1956

George Hall e-mailed an account of his recent hiking in the "high meadows and over the dazzling passes of the Yosemite Sierra." It was rich in description and gave the reader a real sense of sharing the climb and the vistas made possible thereby. But what really struck me were his closing comments: "My life changed drastically when I received a titanium heart valve in the winter of 2ooo. While spending eight days in intensive care, I made a mental list of all the things I loved that would now be gone for good. The Sierra was on the list. I have been back to the Sierra several times since my open-heart surgery. But this was the best. Hiking up the Virginia Pass trail on Sunday passing wonderful lakes and crossing an enormous rock slide, I understood that I wasn't about to die, that I could go into the mountains again, and that the difficulty I had experienced was not due to coronary disability, or even advancing years, but just being out of shape. And I could do something about that! I have a bit of advice: Whatever you love to do, go do it now."

I couldn't help but connect that advice to messages received from the College since our last issue informing me of the death of five more classmates. I have no idea of how their later years were spent, but I wonder what things they had anticipated for a day that has now been denied them. Thank you, George. Pierre Boucher Balliett died on December 31,2001; George Francis Mangone died on November 18,2002; George Langdon Lovejoy died on December 29,2002; Robert Fletcher McCausland died on Aprill; and Richard Jankell died on April 19. Obituaries will appear in this or a laterissue of the DAM.

These classmates, like their deceased brothers in the class of'56, will each be memorialized Jay the College with the addition of a book in the Baker Library collection. In that way they keep contributing to the life of students now and into the future.

For all of you who wonder about the students for whom our class contributions provide scholarships, here's some good news. Lindsay M. Hirschfeld, one of this year's recipients, graduated this spring with significant honors: cum laude, honors in geography, one of 53 Presidential Scholars and the recipient of the Andrew GehrTruxal Memorial Scholarship. Wha who wha!

Moving to Vermont understandably has drawn me more closely into the Dartmouth community, but strangely enough it's been preaching engagements that have provided the chance to reconnect with classmates I'd see only at reunions. John Koehring and Beth hosted Kristin and me for a weekend in Keene, New York, thus enabling me to preach at their summer congregation in St. Huberts. On the heels of that I ran into Harry Nutting at a summer chapel in North Landgrove, Vermont. Life is good indeed.

P.O. Box 968, Quechee, VT05059-0968; (802) 295-8912; stewwood@aol.com