1962

The tune plays over and over in my mind. Clarinet licks, trombone tag lines, jazzy trumpet and terrific rhythm. It's a foot tappin', finger snappin', body movin' refrain from "Over in the Glory Land," the last cut from the CD Tom Komarek provided for us in New Orleans this February. I think of that memorable scene when the Dixieland band played and led us from the lobby shaking the chandeliers and startling the other hotel guests.

... Over in the Glory LandI'll join the happy angel band.Over in the Glory Land....

Don Samuelson wrote to the class listserv a while ago reflecting on how Dartmouth stimulated us to learn of foreign travel and work. He talked of the many Dartmouth grads who joined the Peace Corps. I thought back to the late winter of 1961, when the Rev. James Robinson showed up on campus and captured my imagination about Operations Crossroads Africa. Six Dartmouth students signed on to travel and work in West Africa the following summer. One was Al Cook, who lives near Denver. "My time in Senegal and Mali in 1961 was an absolutely life-changing experience for me. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of my African experience. Our work project was to build a schoolhouse in Popenguine, Senegal, which is south of Dakar on the coast. We worked with Senegalese students from university and the lycee." Upon his return to Dartmouth Al changed his career plans from medicine to the ministry. He studied at seminary for a year, met and married Mary Jane, his wife of 42 years, and then earned a masters in social work at the University of Chicago. After that he worked with the federal impact-planning program at Cape Kennedy and later with inner-city programs in Houston. Al landed a gig as assistant secretary of the College in Hanover from 1972 to 1977 and then a one-year assignment as executive director of the Big Brothers program in New York City.

Al and Mary Jane relocated to Colorado and eventually moved from the nonprofit sector into finance and for 20 years Al has run The Cook Cos., a financial services company. Interesting guys and careers—all on this side of the Glory Land.

11 Sunset Road, Salem, MA 01970;(978) 744-0655 (fax); rjhannah@massmed.org