1905
Of events of interest to our class, undoubtedly our July reunion afforded the greatest pleasure to the largest number. While Sliver Hatch has covered this happy affair quite adequately and interestingly in his August "Reporter," for the sake of the record and on the chance that some of you may have missed his account, I am including a brief statement. Fifty of us men and women and a few youngsters enjoyed the delight of having the Hanover Inn and its pleasant accommodations pretty largely to ourselves.
There were no speeches, as Sliver states, but Marion Tuck gave us an interesting account of her telephone conversation with her son Jack at Little America, in the Antarctic. The Norwich Fair always adds an unusual note for some of us. To your scribe, the most striking attraction is the sight of so many yokes of oxen, in this day of motor-driven machines. These oxen ranged from tottering weeks-old little ones to massive beasts capable of exerting astonishing strength in the stonepulling contests.
At the dinner Friday evening, each of the class officers was able to report fine success in his own field; notably so, Gib Fall as treasurer and Sliver Hatch as class agent. The list of those attending the reunion follows: Stanley Besse, Charles and Jessie Brooks, Roger Brown, Carol and Clara Campbell, Fred Chase, Bill and Bertha Clough, Walter and Ethel Conley, Solon Cornish with daughter Victoria Cornish Snowden and her son Victor, Walter Emery, Ned Estes with sister Mrs. Etta Oliver, Gilbert and Florence Fall, "Elsie" and Marion Grover, Fletcher and Alva Hatch, George Hersam with Mrs. Marion Foye, C. C. and Isabel Hills, Huston and Ethel Lillard with Ethel's sister Mrs. Fanny Hazen Ames, Halsey Loder with Miss Margaret Kenyon, Andrew and Beatrice MacMillan, Frank McCabe, Royal and Ida Parkinson, George and Mildred Putnam, Anne Reid, Ed and May Richardson, Allen and Margaret Smith, Dick and Mabel Tolman, John and Marion Tuck, Ernest and Hilda White. Telegrams were received from Edgar Gilbert and Raymond Root, expressing their regret that a business engagement and illness kept them away.
These notes must cover a considerable stretch of time, since the previous column had to be prepared by May 1. At the class officers' meeting May 4-5 in Hanover, your secretary was the only representative of '05. Sliver Hatch had been prevented from attending by the arrival of his son and family from a distance. These meetings, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and complete optimism, are always inspiring. An innovation this year was the inviting of the wives to attend the general officers' meeting — a privilege I know my wife, for one, appreciated and enjoyed. Lacking the company of men of his own class, your secretary found compensation in pleasant fellowship with Chapin, Redman and Russell of '06.
Still back in the month of May, the nineclass dinner in Boston on the 18th was apparently a very enjoyable affair, with an interesting presentation of the plans for the Hopkins Center by Tom O'Connell '50 and group singing led by Harry McDevitt '07 and Clary Howes '03. Present from '05: Roger Brown, Hatch with son Fletcher Jr., Hersam, Keady, Loder, Parkinson, Allen Smith, Weston, White.
It is regrettable but inevitable that, in coming to more recent news, dark shadows must fall. Bill Blatner's wife Betty died Sunday, August 12, at their home in Geneva, Ill. Nee Besse H. Manchester, she was a direct descendant of Richard Warren, a Pilgrim who settled in Plymouth in 1620. As a girl, Betty had spent many summers at Padanarum, Mass., on Buzzards Bay, and it is there in the quaint old burying ground that she has been laid to rest. She will be missed at our reunions, where she is remembered for her attractive, pleasant personality. We individually and as a class extend our deep felt sympathy to Bill in his sad loss.
The class will be grieved to know that Gib Fall has been forced by serious illness to resign as treasurer of '05. As I write this, he is confined to the hospital in Hyannis, Mass. We pray for his prompt recovery.
The class will be further saddened to know that Henry Thrall has been completely helpless for some time as a result of another stroke. Our hearts go out to these stricken men and their brave wives in such dark hours.
I am glad to report a brighter and happier event. Roger Brown was married on July 28 to Mrs. Eliza Jane Richards in the Unitarian Church in Medford, Mass. Our warm felicitations and best wishes to this couple. We welcome Mrs. Brown to our '05 fellowship.
Some months ago Shirley Cunningham was put on the Board of Managers of the New Mexico Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He had joined the Empire State Society many years ago.
Word has just come from Walt and Ethel Conley, who are enjoying a most interesting trip to Peru.
Note the following changes of address: John T. Keady, 41 Manchester St., Nashua, N. H.; Chester P. Smith, 245 Tettemer Ave, Trenton 10, N. J.; Carl G. Preis, Jacarlene Farms, P. O. Box 359, Seffner, Fla.; Frank EBeckley, 89 Clinton Ave., Montclair, N. J.
At his 50th Reunion last June, Herbert W. Rainie '06 of Concord, N. H., was photographed with Mrs. Rainie; his two sons Robert '41 (left) and Don '40, class treasurer and Alumni Council member; their wives Dora and Ruby; and seven Rainie grandchildren.
Secretary, 358 North Fullerton Ave., Upper Montclair, N. J.
Treasurer, Box 13, Somerville, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
