1937
The summer just passed has brought two tragic happenings to our class. Bill Pettengill was killed in an automobile accident in Sweden last June, the details of which are to be found in the Necrology section of this issue, and, secondly, John Handrahan's wife Eleanor died very suddenly in mid-summer. She had never had a sick day in her life and merely complained o£ a slight cold which was not bothersome to any degree but persistent. Monday night, July 28, on retiring, John took her temperature which read just under 100 and she passed away later that night in her sleep, apparently of walking pneumonia. They have five children ranging from eight down to a small baby.
In the teaching profession we find a couple of news items in that Bill Divyer has left Westbrook Junior College in Portland, Me., where he was Dean, to accept the post of President of Gulf Park Junior College, Gulfport, Miss., as of last July 1. Gulf Park is a private girls school of about 260, mostly residents, covering the last two years of high school and first two of college. Bill had been at the Maine institution since 1949. Item number two is that John Chapman has been appointed assistant principal of the Greenwich High School. Only last year he was made principal of an elementary school within that local school system and has had two other assignments in the New York area as principal in Larchmont and Lincoln.
A number of promotions have been announced over the summer months. Hale & Dorr, the Boston law firm, has made MonkAnion a senior partner as of July 1. At the conclusion of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Scranton (Pa.) Transit Cos. it was announced that Vin Edwards Jr. had been elected president. Vin has been associated with that outfit for a considerable period, serving originally as attorney in the claims department, later as assistant to the president, and in 1950 was elected a vice president. Also, the Burroughs Adding Machine Cos. has named Lem Bowen, formerly assistant to the president, as director of their new organization service division wherein he will direct a program designed to assist all activities of the company in applying the latest and more effective management technique. Lem has been with Burroughs since graduation, joining their home office in Detroit.
Don't be surprised sometime when you're watching plays on TV if Bill Parentheau suddenly steals into your tube. He has had quite a bit of radio work and has been featured on such popular shows as Tex and Jinx, Alike andBuff and Dorothy and Dick. He has also appeared in TV on such well-known programs as Studio One. Actually he is employed as Chief Airport Traffic Controller in the La-Guardia Tower and even finds time to enjoy the sport of sailing as he is Fleet Captain of the Sea Cliff Yacht Club.
Connie Schuck hove into the news columns of the Buffalo paper last spring as a guest speaker at a meeting of the Twentieth Century Club where he was described as having won recognition as a well-informed and dynamic speaker. Connie is an English professor at the Buffalo State Teachers College and chose as his lecture subject the Period of Romanticism as reflected in the English Literature of That Time.
A release from the military states that Major Charles A. Wolfe graduated June 27 from the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kans. This was a ten-months course designed to prepare officers for duty as commanders and general staff officers at division, corps and army levels. He entered the army in 1942 serving in Europe. As a UN military observer in French Indo-China from July 1949 to April 1951, he is scheduled for assignment to the Army General Staff in Washington, D. C.
Bill Griffiths Jr. has been honored. Having received his Ph.D. ten years ago in psychology from the University of Cincinnati he was asked to return there to teach at their summer session this year. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Mississippi since 1946 and specializes in physiological psychology having authored 20 scientific papers in that field.
No doubt many of us watched the Democratic convention this summer and the consequent big swing that nominated Stevenson. But the "little-known-facts-dept." unearthed that a great many scores of delegates took the unprecedented step of going, quite spontaneously. to offer their support to the amateur draft-Stevenson headquarters opened by Prof.Walt Johnson of Chicago University!
Elsewhere in this section you should see a picture of Hal Putnam giving the principal address at the Wellesley Memorial Day services. As State representative from Needham he delivered a speech that was concise and forceful, and left your secretary with a feeling of relief that here was one damn good fighting member for good government who is blasting hard at the political rottenness that Massachusetts suffers from. More power to him and guys like him. Hal still has one more year of night school to go on law before he can really call his soul his own.
As you probably heard, the Boston Clambake was called off due to Bill Brown's entanglements with a blowtorch. Having visited him this summer we can report everything normal again with no visible signs of the experience. The possibilities of postponement to September were discussed but Bill's schedule was too full for that month to permit, including an annual clambake at his place for his store employees. What with our big fifteenth reunion coming up next spring it looks like the clambake will have to vvait.
We would, however, like to mention that arrangements are being made again for a pre-Dartmouth-Harvard game cocktail party and luncheon for the joint classes of '36, '37 and '38 at the Hotel Somerset in Boston, same as last year. As reported at that time an excellent crowd showed up with so many favorable comments it was decided to make it an annual event. No commitments you pay only for what you eat or drink or both. The date is October 25, so jot it down.
Being as this is reunion year a new directory for the class is being planned. Within the near future you will all receive a form with a few questions which we would appreciate your returning as promptly as possible so we can whip the information into shape for the lithographer. Thank you, see you next month.
SPEAKER OF THE DAY: Hal Putnam '37, representative in the Massachusetts Legislature from Needham, was the principal speaker at 1952 Memorial Day services in Wellesley.
Secretary, 10 Colby Rd., Wellesley 81, Mass. Treasurer, 17 High Street, Greenfield, Mass.
