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'61s: Anderson, [Arslanian, Nyla], Beattie, [Baum, Carol], [Bleyler. Ruth], Bloom, Bull, [Burton, Eileen], Conn, Eileen DiSavino, [Denniston, Chris Thomas], [Eberhardt, Laurie],Facher, [George, Helen], [Fields, Rox], Bonnie Gartner, Gemelli, Heathcote, [Holmberg, Judy], Horan, Husband, Art Johnson, Skip Johnson, Jackie Kaminsky, Kelton, Kolb, Stephanie Levy, [Lynn, Susan], Marrone, McCrea, [McKee, Mary], Judy Miller, Olson, O'Neill, Persels, [Prewitt, Joani], [Rich, Patti], Rogers, ,[Rozycki, Kittredge], Shryne, Sperling, [Stephens, Dawn], [Wheeler, Sandy], [Wybo, Joan],

Newport Mini--Cannot delay any longer: must proclaim the off-campus spring 2018 mini in Newport, RI, which Dave & Joani Prewitt have so ably put together:
Here are preliminary details. (You can also go to the class website  http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/61/index.htm and click on the link.)

Resort : Gurney's Newport Resort ( formerly Hyatt Regency ) on Goat Island , Newport Harbor
Special rate $199 plus tax ( 30 rooms reserved ) . Resort fee waived. Free parking. Free shuttle to Harbor, Indoor and outdoor pools , full Gym
           Deadline for reservations : April 20th , 2018
           Call 401-849-2600 (This number is new.) and mention Dartmouth '61 for rate

(You can also go to the class website http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/61/index.htm and click on the link.)
              
Newport Amenities : Touro Synagogue ( oldest in United States ) ; French fleet based in Newport during the Revolutionary War ; site of the US Naval Academy during the Civil War ; International Tennis Hall of Fame ; Gilded Age Mansions ; Cliff Walk ; Naval War College Museum ; US Naval Base , Newport ;

Activities : Dinners  May 20th , 21st & 22nd  ; Breakfasts May 21 , 22 & 23rd
                   Guided tour of Newport
                   Dinner at the Officers Club , US Naval Base
                    Optional Golf Outing at the Newport Country Club
                   Optional sail on a 12 Meter sailboat
                   Afternoons free to explore Newport
                   Anticipated cost per person ( excluding Optional activities ) is $450 

Have you booked your reservations? Please note April 20 cut-off.  How many more minis do ya have in that ancient frame of yours, old-timer…?

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Homecoming Mini-Reunion. Speaking of minis, here is Maynard's full report on the Hanover event, October 6 - 8, when Dartmouth managed to be the only Ivy footers to beat resurgent Yale this season…:
"Seventeen classmates and thirteen significant others came together for the Homecoming weekend in Hanover. Those in attendance: Jim & Carol Baum, Pete & Ruth Bleyler, Gim & Eileen Burton, Bob Conn, Larry & Helen George, Joel Heathcote, Hop & Judy Holmberg, Art & Ellie Johnson, Mort & Susan Lynn, Dick Marrone, Harris & Mary McKee, Dave & Joani Prewitt, Vic & Patti Rich, Alan & Diane Rozycki, Maynard & Sandy Wheeler, Ron & Joan Wybranowski. We gathered at the Hanover Inn at 5 PM for cocktails and dinner. Deceased classmate Biff Olson's daughter and twin grandsons, D'20, came by to meet us. At 7 PM the parade gathered between the stadium and Topliff. We '61s marched proudly behind our Frost banner.
On Saturday, we were impressed by our students: Nelly Mendoza-Mendoza '19 speaking about her jewelry work "Torches of Gold: An Exploration of Ancient Greek Granulation,"

Pete Bleyler, Nelly Mendoza & Don O'Neill

Julia Cohen '18 from the Geography Department with a project on "Alloparenting: Cooperative Parenting" inspired by her experience of being brought up by a Philippine Nanny in New York City as both of her parents worked; and Allyson Block '19 from  Anthropology working on "Go (Organic) Bananas: Redistributing Value in the Supply Chain" about NGOs coordinating between local producers in Central America with large corporations. We were generally impressed. 

