1953

Brothers, while we stand here heart to heart, Let us promise one another, In the silence ere we part; We will make our lives successful, We will keep our hands from shame, For the sake of dear old Dartmouth and the honor of her name."

With the women of Dartmouth the 1997 story, those lyrics might well continue, "And the honor of her name, the keepers of that flame, are those loved ones whose hearts walk with you, all the days we sing her name. For the dear old college home, for our loving family days, for our glorious Alma Mater, we are one to sing her praise."

And there are so many of the women of 1953 yet to honor that it gives us reassurance that we will be around quite a while to complete the task. At about 20 per year, that makes 30 years to go. Marilyn McLean Paganucci swept Pag Paganucci right out of his New York East 61st bachelor's apartment of 1953 fame, and did that in a short nine months in 1966. In his inimitable words, Pag described the event in our 25th Reunion book: "In late 1965 I met a lovely new neighbor from across the hall in our apartment building, Marilyn McLean of Portland, Maine. We were married in September 1966 with the aid and encouragement of many 19535." Marilyn as wife, mother, and volunteer for countless good causes has also been the "personal source" for all the things Pag has done in his brilliant career, and has also been his partner in all the things they both have done for Dartmouth, and for 1953. Marilyn's warm hospitality and her quiet demeanor have been a tower of gentleness and compassion in the sometimes swirling nature of the events of Dartmouth 1953, and, indeed, of Dartmouth College.

She is always there for Pag, for the College, and for us. Marilyn enjoys living in northern New England and New York City enormously, and they are "neighbors" in both communities. Marilyn graduated from Simmons College and was pursuing a career in New York when the gentle hand of destiny steered her to the 1953 BOQ, Pag presiding. How fortunate for him. How fortunate for all of us.

Cathy Callender is continuing a distinguished career as vice president of communications and customer relations at J.J. Kenny, a bond information and trading subsidiary of McGraw Hill. She is a graduate of Manhattanville College and was on a meteoric trajectory through the glass ceiling when she ran into 1953's own David Letterman, Cal Callender, and they were married by Fr. Eddie Boyle in 1969. With Cal's move to Little Rock, merging his and Freddie Carleton's company, CPC, with Jake Jacobus's Fairfield Communities, Cathy's career path became somewhat diverted. She persevered though and has smashed through the glass ceiling into the executive offices of J.J. Kenny while Cal lounges in retirement in their various homes on the island, in the city, or at Harbour Ridge. Cathy personifies excitement, excitement about everything. Her contagious smile seems to pervade everything and everybody around her, whether in a business discussion, or the trivia of the fun of being together, or the solemnity of "soaking up" nature, or in worship. We now know where Cal derives his rolling mirth, and why he makes an excellent house husband for this fast-track marketing and financial wizard, Cathy Callender . God bless our ladies of 1953.

AJtamonte Springs, FL;