1914

A fellow named Burton Hillis says: "When you are pushing seventy, son, that is all the exercise you need." So under this polite stricture, let us extend warmest birthday greetings to: Barsaloux, Burleigh, Castle, F. H. Colby, Dillingham, Crandall, DeWitt, W. C. Gilbert, Griffith, Harrison, Howe, Kittredge, McDonough, Marceau, Overton, Shields, P. W. Smith, Stillman, and P. D. Webster.

You may or may not believe that we deserve the aura of "The Famous Class of 1914," but you certainly cannot deny the fact that we are a unique class. No other class and no other college can match this one: We have a descendant of the whole Harvard class of 1653. That is Dan Chase, whose ancestor was Philip Nelson, of Rowley, Mass., the only graduate of the class of 1653 at Harvard. As Dan says, this man had no problems with class letters, reunions, dues, and requests from the class secretary for information! He was it! Dan, who lives down at Dennisport, Mass., on the Cape, admits to five novels, some sparkling essays, has been a teacher, Army historian, and lately a researcher in Cape Cod records in family history. He lives in a pleasant 250-year-old Cape Codder where the storm tides cover his driveway, and he is secure in the belief that the other side of the canal is inhabited chiefly by Indians, catamounts, and Democrats. He has had good visits during the past year from Chuck Kingsley, RoscoeDeWitt, and "The Moose" Engelhorn.

If you heard police sirens and saw a convoy of armored cars on the way from Massachusetts to Florida, it was probably our Class Treasurer, Charlie Batchelder, moving the class treasury to St. Petersburg. Now that the strong box is safely located at 17,715 Gulf Boulevard, it is time to warn all would-be depredators that the very healthy class treasury is probably more safely guarded than Fort Knox.

"String" Howe writes from Bridgeville, Pa., about the very disastrous fire in his home. They woke up Thanksgiving morning at 4 o'clock to find the back end of their one-hundred-year-old farmhouse in flames. The lights went out, there was fumbling for a flashlight and a general consternation with nothing to do but get out fast. Dot and "String" rescued a few precious personal belongings, but everything else was a total loss. It was not a very happy Thanksgiving for the genial Howes. The tragedy was a double one because in spite of ample insurance, they lost many family heirlooms. Naturally — if you remember "String" very well - the neighbors turned to with real country hospitality, and now that all the problems of the disaster are more or less settled down, they are resettled comfortably in a fine, new brick house with all the necessary amenities of the kind of living to which "String" had been rightly accustomed. Good luck from now on!

John Peppard is now living at Maple Crest Home in East Sullivan, Me., and I am sure that John would be very glad, indeed, to hear from all who remember this kindly, philosophical gentleman.

Here's some more good news. "Lay" Little has agreed to undertake the task of writing the story of undergraduate activities for the Golden Book. This is a further guarantee that the Golden Book will be a worthwhile job from every point of view. "Lay," of course, is now officially retired, living at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D. C., and is unflagging in his devotion to the class and the college. He is built that way.

You remember a dark-haired, earnest, and extremely able youngster by the name of John Hanna, so you won't be at all surprised to know that Jack retired from the Columbia Law School faculty and is now what they call a Distinguished Professor at St. Mary's College in San Antonio and Babcock Professor of Law at Wake Forest College in Winston-Salem, N. C. Jack very modestly says that "a lawyer, even if he is an author, leaves only faint footprints on the sands of time." Jack's book on "Cooperative Associations" is of real significance and some of his casebooks - especially the one on Security - have had a manifest effect on the teaching of law. Jack and his daughter Cornelia, who graduated from Smith in 1960, had a delightful world trip early this year. His daughter Elizabeth (Mrs. Valentin von Braitenberg) lives in an ancient castle in the magnificent Tyrol. His daughter Margaret lives in Falmouth with her husband and three little boys. Jack's son, John Jr., is now Assistant U. S. Attorney in New York. All of this amounts up to a distinguished record for a distinguished classmate.

William Emerson Barrett, "Em" to you, showed up at the dinner of the Newcomen Society where he sat next to our perennial circulater, Pennell Aborn. "Em," of course, is treasurer of the important Maverick Mills of East Boston, and I can testify to the fact that "Em" still smokes very excellent, clear Havana cigars! The fragrance lingers on long after the luncheon dishes have been cleared away.

"Looie" Littlefield reports that he has recovered from an attack of pneumonia which was a very "heavy touch." We don't know whether "Looie" is still playing tennis or not, but he reports that Win Webber is still active on the courts and giving a very good account of himself against much younger men.

Ted Main writes from Cocoa Beach, Fla., that he will act as a "news funnel" for his area. That is more good news, because Ted will do a thorough and welcome job in what seems to me an important area of class activity. He has an imposing array of nine grandchildren all in good health and all happy. And that's an achievement!

The final paragraph is a request. We have had some corking good pictures of undergraduate days and we like to publish them, but the supply is diminishing. So, we ask you to go into the attic, down into the cellar, or wherever you keep those priceless mementos of our vanished youth, and see what you can dig up in the way of photographs of undergraduate days. You may remember that you haven't changed a bit in these 47 years. Your hair may have vanished, your belt may be a little bit larger, you may be able to take out some or all of your teeth at night, but your wife still calls you "Dear" and a lot of us like to remember you - even though you haven't changed a bit - as you used to appear climbing up Velvet Rocks or riding on the back of Hughie Croall's truck. So let's see how close you can come to the humor of the good picture that Rufe Sisson submitted and which was published recently.

Secretary, Farwell Lane, New London, N. H.

Treasurer, 165 Marlboro St., Wollaston 70, Mass.

Bequest Chairman,