1939
From rags to riches! 186 postcards, seven letters, one French stamp, one Canadian stamp, two uncancelled stamps, one anonymous, threatening card (Harrison?), a smug card from secretary-emeritus Tom Brooks, and a slightly sarcastic card from Irv Naitove, bearing the news that his office is in the same building with that of one Vincens. Much valuable information, too! For example, I never knew before that the Government gives us a choice of George or Martha Washington, or Ben Franklin, on our tuppenny postals.
Of course, 186 cards means that 421 precincts are yet to be heard from. Come along, precincts! Send in your entries today! Qualify for one of the 607 costly prizes!
This new-found wealth is not all peaches and cream. For one thing, the mailman isn't speaking to me. For another, I now have the problem of "organizing my material." In the good old days I could just make it up as I went along. Ah, well, let us begin! Let us have lettuce!
A hand-hewn "News Release" announces that the Gray family of Riverside, Calif., gained a baby son and brother on December 31, when John Harvey Gray, III "joined the firm of Jack, Beth and Kathe Jane as a Junior Member of the Board of Directors. Assets which young John brought with him when he joined the corporation at the age of 3 days were: weight, 6 lbs. 14½ ozs.; height, 19½ inches; hair, reddish blond; eyes, medium blue; voice and appetite, loud and demanding. Adoption procedures are now in progress!"
I probably am ill-advised to award any accolade to a "writer of the month," on the first month I've ever received more than one letter, but I shall be daring and tap anesthesiologist Joe Crehan. He was the first to write; and I hadn't heard from or of him in so long, I'd assumed he'd gone off to be a Trappist monk or an I. J. Fox fur trapper. Turns out that Joe was just down in Baltimore. And then, only for a couple of years after the war. Like any true Brahmin, he couldn't see that Baltimore had anything on Boston, and for the last six years he's been back home, putting 'em to sleep at the Lahey Clinic.
"I don't get around much anymore," writes Dr. Crehan. "Up at 5:30, hospital at 6:30, Clinic from 7:00 to 4:00 or 6:00 or 7:00 - or until the work is done. So for me it's early to bed. This is one of the reasons I haven't seen any classmates around these parts in years. In fact, to get within speaking range I had to visit the West Coast last fall. I saw Ken Mac Donald in Seattle and WayneShrodes in Los Angeles. Ken is top dog in a very active law firm, is very active in politics, and is really pushing hard to drive the Republicans out of the Northwest. Wayne is doing all right for himself in the flooring business - none of this small-time kitchen or play room business, but factories, office buildings, Hospitals, etc." (From Shrodes comes confirmation: "Outside activities - '*!"#&() — the above is a 24-hour job.")
Squire George Patterson, Miami's leading attorney, extends the invitation of the month:
"If any '39s are in this vicinity I hope that they will call me either at the office or the house and perhaps a fishing trip or something can be arranged." Now listen! "I now have a comfortable house, with slightly over an acre of grounds.... My hobbies are fishing and .. . sailing, crewing on a 44-foot Herreshoff sloop and taking part in all the ocean racing in this area. Next month we race to Havana."
Of course, George is not just an idler. He does practice law, as well as give advice and counsel to Maxine and to Carolyn, 10, and Cathleen, almost 8, and then, an acre of grass to cut is a lot of grass. George reports having had luncheon recently with Bob Winton, out of Portsmouth, N. H„ but neglects to mention whether Bob was down on business or just waiting for the race to begin.
Another rather decent invitation to '39ers in search of a weekend in the country comes from George Boswell. Anyone with sufficient subway tokens or enough credit to fly now and pay later, will find an hospitable classmate down by the Rue Due, Paris, France. George (Ph.D., Princeton, ugh!) is over there with Betty (and Craig, 4½, and Cynthia, 1½) doing a bit of research on an undisclosed project. (Feelthy postcards, George?)
Telephone call of the month came from what was left of Bob-the-Ripper Davidson when Junie Merriam got through with him on a recent business trip to our fair Baghdad. Husky-voiced plastics tycoon Davidson was beating a retreat to the depot and the first train for Dayton. He reported seeing WarnerKiefaber and Jack Reeder at a recent Dartmouth dinner in that fair city. (Mention of Bro. Reeder reminds me and, no doubt, BillWebster, Fuzzy Valier, Phil Wentworth and, if X recall correctly, about twenty others, of a pleasant journey from Hanover to Princeton in Jack's 1923 Chevrolet sport Phaeton one snowy 24 hours, back in Nov. 1935.)
Across the border, Bill Deal is general manager of the Retail Divisions of Canadian Food Products Sales Ltd., operators of three trans-Canada restaurant chains and the dominion's largest industrial catering company. Bill and Fran and their family (King, 14, Debby, 11 and Cheri Lynn, 2) now live in Toronto, where Bill is a member of the Board of Trade, and of Remembrance Lodge A.F.A.M.
Recent visitors to the front porch: BobTimbers, out of West Point, N. Y.; LarryVultee and family, out of Stamford, Conn. From Len Vines:
"Marty and I and our two boys, Richard, age 4½ and Jonathan, age 2, live in the Berkeley lulls of the San Francisco Bay area. With the exception of those hard-to-forget autumn days of Hanover, this area is hard to beat for climate and beauty. As much as transplanted Bay Staters can ever be, we feel quite 'at home' with our new friends and surroundings. - witness the conflict of Brahmin and Booster. Ed.) I'm a special agent (insurance's archaic title for a salesman) for the St. Paul Insurance Companies and assigned to San Francisco. ... Now and then I run into a '39er: saw Bob Cushman who works out of L. A., Dick Shaw who legals out of Denver, and my old roomie Pem Pleasants, who works out of any place as sales manager of the Sylvania Lamp Division. Pem pops in and out of town, always as busy as an octopus, helping Marilyn Monroe put her coat on."
Squire Shaw himself writes from Denver:
"This city is becoming a big communication and supply center for a rapidly developing oil and gas industry in the Rocky Mountain region. I am specializing pretty much in oil and gas law. Law in Denver is not all quiddits and quillets: "This past weekend my wife and I had the pleasure of going to Sun Valley for a couple days' skiing. We have some wonderful skiing in Colorado as well, in Aspen and other places."
(I should be specializing in banking law! Ed.)
Secretary, American Bankers Association 12 East 36th St., New York 16, N. Y.
Class Agent, 236 St. Stephen's Lane, Scotia, N. Y.
