1979

Sorry about this, but the question has to be asked: "Are there any single people still left?" This inquiry, recently raised for the first time in New York by two single '79s, is now of utmost importance to me. Why? Because all I get on this job are wedding announcements. I need new material.

In order to reinforce my message, I'm afraid that examples will have to be made of the following persons: Megan Thomas, Chase Ashley, and Andy Cole.

Megan has apparently run off and married Robert Olson '71, a doctor. The nerve of her. Dr. Olson not only practices reconstructive plastic surgery but, can you bear this, teaches surgery and biomedicine at Rutgers Medical School. Megan's parents must be heartbroken. (I warned you that this would be brutal.) Megan had such promising Dartmouth ties. Her father was class of '53 (and numerous '53s attended the wedding), her brother will be class of '88, and Megan was even conducting an alumni interview when I called. Megan continues to work as a managing editor of medical serial books for John Wiley and Sons, a New York publisher who graciously agreed to keep Megan on despite the scandal.

Chase, no doubt, relied heavily on his litigatory skills which have served him so well at the New York law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Roberts in convincing Kathleen Monahan to marry him. Make him keep all of his promises, Kathleen. Kathleen and her Wheaton College friends were forced to suffer the agonizing attempts at conversation by the likes of Mark Sullivan (the best man), Frank Hathaway (almost out of Wharton), and T. Weymouth (a previous recipient of ALUMNI MAGAZINE coverage).

We come finally to Andy Cole, who actually thought that he could escape this inquisition by moving to Canada after his marriage in September to Holly Ragle. Andy claims to be doing a residency at the Montreal Neurological Institute located at McGill University. You can never escape the ALUMNI MAG. Remember that. Holly made a bad tactical move in finishing her Ph.D. thesis in chemistry on time and joining Andy in Canada for her postdoctoral studies. The odd thing is that the error in judgement wasn't in joining Andy but in completing her education as scheduled. I've known grad students who've had a whale of a good time stretching out the completion of their studies.

Well, we can all rest more easily now. Let's hope we have all learned a lesson here today. It's not that I hate weddings, it's just that I don't want to be the last to know.

Skip Maples is in the Peace Corps and will be in Costa Rica until April. Libby Roberts passed that on to me after one of her telethons. I bet Skip is around but just didn't want to deal with the telethon. Well, if he really is gone then the very least he can do upon his return is to phone Libby and find out what she wants.

Maybe I am a little unfair. It is true that lots of '79s leave this country for perfectly valid reasons. Deb (Kreiger) Jennings spent a year in Paris working on her master's in French all very noble. Paul Allman just left for Italy to work on the Italian version of MTV for five or six months. Yet, let's look more closely. It was rumoured that Deb and her husband, Dana Jennings, were addicted to croissants at du tea upon their return to the States. I suspect that it was that nasty habit that drove them over there in the first place. To think that now Deb and Dana appear to all the world as the model couple; Deb working on textbooks in the foreign language division of McGraw-Hill and Dana a copy editor for TheWall St. Journal. They have a lovely house in Fairview, N.J. Only the absence of a dog even hints at the hideous croissant addiction that nearly caused them to turn to the life of the expatriate.

Such drama is hard to deal with. Let us return to more familiar patterns. Chris Lucas is studying oil at the Colorado School of Mines. Still a little bizarre. Let's try something like Jack Ringler is an intern at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston specializing in internal medicine. Larry Atherton has also decided to heal the wounded and perform other miracles as an intern at the University of Kentucky Medical Complex.

Doctors and marriages certainly seem to be the story of this column. Mary Ann (Zetes)Mazanson not only is a doctor in her second year as an intern in family medicine at Duke but is married to Peter Mazanson whom she met in med school. So Mary Ann not only fits the criteria but carries the process one step further. Mary Ann gets to crack all sorts of whips over two other '79s - Bill Gottesman and Curt Stange, who are in the same program as first-year interns. My understanding is that first-year interns are an even lower form of life than Cabin and Trails heelers.

Part of the pleasure of this job is occasional chats with mothers of '79s. Lots of '79s will tell you how great they're doing, but the moms tell it like it is. No sugar coatings there. So Brice Buchanan must really be having a great time. Brice now apparently must choose between spending more time with computers at the Shriver Computer Company and spending more time with his band, "Loose Ties." Fans went berserk at the Little Shell outdoor theater in Boston last summer as Brice and his buddies destroyed outdated concepts and shattered illusions. Chaos everywhere. Mrs. Buchanan says that it's a good outlet for her son.

Finally, Andy Schoder and I ran into each other over four months ago. Much was said but little remembered. It gets that way as you get older. Andy, in the ensuing four months, has not only stayed with Dean Witter but has made it his home. That theme was repeated constantly by Andy's roommate, ChipFauver. Chip is engaged, but the ALUMNI MAGAZINE is not interested in the preliminaries, so tough luck. Chip is into government bondage over at Morgan Guaranty; know what I mean?

So let me leave you with these thoughts: warm temperatues, inner tubes, dances, dinners, stimulating conversation, pleasant memories. Then there is the dark side: the dry heaves, sprained ankles, old enemies, old lovers. It'll all be there at reunion, June 15-17.

1229 Massachusetts Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003