1985
None of your classmates (read: none) took the bait from my co-author John last column to establish yourself as a big fan of the class column, a.k.a., BFOC. However, much to our good fortune, others took heart with our plea and did send news.
Bermuda resident Mark Byrne and his wife, Rebecca, opened up their home overlooking the second and 14th fairways on the MidOcean Club for the annual Garden Club of Bermuda's Open Houses and Gardens fundraiser for horticultural scholarships and environmental projects. The Byrnes' residence, Roughill (usually a guaranteed "oh wow" experience when a house has a name), with lofty tray ceilings in Bermuda cedar and fresh vegetables and citrus growing in the garden, suits the Byrne household—probably almost as comfortably as the dorms at Dartmouth. The article also mentioned antique rock crystal chandeliers and a pub with stained glass windows made in Chartres, France; no doubt a reminder for Mark of his LSA days in Aries, France. Very nice of Mark to open up his doors—literally—to support a local cause.
While attending a Middlebury College reunion this past June I briefly caught up on Chris Jacobs (note "on" versus "with"). Only his wife, Anne Groton (like most spouses, a renowned BFOC), was in attendance. Chris was immersed with their sons Chester and Bill in the Little League baseball season.
As it was exactly five years ago that we reported the news that Chris and his wife had just retired from the Big Apple to relocate to Maine, I can now report that Chris is happily ensconced in academia as a high school math teacher in Maine. Covering everything from geometry to algebra, with a little calculus, I'm sure Chris has a solid handle on the whole thing.
Word has it that Mark Goggin and Sally Crane Goggin's sons Conor and Mark will both matriculate on the Hanover Plain this September as members of the class of 2012. No doubt following in the footsteps of their parents' athletic prowess, we look forward to hearing about the Goggin brothers becoming a part of Big Green hockey during their academic careers.
Saving the best for last, this column's BFOC award goes to Anne Simpson. Noting that her name is not bold should tip you off to the fact that Anne, like most news sources this column, is not a member of our class. Seems Ed Simpson's mom stumbled upon DAM and, noticing the dearth of 1985 news, submitted a notice about the Old Blue Rugby Foundation's May 3 anniversary reunion and seventh annual Hall of Fame dinner. Why, you may ask? Seems this N.Y.C.-based rugby team recently inducted our very own Edward C. Simpson into its hall of fame.'Momma Simpson even highlighted several of the many accomplishments noted in the bio on our classmate (far too numerous to list here). Congratulations, Ed! Ed is with JP Morgan Chase and, when he is not in the scrum, he and wife Karen are no doubt quite busy with kids Kylie (12), Alexandra (10), Jack (8) and Luke (6).
Did anyone notice that not only did the recent 2008 graduates achieve the highest participation rate for their senior class gift (93 percent) but they had a three-way tie with 4.0 GPAs for valedictorian of the class (was anyone else even close to Brian Barnes' GPA our year?). Give a rouse to the class of 2008—wish them the best of luck as they roam the girdled earth. By the way, where are you, Brian Barnes? Give us an update.
All the best to all of you!
