Class Newsletter - SiteProxy Welcome Page

Class of 1987 Officers
PRESIDENT
H. Randall Morgan, Jr.
SECRETARIES
Wendy Becker
Melissa Walshein Smith
TREASURER
Anne Schnader
NEWSLETTER EDITORS
Christen O’Connor
Amy Baker
MINI REUNION CHAIR
Laura Gasser
HEAD ALUMNI FUND
AGENTS
Tim Bixby
Raffiq Nathoo
WEB TALENT
Julie Hubble
Jenifer Holcombe Soykan
ALUMNI COUNCIL
Bob Charles
Small aside: A Class Project Primer
Class of '87 Newsletter
3 Cheers for our Annual 87th Night Mini-Reunions
We had another great year of “87th Night” mini-reunions! Mini-Reunion Chair Laura
Gasser once again thanks her wonderful gang of volunteers around the country and in
London for their enthusiasm and organizational efforts. Here’s the news from the first
few gatherings (news from the rest of the April 87th Night events to follow):
London led off on March 25th, and we invited the London-area ‘84s, ‘85s, ‘86s, ‘88s, and
‘89s to join us. Chris Marquardt reports: “Small but fun! Joining me were Lucy
Vanderbilt, David Ey-Roth and his wife, and David Myers plus Peter Harned ’85, Eric
Rovick ’89, and Margo Miller ’89. Wendy Becker almost made it but couldn’t (sorry to
miss you, Wendy). Quimby Pierce couldn’t find a babysitter, alas. Might try for a
similar event in the fall. What day is 87 days back from December 31? :)” (Ed. note from
Laura: Chris’s mom is English so he has family in London. He’s working as a financial
consultant and “tries to stay generally sociable.” Go Chris!) (Cont'd p. 2)
An Unauthorized Green card (Amy's specialty)
Generally speaking, I have shamelessly used this newsletter as a mouthpiece for my
favorite musings and occasional rants, but this time you have been spared. I did,
however, pump an unsuspecting colleague of mine for information about two of our
classmates in a cab ride home from the annual swanky Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation (JDRF) gala fundraiser. San Francisco is a big chapter of JDRF and I always
love going to the event because it is a real window into how the other half lives (I don’t
mean the half managing their diabetes, I mean the wealthy half donating in hopes of
finding a cure). I kid you not, there were donors giving away more than my entire 401k
with a single wiggle of that little paddle they hand out with your very own number on it.
Generous, yes, and highly choreographed.
ANYWHO, being at this affair reminded me of running into Doug Collister three years
ago, at the same event. His wife worked for the Honeree of the evening, who would be
accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Doug cheerfully gave her (Cont'd p. 4)
As you may know, our “Class Project” is called DPCS. Would you like to know what that is?
DPCS is a student internship program through the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth called “Dartmouth Partners in Community
Service.” The program is highly competitive, and students are required to find their own internships, secure a position with a
Community Service Organization (CSO), complete a lengthy application and undergo an on-campus interview with a team of
individuals, including college administrators and DPCS Board members.
Once chosen, the interns are then matched with an alumni mentor (yup, that’s us) in the city or area where the student will serve
their internship. This year about 40 mentors will be selected... (Cont'd p .6)
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Class News
In San Francisco, Laura Gasser reports: “A cozy and festive
gathering on April 1 at Landon Gates’ and wife Anne’s
beautiful new home! Together they renovated an entire
building, and the wraparound city views from their top floor
unit (including from a spectacular roof deck) are awesome. In
attendance were Landon, Anne, Laura, Amy Baker, Kent
Hoxsey, Michael Tanner and (shown at right) Evan Marquit
and his wife Lollie (not in photo), Alex Terry, and Ken
Hittleman.
Michael entertained everyone with tales of his bachelor life;
Alex shared pictures of his beautiful 2 ½ year old twins; Kent
and his wife Debra are happy to be back in the Bay Area after
some time “out in the wilds” north of Sacramento; Evan and
Lollie were enjoying a kid-less date night out (true to form,
Evan invited Laura to join him and Lollie at their post-party dinner, but she graciously declined); Amy and Laura shared
experiences with and stories about the ridiculously demoralizing kindergarten application process in the SF public and
private schools; and with just a little prompting Ken told the cool story of how he met his wife (who dated most of his friends
in high school and had no interest in Ken until they reconnected in their hometown of San Diego years later).”
Shown above on Landon Gates'
gorgeous but freezing rooftop deck:
Kent Hoxsey, Landon Gates and Mini
Reunion Chair, Laura Gasser.
