1927
I'm sure that I will have been thoroughly scooped by Les in the "Speak" before this gets into print, but it seems to me that the fir.st Father and Sons Weekend ever to have been held by the Class of 1927 is important enough so that its reporting can stand a little repetition. Twenty members of the Class gathered in Hanover on April 29 and 30, with wives, sons, and daughters to bring the total attendance up to 61 for a weekend of fun, relaxation, and reminiscence. From the reports that have reached me so far, just a few days after the event, a grand time was had by all, and for those of you who were unable to be there, I can promise that it will be an annual event, at least as long as we have enough of our sons in College. When the time comes that we run out of sons, perhaps we can start having weekends with our grandsons.
The clan began gathering on Saturday afternoon, and while by prearrangement no formal program was planned for that evening, everyone gathered informally and passed the time very pleasantly. On Saturday, at 5:30 the whole gang met at the ski hut for cocktails, and then sat down to an excellent dinner, which was the only really formally planned feature of the program. I have it on good authority that the evening continued into the small hours of Sunday morning in a few of the upstairs rooms at the Inn.
Those in attendance, with apologies to any names that my correspondents may have missed, were Charlie and Barbara Bartlett with Sam '57 and Gu.s, Les Battin, Mike and Gertrude Choukas, Ed and Thelma Fry with Sam Jr. '56, Bob and Peg Funkhouser, Herb Hansen with Herb Jr. '57, Sykes and Helen Hardy, Bill and Eleanor King with Mike '57, Bob and Franchot Long with Bob Jr. '56, Hank and Judith Murray with Alan '55, Pat and Mary Partridge with Tom '55, Bill Prescott with Bill Jr. '58 and Jack, Al and Cecille Pulsifer with Al Jr. '58, and Helen, Ken and Helen Russell with Harry '57, Dick and Wendy, Larry and Ora Scammon with Larry Jr. '56, and Nancy, Ted and Dorothy Selig with Larry '57, Frank and Evelyn Strong with Frank Jr. '56, Meek and Jeannie Slotnik with Joe '58, Margery and Amy, Al and Nama Welty with Al Jr. '56, Jay and Marion Willing with Bob '58.
Plans for the weekend were under the very able direction of Jay Willing and his committee.
Jack McQuade has returned from Africa, where he has been making a survey for the Robin Line, and recently gave a talk on that continent before a special joint meeting of the Port Chester, N. Y., Civic Club and its Woman's Auxiliary. Jack first became acquainted with Africa as an Army major during World War II.
Charlie Gibson, who for the past year has been director of manufacturing for Ely and Walker Dry Goods Co., was elected a vice president of that concern on March 7.
Jim Van Loon who has been distributor for Executone intercommunicating systems in the Tidewater area of Virginia and eastern North Carolina since his return to the United States in 1951, following his service with the Army during the war and a stint with the Veterans Administration in Puerto Rico, admits that he sometimes lets slip a "y'all." For anyone born in Brooklyn and brought up in New Jersey, the acquisition of a southern accent is quite an achievement - the atmosphere around Virginia Beach and Norfolk must be potent.
Sam Martin, one of the legal lights of Portland, Ore., in response to a plea for news of classmates in the great Northwest, writes:
"There is little to report except that last summer at this out-of-the-way place I had the pleasure of seeing five of our classmates who dropped through here on business or pleasure, mostly business. In successive order came Don McCall, who is now a permanent resident of this territory, Bill Hoge, who was on his way to Hawaii with his wife and daughter, Frell Owl, who attended two regional meetings of the Indian Service here, Howie Camph, who was supervising the erection of a building his company had sold here, and Doane Arnold, who was making one of his customary field trips. It goes without saying that I had the pleasure of meeting with all of them and indulging in a little eating or drinking or both."
Sam may be in an out-of-the-way place, but it looks as though he sees more members of the Class in a year than I manage to.
George Provost's firm, Doubleday Hill Electric Co., has solved its traffic and parking problems in a unique way, according to a recent story in the Pittsburgh Press. They built a "company street" right through their building - in the front door and out the back. The "street" is an easy means of access to and from the building. It doubles as a loading and unloading facility, also. Inside the building there is room for two big trailer-tractors, sixteen delivery trucks, or a whole bevy of pick-up trucks at one time. Outside the building, along the alley where loading and unloading once took place, things are clear. A survey once showed it was blocked for three and one half hours at a time. George says that things got so bad that they thought seriously about moving out of the downtown area, but in the face of the tremendous expense of the move they decided to try to figure out some other way to solve their problem. Their next move is going to be the installation of customers' lockers so after-hour service can be offered.
Nat Morey says that every once in a while he reads some reference to grandchildren, so he feels that he ought to get his own on record. His first grandson was born in November 1951, and his first granddaughter in June 1953- The third should be here now. They are all children of his daughter Joanne. Nat's son Chuck graduated from Culver last June, and is now attending Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich. Nat is still living in Bloomington, Ill., where he is manager of the Ralston Purina plant.
Bob Birch is living in San Gabriel, Calif., and is buyer of china, glass and gifts for the Broadway Department Stores in the Los Angeles area.
Chuck Field, who has spent the last twenty years with the Chicago Vitreous Corporation, where he is now director of purchases and traffic, lives in Westchester, a suburb of Maywood, Ill., which in itself should probably be regarded as a suburb of Chicago. Chuck says that when they moved there in 1939, the population was 360, and is now 10,000. Chuck and his wife are both active in church and civic work, and have three children - a married daughter, another daughter who is a senior in high school, and a son who is in the second grade.
According to the records of the Hanover Inn, the following men of 1927 made visits to Hanover recently: Harry Dwyer, Mr. and Mrs.Gordon Hope, and Dick Bradley Fox.
New addresses for our restless members: Joseph M. Creamer, 205 East 85th St., New York 28, N. Y.; Neal R. Dowe, 3 Scott Rd., Belmont 78, Mass.; Ernest T. Selig Jr., 252 S. Buckhout St., Irvington-on-Hudson, N. Y.; Ernest E. Field, USAF, 4314 Long Branch Ave., San Diego 7, Calif.; Reynolds Guyer, Peninsula Road, Dellwood, White Bear Lake, Minn.; Chester T. Norback, 48 Maple Road, North Haven, Conn.
There aren't too many days left before the 30th of June and the end of this year's Alumni Fund campaign. This is the year for 1927 to finally achieve 100% participation, and we can do it if all of you who are reading this will do your share. Last year we had 345 contributors, which was a gain of 32 from the year before. To reach 100% this year we need 411, which means a gain over last year of 66, just a little over double the gain we had a year ago. It certainly is possible but we need everyone's help to do it.
Have a good summer - see you again in October.
CONGRATULATIONS and a 25-year pin areawarded Doane Arnold '27, second vice president of New England Mutual Life InsuranceCo. in Boston, by O. Kelley Anderson, president.
Secretary, Pine Hill Farm, West River Rd., Perrysburg, Ohio
Class Agent, U. S. Steel Corp. 1221 Locust St., St. Louis 3, Mo.
