We’re renovating a 150-plus-year-old home on the Massachusetts shore. What started as a simple project to remove my bedroom from the path to the beer fridge to eliminate the frequent 2 a.m. wakeups by the thirsty youth of Gloucester has ballooned into a total redo.

The builder, aiming to shore up the foundation, discovered there wasn’t one. Our home has been sitting unaffixed to Cape Ann’s granite this past century-plus, one perfect storm away from drifting out to sea—an apt metaphor for my seasonal affective disorder (SAD)-addled December brain on the verge of succumbing to a Melancholia moment, only without the pretty. The recent pace of disheartening news seems relentless. One day there’s a note from Jay MacNamee relaying Rob Kemeny’s death, soon followed by one from Marc Morgenstern that we’d lost Ralph Carlton. No! Then another from Dartmouth reporting William Dittman’s demise. Stop! What, mere shuffling is not for us ’77s; we instead must sprint off this mortal coil?

But the tide always turns. Another note hits my inbox—hilarious, X-rated remembrances of John Grant (who left us in July) penned by Michael Mosher recounting their sophomore hijinks working at The Breakers—and the melancholy wanes. Michael, an art professor at Saginaw Valley State University, is another ’77 author, recently publishing “Allegedly, Fun, the Michigan rock saga I began in visiting professor José Donoso’s workshop on the Latin American novel in the summer semester 1975 based on an adventurous high school girl I knew. Read it online at Issuu.com/mikemosher6. Nineteen seventy-five—what a year. No wonder my students listen to a band called The 1975.”

Next, an uplifting missive by Diane Arsenault is rediscovered, and my SADittude is buoyed by her gratitude as she recounts 39 years as a family physician, including 24 years as a hospice physician, mostly in Plymouth, New Hampshire. “The struggles of work-life balance as an end-of-life specialist, with a CRNA spouse also on-call, were not always easy but I am filled with gratitude for sharing the lives of so many patients through the years and for raising children who are people of integrity and kindness following their own path of work-life balance. They thankfully live within three hours’ drive, and I am blessed to experience the joy of being a grandparent to three marvelous grandchildren, two of whom have significant disabilities.”

Regarding medical mission trips to Zimbabwe and Guatemala, “It’s eye-opening seeing the contrast and inequity of First World privilege, with its emphasis on perfect outcomes and cutting-edge care, and Third World medicine, where patients are grateful for whatever care they receive and death is a frequent outcome for lack of access to what we take for granted.” Retirement has allowed Diane to spend quality time with Janice Lee Swain and Jay Swain, Steve Upton, and Bill Levinger, and she promises to attend our 50th (and we hope our Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 2025 class birthday party)! Tap into her infectious gratitude at dlarsenault55@gmail.com.

Visit dar7mou7h.com “In Memoriam” for more on our dear departed and other class news.

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

On September 11, 50 Dartmouth alumni (including 15 ’77s) enjoyed golf, lunch, and good cheer at the Stowe (Massachusetts) Acres Country Club for the 10th annual Michael Brigham Foundation for Kidney Cancer Research fundraiser. Mike died in 2011 following a courageous battle. Family and friends honor “Brigsy’s” memory by funding kidney cancer research at Dana Farber. The foundation, established with an initial gift from Al Gordon, has benefitted from 10 years of golf and events, generating substantial research funds. Speakers included Brigsy’s wife, Jean, and Mark “Bert” Berthiaume, recalling his great friend, and others dearly departed, including Rory Laughna. Also attending were Tom Barnico, Johnny Carroll, Ron Dove, John Hart, Sam Hoar, Bill Hooper, Bruce Hutchinson, Fred Kramer, Bob Overhiser, Gary Rogers, Pete Volanakis, Ted Wingate, and Martha Laughna representing our dear Rory.

Barry Harwick kicked off the class’s relationship with the incoming ’27s at matriculation on September 10 as part of the College’s ongoing “Class Connect” program, which connects classes 50 years apart, helping them forge a meaningful relationship culminating at a 50th reunion (ours) coinciding with a graduation (theirs) in 2027. Barry gave each ’27 a commemorative sticker designed by our own Bill Replogle. Barry spearheaded the second “Class Connect” event at the October 20 Homecoming parade, with Dee Dee Simpson, Allan Muir, Dan and Brita Lucey, John and Cindy Douglass, Vince and Nancy Bird Pellegrini, Mark Farnham, and Wayne Gray leading the ’77 and ’27 contingents to the bonfire and instructing the “newbies” in safe flame lighting.

Scott Cameron writes: “I volunteer in Virginia conservation policy, showing government contractors how to better serve clients and the environment. An environmental issue facing the commonwealth is the expanding network of data centers, which use enormous energy from non-fossil sources, increasing industrial utility-scale solar projects, causing erosion, and polluting rivers and Chesapeake Bay. More than 20 percent of Virginia’s farmland could one day be covered in solar panels. If you see similar problems near you or have relationships with companies that might be persuaded to be mindful of the damage data centers cause, I’d like to chat. You can reach me at scottjcameron@verizon.net.”

On September 27 our class programming committee, led by Liz Kadin, Gina Russo, and Carol Muller, organized a “77Reconnecting” Zoom on volunteerism. Mark Beams, Kent Dauten, Penny Kerr Rashin, and Dr. David Woody chatted about their various volunteer experiences, including tutoring teen mothers, leading a large urban homeless recovery center, serving on a school board, leading boards of directors for nonprofit organizations, and advocating for mental health issues. Attendees were impressed by the dedication and commitment of our talented classmates. Major takeaways: choose an activity that engenders passion; maintain curiosity and willingness to learn; and volunteering equally benefits recipients and givers. The Zoom recording is on the class website (1977.dartmouth.org). Contact Carol Muller at cbmuller1@gmail.com with programming suggestions or to participate in class programming.

Not getting class emails and e-newsletters? Call the alumni help desk at (603) 646-3202 to update your email and forwarding address. Send news!

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

With most of our high school 50th reunions in the rearview, the next mega landmark on the horizon is our 70th birthdays, happening to most but not all (here’s looking at you, precocious whiz kid Liz Kadin) in 2025. To commemorate this milestone the entire class of ’77 is invited to convene in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from Wednesday, August 20, to Sunday, August 24, 2025. The committee that planned our 65th birthday in New Mexico (cancelled for Covid)—led by Ted Lapres and Amy Cholnoky,including Chuck Dana, Leslie Bradford,and Ann Duffy—has been fluffed up with Jim Guth, Nancy Vespoli, Gloria Martinez, Edy Ullman,and Cathy Burnweit. The program includes a night at the Santa Fe Opera, art and museum walks and talks, outdoor activities such as hiking and biking, visits to local breweries and wineries, and much more. Class HQ will be the legendary La Fonda on the Plaza, conveniently located near downtown destinations. Friday dinner will be at an enchanted location, and the culminating Saturday night gala dinner will be a tour de force for all ’77s. The next two years will fly by, so mark your calendars now to save the date. If you have any ideas to share or want to work on the event, contact the chairs at laprested@gmail.com or cholnokya@aol.com.

Jeff Leleck writes: “Retired life continues to be good for me and mine. Just published Sinai Surrender, third book in the Sinai trilogy. If you’re weary of lawyer and crime-fighter novels, follow geologists Jake and Libby as they expand their business globally while threatened by Russian partners and other bad guys. Greed, egos, love, and revenge are weaved through rich descriptions around the globe.” Find it on Amazon. Jeff and Lesa continue to enjoy Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Carefree, Arizona. Hey, with such a prolific class of literary luminaries like Jeff, Joey Gleason, Tom Barnico, John Donvan and more, maybe it’s time to start a little book nook on dar7mou7h.com?

With interest from more than 40 classmates, Peter Mills is making progress establishing his “Guides & Seekers Network” of ’77s helping fellow ’77s navigate life’s challenges with information, guidance, and support. Check dar7mou7h.com for the latest update. Check dar7mou7h.com for updates on other initiatives, including “’77Reconnect,” spearheaded by Carol Muller, “Hear7 to Hear7 compassion committee led by Gloria Martinez, and updates on Santa Fe 2025. These initiatives aim to keep us connected and engaged. Through no nefarious intent, we’ve lost contact info for many classmates. We want to track down valid email addresses for 300-plus classmates who have gone missing. Carol Muller (cbmuller1@gmail.com) is spearheading the effort and would appreciate help. “You are your brother’s keeper” a wise man told us at matriculation and often during the years. Let’s make him proud by staying in touch with your sisters and brothers, being engaged, and reconnecting with those who’ve been hidden in plain sight over the years.

Be seen and heard! Kindly email news and pics today!

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Susan Dentzer tipped me off that ’77 dominated at the 2023 Geisel Alumni Awards, with Eric Donnenfeld and Dan Lucey scooping up two of the eight awards. Excerpts from the citations follow: “Eric Donnenfeld ’77, MED’80 [’05 parent], exemplifies a broad range of contributions to the field of ophthalmology, including scholarship, technological advancements, and experienced, empathetic patient care. Eric is a clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York University Medical Center. As an internationally recognized expert and pioneer in the field of eye surgery, Dr. Donnenfeld was among the first five people in the world to perform both laser vision correction and laser cataract surgery.”

“Daniel R. Lucey ’77, MED’81/’82, has spent 40 years fighting epidemics through patient care, research, education, and public health policy. This work began in 1982 with AIDS in San Francisco, before HIV was discovered, and overseas every year from 2003 to 2020 with SARS, MERS, avian and pandemic flu, Ebola (with Doctors Without Borders), Zika, yellow fever, chikungunya, plague (with the World Health Organization), and Covid-19.”

Speaking of Susan Dentzer, no stranger to well-earned recognition, the College named one of the first four Trailblazer scholarships in her honor as the first female chair of the board of trustees. Give a rouse for Eric, Dan, and Susan!

After musing if their August 1978 wedding might hold the marriage marathon record for legalized loving longevity between classmates in a prior DAM column, Libby Leach Maloney and Joseph Maloney ’78 unleashed numerous responses in both the mixed-class category (Lee Ann Disharoon Tolzman and David Tolzman ’76 in June 1975, Kim Rosenau York and Bruce York ’76 September 3, 1977; and Marion McClure and Gene Cartwright ’76 August 4, 1979) as well as in the ’77 pure play category, including but not limited to Marge Landsman and Steve Winer August 6, 1977; Ann Munzer Beams and Mark Beams one week later August 15, 1977; followed by Carol Muller and Al Henning September 4, 1977; Gina Tugwell and Tom Russo June 10, 1978; and finally Maud and Jeff Wells December 15, 1979. We know there are many others to celebrate, so please speak up and take a bow! And blissful snaps and claps to all for long-lasting unions of decades and decades!

Recognizing the great class of 1977 is in that phase of its lifecycle where our numbers are diminishing at a concerning clip, the executive committee has formed a compassion committee, aptly named “Hear7 to Hear7,” a resource to capture information on classmates who have died and to provide class condolences to the bereaved. Class necrologist Gloria Martinez is leading this effort, along with Carol Muller and class ministers Ann Munzer Beams and Nancy Bird Pellegrini. If you have news of a classmate’s death, please share it with Gloria at gloriamartinezsalzle@gmail.com. Class webmaster Peter Mills also maintains an updated list of memorials on dar7mou7h.com in the “In Memoriam” section, as well as many other nifty class resources. Check it out early and often.

That’s it for now, sports fans. Don’t be shy. Send in news and pics for future columns and newsletters.

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

As the celebrations commemorating Phil Hanlon and Gail Gentes’leadershiphave commenced in Hanover and across the globe (think marching band parade from Parkhurst down Tuck Mall), I mistakenly thought it might be a good time to trick them into a little 1977 class responsibility and leadership, figuring their afterlife would be boring and empty, devoid of ’77 glamour. Wrong! According to Gail, this fall they’ll be based at Merton College of Oxford University in England, reigniting Phil’s math research and occasionally hopping across the channel to beef up their passport stamps and continental culture. Next up is Miami for winter and spring, when more math will happen with various collaborative math types and, of course, some fun golf, no doubt with the likes of Nancy Vespoli and Leslie Bradford. Then it’s back to a new house in Hanover, just a stone’s throw from the Green and steps from the Appalachian Trail, with yet more teaching of and performing math. It all adds up to very busy times ahead for these two in their “Mathterlife.” However, they have every intention of joining us all in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2025 and are looking forward to our 50th in 2027, when there’s a slim-to-none chance we’ll be screening their yet-to-be commissioned Netflix documentary, There Will Be Math.

Bill Schur ’72 shared this heartbreaking news: “You may wonder why my wife, Donna Fletcher, has not been attending recent ’77 events. In 2017 she was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia, a condition like Alzheimer’s. I cared for her at home until 2019, when she moved to a memory care center. She requires constant care and cannot speak, walk, chew, or perform ordinary tasks. I visit her daily. Gay Shults MacQueen encouraged me to share this news. Donna was devoted to Dartmouth. We met in Chicago in 1977 when she spied me wearing a Dartmouth ’72 T-shirt and were married in 1980. She has always been the love and light of my life. She would join all of you at your 50th reunion, but she cannot.” Our utmost sympathy embraces Donna and Bill. Please send memories of Donna to the family at William G. Schur, 426 Park Avenue East, Highland Park, IL 60035.

Kristin Bjorklund died March 5 at 67 following complications from a kidney transplant. The first female in the long line of illustrious Bjorklunds (father, uncle, brother) to attend Dartmouth, Kristin started her career at Goodson-Todman Productions, soon joining Family Feud and making it her home for 40 years. She won an Emmy Award in 2019 after producing more than 2,000 episodes. As beautiful on the outside as on the inside, Kristin was known for a smile that lit up a room, kind heart, and empathy. Amy Cholnoky and I (among many) remember Kristin vividly from our 25th reunion, still the original gangster bubble badass babe as smart, beautiful, and fun then as when we were undergraduates. Survey says we are all going to miss you, sweet golden girl.

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Always looking for ways to avoid the mean streets of Oakland, California, while seeking distraction from his empty nest, longtime ’77 executive committee (EC) member and Bartlett Tower Society representative John Storella, being a lawyer and all that, updated and refreshed our class constitution. The effort, aided if not abetted by a constitution committee of EC members Peter Mills, Carol Muller,and Leslie Bradford, was guided by class president Jim Guth and unanimously adopted by the EC in January. The amended constitution updates terminology, streamlines operations, and promotes democracy. It was presented to the class for approval this past spring. Changes were detailed in a recent newsletter and can be found at www.dar7mou7h.com.

After decades of ’77 service as president, vice president, reunion chair, webmaster, and more, ’77 Alumni Council (AC) representative Nancy Vespoli concludes her three-year term in May. Nancy will hand the AC rep reins to class co-minister Nancy Bird Pellegrini, an equally dedicated ’77 who manages to shoehorn class responsibilities into her busy (chaplain, doctoral student, runner, choral performer, wife, and four-time grandmother!) schedule. Let’s have a round of claps and snaps for both Nancys and be sure to keep an eye on the precipitous drop in Nancy V.’s already enviable handicap. Not to be outdone by these multitaskers, Barry Harwick will also be joining the AC in May as representative of the Upper Valley.

Knowing a good thing when he sees it, W. Joseph Maloney ’78 married Lisabeth Leach (Maloney) right after graduation. Celebrating 45 years together, they wonder if they hold the record for dual Dartmouth couples? Can any of you match or exceed this record of bliss (the mind invokes iconic mergers such as Muller and Henning, Tugwell and Russo, Iselin and Welles, Larrabee and Greimann, and others?). Please let us know, and a photo (emailed please) might just win you a few column inches in an upcoming newsletter!

Head agent Doug Ireland (dougmireland@me.com) is still looking for your favorite 50th anniversary memories and photos as our 2027 50th reunion approaches. Writing those words, we realized this means that 99.9 percent of us graduated, vacated, or escaped high school 50 years ago! Immediate contact with Garden City High School of New York class of ’73 compatriot in low-level, white-collar crime Bill Replogle confirmed we have a reunion in July. “Plogle” (and maybe 10-percent me) immediately launched into mad creator mode generating numerous, shall we say, indelicate branding options for our class (Trojans was our mascot, ahem). This is just a public service nudge to be on the lookout for your own high school 50th festivities likely coming soon.

Gretchen Heller Farmer died peacefully in her sleep on New Year’s Day following a fall while traveling in Thailand with her family, including son Austin and cherished baby granddaughter Lily. Gretchen will be missed by many, including her teammates on Dartmouth’s inaugural women’s ice hockey team.

Not getting class emails and e-newsletters? Call the alumni help desk at (603) 646-3202 to update your email and forwarding address. Got news? Email me! Got milk? Better drink it!

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Now that the 50 years of coeducation celebration is behind us, we’ve got buckets of meaningful 50th anniversaries ahead leading up to our class 70th birthday celebration planned for 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and 50th reunion June 2027 in Hanover.

I’ll never forget meeting my bunkie Edy Ullman; besties Billy Donovan, Bobby Huggard,and Michael Walsh; and mad crushes Jeff Lyon and Peter Kenworthy during that chaotic Freshman Week 1973, not to mention breaking my nose twice (closed door, aerial field hockey ball). What first 50th memories are you rechanneling—first bonfire, steak night, Paradise Lost Chapter 1, beer pong debacle? Our new head agent, Doug Ireland, and his trusty Dartmouth College Fund sidekick (and newly minted ’77) Mark Harris want to walk down memory lane with you. Send your cherished 50th milestones from freshman year (with photos if possible) to Doug and Mark at dougmireland@me.com and we’ll celebrate with you in upcoming newsletters and on Dar7mou7h.com.

I was chatting up my boss (Mr. Guth, but you can call him Jim) mentioning I’d be on the disabled list in January adapting to life with a new bionic hip, and he mentioned that Nancy Vespoli had recovered nicely from her same surgery last year. (Who knew? I sure didn’t—she moved like a gazelle at reunion!) I no sooner texted Nancy than she shot back helpful advice and a partial list of ’77s who had also mastered new parts, including Bets Kent, Betsy Stueber, Gail Gentes,and Phil Hanlon. It made me realize connection to the “’77verse” is invaluable, driving home the brilliance of the “’77 Guides and Seekers Network” Peter Mills is creating for the class. Any unanticipated curveball life hurls in your face (such as challenges or health issues, parental care, funky feelings, bereavement, you name it) chances are one of us ’77s has already lived it and would be happy to share experience and pointers accumulated during the past 70 years or so (that’s 70,000ish collective years!). Peter surveyed the class in January for guidance and will continue to communicate the vision and practicalities for this developing class resource. Want to help? Ping Peter at pbmsv@icloud.com.

Another exciting initiative being tackled by a subset of the executive committee is a fresh look at the class’ mission, vision, and values, led by Carol Muller and including Liz Kadin, Dee Dee Simpson, Allison Grant Williams,Doug Ireland, Nancy Vespoli, and Jim Guth. The group’s first pass at an updated mission statement follows: “The Dartmouth class of 1977 is committed to friendship, support, and learning among classmates, enhancing inclusivity and engagement, and supporting Dartmouth’s mission.” Class values that have bubbled up include transparency, inclusivity, responsibility, and respect.Carol says, “We’d like to hear from classmates interested in helping articulate these goals stat.”

The latest version of our class mantra is on Dar7mou7h.com. To get involved, contact Carol at carol.b.muller.77@dartmouth.edu.

Not getting class emails and e-newsletters? Call the alumni help desk at (603) 646-3202 to update your email and provide a forwarding address. Got news? Write me!

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Our 45th June reunion was a wonderful affair, sadly missed by many. Class chaplin Nancy Bird Pellegrini happily spent most of the weekend in Providence, Rhode Island, with hubby Vincent Pellegrini Jr. DMS’79 as he was awarded the 2022 Distinguished Clinician Educator Award given by the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA). The award is nominated by peers within the AOA and emphasizes the critical role that clinician-educators play within academic health centers. Pellegrini served as chair of academic orthopedic departments at Penn State, the University of Maryland, and the Medical University of South Carolina from 1992 to 2019. Since 2019 he has been professor and vice chair of education and research affairs in the department of orthopedics at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and a professor in the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine. An avid mentor, Pellegrini has trained more than 100 orthopedic residents and 20 resident research fellows and has also been recognized as an AOA “Pillar of the Orthopaedic Profession.” Way to go, Vin!

As you all know, Dartmouth is a unique but very identifiable state of being, and as such it is contingent on all of us to be on the lookout for potential ’77s and recruit them into our fold. Previous ’77 adoptees include Scott Thayer (enthusiastic exchange student from UCSD), Bambi Mosenthal Wood (sister of Scott ’75 and Toddy ’76 and wife to Sandy Wood), Gail Gentes (sister to Bill Gentes and much better half of Phil Hanlon) and Marcia Kelly (who’s kept spouse Barry Harwick on the run for years). In their duties as head class agents Betsy Fauver Stueber and John Ogden spotted another keeper in the form of Mark Harris,’77Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) liaison. Mark was ever-present at reunion and has helped John and Betsy overachieve their DCF goals for years. “My favorite thing about Dartmouth is not just getting to know incredible people, but also learning their stories and hearing the ways that Dartmouth is threaded through their personal and professional lives, even 45 years later! I spent two years working on Dartmouth friends groups alongside Gary ‘Hoss’ Rogers, Doug ‘6ix’ Ireland, A.P. ‘Duff’ Duffy, Pete ‘the Greek’ Volanakis, and other ’77 athletes. Competition breeds results (like 77 gifts in the first 77 days of the year) and the class of 1977 steps up!” A Hartford, Connecticut, native and Bucknell ’04, Mark and wife Jen (a Vermonter!) are raising the family (Merrine, 7 and George, 4) in Woodstock, Vermont. If you’d like to welcome Mark personally, ping him at mark.w.harris@dartmouth.edu.

From N.Y.C. Tom West shared that Kevin Rover’s wife, Kristin, hosted a memorial service for Kevin October 15 at Union Square Cafe. It was a lovely, sincere, therapeutic gathering attended by Alan Trefler, Tom Meyer, Richard Mark, Maura Haraway, Jon Uota, Tom, and son Thomas Rover ’16. Kevin died at the Silverado Memory Care Community in Virginia in July.

Mary Collins McDougall of California died in August following a courageous battle with multiple system atrophy (MSA), leaving husband Don, three sons, and six grandchildren.

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

One minute it’s midnight in mid-June and you’re in the ’77 tent catching up with Mike Huffman, Ted Wingate, Rica Clement, and Bobbie Huggard, the next you’re in your inadequately ventilated and soundproofed North Fayer room at 5:30 a.m. awakened by myriad pickup trucks back-in parking at the Dartmouth Hall “destruction” site (beep, beep, beep) and then, just like that, it’s mid-August and your headache has finally abated. Wow, what a fantastic reunion!

Your class officers—including several fresh faces on the executive committee (EC) and led by incoming president Jim Guth—are already working hard on our behalf planning the next five years leading to our 50th reunion in 2027.

VP Ted Lapres, chair of our 70th birthday wingding in Santa Fe, New Mexico, planned for summer 2025 (dates and details to come), is taking his duties so seriously, he and Connie up and sold their Massachusetts home and have moved to Connie’s hometown of Santa Fe.

New EC member Gloria Martinez writes: “After Dartmouth Medical School I returned to southern California for residency and 35 years in family medicine. I loved my work, especially serving the Hispanic community. Recently retired, I now work much less, perform volunteer work, and am reconnecting with treasured friends. With my husband of 37 years, I raised three children, now thriving adults. As empty-nesters we took in and now care for my healthy aging mother. I am proud be on the ’77 EC. The affinity, gratitude, and love that I feel for Dartmouth is infinite.”

Fleet-of-foot Barry Harwick also joins the EC after decades of service at Dartmouth. On September 10 the athletic department hosted a reception and dinner to celebrate his 28 years of coaching. On Homecoming Weekend the athletic department will induct Barry into Wearers of the Green, Dartmouth’s sports hall of fame.

Incoming digital guru Peter Mills “spoke with a few of you at reunion about an online resource where ’77s facing difficult issues could contact classmates who have been through the same for advice and counsel. We’re at that age facing cancer, aging parents, dementia, new body parts, stroke, arthritis, etc. I had prostate cancer surgery three years ago and benefited greatly from being able to talk to friends of friends of friends to understand options, risks, and just what to expect. Anyone interested in offering time or ideas, please contact me at pbmsv@icloud.com. I’d like to get this up and running as soon as possible.”

