1939

We had dinner and spent an evening with Cece and Russ Fette in St. Louis last week. Russ is branch manager of New England Life and the mad mandarin has mellowed "occidentally." Gone are chop sticks and joss-house jive replaced with fork-eaten roast beef and local politics. Their two sons and daughter are attractive, intelligent, and managed to conjure up a pretty entertaining act. As a guest we were probably pretty peachy too, but no one ever says those things. A Texas cousin of Cece's has just been appointed an astronaut with the natural comment that it certainly is a small world. Russ was in Hanover last summer en route to or from youngest son's camp and bunked one night at The Inn where he ran into Mike Ellis (Mayer Ellis Abrahamson).

Now this guy Ellis gets around. We not only get peppered with news clippings from the Alumni Records Office, but we even stumble upon vignettes in our own voracious reading such as the sports section in the Sept. 14 Time Magazine describing the victorious engagements of the British Tiddlywinks Team in their five weeks' rout of U. S. Team contenders this summer. From coast to coast, with their expert "squidging" they "squopped" their adversaries until (we quote Time) "Last week, when the British winkers met the likes of S. J. Perelman and Stage Director-Producer Mike Ellis in Bucks County, there was a hint of opposition. Perelman lost with a debonair, hand-inpocket flair; Ellis' keen squidging eye and steady wrist made him one of the few Yanks who avoided a shutout."

Mike's production "Come Blow Your Horn" recently opened in London and is still listed as one of the "Long Runs" on Broadway. But the payoff is this quip we read in the Sept. 5 New York Times (you guessed it - sent in by Browny) about Mike's brush with the union — "Generosity must be precise, according to Actors Equity. The union of stage performers made the ruling today in connection with a contract that Tom Ewell signed for an appearance at the Bucks County Playhouse in 'Harvey.'

"After listing its terms the agreement added: 'The actor may have anything else he wants.' Equity notified the producer, Mike Ellis, that the rider was 'so indefinite as to its meaning, we must exercise our prerogative to refuse it as part of the contract.' Mr. Ellis said the clause had been inserted in the interest of brevity."

And speaking of Browny, we report with pride J. Moreau Brown was re-elected to a three-year term as general secretary of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. This makes him the fraternity's executive officer, and even this is spare-time service in addition to his work as administrator of the educational support program of General Electric. The election was held in Asheville, N. C., Aug. 31 at Beta's 123rd convention with over 500 undergraduates present from 99 chapters, and that's a lot of brothers for anybody's goat room.

Our politico this season is Chet Wiggin of Conway, N. H., who is running for Republican nomination to Congress from New Hampshire's first district. Whether or not he makes it, he certainly has the qualifications. He is a member of the bar from New Hampshire, the District of Columbia, and the bar of the United States Supreme Court. He was a well decorated Marine Corps officer in World War II, and one of the youngest members ever to serve in the New Hampshire State Legislature. At the end of the war he served as legal assistant to the Secretary of Navy, and in 1953 was appointed administrative assistant to Senator Styles Bridges until his death in 1961. He currently serves in the same capacity to Senator Norris Cotton. In addition to all this, he is about to be married (or by the time you read this he may already be hitched) to Miss Joyce A. Guyer of Littleton who also served Senator Styles Bridges for nine years as personal secretary. Obviously here is a couple with mutual interests.

Col. Bill Parkhill has moved for the second time this year, this time to Palo Alto, Calif., Apt. H, 240 Hawthorne Ave. And Don Bridge, who we reported several months ago leaving Tryon, N. C., for the Pacific northwest, has mysteriously turned up at 4915 Sharonwood Ave., N. W., Canton 9, Ohio.

Frank Davis has been doing public relations work for Shell Oil in the Midland, Texas, area for the past seven years and has recently been moved to Shell's public relations office in Houston. He and wife Ruth have a married daughter, Mrs. Joanne Osley of Harmon AFB, Newfoundland; son Robert, 19, a junior at Southern Methodist, and Julie, 13.

The Alumni Records Office informed us last August 14 of the death of Richard L. Cornelius last January 15 in New York City. They received this word in a letter from his stepmother, Mrs. Laurence Cornelius, Apt. 304, 505 Cherry St., Grand Rapids, Mich. Cause of death was not stated. We wrote Mrs. Cornelius for details, but have received no reply. If any classmate has the particulars, please write us.

If any of you have seen the Fifty Year Book published by the class of 1912 for their 50th reunion we would appreciate your comments. We think it is great, and something we should plan to emulate. We have a copy and would be glad to mail it to anyone interested on a circulating loan basis.

Secretary, 1908 Coolidge Drive Dayton 19, Ohio

Treasurer, 25 Sound View Drive Bay Hills, Long Island, N. Y.