Class of 1902
How did you like that letter from John Oilman? It hit me just right, and I know that the only way I can answer it is to be in Hanover as much of the time as possible from June 11 to June 13. But what strikes me is the fact that by the time you read this there won't be a lot of time to make plans. Here's hoping that the plans are all under way, not for John's reunion ut for our reunion.
Frank Moore took a short trip last summer up into Maine, going as far as the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project site. He had a chance to add several new pictures to his very interesting collection. I guess I forgot to tell you that one of Frank's hobbies is old New England churches. Anyway he not only has pictures of a great many of the old structures, but he knows a lot of their histories. So if you want to find out about that old church up in the country, ask Frank. Or if you have something he hasn't, add to his knowledge.
Frank says that his son Francis has changed from the Metropolitan Commission work on the Quabbin reservoir near Amherst to the Federal Flood Control work under the army engineers with headquarters at Brattleboro. This particular group is making a study of the tributaries of the Connecticut river.
Dorothy Dorr's engagement to C. Brooks Begg (Yale '27) of Detroit was announced recently. Betty Dorr, a senior at Smith, was awarded a Sophia Smith scholarship, an honorary scholarship for girls of high standing. If I hadn't seen my own children grow up, I'd still be thinking of these young people as little girls.
Gus Parry's daughter Lois is in Hunter College, and Gus hopes that Elliott will go to Dartmouth. So do we, and we hope also that he will have as many friends in college as his father had.
The Chicago Daily News of December 11 carried a large picture of Phil Fox with Rene Weiller, the French consul general in Chicago. The occasion, well let's quote: Under the huge dome of the famousouilding where he often presents thedrama of the stars, Dr. Philip Fox, director°f the Adler Planetarium, was decoratedlast evening with the cross of the FrenchLegion of Honor for his pre-eminent contributions to science, particularly in thefield of astronomy, and because of his military ervice in France during the WorldWar. The medal was presented by ReneWeiller, the French consul general, whowas introduced by Dean Wigmore ofNorthwestern University. A delegation ofofficers from the 341 st Infantry, of whichDirector Fox is colonel, was on hand."
And perhaps you didn't know that Phil is also an officer "de l'Ordre du Saveur de la Grece." And what is more, to us he is still Phil Fox and we are happy to have him ours.
Arthur Pattrell writes his usual brief note from the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson, Md. Sure it's brief, but it's to the point, and anyway it comes just as soon as I ask for it. You know if there is such a thing as a class secretary's heaven, they'll get together and vote special dispensation to fellows like Patt.
Arba Irvin, Guy Abbott, and Phil Griffin were the only '02 men at the Chicago alumni party at Louis Leverone's farm last September. What do you suppose they talked about? Well, I happen to know that "Hanover in June" was one of the items on the list.
A letter from Tom Hubbard's wife in December said that Tom was more comfortable. And I am sure that she will not mind having me put some of the letter in quotation marks, because I know that some of the ladies of the class actually read this column. "Now for my part, I've beenhearing for over twenty-five years of various friends of college days, and of courseI have enjoyed with Tom the collegemagazine. But there has seemed to besomething mythical about it all, for I havenot had the pleasure of seeing them. Still Iam sure they are real."
Real, of course we are real, just as real as human beings can be. We don't write letters very well, we don't take as much notice of passing events as we ought, and maybe we sometimes don't tell our wives all the details of this or that, but that's because we are just what we are, a group of average college men with all of the characteristics of the caveman more or less latent. But down in our innermost seldom revealed heart pockets we cherish some friendships and some common experiences, and we still think that as a class we have possibilities.
But that wasn't exactly all I wanted to say, only this next is for the men. This mythical business isn't just a matter of distance. I have come to the conclusion that if to many of the wives of the class the whole crowd is somewhat of a great myth, it is only because the husbands have made it that way. And I am sure that the class secretary is far less of a myth to Tom's wife, busy as she has been in Oklahoma all these years, than he is to some of the men who marched with him in the diplomareceiving procession of June, 1902. For myself I am all in favor of dispelling as many of these myths as possible.
Yet there is no little risk involved. It might be a minor tragedy for me if the figurative palm which in imagination in 1902 I awarded to some of my fellows appears in 1937 to have been in reality only lotus. But that is not what I expect. Rather do I look forward to meeting those who in the main have fulfilled their promise of becoming good earnest workers in this world of ours, with the added joy of finding that ugly ducklings have become swans.
Secretary, 130 Woodridge Place, Leonia, N. J.
