1940
We have a way of running behind the calendar's requirements, and preparation of this column finds us out of breath again. The autumnal foliage is beginning to appear even as far south as Jersey, and for those who attended the somewhat one-sided contest between Navy and the Green this past weekend, the coloring of the New Hampshire countryside must have shown itself unfolding with breath-taking splendor. Gives one a real pang of nostalgia.
Along with the fall season has come the first of the class dues mailings from treasurer Rainie, inviting all and sundry to part with five bucks to cover the ALUMNI MAGAZINE subscription for the forthcoming year, still leav- ing some to derray class expenses or to assist the slow-growing surplus. Not too happy with the results of recent years' collection efforts, Don reports:
"The most recent statement of Forty's finances indicates we're getting to the point of diminishing returns on dues. If we don't get a more favorable response this coming year, the accretions to class surplus must of necessity be reduced. From a strictly financial viewpoint the problems could be solved pronto by cutting the number of free riders' on the MAGAZINE subscription. We are all aware of the terrific number of noncontributors (Alumni Fund and/or dues) which we now carry. Sooner or later we'll have to improve the record or lower the boom. Certainly, it is a problem which deserves much thought, because not only the MAGAZINE circulation but also the future of Forty may hinge on the outcome. There follows the Treasurer's Report for the year ending July 31, 1954." :
TREASURER'S REPORT, 1953-54
Accumulated Class Surplus Aug. 1, 1953 $4,350.00 Cash on Hand Aug. 1, 1953 297.40
RECEIPTS: Dues for year $1,665.00 Dues for previous years 8.00 Other income 81.64 TOTAL INCOME $1,754.64
EXPENSES: Magazine sub- scription $1,223.30 Mailing and postage 70.64 All other expenses 82.00 TOTAL EXPENSES 1,375.94 Cash increase for the year $ 378.70 Cash on hand July 31, 1954 76.10 Accumulated Class Surplus, July 31, 1954 4,950.00 Increase in class surplus for the year 600.00
Uses of Surplus during year: The addition of $600 to accumulated class surplus results from monthly dues payments of $50 on 50 free shares Rumford Building & Loan Association, Concord, N. H.
According to a recent newspaper report, "A Share in the rebuilding of Korean education goes to Major Robert O'Brien, who returned to the United States last August from that country after serving as executive director of the American education mission in Korea during the past year." Bob was on a mission sponsored by the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency, who contracted with the Unitarian Service Committee in Boston to recruit a team of seven educators to go to Korea to assist in the rebuilding of the Korean educational system. His job was that of advance contact, to line up the program and living quarters for the team, and then to serve as primary liaison officer with the Korean ministry of education, as well as with the Army and the UNKRA. It was quite an experience to attempt such a forward-looking reconstruction of the educational machinery and teaching methods of that war-torn nation amidst conditions which, at best, were very primitive. Bob came away firm in the belief that America should send the best possible assistance, in educational, technical, and scientific knowledge to Korea, "a country whose people want so much to learn.
We chanced the other day to run across an interesting article on Forty's rising young artist, Thomas George, who has been following a creative career since college. When he graduated from Dartmouth, Tom was not sure that he wanted to be a painter, so he started as an office boy in the industrial designing enterprises of Raymond Loewy, working up to junior designer before the war came along. He left Loewy to put in four years with the Navy in photo intelligence and work on threedimensional terrain models. When he was discharged in 1946, Tom still wasn't sure, but decided to try out the life of a painter. It didn't take him long to convince himself that the artist's profession was for him, and he's been going strong ever since, both abroad and at home, to convince others that he has the ability. After several years in Europe and a couple of one-man shows under his belt, Tom returned to New York and took off with his wife Jean on a motor tour of the country. At Toledo, Ohio, he came across some oil refineries and visited them. At Baton Rouge, La., he came across some more. By the time the Georges headed back he knew, artistically speaking, that be was home. Industrial construction had become for Tom "the most meaningful thing we do." So he went to an eastern refinery and started sketching. Out of that and a year's hard work came an exhibit of abstract oils and drawings that has attracted high critical praise for "their distillation of refinery construction into its very essence of light and form."
From our New Hampshire Reporter:
"Frank Whaland dropped in to say hello this week en route to Claremont and St. Albans (JohnFonda Willson front and center!) I gathered that he only recently had joined an insurance company as a field representative, thereby relinquishing his former job as an insurance salesman. (Ed. That happened last year.) Frank reported that ChalCarothers recently ran into some real tough luck. Seems that the Carothers bought a sizable house not far from Frank's home at Newbury, Mass. Chal had sold their Topsfield, Mass., residence and was in the process of delivering the final load of furniture when the new house caught fire and burned to the ground. Only four chimneys remained standing. Both Frank and Ed Wells contacted Chal and offered housing assistance, but he evidently found another location for his brood."
After we'd put the last column to bed last May, a letter was received from Child Rensinger which, put away too safely for safe- keeping over the summer, was lost to view until tonight's search for an address uncovered it. Child, also, had been lost to my view since we crossed paths in the Canal Zone during the war. His note, on letterhead of the C. R. Bensinger Law Offices, Stroudsburg, Pa., readsas follows:
"It has been a long time since I have seen you or heard from you and I know what a job you have trying to fill the 1940's columns in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Last month, while trying a libel case in Chicago, the defense lawyer, who may or may not be a Dartmouth alumnus, in summing up to jury, referred to the famous Dartmouth College case and Daniel Webster's final plea and said: 'lt is a small company but there are those who love it.' The reference was to the Defendant, and it probably was an attempt to mitigate the amount of damages. The speech sounded extremely effective to me, but apparently it was lost on the jury because they returned a verdict in favor of our client. The verdict pleased us, of course, but I'm glad Dan Webster had more success with the plea when he used it!"
The Hanover Inn guest register often carries the names of classmates and their wives who stop over in Hanover. Just as often, we don't include mention of them in this column because most of them comprise New Engenders to whom Hanover is easily accessible and we would find ourselves repeating their names often. This time, however, the month's visitors included two outlanders. Fred C. Johnson and Beverly were East from Pittsburgh, where, if our records are correct, Fred is with Westinghouse Electric. Henry Safford and Georgia made the longer trip from Texas, where Hank is, we presume, still with Houston Lighting & Power.
Next month we'll write the Yale game special. Hope to see some of you there!
Secretary, 322 Canterbury Road, Westfield, N. J.
Treasurer, 88 North Main St., Concord, N. H.
