Dartmouth Class of 1961
June,
2002
Wide
Wide World
Bert Rowley- Editor
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Dartmouth Class of 1961 June,
2002 |
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Dear
‘61s and families:
Our April 19-21 mini-reunion in Hanover was a resounding success,
replete with cultural experiences and ample opportunities to socialize.
Pete Bleyler headlined
the weekend in his invitation to all of us as a “Mini-Reunion to
celebrate our Class’ Performing Arts Legacy” -- highlighted by an
Itzhak Perlman concert sponsored by our ’61 signature legacy and other
supporters of the Hopkins Center.
Itzhak Perlman was accompanied on the violin by renowned pianist,
Rohan De Silva, in delivering crowd-pleasing performances of sonatas by
Beethoven, Franck and Debussy. Thundering
applause brought the duo back on stage for an encore energized by Perlman’s
palpable sense of pleasure in delighting the sell-out audience.
Thanks to Pete Bleyler and Terry
Ortwein for planning an event-filled weekend, including:
The
permanent collection of the Hood Museum of Art now numbers nearly 60,000
objects. Works on display included a set of ninth-century B.C.
Assyrian reliefs … a special exhibit of Psychedelic Rock Posters of
Haight-Ashbury … paintings by famous American artists (Stuart, Eakins,
Remington, Sloan, Rothko and more) as well as Old World Masters.
Derrick Cartwright pointed out that a fifteenth century painting
by the “School of Perugino” of Madonna With Child, surrounded
by saints, was probably painted, in part, by Perugino.
Of even greater interest, it’s suspected that one of the saints
may have been painted by a young apprentice by the name of Raphael.
If this proves to be true, the painting may be worth more than the
building that houses it.
Lewis Crickard introduced us to the complexities and joys of
administering Hopkins Center. Big
as the Center is, the key challenge is in meeting the demand for space for
students to pursue their interests in music, drama, painting, photography,
woodworking and more. Crickard
said that, typically, when a school builds a new cultural center, the
space is outgrown within three years.
Obviously, the Hop is way overdue for expansion.
The same holds true for the Hood Museum; the lion’s share of The
College’s art is in storage. Next,
Margaret Lawrence provided insight into her specialty, programming
cultural events such as the Perlman concert.
For events like that, she said The College absolutely has to rely
on sponsors to defray sixty-percent of the costs involved.
We met with Rich MacDonald in Room W219, Wilson Hall, where he used a lap-top PC in combination with a large display screen on the wall to demonstrate the techniques he has developed for creating extra-large 180-degree panoramic photos measuring several feet. Picture a scene divided into three sectors. Rich photographs each sector, scans a photo of each sector into his PC and uses PhotoShop to seamlessly paste them together. Trust me; it’s more complex to do than it may sound. There’s more, too. Rich also uses his PC software to massage the elements in his photographs to create artistically enhanced views of the world. Yet, in looking at a printout of one of Rich’s photos, you might not guess that you were looking at anything other than what exists in real life.
Attendees for our mini-reunion included:
Oscar and Nyla Arslanian … Pete and Ruth Bleyler … George Breed
… Tom and Karla Goodridge … Bob and Ann Hargraves … Tom and Isabel
Hicky … Ivar and Carol Jozus … Bruce and Marsha Johnson … John and
Jane King … Roger and Sandy McArt … Jim and Danielle Naylor … Terry
and Jo Ortwein … Al Rozycki and Diane Kittredge … Pete Synnott and
Cynthia Ziegler … Ron and Joan Wybranowski … Ken Walker and myself.
Both Ken and I live on Long Island, NY.
Both of our wives had senior obligations that weekend.
So Ken and I made the road trip back to the Old Green Sod together.
Our friendship dates back to freshman year in Hitchcock, and we’ve
kept in touch ever since then.
Ken Walker is a
financial consultant with Salomon Smith Barney and lives with his wife,
Margot, in Amityville, L.I. They
have two daughters, Lisa ’91 and Sabrina. Lisa is a thespian and has performed in a variety of Off-Off
Broadway productions, ranging from Shakespeare’s plays to experimental
works. She is a founder of a
theatre group and wrote and produced a play last summer.
