1936

It's good to have an opportunity to report some of the correspondence we have been receiving from various members of the class.

From the Saturday Evening Post's New York office, where he is the manager, Die wrote he "ran into John Greenwood.... He's moving from Hartford to go to Pittsburgh to head up industrial sales for Joy Manufacturing."

Navy Flight Surgeon Sherm Peabody writes he plans to retire this summer, after twenty years in service, and practice Ophthalmology in Southern California. He plans to begin looking for members of our class, to renew old ties, as soon as he gets settled in the West.

Another Navy doctor, Frank Soule, wrote he was practically a neighbor, since he is currently stationed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He writes:

I reported in as chief of Medicine at Bethesda Hospital in late July. Really disappointed that I just missed the big twenty-fifth at Hanover, haying been in the Philippines until late June. I did get a copy of the fine reunion book and have enjoyed it greatly.

In October I got to Boston and saw Joe Wool, now practicing in New London, Conn., and Bob Ingersoll in Boston. This is the nearest I have been able to get to Hanover since 1937 when I left Medical School there, believe it or not. We plan a New England tour this summer, partly to let my eldest son see some campuses, but also perhaps to say hello to some old buddies in those parts.

Good news from Jesse Gait, also M.D., in that his son, "John is entering Dartmouth in September 1962. He was picked under the Early Admissions plan. This made us very proud. He will be 'Class of 1966' - thirty years after his Dad." Who wouldn't be proud?

Fine letter from Herb Higgins, deputy coordinator for Foreign Assistance of the Department of State, which gives us all a fill-in on his recent activities and also joins in kudos to the Reunion Committee.

Just for the record, as several of the class of '36 know who joined us during the glorious 25th, in order to be near dear old Hanover in the years ahead, we have bought a farm about ten miles from the college, which we now use for vacations and hope to use for partial retirement. Added news—I understand that I am supposed to go down with the Secretary to the Foreign Ministers Conference in Punta del Este in the near future and assess the status of the Alliance for Progress in a swing around South America which will probably last through March. Further rumor has it that I probably will be transferred abroad again to the Latin America area by summer. Hope to get up to the Hanover area before we go.

I have not had a chance to see any of the committee members since the 25th reunion, but we certainly express our appreciation to those who worked so hard to make possible one of the most worthwhile reunions that I have ever attended. Never a dull moment—plenty of interesting things to do and a chance to renew old acquaintances. This is particularly important with people like me who by nature of their work find it nearly impossible to attend annual or even five- or ten-year reunions. Its smooth operation, the attention to" detail, the entire atmosphere was such that I am sure most of '36 will never forget the 25th.

Another traveler to the far parts of the earth writes us as follows from Ed Drechsel:

Have just returned from an eight weeks' trip to Australia, New Zealand, and stop-over in Hawaii on return for the magazine. Found I still had a lot of relatives in Australia I did not know. The Australian election Dec. 9 was decided after nine days by the final district going by 130 votes for the Menzies government. Australia is facing agonizing reappraisals on: how to adjust to Britain going into the Common Market, pressures to end the White Australia policy, how to have domestic prosperity without causing a balance of payments problem because of rising desire for imported goods. Australians lead a more leisurely life than Americans, have more built-in social security, so that there's a floor under living standards. Discovery of oil while I was there, if developed to commercial volume, can help overcome a lot of problems. Oil imports now total $300 millions a year.

In New Zealand, still more of a welfare state, they take off from Dec. 21 to Jan. 15, so it's almost impossible to find key people except possibly at home. Christmas-New Year's coincides with start of summer school vacations, so families pack up and go on tour. N.Z. too faces the import problem, presently has strict limitations. You see a lot of old clunkers running around in Aussieland and N.Z. due to higher prices, and high import duties (in N.Z.).

Brig. Gen. John G. Bouker '36, USMC is now on duty as deputy director of the fylarme Corps Reserve in Washington. During World War II, he took part in the three campaigns in the South Pacific including operations at Cape Torokina, Treasury-Bougainville, Northern Solomons and Okinawa.

John and Mrs. Bouker, the former Jane Gehring of Portland, Me., have two children, Peter and Ann, both undergraduates at the University of Maryland.

Good to know that Bill Hoffmann of East Orange, N. J., has been re-elected to the Alumni Council for a two-year term.

Liked the letter which came in from Bob Dickson in the rubber business in Denver, Colo.:

I have spent twenty years in seclusion, as far as the college is concerned. In this remote land, in my unromantic type of business (rubber), I have felt no tie with the college, or that what I do or did was of small or any interest. For instance, in over 22 years here, there has been only one other Dartmouth man in our Denver employ, to my knowledge. Dartmouth men don't generally work for manufacturing plants in Denver, Colo.!

But maybe they should. We need men who have been successfully exposed to the type of disciplined learning processes a certain few schools offer. Standards for manufacturing manpower are on the rapid rise - because factories need potential managers, not potential foremen. Men with a broad, sound educational base are needed, not just men who are "good with people." Today's requirements are higher, here and everywhere. And with Denver's own boom on, it's no longer "remote"; our locality and our businesses suddenly became attractive to men from the East, and we in turn need these men to share these opportunities.

So, maybe I've been wrong all these years in not keeping up my contacts with the college. Probably have been. Been married to the job and company, in a very provincial manner. Time to emerge, the signs seem to say.

George Marsh's wife, Meg, is sure fine. Your secretary appreciates her filling out the information form and also the note on the back: "I've tried to fill in the information to the best of my knowledge. George has a phobia about filling out forms ... I guess most men do." (My wife would agree; she fills out the forms for me and I sign where I am told to do so.)

Cliff Porter, whom I've seen three or four times since graduation, admits he comes to Washington now and again, but denies ever seeing any of us in New York. "Nothing to add," says Cliff, "I never see anyone around New York, which is a small town to which no one ever comes (or admits that they have come). My Washington trips are frequent enough but too fleeting to establish contact with anyone." This I can believe since all of us make these flying trips to far cities and tear for home on the night plane or train (when they are running).

And now for news of the Sullivans. We have three boys. They eat all day. Bob will be at the Scout Ranch, Philraont, in Cimarron, N. Mex., this summer. Charles is meticulous and lends me money to get through the weekend. Roger, who is four, keeps us interested falling in the creek in the back yard and bringing in the treasures he finds under rocks. In her job of running a male boarding house King is comforted (Some of the time) by Minx, our lady beagle. Write soon.

Secretary, 536 Washington Bldg. Washington 5, D. C.

Class Agent, 15712 Chadbourne Rd., Cleveland 20, Ohio