1912

The second letter from Dr. Tucker to Connie Snow that was referred to last month, from his Hanover home on Occom Ridge, dated March 27, 1915, is as follows:

"I respond with very much pleasure to your request for a letter with the letters from the rest of the Class of 1912 on its third anniversary. Unfortunately for me I 'resigned' at the end of freshman year, so that the anniversary finds me six years 'out of College'. I am glad enough to fall back into your reckoning. Beginning with the customary vital, or domestic, statistics, I have the honor to report that since graduation I have been made twice-over a grandfather, the second of the two grandsons having been born on my seventy-fifth birthday. I turn over the twentieth century to the youngsters in the hope and belief that it will end better than it has begun. In the matter of work I have been trying to readjust my remaining working force to quite new conditions. I find that it takes as much study to fit oneself to the opportunities of retirement as to those of the strenuous life. It is like shifting from an auto to horseback. But it has its advantages. The traveler on his horse may come to know the country better than the man in the rush of the road. And just now, unless one is in the thick of the fight, a life of activity seems to be but little nearer to the heart of the world than a life of reflection. So far as my strength allows, and I try to get an hour or two a day for work usually on my bed, I write on current topics or on subjects which had been laid by for more quiet thought. It is a special pleasure to be able now to see the College from the outside as before from the inside - to note its steady and broad development, to follow the graduates into their careers, and to see how well they are doing their part of the world's work. I wish that I could hope to see the men of 1912 as they come to Hanover, but as that is hardly a reasonable hope, I may ask you to give them, everyone, my heartiest greetings with the assurance of my heartfelt satisfaction in being enrolled as one of them."

Now that these letters have been reproduced in these notes, they are being sent for inclusion in the archives of Baker Library - Connie Snow and Charley Widmayer to determine exactly the end result of their disposal.

Syd Clark wrote Connie Snow that due to a typographical error, he was referred to in the Class Notes of the January issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE as a "trial author" which, manifestly should have been "travel author." Syd said: "Don't think I'm over-sensitive on that, Connie, as I really am not, so skip it." We hope that this correction will ease Syd's mind. Syd says further: "I'm still hustling around at a pace that gets me in wrong with my family, and I've promised to reform and go easier, in response to heavy scoldings from my wife, my children and even my grandchildren. Meanwhile, after launching the new Germany-Austria book in March, I am flying to Japan (and Manila, Hong Kong and Macao) just so I won't lose touch altogether with the big, broad world, for a travel book on those regions."

In thanking Doc O'Connor for the book he sent classmates at Christmastime, Murray Boutwell wrote from South Lyndeboro, N. H.: "Mrs. Boutwell and myself were in a serious automobile accident recently and were badly shaken up as a result of the crash."

From Denver, Colorado, Dolly Thompson wrote Doc: "It has been too bad that every time you have come to Denver, Charles has been away. He usually travels toward the southwest and Mexico rather than any projects in the East, and I haven't been in New York since 1916."

Sam Hobbs, veteran engineer with the Portland Cement Association, has retired, after 33 years with the organization, the last 29 of them in the Los Angeles District Office. His official retirement came last November when he was honored by the Association at a dinner meeting attended by the Los Angeles office personnel of the Association. After graduating from the Thayer School of Engineering in 1913, Sam worked for the Massa- chusetts Highway Commission and as an engineer with Rowe Construction Company in Boston before joining the Portland Cement Association in that City. After four years in the Boston office he went to the Los Angeles office. Sam has been well-known in engineering and construction circles on the West Coast. For many years he represented the Association on the Pacific Coast Building Officials Conference and was active in work on Building Code requirements. He was general chairman of the first regional meeting of the American Concrete Institute in Los Angeles in 1954. He was also an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the Structural Engineers of Southern California. He has been active in Boy Scout work for many years and served as President of the San Gabriel Valley Council of the Boy Scouts. He is an honor member of Chi Epsilon, University of Southern California Chapter and a member of Gamma Alpha and a Phi Beta Kappa. Although retiring from the work of the Association, he plans an active retirement, expecting to engage in consultation work on concrete, and will continue magazine writing on concrete construction projects.

Henry (Duke) Allen writes on the letterhead of "Gift Center - Gifts, Artwares, Decorative Accessories" at Brookfield, Ill.:

"You have never associated me with Chicagoland or the gift shop business. Ruth and I bought this little 'shoppe', as she had for years wanted to have one where she could express her artistic talent and personality. We may be old enough to retire, but we both hope we never have to, as we prefer an active life, even in old age. We are both in good health. In Champaign, where we used to live for three years, Ruth was active in the Champaign County Cancer Society, being on the Board, and I wrote some TV and radio half-hour plays for them. She also was active in the Little Theatre Group of the Community Arts. Barbara, our eldest, is living in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, married to George Lewis, who is with Sports Afield magazine. Joanne, the baby, is in Minneapolis, secretary to the Research Director of General Mills - engaged but not married. She is an ardent sportswoman - skiing (both water and snow) swimming, golf, tennis, trampoliing, skating. Her boy friend, a Norwegian, was on the Olympic Skiing Team a year or so ago."

January visitors at Hanover Inn included Eddie Luitwieler, Randy Burns and MertBaker.

Changes of address: Robert E. Brown, 15 Pleasant Street, Methuen, Mass.; Rev. HarryS. Lowd, The Community Church, North Orange, Mass.; Nathaniel M. Whitmore, 186 South Place, Corning, N. Y.; Roscoe C. Leach, 1130 Majestic Building, Detroit, Mich. (Res. 16007 Elizabeth, Birmingham, Mich.); JohnW. Mahlstedt, 14 North Walnut Street, East Orange, N. J.; Chester G. Newcomb, 3431 S.W. 13th Court, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Class Notes Editor Gilmanton Iron Works, N. H.

Secretary, 120 Broadway, New York 5, N. Y.

Class Agent, 184 Commercial St., Maiden 48, Mass.