1916
By the time this appears in print, the meeting of class secretaries, treasurers and agents in Hanover will have gone by, 14 and 15 May, and I hope to have something of interest to report from that meeting. At this moment, I am planning to take Betty with me, not only so she can enjoy the trip but so I won't have to room with those non-sleepers, Dick Holton '18 and Jack Mason '15. They do sleep from 4 a.m. on, but both hold international snoring records, and their big annual meet was in our room last May.
The '16-ers in Washington tried our durnedest to give a party for Dick Parkhurst upon his leaving the Maritime Commission, and Dick would have enjoyed it, too, but a business trip to the Caribbean, and the pressure on his time at the last made it impossible.
Larry Hayward was in Chicago early in the spring and attended a Dartmouth luncheon with Ken Henderson. He talked to Joe Cheney by phone, but Joe had a date that couldn't be broken so didn't attend. Joe Larimer was tied up, and Carl Merriman couldn't be found. He had dinner with DeWitt and Dotty Stillman but didn't report on this party except to say in advance that he was looking forward to it with great pleasure. Larry is doing sales work for Delco and is enthusiastic about the work and the company he is with.
Some time back, Ollie Barr mentioned a business trip to New York, where he visited with Charlie Griffith (the Fiddler of Fifteen) and Burt Lowe. Ollie also tried to see ZachTaylor, of Ronald Press, who has been ill and was out of the office. Later reports from Zach indicate he was recovering fast and expected to be back on the job soon.
As I said in the early May Newsletter, I had a letter from Larry Davidson, a guy we would all like to hear from regularly, so I hope he won't let so much time go by again without dropping something into the Newsletter hat. Larry's letter says in part: "It is very seldom that I meet a Dartmouth man, especially one of our Class. Therefore, I have particularly enjoyed reading your Newsletters, as they, together with the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, have practically been my only source of contact with the men of 1916.
"I am wondering if you do not have a directory of the Class. Occasionally on trips, either east or west, I have the urge to look up certain old friends, and it would be a considerable help if such a directory were in one's possession. I am planning on an eastern trip in June to attend ray daughter's graduation from the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. From there we intend to spend a short time in and around Boston, including a few spots in New England.
"I have never been back to a reunion. In fact, there are very few of the Class that I have seen since graduation. Therefore I am anticipating a few calls and contacts on this journey.
"News concerning myself and family would not make especially thrilling reading. After my discharge from the Navy in World War One, I en- tered my father's business, Davidson Brothers Company, a department store in this city, and since then have been a part of the organization. My most worthy contribution to society has been the accumulation of a small family of two childrenAnn, age 18, graduating from Baldwin this June, and a son, David Kirk, age 14, who will enter the Lawrenceville School this coming fall. Last January, we sold our store, which had a continuous business existence of 64 years, to Younker Brothers of Des Moines. I am remaining with the or- ganization as general manager. With these few comments you may now at least cross my name from amongst those missing. I know that you see a great many of the men in our class quite frequently, and I will appreciate your conveying my kindest regards to any and all who may remember me."
Which will include just about everybody.
Back in April, Gil Tapley had a birthday, which must have been quite a celebration, from reading between the lines o£ Gil's sketchy description of it. In the Tapley ambient, apparently, the kids get the presents on grandpop's birthday. Gil sent me a picture "which includes all the tribe except one son-in-law." In the picture are Mrs. Tapley, four other beautiful girls, two husbands, two grandchildren, and the old Sachem himself, Gilbert.
Bill McKenzie, our energetic Class Agent, is now hunting for Ryuichiro Shirai, formerly of 48 Makaroku Buncho Kojimachi, Tokyo, Japan. Mail service to Tokyo was not too good until very recently, in fact, it was non est. But with the resumption of mail service, Bill went after Shirai, to get him back in good Dartmouth circles. Bill's letter to Shirai was returned "unclaimed—return to sender." Bill asked me if there was any way the Navy might find this classmate. The Navy informs me that they have enough trouble finding Tokyo. This is another case of missing classmates, those guys who never answer letters, who apparently have no friends who know where they are, who are unknown to postmasters, creditors and process servers. Still, they are classmates, and if Dr. Bill McKenzie can't find them, they just can't be found, that is all.
Emery ("Lap") Lapierre is another guy whodoesn't write letters, but fortunately for thesecretary, he has a wife who has a New England conscience which will not let her restwhile birthday greetings remain unacknowledged. Wrote Ruth Lapierre:
"You know he is no correspondent (the understatement of the year—Ed.) and I have to take care of all such matters, but please don't think he isn't a loyal Sixteener because he definitely is for Dartmouth and the Class of 1916. We were going to look you up on our way south this year, but we crossed ourselves up going by way of Philadelphia and went down Route 17 instead.
"Isn't it fine that Russell Leavitt has found such a grand gal ? He deserves happiness if anyone does. I think he will be married sometime this month."
This was news to your Secretary—not that Russ deserves happiness, but that he had found a girl and was contemplating going off the deep end. Well, Ruth, please step over here and join the group of 1916 wives who make the life of a class secretary easier. There are still about 25 wives still to be heard from, and if we can get even a small fraction to take over the old man's burden of carrying on the family correspondence, these notes and those newsletters will be better and livelier.
Very late the news comes to me that both daughters of Ray Lawrence, who died in October, 1946, are married. Joan, a graduate of Skidmore College, was married in December, 1947, to Charles W. Neuhauser, a graduate of Princeton. Ann, who graduated from Wells College, Aurora, New York, married John Rhys Davies, an alumnus of the University of North Carolina. Ann was the first woman to graduate from the Georgetown University Foreign Service School in Washington. I met both these girls at the time of their father's death, and I remember they were both pretty and cultured girls. Mrs. Lawrence informed me that Ray's father, who had retired after a distinguished career with the F.8.1., had been recalled to active duty, much to his delight, and was hale and hearty.
The whole Bob Harvey family, of Springfield and Longmeadow, Mass., visited Washington in early May on the sad occasion of my mother's funeral. Bob, my sister Margaret, Bob Jr. '4l, Alan '5O, and Bruce, who is attending art school in Boston, were here, as well as Barbara, wife of Bob Jr. My mother's first great-grandchild, Michael Harvey, stayed home in Longmeadow, but will be in Washington soon, as his father is going to work here.
I met Max Saben on the bus between the Navy and the Pentagon. Only a few minutes to talk to him, but I was glad to see him back in Washington.
Secretary, 2721 Blaine Drive, Chevy Chase 15, Md. Treasurer, 11 Copeland Ave., Reading, Mass. Class Agent, 97 Mayfield Ave., Akron, Ohio
