1914
"When you are young you do a lot of wishful thinking, when you are older you do a lot of thoughtful wishing."
Under these conditions, we salute the following who have birthdays in December: Curtis, F. A. Davidson, Dellinger. Donovan, Edson, Emerson, Gardner, Hallett, Hoyt, Littlefield, McLaughlin, Pooler, Welsh, and Wheelock.
If you ever decide to get up in the middle of the night and go looking for something in the refrigerator, remember to turn on the light, get the police-dog out of the way, or get plenty of bandages and doctors ready at hand. "Lew" Littlefield didn't make these advance preparations and, as a result, the doctor told him that any 200-pounder who wanders around in the night-time without these precautions gets what he deserves. The next time "Lew" gets up at midnight to raid the pantry, he will try to make certain that this takes place where it is always daylight.
We who knew him at Andover - and many of us continued the habit through college - called him "Paduc." That, of course, is our own John M. Palmer. John's family certainly has established several records; but the one that stands out is a most unusual one. He is one of five Palmer brothers to have graduated from Dartmouth: Donald '10; Russell '10; Raymond '11; John '14; and Wayne '17. John was good enough to look up the alumni records at Hanover and finds that the Palmer family came in second in this family performance. Way back in 1827, a minister sent seven sons through Dartmouth. And that on a minister's salary is more than a record — it is a phenomenon! John writes that he and Clotilde are not in the best of health and that they live very quietly in Larchmont, N. Y., near their four grandchildren, the oldest of whom is Edward E. Baker Jr., a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford.
Now we have a note from Roger "Dentifrice" Rice, from Boothbay Harbor. Roger is commercially ambivalent - a thriving real estate business in beautiful Boothbay every summer and an equally thriving book business in the winter. That is a very pleasant juxtaposition. Roger's son, Emery, Dartmouth '42, is with the Pneumatic Scale Company in Wollaston. He has three children. His daughter, Dorothy Brown (Colby Jr. College '46), of Southport, Conn., has three children. Ruth, who graduated from Colby Jr. College in '54, is executive secretary to Northeast Airlines in Boston.
And now a brief note from "Herb" Austin, whose son has deserted the ancestral acres of Wellesley to engage in the winter resort business in St. Croix in the islands with the intriguing name - Virgin Islands. Bob graduated from Dartmouth in 1940 and has done much to uphold the Austin prestige.
Many, many years ago, I met the Sales Manager of Westclox. When he discovered that I had graduated from Dartmouth in 1914, he asked me if I knew "Sig" Larmon. When I admitted that I did, he said, "Sig will go far." A few years later, Wilfred Frye, President of N. Y. Ayer & Son, asked me if I knew Sig and made the same comment. Both predictions were more than borne out in the following years, because "Sig" became Chairman of the Board of Young and Rubicam, one of the three largest advertising agencies in the world. Sig has long been one of the outstanding mem- bers of our college generation, has served on the Board of Trustees, and received an M.A. from Dartmouth in 1948. Now Sig is formally retiring from active business life after a career which has thrown luster on our college and on "The Famous Class of 1914." All our congratulations and best wishes go to Sig.
The Reverend "Lize" Wheelock has just returned with his good wife Polly from a most enjoyable trip to the Scandinavian countries and to Rotterdam, where they attended the meeting of the International Congregational Council - with representatives from 41 different countries. At this meeting the Reverend Wheelock was elected to his third term as Treasurer of this important organization. After Scandinavia and Holland, they went to Switzerland. They climbed the Matterhorn, we are told, in a Volkswagen which, in our opinion, is the way to climb a mountain! He reports that he has had three good visits recently at Osterville on the Cape with Sig Larmon, Howard Fahey and Dan Chase, and that they all look well. It seems to me that 1914 has some sort of patent on aging gracefully (well anyway, we can think so!).
Another '14er who gets around is Ted Main. Ted and Marion have just returned from a trip to the British Isles and report a very enjoyable vacation. The Ted Mains have sold their home in Florida and plan - unless the smog gets too thick and sand storms too devastating - to remain in California where their daughter lives in Santa Ana. That gives us an idea; we need a lively news correspondent in southern California and Ted is just the man for it.
Your treasurer, Charlie Batchelder, is pulling up Massachusetts stakes for the winter and, as usual, will do his golfing in Florida. He will also do his "treasuring" there. So, if your class dues are not paid, you can expect to hear from Charlie from Florida.
Sam Sheldon writes that our good friend, John Peppard, would like very much to hear from 1914ers and to see those who happen to come near him. John used to lend enough of us money, and take care of us in other ways, so that I think John deserves a note from us every once in a while. This philosophical fellow can be reached at Maplecrest Nursing Home in Sullivan, Me.; and I know that John would welcome a note.
The apple king of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, George Boggs, wrote that he was in the midst of picking one of the best crops of apples he had ever had, although it has been a great year for rain in that beautiful Annapolis Valley where he lives. George has been up there many years and, as you would expect from his college record, has been most successful.
If you ever considered going to Florida, as Ponce de Leon did in "search of the fountain of youth, don't move another step. "Win" Webber has apparently discovered this boon to humanity. He is about to publish his book called, provisionally, "The Book of the Age." It is divided into sections: (1) Age and Rejuvenation, (2) Health and Longevity, (3) The Nature of Life, (4) The Fountain of Perpetual Youth. This will be written and published by our own lean-jawed H. Winthrop Webber. It will be complete with photographic illustrations, and we hope that one of the pictures will show our famous tennis player beating the britches off some youngster of about 18. "Win" can do it, because the record shows that when he isn't writing books and playing tennis he is swimming, diving, skating, and doing all the other things that a youngster is supposed to do. Oh yes, he also goes on lecture tours and sells excellent clothing tailored in Hcng Kong. He also plays chess. Win divides his time between Sandwich on the Cape, Washington, D. C., and Florida. Peripatetic, we call it.
Secretary, Farwell Lane, New London, N. H.
Treasurer, 165 Marlboro St., Wollaston 70, Mass.
