1970

Although it means I have to delay publishing some other older news, I thought David Noyes's account of a recent micro-reunion in New York City deserved the full column this month. David reports that "Seventeen from the class of 1970 gathered for some socializing over dinner and drinks at NYC's trendy new restaurant, Eleven Madison Square. Demi Duckworth, Larry DeVan, Wallace Ford, Jon Nistad, Tom Ostermueller, Bruce Rich, Stewart Rosenblum, Tim Welch, Stuart Zuckerman, Jeff Dahlman, Trip Dorkey (organizer of the dinner), Ric Ostberg, Day Krolik, Andy Lewis, Chip Cody, and Steve Nelmes all managed to show up.

We seem to be in all shapes and sizes these days, and many of us have decidedly less hair than only a few years ago. Roughly half of us present are lawyers, one is a doctor, and the remainder are with various companies. While we are all different, we were all shaped by the events of the Vietnam War era and adapted after the initial realization that we would no longer be expected to stay at the same company for perhaps 30 years, climbing the corporate or organizational ladder. Many of us have changed careers, most have changed jobs, and a few have changed wives. Often there were reflections of "should have, could have, would have," but most of us acknowledged our ability to make the necessary adjustments to those unexpected life events, such as company down-sizing, early retirement, divorce, etc. Some of us still pursue sports almost as avidly as we did when we were younger.

Jon "Torga" Nistad, is in the insurance services business and plays a mean game of competitive tennis at the USLTA 5.5 level. This means that serving at 90 mph, he can handily beat many of club tennis pros, but in turn, is beaten 6-love by younger guys on the satellite tour that serve over 120 mph. David Noyes does the best he can in tennis at the USLTA 4.0 level. However, he was recently pleased to finish 27th out of 340 ski racers of all ages in a two-run slalom event at AIG's ski cup challenge at Stowe. Skiing on a three-man team, with other skiers in their early thirties, the team took first place in the gold division.

Wallace Ford should have been a government professor, a la Starzinger, since many of us listened intently to his views on politics, including insights from his days working for Mayor Dinkins in N.Y.C., the importance of having a political war chest for the Presidential primaries (Gore has an advantage of financing, due to die number of early primaries, which will largely determine the nomination), Hillary Clinton versus Giuliani, etc. He now reports that he is working for the Rockefeller Foundation. Several of us at the table commented that the Wallace of today seems more conservative than the Wally of the old day we thought we knew, but didn't.

Chip Cody, nattily dressed with a bow tie, seemed very successful as a surgeon at Sloan Kettery Hospital in N.Y.C.

Ric Ostberg is now working out of the third floor of his home in Summit, N.J., since April 1. He reports that it is an adjustment, (especially for his wife) but it enables him to work out in the morning, be at work by 8 a.m. and still see his youngest child's sports activities in the afternoon.

Bruce Rich was very pleasantly surprised that his son has decided to go to Dartmouth in the fall. Apparently the decision seemed more due to the quarter system and foreign studies program, than due to the usual reasons. Bruce is a very successful lawyer at Weil Gotchall in N.Y.C., specializing in the telecommunications industry, which continues to be very active.

Thanks, David. Great write up. If there are other micro-reunions happening around the world, please let me know.

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