Class of 1882
The Fiftieth
Fourteen of the class, just half its living membership, returned for the celebration: Coburn, Comer, Davis, Felker, Ivelley, Lawrence, Leviston, lines, Locke, Luques, Pease, Pierce, Poor and Webster. Lines, Pierce and Poor were accompanied by their wives. Lines also had with him his daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Sargent Wellman; and Lawrence brought along with him his younger son, Paul, who made the fourteenth at the Class Supper, and, Jack says "had the time of his life, establishing contacts with his father's classmates whom he thought to be a fine lot." Poor did not arrive in time for the supper, being held in Upton by a high school baccalaureate sermon which he had to deliver on the Sunday; but he and his wife, as he relates, "swung around the Inn about 10:30 Monday morning with a large "82' on our windshield, and seven '82 men surrounded us at once. Onlookers might have thought Billie Poor was a highly important member of the class." He is. He was just in time for the Alumni Luncheon and the presentation of the class thereat.
Of the fourteen men who failed to show up, one half sent letters of greeting and regret. Crannell and Strong explained that the doctor had squarely barred their attendance. Letters came also from Bartlett, Dame, English and Kimball with hearty messages and varying explanations of the reasons for their absence. DeWitt, Frame, Goss and Parker did not appear, though earlier word had indicated they were coming. No word whatever had been received from Condon, Partridge, Quimby and Severance. For the most part '82 found entertainment at the Inn. A corner room on the second story of the Inn was furnished the class by the College for Headquarters and served the purpose adequately and well. It was the general rallying place and a fount of sociability.
The Reunion Supper was, as always, an event of chief importance. It was held Saturday night in a private dining room of College Hall. The supper itself is said to have been excellent; the tables were prettily decorated with flowers, the service was satisfactory and the good fellowship marked 100%. At each plate was found a miniature automobile bearing the registration number '"82."
In the regretted absence of President English, Luques took charge and ran off the programme. Every man present, according to custom, was called upon to tell his story, informally and as he would. These talks were interspersed with reading of letters from the absentees. Leviston, having got caught in a painful automobile accident soon after starting on his long drive from Richmond, in which he managed to get his head through the windshield, nevertheless persisted in his journey and appeared at the supper with an impressive display of bandages, becoming quite the hero and undaunted sport of the occasion.
Strong's letter to the class contained some comments on the published Report of the Class, particularly the deplored omission therefrom of Porter's life sketch, which was then presented and read to the company in its belated form. Pease kindly offered to have mimeographed copies of it struck off in his office for distribution to the class; this has been done.
At the business meeting after the Supper the following officers were chosen: President, Pease; Vice-President, Luques; Secretary-Treasurer and Class Agent for Alumni Fund, Strong.
One feature of the Supper that added to the hilarity was the preparation by Coburn and Luques of a song sheet containing some old favorites of '82, making possible fond reminders of good old times on the campus and in the dormitories. The hours of this comradeship passed swiftly, happily and richly in memories and appraisals. Nobody was in a hurry for the break-up.
The class joined according to individual tastes in the various Commencement events. It went as a unit to President and Mrs. Hopkins' reception Sunday evening; less unitedly to the lacrosse and baseball games. The death of Professor E. J. Bartlett the week before prevented a class call at his home, which had been a regular and happy feature of previous reunions. He was the last of the faculty of our day.
The Alumni Luncheon in the Gymnasium, Monday noon, brought Eighty-two into high relief, when Sandy Webster, deputed by President English in his enforced absence, after felicitous words of general introduction of the class to the Alumni, called each man to his feet, related his record and described his points till his ears burned and he sank back to get his breath. Before leaving the Gymnasium, the Class lined up to have a picture taken.
It was not a large Commencement this year; nor, perhaps, save for Eighty-two, particularly noteworthy. But all say it was a good one; some declare it was the best reunion the class has had. The weather was fine throughout; Hanover never lovelier; the College wonderful to contemplate. Now we move on. As Hod Parker said years ago: "Eighty-two still lives."
Eleven of the twenty-seven members of the class, it appears, were subscribers to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE last year (1931-2). Eleven men! That's a team. The Secretary salutes the "team" as a new year begins, and hopes for recruits to enlarge the squad, increasing its force and providing against casualties. The MAGAZINE is the easiest, cheapest, and most reliable medium of class communication. But the team must pull together. The Secretary cannot supply all the news as well as forward it. So will the subscribers be also reporters and furnish the Secretary with brief notes of what's happening to the class. If you are too modest to speak of yourself, relate something about the other fellows; and let them get back at you. Come on now, '82!
The South Norwalk, Conn., Sentinel is printing a series of typewritten sketches of well known people in and around the Norwalks. On Saturday, July 2, appeared one of John B. Lawrence. It does not add materially to the information contained in the class report, but carries a half-tone cut of Jack, with a wide-spread absence of hair on the top of his head, above a pair of piercing eyes and a smiling though firm-set mouth, that indicate his abounding vigor, and confirm the note that "he knows a great deal about boys and has been probation officer for the Superior Court for twenty years."
Letters from Frame and Goss accompanying their remittances for the class tax voted at the reunion express sincere regret that they failed to appear in person as they meant to do, and declare unfaltering loyalty to '82 and to the College. They register a renewed purpose to be on hand in '37.
A letter from Pierce, dated July 30, in acknowledgment of the Secretary's report of the reunion, brought the disturbing word that it was written in a sick chair, which for a fortnight had vied with the bed for his company. He was receiving first-stage treatments for a probable operation. So he described his case, recognizing its seriousness, but facing the future with courage and cheerfulness, as he said, "leaving the results with Him who knoweth best." The operation was undergone, but the patient failed of recovery, and Pierce's earthly life was thus suddenly closed. See Necrology section of this number.
Two members of '82 were able to see the eclipse of August 31 in their home towns, Felker of Rochester, N. H., and Luques of Kennebunkport, Me. Word just received from the latter records that he was not only in the area of totality but had a perfect day for observation. As his house is surrounded by tall trees, he went to the golf course and there had an uninterrupted view. It was all wonderful, especially the last rush of the moon. "The corona was beautiful, but as for Bailey's beads (if I saw them), they reminded me of the protuberances on Andy's head after he had been whacked by Mrs. Crawford's umbrella. The light at the time of totality I can only describe as uncanny. It didn't seem to make any difference to my dog, but a flock of crows in a nearby field immediately made for their home in the tall timber. Several whip-poor-wills circled about. When the sun came out again, they must have thought someone had played a huge joke on them. With New England thrift I have put away my dark glasses to have them ready for the next total eclipse, which I understand is due here in another forty years."
August was a busy month for Bert. Kennebunkport held an "Open House" on the" 18th, exhibiting some of its old houses and antiques, authors' workshops, and artists' studios. One of the houses thus opened was the Luques residence, built in 1802; once a well known stopping-point on the old stage coach route from Boston, now reconstructed as an all-year residence and containing some remarkably fine furniture, museum pieces, etc. The Open House was held for the benefit of the Memorial Library, of which Luques has been president since its organization in 1916, so that he was quite in the limelight, and had his first experience in talking over the radio in promoting the celebration.
IF YOU HAVEN'T SUBSCRIBED TO THE MAGAZINE FOR 1932-33, DO SO NOW! SUBSCRIPTION BLANK IS INSERTED INSIDE FRONT COVER.
The Fifty Year Class
Secretary, 89 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass.
