professors develop their ideas, course materials and manuscripts into textbooks. In 1985 Jeff left his position as an editor with Allyn and Bacon Publishing in Boston to move to Merrill Publishing in Columbus, Ohio. Then he encountered firsthand the steady consolidation of the publishing industry from about three dozen college publishers into the three major publishers today. Although Jeff only changed companies once, he experienced many corporate purchases, mergers and take-overs while running Merrill’s education publishing list as it moved to MacMillan Publishing then to Prentice Hall and then to Pearson. Ultimately his teacher education list became the largest such list in the world, publishing 100 textbooks a year, most with an online component. Jeff retired two years ago and now spends meaningful time engaged in family activities, especially with his grandchildren, and traveling with Marcia. He also picked up three textbook projects recently from his former publishing unit to edit. Jeff admitted that those who knew him in college will likely be surprised to learn that he spends a lot of time active in his church’s community center, where he teaches English as a second language and citizenship education to immigrants and refugees, as well as working as an in-take counselor in the legal clinic that serves immigrants and refugees. He noted his wonder at how many Muslim friends he has made welcoming and helping strangers new to the community. Also, every Sunday morning you can find Jeff amidst the chaos of a couple dozen 3-year-olds as he teaches for his fourth year at church. Jeff keeps in contact with good friend and classmate Tom Lord.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

At the end of June, during the California legislature’s busiest time, and with 11 bills up in various policy committees, Larry Doyle kindly took time to provide his news for this column. Larry is a lawyer-lobbyist in private practice in Sacramento, California. He does legal work in trust, probate and legal ethics. Larry mostly advises clients on avoiding ethical pitfalls, provides state bar admissions counsel and discipline defense, and lectures on attorney ethics matters. Larry’s larger focus, however, is on lobbying. Larry earned his J.D. in the night program at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law while working full time as a consultant in the California legislature. Larry’s favorite class was constitutional law taught by Anthony Kennedy while Justice Kennedy was still a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later Larry spent nearly two decades as the chief legislative counsel and principal lobbyist for the State Bar of California. Larry met his wife, Susan, when they were both legislative staffers. Susan is a former lobbyist for the healthcare industry and currently consults with California legislators on fundraising. Larry and Susan have a blended family of five children and most are involved in politics in some way. Daughters Jennifer and Megan and one son-in-law are lobbyists. Son Ian and his wife are political fundraisers. Daughter Amy and her husband are correctional peace officers. Son Adam is a bass player who pays the bills working at a local hotel. Larry and Susan have two grandchildren. Outside of work Larry breaks free to play a round of golf every week or so. Larry also keeps in regular contact with Rick Ranger and Tom VanBenschoten.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Kirk Hinman, our dedicated class treasurer, sold his family business, Rome Strip Steel Co., to Worthington Industries of Columbus, Ohio, in January 2015 and retired. Kirk and his wife, Linda, are fine, but they are now tackling a difficult, new challenge. In September they learned that their only grandchild, Spencer, has a rare, fatal, metabolic and neurological disorder called Sanfilippo syndrome. It is a cruel disease, where children develop normally for a few years, then gradually begin to lose their faculties—speech, eyesight, mobility—and suffer seizures, hyperactivity and dementia. Life expectancy is early teens. In the midst of their grief, Kirk and Linda have stepped into a new role as advocates for Spencer and other children. They have lobbied Congress to pass the 21st Century Cures Act to support research on rare diseases. They are also banding together with other Sanfilippo families to increase awareness and raise funds for critical medical research and clinical trials. Because Sanfilippo is a disease that affects a small percentage of the population, a so-called orphan disease, there has been very little interest from biotechnology firms. Families are the driving force in progress to date. Kirk and Linda are spreading the word about Sanfilippo and urging everyone to check out the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization working with the affected families to find a cure. Kirk’s daughter and Spencer also have their own webpage for anyone interested in learning more: www.curesff.org/meet-the-families/spencer. Kirk noted that dealing with this disorder is unknown territory for his family, so they are also connecting with people in the world of pharma and academic medicine. Kirk and Linda are channeling their grief into productive and meaningful activity to help Spencer and other children suffering from Sanfilippo syndrome. They are focused on bringing attention to this and other orphan diseases.

I’m writing this at the end of December for the magazine that will have arrived in our mailboxes in February. Forty-five years ago today during Christmas break sophomore year I boarded a plane for two terms of foreign study in Mainz, Germany, as so many Dartmouth students have done over the decades at destinations around the world. Using Germany as a base I ventured north above the Arctic Circle in Norway and south to Crete. This incredible, seven-month adventure led to a lifelong interest in languages, foreign cultures and travel. It also resulted in my choice of German as my major, and it laid the foundation for my career in international business. Under the inspired tutelage of professor of German Dick Macht ’59, our intrepid foreign study group examined German culture and literature and honed our language skills. Among our spirited team members were John Pruitt, John Sheldon, Tim Kelley, Sam Ruyle, Fred Mauet, Chuck Higdon ’73 and Dan Riley ’73. If not for Dartmouth and this eye-opening program, my life would surely have taken a very different path.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to the 451 classmates who contributed to the 2015-16 Dartmouth College Fund, achieving an enviable 60.5-percent participation rate and setting a new non-reunion year-out record for our class. Under the capable and persistent leadership of Peter DeNatale, Len Smith and other dedicated class agents, each classmate’s gift made an impact.

