1916

There has been more apathy over the vital question of the Balmacaan A.C. vs. the Balmacaan Athletic Club than there has been over the Republican presidential primaries. But after reading Leigh Rogers' version of the origin of that distinguished name and Johnny Pelletier's impassioned plea that there should be no tampering with the original name Ray DeVoe writes that he would like to clear the records once and for all. So hear this, sez he: There actually was a Balmacaan Athletic Club in New York and each year they ran a social affair called a dance. They printed thousands of tickets and mailed them out promiscuously, largely to the Eastern colleges. Entrance, however, was at the gate and by cash, five dollars per couple. Ray was on the sucker list and flooded North Fayer with scads of tickets until it got to be quite a joke. He and Chick Pudrith actually attended the affair, and he says in defense of the current college generation that Rock 'n' Roll in comparison is strictly for kiddies and amateurs. No holds were barred at these affairs. The Club went on for quite a while but with the advent of Prohibition and the closing of Bustonoby's in New York Webster Hall gradually got all of the undergraduate business, and Balmacaan folded its tent. Bill Biel and Max Spelke were familiar with the affair and Ray believes that Leigh Rogers, who kept his other suit in Ray's room and who slept there on odd Tuesdays and Thursdays when a Spelke filibuster was on, used the tickets to register his chapel attendance and as a giveaway bonus with his cotton-picking coats. Ray thinks that the name we have come to be very proud of was suggested during a Spelke filibuster - a mighty affair, and that the pleasant shores of Lake Morey and the passing years have added their refinements. The name has a very warm spot in all our hearts.

Johnny Pell saw Neil Brush and his wife when they were in New York on their way to Florida. Neil, who came from Brush ton in upper New York state, left us at the end of his sophomore year. He has recently retired from the New York State Civil Service after many years' work in Franklin County. He and his wife are visiting their daughter in Orlando, until they decide where to locate in the Sunshine State.

Your correspondent had a nice letter from Art Conley from Venice in March. He and Caroline were on a Mediterranean cruise (M/S Oslofjord of the Norwegian American Line) visiting most of the countries of that area except Algeria. In Beirut they saw Les Leavitt and his wife. Les has been at the American University there since graduating from Dartmouth, but is retiring in July, and expects to live somewhere around Boston. Art said he found the only hot place to be Egypt (he wisely took a rain check on Algeria), and much to their surprise they enjoyed Dubrovnik in Yugoslavia as much as any other place. When I was a boy that city on the Dalmatian coast was called Ragusa, and I heard of its charm from an old fisherman who came from there to make his home on Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine.

When Hobey Marble was given a coveted Cushing Chair" in 1958 upon his retirement as president of the Cushing Academy Alumni Association I knew darned well that the chair wouldn't see much service. Immediately thereafter he was elected an alumni trustee of the Academy. Now comes word of his appointment as business manager of the Worcester Music Festival, one of the outstanding cultural activities of the city. The group has just celebrated its centennial. Hobey will have charge of the advertising, will carry forward contacts established throughout central New England, and share the many duties of the organization's Auditorium office.

The Cleaves manage had a most pleasant visit in the middle of March from Jim andRuth Coffin, who were on their way up from the South. Down there they ran across some 16ers, breakfasted with Glenn Gould and Hap Ward at St. Pete, stopped off at Athens to see Karl Shedd and Polly, and stayed a day or two at Bethesda with Stirling Wilson and Betty. On leaving Swarthmore they were going to the Brundage farm in New Jersey for a day with Charlie and Edna. Jim has recently retired from the Nashua Gum Label and Paper Products Company (is the name correct, Jim?) after forty years of service with that company. Their plan to move to Rutland to be near their son, "Kelly" Coffin '43, and his family was knocked galley-west when "Kelly" was transferred to California by the insurance company for whom he works. Now Jim and Ruth are moving their furniture back to Nashua where they will be at least for the immediate future. Jim and Ruth are veritable ambassadors of good will in the cause of Dartmouth and 1916.

Class Notes Editor 7 Swarthmore PL., Swarthmore, Pa.

Secretary, Box 1998, Ormond Beach, Fla.

Class Agent, „ „ Box 151, Sagamore, Mass.