1966's 10th

Nine years after graduation, the Class of 1966 returned to Hanover for Reunion. Like the campus itself, we have changed in many ways, yet, overall, we are the same men who stood, hot, robed and anxious, on the Baker Lawn in the Vietnam spring of 1966.

There are noticeable physical changes at Dartmouth. There are massive new buildings - one links the old Physics and Chemistry buildings; another crouches on Tuck Mall; a third, a Leverone Field House lookalike, will house a rejeuvenated hockey team. And there are buildings missing and names changed. (No Tanzi, but a Chinese Restaurant where the Midget Diner stood).

Yet for all the change the College is clearly the same. Dartmouth Row, the Gym, the solid red brick buildings standing firm, the river, the Green, remain and age gracefully, if at all.

Perhaps the most obvious change is in the people who are now Dartmouth. There are, it must be admitted, lots of women at Dartmouth who are, in fact, Dartmouth women. And they're everywhere, from the Glee Club to clean-up crews. And these women, along with the present generation of Dartmouth men looked awfully young. Younger, we're sure, then we ever looked or ever were.

And how does the Class of 1966 appear today? The same - with those modifications dictated by time. Some a little fuller, a few sleeker, most with longer hair where it will grow. Mellower, too, with lovely wives and lively children. Maybe more serious, a little more respectful to the College, a little uneasy at returning, to "the old days", which, inevitably, are more vivid in memory than in actual recreation.

Don Graves was impresario of the Tenth (after nine), and his energy and planning resulted in two fast-paced days of activity that successfully defied the rainy weekend weather, 104 of us dropped by at one time or another, and 201 members of the Sixty-Six Family checked into the Massachusetts Hall headquarters.

Highlights included a constantly open beer tap in our green and white (what else?) tent; Friday dinner at Thayer Hall ("I don't remember an open salad bar!"); the Glee Club; President Kemeny, articulate and logical; brief sun at soggy Storrs Pond picnic area; cocktails with the Classes of 1964 and 1965; and dinner and Vermont folklore with Al Foley '20 at the Hanover Inn (the Connecticut River boundary story, like the genial Professor Emeritus himself, seems to improve with age).

Yes, classmates came from far. Steve and JanBryan from Salt Lake, Dick and July Blacklow from Seattle, Chuck and Lonnie Horn from Irvine, Calif., Tim and Toni Urban from Iowa, and Ken Zuhr from San Diego.

And near. Paul Doscher, Rick and KarenWadsworth (both helpful in Reunion arrangements) and Jeff Marks from New Hampshire; George and Lyn Trumbull, Bob andKaren Serenbetz and Wayne and Kathy LoCurto, from Connecticut; Robbie and Andy Seidman from New York City, Jerry Reitman from Montreal, Cynthia and Larry Herbst from Poughkeepsie, George Detlefsen and Augie from Schenectady. A large Washington area group included the Steinmetz's, the King's, and the Simm's.

In class business, Al Ryan turned over the President's gavel to Terry Lowd, Gerry Paul passed our savings bank book to new Treasurer Paul Babcock, Larry Geiger will return for still another stint 'as secretary but shed the newsletter editor's desk, now occupied by Roger Kline.Caleb Loring, inspiring us to new heights of generosity in class giving, agreed to stay on as class agent.

Reunion closed with a quiet but moving Memorial Service for our classmates who have died since matriculation, conducted with dignity and conviction by Reverend Brewster (Budge)Gere. Six of our Classmates - L. Patrick Bailey, Joel Benezet, Harry Fisher, William Hester, Eric Muller and Dave Nocholas - were honored.

It's funny, but at each Reunion, "Men of Dartmouth" gets easier to remember and is more fun to sing.

Reunion Treasurer Ed Tuck and Chairman Nev Chamberlain display attendancecups awarded 1950's "Touch of Class."

CLASS SECRETARY