CLASS NOTESJanuary 2007

   This is a true story. It's August 2004. Paul Darling, having lived for eight years in Switzerland where he's a professor of information technology at the renowned Ecole Hoteliere school in Lausanne, entertains Bill and Joan Gruver. Bill, who served in a nuclear sub during Vietnam, retired as a Goldman, Sachs & Co. partner after a twenty year career, and has been an adjunct professor in the Management Department of Bucknell University since 1993, knew Paul from Dragon. But they hadn't seen each other in 38 years.

Over dinner, Bill gives bachelor Paul the name of a family friend who he had met at Berea College in Kentucky, where Bill was a trustee and the friend, Debra Johnson, was a fund raiser. You've probably guessed. In Paul words "one thing led to another" and Paul and Debra were married less than a year later in Chateau d'Oex Switzerland.

It's not over. The couple decided to repeat their vows for "the home crowd". So they tied the knot again on New Year's Eve 2005 in Eagles's Mere, PA, where that same Bill Gruver, as his last official act on the last official day of his tenure as mayor, married the couple . . . that he had introduced. This is a true story.

The latest stop in Mead Over's fascinating career in public service and international affairs is at the five-year old Center for Global Development where he serves as a Senior Fellow working on issues related to cost-effective health interventions in developing countries. Most of his recent work is on the economics of AIDS. He mostly recently wrote "The Economics of Effective AIDS Treatment: Evaluating Policy Options for Thailand".

How do you train for this position? Mead served in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso after Dartmouth, earned a PH.D. at Wisconsin, served as a Foreign Scholar in the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and taught economics at Williams and Boston University before moving to the World Bank and than CGD. That's how.

Bob Gilbert is president of Bel Brands USA in Chicago, the American subsidiary of Fromageries Bel, a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of branded cheeses. Sound familiar? They're The Laughing Cow people, along with dozens of other brands.

Dr. Mike MacQuarrie was featured in the "Sierra Sun" for his work in emergency medicine at the Tahoe Forest Hospital ER, a facility that serves seven ski areas around Lake Tahoe, CA. "On Christmas afternoon we had 40 people check-in in less than 40 minutes," Mike recalls. Mostly wrist fractures. "We never know what's going to happen," he adds with the practiced composure of a seasoned ER pro.

The class had one of the largest contingents (and certainly the best looking) at Class Officers Weekend in September. The delegation was led by President Chuck Sherman, who also served as President of the Webmasters' Association; VP Al Keiller, accompanied by wife Jo; Head Agent Bob Spence; our prolific Newsletter Editor (and president of the Newsletter Association) Bob Serenbetz, supported by Karen; new Webmaster Ben Day with Sharon; and your correspondent, who is now VP of the Class Secretaries Association.

The group participated in a useful series of meetings, seminars and discussions on the College, volunteer management in general and our special areas of interest. The highlight for me was an evening picnic in the Bema with the incoming class of 2010 (that's not a misprint). They were predictably and reassuring bright, interesting and interested. We felt an instance kinship over the tacos and soda. Dartmouth can sure foster generation jumping. Our class chatting with 2010s is akin to us, as freshman, breaking bread with a bunch from the Class of 1918

By the way, Ben Day has already done wonders with the class website. It has a number of interesting features worth a look, including a survey on plans for our 65th B-Day party. Check it out at http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/66/.

Send comments on the website to Ben.Day@Dartmouth.org