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COUNT DOWN TO Now that most, if not all of us, have muddled through a high school 5Oth reunion, it's time to start our clocks ticking toward June of 2004, our Golden Jubilee. It's easy - just go outside, smell the air, look at the trees and get your wife to make you carry some furniture around or paint something. The number of '54s who didn't, or couldn't make it to the 45th is huge and virtually everyone of them (you) promised to make the 50th. so stick a nail in the calendar for June 11, 12 and 13, 2004. Standing in awe of the Class of 1953's predilection for mini-reunions in exotic places, '54 VP JAY DAVIS is working on a few ideas that would offer both interesting surroundings and convivial digs for our guys and friends. As a kick-off, he has booked the Battlefield Bed & Breakfast for a "Spring in Gettysburg" trip April 22-24. Call Jay for details. RICK HARTMAN compiled a diary of his and ANN's month-long sojourn in Switzerland. Headquartered in the small town of Meiringen, they paced themselves through a magical tour of all the marvelous aspects of the country, most of which entailed a challenging series of long hikes, coupled with some fine eatin'. Seasoned travelers, they quickly learned the freedom of various travel passes and several times, moved to new destinations strictly on the spur of the moment. Midway in the month, Ann and Rick met up with DANA and ANNE LOW in Lugano, well into the midst of their own Europe-tromping. Rick's diary is better than most canned tour descriptions and is available on request to your editor - particularly if you are looking for a way to spend a delightful time in the most beautiful part of Europe. BARCLAY JAMESON weighed in with a touching story of his recent activities. As the executive editor and general manager of The Chieftain in Pueblo, Colorado, he became deeply involved in the establishment of a memorial to recipients of the Medal of Honor. Pueblo was significant, in that there were four living medal winners in residence. Over a year's time, Barclay was involved in the selection of a sculptor, the site, the script of the diorama in the adjacent convention center and constant contact with both the local heroes and many others. Thinking that he had finished his task, he and LINDA moved to Grand Junction and were on their way to a trip to France and Bermuda when one of the Pueblo medal-winners called him and asked that he edit the man's book about his Vietnam experiences. What followed was a dramatic exposure to the horrors of war, not only from the perspective of Drew Dix, the author, but also from further conversations with men who had gone magnificently beyond the bounds of human endurance to feats of heroism in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Barclay was effusive in his praise of those honored, particularly relative to their presentations in school about freedom, liberty and democracy. Sounded like a tremendously satisfying project. The BELCHER retirement has progressed as planned and DON and SHEILA have celebrated by returning to old haunts in Africa. "Three months in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Ghana. Africa has amazing diversity - luxurious Cape Town, unspoiled Okavauga Delta, stunning Victoria Falls, traditional cultures. We plan to do volunteer teaching several months a year in Africa for the near future. We continue to enjoy the Northwest and its sports and cultural opportunities. Like many classmates, this seems a special time for reflection, reading, gardening, grandchildren -passing on the baton with gratitude. We have enjoyed attending various Elder Hostels all over the country and recommend them highly to others for regional insights and interesting companions.~ A lion in winter who is still pacing around the cage. Faithful field correspondent GEORGE HASMNS spotted a piece (with photo) about MIKE FINIGAN in the Rochester Business Journal, reading "Michael Finigan M.D~ a pulmonologist and senior physician attending at Genesee Hospital, has received the Anderson Teaching Award and the La Force Award recognizing excellence in education. Recipients of both awards are nominated by medical residents." George reports having seen Mike recently and that he has cut back some on hospital work, but is still active on the education side at Rochester Institute of Technology. A little more attention to golf was noted. 