Southern California
It turned out to be such a green summer in Southern California that the supposedly quiet season has loaded this column with five reportable occasions.
Track coach Elly No-yes '32 planed out here from Hanover in mid-June for the NCAA and Rules Committee meets, and DewittJones '40 corralled him for a luncheon with 20 of the brethren at the University Club. Elly—still wiry, ruddy, and his scalp completely concealed after 17 years out—reported on Hanover in his nostalgic Newb'rypot twang and answered questions on track until Will Hays '31 lined him up for glamour photos with classmates Bill Adams and JohnEmerson, and some muscle art with his excharges Dave Boyle '40 (high jump), PaulMahoney '41 (sprints), and the afore-mentioned Dewitt Jones (stair-climbing).
Then on July 30, Boyle and his cohorts laid the cornerstone of what wTe hope will become a traditional event with their "Poor Boys' Reunion" for the ten new classes of '39 through '49: guys, wives (present and potential), and small fry, ditto. Bob Fletcher '39 promoted the superb grounds and clubhouse of the Riviera Polo Club, Bob White '39 knocked out some unusually alluring announcements, Jones and Mahoney and all five wives pitched in on the sundry preparations, and it turned out to be quite a production. Thanks to smart planning by all and some fast deals by Bob V. (for Vaughn)Fletcher, the tariff was held to an unheard-of buck a copy for all the beer and pop you could drink and all the barbecued frankforts and homemade potato salad you could eat.
The next Friday, August 5, was when we finally nailed down the peripatetic Prof. AlFrey '20. for a luncheon. Al has been bringing the gospel according to Tuck to the heathen of U.C.L.A. this summer session, and Lindy's back room was filled with men who wanted to say hello to him and hear what he had to offer (hopeful) about the business outlook. Howie Newcomb '32, who chauffeured him in from Westwood, had a long afternoon before Al could tactfully break through the last cordon of well-wishers.
Then three Fridays later, 29 fishing fanatics and your correspondent hauled out of bed at 4 AM, drove 50 sleepy miles down to Newport and set out for the second annual day of off-shore fishing, 011 the cruiser LuckyStrike. Weather was ideal and the fish cooperative. Near as I could tell from my sunberth atop the wheelhouse, Steve Valensi '40 made the first strike, Howie Almon '22 captured the jackpot with a 12-lb. halibut (good), and Bill Adams '34, with pole No. 13, came through as the Tom-cod King (bad). FrankMcEntee's and Freddy Lynch's young sons were credits to their mothers, Will Hays got some superb pictures, 30 homes had fresh fish for dinner, and nobody got sick.
Final item: on August 29, again at Lindy's, the alumni officers and committeemen hosted the 15 available undergraduates and prospective freshmen at a sort of bon-voyage luncheon. Your correspondent presided just long enough to warn the kids that someday they too would be alumni and to introduce the awesome examples in attendance, then Alumni Councillor Murray Hawkins '19 presented (from memory) each of the clean-cut youngsters. Whereupon we cleared out of the way to let the kids get acquainted Thanks to three get-togethers this summer, our 10-man freshman delegation is already a pretty tight-knit little gang, and we are in hopes that the committee of John Moulton '50, Wes Nutten '51, Lee Coulter '52, and Chip Luce '53. will sparkplug an active California Club back at the college. Incidentally, and this might be a useful notion for other alumni clubs, we plan to carry all
undergraduates from this vicinity on our alumni mailing list, to prepare them for the revelation that leaving Hanover will not mean leaving Dartmouth.
CAP PALMER '23.
Secretary, 609 So. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles 14, Calif.
