Class Note 1996

After several years as class secretary it has brought me great joy to relay stories of marriages, newly arrived children, unique professional directions and exciting tales of classmate adventures. There is, however, one essential duty of the position that brings with it a profound sense of woe. In that vein, it is with great sadness that I report the untimely passing of one of our own.

In the second week of February Pei Lynn Yee lost a very valiant battle with ovarian cancer. She had previously fought the disease head on, and had been in remission and cancer-free for some time; but her cancer returned in a very aggressive form in the last few months of 2015, sadly, leaving her with just a few months left to live.

Pei Lynn had been working as a business analyst in the Houston area for many years—with Motiva Enterprises for the six years prior to her passing and also four years prior with Shell Oil Products. Coming to Hanover from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Pei Lynn majored in both Asian studies and government while at Dartmouth, was a beloved sister of Sigma Delta and was an active member of our class senior executive committee. After graduating she also obtained a dual M.B.A. and a master’s of science in urban planning from Columbia University in 2001.

While news of her passing was still making its way to the full class as of the time of this writing, several of our classmates were able to attend a memorial service in New York on February 19 and many ’96s have reached out with memories, thoughts and condolences for her extended friends and family. Shawn Snipes wrote, “She was my first friend at Dartmouth. She helped me bring my stuff up from my parents’ car and introduced me to Pete Tosh, who is still my favorite DJ. I will forever be grateful for those nights talking in the hall with our doors open to our singles in Cohen Hall. She convinced me that contact lenses weren’t as scary as I thought and talked to this country bumpkin about what it was like growing up in the big city. I would make fun of her little feet, openly jealous that she could shop for Nike Air in the kids’ section. She was always up for a walk to Collis. She also introduced me to Chinatown and went with me to movies when I moved to N.Y.C. while she was going to Columbia. There is a special place for her in whatever version of heaven that you believe in.”

I also heard from Josh Wilson, who said, “Pei Lynn and I got to know each other on the Beijing foreign study program freshman summer. I can’t recall ever seeing her without a wide smile on her face. Her sense of humor and joviality were infectious and she was a wonderful person to spend time with.” Many other classmates have written in with personal remembrances, and common themes among all of them were Pei Lynn’s uplifting personality, her never-wavering dedication to people in her life and beaming smile. I wish I could fit everyone’s thoughts here, but I hope her family and friends will find solace in the fact that so many valued her friendship, her light and her smile. Rest in peace, Pei Lynn, you will most certainly be missed.

—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org