Virtual Spring Term 2020 PARKHURST HALL

THE PRESIDENT’S PIECE By Bill Price

Greetings from the great Pacific Northwest on a beautiful day in the middle of our Covid-19 “Stay home, stay safe” period! I hope that everything is in good shape for you and yours— What a crazy time!

I have replaced two international business trips per month with a series of early morning Skype conference calls, plus many neighborhood walks with Lori and our still rambunctious eight-year-old Golden Retriever Mac, upped my runs to 3-4 times per week, have hosted 20 Zoom “Quarantini” parties, been catching up on World War 2 books and crime fiction, and have enjoyed exploring different streaming services such as Acorn and MHz. It has certainly been a challenge for many Americans, including a good friend of ours who spent eight days on a ventilator before recovering from the coronavirus; he’s back home now, learning how to speak again and is in good spirits.

Others are still suffering, and we’re trying to do our part, as I’m sure many of you are, by contributing to local charities and food banks, and by patronizing the new range of take-away or touch-less pickup options from local restaurants. We are all trying to figure out what “the next normal” will be, and I’m sure eager to get there quickly and safely.

You may have read that this year’s ’20 college graduation and 50th Reunion for the class of 1970 have been postponed, and that Sophomore Summer has also been rescheduled. This means that our participation in the Class Connections program with the class of 2022 has some time to re-set, e.g., on-campus or remote career advisory calls.

Craig Bentley is heading this up for us so please contact him directly if you’d like to participate by clicking here.

Meanwhile, our planning continues for our 50th reunion on June 12th, 2022, along with the graduation of the class of ‘22. We are working on several proposals for major gifts, different pricing plans for the entire weekend or parts of it, and ways to increase participation rates. I have asked our class vice-president Neal Traven to work with me updating our class directory to include details about our connections with the college with various clubs or other groups so that we can engage each other more directly in the next two years. Please contact Neal if you’d like to help by clicking here.

In my last President’s Piece, I asked each of you to consider what role you can play to help forge a tighter class, and here are a few more questions died like to ask you:

 With whom have you lost contact but would like to rekindle your friendship? Maybe you were on the Freshman Trip together, tried out for a varsity sport, pledged together or elected not to join any fraternity, took a road trip to Boston or to Colby College, studied in the 1902 Room or next to the Orozco murals, protested at Parkhurst or played softball on the Green that same day, or learned how to ski at the Dartmouth Skiway. Let me ask you to reach out to them see how they’re doing today and ask if you can all plan to be together in Hanover in two years’ time (or earlier, too, of course!) If you need current contact information please email me by clicking here.

 What inspires or concerns you about the College’s direction? What questions do you have? Kirk Andrus is taking over as our class Alumni Counselor this spring after John de Regt did such a great job representing us and keeping us informed. Please let Kirk know what’s on your mind, and I’m sure he’ll be eager to share your thoughts or questions with the College. You can email Kirk here.

Stay safe out there!

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CLASS OF 1972 19TH EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 6 March 2020 By Bill Price

Attendees (15 out of 22): Bill Price, Marc Josephson, Bill Roberts, Shel Prentice, Chip Carstensen, David Hetzel, Fuzzy Thurston, Gary “Dico” Dicovitsky, John de Regt, Neal Traven, Craig Bentley, Bill Schur, Larry Elia, David Elseroad, Kirk Andrus.

Class Officers Reports

Class Treasurer Chip Carstensen said that 202 classmates have paid their dues so far versus 209 this time last year so we are on pace to hit our goal of 290.

Our Head Agent Shel Prentice reported that we have reached $152,000 towards our goal of $180,000 and that we are $27,000 dollars ahead of this time last year. Participation is still fairly light at 170 classmates but he’s confident we will hit our goal of 180.

We then talked about the opportunity to compare the names of classmates you have contributed to the class dues and those that have contributed to the alumni fund in order to create a Class of 1972 database that will include the 27 adopted exchange students. I will ask an Executive Committee member to lead the development of the database and we will discuss it in the detail in upcoming meetings.

There’s always been confusion about whether contributions to clubs, sports teams, and other college groups count towards the Alumni Fund. Shel offered to reach out to our main contact at the college who has now confirmed that those contributions do count towards the Campaign for Dartmouth but not for the annual fund. Still, we would like to add these contributions to the new class of 1972 database and recognize how broadly we are supporting the College and today’s students.

Kirk Andrus joined us for this call as he will be picking up the mantle from John de Regt as our Alumni Counselor beginning the spring. Welcome aboard, Kirk! John will arrange a call among all the former alumni counselors in our class to provide Kirk some perspective and history on this important role; this list includes Mark Josephson, David Hetzel, Bill Schur, and Dico.

Bill Roberts, our newsletter editor and head of communications, produced another excellent newsletter that all of you have by now seen online and in hardcopy. Keep it up, Bill!

Class Secretary David Hetzel is pleased that he’s getting much better information from classmates, can always use more, and asked for us to reflect on the terrible tornado that struck in Tennessee near his new home.

Learning from the Classes of 1970 and 1971

Our 50th reunion will be held over long Reunion weekend from Friday, June 10 to Tuesday, June 14th. The class of 2022’s graduation will be on Sunday, June 12, and we’ll be honored by leading that class to the front of Baker Library for the ceremonies. Typically, the 50th reunion begins the Thursday beforehand and there’s a special event on the Monday and sometimes Tuesday afterwards. We will be hearing a lot more about planning and reservations for this big reunion but the College does not get engage with us until 15 months before the reunion, meaning March of 2021. Therefore, Reunion Chair Fuzzy Thurston and I have begun to reach out to the classes of 1970 and 1971 to discover how they have been preparing for their 50th.

Prior to this call I shared what Fuzzy and I have learned thus far from these two classes. Among the key takeaways are: (1) subsidies for classmate participation; (2) gifts that are not dependent on sizes; (3) discounts for early registration; (4) different price points for three, four, for all five days; (5) multiples sub-committees including ones for speakers, booze, and housing; and (6) a major gift for all classmates to support as well as the opportunity for classmates to donate do any of their favorite clubs or causes. For example, the class of 1971 is raising $1 million for an international scholarship fund and is also encouraging classmates to donate to the annual fund.

Executive Committee members brainstormed about other ways to increase participation at this reunion and to support the College, and we will be considering these and other ideas in upcoming calls before making any decisions. Fuzzy noted that we had 240 registrations for our last reunion (our 45th, held 44 years after we graduated) so we plan to add these names to our new Class of 1972 database.

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’72 Facebook Page

We now have 116 members on our Facebook page (+6 from our last call) and a lot of posts— Check them out and send yours to Bill! For those of you not yet on it, please contact Bill Roberts by clicking here.

Thanks again for your participation on our Executive Committee!

Editor’s Note: If you want to reach Bill Price you can email him by clicking here.

HINMAN POST OFFICE

HINMAN POST OFFICE is where your Green Card— or TAM (Take-a-Minute) Card messages are delivered. To send in an electronic Green Card for the next Newsletter, please click here. Please also upload one (1) picture to accompany it.

Mark Stitham writes: “Picked to be commencement speaker at my old high school, Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, ME, on June 7. I will be the ONE-HUNDRED- NINETY-SEVENTH speaker, the school’s having started in 1823, three years after Maine became a state. I feel quite honored.

“Plan to tell the grads what I’ve learned since F.A. Most of it pragmatic wisdom, but going to slip in some gags.

“Which is worse ignorance or apathy? I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who say there are two kinds of people and those who don’t.”

“You’ve all heard, ‘Give someone a fish and feed her for a day, but teach her how to fish and feed her for a lifetime.’ Similarly, if you build someone a fire you heat him for a day, but set him on fire and you heat him for the rest of his life.”

“Watched the talented and ever-lovely Leslie Wilcox on the local PBS station tonight [February 18] doing an interview.

 “Here we are 32 years ago when I was doing a regular medical feature, “Psych Line,” on the local CBS affiliate, KGMB (this is before all the drugs ravaged my face, of course).

“A remarkable woman of with whom I had the pleasure of appearing on air from 1988 to 1992.

“And here I am 50 years ago as the new 19-year-old program director of WDCR, Dartmouth's commercial radio station.” ➔

Wayne Pirmann writes: “I recently published my first true book, titled “Self-Control: No Compromise.” The purpose of the book is to get Christian men to take spiritual disciplines more seriously, so I doubt it will be a best seller on the Dartmouth Campus!

“Although it’s available at Amazon in both paperback and Kindle (just click here), if any classmate would like to get a signed copy— for free!—just email me by clicking here and ask.”