Richard Brynteson, who was unable to attend reunion, writes from the North Star State: “Thanks so much for the reunion update, as I do love Dartmouth! I appreciate Phil Hanlon’s service, as higher education is rough (where I’ve spent 35 years). We’re lucky to have Jan Malcolm as Minnesota’s Covid guru. I did not know John Harrington back in the day, but he was a guest lecturer at my campus when he was police chief. Why do our classmates choose the hardest jobs?” Thanks Jan, John, and Richard for your dedication and accomplishments! We will see you all at Santa Fe 2025.

—A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Dartmouth ’77’s 45th June reunion in Hanover was a resounding success. More than 200 classmates and guests convened to reconnect and celebrate each other and our College. The festivities kicked off Thursday at Cathy and Pete Volanakis’ Occom Ridge home featuring a wide selection from True North Ales provided by Jill Eilertson Rogers ’78, Gary Rogers, and Rory Laughna (who passed away just before reunion), complemented by an array of fine wines from Kim and Mac Taylor. Afterwards we flocked to the class tent to enjoy piles of pizza and subs sponsored by Bill Donovan’s family.

Friday lunch on scenic Tuck Mall was wicked awesome barbecue coincidently provided by Wicked Awesome BBQ. Following lunch, class president Dee Dee Simpson convened the class meeting, and a slate of new class officers was elected, headed by incoming president Jim Guth. Incoming officers and executive committee members are listed on the class website at 1977.dartmouth.org. A moving memorial service, conducted by Ann Muenzer Beams and codesigned by Nancy Bird Pellegrini, was held outside Rollins Chapel, honoring and remembering each of the 54 classmates who have died.

Saturday afternoon included a tour of the Hood Museum with chats by learned “docents” George Shackelford, Pam Perkins, Max Anderson, Robert Dance, and Jean Rosston. Saturday evening culminated in a chilly but festive dinner on the lawn of President Phil Hanlon and Gail Gentes, including a respectful but fun roast of Phil and Gail by Ted Lapres and Chuck Dana followed by Phil’s dead solid perfect rebuttal. The next big ’77 event is celebration of our 70th birthdays in August 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico (exact dates TBD), and we hope you all plan to attend.

The class thanks the very agile and creative reunion committee led by Leslie Embs Bradford, including Chuck Dana, Ted Lapres, Amy Cholnoky, Bill Replogle, Liz Kadin,Pam Perkins, and A.P. Duffy, for two years of party planning while chaos reigned. Dee Dee Simpson and other outgoing officers are also thanked with enthusiasm.

Special thanks and appreciation are extended to treasurer Rory Laughna, who departed this earth prematurely on June 13. He loved this class, and we loved him right back. Some parting words from Tom Barnico’s masterful eulogy follow. “People loved his good humor and winning way. I can still hear him saying to the 20-year-old me: ‘Ah, T., I don’t think that’s a good idea….’ A close friend wrote: ‘Strong as a lion, but gentle as a lamb.’ His teammates elected him president of the Dartmouth rugby club. This was no minor office on a campus where contact sports were a requirement for graduation. His fraternity classmates loved him like the brother he was. They were 22 young men from across the country who came together at Dartmouth in 1973. And 50 years on, here we are together again, to see off the first of us to go. When the great team in the sky made its first draft pick, it picked our best.” Nineteen of Rory’s Theta Delta Chi brothers plus seven other alumni attended his sendoff.

A.P. Duffy, 66 Saunders Drive, Wilton, CT 06897; (203) 979-2234; apduffy@optonline.net

Jim Guth chaired our 40th reunion, served as vice president of the class for the past five years, and is our incoming president. After Dartmouth and an M.B.A. from Kellogg, Jim focused his career on investment management, becoming a chartered financial analyst. He retired five years ago. Now he and husband John split their time between Palm Springs, California, and the cornfields of northwest Indiana. Jim’s hobbies include swimming, landscaping, gardening, and traveling. Jim is glad he and John visited Russia with a Dartmouth alumni travel group in 2019.

Chuck Dana is our incoming class treasurer. He has retired from corporate life and lives in Park City, Utah, with his wife of 36 years, Cindy. They enjoy a very active lifestyle with skiing, hiking, golf, and biking. Chuck stays in contact with the Dartmouth community through his Alpha Delta friends and the many Dartmouth folks who live in Utah.

We would like to thank our outgoing class head agents John Ogden and Betsy Fauver Stueber. Together, they have raised more than $6 million for the Dartmouth College Fund and financial aid from our class. John and his wife recently retired and their kids have (mostly) left the nest. John was looking for a new challenge, so when he was asked to become a head agent, he said yes. He and Betsy have enjoyed contacting classmates. “More importantly, we have had the satisfaction of helping to ensure that current and future students will benefit from the ‘Dartmouth experience’ as we did.” As of April the class of ’77 was in the top three for four Dartmouth College Fund awards: largest reunion dollar total, greatest number of reunion donors, greatest number of reunion 1769 donors, and greatest number of donors whose gift was five-plus years ago or who had never given. Congratulations Betsy and John, and thanks to all the classmates who contributed.

In Memoriam: Rick Hosking passed on February 13 in Naples, Florida. Rick was a 1973 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School and an Eagle Scout. At Dartmouth Rick was a member of Bones Gate known for his humor and enthusiasm. After Dartmouth he earned his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Rick, a partner at K&L Gates, was recognized in Best Lawyers in America and was a fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was passionate and dedicated to his charitable endeavors.

Clem Gosney died on February 10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clem was a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, Buffalo Clan. He lived most of his life in Oklahoma, was an entrepreneur, and worked for Hostess, Klein’s, Dolly Madison, and Quebecor. He retired in 2007. He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Cynthia Ann, and daughters Julia and Little Cynthia.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

The New Hampshire Business Review has named Joanne Conroy as one of the most influential leaders in the state. Joanne is CEO and president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH), which is the state’s only academic health system and its largest private employer. She has overseen a dramatic turnaround in D-HH’s financial performance, the announcement of two major new expansion projects, and a strategic planning process that will guide the organization into the future. A physician, Joanne is also a professor of anesthesiology at the Geisel School of Medicine.

America’s Physician Groups (APG) has selected Susan Dentzer as its new president and CEO. APG represents more than 335 physician groups that provide coordinated, patient-centered healthcare and is accountable for the cost and quality of care for nearly 90 million patients nationwide. Most recently Susan was a senior policy fellow at the Duke University Margolis Center for Health Policy. This year she also earned her second Dartmouth degree, a master’s in healthcare delivery science from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth.

American Stage and Studio@620 in Saint Petersburg, Florida, began its celebration of Black History Month with an evening honoring four great artists, including Jennifer Leigh Warren for her contributions to the arts and activism. The event featured Jennifer performing Lift Every Voice and Sing and speaking on a panel titled “Why We Tell the Story.” Jennifer played the role of Eloise Amponsah, pageant recruiter and former Miss Ghana 1966, in American Stage’s recent production of School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play.

Leslie Embs Bradford, our 45th reunion chairman, writes: “ ‘Dar7mou7h’s’ 45th reunion live in Hanover is less than three months away. It’s Thursday, June 16, to Sunday, June 19. A recent classmate survey indicated more than half of respondents are planning to attend, with another 27 percent considering attending. Registration opened March 1 with an early bird rate effective until April 15, then the regular rate will be valid until June 6. Go to dar7mou7h.com or check your email soon for a preliminary schedule and registration link or go directly to https://alumni.dartmouth.edu/engage/reunions to register now.

In addition to reunion activities on campus, optional pre-reunion outings include a Wednesday night sleepover and Thursday hike with the ’76s and ’78s at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge and a ’77 Thursday Baker Hill golf outing.

Our 45th reunion officially kicks off at Chez Volanakis Thursday evening for a brew and wine tasting featuring award-winning bespoke beers and ales from ’77’s own True North Ales as well as wine selections recommended (and we hope donated) by class oenophiles. There will also be significant and tasty hors d’oeuvres.

Other weekend highlights include Saturday lunch on Baker Lawn with fellow cluster classes ’76 and ’78 and a gala cocktail reception and dinner on Gail and Phil Hanlon’s presidential lawn Saturday evening. Make your plans today to venture to Hanover and join the fun. Our goal is to make an inclusive, safe, and fun weekend for all ’77s and their guests. We want to see you there!”

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Tom Barnico has published a novel titled War College about the two lives of protagonist Jack Dunne, one in Army intelligence in Vietnam and the other as a student at an elite American college. Bridging these worlds challenges Jack as much as the war itself. His service sparks conflicts with his girlfriend, who protests the war at her women’s college, and among his teachers and fellow students, some of whom are violently anti-war. The story follows a road less traveled in Vietnam War fiction: a journey from campus to war and back by a student who served.

Sinai Gold, the second novel in Jeff Lelek’sSinai trilogy, is now available on Amazon and at any bookstore. Geologist Jake Tillard is back in Egypt, exploring for gold under the shadow of St. Catherine’s monastery. Evil forces from Russia and China provide resistance in this fictional thriller, which includes rich descriptions of locations around the world. When not writing, Jeff continues to travel, ski, golf, hike, bike, and enjoy his new granddaughter with his wife, Lesa.

In November Andy Moerlein was the special guest for a global seminar offered by the Viewing Stones Association of North America (VSANA). Andy and host Thomas Elias explored the world of small stones collected as aesthetic objects. This centuries-old practice began in Asia and spread across the world. Andy discussed many of the award-winning stones and stone displays from the 2020 Small Stone Contest sponsored by VSANA and featured in the newly published book, Small Stones Worlds Apart.

In her Color Theory Series of vinyl on aluminum panel, Elizabeth Michelman joins up with a new mentor, British abstract painter Howard Hodgkin. Kicking off Stuart Davis’ minimalist restraint, her dotted and angular collages channel Hodgkin’s seductive color and wild brushstrokes. “I want to work bigger than myself. Time is limited. Asking ‘How much is too much?’ pushes me further in my painting.” Elizabeth is exploring language in new video and installation and writes art criticism for ArtScope Magazine. View her work on Vimeo and Instagram: @michelmanelizabeth.

To all ’77s: get ready to rock and roll! The turntables will spin, the food and drinks will flow, and, most importantly, we will be together again for our—can you believe it?—45th reunion in Hanover! I hope you have seen announcements already for the date—June 16-19—but we will keep beating the drum until registration in early spring. We will begin at Pete V.’s home on Thursday night (after optional golf and hike up Moosilauke), enjoy a stations-style dinner on Friday (DOC House, we hope), and conclude Saturday on President Phil Hanlon’s lawn. Throughout the weekend we will celebrate conversations with friends old and new. We have a reunion committee in formation; please join us! And do reach out to your besties and encourage them to attend, even if for the first time—we are a welcoming group! Contact leslie.e.bradford@gmail.com (nee Embs).

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Eric Donnenfeld has been named the No. 1 eye doctor in the country in a recent article in Newsweek titled “America’s Best Eye Doctors 2021.” See the piece here: www.newsweek.com/americas-best-eye-doctors-2021. Eric graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 1980 and is now an emeritus overseer of the Medical School. In addition to his private practice, Eric is a clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York University Medical Center.

Diana Taylor has become the new chair of the board of directors of the New York City Ballet. She is the first woman to assume the role in the company’s 73-year history. She was surprised when the search committee approached her to ask whether she would be interested in the position. “I practically fell off my chair.” Her experience in finance, though, prepared her for the job. Diana served as the New York superintendent of banking in Gov. George Pataki’s administration and then as a managing director for a private equity firm. Leading the ballet at this juncture will involve advising the company on numerous pandemic-related issues, including decisions around mask mandates and testing protocols as the season progresses.

Betsy Fauver Stueber, who lives in Ohio, was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, having brunch with her family at the world-renowned Zingerman’s Deli on the Sunday after the University of Michigan beat Rutgers in football. Betsy’s nephew, Andrew Stueber (No. 71), starts for Michigan. As family pictures were being taken, Betsy heard a voice calling her name. Looking around, Betsy discovered that the voice belonged to John Storella,in town with his wife from California to visit their daughter, who is a junior at Michigan. They had been at the game on Saturday. Betsy and John loved this “small world” meeting.

Robert Dance recently saw Barbara Dau ’78 at the Wadsworth Atheneum for the opening of the exhibition of female baroque artists, “By Her Hand.” A few days later Robert had lunch with Jim Lloyd, who was visiting Connecticut from his home in Kansas City, Missouri, to meet his first grandchild, Wallace. Jim is getting close to retirement, wrapping up a last consulting obligation next year he hopes. He and his wife, Laura, are “finally making some post-children friends thanks to leaving our somewhat corporate Episcopal church for a free-spirited little Anglican congregation.”

Dartmouth ’77’s 45th reunion June 16-19is happening. Chair Leslie Embs Bradford and her small but growing committee have lined up a fantastic weekend, including Thursday evening bespoke brews at Chez Volanakis featuring Gary Rodgers’ and Rory Laughna’s True North Ales, a welcome home Friday evening at the DOC House, and a Saturday night festive at the (Hanlon/Gentes) President’s House. Let’s get back in touch and actually touch each other in person. We want the entire class, even reunion first-timers, to feel happy and safe to return to Hanover for old friends and new friends alike. Mark your calendars accordingly! Anyone who wants to ensure that a fun time will be had by all by helping in organizing should contact Leslie.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Ellen Carter has published an historical novel titled To March or to Marry under the pen name Violet Snow. Set in New York City in the early 1900s, the novel chronicles how two young women find their friendship torn apart when one abandons the dignified, middle-class feminism of their women’s club to join suffragettes marching for the vote. Ellen is an author, journalist, and teacher. Her fiction has been published in Otter Magazine, Pilgrimage, and Tinker Street, while her articles have appeared in The New York Times Disunion blog, Civil War Times, Woodstock Times, American Ancestors, and Jewish Currents. Ellen also teaches workshops about writing memoir and family history through the Poetry Barn in upstate New York.

While awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation to the post of under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment, Jose Fernandez joined Wes Chapman in the 500-mile annual bicycle ride across Iowa, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi, sponsored by the Des Moines Register. According to Wes, the riders move “like locusts eating everything in the small towns along the route. The favorite foods are pork and pie and the favorite drinks are beer and bloody Marys.” Having survived the ride and his confirmation hearings, Jose now serves as the senior economic advisor at the State Department and advises the secretary of state on international economic policy. His position is often referred to as the senior economic diplomat in the United States.

Doug Morgan was recently named director of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He focuses on cancer prevention in Hispanic-Latino populations in the United States and Central America, concentrating primarily on stomach cancer. After graduating from Dartmouth and Thayer, Doug served three years in the Peace Corps in Honduras, working on rural electrification in remote communities. He became aware of the area’s tremendous healthcare needs and challenges. Upon his return to the States, Doug attended medical school and specialized in gastroenterology and public health, reconnecting with Honduras following Hurricane Mitch. On site in Central America frequently, he oversees research and service initiatives and welcomes collaboration. Doug received the Ohtli Award from the government of Mexico for programs serving North Carolina immigrant populations and an honorary degree from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Leon.

This just in from the reunion committee: Carve your 2022 calendars for Dartmouth’s 45th reunion fromThursday, June 16, to Sunday, June 19, 2022! Leslie Bradford and her trusty committee (including Lapres, Cholnoky, Dana, Replogle,and Duffy) have made great plans for a fantastic weekend. Highlights include craft beer and natural wine tasting at chez Volonakis Thursday evening, dinner at a surprise venue Friday, and a wingding finale on the presidential lawn of Gail Gentes and Phil Hanlon Saturday evening. Gary Hoss Rodgers and Rory Laughna of True North Ales are brewing a specialty concoction just for us and all reuning classes on campus that weekend. Everybody must come! Yes, that means you! To join the committee, ping leslie.e.bradford@gmail.com.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

In May Andy Moerlein presented a solo exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery. The work in the show, Wood Stone Poem, addressed Andy’s fascination with Chinese scholars’ rocks and explored the art of bonsai and poetry as new directions for his inspiration. In conjunction with the show, Andy held four discussions that brought art curators, bonsai experts, poets, and artists into conversations with the sculpture. These various practitioners discussed their fascination with the collection and display of stones, the cultivation of exceptional trees, the art of poetry, and the use of ancient traditions by contemporary artists to create work that addresses today’s world. See andymoerlein.com to hear the recorded talks.

Anne Quirk’s third book for middle school readers, that’s grades five to eight, came out in July. In Larger Than Life: President Johnson and the Right to Vote, Anne considers the monumental career of Lyndon Baines Johnson. She invites young readers to investigate the events and vital issues that led to the passage of the 1964 Voting Rights Act. She also introduces the key players of the period who helped reshape much of America and redefine its character.

Edward “Ted” Boucher died in May in his hometown of Rochester, New York. While at Dartmouth Ted developed his love for hiking, winter camping, and outdoor adventures as an avid member of the Dartmouth Outing Club. After graduating with a degree in geology, Ted continued his education at Columbia University, where he earned a master’s in marine geophysics. Ted returned to Hanover to earn an M.B.A. from Tuck School. He spent most of his professional life at Caldwell Manufacturing Co.; he became CEO and ultimately chairman of the board. He is survived by his wife and children, who say he was never too old to join a water gun fight.

Mark your calendars for June 16-18, 2022! The green light is shining at the end of the tunnel, and we will be together again! That’s right, gang, our 45th reunion is coming in less than a year, and we want you to join us in Hanover! Your reunion committee is hard at work planning lunches, dinners, music, tents, consciousness-expanding activities, and entertainment, not to mention late-night pizza! We have all been missing friends for so long—gather your besties and let’s enjoy some good times together. Stay tuned for more info. If you want to help make the reunion something you would enjoy, contact Leslie Embs Bradford at leslie.e.bradford@gmail.com.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Jennifer Leigh Warren (known to some years ago as “Tweety”) starred in the new musical Passing Through, which tells the incredible true story of a young man who journeys on foot from Pennsylvania to California. The live production, which many classmates attended, was filmed in 2019 and streamed this spring on the Goodspeed Musicals site. Jennifer is “happy that even more people got to see this beautiful musical” and is looking ahead to when the show moves forward—we hope to Broadway.

Gina Russo, Roger Ulrich, and the director of Dartmouth’s Hood Museum, John Stomberg, led a class Zoom presentation that took an inside look at the newly renovated Hood. Gina is currently the chair of the Hood board of advisors as well as board chair of the Museum Trustee Association, a national organization whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness of museum trustees. Gina and husband Tom Russo are enthusiastic art collectors. Roger joined Dartmouth’s classics department in 1989, after teaching art history at Rice University, and chaired the department from 2007 to 2012. With the help of student researchers, he is developing a website that focuses on Trajan’s Column in Rome that commemorates Emperor Trajan’s victory in the Dacian Wars.

The documentary titled In a Different Key: The Movie, based on John Donvan’s 2016 book about autism, has won awards: the Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Oxford Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sonoma International Film Festival.

Bets Kent will be inducted in June into the Phillips Academy Andover Athletic Hall of Honor. Bets, who rowed varsity crew at Dartmouth, was a member of the U.S. women’s 1980 Olympic rowing team. Bets has retired from Cambridge Associates and now lives with her husband, John, also an Olympic rower, in Watertown, Massachusetts. She still rows!

Susan Dentzer and Bill Greenbaum led a class Zoom panel discussion on Medicare. Susan is a senior policy fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. A longtime journalist, she has covered health policy issues, including Medicare, for almost four decades. Bill is an independent insurance broker for Medicare health insurance plans from private carriers, holds an M.B.A. from New York University, and lives with his wife in New York City.

James Mills passed away in March. He was an engineering major at Dartmouth and a member of Alpha Delta. He graduated from the Thayer School of Engineering in 1983, served four years in the U.S. Army, and was a valued employee at the Micro Center store in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Jim’s father, Osbourne Mills ’41, and his uncle, Sandy Mills ’38, were Dartmouth graduates. He is greatly missed by siblings Osbourne Mills Jr. ’69, Margaret Mills Plumpton, and William Mills ’72.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Max Anderson gave a class Zoom about his work as president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Community Partnership, dedicated to promoting the work of Black artists from the South and supporting their communities by fostering economic empowerment, racial and social justice, and educational advancement. Max is the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and has been director at five art museums, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Max hosts a weekly podcast called Art Scoping, available wherever you listen.

George Shackelford led a class Zoom on “Monet: Invention and Re-invention.” George is the deputy director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, an extraordinary small museum of 350 masterworks housed in two landmark buildings. In 2016 and 2019 George organized international loan exhibitions of the work of Claude Monet inspired by paintings in the Kimbell’s collection. Monet: The Early Years focused on the period 1858-1872, when Monet invented himself as an artist. A second exhibition, Monet: The Late Years, examined how Monet at age 73, after being stalled for several years, radically re-invented his art—a process that culminated in the great paintings he gave France after World War I.

Mark Farnham let coach Carl Wallin cajole him into joining Thor’s Stone Athletic Club in 2017. On December 14, 2019, Mark set a new world record of 232.5 pounds in the bench press for the Amateur Master’s 198-pound, age 60-64 class of the Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate. Mark notes, “The important score is three children each with a nice spouse, and 3.8 grandchildren.”

Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, which Jim Mayfield founded 22 years ago, signed agreements with the AES Corp. this winter for the development, construction, and operation of the cooperative’s solar pumped storage hydro project, also known as the West Kaua’i Energy Project. This project will move Kauai beyond 80 percent renewable generation and meet more than 25 percent of its electricity needs.

With their four Dartmouth children now in the working world, Chris Jenny says that his wife, Andi, observes he is “basically flunking retirement.” Chris serves on five corporate boards as well as the board of New England Baptist Hospital. He minds his portfolio of venture accelerator interests and recently served as president of friends of Dartmouth football and chair of the Dartmouth athletic advisory board. Chris adds that they are always looking for reasons to return to Hanover. Something tells us the College will be calling on Chris for more!

We mourn the loss of Bill Donovan last December after a heroic battle with cancer. Whether crossing the College Green, on the ice, or delivering The Sunday Boston Globe to fellow students, Bill was a bright and shining star, a friend to all, the very fabric of our class. Our condolences to Bill’s wife, Taki, and their three children. We miss him.

The class birthday bash in Santa Fe, New Mexico, scheduled for August has been canceled.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Steve Pitschke organized an Alpha Theta Zoom reunion. Present were Steve Koch and Chris Schmidt, as well as Jeb Burns ’76, Gregg Dougherty ’78 and ’79s Paul Berryman, Brian Breneman, Bill Fleming, and Evans Huber. “Many of us had not ‘seen’ each other for 40 years. We shared stories, reminisced about beer pong and Whale’s Tails, and had a great time.” Steve Pitschke works at Synopsys, a high-tech firm, as a senior software manager and architect. Steve Koch has his dream retirement job as a ski host at Mammoth Ski area in California. He actually gets paid to ski! Chris Schmidt is a psychotherapist living in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health CEO and president Joanne Conroy, M.D., was elected as a regular member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Joanne was selected for leading one of the nation’s most rural academic medical centers and being a pioneer in telemedicine. Election to NAM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Since 2010, on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, Phil Andryc has participated in the Covenant House sleepout to raise funds for and to show solidarity with homeless youth. This year 3,000 sleepers in 31 cities across North America participated. Phil spent the night in the parking lot of the Javits Center in New York City on a piece of cardboard with just his sleeping bag. “I wake up more stiff and with more aches every year, but, unlike the homeless, I am reminded how fortunate I am to have a safe home and warm showerto whichto return.”

Susan Dentzer, Dan Lucey, Jan Malcom,and Steve Mentzer participatedin a Zoom call for the class titled ’77 Eyes on the Pandemic. Susan is senior policy fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, where she has written articles and papers on the Covid pandemic. Dan is a physician and the originator of the Smithsonian “Exhibition on Epidemics 2018-2021,” based on his experiences overseas with SARS, MERS, Ebola, flu, and Zika. He is teaching a course on epidemics at Dartmouth this winter. Jan is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health and has a leading role in the state’s response to the pandemic, reporting to Gov. Tim Walz. Steve was part of an international team of researchers who recently published an important article in the New England Journal of Medicine chronicling how they identified surprising new features of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its impact on the lungs and the body’s vascular system.

