1963

"Art is the religion of the 20 th century," Wally Chappell declared in our 25th reunion book. If that is the case, then Wally has become a high priest. The American Ballet Theater (ABT) appointed him its new executive director, following years of infighting that saw its current leader, Louis G. Spisto, resign under pressure. You may recall Wally in the Dartmouth Players alongside Michael Moriarty, Steve Macht, Bob Greenwood, Carl Maves and Bill Daniels. Wally went on to earn a masters in Asian dance and theater from the University of Hawaii and work in administration at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and the Repertory Theater of St. Louis. In the eighties and nineties he was director of the Handler Auditorium at the University of lowa. Wally said he would address unhappiness at ABT, which saw the departures or firings of 30 of its 40 staff members.

Chuck Wessendorf was named vice president, corporate communications and investor relations of Pitney Bowes Office Systems, Trumbull, Connecticut. Chuck worked his way up to executive financial positions at Philco-Ford, then got lured by Xerox in Stamford where he became controller, Middle East and North Africa operations, and ultimately manager of investor relations. Pitney Bowes Office Systems makes copier/printer facsimile systems and is a spin-off of Pitney Bowes Inc., known primarily for postage meters.

Pete Rotch, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Clay Herring, Portland, Oregon, were cited for outstanding work in commercial real estate. Pete is listed among top firms in Real Estate Forum, a leading trade publication. Clay is president of Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a regional mortgage broker.

How is America doing in the wake of September 11? Two '63s who have views are Roger Parkinson, who spent three years in the Special Forces, and Dave Rosenbaum, a 34-year veteran of The New York Times who has been covering the anthrax scare.

"It's nice to see my hometown team doing a good job," says Roger. "In my day, Special Forces were 12-man A-teams in which each member had to be jump qualified and have special skills in at least one area: weapons, engineering, demolition, communications, dropping supplies or medicine." Lieutenant Parkinson was an S-5 plans officer in Nha Trang, where, among other things, he briefed "a never-ending stream of high army and civilian brass including Creighton Abrams and Admiral McCain, father of Senator John McCain." Roger will retire in July as president of the World Association of Newspapers.

Dave Rosenbaum feels the government has still to get its arms around handling threats of germ warfare. The Center for Disease Control was too quick to give wrong advice to postal people who were worried about anthrax escaping from sealed envelopes, says Dave. "Now that they have a vaccine, they have yet to give advice, through December, on how to use it." Dave and Ginny became grandparents to twin girls born to Dottie. Son Daniel has followed in dad's footsteps and is a photographer with the Washington Times.

60 Madison Ave., Suite 910,New York, NY 10010; (212) 447-9292; harry@zlokowerpr.com