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Roger Ekirch writes: “I was happy to appear on the CBS “Sunday Morning” show with host Jane Pauley, featuring Susan Spencer’s cover story on the benefits of napping, of which I've become something of an expert!”

Editor’s Note: You can see the entire segment by clicking here. You’ll need to endure a 15 second commercial first, and Roger appears at 3:50 and finishes at 5:45, when, presumably, he left to take a nap! And click here to see Roger’s Virginia Tech Profile.

This photograph was taken in Roger’s office.

Jack Anderson writes: “My exciting event last week (I was at my mountain property in Havilah, an historic gold mining town in Kern County) was to scare up a hive of bees that were hibernating in the wall of my workshop.

“I cut a 15” round hole into the drywall at the highest point inside, to install an exhaust fan. When I popped out the round “plug,” the bees all came flying out at me.

“Fortunately, it was still cold out, so I was wearing jeans, a long-sleeved sweatshirt, gloves and goggles, and I was well-protected.

“I immediately jumped off the ladder, ran out of the workshop and across the yard, around the corner and into the kitchen, and slammed the screen door. I could still hear some of them buzzing around my head, so I grabbed a towel and did a lively Irish Jig towel dance around the kitchen, waving it by one end with two hands, back and forth, to and fro, around my head. When the buzzing finally stopped, I checked my clothing in the mirror to be sure that there were no hangers-on. Miraculously I wasn't stung, not even once.

“I then went into town and picked up some super-duper, heavy-duty bug bombs, plus a can of long-range Kalashnikov Wasp and Hornet spray, just in case. Having nuked the workshop overnight, I thought that all seemed quiet, at least for then. But when I checked more closely, a survivor came out and made a kamikaze attack, right at me. I nailed her in mid-flight with my Kalashnikov spray. Although I hate the thought of dispersing insecticide into the environment, I did not think that I had any other choice. Every being to him-, her-, or itself.

“Later, I found a couple of the towel-dance casualties on the kitchen floor. Having checked them against descriptions online, I think that they may have been Africanized. Lady Luck certainly smiled on me, so I have toasted her with a glass of cold sparkling water.

“And I now have this little entry for my fledgling novel, Havilah Daze.”

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Marty Cain writes: “Our 50th Reunion is right around the corner and so are milestone years for many Dartmouth associations. 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Lambert Trophy winning Dartmouth football team.

“During this Fall’s Homecoming weekend, October 1-4, the team will be honored with an on-field “salute” during the Saturday game against Penn.

“Murry Bowden ’71 Cocaptain has added a novel and interesting twist:

“’I Invite everybody who participated in Dartmouth football for any period of time, because the 1970 championship was the result of the efforts of all the guys who arrived in Hanover looking to play a game that they loved.’

“There were over 100 of us on the freshman team, and everyone who was part of the experience, however briefly, is invited to come and reconnect with old friends.

“Many of us arrived in Hanover with high hopes of four years of camaraderie, exciting games, and even drudgery filled practices. Most of us did not anticipate the grim reality of injuries, more highly skilled position teammates, or just plain disinterest. Our class ended up with about a dozen who suited up four years later.

“I left the program after the summer sessions of our junior year and always had a sense of loss over that action.

“Even so, I’m looking forward to being there for this special occasion, and I hope other classmates will join me.”

“Football weekends on Campus were a pretty big deal. Bonfires on Friday evening, and Saturday afternoon games followed by dormitory and fraternity parties had a way of bringing classmates and classes together in a shared experience. “

David Hetzel responded: “I came to Hanover with high hopes for a great football career, but tore a cartilage right before our first game freshman year and was out for the season.

“When I came back for doubles in our sophomore year, I just wasn’t back in form and realizing that, hung it up pretty quickly.

“I sometimes wonder whether that was the right decision, but what is great is that the friendships we formed on the team early have remained for years. So getting together as a group would be wonderful.”

Rob Shepherd writes: “I’m still working as a doctor (general practitioner/family practitioner) in Victoria, BC. My wife and I go for long walks, sing in the Victoria Choral Society (choir) and get together with our sons and their families.

“One of the best walks in Victoria is the road to the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, on which is a faded fresco of a coat of arms, with the words Dieu et mon droit. Honi soit qui mal y pense. These French sentences are the motto of the British monarchy, and they mean, ‘God and my right. Shamed be he who thinks ill of it.’

“I’m not keen on the idea of hereditary power or wealth. I am keen on the idea of people doing their best, for others and for themselves. I think that Dartmouth encourages students and faculty and alumni to do well, and to support each other. I do my best with my family, my patients, and with others. Honi soit qui mal y pense.”

Greg Yadley writes: “On April 20, I joined the Board of Directors of Helios Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIO). This is something I’ve aspired to, having helped the company grow over the past 25 years; taking it public in 1997; doing a Morgan Stanley-underwritten public offering two years ago; buying an Italian manufacturing company for $520 million, and serving four CEOs. It’s an impressive Board that includes other former public company CEOs, a Harvard Business School professor, entrepreneurs from around the world. Here are excerpts from the press release:

“’Helios Technologies, a global industrial technology leader that develops and manufactures solutions for both the hydraulics and electronics markets, appointed Mr. Gregory C. Yadley to the Board.

“’Gregory Yadley has practiced corporate and securities law for over 40 years and has been a partner with Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP since January 1993. Prior to entering private practice, he served as Branch Chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Assistant General Counsel for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, both in Washington, D.C. Mr. Yadley currently serves as a member of the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Small Business Capital Formation. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the George Washington University Law School. Mr. Yadley brings to the Board broad experience with respect to securities, corporate governance, financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, internal investigations, contract negotiations and disputes, strategic planning, and general corporate matters.’”

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THE HOP

THE HOP is where I interview a Classmate over a cup of coffee or tea— virtually. To do your own interview for the next Newsletter, please email me here and I will send you a Template. Then just substitute your answers for mine, and send it back.

Name: Bill Bisbee

1. Where are you living now? Rockport, Maine

2. What was your major at Dartmouth? Biology

3. If you’re still working (or retired), who is (was) your (last) employer? Currently working per diem, Pen Bay Orthopaedics

a. If you have (had) a title, what is (was) it? Physician Assistant b. What’s a one- or two-sentence description of your work? After 40+ years working as a PA with a full scope of duties, including seeing office patients, assisting in the OR, tending to ER patients, and taking on-call duties, I now see office patients 2 days a week. Currently on furlough due to the corona virus pandemic.

4. If you’re retired, what are the top three things that keep you busy? I consider myself partially retired

a. 4 grandchildren

b. catching up on reading

c. household duties

5. From birth to now, list chronologically the states (and countries) where you’ve had legal addresses, however briefly. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine

6. When you were at Dartmouth, what two films or movies made their biggest impression on you, and where did you see them— at the Hop or at the Nugget— and what do you remember most about one or both of them? Romeo and Juliet (Nugget)— enamored by Olivia Hussey, and Sympathy for the Devil (Hop)— learning to appreciate The Rolling Stones

7. If you could do one thing differently during your Dartmouth experience, what would it be? Start becoming more academically serious earlier than my junior year

8. What’s the most exotic destination you’ve ever visited? Segovia, Spain

9. Who were your top three or four favorite Dartmouth professors and their Departments? Tom Selznick (Math) for his incredible memory of names even years after taking his Calculus course, and a Professor Allen (Biology) for his guidance in my major, and a Professor Daily (Psychology) with whom I also spent time in my work-study job doing research on Dartmouth students. Unlike Tom Selznick, I have a poor memory for names.

EXTRA CREDIT: write your own question and answer it:

10. Which Dartmouth experience has had the most impact on your post-graduation life? My first 2+ years at Dartmouth were pretty much a loss from an academic standpoint as I was enjoying “social development.” After spending a term on academic probation and visiting the Dean’s Office on a weekly basis to report on my “academic progress,” I finally realized that it was time to get my shit in order and pay attention to the real purpose of my being there. I’m not sure how many other institutions would have invested the amount of time and effort to help out a struggling student that Dartmouth spent with me, but I have been forever grateful for what they did for me.

Name: Andrew M. (Andy) Harrison

1. Where are you living now? New Rochelle, NY

2. What was your major at Dartmouth? English 3. If you’re still working (or retired), who is (was) your (last) employer? Murphy, Higgins & Schiavetta, PLLC; retired in 2018.

a. If you have (had) a title, what is (was) it? Senior Counsel b. What’s a one- or two-sentence description of your work? A “recovering” lawyer, I practiced personal injury litigation for some 40 years, the last 25 mainly on the defense side, including general liability; motor vehicle; medical and dental malpractice; construction accident claims; and toxic torts, mainly lead poisoning cases.

