Kenyon Class of 1966 Fall Class Letter

Dear classmates,

We know you look forward to this letter to learn about what’s going on in our classmates’ lives; we’re also excited to share some of the news from the Hill this year:

This semester, 12 members of the Class of 2026 were able to enroll as the direct result of donor support for the Kenyon Access Initiative (KAI), a vital scholarship effort to increase access for low-income students. We’re only just getting started and aim to enroll 50 students each year through KAI, in addition to other robust financial aid. This additional diversity in backgrounds and lived experiences will further enrich daily life on campus.

Chalmers Library in the West Quad has quickly become a hub for such connections day and night. Its neighbor Lowell House, home to admissions and financial aid and named for Pulitzer Prize winning poet Robert T.S. Lowell IV ’40, is also now open. Oden Hall, future home to social sciences and named for former president Robert Oden, will open for instruction next year. The 261-space underground parking garage for visitors and employees is already helping to ease congestion in the Village without disrupting the beauty of Gambier we all remember so fondly.

This year students will also soon have access to a dining option in “downtown” Gambier, when Peirce Express opens in a space under the Gambier Deli. This space will also be home some evenings to a student-run bar known as Flats, helping to provide a non-residences nightlife option. Look for more about both of these in an upcoming issue of Kenyon News Digest.

In other news, the Music Department is celebrating its 75th year. Alumni Council is developing an updated version of the Kenyon songbook (Kenyon has a songbook!) which will be viewable online soon and distributed at Reunion Weekend during the all-class sing. If you haven’t saved the date yet for Reunion Weekend, remember that all alumni are welcome to attend May 26-28. (Especially those of us who have already celebrated our 50th Reunion!)

I hope you’re now feeling wistful about our own time at Kenyon. I invite you to turn that nostalgia into action with a gift to help make all this possible! Gifts to the Kenyon Fund can be directed toward enrolling the next high-achieving group of students through the Kenyon Access Initiative, broader scholarships and financial aid efforts, athletics, one of the College’s many green centers and more. Please consider making your alma mater and today’s Kenyon students a philanthropic priority this year by giving online at gift.kenyon.edu.
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing the news from the College this fall. I have certainly enjoyed (as always) hearing from those of you who submitted class notes for this letter (see below). I encourage folks who haven’t updated us with one recently to consider submitting a quick life update for the next batch of notes in the spring.

Thank you!
Jack Buckley

Reunited and it feels so Kenyon

Reunion Weekend 2023 
will take place in Gambier May 26 - 28

Along with special programming for the 50th Reunion class on May 25, we’ll be celebrating milestone reunions for classes that end with 3 and 8, as well as K80s, Peeps and Chamber Singers. 

All alumni are invited to return to the Hill for Reunion Weekend, especially those celebrating a reunion beyond their 50th. Registration details will be emailed in early 2023. If you think we may not have your most current info, please share your up-to-date email and phone number with us at updateinfo@kenyon.edu. (We can’t invite you if we can’t reach you!)

We are so excited to reunite with you! See you soon.

Save the date for Reunion Weekend

Upcoming Events for Alumni

Save the date for these upcoming events for alumni taking place online and on the Hill.
  • The Center for American Democracy's Midterm Elections Panel
    Hear from alumni experts at this free, virtual event Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 7-8 p.m. ET.

  • Spring Giving Challenge
    Our annual 36-hour online giving challenge will take place Wednesday, April 26 – Thursday, April 27.

  • Reunion Weekend
    All alumni are invited to join us on the Hill May 26-28.
Visit kenyon.edu/alumnievents to register and view our full alumni event calendar.

Class Agents

Class agents are your connection to campus. To learn more about becoming one, contact Annual Giving Operations Coordinator Terry Dunnavant via email. 

• Jack Buckley
• Burt Dibble
• Jim Foster
• Lowell Gaspar
• Larry Leventon
• Carl Mankowitz
• Jerry Reynolds
• Bill Rice

Class of 1966 Fall Notes

Burt Dibble: We are slowly recovering from COVID dislocations. I have fully retired from Family Medicine. Mae continues to practice law from home, office, and condo, and we now are officially Snowbirds. Mae's firm has an office in Cape Coral FL, the location of our condo, so she takes her work with her. I like to say, I am fully retired and my partner is fully employed! We both continue activity in the not-for-profit sector. I am getting over a total hip replacement and she a double meniscectomy successfully, but slowly. Growing old is not for sissies! We hope you are all well.

Richard Nolan: It is fall here in Montana. Hay has been cut and bailed, temps are dropping, summer birds have left, and snow has already fallen in the mountains. While I continue to recover from cancer surgery a year ago, Gretchen and I are enjoying low impact travel. We just returned from a week of boating, hiking, and kayaking the San Juan Islands near Bellingham, Washington. Next up, Loreto, Mexico for two weeks in November, followed by four nights at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful snow lodge at the end of January.