Our results haven’t always been so strong. Bruce Miller became a class agent in 2003 and then assumed the responsibilities of participation chair for our class in 2006. He led our class that year to the largest single-year participation rate increase in the history of the Dartmouth College Fund, pushing us up from 50 percent to 70 percent. Under his leadership our class posted three consecutive year-out records from 2007 through 2009. The College quickly recognized Bruce’s talents, honoring him three times with the Chairman’s Citation, drafting him into service on the Dartmouth College Fund committee in 2008 and inducting him into the Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society in 2009. Bruce became vice chairman of the Dartmouth College Fund committee in 2011 and then became chairman in 2012. During the first three years of Bruce’s tenure as chairman, the fund achieved its fourth, fifth and sixth consecutive dollar records, raising the second-highest dollar amount of any college in the country. After eight years of superbly productive service as member and chair of the committee, Bruce recently passed the baton to Catherine Craighead Briggs ’88, the new chair of the Dartmouth College Fund committee. In addition to Bruce’s work for the College, he has also been an active fundraiser for Stanford, where he earned his M.B.A. after Dartmouth. He has served on Stanford’s Business School fund council since 2010 and was named a Stanford associate in 2012. Bruce met his wife, Janice, while both of them were graduate students at Stanford. Janice was initially a math teacher but then moved into a career as a systems architect with the Los Angeles Times. She now tutors high school students in math. Bruce started out in the advertising business on the client side, working in brand management at Procter & Gamble, but he spent most of his career at advertising agencies. He founded an advertising agency, Suissa Miller, with a partner, which they later sold and merged with a sister agency owned by their holding company. Bruce is now retired and lives in Sherman Oaks, California, with Janice. They have two daughters. Younger daughter Allison ’10 is in her second year at Wharton pursuing her M.B.A. after working this past summer at IBM on Watson, the artificial intelligence initiative. Older daughter Lindsay (Vanderbilt ’06) earned her M.B.A. from Wharton and currently works in marketing for Amazon in Seattle, where her husband is a gastroenterologist.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine has elected Freddie Fu to its hall of fame, recognizing his significant contributions to the specialty of sports medicine. Freddie will be inducted and recognized at the society’s annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in early July. Since 1998 Freddie has been the chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he has pioneered innovative techniques to treat sports-related injuries to the knee and shoulder.

Norwell Coquillard moved to Korea with Cargill Inc. in 1984. He was Cargill’s country head for Korea and Japan until 1998, when he moved to China. Nor retired as chairman and president of Cargill’s operations there at the end of 2009. Nor served as president and chairman of Enactus China, but stepped down recently as president; he remains as chairman. Enactus is a nonprofit organization that provides a platform for entrepreneurial university students to create community development projects where businesses can make positive economic, social and environmental impacts in villages, towns and cities around the world. Nor was also the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the largest American Chamber of Commerce organization outside the United States. Nor and his wife of three years, Xingdi Zhou, live in Shanghai, and they travel often. They visited Antarctica and Patagonia in February and Machu Picchu in April. Nor’s other passions are skiing and car racing. Six years ago he created a successful car racing series for Honda automobiles modified for competitive racing. All of the cars are the same model, which the series transports all around China for races. Nor has one son, Andre, who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. Andre, whose mother is Korean, plays on the South Korean national rugby team. When Andre is not playing for Korea, he is a professional rugby player for the NEC Green Rockets in Japan.

Be safe and send news.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

A letter arrived in the mail from Rob Christie, who wrote from home on Mount Prospect near Lancaster, New Hampshire. Rob’s letter recounted meeting David Kruschwitz at the Lobster Trap restaurant in North Conway, New Hampshire, last September for a fine lobster roll lunch. Dave, up from Limerick, Maine, had just completed a nine-mile loop up North Moat Mountain in nearby Bartlett, New Hampshire. Rob noted that for his part he had just finished a siesta but did share with Dave a model he had built of a cruck-frame addition planned for his front porch. Dave produced an enormous pumpkin and a sack of beautiful tomatoes from his garden. Rob also reported that he attended a high school reunion at Phillips Academy last June with Andy Wexler. Rob claims to have engineered Andy’s election to the presidency of their class, which involves cajoling their classmates to donate money to the school. Andy has had a wonderful career as a pediatric plastic surgeon and has built an international reputation for his facial reconstruction work with Operation Smile.

Mark Haley wrote from Tacoma, Washington, that the death of John Rassias has been much on his mind. Mark was a French major who was privileged to take four courses from Professor Rassias, Dartmouth’s pedagogical giant and a huge influence on Mark. Mark credits Professor Rassias for life lessons that have remained vibrant since college, inspiring an insatiable curiosity about people and cultures around the world that has taken Mark to more than 60 countries and prompted extended stays in Dax, France, during the past decades. Mark noted that the Internet, his MacBook and Skype now allow him to work from anywhere. Mark and his wife, Nancy (Mount Holyoke ’75), spent three months of 2013 in Dax and September 2015 in Italy. Mark and Nancy met when Mark attended business school at Stanford University and Nancy was working as a teaching assistant after completing her master’s in documentary film. Mark now runs a food export company he founded that he describes as large enough to be fun and volatile enough to be challenging. The company specializes in bulk snack and confectionery products. He recently returned from a four-week business trip to nine markets in Asia. Outside of work Mark is writing a study that explores the disappearance of an entire way of life in post-war France that he has witnessed since the late 1970s. For recreation he enjoys biking, skiing and sailing. Mark says he hopes that we all read the marvelous Class Notes from Ed Gerson ’35 before he passed last fall. Mark found Ed’s columns inspiring, maybe because Mark’s father was a member of the class of 1935, maybe because Ed’s columns led the class notes section of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and maybe because the three remaining classmates were still in touch and sharing news, a nice goal for all of us. I second that.

Send news!

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Following the June mini-reunions in Boston and Washington, D.C., Chris Pfaff, Phil Franklin and Tom Denison ’75 organized a gathering in Skokie, Illinois, on August 4 for Chicago-area alumni who included Bruce Williamson, Dave Winters, Jerry Bowe, Don Casey, Bill Hart and Mark Thomas. Joining in the festivities were Mike Klupchak ’73, Paul Sehl ’73, David Duggan ’73, Pat Martin ’73, Joe Durham ’75, Joe Yastrow ’75, John Koltes ’75, Bob King ’75, Chuck Fendrich ’75, Charlie Solberg ’75 and Rick Waddell ’75. Please watch for information about other upcoming mini-reunions in New York, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco or organize one for your local area.

