1973

Please forgive the fact that the September column was conspicuous by its absence. A good friend died of cancer just before it was due and somehow I just never pulled myself together to write it. Almaan aunt who wasn't an aunt went back pretty far in my life so some of you knew her and will understand what made her passing such a loss.

The College clipping service sent me a ton of things over the summer. Christopher "Cass" Squire was elected senior vice president of First City Bankcorp of Texas in March. Cass joined First City in 1989 as corporate data administrator after leaving American President Systems in San Francisco. The July 10th Wall Street Journal reported that Dan Brenner has been elected a director of Tekelec of Calabasas, Calif. This is the second time Dan has made corporate headlines since I took over this column about a year ago.

Months back, Paul Sehl mentioned that Charles Box was mayor of Rockford, Ill. I thought the news would be a little light on particulars so I waited and, luckily, the Illinois papers came through. The first black to run the state's second-largest city, Charlie received 63 percent of the vote in a city where only 15 percent are minorities. He was a guest speaker on "Politics of Urban Centers" at Northern Illinois University as part of Black History Month last February. The May 13 th political column of the Rockford Register Star featured the headline "GOP Aldermen Give Box High Rating." A Democrat, Charlie had been in office just over a year at that point, after serving previously as city legal director and then administrator. The rave reviews came on the heels of a maneuver in which Mayor Box had applied solid business sense to solid waste and avoided what at first appeared to be a guaranteed tax hike.

The "letter-of-the-month" award a tradition I would love to be forced to continue—goes to Rick Idler: "I haven't written in years to the Class Notes, so I thought I would drop a note. I'm still in Indianapolis, where I am part of a large hand and microsurgery practice. My wife is a competitive dressage rider and hopes to reach international level competition within the next several years. Most of my time at Dartmouth was spent deep in study and I often think of the many diverse activities I passed by in my push to become a physician, Dartmouth did heighten my awareness of the outdoors and got me interested in the mountains. Despite being a flatlander, I have managed to scale something each year. I'm proud to say that on 6/11/90 I stood at 20,320' on the summit of Denali. It was the culmination of much hard work and a good bit of luck with the weather. The day before we were involved in the rescue of some Japanese climbers stranded near the summit. It was a privilege to fulfill one of my dreams and survive to tell about it. As I near 40 I wonder what my mid-life crisis will bring. For now I'm content catching up on some things I never had time to do at Dartmouth."

So who's going to write the next great letter?

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