1932
I'm supposed to get my notes in on the 5th, but here it is the 9th and I'm still writing them. My excuse this time is due to my "trip," however. You see, people assume that State Department work must entail foreign travel, and indeed it does, for many people. But I haven't been outside the U.S. and Montreal since I returned from Turkey in 1944. This trip I mentioned, however, had a certain coincidental aspect. I had to go to New York to consult with the directors of the Monrovia (Liberia) Port Management Company. At almost the same moment Dick Hazen was landing in the U.S. after his trip to Liberia in the interest of that country's water supply. So you can see how fine it is to be in the State Department and see the world, or at least part of it. I also saw Art Allen oil Broadway. He avowed a lack of news to tell the class, although it seems news-worthy to me to have a son old enough to be applying for Navy ROTC, which he has. I suppose we must all be ready for the experience of having sons in college, but some of us, I know, feel a little too much like college boys ourselves to be able to face that reality with confidence.
Hazen's travel in the interest of purer water took him also to Brussels, where he saw the Rod Hatchers on a vacation trip from London. Rod is still with the National City Bank. ...John Van Buskirk is our most frequent visitor at the Hanover Inn, where he stops frequently in his travels as milk tester for the Corinth "D.H.I.A." ... Joe Byram has another office—elected director of Johnson and Bassett, Inc., of Worcester.
And now, with a murmur of thankfulness, Iquote from three letters. From George Hahn,who seems to be keeping up his pace:
"Whenever the first real springy day hits Philadelphia—as today—l think of Hanover (should be the first snow, I suppose)—hence the letter.
"Art and Gertrude Blais have announced the ar- rival of their first child, Patricia, in February—the Blais family are living in Roslindale, Massachusetts.
"Bill Mackinsey keeps busy in the lamp and bulb division of Westinghouse. He is treasurer of the Dartmouth Club in Philadelphia. Hobbies include raising dachshunds, Siamese cats and just plain cats, mowing a vast lawn and membership in the local fire department in Lima, Peru. A few weeks ago Bill's photograph (taken at a great distance!) was in the Philadelphia papers—front page stuff! A rapidly spreading fire almost demolished the historic Strath-haven Sun in Swarthmore—six or eight fire companies were called. Bill was the one who carried the heavy nozzle of a 3½ mile hose up a shaky ladder to spray the burning roof of the building—it was a cold night!
"My practice and teaching continue about aa usual. I was re-elected secretary of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia and re-elected to the Board of the American Cancer Society (Philadelphia division). I am chairman of professional education for the cancer society and am most interested in the ways and means to spread the proper knowledge to the physicians' nurses and dentists in this area. As a member of the State Cancer Commission I make monthly trips to Harrisburg which approximates a miniature Washington. Next week our Philadelphia Obs. Gyn. Society is host to the Societies from Boston and New York for a joint allday meeting. I am involved in a presentation: The Histologic Criteria for the Early Diagnosis of carcinoma of the cervix uteri and an operative demonstration: extra-peritonealiac lymphodenectomy for carcinoma of the cervix uteri. I thought you would be interested in the medical terminology.
"All our children are in school now (nursery school to fourth grade). I understand that our household is astonishingly quiet from 9-12 a.m. during the week. My wife has been tussling with an unresolved pneumonia which originally began as a viral affair in January. I think that everything will be under control in a short time.
"I saw Frank Elliott a few times during the football season but not since then."
From Dick Manville, writing from East Lansing, Michigan:
"A quiet afternoon at home during our three-day 'spring vacation' gives me the opportunity to write a few lines which I have long intended to send you. I must admit to a great laxity in my correspondence. And as an excuse I can offer only the fact that news seems to decrease in proportion to the distance from Hanover.
"My status is still as last reported, some three years ago. Teaching zoology is certainly no way to build up a fortune, but it has its advantages in a decent summer vacation, an opportunity for independent research, and a freedom from punching a time clock. It has been interesting, too, to observe the development in Michigan State College since its admission to the Big Ten. I have been impressed, as have those at most other colleges, by the declining abilities of students as compared to those of our day. Simple training in the three R's is no longer a prerequisite to matriculation in college. And the current emphasis seems to be on athletic prowess, but there are more healthy signs of maturing in other directions.
"For your vital statistics records I must report that our family has increased to four, with the birth of Doris Parker on October 17 last.
"Of course I took in the Dartmouth-Michigan football game last fall, a clash of alma maters in my case. And it almost looked as though the Big Green might come through with an upset until the closing moments of the first half. I was in the company of Dick Schneider '35 and a bevy of doctors from the Hitchcock Clinic. The only '32 man I glimpsed, and that briefly, was Lou Heavenrich of Detroit, looking hale and hearty. Since then I have accompanied Harold Fields '28 to a Dartmouth gathering at Grand Rapids, where the only other '32er was Howie Frisbie, apparently very busy and contented as a Metropolitan Life representative in this area. And that, alas, is all I can contribute of the great Class of 1932.
"Hope to be seeing you at the Great Twentieth! Give us some news of Tom Curtis (I met his brother out here some while back), Howie Sargeant, and our other Washington celebrities, not forgetting yourself."
From Bud Hubbard, who wrote this to JohnKeller last November:
"Was leafing through the pages of an old volume in my collection—The Green Book—1932 (Ah, youth!) receatly and just for fun. Found same buried amid other relics from those gay days—perhaps inspired by my recent excursion, excuse me- I should say 'peerade' to the Dartmouth-Michigan fracas at Ann Arbor. ...
"Am still of the opinion that the boys in Green played a mighty good game against Michigan and that the score should have been closer as there were two notably bad breaks against us. Oh well....
"Janet and I were house guests of Bob ('32) Rein bardt and his charming wife, Nancy, who live in Birmingham, Michigan. As a matter of fact, we've been trading visits with them over quite a period of years. Quite a few '32ers in the neighborhood for the big weekend. It's possible that there were some I didn't recognize as I find the passing years have a way of altering appearances to some extent. I seem to have parted with a good deal of hair since that picture in the '32 freshman picture as might be the case with one or two of the others. But I did manage to recognize Maz and Lou Heavenrich,Tom Lott and Howie Frisbie, all of Whom live in the general Detroit region. Hank Barber was there but said he didn't feel like taking his place in the line-up. Tall, dark Bob Cowan couldn't be missed—and just before game time in came our Hollywood boy, Bob Ryan. The only other '32 was one who surprised me as I didn't think he stayed in one place long enough to watch a whole football game—but he did—none other than Whip Walser. . .."
For anyone who is still in doubt, I call attention to the fact that the class quota for the Alumni Fund calls for a contribution from each of us of something over thirty dollars.
Secretary, 3909 North 5th Street, Arlington, Va.
Treasurer, 144 Brixton Rd., Garden City, N. Y.
Class Agent, 40 Meritoria Drive, E. Williston, L. I., N. Y.
