1920
Notice to Twenties in New York City and its environs - plus those planning to get there sometime in April: Save the evening of Thursday, April 19! That's the date set for the last pre-reunion class dinner in the New York area. Wendell P. (Sig) Sigler is taking the matter in hand, appointing assistants for phone-call reminders, and making admirably early preparations for this function at Dartmouth headquarters in New York, 37 East 39th St. Whether you're outside or inside the metropolitan circle, if you see a good chance of getting to the dinner, drop a line to Jim McKeon at the Club or to Sig himself at his Magnesium Co. of America new address, 630 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. Any visitors from Boston, taking the day off to celebrate Paul Revere's Ride, please note with special care.
Perhaps in wise preparation for extra-curricular activity, Sig and his good wile took a grand month off last November, putting up at a delightfully exclusive establishment maintained by his company in Coral Cables, Fla. Other news of the Siglers: Thanks to their three children, they are now the proud grandparents of nine, some of whom are located in Spain where their father is an operative for the U. S. Air Force. Sig and Kel Smith of Cleveland, who is an enthusiastic worker for the Republican party, paid their respects to ShermAdams recently arid talked over certain aspects of the political situation.
As these notes are being written, just a few days ahead of momentous decisions awaited by the country, there is no indication whatever that Sherm is getting ready to clear out his White House desk. Any Twenties resident in the Fiji Islands may have missed the fact that Our Boy was the subject of the Time Magazine cover story for January 9. It still be news to other 'classmates that a full-sized, relaxed, full-colored portrait of Sherm adorned the front page of the Boston Sunday Herald Rotogravure Section on January 15. This was a real good one, done up in proper Fabian Bachrach style. That same month Sherm made the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune by advising a Walnut Creek schoolgirl how she could find out whether any member of her sex may ever be President; was the featured speaker at Hartford's (Conn.) "Salute to Eisenhower" dinner on January 20 ("Mine has been a rare privilege. To work in daily contact with the President is to know the man and to understand the significance of his work."); even drew a grudging" but almost friendly word from New York Daily News columnist John O'Donnell, who thus recounted Sherm's reception of a funny story at a Washington gathering: "When the merry blockbuster was dropped before several hundred guests in the Statler, New Hampshire's Old Frozen Face — Assistant to the President Sherman Adams — cracked into a grin which reminded us old New Engenders of the spring thaw in the upper reaches of the Merrimac." (Your correspondent, picayunely, would expect any "old New Englander" to know how to spell Merrimack.)
Wonder if Sherm could be persuaded to repair some New York fences on the occasion of the class dinner, April 19. In any event, cross-country hopper Gerry Stone agrees to complete his spring travel by that date, so that he can attend the dinner. Gerry became a grandfather for the first time in December and has been looking notably jaunty ever since. Another classmate who should be fired up by the slogan, "On to the Class Dinner!" is Theron Millspaugh, too long hidden away in the primeval wilderness of Walden, N. Y. Looking well past the dinner date, Hal Bidwell is one who has added his name to the "sure thing" list for reunion. New "hope to's" or "will try's" include Frank Mayer of Chicago, Dean Travis of Summit, N. J., Shorty Stickney of New York, and Tom Dudley of Concord, N. H.
John (Fred) (Busch) Buschmann ought to be a cinch for reunion. Living conveniently close to Hanover (in Westfield, Mass.) Busch has the added incentive of a growing attachment to Kimball Union Academy, fifteen miles south of the Hanover Plain, where his son is in attendance. Writing of the rough time his section of New England went through during last year's late summer floods, Busch felt that he got off easily: "Flooded cellar, ruined oil burner was our only damage. But we were quite inconvenienced in travel. Summers we spend in Otis. And to get twenty miles, to Westfield, we were compelled to detour for 65 miles."
Speaking of travel, we hasten to report a few of the fine and fancy brands which, as usual, feature Twenty's winter season. CharlieMills, late in January, was looking forward to a month in Florida and was hoping for an en route stop in Virginia to check up on his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. Spence and Mary Snedecor, perennially a prey to wanderlust, were reportedly vacationing in Saudi Arabia or some other tinder-box. They had to find out what was going on in the more remote recesses of the Near East. Norm andDoris Richardson favored the secretary with a postcard which gave him his first honest-to-God idea of what Singapore looks like:
"We are just about half way around the world. We held a 1920 dinner today, and while no other Twenties were present, we had good support from Michigan and Ohio State. Traveling on the S.S.President Monroe, we have had very interesting visits in Japan, Hong Kong and Manila. From here we go to Bangkok, Ceylon, India and home, via Egypt and Italy. See you at reunion."
The secretarial spring travel is about to start (see next month's notes), but a preliminary workout included four icy days of convention at Atlantic City. Art Pierce, Hanover's school superintendent, was properly in evidence there. He has had a New York firm surveying the Hanover situation, following the failure of a bond issue in the spring of '55; and the alternative proposals now resulting, fully discussed at public meetings, seem to improve the chances of resolving the local problem. There is no doubt whatever that enlarged facilities of some sort are imperative.
Dolly Elliott, Roc's widow, spent the Christmas season with her daughter in Cleveland; then courageously returned to the home in South Duxbuxy, Mass., that she and Roc had bought a few years back when they were beginning to look forward to the prospect of retirement. Rog Pope, before his own relatively modest outing of two weeks in Florida, stopped by for a call on Dolly and reported that she was "doing fine."
One of the North Country papers features a likeness of Al Frey, who is designated in the accompanying news story as chairman of the fund raising committee of the Community Ambassador Project. Turns out that this is a worthy scheme for sending a Hanoverian to a foreign country next summer, under the auspices of a dozen or so of the local church and civic organizations.
If you missed the item among the MAGAZINE'S book reviews for February, be it known that the Bisbee Press of Lancaster, N. H., has published What's in a Name by CharlesL. Youmans, discussing "American surnames where they came from, how and why they were changed, and what they mean."
Janet, daughter of Richard Seward '19, was named UCLA Homecoming Queen in Los Angeles. She is receiving the Queen's crown from R. B. Allen, University Chancellor.
Secretary, Blind Brook Lodge, Rye 17, N. Y.
Class Agent, Consolidated Paper Co., Monroe, Mich.
