1935
It is five years now since you members of '35 named me class secretary, and since then I have prepared 45 of these columns for the ALUMNI MAGAZINE (nine issues per year). The constant search for news about members of the class has led me to visits with in at least 25 states of the Union. We have, for instance, enjoyed get-togethers with Dave Smith in San Francisco, Harry Ackerman and Rudy Pacht in Hollywood, Cam Duncan down in San Antonio, Texas, Frank Wright and Bo Kreer in Chicago, Jim Dickinson in Pittsburgh, Lowell Haas in Washington, with Colton, Hage and Cameron in Hanover, and with numerous others throughout the country.
On various trips out of the U. S. we have also seen '35 men now living abroad. We watched our first soccer game while visiting with Bob Sellmer in Madrid, for example, and inspected a chicken farm with MushSherman when we made an inspection tour of Mush's hilltop acres near Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
During the five years our correspondence to keep up the class records has been somewhat voluminous - and most interesting. It has been particularly gratifying to note the increasingly important posts and responsibilities which '35 men are assuming in business and civic affairs, and it has been warming also to record the growth of '35 families, some of whom have even produced sons illustrious enough to get themselves into Dartmouth.
It has during this period also been our responsibility, regretfully, to record the death of eleven members of our class. Those deaths reported since the 20th Reunion in 1955 were: Loring Siegener, Murray Beiley, Carl Heye, Robert Alter, John Grimsley, David Pierce, Robert Ferry, Roger Morris, Robert Maida, Duane Steinle, and Dick Freeman. Freeman died more than a year ago in Beloit, Wis., but this news only recently came to the attention of the College, and was entered in the class records. Of the original class of 700, who matriculated at Hanover in the fall of 1931, 52 are now listed as deceased.
Reporting on your activities through this column, and keeping the class records, has been some work, of course, but it has also been a rewarding assignment, and I sincerely hope that whoever is given the job of secretary for the next five years gets as much pleasure out of it as I have.
NOTES & ITEMS
George "Muscles" Hoke reports from Minneapolis that his squash is "better than it's been for four or five years, and last winter I took the Twin State championship here."
Up in Boston Bill Ellis, president of W. H. Ellis and Sons, New England's oldest pier and bridge builders, has been named a trustee of the Boston City Hospital. Bill is also publisher and editor of the East Boston Free Press and the Winthrop Free Press.
Loring Jordan, a lawyer with Rackemann, Sawyer and Brewster in Boston, has been serving as moderator for the town of Wake-field for the last several years.
John Parfitt, osteopathic doctor in Manchester, N. H., has gotten involved in politics by becoming chairman of the local "Merrow-for»Congress" committee.
Steve Hopkins now has his own business in Boston - "Commercial, Industrial Development, Mortgages," he calls it - and his latest big project is developing a new stadium for the Boston Patriots, the new pro football team.
Sid Simons, also in Boston, is helping to run his family hardware business.
The Lauterbach Award for distinguished service in the field of civil liberties (established by the friends of our late classmate, Richard E. Lauterbach) was awarded this year to Ralph McGill, well-known editor of the Atlanta Constitution.
Recuperating in Dick's House at Hanover is Dr. John Gilbert, who has recently been subjected to a bit of surgery. But John expects to be up and around to join us at Reunion.
Schuyler Cornthwaite, who went on to graduate from Albany. Law School and acquire a Master's degree in education at the University of New Hampshire, is now principal of the Duanesburg (N. Y.) Central School.
A recent issue of The Social Pictorial carried a picture of Harold Kennedy squiring Gloria Swanson at a fashionable social do in Palm Beach, Fla.
A note from Dan Reagan reports that he is still practicing eye, ear, nose and throat medicine in Worcester, Mass. "See Biddy Chase frequently - even climb mountains with him. We think it has got to stop soon we're too old! Have a state golf champ in the family, my youngest son."
Getting together with Ralph Specht out in Plainfield, N. J., one Sunday recently for refreshments and conversation were Bill Mann, Jim Boldt, Greg Karch and your secretary. Bill is now sales manager of the Sheet Division of Cannon Mills; Jim is with the advertising department of Singer Sewing Machine; and Greg is with the Maywood Chemical Company in North Jersey..
Last word about entertainment tycoon, Harry Ackerman, is that he is not only vice president and executive producer at Screen Gems, but that he also is part owner of "Dennis the Menace," "The Donna Reed Show," "Tightrope" and an important new TV property upcoming this fall. Harry, it may be remembered, is a collector of American historical documents and memorabilia, possessing, among other things, Abraham Lincoln's legal portfolio and one of Abe's personal pocket-knives.
REUNION . . . LAST CALL . . .
Chairman Ralph Specht reports that lastminute details are rapidly falling into shape, and that everything will be in readiness for the biggest, greatest, most prodigious clambake ever scheduled for the plains of Hanover! If any of you have any last-minute questions, simply get in touch with Specht at 24 Phelps Road, Ridgewood, N. J., Gilbert 4-9108.
Ted Steele and Ted Harbaugh report that contributions for the important 25 Year Gift are coming in most gratifyingly, and that by Reunion time they expect we will have gone over the total goal of $326,000.
The 25 Year Book, edited by Don Cameron, should be off the presses by the time you read this, and it is planned for a copy to be in your hands before Reunion so that you will have a chance to review photographs and case histories of your illustrious classmates before you see their balding pates and bulging midriffs in Hanover on June 16-19.
Thanks to each and every one of you who has made my job easier these last five years by providing all the good help you have given me. See you at Reunion....
Flash: Specht reports the latest count of those coming to Reunion "over 700, including men, wives, kids and household pets."
Secretary, 17East45thSt.,NewYork 17,N.Y.
Class Agent, Libby Division, Owens Illinois Glass Co. Box 1035, Toledo, Ohio
