1975

Since this class secretary has received nary a letter with news during die past month, this column is an open letter from me to the many classmates, professors, and administrators who made my freshman year at Dartmouth as vivid today as it was then (probably more so, if you know what I mean).

I am probably not alone in cherishing my first memories of September 1971 in Hanover. I was a green-behind-the-ears geographicdistribution statistic from Texas (along with Zenas Hutchison, Kevin Mcgillicuddy, and "Cowboy" Rob Rees-Jones, all of whom became friends quickly), newly arrived on the Hanover plain. Those dog days of summer were slowly turning just the slightest bit chilly as we met for that fateful freshman trip.

Many of my most vivid memories of Dartmouth come from the next (seemingly neverending) nine months: a new roommate, JimBildner, who is now an old friend known to my kids as "Uncle Jimbo"; Will Hendren, who would invite me home for Thanksgiving (Houston being too far to reach) and share the warm hospitality of his family and hearth with a new classmate; and road trips to Wellesley with Art Schwartzwaelder, where "getting lucky" meant arriving alive. We listened to lots of rock and roll in Keith Benson's corner suite in Hitchcock with Tom Quinn,Howard Cadwell, Chip Jungreis, and BobSullivan while entertaining ourselves by rolling dice on the backgammon table and rolling other things elsewhere.

The maid's bar at Tabard has yet to Zoom and Schwarz again with the likes of JohnKoltes, Michael Hutton, Fred Cann, FrankMueller, and Rick Neiss, who not only took the game to new heights, but introduced a whole new vocabulary including "boint," "dort," and "Mephistopheles." And those guys at Psi Upsilon became as brothers. It seems like yesterday when the band Bitter Root (David Wendell, Scott Locheridge, and others) were playing "Yankee Lady" while Sandy Tierney, James Bennett, CharlieSolberg, Scott Mosenthal, Rob Swiggett,Tom Denison, and Frank Crowley danced. ("With Dates?" you ask. Not really.)

It's funny how you get involved with extracurricular activities. On "club night" my friend Tim Frey and I wandered into the Debate Clubhouse, and the next thing I knew, we were debate partners. Meanwhile, classmate Tom Foley was winning the Nationals for Dartmouth (as a freshman), preserving the College's reputation as one of the preeminent debate institutions in the U.S. I'm not much of an actor, but I couldn t help getting involved with Guys and Dolls, the Dartmouth Players' spring production, and becoming friends with Tris Coffin, BruceCoughlin, Peter Hackett, Carl Zutz, JeanPassanante, Claude Saucier, and PeterSyvertsen over the years to come. Incidentally, our stage manager for G&D was John"Duke" Hart who has gone on to be involved with the Broadway revival of the same show.

There were lots of freshman year acquaintances who became friends later; sophomore roommates Charlie Perkins, John Upton, and John Lowell and neighbor SheldonFinch; Cornell Business School co-alums Tony Garufi and Cate Marlette; traveling pal Annik Cooper; Stanford GSB buddies Richard Clark and Chuck Glovsky; "friends of friends" Mikael Salovaara and GretchenTeichgraeber; and Alumni Affairs pals Tom Wood, Jeff Sassorossi, Steve Gray, and AlAustin.

Then there are those friends who you remember, you can't quite recall how you met them, but can't forget the great times: Jonathan Zins, Charles Bersen, KevinKenny, Mike Winer, Charles Bernsen, JimBoothby, Peter Darbee, Joe Durham, BradHinman, John Jardine, Dave Lampert,Mark Lynch, Hal McCartney, Jake McFadden, Bill Mead, Kevin O'Brien, Andy Oldenburg, Mitch Olson, Rick Waddell, and many, many others.

Thank you all for your individual and collective contribution to making this '75's freshman year (and the twentysomething which have followed) very, very memorable.

...And the granite of New Hampshire In their muscles and their brains.

Not William, Blake

1117 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94114