Class Notes 1985

I can think of no better way to open our column in the new year than with a direct plug from reunion communications chair Jeff Weitzman: “It has been more than five long years since the start of 2020—or maybe it just seems that way. But 2021 brings hope and (drumroll, please) our 35th reunion! What better way to recognize that spending time with old friends is an essential part of our lives than to plan to join us (along with the classes of 1986 and 1987) June 17-20 for our 35th reunion? True, there is uncertainty about what our world will look like this June, but your reunion committee is going full speed. Full speed is, in fact, the theme of our 35th: ‘Class of ’85 in Overdrive.’ We’re in our prime, friends, and we’re firing on all cylinders (spinning on all coils, for you electric car drivers)—at work, at play, and in our communities. We are planning a spectacular three days to feed your head and your heart like never before: panels and storytelling sessions with classmates, alongside a full slate of interesting lectures led by Dartmouth professors; entertainment ranging from big all-class parties on the Green to late-night tunes and quiet conversations at our class tent. Stay on top of all the reunion news through our website, www.dartmouth85.com. Now get it in gear and start reaching out to your classmates and commit to meeting them at reunion.”

Classmates making news these days include Dr. Joyce Sackey,who has been nominated by the Alumni Association for the vacant alumni-nominated seat on the College’s board of trustees in 2021. Give a rouse! Among many other accomplishments, Joyce is currently associate provost and chief diversity officer for the Tufts University Health Sciences Schools. Laura Abrahamsen is director of the Bixby Memorial Library in Francestown, New Hampshire. In addition to building the collection, Laura ensures the library provides essential technologies—internet, printers, and scanners—for public use. Gayle Gilman was a featured panelist on a Dartmouth Alumnae Entrepreneurs forum last September, sharing her experience funding, operating, and growing her own company (Snarled Entertainment), where she is focused on building content brands across multiple platforms. And check out the virtual “topping off” ceremony for the Irving Institute for Energy and Society that livestreamed last October! At 19:06 minutes you will Zoom with Marcy Sitnik Reed, executive vice president for National Grid. You more recently “saw” Marcy in a heartwarming Dartmouth roommate reunion photo from September at Eleni Daskalakis Henkel’s Connecticut house with Kathy Reilly Gross and Becky Blake Osborne. This time Marcy extolls praise for liberal arts engineers: “Whether you are a poet or a deep scientist…all of those perspectives and brains are what we need to not only fix a problem, but to reimagine more and more solutions.” Go, Marcy (great plug for Dartmouth and Thayer!).

Until our next column update, send us your news—we will print it here.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Writing this column as our shut-in spring evolves into essentially a stay-in-place summer (and who knows what next?) is an attempt to provide some element of “normal” during these unprecedented times. So let me begin with a shout-out to our class webmaster, Jeff Weitzman,for his creative redesign of our website (www.dartmouth85.com). The site incorporates links to our Shades of Green class newsletter, cleverly curated by Lisa Sweeney Herrington and Margaret Warram Marder—be sure to read the spring 2020 edition that includes stories about classmates who have chosen a career in religion, either as clergy or staff, including Bo Beatty, Claudia Broeker Egger, Ellen Jennings, Blaine Richard, and Greg Somerville. The website also contains an entertaining visual of our Hollywood Squares way of staying connected while remaining socially distant—check out the Zoom call screenshots.

Our site is an easy way to review updates on important initiatives, such as our class project, co-chaired by Veronica Jenkins and Pamela Ponce-Johnson. We are teaming up with Dartmouth Partners in Community Service to provide scholarship aid and mentoring to current undergraduates pursuing social impact internships. Ann Schonfield was a winter 2020 mentor, and currently serving as our class mentors (albeit remotely connecting with their mentees) are Sue Finegan and Ted Meisel. Anyone interested in participating in this program, please reach out to either Veronica (jenkinsvnj@gmail.com) or Pam (poncejoh@yahoo.com).

Our website also highlights “in memoriam” news of classmates. It is with profound sadness that I share the most recent news of the passing of Sarah Snyder Morris at her home in Salem, Oregon, on May 15, after a courageous battle with metastatic breast cancer. Sarah is survived by her loving husband of nearly 20 years, Russ Morris, her mother, three sisters, and seven nieces and nephews.

Believe it or not, efforts on planning our 35th class reunion are well underway with the guidance of our reunion chair, Beth Parish. We are cautiously optimistic that this cluster reunion will take place in Hanover from June 17-21, 2021. Anyone eager to chair the committee on evening entertainment, please let your interest be known via the centralized email: reunion@dartmouth85.com. And the reunion committee is interested in hearing from you about what you want to do, see, and hear when we gather next year so please take a moment to complete this short survey (www.dartmouth85.com/35-reunion-interest-survey).

In the face of the ongoing global health pandemic, national protests addressing systemic racism and an overdue overhaul of policing, fallout from the economic shutdown, and associated future uncertainty for so many, it is easy to despair. Rather, perhaps we will seize this moment to face these challenges, no longer looking through a prism of individual fear and excuses, but with a focused lens of collective opportunity. We are all learning and adjusting, and we hope you are staying healthy and safe. May your voice be heard, your actions be constructive, and we will be part of the solution toward making a difference.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

I just finished reading our Shades of Green Winter 2020 class newsletter. Coeditors Lisa Sweeney Herrington and Margaret Warram Marder made a bold ask: Would those classmates who have faced serious personal journeys around health challenges share their story? Answer: Yes! They curated (and, in Lisa’s case, contributed) a powerful collection of individual accounts conveying resilience and courage, each one serving as a reminder of our shared humanity. If you have not yet done so, this is a must-read (www.dartmouth85.com).

In the category of classmate updates, Margaret shared the following news on her and husband, David Marder: “Our son got engaged at Thanksgiving and we absolutely love her. Tommy is finishing his M.B.A. in Wharton’s healthcare program this spring and Tara starts her M.B.A. in same program this fall. Wedding is set for June 2021. Our middle daughter, Becky, is a first-grade teacher in Red Hook, Brooklyn—exhausted as you can imagine, but in a great charter school and happily living in the Lower East Side with her boyfriend, cat, and snake. Our youngest, Hannah, lives in L.A. and was just hired as a writer for Buzzfeed, for which she is over the moon! David and I are both working and counting the months to retirement—26 to go!” By the time of this publication, Margaret and David will be down to 21.

Speaking of family expansions, Katie (Harris) and Kris Robbins are preparing for the August nuptials of their oldest daughter, Heidi, at their home in Lyme, New Hampshire. Heidi is in medical school at Dartmouth, which is helping to fade the orange and black tiger stripes she donned as an undergraduate. Allison Shutz Moskow welcomed her first grandchild, Charlotte Lane Moskow, on February 1, born to her oldest son, Zac, and his wife, Becca. Zac is a U.S. Marine Corps officer stationed in Japan. Grandma Allison is hoping to plan a visit overseas to meet sweet baby Charlotte in person, closely monitoring the global travel concerns and restrictions.

I am sure there are many who recall sightings of Sally Crane Goggin dashing across the Green, field hockey stick in hand, to face another challenging opponent on the field. Sally currently serves as national development director for USA Field Hockey. Ordinarily, I would not know this detail. But, in the category of small-world interactions, turns out that I have a friend who is the president of one of the largest manufacturers of field hockey equipment and (obviously) a huge sponsor of USA Field Hockey. Seems Sally’s and my friend’s paths have crossed multiple times—and did so on February 1, just as word spread of the Moskow grandchild birth in Japan. Since my friend has also met Allison through me, that news, in turn, resulted in Sally making the connection back to me and a round of “do you know” got underway. What do you know?

Or rather, who do you know? Do tell us—and send news.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

I have been listening to the Hamilton soundtrack a lot lately. Setting aside the artistic brilliance, it keeps reminding me of the incredible foresight of our Founding Fathers in realizing the importance of limited government powers. The idea that each of the three branches, to protect its own authority, would act to keep the other two from becoming too powerful creates a balance of power that is necessary for a government to function, if it is to function well. Quite insightful for its time.

Here is a present-day novel idea: A high school social studies teacher in Louisiana decided to have his students debate the same questions voters are asking themselves about potential impeachment proceedings against the current U.S. president. Why? Because this teacher viewed it as a real-time lesson in civics and political science for the benefit of his students. What is more, this enlightened educator ignored typical concerns around hyperpolarization or pushback from parents because he recognized that almost all his students will be voting in the next election and they deserve teachers who do not shy away from current events because of our partisan climate. Who knows? Perhaps this teacher will claim credit for igniting the desires of a future office-bearer—maybe even a legislator who possesses a fundamental understanding of the balance of power in our system of government and who has also developed the skills with which to discuss, debate, and even disagree, without being disagreeable. Somehow this seems to be such a challenging notion today.

My apologies—I digress. But only because classmate news is slim.

So, regardless if these observations strike a chord or a nerve, one thing we can all agree on is to give a rouse for our very own Sue Finegan (a.k.a., Stella!). Sue has been nominated (likely, unanimously) by the Alumni Council to join the Dartmouth Board of Trustees in June. I will admit to being somewhat surprised to realize Sue was not/had not already served our alma mater in this capacity. But that is only because of her many years of Big Green service: as class president, club president, alumni councilor, Rockefeller Center board member, and Moving Dartmouth Forward committee member, as well as recipient of both the Dartmouth Alumni and Young Alumni awards. And then there is her day job: litigator and pro bono partner at Mintz in Boston. Sue serves as lead counsel on numerous high-profile pro bono matters and chairs the firm’s pro bono committee.

Recent classmate sightings include Tiger Shaw on the stage of New York’s Ziegfeld Theater in October. Tiger was promoting the dedication and abilities of the many talented alpine, Nordic, freestyle ski, and snowboard team members in his capacity as president and CEO of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. Raising his paddle in support of Tiger’s fundraising call at the annual benefit was our very own Bill Tyree.

Until our next column update, send us your news—we will print it here. All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

As most of us try gracefully and quietly to enter our prime, several classmates have taken sports endeavors to new heights, challenging themselves with physical firsts and new milestones.

Kudos to Russ Mitchell for completing his first triathlon in Quassy Park, Middlebury, Connecticut, on June 2. Embracing the “go big or go home” motto, Russ decided to do a half Ironman for this first-time endeavor. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it is a total of 70.3 miles involving a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run. I am exhausted just writing about it. Russ participated and finished in under seven hours—amazing! His son encouraged him to participate alongside him, so we are not sure if this is one of those bucket list activities or if Russ has caught the triathlon bug and is going all-in for more. Either way, he will have a hard time keeping pace with Alison Cooper Phillips, who has entered the tri-world with gusto. Alison continues to place, and often win, her age group, including placing first in the Big George Half Ironman in Lake George, New York, last September. Meanwhile, Valerie Hartman capped off her November 2018 debut in the New York City Marathon by running the Boston Marathon in her new hometown this past April. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Val trained through winter weather and some aches and strains on her successful journey to the finish line. These three are just the tip of the iceberg among classmates striving to pursue weekend warrior activities. Please share your triumphs and challenges with the rest of us.

Continuing in the vein of “firsts,”Dr. Matthew Daniels recently published his first book, Human Liberty 2.0, a “powerful look at the real-life heroes and heroines who have changed the world using social media to advance the cause of human rights and dignity.” While this is his first publication, Matthew is a dedicated sponsor for global human rights, having pursued an academic and public service career devoted to the promotion of civility and freedom of conscience. As founder of the nonprofit educational organization Good of All, he has launched academic centers in three countries (the United States, United Kingdom, and Republic of Korea), created and produced the Human Rights Network (an international public education movement promoting universal human rights in the digital age), and teaches human rights and the rule of law on three continents. Currently the chair of Law & Human Rights and founder of the Institute of World Politics Center for Human Rights and International Affairs in Washington, D.C., Matthew has achieved many firsts in his unwavering advocacy of our common human dignity.

