1931
Well, whatayaknow! ... Mail! Apparently all that was needed was just to call your attention to the fact that there's a difference between stationary and stationery. So, let's take off our shoes and wade around in some of these communiques. When Bill Steck unbends, he really comes apart.. . two letters in the same month! He writes,
"I have a few scoops which may prove to be ancient history by the time your next column is in print. Incidentally, what is the deadline each month for getting the material into next month's MAGAZINE? (Sec'y's. note: The due date in Hanover is the fifth of the month preceding the month of publication, i.e., the April notes should be in Hanover by March 5 ... but we get a couple of days' grace in case you've got a last-minute flash.) One of our lads to hit the top rung is Spence Cram, recently made President of the W. Bingham Company, a very large, excellent wholesale hardware firm with headquarters in Cleveland. What with a lovely wife and four fine children, I would say that Spence is sitting pretty.
"I had a Christmas card from Grace and JackWeisert. The Paris postmark makes me wonder whether he is in on the M.S.A. boon-doggle or is just enjoying a brief respite from the Washington pressure applied by Magnavox, which was the last employer of Jack's that I knew anything about. Incidentally, if you could entice Weisert into writing for the column you would really have something. The guy is terrific - but the onlv trouble is that he loosens up only once every ten years (Sec'y's. note: That means you owe me two columns, Jack, so start ecriring some of those mots). Hart Gilchrist took office as Executive Vice-President in Charge of Claims-for the American States Insurance Company in Indianapolis last February 15. Having gotten out as far as Denver, he's working his way back toward Cleveland, his old home town. This new stop looks like more than a way-station, though.
"As for myself, am still a member of the law firm of Burgess, Fulton & Fullmer (that's your one commercial for this year, Bill); am still married to a lovely, young woman I met in Hanover (details will be given upon request; please enclose stamped, self-addressed envelope); haven't had any children in over ten years, but we had a pretty busy time between July '37 and June '42." In his second letter, Bill continues
"On the same day that I posted my other letter to you, I ran into Walt Gehring downtown. He still owns and runs the enterprise known as Gosco (that's your annual commercial, Walt), which is short for Gehring Office Supply Company. Married life appears to agree with Walt, although I didn't think to ask him who was responsible for the last-minute decision not to appear at Reunion last June."
While Bill is recovering from his sudden burst of epistulation, 1 would be delighted to hear from anybody else who happens to have a couple of spare envelopes lying around on the desk. At least a half-dozen enthusiastic respondents called my attention to the fact that the sons of '31 are doing themselves real proud. Len Clark Jr. won the Carnival Poster Design Contest and Wes Dingman designed Skigo, the campus snow statue. Incidentally, I get an occasional query as to my own number one man-child. Horrendous as the disclosure may be, the first of the Morris junior quartet is a Comellian. It's difficult to explain these things because all I can say is that the choice had to be his and he wanted a career in the hotel business, and Cornell offers the best training for that field . .. thus, he has not joined the sons of '31 in Hanover. There are quite a few more coming along, however, so maybe we can do better.
The Greenfield (Mass.) Independent columns the announcement that Dick Hamilton has been appointed to that city's Finance Committee (by the way, Dick, is that your Aegis picture or has the passage of time actually left your physiog so unscathed?). It's a pleasure to report on some of the important accomplishments of our distaff side, too. One of our esteemed contemporaries in the advertising agency business, the firm of Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather, announces the election of Mrs. Abner Dean to a Vice-Presidency (welcome, Mrs. D to the hallowed and harried ranks). Ken Anderson has just been elected Vice-President and Manager of Agencies for the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company in Portland. Baxter Ball, who started with General Petroleum a few months after graduation, has just been made Sales Manager of that company's Marketing Department.
The column's comments about recent publicity on Dartmouth's purported leaningto-the-left induced both Greg Moore and AlJones to write. Greg expresses a feeling of security about current affairs; and I would like to give you a couple of paragraphs from Al's letter. Apparently when the muse strikes our ebullient barrister, it evokes strong judgments and sound words.
"The present compulsion toward conformity apparently will not even tolerate the luxuriance of youth. Youth is, or should be in a free world, an age of warm-heartedness, cerebral high jinks and foolishness. It is a brief period of exploration and experimentation when the urge to remake the newly discovered world is, or should be, I repeat, strong. It is a time for sifting and learning. Conformity will come soon enough. The liberal college should give the boys a chance to see the whole picture and to choose the right way of life as opposed to being led to what we think is the right way like cattle are led. "I think your description of the Dickeys is correct. President Dickey will not let any situation get out of hand, and I believe that he will continue to operate a liberal arts college as long as it is possible to do so in a calcifying world."
A note out of Beantown says that Ed Brummer was a head-table guest at the Ritz Carlton on the occasion of Jordan Marsh Company's New Hampshire week. Ed represented the New Hampshire Planning and Development Commission. As you may or may not know, he and his wife Peggy successfully own and operate the Woodbound Inn in Jaffrey, N. H.
Ned Campbell barged into town a few days ago and, thoughtful guy that he is, gave me a buzz and we had a delightful lunch together. He's looking forward with great enthusiasm to the Alumni Fund Campaign, and we both feel that all the rest of you will have the same attitude toward it... so, don't make liars out of us just for a few bucks.
That's about all for now - thanks to those who have written, blessing on those who are about to write, and a pox on the houses of all the others! See you next month.
Secretary, Lambert & Feasley, Inc. 60 E. 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y
Class Agent, 3042 N. Stowell Ave., Milwaukee 11, Wis.
