1951
It is with, considerable sadness that I find myself breaking three months of silence in these columns to report the tragic death of Bob Bowler in a private plane crash on August 31. Bob’s untimely passing leaves a gaping hole in the ranks of those men who have actively led our Class.
Bob and his good wife Jean were among a group of thirteen Chicago area classmates, most present with wives or dates, who gathered at Pete and Nancy Henderson's on July 22 for beer, hot dogs, baked 'beans, and viewing the Fifth and Tenth Reunion movies which your itinerant Class Secretary was in the process of carting across the country.
The turn-out at the Chicago edition of ’sl’s floating Eleventh Reunion is a tribute to men like Bob Bowler who have made Chicago the hottest hotbed of Class activ- ity around the country. Others on hand were Tom Barnett, Jim and Elaine Bovaird,Tom Flack and date. Jack and Teddy Gei-gerich, John and Joan Greenwood, NedHoeppner, Bob Hopkins, Dave and JaniceKing, Class Chairman Herb Knight, Chuckand Nancy Nadler, and Will and Mae Rowe.
The floating Eleventh was the brainchild of yours truly, who decided that this year’s American Bar Association annual meeting was as good an excuse as any to revisit San Francisco. There’s a lot of space between Philadelphia and there, and it’s liberally sprinkled with ’sl’s.
I decided to drive across the country and make a try at seeing classmates and organ- izing class meetings en route. In all, I made thirteen Dartmouth stops and saw 45 class- mates. Several classmates not only took it upon themselves to make this stuffy old Philadelphia lawyer feel at home but also did yeoman’s service, not always with much success, in drumming up attendance among other classmates in their areas during the peak of the vacation season, which wasn’t easy.
With the news that’s piled up over the summer, there is space to recount this month only the beginning of my Dartmouth grand tour. It is my intention to list not only those I saw but also what they are now doing, unless this has been previously re- ported in these columns. This surfeit of news, I am sure, will shortly run out, so I now urgently solicit your correspondence.
Prior to Chicago, I stopped in a small New England-like exurb of Cleveland named Hudson, which Head Class Agent DickRogers calls home. The arrival of Dick and Greta’s fourth girl, Emily, on June 21, no more seemed to handicap their hospitality than it did Dick’s superb job with this year’s Alumni Fund. All of you have by now seen the final report. ’5l did itself proud dollar- wise, but we’ve still got a way to go partic- ipationwise.
Cleveland area ’5Ts apparently took to the hills when they heard I was coming, but Dick did dredge up a goodly quantity of news. Case McKibben is now in Cleve- land with Conover-Mast Publications. JohnnyBoardman fled for Los Angeles where he assumed a position with the Kaiser Founda- tion in July. Bo and Marilyn Fiertz were in the midst of moving to Newburgh, N. Y„ and reported the arrival of their third girl in April.
After Chicago, I headed for Kansas City, where after having my new car smacked in the rear by a Missourian who did $2.78 damage to me and about $3OO to himself, I finally made it to Howie Bissell’s in Over- land Park, Kan. Howie, wife Marny and two sons with golfing nicknames also played host for the evening to Paul and Kit Staley.
From there, it was across the endless plains to that mile-high city with a mag- nificent view of the Rockies. Bob and SallyFullerton welcomed me to Denver. The “ledge” and I spent so much time talking law that I’m afraid Bob Hackstaff became thoroughly bored. From there, I headed on to the Tetons and Yellowstone, where there are, unfortunately, no ’sl’s of record.
We’re trying to continue the floating Eleventh at football games this fall. As of the time of writing, the only definite word I have is with regard to home games in Hanover. Jack Skewes will head up pre- game gatherings in the Bema.
While there are no marriages or engage- ments to report this time, the Class is still hard at work creating problems for Eddie Chamberlain and his staff. Don and CarolMorse report the arrival of their third son, Earle Rutledge, on April 6. (Bob Black- man: Please take note; he was 8% lbs. on arrival.) To ease Eddie’s tensions, “Stretch”and Kaye Mulloy’s second girl, Anne-Marie, arrived on May 19.
Bob and Janet Rutstein now have three adopteds: Kenneth T., pushing three; Ron- ald, pushing two; and Lori Ann, pushing one. Joe and Donna Welch have adopted Jonathan Hale, seven months by the time you read this.
Newspaper reading, as Great Issues taught, pays off. The June 10 “Daily D” lists DonHerdeg as receiving an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tuck School. Philadel- phia’s own paper “everybody reads” carried 16 inches of AP copy on July 11 on KentMcKenzie’s movie about displaced Amer- ican Indians, “The Exiles.” The story not only relates how Kent scraped together the money to produce it but also that it won first prize at the Manheim, Germany, film festival.
Houston, Texas, is still home to ChampSmith although he’s moved from employ- ment with the Conti- nental Can Company to a new post in charge of personnel and pub- lic relations for the Southwestern Savings Association. Champ’s a veteran of five years’ service as a navigator with the Air Force’s Strategic Air Com- mand and the posses- sor of a master’s degree from the Wharton School. He and his wife and daughter live in Houston and are very active in church work.
Philadelphia recently snared one of our Class’ staid New Englanders, Gary Mansur. Gary is now with the Marketing Division of Smith, Kline & French (the pill-pushing SKF). ’Twill be interesting to see whether Gary and wife Marge will trade their Ken- nedy “A” for the Philadelphia “A.”
At the other end of Pennsylvania (over the mountains), Bill Brooks is now man- ager of Texaco’s Pittsburgh District Office, Bill and wife Skip, with sons Don and John, live in Bakerstown. Also in the “B’s,” we understand that Fred Brown has gone with IBM in Binghamton, N. Y.
Add one more to the class list of Ph.D. recipients. In June The Rockefeller Institute bestowed this worthy degree on Dr. DaveWhite. This makes Dave a “doctor” twice over, for in 1955 he gained his M.D. from the School of Medi- cine at Tufts Univer- sity. Dave and his wife Sandra are new res- idents of Kentucky where Dave has ac- cepted a post as assistant professor of bio- chemistry at the University of Kentucky’s School of Medicine.
Chicagoan Bob Damon is now President of Bowser, Inc. Michigander Reed Badgley, formerly director of marketing and public relations for radio station WKMH in Dear- born, has gone with Wallace-Blakeslee in Grand Rapids as an account executive.
Dick Reed is now Assistant Director of Administration for the Ford Foundation. Dick has also made Major in the Marine Corps reserve. Don Clark, M.D. of New London, N. H. (Colby Junior College, in case you’ve forgotten), was recently board- certified in internal medicine. Piano-playing Dave Wiggins now has his own shingle for “business investment surveys” hanging out in Minneapolis.
Fred Lord, who had his finger in several musical pies in Hanover, then headed for the Harvard Business School, still keeps his finger in the musical pie in Pittsfield, Mass. In June, Fred played Brack Weaver in Kurt Weill’s one-act opera, “Down in the Valley.” Fred had previously done Mr. Snow in “Carousel” and is tenor soloist at South Church in Pittsfield.
Secretary, 2107 Fidelity-Phila. Trust Bldg. Philadelphia 9, Penna. Treasurer, 3225 Observatory Ave., Cincinnati 8, O
