Life Began in '40 for '25ers

AND THE SUN WAS BRIGHT in a cloudless sky . and the breezes rippled the tall grass in the roadside fields, as 1925 drove in across the Hanover Plain on Friday, June 14th, for its Fifteenth Reunion. (Yes, it is anarrow plain, but do you see how very highit is?")

Even the day before, impatient for the starting gun, a heavy advance guard of husbands and wives, class officers and agents, reunion committee members and one other—who was then and shall now be nameless—were quartered in the town. And with a competence unusual in a group so new to that particular game, they held down a row of chairs to the left of doorway on the Inn porch, now breathing deeply in that one sweet, certain cure for the nostalgia of fifteen years, now glaring out over the foot-scarred rail at passing undergraduates and faculty. ("Say, Pete, Inever knew what those old guys who usedto sit up here were thinking about. .. . before.")

Letters, wires, phone calls and committee meetings began to pay their dividends as nearly 200 '25-ers and the wives of '25-ers —through Friday afternoon and early evening—marched up the steps of Middle Fayer to check in, get uniforms, slam backs and try to remember names over finger- crushing handshakes. ("Yeah, I know helived in Middle Mass. Joe, but what in hellwas his name?")

Life really began in '40 for the biggest Fifteenth Hanover ever had with the Class reception Friday night. Our own hill-billy band swelled the canvas of the Class tent, Haffenreffer's best beer flowed freely into and out of numeral-etched '25 mugs, some danced, some didn't, everybody had a grand time and the exceptional good looks and downright general niceness of the wives was the outstanding feature of the affair. ("'What gets me, Hank, is the wivesthese guys have got—f'rinstance, how d'yafigure Bob ever roped a swell gal likethat?")

In the cold, gray light of Saturday's dawn, five or six of the gang went to bed and the rest just sat around and picked up things where we left them off, a decade and a half before. ("Did you know that Sam ismaking fifteen grand a year arid they hadto take him into the firm to keep it thatlow?")

Even the rain failed to serve as a damper. At three minutes after seven, Saturday morning, the first breakfast was served in the tent, Barney Barnsfather wakened the stragglers with a steady roll of rhythm on the hill-billy band's piano, Lang Spring started the day off right with flowers for his wife and, about 11, we ambled down to the gym for the alumni meeting and lunch. ("Say, this 1930 gang looks aboutfive years older than any of us.")

In the meantime, the girls took in and later pronounced about perfect the schedule of activities that Joe Leavitt and his committee had arranged for them. ("Whyshould they get a better lunch than wedid?")

Stell Hall was the scene of the Class dinner Saturday evening, with a mad mixture from Medford starting things off, Prexy's visit the high point and the adoption of the new Class constitution, followed by the election of an executive committee of twelve to run affairs for the next five years, the finishing touches. ("Boy did they putthat through fast?")

Several hundred feet of filmed Class history brought to an end the exclusively male portion of the evening's events and we moved back to the tent to join the ladies, Pete Blodgett's untrained mice, more beer and another all too short night of the best in congenial hilarity. ("So helpme, the sun comes up bigger and brighterand better in this town that any otherplace on earth.")

When noses were counted Sunday A.M., there wasn't a casualty in the lot. It is true that a few toothpicks were needed to keep a few eyes open on the way to Oak Hill Cabin, but they hit the discard as soon as Ross McKenney's steaks came off the grill. ("I'm going to ?noo in a minute—this is myfifth steak since Friday noon.")

Every heart in the crowd got a touch of a tug when the first carload of departing reunioners pulled away from headquarters shortly after the Class picnic, but the general exodus didn't actually get under way until late that night with Steve Ryan still trying to find the suit he arrived in, Bob Reading singing "I want to get married in the summer time" for the nineteen-hundred-and-twenty-fifth time to Bud Petrequin's grand wife, Ike Burner refusing ever to go to bed again and a selective class wrecking crew slowly but surely taking the Campus Cafe apart, in very small pieces. ("Say, listen, Ham—let's make the

Twentieth about a week longer, eh? I'm just getting under way.)

