1918

The '28 boys shooting to outwit the '26ers who handed $126,000 to Hanover on their 25th pleased Stumpie Barr no end when they assured him they felt they could tuck '26 nicely away. When Halsey Edgerton was Treasurer of the College, Alumni felt a sense of security with this seasoned sound man at the helm. This feeling was buttressed further when '18's lifelong seasoned-in-finance Stumpie Barr was handed the baton to carry on. After 15 yrs. of skilled devotion to the College putting their investments in an ever better position, and after some sacrifices in taking up the job originally, Stumpie is leaving the job at Dartmouth. No man ever gave more of himself to his work. The pity is that his specialized training which, for another 10 years at least, would have given him the rare judgment that comes with experience in hard times as well as good, has been lost to Dartmouth.

Did you see Ellen Duke's article in the ALUMNI MAG on "Living Around Hanover"? The Duke and Ellen are just back from the brilliant hot sun of St. Thomas in the Virgin Isles and admit it's a bit chilly on their mountain top at Hanover. The Belgian tulip king Florimond nearly wept when one of his favorite haunts in Cairo, Shepheard's Hotel, burned down. However, the Duke felt rejuvenated when he read that the Long Bar was being rebuilt.

As we write this in March, Asst. V.P. WaltNelson, in charge of mortgages and real estate for the famed East River Savings Bank,is vacationing in Florida.

Mixing with the life of champagne, supper clubs, blonds and dinner dances is our Russell Rhodes reporting on their doings. In his column "Make Mine Manhattan" Insurance Advocate Dusty told about the Natl. Sales Executives being aroused over the morale-busting (so they claimed) show Deathof a Salesman, so they've concocted a cinematic trailer called Career of a Salesman counteracting it. . . . Becky and Al Gottschaldt, sold on Florida as a place to live, "but you'll never get rich working here," are starting the build-up for '18s biggest reunion (with 1917 and 1919) just 14 months away in June next year.

Mesmore Kendall, whom we haven't heard from in a long time, really was delighted by a letter he received from Gurnee Munn saying how sorry he hadn't seen him since 1917 and asking him how about coming back to Hanover next June for the big reunion. Said Mesmore:

"I seldom saw Gurnee on the campus in undergraduate days; we sort of got thrown together eating our morning prunes at Joe Meyers. But if every '18er took fire like I did, when Gurnee wrote me out of the blue after being silent for 35 years, these decrepit old blokes just couldn't resist coming back. How's to us writing a few letters to some of our old Smut I cronies and telling 'em we'll see 'em in Hanover next June? Seeing old friends we haven't seen in years is such a good tonic for the souladds years to our lives and makes us think of what Emerson said, 'Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter. With their hands on the door-latch, they finally die on the outside.' "

When we spotted in the papers, June, 1951, the following: "Dartmouth College Has Received a Bequest of $197,000 from the Will of Eleanor Louise Frost of Hanover, Who Died Last Year—She Had Previously Donated $74,000," we wrote Bub Frost, who on his 25th-yr. questionnaire referred to his hobby, "counting the days till I can return to Hanover for good," wrote us a very interesting letter, parts of which follow:

"Yes, it was a wonderful gift from a wonderful person. Eleanor Frost, as you may know, was the wife of N. A. Frost who ran an insurance business and jewelry store in Hanover. He sold the store years ago and the insurance business to Arch Gile. When we were in college it stood where Campion's is now. Mr. Frost, a distant relative of ours, died about 30 years ago and after his death, Mrs. Frost gave her old home to the College (across the street from the Phi Kappa Psi house) in exchange for free rent for the remaining years of her life in one of the College-owned faculty apartment buildings, two houses east of my old home on E. Wheelock St."

"This was one of Halsey Edgerton's shrewd deals when he was Treasurer of the College. As you know, she lived to be 102, free rent for over 30 years, and followed by a gift of over $190,000 to the College. Mrs. Frost was one of my Dad's patients, in fact she insisted he take care of her long after he retired from active practice. He took care of her until a year before he died. I remember he would never send her a bill so she would send him a Christmas present each year. During her lifetime she supported many activities in Hanover, especially dramatics and music. Her husband before her, who started life without a penny, helped many a poor boy through Dartmouth. Would there were more of the type of Mr. and Mrs. N. A. Frost in this world of ours."

You must have been impressed, as were we, by the sublime faith of the townspeople in the community and in Dartmouth College.

