1979

This time you got off easy. Because a fair amount of exciting news about our class fell from the sky, I did not have to resort to my earlier cold-calling ways to fill space in this issue.

Actually, it's amazing how news materialize. I was in my office surfing when a colleague from the Nashville office said, "Hey, don't you have a friend who ran the Cheek wood Museum of Art in Nashville? I heard he just left." This was shocking news since I had visited the museum and was amazed at what they had, especially the unique outdoor sculpture trail, the brainchild of director John Wetenhall. Dumbfounded, I surfed to the Tennessean, where I found an article stating that John had in fact left the museum to become executive director of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. Yes, the circus folks. So I'm thinking, Wow! I can't believe how I found out about this! Well, two days later I receive a letter from Dick Jachens 41 of Sarasota. Dick enclosed an article from the SarasotaHerald-Tribune announcing John's appointment to the museum. Thanks, Dick! The Dartmouth family is truly amazing.

One of the unknown perks of being class secretary is that publishers sometimes send you copies of works by classmates. I recently received I Loved You All, written by Paula Sharp. This won- derfully written novel is about two young girls struggling in a bleak rural New York town, who are left in the care of a passionate anti-abortion- ist while their alcoholic mother dries out in a rehab clinic. Of Paula's earlier works, Crows Over aWheat field and The Woman Who Was Not All There were Book-of-the-Month Club selections; and Lost in Jersey City was a New York Times Notable Book. So, if you like to read, consider becoming the next class secretary. Writing skills are not a prerequisite, obviously!

I also received a note chat James McKusick has a new book, Green Writing: Romanticism andEcology. The book describes the emergence of ecological understanding among the English Romantic poets, arguing that this was a basis for American environmentalism. Who am I to disagree? James is associate professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In the "Who called this meeting?" department, Michael Wilkinson is founder of Atlantabased Leadership Strategies Inc.—The Facilitation Cos. His company provides clients with professional facilitators for running meetings. Michael's company teaches his clients skills to enable planners and other professionals to reach consensus and move forward toward a common goal. Sounds like a plan.

PRNewswire announces that Dawn Hudson was appointed to the board of directors of Lowes Cos. Lowe's is the world's second largest home improvement retailer. It's where I purchased my lawn tractor, by gosh. Dawn is currently with Pepsi-Cola North America as senior V.P. of strategy and marketing.

Gordon Daisley III is V.P. in the private client group in the D.C. office of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The former linkster resides in Falls Church, Virginia, along with wife Leslie and their two teenage children. Leslie is in the water sales business, providing a steady income stream. (Ouch!)

Finally, our fearless leader Bill (Bags) Mitchell is now in Hanover as CFO for Tally Systems. No, no: the late-night chili place. Tally is a 10-year-old software company whose product enables network managers to recognize the hardware and software on their end-user desktops. Sounds like a great hacker tool. We wish Bill well in his new endeavor.

Again, you got off easy this time. Keep the news coming, or else.

1889 Cold Creek Court, Vienna, VA22182 -1807;tim.ehrsam@oracle.com