As Ken has done in the past for Lisa’s productions, he bought all
the seats in the theatre for one performance and invited his clients to
attend. Better yet, he also
engaged a bus to transport everyone to Manhattan, and a light supper was
served on the way to the theatre. Ken
calls these theatrical excursions Client Appreciation Evenings, and they’re
much appreciated by his clientele.
Ken and Margot’s other daughter, Sabrina, is often a participant
in Special Olympics events. Recently,
Ken was responsible for organizing a tennis tournament for the Suffolk
County Special Olympics. Tennis
drew a couple of dozen entrants, including Sabrina.
And, overall, the Olympics drew 1,200 participants and thousands of
spectators. Your
Green Card Messages
Sam Baker wrote: “Just
returned from the U.S. National Masters Cross-country ski races in Lake
Tahoe area. Mixed weather and
variable snow. Manage the
following results (age group 60-64): 3rd in 10K classic, 2nd
in 5K classic—7th in 5K skating event for 2nd
overall in the 5k/5k same day pursuit.
Martha kept me calm and not too focused!
Saw lots of “old” friends.
Great time!”
Tony Horan Green-Carded
me to announce: “I have a
new paper coming out in a new journal, Pelvis.
It describes how to do a ‘2’ plasty for the non-retractable
foreskin instead of circumcision. This preserves the nerve endings
necessary for proper sexual function in older men.
This is not a discovery on a par with the double helix of DNA but
it is a real advance, I think.”
Peter Holbrook reports
that a spring show of his western landscapes at The Lanning Gallery,
Sedona, Arizona, was a success. “In fact, this year I’ve seen more income than all of
last year despite the persistently sluggish economy.
As Constable was quoted saying: ‘Art is a funny business.’”
Peter’s paintings, by the way, are in the collections of the
Brooklyn Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The National Collection of
Fine Arts at the Smithsonian, The Tucson Museum of Art, and the Oakland
California Museum of Art. Saga of the Frost bench – final(???) episode
Our Class gift of the Robert Frost statue to The College does us
proud. The statue is visited
by locals and tourists, and its location a stone’s throw from Bartlett
Tower is reportedly favored by students as a place for quiet
contemplation. What could be
more welcome and appropriate than a bench situated near the Frost statue?
Great idea for another ’61 gift to The College ... right?
Seemed so at first when Pete
Bleyler began spearheading this project for our Class.
The original idea for the Frost bench was to carve it out of an
adjacent granite outcropping. Three
possible locations were explored by Pete, an outside architect and several
classmates. A College
architect was also involved, but he left his position prior to a final
determination about the stone bench.
Pete wrote: “During this entire time, The College Design and
Planning Committee knew nothing of the idea of a bench in that area.
Once they understood the concept, they didn’t want to disturb the
natural stone/rocks in that area.”
At this point, we were offered the opportunity to provide a teak
bench. Pete conducted an
e-mail poll of the Class Executive Committee as to whether to give The
College a teak bench or drop the project.
For a variety of well-thought-out reasons that poured forth via
cyberspace, the teak bench was voted down.
Before leaving this subject, here is the most creatively worded
vote in favor of teak: “With
apologies to Frosty, I offer the following: “Whose
bench this is I think is known Pete
Synnott Life imitates the movies
category
When Chris Miller ’63 co-authored the 1978 movie, Animal House,
it was too early to predict how post-graduation life would ultimately turn
out for our AD brothers on whom the screenplay was loosely based.
However the movie’s epilogue hints at significant successes: John
(“Bluto”) Blutarski ’63, Vice President – United States Steel …
Eric (“Otter”) Stratton ’63, gynecologist … Gary Dwayne (“Stork”)
Stark ’63, holder of several patents – independently wealthy. True
to the movie, AD brothers from
the late ‘50s and early ‘60s have also achieved notable successes. And, it’s a pleasure to report that early this year
President Bush named Mike Gazzaniga
as a member of his national bioethics advisory panel. Currently, Mike is also the director of The College’s
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the David T. McLaughlin
Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
Missed seeing Mike over Homecoming Weekend last fall.
However, during the Homecoming Weekends of ’99 and ’00, many of
us enjoyed Mike’s post-football-game hospitality at his sprawling manse
atop a mountain in Vermont.
