1960

On the fourth Tuesday of every month, members of our class who are resident in the Hanover area or nearby have begun a regular ritual of lunching together in a private room at the Norwich Inn.

There's no name for this informal organization, there are no officers, but the discussion ranges over a great variety of subjects, and the price is right: $10 for a hot meal, including tax and tip.

Jim Adler generally sends out an e-mail reminder, and the turnout usually is about a dozen class members out of the 24 who presently have homes in the area.

That number is going up all the time. Class president Rick Roesch moved to Etna fulltime only recently. Dick Chase is the latest arrival, having built a home near New London. John Hannon is a new arrival in South Strafford. And Al Roberts will soon have a second home in Lebanon.

Not all the arrivals have retired. Tony Roisman, who moved into a Lyme farmhouse a few years ago, now has gone to work for a Norwich iaw firm, reducing most of his last ties to Washington, D.C.

But many of the group have been living in the area for a long time, and several long worked for Dartmouth College. Jack Baird, who is still doing research, is a retired professor of psychology. Gordie DeWitt just retired from the College. Jay Emery still works for the Alumni Fund office. Eric Sailer has just retired from the Hitchcock hospital, and Dud Weid er is still at Hitchcock.

Driving in from some little distance are Jay Booker and Don Sheffield from New London, Tom Brock from Stowe, Peter Hawks from South Burlington, Craig Jameson from Brentwood and John Mitchell from Rutland.

Others who show up are Barry Betters, Howie Frankel, Denny Goodman, John Goyette, Herb Maurer, Bill Moorman, Spencer Morgan and Dudley Smith.

Not all members are permanent residents of New Hampshire or Vermont. Some, such as Marty Lower and Frankel, are part-timers.

It's no coincidence, of course, that several of the attendees are among the most highly active in class affairs.

It was Emery who had the idea for the lunches. Although other classes have had them as well, we are the youngest class that has begun to meet. Other classes with such festivities have usually been in their 70s.

There's no sense of exclusivity in these affairs. Anyone in the class is welcome to show up when in Hanover, although it's advisable to give a little advance notice to Adler, so a place can be set. So far, only Gene Kohn has dropped in from outside.

In December spouses and significant others were invited to come on a one-time basis.

Of the 24, incidentally, jim informs me that all but three are now reachable bye-mail. No surprise there. Just in the last two years e-mails have surpassed phone calls in the messages I get, and it's the favored means of communications now for many of us.

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