Clubs

Hawaii: Home to wonderful coffee, yummy pineapples and beautiful beaches. And despite being 5,000 miles from Hanover, the Aloha State is home to a very active Dartmouth club.

The Dartmouth Club of Hawaii, under the leadership of president Howard Hodel ’75, hosted the Rockapellas a cappella group at a luncheon at the Manoa Heritage Center last December. Alumni and friends took a tour of the historical site and the Rockapellas performed several songs. In February English professor emeritus Peter Saccio spoke at a dinner at an Elks Lodge and witnessed the famous “green flash” sunset over the Pacific. The club also hosted a reception for Professor Saccio after a February lecture at the Iolani School, a Honolulu private school.

Another popular event was the club’s third annual wine bottling party, at which participants created a premium Dartmouth alumni wine. This year’s selection was a Chilean cabernet.

Saturday, March 28, was a busy day for alumni in the Silicon Valley. That afternoon 120 area alumni and their families watched the Dartmouth men’s rugby club decimate Stanford 81-22 at Stanford’s Steuber Rugby Stadium. The Dartmouth Aires, in town on a West Coast tour, provided halftime entertainment. Alumni also enjoyed a tailgate hosted by Tim McAdam ’90, Bob Brown ’80, Jake Reynolds ’90, and the Dartmouth Club of Silicon Valley and Dartmouth Club of San Francisco. The tailgate included a fantastic catered lunch from Harry’s Hofbrau restaurant.

Later the same day a crowd of 85 attended a rousing Dartmouth Aires poolside performance at the home of Nino and Liz Fanlo ’86 in Atherton, California. Linda Plumb, who will soon leave her post as director of Dartmouth’s western region office, was honored for her 15 years of support for the Silicon Valley and San Francisco clubs. Leaders of the clubs presented her with a Tiffany’s crystal box and, in true Big Green fashion, arranged for a serenade from the Aires.

Ellis Alden ’61 hosted the Aires at his Stanford Park Hotel, an unexpected treat. Event refreshments were provided by local corporate sponsors, including music Web site BLIP.fm, Maserati Silicon Valley and Olympic Circle Sailing Club. A drawing was held at the Fanlos’ house to give away an introductory sailing course, a two-hour skippered charter on beautiful San Francisco Bay donated by the sailing club. The winners were Rachel and Scott Safadi ’03. The day’s events were organized by Silicon Valley club treasurer James von Rittmann ’95.

Writer Ulrich Boser ’97, author of the bestseller The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft, barnstormed East Coast Dartmouth clubs on his book tour this spring. Boser spoke to Dartmouth clubs in Washington, D.C.; Maryland; New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston. Boser’s book explores one of the art world’s great unsolved mysteries: In 1990 two men broke into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole a dozen masterpieces now worth $500 million. The thieves were never apprehended and the art is still missing.

Boser’s Rhode Island book talk drew 100 participants. Dartmouth Club of Rhode Island president Jordan Frank ’94 said co-hosting the event with the Providence, Rhode Island, public library helped draw a large crowd. Local alumni joined Boser for burgers and beers at a restaurant afterward.

The club featured another Dartmouth author at its May annual dinner. Humor writer Gina Barecca ’79 discussed her new book It’s Not That I’m Bitter, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World. Barecca is a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of several other books, including Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Co-Education in the Ivy League.

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