Back in Feb. when Johnny Cunningham was here from Denver, Stan Jones referred to "a grand evening together—and the next morning no head." Johnny is a leading life insurance underwriter in Denver, whom Stanley has flogged in these columns, and said, "Such a nice man. I'm so fond of him!" Simple, unadorned words never were wrapped in greater warmth. Gerry Geran and Steve Mahoney were hoping to work on BennieMugridge sufficiently so that he and Betty (the little girl from Billerica, as Gerry calls her) to throw an 'lB party on their beach estate down at Huntington, Long Island. . . . Bennie, you know, is an intense lover of flowers and finds the salt kelp and salty grass along the beaches an excellent activator for his smouldering compost heap. . . . last report we heard Harvey Hood had given us before he went away and after personally visiting him at the Murphy General Hospital, Waltham, Mass., Mel Breed felt better and was looking forward to getting back to his new home in Lexington. ... When Bill Montgomery, the General Mgr. of Bruce, Dodson and Co., Kansas City, (Casualty Exchange) sends out a statement, you'll find it loaded with cash and government bonds and liquidity par excellence.

Mary and Admiral Paul Mather have sold their house and are now enjoying apartment life, Apt. 219, Pooks Hill Apts., 3 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, 14, Md. From Bill Mudgett, Palo Alto, last month:

"I've wondered about Eddie Emerson and EdNoyes—haven't seen either of them since leaving Hanover in '17. I spent a very happy year in North Mass with Eddie Emerson and another year with Fd Noyes in the Sigma Chi house. For nearly four rears I've been planning to make the trek to the llth 'Reunion in Hanover next year—now I m not . sure I've gone overboard and promised the family a trip to Europe this summer. Ruth graduIZ from college in June and Peggy from high school. We're going on the Liberie from New York Tune 26, returning on the lie de France bep- -ember 2. Expect to see Fat Sheldon's son Roger in Oxford. Am getting an English Hillman Minx station wagon at Plymouth and we'll go across Belgium Holland, France, Switzerland, drop down to Venice, and come back through France winding up in Paris, sailing from LeHavre. If you Know any -nod referees in bankruptcy, let me know. However, I've seen too many families postpone such plan's too long."

After you get back to Palo Alto and have next winter to think about your pals at reunion in June '53 Catherine and you will be raring to get to Hanover.

You get loving? Three cute little girls in StanJones' office sent him Valentines on February 14— did you get any? . . . Jim Duffy, the old roommate of Sig Judd who was cited for his war work in World War II and who has been a "6% man loved by the bankers who moved him into any business that needed rejuvenation, is now Pres. of Riverside Metals Co., and prophesies that the copper situation is fast becoming more favorable Missed at the February 29 class dinner was Dapper Daniel Shea, whose sedimentation was dispersed bv a plumber's hootnanny operation before his Easter holiday in Florida. Someone remarked, the hospital was fine, 4 whiskey sours a day were good, the eggnogs excellent and the nurses could be cultivated." Stirling Wilson 16, who set the campus agog by joining the Ford Peace Mission m our undergraduate days, and who is Secretary or the sterling '16 class, reported retirement from the Navy (the healthiest looking guy you ever saw), for some sort of disability and commented, My disability makes a wonderful sales resistor to insurance men." He sent along a newspaper clipping which says, "Larry Pope informs me that a storage company on 10th St. is currently advertising: it you wish to hide your mink coat, store it in our vault. We'll take the wrap.' "... Thanks, Stirling.

We've lost another good '18er, Stew Burns.Jake Bingham sent us newspaper clippings which read, "S. M. Burns, 54, formerly hosiery mill executive, and recently a real estate dealer, fatally shot himself in the kitchen of: his home yesterday afternoon while apparently cleaning a 32 calibre Special Winchester rifle." Sad, isn't it? Stew was an old roommate of Ax Proctor, Henry Oppenheim and Monk Cameron. We wrote to Monk who had a distinct shock because he'd been thinking of going up and visiting Stew, for Stew had wanted him to come up and go deer hunting with him (see In Memoriam). Dick White reported how it warmed his heart to get personal notes from many men in the class on his splendid mailing about helping others, less fortunate than we, to enjoy "that Dartmouth experience" by leaving the College something in your will.. . Jake Bingham was at Stew Burns' funeral, and Spud Proctor, who Jake thought had perhaps brought Stew to Franklin, was in Florida. Jake was down handling transportation for the New Hampshire contingents of the Eisenhower Band Wagon Serenade in Madison Square Garden. We were sorry we missed you, Jake.

Authenticated by Jack Slabaugh, in a note which said, "Cort sent this along to me for censorship. It is absolutely accurate to the minutest detail, with one exception: we have only the one swimming pool," came a welcome letter from CortHorr, who was guest of the gracious Slabaugh' s at Akron's University Club, with star class agent of '16 Bill McKenzie, and on the Club reservation, Bill wrote, "Don't tell the '16 class I am consorting with Horr and Slabaugh. I'm embarrassed about this slumming but I had to help out Sla-baugh with the check."

