Class Note 1988
Our 20th (i.e. 21st) reunion has come and gone. What a treat it was for me to make the cross-country jaunt to visit with old buddies! It was my first time away from my two toddlers (as everyone who saw me heard). Maybe since it was my first trip to campus as a parent or maybe it’s just my advanced age, but boy did things seem different. Not just the new construction, but staying in a single in Ripley, I was struck by the small room, then the state of the fraternity buildings and the smell of the basements, neither of which had bothered me as a student or even at our 15th.
I made my usual rounds to Theta Delt, Phi Delt and 5 Olde, walked around Occom and through Sanborn. I had conversations with far too many classmates to list here, ranging from water rights to adoption to education issues to furniture making.
I spent a good chunk of time hanging with Julie (Clyma) DiRemigio, who was there with her daughter Cassidy (2 1/2) and son Gibbs (4), Luke Smith, Tom McLaughlin (who is a furniture maker), Wendy Pabich (a newlywed of six months) and Julie (Pelkan) Glusker (who skis for at least a few hours on most days). I also caught up with Dave and Steff (Solms) McCusker (Dave’s entering his second year as headmaster at Cardigan Mountain School), Russell Stevens and wife Jill (with whom I had one of many great convos about the state of education) and Susan Brody (who recently joined the teaching ranks—third grade?).
And it goes on. Good chats with John and Bridget (Mahoney) Jenkins, Scott and Barb (Turley) Marr, Catherine (Craighead) Briggs, Beth Hofmann, Betsy (McCooey), Kim (Mango) Thompson, Bev Hagerdon Thakur (now in the Philippines with her husband). Quick hellos with Kelly Kyriakos, Pete Killilea, Chris Frisina and Dave Duckenfield and his family.
What fun it was to be in Phi Delt’s basement with Pat Walsh, Jim Hughes and Alec Casey at 2:30 a.m. when an order of 10 EBA’s chicken sandwiches arrived (last delivery order taken at 2:10). And to go back in time to shared bathrooms (Danielle Green and I had several chuckles over our similar schedules for bathroom breaks). Talk about flashbacks: Robin Kass spent the weekend in her freshman room in N. Fayerweather!
For me children certainly played a role in this reunion, from college-bound—Margie (Wallace) Gibson starting to tour colleges for her oldest child—to infants—Alec Frisch with new baby (8 weeks old?). It was quite surreal to watch Dave and Steff’s sons play horseshoes with Luke and Tom on Heorot lawn then, when the game was over, see Julie DiRemigio’s toddlers use the same horseshoe pits as a sandbox.
We all experienced Dartmouth in different ways and carry a variety of memories with us, but those were surely formative years full of fun, travels, intellectual stretches and many challenges.
Kudos and thanks to everyone involved in the planning; amazing to hear that meetings are already underway for our 25th!
With every reunion comes elections of new officers: As I’ve mentioned in previous notes I am stepping down as class secretary and will be passing the torch to Jane Grussing Lonnquist. You can help make her first column easy by sending her lots of news: jjlonnquist@earthlink.net.
—Townley Slack-Stevens, 18920 Viking Way, NW, Poulsbo, WA 98370; tcslack@comcast.net
