2000 to 2004:  The Mitchell Years

June 2000:  President Gray becomes Head Agent in a Reunion promotion. Nobody steps up for the Presidency, and Billy Bags Mitchell, totally hungover, shamelessly takes the con when everyone else looks for coffee. It is the last time there is no Nominating Committee for Class Officers. Laurie Laidlaw Roulston volunteers for Treasury on the back steps of Bones Gate at dawn, Tim Ehrsam and Chip Debelius sign on as Secretaries, with Jim Feuille and Ben Riley as Newsletter Editors. Mike McCoy becomes the first Webmeister. Phil Odence continues his reign as Mini Reunion Chair for Life, and Elyse Benson Allan volunteers to help Burr.  The Class agrees to begin supporting Dartmouth Partners in Community Service and Mitchell is named to that Board.

July 2000-June 2001:  The Class of 1979 receives its second Class of the Year award (although we don’t receive it until September 2002 and no fruitcakes are distributed to voters!). Over 50% of the Class pays dues, more than 52% contribute to the DCF, and our website has over 600 email addresses (secured by the question of what word was on President Kemeny’s license plate). We are the second largest class contributor to DPCS. John Hoeven becomes a Governator (North Dakota) and Scott Blackmun starts his first stint with the USOC.

July 2001-June 2002:  We lose our dear friend Woody Woodwell in Tower 2. Pam Joyner named the first ‘79 Trustee. John Wetenhall appointed Executive Director of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. The Class supports the creation of a hockey exhibit at Thompson Arena. Jim Feuille creates a class challenge to obtain email addresses. Polly Ingraham is our Alumni Council representative. Buddy Teevens named as head football coach at Stanford University.

As recognition for a superb year, Bill Mitchell is recognized as 2002 Class President of the Year, Feuille and Riley receive Newsletter Editors of the Year, and Mike McCoy was named the first President of Webmeisters.  Meanwhile, the Class was recognized as runner-up for the 2002 Class of the Year Award.

July 2002-June 2003:  We host a Midi Reunion with the 54’s and 04’s during their Sophomore Summer.  Classmates mentor at least seven Tucker DPCS interns; as always, we hold several killer mini-reunions. Adopted classmate Dave Celone helps rescue two boys and a woman whose car plunged into a river in Thetford. We are again recognized as runner-up to the Class of the Year Award, in part because we achieve the highest percentage of classmates paying class dues for graduating classes since 1960, and 61% of the class gives to the alumni fund, a new Dartmouth participation record.  Deb Sortor Parnon volunteers to run the 25th reunion, and puts the planning into high gear.

July 2003-June 2004:  Bill Holmes publishes first of many incredible articles in the Newsletter concerning his surgery stints around the world, this time about Thanksgiving in Afghanistan. Phil Odence comes up with another brilliant first:  79th Day of the Year Mini-Reunions!  Over 50 classmates attend in Boston, New York, Hanover, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.  Dartmouth builds Kemeny Hall.

Led by Deb Sortor Parnon, the 25th reunion in June 2004 is an awesome, record-breaking success!  347 classmates attend, we raise $4.6 million for the College from 627 classmates (led by Mike Biondi, Peggy Epstein Tanner, Lizanne Galbraith Megrue and Ernesto Perizoo of the AXA zoos), 90% of dues-paying classmates make an additional contribution to the class DPCS project, and Linda Button puts together an unbelievable 400-page “Rekindle the Spirit” Reunion Yearbook, all of which are recapped and celebrated in our October 2004 Newsletter Extravaganza!  Dean Manual speaks at our reunion and chugs a beer with Bags at the podium. He points out that when he served as Dean, he was younger than we are at this reunion. Buddy Teevens and Louisa Guthrie speak in a windstorm. Ken Beer oversees the Nominating Committee which selects Laurie Laidlaw Roulston as President.

