1911
This month this column is dedicated to Ben Ayers, a brief notice of whose death appears in the In Memoriam section. Most of you have been familiar with Ben's long hard illness. You saw him at our 30th Reunion when he made great effort to come, even though it was necessary to use a wheelchair. He had already been suffering about five years from this disease. Those who have seen Ben in recent years can but admire the patience, fortitude, and cheerfulness with which he suffered, thinking always of himself last. I think it is proper to quote from a letter that Ben wrote five years ago. It will recall to you our days in college with him.
Back in the Spanish War days a very green country boy came to Concord to school. Concord is a small city, and the boy was still pretty green when he went to Hanover in 1907. As I recall it, it rained like thunder the first two or three weeks, and I was awfully homesick. I think, in the College, I knew three men in the class of 1909, one in 1910, and three, including yourself in 1911. I went to Hanover on the train, and sat in the same seat with a boy of about my own age. We soon found out that we were bound for Hanover, and I thought that he was an upper classman, and he thought the same of me, but we eventually discovered that we were both freshmen, and we had a little comfort in that identity. The boy in question was Spunk Troy and we laughed about it a good many times thereafter. I got to my room in Hanover, and there followed the usual experiences of entering College, the talk to freshmen by 'Prexy' Tucker, the Wet-down, and the beginning of classes. A little later we had the Rushing Season and it was not long before I found out that 1908, 1909, and 1910 had about a half dozen outstanding individuals, but that 1911 had about two hundred of the same. Any of that class were darned lucky if they could be elected to any fraternity or anything else around the College, and a great many of the best members of the class were not elected to anything. By Christmas I think I knew every man in College, and after exams a lot of faces disappeared. I could go on and on and recount pages of experiences during the next four years, but you would only be bored by it.
The one thing that we know is that it fell to our lot to belong to the finest class in the history of the College.
I graduated in due time and went to Yale where I took a Master's Degree in Forestry. About two years later I married, and have the best wife and three of the finest children that I ever heard about. The boy graduated from Dartmouth in 1939, which is more than I could do these days. I have been in bed now since a year ago last September. I have seen more doctors than you can count on the fingers of your two hands, but even the best of them tell me that nothing can be done.
Even up to the time of his death when he could not move a muscle, other than a slight movement of his head his courage was high; his mind was constantly dwelling on worth- while things; and he enjoyed, to the utmost, contacts which he had both in Concord and outside. A young flier who recently called on Ben after a year in flying the Hump in India found Ben knew as much about the geography of that part of the world as he did. Many young people came to call on Ben through his illness, many young servicemen among them. Ben enjoyed talking over world happenings with them. His room was covered on all walls with the most recent maps, and Irene would push his bed about so that he could see each of them and discuss them with his callers. The situation was reversed in his case with servicemen, he receiving many letters from the men in service, so many in fact that it was impossible for Irene to acknowledge them all. If all of us could maintain the unselfish devotion to others with our health that Ben has for ten years in his illness, we may well feel that he has been an inspiration to us.
Since the November issue of the MAGAZINE, telling of our Reunion plans had not appeared when these notes were written, I am unable to report any reactions from classmates. I may report, however, that in private conversation with a number of them great enthusiasm has been indicated in every case. Before you read these notes you will have been aware of what the plans will be, so do please drop a card to me, giving your opinion and if possible, stating your intentions pertaining to reunion at Whitefield. Also don't forget that Frank Dodge wants to know from you directly if you intend to share his hospitality.
Our gentle but efficient treasurer, Ed Keeler, writes, "Your letter containing the very good news is just received, and believe me it is good news! How lucky we are to have a chap like Frank Dodge in our class. As far as I am concerned, we will plan to make it."
Also there will be mailed to you shortly some questionnaires which are for the purpose principally of getting data on your boys' and girls' war service. I am sure we all are interested in what the sons and daughters of our various friends in the class have done. Many of them are now being discharged from the service, and their records are complete. In many cases of course they will still be in the service, and you can give us only information up to the present moment. Also if you would be interested in having another directory giving up-to-date addresses and perhaps information as to the service records of the children, please pass the information along to the secretary so that arrangements can be made if this is desirable.
One has to go a long way to get news nowadays about classmates. For instance, my secretary in Washington has recently become secretary to the American Ambassador in Lima, Peru. She used to prepare the Class Notes for you for several years, and so became interested in the class of 1911. Just prior to preparing these notes I received a clipping from a Lima paper, describing a group of celebrities, including the president of Peru and George Maurice Morris. If my Spanish is correct, George was to preside over a conference of the Inter-American Bar Association, of which he is president. This being president of the American Bar Association and then president of International Associations is all to the merry. I have now lost count of the number of trips that George has made to Central and South America, and Cuba, in behalf of bar associations. At any rate, this is at least the third within the past two years.
A clipping sent in by Dick Paul, who has taken over Chet's responsibility as leader of the group in Boston, states that John J. Daly, chairman of the board of Spencer Shoe Co., and Republic Aviation Corp., and C. Leo Daly, president of Daly Brothers Shoe Co., announced today that they have purchased controlling stock o£ the Regal Shoe Co. with a factory at Whitman, and a chain o£ seventy stores reaching from coast to coast. The Regal Co. will be operated separately from the Spencer shoe chain, which has sixty-five stores in the eastern states.
Tim Vaitses, manager of the Swift Company in Brazil, sends in his address as: Rosario, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, S. A.
Jack Ingersoll returns to New England. It seems that Jack has deserted the profession of personnel management to return to his earlier love of sales and sales promotion. He has taken over the New England States as the territory in which he is going to represent the Seal-Peel Co., whose product is Seal-Peel, a plastic protecticide. This is an industrial item, and Jack is already very enthusiastic over his new product. In fact, he says the stuff sells itself. The branch office, over which Jack will preside as New England District Manager, is located at 436 Park Square Building, Boston. We'll leave it to Jack to inform you about this product, but he says it hermetically seals products against corrosion, scratching, etc. Apparently he timed this about right so he could make the Cornell game at Hanover on November 17.
Secretary,1 Webster Terrace,' Hanover, New Hampshire
treasurer, 631 Walden Road, Winnetka, Ill.