1954 Cookbooks! They have been printed (in limited quantity) and are ready to be shipped. Huckster JOHN GILLESPIE picked them up in Hanover at Homecoming and distributed copies directly to the weekend revelers. The outstanding orders are in the mail. They make thoughtful, useful Christmas gifts. Make a check out to "Class of 1954 Reunion" and send it to Pete Barker, 111 Parsonage Rd., Greenwich, CT 06830. John, not surprisingly, is now the Vice President of the Dartmouth Club of Maine, writing their fall newsletter and planning their holiday dinner in Yarmouth. STAN CLARK lives four miles away, then returns to New Jersey. John's working on him for the New York gathering in December. If we can lure Stan in, maybe it could lead to TOM MALCOLM and BAYARD! The monthly Dartmouth luncheon in Portland turned out MIKE PAYSON, moving just fine and enlivening the conversation. From DICK PAGE: Italy, especially Tuscany, was a repeated and appreciated experience. We rented two villas, each for a week, with two other couples and then went on to Sicily. My new slogan is 'Pasta e Grappa'. Our next voyage will be to Antarctica in January. It is summer then and you can smell the penguins from further away. (Care to order a steak?). We will be tracking the voyage of the Endurance to its ending for three weeks, but with stopovers in Santiago and the Falklands." Retire a guy from the Board of Trustees and he goes nuts! Doctor DICK DEANER, the oft suspected author of several ribald notes to this communication vehicle has suggested that the newsletter needs help and, in the spirit of brotherhood, has offered up the following editorial written by his goodself for a mysteriously unnamed periodical: "In Vino Veritas. "All Gaul is Divided (from a wine-appreciator's perspective) into 3 parts -Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. Beaujolais doesn't count. "Bev and I did a couple of weeks in southwest France and Bordeaux with 30 other grape-groupies, known as LeGran Crew. We were on a tour orchestrated by Vin Marottoli - aka LeGran Vin - a polyglot educator from New Haven. We did a great wine tour with Vin in Provence in 1994 and we were spoiling for an encore. "We flew L. A. to Gatwick to Toulouse. For several days, we wandered in the gardens and markets of Toulouse and walked along its canals. We visited the Toulouse-Latrec museum where most of the artist's paintings and posters are exhibited and we had a guided tour of the aerospace facility where Airbus and Concorde aircraft are assembled. There were daily bus trips to regional chateaux to taste the wine and sample the local cuisine - cassoulet, salad with goat cheese and freshly-scissored duck gizzard. Country (some would say peasant) food. Great. "We headed south into Spain to get the flavor of the Pyrenees and to visit the Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao -wow! An architectural eye-popper designed by Frank 0. Gehry, the world's hautest architect. The Bilbao Guggenheim is a stylized ship of stone, steel glass and titanium. "We reveled at length in the Pyrenees Mountain scenery and in the Basque food, wine and hospitality. After an overnight in San Sebastian, we were off to Lourdes where some of us were immersed in the spring-fed grotto pool. "Then north to Bordeaux, where a day wine and food festival was underway. 50 francs got you a pour of many of the great and near-great regional wines. At least 50 vintners were there to discuss their wines as you sniffed, swirled and sipped (and sometimes spat). The chateau guides were generally knowledgeable, pleasant, reasonably fluent in English and, in several instances, gorgeous! I shall never forget our hostess at Chateau La Feet, nor the lovely guide at Chateau Noel where the family motto is Haut, Haut, Haut! "Well, it's all a glorious memory now. Several serial photos document my inexorable weight gain. Back to the world of HURT!" From JOHN POPE: "JINNY and I expect to be amongst the group at The Plantation Inn in February. Last year, I "won" PETE SCHENCK's old - what was six feet of it -putter. Being a golf club collector, I have now in my possession a suitable, albeit somewhat crooked (circa 1900), replacement. This will be given to the one who most demonstrates his/her expertise in the good old game of GOWLF! We will most certainly need a committee to decide that." In line with that note, Pete Schenck is moving to Santa Barbara, CA in November and has asked BOB OSMOND to take over the running of the outing - which Bob has agreed to do. The mini will run from Sunday, February 25th through Wednesday the 28th. Anyone interested should contact The Plantation Inn directly for reservations: 1-800-632-6262. Rooms are $85 per night. Couples mainly, but singles are certainly welcome. JAY DAVIS's ski trips are scheduled for Haystack, January 21-23; Aspen, March 5-9, with possible arrival on the 4th to join the '53s at MEAD METCALF's Crystal Palace for dinner. Call Jay ASAP (802) 295-4215. BOB "Whitey" WHITE writes: "In June, I attended our 5Oth reunion at our preparatory school Trinity-Pauling); BOB RAFELSON and I both graduated and headed for Dartmouth in 1950. It's truly unnerving, half a century. In less than four years, the same ceremony will apply to Dartmouth and 1954!". Finally, HOWIE ARONSON retired from United Airlines. Without missing a beat, he leaped right into retirement with both fire and fury - flight-instructing at Sikorsky Airport in Stratford, CT, flying search and rescue for the Connecticut Civil Air Patrol and fishing, etc. MARJORIE has strongly recommended that Howie consider retiring from retirement! She is still actively creating marvelous art and both are happily healthy. Their son, Miles is now with a financial institution