1937
This period in our climatic cycle - early February, when this was written - is that lowest point in the year, the dead of winter. I must say it has a depressing effect on one's spirits. I am not cheered by thoughts of Carnival in other places - Hanover, New Orleans, and Rio. I am certain the groundhog saw his shadow the other day and we shall have at least six weeks more of this dreary business. Carl Ray and I slumped off the train Friday night into six inches of new snow and hoped we would make it home from the station. (I got within 200 yards before the hill and the snow stalled me.) And now - Sunday — it has started to rain. Aye, lads, this is the time of year when only fellows like Gail Compton in Miami, Sloggett in Honolulu, Bud Cooper in Phoenix and Briggs Austin in Los Angeles can shrug at weather woes.
And speaking of Briggs Austin I have news of him at long last. Early in the year Eric Rafter, now an attorney in Hermosa Beach, Calif., dropped me a New Year's greeting in which he thoughtfully enclosed the Austin's Christmas card, reproduced in this section. I thought it such an astonishingly happy scene that I wrote Briggs for more details and identification. I am indebted to wife Alice for the sprightly biographical details which came as an attachment, to Briggs' note. Our hero, the young breadwinner of this attractive manage, is the office manager of Eastman Kodak's Pacific southern sales division. Alice, the beautiful heroine, is obviously the mainspring which furnishes the power to keep the family group operating at peak efficiency and still has enough left over for community activity, like PTA. Then there is the raison d'etre of the group itself, four children in which to take more than pardonable pride: Mike, 13, in junior high and a radio bug; Brian 11, an avid stamp collector and that rarity who practices piano without being told; Ellen 9, among other things a cellist and student of ballet; and not the least, Dennis, 6, an uninhibited 1st grader who has still to submit to some of the disciplines catalogued above. In any event, I gather he has not been tagged with that obvious handle, the Menace, which is a great credit since it must be an easy temptation to his mates. When this gang operates as one it takes off on skiing junkets, walking and camping trips in the Sierras, going to the beach and backyard ping-pong competitions. Sounds like fun. More power to you, Austins.
Grant Crane sent me tidings of himself in response to the gentlest of nudges. He is still engaged, as he has been for sometime, as a research chemist for Firestone in the synthetic rubber division at Akron. Normally this keeps him close to the lab, although last summer it took him to Europe for six enjoyable weeks. Grant reports he has been no closer to Hanover since graduation than a Northeast flight 10,000 feet over the campus, and then the undercast obscured everything. I should say Grant sounds like a likely candidate for our 20th in 1958.
I dropped a note to Lem Bowen recently and again the nudge paid off. Lem says his Dartmouth contacts are largely confined to the annual ones he establishes as one of Rowley Bialla's stalwart agents. I might add that this effort does not go unappreciated and puts Lem in a select group of class workers. He ran into Ernie Kern New Year's Day and felt even older than the celebration of the eve before would have normally made him feel when Ernie told him he has a son who is a prospective '6i. Lem also sees Rog Graves from time to time in Detroit. Visits to Hanover by Lem have not been frequent, but they are not without honor. By invitation he gave a Tuck School talk about a year ago. The Bowens have two daughters, not yet of Carnival age, and Lem continues as assistant treasurer of the Burroughs Corporation.
And true enough is that news about Ernie Kern. I knew he was at the Inn last fall with his son, so I wrote him a line to see if my surmise was correct. Sure enough, Ernie Jr., a senior at Cranbrook School and a registeree of Dartmouth since September 18, 1939, the date of his birth, has every expectation of entering with the Class of 1961, for which our best wishes in advance. 1957 will be a large year for father Ernie in more ways than one. The Ernest Kern Co., a large Detroit department store, of which Ernie is vicepresident and general manager, has embarked on a year-long celebration of its 75 th anniversary. Quite a milestone in a business which is so highly competitive and requires absolutely unrelenting selling and merchandising effort to stay in the swim. I am certain we'll see Ernie at our 20th.
Our able Mint Bag editor, Rog Allen, has made a change of business affiliation. After serving as public relations director of the William A. Battista agency in New York, Rog has shifted to Kennedy Associates, a large public relations firm in Rockville Centre on Long Island. While the Long Island R.R. has lost a commuter, Kennedy Associates has gained a valuable account executive,
Despite some effort on my part, I had not been able to come up with a Boston area report this year. I did not wish to bother Bibs Bankart on whom one can always count when deadline time draws near. Finally, I had no choice and, as usual, I was richly rewarded. The Dartmouth-Harvard game afforded an opportunity for a get-together at the Continental Hotel in Boston, especially so since Chuck Sine and his wife had come on from Calgary, Alberta, for a first visit East since graduation. Art Ruggles had got tickets sent to Chuck from Hanover in response to a phone call from Canada. Also at this gathering were Doyt Morgan and Dr. Eugene McGregor, the latter having come down from Lisbon, N. H., for the game. The Sines hired a car the following day and took off for a visit to Hanover. Bibs also reports seeing Win Taft and Hal Evans and his wife, all of whom were at the game. At the Charles River Dartmouth Club dinner in December, which function Bibs attended as retiring president, he saw Hal Putnam, among others, but noted with regret the absence of Al and Sherry Bryant who have left Boston for New Canaan, Conn.
Quite by chance Bibs also ran into Walt Graf on the street. Walt was with Sears, Roebuck but has now made a change. He also met Crawf Ferguson as a member of an interviewing committee, a change and an enjoyable one, Bibs believes, from Crawf s more usual activities of golf and the selling of coffee. Bibs also sees Bob Hall of Liberty Mutual's publicity organization on their B & M commuter. Duke Dumont dropped in, too, from Connecticut on an interviewing trip. Duke was looking for prospects for the machine screw business. Charley Fowler is another classmate whom Bibs bumps into from time to time. And as for our man Bibs, himself, he is still plugging away at the wool brokerage business in Boston. Many thanks, Mr. Bankart.
I had another note from Major John Doukas, stationed, you will recall, at the USAF base in South Ruislip, England. John enclosed a couple of clips from The U.K. Eagle, one of which, dated January 4, left me hanging in suspense. Seems John is the coach of the London Rockets, top contender with Chicksands for the southern division basketball championship. The Rockets and Chicksands were clashing in a crucial game. Coach, who won? And where did you wind up the season?
And now for a few wind-up items. Allan Tacks, last reported by this column as AP bureau chief at Istanbul, was recently promoted to bureau chief at Rome. Ray Bauer elected executive vice-president of the Linden (N. J.) Trust Co. Ray was formerly a v.p. and director. He is the holder of an M.C.S. degree from Tuck School and an LL.B. from Rutgers. He and wife Mary have three children: Eugene, Patricia, and Victoria. The Rays and I were to have had dinner with the Bob McCoys recently, but Bob had the misfortune to be tapped for a hernia operation a few days before.
That's all. Keep the communication lines open.
Newark News Photo Sarge Underhill '36, whose conservation interests began in Hanover, is now Executive Director of the State Division of Fish and Game for New Jersey.
Briegs Austin '37, whose home is in Sherman Oaks, Calif., enjoys a day's skiing in the California Sierras with wife Alice and (l to r) Mike 13, Dennis 6, Brian 11, and Ellen 9.
Secretary, 869 Hardscrabble Rd. Chappaqua, N. Y.
Treasurer, 17 High Street, Greenfield, Mass.
