1963

These are hard economic times. But let's not lose faith, those of us who have been the most impacted, particularly the self-employed. Show the grit that got you through the cold winters in years past and stay in touch with friends and classmates. They will lift your spirit and maybe your prospects.

The Dartmouth College Marching Band is feeling the crunch, according to Norris Siert of Miami, Fla., who used to play a mean sax on the fields of Hanover and is now a collector and historian of musical instruments as a sideline to a busy business career. Norris, who braved the rain to march with the Dartmouth Alumni Band last fall, says the Dartmoudi Marching Band has the lowest budget in the Ivy League and needs contributions from alumni to make off-campus appearances. Prospective donors can contact the director of bands, Max Culpepper, at Hopkins Center.

When he's not culling music shops for 19th- century saxophones, Norris is running his new post of chief financial officer at HP Communications Corporation, an emerging telephone call accounting company. An outgrowth of deregulation, telephone call accounting permits hotels, universities, hospitals and other businesses and institutions to handle creditcard calls made by guests, students, patients, etc., and realize the revenues from those calls, rather than pass them onto AT&T and other telecommunications companies. A Northwestern University Norris and wife Willacene have two children, Debbie 19, a Dartmouth sophomore, and Terry 15.

Plastics! That's what they told Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", and that's just what Hank Booth of Charlotte, N.C., did quite successfully. An Army veteran and Boston University M.8.A., Hank learned industrial sales at a company called Acushnet in Massachusetts and then, as he describes it, took "a flyer" with Piedmont Plastics Inc. in 1974, a small but growing plastics distribution company. When the owner was ready to retire, Hank and some partners bought the equity. Now Hank is president of Piedmont, which sells plastic rods, sheets, and tubes to some 5,000 customers in Charlotte, as well as to manufacturers such as DuPont and Michelin. Hank's plastic might be in the cockpit of your yacht, in your film if you're a printer, or used in the manufacture of your tires. Hank and Carla finally restored their lake house from the ravages of Hurricane Hugo. Carla is employed by a tennis and ski shop in Charlotte. Leigh is a senior at Tuck, and Tyler a junior in high school.

Michael Butterworth of Tolland, Conn., parlayed a math major and M.S. in statistics from Stanford into a career as a statistician and programmer at Advo-Systems, the huge mailing house in Windsor, Conn., and since 1980 at Gerber Systems Technology in computer-aided design. Mike and Carol, a legal assistant at Robinson & Cole in Hartford, have a daughter Beth, 18, at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Mass.

Geoff Murphy of Kenilworth, Ill., formerly executive vice president of Beatrice and CEO of Esmark, has. founded Coloney, Von Soosten & Associates, a consulting firm for troubled companies. Geoffisat 708/251-2117. The firm has offices in Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Washington.

Rick Braddock, president of Citicorp, visited with son Derek '94 during Homecoming, and second son, Richard S. Jr. '90, during mutual travels in Japan. Rick and Susan have four other children.

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