1933
The summer months have sped by with such incredible speed that we can hardly believe the plain fact that the last time we sat down at this battered portable to report to you it was mid-April and those of us who like to play at the game were prayerfully hoping that this year the tennis courts would dry out before May 1. Which calls to mind the old saw about the plans of men, because before those courts did dry out our dreams of developing a backhand were shelved in favor of a rather prolonged sojourn in Dick's House, where for countless dreary, pain-racked hours we mused on the inscrutable ways of nature and man. On nature's hellish tortures, when she was in the mood for it, and on man's singular talent for attaching as risible a monicker as shingles to something that, as far as we could find, had no comical aspect whatsoever. This opiateladen episode also accounts for the omission from these columns of the '33 notes for the June issue, which would have been written just about the time when Dr. Lobitz, JohnnieRockwell's brother-in-law, was telling us that we had one of the most interesting cases of shingles it had ever been his good fortune to see. It was at that point, as we now recall it, that our attitude towards guinea pigs, hitherto quite detached, flamed into respect suffused with sympathy, and we were sorely tempted to throw our weight, not inconsiderable as some of you know, in support of the anti-vivisectionists. Be that as it may, we regret the omission, the more so because a glance over a littered desk reveals a number of items that would have been of interest to you.
These months have not been kind to '33. In fact we've had more than our share of misfortune. June brought three deaths. Bill Lochmiller died in Kansas City of a heart ailment from which he suffered for several years. Gaii G. "Spike" Geddes lost his life in a tragic automobile accident near Doylestown, Pa.,in which his two daughters, Carol and Sylvia, were also injured quite seriously. Fortunately they have recovered. Turn to the Necrology section for fuller accounts of these tragedies. In July we received word from Wood Foster of the sudden death early in June of Jack Trost's wife. Jack had left the F.B.I, last fall and had returned to Milwaukee. It was not until June 1 this year that- he was able to find a place to live, and he and his wife had been in their new home only five days when she died very suddenly. Our deepest sympathy goes to Jack, Mrs. Geddes and Mrs. Lochmiller in their bereavement. The loss of our two classmates, Bill, a descendant of Eleazar Wheelock and highly respected, and Spike, one of the most outstanding members of the Class in college, loyal alumnus, whose career since graduation both in war and peace promised high achievement, will be most deeply felt. Jud Pierson,Carl Rugen, Larry Reeves and Page Worthington attended Spike's funeral in Washington on June 30.
Another and much happier event in June was the windup of the Alumni Fund, which brought a total of $372,103.24 into the coffers of the College to stoke the fires of its ambitious objectives under President Dickey's leadership. While Sam Black would be quick to point a bony and accusing finger at our final standing in comparison with other classes, we will waggle our little finger, the one we broke, and point to our 397 contributors, only three short of our goal of 400, and take further pride in our Class total of $5682.34, no negligible figure, especially when compared with the definitely negligible totals rung up in certain past years of unlamented memory. Again we make grateful acknowledgment of Sam's labors and those of his green-shirted men, who turned in a splendid job of organization and work, and who deserve our deepest appreciation.
Plans are already afoot and stirring for our Fifteenth Reunion next Spring. Bill Dewey, no querulous, queachy, Quechee Quixote he, has consented, to our great joy, to take on the job of Reunion Chairman, so the setup is in capable administrative hands. We predict that not many weeks will pass before Bill gets in touch with you about your plans for attendance at this bibulous birling. In the meantime reserve the dates of June 18, 19, and 20 for your pilgrimage to the old pine.
Turning to the summer's accumulation of mail, the first item is from Don Phinney, and it bears the stamp of the Junta Revolutionara Gobierno (Revolutionary Government Combine), who took over power in Venezuela in October, 1945. Our acquaintance with that corner of the world being limited to a song Burl Ives sings about "passing the time in Venezuela," we turn the mike over to Don:
"As you can see from the peculiar stamps I am in one of the so-called 'good neighbor' States to the South. I am working as a construction engineer for the Creole—which, by the way, is the largest oil-producing company (660,000 bbls. daily) in the world, and is a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. I have been here since December, 1945, when the Walsh-Kaiser shipyard in Providence, R. I., where I had been Plant Engineer for just short of three years, closed up. Things didn't look promising for the next couple of years in the construction business and when this opportunity presented itself I grabbed it. Needless to say, it has been an experience that comes just once in a lifetime and I have made the most of it. Two months in a sort of induction school in Maricaibo (that's the place where all the oil is found under the water in Lake Maricaibo) where Spanish was taught in the most concentrated doses imaginable, equivalent to at least three years of conventional College Spanish, where we were initiated into the wonders of Venezuela, one of the most remarkable countries in the world. Snowcapped mountains five degrees north of the Equator. Dense jungle with 150 inches of rain a year and barren desert with 15 inches, and the two less than 100 miles apart. Caracas a modern island oasis of civilization in the midst of 17th century customs. The oil companies have built camps as modern as Park Avenue, and living in them is all one can want. The work is diversified. I have been building houses, water supply systems, power houses, was lent by the Production Dep't to the Sales Dep't to construct a bulk plant and bunkering system in Puerto la Cruz, and am now Office engineer for the Jusepin district. I hope to be back in the States in time tor our Fifteenth Reunion."
