1926
The winds of March sweep bare the blueAnd let the waiting sunshine throughThe birds are on the wing.The winds of March blow briskly, andUnless we're very quick of handOur hats are off to spring.
It is a long time since we have had the duck boards of Hanover, Vermont maple syrup and those muddy rutted roads of the Connecticut River Valley to symbolize March in our lives. In the meantime, some have flown to warmer climes while others of us wait out as best we can the windy, bleak days 'til spring finally comes. Don Church, of course, offers a solace in his Belleview-Biltmore at Belleaire, Fla., and undoubtedly Harry and Mary Fisher are there right now practicing for the 1926 golf tournament on August 20 The list of other '26ers reuning with Don during March has not reached us yet.
It must have taken Jack Roberts all winter to get over the Princeton game debacle on November 20, for he has only just written of the more happy aspects of the day in the 1926 gathering at the Terrace Club:
"Present and accounted for were Jack Bickford,and Elise Manser, Henry and Margaret Bixby,Okey O'Connor and son Andy, Dot and jack Kfleerts with daughter Beverly and son John ( 57). I have since heard of a number of fellows who were at the game, but for some reason were not able to get to the reunion at the Terrace Club. We held a fairly well attended class dinner at the Dartmouth Club just before Christmas, the highlight of which was Gob Des Marais' detailed account of 26 classmates up and down the West Coast. He is now living in Madison, N. J."
Jack was becoming discouraged by the meager turnouts for those Princeton game gettogethers and threatened to resign as majordomo, but this one should certainly encourage him for bigger and better ones to come! If any of the class have any better suggestions for these reunion opportunities during the fall games, they are more than welcome to pass them on to us who are struggling for fresh class ideas in the Terminal Tower in Cleveland.
Our New York correspondent Ed Hanlon, whose contributions fill much of these columns, has also written in some detail about the dinner to which Jack Roberts referred. He lists the following as present: Chuck Webster, Gob Des Marais, Jim Truesdale, George Scott, Frank Healy, Lloyd Sanford, Bob Stopford, Bill Viall, Larry Wolff, Holt McAloney, Paul Allen, Bob Cleary, Tony Gleason and Art Wilcox, as well as Jack and Ed, who wrote of the occasion. Ed also offers apologies if he omitted anyone through lapse of memory. Other interesting items of the dinner he reported were the efficient and smooth job done by Chuck Webster in the combined role of toastmaster, cashier, etc.; the return of JimTruesdale to the dinners after an extended absence; and the complete recovery of BillViall from a mild heart attack suffered last summer. For some reason the Alumni Records Office briefly had placed Ed on the missing list, but it appears that he merely moved from Brooklyn to Greenwich, Conn. Mr. Hanlon is not lost, but merely living in the country at 6 Stanwich Road, Greenwich, and still a leading light in the investment field with Calvin Bullock at One Wall Street.
It is also good to know of Paul Aliens whereabouts, too, for the last word we had of him came on a postal card showing London Bridge and postmarked "London W.1." Duckie Heacox writes on a postcard, too, postmarked from Auburn, N. Y., indicating that he spends much of his time "in the field." So far this has been borne out on our Poughkeepsie trips to see daughter Georgia at Vassar, for we have never found Duckie at home at "Timberdoodle."
If you do not have the time to write a letter, a few lines on a postcard are just as welcome. Always remember that your friends are as excited to hear of you as you are to hear of them.
These several stanzas of Ogden Nash's "Voluble Wheelchair" always seem appropriate at this point:
When you twist the sheets from night to morn To recall when a cousin's daughter was born, When youngsters mumble and won't speak up And your dog doddles, who was a pup, When the modern girl seems a hussy bold, By gad, sir, You are getting old.
During March this year we will have eight members turn 50: Ed Fleming, March 2; GailBorden, 4; Paul Venneman, 11; Louis Newman, 12; Carl Allen, 13; Art Wilde, 15; JohnHartigan, 22; and Tom Littlefield, 23.
The pause at the half-century has brought some wonderful letters. Steve Millard writes as follows:
"As you probably know, I am business manager of Pratt Institute. I like my job and they like me so I seem to be making it a lifetime career. I ran into Bob Funkhouser '27 and John Meek '33 in Washington in December at the annual meeting of the Eastern Ass'n. of College and University Business Officers.
"I keep up my interest in Dartmouth as an interviewing chairman of the Alumni Council. I like that and especially this year, when I have some really good material. Our Long Island Association has a pretty good enrollment program to follow up the good candidates, as well as to interest candidates.
"Pratt has a new president this year, a Dartmouth man, Francis H. Horn '30. He is an energetic fellow and we expect great things of him. The Dartmouth men I see the most around here are Ken McNair '29 and Aud Brindley '46. They both work with me on interviewing."
Many thanks, Steve. It was also good to see you in person last spring at the 1926 Dinner in New York.
And from Miami, Fla., on the stationery of Arnold and Watts, insurance adjusters, comes this news from Ben Watts:
"Thank you very much indeed for your kindness in remembering my birthday just past. There is little in the way of news to report at this end. Our daughter Ann is a sophomore at Florida State University in Tallahassee this year and should finish in '57 from the School of Business, unless some sweet-talking Florida cracker sells her a bill of goods in the meantime.
