1912
From the New Bedford (Mass.) SundayStandard Times issue of March 8 comes an interesting story regarding our Class Treasurer: "Middleboro, March 7 - Firm fingers long used to weight, will send the gavel to the block Monday night as Fletcher Clark Jr., moderator, calls the annual town meeting to
order for the 31st time. First elected to the post in January 1922, Mr. Clark estimates he has presided over at least 150 meetings, both regular and special. This would include, he said, 'a highwater mark of 18 meetings in one year' when the town was debating construction of the present Memorial High School few years after he first took hold of the gavel Perhaps those long years as moderator also have had a large part in forming him to his present air of warm, friendly dignity. It certainly has aided him in the development of his ability to look at three sides of every question the proponents' side, the opponents' side and, most important, the townspeople's side. But this desire to do what is right for the voters does not interfere with his impartial presiding over the meeting. He prides him self on 'rarely guiding a meeting.' Sometime he finds himself unsympathetic to articles put on the warrant by request. 'But,' he says, 'It is not the moderator's duty to spike them,' and so they get their fair hearing before the voters Mr. Clark prides himself on having been overruled fewer than a dozen times during his three decades in the chair. He does not fear being overruled by the Supreme Court, however, thanks to his extensive reading on the subject. He says he thinks he has read just about every town moderator case that has come before the Supreme Court. Living the life of a 'small-town lawyer' with great love and interest, Mr. Clark, who is also a trustee of the Pierce Estate, is familiar about town with his distinguished graying hair and trim mustache. Most of his clients see him trimly dressed as they would expect any businessman, but that is not the whole of this active man. For Mr. Clark also is a familiar sight at the high school or Twilight League baseball games where, in his shirtsleeves, lie sits on the bleechers watching the youngest of his sons, Charles, in his role of pitcher. Charles was voted the most valuable player of last year's Memorial High squad. A native of Sandwich, Mr. Clark moved to this town in 1915 after graduation from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. By coincidence, another son, Fletcher Jr., also a graduate of Dartmouth, married a girl who lived within sight of the Needham home of Marguerite Swift, the elder Mr. Clark's wife. Another son, Edward, also is a graduate of Dartmouth, while his daughter, Mrs. Marguerite Atkins, is a graduate of Colby. Veteran of World War I, and leader of a battalion in combat while a 1st lieutenant, Mr. Clark takes great interest in reading about the battles of World War II. He says friends question his sanity over remaining as moderator, but, at 63, he has no plans for giving the position up. He termed it 'a very interesting job,' and one that lie enjoyed very much, strange as it may seem."
Charley (lately is Department of the Interior's Petroleum Administrator for Defense of District 1 with his office in New York City. On April Fools Day he was speaker at a dinner of the Section of Anti-Trust Law of the American Bar Association at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C. Charley has become quite a postprandial speaker, having made eight after-dinner speeches in Washington during the past year, and turning down invitations to speak at three others.
In running over some old papers, HenryVan Dyne came across the following letter from John Dickey dated June 23, 19-17, which Henry forwarded for the Class files: "There was little opportunity at the dinner Saturday night to say the personal word of thanks which I wanted to say to you. We all know how large a part your personal efforts played in the truly magnificent achievement of 1912 in establishing the special fund which you presented to the College. It is impossible to express such thanks in appropriate measure to each individual worker but I shall count on your letting the others know that our understanding and gratitude go beyond the public utterances on such occasions."
Lyme Armes and I are lucky enough to he on the mailing list of 1909 Dartmouth Diddings, through the courtesy of Jack Childs, newsletter editor, which he publishes from Aurora, 0., characterized by him as the "Garden Spot of America." In the May issue of the Diddings, Jack writes: "Lyme Armes '12 gets out a snappy news letter for his class called
The Billboard and he and I have passed a couple of letters back and forth. I gave him some news of his classmates around Cleveland and he conies back with news about some of the guys in our class. That's what you call reciprocity." On my copy of that issue Jack wrote: "Howdy, Henry. Maybe Lyme Armes and I will end up getting out a joint Billboard-Diddings." That is a good idea that Jack has and any such product of their joint efforts will certainly afford most interesting reading. When Jack and I were in Chicago together, he was one of the most active of the members of the Alumni Club there, and the title of his class news letter was taken from the Dartmouth Diddings of the Chicago Dartmouth Alumni Club's news letter that Jack got out for all Dartmouth men in the Chicago vicinity Most of us remember Jack in College as one of the members of the senior class who was cordial and friendly to many of us freshmen.
Time is affceting for yon who have not responded to make your contribution to the Alumni Fund. As of this writing, Eddie Luitwieler has only about 40% of our quota from about the same percentage of our Class Participation Index. Get out the old checkbook now and try to increase your contribution over the amount that you gave last year.
I am planning to attend the Alumni Officers Meetings in Hanover May 8-9, and Eddie has generously offered to drive me up to Hanover from Boston. I am also looking forward to seeing Henry Van Dyne and Flelcher Clark.
liny Cabot telephoned me the end of April saying that he had run across Dick Foote in Boston.
New addresses: James L. Oneal, 1505 Kenmore Road, Pasadena 5, Calif.; George F.Wallburg, Cape Neddick, Me.; Cleon B.White, 2932 North Country Club Road, Tucson, Ariz.
STOPOVER: Nor Catterall '13 (I) and his wife Dot were enlertalned by Hazel and Joe Cheney '13 in Tallahassee, Fla., while en route to New Orleans.
Secretary, 120 Broadway, New York 5, N. Y.
Class Agent, 184 Commercial St., Maiden 48, Mass