In The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved A Country from Corporate Greed, John Cavanagh and his wife, Robin Broad, tell the harrowing, inspiring saga of El Salvador’s fight—and historic victory—against “big gold.” John and Robin helped build the network of international allies that spearheaded the global fight against mining in El Salvador that began with the discovery that mining could lead to the catastrophic contamination of the river system supplying water to the majority of Salvadorans.

Note: The previous column contained comments that many found offensive. We apologize for their inclusion. In the future, we will avoid political opinion and social commentary.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Bill Greenbaum enjoys life in New York City, even though he and his wife, Dassa, see mostly their apartment and nearby parks. They like biking in Central Park. In August they traveled to Lake Minnewaska and “the unforgettable Innisfree Garden.” Bill is an independent financial advisor in New York and New Jersey who geared up for Medicare’s annual enrollment period, which started on October 15. He looks forward to being a class agent again and joining our next class Zoom.

The College sponsored a virtual series on the global impact of the U.S. presidential election. One episode addressed how the election might influence international relations in Europe and the Middle East. It featured Dee Dee Granzow Simpson as a panelist. Dee Dee is a former U.S. foreign service officer and delegate to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty negotiations. More recently she has served on the U.K. board of the International Rescue Committee, which assists displaced people around the world. In another episode, Jose Fernandez spoke on the impact of the election on trade relations with Central and South America. Jose is a former assistant secretary of state for economic, energy, and business affairs during the Obama administration and an emeritus member of the Dartmouth board of trustees.

Lea Sewell writes that she has “unretired!” She had taken an early retirement offer at 64. She had done some travel and volunteering before the winter and “the plague” arrived. She put those retirement delights on hold to work on a Covid vaccine trial with her previous employer, Pfizer. Lea says this “is how I can serve—I’ve done trials for 20-plus years. There is much to inspire right now.”

Peter Mills and John Storella, freshman and sophomore roommates in Gile Hall, enjoyed a delightful lunch while social distancing in John and Lisa’s backyard in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California. Shaded by fig, magnolia, and apple trees, they had a wide-ranging conversation about Lisa’s medical policy nonprofit; John’s biotech patent legal practice; the retirement of Peter’s wife, Mary; and, of course, Covid and politics. “It was a really nice way to share thoughts and de-stress during these complicated times.”

John Bird lives in a retirement home in Birmingham, Alabama, which had three Covid cases before Halloween. John is deaf and has glaucoma, but enjoys excellent medical care. This summer’s Black Lives Matter movement has made John “appreciate the advantage of growing up in a nuclear family. The statistical disparity is staggering: In 2019 28.2 percent of all white births were illegitimate, while 69.4 percent of Black births were illegitimate, according to the Center for Equal Opportunity. Our leaders must address this disparity, which has serious ramifications for poverty, crime, education, and ultimately equality of opportunity.”

Jonathan Park, Ph.D., passed away this summer from injuries sustained in a car accident. Jon worked in cytogenetics and laboratory management at Mary Hitchcock Hospital for 35 years. In retirement, he was an active Freemason and enjoyed his home in Norwich, Vermont. He is dearly missed by his wife, Linda, son Justin, daughter Hilary, and their families.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

This summer the class held a Zoom panel titled “Covid Economy: How Will the Comeback Work?” John Donvan, a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and broadcaster whose book, In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, moderated. John hosts Intelligence Squared US, a debate series dedicated to raising the level of public discourse in America. The panel consisted of Thomas Moers Mayer, Tom Russo, Jennifer Clarke, and professor Douglass Irwin.

Thomas Moers Mayer, co-chair of the bankruptcy and restructuring department at Kramer Levin in New York City, has played a prominent role as counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors in many complex bankruptcy cases, including General Motors and Chrysler. He is on the U.S. Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules; is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, a nonpartisan organization that provides advice to the U.S. Congress; and is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s government bankruptcies subcommittee.

Tom Russo is a managing partner of the investment management company Gardner Russo & Gardner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He oversees more than $12 billion in the Semper Vic investment partnership. MoneyWeek has featured him in its “world’s greatest investors” column for his focus on long-term compounding. He is a member of the dean’s advisory council at Stanford Law School and the president’s leadership council at Dartmouth.

Jennifer Clarke is executive director of Philadelphia’s Public Interest Law Center, which focuses on reducing poverty and discrimination. She is a founding member of TakeActionPhilly, a citywide coalition of lawyers addressing legal challenges to city residents. She was a founder and officer of the Caring Center, a not-for-profit childcare center; a trustee of the Women’s Law Project; a director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project; and a co-chair of the Civil Legal Justice Coalition, a statewide coalition to increase availability of free legal services for low-income Pennsylvanians.

Jeff Lelek has published his first novel, Sinai Prospect. Available through Amazon, the book offers swift adventure, unexpected twists, and rich descriptions from the Middle East to Montana. While international oil exploration normally attracts large companies and giant egos, independent geologist Jake Tillard navigates espionage, blackmail, and murder to pursue his dream of finding natural gas in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

After 28 years coaching the Big Green, Barry Harwick, director of the track-and-field and cross-country programs, is retiring. During his tenure he led the men’s cross-country team to six Ivy League Heptagonal Championship titles and 10 NCAA Championship appearances. Barry worked with some of the best athletes in school history, including several All-Americans. Transforming skilled runners into top national athletes was one of his favorite aspects of coaching.

Beverly “B.J.” Graf is publishing a science fiction crime thriller this fall called Genesys X. Set in 2041 Los Angeles, the story follows Detective Eddie Piedmont, who takes on a case of a fatal overdose. He’s drawn into the nefarious world of black-market reproductive technology only to discover terrible secrets that pull him much closer to the murderer than he could ever have imagined.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

This winter George Shackelford (who knows a little something about Impressionism) joined Hood Museum of Art Director John Stomberg for a private visit to the exhibition Monet: Places at the Denver Art Museum. Attendees included Brian Deevy and John Grant. This spring Dartmouth on Location took the show online for a series of programs on “Impressionist Paintings You Should Know,” highlighting collections across the United States.

In May President Phil Hanlon gave a Zoom talk for the class about the “uncharted territory” the College is navigating. “Profoundly dedicated educators” have made the switch to online learning possible. The faculty report more one-on-one meetings with students than ever. The College projects significant losses for this year and next. Hiring and salary freezes have been implemented. Another major round of budget cuts will be imposed this summer. Nevertheless, Phil reiterated the College’s commitment to need-blind admissions, noting that the admitted class of 2024 is the most socioeconomically diverse in history. Ninety-six percent of admitted students are in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of a liberal arts education to prepare leaders—at all levels of society and throughout the world. A major challenge facing the College is how to maintain the unique sense of community and place that distinguishes Dartmouth from its peers.

In June Dee Dee Granzow Simpson, Dr. Dan Lucey, and Susan Dentzer joined Dr. Steve Mentzer on a class Zoom call about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Steve is a thoracic surgeon and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. He discussed the research findings he and colleagues recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Steve’s group of international researchers recognized early that Covid-19 produced unique signs of disease in the lungs. This realization spurred a hunt for autopsied lungs from Covid-19 victims in Europe. The lungs revealed numerous blood clots, illustrating that Covid-19 is a vascular as well as respiratory ailment. In addition to the relentless assault it makes on the immune system, it can cause massive organ failure and death. Dan, Susan, and Steve agreed on the need “to keep vigilant” by wearing masks, washing hands regularly, and socially distancing as Covid caseloads continue to rise in more than half the states. These precautions are especially necessary for the 60-plus set, such as us, whose immune systems become less robust with age.

On July 1 Gina Russo will become the chair of the board of advisors of Dartmouth’s Hood Museum. She looks forward to working with Director Stomberg and his amazing team, plus other board members, including Maud Welles. The Hood concluded a multi-year renovation and expansion in early 2019. This project reimagined the physical spaces of the museum and the way in which the collection was hung and interpreted for the public. Increased gallery spaces, a public concourse connecting to the campus arts district, and three state-of-the-art, smart classrooms are all hallmarks of the new Hood. Please try a virtual visit at hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

In February, when visitors were still coming to N.Y.C., Liz Epstein Kadin hosted the grandson of her language study abroad family from Bourges, along with his wife and children. During the visit Liz showed the children photos of their dad when he was 2 years old as well as photos of their great-grandfather, whom they had never met. They had a wonderful time together. Liz is grateful for a friendship that has endured for 45 (whoa!) years.

Phil Andryc has been involved with Covenant House for more than 30 years. Founded in 1972, it initially provided a safe overnight haven for homeless youth in N.Y.C. With shelters now in 31 cities across the United States and Latin America, the mission has become more holistic—from providing safe havens and medical care to teaching homeless youth life skills and providing long-term support so that they can thrive independently. All sites remain open through the Covid crisis! To show solidarity with homeless youth and to raise funds, an annual sleepout (only a sleeping bag and some cardboard) is held on the N.Y.C. streets the week before Thanksgiving. Phil writes: “Every year I come away from that event touched by the resiliency of the youth and more thankful for what I have.”

The class held a Zoom discussion on the Covid-19 pandemic featuring Susan Dentzer and Dan Lucey with class president Dee Dee Granzow Simpson moderating. Susan Dentzer is senior policy fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, where she has been contributing papers on the Covid pandemic. She also has been moderating a webinar series for the U.S. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute on hospitals’ and health systems’ response to the crisis and speaking on the prospects for reopening the economy. Dan Lucey is a physician who is the originator of the Smithsonian exhibition on epidemics, 2018-21, based on his experiences overseas with SARS, MERS, flu, Ebola, Zika, yellow fever, and plague. He is a senior scholar and adjunct professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University and a research associate in anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (Read more about his work in the May-June issue.) Dee Dee Granzow Simpson is a former career diplomat who worked on nuclear arms negotiations. A longtime resident of London, she is chairwoman of the Pilgrims Society of the United Kingdom, the oldest U.S.-U.K. friendship group, whose members include leaders in the military, political, business, and diplomatic fields.

Susan discussed what is known about the epidemiology of the SARS-CoV2 virus and its effects on the body, prospects for treatments and vaccines, and the timing and shape of reopening the economy across the country. Dan referenced a letter he wrote to the Infectious Diseases Society of America in February about China’s response to the Covid outbreak in Wuhan. He stressed the importance of learning lessons from how other countries have handled Covid. Dan predicted the second wave of the virus would hit the United States in the autumn at the same time as the influenza season.

Look for class emails about future Zoom events. We hope you and your family are safe.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Lucy Townsend is a caterer and event planner in Cooperstown, New York, looking forward to serving Derek Jeter when he is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. Her largest event, “Belgium Comes to Cooperstown,” featured a plated eight-course dinner for 800 guests. Her most stressful event was a lobster bake for 100 people. One propane burner broke down and she was able to manage only four lobsters at a time, while clams, potatoes, and corn steamed in a convection oven. Her most memorable compliment came from Jacqueline Onassis: “Lunch was divine!” The key to success: “Stay calm when you’re not.”

The Wall Street Journal named two Kimbell Art Museum projects in its Top 10 U.S. art exhibitions of 2019. Critic Karen Wilkin listed Renoir: The Body, The Senses and Monet: The Late Years as two of the most striking and compelling exhibitions of the year. George Shackelford organized both shows. The Renoir exhibit gave viewers the opportunity “to savor [Renoir’s]…marriage of inventive color and mass.” The Monet exhibit was the highest-attended exhibition at the Kimbell in two decades.

The Washington Post featured a lengthy, front-page profile of Diana Taylor in its style section. The article focused on “her personal stature, her formidable resume, and her independence” on the campaign trail for former mayor Mike Bloomberg. The piece offered a unique view into one woman’s personal and professional journey at a time of fundamental change in our society. The essay touched on Diana’s Dartmouth experience (“I absolutely loved it; but it was hard.”) as well as her career and charitable activities since college. To read the article, search for our classmate’s name at washingtonpost.com.

Aimee Ballantyne is the CEO of her own company, called Friends in Stitches Recovery Bee, LLC. Its mission is to recycle fabrics and return to traditional values such as hand-sewing. The online website, friendsinstichesrecoverybee.com, keeps the community informed about the business with no carbon footprint. Aimee operates the business out of the house she co-owns with classmate Wayne Ballantyne. She plows every penny she makes back into the company. It stays solvent by sending many prints right back into the community in the form of cottons delivered to local dog groomers, who cut them into bandanas for newly groomed pooches.

We have recently learned that Linda Peppard Hart-Buuck died in January 2019. After Dartmouth, where she was a proud member of the ski team, she earned master’s degrees in anthropology and special education, worked in special education, and was an avid community volunteer, all the while raising three sons on her own due to the sudden death of her first husband, Glen Hart. Her bubbly personality and ever-present smile eventually drew the attention of Charlie Buuck, whom she happily wed in 2007. One fellow member of the ski team described Linda as “the epitome of tenacity and optimism.” Friends say Linda lived every day to the absolute fullest and was an inspiration to all.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Vox clamantis in desert: Dartmouth’s 65th birthday bash is just six months away in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Thursday, August 27, through Sunday, August 30.

Our bash committee, composed of Amy Cholnoky, Ted Lapres, Chuck Dana, Leslie Bradford, and Don Wiviott, has devised an active and festive weekend that will delight us all. Amy notes, “After more than a year of planning, we have crafted a jam-packed schedule guaranteed to appeal to all ’77s.”

Ted outlines the plan: “For Wednesday early birds, we’ll host a tailgate at the Santa Fe Opera before attending an open-air performance of M. Butterfly. Thursday will include fun-in-the-sun activities such as golf, hiking, mountain biking, and walking tours. Lodging options include the historic and beautiful La Fonda on the Plaza, our birthday bash HQ and venue for our Thursday evening welcome reception.”

Friday and Saturday activities include trips to Bandelier National Park, Los Alamos, Museum Hill, Canyon Road galleries, Georgia O’Keefe Museum, and the ever-popular farmers’ market; a cocktail reception at a local hot spot; multiple dining options and a gala 65th birthday party.

Go to dar7mou7h.com to check the latest schedule and details on how to book your room at La Fonda. Recruit all your ’77 buddies to come. Be on the lookout for a Santa Fe 2020 registration email coming soon to an inbox near you so you can lock and load your place in ’77 party history. If you have ideas, please reach out to Amy or Ted (contact info on dar7mou7h.com). They want your input!

Mary-Beth Lindenthal Jones and husband George ’76 are enjoying living in Concord, Massachusetts. They have two sons, one in Connecticut and the other in Hong Kong. Mary-Beth traveled to Hong Kong this November to visit. She witnessed “one of the peaceful protests with thousands of Hong Kongers marching—young and old, from all walks of life. It was an astonishing experience that I will never forget.”

Jean Rosston and Max Anderson returned to Hanover to participate in the Hood Museum symposium titled “The New Now: Art, Museum & the Future,” part of the College’s 250-year celebration. Topics were diverse, relevant, regional, and worldly. All speakers were Dartmouth alumni. Jean writes, “There was a terrific synergy and exchange between speakers, the public, professors, alumni, Hood Museum staff and board members, and students. The renovated museum has been expanded into impressive new exhibition spaces and facilities to serve students.” Jean met and then mentored Hadley Detrick ’22 in a Zurich “winternship.”

We recently received belated word of Peter Wood’s passing in March of 2017. Peter came from Hinsdale, Illinois, lived in Mass his freshman year, studied French and economics at Dartmouth, and received an M.B.A. from NYU. Peter worked in the insurance industry as a risk analyst and lived in Manhattan, Nashville, and Jacksonville, Florida. At his death he was retired in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Peter loved the New York Yankees and enjoyed fishing and traveling. Classmates remember Peter as a witty conversationalist whose favorite music was the Grateful Dead.

Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

In September I attended the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Forum in San Francisco. More than 500 alumni came to hear presentations by noted alums, including Jeff Crowe ’78, Roger McNamee, Tu’82, and Jim Coulter ’82. I ran into Peter Mills, who is the CEO of a new company, Track3t, that can precisely and continuously locate inventory, equipment, and tooling as it moves through a factory or warehouse. Peter commented, “You’d be amazed how many companies lose their stuff.” Who knew? Peter’s patent application was issued in September; he is currently raising money. John Storella was also at the forum, interested in innovations in biotech and cleantech. As a reminder, the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship has announced the creation of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. We are invited to nominate alumni who have had an extraordinary impact on their industries. Nominees can come from any industry. The honorees will be announced at the next Entrepreneurs Forum in September 2020.

Stevenson “Steve” Upton and his wife, Anita, now live in Manchester, New Hampshire. Steve, a retired lawyer, has through many years assembled in his home an archive of original, pre-1950 materials (photos, works of art, letters, documents, etc.) regarding foreigners in late Qing and Republican China. His archive has been visited by many professors from China and Japan, as well as from the United States and Canada. Several museum curators and university librarians have also visited the archive. Dartmouth alums and their spouses are very welcome to visit at any mutually convenient time. Steve is the editor of Foreigners in China Magazine, an e-magazine that is distributed around the world to more than 300 people, most of whom are professors of Chinese history. The yard behind the Uptons’ home is visited by many animals. Steve and Anita call it “Chipmunkland.”

Bill Greenbaum is a licensed independent health and life insurance broker in New York who is in the process of establishing an insurance brokerage firm. Bill’s vision is to create an organization that will provide career opportunities for others and develop long-term relationships with clients. Bill is a good listener and derives great satisfaction from helping others make important financial decisions. Jonathan Gage continues to practice cardiology and teach medical students in New Haven, Connecticut. “Practicing medicine is consuming but still quite a lot of fun.” He and his wife, Janet, are happily “recovering” from the renovation of their old farmhouse. They enjoy watching the development of their daughter’s work as a goldsmith with her own atelier and visiting their son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in Singapore. Jeffrey Perry has published his 15th book of poetry. It is called Redefining Justice: The Art of Listening. You can follow the link to secure a copy: lulu.com/shop/jeffrey-v-perry/redefining-justice-the-art-of-listening/hardcover/product-24257104.html. Jean Rosston spoke at the Hood Museum’s fall symposium titled “The New Now: Art, Museums, and the Future.” Jean was part of the panel that explored how “Curators and Conservators Collaborate.”

Send us your news!

Eric Edmondson, DC Advisory, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson @gmail.com; Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Joe Hoffman completed the Prouty Ultimate Challenge (200 miles) raising $4,100 for the Dartmouth Norris Cotton Cancer Center. There were only 97 Ultimate riders. The first day Joe faced 5,400 feet of vertical climbing in eastern Vermont, which he described as “tough but manageable for seasoned cyclists. It was inspiring to have seven or eight cancer survivors in our ranks.” The second day was easier, with only 4,000 vertical feet of climbing along foggy New Hampshire roads. Joe was proud to raise money to fight a group of diseases he despises.

Betty Stroock is involved with a Montana nonprofit that works on stream restoration projects. She is establishing a new kind of conservation easement known as a channel migration easement, focused primarily on the Yellowstone River. Betty also works with a local trails advocacy group building a bike path along a dangerous stretch of road between Bozeman and Belgrade, Montana.

Andy Rayburn has launched Buckeye Relief—a Level 1 marijuana cultivation and processing facility in Eastlake, Ohio—in order to provide medical marijuana to patients who might benefit from it. The company planted its first crop on July 31, 2018, and harvested it in early December. Andy has now harvested 12 times and finds that with each harvest he gets higher-quality plants. The company has recently been certified to extract and process marijuana and has introduced a lot of new products during the summer. Andy estimates that there are 200,000 patients in Ohio who could benefit from these products.

Nancy Parssinen Vespoli has become the president of the American Friends of Capodimonte, which promotes the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples, Italy. The group sponsors American post-doctorate fellows at the museum as well as trips to Naples. The first such trip occurred in June. Class president Dee Dee Granzow Simpson, husband David, and class secretary Robin Gosnell participated in the week-long expedition and offer rave reviews.

Susan Dentzer currently serves on three boards of directors: the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which assists refugees and displaced persons around the globe; Research!America, which advocates for strong federal support for biomedical and other health-related research; and the Public Health Institute, which generates and promotes research, leadership, and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, and practices in the United States and beyond. Founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein to aid people fleeing Nazi Germany, today the IRC operates in more than 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities. Susan joined the board of the IRC in 2004. She initially led the board’s health committee, which supervised the organization’s global health operations, and subsequently the program committee, which supervised all of the IRC’s world-wide activities. She is now focused on the group’s domestic resettlement activities. Susan sees her work in helping the IRC resettle refugees in the United States as fulfilling the Emma Lazarus poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Joe Hoffman registered to ride in the Prouty Ultimate in July to raise money and awareness for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Known as the Prouty, this is the biggest charity challenge north of Boston. The money raised funds for groundbreaking cancer research and important patient supportive services. Joe has signed up for the toughest event of the Prouty—200 miles of cycling through the hills and valleys surrounding Hanover, 100 miles on each of two days. Joe is dedicating this effort to “the many oncology patients I have had the pleasure of being associated with both as a clinician and a researcher and to friends and family who have been affected by cancer, especially my wife, Lynn, who was diagnosed four years ago with breast cancer.”

One of our class projects promotes undergraduate participation in the Prouty by funding three prizes given to Greek life organizations (GLOs): the Iron Butt Award to the GLO with the most members who ride the ultimate, the Volunteer Participation Award to the GLO with the most Prouty volunteers, and an award to the GLO that raises the most donations.

Jennifer Leigh Warren performed at Sacramento Music Circus, playing Dragon in Shrek the Musical with Carol Muller, Al Henning, and Bob Rennicks attending. Jennifer spent the rest of the summer in a new musical called Passing Through at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. This fall Jennifer will reprise her role as the Blues Singer on tour with A Night with Janis Joplin, which will include a performance at the Lebanon (New Hampshire) Opera House on September 17.

An enthusiastic team of ‘77s spent a productive three days in early June scouting locations in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for our next big class birthday bash to be held on August 27-30, 2020. Co-chairs Ted Lapres and Amy Cholnoky were joined by treasurer Chuck Dana, explorer extraordinaire Leslie Bradford, and former Santa Fe resident and man about town Don Wiviott.

They dodged thunderstorms and hail to visit almost a dozen potential sites for daytime and evening events. They struggled mightily to locate the best coffee, margaritas, and authentic Frito pies in town. Opportunities to immerse yourselves in art, culture, music, and local history abound, as do recreational possibilities in places such as Bandelier National Monument. 

The weekend is still coming together, but will likely include a welcome party at the hotel HQ on Thursday night, a big outing on Friday featuring hiking and some fascinating local history, an art crawl and cocktail party on Friday night, a myriad of activities from which to choose on Saturday, and a sit-down dinner and birthday party at a special location on Saturday night. Stay tuned—there’s much more to follow as contracts are signed. You won’t want to miss this!

Plus, there will also be a special option for those arriving early to gather on Wednesday night: a chance to experience the world-famous Santa Fe Opera in its spectacular open-air setting, with Dartmouth-style tailgating before the show!

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

The class has commissioned a song, “The Lone Pine Prayer,” in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Dartmouth College. Composed by Will Raymer ’09, the song evokes Dartmouth’s sense of place in the form of a benediction for all children of Dartmouth. The Decibelles and the Aires, Dartmouth’s original a cappella groups, performed the premier at 5:45 p.m. on May 16 at the opening session of the Alumni Council in Hanover. A video of the performance was posted on our Facebook page.

Aimee Kent Ballantyne received an award from her hometown of Wilton Manors, Florida, for a community quilt. It was created with fabric rescued from discards and brought to Aimee’s home by generous, caring, and eco-conscious friends. The fabric was given a new life by reassembly into a practical, reusable, warmth-giving heirloom quilt sewn in the great New England tradition of the quilting bee. By banding together and using every scrap of available fabric, American colonists survived the harsh New England winters. Today, the community quilt demonstrates again what a community can accomplish when it works together. Aimee is the CEO of Friends in Stitches Recovery Bee LLC.

