1916
First item: Art Conley was recently married in Wilmington, Del., to Caroline Gibbons Tatnall Sparks; John McAuliffe was recently married in Washington, D. C., to Helen M. Flynn. Of course, resounding plaudits from 1916 have been conveyed to these excellent men. Also, of course, one would like to say more about this sort of thing, but personally I am too hoarse from yelling all by myself about it to be much good. Sorta reminds one of the time we beat Yale 33 to o. Gol darn.
Next order of business: two headlines from the Stars and Stripes, the first dated November I and quoting General Willard S. Paul, in command of the 26th Inf. Div. east of Nancy, in his words of welcome to a newly arrived batallion: "I'm delighted you're here. I've got a little work for you to do." And the second headline from the same terse publication of one day later: "Under the direction of General Willard S. Paul the 26th Inf. Div. conducted a successful line-straightening offensive almost immediately after coming into the line." So, 1916 does good work on this front too, and our compliments to Lt. Col. John Ames who sent in the issues of the Stars and Stripes from France.
Third article in the warrant: your somniloquous secretary has permitted sixteen letters from sixteeners to accumulate in a good tight sap-bucket (choice of this repository for valued documents dictated by the obvious urge to be quaint and the fact that now and again such letters are pretty average juicy). With this acknowledgement of shameful guilt, with this expression of regret and the apology for the brevity as well as the.levity with which such cherished letters must be handled here, with the final hope that the bucket will soon be full again .... leave me see—what was I saying? Oh, here are the barest particulars from the letters:
Charlie Bettes is vice president of the Foremost Dairies of Jacksonville, Fla., and the father of one married daughter. Elliot Brill has been in poor health since last spring but is now some- what better; he has one daughter. Bill Brown is principal of the Glenns Falls High School, has two daughters, the one in college and the other in high school. Charlie Brundage is an investment counsel in New York and the father of two boys and one girl. Charlie Clarke is treasurer of the Solex Co. Ltd. and lives in Outremont, Quebec; he has four children, two of each variety. Bob Harvey is a patent attorney; his wife serves as assistant director of the Springfield USO; of their three sons, Bob '41 is a combat correspondent with the Marines in the Pacific, Alan is an aerographer's mate in the Navy, and Bruce (Alan's twin) in training as gunner on a bomber for the Army. Charlie Jones is a CPA and serves Ernst and Ernst of New York as assistant manager; he wants to know if the secretary still translates Sanscrit as he did freshman year. No. Burt Lowe is vice president of the Reinhold Publishing Corp.; he has a son at Harvard and a daughter at Mt. Holyoke. Ev Parker sends word from Denver where he holds forth as vice president of John G. Perry Co., and also as manager of Wilda Realty Co. He has a son and two daughters. Ev speaks of a recent meeting with Bill Osborn, also of Denver. Bill has lost a son in service with the Navy and has two other sons now on duty in the Navy. Phil Stamatiades sends word from Brushton, New York, where he is a physician, of his loyalty to 1916 and his pleasure in the fellowship which it affords. Herb Stiegler indicates that he is in the retail business and that his position is that of "boss"; particulars please. Bob Thieme is a water purification engineer; he has a son in the USAAF and a daughter in the WAC. Constantine Tripolitis has given me a most urbane account of his interesting activities with the Navy bureau of aeronautics and I should like to quote his letter in full but must not now. Warren Upham has been ill but is now better, although not entirely recovered yet. Betty Wilson writes that Sterling is expected to revisit the U. S. A. this spring after two years on duty. Prentice Winchell is a writer of pictures, radio, and fiction in Hollywood; he has one daughter.
A bit of space remains. Your acting secretary has never been asked by the class to give a report of his activities. Fie will therefore do so, here and now. During the two years of his incumbency he has given such publicity as this column affords to the names of 85.4% of 1916. He has replied (he thinks) to all letters from 1916 and has written many others on his own initiative, some of which were answered. By and large, he is convinced that the satisfactions of the post compare favorably with those of Secretary of the Classical Association of New England, or of various other similar tasks which have been doing their valiant best for a decade to occupy his wandering wits. Just to break down and admit something for once, hearing how the boys are doing is pretty good fun, and the acting secretary's only program for the current year is the effort to elicit letters from the remaining 14.6% of 1916 as yet untouched by his appeals. Here endeth the acting secretary's official report, and a darn good report it was.
TENANT OF ACK-ACK HOUSE, Capt. Alexander J. M. Tuck '14, staff officer with a B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment group, shown outside the door of his tent in Italy.
Secretary, 2542 Stratford Rd., Cleveland Hgts., Ohio
Acting Secretary, 3 Downing Rd., Hanover, N. H.
Treasurer, 34 White Oak Road Wellesley Hills, Mass.
