1961

Our 25th reunion began for a few of us on a bright, sunny Tuesday morning with a Vermont Transit bus trip to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge for the re-creation of our freshman trip. I say for a few of us, because most of the '61s present had skipped the 1957 freshman trip, so this trip was their freshman trip.

it ended with a moving Sunday morning memorial service conducted by the Reverend George Bland, in which classmates slowly called out the names of the 19 members of 1961 who had died since we matriculated in September 1957.

In between, it was a glorious week, planned down to the last detail by RonWybranowski and his effective committee and his wonderful student staff.

The intellectual highlight was that 1961 trademark, " Passages, " nearly six hours of group discussion of who we were, who we are, and where we are going, led by Tom McDonough and Bruce Forester. Many were talking about switching careers or going back to school; some, having made their money, were considering how they might leave their marks on their communities their epitaphs, as one classmate put it.

Some discussed how the drive for grades, developed as undergraduates, took away any sense of balance in their lives and turned them into wired-up people who rarely said no to requests for help and often found their circuits overloaded. For others, the same background produced a drive to achieve perfection that may not be healthy. And many were now feeling the need for serenity.

Nearly all found support from other classmates and their wives. It's amazing how comfortable we felt with each other after 25 years of separation! And discussions of what ordinarily would be considered intimate details of our lives continued after we left the sessions at dinner, in impromptu conversations, even as a substitute for ordinary cocktail party chatter.

There were many other high points: The sold-out Bo Diddley concert, sponsored by our class, but attracting teens, it seems, from throughout the Upper Valley, some of whom managed to dance in the aisles for the entire show.

The class banquet address by former Dean of the College Thaddeus Seymour '49 A, now president of Florida's Rollins College, who hit us right between the eyes with a direct, and funny, talk, and who struck many as a future candidate for the Wheelock Succession. It was followed by a laser light show by JoelHeathcote.

A delightful picnic lunch in the Bema (rather than the traditional one at Storrs Pond), featuring a deeply moving and at the same time hilarious rereading of his Sachem Oration by H. Dutton Foster. Dutton preceded that with about 20 minutes of his interpretation of events since Dartmouth. (You can reread the Sachem Oration part on Page 316 of Reflections 1986.) Before he spoke, the Dartmouth Aires wandered through the Bema singing Dartmouth songs.

A steamy Friday night dance at AD fraternity with music by the Pulse 8 thatbegan at 10:30 p.m. and lasted until 2 in the morning and demonstrated that some of us, at least, could still keep up with those half our age. (But fewer were ready to dance quite so late on Saturday night.)

A heavy dose of Dartmouth tradition and nostalgia, including two concerts by the Dartmouth Glee Club (one a standard concert for all reunioning classes, the second a special Dartmouth songs concert just for us) and five separate occasions for standing renditions of "Men of Dartmouth."

I'm struck by how little we've changed. Oh, some have lost their hair, and some have gotten gray, but by and large, we really didn't look like a bunch of 46-year- olds. Some, like Terry Rogers and BareCorbus, could pass for 35. Several classmates noted, however, that slow aging was not always the case, having spotted a few who were 46 going on 65.

The freshman trip began with a day of challenges in the forests near the Ravine Lodge. It was mostly team efforts how to get team members through a rope web without touching the web, and with each going through a different hole; how to get an entire team out of a pretzel formation or over a high rope without ever breaking handhold. But there were individual challenges as well, such as crossing a gorge while dangling from a rope and a pulley. And there was one the Moosilauke crew hardly considered crossing a stream on slippery rocks.

That evening included a faculty member's discussion about life at Dartmouth today, a film of the television coverage of the 1960 Winter Carnival in which Bare Corbus's date won Carnival Queen, and the traditional Doc Benton ghost story.

It was raining hard when we got up Wednesday morning, but most of us were still eager to climb Mount Moosilauke. So after waiting for the rain to slow to a mist, off we went. With rain-slicked rocks and dirt, it turned out to be more difficult than I think I anticipated. (Warning: don't wear combat boots.)

The climbers included Alan and Nora Orschel and family, Larry and StephanieLevy, Art Johnson, Gerry Kaminsky,Linda and Bob Rosier and Richie, Jimand Mary Richards and family, Mary andHarris McKee, Vic Rich and Gail, MikeMurphy and family, Cartter and PattiFrierson and family.

Despite the fact that many of us exercise regularly, we had to stop repeatedly going up the mountain it felt as if we were climbing stairs for about 300 stories, which of course we were. We enviously watched slim, tough members of the Dartmouth ski team gallop by us on a non-stop trip up and down the mountain. It was surprisingly cold at the summit, where we paused for more than an hour, and surprisingly difficult going down what was euphemistically called a carriage trail, but on which any horse would have broken all four legs.

That evening featured talks on Dartmouth outdoors, 1986, and an old-fashioned session of country and square dancing.

When we arrived back on campus Thursday morning, the reunion was already swinging into high gear, and the ever-present beer truck was already being used.

We're saving the news for next month, including our new officers. One brief commercial: additional copies of "Reflections" are available at $10 plus $2.50 for postage and handling from Alan Orschel at 510 Laurel, Wilmette, IL 60091. Checks should be made payable to the class of 1961.

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