Co-Presidents: Bill Higgins, 5360 Miami Road, Cincinnati, OH 45243
Steve Warhover, 33 William Fairfield Drive, Wenham, MA 01984
Vice-President & Webmaster: Chuck Sherman, 3100 Rittenhouse Street NW, Washington, DC 20015
Secretary: Larry Geiger, 93 Greenridge Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605
Treasurer: Jim Weiskopf, 13125 Willow Edge Court, Clifton, VA 20124
Head Agent: Bob Spence, 16 Surrey Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
Bequest Chairmen: Rich Daly, 5036 N. Creosote Canyon Drive, Tucson, AZ 85749
Steve Lanfer, 178 Sea Meadows Lane, Yarmouth, ME 04096
Alan Rottenberg, 24 Gould Road, Waban, MA 02468
Mini-Reunion Chairman: Al Keiller, 85422 Dudley, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Newsletter Editor & Alumni Bob Serenbetz, PO Box 1127, Newtown, PA 18940
Council Rep: Phone: 215-598-0262 Fax: 215-598-0770
Email:BobSerenbetz@prodigy.net
Class Website: http://www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/66

June-July 2004

 

 

60th Birthday Party a Great Success

 

Eighty-five classmates, spouses, and friends attended the 60th Birthday Bash in San Francisco, April 30 – May 2.  Most attendees from the East and Midwest started arriving Thursday to acclimate to the time change and do some independent sightseeing before the start of the �official� program.  Wayne  and Kathy Locurto led Bill and Jane Higgins on a perimeter �power-walk� from Union Square to the Embarcadero to Fisherman�s Wharf to Ghirardelli Square and back, over Nob Hill and down through Chinatown.  The power-walkers joined the more sedentary Steve and Anne Warhover, Gary and Sharon Broughton, and Karen and me for a delicious dinner at �Jacey at Jack�s�.

 

Friday morning started early for Erv and Chris Burkholder, Brad Stein, Dean Spatz, Mike Urbanic and me, as we headed out as a �sixsome� to the Presidio Links.  It was even earlier for Mike, who left Joyce with her cousin in the South Bay, where they had spent the night, to take the BART up to Union Square.  While the course was a little beat up, the views, with the early morning fog, were spectacular.  Play was speedy enough to allow us to get back in time for the first �scheduled� event. .

 

Ken and Ann Zuhr led fifty-three of us from Union Square through the Tenderloin District to the new Asian Art Museum, now housed in the old San Francisco Library, across from City Hall.  We split into three groups for a guided tour of the facility, with its extensive collection of Indian, Japanese, and Chinese art and artifacts.

 

Our one �cultural� event was followed by the opening reception, organized and supplied by Walt Knoepfel and Roger Brett, Chairman and �Co-Chairman� of the weekend.  Housed in the upstairs mezzanine of the Chancellor Hotel, it provided a meeting place for us all throughout most of the event, with plenty of wine, beer and snacks to keep us going.  Roger and Korki did a fabulous job putting together a �welcome bag� of goodies, including �Two Buck Chuck� wine, sourdough bread, Ghirardelli chocolates, and assorted other goodies, all contained in a canvas bag with logo designed by Chuck Sherman. 

 

Reunion organizers made group reservations at a number of local eateries, so while fourteen �66ers went to the �Beach Blanket Babylon� Early Show, the vast majority went to dinner in groups and met up in North Beach for the �Beach Blanket Babylon� 10 PM Show. This revue has been running for many, many years, but stays fresh with new satirical skits based on current celebrities.  The costumes, including huge decorative hats, were most memorable.

 

Roger Brett had spent a significant amount of time planning the Saturday morning trip to Napa�and it went like clock-work!  After a continental breakfast at the hotel, all attendees split up into two buses (which came to be known as the big, air-conditioned bus with Roger and Korki� and the little, air-conditioning failed bus with Walt and Murni Knoepfel) and were treated to coffee and Danish for the ride north.  Our first stop was at Domaine Chandon in Yountville (for a champagne liquid breakfast), followed by a wine tasting and a delicious outdoor lunch at V. Sattui in St. Helena, overlooking the vineyards.  Our afternoon visit was to the Francis Ford Coppola winery in Oakville, with a private tasting, and time to visit Coppola�s Motion Picture Museum on the site. Bob McAuley drove in from Sacramento to schmooze with the rest of us, if only for a few hours in the vineyards. The return trip took the group down the Marin Peninsula and over the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

After a short time to deposit wine purchases in our rooms and freshen up, our next stop was the North Beach restaurant to celebrate �officially� our 60th birthdays, including a �Class of 1966� birthday cake.  Joining us for the dinner were several northern California classmates and friends, including Harold and Judith Stoddard, Rod Page and Grace Brown, Jim and Jennifer Makol, David Gordon and Lucia Heldt, Allan and Gwen Anderson, and Bill Reilly �67 and wife Diane.

