1932 Holds Its 15th
HANOVER WAS JUST as wonderful as the sons of Dartmouth crack it up to be. Except for scattered showers on Friday and Saturday, the weather was excellent, and on Sunday it was that ideal of warmth and comfort that makes it such a delightful summer vacation land. A few of the class had partaken of the Hanover Holiday and were there ahead of time, but the bulk arrived on Friday. We were housed in Wheeler, as headquarters, and Richardson for the overflow. The festive tent was pitched in front of Wheeler, and in it beer flowed from kegs replenished promptly and constantly. Our costume was a "T" shirt with "1932" across the chest, while a green numeral hat was provided for the ladies. The popularity of the hats was a trial to Walt Rushmore, who sought valiantly to apportion the extras equitably until they disappeared in one bulk movement. The attempts to keep warm in the "T" shirts led to some pretty smart combinations, such as sweaters worn underneath in order to reveal the numerals.
For most of us ten years had passed between reunions, and many were meeting for the first time in 15 years. As usual there were many faces that seemed never to have been seen before. My favorite example of remembering faces was seeing Red Drake greet Ed Marks as "Howie," with Ed responding by saying that he had already said hello to Red, but it had turned out to be Cal Geary! Over fifty wives came along, and, after 15 years of selecting, these members of the class have demonstrated their good taste. Deke Mack, though more wary, perhaps, than the married men, arrived nonetheless with proof of his very good taste along these lines. The appearance of the men seemed pretty creditable—hardly a corporation in sight, and, to my biased eye, plenty of hair, at least where hair had been in 1932. The sagging faces were much less evident on Friday than on Sunday, when the beer and chasers of a healthful week end in Hanover had taken their toll.
We had over a hundred classmates, but the number could have been two hundred if the absent New England residents alone had come along. If Eddie Toothaker and his wife could make it from Denver, and Chicago didn't seem too far to John Wright and Joe Bennett, surely Massachusetts wasn't anything. But all too many stayed away, even one who had gotten as far as Cape Cod from Michigan. (Jeff, I remember when New York and back in a day wasn't too much for you—at least if you hadn't let me try to drive those last few miles in my sleep.) Bo Wentworth was in Belgium Friday but got to Hanover Sunday morning. That's devotion. It took longer from New York to Hanover than from Brussels to New York.
The ingenuity of the class in finding places to leave children was a tribute. My own ingenuity fell short, but Alice bowed to the view that half a reunion is better than none. Incidentally, it's obvious that anyone with less than five children isn't in the running for the class record. The Keyworths, and I believe some others, left that many with sitters, grandparents or neighbors. Of course Pete Sawyer, who combined his four with his wife's six, and added one of both of them, left all eleven kids on his farm planting, picking, and peeling potatoes—the blessings of fertility.
There were no scheduled events for Friday—just getting re-acquainted and beery and renewing friendships in austere dormitory rooms transformed, one hears, quite readily into well stocked bars. Ice and soda were on tap in the front halls, where the virtues of Eleazar Wheelock were loudly extolled by quartets at any hour. On Saturday many attended the Alumni Luncheon, while others enjoyed the countryside at such spots as Orford Lodge. A baseball game in the afternoon between Chandler's Great New York Bombers and classmates from round the girdled earth ended in very high scores for everybody. Then the wives joined us at cocktails in the Inn gardens, preceding the stag dinner at the Inn, and the wives' dinner at Norwich. I have little knowledge of the latter, but the former was favored by excellent food and a rule of "no speeches." Nonetheless, Modarelli was induced to utter a few very well chosen comments on various classmates, and Jim Brown and Jay Whitehair closed with one or two touching stories. It's marvelous how a story can be so dirty and yet so funny. After dinner many of us went to the Players' production of "At Yale," a hilarious throwback of a show that was lots of fun even if it was scarcely a true picture of the Yale that most of us had seen on peerades or at law school. Later, we all enjoyed seeing the class movies at the tent, although it was amazing how few of the people in the shots could be recognized by anyone. Thereafter beer flowed and songs echoed until the cold gray light of dawn appeared over the hills.
On Sunday morning there was a dignified service to pay our respects to the 25 members of our freshman class who have passed on. Sickness and tragedies have so lengthened the list that nearly all of us can count a close friend among them.
Howie Sargent presided with dignity over a poorly attended class meeting, at which the executive committee's selections for class officers were elected without protest except a feeble one from the hapless victims. The selections were: President, Marv Chandler; Secretary, Michael H. Cardozo; Treasurer, John Wolff. Bill Morton is Chairman of the Memorial Fund Committee. The class agent remains to be selected by the new Executive Committee of Rushmore, Whitehair, Hazen, Tucker, Pierpont, Hubbard, Byram, Toothaker, Olmsted and Todd.
The picnic on Oak Hill on Sunday was really wonderful. The Outing Club prepared steaks and embellishments, ending with ice cream and coffee, that were good enough to entice everyone away from the beer kegs for a few minutes. We discovered a pond close by, called Storrs Pond (remember it? We didn't) which was excellent for swimming. Lots of pictures were taken, and a concerted effort will be made to collect the best so that everyone will be able to know how the class looked fifteen
THE FEARFUL FIFTEENTH IN HANOVER LAST MONTH WAS THE OCCASION FOR THE ABOVE DAGUERREOTYPE OF REUNING '32-ERS.
CLASS SECRETARY
