Class of 1928
The Alumni Fund campaign for 1937 got under way last week with dinners in New York, Chicago, and Boston for the agents for this year. "Os" Skinner, our perennial major-domo, who earned a merit badge of the highest order by landing us in 7th position among all classes with 103% last year, attended the New York dinner along with Curley Prosser and Bruce Lewis. At Chicago "Os" nominated Jack Carson and Fred Stone and we don't doubt for a minute that both of them were present at the Chicago dinner. At the University Club in Boston I sat beside "Rupe" Thompson and John Nixon. Don Norris was there, but he got tangled up in conversation at the moment when the rush came for the seats and found himself at the very foot of the table, as we were unable to save a seat for him near us.
During the course of the evening "Rupe" Thompson revealed that he is leaving the Newton Trust Company on May 1 and is moving Eleanor and his two boys, Peter and David to Providence. He is to be- come assistant cashier of the Providence National Bank, the oldest national bank in the United States, a position which he accepts with great enthusiasm. "Rupe" will be forced to resign as 1928's representative on the executive committee of the Boston Alumni Association.
John Nixon reluctantly revealed a bit of personal family history during the course of the evening. It seems that John and Ethel greeted one John P. Nixon Jr. on November 20, 1936. We blush that such news has been so long getting to press, but welcome the future mound star to the rapidly increasing 1938 younger family.
Gene Andres, for several years traveling secretary for the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, has recently settled down and plans to stay around Boston for a while. He has become a contact man with the firm of Thornton & Curtis (Yale '28), dealers in unlisted securities. Mrs. Gene recently had her picture in a Boston paper in connection with a meeting of her sorority, in which she is as prominent as Gene has been with the Phi Gams.
Ellie and Nellie Jones have gone to Chicago for a visit to escape the heat of a Florida spring, which I understand can be quite intense at times. Ellie is still with the Miami Herald, and we expect soon to hear that he is editor.
Cal Billings, chief-getter-outer in New York, according to the description of himself in a notice I recently received from him, has been quite active rounding up New Yorkers for class dinners. A dinner with 1929 has been planned for April 9, and I understand a goodly attendance is expected. Cal writes that a mixed party has been planned for May. If you are apt to be in or about New York in May, it might pay you to contact Cal at 60 Gramercy Park North, New York City, for details. He informs me that Wat Dickerman is now in Washington working on President Roosevelt's Vocational Committee on Education, that Eddie Reece went with Calree Gloves at 443 Fourth Ave., and that Bill Monaco is now a lawyer on 42d St., listed in the New York 'phone book.
Reports have come to our ears that enthusiasm is already being stirred up for our Tenth Reunion, which is still a year away. You may be interested to know that your class officers plan to hold a meeting in New York some time during May to lay plans for publicity and other details. Vice president Ralph E. Langdell writes that he will be glad to be with us as soon as a meeting can be arranged. "Lanky" is one of Manchester's leading young lawyers (the other one is Ken Graf), and according to "Lanky's" stationery he is now a partner in the firm of Wyman, Starr, Booth, Wadleigh & Jack McLaughlin, class treasurer and Dartmouth's gift to Campbell Soup, expects to be there with his checkbook. He reports that after he writes three more checks we won't need a treasurer. Secretary Roy will have to act as host, being the only real New Yorker among the officers. When we come out of that huddle we hope to announce the chief publicity agent and the membership of other reunion committees so that those appointed can get ready to help us hit a high figure in June of 1938. If 426 of us can contribute to the Alumni Fund in 1936, improved conditions should permit at least 250 to get back to Hanover in 1938.
The following from the Secretary: Been taking quite a drubbing for missing the last issue of the MAGAZINE, for which I am extremely sorry, but will try to give you a double dose this time to make up for it.
