1916

Since you will have a Balmacaan Letter before you read this (I hope), I shall confine this column to those items which bring the imperishable and era-making activities of the Class of 1916 to the notice of the world-at-large, which includes the other classes, before and after. And have you noticed how many now come after? Time marches on.

We have lost two more classmates, FranklinPiper in Santa Barbara, and William. E.Sloane, of Brighton, Mass. I do not remember either of these men during their one-year residence in Hanover, but I have heard so much in the past two years about Piper that I had hoped to meet him sometime. He apparently added something jovial and interesting to every Dartmouth meeting he attended. He was buried in his native Littleton, N. H.

There is now a Dartmouth Alumni Association in Santa Barbara, and one guess is all you need to establish that Louie Bell himself, the indefatigable colonel who is theoretically retired, was in there pitching and arranging the family barbecue which they staged last summer. The oldest member of this club, which has some fifteen members, is Dr. George Tong '00, and the president is LouisBell, which insures that the club will be an active one. L. B. McFadden '26 is secretary.

Col. John L. Ames, Jr., our recently decorated classmate, wrote me he had attended a "Variety Show" in Korea, staged by the Indian Custodial Forces, on the occasion of Diwali, the Feast of the Lights. This was staged outdoors on top of a hill which had been leveled off, and John commented on the magnificent panorama of mountains which formed the backdrop for the show. The description of the dance is too long to be printed here. Retreat was sounded by three massed bands, all Indians, one band in gray, another in green and one in bright red, with nearly fifty bagpipers. Incidentally, John comments on the fascinating item in the October ALUMNI MAGAZINE to the effect that someone in '06 had written an article on: "Storage Life of Mature and Immature Butternut Squashes."

Doubtless the ALUMNI MAGAZINE will giveyou a better description of a new publicationof the Tuck School, entitled "Fringe Benefits."I have glanced over the copy they sentme and hasten to assure lovers of Oklahomathat this booklet has nothing to do with thefamous surrey which they sing about in thatpopular show.

The indomitable and indestructible Cecil"Red" Tucker, who has made a career outof fooling the doctors (he is a doctor himself,as you. know), has crossed them up oncemore by getting well enough to leave theSan Fernando Veterans Administration Hospitaland going home (Woodland Hills,Calif.). To give you a brief quote from Red'sletter:

"And what am I doing? Enjoying myself as nobody can who has not been faced with the same prospect, and made liars out of the pessimistic experts. Chief manifestation of this hilarity takes the form of a course of study in applied personal psychology - an expedition into the delightful sphere of metaphysics - a course which will take two years. And am I enjoying it. ... Of course there are a couple of the proverbial flies in my smoothflowing ointment. I had to leave Spence Sully, - all goggle-eyed, mouth-agape showing his uppers in surprise at my miraculous recovery. There he was, not near as bad off as I had been, and he was still held in incarceration, while I was turned loose to raise hell again in the outer world. It just wasn't fair, according to Spence. I consoled him as best I could, gave him the formula I had used, and left skippingly."

Red closes with this characteristic comment: "Thought I'd let you know, so you wouldn't be tempted into wasting any sympathy on my alleged sad status."

Have you written me a line to indicate whether you will be at our Inspirational Interim Reunion, June 18-22, at the Lake Fairlee Club, Ely, Vt.? Shall we set a place for you at the table? The beauty and privacy of the location, the promise of fine food and the special rates offered should entice you, even if the prospect of that informal meeting with your old classmates to which you should have been looking forward these many years does not.

Our honored and famous honorary classmate, Laurence F. Whittemore, president of the New England Council, and director of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, was a featured speaker at the New England Conference on Social Security in Boston some time back. He is, incidentally, president of the Brown Co., Berlin, N. H.

Carl Holmes' daughter Cynthia was married in the Hawken School Chapel (the institution which Carl heads) to Mr. Gregory W. Spurr of New York. Spurr saw service in North Africa with the 34th Division. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Eric Lindblade, a minister on the staff of Hawken School. I am indebted for these details to Jack Childs '10, editor of the Diddings.

One of the memorial gifts listed in the College Publications' "Dartmouth College Memorial Gifts - Bequests" is the "Robert P. Brundage Memorial, Class of 1945, by his father, Charles E. Brundage, Class of 1916, of New York. Endowment: Dartmouth Outing Club." This son of Charlie's died in the service of his country.

The southwestern regional conference sponsored by the College in Dallas was attended by Everett H. Parker of Denver. The news of this conference will have appeared in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE before you read this, but it is worth emphasizing that the Assistant to the Secretary of the College wrote: "Mr. Parker has given very generously of his time and money to make Dartmouth even a stronger national college." This is not news to me, but because of Ev's modesty and the quiet way he works, very few people know of the services which he has performed for the College, outside of his home town of Denver and the officers of the College.

The Bulletin of the Near East Society for December 1953 carries an article by LeslieW. Leavitt, entitled "Arabian Nights and Days." This is an account of a visit by Les to Saudi Arabia prior to the death of King Ibn Saud. Les is the principal of International College and a professor of education at the American University of Beirut. The article is illustrated by a photograph of the then Crown Prince Saud, escorted by Les, and his military retinue. Of Prince Saud, Les wrote: "I have an impression of a good and kindly man, a tireless worker, who has the good of his people at heart, and one who will one day be called upon to succeed his outstandingly dynamic father as the ruler of a country two-thirds the size of the United States. Leslie's brother Russ Leavitt just wrote me that Les and his wife Margaret will be here for the summer. Russ says also: "We have had a busy year. Two sons married, and in a two-week period two daughters married, my father died and my wife Edith's uncle, who brought her up, died in Florida. Then in July my mother-in-law broke her hip, and in late August and September I was in the hospital for observation, then at home for six to eight weeks, and two new grandchildren - a total of eight."

And by the time you read this you will be saying: "Can spring be far behind?"

Secretary, 4808 Broad Brook Drive, Bethesda 14, Md.

Treasurer, 27 Concord St., Nashua, N. H.

Bequest Chairman,