1923

Hip Conley is an excellent spokesman for the many '23 men who marvel at Irish Flaivigan's ability to edit year after year the long series of Skiddoos, never repeating himself once, collecting informative news and cementing the relationships of the members of the class. Hip by the way has spent most of his career in the trust department of the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago but now is in the Commercial Department, Division of Public Funds. He is now interested in having a Branch Banking Bill pass the General Assembly in Springfield which will permit branching in the entire state of Illinois and is very busy convincing legislators that Branch Banking is a good thing.

Irish Flanigan is taking three months' leave from his office this spring to spark a campaign for $550,000 to provide Aquinas House with a new home on the "Dow Property," a two-amd-one-half-acre tract of land diagonally opposite President Dickey's house and gardens. This remarkable venture in Christian living was conceived in 1953 as a center for the hundreds of Dartmouth Catholic students in Hanover.

Those planning a Mediterranean cruise or a tour of Spain should make a note of Stan Richmond's new permanent address at Calvo Sotelo 308, Palma de Mallorca, the principal port in the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. Stan and Eleanor have spent the past two winters in Palma, returning to Wellesley in the spring. Now they are permanent residents and wrote on February 9 about the warm but never too hot weather, the almond trees in full bloom, the fuchsias, a riot of color over the garden wall, the scented violets, iris, etc., ad nauseam. Always one to extract full mileage from a dollar, Stan quotes prices in Mallorca that are too good to repeat. Their residence is a charming villa on a hilltop overlooking the harbor of Palma and the mountains beyond; of foursquare, a stone construction with a balustraded roof it boasts a forty-foot living room with a seventeen-foot, vaulted ceiling, ceramic, mosaic tile floors and French windows . . . all at prices that sound like a Federal Low Rent Public Housing Project.

Al and Marge Merritt have just completed a jaunt around the world. They were entertained for dinner by Kanky and Mildred Chun, in Honolulu. The Chuns drove them around to many places which the tourist usually misses. When they departed Mildred gave Marge a huge box of orchids which she raises as a hobby.

Jim Broe organized a very successful Eastern Massachusetts luncheon at the UnionClub in Boston on April 14. About forty attended and listened to Bill Welch relate hisexperiences on a recent trip to Tahiti, Fiji,Australia, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. HenryBixby '26, a close relative of the secretary,talked on his sixty-day tour of East andSoutheast Africa. While in Tahiti Bill Welchvisited John Farnham and writes as followsabout John:

Not every man sitting in English II at 103 Dartmouth on a snowy day dreaming about an exotic Pacific Isle brings to fulfillment the yearnings that go with such a dream, but our classmate, John Farnham, of Portland, Me., did just that. At the conclusion of his second year, he went to Tahiti and after an extended visit there, returned to San Francisco to make his mark in the automobile business. One year of the humdrum of this was enough to convince John that the charm of the South Seas was far more rewarding. Seven years as a planter on the beautiful island of Moorea was followed by a business career as an importer in Papeete, the capital of TahitiJohn is at present semi-retired, his family college educated, in France and his daughter serving as secretary to the Governor. The quiet, relaxing life without pressures or tensions has become such a part of John's life that I am sure it will never change.

After ten years we are glad to report on Dwight Keefe. He has now been with the New York Telephone Co. over thirty years. He handles methods work on personnel and payroll problems. In his spare time Dwight is busy wih church and Red Cross activities, and teaches public speaking. His hobby is his garden. At this time of year he is apt to have blisters from raking and backaches from hoeing and weeding.

After twenty years we have a brief resume of George Cooke's activities.

I am standards engineer with Collyer Insulated Wire Company of Pawtucket, R. I. My wife Anne and I live here in Rumford in an eighteenth century house which we are endeavoring to restore to some extent on a "do it yourself" basis. Annual vacations seem to be spent in trips to the northern and western areas of the country where we usually find ample opportunities to indulge in our hobbies of fishing and color photography. Must admit that I have yet to attend my first reunion at Hanover but shall do my best to be there at the next one.

Ed Grevatt writes that Harry and Helen Watson were up from Orlando, Fla., last Christmas and called on him. He said Clint Wells is now fully recovered from his heart attack.

Phil Bowker rotates between Fort Lauderdale in winter and Norway in summer. He sails for Norway on July 5.

Ken Churchill has received a well deserved promotion in the Merrimac Mutual Fire Insurance Company and is now vice president of the Andover Companies in charge of accounting and statistical. For thirty years Ken has been assistant treasurer.

Dud Hawkins writes Sam Home that he is still with Continental Can engaged in various sales functions. Dud married a Shreveport, La., girl in 1340. He and Florence have three son's: 12, 13, and 19, and now live in Hamilton, Mass.

Bob Bradish was with us for two years in Hanover when he was in Dartmouth Medical School. For 34 years he served in the U.S.A. Medical Corps with distinction. He is now semi-retired and enjoys hunting and salt water fishing from his Topsail Island beach home in Fayetteville on the North Carolina coast.

Phil Smith and his wife Lyn had an experience in Florida this winter they will not forget in a long time. They left their home in Hughesville, Md., for a vacation in southern Florida. The second night out, in a motel in St. Augustine, Phil suddenly needed medical attention. The motel manager could not be raised and Lyn knew not a soul in town. She finally enlisted the help of a young chap who lived nearby who turned out to be the son of one of the leading citizens and Phil was shortly in a hospital with a good doctor in attendance. Everyone figured ulcers but no. None of the medics could spot anything. In 36 hours Phil was on the critical list and Lyn agreed to an emergency exploratory operation. Much to the surprise of everyone it turned out to be a ruptured appendix and general peritonitis. For days the medics gave Lyn no hope. After a series of intravenous feedings, blood transfusions, antibiotics Phil in his own words "walked up to the Pearly Gates, turned around and marched back again. It was sure rough on Lyn all alone in a strange town." By a stroke of good fortune Phil's son Greg whom he has not seen for two years came into Mayport, Fla., on the "Saratoga" just as Phil was released from the hospital and, through the Red Cross, was able to visit his dad.

Bill Corrigan, Monk Keith and Dick Kershaw, all '23, met recently for dinner at the Empire Room of the Waldorf Astoria.

Secretary, 170 Washington St. Haverhill, Mass.

Class Agent, James D. Landauer Associates, Inc. 666 Fifth Ave., New York 19, N. Y.