In June the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) elected Charles Littlejohn, M.D.,as itspresident. Charles noted that an important foundation for him, as with many of us Dartmouth graduates, started with those early days on campus learning from faculty and from the friends we met along the way. Being asked to help lead ASCRS is an honor and great responsibility that will allow him to work on behalf of others. Charles is a physician and member with Stamford Health Integrated Practice in Stamford, Connecticut. He is also division director for colon and rectal surgery at the Stamford Hospital and assistant clinical professor in the residency program affiliated with Columbia University in New York. In addition, he is an attending colon and rectal surgeon at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. Charles had served on the ASCRS executive council as a council member from 1999 to 2003 and as secretary from 2010 to 2014. After graduation from the College Charles attended Dartmouth Medical School followed by residencies in general surgery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He then completed a fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick. Charles and his wife, Cynthia, a retired nurse and active mother, have a daughter, Megan, and live in Stamford. In whatever time away from work he can grab Charles enjoys spending time with his family as well as reading about and working with technology.

Send news!

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

Dick Spellman and his wife, Janis, live in Kennesaw, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Dick is president of GDS Associates, an engineering and management consulting firm that specializes in planning and analytical studies for the electric and natural gas industries. Dick’s expertise is energy efficiency and renewable energy. Dick and Janis met at Central Maine Power Co., where they both worked in the 1970s and 1980s. They still visit their lake cottage in central Maine. They enjoy hiking, biking, skiing and travel in their spare time and hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc in France, Italy and Switzerland in 2013. Dick and Janis have two daughters. Ashley, a graduate of Colby College and Loyola Law School, works as a business planner at the corporate headquarters of Forever 21 in Los Angeles. Paige, a graduate of Lee University in Tennessee, lives in Breckenridge, Colorado, where she works as a teacher. Dick served as an alumni interviewer for nearly 20 years when he lived in Maine. He has contributed to the Dartmouth Alumni Fund every year since graduation to recognize the important impact Dartmouth has had on his life, and he is a member of the Bartlett Tower Society with thousands of other alumni, parents and friends who have included Dartmouth in their estate plans. He joined the Bartlett Tower Society for many reasons, but mainly to ensure that future generations of Dartmouth students have opportunities to experience the academic excellence and outdoor opportunities that he enjoyed and also to develop lifelong Dartmouth friendships. Dick encourages classmates to consider their legacy and membership in the Bartlett Tower Society.


Before our last reunion Ken Marable became our class chair of gift planning. In that capacity he encourages classmates to participate in gift planning and join the Bartlett Tower Society. Ken’s family has a special love for Dartmouth. His wife, Joan ’76, is a consultant and also the founder and executive director of a nonprofit that helps students in grades eight through 12 to develop leadership skills and to increase their understanding of different cultures. Daughter Kimberly ’05 is an actress in New York who is currently performing in The Lion King on Broadway. Son Jonathan ’08 is a graduate student in city and regional policy and urban planning at the Pratt Institute in New York City. Ken is a financial consultant for AXA Advisors. Outside of work he is active in many community organizations in addition to serving as a member of the executive committee of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of New York, a regional representative of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association and a ’74 class agent. 


Please join Dick, Ken, me and a dozen other classmates as members of the Bartlett Tower Society by including the College in your estate planning or by naming the College as a beneficiary of a retirement plan or life insurance policy. Contact Ken at kenneth.marable@axa-advisors.com for additional information.


Send news!


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


The College sends Dartmouth Medicine, the magazine of the medical school, to class secretaries to share news of medical school graduates who are also our undergraduate classmates. In the fall edition I came across “Late to War,” an article by Matt Putnam, orthopedic surgeon, about his decision after 9/11 to enter military service. Matt had already made volunteer medical contributions by helping to build an orthopedic service at the Polish-American Children’s Hospital in Krakow, Poland, and by working in Honduras and Kenya. Coming from a family tradition of government service going back to the Civil War and with almost all of the physicians who had mentored him earlier in his career having served in the military, Matt attempted to join the Army in 2005 but was told he was too old. However, with a general shortage of orthopedic surgeons, age became less of an issue and the Army came back to him in 2008. After formal commissioning in 2011 Matt began extensive training with his unit in areas such as trauma care, officer leadership, physical readiness and weapons use. When Matt was given his choice of assignment, he requested a mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) unit. MASH units as such no longer exist, so Matt was assigned in 2013 as the orthopedic surgeon in a forward surgical team at a forward operating base in Afghanistan within sight of the mountains of Pakistan. He handled on-base injuries and illnesses, but his chief medical activity was treating war casualties, both military and civilian. After an extended tour of duty in Afghanistan, Matt returned home to Minnesota in April 2014. He lives in Minneapolis, where he cares for patients, teaches at the University of Minnesota and conducts research in measuring and improving surgical competence. Matt’s wife, Ann, returned to school at the University of Minnesota to earn a master’s in horticulture after retiring from a career in human resources and employee benefits in the banking industry. Matt and Ann have three children. Son Morgan, 32, went to Cornell and earned a Ph.D. from Cal Tech. As part of his Rotary community service he works with veterans in a post-traumatic stress disorder program. Son Reed, 30, studied economics and Japanese at the University of Minnesota. Daughter Merril, 28, graduated from Boston College and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. After earning a master’s in environmental engineering from the University of San Francisco, she joined the Peace Corps and worked as a water engineer for more than two years in Peru. All three children now live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lt. Col. Matthew Putnam continues to serve our nation as unit commander of the 945th Forward Surgical Team in the U.S. Army Reserve.


