Dartmouth ’61 – 45 th and New England Vacation

 

Kathy and I departed the great state (slightly bruised) of MS on June 10 to attend my 45 th Reunion at Dartmouth and mix in some visiting and sightseeing. On Sunday, we spent a delightful brunch and sightseeing tour of the Kennebunk, ME area with Skip (aka Max) and Carol Eveleth (D ’60 and PhiGam Brother) and then went up to Freeport for a little LL Bean shopping. Monday we ambled across the back roads of VT into NH and reached Dartmouth in the early afternoon. It was great to see old (PhiGam was thinly represented by Jake Haertl, Connie Persels, and Milt Steinhauser) and new (one characteristic of reunions) classmates, get the skinny on what’s going on (for those with interest, the AD and Buddy Teevens have Carl Furstenburg under watch – I also learned this past weekend that he was nominated to be President of Samford University, a Baptist institution in Birmingham, AL but – unfortunately - not selected) and to visit old haunts in the area. I passed on two SunHerald books and the WLOX DVD to Holly Sateia, Dean of Students, that she will use in recruiting students who might want a Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery experience through the College’s on-going program. Needless to say, Dartmouth knows how to do reunions – and the result was a significant class donation. I will have the TANZI license plate in year 2 when passed on by Mike Murphy. Since I worked for Tanzi’s my senior year, this will be a conversation piece on our mantle. Duane (Doberman) Cox again held forth in Passages with contributions from classmates I cannot encapsulate – and the women of ’61 had their session led by Sarah Dayton (although she still uses her professional name). We stayed at the Norwich Inn this reunion and enjoyed the accommodations eventhough not there much. The student presentations in psychology and the arts that we support were impressive – and are not too far from where the seed falls on most counts. I left Hanover and Dartmouth with the thought that we need to find a way back for a football weekend (Teevens is impressive) and activate the Anthony J. Oestreicher Memorial Hockey Road Trip soon. One missed contact was with Coach Bob Gaudet of men’s hockey – we can be very proud of both men’s and women’s hockey at Dartmouth. For the 50 th, we are considering an extended stay someplace near in NH or VT and have our kids (1 st and 2 nd generation) join us.

 

We left Hanover for Manchester, VT, on Thursday and stayed at the Inn at Manchester near the Orvis stores. One highlight was a tour of the fly rod manufacturing process. Friday we leisurely drove to the Boston area. Saturday was Kathy’s whale watch trip out of Gloucester (a jumping humpback whale is a sight) while others were literally feet from the boat. Saturday we toured the New England Aquarium that was a disappointment to me because it was largely NOT a New England aquarium (e.g. fish from the New England area like strippers and blues – I catch jacks, snapper and see tarpon down our way and every aquarium around here). Monday had us heading home out of Logan and ready by that time.

 

We’ll do it again in 2011 for the 50 th and march with the graduating class. There is always a special sense when at the College that never goes away. As we sang “Dartmouth Undying” at the Memorial Service, I did not see many dry eyes.

 

F. J. (aka “Duck” to Dartmouth friends) and Kathy