1918
Leon Dodge presides over his 105-yr.-old general store in Alton, N. H., over which reads the sign "J. Jones & Sons." While the store changed considerably since the days of the open cracker barrel, the circle about the potbellied stove in the center of the store is still a community center and not simply a place where merchandise is bought and sold. When things are dull in the store, Leon either takes care of his paper work or enjoys a game of checkers with a neighbor. Little tots come in clutching their pennies to buy some of those old licorice sticks, and the peaceful, hearty flavor of Leon's surroundings is something all of us must visit sometime.... Lyme (Nuts)Poole postcards, "One day I'll get to N. Y. City to an '18 party for I'd love to see some of the guys again—instead of just reading about 'em. Sometimes I wonder where the last 30 yrs. went. Tell 'em I'm still alive." How about the weekend of April 20-18's final Spring Reunion and the atom bomb scare leaves hotels with plenty of vacant rooms. Do come, Nuts.
That handsome devil who in undergraduate days corresponded with women in many finishing schools, till two in the same school finally found he wrote them the same identical letter, GeorgeCarpenter, is Pres. of the D. Al. Assn. of lowa Tommy Groves is Sec. of the Al. Assn. of Southeastern Mass., and Bill Peppard is Pres. of D. Club of Lowell, Mass. . . . Genial Gerry Geran greets you today with a "what are you doing for the good of your soul?" and Gerry's fine physical condition and alert mind come partially from an intake of mineral salts, keeping him always a real dynamo.
Edward Maynard Ross, brother DKE from Lebanon, N. H., and a prodder magnifique very alertlycaught a picture in the N. Y. papers of lovelyElaine LeFevre, daughter of Mildred and Jay LeFevre. ... The present Mrs. Woolworth (not our Dick's mother) who with Dick's Dad enjoyed '18s big reunion in '48, continued last year the same generous gift to the alumni fund that Mr. Woolworth had enjoyed making while living.... 'Twas an angry Stanley Jones who greeted his cute daughter Nancy, after she had the family car out, hitting all the hotspots in N. Y. City with a Marine beau soon to go to Korea. You'd have thought Stanley had never done the same thing.... Neil O. "Fat"Sheldon is still Sec'y of the 210 members of Schenectady's Rotary Club which is enjoyable because, "the Rotary International Convention held for one week in Atlantic City gives me a solid week's vacation under most agreeable auspices." No; you've got Fat wrong; he wouldn't look at the bathing beauties.
The newspapers in Indianapolis announced "Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. appointed Francis C. Hardie as Mgr. of this Sales Office" Fat, reputed to know who burned 28 S. Mass Hall on 3-24-17, has had a very distinguished record and climbed to the top without help from anyone; and starting at the lowest rung of the ladder in 1920 in the mills of Jones & Laughlin. Fat worked on the open hearth for 2 yrs., then was night boss shipper in the strip mill 1 yr., then again 1 yr. on the open hearth, and in the summer of '24 he was rather discouraged because of low operations, resulting in the "First Helpers having to catch the Second and Third Helpers turn on the furnaces."
Fat then had an offer from Strauss bond house selling real estate bonds. However with that steel training behind him he decided to sign up again with Carnegie on the open hearth where he worked for 1% years until an opportunity came to go into sales, June 1925, where he worked 3 or 4 years, then became Asst. District Mgr. In 1932 he was Mgr. in Cleveland and in '38 he was Mgr. of Carnegie-Illinois in their Detroit office, remained there until transferred to Pittsburgh in the Executive Dept. where he contacts the railroads chiefly.
1918 SPRING RE UNION N. Y. CITY DARTMOUTH CLUB, APRIL 20-from 5:30 P.M.—LAST REUNION TILL FALL. RogerWarner visited the Hanover Inn during the winter.... Ed Healey, Hort Chandler, FrankGriswold, Tommy Groves, Chaunce Hood,Bob Ritter, Jack Storrs, Al Street, Phil Tusting, George Hull, Don Macauley, Henri vonZelm, Tom Shirley, Clarence Opper, HenryOppenheim, Paul Erwin, George Arnold,Ducky Drake and Eric Ball are some of those who are hoped will be here for cocktails and dinner at '18s fiesta on April 20 they'll come from far and near do come.
From humble beginnings, great men have come. The '18 class is no exception. Freshman year, the Daily Dartmouth headlines said, "279 members of '18 class are deficient in scholarships biology and English lead 1918 failures 62 l/2% of Ist year men are below in one or more subjects situation for 1918 class is critical" later on, when '18 packed the Dartmouth board with such scholars as Cliff Meredith, Eddie Felt, Fred Cassebeer, AlGottschaldt, King Rood, Dave Garratt and StubStanley, no further glaring headlines ever appeared.
