1923
Your secretary held the copy of 1923 Class News for March until the last possible deadline so as to include a report on the Boston Alumni banquet. This banquet is the oldest and one of the largest that is held each year by Alumni Associations throughout the country. Our Class usually has the largest attendance and as result has tables reserved directly in front of the speaker's table. This year was no exception. Nonnie Fay arranged a suite of rooms for the pre-banquet cocktail party. Irish came over from New York for the party, a business engagement in Boston being incidental. Prexy John Dickey, about to embark for a three-months' tour of Europe was in his usual rare form. This was the first time most of us had heard Dean McDonald give one of his witty talks on life as a dean. Those in attendance included Sherm Clough, Ly Harding, Phil Segal, Herb Behan, Jim Broe, Herb Veit, Bob McMillan, Herb Home, Rusty Sargent, Frank Downey, Irish Flanigan, Joe Baldwin, Bill Welch, Gardner Aiken, Nonnie Fay, Walt Friend, Johnny Read and Mort Stern.
Forthwith we are glad to bring the Class up to date on Hugh Donahue, otherwise known as Jiggs, who writes as follows from his office at 520 Commonwealth Ave., Boston:
"Rather a belated answer to your request concerning my personal career following Hanover. After finishing medical school, I spent four additional years in the hospital, two of which were at the Boston City Hospital and the last two at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary where I was a resident in ophthalmology
"Since that time I have devoted my medical career to the practice of ophthalmology and have been on the staff of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for the past 22 years. I am also the ophthalmologistin-chief at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton and at the Boston Sanitorium division of the Boston City Hospital. I have conducted my private practice at 520 Commonwealth Ave., since 1932 and have written several monographs during the past twenty years which have been published in the medical journals devoted to my specialty.
"I was married in 1936 and have two children and am living at 45 Colbert Road, West Newton. I have devoted the major part of my life to the practice of my specialty, but in conjunction with this have traveled over the greater part of this country and parts of Europe and South America attending medical conventions and giving papers at some of them. These conventions have often occurred at times which coincided with reunions at Hanover.
"Although I do not see many of the fellows from Dartmouth during the course of my everyday existence, Dr. David Cogan and Dr. John Coyle are Dartmouth men of my generation associated with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary."
At long last the secretary has a report from Ken Blake of Springfield, Mass., who does his best to get us caught up on what he has been up to the past twenty years. Ken married Emma C. Curtis from Newport, Vt., in 1924 and they have had five children. A son and daughter are still in college - another son is completing his tour of duty in the Army. Ken is a dry goods salesman, sees no prospect of getting rich, but "has always made a good living."
In the October MAGAZINE we included a picture of Joe Lombardi and an announcement of his recent legal affiliation. Further information arrived subsequently. It seems Joe has been in the real estate business in New York City for over thirty years, specializing mainly in sale and mortgaging of properties. Joe is married and has a son Bart '52 and Thayer School '54, who is now in the Army, in Arizona; and a daughter Carol Ann about to be 14 years old. Carol plans to go to Wellesley in four years.
Last summer a news item came in concerning the merger of Irish Flanigan's firm with Frank B. Hall & Company. A letter was immediately dispatched to Irish for further particulars. Very modestly, this request was overlooked by our Irishman but Ernie Earley, very efficient and capable secretary of 1918, sent in a copy of The Eastern Underwriter, from which we quote:
Frank B. Hall & Co., Inc., 67 Wall Street, New York City, prominent insurance brokerage and average adjusting firm, and McGinness, Johnston & Flanigan, 79 John Street, announce that on August 1 the general insurance business of the latter firm will be carried on in the name of Frank B. Hall & Co. at 67 Wall Street. Robert X. McGinness and Sidney J. Flanigan, Dartmouth '23, have been elected vice presidents and B. Lytton Johnston, Dartmouth '29, a director of Frank B. Hall & Co., Inc.
The partnership of McGinness, Johnston and Flanigan was formed in 1938. Mr. Flanigan began his career in insurance in 1925, Mr. McGinness in 1928 and Mr. Johnston in 1933.
