May Weekend

In the Yearly round of occasions that bring alumni back to the campus the May weekend when class and club officers return as guests of the College has always held a special place. This year the meetings were highly successful, with a record attendance of 191 alumni officers and a flawless performance on the part of the weather.

The record attendance was partly accounted for by the invitations extended this year to chairmen of the alumni club scholarship endowment funds and to the special committee on Dartmouth movies, established by the Alumni Council at its last meeting. Even without these two groups, however, there would have been an unusually large gathering of class secretaries, club secretaries, class treasurers, class agents, and class memorial fund chairmen.

Following an informal dinner at the Hanover Inn on Friday night, May 12, the secretaries, treasurers and class agents held separate association meetings, presided over by Ernest H. Earley '18, president of the Dartmouth Secretaries Association; Robert M. Mac Donald '21, president of the Class Treasurers Association; George H. Colton '35, secretary of the Class Agents Association; and John F. Page '39, secretary of the Dartmouth Club of Central Pennsylvania, who directed the special session of club secretaries. The class memorial fund chairmen held their separate discussions at a Saturday morning breakfast meeting.

As has been the custom for some years, the second day was given over to joint gatherings attended by all the alumni officers in town. At a joint meeting Saturday morning, held in the 1902 Room of Baker Library and presided over by Mr. Early, talks were given on the 1950 Alumni Fund by Charles J. Zimmerman '23, chairman of the Alumni Fund Committee of the Alumni Council; on the Dartmouth Pow-Wow in Detroit, October 6-7, by John L. Scolaro '42 of the Detroit alumni club; on Admissions by Albert I. Dickerson '30, director of admissions; and on the Dartmouth Development Program by H. R. Lane '07, member of the policy committee of the Dartmouth Development Council.

Saturday afternoon offered a full card of athletic events, with baseball, tennis, track and the final spring football scrimmage scheduled. That evening the annual joint dinner of the alumni officers and College officials was held in the Colonial Room of Thayer Hall, where the by-now-traditional lobsters were again delectably served up by Mrs. Elizabeth Hayward. Mr. Earley served at toastmaster at the dinner and the main talks were given by David C. Bull '50, president of this year's Undergraduate Council, and by President Dickey.

Always a feature of the annual dinner, awards for the outstanding alumni officers of the year were announced by Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College. Frank Eleazar Rowe '91 was honored as the Class Secretary of the Year. Notable in his record is his service as class secretary for 59 years, ever since his class graduated. Recognition as Class Treasurer of 1950 went to Earle Howard Pierce '10, who in his first year on the job has established an unprecedentedly high record among all the classes. As the Dartmouth Club Secretary of 1950, Mr. Hayward announced Stuart Lennox MacPhail '40 of Minneapolis, secretary of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of the Northwest. A special surprise award of merit went to Donald Carl Mckinlay '37 of Denver, former class secretary and former club secretary, who was attending the Hanover meetings as a member of the committee on Dartmouth movies.

The meetings of the alumni officers in May are working sessions, with emphasis on learning to do a more effective job for the class or club and for the College. Another primary objective is to bring these key alumni workers up to date on the "state of the College" and to get from them suggestions and advice as to how things might be better handled at the Hanover end. An overall result of the annual gettogether is a recharging of the batteries of alumni energy and enthusiasm—and this is by no means a one-way gain. For the College officers in Hanover there is an invaluable lift in meeting face-to-face with the Dartmouth men who willingly shoulder such a burden of work and who keep the wheels turning in a nation-wide alumni organization that is one of the great strengths of the College.