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With my last firm-employer, I defended a variety of lawsuit claims against houses of worship, schools, and church-related charities, as well as ambulatory surgical centers, women’s health centers, and nursing homes.

4. If you’re retired, what are the top three things that keep you busy? I’ll have to “cheat” and list four:

a. Senior Learning Classes under the auspices of a local college (Iona). b. Remaining active in our local synagogue, including choir and co-leading summer and Shiva Minyan services, plus regular attendance at Friday evening Shabbat services. c. Recreational sports, despite creaky knees: Doubles Tennis, “Military Golf” (i.e., spraying the little white ball all over the course, “Left, Right, Left, Right”), and bicycling (during warmer weather months). d. Reveling in our nearly 3 year-old grandson Aldo (with a sibling expected in late May 2020).

5. From birth to now, list chronologically the states (and countries) where you’ve had legal addresses, however briefly. New York, and briefly, New Jersey. Other “addresses” (not technically legal ones): NH (of course) and Italy.

6. When you were at Dartmouth, what two films or movies made their biggest impression on you, and where did you see them— at the Hop or at the Nugget— and what do you remember most about one or both of them? Two special movies during my Dartmouth years, seen neither at the Nugget nor at the Hop, were Bocaccio’s Decameron and The Graduate, both seen in Rome during my term abroad, Fall Term Senior Year. I had seen The Graduate before, stateside, but following the dialogue in Italian (with no subtitles— we were in Italy, after all), with my only-basic Italian, was a memorable experience. (“Plastica!”)

7. If you could do one thing differently during your Dartmouth experience, what would it be? Like many of us, I suspect, I have several such regrets, but only one that I’ll admit to here: I’d have stuck with the Glee Club instead of peckishly dropping out when I didn’t make the cut for the ‘Aires as a Freshman. I’ve been singing in one form or another since childhood (still do), and the Glee Club would have been a great fit for me.

8. What’s the most exotic destination you’ve ever visited? A “toss-up” between Israel and Hawaii.

9. Who were your top three or four favorite Dartmouth professors and their Departments? Thomas Vargish and Peter Saccio (English) and Edward Bradley (Classics). Ed Bradley led the inaugural Roman Foreign Study Program, Fall Term of our Senior year, the signal experience of my college years.

EXTRA CREDIT: write your own question and answer it:

10. If married or in a significant relationship, what activity(ies) do you most enjoy as a couple? Especially now that we’re all gliding (or lurching) into our 70s, I think it’s important to travel as much as possible, while we are still mobile and independent. While we haven’t yet seen much of Asia or any of Africa, Adrienne (who’s a few years younger) and I have been fortunate to visit France, Italy, England (basically London), Israel, a few cities in Germany, portions of eastern and western Canada, and individual cruise stop cities (Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and St. Petersburg), as well as a few Caribbean islands. We’re also making progress toward our shared “bucket list” goal of visiting all 50 states.

Adrienne and me at Yankee Stadium this past The Harrison “Core Four”: Adrienne and me with July. This an activity we enjoy together as a our two children, Mark and Rachel. couple. (Not sure when it will be safe to return)

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THOMPSON ARENA

The Montreal Canadiens Fantasy Camp By Bill Schur

Last weekend [February 28—March 1], I attended the Montreal Canadiens Fantasy Camp, where I practiced and played with Guy Lafleur, Stephan Richer, Gaston Gingras, Yvan Cournoyer, Shane Corson, Josh Georges, Sergio Momesso and several other Habs greats. “Habs” is shorthand for “Les Habitants,” which refers to the French speaking inhabitants of Quebec. The Canadiens are often referred to in the media as the Habs.

Among the retired Canadiens luminaries with whom I am pictured are Stephan Richer, Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer and NHL Referee Kerry Fraser. Also pictured are Josh Georges and Gaston Gingras.

One of my teammates, Kirby Curtis, posted this picture on his Facebook page.

It was a fabulous experience and a great time. Our White Team beat the Red Team, 8-7.

with Yvan Cournoyer with Stephan Richer in the Locker Room with Kerry Fraser

with Guy LaFleur a place of my own, with my with Josh Georges, second row, left, jersey and name tag sporting a pocket handkerchief

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SANBORN HOUSE

Äijä By Jack Anderson

Here is a little story I wrote a few years ago for the NPR “3 Minute Fiction” contest.

It features my great-grandfather, who immigrated to Vermont from Finland in the late 1800s. It is written from my father's perspective, and is as true as any family lore can be.

My great-grandfather was known as Äijä, pronounced AY-yeah.

My grandmother was called Mummu, pronounced MOOM-moo.

The phrase “Sartanan peruna!” is pronounced SAHR-da-nahn BEH-roo-nah, with rolled r’s.

My Aunt Elvi’s name is pronounced ELL-vee; and the Finnish pronunciation of sauna is SOW-nah.

When the first deep rumblings rolled in from the hills to the West, Äijä clenched his fist toward the gathering grey clouds and cussed out God at the top of his voice.

Äijä— my grandpa— took nonsense from nobody. We had spent the entire day cutting and raking the hay, and now God was going to ruin it before we could bring it in. With one last grimace and fist, Äijä bellowed “Sartanan peruna!” and stomped toward the hay wagon. That translates as “Satan’s potatoes,” but it means something considerably more vulgar.

Äijä’s deep Lutheran devotion had been sorely taxed since we immigrated to Vermont from Finland. He made my sister Katie go into town every week to take lessons so that she could accompany him on the old reed organ every evening, while he sang his Finnish hymns. But now, even after all his devotion, God was ruining the hay. At moments like these Mummu— my grandma— stayed quietly in her kitchen. Mama didn’t let us call him Äijä because that means “old man,” so we called him Anselm, his first name, in her presence.

The rumbling continued. There was nothing to do now but fire up the sauna. A crescent moon was rising and its horns were facing up— so that would hold in all the water, Äijä reasoned. Äijä started the fire and Mummu stoked it every hour. They had both been born in a sauna, the cleanest and warmest place on a Finnish farm. My job was to cut fresh birch boughs in the woods and put them stem-up, leaves down into a bucket of water, so that Äijä and Mummu could switch themselves in sauna. Mama made us kids use soap.

Friday sauna nights were fun. Women and girls, then men and boys, went to sauna in shifts. Everyone else drank coffee, ate pastries, laughed and played cards, waiting their turn. Aunt Elvi her new boyfriend from Boston went together in their bathing suits so that Elvi could show him what to do. Yeah, right. Äijä must have been hitting his rye whiskey especially hard because he didn’t object or even seem to notice.

Äijä always went to sauna alone and took his time. But tonight he took a long, long time. Apparently he felt dizzy and reached into the big wooden barrel for a dipper of water. His arm hooked onto the barrel and he reached for the door— we think to get out into the air. And there he died.

When Mummu went to check on him she opened the door, only to find him standing, naked and erect— with rigor mortis, everything stiffens— bug-eyed, mouth open, and pointing right at her. She shrieked and ran back to the house, as did everyone else who went to check. Mama wouldn’t let us kids go to see.

Uncle Arvo hopped onto his motorcycle and sped to Chester, the next town, to get the firemen. They must have all been Irish, because they came, looked, crossed themselves, said they needed some tools, and went away, not to return. Äijä stood there in the sauna, pointing, gaping and staring, for three days until the County Coroner could come on Monday to take him away.

And during all that time, the hay stayed dry.

Editor’s Note: Please submit your short story by emailing it to me here.

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SILSBY HALL

Kent State 1970: The View from Dartmouth

by Paul Tyson

The unrest after the shootings at Kent State sent much of the country into a firestorm of demonstrations against the Viet Nam war and the Nixon administration.

There were demonstrations in Hanover and things were unwinding in front of us. Literally, parts of the country were on fire.

The college offered the option of leaving for the term or staying to complete your work. If you left, there would be some notational asterisk on your transcript along the line of ‘due to events in the spring of 1970 the option to withdraw was given,’ but basically you got course credit.

My roommates and I discussed this. John ‘Rocky’ Rockwell went back to Chicago and was involved in organizing some demonstrations and other events there.

I elected to stay in Hanover to go to class, finish my papers and take my exams. John DeVierno also elected to stay.

I suspect in both of our cases this was the easier route than going home and taking on our fathers.

When I talked to my parents, things were generally fine until Sergeant Tom Tyson kicked into a rant about anti-war dope-smoking hippies.