Harris McKee, Julia Cohen, and Don O'Neill

There was time for a brief business meeting at which President, Don O'Neill, presented the proposal, prepared by Pete Bleyler on behalf of the Class Project Committee, for the Class project, The Class of 1961 Robert Frost Endowment for Student Projects. The classmates unanimously approved establishing a $100,000 endowment by 2020 to fund in perpetuity an award to a student in the Arts and a second through the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.  Half the fund will come from the Class treasury; the other from new contributions from the Class, 20% of which has already been pledged.
The award given to a student in the Arts will be called The Class of 1961 Arts Initiative Award, and is basically a continuation of the award of the same name that's been in existence for 17 years. 
The award associated with the Dickey Center will be named at a later date.  Details of the award are still in progress.
Funding.  Donations will be tax-deductible, though they will not be counted in the Dartmouth College Fund (DCF) totals.  A "silent campaign" is being conducted to obtain pledges from class officers and other classmates who have been strong financial supporters in the past, before going public with the entire class.  It is expected that the full $50,000 from donors will be completed by June 30, 2020, so that the year prior to the 60th reunion may be devoted solely to the campaign for the DCF. 
After a bag lunch, it was time for football against Yale. By half-time, with Dartmouth well behind in drizzly weather, many left the stadium—thereby missing the thrilling 28-27 victory in the final minute of the game.  Few made it for a brew with Robert Frost [18]96before returning to the Sumner Mansion in Hartland, VT, for dinner by our favorite caterer, Christophe. Mary Lou Alexie, the new head of the HOP, joined us and spoke about the special position of the Arts at Dartmouth and plans to make Hanover a summer destination as a regional center for a broad program. Joel had consulted with Dutton Foster and read the Sachem Oration to warm us up for the presentation of the Class of '61 Special Recognition Award given to Harris for all his contributions to the Class ever since graduation.
Our finale was brunch at the Norwich Inn, ending with vows to see each other in May at the mini reunion in Newport, RI, arranged by the reliable and visionary Prewitts."

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Homecoming Parade - Hop Holmberg & Dave Prewitt Toting Banner; Eileen Burton & Maynard Wheeler Bringing Up the Rear.

Da Boyz in Idyho (LtoR): Tim Shryne, Glenn Gemelli, Gim Burton, Terry Rogers, Jon Sperling, Bill "BR" Bull.

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An even micro-er mini took place down east in September. Al Rozycki: "Paisan, Diane and I drove over to Portsmouth, NH; Skip and lady friend Andrea Lutz were en route from Maine to CT; and Connie drove up from D.C. (can you believe it!) for lunch at Wentworth-by-the-Sea, grand old hotel in Portsmouth, NH."

Bulletmen of Yore Convene in Portsmouth (LtoR): Skip Johnson, Andrea Lutz, Rich "Paisan" Marrone, Diane Kittredge, Alan A. Rozycki,MD, Conrad G. Persels.

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Green Cards: Arthur Bloom <arthurbloom1@verizon.net> updates us as follows: "I would like to thank all the members of the class who have taken the time to call David Birney. His long-time companion and caregiver, Michele Roberge, tells me that those calls are the highlight of his day. The official diagnosis is now Alzheimer's, but it is still possible to have a conversation with David—although sometimes those conversations are a bit like doing Theatre of the Absurd without a script.  Please continue to call. His numbers are: 310-396-6779 and 310-625-9025. Thanks so much." [and big mahalo to you, Arthur, for your loyalty and friendship - ed.]
Tony Horan cards: "Marnie & I combined a trip to Vancouver [to present 3 three-minute slide shows about urology operations to the Western Section of A.U.A.] with a trip to the Canadian Alpine Club high altitude huts at the famous Bugaboos in the Canadian Rockies and the Asulkan Cabin in same. No tent necessary & share communal kitchen. We both got heatstroke climbing up to the Bugaboos. This is recommended for all '61s, but you must reserve in November! I am working on a new edition of the Prostate Cancer book for foreign editors."
[we must presume he is not recommending the heatstroke… ed.]

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Tidings from 'round the girdled earth:  At the fall mini in Hanover, Webmaster [and former tackle, Class President, Valedictorian, Palaeopitus, C&G, etc.] Harris B. McKee, PhD, was presented the first-ever Class of '61 Special Recognition Award for all he has done, and continues to do, for the class and the college (see inscription on plaque). As he is also instrumental in getting WWW online and to the printer, we now provide space for his own comments on the honor: I'm humbled by the honor and grateful for the recognition. Dartmouth has been a monumental part of my life and I am pleased that I could give something back.  
To which we should add: what are we gonna do for an encore next year…?
[also from the auld Caledonian (attributed to Mike Smith): "Neighbor knocked on my door at 2:30 am! Can you believe that? Luckily for him I was still up playing my bagpipes." - ed.]

