Class Note 1963

John Dickey has published a new edition of Quebradillas (Little Streams), poems named for his small town in northeastern Puerto Rico. Like its progenitor, Quebradillas consists of short metered poems in alphabetical order that express wonderment and bewilderment at the nature and activity around him. But unlike its 2008 companion, Quebradillas 2011 devotes more attention to broad introspective themes: autobiography, youth, regret, age and death. Classmates will relate to “Duckboards,” “Rope Tow,” “Tiger Hike” and “Skating” and be fascinated by the candor of “Stroke of Fate” and the self-deprecating “Class Reunion.” But most moving is John’s coming to grips with aging and death. “We grow a little lonely as we age/ Old friends and family members disappear,” begins “Aging,” ending on a positive note: “Upon this cheerful thought I’ve just begun/to act. I think I’ll telephone my son.” You can purchase Quebradillas, second edition, online.


In 1990, recently divorced and disappointed with the bad economy, Maine lawyer Jim Palmer lit off for a few days of respite in Idaho. While there he took a job offer in Twin Falls, and not long after moved to Vale, Oregon, an expansive, thinly populated area in the high desert region of eastern Oregon, about an hour from Boise, Idaho. He assumed the job of county juvenile director, responsible for juvenile delinquency, child abuse and other child-related matters. He resigned six years later in 2004 to pursue his self-taught passion of horse training. “I trained bird dogs in Maine,” Jim said. “It’s like coaching; you’re trying to get a certain performance.” Jim has two children by his first marriage, Allyson in the San Francisco Bay area and Gilbert ’86, who was born at Mary Hitchcock, living in New Hampshire.


Tom Holzel’s Everest expedition to discover the whereabouts and remains of Andrew Irvine was moved to this fall to give the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) time to organize the financing of their part and to find a presenter to accompany the climbers. “It is colder in fall, but the mountain is more clear of snow,” said Tom who worried that “interlopers” might get a jump on the search. Tom will not be doing the actual climb.


Fiftieth reunion chair Tom Jester waxed nostalgic to references to long-gone Main Street stores mentioned in this column. “I paid $1 for a six-pack and $2.50 for a carton of Winston’s,” he recalls. “My grandfather, class of 1917, took Bill Lamb, Al Palmer, John Patterson and me to a steak dinner at Green ‘Latrine.’ My grandmother gave me an annual $100 charge account at Campion’s.” But the Beefeater invokes most poignant memories. “Where Mrs. Robinson, long before The Graduate, was my on-campus mother figure. Waited table briefly at he ‘Barfeater’ and spent two wonderful years on the grill. If the class ate it, I probably cooked it. Thanks for the memories.” 


I regret to report the deaths of George Richardson, David Templeton and Lloyd Cymrot. Find obituaries at www.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obituaries.


—Harry Zlokower, 60 Madison Ave., Suite 910, New York, NY 10010; (212) 447-9292; harry@zlokower.com