As Winter term begins, the College mourns the deaths of two recent alumnae over Winter break.
Amy Naparstek '95 died at the age of 22 in a one-car accident on Dec. 30, and Alexis Boss '93 passed away at the age of 24 on Dec. 15, when she lost a 16-month battle with an illness related to a brain tumor.
Naparstek, of Boxborough, Mass., a magna cum laude graduate of the College who was planning a future in medicine, died suddenly last Saturday in a car accident in Montreal, Canada.
Naparstek was a research scientist at Harvard University, according to The Boston Globe.
At the College, she focused her studies on languages and was also a pre-med student. She planned to attend medical school this fall.
Naparstek died when she lost control of her car on the highway en route to Hanover from Montreal. The accident occurred in Canada.
College Rabbi Daniel Siegel said he believes it was a one-car accident.
At Dartmouth, Naparstek was a sister at Delta Delta Delta sorority, and was very active in community service.
In addition, Naparstek tutored through the Academic Skills Center, and was a senior interviewer in the Admissions Office.
From her freshman through junior years at the College, Naparstek was actively involved in Dartmouth Community Services through the Tucker Foundation, said Jan Tarjan, associate dean of the Tucker Foundation.
Naparstek was active in Tucker's Special Friends Program, which serves Upper Valley residents with developmental disabilities. She also helped form a group to help out at the Orford Road Home in Lyme, a home for people with developmental and "profound physical difficulties," Tarjan said.
During her senior year, Naparstek took on more "independent" community services, like spending time visiting and reading to an elderly woman in Vermont, Tarjan said.
Those who knew Naparstek remembered her as an energetic, upbeat woman.
Assistant Dean of the College Lisa Thum said Naparstek was a "compassionate, exuberant" person.
"She constantly wanted to give of herself," Thum said, "and sometimes there's not a lot of people like that around."
Thum, who was Naparstek's class dean, said Naparstek was one of the students who she got to "know really well and connect with."
Jess Duda '96, one of Naparstek's sisters at Tri-Delt, said, "Amy was one of the most energetic, involved people I ever met ... She was always busy doing things, helping out and she was happy about doing it. Everything she ever did, she did 100 percent."
Siegel said Naparstek was a bright, caring person who once excused herself from an important medical school group interview to greet someone she knew. "She didn't worry about what impression she was making," Siegel said.
Hebrew Studies Professor Shalom Goldman, who knew Naparstek as both a student and as his teaching assistant in one of his Hebrew classes, called her "wonderfully enthusiastic and optimistic" and added he never saw her in a bad mood.
Naparstek is survived by her parents J. David and Gertrude Harris Naparstek of Boxborough, Mass.; her brother Mark Naparstek of Boxborough, Mass.; and her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Ben Harris of St. Johnsbury, Vt. and Mrs. Ida Naparstek of Ayer, Mass.
Funeral services were held for Naparstek yesterday afternoon in Acton, Mass.
The family asks any donations in her memory be made to either the B'Nai Brith Youth Organization in Newton, Mass. or the Tucker Foundation at the College.
The College also lost a recent alumna, who contributed significantly to Dartmouth athletics while at the College, last month.
Boss, of Providence, R.I., a standout women's tennis player at the College for four years, died in Rhode Island of an illness related to a brain tumor on Dec. 15.
Boss, who women's tennis coach Chris Kerr called "a presence" and a "role model" in the Dartmouth tennis program, was diagnosed with a malignant, inoperable tumor in the brain stem in September, 1994.
Before she fell ill, Boss was just getting started as a travel consultant for a business in Connecticut.
At the College, Boss was a history major and a sister at Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
But she will be remembered most for her commitment to tennis. In Boss' four years on the tennis team, she was a five-time All-Ivy selection -- twice for singles and three times for doubles.
In addition, Boss was a two-year captain of the team--a distinction held by only one other woman in the entire history of the women's tennis program at the College.
Kerr said Boss was an outstanding tennis player, but she was also a great person.
"I will miss a lot of things about her, not just the many parts she was playing as a captain ... She was a terrific young lady," Kerr said.
Boss is survived by her parents, Ron Boss '61 and Marjorie Boss of Providence, R.I.; two sisters, Martha Boss Bennett '89 of Providence, R.I. and Robin Boss Dorman of Providence, R.I.; and a niece, Alexis Dorman..