At right: Evan Marquit, Kent Hoxsey,
Landon Gates, Ken Hittleman, Alex
Terry, Mike Tanner, Laura Gasser
and Amy Baker
Thanks for coming, everyone! And the social ball continued
to roll: Laura and Evan met up for lunch that very next
Monday, and Laura, husband Marc, Landon, and Anne had
dinner out a week later. (Amy’s note: Feyna de Clercq could
not make it, but had she joined us she surely would have
participated in the conversation with Laura about ridiculously
demoralizing school application processes, except she and I
would have been beefing about pre-school. We are both
flabbergasted at what it takes to secure a spot. “You’re
kidding”, said Feyna, in a different conversation. “Preschool?
I need letters of recommendation for PRESCHOOL?!!”)

Class News
In Hanover, Christen Fitzpatrick O’Connor reports: “Not even the promise of free Class of ’87 Golf Umbrellas for all
classmates in attendance could bring the shy Hanover-area ’87s out of the woodwork. But Holly Taylor, Bill Martin, and
I met up for lunch at Hanover’s
newest hotspot, Salt Hill Pub, on April
2nd. Bill has lived in Hanover for
about 13 years, after a business career
in New York and London. He and wife
Corrie ’90 are raising three teenagers
and Bill has picked up a teaching gig
at the Tuck School. Holly is still
teaching psychology at Tufts and
raising her family in Hanover, which
involves putting a lot of miles on the
car and relying heavily on her
husband, Carl. I am still juggling 4
kids ranging in age from 8-13 and
logging many hours in the Financial
Aid Office at Dartmouth.”
In Los Angeles, we invited all Southern California Dartmouth alums to join us on April 9 at a Santa Monica wine bar
(owned by Anton Anderson ’88). Pam Haering and Shay (Sharon) Holland report: “We had such a fun group with
several new faces and turnout by the men of the class! We don’t know how it happened but we got so caught up with
our fellow ’87s we forgot to take pictures! And Sharon even had her camera in her purse the whole time.
Our mini-reunion was followed by a rollicking good time with about 35 people from various classes who stayed until
closing but this is the list of ’87s: Pam Haering, Shay Holland, Brian Venerable, Stephen Salem, Gordon Cook, Jeff
Moore, Omar Karame, and Anne-Marie Marable. Brian was honored by the Temple City Chamber of Commerce Board of
Directors as the 2009 Director of the Year. Brian moved his practice to Temple City in 2008, relocating from Pasadena.
Brian and his wife Kischchen live in Altadena where they work together to raise a family. When not busy being a
chiropractor and dedicated father, Brian finds time to sing in the male chorus at church. Shay went to Haiti to report on
the work of a disaster response team days after the
January 12th Haiti earthquake. Shay covered the team’s
work setting up a children’s hospital at an orphanage in
Port-au-Prince. She wrote articles for local and
international magazines and blogged about her experience
at: http://blotyourlips.blogspot.com/.”
In Boston, Anne Schnader and Deb Rowe Marchiony
report: “It was small, but Anne, Deb, Martha Ehrmann,
Colleen Sullivan Mikkelson and I had a great time at
dinner on April 15th!”
(Editor’s note: Photos, people! We need photos… Drew
Desky & Brendan Connell, pictured at the NYC event, had
to make an appearance on this page, on your behalf!)
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Class News
In Park City, Utah, Shana Hopperstead sent
along a photo memorializing their dinner out
on April 18. Pictured are Luke Seaver, Grant
Seaver, Debbi Jayne Seaver, Tucker Lee,
Cole Lee, Jessica DiCaprio, Ross DiCaprio,
Shana, and Jeff Lee.
Shana reports:
“We are all enjoying the great outdoors that
Park City has to offer, and our kids have
been busy with skiing, soccer and lacrosse.
We reminisced about dorms and
Dartmouth’s LSA programs (Debbi went to
Mexico, Shana to Spain and Jeff to France).
Shana plans to take her family to Spain this
summer and revisit key places including
Granada, where she studied.”
In Hartford, Liz Spear Deakin shares:
“A smaller than usual group got together for the Hartford ’87 mini-reunion at the new Besito Restaurant in West Hartford
on Saturday April 24th. Pictured from left to right are Mark Chavey, Coe Bancroft, Liz Spear Deakin, and Joe Voves.
Though we were missing a few ‘87s (and spouses), we enjoyed a fantastic meal and great conversation. The mini-reunion
provided a fun opportunity to catch up on life in the past year and discuss our new challenges in this busy phase of life
with busy schedules, teenagers, middle and elementary school aged kids, and a toddler (in Coe’s case)! We hope to have
our large group back together next year, and perhaps have a more expanded mini-reunion with other ‘87’s living in CT.”
Check out our next newsletter for recaps of 87 th Night mini-reunions in Washington DC, Minneapolis, and Chicago!

