1921
Well gang, it was a hot summer and this correspondent can only express the hope that everybody was fortunate enough to take their vacation in August and escape the heat. We are back to the old grind now and don't forget that at this time of the year, news is very sparse and most of you must have some hidden away. Please send it along.
Latest word from Rog Wilde about the final standing in the Green Derby shows that 1921 finished second to 1918 as a result of a tremendous stretch drive by that noble class which we understand booted in over $5,000 extra. Their score was 92 + 116, total 208, against ours of 93 + 104, total 197. 1926 came in third with a combined rating of 186. The Class sure owes Rog a vote of thanks.
Tom Cleveland is planning to get as many of the Class as possible together at the Penn Game in Hanover on October 11. By the time the column is published, the final date on ticket applications for the game will have passed but try to make it anyway. He hopes to have an Executive Committee Meeting some time during the weekend.
Any of the gang who are expecting to be around Boston for the Harvard game will be glad to know that a big pre-game smoker for all classes is planned on Friday night, October 24, at the Boston City Club. There will be a big turnout from our class, so put down the date. Out of town firemen may get in touch with the secretary or Tom Cleveland for reservations. The local crowd will be notified later.
Your Secretary is ready to blushingly admit, after some prodding, that he was elected President of the Secretaries' Association at the meeting last spring. As may be imagined, it was a tough fight, but with the help of some practical politicians, we finally won out.
Some kind of a record was established at what Tom Cleveland classifies as "1921's 26th Reunion." Although the total number of classmates was small, we learned from a number of sources that for 24 hours at least, Hanover began to suspect that we were holding a repeat performance of last year's party. The class was quartered in Russell Sage Hall along with other Hanover Holiday visitors. A class meeting was held the first night with the main piece of business the congratulating of GeorgeFrost on his fine work as editor of the Smoker and practically over his dead body he was unanimously elected permanent editor of that sheet. At the same time, a lot of bouquets were tossed to Rog Wilde for the great job he did as Class Agent. That night, the boys apparently made themselves felt in a big way for several other occupants of the dormitory were heard to remark the following morning that things were dead before our gang checked in. One creaking alumnus of 1923 was anxious to know whether the crowd was staying another night, allowing as how he was moving elsewhere if so. Rog Wilde, in his usual restrained manner, stated that the reunion was short but very intense and while it lasted, everyone certainly knew that '21 was in town again. CliffHart was able to get most of the gang together for a picture with President Dickey, which we are sending to the MAGAZINE and if they publish it, there seems to be no doubt that other classes will scarcely believe that such a small and apparently respectable group were able to make such a lasting impression on the peace and quiet of the Hanover Plain.
In addition to those already mentioned, Howie Ransom, Bill Perry, Cliff and GladysHart, Randy Childs, George Frost, John Sullivan, Jack Hurd, Harlie and Mrs. Manchester,Erling Hunt and Ing Baker were in town.
By this time, undoubtedly everybody knows of the two great honors which have recently come to our classmates. John Sullivan is Secretary of the Navy. His appointment apparently caused a minor crisis in Washington social circles for no one seemed to know where the new Secretaries fitted in a receiving line or how they should be seated for dinner. Undoubtedly something new has been added to the social order in Washington and as we go to press, they are still trying to figure things out, but whatever happens, our John is Secretary of the Navy, a job which we know he will fill with distinction as he has handled every other assignment since the day we elected him Mayor of Hanover. Ellis Briggs, whom we once inadvertently tagged as our "only authentic diplomat," was confirmed by the Senate in July as Ambassador to Uruguay. Ellis, as many of us know, has, since 1945 been Director of the State Department Division of American Republics. He was at one time Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and during World War II made a special trip to Chunking as a special aide to the American Ambassador to China. He has also served as attache at the American Embassies in Peru, Chile and Cuba and was one of the closest advisors to Spruille Braden, before he retired as Assistant Secretary of State. A short cheer for John and Ellis.
We always have much less news than we would like from the families of our departed classmates. It was particularly good to hear from Mary Noyes that Hank's boy Tom, named partly for Prexy Tom Cleveland, has just finished his Junior year at Syracuse University in Electrical Engineering and on the Dean's List at that. Daughter Polly is nearly 16 and the family is moving to Casenovia, New York, where Mary has taken a position with the Casenovia Junior College as acting Dean of Admissions. Rex Stark's wife Helen has moved to New York and is Eastern Editorial Representative of the Meriden Publishing Company. Her daughter Deborah will graduate from Vassar in 1948. Her company publishes Better Homes and Gardens and Successful Farming, and for our money Helen, your Better Homes is tops by a mile in that field. Gladys Breckenridge (Breck's wife) has moved to Manchester, Connecticut, where she is living with her parents. She is with Welcome Wagon Service Corp. which handles personalized advertising and public relations.
Dick Barnes is moving back to Boston as New England District Sales Manager of the Drabo Corp. after five years in Pittsburgh. With the help of Tom Cleveland, Dick was able to find a home at 398 Wolcott St., Auburndale, Mass. It will certainly be good to have him back in this section of the country again. The class must be aging since it seems to be news that "Fordham Johnny Murphy" Stiles pitched a 7 inning softball game early in the summer and was credited with the win. The inference is that now that he has an average of 1,000, he is retiring on his laurels, which at his age and ours, is not a bad idea. A letter from Howie Auger brings the information that he is running the New York Brokerage and Service Department of the Agricultural Insurance Company of Watertown, New York. He lives over in Bronxville and has a place at the Cape from which he has commuted all summer. We ran into RedStanley this summer at Fleur de Lis Camp up in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Both of us were visiting our daughters and there wasn't much time to swap information.
A smaller reunion than the famous affair in Hanover last June took place at Bob and Dotty Burrough's farm in Canterbury, New Hampshire, on Sunday, July 6. Joe Lane blew in unexpectedly from Chattanooga and Bob and Dotty were just back from a trip to the West Coast, so Joe, Don and Jessie Mix, RandyChilds and George Harris went up to Canterbury for the day. The Burroughs' have just about the most gorgeous summer place we ever saw. The house is over two hundred years old and in a beautiful location. Bob plays the part of the country squire perfectly and the place provides about everything which anyone could ever want. They have their own beef cattle, milch cows, vegetables, a pond, tennis court and the most marvelous strawberries we ever ate. Until Bob bought it, the place had been in one family since they got the land
from King George as a royal grant in the early 1700's. Bob's son Jimmie goes to Hanover this fall as a freshman, having graduated from Exeter, and daughter Helen has been taking all the honors in swimming and skiing on Walnut Hill.
Al Catterall recently received a citation from the French Government and the award of the Croix de Guerre with the Silver Gilt Star "for exceptional war service rendered in the course of operations in the liberation of France." Charlie Stickney has moved to Worcester as Instructor in Salesmanship at Becker Junior College. Through a miracle, he found a place to live almost immediately. His address is 29 Maplewood Rd., Worcester 2. Phil and GladysNewhall and their daughter Roberta moved to Ansonia, Connecticut, last year where Phil is head of the Science Department in the high school. Roberta will be a senior at Emerson College in Boston this year. Jim Dodge is managing the Hotel Barre in Barre, Vermont, and would be very glad to see any of the gang who are up that way. George Harris is back in a baseball uniform up in Manchester where he is reported to have played on a team made up of members of the four local Service Clubs vs. the Aldermen and School Committee members. Since the game took place early in the summer, he has probably recovered by this time.
Secretary, 16 Lenox St., Worcester 2, Mass, Treasurer, 545 Hinman Ave., Evanston, Ill.
