From New York’s capital, Albany, Mary Frances Sabo is now adding to her lawyering and mothering with a service project at a soup kitchen for the homeless for the local Dartmouth club.   She adds: “I took two of my kids to a Dartmouth/RPI hockey game in Troy near my home. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I only went to one hockey game in Hanover. It was a lot of fun. We were outnumbered so sat with the family of one of the players, Nick Walsh ‘12.”

Virginia Rhoads is an ex-investment banker and now a personal fulfillment guide for a firm she and her husband started, the Jempe Center (www.jempecenter.com).  She writes from Washington state “We’ll be leading our inaugural two-week trip to Chilean Patagonia this coming November for a select group of our life/leadership development clients.  I am feeling fortunate to partner with my husband in our business.”

Melinda Lopez visited Cuba in November on a trip combining volunteerism with research for her play, Becoming Cuba, set during the Cuban War of Independence.   “Closer to home, I’ve helped found ‘Munroe Saturday Nights’, a performance venue bringing high quality performance, play readings and poetry slams  to metro-west Boston.   I went snowboarding at the Dartmouth Skiway– why did I never go during school? It’s great! Visited campus, and there was no snow!  Too weird to see brown grass on the Green in late February.”

Christina Porshe and her son engaged in an auspicious mother-son bonding: “My son and I both enrolled in Brazilian jujitsu last fall. I took a break for Christmas and after many plaintive entreaties I re-enrolled this past month and my chin is looking a little rough. I still am not ready to complete a cartwheel, but I executed my first effective take down last week (it was not against my son) before I was vanquished.” Her son is 5.
Maybe Christina’s son will some day impress Genevieve, the 6-year-old daughter of Sarah Wauters and husband Steve.  Sarah writes from Santa Monica, California: “My career has been a constant adventure, working after law school as a corporate transaction attorney and then as an entertainment attorney at MGM, Polygram and then on my own.  I used the freedom of sole practice to produce films, but eventually I launched my dream career of photojournalist and photo-artist.  I shot on assignment all over the country for publications such as The Washington Post, Wired Magazine,Teen People and Elle.  However, once my 40s loomed, I thought about having a family and staying home long enough to do so!   I signed on with a renewable energy company, Sun Light & Power, which designs and builds solar power and solar hot water systems for businesses.  I started at the bottom (yikes!), but now head its southern California office.”

Andy Gora is in Las Vegas, in a non-gaming related occupation.  And Natalie Wilensky is in the DC area, the mother of now 2 year old Jacob Saul.

Mark Greenstein writes: “For the first time in 11 years, I am NOT in Aspen this March.  Low snow.  Trying somewhere in the northwest instead.   (Not Alaska; not yet.)”

Werner Tillinger is medically retired from corporate banking.  He writes from Santa Fe, New Mexico “I worked as a corporate VP for a Canadian bank in San Francisco.  I moved to Santa Fe to avail myself of a quieter, less stressful life pace.  I love it here.”  Werner is very active in Santa Fe’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation.  His sermon on tolerance, addiction, Dr. Seuss, fitting in and our Dartmouth Reunion is at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XBzE1OyFk&list=PL57130BC42612A751&feature=mh_lolz .  Yes, this YouTube mention is a first for this column; my criteria for mention are:1) engaging in the first 90 seconds, and 2) related to Dartmouth.

Mark Greenstein (for Davida Sherman Dinerman)

Articles include:

• In Pursuit of Excellence — 1986 = 2011 Class of the Year
• Presidential Range
• News & Notes
• ’86 Rowers Give Back
• Class of ’86 Compassion Committee
• Beth Robinson Takes Her Place of VT Highest Court
• “Cleveland Rocks”
• Reflections on Reunion

Dear Fellow Member of the Class of ‘86:

Two of Dartmouth’s finest traditions are that her graduates genuinely want to keep in touch and truly want to make a difference in the world! At this time in our lives, however, we are juggling many responsibilities (families, careers, and friends) that may prevent us from doing everything we desire. We want to continue strengthening our Dartmouth ties in the wake of our 25th reunion, yet often we cannot see how to do so given our other responsibilities and/or perhaps even our geographic location. We also want to give back to our communities, but we don’t always see an easy way to do that either.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could spend a few hours with family or friends while doing something productive for our local community, knowing all the while that our Dartmouth classmates were doing the same thing in their own communities? Well, we can! Please join us in a class-wide project, IMPACT86, that promises to unite our class as we each spend time serving our communities with our partners, children, and/or Dartmouth friends. The plan is simple:

• Pick a day in March, the month of the 86th day of the year, to volunteer locally (see a list of volunteer suggestions below).
• Invite a few classmates and/or your family to join you, or volunteer alone.
• Keep track of everyone’s hours; we will use them to build next year’s goal. Post the number of hours volunteered on our website.