I was smart enough to let him run on while I talked about the classes I was attending. My mother had more of a clue as to what was going on, and we just let it ride.

So, there were two of us in a three-man room in Middle Mass.

The dorms and the fraternity houses were less than half full. Half of the dining hall was closed down. Sweet.

The nursing school was still in session, so I did those almost midnight walks with Jan and some of the other couples down Rope Ferry Road to Billings-Lee, and the walk back with the other guys dating nurses. It was very nice to have Jan around. A lovely lady. . . .

It was a beautiful spring that had come to Hanover. It was a depopulated Hanover. There were no lines for anything anywhere. The weather was good, and we went to Union Village Dam and down to the river.

The classes that remained in session had reduced in size to being more like seminars. A very few of the more activist professors seemed to resent those who stayed, while on the other hand the more conservative professors loved us.

Everyone was following the unrest in the nation, but it had passed by the Upper Valley and Hanover.

As time went on, a few of the people who elected to stay left before the end of the term. Some did it for activist and political reasons since Hanover was not where things were happening. Others did it for personal reasons, like the hometown girlfriend coming home, or particularly good surfing in Southern California.

I did my papers and exams. I think my parents came up in the station wagon to pick me up, but I can’t really say for certain.

I went home to New Jersey and worked at the water plant on Fort Dix for the summer where I took care of swimming-pool filters. It was a great summer job.

I returned to Hanover to begin Junior year in September.

Postscript:

I thought that the Kent State events notation on the transcript might harm future grad school or job prospects. To me, it was a poisoned chalice in plain sight that could label you as anti-war and leftist to admissions boards and future bosses. Since I stayed and therefore had a ‘clean’ transcript, this never affected me. I wondered whether it affected others.

I got one answer to that in 2019 when I shared an early draft of this with Jack Anderson.

He emailed me and said: “? My guess would be that by and large it did not. I would be curious to know from others whether it ever came up.”

Editor’s Note: Like Paul and Jack, I’d be curious, too. Email me here if it affected you, or if you have a Dartmouth 1970 memoir.

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McNUTT HALL across from the Dartmouth Green

Question: What are the various ways I can give to Dartmouth?

1. Dartmouth College Fund: these gifts go to unrestricted student financial aid.

Unrestricted financial aid gifts are used to fulfill any student’s demonstrated need, unlike a restricted, specific scholarship for an individual or group of students.

Fully half of Dartmouth’s students rely on financial aid, and largest source of that financial aid— 59%— comes from the Dartmouth College Fund.

All gifts to the Dartmouth College Fund count toward our Class of ’72 goals, and toward The Call to Lead campaign.

2. Bartlett Tower Society: Planned Giving through bequests, life income plans, or other special gifts, which go to Dartmouth financial well-being.

All Bartlett Tower Society gifts count toward The Call to Lead campaign.

3. Individual gifts to support College sports, both team and intramural; or the arts; or other student activities.

These gifts count toward The Call to Lead Campaign.

4. The Call to Lead Campaign: any gift for Dartmouth’s financial well-being.

In addition to gifts to the Dartmouth College Fund, the Bartlett Tower Society, and individual gifts to student activities, The Call to Lead includes individual and corporate gifts to underwrite construction projects, professorships, and new initiatives.

5. Class Dues: these gifts support class projects, selected student activities, newsletter printing and mailing expenses, and other class expenditures associated with reunions.

Class Dues do not count toward the Dartmouth College Fund nor The Call to Lead Campaign.

To support today’s undergraduate students with your contribution to the Dartmouth College Fund, please click here.

If you’re thinking about joining the Bartlett Tower Society, and would like a confidential consultation with Classmate Gary “Dico” Dicovitsky, our Planned Giving Chair, to explore the variety of ways to give to Dartmouth through bequests, life income plans, or other special gifts before you contact the College, please email him by clicking here.

If you’re ready to contact the College now, please click here.

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DARTMOUTH COLLEGE LANDSCAPE ENHANCEMENTS

Members of the Dartmouth family have a long tradition of helping to preserve, maintain, and enrich its environment.

One way to enhance the landscape is by funding a dedicated tree or bench as part of Dartmouth’s landscape plan.

Such a donation covers the cost of the purchase, installation, and ongoing maintenance of the tree or bench for a 15-year period.

$5,000 per tree

A cast bronze plaque mounted on granite will be placed at the base of the tree to recognize the gift. Recognition & Stewardship will work with the donor to develop the text for the plaque.

Although the pictured plaque represents a Class Gift, individuals may also donate trees.

The tree will be cared for and replaced, if needed, during

the 15-year time-period.

At the end of this period, Recognition & Stewardship will contact the donor about renewing their dedication funding. If the donor declines, the tree and location will be made available for another donor.

$10,000 per bench

A cast bronze plaque will be placed on the back-slat of the bench to recognize the gift. Recognition & Stewardship will work with the donor to develop the text for the plaque.

The bench, which is 5 feet in length and made of teak, will be cared for and replaced, if needed, during the 15-year time-period.

At the end of this period, Recognition & Stewardship will contact the donor about renewing their dedication funding. If the donor declines, the bench and location will be made available for another donor.

If you would like to see the trees and benches which are currently set aside for members of the Class of ’72, please let me know by clicking here, and I’ll send you pictures in either Power Point or PDF formats.

Interested? Please contact Nancy Bates by calling her at 603-646-3613, or emailing her by clicking here.

These gifts count toward The Call to Lead Campaign.

THE SECOND AND FINAL NEWSLETTER CLASS OF ‘72 SURVEY

Editor’s We only had 10 responses to our second survey, which was to have been Part 1 of revisiting our 25th Reunion Survey. This was a drop from the 23 classmates who participated in the second survey. Surveys are clearly not a Class of ’72 Thing!

As a mark of appreciation for the 10 who did answer our second and last Newsletter Survey, please click here.

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DICK’S HOUSE

Responses to Ed Wisneski’s article on Clinical Depression — It Takes One to Know One

Mark Stitham writes: “As a psychiatrist for the past 43 years, I want to thank Ed for his piece on major depression and wish to amplify his comments.

“First, of course, is the ‘enigma of stigma.’ People are happy to go to the doctor for a broken ankle or wrist, but the brain, an organ like others we have, is the site of the mind— the self.

“And yes, Ed is right that the stiff upper lip, also known as the ‘moral model of mental illness,’ has been around for centuries and still is.

“Of course in the Middle Ages it was blamed on possession by demons, e.g., the Salem witch trials.

“As for Lincoln’s description, while most accurate, his was predated by Hippocrates in the 4th century B.C.E. He described a man with all the classic symptoms who felt himself ‘accursed by the gods.’ But his ‘cause’ was an excess of one the four humors, viz., melancholia (black bile).

“No more stark example of the stigma was McGovern’s running mate, Thomas Eagleton (whom I was fortunate to meet), Senator from Missouri. He had a severe depression in 1972 and was suicidal. He was treated with ECT— electro-convulsive therapy— a treatment modality unfairly portrayed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but which is about 95% effective, more than anti-depressants. While I admired the acting in the movie, Ken Kesey’s novel was set in 1955 but filmed twenty years later. It scared away a lot of people from having ECT, and I’m sure led to some suicides, although I have no data on that.

“Now fast forward to 1990, eighteen years later, and Lawton Chiles is elected governor of Florida after admitting he had been on Prozac, an anti-depressant. So some progress has been made on the stigma, but here in 2020, psychiatrists are still one of the most under-employed of physicians.

“Bad news about depression— it’s very common: Lifetime incidence is about 12% for men and about 20-25% for women (probably because they usually have to live with men).

“But the good news— it’s very treatable. Unfortunately, Ed is right that finding the right medication (and it’s not indicated in all depressions) is trial-and-error. We do not yet have a blood test to tell us what Drug X is right for Patient Y, but DNA testing may change this.”

Rob Shepherd writes: “The recent newsletter included the piece by Ed Wisneski about clinical depression, written in part because of recent suicides, including that of Dr. David Bucci, the former chair of psychology. Dr. Bucci felt unfairly criticized. These feelings contributed to his demise. Ed expressed frustration about the trial and error method of finding an effective anti-depressant. He reviewed that both Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill suffered from depression. Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents, and Churchill was one of the best prime ministers. Both survived and performed without the aid of modern anti-depressants.

“I hope Ed’s article inspires those suffering from depression to seek help. Family, friends, and doctors can help. For a person with major depression, medications usually help. As Ed noted, it can take a while to find the right med.

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SANBORN HOUSE

The Life Force of Clouds By Andy Hubbard, September 2019

I trust my dog’s sensitivity More than my own, And when he thinks The dark, turbulent fall clouds Need to be stared at, I stare at them too.

