1931
Due to the date these news columns have to be mailed to Hanover, and the date Beany's newsletter got to you, some of the cards, letters, and phone calls that resulted from the newsletter came just too late to get my thanks for them in the April column. So - in addition to those mentioned last month, I want to thank the following for taking time out to, in one way or another, get their best wishes to me - Len and DottieClark, Frank and Gwen Hodson, Hankand Frances Richmond, Chuck O'Neill and family, "Jim" Swift, Sher Guernsey, Ed Is rummer, Jack and Alice Reno, Bill andMarie Benger, Ted Harms and last, but not least, a wonderful phone conversation with Charlie and Dot McAllister.
Having an operation and a good publicity man like Beany is certainly a good way to get you folks to contact your "old secretary" (because I go out of office after the next few columns) but it surely is the hard way to do it, and I hope Ernie Moore doesn't have to go through all that I did to get news items from you. Nevertheless, and to finish up my personal business with you wonderful folks, I am very pleased to report that I am well out of the woods, have been back at work for three weeks and have survived it well and probably will be in better shape than ever in the near future.
Hank Richmond says "I just received a letter from Bill Wendell who tells me that you have the story of my illness. I guess, therefore, that you know I spent about two months in the hospital and ended up by parting with one of my kidneys. I am making good recovery and tomorrow (March 3) Frances and I are leaving for a trip which will take us to the Mediterranean particularly to Venice where neither of us has been before and where both of us have wanted to go." The Richmonds are now proud grandparents thrice. Their daughter had her second daughter on January 3 and their son Bill '60 was presented with a son, Christopher on last August 30. Chris is bound to be a great success, Hank, because he was born on my birthday! Hope by the time you read this you are hale and hearty again and that your trip proved to be all that you wished it would be.
The Hodsons plan to go to Colorado early in June for Suzanne's graduation. Hope you have a good trip, kids - but come to think of it we'll be seeing you before you leave, so more about the trip then.
Wish the picture on Ed Brummer's card could be reproduced here. Many of you unfortunates who do not live in New England would probably drool over it - a colored photo of a lovely winter's scene with his Woodbound Inn and cottages at Jaffrey, N. H., showing a weekly winter cook-out and play barn and lots and lots of lovely white snow.
Chucker O'Neill isn't kiddin' when he says "with cheers from all your partisans here." What's the family total count now, old timer?
John "Henkel" Reno really let go with a barrel full of info - a page and a half of closely spaced typing. "Henkel" admonishes himself for waiting until something drastic happened to me to prompt him to get around to write some news "and me knowing the problems of your job, to boot." (It was only a few years ago that Jack did a great job of handling this job, remember?) Jack Jr. is pluggin' hard, putting in many hours at the business school at Northwestern after having been an English major at Hanover. Lynne is at Colby Jr. in New London and seems to be spending a great number of weekends in Hanover. Jack's "Dad hit his 85th birthday" in February. Jack and Alice see Dick and Midge Fisher every so often (both couples love and are good at golf). If you Renos make New London in June, please come down and visit us Wolffs, we'd love to see you. Henkel always was a good salesman and obviously still is 'cause I just noticed the stamp on his postage machine states "Founded 1906. Always Reliable Values."
The letter from the Bill Bengers contained just about as good news as I've heard in years - Bill has been made vice president and treasurer of the International Salt Co. which, as Marie says "makes me beam with pride. Bill eats and sleeps the salt company, but we do manage to get our yearly trip to Florida which we are about to take" (they're back by now). The Bengers really do things up right - they stay at Daytona Beach for a month, take Craig their youngest along with all his school books and assignments and, to top it off, will have their daughter Gail (who married a Yalee) who lives in California, with them for a few weeks.
Bill Walsh starts out by saying "when you get fan mail from Teddy Harms in your Christmas mail, it's time I sent you some too." Bill recalls that Ted and he and I are all Brooklynites (and so far as I am concerned I am proud of it). Ted's address, Bill, is 1532 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn 26, N. Y. - phone Buckminster 4-8020. For your attention, Ted, he says "I thought that Ted had no other way to get to his favorite spot in the Adirondacks except by way of Red Hook, but he must be using the back roads." How about explaining this to him Ted, by writing to him at South Broadway, Red Hook, N. Y. - this goes for all you other friends of Bill's too. Bill wonders, as do others of us, what Parker Soule is doing now that he has moved to Hanover. Either Beany or I would love to print the answer Parker, so how about an explanation - go ahead, make us all envious of you! Bill met George Conklin at the Yale game and says "we admire and respect the job George is doing in architecture and city planning in New Haven. He says their oldest daughter Judy graduates from Swarthmore this spring, Bobbi is a sophomore at Wellesley and that Kip is a junior in high school "and is the only one keeping us and the horses in one piece."
Notes from Warwick's letter will be in the next column - thanks Jack and Nini.
Of all things! A Dartmouth man, John Powell '40, is security director at Yale, and now we have to take care of Harvard too. Bob Tonis, who is retiring from the FBI after 27 years, will advise Harvard on university planning for safety of people, and the safekeeping of records. He will also direct the policing of university buildings and grounds in Cambridge and Boston. In recent years Bob has worked in the Boston area and is well known to police officers in Cambridge. You can't keep a good man from being active one way or another and Bob is proving it.
On March 7 (Ash Wednesday) in Room 402 of the University Club in Boston, 34 of our loyal '31ers turned out for a Class dinner. There would have been more except for illness in two instances and last minute calls held up three of our doctors. Nevertheless, the following had a good time reminiscing, bending elbows, eating (even on Ash Wednesday), and seeing the 1961 football highlights - Benson, Birkett, Boermeester, Borkum, Chase, Clarkson, Dickey, Dingman, Dwyer, Frame, Fraser, Godfrey, Groves, Steve Hall, Holden, Hobbs, Johnson, Jonas, Kelley, "Pan" Kent, Mort Klein, Langenbach, Marcy, McCarthy, McDonough, "Cub" Miller, Moore, Nims, Rikkola, Sampson, Seder. Stokes, Wolff and Woodward.
Johnny Benson and I take our hats off to Dick Chase who bailed us out wonderfully by doing a wonderful job of arranging for and supervising the details for the meeting place, the dinner, the football film, and the film machine operator. Johnny had to keep a date with vacation plans, I got pulled apart and put back together in the hospital just as plans for the dinner got under way, and Dick took over just like the noble soul and wonderful classmate he is.
Secretary, 36 Shaw Drive, Wayland, Mass.
Class Agent, 227 Wells St., Bridgeport 6, Conn.
