Dear Classmates,
At the conclusion of our very successful 40th Reunion, new Class Officers were selected for the next five years. I was
honored and humbled to become your Class President. I promise all of you that I will do my very best to maintain the excellent
record of our previous eight Class Presidents including, most recently, Hank Amon, who did such a distinguished job in leading
our Class to and through our 40th.
Hank will continue on in the capacity as our representative to the Alumni Council and also will be Executive Vice President
so that he can represent our class at functions which I am unable to attend. We are also extremely lucky to have a class officer
slate which includes such distinguished classmates as Roger Hansen as Secretary, Bob Murphy as Treasurer, Bob McConnaghey
as Mini-Reunion Chairman, Bob Blake as Out-of-Hanover Reunion VP, Mike Gonnerman as Special Projects VP, and Carl Boe as Newsletter
Editor. Jim Griffiths is our Alumni Fund Drive Chairman, while Bill Webster continues in his role as Bequests Chairman. Ted
Atkinson and Bruce Wagner will be co-chairs for planning our 45th Reunion, while John Sottile, adopted by our class from the
Class of ’64, is our new webmeister.
Already, on July 11th -- fresh back from the 40th Reunion – most of these newly elected officers met for our first
Executive Committee Meeting at Bill Webster’s on Long Island Sound. It was a lovely afternoon and a lively gathering
with many new ideas being proposed that will be introduced to the class at our next class meeting. That will be held at Pierces
Inn in Etna NH during our Mini-Reunion, which is the weekend of October 21-23rd. Weather should still be good, and foliage
in the latter stages of peak form. Join us if you possibly can.
The main thing we agreed upon at the Executive Committee meeting is that the overarching theme for the next five
years will be the concept of "broadening participation" in various class activities of all sorts.
This will pertain to attendance at our various class activities, the Alumni Fund drive, in dues-paying, and in the many events
that are scheduled around the country and throughout the year. One, for example, will be a gala Class of ’65 65th Birthday
Party. Bob Blake is already at work checking out various ideas for format and venue.
As a part of “broadening participation” we will be reaching out to many of you
that may have not been able to make various events, or to contribute. When we do, we mean it:
We don’t necessarily want money (although that helps!); but
what we mainly want is you:
your attendance, your input, your ideas, your participation, your news,
your company.
In September of 1961, we all – 700+ of us – entered Dartmouth and became Lifelong Members of The Great Class
of '65 whether we graduated together or not. We married spouses who also became, in a very special way, linked to the Class
of 1965. We have lost a number of our classmates over the years for one reason or another, and are now down to around 630.
A little over half of those have been active participants in one way or another. For those that have not been active, or only
occasionally so, we hope you will decide that the time to participate is now. Reach out and attend, perhaps at this Fall’s
Mini or March’s gathering at Vail. And, please pay class dues, make even a small contribution to the Alumni Fund, and
provide news.
See you soon... I hope.
“Kenny Mac” McGruther
