Class Note 1979
In the spirit of under-exertion, the secretarial tag team of Currier and Weil departed Hitchcock Hall and strolled across the street to visit with some classmates who met as first-year residents of Russell Sage. They and their fellow ’79 dormmates became a close-knit group amidst what David Jeffrey describes (with 40 years of perspective) as an “odd social scene” during “a time of great optimism.” Here are some of their heartfelt recollections.
“I remember driving up from New Jersey with my dad and approaching Russell Sage,” writes Mary Ann Zetes, a pediatrician and mother of three who met her husband of 34 years at Dartmouth Medical School. “There were sheets that read ‘Co-Hogs Go Home’ hanging from the windows. I asked dad if he knew what a Co-Hog was and he said it was some kind of Cape Cod clam. I said I didn’t think that was what they were referring to! We learned that a vocal group of upperclassmen had been ousted from their rooms to accommodate three floors of ‘girls’ on Sage’s short wing. I had never experienced overt sexism before but quickly understood how it felt. Not surprisingly, our sizeable ’79 contingent, many of whom were premed, bonded together. Roommate Anne Carlson and I formed nice friendships with Linda Ferguson, Lizanne Galbreath and Holley Allen upstairs. Back then we could make fires in our fireplaces, definitely a thing of the past. My youngest child, Hannah ’18, currently lives in Richardson Hall and took me to visit her friends in what was the ‘boy’ section of Sage back in our day. I have to say it hasn’t changed very much, which is just as I would have wanted to find it.”
“Returning to Dartmouth for our 35th reunion,” says David Jeffrey, “brought back many emotions. I requested a room in Russell Sage and went to see my fourth-floor triple, which of course was locked up. Nevertheless, the empty hallway evoked fond memories of the many great classmates I met there, including Jim Holden, Mark Mills and Dave Frankel, and the colorful upperclassmen who mingled easily throughout the dorm thanks to our welcoming open door policy. Career-wise I had several finance jobs and ventures before attending enology school and working in Bordeaux, France. I’m now a happy, hard-working winemaker in Sonoma County, California, where I founded Calluna Vineyards in 2007. I am blessed with a wonderful wife and three children finishing their college years. Life is good.”
“There was great camaraderie in the dorm during 1975 and 1976,” writes Rich Pugh, “and a fair amount of innocent mischief. One of my fondest memories is of the Russell Sage Slalom during Winter Carnival, when some of the more playful residents would strap on old skis, ski down the four flights of stairs (without the benefit of any snow, of course) and out the front door. Remarkably, I don’t recall any major injuries. On an unrelated but relevant subject, I’ll take this opportunity to report that my daughter, Molly ’14, recently married her Dartmouth classmate Ben Morse ’14. With grandfathers of both the bride and groom having been members of the class of 1951, and ’79s Ted-O Winterer, Steven O’Neill, Larry Mills and Bill McGee in attendance, it was a very green wedding celebration indeed.”
—Stanley Weil, 15 Peck Road, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549; (917) 428-0852; stanno79@gmail.com; John Currier, 82 Carpenter St., Norwich, VT 05055; (802) 649-2577; john.h.currier@dartmouth.edu