In closing, it is with profound sadness that I share that Frank Cerveny lost his youngest child, Clay, in a tragic accident in London this past June. Clay had recently graduated from high school and was planning to matriculate at Dartmouth this fall. We send our heartfelt condolences to Frank, his wife, Gretchen, and the entire Cerveny family.

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Have you wondered how traditions begin, especially some of Dartmouth’s? In this year celebrating the College’s sestercentennial, I was with a group of alumni from our graduation decade through the early 2000s. We were discussing the Winter Carnival Occom Pond plunge and the Homecoming bonfire. Several of the younger alums expressed outrage that the freshmen class run around the bonfire was transformed into more of a one-way jog. They were equally surprised when those of us from the 1980s commented that we had never actually undertaken a bonfire run. “What? But it is a Dartmouth tradition!” No one from before the class of 1988 had ever run around the bonfire, and yet alums of the class of 1992 proudly recounted undertaking this freshmen year run “lest the old traditions fail!” Anyone out there who actually knows when either of these so-called time-honored “traditions” began, give a rouse and let us know.

Dartmouth recognized the Valentine’s Day tradition with a tribute to Dartmouth couples. We actually have several classmate couples, including Sally Crane Goggin and Mark Goggin, Frances Gmur Osman and Andy Osman, Debbie Willing Carson and Dan Carson, Katie Harris Robbins and Kris Robbins, Mimi Reilly Eldridge and George Eldridge, Holly Andersen and Doug Hirsch, Amy Durno Harned and Peter Harned, Cindy Bergman MacManus and John MacManus.No doubt, there are more. Featured in this article were Pam Lower Bass and Barry Bass. With side-by-side photos from their days on the Hanover Plain and an equally timeless, yet more recent, pic from an overseas adventure, Pam and Barry shared their tale of meeting on a language study abroad trip to Mainz, Germany (presumably our sophomore year). Weaving their way through their undergraduate years, including meeting up (literally) with each other on graduation as the two lines came together in the processional, they married in 1988. Fast-forward to today—they are living in Potomac, Maryland, with three grown kids, having both pursued long careers in commercial real estate. More recently each has pivoted to the next phase professionally, in which, notably, Barry is currently CFO of Holistic Industries, the first medicinal cannabis cultivation center to open in D.C. Barry will be overseeing the extracurricular activities for our next reunion.

In case this column does not make it clear, news is thin. I have pulled out our 1985 Aegis—quite the walk down memory lane—in case there is little to report next column. I will randomly select a classmate to feature or I might resort to applauding our Cleveland-based lawyer classmate Jeff Healy, who continues, annually, to receive the honor of being named one of the best lawyers in America. I have been listening to the Serial Season 3 podcasts on ordinary cases in the justice system in Cleveland (trust me, nothing “ordinary” about any of them), so I have had Cleveland on my mind. Jeff does not practice criminal law but he deserves a rouse for practicing law in Cuyahoga County.

Send news. All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Speaking of freshmen, you are no doubt familiar with the term “trifecta,” describing a horse-racing bet challenging the gambler to select the first-, second-, and third-place finishers in the correct order. Quite an accomplishment, and a big payday for anyone able to achieve it. We are broadening the use of the word for this column to highlight Beth Gilman Hobbs and husband Bill’s parental trifecta, having matriculated their oldest—triplets Elizabeth, Henry, and Will—with the class of 2022. Does that mean Beth now gets three “DP”s after her ’85? Beth’s youngest son, Sam, is currently a high school senior. Can you say “quadfecta”?

Last August witnessed the wedding of the eldest son of Allison Shutz Moskow,Zac ’14, to Rebekah Hamil. The happy couple tied the knot on a picture-perfect day at Allison’s farm in Norwich, Vermont. Surrounded by many of their adoring family and friends, including ’85s Jennifer Archibald Williams, Valerie Hartman, Dr. Alison Cooper Phillips, and yours truly, the limitless energy of the mother of the groom kept the dance floor rocking under a star-filled sky. Meanwhile, Alison Phillips used the reception as training for the Lake George Half Ironman. Proving she is truly an Ironwoman, Alison finished first in her age group at the Labor Day Weekend event.

Speaking of doctors and sports, radiologist Dr. Kathleen Buckley continues accumulating hardware on the paddle tennis courts, transferring her tennis-playing skills to the outdoor winter sport. And Jennifer Gabler has dominated the worldwide squash courts, amassing numerous victories and honors along the way, as well as supporting and promoting youth squash programs. Jenny is not a doctor but her husband, Stephen Bloch ’84, was a radiology resident at Mass General with Kathleen. Yes, the world is small. So small that at a women’s collegiate lacrosse tournament in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this past fall, Linda Cooper Marshall (cheering in the stands for Big Green daughter Claire ’21) had occasion to catch up with relatively new Boston resident Valerie Hartman (oldest son, Charlie ’19) and reconnected with Donna Fraser Gourdeau (oldest son, John ’21). Then all three of these senior-year roommates spotted Dr. Buckley, even though Kathleen was on the opposite side of the stands cheering on daughter Olivia Gill (Harvard ’22). Seems Kathleen and husband Tom’s two children have both followed their dad to the dark side—crimson.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently acquired one of four seasonal self-portraits, Fall: Artist Eats Pho 2011, by Daniel Heyman. An etching made on nine copper plates, it is available to see in the museum’s print study room. With all due respect to the Hobbs’ family trifecta, a single piece of art acquired by the Met is pretty darn awesome. Daniel sends a special shout-out to all who have helped and inspired him along the way. Let us all give a rouse back to Daniel.

Until our next column update, send us your news—we will print it here.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

We are going to pick up the baton handed off by this year’s Commencement speaker, Mindy Kaling ’01. Specifically, focusing this class column on two of our classmates and granting them permission to root for themselves. Well, sort of—I mean, others technically passed this information along to me, but we are going to give a rouse to each of them, as I know you will enjoy cheering for them through these updates.

In case you have been wondering where in the world Susan Johnson Bower is, look no further than Greensboro, North Carolina. Sue was recently named athletic director at Guilford College. However, let’s really bring you up to date. After a three-year stint on the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s Futures Tour and three years as an assistant golf professional, Sue took over Tulane’s fledgling women’s golf team in 1992, a five-woman squad ranked second from the bottom among Division I programs. By 2005 the team finished 15th in the NCAA Championship and had reached NCAA regional tournaments in five of Sue’s last six seasons before the program was suspended due to university cutbacks forced by Hurricane Katrina. Sue garnered 13 various coach of the year awards, including the 2003 National Golf Coaches Association East Region honor. In 2006 she transitioned from coach to Tulane’s assistant athletic director for internal affairs, playing a key role in developing and executing the university’s plan for reinstating eight teams. Sue joins Guilford from St. Martin’s Episcopal School in New Orleans, where she was athletic director for the past two years. Heralded by Guilford’s president as a collaborative leader who “brings a depth of skill and experience that strengthens Guilford’s athletics department and the whole institution,” Sue is the Quakers’ first full-time athletic director since 2007. Way to go, Sue—give her a rouse!

Since her days on the Hanover Plain, Michelle Duster has been busy creating her career, and she currently is a professor of writing at Columbia College Chicago. In addition, she has been even busier preserving a legacy by undertaking work to preserve and promote the legacy of her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells, a journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist. After the Ida B. Wells Homes community in Chicago’s Southside was demolished in 2002, Michelle decided in 2008 to do more to preserve her ancestor’s legacy. She edited and published two books that include the original writings of her ancestor, Ida In Her Own Words and Ida From Abroad. Michelle has been involved for a decade with a committee focused on creating a monument to honor her great-grandmother on the land where the housing community stood for more than 60 years. (To learn more, visit www.idabwellsmonument.org). Thanks to recent interest and support shepherded by Michelle, the committee targets completion in mid-2019. Once erected, it will be one of only a handful of monuments dedicated to a black woman in the country. Let’s give another rouse to Michelle!

Until our next column update, send us your news—we will print it here.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Our class column deadline is here. And, as happens occasionally, we have no classmate news. So I will improvise and start with a focus on the news of the moment.

The 2018 Winter Olympics have just concluded in South Korea. As expected, there was a wide array of thrills of victory—the first ever medal for U.S. women’s Nordic skiing, and it was gold—and agonies of defeat (but, hey, even the Canadian hockey player apologized for quickly slipping off her silver medal on the podium). While the College touted the number of Dartmouth Olympians competing, we gave a particularly loud and long rouse about one—freestyle mogul Olympian Keaton McCargo, daughter of our very own Jenny Page. A member of the U.S. ski team for the past four years, Keaton qualified for the three-round final of the Olympic competition and was a top-three qualifier in the final. She just missed moving on to the six-skier super final. And while a podium would have been a thrill, Keaton has a bright future—and a drink named after her in a bar in her hometown of Telluride, Colorado.

Another thrill of the 2018 games was curling. So where in the world are Pam Lower Bass and Barry Bass when you need them? While that might appear like a non sequitur (and it is quite possible I am mis-remembering this), Pam and Barry are our resident curling experts. People, including me, will tend to make fun of what they don’t understand. (“Curling—is that a sport for hairdressers? Or simply a way to get someone to sweep the floor?”) But now that the U.S. men’s team has won gold, people may start to realize what Pam and Barry have known all along—that the sport of curling ain’t easy, requires a lot of flexibility and can be quite entertaining. Briefly, the sport involves three or four players trying to slide a heavy granite stone along a sheet of pebbled ice to reach a circular concentric target (a bull’s-eye target named the “house”). One player first pushes the stone so that it rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise and begins to curl (hence the name) to the right or the left. Other players (sweepers) will furiously use brooms on the ice in front of the moving stone to adjust its path. The sweeping smooths out the ice in front of the stone, altering the friction and thus the direction of the stone. Each team will do the same with eight stones. A stone may bump other stones away from the center of the target. The final settling place for each of the stones on the target determines the score.

Ready for more? Didn’t think so. Please send news or else I will be forced to learn the scoring of international figure skating—even though I would bet the fate of the entire planet that I will never do a triple axel.

Happy spring!

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Though ’round the girdled earth our classmates have roamed, her spell on them remains and continues to draw them back! Take our very own book designer and printer Clemente Orozco. Grandson of Jose Clemente Orozco (whose well-known mural cycle, The Epic of American Civilization, many of you will remember from your studious days in the Dartmouth library), returned to Hanover this fall to work alongside students in professor (and fellow classmate) Daniel Heyman’s studio art class. Clemente is the director of Impronta Casa Editora, an independent book publisher and cultural venue in Guadalajara. One of Dartmouth’s librarians was at a book fair in Guadalajara and was sporting a piece of Big Green merchandise. In seeing it quite unexpectedly, Clemente immediately put out his hand: “I’m class of ’85”—and the rest is history.

