1929
Lunching yesterday with Squeek Redding at Ollie Holmes' newest Schrafft restaurant on Federal Street, we talked about the Class performance in the Alumni Fund and compared our showing to date with last year's headlong rush when we ran a front race over the entire course.
As we sat there on the 4th of May with the Class in 7th place in the Green Derby standing, the thing that impressed me—as it Would you if you had been with us—was our Class Agent's quiet confidence in the ultimate performance of the Class. He does not regard last year's achievement as a flash performance accomplished under the special stimulation of the 20th Reunion but accepts it as the true measure of the worth and devotion of a class which now finds itself in the period of its alumni cycle when its ability to match the opportunities to support the College are reaching the greatest potential.
He expressed complete assurance that by the time you read these notes early in June, the Class will be running strongly down the home stretch with the attainment of the 1950 objective in sight. Of course, it would be grand to win the Green Derby again and that we will try to do but, after all, that is secondary—the main purpose is to contribute in full measure that portion of the financial resources which the College has assigned to the Class of 1929. What this means need not be labored here by me for I, as well, share Squeek's sanguine belief.
The second annual Spring Frolic in these parts will be held on Friday, June 9, under the management of Oliver Wendell Holmes whose association with the Schrafft organization allows us to put on a buffet supper at a ridiculously low cost. The party with music by DonDudley—Reunion Movies by Chris Born—Undoubtedly a speech or two by Richard FrancisBarrett—and lessons in the latest dance steps by Richard Johnson will be held at Beaver Country Day School, Chestnut Hill—preceded by cocktails at the Andres' nearby.
And now for some very good reports, the first from Al Fisher,
"Following our 20th Reunion week-end in Hanover, the Fisher family headed South for Danvers, Mass., and had a delightful visit with Ralph andMarjorie Ardiff. They have a beautiful old colonial home overlooking the meadows at the edge of town. Ralph can well afford to be a gentleman farmer since his work as an insurance broker places him well up among the top producers for the entire country. He spends most of his time on civic projects and fund-raising drives for churches and lets his insurance clients beat a path to his door. It seems that his better mousetrap is to save people money. That seems to attract customers like flies to honey. A strange coincidence, involving Ralph, occurred when I was home on vacation last month in Kentucky. I picked up a book from a shelf in the library and a slip of paper fell to the floor. It was a longhand note written in 1928, transferring ownership of a roll top desk from one of the fraternity brothers to Ralph Ardiff for the magnificent sum of $2.50. The owner wasn't sure of payment but he was willing to take a chance. At the end of the note was this statement, 'I predict a bright business future for this boy.' I had the note framed, tied it up in ribbons, and mailed it to Ralph for Christmas.
"The next stop on our journey home was George Naylor's where we had an equally delightful stay. George has a beautiful country estate of about 15 acres with a swimming pool that was most welcome to a group of tired travelers. George and Connie have fixed over an old barn into the grandest playhouse imaginable. After supper we strolled down the road to visit with John Calver, and then went on to call on Squeekand in Winchester.
"We were home a short while when I chanced to read an article in the New York Times that one James I. Stewart had addressed a convention of educators in Durham, N. H. Could it be that 'Cueball' had pried himself loose from Phoenix, Ariz., and headed East? My suspicions were confirmed a week latervwhen the telephone rang and a hungry voice wanted to know what was on the menu and whether he could come out from New York for the week-end to enjoy some of Sally's home cooking. Apparently his wife Mary takes pretty good care of him in a culinary way because his midriff has expanded considerably since he used to do hand stands on the parallel bars for Pat Kaney's Gym Team. Jim picked up a new car in Detroit on his way East and saved enough freight and other charges to give himself a free trip.
"Another roommate showed up in Roslyn later in the summer, this time by private plane. Read-Arthur, as manager of the basketball team, used to do a lot of barnstorming around the country, but these trips were nothing compared to his present jaunts on business. I learned of his interest in airplanes from my next door neighbor who came to the house one morning with a newspaper clipping from her home town in lowa. It was an account of how the private plane of the Lyle Manufacturing Co. of Clarinda, lowa, had served as an ambulance plane to carry her mother to a hospital in Virginia. Read has charge of sales for this company and uses this plane to cover as much territory as possible. While in the East last October, he decided to forego the pleasure of a New York hotel to enjoy life in the country with us. The next day we had a delightful sail in Manhasset Bay on Long Island Sound in our 'Wood Possy' sail boat.
"My 15-year-old daughter, being a ski enthusiast and hoping to find some snow during the Christmas Holidays, took a youth hostel trip to the Whi-e Mountains. Their party stopped at a comfortable old New England farm house near Plymouth, N. H., owned by a family named Moulton. During the course of the evening she was chatting with Mrs. Moulton when she noticed a 1929 Dartmouth Directory on the table. This family turned out to be the parents of Ralph Moulton, who is now with a steel company in Pennsylvania.
