Class of 1911
All New Englanders recognize the name Bob Dunbar. Others may recall him as the sporting commentator of the Boston Herald. The following paragraphs are taken from his column of February 4:
"You may recall Jack Ingersoll, one ofDartmouth's spectacular, speedy halfbacksof 35 years ago, who came to the Greenalong with Jack Marks and Jesse Hawleyfrom the West. He's located now in Boston,selling a health spring water, and expectsto take up big-game officiating where heleft off before his arm was broken a year orso ago.
"Ingersoll looks remarkably youthful, asif he had played on a post-war eleven atHanover, N. H., rather than on the 1907team which gave Harvard such a pasting.He goes in for broadcasting football, andreceived national recognition for his airstory of the Navy-Notre Dame game atCleveland last fall."
In a letter of the same date Jack wrote in his usual vivacious manner:
"Just a line and some enclosures to giveyou some dope on the wandering will o' thewisp of 1911. Am now back East again,getting a great kick out of seeing all theold gang. Am going to become distributorfor New England. If anyone ever doubtedit before, I suppose now they will be sureI am all wet. Well, it seems to have possibilities, and I'm in it up to my neck andthe necks of several others.
"Hope to get to Hanover more often now."I am living at the Monastery—lrvingFrench's old home at 1002 Beacon St., New-ton Center, and go to Concord week-ends."
The name of this remarkable water is Capon Springs Water, the miracle water of nature. I am sure that if any of you feel distressed or in the need of refreshing, cleansing, or rebuilding, Jack would be delighted to send you literature, followed by the water itself, if you will but address him at 250 Stuart St., Boston.
Larry Odlin writes, giving me authority to say that he has been heard from in New York, that he is still on deck there, where he hopes to remain for perhaps another year. Larry, being of modest nature, probably will not forgive me for telling, but I am passing on the information that on the side during the past year he has done sufficient work at New York University so as to acquire the M.B.A. degree in accounting. Larry's official title is Lieutenant Commander, Disbursing Officer, Navy Purchasing Office, New York city. At least under this title appeared an article on "The Public Relations of a Navy Purchasing Office" in the Navy Business Quarterly, a magazine published by Our Navy.
The announcement of the marriage of Eleanor Ayers Magrane to Mr. William A. Smith at Trinity church, Boston, was received recently, but because I no longer have Mrs. Magrane's address I have been unable to extend to her the congratulations of the class.
I am sorry to announce the death of George French's father at Nashua, N. H., on January si. He and George together fiave conducted a law office in Nashua ever since the latter's admission to the bar.
Cap Ward has informed the Alumni Office that he has a new residence address at 137 Joralemon St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Gene Gardner's office seems to have been switched from Broadway to 15 Washington St., Newark, N. J., where he is district manager of the Warner and Swasey Company.
I can't vouch for it, but I am wondering whether Chick Jordan has not left Syracuse, since I have been given his old home address of 9 Jordan Ave., Wakefield, Mass. Anyhow, he may consider this an invitation to inform me.
An extremely interesting letter from Elt Norris shows how one guy can take a good sock on the chin and keep right on smiling. I personally enjoyed his first letter so much that I wrote him about it and proceeded to get further information fully as interesting. I hope you all will enjoy hearing about him and his country as much as I did.
"First, to answer two inquiries of yours,I will state that I am not in any smartsuburb of Cleveland any longer, but in thereal country. If you have a large enoughmap, you can find Perry six miles east ofPainesville; we are two miles from Perryon Route 20—the main Buffalo-Clevelandroad—on a seventeen-acre farm.
"Like one of the foolish virgins (I am stilla bachelor!), I was caught by this presentunfortunate economic situation withoutenough oil for my lamp, and am out herewith my household, consisting of mymother, my father, and my protege, Oleg,trying to keep off the county list. It is justanother of the so common stories, that ithas nothing unique or interesting in it-riding along with the rest of the worldon the seemingly permanent prosperity andlearning my lesson too late. However, I'llsketch my last few years very hastily.
"Four years ago the last of this month,the bank which was handling the trustestate of D. R. Hanna, owner of LeaderBuilding, decided to change the entiremanagement set-up, and out we all went,after nine happy years. Being unable toget back into that extremely limited line, Iwent back to architecture, in the large officeof my old friend Philip L. Small, personalarchitect for the Van Sweringens. There,associated with a large number of collegemen, I settled down with great satisfaction,participating in such interesting work asthe Shaker Square development, the new'Greenbrier' at White Sulphur Springs,John Carroll University, the Glen Martinaviation plant, the Horace Dodge boatworks, and so forth.
"About two years ago the big projectsbegan to slow up and the office force hadto be curtailed, with soon only a smallnumber of us left to be the nucleus of anew organization 'when things picked up.'Of course nothing came of that, so in Maythe office released the 'nucleus,' with theexception of a few to finish the supervisionof the work in hand. My special departmentof research, which I was building up, hadto go, and I was a free agent again, andhave been since.
"Well, anyhow, my Shaker Heights homeis gone. We lived a year in Chagrin Falls,a beautiful village southeast of Cleveland(where we were across the street from GeneGardner's aunt), and where I started in thebroiler business with John Field, whomyou may remember. This last September,however, we came out here to live witha young friend of mine, who had been leftthis fruit farm, and keep house for him,as he was alone with no relatives this sideof England.
