1963

Being class secretary is sometimes like being an archaeologist. You have to try to put together stories from small shards of information. An address change on the dues remittance of John Sanders, for instance, tips us off that he has made a big move - all the way from Cali, Colombia to Euoro, Portugal.

John was good enough to explain on the reverse side (in English, too, which helped) that after four years in Colombia he was going to be in Portugal for two years. And after that he would be back to Purdue "to bore future generations of students reminiscing about international economic development" he has seen. In Portugal he will be in the agricultural economics department at the University Agricola, which, he says isn't too far from Lisbon in case anyone is passing that way. In addition to his four years in Colombia, John had also been in Brazil and other countries bringing his total stay in Latin America to a full decade.

A Christmas card from Kevin Lowther in Zambia brings the news he may be coming back this summer from his post in the city of Lusaka (he and wife Pat haven't yet made a final decision) where he is working with an international development agency. Earlier he had reported that "peace in [adjoining] Zimbabwe has made our life in Zambia more enjoyable. No more raids on our neighborhood." Kevin provides no details, but it's fairly easy to see how that could improve the quality of one's life. Anyway, Kevin says the work has been "interesting and fulfilling."

If they came back - and the Lowthers are still thinking of staying another year in Zambia or perhaps moving to a similar job in another African country - Kevin's current plan is to go back to Keene, where they'd been living before, where Pat would resume teaching (she's also been teaching in Lusaka), and where Kevin would finish a novel that has been "years in progress," then perhaps resume newspapering. As you read this Kevin and Pat and their two bright and lovely daughters will be off on a tour that will take them through Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Turkey (where Pat served in the Peace Corps), and then Europe before reaching the United States in August. Now that's what I call a bon voyage!

Another artifact to arrive in the mail is a nicely engraved announcement from Wertz Associates Inc., treasury bill future specialists of Chicago, Ill., that Don Wertz has become a vice president. No further news, although I did think it was good to have that presumptive evidence in these troubled times that treasury bills have a future.

Next, from the Colgate University office of communications comes a press release announcing that Vic Mansfield had been promoted to associate professor of physics and astronomy. The release says that in addition to his degree from Dartmouth, Vic has one from Cornell, and has been at Colgate since 1974. His major fields of interest are astrophysics, cosmology, and general relativity. In other words, Vic is looking at the big picture.

Your secretary is indebted to Carl Rugen, his opposite number with the class of 1933, for noting the story in the New York Times hailing the nuptials of Donald da Parma, a partner in the New York law firm of Breed, Abbott & Morgan, and Patricia E. Barrett, a vice president of Citibank. Don had graduated from Columbia University school of law and served for four years in the Navy.

That's all the clues for this month.

John Merrow '63, producer and co-host of the "Options in Education" radio series,recently taped a two-part documentary about Dartmouth's admissions process: "HowA Highly Selective College Chooses Its Students." The programs will be broadcastduring the week of April 20 on most National Public Radio stations throughout the U.S.

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