Logo October 2022

President Maynard Wheeler
P.O. Box 538
Grantham, NH 02753-0538

Past-President Don O'Neill
8787 Bay Colony Dr
Naples, FL 34108

Newsletter Editor:
Thomas S. Conger
2210 Quail Point Terrace
Medford, OR 97504
tcink85***gmail.com

Communication Officer:
Harris B. McKee (Webmaster)
929 W Foster Ave Apt 705
Chicago, IL 60640-1682
h4mmckee***sbcglobal.net

Vice-President :Denny Denniston
266 West 91st St
New York, NY 10024-1101

Vice-President Gerald Kaminsky
136 Harold Road
Woodmere, NY 11598-1435

Co-Bequest Chairs
Al Rozycki
56 McKenna Rd
Norwich, VT
David Armstrong
4600 N Ocean Boulevard, Ste. 206
Boynton Beach, FL 33435-7365		 Arts & Legacy Committee
Oscar Arslanian
2489 North Edgemont St
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1054
Pete Bleyler
42 Wildwood Drive
West Lebanon, NH 03784
Secretary :Victor S. Rich
94 Dove Hill Drive
Manhasset, NY 11030-4060
Treasurer :Ron Wybranowski
89 Millpond
North Andover, MA 01845-2902		 Mini-Reunion Chairman:
Pete Bleyler
42 Wildwood Drive
West Lebanon, NH 03784
Class Historian/Necrologist
Harris McKee

Co-Head Agents :
Henry Eberhardt
300 Beach Dr. NE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
413-335-0261.
Harris McKee
929 W Foster Ave Apt 705
Chicago, IL 60640-1682
(479) 619-7324
Roger McArt
3421 Ballybridge Circle, Apt 203
Bonita Springs, FL 34134-1998

Mini-Reunion Chairman:
Non-Hanover
Dave Prewitt
77 Middle Rd., Apt 269
Bryn Mawr, PA 19610

Women's Committee
Nyla Arslanian
nyla***discoverhollywood.com
Patti Rich
patti359***aol.com
(Note that email addresses inWWW are disguised using *** for @ to provide some protectionagainst sites looking for email addresses. Replace the *** with @ before using.)
Class Web Site:http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/61/

Quick Links
Sections: '61s Catching Up With '61s, Campus Tour, Class Activity Report, Frost Statue Project, Johnson Brunch, Reunion Photos-#1, Reunion Photos #2, Tanzi, Women's Initiative

'61s

Nyla Arslanian, Banks, Bleyler, Bleyler-Ruth, Bookstrom, Conger, Delong, Denniston, George-L, George-H, Goodridge-K, Goodridge-T, Haertl, Hargraves-B, Hargraves-A, Holmberg, Johnson-B, Johnson-M, Kolb, Lynn-M, Lynn-S, McElhinney, McKee, Miller, Murphy, O'Neill-D, O'Neill-E, Page, Ratigan, Rich, Rich-Patti, Roussel, Rozycki, Sandler, Thomas-Chris, Tonneson, Weber-Betty, Wheeler-M, Wheeler-S

