1971

Some of you may have wondered why John Colangelo has been filling in for me for the last two editions of this column. The sad answer is that he agreed to help out while I dealt with a personal tragedy the accidental drowning death of our young son, Brendan Patrick, who was 16 months old. We always believe these kinds of tragedies are reserved for other people, and only when one happens "close to home" do we realize how fragile our lives really are. As Sally and I (and our surviving son Donny) have struggled to put our lives back together, our greatest source of strength has been the outpouring of love and support from friends (Dartmouth and otherwise) who have had the courage to seek us out and stay close to us throughout this ordeal. Thank you all.

Jack Burnett writes that lastyearhe "finally broke down and tied the knot with Diane Rasanen," with whom he now has a son, Christopher John, born September 1.Jackhas lived in Peterborough, N.H., for 19 years and is involved in publishing and marketing. The wedding attracted, among others, Tony Fitzpatrick, Jim Rager, and Bob Mustard, as well as Jack's best man, brother Rand Burnett '72. Jack ran into Pete Elitzer last year at their 25th high-school reunion, which led them to jointly query "what ever happened to the third member of our high-school/Dartmouth trio, Bob Moore?" (Bob, are you out there?)

Michael Fay and his wife, Christine, have a new son born January 26 of last year and, believe it or not, his name is John Christopher. (The Fays and the Burnetts appear to have been on the same wavelength!) John joins siblings Matthew 10 and Kathryn 6.

Mitch Wallerstein and his family enjoyed a summer vacation at Lake Tahoe with BobCushman and family. While there they paid a surprise visit to Bob Valkevich and his family, who were vacationing at a nearby DOC cabin. During a mountain-biking expedition, Mitch's daughter "was rescued from a trail that turned out to be too strenuous for her by yet another Dartmouth alumnus who just happened to drive along in a Jeep at the critical moment, wearing a Dartmouth shirt. Talk about coincidences, 3,000 miles from the Hanover Plain!"

Mitch also reports that he was named last July to the post of deputy assistant secretary of defense for counterproliferation policy. That mouthful of a title means Mitch is formulating policy to help prevent further development and spread of weapons of mass destruction and to try to reverse their spread where it has already occurred.

In closing, let me add a special thanks to John Colangelo for his help these last few months and also ask each of you (as always) to keep the cards, letters, and faxes—{203) 547- 5966 coming so that these columns may continue.

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