Class Note 1981

“The economy must be improving and print media must not be dead yet when a daily paper hires a 52-year-old as a staff reporter.” So says Susan Spencer, who recently joined the Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & Gazette. On the beat nearby is Rich Barlow. Rich used to be a freelance writer for The Boston Globe, but is now full-time at BU Today. The other big class journalism news is that Dirk Olin, who is editor-in-chief of Corporate Responsibility Magazine, had his newly released book, Rebuilding Justice, featured on the Jim Lehrer NewsHour.


And speaking of books, Steve Oakes co-authored Speakout, a six-level adult course for learning English as a foreign language. The course was the recipient of the English Speaking Union’s Duke of Edinburgh prize for the best new book in English language teaching in 2011. Steve, who is now the proud papa of a 2-year-old girl, has lived in Budapest for more than 20 years.


He spends summers nearby at huge Lake Balaton, and occasionally sees Mike Doyle when he swims down the river from Vienna. Mike works there for the International Atomic Energy Agency, frequently participates in masters swimming competitions and enjoys the Tyrolean skiing in winter. 


Good changes are happening for Julie Koeninger: She has recently transitioned from independent consulting to working at GMO as product strategist for timber and agriculture. As it happens, during the interview process for her current position Julie was taken to lunch by classmate Jody Shuman! Jody’s a client relations manager and partner who has been at GMO since the 1980s. Jody attributes her original hiring to having computer skills, which she would not have learned at Dartmouth had it not been for President Kemeny’s insistence that math majors master computer science.


“I’ve been keeping busy,” Sally Johnson writes, “rebuilding a house on a bike path and the water here in Rhode Island with my boyfriend. I’m hoping to make most of the textiles for the house on a loom I was given by Susan Tenney that we shipped back from her house in California last spring. Been rowing a lot too.”


Susan Hess, who has been actively serving as a member of the College’s alumni liaison committee, shared some good news about her growing Dartmouth family connections. “Our oldest daughter, Christina Wray ’12, is graduating from Dartmouth in June, so we will also be up there for that special occasion. And our youngest daughter, Jennifer, is now officially a member of the Dartmouth class of ’16, so we are Big Green all the way!”


Dan and John Gilroy certainly have their share of Dartmouth family connections, and they share a passion for filmmaking. Dan just co-wrote the screenplay for The Bourne Legacy with brother Tony, who is also directing. John is the editor of the movie, which is due out in August. (Their father, Frank Gilroy ’50, is a playwright.)


Besides marquee names Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Ed Norton, the film also features nephew Sam Gilroy ’09 and our own Sharon Washington.


—Robert Goldbloom, 324 Warburton Ave., Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706; (914) 231-5117; rgoldbloom@ optonline.net; Brian Cusack, 26 Ocean Ave., Marblehead, MA 01945; (781) 710-7228; briancusack13@gmail.com