1914
Lots of news, with letters from Penny Aborn, Charlie Batcheldor, Ellsworth Buck, Bill Hands, Dick Pritchard, Rosie Hinman, Roscoe DeWitt, Gordon Sleeper, Phil Smith, Mart Remsen, Dud Colby, Dick Barlow, Jesse Stillman, Bob Dunbar, Chuck Kingsley, Tim Gregg, Ed Leech.
How to edit is the problem. First, the annual dinner of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Boston where the Aborns checked in, along with Loring Nichols only because Marjorie and Cynthia (Kinky to you Sno birds) got him out. Next, a report of meetings attended by Dick Barlow, including the Touchdown testimonial for Earl Blaik, where Hoppy came up from Florida especially to do honor to one nice guy. Years ago, Earl told me that the clincher for him to Dartmouth was Hoppy.
The following week, our Dick was on the job for the New Jersey programme for the 200th anniversary business. Then on February 19 he attended another New Jersey dinner to see Capt. Krutsch accept the silver tray award for the Ivy League championship. This boy Krutsch reads very well. Dick is fully recovered, and is. feeling fine. He has a new hobby which should be popular. With four children and eight grandchildren, he runs the errands.
Bert Symonds is back in again as a parttime representative for the Merchants Warren National Bank of Salem, Mass. In his wanderings, he bumped into Abe Newmark. From Bert we learn that the Sam Coles are heavy with their bridge.
Jesse Stillman, after 41 years with du Pont, seems to be doing alright. Lots to do but with no pressure. Still finds time to set in with his former colleagues, along with his good work with the Y.M.C.A., plus his church and Cancer Fund chores. The one point to disagree with is his last-place mention of the green house. It should have been first.
Dud Colby's only excuse for a new home was that he needed more room for the grandchildren. A word on George Boggs is nice. He is reputably in full possession of his buttons and, from good authority, he is in the top bracket physically.
Gordon Sleeper had the misfortune to be hit by a nit-wit driver New Year's Eve. Result: both bones, right leg, below the knee. Mending well, but not fast enough with spring so near. His son Drew, now a Captain in the regular Air Force returns for the month of June, after a three-year hitch in the Far East. The plan is for Newport, Vt., with the two granddaughters.
I suppose that you all know that Sig Larmon has unloaded a bit, but is still chairman of Young & Rubicam. He continues with a keen interest in this class of ours, and wants more news from the outlying districts. The Hinmans leave Florida in late March for Rome, via a bit of a detour to California and Hawaii.
Ed Leech advises that Janet and her husband Lt. Col. B. S. Ryder, U. S. Marines, are presently in Twenty Nine Palms, Calif., and the ten-year-old boy is there, too.
Work on the class history has started. Ellsworth Buck has the staff and is anxious and willing to get the job done. We are agreed that the first job to be done concerns the completion of the "Minute Book." In the meanwhile we will be feeling our ground for the narrative. When conclusions are drawn, we will put our thinking on the block for criticism and help. This has already had attention from several former class officers, and Dick Pritchard has his report on file.
So, we thought we were all set. Now we learn that the fifty-year class is supposed to publish a "Golden Book" - the fifty-year story. I am loath to form an opinion until all of the facts are in, but at the moment, I would like to think that we can do the narrative and the Golden Book simultaneously, with provisions to carry on the history until the last old soldier is on his way.
Bill Hands has two points for this issue: 1. The 1914 class dinner will be held at the N. Y. Dartmouth Club on April 22. Remember that one.
a. Bill wants an Interim Reunion, June 1961. At this stage of the game, six years can be a long while. Who likes it?
The dose of disappointment was double for having missed Sno Bird this year. A birthday for a two-year-old granddaughter had the call. Double, because it would have given us a chance to check history records, with particular regard to the Golden Book situation. Next chance in May. At dead-line I can only tell you that Ducky was there with a car full, and the Jim Greggs made it, too. That's all I know, but I am sure that it being Sno Bird, it was good.
Change of address: Dudley R. Colby - 1227 No. 53 St., Omaha 32, Neb.; Harold L. Dunbar - 265 Percy St., Elgin, Ill.
A couple of sharp veterans of World War I, '15ers Doc Noyes and Opie Horton, get together for a chat and a drink in Hanover.
Secretary, Box 83, Candlewood Isle, Conn.
Class Agent, 21 Orlando Ave., Winthrop 52, Mass.
