1978

Co-head agent Bill Daniel on class giving this past year: "The great class of 1978 has given $4,001,978 to the 2008 Dartmouth College Fund, obliterating (by 48.2 percent) the previous 30th reunion record of $2,699,626 set just one year ago by the '77s. The women of 1978 set a new record for participation by a 30th reunion class, beating the record of 60.2 percent held by the '76s with a stellar 61.5 percent participation performance. In addition to annual giving the College tracks cumulative giving to the capital campaign—the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience—by class. Our class is way out in front on this metric, leading all Dartmouth classes with $115, 378,078 given and pledged to the campaign. This represents more than 10 percent of the total given and pledged to the entire campaign. Our class of 951 accounts for about 1.3 percent of the living alumni of the College. We are a very successful, very committed and very generous class."

Chris Simpson Brent is retiring from IBM (where she's been all 30 years) and will take her two kids on a trip around the world, world-schooling them along the way, with husband Bruce holding down the home front and joining them at various points along the way. Look for updates from the road at http://brentfamilyjourney.blogspot.com.

Valerie Steele reports: "I have a new exhibition, Gothic: Dark Glamour (September 5 to February 21, 2009) at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, 7th Avenue at 27th Street in N.Y.C. Also a book of the same title published by Yale University Press."

Caroline Mcllhenny is having it all: "I am working as a pediatric homecare R.N., being a mom and finishing my B.S.N, in the next six months. I am on page 300 of a 1,000-page chemistry book. I can finally talk to my mom, a physics teacher, about quantum mechanics! Our son is going into fourth grade. My husband and I sit under the dogwoods on the front lawn and survey the comings and goings of the 9-year-old boys in the neighborhood, intervening as necessary. I ride bikes with my son in Wissahickon Valley Park. He'll ride six miles happily for a steak and fries. He loves pouring water over my head when it gets hot, loves to sit on a bench by the creek and draw."

From the op-ed page in the August 5 NewYork Times-. "Dan Reicher, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Energy, told the Schumer panel that increased energy efficiency was 'the real low-hanging fruit in our economy.' Mr. Reicher, now the director for climate change and energy initiatives at Google, said, 'From cars and homes to factories and offices, we know how to cost-effectively deliver vast quantities of energy savings today.' He cited estimates suggesting that an additional global investment in 'efficiency opportunities' of $170 billion annually over the next 13 years 'would be sufficient to cut projected global demand by at least half.' "

7840 Virginia Oaks Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155; (571) 261-3580; davidhov@comcast.net