1926
Although the opening game with Holy Cross on September 26 was not too auspicious from a football standpoint on our side of the field, the reunion luncheon of 1926 before the game at the Colonial Country Club arranged by Ranny Cox with twenty-one present was certainly a huge success as a starter for the season. Our editor of the Sports Section, H.Donald Norstrand reported the following at the luncheon in addition to Dot, his son and himself: Joe and Peggy Batchelder with son Joe Jr., Russ and Dot Clark, Dutch Hall,Henry and Ellen Andretta with George 52, Stew and Mary Lou Orr, Oz and Dot Fitts (looks like a lot a Dots on hand), Ran andRuth Cox with son Terry and two guests.
However, the occasion was saddened by the recent sudden deaths within the preceding two weeks of Bud Nutter and Chuck Frankenberg, who undoubtedly would have been present. As a matter of fact, Chuck attended the 1926 Luncheon Club in Boston the day prior to his death on September 18. The October issue has a picture of the group attending our reunion in Hanover on August 22-23 which is the last picture taken of Chuck before his death. Bud Nutter died on September 12. This double loss in September is the worst toll in our class history for such a short period.
That is really a grand spirit that is generated in Boston through the 1926 Luncheon Club which meets every Thursday at the Boston City Club. What prevents the formation of similar groups in New York and Chicago? The Dartmouth Association roster fromthe latter city shows thirty of our illustriousmembers:
Carle Blunt, Gail Borden, Warren Felhngham, Ed Fleming, Wes Ford, Dick Gunthorp Mac Jones, Oily Kobisk, Howie Kolb, Ken Korten, Dave Levy, Hal Lewis, Al Louer, Bob May, Leon McDonald, Horace Moderwell, Hugh Moore, Tom Murdough, Larry Oatman, E. Cummipgs Parker, Henry Parker, Traugott Richter, Art Seibold, Norm Shellman, Gair Tourtellot, Worth Walters, Ross Welch, Fred Wenck, Tubber Weymouth, Del Worthington.
News of the year from the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Chicago is the election of our AI Louer as president and as such he will play host to the next meeting of the Alumni Council in January. As you can see from the above Al certainly represents a very strong segment of the Association, for we challenge any other class for such a show of numbers.
Carle Blunt, chairman of the Alumni Council committee on bequest and estate planning and Chicago Attorney and businessman as they call him in the national press, has recently been named to the board of directors of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. Aside from being a collector of rare Scotches and a member of the U. S. Golf Association as previously noted in this column, Carle is a partner in the law firm of Bell, Boyd, Marshall & Lloyd, a Vice President of Land Norton Co., a director of Rand, McNally & Co. and several other corporations as well as a trustee of the Community Fund of Chicago. Somehow he also finds time to take some beautiful stereorealist pictures on travels with Betsy and his three daughters, Frances, Patsy and Carlene.
Speaking of Chicago, Del Worthington came to Cleveland last month with two of his business partners, and had time for a Scotch (in honor of Carle) with the Secretary at the Hotel Cleveland. He reports another famous addition to the 1926 delegation in Jim Oberlander. Obbie resigned on October I from the National Life Insurance Co. as medical director. As of that date he became medical director of the Mid-America office of the Prudential Insurance Co. After a two-month orientation visit at the home office in Newark, N. J., he will be permanently located in Chicago on December 1.
Silver wedding anniversaries brings us up to the 14 who turn 50 years during November: Winfred "Nick" Nickerson on the 4th; Dr. Sas Savage, 6th; Mack Ryder, 12th; Sid Buf- fington, 17th; Bill Volkhardt, 18th; Twitch Gould and Marty Lower on the 19th; Kier Boyd and Brad Lake on the 23rd; Frank Appleton, Bill Blanchard, George Borglum and Les Richards on the 24th; Tack McIlwraith, 27th.
Assuming that you all read your October ALUMNI MAGAZINE from cover to cover, you will recall the story of the Petroleum Convocation held in Hanover in June to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first scientific examination of crude oil by two Dartmouth professors. As in all other famous events, the Class of 1926 participated. PaulAllen and Courtney Brown headed the list alphabetically of the great names in the oil industry who were guests of the College. Another significant angle to the Convocation is the fact that Paul, while Assistant Librarian in Hanover, discovered that Francis Brewer, 1843, brought a sample of Pennsylvania rock oil to Dartmouth for analysis by Dr. Crosby and Professor Hubbard, and their report of its useful properties led to the purchase by George H. Bissell, 1845, and others, of oil-producing land in Pennsylvania and drilling of the Drake well in Titusville in 1859. Paul writes of this finding:
Like the great majority of Dartmouth men, probably, I went through College, and only knew that Bissell was the name of the building opposite the old library. Then one winter day, after coming back to the new library, Dr. Gil Frost and I were looking out across the campus and he happened to mention that Bissell Hall was named for the man who really started the oil business in this country. That was really news, but it started me casting about for further information, and, of course, everything that I turned up confirmed the fact. The result was a little piece in the ALUMNIMAGAZINE, about 15 years ago....
Probably my greatest disappointment about the celebration is that we didn't have the bottle of oil that Bissell saw. Dr. Frost told me that he had handled it often, and that he had seen it in Butterfield Hall, but what has happened to it is not now known and who knows but that one day it may turn up in some dusty corner. I hope so.
You will all be most happy to know thatPaul has finally shed the cast from his legafter the three years he has worn it since being struck by a taxi in New York in April1950. It has been a long siege and last winterhe had a pretty rough time during the final of a series of operations. He has graduated to a cane and brace and we are all looking forward to a celebration in New York in the near future when he dispenses with both of these last artificial props. Paul also reported an enjoyable vacation in New Orleans last month.
Now returning to Courtney Brown again. Immediately after the Petroleum Convocation, he and Marge took off for a European vacation. Here is Brownie's account of the trip:
"Despite the best efforts of the French Department when I was an undergraduate, I found that my attempt to make myself understood in France and the French cantons of Switzerland occasionally hit an air pocket, and Marjorie would have to come to the rescue. Despite the handicaps of a 'want of linguistic power,' the trip in a rented car through the beautiful mountains of Switzerland and the Italian lakes proved to be a great treat. It was gratifying to see how prosperous the countryside appeared, to be in both of these nations, and in the French Normandy as well.
"Although this was my first trip to Eurone and I have no means of comparison, I came away with the impression that if the nations of Europe could straighten out their internal politics and stop some of the age-old sniping at each other, it would not take many years to achieve the status of a really effective third world force."
As you will recall in our May notes, Chuckand Nat Webster were then setting sail for a three-month tour of the British Isles and to attend the Coronation. We may yet prevail on Chuck to give us a story of his experiences and that visit with Bob and Elsie Breyfogle in London.
Things are moving fast in the family of Okey O'Connor, our able class agent. His son George '54 was married on September 1 to Miss Terry Tokar, and on September 5 his other Andy announced the birth of Andrew J. O'Connor III. So Okey and Helen now join the ranks of grandparents. Congratulations! By the way, our commemoration column to the class grandparents is not progressing very rapidly due to some strange silence on the part of the usually exuberant grandfathers in getting their statistics to the Secretary.
Like the passing years, the football season has gone by faster than ever and we come up to the climax game at Princeton on November 21. Jack Roberts has again arranged for us to meet on the lawn of the Terrace Club on Washington Road for the pre-game picnic. In case of foul weather, the meeting place will be in the billiard room on the second floor.
Hope to see you all this fall!
Secretary, 500 Terminal Tower, Cleveland 13, O. Treasurer, Kennedy's, 30 Summer St., Boston 10, Mass. Bequest Chairman,