In addition, if you’d like, you can:

• fill out the “event form” below indicating your volunteer plans. We  will compile the information and post projects by location so that, by looking at our website, you can see what is going on in your area and join local classmates if desired. Want to organize a group of ‘86s in your community to do something together? Then note this on the event form.
• Go to our Facebook page and write about what you are going to do or what you did….and read about others’ experiences.
• Send pictures to our webmaster and newsletter editors Heath Barker and Christy McKenna.

Our individual lives are hectic, and we have limited time, but together our impact spreads to many communities. We can have fun spending quality time locally with our own family and friends and continue the fun by reading about our classmates’ experiences. Please join us in this endeavor!

——————————————————

Please provide some basic details of the event you’re planning, and we’ll post the info on the site so that other ’86s can join you.  Thanks!

[event form disabled 4/7/2012]

In case you are parenting your first teenager, I happily invite any ’86 to a phone seminar I do on the modern college admissions process.  If you don;t want to hear me, you can e-mail and I’ll shoot you some articles.  And there’s decent stuff at www.ivybound.net and you need to contact me at all!.

We begin in the Southeast.   Nancy Wallace is an appellate lawyer in Tallahassee, FL.  Her daughter Carla is 8 months away from being a full-fledged pharmacist.  Nancy spends much of her non-lawyering time “chasing around my 7 year old son and 4 year old grandson.”

Malcolm McIver helped the ‘86 crew alumni/ae raise $45,000 to buy new, coaching launch boats for the freshman women’s and men’s squads.  The “Class of 1986″ boats are “wakeless”, meaning they don’t produce the waves that send nearby crew boats to tip or take on water.  This will allow crew coaches to yell at young ‘shmen from up close.

Virginia Rhoads writes “My husband John McConnell and I returned from the Amazon jungle in Ecuador where we, along with a group of our clients, experience living on nature’s timing, breathing oxygen-rich clean air, and learning to listen to our hearts from an indigenous tribe – the Achuar – custodians of the rainforest.”

Mary Frances Sabo is an attorney with three children.  She writes from Albany NY “I make my world better by being active in my youngest child’s elementary school. Last week I organized a fall festival with crafts, a bounce house games and a bake sale. The focus was on creating a fun time for the community and not raising money so we kept the prices pretty low.”

Paul Shippee reports that  Kai Wesley Shippee, born in May, is doing great.  “He has a big toothless smile and likes to go jogging with me and his mother in our new baby jogger (yes, we 86′s should keep in shape!)”  Paul is in Japan, working as Country Manager for Life Fitness Japan (equipment supplier to commercial fitness clubs, universities, medical clinics, and hotels).  “My wife Mitsu and I are avid triathletes; she’s gone to the world championships twice as a competitor.  I get back to New Hampshire and Maine a couple of times each year where we spend time at our lake house.”

Krista Corr, has been an FBI agent in Boston since 1989, helping keep New Englanders safe.  She is just as passionate about keeping New Englanders in touch, via a six-member cooking club, and it’s worth sharing: “We meet monthly at one of our homes for dinner.  The month’s host is responsible for cooking the main course and any sides.  Another makes the appetizer and a third makes the dessert. The other three each bring a bottle of wine.  The big rule is that you cannot cook something that you have ever made before, so we all act as guinea pigs for each other.  Each provides the recipes the other members.  Thus far, I have filled two large notebooks with “keeper” recipes!”  As Mini Reunion Chair, Krista would especially like to hear of your setting up a cooking club (or dining-out club) with classmates.  “I’ll be counting it as a mini-reunion!”

My mini-reunion was with L.J. Briggs, who practices internal medicine in Farmington CT.  He and his wife host a fishing festival for kids each July.  He is another triathlete, whose exploits in triathlon training and competing scare me.  I am convinced that I if I try, I will drown on the first leg.   (One of his fish-fest girls will scoop me up in her netting).

