1986

“First Column of the Decade” begins with a shout-out to all ’86s who are building our ’86 community. We spent four years at a very special place. Thank you all for enhancing the Dartmouth experience. The year 2009 closed with the third ’86 newsletter of the year (it took 12 previous years to do that), thanks to you who volunteered or were targets of extortion by John Marchiony. The year 2010 opens with mini-reunions in South Beach, Florida, and at least two other neat locales. One mini-reunion a month is Jeff and Andrea’s goal. See what’s cooking and add your locale via the www.dartmouth86.org site. If you prefer to be part of the big reunion, Geoff Parker is happy to have any passionate ’86 on his 25th reunion crew: geoffrey.m.parker@gmail.com.

We begin with a block rush contribution from Boston-based Josh Greenberg: “Could it be that one of the top 10 employers of ’86 graduates is Children’s Hospital Boston? There are four members of the class at CHB. Mark Proctor (neurosurgery) and Jamie Gruver (pediatrics) are saving the lives of children. Mary Beckman keeps everyone out of trouble as the hospital’s compliance director. Josh dabbles in child advocacy as the government relations director. Also in the Boston area and also helping mend people is Peter Henderson, whose company PatientKeeper is building a single software environment (on PCs and smartphones) for physicians that provides patient information across care sites. I remember thinking when I was at Dartmouth that parenting was so distant; now my oldest child is less than a year from college.”

Just a bit west Stewart Pierson teaches physics at the Rivers School. “The four kids are keeping Shannon and me hopping. We look forward to my upcoming 2011-13 sabbatical, when we’ll teach abroad, which is what we were doing when we met. If anyone wants to rent a nice home in Framingham, Massachusetts, let us know!”

After 20 years away (living on both coasts of the United States and abroad in Greece and the Turks and Caicos Islands) Leslie Lobell returned to New Jersey in 2001. She is a certified hypnotherapist, reiki master and author offering psychotherapy, clinical hypnosis and stress reduction (www.leslielobell.com). Leslie enjoys N.Y.C.’s Broadway shows, ballets and museums. She and Eric Timsak, Bergen, New Jersey’s county planner, will wed in May.

www.leslielobell.com

Heather Spalding Sugg writes from Palermo, Maine: “Now that I have a spiffy new rumpus room in my house and have spent some time perusing old college photos, I’m inspired to touch base with the great class of ’86. My husband, Will, and I have two kids, Rusty (11) and Elizabeth (8). Since 1997 I’ve worked for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Prior to this I resided in the D.C. area and traveled the world with Greenpeace. I make the world better by managing a fantastic staff of dynamic, innovative, thoughtful, upbeat and inspiring young people who help folks meet their farmers; growing lots of flowers, garlic and beets and giving them away; and encouraging cleverness, humor and tolerance in my kids.”

Still in D.C. is Christina Porsche, who writes: “My toddler is 3.5 years old, 41 inches tall and weighs 52 pounds. I work at the office of inspector general for the Department of State and was engaged in an inventory review that took me to Saipan, Philippines and Sri Lanka this summer. The defining professional work for me was as public information officer for the U.S. embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, before and after the installation of peacekeepers to stabilize rule of law and support free and fair elections.”

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