1931

This is the last time we'll be in touch via this pithy pillar before we join the Quarter-Century Club. (Im-poss-a-bul!) As this is being written, most of you have already decided whether or not you're going to be at Reunion. Certainly, by the time this reaches you, it will be too late for any last words of persuasion about joining the gang for the Big 25th. So be it... if you're not going to be there, that's that. Probably I'm an old softy, but it gives me a kind of chilly feeling to realize that I may never again have a chance to see and shake hands with some of you. Sure, that's the way life is; but, just because it's unavoidable doesn't mean I have to like it. Those memories of '27 to '31 are registered high among my most prized possessions; but certain ones of them will gather dust and fade through disuse, while others will take on a new and bright luster because I will have an opportunity at Reunion to talk once more with those around whom the memories are woven.

Undoubtedly it's too late, as you are reading this, to plead with you to jump on your horse and get to Hanover. But this is as good a time as any to get in a word or two about the meaning of it all. Just what is the 25th Reunion? Naturally, each of us will contrive his own definition. The dictionary says a reunion is "a gathering of persons after separation"; but, like most dictionary definitions, that's only the skeleton of the true meaning. To that skeleton must be added the flesh and blood which is your togetherness as the Class of '31; and the soul, which is the spirit of Dartmouth. The 25th Reunion is simply four days set apart for all of us, individually and collectively, to have fun and to summarize and synthesize the accumulated thoughts, intentions, aspirations, recollections, accomplishments, and blessings of the ten and a half thousand days that have clicked off since first we met. The Reunion is a time for get-to-getherness, a time for attempting to re-live physical events that have too long existed only mentally. (Anybody for a double entendre?) It's a time for being younger than you have been because you have become older than you are. The 25th Reunion is our Silver Anniversary; and it suddenly strikes me that much of its significance was recently expressed by neighbors of mine who, on their Silver Anniversary, stood before the altar again and repeated the marriage vows. They were not a whit more married, in the legal sense, after repeating these vows than they had been for the 25 years preceding. But, you should have seen the look in their eyes when they walked back down the aisle. They were wholly different people because they suddenly knew that some of those earlier-voiced promises and intentions had become taken-for-granted and had lost their impact and inspiration. Sure - the 25th Reunion is for conviviality, and over-doing, and glad-handing and roistering and reuniting ... but it's also a time for rededication and repeating those "vows" that first brought us together and joined us to Dartmouth.

This meaning of Reunion will be expressed in many ways, but one deeply significant way is singularly available to each one of us: the Memorial Fund (or, as it applies to our class specifically, the Combined Fund). The closing date for the Fund is June 30, 50 there's still plenty of time to do something about it. This isn't a time for embarrassment because of any inability to make a king-sized donation. This is the time for everyone to stand up and be counted. This is a time for pride in being offered the opportunity to share in Dartmouth's future. The Memorial Fund is money, yes; but, equally, it's a mood, a meaning. The physical and financial act of joining with your classmates in the Memorial Fund is your chance to add one more cubit to your stature ... your chance to take advantage of an opportunity to share in a future greater than any individual's future ... your chance to make sure that nothing is left to chance insofar as Dartmouth is concerned.

That - and so much more - is the meaning of the Big 25th. It'll be good to be '31 again.

Recently promoted to national manager ofKraft Sales & Service, General Tire & RubberCo., Herbert E. Pike '32 was previously director of sales training.

Secretary, Lambert & Feasley, Inc. 430 Park Ave., New York 22, N. Y.

Class Agent, 1250 Terminal Tower Bldg., Cleveland, O.