But I will improve my land speed.  I purchased from Matthew Weatherley-White a consumer “Restwise”, the world’s first non-invasive fatigue monitoring system.  Matthew designed it to help athletes optimize results from their exercise.  He writes “the Dartmouth Peak Performance Center became the first collegiate client of my “hobby” business.  Most of our clients are professional teams, individual elite athletes, and national sports federations. Since student-athletes face relentless pressure to perform in the classroom and on the field, we believe that an academic environment is ideal for Restwise. DP2 proved our thesis.  Even more importantly, we finally had a baby. Took a while, but Larken is dedicated to melting her father’s cold heart.”

Christina Porshe wrote about her “solar system”: My son and I hosted 11 random visitors for the 21st Annual Washington Metro area solar tour Oct 1-2.  Our presentation was augmented with more sustainable landscaping.  Solar tour is an open house outreach event for who are committed to advocating solar and sustainable energy applications in their living space.

These outreach efforts seek to serve as a force multiplier encouraging neighbors  to query and explore these applications in their own home.  Some of us have modest systems;  others are net-zero.  I inserted applications during the last stages of a renovation.  I also applied for a competitive demonstration grant to subsidize the cost of the solar system.   My solar system is on the 2nd floor roof but can be viewed from the 3rd floor deck and I also exhibit passive solar design in the 3rd floor bathroom.  In my case I also feature LED lighting, insulation, energy efficient glass , dual split systems for heat and cooling,  rubber gaskets, insulation, glass infused wood, and  loc voc  paint.   This was a new concept for my contractor so I felt I was at a rodeo  pulling him down by the horns to turn in the direction and still avoid an excessive additional cost increase.  During these events the idea is to connect and explain what the homeowner did what’s feasible, the impact, lessons learned, etc.

Happy Holidays.

 Dartmouth College

Recognizes With Deep Appreciation

the Extraordinary Achievements of

Class of 1986

2011 Class of the Year

25 Years Out and Younger

The great football coach Vince Lombardi could have been speaking about the Class of 1986 when he said “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work”.

Members of the Class of 1986 Executive Committee are to be congratulated individually and as a whole for their work for Dartmouth and for their Class over the past twelve months. Your class president describes the Executive Committee as “involved, engaged and passionate about their roles, getting things done and done well and working together. Dartmouth College agrees! You worked together to achieve a 25^th reunion that not only brought your classmates together for a great party but that served to strengthen your class and its ties to the College for the years to come.

• You gathered each other together with more than 10 mini reunions in locations around the globe!
• You cared for each other through your recently formed Compassio Committee which helps those in need and honors deceased classmates
• Your class projects involved classmates and current students in meaningful ways with your class president personally involved and taking students to dinner.
• Your reunion committee worked hard and played hard – sending countless emails at all hours of the night and also getting one of the best bands ever seen at a reunion!
• Your class treasurer is a rock solid “doer”  who did double duty as reunion treasurer – keeping the bills paid, the books balanced and everything on track.
• Your DCF giving team were unstoppable! The Class met its dollar and participation goals with 55% of the 1986s contributing more than $3 million to Dartmouth
• Your Class secretaries have not missed a magazine column in 15 years!
• Your “you have to read this now”  Newsletters  featured a variety of classmates, news of reunions and updates on class projects and mini reunions
• Your website, a Facebook page, and e-mail communications that all worked together to keep up a constant stream but somehow managed to not be a barrage!
• Your class president who set goals, who communicated, who delegated and who worked to get all ’86s involved – no matter where they lived, what their interests, their background, race, occupation or sexual preference.

Dartmouth Class of 1986, you have worked hard as individuals and as a team over the past year. The ripple effects of your efforts will be far reaching in the good they achieve for your class and for Dartmouth.

Congratulations and thank you for all of your efforts and your achievements.

If you made it to our 25th, you know how great it was to catch up with each other. If you missed the reunion, here is your chance to belatedly join in the fun. Please join me and class president Kendall Burney Wilson for a casual gathering to reminisce about the old and share the new.

When: Thursday, September 22nd

Where: Union Street Bar and Grille, 107 Rear Union Street (essentially at the corner of Beacon Street and Centre Street), Newton Centre, MA. Top floor.

Time: 6:30 pm or whenever you can make it.