Here’s who attended: Rob Martin (above), David
Huang, Heather Myers, Drew Desky (at right) ,
George Bingham, (below), Tim Bixby, Kim Jacobs,
(lower right), Ashok Gangolli, Brendan Connell
(page 3), Jeff Lazarus, Susan Aboyoun, Nigel Ekern,
Peter Buttenwieser, Karen Grossman Verlaque,
Evan Azriliant and John Paterson, ’86 (honorary ’87)
Class News
In New York City, Tim Bixby writes… oh wait, he DIDN’T
WRITE! That’s correct, Tim Bixby once again wins an award for
the best attended mini reunion and the lamest (as in,
nonexistent) write-up of the event. But he also (and somewhat
redeemingly) sent in the most number of photographs and we all
know that a picture is worth a thousand words. So all is
forgiven.
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Class News
A Class Project Primer: DPCS
This year about 40 mentors will be selected for 3 month internships, about half of whom serve in the summer term. The alumni
mentor does not have to be affiliated with the internship provider (the CSO organization). The mentor acts as a local “friend”:
giving advice, sharing Dartmouth stories and experiences and challenging the student in regards to their chosen internship
and their own personal growth. Mentors typically meet with the interns at least three times during the term. Mentors often
report that their relationships with the interns is very fulfilling, fun and a wonderful way to meet the current generation of
Dartmouth students and get acquainted with service organizations in their community.
We need your help.
The Board of DPCS has developed a survey to create a confidential database of future alumni mentors. The 11 classes that
currently support DPCS are being approached first since DPCS thinks it is important to give them the first opportunity. So, if
you think you might be willing to help serve as a mentor to an intern at some point, please fill out the very short survey by
clicking on the URL below. By filling out the survey, you are NOT committed to being a mentor and there’s also a chance that
you may never be contacted.
SURVEY
The survey will take only a couple of minutes and all information will be kept confidential by the Tucker Foundation. Please
take the time to fill out the survey by copying or clicking on the URL address below and help both our class and Dartmouth
students better serve our communities. (Editor’s note- I took the survey and it really does only take a few minutes.)
Survey URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=j2hMS3CzK2WI_2bI7rV2vOpA_3d_3d
Want more info?
DPCS supports students working in the community service sector during off-terms both financially and intellectually. A more
complete description can be found at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~tucker/fellowships/dpcsinternships/index.html.
Alternatively, if you have questions, feel free to contact our devoted Class Project Liaisons: Jessica Benjamin
(jessicabenjamin@optonline.net) and Ricki Stern (bigears@mindspring.com).
Homecoming weekend mini-reunion with the ‘84s, ‘85s, and ‘86s!
Mini-Reunion Chair Laura Gasser is busy planning the next mini-reunion event, a Homecoming weekend pre-game reception at
the Hanover Inn on Saturday morning, October 30 th . The ‘84s, ‘85s, and ‘86s will be joining us, so it should be an especially
festive event! Details to follow in upcoming newsletters, as well as on the class website. Please contact Laura at
lgx@cpuc.ca.gov if you’re already planning on heading to Hanover for Homecoming.
Green Carded by a Friend:
Just wanted to let you know that Ken Block ‘87 is running for
governor this year in the state of RI, and I think he has a good
shot of winning. He founded the moderate party of RI this past
year effectively on his own, and it has snowballed into a major
campaign within the state … I suspect some people from our
class at Dartmouth might appreciate knowing this, and might
even want to help support his campaign.
Chris DiGiovanni
Editor's note: By inference, Chris is keeping busy
professionally. Check out his footer:
Christopher W. DiGiovanni, MD,
Director, Brown University Orthopaedic Residency Program,
Professor and Chief, Foot and Ankle Service,
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,
The Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University

Class of 1987 Scholarship Fund
Class News
For years our class set aside money to fund a Class of 1987 Scholarship, and a few years ago we reached critical mass and
were assigned our first Class of 1987 Scholar, Elise Wilkes ’12. There was a photo of her in this newsletter a year ago, taken
in front of the Baker Tower after Christen O’Connor treated her to a welcome lunch. Recently, Elise sent us a thank you letter,
reprinted in its entirety here:
Dear Members of the Class of 1987,
Thank you very much for your contribution that allows me to study at Dartmouth. I have recently completed my second
year of classes and have greatly enjoyed all five of my terms in college thus far. I have made many close friends and cannot
begin to express how grateful I am for all of the academic and extracurricular opportunities the school provides. I chose
Dartmouth for its undergraduate focus, small size, reputation for good professors, and opportunities for research. Dartmouth
has exceeded my expectations in all of these areas.
