1925
Once again the time is come to leaf through the pitifully thin folder which represents all the items accumulated during the past month - slim pickings indeed - but maybe, now that the holidays are over, some of you will find time for a brief note before the next column is due. Meanwhile, here are two dates to keep in mind. The annual Parents and Sons dinner will be held on Saturday evening, March 6, and you are reminded again that all men and women of 1925 will he welcome, the occasion providing an informal reunion weekend. For dinner reservations, write to your secretary or to Ford Whelden. The other date is that for our 30th, next June 18, 19, and 20, of which you will hear more from Frank Wallis, chairman of the reunion committee, and through the Roundup. Having from time to time turned to the women of the Class with words" of admiration and praise, your secretary is glad to be able to report a sound traditional basis for this high opinion of the opposite sex in the words of one of Dartmouth's best known and most travelled sons, John Ledyard: "I have observed among all nations.," he wrote, "that women are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings; that they are ever inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest. They do not hesitate, like men, to perform a hospitable or generous action. ..." And this is byway of hoping that a good many of these kind, civil, obliging, humane, and tender beings (reserving some doubt about the timorousness) will begin to make the arrangements necessary to bring them to Hanover next June.
The Alumni Records Office reports the following address changes:
Stanley G. Chamberlain, 999 Memorial Drive, Cambridge 38, Mass.; Philip Coykendall, 622 13th St., Palm City, Calif.; Arthur C. C. Hill, Jr., Hamilton Hall A-22, Harvard Business School, Boston, Mass.; Lee B. Jamison, 375 Flora St., Laguna Beach Calif.; Stanton G. Litchfield, 305 Land Title Bids., San Diego 1, Calif.; George L. Scott, Manager, Personnel Div., Gulf Oil Corp., Room 1722, Gulf Bldg., Pittsburgh 19, Pa., R.D. 2 Allison Park, Pa.; Robert T. Simonds, 7305 Cedar Ave., Takoma Park 12, Md.; Nathan P . Colwell National Research Bureau, Burlington, la.; Gordon J. Wygant, Gen. Sales Mgr., Titeflex Inc., 500 Frelinghuysen Ave., Newark, N. J., 767 Valley Rd., Upper Montclair, N. J.
Vermont Academy, now in its 78th year, is marking its 20th with Larry Leavitt as head master. If ever there was a classical example of a husband and wife job, Larry and Dot have made it just that, to bring this fine old school to its present high standing. ... Brad Foss and Al Wilson were both active participants in the highly successful southern regional conference described in last month's issue. ... MikeAdams, now Father Joseph, is doing his pastoral work in St. Charles Borromeo Church of the Capuchin Franciscan Fathers in St. Louis.
... Norm Strickland has been elected trust officer of the National Shawmut Bank of Boston Ken Hill reports a Christmas card from Dick Plummer with a new address in Buenos Aires, but no other details yet, Dick having been in Mexico City for some years past. ... Don Moore writes that he is working his daughter Pamela's way through Barnard, and has quit free-lancing to become head of the story and script department of C.B.S. television. But he'll be safe from open assault until he confesses responsibility for the commercials Jim Howe's son, James IV '57, has won his numerals in freshman cross country and is now out for the distance runs on the freshman track squad.
Classmates in and around Boston are reminded that there is a 1925 luncheon at 12.30 P.M. on the second Wednesday of every month at the Boston Yacht Club, 5 Rowes Wharf. Johnny Garrod acts as secretary, 47 Colburn Road, Wellesley Hills 82, Mass.
In the absence of more contemporary news, here is a note for Dartmouth antiquarians. Was there ever a row of wagon sheds behind Dartmouth Hall? In American PrimitivePainting by Jean Lipman (Oxford University Press, 1942), there is, on Page 132, a reproduction of an overmantel fresco in the Prescott Tavern, East Jaffrey, N. H., which is recognizably a picture of Dartmouth Hall. Supposed to have been painted around 1815 by one of the itinerant "decorators" of the period, it shows the sun rising over the hill to the East, - or maybe it's supposed to be the moon, for there are stars still in the sky above it; its disc is embellished with two eyes and a nose, and tall poplars are growing on the hillside. Dartmouth is flanked, more or less symmetrically, by three lesser buildings on either side; the sheds are to the rear, extending be yond it laterally. Were they really there, or did the artist put them in to improve his composition? Has anyone seen the fresco at East Jaffrey and, if so, is it still there? And if there really were wagons sheds, are we to infer that the professors or students of those days drove their own carriages?
Charlie Moore's getting his picture taken in distinguished company was the occasion for a batch of clippings from sundry '25ers, most of whom, alas, added nothing about themselves in the accompanying notes. DeakBlodgett was a happy exception. Way back you remember when, Deak did a four-year hitch in the Glee Club with your secretary as a side-kick, singing second and first bass respectively, and their manly voices did much to give the Club of those days the elegant quality they both remember. Now, five times a grandfather, Deak is still singing, as a member of the Montclair Glee Club for the 24th year, and of the local chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Barber Shop Quartette Singing in America. It is a fine and important thing that Charlie is doing, helping the President with his speech-writing, and it was reported with pride in this column last month. The Class salutes those of its members who have achieved positions of high public trust and responsibility and so serve the nation in these troubled times. But in this country the public activities of the few have always to be validated by the private activities of the many. From the men of our own Class, with whom we shared a magnificent experience in youth, it is good to hear of the job well done, be it big or little. And the state papers of our leaders will do well if they reflect the lives and strengths of those who do their work and bring up their families and find time still for singing.
VERMONT ACADEMY HEADMASTER: Larry Leavitt '25, shown with Mrs. Leavitt and enjoys a favorite pastime with his favorite audience. He is now in his 20th year as headmaster and has built Vermont Academy into one of the top boys' preparatory schools in the East.
Secretary, 104 Pond St., Natick, Mass.
Treasurer and Bequest Chairman, Elm Street, Norwich, Vt.
