1937
The house is snug and warm. Outside the skies are clear and cold as the thermometer hovers around 15°. The wind moans faintly around the back door. The lights are on brightly, the coffee has just started to perk. The kitchen table has been set with pad, pencil, Aegis, Class Directory and a smallish pile of letters and notes from you and about you. And so, having thus conjured up the mood, there remains nothing but to start writing. ...
I suppose an order of business should best be got out of the way first. Having sent in my pledge to the Memorial Fund and made a first payment the first of the year, I can speak of this matter with a clearer conscience than formerly. You will have noted from Fran Fenn's letter of December 12 that he has enlisted the willing services of four cochairmen to assist him in the big job that lies ahead between now and 1962. The volunteers are Gus Farwell (East); Fred Asher (West); Pat Uhlmann (South); and Chick Koop (medical profession). We know these men will do an excellent job, but we can be of invaluable service to their patience and willingness by getting pledges in now. The pledge card is not really such a formidable document. Perhaps, through usage and association of ideas, a certain distastefulness quite wrongly attaches to it. You know, it makes you think of burdensome thoughts like swearing off liquor for a year, for example. Actually, our Memorial Fund "pledge" is simply an expression of what we believe we can reasonably contribute, and in a manner most convenient to our circumstances between now and 1962. That all sounds twice as complicated as the way Fran said it, but that's the idea expressed the hard way. Now, you make it easy again for Fran and his men.
I had a Christmas card from the Whitakers, Hank and Sue, who are in Barre, Vt. Hank admits to owing me a note for some time. I suppose that the urgent good tidings on his card had a lot to do with his getting a note off at this time. "Sue and I have a new baby boy born November 27 (seven and a half lbs. - John Henry) making it two girls and one possible Dartmouth entry (Class of '77? - Good Lord, our 40th reunion year!)" Hank, we wish John Henry and all of you well.
Dr. Collie MacCarty sent me a very newsy note which I was most happy to receive. In my book, any letter which mentions your own affairs as well as a line or two about five or six other men is newsworthy in the extreme. Hence an A for Collie, who starts ofT by saying that they had a visit of a week or so at the Mayo Clinic from Rog Cheney, who was there both as patient and visiting neuro-surgeon. Dr. John Milne and Collie's brother, Dumps, were also at the Clinic early in December, thus maintaining Hanover contacts with Mayo. Collie also advises that he understands Dr. John Schilling is now professor of surgery at the University of Oklahoma, a fine achievement for a Classmate of ours. In the same vein, Dr. Chick Koop is surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital, Philadelphia. Collie mentions that, and I do not recall whether I have made reference to it in the past or not, since my indexing system is largely in the head. In any event, it deserves being said twice. Incidentally, Collie is certain that a mere visit to the Clinic would be of considerable interest to any who might have the opportunity. Should you be in the vicinity of Rochester, Minn., I can heartily endorse two '35'ers as tutors, Put Kingsbury and Bill Harwick, both of whom are high up in things administrative at Mayo.
Marriages always make news, and '37'ers still get married. Two did recently, and so by embracing the cause of the benedicts made news. December 15, in Greensboro, N. C., Miss Elizabeth Anne Russell was married to Dr. Allan Coggeshall. Jon Coggeshall, a fellow parishioner of mine, served as best man at his brother's wedding. Jon, incidentally, in reporting to me says, "...am just back from North Carolina and the ordeal of southern hospitality " Allan is a surgeon (Gad, the surgeons are usurping all the news in the column!) on the staffs of three Greensboro hospitals.
At about the same lime I learned from an old Pittsfield (Mass.) friend, the Berkshire Eagle, that Dr. Bob Finkeistein and Miss Norma Gilbarg were married in Santa Barbara on November 23. Bob and his wife will live in Santa Monica. He is professor of Physics at U.C.L.A. and his bride has been a mathematical statistician at the Hughes Rocket Plant in Los Angeles. Bob took his Ph.D. at Harvard after leaving Dartmouth.
Christmas brought a cheery greeting from Rog Barney. "I finally quit Hanover and came home on October 13. All has been going very well since. I walk only for a few minutes each day, have physical therapy three times a week at Concord Hospital, gel out for occasional expeditions and to church every Sunday. Helped in two services on the and and expect to preach next week." Wonderful news from that front for those of us who have had contact with Rog during his long struggle with polio.
Fal Falion dropped me a welcomed line late in December telling me of the latest happenings in his family. About a year and a half ago the Falion Five left Wilton, Conn., at the behest of Johns-Manville which had transferred Falion to Chicago as Comptroller of their Dutch Brand Division. Presently the Falions are living in Highland Park, where Fred Asher is a neighbor. Falion says the family is no larger — only older, with Wendy a typical teen of thirteen; Peter an excellent athlete age nine and Sara, who is three, just beginning to grow up.
From South Portland, Me., came a report from Jim Otis, from whom we had not had word recently. Jim says that byway of excitement in his life he was elected to the Board of Education for a three-year term beginning in 1957. I gather that this victory was gained over somewhat strenuous opposition, but I can't tell from Jim's letter whether school taxes will go up or down in South Portland. Among other items, Jim reports Helen and his two children, Jimmy and Kathy, all well. Other than having completed ten years with McCregor Sportswear, enlarging their home, and planning a summer camping tour around New England, Jim reports there is no further news.
And in closing, I pass along a couple of items of marginalia. ... Bud Butterworth, I note from the Concord, N. H., press, helped celebrate the Concord public library's 100th anniversary with a talk. Bud, as you will recall, is the author of the new children's book, "The Enormous Egg." He is currently teaching English at Hartford College for Women and living in West Hartford with wife, three sons, and daughter. Charlie Blaisdell tells me that for the past year he has been acting as attorney for the town of Pound Ridge, N. Y. Like so many of the towns in New York City's exurbia, Pound Ridge is growing rapidly and thus it is that Charlie is the first full time attorney the town has ever employed. Had a nice chat with Mort Berkowitz and found him in excellent spirits. Mort, in his capacity of Ad Director of "Woman's Home Companion," was naturally a casualty with the unfortunate suspension of publication activities on the part of Crowell-Collier. However, being a young man of talent and reputation in his field, Mort was quickly taken on by 8.8.D.& 0. as of the first of the year.
As a finale, a late flash on Bill Leonard. His secretary says he is home and recuperating nicely from his recent heart attack.
Secretary, 869 Hardscrabble Rd., Chappaqua, N. Y.
Treasurer, 17 High Street, Greenfield, Mass.
