1986

1986

1983-1988

As much as I adore winter, curling up by the fire with the snow falling gently out my window, I must admit that I love when the grass turns green in spring and the jackets go back in the closet for another year.

Looking for some news of your fellow classmates, look no further than this column. Heid E. Erdrich has been named Minneapolis’s first poet laureate. As poet laureate, Heid will be speaking at council meetings as well as teaching three classes and spreading the love of poetry. Her most recent book of poems is Little Big Bully, and she finds inspiration for her poetry in music and songs. She is hoping to bring the community together through poetry and let people know that poetry can be found everywhere.

Laila Carothers is living in Cumberland, Maine, with her husband of 27 years, Jonathan. They have two kids, daughter Olivia, 20, who is attending the Savannah College of Art and Design, and son Ben, 17, a junior in high school and a mountain bike fanatic. Laila is wearing many hats these days. She spends her time tutoring children with dyslexia; coaching middle school field hockey, Nordic skiing, and lacrosse; and working part time at the library as a passport agent.

Kristan Van Hook enjoyed living in Maine so much during the pandemic that she and her family moved to Falmouth permanently afterwards. She works remotely for the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, traveling back and forth to Washington, D.C., as an advocate for improving teaching and helping improve the structure for leadership among teachers.

In other news, Glenn Dixon is in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Institute cohort of2024. Mark Gies is living in Sudbury, Massachusetts, with his wife, Beth LaFortune Gies ’90. He is selling roofing products that aid in the installation of solar panels.

Another Dartmouth couple, ’86s Hugh O’Reilly and Andrea Lordan, are living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hugh is a fractional chief financial officer working in a wide variety of companies in the tech community. He has both a legal and finance background, which helps in his day-to-day work. Andrea is teaching sixth-grade math at the Carroll School in Massachusetts, which specializes in helping children with dyslexia and similar challenges. They enjoy frequent visits to the Hanover area.

On a sad note, classmate Sean O’Hearn died unexpectedly on December 24,2023, Christmas Eve, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Many ’86s have been attending President Beilock’s inaugural presidential tour ’round the girdled earth welcoming her to the Dartmouth community. I hope you’re able to attend one in a city near you to hear her speak and to catch up with classmates.

Wondering when you’re going to see your name crop up in these Class Notes? Send me your news and stay tuned! Share some details with the rest of us about you and your fellow classmates.

—Suzy Nachman Mercado, 55 Aspen Wood Lane, Fairfield, CT 06825; suzynmercado@gmail.com