1931*
Dear Dad: Please send check. (Signed) Tom. About eight or nine years ago a letter like that meant a hurry call, and this is by way of a plug for Beany and the Class Agents as an additional reminder for you to get your check for the Alumni Fund in to them now while you are thinking about it and while the campaign is fresh. We are indebted to Beany for agreeing to take over the job of handling our Fund again this year, so let's try to make it a little easier for him by getting our checks in early.
Along the news front we have a new address for Ernie Moore—2401 E. Newton, Shorewood, Wisconsin. Ernie is still traveling out through the middle west for the Luxite Division of the Holeproof Hosiery Company.
In line with other changes of address, Norm Rolfe lists his new address as 260 Broad Street, Windsor, Connecticut. Jim Kimball has traveled all the way from the rugged climate of New England to the sunny shores of California, 4712 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa.
As previously recorded Harry Townsend sailed for Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil on April 5, as a representative for the Singer Sewing Machine. It was rather interesting the way Harry managed to land this job. He told me he had been interested in going to South America or Cuba for some good American company for the past five years. One day he answered a half-blind ad in the New York Herald-Tribune and on reporting to the agency was told that Singer had an opening. However, when he appeared at Singer's they didn't even seem to know of any such job and didn't recall having run the ad. As a matter of fact, they told Harry there were no openings at that time but they would keep him in mind. A couple of months after that Harry was reading an article written by a well-known authority in which the writer commented on the fact that the reason the United States was losing its Brazilian trade to the Nazis and other countries was not because the other countries were any smarter than ours, but because the American companies just would not send representatives who understood the South American habits or, in many instances, men who spoke Spanish, French or Portuguese. In other words, we were sending men who were not trained or fitted for that particular type of work. Harry who speaks Spanish fluently and understands the South American way took a big red pencil, underlined portions of the article and sent it to Singer. Almost by return mail he received an invitation to call at their office and was offered the opportunity to go to Rio de Janeiro as one of Singer's Brazilian representatives.
All of which reminds us of the story surrounding an important incident in the life of Jim Lyall. At the time Jim was making a change in a job and was attempting to become associated with America's largest store, R. H. Macy. After calling persistently and consistently on one of the head personnel men and always finding the same negative response, Jim finally walked in one day and said, "Aren't you awfully sick of seeing me and having me come back so often?" And the fellow said, "Frankly, yes!" Jim's comeback was, "You must have a lot of men whom you get equally sick of seeing." To which the answer was "I sure have." Then Jim replied, "Why don't you hire me to see these fellows that you get so sick of seeing." (P.S. He got the job and this job at Macy's served as the foundation from which he obtained the necessary experience to handle his present job in the personnel department of the United States Trust Company.)
In the births column, Gwen and Frank Hodson have a new little daughter, Suzanne Margaret, born March 31. Midge and Dick Fisher in St. Louis seem to agree with Gwen and Frank that what we need is more beautiful women in this country, and Carol Fisher bears out their theory by putting in her appearance on March 18. All of which begins to make the 1960 Carnival shape up in pretty good fashion.
Your writer had lunch with Charlie Simonson, Westchester County's representative for the Employers' Liability. Charlie has done a splendid job of developing Westchester County for his company, and a few months ago reported that a daughter, Barbara Davis, had come to join him and Lucille.
Ran into Bill and Marie Benger and if any of you fellows are interested in buying or renting in Hartsdale, get in touch with Bill, as he has recently taken over the job of Credit Manager for the Independent Salt Company and is moving to Scranton as of June 1st. We are sorry to see you leave these parts, Bill, but wish you every success in the new work.
We had a nice note from Johnny Gilmore whose engagement we recorded a few months ago. Johnny says he likes the work in the Treasury Department and there certainly seem to be opportunities for responsible and useful work in the Government, and that most of the young fellows in the legal end of things around Washington are not messed up in politics and for that reason will have a reasonable expectancy of staying if they want to regardless of which party wins in the next election. He had just returned from a brief visit to Hanover where he spent some time with Ralph Hunter who has gotten himself very well established with his medical practice.
And finally—and with deepest apologies to Ed for not having recorded some of his news a little sooner—a long letter from Ed Elmer in which he says, "You and the Zeta Psi Club in New York pay me a compliment when you add that M. D. after my 'moniker' but it so happens that the title goes with my Dad and not to myself. The A. B. as of June, 1931 is still my only claim but I am looking forward to receiving my M. A. this June from Trinity College here in Hartford. I am working on my thesis but find it difficult to get the time to do so because of my teaching at the Hartford Public High School. In addition to the normal teaching load, I am business manager of the weekly paper which the students write, and in the fall pick up a little extra change looking after the football equipment. Four evenings a week I drive out to Avon Old Farms (one of Hartford's fashionable prep schools) where I teach the boys to read music, direct their glee club and lead the community sings. I still sing with the "Nutmeggers" which is a well-known double-quartet from Hartford, although at present we are not doing any broadcasting. The other spare night I spend with my advisors working on my thesis. Had a long letter from Red Rolfe in which he reports that Larry Myllykangas has left organized baseball and is now attending some Teachers' College."
I would say, Ed, that with a schedule like that, how you find any time at all to write a thesis is phenomenal. I know the rest of the gang join me in a sincere hope that after this June we can add the official M. A. after your name.
We had a couple of interesting queries from you fellows—and suggestions—along the lines of unusual activity in the Class of '31. With the Class Notes of Beany's coming out more frequently than the Column, we will have an opportunity to record interesting facts about interesting people. So please don't hesitate to shoot them in.
Don't forget the Alumni Fund!
Secretary-Chairman, Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, N. Y. Class Agent, 443 Warren St., Hudson, N. Y.
* 100% subscribers to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, on class group plan.
