1969

We got back! And we still belong! The 40th reunion was many things but mostly it was a great time; the best of times for those who found old friends, made new ones, remembered our days on campus and appreciated the many changes and great beauty of the College today.

All the reunion organizers were thereNorm and Irene Jacobs, John Beck with Elizabeth, Terry Robinson and Vivian, Bob Lundquist, Rick Willets, Paul Tuhus, Jim Grant and Martha, Dimitri Gerakaris, Tom Hopkins and Wendy, George Ross with Ann and of course our renowned leader Dud Kay with Jill Ford. There were many others who participated in the planning and execution of this fine gathering and all of them deserve our hearty thanks and a wah hoo wah!

We arrived in gray skies and drizzle on Monday but by that evening the stage was set for beautiful weather until we departed Thursday morning. The registration desk greeted us with information and wonderful take-home caps, fleeces, stainless water bottles with the class logo and Dartmouth on them and the first recognition of old friends like Greg and Nancy Lau, Mike Vasey and Bruce Hamilton.

The schedule of activities and events is on the Web site, so check that to see the vast array available to us. The late evening socializing in the class tent included Lunk on the piano and most of the aforementioned trying to add voice to his songs.

Tuesday provided beautiful weather, some superb seminars set up by the College and a meeting with President Wright in the morning. At our class meeting that afternoon Dudley announced we were taking a new direction with a slate of officers, including Sandy Alderson (there with Linda) for president, Andy McLane (with his own Linda) for executive vice president, Rick Willets also executive vice president, all of whom were unanimously approved with the remaining offices unchanged: Paul as treasurer, Allen Denison (there with Martha) still newsletter editor and I will remain your secretary. John Myers will replace Dale Christensen as our head agent for the Alumni Fund. Accolades were given to Dale, Andy, Jeff Bloomberg, John Mathias, Tom Hunt, Bill Kneisel and the many others who helped us achieve our College Fund goal. Unfortunately, as this is being written we had not yet reached 50 percent class participation but we did meet our dollar objective.

We assembled on Baker Library lawn before Tuesday evening dinner for a class picture. Our reunion guru Norm Jacobs reports after the event we had a head count of 218 attending, including 137 classmates and 81 guests. Almost everyone will appear in the picture. Tuesday evening was a most memorable time with 1960s band Flash Cadillac performing from 8:30 until after the 11 p.m. quiet curfew. The music was superb and some of the dancers on Tuck Mall included Fred Klein with Pru, Doug and Nina McKenna, Brooke Jackson with Liz and observing the event was Peter Schaeffer looking dapper and singing along in his wheelchair.

There were many more people dancing and singing and the next column will include more names, but see the Web site to view pictures of the event. Some of the attendees were guys not seen in recent years who added greatly to the spirit of renewal, like Ben Romney, Chuck Morey, Ben Benner and our Montana country doctor Ben Marchello. We have reached our quota for this column. More reunion news next issue.

P.O. Box 1447, Anacortes, WA 98221; (360) 293-1996; wheat69@earthlink.net