While many of us were braving the elements, transitioning from winter into spring, classmates James Bloomer, Reed Webster, Geordie Lunt, Jack Campbell, and David Hartzell were alighting on the sunny golf course of the Gulf Stream Golf Club in Delray Beach, Florida, this April for the second annual Rich Diver memorial golf outing. Tom Hastings attended in 2024. James shares: “Geordie, Reed, and I knew Richie back from the Deerfield days, and so we go way back.” After Rich was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer in 2020, he was treated by physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in N.Y.C., including 200 days in the hospital. Recently, Samantha Diver, Rich’s wife, has been organizing events to raise money for research at MSK, including the new Richard L. Diver endowed fellowship to advance research for cholangiocarcinoma. On October 6 the second annual Richard L. Diver Golf Outing and Cocktail Party will be held at the Bidermann Golf Club in Wilmington, Delaware, to celebrate Rich’s life and to raise awareness on cancer research at MSK. (See Rich’s Facebook page for info.)
Alan Eagle, executive communications consultant and coauthor of two New York Times bestselling books, was our featured classmate in the virtual series “D’83 Discussions”in March. Hot off the press is Alan’s most recent book, Learned Excellence, which he coauthored with noted performance psychologist Eric Potterat, Ph.D., former head performance psychologist of the Navy Seals for 10 years who has gone on to help world-class athletes, neurosurgeons, Cirque de Soleil performers, business executives, parents, and others. Together, they explain that most of us are performers who all want to perform at our very best. What makes the difference: “It’s the stuff going on above the neck and between the ears that makes them excellent.” They both share documented stories of 32 elite performers Dr. Potterat counseled and their mental mindsets, with consistency, that took them from good to excellent. They give the reader a roadmap of steps to strive for their best and the mindset of moving on from missteps. I just ordered my copy.
Inspired by the “Big Green Love Stories: 2025 Edition,” I reached out to some of our classmates who found their significant others by way of Dartmouth. Nadia Dombrowski and Harry Carrel ’86 met on the steps of Thornton Hall while she waited to request a Fulbright scholarship recommendation to Strasbourg, France, from professor of religion A. Oden. Nadia, recently back from completing her Rotary International scholarship in France and disconcerted after accidentally sleeping through her Russian drill, was stressed. The gregarious young man in front of her, Harry, managed to engage her in conversation: their “meet cute” connection.
During the Block Island, Rhode Island, wedding of Kathy Bowler Mitchell and Russ Mitchell ’85, Eileen Lynch, a first-year anesthesia resident, found herself seated next to Jack Sylvia ’85, a third-year law school student at the rehearsal dinner. Kathy denies that it was a set-up. Wink-wink.
—Shanta Sullivan, 1541 North Sierra Bonita Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; shantaesullivan@gmail.com; Wendy Nelson Kauffman, 101 Four Mile Road, West Hartford, CT 06107; wnelsonkauffman@gmail.com