We have belatedly learned that Rodney L. Cubbie died at home of cancer in 2016. He was active in the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, which celebrates the diversity of the black experience at Dartmouth and the achievements of black alumni near and far. Rodney was a longtime prosecutor who eventually became a defense attorney. Colleagues admired him as “a force of nature in the courtroom.”

Twenty-five classmates gathered in New York City for the 77th Day of the Year celebration. Ted Wingate came down from Newfields, New Hampshire, to join the festivities. He and Kathy Phillips had a great visit. Kathy thinks they are the only two psychiatrists in the class. (If you know of another, please let us know.) Ted practices child and adolescent psychiatry in a community mental health center. “The work remains quite consuming; social media and electronic gaming present new challenges for this age group.” Ted is trying to cut back his hours, but finds that the demand keeps growing. Meanwhile, his wife, Gabriele, is introducing him to birdwatching. It would be great to gather 77 classmates at this event next year, when the 77th Day falls on a green day—St. Patrick’s Day. Start planning now; classmates would love to see you.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

This month we focus on performers, shows, and exhibitions. Richard Stillman is an actor, musician, singer, tap dancer, and storyteller. Most weeks find him performing in a variety of venues from schools and senior centers to assorted theaters. In 2009 Richard returned to the Dartmouth stage as a guest artist in The Grapes of Wrath. In 2014 he won the Best Concert Award for his show, The Spirit of Vaudeville, at the United Solo Theater Festival in New York City. Last year Richard won the GigMasters Rising Star Award as top banjo player. He performed in a production of Mother Courage at the Nebraska Repertory Theater this past fall. Set in the Civil War, the show featured Richard as a nasty Irish sergeant in the Union Army, a lecherous colonel in the Confederate Army, and finally a banjo-picking rebel soldier. The last “seemed charming at first but turned out to be a rapist. I usually play kinder characters.” In January he played in a concert of storytelling and music from around the world with longtime partner Gerald Fierst. Richard accompanied the tales with guitar, mandolin, bagpipes, and a pentatonic lyre he made in the woodshop at Dartmouth.

Jennifer Leigh Warren performed as the Blues Singer in the Broadway streaming of A Night with Janis Joplin, which began on January 19. Jennifer was also part of the cast of Fox Studios’ live television adaptation of Rent, broadcast on January 27. Jennifer played the roles of Mrs. Cohen, Mrs. Jefferson, and the “Christmas Bells” homeless woman. She was “thrilled to have the opportunity to bring life to these characters and excited that a new generation is being drawn to the theater.” Jennifer is best known for originating the role of Crystal in the hit musical Little Shop of Horrors, her performance in the original cast of the musical Marie Christine, and her show-stopping performance as Alice’s Daughter in the original Broadway musical Big River with the song “How Blest We Are,” written especially for her by Roger Miller.

George Shackelford has organized an exhibit titled “Monet: The Late Years,” which will be at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from February 16 to May 27 and at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, from June 16 to September 15.

The exhibition features 50 paintings by Monet dating mainly from 1913 to 1926, the final phase of the artist’s long career. “Boldly balancing representation and abstraction, Monet’s radical late works redefined the master of Impressionism as a forebear of modernism.”

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Joseph Swain has published a work of traditional music criticism titled Listening to Bach and Handel. The book asks why these two composers, born one month and 125 kilometers apart, could compose so differently from each other and their colleagues and yet both achieve universal acclaim. Their work underlies, in many ways, all the music that came after them. The book is for all lovers of music in the Western tradition and is available through Pendragon Press.

Alan Trefler gave a fireside chat this fall at the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network in Boston, a program of the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship. Alan is a technology change-agent, innovative philanthropist, chess master, best-selling author, and business advisor. Alan founded Pegasystems in 1983 and has built the company into a global provider of strategic applications to improve customer experiences and automate business processes. Today, Pega has $840 million in revenue, a market cap of $4.24 billion, and employs more than 4,500 professionals in 30 offices around the world.

Brian Deevy has been inducted into the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame, class of 2018. Brian is a member of the board of directors of Liberty Media Corp. as well as the Daniels Fund. He also serves on the board of the U. S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. Brian was the head of RBC Capital Markets’ communications, media, and entertainment group. During his tenure, Brian led the firm to more than 2,000 transactions valued at more than $185 billion. (FYI, most of the above information came to your news-hungry secretaries via press releases, rather than from the classmates themselves. Everybody’s modesty makes this a tough column to write. It would not kill you to share some news with us.)

Nicole Lewis-Oakes has moved to New York City, where she and her husband, Jerry, see Brian McLaughlin and Merily Hendrickson McLaughlin for cultural outings from Shakespeare in the Park to exhibitions at the Guggenheim.

Get ready for our 65th birthday bash in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from August 27 to 30, 2020. Classmates Phil Hanlon and Gail Gentes plan to attend. If you would like to participate in organizing this event, please contact Amy Cholnoky or Ted Lapres.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Jeff Stone and his wife, Susan, recently enjoyed a Dartmouth alumni travel trip to Uganda. Bushwhacking through the aptly named Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to reach a troop of mountain gorillas was the highlight of the expedition. Nearly as cool were encounters with many primates, daily game-watching opportunities (rhinos, lions, elephants, giraffes, birds), climbing to the top of the thunderous Murchison Falls, and a rare meet-up with some very short-statured Batwa people, native to the Uganda-Congo border. A real draw was the company of faculty trip leader Nate Dominy, whose commentary added perspective and detail.

Ellen Sen is still an engineer with GE Aviation, working on helicopter engines, volunteering with Girls Inc., a nonprofit promoting “strong, smart, and bold” young women through after-school mentoring and leadership programs. She and her husband, Ron, enjoy traveling to visit their four kids and two grandkids. Ellen keeps up with her roommate Janet O’Neill Selling. Janet and her husband, Tom, are “promoting the works of Luisa Piccarreta, an Italian woman under consideration for canonization by the Catholic Church.”

John Storella, who practices patent law with early-stage biotech companies in Berkeley, California, met up with classmates at a Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Forum in San Francisco. Doug Ireland has created a career-focused card game called Launch Mode that makes fun of the wackiness of searching for a job. It was spawned from his work counseling young people prepping for the job market. Find it online through retailers or at www.youlaunchu.com. “Whether you’ve applied for a job, had a job, or lost a job, you’ll get a kick out of it.” Peter Mills is working on a new business called Track3t that enables companies to track precisely their inventory, equipment, and tooling as they move through a factory or warehouse. He loves to bicycle around the Bay Area with his wife, Mary. Mary McDougall is a vice president at Astia, a social enterprise that provides access to venture capital and networks for women-led ventures. She attended the forum to meet female entrepreneurs and to recruit male and female alums who wish to help as Astia advisors and Astia Angel investors. Learn more at www.astia.org.

Bernie Lambek, who has practiced law in Montpelier, Vermont, for the past 26 years, has written a legal mystery titled Uncivil Liberties. The story focuses on the circumstances surrounding the death of a young and promising gay high school student in a small Vermont town. As the community deals with her death, issues arise about hate speech and free speech, cyberbullying and privacy, and religious and sexual freedom. “A splendid legal mystery with savvy political ethics and vivid characters,” writes Howard Norman; an “intriguing book, especially for addicts of courtroom drama,” says Simon Mawer. See more at www.bernielambek.com.

Please mark your calendars right now for our 65th birthday bash. It will be held on August 27-30, 2020, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The more classmates who come, the more fun we will all have. See you there!

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Doug Mavor wanted a profession he would love so much he would work for free. He hit the jackpot with a 35-year career designing energy efficient buildings in the Rocky Mountains. Now retired, he pursues his “own version of Contractors Without Borders.” His volunteer exploits thus far include designing and supervising the construction of a log home for the king of Bhutan, assisting in the construction of the Khumbu Climbing Center near the Everest Base Camp, and helping to build a remote cabin in Alaska. His motto: “Will work for airfare!”

After raising five children and working 24/7 as a curriculum director in an elementary school district, newly retired Ellen Duke Spears is flabbergasted at her discomfort with relaxation. Writing, painting, sewing, and spending time with her three adorable grandchildren currently occupy her, but she’s “looking for my next adventure!”

Jean Rosston is counting her 30th year in Zurich, Switzerland: “There is culture, nature, good public transport, a clean lake, and a functional city.” Jean works as a conservator at the Kunsthaus Zurich fine arts museum, relying daily on her “Rassias-empowered foreign language skills.” She enjoyed a visit from Ted Lapres and his wife, Connie. To celebrate her 30-year jubilee, Jean took a month’s sabbatical and traveled to French Polynesia to explore the islands by expedition ship above and below the water, where she met, respectively, Christina Thompson ’82, a Polynesian historian and cultural expert, and five different species of “beautiful sharks.” Jean hopes to attend our 65th birthday celebration in Santa Fe and welcomes classmates in Zurich in the meantime.

Jim Guth and husband John traveled to Sicily with a Northwestern alumni travel group. (Yes, Dartmouth trips are way better, they admit.) They loved the food and a charming villa at the base of Mount Etna, but report that “Sicilian wine is awful!” (Jean disagrees!)

Scott Cameron has become the principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget in the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Trump administration. Scott recognizes it’s a “stereotypically bureaucratically long title.” He coordinates agencywide policy on a host of issues, including budget, law enforcement, strategic planning, emergency response, and forest fires. Scott is helping to implement “the secretary’s vision to improve citizen service by aligning the boundaries of the regional offices of our eight bureaus.” He figures it will take “three years to institutionalize.”

Mark Berthiaume has organized the eighth annual Michael Brigham Memorial Fund Golf Event in honor of classmate Michael “Brigsy” Brigham, who died in 2011. The outing raises money for kidney cancer research. At this writing Fred Kramer, Doug Ireland, John Hart, Kevin Young, Brian McCloskey, Gary Rogers, Rory Laughna, Tom Barnico, and Pete Volanakis plan to attend. Mark notes, “It’s a time for all of us to remember a very special friend.” Gary recalls that he met Mike on their first day at Dartmouth when their dads dropped them off at Fayerweather Hall. The instigator of Senior Tails, Mike always “helped to bring people together.”

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

We located two more class authors. John Bird compiled a collection of 23 oral histories in Twin Killing: The Bill Mazeroski Story. John spent a decade researching, publishing, and promoting the book, which became a regional bestseller. John considers Hall-of-Famer Maz, the master of the double play, “perhaps the best fielder ever.” Peter Kenworthy wrote a short historical fiction novel titled Bank Job, based on an infamous bank robbery in Telluride, Colorado, in 1929. The bank president pulled off the heist, saving depositors’ funds before the institution collapsed. Peter spent three years doing the research and writing, while holding down a full-time banking job, raising a family…and procrastinating. “I once heard it said that the hardest thing about writing is cleaning the refrigerator. Too true.”

Tim Carroll missed reunion “for the best possible reason: baseball.” His son, Ryan, was the starting catcher for the Wellesley (Massachusetts) High School varsity team in the state Division 1 championship game—“an unforgettable experience after an improbable playoff run.” Ryan will matriculate at Dartmouth this fall, while his twin sister begins at Cornell, the alma mater of Tim’s wife. Tim anticipates some intra-family fun during green-red athletic contests.

In June five ’77 women gathered in Andover, Massachusetts, for their 45th high school reunion at Abbot Academy. Sarah Bayldon Beaman is an information technology specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice, lives in Falls Church, Virginia, and commutes—30 miles round-trip by bicycle each day. She has three children and one new grandchild. Being a grandmother is “fantastic!” Jenifer McLean Cooke lives in Andover and teaches English to young elementary school learners. She has recently enjoyed traveling with husband George and their two grown children. She is brushing up her French for their next expedition. (Parlez-vous français?) Down the road in Watertown, Massachusetts, Bets Kent revels in her first two years of retirement and marriage, while learning the craft of basketry at as many workshops as she can manage. Lucinda Leach teaches art at Edmund Burke, a progressive independent school in Washington, D.C. She and her photojournalist husband, Jeffrey Macmillan, have raised three sons: an illustrator, a cinematographer, and a painter/print-maker (Dartmouth ’14) who is now a teaching assistant in the art department at Dartmouth. Betsy Fauver Stueber lives in Cleveland. She serves on several nonprofit boards and as our head class agent along with John Ogden.

We reached out to Chicago classmates. Our thanks to Doug Cogswell, the lone respondent, who recounted being recruited to Chicago 26 years ago for a quick technology turnaround. It was, but others followed. The current one has taken longer; this is year 16. Doug became heavily involved in his mega-church (20,000 weekly attendees) and co-led the effort to break it into 60 sub-communities, where fellowship really happens. He has also led initiatives in Zambia to connect local churches to improve educational, health, and economic opportunities in rural villages lacking governmental alternatives. Go to www.ZealForZambia.com for information. His grandson “was born wearing a Red Sox jersey.” Play ball!

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Could you write a book? How would you go about it? We asked a handful of class authors their opinions. John Mugglebee found inspiration in the “tales of [his] patchwork ancestry of Native American, African, Scots-Irish, Chinese, and Jew” he heard as a child. Neespaugot: Legend of the Indian’s Coin recounts the story of a multiracial family’s trials and tribulations set against four centuries of American immigration. John used the Indian coin, first minted in Boston in 1652, as a device to embody the “theme of transcendence, of generational sacrifice for the sake of future generations.” He anticipates the sequel will be published next year. Joe Gleason started writing fiction 12 years ago. He needed a new challenge in addition to his day job in public affairs and crisis management. (Because that was too boring?) Joe based his first novel, Anvil of God, on The Song of Roland, which he encountered in Charlie Woods’ medieval history course. It is a true story of love, intrigue, chaos, betrayal, and the pursuit of power. The book got great reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, but suffered from the stigma of being self-published. Although Joe tries to write every day, he typically manages only several hours three or four days a week. “Like a musical instrument, writing takes consistent practice to be any good.” He is shopping agents for his second novel, on Ben Franklin, and has almost finished the sequel to Anvil of God. (George R.R. Martin, watch out!)

Nora Odendahl and Shirley Spence both say they came to write out of “serendipity!” Serendipity for Nora involved writing an article as a substitute for a colleague and then having a publishing executive see the piece and encourage her to produce a book. Creating Testwise: Understanding Educational Assessment included procrastination, as well as research, writing, and editing. The best part of the experience was expanding and synthesizing Nora’s knowledge about the field in which she has long worked; the worst is having to face volume two. Shirley attributes her professional writing to “the power of self-publishing.” Shirley has coauthored a few titles—Getting to Giving, Wealth and Families, and Learn Earn Return—and is now working on a coffee-table book with a traditional publisher.

Meanwhile, Kathleen Hayes Wildrick continues to work as a freelance editor since her husband’s semi-retirement last summer and their move to their “little house on the lake” in northern New Jersey. They bought a motor home and explored the South this winter—the coldest in 30 years. Snow in Louisiana prevented them from seeing Don Givler. They will try again next year as they combine work and travel. Reports are circulating that Jose Fernandez served as the director of the transition policy committee for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

David Mark Moss died on February 13 in Key West, Florida, of leukemia. His volunteer work on behalf of Habitat for Humanity eventually led to a meaningful career as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Key West.

Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com; Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com

Classmates are sharing transitions. Please send us your news for future columns. John Ogden writes, “My wife recently retired, my kids have mostly left the nest, things at work are not as fulfilling as they used to be, and I am one of the oldest people in the room.” The work he has done through the years for the College connected him to classmates and a little of his youth. Most importantly, it gave him satisfaction knowing that he was helping to ensure the vibrancy of Dartmouth for the next generation of students. When asked to become one of our head agents, he happily said, “Okay.”

When Frank Governali retired the first time, 13 years ago, he wondered what it would be like not to have a Goldman Sachs identity and to be his kids’ primary caregiver. He questioned how he would fit into his small Maine community. He started volunteering everywhere and approached his new life like a job. (He admits that keeping a mobile file for each of his three kids was over the top.) Now he feels he did not so much retire as trade one demanding job for another. As he prepares to retire for real, he knows some truths: He likes to define his own schedule, but wants volunteer commitments that require frequent attention. Contributing his time and talent is more important than giving money, although the second usually follows the first. He wants to learn and remains open to change.

Jenny Clarke took a sharp turn because she was bored with her big law firm practice. An older friend, still thrilled with his work, inspired her. Jenny accepted a job running a prestigious but “slightly shabby,” civil rights law firm in Philadelphia at 10 percent of her previous salary. “It was terrifying because I didn’t know what I was doing.” She learned: When “little Pennsylvania defeated political gerrymandering; that was us.” Now she wants to hand the organization over to someone younger and cooler. She now would like to mentor “anyone who could reach their full potential if only they knew how.”

Laid off in 2010, Pam Gruninger Perkins had spent her entire career on the programming side of the nonprofit world. She felt her chances for a new position might be better if she switched to development. When opportunity knocked, she walked through the door and talked herself into a great job at the Rockefeller University. She cultivates new donors, particularly parents who want to know more about the latest research on childhood and adolescent health and behavior.

Leslie Embs Bradford’s daughter, Allie ’13, married the son of the mayor of Toronto last fall, with good friends Nancy Parssinen Vespoli, Dee Dee Granzow Simpson and Diana Taylor in attendance. Leslie’s son, Tyler ’14, walked her up the aisle. Leslie is battling breast cancer, but chuckled, “Have wigs, will wedding!”

Susan Van Wie Kastan has married guitarist Reeves Gabrels. As she has taken her husband’s name, henceforth she is Susan Van Wie Gabrels.

Congratulations!

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

 

To rustle up news, we called roving reporters on both coasts, Don Wiviott and Edy Ullman. Don has moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to New York City. (He still has a place in Santa Fe. If you attend our 65th birthday extravaganza, you can see his real-life green machines, courtesy of John Deere!) From his urban vantage point, he solicits investors who want to make a difference, and a profit, through an organic farming cooperative. The farms avoid chemical pesticides and fertilizers, decreasing the need for the fossil fuels from which these substances are derived. Minimizing chemicals helps soil to regenerate. The result is a double whammy of healthier food and enhanced carbon sequestration. Don posits that if one out of three farms worldwide used this technique, we could stop global warming. You can read all about this venture at alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=6411.

Don recently saw Mac Taylor, Nicole Lewis-Oakes and her husband, Jeffrey, in the Big Apple. He reports that Alan Wolf and his family have moved to St. Louis, Missouri. On Don’s last visit to California he missed Peter Mills, who was biking in Mallorca, but did see John Storella, a biotech patent lawyer in Oakland. By the way, John needs a hero or heroine. He initiated a planned giving program for our class. You just agree to leave money to Dartmouth in your will, whatever amount feels comfortable. (Okay, John would prefer ginormous.) John’s goal was commitments from 40 classmates for our 40th reunion. He is one measly person short. Now is your chance to save the day. Join the Bartlett Tower Society! You’ll get a cool pin.

At the end of Edy’s first year of law school, students were advised to seek outdoor summer jobs, something less demanding than the intellectual rigors of the law. Edy decided bright red trucks and blasting sirens would be fun. “I could become a firefighter.” One part of the final exam was to “throw” a two-story ladder singlehandedly against a building. Edy’s first throw was disqualified. She got so mad that she nailed the second throw. She finished law school and joined the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; they are the folks who fight the big, bad wildfires. Edy rose to become a battalion chief, distinguished by their white helmets, a huge accomplishment in the fire world. Now retired, she travels and sees Dartmouth friends.

In October she and Kathy Phillips donned evening gowns to join Cathy Burnweit in celebrating the marriage of Cathy’s daughter in Coral Gables, Florida. “Neither hurricane nor firestorm can stop these three from attending a good party!” Edy did manage to locate Peter Mills, as well as Al Henning, Carol Muller and Jill Shaw Woolworth at the annual Julbord Festival in Palo Alto, California. That’s a Swedish Christmas celebration. Everyone consumed “a lot of stinky fish.” (And they do this every year?)

Our new head class agents are Betsy Fauver Stueber and John Ogden. They will be contacting you, but their letters will be composed by class ghost writer Anne Quirk. Now you know.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

According to Max Anderson, you can acquire good taste. Max is featured in the October 5, 2017, “Style” section of The New York Times in an article titled “Is Good Taste Teachable?” He explains how in his book, The Quality Instinct. Based upon his long experience as the director of museums ranging from the Whitney in New York to the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, Max sets forth guidelines for developing aesthetic judgment that even you can master. (Hey, can’t hurt, might help.)

Earlier this year Tom Russo received the Gabelli Prize from the Columbia School of Business “for his longstanding efforts as a ‘global value’ equity investor.” When pressed by your dedicated class secretaries for comment, Tom credited Gina Tugwell Russo, “my partner from day one for whatever success there may have been.” Gina’s passion for art history, inspired at Dartmouth by the great John Wilmerding, has led her back to Hanover; she has become a trustee of the Hood Museum of Art. A savvy investor herself, Gina delights in their “grandchild dividend,” Alexander.

Joanne Mather Conroy has also come full circle. She has been named CEO and president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock, New Hampshire’s largest private employer and its sole academic medical center. Trained as an anesthesiologist, she entered hospital administration almost a decade ago. Joanne believes that the most successful healthcare providers aren’t just medical professionals, but people who serve their patients in multiple ways and that D-H isn’t just a collection of individual facilities, but a healthcare system.

In January Rory Laughna became CFO at True North Ale Co., founded by Gary “Hoss” Rogers and his son, Jake. The company has just completed a state-of-the-art brewery in Ipswich, Massachusetts, with four 30-barrel brews in tanks. There’s a taproom on premises so plan to stop by for a (leisurely) visit or sample their products throughout Boston’s North Shore.

Don Givler writes, “If I had been able to design my ‘dream job,’ this would be it.” Don, like wife Amy, is a family physician. He teaches at Louisiana State University Medical School, cares for “salt-of-the-earth, working, poor patients” in northeast Louisiana and spends two months every year in Kenya running mobile medical clinics with LSU medical students. Don enjoys teaching and feels he’s pretty good at it. He loves his patients. He pushed the LSU administration for years to pursue the Kenya mission and is thrilled to have this annual opportunity in his “sunset years.”

Please send news. It’s hard to craft an engaging narrative out of nothing. The alumni magazine forwarded info about Tom and Joanne. Leslie Embs Bradford spotted Max in the Times. Rory and Gary provided artisanal beer at reunion so we knew to pester them. We prodded Don after he sent a nice note—about us. We value modesty and appreciate privacy, but we would like to hear from you. After all these years, we would still like to know how you are. Enjoy the holidays!

Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Here’s the latest in Dartmouth news. Andy Moerlein spent the summer working on a collaborative art project in Keelung, Taiwan, with his wife, Donna Dodson. They are building a monumental sculpture that connects Keelung with New Bedford, Massachusetts, while drawing attention to the uncertain future of our oceans and generating awareness of global environmental and wildlife issues. With a rotating staff of volunteers and assistance from the National Museum of Science and Technology, Andy and his wife use the act of creating this bamboo piece as a way to explore myth making with top high school art students. You can learn more about Andy’s work at themythmakers.blogspot.com.

Anne Quirk has written two children’s books that will be published by Knopf this fall. The first is The Good Fight: The Feuds of the Founding Fathers (and How They Shaped the Nation) and is aimed at kids between ages 8 and 12. The second book was composed in collaboration with Khzir Khan, the Goldstar father who spoke at the Democratic convention. The latter is titled This Is Our Constitution. Although intended for those 10-14, Anne notes that it “might be a handy refresher for adults too.” (To paraphrase Cole Porter, “Brush up your Constitution.”)

All this follows on the amazing pop-up celebration of the arts organized for our 40th reunion by the indomitable Nora Odendhal and Gar Waterman ’78. There were two parts to this event. In the Nearburg Arts Forum classmates Holly Benson, Amy Cammann Cholnoky, Jim Guth, Andy, Mike Mosher, Nora, Bob Overhiser, Kathy Phillips, Betty Stroock and Lucy Townsend exhibited an astonishing array of paintings, photographs, sculptures and books. Meanwhile, in the Lowe Theater audiences were treated to short talks, music and art videos, poems, musical compositions and a one-act play by Jennifer “Tweety” Warren, Tom Ropelewski, Andy, Elizabeth Michelman, Mike Mosher, Evy Chan and Jay MacNamee. Although I tried to see and hear it all, there was too much talent on display to take in everything. If you are wondering if we’re creative, the answer is an emphatic yes! This event is likely to continue in the future. So you have plenty of notice: Pick up a paintbrush, put pen to paper (I’m old-school) or create a dance routine. You don’t have to be a professional artist, just passionate.