Be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


A Class Notes column prompted Parker Sando to write from New Mexico. Parker came to Dartmouth from Albuquerque. After graduation he returned home to marry Virginia and to earn a law degree at the University of New Mexico. Parker and Virginia had started dating in the summer of 1969 and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in July. Virginia has been an operating room nurse and nursing instructor. Their daughter Dorothy, 32, earned a master’s in education and teaches at a charter middle school in Albuquerque. Following law school Parker worked for the American Indian Law Center at the University of New Mexico before joining the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA.) He retired from the BIA in May 2013 after 35 years of service. During his last seven years there Parker served as a trust reform liaison officer working from Albuquerque with programmers and accountants to bill lease transactions for Indian lands and to distribute the receipts to the landowners. This work gained importance following the federal trust reform in the way Indian lands, assets and funds are handled and the surge in transactions as a result of the significantly increased oil production from under Indian lands in North Dakota’s Bakken formation. Parker now enjoys his new free time doing photography and traveling.


At our reunion I was delighted to catch up with Candy Neville. At Dartmouth Candy was a member of the first field hockey team and the squash team. A few years later while working in Connecticut, she met her husband, Bob Scanlon, a Wharton graduate, playing squash. Following graduation Candy lived in Boston with Jody Hill Simpson and worked for two years at the First National Bank of Boston. After earning an M.B.A. at Stanford Business School, Candy joined the Bank of Bermuda. In Bermuda she took the opportunity to learn windsurfing and represented Bermuda at the Windsurfer World Championships. Today Candy and Bob live in Cleveland, Ohio, where she put her undergraduate degree in psychology and education to good use while they raised their five children. Sons Will and Charlie attended Allegheny College and St. Lawrence University, respectively. Their third son, Tim ’12, was on the Dartmouth sailing team and sails competitively in his spare time. Daughter Maggie ’14, a field hockey player, was twice named Dartmouth female athlete of the week. Daughter Becky ’16, an engineering major, is on the Dartmouth ski patrol and plays club lacrosse and rugby. In September 2013 Candy participated in the celebration of 40 years of Dartmouth field hockey with her daughter, Maggie, a senior on the team and the first field hockey legacy. Candy was the oldest player in the alumnae game that was part of the celebration activities. Candy continues to play squash and to windsurf, and she is involved in Urban Squash Cleveland, a national program that promotes squash and academics with inner-city children.


Be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


The College forwarded two pictures of Rick Klupchak and his brothers Michael ’73, Bill ’77 and Tom ’85. The first was taken at Tom’s graduation in 1985 and the second was from Homecoming weekend last fall with the four brothers youthfully striking the same pose in front of Dartmouth Hall nearly 30 years later. Rick lives in Atlanta, while the other three lads live in the Chicago area.


On a recent business trip to Jakarta I was delighted to meet Joe Bartlett for dinner. Joe has a long history with Indonesia that started early on. Joe came to Dartmouth from Tulsa, which at the time was considered the oil capital of the world. At the invitation of his brother Andy ’62, Joe took a leave of absence after freshman year to go to Indonesia and work on a book about the history of the oil industry there and the consolidation of petroleum exploration, marketing, management and distribution companies into Pertamina, the national oil and gas company. What was originally planned as one term off turned into 18 months away. Joe returned to complete a government and international affairs major, graduating in December 1975. He went back and forth several times after college but returned to Indonesia to live in 1988 after completing an executive M.B.A. at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University in California. For many years he worked in business development, consulting with foreign companies and helping them to establish local joint venture operations. Seventeen years ago Joe joined PT Citra Tubindo Tbk, a publicly traded company that produces seamless steel pipe for oil and gas well drilling, where he is marketing general manager. Joe and his wife, Ambarwati, have two sons, 9 and 15 years old. Joe is active in the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia and currently serves on the AmCham’s education and workforce development working group. Joe stays in touch with Paul “Lukes” Lukeman.


Be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Wonderful news came in the form of a wedding announcement from Christine Nicholson. Chris and Onno de Beaufort Wijnholds were married in Washington, D.C., in October. Onno is a Dutch citizen who now works as an international economics consultant after retiring from the International Monetary Fund. Chris is associate general counsel of the Smithsonian Institution. Dartmouth alums who attended the wedding reception included Chris’s daughter Alexandra Bowie ’07, Kyle Judge ’07, Nancy and Wade Judge ’73, Nancy and Jim Miller, Mary Lou Soller (exchange ’74) and Marsha Shaines (exchange ’74). Chris’s daughter Blair Bowie (Middlebury ’09) was also in attendance.

Last May Richard Cates realized a lifelong dream when he and his son Eric ’08 made the 100-mile trek to the Mount Everest base camp at 17,598 feet above sea level and beyond to the top of the small peak at Kala Patthar, their final destination at just over 18,500 feet. A close friend from Wisconsin, two Sherpa porters and a guide accompanied the two former members of Dartmouth’s alpine ski team from different generations on the two-week trek, during which Dick lost 20 pounds while feasting daily on dal baht, a rice and lentil dish, but shying away from yak butter tea. Dick sent along some incredible photos with Everest towering another 8,000 feet above their position in the background and the lads sporting Dartmouth ski team snowflakes in Big Green colors and displaying an orange Hovey Grill ski team T-shirt from nearly 40 years ago. Their path took them through immense rhododendron forests initially and then through endless scree and glacial drift, while they enjoyed the camaraderie of other mountain climbers from across the globe they encountered along the way.

Dick and Eric also took the opportunity to spend the night at Tengboche, the highest monastery in the world. They were humbled by small Sherpa boys wearing sandals, toting cell phones and carrying loads of up to nearly 200 pounds. Dick noted that by the end of the trip Eric was challenging the Sherpas’ pace and helping his dad along the Himalayan trails after Dick contracted an upper respiratory infection. Eric was a member of the Dartmouth 2007 NCAA national championship alpine ski team and is now a ski coach at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Back home away from Nepal, Dick, a Ph.D. in soil science, teaches at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, serves on the state’s board of agriculture and, along with his wife, Kim, owns and operates the Cates family farm, a grass-fed beef business.

