1928*
Red Edgar was appointed assistant to the vice president in charge of. traffic for the Boston & Maine and Maine Central Railroad as of January 1. Thanks, Don Norris and Rupe Thompson, for sending clippings. At a recent dinner in Boston, Rupe happened to sit next to J. W. Rimmer, Red's new boss, and heard many complimentary things about his past performance and very encouraging speculations on his future. Rupe further reports that he had just seen John Lawrence who has tackled a new job for New England Tel and Tel which he finds both stimulating and decidedly time-consuming.
Jack Goodnow—resplendent in uniform —was observed at the Ice-Capades in Boston January 3, attending Governor Blood of New Hampshire. Craig and Eleanor Haines were not able to guess his rank, but thought from the amount of gold braid that he must be a major, if not a colonel or a general. The Governor and his staff are always in Hanover for Commencement, so Jack will be the first in the Class aside from those on the faculty to have a part in the Commencement proceedings.
Six '2Bers are now on active duty with the Navy: Baketel, Bassett, Hazzard, Hunt, Simonds and Van Benschoten all lieutenants (junior grade). Sherm Baketel is the only one so far assigned to sea duty and he has been on the U.S.S. Algonquin over eight months. In December he wrote me: "You were quite right in addressing your letter to me as 'Mr.' Censorship rules require that no rank be shown on any address.
"I was commissioned 13 May and assigned to the Algonquin, operating at that time out of Portland, Maine, on the regular Coast Guard patrol, which meant towing in broken down fishermen, rendering medical aid at sea and the million other things the Coast Guard is doing every day.
"My own job is that of watch officer on the bridge 4 hours, off 8 hours. In addition each officer is head of one or more departments, i.e. commissary, gunnery, clothing, communications, etc. At present mine are canteen and navigation. As you know the Navy took over the Coast Guard a month or so ago and at present we are working in places that the Navy sends us and home is a place to talk about.
"I like it though. We have a grand crowd aboard and enough to do to keep us busy 24 hours a day, if not on the bridge, at our desks or elsewhere. If there is any time left over it's easy to start a poker game—or even study."
Sherm has been selling radio direction finders for three years until ordered to active duty; from 1930-38 he was with the investment banking firm of Jackson & Curtis in Boston. His wife, Helen, and their two daughters, aged ten and nine, live in Marblehead, Mass.
Two of our four draftees, Herm Schnepel and Bill Monaco, are out of the Army, or at least were as these notes are being written. No word has been received of the release of Walt McKee or Jerry Luellen. Herm spent the latter part of his training period with the 13th Coast Artillery in Florida, and was "relieved of active duty and transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps" on September 20. He is back at his old job with National Dairy Products in New York. On a recent trip to Washington he ran into Abe Kerr and learned that he and Mildred have a boy, Douglas Alexander, born November 22. Abe has been connected with the S.E.C. for the past seven years.
Bill Monaco finished the Armored Force School at Ft. Knox and was released October 29, after six months in the Army. "It was a lot of fun tearing those tanks down," he says, "putting them together and then holding our breath to see if they would run and how far when we took them out to the proving grounds." Bill, who is a lawyer, is looking for a position as a labor relations advisor or some such work. If you know of any opportunity in industry please write me and I will get in touch with Bill or someone else in the Class who would be interested.
Sam Sammis is an important cog in the munition field, and Prof. Nat Burleigh, able Secretary of the Class of '11, has furnished the following information about him which also gives an inkling into the sort of job the Government is doing in enlarging its munitions manufacturing facilities. The U. S. Rubber Cos. has formed a Munitions Division, headed by a Manager, assisted by a General Factory Manager. The actual production of the cartridges is split up into three plants—two turning out a million a day each of .go cal, and one turning out six hundred thousand a day of .50 cal cartridges. Each of these plants has a Superintendent and Sam's job is to head up one of the .30 cal buildings. Incidentally each of the other two plants are to be managed by Dartmouth men, Chuck Emerson '11 and Johnnie Murphy '19. Quite a green tinge.
When in full production each plant will require nearly two thousand employees. Most of the work is accomplished with intricate automatic machinery. The installation of machinery is under way and Sam's plant is expected to start producing in January. Until he received this latest promotion, Sam was assistant superintendent of U. S. Rubber's Waterproof Division in Naugatuck, Conn.
Three classmates are still under fire or in captured territory—before this war is over a lot more of us will be under fire. George Bell is in Kunming, the South China terminus of the Burma Road, which is being bombed regularly by the Japs; Chris Livingston is in Hongkong, and Don Chapman is carrying on in Honolulu. In May, 1937, there were ten 'aBers living abroad. A Christmas card from our only diplomat, Si Warner, indicates that he left Japan before the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, and is now in Glendale, California.
Dick Walker writes, "The '28ers in Omaha are only three: Gil Swanson, Emil Shukert and myself. Gil is a big butter-and-egg man and is president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of so many different companies that it is difficult to address him correctly without a small directory of the Jerpe Commission Cos. interests. A blessed event took place in Gil's family early last spring, at which time he became the father of a second boy. Outside of business, Gil's activities are pretty generally limited to some very poor golf and bridge.
"Emil is in the real estate business and works very hard when he isn't busy clipping coupons. The Shukerts have two children, a boy and a girl."
Dick is with the Byron Reed Cos., "Nebraska's oldest and largest real estate company," as vice president in charge of the insurance department. He and Evelyn have a boy and a girl. Dick says his principal recreation is hunting and taking money away from Gil Swanson at bridge.
Jerry and Doris Goodwin of Laconia, New Hampshire, announce the arrival of Peter on October s; other members of the Goodwin family are Dorothy Joan, aged 7, and John, aged 3.
When Mary and I saw George Davis in Glens Falls, New York, last June he mentioned the fact that he and Marion had.acquired, by way of adoption in November, 1940, a playmate for their own son, Stephen, aged 7. George writes, "We havpassed the probationary period with a certification grade and now Beth Cunningham Davis is to become our own property."
Still quoting from George's letter, "Larry Kenney has just finished his new home out in Pittsburgh, and I expect he and Martha and their two daughters are holding open house. Arthur Kneerim is also building a new home at Chappaqua, New York. He is a Vice President of the Merrill Anderson Cos., a financial advertising agency, and Larry is in charge of our Pittsburgh office. Joe Smith stopped at the office on his way through Glens Falls recently. He is operating out of Albany for Rand, McNally & Cos. Vic Liddle is enjoying a vigorous Christmas trade from his chain of book and gift shops."
Mary and I just returned from Miami Beach where we have been on a two-week vacation. We drove down and came back by train. We experienced a 113-degree change of temperature in the 28-hour trip home: it was 85 above when we left Miami and 28 below the night we reached Troy. We drove from Miami to Delray Beach, an hour's run, to see George and Agnes Boughton. George and his father own and manage The Colony, one of the most perfectly appointed hotels I have ever seen. George said the Woody Ishams had been their guests recently.
Our last day in Miami we visited the Pan American Airways seaplane base, expecting to see Ham Hankins. He was working at the municipal airport on the other side of the city that day, but I managed to get him on the 'phone. He worked 90 hours the preceding week. What a busy man! Ham and Anne have a small daughter named Anne Chapin, and recently built a house at 4040 Kiaror St., Miami.
I had a very pleasant visit with Irving Beebe at his office at the Miami Daily News, where he has been in the advertising department since 1935. Beebe and Glenna Weidle of Middletown, Ohio, were married January 26, 1940.
Secretary, Troy, Pennsylvania
