1929
FIRST ANNUAL "FATHER-SON" ISSUE (Continued)
George H. Lane Lehman G. Lane '54 22 Perkins Ave., Norwich, Conn. 304 Richardson Your letter to my son Lee who is a freshman at Dartmouth has shaken me from my lethargy of many years' duration. I always enjoy immensely reading our class news in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and learning the whereabouts and activities of many classmates. I have felt that my personal experiences have been pretty ordinary and undramatic and probably of little interest to others. However your letter to sons of '29 in the present freshman class asking for information on their families has finally moved me to offer a contribution to our class news.
Our family consists of my wife Emily and daughter Nancy, who is 16 and in her third year at the Norwich Academy; Lee, 18 years old and fortunate enough to have been accepted in the class of '54 and myself, now rapidly getting bald and feeling about 70 years old at times. I spent 14 years after college with the New Haven Savings Bank, most of the time in the real estate and mortgage departments. In January 1945 I spent a few sleepless nights trying to decide whether to discard the security and fine pension plan the bank career offered, to accept a position in industry with the economic hazards inherent therein. Emily, good sport that she has been during our 19 (20 next August) years of married life, said she was game to do whatever I decided, so on January 16, 1945, I became associated with the Plastic Wire & Cable Corp., which had been started a year previously and was engaged in the manufacture of communication wire under prime contracts with the U.S. Signal Corps and radio hook-up wire under sub-contracts with many of the radio manufacturers. Before making this change it was, of course, necessary to attempt to evaluate intelligently the chances of this new company to enter successfully the commercial post-war wire insulating field at the end of World War II. I was convinced, from the many things this relatively young grpup of fellows had accomplished in such a short time, that their chances post-war, in competition with many large and long established concerns, were good. In fact, the chance to get in a new concern like this was challenging. I came to work with this company as Personnel Manager and am also responsible for the Credit and Payroll Departments. We have approximately 250 employees at the present time and the prospects point to a substantial increase during the next few months.
We were awarded a two million dollar contract by the U.S. Signal Corps in April, 1949, for communication wire. Since last June the pressure has been on to step up production. During December we made about forty million feet of telephone wire for the Army, so we are doing all possible to contribute to the national effort and still take care of commercial accounts which we have spent five tough years developing. The last two years have been tough competitively but we have weathered it successfully and the current raw material shortage has eased the price competition considerably. I have never worked so hard, or enjoyed working any more in my life. We work all kinds of hours at times but I have found work in industry very exciting and stimulating.
I was secretary of the New Haven Alumni Club for several years but since moving to Eastern Connecticul I have not been active in the Dartmouth Club here. In fact, the business pressure has been so great that I have not done many of the civic and community things which we probably all should do. I have done some Chamber of Commerce and Church work.
Lee doesn't want me to say anything about him. He was scheduled to return to Hanover at 3 P.M. tomorrow but one of his friends just phoned to say he is driving up and leaving at 6:30 A.M., so Lee is busy packing and has asked me to write as your January 3 date is very close. Lee likes it very much at Dartmouth. He is finding it pretty rugged going, in spite of the fact that he was on the fouryear honor roll at the Norwich Academy here. He was just saying that he is aiming for 3.0 average his first semester. I told him that, if my memory served me correctly, that would be better than anything the old man did in eight semesters.
I am planning to get up to Hanover next month to the Freshman Fathers' week-end.
Wallace W. Willard Henry G. Willard '54 30 Broad St., Wethersfield, Conn. 403 Lord
I was proud to learn of the father-son relationship of the Classes of 1929 and 1954. As a son of a Dartmouth alumnus, I naturally became interested in the College and made up my mind that I wanted to go there long before such a decision was necessary. I was very happy when I learned of my acceptance into the Class of 1954 at Dartmouth and since then have come to realize what a fine institution of learning we have up there at Hanover. I say we because I feel that there is a little part of the school in very Dartmouth man that will remain with him the rest of his life and that Dartmouth is his property as well as that of every other alumnus and undergraduate of the College. Again I wish to say that I am proud to be a member of the Class of 1954 a son of the Class of 1929, and most of all a student at Dartmouth.
