1931
Not too many days from now Jim Frame's typewriter will be pounding out the first edition of our 1931 Wah-Hoo-Wampum, and in this you will get a complete report of your executive committee's October deliberations and plans. Many items of primary class interest will be touched lightly in this column and given in gory detail in the "greensheet." Every so often the veil of silence is lifted from a '31er and he gives forth with important details of his aging self. Such is the case with Freddy Burkhardt in a letter to Tower Snow this past October. These high lights from his letter will bring you up to date on Fred:
I got pretty well fed up with the record selling business after eight years behind the counters... rescued by the war I swore I'd never touch another "platter"... entered Air Force less than a year after Violet and I were married ... after basic and officer training I became Intelligence Officer to a fighter group with whom I stayed all during war. Sent to England we wound up in France on D-Day, moving from field to field into Germany to the end of the war . . . then off to home in California to see my two-year-old daughter for the first time (ed.: Fred and Violet live now at 4821 Myrtle Lane, La Mesa, Calif.; daughter Elsa is 14 and son Robert is 9). We moved to our present address, entered the furniture business with an old friend but ended up watching our savings slither through inexperienced hands ... worst of all I went back in the record business, but in three years I realized what I had said after those early eight years. The teacher shortage attracted my attention and suddenly I was in the local State College ... sounds ridiculous, I know, but I have been happy ever since. Finished my master's degree work this summer but feel too old to struggle on for a doctorate.
Dick Thursfield gave us a surprise visit a few years ago ... down from his teaching job in L.A. ... have tried to get Art Seepe away from Maine for a summer. - unsuccessful as yet... and hoped Jim Rice would give me a buzz someday. Several old '31ers in this area: Vance Dickerman, Cliff Powers, George Phillips, the Jate Dick Sankey ... although I've been a pretty lousy alumnus as far as Dartmouth activities are concerned, I'm always on the verge of getting into the swim again. I see Baxter Ball's signature when I pay my gas bills, but haven't seen him in more than ten years. We like California a lot - living out here is really quite a bit different from the eastern way.
Thanks to you, Tower, for sharing Fred's letter. Tower says about himself: "I am working ingharder than ever, and fortunately, seeming to get some results. The life insurance business continues to prosper, and I am happy to be back in the sales end, after about fifteen years as a General Agent, where I didn't get much opportunity to be on the firing line."
Ed Gruen, our great baseball manager, who unlike Red Rolfe, ended his active participation with the sport in June 1931, reports in from 4313 Reno Rd., N. W. Washington 8, D. C., stating from his two years of experience as editor of this column, that "She'll throw the best of 'em." I know that's quite probable, Ed, and I'm looking for a soft landing spot momentarily. A letter to us (Frame or me) about yourself will be appreciated.
It is seldom a column editor receives as comprehensive a story of a classmate's activities as was just our good fortune to get from George M. Adams, Jr., now a Commander, U. S. Navy and attached to U. S. Navy Support Activity, Navy 510, temporarily at Corso Vittorio Emanuel 122, Napoli, Italia, with his daughter (age 22) Nan. They love Naples, but still mutter at the stolid pedestrians who own the cobbled streets and are as indifferent as sheep to the onrush of traffic. Two Dartmouth men are attached to his staff: Lt. Col. John V. Kelsey '41, and LTJG Steven Lazarus '52. I am urging Frame to give you George's letter in great detail in an early issue of our Wah-Hoo-Wampum. It is worth your reading, and George, thanks so much for writing us.
Really big things happened in the Ernie Moore family on December 4. Ernie and Angelina gelinaadopted five-year-old Robert Bruce, and six-year-old Roberta Anne; for the class records these are new sister and brother to Catherine Anne, age seven, and Michael Gregory, age five. That's really great, and what a wonderful thing for you to have done for those 4 children. How could a couple be more selfless? I asked Ernie to tell about the '31ers he saw at the games this fall and here are the faces he recognized: At Brown game - Blatz and wife, Cogswell and wife, Clarkson and family, Studwell and wife, McAllister and wife, McLean and family, Mac Donald and family, Marcy and family, Camph and friends, Red Rolfe, and Luke Nims '38, representing Charlie; - at the Holy Cross game - Clarkson and family, Marcy and the Rolfes. Then at the Harvard game he saw: Shep Wolff and wife, Boermeester, Guernsey, Line Page (just back from several months in South Africa), Jim Frame and family, Joe Clough and wife, Ken Fleming and family, Ed Brummer and family, Dick Chase and wife, and at the Yale game - Don Denham and family, Bunce Clarkson and wife, Thorn and family, and again the Chases and McAllisters. Ernie also got some pre-season dope from Sunday- quarterbacks Johnson and Sullivan at Convocation in Hanover. They were almost right. It is reported that the '31 gathering under the stadium at each game would be much better attended with greater wife cooperation! I'd suggest the wives should by all means be there, too. It is finally reported that Jack and Margaret Bean still pass as undergraduates. Thanks, Ernie for your fine reporting.
By way of a letter from Pete Evans to Bill Wilson, dated Nov. 25, it appears a '31 luncheon was held at the Wilson's in Princeton. Bill sat with Bill Gundy's family, but gave up in favor of the elements and did not stay for the finish. He was there at half time to see H. Johnson, Brummer, and D. Bean. Thanks, Bill Wilson for keeping us informed on our treasurer. Bill is our new Class Agent, and I know will be counting heavily on a large number of volunteers to help with our fund campaign this spring.
The several Christmas greetings were gratefully received, and one deserving special mention is that from George and Anne Conklin containing a snapshot of daughters Margaret and lola, and exceptionally appealing children they are, with the Conklin pets, I presume, a cat and a dog. Better yet George says he'll write some news for us for an early column.
The records office comes through with some address changes of recent date: Art Birkett, Jr., and family to 16 Windom Road, Wellesley 81, Mass. Art is an office manager for the U.S. Govt., I think with the Social Security Board; Dr. Dana H. Howe, 1777 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, Calif., 5642 Bellflower Blvd., also Long Beach (that's business and residence); Ned and Marjorie Kent, John and David, to 295 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. Ned is a partner in the law firm of Fish, Richardson 8c Neve, 84 State St., Boston. They moved up from Attleboro, Mass., where they have lived for a long time. Looks like Ned's commuting is over. We reported on Larrabee last month, and now have his new address as 5406 Surrey St., Somerset Chevy Chase 15, Md.; Dr. Hugh F. Neely surgeon - private practice, has a new residence at 343 Ridge Road, Douglas Manor Long Island, New York; and Reed Patterson comes up with a new address in Portsmouth N. H., 140 Pinehurst Road. Reed: The records I inherited do not show you as being married. Are you still "batching" or does this new address now mean you are no longer your own boss?
John A. Gilmore, whose address we have as Kensington, Md., and recent occupation as Special Assistant, Bureau of Internal Rev. enue, has recently been elected assistant general counsel of Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co., and American Motorists Insurance Co. Jack, it seems you should drop us a line on your current address and include some personal and family news. We close with word that Hank Richmond was in Hanover at the Hanover Inn on December 6, and hope you all have a great 1958!
Two Dartmouth Californians active in raising funds tor the work of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America are screen star Robert Ryan '32 (and from right), honorary chairman for the San Fernando Valley in this year's campaign, and Rudy Pacht '35 (right), vice president of the Los Angeles County chapter of MDAA and county campaign chairman in 1954. MDAA officials with them are Wade Bennett and John Tropea, both of California Bank.
Secretary, 345 West Murray, Macomb, Ill.
Treasurer, Autorama Motel 2002 S. Dort Hgwy., Flint, Mich.
Bequest Chairman,