Will start off with a fine letter from Dana Condon, which arrived just the other day. Dana is still the only delegate in Central America—for the past three years he has been head of the United Fruit Company's freight and passenger department for the interior of the Republic of Costa Rica, making his headquarters at Limon. They have just completed this year's coffee crop and exported some 100,000 sacks over their lines—about one quarter of the entire crop, the balance being handled by eleven other competing companies. Letters from Dana are always interesting, and I am going to pass this one on to you verbatim:
"The cover of the March issue of the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE inspires me to sit myself down to my letter-writing machine and dash off a few words to the Class Secretary. You cannot appreciate how much those snow pictures mean to us down here in the tropics. Snow and snow scenes may mean little to you fellows who have to waddle through it year after year, but for one who was born and brought up in the good old Granite State it is a fact that I sincerely miss snow and all it brings with it. The only snow I have seen in nine years was a small patch on the top of Mount Washington five years ago on the first day of }uly, and I would have given half my fortune (which amounted to about four dollars that day) to be able to bring that patch of snow back to Central America and preserve it. And believe me, it would have been the most popular exhibit in Costa Rica, for many of the natives have never seen snow.
"Henry Keith, class of '23, is the only other Dartmouth man in the country, to the best of my knowledge, and we hold our Dartmouth reunions with due regularityon street corners, in coffee houses, in doorways, or wherever we happen to meet. But we discuss the old days with just as much enthusiasm as any of you fellows do in your larger gatherings and dinners. We were all set to sit down to our radios and listen to the Yale game last fall, but one of the young ladies on our cruise party out of New York here in San Jose that day proceeded to go insane on our hands, and you can well believe that event kept us busy. Henry heard the game and gave me complete details the same night. Incidentally I won a bottle of whiskey on that game from my boss, who is a Yale man.
"There are no more vital statistics at this end as yet. Joan Frances, who was born November 16, 1934, was duly announced in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE shortly thereafter as the first class baby born outside of the United States, and now I beg to claim another distinction for her. It is quite safe to presume that she is the only class youngster old enough to talk who shuns the English language entirely and speaks only Spanish. She speaks Spanish like a little native without any accent, but refuses to speak English. It amuses some people to hear her in prolonged conversations with her mother, who speaks to her in English and the young lady carries on her end of it in Spanish, but that has become a commonplace thing in our homestead and we think nothing of it. They understand each other perfectly, and that is what counts after all. My business is eighty per cent Spanish, and the folks back home kid me now about my Spanish accent when speaking English. Be that as it may, I can still make myself understood in English.
"Winslow Hatch, class of 1930, spent a week or so here in the city a few months back. We lived in Fayerweather Hall at the same time, but I did not recognize him hiding behind a red moustache at first glance. He was up to the house to dinner one night, and did we hash over our DARTMOUTH days. He is due back here again this summer (to marry Henry Keith's sister, so she says, and She ought to know).
"My hobby now is short wave amateur radio. Some months ago I installed a Gross CB-70 transmitter in my house, and now talk pretty well all over the Western hemisphere. I talk frequently with Dick Dorrance (Dartmouth 1936) up in Rutland, Vt. Occasionally talk both ways with my family in Manchester, N. H. I tie in regularly with stations in New York and Massachusetts, so if you have any friends who operate sets around your neck of the woods you might give me a shout some night and I'll give you all the late hot dope from the tropics. I operate under the call letters of TIaDC (the last two letters being my initials—which is the usual practice in this country, there being only six amateur stations operating here). Being a foreigner, I had to get a special decree from the president of the Republic to get my license, but I have a pile of fun out of it.
"Expect to be in the States on July 8 (in New York). We are leaving here on June 25, according to present plans, and taking a swing down around three South American ports on the way north, just to see what it is all about down that way."
We had a combination dinner with '29 here last night—about 40 there. One of the traditional features of such functions is Paul Kruming's whiskey auction—everyone puts a certain amount of spare change in a hat to meet the expenses, and some reliable person picks the winning numbers. It never matters a whole lot who gets it, as he is made to understand that if he doesn't open it up he is several kinds of a louse. Something usually goes wrong in the drawing, though, as this time both quarts were won by '29 men, who don't, of course, touch the stuff, and a few dinners ago Jerry Pitts won a quart, which was just a waste of good whiskey, as Jerry is in the business and has countless flagons at his constant beck and call.