"I spend as many weekends as possible at our cottage in the Florida keys where the chief form of relaxation is, of course, fishing. I have reached the point where I am quite willing to forego the pursuit of the larger prizes in the rougher waters on the Atlantic side and am content to settle for the milder activities of the quieter Gulf side, and find the smaller barracuda, sea trout, snapper and grouper there provide me with just as much fun and even more relaxation.
"Incidentally, I should be happy to have any of these bald-headed '26ers who might be interested use the cottage as headquarters for a vacation fishing trip if they are so minded. They should bear in mind that it is not a fancy affair and is designed primarily for a comfortable, relaxing weekend fishing jaunt. It will accommodate six comfortably, more if there is enough beer, and has the usual plumbing and cooking facilities. A small skiff and outboard go with it and there are heavier craft in the neighborhood on either side of the island which can be rented."
Benny, you have taken a long chance on that invitation. You may find there are more bald-headed '26ers than you expected at this stage of life, and you will undoubtedly hear from many classmates long forgotten.
Bob Minton has taken time from the activities of the stock market to send this message to the class:
"Your very kind letter of congratulations on behalf of my classmates was greatly appreciated and I want to thank you for remembering my 50th birthday. The day passed very pleasantly, surrounded by my family and friends. It seems like a long time but it has all passed so quickly that it is difficult to realize that one has passed the half-century mark.
"Again many thanks to you and my classmates for helping to make my 50th a very happy and memorable one."
Then from the restaurateur Ralph Bristol, whose hours are as long as those of a railroader:
"Thank you for your letter of birthday greetings. Surely is nice to hear from you. There couldn't be much less interesting thing than the celebration of my birthday. I just kept on working. Did have a drink or two that night, I guess. Good wishes to you and to the members of the class;"
Charlie Bishop celebrated his 50th at the Union Club in Cleveland over a martini with the Secretary. Besides Edith, who has put up with his idiosyncrasies for all of these years, and an appointment as vice president of the Hanover Bank, he felt after 50 years that there was a great satisfaction in his three fine children: Barbara Ann, now 24, who graduated from Colby Junior College in 1950 and later returned there as the Dean's secretary; Charlie Jr., a senior at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; and Dick, age 16, a sophomore at Larry Leavitt's ('25) Vermont Academy.
Speaking of our children, there are a lot of social notes pouring in these days, mostly about their activities in the matrimonial field.
From the Bucyrus (Ohio) Telegraph-Forum, "In a candlelight ceremony Saturday evening in the First Presbyterian Church, Miss Judy Ann Blicke exchanged marriage vows with Lt. (jg) Paul Herbert Howard. Miss Blicke is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Juilliard HallBlicke, 416 E. Rensselaer St." The article also went on to say that Juil's other married daughter, Mrs. David Jolly, attended her sister as matron of honor, and son William was an usher.
The Boston Herald heads its social column of December 27:
"Announced today by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Whitmore Jr. of West Newton is the engagement of their daughter Carolyn to Peter A. Baldwin, son of A. Graham Baldwin of Phillips Academy, Andover. Carolyn is a graduate of Middlebury College. Her fiance, who is attending Middlebury College, is a graduate of Phillips Academy."
Although we have previously commentedon it, the Boston Herald also had this to say:
"The first debutante of the 1953 season in Buffalo to become engaged is Virginia Wilson Darling. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert F. Darling of Eggertsville, N. Y., announce her engagement to 2nd Lt. Kevin Irving Sullivan USAF, son of Mrs. F. Francis Sullivan of Winchester and the late Mr. Sullivan. The future bride was graduated from Buffalo Seminary with the Class of 1953 and will complete her studies at Colby Junior College in June. Her fiance was graduated from Dartmouth College in the Class of 1954."
Also in the Boston papers:
"A Bermuda trip follows Judith Mackay's wedding Saturday to Howard Phillips, son of Mrs. Howard W. Phillips of Pittsburgh, where the couple will live. Donald K. Mackay will give his daughter in marriage at 4 p.m. at the First Parish Church Unitarian, Quincy. The Neighborhood Club will be the reception scene. . . ."
Don's picturesque letter on the occasion will appear next month.
While most of our sons and daughters are becoming married and parents, Ed Fleming and his wife announced on October 30 the birth of Edward J. Fleming Jr., who has been entered in the Class of 1976 and will graduate at the time of Ed's 50th reunion.
Other men in the news: Kier M. Boyd, tennis player par excellence, has been appointed director of the product service division of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Pittsburgh; and the Bulletin editor, Holt McAloney who is also Director of Public Relations, Ford Instrument Co. (Division of the Sperry Corp.) was presented a plaque for winning one of the Putnam Awards for 1954, which is Advertising's most coveted distinction.
That's all the room that Charlie Widmayer will allow us this month!
TWO LITTLE GIRLS adopted in Japan by Bernard Barde '27 and his wife Dorothy areSuzanne (left) and Grace.
Secretary, 500 Terminal Tower, Cleveland 13, O.
Treasurer, Kennedy's, 30 Summer St., Boston 10, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
