Class Note 1965
Fifty years ago this month most of us took a major step toward Dartmouth when we graduated from high school. We were following the beginning of the Mantle-Maris assault on Babe Ruth’s home-run record and listening to Ricky Nelson’s No. 1 hit “Travelin’ Man.” Individual joys were overshadowed by the Cold War, which dominated our world from the arts to outer space. Kirov Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defected during a tour in Paris, delivering a propaganda black eye to the Soviets. On May 5 NASA launched Commander Alan Shepherd, the first American into space, on his 15-minute flight. Twenty days later President Kennedy called upon the United States to “commit itself to achieving the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
His call was not a commitment to pure science but the initiation of a campaign “to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny.” In the effort to aid the cause, many of us undertook studies of math and science that we might otherwise not have done. In keeping with my effort to bring together classmates with common interests, I am hoping to circulate a questionnaire about the impact the Vietnam War and military service generally has had on our class and to use the responses (anonymously if requested) in creating articles through the next year or so.
Mike Gonnerman has been elected by the class treasurers to serve as their representative to the Alumni Council for three years beginning in July. In addition Mike has dragged our class into the 21st century, adding a PayPal button to our website to facilitate payment of class dues. You can use either a PayPal account or a major credit card by clicking on the “Class Dues” entry at the top of the lefthand column on the class home page. His effort should save the class some processing costs.
Under the leadership of Tucker Mays the class is planning future out-of-Hanover mini-reunions, exploring some very interesting ideas and soliciting your input. Please copy this link to your browser to compete a brief questionnaire to assist us in the planning: www.surveymonkey.com/s/CDF6XT8.
Don Switzer reports from Rogers, Arkansas, that he is well and enjoying spending time with family. The lights of his life are his bride of 46 years, Linda, and their five granddaughters. After Vanderbilt Law School Don served as vice president and general counsel of a major insurance company and spent 15 years in private practice in Oklahoma, before assuming senior positions in insurance regulatory agencies in Texas and Arkansas. After “retiring” in 2000 Don responded to a request from the University of Arkansas to help the women’s athletic program by advising on NCAA compliance and doing academic advising. He found the young student-athletes to be very bright, committed young women and a joy with whom to work.
Please send me a note about what you have been doing.
—Tom Long, 1056 Leigh Mill Road, Great Falls, VA 22066; (703) 759-4255; tomlong@erols.com
