1923
Today is August 27. There is a droughty hot spell in these parts currently, which makes us think how cool and beautiful Balch Hill will be in October when these notes appear in print. Unlimbering the creaking old Woodstock for the purpose of perpetrating these notes, we think of many things connected with this job and with Dartmouth. The bulky file of copies of class notes compounded over the past five years 65,000 words of 'em reminds us of the friendliness and comradeship of the more than 500 men in our Class who contribute this material so that The Irishman and his Peerless Skiddoo and your scribe can keep us all reasonably up to date concerning each other.
Folder #2, tabbed "Class Agent," reminds us of the dollar records Lee has established, of his stubborn refusal to "pressure" the Class, of strictly extra-curricular and unpublicized little acts of his such as the flowers he sends as personal remembrances to families which have just lost their '23 husbands and fathers.
The file marked "Flanigan" is loaded with reminders from the past: whimsical, cajoling, frantic, stern, side-splitting, tear-jerking, passionate. (Sometimes, when I jerk open the file drawer in a big hurry, I catch fleeting glimpses of that little creature, the leprechaun, who makes his home in the "Flanigan" folder.)
There's a folder labeled "College Admin." with copies of letters which I've written various wheels in Hanover spelling out in exact detail just how the College should be run!!! There's another, "Class Treas." full of correspondence with Colin Stewart, and when we look through it we see letters and figures and so on, but more than anything else we see Colin and Elaine Stewart, after their big clutch of kids are fed and watered and put to bed and all the babies and other assorted youngsters in Hanover whose pediatrician Colin is are similarly safe and snug for the night — we say, we see the Stewarts sweating over the Class books of account, with the hands of the clock showing long past midnight.
And there is the folder.... Say! Look here, Metzel, you weren't hired to wax sentimental and soft-headed about your files! Your job is to dish up the news, so go ahead and do it and tie the can to this aimless rambling (the last voice you heard, by the way, came from those same files, straight from between the covers of a pamphlet entitled Manual forClass Secretaries.)
A welcome note from Bob Whittinghill advises that Charley Rivoire's good-looking daughter Susanne was married to a Dartmouth guy last July. The last we knew about Bob's own affairs was that he was special representative for Rem-Rand in the insurance field, in 1948. He's a Glen Ridge, N. J., resident.
There's a committee of '23s in and around Boston which functions under the modest leadership of Jim Broe and does a lot of things for Dartmouth and for '23. At the moment, they have accepted the assignment from us to select from among their number a Reunion Chairman for our 31st reunion next June, and other '23s to serve under him. We have an idea who the chairman will be, but are guided by the old salesman's adage which holds that you haven't got the business until you actually have the order in your pocket, and so will remain silent as to his identity. Referring again to that Boston area committee which sponsors and executes '23 projects, we would like to tell you that 17 of its members, out of a total of 18, gave sums to last spring's Alumni Fund drive which make them Three Figure Men. A doff of the Metzel fedora to these gentlemen!
Quoted from Art Gordon's recent card: "... the June ALUMNI MAGAZINE contains an error about me which I should like you to correct sometime. I am a professor (not associate professor a great difference, believe me) of Latin and (since July 1) Chairman of the Dept. of Classics, at the U. of Cal„ Berkeley. I have been down here since 1930, so feel almost a Californian."
The latest development we have to report re Fred Bailey is his assumption of the duties of manager of WTAO-TV, which opened for business last month. Fred has been associated with Boston radio for more than 17 years and was formerly commercial manager of station WORL. He will continue as manager of WTAO-AM along with his new job. If you are in the neighborhood, take a look at Fred's new transmitter atop Woburn's Mt. Zion.
We had occasion the other day to talk with Pudge Neidlinger on the phone, in his new Bronxville, N. Y., home. He sounded grand! Likes his job very much, too. You will recall that last February he was appointed executive director of the U. S. Council of the International Chamber of Commerce. When this appointment was announced John Dickey said: "I happen to know the organization very well... it is a field where his administrative capabilities, demonstrated in educational fields, may be utilized to their fullest."
We have before us a newspaper piece about the father of Bertrand (Chappy) Chapman, the dean of Springfield, N. H., physicians at age 84. We wish Chappy would bring us up to date about himself. Our intelligence concerning him is now eleven years old, and at that time it was scanty. Incidentally, his father once brought twins into the world a year apart. This feat was accomplished as follows: child number one appeared just prior to midnight of New Year's eve; number two arrived a few minutes after the turn of the year.
During the course of the May meetings of class officers in Hanover our Colin Stewart was elected prexy of the Class Treasurers Assn. Now it is up to you guys to overwhelm him with payments of class dues when the time comes, to show the other classes how much you love our Colin. Incidentally, if our memory serves us properly, we could well do better by this dues-paying chore than we have in the past. Our percentage of dues payers last year was 42%, and this is a lower figure than most of the classes of our era.
Referring again to the May meetings in Hanover, we think we should tell you that there is a good deal of thinking these days in favor of large classes (and ours is one such) having a class president and a secretary, rather than combining the two jobs as we and a number of other classes have done. If you ask us, this is a sound idea. It is quite a chore for one guy to be general mgr. and scribe both, and very conceivable that if the job were split it would be better handled. Worth trying, come next June, when we have a good opportunity to change horses.
1923's Bud Freeman and Ray Barker are new members of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, and have coming to them the heartiest congratulations of the class for being so honored.
Joe Pick has spent most of this year cover-ing most of Europe with his talented wife Ida, who has appeared this summer in dozens of concerts in an area ranging from the North Sea to the Bosporus. Joe functioned on this tour as adoring husband, music critic, piano mover, business coordinator and keen-eyed observer of the sundry and assorted cultures that dot the map of Europe.
As we compose this piece, plans are afoot to celebrate TWENTY-THREE NIGHT again this year as it has been celebrated every September for many years past. In the hinterland where we live these plans concern the gathering which will take place at the Michigan farm of Sum and Bettye Sollitt, drawing '23s from Chicago and surrounding country. Our man in N. Y. for this sort of activity is Mox Hubert, who is even now collaborating with The Irishman to publicize in the pages of the peerless Skiddoo what is to take place around N. Y. C.
It is with sadness that we report to the Class the deaths of Larry Morand, John Cummings, Freddy Steinhilber, and Dick Huff since May of this year. In the In Memoriam section, you will find notices concerning Larry and John, as well as notices concerning four other men in our Class whose deaths we have previously reported: Marshall Brown, GeorgeMarsh, Eddie Lynch, and Lou Girouard. Since our Class entered Dartmouth the number of deaths of classmates has been 97. All of us join in extending our sympathy and fellowship to the wives and children and other loved ones of these men who have left our company.
Secretary and Bequest Chairman 576 Maple St., Winnetka, Ill. Treasurer, dr. colin c. Stewart 3RD 5 Tyler Rd.
