1968

1968

REUNION | JUNE 12-15

Recent information about impending personnel changes in class executive committee leadership positions provides further incentive for you to attend our imminent 55th reunion. These representatives are very influential in determining class policies, activities, and College relations, as well as the treasury disbursals your dues enable, so you’ll want to provide your input and votes in person at our June meeting.

Dan Hedges, David Cooperberg, and Bob Ross have recently joined the existing reunion planning staff of John Engelman, Norm Silverman, and Line Eldridge. Current executive committee members were, not surprisingly, particularly active in responding to my requests to many classmates for information about their activities since the 50th. The bold, courageously candid Dr. Silverman allowed as having had the worst year of his life in 2022, which brought serious health challenges and the suicide of a grandson at Dartmouth. Norm’s current strength—bolstered by a loving family, caring friends, and “a modicum of wit and knowledge of the human condition”—is a lesson to all in how to deal with monstrous adversity. His advice comes from Winston Churchill: “Let us go forward to greater tomorrows.”

Peter Wonson expressed pride in the major developments in our class since our 50th: the community service project (CSP), the Give a Rouse Award, the class webinar series, the Arts Legacy Initiative, and the continuation of excellent Dartmouth College Fund annual campaigns. Speaking of CSP, organizer Peter Hofman reviewed its resources, which help class members and their families work toward community improvement. He plans to open the project’s catalog to all for reference and guidance. John Engelman mentioned satisfaction with his recent status as one of the youngest residents at Kendal at Hanover, an assisted living facility where numerous Dartmouth-related folks provide an exciting environment.

Roger Witten’s post-50th updates include retirement from WilmerHale, service on nonprofit boards, his and Jill’s 51st anniversary, and continued involvement with fly fishing, kayaking, and snowshoeing. He looks forward to resuming travel, with Amsterdam first on the itinerary. Chicago-based Michael Jacobs and wife have also resumed traveling, with Iceland, Spain, and New Zealand recent stops. They hike, they swim, and they continue to enjoy Mike’s retirement from legal academia. Travel has not been totally kind to Diane and David Peck: On their return trip from the Galapagos their flights were canceled and their luggage lost; after a river cruise in Portugal, David tested positive for Covid; and Diane became too ill to travel two days before a planned Sicily visit

The humble, but blatantly mendacious David Walden claimed nobody would be interested in his past five years’ activities, but, in truth, his devoted committee participation has interested and benefited us all for even longer than that. (Expanded editions of some of the preceding classmate submissions maybe found in the latest Transmission.) We were happy to learn that the latest volcanic activity in Hawaii bypassed Gerry Hills this time, but there’s tragic news, as well, in the deaths of Peter Fahey and Michael Smith.

—Jack Hopke, 157 Joy St., River Ridge, LA 70123; (504) 388-2645; jackhopke@yahoo.com

Jack Hopke