1978
Tricia Singer sent news that her son David, a senior in Hanover High School, was accepted to Dartmouth by early decision. Not only are both his parents alums (father is Steve Sargent '75), but he will be the fourth generation of Sargent men to go to Dartmouth. David hopes to ski for the College; he currently races with the Ford Sayre Academy.
Tricia is still in residency in psychiatry at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, having gone to medical school when her children were in elementary school. She writes that "it was nice to be home when they were little, but it is harder to work 30-plus-hour shifts when you're in your forties (and feeling middle-aged compared to the twenty-somethings working with you in the middle of the night in the ED)."
John Swain is leaving his position as a tax partner in the Phoenix law firm of Streich Lang to take a teaching position at the new Appalachian School of Law in Southwestern Virginia. John adds, "Incidentally, the school has chosen 'Dartmouth Green' as its official color. (I'm told this was the actual name of the color selected.)" Mark Jacobson sends news that "twenty years after graduation, I finally met the woman of my dreams! Dominique and I met at a disco March 7, 1998 (who says disco is dead?), got engaged May 18, 1998, and were married on October 31, 1998, in my hometown of Milford, Conn. Other alums at the wedding were Mike Jacobson, Terry Large '79, and Nelson Nicholson '55. For the last ten years Dominique has been a full-time nanny, but now she plans to be a full-time mother for our first child, expected June 1999. Class of 2021? I am currently a software technical lead for Raytheon in the Boston area (I returned to New England in 1997 after 18 years in Southern California.)."
The remainder of this month's column comes to you courtesy of Daryl Bornstein, who had the extreme good fortune to witness mission specialist Jim Newman blast off into space on his third mission, STS-88, aboard the shuttle Endeavor on December 4, 1998. Daryl wrote, "I was fortunate to have an unobstructed view of the launch from an area reserved for friends and extended family, 3 1/2 miles across a lake from the launch pad. I couldn't have asked for a better view. And NASA sure knows how to throw a party for its extended family. We were provided with our very own astronauts to answer questions, closed-circuit television of the launch preparations, an endless supply of hungry mosquitos, as well as a catered breakfast, courtesy of Boeing. The launch took place on time at 3:35 a.m., on a crystal clear evening, full moon and all. I can't begin to describe what I felt sitting with Jim's family and friends when the rocket took off. It was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. The black sky lit up bright as day as soon as the rocket's engines were ignited. Because of the clear sky, we were able to watch the shuttle fly off into space for nearly ten minutes. It was absolutely extraordinary. I don't know how anyone finds the courage to sit on top of that 'firecracker' and then charge off into the unknown in that little 'glider' they call the shuttle. Nonetheless, I would jump at the chance to take a ride!"
Daryl explained that "Jim is part of the team that is building the international space station. On this mission the Endeavor carried the U.S.-built Station Node 1 {Unity), the second major building block for the space station. After catching up to the Russianbuilt Functional Cargo Block (Zarya) module that was already in orbit, the astronauts connected the two modules while traveling at 25,405 feet per second. Jim participated in several extremely long space walks required to secure the modules' various interconnected hardware. If you missed the television coverage from this mission, you could have seen Jim in almost every space-walking video clip aired prior to Glenn's launch."
Well, I thought seeing the clip of Jim at our 20th Reunion was exciting—but nothing compared to Daryl's experience or Jim's! Wow! On that note, I'll close for this month. Please send news, even if you're not an astronaut, friend of astronaut, recently married, recently moved, or even a proud parent of a future alum!
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