Homecoming brought unseasonably warm weather, a spectacular come-from-behind victory for the Big Green and many classmates in attendance. Friday night parade marchers included Sue Finegan, Valerie Hartman, Joe Riley, David Rosen, Lauren Sonstrom Rosen and Tim Woodward.Saturday’s mini-reunion gathered classmates Mark Caron, Laura Hicks Roberts, Katie Harris Robbins, Gabby Guise, Linda Cooper Marshall, Donna Fraser Gourdeau, many of whom were still dizzy having watched their offspring in the class of ’21 run 121 laps around the bonfire—more than 14 miles! “Crazy impressive” was the description shared. I am thinking just plain “crazy”! Linda, Valerie and Donna delighted in a Sunday morning reunion with fellow Sargent Street senior year roommates Diana Shannon (living in Vermont)and Allison Shutz Moskow.Allison is writing a book, supporting Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, fundraising for therapeutic horseback riding and (in her spare time) shepherding a 10-year-old through fifth grade. Missing from this impromptu gathering were Sally Crane Goggin (living in Chicago with husband Mark Goggin; all three kids grown), Ellen Jennings (pastor in Maryland) and Sharon Matthews (would welcome any info on where in the world Sharon is these days).

Speaking of Elise Miller, she is embarking on a new professional chapter with Days for Girls International (DfG, www.daysforgirls.org), an organization at the forefront of a global movement to help break the cycle of poverty by making sustainable feminine hygiene solutions and health education widely available around the world. As Elise writes: “DfG is exactly the kind of organization I was envisioning when I left my 24 years of work in the environmental health field earlier this year with the intention of returning to the passion and focus of my graduate research in the 1990s—namely, understanding and improving the experience of girls in developing countries.” Elise is currently serving on the board and will transition to be fully on-staff in 2018. The organization is headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, but Elise will be able to continue to work from home in Freeland, Washington, where she and husband Dan Neumeyer are raising their son, Ravi.

Wishing each of you a happy and healthy new year. Please send news.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

You may already be aware that we lost our classmate and friend Mark Byrne, who passed away in Montreal on Thursday, April 6, surrounded by his loving wife, Rebecca; cherished children Sophie, Jacqueline, Matthew and Christopher; mother Dorothy; and brother-in-law Tim Knox. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Mark’s family, including his brother and our classmate, Patrick Byrne. For those who knew Mark, it was his love of family, adventure and Dartmouth that we will remember most. For a full memorial, please visit www.rand-wilson.com. You will get a much better sense of Mark’s personal and professional accomplishments than I could convey here. I encourage you to read it.

For those requesting more updates from Woman’s Day, this is your lucky column. Among those honored as 2017 Red Dress Award winners is none other than our own Holly Andersen, the 2017 CocoaVia Healthy Heart Award winner! Holly is the director of education and outreach for the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, associate professor of medicine and attending cardiologist, and medical advisor of Women’s Heart Alliance.

Holly is also one of the country’s top advocates for women’s heart health and a leading authority on preventive cardiology. Not only is she saving lives by educating patients about proactive efforts, she is also transforming the medical community’s view of heart disease as she advocates for more attention and research for women. Treatment has largely been based on findings about men, whose hearts are different from women’s (is this a big surprise?).

A fellow of the American College of Cardiology, she helped launch the Fight the Ladykiller campaign, created by the Women’s Heart Alliance in 2014. Through it Holly has been a force in illuminating gender differences in heart disease deaths and educating women of all ages and backgrounds about the health of their hearts. She also directs HeartSmarts at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute, which she helped found in 2011. The faith-based community and outreach program aims to empower and educate blacks and Latinos about cardiovascular well-being through biblical scripture, making good health inspirational. This year a study came out in the Journal of Religion and Health acknowledging the effectiveness of the program’s methodology.

Holly’s tireless efforts continue through her work with major health groups. She is a member of the board of overseers for the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the International Women’s Health Coalition, among others. She also serves on the leadership council of the American Heart Association’s Go Red campaign, working to ensure that women have the know-how to keep their hearts healthy for years to come. Holly’s daily heart-smart habits: “I eat almonds and blueberries most every morning, I am active and I try hard to focus on the part of the glass that is half full.”

Thanks for reading.

—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; dahlleslie@yahoo.com

If you are like me, you have a stack of reading material by your bedside, with the best intentions of finding time to enjoy each one. One currently nestled by my bedside is a compilation from a recent social science study on the power of good intentions. Seeing the world and the people in it as benevolent enhances life; seeing those with a skeptical eye can turn life into a bitter pill. The general message is that being suspicious leads to a very unhappy life. Trusting in people’s good intentions makes for a happier one as constantly seeing hidden agendas will take its toll. You will be much better off giving people the benefit of the doubt as you work together. Sound advice.

While my first thought was self-reflective, my next was to send this study henceforth to the new administration in D.C. After all, we seem to have an elected leader who prefers to swallow the bitter pill. However, as they say: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” Really? Probably best not to expand on this further here and heed the forewarning of All About Eve’s Margo Channing: “Fasten your seatbelts; it is going be a bumpy night.” (Or, more likely, years.)

Now to focusing on good intentions; give a rouse to Sue Finegan for a very purposeful start to her year. First, she received Massachusetts’s 2017 Pinnacle Award on January 27 as one of eight female leaders in that state recognized for their accomplishments in business and management. The next night Sue found herself abruptly ditching her cocktail at a black tie gala to dash, high heels and all, to Boston’s Logan International Airport as part of a collective effort of Massachusetts legal beagles seeking to block the president’s edict on immigration. Two University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professors, both Muslim green card holders from Iran, detained and interrogated that night upon their return to Logan, were ultimately released. And thanks to Sue and her legal colleagues—mostly women—who successfully filed suit in federal court establishing a “strong likelihood of success” that the president’s order would violate immigrants’ constitutional rights, a Boston judge issued a temporary restraining order. Bravo, Stella!

If you have been wondering where in the world is Scott Liebman (last seen co-leading—with yours truly—a Putney high school student travel trip in France the summer we graduated), here is an update. Scott pursued a master of international affairs from Columbia and went on to hone more than 25 years of experience with international business development, startup companies and international product sourcing, distribution and logistics. He is presently cofounder of Fort Systems, a cloud-based fulfillment management solution that simplifies the process of fulfilling orders and optimizes supply chain operations, principally for the regulated, direct-to-consumer wine industry. Look Scott up next time you are out in Mill Valley, California.

Until our next column update, send us news—the real kind. That is all we print here.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

This column deadline unfortunately occurred before Homecoming weekend so we have few updates. Luckily you have already connected with the November class newsletter and saw many photos of classmates who dropped in on our reunion cluster pre-game tailgate (organized by class mini-reunion chair Valerie Hartman). Many raised a glass and caught up with fellow classmates. One thing is for certain—despite a dearth of classmate news, at least by the time you are reading this column, the 2016 election will be over. Now that’s something to which we can all raise a glass. Regardless of the outcome, everyone would agree that our very own, Lenny Gayle and Mark Koulegeorge (a.k.a., “the best debate team of all time”), should have been called upon to tutor the candidates in the art of debate.

Give a rouse to Lisa Herrington and Margaret Marder for their awesome class newsletters. Along with the aforementioned Homecoming photos and tidbit on Lenny and Mark, the October newsletter featured fascinating autobiographical submissions from several of our classmates reflecting upon their paths and careers in the arts. In case you missed any of these, check it out on our class website: www.dartmouth85.com. Margaret mistakenly thinks we hear from her enough through our class newsletter. But the truth is Margaret is typically sharing stories on others. So we asked for an update from her and fellow classmate and husband David Marder: “Kids are all out of the house, our youngest heading into her final year at UCLA. David and I miss the full house but are enjoying the freedoms of an empty house! David’s still being a lawyer in Boston and I’m working for a successful real estate firm in downtown Boston. My job has the perks of getting to see some beautiful million-dollar-and-higher luxury condos with views of the city and meeting lots of people. Anyone looking for downtown Boston living, feel free to reach out to me!” Word is Margaret provides one of the more pleasant real estate transactions for both sides of the deal, and that comes as no surprise.

Our fearless class president, Joe Riley, continues to heal after a dreadful mountain biking accident this past August at Killington, Vermont, while on vacation with a couple of his sons. Joe managed to get quite banged up but, thankfully, neither of Joe’s sons crashed. While one stayed with Joe on the hillside, the other one biked for help. Joe spent more than a month in the hospital recuperating from (among other injuries) a punctured lung and fractured vertebrae. He is back to work and slowly getting back on his feet. Perhaps someone needs to remind Joe that 50-plus is definitely not the new 20. We recommend that he forgo mountain biking and transition to stationary training of some sort. Meanwhile, we are all sending healing vibes in Joe’s direction.

Wishing each of you a happy and healthy new year. Please send news.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com
 

I am penning this column on the heels of the historical Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. I suppose I should have an opinion on this but I cannot quite determine how to interpret it. I expect we will now all get to witness exactly what it means to actually exit the European Union; or as King George III in Broadway’s Hamilton serenades the triumphant revolutionists: “What comes next? You’ve been freed; do you know how hard it is to lead? You’re on your own—awesome! Wow! Do you have a clue what happens now?” Onward!

In case you, too, are re-evaluating your situation and want to take your career or life to the next level for whatever reason (vote, or no vote), you have a resource to turn to in classmate Valerie Hartman. As we all know, Valerie was never one to stay in one gear before, during or after her time on the Hanover Plain, so it is no surprise that she has shifted gears to launch her newest business endeavor as a transformational coach. As founder and president of Shift into Fifth, Valerie offers a range of services for individuals and companies seeking to maximize their potential. Check out shiftintofifth.com.

Vice president of athlete career and education for the U.S. Ski Association, Jory Macomber is returning east to become headmaster at Burke Mountain Academy starting this fall. While at USSA alongside president and CEO Tiger Shaw, Jory is credited with advancing the organization’s programs for elite athletes, most notably the renewal of USSA’s partnership with Westminster College and creating other resources for personal career development for athletes. He is also a founding member of the Bryce and Ronnie Athlete Safety and Security Foundation to increase awareness, promote training and education and advance investments regarding athlete safety and security. Having previously enjoyed a longtime position teaching and coaching at Holderness School, Jory and his wife, Martha Cornell Macomber ’86, look forward to returning to New England. Let’s hope their return elevates the natural snowfall levels in the Northeast so that Jory can continue to identify future Olympians among his students.

Glenn Jordan, Portland Press Herald staff writer, won first place for explanatory writing in the AP Sports Editors 2015 writing contest. Glenn received all six first-place votes for his story on how traditional charity events are losing participants to adventure races sponsored by for-profit organizations. If he can explain that, looks like John and I have identified someone to take the baton as class column secretary.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Scott Borek on the loss of his eldest son, Gordon “Gordie” Borek, in a single vehicle accident in New Hampshire on May 28. Our thoughts and prayers are with Scott and his family. A reminder to all that there is no guarantee on how many years will be in your life, so take the time to enjoy the life in your years—the future is promised to no one.

All the best to all of you! Please send us news!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

I have only seen photos, but it looks like even with one of the worst winters on record (in terms of natural snowfall), Dartmouth managed to pull off yet another successful Winter Carnival as the Hanover Plain gave way to Seuss on the Loose for the 105th celebration. With frigid temperatures hitting in advance of the weekend, not even the cold could keep students from getting outside to carve ice sculptures, ski, sled and even take the annual ice plunge! Seems students improvised, building ice cold pools for those hearty souls looking to take the polar bear plunge. Nice to see all that granite in their muscles and their brains set to productive work.

Give a rouse to Rich Stoddard, who, effective February 1, took the reins as CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide. Rich had previously been at the helm of Leo Burnett North America, so I suppose this step makes him even more of a head honcho. Rich started his career at Leo Burnett in 1985—yes, the year we graduated—working on the Hewlett-Packard account as a media buyer and planner, and left in 2001 to join Ford Motor Co. as manager of marketing communications, returning to Leo Burnett in 2005. Those ad agency jobs were a hot ticket interview back in our college days and it would appear that Rich was a solid recruit from the outset. And talk about an evolving career: from media buying back in the 1980s to the mobile social media innovations of today.