 

The last official event of the weekend was a farewell brunch held in the Carnelian Room at the top of the Bank of America Tower, affording 360 degree views of the city and the Bay Area.  A small group headed out to SBC Park (formerly known as PacBell Park) to watch the Giants beat the world champion Florida Marlins in the 13th inning on an intentional walk to Barry Bonds, who later scored.  Wearing my Yankees cap, I tried hard to restrain myself from making snide remarks to Mary (Mike�s wife) McConnell, who had the gall to wear a Boston Red Sox cap!!  This was, of course, shortly after the Red Sox had beaten the Yankees in six of seven April games.   

 

Besides the folks mentioned above, the final list of attendees included: Rich and Judy Abraham, Bob and Jenene Bach, Jack Bennett and Liz Callison, Halsey and Isabel Bullen, Margie Carpenter, Rich and Mary Daly, Jeff and Penny Gilbert, Don and Margot Graves, John and Nancy Hargraves,  Wayne and Weetie Hill, Tom and Judy Hoober, Bill and Nancy Hobson, John Hughes, Ed and Paula Jereb,  William Koelsch and Amanda Gooden, Rock and Jenny Ley, Jim and Elizabeth Lustenader,  Alan and Debbie Rottenberg,  Carol Spatz, Bob and Linda Spence, Dave and Mary Spring, Jack and Nancy Stebe, Mary Stein, Tom and Barbara Steinmetz, Tim and Toni Urban,  and Jack Young and Kathy O�Sullivan.

                                                                       

All of us who attended are indebted to the hard work and outstanding organization and procurement talents of Reunion Chairman Walt Knoepfel and his team of Roger Brett and Ken Zuhr.  Several rounds of snaps and �wah-hoo-wahs� for these classmates. 

 

 

News from Classmates

 

Several of the attendees stayed on after the weekend for more sightseeing or to see friends and relatives.  Ed and Paula Jereb visited their daughter and son-in-law in the Pacific Northwest, while Bob and Linda Spence visited Linda�s parents and siblings in the Bay area.  Alan and Debbie Rottenberg journeyed north to Sonoma County for more winery visits. 

 

Bob Bach wrote, �Monday, our friends at Avis had a car ready and we found our way to the Presidio for yet more sightseeing.  Then down the coast to half moon Bay to see the elephant seals, participate in yet more wine tastings, and enjoy two restaurants we had learned of in our research.�

 

The reunion gave us all an opportunity to get caught up with �news� from a number of classmates.  Winning the prize, I think, for longest trip to the reunion were Rock and Jenny Ley, who are still living in Honolulu, where Rock is a lawyer defending insurance companies and �self-insured� corporations in workmen�s compensation suits.  Jenny is a doctor of internal medicine and teaches residents at the University of Hawaii Medical School.

 

John Hughes came to the reunion solo, as Nancy was unable to get time off from her teaching job in Minnesota.  The Hughes are in the process of building a new home in Western North Carolina, where they will someday be neighbors with Bob and Karen Serenbetz, who recently bought land in Cashiers, NC.

 

Other new home owners include Jim and Elizabeth Lustenader, who had just sold their home in Princeton prior to the reunion and have subsequently bought a home in Bonita Bay, about ten miles north of Naples, FL, where they will be neighbors of Mike and Joyce Urbanic, who are in the midst of gaining approvals for a renovation of their Naples residence.

 

Roger and Korki Brett are being honored for their community service by the city of Oakland!  Brett Park will soon be inaugurated by the Mayor.  Congratulations, Roger and Korki, on this recognition of your unselfish work..

 

Erv Burkholder has joined StreamCenter, a web-based streaming video company, as CFO.  The company provides webcasts of professional education material to members of professional/trade organizations that are unable to attend their association's conference.  Chairman of StreamCenter is John Rollins (see below).

 

Jim Makol continues as a pediatrician in Sacramento, where he spends most of his time in hospital administration with Kaiser Permanente.

 

Harold Stoddard is a quality assurance inspector for the Social Security Administration, reviewing disability insurance cases.  Judith works in an after-school program for five year olds.