The total financial aid given to needy students since last year amounted to $386,000, of which $346,000 was cash grants and loans and the balance of $40,000 represents jobs for the Dining Assn. That sort of help to needy students certainly deserves our backing. Let's send in our check immediately to Dick Holton for a larger contribution to the Al. Fund.... In case we want to remember some good guys whose birthdays fall in April, there is J. S.(Jim) Carpenter on the 17th—also Phil Chase;George Murphy the 21st; Stew Teaze the 18th; Em Morse, 19th; Judge Don Macauley, 20th (he's the man who at the spring reunion a couple of yrs. ago, raced out up to Saks-sth Av. and bought a string of pearls for his pretty Laura, and impressed all of us no end); HalEllis, 22nd (the old Assoc. Editor on Aegis)', also Dick Oppenheimer and Syl Morey. The 23rd, Judge H. J. A. Collins; Phil Everett, the 24th; Fred Rau,2sth; H. A. (Johnny) Johnston, 26th; Herm (Red) Smith, the 27th; and GeorgeMoulton Davis the 28th.
Dick White and John Cunningham had a flower raising bee with Ethel and Stumpie Barr on their winter trip to Hanover for the Alumni Council Meeting Johnny also had a wonderful visit with Ellen and Duke, and looked over the cows and the horses, and pronounced them all fit spent a delightful evening with Stan Jones; and speaking of Duke, remember the day of the West Virginia game? From the 'lB Aegis: "... snowbanks 2 ft. all around the field, and with 2" of mud on top of the frozen ground, the two elevens battled and slid for an hour, coming out with a total of 7 points each, and Cannell tossed a gass into the waiting hands of DuSossoit who crossed the final chalk mark." Roaring thru the grey and threatening clouds on last Feb. 3, was Clayton Morey, son of Minetta and Syl, sitting for the first time at the controls of a Big bomber, a dual control ship with a training pilot, from Floyd Bennett field.
That broth of a boy, Teemos O'Shay, again earned his boyscout star for serving for a whole month on the Grand Jury and the Judge knowing a good foreman, cornered the Shamus and made him stay put.... At 86, and with poor eyesight,' Hort Chandler's mother gets aboard a plane every winter alone and flies down to Daytona Beach, where she has a wonderful time with a crowd of her friends at a hotel. Son Hort often gets down to Cooley's shop and has dinner with Dick, and a nice visit with dynamo Edith.... Sometime back, the Lewis Lee family (Lewis passed away 11/30/50), sent a thank you note for the flowers sent by the class.... A while back too Monk Drabble's mother wrote us, that she was discontinuing her subscription to the ALUMNI MAG, which she had had for 30 years, due to a serious eye condition. She always considered it a great pleasure to keep in touch with the class this way.. ..
Starting out his letter, "... I guess I'm a real then drawing a picture of a cute little skunk, it was a nice note from Cliff Meredith, at 8 Old Military Rd., Saranac Lake, N. Y. "Only recent contacts with Hanover . . . have been thru reading Budd Schulberg's The Disenchanted. Since it relates to the inglorious return of a producer to the campus, dragging along F. Scott Fitzgerald for prestige, and the letter's lost weekend during Winter Carnival, it brings back some early day pictures for a Dartmouth reader. Outside of reading by day, and radio-ing by evening, things are pretty calm in the snowtopped mountains (1/27/51). However, there are moments when it seems a lot more pleasant than riding the L. I. RR."
The old rosegarden expert, Swede Youngstrom, who enjoyed himself more at the '4B Reunion than anyone else—unless it was Ed Healey and Luke, who enjoyed seeing the Swede so much—might be at the N. Y. City reunion on April 20, and may all of Swede's many admirers be there, among whom are the Duke (F. D.), Gus Gustajson, CharlieMcCarthy and Jim Carpenter. . . . Someone reported having seen good old Herb Best, who was a prof at Yale and an Ensign in aviation in World War I. ... With oceans of cheer, came a note from AlGustajson, "... Duke asked me up to his place in Lyme and I'd fly up in a minute if I was physically able, but those two strokes of Dec. '48 have left me in such a weakened state, I would not be able to make it. I have to stay home and am very happy here, enjoying television, reading sports news, magazines, and hearing from all you good friends (3626 D Fincastle Rd., Louisville, K y.DickHolton is sure doing a swell job and deserves orchids. My wife Ruth is carrying on my business and doing a wonderful job, and I have a lot to be thankful for. ..."
Kath and Eddie Ferguson had a wonderful visit with Hugh Whipple, the Medina globe-trotter; oldest boy David is with U. S. Consulate in IndoChina. Eddie reported seeing brother Lew Cousens, one of 'lBs most promising pitchers of long ago stuffing himself at a family party at a bistro in Boston also saw Stub Stanley, and the Dick Cooleys, where Kath trades regularly. Eddie's son Ben is enjoying the banking business. Eddie had no reports on Mr. Telephone (Tom Shirley)... .
Thanks to Charlie Kozminski, we have a fine report of the nice '18 gathering at the Hanover Holiday, Chicago, on Feb. 3 when several Dartmouth professors spoke, as well as President Dickey. . . . DocGeorge Woodruff, the eye, nose, throat specialist, from Joliet, Ill., was there with wife lone, also Marion and Cort Horr and Imogene and Charlie enjoyed very much their nice visit with Elsa and Les Merrill, who had been out there temporarily on business.