Finally got a letter last June from another gent who isn't often heard from in these columns, Harding Macdona. He reports the birth of a daughter, Patricia Jane, last year; now, as he puts it, fifteen months closer to Smith or Wellesley. She is the Macdonas' first, after seven years of married bliss. Again I'm using his words, but we'll have to hear from Mrs. M. about that at our Fifteenth before we believe it. Mac gives us a breezy report on several of our N.Y.C. characters, Ted Okie, huckstering still at the old stand; Howie Wheelock, ditto, for Scripps-Howard Newspapers. Mac too is a huckster, but he says the biz "ain't all what Wakeman sez it is." He is with the Adv. Dep't of Cosmopolitan Magazine, and New York State is his stamping as well as his playground. He reports that Bob Doscher—pahdon, Judge Doscher—got his mantle a bit wet one night last Spring at the Dartmouth dinner in the Commodore but nevertheless carried it with commendable dignity. Speaking of Bob gives us an extremely uneasy feeling that we failed to report in these columns last Spring the addition of another boy to the Doscher household, Bob Jr., if memory serves. A sorry delin quency on our part, Judge, after your telegram and our special interest in the lad, who is in the record as the youngest nipper ever to receive flowers from us. Only nipper, in fact. Well, to continue Mac's story, Hal Hixson left his coffee beans and concentrated foods in Chicago in June to bounce in to see Mac and try to convince him verbally that he could still beat him in tennis. The Hixson's have two children, a boy and a girl.
Here in Hanover the summer months have wrought quite a change in '33's constituency. The Ford Mardens left us to settle in Bloomfield, N. J. Ford is with Republic Steel in New York. EarleGordon, erstwhile local judge, and more recently in the Navy and the Veterans Administration, went back into the Navy, and he, Hoppy and the kids shoved off in July for his first assignment, on the staff of the Commander of the Marianas, with headquarters and home on Guam. To partly offset these defections, George Rideout and brood moved to Hanover from Wellesley. George left his job at Babson Institute to become Assistant to the Headmaster and Director of Admissions at Clark School. The Rideouts also brought with them a new Rideout, Stanley Lane, born July 19, whose arrival brings the Rideout score to four. George reports that Cliff Johnson has been made Vice-President of the H. A. Johnson Cos., and that Nick Xantbaky is professoring economics and history at Bates and liking it very much.
"33s who have vacationed in Hanover this summer include the W. H. Smyths, the Robert T. Leys. the Bowman Ellisses, and Dr. and Mrs. Win Rowe.Mel Katz and his family repeated the custom they started last year of taking a walking trip in the north country, working, or rather walking, out of Hanover as base of operations. Mel and his wife rated three paragraphs in the N. Y. World-Telegram recently for their feat of both shooting holesin-one within the same month, at different golf courses. We've developed an interest in that game recently ourself, and if we ever get a hole-in-five three paragraphs will be devoted to that event in these columns. Al Swan and his wife were at the Inn at the same time Mel was. Mel also reports that Chet Thomson is a busy liquor salesman publicizing the unknowns who have "switched to Calvert," and that Randy Valensi is in the importexport business in New York, his specialty, chemicals, if you need any.
Page Worthington had a letter from Fred Frank some time back. Fred has been writing motion pictures in Hollywood since 1945. When he wrote he had just finished collaboration on the C. B. deMille production "Unconquered," and was working with Jesse L. Lasky Jr. on the script for "Sampson and Delilah." Fred is married and has a four-year-old daughter. Last Spring Charles S. Webster was promoted to Assistant Controller of the National Biscuit Company, the firm with which he has been associated since graduation. Stan Whitman was married last March 29 to Thelma Benton of Everett, Mass.
Ken Jacques is practicing orthopedic surgery in Los Angeles, and, last but not least, the AlstonBeekman Jr.s have a son, Peter, born July 7.
Secretary, 20 Valley Rd., Hanover, N. H. Treasurer, 2812 Grant Bldg., Pittsburgh 19, Pa.