—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com

To commemorate its 100th anniversary the Dartmouth Outing Club organized an “Appalachian Trail in a Day” group hike on October 10. Doug Shufelt, Jeff Kirchhoff ’76 and Jeff’s dog Granite completed the 9.4-mile trail segment over three summits from Washington, Massachusetts, to Becket, Massachusetts. Doug reported beautiful scenery on the hike with swamps, a gorgeous pond and New England fall foliage at its peak. Doug lives in Rowayton, Connecticut, and recently joined Leadership Capital Group, an executive search firm based in Westport. (Celia and I also participated in the DOC event, hiking a 10.9-mile segment of the trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia.)


After graduation Richard Winkler launched his professional life in film overseas, focused on special effects, mixed media, animation and large-format projects. Returning to New York he began a 30-year career working for a range of production companies producing documentaries, commercials, telefilms and large-format films (IMAX). Fifteen years ago Richard co-founded and served as executive producer for Curious Pictures, a production company for animation, commercials and television. In September 2008 Richard decided the timing was right to “take a break from active participation in the U.S. economy” and sold his share of the company. He and his wife, Selby, moved to San Diego, California, and bought the house her great-grandfather had built there 80 years ago. Richard is now an active volunteer with local sustainability groups in San Diego, working in the areas of vegetable gardening, building new home and community gardens, composting, the local food movement, zero waste, sustainable farming and effective water re-use.


Send news!


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


We have news from three classmates, with two earning Yale doctorates in history 30 years apart! Bob Bauman is the director of graduate degree programs at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) in Leavenworth, Kansas. CGSC is the Army’s graduate school attended by majors from all services, personnel from government agencies and representatives from 90 foreign countries. Bob started with a major in Russian and foreign study in Leningrad. He completed his doctorate in history at Yale, including a research year at Moscow University. He has spent the last 25 years at CGSC. Bob expanded his interests to peacekeeping operations and coauthored books on Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia. He traveled to Afghanistan in 2002 and has published a book on Soviet military actions there, in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Bob has three children. Ruthie graduates in May with a degree in early childhood development. She has also provided Bob a grandson, Alex. Son Bobby also graduates in May with a major in communications and a minor in Russian. Ben (15) joined Bob in Hanover for our reunion last June. While visiting New England Bob saw Laurie Robbins, widow of Steve Robbins. Laurie is doing well and their daughter, Emily, studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.


After several years in Yale’s history department, including a year doing a master’s at Yale Law School, Owen Williams was awarded his Ph.D. in history in December and the two-year postdoctoral Cassius Marcellus Clay fellowship, named after the 19th-century abolitionist. Now Owen will teach and craft a book from his dissertation, Unequal Justice Under Law: The Supreme Court and the Failure of America’s First Civil Rights Movement. Owen and his wife, Jennifer, live in Wilton, Connecticut. Jennifer is an avid and highly ranked bridge player. Their son is studying Arabic at King’s Academy in Jordan during a gap year between high school and college. Their daughter is studying Chinese as a sophomore at Hopkins School in New Haven.


Noel Thompson and his wife, Nancy, live in Warwick, New York. Their older son, Alexander, studies at St. John’s University Law School. Their younger son, Maximilian, is finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Noel has been busy with Nancy starting an importing company and a luxury proprietary label to market foods from Italy. Noel started in the food business many years ago when a friend persuaded him to join a venture to introduce European foods to the United States. Since then Noel has imported, marketed and distributed fine foods. In 2000 he joined Ben Nourse ’79 in Seattle to build the wholesale division for the Internet site Ben had founded, greatfood.com, the premier online food retailer that 1800flowers.com acquired. International business comes naturally to Noel. He was born in London and went to school in Switzerland. He participated in the Dartmouth foreign study program in Mainz and majored in German. Noel enjoys the flexibility and travel opportunities that the international food business and his consulting assignments provide.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


As the Dartmouth Fund draws to a close we need everyone’s help to extend our record-breaking streak. Participation co-chair Peter DeNatale is one of the leaders in our quest to exceed a 70 percent participation rate again. When he is not exhorting classmates to give, Peter is vice president and chief information officer at the Mentor Network, an organization in Boston that provides community-based services across the United States to children and adults with life challenges, especially developmental and intellectual disabilities. Earlier Peter worked as an information systems executive at the Gillette Co., the MathWorks, ISI Systems and Harvard-Pilgrim Health Care. Peter earned a law degree from George Washington University and an M.B.A. from Boston College. He lives with his wife, Sue, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Their older son Eric attended Harvard (’06), but the family rejoiced when daughter Lauren ’09 graduated from Dartmouth. Their son Christopher is a freshman at Muhlenberg College. Peter has been an active alumni interviewer and captained a Dartmouth spelling bee team for 10 years with Lee Phillips ’73 and Dan Kenslea ’75 in the annual Wellesley Educational Foundation fundraiser.


By e-mail vote in March we confirmed Steve Geanacopoulos as our representative to the Dartmouth Alumni Council. He will be a committed and enthusiastic representative. Steve attended law school at Boston College, where he met his wife, Rebecca Wilson. Becky is a partner at Peabody & Arnold in Boston, while Steve is a partner at Adler Pollock & Sheehan in Providence/Boston. They have two daughters, Alexandra and Sophia. Sophia is a high school sophomore. Alexandra ’13 is a rising sophomore at Dartmouth. She also works in a chemistry lab as part of the new Women in Science program and plays women’s club soccer under coach Steve Severson.