RSVP: No need. But if you want to let me know you are coming or if you need more information, you can e-mail me (Krista Thomas Corr) or call me at 617-244-0512 (Home), 617-223-6454 (Work).

The class will provide heavy hors d’oeuvres. A cash bar will be available for beverages.

There are many of you who live in West Suburban Boston, which makes this locale a no-brainer for you. It’s also very accessible from Boston via the T and fairly convenient to get to for those who live to the North or South. Please don’t let me fail with my first mini-reunion! I want to see you on the 22nd!

Dear Friends:

What an awesome 25^th reunion we had! Over 400 classmates gathered in Hanover for reminiscing, reflecting and even reliving our college days (the Saturday night dance in the tent comes to mind immediately!).  It was a joy to see so many of you, and for those of you who missed it, please know that we missed you! A heartfelt thank you to Geoff Parker and the amazing reunion team for the countless hours they spent planning and executing a phenomenal 25^th reunion!

Your executive committee is already working hard to make sure that we, the stupendous Class of 1986, can stay in touch easily for the next 5 years.  Did you know that our class has a detailed website (www.dartmouth86.com) and an active Facebook page? (Dartmouth 1986 is our Facebook name.) Take a moment today to check out these sites. Our website contains everything you need to know about class-related activities, and our Facebook page will alert you when there is something important you need to see on the website.  Thanks to our wonderful webmaster, Walter Tsui, you can now offer your input on or even become involved in everything our class executive committee is organizing. You can even send pictures to our website (email them to d86web@gmail.com) or post them on Facebook!

Each of us is part of a powerful community, the Dartmouth Class of 1986.  Our newest committee, the Compassio Committee, perfectly demonstrates the integrity of our community and makes me very, very proud. Read more about the Compassio Committee at the end of this letter.

Did you know that our class supports Dartmouth Partners in Community Service, an organization that assists and funds undergraduates and graduating seniors by placing them in non-profit organizations? This organization benefits not only Dartmouth students, but also the communities in which they work. Did you know that one of your classmates has prompted your executive committee to investigate the possibility of staffing community service activities throughout the world with Class of ‘86 volunteers and their families? Have an idea of what organizations we might support? Then give one of us a holler (our names and emails are on the website).

Would you like to unleash your creative energies on our class newsletter? We need a new newsletter editor to replace John Marchiony, who has dedicated many years to producing a terrific newsletter for us; thank you, John! The college has a staff of folks, including a newsletter intern, ready to help the person who takes over. Please contact me if you have interest in this position.

Enjoy the last weeks of summer with family and friends, and keep in touch!

Kendall Burney Wilson, President

kendallbwilson@me.com

Read about the Compassio Committee below!

The Compassio Committee of the Class of ‘86

Inspired by the 25th Reunion’s moving Memorial Service, Harry Carrel, Kelly Keller, and Alex Rossides have formed a new committee called the Compassio Committee of the Class of ’86.  (“Compassio” is Latin for compassion.)  The committee will focus on caring for classmates who are seriously ill or have a spouse or child who is seriously ill.   It will reach out to the affected classmate in a caring way, offering comfort and compassion.  It will serve as a support network for our classmates who need support the most.  If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Harry Carrel at hjcarrel@optonline.net.   Harry, Kelly, and Alex look forward to welcoming many more classmates to the committee.

When a member of the class learns of a classmate who is seriously ill, we would encourage them to reach out to a member of the Compassio Committee to inform them.  After first consulting with the classmate to confirm that they are open to being contacted by members of the class, the committee will then swing into action.  We will mobilize fellow classmates to write emails, cards, place calls, or even visit their stricken classmate.   We will make an effort to determine which activities on campus they were most active in, and then try to involve classmates from those activities in our outreach efforts.  Whether it be a fraternity, sorority, athletic team, arts or music group, etc., we will make an effort to get classmates from those walks of Dartmouth to reach out to the classmate in a caring and compassionate way.

And in the spirit of the Compassio Committee, our thoughts and prayers go out to Robin Hitt Hall who recently lost her husband, Brad, in a tragic accident.  Many thanks to the numerous members of the class who responded to Robin during her time of need.  She is most grateful and has expressed her gratitude to Kendall Burney Wilson on more than one occasion. Please continue to support her in the months ahead.

Location: Union Street, 107R Union Street, Newton Centre — very close to the Newton Centre T stop on the Green Line.