1920
The mailman did not get round-shouldered, exactly, from the amount of mail he delivered to me from the brethren these past few weeks . . . and that, gentle reader, is the understatement of the year! As a matter of fact I get about as much dope from the wives in the Class as from anyone else (witness Dorothy Hamm). As you peruse these jottings call in the little woman and tell her she will win the undying esteem of this Secretary if she will just dish up a bit of this and that for the column and send it in with or without your consent. It could be that all you Joes were busy sending in some dough for the Capital Gifts Fund, in which event I take back everything I have said. However, when I look at our position as compared with other classes I am convinced that a lot of our fellows are yet to be heard from. If you haven't mailed in your contribution don't feel bashful because even at this late date it will be most welcome.
Twenty's ranks continue to thin and I am grieved to tell you that Charlie Warbasse passed away recently. Through this means I extend to his family sincere condolences on behalf of the entire Class.
Last night Dorothy and I had dinner at the University Club here in New York with Stanand Grace Newcomer. Stan had come on from Michigan en route to Hanover for the Class Officers meetings on the May 2 weekend. He and Grace are driving up there today. Jack and Margaret Mayer are joining Dorothy and me tomorrow to fly up. After four days of consistently bad weather I feel much heartened to see the sun shining because I know from repeated experience that it is no fun flying into Hanover in bad weather.
Stan is planning to pull together as many as possible of the Class Executive Committee while we are in Hanover to start the ball rolling for our Fortieth Reunion coming up in June 1960. I want to plug that subject just a bit even at this early 'date because a lot of you folk are at points distant from Hanover and it isn't too early to start making plans, financial and otherwise, a year in advance. To those of you who have not been in close touch with the College, you owe it to yourselves to get back there and see the extraordinary changes that have been made since our days as undergraduates. So, talk it over with the Missus and get yourself a piggy bank, and above all make your plans to take in the Reunion. Undoubtedly our Fortieth will be the last really big one.
Names are a strange business, sometimes! My mother, who was born and reared in Inverness, Scotland, must have been feeling homesick when I came along since she named me for Bonnie Prince Charlie and I have been living it down ever since. In that connection I got to thinking about Doc Miller the other day. Now there is Doc, who is the leading medical authority in the big city of Worcester, Mass., and yet we all call him "Doc." Somehow or other it just isn't dignified or becoming, but that's not what I wanted to say. Doc (pardon me, Doctor) and Harriet have yet another distinction. Their son Dusty is the only son of a Twenty man in the freshman class at Dartmouth. Like his old man, Dusty is quite a guy and the family is naturally and understandably very proud of him. Dusty was entered in Dartmouth on March 21, 1940, the day of his birth. He spent four years at Deerfield Academy where he graduated Cum Laude. While there he was active in many extracurricular activities including the Glee Club, an officer of the school paper, a soccer player and so forth. He was and still is a very ardent skier. He was accepted at both Dartmouth and Harvard but naturally chose Dartmouth. He is a pre-med student and lives in Bissell Hall. He is one of three or four freshman members of the Varsity Glee Club and recently went with the Glee Club on its spring tour. Although he has several other extracurricular activities he has managed to attain a 4. average. Congratulations to you, Dusty, and also to "Doctor" and Harriet Miller.
I had to make a fast trip to Harvard University last weekend and it was just my luck to be out of town when Ben Potter, the handsome publisher of the Rock Island Argus and President of the Rock Island Broadcasting Company, stopped in with his lovely daughter. Better luck next time, Ben.
I learned with great dismay that the pride of Theta Delta Chi, the former Exeter boy, Charles Hastings Goodnow is flat on his back in the Middlesex County Sanatorium in Waltham, Mass., with what is described as a mild case of TB. At this writing Charlie has been in the hospital about four weeks and will probably be there at least a couple of months or even more. He looks fine and is the picture of health but apparently a bug has done him in and he has to quiet it down. The medicos have administered all sorts of tests, x-rays and all that sort of thing but Charlie just wouldn't believe it. It seems that the thing goes back to the early twenties when I believe he had a very difficult time with pleurisy. Charlie would be delighted to hear from any of the boys. His mailing address is 23 Glen Green, Winchester, Mass. So, sit down and dash off a few lines to a really good guv.
Speaking of people's kids, the Goodnow children are doing all right for themselves. Warren Goodnow, who expects to graduate from M.I.T. in June, is captain of the baseball team and has developed into quite a catcher and leader. Unfortunately he has "pro" ambitions and unless his family can talk it out of him, which they have tried, he may give it a trial this summer. A recent issue of the Boston Herald carried a very interesting article about the versatility of Warrie, who is an all-Greater Boston League selection. Coach Scotty Whitelaw of M.I.T. says of Warrie:
We have to do a lot of improvising. This boy Goodnow is an all-league catcher but I'm going to have to use him to pitch a lot. He's got a great arm, keeps cool and knows how to work on a batter. So he'll be doing a lot of shuttling between the plate and the mound.
Charles W. Goodnow, another son, leaves Japan shortly to return to Boston after six years in the Orient. His homecoming will be quite an event for his family.
A very pleasant letter from Lee Hodgkins commenting on a trip to Honolulu to visit their daughter Joy whose husband, Dan Plunket, is a pediatrician at the big hospital there. They were joined by Eb and Ruth Wallace and report a truly glorious time. On the way home they spent a few days in Wilmette, Ill., with their elder daughter Janice Bruemmer and their four grandchildren.
Three days before Hawaii became the 50th state and the celebrating began, a calm gathering was held there by Lee Hodgkins '20, Lou Benezet '99 and Eb Wallace '20.
Secretary, 350 East 57th St. New York 22, N. Y.
Class Agent, 90 Iron Mine Dr., Staten Island 4, N. Y.
