1938
This being the big reunion year for 1938, perhaps a large dose of continual nostalgia would be in order throughout the coming months, leading to the gala weekend in June when we convene with 1937 and 1939.
On the other hand, as I was leaving Hanover in September at the same time the football team was drifting back into town, I was more impressed personally with the changes that have taken place since we graduated than with sentimental remembrance of that September of 19 years ago. Certainly as mature persons interested in the future of education in this country and in Hanover in particular, it is more valuable to become and remain aware of the current trends in the colleges and the manifold problems they face than it is to hark back to the Good Old Days and wishfully hope and imagine things can be the same again.
The atmosphere of the era of the veteran has dissipated itself, but in its place with a reminiscent flavor is the ROTC; uniforms are commonplace on Hanover plain, where in our time only Chief Hallisey and his cohorts added the martial air. This is just one aspect of the changed complexion of the colleges today, but indicative of the entirely different problems they face from tfie halcyon days of the late thirties. Complexities of finance, of educational policies in a day when American education is reexamining itself and the educational value of the privately endowed Liberal Arts institutions is being challenged; and even the perennial athletic bugaboo: all these questions are very real and challenging.
Instead, then, of dwelling in the past and recounting the events of our college career, let me suggest that the members of the Class devote a little more than the usual amount of their time this year to becoming better acquainted with these matters of concern to Dartmouth and wherever possible try to formulate some philosophy with regard to them. The nostalgia and reminiscence can pretty well be concentrated into the few days in June when we shall be together. By concerning ourselves more and more with the actual problems and policies of the College, I am sure we shall not only be more valuable members of the Dartmouth alumni group but a more cohesive class in our common interest.
Having thus imposed a moral lesson as the opener, this department will dispose of the remaining details of the Reunion by merely stating that as soon as the organization for it is completed, you will be flooded with propaganda direct from the smoke-filled rooms of the Reunion Committee.
A summer filled largely with the vexing and time-consuming details of moving from Hanover to the address noted above left little time for encountering wandering 1g3Bers, and Hanover Center was singularly devoid of callers, not even Chandler showed up. One pleasant break in the routine was an evening with BobRoss, a teacher now at Ohio Wesleyan; conversation naturally evolved around academic and administrative matters common to Dartmouth and Ohio Wesleyan. Comparative scenery also entered into the picture, but here there was not much competition, since most Dartmouth Alumni are in agreement on this matter.
Stan Brown returned to his local haunts from Washington to report that his job-hunting was reaching a satisfactory conclusion and that soon he would be able to reveal to his friends just what Washington sinecure he had landed. The Dave Bradleys are now ensconced in the town, thus replacing the itinerant Emersons and keeping the Hanover 1938 population constant.
Prize letter of the summer (and not just because it was the only one, either) came from Major Charles F. Hathaway of the Anchorage, Alaska, Hathaways. Having run the Army from the Army Finance Center in St. Louis for these many intervening years, the good Major is now at "America's Last Frontier," even wilder than St. Louis and Webster Groves.
"The Hathaway family will soon be together again in Ft. Richardson, Alaska. We have a newly adopted baby daughter to keep the family life from getting too routine. Linda is quite the young lady.
"The post is located a few miles out of Anchorage. There are all kinds of skiing facilities. Army Special Service has really built a DOCer's dream on a mountain near here. Skiing is a very popular sport, and I hear that we'll never lack for snow beginning in late October. New Englanders like this country; I feel right at home. I'll make the traditional offer of hospitality. Just call the Army Comptroller's Office or my quarters and ask for me! The fishing and hunting are only surpassed by the scenery, and we have a dog and cat to offer as guides.
"Note to Brother Jones. I hated to leave town, but this cool weather would be very popular down there. The town of Anchorage lacks some of the advantages of St. Louis, but it's much cooler. My best to the members of the grand alumni club in St. Louis."
A note from the Alumni Records Office reveals that prior to his hegira northwards, Major Hathaway was graduated on May 7 from the Army's General Staff Course and the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth.
"Hobart H. Rockwell of Elmira has been named manager of the Erie, Pa., office of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Cos. Rockwell joined the company in 1940. He served with the Federal Bureau of Investigation during World War II and rejoined the company in 1947. Before his present assignment, he was assistant manager of the Buffalo Office." So reads a news items provided by the everefficient Home Office of the ALUMNI MAG.
Another clipping from the same source: "Robert A. Jones of Lebanon, president of the Grafton County Bar association and county solicitor for the past six years, announced today that he will file as a candidate for Grafton county commissioner on the Republican ticket in the forthcoming primary.
"He graduated from Boston University Law school cum laude in 1941 and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in the same year. After serving for four years in World War II as a lieutenant in the Navy, he was elected to his first of three terms as Grafton County solicitor in 1946. He has also served for the last six years as chairman of the Lebanon Republican committee."
A goodly spread of pictures of the New York State Hotel Convention at Glens Falls features the smiling phiz of Walt Averill, president of the association and manager of the Nelson House in Poughkeepsie, as well as an old Army crony of mine, one A 1 Emerson of Warrenburg, N. Y.
June being the month in which most members of the Class make Man's Most Common mistake, the accumulation of Social Notes From All Over, is the usual amount for the opening screed of the fall. Mr. David Brinkmann of the Dragon Cement Company of Hicksville, N. Y„ became engaged to Miss Lorraine Fornari of Bethpage. Miss Jean Lee Flood of Cincinnati, 0., announces her engagement to Mr. Charles Young Hitchcock Jr. of Boston, a long hold-out from the matrimonial ranks in this section of the country. Robert L. Stix of Scarsdale, N. Y., is to tread the fatal aisle with Miss Patricia Virginia Castle of the same city sometime in the fall.
"In St. Clement's Episcopal Church, Berkeley (Calif.), at 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon, Martha Churchill Eaton was escorted to the chancel by her brother, Arthur Eaton, who gave her in marriage to William Donald Simmons."
No account of any definite nature has come from the frontiers of Texas, but authenticated rumors confirm the desertion from bachelor ranks of one Daniel Appleton Marshall, long the perennial weekender and most eligible bachelor. Since he doesn't seem to want your secretary to know any of the horrible details, no further account will be given unless word is received by special courier with a sufficient bribe not to warrant tampering with the facts. The good Daniel also deserts the Towle Sterling Silver Company for greener fields, but again restraint is the policy of this column.
As the new address for the secretary shows, he has now returned to the business he knows and likes best. Any travellers on Route 22 North (or South, for that matter) with time to spare for a visit can find respondent in last house on the right going North in Pawling before coming to the School Gates, on the second floor. Otherwise, see you in June in Hanover!
DON'T MISS IT
The classes of '36, '37 and '3B will hold a joint pre-game cocktail party and luncheon, starting at 11 a.m., before the Dartmouth-Harvard Football game, October 25, at the Hotel Somerset in Boston. Arrangements are informal no reservations just pay for what you eat and drink.
Secretary, Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, N. Y. Treasurer, 4721 N. Capitol Ave., Indianapolis 8, Ind.