Then Tack on the back scribbled this note— "Dear Ernie: Horr, spelled H-O-R-R, clipped me for drinks and the buffet dinner here. Thank Gawd he only gets to Akron once a year." Says Cort: "Well I finally did it! Crashed Akron society thanks to the help of Mr. and Mrs. Harold W. Slabaugh! Business took me to the 'Tire City' last month and after I had sold a tew pencils, I dropped a nickel in the phone box and dialed Jack's office. His secretary kept me waiting while he completed a couple of trans-continental calls but he was most cordial when I did reach him He insisted, much to my pleasure, that I join Thelma and him at the Akron University Club for dinner. He came by the hotel in one of his town cars, and drove me out to the palatial home for cocktails. As we drove up we noted all the neighborhood kids skating on the outdoor Sla-baugh swimming pool. They had Klieg lights playing on the pool and with the Christmas decorations and lights still up it was most attractive. The indoor pool was closed for repairs but we did bowl a few games in between drinks, in his basement alleys." Thank you so much, Cort for your letter and the balance will follow in a later issue.

Lester B. Granger, Executive Director of National Urban League (on his 25th questionnaire for hobbies he reported ... "Urban League, pinochle and bull sessions," and to the question, "Were you an athlete? he replied, "An open question. I insist 'yes.' Coach Hillman and Coach Cavanaugh decided 'no' —don't you remember the Granger Brothers —'We pressed while you ate?'"), having declined all invitations to speak during National Brotherhood Week he accepted classmate RedHulbert's plea to address the-men of Rye, N. Y„ on February 21. He drove through a blinding snowstorm to help inaugurate Rye's first celebration of Brotherhood Week as guest speaker at a dinner sponsored by 17 civic groups of Rye. His talk, marked by his usual candor and interspersed with his well-known wit, proved both inspiring and stimulating and made the event an outstanding success. Red, you know, is the leader o£ their Men's Club (300 men) at their church in Rye.

It was Les who was commissioned by Secretary Forrestal to make a study and recommendations to see if the Navy, steeped as it was in the tradition of assigning Negroes only to the mess and steward departments would do other than a token attempt to carry out the policy. Les made his report to the Navy Dept. and said in brief that the Navy was definitely showing signs of carrying out their policy.

The New York newspapers flashed a headline of a report issued by the N. Y. Personnel Management Assn. and cited Bennie Mugridge of Dodge & Mugridge "Labor Relations Consultants" as an authority for saying that personnel managers know they are necessities and not luxuries in any efficient business operation, but the trick is to convince many of top management that this is the case.

From Eddie Ferguson, back a few weeks, "Just a note as I am sunk with intestinal grippe, 'things are running fine.' Tell Geran that he certainly was a martyr to freshman hockey: came out and 46 of us played against him." His pal Cousens, after barking his shins a couple of times said to Gerry, "That's the way we play in Arlington! Eddie frequently has lunch with his son Benny who seems to be enjoying the banking business. Ethel and Stumpie Barr came down for the Boston Alumni dinner and Kath and Eddie enjoyed them immensely as always. . . .

Mrs. Jake Bingham (Ruth) is the girl that reports the doings and society notes on fashionable Squirrel Island, Me., in The Boothbay Register, in the summer, and says Ruth, "It is the most rewarding of all my activities." Daughter Jane is thrilled to death in her first year at Colby Jr. College at New London, N. H., and had herself a wonderful time at Winter Carnival.

Florida Doings

Ax and Betty Proctor stayed at the Hotel Dallas Park in Miami during March to be near Ax's mother. Since Ax's mother had a nice place in Coconut Grove (sold when his father died), Betty and Ax have been hoping to buy back there again, and, says Ax, "I want a boat here and we can live on it and in a house."

Alice and Bill Bemis, on the occasion of becoming grandparents (daughter Betty, Vassar, married D man Dean Cameron, studying at Harvard Law) were very gracious hosts to all Dartmouth men at Bill's beautiful exclusive Flamingo Hotel on the bay at 15th St., Miami Beach, the anchorage of some of the bigger yachts in southern waters.

Served beautifully on a terrace overlooking the moonlit bay was a most delicious and sumptuous dinner after a cocktail hour. During dinner a fashion show was held, followed by dancing under the stars reflected in the bay. Momentarily sciatica left the creaking bones and the gentle breezes seemed (till next morning anyway) to make '18ers as young as some '32s and '39s present.

Becie and Al Gottschaldt (Ex-Alumni Council Member and Pooch-face to Bee) tripped the light fantastic as well as Mary Ellen and Ernie Earley. Bill (Bemis), stifl looking like Calvert's "Man of Distinction," had hoped Fat Hardy would visit him in Florida.

