When Dan Grenier '84 first climbed the stairs to his freshman dorm room in South Fayerweather and dropped his bags, MTV had been on the air for a little over a month.
Jimmy Carter was in the White House, "Caddyshack" was in theaters and Christina Aguilera was in utero.
It was September 1980. Disco was on its way out, and preppy was making its way in.
It was the year America finally defeated the Commies, beating the USSR Olympic hockey team in the tearful "Miracle on Ice."
Murphy's was a little counter-and-booth diner called The Village Green, where Grenier waited tables. He was there the night Reagan was elected.
When he started at Dartmouth, tuition was $2,025 per semester.
Now, in 2004, Grenier has returned to Dartmouth -- but not for his 20th reunion, which will take place in June.
He's going to graduate.
Grenier left Dartmouth in 1985 under academic suspension, six credits shy of a degree.
Back in Hanover, Grenier marvels at all the changes the campus has undergone.
"Have you ever noticed how at Novack, you can time it, when the line's going to be long between classes? And I thought, where did people used to hang out before this? My freshmen roommate came up last weekend for lunch with his four kids and was amazed at the new places on campus," Grenier said.
As an undergraduate in the early 80s, the young lacrosse player had a 21-meal card that got a hole punched in it every time he entered Thayer.
"There wasn't a place where you could hang out and eat and study like Novack, that close to classrooms and the library. The enrollment size is the same now -- what did we do then?" he laughed.
"I think we used to just hang out in the reserve corridor a lot," he said, thinking. "The '02 room had a reputation of being a social area where you supposedly studied but really just chatted. And people really did used to sleep in the tower room."
Living in South Fayer, an all-male dorm, was a fun, social atmosphere, Grenier said. They had an unspoken rivalry with South Massachusetts, another all-male dorm.
South Mass allegedly -- though the crime has yet to be proven -- trampled South Fayer's snow sculpture in the late fall of 1980.
Grenier also recalls rushing the football field as a freshman, running laps around the University of New Hampshire band.
He chuckled at the memory.
"I don't know if they had any plans to get marching, but they probably squashed them once they saw 800 kids in green shirts running at them," he said.
The big traditions are the same, though, like the Bonfire and Winter Carnival, he said.
Grenier also recalls some famous classmates whom he found to be very friendly. He watched them go on after Dartmouth to do some amazing things.
"I remember that the kids who were the superstars of the campus were very
approachable. Jeff Kemp [son of Republican Sen. Jack Kemp] was the quarterback, and David Shula [son of Miami Dolphins' football coach Don Shula] was a receiver, both '81s, and I remember being very impressed by the fact that they were both nice, easygoing guys," Grenier said.
"Carey Wilson '83 played two years here, and I just saw in the wall in Thompson that he went on to play 12 years in the NHL. Time flies," he said.
While enrolled at Dartmouth, Grenier traveled to Toulouse, New York and Paris in off-terms. In New York he worked for an international student travel company who eventually sent him to work in Paris for six months.
With opportunities like those, who wants to stay in Hanover?
Grenier, an upstate New York native, eventually made his way to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where he currently resides with his wife.
"It's been a good life," he said, grinning widely. "I have a wonderful wife, and I'm adopting her daughter. I've done a lot of different kinds of work, been in the hotel and restaurant industry for many years, and now I'm an aspiring club pro at a golf club."
Here is a man who has experienced many things in his life, yet admits one itch never quite went away.
"I got tired of waking up in the middle of the night wishing I had finished [at Dartmouth], and that's true," he said, looking out the window toward the Green. "Sometimes that would be my first conscious thought."
Grenier met many Dartmouth alumni at the Portland Country Club in Falmouth, Maine, who were all very supportive of his return to Dartmouth, he said.
He started by taking classes at the University of Southern Maine, "just to get the idea of what it was like to do work again, which was helpful," he said. Then, when he was ready, he called Parkhurst.
Was he nervous?
"The College -- they've been tremendous," he said, grinning widely. "I had to make my case to get readmitted, but they've been very welcoming. I filled out the application, got my letters of reference, and it's been very good. It couldn't have been any better."
Grenier noted that Marcia Calloway at the International Office had been particularly helpful.
"She was a real help. She helped me get my degree audit," he said. As an '84, there is no BannerStudent record available to help him manage his credits.
"The computer does everything but laugh at me -- they don't have degree audits for guys my age," said Grenier. "I'd single [Calloway] out. She was very professional and helpful."
Grenier also commented that he was grateful for the grants and financial aid the college had provided, without which returning would have been far more difficult.
He returned in the fall term of 2003, taking two history classes and one science, to fill a distributive requirement. He has done the same this term.
And then, finally, at the end of Winter term 2004, he will have completed his A.B. and will receive his degree.
In April, the Dartmouth graduate will commit full-time to his next dream.
"When I get done here, I want to go through the PGA's Golf Professional Training Program. First of all you have to be working in the business, under the supervision of your boss. Then once a year go down to Florida for hands-on training," he said.
The process will take about three years.
Then, Dan Grenier will finally have it all -- the job he loves, the family he cherishes, a house on the beach and a Dartmouth degree.
Maybe he'll make it to that 20-year reunion in June -- degree in hand -- after all.
