1960

The fireplaces in corner suites seem to be a fond memory of our classmates who lived in Lord Hall 40 years ago. Cliff Russell recalls they were a key reason he pulled back from an early inclination to attend Princeton. "I had visions of firelit conversations in the midst of winter snows and of the fireplace contributing to the seduction of the occasional susceptible date," he e-mailed me from his sabbatical in Sweden. But, alas, he adds, "I don't remember that it got much use; certainly no innocent (or otherwise) girl was ever softened by its light."

Maybe it depended on just how the fireplaces were used. John Passeggio, now a Long Island dentist on the verge of retiring, remembers that Geoff Moser "used to go out and shoot grouse and we'd roast them in the fireplace" in 304 Lord, the room occupied by Geoff, Seth Strickland, and David "Mac" McEachron.

I reached Geoff in San Diego, where he is a biologist with the National Marine Fishery Service. He said he'd hunted quail as a teenager in Pennsylvania, but had to learn how to bag grouse when he got to Hanover. "When the leaves are still on the trees, grouse have an uncanny knack of putting leaves and trees between you," he remarked. "You need a snap shot."

But he had quite a bit of success out in the Oak Hill area. "I'd get one or two with a 20-gauge shotgun. I'd put them on the window sill 'til the weekend, and then I'd grill them. It really impressed the dates."

Seth recalls, "Geoff was not only a great hunter, but a great fisherman. I'd come home and he'd have a quart of Budweiser and he'd be barbecuing a grouse or a trout." The trout came from Jacob's Creek near Orford, N.H.

Marty Lower, another Lord denizen, also reports hunting, but not such a classy type. "We used to go up to the Lebanon dump to shoot rats," he remembers. "Your flashlight would pick them 0ut...I sure as hell didn't eat them though." It's good of Marty to reassure us on that point.

And there was homegrown music in Lord. "Gosh, I remember one time in Lower's room playing Harry Belafonte music," said John Passegio. Marty played the trombone, Louis Perullo the drums, Chuck Darrow the clarinet. Marty cautions, "We did not play professionally."

For Bob Clark, now a legal practitioner in New Canaan, Conn., who lived in 101, Lord was luxurious. "I can remember during my first year building this tremendous cabinet, which I designed myself for my stereo. I thought I was living in a palace, even though I had a tiny room."

Great Dartmouth days, grilling grouse, playing music, designing furniture and, sometimes, is it still politically correct to say, chasing women.

Ken Reich, 5522 Nagle Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401; (181) 994-9231 (h), (213) 237-4712 (fax);

Geoff Moser used to go out and shool grouse and roast them in the fireplace of 304 Lord Hall. JOHN PASSEGGIO '60