Frank B. Hall & Co., Inc., is one of New York's older and larger insurance brokerage companies. Although incorporated in 1893, it was consolidated in 1912 with Henry Stewart & Son whose history goes back to 1862, when the firm of Moody, Mann & Stewart was formed.
As of August first the company had about 130 employees. Its annual gross income is reported to be in excess of $1,500,000 and its business comes from almost everywhere outside of the Iron Curtain.
If any member of 1923 has any news about an '18 man, please communicate with Ernest H. Earley, 74 Trinity Place, New York City 6. Thus, we will repay Ernie for some of his many news items concerning 1923.
Some months ago the following letter arrived from a classmate of ours, Eugene GayTifft, Chateau Gai, Lakeview, N.Y., whom we have not heard from in twenty years. In his letter he mentions seeing another classmate whom we've never heard from. For these several months I hesitated to print this letter in this column. Finally decided to, so here goes:
"It was nice hearing from you on my birthday, July 22. It was especially heart-warming that you took the trouble to write a personal note at the foot of your form letter. But most grateful of all I am to you for not using the occasion to work in a few words on the subject of the Alumni Fund - just about the only thing I ever hear about from all the gay lads I graduated with back in 1923.
"In spite of the deluge of variously worded publicity which has come flooding in to me over the years, I have never been tempted to add anything either to the Fund or to the spirit of pseudo-professional gaiety surrounding its perpetual promotion. In fact, I have always rather enjoyed my capacity to resist the tomtoms of class and college and to pull the window shade on the sweaty, tribal contortions of my classmates.
"The fact that at this late date I turn my back, not again upon my obligation, but this time upon an ancient prejudice of mine and append hereto my very first contribution to the Fund pays tribute to the unaffected brotherliness of your recent note. I may say, too, that I think our class now has an extremely urbane secretary.
"Of my fellow July 22 "quadruplets' you mention in your note, I clearly recall only Vin Baldwin. Unfortunately, Warren Cook and Jules Rippel are only familiar names to me. But to all three my very best wishes go forth with this letter.
"As I am in contact with no Dartmouth men, I have no 'news' to send your way. The last one I saw and exchanged words with was Ford Turgeon. He was in a barber chair and was having his hair cut — and there was still plenty of hair to cut. We spoke of a noble fellow who graduated from Dartmouth in 1923 - Mel Harold, who died in 1927, on the verge of a career in advertising. Mel was my best friend and a Dartmouth man I'll never forget."
One of our best contributors over the pastyear has been Babe Miner. Perhaps it wouldbe appropriate at this time to insert the following letter from Len Truesdell, which letterha's a lot to say about this same Dr. Ted Miner.We quote:
"I think the Class might be interested in knowing what an excellent surgeon, to put it very mildly, our Dr. Ted Miner '23, is. He is terrific in every way.
"This spring, my heart started acting up inexplicably at times, and so when I was waiting to be entered at the Springfield Hospital the first time, who walked by me but Ted. During the eleven days of observation and X-rays there, Ted kept me cheered up with a visit now and then. Finally, it developed that I had a gall bladder that had to be yanked out, which presumably had affected the heart muscles temporarily. Naturally, Ted was the man for the job, which I guess was none too easy with a couple of large stones, etc. Anyway, the results were 100% and verified the fine reputation he has as a leading surgeon in this area."
We were more than glad to get a letter last summer from Paul (Hutch or Fat) A. Hutchins which contains the following information: Paul is in the hotel business in Wiscasset, Maine, for five or six months in the summer and in Florida for the winter. In Wiscasset he is the manager-owner of Quinnan Guest House. We do not know where in Florida he is located in the winter. Death claimed his first wife and his second marriage ended in divorce. Hutch has a son 10 years old who is headed for Dartmouth. He regrets his business prevents his attendance at our reunions, but hopes from now on to be a better '23er.
