1916
Clint Greenwood informs me that his son George W. has a direct appointment as a lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve, and early in December was expecting orders to report to Officers' School at Lackland Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Tex. In reply to Clint's inquiry I am sorry to say there are no classmates living near San Antone, but Tex Rogers and Holmes Green are in Dallas, Hiram McLellan in Houston, and Ben Eastman in Ft. Worth. They are all at considerable distance from San Antonio, but distances are something they put under rubber tires in Texas.
It was a pleasure for your secretary to have Alec Jardine himself as a luncheon guest Christmas Eve. Alec, our indefatigable expresident, has now taken on the job of Class Agent, succeeding Bill McKenzie, who kept the job an extra year when no volunteers appeared. It is fine to give Alec plenty credit for taking on what is always an arduous, timeconsuming and at times a discouraging job, but he will willingly pass up credit if you will give him your co-operation during the 1953 Alumni Fund period by making your contributions at an early date in the campaign and making them commensurate with what you spend for things that don't count, such as left-handed mucilage brushes, 45-minute-old Scotch, excursions to the lost forests of Mesopotamia, etc. Alec and I talked a lot of this and that, during what I am afraid was a two-hour lunch period. He was visiting daughter Marian and her family in Arlington and was on his way early the morning of December 26, bound for Los Angeles and expecting to reach the home of daughter Janet by or before New Year's, which means he will be pushing the Lincoln right along. Long ere you read this, Alec will be basking in the sunshine of L. A. or wading through its mists as the case may be, and keeping the State of California generally stirred up. It was good to see the boy again.
Samuel Ernest Cutler Jr., Dartmouth graduate and son of the well-known character of the same name, was married on December 20 to Miss Gertrude Ford, at Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., with brother Dick acting as usher. In the newspaper accounts of the affair we find no mention of our Sam and Lucille, pride of Sargent Park, Newton, Mass., so we can only guess that the paint and varnish business is so rushing that that noted couple could not take the jaunt to Michigan at the same time young Dick was away, or maybe they were and the reporter didn't see them. This wedding leaves only Betsy at home and she was so busy on affairs of the commercial arid professional world that she probably hasn't had time to do anything else, although she took time out to be an attendant of the bride. The young couple was to honeymoon in New Hampshire and Lake Placid and then make their home in Concord, Mass.
A photo taken last summer by Gil Tapley comes to me as a Christmas card showing no less than 16 people. In the center is Mrs. Tapley, and clustered about her are the four Tapley daughters, three husbands and eight grandchildren, ranging (my guess) from one to six years of age. This photo was snapped during the summer, and the hot weather garb of the family and the background of trees in foliage remind me of my favorite saying, 'Summer always goes too soon." What do you say?
While I am on the subject of families, LouieBell wrote, on the back of a Christmas card, that his wife Mary had been in the hospital twice this year for major surgery but is now in good health. Louie was anticipating a 100 percent family reunion, with Courtenay, youngest daughter, flying in from Detroit, and Marian, a registered nurse in Los Angeles, also at hand. Marian is getting her final credits for a B.S. degree at L.A. State College. Louis Jr., who works for the San Francisco Chronicle, was also scheduled to be with the family.
While we are still on the subject of families, let me put in a plug for the Wilson family. My younger daughter Janet graduated from the University of Virginia School for Nurses and passed her Virginia State Board examinations with a blue seal, which means a high passing mark. She was with us at Christmas. Stirling Jr. was home from the General Motors Institute at Flint, Mich., and reunited with his daughter, 5 months old, and his wife. And we talked with Peggy, in New York, by phone.
By the time you read this, I hope to have spent a few days in New England, at the midwinter meeting of the international directors of the SPEBSQSA, and hope to see a number of '16ers who live in and around Boston, provided there is no fog in Boston at the time.
From "El" Brill comes a program of the concert given by the Torrington (Conn.) Men's Choral Club December 11, for the benefit of the Connecticut Junior Republic. Among the Associate Members I find the names, of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Brill. "El" sent me this, marking the program item, "Barbershopping with the Huff'nPuffs, Connecticut champs of the barbershopping world." Looking over the program again as I write, I find there are ten men listed as being with the Huff'n Puffs, which calls for some explanation. I demand a recount, because our quartets down here have only four men.
A very welcome visitor to Washington was Helen Coburn, in town to visit a relative who is hospitalized. Helen brought us up to date on Virginia and Richard Jr. Helen lives on Long Island and has four kids. Dick Jr. is with the Atlantic Refining Cos. in Texas, and doing very well. Our classmate Dick spent his entire business life with one oil company, Standard of New Jersey.
Another lady of 1916, Verda (Mrs. Phil) Davis, is back in Magnolia, Ark., after a trip around the world by air with a group from the school of international relations of LaFayette College. Her letter is so interesting that I will give it to you in a newsletter; not room enough here. But her trip included Hawaii, Japan, Hongkong, India, Egypt and various European countries. Verda's comments on conditions in India are especially interesting.
As I close this up, a letter comes from JackEnglish which intimates that I will be able to get together with some of the Boston mob for lunch on Friday the 16th. It will be good to see them.
What about this? I find Harry Anson Bates working in the same building with me; bumped into him in the cafeteria. Harry has been with the General Accounting Office but is terminating his connection there as of January 1953.
4?FFLCE/I^UT\^I'TH,OUT,SANTA: °nly 'lsers were !nvi:ed guests at the office party held in Boston with the host Kike Richardson 15, shortly before the Harvard-Dartmouth game last fall.
Secretary, 8608 Broad Brook Drive, Bethesda 14, Md. Treasurer, 27 Concord St.,, Nashua, N. H.
