1895
As I sit down this oppressively hot September day to write notes for the survivors of my Class to read in the cooler days of October, I'm at a loss to know where to begin and where to quit, as space allotted to classes in the 1890s is necessarily restricted, owing to the need for space for notes of the later classes that greatly outnumber us.
Frank Austin and Joel Harley are quite in the class limelight just now. Prof. Austin wrote me in May that he was coming to Hanover to sell the house he formerly occupied with his family, including all the furniture etc. He came later and very successfully sold his house and most of its contents. While in this vicinity he was interviewed by a newspaper reporter who wrote and published, with Austin's picture, an interesting biographical story of our learned classmate. Owing to lack of space I cannot include the article in these notes. Austin is now back in Winter Park, Fla. The article I refer to is in the Hanover Gazette of July 17, 1952.
Early in August I received a message from Tommy Thompson reading as follows:
"I have been struggling ever since May 28 to avoid the necessity of your mailing 24 postal cards to tell the boys of my demise. I have had a rugged •existence since that date but now the doctors are thinking of discharging me. As soon as they do so, I hope to fly to Boston and spend the rest of the summer cooling off in Rockport with my boy. When I get there I will give you a ring and you can come down and we will have a chat for a week •or so. Make your plans accordingly. In the simple language of the medical profession I underwent a prostatectomy (which ain't funny, McGee) but I am now coming along nicely and hope to cause you no trouble fcir a few more years. I have checked off Pollard and Gile from my list of survivors. Hope to see you soon."
Returning from a few days vacation in Kennebunkport, Me., I stopped over night with Tommy and his family a short time ago and I'm glad to report that he is on the gain. I found him as tall as usual but also thinner than usual, but the same genial Tommy with whom we spent four years at Dartmouth in the years of our Lord 1891-1895.
The following is a letter I received from Joel Harley dated August 9, 1952.
"Sorry I haven't written you sooner and sorry I couldn't send you a newspaper clipping about our big party —our 5 sth wedding celebration, held on our lawn: Our children threw the party and wife and I were invited to attend. It was a huge success. I hope Austin showed you the clipping I sent to him. . .
"Two weeks later was Kenneth's wedding. His bride is a North Carolina blonde. All of our children drove down for the wedding. I couldn t take the risk of another long journey, so Elbeth and I remained here. We expect the newlyweds home tonight.
"Our next big item of news was my head-hrst plunge in the dark down the long stairway. It is a miracle that I am alive to report the accident. A misstep and down Ip ltmged and struck my head on the edge of the kitchen door which was standing ajar. I bled like a stuck pig. My whole head was a mass of blood. But Elbeth hurried to my rescue and got me to bed. Next morning I was taken to the hospital and had five stitches taken in my scalp. Now I am recovering 0.K., thank the Lord. That is one way to pound common sense into ones head. But I don't recommend my method. It's too rough.
"Yes, Kenneth and Patty returned and were here last night. They have decided to take over our Madison home and remodel it somewhat. Now Elbeth and I are .free to return to Winter Park and live all on one floor no more stairways to climb or plunge down and no more furnaces to keep in repairs
"Hope you are feeling better, Roland, and will begin making your plans for '95's 60th Reunion. Austin thinks the last member of '95 will be gone by 1960, according to his chart. "Good luck and best wishes."
Through the courtesy of Charlie Merrill,secretary of the Class of 94' am toquote a letter from Decker Field '94 concerning the death of Dr. Charlie Pollard:
"Day before yesterday, my youngest son-in-law Neil Dieterich and I attended the funeral of Dr. Charlie Pollard at Peru, Neb., his home after he had retired.
"I am enclosing herewith a clipping from the Omaha. World Herald, as well as a pamphlet put out by the funeral director. I am sending this to you, Charlie, because I have a feeling that you would be acquainted with the secretary of the Class of 1895 of which Charlie Pollard was a member. So far as I could determine, there was nothing at the funeral from the College or his class In fact, I guess I was the only Dartmouth man present. I thought that perhaps it would be a nice gesture to send this information to his class secretary who perhaps might want to refer to it in the alumni notes of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.
"Charlie came to Omaha in 1900 and was one of the best friends I ever had. He went to the very top of his profession in Omaha. For a time he operated his own private hospital and held many city, county and state offices in his profession. I remember that he came to Omaha with scarcely a penny in his hand. For some time his work was all charity work for the Child Saying Institute, Salvation Army and such organizations. He must have become quite wealthy, for he enjoyed the patronage of the wealthiest people in the city of Omaha. Incidentally, he brought my oldest daughter Jean and later her son and also my daughter Lillian's oldest child into this world. Also, during the first year of his marriage, and our first year, we lived together and enjoyed the arrangement very much. His first wife, as I recall it, was the daughter of a family by the name of Badger in Boston. She passed away quite early in their married life, but I think that Dr. Pollard's two sons and daughter were by his first marriage."
Secretary, White Rivet Junction, Vt. Treasurer, 10 Occom Ridge, Hanover, N. H.