Last fall we received a very interesting letter from Phil (Tubby) Jellison. Certain paragraphs of this letter will be very interesting to the Class.
"I damn near fell off my chair when your birthday letter came. Probably you have been getting that reaction from others on birthdays. Am a little delayed replying, but appreciate it none the less.
"The cattleboat days are in my mind, too. My younger daughter is arriving tomorrow from a year at the University of Brussels. She had one of the Fulbright scholarships, after graduating from Syracuse. Her schoolwork (?) ended about July first and she has been roaming around Europe since. I showed her all of my pictures before she left, and will be most anxious to find out if the old place has changed. Jane is going back to Syracuse to teach a few courses and study a few.
"My other girl, Barbara, is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with her Army husband. She took art at Pratt Institute draft came along.
"After being divorced in 1951 I married again two years ago and live at 31 Smith St., Glen Head, N.Y. My wife has two children of school age so I shall be going through some things a second time.
"Went through Hanover and stopped for lunch a couple of years ago, but haven't made any of the class functions for some years. Bill Blake usually calls up when he is in the city, so I get news of Clark and some of the others.
"As you can see from the letterhead, I am still peddling milk powder at the old stand, the Borden Food Products Company."
Last spring Ed Grevett reversed the normalprocedure of birthday letters and sent one tothe secretary. This was very much appreciatedand also the news the letter contained, whichshould have been printed in these columnsmonths ago:
"Charlie Rivoire has been elected to the Glen Ridge Board of Education, as the enclosed clipping indicates. He was nominated by Glen Ridge Civic Conference Committee for a post on this borough board. Nominations made by this group on a non-partisan basis are tantamount to election. BobWhittinghill, also of Glen Ridge, has a new job with an insurance company in downtown New York that has to do with 're-insurance,' whatever that is.
"As for myself, I am still practicing dentistry, and enjoying every minute of it. My work on the State Board of Dental Examiners takes a lot of my time but is a most rewarding experience."
Few letters that have come to me since I started writing birthday notes have pleased me more than the one I am quoting from which arrived last spring from Ros Jorgenson on the stationery of the Haydenville Savings Bank, Haydenville, Mass., Roswell S. Jorgenson, Executive Vice President.
"Thank you for your birthday greetings. I don't get around very much and it certainly seemed good to hear from you. I haven't been to Hanover for years, but last summer we were at Lake Sunapee for a week and drove over one day. Wheeler Hall was locked, but I hoisted my little girl - 9 - on the ledge of the window to the room on the ground floor and told her that in a direct line overhead on the third floor were located my quarters for four years at Dartmouth.
"Hanover doesn't seem much like it did when we were there. It is no longer a country village.
"Your letter developed an interesting point in nicknames. In the salutation you first used 'Ros,' which you corrected to 'Steve.' As a matter of fact, the only place I was ever called Steve was at Dartmouth. Around here, it has always been Ros. That demonstrates how accurate your intuition was."
Add Don Russell's name to the long list of '23 men who have been deeply engrossed for some years now in educating his children. Daughter Barbara is a graduate of Wellesley. Son Don Jr. graduated from Bowdoin in three and one half years and is now an electronics officer on a destroyer. Son Phil is now a senior at Bowdoin. Don is proud of his three children and he certainly has a right to be. Don's address is still 1304 Bishop Road, Grosse Pointe Park 30, Mich.
There is a saying "Once a Yankee, always a Yankee." Al Hovey is the latest one to confirm this ancient adage. He writes that he is with Olin-Mathieson Chemical Corporation, 275 Winchester Ave., New Haven, Conn. His letter states he is living temporarily in Hamden, Conn., which town is fathered by Ted Shapleigh and Ed Lyle. We trust wife Bess has by now succeeded in shaking herself loose of all entanglements in Minnesota and is now domiciled near New Haven.
Together at the San Francisco enrollment conference last fall were (l to r) '23ers Tom Burch, Jim Landauer and Paul McKown.
Secretary, 170 Washington St., Haverhill, Mass.
Treasurer, Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. Whitman, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