What a pair we would make If there were anyone to see us: The giant malamute and me In our autumn coats On a rocky hillside Sitting side by side Wind ruffled, muzzles to the sky, Intent on the streaming shape-shifters As they pass our field of vision Perhaps oblivious to us, Perhaps not.

They have a cycle, perfected, Of rolling overhead with their fellows, Coming together, growing, falling, Tasting the earth, rising in joy To begin again.

Don’t tell me they have done this A million times without learning The meaning of their brotherhood, The meaning of their cycle. Of course they have learned— How could they not?

If I were a betting man I’d say they know their cycle Better than we know ours.

And I’d lay money they’re willing To share their wisdom. In fact, I think they try to In their way, mostly by example.

The challenge is. . . We have to do our part.

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STEELE HALL / FAIRCHILD HALL

Never Send to Know for Whom the Bell Tolls; It Tolls for Thee By William Schlesinger, Chief Science Officer

Bill’s passion is translating science for lay audiences. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he served as dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Check out his blog by clicking here.

This is his TENTH contribution to the Newsletter.

The Trump administration claims that it is committed to providing clean air and water for all Americans.

Here, the operative word is “for,” as if humans merely take from the environment and

are not part of it.

This view is emblematic of why “the human” seldom appears in field guides to the mammals, as if we sit above nature. If the human— Homo sapiens— is sapient, we need to move beyond this self-centered view of our position in the world. We will not survive with only clean air and water. It is not realistic to think that we are apart from nature.

Within the past few weeks the administration has proposed rolling back the protections of the Endangered Species Act, and vacating the Clean Water Act to allow a copper and gold mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. These go in the face of our understanding that nature must be protected and not simply managed for human use.

More than seven billion of our numbers exist on this planet because of nature, which provides our food, fuel, and fiber, supporting our persistence each minute of each day. Thank a plant somewhere for every breath of oxygen you take. The collective effects of life on Earth result from its diversity— not just the few species of economic value, but all species that share the planet with us.

Everywhere, species of nature are intertwined in food webs that underlie the stable conditions on our planet. Some species are abundant; some are rare. The Endangered Species Act was designed to protect species that are scraping at the bottom of their continued persistence among life on Earth.

Small and rare species are not merely the pursuit of a few nature freaks. The pollinators that we overlooked in developing neonicotinoid insecticides are now recognized as essential to the perpetuation of many crops.

The krill in Antarctic waters form the basis of a food chain that extends to the largest whales of the seas.

The Endangered Species Act must protect all species, not just those where the costs of doing so are less than their economic valuation.

Each species on our planet plays a role in the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems, on which humans depend.

As John Donne wrote 400 years ago, “no man is an island”; when we lose a species, the bell tolls for us.

The science of ecology has numerous examples of higher productivity, lower nutrient losses, and greater stability in natural communities of greater species richness.

Habitat is essential for the continued persistence of biodiversity.

Why should it be acceptable to allow an Australian gold-mining company to destroy Bristol Bay, Alaska, and not worry that we have destroyed one of the most important salmon fisheries that has supported Native Americans in

Alaska for the past 18,000 years?

In corporate office buildings thousands of miles away, those who stand to profit don’t seem to care about fish habitat or Native Americans.

With many species showing diminished numbers and vulnerable to extinction, we should be increasing our protection of critical habitats— not offering them up to further mining, oil and gas exploration, and land development.

The EPA may speak for humans, but someone must speak for nature.

And we all need to know the difference.

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SANBORN HOUSE

Care Package By Chris Denton At my room door when I arrived at my dorm today there lay a box addressed to me. The lettering betrayed affection. The tape sealed tightly what I could not view. In anticipation of delight, I cradled this box in my arms as if it contained a most fragile charm. In my room I laid this delicate treasure upon its altar, reserved for such eminence. With care I clipped the bonds which held it tightly shut. And as a surgeon might lift a new heart for transplant I slowly drew the contents, so neatly wrapped, from the box. Spreading the padding, opening the foil I drew a breath and stopped. A whiff of cinnamon caught my nose. A tan crust caught my eye. Like a dog in Pavlov’s Lab, my mouth watered in preparation of the feast to come. I eased a piece from the tip and slipped it into my mouth. A savory wave floated through my brain. In reverie I sat, swishing my tongue, melting into sweetness, this morsel passing directly to my veins, not descending but absorbing into essence. In full submission I lay upon the floor enchanted by this gift and its donor.

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CORONACLAST CHRONICLES Dispatches from the Girdled Earth

Paul Tyson writes (March 18): “Susan and I are in Senior Citizen Lockdown in our house following the recommendations, but not yet the laws, for social distancing. That said, we have been a bit naughty about having family and one other senior couple at a time over for dinner and company. I am in touch with friends from Dartmouth. I have a good friend living in Kirkland, Washington, one of the epicenters.

“I watch BBC in order to get a better view of what is happening in the larger world and that is useful in following the EU and UK. The US networks do have some international coverage but they tend to be very US and election centric.

I do some work with colleagues on Korea. Korea and Italy have been in the US news. Korea in terms of how to get the tests necessary to test a population— the US response has been beyond pathetic— and how to set up drive through testing stations when the tests are available.

Italy and to some degree Spain and France are held out as examples of what is coming. It is along the lines of “New York is two weeks behind where Italy is. . . .” Get ready.

Susan works in the school system— 10th largest in the USA— and it is closed for a while. There is talk of waiving a lot of end of year tests if this closure lasts longer than two weeks, which in my opinion it will.

We see a lot of footage of Italians singing to each other from their apartment windows!

Best and be safe.

Bill Price writes (March 18): “My largest client had scheduled a workshop in Milan last week and one in London this week, but, as with most companies, they imposed an international travel ban last month that now goes through April, at least.

“This means that Lori and I are self-quarantining in Bellevue, Washington, which some of you might know is right next to Kirkland, where the 1st infected American arrived in late January from Wuhan province.

“Our state governor and his peers around the States are imposing increasingly restrictive actions, and now our federal government seems to be getting into gear.

“I too get more from BBC and also Al Jazeera (I’ve been to Doha, Qatar twice with this client) and The Times (of London) and the FT [Financial Times] (of London). I re-subscribed to the Economist, too.

We’re checking in with friends and family and classmates like Thurm Lowans frequently; ordering in groceries using Instacart, cooking some old favorites, and exploring new recipes; going on more and longer walks with our dog; catching up on Netflix documentaries and my collection of DVDs (yes, the physical versions); and last night Lori held her first Zoom-based cocktail party that she calls “Quarantinis” with three of her best friends. We’re doing another one tonight with a Stanford GSB classmate of mine and will expand it.

Take care, everyone!

Paul Tyson also wrote (March 20):

The Virus Kills the Saint

One aspect of current life under lockdown was the demise of this year’s St Patrick Day celebrations on March 17th.

The St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are a tangible symbol of the Irish immigrants to America, and in particular the Catholic Irish immigrants, many of whom came here as a result of the potato famines of the 1840s.

They were looking for food, work and life itself.

They found it here in America for themselves and their descendants, which includes my family, tracing back to Ulster and Cork.

They were farmers, tradesmen and shop keepers, but, most importantly, they were good politicians.

Like many other immigrants, they transplanted well into this broad and fertile land.

St. Patrick Day parades started in the immigrant populations in America. They were not a feature of life in Ireland itself, although the Irish have adopted some parades over time, as an example of the motherland’s being culturally

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colonized by the colonials. Those clever Irish-American politicians knew how to get a parade permit, and to say they had connections in the local police forces would be an understatement.

Naturally, if you have a parade there is a need to quench your thirst afterward, with a bit of sustenance from the Auld Sod. A Guinness, some corned beef and cabbage, or bangers and mash, would suffice.

This was a bonanza for the Irish bars, and all other bars in the cities with parades.

St. Patrick’s Day has been a huge moneymaker for bars because over the years it was not only the Irish who participated in parades and celebrations, but most of the American population.

St. Patrick’s Day is also a big day with university students. Fraternities have green beer and a joyous time is had by all— if they can remember it.

Almost everyone wears a bit of green, other than some of the Americans descended from the Ulster Protestants who came to settle here, which also includes part of my family. They might be in their orange and tan outfits.

Andy Harrison writes (March 23: “Greetings from currently (and undeservedly) infamous New Rochelle, New York, poster-child “hot spot” for Covid-19 cases in NY State, and by extension, the entire East Coast.