Another native Chicagoan classmate, Sally Schwartz Higginson, has had an equally interesting career path. From her earlier days photo editing at Woman’s Day magazine and Outside magazine to teaching high school English (shaming all of her friends—still—into using proper grammar) to cohosting a radio talk show with her younger sister (Walking on Air with Betsy and Sal) to her current profession as a freelance columnist, Sally personifies her journalistic motto: “Everything in life is either a good time or a good story!” So while she has penned quite a few really good stories, her love for our Dartmouth years and the D-Plan is obviously in the category of a “good time,” as Sally elected an “off-term” this winter, leaving her native Windy City and taking up a short-term residence in Arizona for a change of scenery and activity. As a freelance writer, Sally enjoys the luxury of being able to work from any (often unidentified) location, which is quite enviable. Look for more good Arizona stories from Sally courtesy of her freelance column in the Pioneer Press.

First-time author Bennett Zimmerman shared the news of the publication of his book Go! Stock! Go! This humorous story follows the Johnson family as they make close encounters with their own investor personalities. Employing a Dr. Seuss style, this is certain to become the first truly user-friendly book on stocks and finance. Check it out.

Until our next column encounter, send news.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

I do not check my personal email daily and I am not connected to any social media. No, I am not vying to be the class Luddite. I just find myself jazzed by the simple pleasure of opening an envelope when someone has thought to send me snail mail, usually a silly card sent for no reason other than to make me laugh. Like the one with two dinosaurs sitting perched atop a mountain in the rain, surrounded by rising waters, watching their fellow animal friends, boarded two-by-two, sailing away in the ark as one dinosaur remarks: “Oh, crap! Was that today?” So, as today’s column deadline slowly approaches, here’s what I’ve got.

Class officers Joe McGee, Beth Gilman Hobbs, Veronica Jenkins and Joe Riley descended upon Hanover at Class Officers Weekend to share best practices among fellow classes. Rumor has it they were suffering Hanover withdrawal from our June class reunion and just needed to get their fall fix. Turning to Homecoming Weekend, our class accepted the Class of 1960 Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) Scholar Program Award for demonstrating the greatest commitment to student financial assistance in FY’15 through the Dartmouth Fund Scholar Program. Our 30th reunion efforts in raising funds dedicated to scholarship students included funds to support 40 DCF scholars this year, 10 of whom are specifically designated as Class of 1985 Scholars. Give yourselves a rouse, classmates! Class president Joe Riley was all smiles accepting this award with classmates Valerie Hartman, Lauren (Sonstrom) and David Rosen, Mark Caron, Mark and Kathy Gross and Laura Hicks Roberts also in attendance at the plaque unveiling in McNutt Hall. Lauren and David departed Hanover to watch their ’19 son play water polo against Yale in New Haven (where many other Big Green teams traveled as well), while the football team crushed Yale on the home field gridiron, with several classmates in attendance. Dave Hall and Tyler Woolson looked ageless among the ’19s packing the stands—I almost expected them to join the freshman on the field at halftime but they resisted that temptation. Additional sightings included Alison Cooper Philips, who rode the Dartmouth Coach to enjoy a meal in Norwich, Vermont, courtesy of host Allison Shutz Moskow and joined by Jennifer Archibald Williams and Valerie Hartman; post-game found Katie Leede dutifully walking her dog while conveniently heading in the direction of the football tent. Word has it Katie was likely to find Rick Weissman, although doubtful that Sean Murphy was present—he is still celebrating his crowning as “MV Reunioner,” with his bold move buttoning that top button on his polo shirt for our class dinner. Styling!

Sue Finegan continues to dedicate her invaluable resources to Moving Dartmouth Forward while also serving as president of the Alumni Council, joined by fellow ’85s Laura Fried Yecies, Mark Caron and Laura Hicks Roberts. Safe to say our class is well-represented.

Do not to go the way of my snail mail dinosaur buddies and become extinct to your classmates—send news! All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Her spell could not have been strong-er—the weather was incredible, the campus was hopping and the turnout almost 300 classmates strong. Give a rouse to our 30th reunion committee organizers: stellar co-chairs Todd Cranford and Joe Riley; committee heads Veronica Jenkins (registration), Kevin Umeh (sports), Eamonn Brady (entertainment), Karen Marsh (publicity) and Gaby Guise and Joe McGee (Dartmouth College Fund fundraising). The tireless efforts of these committee members—and the delectable catering expertise of Marcy Marceau—made this reunion gathering exceptional, as old friendships were renewed and new ones ignited.

Congratulations to our classmates who enjoyed Commencement commitments in Hanover but could not return for reunion. Others—among them Jo Ann Shannon Davey, Sue Finegan, John MacManus, Cindy Bergman MacManus—managed only brief reunion visits. Huge applause to Keith Goggin, who wins the prize for travel. His journey to Hanover was 400 miles by foot on the Appalachian Trail from Philadelphia. Other sightings included Mike Oesterlin (working in television in the United Kingdom; healing from a mishap that cracked a couple ribs, left him temporarily lost in Portugal, but did not keep him from reunion), Katie Leede (interior designing in New York; delighted that son Lionel will join older sister Lucia ’17 in Hanover), Diana Shannon (software developer; Strafford, Vermont), Lionel Conacher (joining the ranks of Dartmouth parents ’19), Sally Crane Goggin (in Chicago with Mark Goggin; making frequent trips to N.Y.C., where all three of their adults kids currently live and work), Donna Fraser Gourdeau (attending a dizzying array of sporting activities among her three boys), Linda Cooper Marshall (managing her own philanthropic advisory business), Dan Fagin (sharing tales of his seven-year process toward publishing Tom’s River and his utter shock at winning the Pulitzer), Alison Frankel (equally supportive of husband Dan’s writing while also managing to publish a book, Double Eagle—in half the time!).

Our memorial service was poignantly shepherded by Blaine Richard (visiting from southern Brazil). And a million thanks to outgoing class officers, notably president Valerie Hartman, whose heartfelt speech at our Saturday dinner brought all to their feet.

Additional appearances around Hanover, in no particular order: Steven McIntosh, Doug Williamson, Nancy Kopans, Amy Brout McHugh, Ricki Frankel, George Eldridge, Kris Robbins, Jan Watkins, Jen Quinn, Dave Hall, Aaron Hill, Julia Lane, Jeanne Miller, Mark Caron, Jonathan Auerbach, Beth Gilman Hobbs, Jackie Miller Hawkey, Kathleen Buckley, Barry Bass, Pam Lower Bass, Laura Fried Yecies, Herb Philpott, Rise Norman, Henrietta Hung, Joanna Tsiantis, Pat Hoag, Steve Hartmann, Nola Bonis, Jason Kaplan, “Pablo” David Cohn, Eric Kearney, Doug Fulton, Laura Ingraham, Dave Hall, Jeff Weitzman, Mark Koulogeorge, Alison Cooper Phillips, Jenny Archibald Williams, Sally Schwartz, Judy Stein, Lori Bamberger, Mike Smith, Tracy Pulciani Maag, Bill Maag, Julia Lane, Laura Hicks Roberts, Barbie Van Buskirk, Allison Shutz Moskow.And Darren Alcus, Rob Clements, Rick Kleeman and Bill Tyree, who were last seen closing down Pine. Lucky for them, they were staying at the Hanover Inn.

Reunion marked the christening of the class of 1985 shell gifted to the College. Those on the docks witnessed the following boys and girls in the boat: Jon Grussing, Glen Eberle, Dave McIlwain, Steven Mines, Mimi Reilly Eldridge, Cynthia Matthews Brown, Katie Harris Robbins, Sally Schwartz. The class of ’80 rowing T-shirts really summed up many athletic endeavors of the weekend: “The older I get, the better I was!”

The countdown begins to our 35th—we will splurge on two-sided, large-print name badges! Please know that the fellowship of your classmates in New Hampshire awaits your return “home”—you will not be disappointed.

All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com ; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

Her spell on them remains: June 18-21. I hope her spell remains cast over you and you have made (or are making) the right call to be in Hanover June 18-21 in celebration of our 30th reunion. No last-minute play reviews, no extra huddle time, no timeouts, no passing with only a month to go. Coach Carroll may have momentarily forgotten that Marshawn Lynch was on his team, but rest assured that your fellow ’85s have not forgotten you. Many promise to be in attendance to contribute to a memorable celebration. We want you to be there! 


I want to fill you in on Juanne Harris ahead of reunion. Juanne was named judicial administrative director for the Republic of Palau. For those of you geographically challenged, Palau is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. After Dartmouth Juanne completed her M.B.A. and spent six years as a marketing and sales executive with the NFL. She received her law degree, clerked for a federal district court judge in New Jersey and then joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. So how did Juanne find her way to Palau? Throughout her career Juanne has maintained a sense of civic duty and incorporated public service in both her professional and personal life—this opportunity uniquely unites both. An avid runner, Juanne is a certified running coach and serves on the board of the New York Road Runners. “I am excited to be on the island and look forward to working with my colleagues in the judiciary, getting to know the island, making friends and building a new life here in paradise.”


I have always known about super foods and super heroes and the link between super foods and super heroes. But Jeff Healy’s election as one of 2015 Ohio Super Lawyers is a first and cannot be overlooked. Whodathunk? Our very own super lawyer in our class! Congrats, Jeff. Come to reunion and fill us in on your legal powers.


Did you ever hear the story of Scott Mellon and Allison Shutz Moskow’s Sophomore Summer MALS class? If you did, then you might also know that Scott’s son, Graham ’15, will be working at Bain Consulting after graduation and that Allison’s oldest son, Zac ’14, just commissioned with the Marines as a second lieutenant with an aviation contract. And that Valerie Hartman’s oldest son, Charlie, will be matriculating with the Dartmouth 2019s. The next generation is upon us so do not delay and join our generation at reunion this June 18-21.


Sadly, the ’82 and ’85 classes have been intertwined in two deaths recently: Brett Krantz lost his brother, Marc ’82, in a skiing accident in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during Christmas, leaving behind a wife and three kids. And Tina Helsell, who was in our class through sophomore year before transferring to Stanford, died on New Year’s, leaving behind her husband, Bill Messing ’82, and two daughters. Tina’s memorial in Seattle was attended by a number of our classmates, including Elise Miller, Sally Swartz Higginson, Anne Goodwin Sides, Drew Quinn, Tom Johnson and Bob Mighell. A reminder to all that we will host a class memorial service during reunion on Saturday, June 20, at 5 p.m. in Rollins Chapel.


Reunion brings transition in our class executive staff. If this is one of the final columns John and I will pen for the class of ’85, let it be said that it has been both an honor and a pleasure to serve you during the past 30 years. Thanks for listening—keep sharing. All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


They say a picture is worth a thousand words for a very good reason—through a single still image, one can convey so very much. Unfortunately, photo images are not permitted in our magazine columns so I will attempt to describe within the confines of our 600-word limit, some of the photo ops from sightings and gatherings by our classmates of late. 


Several classmates were sighted returning to the Hanover Plain this past September as freshmen move-in day brought both Bill Tyree and Darren Alcus to town as parents of ’18s. Did anyone catch that photo of Bill, glasses perched at the tip of his nose as he wielded a hammer (or was it a screwdriver?) to assemble a futon on the second floor of McLane for his newly matriculated son, Brophy? Bill was clearly envious of the fact that his son is in a dorm room spacious enough for a futon (in addition to his College-issued bed) and within sight of his dad’s freshman digs on the Gold Coast. Meanwhile, Darren enthusiastically settled oldest daughter Claire into her cinder block home-away-from-home (ah, yes, there is a great vibe in the Choates, but there is no way to shake that 1960s look). Darren did not assemble anything other than the list of Claire’s immediate neighbors, including taking cautious note of the proximity of the brothers on adjacent frat row. 