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Hyflex Reunion

Yet another successful mini-reunion, this one double-breasted, or hyflex, allowing elderly folk in the hinterlands to join the merry pranksters in Hanovah for the festivities. Here Pres. Maynard Wheeler submits his capsule report:
After a COVID-induced two year hiatus, the Class of ’61 fall reunion returned to Hanover.  Twelve classmates plus wives for a total of 22 began Friday with early cocktails and dinner at the Hanover Inn before the 7:00PM football game with Penn.  Double overtimes kept a hardy [frozen] group at the stadium until 10:30PM.  Saturday started at 11:30AM at the Blunt Alumni Center conference room with our first novel HYFLEX meeting capably led by Pete Bleyler.  A huge TV screen with camera atop to capture those physically present displayed the Hanover group as one window with all the outsiders in their own windows.  At least 65 classmates joined us by Zoom.  Indispensable Harris McKee from his post in Chicago highlighted each speaker. After an open-mike session, Mike Harrity, the new Director of Athletics, 10 weeks on the job, gave us his initial reading on sports at Dartmouth and where he plans to lead it.  His was a refreshing and optimistic appraisal. This was followed by our first panel, moderated by Ex-Pres Don O’Neill, with John Ratigan telling about his years dealing with immigration law and Pani Kolb the history of jazz in New Orleans. Vic Rich delivered the much-deserved Special Classmate Award to Ron Wybranowski, highlighting his superb work as Class Treasurer and in critically acclaimed landscape photography. The second panel, moderated by Hop Holmberg, included Jim DeLong, Norm Page and Art Bookstrom talking about their globe-trotting careers in geology.  The session ended with Moonoka Begay ’23, our Arts Award Student, born at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Hosp., whose parents are Dartmouth grads from the ‘90s; she talked about her work in sculpture and has an upcoming exhibit on “Semi Precious” which presents her indigenous heritage through a material lens.  Some of us then regathered at the Frost Statue to review plans for improving the area in conjunction with the Class of ’73.  Saturday evening we adjourned to the newly refurbished DOC House on Occom Pond for libations and dinner.  The weekend culminated Sunday morning with breakfast and conversation at the Hanover Inn including pledges to return next year. Those in attendance: Betty Weber with Moe Banks, Ruth and Pete Bleyler, Chris Thomas with Denny Denniston, Helen and Larry George, Karla and Tom Goodridge, Ann and Bob Hargraves, Marsha and Bruce Johnson, Susan and Mort Lynn, Ellen and Don O’Neill, Vic Rich, Alan Rozycki, Sandy and Maynard Wheeler.
[as computers continue to simplify our lives, Pete Bleyler discovered in prep sessions for the Zoom phase that his “word-spell program changed Art Bookstrom to Art Bookstore and John Ratigan to John Ration”—once again proving that a silicon chip knows vastly better than the human brain what one means to say…. Ed.]
            Windows is Shutting Down
by Clive James
Windows is shutting down, and grammar are
On their last leg. So what am we to do?
A letter of complaint go just so far,
Proving the only one in step are you.

Better, perhaps, to simply let it goes.
A sentence have to be screwed pretty bad
Before they gets to where you doesnt knows
The meaning what it must be meant to had.

The meteor have hit. Extinction spread,
But evolution do not stop for that.
A mutant languages rise from the dead
And all them rules is suddenly old hat.

Too bad for we, us what has had so long
The best seat from the only game in town.
But there it am, and whom can say its wrong?
Those are the break. Windows is shutting down.

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Reunion photos (below):
Top Left: Pete, Betty Weber, Moe Banks, Ellen O ’Neill, Denny, Chris Thomas, Roz, Ruth, Don
Top Middle: Mort Lynn, Susan Lynn, Helen George, Larry George, Karla Goodridge, Tom Goodridge, MBW, Sandy, Marsha Johnson, Bruce J
Top Right: Conference room with Ratigan on screen
Middle left: conference e with Rogers on scree
Middle center: Roz, Denny & Vic at statue
Middle right: Betty, Moe, Susan, Mort, Ellen, Don, Vic, Roz
Bottom left: Chris, Pete, Helen, Larry, Ruth, Denny
Bottom Right: Klara, Tom, MBW, Sandy, Bob Hargraves, Ann Hargraves

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'61s Catching Up With '61s

Employing some perseverance, John Schlachtenhaufen—after nearly 60 years—connected with Dick “Rocky” Tonneson down in F.L.A. Having enjoyed a good catch-up they both tried to contact Jake Haertl in Bothell, WA. (although Jack Crowley ’56 & I always latch up with Jake whenever IB in Seattle area to visit kids, we were not aware that, since last visit @Christmas ’ 21, he had been relocated to memory care in his CCRC. And, much like our old dorms in ’57-61, there are no telephones in individual units; thus callers are reliant on some responsible soul being near the central phone when it rings, and who is willing to hunt down the callee)  Both John & Rocky were able to talk to Jake, who is upbeat and articulate—he just doesn’t remember much from any current encounter. Contact your old buddies, gents—it makes their day, and can be therapeutic. 
Speaking of old buddies, long-time winery partner [the late] Otter had a Mendocino Co. vinous venture (Cole Bailey [youngest son] Vineyards) labeled Sesquipedalian (Wordsmith.org: “A very long word” [his first wife Gay Tabibian claims she’d never heard the term until he made the wine]…). The Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc were well-regarded in the industry.
O & Nyla found an elderly flagon of our Konocti Winery Cabernet in the bowels of their H’wood manse while downsizing recently; to complete the diminution process, they drank it—con mucho gusto. Slainte!

