1927
When you read this it should be fine and balmy, well into the spring of the year. At the moment, it is anything but that, and those of you who live in the Northeastern part of the country will long remember the blizzards of March 1956. If all I read in the papers is true, a goodly number of you are doubtless still snowbound, and certainly anything but springlike, despite the fact that this is the first day of spring. Thoroughly fed up with winter, your secretary and his family are off for a two-week junket to Nassau, with the hope that on our return spring will really have come, and not just on the calendar. Since these notes are being written a couple of weeks earlier than usual, and also since what little news manages to filter through each month seems to come late, you'll have to excuse me if this column seems to be a little shorter than usual.
A note from Red Cleaveland, written on the day Dartmouth managed to trounce West Virginia in their NCAA game at Madison Square Garden, expresses the wish that he could be there, though at the time it was written he didn't know what the result would be. Red remarks that, regardless of the outcome, they would surely look like All-Americans compared to the results we could show if we were to attempt a game of touch football after lunch one of these days.
Don Kinney, who is president of the Kinney Loan and Finance Co. in Greeley, Colo., where he lives, with branches at Longmont, Colo., and Laramie, Wyo., must have the loan business pretty well tied up for that part of the country. Don has a son Bill, recently out of the Navy, and working for him at the Long-Mont branch, a married daughter living in Colorado Springs, another 15-year-old daughter at home, and a 15-month-old grandson. Don has just completed a six-year term on the school board, and says that it was a wonderful experience. He hopes to get back for the Thirtieth next year.
Bob Mix, unreported in these columns tor too long, writes a letter so full of news that I feel it is worth quoting: -
"The last time I wrote you the Mix family was just getting settled in our new home on two acres of land in Woodbridge, Conn., just six miles from New Haven. Since then we have put an addition on the house, making the old attached garage into a summer room. Have a four-foot fireplace which we use every night, as it is our only source or heat in the summer room, which we have used all winter. We love the country. It beats golf or any of the other sports that have frustrated me for years, but no more.
"A year and a half ago, young Bob went to Japan for the Air Force. After spending over a year at Itazuke Air Force Base on Kyushu, he was transferred last October to Okinawa where he has been ever since. The big event in our lives is coming up shortly, when he leaves Okinawa for home. He will have a thirty-day pass, then be assigned nearby, we hope, until May of 1957, when his four-year tour will be over. Then three more years of college, and at the magic age of 27 he will start to make, his way in the world.
"In the meantime, Betty has started her freshman year at Middlebury, which is her mother's alma mater, and is right now in the middle of her first semester exams.
"All in all, I have no grounds for complaint. It seems strange to be living in a house with no kids, but there are always home-comings to look forward to, and in the meantime, Ev and I seem to be enjoying each other in spite of the fact that our silver anniversary is coming up this year, which is as it should be. I consider myself very fortunate to have an abundance of the things that money alone can't buy."
Another very welcome communication from a classmate we haven't heard from for a long time comes from Jack Oakes. Jack is assistant secretary of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Co., and lives in Derby, N.H. He writes:
"Though I was a student at Dartmouth and a member of '27 only a short time, the old College put its stamp on me and I have been under its influence since. I have kept abreast of its activities partly through my proximity to Hanover, but chiefly through the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and the Speak, and have thus kept up with, and maintained an interest in a group known to me mostly as names only. I have kept in contact with a few whom I knew way back there, but for the most part, as to '27, I feel that I have been reading a continued story, interesting in that each installment is about familiar characters, some of whom have roamed around the earth. The saga of 1927 to date has been quite a story. Mine is the story of thirty years with the same company and of fighting up to an executive position through the ranks, acquiring a thatch of grey hair and a wrinkled brow en route. I married Dorothy Price in Detroit in 1925 and we have a son, John D., in the Air Force, a daughter Sue, 14, at St. Mary's in the Mountains at Littleton, and two other daughters Mary 11, and Roberta, 5 (could be Class Baby) (Note by Ed., she isn't) at home. Was recently hospitalized and chose Hitchcock Clinic at Hanover — still love the old school and the Hanover plains and hills."
Bill Pelton, who lives in Olean, N.Y., is president of the W.H. Mandeville Co., an insurance agency now in its 96th year, with real estate as a side line. Bill says that he's stuck pretty close to Olean except for the four years he spent in the Air Corps, and that in Olean, if you are vulnerable at all, you can sure get tied up in community affairs. Bill must be vulnerable, because he has been mixed up in scouting, first as a scoutmaster and then as a member of the Council, has just finished his term as president of the Y.M.C.A., has kept active contact with his church, including membership on various boards and the choir, has been involved in Community Chest, Kiwanis, and civic music, and has just become vice president of the Olean Savings and Loan Association. Sounds as though insurance might be a side line, as well as real estate.
Howard Risley, "Ris" to us and "Duck" to his wife, writes from Dallas, Pa.:
"For the past 29 years - some of them precarious - I've been the owner-editor of a country weekly, the Dallas Post - 'More than a newspaper ' a community institution.' They've been good years salted with- some excitement and a lot of fun. My wife Myra is the associate editor. We have been so preoccupied with the paper that we have no family, one of our great regrets. We do, however, have Gretchen, doberman; and Rogue, springer spaniel, setter, and country gentleman. For good measure, add Che Che, a capuchin monkey. None of them will ever make Dartmouth or Smith, but they are indispensable to my column Barnyard Notes. This is an invitation to all aging grandfathers to drop in on us and breeze over these hills in the Thunderbird with me. The Brynfan Tyddyn Road races and the Giants Despair Hill Climb are practically in our back yard."
Probably by the time this appears in printI will have been scooped by Les, but it's newsat the moment. Shorty Oliver, the eminentattorney from Boston, has accepted the assignment as Reunion Chairman, so the success ofour next reunion, at least so far as it is withinthe power of the committee to make any suchgathering a success, is assured. The rest is upto all of1 us, who have nothing to do but putin an appearance. Details of his committeeand plans will be forthcoming soon, eitherhere or in the Speak, most probably both.
We're now well into the Alumni lund campaign. If you haven't already sent in your contribution, do it now. This is the year for 1927 to hit 100% participation, but we can't unless you do your part.
Ridler Page, son of Norman Page '27 and varsity hockey captain at Vermont Academy, received the Danny McFayden Trophy, given annually to the hockey player who has contributed most to the team. Making the presentation is Mike Choukas Jr. '51 (r), hockey coach and son of another '27er, Prof. Michael E. Choukas.
Secretary, Pine Hill Farm, West River Rd., Perrysburg, Ohio
Class Agent, U.S. Steel Corp., Rm. 1105 71 Broadway, New York 6, N.Y.