Turning to Homecoming weekend, Joe Riley was all smiles while holding our class of 1985 banner in the torchlight parade with Mimi Eldridge at his side. Joining them along the parade route and stopping for a group photo-op were Eamonn Brady (in town from N.Y.C.), Larry Weidner, Katie Harris Robbins (along with husband and classmate Kris Robbins is among our Upper Valley natives), Laura Hicks (in from Florida with youngest daughter taking a closer look at the Big Green), Sue Finegan (on a break from her committee work to improve campus life by enjoying some of it herself), Brian Bandler (up from Connecticut), and Tim Woodward (in from Rochester, New York). Those trendy glow-in-the-dark green necklaces sported by all really added quite a luster to everyone’s evening faces. Later in the weekend many of these ’85s, along with Mark Koulogeorge and Ann Greenleaf, gathered at the mini-reunion tent catered by EBAs before cheering the football squad to victory. 


Valerie Hartman took a break from Atlanta to enjoy an October week in Paris and sent an enviable selfie with Notre Dame looming in the background. She then returned to get her cowgirl on in Austin, Texas, and caught up with Steve Mines. Steve continues to call Austin home and in addition to two-stepping the night away at the White Horse Palace with Valerie (no photos shared), he manages his own translation company servicing businesses and lawyers traveling the globe. Last count his own linguistic mastery covers Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, English and several more too numerous to list. Valerie’s visit also provided her with an entertaining phone reconnection with Austin newcomer Carolina Kuczynski, who recently relocated there with her husband and kids from Connecticut. Like Austin veteran Steve, Carolina loves her new city.


Since our last column teaser you have no doubt been wondering about Mark Halliday. Take a look on www.ted.com (search his name on the site). You are in for some inspiration on how to bring out your inner filmmaker. 


Please keep your news (and photos) coming, as we promise to share all of it here. And mark your calendar as we count down to our upcoming 30th reunion gathering in Hanover June 18-20. All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


If there ever was a year full of sports, any year with both the Olympics and World Cup would have to rank high in the standings. And you often hear folks debate the best time of year for sports. But they’re mostly vague and unscientific, so I say it’s time to get serious. As I write in the month of June, my vote is that this past June pretty much takes the cake for all time sports heaven. In summary, there was the Stanley Cup, the NBA championship, the biggest sporting event on the planet every four years (in Brazil), Roland Garros, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, a legitimate contender for the Triple Crown, the maverick American golf tournament, baseball! You’re insane, June. You’re beautiful. Stay crazy!


Speaking of June, mark your calendars for June 18-21, 2015, for our 30th reunion in Hanover. There’s no limit to the fun activities that will be planned because we have hit the jackpot with our reunion tri-chair class volunteers Todd Cranford, Becky Blake Osborne and Joe Riley! Score—or, as they say in Brazil, “Goooaaal.” Start making your plans to join the celebration with old classmates and meeting new ones. Contact them if you’d like to be a part of our reunion committee efforts in any capacity: tcranford@cfpboard.org, rebecca.osborne@sylvania.com, jriley@willkie.com. 


We may not know which sports will be offered in Hanover for reunion, but perhaps we can entice Marcy Sitnik Reed to keep her arm loose for a game at Biondi field. The rumor is that our classmate threw out a first pitch at a recent Red Sox game at Fenway Park in her capacity as president of National Grid-Massachusetts. Actually, it’s a fact: Marcy’s a regular ace and her husband, Steve, posted the video on Facebook. 


Becky Osborne (source of the scouting news on Marcy) and Donna Fraser Gourdeau have crossed paths frequently courtesy of “b-ice,” a.k.a. boys on ice, as each has a son perfecting his slap shot, power play and toe drag. Word has it Linda Cooper Marshall’s second son, Henry, is equally immersed in this sport. Our hope is that NHL scouts hold off until after June 2015 to draft these kids so that their moms will most definitely make it to our 30th!


David Etz offered this update from the city of windy and weird weather: “After a long, dreary winter, spring flew by in about eight minutes and summer is in full swing. In 2005 I left marketing and advertising and the many good friends made there to enter semi-retirement. I consulted for agencies now and again, opened Crown Cleaning (‘Treat yourself like a queen—we do!’) and tried my best to enjoy the early onset of my golden years—in my case, being prematurely gray, probably more aptly named my silver years. I am now certified as an alcohol and other substances counselor here in Illinois and entered Loyola of Chicago’s social work master’s program in January of this year. I have to say I love, love, love it. Being 31 years older than most of my classmates makes me feel 28 again—not that I ever really grew up. I am now hoping to do policy and administration work in the field with an emphasis on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer community here in Chicago. I am planning to spend next winter in Denver interning for Ted Pascoe, who runs an agency focused on homeless elderly. And I will definitely be back on the Green for our 30th. Hope to see you there!”


We do, too! All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


Coming on the heels of Homecoming Weekend in October as I write, and knowing we will be in the thick of winter when you all read this alongside a feature story in the magazine on the winter Olympics prompted me to search for a link. Homecoming? Winter Olympics? Class of 1985? Ah-ha! Search no more. Please give a rouse for our very own Tiger Shaw, who became chief operating officer of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) this past October (around the time of Homecoming), and will no doubt be quite a visible presence in Sochi, Russia, in February. Tiger will succeed Bill Marolt this spring as president and CEO of USSA and will next take up residence in Park City, Utah, leaving behind many good friends in the Upper Valley. In addition to his USSA duties he and Kristin ’84 will have plenty of reasons to venture back East, courtesy of their kids Kara (Middlebury ’15), Gunnar ’14 and Eva (a junior at Green Mountain Valley School). We wish Tiger all the best as he continues his good work at the helm of the USSA.

Turning back to Homecoming, ’85s were well represented throughout the weekend, starting with Friday night’s parade. Led by flag-bearer Eamon Brady, visiting from N.Y.C. with his son Connor and his bride, Krista Brady (and, yes, “Brady” is Krista’s maiden name; unclear if she has become Krista Brady-Brady?), several classmates joined the march with many of us relieved that the bonfire lap-running tradition came after our tenure. Our 50th birthday gathering was a delight thanks to Joe Riley and Margaret Marder, who, along with class president Valerie Hartman, created a warm welcoming to all ’85s throughout the weekend. Other classmates spotted in and around Hanover included Laura Hicks, Sue Finegan, Linda Cooper Marshall, Dave Etz, Tyler Woolson, David Hall, Sue Spencer Reckford, Nancy Vogele, Michael Davidson, Katie Harris Robbins, Jenny Archibald Williams, Allison Shutz Moskow, Jeannie Miller, John Graves, Mark Caron, Ron Wybranowski.

Flying in from L.A., Aloke Mandal was certain he had a lock on farthest distance traveled to attend Homecoming, but it is Judy Stein who gets that award, hailing from Torino, Italy, with all three daughters in tow—Umbra (Fordham University), Jenny (UVM) and Nicole (high school). Judy splits her time now between ski instructing in Vail, Colorado, and fixing up her perennial fixer-upper villa in Italy. Tutti i buoni! As for Aloke, having recently migrated his career from being an on-call transplant surgeon to running the western division of a medical consulting firm, he has effectively removed what was his (understandable) excuse for missing our 25th reunion. We all expect that Aloke will now only be on call for attending our 30th in Hanover in 2015!

Dartmouth’s fall term artist-in-residence Daniel Heyman had an easy commute to the weekend. Those lucky enough to have stopped by the Jaffe-Friede Gallery in the Hop during Homecoming were treated to a personal tour with Daniel. His exhibition included his four “seasonal” self-portraits depicting Daniel’s unique interpretation of personal growth from youth through adulthood, created after having spent more than five years on his Abu Ghraib project (also on display), in which he traveled to Jordan and Turkey to witness the interviews of the former prisoners conducted in preparation for the class action lawsuit filed on their behalf. These monumental works are breathtaking to behold.

There is more classmate news to share. But (for once!) we have run out of space. Wow—now that is something to report. Please keep your news coming as we promise to share it here. All the best to all of you!

—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com

I am miraculously enjoying the warmth of sunshine out my window—perhaps one of the first days in the entire month of June that has been devoid of rain. I never thought that would seem like such an accomplishment but as most of us in the Northeast can attest, this past month has been all too damp, dreary and dull. A challenge to try focusing on outdoor activities, the break from the routine of the school year, summer travel adventures when your daily hope is that your raincoat has dried out from the night before. I am happy to report that drier skies appear to have finally arrived, and I have (surprisingly) enjoyed a modest deluge of classmate news since our last column. Here’s the news.


Rich Lindahl broke his code of silence—described as an unintentional reluctance to put “fingers to keyboard” (the current age version of putting pen to paper)—and shared the following: “I’ve just been appointed CFO of the Corporate Executive Board in Arlington, Virginia. The company bills itself as ‘the indispensable source of best practice research, decision-support tools and executive education for the world’s top corporations and not-for-profit institutions.’ This new role follows an 11-year run at Sprint Nextel, most recently as senior vice president and treasurer. I’m still living in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with my wife, Noni, and our daughters Annie (16), Jane (14) and Zoe (11). We love living in this area, having been here now since 1991. Noni and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in April. She keeps busy as a preschool teacher and nonprofit board member. All three girls go to National Cathedral School and lead very active lives. After work and family I enjoy getting in a few rounds of golf, the occasional tennis match, playing a little guitar, skiing when possible and trying to keep up with old friends as best I can. I hope my classmates are well and would love to hear from anyone (rich.lindahl@yahoo.com and on Facebook).” Rich assured me that he has June 2010 booked to be in Hanover for our 25th reunion.


Patty Milon was hired as executive vice president and chief legal counsel for Scottrade Bank in St. Louis, Missouri, in May of this year. Prior to joining Scottrade Patty was involved in various consulting capacities to financial institutions on TARP (you know, that financial assistance plan all of us taxpayers “agreed” to dole out to those ailing financial institutions). I am confident Patty was on the good side of all of that stuff, given her previous positions also included VP and deputy counsel to Fannie Mae and senior counsel for financial institutions for the Treasury Department. 


Other news falls under the broad category of “sightings,” which are always a welcome addition to our column news. Rick Kleeman was spotted (not by yours truly—this is one of those two-degrees-of-separation sightings but it still counts) at Lincoln Center toasting Dartmouth’s outgoing President Wright. I am sure my invite got lost in the mail. Mark Engel was spotted in Lax Unlimited in Old Greenwich, Connecticut (adjacent to his home in Stamford), with three of his four kids, outfitting some combination of them with gear. And in keeping with the lacrosse theme, Linda Cooper Marshall was spotted in the stands of Southington (Connecticut) High School watching her youngest, Claire, play lacrosse. No doubt following in the footsteps of dad Jenkins ’84 and older brothers Jenkins and Henry, Claire will give Linda plenty more opportunities to be a spectator!


Send news! All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


My older daughter created a Facebook account for me, which I still haven’t accessed and am not even sure I want. What I found amazing was what she called one of its great features—the honesty box, or something like that. Have you heard about this? I guess it’s a place where you can anonymously send comments to your “friend.” Huh? Do I want to get a mysterious note from someone saying “See you tonight at 7” or “I’m watching you now”? If someone is my friend, why keep it a secret? This feature only seems to be a recipe for trouble—“Hey, just wanted to let you know I’m having dinner with your wife.”