We set a record this summer for 40th reunion attendance—at 400. Nonetheless, there were classmates on the West Coast who could not get to Hanover. Our next classwide event is planned for Santa Fe, New Mexico, in late August of 2020, when, despite our best efforts to the contrary, most of us will be 65. Block out the time on your long-term calendars, because we want you to come. (And, yes, we women continue to look better than you guys. Just sayin’.)

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Our 40th reunion is here! Classmates are flocking to Hanover. We’ve reached out to the first 15 people to register to learn why they are excited to attend. The first in the class, the No. 1 registrant, was Jeff Riedinger. When we googled Jeff we discovered that he’s the vice provost for global affairs at the University of Washington, with an expertise in land reform, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. What he told us was that he usually spends June meeting with colleagues or conducting research around the girdled earth. Consequently, he has been unable to participate in reunion festivities for a long time. He’s making an exception this year to honor Phil Hanlon, the “accomplished and highly respected classmate who is president of Dartmouth.” Jeff admits to being older; he keeps hoping to become wiser.

The No. 6 registrant was Steve Silver. He thinks he’s finally eliminated, or at least suppressed, the Dartmouth animal facets of his personality. (Can you share the formula, Steve?) The proof: A really “great woman” has agreed to marry him. Steve plans to bring her to reunion and hopes meeting the rest of us won’t cause her to reconsider. Steve has purchased a construction equipment rental business near his home. There’s “no travel, low stress and great cash flow,” which gives him time to play golf with classmates Steve Jones and Bill Replogle. This is “the kind of job I always wanted.”

No. 8, Missy Attridge, always enjoys reunions, both “reconnecting with old friends and delighting in getting to know classmates I had not previously known well.” She finds this reunion especially appealing, because her ’07 son will be attending his 10th reunion at the same time. This means “we can always hang out at his tent, but I suspect our food will be better.” (From what we hear, that’s certain.)

Kim York, at No. 9, is “super excited” for reunion. This year our class will be joining the classes of 1976 and 1978 at reunion. Because Kim is now married to a ’76, “the three-year cluster is perfect” for her. Kim still loves to ski and travels north regularly to the couple’s condo in Whistler, Canada. She recently saw Rocky Geyer in Seattle and reports that he continues to do fantastic work in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. By the time Kim reaches Hanover she will have also seen Jean Rosston in Zurich, Switzerland.

Evy Chan was No. 11. The last reunion she attended was our 25th; this one will feel like “coming home.” The folks who lived in Woodward, Ripley and Smith have arranged to be housed together—it’s a reunion within the reunion. Evy notes with pride that Phil was a “Ripley Boy.” Through the years Evy has worked in Asia, Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and the United States singing and promoting “forbidden music.” (Ask her to explain when you see her at reunion.)

Whatever your reason, come see why we’re getting better all the time!

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

This was an extraordinary reunion. Jim Guth, our reunion chairman, had a single-minded focus and an attention to detail that astounded everybody. He was assisted by the Dynamic Duo, outgoing class president Nancy Parssinen Vespoli and incoming class president Dee Dee Granzow Simpson. (More on La D.D. below.) Event planner Lucy Townsend decorated the tent in fabulous fashion. Susan Dentzer moderated a panel with our very own President Phil Hanlon. John Donvan moderated another that offered an amazing look at the challenges many have faced. The only criticism was that there were too many great activities. Here’s an assortment from the news menu. 

Mark Carlie and wife Marie recently renewed their 15-year vows in the Bema. It remains magical: Mark and Marie are walking around with stars in their eyes. Kevin Carlie has a beard. Alright, it’s a little gray, but finally we can tell the two of them apart!

Dave Wood’s business continues to thrive. He’s in all 50 states, has pretty much conquered South America and is headed to the Far East. What does he do? When Dave first told me, he made me promise not to laugh. Readers should adhere to the same standard. Dave runs the world’s largest school—for wedding planners.

After 20 years in marketing and 16 years as an executive recruiter, Connie Milender Goebel turned her back on the corporate world to follow her passion. She founded Be HeartWired and now offers self-care programming for caregivers, especially those with aging parents. She also teaches Qigong, a 5,000-year-old Chinese mind-body practice that uses breath and gentle movement to cultivate our “life energy.”

Gentleman farmer Brian Deevy was in the news as “a giant pumpkin hobbyist.” As the Denver Zoo prepared for its Boo at the Zoo event, Brian donated two 600-pound pumpkins for Bodhi, a 12-year-old Asian elephant, to crush. Or as reported, “squish the squashes.” (I couldn’t begin to make this up.)

Incoming class president Dee Dee Granzow Simpson is midway through her “year of saying yes.” Inspired by the book by Shonda Rhimes ’91, Dee Dee is agreeing to all the (legal and moral) proposals coming her way. That’s how we landed her as president.

Both of my co-secretaries crumped at the last minute and missed reunion. Drew Kintzinger’s daughter beseeched dear old dad to spend Father’s Day with her. An old Japanese client of financier Eric Edmondson couldn’t face his corporate crisis without Eric by his side. There are worse problems.

This reunion was so amazing that a mini-reunion is already in the works for 2020 to celebrate our 65th birthdays. Santa Fe, New Mexico, here we come!

Although these stories are light-hearted, please understand that something special occurred in Hanover. Everybody has a happy story to share. Most of us have scars though too, right beneath the surface. Life hasn’t been perfect. Call a classmate you haven’t seen in a while. Set aside some time. Work to get to the real deal. It will be worth the trouble.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Our 40th reunion is coming June 15-18! Our tent will be in front of the gym, with the tents of the classes of ’78 and ’76 nearby. Register at alumni.dartmouth.edu/reunions/1977 and then contact your roommate, teammate, frat brother, old flame or anybody else you would love to see. We want everyone! There will be a craft beer, wine, coffee and cheese tasting on Thursday evening at Pete Volanakis’ home, a Friday pop-up arts celebration in the new Black Family Visual Arts Center (organized by Nora Odendahl), a Saturday “cluster” lunch on Baker lawn with a performance by the ’76, ’77 and ’78 Aires and Distractions, an “Imagine” panel moderated by John Donvan featuring classmates who have reinvented their lives, a dinner on Phil Hanlon and Gail Gentes’ lawn on Saturday evening, and a memorial service for those who left us too soon. You won’t want to miss any of it.

Here’s a sneak preview of what classmates have been doing. Tom Foster has taught history at Choate for 34 years. If you would like to improve your knowledge of U.S. history or political science, Tom can provide a syllabus. Betsy Fauver Stueber helps the Cleveland Book Bank, which gathers gently used children’s books and distributes them to underprivileged kids. Although Dan Mahony still has a day job, his passion is making wine. You can taste the fruits of his labor at the Thursday evening tasting. Not to be outdone, Mac Taylor bought Morrell’s wine bar and store at Rockefeller Center. In addition to his longtime finance career, Mac assists Leslie Bradford, Kent Dauten, Pam Perkins and Bob Baum with reunion fundraising. Jill Shaw Woolworth and her husband, Rick ’74, have enrolled in a yearlong program in the Distinguished Career Institute at Stanford. They will spend a year in Palo Alto, California, taking courses with a group of 30 others. Edy Ullman attended the celebration of 40 years of women’s rowing in Hanover this fall with classmates Terrie Alafat, Nancy Fisher-Allison, Marianne Enos Walsh and Maud Iselin Welles. Edy’s favorite quote from the event was, “Rowing made us what we are today. If you can survive a 2K, you can do anything!” Stacy Miller LaBare enjoys her Tennessee mountain house with husband Dennis and a pack of dogs. They ski, bike, hunt and scuba dive. She has just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, which she began on her freshman trip 47 years ago.

Sadly, Rick Bruno lost his battle with cancer last November 25. Rick, along with George Burnett and Rick Serko, were the stalwart threesome of Mid Mass. Rick invited everyone in the dorm daily to group dinners at Thayer—he left no one out and was a friend to many. He will be missed.

Online registration for reunion is live and waiting for you! Come celebrate friendships, old times and new beginnings, because we’re getting “be77er all the time!”

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; akintzinger@hunton.com

Hi! We are Drew Kintzinger, Eric Edmondson and Robin Gosnell, your new class secretaries. We thank John Bird for his long service in this post and humbly note that it takes three of us to replace him.

Here’s our news. Drew practices municipal finance law in Washington, D.C., teaches part-time at Georgetown University Law School, and is CEO of the Bank of Dad. Eric is a finance guy in San Francisco with three daughters. He complains that Robin only texts about this column when he’s about to take a swing on the golf course. Robin has joined the board of her kids’ day school and become a Rutgers Master Gardener. To her surprise, she enjoys the scientific lectures she has to attend to maintain this certification.

Jose Fernandez writes, “Of course I am coming to reunion!” Jose left the Obama White House three years ago to join Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he is co-chair of the firm’s Latin America group. His practice focuses on mergers, acquisitions and general finance in emerging markets around the world. Although Jose demurs, we wonder whether there might be a position in a future administration. Stay tuned.

George Shackelford’s exhibit, Monet: The Early Years, garners praise from coast to coast. The New York Times proclaims it “groundbreaking.” The San Francisco Chronicle raves “dazzling.”

Lea Sikora Finck, a clinical dietitian, still skis, bikes, hikes and runs marathons, qualifying for the Boston marathon last April. The exercise helps her keep up with her three “simply delightful” grandsons. She and her husband celebrated the last college tuition payment for their youngest child with champagne. For those who have tuition payments yet to make, stocking the fridge with bubbly may ease the journey. Just saying.

Kathy Kelley Cimina continues to run her Jazzercise franchise. As Kathy’s daughter lives in Montpelier, Vermont, Kathy occasionally passes through Hanover. She misses Daryl O’Brien, who passed away a year ago. The Distractions plan a tribute to Daryl at reunion.

Sandy Woods and Doug Mavor had a three-week adventure in the Grand Canyon, which included surviving flash floods, having an injured friend helicoptered out and rescuing a lost hiker suffering from hypothermia. (Who else does this stuff?)

Artists, authors and performers in the class will stage a reunion showcase in conjunction with the class of 1978. This event will feature an art exhibit, public readings, an online directory of the participants’ collected works and a personal challenge class. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact Nora Odendahl ASAP at nora.odendahl@gmail.com or check the class website at www.dar7mou7h.com.

Reunion, like winter, is coming. It is June 15 to 18. Every classmate mentioned here except one has already made plans to attend. Don’t miss out!

Almost 40 years after graduation, we have all had our triumphs, and our tragedies. History and friendship bind us together. We each have stories we can only share with one another, lessons we can only learn from one another. Please send us your news.

Robin Gosnell, 31 Elm Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540; robins.nest@icloud.com; Eric Edmondson, Signal Hill Capital LLC, 425 California St., Suite 19, San Francisco, CA 94104; eweedmondson@gmail.com; Drew Kintzinger, 2400 M St. NW, Apt. 914, Washington, DC 20037; andrew4616@msn.com
 

Please bear with me as I fill in for yet another issue as we continue to search for a new class secretary. Let me know if you are interested.

As I was sitting in the physical therapist’s office awaiting my appointment, as I am sure many of us are doing these days, I picked up a copy of the August New Hampshire Home. The first article I came upon mentioned Treffle La Fleche of LDa Architecture and Interiors LLP in Cambridge, Massachusetts, showing a gorgeous home he designed on Squam Lake. It “combines a traditional New England aesthetic with modern appeal.” The owners said, “Treffle really listened to what we wanted. He has a great way of telling stories about how to use a space. They make you understand what needs to be there for it to work.” Congratulations, Treff! The home looks spectacular.

In between physical therapy appointments, you might want to treat yourself to a Mad Mini. According to Mark Robinson, “Mad Minis are a result of our search for a fun, great tasting dessert made with responsibly sourced, clean ingredients”—real ice cream, no artificial ingredients and only 60 calories each. Mad Minis are the first product of Little Something Foods, LLC, which Mark cofounded in 2013 and is currently managing.

Our most important class news of the moment: the Dartmouth 40th reunion with ’76 and ’78, June 15-18, 2017! We are getting “better all the time!” Reunion chair Jim Guth is already running with it full steam ahead. The reunion committee is expanding daily, with Lucy Townsend, of L.M. Townsend Catering in Cooperstown, New York, providing Jim and the reunion committee with her valuable event planning advice as she has done so well for so many past reunions; Amy Cholnoky, fly fisherperson extraordinaire; Ellen Sen, GE rocket scientist; Penny Rashin, upcoming ladies golf touring pro; and Liz Kadin, super financier, at her side.

Bill Replogle, chief mechanic of Sparky’s Garage, a creative, think tank, advertising agency, is already thinking better all the time for our 40th! Betsy Stueber, Rory Laughna and Liz Kadin are pulling together an “Imagine” panel, to explore second careers. Bob Baum and Pam Perkins are strategizing with you agents out there to make sure our gift to the College is of Dartmouthian proportion. Ann Duffy is awaiting your poetry and reunion book club suggestions. Dee Dee Simpson and yours truly are searching for the best lobster and steak in the Upper Valley. Dee Dee will also be organizing the ’76-’78 women’s breakfast, while Eric Edmondson will be in charge of the men’s breakfast! Ha! Bets Kent, Holly Benson and Leslie Bradford will assist in all and any ways possible. Pete and Cathy Volanakis and Phil Hanlon and Gail Gentes have graciously invited us to their homes for Thursday’s and Saturday’s dinners.

Jill ’78 and Gary Rogers, class brew- and webmaster, are organizing a craft brew tasting on Thursday night. By the way, classmates who are dedicated homebrewers are invited to brew for the event and proudly serve their wares! Gary, a homebrewer for more than 30 years who will be opening a craft brewery in Massachusetts early next year, will have several kegs of his beers on tap. Sam Hoar, Rory Laughna and Pete Volanakis have already signed on. How ’bout you? Contact Gary (garyallenrogers@gmail.com) directly for more information and to register.

Join the 40th reunion crowd! I am sure you have something to offer that will make this reunion better than ever. And, don’t finalize your flights until you check our schedule—there will be class events running from Thursday afternoon through late Sunday morning.

Nancy Vespoli, 604 West Lake Ave., Guilford, CT 06437; nancy.vespoli@snet.net

I, Nancy Vespoli, am standing in for class secretary John Bird this time around. Be sure to save the date for our 40th reunion with the classes of ’76 and ’78, less than one year away: June 15-18, 2017. Penny Kurr Rashin hosted ’77s for an afternoon of golf at her Country Club of New Canaan in Connecticut on June 7. Two foursomes, including Penny, Ann Duffy, Dan Mahony,Kim and Mac Taylor, Tuck and Leslie Bradford and yours truly, participated. We dusted off our brassies, baffies and mashie niblicks for an exciting round on the course with a stop at the 19th afterward. Mark Pruner had more important business to tend to, so while we played he made enough on real estate deals in Greenwich, Connecticut, to buy the drinks. Thank you, Penny and Mark! More games to follow, and if you are inclined to host a similar event, let our mini-reunion chair Leslie Bradford (leslie.e.bradford@gmail.com) know! We can get you subsidies!

I recently visited Bets Kent in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In January she retired from a 28-year career at Cambridge Associates and also married John Everett, MIT ’76. She has just completed a vacation home on Pleasant Lake in New London, New Hampshire. Talk about revving up after 60! Sounds like a great start.

Down in Fort Worth, Texas, George Shackelford—deputy director of the Kimbell Art Museum—reports that he is putting the finishing touches on this fall’s upcoming exhibition. Monet: The Early Years will feature 65 paintings, including the Impressionist artist’s first exhibited work (1858) and most of the best-known masterpieces of the 1860s and early 1870s. Loans are coming from museums in Europe and North America (the usual suspects, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Met, the National Gallery, among many others), as well as from private collections. You can see the exhibition October 16 through January 29, 2017, at the Kimbell and February 25 to May 29, 2017, at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor. Sounds like two great opportunities for mini-reunions!

Max Anderson is also in the art news. The New York Times reports that Max “will become the president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta, which preserves and promotes works by self-taught African American artists, primarily in the South.” Congratulations, Max!

Leslie Bradford sent this report. “Many of you know Dave Wood, and read his moving column in Dartmouth Alumni Magazine in the November-December 2015 issue in which he wrote about mental illness, the need to confront and de-stigmatize it and, most importantly, of his own personal struggles of and with his son and family. Unfortunately, a number of classmates gathered on June 3 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, for a memorial service for David Wood IV, who passed away in May and was beautifully remembered at the service. Dave and Bobbie were steadfast in their love and support for “Young David” and Dave’s call to action to bring mental health issues into the open was inspiring. The church was packed, reflecting the love and warmth and breadth of the community.”

Nancy Vespoli, 604 West Lake Ave., Guilford, CT 06437; (203) 887-9872; nancy.vespoli@snet.net

Mark Robinson has a lot of news to impart: “Wife Clare (Williams ’80) and I have had the pleasure of visiting Hanover on numerous occasions through the years to visit my mom and dad ’45, who retired there in the mid-1980s. Visits took on a multi-generational dimension in the 2000s when our youngest, Matt, became a ’13. That was a real treat for all. We enjoyed watching Matt’s rugby games, oftentimes officiated by Sam Hoar. For the past several years I have gotten together with fellow Zetes Ray Bankert, Tom Cohn, Scott Farr, Tom Pell and Rich Sarner in the annual Zeta Psi golf outing in Hanover—to play golf and tell exaggerated stories over dinner and around the beer pong table.”

“I am still at it, work-wise. After spending 20-plus years in a family manufacturing business, my career took me to a private equity-backed manufacturing company in need of a turnaround and then to an ice cream novelty startup business. Most recently I launched a new company to make and market fun, all-natural, portion-controlled desserts, the first of which is Mad Minis—small, Oreo-like ice cream cookie sandwiches. We launched in 75 stores in New England in 2015 and expect to have 1,000 retail locations nationwide in 2016. Getting a frozen product made successfully and consistently, into retail stores with limited shelf space, that the consumer will love and buy repeatedly has been challenging and fun! This year will determine whether Mad Minis resonate with the consumer. We need all the consumers we can get! Check us out at www.madminifoods.com or facebook.com/madminifoods and, more importantly, try our product and let us know what you think.

“We see other ’77s and their wives here in the Boston area: Frank McNamara and Lisa ’78, Bart Geer, Tom Barnico, Rory Laughna and Gary Rogers and Jill ’78. We also see Jane Kirstetter Ingram ’78 and her husband, Jeff, when she travels back to New England from her new residence in N.Y.C.”

Dr. Darrell Groves writes that he is working as an assistant professor in educational leadership at Clark Atlanta University and as an adjunct professor at Mercer University. “My wife, Barbara, retired last year from the Food and Drug Administration and our daughter, Ayanna, is now completing her master’s at Georgia State University in psychology after completing her B.A. at Emory University, where she played tennis for two years. I continue to be very involved in my church, sing in one of the choirs, stay involved in community service and play league tennis. We recently attended the birthday party for Clifton Marshall and had a great time! My wife and I look forward to visiting Hanover next spring for a reunion with the Dartmouth Aires!”

Bill Hammett of course is “still loving life in Sonoma, California, after 22 years here. Proud of my three sons (including Sean ’14) making their way in the world. Racing in the 24 Hours of Lemons series; gotta love the adrenaline rush. Just married Julie deLeuze, a fantastic girl, and looking forward happily to my 60s and beyond.”

Reunion chair Jim Guth exhorts you to mark your calendars to reconnect with classmates at our fantabulous 40th reunion in Hanover on June 15-18, 2017. “Class of ’77 activities will be held with the classes of ’76 and ’78. You don’t want to miss this one!”

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Lots of good news from harrier coach Barry Harwick: “I am now in my 24th year of coaching track and cross-country at Dartmouth. Two of the students on this year’s team are the daughters of former athletes of mine; I am not sure why I am surprised by that, but it is an interesting stat. My own two children are thriving. My older son, Ben, works for a Major League Soccer team in N.Y.C., is engaged and will be married this fall. My younger son, Chris, graduated in May from St. Mary’s College in Maryland. He captained the varsity soccer team last fall. He is starting his job search. My wife, Marcia ’77a, continues to work with the board of trustees and now has friends in a variety of classes. A treat at reunion last spring had several guys from my first team at Dartmouth, 1992, come back to visit and go for a run. If you are in Hanover during the year or Harwich, Massachusetts, during the summer, be sure and look me up!”

Jeff Gimble sent a lengthy missive from New Orleans: “I was just typing three interviews I just held from high school students who applied to the College. I continue to be amazed by what today’s kids are capable of doing, and even more amazed that I was lucky enough to go to Dartmouth. I would not bet on my acceptance in today’s competitive environment. My wife and I are running a biotech business in the New Orleans BioInnovationCenter focusing on stem cell applications. We moved here four years ago. With our son graduating from high school we are preparing to become empty-nesters. Despite all my efforts to interest him in Dartmouth, the College did not make it on his application sheet. Tuition payments are sure to be high wherever my son goes.

We have an active alumni club that keeps us in touch with the campus. I enjoyed reading that Jay Swain, Mike McLaughlin, Jan Lee and others in Manchester, New Hampshire, are meeting regularly. If New Orleans were not so far downstream, I’d try to make it to meetings like that.”

Not every class has a poet laureate, but we do. The redoubtable Ann Duffy is accepting original poetry relevant to our Dartmouth experience. Dr. David Cutler and Christine Morris did great work appearing in the class newsletter. Ann can be reached at apduffy@optonline.net.

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Sad news from our class treasurer, Pete Volanakis: “I received news that our classmate Dave Funsch passed away on December 7 from a massive heart attack. Dave was my high school classmate (Fair, Pennsylvania). Dave was a good guy, quiet and very, very smart. He was a doctor in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, who received his M.D. through the Navy and traveled through the Middle East. At Dartmouth he was a member of Beta and majored in mathematics and economics.”

Island news from Will Davis: “My wife, Mary Rose, a Cornell graduate and I moved to Lihue, Kauai. I am working as a healthcare professional at Bayard Health Care and privately as a swim instructor and masseur. Swimming and surfing with sea turtles and soaking up sunrises on the beaches is invigorating. Our residence and much of the island is getting solar panels.”

Postscript: In Mary Rose’s Cornell Alumni Magazine, there is a copy of The Dartmouth, the oldest college paper in America (5 cents) dated November 18, 1940. The headline was “Cornell concedes 3-0 Dartmouth victory.”

Place-kicker Bob Krieger kicked a field goal while Cornell end Nick Drahos caught an apparent game-winning touchdown. However, referee Red Friezell admitted his error of a fifth down and Cornell sent a telegram to Dartmouth offering congratulations. Cornell quarterback from the “fifth-down” game, Walt Scholl, would fly over the Mediterranean 72 times, ultimately earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

 

Alan Trefler, co-champion of the 1975 World Open Chess Tournament, is founder and CEO of Pegasystems. Alan has changed the software development landscape. He has created a $600 million public corporation with 3,000 employees across the globe.

Joanne Conroy has wintry news: “I have been the CEO of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (formerly the Lahey Clinic) in Burlington, Massachusetts, for just over a year. Every time we have a big snowfall I lose about $1.5 million. My husband asked if last year was a normal snow. I said yes—he has Southern expectations.”

Alex Colvin is an adventuresome cyclist who reports from Fort Bragg on the California coast: “Part of a group of 10 cyclists on a six-week ride on the Pacific Coast, border-to-border. For personal reasons I had to join the group on the Washington-Oregon border. It’s a race to warmer climate against colder weather and shorter days.”

Empty-nester Scott Cameron (son at William & Mary, which Scott calls Dartmouth South) is staying busy running for local elected office, as a director of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District board. “I just picked up the endorsement of the local League of Conservation Voters, not bad for a confirmed Republican. Classmates can check out my website or even make a contribution at www.friendsofscottcameron.com.” Scott’s wife, Holly is busy with a Detroit Tigers baseball blog.

