1960

Friendships. Obviously, there are many kinds within our class. Some classmates have been friends since long before Dartmouth, from even elementary school. Most met in Hanover. But others became very friendly only after graduation, taking exotic trips together and attending family functions reciprocally.

And some haven't spoken in years, yet can resume their friendships simply with a phone call. Seth Strickland reports that he and Geoff Moser had a long, cordial conversation for the first time in many years after they referred to each other warmly in interviews for a class note on their freshman days in Lord Hall.

I called my freshman and sophomore roommate Jim Pollard in Buffalo not long ago. It was more than 20 years since we spoke. "It was good to talk with you today," Jim wrote in a subsequent e-mail. "I hope we have the opportunity to talk more in the future."

So do I. Jim is presently director of the Council on Ministries of the Western N.Y. Conference of the United Methodist Church. Fie has served over the years as associate pastor in one Methodist Church and pastor in three others, all in western New York State.

He has two grown-up daughters, Laura and Martha, through his first marriage, and an 11-year-old son, Christopher, from his second. "He is a Little League baseball player, tennis player, and sports lover," Jim reports proudly. "He'll be a sixth-grader in the fall. Sally, my wife, is employed as director of education and program at Christ United Methodist Church in Amherst, N.Y."

Some friendships in the class have restarted and become greater than ever. Jack Hodgson, now of Medina, Wash., and retired from hotel development work, says he met Jon Halverson, now of Steam board Springs, Colo., after a long hiatus "and we hit it off.

"We started doing things together," he reports. "We put our Chevy Surburban with a canoe on top on the ferry to Skagway. Jon has come out on our boat up the coast with his two sons. He also came out for our son's wedding."

As we spoke in the summer, Jack told me of imminent plans for a month-long fly-fishing trip, including a visit in Colorado with Jon.

And sometimes, the friendships are multiple. Dick Chase says a highpoint of his life is the annual weekend gathering of ten classmates in New York in the middle of November. "We have dinner Friday evening, see a play, dinner Saturday, and brunch Sunday. It's me, Bill Gundy, TomMcßurney, Roger Hanlon, RyanOstebo, Eric Anderson, Roli Kolman,Lee Horschman, Sam Bowlby, and TomWahman. We've done it for probably 20 years. It's been terrific."

Our 60th birthday celebration in San Francisco next April will, of course, be one great extended exercise in friendship, and probably the rebeginnings of some very fine ones.

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