Eyes here and there were actually wet Monday morning. Monday in Hanover, for the few who could hang on that long, was just too good a day for. parting .... from any one, from any place. ("Here'sthat number and address, Ed—now let's gettogether, this time. . . .for sure.")

To the guys and gals that were there, it was grand. To those who couldn't make it this time, it would have been—and will be, even better, in 1945. ("See you in fiveyears., boy .... don't forget!")

1925 MEMBERS WHO RETURNED TO FIFTEENTH REUNION—JUNE 1940

C. A. Abel, H. D. Archibald, C. W. Babcock, H. C. Bacon, S. Barnett, R. C. Barnfather, W. R. Baumann, R. W. Beatty, H. Bjorkman, C. E. Blodgett, F. N. Blodgett, W. G. Boies, R. C. Borwell, L. D. Brace, Frank Brick, *E. F. Brown, *W. J. Bryant, N. D. Bugbee, W. B. Bunting, D. M. Burner, E. E. Burns, N. Canfield, R. Canfield, Geo. Chamberlain, *Stan Chamberlain, M. W. Chapman, H. A. Clark, *W. E. Collins, *S. E. Copeland, P. Coykendall, *F. Crawford.

L. K. Davis, B. Disque, *C. W. Eaton, F. N. Edwards, *H. M. Elder, *M. K. Emerson, Bradley Foss, B. B. Gilbert, *T. S. Geisel, *L. O. Goas, *Lane Goss, *G. F. Gould, E. H. Griffin, *W. J. Griffin, *R. F. Haffenreffer, *M. F. Hart, E. C. Hewitt, P. L. Hexter, *A. C. C. Hill, *K. B. Hill, R. K. Holden, *M. F. Huberth, D. C. Hunt.

C. R. Jameson, W. W. Jenkins, H. H. Johnson, B. F. Jones, H. L. Jones, P. H. Kelsey, *F. T. Kennedy, *D. S. Kilby, *L. S. Kimball, K. D. King, C. Kurtz, *J. F. Leavitt, *L. G. Leavitt, S. G. Litchfield, *D. C. Lyman, G. R. Lyon, Ken McDonough, T. F. McGaughan, C. W. MacMillan, *A. M. Manning, *N. W. Martin, L. C. Marshall, H. W. Megee, *R. Meginnity, P. M. Merrow, Sidney Milnor, *R. J. Misch.

C. F. Moore Jr., *R. G. Myers, G. W. Newman, *K. S. Nugent, *E. H. Ober, P. O'Connell, *F. T. Osgood, *J. S. Packard, R. J. Palmer, *R. E. Pearl, E. B. Pease, C. F. Penney, H. A. Perkins, J. H. Per-Lee, *E. J. Petrequin, *L. C. Price, W. Pugh, R. A. Reading, P. J. Reed, J. F. Reeder, R. C. Reynolds, R. C. Rhoades, C. B. Rhodes, E. E. Richards, *J. W. Roche, S. W. Ryan.

W. F. Sawyer, G. L. Scott, W. B. Sleigh, F. W. Smith, S. K. Smith, #Geo. Sprague, *A. L. Spring, *J. D. Spring, G. T. Stevens, H. E. Stevens, R. C. Tanzer, H. W. Thayer, *R. D. Thompson, W. A. Thompson, N. H. Tobey, G. P. Tompkins, *W. T. Tower, R. H. Tucker, R. O. Udall, W. R. VomLehn, *C. S. Walker, *F. B. Wallis, E. A. Waring, *J. E. Warner, F. W. Webster, H. D. Wellman, F. L. Weston, F. H. Wheldon, L. P. White, J. T. Whitman, Neil Williams, C. M. Wilson, G. G. Zahm.

* Denotes accompanied by wife.

1925 FROLICS AT ITS BARBECUE AT ROSS MCKENNEY'S CAMP, STORRS POND, JUST NORTH OF HANOVER.

1925 GATHERS AT NORTH FAYERWEATHER Left to Right: Eddie Pease, Joe Leavitt, Charley Moore, Lou Kimball, Frank Wallis, reunion chairman, Woody Wilson, Bill Sleigh, Pete Blodgett and Parker Merrow, newlyelected secretary.