1979

Remember the "Frefhman Book?" Anybody else have doubts about the College after seeing that cute spelling? Well, if you want one, send a dollar to Dartmouth, c/o Josh Hill, College Editor, at Hinman Box 6052, 111 Rogers, Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755. Such a purchase will undoubtedly come in handy at future reunions, at least until we all lose any resemblance to our youthful selves. Josh is getting rid of these volumes for storage reasons, which must mean that the last of the '79s have been graduated. Now, back to the present . . .

Considering the length of the conversation that I had with Sue Myers at one of the telethons, remarkably little was written down. As I recall, Sue rather deftly deflected my initial requests with tales of woe of the U. of Cincinnatti med school bills, but after considering that only one year remained, she began to talk like a bona fide philanthropist. She mentioned nothing about being married, so I had a real jolt upon checking the alumni sheets and seeing "Nick" next to "Sp." (spouse). Who is this guy "Nick"? Turns out that "Nick" means nickname. A very clever institution, that college of ours. So beware, all of you spouses, when someone that you've never heard of calls you by that secret name. Nothing is safe.

Also contacted in the course of the telethon was Don Hubbuch, who described the life that he and his wife, "Cuddles," (sorry, Jill, but that's what we have besides "Sp. Nick.") lead down there in Jackson, Miss. Jill works as a secretary in Jackson, and Don does the buying for McBae's, a chain of 15 retail stores set in Mississippi.

Other recipients of free phone calls included Duff Horton, who was just finishing his internship in general medicine in Pittsburgh and was heading off to Chicago to live with Charlie Rowe. Duff had just returned from San Francisco, where he'd been visiting both Rick Magnusun and Rick's Porsche. Say, Rick, what does one of those rent for these days?

Ah, come on, everyone out in California has a Porsche. It's the computer-chip-get-rich-quick syndrome. Harry Sangree will probably be moving west shortly, seeing as how he just celebrated the first anniversary of the birth of his computer software company, Syntra, Ltd. The business specializes in software for the import/export crowd. Harry seems quite the entrepreneur, having also gone to Guatemala last October for some field tests on a device called Dart-Ram. The device is a compressed-earth block-making machine, somewhat akin to the Dartmouth rugby team. Four houses now stand as proof of Dart-Ram's magic, at least until the first heavy rain. No, wait, that's unfair.

Harry, you should advertise closer to home! Margaret Home Vergeyle and her husband, David, just finished a home in Sparta, NJ., and moved in shortly after getting married last October. Margaret writes that they have a lovely view of northern New Jersey's mountains. (Margaret, there aren't really "mountains" in New Jersey, are there? Careful, now, a wrong answer could really shake a lot of people.) Margaret has been working for CBS Toys in Secaucus, N.J., for the last two years.

John and Eileen O'Keefe also just moved into the new house that they built in North Easton, Mass. John referred to the construction process as "an experience of alternating frustration and excitement." (Sort of like trying to get Springsteen tickets, except that it's probably less costly to build a house.) John preferred to liken the "house" angst to his coaching experiences with his son's (age eight) little league team. To calm down, John sells computers for Data General, while his wife works as a training supervisor for Blue Cross. Also in the picture is their four-year-old daughter, as well as an occasional prospective Dartmouth student in for the old alumni interview.

Kids! You can't live with them, and you can't live with them. But it appears that adults and children do coexist in certain areas of the country. Puddie HaugeSword and her husband, Richard, have been living peacefully, as far as anyone can tell, with Richard Jr. since his birth in May. And you guessed it, the little tyke is preregistered for the class of '07. (Some friends and I took the liberty of preregistering Richard Jr. for Phi Delt. Hope that was OK, heh, heh.)

Well, Richard Jr., meet Caitlin Genet Eger (born March 30), who will also no doubt be joining you in the class of '07. Caitlin's mom, M.J. Erickson Eger, sent that little tidbit. The Egers work in that sinister business of Big Oil, Shell in this case, and operate out of Houston. M.J. kept in shape during her pregnancy by doing alumni interviews and said she got a few startled looks toward the end of the nine months.

I can tell you that I'm not getting enough names in here, so it's time to crank out a couple of marriages. Pretty calloused approach, huh. John Sewell, who had by far the most bizarre picture in the Frefhman Book (Is it a cigar? What is it?), was married to Margaret Thompson (UVa grad) last May in Princeton, N.J. Margaret, as part of the Dartmouth family, you now have to promptly send us your secret nickname. Jon Saxe, DougFerguson, and Lea Sewell Scroggs '77 were part of the wedding party and showed remarkable little reticence over being involved, considering John's pictorial past. Ah, no matter, my concern is with the truely innocent bystanders in the wedding audience, namely Belinda Heckler, Charlie Bertel, Bob Waterson, and Cathy Johnson.

For those of us with few creative instincts, suffer! John works as a studio photographer, and Margaret works as a graphic designer, both in Boston. By the way, John, did you ever hear from Roosevelt Mooris, who left New York and was headed toward Princeton the day before the wedding?

Julian Schmoke also slowed down long enough for someone to grab him. Donna Bailey deserves the honors for not only grabbing Julian but holding on long enough to arrange their June 22 wedding in Hopewell, N.J. Marlowe Hicks and Ray Blackwell '80 played two of the supporting, or should it be restraining, roles. (Julian, are you saying that there were no second thoughts the night before?) Applauding at the proper moments were, among others, Torch Coburn '78, SherryDavis (now M.D.), Laura Benjamin Heyward, Maurice Simmons (hey, Maurice, all of your friends are getting married. What's the story?), Gene Heyward '81, Clive Dawkins '81, Stephanie Parsons '82, and Tee Lotson '82.

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