Amy Cholnoky is splitting time between Montana and New England. She seems quite happy: “Still busy with Dartmouth and nonprofit work. John ’80 retired in 2014, so we spend half the year in Big Sky, Montana, enjoying fishing, skiing, hiking and the joy of clean jeans being our dress-up clothes! We are both on the board of trustees for the Nature Conservancy for the state of Montana, along with Maud and Jeff Welles. With three kids on the East Coast—J.B. ’08, Kari ’10 and Robbie ’13—we won’t be leaving New England anytime soon, but life in Montana is basically summer-winter camp for adults and we love it!”

Mike Toll is enjoying life in North Carolina, having moved 11 times in 30 years of marriage. An avid hiker, he is close to Mount Mitchell, a summit higher than Mount Washington or any along the Atlantic Seaboard. According to Mike, “My wife and I enjoy good health and portable jobs. Son and daughter both graduated from Boston University. Both enjoying respective professions of biology and hospitality management.”

John Donvan has co-written a new book, In a Different Key: The Story of Autism. John, who has three Emmys to his credit, casts his reporter’s eye on this persistent mystery that affects so many individuals and their families. This is an important book that is sure to spark a national conversation.

Jeff Cutts began his email with the thought that life happens. Here’s what’s happening in Jeff’s family: “Starting in March 2014 it’s been a merry-go-round. Birth of our first grandchild, Robyn, then the marriage of our oldest daughter, Bethany, on Memorial Day 2014, then our youngest daughter, Sarah, was married this past June. Just when we were ready to hit the pause button, Jeff Jr. announced his engagement and wedding this June. Retirement is not in my vocabulary! I continue to enjoy my new business development role at Xerox in human resources services group. I enjoy spending time with my expanding family and playing tennis and golf.”

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Dr. Diane Arsenault sent in a newsy email. Diane mentioned that she was part of the St. Paul’s School advanced studies program, along with numerous classmates: the late Susan Kmon, Janice Lee Swain, Jay Swain and Mike McLaughlin. They get together once or twice a year.

Diane recently met with Dr. Bill Levinger, an anesthesiologist in Leominster, Massachusetts.

According to Diane, “I am a certified hospice and palliative medicine physician and hospice medical director. It is invigorating work, part of the holistic part of being a family physician. My husband and I will build a retirement home near our home in Campton, New Hampshire. My husband is a certified registered nurse anesthetist and our two children have followed us into the medical profession. They are darn good, amazing young people what every parent hopes their children will become.

We’ve done medical missions in Zimbabwe and Guatemala and hope to increase the frequency of mission work in the future.”

Dave Bennett III is enjoying life in the Steel City. Dave is “happily married with three adult children. Tennis has succumbed to an overused shoulder, but golf is okay as long as I don’t take it too seriously. I’ve been working in a family business with my brother for more than 35 years, with another seven or so to go. Summer trips continue to the summer cottage in northern Ontario. Fond memories of the girls of Topliff, all-nighters sustained by James Gang and rowing the Connecticut in the fall morning air!”

Brad Brinegar’s cup has been overflowing lately. From 2000 to 2012 Brad built McKinney into an advertising powerhouse; in 2012 it was named most effective agency in the world. Prior to McKinney Brad was CEO of Leo Burnett USA. Brad has taken on a new challenge, leading a collaboration of the Barbarian Group, Iris Worldwide and McKinney to build visibility and growth for Cheil in North America.

Brad reflects on his time at Dartmouth: “My anthropology major taught me to put myself in other people’s shoes. It is pretty unusual to be in a situation where you are the audience for the ad you are creating; you have to understand the motivation of people who may not be anything like you. It’s also a pretty important skill for leading people and selling ideas.

“The Jack-O-Lantern introduced me to the intersection of art and commerce (though to call the Jacko either would be a stretch) and was the first inkling that I might be able to make a good living doing something that I really loved.

“Crew taught me lessons that I use every single day. I was a walk-on with no team sport experience; the way I grew I was totally uncoordinated when I got to college. So I was mature enough to appreciate the experience. I learned about collaboration and alignment. There is no room for individual stars or lone wolves in a boat. Everybody pulls together or the boat slows down. I learned about preparation and commitment.”

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Tali Arik sends word of a trip worth taking with classics professor Roger Ulrich. Last port of call was Naples, Italy.

Dr. Richard Baum took a spring trip down memory lane to an American Urological Association convention at New Orleans. Richard is a graduate of Tulane Medical School who notes that things are better than ever, even after Katrina.

Bill Ablondi visits Hanover twice a year as a volunteer for Thayer. He thinks any classmates interested in visiting campus should consider the summer language program at the Rassias Center. The program brought back memories of language study abroad for Bill.

Drew Baker checks in from North Carolina: “Just finished my seventh year at Brevard College, a small liberal arts college in Brevard, North Carolina, about 40 miles south of Asheville. We have a five-acre farm, with donkeys, sheep, chicken and duck. We have a converted barn on the property for vacationers (Fodderstock Farm) that keeps my wife, Renee, and me busy.

Aimee and Wayne Ballantyne are enjoying south Florida. Wayne is concerned that Dartmouth is preparing to turn itself into Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aimee mentioned that she had received a photo of Steve Siglio from California. Aimee keeps busy rescuing animals (including Mayra the terrier) and doing library work. Worthy activities both!

John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

News from Chris Jenny: “Life is good at the Jenny farm, but we find ourselves a bit nostalgic as our four kids make their way out into the wide, wide world. Alex completed his first year at Tuck, Chris is in San Francisco working for Tesla, Lauren is living with some Dartmouth pals in Boston (working for Putnam Investments) and Lizzie will be a first-year (when did we lose the term freshman?) at Dartmouth this fall. My firm, the Parthenon Group, merged with EY and I will soon be heading off to the next chapter in life after 20 years with the firm. Lots of new directions and adventures planned, including serving on several corporate and nonprofit boards, ramping up my venture investing and traveling the world with Andi. Hope to see my classmates this fall at the newly renovated Memorial Field for what could be another Dartmouth football championship season.”


Ted Boucher checks in from Rochester, New York, where he has been involved in a family business for some time. According to Ted, “We manufacture and sell hardware to door and window manufacturers. The original business, started in 1888, made counterbalances for windows that slide up and down. Headquarters and a manufacturing plant are in Rochester, but other manufacturing or distribution facilities are in Maryland, West Virginia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Juarez, Mexico, and Coventry and Cheltenham, United Kingdom. I’m now semi-retired, as I brought in a non-family member to be CEO several years ago. I stay active consulting to him and as chair of our board, also non-family members.”


Sad news: Susan Kmon passed away March 25. A native of Manchester, New Hampshire, Susan was an English/Renaissance studies major at Dartmouth and she studied abroad in Strasbourg, France. Susan will be missed.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Treffle LaFleche is a 2014 inductee into the New England Design Hall of Fame, which honors individuals who have especially significant careers in residential design in New England. He joins a small number of architects and interior designers whose community involvement put them at the pinnacle of their profession. Congratulations, Treff.


Steve Lentine (“Tunes” to his close friends) checks in from Billerica, Massachusetts, where he has been practicing law for 34 years. Steve has been married for 31-plus years. According to Steve, “I keep in touch with my Beta brothers by frequent emails, usually prompted by another Boston-New England world championship. Surprisingly, most of my non-Boston area friends find our unprecedented success during the last 13 years to be off-putting. To paraphrase the late Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks: ‘Screw ’em, this is our time!’ ”


Steve wants to catch up with Mark Thompson and I hope to facilitate that by the next issue.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Doug Cogswell checks in from Chicago: “I own and run a data analytics and software and service company (www.advizorsolutions.com). I have three grown kids. Dan is married and lives in Boston, doing energy research at Samsung with MIT and Stanford. He just got a paper published in Nature magazine, has a Ph.D. and postdoc from MIT. Heather is in Washington, D.C., doing public health research with the World Health Organization and USAid. She has an M.P.H. and an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins. Brenna is in Boston doing online marketing for CitiAmerican and ChaseUnited emails. On the side I’m leading an effort to create community in large churches—you can check it out at www.208at9.com. We are affecting megachurches around the world. As part of this I led a trip with 11 volunteers to rural Zambia for a couple of weeks this past June—the ‘Zambia update’ page has some good pictures and video on what we did over there. Still joyfully married to Kim for 34 years and still ski, water ski, play ice hockey, backpack and generally enjoy life.”


Don’t forget the August 20-23 class of 1977 60th birthday celebration at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Any questions, email Betsy Fauver Stueber at stueber@aol.com with “Class of ’77 60th birthday” in the subject line.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

We have more than a few lawyers in our class, and recently one was honored: Rob Connolly of Stites & Harbison in Louisville, Kentucky, has been inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. At Dartmouth Rob graduated magna cum laude with honors in government. Rob earned his J.D. in 1980 from Washington & Lee. These days Rob specializes in product liability and commercial disputes.


Dr. Michael Resnik passed away July 2014 after a long illness. Michael graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth, then graduated from St. Louis Medical School before taking on residencies from Dartmouth and Tufts medical schools.


Finally, Vernon Banks died October 2009 in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Vernon was a classmate of mine at Andover and Dartmouth and a true gentleman with a great sense of humor. Vernon was active in A Better Chance and was a member of Tabard.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Remote news from David Pierce: “Son Aidan ’18 has joined Alison ’15 this fall. My wife and I reside in Hong Kong, but my new role with Harald Quandt Capital should have me in the Northeast once a quarter.”


Sad news: Dr. Andrea Jordan died June 15 from complications from a fall in her home. A published expert in her subspecialty of cytopathology, Andrea majored in English at Dartmouth and was active in track, the College Committee on Standing and Conduct and Aquinas House.


From Thad Seymour: “Last June I celebrated 33 years with my wife, Katie, proving that a first date at Winter Carnival can yield great dividends. I’ve spent the last six years helping to plan and build Lake Nona, a large new community near Orlando International Airport. We were featured in the June 30 Fortune, ‘How to Build a Great American City,’ and in a Harvard Business School case study, ‘Designing a Culture of Collaboration at Lake Nona Medical City.’


“I have had fun creating a not-for-profit, the Lake Nona Institute (www.lakenonaimpactforum.org), a think tank on health innovation; Susan Dentzer has been a speaker and moderator and did a phenomenal job. And a ‘new home of tennis’ is being built at Lake Nona (100-plus courts). Everything I know about tennis I learned from my sophomore roommate Al Gordon.”


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

As of July 10 Dr. Joanne Mather Conroy was named CEO of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. Regulars at Peter Christian’s will remember her as a vivacious server, a chemistry major known then as Joanne Clark. Dr. Conroy was named one of Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Influential Women in Health” in 2001. According to Ann Marie Connolly, chairman of the board of trustees of Lahey, “In addition to her clinical excellence Dr. Conroy has a record of executive leadership building consensus, improving operating performance and increasing both patient and staff satisfaction.” Congratulations, Joanne!


Chris Jenny, president of the consulting concern the Parthenon Group, sends news of his brood: “Lauren ’14 was fully engaged in Dartmouth life. Alex ’10 is attending Tuck this fall and is fired up. He started up an athletic footwear company with football teammate Tim McManus ’12 and Tim’s brother Ryan ’15. Chris ’12 has accepted a job in San Francisco with Tesla Motors. Lizzie is a soccer/basketball/track-loving senior at Wayland, Massachusetts. I am enjoying my stint on the Dartmouth athletics advisory board—helping athletics director Harry Sheehy make Dartmouth more competitive in the Ivy League. Suggestions are welcome.”


Jim Mayfield has some sad news: “My 22-year-old daughter, Christy, has been living with brain cancer for five years but her time is getting short. Anyone working on trials related to Plk3R1, P53/P28 or CDK4/6, please email jim@islandbusinessbrokers.com or call (808) 240-3020. Hoping that someone is working on a trial relating to markers in my daughter’s genome.”


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Fred Kramer’s cup of good news runneth over: “My daughter Lauren got married in June and is a nurse at Mass General. Son Jeff is a math teacher at Advanced Math and Science Academy, a charter school recently voted best in the state. My firm ADD Inc. continues to grow in both Miami and Boston; one of our recent projects, a residence hall for Mass Art, was one of four projects recommended by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat for the Best Tall Building in the Americas!”


Rob Zimmanck also sends good news: “I have been a practicing and teaching internist in Park Ridge, Illinois, for 30-plus years. I just finished a stint as chairman of the board of Advocate Physician Partners. Married 35 years to Kay; we have sons Rob, age 31, an anesthesiologist in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area, and Donny ’07, Th’09, age 29, an electrical engineer in Petaluma, California. We brought Rob and his wife, Kim, to Donny’s graduation. Kim got to play beer pong in the Psi U basement. Kay and I do one triathlon a year. We are happy to finish!”


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

A full-page color advertisement in the September 28 New York Times Magazine greeted us with a familiar face: Dr. Michael Schuster. The headline: “An Idea Can Make Collecting Stem Cells Safer.” The subhead: “Dr. Michael Schuster leads the only team in the world that is pioneering a drug which can reduce the number of days needed for cell collection before a stem cell transplant. Mike performs his innovative work at Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York.” Mike went to Dartmouth Medical School after Dartmouth undergrad. Congratulations to Dr. Michael Schuster on his ongoing world-class research.
Scott Cameron sends excellent news. According to Scott, “I was recently elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Established in 1967 and chartered by Congress, the NAPA is a nonprofit, independent coalition of top public management and organizational leaders who tackle the nation’s most complex and critical challenges. After 33 years in and around government it is great to know that my peers seem to think I have contributed some value, and presumably still have a bit more to contribute. Congress and executive branch leaders often ask the academy to form advisory panels around topics of national interest, and I am really looking forward to participating in one or more panels where I can contribute some expertise, I hope on topics involving energy or environmental policy.”
Finally, sad news to report: Dana Smith, 58, of Hudson, New Hampshire, passed away September 27. Dana was an avid creative writer and lover of fine arts and music. He was a member of a large contingent of Exeter graduates in our class. Our prayers go out to Dana’s family.
—John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

I hope wherever you are you have been enjoying summer! In the East it’s been a bit of a washout—lots of rain and clouds. But it always brightens my day to hear from classmates. Thanks for keeping in touch, but we need more of you to come on board! Now you have two options, as Bob Leach is now writing our class newsletter; he can be reached via e-mail: rleach@manulifeusa.com.


Life is great for our class newlyweds Nancy Bird and Vin Pellegrini. They were recently in Florida where Vin was installed as president of the American Orthopaedic Association. They will be traveling throughout Europe this fall with Vin’s new position. Nancy reported that Cindy and John Douglas will be spending the month of July in England—now is the time to get across the pond!


Jackie Ackerman is proud to join those of us who have had children matriculate at Dartmouth! Her daughter Torrey will be a member of the class of 2013. Jackie looks forward to seeing other ’77 parents on campus this fall.


Peter Mills checked in from Los Altos, California, where he has resided for 28 years. Peter is “happily working” in the product design business for Speck Design in Palo Alto, and his wife, Mary, is a human resources consultant. Bicycling is a passion and he manages 100 miles a week! Two nearby ’77s whom Peter is in contact with are Kip Sides and Bob Williams.


The Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges recently held an alumni event in Camden, New Jersey. Dartmouth’s boat contained nine alumni from varying years, including a few Olympians. Representing 1977 on our alumni boat was Nancy Parssinen Vespoli.


Dr. Jonathan Bagger was recently elected to the board of directors for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. He is the vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral programs and special projects and a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. Since graduating from Dartmouth John’s career path included a year at Cambridge University, earning a master’s and doctoral degree at Princeton, time spent at Stanford and on the faculty at Harvard before moving to Johns Hopkins. 


Bambi Wood had some exciting news about her husband. Sandy Wood, head coach of the University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team for the last five years, was named A-10 Coach of the Year, after leading his team to a 15-4 overall record, including a 4-0 victory over St. Bonaventure in the A-10 Championship. URI entered the championship as the No. 4 seed, it’s highest in program history! Sandy plans to go out on top and retire after this great accomplishment.


Recently I saw my Dartmouth roommate Daryl O’Brien Palmer for the college graduation of her oldest daughter Jessica. I’ll never forget walking into 109 North Mass in September of 1973 to meet Daryl for the first time, and we have been close friends ever since. Anyone else out there still close to his or her freshman roommate? I’d love to hear from you!

Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@ comcast.net


Greetings to ’77s around the world!


Lots of news to report. Jim Mayfield checked in from Kauai, Hawaii, with a special request: “My 17-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with astrocytoma with a stage-2 tumor. While I trust my daughter’s medical team I’m open to learning if my classmates, from radiologists to researchers, can provide supplementary/complementary assistance. I’ve lived on Kauai for 25 years and love sharing my island with people. I remember Helena Sias coming to Hawaii in 1982 with a special man, wondering if I could set up accommodations for them. I made arrangements for a romantic place, but three days later Hurricane Iwa struck and they were stranded—fallen trees, impassable roads. Helena never called me again and Peter Mills later told me that she broke up with that boyfriend after that vacation!” Jim can be reached at jim@islandbusinessbrokers.com.


The DOC’s “AT in a Day” hike was a huge success! Joining me in representing the class of 1977 was Ken Wagner, section chief for western Massachusetts. Ken and I took many biology courses together—I remember slogging through local ponds for our phycology course with Hannah Croasdale. Algae has provided a good living for Ken, who is now doing water supply, lake and river management all over the country. His son Jeff ’06 joined Ken for the one day AT hike and Ken hosted a big party after the hike. Ken mentioned that he occasionally sees Lindsay and Garth Greimann when his work brings him to Wellesley, Massachusetts.


Dee Dee Granzow Simpson works with the International Rescue Committee and recently returned from Sierra Leone. She reports: “Just flew in from Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world and with the highest mother and child mortality rate. No potable water, little electricity and few roads. Driving on unpaved quagmires, we visited hospitals, clinics, villages for amputees, met with young rape victims and visited schools that we support. This is a kind of test case in which we’re staying to do some development even though the refugee camps are closed. The country is a basket case, corruption is endemic, so it’s going to be hard to change gears. On the brighter side we just bought a house in Hanover, where, so far, they have beds and a pong table, so I haven’t lost my priorities completely!”


Leslie Embs Bradford reported in on Class Officers Weekend. In attendance were Leslie, John Storella, Eric Nelson and Amy Cammann Cholnoky. Our class is pushing the College to re-cluster reunions so we could attend with the classes of ’76 and ’78. Our 35th is only three years away and the College has agreed to move us to a weekend instead of the scheduled midweek slot. This may have to put our reunion later in the summer, instead of mid-June. Our class needs more involvement in our ongoing projects, planning, outreach and parties! Please contact Leslie or any of our class officers and volunteer! Send Bob Leach and me your news.

Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Well, it finally had to happen. The well had just about run dry after two years of writing this column. Life has been very busy, so I haven’t been able to search for news and not much has been sent my way. I promise to do a better job next time around—but I’d love it if you could help me out and send news! 


By the time you read this I will have completed my section of the Appalachian Trail! After hiking a few days this summer with my daughter Kim ’06 as she through-hiked the trail, I decided I would help the Dartmouth Outing Club try to reach its goal of covering the entire length of the trail in one day on October 6 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club. My chosen route covers 10 miles of the area known as the Delaware Water Gap on the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border. I hope some of you were able to participate in this special event—let me know if any other classmates hiked that day and where. 


It was great to hear from Rich Sarner. His son Bryan is attending St. Lawrence University and Rich ran into Mary Beth Lindenthal at Parents’ Weekend. Rich shared his memory of the first ’77 classmate he met when arriving at Mass Hall the night before leaving on his freshman trip: “My parents had just dropped me off and left me in a room, empty except for Mike Zischke’s partially unpacked stuff when it first hit me that I didn’t know anyone at this place. No sooner did I have that thought than David Karoff walked through my door wearing a bandana on his head, and we shared his bottle of Slivovitz brandy!” David was one of six freshmen from Cohasset High School entering Dartmouth that fall. Our little class of 130 produced Nina Steele Wellford, Dan Jones, David Jones, Paul Donovan, David and myself!


John Bird’s father, John C. Bird ’44, sent me a copy of the book Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Included in the book are a few pages that summarize what John did to get Pittsburgh Pirates great Bill Mazeroski into Cooperstown in 2001. Being a baseball nut, I will enjoy the read. Speaking of books, anyone looking for an interesting read, pick up Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains. Our new president Jim Yong Kim’s beginnings with the Partners in Health is prominent in this story. 


Have a great fall and hope to hear from you.


Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

We’re going to have a white Christmas! I’m writing this during the big East Coast snowstorm the Saturday before Christmas—happy holidays to everyone. It looks like a picture-perfect Hanover postcard outside my window. I miss those days of trudging across the Green with knee-deep snow all around. Speaking of Dartmouth snow, I received the following news from Cathy Cook Holmstrom: “I am 19 years old in a photo taken at the Dartmouth ski jump during Winter Carnival in 1974. While holding a graham cracker in one hand and a beer in the other, the passage of time is not as amazing as the sense that I am still 19 years old! I do wonder how we ever partied until 4 a.m., then woke up to ski the next morning. I have three boys: Anders, U.S. Naval Academy ’08, Navy pilot; Charlie, USNA ’10, selected to train as a Navy SEAL; Isaac, USNA ’12, yet to be determined! My husband, Garry, USNA ’71, a retired captain, works for Raytheon in missile defense. When not cheering for Navy football, the Patriots or the Red Sox I’m usually walking a neurotic chocolate Lab and discussing the meaning of life with everyone I meet in downtown Bristol, Rhode Island. I am blessed to be in touch with Emily Geoghegan ’76 and Marian Meijer Doorley—two friends who always provide me with comic relief. Please keep our service men and women in your thoughts and prayers.”


York Kim Rosenau and husband Bruce ’76 went on their first Dartmouth alumni travel trip—a cruise from Athens to Istanbul with Professor Rassias in October. Then they attended their first Homecoming weekend in Hanover, witnessed President Kim’s first Dartmouth Night, a win over Columbia and stormed the field in victory! Other ’77s seen that weekend were Will Danford, Brian Deevy, Bets Kent, Betsy Fauver and Michelle Valensi Stacy. Kim and Bruce reside in Mercer Island, Washington.


Al Gordon checked in from Chicago with some news: “ I recently visited my son Griffin ’06, who is living and working in Boston. While there I met for lunch a group of ’77s including Kevin Young, Fred Kramer, Mark Berthiaume, Mike Brigham, John Caroll, as well as Tom Garden ’78, Curt Oberg ’78 and Pete Roby ’79. Gary Rogers was missing as he and his wife, Jill ’78, were hiking Mount Adams as they near completion of their pursuit of all the 4,000-footers in the White Mountains.


John Bird notified me that Vernon Wayne Banks passed away in Richmond, Virginia, on October 10. He worked for the Virginia Department of Mines and Minerals. He was a government major and a member of Tabard. Vernon was one of seven Phillips Academy graduates from Andover, Massachusetts, who matriculated at Dartmouth, along with John, Nick Bircher, John Elrod, Doug Mavor and Sandy Wood. Joe Flounders perished in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. 


Bob Leach and I appreciate your news—keep it coming!

Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@ comcast.net


Another snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic region—Philadelphia has had more snow this year than any time in recorded history! Everything looks quite lovely, except for my bank account. I just brought one of my golden retrievers home from the veterinary hospital after his second surgery in three years for a bowel obstruction—Valiant will eat anything that’s not tied down. Has anyone else out there had this same experience? I told my husband we could have taken a fabulous trip to the islands for 10 days with what we just paid!


Heard from Bill Replogle recently: His brother John ’88 was recently nominated by the Alumni Council for a trustee position. Bill is a fellow Cohasset, Massachusetts, native. He now spends most of his time in northern Virginia and D.C. and lives along the Potomac River in Leesburg, Virginia. He’s been doing some songwriting with another one of his brothers. Bill mentioned he would be seeing Hugh Frater soon for some golf.


Congratulations to Philip Hanlon! He was recently named the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan. Philip started as an associate professor of mathematics in 1986 and became a professor in 1990 and an associate dean from 2001 to 2004. Following graduation from Dartmouth he received a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology and taught applied mathematics at MIT and the California Institute of Technology.


