Class Note 1979

Our last column featured ’79s who have served as Dartmouth Partners in Community Service mentors. Continuing with the theme of service, here is news from several classmates who contribute to the Dartmouth experience through their volunteer work interviewing applicants to the College.
From Brookline, Massachusetts, Linda Button writes, “Thirty-five years later I’m still thrilled to be in the business I tripped into: branding and advertising for entertainment and cable networks. My current company is Tooth-and-nail.com. Life has been a series of happy accidents and wonderful partners. I wish our schools encouraged more risk-taking; kids need to explore, fail and discover by trial. My son, 20, started out as a film major at Emerson College. Now he’s not sure about the direction he wants to take. My daughter, 12, is absolutely positive that she wants to design characters for anime and live in Japan. I hope wherever they go they find satisfaction and happiness.”
Darcy Prendeville Lawes, who lives in Oceanport, New Jersey, with her husband, Don Lawes ’76, says: “We continue to work on recovering from Superstorm Sandy. As of mid-October we still have no furniture, kitchen or bathroom on the first floor. In the spring we plan to lift the house four feet so we never have to experience this again. In other news, our son (Vassar ’09) is engaged to a wonderful woman and plans to move back to New Jersey to rejoin the family business. Our daughter (Vassar ’11) is living in Chicago and contemplating grad school.”
Debra Sortor Parnon reports: “After all these years and a stint as executive director for a nonprofit to revitalize downtown Darien, Connecticut, I am still filling my plate with volunteer work. While I was serving as chairman of the building committee, the town finally approved a $3.6-million initiative to rebuild the bathhouse and construct a new paddle tennis hut at our beloved Weed Beach. I am currently serving on a board whose mission is to turf three ball fields and build a new junior varsity softball field at Darien High School, and I also serve on the Tree Conservancy of Darien board along with John Schlachtenhaufen ’61. During the past three years we have planted about 75 trees. Stay green, everyone!”
Last but not least comes word from Colleen Sullivan Bartlett: “My husband, Peter, and I live in southern California with our daughter Maizie. I work in development at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) and Peter is the director of student life at the Webb Schools. At CMC’s recent presidential inauguration the president’s daughter spoke about how her dad always gave her stories for birthday presents, then told a story about her childhood as a present to him. I subsequently bought a journal for Maizie’s ninth birthday and told the story of how the Boston Red Sox broke their 86-year Curse of the Bambino World Series drought the week she was born. Best week of my life! She loved it and can’t wait for the next story. Try it with your kids.” 
—Stanley Weil, 15 Peck Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com