in Boulder, CO. ED SCOTT ponders the identity of the men on the back page of the last newsletter. He is puzzled over how such elderly fellows could possibly be in the company of such gorgeous women. He and ISABEL headed out to Toronto to see old friends and hit his 50th high school reunion. Ed added a special tour of upstate New York to "pay a farewell visit to all the crummy towns in which I lived as a boy". On their way to Montreal, he planned to expose Isabel to Fort Ticonderoga - mainly because he is enamored of its "mystic" name. Got their fingers crossed on selling their place in Vancouver - planning to move up the coast a bit After wandering around somewhat aimlessly in retirement, ERNIE DAHL finally found something to do - he got married (KATHRYN NELL DAHL). His kids are chanting the mantra of "third time is the charm". In a dazzling demonstration of long-term memory, DON FETHEROLF, in a note with his dues to HARRY ROBINSON conjured up the "great dam chowder your Mom fixed for us as we headed south on our pledge trip". Other notes with dues checks: BILL and KIT MANSFIELD did a few weeks on Block Island this summer; an unnamed Classmate sent in his check with a loud complaint about the continuing large number of Classmates who do not chip in, but continue to receive the Alumni Magazine and newsletter, plus receive Class accolades for support of Rockefeller interns; KATHY and STEVE FAST were excited about traveling East to "leaf-peep". Harry takes a special interest in Kathy in that it was she who introduced the Robinsons!; PATTY OSMOND was relieved to report that BOB was feeling better following open heart surgery in August; and DAVE RANSOM continues to "think of the Robinsons when passing near Madison", but never drops by for lunch. Harry is stationed on a hilltop with binoculars, hoping to catch Dave, not dropping in. Harry happily mentioned that CAROL is on the mend, following carpal repair work -the curse of computer keyboards. An August edition of the Journal News contains a suitable-for-framing photo of CAROLYN CUNNINGHAM, partner of our JOHN, speaking her piece in a courtroom. The caption reads: "Carolyn Cunningham, the acting mayor of the City of Rye and an environmental lawyer, speaks against a proposed 5:59 am flight at Westchester County Airport, which would break a 16-year~old curfew that calls for no flights to or from the airport between midnight and 6:30 am." From the jut of her jaw and clench of her fist, I believe that I would plan to catch a later flight…. DICK BARKER has noted a slowly growing infusion of the Class of 1954 on the Cape. The annual dinner of the Cape Cod Dartmouth Club in Sandwich included the Barkers, the CHRISTOPHEs, GILLESPIEs, MILKEYs, RICHARD PAGEs, DUNC ROBERTSs and the SHELLY WOOLFs. Conveniently, about-to-retire Trustee Page was the speaker. A week later, the same group, plus the EATONs convened at the annual meeting to hear President Jim Wright. Then, during July, sightings were made, "along the shores of the Bass River" of DALT & LINDA DULAC with son Andre, PETE & JILL KENYON with daughter SASHA and MEREDITH JEAN MYSERIAN, who had spent some time with her and family, painting Cape Cod panoramas. PERRY DAVIS, our webmaster, proudly presents: "My daughter, Leslie, received her Ed. D. from Columbia University Teachers' College in May. Her dissertation, 'How Good Teachers Nurre Character' was rated Excellent and was awarded a Line One evaluation when she defended it last December. She has several papers published and has been a featured speaker at conferences on character development. In February, she was asked by the United Nations Non-Government Service Organization to be an 'Airline Ambassador' and study instruction techniques in character development in Thailand. Following her return from Thailand, she was asked to attend the International Conference on Education in Human Values to be held in India in September. Leslie, at present, is engaged in establishing a charter school in Hartford, CT where she will be Executive Director, commuting weekly from her home in Manhattan. Leslie and her husband and son live in Manhattan." Now, if we could just get Leslie into Washington to work her character development magic! Many classmates have had surprise telephone calls from "TUCSON TOMMY" THOMPSON, ranging in topics from long-term lack of giving to the College to the joys of living in Arizona to just plain "how are ya?". During one such conversation with DICK BARKER, Tommy developed an insatiable desire for some good old-fashioned fresh Cape Cod corn. After paying the $6 FedEx charge for six ears, Tom was seen, wandering off, muttering something about the 30 cents an ear corn at the local Piggly Wiggly. JIM ADAMS was in typical high dudgeon in recounting the antics of the '54 Fly Fishing Team: "WILLIE WILMNS had had damaged his knee, falling down the stairs in Sweden and DAVE MCLAUGHLIN got 'importanted' out of the deal, so the actual participants were PETE ANKENY, BOB LEVINE, JOHN HESTON, DICK PAGE, SHELLEY WOOLF and myself. Our location was the interior of