1931

After seeing the shortness of the Thirty- one last month, some of the gang took pity on the poor secretary and decided to drop him a line with the result that we should be able to do a little more justice to our assignment this month.

One of these letters came from the good wife of our former Secretary Ed Gruen. Bete Gruen writes to announce the addition of a fine baby daughter io tfee Gruen menage on Oct. 12th. Ed took the big event in his stride and in fact the baby found both parents asleep on its arrival. A fact as Bete says that is not apt to be repeated very soon. Ed is now a consultant on lumber, pulp and paper for the Progress Bureau of the War Production Board. Bete herself worked on the same staff before she and Ed married. (Ed's note: For a guy who didn't get married till long after a lot of us, brother Ed seems to have the situation well under control—how about some youse other guys taking a lesson from the maestro and if you won't write yourselves, get your wives to drop us a line.)

Bill Geiger forwarded two notes that he had received with Class Dues—one from Tommy Williams and the other from Mrs. Saul Sherman. Tom writes that he has been in training with the Army Air Forces —traffic division—for about eight months and has been around San Francisco since April ist. "Have talked to Dave Bender on the phone but we've both been so very busy that we haven't made connections to get together as yet. On this job of mine we have jurisdiction over all AAF material and personnel in our district. Those parachutes that Mac Arthur's men used recently got there mainly through our efforts." Looks as though Tom's previous work with the Traffic Division of the railroad is coming in mighty handy to the Army with its Logistics problems.

Mrs. Sherman writes to tell us about the arrival of their second child, Clare Lorna. Saul, a ist Lieutenant in the Medical Corp. is overseas and while he hasn't seen his new daughter is just as pepped up as he was when their first youngster was born. Thanks Ruth, for your note.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily routine we sometimes lose track of what's happened to many of our gang. A post card from Dolf Merten's brought this rather forcibly to mind "Just a line to advise my classmates that I am still alive, though I have been disabled for the past two-and-a-half years by a nerve paralysis caused by a toxic condition of the nervous system. But I still feel good so am still not kicking." Thanks Dolf, for letting us hear from you and I know that every one in the Class of '3l joins me in wishing you continued and speedy recovery.

Here are a few new addresses for men in the class: Hal Lane in the Pilot Training Division of the Northeast Airlines, Burlington, Vt. Hal is a ground instructor for the company; Monty Smith formerly with the Bowery Savings Bank is now in the Army and his mail is to be addressed to his home at Montague PL, Montclair, N. J.; Ralph Long, Area Supervising Program Director of the American Red Cross, c/o Postmaster, San Francisco, Calif.

Last week Dick Cukor now a Lieutenant (jg) had some of the gang in for cocktails before getting ready to go seaward again. He is a gunnery officer and has already made a number of trips across the ocean. On his last trip he and Monk McCord—who has just been promoted to a full Lieutenant—were on different ships though in the same convoy, and had a chance to see each other for a short time before they sailed. Monk's boat continued on to a different destination but Dick expects to see him again on his next trip. On one of his trips he also saw Bill Schuldenfrei who is a Lieutenant in the Army in the Supply Department and who is now stationed in England.

The other day we received a press release stating that as of November ist Bill Wilson was resigning from his former position as the Director of Industrial Relations at Republic Aviation to take over his new duties as the Assistant to the President of the Kellett Aircraft Corporation. This brings Bill back to his home town of Philadelphia and the spot where he got his start, because before coming to Republic, Bill was a newspaper reporter and at the same time handled the publicity for the Kellett Corporation. When Mr. Kellett was brought to Republic to help straighten out their problems he brought Bill with him to handle the Public Relations job for Republic. Bill did a fine piece of work here and while at Republic the Corporation due to its war orders grew from a firm employing around a thousand employees to one which is now employing about ten thousand. It was during this growth that Bill was named to the important job of Director of Industrial Relations. Mr. Kellett has now returned to devote his entire efforts to his own Company and has brought Bill along as his chief assistant. Their product is the autogyro and from all reports it's the way we'll all be travelling when the war is over. Congratulations, Bill, and good luck in your new work.

Those of you who have known our one and only Charlie Schneider and his story telling capacities will probably not be too surprised to learn of his recent activities along Thespian lines. The latest issue of the Scarsdale Inquirer gives him quite a play with a full sized picture to back it up. Charlie alis Gus is currently starring in Claudia a production put on by our neighborhood theatre guild. He is the leading man and bids fair to taking the honors from Bob Ryan as 31's leading actor. After performing here the group is going to appear at three of the Army camps in the vicinity.

Amen, gang, and a Merry Christmas to all of you.

Secretary, 224 Beverly Rd., Scarsdale, New York Treasurer, . 400 W. Madison St., Chicago, 111.