 

I received a number of notes from classmates unable to attend the reunion.  John Rollins writes, �Sorry to miss the big 60th in San Francisco.  Anne and I were vacationing in Italy after my semester at George Washington U ended.  Last night I celebrated my own 60th with Mead Over, Erv Burkholder and Chuck Sherman among those partying.  This fall I'll start my fourth year of teaching the Entrepreneurship course at GWU�s School of Business.  Also, I'm still helping start new businesses.  My most recent is StreamCenter, where I serve as Chairman.  The pay-per-view webcasts help nonprofit associations generate much-needed revenue and enable the members to maintain their professional certifications without the hassle of traveling.  As you will recall, associations were the customers for my enterprise software for the 30 years I served as president of AZTECH Software.�

 

Tony Yezer wrote, �I had really hoped to make the birthday party.  Unfortunately, in January it snowed in DC and, for the first time in recent memory, George Washington U shut down.  The consequence was that dates were added to the academic calendar.  Given that this is the end of the semester, and faculty at private universities are expected to show up for classes, etc., I just can�t get away.  I hope all attendees enjoy swapping lies about the good old days.� 

 

Our Class Reunion Chair Al Keiller was unable to make San Francisco as a result of an illness in the family.  Al and Jo are in the process of building a new home in Windsor, VT and preparing for daughter Mary Beth �93�s wedding in October.  Congratulations to Al for being named to the Board of Trustees of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the combination of Mary Hitchcock Hospital and the Hitchcock Clinic.

 

Peter Lake, a disgruntled former Californian who now runs Lake Real Estate in Marblehead, MA, writes, �Wish I could be in SF this weekend, since May 5 really is my 60th birthday.  However, after having lived 26 years in California the last thing I need is to go back to that hell-hole. It was fun while it lasted but the state�s got too many people for me to enjoy it.� Peter can be reached at PALake@comcast.net.

 

In addition to emails, I appreciate the number of green cards that have been sent with your news and that of other classmates.  Roger Brett noted an article in the May 23 Oakland Tribune crediting Skip Battle with saving internet search engine Ask Jeeves, where he is now Executive Chairman, and discussing his career and involvement with other East Bay technology companies, including PeopleSoft, Barra, and Fair Isaac, all of which he serves as a Director.

                                                                       

From Des Moines Tim Urban writes, �My company, Urban Development Corp, and I were selected as a regional finalist for a 2004 Ernst and Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award.  We are about to break ground on a $40 million mixed-use �New Urbanite� Town Center project called West Glen (see description at webudc.com).�  Congratulations, Tim, on a tremendous honor!

 

Received an email from Frank Parker, who, like many of us, has changed his email address to avoid spam.  Frank is still practicing medicine at Metro Anesthesia Consultants in Phoenix and invites all our class transplants from the East to use Frank as a medical resource.  Contact Frank at flparkermdpc@msn.com.

 

Also changing email addresses is another class doc, Rich Kaiser: �I�m retiring from my solo practice of General Surgery this Friday, June 25.  Figure I�d upgrade to broadband with all the extra free time I�ll have for web surfing, as well as golf.�  Rich now gets email at rkaiser66@comcast.net. 

 

Anther recent retiree is Eric Waples, who notes, �Just retired�moving from Washington, DC area to 1519 Raven Circle, Unit H, Estes Park, CO.  Married Sue, my freshman year Carnival date, in 1996.  We welcome visitors, who can call us at 970-577-1827.� Eric�s email address is ewaples1@aol.com.

 

Also welcoming guests is Bill Cooper: �We�ve finally taken the path of least resistance and retired to a country town (Scottsville) about � hour south of Charlottesville, VA.  Anyone who�s up for Thomas Jefferson or towns of 500 will be welcome.�  You can call Bill at 434-286-2888 or email at wlcoop@earthlink.net. 

 

Ned Pratt has moved from Troy to Waterford, NY.  Classmates can reach Ned at nedpratt66@aol.com.  Mike Masin has joined O�Melueny & Myers, LLP at 7 Times Square; email is mmasin@omni.com.

 

Tom Louis writes, �Got married on June 19 to Germaine Buck with our children, siblings and friends cheering us on.  Complete joy!�  Tom is now living in Potomac, MD; send congratulations c/o tlouis@jhsph.edu.

