1985

I'm starting off this column with some exciting news of my own. Mark and I are proud to announce the birth of our son, Connor Crane Goggin. Connor was born on December 28, and was a healthy 8 lbs., 5 oz. Connor's going to have some nice friends very soon. Tim Coughlin and his wife, Lauren, were expecting a daughter on January 19. Billy and Nancy Budd are due with their second child at the end of April. And Bobby and Jennifer Jangro are preparing for another little Jangro due this spring. Aren't all you readers thrilled that now we have birth announcements in addition to weddings?

Speaking of weddings, I went to the lovely wedding of Allison Shutz and Keith Moskow '83 on Martha's Vineyard last fall. Many, many Dartmouth grads were there to help them celebrate the occasion. The happy couple honeymooned in Hawaii and are now living in Southern California, where Keith is an architect and Allison is coordinating the opening of an art gallery.

I received several letters over the past month, thanks to Christmas. One was from Lee Clein's mother who is also Annette Hatch Clein's mother-in-law. Lee and Annette were married in August of 1987 in Bar Harbor, Maine, with Heidi Cary and Rob Patterson in the wedding party. Lee and Annette are in the Peace Corp in Africa, where Lee is in beekeeping training, and Annette is training in fresh-water fisheries. They should have received their final assignments in the Central African Republic in November.

Sue Johnson spent most of 1988 traveling across the country playing on the Futures Golf Tour (a professional mini-tour). She played in over 25 tournaments in 15 states in such hot spots as Eufaula (Alabama), Beaufort (South Carolina), and Decatur (Illinois). Last year was Sue's third as a professional golfer, and at the beginning of the year she realized that she needed to make some rather drastic changes in her golf swing in order to have a realistic shot at the LPGA. As a result, she reports that her golf game seemed to be going backwards while her swing was "under construction." So, Sue spent all of her time practicing and hiding from the membership of the golf club near Jacksonville, Fla., where she was living at the time, so the members wouldn't ask her to play. After all, how does it look when a professional golfer can barely break 80? For Sue, it was a very bleak time.

Finally, Sue's improved swing resulted in some great golf. She cashed checks at the last 14 tournaments of the season! By August, Sue felt that she had a legitimate shot at qualifying for the LPGA. And, in September, she finished in the top 30 (out of over 200 non-LPGA women professional golfers from all over the world!) at the refional tournament in Venice, Fla. This gave her the opportunity to go to the final LPGA qualifying tournament in Houston in October. Hoorah!

Now for the bad news. Unfortunately, the day after the happiest day of her golfing life, Sue severely sprained her ankle and spent the next five days on crutches. Ankle brace and all, Sue played and came just a few shots from qualifying. How disheartening! In 1989, Sue plans to work for her family's newly opened travel agency, Wheelock Travel, which is located on the second floor of the Musgrove Building above Peter Christian's in Hanover. In addition, she'll be a graduate assistant with the Dartmouth women's basketball team, auditing a course at Dartmouth, applying to grad schools, and, most importantly, giving professional golf one final try. GOOD LUCK!

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