“Until late last year, Adrienne and I lived just one town north, in Larchmont, NY, for 35 years, in a 2-3-story house, originally built in 1926, where we raised our two now-adult children.

“Over 3-1/2 decades there, in a pattern many of our classmates can relate to, we renovated or replaced virtually every part of the house, from the roof to the heating system, to the windows, etc..

“When describing our home village to new (non-local) acquaintances, we’d say something like: “We live in Larchmont; that’s just north of New Rochelle, home of Lou Gehrig. Rob and Laura Petrie from the old Dick Van Dyke Show, and about 20 minutes north of Yankee Stadium.” Nowadays, it’s a slightly different conversation.

“Over the last couple of years, as we both contemplated retirement, Adrienne and I (like many other “empty- nesters” in our age group) sought to down-size from the full-size house we no longer needed, and to shed the responsibilities of maintaining a 90+ year-old house. We were fortunate enough to find, purchase, and, this past

September, finally move into an all-new low-rise condo development, facing Long Island Sound) in New Rochelle.

“Our happiness was compounded by our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson’s move from Queens to New Rochelle that same summer.

“Our terrace is within sight of Davenport Park, a beautiful County-owned park, where we frequently took invigorating walks along the water. Davenport Park is set on an island, thus at least slightly removed from all residential neighborhoods, making it the ideal location for New York State’s first Drive-Up Covid-19 Testing Facility. Needless to say, we won’t be taking our usual walks there anytime soon.

“Now, when we tell out-of-town folks “we’re from New Rochelle,” everyone knows exactly where that it is. A few wince and recoil, but most understand it’s not akin to the Scarlet Letter.

“Our daughter and her family live in the poorly-named “containment zone,” a one-mile circle from the origin epicenter of New Rochelle’s initial Covid-19 cases.

“We are unable to visit with our nearly three-year-old grandson, which is hard, but are doing our best to maintain contact via Face Time calls and reading stories. We know we are not alone in this; many other parents and grandparents are enduring similar privations, and worse. Though anxious (like everybody else), we are well, and doing our best to remain healthy.

“This past New Year’s Eve, Adrienne and I toasted each other and looked forward to the New Year 2020, knowing how lucky we were to be in our new home, and anticipating additional family blessings: the birth of our second grandchild (our daughter Rachel’s second child) this coming May, and the marriage of our son Mark, this coming October.

“These blessed events will happen, and we will be joyful once more, but as we all know, 2020 has not started well, thanks to the Novel Corona Virus.

“For us, like many others, daily life has become an endless round of social distancing, sobering daily briefings from the White House, Albany, New York City, and elsewhere, and mostly staying home, deprived of virtually all the activities (educational, religious, social and athletic) which gave structure to our lives in retirement.

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“We hope and pray that this plague will pass, sooner rather than later, and that our family and yours, and those of all our classmates, will emerge safe and sound, on the other side.”

Neal Traven writes (March 30): “We’re doing well here on our hilltop in West Seattle. This photo ➔ (looking westward over Puget Sound) was shot just a few minutes ago from our back deck.

“On a less cloudy day, the Olympics would be visible between the two most prominent houses, and if I had timed it right there might have been ferries to and from Bremerton in the shot.

“No health issues— knock wood— and only slight disruption of daily life.

“Elizabeth is working from home, doing at least one Zoom meeting or presentation every day. As a financial advisor, she’s no less amazed and amused by the market fluctuations that is anyone else.

“I must admit that I initially underestimated the pandemic’s effects, but no more. In the end, this will fundamentally change how the entire world does business.

“I attended the last big public gathering (Sounders soccer game on March 1) before our lockdown took effect. It was rather spooky, I must say. Not only was attendance down by about 25% from normal; our high-fives and other such celebrations were virtual most of the time. We’re long past the incubation period of COVID-19, so there were no ill effects for me.

“One person who I knew fairly well has died. He was a University of Washington med school professor, age 78 and asthmatic. He had no contact whatsoever with patients or potentially infectious materials. Some friends and acquaintances have been ill, though it’s not known whether they have coronavirus rather than the flu (way too few test kits are available).

“We’ve Zoomed with distant relatives— my brother in PA, Elizabeth’s son in GA— several times, and will no doubt continue to do so.

“Our group, which usually gets together for holiday celebrations, plans to set up a virtual Seder next week.

The Society for American Baseball [SABR] convention, scheduled for mid-July in Baltimore, hasn’t been cancelled, but I anticipate that such an announcement is imminent (the median age at the meeting is around 60, so it would be very wise to call it off, IMHO). I’ve gone to the convention every year since 1990. You can find our more about the SABR by clicking here.

“I wish you all the best of health. We will come out the other side of this eventually, into a different world than we were accustomed to.”

Bill Downall writes (April 2): “My wife Chris (Dartmouth M.S. ‘82 and grad school classmate) is a light sleeper. Just about any noise will wake her. Thursday morning, March 12, her phone started making some very early chirps. It was before 3:00 am in San Pedro Alcántara, Andalucía, Spain, where we had been since January 1. It was before 10:00 pm back in New Hampshire and in DC. It takes some effort to wake me in the middle of the night, but she managed to.

“The phone noises were triggered by texts, emails, and WhatsApp messages from half a dozen friends who had just watched the President of the United States say that ‘all travel from Europe to the US’ was being halted. The first words I heard from her as she shook me awake were ‘We might not be able to go home.’

“A few minutes later, Chris was looking online for return flights earlier than our original March 31 bookings. She found the same flights as our originals, Málaga to Dublin to Boston, but on Monday, March 16. We would be abandoning our rented condo 15 days early, and paying the airline an extra $420 re-booking fee. Few seats were left.

“It seemed good that she was awake before most of the tourists and expatriates in Spain. But we still didn’t have answers to critical questions: Will we be allowed to fly to the US? Will we be screened in Málaga before the Spanish

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government or the airline allows us on their plane? Will we be screened in Dublin? Is the airline going to cancel the flight? Is Spain going to close the airport?

“Spain, at the time, was well ahead of the States in dealing with the pandemic. Many events were being cancelled. Restaurants were closing. People walked past each other leaving lots of space. We were washing our hands many times a day. Madrid was considering a number of more severe restrictions.

“By late Thursday morning, there were no answers to our questions. So we kept our original plans for the afternoon, golf at Doña Julia Golf Club in Estepona. A Danish couple had been paired up with us for our tee time.

“As we approached to introduce ourselves, they both held up their hands and said ‘We don’t shake hands.’ We had a good time with them, but we all respected that social distance requirement— not “six feet” in Spain, but “dos metros.” Our awareness of surfaces not to touch— because someone else might already have, or someone else might later— was growing. But out of habit, I mistakenly picked up Karsten’s wedge to hand to him as we walked off a green.

“Golf was a welcome distraction at the beginning of a few days that would be lived in high anxiety. We could find no new information from the US State Department or embassy, nor from Homeland Security, or Health and Human Services, or the airline. Our landlord told us if we couldn’t leave, we were welcome to stay in the property as long as we needed to. (He was pretty sure any later bookings would be cancelled, anyway.)

“Finally, late Friday our time, we heard from constituent services of both of our Senators, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, that we would be allowed to enter the US, but would then be screened, and then either referred to medical facilities or told to self-quarantine for two weeks. They told us to be prepared for long delays at the airport. And to call them if some unforeseen problem came up in our return to New Hampshire.

“By Saturday noon, Spain was locked down. Friends of ours went for a walk, only to discover police tape at the entrance to the trail, with warnings of 75 Euro fines for violations. There were exactly eight reasons a person could leave home. Even dog-walkers could go out only long enough for the pet to relieve itself, and only one person from the same house could accompany the dog. Local police, district Guarda, and even the military were mobilizing to enforce the lockdown and issue fines.

“Fortunately for us, one of the eight reasons you could be found outside your own residence was for travel to your ‘usual place of domicile.’ With our international drivers licenses and luggage, we started the trek home very early on Monday morning.

“We were impressed by the orderliness and organization in Spain, and in Ireland.

“At the Málaga airport, the long snaking lines on the way to security had been taped across every meter, with people announcing constantly in several languages to use the tape marks on the floor to keep yourself at least a meter behind the person in front of you. At Dublin, Health Department people handed us instructions for keeping safe as we got off the plane, and then we got the same instructions again as we got to immigration.

“The US pre-screens travelers to the US at Ireland airports, and there we had to fill out long forms about health and travel (which it seems we could have done on the plane beforehand!), and then be interviewed, and then the interviewers had to enter our data on computers, and then we had to wait in a room crowded with other travelers, who had been in many hotspot countries, while the Immigration officers waited for a phone call from the CDC in Atlanta to say for each traveler, ‘ok, we’ll allow Christine Downall to fly into the US, you can give her back her passport’; ‘ok, we’ll allow William Downall to fly into the US, you can give him back his passport.’