Enthused Classmates at Harris's Presentation (LtoR): Joani Prewitt, Patti Rich, Prew-dads, Paisan.

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Also honored this fall was Art Kelton, who received the Dartmouth Alumni Award at the Alumni Council banquet on October 27. No small recognition this, esp. considering there are some 81,000 alumni out there on this little blue marble… (Harris has posted the verbiage from the Alumni Council on the '61 website) 
From Rozycki: A profile on Art taken from the Vermont Academy webpage.
Arthur Kelton, Jr., 1957
Real Estate Developer

Arthur Kelton, Jr. grew up in Peru, Vermont and attended a one room school house for eight years. He then went on to Burr and Burton Academy, but soon discovered that he needed more structure. His mother, a Vermont Academy graduate, class of 1924 decided that Vermont Academy was the place to provide academic discipline and focus. In fact Art credits his education at Vermont Academy as extremely meaningful and "established in him excellent work habits and goal objectives." He applied these life skills not only to his higher education and degrees at Dartmouth and the University of Vermont but beyond in his professional career. 

In 1965, Art moved to Vail, Colorado and has always been an active resident in the Vail Valley with his wife, Elaine, whom he married in 1986. His career, real estate development, syndication and sales, includes Colorado projects in Vail and Eagle County, Boulder, and at Denver International Airport.

He was the managing partner of Christopher Denton Kelton and Kendall. He has developed golf courses, custom homes and various multi-family developments throughout the Greater Vail Valley. Additionally, Art's career incorporates projects and investments in Idaho, Wyoming and Vermont.

Included in these investments, he acted as a general partner in Boulder Beer, which is now The Rockies Brewing Company. Although no longer involved with the brewing company, he continues to be active in the management and operation of other investments. Always actively involved in both non-profit and educational institutions, Art served as President of the Vail Valley Medical Center Foundation from 1991 to 2006. He's been a member of the Governing Board of the Vail Valley Medical Center since 2006. He serves on two boards at Dartmouth College, as well as on the boards of several other charitable organizations."

Kelton's Well-earned Alumni Award (LtoR): Ellie Johnson, Art Johnson, Vic Rich, Art & Elaine Kelton, Roz, Diane, Henry "Squid" Eberhadt,III, Laurie Eberhardt
[but where's the photo of Art & tc (first Hawaiian on the Ski Patrol) at Holt's Ledges…? ed.]

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More on class wine endeavors, after the NoCA fires: RL Anderson: "Harris, Thanks for your  concern. As it turns out, we sold our vineyard/winery/home a few years ago so we were not directly impacted.  However, I have been told that the property was totally destroyed which was the source of the wine grapes for my cabernet.  I have made inquiries to find out the scope of the damage but have nothing definitive at this time.  Huge tragedy; my son's good friends from grammar/jr. high school all lost their homes in Fountaingrove.  Otter" 
And from Pete McCrea: "Thanks, Harris. The McCreas and Stony Hill all survived. Had to leave town for five days to get out of the smoke.
Had rain last night and the sky is clear. Most of the wineries and restaurants are open again and are looking for visitors. Great time to visit the Napa or Sonoma valleys.
Please distribute this to all our classmates."
This in from Jim "Workshop" Richards, majordomo of Minnesota's Maplelag winter resort:

Dear Mary and Harris:

Greetings from Maplelag and just wanted to send along a little gift for you from all of us here at Maplelag for your new digs in Chicago.
Busy as usual here and still non stop, lots of rain and the grass keeps growing. I do the ski trails and Jay does the bike trails and so glad July has come and gone with the deer flies being especially bad this year. Chinese language camp this summer was good, although the Dean was not the best. I miss Chuck Ritchie who was Dean of Russian here for 18 years, he was so good.
Our daughter Debbie's oldest boy Marco is about to finish his fifth year at Moody in Chicago and then will start somewhere as a youth Pastor. He is a very hard worker and has been a Uber driver there as well as working for a catering service.
And Jay and Jonell's second boy, a great hockey player, and who played last winter in the USHL at Austin, Minnesota out of the blue got a full scholarship offer from Division One RPI and has been there now for about three weeks and loving it. Jay and Jonell are out there for parents week now. They play Dartmouth twice this upcoming season and hope to make it out for one of the games.
Our big bike race coming up this week end and over 400 here so most hectic but that is what we are here for. And then 6 Fall destination weddings and I get a break come November and off to Kenya and Thailand and then ski season full blast the first week in December. Last season was a good snow year and cross country interest keeps expanding.

