1940
Your Secretary, may his mail increase, made a trip recently. The expense account showed the trip as purely business, but I did have a good chance to look up a few Forty denizens of towns en route. Picked up some bits, by telephone, personal interview and hearsay, which may make easy reading for those of you who have been fed a diet of who attended what football game this fall.
The train, only three hours late, dropped me in Chicago just in time to find most of the boys gone to lunch. Hal Sommer was off on management engineering duties someplace. Art Sullivan was in the midst of negotiating a new contract with some outlanders from Canada who apparently use his lakes shipping space. Finally connected with BobRaclin, who seemed to be enjoying life with wife Jean, three kids and a top seeded position on the North Shore Squash Team. He regaled me with tales of how Dick Babcock and he have turned to the chubber life for recreation, abetted by Bill Rothermel and some obliging pheasants to be had for the shooting at Babcock's country retreat out in Woodstock, Ill. Apparently, for Bob, the vegetable oil brokerage business has been good, for he and Jean planned to take a few days off the following week to see some shows in New York.
H. T. (Bud) Raymond was located behind his desk in a far corner many floors up in the Insurance Exchange, where he juggles the fine-printed insurance contracts for the firm of Moore, Case, Lyman & Hubbard to earn the wherewithal for Sue and two daughters. Looking only slightly broader in the beam and very expansive elsewhere, Bud did his best as the Windy City's representative on the class Executive Committee to fill me in on who was doing what in Chicago. Phil Dostal had recently been through, returning to California from a machine tool show in Cleveland. His visit was an excuse for a party at R. H. (Soupy) Campbell's home in Winnetka, with Bo Macdonald, Dewitt Jones, Raymond "Sport" White '39, and Bill Webster '39 celebrating. Campbell is eating up his new job selling space for Collier's magazine. Forgot to find out what Macdonald is doing, but De Jones has just moved back from the West Coast to do a merchandising job for Walt Disney in connection with putting Disney characters on food packages.
Others of the Chicago contingent reviewed with Raymond were: Butch Heneage, living in Oak Park with Judy and two kids, and selling group insurance; Sid Craig, practising law; Dick Weil, in retailing with Spiegel, Inc.; Dink Wiener, selling for Standard Container and proud of two boys, one girl; Bob White, allegedly in the merchandise packaging business; Dave Fish, with Montgomery Ward; AlDhonau, a manufacturer's representative (who does he represent?); Jake Courshon, engineer; Marsh Hollander, general manager, H. P. Herzog Co., and Bob Castle, in the flag and decorating business—which should be picking up these days.
Late in the afternoon I met with Dick Babcock for a quiet spot before he caught the 5:18 to Woodstock. He's sold on the life of country squire. Bing and he spend all their spare time nurturing those acres of hill fields and woodlands. He's thinking of importing a couple of beavers to save him money on his dam building—says he wants a pond on the place. Must be in the wilds—or maybe Bing needs a new fur coat!
Missed seeing Hodge Jones and Bob Bender in Omaha the next morning—had to get out of town too fast. Hodge had recently returned from Denver, where he represented the local Dartmouth Club at the Western Conference. The insurance business keeps him, wife Janet and three kids in Omaha. Don't know what Bender does, but he's in the four dependents bracket too.
Next stop Minneapolis. Talked briefly with Art Ostrander, who is living ten miles out of town with a farm equipment business, wife and (againl) three children. Breakfasted the next morning with Whit Miller, who is up to his ears meeting the dual problems of satisfying the biggest demand ever for Toro lawnmowers and, at the same time, trying to get set for some defense work. He had just contracted to produce a new combination sled-water-and-land mobile which seemed to have all the earmarks of a Buck Rogers gizmo. Skiing is still uppermost in his mind, but he claims that he's settled down to make it a more sane pursuit—not the schusser he used to be. Don Fox, newly named as merchandising director for Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., had been in town a few days earlier to buy a house in Whit's neighborhood. It's a nice move for Don.
Running to catch a plane in Minneapolis, I remembered too late that I should have contacted Hal TVonson, Stu MacPha.il and Harry McMahon. The schedule was too tight.
Stopped off in Cleveland long enough to see my folks and to catch up on what ScottyRogers and the crowd are doing. Chanced to make it for a brief visit to Rogers' house where he and Loomie were hosting the KarlBruchs, the Eb Cockleys and the Bob MacMillens for their monthly round robin of canasta. The tempo of the game that evening was completely upset by a d>eck of cards displaying "art" photographs of 52 scantily clad females—a gift to Scotty from Cock lev. of all people! The boys were too busy studying the cards to play canasta, and the wives were just as busy trying to figure out what the gals on the cards had that they didn't!
All in all the trip was a wonderful opportunity to cover some of the class though I wish the schedule could have been more elastic to enable me to contact more of you than I was able to see.
While spending an enjoyable Christmas weekend in New York, Joyce and I dropped in on Tom and Joan Braden. They were be- ing very festive, accompanied by son David, who is getting to be quite a boy. Tom is tripping periodically to England, working with the Donovan-Dulles team on a United Europe.
Eve before New Year's eve found us partying with Diz and Gina de Si eyes, in Washington, Conn., where we ran into Bill Cleaves. Bill is selling pump equipment in the Connecticut area, living in Washington with wife Betty and two daughters—with another addition expected momentarily.
As further evidence that the crop of Forty juniors is ever increasing, Joe Harpham and Esteri report the arrival of Elizabeth Wheeler Harpham, born November 2, 1950, their first. And Jay Weinberg writes that Marian presented him with a third, Joan Carol, on November 3. Jay says he couldn't quite equal Ed Schechter's feat of twins, but he'll take his family in easy stages, preferably. The Weinbergs and Dick and Mary Goulder, of Cleveland, will be among the fortunates who have winter vacations coming to them. They plan to take theirs skiing north of Hanover in early February.
HEADS SUN VALLEY SKI SCHOOL: John Litchfield '39, who starred as a college skier and then made the 1940 U. S. Olympic Team, has been named executive director of the ski school of the famous Idaho resort. He is the first American to head a major ski school anywhere in the world.
Secretary, 55 Goodrich St., Hamden, Conn.
Treasurer. 88 N. Main St., Concord, N. H.
