1980

You can stop flipping through the class notes pages really, I swear, you won't find it. I didn't think you'd take it so hard. Oh, come on, it's not that bad; here's some Kleenex. I mean, think about Mike Carothers. The poor guy's been writing this column for five years now; isn't it about time he passed the job on to someone else?

Mike passed it on to Wade Herring and me sometime during reunion weekend. Wade and I recognize that Mike's shoes (size 11-and-a-half B) will be hard to fill, but we'll do our best. And what about Mike? Mike Carothers has moved on to writing captions for "Organic Farmer" magazine. Way to go, Carothers.

And way to go, class of '80. We set an all-time record for the most alumni to ever return to Hanover for a reunion: 312 alums, 32 percent of our class, not to mention the spouses, friends, children, dogs, and random groupies that brought our total attendance up to 355. Even more noteworthy we think that all 355 survived.

And it certainly was an event. From dorm check-in on Friday (did we really live like this?) to D. Roy's demolition dancing on Saturday, from bagging rays at the river to buying Big Green T-shirts at the co-op; from tours through the recently yuppified Thayer to tears at reuning with good really good old friends. Funny how most of us were a little anxious driving or flying into Hanover ("What if no one I know shows up? What if I get flashbacks from that time I failed the Stars midterm? What if Moe;s is now a leg-waxing salon and C&A's a sushi bar?") But equally funny was how, as soon as we stepped out of the car, most of us felt as if, in a way, we were home again.

Things to remember: Bob Lisk (Bob who?) pushing coffee his company's coffee on everyone at the Bema dinner ("Really, Lisky, the coffee's great, but I usually try to keep under 17 cups an evening"); the Vermont Lines bus that hauled a full load of 'Bos down to the Tally House at 3:00 a.m. Saturday, and the look on Lizard Lady's face as we piled into the dining room. John Steele and Marty Peterson winning the mixed doubles crown; Parker Small pulling his 1980 slide show out of mothballs so that we could all be reminded of how grim we looked five years ago; Eric Cutter, making everybody feel good in a way only Eric Cutter can; Meg Coughlin LePage, who wanted to stay out dancing Saturday night, but had to turn in because she couldn't find anyone short enough to jitterbug with her daughter Jessie; AlecClarke pulling out baby pictures at every opportunity ("Did you sneeze? Oh, that reminds me, here's a shot of my daughter sneezing . . ."); Ann Van Roden, trying to describe her business to Rich Akerboom ("No, see, Boomer, I paint on rawsilk shirts and blouses. No, Boomer, you wear raw silk, you don't cook it."); ScottOsman, trying to convince us that fashion photography in Europe is not all glamour (right, Scott, Paris and Milan can be a real bore . . . ).

Paul Mott is leaving his admissions post at a small, obscure college in Williamstown, Mass., to counsel collegegoers and coach soccer at St. Mark's School in Houston. Webb Vorys is setting aside a promising career as a Vermont Lines flight attendant to prepare for his marriage to Elizabeth Flynn in October. Margie Schechner, who married Tom Gart in April, is in Denver now, and Hilary Spalding is in Maine designing clothes for other people's children. For his summer residence, Hendo blew off the Hamptons, Newport, and Piscataway, as he entered the MALS program at Dartmouth (tough life: winters in Pebble Beach, summers in Hanover). J.C. Stahl is taking a respite on the Cape after spending months on the road with a number of different dance companies.

Kudos and special welcomes to the spouses' and friends who so gracefully tolerated our inside jokes and Dartmouth idiosyncrasies. Mrs. James I. Griffiths III proved that it's actually OK to call James I. "Jim"; Bonnie Cammann made sure Tom maintained some semblance of sanity; and Orazio Latanzi (Laura Giuliano's husband) politely sidestepped comparisons of the Harvard football squad on which he played to the Dartmouth squads of our era.

And a special note to those of you who were unable to return to Hanover. StuartBell, Don Skantze, Beth Cogan, Ty Burr,Albert Ellis, Kevin Ryan, Kim McConnaughy Vletas, Greg Tinfow, and many others (about 600 others), we noticed your absence, and we missed you.

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