1929

From New Hampshire, we have received word that Art Bergeron of Berlin was recently elected a member of the corporation of the New Hampshire Savings Bank at its annual meeting, and that Art Nigh swander of Laconia was elected president of the Laconia Hospital Association.

We hear that the "In Town" board in the Hanover Inn recently carried the names of Mike Sherman, Lyt Johnston, Red Flynn, Carter Strickland and Dick Sanders.

We were very pleased to receive word that Jimmie and Emily Loveland have announced the engagement of their daughter Barbara to Peter Avakian of Englewood, N. J. Barbara graduated from Wellesley in 1955, is now a technical writer with Simplex Wire and Cable Company in Cambridge, Mass., and is doing graduate work at Northeastern University in Boston. Peter was graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Rochester, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and of Delta Upsilon. He is. at present, working toward his Ph.D. in physics at M.I.T. They plan to be married in June.

Some little time ago, we received part of a very interesting letter that Dave Cogan received from Joe Piazza and we feel that you, too, will find it of interest. The letter was written from Brazzaville, Afrique Equatoriale Francaise, and is quoted below:

I have done a little bit of traveling since the last time I wrote to you, and I find a considerable contrast in this land that was once known as "the white man's grave." I have been to Liberia where I had a drink with the President of the country both of us sitting in shirt sleeves; went into the so-called "bush," the name given to all places in Africa outside of those most populated and those having some Europeans. There are no "whites" and no "negroes" here; only "Europeans" and "Africans" - only the most uninitiated refer to "negroes." If you can imagine Harlem on the waterfront you have a picture of Monrovia. It was there that I felt, for the first time, the impact of belonging to a minority group. I had occasion to go into the bank to cash some checks and all the Africans who came to the teller's window - even those who came after I had been there a little while - were served before me. I made no move to push my way forward but only waited to see what would happen. Finally, the teller became a little bit embarrassed and reached his hand through the space under the cage, took the checks out of my hand and cashed them.

I drove through mile after mile of the Firestone Rubber Plantation where everything was clean, orderly, and almost parklike in appearance. After about 75 kilometers of good roads I came to the edge of the Firestone Plantation and entered into a completely new world, of ruts, mud, caved-in bridges, and complete poverty. After 6 hours of that kind of travel I reached my destination which is the site of a WHO project for the eradication of Yaws. My respect of the WHO doctors, male nurses, serologist, sanitary engineer, and laboratory research worker, was considerably increased. They live under difficult conditions, putting up with the most primitive facilities. There must be a high degree of dedication to their work in their system, otherwise they could not put up with the sheer ennui of living together and being dependent upon each other's companionship day after day.

At a later date I went to Luanda, capital of the Portuguese colony of Angola, to find, nestled on about 7 hills by the ocean, a Lisbon in miniature - same style of architecture, same foods, and even a fort similar to that overlooking the Tagus watching over the port and the city. I have not been there yet, but I heard a very telling remark recently from someone who was visiting in Kano, Nigeria. When he stated that he was on his way to Brazzaville, he heard the remark, "You are going back to civilization." If one looks at it from the point of view that everything is relative, the statement is essentially correct.

The breath of home swept into our living room last Sunday with the arrival here of four doctors from the United States, two from the National Institute of Health, Division of Tropical Diseases, one from the Research Center of the Walter Reed Hospital, and one from the faculty of the University of Michigan. They are here to attend a seminar on Bilharsiosis being conducted under the aegis of this WHO regional office. It is good to have them here, particularly since we knew one of them in Washington and have many friends in common.

John W. Moxon '29 of Reading, Pa., is Class Agent and is ready for a fast start as the 1957 Alumni Fund campaign opens this month.

Secretary, Center Rd., Woodridge, Conn.

Class Agent, Carpenter Steel Co., Box 662 Reading, Pa.