News Flash from Hanover…!  For the third time in seven years, the Class of 1979 has been named Class of the Year! Led by ex-President Bill Mitchell, former Webmaster Mike McCoy, current Webmaster Walter Chick, Head Agent Peggy Epstein Tanner, Secretary Mark Winkler, Treasurer Jim Boldt, Historian John Currier, and Newsletter Co-Editor Ben Riley were honored, on your behalf, to accept this annual award to the most outstanding class 25 years out and younger, at the Saturday, September 18, lunch program concluding Class Officers Weekend. See our proud mugs below! The citation from the College begins with these (truly deserved) words: “If Dartmouth were to clone a class, the great class of 1979 would be near the top (make that at the top, please) of the list of nominees.” The weekend featured our own Bill Mitchell as President of the entire Class Officers Association, making several stirring speeches about team work and the fact that there are no “I”s in “team” or in “College” but lots of them in “University.” Even ole Mitchell has a touch of profundity sometime! Our participation levels in dues payments and the Dartmouth College Fund, our great Mini-reunion schedule last year, generous contributions to Dartmouth Partners in Community Service and SEAD, as well as our record-breaking 25th reunion led to the unanimous citation by the Class Officers Executive Committee. Also, our Webmaster Emeritus, Mike McCoy, who also served as President of the College’s Webmaster Association, was named the College’s Webmaster of the Year!

1995 to 2000:  The Gray Years

1995-1996

• Class Home Page begins by paying $150 to Hanover High School student. 87 class e-mail addresses received by May and processed onto Home Page by Adam Samuels - Home Pagemeister.
• Fundraising - 48% participation / $111,136 donated to Alumni Fund (win Green Derby Award for most improvement over previous year - great rejoicing in home of Dave Costello (Head Agent).)
• Class costs reduced by sending one Alumni Mag. per Dartmouth couple.
• Dartmouth Bound - Class Project begins with $1000 gift from Class Treasury. (Concept first suggested by Michelle Kane O’Donnell (Alumni Council Rep.). Bill Mitchell (Class Treasurer) drops efforts to rally support for a large Grateful Dead mural after Phil Odence (Mini-Reunionmeister) points out that one already exists in Baker Reserve Room.
• Class letter read at Dartmouth 100th Homecoming. (The Letter)
• College decides to end tradition of reading a letter.

1996-1997

• 40th Birthday Mini-reunions (prompted and coordinated by Phil Odence) attended by over 200 people across the Country. Photos posted on Home Page.
• Fundraising - 50% partic. (highest among recent classes)/ $127,555 donations (Win Class of 1953 Award for Greatest Number of Donors from a Class, due in large part to efforts of Elyse Benson Allan (Participation Chair).)
• Dartmouth Bound - 80% of dues-payers (truly amazing number) provide extra $3000 in addition to $1000 contributed by Class Treasury.
• Class e-mail list reaches 240. “Class Honor Role” started on Home Page to list classmates’ efforts on behalf of Class and Dartmouth. “Class History” section also begun, noting significant events occurring during our four years in Hanover (e.g. visit of Grateful Dead in 77-78).

1997-1998

“The Class of 1979 will soon return to Hanover for its 20th reunion. It will be a gala event in every way and will add luster to a class that has distinguished itself in many ways. In the 20 years since graduation it has established a remarkable record and led the way among Dartmouth classes in its generous contributions to and support of the College.

One such contribution is the class’s funding of the Dartmouth Bound program—a program that recruits qualified minority students from a number of urban areas and covers the costs of their travel to visit the campus. More than 80 percent of the dues-paying members of the class have contributed to this exceptional program. It remains one of the most thoughtful and innovative programs among its kind among Dartmouth classes.

In the realms of communication—that vital part of any class’s activity and a key to its solidarity—1979 has sought out e-mail addresses for more than a quarter of the class. Presently, 1979 is also establishing a class history that will be expanded and updated regularly through this medium.

The class is a generous contributor to the Alumni Fund and proudly boasts of having established a record in the past two years. Sixty-eight percent of its members gave generously.

For all that the Class of 1979 has done and continues to do for Dartmouth, and for all its many achievements, the College is delighted to single it out for this richly-deserved honor: 1998 Class of the Year.”

James Wright, President of the College


Other noteworthy events during this period:

• Scheme by Burr Gray (Class President) to redeem reputation of fruitcakes has derivative effect of recognizing classmates’ support of Class and College.
• Fundraising - 51% partic. (ties for lead among recent classes)/ $145,546 donations.
• Dartmouth Bound - Classmates (once again, about 80% of duespayers) contribute $4,410, Class Treasury contributes $1000.
• Jim Wasz and Jeff Boylan (occasionally using James Joyce-like writing style) continue unprecedented streak of never having missed an Alumni Mag. Column.

