1920
The secretarial life was a gay whirl through the month of December - an exploration of how some of the other "halves" of the Class of 1920 live and have their being.
Early in the month Stan and Grace Newcomer came to town on their semi-annual pilgrimage. They have learned to pace themselves beautifully. Home in Monroe, they make leisure-time careers out of baby-sitting; but in Gotham the most streamlined facilities that modern civilization affords convey them from hotel to theatre to night club and back to hotel again. Sherry Baketel, up from Philly for speechmaking or something such at the Waldorf, dropped in at the Newcomer suite to show how a black tie should be worn. Charlie and Dorothy McGoughran were happy to be included in his admiring audience.
Mid-December brought an experience long awaited and long to be remembered - a call on Sherm Adams in Washington. Here are some quick impressions. "The Governor" - and that is what his wife, his secretary and the closest of his friends continue to call him - looks ever so much better than he did a year ago. He has filled out some, but is kept in shape by the White House physician, who dunks him in the pool when he looks tired and then sets him to work on the gym apparatus. Sherm's flowing mane of white hair has become a youthful crew cut. He aspires to play more golf; speaks guardedly of his game; but hands out prospective handicap strokes with somewhat reckless abandon. Lunch takes place in the "Navy Mess" below the staff offices, and there Sherm has his own wooden ring, into which he thriftily rolls his napkin for future use, an example for wastrels to note and be guided by.
New Hampshire and his family are never far from Sherm's thoughts. On the walls of his office, among his collection of treasured old prints, two oil paintings stand out. One, painted by his old friend Jim Langley '18, shows the green dome of Concord's State House. The other, a charming view of the beloved Mount Washington, is signed "Pebble." Rachel Adams is of course "Pebble." She had just interested herself in painting when she was taken ill last winter, and her progress as an artist - throughout her sickness and since - has been meteoric. She is coming along fine now; looks happy and healthy; and has the good sense to watch her step about "over-doing." The night of the Pearson visit the Adamses were dining with the Herbert Hoovers.
Stewart Alsop (New York Herald-Tribune, December 28) brought Sherm into the picture when commenting upon the way the President attacks his day's work:
Confronted with the inevitable pile of papers on his desk, Eisenhower will turn to Sherman Adams or another aide and say, Tell me what's in them." His aides have learned to be ready to briet concisely and in detail - and to be ready or searching questions. But they have also to be ready to tell him, where necessary, Mr. President, this is one you've got to read, when this happens, the President will cheerfully read the paper in question.
Sherm's great usefulness, in this reporter's opinion, centers on the implied qualities of critical analysis, efficiency, and a friendly candor respected by one and all. His relationships with all the folks around him are warm and personal.
Other dispatches concerning the Nation's Capital: Marshy Marshall, recently elected to the presidency of Washington's Rock Creek Association for the twentieth consecutive year, has likewise been re-elected president of the Federation of Civic Associations. ... Anne Frey writes, somewhat cryptically: "Al and I are going to Washington for vacation, where Al has to conduct meetings."
Returning once more to our record of December revels, your secretary begs to cast one vote for Gerry Stone as Father of the Year. Proceeding to Gerry's beautiful daughter Patricia's wedding on December 20, we forbore to don our dancing shoes; but the picture which accompanies these random jottings should show how deeply Gerry has been quaffing from the Fountain of Youth.
The afternoon wedding took place in the Congregational Church of Scarsdale, N. Y. Patricia married Ens. William Newton Ford USNR '52, the son of Burton Lincoln Ford of Sioux City, lowa, another member of the Dartmouth family in the Class of 23. The marriage service was a lovely one, replete with handsome ushers and charming bridesmaids. And our own Gerry, as you would expect, cut a genuinely distinguished figure. The wedding reception, fortuitously located at Rye's Apawamis Club, featured - besides the champagne - rhumbas, congas, and something called the Bunny Hop. Hal and CatherineClark were observed (with envy) playing a vivacious part in these ceremonies. The young Ford couple, temporarily quartered at the San Diego naval base, have reason to anticipate foreign travel in the comparatively near future.
Two other earlier weddings, involving proud Twenty fathers, have gone previously unreported. Thanks to the eagle eye of Reg Miner, '21 secretary, we have a picture of Mrs. Vincent Conrad Sullivan, which appeared in the Boston Traveler for October 20. Mrs. Sullivan is the former Patricia Ann Moore, daughter of John. Her husband is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Sullivan of Newport, R. I. Rog Pope, writing that "Marge is getting to be a pro at this sort of shindig," informs us of daughter Eleanor's marriage on November 28. Miss Pope became the bride of Capt. Lawrence C. Switzer Jr. USMC in a ceremony at the First Church, Congregational, of Swampscott, Mass. Her father gave her in marriage, and her only attendant was her sister, Dick Southwick's daughter-in-law. Eleanor is a graduate of Walnut Hill School and of Wellesley; her husband is an alumnus of Duke University. Following a honeymoon in Nassau, the Switzers are now living in Washington.
Roger's boy, John Pope, scheduled for Dartmouth graduation this coming June, has a couple of years in the Navy coming to him, but after that his old man hopes he'll give a lift in the family business. Rog "just picked up two more wholesale places in Fitchburg and Lynnfield, Mass., the first of November, making five we operate now. They should serve to keep me fairly active, in addition to this growing super-market and baking business in Lynn. I should be eligible for the Fool of the Month Club, Marge says. But I'd prefer, if I have a choice, to keep running until I drop."
The In Memoriam columns this month tell the sad story of Pip Aitken's death on December 15. Exactly six days before, knowing full well how serious a disease he was fighting, he wrote Sherry Baketel such a gay and courageous a letter as any of us might pray to be able to pen under similar circumstances. Here are a few lines from it:
I am with Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall and Macdonald. In July 1952 they sent me to Jacksonville, Fla., on a bridge across the St. John's River Flew home over Labor Day, and when I got back they sent me on the Savannah River crossing at Savannah, Ga., where I was supposed to go all the time except that they got ahead of themselves.
I was in charge of surveys on the job. Very interesting. Roughly, it was known where the bridge would cross the river, but in addition there were six or seven miles of approach road and nobody knew where the ends would be. We picked up local yokels for surveyors - four or five of them very good, but some of them were classics.
Last summer I was sent to Hampton Roads, Va. About the middle of July I was taken sick with a bad case of cirrhosis of the liver, together with all its secondary effects. Did not know what it was for a while and tried to fight it off. Came home August 5 and have been on sick leave ever since. I am going to be on the shelf for a good long time. Boots Le Boutillier was out to see me the weekend of the Holy Cross game and we suffered through it on television.
The late John Prentiss's son William has been discharged from the Army and is now at work on the family paper, the Keene (N. H.) Sentinel. At the time of Johnny's death the Prentiss Memorial Fund was established in his honor, at Mrs. Prentiss's request, to help in the fight against heart disease. By mid-November almost 100 residents of the Keene area had contributed and the fund was still growing.
HER DAY: Gerry Stone '20 trips the light fantastic with his daughter Patricia at her recent wedding. Her husband is William Ford '52, her father-in-law Burton Ford '23.
Secretary, Blind Brook Lodge, Rye 17, N. Y.
Treasurer, South Duxbury, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