In late June Marsha & Bruce Johnson hosted a ’61 lunch at their stately pleasure dome on Pleasant Lake in New London, NH. According to Maynard, the occasion’s featured attraction was

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Always a treat to keep abreast of Ross Sandler who (far as we can tell) has simply kept NYC running for decades:
COMMENTARY – Last Subway: The Second Avenue Subway ’s Phase 2 Begins •  Ross Sandler
06/24/2022 

Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law.

Since January 1, 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo led the celebration to open the Second Avenue Subway, much has happened. A pandemic undermined subway ridership, Governor Cuomo resigned, and a new governor and mayor took office. And now the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway has begun. This will provide the next chapter of the wonderful book by Philip Mark Plotch ’s on the Second Avenue Subway, Last Subway: the Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City (Cornell U. 2020).
Last Subway provides an insider ’s look at the politics, engineering, and choices that culminated in the January 1, 2017, celebration. Plotch documents how Phase 1 at $4.6 billion became the world ’s most costly subway. These twists and turns alone make this book a must read.
On January 6, 2022, the new governor, Kathy Hochul, announced the start of the engineering phase of Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway from 96th Street to 125th Street. This is the last step before construction can begin.

The announcement was lauded in the press release by New York ’s two senators and the three members of congress most affected.

When reading such press releases it was helpful to have read Plotch ’s book which rehearses the overly optimistic predictions, deliberate obfuscations, and outright lies that littered the 80-year history of the Second Avenue Subway. One gains a healthful respect for the political and human processes that underlie the construction of a mega project like the Second Avenue Subway.
Plotch raises tough questions. Is spending $20 billion on the next phases of the Second Avenue Subway the best use of transportation money? Why do we expect billions of dollars of support from Washington when the featherbedded work rules in New York City far exceed work rules in any other part of the country? And what about the modernization of the existing subway system? Plotch documents how the race to meet the January 1, 2017, goal set by Governor Cuomo hurt the rest of the transit system.
We are now beginning a new story with Phase 2. A good start for everyone interested would be to read the Last Subway and take notice of the lessons learned at such a great cost.
[the good ol’ class of ’61 is flat our peopled with capable individuals!—Ed.]Go to Top

Of course, Gotham is not plagued by July weather like Orygun:

Frost Statue Area Improvements

Maynard reports that “Roz has skillfully led us to a composite plan for the area in synergy with the Class of ’ 73. They will be concentrating on land a little above and toward the observatory from the statue. We are concentrating on some natural stone walls and benches between Robert and the Bema on part of the path toward the old pine and the tower. General planting is needed to enhance the area which now is somewhat overgrown.  A landscape architect has been realistic in his development of our request for something in keeping with Frost and the terrain.
This will cost more than we initially thought, and we hope for some definitive figures soon.  As I look at it, we have a great opportunity to put our permanent stamp on this real estate.  Knowing our amazing Class, I am sure we have yet another project to add to our Dartmouth history.”

Remember our old writing handbook mentor Elwyn Brooks White (The Elements of Style, Strunk & White, 1957)? Quoth he: “I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.” Dude was clearly prescient

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Tanzi Plate

Mike Murphy relinquished the Tanzi Plate plaque to final recipient Jim Baum along with by these apt words:
July 12, 2022
Jim Baum
Hanover, NH

Jim, today I shipped via UPS our beloved Class of 1961 Tanzi license plate plaque to your address in Hanover. They say you should see it by Friday. Please have wonderful year with our “Tanzi”; I know my year with it has been a delight.

I feel it is especially appropriate that you will become the final custodian of Oscar ’s brilliant idea, which has helped our Class raise such substantial funds for class projects over the years. I still remember the time back at our 35th reunion when I launched the donations campaign to help pay for the Robert Frost statue. You were one of the very first classmates to reply, and with quite a significant contribution. So, I hope you will feel a special pride having the “Tanzi” in your home, as your support for our Class has been so constant and strong.

I am sharing this message with our Class officers and many of the group of great guys who have worked so hard over the years to raise money for Dartmouth and our Class, as a personal salute to all of them. As we say in the song, “The Hill Wind Knows Their Names….”

Mike Murphy

Campus Tour Report.