Jonathan Hodgdon sent exciting news with his e-mail Alumni Council vote. An international disaster expert, Jonathan had recently returned from leading International Medical Corps’ response to two devastating earthquakes in Indonesia. He was also preparing for a trip to Yemen, the 53rd country he has visited. Jonathan earned a master’s in demography at the University of Michigan, rooming with Doug Shufelt and Steve McCormack who were students at the business school. After an early career in international consulting, Jonathan transitioned to overseas humanitarian work with CARE in Bangladesh, Kenya and Jerusalem. Later he joined Save the Children as country director for disaster response work in Kosovo, Georgia and the West Bank/Gaza. From 2005 to 2009 he managed the emergency unit of AmeriCares, headed by Curt Welling ’71, responding to natural disasters. Surprisingly, the only time Jonathan has feared for his own life was while working outside San Diego when he was nearly trapped behind raging wildfires. Jonathan and his wife, Jetlin, now live in Connecticut with their daughter Alana (15), a gifted musician, and son Justin (12). Jetlin formerly worked in financial services, but now she is a full-time mom and manager of Alana’s budding singing career.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Timothy Lunney has been living in South Florida since 1977. Following graduation with a major in urban and regional studies, he worked as a planner in water quality, economic development and historic preservation in Portland and Bangor, Maine. After “freezing his bones off in Maine for two winters,” Timothy headed to West Palm Beach, where he became the director of planning and community development. He also served as the chief development management officer for Palm Beach County before moving into the private sector to work as a vice president for Westinghouse’s Coral Ridge Properties real estate development division for eleven years. The company was sold in 1995, and Timothy became an urban planning consultant and expert witness. With the collapse of the Florida real estate and development economy in 2008, Timothy turned to his passions of Irish history and genealogy. He capitalized on his hobby as historian and genealogist for his extended Irish-American family and on connections with relatives all over the world to create the Florida Irish Heritage Center, with related YouTube channel and online store. Timothy wrote that if he had known how much fun he could have doing this, he would have started it years ago. While he waits for the Florida economy to improve he is putting his time to good use, still wearing the green—one shade for Dartmouth and one for the Irish.


Our class executive committee has started a process to identify and launch a class project for our 40th reunion in 2014. Phil Stebbins is part of a small group exploring options. Stay tuned to future columns for more information about the class project. Phil has kept in touch with developments at Dartmouth through the years. Except for a four-year family practice residency in California after Dartmouth Medical School and a five-year stint later practicing in Massachusetts, Phil has lived in New Hampshire. He and his former wife, Betsey Cox ’77, have two Dartmouth daughters among their four children, Rebecca ’11 and Katie ’04, who have renewed his Hanover connection recently. Phil lives and practices in Londonderry now. Phil reports that he and his wife, Linda, who owns a medical billing business, enjoy wines, reading, church, music, sailing, cycling and following the Red Sox and the Patriots. That would keep anyone else busy enough, but they also love to travel. In his note to me Phil described visits to wine country destinations all over California as well as the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In the winter they escape the northland cold with trips to Mexico or the Caribbean.


Send news!


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Our class project, the Class of 1974 Bunkhouse at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, stands weather tight under the winter snows, awaiting volunteers in the spring. Depending upon the length and severity of the winter, work will begin anew at the end of April or early May to complete siding, interior walls, bunk beds, trim, painting and staining. Keep an eye open for class email and regular mailings calling for weekend volunteers again to execute this important finish work. There will be a formal dedication of the bunkhouse with College officials, classmates, friends, Dartmouth Outing Club members and other volunteers on Thursday afternoon, June 12. Make plans now to join in these festivities and to attend this kick-off event to our 40th reunion. The reunion, June 12-15, will include the classes of 1973 and 1975 again, so we will have a wonderful opportunity to see and catch up with many old friends. 


One of the fall volunteers on the bunkhouse project, Peter Blodgett, has also found time for other endeavors. The College forwarded to me an Upper Valley Life review of Santa Luna, a delightful new children’s book by Peter, illustrated by J. Moria Stephens. Set in Hawaii, this Christmas story describes a young girl’s adventure—with her scientist mother’s help—to overcome her doubts about the existence of Santa Claus. Peter knows books. He is a librarian with the Latham Memorial Library in Thetford, Vermont, and with the Peabody Library in Post Mills, Vermont. Peter and his wife, Ruth Mayer, live in Thetford.


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


The College, students and alumni have been celebrating transformational initiatives launched 40 years ago that we experienced first hand: coeducation, year-round operations and the Dartmouth Plan, a commitment to diversity and a revival of Native American education. That renewed focus on Native American education, a principle of the 1769 charter, attracted David Bonga to Dartmouth from Washington State. Dave had been planning to attend Seattle University and play baseball until his aunt, who worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., advised him to apply to Dartmouth because of its new Indian program. Dave majored in history and lobbied effectively for the establishment of a Native American studies academic program. Dave was headed to law school in the fall of 1974, but postponed those plans, first to work briefly as the successor to Duane Bird Bear ’72 at United Scholarship Service Inc., a national Indian education entity in Denver, and then in March 1975 to become director of the Native American office at Dartmouth. Dave assisted with the recruitment of Native American students, advised them on academic, financial and social matters and developed, recruited and oversaw Native American Council internships with tribal and intertribal entities nationwide. In 1979 Dave left Hanover to return home to Washington State to earn his law degree from Gonzaga Law School in Spokane. Dave first met the local tribes there while clerking during law school for a local firm that represented the Spokane, Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene tribes. Upon graduation from law school he became the head of the Native American counseling office and an adjunct faculty member in the Native American studies department at Washington State University. He also served as a Kalispel youth court judge. In 1985 Glen Nenema, the chairman of the Kalispel tribe and today the longest serving tribal chairman in the nation, invited Dave to work full time for the tribe.


Dave is now senior tribal attorney, responsible for supervising staff attorneys and paralegals, assisting with strategy for legal issues and concerns, advising the tribal council, CEO and chief operating officer, providing guidance to outside retained counsel and reviewing federal and state regulations and statutes that might affect the Kalispels. Dave also serves as an appellate court tribal judge for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Dave and his wife, Susanne, have four children and are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this year. Two of their three daughters are nurses and their other daughter is the first female director at the Kalispel tribe’s Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Dave returns to Dartmouth regularly as a guest lecturer and to participate in discussions on Native American issues.