The various '29 guys looked extremely healthy, and, as a matter of fact, prosperous—Johnny Laffey takes care of quite a bunch of real estate for the Equitable Life, he mentioned something like 20,000 pieces of property that the company owns, and Johnny handles all the stuff on the West Coast.—Gus Wiedenmayer is doing nicely in a bank at Newark, N. J.—Lit Johnston sells insurance, and plenty of it, I understand—Larry Lougee reads law books and figures out how the Long Island Lighting Cos. can get away with murder, or at least justifiable homicide—Frank Middleton has been circulating through the various departments of the Manufacturers Trust and is at present in the credit department.
Paul Kruming, Os Skinner, Cal Billings, Phil Orsi, and a few others are getting things under way for a mixed party of '28 men and their wives or other entanglements in the near future. Paul showed me a letter from Jack Phelan, who allowed as how he'd be there.
And speaking of such matters, Johnny Phillips dropped into the office a couple of days ago and mentioned that he and Art Gow have got every thing straightened out for a year from next June. Johnny leaves New York on Thursday night, gets to New Haven some time later, stays over night with Art, and they start driving to Hanover at 10 o'clock Friday morning—alone. John says it was agreed all around that their wives wouldn't have much of a time at the Tenth; so that ought to give some of you other gentlemen a little courage.
Art Kneerim has just gone into the advertising business—with Merrill Anderson Co., 305 East 46th St., New York.
Met Eddie Reece on 4th Avenue the other day—he has recently gone in business for himself selling gloves—Ed used to be with Chet Bolles' old firm, Fownes Gloves —Ed says it's pretty nice to be working for yourself and that business has been way beyond expectations.
Irving Engelman is now assistant director of the New Jersey State Old Age Assistance Dept. Irving is the only assistant director and handles pretty nearly all phases of the work, including the distribution of an appropriation which will soon run to $6,000,000 a year, does a lot of speaking as well—says most of the states are having plenty of headaches organizing their departments, but New Jersey fortunately has a five-year start on all except New York—lrving has about 83,000 old people on the rolls. Looks like the '28 contingent in Jersey might as well start filling out applications right away.
Kewp Munson is mixed up with the Foreign Relations Department of duPont at Wilmington, Del., which must be a very likely spot, as we heard the other day that he pushed off on the S. S. Southern Prince March 6 for So. America and will be gone several months.
The College recently forwarded an item from Lin-Yi Ho that Hsi-Jui Shen is located at Pukow, China, in the accounts office of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway.
Roy Myers, the itinerant schoolmaster, is at present handling the French language at Union College—said he had Bill Harris up there to give a lecture on South America shortly after Bill had returned to this country. Dave McCathie moved up to Schenectady not so long ago to start work at the Van Curler Hotel. Roy sees Bill Lary and Dick Schmelzer occasionally. Bill is with Texaco at Pittsfield, Mass., and has two energetic kids, the boy is about 6 months old. Dick is teaching English at R. P. 1., and Roy says Dick's wife is practically dean of the place, which comes pretty close to making her Dick's boss.
The Makepeace infant is just about six weeks old at this point. Mab has seen her and reports that she is "simply adorable." Elizabeth Franchot probably doesn't know it yet, but she has a rather famous relative whose name is Franchot Tone.
Bud Maring is a real estate operator in Newark, and continues to write business for the New York Life.
It is with a great deal of regret that we must record the deaths of Abe Grogins and Dick Dold. Jerry Pitts read of Abe's new job at Greenwich, Conn., in a recent issue of the MAGAZINE and dropped into the store to see Abe only to learn from Abe's sister that Abe had died of heart trouble last September. Abe had been ill some time ago with the same trouble, and it was thought that he had completely recovered. Dick died on December 5 last year at Wichita, Kans.
Secretary. Wm. Iselin & Co. 357 Fourth Ave., New York As Prepared by John V. Phelan, 1253 Great Plain Ave., Needham.