Thanks to Doug Williamson for his note. His son Peter, now a Dartmouth sophomore, won the Ivy League golf championship individually last spring, helping the Big Green to a third-place team finish. Doug has been a pediatrician in the Upper Valley for the past 12 years, working at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon and living in Hanover with his wife and 16-year-old daughter. Doug talked about some golf and fishing outings with John Greabe, Jim Leightheiser, Tony Kingsley (still on tour as the drummer for The Police?), Dave Weld and Dave Lenrow. Doug also mentioned a fierce competition among friends for the Dartmouth bowling pin, currently in the hands of Glenn Jordan in Maine, after having been in Rhode Island with Paul DiSilvestro. Not sure what the criteria is for winning this pin, but I’m sure there is a lot of trash talking involved. 


I was excited to receive an e-mail from Major League Baseball, thinking that perhaps my 70 mph lefty fastball had finally impressed some scouts. It was not to be, however, as this note came from Ed Burns, who shared an article from Broadcasting and Cable Magazine about our classmate Mark Stern. Since I’ve often said the only things I love more than baseball are articles about broadcasting, this was nirvana. Mark is now the executive vice president of original content for Syfy and also the co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions. As a network executive with production experience Mark has had a hand in some of Syfy’s major successes, including the remake of Battlestar Gallactica, the launch of Ghost Hunters and the development of Eureka. Syfy’s president called Mark the “most open and collaborative development head I have ever come across,” which seems like a pretty nice compliment or a ploy to get Mark to do something. When not developing programming Mark enjoys his time with wife Betsy and children Carson and Will.


I must also share some sad news on the death of our classmate Debra Thatcher Gilcrest in June after a bout with cancer. Debra came to Dartmouth from Missoula, Montana, and returned there to earn her J.D. with high honors from the University of Montana Law School. Debra’s legal practice included positions in Vermont, Oregon, Wisconsin, D.C. and most recently Missoula. She married David Gilcrest in August 1986 in a celebration attended by many friends. She was also passionate about music and was an accomplished vocalist and trombonist, involved in the Missoula Community Concert Band and Missoula City Band. Debra was also an avid camper, canoeist and birder. She is survived by her husband, David, son Mackenzie, daughter Abigail and other family members.


Out of words here. Better go check my honesty box to see if anyone sent me a note about how great this column continues to be. Happy fall!


—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com


So, “who dat say they gonna be in Hanover in June?”


Reunion tri-chairs Todd Cranford, Mimi Reilly Eldridge and Joe Riley are hard at work with the committee organizing our June 17-20 events. Start making your plans to join the celebration with old classmates and meet new ones. 
We are hoping for a return visit by classmates John Rubin, Joyce Sackey and Jennifer Root Mayer, who gathered just last fall in Hanover to commemorate their 20th Dartmouth Medical School reunion. John is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Joyce is the dean for multicultural affairs and global health at Tufts University School of Medicine. This update comes from Jen, who, after six years at Yale-New Haven Hospital completing her pediatrics residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology, moved in 1995 with her husband, Peter (DMS’87), to Sarasota, Florida, where they currently reside with three children, two dogs, two to seven hamsters (variable lifespan/procreation issues), pet tree frog and innumerable dinosaur fossils. Oldest daughter Jillian will be joining the Dartmouth class of 2014 this September, along with Andrew Roberts, eldest son of fellow Florida resident Laura Hicks Roberts.


Mark Caron, Ed Simpson and Harry Bourque are each residing these days in Ridgewood, New Jersey. They have, we hope by now, succeeded at digging themselves out of the latest winter snowstorm blast and will venture north to the Hanover Plain. When not molding future Dartmouth rugby players through the local program he and Ed started about six years ago or coaching lacrosse alongside Harry, Mark is still immersed in the chaotic world of wireless start-ups. Check out his latest: www.mysnacs.com. 


After 24 years in business and management consulting at Anderson Consulting and Fidelity Investments Peggy Zink was named president of Cincinnati Works, a privately funded, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating poverty in the community. The goal is to assist people in becoming economically self-sufficient by offering programs to assist in employment search, job retention and advancement. The model has been very successful and is being replicated in a variety of cities across the country under Peggy’s steady hand. 


I have discovered one good thing about Green Cards—brevity. However, it appears as though Shelley Leavitt Nadel, despite her many days co-authoring this column, has forgotten that we do have a word limit. But by submitting an electronic update it is impossible to run out of space. So I will have to provide the Cliff’s Notes version for you here (come to reunion to hear the unabridged details): “David and I are about to celebrate 18 years of marriage and we are still in Houston. When I’m not dealing with our three kids with multiple activities, a husband who travels overseas and my more than full-time job I sing in two choirs. The singing is something I do for me and it heals my soul (and I’m pretty good at it!).”


Will those fun boys from Isidore Newman School—Darren Alcus, Rob Clements, Steve Favrot and Mike Smith—be in Hanover, strutting their New Orleans pride? Hope so! Come reminisce about freshman trip (Darren, are you still carrying that can of garbanzo beans?), freshman dorm (Mike, Ripley-Woodward-Smith dorms are still connected through the bathrooms!) and FSPs (Steve, what was the name of our Dartmouth professor in Toulouse?). And, Rob, sorry, we cannot reminisce. You are the one Newman boy of the quartet I never encountered while at Dartmouth. So I hope to meet you under the tent in June!


Now “who dat say they gonna be in Hanover in June?” 


I hope you! All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


The tent was hopping, the weather was incredible and the turnout was more than 300 classmates strong. Kudos to the entire 25th reunion committee and our tri-chairs, Todd Cranford, Mimi Reilly Eldridge and Joe Riley (and a double rouse of thanks to their spouses, Jacqueline, George Eldridge and Kate, for their support through the months of planning). Their collective sigh of relief that the weekend was finally here was palpable and quickly overwhelmed by the excitement of everyone gathering on the Hanover Plain again. And alongside head agents Mark Caron and Doug Fulton and reunion giving chairs Gabrielle Guise, Rick Kleeman, Mark Koulogeorge and Laura Hicks Roberts, President Jim Kim smiled radiantly while accepting our $3.5 million class contribution to the Dartmouth College Fund, accomplished with more than 50 percent class participation! Thanks to all for your tremendous generosity.


Ironic that after all these years of begging for news, there is not nearly enough room to relay all that overflowed from reunion. Here are select sightings from some weekend events (with appreciation for those large print name badges and a promise that more will be divulged in upcoming columns): Mount Moosilauke hikes (hey, Harlan Kent, did you ever meet Lionel Conacher and hike up?); alumni athletics including rowing, tennis, running, squash (did anyone seriously challenge Jenny Gabler Bloch?); class meeting (a million thanks to outgoing class officers, notably president Margaret Warram Marder, whose hard work these past nine years culminated with our incredible reunion yearbook). A million and one thanks to incoming officers: president Valerie Hartman Levy, treasurer David McIlwain, newsletter co-editors Margaret Warram Marder and Tim Reynolds, webmaster Jeff Weitzman, co-head agents Gaby Guise and Joe McGee, class project coordinator Linda Blockus and, going on 25-plus years, secretaries John MacManus and yours truly). More highlights: listening to the inspirational speech of President Kim (how did you exit Spaulding, Rich Lindahl, without saying “hello”?); picnicking at Storr’s Pond (who knew so many of our classmates married each other?); class memorial service poignantly shepherded by Rabbi Shirley Idelson; various sightings around Hanover, including Amy Brout McHugh, Lisa Zaslow, Andy Ford, Dave Story, Tony Kingsley, Precious Stargell Cushman, Pam Cohen Hallagan, Kimberly Booker Schmid, Veronica Jenkins, Jim Sapienza, Amy Baron, Ricki Frankel, Lisa Reilly Nadler, Annie Bogoch Borsanyi, Sarah Rahr Fortna, Noel Danforth, Alison Frankel, Dan Fagin, Annette Hatch-Clein, Herb Philpott, Henrietta Hung, Chris Maccarone, Brook Parker, Ed Simpson, John Wolfe, Russ Mitchell, Rick Joyce, Lee Clein, David Hallagan, Suzanne Burnham Mankoff, Lynda McLaughry-Burt, Lisa Eisenberg Merrill, Kevin Umeh, Mark Stern, Drew Quinn; enjoying a delicious meal under the stars in front of Baker Library, courtesy of Marcy Marceau’s catering service (and spotting three of our Isidore Newman boys—Darren Alcus, Mike Smith and Rob Clements—you were missed, Steve Favrot!); gathering all those KKG’ers for a photo—Katie Harris Robbins, Barbie Van Buskirk, Donna Fraser Gourdeau, Linda Cooper Marshall, Sally Crane Goggin, Eleni Daskalakis Henkel, Heidi Clark-Goldfeld, Allison Shutz Moskow, Cindy Davis, Charlotte Hart. Jill Morgan, Tracy Pulciani Maag, Diane Bonina, Julia Lane, Kathleen Reilly Gross, Jill Owens, Laura Hicks Roberts, Carolina Kuczynski Reid, Gaby Guise, Valerie Hartman Levy, Elise Miller, Becky Blake Osborne. And seeing Nola Bonis, Alison Cooper Phillips, Jenny Archibald Williams, Sally Schwartz Higginson, Judy Stein, Sue Finegan and Lori Bamberger dancing under the tent—it was awesome to watch you getting down on the dance floor; and, Steven Mines, it was miraculous seeing you get back up! 


Homecoming gathering of ’84s-’87s October 30, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Hanover Inn. RSVP to Margaret: mmarder0269@comcast.net. 


The countdown begins to our 30th! Return if you can—you will not be disappointed. 


All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


“Eh, what’s up, Doc?” was first delivered in 1940 by Bugs Bunny, while nonchalantly chewing on a carrot in the cartoon, A Wild Hare. That line has outlived Bugs Bunny and, up until the dawn of the Internet Age, it was commonly used worldwide as a witty alternative to the straightforward query, “What’s going on?” Always wanting to stay cutting edge and up-to-date, I will lead this column with the more apropos query: “WhatsApp?” and hope this will elicit some responses. But please send your news without making me download that app! 


Believe it or not, some news made its way to us the (now) old-fashioned way—via email! The year 2014 looks to be quite a prolific publishing year for our class. In between his teaching load as a professor at Middlebury Matthew Dickerson just published his 10th novel titled The Rood and the Torc. It is a work of medieval historical heroic romance described by reviewers as “an exemplary piece of writing, one that conjures with grace and poetic skill the twilight of the Merovingian Dynasty. Dickerson writes well, and this memorable tale in his hands is expertly drawn.” Matthew will have a work of creative narrative nonfiction published this fall titled Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia, followed by a new three-volume fantasy novel, of which volume one (titled The Gifted) is also due out this fall.


On the opposite end from the fiction genre, C. Jon Delogu’s nonfiction Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age was also just published in January. In this work Jon ponders if democracy is still possible today and under what conditions, paying particular attention to the critical conversation around Tocqueville and democracy since the end of the Cold War during the Internet Age. Jon has been a teacher-researcher at French public universities since 1992, while also having taught at many notable U.S. institutions, including Dartmouth.


