1700 in Hanover for Highly Successful Reunion Weekend

THE weatherman having saved up three bright days to spend, after a lean dark spring, the alumni reunion weekend, June 18-20, was outstandingly successful. The returning classes of '14, '23, '24, '25, '44, '48, '49 and '50, and their families brought an influx of some 1700 men, women and children to Hanover, an increase of more than 200 over last year. However, thanks to added experience in planning for family groups, who recently have formed a real part of the reunion scene, there was a minimum of confusion. Children of all ages had programs arranged for them, keeping them as busy as their parents. An innovation in keeping with the trend was the award by the Class of '23 of two statuettes: one to a class daughter, Barrie Landauer, and another to a class son, Eric Rippel '57, for their help with the '23 children's program.

The Classes of 1914 and 1923, by coincidence, each arrived with a band of bagpipers and were willing to lend them to the other class groups for marching occasions. Consequently, the weekend took on quite a Scottish atmosphere, and skirling bagpipes provided competition for the tent pianos and barbershop vocalists who waxed and waned with the June moon.

After registration early on Friday afternoon, there were the first official occasions of the weekend, class, cocktail parties which preceded buffet dinners - many served outdoors — and the first get-togethers in the tents. At 8:30 members of all the reuning classes and their families met at the garden reception given by President and Mrs. Dickey at their home. Those who wished, attended the Alumni Dance in College Hall, while others, not too silently, stole away to their tents, where class movies, song and reminiscing went on until the early hours of the morning.

By Saturday alumni were beginning to feel that they had never been away from Hanover. Class picture-taking filled most of the time before the Saturday luncheon meeting of the General Alumni Association in the Gymnasium. Here it was evident that the '49ers with their ten-gallon hats and red shirts (home-dyed and of every shade) were the most eye-catching class.

For the third year wives were invited to attend the luncheon, which, being portable, could be eaten indoors or out. At the meeting of the General Alumni Association which followed, Horace F. Taylor Jr. '23, vice president of the Association, presided, and introduced Charles J. Zimmerman '23, Trustee of the College, who spoke for the alumni; Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College; and President Dickey, who talked on the spirit of reunion and on some of the factors which underlie the lasting regard of Dartmouth men for the College. President Dickey spoke also at the dedication of the Dr. John W. Bowler Memorial Tablet, held at the north end of the Gymnasium, at the conclusion of the Association meeting. Dr. Wallace H. Drake '14 presented the memorial to the College on behalf of the alumni, in recognition of Dr. Bowler's contributions to physical education and his labor and inspiration in making possible the building of the Alumni Gymnasium. The plaque, contributed by the alumni classes, reads:

"In Memory of John William Bowler, M.D., A.M. He was 'Doc' Bowler to all Dartmouth men for 34 years as guiding spirit of the physical education program at Dartmouth. An allaround athlete, he became outstanding as coach and pioneer scientific athletic trainer. When growing athletic activity required a new college gymnasium he originated the plans and served with a group of devoted alumni leaders to achieve the goal of completing this building. Erected by his friends, June 19, 1954"

In spite of the hot sun beating down on the Hanover plain Saturday afternoon, the baseball tournament between '48, '49 and '50 was vigorously contested on the Campus. By 4:30 the cocktail hour, anticipating class banquets, was well underway. Thayer Hall, the Hanover Inn, the Canoe Club and the Outing Club House were hosts to '23 and '24, '25, '48 and '50 respectively, with 'l4 going out of town to the Wah-Hoo-Wah Farm in Lebanon and '44 and '49 to the Country Inn.

The Dartmouth Players' production of Harvey in Webster Hall was delayed until 10 P.M. to accommodate those coming late from class banquets, and the last large gettogethers in the tents were held after the play - an unnamed class winning, in the words of President Dickey who was trying to sleep not far away, the title of the Class with the Most Endurance.

On Sunday morning memorial services were held in Rollins Chapel, the Bema and St. Thomas Church. Four of the reuning classes had luncheon picnics scheduled in the countryside about Hanover, with the Class of '14 holding a buffet lunch at the Hanover Inn.

Blessed with good weather and with class and inter-class fellowship registering at a new high, the Reunion Weekend of 1954 went down in the annals and in individual memory as one of the successful ones on record.

1944 cowboys find a practical use for the reunion attendance cup they won

Shown with the plaque dedicated to the late Dr. John W. Bowler are, left to right, hissons, Richard Bowler '22 and Dr. John P. Bowler '15, Dr. Wallace H. Drake '14, whomade the presentation; Mrs. John W. Bowler, widow; and President Dickey.