1968

TENTH REUNION

What an incredible weekend! Blessed by magnificent weather, a well-manicured and green-as-ever Hanover Plain, the warmth of 175 classmates, and a total attendance of over 300 men,-women, and children, the Class of'68 made an impressive appearance on the campus June 16-18. Our reunion was the fifth largest Tenth Reunion ever, and the largest in the past ten years. Operating out of our posh headquarters on Fayerweather Row, with the class tent a short stone's throw (or stumble) away, we sampled a delightful variety of events and activities.

Outstanding cocktail parties started every evening and great dancing laced with libation and song ended each evening - or should we say, each morning - and also won Tom Long the "best-dressed" award for the weekend. There were also such activities as a computer course, seminars covering topics such as "Great Issues for Spaceship Earth" and "Why I Teach at Dartmouth," the traditional Moosilauke climb, tennis, and, of course, endless visits to the '67 and '69 tents.

Highlights - at least a sampling of this participant's - included a concert by the combined Dartmouth Glee Clubs (with handkerchiefs to combat the inevitable tearstreaked cheeks), an outstanding play in Hopkins Center, That Championship Season, featuring three '68s - Don Marcus, Rich Hoxie, and Greg Jones; a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable tenth reunion seminar, organized by Steve Calvert and aided by panelists Bob Reich and his wife, Clare Dalton, among others; a dinner for all reunion classes in the most impressive Thompson Arena; a memorable alumni parade through the streets of Hanover; a class picnic at Storrs Pond, with music by the reknowned New Black Eagle Jazz Band; and evening entertainment by a superb jazz-rock group, Grampus, and by the Nifty Fifties - the next best thing to Sha Na Na. The beer seemed to taste a little better becaus Moe was still delivering it, and a walk across the Green at four in the morning was as glorious as ever!

The grande finale, in many ways, may have been the class dinner on our last night, held in beautifully renovated (no butter on the ceiling) Thayer Hall-Line 4 (noticeably devoid of canine influence). Various reports and short speeches were the after-dinner fare, including the announcement of the new executive committee and its election of the officers chosen to run the class affairs for the next five years: president, John McNamara; treasurer, Mark Waterhouse; secretary, Dave Loring; newsletter editor, Dan Hedges; head agent, John Preotle; and the executive committee - Steve Calvert, Don Clausing, Peter Dunn, John Engelman, Peter Hofman, Bill Hoyt, John Lazarus, John O'Shea, Jon Page, Bob Reich, and Jim Tonkovich. We also heard encouraging remarks and plans for increased solidarity and cohesiveness of the Class for the future - a topic addressed by President John McNamara.Steve Calvert announced the participation of our Class, along with '58 and '78, in providing the College with a sculpture/memorial to the memory of alumni lost during the Vietnam conflict. Later, a moment of silence was also requested for the 16 classmates our Class has lost since graduation.

So much happened over those three days that it would be very hard to recap it all. The full impact of the ten-year span of time wasn't as ominous as one might have suspected - we found the same friends and personalities we had known in our years on campus. The signs of the times were still there, however - the early- rising joggers, the new sounds of children, and the many introductions which began, "And this is my wife."

The meaningfulness of this weekend was multiplied by the sacrifices of those who covered impressive distances between home and Hanover, with "home" being such exotica as Okinawa (Burt Quist), Honolulu (Jim Morrison), Alaska (Miles Schlosberg), Norway (Hans Mehren and Jens Raanaas), and Switzerland (Yoshi Nakamura). Those of you who could not bridge the distance were missed - but there is always the 15th!

Finally, particular thanks to those who really "made it happen" - especially Jim Tonkovich and the reunion committee he chaired - SteveCalvert, Kirby Nickels, and Pete Weston. Thanks also to the many classmates who devoted precious time and energies to aid Tonks in putting on such a super show. Thanks, finally, to a Dartmouth which allowed us to remember, briefly, a momentous four years in our lives and renew such valuable friendships. A great reunion was promised, a great reunion was delivered, and a great one it was! Now, mark your calendars for June 1983, and we'll do it again, bigger and better, for our 15th!

Fred von der Lage (left) and Allen Skean (right) make sure the '68 jerseys fit.

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