Campus tours for prospective applicants are a major implement in the Admissions toolbox. Maynard joined one the other day:  “I went on one yesterday!  It seems to be by appointment so that it was limited to about 80 people at 11:30AM.  The waiting area had on display books by incoming President Beilock.  We assembled in a large room on the second floor of McNutt where two recent graduates gave a brief overview. We then were distributed among 5 students, mostly seniors, for the walking tour.  Ours seems to have a memorized but informal script on what to cover. We stopped behind the Massachusetts dorm to talk about living arrangements, between Collis and the dining hall to talk about food, in the middle of the Green for history and the three big celebrations (Homecoming, Winter Carnival and Green Key weekends) with mention of the HOP and the HOOD Museum, a brief look at Rauner Library in Webster Hall, next onto Fairchild to talk about the D Plan with great flexibility, class size and access to professors, then through the main level of Baker and Barry Libraries and dismissed on Main Street outside the Library.  There was mention of the Greek System (favorable: 2/3 of upperclassmen, good to hold off rush until sophomore year so that freshman can figure out everything without the complication of fraternities); all the clubs and extracurricular activities; 75% involved in sports in some fashion; outdoor life and the DOC; no freshman cars; the convenience of the Dartmouth Coach for Boston and New York; etc.  He was clear on how D students support each other to achieve their best. There were few questions from the group.  Nothing came out about free speech, racial issues, mental health.
That was plenty for 1.5 hours.  No way/time to include the new West Campus of Tuck-Engineering-Computer Science or Frost Statue.  One could not expect much more.
Our guide spoke clearly and was enthusiastic.  My only complaint was that he said ‘yeh ’ every 5th word.”
[no visit to R.L. Frost’96/Bartlett Tower site, no tour of the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse, not e’en a stroll by the Floren Varsity complex nor the Boss Tennis Center?
How could any candidate glean any true idea of what will really happen during their brief four years on campus…?]

WTF could this ever be…?

 

Class Activity Report

            For those who do not read the Class Activity Report each year, below is a recap of ’61 achievements for FY’21-’22:
Class Strategy

  1. Confronted with continuing limitations imposed by Covid epidemic conditions, we continued to follow our Class mission statement "to be one of Dartmouth's finest classes until the last of us is gone.”
  2. We not only achieved but exceeded all our goals for the past year.
  3. We augmented our highly effective Class officer/Executive Committee team which meets monthly by Zoom.
  4. We engaged our 82-year-old classmates throughout the world with 4 mini reunions by Zoom.
  5. We again (for the 4th time) achieved the highest DCF participation of all Dartmouth classes (72.6%) and exceeded our dollar goal by 57%. While Class Agents work all year, the real key to our participation was our SWAT Team calling which added 131 participants in the last 6 weeks.
  6. We added 7 new class members to the Bartlett Tower Society reaching a total of 76 (second highest in our decade).
  7. The Class continues to support and augment 3 of our pre-existing projects with $9,602 in Class Treasury contributions to them in the year. The Class and classmates contributed $4,116 to our Legacy for the Performing Arts Endowment that in turn distributed $78,279 to Hopkins Center to support performances ($930,171 since inception).
  8. Classmates contributed $4,788 to our Robert Frost Endowment that in turn distributed $6,315 to support student projects and awards.
  9. The class also contributed $2,500 to Dartmouth Athletics.
  10. Having planned with the College staff a class project to improve the area around the Frost Statue that was donated by our class, and discovering that the Class of 1973 was planning to improve the area around Bartlett Tower, we combined forces to jointly improve the area from the Observatory parking lot to Bartlett Tower and the Old Pine. Working with the College and '73, we now plan to undertake a new major fundraising effort and contribute from the class Treasury to accomplish a much more ambitious project to beautify and make this neglected area more welcoming, safe and accessible.

What are your primary goals for next year?

  1. Foremost is to engage with the College and the Class of 1973 to plan, fundraise and accomplish the project to improve the area from the Observatory parking lot to Bartlett Tower and the Old Pine to beautify and make this neglected area more welcoming, safe and accessible
  2. Keep up our pace of engagement with our classmates. We are planning a Fall Mini reunion in Hanover with a hybrid Zoom component in order to also engage classmates that cannot travel. We will also continue 3 quarterly Zoom mini reunions
  3. We want to again achieve the highest DCF participation of any Dartmouth class.
  4. Add at least 7 more BTS members.
  5. Continue all of our existing projects by contributing to our two existing endowment funds – The 1961 Legacy for the Performing Arts and the Robert Frost Endowment and supporting Dartmouth Athletics.
  6. Continue monthly Executive Committee meetings.

