1923
Twenty-Three's Annual Family Weekend is scheduled for February 18, 19, and 20. This has become the outstanding event of the winter for many of us who cannot seem to getaway for a Florida vacation during the wintermonths. Barbara and I began making thistrek to Hanover years before Ben entered college. First it was Glen Elliott's son Jack, thenit was Rusty Sargent's David and later John,then Ed Lyle's son Brooks, whom we suddenly felt impelled to visit.
I received the following letter from Allen R.Foley, Class Agent of 1920 for many years andpresently in the Department of History:
"Thank you very much for your letter of December 9 in which you speak for the Class of 1923, inviting me to speak at your Family Weekend Banquet. I suppose you think that after the disastrous results of last year's venture that I might feel that I should avoid the Class of 1923 as poison, but I am going to surprise you and say that I really am delighted to receive this renewed invitation and will be pleased to accept. (* Fred Clarke and Allen Foley were wending their way to Thayer Hall last March at time of 1923 Family Reunion when Allen - on some ice, fell, and fractured his leg, thus eliminating himself as main speaker for the banquet.)
"Any assistance that you can give in making certain that I arrive in a whole condition will be very much appreciated.
"I was tempted to send this acceptance via your distinguished nephew, who appears three times a week in front of me, but I will let him carry confirmation and send this letter along in addition."
If you haven't signed up when this MAGAZINE reaches you, phone, wire, or write the Inn for reservations, and also your Secretary who is taking his turn as chairman of this event. We picked this weekend, first, because it comes midway in the winter when the snow conditions are the best for winter sports. Secondly, Saturday, February 19, is chuck full of athletic contests of every description. On this day, we have a freshman and varsity basketball game with Brown, varsity hockey against Army, and freshman hockey against Middlesex, freshman and varsity track against Brown and varsity swimming against Cornell. The banquet will be on Friday evening when no athletic contest is scheduled. All sons of 1923 will be our guests that evening for dinner.
FIRST ANNUAL FATHER-SON ISSUE: This month I am inaugurating the first annual Father-Son Issue of the Class of 1923. As a preface, may I explain that I wrote "the 27 sons who are in college now asking them to write me a letter about themselves, giving me. their vital statistics, their interests and activities in and out of college, something about the rest of their families, the things they do to keep busy and out of mischief, and any comments about themselves, their class and their father's class, and the world in general.
The answers came in in a very gratifying manner and the receipt of them was a source of joy to your secretary (as well as to the proud papas) for reasons convincingly demonstrated by the letters themselves. I am sure that all '23ers will share a satisfying sense of appreciation and pride in the recorded accomplishments of the sons and of the fathers as well.
I will start with a poem from Henry Hudson Ill, written during Christmas vacation at his home in Duxbury, Mass. - which poem demonstrates that a son can sometimes write poetry better than his father.
Huddy Hudson P. O. Box 232 Cove Street Duxbury, Mass. Bill Hudson III '55 Theta Delta Chi Hanover, N.'H.
Hudsons two, by my troth Dartmouth men are we both Henry's the name but everybody Calls one Bill, the other Huddy.
'55 for the lad '23 for his dad Father born on Chicago sod Bill stems from the land of cod.
The elder despite the hallowed dean Had but two years on the Plain
For Harvard Med he was bent And after summer school there he went.
This is Bill's fourth year and with luck He'll have another one at Tuck After - two years in the Navy Pop had more than five, by gravy.
One a T.D., one a Deke, A minor matter so to speak. One a midshipman with a rate, The other captain, such is fate.
Dartmouth heeling tried by sire Medicine put out that early fire Son has tried Thespian ways Acted some, directed plays.
Wife and mother we have one Sister also, and she by gum With doctor Jim is at the Clinic So at Sachem we do picnic.
So many things have we in common And this occasion father-son Is made more pleasant by the knowledge That we have shared in Dartmouth College.
Happy 1955, Bix!
Roger Conant Carlton Frank Conant Carlton '55 (dec.) Kappa Sigma
Frank '55 speaking: The year is 1985, the place is Washington, D. C., and the event is a security review board executive session.
Chairman Simple J. Malarkey: Mr. Carlton, we have received a great deal of testimony to the effect that while attending Dartmouth College you showed many tendencies that lead us to believe that you are a security risk of the first order. If you will answer some questions about that period of your life, we may be able to come to some conclusion regarding your security clearance.
Witness: I'll do my best, but twenty years leaves a lot of time for forgetting.
Chm. S. J. M.: First let me read some of the vital statistics of your life into the record. You may comment if you believe any of them to be in error.
You were a depression baby about the time when many people were turning to Communism as the answer to the "Creeping Fascism" that was beginning to make itself felt on the world scene. Your parents were Roger Conant Carlton, Class of '23 at Dartmouth College, and Marion Parker Carlton, Class of '23 at Wheaton College. Your sister Carol married T. Wm. Hentz, a classmate of hers in college. You were a member of the Class of 1955 at Dartmouth and served as its treasurer your sophomore year. On June 11, 1955, you were commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. The next day Dartmouth presented you with your sheepskin walking papers. The following Saturday you took a long walk down an aisle' with one Nancy Nicholson who lived in your home town of Radburn, N. J., and graduated from Oberlin College. Do you wish to comment?
Witness: I might add that my father passed on in March 1949, and Mother went back to school as a seventh and eighth grade English teacher after about 23 years away from the profession.
