Class Note 1990
First, a shout-out to Mike Kennealy, whom Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker recently named secretary of housing and economic development! Next, here is Part IV of your responses to the question, “What are your salient memories of your freshman trip?” Jane Blum Demarchi: “Although I can’t remember our group number or a lot of names, I do remember that Karen Behling was the first person I met at Dartmouth, and I still treasure our friendship.”
Laura Van Wie McGrory: “Senior year, Bonnie Dickson convinced me to co-lead a hiking trip of ’93s. We volunteered for the easiest hiking level, not realizing that would guarantee us the least-experienced (and least-enthusiastic) hikers, coupled with still-challenging terrain. Add to that our inexperience reading hiking maps, and you had a recipe for missed turns and backtracking, 5-foot-3-inch Bonnie carrying a 6-foot freshman boy’s backpack in addition to her own, and a late-night arrival at our cabin with no water. I can still see our whole group standing in a circle and staring at the jug of stream water, counting the minutes for the iodine to finish doing its thing. I also admit that when a freshman girl screamed in the night that there was a mouse caught in her hair, I responded with no pity: ‘At least it’s not a skunk!’ ”
Cheryl Shepherd: “We were sick of eating the food in our packs and, contemplating the ‘Sticky Stew’ for dinner, a few in our group (I think Mark Campo and Richard Morris) left us on some country roadside and hitchhiked to a town. We dined on hot dogs and M&Ms that night and ate so much we felt ill. Another night we slept in a cabin above a field with cows. Kevin Luensmann, who hailed from Iowa, convinced the city slickers that you can cow tip, so we all snuck down to the field after dark. The ensuing chaos was hysterical (in retrospect). Someone shined a flashlight in the direction of a group of cows and we realized they were wide awake and tracking our approach. That was the fastest we climbed a hill the entire trip!”
Kyle Davis: “I recall the story of Ol’ Doc Benton, having green eggs and ham for breakfast, and meeting my first real New Englandah. I literally followed her around to listen to an accent that I’d only ever heard in movies and on TV shows.” Timothy Douros: “I shared a canoe with Mason Sandell and gradually realized I had made a friend for life.”
Julia Weil Lazarus: “Preparing to be independent in college, I went to pick out hiking boots on my own, and I purchased a pair of gray boots that were cute, cheap—and woefully inadequate. I waited nervously for the bus in N.Y.C., unsure how to break the ice with all these sporty looking folks. Then, lo and behold, there was someone with the exact same boots! And that’s how I met Julie Tomasz, one of my dearest lifelong friends. We both got lots of blisters on that trip, but making a best buddy made it worth it. Our two leaders, Boomer and Phil, carried watermelons in their backpacks so we could have a cool treat. We made instant pudding cheesecake in an icy stream. There wasn’t enough room in a shelter, so Julie and I braved the tent with a few other intrepid hikers (fun!), and I recall writing an ode to our leaders to the tune of the marching song from The Bridge on the River Kwai. This non-hiker will always be extraordinarily grateful for a perfect start to my Dartmouth experience!”
—Rob Crawford, 22 Black Oak Road, Weston, MA 02493; crawdaddy37@gmail.com