I am deeply saddened to report the death of Charles Nabrit at home in Ohio in May after a long illness.


As always, be safe.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


In April my wife, Celia, and I were in Lexington, Kentucky, for the Rolex equestrian championship, the premier four-star, three-day event in the United States, I sneaked away from the competition one morning for a few hours to catch the inauguration of Owen Williams as 25th president of Transylvania University. Transy is a charming liberal arts college with a proud, rich history. Founded in 1780 on America’s western frontier at the time, it is the 16th-oldest college in the country and the oldest west of the Allegheny Mountains. Other classmates from ’round the girdled earth were also there to join in the celebration: Doug Lind, Steve Allison, John Fisher and Rick Clarke. Owen left a 24-year career on Wall Street to begin a 10-year period of preparation at Yale, Harvard and New York University for a new career in academia. In addition to the formal recognition of Owen’s presidential responsibilities, Gov. Steve Beshear took the opportunity to commission him a Kentucky colonel. Owen’s wife, Jennifer, and their children Tucker and Penelope also participated in the celebration and a weekend full of inauguration activities.


Lonna Slaby Saunders and I caught up recently after a class executivecommittee conference call. Lonna has answered the age-old question of whether you can ever come home to Dartmouth again: Yes, but it can be hazardous to your health. Lonna visited Hanover in February for the 100th anniversary of Winter Carnival, only to slip on a nasty patch of ice and break her ankle. That barely slowed her down, however, as she attended the many activities with a cast and in a wheelchair. Back home in Illinois, Lonna enjoys a busy career in broadcast journalism and law. Lonna started out in radio at Dartmouth with a show on WDCR-AM, only to be followed a few years later by her brother Jeff Slaby ’80 on WDCR-FM. Lonna worked in radio for four years after college before entering Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago to earn a law degree. She has done radio and television in Chicago and other markets and currently writes op-ed columns online and blogs for the Huffington Post. She also has a private law practice with a concentration on First Amendment law and arbitration for the State of Illinois in the court system. Last year Lonna was admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts congratulating her group of admittees. She celebrated the event at dinner with her brothers Jeff and Jan Glenn Slaby, Cornell ’77, and Doug White ’75.


Please send news!


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


I’m writing this the day after Hurricane Irene hit Virginia, other mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast. Fortunately for central Virginia, Irene was somewhat less severe than Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Nonetheless, the area suffered significant flooding, property damage and widespread power outages. Here on the farm our generator is rumbling away outside.


On a happier note, Bert Hubinger is publishing his first novel, 1812: Rights of Passage. The novel combines Bert’s passions for the sea, tall ships of that era and the history of the War of 1812. He has published short, nonfiction pieces on naval history before as well as a book of poetry, Sea Drums & Other Poems. Bert comes to this naturally. He is an avid diver and sailor and is a certified sailing instructor. He was an English major at Dartmouth and earned a master’s in English and writing from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In addition to his writing, he has worked in advertising and education. He currently teaches English at the Community College of Baltimore County. He and his wife, Shelley Kosisky, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, live in Annapolis, Maryland. Bert is interested in connecting with other Dartmouth authors. If you contact me at the e-mail address below, I will gladly put you in touch with him.


Sadly, I must inform you of the passing of Tom Ludlow, one of our most active and dedicated classmates and a true stalwart for Dartmouth. Tom served us as class treasurer and most recently as head agent. Our condolences go out to his wife, Jane, his four children and all of the other members of his family. Please watch for his obituary in the online version of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


I hope this column finds you enjoying the longer days and warmer weather of spring!


Dapper Dan Charities of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, presented its Sports Leadership Award to Freddie Fu, M.D., in March at its 76th annual awards ceremony. The charities honored Freddie alongside Mike Ditka, who received a lifetime achievement award, and the 2011 selections for sportsman and sportswoman of the year. The Dapper Dan fundraising event is Pittsburgh’s largest and most prestigious sports and awards banquet and auction of sports memorabilia. Dapper Dan Charities supports the youth sports and education programs of the Boys and Girls Clubs in western Pennsylvania that serve more than 7,000 children annually. The award recognized Freddie’s leadership as the chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), as team physician of the university’s department of athletics and as founder of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, one of the most influential research centers in the world. Freddie and his team focus on injury prevention and the safety of athletes while also developing new techniques to treat injuries. He has been instrumental in reforms to high school athletics, advocating that each school have an athletic trainer and an ambulance on site at football games. Freddie moved to Pittsburgh to complete his medical studies and training after graduating from Dartmouth and Dartmouth Medical School. In addition to his many medical activities, Freddie is very involved with numerous community and arts organizations. Freddie is married to Hilda Pang Fu, a porcelain painter as well as the founder and president of Luminari, a nonprofit innovation lab that fosters original activities to broaden minds, inspire innovation and promote community engagement. Freddie and Hilda have two children, Gordon ’99 and Joyce ’03.


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Bill Ryan ’70 wrote with news about his brother Charley Ryan.Charley and business partner Peter Shapiro opened Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, New York, in 2009. Brooklyn Bowl is the successful combination of a 16-lane bowling alley, a 600-person performance venue with live music seven nights a week, an expansive bar with nine high-definition projection screens featuring popular sporting events and a kitchen operated by Blue Ribbon, a restaurant group known and appreciated by New Yorkers. The 2010 Zagat Survey ranked Brooklyn Bowl as New York City’s top music club and top bowling alley and Brooklyn’s top entertainment venue. Bill noted that the Clintons held their annual foundation event at Brooklyn Bowl in 2011 and Mayor Bloomberg had his staff party there.


