1960

The old record attendance for a 40th Dartmouth reunion of 196 is no more. The new record, 218 classmates (and 390 participants in all), belongs to the class of 1960. The official numbers come from Jay Emery and Jim Adler. But numbers do not wholly convey the wonderful spirit of our reunion, and the event that possibly highlighted it was the "Health and Fitness" panel moderated by Gene Kohn, where so many of our classmates discussed in poignant terms their own medical crises, how they coped with their doctors and their own insecurities.

To mention just one, everyone was uplifted by the account of Tom Brock and his wife, Dorla, of her recovery from the accident that befell their party on the freeway during our collective 60th birthday celebration in San Francisco in 1998, how Dorla's arms were not lost and became, by dint of effort and understanding, largely afunctional. Tom observed they had found out as a result of the ordeal just how much "we liked each other."

The travel panel headed by Hap Dunning and the community service panel by Tom McBurney were hits as well, but it was "Health and Fitness" that seemed to capture our class spirit at the moment, as we deal with changes in our lives, pursuing what Tony Roisman proposed as a goal at the end of our concluding banquet—loo-percent survivability until our next reunion, five years hence.

Jim Pollard, a Methodist ordained minister, contributed a short essay emphasizing the spiritual component of fitness.

Spencer Morgan and Rick Roesch, as cochairs of the reunion, were among those primarily responsible for the panels and other innovations, such as the art and literary exhibits that helped make our reunion a unique event and probably helped draw the record numbers.

Episcopalian reverend Russ Ingersoll led a beautiful memorial service for the 69 class members who have died since our entrance as freshmen in 1956.

At the class meeting that followed the memorial service, Rick Roesch was unanimously elected our new class president for the next five years.

On the recommendation of the nominating committee headed by Marty Lower, no vice president was selected for the new term. Elected to continue in office for the term were me as secretary, Jay Emery as treasurer, Denny Goodman as newsletter editor, Ken Johansen as head agent, Dudley Smith as head of bequests, and Roger Hanlon as chair of mini-reunions. We also are the first class to elect a class Webmaster as an official class officer. He is Walt Daniels.

In other news, retirements continue, among them that of Phil Kron, who left Citibank and launched his retirement with a lengthy trip to Florida. He looked quite relaxed at the reunion. Also, new books have appeared by Peter Klaren, George Liebmann and Tom McBurney, among others. More about these in the next Class Notes.

5522 Nagle Ave., Van Nuys, CA91401; (818) 994-9231 (h); (213) 237-4712(fax); ken.reich@latimes.com