1931
More About Reunion
For the past year, we have been referring to the long-anticipated and about-to-be-realized hegira to Hanover as the BIG 25TH. This has been an easy-to-anticipate title ... but it's now well on the way to becoming the real thing.
In the first place, we already have a hundred-plus classmates firmly; registered for the Reunion. Judging from past experience, this means we ought to have somewhere close to 175-200 returnees. Most are bringing either their entire family or a substantial portion of it. Tuck Drive should be a sight to behold between June 14 and June 17!
Jim Godfrey, recently returned from a West Indies wing-ding, and throbbing with energy and enthusiasm, is whipping his Committee into a fine frenzy of fevered fervor.
One of the most interesting developments seems to be the full program for the youngsters under the practiced and guiding hand of EdBrummer. Naturally, everyone of us who will be bringing offspring to the Reunion wants to make sure that the small-fry and juniors will have a rip-roaring good time while the oldsters are trying to prove that they are still youngsters. The program now being worked on allows for all kinds of organized athletic activities, including a sports tournament, with prizes for all ages. There will be a recordhop in the tent, a specially organized program of swimming, boating, etc., at Interlaken during the picnic; and a special picnic lunch down around the Gymn while all of us are attending the alumni lunch. There will be a special movie at the Nugget, round and square dancing all over the place, and a special feed at the Ledyard Canoe Club. As promised, too, the babes-in-arms (meaning those who are too young to be any place else, and not old enough to be there intentionally) will be baby-sat and entertained while Mom and Pop are cavorting. Therefore, any of you who might well be reluctant to come back to reunion because of any imagined problem with the youngsters, just forget it. There will be no problem - as a matter of fact, if that has been your only excuse for not coming back, you no longer have an excuse.
Another reminder ... if you haven't already sent in your picture and the biographical data for the Book, please do so without another minute's delay. We know it's an inconvenience to sit down and get these things done, but you will regret it for a long, long time if you're not properly represented in the 25-Year Book. We have on hand all the comments from those who want certain special placements in the dorms. We will do our level best to see to it that each of these requests is fulfilled ... no guarantee, you understand, but we'll try. One of the toughest requests to fill is going to be the one which said, "We want to be in the middle of things, where everything is going on, but we don't want it to be noisy." That will be arranged by allotting a first-floor corner room and issuing ear muffs and sleeping pills.
THIS IS IMPORTANT...Charlie McAllister and Rill Steck are in the process of batting their brains out for the combined Fund. The response so far has been only pretty good. There is no need to go into the full song and dance about the importance of the Alumni Fund and the Memorial Fund. Each one of them is fully explained by its title. The Alumni Fund obviously is your fund. It doesn't exist without you. Its urgency cannot be overemphasized, nor can its importance be exaggerated. If you can't participate to the extent that you would like to participate, and are, therefore, reluctant to participate at all, then please just think for a minute of the simple fact that nobody no matter how big his contribution may be, ever fully expresses himself. There are some debts that can never be repaid in full...this, obviously, is one. The Memorial Fund isn't a disembodied thing intended to produce a certain amount of money for a specific event. It's a many-splendored thing ... because it's a memorial. It's in memory of what? It's in memory of those four years at Dartmouth...the generations that preceded those four years and the generations that have followed those tour years. It's a Fund intended to perpetuate a memory and to make it possible for the College to provide the substantial facts of today which will become the glorious memories of tomorrow. It's a memorial to something which is, in itself, a memorial: Dartmouth College. How does anybody place a value on such things. Impossible! Where else can a man find such immortality while he is still around to enjoy it? This all wraps up in one plain fact: If you find it hard to give till it hurts, then give just a little bit more till it feels good. June 16 is the last day for you to stand up and be counted among those who want to be an expressive part of '31's greatest effort.
By the time this column is in print, you will have received many more communications about the Fund and about Reunion. You will already know which ones of your long-time friends, class associates, and casual classmates will be on campus with you for Reunion. There will still be some among you who are still undecided. My fondest hope is that something in this printed pillar will provide that last ounce of push that will turn you toward Hanover in June. Till then, just be '31... that's good enough for anybody.
Trustee Thomas B. Curtis '32, U.S. Representative from Missouri, addressed alumni and prospective students at a dinner meeting given by the Dartmouth Club of St. Louis in December.Shown with him are Edwin J. Spiegel Jr. '42 (1), Club president, and William S. Emerson 34.
Secretary, Lambert & Feasley, Inc. 430 Park Ave., New York 22, N.Y.
Class Agent, 1250 Terminal Tower Bldg., Cleveland, O.
