1940

The College recently sent us a change of address for Ike "Weed indicating a rather major change of locale from New Hampshire to Norway! A note to Ike asking, "What gives?", brought a quick and most interesting reply which we quote in its entirety.

Thanks for your card and note. We won't be back in N. H. until August of 1961 so I guess I will miss the grand gathering of grey-bearded Forties in their forties.

I am a bit embarrassed not to have a quick answer when you ask what takes us to Norway. Life in N. H. was sweet, and business was good, but a rut is a rut. We decided that we needed a good fat change of scenery in which to check our bearings, renew enthusiasm, and have a few new experiences.

We chose to go to Scandinavia because it has become such a wellspring of design for modern furniture and related crafts. It was either Finland or Norway, and we picked the latter because of the mountains, the easier language, and better location for access to the rest of Europe. We are not efficient tourists so we wanted to take our time, settle down, put the children in school and live through all the seasons.

So we rented our house, put a "Gone Fishin!" sign on the business, and boarded a Norwegian freighter in Montreal on July 27. This got us to Trondheim on August 6, and we spent two weeks drifting south by bus and ferry through fjords and mountains to Oslo.

We are living on the outskirts of Asker, a booming commuter town 15 miles S.W. of Oslo. It is very much like our location in N. H. Our house is between farmland and spruce forest and looks out over the Oslo fjord from about 500 feet elevation. We can see all of Oslo, including the Holmenkoll ski jump which apparently is the most important structure in Norway.

Our children, Joan fourteen and Teyck eleven, go to a local public school six days per week. They are the only foreigners but both teachers speak English, and after 3 months the kids are beginning to talk Norsk.

Hazel spends her time weaving — She's now making me a new sackcloth ensemble - and housewifing which consists mostly of cooking alternately whale meat and peas and codfish and Brussels sprouts. I have the use of an excellent woodworking shop in a State Teachers' College three miles from home and am trying to improve my cabinetmaking and to experiment with a few new designs.

So far we've made two 'trips out of Norway to Copenhagen and Stockholm. We hope to get to Helsinki before long and then to swing down into France and to Spain or Italy on a camping trip in the spring. Enough chatter. I'll try to give you some more dope in the spring. Merry Christmas!

A card from Larry Gordon states: "Wouldn't have come back without His help - not that I suddenly got religion! Was flying a plane that crashed in Aug. '47.... Being badly smashed up, was forced to give up my position with Bethlehem Steel. Got so could walk and three years later took a job with the U.S. Finishing Company of Norwich, Conn., then Pratt and Whitney in Hartford as Control Analyst in Experimental Engi- neering Department, and finally, this job as Research Director and manager of the Aluminum Tube Division for LaPointe. Get by - using left side and hobbling. Wife, Annette (Rockwell), Junior (seventeen), Lea (fifteen), and Suzanne (twelve) are still intact. Hobbies are now gunning and fishing - fly only now and then. Have a 1796 renovated saltbox and 28 acres for stable of six horses. Being "un-horsey" I'm relegated to using the jeep and plow for a bull-dozer on manure! Some deal - see you in June."

Jabbo Blass in Little Rock was expecting a visit from Ed Oppenheim '39 from Oklahoma City. His department store keeps him too busy for many other activities, but a compensation for his efforts presented itself last summer in the form of a combined business and pleasure trip to Europe.

Frank Whaland has been awarded the designation of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter by the American Institute for Property and Liability Underwriters at the society's annual meeting in Detroit. This degree awarded after rigid examinations has only been received by some 2500 people out of the millions engaged in the insurance profession. Only three others in Massachusetts have received the designation.

Our children have again prevailed upon us to allow them to put up the tree weeks before Christmas, and as a result we have already made our annual contribution to the profits of Hugh Dryfoos's company. He reports that the ornament business is better than ever, so good in fact that he has already made the down payment on a five-weeks' trip to Hawaii next spring which may cause him to miss reunion in June.

Ed Gardiner writes that he has at last fulfilled a life time ambition and climbed Mount Rainier. Most of us pale at the thought!

Jack Fitzgerald (no relation to Jack Fitzgerald Kennedy that we know of) reports: "Met Don McCaffrey in Boston who is assisting Mayor Buckley of Lawrence in establishing a trade high school. Don is a Lt. Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He is currently; serving as commanding officer of VTU 1-45 in Lawrence."

From far off Raleigh, N. C., "Mac" McAllister writes: "Not much news from here. Can't remember when I last saw a classmate. Still have same job, District Manager for the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, located in Raleigh, N. C. Wife, Louisa, is becoming quite a golfer and beats me consistently. Daughters, 800, thirteen, and Gayle, eleven, are growing like weeds and say they want to go to Smith. Hope to see you at reunion."

Dave Leake is now in Northbrook, Ill.: "Moved here about a year ago to a new as- signment with McGraw Hill. I am now district manager for our Textile World magazine. Have missed several Dartmouth get-togethers but have seen Jack McDonald (Evanston) and Bud Krone (St. Louis). Children are frozen at two - David Jr. (ten) and Rebecca (eight). Missed the east this past summer. Sold the sailboat before moving and will have to get started again next year. Plans for the reunion sound excellent. Hope nothing prevents our attending." Have you made your reunion plans?

Secretary, 21 Old Farm Road, Darien, Conn.

Treasurer, 88 North Main St., Concord, N. H.