1936*
At the suggestion of the executive committee I am editing our class notes in this issue and taking this opportunity to explain the status of the secretary-chairmanship.
You may recall that a year ago this fall I met with about twenty-five members of the class at the Dartmouth Club in New York and discussed the advisability of securing a new editor for the column. There were two reasons for this discussion: first, I felt that the news column would be better served by an editor close to New York and to the New England scene, enjoying more contact with classmates. Such an editor might conceivably tone up the literary quality of the notes and widen the base of class participation by enlisting the support of various sub-agents strategically located in different parts of the country. Second, a personal problem with which I will not burden the class but which many of you know of, involved the time and energy of making a fresh start in the ministry or in academic work.
These ideas were sympathetically received by the group and a number of names were suggested of those who might prove competent and interested. After a slow-moving correspondence from Florida with various New Yorkers, Jack Smith agreed to edit the class notes. However, it was felt that a more permanent solution should be found.
The executive committee, although technically having the power to appoint a new secretary-chairman, felt that an election would be more satisfactory to everyone. The plan for election which is now under way is as follows:
1. The executive committee has nominated three men from whom one shall be elected to the office of secretary-chairman for the period between now and the five-year reunion in June, 1941. These three men are the slate: Dean Gidney, Dang Scherman and Jack Smith. They were decided upon by correspondence and informal discussion and meetings carried on since the middle of last fall.
2. A postcard ballot will be mailed to all members of the class coincidental with the publication of this issue of the MAGAZINE, and will incorporate the executive committee nominations as well as a space for your own choice. In order to be valid these ballots must be remailed by October 5, 1939, to Dick Morton who is acting as the executive committee representative compiling the election statistics.
3. The election results will be announced by the executive committee in the November MAGAZINE issue, a simple plurality being the determinant of the new secretary-chairman.
It is the opinion of the executive committee that any of the three men nominated are capable of and in a position to perform the function of the office in question. The position is not only that of collecting and disseminating class news, but also includes many organization and other features, especially as we rapidly approach our five-year reunion, and since there have been some difficiencies in our activities as a class during the last three years. They ask for your united and undelayed support not only with regard to the election itself, but also in connection with the plans that will follow the election.
Although my own life has rearranged itself so that I will be permanently located at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, a glance at the map shows that I am still far from the beaten track. I do feel strongly that a newly elected secretary-chairman making a fresh start has an opportunity to instill real vigor into our class affairs.
The important issue is off the editorial chest. With the help of Al Gibney who will finish these notes, we'll get on to a little news. Roy Adams, at Harvard Business School since 1936, is working as an accountant for the American Felt Co. in New York. Word reaches us via Jack Sawyer that Myron Clark is engaged (Jack feels that the above disclosure might bring forth some sort of communication from Myron). Jack, incidentally is selling for General Foods out of Utica and visits Canton once a month. It is reported that Bill Crangle is about to be married (the important event may be over now), and that Bill graduated in June from the Albany Law School, now living in St. Johnsville. Seth Thomas is selling for some concern in Saginaw, Mich., while Stew Mac Mackin and Jim Buyoucus graduated from Cornell Law School this spring.
Alright, Gib, take it away....
OK Dick..... I'm pleasantly propped at a fraternal desk back in Hanover. It's a great feeling! Hanover is still unchanged in spirit though its face has been lifted since we all knew it, there are a few less trees and a few more dogs, a few miscellaneous entrepreneurs fixing for the freshman filch next week, an assortment of football talent which gives the appearance of brains and not brawn, rumors that we'll have a crafty team playing wide-open ball but dropping a couple of games to more experienced opponents, some really cool weather and rain to soak things after the driest summer in years.
Sparkles of matrimonial moorings compiled by the god of love find Bill Niss wedding Abbey Sharpless of Cambridge in November. Nisser has been sharpening the wits of wage earners in the payroll department of the World's-Fair on the night shift, having been lent to the Fair by Arthur Andersen and Co., accountants. Bob "Moss" Morris sailed the straits of wedlock with Weecie Coke of Cleveland just before Labor Day, for which occasion Bill Shaw supplied mattresses, floors, and shirt studs for visiting firemen. Bill Essex is saying "I do" in Peoria as this goes to press.
Charlie Stern dropped into Hanover the other night fresh from a weeks touring the D. O. C. cabins and bucking the strain of Frank Kappler's wit. A white "D" on a green background decorating a car on a side street in Newark this summer prompted a note asking the owner, if a Hanoverian, to telephone me, and a call soon brought Ray Reitman and I together for lunch. Having satisfactorily settled numerous of Newark's political accounting problems, he's now in business for himself as a C.P.A. and working on some race track accounts. Al Butler with family of Louise and Louise ]r. has moved to Westchester. .... Ed Redington, now a staid lawyer in N. Y. C. is asking for punch bowl wedding presents early next spring Lane Donovan divulges ". .. .I am married and have a small 50n.... am not living with my folks, and while I don't know why, only once in a great while do I get my mail. .... I spend my evenings washing dishes and staying home with Joe Jr." Stoney Jackson has succumbed to the game but not the art of golf while doing a bang-up job in Hanover for the fraternities and the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. His "chipping jigger" serves the purpose of all clubs whether steel or wood and relieves the normal congestion caused by a bag by eliminating it entirely. Rob Button just got back from a musical cruise into southern waters John McKernan drafts a note—"Yes, I'm still in the newspaper game—and loving it. MacPherson, as you probably know, has been married for over a year and has a daughter, too. No, I'm not married Phyllis Brown escaped me!" That's all the gossip and dribble I can lay my type to in Hanover town—but it's one great place to be back in, even for a short stay.
One comment on Dick's relinquishing the class secretary job: the executive committee voted to back him to stay in the job till the reunion if he felt he could handle the thing to the best advantage of the class. I had a long phone conversation with Tread on this point and he feels someone else will be in a better position to handle it than he, his only qualm being that he did not want the class to feel he was just scrambling out of what is certain to be a tough job for the next two years. From the committee to Dick goes this one thought: you've done the best job possible under the strain you've had personally—good luck, Dick, and we're backing you to the hilt on your decision. We're sure the class will do the same.
Secretary-Chairman, St. Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y.
* 100% subscribers to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. on class group plan.