I am 18, single, and a very likely candidate for the draft at present. My studies are leading me toward a physics or engineering future. Mechanical subjects have always interested me and I am finding my Physics 3 course very interesting. My father and I both have sailing as our major hobby We both spend many week-ends sailing on Long Island bound and the lower Connecticut River during the summer. My father owns a 38 foot sailing craft which he keeps at Essex, Conn., during the sailing season and he belongs to the Dauntless Club and Essex Yacht Club, both in Essex. We share many tond memories of times spent on the water.
Continuing in somewhat random manner, I have renewed my youth through frequent visits to Hanover this fall. Needless to say, Henry's enrollment has given me tremendous pleasure, not the least of Which was John Dickey's cordial welcome to both of us. I am conscious of being a backslider in the matter of corresponding with you and other classmates I apologize and hasten to add that my interest in the College and the Class of '29 has remained steady and profound.
For the record, I practice as a C.P.A. with the .firm of Webster, Blanchard & Willard with offices in Hartford. Besides Henry, we have a son Wallace Jr., who is 13 and a candidate for the Class of 1958. We also have a daughter Linda, who, we hope, may marry a Dartmouth man and raise a Dartmouth family some 15 years hence.
As Henry indicated, our hobby is sailing and racing. This has for several years accounted for all my spare time in season, and a great deal that probably should not have been spared. Phil May and Mai Mather are much in evidence around Hartford. Mai has just been elected Executive V.P. of the Allen Manufacturing Company and is considered one of the important young (?) executives about town.
Kindest personal regards to you and all.
John H. Brabb Earl E. Brabb '31 Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. 410 Streeter
At the expense of neatness I am flying this down to you. I was skiing and did not receive it until just before I left for school. I hope it is what you want:
DAD 1929: 5' 8", 155 Ibs. Lawyer. Majored in math at Dartmouth and went to Detroit College of Law from which graduated with a Doctor of Law degree. Main interest is in radio and is Director of the Great Lakes section of the American Radio Relay League. Says class of '29 is so famous that it is the only one with its numerals on Baker tower. Served in Navy during last war on the carrier USS Shangri La. Was in the battle of Okinawa. Is now a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve. Another hobby is bridge where he and his wife Grace have accumulated over 50 cups and awards from all over the United States. Biggest thrill was winning the World Bridge Olympic Championship for the State of Michigan in 1938. Vice-President, Dartmouth Club of Detroit.
EARL 1951: 5' 11", 170 lbs. Interested in Photography. President of Dartmouth Camera Club. Member SAE. Won numerals in lacrosse. Majoring in geology and will attend graduate school at University of Michigan next year; hope to become a petroleum geologist. Member of the Spanish Club and was on DOC Carnival Committee last year. Main interest is in skiing which he considers the world's greatest sport. Main ambition is to schuss Aspen. Pet project is showing slides at the Vets Hospital in White River as a DCU member. Has almost 200 color slides of all Dartmouth activities which he shows to high schools and alumni groups.
JOINT: Dad and Earl make a good repair team. Jack does most of the planning and theoretical work and Earl is a whiz at mechanics. Also, Earl is left-handed and can work in a lot of places where Jack who is right-handed cannot.
Arthur B. H. Rose Ronald P. Rose '52 Newbury, Mass. 207 Richardson
We are writing this note over about as brief a span of years between classes as is granted most fathers and sons. Only 23 years separate '29 from '52 and although many '29ers profess astonishment at the quick passage of the years, those who have offspring of college age are probably by that very fact reconciled to the situation. Dartmouth's sons probably began matriculating long ago and '29 has only begun in the Class of '51. It is interesting to speculate that '29's sons still may be entering Dartmouth in the Class of 2113 wars and rumors of wars notwithstanding 39 years after the matriculation of the first '29 grandson.?? What a great part they will play in Dartmouth life over this span of years.
Ronald matriculated with the Class of '52, shoving off on the Freshman-Week trip to Moosilaukee and otherwise getting adjusted to the College a lot quicker than his dad. We were just taking notice of the fact that we were both born in Boston; both moved to Newburyport at an early age; both attended the same high school; both attended Dartmouth and I recently attended Ronald's initiation into Gamma Delta Chi. Here the resemblance ends, I am certain, except that Ron and I both have received the Wheelwright Scholarship, established about 75 years ago in Newburyport in the will or a sea captain and rail tycoon who built the first (?) rail lines in South America.