 

On the other side of the marriage spectrum, Peter Dorsen sends his latest news:  �Divorce was always something that happened to the other guy.  Now it�s me and the wife of 21 years expelled me.  It�s like those rams fighting it out for the mate and I lost.  So I bought a duplex, (1890 vintage) moved into it, and began a renovation, moving up a floor as I cleared out the crap above.  What am I?  A liberal who has been mugged.  My place in the inner city has been a rapid tour of crack users and ghetto mentality.  BUT, my practice has begun to click with my niches in pain control and addiction medicine.  No new book yet.  The work on the duplex has got me in good shape, pony tail and all.�  

 

Finally, recent news from Tripp Miller: �Jeannette and I will be celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary in December.  We recently returned from a fascinating two week visit to Turkey.  During the first week, we toured the ruins along the Aegean and then we spent the weekend in Istanbul.  Since we covered only eight or nine of the civilizations that have left their marks on Anatolia, we will definitely be returning to Turkey in the near future.  Jeannette is still a medical research scientist at NYU and I am still with Business Week.�   

                                                                       

 

Alumni Council Meeting

 

From May 20-22, Noel Fidel, Tim Urban and I attended the 188th meeting of the Dartmouth Alumni Council.  You may recall that following the previous meeting in December 2003, the Association of Alumni voted down amendments to its constitution, which would have stream-lined alumni governance, while giving more Council representation to the classes and electing at-large reps from the entire Alumni body.  A seven member task force has been established to address concerns regarding the resulting increase in power of the Council and bring a revised set of amendments/ideas to the Council this coming December.

 

The Council was split into three breakout groups to review alumni communication.  It was felt that communications to alumni could be streamlined, given the number of publications and electronic communications that are sent to alumni, with the Alumni magazine playing a greater role as the cornerstone vehicle.  Communication from alumni to the Council and the College at large has been limited and should be more actively solicited.  Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the council included expanding the size of committees by allowing each member to serve on two committees and improving the orientation program for new councilors.

 

The Undergraduate Report was, as usual, lively and interesting.  One report highlighted the growth of sororities on campus and the resulting problem that some have more than one hundred members.  The Board of Trustees, as part of the Student Life Initiative, placed a moratorium on the establishment of new Greek organizations, which the sorority organization would like to see reversed.  Another student expressed the need for an Asian American Studies minor.  The Academic Honor Principle was reviewed, including statistics on the number of cases adjudicated (quite small).  Finally, a departing senior raised issues that he hopes the College

 

will address in the future: over-priced dining options (some things never change!), the convolution of rules and procedures, poor guidance (both career and for post-graduate studies), and the amount of fees for new grads, including class and club membership dues.

 

Ann Duffy �77 gave an excellent report on the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine Business Model Taskforce (or DAMBMT!!).  Highlights of the recommendations include bringing back to the rolls dropped classmates, at no cost to the classes, for one year, expanding circulation by soliciting subscriptions from parents and graduate school alums, building an independent fund-raising effort (similar to the Harvard model and Dartmouth Friends of � solicitations), increase the College subsidy to the Magazine, increase advertising potential by a new rate-base based on higher circulation, review the Magazine�s business operations and establish a mission statement and strategic plan, and develop reader feedback mechanisms.  This plan was to be presented to the Trustees and hopefully will be implemented in its entirety.

 

Trustee Karen Francis �84 gave the Board of Trustees report, which centered on student issues under review, including maintaining the focus on teaching, the Greek system, student stress, housing, and diversity (how the College can embrace diversity, yet encourage togetherness).

 

After Alumni Council Committee meetings, representatives had the afternoon to view a French film entitled �Almost Peaceful�, tour the Rauner Special Collections Library, or tour residence halls and Greek houses.  Tim and I chose the latter, particularly given our membership on the Student Life Committee, and found the tour interesting, but somewhat �staged�, with pre-planned visits to a sorority now housed in what had been DU, then Foley House, the Latin American Studies House, and the new dorms across the street from the gymnasium.  The rooms were in great shape, as the College has invested heavily in modernizing the old buildings, but we would have preferred to make �surprise� visits to, say, Bones Gate and Hitchcock!

 

The meeting concluded with a presentation on the new capital campaign (�Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience�) and a panel discussion led by President Wright and his senior administrators, including Stan Colla.

 

A highlight of the weekend was a �Lobster Bake� with the Class of 2004, introducing them to the Council and alumni governance.  All councilors have requested that this event be repeated at every Spring meeting.

 

 

Mini-Reunion Schedule

 

Plans for the Fall Mini-Reunion are being finalized by Al Keiller.  A sign-up sheet is available on this web site. Just click here.

 

You will also note on the News/Events page that Tim Urban has again offered his home in Winter Park for a ski weekend in March 2005.  Further details will be included in the next issue.