“Aer Lingus had purposely delayed all their US-bound flights at least 2 hours because of their experience with the slow US process in the preceding three days.

“A US Immigration official told us we would also be screened in Boston, but no such thing.

“In fact, no US official ever said to us that we should quarantine ourselves, or told us how to do that.

“We and 200 others walked off the plane (3.5 hours late), and went straight to baggage claim and ground transportation.

“After hugless greetings exchanged with our daughter who was in our car, and with mask and gloves on, we dropped her off at her home, and started our two-week self-imposed quarantine.

“Aer Lingus refunded the rebooking fee. We got through our quarantine period with no symptoms. Like everybody else, we have adjusted to a new way of living, for a while.”

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Bill Price writes (April 5): “One of our good friends has been in the ICU since last Monday on a ventilator here in Bellevue, WA, fighting hard in a ‘marathon’ that his wife, in daily Caringbridge posts, calls a “roller-coaster.” This pandemic is challenging everything that we thought that we knew, and will create many versions of ‘the new normal.’

“I’ve been writing a series of posts in CustomerThink about how customer service and customer experience leaders need to manage through and after this crisis.

“I’ve been impressed with my London-based client, moving tens of thousands of customer service agents home in 5-10 days, in markets such as Italy, France, and Germany— all hard hit— while continuing to service their customers who are also operating from home under such tremendous stress.

My routine hasn’t changed much except, delightfully, no travel (too many air miles up to February 22nd); much earlier Skype calls; and faster response times to my clients’ requests or needs.

“Lori has begun tele-therapy using Zoom with two of her speech-therapy kiddos, and their Moms seem to love the resumption of their progress with her. Very exciting to see this new solution for her and her patients.

“We’re largely ‘sheltering in place,’ and plan to do so for another month under order from our governor Jay Inslee, even as we’re cautiously optimistic that Washington State seems to be ‘flattening the curve.’ I don’t think that our house has ever been so clean or sanitized!”

Shel Prentice writes (April 5): “All are well here, though my younger brother, Dick ‘76 and his family have been struggling with the virus for 2 weeks in Portland, ME. It’s a nasty virus.

“We were supposed to leave today for Naples. Now our plans are up in the air.

“Amanda has been here since March 21st, working remotely. Her clerkship is now over and she will start at the EPA in NYC on April 27th, though probably remotely. Julie is teaching remotely though only a few of her students are participating. Hilary is well out in L.A.

“My niece, Gwyn Prentice Atterbury, is a ‘96 and her husband, Andy, is also a ‘96. They eloped on Chase Field in sophomore summer. She was KDE & Andy was Beta. Gwyn went to Columbia Law and then got a masters in design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“Gwyn started a clothing line manufacturing company call Helen Jon. Her company is now manufacturing masks and selling them below cost to get the masks out. They are also donating masks to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. The masks are based on templates and patterns suggested by doctors and nurses, and made of 82% Nylon and 18% Spandex, without any latex. To order, please click here.”

Bill Aydelott performs (April 8): Just click here and enjoy!

Greg Yadley writes (April 23): “We are supposed to be leaving for a lawyers conference in Greece tomorrow and, after that, a week in Burgundy. So, like everyone else, I’m working from home, taking walks daily with Anne, and trying to stay in touch with people by phone and e-mail.

“I’ve been busy with clients facing severe cash flow and revenue losses— but it’s stressful work, and the Mergers & Acquisitions part of my practice is on hold for now.”

Bill Schur writes (April 28): “Surviving the Shutdown in Florida” A Day on Longboat Key. Picture of Bill Schur, Jon and Karen Farnsworth Einsidler By the way, I spoke to Jim Stearns. He’s an in house counsel with Accenture, living in Northern Virginia within the Beltway. He says hello to all our classmates.

Editor’s Note: For the August Newsletter, please send me your stories about how Covid-19 is affecting you— bad news stories as well as good news stories, as long as they are your stories: employment and unemployment stories; spiritual and unspiritual stories; coping stories and struggling stories; dystopic and hopeful stories; funny stories and gallows-humor stories; stories of your survival and stories of your losses. Please email them to me here.

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STEELE HALL / FAIRCHILD HALL

COVID-19 By William Schlesinger, Chief Science Officer

Bill’s passion is translating science for lay audiences. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he served as dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Check out his blog by clicking here.

This is his ELEVENTH contribution to the Newsletter.

A recent issue of Science contains an article describing the worldwide decline of amphibian populations due to the international spread of chytridiomycosis, a lethal fungal disease, largely as a result of the trade in amphibians as pets.

The greatest declines are reported amongst formerly isolated populations in the wet forests of the Americas and Australia. Few of the infected populations are expected to recover.

The global movement of people and goods brings exotic diseases to most ecosystems on Earth, including Ebola,

Zika, and COVID-19 to humans in North America.

For the human species, the problem is exacerbated by the concentration of our numbers in dense urban populations.

As a social species, we frequent large gatherings of people, such as meetings and sporting events.

We travel in sealed aluminum tubes, which function as a laboratory culture for our numbers.

The most vulnerable populations of animals and humans are those who have not previously encountered the disease agents and thus have no evolutionary resistance to it.

This phenomenon is known as the “virgin soil effect,” which explains the vulnerability and devastation of native Americans following the arrival of European diseases. (It is likely that syphilis traveled in the opposite direction with similar impacts in Europe).

COVID-19 appears to have arisen in wildlife in China, for which the rest of the world had no experience that might have led to the evolution of antibodies. Through globalization, we have homogenized the world experience, whereas in nature a higher diversity of organisms persists when habitats and populations are isolated.

Our vulnerability to exotic disease is often exacerbated by the widespread use of antibiotics and antifungal compounds in agriculture. The effect is similar to the appearance of DDT-resistant mosquitoes in areas where DDT was broadcast to prevent malaria.

As a virus COVID-19 is unaffected by such measures, but its spread amongst the human population and our vulnerability to an exotic pathogen are parallel.

With international transport of people and goods, dense populations in cities, and widespread use of antimicrobial agents to prevent, rather than treat, disease, the human population is more vulnerable to exotic diseases and catastrophic pandemics than at any time since the plague. The plague, also known as the Black Death, arrived in

Europe in the early 1300s and killed an estimated 30 to 60% of the population.

Fear the fever.

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MILITARY SERVICE AND THE PARENTS OF THE CLASS OF 1972 REDUX

Editor’s Note: I wrote this abbreviated piece for my siblings and cousins, and my dad’s 98-year-old sister.

DAD HAS ENTERED THE HISTORY BOOKS!

Dad was always proud of his 10th Mountain Division service.

Dad died on the anniversary of D-Day in 2014, and in the following year I discovered the 10th Mountain Division Descendants and Friends Facebook page, and through that group contacted Keli Schmid, the Archivist and Librarian of the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center at the Denver Public Library. She sent me a trove of documents in March 2016 about Dad’s service, which I organized into a chronological narrative.

By a curious happenstance, I had visited the Library in the 1990s during a conference for ecumenical officers. As I wandered through the building, I turned a corner and suddenly an entire wing devoted to the 10th Mountain Division loomed before me— white winter clothing, skis and poles, rucksacks, weapons, sleds, and flags. I spent the rest of the afternoon there, taking it all in and thinking about Dad.

At the end of my tour I bought a slim 34-page booklet titled The Invisible Men on Skis: The Story of the Construction of Camp Hale and The Occupation by the 10th Mountain Division 1942-1945, but most of it was about Camp Hale and less than three pages covered the Italian Campaign.

In December 1996, Boys’ Life had a 3-page article on the “Kings of the Mountains: When the going got tough in World War II, the U. S. Army called on its first soldiers on skis,” but of the three pages, most of one page was a drawing.

In its January/February 2001 issue, the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine published a 5-page article on the “Mountain Men,” but three of the pages were photographs. For me, its saving grace was a list of the 119 Dartmouth students and graduates who had served in the 10th, Dad among them. What a thrill to see his name in print!

Finally, in 2003, two excellent histories about the 10th Mountain Division were published— The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America’s First Mountain Soldiers and the Assault on Hitler’s Europe and Climb to Conquer: The Untold Story of World War II’s 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops, by McKay Jenkins and Peter Shelton, respectively.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know about these books until after Dad died, and now I couldn’t talk to him about them as a springboard to his telling me more about his experiences. I didn’t read Climb until 2015, and Ridge until 2017.

