1909
Lt. Col. Clarence Dunbar has been trying hard to get a photograph for me, but first class photographers in North Africa are scarce. He has, however, sent me the above snapshot taken not far from the front. His "V" letter was the first that I have received. He said he had a lot of interesting things to tell but naturally cannot do so. His son, Robert, is somewhere in the So. Pacific area and his other son is just finishing a course with the Air Corps.
Craig Thorne, in sending in his donation to the Alumni Fund, writes on the stationery of James S. Kemper Company, insurance brokers, 75 State Street, Albany, N. Y. This is the first address we have had from him for some time.
I am sorry to have to report two deaths in the class since our last issue. George Goodwin, who has been in ill health for some time, died on May 17 at Dade City, Florida. "Goodie" had retired from the ministry some years ago.
Mark Smith died on June 17 at his home in Washington. Mark has had a most unusual career and when he died was a chief economist of the Tariff Commission. He is listed in Who's Who among the American scholars. He was one of the outstanding students of Dr. Taussig, and when Dr. Taussig retired from Harvard a memorial volume was published and his outstanding students of fifty years were asked to contribute. Mark was one of these and contributed an article on "The Flexible Tariff." He was actively concerned with the preparation of the reciprocal trade agreements and was personally in charge of the agreements with Great Britain and the United Kingdom.
Full details regarding the activities of George Goodwin and Mark Smith will be found in the obituary notices.
I ran into Tom Fardy the other day for the first time in two or three years. Tom has been quite sick from an operation and was out of work for some months but is now back on the job feeling better than he has for some years.
Herm Walker sent in a most interesting letter to Norman Catharin with his donation to the Alumni Fund. He wrote as follows: ".... I often wonder how the war has affected the various families of our class. If you will pardon a personal reference I will bring myself up to date a bit. Besides my wife I have three children, two girls and a boy, all married. One daughter lives in Washington, the other entered missionary services and went to China to study the language in 1940. There was considerable sentiment in that part of China, which was Jap controlled, against Americans, so she and her husband and little boy went to the Philippine Islands to continue study and while there fell into the hands of the Japs and was, according to our information, sent to an internment camp. No definite word has been received, but as far as we know the family is safe but probably not having things too easy. My son Edward joined the Marines immediately after Pearl Harbor and is still in this country at this writing."
Rus Pettingill received some interesting publicity recently from a pet cat who was accustomed to go up and down a ladder into one of two houses which Pett designed. This is the first that I have heard that Pett was an architect as well as a general all-round fixer. The article ended with this statement, which we all know: "Mr. Pettingill is a smart man. They say he designed the small dollar bill."
John Varney, who is connected with N. Y. University and served in various capacities in Russia for a good many years has . recently published a poem of 31 printed pages entitled, "Stalingrad—New Year's 1943."
On February 24, 1910, the following solemn agreement was signed by four members of our class:
"We the undersigned do hereby most solemnly and sincerely agree and covenant, that the first man among us who marries shall furnish a dinner party to the remaining three within a reasonable time after the said marriage. "We furthermore agree and covenant that when three of us have married the fourth within a rea- sonable time after the last said marriage shall fur- nish a dinner party to the other three. "Witness our hand and seal this twenty fourth day of February in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ten.
(Signed): Samuel Kent Bell (Seal) Frederick A. Carroll (L. S.) Joseph W. Worthen (Seal) Harold H. Murchie (Seal)."
Some time in October, 1940 "Murch" recalled that there was such an agreement and notified Joe Worthen that Sam Bell was married first and should pay for the bill. He also felt that after 27 years the most exclusive brand of champagne was rated and that since Joe's venture into matrimony was the fourth he could measure the quality of the brew by the size of his family. Joe Worthen answered in perfect legal form and assumed that Murchie was right so he got together with Sam Bell and arranged a joint dinner. "Murch" and Freddie Carroll crabbed that they were entitled to two dinners and not one joint one. In the process of crabbing Freddie found that he was really the last one married and that he owed a dinner. They are now waiting the fall sitting of the Supreme Court of Maine, which Court Freddie expects will issue a new order as to the date and time of the dinner, for which he will have to pay. I should think after all this mixup it should warrant several cases of champagne and it is too bad to limit it to just these four members of the class.
LT. COL. CLARENCE DUNBAR '09 at medical base in North Africa.
Secretary, Wm. Filene's Sons Cos. 426 Washington St., Boston