Classmate sightings of late include Gaby Guise who spotted Lisa Reilly Nadler on campus in early February. Although Lisa may have been tempted to climb the Carnival of Thrones, she was there in support of her son Andrew ’17, who is a member of the Nordic ski team. Emily Saltzman spent a weekend in Atlanta in mid-February in celebration of her nephew’s bar mitzvah and had a quick run-in (literally) with Valerie Hartman, who yours truly was also lucky enough to briefly connect with for a day after several travel mishaps during an Old Man Winter week of snowstorms and canceled flights. Eleni Daskalakis Henkel was honored with the Greenwich YWCA 2014 Brava Award in recognition of her outstanding professional achievements as founder and CEO of Henkel Search Partners while also volunteering her time and considerable talents to help others. Brava, Eleni! 


And a grateful shout-out to David McIlwain and Margaret Marder, whose tireless efforts during the past few years have restored our class’ tax-exempt status. We are now in a position to support several interesting class projects embracing several undergraduate initiatives on and off-campus. Stay tuned for further details. And the countdown to our 30th has begun—anyone interested in participating in the planning, contact either Valerie Hartman (vhartman711@gmail.com) or Joe Riley (jriley851@gmail.com). Joe is seeking a reunion co-chair and rumor has it that Todd Cranford is mulling this over.


It is with sympathy that I share the news of the January 10 passing of James Joseph West in Eugene, Oregon. James is survived by his wife, Jane, and their four children.


Continuing in our up-to-date news-seeking mode, #sendnews.


All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


Upon reading this, the majority of our classmates has already turned 50 and likely chose different ways to commemorate the special milestone. Jim Sapienza celebrated his 50th in Alaska to complete visits to all 50 states. Interestingly, it also marked the 50th straight time he has beaten me in Words with Friends. My wife, Cindy Bergman, danced for 50 straight songs at her surprise 50th party, not as part of any formal dance-a-thon, but more as her common social practice when we’re out with friends. I was down in the British Virgin Islands enjoying a great family vacation on my 50th and probably should have been using Coppertone SPF 50 instead of consuming 50 rum punches. Oh well!


Several groups have taken trips celebrating the half-century mark. I know Susannah (Gaylord) Budington, Beth (Gilman) Hobbs, Amy (Durno) Harned, Gayle Gilman, Jill Morgan, Lauren (Sonstrom) Rosen, Sue Finegan, JoAnn (Shannon) Davey, Jenny Page, Kathy “Babs” Jeavons, Carole (Crelin) Frasseneli and Cindy Bergman are headed to N’awlins. If the amount of fun approximates the number of e-mails exchanged planning this boondoggle, it should be fantastic. Russ Mitchell, Mikey Lehman, Dave Story, Jim Newman, Chris Mulligan, Tom McDonald, Phil Yazbak, Peter Harned, Frank Cerveny and John Kulseth went Cat skiing in February. The trip was noteworthy despite the fact this group skis together every year. This same group plus Barry Bass, Jack Sylvia and yours truly—along with spouses Pam Lower Bass, Eileen (Lynch) Sylvia ’83, Kathy (Bowler) Mitchell ’83, Sarah (Sherwood) Mulligan ’86 and, you guessed it, Cindy Bergman—are planning a warm weather outing in November. I promise there will be no video or audio postings of this trip. Boating, check; dancing, check; beverages, check; Facebook/Instagram, no.


Some of us also found time to work. The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts announced that Sue Finegan was one of their recipients of the 2013 Leila J. Robinson Award, an award designed to recognize women who have captured the spirit of pioneering in the legal profession and have made a difference in their community. The writeup for Sue detailing her accomplishments was longer than all my columns combined, so let me be succinct and say, “Congrats, Sue.”


This summer also featured several reconnections. Derek Chow ’84 and Jan Gordon ’84 (note example of class secretary fellowship) visited Philly with son Miles (their daughters were at camp) for soccer camp and college visits. Living in Boulder, Colorado, Derek is senior vice president and head of business development at ING Investments (based in N.Y.C.), while Jan does editorial film consulting and sits on the selection committee for the Boulder International Film Festival. Derek also shared news about his sister and our classmate Cheryl Chow, who lives with husband John and daughter Madelyn in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she is involved in teaching and community activities. I also saw Joe Kilroy ’86, who shared some great stories of his Dartmouth basketball career, including the time when the Big Green beat No. 1 UNC and Joe poured in 26 points on Michael Jordan (also 50 this year). Okay, maybe some of Joe’s recall was a bit cloudy, but Joe does have a picture in his basement of him guarding His Airness.


If you’ve read this far, two things may have struck you. Trips with friends are more fun than work and Cindy Bergman had a lot of fun traveling this year.


Happy belated 50th to my co-secretary, Leslie Davis Dahl!


—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com


Truth be told, this column has a habit of sneaking up on me, particularly at this time of year. Even though John MacManus and I have been handing-off this column for more than 25 years, which certainly lightens the load, it seems I just finish putting one of these to press when I’m back in the queue. And I’m sure for those of you with school-age kids (whatever ages), getting through May and June with end of school projects, exams, class parties, graduation ceremonies, performances, teacher appreciation, etc., just about wipes you out for the summer. (A friend of mine commented that she had just participated in her fifth “moving up” ceremony—and she only has three kids!) But I am not letting you guys off the hook that easily. When there is no classmate news, we are forced to fill in with local Hanover news, and that will only start getting really random—so please get in touch. Even just a quick status update will suffice (but please don’t expect us to patrol Facebook to retrieve it).


Here is an update from Eric Beinhocker. Formerly a partner at McKinsey and a senior fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, Eric has recently become the director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School (yeah, that Oxford). This is a major interdisciplinary research center being established at the University of Oxford, intended to encourage fresh thinking in economics to mitigate global challenges, such as the creation of sustainable jobs and the wide-ranging challenges of development. Basically, an economic think tank with funding from George Soros (yeah, that Soros) so my guess is we will be hearing more from Eric and inet@oxford in the very near future.


Now back to the random news. Hardly a day goes by without some e-mail update from the College on the Hill. In summary: the class of 2012 bid adieu to Hanover with a “so long” from outgoing President Jim Yong Kim and encouragement from Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp to be “builders who slant the world toward yes”; the men’s rugby club won its second national title, and the women’s track team crowned Dartmouth’s first-ever female individual champion; Dr. Seuss is now overseeing the Geisel Medical School (“Are you a star-bellied Sneetch or a plain-bellied one?”); the Hanover Inn completed its renovation; and the trustees approved construction of a North Campus academic center. I am not really sure exactly where that is going to be located, but I assume some big space on campus where you will be able to find it once it is built. Stay tuned!


At the risk of repeating myself (which I am entirely entitled to do when there’s little other news), the 2011 Class Day speech by Charles Wheelan ’88 has been expanded into a small, hardcopy book titled 10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said. It is a gem and I encourage you to get a copy. It is both entertaining and thought provoking, not just for college graduates but for anyone graduating through life. Regrettably, one of Charles’s insights, “It’s all borrowed time,” has proved to be all too true for one among us. I am sorry to inform you of the death of Jim Alex in a motorcycle accident on May 29. Jim had been living in Boston and running the Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery. Please share your memories and thoughts on our webpage, www.dartmouth85.com. 


Enjoy and embrace every day of the journey, my friends—wherever the road may lead.


All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


It’s really a matter of simple math: zero, number of days until this column is due; one, e-mail updates I received from ’86s; two, e-mail updates I received from ’85s; three, number of people who read my column about freshman trips (see one and two).


Courtesy of Jennifer Key ’86: “Brenda Healey is not currently playing field hockey or lacrosse, but we did recently play lob pong at her barn. It’s a very nice barn that she and husband, Bill Bosch ’86, refurbished/rebuilt, silo and all, in Great Falls, Virginia. She married Bill shortly after college, both graduated UVA Law School and we connected when Bill joined Steptoe as partner around 2006. Brenda has three girls, including Allison, a rising Dartmouth senior. Brenda also practices law when she and Bill are not hosting barn parties or attending Capitals games. Brenda was compelled to attend the ’86 25th reunion.


“Georgetown is home to fellow lawyer (David) Cary Mitchell, who has a wife and a dog, but I am 99-percent sure is childfree. I also see Galan Daukas, who frequents the yacht clubs in the Stonington, Connecticut-Watch Hill, Rhode Island, region.”


Margo Buckels Miyashiro writes: “I am doing well—living in Sacramento, California, with my husband and two teenage daughters. I still love hiking and hope to hike again around Hanover and spend a night at Moosilauke. I did return for our 25th reunion. I missed previous reunions because I was starting a new job, having a baby or something like that. I loved being on campus again. I know the College has added many new buildings, but since the core has stayed the same it felt like the same familiar place. I brought my oldest daughter, Allison, to the reunion (promoting the school and all). She fell in love with Boston instead and will start at Brandeis in the fall. Since I’ll be traveling back to New England more frequently, maybe I will get to hike around Hanover. While I initially moved to California to take a state government position, I’ve been a full-time mom since my girls were little. Now I’m determining my next career move. My husband is a private consultant, working with California school districts. My favorite hobby is rowing and I’m hoping to attend the Head of the Charles in October. I’m also learning to golf and remember laughing at the wild plaid golf slacks many Dartmouth alumni sported at their 1980s reunions. I haven’t earned the mojo to make such a fashion statement yet.”


Joel Margolese comments: “I’m impressed you remembered everyone’s name from our freshman trip! I laughed when I read it, which prompted my wife to say, ‘You never told me that part of your freshman trip.” (I figured you targeted that whole column at me since Bill Loginov was my freshman roommate in Topliff.) We still live in Andover, Massachusetts, but just moved from the edge of town into the center. Our best news is that my daughter Rachel is preparing for her own freshman trip as a Dartmouth ’16. It’s exciting, exhilarating and a bit scary on many levels. Taking the tour with her last year I was struck how much the campus is the same, but how much it’s different. It’s a nice feeling to hand off the College to another generation and know that their experience will be totally different than ours, with just enough continuing tradition to maintain the links. And that’s how it should be.”


—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; slampong@aol.com


Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Day is an unofficial holiday increasingly celebrated around the world in order to encourage acts of kindness. It began not as a holiday, but rather a national day where individuals are challenged to do something kind to a friend or stranger for no reason at all, and has since evolved into an entire RAK week. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful or cynical; I get it—I really do—and thankfully this has not devolved into just another Hallmark occasion. But it does seem to me that the core of this is truly just some basic human decency, no? So I looked a little deeper into this holiday. There is a website (of course) dedicated to the endeavor with blogs of kind deeding documented as well as inspirational suggestions on how to practice kindness and pay it forward, such as: Buy something for the person in line behind you, donate time or money to a local charity, cook a healthy meal and share it, reach out to someone you have not talked to in a while.


Aha, now there is a truly inspirationally kind idea! Translation: Send an e-mail to your class secretaries and fill everyone in on your current whereabouts. It is clearly not a sign of unkindness that so many of you remain radio silent. Perhaps you are simply in need of some intervention to get things rolling.


How about some divine intervention? And who better to offer that than our very own Rev. Nancy Vogele? As the newly hired director of religious and spiritual life at the William Jewett Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth, Nancy has assumed oversight of an expansive arena of the college that sponsors more than 20 different faith organizations. Prior to assuming this appointment Nancy served for almost 20 years in Episcopal parish ministry, most recently as rector of the parish of St. Paul’s, about 10 miles from Hanover, in Hartford, Vermont. Having contemplated a career in the Foreign Service as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, Nancy spent two years in Africa immediately after graduating. However, this firsthand perspective provided Nancy with her own divine intervention of sorts as she realized that the political power of organizations backed by whatever administration was in power paled in comparison to the spiritual power she witnessed among so many in the poor African communities in which she served. So she answered the call, going on to receive her master’s from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate of ministry from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. If you are lucky enough to be in Hanover on a Sunday night, step into Rollins Chapel and you may see Nancy. And expect her to ask you her favorite question: “How are your spirits doing?”


