Central New York
OURS is AN ORGANIZATION whose members are scattered from Massena to Moravia and Geneva to Utica; so we don't meet too often in the course of the year. One meeting took place as always, on Dartmouth Night when a goodly number of us met at the University Club to join with alumni all over the country to do homage to our Alma Mater. Incidentally, we made plans for the following weekend to gather at Ithaca for the Cornell game. We owe a great deal to Stan Brown '39 and Pat Patterson '39, for the fine work they did in making arrangements to take over the Clinton House in Ithaca for a grand post-game party, and for arranging the luncheon in Willard Straight Hall before the game.
Last year we paid tribute to William G. Morton '28 winner of the 1940 Junior Chamber distinguished civic service award, one of our very active members. This year we would like to start with a tribute to Art Ecker '31, a distinguished surgeon who in 1941 performed successfully a brain operation which has succeeded only once before in the history of the medical profession. According to the Syracuse Herald-Journal of November 24, 1941, "The operation was for the removal of a meningioma, or tumor, from in front of the spinal cord, where the spinal cord and the brain meet. It required three hours and 45 minutes to perform." Thirty years ago, in Germany, a similar operation was performed successfully. Technical information concerning this operation by Art Ecker can be found in the November issue of "Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry," published by the American Medical Association. Our most sincere congratulations to Dr. Arthur D. Ecker '31.
