1931
Harking back to our big 25 th Reunion of two years ago, plans were set then to change the guard in some of our class offices as of this fall - Fred Slaughter for Jack Reno as your class secretary, and Russ Beckwith for Jim Frame as Newsletter editor, both changes to carry through until our big 30th Reunion in June i960. So here is the first hello from your neophyte scribe who still wonders what quirk of the democratic process could have selected as your class secretary a transit and slipstick man from Thayer? Where, oh where, are the English Lit majors, or the stock and bond tycoons, or the insurance typhoons from the million dollar round tables, any of whom would seem to have more business in this slot than I? But whether or not you remember the Saturday morning haze during which you picked Reno and me for a combined four-year hitch, the deed was done and Jack has already turned in a fine two-year job. With appropriate blessings and apologies to the long succession of illustrious predecessors in this post - here go I!
Before reporting subjectively on the behavior and maneuvers of certain of our classmates, I hasten to point out an important item which relates objectively to our entire class and specifically to all of you who can blend sentiment with business and schedule yourselves, preferably with your respective spice, for Dartmouth Homecoming in Hanover on Saturday, October 4. For our Saturday class picnic in the Bema before the Penn game, Ed Brummer has promised to bake a 1931 cake. That alone, gentlemen, should be worth the admission price. By the time you read this, the event may have come and gone. However you will at least know that this kind of plan is becoming more and more the order of business for our class, especially since a substantial number of sons of '31 are now undergraduates at the College.
In this column let me speak for the whole tribe of 1931, as Russ Beckwith has done in his latest Wampum letter, in high praise of Bill Wilson for his truly fine leadership as Class Agent in leading our class to a resounding sweepstakes victory in the College's all-out fund raising drive this year. Thank you, Bill, for the spark and the drive — we all know it is rewarding to campaign in a competition of this kind, but still more fun to be a winner.
In several recent Wampum letters Jim Frame reported a number of address changes. Add the following:
H. Russell Beckwith, 210 Elmwood Ave., Newark, N. Y.; William L. Benger, c/o Interna- tional Salt Co., Inc., P. O. Drawer 511, Scranton 2, Penna.; Louis P. Costanzo, 48 Arcellia Dr., Manchester, Conn.; Roger B. Donner, Edgecliff Rd., Rossland Farms, Carnegie, Penna.; Edward C. Hutchinson, South Main St., Petersham, Mass.; Earle L. Morrow, Old Baptist Rd., RR 2, North Kingston, R. I. (As an undergraduate we knew him as Earle Morawski.)
Recent reports on the activities of men of our class reveals these newsworthy items. Jack Reno forwarded a post card and tantalizingly short comment sent by Hank Richmond while visiting the Brussels Exposition. Bill Waterman, whom many of us know as Davenport, lowa's legal eagle, has been promoted to vice president and general counsel of the lowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co. In the matrimonial vein, Louise Hannant of Holyoke, Mass., is engaged to Dr. Wendell J. Whitcher. "Whitch", with a Harvard University Ph.D. in Chemistry, is presently an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Vermont. Ed Stokes was married last spring to Miss Erna Domke of Hamburg, Germany. In a more seasoned aspect, more than 100 friends joined Hank McCarthy and his wife in celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in July at their home in Danvers, Mass. It can be assumed that Hank has settled down somewhat from his undergraduate days when he operated two instruments of semi-destruction, a baritone horn under Professor Longhurst's quasi control and a motorcycle only occasionally under Hank's control.
John MacKechnie was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of Vermont Academy. Mac's two sons graduated from the Academy. With a law degree from Harvard he is now executive vice president of the EastwoodNeeley Co. and lives in Summit, N. J.
A feature article in a recent issue of Printers Ink reports "The Sale I Never Forgot" by Baxter Ball, recently appointed as general sales manager of the Socony Mobile Oil Co. of New York. "B" has been in the petroleum business since he graduated. In a July article in the Yonkers, N. Y., newspaper Charles Briggs revealed some important counsel on the value of trust funds. "Chuck" is vice president and senior trust officer of the Country Trust Co., Yonkers. C. Maynard Nichols will be serving this fall as chairman of the Direct Mail and Report Division of the Ridgewood, N. J., Community Chest Public Relations and Publicity Committee. "Nick" is a copy editor for The Times magazine. A report from Greenfield, Mass., reveals that Dick Hamilton was recently elected president of the Pioneer Valley Symphony, Inc. Both Dick and his wife have for many years been ardent supporters of this organization and Dick operates shoe stores in both Greenfield and Athol.
News has been received of the death on July 24 of Norm Rolfe, in Waterville, Me.
A note from Paul Krider reported an enjoyable impromptu reunion in Fort Wayne with Chuck Hill, Willard Matteson and their wives, augmented by Hart Walter, who, as his old roommate Paul reports, "is still a confirmed bachelor but enjoys smiling lovingly at our respective wives." A thoughtful note from Ernie Moore was written in August as he was about to leave for vacation at Ed Brummer's Inn at Jaffrey, N. H. — "a summer Shangri-La" in Ernie's book.
Jack Reno, just turned ex-class secretary and free to roam, has returned with his family from a trip to Colorado where they visited with Hart Gilchrist and Thad Smith. Jack's and Hart's sons are classmates at the college, class of '61. Jack states that both Hart and Thad are "extremely Denverized." This deserves a mite of explaining and I don't care from which of you guys it comes, as long as it is to my attention and without postage due.
Now having broken thru the sound barrier of this my first column - and also undoubtedly a few editorial regulations of this fine magazine - I turn off my woofer for 30 days, with a genuine invitation to each of you to buck me a spot of news or just a word of greeting on your expendable office memo pad.
Spud Bray, well known to thousands of Dartmouth men through the thirties, was back with the College this summer assisting Burdette Weymouth '23 in the information booth on the Inn corner. Bruce Mclnnes '59 (in the white), nephew of Milt Mclnnes '30, handled the guide service, shepherding tourists or prospective students and their families around the campus. A group of selected students, under the direction of Mclnnes and operating from the admissions office, will continue the guide service during the college year.
Secretary,734 Keystone, River Forest, Ill.
Treasurer, The Elms, 2701 S. Dort Highway Flint, Mich.
Bequest Chairman,