Bill talked of his enjoyable visits in the past with Red Wilson, Sig Judd, John Cunningham, Harvey Hood, Francis Christy and others and lived over the days of the Bema. It's wonderful how Bill takes time out of a very busy life to keep alive his ardent Dartmouth interests..

Coming back from a fishing trip (only a few sardines to show for it), we saw Dan Shea in Miami, who looked like a bronzed life guard and probably saw equally as many comely "babes" on the beach as any two lifeguards. It was so nice to run into President Hopkins and see him looking so well and tanned.

1918 Father-Sons Dinner

For an account of the annual Hanover gathering we are indebted to John Doty '52: "Twas a small group but there were those who loved it." Ten of us to be exact! Five "fathers" met with an equal number of sons at the Graduate Club for cocktails at six o'clock on Saturday, March 8. (The old Beta house showed some signs of its gay youth.) And as the years continue to pass by, it is becoming more and more evident that either the fathers of the class of '18 are getting older or their sons are. But despite the smallness of the group, which only added to its intimacy, the fifth consecutive father-son dinner sponsored by this class can be marked down in the record books as a definite success.

Incidentally, no one seems to know exactly what the cocktails consisted of, but Ed Booth offered us his own idea on the subject... "Tasted like they were mixed six parts to one —the one being Vermouth." He never did say what the six stood for.

Following cocktails, the party travelled through slush to Thayer Dining Hall for a delicious meal. Miss Gill, who has recently transferred her duties from the D.O.C. House to Thayer, had good reason to be proud that evening. Those who managed to get in their opinions of the coming New Hampshire priMary between mouthfuls of roast beef were the following representing the "fathers":— Louis H. C. Huntoon, whose son Schuyler '55, could not be there because of a Daily Dart-mouth dinner; Amos Blandin, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, whose recent arrival in Hanover, happily enough, appears to be permanent; Colonel F.Dusossoit Duke, whose son Bill '51 is at present a "frogman" in the Virgin Islands, and having been a varsity swimmer for the Green last year, Bill is obviously well-qualified for the job; Prof. Ed Booth, "Othello" of the English department; and, of course, "Stump"Barr, progenitor of these annual gatherings. The sons were represented by Dave McDowell '46, son of Ed. Dave, who was graduated from the Naval Academy and is at present in his second year at Medical School under the excellent tutelage of Dr. Rolf Syvertsen, who unfortunately was unable to be with us because of a meeting in Boston. Also attending were Chuck Benisch '52, nephew of Barr, sneaking in on a technicality; Dick Hull '52, son of George; Fred Samuels '55, son of Fred; and John Doty '52, Hal's youngest.

George Scully '52, son of Don, could not be there because of a hockey game with the Alumni (see Sports Page!). Also absent were Andy Aishton '52, son of Dick, Chris Rood '54, son of King, John Glover '55, son of Curt, and Bill Pepin Jr. '54, son, logically enough, of Bill Sr.

After the dinner, Stump Barr introduced the speaker of the evening, Ed Booth. Ed announced that what he had to say would be brief; but in the true tradition of the English department, he said it well! And very enjoyable it was, too!

A rather sad note was injected into the evening as Ed mentioned that in the not too distant future Stump Barr would be leaving the Dartmouth family as a working member. He is resigning his position as Assistant Treasurer of the college with future plans still unknown to those around him. We sincerely feel that this loss will be felt by all of us and somehow we can't help wondering how these '18 dinners will continue after this.

Speaking for everyone who has ever been concerned with these dinners and especially for those of us who have enjoyed our fourth annual get-together with the class of '18, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the "fathers" of the class and particularly to Stump Barr who does all the arranging, for having shown us such wonderful times.

DEFINITELY A DARTMOUTH EVENT: William H. Bemis '18, president of the Flamingo Hotel, Miami Beach, was host last month at dinner for a group of alumni and their guests at the hotel. Guests were (I to r): Standing, Mrs. Ernest Earley, H. Sheridan Baketel Jr. '20, Mrs. Harrison P. Warrener, Allan Gottschaldt '18, Mrs. Goitschaldt, Harrison P. Warrener '38, William C. Walton '32, Mrs. James Barker Smith, George McDermott '22. Seated, Mrs. McDermott, Ernest Eariy 18, Mrs. Bemis, Mr. Bemis, Miss Becky Bemis, James Barker Smith, Mrs. Baketel.

Secretary, 74 Trinity Place, New York 6, N. Y. Treasurer, Parkhurst Hall, Hanover, N. H. Class Agent, East N. Y. Savings Bank, 2644 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn 7, N. Y.