Jon Collen has joined the law firm Tressler LLP as a partner in the Chicago office. John’s area of expertise is bankruptcy law and he has been recognized for his work in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and debtor/creditor law. He is also a widely published author in the field and has written the book, Buying and Selling Real Estate in Bankruptcy.


Peter White has joined TD Bank as head of sponsor finance. Peter has 30 years of experience in banking and leveraged finance. Prior to joining TD Bank he served as managing director at BankBoston, FleetBoston Financial, GE Capital and CIT Group.


By the time you read this Dartmouth Alumni Magazine will be available online at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com! And the class of 2014 will have been admitted—doesn’t that make you feel old?! I had the pleasure of interviewing 11 prospective applicants this year and all I can say is I’m glad I’m not applying now—these students are amazing! Let me know if your son or daughter was accepted! 


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

I feel like Pink Floyd, from “The Dark Side of the Moon”: “Hello, is anybody out there?” I can’t believe not one classmate contacted me to proudly announce a son or daughter who is matriculating into the class of 2014. Are we getting too old to have 18-year-olds? I know I have one, but he’s going to Penn State to enter their golf course/turf management program. Someday I’m going to be able to get into Augusta National, when he’s managing the place!


Someone I have always admired in our class checked in from the West Coast. Edy Ullman has finally retired after 30 years as a firefighter with the State of California. Not one to sit still, Edy said she plans to hike Machu Picchu, cheer on her son Max at his baseball games and schmush her apples into cider!


Mike Zischke is a lawyer in San Francisco, still practicing land use and environmental law at Cox Castle and Nicholson, a specialty real estate and environmental firm. Three years ago he married Nadin Sponamore, whom he met when he defended an environmental impact report that she wrote. Mike recently returned from a college–visiting trip with his daughter and visited Nelson Valverde’s new coffee shop in Salem, Massachusetts. Nelson and his wife, Eleni, have been importing coffee from Bolivia for a few years and selling coffee beans through the Internet. Mike was the first classmate to visit the store and he reports the coffee is excellent! Check it out at www.cafevalverde.com. 


I received notice from a group known as Hanover Partners, which in August of 2009 held its fourth annual conference in Montreal honoring Dartmouth professor John Rassias. This organization formed following discussion by members of the class of ’75 at their 25th reunion. Their mission is to maintain and strengthen the bond of friendship formed while at Dartmouth and to enhance the social, intellectual and economic well-being of its members. The ’77s who attended the conference included Armond Enos and Steve White.


My favorite source of classmate information, John Bird, passed along some news about Kathy Phillips. A recent New York Times column by Jane Brody was based on her interview with Kathy, a psychiatrist/author whose latest book is titled Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder: An Essential Guide. Kathy has written many books on this disorder and in considered an expert in this field.


Sadly, it was reported to me that Jim Jennings passed away at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on March 9. After Dartmouth Jim spent a couple of years at Boston College Law School before deciding law wasn’t for him. After several years he reentered academia and received a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is remembered by his many friends at the Four Corners sports bar and restaurant in Chapel Hill, where his picture and a plaque in his honor hang prominently over the bar. 


I look forward to hearing from you!

Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Greetings to all. My husband and I are now officially “empty nesters” after 30 years of having a child in our home—my oldest was born in 1980! They say that children keep you young, so I guess I’m ready for grandchildren. How many of us have grandchildren? Ellen McLaughlin Saturley asked the same question as she notified me that she and her husband, Bill, became grandparents in April. William Emory Davies, their dual-citizen grandson, was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and they have twice traveled there to welcome him to their family. I know that John Douglass and Cindy Strange Douglass are expecting their first grandchild from daughter Emily. Cindy and John, Daryl O’Brien Palmer and her husband, Tom, Vin Pellegrino and Nancy Bird Pellegrino, my husband, Dave, and I all got together at Vin and Nancy’s home on the Severn River outside of Annapolis, Maryland, in mid-May. The girls caught up while the guys played golf. In spite of Vin’s hectic work and travel schedule—he and Nancy were leaving for Japan a few days later—he still has a mean golf game, honed at Dartmouth when he played for the golf team. I tried to get my fellow Distractions to sing a few of the old songs, but they would have nothing of it!


Speaking of Distractions, another one of our original group, Jean Rosston, wrote from her home in Switzerland: “A reunion someday of the old-time Distractions would be fun! Give me some advanced warning and perhaps I could make it—from Zurich to wherever in the USA takes some planning! I am still singing with a very good city chorus in Zurich. We could even organize a reunion here in Switzerland—I could also arrange a personal tour of our fine arts museum, including behind the scenes!” We’ll have to work on that one!


Jeff Lyon checked in from Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with news of his recent visit to campus. On Sunday, June 13, his son, Jason, graduated with the class of ’10. Jeff enclosed a family photograph representing 61 years of Lyons at Dartmouth. Besides himself and Jason, daughter Jill is a ’13, daughter Kate is an ’05 and his father, Ed, is a ’52. 


I also received a family photo from Anne Goode Stalker from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Her third child, Peter, just graduated from high school and is attending Colgate this fall. Two of her daughters have finished college, graduating from Bucknell and Dickinson. Anne plans on spending two weeks in August working in a Chinese orphanage with her 12-year-old daughter, Helen, whom she and her husband, Peter, adopted from China 11 years ago. Anne has been getting a lot of skiing in: 77 days last year and 82 days this year. She mentioned that number was significant as she was married to her husband, whom she met at a Dartmouth/Princeton rugby game, in 1982.


Thanks for the news—it’s great to hear from you.


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Last column I shared with you that I am now an empty-nester. Next week I am reaping the benefits of my years of childrearing. My oldest child, Kelley, just turned 30 and she is taking me on her birthday celebration trip! We will be traveling to Italy and Egypt for 10 days while my husband stays home with the dogs and cat. Not a bad reward and I am so looking forward to the wine, pasta and camel riding!


As many of us baby boomers have our eyesight degenerate, we have our own Eric Donnefeld to thank for thepossibility of improvement! A 1980 graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, Eric is an ophthalmologist on Long Island. He was a principal investigator in the trials that led to FDA approval of laser vision corrective surgery and was one of the first to perform the procedure in the 1990s. In addition to his own practice, he is also a clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York University.


My Pink Floyd reference seemed to resonate with many of you! Chris Jenny checked in with the news that his oldest daughter, Lauren, is now in the class of 2014. His son Alex just graduated and played football for Dartmouth. His son Chris is now a sophomore. So one out, two more in and congratulations on such a “green” family, Chris! Rich Sarner also checked in with the news that his daughter, also a Lauren, will also be matriculating into the class of 2014! And thank you, Rich, for correcting me that my Pink Floyd lyric was from The Wall! Alison Grant Williams was happy to hear that she wasn’t the only one still out there with an 18-year-old son. Her son will be attending Lehigh University this fall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Alison is the director of diversity outreach at the CFA Institute in Chicago.


In July Gary Clohan took a trip with three other Dartmouth-educated geology/volcanology professionals to Lakagigar, Iceland, home to the infamous Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in April and May. Gary is on the faculty at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and teaches geology, geography and environmental sciences. In his many travels he has climbed to the high points of all 50 states and three continents and in 2009 hiked the Appalachian Trail.


Thanks for sending your news—keep it coming!


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net


 

The late Harrison Wilson must be smiling broadly from above with the turnover-free tour de force son Russell turned in orchestrating a stunning Super Bowl win for the underdog Seahawks. Russell is an undersized quarterback at 5-feet, 10 5/8 inches, but has more leadership qualities than bigger men at his position.


The Winter Olympic Games from Sochi, Russia, saw an American podium sweep for the daredevil discipline of freestyle skiing. Proudly brandishing his silver medal was Peter Kenworthy’s son Gus.


Peter’s Bones Gate brother Rob Kemeny has submitted for our approval some 1 Tuck Drive memories (rated PG, of course). According to Rob, “There is a room in the house called the blue bedroom. Robert Frost stayed there because he loved the view and the large tree in the back yard. Walter Cronkite, an ardent Democrat, was sitting in the library with my mother and father. After several cocktails my mother told Walter that some time ago Richard Nixon sat right where he was now sitting. Mr. Cronkite, visibly shaken, stood up, raised his arms above his head, made two peace signs and then started to exorcise the spirit of Nixon from the room, yelling, ‘Out, out damn….’


“Back in the mid- to late-1970s the second favorite place to eat after Thayer was the President’s House. It was called a ‘Kemeeni chow down’ and I hosted many, many fraternity members, women and whoever was in the vicinity at the time to a late-night breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and whatever else was left over in the fridge. The record was probably 75 people and some may still be in the house as they went on self-guided tours afterward. Good thing the folks traveled so much.”


A literary email arrived from Joey Gleason, whom you can like at Facebook at J. Boyce Gleason. His book Anvil of God garnered a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly and a “highly recommended” from the Historical Novel Society. Joey used a sabbatical from work in public affairs and crisis management to fashion the first three chapters of Anvil of God. After that, there was no looking back. Joey now consults on his own when not working on book two of his series.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Greetings from my vacation in beautiful Seattle. I hope to visit with Dr. Gary Schillhammer if he is home for the holidays.


Received an email from Rich Bane, who is doing well. According to Rich, “Transitions abound. My son Harry is a VP of operations at Steward Health Care and about to graduate from Dartmouth’s master’s in healthcare delivery science program in February. With his busy life he is still finding time to play scratch golf at Kittansett Golf Club in Marion, Massachusetts, where he won the club championship in 2013, joining Jerry Daly ’76 and Ken Kotowski ’71 as Dartmouth alumni champs there. My daughter Haley recently got engaged, so I am working hard to pay for a September wedding! On my end, I have recently moved into downtown Boston and a new phase of life. I just wish the healthcare world was a little more predictable. Still caring for our parents and grandparents, but alas, no one wants to pay for the care. Hubert Humphrey once said that a true sign of a civilization is how it cares for those most in need. I dare say, it is time for our country to step up and care for the elderly. I’m afraid this is a tsunami waiting to strike. So proud of our class, President Phil, Class President Nancy and her team. Happy 2014 to all!”


Rob Sholl and I go way back. Our fathers were ’44 roommates at Dartmouth and I met Rob at their 25th reunion in 1969. Rob forwards some good news from Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Bill Randall, former president of the Alumni Council, earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rotary Club. The citation reads in part: “The award recognizes members who exemplify leaders making a difference. These individuals are role models and inspire others to service.” Congratulations, Bill!


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Sad news first: Richard Likes of Holts Summit, Missouri, has passed away. Cause of death: lung cancer. While at Dartmouth Richard hailed from Kirkwood, Missouri. Our prayers go out to Richard’s family.


Suffering from E.M.S. (empty mailbag syndrome), I decided to telephone my freshman Topliff roommate. We spent an hour or so catching up. Tom Surprenant, a native of Newport, Rhode Island, came to Hanover from Portsmouth Abbey, where he was a three-sport man.


At Dartmouth “Soup” was active in rugby and as rush chairman at Zeta Psi, whose faculty advisor was classics professor Dr. Matthew Wiencke; Dr. Wiencke became Tom’s honors advisor in classical archeology. Tom was able to travel to Italy and to Greece on foreign study, getting a chance to study sites and antiquities, as a bonus going to the best museums in London, Paris, Munich and Rome. Tom also got to examine remains from ancient Etruscan, Roman, Greek and Minoan cultures.


Soup’s first job after graduation was logistics management for Outward Bound in Hanover. Years later Tom would build his own log cabin surrounded by 90 acres on the Chippewa River in Wisconsin, where he can stalk the elusive sharp-toothed muskie. After Outward Bound Tom earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, since 1987 and the proud resident of a houseboat since 2008.


Tom pays the bills by acting as general counsel for a local construction company. His labor of love, though, is acting as a founder and head of Songs of Hope. This wildly successful effort brings foreign youngsters to St. Paul, where they can perform songs only after rigorous rehearsals. Countries represented by campers known as Hopers include Russia, South Korea, Madagascar, India, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Singapore and many more. After 22 years there are 500 alumni Hopers. Some visit each other, rekindling the once-in-a-lifetime experience of sharing similarities and dissimilarities. Tom has received an award noting his efforts for international peace from the lieutenant governor of Minnesota, but Tom prefers to take pride in the glowing testimonials of Hoper alumni. You can read some on the Songs of Hope website.


Congratulations to Tom Surprenant for his creativity and persistence in thinking globally and acting locally!


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Paul Storfer has quite a tale to tell: “My father, Herb Storfer ’44, passed away six years ago, in September 2007. Dad was an avid jazz pianist in his spare time and co-founded the Jazz Foundation of America (www.jazzfoundation.org), a program to preserve jazz as a uniquely American art form, and whose Jazz Musician’s Emergency Fund has served, and saved, many musicians in need. It is a fine legacy to a wonderful man, and I am a proud son.


“Four years ago I was visiting my father-in-law in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for Father’s Day. During the visit my son was trying to show his grandfather how he could get the Internet on his cell phone. He went to YouTube on the phone and showed him how he could search for videos on a particular subject. He put in our last name, Storfer, and up popped a number of listings. To my surprise, one of the first listings was a recording of my wife and me, singing with some friends.


“However, when I went to look at the listing I saw a few other videos underneath. There were a series of videos, tagged with our last name Storfer that promised to be recordings of the Dartmouth Barbary Coast Orchestra. I listened to one; and to my surprise and delight found it was a Barbary Coast recording from 1942, tagged with my father’s name, as he was the group’s pianist. One number featured singing and the great big-band sound, but solo piano and group vocals. The style was inimitably my father’s. Hearing my father play the piano through YouTube, on a recording that I doubt he even knew existed, and having him come back to me on Father’s Day is a memory I will long cherish. If interested, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uotav0n91sk. For a picture of the orchestra from the 1943 Aegis, with all the recordings, check http://78records.cdbpdx.com/BCO/.


“I contacted the person who posted the recordings and he mentioned that he found the recordings at a yard sale in Oregon. They are old 78-rpm recordings and, as they were recorded during the war when vinyl was scarce, the records were glass with a thin coating of vinyl. That these recordings, manufactured in Hanover and found in Oregon, survived six decades is unusual enough. That someone transferred them to YouTube and tagged them is a wonderful thing. That I was able to reconnect with my dad, on Father’s Day no less, seemed to me to be nothing short of a minor miracle.”


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209: (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Newly minted newsletter editor Dee Dee Granzow Simpson and I will try our best to keep all of us connected with our class. I am proud to continue the literary lineage of class secretaries Griemann, Wingate, Wingate, Muller, Ireland, McDonald, Carter and Cimina, and pleased to report that our record-shattering total giving for a 35th reunion is a remarkable $3,610,000! Thanks to all who gave their time, talent and treasure. Quick introduction: If you did not know me at college, call me Birdman. (Oddly, our class alumni representative Jeff McKee calls me “Mazeroski,” the 2001 Baseball Hall-of-Famer I wrote a book about.)


After Andover, where I now also write class notes, at Dartmouth I was a history major who, despite leading a freshman trip, spent most of his time underground at Zeta Psi. Lucky enough to study French in Blois, spring 1975, I could not miss the John Rassias (adopted ’49 and ’76) lovefest on the Baker-Berry lawn, where Susan Dentzer got icon hugs as Tom Cohn applauded. Bourges language study abroad veterans Rich Sarner, Rika Pierson Clement, Mark Robinson, John Storella, Thad Seymour and Steve Cordy all seemed to enjoy catching up. A California contingent included my summer ’75 roommate Peter Mills, Bill Hooper, Tom Ropelewski, Eric Edmondson, Kristin Bjorklund, Al Henning,Carol MullerandDoug Ireland; Jim Mayfield flew in from Hawaii, Frank Long from Tempe, Arizona, and Don Wiviott from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Across the pond came a host of financiers led by Nichole Lewis-Oakes, Andrea Korman Lowe and Allen Sinsheimer. I had never met former London Goldman Sachs man Mark Luning, now in Naples, Florida, until we banged stools at Lou’s at 7 a.m. Making new friends at reunion, such as David Karoff, is easy and worthwhile. At least 11 medical doctors were in the house: George Andreae, Larry Appel, Cathy Burnweit, David Cutler, Will Danford, Peter H’Doubler, Peter Gutschenritter, Steve Mentzer, Vincent Pellegrini, Kathy Phillips and Walter Wingate.


There were lumières and Dartmouth Aires. Steam tunnels explored, Ann Duffy’s award. Percussion on the Green, friends finally seen (Mike Huffman, Saturday afternoon). Artists and authors, filets and lobsters. Diana Taylor and the mayor, “the Commons” we knew as Thayer. Bartlett Tower ascended; reunion, ended. We reflected on salad days when we became green, not too many rules, really, just a puzzling friend-wrenching Dartmouth Plan, a mulligan called NRO (non-recording option), drinking age 18, no lab science requirement, all this after the end of the draft and before AIDS. I suppose we all eventually found order from chaos.


In closing, thanks to Ann Muenzer Beams for a lovely memorial service recognizing all our fallen comrades who are now in a better place: Charles Alpert, Ricardo Angulo, Michael Antonio, Derika Avery, Peter Beutel, Wilson Bostic, Michael Brigham, Jeffrey Brooker, Lawrence Cubas, Kevin Curley, Lili Dollar, Edwin Estepa, Joseph Flounders, Robert Grafford, Adrienne Hewitt, Lynda Huang, James Jennings, Gary Komarow, John Kulik, Mark Lebowitz, Scott Newton, John Olbrych, Richard Roy, Sheila Russell, Peter Smith, Harry Turner II, Neal Webber, Grace Williams, Jeannie Williams, Harrison Wilson III and Helena Witte.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Less than a year to go until our 35th! Our class president Leslie Bradford has us on Facebook—check out Dartmouth’77 and let all your Dartmouth “friends” on Facebook know that you’ll be coming! It’s a great way to stay instantly connected and generate excitement about our reunion. 


Leslie was on campus in April for the First Year Family Weekend and was joined by a number of ’77 parents with 2014s, including Chris Jenney, Mac Taylor, Peter Bernhard, Gay Schultz Macqueen, Karen McGrath, Kent Dauten and Jose Fernandez. Anyone out there have a son or daughter admitted in to the class of 2015? It was tough this year—only 9 percent of applicants were accepted.


Bill Wedge wrote in from his home in Wellington, Florida. He and his wife, Ellen, just sent the last of five children off to college. Bill recently opened his own law office, specializing in property tax matter, specifically the Florida agricultural exemption, and he’s helping “farmers” hold on to some of their property taxes. He still spends summers on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and enjoys kite boarding, fly-fishing, biking and golf. Bill missed skiing last year, the first time in 50 years he didn’t get in at least one day.


Jennifer Leigh Warren was onstage once more! In June she starred in Diamonds Are Forever: The Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey at the Renberg Theatre in Hollywood. Director Richard Jay-Alexander stated, “The musicianship, bombast and theatrics Ms. Bassey, to me, seem a perfect match for the talents of Ms. Warren, who is also a force to be reckoned with in her own right.” To think we were all lucky to see her perform in the Hopkins Center!


I heard from another accomplished musician from our class. Evelyn Chan is moving back to the States! After almost 20 years in France Evy is moving back to San Diego, California, in order to be closer to her parents. She’s hoping her piano survives the transatlantic move. Since July of 2009 Evy has served as the first Alumni Council representative of all the international alumni. Normally a three-year term, she is relinquishing her post to a new rep as she moves stateside. 


Congratulations to Richard Bane! He recently received a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa, from Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. His affiliation with Salem State began in 1988 when he was appointed to the Salem State Foundation executive board. Rich is president and CEO of four nursing homes and two adult day care centers scheduled to open this year.


I love receiving blogs from Wes Chapman! In the latest he shared his adventure this past February when he and Pete Volanakis, Gary Rogers and his wife, Jill ’78, climbed Mt. Washington with the EMS climbing school. Wes had climbed Mt. Washington in the summer, spring and fall, but wanted to experience the types of severe weather conditions the mountain is known for!


Enjoy your adventures this summer and share them with us!


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Once again down to the wire, waiting to see if anyone will send me some news! But I must get this done before my power goes out. I’m awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Irene and hoping my basement doesn’t flood. It’s been a crazy time here on the East Coast, with our earthquake this week, now a hurricane and the wettest month in Philadelphia’s history—we’ve battened down the hatches!


John T. Bird sent me a mint condition Carl Yastrzemski baseball card! He was recently in Cooperstown, New York, for the Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend, where he ran into Lucy Townsend. Lucy caters events for the hall of fame and, as John noted, “She is totally unfazed by the prospect of a last-minute party for 650 on the heels of a soiree for 350, all flawlessly executed in 98 degree weather!” I mentioned to John that I had visited Cooperstown a couple of times and that Yaz was my idol and the reason why I am such a huge baseball fan, hence the card! He also sent news of Alan Trefler from The New York Times. Alan is founder and CEO of Pegasystems, a business technology company. In the article Alan talks about the value of making mistakes and learning from them, recalling it was helpful when he played serious chess as a young man. John commented that Alan was the best chess player at Dartmouth, and was in his English Freshman Seminar, along with Amy Cammann Cholnoky.


Gotta love Moms! Charles “Chip” Swicker’s mom sent me in some news! He recently completed a three-year tour on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon and has moved across the Potomac to his new assignment as Senior Naval Advisor at the State Department. 


I just received the Sept/Oct issue of our alumni magazine and read with interest the class of 76 account of their 35th reunion this past June. Nancy Parssinen Vespoli, our reunion chair, is working hard on plans for our 35th next June. Mark your calendars—our reunion will be June 14-17, 2012. We are the first class to have our 35th officially on the weekend, as opposed to mid-week, so there are no excuses for not being there! Visit the class website (www.dartmouth.org/classes/77) and Facebook for the latest updates, including lodging, if you don’t want to stay in the dorms. If you’d like to help with any plans for our reunion, visit the website and let us know.


I’m heading up to Hanover for Class Officers Weekend the end of September and looking forward to President Kim’s visit to Philadelphia shortly after that—I’m going to get my Dartmouth fix! Plan on coming to our reunion to get yours!


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding”—Proverbs 4:7.


Dr. Dan Lucey is making the study of wisdom a focus of his life. Dan initiated an academic symposium on wisdom May 11 at Dartmouth, with wisdom and the humanities organized by professor of English Donald Pease; with government professor Jennifer Lind speaking on wisdom and international justice; and senior advising dean from the Geisel School of Medicine Dr. Joseph O’Donnell overseeing the session on wisdom and the medical sciences.


Dan hopes this becomes an annual symposium, and dreams that there eventually will be a center for the study of wisdom as a permanent fixture at Dartmouth. It’s a great idea from an alumnus of Dartmouth Medical School (1982) and Harvard School of Public Health (1988).


Dan was one of the first doctors to tackle the HIV/AIDS pandemic, starting in 1982 in San Francisco at the University of California, later moving on to Harvard, the Air Force and the U.S. Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health and FDA. For the past decade Dan has taught at Georgetown University on the topic of global outbreaks such as SARS, pandemic influenza, anthrax and bird flu.


Richard Hosking, former president at Bones Gate and presently a partner in the law firm K&L Gates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, recently received a signal honor, being named a fellow of American College of Trial Lawyers. Fellows must possess a minimum of 15 years of trial experience and exhibit high standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Congratulations, Richard!


Finally, sad news to report: Ron Smith passed away December 28, 2012. Like Richard Hosking, “Ronno” was a member in good standing at Bones Gate. A history major who played freshman football and varsity baseball, Ron went on to get his M.B.A. at Babson College and start a business in Braintree, Massachusetts, Sports Club Management. Ron is survived by his widow, Patty, and children Grant, Kara and Ross. He will be missed.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209: (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

By the time you read this we will be less than two months away from our 35th reunion! By now, if you haven’t seen all the details via our class Facebook page, class newsletter or any of the other mailings sent out, you must be living under a rock! Seriously, please take a moment to respond—you don’t want to miss out on all the fabulous festivities planned and the chance to reconnect with classmates back in Hanover. 