Summary:
Improve the area around the Frost Statue (above). Currently a work in progress, budgeting to follow shortly.
The Class of 1961 achieved the highest DCF participation of all Dartmouth classes (72.6%) and exceeded our dollar goal by 57%. Classmates again responded to our SWAT team in the last 6 weeks of the campaign adding 131 contributors.
We appointed a new co-chair for our Bartlett Tower Society efforts this year and they increased the number of '61 BTS members by 7 to a total of 76 (second highest in our decade). We have set a goal to substantially increase this number in coming years.
Following our very successful virtual 60th Reunion and 2 mini reunions the prior year, we had planned and did hold 3 quarterly virtual mini-reunions and one virtual on the 61st day of the year. These featured classmate and student panels. The content appealed to classmates and the virtual format adapted to and enabled much higher participation from some 82-year-old classmates that were unable or unwilling to travel.
In addition to the Frost Area Project mentioned above, the Class continues to support and augment 3 of our pre-existing projects with $9,602 in contributions to them in the year. The Class and classmates contributed $4,116 to our Legacy for the Performing Arts Endowment that in turn distributed $78,279 to Hopkins Center to support performances ($930,171 since inception).
Classmates contributed $4,788 to our Robert Frost Endowment that in turn distributed $6,315 to support student projects and awards.
The class also contributed $2,500 to Dartmouth Athletics.

H.L.Mencken: "Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

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Spotted at a local Whole Foods:

So now ’tis e’en possible to manufacture vegan SPAM Or possibly

Women’s Initiative


As reported by our correspondent, Susan Lynn, women and spouses who attended the first in-person get together in Hanover (Ruth Bleyler, Helen George, Karla Goodridge, Ann Hargraves,  Marsha Johnson, Susan Lynn, Ellen O ’Neill, Chris Thomas, Betty Weber, and Sandy Wheeler) were happy to be able to gather again. Susan also noted that those living in and near Hanover enjoy monthly lunches so our New Hampshire group keeps connected.

Pani Kolb is not only a delight as part of our Women’s Initiative Team contributing her humor, insight and expertise, her Mini-Reunion presentation about her role in the formation of the New Orleans Jazz Museum added more to her many sparkling facets. She brought a new dimension to the Zoom session with jazz recordings adding to her talk. And, a nod as well to Pete Bleyler and his committee who go the extra yard to include women’s voices.

With all the work that goes into these events, we were pleased that the E-blast we sent to encourage women to “tune in” generated many responses. Our Women’s Initiative is about women being connected to what’s happening with the college, the class and each other. These connections are more important as the years fly by even if it’s a quick response to one of our email posts, we love hearing from you. If you haven’t heard from us, we may not have your email address or the one we have is no longer valid. Help us update our records and let us know. Send to h4mmckee@sbcglobal.net and  nyla@discoverhollywood.com. Soon we will be planning our next Women’s Gathering,                                  
Nyla Arslanian and Patti Rich

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Enjoyed a Late September visit from Jim McElhinney; on his driving tour of west coast friends and family, we happened to be right in his way south to Palo Alto (to visit son Doff,MD). As he was on no strict timetable, we had plenty of hours to catch up, re-hash old times, remember friends/acquaintances lost (incl. Malibu Fatz Miller, Jimmy “Roach” Roussel, Roli Kolman ’ 60, Alio Zambucci’60, Dick Liesching’59, Al Gazzaniga’58—yea, even Bullet Bob Blackman), sample fine local cuisine (such that So. Orygun doth offer), and generally reconnect. Inasmuch as air travel has become even more abominable than before pandemic strictures, we quietly vowed (should we ever be suckered into flying again…) to stop off in Denver and continue east/back with Doc Mc.

Back in September, Roz forwarded a clip citing the 20th consecutive [non-conference] opening day win by the footie lads: “Look at the box score attendance: 3,562.  Get almost that at the annual Hanover-Leb game!  And it was a BEAUTIFUL day. And a returning Dartmouth Ivy champion team!  I can ’t figure.”  [had to remind him that Admissions no longer favors candidates who’ve ever attended a football game in their lives—the only ones who have are the players themselves… Ed.] 

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead.” - Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961)

Dartmouth College Fund


The final results for the 2021-23 DCF showed that our class, at 72.6%, led all classes in participation. Our retention rate of 93% was the highest for any class in the year following a reunion. And we reached 158% of our dollar goal.

We have set our goals for the 2022-23 DCF as 70% participation and $261,961.

Thanks to all of you for supporting the Class and the College achieve this success!

Here’s are screen shots of some of the Zoom participants in our Hyflex Mini-Reunion

 

Let’s call it a wrap.
Aloha,
tc

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