Much has been written about our class dues by the Class Executive
Committee (CEC) and, finally, by Pete
Bleyler in his excellent letter of April 23rd to the class.
Your support is needed more than ever for all the reasons Pete
gave, including paying for Dartmouth Alumni Magazine subscriptions for all
classmates as well as these Wide Wide World newsletters from Tom
Conger and myself. Remember,
your class dues are tax deductible charitable gifts.
With that in mind, why not round off your next dues payment to
$100.00? Or, better yet,
emulate our classmate who mailed Ivar Josuz a check for $1,200.00 to cover 20 years of non-payment.
(Nice tax deduction!) Remember,
too, all classmates who are current with payment of their dues are welcome
to be members of the Class Executive Committee and participate in
conducting class business. No
need to travel to meetings, which are few and far between in any event;
the CEC communicates via e-mail throughout the year.
Want to have a say in the conduct of class business?
Join the CEC. Feeling
out of touch with classmates? Join
the CEC. Want to receive thought-provoking and often witty e-mails
from fellow ‘61s? Pay your
dues, and join the CEC. (If
you’d like to become a CEC member, contact Pete
Bleyler at: pete.bleyler@valley.net) Dates
to save
First, a reminder that because Homecoming Weekend this year is
scheduled for late in the fall when weather conditions in Hanover can be
unfavorable, we’ve shifted our fall mini-reunion to the weekend of
October 12th. The
classes of ’59 and ’60 have done the same, and we may plan a joint
function. However, as things
now stand, the traditional banquet at the Sumner Mansion will be a solo
’61 class event. Art Johnson writes: I
have booked a block of rooms in the name of the class at the Quality Inn,
Quechee. They will be $112
per night; the facility will hold the block for 30 days before our event.
Interested classmates should call 1-800-732-4376 and ask for the
Class of 1961 block.” If you’d like to stay at the Sumner Mansion, phone:
1-802-436-3386. Either way,
make your reservations early. Our
weekend occurs when fall foliage will be at a peak of brilliant colors,
and motel/hotel accommodations will be in great demand. Dates
to save … continued
Skiers, please note: the
dates for the Friends of Dartmouth Ski Club trip to the French alpine “Best Buy” tip for ’61 oenophiles
“The
Chardonnay produced by Peter and Willinda McCrea's Stony Hill winery was
rated #90, listed as a best buy under $40 (at about $27 per bottle), and
made the cover of a recent issue of the Wine Spectator, having been
selected as a Best Buy in the previous issue.
For winemakers this is equivalent to a politician making the cover
of Time. To classmates like Jake Gillespie and me who have had cases of the McCrea's wines
shipped to us ever since the picnic at their winery during our San
Francisco mini-reunion, this comes as no surprise.”
-- Charlie Buffon News from Hannah Yu, our ’61 honors-thesis student
“I've
been busy finishing my thesis … titled (tentatively):
‘The role of latitude and the gene APRR7 on the circadian rhythms
of Arabidopsis thaliana.’ Let
me try to explain what that means. My
project is investigating the circadian rhythms, or the approximately
24-hour internal biological "clock", in a plant called
Arabidopsis thaliana. More
specifically, I am investigating the variability in the circadian rhythms
and trying to see if the location (ie. latitude, longitude, and altitude)
in which the plant is found can be attributed to the variances in
circadian rhythms since Arabidopsis thaliana is found naturally all over
the world. Also, I am
investigating the genetic factors of circadian rhythms by researching a
gene called APRR7. Since
circadian rhythms play a large role in a plant's development and
reproduction, elucidating the way they work can perhaps in the long run
help increase crop productivity and other aspects of agriculture.
Please extend my gratitude to the Class of '61 for helping make
all this possible with your generous grant. “After
graduation, I will be working in a laboratory for 2 years in Rockefeller
University in New York City, researching genes that play a role in
cholesterol levels, and thus, heart disease.
I hope to attend medical school in 2004.”
Hannah Yu ‘02 *****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
The next Wide Wide World will be penned by Tom Conger.
Send him a Green Card. Hope
you’ll fill his mailbox with your news.
Keep ‘n touch.
Best
regards, |