1910
By this time a lot of Tenners have just about completed their plans for the trip back to Hanover for the informal reunion. Undergraduates will be looking forward to their departure from the Old College town and we will be looking forward just as eagerly to returning for a general good time as Tenners among Tenners. If any Tenner questions the worth of this informal gathering let him ask any one of the 31 men and the 17 wives who tried out this plan last June. We'll rest our case on their testimony and their enthusiasm. Your attendance is not urged just to swell the number. The urge is to put yourself where you can get the enjoyment others are receiving.
As all of you should know, Andy Scarlett and I were together in Hanover for a few hours early in March when some of the preliminaries were mapped out with the College departments involved with reunions. The post card report of our "huddle" was meant to demonstrate that when you see Old Dart- mouth Hall in winter in '53 it looks just as it did in 1910. Then, too, when you see Hanover in winter, when there is no reason for a great influx of visiting firemen, as for a football game in the fall, you get a normal everyday picture. Of course, there are just about twice as many undergraduates in town but you do not see this great number at any one time. So Hanover looks "natural" to a Tenner.
Another "conference" took place late in March when I met Irve Jewett, Andy's assistant for the Boston area, in Boston at the Alumni Fund kickoff dinner. Irve is serving his first year in this job so you Tenners in the Boston area might take this into consideration and become helpers for him. The earlier you make known your intentions for the Fund, the easier you will make the chore for Andy and Irve. At the dinner we learned much about the dollar needs of the College and how much depends upon the Fund to keep the Dartmouth standard of education at the high level all of us want. Incidentally, Irve showed a lot of interest in the possibility of getting back to Hanover in June. Says he might have to take part of his vacation at that time in order to make it June 15-18.
A letter from Art Lord says, "What has happened to all the good Boston Tenners? The Alumni dinner was last Wednesday, the big get-together of the year, and only three were there, Art Allen, Win Nay and myself." There doesn't seem to be an answer available but it does sort of put a lot of "local" Tenners in the position which calls for an "investigation." And that, of course, reminds one of "Congressmen" which in turn brings up word from Mac Kendall who met Eck Hiestand at the dinner of the Washington Alumni. Eck looks, acts and talks like a professional Congressman, Mac tells us, and adds that Eck seems to be in fine fettle. Mac is making the most of his Washington residence. Taking the tip from the news item about Harry Mitchell in earlier class news, he contacted Harry and they had lunch together. Mac almost succeeded in getting Harry to the Alumni dinner, but in the end Mac was the only Tenner present. Eck had another date. Mac says the winter scene on the Hanover post card intrigued him and he and Florence are counting on the return in June to meet us there.
The post card stirred "Carp" Carpenter down New York way and he liked it. Result: the following contribution of news about the Mai Bissells. Wrote Carp,
"Malcolm and Ella Bissell sailed from New York in March for a tour around the Mediterranean to conclude at Naples where a Humber car from England awaited them. From Naples they toured through central Europe and planned three weeks in England. At that stage the question would arise whether to resell the car to the British or use it on the last lap to Barcelona where they were to take ship for New York. If the Humber car turns out to be no hum-bug, it may be brought along and utilized on the ride back to Calistoga, Calif., where the Bissells expect to drop anchor about August 15. Mai in his years on the faculty at Southern California collected no little prestige as a geologist-geographer. His European survey has a bearing on studies he is pursuing and which no doubt will come to light later on in publications of the American Geographic Society."
There is the kind of help your Class Sec. needs and appreciates. If more would follow Carp's example we would have a lot of news we are now missing about you and about Tenners you know.
"I never fail to get a lift from a picture of Dartmouth Hall," writes "Buck" Allen. And that led him to tell that in June he will wind up his career of 24 years as headmaster of The Rivers Country Day School. Next fall he will be located in Washington, having been appointed Director of Public Relations and Promotion for the Washington Cathedral, the National Cathedral of the Episcopal Church. Buck feels that in the spiritual atmosphere of the new Eisenhower Administration he "might have a chance to do something worthwhile in partially restoring at least, the deficiency in our national thinking in matters spiritual." Buck invites any Tenners who visit Washington to see one of the outstanding cathedrals of the world in process of construction.
Chan Baxter says the card "surely did typify the winters we all did enjoy," and then he reports that Tacoma has been snowless this year. Rollie Reynolds writes, "Old Dartmouth surrounded by its snowdrifts did bring back many, many memories." His winters are different now in Southern California. "The trees are now covered with a white blanket but a blanket of blooms not of snow." Both Chan and Rollie are hoping to make the trip across the Country for the Hanover gathering of Tenners in June.
"Liz" Prescott went into the hospital just before reunion last June and was out of circulation, as far as the office was concerned, for about five months. He is getting into shape now and expects to be in Hanover in June. Slip Powers and Ed Shattuck visited with Liz during the winter. And that suggests that Ed must be doing better physically and June may see him with us. You Tenners in the New England district, don't overlook the fact that there is a Tenner, Bert Kent, who has been nominated for the Alumni Council. You have not had many opportunities to vote for one from our Class. And you who have overlooked those communications you have received from Jess Wilson be assured he is counting on your acting favorably and soon. I talked with Earle Pierce recently and am glad to tell you that he is progressing slowly, even to the extent that he has been able to drive some.
It was from Mac Kendall that we learned of "Dutch" Wagner's passing. We have not seen much of "Dutch" in the years since graduation but we have had evidence of his interest in the Class and the College. His contribution to the war effort was important and covered the period from 1940. (See the In Memoriam section in this issue of the Magazine)
Secretary, 501 Cannon PL, Troy, N. Y. Class Agent, 8 N. Balch St., Hanover, N. H.