1998-1999

• Fundraising - 55% partic./$218,880 donations (Win Green Derby for most improvement. Participation level is 3% points above any other recent class.)
• Dartmouth Bound - Classmates send $4420; Class Treasury sends $1000. (Thank-you Letter from President Wright to Class of 1979)
• Bonfire at Bill Conway’s recreates Dartmouth Homecoming scenario for nostalgic D.C. area alums.
• Dick O’Brien and Sue Goodman Cohen (Newsletter Editors) continue to crank out average of three newsletters per year, providing consistent reliable vehicle for news and important messages to class.

1999-2000

• Home Page updated by Michael McCoy. Material for “In Memory” section obtained by Ed Heilbron. Other new features include class scrapbook, E-yearbook, an online version of the class newsletter, reunion information, and class history.
• Goal of 550 email addresses achieved May 15, 2000.
• Fundraising - 56.3% - a new participation record for 20th Reunion Classes; $1,436,017 raised, of which $1,360,817 was unrestricted, setting a new 20th Reunion record for unrestricted revenue.  (Mike Biondi, Lizanne Galbreath Megrue, and Burr Gray present big check) | (Class Donation Statistics 1980-2000)
• Total expenditures on chocolate fruitcakes approaching $1000 level, finally prompting note of caution from Bill Mitchell.
• Internet comes to Reunions with live Tent Cams & email delivery, as conceived and implemented by Adam Samuels, Mike McCoy, Jim Cioban, Phil Odence, and supported by Dartmouth Kiewit Computing personnel.
• With help from Head Reconnecter Britta Hurley Knight and others, Ben Riley (Reunion Participation Chair) makes good on promise to induce over 200 classmates to attend (approx. 240 classmates attended).
• 20th Reunion is wildly successful. Jerry Jeff Walker plays at the Bema. Daniel L. DeFazio, Robert O. Schultze, Da’aga Hill Bowman win raffle for Dartmouth chairs for timely pledge or donation to the Alumni Fund. Bill Mitchell, promising to investigate fruticake expenditures of previous administration, is unanimously voted in as class president.
• Dartmouth Class of 1979 votes to support the Tucker Foundation’s Dartmouth Partners in Community Service program, which sponsors public service internships. (Tucker Foundation Press Release)

1990-91

• Peggy Epstein Tanner ‘79 selected to receive first Young Alumni Leadership Award.

1978-79

• Dartmouth football team, captained by Buddy Teevens ‘79 and Joe Nastri ‘79, wins Ivy League Title.
• Dartmouth ice hockey team, captained by Mark Culhane ‘79, wins Ivy League Title and finishes third at NCAA tournament.
• Dartmouth men’s varsity soccer team had a winning season which led the NCAA national tournament (where they lost their first game).
• First time in Dartmouth History that hockey and football teams win Ivy League championships in the same school year.
• First Dartmouth woman valedictorian—Elizabeth Procter-Gray ‘79.
• First Dartmouth woman Rhodes Scholar—Mary Cleary Kiely ‘79.
• At Commencement, President Kemeny acknowledges College debt to Class of 1979 on three issues:
  • Trustees vote in 1979 to move toward equal male/female admissions,
  • Restoration of student government,
  • Opening of Collis College Center.

1977-78

• Grateful Dead come to town.
• Men’s Golf team, led by future All-American Joe Henley ‘79, wins Ivy League Tournament.
• Women’s Tennis Team wins Ivy League-Seven Sisters Tournament.
• Huge snowfall allows students to leap “safely” from fourth floor of dorms.

1976-77

• Jeffrey Boylan ‘79 submits letter to Daily Dartmouth telling freshman to get out of the library and build the bonfire. Letter published in Daily D. for several years afterwards to “inspire” freshmen
• Partially finished bonfire built by Class of ‘80 ignited mid-week before Homecoming by an upperclassman who claimed it was the freshman class’ responsibility to protect their bonfire from early ignition.
• Trustees vote against equal access policy.
• Men’s Ski Team ties for first place at NCAA tournament.
• Women’s Crew Team finishes first or second in all regattas.
• Men’s Rugby Team wins Ivy League.

1975-76

• Class of 79 builds 100 tier Homecoming bonfire, largest in Dartmouth history. College proclaims limit of 80 tiers for all future bonfires.