"While my daughter was in New Hampshire enjoying the Christmas Holidays, I spent several pleasant evenings interviewing applicants for next year's Freshman class at Dartmouth. One application blank on my list was James M. Fisher, son of Albert C. Fisher. When I came to the paragraph entitled 'How long have you known the applicant?', I thought I might be giving a few secrets away and so I turned Jimmy's name over to Phil Orsi's committee in Manhasset for them to do the interviewing.
"My neighbor over the back fence is sales manager for Whitney baby carriages in New York. He is naturally interested in a population increase and, like all good executives, throught he better set a good example. The arrival was a seven pound baby girl which prompted my wife to place a phone call to congratulate him. While they were talking on the phone I was reading the latest copy of.the ALUMNI MAGAZINE which told of Ralph Butler being made head of sales promotion for the entire Whitney Cos. At this point I thought I'd better interrupt the conversation and add my congratulations for his having such a swell new boss.
"Last week on my usual commuting train I dropped into a seat right behind Ray Hedger. He has forsaken his calculating machine business in Glen Cove and has gone back to the pleasure of commuting "to the Sorg Printing Cos. in Lower Manhattan. Among others I see occasionally are Bob Mac Murray and Brownie Waite. Ken McNair is also a regular at Long Island affairs. I had the pleasure recently of driving Ted Baehr home to Locust Valley the evening that we were both stranded in Penn Station as a result of additional coal burning locomotives being taken off the schedule. Ted is now signed up for some television shows and is kept busy hopping from one studio to another.
"A final news item relates to Rogues Gallery. Blimey, if I didn't see Ed Walsh's picture staring me in the face when I opened the financial section of today's New York Times. It seems as how our little Edward has gone and got himself promoted. As Sales Manager of the Atlantic Division of the American Can Cos., we'll expect to see cans tied to every hound's tail in this part of the country. Herb Bis sell also crashed into Rogues Gallery, having joined this select group in the Times about a month ago. I was about to start a log fire in the fireplace and was crumpling up a piece of newspaper when I suddenly realized I was mangling a fellow classmate. Herb now has a topnotch job with the Minneapolis Honeywell Co. We can all take pleasure in seeing that some big companies recognize good men in their organizations. '29 up."
Bill Morgan: "In my travels around the East in the interest of St. Regis (Paper Co.), I have had the pleasure of having lunch with Bill Henretta and his good wife in Kane, Pa., and a drink with Bill Strangward on the train from Cleveland one night, and finally a drink with Ed Chinlund in Pittsburgh recently. Now that I have quenched my thirstaround New York I see Jack Loucks occasionally who is with Coronet MagaEine; I also had a brief encounter with Ed Deans in the Barclay last week."
Phil Hoffman: "In brief summary, the Hoffmans (including Florence, 21 plus, David, 13 and Lynn, 10) live at 177 Clairmont Terrace, in Orange, N. J. After over three years during the war when I was Assistant General Counsel of the War Production Board in Washington, we moved back to this area. And I am now, as you can see from this letterhead, plying the legal trade in New York City, handling the usual mixture of interesting and dull cases. My practice, together with various community and philanthropic activities that I have become involved in, keep me pretty busy. As a matter of fact, an emergency arising in connection with the former kept me away from the Reunion last summer when I had planned, until almost the last moment, to be among those present."
Sherm Little of Child Guidance Clinic ofBuffalo's Children's Hospital: "The only news as far as I am concerned is that through circumstances I am being pushed into trying to be an executive. Within the past year and a half, I have been fortunate enough to obtain substantial grants of funds from the New York State Society for Crippled Children which we have used to establish a special clinic for the investigation and treatment of emotional complications of chronic illness in children. For example, a crippled child may be almost as much handicapped by his feelings about himself, as he is by his physical handicap. Interestingly enough, the child's attitude about himself is much more related to the way in which his parents feel about him than it is to the kind or severity of his physical handicap. A great deal of work in the clinic, as you can see, is with parents as well as children.
"In addition to this clinic, I have the Child Guidance Clinic. Here too we have been able to get a grant of funds from the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene to double the size of our clinic. This enables us to do more treatment with children and enlarges the staff that can be used in our teaching program with the medical students and internes. It is this teaching part of the whole program in which I am primarily interested. The problems of organization, personnel and personalities take an amazing amount of time, but I hope that these initial difficulties will be solved in the not too distasnt future so that I can devote more of my time toward the objective of the entire program. The youngest of our five children, our daughter Barbara, had her first birthday on February 20. Frankly, with five children one does not need any other vocation. I am sure my wife would put it even more strongly."
Secretary, 75 Federal St., Boston, Mass. Treasurer, 1728 Beechwood Blvd., Pittsburgh 17, Pa. Class Agent, 10 Cranston Rd., Winchester, Mass.