Inspired to do right by the environment, prize-winning journalist Dan Fagin’s newly published book, Toms River, tells the riveting true story of this small New Jersey town’s 60-year history of industrial pollution. Reviewed as an “epic tale of our chemical age,” the book is lauded for Fagin’s investigative tenacity and masterful storytelling in “handling topics of great complexity with the dexterity of a scholar, the honesty of a journalist and the dramatic skill of a novelist.” In addition to his noteworthy journalistic accomplishments, Dan is also the proud parent to a Dartmouth ’13 and ’16 and, therefore, has a high probability of having his spirits checked in on by Nancy sometime soon. 


So how about some simple human kindness from all—send a little intervention on a classmate or yourself—stay connected: www.dartmouth85.com. All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com


Happy holidays and best wishes for 2013 to everyone! While the weather outside may be frightful, I am pretty sure this column will not be so delightful. Last-minute deadlines and holiday consumption tend to jeopardize editorial quality (as does sitting on the couch playing remote hangman and scrabble on my iPhone).


There is news, however, and it is good. From the track world I received an update from Jim Sapienza. Jim was nominated and later chosen to be inducted into the Kentucky State Hall of Fame this year for his cross-country and track achievements. On January 5 the Kentucky Association of U.S. Association of Track and Field and the Kentucky Track and Cross-Country Coaches Association will combine to put on the eighth annual awards banquet. This banquet will be to honor all the venues of the running sports in the state of Kentucky. Congratulations to Jim on this great honor!


From the Dartmouth legacy world I have learned (well, really, I got an e-mail from Leslie Davis Dahl) that Trisha Madden Venacore’s daughter (Caroline) and Pres Romeyn’s son (Ted) have been accepted into the Dartmouth class of 2017. Congratulations to Trisha and Pres for this exciting news!


From the literary world Matthew Dickerson provided this update. “I’ve had three more books published in the past five years: Nos. 7, 8 and 9. The most recent one, A Hobbit Journey: Discovering the Enchantment of J.R.R.Tolkien’s Middle-earth, is receiving lots of (positive) attention. I just finished a radio interview with KTIS 900 in Minneapolis. Last week I was interviewed by WCIAD 800 in Montreal. (I live in Vermont about 1:40 hours away from Dartmouth and teach at Middlebury, so this is a bit surprising.) I am scheduled in January for a recorded interview with Ken Myers (formerly of NPR, now of Mars Hill Audio Journal for its bimonthly CD commentary). Huffington Post asked me to do a piece because of my book; it is due out today, though as of 9:45 a.m. it hasn’t appeared online yet. Image Journal asked me for a piece for next week. I am invited now to speak all over the country. In 2011-12 I was the distinguished lecturer of the year at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, and a distinguished lecturer at University of Texas, San Antonio. In 2012 I also gave invited lectures on Tolkien at St. Olaf College and Augustana College (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and in 2011 I was the keynote speaker at the annual Tolkien conference hosted by the English department at the University of Vermont Montpelier. This October I was flown to Anchorage, Alaska, and spoke on Tolkien at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Meanwhile, reviews and mention of the book keep coming in.” Google Matt’s name for a full list of links.


From the mindless activity world I am getting crushed in iPhone scrabble by Lynne Zeisler Petkovic, Barry Bass, Pam Lower Bass and Jim Sapienza. In what appears to be an amazing coincidence, all of them must have received the same book for the holidays: Obscure, Absurd Words Worth a Lot of Points. I’m not positive but I’m pretty certain Matt Dickerson did not write this one.


Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and safe new year!


—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com


I think we all agree that numbers and statistics are an important part of our daily lives. They often identify us (we are ’85s), measure us (GPAs, SAT scores), preoccupy us (weight, age, income) and even entertain us (name the only major league baseball player with more than 500 hits for four different teams. Hint: He looks like my dad). Numbers can constrain us (word count limits) and challenge us (how many times or how fast can you …). Numbers can also increase our self-esteem (lots of Facebook friends) or decrease it (a double dose of humble pie in my case when my total number of Facebook friends is less than my Dartmouth GPA). And as we all know in our often-competitive lives, the only number that seems to matter is No. 1. Fortunately, we have some No. 1 pioneers in our class.


Our No. 1 classmate at the South Pole is David Pablo Cohn. Pablo wrote to tell me he is “hanging out doing support tech here at the South Pole, enduring a record-breaking storm. Satellite link is down with a main power generator failure last night and they’ve not been able to get flights in since last week. Having the time of my life.” Wow, if that doesn’t resonate of comfort and pampering, I’m not sure what does. For more on Pablo’s adventure, please see http://somerandom.com/cohn/pablo-at-the-pole. 


I received a note from Jim Sapienza about another No. 1 event for a classmate. Jim conveyed that Mike Fadil is getting married for the first time. While I have no other details and cannot even verify this, it was a perfect news item for this column. So Mike, if you see this, please share this exciting news and if this is completely bogus, blame Jim.


From the “almost too coincidental to be true and linked to your column theme” files, I received some news that Jeff Davidoff had been appointed chief marketing officer for ONE, a global anti-poverty advocacy group (see one.org for more details). 


Our No. 1 traveler appears to be our own Russ Mitchell. Mitch’s holiday card reads like a United Nations itinerary, partly for his work in the clothing industry and partly for family fun. If you’re looking for a fine custom-tailored suit combining the tastiest Irish hops, the whitest Idahoan snow and finest South African gems, Russ is your man. If you’re looking for a holiday card to make your own passport look meager, he is also your man. Speaking of holiday cards, please consider this a belated card wishing everyone a happy 2011. It can also serve to improve my holiday card completion rate.


I bet our only classmate who had a daughter born on October 17, 2010, weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces was Mikey Lehman. Marley Lehman joined the extended Dartmouth family as the No. 1 daughter for Mikey and wife Leigh and No. 1 sister for brother August. No official word on the inspiration for Marley’s name.


You may be focusing on your own numbers, but I will leave you this time with a couple for your contemplation. No. 2—as in two months until the next column. And 100 percent—your secretaries’ goal for column submission. For those looking for numerical synergy between these two numbers, please send in your news.


—John MacManus, 118 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com


I’m sure everyone wishes we saw our Dartmouth friends more often. I’m sure you have spent time thinking about various classmates and what they’re doing now. And I’m sure many of you saw the recent article in Rolling Stone about Dartmouth and said “What the…!” That aside, I was thinking about the ties that bind us (figuratively, of course, for most of us) and got to thinking about my freshman trip and the people on that hike.


It’s interesting how our first impression of people made many years ago contributes to how we currently view them. I haven’t heard from Bill McAllister, and wonder if he is still sporting a moustache and glasses. Maybe Brenda Healey is playing in some adult lacrosse/field hockey leagues wherever she is living. How about Margo Buckels—I’m hopeful she is doing well and has forgotten about the juvenile behavior exhibited on that trip. No updates from Joel Margolese—perhaps this mention will spur him to provide an update. I wonder if Russ Mitchell looks back on that camping trip with fond memories. (The topic never came up when I saw him in mid-April at the bat mitzvah of Pam and Barry Bass’ daughter Allison. Russ was in attendance with wife Kathy ’83 and fortunately appeared to be better dressed than he was during those four days in September 1981.) I was at a local party and some guy was going on and on about how remarkable it was that he was joined at this party by a friend, with whom he had attended grade school, high school and college and that was so great and had to be unique and must have been history making, blah, blah, blah. His story lost a little momentum when I told him, in fact, that I had done the same with a friend of mine, Steve Moss, and, oh by the way, I bet your friend and you weren’t also on the same freshman trip. My memory of this trip would not be complete without a mention of our trip leader, Eliza Deery ’83, whose patience and tolerance of our antics certainly should have qualified her for some sort of DOC medal or something. Though I’m curious about my fellow trip-mates, I don’t want this to be confused as an invite for another four days in the New Hampshire woods. Interestingly, at least to me, is that my wife, Cindy Bergman, was also on her freshman trip then and we were at Moosilauke simultaneously. I am reasonably certain that she was not taken in by my charm and wit at that time.


I heard that Harlan Kent was featured on the reality show, Undercover Boss, which aired in March. Harlan is the CEO at Yankee Candle Co. and, evidently, did a good job staying undercover because I did not see the show.


The intellectual property law firm Loginov and Associates headed by Bill Loginov celebrated an anniversary in March. I suspect Bill’s firm is better at patent law than spelling since the press release stated this was their forth anniversary. Bill’s firm is an industry leader in offering worldwide patent protection and services to a broad range of companies, from startups to Fortune 1,000 firms. Bill has also written several legal publications/books and is a distinguished lecturer at numerous institutions, including Dartmouth.


Speaking of reality shows, was there any better reality show than “Camp Dartmouth” sophomore summer? I think Russ Mitchell still wears that shirt.


—John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie @yahoo.com


Regardless of your opinion on the outcome, it is a relief that the interminable 2012 presidential race is finally over. Did you realize that the combined fundraising by the presidential candidates exceeded $2 billion (yes, that’s b-i-l-l-i-o-n; as in a “2” followed by nine zeros)! This tops the list as the costliest campaign in history. So how can we honestly think either one of these candidates, or any politician for that matter, will undertake any serious action to reduce the nation’s debt or tackle the real pressing issues around the country when that amount of dough can be raised for an election campaign? 


Forgive me—I digress.


One of the only good things about major election years is that when all is said and done, late-night TV hosts have an abundant stockpile of material, much of it from the final weeks leading up to the big vote. While most of their humor will never be ready for primetime—or these prime pages—I did find one of Jimmy Fallon’s quips quite apropos for this class column: “The final presidential debate was held tonight in Boca Raton, Florida, and was moderated by 75-year-old Bob Schieffer from CBS News. That’s right, 75 years old—or as Florida residents call that, ‘a tween.’ ” So what does that make those of us approaching the half-century mark? Preschoolers, right?


I swore I would avoid the suggestion of my class column co-author (who, we all know, is the more witty of our pair with his pen) to write a column dedicated to our half-century birthday. But with little else to write about, why not muse about this momentous milestone? And it is one of life’s signposts, particularly if you recall that it was not all that long ago that the average life span was only 60 years. In the past few years there has been a lot of discussion around the growing trend of extended adolescence as more and more of us are taking longer and longer to move through the “stages of adulthood.” Heck, why not delay the inevitable (although would someone please let my body in on that “50 is the new 30” pronouncement). 


Leaving aside all the problems with “growing up” as a category, let’s step back and look at the bigger picture. What do you suppose that means for our planet and the environment overall? As for me, I have absolutely no idea. But luckily for us, our classmate Terry Plank, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, can tackle that issue. Having been named one of 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2012 (in case you have not heard of this, these fellowships are widely referred to as “genius grants”), Terry is described as a geochemist “working literally at the edge of phenomena shaping the Earth’s crust.” So, who better to analyze the impact on Mother Earth of all these shifting aging paradigms than Prof. Plank? Heartfelt congratulations to you, Terry!


By the time you are reading this column (admittedly, one of the more random ones penned), we will know who our next U.S. president is and we may also have an announcement regarding filling the truly crucial vacancy in higher office these days—18th president of Dartmouth College. Somehow, I think that involved a more realistic “campaign” expense budget and will certainly identify someone who, regardless of your political persuasion, we can all rally around for the greater good of the Big Green. 


Now, give a rouse for our collective half-century milestone and embracing it with arms wide open. All the best to all of you!


—Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com; John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com