An enjoyable note from Cort Horr last Feb.: "I hooked on to the Mich. U. special last Dec. and took in the Rose Bowl game and the parade, and returned just in time to take Marion to the hospital for an appendectomy, but she is fine now. We sat in front of Jack andThelma Slabaugh at Ann Arbor last October. Jack is a great guy and I always enjoy seeing him." So do we all, so come East soon, Thelma and Jack.
johnny Thayer, still real estating at Delray Beach, rented his lovely home during the peak winter months to the topbrass of Look and said, in part, last Feb., "I'm still playing the piano at the Bath and Tennis Club during the Sunday buffet luncheons; write a column each week in the local sheet—do some space rate writing for the seasonal magazines Surf and Tide." . . . When the great immortals of baseball were celebrating in New York last Feb., Gerry Geran had the pleasure of shaking hands with Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Ford Frick who were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the National League Wee Willie Bemrs, the cutest stickpin of the class, partner of the high-prestxged Cleveland law firm, Baker, Hostetler & Patterson, and whose important clientele brings him to N. Y., Calif Ariz., Fla., etc., was also in N. Y. for the famed stars of baseball, and intimated that Alice and daughters Betty and Beckie might all be down with him this April at the swanky Flamingo Hotel in Miami. . . .
Swede Bennett, the ex-roomey of GeorgeKane and Killer George Stoddard, and who,with Betty, has been most faithful and all '18Hanover reunions, was given partial creditfor the strength of Taft in the election, because as head of the Medina, Ohio, Chamberof Commerce he worked hard for him—DustyRhodes, who writes the smart column in N. Y.City, "Make Mine Manhattan," and the Journal of Commerce's "Here and There in N. Y.City"—and who contributes occasionally tothe Saturday Review, the New Republic, theN. Y. Herald Tribune, and elsewhere; andwhose subtle and sophisticated writings on N. Y. City night life, theatres, hotspots, operas, the dance, ballet, Drama Critic for a new mag The Village Crier etc., sent us a card last Feb. saying, "At the Versailles last Friday night, I ran into Swede Homer Bennett and his charming wife, his handsome son and his son's beautiful bride. Swede and the Mrs. were off for Bermuda the following day—and they all looked wonderful." ... Dusty saw the revival of Where's Charlie, with Ray Bolger and enjoyed a man in the cast, Bob Shackleton and in the program note it said he got his start through Gene Markey who gave him a part in a picture written and produced by Gene.
Fathers and Sons Dinner
Now let's turn the column over to CharlieHood '51 who reports on the 1918 Fathers and Sons Dinner held in Hanover February 23:
"Getting together for the fourth successive year, the sons of '18 in college and their dads met for dinner at the Outing Club House on Friday, February 23. Although there are fewer sons of '18 in college this year and the gathering was somewhat smaller than it has been in the past, the party was certainly no less successful, and much credit again goes to StumpBarr for making all the arrangements.
"There were 21 present: eight '18ers, eleven sons, and two guests. The usual Dartmouth contingent. Stump Barr, Ed Booth, and RolfSyvertsen, was on hand of course. Duke Dusossoit came over from his farm in Hanover Center, and was accompanied by his son Bill '51. Other father-and-son pairs included HermSmith and Len '51, Ed Hazen and Ed Jr. '51, and Red Hulbert with Dick '51. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see Dick Aishton who came East from Chicago on business, and arranged to join his son Andy '52 for the weekend. For the sons, there were Ray Peppard '49, a second year medic, Charlie Hood '51, Dave Skinner '51, and Champ Smith '51. John Doty was the only other '52 present, and Bill Peppin the lone representative for the freshmen. That accounts for just about everybody present, I guess, except for the friendly individual in Duke's charge, dimly visible in the picture in the lower left-hand corner.
"Among the students unable to attend this year were Fred Carleton '52, who by the way is spending this year in France, Jeff O'Connell '51, Russ Howard '53, and Chris Rood '54. George Scully '52, and Ceb Benesch '52 were unable to get to the dinner because of a lacrosse practice.
"After the typically splendid roast beef dinner was finished, Stump rapped for silence, and, after having everyone introduce himself, acted as toastmaster and introduced the guests for the evening. First Professor Al Foley '20 gave a part of his well-known and enjoyable talk on Vermont humor, deviating from his accustomed train of jokes and philosophy only long enough to reply to a little heckling by his colleagues, Sy and Ed. A little later in the evening another guest, Harry Jackson '53, lent a little Doc flavor to the festivities, singing some old ballads and cowboy songs to which he played his own accompaniment on the guitar. Winding up the merrymaking, there was beer and coke for all, accompanied by the usual reminiscences and a few jokes on a more informal level. Altogether, it was a fine gettogether, and everyone seemed to have a swell time.
"Speaking for all the sons of '18, and especially for the seniors, I would like here to convey many thanks to the '18ers, and to say that we have certainly enjoyed these dinners during our four years at Dartmouth. We very much hope that there will be opportunities in the future when we can all get together again."
Secretary, 74 Trinity Place, New York 6, N. Y. Treasurer, Parkhurst Hall, Hanover, N. H Class Agent, 2644 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn 7, N. Y.