I have been consistently impressed by the teaching ability and approachability of my professors, and I love it that my
classes typically have fewer than 30 students. My favorite classes so far—sealing my decision to become a chemistry
major—were both terms of honors organic chemistry. My professors for both terms were absolutely wonderful, I was always
engaged in each lesson because my professors presented the material in interesting ways and were themselves obviously
fascinated by the information. Class discussions were highly encouraged; the professors set high standards, and I made
some of my best friends in these classes.
When not in class, I am actively involved in the Amnesty International chapter at my school, serving in positions ranging
from treasurer to president each term. It is rewarding to help plan school wide events relating to human rights and to get to
know the other students on the executive board—each of whom have their own fascinating backgrounds in human rights
work. In the fall of my freshman year, I was also very involved in the 2008 presidential election around campus and worked
as an intern for a New Hampshire senate campaign. It was a very exciting way to start off my time at Dartmouth! I also
served as a Women in Science Peer Mentor and work as a chemistry tutor.
Above all, I am impressed by the meaningful research positions I have been offered during my time at Dartmouth thanks to
the school’s support systems for undergraduate researchers and female scientists. I started working in a geochemistry lab in
the winter of my freshman year through a Women in Science Project internship. The research was so interesting that I
secured funding for a second year of research with the same professor and accompanied him to a conference in San
Francisco during my winter break to present a poster. I even collected samples in the field for the project—something I had
never done before. I also secured two other research jobs in Arizona over the summer, working in another geochemistry lab
and an atmospheric chemistry lab.
I am currently on an off term, working full time in a chemistry lab in Arizona. Next year I will begin working in the chemistry
department at Dartmouth on a different research project through the Presidential Scholars program. I will work on an organic
chemistry/nanotechnology project. I am very excited for this opportunity and believe it will evolve into a senior honors
thesis project.
I know that Dartmouth is a great fit for me, and that I have already benefited substantially from my time here. I am excited to
see what the next two years bring. Thank you again for making this possible for me.
Sincerely,
Elise Wilkes ‘12
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Class News
Amy Baker's Unauthorized Green Card, continued from front page:
...all the credit for his attendance. My infant daughter was barely 6 months old, I had been back at work for two of them
and she was not yet sleeping through the night. I was simultaneously thrilled to be “out” at a real grown up event and
catatonically tired. Doug and his wife had survived not one but two small children and he said with utter confidence
and cheerfulness, “Oh, she’ll start sleeping through the night, just watch. It’ll happen and happen soon. You’ll actually
be in a panic and rush into her room to see if she’s okay.”
Of course, he had no credible evidence that this would be the case, and in fact he was totally wrong as it was AGES
before I got anything close to resembling a full night’s sleep. But he said it with such confidence and such charm that I
believed him, and I found it enormously reassuring. I felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel, which was truly
a gift. It is thoroughly generous, affable gestures like these that I like about Doug Collister.
Freshman year, when I did not make it onto the crew team that was driving to Tennessee for spring training (at the time
this was not unexpected, but somehow still devastating,) Doug said with that same air, “No problem Bakes, you can
come skiing with my family in Taos”. And true to form, I got my first real fix of powder and high altitude sun, thanks to
Doug Collister. Once, in the mid 90’s, I was at his bar in Palo Alto called Left at Albuquerque, and in the middle of
managing a highly popular, totally crowded scene of a bar, he secured me a pair of dice for my table. Somehow, the rest
of the table concluded I was well connected, but to me it was another of Doug’s small and highly welcome acts of
generosity.
At any rate, I didn’t see Doug at this year’s gala event. But I did see a former colleague of Ellen Proctor Wilson, and
got caught up on her professional activities. Ellen has always worked for well known, highly reputable brands, and is
now working with the company making the Flip digital video recorder. Her project sounds really cool and hip, but I
forgot to ask if it was secret or not so I won’t share it here.
Just suffice it to say that after plugging this poor fellow for details on Ellen, I started in on Clare Killeen. I last saw
Clare in person right after she took this job with Abbott Diabetes, and all she would say at the time was that she was
enjoying herself immensely but she didn’t find a smooth, well-run operation when she arrived. My source, who now
works with her there, confirmed that she is widely respected and has turned her group around, working closely with the
It’s a Wrap
And on a final note- this electronic newsletter will be followed quickly by another one, capping off our mini reunion tales. As the next
issue will arrive in late June, you have a perfect window for timely news to be shared. Send us your stories! (For example, was
anyone else tired just reading about all the things Elise has done in her first two years? You couldn't accuse me of being an over
achiever at Dartmouth, but I wasn't a total slacker either, and no way had I wracked up that many accomplishments by year 2. Or 4.)
Please send photographs too.
Amy Baker Christen Fitzpatrick O'Connor
Amy.Baker.87@alum.dartmouth.org Christen.M.O'Connor.87@alum.dartmouth.org