1960

Recently, I reported here that our classmate Rey Moulton was first in line in New England for a transplant of a "Type A" heart.

His wait lasted almost a year and a half. Four times, Rey was summoned to Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital to stand by in case the primary designee for an available heart proved in final tests not to be a satisfactory recipient. Four times, the primary got the heart, and Rey was sent home.

During these trying circumstances, JimAdler relates, "Rey was always upbeat. He never lost his sense of humor. It would be real easy for someone to lose it in such circumstance circumstances. He never did."

On July 1 Rey finally was the primary. He got his heart, and at this writing he is recovering nicely.

Rey's friend, Betsy Winder, said the word a heart was available was beeped to Rey on the evening of June 30 as he slept aboard his yacht in the harbor of Manchester, Mass. He got a ride in on a dinghy, and immediately went to the hospital.

At 5 a.m. on July 1 Rey was told he would be taken to the operating room in 15 minutes. The operation by Dr. David Adams actually started at 7 a.m. and was finished at 1:30 p.m.

"By all indications," Betsy told me, "it was a complete success. Rey was pretty much out of it for a couple of days, and he stayed in intensive care for ten days, but there were no complications and the surgeon called it a 'textbook operation.'

"Rey told me afterward, 'You don't get many second chances in life, and I'm not going to blow this one.'

"His spirits are great." Rey's father, Key Moulton Sr. '35, 85, also was kind enough to send me a note telling of the operation. He said his son would be recuperating most of the summer in Massachusetts and Maine.

The class, of course, wishes Rey all the best in his brave endeavor.

The only other major transplant operation I am aware of in our class was a liver replacement performed in January 1998 for ArtBalser, who, by coincidence, was Rey's roommate in Streeter Hall in their freshman and sophomore years.

Art says his transplant has worked out well. Art, unlike Rey, did not have to wait very long for an organ to become available. He luckily got the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital within three weeks of a liver emergency that was an imminent threat to his life.

For those interested in organ donation, incidentally, the government has an informational web site: .

Bob Brown informs me that JakeCrouthamel, director of athletics at Syracuse University and former head football coach at Dartmouth, is one of two recipients of the 1999 John L. Toner Award from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame for an athletic director who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college football.

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