Labrador on one of the thousands of rivers and lakes found in that water4ogged part of the world. It is 65% water. We did a lot of fishing and some catching. The prize catches were native Brook Trout in the 3 to 4 pound dass. Our 'top rod' in trout catching was John Heston, although some felt he had used an illegal lure, emitting some form of radiation. The largest fish went to Pete Ankeny, who landed a 23" Tail Hook Salmon, which won the prize for the week's largest fish and the betting pool. Shelley Woolf was very expert at catching White Fish and Northern Pike - so much so that he was anointed 'Trash Fish King' at week's end. "While many aspects of our trip did not live up to early expectations, all agreed that the numbers, size and general meanness of the mosquitoes and black flies were far beyond our worst fear. Discussions are already underway to find a location for next year's trip where there are more trout and no black flies." These guys are nuts. Several photos were supplied and are safely stored in the editor's files for inspection, should one be requested. A gorgeous, smiling photograph in the New York Times wedding section caught our attention and upon inspection, announced that Kimberly STEEL (of JOHN STEEL fame) had entered into holy matrimony with one John Hagenbuch in an outdoor ceremony in Sun Valley. Kimberly, a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth, is a managing director and investment manager at Watch Hill Investment Partners in Larchmont, NY while John heads an investment company in San Francisco (Princeton magna cum laude, Stanford MBA). Powerful combo. Shattuck - St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota, invited alum DAVE MARTIN to address the graduating class last June. The school claims to be the oldest such institution west of the Alleghenies. A snippet: "Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Edgar Allan Poe, Shelly and Whistler were all expelled from school at one point. They all failed, but they all stuck with their passion. They all were optimists of a kind. "This country needs more like them. We need some adventurers, some planners, farmers, builders. We need to put aside some of our cynicism. "It has been said that there are two forms of disaster that can overtake a nation. "One is silence - when the voices of all the observers and commentators, the analysts and critics have been stilled. "The other is chaos - when everyone is babbling at the same time. When the doers and the builders find themselves paralyzed by an excess of critical comment. We may be approaching that dangerous point. If so, our challenge is to come back from the brink without moving too far in the direction of silence." The graduates were spotted wandering aimlessly into the woods. The old "work hard and tell the truth" just doesn't cut it anymore. CLARK and DONNA DAVIS have decided that Eastman is a nice place to visit, but that the real comfort in life comes from nestling down in a place that has been your home over the longest period of time and that has all your "support" people (medical, church, friends, etc.) and places dose at hand. So, Eastman is on the market and the Davises have bopped into a new condo in Erie, PA (2406 Bonica Circle, 16506). Also, Donna is deeply involved in several garden club related organizations. The Davises have a special place in the Class and we look forward to seeing them at future events. DICK BARKER has given the boot to juno.com and has joined the aol crowd: Rdbarker54@aol.com. Note it in your directory. At publication, word reached us of the passing of Dr. JOHN RENNER on September 2nd. John was an ardent supporter of family practice and patient education. A proper celebration of his life will be included in the next newsletter. Recheck your calendars - December 13 holiday lunch at the Pillar House in Boston; December 14 at the venerable Yale Club in New York. The recent Alumni Magazine lists RICK HARTMAN with the Chairman's Citation for outstanding service in the recent Alumni Fund drive. From Alpharetta, Georgia, LARRY RUSSELL: "Can't wait for our first 50th! The photo (see back page) was taken during the '96 Olympics and was a .6-mile leg in the torch run en route to Atlanta in Norcross, GA. Two sons - Larry, Jr., a Delta pilot, Gregg, Dartmouth '84 and an executive with a computer firm and a daughter, Tierney, an exec with Coca Cola. I'm still in hotels -currently Sheraton, but will probably retire next year of so to St. Simons Island on the coast of Georgia." In the recent issue of Vanity Fair - 400 musical artists, count 'em 400! - a twc)~page spread pairs Odetta and Ramblin' Jack Elliot as "hheroes to the early 60s folk movement" and goes on to reveal that neither had the roots one would expect - not the bayou and the range, but a dassically trained voice from LA and a Bronx doctor's son who ran away to join a rodeo. What makes this significant is that, when you take away the big hat and guitar, Ramblin' Jack becomes Elliott Adnopoz, BOB's cousin! Now - what do we do with this? Suggestions on Greencards. |