1937
This has been a sad several weeks for your Secretary as far as Dartmouth affairs are concerned. We have lost two loyal classmates in the space of only two weeks. You will find a notice about George E. Stock in the In Memoriam column of this month's issue. And a similar notice on Harold B. Evans will appear in the near future.
Some weeks ago we began to gather up-to-date information on the small but erudite group of chemistry majors in our Class. This was intended to be a report to Dr. Elden B. Hartshorn, who was chairman of that department during our time, and who has followed our careers with extraordinary interest. We had heard that Dr. Hartshorn was not well, and was wintering in Hanover instead of in Florida in order to be near his doctors. But before we could get the data gathered and put together, we learned that he had passed away. This month's column, then, will include a few reports that we received.
Let's start with Joe Tardiff, on whom we reported briefly a couple months ago. Joe writes: "After working for Hooker Chemical Corp. at Niagara Falls, N. Y., during the summer between junior and senior years I went with them at graduation as a control chemist. I worked in a technical capacity for about five years, then went into the Personnel Dept. as Safety Engineer. I worked in various phases of personnel such as safety training, labor relations, job evaluation, etc. After about ten years of this I was made an assistant supervisor, a job in Production Supervision. This only lasted about six months and turned out to be a training job for my next appointment, Works Manager of the new caustic-chlorine plant in Montegue, Mich. There I stayed until recently when I was made Manager of Personnel Development at the corporate headquarters at New York City. I'll be reporting there shortly (right now I'm taking a training course in Chicago). I expect to be moving the family to New York City in June after schools ends. Haven't yet had a chance to start looking for a place to live. In any event, chances are we'll run into each other a little more frequently than has been the case in the past.
"Now for some family history. Married in 1938. Have two boys and one girl. The oldest boy is now a sophomore at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich. He wants to be a physicist. He is going to study in Germany this summer as the result of a scholarship granted by the college. My daughter will be graduating from high school in June and has just been accepted at the University of New Hampshire (my wife's school). The youngest will be going into high school next fall."
Roy Abbott reports that he is still mixed up with the technical problems of the General Electric Co. overseas - everything from plant construction to patent and licensing problems. He was out of the country about one-third of the time last year. Roy threatens to someday compile a "list of airports hit." He mentions that his wife Mary and sons, Stephen and Richard, put up, under protest, with the lonesomeness when Roy is away, but the interest and challenge inherent in the job help to compensate.
Then we have an excellent long letter from Burke Welldon. His twenty-year career goes like this: "The most important activity concerns the family, of course: I was married to Marjorie Veazie in September of '41 on the island of Isleboro, Maine - a spot to which we still repair in the summer. Children, Douglas and Polly, appeared in 1947 and 1950, respectively. If present inclinations are followed, Douglas will be a designer of school buildings and Polly will raise horses. No chemistry here! Must be the sad example of the old man!
"Professionally, after four summers of work at Hooker Chemical, I somewhat ungratefully took a job with Hercules after getting a Ph.D. in organic history from Illinois in '42. I can't say that I have really been sorry, although it's been very gratifying in a vicarious way to follow the excellent performance and rapid growth at Hooker.
"After coming to Hercules, I got introduced right away to those attractive and seductive molecules called polymers - chlorinating 'em, stabilizing 'em, degrading 'em, and generally mistreating 'em in ways hopefully calculated to produce an honest dollar for Hercules at some future date. I think the most rewarding part of the whole business came when I was manager of the Research Division which had the responsibility of taking Professor Ziegler's great discovery of new catalysts for olefin polymerization and helping to build this into commerical operations for linear polythylene and polypropylene. Incidentally, Hercules scooped the rest of the American chemical industry by almost two years in getting into production on polypropylene - although who gets the ultimate patent rights to this new material is anybody's guess right now!
"As o£ right now, I am Technical Assistant to Bob Cairns, Hercules Director of Research and recently elected a Director of the American Chemical Society. It's the sort of job that must have served as the inspiration for the famous "Jack-of-all-trades" statement - but I enjoy it thoroughly, perhaps in good part for its very diversity.
"The local area is an ACS hotbed, of course, and I have had the gratifying opportunities of serving on committees, acting as Delaware Section Councilor, and even being faced with the temptation of surplus money handling as Section Treasurer!
"As for non-chemical activities, there's been a certain fascination in struggling along on the Board of Directors of the Wilmington Symphony, trying to provide good music lo cally, facing the handicap that the nearby Philadelphia Symphony attracts most of the local following. Of course, the ever-expanding problem is that of balancing the budget. Things like civic associations, Boy Scouts, and even a little political activity now and then keep life interesting. Then, for honestto-goodness relaxation, both Midge and I en- joy nothing better than a conservative four or five hour session of duplicate bridge."
Just recently we were reading the financial pages of the New York Times, and there we saw a picture of a distinguished appearing gentleman who looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Carl Ray. How does one dare to refer to a Union League Club member as "Mutt"? Anyway, there was a brief announcement of Carl's being named vice-president for marketing of the Royal McBee Corp. Besides numerous professional organizations in which he is active, Carl serves on the Alumni Council, is a trustee of Deerfield Academy, and is a director of Sportsmanship Brotherhood.
Thanks to a card from his wife Shirley, we learn of the advancement of Lester Garvin to the post of vice-president of the First National City Bank of New York. If we remember correctly, Les returned to New York only a couple of years ago after a considerable tour in Venezuela where he was manager of the branch in Caracas. Since his return, he has been in the overseas department, specifically concerned with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
And still another promotion, this one for Bill Greenwood who has just been elected vice-president - underwriting - of Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. Except for time out during World War II, Bill has been with Provident Mutual ever since graduation from Tuck School. Five years ago he was named associate insurance supervisor. He is a fellow of the Life Office Management Association.
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