Thayer School
THE annual Dartmouth Engineers' Dinner in Boston was held at the University Club on March 28 with a good attendance of thirty alumni. The meeting was planned and organized by an involuntary committee consisting of J a Woodward '42, chairman, RussRice '16 and Sid Bean '12. Unfortunately Sid Bean had been in the hospital for several weeks and was at that time at home convalescing and therefore unable to attend the meeting. Your correspondent gave an account of the State of the School and the feature speaker of the evening was Mr. E. Sherman Chase, a senior partner in the firm of Metcalf and Eddy. Mr. Chase, with the somewhat dubious assistance of Charlie Hitchcock '39 as projector operator, gave an excellent illustrated lecture on a trip he took last year to England, Scotland and the European continent.
Ja Woodward, as toastmaster, introduced George Sampson 'O3 as the senior alumnus in attendance and Alan Wright '52, son of J. H. Wright '2O and headed for Thayer School next fall, as the junior member. Others attending the meeting were: G. A. Sampson '03, R. H. Ellis '17, J. H. Wright '20, E. H. Lawson '21, B. O. McCoy '34, J. M. Scanlon 34, F. W. Sturm '34, C. Y. Hitchcock '39, C. T. Main, II '39, R- C. Tousley '42, P. B. Breck '43, R. S. Rice '44, D. E. Nassif '46, J. J. Anthony '47, W. E. Barnes '47, P. G. Blake '47, B. R. O'Brien '47, A. G. Wilson, Jr. '47, J. J. Lovewell '4B, C. A. Marshall 48, ■R- Miller •48, M. E. Tray lor '4B, L. S. Davis Jr. '49, M. P. Lewis Jr. '49, and J. C. Nacos '49.
Byron McCoy '34, who has been active in the affairs of the American Society of Civil Engineers for many years, was honored recently by being appointed a member of the Executive Committee of the Power Division of the Society. This appointment puts Byron in fast company in the field of power engineering.
Ed Traylor '4B took great delight in tripping me up for having missed the account of an ASCE meeting in Pittsburgh last winter which featured some Thayer School alumni. He reminded me of my advice to the students that they should always keep up with the engineering publications. In looking up my oversight, I found it was worse than even Ed knew, for I had missed another bit of alumni news. With humble apologies and assurance that this is very likely to happen again, I submit the following two paragraphs in amends.
The December, 1949, issue of Civil Engineering featured a picture of five Junior Members of the ASCE Pittsburgh section who had participated in a (then) recent meeting of the Section. Included in the picture were Mac Corner '44, American Bridge Company representative, who is president of the Pittsburgh section juniors, Chuck Way '48 who presented a paper on the superstructure of the Point Park Interchange, and Ed Byrkit '4B who "also spoke briefly." Chuck and Ed are in the office of George S. Richardson, Consulting Engineer, of that city.
My other oversight was a letter published in the January, 1950, issue of Civil Engineering, written by Steve Olko '47, who is with the firm of Frederic R. Harris, Consulting Engineer, of New York City. Steves letter, entitled "Assumptions in Soil Bearing Tests Weighed" discussed some of the assumptions made by the author of a paper previously published in Civil Engineering.
The February Report of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory carries a picture of Lieutenant Commander William E. (Bill) Norcross '39 who was named Public Works Officer at the Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland, in January. The Report's announcement contained an account of Bill's extremely active career since leaving Thayer School which is so interesting that it is quoted in full herewith. "A graduate of Dartmouth College and the Thayer School of Civil Engineering, Lieutenant Commander Norcross entered the Navy in December, 1939- Called to active duty in April, 1941, he was sent to Pearl Harbor where he was engaged in the installation of torpedo nets in Honolulu Harbor. He vividly remembers that fateful Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and recalls that he went on duty early that Sunday morning and remained on duty until the following Tuesday, December 9. He will readily tell you there were not many pleasant sights at any of the military installations in the area.
"Returning to California in May, 1942, Lieutenant Commander Norcross became officer-in-charge of construction of an underground fuel depot, and then became district Public Works Officer in San Francisco. Later in the Philippines with a construction battalion, he took over a maintenance unit in Manila for the Seventh Fleet. At Subic Bay he was Public Works Officer and officerin-charge of a detachment from the 35th Construction Battalion. In April, 1947, Lieutenant Commander Norcross returned to the United States and was stationed in Washington at the Naval Gun Factory as Maintenance officer and assistant Public Works officer until reporting for duty at White Oak."
DARTMOUTH SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS: The 47th annual meeting was held at the Dartmouth Club in New York City on January 20. Dean William P. Kimball '29 of the Thayer School (center, ,n frontf fire- i t•* iU0 nf p I Halloran '2O. major domo. Seated at long table (I to r) are: A. H. Ayers 'o7™ Vward 'lO, J. M. Hirst '39, J. S. Macdonald 'l4, W. P. Kimball '29 P. J. Halloran '20,, E. H. Driggs (feature spaoker), A. P. Richmond 'l5, F. H. Munkelt 'O9. Facing camera in left hand corner is A. J- Henf'® '49 Wed at short table are (I to r): R. T. Barr '42, E. S. Cole '3l, G. E. Franson '3l R. I- N.«burg 49 J. J. Moulton '37 and C. F. Burnap '4O. At right of waiter, M. M. Mcloud TT 47 and W. H. Ham 98, E. H. Elkins 'l5 partly visible in back.