Jerry Reynolds: My wife Claudia and I returned to Ohio for a weekend in mid-September to attend the 60th Reunion of my Parma Senior High School Class of 1962. We also represented our good friend and the Best Man at our wedding, Jim Jarrett, now deceased. Jim and I were well remembered for our many contributions to Parma High. It was a delight returning to the Buckeye State through the scenic mountains of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Claudia and I are doing well in retirement, enjoying gardening, National Theater productions, European river cruises and our annual retreat to Sint Maarten. Good health, safe travels and best wishes to all.

Bill Rice: I realized years ago that I wasn't wired for retirement, however when Covid descended in March 2020, I also realized I could work from my office in Key Largo readily so my wife and I became Florida residents, and we now divide our time between Duxbury, Massachusetts and the Keys. I am active on 3 not-for-profit Boards as well as my Company's Board, and that keeps me hopping.

Jake Rohrer: A very busy summer & early fall here in Newport Beach, California as Westerners head to the beach to escape our very HOT and dry weather. Among our visitors was a group of my wife Andi's sorority sisters from U C Berkley. Included in that group was Laurie Jarrett, our classmate Jim Jarrett's widow. For those of you who don't know, I met my future bride at Jim and Laurie's wedding in 1969. I was Jim's best man, and Andi was my date for the wedding festivities. That began a 50+ year relationship that is just as special today as it was in 1969!

John Rutter: On Mother's Day our son Johnny told us that he, his wife Liz and their two children Morgan and Jack were moving to Cleveland. We are thrilled that our grandchildren will be 12 minutes away. We are lucky to have a kid magnet in our one-year old female black lab, Bubbles. All is well.

Peter White: I am still spending the warmer months of the year in Montana in my mountain cabin and the rest in my home in Gambier. I appreciate both for many reasons, not least Gambier because of the College and because my father's family was from Mount Vernon, where I had good times as a kid and an endless supply of brownies from my grandmother when I was a student at Kenyon. I also enjoy returning to Cleveland during the Ohio phase of the year to enjoy the Art Museum and the Cleveland Orchestra, remnants of a lost prosperity but both thriving because they are very good.
Read notes from the Class of 1967 and the Class of 1965
Support Kenyon
If you missed the chance to share your news for this letter, you can submit a class note online.

Class Listing

Kenyon is grateful to the following donors for their generous support of the College, including the Kenyon Fund, during the 2021-22 fiscal year. An asterisk (*) indicates a donor is a member of the Henry J. Abraham Society for loyal and consecutive giving. An obelisk (†) indicates an individual who is deceased.

1966
Annual Fund Total: $62,496  
Class Participation: 39.80%

Presidents Society

Donors of $50,000 or more
Michael D. Bulmash PhD P'14*

Kokosing Society
Donors of $25,000 to $49,999
William P. Rice*

Bexley Society
Donors of $2,500 to $9,999
Bruce K. Blocher (Ret.) 
John J. Buckley Jr., FACHE*
Eric S. Busch*
Frank B. Dibble*
John C. Jenkins P'99 '03*
Roy F. Spalding 
J. Dustin Wees*

Kenyon Society
Donors of $1,000 to $2,499
Lawrence F. Leventon*
Carl S. Mankowitz MD*
David A. McKellar*
Peter A. White P'01*

Kenyon Society
Donors of $1 to $999
Brian A. Bidlingmeyer P'96 '03*
William E. Campbell*
Stuart W. Campbell*
Richard A. Cantine*
John M. Cortelli*
George H. Craig Jr. 
Harvey Fernbach MD, M.P.H.*
James H. Foster III 
Gary E. Friedlaender MD*
Lowell S. Gaspar MD*
William B. Gibson*
Norman C. Hartsel*
Daniel E. Koblentz MD 
Louis H. Martone MD P'95 '00*
Robert P. Moyer*
Richard T. Nolan*
Charles F. Peace IV*
John C. Rohrer*
John D. Shullenberger JD 
Michael C. Sivitz MD*
John H. Welty*
Stephen B. Zinn MD*

George Wharton Marriott Society
These alumni have included Kenyon in their estate plans or have made other planned gifts.

John J. Buckley Jr. '66
Michael D. Bulmash '66
Frank B. Dibble '66
David W. Foote '66
John '66 P'99 P'03 and Elizabeth Jenkins P'99 P'03
Dr. Carl S. Mankowitz '66
David A. McKellar '66
William B. McKnight Jr. '66 P'95
Richard T. Nolan '66
William P. and Dorolyn Rice '66
John C. Rohrer '66
Mr. and Mrs. J. Dustin Wees '66
Peter A. White '66
Kenyon College
105 Chase Avenue, Gambier, OH 43022