I was happy to hear back from some fellow Distractions after my last column! Kathy Martin is still practicing at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Unfortunately she will be unable to make our reunion, as she and her husband will be visiting their daughter Hannah in Tanzania and will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, followed by a safari. Hannah is graduating from Williams College and is planning on following her mother’s footsteps into medicine. Garth and Lindsay Larrabee Greiman will be attending reunion. In 2010 they sold their home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and moved into a condominium in Harvard Square. She has kept her voice intact by rehearsing and performing with a five-woman a cappella group in Boston. Carol Akerson hopes to attend. She is married to Rich Kelly ’69 and had a great time at his 35th a few years ago. Carol reminisced about a luncheon some of us in the Boston area attended in the spring of 1973 to meet other incoming freshmen. I remember meeting Kurt Reimann and Ron Smith at that luncheon, thinking they were two of the biggest guys I’d ever seen! Of course, they were freshmen football recruits, along with Bruce Taylor, also in attendance! 


Good news arrived from T. David Reese on the birth of his first child. He wrote: “My wife, Jennifer, and I welcomed Thomas Carlton Reese on October 6, 2011. At a time when most members of our class are having grandchildren, we are considering the merits of orthodontic pacifiers and the admission standards for the Dartmouth class of 2034! If the reunion committee is planning on an award for the member of our class with the youngest child, we should claim the award. I suspect that Dan Mahoney thought he had a lock on it—sorry, Dan!”


Donald Gaylord checked in from Sao Paulo, Brazil! “I arrived here in October 2011 after training in Washington, D.C., for four months to head up the Open Source Center’s new office here. I love it—I’m following the Brazilian media, writing reports for people back in D.C. and learning Portuguese. Unfortunately my wife, Suse, daughter Jess and son Alan remain back home in North Carolina. I won’t be able to attend our 35th. I have some home leave coming, but I’ll be using it to attend my parents’ 60th anniversary. It will also be my father’s 79th birthday—he taught English at Dartmouth from 1966 to 2005. 


Hope to see you Hanover June 14-16!


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73 @verizon.net


As you read this column the class of 2015 has been admitted and I’m sure many of you are excited that your child will be attending Dartmouth! I can’t lie and say I miss the drama and nervousness of waiting for that envelope. After interviewing some prospective candidates again this year I am continually amazed at the caliber of young people applying to Dartmouth these days. The College is in good hands for the future. We’re hoping Paul Donovan will be supplying the class of 2033—he has a new baby to join his 4-year-old! 


Not too much to report this time around. I’m trying to dig up some class news, but no one is e-mailing me back to confirm some stories. Help me out, everyone! But here’s an interesting story from the Hanover Co-op newsletter. With spring around the corner, our own Mark Lansburgh has been providing the Co-op with early-season tulips since November from his Talking Well Farm in Post Mills, Vermont. Lansburgh started out as an organic vegetable and fruit grower in 1986 and now concentrates on flowers. In the 1990s he had a wholesale business selling not only his own flowers but others from all over the country to florists in New Hampshire and Vermont. Now Mark grows his own and sells locally to reduce his carbon footprint.


Did you know that this year Dartmouth’s Winter Carnival celebrated its 100th anniversary? As reported in an article in The Boston Globe, it was once known as “the Mardi Gras of the north” and inspired a Hollywood film. Apparently F. Scott Fitzgerald attended in 1939 to collect material for the movie’s screenplay. But he started drinking champagne on the plane from California, never sobered up and had to leave early! I’m still in awe of those of you who worked to sculpt those snow statues each year. Remember the ski jump on the golf course? Any of you daredevils out there ever attempt that jump?


Speaking of snow, my husband and I are flying up to New Hampshire tomorrow for a couple of days of skiing—I want to prolong my winter now that the snow has melted away here in the Philadelphia area. Hope you all survived your winters—write and tell me how it was!

Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

The Sunday, November 18, “The Boss” featured in the “Business” section of The New York Times was none other than Michelle Valensi Stacy. (I recommend googling the piece.)


Michelle is president of the Keurig unit of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Keurig makes machines that change the way many of us consume coffee. In 2008 711,000 single-serve brewer containers were sold in the last three months of the year; in 2011 4 million were sold in that holiday period! Michelle’s story, titled, “Stepping Back to Lead Better,” is an inspirational story of a business leader whose path to the top was helped, not hurt, by her decision, especially on two occasions, to put family first. At Dartmouth Michelle was a religion major, an unusual springboard to the boardroom.


Jeff Lyon’s youngest daughter, Jill ’13, is set to graduate in June. His oldest, Kate ’05, lives in N.Y.C. and has worked for many years at ABC; Amy, class of 2007 at Cornell, was a three-year starter in basketball and has worked in retail for many top sports franchises; and Jason ’10 is climbing the business ladder in Stamford, Connecticut. Jeff is a serious hiker who has climbed Mount Moosilauke 30 times. He is ready for June to harvest his organic garden, as the last of 16 years of Ivy League tuition checks begins to bear fruit.


Former alumni magazine intern made good: Brad Brinegar, the proud CEO of McKinney (recently named the most effective independent advertising agency in the world by Effie Worldwide), was thrilled that last July South Korea’s Cheil Worldwide acquired the Durham, North Carolina-based agency. The firm’s terse motto of “Listen, Provoke, Love, Simplify, Believe” now ends with “Tuhon,” Korean for the relentless drive to achieve extraordinary results despite all obstacles.


Johns Hopkins’ Larry Appel, M.D, M.P.H.,received notification of a sterling honor last fall: membership in the Institute of Medicine for his landmark research in preventing heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Larry is convinced that an essential way to bring down the mortality rate of disease is for the patient to take charge of his health as much as possible. Larry’s M.D. is from NYU and his master’s in public health is from Johns Hopkins. Congratulations on your innovative approach to research and your well-deserved honor, Larry.


The travel bug first bit Jeff Lelek during the language study abroad in Blois in spring 1975. Coming out of a two-year retirement, Jeff is relocating from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to Moscow, where he will work for TNK-BP (the third largest oil company in Russia and 10th largest private oil company in the world). Farewell, Jeff…do svidaniya.


November news but still compelling: Our class of 1977 congratulates president-elect and classmate Dr. Phil Hanlon. Michigan’s loss is Dartmouth’s gain.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209: (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

As a founding member of the Dartmouth Distractions, I followed the success of the Dartmouth Aires on NBC’s The Sing-Off with great interest! My roommate and fellow Distraction Daryl O’Brien Palmer texted back and forth during every show, commenting on their performances and judges comments. Was I surprised to discover, when researching the Aires online, that one of their members was none other that Will Hart ’12, son of our own John Hart! John was mildly insulted when I teased him as to the origin of his son’s talent, as I don’t remember John singing at Dartmouth! He assured me he kept his singing to fraternity basements! John and his family were able to get tickets to the finale in Los Angeles, as was President Kim. The Aires actually went out to Los Angeles in the middle of July and, because they kept on surviving the weekly cut, they didn’t finish taping until the middle of September. Back on campus they were sworn to secrecy, not able to divulge that they had made the finale until it aired in mid November. John also flew out to the coast over the Labor Day Weekend to catch their performance when his son was featured with the lead singer, Michael, in the “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” number. Our 35th reunion in June coincides with Will’s graduation, so John will definitely be attending and the Aires should be performing for us!


In speaking with Al Henning, I know that all the Aires alumni are invited back periodically for a group reunion. From our class Mark Beams, Al, Mark Lebowitz, Darrell Pierce and Rob Rennicks sang with the Aires. We spent many hours together in the bowels of the Hopkins Center practicing and had many good times out on the road on the Glee Club tour every spring break. While most of our class was sunning in Florida or crashing at home, we would ride that Vermont Transit bus from Hanover to a different city every day, sing for an alumni club, get wined and dined by a host alumni family, then do it all over again the next day in the next city. There isn’t a Glee Clubber alive who doesn’t remember our bus driver, Charlie Thayer, and the greeting we used to sing to him every day when we got on his bus!


I’m calling all my fellow Distractions to come to our reunion June 14-16 to see if we can still make beautiful music together. So far I have heard back from Karen McGrath Hill, Cindy Strange Douglass, Nancy Bird Pellegrini, Daryl, Jill Shaw Woolworth and Betsy Cox Buteau. The rest of you—Carol Akerson, Alison Baute Pierce, Carolyn Bush Luby, Lindsay Larrabee Griemann, Kathy Martin and Jean Rosston—please contact me at the e-mail address listed below. And everyone, don’t forget to go on our class reunion Facebook page, www.dar7mou7h.com, and register that you are coming to the reunion! 


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Hope everyone had a great holiday! As you read this it’s mid-February and here in the East we are experiencing the “crunch of feet on snow,” in the immortal words of one of my favorite songs, “Dartmouth Undying.” If you were in the Glee Club, the Aires or Distractions you sang these words more times than you care to remember and they are in our muscles and our brains! I hope by now many of you read our recent class newsletter online, compliments of our newsletter editor Bob Leach and our class webmaster Eric Nelson. We’re working hard to get class news and information out to you online. It’s not too early to start thinking and planning for our 35th reunion in 2012. Soon Amy Camaan Cholnoky will put out a class questionnaire online, so be sure to look for it and respond, as there will be options as to when our reunion will be held. 


If you can’t get to Hanover for our reunions (and we hope you can) one way to stay in touch is through mini-reunions. Information will be forthcoming about CarniVail, a Dartmouth reunion held annually in Vail, Colorado. But I heard from one classmate who has kept a group of friends together through the years with their own mini-reunions! Wes “Chainsaw” and Martha Chapman, who reside in Hanover, organized a Salmon River canyons raft/kayak trip in August, attended by fellow Theta Delt brothers Tom “Tadpole” Barnico with wife Katie, Rory “Bodacious Buffalo” Laughna, Orville “Ornery OrvLunking with wife Angie and children Garrett and Vienna, Gary “Hoss” Rodgers with wife Jill ’78, Don “Zulu” Thomas and Pete “Peilican” Volanakis with wife Cathy. This was a reprisal of a 50th birthday tour of the White Mountains that this same group did five years earlier. On the third night out the group celebrated Wes and Martha’s 32nd wedding anniversary, collaborating on their version of the theme from Green Acres. Quite a creative group! On a more serious note, in October Wes, Gary and Jill and Pete climbed Mt. Whitney, a 1,449-foot peak in the Sierra Nevada range in California. Mt. Moosilauke is a piece of cake compared to Whitney!


One classmate I can always count on to keep in touch is John T. Bird! As you may know, John is single-handedly responsible for getting the great Pittsburgh Pirates ballplayer Bill Mazeroski into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This past September Pittsburgh’s ballpark, PNC Park, dedicated a statue to Bill Mazeroski on his 74th birthday and John sent me a picture of the statue, knowing the big baseball fan that I am. John wrote what is considered the authorized biography of Mazeroski, titled Twin Killing: The Bill Mazeroski Story. John noted, “Maz has raised millions for charity since his 2001 induction into the Hall of Fame and it’s a continuing honor to be his biographer.”


Keep your news coming—nothing too big or small for us to share!


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

The 1976 directorate of The DartmouthJennifer Clarke, Frank Long, president Scott Cameron and editor-in-chief Paul Gigot—are all involved in some way in public service.


Jennifer Clarke is the executive director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, which she joined in February 2006. She had been a partner for 15 years at Dechert LLP. At the center she has focused on legal strategies to reduce poverty and discrimination. Jennifer was a founder and officer of the Caring Center, a not-for-profit childcare center serving 200 children in West Philadelphia. At Columbia Law School Jennifer was an editor of the law review and a Stone Scholar.


Frank Long, a lawyer in the Phoenix, Arizona, office of international firm Greenberg, Traurig, specializes in intellectual property and technology. Frank is teaching trademarks and unfair competition law to students at Arizona State’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Educating future lawyers in his difficult area of expertise is Frank’s way of giving to the community.


Under Dartmouth College career services’ alumni stories one can find “Scott Cameron Speaks for the Trees” by Lisa Birzen ’03. (I heartily recommend reading Lisa’s fine piece in toto.) Scott knew early on that a career in public policy was for him. After an M.B.A. at Cornell and a presidential management internship at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Scott has worked his way up to deputy assistant secretary for performance, accountability and human resources. Scott is leading the charge in the war on invasive plant species, blamed for $100 billion in annual damage. The U.S. Department of the Interior has a fighter who cares about generations of citizens to come and their best interests.


Paul Gigot was a White House Fellow in the Reagan Administration in 1986-87, writing speeches for James Baker. Paul won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his Wall Street Journal columns under “Potomac Watch.” I would argue that Paul’s Fox News Channel work as a skilled moderator handling often contentious men and women is a public service producing more light than heat, and the same is true with the Journal’s editorial page, which Paul edits.


Sad news to report: Daniel Haines passed away March 23. Daniel was a lawyer, a graduate of Columbia Law School. At Dartmouth Daniel was a government major and a member of Phi Delt. His New York Times obituary described him as “a true polymath.” He will be missed by those who enjoyed his nimble wit.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209: (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

Our 35th reunion will be history by the time you read this! I’m sure it will be our best ever! I will also be history, as my five-year reign as class secretary ends with this column. Thanks to everyone who has contributed news to me—it has been a pleasure to serve and connect with so many classmates. Please remember that no news is too small to share and your classmates really are interested in what you and your families are up to! You can lay to rest that often-asked question, “I wonder what happened to my freshman-year roommate?” by sending the new class secretary your news.


In 1973 Jeffrey Cutts graduated from Kimball Union Academy (KUA) in Meriden, New Hampshire, before coming to Dartmouth. After graduation Jeff returned to KUA to teach and coach for a few years before moving on to several other private schools and eventually the business world. In 2006 he was named the chair of the board of trustees at KUA. He was recently honored for his contributions to the school: exceeding annual fund goals, increasing financial assistance for deserving students, purchasing, renovating and re-purposing residence halls and faculty homes and improving learning spaces with state-of-the-art technology. His daughter Sarah graduated from KUA and is now a senior at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. 


On a sad note, Peter Beutel passed away after suffering a heart attack on March 8 in New Canaan, Connecticut. Peter was an oil analyst for more than 30 years, starting with a position at E.F. Hutton in 1979. He was president of Cameron Hanover, an energy research and risk management company based in New Canaan he founded in 1994. He was the editor and publisher of the Daily Energy Hedger and often appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and Fox News. Peter is survived by his mother and three sisters. His father, William Beutel, graduated from Dartmouth in 1953.


Hope everyone has a fabulous time at our reunion. Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend, but I can’t wait to hear about it in our next column written by our new class secretary and check out all those incriminating pictures on our reunion Facebook page! 


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@verizon.net

One year to go until our 35th reunion. I hope someone out there is chomping at the bit to take over this column from me! It’s getting harder to write—nobody even sent news about a new ’15 being admitted from their family. It’s even getting harder to write because most of the news I have this month is unfortunately about the deaths of two of our classmates. Jeffrey Brooker passed away on August 27, 2010, in New York City. He was the president and senior operating officer of a family-founded real estate company. Mark Berthiaume passed along that Michael Brigham passed away on March 22 after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Brian MCloskey emailed some very poignant thoughts to many of Brigsy’s Dartmouth friends, and with Brian’s permission, I’d like to share some of what he wrote with you. “For each of us this is a time of reflection and sadness. It’s been more than 30 years since we departed Hanover. Lives spent with partners, filled with career pursuits, children, family and friends. Where did all the time go? I am at a loss to think we are losing one of the best people life placed in our paths. A flood of memories comes back to me. Brigsy was a guys’ guy, a damn good man and above all, he really cared about people. Each of us carries something of Brigsy within because he touched those he counted as friends in his life. Dartmouth was a place that of itself meant little to me. The people who shared the journey alongside us were the magic. As brother stands by brother.” Rocky. Please visit the DAM online for Jeffrey’s and Michael’s obituaries.


Steven Mele was recently inducted into the Archbishop Williams High School Hall of Fame in Braintree, Massachusetts, for both baseball and basketball. His high school accomplishments included being captain of both teams his senior year, being named Catholic League All-Star in both sports in 1972 and 1973 and a Boston Globe All-Scholastic basketball team member in 1973. At Dartmouth Steve played both basketball and baseball and captained both teams our freshman year. Currently, Steve is a loan officer in Boston with Guaranteed Rate Mortgage Co. and resides in Centerville, Massachusetts, with his family, where he coaches his children’s baseball and basketball teams!


Jeff McKee and our daughters Kelley and Kimberley ’06 were vacationing in Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda in March. At lunch, while wearing a Dartmouth shirt, Jeff was approached by Bart Geer. Bart was also vacationing with his family. Bart is a portfolio manager on the Putnam Equity Income Fund in Boston, which he has run since 2000.


I hope as you read this column you are enjoying the start of summer and take a moment to email me with some news.

Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

A 40-year best friendship is a wonder to behold, something Dr. Gary Schillhammer and architect Geordie Selkirk cultivate.


“Hammer” lives not far from the Canadian border, in fact there is a glacier gleaming in his back yard in Arlington, Washington, though he is a general practitioner working nearby in Darrington. A couple of years ago we were watching a high school baseball game featuring his youngest son on the mound and Hammer casually mentioned that he had delivered a good many of the members of the home team!


Geordie e-mailed me that he had seen Gary last May; Geordie’s 16-year-old son hiked the W route in Patagonia, Chile, in July, and Geordie’s 12-year-old daughter “is enjoying growing up, singing and playing.” From Geordie’s bio at the Freelon Group: “At the University of Washington, in Seattle, Geordie earned a master of architecture with an urban design certificate. Prior to joining Freelon, while in private practice, he earned an M.B.A. from UNC at Chapel Hill. He is a LEED-accredited professional and a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Urban Land Institute.”


I missed the reunion class photo for good reason, as it interfered with catching up with Bart Geer at recently renovated Zeta Psi, where we were the old guys. Bart never let on as an undergraduate that he had an aptitude for investments, but now Bart heads up BlackRock Basic Value after a successful 10-year tenure as manager at Putnam Equity Income. Congratulations, Bart.


Time to toss kudos to a couple of summa cum laude classmates. First, John F. Brenner, partner at N.Y.C. firm Pepper Hamilton (which has been around since 1890 and boasts 500 lawyers nationwide), has been named to the New York Super Lawyers, an honor bestowed on fewer than 5 percent of all the lawyers in the state. John’s law degree is from the University of Virginia. Second, George Shackelford, curator at the Kimbell Art Museum at Fort Worth, Texas, received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1986. George is considered an expert in French art of the late-19th and early-20th centuries and has served as curator or co-curator for numerous successful shows, including the best-attended art show in the world in 1998, “Monet in the 20th Century.” Furthermore, in 2005 George was honored by France with the prestigious title Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres (knight of the order of arts and letters).


Another ’77 who has enjoyed Texas-sized success wherever he has been is director of the Dallas Museum of Art, Maxwell Anderson, the subject of a September 10, 2012, interview in The Dartmouth. Maxwell boils down his daily challenge to “how to make old art alive and make new art relevant.” When confronted with Dartmouth’s “Year of the Arts,” this former head of Madison Avenue’s Whitney and the Indianapolis Museum of Art simply argues for a century of the arts!


Kent Dauten, managing partner of Keystone Capital, was recently honored by the Lutheran Social Services of Illinois with its 2012 Amicus Certus (true friend) Award for the work and support he has given this agency. Kent is also active in fundraising for the College. Thank you, Kent.


John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209; (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com

This just in from our reunion chairs Nancy Parssinen Vespoli, Dee Dee Granzow Simpson, Betsy Fauver Stueber and Brian Deevy: “35 years later, her spell on us remains!” Our 35th reunion is fast approaching—book your flights and rooms now! Your reunion committee has put together an exciting program of athletics, education, fun and festivity! This is a reunion not to be missed—we are fortunate to be able to experience the beginning of “reimagined” reunions. In addition to reconnecting with classmates, attending Alumni College at Reunion, participating in a golf tournament or bike ride led by classmates, there will be a gala celebration on the Green for all classes, with entertainment, music and fireworks! Don’t miss it—be there! Go to dar7mou7h.com for complete information.


John Crowell, who shared some thoughts awhile back when Harry B. Wilson passed away, wrote to say that Harry’s son Russell has been quarterbacking the University of Wisconsin football team, after transferring from North Carolina State. Following in his father’s footsteps, Russell was also drafted by the Colorado Rockies in June of 2010. When this football season is over he will choose to devote himself to one or the other sport. Harry B. would be proud! 


Maxwell Anderson was knighted by the French Republic this past June at a ceremony in New York, to go along with the Italian knighthood he received 20 years ago! He works in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he has directed the city’s art museum since 2006. He also has a book coming out next year titled The Quality Instinct, which is a primer on looking at art. 


John J. Reilly was named the Jack D. Myers Professor and chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a physician and researcher, having authored or coauthored more than 100 research reports and also coauthored chapters in two textbooks on internal medicine. John is the principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health grant investigating the possible link between emphysema and lung cancer. After graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in chemistry, John attended Harvard Medical School and did his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.


Samuel Belk has left Dartmouth after serving the College as the managing director at the Dartmouth College investment office, where he was responsible for hedge fund and distressed portfolios and private equity, since 2008. Prior to this post Sam was a managing director at Lehman Brothers Japan, where he served on the Asia risk management committee. He has now joined Cambridge Associates in Boston, managing a team of research consultants and analysts.


My husband and I were in Hanover the end of September for Class Officers Weekend. Always great to be back in Hanover. Our class was represented by Leslie Embs Bradford, John Storella, Jeff McKee, Eric Nelson and yours truly. I only have four more columns to write before I am replaced as class secretary, so now is your chance to write me!

Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

Greetings, fellow ’77s. By the time you read this the holidays will be upon us and we are one year closer to our 35th reunion. Our class officers will soon be commencing the planning process and will be looking for volunteers, so plan to get involved.


I was unable to travel to Hanover for Class Officers Weekend in October, but our class was represented by our president Leslie Embs Bradford and our newsletter editor Bob Leach. Thanks to Leslie, I have the following news to report. Amy Camaan Cholnoky is building a new vacation home in Montana. Her daughter Kari graduated from Dartmouth last year and is working in the studio art department on campus. Her son Robbie ’13 just pledged AXA, following in his father’s footsteps. Amy was just named to the board of her alma mater, Concord Academy, and to the board of the Darien, Connecticut, library. Betsy Fauver Steuber, Dee Dee Granzow Simpson, Nancy Parsinnen Vespoli, Bets Kent and Robin Gosnell Travers had their annual get-together in Boston this fall, where they toured the archives of the Museum of Fine Arts with George Shackelford. Bets and Nancy, crewmates at Dartmouth, were also boatmates for the Head of the Charles. Robin’s daughter Georgia ’13 is president of her Dartmouth class and Nancy’s daughter Lauren is also an undergraduate.


The class of 1977 is well represented in Hanover with legacy undergraduates. A new event has been added to the parents’ weekend schedule—legacy ’tails, during which alumni and their offspring students get together. This past summer ’77s and their students in attendance were Leslie Bradford (Allie), Frank Governali (Charles), Chris Jenny (Chris), Daniel Lucey (Alexander), Colleen Connell Meyer (Kathleen), Joanette Walker-Oosterhout and Ned Winsor (Melissa). In September, after moving in their new ’14s, drop-off ’tails were enjoyed by Linda Barber (Derek), Peter Bernhard (Daniel), Leslie Bradford (Tyler), Sverre Caldwell (Isabel), Kent Dauten (Kit), Bob End (Bridget), Jose Fernandez (Sarah), Bill Hammett (Sean), David Heywood (Lauren), Chris Jenny (Lauren), Lucinda Leach (Julian), Gay Schults MacQueen (Harry), Karen McGrath (Katie), Rick Sarner (Lauren), Marcia Sprague (Rebecca) and Mac Taylor (Jaqueline). Congratulations to everyone—you have earned the right to visit Hanover for four more years! 


In mid-October Jennifer Leigh Warren performed a one-woman show, Broadway, Blues and Bassey, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Was anyone able to attend? I’d love to have a review of her show. You know anything Jennifer performs has to be fabulous!


In September Jeff McKee traveled to Hanover from southern California to attend the re-dedication of Phi Delta Alpha, which had been shut down due damage caused by an electrical fire last winter. Also in attendance were Dan Jones and Sam Hoar. We hope the new Phi Delt is a big improvement from the condition it was in back our day!


I hope your holidays are happy and healthy—enjoy your families and please send me your news.


Kathy Kelley Cimina, 6 Martins Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073; (610) 356-4685; cohasset73@comcast.net

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