1983

It’s back to school time here in sunny California. One thing I find hard to believe is the number of Dartmouth alums who live in this tiny town. Portola Valley, California, has an almost official population of 4,500, with a few more than 460 families in our school district. (Some of our district includes parts of Woodside, another very small town.) But for all our smallness we are located on the edge of Silicon Valley, almost halfway exactly between San Jose and San Francisco, an area that has grown dramatically since I was child. But even with all those people there are still huge numbers of Dartmouth alums. Two houses away lives John Donahoe ’82 and his wife, Eileen Chamberlain ’81. Just a few more houses away is Chris Badger ’81. And then another little hop off our street lives Dave Plough ’81. Small, small world! In looking through our reunion book I noticed another ’83 who lives in this town: Vera Hromadko. I didn’t know her at school but through a couple of very coincidental conversations with non-Dartmouth friends found out that her name is now Vera Nelson, she has a son a year younger than mine at the same school and lives maybe a mile away. I finally ran into her at the school last year. Small world! After graduating Dartmouth in 1983 Vera got her master’s and engineering degree from Stanford in water resources/environmental engineering in 1984 and 1986, respectively. She met her husband at Stanford and they have been here ever since, even though she grew up in New Jersey. Her children are 7 and 4. Vera often wonders where some of her other friends have ended up. So if you were a friend of Vera’s, write me! I’ll pass along your news!

Another funny little coincidence is with a woman who lives maybe four miles away. Her children are older than mine but go to my old high school and used to go to my son’s school. She is also a member of the country club to which my parents’ belong. Debbie Michel Rosch lives in the tiny town of Woodside. She was dragged up here by her husband, Tom, when he switched career paths (management consultant to venture capitalist) and she claims to remain the “only So. Cal. stalwart in the Bay Area who continues to prefer L.A. to San Francisco despite the protests of everyone around me that S.F. is superior. That’s after over a decade here.” Debbie is still a freelance writer.

And then, there’s a friend from the soccer team who I discovered was here thanks to the wonders of Facebook. Alison Chaiken lives in Mountain View, California, a few exits down 280 from here, but can often be found riding a bike on the roads and in the hills of my town and will soon be starting work at Stanford Linear Accelerator down the road. Alison is now “Dr. Chaiken,” thanks to the Ph.D. she received from MIT in physics in 1988. She moved to Silicon Valley for the tech jobs. I rarely understand anything she writes on her Facebook postings except for the biking bits. Being a hardcore nut Alison just climbed Mount Washington (yes, that one in New Hampshire) on her bike. She says she likes hill climbs and did it for the challenge. Ouch. Alison and I hope to meet up for beers at Rosotti’s soon. If you’re in the area and know what we’re talking about, you can meet us too. You just have to contact me and be willing to share all your vital information!

Forever green!

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