1920
Already the flight-to-the-south messages are reaching the secretarial desk. With the first sign of a snowflake the annual pilgrimage begins; and this time it is Tommy Thomson who is honking his way to Florida, like the leader of a covey of migrating ducks. Tommy writes:
"We are driving down for the holidays and I'm going to try to see Freddy Hamm. Hope for word when we arrive in Orlando. This is my first trip since the famous Deke convention tour steamed through the then-young Florida en route to Cuba. Did not see much then, of course."
Naturally not.
Forby Forbush sent greetings from Pasadena as the Tournament of Roses processionwas forming in the cold and the rain. This washis 35th straight pageant.
"Think I am a little behind on reporting our grandchildren (says Forby). We have five now, three boys and two girls. 1955 should make it an even half dozen. I have gone from banking into city politics and am working as a tax assessor for Pasadena. Saw Dick Kimball in July of '53 in Long Beach but have not met him since. I attended two Dartmouth affairs this year, one at the Huntington Hotel, and the Dartmouth Night party at the University Club in L.A. I was the lone representative of '20 on both occasions."
Up in the Granite State, faithful reporter Paul Richter has been keeping a paternal eye on the Twenties. According to Paul, the SamCenters have bought a house in West Thornton (P.O. address, R.F.D. 1, Campton, N. H.), with plenty of game in the vicinity and bears strolling through the backyard now and then. Still as active as ever with the Telephone Company, Sam remains "chief trouble-shooter for all headaches north of Laconia." The line of march from Concord north now takes you past the Norm Richardsons in Laconia, the Centers in West Thornton, to the Ted Mardens in Lincoln. And as recently as the holiday time the Sherm Adamses were reported back in Lincoln, catching up on their skiing.
The three Adams grandchildren (progeny of Marian and Bill Freese) are as bright-looking a trio as any Presidential assistant has a right to expect. Martha, 15 months, will soon be laying down the law to Dana, 3, and Thomas, 5. An oil painting of their grandfather, now placed in the company of other governors in the New Hampshire State House, is worth a look sometime when you're passing through Concord. According to the Manchester Union-Leader, the portrait is unique - "the only State House painting in which a past governor has included a picture of his wife." Rachel's likeness shines on the wall (in the portrait) overlooking her spouse's right shoulder.
An NANA dispatch recently told something about the "treasures" in Sherm's Washington office. Here again Rachel is represented, this time by an oil painting of her own - a New York street scene which her husband considers the best thing she has done so far. On Sherm's desk there is a gold lunch box, "the gift of friends in New Hampshire who were continually astonished to see their Governor carry his lunch to the office in a paper bag." Their note said, "Hope you carry your lunch to the White House in this." Afinal "treasure" on the Presidential assistant'sdesk is this poem, framed beside the telephone:
Fame is a beeting, fitful flame Which shines a while on John Jones' name, And then puts John right on the spot. The flame shines on, But John shines not.
Title to Most Trailer-Traveled Twenty goeswithout question to Col. Dick Hayes, now"living in Postoffice Box 370, Van Nuys,Calif.," awaiting the "new prosthesis" whichwill make him mobile again after a sojournin the hospital. His practice of trailering hasbeen going on for years, and he's been writingabout it for the last three. He runs a regularcolumn in Trailer Life called "The Lazy Waysof Richard Hayes"; publishes Trailer Logsand trailer trip itineraries under his own imprint of Trailer Trip Publishers.
"Helen couldn't see it at first (says Dick), but she was sold when we took our first trip to Florida, and now, after 40,000 miles of towing one, she is nearly as addicted as I. We have what I believe is the best trailer built for traveling. It is 22% feet long, all aluminum, aircraft riveted, and as cozy and compact as a yacht. It has a gas range every bit as good as the one at home, a combination gaselectric refrigerator, an exhaust fan over the stove, a panel-ray gas heater, an electric hot water heater and a bathroom complete with john and shower. The bed has a box spring and innerspring mattress and a davenport makes up into another very good bed. We have a large awning that runs the length of the trailer and some patio furniture. When we are set up for a while we have a regular outdoor living room."
To explain the "prosthesis" above, it should be added that Dick's trailering adventures have been without benefit of the leg he lost by amputation several years ago. Now the other has been removed below the knee. These developments, which he reports so casually, "started several years back when I inadvertently inhaled a bit of fungus which has the jaw-breaking name of coccidioides." The resulting "valley fever," common in the San Joaquin Valley, became uncommon in Dick's case when it infected the bones of both feet - a unique occurrence which has made him something of a guinea pig in medical circles.
Dick's daughter Barbara, lieutenant junior grade in the Navy Nurse Corps, is just back in California after 18 months in Hawaii.
The Maroon and Gold of Bloomsburg (Pa.) State Teachers College recently recalled some biographical facts about Almus Russell which may have eluded his own classmates' notice. Almus is head of the English Department at Bloomsburg, having previously acquired M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Cornell, studied at the University of London, and taught English at three other institutions of higher learning. In all he has written more than 225 articles, essays, and reviews on diverse subjects. Apart from his popular discourses on forgotten home industries, New England homestead sketches, and neglected culinary arts, Almus can claim to be something of an authority on Ruskin and Thoreau. Says the college weekly: "The works of Dr. Russell are vital in American literature because they express the very heart of the American past and offer innumerable charms for a more closely knit family in the American future."
Sunny Sunergren spoke out in a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald on December 13. Sunny was arguing for what amounts to a small per cent off for cash, when total tax payments are made in advance of the Massachusetts deadline. "With no incentive for early payment people will naturally hold back the money until the last minute," said Sunny with every appearance of logic. "Paying the interest to the taxpayers instead of an outside source (through borrowing in anticipation of tax receipts) would not be an added expense to the city or town."
Hike Newell, whose untimely death is recorded in the In Memoriam pages of this issue, will be sincerely mourned by both Class and College. Memories of Hike are keen in the minds of many classmates: his indefatigable energy, first demonstrated on the Dartmouth campus; the diversity of his interests; his love of the outdoors, which persisted throughout his life; his seeming reticence or diffidence, never to be mistaken for indifference; his special talent for bringing ambitions to full realization; and his readiness for new assignments, whenever and wherever they developed. Al Frey represented the Class at the funeral services in Greenwich. Other Dartmouth men in attendance included President Dickey, John Sterling '11, Al Bradley '15, Ort Hicks '21, Jack Hubbell '21, Steve Kenyon '22, Alden James '22, Sumner Kilmarx '22, Jack Reeder '25 and Marty Dwyer '34.
Secretary, Blind Brook Lodge, Rye 17, N. Y.
Treasurer, South Duxbury, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