To my disappointment, Dad didn’t appear by name in either of them, although I realized that he was one of thousands who served, and a Private First Class soldier is an unlikely combatant to mention.

To my delight, Climb to Conquer mentions a Dartmouth student on page 1, the first of six Dartmouth references; and, more wonderfully, I read this passage in The Last Ridge:

“Communications during the attack [on Riva Ridge, February 18-25, 1945] would be a special challenge, since the need for silence made the nighttime use of radios out of the question. Just prior to the assault, a small advance party laid phone wire, concealed in the snow, from battalion command at Farne to all areas of departure. The plan was for a wire team to follow each column during the assault and provide hourly location reports back to command.” For the first time, I understood the context for my Dad’s Bronze Star citation:

“James H. Roberts PFC, Infantry. 86th Mountain Infantry, United States Army,

“For meritorious service in combat on 19 Feb. 1945, near Farni [sic], Italy.

“When Private First Class Roberts was engaged in laying communication wire along a mountain ridge, the enemy infiltrated into the wire in which he was working. When he and his comrades were stopped by small arms fire they immediately attacked the infiltrating enemy, capturing eight prisoners. They then continued forward to complete their telephone lines, establishing communications at a time when the coordination and the direction of an attack depended on the completion of their mission. For his outstanding courage and devotion to duty Private First Class Roberts has earned the highest commendation and praise.”

Late last year I learned about a new book: The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America’s Elite Alpine Warriors, by Maurice Isserman.

Having read the earlier books, which overlapped a lot, although each had its own perspectives and stories, I wasn’t really interested in buying and reading it.

Then, last week, on February 26, Bill Price, the president of our Dartmouth Class, emailed me:

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“I’m reading a new book on the 10th Mountain Division, The Winter Army, and it mentions James H. Roberts. Your Dad?”

Me: “wow! really? Dad was with the 86th infantry regiment. He was with Company A, and then later 1st battalion, Headquarters Company. Private First Class. I already have 2 books and several monographs, so although I’d heard of The Winter Army, I wasn’t going to buy it. However. . . if it looks like there was only one James H. Roberts in the Tenth, then I guess I’ll spring for it!”

Bill Price: “Looks like one and the same. Quotes from one of his letters home. Near the end of the book. Enjoy!”

Me: ”just ordered it, Bill! I don’t know that any of his letters home were kept in our family. His 98-year-old sister is still alive, and she will be overwhelmed. How wonderful you’re reading the book, and that you connected the possibility he might be my dad. How did you happen to come across the book?

Bill Price: “I think that I read a good review of it in the WSJ. I devour WW2 Pacific theater (where my grandfather served) and much of the European side, too, including role of the resistance. Cites your Dad’s letter to his parents, Feb 24, 1945 in the ‘10th Mountain Division Personal Papers, Denver Public Library.’ Perhaps a trip to Denver?”

The next day, February 27, I called Keli Schmid and asked her if she would be able to find Dad’s letter and whether there might be anything else of his correspondence. She said she could see a couple of items, and she’d scan them and send them to me.

By the end of the day, she sent me this email with the two attachments:

“Hi Bill,

“It was great to hear from you today! I located the documents we spoke about earlier. One is the letter that Maurice Isserman referenced in his book and the other is a telegram to your dad when he was first drafted to the Army and accepted to the 10th Mountain Division by Stephen Hurlbut, Director of Personnel Selection with the National Ski Patrol.”

The next day, February 28, I called Keli again.

First, I asked her whether ASN stood for Army Serial Number, and she confirmed that. I asked her what the IS following ASN meant, and she thought it was just an “is,” as in “[Your] ASN is 36746915.” That made sense because at the bottom of the telegram the IS was omitted, although the 5. after Dad’s ASN puzzled her.

Second, I told her how astonished I was to see that Dad was expected at Fort Sheridan on May 5, the day I would be born seven years later!

On the next page is a copy of Dad’s letter home. I’ll say more about why it’s a copy later.

The big mystery is how this letter, which we know reached his parents because Dad’s Mother wrote a little note on it, ended up in Denver.

As to her note, Grandma Roberts circled “softened” and commented “relieved? (word is not clear).”

I can think of two possible explanations for her puzzlement, but first, here’s the letter!

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By a slight altering, the sense of the sentence is made clearer: “Your letters, just arrived, softened the restlessness in my heart for a loving word from those I hold dearest.”

Grandma may have wondered about the word “softness”; to me, it’s the sort of poetic phrasing I’ve seen in Dad’s letters. Grandma is certainly right that “relieved” is a similar if more prosaic synonym. But why add “(word not clear)” when the word “softened” is typed so clearly?

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At the top left of the letter are the words “V Mail.” The V stands for Victory, and Victory Mail was a solution to the problem of maintaining morale at the front and at home, and the sheer volume of mail between the fighters and their families and friends and sweethearts.

On February 28, I talked again with Keli Schmid, and afterward she sent me this email:

“I checked the files I told you about, but did not see any references to how we came to possess your grandmother's letter from your dad. Still a mystery. Here is the link, though, to my blog about V-Mail: https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/vi-victory-victory-mail. When you see the examples, it's easy to understand how your grandmother may have had trouble deciphering your dad's handwriting, and why your grandparents may have wanted to type a copy for themselves.”

Here’s what Kelli wrote about V Mail; if you click on the link above you will see V Mail examples:

“During World War II, the U.S. Postal Service needed a way for bulky loads of mail to be delivered overseas quickly without sacrificing the shipment of supplies. The U.S. Government recognized the role letters from home played in boosting the morale of soldiers, so stopping the delivery of mail in favor of critical supplies was not an option. Thus, based on the British Airgraph Service, Victory Mail was born.

“Special stationery was printed— typically 8.5”x 11”— that could be folded into a self-contained envelope. Soldiers, friends, and family would fill out the front and back of the sheet, which was then photographed onto microfilm and sent abroad. Once the film made it overseas to a receiving station, letters were printed on 3”x 5” sheets and delivered in custom envelopes with windows that allowed the printed address to show through.

“Saving both space and weight, 1,600 letters could be contained on just one roll of film the size of a deck of cards. Two thousand pounds of letters in 37 mail bags could be reduced to just 20 pounds in one mail bag. Letters could be handwritten or typed, or stationery with pre-printed cartoons and holiday greetings could be purchased. Some stationery companies even produced special ink for writing legible V-Mail. Faint or small handwriting was not advised. [Dad was a left-hander, taught to write with his right hand, so “softened” may have seemed unclear.]

“In addition to easier transport, V-Mail added a level of security: spies could forget sending secret messages, because neither invisible ink nor microdots would show up on a photocopy. Of course, V-Mail still had to pass through the censors, so mail could arrive with sections blacked out. [Dad wrote carefully to avoid the censor’s black pen; he was smart as well as poetic!]

“Towards the end of World War II, use of V-Mail began to decline and microfilming ceased November 1, 1945.”

Click here for the 10th Mountain Division webpage. Among many options, you can use the upper right Search bar to look for V Mail, or click on the Lookup Index and find Dad’s name and that of all the other 10th Mountain Men.

Meanwhile, the day after I ordered The Winter Army, Amazon delivered it. The first thing I did was turn to the Index, and there it was on page 316: “Roberts, James H., 235.” Wow!

When I turned to page 235, and found myself at the beginning of the Epilogue: “Among My Souvenirs,” in the first paragraph:

“Among the souvenirs they brought back were alpini hats, Nazi flags, and German Lugers, although, contrary to legend, the famous Luger was not the most sought-after souvenir weapon; the men who knew their pistols preferred the Walther P38. Radioman James H. Roberts, HQ Company, 1st Battalion of the 86th, acquired one of the latter on Riva Ridge on February 19, 1945, and described it fondly in a letter home a few days later as “a beautiful weapon rated as the best in its class. It is shaped similarly to the German Luger but does not have the odd breech action.”

Just today as I write this, I discovered a section of “Notes” near the end of the book. Among the entries for page 235:

“’a beautiful weapon’: James H. Roberts to his parents, February 24, 1945, TMD309, 10th Mountain Division Personal Papers, 10th Mountain Division Papers, Denver Public Library.”

Dad has indeed entered the history books! In the words of the 86th Regiment’s motto, Dad has gone “Higher.”

Postscript

After sending this off to my brothers and sisters, Judy wrote back to remind me that whenever Dad described disarming the enemy soldier and taking his gun, he always laughed because he was at a loss as to what to say to him— so he just said “Stick ‘em up!”

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