1960

Nearly all of us have pursued at least some adult education. But our classmate HowardFrankel is going much further than most.

Howard, who has mostly retired from his medical practice, intends to study, beginning this summer, for a master's degree from Dartmouth's earth science department, which specializes in the study of geology, oceanography, and ecology.

Howard will start with an introductorycourse in natural disasters and a course in "materials of the Earth" in July and August and then hopes to begin his graduate education in the fall. It's a two-year program. He and his wife, Judy, will keep their home in New Jersey but for the most part live at a second home in Thetford, Vt. He wrote the departmental chair, Dick Birnie '66, last summer "asking him if this was a totally preposterous idea," and found that Birnie "was very supportive." Other classmates contacted are leading varying lives.

Jim Brannen grew up in Geneva, Ill., 40 miles outside Chicago, and still lives there today. For 25 years, he was in the banking business, but for the past ten he has operated a burglar alarm monitoring system with eight stations across the United States

"The kids are all gone, we're empty nesters," he says of himself and his wife, Martha. "I'm enjoying work and not thinking of retirement. A bit of slowing down may be all right, but no sudden stop." Life is not pleasurable for Antony Rodolakis, suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years now in Springfield, Mass. Tony is confined to a wheelchair and told me he has only been out of his apartment a half dozen times since 1997. "The next thing," he said grimly, "is a nursing home." For those who might wish to drop him a note of cheer, his address is 10 Chestnut St., Apt. 505, Springfield, MA 01103. Tony particularly wanted to be remembered to his Dartmouth roommate, Wade Layne, who is living in South Africa and who he has not seen since 1967.

Rick Yocum is co-managing a growth capital investment fund from his home city of Toledo. He had just returned from a trip to Egypt and Jordan when I talked to him, and mentioned he was in Amman the day King Hussein died. Rick remarked that his profession "keeps you very fresh, forever interacting with new ideas and the people who want to make them work." One of the businesses his fund has been backing, he said, is an information technology firm in which Bill Gould is the primary shareholder. Not an empty-nester is David Ligon. He and his wife, Esther, still have three teenage girls at home. David is the Washington state coordinator of the National Fire Safety Council, devoted to children's safety programs in the schools.

Shelly Gisser jokes that he is "stocking up on bottled water for the millennium," and he and his wife, Nan, are looking forward to the birth in August of their first grandchild. Tests have shown it will be a girl.

5522 Nagle Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401; (818) 994-9231 (h), (213) 237-4712 (fax);