1983

It's the end of August as I write this column and here in this part of California we're back in school, which got me thinking of my freshman year at Dartmouth. I lived in Mid Mass along with about 30 other shmen. Ie-mailed as many of them as I could find addresses for to ask for their recollections of that freshman fall. Joel Reidenberg was the first of four (only four!) to respond. Joel has a new job! He's the associate chief academic officer/associate vice president of Fordham University. Yikes! He says that the job comes with a great desk: FDR's from his first campaign. On the home front Joel just dropped off his oldest at college in Florida and his youngest starts high school. Joel had a great time at reunion connecting with old friends and roommates. (His freshman year roommate was George Loss, who didn't respond to my e-mail. Is he feeling guilty now? Doubtful!) Next I heard from our former class president Reed Webster, who has nothing but time on his hands now. He sent me an e-mail from the "cottage in Canada." There was something about "dirt on Oppy in his slippers" and something about Rich Diver (who didn't respond either...) Webby's recollections have to do more with sophomore year, Jim Bloomer, Rich Levine and a water bed. Speaking of Oppy, Tom Oppenheim sort of replied to my e-mail. He didn't give me any news but he did ask to be mentioned in the column. (I do want to hear about those slippers though.) I also heard from Steve Barnett. Steve gave me lots of interesting news but nothing about slippers. Steve claims that Mid Mass was a "big pivot in my life, great people, great location and great bathrooms!" His corner room freshman year was near North Mass so he made a few friends there as well: Melanie Law, Kelly Fowler, Tory Rogers and Liz Mueller. (Isn't it nice to be remembered?) Steve started life after Dartmouth as an i-banker. Tiring of that life he then traveled around the world with his brother Mitch. Toward the conclusion of their trip they toured Israel. This tour set them both off on a path toward more study and observance of Judaism, which culminated in Steves rabbinical ordination. "In the last 10 years I've married, had four little boys from 8 years old to 18 months (my wife, Aviva, is a hero) and I teach adults about the beauty of the Jewish tradition. We live in New Jersey and I split time between N.Y.C. and the suburbs. I also run a Sunday Hebrew school for kids, trying to make it a better experience than it was for me as a kid." Impressive! Finally, one of my two roommates responded. (Thanks, roomie!) Beth Runkle Mackey and her husband, Ben, live in Columbia, Maryland. They've sent their son James off to Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he'll study architecture and play lacrosse. Daughter Kat will enter high school and be continuing with a Nationals-bound girls' ice hockey team while she gets adjusted to high school sports with soccer. They didn't make it to reunion because of the kids' school schedule. Ben and Beth both work for the Department of Defense, where they've been holed up for the past 25 years. Beth and I lived with Mary Fairbanks in a corner room that looked into Eric Sachsse and Toby Brewster's room. We also saw a lot of Mikey Coster, Dave Krall and Peter Ellis. (See, it is nice to be remembered!) I'll end my column with this thought: Oppy, this column's for you! Forever green!

166 Sausal Drive, PortolaValley, CA 94028; (650) 529-2396; marenjc@yahoo.com