1923
Happy holidays to all of you! The month that brings us the first peacetime Christmas in five years brings good news from Hanover, too—namely, viz and to wit: '23 Is ON THE REUNION SCHEDULE FOR JULY 26-27, 1946!
Don't jump up and holler like that; your family will think you're crazy. Besides, there's an "if" in the deal. Reunions will be held if the Navy is out of the College by that time. This seems likely, however, so the best thing to do right now is mark this weekend on your calendar and plan to be there.
Emergency conditions exist, of course, because Don Cameron up in Hanover has the unenviable job of planning reunion schedules for no less than thirty-eight classes rushing to make up reunions missed as a result of the war. But Sherm Baldwin has accepted the chairmanship of our delayed Twentieth, and you know what that means—a top job of work for all of us who've been honing for Hanover and for our more-than-a-hundred service men for whom this will be the first look at College and classmates since the shooting started.
This reunion dope is just off the press, and Sherm is barely starting to whip up the plans, so first, plan for the peerade, and second, leave a bit of leeway for possible changes in signals.
Here's another piece of good news along the same lines. Charlie Rice has accepted the chairmanship of our 25th Reunion in Hanover in 1948. Charlie set a fine record for organization work with the Red Cross in the South Pacific, and running our 25th should be duck soup and a pleasant change for him, as well as a good break for us.
Hen Perkins, formerly with the mountain ski troops of the Army and instructor for a crack cavalry troop at Camp Hale, Colorado, received his discharge last June and has enrolled with the Red Cross. Hen completed his orientation course in Washington in September and will go overseas as a field director. The Salem, Mass., News says: "Mr. Perkins is well known as a pioneer skier and mountaineer, active in the development of skiing as a popular sport in this country .... an active worker in the Appalachian Mountain club .... an official of the U. S. Eastern Amateur Ski Association.... a member of the Salem Ski Busters. His father has been chairman of the Salem Red Cross chapter's disaster relief committee, and a sister, Mrs. W. R. Burns, is captain of the Salem Red Cross Motor Corps." We admire the depth of conviction that prompts Hen to stay on in war-related work for the period of rehabilitation.
Bill Whipple, as treasurer, got into the dollars-and-cents department and gave his report on our financial position. Which reminds us that you may wonder, once a year when you get your bill for Class dues, just what tell happens to them there four bucks after you've shelled 'em out. So here's a copy of Bill's report for the College year 1945.
CLASS TREASURER'S REPORT Accumulated Class Surplus, August 1, 1945 $832.81 Plus Reserve for Dues Collected in Advance 30.00 Cash on Hand $862.81 Receipts: Dues for Year $1,176.00 Late Payment of Dues for Previous Years Dues Paid in Advance 30.00 Other Income Total Income $1,206.00 Expenses: Subscriptions to ALUMNI MAGAZINE $ 796.00 Stationery, Printing and Postage 36.00 Other Expenses 100.00 Bank Service Charges 1.23 Total Expenses $ 933.23 Class Surplus for the Year $242.77
That top-line item of accumulated surplus has slid from over $800 to a bit over $200, which points a moral for every one of us. With reunions and their attendant expenses coming up, let's pay class dues promptly (or, in other words, now). Start your own Have-a- Heart-for-Whipple Campaign and do the necessary while you're thinking about it!
Larry Eager, a professor at Dartmouth when he entered the service in 1942, has recently attained the rank of lieutenant commander.
John Coonley is now Public Relations Director of American Factors, Ltd., Box 3230, Honolulu 1, Hawaii, and lives at 3170 Noela Drive, Honolulu 56.
Where the Dartmouth Club of New York is concerned, '23 seems to be the "Class of the Presidents." As we said last month, John Moore is currently President of the Club, and other classmates who have held that post are Babe Miner and Clary Goss. Babe and Clary, who own neighboring farms near Newfane, Vt., recently had lunch at the Club with Irish Flanigan, who served the Club as secretary under three presidents. Babe has been on terminal leave and, by the time you read this, will probably have received his discharge from the Navy. As nearly as we can make out, The Irishman has practically been commuting between New York and Hanover lately.
Bob McMillan has received his discharge from the AAF, and returned to civilian lite. On November 1 Bob became managing director of the Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, where he is now located. This new school for boys will open in the Fall of 1946. Bob's background of sales promotion work coupled with his several years of service as councilor and director of Medomak Camp in Maine should ideally qualify him for his new assignment. Bob says, "Tell all '23ers to drop in on me at the School whenever they're in the North Country."
Wade Kepner, Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks, is starting a southern tour "to alert the lodges of the United States to watch for un American activities in their own individual communities and to appoint committees to deal with such activities," according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In a talk to Cleveland Elks, Wade warned against an invasion of foreign 'isms.
Present at a '23 executive committee meeting at the Club in New York on October 19 were: Clary Goss, Irish Flanigan, Bill Whipple John Moore, Jule Rippel, Brooks Palmer, Ted Caswell, new member Lee Young, guests Ardie Herz and Johnny Foster, and myself. Jule Rip. pel, who is now on the Budget Committee of the National War Fund and deeply interested in many other philanthropic activities, brought us up to date on the 1923 25th Year Memorial Fund of which he is chairman. There was a lot of wishful thinking and talking about a reunion in 1946, but at that time we had not yet heard the reunion news from Hanover that we've been able to pass along to you this month.
Dartmouth Night was celebrated at the Club in New York on Friday, November 9, but our list of '23s present is in our other pants and we'll have to give it to you next month. (As Irish says, "That's what you get for having two pairs of pants!")
News has come of the tragic death of Lt. Col. Walter H. Kurtz in Munich, Germany, where he was serving as Military Governor. Before entering Dartmouth, Walt attended the University School, another of whose alumni has written a tribute forwarded to us by Chuck Calder. Reprinted here is the letter written by Lt. Scott Rogers of the University School to Dr. Peters, Headmaster:
Just a belated note about Lt. Col. Walter Kurtz; you see, it was through the University School Alumni News Letter that I first learned that Walter was Military Governor of Munich. And so I got into the habit of stopping in to see him every time I was in Munich from Garmisch; he was a real military governor, was Walter Kurtz!
Munich, purportedly the hotbed of Nazi-ism in Southern Germany, had never had one single uprising, indicating certainly a great degree or efficient and fair governorship. And Munich, as and destitute as any of them, pre- sented terrific problems of reconstruction—even existence—for the people, and yet, in roofless and foodless Munich the people seemed more content with the Americans and the American controls than anywhere else! Proof of the people's sincere appreciation for the policies and hard-hitting out honest policing carried out by their first military governor was evidenced immediately after the Colonel passed away (after the best Army brain specialists couldn't help him survive his tragic accident in Munich): the city's Burgomeister told Col. Kellar (Walt Kurtz' assistant) that the people of Munich wanted to bury Walter Kurtz in the finest cemetery in Munich and to perpetually care for the grave.
Here was another U. S. man who had really jone his job well—abroad as at home—so well that he achieved much-needed co-operation and Aspect not just from his colleagues (tribute mough in this big old Army), but from his eoverned citizens of Munich. Perhaps you knew Walter Kurtz—I wish I had known him better.
To Walt's wife, Jane, and two daughters, Mary Jane and Martha, the class offers its heartfelt sympathy.
Secretary, 84 Hillside Ave., New Rochelle, N. Y.
Treasurer, 32 Ridgeland Terrace, Rye, N. Y.
LT. COL. WALTER H. KURTZ "The still North remembers them, The hill winds know their name, And the granite of New Hampshire Keeps the record of their fame."
