1931
If it wouldn't have put a serious cut in an already lacerated Class budget, you would have received this news by direct mail a month ago: Jim Godfrey has agreed to bechairman of the 25th Reunion! This is the kind of news that calls for the ringing of bells and blowing of horns. (So we'll now take a 20-second hiatus for sound effects.) We wrote to Jim and asked him to take on the assignment. He wrote back and suggested that we have lunch together in New York. This sounded like the usual routine for the gentle but definite turndown. So... as we hooked our heels over the lower rung of a Stork Club bar-stool, I was prepared to pull out all the stops and play him some of the sweetest rebuttal music this side of Hanover. But, my dialectic digits never touched the conversational clavichord; because Jim opened up by remarking very casually that he had already been in touch with Hanover to discuss dates for the Reunion, accommodations, general data, etc., etc., and he thought it would be great, good fun heading up the shindig. The combination of my suddenly relaxed diaphragm and my abruptly untensed nerve ends gave off a sound like a Gene Krupa smash finish to "The Battle of the Valkyries."
Part of Jim's thinking is that it would be better to hold the 25th during the regular Reunion weekend rather than during Commencement. It has been habitual over the years for the Big 25th to be held at the same time that the robe and mortarboard neophytes were shedding their academic epidermis for a sheepskin. This is probably better from the standpoint of the college administration, but Jim feels (and the Executive Committee agrees) that we would have a lot more fun if we were in Hanover at the same time as other reunioners - particularly at the same time as those classes immediately contiguous to '31. We'll certainly try to arrange it that way ... and you'll soon hear about the initial plans; and you will be kept informed as each item of the total plan falls into place. Incidentally, it would be both interesting and helpful if you would care to express any personal opinions with regard to such things as the kind of costume you think would be practical, attractive, effective, utilitarian; and what kind of special events would most appeal to you. Those of you who have been through previous reunions probably have some thoughts on what appealed to you most, what appealed to you least, exciting innovations, etc. Why not drop me a line and give vent to your personal predilections. Anyway, Jim's the chairman, and to him I say "many thanks" and to you I say "mirabile dictu."
In last month's column, I mentioned that Jim McElroy has decided to shed the church robes for a business suit in Labor-Management Relations. Here's Jim's letter in answer to my question as to what led to the decision:
"Since coming to Toledo nine and one-half years ago, I have been taking an active part in the labor relations of this region. I have been a public member of the Toledo Labor-Management-Citizens Committee and a member of the American Arbitration Association. It has become more and more obvious that so far as the internal affairs of our country are concerned, the greatest source of discord has been in the field of labor management relationships. In helping to mediate seven public utilities conflicts and several industrial disputes, I have gained considerable experience in helping to resolve these conflicts. I have felt more and more that there was a need for a strong ethical approach in handling industrial disputes, and that some basic work needed to be done to develop a pattern for this approach. The fundamental teachings of the Church are certainly needed in this, as in" all other fields of human relationships.
"Hence, I presented my resignation as Rector of St. Mark's Church on January 31. I have not yet definitely determined exactly what I am going to do. It isn't certain I shall be working with any one industry, or with a foundation, or for the Government. develops, I'll let you know."
The public press announces that KenSampson has been elected to another four-year term as vice chairman of the Brockton (Mass.) school committee. Hart Gilchrist has become the partner of the same name in the newly organized law firm of January and Gilchrist, in Denver. Charlie Nims has decided to pull up stakes and move to Manchester, N. H., where he will occupy the wellupholstered chair as executive vice president of the Manchester Savings Bank.
Charlie Sullivan and Frau spent a couple of days in Hanover during January. A very nice note from a heretofore-unheard-from honorary member of the Class of '31 (distaff style): "I enjoy the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE more than any of my own school publications! Just wanted to tell you that Buck has recently been elected President of the Stamford Medical Society. Sincerely yours, Ruth A. Sherman." Again I say, if you characters don't care to let me know about the fine things you're doing, or are being done to you, then for heaven's sake, tell your wives to add press agentry to their regular duties so that this column can carry a running record of '31's important doings.
A brief but always welcome note from BillSteck, our highly esteemed maestro of the Alumni Fund, says:
"Bill Farley (non-grad, located in Hollywood, Calif.) accepted a job as Class Agent and says, 'Still with Eastman Kodak Co. - 21 years. I have three children - girl, boy, girl - 12 years, 10½, and 7½. Not rich - slightly bald - fairly content.' He won't be 100% content until he's 100% bald, believe me."
Bill Wilson pens the following, among other memorabilia.
"News - Bob Dilley, after living on a small 'farm,' raising rabbits, keeping a horse, etc., on a hill well outside Princeton, has given in (too much driving back and forth and two teenagers to taxi) and has acquired a beautiful old house near the heart of Tiger town."
What more? Just this ... the drive is on for the Alumni Fund. Financially, your contribution is deductible; spiritually, your contribution is expansible; actually, your contribution is imperishable. It's not often that any of us gets a chance to build a monument, but every buck that leaves your exchequer and finds a warm repository in the Alumni Fund is like a hand-hewn stone or a trowel full of mortar which loses its identity in the complete structure of a better Dartmouth, just as a brushful of oiled pigment loses its individuality in becoming part of a Michelangelo or a Rubens. There's no way for anybody else to tell you how important your contribution can be. So little does so much; so much does such great things! While you're still trying to decide what the maximum is that you can afford, why not drop at least a first payment in the mail right now, before you do whatever you had planned to do, after reading this column. A few thoughtful minutes now can mean a lot of productive years later for somebody who will be produced by a Dartmouth College that is a reflection of the greater you. Am I pressing too hard? Impossible!
That's it for now. Keep on being whatever you are, but always act like '31. See you next month.
IN APPRECIATION of his work in the public relations field, Frederick Bowes Jr. '30, presidentof the Public Relations Society of America, is presented with a silver bowl by Wilks, thesociety's executive committee chairman and public relations director of U.S. Rubber Co.Bowes is director of public relations and advertising of Pitney-Bowes, Inc.
Secretary, Lambert & Feasley, Inc. 430 Park Ave., New York 22, N. Y
Class Agent, 1250 Terminal Tower Bldg., Cleveland, O.
