Thayer School
THE Christmas season is always a pleasant one at Thayer School, in spite of the absence of the student body, because it affords us an opportunity to catch up with our work and because it brings us greetings from so many of our alumni friends. This year the Christmas card crop was particularly gratifying in quantity, quality and news value. The less said about Hanover's famed winter weather during this period, the sooner we can forget our Pacific Coast rainy season.
Overseer Dr. Charles F. Goodrich '06 and Mrs. Goodrich left Westfield, N. J., where they spent the months of November and December, on December 30 for Florida where they will spend the winter months.
Early in January the School was the grateful recipient of a very generous gift from Overseer Richard E. Pritchard '15 to be applied to endowment or current expenses.
Herb Darling '27 also presented the School with a substantial gift last month to increase the principal of the Herbert Franklin Darling Loan Fund which he established several years a§°-
The Randolph D. White Loan Fund, established anonymously by a recent graduate, was also increased by a gift last December.
As pointed out by President Dickey in a recent brochure outlining the financial situation of the College, student financial aid is expected to constitute the area of most urgent need in the immediate future years. It is therefore with particular gratitude that we acknowledge the generosity of alumni who have established, and continued to increase, funds which are available for this use.
Foxhall Parker '49 writes, "I've been having an interesting time working at Grumman. For about the last two months I've been working on their guided missile development program, in the power plants group ramjet engines, that is. I hope to get up your direction for some skiing some weekend and will drop by to check up on things in Hanover." That will be fine with us, Foxy, but the skiing's just as good on Long Island.
Congratulations are very much in order for H. A. "Dutch" Schroedel '26 on his election to a vice-presidency of the Turner Construction Company, effective January 1, 1950. Dutch will be in charge of the Philadelphia office. According to the Company's news release: "He has been in the employ of the Turner Company since the summer of 1926, serving in various junior positions until he became superintendent in 1935- Prior to his appointment as Operations Manager in Philadelphia in 1947, he was Project Manager on some of the largest projects undertaken by the Company."
Thayer School's batting average with the Turner Construction Company is at a pretty high level since three other Vice Presidents are alumni. They are Fred Schilling 09, Harry Ward '10, and Nelson Doe '13. We are momentarily expecting the same kind of word from Dave Ward '40, Nate Ward 43 and Vic Smith '47, all of whom are on the Turner forces! Have I missed any?
Frank Murphy '49 writes that after finishing a year and a half of construction work with the Rust Engineering Company he has decided to settle down and quit traveling and is now with the Arkansas Natural Company (City Service Gas). His new address is 2747 West Caperton Street, Shreveport, La.
A card from Charlie Weinberg '43 reports that all is going well in his increasing family and, secondarily, that he and Don Amy '43 received their New York State Professional Engineers licenses last fall.
The Canton (Ohio) Reporter carried a front-page story last fall about the conversion of a roof to a helicopter landing field. The roof is on a new two-story office building of the Timken Roller Bearing Company. The designer of the airport facilities, GordonRoss '47, whose name was inadvertently omitted from the news release, has supplied the following sidelights: "Design time: 5 minutes; Materials: 15 minutes; Installation: 30 minutes. Remarks: More important jobs are done but not many with such good publicity. Even so, the designer (?) gets left out." How true to the engineer's life, Gordon.
John Muchemore '44 reports progress in both his personal and professional affairs. Most important was the arrival on December 7 of Mary Purvis Muchemore, bringing his and Detta's count up to three daughters: Ann, Susan, and Mary. John also received his California Professional Engineer's license last fall. Congratulations on both events.
Recent visitors at the School have included Alex McPherson, ME '47, Hanque Parker, CE '47, Ted Platz '48, and Ham Chase, ME '49. Alex is manager of 3400 acres of farm land near Tarkio, Missouri, appears to have been putting away most of the output himself and reports that it's interesting work but he wants to get back into mechanical engineering. Hanque, after two years in the field with Winston Brothers Company on some mammoth-size canal and siphon work in the State of Washington, has been transferred to the Los Angeles office of that company as of January 1. He dropped in for a visit en route between locations! Ted has been working for the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in New York since receiving his bachelor's degree. Ham reports interesting work with Pratt-Whitney in Hartford, where he is assigned to component testing on turboprop motors.
Hanque Parker reported that Glenn Duba '47, who has been on a gold dredge for Winston Brothers in Montana, has been transferred to the siphon job which Hanque has just left and likes it fine.