If selective service permits him to stay in College for his senior year, Ron wants to take the Tuck-Thayer major but right now he has his sights on completing his junior year. What the next year will bring, no one can tell. As for the fifth year at Tuck Thayer, we are just hoping. Ron sang with his freshman Glee Club and has since sung these two years with the varsity Glee Club. The club is his chief activity into which he puts a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It is apparent that he gets a lot out of the Club, with its year-round activities. Every room at home echoes to basso profundos and his parents' musical education goes on apace.
Side note: Ronald and I talked over this letter but before the writing could be completed it was time to start for Hanover. We took Ron and two friends back. Peg and I rattle around the house when Ron is at college but Peg keeps busy developing statistical figures on the behavior of the stock market. At other times she works with church groups, the Women's Club, Dartmouth Women's Club (Boston) and the Newburyport Art Association.
For my own part, I have been trying to save money for industries in this region, first, in the industrial engineering field and now in the sales engineering of industrial equipment. Along this line I am interested in the S. A. M. (Society for the Advancement of Management) and the Material Handling Institute. Nearer home, I complete my senior year as deacon in the Central Congregational Church and as Finance Chairman of same. I am interested in the work of the Council of Churches in this area and served this year as Vice President. Some years ago, I started messing around with painting landscapes and, mostly for self-protection, we formed an association of artists (self-styled). In this year of troubled times and, as a result of a political upheaval, I find myself occupying the uncertain chair of this organization. This probably was some sort of consolation for losing out in a school committee election in which I was low man in a field of three. Remarkable thing, though; I got a lot more votes than anyone would have believed and the Daily News was predicting some sort of political future for me when word began drifting in that the northern wards of the city had given me such a heavy vote because many thought they were voting for their milkman of the same name. Best wishes to the Class '29 fathers and incumbent sons.
Arthur C. Buffington John W. Buffington '54 South Minneapolis, Minn. 109 Fayerweather Thanks for your letter about the Father-Son
issue of alumni notes. Although Dad went to Dartmouth from Springfield, Ill., and I entered from Minneapolis, we both went from the same school in Minneapolis Blake. I think he was the first Dartmouth graduate from there. There have been a great many from Blake at Dartmouth since then. Most have been interested in sports particularly winter sports, and so am I.
Dad, Mother, my brother Bob and I came to Hanover for the Class of 1929 Twentieth Reunion. Mom had been to Hanover in 1929 and 1930. Her brother went to Dartmouth, too. In fact, both my godfathers are Dartmouth men. Until the reunion, I thought Mom and Dad were a little too enthusiastic about Dartmouth, but since then, and though I've been here only three months, I sure go along with their Dartmouth spirit. My brother is interested in Dartmouth and would be in the class of 1958. We all like winer and water sports and spend all the time we can each summer up in Northern Minnesota on Gull Lake. I've worked at camps, for conventions and for flour mills. Dad is in the banking business. If any of you members of 1929 are out our way during the summer, come and see us.
THE 1930 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, with support from the wives' auxiliary, held its January 26-28 meeling in the pleasant setting of Bob Keene's Lodge in Etna, a few miles from the College. Present for the business and social weekend were: (I to r) front row, on floor—Carol HaffenrefFer, Margo Chandler, Celie French, Si Chandler, Al Dickerson, Bud French; second row, on sofa—Larry Widmayer, Lucia Dick- erson, Blanche Mclnnes, Caroline McFarland, Barbara Scribner, Ceil Borella, Mildred Rauch; back row, standing—Alex McFarland, Charlie Rauch, Fred Scribner, Carl HaffenrefFer, Lee Chilcote, Mac Mclnnes, Charlie Widmayer, and Vic Borella.
Secretary, 75 Federal St., Boston, Mass.
Treasurer, 1728 Beechwood Blvd., Pittsburgh 17, Pa.
Class Agent, 10 Cranston Rd., Winchester, Mass.