When it came time for me to apply to colleges, I followed through the application for admission to Dartmouth that my father had sent in ten years before. The problem was that there just wasn't enough money. At this point an Uncle Sam in Navy blue stepped into the picture, and through the NROTC program made it possible for me to spend four years on the Hanover Plain. If there is one thing for which I'm grateful to the Navy, it is those four years.
Chm. S. J. M.: In the testimony received about you there are some suspicious organizations to which you belonged named only by their initials. Please explain your membership and the purposes of the following organizations: The D.0.C., the U.G.C., the K.E.
Witness: The Dartmouth Outing Club was the activity in which I spent most of my extra-curricular time. Trips to New England's highest peaks as a member of Cabin and Trail I remember vividly. Three years as a Winter Carnival Heeler were followed by the rewarding experience of being in charge of the D.O.C.'s part of the weekend. The Undergraduate Council is a representative group in charge of student affairs. I had the privilege of serving on this body for two years. Kappa Sigma was the social fraternity in which I was a member. Chm. S. J. M.: A stalwart patriot by the name of Col. Bertie McCormick once said that there was an internationalist course at Dartmouth called Great Issues. Did you take this "subversive" course ?
ANNUAL BOSTON ALUMNI DINNERHotel Statler, Feb. 16, 1955
Witness: G.I. was compulsory for all seniors and its success depended on the individual's attitude towards and preconceptions about the course. As for myself it was a great experience. Chm. S. J. M.: Would you say you held any radical views while in college?
Witness: There were two idealistic hopes of mine that one might say were radical. First, I had hoped to study under an honor system, but a referendum on this matter in my sophomore year failed to get a majoritv. My other hope was to see the fraternity discrimination that is imposed by the national organization in six of the twenty-three fraternities _ on campus done away with. A referendum junior year approved this in effect, but delayed its enforcement until 1960.
Chm. S. J. M.: Did you ever support any subversive organizations?
Witness: I must confess that I bought a 3c pin that made me a member of Robin Hood's "Merry Men." This was after a certain junior senator from Wisconsin had argued that the Robin Hood story was bad for American school children to read because of its suggestion that robbing from the rich in order to give to the poor is a good idea.
Chm. S. J. M.: Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Democratic Party? Witness: I plead fifth amendment.
John C. Durkin John C. Durkin Jr. '58 1625 James St. 102 North Mass. Syracuse, N. Y.
John '58 speaking: Our holiday period has been considerably upset due to my older brother having been in a serious automobile accident, hence the delay in writing you.
Since dad's days in Hanover, our family has lived principally between Buffalo and Syracuse and now permanently, we hope, in Syracuse. Father owns and operates a group of motor truck companies throughout the state and he has been active in regulatory, rate, and particularly labor relations in the industry, serving as negotiating chairman for the New York State Employers' Association. He is in civic affairs such as the Community Chest, Traffic Arterial Planning Council, and others. He plays a lot of golf, not so well; better bridge, and we all enjoy spectator sports.
I am the younger of two sons and attended Pebble Hill School and Gilmour Academy where I played all varsity sports and engaged in the student theatre and student publications. In Hanover, I've become associated with the D.O.C. and D.U.U. and hope to get into added activities when the first semester's struggles with books is over.
I know that you and dad were good friends at Dartmouth and hope we can all be together at Family Reunion February 18, 19, and 20.
Bill Gates Dick Gates '54 118 Hastings St. 303 Chase Greenfield, Mass.
Dick '54 speaking: First about myself. After graduating .from Deerfield Academy in June 1950, I entered Dartmouth that fall as the typical "pea green freshman." It seemed for four years all I did was struggle to get through, but I finally made it, receiving a diploma last June. Besides studies, I had the usual interests at Smith, Skidmore, Vassar, et al. I joined Alpha Delta Phi and was its president my senior year. I attempted athletics; namely, football, hockey, and lacrosse, but lacrosse seemed enough for me and I captained that my last year. I was elected to the Vigilantes, Green Key, and Casque and Gauntlet, and acted as advertising manager of the Aegis. All this kept me busy enough, but beginning my senior year I started at Tuck and really began to work. I am still down there but come this June I hope to have my Master's and then Uncle Sam will take over. Along with a diploma last June, I received a commission with the Air Force, having finished the AFROTC course, but having one year to go at Tuck, I was deferred until this summer. I am supposed to go into flight school, but my eyes might prohibit it, and if this is the case, I don't know what will happen to me as far as the Air Force is concerned. This brings you up to date about me and as for the future, the Air Force is my guardian for a few years and after that your guess is as good as mine. As for dad, I'm always reminded of the story about the boy of 16 who when he turned 21 couldn't understand how his father had learned so much in five years. I always think I've got the answers, but his always seem better. He's still vice president in charge of merchandising at Wilson's Department Store, here in Greenfield, and the store, golf, the garden, and my mother keep him out of trouble. My older brother, Hamilton, was married last August, and he's now a salesman with the Carpenter Steel Company selling out of Buffalo. Our whole family was together over Christmas, but as we get spread around the country, I'm afraid these occasions may get fewer and fewer. I always look forward to the '23 Father and Son Banquet, and this year my parents and I will again be on hand.
(To be continued in the March, April, and May issues.)
It is a very sorrowful duty to have to report here the sudden death of Donald Gaver. His long time friend, Bill Gratz, has written the notice which appears in the In Memoriam section.
Donald P. Gaver
The still North remembers themThe hill winds know their names.And the granite of New HampshireKeeps the record of their fame.
Secretary, 170 Washington St., Haverhill, Mass.
Treasurer, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co Whitman, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
