1937

There is a crisp feel in the air tonight that reminds one of fall evenings in Hanover football rallies, bonfires on the campus and the bright colors on Balch Hill. I hope to see a good many of you at one or more of the games; so be prepared to furnish me with some news items when you see me.

On the matter of news items, my column would have been exceedingly short this month if it had not been for a most welcome letter from Bib Bankart. Bib was rushed off to the hospital in June, shortly after reunion (which he and Kay were not able to attend), for an emergency operation. After a week in the hospital and a week at home. Bib found himself laid up for still longer with penicillin poisoning. When Bib and Kay stopped by our house for a quick visit last spring, kidded Bib about the "Buy Wool" signs stuck on the bumpers of his car; but I guess that for fellows like Bib and Dick Wood, and others in the wool business, the steady growth in the use of synthetic fibres is a real serious matter.

From this same letter we are able to glean some additional stray bits about several of our New England brethren. Jim Luttrell continues with N. E. Tel. & Tel. as Chief, Property and Cost Supervisor. That property bit is said to imply that he has the task ot deciding what to keep and what to throw away! We also hear that Jim and Jean spent all their spare time last summer waterskung behind their fourteen foot pennyan. Dave Hall, one of our very few bachelors, is executive vice president of the Boston advertising firm, A. W. Ellis Co. George Skinner, who for the past year has been located in Burlington, Vt., as head of the accounting office for the telephone company there, makes the news for his recent testimony in a rate case there. He apparently did a terrific job, impressing everybody by tossing aside his fifteen pages of notes and talking strictly from memory and experience. Gib Reynolds can frequently be seen in or near his new office across the street from the South Station in Boston He will usually be seen with his arms full ot books, since selling same is his business.

When I was in Akron recently, I managed to talk on the telephone for a few minutes with Grant Crane. He spent some five weeks this summer on active duty at the Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D. C„ but is now back on his regular job as group leader of a research team at Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. Also working as a research chemist for Firestone in Akron is Bill Bowler.

We have at hand the announcement of the appointment of Mel Estey as chairman of the history department of Culver Military Academy Culver, Ind. While Mel joined the Colver faculty in 1946 as a history instructor, he has been serving since 1955 as administrative assistant to the superintendent. As chairman of the history department, Mel will direct the activities of a ten-man teaching staff. We also have word that Maj. John G Doukas has joined the ROTC staff at Rensse laer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N. Y. For the past three years Duke was with the head quarters staff of the Third Air Force in

We have some news clippings concerning several of our men. One such appeared in the Waterville, Me., Sentinel. It was a story about Blais Blaisdell and the company he has founded, called Petronomics, to guide risk money into oil leases. Perhaps some of you saw the article in Fortune Magazine not long ago in which the activities of Petronomics were reviewed. Another news story appeared in the Birmingham, Ala., News, covering Bert Geller and his activities at the Geller Shoe Co., of which he is vice president. Apparently Bert spends a fair amount of time in Europe visiting bootmakers in Italy and France in an effort to keep in touch with fashion trends and changes. We also have a long story on Em Brightman, who last spring was elected a vice president of The Grand Union Company, one of the large food chains here in the East. After ten years' experience with all phases of large scale grocery retailing, Em now has charge of their Grand Way division, retailing all sorts of non-food items. And lastly, I see Dave Taylor's name in our local newspaper nearly every week. Dave continues as associate director of research for Time, Inc., at the Springdale, Conn., Laboratories. On the side, he devotes a lot of time to our local little theatre group of which he currently is president.

This will be it for this month. I am sure that Art Ruggles will be as glad to receive your "Slug for Rug" as I will be to receive a few letters before next month's deadline rolls around.

Secretary, 25 Old Stamford Rd. New Canaan, Conn.

Treasurer, 17 High St., Greenfield, Mass