Darrow Gatherings

Anson celebrated his 70th with 300 or so of his closest friends at a party in Fort Collins. The party, which Bev did the lion’s share of organizing, began around Wednesday and continued through Saturday, June 1. (Anson’s actual birthday was Sunday, June 2.)

Six members of ’62 were in attendance—our entire Colorado contingent: Anson of course, plus Benson, Hoon and Rosenberg—and two of us journeyed out there from the east coast, Lang and me. Also among the gathered throng were Grant Bowry ’63 and David Groth ’65.

The phrase “300 of his closest friends” usually drips with irony, but in this case it seemed fit the facts. Everyone there had a close connection with Anson, from some part of his life. Think of a life as a pie chart: Anson’s has a Darrow slice, a rugby slice, a family slice, a Fort Collins slice, a hunting and logging slice…. The fun for me was seeing all these different sides of Anson at one time, reflected in those gathered around him to celebrate this occasion.

He has a daughter, Jennifer. Quite a back story there. After not knowing each other for most of her life, Anson and Jennifer now have a close relationship. Jennifer, along with her mom, Sandy, and Sandy’s husband were all at the party.
He collects and plays with model trains. There’s a storage building behind the house, in which a large room is devoted to about half an acre of trains, which are kept in running condition, demonstrated on Saturday.
He collects fossils. Trekking around out in the mountains inspecting power lines, Anson sometimes finds a fossil just lying there. He has a boxful of them in the living room.
He also collects duck decoys—the house is full of them.
His son, Anson has a pet pig, Penny, who acts like a dog but is smarter, and was the hit of the party on Friday.

And here are some things we already knew about Anson but had confirmed or updated:

He has no right to look as young as he does.
He has an amazing wife. Anson normally does not want a fuss made over him, even on “special occasions.” But this time, he told Bev, he thought he’d like a party. “You got it,” she responded, and what a job she did.
His sons are doing well. Young Anson served in the Army, in Iraq, and is back, safe and sound, works for his father, has a wife and the aforementioned pet pig. Carl is now in the Army, is stationed in Alaska, couldn’t make it to the party.
Anson’s large contingent of rugby friends can still drink enormous quantities of beer and still know some very naughty songs. Not much mellowing evident, there.

The photos below include some I took and some Frank took. If we get any more from others, we can add them later.

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To misquote Gloria Steinem only slightly, “This is what 70 looks like.” We have ample documentary evidence (right) that we’ve known Anson for 52 years, but it still somehow seems impossible.

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The Darrow delegation: L to R, back to front, Hoon, Lang, Groth, E., Bowry, Rosenberg, Benson, Perina, Groth, D.

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Karen and Ellie were among the ’62 spouses present. Bob’s fiancée, Patty, and of course Bev, completed the spousal contingent.

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Anson clearly enjoyed himself. Here, he listens as we serenade him with “Happy Birthday.” Later, he demonstrated his train set, only about 1/8 of which fits into this photo.

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