"I am still raising some poultry and havea small laying flock, and take my produceto Cleveland weekly, where my friends seempleased to have high quality country stuff.Also I have become interested in milk-goats, and am trying to establish a smallherd. We have a few rabbits for eating, andI'm raising two pigs to learn somethingabout them. I expect to raise all our ownsupply of vegetables for next year, and toget into the fruit work with my youngfriend. So at least we can probably eat.;and we can make clothes from feed sacks!
"So this is my story. I am, as I said, onthe main route, and easy to find. Friendsare always more than welcome—a swim inthe lake, fruit in season, and a broiler ifyou can stay to dinner. ELT NORRIS."
Later: "Just to show how things happen, myfather, 74, broke his leg, both lower bones,a year ago, while pruning a climbing rose,and my mother had to have all her teethextracted a few months ago! Ain't lifesomp'n?
"This place, 'Hope Farm,' is really a delightful little lay-out. The old, nondescripthouse sets about a hundred feet back, on alittle rise, has some fine trees around it, andcommands a view of Lake Erie, from thefront, over fields and woods, about a mileaway. (Can you figure out that sentence?)From the rear we see the outskirts of PerryVillage, with a church spire, and a fewmiles away the high ridge that, you know,runs all along Ohio, marking a formershore of the lake.
"In the neighborhood are several verylarge nurseries and florists—Storrs and Harrison, Champion, T. B. West and Son,Kallay, and other nationally known firms.We are bounded on two sides by Champion's broad acres of privet, barberry, andsuch things. There is a little Anglicanchapel—St. Ames in the Fields—about halfa mile away, and Painesville's big Anglicanchurch is only five miles, so we are fixednicely that way.
"Just recently the Perry Men's Club hasbeen organized, composed of the leaders ofthe community, and we have a male quartette started, of which three of us aresecular college men and the fourth a 'Reverend.' There is also a little public library,and the Perry Township Park, with publicbeach, is two miles away, to drive. (We takeour baths there in the summer to savewater!)
"However, I must close and go to bed,for tomorrow is poultry dressing day andis quite hard work, because we do 'em allup ready for putting on the stove; that'sour specialty.
"You sure are getting an earful from meall of a sudden. I just wanted to let youknow things aren't quite so bad as thefirst letter, although we are quite lackingin future security, as a certainty. We aretrying to live by Faith and Hope.
"ELT NORRIS."
I am sorry to announce the death of Arby Proudfit, who has been suffering for a number of years from tuberculosis. Flowers were sent from the class and our sympathy expressed to his family. A further account of Arby, prepared by George Morris, appears in the obituary columns. For the first time in years I have had interesting news of Carl Groat. The following is taken from a recent copy of Scripps-Howard News. Our congratulations to you, Carl, and may we hear from you more often.
"Carl D. Groat, who assumed the editorship of the Youngstown Telegram on January 9, succeeding Felix Bruner, resigned,brought to his new position 20 years' experience with the United Press.
"During those years he served at varioustimes as Washington correspondent, bureaumanager in Washington and Dallas, assistant Pacific Coast manager, Berlin correspondent, and news director.
"Groat broke into the newspaper business on the Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.,covering a suburb and helping to get outthe mail editions. After being graduatedfrom Dartmouth College he returned tothe Eagle, but soon departed for theSpringfield Union, and thence to the citystaff of the Washington Times.
"While in that position he attracted theattention of the United Press through hiscoverage of the Ohio floods. On its Washington staff he covered several nationalpolitical conventions, and was in charge ofconvention service at Kansas City, Houston,and Chicago.
"He gathered additional experience asDallas manager, and then went on to SanFrancisco to join 'Barney' Furay on thePacific coast. Returning to Washington,he was active chiefly with the state, war,and navy departments, covering many ofthe biggest Washington stories of theWorld War.
"Going with President Wilson on hissecond voyage to Europe, Groat remainedat the peace conference until 1919, whenhe went to Berlin as correspondent. Reporting the stirring events of the post-warperiod, he piled up an impressive recordof scoops.
"Returning to this country in 1925, hewas successively cable editor, Washingtonmanager, and news director.
"Groat bears the reputation of beingpersistent. This description from a fellownewspaperman landed him on the Washington Times. His persistence in gettingaboard Secretary of War Garrison's specialtrain to the flood area after constant refusals to take local Washington men gavehim an opportunity at a story which causedthe United Press to hire him. He carriedhis persistency into his executive work afterexercising it thoroughly in developing newsstories as a reporter.
"Groat has been associated with some ofthe most important stories of recent years.He covered the Deutschland submarinestory at Baltimore and New London; wasthe first correspondent to interview Herrand Frau Krupp von Bohlen, mysteriousmunitions makers of the Kaiser's day;covered the Communist uprising in MiddleGermany and scored on the Kuestrinputsch by slipping his dispatch past thecensor in the form of a sports report.
"Recently he set for the United Pressstaff a standard for sane, accurate reportingon the Lindbergh kidnaping story, and hasencouraged the idea of frank reporting.
"Groat says one of the best complimentshe ever got was from W. W. Hawkins onhis story of the close of the San Franciscoexposition. 'lt just made me homesick forSan Francisco,' W. W. H., who was once theU. P.'s manager there, advised Groat.
"The new editor of the Youngstown Telegram is married, and has two daughters, one 14 and one 9."
Secretary, Hanover, N. H.