Old sidekick Rich Husband submits these observations re. the football scene in Hanover (appx. mid-season, before the mighty green juggernaut tied for runner-up laurels in the Ivy League [is that a mixed metaphor…?]): 

"15 minutes before kickoff and nary a student in site (pun). Cheerleaders spend their time at the left or south end of the field where alumni and parents sit. RWH"
To which your scribe adds: The two far right sections (in front of smokestack) are the student sections. Since I moved to Hanovah in '10, they have been completely empty every game.
(there were 17 cheerleaders, however…)
(who ended each bizarre stunt with, "Go, Dart-mith!")

Don O'Neill reported back in early August: "Had a nice talk with Red Facher tonight. He is home, bothering the hell out of Mary Lou, and plans to go to work sometime this week. As you all know he has been through the wringer this summer (Blockage of intestine. Adhesions from previous surg. Needs new kidney too. Tough guy), but in typical Red fashion he is COMING BACK. Wish him well and keep him in your prayers."
Presumably your prayers worked, and ol' [once]Red is getting back on track. [btw, not only a tough dude, but never fails to crack me up, no matter how bad he feels… ed.]
Kenneth Carlton Kolb notes from NOLA, "down in the land of the dreamy dreams": "So enjoyed you class letter. Great stuff. [ … ] Dartmouth plays Stetson in about 14 hours. Stetson is known for hats, not football. So, we'll see about the team's football skills against a 'cupcake.' If you ever talk to Judy Miller again, tell her (up in her mountain cabin) I'd like to hear how she is making.a new life for herself. Fatz kinda asked me to do this when we drove from Hanover [in winter 1960] over—14,000 foot, in blinding snow—Loveland Pass (with bad brakes and two cases of Carlings), all the way thru Mormon country to sunny Malibu and California serenity." Ahh, the folly—plus boundless energy, and unwavering confidence—of youth…!
Speaking of youth, see this pic from Dick Beattie of Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood Arslanian:

Then this from the UK:

(LtoR): Dawn & Frank Stephens, Oscar & Nyla Arslanian-Hollywood.

Now contrast with a couple of old pals in deepest San Francisco:

Frederick S. Fields,Esq., tc.

Maybe This One's Better (LtoR): Rox Fields, tc (5th wheel…), Robin Logan (Fred's former Adm. Asst), FSF,Esq.

And a treasured shot of Rakeman in Nor'ch:

Enough Betas, Gams and Theta Booms; here's A. House:

Double Secret Probation . . .

Ladies' (survivors') Issues: 

Our D'61 Women's Initiative luncheon in NYC was a wonderful success !
Eileen DiSavino, Bonnie Gartner, Jackie Kaminsky, Stephanie Levy, Chris Thomas  (Denniston), and myself , Patti Rich, met on Mon., Oct. 2 , at Roberts Restaurant located in the Museum of Arts and Design at Columbus Circle in Manhattan.
We shared many interests, ideas, and issues in our lives. We all spoke about our families, our travels, our theatre experiences, our health issues, our book discussions and important events in our lives , while enjoying a delicious lunch.
We spent an enlightening afternoon , not only sharing our past and present lives, but also discovering our many similarities.

'61 Glamor in Big Apple (LtoR): front - Stephanie Levy, Jackie Kaminsky
back - Bonnie Gartner, Patti Rich, Eileen DiSavino, Chris Thomas (Denniston).

Here are a few more photos from the Mini-Reunion.

Maynard Wheeler, Burtons, Paisan, Georges, and Sandy Wheeler

Richs, Prewitts, and Bleylers

Mary McKee, Al Rozycki, Diane Kittredge, Judy Holmberg, and Hop Holmberg

Let's call it a wrap—all blessings for the coming holiday season! 
And lest ye forget: "You get old and you realize there are no answers, just stories." (Garrison Keillor)

Aloha, 
tc