Dick Spellman is a member of the committee to raise funds for, design and build the class of 1974 Moosilauke bunkhouse, our 40th reunion class project. In a recent e-mail exchange Dick explained that his support for the project is the product of his lifelong interest in the Ravine Lodge and Mount Moosilauke and his desire to see our class leave a memorable, meaningful and useful legacy to future Dartmouth classes. At Dartmouth Dick was an avid skier and DOC member. After graduation he returned to Maine, where he worked for Central Maine Power Co., earned a master’s in business and met his wife, Janis. They moved to Georgia in 1993, when Dick took a senior consulting position with GDS Associates, an engineering and management consulting firm that works on energy planning issues across North America. Dick became president of GDS in 2007 and specializes in strategic planning for electric and gas utilities and government agencies, focusing on the design, implementation and evaluation of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Away from work Dick and Janis enjoy nature from their cabin in the mountains of north Georgia and are active in outdoor sports such as skiing, hiking, sailing and canoeing. They have two daughters: Ashley, a second-year student at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and Paige, a senior at Lee University in Tennessee. Dick and Janis are currently busy helping Paige plan her wedding for July 2012. Dick stays in touch with several classmates who were fellow members of Psi Upsilon, including Duncan Todd and his wife, Sarah Carothers; Jeff Scott and his wife, Anita; Don Bourassa ’73 and his wife, Eileen; and Denise Bettes, widow of Rick Bettes. The group has met for more than 25 years at Duncan and Sarah’s cottage in Gloucester, Massachusetts, for long weekends of surf, sand and fine dining.


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


The College forwarded to me two recent editions of the Valley News with articles about classmates. The first included a review of Keith Bellows’ second book, 100 Places That Can Change Your Child’s Life: From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth. Keith is an enthusiastic advocate of the power of travel as a learning tool. Dartmouth students who have participated in a foreign language program or foreign study program abroad would certainly agree with his ideas. Keith maintains that there is no better way to learn about the world than to travel it, from far away destinations to interesting sites close to home. Keith writes from personal experience. He lived in Africa as a child and has traveled to dozens of countries. For the past 15 years he has been the editor-in-chief of the award-winning National Geographic Traveler magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C., where he has practiced what he preaches with his three children. Before joining the magazine Keith enjoyed a career as writer, editor and producer in various media and communications organizations as well as entrepreneurial roles in early Internet ventures.


The second article highlighted a reception by Dismas of Vermont. Jan Tarjan, executive director, is spearheading fundraising efforts to renovate and transform a house in Hartford, Vermont. This house, along with Dismas houses in three other Vermont communities, will shelter former prison inmates as they make the challenging transition back to their communities with Dismas staff support. Jan assumed the leadership of Dismas two years ago after a 35-year career at Dartmouth, three years in the admissions office and 32 years as a senior program officer and associate dean with the Tucker Foundation. In 2011 Jan was one of four Dartmouth Social Justice Award recipients, receiving the College’s William Jewett Tucker Foundation Lester B. Granger ’18 Award for lifetime achievement. Outside of work Jan serves on the boards of various local nonprofit and professional organizations and is still an avid skier at the Dartmouth skyway. She and her husband, Raymond Brewster ’75, have two grown daughters and live in Lyme Center, New Hampshire.


Remember, construction week for the class of 1974 bunkhouse at Moosilauke is September 16-22.


As always, be safe.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Bill Cater is one of the volunteers working on the class project for our 40th reunion, the class of 1974 Moosilauke bunkhouse. Bill has a special bond with Moosilauke through his uncle, R. Peter Brundage ’45, and his mother, June Brundage Cater. As a young student Peter was very active in the DOC. June and her Wellesley friends visited him on weekends in Hanover where they got to know Peter’s Outing Club buddies and Ross McKinney. Peter died in WW II in the battle for Okinawa, but through friendships formed earlier the class of ’45 selected June years later to sculpt the bust of Ross McKinney that still keeps watch over the Ravine Lodge. Bill has lived in New Jersey most of his life and has worked for AT&T for the past 27 years, currently in the strategic pricing group. He is very active in community service through Kiwanis. Bill is still connected to New Hampshire, though, through a vacation house in Grafton he shares with his brother and sister and trips to the annual show in Sunapee of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. Bill lost his wife of 28 years, Eileen, in 2006. Happily he found love again and married Debbie Carter in 2007. When they married Debbie was living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In preparation for retirement they bought and designed a condo in part of the top two floors of the former Darmstaetter’s Photo Supply in downtown Lancaster.


Be well, and please send news!


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com


Twenty-eight Alpha Chi Alpha (AXA) brothers from the classes of 1971 through 1976 traveled from all over the United States to Phoenix, Arizona, for a mini-reunion the last weekend in October. The class of 1974 was well represented by Rafael Castillo, Frank Doorley, Rick Escherich, Jim McVay, Gary Prisby, Mark Schulte, Jim Taylor, Eric Van Leuven and me. The highlight of the weekend was a 53-minute video presentation compiled by Gary from more than 500 pictures covering the last 40 years. Gary had collected the pictures over many months beforehand from AXA brothers from the early to mid-1970s.


In May the board of trustees of Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, elected Tom Csatari to be their chair. Tom joined the board in 2005 and for the past three years had served as chair of the board’s academic affairs committee. Tom’s relationship with the college goes back to 1997, however, when former Dartmouth President David McLaughlin encouraged him to become involved with Colby-Sawyer. Tom had been general counsel for a hospital system in Texas and had a particular interest in the college’s nursing program and its affiliation with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Tom and his wife, Judy Burrows Csatari ’76, supported the program at Colby-Sawyer by establishing the Gladys A. Burrows distinguished professorship in nursing. Tom and Judy live in Hanover, where Tom specializes in estate planning, probate administration and healthcare law with Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, and Judy teaches French at the middle school, enjoying her passions for French and children. Tom and Judy also share the unique distinction of being the first Dartmouth alumnus and alumna parents of a Dartmouth student, their daughter, Emily C.C. Poulin ’99, the College’s first double legacy, who is married to Randall Poulin ’97. 


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com